Southeast Asian History, U.S. Politics in the Post Cold-War Era, United States History - 20th Century - Wars & Conflict, Vietnam War/French Indo-Chinese War, United States History - 20th Century - 1945 to 2000, Espionage, Politics & Government - General &
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Overview
When Richard Secord appeared before a special select committee of Congress investigating Iran-Contra, his testimony riveted the nation. As a retired major general in the U.S. Air Force, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, and the man who had been the Shah of Iran's most intimate U.S. military advisor, Secord had been the obvious choice for operations chief in charge of President Reagan's top secret Iran Initiative and covert Contra supply effort. What Secord hadn't known when he agreed to help Ollie North and CIA director William Casey was that he would soon find himself embroiled in the biggest political scandal of the decade. Now, in his provocative autobiography, Honored and Betrayed, Richard Secord fires back at his accusers and reveals the inside story of "Irangate." The book tells how Iran-Contra worked and the true roles played by the men involved, from those at the highest levels - including President Reagan, then-Vice President Bush, Secretary of State Schultz, National Security Advisors McFarlane and Poindexter - to the shadowy intermediaries and secret agents in the jungles of Central America and the streets of Tel Aviv and Tehran. But Irangate is only part of General Secord's story. His no-holds-barred autobiography charts the meteoric career of a highly dedicated, fierce individualist whose disdain for "politics" and bureaucratic foot-dragging and devotion to getting the job done were the keys to his brilliant success in the military and political spheres. Ironically, the same qualities led to his undoing. Drawing on personal experiences spanning three decades, Secord offers us the ultimate insider's view of some of the most momentous hot and cold war operations of our time. Secord's induction into the shadow world of covert affairs began as a young pilot in 1961 when he was one of a handful of U.S. "advisors" who fought in the Air Force's covert Project Jungle Jim in the war-torn republic of Vietnam. In 1966, he was detailed to the CIAA key Iran-Contra participant fires back at his accusers and reveals the real story of Irangate. As the man who organized the sale of arms to Iran and funneled the proceeds to the Nicaraguan Contras, Secord played a pivotal role in the biggest political battle of the decade. Now he tells all, and reveals as well details of the secret war in Laos and other covert operations. 15 photographs.
Book Details
Published
June 17, 1992
Publisher
New York, N.Y. : Wiley, 1992.
Pages
416
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780471573289