When did Robert Parry become a liar and conspiracy theorist?

[Karmadillo]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Autumn (a host of the General Discussion forum).

I had always thought Robert Parry was a rather admirable figure. There's the October Surprise, the Iran-Contra work, the willingness to back Gary Webb when so many of the best journalists kept their silence and cashed their checks. But I've learned from the wisdom of DU juries and posters that my admiration has apparently been misplaced. No longer an award-winning investigative journalist, Parry is now just a liar and a conspiracy theorist. Who would have believed such a development? I can't help but wonder what it was that led to his decline.

See how well he started out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Parry_%28journalist%29

Robert Parry (born June 24, 1949) is an American investigative journalist best known for his role in covering the Iran-Contra affair for the Associated Press (AP) and Newsweek, including breaking the Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare (CIA manual provided to the Nicaraguan contras) and the CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US scandal in 1985. He was awarded the George Polk Award for National Reporting in 1984. He has been the editor of Consortium News since 1995.

<edit>

In August 1990 PBS' Frontline asked Parry to work on the October Surprise conspiracy theory,[1] leading to Parry making several documentaries for the program,[6][7][8] broadcast in 1991 and 1992. He continued to pursue it after a Congressional investigation had concluded the story was untrue, turning his Frontline research into a book published in 1993,[9] and in 1994 he unearthed "a treasure-trove of government documents" supporting the theory,[6] "showing that the [Congressional] task force suppressed incriminating CIA testimony and excluded evidence of big-money links between wealthy Republicans and Carter's Iranian intermediary, Cyrus Hashemi".[3] In 1996 Salon.com wrote about his work on the theory, saying that "his continuing quest to unearth the facts of the alleged October Surprise has made him persona non grata among those who worship at the altar of conventional wisdom."[6]

When journalist Gary Webb published his newspaper series Dark Alliance in 1996 alleging that the Reagan administration had allowed the Contras to smuggle cocaine into the US to make money for their efforts, Parry supported Webb amidst heavy criticism from the media.[10]

Even during the not too distant George W. Bush years, Parry was seen around here as someone with a pretty reliable insight into reality. His work was posted all the time.

But his reliability, apparently, is now water under the bridge. While he might once have been a worthwhile, maybe even praiseworthy source, he is now fatally discredited. Simply posting one of his articles can get one a ding from one of our DU juries. What happened? What led Parry down the path to the dark side? Money? Power? Sex? Does anyone have the answer to the mystery of how one who had risen so high in the estimation of progressives could fall so far so fast?

[leveymg]

1. "Liar and CT" - question assumes facts not in evidence.

Reads like another smear.

Easily mistaken for a RW post, full of innuendo, that makes DU seem to suck - to paraphrase the TOS.

Or, is the OP snark served bloody rare? (Apparently, it was a rhetorical question. My bad for misreading it)

(Edited)

[Purveyor]

2. A thread was hidden by jury which is what I assumed prompted the OP

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026195436

Censorship is flourishing these days around this place as it appears some type of 'committee on unamerican activities' goon squad has formed.

Unfortunate, indeed.

[leveymg]

3. Then, I must apologize to Karmadillo, as should the HUAC committee that censored

his Parry post. Sorry about that. I've been away from this board for about a year.

The rise of HUAC and the New Cold Warriors on DU do make this place seem to suck.

[bananas]

5. Soon, we'll all be talking like Manny.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023571282

[Purveyor]

23. I missed that thread. Thanks for posting it. eom

[m-lekktor]

7. anything critical of Obama, his admin or his state dept must "go" if possible.

I learned "Black Agenda Report" was racist last night here at DU.

[msanthrope]

17. And you never responded to my post where I posted the racist shit from them.

That's okay.....I wouldn't want to defend the excerpt I posted, either.

[grasswire]

31. does a juror on that hide have the guts to post the results here?

That was a ridiculous alert.

[reddread]

4. when journalism was outlawed.

ugh

[leveymg]

8. . . . only humor disquised as sarcasm holds the truth.

Kind of like pre-parastroika Soviet literature used to be.

We are becoming the USSR, only with way better listening devices.

[Oilwellian]

6. This is unreal, Karmadillo

The hide should be removed. This is getting ridiculous.

[leveymg]

10. Karmadillo - Please PM me the Parry post, and I'll repost it.

"I am Karmadillo."

