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CIA, Drugs, and Wall Street
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If you want to
know MORE about this subject,
may we recommend the following:
|
- Extracts and Commentary from Vol.
II of the CIA Inspector General's Report.
- CIA Drugs and the Impeachment (video)
- The Salon at Fraser Court (5/99)
A SUBSCRIPTION TO FROM THE WILDERNESS
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NOTE: At the time this story was written it looked like the
House Intelligence Committee was going to get away
with closing out the CIA drug investigations. But thanks to
the efforts of From The Wilderness that resulted in class
action suits being filed against the CIA in Los Angeles and
Oakland and other publicity we have generated Volume II has
not been closed out. They can't because too many people are
watching. On October 12, 1999, investigators from House Intelligence
came to Los Angeles and copied 6,000 pages of our records
for review. Going into 2000, Volume II is still very much
an open investigation and FTW is proof that something can
be done. - MCR
Don't Blink!
All Promises Broken - Volume II Hearings
Held Without Notice - Behind Closed Doors
You Might Miss What's Next
by
Michael C. Ruppert
Posted June 29, 1999 - © Copyright 1999 From The Wilderness,
Michael C. Ruppert. All Rights Reserved
On May 25, just four days after we published our last issue,
under the totally misleading heading of "CIA and Drugs
in Los Angeles" the House Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence (HPSCI) held a closed door hearing. It took
us until June 22 to determine that the Committee heard testimony
that day from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael
Bromwich, who had not appeared before the Committee since
the release of his report last year. And it also heard from
current CIA Inspector General Britt Snider, who discussed
Volume II of retired CIA IG Fred Hitz's report on the
whole Contra war - not Los Angeles. Los Angeles
was Volume I.
That's right - They have had the hearing on Volume II. They
did it in secret. The press did not cover it. And it remains
unclear, at this moment, as to whether HPSCI's final report
will even be declassified or made available to the public
in any form at all. This is not only a breach of every promise
made to us in 1996 by both Houses; it is, in my opinion, a
complete breach of trust between the government and the people.
In a June 22 conversation with HPSCI Deputy Staff Director,
Tim Sample, I was told that the Committee "would like
to wrap this up this summer." I was also told that the
protocol for closing the investigation out had not been finalized.
It is "not known" whether there will be another
hearing. It is "not known" whether or if the Committee's
final report will be declassified or ever released.
It is "not known" if any additional witnesses will
be called. I and retired DEA Agent Cele Castillo and presumably
the other major figures in the investigation have all received
letters asking us to submit whatever other evidence "we
are aware of" before the Committee closes its work.
This is a sign of true desperation as the Republican controlled
Committee must absolutely close the issue - to protect George
W. Bush - before the 2000 Presidential campaign begins in
earnest in October. It must also protect the biggest secret
of all from the American people: The entire economy, and the
entire political system itself, is currently hooked and dependent
upon - drug money.
I have been saying for years that you could show a video of
George Bush ordering drug runs, CIA agents laundering money
and flying airplanes full of drugs and no one in power would
do anything about it. They would not be able to. In this issue
I will tell you, and the House, about something almost as
damning - a partially authenticated letter, written on CIA
letterhead and stamped "Top Secret", ostensibly
written and signed by CIA Director William J. Casey in late
1986, that admits to direct participation in the drug trade
[SEE STORY THIS ISSUE]. I have been aware of the existence
of this letter for approximately five months. I have had it
read to me in its entirety. It was not until I was given this
last chance by HPSCI to present "all of the information
of which you are aware on the allegations" that I was
able to obtain an "On the Record" statement about
the letter from Attorney Ray Kohlman. The letter will be admitted
into evidence in a new trial motion for former Green Beret
William Tyree in the near future. When that happens, From
The Wilderness will publish the letter, both on the Internet
and in the newsletter.
