- George Herbert Walker Bush & Jeb Bush have had extensive participation in CIA drug running.
Bibliography on governmental and CIA drug smuggling and related criminal activities:
3) Barry and the Boys: the CIA, the Mob and America's Secret History by Daniel Hopsicker (2006, written in 2001, lawsuits delayed it for 5 years. Extremely important book.)
Jonathon Marshall (1998)
8) The Big White Lie: The Deep Cover Operation That Exposed the CIA Sabotage of the Drug War: An Undercover Odyssey by Michael Levine and Laura Kavanau-Levine (2012)
9) The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade by Alfred W. McCoy (1972 and republished 2003)
10) Out of Control: The Story of the Reagan Administration’s Secret War in Nicaragua, the Illegal Arms Pipeline, and the Contra Drug Connection by Leslie Cockburn (1987)
11) Blue Thunder: How the Mafia Owned and Finally Murdered Cigarette Boat King Donald Aronov by Thomas Burdick and Charlene Mitchell (1990)
16) American Desperado: My Life - From Mafia Soldier to Cocaine Cowboy to Secret Government Asset by Jon Roberts & Evan Wright (2012)
17) Cocaine, Death Squads, and the War on Terror: U.S. Imperialism and Class Struggle in Colombia by Oliver Villar and Drew Cottle (2011)
18) The Crimes of Patriots: A True Tale of Dope, Dirty Money, and the CIA by Jonathan Kwitney (1987)
19) The Politics of Cocaine: How U.S. Foreign Policy Has Created a Thriving Drug Industry in Central and South America by William L. Marcy (2010)
20) How to Get Away with Murder in America: Drug Lords, Dirty Pols, Obsessed Cops, and the Quiet Man Who Became the CIA’s Master Killer by Evan Wright (2012)
21) Defrauding America: Encyclopedia of Secret Operations by the CIA, DEA, and other Covert Agencies (third edition) by Rodney Stich (1998)
24) Conspiracy – The Secret History: The Secret Heartbeat of America, the CIA and Drugs by Daniel Hopsicker (2004)
25) Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb by Nick Schou (2006)
Bibliography of Books about the Darker Side of the Bushes
1) Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America by Russ Baker (2008)
7) American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush by Kevin Phillips
15) Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential by James Moore and Wayne Slater (2004) -
Mar21
CIA Pegasus Agent and Assassin Chip Tatum: Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush was on the verge of Murdering Oliver North (a loose cannon)
Chip Tatum: VP GHW Bush was at one point on the verge of Murdering Oliver North (a loose cannon) and U.S. intelligence *did* Murder Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme (2/28/86) to keep a lid on Iran-Contra
Sounds awful? Remember these are Machiavellian CIA Mafia types and there is no honor among thieves or murderers. People have a hard time accepting such material but this is par for the course for these folks. Note bene: the murder of Olof Palme came within two weeks of the murder of Barry Seal (2/19/86), so desperate measures were being taken to keep Iran-Contra secret in early 1986. Btw, the material in this post is not in books and it is in very few places on the internet; it comes from Jon Gentry's interview of Chip Tatum in 1997. - Robert
From Jon Gentry of Dallas who interviewed Chip Tatum in 1997, that is the “agent” who Jon Gentry is referring to.
Many people have reported on the activities of GHW Bush. In 1997, I interviewed one of Bush, Sr's top CIA agents who refused an unethical order and went AWOL, subsequently got charged with treason for refusing a direct order from the President. This guy had been one of Bill Colby's close group and actually retired when Bush became DCI, only to be dragged out of retirement by Bush. Long story. Interviewed him in 1997 and again in 1998, both times at the behest of a former head (SAIC) of the Los Angeles FBI. Real interesting stuff. But perhaps most interesting is that this agent made statements in the form of predictions, but they weren't predictions, per se. They were the culled intel from being in over a hundred eyes-only planning sessions with Bush. Stuff like the plan for a global governance, a New World Order; the bringing down of the American economy and the splitting of the currency into domestic and international, two separate systems to protect against hyper-inflation as the dollar dies in world currencies. Many other things. All these "predictions" came from meetings no later than early 1992 when he walked out. Our current maladies have been in the works that long.-->
And I'll throw this in just for Kensley. This agent participated in the hit on Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden. The hit was ordered because of an unwise conversation Lt. Col. Oliver North had with Palme in reference to illegal firearms dealing. "Loose lips sink ships," was one of Bush, Sr's favorite axioms. In this case a foreign head of state died because of North's "loose lips." North has no idea how close he came to sharing the same fate. The agent had orders that if a handkerchief was not dropped after a conference with Gorbanifar, the entire room including North were to be eliminated. That was after another North gaff. But Bush's "loose lips" policy extended to those who could give testimony in congressional hearings, also. I believe an Israeli by the name of Amiram Nir got a subpoena. The agent I spoke of actually knew Nir, but he was not told whose plane it was he was ordered to bring down. Nir died in the crash and subsequent fire, another victim to Bush's "loose lips" policy. I don't know, but I am told that Amiram Nir had about the same public interest in Israel as JFK, Jr. had in America. Bush, Sr gave the order for Nir's elimination to cover his own trail. Bush proclaimed, "I was not in the loop," on Iran Contra. Yeah, right.
Kensley, how naive do you wish to remain? Bush headed the CIA before becoming Vice President. An international child kidnapping-trafficking organization with its hub in Washington, DC was being investigated by Customs, the DC Police and the FBI. The investigation into this horrific monstrous operation was shut down with notes that it was "a CIA internal matter." With the current internet snooping I don't recommend checking it out but the org was The Finders. Yes, it made the papers. Yes, there are Customs documents pertaining to their interrupted investigation. Let me assure you, Bush, Sr. IS in the loop.
JON GENTRY 6/8/11 email to Robert Morrow and tlcdallas from
Thanks for the dissertation. I saved the entire email to a file to study.
I noted you underlined threaten to murder, talking about Pegasus and Perot. Tatum did explain that a neutralization was a three-step process. First would come intimidation-coercion. If that did not work, or jointly in conjunction would be a compromise phase. Only if intimidation and compromise failed would the stage three assassination be carried out. What Tatum was not telling is that by the time he received the tasking, initial stages had already been tried in almost every case. The Operational Sub-Group which Tatum/Pegasus worked for was the assassination group. They were the Jackals which John Perkins referred to in his book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man." When Perkins failed, Pegasus got the call.
An example of the intimidation/coercion/assassination being all wrapped into one was the case of Daniel Ortega. The US was demanding Ortega hold democratic elections. Ortega refused until he was contacted and told to put a whole battalion around his nephew Raul (I think I recall) and he would still die on the specified date. The nephew died and Ortega held democratic elections. That was a Pegasus operation.
In the case of Perot, I've talked to some of Perot's people, one bodyguard in particular. Perot had his own Merc's. This one stated his opinion that no one would have been able to get by them and get to Perot; that it couldn't happen; which is just ridiculous. But it presents the state of mind that threats would likely not work to intimidate Perot and his encampment. I'm guessing Perot had already been contacted in some way previous; that this was no surprise.
I can't claim to understand Tatum's mind. But from putting things together he said another possibility also occurs to me. Within the covert ops community it was well-known that an operative involved in a high profile incident would likely be disappeared afterwards, have an accident. Tatum was no friend of the Bush crowd. What do you do when you're expendable? You receive a high-profile assignment? Time to resign. So he makes his resignation count by sending word through a trusted FBI friend to Ross Perot that an assassination would be attempted if Perot did not step down. Perot was informed at Saddlebrook Academy in Florida. What more compelling threat could be delivered than having one of the country's top assassins inform you he had just refused the mission, but someone else would be found who would carry it out? It worked. Perot stepped out of the race.
JG
Watch the YouTube interview of Chip Tatum about his orders from GHW Bush to neutralize (murder) Ross Perot in 1991-1992 period:
"CIA +George HW Bush,Gary Hart,H Ross Perot,Blackmail" is name of YouTube Video
Also, this extremely valuable video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHV68fjDiCE Entitled "Presidential Secrets - Former CIA Black Op Speaks Out with ex-FBI Ted Gunderson
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http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKsealB2.jpg
Did Jeb Bush, VP George Herbert Walker Bush and Oliver North Murder Barry Seal in February, 1986?
By Robert Morrow 512-306-1510 Morrow321@aol.com
There is a question that needs to be asked of Jeb Bush, George Herbert Walker Bush, and Oliver North.
It is “Did you murder Barry Seal in February, 1986?”
http://i.cdn.turner.com/trutv/trutv.com/graphics/photos/gangsters_outlaws/outlaws/barry_seal/BarrySeal-dead.jpg
Barry Seal was a legendary CIA drug smuggler and ace pilot who had literally worked for the Agency since he was a teenage pilot prodigy in the late 1950’s. By 1986 Barry Seal was having legal problems (criminal and a huge IRS tax liability) that not even his CIA connections could protect him from and according to Seal’s lawyer Lewis Unglesby, Barry Seal was a threat to testify against Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush. In fact, in early 1986 Barry Seal was threatening GHW Bush to get the IRS off his back or he (Seal) was going to blow the whistle on the Contra scheme and CIA drug smuggling.
Two weeks after his argument with Vice President GHW Bush, Barry Seal was pumped full of bullets and murdered outside his Baton Rouge halfway house on Feb. 19, 1986. The three Columbians who were convicted of the crime thought they were working for Lt. Col. Oliver North of the National Security Council. North’s alias in the 1980’s was “John Cathey.” The personal phone number of George Herbert Walker Bush was found in Seal’s possessions, even after the “men in black” had swept in to pick his car clean of evidence. Years later, Texas Gov. George W. Bush was literally being flown around in what had been the favorite plane of the murdered CIA asset and drug runner Barry Seal
Many folks don’t know that on the exact same day (2/19/86) Barry Seal was murdered in Baton Rouge, his mistress“Barbara” was also murdered in Miami; two other men also affiliated with the Medellin drug cartel, Pablo Carrera and Pablo Ochill, were also assassinated in Colombia.
Some people think the CIA American drug cartel were switching horses from the Medellin drug cartel to a partnership with the Cali drug cartel. The three men convicted of murdering Barry Seal were from Cali, Colombia. The CIA American drug cartel was using the Cali cartel in a killing spree to wipe out the competition and anyone who might pose a threat to spill the beans on CIA drug smuggling and the participation of very high U.S. officials.
