Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 30, 1994 TAG: 9401300201
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by KENNETH M. LOCKE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Surely other countries have just as many conspiracy theorists as we do, shouting that everything from the last election to the choosing of the king's gardener was rigged and that some grotesque imperial power was behind it. But how come we in America do not hear about Diana Gate, or the Moscow-Contra affair, or who shot Mao Tse Tung? Perhaps part of the reason is that we are so self-absorbed with our home-grown crazies that we take little notice of others. Maybe if we spent less time on trying to guess what Jack Ruby had for breakfast, and what did the President know and when did he know it, we would all be better off.
But then people like Robert Parry would not have an audience for their excellent books. And Parry's is excellent. In (almost) excruciating detail he takes us through every last nook and cranny of the alleged October Surprise: that Ronald Reagan's 1980 election campaign intervened with the Iranian government to delay the return of American hostages until Reagan had been sworn in as president. Allegations of such an intervention did not surface until more than five years later, but when they did it was with a vengeance.
For a while the whole country was enthralled and it looked as if Reagan was in a bigger mess than the Iran-Contra affair. Even during the last Presidential campaign George Bush had fend off questions about his supposed involvement. But massive stonewalling eventually shut up most critics and journalists and everyone got back to work except Parry.
Parry made the quest for truth his reason for living and so for several years spent his time with an unseemly collection of former intelligence agents, gun runners, suspicious financiers and anyone who promised a lead into the events of the summer and early fall of 1980.
Robert McFarlane (National Security Adviser for President Reagan) refused to be interviewed. The Secret Service would not say exactly where George Bush had been on October 18 and 19 of 1980 (when he was supposedly in Paris meeting with the Iranians). The Israelis (who shipped arms and spare parts to Iran during the Carter imposed blockade) at first said nothing and then confessed that perhaps something had happened but not much.
Bill Casey (former Reagan campaign manager, later head of the CIA and supposed master mind of the effort) and others died before they could be interviewed. Several interviews for this book and an earlier PBS Frontline documentary took place in prison. Along the way Parry was condemned by his fellow journalists as a nut, lost his job with Newsweek magazine, and got lots of doors slammed in his face.
The tale is too long and too tangled to tell here.
Suffice to say that Parry lays out his facts well and with interest. Though the events happened long ago and many are now commonly known, the reader is still caught up in the suspense of the enterprise. Unfortunately, we will probably never know if there was in fact an October Surprise. The credible witnesses won't talk, and the others are too incredible to be believed. As Parry himself said, a lot of people would have to be lying for nothing to have happened. It's just too bad that none of the talkers was Mother Theresa. - Kenneth M. Locke believes in conspiracies, but won't say which ones.
by CNB