Our Distorted "National Debate" Over Surveillance  by Isaac
Chotiner | June 12, 2013  Back in the mid-'80s, this country
engaged in a tortuous debate over aid to Nicaragua’s Contras.
Perhaps you remember the freedom fighters who, with significant
aid from the United States government (and from the charming
junta of Argentina), waged a war against the also less-than-
fastidious Sandinista movement that had overthrown the country’s
military dictator. Eventually Congress got sick of the Reagan
administration’s aid, and decided to pass the Boland amendments,
which forbade directly military support to the counter-
revolutionaries. But aid continued, and through the hazy web of
dealings now known as Iran-Contra, Reagan faced the biggest
scandal of his presidency.  Reading about the Contras today is a
strange experience, and not just because concerns about
communists in Latin America appear so distant. One can follow
the debate, and listen to the different sides, and generally
come to the conclusion that American poli