At least three more US soldiers died in Iraq today.
For what? The neo-con wet dream of a Three Stooges
Reich...There are only 40 days to go until the
national referendum on the CHARACTER, COMPETENCE and
CREDIBILITY of the _resident and the VICE
_resident...Do not be deceived by the US regimestream
news media's cooked polls and craven
propapunditgandists. There is an Electoral Uprising
coming in November 2004. The US regimestream news
media, at least until this point, has, in large part,
been a full partner along with the Bush Cabal and its
wholly-owned-subsidiary-formerluy-known-as-the-Republican-Party
in a Triad of shared special interest (e.g. oil,
weapons, media, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, etc.) Here
are five very important news items from Ohio, West
Virginia and Fraudida. They should dominate the air
waves and demand headlines above the fold. But they
won't. Please read them and share them with others.
Please vote and encourage others to vote. Please
remember that the US regimestream news media does not
want to inform you about this presidential campaign,
it wants to DISinform you...
Bob Fitrakis, Free Press: Whether Kerry or Bush wins
in Ohio may well depend on how many voters are
disenfranchised in the state’s three largest counties:
Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton. Respectively these
three counties contain the Democratically rich big
three-C cities Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. The
voter rolls are under unprecedented scrutiny and
irregularities abound.
In Hamilton County, home of the Republican Taft family
dynasty, the Board of Elections moved some 105,000
voters from active to inactive status within the last
four years. By contrast, Franklin County has not moved
any voters to inactive status, and doesn’t intend to
until 2006 because a computer transfer glitch wiped
out federal election voting histories. Matthew
Damschroder, Director of the Franklin County Board of
Elections, told the Free Press that under law a county
“may” cancel a person’s voter registration if that
person hasn’t voted in the last two federal elections.
But, the counties are not required to do so.
Charleston Gazette Editorial: Alarm is spreading that
President Bush may seek a military draft, or mobilize
more of the National Guard and Army Reserve, to obtain
enough combat troops to wage his bogged-down Iraq war.
Two bills pending in Congress would launch a new
draft for all young Americans ages 18 to 26, both male
and female, with no college exemption. Also, a new
border agreement with Canada is designed to prevent
young Americans from fleeing northward to elude the
draft.
When Democratic vice presidential nominee John
Edwards spoke in Parkersburg last week, he vowed:
“There will be no draft when John Kerry is president.”
His declaration drew a standing ovation from the
crowd...
Amid all this wrangling, it’s overwhelmingly clear
that Bush’s war is draining America of thousands of
young people and billions of dollars — and the nation
is forced to meet both needs.
Tragically, the war is a waste. There never was a
necessity for it. Bush’s far-right political clique
planned to attack Iraq, even before he attained the
White House. The 9/11 terrorist strike provided a
“cover” — a surge of patriotism that Bush manipulated
into justification for war against Iraq. All his
pretexts for the invasion turned out to be false.
Agence France Press: Democratic challenger John Kerry
(news - web sites) has gained new foot soldiers in his
battle to unseat Republican President George W. Bush
(news - web sites): eight mothers and wives of US
soldiers who will campaign for Kerry in seven
battleground states.
The women, whose husbands or sons have been deployed
in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web
sites), will march across 5,600 kilometers (3,480
miles) in less than 10 days, starting off in Wisconsin
and West Virginia on Tuesday, six weeks before the
November 2 election.
Bob Norman, Miami New Times: It's a familiar -- and
absolutely untenable -- refrain from the Reagan and
Bush administrations that continues to this day: The
narcotics ties to the contra operation were a
politically motivated myth. Vice President Dick
Cheney, who was then a congressman, played a key role
in the disinformation campaign. He led the effort to
squelch various Iran-contra investigations, especially
when it came to drug allegations. And George W. Bush?
Well, he seems to have no qualms about Iran-contra,
since he has hired several of the scandal's central
figures -- including Elliott Abrams, Otto Reich, and
John Negroponte -- to serve under him.
Though it has been largely ignored, this historic
battle between Kerry and the Bush family not only
provides a revelatory subtext to this election but
also indicates how much the two men running for
president dislike each other.
History clearly favors Kerry's side -- and he may even
have been right about that $10 million in cartel
money. Rodriguez, at the time, was the government's
key man in El Salvador, where he was conducting
counterinsurgency missions against leftist rebels. But
his main job was the contra operation. He claims to
this day that he wasn't paid for his efforts, a
contention about as shaky as H.W.'s famous excuse that
he was "out of the loop" on the contra affair.
