April '98

FROM THE WILDERNESS
A monthly newsletter for those committed to the fight against CIA drug dealing
"In a ham and eggs breakfast the chicken is involved and the pig is committed." - unknown.
VOL. I, No 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ April 25, 1998

We made it to a second issue. Many thanks to those of you who have subscribed and expressed support. . We mailed sixty-eight copies of the first issue and will be mailing close to one hundred-thirty of this one. The heavy load of getting the web page up and running delayed it some. Response to that has been excellent even though we haven't, as yet, installed meta tags and the other goodies essential to securing a lot of hits. But as of this mailing FROM THE WILDERNESS is a functioning, viable newsletter. I promise you that you will get everything I have to give. The information in this newsletter will be much more detailed and in-depth than that which goes on the web. That's why your subscriptions are important.

I mailed the first issue on March 6, just ten days before the surprise hearing in the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. If you who haven't seen my coverage of the hearing on the web, I have included that story as the first item in this month's issue. It was an historic event. To be sure, there will be more hearings on CIA and drugs and it is up to us to see that these hearings are open and publicized in advance.

I got a lot of feedback regarding my reporting on Maxine Waters. I thought it imperative to report on that because I was hearing concern expressed by many at the same time that curious events were taking place. Many were questioning her commitment. I'm happy to report that Ms. Waters' performance in the hearings laid to rest almost any doubt as to her convictions. Some, like Mike Levine, retired DEA agent and best-selling author of The Big White Lie are skeptical based upon one comment she made about how CIA agents were not going to go to jail. Few people have lost more or contributed more than Mike, who wrote in an article, shortly after the hearings, that Congresswoman Waters had, "surrendered before the battle."

I'm not so sure. The fact is that we are mummified in a shroud of national security laws, which, in most cases, preclude prosecution of CIA agents. There are statutes of limitation. There is the enormous question of what such trials would do to the government's ability to function. I have called for such trials in my own written testimony and I would love to see people go to jail. I would love twenty years of back pay from LAPD. I believe we may still see justice for Jim Sabow, Bill Tyree, Kiki Camarena, Dee Ferdinand and all of those ravaged by this atrocity. But I also believe the greatest good is served if we can just break the story, if we can compel Congress to act responsibly. I will watch Maxine Waters' leadership as it unfolds. We are closer to a major break than we have ever been. And we are not without weapons. Give Maxine the support she needs now. Mike Ruppert

In this Issue: Surprise House Hearing Backfires on CIA * Military Role in Drug dealing to be Discussed on Upcoming A&E Special * Chip Tatum Disappears * Ollie Loses Radio Show * Joe Maddison Promotes * Mike Levine Gates Radio Show * The Sabow Case is Alive and Going to Trial * Congressman Porter Goss is a Spook * Looking Ahead to Volume II

Surprise hearings in House Intelligence Committee
Backfire on CIA
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Maxine Waters not alone in criticizing Agency
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More hearings certain.

In a move which caught many by surprise, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence held a surprise hearing on Monday March 16, to officially receive and review Volume One of the long awaited report by CIA Inspector General Frederick P. Hitz investigating allegations of CIA involvement in drug trafficking. Volume One of the report, which examines allegations of CIA drug ties during the Contra era, focuses specifically on Southern California connections while the uncompleted Volume Two will look at the broader involvement of CIA during the

eighties. The announcement of the hearing was so sudden that key House members who have been leaders on the issue, such as Maxine Waters, were not present in the Committee chamber as the hearing began. The suddenness of the rare public hearing, however, did not prevent Waters, (D) California, and Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, from arriving with a sling full of arrows which she promptly shot through the heart of the C.I.A. report.

Committee Chairman, Porter Goss, (R), FL, himself retired from C.I.A., announced that the hearing was prompted in part by the imminent retirement of Hitz who is scheduled to teach at Princeton. Hitz was charged in 1996 by then CIA Director John Deutch with thoroughly investigating charges that CIA had been involved in cocaine trafficking to support Contra rebels in the 1980s. As the hearing unfolded it became apparent that what started out to be a fete for the departing Hitz was going to be a major embarrassment for the Agency. The suddenness of the hearing precluded coverage by any electronic media organizations other than C-SPAN, which covered the hearing from gavel to gavel.

