by StarmanSkye » Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:06 pm
Ono1812:<br><br>Yes indeedy -- there is a cocaine acrylic-figurine connection to the Kent memo allegations -- <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://politicalswitchboard.invisionzone.com/index.php?s=5919efe4d64754f5c9a7a7ccf39578e8&showtopic=7147&pid=42445&st=0&#entry42445">politicalswitchboard.invi...entry42445</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>--referencing:<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue40/article1543.html">www.narconews.com/Issue40...e1543.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>--quote--<br>Allegation Two: Bogotá DEA Agents Imprison and Possibly Conspire to Murder Informants to Prevent Their Travel to U.S.<br><br>A separate DEA group, also based in Florida, ran into trouble with the same DEA office in Bogotá while investigating another Colombian narco-trafficking operation. Informants tipped off the Florida agents that that this drug ring had developed an ingenious method for smuggling cocaine into the United States, a method that seems to have been lifted right out of the script of the drug-war movie Traffic.<br><br>"Specifically, the narcotics traffickers in Colombia were infusing acrylic with cocaine and shaping it into any number of commercial goods," Kent states. "The acrylic was then shipped to the United States and Europe where, during processing, the cocaine was extracted from the acrylic."<br><br>Informants working for the Florida agents sent samples of the cocaine-laced acrylic to the DEA, but the agency’s chemists couldn’t figure out how to extract the cocaine. As a result, the Florida agents decided to have the informants come to the United States with a sample of the acrylic, so they could walk DEA’s chemists through the extraction process.<br><br>"Agents contacted the Bogotá Country Office to discuss the informants’ planned travel and their bringing cocaine out of Colombia infused in acrylic,” writes Kent. “They were advised that the best tact was for the informants to carry it out themselves."<br><br>But when the informants got to the airport to leave for the U.S., they were arrested. A DEA agent in Bogotá, it turns out, had told Colombian officials to “lock them (the informants) up and throw away the key,” according to Kent. The Bogotá agent then claimed that he had no idea the Florida agents had given the informants permission to transport the cocaine.<br><br>"His misrepresentations were backed by another agent in Bogotá," Kent states. "The informants were imprisoned for nine months while the accusations flew back and forth. Once it was determined that the agents in Bogotá were lying, the informants were released. One of the informants was kidnapped and murdered in Bogotá where he had gone into hiding."<br>--unquote--<br>(more at the above links)<br><br>Chiggerbit:<br><br>"Could these tactics pre-date the neo-convicts, starman?"<br><br>***<br>Most assuredly -- didn't mean to suggest it was only a neocon phenomenon, as by my reference w/ 'neocon/fascists' -- I included-used the term fascists in terms of the whole duplicious, exploitive system of covert blackops/counterintel/corporate-military alliances that continued and expanded its links with organized crime networks in the post-war world, and increasingly engaged in smuggling/money laundering to fund black-budget operations.<br>Actually, it's probably more accurate to say 'neofascists'. <br><br>Certainly, we've learned the CIA was involved in the lucrative heroin smuggling franchise in SE Asia during the Vietnam War, which transferred to Burma, Laos and Afghanistan once the US left Vietnam circa 1975, and which began to include Cocaine from South America. 'Course, a lot of those guys as Reagan and Bush confederates were budding neocons, whose intimate familiarity with how the Good 'Ol Boy System works (and where the bodies are buried) made them invaluable allies to the backroom Straussian idealists -- as their finesse in greasing the skids of corporate 'business' gave them the skeleton-keys to unlock the military-complex's Pandora's Box-treasure-chest. But it's more complex than that. Fighting the Evil Empire of Communism was the perfect foil to legitimize any lucrative crime that had SOME potential benefit to The Cause.<br><br>Interestingly -- The following comment by a retired US Customs supervisory special agent offers a refreshingly-honest, candid take on the inherant structural deficiency that contributes to corruption by US officials in the FBI, CIA, Customs and DEA (and I'd add NSA and several more unacknowledged agencies besides) working outside the country. But of course, those deficiencies are precisely WHY those positions can be exploited.<br><br>What's a hard nut to crack is how organized and deliberate this collusion is -- ie., the Cali Cartel was decapacitated by the US -- to what extent did this provide new opportunities, protection and/or collusion with competitors? Mexico's past (and present?) president and members of his administration have had (do have?) extensive links with narco-trafficers -- much as the Bush Dynasty and Cheney have been implicated.<br>Even major banks don't question their big depositors too closely, as they can't afford to ignore a half-trillion dollar industry.