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that O'Rourke was really working for North Vietnamese intelli- the disgraced one-time CIA officer. Unsurprisingly perhaps, gence, and that the photo had been used to blackmail Armitage George Bush reigned as the CIA's No. | honcho following his into becoming a spy." appointment by President Gerald Ford as Director, Central Such was the strength of the information developed on Intelligence in 1975. This might make for a small world, but Armitage that he was forced to abandon his nomination for clearly a very dirty one, too. Secretary of the Army and, indeed, all In the final analysis, the CIA's ongoing other official US Government posts. activities on behalf of a small clique of Subsequently, US Defense officials stated powerful individuals clearly confirm privately that Armitage would never . ae the existence of a secret government again be permitted to darken the doors of | ... the CIA's ongoing activities J that uses democratic structure as little the Department of Defense. A more than a useful facade to hide Known as "Mr Phu" (literally meaning on behalf of a small clique of behind. Drugs, a phenomenally prof- "Mr Rich") amongst the Vietnamese powerful individuals clearly itably product, have financed much of community, Armitage, despite his dis- 7 . the secret government's covert activi- grace, was still able to count on the enor- confirm the existence of a ties. Weapons, too, are another useful mous power of his political patrons and secret government aes and highly profitable tool, funded from managed to avoid criminal prosecution. the public purse. The overriding yet Knowing far too much about US covert policy, apparently, is to continu- Government "dirt" during the previous ally create nasty wars overseas and at three decades provided him with an the same time keep the folks back home instant "do not go to jail" card. drugged up to their eyeballs, or rather, those sections of society It is estimated that by 1991-92 the annual opium crop from that are viewed as bothersome adjuncts to the self-elected elite Khun Sa's region of the Golden Triangle had reached a staggering masters who rule from the shadows. 3,000 tons. Whereas it had always been difficult to convey the The kicker to the whole story is not just that it's done in your goods due to mountainous terrain, a high-speed tarmac road was name and the name of freedom and democracy, with captivating built, allowing trucks to move the drugs at high speed to govern- slogans that mean less than nothing to those who utter them, but ment-run airports in Thailand. From there, refined heroin was it's your money, your tax dollars that continue to finance the entire directly to the US and other Western destinations. scam. Maybe this is one reason why the slang term for "drugs" is If Frank Carlucci, formerly No. 2 in the CIA hierarchy, was one "dope". oo of Armitage's principal "protectors" during his "difficult" years, we can also legitimately ask who else might have been protecting Continued on page 32 DRUGS AND THE MEDIA: UNMENTIONABLE SECRETS hen Gary Webb, an enterprising and courageous investigative reporter for the San Jose Mercury News, published his story in W August 1996, powerful shockwaves rumbled east across the US for the best part of a year. Webb had spent a year peeling away the nasty secret of crack cocaine and how it came to prominence in Los Angeles. The three-part article was titled "The Dark Alliance" and it named names—especially former senior figures in the CIA-backed Contra movement. Webb expected and received the wholehearted support of his editor and fellow Mercury News reporters. The news- paper even dedicated a website to the series of articles and published electronic copies of important corroborating documents. Meanwhile, the shock waves reached Washington, DC. Unstoppable, they flowed onwards to Langley, Virginia—home of the Central Intelligence Agency. In time, an even more disturbing counter-shockwave rolled back westwards from Washington, DC, picking up impetus from Langley. Gary Webb had uttered the unutterable. He had spoken a simple truth—a truth, moreover, that was already well known to a great many journalists, politicians, academics, military officers, intelligence personnel and other insiders for decades past. The truth spoken was that the CIA had engaged in the wholesale distribution of illegal drugs. Within a year, Webb's colleagues at the Mercury News reversed their earlier support and began to denounce him. Such was the power of the signal returning from the east coast that many other journalists on the Mercury News began to fear that their career advancement—especially to the more prestigious news corporations of America—might be ruined. It was a classic case of guilt by association. Worse still, Webb's previously stalwart editor also denounced him and published an editorial in the Mercury News, saying the quality of Webb's corroboration of "The Dark Alliance" series was poor. The clear message was that the truth that was spoken had in fact not been spoken. Orwell called this "double-speak". For daring to speak the truth, Webb was punished by being re-assigned to a small-town, backwater office of Mercury News, far away from the limelight of head office. Webb kept his job, or at least a kind of living-death voodoo concoction of a job. No one can blame Webb for accepting the posting: he had a family to feed, and under the circumstances his chances of securing another job elsewhere in the media were surely limited. The editor clearly also kept his job, but we can and must blame him for rendering journalistic integrity to Caesar. Some of Webb's erstwhile colleagues have meanwhile no doubt moved on to higher and better positions in those all-too- desirable national news corporations. Here they may write copy all day, on any subject they choose—so long as it is not one of the unmentionable subjects. Without an independent and courageous Fourth Estate, there is no protection against the subtle and consistent campaign to destroy democracy in all but name. When Webb first set out on his life-changing investigation, he was blissfully unaware of the enormous threat he would soon pose to the national security and political establishments of the United States. His story revealed a sinister policy that dated back to WWII: the covert US control of the global illegal drugs industry, spanning four decades. This was just one of a great many unpalatable secrets that the secret government did not want told. There are many others.” NEXUS - 31 “confirm the existence of a secret government ... Continued on page 32 FEBRUARY - MARCH 1998