From SNOPES.COM:
Claim: A convicted terrorist released by Israel at the insistence of the United States participated in the September 11 terrorist attacks on America.
Status: False.
[snip]
The Boston Globe, at least, caught onto the error and realized that the bus bomber and the hijacker were two different people with the same name:
Last week, many news organizations, including The Boston Globe, reported that US authorities believed Atta had attacked a commercial bus in Israel in 1986. But Second Circuit US Court of Appeals records show that was a case of mistaken identity. Another man, a naturalized US citizen who used the alias of Mahmoud Atta, was arrested in that attack.
The same Snopes article provides the lead in for the second debunking:
In mid-2002 the "We freed Atta" claim was twinned in e-mail with another popular Internet canard, the "Oliver North warned us about Osama" falsity. North did speak up about a terrorist during the Iran-Contra hearings, but it was Abu Nidal he mentioned, not Osama bin Laden.
Here's the truth about this lie:
Is it true that . . . Oliver North said during the 1987 Iran-Contra hearings that Osama bin Laden had threatened his life?
The answer is no. This Internet hoax says that under questioning from an unidentified senator, Col. Oliver North said he had a home security system installed because a terrorist had threatened him and his family. When asked who this terrorist was, Col. North said it was Osama bin Laden.The facts: Oliver North testified about a home security system during a July 7, 1987 joint Senate-House hearing on the Iran-Contra investigation. The questioner was not a senator, but committee counsel John Nields. Col. North testified the security system was installed because threats were made on his life by terrorist Abu Nidal.
http://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/Oliver_North.shtml
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