Radio War Nerd EP #76—Robert Parry on Lost History & Death of US Journalism
Guest: Robert Parry, journalist & author
Interview with one of the original crusading journalists who broke the Iran-Contra and Contra-cocaine stories in the 80s, the October Surprise— and experienced first-hand the crushing of independent investigative journalism from Reagan through today . . . We talk about the stories he broke, the destruction of targeted journalists including his late friend Gary Webb who was driven to suicide, and Nixon's plot to sabotage Vietnam War peace talks in 1968 to make sure Humphrey didn't win the election . . .
Total time: 2:45:32
Direct link to this episode's mp3 here
Read Robert Parry's reporting at ConsortiumNews.com .
Buy Parry's books: "America's Stolen Narrative" , "Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth'" & "Trick or Treason: The 1980 October Surprise Mystery"
Watch Parry's 1991 PBS Frontline episode on the October Surprise, "The Election Held Hostage"
Comments (13)
Why does this episode stop at 2:01.40?
You Guys should definitely invite Robert Parry on to talk about the war in Ukraine sometime.
Awesome interview with one of my heroes Robert Parry one of the few journalists with any integrity. Perfect Timing in my case as I just Read Parry's "Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, The Press & Project Truth" People should head over to Consortium News and order a copy to help support Parry's work and get an awesome book in the bargain which really lays out the whole Iran contra and the decades long aftermath. His Secrecy and Priveligde Book about Bush is great too with stuff on the Moonies who owned the Washington Times which employed the authors of "the Spike". Also check out the Iran/Contra Connection By Jonathan Marshal, Peter Dale Scott and Jane Hunter for an expanded account laying out the Origins of Iran contra as far back as the end of world war 2 when the OSS/CIA drug Connection was born.
Absolutely!
Seconding Dave Dolle on opening up the Robert Parry program both to promote RWN and as a public service.
Would also love a RWN deconstruction of Niall Ferguson's farcical histories someday.
Yeah, that's definitely due. I've bought one of his books but settling down to read it is a little harder.
Suggesting a RWN riposte to the recent London Review of Books puff piece on the F-35.
Please open this to the public. This is a great episode to introduce new people to the podcast.
That was an excellent interview, and I'm grateful to Robert Parry for staying with you guys for those two hours. His message about U.S. media and politics was not a happy one, but definitely necessary. I was vaguely aware of Nixon's sabotage of LBJ's initiative to seek a peaceful end to the Vietnam War, but much of the detail Parry provided here was new to me. I found his March 2012 piece on LBJ's 'X' file on Nixon: <a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2012/03/03/lbjs-x-file-on-nixons-treason/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://consortiumnews.com/2012/03/03/lbjs-x-file-on-nixons-treason/</a> I'm glad Parry and others keep alive the memory of Gary Webb and his honest and honorable reporting, in the face of continued efforts to smear him by establishment media functionaries. With a bit of reticence - it's a grim read - I'll contribute a link from 2004 about Webb's final days from another friend and colleague of his: <a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/al-giordano/2004/12/gary-webb-do-what-he-did" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/al-giordano/2004/12/gary-webb-do-what-he-did</a>
Great episode, as always. I was hoping for more talk about this week's newsletter on the Saudi/Pakistani relationship, though. Any plans on it?
We meant to talk about that but we ran out of time. And it's one of those stories that'll settle one way or the other soon. So I'm cagily waitin' til it does.
Wow haven't listened yet n already excited. Will definitely be interesting