by Gordon Duff, VT Sr. Editor … with New Eastern Outlook, Moscow
[ Editor’s Note: Gordon starts off the new year reviewing an old theme of US official participation in mega drug-running campaigns that went into the pockets of a large number of political, military and security officials.
The bosses all jumped in to get a piece of the action when word came down the chain of command at the beginning of the Reagan regime that, “We are now partners with the cartel”.
The cover of course was that it was being done “for national security reasons”, and I guess these reasons were so complex they felt the American public could never understand, so they never tried to. Imagine that.
This is not really an old story, as the same one has continued, with the cherry on top of the Citizens United Supreme Court case. It allowed these international drug profits to flow into PACS because it is not even legal to ask the foreign corporate donors where the money came from.
We were shocked when even corporate media never really attacked this incredible setup, despite its effectively legalizing drug monies and giving a free pass as long as they paid for protection from various US parties.
That is the world we live in folks, one where not a single criminal case that we know of has ever been brought against this form of the drug traffic. Only the independent drug runners have to face prosecution risks. The politically connected have virtual immunity if they are generous, and they are… Jim W. Dean ]
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– First published … January 01, 2018 –
Few who look at the US occupation of Afghanistan, can do so without considering a few realities. When America entered Afghanistan in 2001, reality began to distort. America’s allies on the ground were call the “Northern Alliance.” In actuality, they were Uzbek and Tajik drug lords with private armies who had been financially gutted by the Taliban’s anti-drug policies.
There was virtually no opium production in Afghanistan in 2001 when America took on the Taliban seeking what Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld described as literally “dozens” of advanced underground bases that housed an army of up to 30,000 al Qaeda fighters.
These bases with supplied graphics, reminiscent of Netanyahu’s Iran bomb graphic, were shown on TV talk shows. America is still seeking these bases, none have yet to be found.
Later it was learned that the Taliban had, in actuality, “hosted” up to twelve Saudi members of al Qaeda who had asked for religious asylum and that no Taliban force had ever existed in Afghanistan nor had anyone involved in the planning and execution of attacks on the United States been tied to Afghanistan or the Taliban.
What did transpire, however, was a massive program of opium production organized by USAID which provided shipments of fertilizer and funding for irrigation projects intended specifically for expanding opium production. According to the UN, by 2005, in four short years, a nation with no opium production now produced 95% of the world’s production.
Moreover, according to FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, an America investment group, partnered with rogue groups within Pakistan’s ISI and partnered with the family of then Afghan Prime Minister Karzai, began building heroin processing facilities across Helmand Province.
Among the owners were two US Senators and one member of the House of Representatives. The venture operated under the cover of dry cleaning plants that imported heroin processing chemicals through the Pakistani port of Karachi and transported same into Afghanistan paying royalties to the Taliban for undisturbed use of ground transit routes.
Behind this is the story of the handling of the funds, moved by US diplomats as letters of credit involving partnerships recently exposed in both the Panama and Paradise “papers” scandals.
Another rumored source of drug capital for US officials involves accusations made against a former US presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. In late 2012, only weeks before the election, a retired FBI agent of some repute, delivered files outlining the relationship between nearly 1/3rd of America’s elected officials and a series of drug cartels operating out of Colombia and Mexico.
Included were documents and photographs showing how billions of dollars were laundered through accounts held in the Cayman Islands by a well known American investment firm into personal accounts in the names of politicians including the leadership of America’s congress, 1500 accounts in all.
America’s links to the drug trade are nothing new. Long after Britain stopped the slave trade, America continued to trade in Africans whose labor became far more valuable after the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney.
Though cotton was “king”, the real fortunes were built in the opium trade after Britain also ended their perceived participation in the Chinese opium trade by outsourcing the transit of opium to American ship owners, creating the basis for some of the great fortunes of today and America’s “blue blood” East Coast elites.
Closer to home, America is being devastated by an illegal trade in two substances, the worst of which is pharmaceutical grade opiates. Life expectancy in America has, of recent years, lowered due to trade in opiates, the majority of which are legally manufactured in the United States and distributed through prescriptions written by physicians licensed by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
Past that is the drug methamphetamine, which is manufactured informally and widely distributed across America, a trade featured in the award-winning television series Breaking Bad.
Of late, Hollywood and the internet have taken to a fictionalized retelling of the Regan years and the trade in cocaine and weapons that led to the conviction of 47 members of the Executive Branch of government under what was called “Iran Contra.”
Under that program, President Reagan allowed advanced weapons to be sold, through Israeli and Saudi agents, to Iran while laundering the cash through Colombian drug lords. A fictional telling of the story involves Mena, Arkansas as the center of operations and rumors of Clinton family involvement.
The truth is a bit different, enough so as to bring to question why recent films like Tom Cruise’s “American Made,” theoretically the story of accused CIA drug trafficker Barry Seal, are now in release.
Sources close to these real operations at the time describe a different scenario. They describe a program using pilots running drugs and weapons under the supervision of security contracting firms Kroll Group and Wackenhut with billions in cash laundered through what was then the offices of the Bush family owned Bank of Venezuela, located in the 1400 block of Brickell Ave. in Miami.