In remark after remark from Democratic members of the Committee, opinions ranging from mild skepticism to outright disbelief of the hundred plus page Volume One were expressed. Julian Dixon (D) California, while stating that, "no matter how thorough any investigation may be, there will be skeptics who will challenge any conclusions which are reached" added, "This is only one step in our investigation".

Other members such as Nancy Pelosi, (D), Ca, whose bay area district has demonstrated long and deep felt concern over the issue and Norman Dicks (D), WA. who is the ranking member of the Committee, were far more open in their skepticism. The bay area of California was the focal point of one 1983 aspect of the investigation known as the Frogman case, which turned up direct links to C.I.A. after a massive cocaine seizure. Dicks represents an area north of Seattle which has felt a dramatic and painful incursion of L.A. based street gangs in recent years. All members of the Committee who spoke, including California gubernatorial candidate Jane Harman, (D) Torrance; Ike Skelton, (D) Mo.; David Skaggs (D), Co.; and Jim Gibbons (R), Nev., were clear in their statements that Congressional examination of C.I.A. involvement in drug dealing was far from over.

After opening remarks from Committee members present, almost all of whom were democrats, Goss took testimony from the two L.A. area Congresswomen, not Committee members, who had been outspoken on the issue.

California Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald, (D) Ca, who had sponsored two town hall meetings on the subject from her Compton area district, delivered a mildly rebuking statement about the C.I.A.'s effort by raising questions as to the Agency's ability to investigate itself and questioning the timing of the hearings. "C.I.A. turned a blind eye at best to drug connections," she said. "I look forward to subsequent hearings."

Having arrived with an aide, several large stacks of documents, photographs, charts and former San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Webb in tow Maxine Waters testified next and turned a ten minute allotment from the Chairman into a thirty plus minute evisceration of the C.I.A. report. "I am here to talk about the failure of the C.I.A. to conduct a serious and thorough investigation into allegations of C.I.A. drug trafficking," she said in her opening sentence.

"The Inspector General's report lacks credibility. It is fraught," she continued, "with contradictions and illogical conclusions. The report's sweeping denial of the CIA's knowledge of drug trafficking… defies the evidence and the logic that the CIA should have known." Waters continued on a point by point basis to refute Hitz's own conclusions in the report and his methodology by using both evidence which CIA had included in the report and which she had produced during her own investigations. She criticized the Agency for not interviewing key witnesses and for not disclosing the names of the people they had interviewed. She listed meetings and relationships, which the Agency had previously documented, to show concrete relationships between CIA assets and drug traffickers. In a particularly angry portion of her statement she referred to the 1986-7 Senate hearings Chaired by John Kerry and the eleven hundred page report which clearly documented CIA's ties to drug traffickers.

"How can this report include these incriminating findings by elected officials including Senators Kerry, Brock and Moynihan while simultaneously dismissing any CIA knowledge or involvement in Contra drug trafficking in the U.S.," she said to an attentive panel. " This is a damning contradiction."

Goss interrupted Waters once as she was fifteen minutes over her allotted time and asked her to conclude her remarks. He acquiesced as Waters continued for another five minutes stating that it was simply not possible for her to present all the evidence in ten minutes. Waters concluded her remarks by stating that as a public servant, neither she nor the Committee could rest until the American people were given what they deserved, a fair but honest investigation of this long festering and improperly addressed scandal.

Several surprises followed. In one of the strongest statements made, Norman Dicks promised that as ranking member of the Committee he would see that credible hearings would take place. He then dropped a bomb by pointing out that Oliver North had never been questioned about drugs in the previous Iran-Contra investigations. After having that fact conformed by Hitz he added, "Well we won't be doing our job unless we hear from him, will we?"

Hitz, in a stunning revelation, which occurred during his testimony, foreshadowed the contents of Volume Two of his report, by disclosing the existence of a secret agreement between CIA and then Reagan Attorney General William French-Smith. The agreement stated that the Agency was absolved from reporting drug-related activities of its assets or agents during the Contra years to the Justice Department.

Porter Goss, who holds the power to determine the course of future hearings announced that there would be a continuing investigation and that the matter was not concluded with this hearing. He acknowledged a great many unresolved questions and contradictory facts. He did not state whether future hearings would be open or closed and he did not give a date certain for those hearings. Volume Two of the Inspector General's report is due sometime in May

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MILITARY ROLE IN DRUG DEALING TO BE DISCUSSED IN UPCOMING A&E PROGRAM SPECIAL FORCES VET BILL TYREE MAKING LEGAL MOVES TO UPSET 1979 MURDER CONVICTION BASED ON CIA OPS

For nineteen years Bill Tyree, a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran and political prisoner, has sat in Massachusetts' Walpole prison, wrongly convicted of the murder of his own wife. To many in the struggle to expose CIA involvement in drug trafficking he has become an icon of injustice and his freedom a personal goal.

