Oliver
North Exposed
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A CIA Confession
- Oliver North Exposed
NOTE: At the time this story was written it looked
like the House IntelligenceCommittee was going to get away with
closing out the CIA drug investigations. But thanks to the efforts
of From The Wilderness that resulted in class action suits
being filed against the CIA in Los Angeles and Oakland and other
publicity we have generated Volume II has not been closed out.
They can't because too many people are watching. On October 12,1999,
investigators from House Intelligence came to Los Angeles and
copied 6,000 pages of our records for review. Going into 2000,
Volume II is still very much an open investigation and FTW
is proof that something can be done. - MCR
Volume Two of CIA Inspector
General's Drug Report Released
by
Michael C. Ruppert
October 21, 1998
In a move apparently deliberately timed to muzzle Congressional
response, the Central Intelligence Agency, on October 8, released
the long awaited declassified version of Volume II of Inspector
General Frederick Hitz's investigation into allegations of Contra
drug trafficking. The report, which had been in the hands of the
Intelligence Committees of both Houses since Spring is a virtual
confession by CIA that it engaged in a conspiracy to protect known
narcotics traffickers throughout the Contra war years. Release
of the declassified version of the report came just one hour after
the House of Representatives voted to conduct an impeachment inquiry
on President Clinton and just before House members were compelled
to cease all other activity to resolve the budget crisis. Mike
Schmitz, aide to Congresswoman Maxine Waters who sits on the Judiciary
Committee, which debated the impeachment measure, told From The
Wilderness, "She was unable to read it. She couldn't respond.
And then she had to go right into budget talks.
"But," Schmitz added, "You can bet the farm that she
is not going to keep quiet about this." This writer has prepared
a 44-page extract of relevant passages from the report, which shows
that the Agency participated in an apparent conspiracy to protect traffickers
throughout the Contra war. It also demonstrates that now departed CIA
Inspector General Fred Hitz opted for a course which pointed accusing
fingers directly at retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, the National
Security Council (NSC) and indirectly at then Vice President George
Bush. A copy of that extract was sent to Waters' office last week.
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) has not
yet announced a date for hearings to review the report but it will have
to do so in the near future. Many are still smarting from HPSCI's last
set of hearings on Volume I which were begun March 15, without notice,
on orders of Committee Chair Porter Goss, (R) Fla, who is himself a
retired CIA case officer. Calls and letters to HPSCI and the White House
accusing Goss of a conflict of interest and demanding adequate public
notice have already started going out. It is not likely that hearings
will be held until after the November elections when Republicans hope
to increase their majority in the House.
Mainstream media coverage of the report, though underplayed, gave indications
of how damning the report really is. None of the stories I reviewed
mentioned the fact that the Inspector General's report also goes a long
way toward corroborating allegations made by retired DEA Agent Celerino
Castillo and author Gary Webb.
As reported by Associated Press, the report, "portrays the spy
agency as reluctant to inform Congress or law enforcement of suspected
drug activity by Nicaraguan Contra forces." The AP story continued
to say that, "In classified briefings on Capitol Hill, CIA officials
typically acknowledged only one major case of narcotics involvement
by an anti-Sandinista group - the so called ADREN [sic] 15th of September
group, which was disbanded in 1982. But the newly declassified report
links to drug allegations 58 other individuals belonging to various
Contra groups."
A telling passage of the CIA report itself states that "In six
cases CIA knowledge of allegations or information indicating that organizations
or individuals had been involved in drug trafficking did not deter their
use by CIA. In at least two of those cases, CIA did not act to verify
drug trafficking allegations or information even when it had the opportunity
to do so."
In an apparent confirmation of Gary Webb's Dark Alliance series The
New York Times, in a brief story, picked out a paragraph from the
report which acknowledged that Contra leaders in California and the
Bay area specifically planned to deal drugs to raise money for the Contras.
The Los Angeles Times has not printed a word about the report.
The report itself is a thousand times more damaging to CIA than even
these limited stories indicated. It begins by going through a detailed
and convoluted process of describing how, beginning in 1981, the CIA
entered into a conspiratorial set of negotiations with the Justice Department
which accomplished two things. First, the negotiations took literally
thousands of people described as agents, assets and contractors and
removed them from their previous as classification of "employees"
and made them instantly "non-employees." This set the stage
for the second part of the conspiracy, which was to remove a previously
stated responsibility to report drug trafficking by non-employees connected
to Agency operations.
