Did
Trump’s New Anti-Drug Policy Prompt the CIA to
Move Against Him?
By Mark H. Gaffney
February
23, 2017 "Information
Clearing House"
-
In
recent days, we have witnessed the disturbing
spectacle of open warfare between the newly
elected president and the intelligence
community. Former congressman Dennis Kucinich
(D-OH) described the situation as
“unprecedented. Whether you are for Trump or
against Trump,” Kucinich told FOX News, “the
White House is under attack from elements inside
the intelligence community, which are trying to
elevate tensions between Russia and the US.”
Kucinich continued: “At the bottom of that is
money, an agenda for someone to cash in on
conflict between the US and Russia.”
Kucinich was spot on. The military industrial
complex and their media pawns clearly do not
want improved relations with Russia and are
using their considerable power to prevent it,
for the reason cited. Untold billions in
military contracts are at stake. War and the
preparations for war are extremely profitable;
at any rate, for a privileged few.
During
the last few days, Trump and his inner circle
made statements about Crimea indicating the
immense pressure had the intended effect. Trump
appears to have backed away from improved
relations with Russia, at least for the present.
Other writers have commented at length about
this, so I won’t discuss it further here, except
to point out that the pressure shows no sign of
relenting, and may even be increasing. A former
NSA official, John Schindler, told Raw Story
that “Now we [the intelligence community] will
go nuclear. He [Trump] will die in jail…”
It’s as
if, having smelled blood in the water the
intelligence community is circling for the kill.
But given that Trump has been made to recant on
Russia, the question is why? What is going on?
The answer is that the sharp dispute over US
policy vis a vis Russia is not the only point of
contention. Other issues are also at play. A
tell-tale clue in this regard was the timing of
the felonious leak that led to the resignation
of General Mike Flynn for misleading Vice
President Pence about his conversations with
Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The leak
reportedly occurred on the evening of Thursday
February 9th, a few hours after Trump signed
three new executive orders, which FOX News first
reported at 4 p.m. Although the source of the
leak has not been disclosed, I suspect the CIA
for reasons that I will now explain.
In my
opinion, the timing was no coincidence. As we
ought to know from long experience, there are
few coincidences in the world of intelligence.
Therefore, it behooves us to examine Trump’s
latest executive orders which so far have
attracted scant attention.
A new anti-drug
policy
The orders that Trump signed on February 9th,
just before the leak occurred, are about
reducing crime in America. The first would
create a presidential task force to develop
strategies toward this end.[1]
A second more detailed order would “strengthen
enforcement of Federal law….to thwart
transnational criminal organizations and
subsidiary organizations, including criminal
gangs, cartels, racketeering organizations and
other groups engaged in….the illegal smuggling
and trafficking of humans, drugs, or other
substances…” [my italics].[2]
I was
amazed when I first read this. Trump’s executive
orders would launch a new war on drugs!
Evidently, president Trump idealistically (or
naively) has decided to accomplish what no
president before him was able (or willing) to
do, namely, eradicate the double scourge of drug
and human trafficking which have destroyed so
many young lives. Certainly it is a goal worthy
of our support. However, there is a hitch,
namely, the collision of such a policy with the
status quo. This needs clarification: If Trump’s
new anti-drug-trafficking policy is carried out
it will place drug enforcement agencies in
direct opposition to CIA officers who for many
years have “managed” the flow of cocaine and
heroin into the United States. In fact,
“dismantling the transnational criminal
organizations” responsible for the drug trade
will ultimately require nothing less than the
dismantling of the CIA itself. The wording of
Trump’s executive orders leaves no doubt about
his intent. The president is not proposing half
measures.
Officials at the CIA no doubt grasped the
significance of this at a glance, and concluded
correctly that the president himself, every bit
as much as his new executive orders, must
henceforth be viewed as a threat to the Agency’s
power and covert prerogatives. The scary part,
from the CIA standpoint, is that Trump really
means it. This is in sharp contrast with Ronald
Reagan, whose 1980s-era war on drugs was nothing
but a charade. One can well imagine the brief
but intense moment of panic at Langley when CIA
officials first learned about the orders. Their
signing by Trump created an immediate compelling
reason for the CIA to move against the
president, and to do so without delay. This,
very likely, explains the classified leak on
February 9th about Gen. Flynn.
