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THE FIX: Thursday 21 July @ 21:29:55 |
The CIA and the War on Drugs by Ed Felien Preface The British East India Company exercised monopoly control of the growing of opium in India and its transport and importation to China as early as 1750. Chinese Emperors objected. They issued edicts against its use. Foreign traders were ordered to surrender their opium in 1839. The British sent in warships, beginning the First Opium War. In 1841 the British defeated the Chinese. The Chinese had to pay a large indemnity and surrender Hong Kong. A little later some Chinese threw chests of opium into the sea in imitation of the American Revolution. The British were not amused. The British and French renewed hostilities toward the Chinese, beginning the Second Opium War. The British won large indemnities and the importation of opium was legalized in 1856. As early as 1800 the British Levant Company was purchasing opium in Turkey for importation to the U. S. Smuggling was the sport of the ruling class in the first years of the 19th century. In 1805 Charles Cabot (of the Boston Cabots) was involved in trade from the British to the Chinese, and John Jacob Astor purchased 10 tons of opium in Turkey to sell to the Chinese. A lot of that opium found its way to America, either directly through importation to New York City or through the immigration of Chinese and consequent opium dens in San Francisco. Heroin was invented by Heinrich Dreser in 1895 while working for Bayer Drug Company. Bayer introduced it as a substitute for morphine. By 1903 heroin addiction had risen to alarming rates. By 1924 heroin was made illegal and the black market and the underworld were born. In the early years of the 20th century, Corsican gangsters purchased opium from Turkey and from Burma through the French colony of Vietnam. They refined it in Marseilles, making it into heroin, and they brought it to New York to be distributed by the Mafia. World War II, the Mafia and the OSS World War II disrupted trade routes. Germany controlled much of the eastern Mediterranean, and the Japanese controlled Burma and Vietnam. The French convinced Hmong farmers to cultivate opium to insure a regular supply, but distribution routes to the United States were upset because Mussolini had virtually wiped out the Mafia in Sicily. Vietnam When the French lost at Dienbienphu in 1954, they agreed to leave Vietnam. They and the Viet Mihn agreed to a temporary partition of the country into North and South Vietnam, and then in a year there were to be national elections and unity. Eisenhower, in his book, Mandate for Change, admits the United States couldnt let elections happen because the Communists would have won them. So, even though the United States signed the agreements and said they would abide by them, the United States sent advisors into South Vietnam to set up a series of puppet governments to maintain the fiction of two Vietnams. The CIA also inherited the Meo tribes and the Hmong in the mountains. These people had been clients of the French, now they were clients of the Americans. They continued to grow opium and planes still flew the opium to Marseilles, but now they were U.S. planes from Air America, the new CIA charter airline. Iran/Contra One of the people playing in the Golden Triangle during the Vietnam War was Ollie North. He was a gung-ho, kick-ass-kind-of-guy. For fun hed go out into the jungle at night with his body painted and play commando, and, during the day, he worked with the CIA in Laos. When Reagan took office in 1980, North was the guy in the basement of the White House that McFarlane could go to with black box problems. Reagan wanted to fund the Contras who were fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Congress had ordered that no money be spent to fight this legitimate government, but Reagan was determined, even after he had been warned that to do so was an impeachable offense. The solution was to talk to Ollie. Ollie went down to Honduras (where Negroponte, our new National Security Czar, was ambassador) and met with the Contras. He found them to be familiar types (they were
dealing cocaine). He came back and met with the Mafia types where he had been unloading Vietnamese opium and heroin and arranged for the sale of the cocaine. Then he went to Iran to arrange for the purchase of Russian made guns and ammunition (so they couldnt be traced back to the White House). Once he got the planes rolling, with military and CIA security clearances, the triangle ran itself. The Contras would deliver the cocaine to a private airbase in Costa Rica. Theyd get cash for the coke. Yugoslavia/Albania Under the Clinton Administration things were going to be different. They were going to focus on strengthening democratic governments rather than covert activities. They were going to foster law-abiding behavior and promote legitimate economic opportunity, presumably in contrast to supporting drug lords and gangsters. It didnt quite turn out that way. Old hat and new friends. In an article in the Montreal Gazette, Michael Levine, a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, confirmed the connection: They protected them in every way they could. As long as the CIA is protecting the KLA, youve got major drug pipelines protected from any police investigation. Afghanistan 9-11 gave the CIA an opportunity to reclaim old friends and old sources of opium. The original opium production in Afghanistan was the exclusive property of the British Levant Company beginning in the 18th century. The drug warlords were well known and established friends of British and American intelligence. When the Taliban outlawed the production of opium, the warlords were out of business. Afghanistan went from the leading producer of opium under the former government to zero production under the Taliban. The drug lords were ready and willing accessories to the U. S. invasion. Colombia Bushs budget for this year includes $750 million for the War on Drugs in Colombia. This money is for the Colombian military and for spraying coca fields. That sounds innocent enough, until you realize that the largest growers of coca and the largest dealers in cocaine are the large landowners who control the government and the military. Paul Wellstone was critical of this kind of aid before he died. Everyone in Colombia who has a patch of land grows coca. Its a better cash crop than coffee. The government is interested in wiping out the small landowners, eliminating the competition, and protecting the large landowners. They spray the small farms and contaminate the land so nothing will grow on it. Conclusion In the 19th century the British fought two Opium Wars to gain the freedom to impose opium on the Chinese people. In the past 50 years the CIA has started and supported more wars than we can count. We havent begun yet to talk about Africa and the rest of South America. They have done this to support reactionary regimes and to suppress popular movements abroad, and they have financed their adventures by selling drugs to young people here in America. Ed Felien is the publisher of Pulse of the Twin Cities. |
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