The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 43 (45)

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Transcript

0:00 Okay, something's wrong with my rumble. Hold on just a second. I'm going to have to go out and come back in. Okay. Okay. As much as I love it, I don't want to listen to it again. There we go. Now it's back up. It like froze and wouldn't let me click the camera, the unmute, nothing.

0:32 Okay, so I had to go out and come back in. Nothing like a little glitch for your start. It wouldn't be the same without it. Okay, so before we get into the material, well, I'll wait till the end. We'll talk about it at the end. Do you want to add SR? I see him. I just saw him. Okay, great. Thanks. Hi, Shelly. Just had to say. Oh, SR left.

1:07 You know, I did notice when I first came in, I couldn't hear until you added me as co-host, so there may be something glitching going on. Maybe not. Can you guys give us a thumbs up if you hear us? Renee, can you hear us? Let me invite her, too. Oh, my gosh. Are you kidding me? Really? Wouldn't surprise me. I got a thumbs up. There we are. All right. So maybe it's glitching.

1:43 All right, we got it. Okay, I don't know what happened to SR. I tried to throw him. I can hear you guys. Okay, thank you, Renee. You're welcome. I don't know what happened to SR. I do. You must have accidentally thrown him out. I just saw him on the removed list, so I took him off the removed list, so he should be right back. Oh, maybe I have a fat finger.

2:13 Yeah, I've been there. At least it's not just me. Sorry, SR. Go ahead and go back on X. Okay. All right. There we go. That's crazy. Well, I obviously did the co-host thing, too. So I don't know. Maybe it just picked one. All right. Let's get into the material. We are on page 501 under Reagan Revolution.

2:43 Thoughts in Reagan's White House turned towards getting Khomeini to influence the Lebanese Shiites. An interagency study completed in October 1984 concluded that a new relationship could be forged only by Khomeini's successors. In April of 85, the National Security Council advisor learned from a consultant of Iranian interest in buying American weapons.

3:12 The language that communicates with just the right people. Oh, you want weapons? Okay. The CIA entered the picture in May when Graham Fuller, Ames' successor, sent Bill Casey a memo that argued for a bolder and perhaps riskier policy on Iran that would at least ensure a greater U.S. voice in unfolding events. Sure, sell them weapons.

3:40 Casey sent the fuller paper intended for internal circulation to the White House, but the CIA's official position contained in the May 1985 update to the Iran Special National Intelligence Estimate remained pessimistic. Improvement, because that's the one that will eventually be seen by everybody. Improvement of ties to the U.S. is not currently a policy option. Israeli Foreign Minister David Kemchi.

4:10 approached National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane two months later to ask if the U.S. might sell weapons to Iran. Huh. When McFarlane replied he thought not, the Israeli asked whether Washington would have any objections if Israel did it, and if Israel could then replenish the stock from the U.S., you know, offering them plausible deniability. Oh, don't worry. We'll do it for you.

4:41 You can just give us the weapons back. His request led to a national security group meeting at the White House on August 8th, which appears to have been the Israeli go-ahead. Deals with Iran, many deals with Iran followed, related both to opening ties with Tehran and recovering American hostages in Lebanon. Some used Iranian arms dealer, Gorbanifar.

5:14 which we've talked about several times, especially early on. A man with a shadowy past of dealing with various security services, including Iranian, American, and Israeli. And it's weird that they left out the UK because he dealt with them too. There were two Israeli arms deals, one in September and one in November of 1985. And the second time,

5:41 The Israelis bungled their shipment, routing it through Portugal without appropriate clearance and appealed to the U.S. for help because they got caught. This compromised the White House. McFarland personally intervened with the Portuguese while the CIA had to provide an aircraft from none other than Southern Air Transport.

6:06 Deputy Director John McMahon agonized over this use of CIA services without a presidential finding. I'm sure he did. Meanwhile, McFarlane resigned in December to be replaced by Admiral John Poindexter. At a Christmastime event, Langley asked Poindexter for a finding to cover the arms activity, just backdated. Stanley Sporkin, CIA's top lawyer, wanted...

6:36 the finding to approve the CIA's November involvement retroactively, backdating. The CIA and the NSC together drafted a document that Reagan approved on January 17th, 1986. The finding contained orders that Congress not be informed and that it was carried out, quote unquote, by private citizens as authorized agents of the U.S. Such a private individual

7:06 being none other than General Richard Secord, attended a meeting at the White House on January 11th. There, Secord met with the CIA. And again, I need to remind you, Reagan is in these meetings. He's signing this stuff. This is not George H.W. Bush, although he's intimately involved. So those people who say, oh, you know, Reagan, this was all done without his knowledge. No, it wasn't.

7:37 Through 1986, Secord negotiated many deals, organized shipments, and supported operations in progress. McFarlane, and do I need to remind you as a general, he's a retired military officer, which means he's subject to UCMJ authority doing all of this nefarious stuff. As a quote unquote private citizen, he is not private.

8:07 He is a commissioned military officer, an agent of the government. McFarlane called back to go along on one mission in May, thought that he could talk directly to the Iranians. He didn't. A divergence developed. U.S. officials assumed that all hostages would be released while the Iranians had no such idea. Secord's team spent the summer trying to open a second channel to Tehran.

8:38 bypassing Gorbanifar's link. A second channel was eventually opened and one further arms transaction was arranged. But Gorbanifar learned of it and struck back by blowing the operation's cover. McFarlane's visit to Tehran was revealed in a leaflet distributed there. And a few weeks later, the story appeared in a Lebanese magazine.

9:07 The Iranian arms deal, together with the events simultaneously occurring in Nicaragua, ignited a firestorm during the Reagan presidency. Three hostages were released, Reverend Benjamin Ware, Father Lawrence Jenko, and David Jacobson. Reagan sold more than 200, excuse me, 2,000 anti-tank missiles to Iran.

9:37 all of the spare parts for them. He also sold Hawk anti-aircraft missiles. But on the streets of Beirut, the terrorists grabbed four more Americans plus a British mediator, Terry Waite. The CIA station chief, Bill Buckley, tortured for months to extract information. He says he expired in May of 86.

10:08 leaving what is reputed to be a 400-page debriefing. Langley was wounded. Meanwhile, the NSCE staffer managing the arm cells, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, had given the Iranians a sample of intelligence that might be available in a cooperative arrangement with the U.S. The CIA tried to rebuild a network in Iran, running its operation through Frankfurt.

10:38 Germany, where the steady flow of Iranian workers and migrants made it possible to access people without suspicion. Some hold this to have been strictly an espionage ploy. Others claim that the CIA attempted to set up a stay behind group to function against the Ayatollah, as well as in the case of, under the guise of the Soviet

11:10 basically overrunning Iran like there was ever a chance of that. There was not. Interesting that he uses the words stay behind group since we now know what that is. A number of Iranians were recruited. As early as 86, there were warnings that their communication with the agency had been compromised. Stephen Ritker, a 44-year-old DO officer, relied upon

11:41 Secret writing, an old method, rather than new technology. Tehran had indeed penetrated his scheme. Beginning in 88, Iranian authorities arrested more than 30 people, and they accused them of being agents of the CIA. Ricker could do nothing. The Iranians blew the cover on this disaster in April of 89.

