Shooting the Moon

From Barnes & Noble

In 1989, 20,000 American soldiers -- acting as part of Operation Just Cause --invaded Panama and arrested General Manuel Noriega. It marked the first time in U.S. history that there had been an attempt to capture the leader of another country for a violation of American law -- in this case, the production of millions of tons of illegal cocaine -- when the violation had taken place in the leader's own country. Shooting the Moon recounts how it all came about, and how three determined U.S. law enforcement officials made it their goal, despite the opposition of their own superiors.

Evan Thomas

It's hard to imagine a stronger or more gripping crime story...It's all here...tripping over each other in a grand comic tragedy. David Harris dug deep and writes with a vivid and sure touch.

Richard Ben Cramer

Manuel Noriega is the only foreign head of state to be kidnapped, tried and imprisoned by the government of the United States. It's a one-of-a-kind story-and it took a one-of-a-kind reporter, David Harris, to bring it brilliantly alive.

Library Journal

Noted activist and journalist Harris has woven the many complexities of the indictment and pursuit of Panama's General Manuel Antonio Noriega into a fascinating and highly readable book. Owing to the sheer volume of material covered, the book can be confusing; shifting venues make the time line hard to follow. The author is most effective when describing the many players, including DEA agents, U.S. attorneys, military personnel, politicians, and drug runners. Harris pulls no punches, and his portrayals of real people are sometimes painfully accurate. At times he takes this too far, for instance, when belittling the late CIA Director Bill Casey's mumble. Note also that this book covers the investigation and capture of Noriega but does not cover the subsequent trial. Recommended for academic libraries and libraries with strong Latin America, political science, and modern history collections. Karen Sandlin Silverman, Library Svcs., Ctr. for Applied Research, Philadelphia Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A rollicking but slippery rendition of the prosecution of the pockmarked potentate of Panama. Harris (The Last Stand, 1996), who began his career as an antiwar activist, now produces investigative journalism of the big screen, good-guys-vs.-bad-guys variety. Here the bad guys are Manuel Noriega, the Medellín cocaine cartel, and especially the members of the Reagan and Bush administrations who came into contact with them. The good guys are a couple of underdog DEA agents and federal prosecutors in Miami who busted through the old boys' network to investigate and indict Noriega—an indictment that, ironically, led to an invasion of Panama championed by many of the general's former protectors. The story is told colorfully, with lots of tough-guy cop-talk, scummy informers, and brief cutaways to beleaguered wives. It's unquestionably readable, even if the outcome is too well-known to generate much suspense. There are even a few moments (such as the anecdote an informer relates to DEA agent Steve Grilli about Noriega's escapades in an airplane cockpit) that rise to the level of classic tragicomedy. But Harris's storytelling inspires no more trust than Hollywood's. He provides no notes or attributions, even for direct quotes. He misrepresents legal issues integral to the case, for example confusing jurisdiction and venue. He coyly avoids names, even of obvious public figures, perhaps for legal reasons. And his tone is so stridently anti–Cold War and anti-Reagan that it's hard to give his sloppy techniques the benefit of the doubt. It's too bad Harris didn't take the trouble to document his sources, because if everything he says can be supported, he's written an accessible,eye-opening account of one of the murkiest episodes in recent history. But it's hard to take him seriously on his own merits.