UNDERNEWS
Sam Smith
August 29, 1999
The Progressive Review
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WORD
Don't get me wrong -- if I and my scout pals were reunited today and found
ourselves in the Maryland woods hearing voices and coming across weird-ass
stick figures made from branches, we'd be scared. But one of us would not
throw away the map. Should the map mysteriously disappear, at least one of
us would be familiar enough with the area to know what was the best general
direction to head in. Should we apparently find ourselves in some sort of
weird vortex where the laws of direction and nature don't apply (this is the
only explanation I can come up with for the characters' inability to
effectively follow a stream downwards, read a compass or pay attention to
the sun), and it became clear we were being stalked, we would have set up
fortification better than a tent. Without question we would have used our
Swiss Army knives or lock blades to fashion more practical, lethal weapons.
Perhaps futile gestures in the face of the supernatural, but it sure as hell
beats doing little more than routinely bursting into fits of weepy
caterwauling, punctuating every other word with an angry "fuck" or
repeatedly invoking mantras like "we have to end up somewhere, because this
is America and we've destroyed so many of our natural resources that we have
to hit civilization soon." I mean, I'm sorry, but if this is the best these
kids can do in the face of adversity, I'm with the witch. -- Former Boy
Scout and current Village Voice correspondent Jason Vest writing for
Alternet on the "Blair Witch Project"
A NOTE
Finding out what is going on in national politics has become an extremely
murky business for the ordinary citizen. One good rule of thumb is to avoid
politicians who have seamy connections -- with or without a smoking gun.
There is no right to hold public office and surely it is more in the voters'
interest that a candidate be forced out of the race for being, say, too
close to drug figures than because he was unable to raise the last three
million dollars in campaign funds. We accept financial disqualification with
barely a wince yet insist on prosecutable crimes in order to reject a
candidate on moral grounds. This is madness of the most masochistic sort.
Voters are not jurors but citizens and are as much entitled to make
incomplete moral judgements about candidates as about anyone with whom they
might do business or spend an evening. To reduce qualification for public
office to that needed to produce a hung jury in a criminal case is to
sanctify public corruption and give up the basic right of the voter. This
publication attempts to help the reader make sensible and timely -- rather
than final and prosecutable -- judgments about those in or seeking public
office. In the tradition of Camus, and unlike much of the media,, it prefers
to serve those affected by history rather than merely those who make it.
THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY
Nowhere is the denial rampant in America's power class more apparent than in
its discussion of drugs and politics. Uniformly absent from the exoneration
given politicians such as Bush and Clinton for past drug activity is any
sympathy for the tens of thousands of Americans long imprisoned for doing
the same thing. A classic example of this attitude of zero tolerance for the
weak and a free ride for the powerful comes in a column by Bonnie Erbe, host
of PBS' "To the Contrary:"
"I was caught up in the drug culture of the late '60s and early '70s, which
I state as a reason, not an excuse. And, oh yes, prior to trying heroin I
smoked a lot of different types of marijuana and hashish (yes, inhaling all
the time) and took a wide variety of hallucinogens: mescaline, LSD, you name
it. Well, I not only survived that stupor, I excelled at high school studies
and extracurricular activities during it.
"I certainly would not recommend my behavior as an example to others. Having
had this experience, however, I feel sorry for Gov. George W. Bush. I wish
the media and the public would get off this hypocritical trip (pun intended)
of hounding him into not only admitting, but into spelling out in lurid
detail what we all presume he did: snort cocaine.
"We are, most of us, such hypocrites in this charade. We try to force our
politicians to live up to a standard that not even a nun could meet. Then we
wonder why the array of people willing to run for office sometimes seems so
substandard. In Gov. Bush's case, the man already has said he committed acts
in his youth of which he is not now proud. He's being honest (a rare and
undervalued commodity in politics these days) .... Enough of the hectoring.
Gov. Bush's apparent experimentation with hard drugs could serve as an
inspiration to those now using drugs and trying to break free. We should all
demand the media leave him alone."
Of course, if you're not a governor or a PBS host, mandatory sentencing laws
still apply.
THE BATTLE OF THE EPIGONS
To help keep things in perspective this election year, remember one key
fact: the Clinton machine and the Bush machine, among the most corrupt in
American history, are ideally placed to blackmail and expose each other. The
Bush and Clinton families were tightly intertwined during the Iran-Contra
period thanks to the drugs-for-guns operation at Mena. Clinton served as a
key enabler for the Reagan-Bush war in Nicaragua, providing everything from
a launching pad to an aggressive indifference as to what was happening in
his state. For example, while Governor Michael Dukakis was fighting
unsuccessfully all the way to the Supreme Court to prevent his national
guard troops being sent to Honduras, Governor Clinton was happily shipping
his militia southward where it conviently left tons of military supplies
before returning from its "training" mission.
