Article by Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet and Alexander Light, HumansAreFree.com

I. Top Mexican Drug Lord: ‘I Trafficked Cocaine For the U.S. Government’

The “logistical coordinator” for a top Mexican drug-trafficking gang that was responsible for purchasing the CIA torture jet that crashed with four tons on cocaine on board back in 2007 has told the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago that he has been working as a U.S. government asset for years.

Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla is the son of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, one of the top kingpins of the Sinaloa drug-trafficking organization.

Niebla was arrested in Mexico in March 2009 and extradited to the United States to stand trial last February.

“The indictment pending against Zambada Niebla claims he served as the “logistical coordinator” for the “cartel,” helping to oversee an operation that imported into the U.S. “multi-ton quantities of cocaine… using various means, including but not limited to, Boeing 747 cargo aircraft, private aircraft… buses, rail cars, tractor trailers, and automobiles,” writes Narcosphere’s Bill Conroy.

In a two page court pleading filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, Niebla claims that he was working on behalf and with the authority of, “The U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”); and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”); and the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”),” since January 1, 2004.

Niebla is also connected to the Gulfstream II jet that wrecked with four tons of cocaine on board on September 24, 2007. European investigators linked the plane’s tail number, N987SA, to past CIA “rendition” operations.

The bill of sale for the Gulfstream jet, sold weeks before it crashed, listed the name of Greg Smith, a pilot who had previously worked for the FBI, DEA and CIA.

The plane was purchased by Niebla’s Sinaloa drug-trafficking organization through a syndicate of Colombian drug-traffickers that included a CIA asset named Nelson Urrego, according to another undercover CIA operative, Baruch Vega, who was involved in the deal.

“The Gulfstream II jet, according to Mexican authorities, was among a number of aircraft acquired by the Sinaloa drug organization via an elaborate money laundering scheme involving a chain of Mexican casa de cambios (currency exchange houses) overseen by alleged Sinaloa organization operative Pedro Alfonso Alatorre Damy, according to Mexican government and U.S. media reports,” writes Conroy.

Sinaloa bought the jet by wiring money through the U.S. banking giant Wachovia, now a subsidiary of Wells Fargo.

“In total, nearly $13 million dollars went through correspondent bank accounts at Wachovia for the purchase of aircraft to be used in the illegal narcotics trade.From these aircraft, more than 20,000 kilograms of cocaine were seized,” states Wachovia’s deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Wachovia was forced to pay a penalty of around $160 million dollars for allowing the money to be laundered through its correspondent bank accounts.

“So, the criminal cases pending against alleged Colombian narco-trafficker Urrego, accused money-launderer Damy and Sinaloa organization logistics chief Zambada Niebla all appear to connect through the Gulfstream II cocaine jet at some level,” summarizes Conroy.

Another private aircraft that was full of cocaine crashed in New Mexico on Sunday morning, but the plane has yet to be identified.

In addition to smuggling narcotics into the United States, Niebla is also accused of obtaining weapons from the U.S. with the intent to use them to cause violence in Mexico City, leading to the murders of several innocent people.

Despite the fact that the Obama administration has cited the flow of guns from the U.S. into Mexico as an excuse with which to attack the second amendment rights of Americans, it was recently revealed that the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives deliberately allowed guns to be smuggled from the U.S. into the hands of Mexican drug lords under “Operation Fast and Furious”.

President Obama later denied that he had any knowledge of the program.

Niebla’s assertion that he smuggled drugs from Mexico into the United States while working for the U.S. government adds further weight to the already voluminous body of evidence that confirms the CIA and U.S. banking giants are the top players in a global drug trade worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year, information made public by the likes of Gary Webb, who it was claimed committed suicide in 2004 despite the fact that he was found with two gunshot wounds to the head and after Webb himself had complained of death threats and “government people” stalking his home.

For more background information on the story, be sure to read Bill Conroy’s excellent article over at Narco News entitled Mexican Narco-Trafficker’s Revelation Exposes Drug War’s Duplicity.

Overwhelming Evidence That the CIA is Smuggling Drugs for Decades

by Alexander Light, HumansAreFree.com

II. Head of DEA: “CIA are drug smugglers”!

The head of the DEA at the time, Judge Robert Bonner accused the CIA of being drug smugglers .

Reporter:

“A ton of cocaine was smuggled into the United States of America by the Venezuelan National Guard, in cooperation with the CIA?”

Judge Robert Bonner, Head of DEA:

“That’s exactely what appears to have happened.”

The estimated worth of a ton of pure cocaine was at the time, hundreds of millions of dollars.

