BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, SEPTEMBER 16, 1991) SUSAN ROOK, CNN ANCHOR: Oliver North has won. On Monday, a federal judge dismissed all Iran Contra charges against North after the special prosecutors threw in the towel.</s>OLIVER NORTH: For five years, my family and I have been under fire, and we have been blessed to be supported by the finest attorneys in America, the generosity and prayers of the American people.</s>CHARLES BIERBAUER, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: This is one of those stories where the end is less dramatic than the beginning. By the time it came to the end of this story, it was the dropping of the charges, and it was caught up in a legal technicality which most of the public didn't understand and much of the media only, rather marginally, sought to explain. Five years had passed since this story broke. Ronald Regan had left office. The U.S. had fought a war in the Persian Gulf. Iran was no longer the hostile enemy, and Ollie North had become a footnote to history and, in this case, a legal footnote. The impact of this was to allow Oliver North to pursue his business, his political and his media roles. He ran for the Senate in Virginia and lost, made some money in business and was, for some time, a fairly popular radio talk show host, although his star seems to have fallen and others seem to have eclipsed him.
CNN 20: Charges Against Oliver North Dropped, September 16, 1991