Also shared by Clinton and the senior Bush are ties to both the drug trade
and the CIA. Their tales share protagonists such as Felix Rodriguez, Oliver
North, and the notorious drug trafficker Barry Seal. Bush and Clinton also
shared a liking for the Casablanca-like ambience of Arkansas where anything
could happen and often did.
The danger in this sort of thing is that too many people end up knowing too
much about other people's business. Alliances of convenience become
permanent records to be used at some later date. Players switch sides,
moving from one camp to another, including being drafted by the drug
warriors from the drug industry itself.
One of the ways in which this could be playing out is in the sudden revival
of news about the Waco massacre. As one of TPR's readers notes, "Since all
of the 'new' Waco revelations seem to be coming from sources close to the
Texas Rangers and the Texas Division of Public Safety, is the White House
getting payback for sponsoring the Bush cocaine stories?"
Meanwhile, one of the more dramatic drug allegations concerning the younger
Bush has come from former law enforcement and intelligence figures, although
ones not known to be in the Clinton camp. And then there is the Medellin
cartel itself. What role has it played? Does it have a grudge against the
Bushes and has the Clinton administration been willing to play off of this?
Were the leaks to the San Jose Mercury News about CIA cocaine operations
designed at least in part to put the elder Bush in a bad light?
There are at this time no good answers to any of these questions. But there
does appear to be a game afoot that is far more serious and complex than the
media coverage would suggest. Stay tuned.
GOOD WAR CRIMINALS AND BAD
Although the administration talks a lot about prosecuting war criminals,
there's one they don't want caught: President Clinton. This has created a
bit of a problem at the UN where the US has been dragging its heels on the
creation of an International Criminal Court. Reports UN Wire, "The issue
that dominated three weeks of negotiations on the world's first permanent
war crimes tribunal wasn't even on the agenda: What will it take for the
United States to join the court?"
The US representative, David Scheffer "is trying to find a legal solution
that will enable Washington to sign the treaty" because the administration
fears it might make US government officials "vulnerable to politically
motivated prosecutions." On August 14 the Associated Press quoted a Hill
source as saying that the administration wants "a clear recognition that
states sometimes engage in very legitimate uses of military force to advance
international peace and security."
What's at stake are efforts to indict Clinton, Madeleine Albright and Tony
Blair as war criminals for their bombing of Yugoslavia and related acts.
Ironically, it was the Clinton Administration that in 1993 pushed the
Security Council to establish a new international war tribunals court.
The US is looking for exceptions for military personnel and guarantees the
treaty won't be turned against it. Says Richard Dicker, associate counsel
for New York-based Human Rights Watch, "It is a loophole the size of the
Grand Canyon that any rogue state would drive right through." He also said
that "Washington is still seeking to eviscerate the court behind closed
doors."
TWA 800
AGENCE FRANCE PRESS: Two groups that claim a missile brought down TWA Flight
800 in July 1996 said Friday that just-released radar data showing an
unidentified ship near the blast back their theory .... The data, obtained
in June from the National Transportation Safety Board, show many ships in
the area, including one five kilometers from where the plane went down.
"There were 30 surface vessels in the area. Only one, the closest, has not
been identified," Tom Stalcup, the director of the Flight 800 Independent
Research Organization, told a press conference. "After the explosion that
everyone could see 20 miles around, the ship, about 2.9 nautical miles away,
did not turn around," he said .... Some 130 witnesses said they saw a
glowing arc climb into the sky -- like a rocket or a missile -- seconds
before the aircraft exploded, he added.
WACO
UPI: The woman who headed the federal jury that convicted eight Branch
Davidian members in connection with the 1993 siege near Waco, Texas, says
they should get new trials because of new FBI admissions. Sarah Bain headed
a federal court jury that convicted the Davidians on charges related to the
Feb. 28, 1993 shootout .... In an interview with WOAI radio in San Antonio
today, Bain said the admission by the FBI that agents fired flammable tear
gas grenades near the compound hours before the fire that ended the siege is
grounds to ask for new trials. Koresh and 80 of his followers died
JEFF NESMITH, COX NEWSPAPERS: Army anti-terrorism specialists, including the
commander of the top-secret Delta Force, attended the 1993 meeting at which
Attorney General Janet Reno approved use of tear gas against members of the
Branch Davidian group near Waco, Texas. It is the first indication that the
Delta Force, whose presence at the fatal raid was disclosed this week, was
involved in planning the operation .... Documents released to Cox Newspapers
on Friday by the FBI indicate that Col. William Boykin, then Delta Force
commander, and Brig. Gen. Peter Schoomaker, then the assistant division
commander of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, were the
previously unidentified officers who told Reno use of CS gas, a potent form
of tear gas, would make the compound "untenable."