12:16 that happened to Ricker was that he got chewed out during a meeting at the CIA. Angola, well, I don't know what else you're going to do. He was just doing his job. That's what you told him to do. So he did it. What else are you going to do? Angola returned as a covert action during the Reagan years as well. The US had been out of the country since the failure of Project Feature, but the Reaganites saw the US as a patron saint.

12:46 of anything that they could dub Soviet-inspired. Angola remained frozen in the image of the CIA as a quote-unquote Soviet satellite. Jonas Savimbi and United had gone on fighting the MPLA with the help of South Africa, and not just South Africa. This is where, again, Nugent Hand plays a part in this.

13:20 Because Hand is shipping illicit weapons to South Africa to forward into Angola. Simbembe certainly wanted to get the Americans back on board. He hired a high power Washington firm. And you'll never guess which firm he hired. Black, Manafort, and Stone. Yes, those names that we all know.

13:55 They hired them as lobbyists. Savembe, the CIA stooge that is killing people in Angola, hired a PR firm to encourage the Reagan White House to get back involved in Angola. Despite...

14:25 all of these people working alongside the South Africans whose internal divisions were even sharper than in the 70s. The Reaganites could not resist. President Reagan told the National Security Group meeting on November 12th, 1985, we want Zabimbi to know the cavalry is coming. That's an exact quote. The main difficulty with the dispute between the administration and the intelligence committees over whether the U.S. assistance

14:56 ought to be covert or given openly, with Congress favoring the latter. In 86, Sabembe made a highly publicized visit to the U.S. The initial covert program provided 10 to 15 million, and United received 50 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. The materiel moved through an airfield in Kamina in southeastern Zaire.

15:27 i.e. the Congo. And then it was loaded onto CIA proprietary aircraft and taken in country. Weapons shipments began in March of 86. In May, the IAS Guarantee Company, managing flights by CIA proprietories, protested that Unina had fired and damaged.

15:55 on and damaged one of the C-130 aircraft. A couple of months later, a delegation of Senate Intelligence Committee staff people went on a visit, conferring with the CIA station chief in Zaire and South Africa. In December of 86, the MPLA announced that its forces had captured Stinger missiles from Zimbabwe's rebels.

16:27 in the USA. The UNITA forces, spurred on by renewed CIA aid, fought on. As early as 84, Chester Crocker, a State Department Assistant Secretary for Africa, talking to the interested parties, had begun a move towards a negotiated settlement, but Zabimbe was not having any of it. He didn't want a settlement.

16:59 The CIA project to help him extended past the Reagan administration. Budget rose to $50 million. Robert Gates claims that the Secretary of State, George Shultz, supported the Angolan covert operation as a means of keeping the pressure on the MPLA government to come to an agreement. Shultz himself writes that the CIA effectively posed an obstacle to the settlement.

17:31 In December of 1988, the parties reached a pact that featured basically them kicking the Cubans out of the country, eventually completed in 1991. By that point, 100,000 Angolas had died, killed with our weapons. Among the other projects Reagan's secret warriors carried out, one of the least savory has to have been the project in Cambodia.

18:03 This supposedly assisted only the non-communist opposition, a tiny fraction allied with the Khmer Rouge monster Pol Pot, with non-lethal aid sent through Thailand. That's a crock of shit. In fact, it amounted to a shell game. Money given to the quote-unquote non-communist resistance eased the situation of the Khmer Rouge while simplifying the problems.

18:32 and the people that backed Pol Pot. Initially, only small amounts were involved, starting at 5 million and rising only about half. The one count has Casey contemplating up to $12 million, not far from the initial funding of the Nicaraguan project after careful budget combing by the CIA comptroller, Daniel Childs. Media accounts put the...

19:02 funding at well over 24 million. But little opposition existed in Cambodia. War had begun in 1978 when the Vietnamese invaded the country. That's a bold-faced lie. Outraged that the Khmer Rouge were massacring ethnic Vietnamese. The Cambodian resistance was attracted to the Reagan administration because it fought

19:33 a Vietnamese-backed dictatorship. This project effectively put the U.S. in league with Pol Pot and China, fueling the efforts of a political movement that had slaughtered 2 million, it's actually closer to six, of Cambodian citizens. It did nothing for America's reputation of quote-unquote safe for democracy. So just so that you guys know, this had nothing to do with Vietnam.

20:05 originally. This is that Red Rock operation where we sent special forces into Cambodia to blow up an airport to get Cambodia into the Vietnam War. And they were sent to their lack of knowledge on a suicide mission. We sent them in dressed up as Chinese. And they successfully

20:35 blew up the airport, which then the ambassador and the CIA station chief blamed it on the Chinese to get Cambodia into the war, the Vietnam War at the end. And then they tried to kill all of the special forces so no one knew we did it. Unfortunately for them, two of them survived and told their story later.

21:05 are the ones that provoked Cambodia to get in the war. It had nothing to do with Vietnam. Agency officer William Daughtry, who held a position at Langley's Machinery for covert operations planning and approval after Iran and counter terror operations, which again is Orwellian, they're terror operations, writes that CIA officers and U.S. diplomats were all antagonistic to the Cambodian.

21:37 project. Again, that's a bunch of crap. Robert Gates comments that Casey never warmed to the operation, that it remained a child of Schultz's State Department. Schultz says nothing of Cambodia at all. They're all lying. Projects planned for Serenam and Mauritarius were canceled because of administration or congressional

22:09 opposition, but it actually was canceled because the cover was blown. Schultz shot down Serenam, where in 1983, Casey wanted to insert a couple hundred Korean commandos to overthrow the government. And by Korean commandos, he's talking about the stay-behind units that were trained.

22:40 under Reverend Moon's stay-behind units from Korea. That Langley could not find local recruits said everything. More than 50 covert operations were reported in progress in 1984, half in Central and South America, including both paramilitary and espionage. This represented a 500% increase over the Carter years. John McMahon's decision to retire in February of 86

23:10 came when the crisis pre-planning group approved the simultaneous escalation of four covert operations, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Angola, and Cambodia. Europe would not be ignored on Casey's watch either. Among the more lurid tells is that the CIA took advantage of the Soviets for seeking

23:39 American technology by doctoring computers destined for Russians' natural gas pipeline. They caused immense fires. Little evidence has emerged as far as CIA files on this operation. The agency also tried to flood the Soviet Union with literature, especially many copies of the Bible and dissident writings.

24:13 French spy chieftain Alexander de Martins has taken credit for convincing director Casey to move on that project, but Casey needed no encouragement and Reagan backed all of it enthusiastically. The CIA waged a similar campaign in Eastern Europe, especially Poland. The impetus following from the Soviet quasi intervention there, the Polish.

24:42 The imposition of martial law in December of 81 and the subsequent crackdown on the labor movement Solidarity, which was in bed with the AFL-CIO, the Catholic Church also retained great influence in Catholic Poland. Its efforts enhanced by Reagan in June of 1982, meeting with Pope John Paul II, previously a Polish cardinal.

