Several of our long-running journalistic projects from the October Surprise hostage/election scandal of 1980 to the ongoing wars in the Muslim world are at crucial stages, and we need your help to see them through. We are setting the goal for our mid-year fund drive at a minimum of $25,000.
By Robert Parry
June 29, 2011
Regarding the October Surprise case allegations that Republicans set in motion Ronald Reagan’s landslide win in 1980 by undermining President Jimmy Carter’s efforts to free 52 American hostages then held in Iran I have just learned of two new promising avenues for resolving this important political mystery, once and for all.
As for the conflicts in the Muslim world, we have stepped up our examination of the propaganda and lies that have prolonged the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel/Palestine and Libya and that could touch off a new conflict with Iran. Currently, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern is providing first-hand accounts of the seaborne efforts to challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
But this reporting costs money and we are dependent on you, our readers, for the continuation of what we do.
Here are the four ways you can help:
First option: You can make a donation by credit card at the Web site or by check to Consortium for Independent Journalism (CIJ); 2200 Wilson Blvd.; Suite 102-231; Arlington VA 22201. Or you can use PayPal (our account is named after our e-mail address “[email protected]”).
(Our parent organization, Consortium for Independent Journalism, is a 501-c-3 non-profit, so your contributions can be tax-deductible.)
For donations of $50 or more, we are also offering, as thank-you gifts, DVDs not available anywhere else.
For donations of $50 or more, you can select either a DVD of Robert Parry’s FRONTLINE documentary, “The Election Held Hostage,” or a two-DVD set of the closed-door congressional debriefing of Israeli intelligence officer Ari Ben-Menashe (never before seen publicly).
The DVDs date back two decades, to 1991 when there was a brief opportunity to pry loose important secrets about the Reagan-Bush era. Just e-mail us your choice at [email protected].
For a donation of $100 or more, you can get both gifts. (For more on the historical significance of these DVDs, see “A Two-Decade Detour into Empire.”)
Or you can ask for an autographed copy of one of my last three books Lost History, Secrecy & Privilege or Neck Deep. Just follow up your donation with an e-mail expressing your choice.
Second: if you’d rather spread out your support in smaller amounts, you can sign up for a monthly donation. With contributions of $10 or more a month, you can qualify for war correspondent Don North’s DVD, “Yesterday’s Enemies” about the lives of former Salvadoran guerrillas. For details, click here.
(If you sign up for a monthly donation and want to get Don’s DVD, remember to contact us at [email protected]. If you prefer, we can substitute Robert Parry’s “The Election Held Hostage,” also on DVD. Just ask.)
Third option: you can take advantage of our deep discount for the two-book set of Robert Parry’s Secrecy & Privilege and Neck Deep (co-authored with Sam and Nat Parry). The sale price for the set is only $19, postage included. For details, click here.
Fourth: you can help us close out our warehouse space by buying full boxes of Secrecy & Privilege or Neck Deep for only $59. Each carton contains 28 paperbacks, or you can ask that we give you a mix of half and half, 14 of each.
You can give the books away as gifts or resell them for your own fundraiser. (One reader placed an order for her book club, a great idea since each book costs only about $2.)
For details about this bulk book order, click here and scroll down to the $59 offer. (If we can move just 15 more cartons, we can put the remainder in my basement and save nearly $200 a month on warehouse space.)
As always, thanks for your support.
Robert Parry, Editor
Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. He founded Consortiumnews.com in 1995 as the Internet’s first investigative magazine. He saw it as a way to combine modern technology and old-fashioned journalism to counter the increasing triviality of the mainstream U.S. news media.