THE UNDERNEWS: Nesmith is wrong in claiming this is the first report of
Delta Force's involvement. Here's a story from Counterpunch that TPR
described a month ago:
"Counterpunch has identified the two military men who took part in a Waco
Massacre planning session at the Justice Department: Colonel Gerald Boykin,
and his superior, Peter J. Schoomacher, the commanding general at Fort
Bragg. Counterpunch says that NATO Commander Wesley Clark (who had served
under Schoomacher) was not directly involved in the attack:
"Boykin and Schoomacher were present because the Army's Fort Bragg-based
Combat Applications Group -- popularly known as the Delta Force -- had been
enlisted as part of the assault team on the Branch Davidian Compound. It
appears that President Clinton had signed a waiver of the Posse Comitatus
Act, with the precedent being Ronald Reagan's revocation of the Act in 1987,
allowing the Delta Force to be involved in suppressing the Atlanta prison
riot.
"The role of the Delta Force, the identity of the two Army officers, the
revocation of Posse Comitatus all form part of the disclosures of a
forthcoming documentary film, 'Waco: A New Revelation,' put together by the
same team that produced an earlier, excellent film, Waco: Rules of
Engagement."
Among the materials obtained by the film producers are 28 videos showing US
military in special assault gear and with name tags obscured in the final
onslaught on the Waco compound.
"Producer Mike McNulty isolates Vince Foster as the White House point man
for the Waco operation. Writes Counterpunch: "McNulty cites Foster's widow
as saying that the depression that prompted the White House lawyer's death
was fueled by horror at the carnage at Waco for which the White House had
given the ultimate green light. Foster was writing a Waco report when he
died. McNulty says that some documents about Foster and Waco were among
those removed from his office after his death, later to surface in a White
house store room sheltering archives of the First Lady."
COUNTERPUNCH http://www.counterpunch.org/
THE HIGH AND MIGHTY
GENNIFER FLOWERS ON THE SEAN HANNITY SHOW: [Clinton] came in one day and
told me that Hillary had found out, had heard from some friends that he'd
been doing cocaine. And that she said, "Hey, you better stop it." And I
said, "Well, what are you going to do?" And he said, "Well, I'm going to
stop it." But this wasn't until, I'd say about the mid-80's. So she was
aware of his drug problem, as, like I said, as were many others...... It was
very common knowledge in Arkansas by a number of people, including his wife,
that he was a user of cocaine ....
NEWS FROM THE COLONIES
AGENCE FRANCE PRESS: The United States and Britain are gathering steam for a
large scale operation against Iraq, amid almost daily air strikes on that
country, Western diplomats said. At the forthcoming meeting in mid-September
of foreign ministers of UN Security Council member states, Britain is
expected to submit anew a US-backed resolution on Iraq for which it failed
to win consensus in July, they said. "If it is adopted, the resolution will
provide the United States and Britain with a new legal tool to take measures
against Iraq," a Western diplomat well acquainted with Iraqi affairs told AFP.
FIELD NOTES
AVANT GARDENING: Ecological struggle in the city and the world" is an
anthology of essays edited by Peter L. Wilson and Bill Weinberg containing
writings about the cultural, social and political aspects of ecology, with
particular emphasis on the ecological struggles currently taking place in
New York City. Published by Autonomedia, http://www.autonomedia.org
SHAMAN GATHERING: Tribal shamans from the Amazon and Andes will be traveling
to upstate New York this September for a gathering organized by the Omega
Institute and Dream Change Coalition. The was inspired by a "prophecy of the
eagle and the condor. As recounted in South America for thousands of years,
the legend anticipates the marriage of the materialistic north (the eagle)
and the spiritual south (the condor), and the beginning of the "Fifth
Pachacuti", a transition out of an era of conflict and turmoil into more
sustainable, earth-honoring ways. The gathering will be held at Omega's main
campus in Rhinebeck, New York, September 17-19. More than 600 people are
signed up to attend the event, while 100 more are on a waiting list. The
shamans represent a number of tribal cultures and linguistic groups. They
live in remote areas; most have never before left their native lands. With
the help of translators, the shamans will share their ceremonies, healing
rituals and legends-many of which have never before been witnessed in North
America.
DREAM CHANGE COALITION http://www.dreamchange.org
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