Afghan heroin & the CIA

Andrew Gavin Marshall

This article is from April, 2008. It is still an interesting read. - Editor

Summary: This report is about American and British involvement in the Afghan drug trade in opium, focusing on the history of such involvement, and the nature of the drug trade since the 2001 occupation of Afghanistan. Today, Afghanistan supplies “more than 90 per cent of the world's illicit opium, from which heroin is made,”[1] so who’s profiting from the trade?

The Anglo-Americans and the Origins of the Taliban

The CIA Creates Al-Qaeda

In 1998, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter’s National Security Adviser, said in an interview with a French publication, Le Nouvel Observateur, that the US intervention in the Afghan-Soviet war did not begin in the 1980s, but that, “it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul,” which precipitated the Soviet invasion into Afghanistan.[2] From the Soviet invasion, a bloody ten-year war followed.

Amazingly, “Before 1979 Pakistan and Afghanistan exported very little heroin to the West,”[3] but by 1981, “trucks from the Pakistan army’s National Logistics Cell arriving with CIA arms from Karachi often returned loaded with heroin – protected by ISI [Pakistan’s internal security service] papers freeing them from police search.”[4] This change occurred in 1981 when then CIA Director William Casey, Prince Turki bin Faisal of Saudi intelligence and the ISI worked together to create a foreign legion of jihadi Muslims or so-called Arab Afghans. More than 100,000 Islamic militants were trained in Pakistan between 1986 and 1992 in camps overseen by the CIA and [British] MI6. The SAS [British special forces] trained future Al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in bomb-making and other black arts" while their leaders were trained at a CIA camp in Virginia.[5] Further, “CIA aid was funneled through [Pakistani President] General Zia and the ISI in Pakistan.”[6]


Anti-Assad Rhetoric Intensifies

Stephen Lendman

US-led anti-Assad efforts continue. Obama's going all out to topple him. He's heading America for more war. His imperial strategy prioritizes it. Rule of law principles are discarded. Unchallenged global dominance alone matters. America's longstanding permanent war agenda advances it.

Syria is now being ravaged. Assad is wrongfully blamed for US proxy death squad crimes. Ad nauseam propaganda claims otherwise. Facebook and Twitter have Stop Assad campaigns. UK-based Media Lens reports reliably on media bias. On May 8, it headlined " ' This Madman Must Be Stopped' - Syrian Chemical Weapons."

Propaganda wars precede hot ones. Western efforts are relentless. Media scoundrels regurgitate official lies. Quasi-progressive print publications and web editors are involved. So are NGOs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Corporate foundations fund them. Well-known ones include Ford, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Soros, and MacArthur. Tainted money expects services rendered in return. Conflicts of interest are rife.

Sources [that] viewers, listeners and readers believe are reliable replicate their scoundrel media counterparts. Critics call America's NPR National Pentagon Radio. They do so for good reason. On major world and national issues, Britain's BBC is all propaganda all the time. America's dominant media are deplorable. Truth is systematically suppressed. Managed news misinformation substitutes. When America goes to war or plans one, they march in lockstep. In modern times, it's never been any other way.

Television makes it easy. Stop Assad images proliferate. Doing so overwhelms anti-war voices of truth. Anti-Assad propaganda aims to fool enough of the people enough of the time to matter.


Israel: A De Facto Member of NATO

Michel Chossudovsky

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen received Israel’s president Shimon Peres at NATO headquarters in Brussels on March 7.

The order of the day: to enhance military cooperation between Israel and the Atlantic Alliance focusing on issues of counter-terrorism.

“Israel will be happy to share the knowledge it has gained and its technological abilities with NATO. Israel has experience in contending with complex situations, and we must strengthen the cooperation so we can fight global terror together and assist NATO with the complex threats it faces including in Afghanistan.“

Israel is already involved in covert operations and non-conventional warfare in liaison with the US and NATO.

This agreement is of particular significance because it deepens the Israel-NATO relationship beyond the so-called “Mediterranean Dialogue”. The joint statement points to an Israel NATO partnership “in the fight against terror and the search for peace… in the Middle East and the world”.

Israel offered to assist NATO in counter-terrorism operations directed against Hezbollah and Iran. What this suggests is the participation of Israel in active theater warfare alongside NATO –i.e. as a de facto member of the Atlantic Alliance. In other words, Israel would be directly involved were US-NATO to launch an outright military operation against Syria, Lebanon or Iran.


Washington's War of Aggression on Syria

Stephen Lendman


Bodies of executed men were found on the side of a canal in the
northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday.
(AFP/Saudi Gazette)

Israel partners with Washington's wars. It's been largely covertly involved against Syria. It's now blatantly overt. Since last weekend, Israeli warplanes violated Syrian airspace multiple times. They overflew the Beka Valley. They attacked a weapons storage facility. They struck a convoy allegedly en route to Lebanon. On Wednesday, they bombed a scientific research center near Damascus. These actions and similar ones are naked acts of aggression. A follow-up article will discuss this further.