I do
not mean to suggest that CIA officers themselves
smuggle drugs into the US. The actual smuggling
is almost always done by professional
traffickers who are treated as national security
assets because they also provide various kinds
of support for covert CIA operations. In return,
the “blessed” traffickers are allowed to ply
their illicit trade without interference from US
Customs, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA),
even local police. The CIA oversees the trade
which is largely about market share, and also
receives a cut of the action, which it uses to
fund black-budget operations. Competitors who
refuse to cooperate are fair game, and are
periodically rounded up and prosecuted to show
that the government is seriously waging the war
on drugs. Of course, despite the occasional high
profile arrests and convictions, somehow the
drugs are always readily available on the
street. The supply seldom fails, an inconvenient
truth never mentioned by the media nor
acknowledged by government officials.
Abroad,
the CIA’s control system is more complex, as in
the case of Mexico where the CIA often plays one
cartel off against another to destabilize the
country and prevent the emergence of a strong
central government. Keeping Mexico perennially
weak (and violent) evidently serves the foreign
policy objectives of empire.[3]
Despite the American public’s sorry state of
denial, complacency and/or apathy on the drug
trade issue, the evidence for the US
government’s criminal involvement is voluminous
and incontrovertible.[4]
The sordid history is a long one, and dates back
decades before the CIA was created to the 1920s,
when the US supported Chinese nationalist leader
Chiang Kai-shek, who maintained his army with
profits from the opium trade. I refer the reader
to the notes.
Trump’s new policy of eradicating human and sex
trafficking would likewise require US law
enforcement to investigate shady contractors
like Dyncorp, which, although a private company,
is for all practical purposes a CIA subsidiary.
Dyncorp’s longstanding involvement in human
trafficking dates back at least to the 1990s war
in Bosnia.[5]
Obviously, a real investigation would be
extremely embarrassing. Over the years, Dyncorp
has received billions in Defense Department
contracts, which is serious money but small
potatoes compared with the hundreds of billions
in laundered drug money that annually lubricates
the bottom line of the too-big-to-fail US banks.
No one knows the actual figure, but reputable
sources estimate the total at between $300-500
billion.[6]
At war with the
CIA
It would be hard to overestimate the present-day
importance of this laundered drug money to the
big banks, most of which are seriously
over-leveraged. According to the UN Office of
Drugs and Crime, the liquidity provided by an
estimated $352 billion in laundered drug profits
in 2008 saved a number of large banks from
collapse as result of the 2007 financial
meltdown.[7]
Incidentally, this is also why, 16 years after
the 9/11 attacks, the US military is still
deployed in Afghanistan. Our troops are there
because that is where the poppies are grown, the
feedstock for the global heroin trade. This is
the reason for the longest war in US history.
The plain truth is that our troops are not
defending freedom and democracy, but the bottom
line of the too-big-to-fail banks.
And all
of this would be seriously disrupted if Trump’s
new anti-drug-trafficking policy is implemented.
Needless to say, Wall Street and the US
intelligence community (which are one and the
same) will do everything in their power to
prevent this from happening; and the CIA, which
is the operational arm of the banksters who rule
the United States, will undoubtedly serve as the
enforcer.
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Donald
Trump’s strong position against drug and human
trafficking has placed him in the cross-hairs.
Is he aware of the powerful forces arrayed
against him? It is by no means clear that he
fully understands the CIA’s role in the drug
trade, or why his executive orders have stirred
up such a hornet’s nest. For Trump’s sake, I
hope he understands; because, henceforth, his
only chance to survive is to go on the
offensive, and to actually become the unlikely
American hero that he obviously aspires to be.
How? By effecting a top-down revolution in the
interests of the American people. But time is
short and the critical path to success is
extremely narrow, with little margin for error.
Can Trump outmaneuver the CIA even as it plots
his downfall? Can he rise above himself?
A second
American revolution
Here
are a few of the steps (in no particular order)
that Trump should immediately take to regain the
initiative, set his enemies back on their heels,
and buy the time that is desperately needed to
jump-start the second American revolution:
Empower
the FBI. Trump should instruct Attorney General
Sessions to clear out the dead wood at the
Department of Justice. FBI Director James Comey
and his deputy Andrew McCabe have a history of
blocking and/or slow-footing investigations.
They must go. Their replacements should be drawn
from within the agency, ambitious young men with
hunger in their eyes and fire in the belly.
Unleash the idealistic young investigators!