Jeb Bush in 1986 was the 33-year-old chairman of the Dade County Republican party and he was up to his eyeballs in the Iran-contra scandal. To get a taste of that read Al Martin’s book The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran-Contra Insider (2002) and read about Jeb Bush’s dealings with operatives such as Al Martin, Oliver North, Richard Secord, Dewey Clarridge, Sam Watson, Fred Ikley and, of course, his father George Herbert Walker Bush. Basically Jeb Bush was in the center of a wasp’s nest of dirty dealing CIA/military operatives engaged in rampant criminality – all in the name of “national security.”
The well respected reporter Daniel Hopsicker, who focuses on the government drug trade, is a must read on the murder of Barry Seal. Read “CIA Linked to Seal’s Assassination: George Bush’s Personal Phone Number Found in Seals’ Trunk” (Daniel Hopsicker, 8/18/97):
Also read the “Real American Desperados” by Daniel Hopsicker (6/4/12): http://www.madcowprod.com/2012/06/04/real-american-desperados/
Hopsicker’s book “Barry and ‘the Boys:’ The CIA, the Mob and America’s Secret History (2006) is one of the classics of modern politics: http://www.amazon.com/Barry-Boys-Americas-Secret-History/dp/0970659172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362614649&sr=8-1&keywords=barry+and+the+boys It has critical information on the murder of Barry Seal and the possible Bush family/Oliver North involvement.
Another fine article is “Why Does George W. Bush Fly in Drug Smuggler Barry Seal’s Airplane?” (Oct., 1999) by Daniel Hopsicker and Michael Ruppert: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ciadrugs/W_plane.html
That article is about how after the murder of Barry Seal, his favorite airplane somehow ended up being the exact same plane use to transport Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the brother of Jeb Bush and son of George Herbert Walker Bush.
Read Hopsicker’s Barry and the Boys (2006) and also Terry Reed’s Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA (1994) and you will never look at modern American politics in the same way again: http://www.amazon.com/Compromised-Clinton-Bush-Terry-Reed/dp/1561712493/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362614783&sr=1-1&keywords=terry+reed+compromised
In the 1980’s the dirty little secret of the Iran-Contra scandal was not that the government was illegally dealing with the Iranians to free American hostages and not that the U.S. government was illegally supporting the Nicaraguan contras, but rather that the U.S. government and its high level politicians of both political parties (the Bushes and the Clintons) were up to their eyeballs in drug trafficking to support the Nicaraguan contras. I think they were also skimming plenty of money for themselves, too, especially on the Clinton end.
In fact one of the big reasons that Ross Perot ran for president in 1992 was out of anger at George Herbert Walker Bush’s participation in the drug trade. The US Government and the CIA were running billions of dollars’ worth of drugs into the USA and they were doing in hand in hand with Columbian drug cartels and people like Panamanian dictator and CIA asset Manuel Noreiga.
Funny how Noriega goes to jail but the American politicians involved in the drug trade never do.
Ross Perot once said in private“When you look into the prisoner cover-up, you find government officials in the drug trade who can’t break themselves of the habit.” (See “Ross Perot Will Not Like This Book,” Richard Bernstein, NYT 8/7/96) Google “Chip Tatum Pegasus” and you will learn about GHW Bush’s attempts to intimidate or possibly murder Ross Perot who simply knew too much about the governmental drug trade. Chip Tatum’s story: http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MENA/TATUM/tatum.html
There have been a lot of good books written on the bipartisan CIA drug trade of the 1980’s. When one reads the cumulative work of Daniel Hopsicker, Gary Webb, Robert Parry, Pete Brewton, Leslie Cockburn, Ambrose Evans Pritchard, Al Martin, L.D. Brown, Chip Tatum one cannot help but think that the Bushes and Lt. Col. Oliver North were behind the 1986 murder of Barry Seal with intent to cover up the Iran-contra drug smuggling activities.
Remember the C-123 cargo plane that Eugene Hasenfus was on did not get shot down over Nicaragua until October 5, 1986, which had the effect of busting Iran-contra wide open. The real story of Iran-contra was the one that got suppressed by the government and media: that the US government was engaged in gargantuan drug running and that VP George Herbert Walker Bush and Lt. Col. Oliver North as well as the Democratic governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton, were involved in the drug trade up to their eyeballs.
Below are some web links to articles and some passages from books that cover this topic. Read them and decide for yourself if you think Jeb Bush, VP George Herbert Walker Bush and Oliver North were involved in the murder of Barry Seal. Here are some interesting excerpts from some books.
Barry Seal and his Argument with VP George Herbert Walker Bush
[Daniel Hopsicker, "Barry & the Boys: The CIA, The Mob and America's Secret History," pp. 375-376]
"Lewis Unglesby is today a prominent and very well connected Louisiana lawyer. At the time his name was daily on the front page of the state's newspapers., defending his long-time client and associate, Governor Edwin Edwards.
Unglesby had told us about a confrontation he had with Barry over the fact that Seal was keeping him in the dark about matters Unglesbly considered crucial to defending him...
"Barry pushed the phone across the desk to me and said, 'You wanna know what's going on? Here. Dial this number. Tell 'em you're me,' Unglesby related.
"When I did what he requested," he continued, "A female voice answered the phone, sayin' 'Vice President Bush's office, may I help you?'"
"I said, 'This is Barry Seal.' She asked me to wait while she transferred the call, which was immediately picked up by a man who identified himself as Admiral somebody or other, who said to me 'Barry, Where you been?'"
"That's when I told him that I wasn't Barry Seal, I was his lawyer," said Unglesby. "Immediately he slammed down the phone."
So why was Barry Seal murdered?" we asked Sharpstein.
"Unglesby said he had been with Seal when the IRS came and seized all his property," Sharpstein related. "The IRS man said, 'You owe us $30 million for the money you made in drug dealing.'
"Hey, I work for you," was Seal's reply. "We work for the same people."
"You don't work for us," the IRS agent stated. "We're the IRS."
"Unglesby was with Seal when he retired to a back roonm." Sharpstein stated. "He watched as Seal placed a call to George Bush. He heard Barry Seal tell Bush, 'If you don't get these IRS assholes off my back I'm going to blow the whistle on the Contra scheme."
Sharpstein spoke solemnly, aware of the gravity of his words..., "'That's why he's dead,' is what Unglesby said."
One week after the phone conversation between Barry Seal and George Bush, Seal was sentenced to a halfway house. Two weeks later he was dead.
"Barry Seal, you mean that agent that went bad?" Gordon Novel had casually inquired, when we'd posed the question of his associations with Seal.
An agent that 'goes bad,' as we understand intelligence industry trade jargon, is one who contemplates talking.
"Seal was gunned down, supposedly by those Colombians," says Sharpstein. "But they were fed information by the assholes in our government who wanted him dead."
The assassination of Barry Seal was very likely even not the first attempt on Seal's life by North, we were told by CIA electronics expert Red Hall, on the ground in Nicaragua with Seal on the Sandinista drug sting....
"The only thing I knew was the CIA had a lot to do with it (Barry's murder.) The killers were being directed by Oliver North at the time. It was the same thing Oliver North pulled on us down in Nicaragua."
"Then, I didn't know yet that Oliver North had it for Barry Seal, because he was working with Oliver at that particular point. We was undercover, and we were still down there (Nicaragua), when Oliver blew the whistle on us."
Chip Tatum, another covert operative who had known Seal and shared confidences with him, listened with amusement the first time we breathlessly relayed what we'd discovered: that Oliver North is guilty in the assassination of Barry Seal...
"No shit, Sherlock,"he replied, laughing. "It ain't exactly the secret of the century, I can tell you."
[Daniel Hopsicker, "Barry & the Boys: The CIA, The Mob and America's Secret History," pp. 375-376]
Al Martin conversation with Jeb Bush just days after the Feb, 1986 Murder of Barry Seal in Baton Rouge. Jeb Bush had been at a meeting in Sept, 1985, where the assassination of Barry Seal had been discussed
Al Martin: "In this discussion, I had mentioned the recent assassination, only a few days before, of Barry Seal [Feb, 1986, outside his halfway house in New Orleans].
I said to Jeb, "Isn't is convenient that Barry Seal was assassinated when he was? And now suddenly all the information and documents he had are gone missing?"
Jeb had a rather broad smile on his face, and he concurred that it was convenient. He added a little snicker - as he often had a tendency of doing. Also little beads of sweat formed on his forehead, as when he gets nervous. It's something you can notice when he's on television. He still has a tendency to have little beads of sweat around his forehead, when he is either lying about something, or he's nervous about what someone is saying."
My conversations with Jeb at this meeting were overheard by the two Secret Service agents who were always assigned to Jeb when he was in his office at 1390 Brickell Avenue in Miami.
I had intimated that if certain parties in Washington were not prepared to come to my aid pursuant to my grand jury testimony, that it would be entirely possible that certain details of a certain meeting occurring in September of the year [Sept., 1985] before might be leaked out to the press.
Jeb asked me what I was talking about.
I specifically mentioned a September meeting of the Dade County Latin America Chamber of Commerce, which Jeb chaired, and which, of course, was not used as a Chamber of Commerce meeting at all. It was essentially used as a political meeting for covert operational planning pursuant to Iran-Contra.
As I've said before, Oliver North, Richard Secord or Dewey Clarridge or, in a few cases, even Sam Watson and Fred Ikley himself, would show up at these meetings.
Anyway, I had recounted to Jeb, as if he didn't know what the text of that meeting was that he chaired - the conversations he had with Oliver North and Richard Secord and Dewey Clarridge, all of whom attended that meeting.
Dewey seldom attended the meetings, but this time the four of them were discussing the assassination of Barry Seal and how it was to be carried out, since Barry was becoming an increasing liability.
I had told Jeb that I had substantial corroboration of that meeting. And I think Jeb understood what I meant.
It would certainly place him into a conspiracy to assassinate a CIA drug runner for the sake of political expediency.
When I was through speaking, Jeb became quiet and his demeanor became serious and changed. He became flushed, as he often does when he's frightened.
