Overview
With Ronald Reagan's knowledge and support, the United States attempted to trade arms for hostages held by Iranian terrorists; some of the secret money then funded the guerrilla activities of the Nicaraguan Contras, a counter-revolutionary group that Congress had specifically forbidden the administration to support. In this historic, first-person account, the independent counsel in the Iran-Contra investigation exposes the extraordinary duplicity of the highest officials of the Reagan administration and the paralyzing effects of the cover-up. "An important, perhaps singular, contribution. . . . For patient students of accountability in government, the book's extraordinary detail makes for must reading."—Scott Armstrong, Washington Post "Not simply an important public accounting of an egregiously misconceived policy, but a cautionary tale of power."—August Richard Norton, Boston Sunday Globe "We would never have known the truth about Iran-Contra without the tenacious seven-year struggle by the independent counsel in the affair, Lawrence Walsh, to get to the bottom of it. . . . Of first-rate historical importance."—Doug Ireland, Nation
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Iran-contra independent counsel Walsh chronicles here his efforts to call to account senior Reagan administration officials for their deceptions and the arms-for-hostages fiasco, alleging that "no one... told the full truth." Having failed to put anyone in prison, he marshals considerable evidence of malfeasance to convict Oliver North, John Poindexter and Caspar Weinberger. Neither Beltway insiders nor the public at large, however, are likely to read this work for its insights into Iran-contra or the political culture of the Reagan era. Instead, Walsh's book will probably be cited in a growing debate about whether the expenditure of millions on independent investigations has made our government more honest. Foes of the independent counsel system will find a lot of material here with which to buttress their arguments. Despite years of effort from some of the most astute prosecutors in the country, the only high-level official left with a criminal record from Walsh's investigation was national security adviser Robert McFarlanea reluctant participant in the Iran-contra cover-up who pleaded guilty to deceiving Congress. Walsh attributes his meager results to systematic efforts by two administrations to frustrate his efforts and an executive bureaucracy mired in a culture of concealment.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. -- Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PennsylvaniaLibrary 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. -- Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PennsylvaniaJohn B. Judis
Walsh's book is a useful record of the scandal and its aftermath. -- The New York Times Book ReviewKirkus Reviews
Walsh, the former independent counsel for Iran/Contra matters, submits an injudicious, self-serving brief in aid of reversing the probable verdict of history that his extended and contentious investigation of malfeasance at the highest levels of US government produced appreciably more heat than light. Drawing on the record he compiled in the course of a six-year investigation, the author delivers a largely chronological narrative built around a rehash of serious charges that were never proved in court. At issue was the question of whether Ronald Reagan exceeded his presidential authority in sanctioning a hushed-up arms-for-hostages deal with Iran, which also yielded cash used to equip the Contra forces in Nicaragua. These clandestine operations came to light in the mid-1980s, and Walsh was called in to unravel the tangled web at the start of 1987. By the author's account, he had no axes to grind at the outset of his inquiry. Perhaps not, but his office became vaultingly ambitious in its selection of targets after failing to put the usual CIA, National Security Council, or White House suspects, let alone Oliver North and John Poindexter, behind bars. At various times, Walsh recounts, he and his aides went after George Bush, Edwin Meese, Donald Regan, George Shultz, and Caspar Weinberger. The fact that he got nary a one of these men in the dock does not stop the author from repeating in detail allegations of supposed misdeeds that resulted in but a single indictment. Attentive readers will learn that feckless subordinates, ill-informed judges, and national-security hurdles, not Walsh, are to blame for the paucity of scalps.A spirited if one-sided effort by Walsh to have the last word on the Iran/Contra affair and to justify his largely unavailing stewardship of the independent counsel's office.