The CIA, Narcotics & Underworld: Doug Valentine Interview

Suzan Mazur: Rose and Weiner agree that Bill Clinton had a dysfunctional relationship with the CIA. Would you comment on the Clintons' relationship with the CIA? First there was Operation Chaos, right? And then Mena? You've got a new book coming out this Fall, Strength of the Pack, that refers to the Mena Cartel. Can you name some names – who were the Mena Cartel?

Doug Valentine: Well, I'm actually being facetious in the book about the Mena Cartel. I haven't been on the ground in Mena researching the drug operation there, so I'd prefer not to get into a detailed discussion about it.

But if anybody should be associated with the goings on at Mena – Barry Seal and his operations – it's William Casey, George Bush I, and Ronald Reagan. Mena was a CIA operation that existed between 1981 and 1984 but became an issue while Clinton was president and was used to deflect attention from Iran-Contra and the CIA's own involvement in international drug trafficking. (See… Scoop: Mazur: Deeper Into The Clintons' CIA Drug Nexus )

Suzan Mazur: Speaking of drugs, Weiner does a Holly-go-lightly over the CIA's MKULTRA mind control episode. He says the Agency destroyed almost all the MKULTRA records.

But beyond Richard Helms' and Allen Dulles' MKULTRA program of random drugging of Greenwich Village Leftists at 81 Bedford Street in the 1950s and 60s after getting them drunk at Chumley's speakeasy across the street, or around the corner on Cherry Lane at the Lefty Blue Mill tavern – in your book, Strength of the Wolf, you mention the Agency's involvement on the Colombian Amazon where the celebrated American adventurer Mike Tsalickis, the region's one-time US Vice Consul, was asked to find some useful tropical drugs for the CIA – probably along the lines of hallucinogenic yaje.

Mike Tsalickis - the CIA's go-to guy for hallucinogens

Curiously, in the late 1980s, Tsalickis was busted for smuggling into the US 4.4 tons of cocaine in a shipment of Brazilian lumber; it was the biggest cocaine bust in US history at the time. Tsalickis told me in a phone conversation following the bust that the feds were in the drug business on the Amazon. The DEA told me they'd been tracking Tsalickis' exploits for 10 years. He was sent to Marion. Believe he's out now.

I stayed at Tsalickis' hotel there in Leticia, the Parador Ticuna, months before the drug bust, researching a story. Leticia was indeed the wild frontier, made wilder because of the armed desperados high on drugs. Have fond memories of the night I spent upriver at Tsalickis' Monkey Island communing with caiman by flashlight and their cooing -- nyock, nyock, nyock. . . .

Hand Drawn Map Of Leticia On The Colombian Amazon - Image Source

There were clearly no surveillance cameras in the bird nests along the banks of the Amazon – it was anything goes on the river. Peru on the opposite bank and Brazil a walk across the Colombian border.

Recall sitting around a table at Tsalickis' Leticia hotel sipping Aguardiente with a British art scholar and a lumber dealer from Manaus, the latter anxious about speaking with Mike about a lumber sale. Kept pacing. .

Weiner does not go into the CIA's commercial drug exploits. In fact, he quotes Helms in his book as follows:

"We could get money anyplace in the world . . . We ran a whole arbitrage operation. We didn't need to launder money – ever."

Would you comment?

Doug Valentine: Angleton ran the CIA's narcotics operation, in league with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, until 1971, when Helms put it under Tom Karamessines at operations; Karamessines was the former CIA Athens chief.

I know for a fact that Angleton in the counterintelligence division of the CIA was in charge of its relations with law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which is one of the reasons organizationally that he ended up having relations with people like Charlie Siragusa, a high ranking official in the FBN. This is how Angleton enters into relationships with Corsican drug traffickers and uses them for counterintelligence operations.

I know this because I interviewed one of the officers who was on Angleton's staff and who actually was his liaison to the Bureau of Narcotics. And I'll be talking more about that in my new book, Strength of the Pack. The guy's name was Jim Ludlum. People say he's related to Robert Ludlum.