25:12 And of course, we know that the Gray Wolves shot a stay-behind unit in Turkey, shot John Paul II. That summer, National Security Advisor William Clark called for options. Brzezinski of Polish descent and expert in the matter consulted with Casey on Poland and Eastern Europe. The initiatives amounted to classic CIA political action. Langley's expenditures went from funding solidarity.

25:43 Publishing text and printing presses and papers smuggled to assorted dissident groups, but it also included training. Stimulated by the Reaganites, Radio Free Europe also had an important role to play. The old CIA radio had responded to an air of detente with visions of cutting back, changing its name, ending links to dissident groups, and...

26:14 perhaps relocating to the US. Yeah, BS. There was a bombing at Radio Free Europe in Munich. And then the board wanted to use operating funds to make repairs. The Reagan White House saw an opportunity to energize the entire operation. And there are some accounts that that was none other than a false flag to do exactly that because it was blamed on.

26:47 You guessed it, the Soviets. John Lenkowski, Soviet specialist on the national security staff, spearheaded this effort. He proposed $2.6 billion to revamp Radio Free Europe. See what happens when you get a bomb detonated? You get a request for $2.6 billion.

27:17 Finally, he got the State Department to break with the PAC. The State Department staffer for Radio Free Europe recalls senior officers concerned that the NSC, blocking their negotiation efforts, decided to let Lenkowski have this victory so they could get on with their work. Radio Free Europe program became part of the public diplomacy initiative of Reagan, approved in 1982.

27:47 freedom right on through the decade. By the time Casey's watch ended, the CIA's propaganda and political action staff had become quite active. Besides its own projects, the CIA lent specialists out to the National Security Council and State Department engaged in quote-unquote democracy with CIA. They focused on Latin America.

28:17 and the CIA money financed many of their efforts. But the staff had depended on officers brought back from retirement, the ones that had been retired under Jimmy Carter. The unit's own senior staff numbered a few dozen, among them a handful of covert operators. The rest were translators and analysts. As with the military's view on combat arm billets,

28:47 versus support roles, propaganda at the CIA carried less prestige than covert operations. There can be no doubt of the popularity of covert action during Reagan's administration. By some lights, Reagan exceeded even Dwight D. Eisenhower in his use of them. And Bill Casey was an instigator constantly demanding fresh initiatives, taking odd suggestions and turning them into projects.

29:17 encouraging the DO covert operations to be all they could be. All of this was aimed at supposedly the communist influence, except that so many Reagan secret wars targeted governments that had no formal affiliation with the Soviet Union at all. No democracies resulted from any of the third world operations.

29:51 Projects in Europe can be judged successfully except for the impact of the CIA political action in election interference and everything else. In Russia, where democracy has yet to become fully established, the CIA helped sharpen the Soviet problems. Chapter 21, Bill Casey's War. What is striking about the Nicaraguan secret war is Bill Casey's great fervor.

30:23 Here, the secret warriors had their chance to wage an all-out paramilitary campaign. Here, the CIA, special warfare forces, the regular military, and the instruments of American economic power were combined to pressure a small third-world country. Langley recruited the fighters, pommeled them into political alliance, bought the weapons, and provided the leadership. Green berets and seals bestowed their expertise.

30:51 The regular military built or improved bases, furnished key support, and threatened the adversary by posturing in exercises all around it, on land and sea. The U.S. manipulated the levers of international financial assistance just like it had in Chile. The campaign exploited the presence and assistance of other nations and wed the classic elements of paramilitary.

31:21 and parapolitical action. Washington had every advantage. Casey's excitement is all the more remarkable because the secret warriors divided over whether the covert actions were feasible or even necessary. Analysts like Robert Pasture and Anthony Lake, both former NSC staffers and one a future national security advisor, concluded that the CIA failed to appreciate the weaknesses

31:52 of Somoza's rule and how passionate the Sandinistas were to get rid of him because he was a criminal dictator that was supporting the rampant drug flow through Nicaragua. Managua's new rulers did nothing to jeopardize U.S. interests in the local area.

32:26 The secret warriors, particularly after Chile, better knew the danger of action taken on shaky policy grounds. Those in charge of Nicaraguan's government, which came to power in 1979 at the head of a popular revolution that deposed Somoza, the dictator did not relinquish power without a struggle, naturally.

32:56 Somoza's hillside bunker overlooking Managua had been a nerve center of a war waged by the National Guard under his personal direction against the people in Nicaragua. They had black site prisons. They had torture campaigns. They had everything. The revolutionaries became known as the Sandinistas.

33:24 The National Guard and its allies were the Somocistas. The Sandinistas were a collection of five different resistant groups. It was not communist or even Marxist. The ideology obscured traditional wellsprings of Nicaraguan politics that contributed to the Sandinistas' revolution. Because if you kill enough people,

33:57 you are going to get the entire country aggravated at you. Regardless of what their political or economic program will be when they come to power, they are literally fighting for their lives. That's completely different than throwing a bunch of weapons and old dictatorship leftovers that had already lost the country.

34:24 back into the country thinking that they're going to somehow overtake it just because they're being supplied by the CIA. Officials had talked about a mixed economy. President Carter approved a finding for a project against the Sandinistas in July of 1979 in tandem with another aimed at the resistance in El Salvador. And again, El Salvador is another.

35:00 drug trafficking haven, and terrorist training camp that the CIA used all through this time. The matter of Cuba was central to the rationale for every single covert action taken against Nicaragua. We can't have another Cuba. Prodded by the State Department a few months later, Carter approved a broader finding to oppose quote unquote Cuban activities throughout Latin America.

35:31 excuse me, Latin America. So we're going to find Cubans everywhere. Nestor Sanchez, then Latin America division chief at the CIA, proceeded without haste, trying to expose or create a connection of the Sandinistas to Cuba. Stansfield Turner worried that any hint of CIA-backed opposition to the Sandinistas would backfire, enabling Havana to increase involvement.

36:03 but the Carter administration had not written off the Sandinistas. He was going to give $120 million in foreign aid to Managua. El Salvador was a thornier matter. To handle both the projects, in late 1980, Langley set up a Central American task force under Jerry Spott, S-V-A-T. Enter the Reaganites.

36:36 One, in their thinking about Nicaragua, not only did President Reagan make the required decisions, he lent his personal influence to the secret warriors. In fact, the covert aspect of special activities would be abandoned altogether in the attempt to coerce Nicaragua. White House determination to pursue the campaign ultimately led to international embarrassment for the U.S.

37:00 a showdown with Congress over intelligence oversight and initiatives that took covert action outside whatever quote-unquote legal framework supported it, calling into question the role of the president himself. The operation began soon after Reagan's inauguration. Just a month later, Casey proposed an extensive action still focused on political and psychological warfare.

37:30 to stop weapons shipments from Nicaragua to Salvadorian resistant fighters. On March 9th, 1981, Reagan approved a presidential finding. The finding went to the National Security Planning Group, which ordered detailed preparations. Casey became the spear carrier. During a visit to U.S. Southern Command headquarters in Panama that summer,

37:58 Briefings convinced Casey that the Sandinistas were sponsoring revolution everywhere. Imagine that, this little dinky country that basically has no economic wherewithal at all. They, like the mysterious Soviets, are literally everywhere. Now, on the Sandinistas' side of the equation,

38:26 Understand that the Sandinistas wanted to support other countries, resistance fighters to the USAID, Office of Public Safety, Office of Transition Initiatives, and the CIA. Because there's drugs everywhere down there. Everywhere. The director determined to mount a vigorous secret war. The CIA analysts estimated the Managua government.