Jeb responded by telling me that it would be most unfortunate if I were to do that, since I might wind up like George Morales or Johnny Molina.
[ Al Martin, "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran-Contra Insider," p. 194-195]
Jeb Bush and the Murders of George Morales and Johnny Molina[ Al Martin, "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran-Contra Insider,"p. 195-198 ]What he was referring to, of course, was that, a number of months earlier, George Morales had been set up on a cocaine charge – to distance what Morales was doing from the CIA.As any serious student of Iran-Contra would know, Morales absolutely screamed “CIA, CIA.”But ultimately he was convicted.He was bound and gagged in the courtroom before the Republican Judge Hoover, who allowed him to present no CIA defense. He couldn’t mention any Bush names, or North, or Secord, or anything.He got the standard fifteen-year sentence for cocaine trafficking. At the time, in the State of Florida, you had to serve six years nine months mandatory.Jeb then went on to mention to me about Morales. He said “Of course, Morales will never leave prison alive.”Fast forward to the time when Morales was due to be released from prison in early 1992.The day before Morales was to be released, he did, in fact, slip on a bar of soap in the prisoner’s shower and supposedly died as a result of the fall.The following day, Morales was due to be picked up at the Miami International Airport by a Congressional charter flight arranged for him by Congressmen Alexander, Rose, Brooks and Gonzalez. He was to be taken to Washington to have a detailed discussion with them and their investigators about his knowledge of Iran-Contra.At that moment, the threat Jeb was making to me – the sublime threat about not wanting to wind up like Johnny Molina – really didn’t mean anything to me because I knew as of the day before that Molina was still alive and well.I didn’t think anything of it until the next day when I got into my office and opened the Miami Herald.I read that Mr. Molina had in fact “committed suicide” that evening in the parking lot of a restaurant in Pensacola, Florida.He had “committed suicide” by discharging an entire twenty-round clip of a MAC-10 into his own body.Of course, by the following day, the body had quickly been cremated – before his family was notified and before an autopsy could be done.It’s the same old story.It was interesting to note that Jeb had issued that threat at that meeting which was held at about 10:30 a.m.Molina “committed suicide” at about 9:30 p.m. that evening.I found the connection rather humorous, but also salient in that Bush knew what was going to happen a number of hours before it actually did.A second interesting and humorous story I can relate from that September meeting was not only the discussion of Barry Seal, but the general discussion of narcotics, wherein Jeb was talking to Oliver North.Dewey Clarridge and Joe Fernandez were there and Jeb was whining about how they were importing so much cocaine for the purposes of maintaining illicit covert revenue streams that, in fact, they were depressing the street value of the price of cocaine.Revenues were in fact diminishing.And North chuckled, and said that he had already made arrangements, that he, Dewey, Fred Ikley and Clair George had made arrangements.What they were referring to by “arrangements” was the opening of the so-called sea routes to substantially increase the amount of cocaine that was being imported.Jeb Bush said to Oliver North, “All you would manage to do is to further the price of cocaine.”North’s attitude was, “Well, we’ll simply bring in more and more of the stuff to maintain revenues.”As it has been pointed out in the past, CIA-assisted enterprise narcotics trafficking managed to depress the street price of a value of cocaine from $30,000 in early 1985 to $12,000 by mid-1986.Later in the conversation, Jeb, wanting to be helpful, threw out a suggestion regarding the separate Guns-For-Drugs Operation being run out of Mena Airport in Arkansas.He suggested that North start changing the fraction vis-Ã -vis the Contras.Instead of one M-16 rifle, 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and the full field kit in exchange for one kilogram of cocaine, Bush suggested that North inform Enrico Bermudez and Eden Pastora that henceforth it was going to be two kilograms of cocaine for the same weapons delivery as it had been in the past.North rebuffed this suggestion, reminding Bush that the one M-16 rifle, ammunition and field kit cost them a total of a $1,000 net delivered and the value of the kilogram of cocaine was still $17,000 or $18,000.The third and final salient highlight I’d like to point out about that meeting (which was an important and pivotal meeting) is that General Secord had mentioned to Jeb Bush – and I was standing not two feet from him – that some of Jeb’s hangers-on (some of the old Cuban Bay of Pigs crowd that were Jeb Bush hangers-on vis-Ã -vis Jeb wearing his hat as a scamscateer and a money launderer) were beginning to have big mouths.And Jeb asked, “Who?”Secord specifically said it was the infamous Manny Perez, who was a very close ally of Jeb’s and had been for a long time. Perez used to act as a straw at various fraudulent deals for Jeb. He transported cash. He wired money into accounts he controlled through a variety of other straws. He was also very close with Jeb at Eagle National Bank in Miami.Jeb asked General Secord what he, Jeb Bush, was supposed to do about it.And Dick Secord said, “Well, your father controls your show and he’s got to clean up his own mess.”History records it wasn’t long after an article appeared in a certain major newspaper about Manny Perez.Evidently Manny’s body was found floating in a canal in West Hialeah, and his death was duly declared a “swimming accident.”Perhaps the reader can better understand the phone call I received the day after the November 1998 elections when Jeb Bush won the governorship of the State of Florida.On that very same evening, I got a phone call from Neil Lewis in Miami, an attorney who had previously represented both Jeb and me, and who had acted as a conduit for people like me to Jeb and Dick Secord and a variety of others.Neil told me that he had a direct message from Jeb stating that if I wished to continue to be a resident of this state and to remain at large and with life that I best not reveal stories such as I have revealed here.When Neil relayed the threat to me that evening, I told Neil that when he talked to Jeb the following day (which I knew he would because he wanted to know what my response would be) to tell Jeb that I was aware that my former close colleague, Larry Hamil, prior to the November 1998 elections, had been involved in a political campaign money laundering scheme, wherein Mr. Hamil laundered certain monies of Chinese origin to certain Republicans (not Democrats, but Republican candidates) including the gubernatorial campaign of Jeb Bush.Neil laughed and said, “Are you certain you want me to relay that?”I said, “Yes,” and I didn’t talk to Neil after that.I can only presume Neil did, in fact, relay that message because the next morning when I got out of bed, I was greeted by a view (outside of my bay windows) of two unmarked cars parked directly in front of my townhouse. They were of the sinister variety I’m used to – dark Chevy Caprices, darkened windows, black-wall tires, four or five aerials coming out of the back of them, Washington D.C. plates.There was enough sunlight that I could see two men sitting in each vehicle.And that’s all they did.They simply sat there and looked directly at my unit. They stayed for a few hours in that position and then drove off.I had one of my neighbors record the D.C. plates on the car and upon checking them out later in the day, I was informed that no such plates existed.But nonetheless, the message was sent.[ Al Martin, "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran-Contra Insider,"p. 195-198 ]
Oliver North speaking to Jeb Bush and Dewey Clarridge in the 1980's: "Well, we haven't decided how we will rule his demise yet - whether it will be accident, natural causes, or suicide."
[Al Martin, "The Conspirators: Confessions of an Iran-Contra Insider," p.201]
"As I am a middle-aged man, I have worked or been involved in illegal covert operation of government all my adult life.
How many others in my age group can say they have personally known in their adult lifetimes almost 400 people who have died under clouded circumstances?
The common thread among the deaths of these 400 people was not anything they did - but what they knew.
I wonder how many others can make the same comment about their lives.
It's an indication of the type of life I've led.
Even what I have revealed thus far - it isn't a tenth of what I know. And it is such a task. That's the type of life I've led and what I know. I hope that the flavor of this comes out of what has happened to my friends, those I've known, who became inconvenient to their superiors and who died to maintain the deniability of others.
The egregious nature of the conspiracy surrounding their death goes to a level that is virtually humorous.
When Jeb Bush, Oliver North and Dewey Clarridge once spoke about an individual, North laughed and said, "Well, we haven't decided how we will rule his demise yet - whether it will be accident, natural causes, or suicide.""
[Al Martin, "The Conspirators: Confessions of an Iran-Contra Insider," p.201]
Jeb Bush to Al Martin: “Al, there are no heroes, and there are no tooth fairies.”
The others are those who know too much about those in power to both draw and enforce that line. And what pisses me off about Jeb Bush – and why I have a particular dislike for him – is how he ground me into me in subsequent periods when I had some contact with him through Neil Lewis, when I was trying to work something out in 1992.
He said, “Al, there are no heroes, and there are no tooth fairies.”
That comment will stick in my craw and it will do so forever.
The reason it sticks in my craw is because he’s right.
What he was referring to was the life I have to lead.
[Al Martin means living as a middle aged man who has worked or been involved in illegal covert operation of government for all of his adult life.]
[ Al Martin, "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran-Contra Insider," p. 199]
Al Martin on just how far Oliver North was willing to take things: a nuclear “incident” with the USSR to divert attention away from Bush/North/Casey epic criminality!
“The Enterprise,” “The Cause” – had gone so far beyond what it was originally intended to be the diversion of money from an Iranian operation to arm Contras.
As a cover story underneath, there would be narcotics trafficking, fraud, weapons, things like that to generate a certain number of billions of dollars to replenish the proverbial coffers.
But in fact, we’ve gone way beyond that, and North was even now talking about this Operation Orpheus – what would happen if everything fell apart and everything was to be revealed.
What the public reaction would be to the enormity of the fraud, of the narcotics and weapons trafficking so that as George Bush later said the people would have chased everyone in Washington and lynched them all.
With North being the Chairman of the National Programs Office (NPO) and the NPO building up sizeable assets of its own covertly, North was talking about Operation Orpheus, which included potentially instigating an incident with the Soviet Union to divert U.S. public attention should our involvement be known.
This was very dangerous in an era of heightened tensions, particularly with North being as powerful as he was.
Being so far out of the loop, taking naps through meetings, Reagan had no real control at that time.
North, Casey and George Bush. They were “The Three.” And they were it.
With god-like powers, they could act with absolute impunity.
And God knows what these guys would have done to protect themselves because had Iran-Contra become revealed, policies going back decades may have also become revealed in the interlinkages and that would have been one hell of a problem.
To even start a limited thermonuclear exchange with the Soviet Union, I would not have put that past “The Three,” as they call themselves.
[ Al Martin, "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran-Contra Insider," p. 205-206 ]
Chip Tatum - CIA operative who worked closely with Oliver North in the 1980's: Says Oliver North said GHW Bush was going to have Jeb Bush “arrange something out of Colombia.”