Rodriguez also worked in Honduras, where the contras
trained in the mountains, and at another shipping
point in Costa Rica (which has been repeatedly tied to
the drug trade).
Chris Gardner, University of South Florida Oracle: Former CIA agent Ray McGovern went over what he considers the failures of the intelligence community and current administration over the past few years. He
has 27 years of experience as a CIA analyst to draw
upon and has dealt with every administration from
Kennedy to Bush Sr...
He also criticized the 9/11 Commission's final report,
saying the committee was comprised of political
extremists who couldn't reach a consensus.
"It wasn't a bipartisan commission; it was more like a
bipolar commission," McGovern said. "To say that no
one could prevent 9/11 was a bold-faced lie. It
basically let the president and everyone responsible
off the hook."
He went on to talk about the faulty intelligence
attorney general John Ashcroft used when he announced
that terrorist attacks may occur before or around
election time, saying that elections might have to be
postponed if the United States is attacked.
"There might be a real or staged terrorist attack in
order to postpone the elections," McGovern said. "This
might seem outlandish; I hope it is."
He mentioned how the Bush administration wanted to
involve the country with the war in Iraq for certain
reasons other than fear of weapons of mass
destruction, which was just a more media-friendly
explanation for the war.
"I have initials for why I think we went to war in
Iraq," McGovern said. "O.I.L. O-I-L, O is for oil, I
is for Israel and L is for logistics, as in when we
have Iraq we have a foothold and a number of bases
strategically placed in the Middle East so we can be
in control over there and also to protect Israel."
Next he brought up civil liberties in the United
States and how they have declined in the past few
years.
"I used to say when I was a kid growing up when
someone told me not to do something, 'It's a free
country,'" McGovern said. "I ask you to think about it
now."
Support Our Troops, Save the US Constitution,
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-Up and the Iraq War Lies,
Restore Fiscal Responsibility in the White House,
Thwart the Theft of a Second Presidential Election,
Save the Environment, Break the Corporatist
Stranglehold on the US Mainstream News Media, Rescue
the US Supreme Court from Right-Wing Radicals, Cleanse
the White House of the Chicken Hawk Coup and Its
War-Profiteering Cronies, Show Up for Democracy in
2004: Defeat the Triad, Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/953
Bob Fitrakis
Presidential Election at Risk: Ohio's electoral system
riddled with flaws
September 20, 2004
Whether Kerry or Bush wins in Ohio may well depend on
how many voters are disenfranchised in the state’s
three largest counties: Cuyahoga, Franklin and
Hamilton. Respectively these three counties contain
the Democratically rich big three-C cities Cleveland,
Columbus and Cincinnati. The voter rolls are under
unprecedented scrutiny and irregularities abound.
In Hamilton County, home of the Republican Taft family
dynasty, the Board of Elections moved some 105,000
voters from active to inactive status within the last
four years. By contrast, Franklin County has not moved
any voters to inactive status, and doesn’t intend to
until 2006 because a computer transfer glitch wiped
out federal election voting histories. Matthew
Damschroder, Director of the Franklin County Board of
Elections, told the Free Press that under law a county
“may” cancel a person’s voter registration if that
person hasn’t voted in the last two federal elections.
But, the counties are not required to do so.
“It’s a ‘may’ not a ‘shall.’ It’s up to the discretion
of the county Board of Elections. We have chosen not
to participate in widespread cancellations during this
presidential election,” Damschroder said. He concedes
that many Cincinnati voters may be unaware that their
voting status had been canceled, a surprising
admission from a conservative Republican. Unless these
Hamilton County voters re-register by October 4, many
in Cincinnati’s urban center, they will show up at the
polls and be barred from voting.
The Prison Reform Advocacy Center in Cincinnati issued
an August report entitled, “The Disenfranchisement of
the Re-Enfranchised” documenting in detail widespread
confusion over the voting rights of former felons.
Hamilton County again stands out as the key county for
eliminating eligible voters. The study found that the
Hamilton County Board of Elections erroneously
“requires felons who attempt to register by mail to
attach ‘documentation restoring voting rights.’”
Hamilton County practices are at odds with Ohio law,
which allows felons to vote as long they are not
incarcerated or in prison, even if they are on parole
or in a halfway house. There are more than 34,000
ex-offenders in Ohio who are currently under some form
of corrections supervision who are eligible to vote,
and many don’t know it. Political science studies
indicate that the vast majority of former felons tend
to vote Democratic.
