The story of one of the most famous breaches of American presidential authority since Watergate. The Iran-Contra conspiracy gave rise to a constitutional confrontation that pitted the executive, legislative and judicial branches of US government against one another. The conflict reached into the White House itself and two presidents were involved in illegal activities. This story begins in 1984 and follows the conspiracy and then the cover-up for ten years, examining the actions of high-officials, secret Swiss bank accounts and shredded documents. This book aims to place the responsibility for the scandal and its concealment where it belongs, and argues that honourable men who pretended to be out of the loop were actually caught in a web of deception for which they had only themselves to blame.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Walsh was the independent counsel for the Iran-Contra investigation from 1986 to 1993. Though he writes earnestly and with the highest integrity, his recounting of the events surrounding Iran-Contra is as confusing as the hearings themselves and is overburdened by excessive detail. Walsh alleges that Presidents Reagan and Bush could have been indicted for obstruction of justice and misuse of the presidential pardon, respectively. However, Reagan is not Nixon, and Iran-Contra never fascinated and repelled the public like Watergate. The long ordeal ended with few perpetrators being convicted, while members of Reagan's cabinet built an impenetrable firewall around the president. Recommended cautiously for large collections; buy as demand warrants.
-?Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-?Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
An obsessed Captain Ahab or a gallant St. George? Walsh provoked strong emotions and editorials throughout his seven-year-long multimillion-dollar attempt to nail Reaganauts in the Iran-Contra fandango. Attempt is the operative word, for he obtained few convictions and had many of those overturned on appeal. In explaining such a scorecard, Walsh strenuously argues that he and staff were stymied by lies and cover-ups, capped by Bush's pardons; he also engages in serious score-settling with the likes of Caspar Weinberger, George Bush, and Bob Dole. Interestingly, in his first sentence, Walsh says he shares with "many who will read this book" (most likely participants in and dedicated students of the scandal) the trait of "willfulness." To Walsh, that trait perhaps means meticulously reviewing his justifications for his prosecutorial decisions; to Walsh's targets, that trait meant coercing testimony by forcing huge legal bills on them or influencing the 1992 election by his "October surprise" indictment of Weinberger ("sheer inadvertence" is Walsh's explanation). Though sternly accusative, Walsh also waxes defensive about his conduct of his office, and those debating the merits of special prosecutors--a divisive contemporary political issue--have much to masticate in his memoir. Gilbert Taylor
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
71 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book explains why Walsh did not get any convictions,
By izc@earthlink.net (New Orelans, LA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up (Hardcover)
While I was at times confused by the legal problems Walsh's team were confronted with, I did clearly understand why Lawrence Walsh did not get very far with his investigation. Mainly it was because the targets of his investigation had designed a highly secretive plot and had the protection of the CIA or the National Security Council. Documents were denied or shredded, subjects lied or refused to testify all on the basis of "national security" or out of a belief that Congress had no right to interfere in foreign policy. After reading this book, I was shaken by the realization that under the guise of a "higher purpose" or holy war our democratic principles could so easily be dispensed with. Oliver North and President Reagan were rewarded with national affection despite showing utter contempt for the rule of law! Iran-Contra was a true case of Machiavellian politics because all of our most sacred principles were run over for the sake of the dictators ideology - that the end justifies the means. Firewall reveals the incipient dictatorship lurking beneath our fragile democracy.
