The CIA as Organized Crime: How Illegal Operations Corrupt America, Douglas Valentine, Clarity Books, 2016.
WN: This is a powerful book. I have included several reviews from the Amazon.ca site. These voices continue to call out America for the Towering Evil Empire it is. In the words of one reviewer:
As Harry S. Truman stated “I never would have agreed to the formulation of the Central Intelligence Agency back in forty-seven, if I had known it would become the American Gestapo.” And he did not know the half of it.
Then again: Truman authorized the instant vapourizing of over 220,000 Japanese civilians through dropping not one but two atomic bombs. . . .
Alan Dale
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Essential Addition to an Essential Body of Work
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2016
Of the extraordinarily valuable and informative works for which Mr. Valentine is responsible, his latest, CIA As Organized Crime, may prove to be the best choice as an introduction to the dark realm of America’s hidden corruptions and their consequences at home and around the world. This new volume begins with the unlikely but irrevocable framework by which Mr. Valentine’s path led to unprecedented access to key Agency personnel whose witting participation is summarized by the chapter title: “How William Colby Gave Me the Keys to the CIA Kingdom.”
By illuminating CIA programs and systems of surveillance, control, and assassination utilized against the civilian population of South Vietnam, we are presented with parallels with operations and practices at work today in America’s seemingly perpetual war against terror.
Through the policies of covert infiltration and manipulations, illegal alliances, and “brute force” interventions that wreak havoc on designated enemy states, destroy progress and infrastructure under the claim of liberation, degrade the standards of living for people in the perceived hostile nations, “…America’s ruling elite empowers itself while claiming it has ensured the safety and prestige of the American people. Sometimes it is even able to convince the public that its criminal actions are ‘humanitarian’ and designed to liberate the people in nations it destroys.”
Mr. Valentine has presented us with a major body of work which includes: The Strength of the Wolf; The Strength of the Pack; The Pheonix Program, to which we may now add The CIA as Organized Crime, and for which we are profoundly indebted.
…
Winter
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sheds light on the CIA’s torture and drug programs and why the media is afraid to say anything
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2017
It is written largely from notes taken during interviews so Valenitne’s earlier book on the CIA is worth reading first. A point made by Valentine and supported by the facts is the degree to which journalists are fearful of the CIA and avoid reporting on this agencies criminal activities. The CIA and its agents in the media went after Gary Webb after his expose of the drug trafficking in the Los Angeles area.
This is not truly news if one connects the dots. Heroin availability greatly increased in Vietnam with the arrival of our soldiers to “pacify” the people and since 9-11 and the US led invasion of Afghanistan and the ouster of the Taliban, our former allies when Reagan was in office, the production of opium increased 20 fold the first year alone and this country now supplies 95% of the world’s supply. Or the Iran-Contra affair where arms were traded for money that then went to buy drugs in South America under GH Bush. Even earlier under Nixon the banking regulations were changed to accommodate South American drug lords stashing cash in US dollars in Cayman.
As Harry S. Truman stated “I never would have agreed to the formulation of the Central Intelligence Agency back in forty-seven, if I had known it would become the American Gestapo.” And he did not know the half of it.
…
Jay Trout
5.0 out of 5 stars
A crucial tool to understanding present reality. An absolute must-read.
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2017
Run, don’t walk, and get yourself a copy of this book. The author has been warning us for decades about the clear and present danger that is the CIA. I was unaware of Valentine’s work for most of those years, perhaps because our media outlets (even the “anti-establishment” ones like Democracy Now! and The Intercept) have been compromised. Valentine’s work has been suppressed since his ground-breaking book on the Phoenix Program.
Not that I didn’t know anything about the sordid history. I knew about MK-Ultra, some of the agency’s drug running and empire-building exploits. This work goes much deeper and paints a much bigger picture. The extent of the agency’s influence is much greater than I had imagined.
This is not another history book about dirty tricks. It is not just about our insane foreign policy and empire building. The cancer of corruption, of outright crime, has metastasized into every agency of the government right here in the US itself. Those dirty tricks and crimes have become domestic policy- in fusion centers and Homeland Security, in the militarization of local police and in Congress, from Wall Street to Main Street. Border Patrol, the DEA, Justice and State have all been compromised. Want to know why the DEA is losing the war on drugs, how torture has become policy? Want to know why the government no longer represents your interests? Look no further.
The problem is now. We are the new targets.
Read it and weep, but for God’s sake, please read it.
A highly informative and comprehensive book, and a scathing, fearless indictment of government corruption.
I cannot overstate it’s importance.
…
S. Hirsch
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential to the understanding of US world and domestic politics
Reviewed in Germany on January 9, 2018
Following the highest ideal of the American Project – political enlightenement + emancipation – the author gives the reader a deep insight into one of its darkest present day manifestations.
The singular value of this book is that it contains comprehensive information about mindset, methods, organisation + ethics (warped as they may be) of this organisation and provides a framework to connect the various incidents that have come to light on occasion. It shows that allegations against the CIA like assassination, drug smuggling, cooperation with organized crime are not only true and possibly the result of a mislead agent, but intrinsic and standard operating procedure to the organisation since its first beginnings up to the present day. Thus it provides a most insightful – if chilling picture – of this (sometimes not so) hidden stick the US uses in foreign and domestic politics according to the old motto of Teddy Roosevelt – “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”
For the politically interested non US-citizen this book is essential to understand how the hidden side of US foreign politics work.
For the US citizen who loves his country this is strong but very healthy medicine – for one as the methods that have been previously used on unruly foreigners are incereasingly applied to domestic dissenters (homeland security + patriot act) and also it will explain to the open minded the feelings of resentment and hate that are felt in many countries of the world towards the US, as of course the CIAs actions are alway carried out “in the name of the American People” – and so determine to a considerable extent the view the victims of those actions have of the US and its citizens.
The good news is, that there are still true heroes like Douglas Valentine, who keep the flag of democracy and freedom flying. My heartfelt thanks to him for his courage to publish this book.
