Giacalone, I don't know about the Tupac and Biggie murders, but why are you so 100% sure that the government and the CIA would never traffic drugs? It's not like they were all saints or idealists, especially during the Cold War period. The governments are often dirty and "in bed" with criminal organizations when they have something to gain (not just the USA of course, I mean other countries as well). That's just human society, utopias don't exist unfortunately.
I never said there haven't been agents or people who've been contracted by the CIA who trafficked drugs or were engaged in other illegal activities. Every organization has had corrupt employees or done business with corrupt people, but to suggest that the CIA AS AN INSTITUTION was supervising a drug trafficking operation is baseless. I would love to see the evidence for that, but so far I haven't seen anything. The only thing I've seen are rouge contractors. That doesn't mean the CIA was supervising a drug operation. That is a stretch.
Im not stirring up shit @G but wasnt there one CIA plane that crashed with tons of drugs? I think it occurred 10 or 20 years ago, or maybe way before...I dont remember the dates or whole story, but I remember it was a bad situation for the agency since the news reached almost every country around the world...
If during the 50s and 60s the CIA oversaw the assassination attempts on Castro and other leaders, or the destruction of foreign regimes, followed by arms smuggling and food supply, I really dont see why they wouldnt oversee some particular and quite lucrative narcotics operation..
I get that most organizations that have carried out assassinations or smuggled weapons to allies would not be above dealing in drugs. The problem with the CIA is that they have direct access to the fed. They don't need to sell anything when they can print money. Not to mention, the NIP budget is close to $100 billion every single year. Has the CIA ever sold anything? I have never heard that. Saying they sold drugs is obviously going to sell some newspapers, but did they actively supervise drug operations? I would love to see the evidence for that.
That being said, I am sure that there were people within the CIA who were fully aware of what Barry Seal and some of the Contras were doing. I will tell you a very interesting fact. The U.S. State Department approved funds for humanitarian aid to the Contras
after they had been indicted on drug charges by federal law enforcement agencies. Additionally, in other instances, funds were authorized while the Contras were still under active investigation by the same agencies. So they had to have known! And this alone constitutes a major scandal. However, it is essential to clarify that their knowledge of the actions of these rogue contractors does not necessarily imply active participation in supervising drug trafficking. Again, I would love to see the evidence for that.
I don't look at the CIA as some organization that always does the right thing. As we both know, they already have a questionable history. They are however a unique organization. They don't need to rely on capitalism in order to function. Yes, rouge employees will always exist. We are aware of what happened with Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa of the NYPD. Could that happen with the CIA? It's possible, but I'd like to think the vetting process is taken a little more seriously over there.