Google "Chip Tatum Pegasus"
Mr. North stated the following to the other passengers, "One more year of this and we'll all retire." He then made a remark concerning Barry Seal and Governor Clinton. "If we can keep those Arkansas hicks in line, that is," referring to the loss of monies as determined the week prior during their meeting in Costa Rica. I stood silently by the vat of leaves, listening to the conversation. General Alverez had gone with the Contra leader to discuss logistics. The other three - North, Rodriguez, and Ami Nir - continued through the wooden building, inspecting the cocaine. North continued, "...but he (Vice President Bush) is very concerned about those missing monies. I think he's going to have Jeb (Bush) arrange something out of Columbia," he told his comrades, not thinking twice of my presence. What Mr. North was referring to ended up being the assassination of Barry Seal by members of the Medellin Cartel in early 1986.
"Compromised: Clinton, Bush & the CIA; how the Presidency was Co-opted by the CIA" by Terry Reed & John Cummings, pp. 211-213]
CIA drug smuggler Barry Seal thought he had blackmail info on the Bushes, until he ended up riddle with bullets
on Feb. 19, 1986 in Baton Rouge, LA
"As the two walked away, Terry could hear Seal say, "Well, I'm sorry Leroy, if they feel like I'm blackmailin' 'em. But this is business and I just gotta do what I gotta do ..."
At 10 AM, after saying goodbye to Tracta, the two prepared to depart. Terry felt that he would be home for dinner with any luck. He was wondering what new excitement would be awaiting him on the trip back.
It didn't take long for him to find out. As soon as the two were airborne, Seal laid it on him. He was full of pent-up emotion and startled his flying companion as they exited Howard airspace.
Seal began yelling at the top of his voice, something out of character for him. Terry had never seen him this euphoric.
"YEE-HAWWWWWW," he screamed. "I'm gonna fuckin' make it. We're gonna do this, Terry. We've got these assholes eatin' outa our hands. YEE-HAWWWWWWWWW. Give me the fuckin' airplane.
He grabbed the control yoke and executed a series of aileron rolls. Terry had never been sick in an airplane, but he was sure about to lose his SOS.
"OK, enough of that shit," Seal said after seeming to tire of the aerobatic antics. "You got the airplane, I'll hook up the radios."
"Terry sat silently at the controls, trying to figure out what was driving Seal. As Barry emerged from under the electrical panel, after making the radio connections, he abruptly began pounding with his right hand on the dash of the Lear until Terry thought the avionics in the control panel would be dislodged.
"There ain't nuthin' in this world more powerful than good ol' fucking blackmail, Terry. And don't let anybody ever tell ya different. Jeeeeeesus Christ, I got some good shit on some big people."
"Will you let me in on your party? Calm down, Barry! Tell me what's goin' on."
"Terry, what's most important right now is for ya ta play ball with these guys and get your ass down to Mexico ASAP. You impressed the shit out of Leroy... Robert Johnson [William Barr, later Attorney General for GHW Bush], too. I won't be able ta come to Mexico right now, I've got a little matter to take care of. But ya get on down there and get in a position to receive me, and I'll be joining ya soon. Goddam, this'll be great. Won't it be fun workin' together and spendin' all their fuckin' money?"
"What this blackmail, you're talking about?"
"Ever hear the old expression, it's not what ya know, it's who ya know? Well, whoever said that just hadn't caught the Vice President's kids in the dope business, 'cause I can tell ya for sure what ya know can definitely be more important than who you know.
"You gotta calm down and tell me what you're talking about, if you want me to know. What's this about the Vice President's kids and dope."
"I don't wannna tell ya too much, 'cause truthfully ya don't have a need to know. But Terry I been workin' with several federal agencies for the past couple of years as ya probably suspicioned. In the course of that business, a person can't help but run across some real sensitive information. It seems some major players in the Medellin Cartel, whom I personally know, ran across some knowledge that's very valuable to both the Republican and Democratic party. Real national security stuff. It seems some of George Bush's kids just can't say no ta drugs, ha ha ha ha ... Well, ya can imagine how valuable information like that would be, can't ya? That could get ya out of almost any kind of jam." Seal paused for a moment than asked, "Ya ever play Monopoly? The information I got is so good it's just like a get-out-of-jail-free card ... ha, ha, ha, ha YEE-HAWWWW..."
"Barry, are you telling me George Bush's kids are in the drug business?"
"Yup, that's what I am tellin' ya. A guy in Florida who flipped for the DEA has the goods on the Bush boys. Now I heard this earlier from a reliable source in Colombia, but I just sat on it then, waitin' to use it as a trump card, if I ever needed it. Well, I need ta use it now. I got names, dates, places.... even got some tape recordins'. Fuck, I even got surveillance videos catchin' the Bush boys red-handed. I consider this stuff my insurance policy. It makes me and my mole on the inside that's feedin' the stuff to me invincible. Now this is real sensitive shit inside of U.S. Customs and DEA and those guys are pretty much under control. It's damage control as usual.
[Terry Reed, "Compromised," pp. 211-213]L.D. Brown: "Crossfire: Witness in the Clinton Investigation" L.D. Brown for a time in the 1980's was Bill Clinton's favorite Arkansas state trooper and Bill Clinton helped him get into the C.I.A. Barry Seal was L.D. Brown’s CIA handlerBill was loving every minute of living this association with the C.I.A. through me. Just as he enjoyed the womanizing, going to the bars and doing his best to dribble a basketball like one of the guys, he was getting his vicarious jollies through yet another source. But by using the C.I.A. and me, he would push my ability to follow orders to the breaking point - and destroy our friendship. [...]
Barry Seal was a crazy man. He was also everything Dan Magruder [Donald Gregg, an aide to GHW Bush] was not. Happy-go-lucky, irreverent and loud, Seal telephoned me and told me he was the man I was told would call me. It was the mid-1980's and with the decadence of that time and the free-flowing cocaine, Cajun's Wharf was a hangout for the bond daddies such as Lasater and company. [...]
[L.D. Brown, "Crossfire," pp.102-103]
The first words out of Seal's mouth, "How's the Guv?" reminded me of Magruder's apparent familiarity with Bill. An overweight, jovial, almost slap-happy man as my contact with C.I.A. was not exactly what I expected. Seal, too, knew everything about me. He focused on my D.E.A. training as Magruder had done in Dallas.
[L.D. Brown, "Crossfire," pp.104]
"Seal reached back to open the duffel bag in the back. He removed a manila envelope identical to the one he had given me after the first trip. I knew what was in the envelope but there was something else. He reached deeper in the bag and gave me the shock of my life.
Seal's face had a sly, smirkly, almost proud look as he removed a waxed paper-wrapped taped brick-shaped package from the bag. I immediately recognized it as identical to bricks of cocaine from my days in narcotics. I didn't know what to think and began demanding to know what was going on. I cursed, ranted and raved and I believe I actually caused Seal to wonder if I might pull a gun and arrest him. Seal threw up his hands and tried to calm me down saying everything was all right and quickly exited my car. He removed the bag from the bag and hustled back toward the plane.
I at once felt a sense of panic and relief that Seal was gone. Had he left something in the car? Was I about to be surrounded by the police? Wait a minute I was the police and furthermore this was an operation sanctioned by the C.I.A and I was recruited by them - and by Bill Clinton. [...] I would become furious with Bill for shepherding me through this mess, indeed for getting me involved. I would then as quickly think of explaining it all away as a 'sting' operation designed to trap the people on the other end of our flight who maybe had sold drugs to Seal. [...]
[L.D. Brown, "Crossfire," pp.113-114]
The tension was building up inside me as I saw Bill coming out the back door. I was getting mad all over again as I got out of my car and he strode over to me. It was the first time we talked since the trip, the trip he knew I was going to take. His mouth opened and the words "You having fun yet?" were already forming on his lips when I burst out, "Do you know what they are bringing back on those airplanes?" He immediately threw up his hands in a halting fashion and took a couple of steps back. I know he thought he was in danger of receiving a class A state police ass-whipping. My hopes of an innocent explanation to the whole sordid affair were dashed with the now-famous line, "That's Lasater's deal! That's Lasater's deal!" he whined as if he had just taken a tongue lashing by Hillary. "And your buddy [Vice President George Herbert Walker] Bush knows about it!"
Bill had done to me what I had seen him to do so many other people. I, too, had now been used and severely betrayed. I immediately ran to Becky, who lived in a small house on the mansion grounds. I told her of the incident and cried with the pain it caused me.
[L.D. Brown, "Crossfire: Witness in the Clinton Investigation, p. 116]
But I was not done with the C.I.A. In early 1985, I received a telephone call from a man at the Mansion who identified himself as Felix Rodriguez. A man who claimed he was Barry Seal's boss. He asked if he could come to Arkansas and meet me and I agreed. Could it have been that Seal was doing drug transports on his own? I was more curious than anything else and had to find out. Rodriguez was the man to tell me.
Felix Rodriguez is a Cuban-American with a long history of intelligence work. He had telephoned me at the Mansion and wanted to meet me there in the parking lot. When he arrived, he drove in the back gate as if he had been there before. We sat in his rental car and shook hands. Felix was a polished, articulate man and it was obvious he did not like Seal. He had already been told by someone about my experiences with Seal and was obviously upset with what Seal had done. I am still puzzled over how Rodriguez found out about the incident. When I telephoned C.I.A. personnel in Dallas I never mentioned what had happened with Seal. It must have come from Bill through whomever his contact at the Agency was. Rodriguez made me feel comfortable. He had C.I.A. credentials which he showed me. "Don't worry about him. We'll take care of him," is how he assured me of the 'problem' with Seal. Indeed Seal would die a violent death a year later- at the hands of whom is still a point of controversy in some circles.
[L.D. Brown, "Crossfire: Witness in the Clinton Investigation, p. 118]
Former (honest) DEA agent Cele Castillo on George Herbert Walker Bush and his participation in drug smuggling.
"The end of my career with the DEA took place in El Salvador. One day, I received a cable from a fellow agent, saying to investigate possible drug smuggling by Nicaraguan Contras operating from the Ilopango Air Force Base.