<br><br>Just another sign of America's rotton-to-the-core two-faced hypocrisy (ie., 'killing for peace').<br>******<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/3/2/203235/0623">narcosphere.narconews.com...03235/0623</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2006/3/18/235346/216">narcosphere.narconews.com...235346/216</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>--quote--<br>Waiting on a snow blizzard in hell (none / 0) (#2) <br>by Bill Conroy on Mon Mar 20th, 2006 at 09:45:50 PM EST <br>(User Info) <br>Mark Conrad, a retired supervisory special agent with U.S. Customs, who is currently the associate general counsel for the National Association of Federal Agents, asked me to post the following comment in response to the Vega story.<br><br>I think the problem is that the Agencies do not have the where-with-all, talent, staying power or funds to go after systemic corruption of our own that are stationed in foreign countries that speak other languages, have other cultures and have a culture of corruption. <br>First, if you review some of the Internal Affairs reports that have been written over the last few years as I have, you wonder if these agents finished high school English OR Spanish. Second, there is so much downward pressure to close cases that complex, multinational matters simply are not looked upon with favor. Third, the name of the game is statistics -- monthly, quarterly, annually. <br><br>The type of investigation that would be required to unravel what Vega is talking about would take years, not months, and virtually no agency is going to commit those kinds of resources with no guarantees. This kind of investigation chews up resources incredibly fast and does not replenish the spent funds like so many domestic undercover operations that begin to fund themselves. For example, there are many UC operations that are useful in generating funds for the purpose of "generating funds" to acquire things that normal appropriated funds are not available for. <br><br>Fourth, where are you going to find the truly competent, bilingual agents that are dedicated to rooting out this kind of corruption. All of the Agencies are hiring sycophants and dopplegangers. See what happens to Agents/CBP [Customs and Border Protection] officers and others who speak up about these problems. Their careers are destroyed.<br><br>To make it even more dramatic, look at what the Internal Affairs Agents have been doing in El Paso. They have spent their time investigating one of their personnel, repeatedly, over matters that involved her divorce. One of the investigators told her he was investigating her in anticipation of her lying in divorce court. In a matter playing out in that courtroom, a Federal District Court Judge rightly called these investigations absurd.<br><br>We can easily see where our resources are going and why Vega's allegations will not see the light of day as long as you have the kind of mentality (midget) that is prevalent in Homeland Security (legacy U.S. Customs). From what I have seen, that mentality is there at DEA, INS, ICE, FBI and at State.<br><br>Solution: Select someone (retired and not beholden to anyone) with solid experience in conspiracy investigations who is well respected within the law enforcement community; let him/her select his team of investigators, and staff; give them a budget and a mandate to find out what happens; make the resources of the various agencies available without the bureaucratic infighting; let him/her select a former U.S. Attorney with excellent credentials to prosecute anywhere there is jurisdiction. <br><br>The lead person on this must be a former investigator to root out what happened. The lead investigator cannot be a "Boy Scout." This is tough, dirty, unpleasant, dangerous work and will lead to places the power structure does not want it to lead, much as the Cisneros and Able Danger investigations did.<br><br>There are a few very good men and women out there who might be willing to take on this onerous tasking. Now, will it happen -- when there is a snow blizzard in hell. Why? Not one of these agencies or their management wants to truly know what happened or why. It would cause them to have to deal with some things. Therefore, it will happen again.<br><br>Mark Conrad BS, MS, JD<br>Associate General Counsel<br>National Association of Federal Agents<br><br>Assistant Professor Criminal Justice<br>Troy University-Dothan Campus<br><br>******<br>Re: Conrad's bid last year for a top post in the Dept. of Homeland Security -- shows his integrity in speaking-out about the culture of cronyism, fraud, corruption, vindictiveness and cover-up that plagues the US's biggest law-enforcement agencies -- and which has actually increased under Bush Inc. (which I think is a deliberate Bush Inc. strategy, the Bush PTB offers sanctuary for the biggest embedded criminals with official cover):<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/3/2/203235/0623">narcosphere.narconews.com...03235/0623</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>--quote--<br>Changing of the guard?<br>Conrad admits ... that his bid for the post is a long shot, one that is not likely to succeed absent a grassroots movement within the agency.