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1996-08-21 - Re: CIA Contra Crack and LA Gangs (fwd)

Header Data

From: Rich Graves <rich@c2.org>
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Message Hash: e8946f41268ff3b4bac39997bfa25731d05a5982c1d659faec5d020d4e756af7
Message ID: <Pine.GUL.3.95.960820174341.11228F-100000@Networking.Stanford.EDU>
Reply To: <Pine.SOL.3.91.960820170146.11886A-100000@use.usit.net>
UTC Datetime: 1996-08-21 05:26:03 UTC
Raw Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 13:26:03 +0800

Raw message

From: Rich Graves <rich@c2.org>
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 13:26:03 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: CIA Contra Crack and LA Gangs (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SOL.3.91.960820170146.11886A-100000@use.usit.net>
Message-ID: <Pine.GUL.3.95.960820174341.11228F-100000@Networking.Stanford.EDU>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Tue, 20 Aug 1996, Brad Dolan wrote:

> Goofy guy agrees with Morris about X, therefore Morris' well-documented 
> claims about X and Y are false? 

Lots of footnotes to "confidential interview" do not make a valid study. How
many "well-documented" studies of the Kennedy assassination and UFO
sightings have you read? 

I followed this wild goose chase to exhaustion back in 1986-7. I've
forgotten most of it, but I'm sure I have some notes and maybe some tapes
lying around. Yes, some contras and some sandinistas and some martistas and
*lots* of the senderos and M-19 ran drugs. That's what happens when you
criminalize a political movement -- political figures become criminals in
order to survive. (When the crime they're involved is simply free trade in
criminalized agricultural products, it just adds another layer of irony.)

There's a kernel of truth and plausibility to most conspiracy theories,
including this one. (It's a big mistake to say *all* conspiracy theories.) 
However, the money involved was rather small, the process was basically skew
to politics (both sides did it all), and I have never been convinced that
the CIA -- or even North's coterie in the NSC, which as you know ran a
number of ops that the CIA would never have gone for -- was in on it. 

(ObConspiracy: H. Ross Perot actually was involved in funneling money to the
contras. He was rather open and proud of it. Is he mentioned in Morris's
book?)

-rich

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