Washington planned war on Syria years ago. Previous articles discussed General Wesley Clark's "Winning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism, and the American Empire." Post-9/11, Pentagon sources told him plans targeted Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Iran and Syria for regime change. Earlier they were finalized against Afghanistan. Clark asked:

"And what about the real sources of terrorists - US allies in the region like Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia?" "Wasn't it repressive policies of the first, and the corruption and poverty of the second, that were generating many of the angry young men who became terrorists?" "And what of the radical ideology and direct funding spewing from Saudi Arabia?" "It seemed that we were being taken into a strategy more likely to make us the enemy - encouraging what could look like a 'clash of civilizations' - not a good strategy for winning the war on terror."

For nearly two years, Syria's been on the boil. Conflict shows no signs of ending. Washington's dirty hands prevent it. The latest Aleppo massacre reflects earlier ones. Western-recruited death squads bear full responsibility.


Tim Geithner's Legacy of Shame

Stephen Lendman

They gave away the store to Wall Street...

From January 26, 2009 - January 25, 2013, he was Obama's Treasury Secretary. He and Fed chairman Bernanke engineered crisis conditions. Bankers profited hugely. They still do. Ordinary people were scammed. Geithner's gone. His legacy speaks for itself. His background showed what to expect. He spent three years at Kissinger Associates.
From 1988 - 2002, he held various Treasury posts. He left to become Council on Foreign Relations international economics department senior fellow.
From 2001 - 2003, he was IMF Policy Development and Review director. He left to become New York Fed president.

He partnered with Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Bernanke. They planned the grandest of grand thefts. They implemented banker bailouts. They looted the federal treasury. They stuck taxpayers with the bill. They debased the currency. They transformed America into an unprecedented money making racket. As New York Federal Reserve Bank president/vice chairman of the Fed Open Market Committee (FOMC), Geithner helped engineer crisis conditions. As Treasury Secretary, he exacerbated them. He turned them into a protracted mainstream depression.


Foreign Terrorists Wage War on Syria

Stephen Lendman

Syrian authorities said so in 2011. Other reports acknowledged it then and now. Syria is Washington's war. It was planned years ago. America wants pro-Western puppet leadership replacing Assad. All independent governments are targeted for regime change. Imperial rogue states operate that way. Strategy used is longstanding.

On January 4, Michel Chossudovsky discussed it. Current US proxy wars employ earlier tactics.

Western-recruited death squads are used. Using them "go(es) back to the Vietnam war." "Terror brigades (commit) targeted assassinations (and) countless atrocities."

Since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011, Washington, key NATO allies, Israel, and other regional allies recruited, armed, trained, and directed death squads. They're still doing it. They're imported from abroad. More on that below.

Washington prioritizes the "Salvador Option." Rules of engagement proliferated massacres, torture, and gruesome atrocities in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In Vietnam, Operation Phoenix (OP) did the same things earlier. It became a template for future counterterrorism operations. From 1968 - 1973, CIA operatives, Special Forces, and Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Special Operations Group (MACV-SOG) conducted covert missions. Their mandate was to crush National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) resistance. Strategy was to terrorize people into submission.

Operations were no holds barred. Indiscriminate mass murder and atrocities were committed. US military personnel and South Vietnamese government officials considered security risks were targeted. High-value elements mattered most. Countless others were affected. Around 80,000 died before operations ended. Later reports said OP failed. John Pilger called America's Southeast Asian war "the grand illusion of the American cause." What couldn't succeed finally ended.


Islamofascist Killers Threaten Syria

Stephen Lendman


Ronald Reagan meeting with the Afghan Mujahideen inside
the White House.
(Photo: picturesofwar.net)

They're merciless cutthroat murderers. They commit grotesque atrocities. Torture, beheadings, and other monstrous savagery are all in a day's work.

They're Washington favorites. They're recruited, heavily armed, trained, funded and directed in all US regional wars. Ronald Reagan called earlier equivalents "freedom fighters." Some got White House visits.

A March 1983 photo showed Afghan Mujahideen fighters there. Reagan had the following to say about them:

“To watch the courageous Afghan freedom fighters battle modern arsenals with simple hand-held weapons is an inspiration to those who love freedom.”

He called Nicaraguan Contra killers

"our brothers, these freedom fighters and we owe them our help. They are the moral equal of our founding fathers."

History doesn't just rhyme. It repeats in horrifyingly disturbing ways. Wherever America shows up, deaths, mass destruction, and brutal atrocities follow. Countries are ravaged one at a time or in multiples. Millions die. Appalling crimes are committed. Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya tasted US-style liberation.


Propaganda War on Syria Rages

Stephen Lendman

Propaganda wars precede hot ones. Conflicts and other forms of violence are glorified in the name of peace. Doublespeak duplicity claim it. Wars are waged to prevent it. Ongoing ones assure more ahead. Unconscionable death counts rise. America, Israel, key NATO partners, and regional allies bear full responsibility. Humanity hangs in the balance. Humanitarian intervention and responsibility to protect (R2P) mask ravaging one country after another. Slaughter and mass destruction are called liberating struggles. Plunder is for economic development. Exploitation and dominance are called democracy building.

