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In reply to the discussion: Wanna Know Who Made Racism ''Acceptable Again'' in the good ol' USA? [View all]Octafish
(55,745 posts)164. I'll say what Prof. McCoy says.
Drug Fallout
by Alfred McCoy
Progressive magazine, August 1997
Throughout the forty years of the Cold War, the CIA joined with urban gangsters and rural warlords, many of them major drug dealers, to mount covert operations against communists around the globe. In one of history's accidents, the Iron Curtain fell along the border of the Asian opium zone, which stretches across 5,000 miles of mountains from Turkey to Thailand. In Burma during the 1950s, in Laos during the 1970s, and in Afghanistan during the 1980s, the CIA allied with highland warlords to mobilize tribal armies against the Soviet Union and China.
In each of these covert wars, Agency assets-local informants-used their alliance with the CIA to become major drug lords, expanding local opium production and shipping heroin to international markets, the United States included. Instead of stopping this drug dealing, the Agency tolerated it and, when necessary, blocked investigations. Since ruthless drug lords made effective anti-communist allies and opium amplified their power, CIA agents mounting delicate operations on their own, half a world from home, had no reason to complain. For the drug lords, it was an ideal arrangement. The CIA's major covert operations-often lasting a decade-provided them with de facto immunity within enforcement-free zones.
In Laos in the 1960s, the CIA battled local communists with a secret army of 30,000 Hmong-a tough highland tribe whose only cash crop was opium. A handful of CIA agents relied on tribal leaders to provide troops and Lao generals to protect their cover. When Hmong officers loaded opium on the ClA's proprietary carrier Air America, the Agency did nothing. And when the Lao army's commander, General Ouane Rattikone, opened what was probably the world's largest heroin laboratory, the Agency again failed to act.
"The past involvement of many of these officers in drugs is well known," the ClA's Inspector General said in a still-classified 1972 report, "yet their goodwill . . . considerably facilitates the military activities of Agency-supported irregulars."
Indeed, the CIA had a detailed know ledge of drug trafficking in the Golden Triangle-that remote, rugged corner of Southeast Asia where Burma, Thailand, and Laos converge. In June 1971, The New York Times published extracts from an other CIA report identifying twenty-one opium refineries in the Golden Triangle and stating that the "most important are located in the areas around Tachilek, Burma; Ban Houei Sai and Nam Keung in Laos; and Mae Salong in Thailand." Three of these areas were controlled by CIA allies: Nam Keung by the chief of CIA mercenaries for northwestern Laos; Ban Houei Sai by the commander of the Royal Lao Army; and Mae Salong by the Nationalist Chinese forces who had fought for the Agency in Burma. The CIA stated that the Ban Houei Sai laboratory, which was owned by General Ouane, was ' believed capable of processing 100 kilos of raw opium per day," or 3.6 tons of heroin a year-a vast output considering the total yearly U.S. consumption of heroin was then less than ten tons.
By 1971, 34 percent of all U.S. soldiers in South Vietnam were heroin addicts, according to a White House survey. There were more American heroin addicts in South Vietnam than in the entire United States-largely supplied from heroin laboratories operated by CIA allies, though the White House failed to acknowledge that unpleasant fact. Since there was no indigenous local market, Asian drug lords started shipping Golden Triangle heroin not consumed by the GIs to the United States, where it soon won a significant share of the illicit market.
CONTINUED...
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/CIA/CIAdrug_fallout.html
Odd how know the CIA, NSA and the rest of the secret government are gaining power to protect their secrets while simultaneously authorized to spy on American citizens, the famous We the People who are supposed to be their bosses. So, that'd be one way of thinking ahead.
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Wanna Know Who Made Racism ''Acceptable Again'' in the good ol' USA? [View all]
Octafish
Jun 2015
OP
Amen! 'The legacy of Saint Reagan is one of treachery, malfeasance and treason IMO.'
