|
January 19, 2010
N987SA
N987SA? What a cryptic title for a post. So let me start with September of 2007 and an airplane crash. According to several mexican newspapers, G-II reg. N987SA went down this morning in Yucatan, Mexico, about 20 nm from MID.Did some one get greedy and carry more cocaine than he could fly with? Or was it just pilot error? That is just the opening part of the story. Let us look at a second clue. Here is a bit on torture taxis. When U.S. civilian airplanes were spotted in late 2002 taking trips to and from Andrews Air Force Base, and making stops in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, journalists and plane-spotters wondered what was going on. It soon became clear that these planes were part of the largest covert operation since the Cold War era. Called extraordinary rendition, the practice involves CIA officials or contractors kidnapping people and sending them to secret prisons around the world where they are held and often tortured, either at the hands of the host-country's government or by CIA personnel themselves.OK. Individuals were subjected to stress tests to get information out of them. And it was going on in the Clinton Administration. Al Gore had a few brilliant words on the subject. Once when Richard Clarke, President Clinton's chief counter-terrorism adviser on the National Security Council, "proposed a snatch," Vice-President Al Gore said, "That's a no-brainer. Of course it's a violation of international law, that's why it's a covert action. The guy is a terrorist. Go grab his ass."OK. Back to the airplane story. Roychoudhuri: In the book, you make clear that the rendition program has been around for years. What has changed?You are probably wondering about the book. Here is a link: Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights Well time to tie this into one big happy package. And you will never guess. It is connected to the drug war. For their part, the Latin Americans, under a new generation of more self-confident leaders, are tired of being hectored about their failings by the US, the world's principal source of cannabis whose agents continue the drug dealing they indulged in during the Iran-Contra affair of the Reagan years.Well the aircraft is N987SA not N9875A. And their crash story is a year off. Which I put down to sloppy reporting. But the cocaine was there. And the back hualling of drugs to cover the costs of CIA covert missions has been going on (with unknown frequency) since the Viet Nam War. As detailed in Alfred McCoy's book: The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade And just for your amusement Mel Gibson was in a movie loosely based on the information in McCoy's book. The movie: So am I upset about the CIA bringing drugs into America? Not exactly. What I object to is the War On Drugs that makes them worth bringing in to America by our clandestine service. If we are going to have a clandestine service it should be controlled by the public purse and not be able to freelance operations from drug profits. And the only way to do that is to end the Drug War charade where the government fights drugs on the one hand and traffics in them on the other. Cross Posted at Power and Control posted by Simon on 01.19.10 at 05:50 AM |
|
January 2010
WORLD-WIDE CALENDAR
Search the Site
E-mail
Classics To Go
Archives
January 2010
December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 May 2002 AB 1634 MBAPBSAAGOP Skepticism See more archives here Old (Blogspot) archives
Recent Entries
"conservatives hate gay people"
N987SA Climategate The Book Can we make Hugo and Danny happy? Promises Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be conservative hairdressers! I resent my guilt Grass roots convention, minus the grass roots? Why I'm glad Pat Robertson isn't a Commie Nerd Night Report
Links
Site Credits
|
|
Ironically, the CIA bringing drugs into America helps fuel public support for the drug war. That's because it has the appearance of absolute evil (except to coldly rational market types who simply see the Drug War in market terms -- a mindset itself seen as evil by the Sunday School thinkers!).
This appearance of evil fuels support for the drug war among the following:
That there are huge profits to be made from such illegal enterprises also guarantees a hard core constituency of support from "National Security" types, who think they have just as much of a God-given entitlement to rule as your garden variety Public Policy School Ph.D. policy wonk.
(It's a sad state of affairs, and little wonder no one listens to libertarians prattling about market solutions....)
Far from being bitter, though, I am encouraged to see a post like this.