38:57 could not be overthrown. Casey did not listen. It wasn't what he wanted to hear. When leading secret warrior John Stein opposed the project and its expansion, Casey went around him. Senior analyst Robert Gates watched from the sidelines. Gates would later write, quote, in virtually every covert action other than Central America, Casey was prudent, even cautious.

39:28 grumbly content to work through channels, but not with Nicaragua. In a notable breach of boundaries, Casey brought in Dwayne Claridge, a Middle East specialist to head the DO's Latin American division. This marked the beginning of a fateful alliance. I don't think that was a mistake. I think that was part of the plan. Those who got to know Bill Casey.

40:03 like Bob Woodard, credited him with quote-unquote considerable style. The agency station chief in Rome shared that sense. If not Casey's taste, Duane Claridge favored European cut suits. A Panama hat often crowned his head. Cigars and brandy was his style. Claridge, familiarly called Dewey,

40:35 Also liked red wine. And before Langley went dry, had wine tasting as part of the workday. That's nice. The director encountered Dewey on one of his first trips when Casey made a tour of CIA stations. Claridge received him. The director traveled in company with Alan Wolfe, another Middle East Klan member.

41:04 and one of Dewey's best friends. The Rome spy chief lobbied Casey for Wolfe to be appointed the deputy for director of operations. Instead, Casey put Claridge in there. Slated for a third year in Rome, the personnel drones first listed Claridge to return to Langley as chief of the international activities division, then the European division.

41:32 John Stein happened to be another old friend of Claridge's. They had gone through Army Reserve training together while they were CIA officers. When Stein stepped up to the deputy director of operations position, the new operations boss supported Claridge. The European division went to someone with more area expertise. Then the Latin American division opened up when Nestor Sanchez

42:06 CIA officer, move to the Pentagon, because of course they do. Casey found Claridge a powerhouse. General Robert Schweitzer, a true believer on the early Reagan national security team, thought no one who met Claridge once could forget him. Arturo Cruz Jr., a disillusioned Sandinista,

42:36 who went over to the rebels, felt Dewey's charm, and witnessed his aggressiveness. Colleague Bert Dunn admired Claridge, though the two never actually served together. Dunn saw Claridge as the first real case officer that he'd ever met. In Nepal, India, Turkey, Claridge became an enlister of spies.

43:06 not afraid to make a cold approach, the most difficult of recruitments. Now let's look at those. Nepal, where we trained the Uyghur and the Tibetans, terrorist training camp. India, where we set up those operations over there. And Turkey, where the gray wolves are. That's the guy, okay?

43:38 He believed in calculated risk. At headquarters, Dewey had the capability of being the deputy. Until Nicaragua, he had also been very lucky. Claridge, who had departed Rome on August 1st, 1981, got there just before the quote-unquote Italian leftist terrorists kidnapped a US general. Yeah, it wasn't them. And the fact that he's at Rome,

44:17 At the height of Operation Gladio? In Rome? In Italy? Yeah. Where those in the clandestine service aspired to fade into a crowd, Claridge flaunted himself. As baron of the Nicaraguan War, he drove a big sports utility vehicle emblazoned with bumper stickers supporting the Contras. Back in Langley, Dewey Claridge.

44:53 had barely met the top people in his division when Stein phoned. They were to meet the CIA director the next afternoon. Casey supplied a brief overview of the situation and told Claridge to take a month or so, produce ideas on how to make it better. With absolutely no Latin experience, no Spanish language, Claridge was enthusiastic. He took just a week to come back to Casey.

45:22 My plan is simple. I take the war to Nicaragua. Start killing them. Casey loved it. Claridge left with a mandate to draft a finding to cover the operation. Much of the work fell to the Central American Task Force Chief, Jerry Spott. Intelligence showed that the remnants of the Somoza forces were gathering in Honduras, because of course they were. That's where the CIA's nearest station is.

45:56 They were themselves planning a march on Managua. They wanted to do the same thing to the Sandinistas that had been done to Somoza. Other exiles who opposed the National Guard joined them in the summer of... So the National Guard ran out of the country. And that's who this guy's calling the Somoza Sista. We're just going to refer to them as the National Guard.

46:26 They're the former Samosan National Guard. And you guys will remember this because we talked about it in the Gary Webb book, how there were the different factions that made up the Contras. And like the one guy that was based out of primarily Costa Rica didn't want any of the drug money.

46:49 And he refused to be funded by that. They eventually kill him because he had the most ferocious fighting force because the Contras, i.e. the former National Guard, were all fat and lazy. And that's who the CIA primarily was funding. And they were worthless. So they really wanted the fighting force this guy had, but the only way they had of funding it was with drug money, and he wouldn't do that.

47:17 So he had to die. Okay, the CIA's project was to use what they refer to as the FDN and they had to throw in Democratic Nicaragua. That's what the D and the N stands for. They didn't have a democracy. They had a military dictator named Somoza and you're not trying to bring democracy.

47:54 to Nicaragua. You're trying to get rid of the Sandinistas. When the Latin chief told his station chiefs of the project, two both Latin Americanists objected. One was Jack Devine, who had watched as the agency got into trouble in Chile doing the same thing. Casey's field marshal for the Nicaraguan secret war

48:24 takes pains to distance himself from his own dramatic description of the CIA aims. Claridge writes that the notion of killing Cubans in Sandinistas amounted to bravado. He didn't really mean it. He was just pandering to the Secretary of State, Alexander Haig. Indeed, the CIA sought authority for this operation on the basis of interdicting arms supplies to

48:54 the rebels in El Salvador. But diplomacy could have accomplished that. The Sandinistas actually did halt shipments in the summer of 1981 when U.S. Ambassador Lawrence Pazulo, oh my gosh, look at that, Pazulo. Ralph Pazulo's dad? Oh, I forgot about that. Holy crap. Hold on. I need to mark my book. Ralph Pazulo's dad.

49:24 is the U.S. ambassador, Lawrence Prezulo, told Managua that the aid money left from the Carter administration would be conditional on Sandinista behavior. So, hey, if you want your aid money, stop sending weapons over to the rebels that are interfering with the CIA drug trafficking. Okay, you didn't need a finding? You didn't need to kill people to do that?

49:55 No, the Sandinistas did it. Oh my gosh. Rather than continuing State Department diplomacy, the Reaganites just went ahead and terminated all aid anyway. You know, like they're trying to provoke them. That's crazy. The negotiation track became real only when Central American countries themselves created a framework for talks several years later.

50:30 because the U.S. wasn't interested in doing that. They just want to kill people. Declassified State Department cable traffic with the U.S. Embassy in Honduras reveals that Washington, quite serious about preventing negotiations, pressured Honduras to agree only to regional groupings that excluded all Sandinistas. You're not allowed to talk to them, or your aid gets cut off too.