Surya Gayatri
Jun 2015
#162
And then they fell to their knees, lit the incense, and prayed "Yes, Yes, YES!!!"
calimary
Jun 2015
#64
I recall seeing that live (or on the news the next day) during GHWB's inauguration
Chiyo-chichi
Jun 2015
#88
That's the right answer. But on DU it's tricky to criticize Reagan, many here voted for him and
Bluenorthwest
Jun 2015
#4
In addition to defending Reagan, they defend Bush I, II and the rest of the Crime Family
Octafish
Jun 2015
#10
Reagan could not have pulled it off without the willing acquiescence of many who should have known
KingCharlemagne
Jun 2015
#31
Reagan was a fascist piece of shit, going back to his days as Gov. of California when he threatened
KingCharlemagne
Jun 2015
#35
Reagan called in the National Guard over 4 "dirty words" in The Berkely Barb
stuffmatters
Jun 2015
#137
The thing to remember about RWR is that he started as a Cold War Dem. He's the missing link
leveymg
Jun 2015
#80
Good points all. Simply add a little astrology to the mix and, voila, you've got
KingCharlemagne
Jun 2015
#84
Racism is going to get worse as competition for the few good jobs that are still
Baitball Blogger
Jun 2015
#7
+1. This country was built by African slave labor and the extermination of indigenous peoples
YoungDemCA
Jun 2015
#103
How Ronald Reagan used coded racial appeals to galvanize white voters and gut the middle class
Octafish
Jun 2015
#191
We were in Alabama when Kennedy was shot, and Dad was working in Huntsville (Apollo program stuff)
hatrack
Jun 2015
#123
Lee Atwater had an army of racists and supremacists he used to political advantage.
blm
Jun 2015
#29
Lee Atwater had SC wired with his racist hit squad including a group from Bob Jones Univ.
blm
Jun 2015
#210
And yet in an interview with Mike Wallace in 1988, Ronny couldn't understand why so many
muntrv
Jun 2015
#32
Actually, the Dixiecrats who revolted against Civil Rights gains in the 60s and became Southern
Liberal_Stalwart71
Jun 2015
#43
RACISM has always been around and never went out of style. There never was a time when
Liberal_Stalwart71
Jun 2015
#44
Saying that racism is "acceptable again" implies that there was a time when racism
Liberal_Stalwart71
Jun 2015
#188
Wrong. Nixon led the resurgence. Read again. The Southern Strategy was Nixon's agenda.
Liberal_Stalwart71
Jun 2015
#199
You simply won't admit your mistake. The assertion you made, "Reagan was responsible for racism's
Liberal_Stalwart71
Jun 2015
#211
Reagan was one of the worst Presidents for the poor, the marginalized, the historically oppressed
YoungDemCA
Jun 2015
#118
It stopped -- for a time, anyway -- in the Oval Office during the Kennedy Administration.
Octafish
Jun 2015
#193
Not to mention he kicked off his Presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi as a symbol of
Hoyt
Jun 2015
#101
I am sorry I sound so pedantic...lots of history being rewritten when it comes to fascism.
Octafish
Jun 2015
#107
I have to admit, I'm on my phone and pretty much just looked at the photo. Just went back
Hoyt
Jun 2015
#111
Presidents can't do anything progressive without masses of ordinary people demanding that they do it
YoungDemCA
Jun 2015
#114
Well, in all fairness to Ronnie the Empty Suit, Tricky Dick was really pretty bad too:
struggle4progress
Jun 2015
#115
Ronnie was caught too, but the House decided not to pursue impeachment
struggle4progress
Jun 2015
#121
Had Reagan been impeached, his forced testimony would have outed his alzheimers
stuffmatters
Jun 2015
#141
What a monster! Also, for what he was responsible for in South America....
Joe Chi Minh
Jun 2015
#135
Don't forget the site of Reagan's first speech after receiving gthe 1980 Republican nomination.
bulloney
Jun 2015
#138
Philadelphia, Mississippi had a population of about 5,000 and had no significance whatsoever
aint_no_life_nowhere
Jun 2015
#183
K&R! I thought it was going to be Poppy Bush refering to Jeb's kids as his "little brown babies"....
Ghost in the Machine
Jun 2015
#148
Bush Defends 'Little Brown Ones' Term for Grandchildren, Tells 'Pride and Love'
Octafish
Jun 2015
#185
Bookmarked and K & R. Thanks for restoring some historical perspective to the debate.
Surya Gayatri
Jun 2015
#158
It was screamed in the 80's, and it was 100% true: Reagan was a god damned puppet.
C Moon
Jun 2015
#168