His story is the subject of an upcoming segment of Investigative Reports with Bill Curtis, scheduled to air on A&E on June 13, 1998 at 9 P.M. Eastern.

In a another recent surprise Senator Ted Kennedy has written to federal officials asking for a review of Tyree's case on grounds that his rights were violated in his trial nineteen years ago.

In the mid-1970s Bill Tyree and other U.S. Army Special Forces troops under the command of Colonels Ed Cutolo, Bo Baker and others, were ordered to enter Colombia and plant radio transponders so that CIA flights, laden with cocaine, could fly below radar into Allbrook field in Panama where they were met by the likes of Manuel Noriega and Ed Wilson.

These operations, known as the "Watchtower missions, evolved over time into a more Draconian program known as Operation Orwell which was conducted, in part, from Fort Devens Mass. Devens was the home of the 10^th Special Forces Group, commanded by Cutolo. The purpose of Orwell was to conduct massive domestic surveillance on political figures and police to keep knowledge of the drug operations secret.

These activities have been described in an affidavit, known as the Cutolo affidavit, which has been widely circulated among opponents of CIA drug trafficking. Although not written by Cutolo, the affidavit has withstood numerous vettings and is now supported by hundreds of pages of additional affidavits, court documents and written statements. FROM THE WILDERNESS is in possession of those documents and is making preparations to make them available to readers. One of those documents is an admission from CIA that the Watchtower missions occurred and that CIA has Watchtower documents that they are refusing to release.

After becoming disheartened in 1978 Bill Tyree became a security risk. His wife Elaine, who was keeping a diary, was murdered. Bill Tyree was framed for that murder even though there were witnesses who saw the real killers emerge from his bedroom and there were other witnesses who gave Tyree a perfect alibi.

Tyree's arrest was initially thrown out by a local judge but a young Assistant District Attorney, John Kerry, picked up the case and re-filed it. In an unusual move the Massachusetts State Supreme Judicial Court took the case and would let no other court hear it. Tyree was convicted shortly thereafter.

At the time of his arrest a number of personal items with evidentiary value such as notebooks, uniforms and other personal effects were taken and they have not surfaced since. They are still in the custody of Massachusetts authorities. They would help Tyree establish his innocence. In spite of numerous requests and a legal responsibility to do so, the courts and prosecutors have never given Tyree back his belongings.

On April 29^th Tyree will have a court hearing asking for the presence of Kerry, now the junior Senator from Massachusetts and the current District Attorney to answer to charges of receiving stolen property. Kerry, as many of you know, chaired the oft-quoted Senate Hearings in 1986-7, which documented much of CIA's role in the Iran-Contra era drug trade. His role in Tyree's case remains a mystery to many of us.

Tyree's attorney, Ray Coleman, a law partner of William Pepper who is representing the late James Earl Ray, is optimistic that one day Tyree will walk out a free man. I agree, if Bill can remain intact long enough.

Recent optimism has been dampened by several recent food poisonings of Tyree which have been followed by punishments for his inability to report to work. There are also rumors that Tyree may soon be transferred to another prison where one of the soldiers involved in killing his wife is serving time on another conviction.

You can write to Bill Tyree at P.O. Box 100, South Walpole, MA, 02071. Let's hope that the prison authorities get the message that we're watching. Hang tough Bill - Forever Brothers.

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CHIP TATUM DISAPPEARS

G. "Chip" Tatum, former heavyweight CIA operative from the Contra era, publisher of popular web pages and the widely circulated Tatum Chronicles has vanished. As I reported in the first issue of this newsletter, Chip had recently told me that he had previously been offered a deal by Langley to go away. Part of that deal, according to Chip, included the public fall of Oliver North, for whom Tatum bears no strong love. Part of Tatum's dislike of Ollie stems from North's alleged direct involvement in ordering wet operations against American citizens.