51:04 The larger enterprise revealed in these U.S. maneuvers had to do with fighting Managua. Halting arms would be a byproduct. The most crucial, by cloaking its real aims behind the goal of arms interdiction, the Reagan administration introduced a confusion into its own activities that it never overcame. The limited goal precluded massive covert action.

51:36 When such actions were attempted, they discredited Reagan's own assertion of intent. The goals also invited overseers of the secret war to hold the administration to its word, forcing the CIA into illegally supplying arms. But of course, we know that the whole idea of supplying arms.

52:08 was to be able to bring the drugs in and use that as an excuse. The Reagan White House believed that there was Cuban intervention everywhere and that they were behind the Salvadoran Civil War, not the actual people in El Salvador wanting their government back. That could never be the case. They also saw

52:38 Nicaragua as part of the problem. Secretary of State Al Haig encouraged all of that. Unable to strike directly at Cuba, they're just going to say every place else in Latin America has Cuban, like they did with the Soviets, involvement.

53:08 The Nicaraguan campaign became a renewed manifestation of hostilities. The extreme rhetoric employed to criticize Nicaragua showed the US determination to get Managua in the Reagan administration, which they always characterized as a surrogate of Havana, not freedom fighters that wanted their government back from a military dictator the CIA controlled.

53:37 They're just stooges and people that the Cubans are using. No one in a country living under a military dictatorship could possibly want the military dictatorship overthrown on their own without outside influence. Holy crap. So in the Reagan administration, quote unquote, killing Cubans became synonymous.

54:08 with overthrowing the Sandinistas. And that's what the narrative was and the propaganda that was put out everywhere. Ironically, there is no evidence that any Cubans were ever killed. Most likely there weren't any. Most of the pieces were in place when Dewey Claridge took over his covert project called the Restricted Interagency Group, RIG, the NSC unit responsible for

54:47 Central America also used that same name. Claridge explained that the CIA would rely on the FDN and act through intermediaries. In this case, they were going to work hand in hand with Argentina. The Somocistas, the National Guard, among the FDN would be ousted because they're fat and lazy and incompetent.

55:18 Claridge estimated a month and a half to implant a CIA base and logistics network with activation in two months. The CIA, Claridge, put the cost at about the same as a single F-16 fighter jet, whatever that is, millions. Diplomat Thomas Enders, who chaired the RIG at the National Security Council,

55:48 had seen the CIA in action in Cambodia in 1970. You know, when we were blowing up the airport? Confident the agency, he nevertheless superimposed a diplomatic track to make it look like they were being responsible. Director Casey went to the president. Claridge plan was discussed by the NSC in mid-November. Reagan approved the general policy.

56:17 Via a national security decision directive, he signed on November 23rd, following with a presidential finding on December 1st. The plan allowed the CIA to recruit a force of 500, possibly to be supplemented by another 1,000 Contras, beginning training in Argentina. With an initial budget of $19 million, the finding provided that the FDN

56:50 to collect intelligence inside Nicaragua and carry out other missions. Clare's project, supposed to rely on third world nationals, envisioned direct CIA paramilitary action against special targets. The plan aimed at eliminating quote-unquote Cuban presence, i.e. Sandinistas, and the support structure. The first order of business became assembling like-minded allies.

57:20 like Honduras, which bordered Nicaragua to the north. They fell in line quickly, turned a blind eye to all of the CIA efforts. Costa Rica to the south would come later. After discussions and subsequent denials with Reagan ambassador at large, none other than Vernon Williams, Argentina agreed to provide training and some advisors.

57:50 In November, even before the finding had been signed, Claridge took spot and two other officers to Buenos Aires to hash out the details. Argentina wanted to hear Washington say it would stay the course and the CIA would not bug out when the going went south. Langley's project utilized an opposition core of Contras. Hold on just a second. I'm going to plug my phone in.

58:23 Wrong plan. So, set up the Contras, who, according to the CIA, fought a popular Sandinista government. In Miami, conservative labor leader, Jose Francisco Cardinal, and others formed the UDN, Union Democrat Nicaragua.

59:01 and raised enough cash to buy 200 weapons from local gun shops. Volunteers trained alongside anti-Castro Cubans, i.e. Cuban exiles, our Gladio unit, at camps in South Florida. Former National Guardsmen, the fat, lazy ones, could join if they accepted the leadership because it wasn't going to be them. The military chief of staff for this operation was an Air Force veteran.

59:35 Another group had closer ties to Somoza. The 5th of September Legion of several hundred National Guard veterans drew its name from the 1821 date of Nicaraguan's independence from Spain. The Legion, formed in May of 81, was said to be financed with hundreds of thousands of dollars from Luis Palales de Bale, Somoza's cousin.

1:00:04 It became active just as the UDN established an office in Honduras with the CIA. Claridge was not the only one to go to Buenos Aires. Even before him, several Contra leaders had already been there. They met at Argentina's military college with Colonel Mario D'Amico, an aide to the chief of Argentine intelligence. It was that...

1:00:33 Argentine intelligence was called Battalion 601. These are nasty guys. This is the leftover from Operation Condor and all of the horrible things going on in Argentina, which is the country where they took the people up in the airplane, drugged and dropped them out in the ocean. Yeah, part of Operation Condor. The Nicaraguans received $50,000 in $100 bills and were told that more money would follow.

1:01:03 The UDN, the Legion, and other small groups needed to form an alliance. This union produced the FDN. Further meetings followed in Miami, where Argentine Colonel Jose Alas, using the name Julio Velargas, told the Nicaraguans a three-way agreement had been made among the U.S., Argentina, and Honduras to help them.

1:01:33 which is really just us, us, and us using those other two as cutouts. The 50 Contras went to Argentina for training and then became instructors at the camp in Honduras. Alas would be the chief of logistics. Another colonel, Osvaldo Rivera, the chief of operations, supervised a cadre of 50 in Honduras. The man who emerged as the top Contra commander

1:02:05 Enrique Bermudez, a 47-year-old colonel from the former National Guard and founder of the 15th September Legion, initially served as second-in-command of the FDN forces. A Sandinista spokesman noted at the time that Bermudez was a clean record and, not surprising, sent to Washington in 75 for a course.

1:02:39 at the Inter-American Defense College. That's kind of the advanced version of School of Americas. Bermudez had effectively been exiled by Somoza. He stayed on for three years as a military attache for Somoza, but somehow was exiled by him. When an army of Sandinistas and National Guard briefly seemed possible as part of a transitional government in 1979, Bermudez,

1:03:15 was considered to lead it. He traced his own link to the Argentines in late 1980 when he claimed 70 to 80 legionnaires received training at Argentina. Timing is important as it bears on the initiation of the paramilitary action. Bermudez made his claim in conversation to journalist Shirley Christian.

1:03:42 Argentine participants, however, clearly date their activity in mid of 1981. It is also at that time, August of 81, that the U.S. lost any opportunity for diplomatic accommodation, according to Ambassador Prezulo. To Managua, the U.S. demands seemed both excessive and imperious, with a halt in arms to El Salvador as a precondition to negotiations. In exchange for Nicaraguan,

1:04:13 concession in five areas, the U.S. offered no more than strict enforcement of its neutrality laws. The Sandinistas stopped negotiating because neutrality in the U.S. State Department and CIA means they're going to do it covertly. Most USAID to Nicaragua stopped in March of 81. That is simultaneous with Reagan's first finding.

