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Read, respond, get involved. In this section, we introduce concerned people to current issues upon which they can have an effect. Home |
A recent edition of The Dispatch carried a Forum page column by Georgie Ann
Geyer, appropriately headlined “New Castro-JFK link answers no questions.”
In it, she states that Lee Harvey Oswald's strange journey to Mexico points to a
Castro involvement that is hard to deny.
At the same time, the concluding sentence is, “This new information only leads us back to one truth: We still do not really know who killed John F. Kennedy.” The idea that Fidel Castro (or the Mafia) killed Kennedy leaves a major question unanswered. Why, then, would the Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation cover up important facts during the investigation (as reported by Newsweek, November 1993). If Castro did it, why was not a complete, effective and honest investigation done, with the conspirators ultimately brought to justice? Does anyone seriously think that Castro felt he, himself, or his small renegade nation would be safer with Lyndon B. Johnson as president? Who stood to gain most by Kennedy's death? The CIA lied and covered up many important facts during the investigation, but it was not alone. Anyone familiar with Harold Weisberg's work has an idea of the depth of deception. The lies of the CIA are numerous and well-documented, up to and including the agencies aiding and abetting in the murder of an American (and let's not forget Guatemalan) citizens, as charged by Rep. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J. I cannot believe the “Castro” or the “Mafia” theory until we have an honest accounting by the American government, which cannot possibly occur while the CIA operates in a lawless and immoral environment, concerned not with the protection of democracy but with the control of it. Pete Johnson I ought to be outraged at the revelations contained in the Sept. 1 Insight article “CIA,Contras and cocaine linked to L.A. gangs,” by Gary Webb of the San Jose Mercury News. Having studied the Central Intelligence Agency's drug trafficking, I am no longer surprised by it. However, I am surprised by the lack of reaction of the public and the press to this unacceptable governmental criminal activity. The details of the current story are not much different from past stories, such as those related in the book Compromised:Clinton, Bush, and the CIA by Terry Reed and John Cummings, and Cocaine Politics: Drug Armies and the CIA in Central America, by Jonathan Marshall and Peter Dale Scott. One common thread to the newspaper articles is the perspective that drug trafficking is a past CIA transgression, the assumption being that the current version could not be a participant. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that any administration has taken any action to curb the abuses of this corrupt, immoral agency. Another common thread is the high level of protection afforded these traffickers as a result of their work for the CIA. This particular story stated that “federal prosecutors obtained a court order preventing defense lawyers from delving into his (the defendant's) ties to the CIA.” The author also said that agents from four organizations--the Drug Enforcement Agency, U. S. Customs, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office and California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement--”have complained that investigations were hampered by the CIA or unnamed `national security' interests.” The reality is that the power of the federal government to conceal the truth about drug trafficking cannot be adequately conveyed in one paragraph. The American public should be outraged at the continuing drug trafficking by the CIA and other military intelligence organizations. The power of these organizations may exceed the power of the executive branch, making it difficult for any elected administration to curb the abuses of this entrenched and clearly corrupt bureaucracy. The pressure applied by an outraged American public is the necessary first step. Just as our outrage at Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, Idaho, put our elected officials on notice, we must apply an even greater pressure on our “secret government.” Laws should be passed that ensure that any government employee (or contract agent) who conspires to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking using protections afforded by his or her position within the government should face no less than the death penalty or life imprisonment. The politically popular war on drugs cannot be won when it is being fought between and among powerful governmental agencies. Pete Johnson |
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