In 1968 the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was abolished and Lyndon Johnson's administration created the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Angleton and the CIA continued to have an official relationship with the BNDD until 1971, at which point Nixon declared narcotics law enforcement a national emergency and made it an issue of national security.

And at that point relations switched from Angleton at counterintelligence to the operations branch of the CIA. That's incredibly important in understanding the history of the CIA's involvement with drug trafficking, because now it's no longer a function of counterintelligence, something deep inside the Agency. Now you actually have CIA chiefs of station all around the world becoming actively involved in collecting intelligence on drug trafficking. It became in 1971 a very, very big business – drug trafficking within the CIA.

Suzan Mazur: When you say big business, what exactly do you mean?

Doug Valentine: There was a guy at the CIA who worked with the BNDD. Jim Ludlum then gave up his liaison relationship because he was counterintelligence and the new liaison was an operations officer. His name was Seymour Bolton, the father of Joshua Bolton – now a high ranking official in the Bush administration.

What the CIA drug business is, is controlling how the DEA targets foreign drug traffickers. The CIA's drug business is the management of how the DEA conducts foreign investigations. The CIA reports directly to the president or the national security council and there are issues to consider in going after traffickers that transcend law enforcement and involve national security. Which is why Nixon made that change. Nixon did not want officials going off and investigating Chinese drug traffickers at the same time he was to trying to secretly form diplomatic relations with China. So he had to put the CIA in control of how the DEA mounted its foreign drug investigations.

Suzan Mazur: And what are your thoughts about that arrangement?

Doug Valentine: If you're going to go about the business of empire, creating an empire around the world, you don't want to put it in the hands of a law enforcement agency that's going to bust Salvador Allende yesterday and General Pinochet tomorrow.

You want to make sure they only bust Allende. And that Pinochet gets away with drug trafficking for 20 years.

How the CIA evolved over the past 60 years in all these different ways in relation to narcotics trafficking, to the media, in relation to foreign policy, etc. – has enabled it to consolidate power. It's far from being out of business or in descent or rising from the ashes. It's more powerful than it ever was.

Suzan Mazur: Are you familiar with the Eurasia Group?

Started out as a mini-foreign policy association back in 1998, backed by the CIA – the so-called analyst side – and the Council on Foreign Relations. I attended some of their fascinating meetings. They invited a slew of officials and former officials of the FSU, as well as business leaders to speak – Boris Berezovsky, etc. There's been a controversial Russian industrialist on the advisory board from the start.

At some point they began charging $100 to attend meetings. And I got an angry phone call from EG because I'd contacted someone I met at one of the meetings regarding an interview.

Apparently EG was now selling those contacts the CIA & CFR helped them establish. Eurasia Group has had some affiliation with Lehman Brothers and is considered the world's largest political risk group.
( http://www.eurasiagroup.net/about/ )

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Rice formalized missile defense policy at Bilderberg

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice moved the U.S. missile defense shield agenda a step forward during her attendance at the Bilderberg meeting last week, during which she formalized plans to sign a treaty on installing a U.S. radar base in the Czech Republic with Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg.

The news underscores the fact that important policy decisions are advanced at Bilderberg and that the event is not an insignificant talking shop, as debunkers often claim.

Reports out of both Czech newspapers and Chinese sources confirm that Rice formalized the policy at Bilderberg.

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Irish voters look set to reject EU referendum

Early counting suggests Irish voters have rejected the Lisbon treaty throwing the entire project of reshaping the EU into turmoil.

Initial tallies from constituencies around the country are revealing a very strong show by the no vote, the Irish state broadcaster said.

The no vote is strong in many rural areas and in working-class urban areas, while middle class areas appear to be less supportive of the treaty than had been anticipated, RTE added. Firmer indications are due late this morning.

Reuters reported that in Dublin, five constituencies showed the no camp ahead, with three evenly divided and one in favour.

Dublin accounts for about a quarter of the country's electorate.

