North’s Sentence in Iran-Contra Fiasco

I have been following the Iran-Contra trial closely since its inception and now as it comes to a close, my predominant feeling is one of deep mistrust of those who run our country. The judicial system has failed, as well, in engendering confidence in the public. U.S. District Judge Gerhard Gesell admits that Oliver North was acting only as “a low-ranking subordinate . . . (to) a few cynical superiors” (Part I, July 6). The court did not have the nerve to name those superiors and could not muster the power to bring them to the stand.

I am a public schoolteacher and must seriously consider how I will present this part of our history to my students. I will name those superiors who intentionally violated the Boland Amendment and international law, lied to the press, Congress and the public, contradicted their own stated policy towards Iran, and worse, were responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Nicaraguans: former President Reagan and President Bush.

MARTA FISCH

Santa Barbara