Later on the report describes how, in 1987, then acting DCI Robert
Gates, wrote a strident and noble sounding memorandum to then Deputy
Director of Operations, Clair George, setting down no-nonsense policies
against dealing with traffickers. The problem is that the memorandum
was not officially distributed for 15 years.
In a move apparently intended to show that the Agency had some sense
of right and wrong it describes in detail the drug trafficking activities
of Jorge Morales as connected to ARDE Southern Front Contra leader Eden
Pastora. Pastora was, almost from the outset, in disfavor with the Agency.
A credible case has been made, in fact, that the Agency intended several
times to assassinate Pastora and one failed attempt, a bombing at La
Penca in Nicaragua, led to the serious injury of American journalist
Tony Avirgan. Much later in the report the Agency links the infamous
John Hull to the bombing through its own cable traffic and information
developed by the government of Costa Rica where Hull operated.
As the report continues, CIA's excuses and denials for continued dealings
with other traffickers begin to sound strangely like Bill Clinton's
evolving definitions of sex. When absolutely cornered they lay out someone
else, namely Ollie North and the NSC.
In a sections on SETCO, an air freight company owned by Class I violator
Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros, which was documented shipping tons of
cocaine, CIA says SETCO was chosen by NHAO [The Nicaraguan Humanitarian
Assistance Office of the State Department which reported to Oliver North]
to transport goods on behalf of the Contras from late 1985 through mid-1986.
According to testimony by FDN leader Adolfo Calero before the Iran-Contra
committees, SETCO received funds for Contra supply operations from the
"bank accounts that were established by Oliver North." Oliver
North's ally at State was Elliot Abrams, a frequently named co-conspirator
in the Iran Contra affair, and a man known to have worked with CIA bagman
Albert Vincent Carone who dealt with organized crime figures for the
purpose of moving cocaine and laundering money in the era. Carone has
been covered in previous issues of From The Wilderness.
In another section on major trafficker Moises Nunez, who was being
investigated for shipment of hundreds of kilos of cocaine through firms
named Frigorificos de Puntarenas and Ocean Hunter (also NHAO contractors),
the CIA lays out North yet again. They describe how cocaine was reportedly
received at air strips owned by John Hull in Costa Rica and taken to
ships owned by these two firms. The CIA report then states, "On
March 25, 1987, CIA questioned Nunez about narcotics trafficking allegations
against him.
"Nunez revealed that since 1985, he had engaged in a clandestine
relationship with the National Security Council (NSC). Nunez refused
to elaborate on the nature of these actions, but indicated it was difficult
to answer questions relating to his involvement in narcotics trafficking
because of the specific tasks he had performed at the direction of the
NSC (emphasis mine). Nunez refused to identify the NSC officials
with whom he had been involved."
Oliver North was the point man at NSC for all Contra support activities.
The IG report continues, "Headquarters cabled in April 1987 that
a decision had been made to "debrief" Nunez regarding the
revelations he had made. The next day however, a Headquarters cable
stated that 'Headquarters had decided against… debriefing Nunez.'
The cable offered no explanation for the decision."
As to allegations of trafficking at Ilopango Air Base in El Salvador
the report, over approximately five pages, appears to corroborate many
of the allegations made by former DEA Agent Celerino Castillo in his
book Powderburns. The Agency draws a distinction between two separate
hangars at Ilopnago, one of which was operated by the Agency, the other
of which was operated by the NSC [Oliver North]. In making those distinctions
the Inspector General's report also tends to state that CIA personnel
somehow evaporated from the airfield during the time period when Castillo
documented many drug flights. The CIA report also, referring to him
as an unnamed "American citizen", utterly trashes and disavows
the spook Wally Grasheim who Castillo arrested on drug trafficking and
weapons charges. Grasheim had recently filed suit against the U.S. government
and is currently represented by former Kerry Committee lawyer, John
Mattes.
John Hull, one of the biggest covert operators in the region, who was
indicted along with Oliver North on drug and weapons charges by the
Costa Rican government, is similarly left on twisting in the breeze.
