IP: CIA admits drug trafficking, cover-up

["Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>]

From: believer@telepath.com
Subject: IP: CIA admits drug trafficking, cover-up
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 09:43:07 -0600
To: believer@telepath.com

Source:  WorldNetDaily
http://www.WorldNetDaily.com/ronthal/981027.comlr.shtml

CIA admits drug trafficking, cover-up 
 
COPYRIGHT 1998 WorldNetDaily 
  
This isn't the CIA report you may be thinking of, the
one from last January in which that agency swore up
and down it "could find no evidence" for any
contra-drug ties. No. This is the other one --
Volume 2, dated October 8, 1998. The one in
which the CIA quietly, quietly admits it allowed
cocaine to be exported and sold to American
citizens to help fund the contras. 

Back in March, the CIA's Inspector General, Fred
Hitz, told Congress that the CIA had maintained
relationships with companies and individuals that it
knew to be involved in the drug business, and
furthermore, that the CIA had received from the
Justice Department clearance not to report any
knowledge it might have of drug-dealing by CIA
assets. Here's ample evidence for the latter at least:
random highlights from the report include "Exclusion
of Narcotics Violations from Scope of Reportable
Non-employee Crimes" -- "DoJ and CIA discussed
the issue of whether narcotics violations should be in
the list of reportable crimes and the parties arrived
at an understanding where CIA would only report
'serious, not run-of-the-mill, narcotics violations.' ...
According to Cohen, CIA's main concern was the
collection of intelligence on narcotics, not law
enforcement." There's also some Clintonesque
toe-twisting about the exact definition of "employee"
here: 

 Between August 15, 1979 and March 2,
 1982, CIA was required by the April 15,
 1979 Attorney General's guidelines under
 E.O. 12036 and HN 7-39 to report to DoJ
 any narcotics trafficking allegations relating to
 individuals, assets, or independent
 contractors who were associated with the
 Contras because assets and independent
 contractors were considered "employees" for
 crimes reporting purposes. As of March 2,
 1982, the terms of the 1982 CIA-DoJ
 Crimes Reporting MOU under E.O. 12333
 no longer required that CIA report to DoJ
 narcotics trafficking allegations regarding
 individuals, assets, or independent
 contractors associated with the Contras
 because assets and independent contractors
 were not considered "employees" for crimes
 reporting purposes. 

Note also recollections of "remarks by CATF chief
Alan Fiers (who had direct responsibility for
management of the Nicaraguan and Central
American programs) to the effect that there had
been some credible reporting of narcotics trafficking
in the Southern Front (Costa Rica)." 

In short, here's vindication for journalist Gary Webb
after all -- despite his regrettable subsequent
co-optation by and collaboration with the
conspiracy theorists of the left, who claimed the
introduction of drugs into the inner cities was itself a
deliberate racist-genocidal government policy. Want
more? Read the report; read Webb's original book
, though it's sadly marred by the Maxine Waters
introduction; read, also, Whiteout by Alexander
Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, which covers not
only the CIA's drug trafficking involvement, but the
campaign to discredit Webb as well -- it's the book
the CIA doesn't want you to read. 

It really IS the economy, stupid 

In political philosophy, there's a fine line between
the visionary innovator and the cryptoutopian
crackpot. The Economic Government Group
pushes that line. Formed out of concern that "the
freedom movement was focused too closely on
devising ways to minimize the state and not enough
on developing workable alternatives to it," it works
to let the marketplace become the means by which
government is created and maintained. Its Web site,
Economic.net , carries not one but two
introductions to its occasionally loony, but
occasionally blisteringly creative ideas; I
recommend Stephen H. Foerster's good
straightforward summary of this take-no-prisoners
free-market philosophy. Fans of the book The
Sovereign Individual by J. Davidson and W.
Rees-Mogg may find affinities here. 

Capitalistic self-regulation now in progress 

Its familiar branded online seal is displayed on more
and more reputable merchants' Web sites; its own
site offers a variety of privacy resources for both
Web publishers and Web users. TRUSTe seeks to
build users' trust and confidence on the Internet and,
in doing so, accelerate growth of the Internet
industry -- all based on a strong understanding of
the fact that no single privacy principle is adequate
for all situations. Government regulation of the
Internet would likely be more rigid, ham-handed,
costly to implement, and difficult to repeal than an
industry- regulated program such as TRUSTe's. If
you sell stuff on the Internet, or know someone who
does, using and encouraging the use of TRUSTe
just might be doing Web commerce a big favor. 

The forgotten point of the military 

The relatively high levels of defense spending today
belie serious gaps in our military preparedness.
Pork-barreling is grotesquely distorting the direction
of the dollars actually appropriated to the services,
in a spirit well exemplified by the latest budget from
Congress. Meanwhile, America's armed forces are
more and more diverted into "peacekeeping" and
domestic policing, subjected to the egalitarian
schemes of social engineers, and systematically
alienated from civilian society. "The lack of a strong
military leads only to its more frequent use," former
secretary of the Navy John Lehman points out.
"America needs forces that are recruited, trained,
and directed to do not social services, not
international welfare, not peacekeeping, not drug
interdiction, but to rain fire and destruction on our
enemies if they break the peace and seek to attack
us and our close allies. ... The armed services are
not just another branch of the civil service." Lehman
warns against the misuse of the services for
diplomacy or in domestic law enforcement
(including drug interdiction). His prescription for the
rehabilitation of the military includes restoring the
warrior culture of the forces, eliminating politically
correct double standards, redressing the
civil-military imbalance, and reducing the pork.
Somebody had better start listening to him. 

E - The People 

"If your car is swallowed up by a pothole the size of
Poughkeepsie, E - The People can help you find the
person you need to tell about it," claims this
community-affairs Web service's front page. Click
on "streets," enter your address, and they'll identify
your public works commissioner -- and see that
your complaint reaches his or her office, even if that
office isn't on the Internet (they'll convert your email
to a fax). Lots of Web sites offer "easy" access to
federal or state officials, but not many provide on
this nitty-gritty local level. The site sometimes slows
down at busy times, so use patience. 

The CSPI health crackpots are at it again 

This time it's soda pop that they're warning you is
the devil's instrument. They want it banned from
schools, taxes placed on its sale, and an end put to
ads for it that target children. When are these
querulous suburban Savonarolas' fifteen minutes
going to be over? Methinks I detect a certain
cooling toward them even now: wonder of
wonders, the AP actually noticed this time that they
"offered little scientific evidence" for all their dire
claims of damaging effects. But I'm not really
optimistic; there'll always be a market for scare
stories with a moralistic cherry on top.
-----------------------
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
-----------------------


****************************************************
To subscribe or unsubscribe, email:
     majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com
with the message:
     (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address

or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address
****************************************************
www.telepath.com/believer
****************************************************