Now that the House has indicated its intent to close the matter
for good and all it is time to bring the letter forward -
for good and all. I will also see to it that the letter is
widely distributed enough so that any of the major news organizations
will be able to follow up on it. The information in this issue
is enough for the House Intelligence Committee to go to the
CIA and compel it to confirm or deny the letter's authenticity.
Reading The Right Map
If nothing happens with further hearings,
or with the letter, I will tell you in advance exactly why.
Contributing Editor Catherine Austin Fitts, who was a Managing
Director at Dillon Read before becoming Assistant Secretary
of Housing under George Bush and who holds an MBA from Wharton
makes things very simple. She points out that the four largest
states for the importation of drugs are New York, Florida,
Texas and California. She then points out that the top four
money laundering states in the U.S. (good for between 100
and 260 billion per year) are New York, Florida, Texas and
California. No surprise there. Then she rips the breath from
your lungs by pointing out that 80 per cent of all Presidential
campaign funds come from - New York, Florida, Texas and California.
Civics test: Who are the current governors of Texas and Florida?
From The Wilderness has been working on a story for
an upcoming issue that will show conclusively, using testimony
of law enforcement officers and U.S. Government records, that
Dominican drug gangs, who dominate the trade in the northeast
United States - especially New York and Pennsylvania - have
been making regular campaign donations to the Clinton-Gore-Democratic
camp since the early 90s. California drug sales are currently
split between Democratically allied crime factions and entrenched
hard core Republican strongholds from the Reagan era. People
who shudder at the thought of the Chinese buying into presidential
politics would choke if they knew how much drug money was
involved.
Why? Again, the answer is simpler than you might think. While
the Department of Justice estimates that $100 billion in drug
funds are laundered in the U.S. each year, other research,
including research material from the Andean Commission of
Jurists cited by author Dan Russell in his soon to be published
book Drug War place the figure at around $250 billion
per year. Catherine Austin Fitts places the figure at $250
to $300 billion. Given the fact that the UN estimated that
in the early 1990s world retail volume in the illegal drugs
was $440 billion, $250 billion seems about right. Fitts, using
her Wall Street experience as an investment banker is then
quick to point out that the multiplier effect (x6) of
$250 billion laundered would result in $1.5 trillion dollars
per year in U.S. cash transactions resulting from the drug
trade. How many jobs does $1.5 trillion represent? Why do
President's get re-elected? As Bill Clinton's staff
recognized in 1992, "It's the economy -Stupid!"
During the Contra years, when the CIA and Bill Clinton were
swimming in cocaine, and Arkansas became the only state in
the Union to ever issue bearer bonds (laundry certificates),
employment in Arkansas rose to an all time high because there
was so much money floating around. So what if they donŐt count
all the dead bodies like two young boys Kevin Ives and
Don Henry, shot, bludgeoned and dismembered on a railroad
track after witnessing CIA drug drops. "It's the economy
- Stupid!"
The Pop
Corporations trading on Wall Street, including many implicated
in money laundering schemes where products are sold with questionable
bookkeeping throughout drug producing regions, all have stock
values that are based upon annual net profits. Known as "price
to earnings" or "The Pop" the multiplier effect
in stock values is sometimes as much as a factor of thirty.
Thus, for a firm like GE or Piper Aircraft to have an additional
$10 million in net profits based upon the drug trade, the
net increase in these companies' stock value could be as much
as $300,000,000. Did GE make a $10 million net profit on consumer
products in Latin America last year? Easily. And since GE
owns NBC is there a chance that accurate reporting on the
drug trade and CIA's involvement therein might hurt their
stock?
Disney owns ABC and has a huge retail, resort and entertainment
empire that benefits from the "drug multiplier."
Would ABC consider hurting its parent's stock value? Ronald
Reagan's CIA Director, William Casey had been Chief Counsel
to Cap Cities Broadcasting until 1981. His old law firm represented
Cap Cities when it bought the ABC network in 1985. ABC's Peter
Jennings, by the way, had been doing a series of investigative
reports on the CIA drug bank (and successor to the Nugan Hand
bank) Bishop, Baldwin, Rewald, Dillingham and Wong when the
buyout was initiated. Cap Cities (not surprisingly) secured
SEC approval in record time and effectively and immediately
silenced Peter Jennings who had previously refused to back
down from Casey's threats. Thereafter ABC was referred to
as "The CIA network."