The fate of the EU's reform treaty hung in the balance today as leaders anxiously awaited the results of the Irish referendum.

Analysts earlier said the turnout of around 40% could tip the balance towards a no vote, bringing about the demise of the controversial and poorly understood pact.

All 27 EU countries have to ratify the Lisbon treaty for it to be passed meaning voters in Ireland – the only country to hold a referendum on the issue – can veto the negotiations. Detractors suggest the treaty is an EU constitution in all but name.

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NY Fed chief in push for global bank framework

Banks and investment banks whose health is crucial to the global financial system should operate under a unified regulatory framework with "appropriate requirements for capital and liquidity", according to Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Writing in Monday's Financial Times, Mr Geithner, a key US policymaker throughout the credit crisis and one of the main architects of the rescue of Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC) , says that the US Federal Reserve should play a "central role" in the new regulatory framework, working closely with supervisors in the US and round the world.

"At present the Fed has broad responsibility for financial stability not matched by direct authority and the consequences of the actions we have taken in this crisis make it more important that we close that gap," Mr Geithner says, in an excerpt of a speech to be delivered today at the Economic Club of New York.

 

~ From: FT ~

 

The silver lining to global warming?

September 12, 1989 The Washington Post reported that during 1989, World Bank President Barber Conable made a speech in Tokyo at a conference on: "Global Environment" in which he revealed the long range goals of the international bankers. He said that "while higher temperatures may cause a number of disasters they might also warm cold and unproductive lands in the North into productivity." This candid admission described the real reason that the Soviets and the New World Order bankers have secretly promoted continuous weather engineering over the Northern hemisphere since the early 1970's.

 

~ From: Down with Murder Inc. ~

 

The prophetic "Illuminati New World Order" game

In 1990, role-playing inventor, Steve Jackson, was planning his newest game, which he would ultimately call the "Illuminati -- New World Order" Game, or "INWO" for short. Jackson was creating a game that would hit very, very close to home, very close to the actual plan of the Illuminati to propel the world into the New World Order -- also known as the Kingdom of Antichrist. As we shall show you, Jackson issued playing cards, three of which foretold the events of 9/11, three of which correctly predict future events just ahead of us, and two that correctly foretell the last two events that the Bible foretells will occur during the final birth pangs that will produce Antichrist!

How did Steve Jackson know the Illuminati Plan so precisely? In fact, he knew the Plan so exactly he got a surprise visit from the Secret Service, who tried their best to shut him down and prevent him from publishing his game. As you will see from viewing excerpts of Jackson's account of the raid, they were very interested in his files entitled, "Illuminist BBS". Let us listen to Jackson's account of the raid [ http://www.sjgames.com/SS/ ]

"On the morning of March 1, [1990] without warning, a force of armed Secret Service agents - accompanied by Austin police and at least one civilian 'expert' from the phone company - occupied the offices of Steve Jackson Games and began to search for computer equipment. The home ... the writer of GURPS Cyberpunk, was also raided. A large amount of equipment was seized, including four computers, two laser printers, some loose hard disks and a great deal of assorted hardware. One of the computers was the one running the Illuminati BBS."

The company, "S.J. Games" fought back in court and finally won, but nearly went under financially. The investigation zeroed in on "fraud" supposedly committed by the company regarding the hacker activity and the fact that the company promoted the hacker's newsletter, "Phrack". However, this is so flimsy that it makes no common sense; in fact, the affidavit made so little sense that a Judge threw the case out, awarding S.J. Games $50,000 plus $250,000 attorney's fees. That is a lot of taxpayer's money to pay for a stupid, nonsensical case!

But, it does highlight the fact that our Illuminist government, the Secret Service then run by President George Bush (Sr.) was worried about something that S.J. Games was up to, and cooked up a reason to invade their offices and confiscate their materials. We think, after you review these materials, you will believe, as do I, that the real reason the Secret Service invaded S.J. Games was to shut them down so they could not produce the game "Illuminati -- New World Order (INWO), for it revealed too much of the plan that was still 11 years in the future.

