Oh... they're right about plenty of things. The hard part is figuring
out *which*.
How many people would have believed the Reagan administration selling
arms to the Iranians while *at the same time* browbeating anyone else
who was even thinking about breaking its own boycott? *Some* of the
stuff that conspiracy buffs talk about is no stranger than that; to
cite a few relatively current examples, the Mena airport story
(Clinton's supposed Arkansas connection to CIA-sponsored drug running,
recently made respectable in Roger Morris' book Partners in Power), or
the October Surprise story (the 1980 Reagan campaign's supposed deal
with the Ayatollah to delay release of the hostages taken at the
American embassy in Tehran --- a theory which, I've heard, has been
endorsed by ABC bureau chief Pierre Salinger in his recent memoir, in
an afterword omitted from the American edition) are certainly no
stranger than what's now known about Iran-contra --- but that doesn't
*necessarily* mean that they're true.
And then, of course, there's the awkward fuzzy line between these
sorts of speculations, and the *truly* crazy Jewish Banker Conspiracy
loons. (FWIW, I have only one question for anyone who actually
believes this Elders of Zion stuff --- as a card-carrying Jew, I want
to know where the hell I have to go to get my cut).
rst