Hamilton was one of twenty counties where Board of
Elections officials incorrectly stated the law in the
survey. The Prison Reform Advocacy Center report found
that only 44% of formerly incarcerated individuals in
the Cincinnati Adult Parole Authority Office knew they
had the right to vote. In Cleveland the rate was 77%
and in Columbus 71% knew they could register to vote.
Following the survey, Damschroder sent out 3500
letters to former felons in the Franklin County
stating, “The purpose of this letter is to notify you
that your voter registration status has been canceled
due to your conviction and incarceration, …” He
included people charged with felonies dating back to
the year 1998. Damschroder told the Free Press that he
normally only sends out between 2-300 such letters a
year, but he was following directives from Ohio’s
Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell.
Why Blackwell would issue such directives remains a
mystery.
Damschroder admitted that there were some problems
with the wording of the letter, and he never intended
to cancel re-registered or confused former felons. He
claims the letter was merely to advise the felons that
the voter registration deadline is October 4, 2004.
One registered voter who received Damschroder’s letter
was Mark A. Woodford, who has never been convicted of
a felony. Woodford was convicted of a misdemeanor in
1998. He voted Republican that November. In 2003,
while living in the conservative haven of Westerville,
Ohio, home of former Republican Congressman John
Kasich, Woodford cast his ballot for Republican
candidates. This year for the first time, Woodford
voted in the Democratic primary. He told the Free
Press, “I thought at the time, I wonder if they’ll
cancel my registration because I’m a Democrat now.”
Damschroder offers another explanation: “Back in the
late nineties when Virginia Barney was Clerk of the
Common Pleas Court, she forwarded felony arrest
records instead of just the convictions. So if
somebody plead to a misdemeanor often they were
incorrectly entered as a felon.”
Damschroder told the Free Press that Woodford, now
legally registered at a new Columbus address and no
longer residing at his parent’s address where he was
canceled, was “incorrectly sent a letter because
computers at the Board of Elections didn’t merge two
files.”
In Ohio’s dead even presidential election, something
as small as computer glitches at the major
metropolitan area’s Board of Elections could easily
swing the vote. To solve bureaucratic error and
computer mistakes, Ohio uses the provisional ballot.
Provisional ballots allow voters who are improperly
barred from voting due to a registration error, to
cast their ballot on Election Day while the Board of
Elections straightens out the problem.
On September 14, Project Vote announced that 150,555
new low-income and minority voters were registered in
Ohio. Many of these likely Democratic voters are in
the Cleveland area and an ongoing battle has developed
between Democratic Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones
and the politically ambitious Blackwell, both African
American. The same week Ohio newspapers headlined the
fact that the Ohio economy was the worst in the
nation, having lost nearly 12,000 jobs in August
alone.
Following Project Vote’s announcement, Blackwell
issued statewide directives severely restricting the
use of provisional ballots and instructing precinct
voting judges to give state or federal provisional
ballots only to persons who appear to have a voting
residence in that particular precinct. This narrow use
of the provisional ballot with over 150,000 new
minority and low-income voters, may well swing Ohio’s
election results for Bush.
Rep. Tubbs Jones immediately attacked Blackwell’s
orders as an attempt “to seek to disenfranchise the
people of the state of Ohio.”
The Congresswoman points out that with the re-drawing
of the Congressional districts following the 2000
census and the Republican Party’s elimination over the
past few years of many inner city precincts, many
voters will be showing up at the wrong precinct.
She said that “provisional ballot is a mechanism that
was put in place to take individual discretion out of
the voting process. Poll workers should not be put in
the position to determine who votes and who does not
vote.” Rep. Tubbs Jones argues that Blackwell’s
directives are contrary to the spirit in which the
Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was enacted and contrary
to the position that he previously took in the Ohio
primary.
In the 2000 Florida election, investigative reporter
Gregory Palast reported that an estimated 600,000
voters who registered by the deadline were not
properly processed. An additional 58,000 non-felons
were barred from voting incorrectly because they had a
same or similar name as a felon or the same date of
birth as a felon. Gore supporters point out that these
registration errors disproportionately occur in
heavily Democratic urban areas.
