CIA revelations about its clandestine operations undermine public trust in government.
The Washington Post has published an article announcing that the CIA plans to declassify decades of “dirty laundry” being referred to as “the family jewels.”…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Article comments
76 - Clavos
The Good Doctor says:
"I don't understand why Uncle Sam can't just stop sulking about the Bay of Pigs and open the door to getting rid of Castro and the Communists the tried and tested way: by introducing the downtrodden populace to the wonders of Shiny American Goodies."
Uncle Sam is actually not driving that. The embargo is the product of the fevered minds of the Cuban exile community here in Miami, and their representatives in Congress, Ileana Ros Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz Balart, backed by the Cuban American National Foundation.
I'm not joking. Practically no one in the US, civilian or government official, cares about the embargo; it is, and always has been, the pet Cold War tool of the above mentioned folks, who have reliably delivered bloc votes to the Republican party for almost fifty years.
There are farmers in the Midwest, and companies all over the US which would like nothing better than to see the embargo struck down tomorrow.
It really has nothing to do with Playa Giron ("Bay of Pigs"), which, once JFK pulled the air support (assuring its failure), wound up being an entirely Cuban operation.
During the 1990s I operated direct Boeing 727 charter flights (with OFAC permits) between Miami and various Cuban cities. The flights were open only to bona fide Cubans with family on the island. The demand far outstripped the supply of seats.
Travelers on these flights invariably carried huge amounts of goods to their captive relatives. Even back then, I saw the truth of what you say about "Shiny American Goodies," and liked to think that by operating those flights and enabling the inter cultural contact, I was helping in some small way to bring down Fidel.
Fat lot of good it did in that regard; but we did make a lot of money on those flights.
77 - Dave Nalle
We actually have a whole government agency whose job is to spread Shiny American Goodies around. It's called the USIA. My father worked there for about 40 years. They arrange cultural and student exchanges, touring art exhibits, trade shows, business expos and all sorts of programs to bring American culture and American products to the rest of the world. They've probably done more good for the US overseas than anything else we've ever tried, but they get very little attention.
Dave
78 - alessandro nicolo
#74 Dr. Dreadful - American shiny goods may not be open policy but Canadian and European second-rate shiny goods are. And it still hasn't done squat. Mind you, these countries are merely profiting off communism and the backs of Cubans.
Clavos, man that sounded like a good venture.
Ruvy, I wasn't trying to make an intellectual point about the poppies. Just rubbing MR - which is fun. It was intriguing to note that she overlooked them. That's all.
79 - moonraven
Moonraven overlooks nothing.
The taliban STOPPED the production of opium poppies. That's why the US invaded Afghanistan.
God, could you people possibly be any more ignorant?
Of course the CIA is a mafia--and has partnered many capers with the mafia in the US--such as the one that led to the assassination of JFK.
80 - MCH
moonraven;
What MLB team did you cover?
81 - moonraven
Various--Cubs, Mariners, Texas Rangers, Red Sox--primarily commentary about individual figures which I started doing as a project with Ferguson Jenkins.
82 - alessandro Nicolo
Excerpts from a piece from The Independent. I think you did overlook - as you normally do. Not to mention being selective. It's easy to say they "stopped" it without maintaining things in proper context. This is just one tiny, example of this.
As for you writing and hooking up with Jenkins - proof that life is cruelly unfair. You're juvenile stance on America is so well documented yet there you are covering MLB.
At least, I admit I know nothing.
"When the Taliban swept to power in Afghanistan in 1996, the drugs industry was already well established. The movement imposed taxes on poppy cultivation, just like the ones that existed for other crops, and charged fees for narcotics production, which brought in $15m to $27m annually, according to a United Nations report. Just over a year ago it finally fulfilled its promises to stamp out poppy growing, reducing production from 3,100 tons in 2000 to virtually nothing in the first half of this year, again according to the United Nations.
But the criminal gangs in charge of refining and distribution remain powerful, and the Taliban did nothing to stop the production and export of heroin from existing stockpiles. The threat to allow poppies to grow again could be a sign of the movement's weakness rather than its strength, observers say. It may be seeking to regain lost support from farmers angered by the ban. One source said confiscated weapons had been returned to farmers in an effort to enlist them in a struggle against any US-led attack.
