Douglas Valentine

Click and type in a question or comment

Dear Doug,

I'm a Vietnam vet., navy, 14 months off the coast of 'Nam, 3
of the 5 months of Linebacker 1, shelling civilians. When I came back I quickly became aware of an iron wall of discrimmination in hiring, training, and promotions that condemned me to menial labor and humiliation for the rest of my life. I suspect the US Chamber of Commerce working on behalf of Nixon, and that I am not alone. I first obtained a computer in 2005 and when asked to give my email address to facilitate communication at work I complied. A host of spying followed. The Episcopal Church is deeply imbedded with the US government and military. -(I work in a nursing home owned by this church). I've observed the behavior of local liberals and Democrats; a number of them are taking payoffs from the CIA which operates here in this border town, (Port Angeles, WA).
-Out of a local computer business and out of our Senior Center. I believe the CIA is in close contact with the John Birch Society which is popular here. As a religious dissenter I've suffered 33 years of almost daily persecution from the religious Right and they have lots of criminal allies. -Plumbers, small-time criminals, child-molesters, dopers, dope-dealers, Femi-Nazies, and religious bigots. The CIA gives out my emails to anyone or group that they might offend in order to expadite persecution. They are subverting our democracy.

Our defeat in Vietnam and the Iran hostage crisis shattered American self-confidence, thus leading to the Reagan revolution. The free and liberal society we had is gone, yet may be reborn thanks to the Republicans! -(Fighting against Obama's abuses of power, and he's a Democrat!).
-Who knows what tomorrow holds!

hey Doug-lynn manzione here did you see the story at

http://nuclearrisk.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/avoiding-needless-wars-part-2-the-second-gulf-of-tonkin-incident/

thought you might be interested

my email is dougvalentine77@gmail.com

Hey Doug,

I enjoyed your article, The Greatest Covert Operation Ever, published on Global Research, if "enjoyed" can be used to describe this sickly state of affairs. Thanks for your honesty. I, too, think they've won. My address is cayetanoluis@hotmail.com.

My name is Luis. What do you think the American role in the formation and activities of the Iraqi death squads has been? We have heard about the "Salvador Option", a plan ostensibly approved by Rumsfeld which was meant to involve special units hunting down and assassinating key figures in the insurgency, based on a model roughly similar to the assassination programs in El Salvador and Vietnam. We now know that specialists from the civil war in El Salvador - including the man who was instrumental in organising the death squads there - were sent to Iraq to help reorient the counter-insurgency effort. From what you know, would you say it is likely that the death squad violence is to a significant degree orchestrated by organs of the American colonial administration itself, or is it more a case of sectarian interests infiltrating the Iraqi ministries and using them for their own ends? (possibly with the benefit of some American training that was rendered earlier?) Edward Herman has referred to the "genocide option" of ripping the country apart to create smaller, more manageable states. To me it seems that the degree of American control in Iraq is over-stated, and that talk of a deliberate strategy of organising death squads to foment unrest risks spilling over into vulgar conspiracy theory. Or are the death squads in fact likely to be part of a program that affords the White House "plausible deniability"? What do you think? And do you know of any good work that's been done on this? (Michael Schwart's book "War without end" alludes to some American involvement in the creation of the first death squads, but seems to suggest that these groups acquired a momentum of their own, and anyway his book doesn't deal centrally with this).

Hi Luis, there is quite a lot of evidence that the CIA created death squads in Iraq, for its colonial purposes, but, of course, the US does not have a monopoly on them. And, as you note, CIA created death squads are used by Iraqi secret policemen and militia for their own purposes, though the CIA is aware of this. I don't think thy need training, other than in weapon and surveillance systems they hadn't had before. Herman is right, that is policy: but it's not the only policy, and these polcies (stated andd unstated) are not mutually exclusive. It's helps to understand that: and that there are always conspiracies within and without stated policies. Don't get bogged down in this or that, just stick to what happens, and that you don't know everything because "plausible deniability" is a policy. Do you see what I mean?

Thanks for mentioning Schwart's book, i didn't know about that. I know of no boooks that deal with this. Let's talk more, you could probably teach me a few things. If you don't mind, send your email too. Many thanks for your intelligent comment.