"I quickly discovered that the Contra pilots were, indeed, smuggling narcotics back into the United States - using the same pilots, planes and hangers that the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, under the direction of Lt. Col. Oliver North, used to maintain their covert supply operation to the Contras."
Instead of playing along with the criminals inside government profiting from cocaine trafficking, Castillo attempted to seek justice, naming many high-level officials along the way, including North and former President George H.W Bush.
In fact, after Castillo blew the whistle, Bush made a point to seek out Castillo during one of his South of the border visits, in essence trying to "feel out" Castillo, but at the same time careful not to make any incriminating statement.
"When Bush confronted me and then just walked away after I told him some of the evidence I had, it was obvious he knew what was going on and was involved in the illegal drug trade," said Castillo.
And when Castillo's allegations first went public, he was the first government DEA agent with first-hand knowledge of North's drug dealing sanctioned by Bush and other higher-ups.
FBI Undercover Agent Darlene Novinger on the involvement of Jeb Bush and Vice President GHW Bush in the drug trade in Florida. Cocaine deliveries to VP office; drug lords providing prostitutes for Jeb Bush & VP GHW Bush
[Rodney Stich, Drugging America: a Trojan Horse – FBI, CIA and Other Insiders Reveal Greatest Threat to America’s Men and Women From Government’s Fraudulent War-On-Drugs, pp. 425-426 ]
After testifying in Harrisburg, Darlene returned to her Florida assignment with the South Florida Drug Task Force. Because of her earlier associations with the Smatt brothers, who by now were reportedly major drug smugglers, the FBI suggested that Darlene renew her contacts with them. In December 1982 she called Raymond Smatt in Jamaica, who invited Darlene to his mansion, where she stayed for several weeks. Raymond then suggested that Darlene stay with another brother William, who had a mansion in Miami, where she stayed for several days before going back to Jamaica.
Claiming Vice President Involved in Drugs
During one of many conversations with William Smatt at his Jamaica mansion, William started talking about the corrupt nature of the American judicial system and the White House. In one instance he said, “Let’s take, for instance, the vice president and his son, referring to George Bush and his son, Jeb Bush.”
Darlene asked, “What about them, you mean George Bush and his son; which son?” Smatt responds, “Jeb.”
Darlene responded, “You mean, Jeb with the Miami Republican party?” “Yes,” he replied. Darlene started explaining what occurred:
I was in one of the drug lords mansions which I was trained to encounter and infiltrate. I was sitting on a couch and a conversation turned up that would lead to something that would change the rest of my life. I was sitting and talking about justice in the judicial system. Well, these people were not American citizens, but they had strong opinions about the American judicial system, and how it worked, and they wanted to express it to me. I’ll never forget this day. What came out was the following.
They proceeded to tell me how money is the way to justice. Without it, there is no chance. You’re living in a Disney World to believe otherwise. This is what I was told by them.They proceeded to tell me how they had to pay the Republican Party in Miami. At that time, Jeb Bush was the chairman of the Republican Party in Florida [editor’s note: Jeb was Dade County GOP chairman in the early 1980’s]
They told me about the visits Vice President George Bush made to their mansion. The story that unfolded was incredible that I thought I had heard everything until this gentleman was done showing me correspondence. His office phone was ringing at this time. Lo and behold, it was the Miami Republican Party calling. He was screaming at them because he said, “I just gave you a couple hundred-thousand dollars and I want this done!”
Darlene explained how Smatt told her about providing pharmaceutical-grade drugs to aircraft arriving from Washington, DC, which were then flown back to Washington and delivered by courier to the Bush White House. [editor’s note: Office of the Vice Presidency] Smatt told Darlene of the money that he provided to the head of the Republican Party in Florida, and the relationship he had with Florida politicians. He was complaining that they kept asking him for more money. Darlene explained:
I asked him why he continued to do business with them if he didn’t like them. He said it was very simple. His contributions were going to the vice president and his sons’interests because he was going to be appointed roving ambassador in the
Caribbean. Meaning something called the Caribbean Basin initiative, which was to their benefit to get passed because they would make a lot of money, on top of everything else.
He proceeded to tell me how he and his family, particularly he, furnished prostitutes to Jeb Bush and George Bush when they were in Miami, Florida, and of the use of cocaine by these individuals and George Bush’s staff in Washington, D.C. He proceeded to also tell me about flying pharmaceutical grade cocaine, and how the currier delivered it to the vice president’s office in Washington, D.C.
Darlene continued to explain what was said:
At that point I was sitting there with absolutely nothing to say other than, I could not believe it. I then sort of regrouped and said, “How do I know that what you’re saying is true? That just seems so incredible.”
Darlene explained William Smatt opening his desk drawer and “showing me personal correspondence from the vice-president , his son, photographs, and checks. I had no reason to believe that this man who I had known for years made this up.”
At another time, while staying at Raymond Smatt’s Miami mansion, Raymond said that Vice President George Bush and Jeb Bush had used cocaine at his Miami home.
[Rodney Stich, Drugging America: a Trojan Horse – FBI, CIA and Other Insiders Reveal Greatest Threat to America’s Men and Women From Government’s Fraudulent War-On-Drugs, pp. 425-426 ]
Darlene Novinger and her 1982 Report to the FBI Office in Harrisburg
Darlene said that after she submitted her report in December 1982, an investigation was commenced. Darlene said that in January 1983, newspapers reported that Vice President George Bush’s entire staff on the South Florida Drug Task Force was replaced. She assumed this was due to her report. She also remembered a Washington Post article in January 1983 that stated many members of the South Florida Task Force were using drugs…
[Rodney Stich, Drugging America: a Trojan Horse – FBI, CIA and Other Insiders Reveal Greatest Threat to America’s Men and Women From Government’s Fraudulent War-On-Drugs, pp. 427]
Darlene Novinger was Set Up to be Murdered by Drug Traffickers by Justice Department personnel who intentionally blew her cover, revealing she was an informant. Someone in government wanted Darlene dead. She survived.
Darlene returned to her assignment in Florida and found herself being set up by someone in the Miami U.S. attorney’s office to be killed. She explained that while staying at the Raymond Smatt mansion in Jamaica, and while talking to Raymond, the phone rings. It was a call from his brother, William Smatt in Miami, who stated that his contact in the Miami U.S. attorney’s office found out that Darlene was an FBI informant. Darlene explained:
That particular office, the Miami U.S. attorney’s office, almost cost me my life. I was at the mansion of a major drug lord in Jamaica, and a phone call was made when I was in the living room of their house. I could hear part of the conversation and they were talking about me. I could hear Raymond acting, “The FBI in Miami said who was working for them?” They were talking about me!
I felt trapped. There I was in his home, on an island, trapped, and I’m hearing this man get this call, and I thought, “I’m going to die.” I really did. I thought, whew, it was a close one, I’ll tell you. And he kept looking at me and he was a little grumpy. I said, “The next thing you know, they’ll have me working for the CIA.”
Eventually he lightened up, and I talked my way out of that one. Later, I found out that that gentleman was very heavily involved and he was not playing on the up and up….
Apparently, whoever told William Smatt that Darlene was an FBI undercover agent knew that Darlene was staying in Jamaica at the Raymond Smatt residence, and wanted Darlene killed. That would solve the problem with the report on Vice President George Bush and his son, Jeb.
[Rodney Stich, Drugging America: a Trojan Horse – FBI, CIA and Other Insiders Reveal Greatest Threat to America’s Men and Women From Government’s Fraudulent War-On-Drugs, pp. 428-429]
Bo Gritz Letter to VP GHW Bush in 1988 and regarding US government Heroin Smuggling
Web link: http://www.serendipity.li/cia/gritz1.htm
Bo Gritz Letter to George Bush1 February 1988, Sandy Valley, NV
Honorable George Bush, Vice President, United States of America, Washington, D.C.
Sir:
Why does it seem that you are saying "YES" to illegal narcotics in America?
I turned over video tapes to your NSC staff assistant, Tom Harvey, January 1987, wherein General KHUN SA, overlord of Asia's "Golden Triangle", offered to stop 900 tons of heroin/opium from entering the free world in 1987. Harvey told me, "...there is no interest here in doing that." General Khun Sa also offered to identify U.S. Government officials who, he says, have been trafficking in heroin for more than 20 years.
November 1986, Scott Weekly and I went into Burma in coordination and cooperation with The White House. Tom Harvey told me you received a letter from Arthur Suchesk, Orange County, CA, dated 29 August 1986. Dr. Suchesk said that Gen Khun Sa had access to U.S. POWs. Harvey said the letter had received "highest attention". He gave me a copy along with other case documents. I was asked if it was possible to verify the information. According to Harvey, the CIA said Khun Sa had been assassinated some months before. Harvey supplied Scott and myself with language under White House and NSC letterhead that would help us gain access to Khun Sa. It worked. Unfortunately, Khun Sa knew nothing about US POWs. He did, however, offer to trade his nation's poppy dependence for a legitimate economy.
Instead of receiving an "Atta Boy" for bringing back video tape showing Khun Sa`s offer to stop 900 tons of illegal narcotics and expose dirty USG officials, Scott was jailed and I was threatened. I was told that if I didn't "erase and forget" all that we had discovered, I would, "hurt the government". Further, I was promised a prison sentence of "15 years".
I returned to Burma with two other American witnesses, Lance Trimmer, a private detective from San Francisco, and Barry Flynn from Boston. Gen Khun Sa identified some of those in government service he says were dealing in heroin and arms sales. We video taped this second interview and I turned copies over in June 1987, to the Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence; Chairman of the House on Foreign Affairs Task Force on Narcotics Control; Co-Chairman, Senate Narcotics Committee; Senator Harry Reid, NV; Representative James Bilbray, NV; and other Congressional members. Mister Richard Armitage, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, is one of those USG officials implicated by Khun Sa. Nothing was done with this evidence that indicated that anyone of authority, including yourself, had intended to do anything more than protect Mr. Armitage. I was charged with "Misuse of Passport". Seems that it is alright for Oliver North and Robert MacFarlane to go into Iran on Irish Passports to negotiate an illegal arms deal that neither you nor anyone else admits condoning, but I can't use a passport that brings back drug information against your friends.