<br><br>Conrad now works as an assistant professor of criminal justice at Troy University in Alabama and as a legal advocate for federal law-enforcement employees who have discrimination and whistleblower claims against the government. Conrad, a 27-year Customs veteran who retired in 1998, rose through the agency’s ranks to take on the post of Supervisory Agent in Charge of Customs Internal Affairs -- a position in which he had responsibility for a nine-state area and two foreign locations.<br><br>While with Customs as a supervisor in Internal Affairs, Conrad says he made some enemies, because he played by the book.<br><br>“We were just looking for the facts, and not trying to satisfy some manager who might want those facts to change,” he says. “I’ve been asked to change testimony, or to leave stuff out of reports, or to clear individuals, or to make people appear guilty. My response was always, ‘No fucking way.’”<br><br>Conrad says if he somehow got the nod as commissioner, “one of the first things I would do is restore the morale of the people in the agency.”<br><br>“I’d get the mean, vindictive, retaliatory spirit out of there,” he adds. “This stuff needs to end, now.”<br><br>Conrad says he would address the problems in the agency systematically, by identifying the bad supervisors and changing the guard. He also would set up an assessment program to identify early on those within the agency who have supervisory skills or potential and assure those people are put on track to succeed in those posts. In a nutshell, the cronyism within the agency would come to an end.<br><br>“This can’t be done overnight, but people have to know the future is bright, and that there are opportunities for good people to advance,” Conrad stresses.<br><br>****<br>--quote--<br>Conrad has earned a reputation for calling things as he sees them, even when it means putting his career at risk. As evidence of his integrity, check out the excerpts below from a July 1998 interview he did with Sam Donaldson of ABC News – PrimeTime Live. Conrad appeared on the TV show over the objections of U.S. Customs’ brass.<br><br><br>DOUBLECROSS: U.S. CUSTOMS EMBARASSED BY SMUGGLING INFORMANT<br><br>SAM DONALDSON, ABC NEWS: Last month, President Clinton called for cooperation among nations in the fight against drugs. But what if the people who are supposed to be keeping drugs out of the United States instead are putting the government smack in the middle of dealing drugs? Tonight, a six-month PrimeTime investigation reveals how agents of the U.S. Customs Service turned a pot smuggler into a big-time cocaine kingpin and then turned a blind eye while he poured billions of dollars of cocaine onto the streets of America. Tonight, Forrest Sawyer talks to Rodney Matthews, a smuggler turned top informant who became one of the biggest embarrassments in US Customs history.<br><br>... ANNOUNCER: Did U.S. Customs agents allow one of their own informants to flood drugs onto the streets?<br><br>... FORREST SAWYER: (VO) Mark Conrad runs internal affairs for Customs in Houston. A 27-year veteran, Conrad spoke to PrimeTime in New York over the objections of the Customs Service.<br><br>MARK CONRAD: We got in bed with Rodney Matthews and the importation of a humongous amount of narcotics coming into the United States.<br><br>FORREST SAWYER: (on camera) And the reason wasn't because they (law enforcement) were dirty?<br><br>MARK CONRAD: No. The reason is there's a great deal of pressure on agents in the field to make cases, to make the big one. And the bigger, the better.<br><br>FORREST SAWYER: ... The Customs Service investigation ... found no evidence of wrongdoing. ... The reason, Mark Conrad says there was a cover-up that continues to this day.<br><br>MARK CONRAD: We hide things. We cover them up. We don't -- we're not honest at times within our own organization, and we're clearly not honest at times with the media.<br><br>FORREST SAWYER: (on camera) You know, I think a lot of American people are going to be shocked to hear that letting drugs hit the street is what we really do in the drug business.<br><br>MARK CONRAD: It would never be officially condoned. You'll never find any policy that approves of it, but it happens routinely in virtually every situation where you're dealing with informants.<br><br>... SAM DONALDSON: The head of the US Customs Service declined our request for an interview. In a letter, he stated it is not Customs policy to allow illegal drugs to disappear and said they learned valuable lessons from the Matthews case. But public affairs officers at Customs were quick to tell us theirs is not the only agency to let cocaine hit the streets....<br><br>When’s the last time you heard that kind of honesty from the head of a major law-enforcement agency? <br>--unquote--<br><br>A pretty remarkable acknowledgement, eh?<br>The Drug Wars have become yet-another huge boondoggle scam that has demanded a horrific price that is still being paid in blood, suffering, betrayal, institutional rot and decay, civil strife, victimization, opportunism, and the undermining of social progress. Easy enough to see why the PTB wouldn't leave the 'war' on drugs as an instrument of change to chance -- but roll it up as another tool for oppression and social control.<br>--Starman<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