[Oilwellian]

16. Thank you, leveymg n/t

[leveymg]

18. Parry actually makes some good points, as in the following excerpt from the censored article:

None of the nuclear-age presidents – not Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton or even George W. Bush – would have engaged in such provocative actions on Russia’s borders, though some surely behaved aggressively in overthrowing governments and starting wars farther away.

Even Ronald Reagan, an aggressive Cold Warrior, kept his challenges to the Soviet Union in areas that were far less sensitive to its national security than Ukraine. He may have supported the slaughter of leftists in Central America and Africa or armed Islamic fundamentalists fighting a Soviet-backed government in Afghanistan, but he recognized the insanity of a military showdown with Moscow in Eastern Europe.

After the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, U.S. presidents became more assertive, pushing NATO into the former Warsaw Pact nations and, under President Clinton, bombing a Russian ally in Serbia, but that came at a time when Russia was essentially flat on its back geopolitically. Perhaps the triumphalism of that period is still alive especially among neocons who reject President Vladimir Putin’s reassertion of Russia’s national pride. These Washington hardliners still feel that they can treat Moscow with disdain, ignoring the fact that Russia maintains a formidable nuclear arsenal and is not willing to return to the supine position of the 1990s.

In 2008, President George W. Bush – arguably one of the most reckless presidents of the era – backed away from a confrontation with Russia when Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, a neocon favorite, drew the Russians into a border conflict over South Ossetia. Despite some war talk from the likes of Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John McCain, President Bush showed relative restraint.

[Oilwellian]

30. I've been reading Parry's work since Iran/Contra

He's one of the few good journalists left and to see him hidden on DU is a travesty.

[Karmadillo]

19. Many thanks.

[wyldwolf]

12. often jury decisions come down to WHO committed the "offense," not what the "offense" is...

DU mainstays like Will Pitt, for example, might be given a lot of leeway with jurors whereas someone like myself who often shaves against the grain of DU might be treated differently. Just an observation after several experiences with the jury system.

[msanthrope]

9. Because he went off the damn deep end last year......

https://consortiumnews.com/2014/08/08/was-putin-targeted-for-mid-air-assassination/

I mean.....that's some seriously fucked up shit.

[leveymg]

14. At least he put a ?-mark in there. Wish there was more benefit of the doubt by his detractors here

But, expressions of doubt or sympathy or recognition of past good work must never enter into executions, according to the manual of arms for the Fighting 101st.

(I agree, by the way, that particular post you linked is embarrassing, but I wouldn't have censored it.)

[msanthrope]

15. I wouldn't have censored it either....and we don't know what the alerter

said to the jury.

Bluntly...I don't think the Parry cause is helped by the RT posting crowd.

[leveymg]

20. I think we should all agree not to vote to hide opinion we disgree with, just because we disagree

In fact, IMHO, DU should sanction those who abuse the Jury System that way.

[msanthrope]

22. You can alert on the alerts, fyi. nt

[leveymg]

26. How is that done?

[msanthrope]

27. When you have a post hidden, there's an alert button on the bottom of the PM.

It goes to admin.

[KG]

11. did he fail to genuflect at the alter of obama?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

13. I'd had a lot of respect for him. I own a couple of his books. He'd even

answer questions by email whenever I had any. I don't know WTF happened to his reporting with this whole Russia/Ukraine thing.

[PSPS]

21. His downfall was when he acquired the ability to read minds back around 2008.

[KittyWampus]

24. IMO, his sources are no longer credible. It's that simple and not uncommon.

[pa28]

25. What? You got a thread pulled for posting an article by Robert Parry?

I would suggest making full use of the jury blacklist function in your account section. Just fill in the names of your favorite rabid authoritarians and you'll be good to go in the future.

[Bluenorthwest]

28. He's lost my respect for many reasons, not the least of which was his regular promotion of Crimea

as being 'ethnically Russian' without mention of the history of the forced removal of the indigenous Tatar population by, well, Russia back in the 40's. Hundreds of thousands put on boxcars, the whole thing. 'But it's an ethnic Russian majority!'.
That's one thing, but it is a big thing. 'It was always really Russian....after 1943'.

[Octafish]

29. About when he questioned administration claims about who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

Contrary to the Obama administration’s public claims blaming eastern Ukrainian rebels and Russia for the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, some U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that the rebels and Russia were likely not at fault and that it appears Ukrainian government forces were to blame, according to a source briefed on these findings.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2014/08/03/flight-17-shoot-down-scenario-shifts/

So, IMFE, August 2014.

Kind of threw a monkey wrench into the whole casus belli in the Caucasus thing.