Cocaine Jet That Crashed in Mexico Part of Cowboy Government Operation, DEA Sources Claim

Bill,
I enjoy reading your work. What can we do to make sure that the issues you are raising will be brought up in the controversy surrounding the CIA erasing interrogation tapes of al-Qaeda suspects?

The New York Times reported (1) that the man being fingered for erasing the tapes, Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., spent three decades undercover for the CIA, including leading the Latin American Bureau for some portion of the 1990s. In 1997, he was mentioned in a CIA Inspector General report for intervening to get a friend's drug charges dropped.* That didn't stop him from being promoted to chief of staff of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center after 9/11, then head of the CIA's Directorate of Operations in 2004.

His wikipedia biography (2)--which unfortunately, isn't sourced--says that he was military attache to the U.S. Embassy in Argentina (1994-96), CIA station chief in Bogota, Colombia (1996-98) during which he tried to get someone out of a drug arrest, and station chief in Mexico City, Mexico (1999) where he was responsible for approximately 500 CIA assets.

The 1997 incident was also mentioned by Jason Vest in this article for The Nation. (3)

I think it's great that your reporting on the House of Death was picked up by the Washington Times, and I would be glad to forward you an extra large list of media contacts if you (or someone who supports your work) is working to feed this story to the mainstream press.

I recently told a friend that there needs to be a Gary Webb covering and working all these cases right now. With all the stuff going on right now about the CIA, what do you think offers the best opportunity to drag it before the people and make sure something actually happens this time: the Congressional hearings, the district court hearing scheduled for Friday, popular encuentros to gather testimony? How do we move from where we are right now to something like the head of the CIA having to show his face in South Central like Deutsch did decades ago, and what should be learned from that experience?

I would be glad to exchange with you more about this via email; hit me up at aaron@prisonactivist.org

*I tried to find this report, couldn't; any tips for obtaining copies of CIA Inspector General reports?

(1)  "Uneasy Spotlight for Ex-Official of CIA", Mark Mazzetti, 12/10 New York Times

(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Rodriguez_(intelligence)

(3)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20041213/vest

The Washington Post reported today that the House Intelligence Committee is calling the CIA's top lawyer John A. Rizzo and Rodriguez in for its hearing on January 16, 2008, and the New York Times reported that CIA has agreed to allow Rizzo to testify and that Rodriguez's appearance is the subject of "complex negotiations over legal immunity."

Aaron,

You ask:

With all the stuff going on right now about the CIA, what do you think offers the best opportunity to drag it before the people and make sure something actually happens this time: the Congressional hearings, the district court hearing scheduled for Friday, popular encuentros to gather testimony? How do we move from where we are right now to something like the head of the CIA having to show his face in South Central like Deutsch did decades ago, and what should be learned from that experience?

I wish I had the answer.

But I have to believe the answer rests, in part, in the voices of the many, not the work of a few journalists. In other words, everyone has to feel they have a stake in this, and the power to do something about it. Access to accurate information is a key part of that process as I see it.

In that spirit, I'm going to post the full FAA registration histories for the two cocaine jets mentioned in the most recent Narco News story — the Gulfstream II and the DC-9, which together carried payloads of cocaine weighing nearly 10 tons.

Maybe you, and others who have a voice, can use this information to connect more dots in this story that will empower you to expose the truth.

Registration history for the Gulstream II (N987SA) — link here

(The Gulfstream's FAA registration history does not include the bill of sale for the jet inked just prior to its crash. That bill of sale, which was not filed with the FAA, can be found at this link.)

Registration history for the DC-9 (N900SA) — link here