The nonpartisan Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections
(CASE) posted a letter to its website addressed to
Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell noting “with
great concern” Blackwell’s recent actions “regarding
the interpretation of provisional ballots.” The CASE
letter cites a recent Cleveland study indicating “that
up to 35,000 Ohio voters could be turned away from the
polls on November 2 because of registration errors.”
That same study found “that more than 1 in 20
registrations and changes of address were compromised
because of either clerical or voter errors.” This 5%
error factor could be lowered to less than 1% with
proper training of election officials.
CASE is demanding that the Secretary of State send out
new directives telling all newly registered voters and
re-registers that: “If you recently registered, filed
a name change or a change of address and you have NOT
yet received a confirmation notice in the mail, you
must act immediately. Call your County Board of
Elections to check that you are registered. If not,
you must re-register by October 4 at your local
library or Board of Elections office.”
The CASE letter calls any attempt to disenfranchise
Ohio voters “at the last minute … unethical and
cruel.”
With numerous voter registration organizations
canvassing Ohio and growing concern of voting
irregularities, various plans for poll watching are
emerging.
But Damschroder points out that Ohio’s law on poll
watching is “archaic,” with all challenges over voter
eligibility being decided on the spot at the local
voting precinct by election officials hired for
Election Day only. The only people allowed to
challenge under Ohio law are those certified eleven
days in advance by political parties or a slate of
five candidates. The certified challengers must
produce an ID and swear an oath, according to
Damschroder. Add to this the fact that the HAVA bill
allows for challenges to first-time voters to produce
state photo IDs.
The Free Press has learned that Franklin County
election officials are considering a wide contingent
of actions including arrests if the certified election
challengers attempt to challenge all new voters and
hold up the voting process. The election may rest on
how many Democratic election challengers show up to
advocate for urban center new voters versus how many
Republican election challengers show up to question
new voters.
The former state President of League of Women’s Voters
Sue Shidaker wrote the Secretary of State’s office
concerned that many newly registered voters in
Cuyahoga County have not as yet received their voter
registration cards. “…They are re-registering and
trying numerous phone calls to get help – taped
messages and no live help in many instances. …They’re
just beginning to learn how to be responsible, voting
citizens and need our help, not our hindrance,”
Shidaker said.
With Bush and Kerry in a virtual dead heat in Ohio,
and no Republican candidate having won the presidency
without winning Ohio’s electoral votes, the
disenfranchisement of more than 177,500 new voters,
ex-felons, canceled inactive voters and other victims
of bureaucratic bungling and election irregularities
may well decide who governs our nation, and the fate
of the Earth.
--
Bob Fitrakis is the Editor of the Free Press
(freepress.org), a political science professor, an
attorney, and co-author with Harvey Wasserman of
George W. Bush vs. the Superpower of Peace. He served
as an international observer for the national
elections in El Salvador.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092304Y.shtml
Draft?
The Charleston Gazette
Wednesday 22 September 2004
Bush’s war needs troops.
Alarm is spreading that President Bush may seek a
military draft, or mobilize more of the National Guard
and Army Reserve, to obtain enough combat troops to
wage his bogged-down Iraq war.
Two bills pending in Congress would launch a new
draft for all young Americans ages 18 to 26, both male
and female, with no college exemption. Also, a new
border agreement with Canada is designed to prevent
young Americans from fleeing northward to elude the
draft.
When Democratic vice presidential nominee John
Edwards spoke in Parkersburg last week, he vowed:
“There will be no draft when John Kerry is president.”
His declaration drew a standing ovation from the
crowd.
Meanwhile, President Bush, campaigning in
Missouri, promised that there will be no draft. He
said improving military pay, housing and medical care
will attract enough recruits to supply the needed
fighting forces.
However, Bush plans a sneaky “backdoor draft,”
Democrats Kerry and Edwards allege. Speaking Friday in
Albuquerque, Kerry said Bush secretly intends a major
Guard and Reserve mobilization just after the Nov. 2
election. Kerry charged:
“He won’t tell us what congressional leaders are
now saying: that this administration is planning yet
another substantial call-up of reservists and Guard
units immediately after the election. Hide it from the
people, then make the move.”
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a Marine veteran of
Vietnam, said Pentagon insiders told him of the
mobilization plan. A White House spokesman ridiculed
the allegation.
Amid all this wrangling, it’s overwhelmingly clear
that Bush’s war is draining America of thousands of
young people and billions of dollars — and the nation
is forced to meet both needs.
