Backers Cheered, Devastated by Verdict

Oliver L. North’s ever-loyal supporters rallied to his side and belittled the jury’s verdict after his conviction Thursday on charges arising from the Iran-Contra scandal. But Democratic lawmakers and others troubled by North’s activities said the verdict proved that North had obstructed Congress and undermined the Constitution.

Orange and Los Angeles counties’ Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Lomita), a close North friend and ally, described the former Marine officer as “absolutely elated” by his acquittal on nine of the 12 charges he faced.

“He was found guilty of cutting corners and found innocent of all criminal wrongdoing,” contended Rohrabacher, a former White House speech writer for whom North campaigned extensively last year. “This has been a political trial since Day 1 and it’s time for President Bush to end the sham and the circus and give Ollie North a pardon.”

Orange County Rep. C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) said he was “delighted” that North was found not guilty of the more serious counts brought in the indictment more than a year ago. Cox said that it was a “sad commentary” that all that resulted from the $12-million trial was conviction on charges that he said were equivalent to “the fire department (being convicted) for double parking at the scene of the fire.”

Rohrabacher and Cox tapped North’s image as a hero of the conservative movement by having the retired Marine lieutenant colonel campaign for them in last year’s Republican primary. North helped each to raise about $100,000 for their races in large fields of GOP candidates.

But another friend called the felony conviction a “devastating” personal blow to North, who won the Silver Star and two Purple Hearts for service in the Vietnam War.

“Here’s a man of great personal pride and honor, who spent his entire life trying to live up to a set of standards, trying to serve his country faithfully,” said Patrick Korten, a Justice Department spokesman during the Reagan Administration. “And now, to be convicted of a felony--think of it, a soldier who served his country in war, who can no longer legally possess a firearm.”

No Comment From Reagan

Former President Ronald Reagan, through a spokesman, declined to comment on the verdict.

Orange County Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) also minimized the severity of the verdict, saying that North had already admitted shredding documents to protect a covert operation and had accepted the gift of a home security system because his family was getting death threats at the time.

Dornan said he was the first to announce the verdict to a throng of reporters gathered on the steps of the U.S. Courthouse Thursday afternoon. A fervent North supporter, he said he didn’t have a seat and was being escorted out of the courtroom as the jury announced its verdict. Dornan slipped out while Judge Gerhard A. Gessell kept reporters locked in the courtroom to prevent an unseemly scramble for the telephones and later rode down an escalator with North and his wife.

“He was obviously showing signs of great relief and so was Betsy,” Dornan said. “It was a tremendous pressure lifted off their backs.”

Of the trial, itself, he said: “I think it is ludicrous to give amnesty to draft dodgers and rake over the coals a combat-tested Marine who was always operating, he thought, inside his chain of command. . . . “

Lawmakers who conducted the hearings that made North a national icon, adored as a hero by millions of Americans and condemned as a misguided zealot by many others, said that the verdict vindicated their previous--and highly contradictory--opinions of the man and his actions.

Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Senate select committee on the Iran-Contra scandal, said that the North verdict “reaffirms the conclusion” of the Senate and House investigating panels that “fundamental processes of governance were disregarded and the rule of law was subverted.”

Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), chairman of the House Iran-Contra committee said: “I don’t feel any sense of elation. I don’t feel any sense of disappointment. My feeling is that Col. North had a fair trial.”

Called ‘Tragic’ Figure

Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.), also a member of the Senate panel, called North a “tragic” figure but added: “He did some things which in America today you have to be held accountable for.”

Sen. Orrin K. Hatch (R-Utah) said: “If you look at it objectively, Oliver North has been largely vindicated. . . . The jury, because of all the hype on this thing, felt it had to come up with a conviction. They came up with a compromise verdict that was the least offensive verdict for Col. North.”

Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), an ardent North supporter who was in the courtroom when the jury read the verdict, said that the former National Security Council aide was “very tranquil,” despite the guilty verdicts on three counts.

Others were left unsatisfied by the verdict.

Robert C. McFarlane, North’s former boss at the White House who has already pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in the scandal, said: “We are no closer to solving the basic issues that led to Iran-Contra than we were two years ago. It will be very sad if five years from now our children and grandchildren look back at Iran-Contra as simply a criminal matter. It was a very serious breach of process.”

Staff writers Robin Wright, Douglas Jehl and Don Shannon in Washington and Claudia Luther in Orange County contributed to this story.