Media scoundrels invert truth for public support. When America goes to war or plans them, they march obediently in lockstep. Administration, congressional and Pentagon propaganda get reported as news and information. Big Lies make headlines. They're repeated ad nauseam. Media scoundrels are so addicted to lying, perhaps their employment contracts mandate misinformation, deceit and distortion while avoiding truth at all cost. What better way to explain scoundrel journalism. Fundamental good reporting principles are spurned. Ethical standards are ignored. The history of sensationalism, yellow journalism, and lying about what matters most in America is long and sordid. It dates back centuries. Accurate reporting is most important when lives, human welfare, and perhaps humanity are on the line.

Television is worst of all. In a June 1950 commencement address, Boston University President Daniel Marsh said, "If the (television) craze continues....we are destined to have a nation of morons." Famed comedian Ernie Kovacs (1919 - 1962) once called it a medium because it's neither rare or well done. He'd be horrified by what goes on now. It fails on all counts.

So do scoundrel print media. They give news, information, and opinion reporting bad names. Long before television arrived, journalist Walter Lippmann called the public "the bewildered herd." In policy matters, they're considered "spectators," not "participants." "The common interests elude public opinion entirely," he said. That's how it should be, he added.

America's privileged class alone should manage policy. Only they need proper education and training. Treat others like mushrooms - well-watered and in the dark. Distract them with bread and circuses. Misinform them with managed and junk food news. Media scoundrels betray the reading and viewing public. They're best served by walking away, tuning out, and choosing credible sources for what they most need to know. Greater numbers now do it. One day perhaps everyone will.


The Osama bin Laden Myth

Paul Craig Roberts

The interview below with Osama bin Laden was conducted by the Karachi, Pakistan, daily newspaper, Ummat and published on September 28, 2001, 17 days after the alleged, but unsubstantiated, al Qaeda attack of September 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center twin towers and Pentagon. The interview was sensational. The alleged “mastermind” of 9/11 said that he and al Qaeda had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack. The British Broadcasting Corporation’s World Monitoring Service had the interview translated into English and made public on September 29, 2001.

Osama bin Laden’s sensational denial was not reported by the US print and TV media. It was not investigated by the executive branch. No one in the US Congress called attention to bin Laden’s refusal of responsibility for the greatest humiliation ever inflicted on a superpower.

To check my memory of the lack of coverage, I googled “Osama bin Laden’s interview denying responsibility for 9/11.” Some Internet sites reproduced the interview, but the only mainstream news source that I found was a 1 minute YouTube video from CNN in which the anchor, after quoting an al Jazeera report of bin Laden’s denial, concludes that “we can all weigh that in the scale of credibility and come to our own conclusions.” In other words, bin Laden had already been demonized, and his denial was not credible.

The sensational news was unfit for US citizens and was withheld from them by the American “free press,” a press free to lie for the government but not to tell the truth.

Obviously, if bin Laden had outwitted not only the National Security Agency, the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the FBI, but also all 16 US intelligence agencies, all intelligence agencies of Washington’s NATO puppet states, Israel’s Mossad, and in addition the National Security Council, NORAD, US air traffic control, and airport security four times on the same morning, it would be the greatest feat in world history, a movement building feat that would have made al Qaeda the most successful anti-imperialist organization in human history, an extraordinary victory over “the great satan” that would have brought millions of new recruits into al Qaeda’s ranks. Yet the alleged “mastermind” denied all responsibility.


Zionists Are Unhappy With "Pillar of Cloud"

Stephen Lendman

Righteous Condemnation of Israeli Mass Murder

Media scoundrels feature pro-Israeli supporters. Doing so makes them complicit with Israeli crimes. Charles Krauthammer is one of the worst. He's an embarrassment to legitimate journalism. His latest Washington Post op-ed headlines "Why was there war in Gaza?" His commentary shows appalling ignorance, support for Israeli lawlessness, racist hate, and contempt for besieged Gazans.

"Israel wanted nothing more than to live in peace with this independent Palestinian entity," he claimed. "After all, the world had incessantly demanded that Israel give up land for peace." "It gave the land. It got no peace."

In 2005, Israel disengaged from Gaza. It did so to get Jews out of harm's way. Palestinian West Bank land was stolen to accommodate them. War was planned with no timeline. Cast Lead followed. Now Operation Pillar of Cloud. More coming. Stay tuned. Occupation of Gaza doesn't exist, claims Krauthhammer.

Explain it to 1.7 million oppressed Palestinians. They're isolated in the world's largest open-air concentration camp. Its harshness replicates Nazi-enforced Warsaw ghetto conditions. Humanitarian crisis conditions persist. Borders are closed. No one gets in or out without hard to get permit permission. Israel bombs, invades, and commits other atrocities at will. It maintains total control. Palestinians have no say whatever. "Israel has once again succeeded in defending itself," claims Krauthhammer. Irresponsibly he called months-ago planned naked aggression self-defense.

Rabbi Avichai Ronsky calls himself a man of God. He's also a former chief Israeli military rabbi. He's more concerned about militarism than Judaic doctrine. His comments show it. Ending conflict was "a great mistake and a disappointment," he said. Killing and injuring Palestinians should have continued.


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