Before the present intelligence offensive, attempts to link Mr bin Laden directly to drugs had been vague. Congressional staff in Washington who had seen the files said he did not actually traffic in drugs, but made money from the trade by hiring out his fighters to guard refineries and escort convoys on their way out through Iran. The Taliban rake off money from drugs in similar ways. A report to the House of Commons accuses them of protecting stockpiles - but the narcotics official scoffed at the idea of "mullahs selling heroin".
There is also the uncomfortable fact that almost half the heroin flowing out of Afghanistan is thought to come from areas controlled by the Northern Alliance, the West's putative partner in the campaign to oust the Taliban. Any expansion of the alliance's territory could see an increase in the drugs supply.
In his meeting last night with Mr Blair, Pakistan's military President, General Pervez Musharraf, would have been entitled to point out to his visitor that the drugs trade had its origins in the war against the Soviet occupiers of Afghanistan in the 1980s. The Afghan mujahedin, with the full knowledge of the intelligence agencies of America, Britain and other allies, refined and exported heroin - previously unknown in this part of the world - to finance their struggle. Evidence even exists that the CIA encouraged the spread of hard drugs to demoralise Russian troops."
83 - MCH
moonraven;
And it was TV, eh. Local or national? Ever do anything on Yaz or Jim Rice?
84 - Dave Nalle
And, like the stopped clock which is right twice a day, MR actually says something that makes sense:
The taliban STOPPED the production of opium poppies. That's why the US invaded Afghanistan.
Of course, she doesn't know WHY it makes sense, but occasionally shots in the dark work.
If this suggestion is true - which I'd like to believe - the purpose behind it is to increase the flow of opium into Iran and other radical countries. Iran has a massive drug problem, and the more drugs that flow into Iran, the more it weakens the country. I'd like to believe that our government could think with that kind of deep strategy, but I tend to doubt it.
More likely they just wanted to empower the warlords because they can impose regional stability and fitht the Taliban.
Dave
85 - STM
Dave: "And, like the stopped clock which is right twice a day, MR actually says something that makes sense:"
Geez Dave, fair dinkum. Pretty deep stuff for blogcritics. Love it. How'd you go in the floods, BTW. I saw some pretty hairy pictures in here yesterday from areas around Austin. All good?
86 - Dave Nalle
I'm not going to be home until tomorrow, but by all accounts most of the heavy rains passed just north of our neighborhood, so we were spared the worst.
Dave
87 - Paula Angelique Hafner
My name is Paula and I write and I am fron Austria and I am just four years old.
88 - moonraven
It's easy to see why you decided to post here.
Lots of folks spend their time pissing in the sandbox.
89 - reb
There appears to be a lot of conspiracy theories involving the CIA on the web and in various books by ex-CIA agents. One list is compiled.
There are too many URL's to be accepted in this post.
90 - Erik Larson
Yes, the 70+ evil CIA foreign interventions of the last century were already widely publicized thru independent media, and sometimes covered in some sense by the corporate media. Many have been protesting the CIA's illegal and immoral operations to no avail as Republocrats control almost the entire Congress. Also, given a trusting public (like many posting here) who are helpfully uninformed because they believe the corporate media tell the whole news (i used to, until the NYTimes and Judy Miller WMD lies were exposed), for them to get away with not saying anything about it. Perhaps enough people are making noise now, that may be why the CIA thinks it may as well get some of the old big stuff off its chest like it's a new CIA and has nothing to hide when it comes to crimes committed by long gone predecessors, outside of statutes of limitations.
Patriots, those who support the Constitution's checks and balances on the powers of the branches, put there by the founding fathers to guard against tyranny, be sure to watch for the Executive Summary of the CIA IGs report on 9/11 that the 9/11 bill mandates being released within 30 days of passage.
If sources and methods are protected, then there should be no harm in public oversight of corporate, intelligence and military activities- what do they have to hide? If this Republic is to be one in more than name only, the public needs to to see the info Rice was given when Tenet and his deputy called an emergency meeting with her 7/10/01 to tell her bluntly that there will be a spectacular terror attack on US soil in the coming weeks and months? Sign the Jersey Girls Petition.