1:04:48 All remaining assistance ended in September and the Sandinistas further infuriated the State Department by denying that they served as an avenue for arms to the El Salvador rebels. Castro soon sent 2,000 teachers and doctors to Nicaragua after they were cut off from the U.S. So now they have their ammunition.

1:05:19 What most people didn't realize is there had been doctors and teachers while Somoza was still in charge from Cuba. Washington's cast the die for a secret war against the Sandinistas in 1981. Okay, that brings us to a good stopping point. You know, I always struggle with this.

1:06:00 It's brainwashing. I know it's brainwashing, but it doesn't make it any more bitter a pill. I always remembered Reagan as being like, oh, Reagan, you know, Reagan was when we had a good president. Reagan was when we were safe. Reagan was when things were good. And, well, history tells a different story. It just goes to show you how effective propaganda is and why they do it.

1:06:33 Yeah, you're right. Yeah. And like I said. Because it's very effective. I mean, even though I know in my head, it's still a bitter pill, you know? I know. Because I, like I've told you guys a million times, I joined the military in July of 1979, the very first time I voted.

1:07:03 was for Ronald Reagan. And again, you know, he was all about taking care of the military, gave us like three years of like double digit pay raises, which hadn't happened in, you know, decades. But it's all about taking all of these different initiatives and putting them all together.

1:07:33 You can fool people. So anyway, SR, go ahead. Thank you, Colonel. And thank everyone for attending here on Spaces and on Rumble. You took my thunder with Reagan because Reagan was a man of the people. We were in significant economic issues during that time. And Reagan actually made things better in that sense. Well, I believe.

1:08:06 Everyone enjoyed Reagan. But the other thing that caught my attention is you were talking about in 1982, I believe it was, the Trojan horse that was put into computer software on the Soviet pipeline that suffered an explosion. Lots of them. That is considered the first world cyber warfare event.

1:08:34 That was decades before Stuxnet. Yes, that's true. So to your point about the economy, I'm going to give you an alternative view. Do you think with all of the research that we've done and the economic warfare that these people are capable of, do you think for one minute that after the CIA had...

1:09:09 over 800 of their operators fired, that they would not economically attack the United States and make our entire economy scream the same way that they did Chile and Nicaragua and Angola and Indonesia and everywhere else? I'm not so sure. There's no doubt in my mind. Yeah, I'm not so sure.

1:09:41 How much of it? Because understand that a large part of that was oil and the gas lines and all that other stuff. Well, who controls the oil? US and British companies. Yes, the oil is being taken out in the Middle East, but those were concessions by US corporations. So there's no way that all of that shit happened without the complicity.

1:10:11 of the oligarchs in control. And it goes to show you that they will literally do anything in order to sabotage a US president, which we are living through right now, in order to affect a change. So I'm not sure how much of the economy...

1:10:35 was Reagan's doing as opposed to them ending the economic warfare that they were engaging in during the Carter administration. And again, I'm not a Carter fan, but I look back and I've done a lot of reading on this because this was an idea that occurred to me about a year and a half ago. And when you start doing the research on the actual issues that came up economically,

1:11:04 Every single one of them mirrors economic warfare that we've done elsewhere. Why are you so mad? Go ahead. Okay. I have a rule of thumb when it comes to the critical thinking and analyzing people's character. If propaganda and a lot of it is saying that the person is good, that they're doing good things, you might want to dig deeper.

1:11:36 It seems like, and this is just my opinion, but when people sit there and start getting on this bandwagon of this person's good, they're probably doing a lot of good openly while they're doing a lot of evil in the background. Potentially. Potentially. And that's why I appreciate Donald Trump getting attacked every minute of every day. So, yeah, I agree with that.

1:12:05 What's interesting about that for me is when you go further back in Reagan's history, just like everybody else, you know, supposedly Nixon was fine. But then you find out he's vice president the entire time that Eisenhower's doing all this shit and actively involved in it. And that the Rockefellers was the money behind him through a whole bunch of cutouts.

1:12:34 you start assessing things a whole lot differently. So if you go back in Reagan's career, it was during the time that he was the Screen Actor Guild President where he gives Lou Wasserman a waiver to do both movies and the talent piece of that because you had to be in one business or the other, you couldn't do both.

1:13:01 because it basically creates a monopoly. And he did that. And you also, of course, he was a Democrat during that time. He becomes the governor of California and does a lot of really nefarious things as governor. And Lou Wasserman was the money behind him, Mr. Hollywood. And he also was instrumental.

1:13:31 in supporting him when he ran for president. And so there's a track record there that most people don't wanna look at. You know, it was Reagan that signed the ability to give sanctuary and everybody goes, yeah, but they were supposed to build the wall. Well, then you build the fucking wall first. You cannot believe if you're supposed to be the best president ever.

1:13:57 The first note would be, you don't believe the Democrats. Give me the money to build the wall, start building the wall, and then sign the amnesty. I wouldn't have recommended amnesty, but again, it's just the illusion of there's two parties. There's not two parties. There never has been two parties. So anyway, all right, moving on. First of all,

1:14:32 I had to do one more show on the premium thing, which I did last night, but I forgot to hit the premium button. So I have to do it again tonight. So we'll do another hour sometime tonight of our other book about the Rockefellers that I'm doing to appease the rumble gods. And this time I'll remember to hit the button. Also, I wanted to share with everybody.

1:15:00 that I think you guys, well, most of you were here, when I mentioned after the segment that I did on Redacted the other day that Alex Jones followed my segment on their show. So yesterday, I got a text message from Redacted, their scheduler.

1:15:30 saying that Alex Jones had listened to that segment and wanted to have me on a show. And so I don't know whether that's going to work out or not. I'll do the show because, and I had a long conversation with a couple of different people to include Bridget. My vested interest in this whole thing is for everybody to learn about.

1:16:00 Operation Gladio. And as long as I can get that word out there, I will take the opportunity to do that. So it is for that reason only that I entertain that request. It's not affirmation in any other way. It is simply, because that's what I, my husband and I had a very long conversation about this.

1:16:30 My only goal in doing this three plus years ago was to get the word out, for people to understand what goes on that we don't know about. And I feel like all of us, I know all of you guys have done a fantastic job of highlighting all this stuff by reposting things that we post, being here religiously.

1:16:56 listening to the material and relearning our actual history, not just in the United States, but around the world. I mean, I'm much better geography-wise now, and I was pretty good before because I've been a whole bunch of different places, but I'm much better now than I ever was when I was on active duty about not only

1:17:21 And again, I have a master's degree in this. It's so embarrassing. Not just about where everything is, but what the real deal was in all of the history that we've actually lived and been lied to about. And so if that means going on Alex Jones' show, I'm all for it. So I just wanted to share that with you guys. Why are you so mad? Go ahead.

1:17:56 We can't hear you. No. I mean, I can barely hear you. It's like you. Go ahead. There you go. Now we can hear you. Okay. That is exciting and outstanding news. It is not a matter of who the show is. It's a matter of how much they have as an audience. You're going to be able to reach so many people. That is great. And I am looking forward to hearing you on Alex Jones. Yep.