Lance Trimmer and I submitted a "Citizen Complaint of Wrongdoing by Federal Officers" to Attorney General Edwin Meese, III on 17 September 1987. Continuous private and Legislative inquiries to date indicate that the Attorney General's Office has "lost" the document. Congressional requests to the Government Accounting Office have resulted in additional government snares and stalls.
January 20, 1988, I talked before your Breakfast Club in Houston, Texas. A distinguished group of approximately 125 associates of yours, including the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, expressed assurance that you are a righteous man. Almost all of them raised their hand when I asked how many of them know you personally. If you are a man with good intent, I pray you will do more than respond to this letter. I ask that you seriously look into the possibility that political appointees close to you are guilty of by passing our Constitutional process, and for purposes of promoting illegal covert operations, conspired in the trafficking of narcotics and arms.
Please answer why a respected American Citizen like Mister H. Ross Perot can bring you a pile of evidence of wrongdoing by Armitage and others, and you, according to TIME magazine (May 4, page 18), not only offer him no support, but have your Secretary of Defense, Frank Carlucci tell Mr. Perot to "stop pursuing Mr. Armitage". Why Sir, will you not look into affidavits gathered by The Christic Institute (Washington, D.C.), which testify that Armitage not only trafficked in heroin, but did so under the guise of an officer charged with bringing home our POWs. If the charges are true, Armitage, who is still responsible for POW recovery as your Assistant Secretary of Defense ISA, has every reason not to want these heros returned to us alive. Clearly, follow on investigations would illuminate the collective crimes of Armitage and others.
Several years ago a secretary working for Armitage asked me "Why would he have us expunge his official record of all reference to past POW/MIA assignments and activities?" Not knowing, I ventured a guess that maybe he was considering running for public office and didn't feel the POW -Vietnam association would be a plus in his resume. It was about the same time a CIA agent named by Khun Sa turned up dead in Bangkok under "mysterious circumstances". Also about this time, as an agent of NSC's Intelligence Support Activity, I was told by ISA Chief Jerry King, "...there are still too many bureaucrats in Washington who don't want to see POWs returned alive". I failed to realize the fullness of his meaning, or these other events, until in May 1987, Gen Khun Sa, in his jungle headquarters, named Richard Armitage as a key connection in a ring of heroin trafficking mobsters and USG officials. A U.S. agent I have known for many years stopped by my home last month enroute to his next overseas assignment. He remarked that he had worked for those CIA chiefs named by Khun Sa, and that by his own personal knowledge, he knew what Khun Sa said was true. He was surprised it had taken so long to surface.
I am a registered Republican. I voted for you twice. I will not do so again. If you have any love or loyalty in your heart for this nation; if you have not completely sold out, then do something positive to determine the truth of these most serious allegations. You were Director of the CIA in 1975, during a time Khun Sa says Armitage and CIA officials were trafficking in heroin. As Director of Intelligence you were responsible to the American people for the activities of your assistant - even as you should know what some of these same people are doing who are close to you now as our Vice President because I feel these "parallel government" types will only be promoted by you, giving them more reason to bury our POWs.
I am enclosing some documentation that supports the charges made. Chief is a letter from Khun Sa to the U.S. Justice Department dated 28 June 1987, wherein Richard Armitage is named along with Theodore Shackley (your former Deputy Director CIA from Covert Operations) and others. Please also note William Stevenson's article, "Bank of Intrigue-Circles of Power". You, Armitage, and General Richard Secord are prominently mentioned. Stevenson, you might remember, authored A MAN CALLED INTREPID. Also Tom Fitzpatrick's article, "From Burma to Bush, a Heroin Highway", should interest you. Both of these men are prize winning journalists. The book, CRIMES of PATRIOTS, "A True Tale of Dope, Dirty Money, and the CIA", by Jonathan Kwitny, reporter for the Wall Street Journal, details for you the bank connections that Khun Sa mentions.Finally, the basic primer that spells out exactly how this dope for covert operations gambit began, is Alfred McCoy's THE POLITICS OF HEROIN IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. All of these should be required reading for the man appointed chief cop by our President to safeguard America from illegal narcotics. These are just a sampling of many works now available that chronical disgraceful conduct by those sworn to protect and defend our Constitution.
Parting shot Mr. Vice President: On 28 January 1988, General Khun Sa tendered an offer to turn over to me one metric ton (2,200 pounds) of heroin. He says this is a good faith gesture to the American people that he is serious about stopping all drugs coming from the infamous Golden Triangle. I, you and Nancy Reagan are really serious about saying "NO" to drugs, why not test Gen Khun Sa? I challenge you to allow me in the company of agents of your choice to arrange to receive this token offer worth over $4 billion on the streets of New York City. It will represent the largest "legal" seizure of heroin on record. You can personally torch it, dump it in the ocean, or turn it into legal medication; as I understand there is a great shortage of legal opiates available to our doctors. I think Gen Khun Sa's offer is most interesting. If you say "YES" then the ever increasing flow of heroin from Southeast Asia (600-- tons-- '86, 900 tons-- '87, 1200-- tons'88) may dry up--not good for business in the parallel government and super CIA circles Oliver North mentioned. If you say "NO" to Khun Sa, you are showing colors not fit for a man who would be President.
What is your decision? I challenge you to demonstrate exactly where you stand with respect to big-business-drugs, parallel government, misuse of U.S. tax-payer dollars in foreign drug supression programs that don't work, no interest in dialogue that will stem the flow of illegal narcotics, return of POWs while they are still alive? I for one am not for a "USA, Inc." with you or anyone else as Chairman of the Board.
Respecting Your Office,
James "Bo" Gritz, Concerned American, Box 472 HCR-31Sandy Valley, NV 89019, Tel: (702) 723-5266
George Herbert Walker Bush to Texas journalist Sarah McLendon:
"If the people knew what we had done, they would chase us down the street and lynch us."
Watch the YouTube interview of Chip Tatum about his orders from GHW Bush to neutralize (murder) Ross Perot in 1991-1992 period
"CIA +George HW Bush,Gary Hart,H Ross Perot,Blackmail" is name of YouTube Video
Also, this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHV68fjDiCE Entitled "Presidential Secrets- Former CIA Black Op Speaks Out with ex-FBI Ted Gunderson
“The Crimes of Mena” by Sally Denton and Roger Morris
Another good article to read is: “The Crimes of Mena” by Sally Denton and Roger Morris from the July 1995 issue of Penthouse Magazine (this story was set to run in the Washington Post and it got spiked by an editor for political reasons.)
http://www.serendipity.li/cia/c_o_mena.html “The Crimes of Mena”
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/07/books/ross-perot-will-not-like-this-book.html A hit job NYT piece on Ross Perot who was incensed over CIA drug smuggling.
Here is a good biography on Barry Seal at Spartacus Educational: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKseal.htm
Barry Seal: Set up for Murder: http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MENA/letter_to_edwin_meese_iii_3-3-86.html This is a must read letter from the Louisiana Attorney General William J. Guste, Jr. to the US Attorney General Edwin Meese on March 3, 1986, complaining about why Barry Seal was not given governmental protection.
Link to buy the fabulous book “Barry and the Boys” by Daniel Hopsicker: http://www.cia-drugs.com/sales/books/B0001/B0001.about.html
Another good link on the 1986 murder of CIA drug smuggler Barry Seal: http://spitfirelist.com/for-the-record/ftr-503-the-death-of-barry-seal/
A collection of articles on the murder of Barry Seal: http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MENA/SEAL/seal.html
Bibliography on governmental and CIA drug smuggling and related criminal activities:
2) Dark Alliance by Gary Webb (1999)3) Barry and the Boys: the CIA, the Mob and America's Secret History by Daniel Hopsicker (2006, written in 2001, lawsuits delayed it for 5 years. Extremely important book.)4) Whiteout by Alexander Cockburn (1999)5) Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies and the CIA in Central America by Peter Dale Scott andJonathon Marshall (1998)6) Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & ‘Project Truth’ by Robert Parry (1999)7) The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran-Contra Insider by Al Martin (2000)8) The Big White Lie: The Deep Cover Operation That Exposed the CIA Sabotage of the Drug War: An Undercover Odyssey by Michael Levine and Laura Kavanau-Levine (2012)9) The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade by Alfred W. McCoy (1972 and republished 2003)10) Out of Control: The Story of the Reagan Administration’s Secret War in Nicaragua, the Illegal Arms Pipeline, and the Contra Drug Connection by Leslie Cockburn (1987)11) Blue Thunder: How the Mafia Owned and Finally Murdered Cigarette Boat King Donald Aronov by Thomas Burdick and Charlene Mitchell (1990)12) The Mafia, CIA, & George Bush by Pete Brewton (1992)13) Called to Serve by James “Bo” Gritz (1991)14) Crossfire: Witness in the Clinton Investigation by L.D. Brown (1997)15) The Secret Life of Bill Clinton: The Unreported Stories by Ambrose Evans Pritchard (116) American Desperado: My Life - From Mafia Soldier to Cocaine Cowboy to Secret Government Asset by Jon Roberts & Evan Wright (2012)17) Cocaine, Death Squads, and the War on Terror: U.S. Imperialism and Class Struggle in Colombia by Oliver Villar and Drew Cottle (2011)18) The Crimes of Patriots: A True Tale of Dope, Dirty Money, and the CIA by Jonathan Kwitney (1987)19) The Politics of Cocaine: How U.S. Foreign Policy Has Created a Thriving Drug Industry in Central and South America by William L. Marcy (2010)20) How to Get Away with Murder in America: Drug Lords, Dirty Pols, Obsessed Cops, and the Quiet Man Who Became the CIA’s Master Killer by Evan Wright (2012)21) Defrauding America: Encyclopedia of Secret Operations by the CIA, DEA, and other Covert Agencies (third edition) by Rodney Stich (1998)22) Drugging America: A Trojan Horse (second edition) by Rodney Stich (2005)23) The New Clinton Chronicles (YouTube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtNoLxvkKGY24) Conspiracy– The Secret History: The Secret Heartbeat of America, the CIA and Drugsby Daniel Hopsicker (2004)25) Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed JournalistGary Webb by Nick Schou (2006)26) Dope, Inc: The Book That Drove Henry Kissinger Crazy by Executive Intelligence Review (1992)27) Disavow: A CIA Saga of Betrayal by Rodney StichBibliography of Books about the Darker Side of the Bushes1) Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America by Russ Baker (2008)2) The Immaculate Deception: Bush Crime Family Exposed by Russell S. Bowen (2000)
4) Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President by J.H. Hatfield (2002)
7) American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush by Kevin Phillips
12) Trick or Treason: The October Surprise by Robert Parry (1993)
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The American government, both political parties, have been running drugs for a very long time. Some politicians are more corrupt than others. The Bush family is absolutely surrounded by people engaged in CIA/government drug running for decades.
