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For the dolts who are too lazy to click on the link:
Reviews:
From Library Journal
This is an intriguing account of one of the major foreign policy scandals in recent American politics. The author, an investigative reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, describes in riveting detail how the Atlanta branch of Italy's Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) acted as a front for channeling illegal funds to arm Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1980s. The key role played by Christopher Drogoul, the manager of BNL-Atlanta, in facilitating transfer of funds to Iraq is highlighted throughout the book. Mantius also reveals the intricate relationships among various U.S. government agencies, the Italian government, and the BNL in laundering funds to bolster Saddam Hussein's ambitions in the Persian Gulf. An accessible treatment; recommended for both general and informed readers.?Nader Entessar, Spring Hill Coll., Mobile, Ala.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Since Watergate, it seems that the press has no need or desire to cut the president of the U.S. any slack in terms of investigating and publishing presidential wrongdoing or errors in judgment. Here, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Mantius presents the disturbing story of U.S. political complicity that came to be known as Iraqgate. Despite Iraq's status as a terrorist nation, the Reagan administration made overtures to the Iraqis, mostly because they were at war with Iran. The Iraqis, desperate for weapons, welcomed the attention. The Bush White House continued the relationship, helping the Iraqis to receive new weapons and the technology to make more, right up until Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. To help fund their war machine, the Iraqis received illegal loans through the Atlanta branch of an Italian bank, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, or BNL. The Atlanta BNL was run by Christopher Drogoul, who would later insist that the Bush administration knew of his off-the-book loans to Iraq and gave its implicit approval--a point that Mantius' meticulous documentation makes difficult to refute. Another troubling look at presidential fiat and the ensuing cover-ups that necessarily follow. Brian McCombie
From Book News, Inc.
Investigates how the Atlanta, Georgia, branch of Italy's government- owned bank, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL), provided Saddam Hussein with billions to build weapons and destroy stability in the Middle East, and demonstrates how the BNL operation fit into the Reagan and Bush administrations' efforts to enlist Saddam as a trading partner and political ally. Includes b&w photos. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
Ingram
A true-life thriller focuses on an Atlanta bank that loaned billions to Iraq during the 1980s--money Iraq used to buy arms, develop weapons, destroy Iran, take over Kuwait, bomb Israel, and kill Americans in the Gulf War.
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