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'Libby-style perjury and obstruction of justice'

If, as Tenet says in his memoir, it was the Aug. 6, 2001, PDB that prompted his visit on Aug. 17, what might have brought him back on Aug. 24?

I believe the answer is to be found in court documents released at the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the fledgling pilot in Minnesota interested in learning to steer a plane but indifferent as to how to land it.

Those documents show that on Aug. 23, 2001, Tenet was given an alarming briefing, focusing on Moussaoui, titled "Islamic Extremist Learns to Fly." Tenet was told that Moussaoui was training to fly a 747 and, among other suspicion-arousing data, had paid for the training in cash.

The FBI arrested him on Aug. 16 on grounds he had overstayed his 90-day visa and the CIA was working on the case with the FBI. This might well have been what led Tenet to go back to Crawford on the 24th.

There is no indication that the president or Tenet ever followed up with senior FBI officials. Then-Acting FBI Director Thomas Pickard has testified that he did not learn of it until the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001.

Things proceeded more quickly at the working level, at least for this discrete part of the problem. Tenet's analysts had learned about Moussaoui in a back-door message from the FBI Field Office in Minneapolis enlisting CIA's help in obtaining information on Moussaoui from French intelligence.

The Minneapolis case agent had already telephoned the FBI legal attaché office in Paris, which contacted the French government on Aug. 16 or 17.

With unusual speed, on Aug. 22 and 27, the French provided information that made a connection between Moussaoui and a rebel leader in Chechnya, Ibn al Khattab, and indicated that Khattab had a connection with Osama bin Laden.

Court documents from the Moussaoui case also show that on Aug. 30, 2001, CIA analysts were able to confirm to Tenet that Moussaoui had ties with radical fundamentalist groups and Osama bin Laden. This would have been good grist for Tenet's briefing of the president on Aug. 31 in Washington.

Nevertheless, in Tenet's sworn testimony before the 9/11 Commission on April 14, 2004, he said he had not mentioned Moussaoui to the president during August 2001. Tenet further testified that he did not report on Moussaoui at the cabinet-level meeting convened on Sept. 4 to discuss terrorism.

 

~ From: Jail time for Tenet? ~

 

Obama’s right turn?

Israeli analyst Uri Avneri, in an essay entitled "No, I Can't!", expressed the bitterness of many Israeli peace activists for "a speech that broke all records for obsequiousness and fawning." Avneri goes on to observe the irony of how Obama's "dizzying success in the primaries was entirely due to his promise to bring about a change, to put an end to the rotten practices of Washington and to replace the old cynics with a young, brave person who does not compromise his principles. And lo and behold, the very first thing he does after securing the nomination of his party is to compromise his principles."
Avneri addressed the view of many Israelis that "Obama's declarations at the AIPAC conference are very, very bad for peace. And what is bad for peace is bad for Israel, bad for the world and bad for the Palestinian people."

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Los Angeles: DWP drops 400,000 balls onto Ivanhoe Reservoir

 The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power dropped the ball Monday.

Actually, it dropped 400,000 of them.

 

The agency started dumping thousands of floating plastic balls into Ivanhoe Reservoir -- the dwarf sibling next door to Silver Lake Reservoir, the neighborhood's crown jewel -- to protect the drinking water supply needed for summer.

The water needs to be shaded because when sunlight mixes with the bromide and chlorine in Ivanhoe's water, the carcinogen bromate forms, said Pankaj Parekh, DWP's director for water quality compliance. Bromide is naturally present in groundwater and chlorine is used to kill bacteria, he said, but sunlight is the final ingredient in the potentially harmful mix.

The DWP drop was designed to stop the three from mingling in the 10-acre, 58-million-gallon Ivanhoe Reservoir. The 102-year-old facility serves about 600,000 customers downtown and in South Los Angeles.

Elected officials, community activists and two dozen DWP officials and maintenance workers grabbed a few balls out of a white tub and tossed them into the aquamarine pool after a brief news conference.

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