Trail of the octopus: From Beirut to Lockerbie--inside the DIA [Hardcover]

Donald Goddard (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 326 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury (1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074751562X
• ISBN-13: 978-0747515623
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heretical journalism, August 30, 2004

By 

Andy Salocaro - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trail of the octopus: From Beirut to Lockerbie--inside the DIA (Hardcover)

Some readers may refuse to accept the facts as presented in this book because their psychology does not allow for their authority figures and government leaders to be as unimaginably corrupt as thousands of years of political history has taught us.
Notwithstanding this, Goddard and Coleman present the secret negotiations with terrorists of the Reagan/Bush era (which of course, continue today in the personage of George W.--see recent Pentagon scandal involving Feith/Ledeen and secret negotiations with so-called "Axis of Evil" member Iran) for what they are: disastrous foreign policy decisions with horrendous consequences.
The only way to get things like this published is through small, independent presses which inevitably are intimidated or threatened into retractions, expensive legal battles, and other forms of blackmail.

Note on co-author Coleman who one reviewer "accurately" referred to as a convicted liar: it is the most common technique used by intelligence agencies to get one of their own operatives convicted on small-time felony charges with frivolous outcomes in order to preserve what is called PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY. That way, if the operative ever talks about the disgusting and reprehensible acts they are asked to perform, they can be dismissed as "a convicted liar." Coleman's story is a sad one--available to be researched by anyone with an interest. Using the Freedom of Information Act one can research these things for themselves--there were numerous Congressional inquiries into some of the subjects covered in the book.

This book is a well-documented example of George Bush's longstanding policy of dealing with terrorists (particularly those who move massive amounts of drugs around the world) for narrow political objectives with disastrous consequences for US foreign policy. A must read. Also: Coverup of Convenience.
As long as the brainwashed can dismiss anything newsworthy not sponsored by GE or Fox as "conspiracy theory", then our leaders will continue to defraud our citizens and commit unspeakable acts.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A New Meaning of Organized Crime......, January 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Trail of the octopus: From Beirut to Lockerbie--inside the DIA (Hardcover)

This book shows the extent to which our 'Public Servants' go to cover their criminal enterprises. These cranks that attempt to dis-credit those who expose criminal activity by government employees as conspiracy freaks are they themselves complicite in these Federal crimes. Conspiracy or not, these people are a deeply infiltrated cancer in the US Government.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Government Deceit and Duplicity, March 24, 2003

By 

Joseph D. Douglass (Falls Church, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trail of the octopus: From Beirut to Lockerbie--inside the DIA (Hardcover)

Trail is another excellent case study of the unlimited arrogance, deceit, and duplicity in Washington D.C. Its value is reflected in the price of used copies... and the efforts to kill public interest in the book. The hardest message to communicate is the extent of arrogance, deceit, and duplicity in our own government because we have been taught from an early age of how wonderful our elected leaders are. Well, the truth is out there, but you have to search to find it. Trail of the Octopus is an excellent example. Another very good book is the Boys on the Tracks. There is no end of good examples in the efforts to get the truth out respecting the government's abandonment of missing American POWs from the top on down. See Betrayed by Douglass, which has a listing of 25 plus other books and videos on this subject, all with a consistent message respecting the absence of honor and principles at the highest levels in our government.