As of the last time I talked to Chip in early March, he told me that he had gotten his deal and the Ollie was going down. If that's the case then his departure may be a part of the quid pro quo Chip said he had secured to go quietly. Among other things Chip had put out on the web was a scanned image of a letter written to him by George Bush. That and other documentation threatened serious harm to the Shadow Government if the material penetrated the collective consciousness of the general public.

Chip's documents, official reports and flight plans went far to corroborate the Mena connection and described Tatum's direct contacts with then Governor Bill Clinton and Barry Seal in the era. Those documents have been widely circulated in the African-American community since the Gary Webb stories appeared.

But other developments have raised questions. Specifically, Chip had recently done a series of talk shows with Palm Beach talk show host Jim Alsis, which resulted in decidedly overt attempts to intimidate Alsis off the air. They worked. Almost immediately thereafter, Tatum's Internet Service Provider company and his web pages disappeared. His phones were cut off. My good friend Bob Fletcher, a true veteran in the fight against CIA and drugs, reported to me that he had heard that Chip had gone to ground.

I've known Chip for about two years and I can say that he has never given me a piece of bad information. He has a wry sense of humor and he is a true hard core operative with great survival skills. If I hear anything I'll let you know… His last words to me were, "Hammer now like you have never hammered before."

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OLIVER NORTH LOOSES RADIO SHOW JOE MADDISON PROMOTES TO PROGRAM DIRECTOR AT WOL/WOLB

According to Joe Maddison, who will become Program Director and an on-air broadcaster at two of the largest stations in the Baltimore/Washington area, Oliver North, as of last month, no longer has his Washington area talk show. Joe says that Ollie, suffering from low ratings (and perhaps a few other problems) left WCR in Washington for a slot at a smaller and more specialized audience on a fundamentalist Christian network with a much smaller audience. Joe continues to do well and remains an outspoken leader on the CIA and drugs issue.

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MIKE LEVINE GETS RADIO SHOW

Retired DEA Agent and best selling author of THE BIG WHITE LIE and DEEP COVER is the host of a new radio talk show in New York. EXPERT WITNESS airs every Tuesday night from 7-8 P.M. on WBAI, 99.5 FM. Mike recently featured a show with my good friend, and true hero in this fight, Celerino Castillo, also retired from DEA. According to Mike the show is growing exponentially and we expect to hear a lot more. Who couldn't like a Jew who looks like an Italian-Puerto Rican and who could charm the socks off a rattlesnake while running some of the biggest undercover ops in DEA history - especially in New York? If you don't know Mike, check out his show. He's been speaking and writing about CIA drug involvement for a long time. He caught the Agency using Nazi Klaus Barbie to put a cocaine dictatorship in power in Bolivia back in 1980

And they say there's no God.

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THE SABOW CASE

In January, 1991 Marine Colonel Jim Sabow, Chief of Air operations at El Toro Marine Air station was found dead in his back yard. The archetypal perfect Marine, devout Catholic, family man and war hero was alleged by the Naval Investigative Service to have committed suicide over pending disciplinary action regarding his use of Marine aircraft to transport small pieces of furniture and golf clubs.

The truth is that Jim Sabow was murdered because he had discovered that CIA and elements of the military had been flying loads of cocaine as large as 2,500 kilos onto bases he controlled which included Marine Corps Air station Yuma and the Yuma Proving Grounds. So compelling was the evidence of murder that Connie Chung, in the premier episode of her 1993 show EYE TO EYE ran the opening segment on Jim's case. In that segment, dramatic forensic evidence showed that Jim Sabow had been knocked unconscious before a shotgun was rammed down his throat. Also in that segment, in one of the most dramatic moments I have ever seen, veteran CIA pilot Tosh Plumley admitted on the air that he had flown cocaine onto military bases for the Agency in C-130s for many years.

Of course, no one from the major media played it further and Connie Chung is, well… history.

But thanks to the dogged efforts of Jim's brother David, a retired South Dakota physician, a veteran investigator, Gene Wheaton, retired from Army CID and attorney Daniel Sheehan the case is still very much alive and may soon produce some dramatic results in Federal Court.

Last year, Dave Sabow won a dramatic procedural victory against the Marine Corps in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which kept alive his major lawsuit against the Corps for misconduct and other illegal activities surrounding his brother's death. Among those activities were attempts by the Corps to destroy Sabow's reputation and get him barred from practicing medicine in what were obvious and utterly meritless moves to silence him.