Release the 650,000 emails. I am referring to
the mother lode found on former congressman
Anthony Weiner’s server. We are very lucky this
electronic paper trail exists! Last November,
NYPD chief detective Robert K. Boyce, who has
seen the emails, told the press they contain
evidence linking Hillary Clinton and her
associates to money laundering, child
exploitation, sex crimes with minors, perjury,
pay to play, obstruction of justice and other
crimes.[8]
Apparently, the key piece of evidence is a list
of secret donors to the Clinton Foundation.
Everything we have learned to date indicates the
foundation was a private investors’ club for the
purpose of overthrowing and looting third world
nations. All Trump needs to do is to let the sun
shine in, then step aside and allow the system
to serve up the impartial wrath of justice. And
woe to the guilty!
Audit
the Fed. Trump supporters should move quickly to
guide legislation through Congress requiring an
audit of the Federal Reserve. Given a Republican
majority in both houses, the bill should pass
easily. If the Fed refuses to admit auditors
(and it will), Trump should send in US marshals
and nationalize the bank. A subsequent honest
audit will expose the Fed’s many crimes against
the American people. A reorganized and possibly
renamed Fed should be made to serve Main Street,
not Wall Street.
Get
control at the CIA and NSA. This is critical.
Trump’s newly appointed directors must take a
firm hand in identifying and prosecuting leakers
in both agencies while supporting whistleblowers
who have exposed illegal activities. Trump
should also give the order to fire all
neoconservatives, and their ilk. Ultimately,
Trump will need to dismantle the CIA and the
most objectionable parts of the NSA surveillance
regime.
Break
up the media conglomerates. Paul Craig Roberts
has suggested that Trump use anti-trust law to
accomplish this and I agree. The US corporate
media has long since abandoned its original
function, which is to inform the citizenry, and
unfortunately has become an instrument for fake
news and propaganda. Press diversity must be
restored.
The
above short list is only a start, and is by no
means complete. There are undoubtedly other
steps that Trump should also take.
Finally, I need to say that as a long-time
radical Leftie I am very displeased that so many
liberals and progressives have allied with the
globalists and the Deep State to destroy what
remains of our precious democracy. Liberals and
progressives need to wake up. Trump’s enemies
are also our enemies. If the CIA succeeds in
bringing him down, Trump’s replacement will be
much worse. I have always opposed US presidents
when they were wrong and supported them when
they were right. The same principle should hold
with Trump. Oppose him when he’s wrong, but
support him when he’s right. We can and must do
both, at the same time.
Many
people have underestimated Donald Trump. Be
assured, no one at CIA headquarters is
underestimating him any longer. Although Trump
has serious issues, he also has the potential to
achieve great things, in part, because he thinks
big and is capable of bold action. If Trump acts
decisively in the coming days to restore our
country, we should rally to his defense. If he
falters, Trump will be remembered as just
another failed wannabe.
Mark H. Gaffney’s
latest book is
Black 9/11
(2nd edition, 2016). His next, Never
Summer, a novel, will be released in
April 2017.
A
special thank you to George Webb, whose ongoing
open sourced people’s investigation at Youtube
has been a great help in connecting the dots!
References
[1]
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/02/09/presidential-executive-order-task-force-crime-reduction-and-public
[2]
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/02/09/presidential-executive-order-enforcing-federal-law-respect-transnational
[3]
Chris Arsenault, “Mexican official: CIA
‘manages’ drug trade”, Aljazeera, July 24, 2012,
posted at
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/07/2012721152715628181.html
[4]
Alfred W. McCoy, The Politics of Heroin
(Chicago: Lawrence Hill, 2003 revised edition);
Doug Valentine, The CIA as Organized Crime
(Atlanta: Clarity Press, 2017) see especially
chapters 12-14; Peter Dale Scott, Cocaine
Politics (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1991).
[5]
Kathryn Bolkovac, The Whistleblower
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011). Also:
don’t miss the movie with the same name based on
the book starring Rachel Weisz.
[6]
Raymond W. Baker, “The Biggest Loophole in the
Free Market System,” Washington
Quarterly, Autumn 1999, p. 29, posted at (see p.
1061)
http://frwebgate.access.
gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=106_senate_hearings&docid=f:61699.pdf.
Also see The CIA as Organized Crime, p. 214.
[7]
Rajeev Syal, “Drug money saved banks in global
crisis, claims UN advisor”, the Guardian,
December 12, 2009.
[8]
http://truepundit.com/breaking-bombshell-nypd-blows-whistle-on-new-hillary-emails-money-laundering-sex-crimes-with-children-child-exploitation-pay-to-play-perjury/