Tragically, the war is a waste. There never was a
necessity for it. Bush’s far-right political clique
planned to attack Iraq, even before he attained the
White House. The 9/11 terrorist strike provided a
“cover” — a surge of patriotism that Bush manipulated
into justification for war against Iraq. All his
pretexts for the invasion turned out to be false.
Although he declared “Mission Accomplished” last
year, the fighting grows constantly uglier and more
expensive. More than 1,000 young Americans have been
killed. Bush needs more and more replacements.
Before the Nov. 2 election, he should tell the
American people candidly how many more young soldiers
he plans to order into combat — and how he will obtain
them.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040920/ts_alt_afp/us_vote_iraq_military&cid=1506&ncid=1473
Group of US soldiers' wives to campaign for Kerry
Mon Sep 20, 4:52 PM ET Add U.S. National - AFP to My
Yahoo!
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Democratic challenger John Kerry
(news - web sites) has gained new foot soldiers in his
battle to unseat Republican President George W. Bush
(news - web sites): eight mothers and wives of US
soldiers who will campaign for Kerry in seven
battleground states.
The women, whose husbands or sons have been deployed
in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web
sites), will march across 5,600 kilometers (3,480
miles) in less than 10 days, starting off in Wisconsin
and West Virginia on Tuesday, six weeks before the
November 2 election.
Laura Bertsch's husband just returned from Iraq, but
the 27-year-old recent university graduate will go on
her own mission before joining her husband in Ohio.
"He deserves the best leader," Bertsch told a news
conference in Washington.
Pat Heineman's 20-year-old son, her only child, had to
interrupt his university studies to spend one year in
Afghanistan.
"He joined the reserves to pay for college but also to
serve his country," the 49-year-old graphic designer
from Virginia said. "I trust John Kerry to take care
of our troops, I trust his judgment and his
integrity."
Nita Martin, a registered Republican from the
voter-rich state of Pennsylvania, will cross party
lines and vote for Kerry in November. Her two sons
were deployed to Iraq.
"My fear is there is no plan to complete the mission"
in Iraq, Martin said. "He got us in a quagmire."
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2004-09-23/metro.html
Contra Campaign
John Kerry once took a shot at Miami's Felix Rodriguez
for his part in the Iran-contra scandal. Now the Bush
family friend is shooting back.
BY BOB NORMAN
bob.norman@newtimesbpb.com
The life of Felix I. Rodriguez provides a tour through
the dark heart of America. From the Bay of Pigs fiasco
to Vietnam to the El Salvador death squads to the
Iran-contra scandal, the Cuban exile and
self-described "CIA hero" was there. His most famous
assassination mission came in 1967, when he led the
Bolivian army group that captured and summarily
executed leftist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
He's worked closely with right-wing terrorists, and
some of his associates were involved in the Watergate
break-in. Given his background, it's not surprising
his name has surfaced in numerous JFK conspiracy
theories as well.
Now retired in North Miami-Dade near Barry University,
Rodriguez, who says his CIA career was always fueled
by a hope to unseat Fidel Castro, also has special
relationships with both of this year's presidential
candidates. George W. Bush sends him a White House
Christmas card each year. The president's father
counts Rodriguez as an old friend; Bush Sr. worked
with him during the mid-Eighties, when Rodriguez ran
the operation to arm the Nicaraguan contras for the
Reagan administration.
Democratic nominee John Kerry, though, isn't so cozy
with Rodriguez. In 1986 the then-rookie senator formed
a committee to investigate Iran-contra. The so-called
Kerry Committee alleged that Rodriguez had helped
steer $10 million from the notorious Medellín cocaine
cartel to the contras. The committee concluded that
trafficking was rampant in the rebels' effort.
Rodriguez ,who now leads Brigade 2506, the Bayh of
Pigs veterans' group squared off with Kerry during a
closed congressional hearing. He told the
Massachusetts senator point-blank that the allegation
was a damned lie and, for good measure, added that he
had no respect for him.
That was some seventeen years ago, but Rodriguez's
hatred for Kerry -- and his closeness to the Bush
family -- has driven Rodriguez from the CIA shadows
onto the open political stage. He's railed against
Kerry on Cuban radio and in the October edition of
Soldier of Fortune magazine. He also jumped at the
chance to join the Vietnam Veterans for Truth, an
anti-Kerry group that invited Rodriguez to speak at a
nationally televised September 12 rally at the
Capitol.