In spite of allegations from a number of pilots and major traffickers
including Jorge Morales, eyewitness testimony and the fact that the
Costa Rican government indicted Hull and North on drug trafficking and
weapons charges. Hull denied any such activity. He did admit to fleeing
the country in 1989.
What is unusual is that CIA devotes approximately four pages to Hull
demonstrating that his drug trafficking connections, murders and even
a planned bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica were the subject
of intense and frequent communications between CIA and the Congress.
Whereas in other places the CIA report goes to great lengths to state
that suspected drug traffickers were not employed by the Agency, in
Hull's case it neither confirms or denies any such relationship.
Additional operations and individuals discussed in the CIA report include
Arnoldo Arana, Frank Castro, Vortex, Michael Palmer, Hondu Carib, Alan
Hyde, Manuel Noriega, Felix Rodriguez, Eden Pastora, Ramon Milian Rodriguez,
Jorge Morales, Jorge Ochoa and an elusive CIA contractor/employee who
worked under the pseudonym of Ivan Gomez.
Celerino Castillo, in an interview with From The Wilderness
stated that he believed the mysterious Ivan Gomez to be a Venezuelan
trafficker named Victor Rivera who Cele had met and had dealings with
during the course of his DEA investigations. He described Rivera, in
his book and the interview as a goon who fired shots within inches of
torture victims ears as a means of intimidation. The CIA says of Gomez,
that virtually his entire family was in the drug business at the same
time that Gomez was married to a CIA employee.
From the damaging nature of the report it is apparent that what happens
now will be up to the Congress and the people. There is no longer any
room for CIA to hide and Oliver North should start packing his bags
- either to go to jail or to flee the country.
[ All of the revelations
made in the CIA report are too numerous and too damning to list here.
They read like a really good (dumb) spy novel. A 44 page extract with
additional exhibits and commentary by this writer is available for $12.95
plus $2.00 shipping and handling. It is strongly suggested for anyone
who would like to have 44 pages of CIA's own self-condemning words and
who would like to begin the hunt for Oliver North, NSC and George Bush.]
---------------------------------------
Executive Summary and Conclusions
Key Findings
[All Paragraph numbers herein
listed are taken directly from the CIA Inspector General's report. My
notes and emphases are followed by the initials MCR. All other highlights,
underlines, etc. are exactly as they appear in the original 410 page
report. The complete report with appendices is available at no charge
and located at www.cia.gov. - MCR]
Introduction
14. "CIA received allegations or information regarding drug trafficking
by Contra-related individuals in the Southern Front that operated from
Costa Rica. In 1984, CIA received allegations that five individuals
associated with the Democratic Revolutionary Alliance (ARDE)/Sandino
Revolutionary Front (FRS) were engaged in a drug trafficking conspiracy
with a known narcotics trafficker, Jorge Morales. CIA broke off contact
with ARDE in October, 1984, but continued to have contact with four
of the individuals involved with Morales"
16. In addition to the five individuals associated with ARDE, CIA received
drug trafficking allegations or information concerning 16 other individuals
who supported Southern Front Contra operations based in Costa Rica."
17. Contra Related Individuals - Northern Front. CIA also received
allegations or information concerning drug trafficking by nine Contra-related
individuals in the Northern Front based in Honduras.
18. Other Individuals Involved in the Contra Program. CIA received
drug trafficking allegations or information concerning five individuals
who were used to support the Contra program.
19. Companies, Pilots and Other Individuals Working for Companies
Used in Support of the Contra Program. CIA received drug trafficking
allegations or information concerning 14 pilots and two other individuals
who were associated with companies that provided support for the Contra
program. CIA also learned of drug trafficking allegations or information
concerning three companies that were used to support Contra activities
from 1984 until at least 1988.
20. CIA received drug trafficking allegations or information concerning
an individual who flew Contra support missions from Ilopango Air Base
in El Salvador in 1985 and 1986.
TO OBTAIN YOUR COPY OF THE From The Wilderness EXTRACTS AND
COMMENTARY ON VOLUME TWO OF THE CIA's INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT WITH
COMMENTS AND NOTES BY MIKE RUPPERT…& RELEVANT EXCERPTS
- VOLUME TWO of the CIA INSPECTOR GENERAL'S REPORT OF INVESTIGATION
INTO CONTRA DRUG TRAFFICKING:
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Michael C. Ruppert
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mruppert@copvcia.com
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