Two weeks ago, depositions in preparation for an August trial date were taken in San Diego and in those depositions Marine and Navy lawyers allowed Sabow to testify on-the-record for the first time as to details of his brother's murder.

When I last talked to Dave he was extremely optimistic and he believes we'll see some real fireworks when the case goes to trial. In the future I will be publishing more detailed reports about the case as they become available.

Sheehan, Sabow's attorney is the same Dan Sheehan who founded the Christic Institute, which broke a great deal of painful ground for us in this struggle. He has kept a decidedly low profile since taking on this case.

Gene Wheaton is a true Sherlock Holmes who can rightfully take credit for breaking the stories on CIA, drugs and Mena Arkansas. He would be a great witness before the House and has a great deal of personal knowledge and experience with Casey and Company's activities during the Contra years.

Go get em!

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KNOW YOUR CHAIRMAN

J. Porter Goss, chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is the man who will decide the when, where and how of the next round of hearings on CIA and drugs. J Porter Goss is also retired from CIA. His bio says that he worked in clandestine operations from the early sixties to the seventies in Florida. Gee, that means he worked with Ted Shackley, Ed Landsdale, Tom Clines, George Bush, Felix Rodriguez and all of the prime movers who have orchestrated CIA drug dealing for decades, not only during Contra but much earlier in Pakistan, Laos and the middle east.

In spite of that the March 16^th surprise hearing, which so resoundingly backfired, makes me believe that Goss, as long as there's a camera and a few aware people present, will have to maintain a semblance of integrity. (I have to agree with Mike Levine that it did look he was snickering a little when Maxine Waters was testifying).

Can you say, "Conflict of Interest?'

OK, I've been a true skeptic about Congress and with good reason. I have been promised four times that I would testify. But I truly believe that making the phone ring and sending a letter would truly be money well spent now. Let HPSCI know that we are aware of what happened on March 16t^hand we're still watching. Porter Goss, Chairman House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence H-405, U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C.20515 (202) 225-7690

The ranking member is: Norman Dicks 2467 Rayburn Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515 (202) 225-5916

Dicks is a Democrat and made some of the strongest statements against the CIA whitewash during the hearing.

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LOOKING AHEAD

We have just about two weeks until Volume Two of the CIA report is received by HPSCI. It will almost certainly be classified and we won't hear anything officially until committee members have had a chance to review it and decide (frantically) how to handle it. Celerino Castillo, my good friend and former DEA chief for three countries in Central America, and I sit with our track shoes on, praying for the chance to testify in open hearings. I am working with Cele now to get a written statement from him to Maxine Waters posted on my web site. That will be my first job after completing and mailing this newsletter. It is certain to tease the tiger.

Meantime, other great projects continue. Martha Honey at the Institute for Policy Studies continues with her work to begin international tribunals. I hope to have input from her for the next issue. Martha was one of several victims of the La Penca bombing in Costa Rica which gave rise to the Cristic Institute and broke much of the ground on this story in the eighties.

I also hope to be able to report on new activities of the Crack the CIA Coalition, Joe Maddison, and the Sabow

Case, Bill Tyree and my dear friend Dee Ferdinand in New Mexico. Dee is the daughter of a high ranking CIA official (Albert Carone) who served as a money launderer and was A principal liaison between the Agency and the Mafia for money laundering. It was in his personal phone book that I found the home addresses and telephone numbers of William Casey and Pauly Castellano. (Carone was murdered in 1991).

My CIA sources tell me that things remain pretty much unchanged. That is, there are indications that CIA is prepared to offer up sacrifices if public pressure stays high. Rumint (Rumor Intelligence) has it that the departing Fred Hitz will allow the guillotine to cut a hair on his neck, but not much else. If the pressure stays high enough then he may give up even more damning information so as not to jeopardize his future.

There are two pressure points that need attention. First is Congress. We must demand of HPSCI, that future hearings be open and given with advance warning. The second is the media. Get on their cases and remind them of the March 16 hearing and demand that they

cover the next round. With daily calls to HPSCI asking when hearings are scheduled we may have time to issue press releases and prod the bovine major media into paying attention.

There has been some talk of infiltration by disinformationists and even of people who have put years into this struggle changing sides. It's a red herring. The time is approaching when it will be clearly revealed who's who and what's what. I cannot imagine any of the people who have been out front in this struggle putting personalities or personal agendas ahead of principle and the common good. Let us not waste time on any of that. There is too much positive work to do.

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