CIA “old timers” describe how cartel heads like Escobar and others traveled around the US with Reagan officials, giving orders to FBI and CIA officials while the US Department of Defense provided advanced electronics and jamming equipment to allow cocaine to enter the US undetected, where it was dropped into the Florida everglades and, eventually, flown directly into landing fields as far north as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Dozens of America banks, Wall Street investment houses along with military and political leaders of the time were all involved.
Thus, when conspiracy theorists, as they are conveniently referred to, allude to complicity on behalf of US officials, both military and civilian, in the 9/11 attacks, these same officials were, in fact, those who had also run the narcotics trade under Iran Contra or the later NAFTA related cartel trade with Mexico or even the suspected “Golden Triangle” trade of the Vietnam era.
Then again, immediately after 9/11, the massive opium/heroin trade from Afghanistan began. Is this coincidence?
Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War that has worked on veterans and POW issues for decades and consulted with governments challenged by security issues. He’s a senior editor and chairman of the board of VT, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
*
Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
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JS, I’ve known more addicts than I’d like to admit and I’ve asked why a dealer would cut his junk with lethal synthetics like fentanyl and kill his own customers. A couple different addicts suggested that when someone dies of an overdose, word on the street gets around about the dealer having the best $hit in town, which will kill you if you’re not careful and as a result, more people flock to him…F’n sickening I know.
Comradery of Insane Assholes.
@ Worker Bee
Exactly my experience. Boots used to sell codeine linctus for years; it was cheap and effective, and its purchase was considered unremarkable. Ask for a bottle now and you’re immediately seen as suspicious.
Yet, as you say, those abusing the drugs manage to access their supplies.
There is a similarly crazy situation in the global use and access to analgesics, especially opiates and synthetic versions. The populations of the ‘rich’ nations use most of the available supply leaaving the vast majority of people to suffer without adequate relief.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160203110639.htm
Is Afghanistan more economically important as a source of narcotics feedstock, or as a place to exploit mining of rare earth elements at below market prices?
“Later it was learned that the Taliban had, in actuality, “hosted” up to twelve Saudi members of al Qaeda who had asked for religious asylum and that no Taliban force had ever existed in Afghanistan…” – GD
Should not the second “Taliban” be “al Qaeda”?
P.S. The British spelling “Taleban” is preferable, since it can be changed to “Valeban” (motorcycle racing followers will understand).
Why can junkies get all these prescription narcotics, but no one will even prescribe a week’s worth of codeine cough syrup anymore to someone who cannot even rest due to a dry hacking cough?
Criminals In Action.
Turkey is worth a review of their actions this past year. They openly beat up protesters in the US and the guys who fought back were arrested. The Turkey ‘coup” and all the jailings. They shot down a Russian jet and executed the pilot. The miles long convoys of oil trucks. Flynn and his contract. They are acting like a gang not a government. The odds are pretty good that heroin from Afghanistan is profiting Turkey as well. The scene of Erdogan standing by the car straightening his jacket, and then just turns and heads inside while the thugs act like they own the US. Rumors of Romney wanting back in the game… they don’t arrest each other, they steal each others profits. Without drug money, incentive evaporates. They are Father rapers. The meanest nastiest father rapers of them all.
One of the nastier aspects of Mormonism and Jehovahs witnesses and Judaism and much more quietly but not less so, Catholicism, is they feel justified enough, to employ specific rules within the operations manuals, that the regular laws are for the heathen peasants, and the law of “god” is from them. And if god says heroin money can be used for ‘good”, then it is absolutely fine with Jesus. How long does an E-5 do in Leavenworth for ten grams of heroin ? And how long does a Christian senator do for 400 kilos ? One thing I always say about McCrystal, boy it sure would be a boost if he came out for the peasants. Love to have that guy on our side.
JohnZ, want Jehovah’s Witness to go away and never come back? Wait until they try to con you by sending an 85 year old woman, (hoping you won’t slam the door in their face) and answer the door a$$ naked! Then, start grilling them about why they think they will be one of the supposed 144 thousand chosen ones to be resurrected in the kingdom of heaven. Being serious now, I tried telling them politely to please go away and never return, but politeness does not work with them. So the next time they came, I told the 85 year old woman and the 14 year old girl, that I found Christ all on my own; that I was not robbed of my free will and baptized at birth into an institutionalized religion that I know nothing about; that I have my Bible upstairs and I’m perfectly familiar with what it says; that I do not need a cult of charlatans to interpret it’s words for me; and that I’d be willing to go get it right now and discuss any part of it they wanted. I was setting a trap, but they left the bait, tucked tail and split. They haven’t been back since.
The cotton gin created a stark reality and that was good for the globalist as they do now and always have enjoyed the enslavement of humanity. These people have gotten tens of trillions at nearly 0.01%from us so sure they feel confident in using our precious military as a means of providing muscle to protect the manufacture and transportation of dope.Bribes,er ah, anonymous undeclared campaign funds for traitors are one more reason Citizens United must be reversed and the US Treasury controls the purse strings while the globalist banker gets pitched out the door.
@ JohnZ
Been there, got (drunk on) the teeshirt…
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