Kerry as Senator: "Courage Under Fire"

[G_j]

As a young senator, John Kerry spearheaded courageous investigative work on the Contra drug scandals, shedding light on the hypocrisy of the Reagan/Bush administration.

http://www.alternet.org/election04/20004/

Courage Under Fire

By Jan Frel, AlterNet. Posted September 28, 2004.


There is a general lack of attention to Presidential candidate John Kerry's 20-year record in the Senate in this election. Using his background as a state prosecutor in Massachusetts, Kerry launched his Senate career conducting investigations from his perch as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Commmittee. Kerry spent almost all of his first term (1984-1990) in the Senate investigating the Iran-Contra drug scandal in Nicaragua, the role of the Panamanian government in drug trafficking and the corrupt activities at the Bank of Commerce and Credit International (BCCI).

Former Associated Press reporter Robert Parry recently highlighted some of Kerry's work in the Contra scandals in his new book, "Secrecy and Privilege," which explores how the two George Bushes have risen to the pinnacle of political power. AlterNet spoke with Parry, who covered the Contra drug scandal in the mid-1980s for the Associated Press, about Kerry's investigative work in the Senate.

There's a passage in your book that details a part of John Kerry's career in the Senate – his investigations into the Central American Contra scandals in the 1980s. You show that Kerry stayed firm under pressure from his colleagues, the White House and the mainstream press. Could you start by painting the background on the Contra affair?

..more..

[AIJ Alom]

1. No wonder Ollie North can't stand him.

And the right loves Ollie North.

[Demoiselle]

2. He also went after BCCI against all kinds of establishment pressure until

the bank (drug money launderer and terrorist funder) was brought down . He hung on like a pit bull on a pant leg for three years until New York's Eliot Spitzer and the SEC finally nailed the suckers. I'll find that story again and post it for you later tonight.

[bklyncowgirl]

3. People don't know this about Kerry

This is why I, for the first time in my life, am enthusiastically supporting a candidate instead of cynically voting against the other guy.

Why doesn't Kerry showcase this part of his history? I told my mother, who says she is undecided but sounds increasing like she's leaning toward Bush, about Kerry's long time fight against terrorism and the fact that he was instrumental in closing down BCCI, a major terrorist money laundering operation and she said that she'd never heard about it.

Kerry was going after terrorists before it ws fashionable to do so. Is the BCCI scandal such a hot potato because it implicated both Democrats and Republicans that Kerry feels he can't use this?

[G_j]

4. good question

perhaps his advisors think it makes him sound too 'radical'. But you'll notice Rove never brings up this stuff. I don't understand it either.

[WiseMen]

6. Kerry record show him trully progressive and much to radical for comfort

in mainstream politics.

It is truly tragic that the progressive did not rally to Kerry
and his own campaign has been so soft and shallow.

[ClassWarrior]

5. It's the media frickin filter.

Write... call... email... the media and DEMAND that they cover the Senator's stellar record. Point out the fact that they made a big hoo-hah over the RepubliCON talking point that Kerry supposedly "ignored his Senate record" - and demand that THEY, the media, investigate it. Demand...demand...DEMAND!!

Here's the national media list:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x816939

I think there's a local media list also around here somewhere.

23.

[G_j]

7. kick