At the sparsely attended event, the storied spook
began with some words on Vietnam, where he flew
assassination and assault missions (and flights with
CIA-backed Air America, which has been tied to the
heroin trade). He portrayed his time there as if he
were dropping food and medicine from his combat
helicopter. "I never saw any atrocities that Senator
Kerry claims we did in Vietnam," Rodriguez told the
gathering in his thick accent. "We helped the
Vietnamese people."
Then he turned his attention to Central America,
referring to Kerry's accusation and noting that his
nemesis ultimately backed off the allegation against
him. "That was one more lie from Senator Kerry," he
triumphantly said.
But who, really, is lying? Rodriguez maintains he saw
no hint of drug trafficking while he was helping to
run the contra operation in El Salvador and Honduras.
"I never saw any indication of that at all -- it was
all a great fabrication," he said during a telephone
interview last week. "That all came from Senator
Kerry's committee. It came from those people that
didn't want to help the Nicaraguan resistance, people
like Kerry, who wanted to hurt Vice President Bush,
who was going to win the presidency."
It's a familiar -- and absolutely untenable -- refrain
from the Reagan and Bush administrations that
continues to this day: The narcotics ties to the
contra operation were a politically motivated myth.
Vice President Dick Cheney, who was then a
congressman, played a key role in the disinformation
campaign. He led the effort to squelch various
Iran-contra investigations, especially when it came to
drug allegations. And George W. Bush? Well, he seems
to have no qualms about Iran-contra, since he has
hired several of the scandal's central figures --
including Elliott Abrams, Otto Reich, and John
Negroponte -- to serve under him.
Though it has been largely ignored, this historic
battle between Kerry and the Bush family not only
provides a revelatory subtext to this election but
also indicates how much the two men running for
president dislike each other.
History clearly favors Kerry's side -- and he may even
have been right about that $10 million in cartel
money. Rodriguez, at the time, was the government's
key man in El Salvador, where he was conducting
counterinsurgency missions against leftist rebels. But
his main job was the contra operation. He claims to
this day that he wasn't paid for his efforts, a
contention about as shaky as H.W.'s famous excuse that
he was "out of the loop" on the contra affair.
Rodriguez also worked in Honduras, where the contras
trained in the mountains, and at another shipping
point in Costa Rica (which has been repeatedly tied to
the drug trade).
The allegation against Rodriguez came from Medellín
cartel accountant and convicted money launderer Ramon
Milian-Rodriguez, who met with Felix Rodriguez in 1985
while he was out on bail on federal drug charges in
Miami. Milian told the Kerry Committee that Rodriguez
solicited the cash from the cartel and that it was
later channeled to the contras. The cartel, he said,
hoped the contribution would bring it "good will" from
U.S. authorities. At the same time he was implicating
the CIA operative, Milian was adamant that Felix
Rodriguez had the American government's interest at
heart and never kept a dime of the proceeds.
Rodriguez admits the meeting took place but insists it
concerned only an offer from the money launderer to
help set up the Nicaraguan government in a cocaine
sting. In 1988 Milian failed a lie detector test on
the subject, and Kerry retracted the allegation.
Rodriguez then had every right to gloat, but in 1991
the accusation resurfaced. Medellín cartel cofounder
Carlos Lehder, while testifying for the U.S.
government against deposed Panamanian President Manuel
Noriega, admitted that his organization had indeed
given $10 million to the contras. Lehder, then a
federal witness working with U.S. prosecutors, had no
known motive to lie.
In light of that information, I asked Rodriguez if he
was absolutely sure the contra operation didn't
receive the drug money. "I don't think it did," he
said, losing his resolute tone. "They always say the
same shit. Where did the money go to if they did?
Every single penny that went into the contras was
accounted for."
While it's open to debate just how meticulously the
contras kept their ledgers, there have been other
indications that Rodriguez's operation may have been
involved in drug smuggling. In 1984 Rodriguez's
business partner, international arms dealer Gerald
Latchinian, was arrested in a conspiracy to smuggle
$10 million in cocaine to finance a plot to
assassinate Honduran President Roberto Suazo Cordova.
(He was later convicted.) While Rodriguez was never
tied to the crime, Latchinian argued that it was
connected to the CIA.
Rodriguez's agency-trained compatriot, fellow Cuban
exile Frank Castro, was deeply involved in both drug
smuggling and the contra effort, according to the CIA.
