Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #397336 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 279 pages

Synopsis
When the "San Jose Mercury News" ran a controversial series of stories in 1996 on the relationship between the CIA, the Contras and crack, they reignited the issue of the intelligence agency's connections to drug trafficking, initially brought to light during the Vietnam War and then again by the Iran-Contra affair. This text shows that under the cover of national security and covert operations, the US government protected major international drug traffickers. A new preface discusses developements in the six years from 1992 to 1996, including the "Mercury News" stories and the public reaction they provoked.

Customer Reviews

An enormous eyeopener
"Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America," is an enormous eye opener. Most Americans do not want to believe the contents of this book. Scott & Marshall compile mountains of evidence to support their conclusions. This book deserves more attention. The research is objective and comprehensive. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

A masterpiece of investigative reading
This incredible volume was one of the first things I read when I began researching the issue of Contra cocaine trafficking for the San Jose Mercury News in 1995. To call the experience an eye-opener is a major understatement. Cocaine Politics not only confirmed to me that the Contra-drug link was for real, but that it was just a small part of an even more insidious picture: a secret and practically invisible world where intelligence operatives and criminals collude, wreak havoc, and almost always escape prosecution and accountability. When a producer from Dateline NBC, which did a show about my Dark Alliance series, asked me for recommended reading material on this issue, I unhesitatingly recommended Cocaine Politics. His reaction afterwards was memorable: "This is the most amazing book I've ever read. How come I've never heard any of this stuff before?" The answer is pretty obvious once you read this book. If the American public ever got wind of this story, our country and our government would never be the same again.