Click and type in a question or comment

Doug,

I just finished The Strength of the Pack. It seems pretty well researched and I guess because of that I"m surprised at your treatment of Iran Contra and its connection to drugs. The reality is far more sinister and is well described in "Compromised" by Terry Reed and John Cummings. Also, a far more complete treatment of the Oliver North story can be found in "Family of Secrets" by Russ Baker. I strongly recommend you read both books. Given all the details you undoubtedly have committed to memory I suspect reading these books will trigger some very important connections.

Thanks for being so dedicated to ferreting out the truth.

Rich

Hi Douglas, thanks for the book the Strength of the Wolf. It`s good to see a writer who can see past the BS and get somewhat to the truth. You are the first Drug War writer who I`ve read that can see there never really was a war on drugs but actually a war on drug traffikers who were selling drugs from the wrong source, that is non-cia sourced drugs. Although I do believe that it was also a war on free thinkers and any drugs that may help facilitate free thinking like cannabis and other psychedelics. Which is probably why the cia never got into producing any of those types of drugs with the exception of the synthetic LSD which of couse they thought they could use for the opposite of free thinking. The only criticism I have of the book was in writing about so many characters you may want to remind us of whom you are talking about when you mention them later in the book. For example if you write about a certain person in chapter one going into full detail about who he is, then you don`t mention him again until chapter seven, you may want to give us a quick reminder of who he is and not just give his name. With so many people and no or little reminders of their importance when they were mentioned later in your book, I was constantly looking up names in the index to see where they first appeared so I could read about them again and know who you were talking about. That being said, this book was just so filled with info it was sometimes mind boggling. I hope you revise and update it sometime because it`s really worth rereading.
I look forward to reading the Strength of the Pack. After I finish Too High To Fail by Doug Fine and Smoke Signals by Martin Lee.
BTW I`m really curious why you put down Timothy Leary at least twice in your book. With all the utter skumbag charcters in the book from Anslinger and Hoover to Francis I wondered why you didn`t like Leary.
Have you thought about writing a book just on the history of the so-called war on drugs without all the details about the FBN or the DEA? Focusing mainly on the political intrigues and conspiracies?

Cheers
Scott

Doug
oops. Did you get the question I had on Mexico? I didn't know if you wanted my email which is davideabeles@yahoo.com
David

Click and type in a question or comment

Ok, you asked if I liked the site. The answer is no. You need to resurrect your blog. I've recently discovered your books and realize that they are very important histories--in fact rank with several important books on Deep Politics like Russ Bakers *Family of Secrets* and other books. We need a site that brings these things together. Deep Politics must come to the fore or there is no way to evaluate our current situation. For the first time in ages I can state that at this point in history there are significant numbers of people in this country ready for real history not the crap that comes out of the mainstream and academia. Strangely, I find that people on the right have more of an open mind than the traditional leftists which I'm fed up with.

just finished your 2/18 counterpunch piece..I like your style...you may be on the road to being a militant pathfinder.

Mr. Valentine,
Thank you for bringing to light someone like Alexander Cockburn. Your comments are enlightening regarding the Left in the United States. Very few people like to question the intentions of those that are Pro Israel and the effects of their policies. Has anyone bothered to counter your comments on Mr. Cockburn?

A few people agreed, one guy said I must not have known him ;-)

Mr Valentine,
I am currently reading The Hotel Tacloban, and enjoying it very much. It was a gift as my father too served during this time and was shot down over Japan. Your early statement of how your father would not participate in other typical verteran organizations or talk of the war was so my father. You described him to a tee, right down to the nightmares. I only wish I could have gotten my father to talk. Thank you for this book.
Susan from Florida

thanks so much Susan


Hi Douglas,
I just read your most recent piece on the CIA killings in Afghanistan. Good stuff. I was wondering if you might be interested in me reviewing Strength of the Pack. If you recall, I reviewed The Strength of the Wolf. If you are interested, please let me know and I can provide a mailing address for your publisher.
Thanks,
Ron Jacobs

thanks, Ron (who BTW did do a review)

Mr. Valentine,
I have purchased and read your Phoenix Program and Strength of the Wolf books. Both are masterpieces.

many thanks