Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Jonathan Marshall

Jonathan Marshall is author of Drug Wars: Corruption, Counterinsurgency and Covert Operations in the Third World (1991).

MER Article

Ehrenfeld, Narcoterrorism

Rachel Ehrenfeld, Narcoterrorism (Basic Books, 1990). Ever since the Reagan administration elevated “narco-terrorism” to the status of a national security threat, ideologists of left and right have staked out predictable positions. [1] Foes of Cuba, Nicaragua and other leftist regimes or movements

Jonathan Marshall • 6 min read

MER Article

Blitzer, Territory of Lies

Back in 1976, a college student acquaintance of mine, Jay Pollard, used to talk in great detail about his work for Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. I listened for hours, even if I never quite believed his stories. Eleven years later, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger would tell the cour

Jonathan Marshall • 8 min read

MER Article

Israel, the Contras and the North Trial

Oliver North’s trial this spring surprised everyone: It actually produced some new information. But some of its most important revelations -- those touching on Israel’s role in Central America -- received little or no attention in the press.

Jonathan Marshall • 8 min read

MER Article

Saudi Arabia and the Reagan Doctrine

President Reagan came to office with a bold commitment to roll back Soviet gains in the Third World without risking the trauma or cost of another Vietnam-style intervention. The “Reagan Doctrine,” as his policy came to be known, ironically took its cue from Soviet support in the 1970s for leftist in

Jonathan Marshall • 18 min read

MER Article

Cover-up and Blowback

The House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran and Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition. Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair. (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1

Jonathan Marshall • 10 min read