III. Undercover DEA agent Michael Levine

Undercover DEA agent Michael Levine (author of NY Times non-fiction bestseller “The Deep Cover Operation That Exposed the CIA Sabotage of the Drug War“) had been co-opted by the CIA in South-East Asia. Levine testified that for more than 30 years, the Federal Government had protected some drug dealers.

During the Nixon administration, Levine was about to bust a major source of heroin:

“I was stoped (…) because that source were our allies in the Vietnam war,” said DEA agent Michael Levine.

Levine also stated that this was not an isolated incident, and that it happened many times in his 25 year career.

IV. A secret pact between the Dept. of Justice and the CIA

The CIA was released from the requirement to report suspected drug trafficking by CIA agents and operatives.

In March, 1998, the CIA Inspector General testified that there had existed a secret agreement between CIA and the Justice Department, wherein “during the years 1982 to 1995, CIA did not have to report the drug trafficking by its assets to the Justice Department.” [Reference]

As Michael Levine commented,

“..[to] a trained DEA agent this literally means that the CIA had been granted a license to obstruct justice in our so-called war on drugs; a license that lasted, so the CIA claims, from 1982 to 1995.”

Firstly, the actual request from Central Intelligence Agency Director William Casey to then-Attorney General William French Smith still isn’t in the public domain. But two letters, one from Smith thanking Casey for his request, and a follow-up by Casey, are both available, here and here.

They were released as part of a internal CIA report that explored allegations of CIA involvement in drug trafficking. In the first document, Smith thanks Casey for his letter (the one that isn’t public) and says:

“…in view of the fine cooperation the Drug Enforcement Administration has received from CIA, no formal requirement regarding the reporting of narcotics violations has been included in these procedures.” –William French Smith, Attorney General. [See the full document]

Casey in return thanks the Attorney General for his understanding:

“I am pleased that these procedures, which I believe strike the proper balance between enforcement of the law and protection of intelligence sources and methods, will now be forwarded to other agencies…” –William J. Casey, Director, Central Intelligence Agency [See the full document]

The two men then codified their agreement in a Memorandum of Understanding. According to the agreement, intelligence agencies would not have to report if any of their agents were involved in drug running.

(By agents, the agreement meant CIA sources and informants. Full-time employees still couldn’t deal drugs.)

That understanding remained in effect until August of 1995, when current Attorney General Janet Reno rescinded the agreement.

It’s reasonable that the CIA be allowed to keep its mouth shut if it knows that some of its agents are involved in minor illegal affairs. Presumably some of the value of informants comes from the fact that they keep company with shady characters who engage in unlawful activities.

But why would the CIA ask to be exempt specifically from drug enforcement laws? According to Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who is calling for full disclosure of the facts:

“The CIA knew that the Contras were dealing drugs. They made this deal with the Attorney General to protect themselves from having to report it.”

V. Afghan drugs bring $50 billion/year

Another huge red flag is the production of drugs in Afghanistan, under the surveillance of US and British troops. Under the guise of protecting the Afghan values (i.e. poppy fields), US and British soldiers are being deployed to defend with their lives huge drug fields.

The Afghan drug trafficking is estimated to bring a whooping $50 billion/year, but the big question is “who reaps these huge profits?”

In an interview for RT News, Gen. Mahmut Gareev, a former commander during the USSR’s operations in Afghanistan, stated that the US is not going to stop the production of drugs in Afghanistan, because it covers the costs of their invasion.

“90 per cent of drugs from Afghanistan go to former Soviet republics. 80 per cent of the world’s drugs are produced in Afghanistan. They’ve outdone the South American countries, such as Columbia. (…) “I don’t make anything up. Americans themselves admit that drugs are often transported out of Afghanistan on American planes. Drug trafficking in Afghanistan brings them about 50 billion dollars a year – which fully covers the expenses tied to keeping their troops there. (…) They don’t have any planned military action to eliminate the Mujahideen,” Gen. Mahmut Gareev said during the interview.

This being the case, it’s no wonder that the production of opium in Afghanistan has been on the rise since the U.S. occupation started in 2001

VI. The Reporter Who Broke the Story of CIA Involvement in Drug Smuggling Found Dead

Here is the tragic story of Gary Webb, the Pulitzer prize-winning reporter who in 1996 broke the story of the CIA’s involvement in the importation of cocaine into the U.S.

He was found dead December 10, 2004, reportedly from “self-inflicted”to the head. THIS is the story that got him killed. The movie Kill the Messenger was based on Gary Webb’s life story.

VII. The CIA: Drug Trafficking (Short Documentary)

VIII. The Phony Drug War: How the US Government Deals Drugs (Short Documentary)