And in 1989 a drug pilot named Mike Tolliver alleged
on a CBS news show that he ran guns to Honduras for
the contras and that, while there, his plane was
loaded with marijuana for a return flight to Homestead
Air Force Base. He identified Rodriguez as his boss.
Perhaps the most damning allegation against Rodriguez
comes from former Drug Enforcement Administration
agent Celerino Castillo, a decorated Vietnam vet who
was stationed in Central America during Iran-contra.
While working for the DEA, Castillo says he became
aware of drug trafficking at San Salvador's Ilopango
air base, where Rodriguez was organizing the contra
supply effort. The DEA agent has testified in Congress
and recounted in his well-documented book,
Powderburns, how the airport hangars controlled by
Rodriguez and other government operatives were used by
drug traffickers. "The only reason Felix wasn't
arrested is because he knew where all the bodies were
buried in the Iran-contra operation," says Castillo,
who is now a substitute high school teacher living in
Texas.
Castillo recounts that in 1986 he met then-Vice
President Bush at an ambassador's party in Guatemala.
"I told him there was something funny going on at
Ilopango," he says. "And he just smiled and walked
away."
While Bush Sr. avoided the truth about Iran-contra,
Castillo has worked for years to expose it and, in so
doing, has researched Rodriguez's life -- from Cuba to
Vietnam to El Salvador. He's come to the conclusion
that the Cuban exile is no hero. "He's always been a
terrorist, just like Osama bin Laden and all the
terrorists we've made in the past," he says.
Unflinching words, but Rodriguez has indeed been tied
to known terrorists, most notably Luis Posada
Carriles, a CIA-trained operative who worked closely
with Rodriguez after his 1985 escape from a Venezuelan
jail, where he served nine years for his role in the
downing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 civilians.
Rodriguez admits he worked with Carriles on the contra
effort but says his friend wasn't convicted of
anything. He proffers that Fidel Castro may have blown
up the jetliner to "get rid of" Cuban military
officials on board who were plotting against the
dictator.
But that far-fetched theory doesn't explain the Havana
hotel bombings that Carriles has acknowledged
committing, or his recent incarceration in Panama for
planning to blow up Castro at a political conference
(his recent pardon made international news).
"I don't endorse or support bombings," Rodriguez says.
"I believe it kills innocent people, and that is not
the way to do it. That will backfire."
Rodriguez says he doesn't know why Castillo has made
the allegations against him. He insists he watched
every contra supply plane land, refuel, and take off
from Ilopango and that there were never any drugs
onboard. "What I understand from the guys I asked at
DEA was that they fired [Castillo] for making all
kinds of allegations about Ilopango," he says. "He was
fired for incompetence. If any of his allegations had
a grain of truth, the Iran-contra committee would have
brought it up. They looked at everything with a
toothbrush."
(Castillo actually retired from the DEA -- under
pressure from higher-ups regarding his whistleblowing
-- in 1992. He collects a pension from the agency.)
The Iran-contra Committee, which carried more weight
than Kerry's subcommittee, was, in reality, famously
unconcerned with the narcotics allegations.
Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh, who conducted the
criminal investigation, never even interviewed
Castillo. Later, after reporter Gary Webb's
well-researched 1996 "Dark Alliance" series in the San
Jose Mercury News showed clear ties between the
contras and the Los Angeles crack trade, a Justice
Department investigation indeed found the "seed of
truth" in Castillo's allegations but didn't bother to
make a real case.
As for the media, they can only look back at the time
with shame. The press -- led by the New York Times,
Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times -- tried to
discredit Webb. Though the papers dutifully reported
many of the salient facts, they never conveyed the big
picture and, in the end, let the perpetrators of one
of the greatest scandals in American history go
largely unpunished.
Other than Soldier of Fortune, only the conservative
Website NewsMax.comhas brought up Iran-contra in the
context of the presidential election. In a July
article, the Website portrayed Rodriguez as a "wholly
innocent freedom loving patriot" who was blindsided by
the unscrupulous, CIA-hating senator.
It may be just the beginning. Rodriguez says he'll
vigorously oppose Kerry until election day, continuing
his work with the anti-Kerry veterans' group, which is
ideologically aligned with the similarly named Swift
Boat Veterans for Truth, and exposing the terrible
injustice done to him by the Democratic nominee. "He
will tell you one thing, then he will tell you another
thing," Rodriguez says of Kerry. "He is a complete
liar."
