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Socialist Worker: The War They All Agree On (9/11/08) by Sharon Smith
When the U.S. military recently was accused of killing nearly a hundred Afghan civilians—over half of whom were children—"in its defense, the Pentagon cited evidence from an embedded Fox News correspondent who had substantiated its claims." But, as Smith notes, "unfortunately, that correspondent turned out to be former Marine Lt. Oliver North, who has been known to bend the truth in the past":North's military career was cut short after his role was revealed in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s. At the time, North admitted to having illegally channeled guns to Iran while funneling the profits to the CIA-backed Contra mercenary force fighting to overthrow Nicaragua's democratically elected Sandinista government—and then lying to Congress about it. In recent years, North has nevertheless cultivated a lucrative broadcasting career at Fox.
It is in that present capacity that North assured Fox viewers, "Coalition forces...have not been able to find any evidence that non-combatants were killed in this engagement," despite that "video footage taken on the scene by a local doctor showed scores of dead bodies and destroyed homes, documenting a civilian death toll at Nawabad that is the largest since the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan nearly seven years ago."
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