Here is a fabulous 1997 Speech by Mike Ruppert on his life and experiences studying CIA and governmental drug running. It is not just the Bushes or the Clintons, but certainly the Bushes have been at the epicenter of CIA drug smuggling.
Here is the epic confrontation at a Los Angeles town hall meeting between Michael Ruppert and John Deutch on November 15, 1996. It is not to be missed! By the way, this very shaky performance by John Deutch cost him his job. Remember, the Clintons were up to their ears in CIA drug smuggling.0Add a comment
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NOTE FROM ROBERT MORROW: THIS ARTICLE DOES NOT EVEN COME CLOSE TO DESCRIBING THE HISTORICAL CRIMINALITY OF THE BUSH FAMILY: CIA DRUG DEALING, MONEY LAUNDERING, FINANCIAL CRIMES & MURDERS.
IF YOU LEAVE OUT THE MURDERS, YOU ARE NOT BEING REALISTIC WHEN DESCRIBING GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH OR JEB BUSH.
So keep that in mind: http://critcrim.org/critpapers/potter.htm
The Bush Family: A Continuing Criminal Enterprise?
Gary W. Potter, PhD.
Professor, Criminal Justice
Eastern Kentucky University
The S&Ls, the Mob and the Bushs
During the 1980's hundred of Savings and Loan Banks failed. Those bank failures cost U.S. taxpayers over $500 billion to cover federally insured losses, and much more to investigate the bank failures (Pizzo, Fricker, and Muolo, 1989; Brewton, 1992; Johnston, 1990). More than 75% of the Savings and Loan insolvencies where directly linked to serious and often criminal misconduct by senior financial insiders (Pizzo, Fricker and Muolo, 1989: 305). In fact, less than 10 percent of bank failures are related to economic conditions, the rest are caused by mismanagement or criminal conduct (Pizzo, Fricker and Muolo, 1989: 305).
A good example of the Savings and Loan failures can be found in the activities of Mario Renda, a Savings and Loan insider who often worked in close collaboration with organized crime (Pizzo, Fricker and Muolo, 1989: 123-126;302). Renda served as a middle man in arranging about $5 billion a year in deposits into 130 Savings and Loans, all of which failed (Kwitny, 1992: 27). Many of these deposits were made contingent on an agreement that the Savings and Loan involved would lend money to borrowers recommended by Renda, many of whom were organized crime figures or people entirely unknown to the banking institution involved (Kwitny, 1992: 27).
Equally good examples of financial misconduct in the Savings and Loan scandal is found in the activities of the Bush family. In some cases Bush family members helped skim Savings and Loan funds which were delivered to outsiders as a part of deals involving lucrative payoffs to bank directors. In other cases, members of the Bush family intervened to influence decisions involving highly speculative and unsound investments involving loans that would not be repaid if the venture was not profitable. And finally, the Bush family’s political connection served to protect those guilty of misconduct in the Savings and Loan scandal (Kwitny, 1992: 24).
Neil Bush: Taking Down Silverado
In 1990 federal bank regulators filed a $200 million lawsuit against the officers of Silverado Banking, including Neil Bush, brother of the current President. The lawsuit accused them of gross negligence which resulted in a loss of $1 billion by Silverado and the bank’s ultimate collapse (Los Angeles Times, 1990). According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: “Our conclusion is that Silverado was the victim of sophisticated schemes and abuses by insiders and of gross negligence by its directors and outside professionals” (Johnston, 1990). Neil Bush was reprimanded by the Office of Thrift Supervision for pervasive conflicts of interest while serving as a paid director of the bank Of particular concern was his role in a serious of loans totaling $132 million from the bank to two businessmen, Bill Walters and Kenneth Good (Los Angeles Times, 1990: 1; Isikoff, 1992: A1). Walters and Good, after securing the loans from Silverado, lent Neil Bush $100,000 and later forgave the loan entirely. In addition, Walters and Good owned a company which paid $550,000 in salaries to Neil Bush (Los Angeles Times, 1990: 1; Isikoff, 1992: A1). In the end Walters and Good lost a total of $330 million loaned to them by Silverado. They also received instructions from a member of Silrverado’s board of directors on the establishment of family trusts to prevent the government from seizing the money they owed the bank (Kwitny, 1992: 32). The shutdown of Silverado was postponed from October to December 1988 so that it would happen after President Bush, Sr.’s election campaign had ended. Neil Bush had to pay only $50,000 to settle the federal lawsuit against him and he was able to avoid any legal costs because a senior banking industry lobbyist formed a legal defense fund to pay the legal costs (Fritz, 1992).
Neil Bush also profited enormously from another company on verge of bankruptcy. Apex Energy paid him over $2000,000 in salary and oil deed compensation payments while teetering on the edge of bankruptcy (Failing firm paid Neil Bush big salary, 1992).
Neil Bush’s small oil company also seemed to profit from its political connections when it was awarded a 1987 contract to drill for oil in Argentina (Bush 's Son Misses Deadline For Reporting “Inside” Sale,1991).
Jeb Bush: Influence Peddling for a “Bust-Out” Scam
But, Neil Bush was not the only Bush brother involved in the Savings and Loan collapses. Jeb Bush’s, the current Governor of Florida, curious relationship with Miguel Recarey is another illustration. Recarey was a long-time business associate of Tampa organized crime figure Santos Trafficante. Recarey also fled the U.S. facing three separate indictments for labor racketeering, illegal wiretapping and Medicare fraud (Freedburg, 1988: A1). Recarey’s business, International Medical Centers, was the largest health maintenance organization for the elderly in the U.S. and had been supported from $1 billion in payments from the Medicare program. International Medical Centers went bankrupt in 1988 (Freedburg, 1988: A1; Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4). When International Medical Centers went under it left $222 million in unpaid bills and was under investigation for $100 million in Medicare fraud (Freedbrug, 1988: A1; Frisby, 1992: G1). The U.S. Office of Labor Racketeering in Miami referred to Recarey and his company as “the classic case of embezzlement of government funds ... “a bust-out operation” (Freedburg, 1988: A1)
Jeb Bush’s role in this saga being in 1985 when Recarey’s attempt to create his “bust-out scam” corporation ran into a federal regulation that said no HMO could get more that 50% of its revenue from Medicare (Freedburg, 1988: A1; Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4). Jeb Bush intervened on Recarey’s behalf with Helath Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler and one of her top aides. Convincing them to waive the regulation in the case of Recarey’s company (Freedburg, 1988: A1; Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4). In addition to Jeb Bush’s intervention, Recarey had paid $1 million to senior Republican lobbyists in Washington, who were also working the staff of Health and Human Services in pursuance of a waiver (Freedburg, 1988: A1; Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4). In addition, Jeb Bush had contacted Secretary Heckler earlier about complaints from doctors over the quality of International Medical Centers’ care and allegations that Recarey had embezzled funds form another hospital (Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4). Jeb Bush told an aide to Secretary Heckler that “contrary to any rumors that were floating around concerning Mr. Recarey, that he was a solid citizen from Mr. Bush’s perspective down there [in Miami], that he was a good community citizen and a good supporter of the Republican Party” (Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4).
Not surprisingly, in 1988 Recarey’s company gave Jeb Bush’s real estate company $75,000 to help it find a site for a new corporate headquarters (Freedburg, 1988: A1; Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4). It was a bad investment because International Medical Centers had already selected a corporate headquarters location when it hired Jeb Bush (Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4).
Jeb Bush had a role in yet another Savings and Loan fiasco when he defaulted on a loan from Broward Federal Savings and Loan (LaFraniere , 1990: A24). Broward Federal loaned $4,565.000 to J Edward Houston, a real developer in February, 1985. The loan was secured only by Houston’s personal guarantee. On the same day, one of Houston’s company lent the same amount to a partnership made up of Jeb Bush and Armondo Codina for the purpose of purchasing a building in Miami. The Bush-Condina partnership was required to repay the loan only if revenues from the building were sufficient to cover the repayment. Bush and Condina made no payments on the loan at all and in 1987 Houston defaulted on the Broward Federal loan and the Bank sued both Houston and the Bush-Condina real estate partnership. In a sweetheart settlement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Bush and Codina only had to repay $500,000 of the $4.5 million loan and got to retain ownership of the building which had been the collateral on the loan. In 1991, the FDIC sued the officers and directors of Broward Federal charging that the loan ultimately used by Bush and Codina was an example of the bank’s negleient lending practices (Frisby, 1992: G1). The Bush-Codina loan played a key part in the failure of Broward Federal which cost taxpayers $285 million (LaFraniere , 1990: A24).
George Bush, Jr.: Insider Information, Oil, and Baseball
The present President Bush has also reaped significant benefits from some highly questionable business practices:
Bush sold $828,560 worth of Harken stock [on June 20, 1990] just one week before the company stock posted unusually poor quarterly earnings and Harken stock plunged sharply. Shares lost more than 60% of their value over 6 months. When Bush sold his shares, he was a member of a company committee studying the effect of Harken’s restructuring, a move to appease anxious creditors. According to documents on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, his position on the Harken committee gave Bush detailed knowledge of the company’s deteriorating financial condition. The SEC received word of Bush’s trade eight months late. Bush has said he filed the notice but that is was lost (Hedges, 1992: 57-59).