1:18:30 So, of course, if anybody can control Alex Jones, it's the Colonel. I love you, Bridget. I'm not going to try to control anybody. But, again, it would be a great dialogue. So, I talked it over briefly with Alpha Warrior as well. And his response was, it's time.

1:19:00 I agree with Alpha. It's time. And that's the thing. You're reaching his audience. You're reaching, and it's going to bump you in the algorithm. There's more benefits. The more I thought about it last night, there are more benefits than drawbacks. Like I said, he can sensationalize things, but this is a sensational topic. You can't get more sensational than this. Right.

1:19:30 Right. And if it draws sunlight to it, you know, that's what we're here for. That's what we've been doing. That's why we're slugging it out, fighting that algorithm. And I do mean that if anybody can keep him on point, I'd say it's you. You have the most beautiful diplomatic control that I've ever seen anybody ever. And I've seen it done on how many podcasts?

1:20:00 where people get off on whatever it is they want to go, UFOs, they want to go down the rabbit hole of something else, and you just steer it right back into the plate. So I actually, I think it's going to be a really good, you know, I think it would be a good interview if it happens. You know, we've also had other people reach out and things blow up. Yes, we have. If it happens, I think it's going to be epic.

1:20:32 Yep. I agree. All right. Tara. Tara over on Rumble says get some duct tape. You're wonderful, Tara. I love you. Okay. SR, go ahead. Thank you, Colonel. I'm with Bridget and everybody else here that say this is a good thing. And the way I see it, it's time to bury the stake in the heart. Time to get to the point of.

1:21:04 Here, I'm going to talk to your audience and we'll see where it goes from there. Thank you, Colonel. Sure. I would love to bring up, and maybe I will off camera, the fact that, depending on how it goes, the fact that Jack Posabeck came on his show the day after, the Wednesday, after my first...

1:21:29 presentation of Gladio to a large audience, which was on Trump frog's, um, space, um, that was sabotaged from the time we started until we ended. Um, and basically said operation Gladio was some old thing that didn't apply anymore. Um, and, but yeah, I won't start off with that, but anyway, all right guys. Um, that's it.

1:22:02 I'm going to grab some dinner. I have a show tonight. So I'm not sure where I'm gonna, or is that tomorrow? Oh, that's tomorrow. I have the Thailand show at eight o'clock in the morning. So he's supposed to be getting back to me to let me know if that's live where people can watch it or if they're gonna record it. And I'll let you guys know. I'll just make a post.

1:22:34 That's it. Take care, everybody. And I will talk to you tomorrow.

Entities here

CIA50 Sandinistas27 Nicaragua25 Ronald Reagan24 William Casey21 Dewey Claridge20 Iran-Contra19 United States15 Iran14 Soviet Union12 Nicaraguan Contra War11 Cuba11 National Security Council9 Argentina9 El Salvador9 Trump administration9 U.S. State Department8 Angola8 Anastasio Somoza8 Contras8 Cambodia8 Honduras6 Jonas Savimbi6 Robert McFarlane6 National Guard (Nicaragua)6 Armed Resistance Democratic Force6 Italy5 Vietnam5 Israel5 Operation Gladio5 Radio Free Europe4 Chile4 Jimmy Carter4 UNITA4 Lebanon4 Iran hostage crisis3 South Africa3 MPLA3 Turkey3 Robert Gates3

Claims made here

National Security Council funded Iran-Contra book_quoted ▶ 2:43

“Thoughts in Reagan's White House turned towards getting Khomeini to influence the Lebanese Shiites. An interagency study completed in October 1984 concluded that a new relationship could be forged onl…”

Graham Fuller appointed CIA book_quoted ▶ 3:12

“The language that communicates with just the right people. Oh, you want weapons? Okay. The CIA entered the picture in May when Graham Fuller, Ames' successor, sent Bill Casey a memo that argued for a …”

William Casey headed CIA book_quoted ▶ 3:40

“Casey sent the fuller paper intended for internal circulation to the White House, but the CIA's official position contained in the May 1985 update to the Iran Special National Intelligence Estimate re…”

David Kimche ordered_assassination_of Iran-Contra book_quoted ▶ 4:10

“approached National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane two months later to ask if the U.S. might sell weapons to Iran. Huh. When McFarlane replied he thought not, the Israeli asked whether Washington w…”

Robert McFarlane recruited Ghorban Parsa book_quoted ▶ 4:41

“You can just give us the weapons back. His request led to a national security group meeting at the White House on August 8th, which appears to have been the Israeli go-ahead. Deals with Iran, many dea…”

Israel supplied_arms_to Iran book_quoted ▶ 5:14

“which we've talked about several times, especially early on. A man with a shadowy past of dealing with various security services, including Iranian, American, and Israeli. And it's weird that they lef…”

CIA supplied_arms_to Iran book_quoted ▶ 5:41

“The Israelis bungled their shipment, routing it through Portugal without appropriate clearance and appealed to the U.S. for help because they got caught. This compromised the White House. McFarland pe…”

John Poindexter succeeded Robert McFarlane book_quoted ▶ 6:06

“Deputy Director John McMahon agonized over this use of CIA services without a presidential finding. I'm sure he did. Meanwhile, McFarlane resigned in December to be replaced by Admiral John Poindexter…”

Ronald Reagan funded Iran-Contra book_quoted ▶ 6:36

“the finding to approve the CIA's November involvement retroactively, backdating. The CIA and the NSC together drafted a document that Reagan approved on January 17th, 1986. The finding contained order…”

Richard Secord carried_out_attack Iran-Contra book_quoted ▶ 7:37

“Through 1986, Secord negotiated many deals, organized shipments, and supported operations in progress. McFarlane, and do I need to remind you as a general, he's a retired military officer, which means…”

Ronald Reagan supplied_arms_to Iran book_quoted ▶ 9:07

“The Iranian arms deal, together with the events simultaneously occurring in Nicaragua, ignited a firestorm during the Reagan presidency. Three hostages were released, Reverend Benjamin Ware, Father La…”

CIA spied_on Iran book_quoted ▶ 10:08

“leaving what is reputed to be a 400-page debriefing. Langley was wounded. Meanwhile, the NSCE staffer managing the arm cells, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, had given the Iranians a sample of intell…”

CIA recruited Stephen Richter book_quoted ▶ 11:10

“basically overrunning Iran like there was ever a chance of that. There was not. Interesting that he uses the words stay behind group since we now know what that is. A number of Iranians were recruited…”

Iran covered_up Stephen Richter book_quoted ▶ 11:41

“Secret writing, an old method, rather than new technology. Tehran had indeed penetrated his scheme. Beginning in 88, Iranian authorities arrested more than 30 people, and they accused them of being ag…”

UNITA recruited Black, Manafort, Stone and Thomas book_quoted ▶ 13:20

“Because Hand is shipping illicit weapons to South Africa to forward into Angola. Simbembe certainly wanted to get the Americans back on board. He hired a high power Washington firm. And you'll never g…”

Ronald Reagan funded UNITA book_quoted ▶ 14:25

“all of these people working alongside the South Africans whose internal divisions were even sharper than in the 70s. The Reaganites could not resist. President Reagan told the National Security Group …”

