Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth'

I just finished reading this book. I had a hard time putting it down. I usually read for a short time in bed before falling asleep, but I often found myself still reading this book after an hour or more! I found this book both enthralling and maddening. Enthralling because it is history that happened while I was an adult that I never knew had happened. Maddening because of the horrible job the press did in keeping us informed. Stay informed!

Robert Parry is a reporter with a wealth of experience who combines knowledge with investigative expertise and a bedrock courage to find the truth and faithfully report it. Here is the reporter who uncovered the illegal government operation of Oliver North in the National Security Council office, which violated federal law by providing weapons, manpower, and logistical advice to the Contras in Nicaragua. The government did its best to smear the Associated Press and later Newsweek reporter, painting him as unreliable and a man with his own agenda, but ultimately the truth won out.Parry brilliantly documents what the Contras were really all about. The so-called Nicaraguan freedom fighters which President Ronald Reagan referred to as "the moral equivalent of our Founding Fathers" were instead involved in a major drug networking operation, aided by the CIA. The result was that scores of youngsters in South Central Los Angeles became drug addicts as they moved their operations into America while battles waged among young gang members over turf control. When Senator John Kerry sought to expose what was happening he too was denounced as a troublemaker operating against America's best interests.Parry tells about what political correctness really is, and it is far removed from what is depicted by right wingers seeking to pin the tag on liberal critics. To Parry this correctness takes the form of barking on cue in alliance with and as supplicants to the major commercial interests which hold sway not only over those in political power, but on the media itself. His efforts to exercise independence of judgment were accompanied by negative reactions from powers in the media as well as Washington operatives. All the same he prevailed, and hopefully he and others will continue telling their stories despite the fervent efforts to silence them.

This book is fabulous. I have read much of the literature surrounding the Iran-Contra operation and this is one of the best. Parry was a leader in exposing that operation, as well as so many others. Here he leads readers through the many attempts of the government to control the information we receive. Anyone who dismisses this as mere "conspiracy theory" obviously never read the book (and so many others that are backed up by the govt's own documents). Parry is no armchair reporter. He has personally spoken with countless sources involved in these operations. Do yourself a favor. Buy the book and make up your own mind.

This book convincingly explains how the wheels came off of American democracy in the decades following WWII. Many conservatives decry revisionist history. This book shows with power and eloquence that no American citizen can afford to accept conventional history as supplied by the US media. Robert Parry has lived and breathed Iran-Contra since he broke the story as an AP reporter in the mid-80s. Utilizing media reports, DEA reports, declassified CIA reports and named and unnamed inside sources he shows how the Reagan administration devastated Central America and facilitated large scale importation of drugs into the US to finance Contra operations against Nicaragua. This is the most fascinating and important book I have read this year. It is essential reading for anyone who values democracy and has the courage to face recent US history and work for change.