Colonel Oliver North branded Osama bin Laden as a deadly terrorist during his testimony before the Senate Select Committee investigating the Iran-Contra affair.

Recent versions of the email name then Senator Al Gore as questioning Oliver North.

See the email here.

No.

Colonel Oliver cited assassination threats by Abu Nidal, leader of the terrorist organization Fatah Revolutionary Council, as the reason he accepted the home security system from Richard Secord in his testimony before the Senate Select Committee in 1987.

The home security system cost $16,000, not $60,000 as the email claims.

As for Osama bin Laden, in the early 1980's he was busy founding Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK) with Palestianian Brotherhood founder Abdallah Azzam.

MAK recruited Arab volunteers to fight in Afghanistan and channel private and government aid to some Afghan Mujahideen factions. Osama bin Laden formed al-Qaida in 1988 after splitting off from MAK. Most terrorism experts date Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida's first forays into terrorism to a bombing in Aden, Yemen in 1992.

As for Al Gore questioning Oliver North during his testimony before the Senate Select Committee, he was not a member of the committee and so did not have the opportunity to question Oliver North.

Oliver North was convicted in 1989 of accepting an illegal gratuity for the $16,000 home security system given to him by Richard Secord. In his trial testimony, North admitted forging letters showing he paid for the security system.

North's conviction was overturned due to legal conflicts with with his testimony before the Iran-Contra Senate Select Committee.

• "Message from Oliver North" from Oliver North
• "United States v. Oliver North" from the Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters (the Walsh report)
• "United States v. Richard V. Secord" from the Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters (the Walsh report)
• "al-Qa'ida (The Base)" from the Federation of American Scientists
• "Hunting bin Laden" from Frontline (PBS)

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