CIA funded UNITA book_quoted ▶ 14:56

“ought to be covert or given openly, with Congress favoring the latter. In 86, Sabembe made a highly publicized visit to the U.S. The initial covert program provided 10 to 15 million, and United receiv…”

CIA supplied_arms_to UNITA book_quoted ▶ 15:27

“i.e. the Congo. And then it was loaded onto CIA proprietary aircraft and taken in country. Weapons shipments began in March of 86. In May, the IAS Guarantee Company, managing flights by CIA proprietor…”

CIA funded Khmer Rouge book_quoted ▶ 18:03

“This supposedly assisted only the non-communist opposition, a tiny fraction allied with the Khmer Rouge monster Pol Pot, with non-lethal aid sent through Thailand. That's a crock of shit. In fact, it …”

CIA funded Nicaraguan Contra War book_quoted ▶ 18:32

“and the people that backed Pol Pot. Initially, only small amounts were involved, starting at 5 million and rising only about half. The one count has Casey contemplating up to $12 million, not far from…”

CIA carried_out_attack Operation Pegasus book_quoted ▶ 20:05

“originally. This is that Red Rock operation where we sent special forces into Cambodia to blow up an airport to get Cambodia into the Vietnam War. And they were sent to their lack of knowledge on a su…”

CIA covered_up Operation Pegasus book_quoted ▶ 20:35

“blew up the airport, which then the ambassador and the CIA station chief blamed it on the Chinese to get Cambodia into the war, the Vietnam War at the end. And then they tried to kill all of the speci…”

William Casey ordered_assassination_of Seychelles book_quoted ▶ 22:09

“opposition, but it actually was canceled because the cover was blown. Schultz shot down Serenam, where in 1983, Casey wanted to insert a couple hundred Korean commandos to overthrow the government. An…”

CIA carried_out_attack Soviet Union book_quoted ▶ 23:10

“came when the crisis pre-planning group approved the simultaneous escalation of four covert operations, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Angola, and Cambodia. Europe would not be ignored on Casey's watch eithe…”

Grey Wolves attempted_assassination_of Pope John Paul II host_asserted ▶ 25:12

“And of course, we know that the Gray Wolves shot a stay-behind unit in Turkey, shot John Paul II. That summer, National Security Advisor William Clark called for options. Brzezinski of Polish descent …”

CIA funded Solidarity Center book_quoted ▶ 25:12

CIA funded Radio Free Europe book_quoted ▶ 26:47

“You guessed it, the Soviets. John Lenkowski, Soviet specialist on the national security staff, spearheaded this effort. He proposed $2.6 billion to revamp Radio Free Europe. See what happens when you …”

CIA recruited Nicaraguan Contra War book_quoted ▶ 30:23

“Here, the secret warriors had their chance to wage an all-out paramilitary campaign. Here, the CIA, special warfare forces, the regular military, and the instruments of American economic power were co…”

Sandinistas overthrew Anastasio Somoza book_quoted ▶ 32:26

“The secret warriors, particularly after Chile, better knew the danger of action taken on shaky policy grounds. Those in charge of Nicaraguan's government, which came to power in 1979 at the head of a …”

Jimmy Carter funded Nicaraguan Contra War book_quoted ▶ 34:24

“back into the country thinking that they're going to somehow overtake it just because they're being supplied by the CIA. Officials had talked about a mixed economy. President Carter approved a finding…”

United States funded Sandinistas documented ▶ 36:03

“but the Carter administration had not written off the Sandinistas. He was going to give $120 million in foreign aid to Managua. El Salvador was a thornier matter. To handle both the projects, in late …”

Ronald Reagan targeted_for_regime_change Nicaragua documented ▶ 37:00

“a showdown with Congress over intelligence oversight and initiatives that took covert action outside whatever quote-unquote legal framework supported it, calling into question the role of the presiden…”

William Casey appointed Dewey Claridge documented ▶ 39:28

“grumbly content to work through channels, but not with Nicaragua. In a notable breach of boundaries, Casey brought in Dwayne Claridge, a Middle East specialist to head the DO's Latin American division…”

Ronald Reagan ordered_assassination_of Sandinistas host_asserted ▶ 45:22

“My plan is simple. I take the war to Nicaragua. Start killing them. Casey loved it. Claridge left with a mandate to draft a finding to cover the operation. Much of the work fell to the Central America…”

CIA funded Contras host_asserted ▶ 46:49

“And he refused to be funded by that. They eventually kill him because he had the most ferocious fighting force because the Contras, i.e. the former National Guard, were all fat and lazy. And that's wh…”

CIA trafficked Contras host_asserted ▶ 49:24

“is the U.S. ambassador, Lawrence Prezulo, told Managua that the aid money left from the Carter administration would be conditional on Sandinista behavior. So, hey, if you want your aid money, stop sen…”

CIA covered_up Sandinistas host_asserted ▶ 51:04

“The larger enterprise revealed in these U.S. maneuvers had to do with fighting Managua. Halting arms would be a byproduct. The most crucial, by cloaking its real aims behind the goal of arms interdict…”

Dewey Claridge trained Contras documented ▶ 55:18

“Claridge estimated a month and a half to implant a CIA base and logistics network with activation in two months. The CIA, Claridge, put the cost at about the same as a single F-16 fighter jet, whateve…”

CIA trained Contras documented ▶ 56:17

“Via a national security decision directive, he signed on November 23rd, following with a presidential finding on December 1st. The plan allowed the CIA to recruit a force of 500, possibly to be supple…”

Argentina supplied_arms_to Contras documented ▶ 57:20

“like Honduras, which bordered Nicaragua to the north. They fell in line quickly, turned a blind eye to all of the CIA efforts. Costa Rica to the south would come later. After discussions and subsequen…”

Luis Palacios de Bale financed_via Legion of September 15 documented ▶ 59:35

“Another group had closer ties to Somoza. The 5th of September Legion of several hundred National Guard veterans drew its name from the 1821 date of Nicaraguan's independence from Spain. The Legion, fo…”

Dewey Claridge founded Armed Resistance Democratic Force documented ▶ 1:01:03

“The UDN, the Legion, and other small groups needed to form an alliance. This union produced the FDN. Further meetings followed in Miami, where Argentine Colonel Jose Alas, using the name Julio Velarga…”

Osvaldo Rivera headed Contras documented ▶ 1:01:33

“which is really just us, us, and us using those other two as cutouts. The 50 Contras went to Argentina for training and then became instructors at the camp in Honduras. Alas would be the chief of logi…”

Jose Alas supplied_arms_to Contras documented ▶ 1:01:33

Enrique Bermudez headed Legion of September 15 documented ▶ 1:02:05

“Enrique Bermudez, a 47-year-old colonel from the former National Guard and founder of the 15th September Legion, initially served as second-in-command of the FDN forces. A Sandinista spokesman noted a…”

Enrique Bermudez member_of Armed Resistance Democratic Force documented ▶ 1:02:05

Fidel Castro supplied_arms_to Sandinistas host_asserted ▶ 1:04:48

“All remaining assistance ended in September and the Sandinistas further infuriated the State Department by denying that they served as an avenue for arms to the El Salvador rebels. Castro soon sent 2,…”