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On November 25, 1986 at five minutes past noon, President Ronald Reagan marched into the White House briefing room to announce that Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North had been relieved of his duties on the National Security Council staff for supplying arms to the Iranians. By Stephan Perry It began in 1961 when Oliver North joined the Marine Corps, never knowing what he was in store for. Combat-decorated Marine, best selling author, founder of a small business, host of a nationally heard radio show, inventor with three U.S. patents and former candidate for the U.S. Senate, Oliver North is returning to newspapers with his hard-hitting column. â€Å"Ollie†, as he prefers to be called, was born in San Antonio, Texas and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis and served 22 years as a U.S. Marine. His awards for service in combat are the silver star, the bronze star for valor and two purple hearts for the wounds he received in action. Assigned to the National Security Council staff in the Reagan administration, North was involved in planning the rescue of 804 students on the Island of Grenada and played a major role in the daring capture of the hijackers of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. After helping to plan the U.S. raid on Maummar Qaddaffis, terrorist based in Libya, he was targeted by Abu Nidal, the world’s deadliest assassin. North’s involvement in the Reagan administration’s support for the anti-communist freedom fighters in Nicaragua and the rescue of American hostages held in Beirut Lebanon, catapulted North into international prominence. North has lectured at Oxford and many other colleges and American universities. He is controversial and committed, but retains the charisma that shocked the world during the so-called Iran Contra hearings and in his 1994 campaign for U.S. Senate. North believes that â€Å"We can disagree without being disagreeable.† The Iran Contra affair is the name of the major United States foreign policy scandal in the 1980s. It involved two secret operations by the executive branch of the government. The operations were 1) the sale of military equipment to Iran and enemy of the U.S.; and 2) The provision of the military aid to Contra rebels in Nicaragua, which Congress had banned. The two operations were connected by the use of profits from the Iranian arms sales to aid the Contra rebels. After United States president Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, he claimed the Sandinistas had set up a communist dictatorship.