Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-up

In its chilling and unsparing revelations, Firewall is the definitive account of the most dangerous breach of presidential authority since Watergate. With Ronald Reagan's knowledge and support, the United States attempted to trade arms for hostages held by Iranian terrorists; some of the secret money then funded the guerrilla activities of the Nicaraguan Contras, a counter-revolutionary group that Congress had specifically forbidden the administration to support. In this historic, first-person account, the independent counsel in the Iran-Contra investigation exposes the extraordinary duplicity of the highest officials of the Reagan administration and the paralyzing effects of the cover-up. "An important, perhaps singular, contribution. . . . For patient students of accountability in government, the book's extraordinary detail makes for must reading. Scott Armstrong, Washington Post "Not simply an important public accounting of an egregiously misconceived policy, but a cautionary tale of power. August Richard Norton, Boston Sunday Globe "We would never have known the truth about Iran-Contra without the tenacious seven-year struggle by the independent counsel in the affair, Lawrence Walsh, to get to the bottom of it. . . . Of first-rate historical importance. Doug Ireland, Nation