Masses of 'ex-CIA Agents' everywhere

[Deano!]

The CIA must have a staff turn-over of about 1000 a week because conspiracy theory doco makers seem to have no trouble finding ex CIA agents to spill the beans about everything that ever happened.

I wonder how easy it would be to fool a journalist if you did a bit of research and cooked up some fake documentation ? And I wonder how many jounalists get some geezer they meet in a pub to be in their new doco as an ex-CIA agent ?

When I resigned from the CIA ( after framing Nixon ) I was reminded that I'd signed a very stiff confidentiality agreement and that if I blabbed I'd be slapped.

[Cenobitez]

Slapped with a hail of 9mm balls ?

[andy at handiwork]

I worked on a documentary years ago about the Lockerbie bombing, and met a whole raft of 'ex-' spooks, usually in strange dark locations around the world in clandestine circumstances. If half of what I learnt was true, and I know one should always be a little sceptical, I wonder sometimes who the good guys were. One of them who worked for some agency claimed to have been importing amphetamines into the US to finance illegal secret ops in Central America. He did a year in a 'Club Fed' prison in return for not spilling all the beans. Another claimed to have travelled the world on false passports removing evidence that senior US officials had ever visited to set up dodgy deals with the likes of Saddam Hussein, Iran, Middle East, oil-owning despots, etc. This usually meant Bush pere, Alexander Haig, and other 'where are they now?' figures.

[strictlybroadband]

The CIA is massive - by far the world's largest terrorist organisation.

[strictlybroadband]

andy at handiwork wrote:

> I worked on a documentary years ago about the Lockerbie
> bombing, and met a whole raft of 'ex-' spooks, usually in
> strange dark locations around the world in clandestine
> circumstances. If half of what I learnt was true, and I know
> one should always be a little sceptical, I wonder sometimes who
> the good guys were. One of them who worked for some agency
> claimed to have been importing amphetamines into the US to
> finance illegal secret ops in Central America.

CIA drug smuggling/dealing is well documented. The main reason drugs are illegal in the US appears to be to provide them with slush funds - i.e. the so-called "war on drugs" generates massive funds for the CIA.

People have also noticed that the US has such a massive embassy in London, with several thousand staff - a large CIA presence there. Al Qaida is effectively a rogue offshoot of the CIA, and it's debatable at what point bin Laden broke forces with them...

[Pervert]

One of the Kennedy assassination theories involved the CIA offing him because he was going to shut the agency down. Certainly, the black ops in the early 1960s brought him a lot of embarrassment.

As for Lockerbie, I recall Private Eye reporting that a local doctor had taken it upon himself to tag body finds in order to help the authorities, but couldn't gain access to many areas due to the large amount of men in black who got to the scene very quickly. One day the truth about that atrocity will emerge, and Libya's fingerprints will be nowhere on it.

The most plausible theory is that it was carried out by Palestinians backed by Syria, bankrolled by Iran. And the CIA was hoodwinked.

[andy at handiwork]

Caractacus wrote: The most plausible theory is that it was carried out by Palestinians backed by Syria, bankrolled by Iran. And the CIA was hoodwinked.


That was indeed the premise of the film I worked on. Iran wanted pay back for the shooting down of their Airbus with 250+ people on board by the USS Vincennes. It has even been suggested that a quid pro quo was established between the US and Iran. The latter wanted to destroy 5 US planes. The US asked them to settle for just the one. The bomb was taken on board by a Palestinian young man, whose uncle we met, under the impression he was smuggling heroin. The drug run was a regular sting op run by the DEA, which would explain the lack of proper baggage surveillance on the way. Unfortunately it had been penetrated by the Palestinians. CIA officials on the flight were on their way to Washington to spill the beans about what they considered an illegal operation by the DEA. It is highly unlikely Libya was involved in this outrage, though they were of course responsible for the Air France (?) explosion over Chad, I think it was.
Conspiracy theorists, which I am not, may like to know that the director of this film and others documenting nefarious deeds by the CIA et al, died of a heart attack at a relatively healthy 50 or so, shortly after the Lockerbie film.

[Pervert]

I remember seeing the film, and it was nicely put together and argued. A shame the same couldn't be said of the Scottish prosecution case of the Libyans.

Might be worth researching the name Shirley McKee, Andy. She was a detective who lost her job after her fingerprint was found at a murder scene. The Scottish Executive settled with her out of court for ?750,000 earlier this year. There was a fear that if the forensic fingerprinting evidence was discredited that it would destroy the whole case against al-Megrahi for the Lockerbie bombing.

[andy at handiwork]

I read about this case recently. It would appear to cast suspicion over '100% reliable' forensic evidence. Indeed defence lawyers in the US are facing what they call the CSI effect. Juries are increasingly taking forensic evidence at face value without any question, despite doubts about reliabilty of the science or the people who work in the dept. Dont forget that 'one in a million' means around 50 people in UK could be fitted up for something.

Glad you liked the film. It was one of the most interesting I've worked on. We went to Liya without visas (not recommended) and spent several weeks trying to interview Gadhafi, staying in a couple of hotels whose guests seemed to be representatives from various 'liberation' movements from around the world making applications for funds to further their struggle. Now that its calmed down a bit, I can honestly say a trip there is well worth the effort.

[Arginald Valleywater]

CIA, Crooks In Action? Cretins In America............without doubt the most inept organisation on Earth. They have caused the deaths of more innocent people than Stalin, Hitler, Saddam and Pol Pot combined.

Standard practice is overpower government (usually one that is democratically elected!), install a corrupt butcher, back him for a while, disown him, call for free elections, repeat for 60 years, hey presto, Africa!