22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Patriotism? Self responsiblity? Rule of Law? Character?,
By zweber (northfield, mn. United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up (Paperback)
This book is the story of a life-long Republican retired federal judge's seven year struggle to unravel the truth behind a vast government conspiracy to conceal willful violations of our country's laws by President Ronald Reagan and many members of his cabinet,CIA officials, members of his national security team and assorted Republican political operatives both inside Congress and out. Mr. Walsh does yeoman work in presenting the unvarnished truth he and his many assistants were finally able to decipher out of hundreds of thousands of original documents and the direct testimony of those his team were able to catch in their lies and bring into court under indictment. The complex legal issues and large cast of perpetrators makes this a difficult and necessarily repetitve slog, but the chilling story is one that Americans of any political persuasion need to be aware of. Lead by a naive President in the early stages of Alzheimers disease,and guided by a perverse notion of patriotic anticommunism that was the bedrock of cold war Republicanism, our top leaders deliberately violated laws put in place by Congress and even their own foreign policies relating to terrorism. When discovered these "patriots" launched an unprecedented web of lies and stonewalling to save Reagan from possible impeachment. Mr. Walsh was impeded at every step of his investigation and by all branches of the government. The importance of this account by Mr. Walsh is that irregardless of the legal results of the investigations, the truth of what happened and who did it is revealed for all to see. When this party touts its patriotism, beliefs in the rule of law and self responsiblity and the importance of character, remember what happened here.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A first rate account of an important chapter of U.S. history,
By A Customer
This review is from: Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up (Hardcover)
A previous reviewer was critical of Walsh for not being able to get Oliver North for anything more than "spitting on the ground." Had this reviewer taken the time to actually read the book, he would have realized that Congress made that task next to impossible by granting North immunity in exchange for his testimony. The shredding of evidence and claims of "national security" for those few pieces of evidence that did survive made Walsh's task that much more difficult. Walsh is a lifelong Republican and was appointed by a Republican President to investigate a Republican cover-up (contrast this with Republican Kenneth Starr's appointment by Democrat Bill Clinton). Under the circumstances, he did a tremendous job. Though it is necessarily dry in the first few chapters (as he gives the legal background for the story to follow), this book dutifully recounts that struggle
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
On Monday, November 24, 1986, Ronald Reagan left his handsome Oval Office, passed the bright cabinet room, and descended to the situation room in the White House basement. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
arms sales proceeds, affidavit refusing, immunized congressional testimony, diversion counts, runaway conspiracy, immunized testimony, immunized witnesses, senior foreign policy advisors, declassify information, superseding indictment, false chronology, contemporaneous knowledge, remand hearing, presidential finding, obstruction charge, associate counsel, independent counsel, conspiracy count, counsel statute, congressional immunity, new indictment, pardon power, appellate counsel, traded arms, arms transactions Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
President Reagan, White House, United States, Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, New York, State Department, President Bush, George Bush, National Security Council, John Poindexter, Caspar Weinberger, Clair George, George Shultz, Supreme Court, William Casey, Tower Commission, Edwin Meese, Donald Regan, Central American, Richard Secord, Brendan Sullivan, Costa Rica, Washington Post, Boyden Gray New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
On Monday, November 24, 1986, Ronald Reagan left his handsome Oval Office, passed the bright cabinet room, and descended to the situation room in the White House basement. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
arms sales proceeds, affidavit refusing, immunized congressional testimony, diversion counts, runaway conspiracy, immunized testimony, immunized witnesses, senior foreign policy advisors, declassify information, superseding indictment, false chronology, contemporaneous knowledge, remand hearing, presidential finding, obstruction charge, associate counsel, independent counsel, conspiracy count, counsel statute, congressional immunity, new indictment, pardon power, appellate counsel, traded arms, arms transactions Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
President Reagan, White House, United States, Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, New York, State Department, President Bush, George Bush, National Security Council, John Poindexter, Caspar Weinberger, Clair George, George Shultz, Supreme Court, William Casey, Tower Commission, Edwin Meese, Donald Regan, Central American, Richard Secord, Brendan Sullivan, Costa Rica, Washington Post, Boyden Gray New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
14
books
cite this book:
See all 14 books citing this book
- The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American Government by Mark J. Rozell on page 79, and page 254
- Secrecy: The American Experience by The Honorable Daniel Patrick Moynihan on page 212, and Back Matter
- Best Truth: Intelligence in the Information Age by Bruce D. Berkowitz in Back Matter
- Blacked Out: Government Secrecy in the Information Age by Alasdair Roberts in Back Matter
- Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism by Greg Grandin in Back Matter
See all 14 books citing this book
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