Customer Reviews

Coverup - Behind the Iran-Contra Affair [VHS]

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Born in 1978, I was awfully young to know what was going on during the Iran-Contra scandals. I vividly remember a vacation at my grandparents' house where we watched hours and hours of Oliver North testifying before Congress, but I had no idea what it was all about. He seemed like a nice guy to me, but my parents didn't have anything nice to say about him. What I did know was that what my parents said about North, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush was not be repeated in mixed company.

This user-friendly 1988 film documents the many atrocities the United States spearheaded during the Reagan-Bush years (as well as some of those in the years prior). The information is disgusting. It is angering. And unfortunately, it seems to be the truth. The CIA were involved in cocaine and arms trafficking. Reagan made a deal to delay the release of hostages in Iran until he took office. The CIA had plans to round up political dissidents and hold them in detainment camps. Etc., etc., etc.

This kind of material always runs the risk of being dismissed as leftist propaganda and paranoia - especially when, as is the case here, the allegations are so extreme as to seem implausible. "Coverup," however, nicely maintains superb objectivity. First, none of what we learn is told to us by the narrator, but instead by a variety of interviewed authorities. Second, those authorities aren't obscure political analysts, cynical history professors, renegade journalists, and conspiracy theorists, but actually United States Congressmen (both Dem. and Rep.!), Reagan-Bush campaign managers, formerly high-ranking CIA operatives, New York Times editors, etc. Third, archived news footage is used to let the likes of Reagan and North incriminate themselves. Rather than rely on speculation, "Coverup" lays down facts.

This documentary is a great and easy way to bone up on some of the recent horrors of recent American history, which is great for someone like me who simply doesn't know much. It seems particularly worth watching now that baby Bush is bringing the legacy into the 21st Century. (But do beware of some awful bad 80s hair.)

If George W. Bush were to let presidential documents to be released, it would mean the certain end of the Republican Party in the United States. And this video reveals why. There were lots of under-handed deals going on even before Ronald Reagan entered the White House followed by many overt and covert operations instigated and approved by the United States government. The release of information revealing what was really going on during the Reagan administration would cause irreparable damage to George W.'s current cohorts such as Elliot Abrams and John Poindexter, perhaps even to the administration itself.

The only criticism I have is that this video seemed to go on a lot of tangents which were not completely relevant to the Iran-Contra scandal per se, such as the graphic scenes of the bombing of La Penca or linking Oliver North to the training of the Contras. However, this could be forgiven because information released by the various agencies was meager and they covered what was available.

The REX-84 plan has a remarkable resemblance to the current round-up of so-called unlawful combatants. The video revealed that REX-84 was a plan to detain aliens from Latin American countries in camps in case of a serious federal emergency or break-down of the government. The sole deviation from the plan seems to be that it is people of Middle Eastern descent rather than people from Latin America who are being detained.

I would recommend this video as a gift to anyone enamored with Ronald Reagan or the Reagan administration. They may change their minds.

The Iran-Contra scandal, as this video illustrates in the beginning, is probably one of the most ignored events of the 1980s. The film takes an obvious 'conspiracy theory' approach, which, although sometimes entertaining, sometime relies too much on 'documents' and 'information' that aren't actually seen. However, the video does create a very valid view on US policy in Latin America, and the possible role of the CIA in covert operations that may not be in America's best interest (at least in the wake of recent events). There's a link, at least in the video's mind, between a 'shadow' government that might potentially suspend civil rights when dealing with criticism (something we have dealt with recently, in terms of war protestors), and what happened to Japanese-Americans during WWII. Narrated by Elizabeth Montgomery, this video brings a definite POV of not only Iran-Contra, but of US foreign policy. It is a video that will definitely spark conversation...which is good, even if you don't agree with all the conclusions presented.

I highly recommend this film - it should be shown in every political science course - it really angers me that this sort of thing goes on at the expense of the US taxpayers - our government tends to meddle in world affairs, and the Mass Media only tells part of the story - and that part is filtered and altered. Watch the film to witness the huge crime the US Government committed and got away with - it's a real eye-opener.

An extensive documentary covering Iran-Contra and related scandals such as the October Surprise, the Contra war in Nicaragua, FEMA and Rex-84, and the international drug trade. Well worth purchasing, for a contrary view of U.S. foreign policy during the Reagan administration. The portions on FEMA and Rex-84 are particularly frightening; if you saw "The Seige" you should see this to find out just how close to reality that film might have been.

To understand what the Republican Party stands for, watch this terribly disturbing documentary. It is very pertinent today, in relation to the GW Bush/Enron scandal.

This is a must see for any fence sitting Democrat or Independent Voter out in America. If you play the last few minutes of the tape over and over it would be the best Democratic Campaign ad ever made. The Laundry List will blow you away. I was sickened by the murder of the little children. This should outrage even the REpublicans. I wished I could afford to send a copy to all my friends_and one to AL GORE.

Democrats seem to be bent on making sure that Regan gets discredited in some way. He won the Cold War through a nonliberal strategy, and this obviously upsets them because it proved them wrong once again. I have been reading through some of these other reviews and some moron is comparing Iran/Contra to Bush/Enron. Do you idiots know anything about anything??? All the people involved in the Enron scandal have been prosecuted under the Bush administration. On top of that, the whole scandal occurred under the watch of the great Bill Clinton. It is as if liberals look at the facts, and then come to the most illogical conclusion possible. If there is a serious problem that arises under a certain administration, you can usually say that it did not start under him, but on presidents past. Not to say presidents have no responsibility or that they don't control anything, but blaming Bush for terrorism, a bad economy, or corporate scandals is like blaming Clinton for AIDS, high drug use, and or the bad economy that he had in his first term. Back to Iraq/Contra scandal...I think a lot of people don't realize that we were trying to fight and win a Cold War during this time. Yes what they did was illegal, but I believe the cause was a good one. Communists had the rest of the country out gunned, not out manned. If the Communists did take power, they would have been a minority ruling a majority. It is well documented that the Sandinistas had the financial support of Castro. It is hard to imagine how idiots today still can not see what is obvious to the educated. The Communists in Nicaragua were following the same pattern that they did in several other countries (including Vietnam, Cambodia, and El Salvador). Guess what happened when Communists took over those countries....they slaughtered those that did not agree with them!!! You can say that fighting a war kills people, but sometimes NOT fighting a war kills even more. It is difficult for me to understand how liberal can hide behind these facts. The fact is, the people of Nicaragua did not want to be communist, and that was shown in their elections in 1990 when the anti communist candidate won with 55% of the vote. The idea that the US was trying to impose its will on a country that wanted nothing to do with us is completely false.

stupid, boring, irrelevent,changes subject every 2 mins,
belive me because i love history and documentarys but hated this one