And testimony under oath from Bush and Tenet about their meeting in Crawford in August, 3 weeks after the PDB- Tenet admits the meeting in his book- says it was to keep the president updated - 2 weeks before 9/11.
Who is ready to justify overthrowing popular, democratically elected governments and supporting puppet governments that enable US corporate exploitation of those nation's human and natural resources? How is democratic, open government and fair trade not better- and more like Christ?
91 - information.wanted
INFORMATION WANTED
An international investigative journalist assisted by a former CIA official is writing a book about English-language newspapers in Europe secretly funded by the CIA and used as cover for their operatives.
We seek information and experiences from former editors, reporters and photographers from the following newspapers:
Rome Daily American (Rome, Italy)
Guidepost (Madrid, Spain)
The Prague Post (Prague, Czech Republic)
The Budapest Post (Budapest, Hungary)
The Kosova Post (Pristina, Kosova)
The Montenegro Times (Podgorica, Montenegro)
We suspect there are many other newspapers, especially in eastern Europe, also being funded by the CIA and would like to hear about your suspicions.
All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.
92 - La Verita
There are many things that people on this blog still dont know, and I am here to bring the truth. Although i cannot specify my whole background, I can say that i have worked with the US government on mind blowing projects, few of which have even been thought of by conspiracy theorists. Project Gotham is only one of many that I will periodically reveal to the people reading this post. Project Gotham was a project initiated by the CIA. This project outlined the planned assassinations of top government officials around the world, these officials and in one case a President were rebellious towards the US governments efforts to gain personal wealth and power in order to manipulate the people of the world. These operations were put in place after the 9/11 attacks when the people were in a state of frenzy and panic, all of which was caused by the American Government who in the first place orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. I have all the documents to prove most of the events that i will intrust to you are in-fact real and were in operation. I am tired of the lies, i will no longer be controlled like a mindless being. The truth, the truth will be exposed.
Yours Truly
La Verita
93 - Robert Beckford
THE KALPA VIGRAHA EXPERIMENTS
This is as bizarre as it gets.
"Eliminate the need for a vaccine. Develop the ultimate immune system to protect the population of your country. Then divert all funds currently being utilized for medical research and health care, and use them for the purpose of defense against the spread of Communism. "
This was the dream of the CIA during the Cold-war days of the early 1960s. The following is the story of an astounding revelation made recently (in Dec 2008) by two retired CIA officials on condition of anonymity.
The full story of the KALPA VIGRAHA is available elsewhere on the net, easily found if you Google-search.
It revolves around a tiny 47.10 gm Hindu idol made out of a unique alloy that was discovered in the Himalayas by CIA agents during a campaign with the Chinese. A manuscript that came along with the idol prompted the CIA to engage in a bizarre experiment which required human recipients to drink three glasses of specially "charged" water. Apparently a harmless experiment, considering that the only way the water was "treated" was by immersing the idol in it for nine days.
That was 1960. Nobody died as a direct result of the experiment, and the matter was quite forgotten. But as the story broke recently in Dec 2008, 45-48 years after the consumption of the "charged" water, it suddenly dawned on the CIA officials that everyone listed in their files whom they had fed the water to had lived to an age of 110 years or more. The two officials themselves were 98 and 100 years old. They had consumed the water too!
The reason why the story broke and reached the media was because the CIA had "misplaced" or lost the idol.
Question is how many more people in the US have been fed this water?
Three glasses of water.
Also, if the story is true, what would one pay to obtain three glasses of that charmed water today?
Truly X-file stuff, as the original authors Kate Houghton and Robert Menard have exclaimed.
We hope to hear more on the "Kalpa Vigraha" story as more information leaks out.
Robert
94 - boo
La Verita. aka the truth, you stole that off the Veritas Project
95 - Brunelleschi
You can bet they are busy as hell in Venezuela right now.
96 - Clavos
You can bet they are busy as hell in Venezuela right now.