We all know that Rodriguez can fight with the best of
them, but what about Kerry? His Florida campaign
communications director, Matt Miller, didn't respond
to the question. Former DEA man Castillo, who counts
his vote for Ronald Reagan in 1980 as one of the worst
mistakes of his life, isn't sure. And he believes Bush
II -- who has already led the country into a
nightmarish war using false pretenses -- will cook
scandals to make Iran-contra pale in comparison if
elected to a second term.
"They say Kerry is a liar, that he lied about Felix
Rodriguez, who is a hero and patriot," Castillo says.
"Bush and Cheney know how to fight. Cheney says, öGo
fuck yourself.' I am so upset because Kerry won't take
the gloves off. It's like he's idling. If he doesn't
fight now, will he ever fight for us?"
miaminewtimes.com | originally published: September
23, 2004
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0922-01.htm
Published on Wednesday, September 22, 2004 by the
University of South Florida Oracle
Former CIA Agent Says Bush to Blame for 9/11
by Chris Gardner
Former CIA agent Ray McGovern went over what he
considers the failures of the intelligence community
and current administration over the past few years. He
has 27 years of experience as a CIA analyst to draw
upon and has dealt with every administration from
Kennedy to Bush Sr.
"It's difficult for people to learn the truth about
things like Iraq," said McGovern, a member of the
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS),
which is comprised of more than 40 former employees of
agencies such as the CIA, the Defense Intelligence
Agency, Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence
and Research, Army Intelligence, the FBI and the
National Security Agency.
Ray McGovern, who spent 27 years as a CIA analyst,
tells an audience of about 50 at the USF Library on
Tuesday that preventable intelligence failures and
questionable priorities led to the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks. (Oracle Photo/Victor Griley)
"We have hundreds of years worth of experience in
government service and intelligence to draw on so we
feel a civic responsibility to do our best to spread
as much truth as we can this fall," McGovern said.
He began his lecture by describing the CIA. He
explained that the agency is supposed to be the one
place in government with no political agenda, and
could be very disastrous if it obtains one.
McGovern told a story about CIA officials who gave
false information about enemy troop numbers in Vietnam
to President Johnson. The lie led to a surprise of
U.S. forces by the Tet Offensive in 1968. In this war
of attrition, the agency wanted to make it look like
the United States was doing better than it really was,
McGovern said.
"Picture the Vietnam Memorial in Washington; it's a
big 'V' shape. Now picture it with just one side of
the 'V'. It might have been that way if some people
had told the truth," McGovern said.
He also criticized the 9/11 Commission's final report,
saying the committee was comprised of political
extremists who couldn't reach a consensus.
"It wasn't a bipartisan commission; it was more like a
bipolar commission," McGovern said. "To say that no
one could prevent 9/11 was a bold-faced lie. It
basically let the president and everyone responsible
off the hook."
He went on to talk about the faulty intelligence
attorney general John Ashcroft used when he announced
that terrorist attacks may occur before or around
election time, saying that elections might have to be
postponed if the United States is attacked.
"There might be a real or staged terrorist attack in
order to postpone the elections," McGovern said. "This
might seem outlandish; I hope it is."
He mentioned how the Bush administration wanted to
involve the country with the war in Iraq for certain
reasons other than fear of weapons of mass
destruction, which was just a more media-friendly
explanation for the war.
"I have initials for why I think we went to war in
Iraq," McGovern said. "O.I.L. O-I-L, O is for oil, I
is for Israel and L is for logistics, as in when we
have Iraq we have a foothold and a number of bases
strategically placed in the Middle East so we can be
in control over there and also to protect Israel."
Next he brought up civil liberties in the United
States and how they have declined in the past few
years.
"I used to say when I was a kid growing up when
someone told me not to do something, 'It's a free
country,'" McGovern said. "I ask you to think about it
now."
In the audience was Nahla al-Arian, wife of imprisoned
former professor Sami al-Arian. She explained to
McGovern how she and her husband came to America to be
free and described their current situation. Then she
asked him why the government would target Palestinian
activists.
His initial response was just, "I'm sorry," then he
paused to collect his thoughts and said that things
like that come all the way from the top down.
McGovern had a speaking engagement at the University
of Florida later in the afternoon, and will also be
lecturing at UCF soon on his and the VIPS's quest to
spread the truth.
"No one has a corner on the truth. We don't have a
corner on the truth, but it is certain that Fox News
does not," McGovern said. "That most people get their
'news' from Fox News is extremely troubling."
Copyright © 2004 University of South Florida
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