I have no doubt that the ABC "object lesson" was
front and center for CNN founder Ted Turner and Time-Warner
when Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell and (CIA vet) John Singlaub
put the pressure on in the wake of April Oliver's 1998 "dead
bang accurate" Sarin gas stories connecting CIA to the
killing of American defectors.
Every major media corporation in the country trades on Wall
Street. There are no "independents" left and
the American people are left with the increasing cognitive
dissonance of recognizing that they are being fed useless
bullshit. I wonder how they would respond to real a news corporation
if they saw or heard one.
It's Legal to be Bad
It is also perfectly legal for a Wall Street brokerage or
investment bank to go "offshore" and borrow once
laundered drug money to finance a corporate merger or leveraged
buyout (LBO). Why do this? If you were a major multi-national
corporation in a cutthroat competition to buy a company with
a hundred million in sales (which might boost your stock value
$3 billion) you would be willing to pay a seemingly outrageous
price. [How much would you be willing to spend to make $3
billion? - 2.9?]. All an LBO is is an acquisition financed
on borrowed money. If you are Goldman-Sachs, arranging the
deal, and you can borrow laundered drug money at five per
cent or a bank's money at ten per cent where are you going
to go? Remember that since the cost of capital is lower using
laundered drug money you are now able to outbid all the other
competitors because your total payback stays the same. Does
this actually happen? In 1998 the Russians asked for only
$18 billion to save their entire economy. With $440 billion
a year moving around how could it not happen?
And a major drug dealer, like a Carlos Lehder, a Pablo Escobar,
an Amado Fuentes, a Matta Ballesteros or a Hank Rohn, sitting
around with ten billion dollars of useless illegal money,
is more than happy to loan it at five percent because his
money is now legal and liquid. And, if one goes to prison
or dies, there is always another dealer to fill the void so
that the supply is not interrupted. The drug trade now has
power because it is underwriting the investments of the largest
corporations in the world. It underwrites politicians. It
has hooked the gringos on Wall Street whose own children sometimes
die from its drugs. Wall Street cannot afford to let the drug
barons fall. Congress cannot afford to let the drug barons
fall. Presidents and their campaign finances cannot afford
to let the drug barons fall. Why? Because our top down economy,
controlled by one per cent, cannot take the risk of letting
competition (business or political) have the edge of using
drug money. The third world has its revenge for European colonialism
but Wall Street still calls the shots. And for every million
dollars of increased sales or increased revenues from a buyout,
the stock equity of the one per cent who control Wall Street,
increases twenty to thirty times.
Remember - The National Security Act of 1947, which created
the CIA, was written by Wall Street lawyer and banker Clark
Clifford. Clark Clifford is the man who brought the CIA backed
drug bank BCCI into the United States. Allen Dulles who virtually
designed the CIA and served as its Director, and his brother
John Foster who was Eisenhower's Secretary of State, were
Wall Street lawyers from the firm Sullivan and Cromwell. Dwight
Eisenhower's personal liaison with the CIA was none other
than Nelson Rockefeller. William Casey was Chairman of the
Securities and Exchange Commission under Richard Nixon. Former
CIA Directors from William Raborn to William Webster to Robert
Gates to James Woolsey to John Deutch all sit or have sat
on the Boards of the largest, richest and most powerful companies
in America.
As we near the millenium one thing is clear to anyone who
sees the economic system clearly. The system is on the verge
of implosion. Privately owned and operated prison companies
trade on Wall Street. One of those, Wackenhut, is a virtual
CIA proprietary. We have entered, at the end of the industrial
age, a phase of growth where we must incarcerate an ever expanding
number of people to sustain the growth of all the companies
profiting from law enforcement, crime, imprisonment and war.
