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Combat-decorated Marine, best-selling author, founder of a small
business, host of a nationally syndicated radio show, inventor with
three U.S. patents and former candidate for the U.S. Senate, Oliver L.
North or "Ollie," as he prefers to be called, was born in San Antonio,
Texas, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
He served 22 years as a U.S. Marine. His awards for service in combat
include the silver star, the bronze star for valor and two purple
hearts for 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 Qaddaffi's terrorist bases 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, Cambridge and Trinity colleges and
numerous American universities. He is conservative, controversial and
committed but retains the charismatic demeanor that electrified the
world during the so-called Iran-contra hearings and in his 1994
campaign for the U.S. Senate.
Articulate and outspoken, North believes that "we can
disagree without
being disagreeable". His columns have generated acclaim internationally
and will give the readers an opinion they can argue with or applaud.
North's
controversial and provocative prose has appeared in the San Francisco
Chronicle, The Washington Times and many other newspapers across the
country.
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