At the time of the stock sale President Bush was fully aware that Harken Energy was in a serious cash flow crisis and was about to lose millions of dollars (Yost, 2000). Bush was investigated for insider trading, but on October 18, 1993, Bruce A. Hiler, the SEC’s associate director for enforcement, wrote a letter to Bush’s lawyer stating that “the investigation has been terminated as to the conduct of Mr. Bush, and that, at this time, no enforcement action is contemplated with respect to him” (Lardner and Romano, 1999: A1). Hiler’s official letter went on to say that it “must in no way be construed as indicating that the party has been exonerated or that no action may ultimately result from the staff’s investigation” (Lardner and Romano, 1999:) It is instructive to note that head of the SEC at the time of investigation was a supporter of then-President Bush, as was the SEC’s general counsel (who later acted as George W. Bush’s private attorney) (Yost 2000). In addition, Harken, despite its poor performance and large losses, paid unusually high salaries and benefits to President Bush (Hedges, 1992: 57-59). Bush was allowed to purchase stock options at a 40% discount, paid for by company loans that were frequently forgiven (Hedges, 1992: 57-59).
Harken Energy was awarded a contract to drill offshore oil wells for the government of Bahrain in 1990. It was a curious contract because Harken had never drilled an oil well in water. While Bahrain government officials denied that the fact that the President’s son was on Harken’s board had any impact on the contract, the Wall Street Journal quoted an official of Harken Energy as saying there was “never any question” about George W. Bush’s involvement (Morrison, 1999: A26).
Harken Energy also had links to the infamous Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). BCCI was the seventh-largest privately owned bank in the world. It had over four hundred branch offices operating in seventy-three countries. Among its many criminal activities was the laundering of at least $14 billion for the Colombian cocaine cartels; the facilitating of financial transactions for Panamanian president Manuel Noriega and international arms merchant Adnan Khashoggi; the funneling of cash to the contras for illegal arms deals and contra-backed drug trafficking; and the assisting of Phillipine President Ferdinand Marcos in transferring his personal fortune, accrued through corruption and graft, out of the Philippines. Despite the enormity of BCCI's crimes and its vital role in drug trafficking, the U.S. Justice Department was more than reluctant to investigate. In fact, the Justice Department had complete information on BCCI's drug and arms operations and its illegal holdings in the United States for over three years before it even initiated an inquiry. Perhaps the reluctance of American law enforcement to interfere with such a major organized crime entity can be explained by the proliferation of what some have perceived as BCCI's "friends" in the U.S. government holding high office (Castro, 1988; Beaty and Gwynne, 1991).
The Wall Street Journal commented extensively on Harken’s links to BCCI saying: “The mosaic of BCCI connections surrounding Harken Energy may prove nothing more than how ubiquitous the rogue bank’s ties were ... But the number of BCCI-connected people who had dealings with Harken -- all since George W. Bush came on board -- likewise raises the question of whether they mask an effort to cozy up to a presidential son” (Morrison, 1999).
President Bush’s relationship with the Texas Rangers shows a similar pattern of curious business dealings. In investigating his purchase of the Texas Rangers, the Wall Street Journal commented that following “a pattern repeated through his business career, Mr. Bush’s play did not quite make the grade” (Morrison, 1999: A26). In 1989, an investment group Bush led was given preferential treatment to buy the Texas Rangers baseball team by its seller, a friend of George Bush, Sr. (Morrison, 1999: A26; Sack, 1999: 1). When they underbid for the team baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth brought another financier into the deal, “out of respect for his father,” President Bush (Morrison, 1999: A26; Sack, 1999: 1). Bush later successfully promoted a controversial arrangement in which the City of Arlington provided a $135 million subsidy for a new ballpark, funded by a sales tax increase, with an option for the team to repurchase the park at a vastly reduced price (Milbank, 2000, A1; Romano and Lardner, 1999: A1). The present President Bush realized $15 million on a $600,000 investment when he sold his share of the team in 1998 (Morrison, 1999, A26).
Jonathan Bush: An Unregistered Broker
Jonathan Bush rounds out this discussion of brotherly financial chicanery. Jonathan was cited for carrying out stock transactions without registering in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. While he was settling the complaint against him he continued to violate Massachusetts securities laws. Neal Sullivan, who handles security trading issues for the Massachusetts Secretary of State expressed his concern: “That created great concern for us. We were dismayed ... Anyone who has been notified that he is violating state law and continues to do so certainly exemplifies a cavalier attitude toward the registration laws.” Jonathan Bush is a veteran stockbroker who, of course, knows about registration requirements. As Mr. Sullivan went on to comment: “Any time you have 880 transactions over several years, I wouldn’t characterize that as minor” (Phillips, 1991: 1).
Prescott Bush: The Yakuza’s Frontman
Finally, and perhaps most seriously, the Bush family pioneered the practice which has now become commonplace of collaboration between corporate and organized criminals. Prescott Bush, uncle of the current President and brother of the former President, played a key role in helping the Japanese Yakuza extend their financial and real estate holdings to the United States. In 1989, Prescott Bush made arrangements for a front company for Japanese organized crime groups to buy into two U.S. corporations and to make a sizeable real investment in the U.S. (Helm, 1991a: 1; Isikoff, 1992: A1). West Tsusho, a Japanese corporation, was identified by Japanese police officials as a front company for one of that country’s largest organized crime syndicates. Prescott Bush was paid a fee of $500,000 for his help in negotiating West Tsusho’s purchase of controlling interest in Assets Management, a U.S. corporation (Helm, 1991a: 1; Isikoff, 1992: A1). Bush also assisted the Japanese mob in investing in Quantam Access, a U.S. software company, which was ultimately taken over by the Japanese (Helm, 1991b: 10; Isikoff, 1992: A1). Both companies ultimately went into bankruptcy (Isikoff, 1992: A1; Moses, 1992).
George Bush Sr.: Shutting Down the Organize Crime Strike Forces
Despite assessments from senior law enforcement officers and experts on organized crime that efforts to control organized crime would be crippled, in December 1989, the administration of George Bush, Sr. abolished all 14 regional organized crime strike forces (McAlister, 1989: A 21; Struck out, 1990). The organized crime strike had been created as independent entities so they would not be subject to political influences or bureaucratic wrangling within federal law enforcement. In the two decades of their operation the strike forces had secured convictions of major organized crime figures in several U.S. cities (Struck out, 1990). It is at the very least curious to note that the federal strike force in Miami had been responsible for indicting Miguel Recarey, the man for whom Jeb Bush had intervened with regulators. Organized crime strike forces had similarly indicted Mario Renda, the organized crime liaison to the S& L’s, as well as several other key figures in the Savings and Loan Fiasco (Pizzo, Fricker, and Mulolo, 1989: 112, 120-123, 303, 337).
References:
Beaty, J. and S. Gwynne. 1991. The dirtiest bank of all. Time. July 29: 42-47.
Brewton, P. 1992. Untold Story. New York: SPI Books.
Castro, J. 1988. The cash cleaners. Time. October 24: 65-66.
Failing firm paid Neil Bush big salary. 1992. San Francisco Examiner. (September 15): A9.
Freedberg, S, 1988. Contras, “Bugs” and the Mob. The Wall Street Journal. (August 9).
Frisby, M. 1992. Bush sons' ventures expose him to scrutiny. Austin American-Statesman. (May 17): G1.
Fritz, S. 1992. Bush Kin: Trading on the Name? Evidence suggests the President's relatives may be exploiting their relationship. But they hotly deny impropriety, saying such accusations are spinoffs of the Bill Clinton scandals. Los Angeles Times. (May 10): 1.
Hedges, S. 1992. The color of money: The president’s eldest son and his ties to a troubled Texas firm. U.S. News and World Report/ (March 16).
Helm, L. 1991a. Japanese Wise Up to Gangsters: Yakuza have long been tolerated and even romanticized. But with financial scandals and violent tactics, lawmakers and residents are saying enough is enough. Los Angeles Times. (August 1): 1.
Helm, L. 1991b. Bush Brother Was a Consultant to Company Under Scrutiny in Japan Finance: Prescott Bush gave investment advice to a firm lately suspected of gangland ties and of exchange violations, police investigators say. Los Angeles Times. (June 11): 10.
Isikoff, M. 1992. As Race Heats Up, So Does Scrutiny of Bush 's Family; Relatives' Business Affairs Become Target. The Washington Post. (July 14): A1.
Johnston, O. 1990 . Seidman Puts S&L Bailout at $500 Billion. Los Angeles Times. (July 31): 1.
Kwitny, J. 1992. The Real S&L Scandal: How Bush's Pals Broke the Banks. Village Voice. (October 20): 24.
La Franiere, S. 1990. S& L bailout involved Jeb Bush partnership: Federal government paid $4 million on an investment loan issued by Florida thrift. The Washington Post. (October 15): A 24.
Lardner, G. and L. Romano. 1999. The Life of George W. Bush: The Turning Point; After Coming Up Dry, Financial Rescues. The Washington Post (September 30): A1.
Los Angeles Times. 1990. FDIC Sues Neil Bush in Silverado S&L's Failure. (September 23): 1.
McAlister, B. 1989. Organized crime fighters losing independence in Thornburgh plan. Washington Post. December 28: A21.
Milibank, D. 2000. Dispelling Doubts With the Rangers. The Washington Post. (July 25): A1.
Morrison, M. 1999. Vetting the Frontrunners I -- George W. Bush: From Oil to Baseball to the Governor's Mansion. The Wall Street Journal. (September 28): A 26.
Moses, J. 1992. Prescott Bush Faces Inquiry Over Pay Received in Arranging Investment Deal. The Wall Street Journal (September 9): C15.
Phillips, F. 1991. State fines Bush’s brother in stock case. Boston Globe. (July 26): 1.
Pizzo, S.; M. Fricker; and P. Muolo. 1989. Inside Job: The Looting of America’s Savings and Loans. New York: McGraw- Hill.
Romano, L. and G. Lardner. 1999. Moving Up to the Major Leagues; Father's Campaign, Baseball Provide Foundation for Own Run. The Washington Post. (July 31): A1.
Royce, K. and G. Shaw. 1988. The Jeb Bush Connection: Bush son steered funds to Miami businessman. Newsday. (October 3): 4.
Sack, K. 1999. George Bush the Son Finds That Oil and Blood Do Mix. New York Times. (May 8): 1.
Struck out. 1990. San Diego Union Tribune. January 1: B8.
Yost, P. 2000.Crisis at Bush 's Oil Company. Associated Press Online. (September 7).
Wall Street Journal. 1991. Bush 's Son Misses Deadline For Reporting “Inside” Sale. (April 4): A4.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Bibliographies on CIA Drug Running & the Darker Side of Bushes
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