I certainly hope so. From the news reports, ol' Hugo's getting pretty ripe for the plucking.
97 - krn
i think this is not cool but super cool because i know because i am cool because.
98 - the love doctor
hhhhhuuuuhhh i dont understand why we cant love each other and be best fwens all night and day long. my mind is boggled by our innability to love.
99 - Gonzo
"hhhhhuuuuhhh i dont understand why we cant love each other and be best fwens all night and day long. my mind is boggled by our innability to love. "
are you serious .
that was just a horrendous excuse to post a comment on this blog ,mr."love doctor".
i think we need to save more money on dance education classes in order to dance our feelings.
100 - the love doctor
WHY would should we waste our money on dancing? please grow nuts, im a DOCTOR of love, dont give me anything less than perfection, for if i choose to dance than i shall dance my feelings alone, and where i can not hurt myself oor anyone else.
i was disowned by my mother for ny lack of "groovy" dance moves. i dance alone and in the dark. more importantly i dace completely and utterly ALONE.
101 - Gonzo
"WHY would should we waste our money on dancing? please grow nuts, im a DOCTOR of love, dont give me anything less than perfection"
hay, hay, are you a homo doctor of love?
yes, i think you are.
a homo doctor of love.
if you didnt catch that,
that means your a homosexual who gives love to doctors.
h4l?
102 - the love doctor
how dare you. slurs of such pain and hurt almost make me weep, almost, but not quite. A HOMO? is that what i am? it very well be true, but that is neither here nor there. im completely baffled that im being called a homo, by a man named Gonzo, thats hypocritical. Like my mother was,
:( i miss that woman. glorious, is what she was. of course i had to kill her, she betrayed me by sleeping wiht my boyfriend. so i did a number on her face.
no i didnt everything that i just said was lie. HAH whose retarded now? i'll give you a hint its probably not me.
103 - Gonzo.
"how dare you."
The love doctor, you are deeply my hero, i think about you at night and i frolic around a happy-go-lucky state of mind while listening to the BeeGees just to remind myself of your great being. i respect such a man like you , to talk so greatly about yourself, but you know this just leaves me to say one thing - suck it .
and if you didnt catch that, im inferring to give my wanker oral sex.
now lets not get off topic.
104 - the love doctor
please all i ask is that you do not offen my wanker. i too frolic in flowers and find glee in the movements of wanker sucking. but i choke on small objects, so ..... you know what im talking about. so ummm do you have any pussies?
105 - rory b carrillo sr
the conspiracy in not a foreign question but of reality that the cia is conducting mind control on the citizens of this nation. using a subconscious method of auditory transmission of a microwave frequency.
the truth is out there,just believe.
106 - Krystal
Okay, let me just say that if it weren't for the CIA, we wouldn't be in the place we are today. The CIA is constantly keeping track of terrorist activites and creating new devices and such. They are secret, intelligent, and highly advanced agents that are only looking out for our best interest and all the other people in the United States. Who cares if they have done some things and have covered it up (if they have), it was only for our best interest. Sometimes people, and things need to be eliminated in order to maintain order and balance. And, if they supposidly tried to eliminate people, maybe they did not really try to eliminate them...maybe it was a scare tactic.....
107 - Krystal
And another thing...La Verita is a liar. If they truly worked for the government before, then they would be in prison right now for treason against the government.
108 - bobscooking
man you all talk too much..
109 - Edossa
Gibat ati mixed theories!
110 - Edossa
Good by Oroguduru and Nekemti wollega; quote.
111 - Edossa
Cia free from military and poletical parties. IQ level. Hit them.
112 - Edossa
Time less Isreal world is borring. America and Dambi Dollo today world. Hiting Isreal live in new order of todays world. Jesus Christ is my Almight and my families too. I has right to learn, work and live in life. Don't rub in to me. God i myself.
113 - Dr Dreadful
It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that comments 109-113 make more sense than some of the articles that are published in the Politics section.
114 - sorry cant.
Would u like to know the truth?i served uss stark 84 85 iran contra.
115 - Edossa
Edamin Dada is the true son of Uganda and Africa. I am not for prime minster Meles Zenawi name, but for his gole.