Secrecy and Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty From Watergate to Iraq – Robert Parry
Secrecy and Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty From Watergate to Iraq – Robert Parry, The Media Consortium, Inc. (2004) 359 pp. (S) ***
If there is an expert on U.S. foreign policy during the 1980s, particularly as it pertains to the Iran-Contra scandal, then Robert Parry would certainly qualify as a front-runner. His past works (Fooling America, Trick or Treason, and Lost History) have focused primarily on illicit foreign policy practices of the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations and how these interact with the “corporate media” and what has come to be known in Washington as the “conventional wisdom.” In other words, how the right shields itself by mitigating negative repercussions for actions of gross criminality, both domestically and abroad. So naturally, in Secrecy and Privilege, we find a combination of these interests with the focus of analysis on a thirty-year period of recent history (from Watergate to the Iraq war).
For those familiar with some of Parry’s earlier works, you may find some repetition in Secrecy and Privilege that can make for slightly frustrating reading. Parry knows his subject well, so well that at times he seems to stray from the purview of the title to his book. For instance, there is plenty of ink devoted to the Reverend Sun Myung Moon and his peculiar organization, the “Unification Church.” While Moon’s mysterious flows of cash are an important tool to the financial backing of right-wing causes, Moon is certainly not the only wealthy backer of the right. Richard Melon-Scaife and Joseph Coors come to mind, figures that are given only cursory mention by Parry. And while there are direct ties of Moon to the elder Bush (in the form of payment for speaking engagements), it is less clear what if any relationship Moon has to the “born again” Bush Jr., something Parry does not elaborate on.
Another glaring omission of Parry’s focus is the 1980s U.S. covert policy (in its day, the largest in terms of devoted resources) to back the Afghani mujihadeen. One can draw direct links form this misguided policy to the 9/11 attacks, yet Parry gives it all a pass, as he does mostly for the 9/11 attacks themselves. Parry must be aware of the numerous discrepancies in the 9/11 official story, and in fact, points one out himself: (Bush’s statement that he saw on television on the morning of the attacks the first plane hit the North Tower, when no such footage was available to broadcasters at that time). 9/11 is indeed a formidable subject, but it is surprising given Parry’s wholesome skepticism with regards to Republican policies, that he hasn’t dived in to take on what has essentially become the contemporaneous Republican platform.
Parry also takes a focused look at the 2000 U.S. presidential election and campaigns, noting particularly how Al Gore was repeatedly singled out with misquotations of his actual words, to paint him as a serial exaggerator and liar. Comparably Bush, whose speech is far less eloquent and even often grammatically challenged, got a free pass from the press, who were far too sycophantically ready to indulge his many misstatements as that of an innocuous simpleton. This example really shows up the real bias in the media and would seem to indicate, given Bush’s even more dubious past (i.e. drug use and the desertion of the Air Guard) that when it comes down to brass tacks, money talks. The candidate who has more of it, is more apt to get a free pass from a pliant press core, too sensitive to step on the toes of someone from the moneyed class.
But for all the other times that Parry disappoints, credit has to be given to his sheer tenacity in refusing to back off from the questionable Republican practices of the 1980s, from the “October Surprise” plot to drug-running in Central America to fund the Contras. Parry is a master of his subject matter, and credit must be given to a journalist who was among the first to have introduced Iran-Contra to the American readership.
If there is an expert on U.S. foreign policy during the 1980s, particularly as it pertains to the Iran-Contra scandal, then Robert Parry would certainly qualify as a front-runner. His past works (Fooling America, Trick or Treason, and Lost History) have focused primarily on illicit foreign policy practices of the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations and how these interact with the “corporate media” and what has come to be known in Washington as the “conventional wisdom.” In other words, how the right shields itself by mitigating negative repercussions for actions of gross criminality, both domestically and abroad. So naturally, in Secrecy and Privilege, we find a combination of these interests with the focus of analysis on a thirty-year period of recent history (from Watergate to the Iraq war).
For those familiar with some of Parry’s earlier works, you may find some repetition in Secrecy and Privilege that can make for slightly frustrating reading. Parry knows his subject well, so well that at times he seems to stray from the purview of the title to his book. For instance, there is plenty of ink devoted to the Reverend Sun Myung Moon and his peculiar organization, the “Unification Church.” While Moon’s mysterious flows of cash are an important tool to the financial backing of right-wing causes, Moon is certainly not the only wealthy backer of the right. Richard Melon-Scaife and Joseph Coors come to mind, figures that are given only cursory mention by Parry. And while there are direct ties of Moon to the elder Bush (in the form of payment for speaking engagements), it is less clear what if any relationship Moon has to the “born again” Bush Jr., something Parry does not elaborate on.
Another glaring omission of Parry’s focus is the 1980s U.S. covert policy (in its day, the largest in terms of devoted resources) to back the Afghani mujihadeen. One can draw direct links form this misguided policy to the 9/11 attacks, yet Parry gives it all a pass, as he does mostly for the 9/11 attacks themselves. Parry must be aware of the numerous discrepancies in the 9/11 official story, and in fact, points one out himself: (Bush’s statement that he saw on television on the morning of the attacks the first plane hit the North Tower, when no such footage was available to broadcasters at that time). 9/11 is indeed a formidable subject, but it is surprising given Parry’s wholesome skepticism with regards to Republican policies, that he hasn’t dived in to take on what has essentially become the contemporaneous Republican platform.
Parry also takes a focused look at the 2000 U.S. presidential election and campaigns, noting particularly how Al Gore was repeatedly singled out with misquotations of his actual words, to paint him as a serial exaggerator and liar. Comparably Bush, whose speech is far less eloquent and even often grammatically challenged, got a free pass from the press, who were far too sycophantically ready to indulge his many misstatements as that of an innocuous simpleton. This example really shows up the real bias in the media and would seem to indicate, given Bush’s even more dubious past (i.e. drug use and the desertion of the Air Guard) that when it comes down to brass tacks, money talks. The candidate who has more of it, is more apt to get a free pass from a pliant press core, too sensitive to step on the toes of someone from the moneyed class.
But for all the other times that Parry disappoints, credit has to be given to his sheer tenacity in refusing to back off from the questionable Republican practices of the 1980s, from the “October Surprise” plot to drug-running in Central America to fund the Contras. Parry is a master of his subject matter, and credit must be given to a journalist who was among the first to have introduced Iran-Contra to the American readership.
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