And the overheated stock market must grow or collapse. The
reason this nation spends five dollars on prisons for every
one dollar on higher education - even after seven straight
years of falling crime rates - is because there is more profit
in it in the current economic model. Hell, we have turned
police departments into profit making entities through asset
forfeiture. This is insane!
This economic model is patently no more sustainable than a
snake eating its own tail can be considered nourishment. Organized
crime has become the government and it seeks to make all citizens
become subliminally guilty participants, fearing for their
own livelihoods, believing that the system will collapse if
someone really tackles the issues facing us - as surely as
the iceberg faced the Titanic.
The system will collapse anyway - unless the economic model
is turned upside down - unless a way is found or offered which
will make it more profitable than all other ways - to do the
right thing. The only thing that will sustain the current
economic system, and its dependence on drug capital, is a
police state. New enforcement programs involving HUD and the
Department of Justice such as Project "Safe Streets"
and "Weed and Seed" - along with their corresponding
butchery of the Constitution - show an emerging police state
already. The conduct of Congress and the White House in the
CIA drug investigations further demonstrate the arrogance,
the fear and the ever-increasing sloppiness of a system out
of control.
The veneer, the illusion that we live under the rule of law
cracks before our eyes, grows thinner and ever more difficult
to sell with each passing minute. All at once the fears of
the right of a New World Order and the fears of the left,
of new concentration camps and genocide suddenly become one
and the same thing. Dogma matters little to the oppressed.
Pain tastes the same whether you call it Fascism or Communism.
Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas, co-founder of the Medellin Cartel,
who was given a life sentence in 1990, now enjoys the sunshine
at his home in the Bahamas. He frolics regularly with gaming
magnate and owner of the Atlantis Hotel Sol Kerzner. His guests
at parties include Kevin Costner who played (I am sorry to
say) both Elliot Ness and Jim Garrison. Manuel Noriega will
probably be out of prison before Bill Clinton leaves office.
The Kosovo Liberation Army has been funded with drug money
and has trained with Islamic terrorist Osama bin Laden. The
son of a documented drug trafficker, who very few people in
this country even know anything about, is "scheduled"
to become our next President, simply because he has the most
money and he and his backers control most of "The
Pop."
How much time can this government have? How much time does
it deserve? Bill Clinton's Farewell Address should probably
be, "Apres moi, le deluge."
Mike Ruppert
Missed Call on Noriega
January 31, 2001 issue of From The Wilderness
FTW has been following the dynamics of the drug trade
as it interfaces with political campaigns - and contributions
- almost from our first issue. In April 2000 we described
in detail the Democratic Party's Presidential Drug Money Pipeline
and in subsequent issues we described a clear cut alliance
between the Clinton-Gore administration and certain drug factions,
especially those with less than friendly feelings for George
Bush. That would apply especially to the Medellin Cartel which
George Bush systematically began eliminating at the end of
the Contra war. Among that group also was Gen. Manuel Noriega,
a key player sentenced to 40 years in 1990 after George Bush
proved his manhood and tested some new weapons by invading
Panama.
As AP reported in March 1999 we were not alone in believing
that, absent a release ordered by the courts, Bill Clinton
would pardon Noriega before leaving office. On March 21, 2000
Reuters reported that former President Bush was afraid for
his life if Noriega was released ahead of schedule. And as
late as mid-December we were hearing from sources close to
Noriega that a pardon was on the table.
But it was not to be. Nor was it to be for Leonard Peltier,
the Indian activist politically imprisoned for the slaying
of two FBI Agents at Wounded Knee in the 1970s. We wonder
what Clinton got in return for the trades.
|
If you want to
know MORE about this subject,
may we recommend the following:
|
- Extracts and Commentary from Vol.
II of the CIA Inspector General's Report.
- CIA Drugs and the Impeachment (video)
- The Salon at Fraser Court (5/99)
A SUBSCRIPTION TO FROM THE WILDERNESS
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