Big Labor’s Socialist Agenda By Cliff Kincaid – September 4, 2021 The phrase, “Workers of the world unite,” is right from the Communist Manifesto. As we celebrate Labor Day, it’s important to remember how the communists historically tried to tap into the anger and discontent of American workers. Herbert Romerstein, who worked for the House Committee on Un-American Activities, the House Internal Security Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, documented communist manipulation of the organized labor movement in a report for my group America’s Survival, Inc. How successful have the communists been? In today’s America, their main vehicle is the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a Marxist organization that draws heavily from the ideas of the late Italian Communist Party theoretician Antonio Gramsci and refers to its members as “comrades.” DSA, which describes itself as the largest socialist organization in the United States, says it has “rapidly grown from 6,000 to almost 100,000 members” and “helped elect 155 DSA-endorsed candidates,” often by “running open socialists on the Democratic Party ballot line.” The most prominent member of the DSA is Bronx Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, best known as AOC, who is described as DSA’s “foremost socialist superstar.” In 2019, the group says they “coordinated” an “organization-wide vote on endorsing Bernie for President.” Former President Barack Hussein Obama’s socialist backing goes back at least to 1996, when he received the endorsement of the Chicago branch of the Democratic Socialists of America for an Illinois state senate seat. Former AFL-CIO boss John Sweeney was a member of Democratic Socialists of America. Back in 2011, I grilled a top official of the 12.5-million-member AFL-CIO, Karen Nussbaum, about her participation in an illegal 1970 trip to Communist Cuba organized by Weather Underground terrorist Bernardine Dohrn. The exchange was captured on tape. Since Castro and his communist successors have outlawed independent labor unions in Cuba, as well as freedom in general, Nussbaum’s fascination with the communist system on the island is a relevant line of inquiry for those concerned about the dangers of socialism and totalitarianism here and the current direction of the AFL-CIO. I asked Karen Nussbaum, the founding director of Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, about her visit to Cuba after speaking at a panel at a “progressive” public policy conference in Washington, D.C. She was apparently stunned by the fact that someone had uncovered an aspect of her background that has been carefully omitted from her official biography. She refused to answer and walked away. But according to one account of her trip, she declared that she “learned about revolution in Cuba” and praised Castro for providing “free health and educational care to every person in society…” She also declared, “I was part of the Black Panther Support Committee” and said she was a member of the “Draft resistance movement” opposing the Vietnam War. Nussbaum founded the organization, 9 to 5: The National Association of Women Office Workers, which led to Jane Fonda, also known as “Hanoi Jane” because of her support of the Communist Vietnamese, making the film “9 to 5.” Fonda’s website discusses her relationship with Nussbaum and her husband, a former official of a group called Citizen Action who became a public relations executive in such firms as Fenton Communications. Citizen Action was implicated in a fundraising scandal in 1997 and was forced to close. At the time I attempted to question Nussbaum about her Cuba trip, she had just completed a speech on a panel at the “America’s Future Now!” conference which honored her boss, then-AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, as one of several “Progressive Champions.” Another award winner was Rep. Barbara Lee, herself a frequent visitor to Cuba and apologist for the Castro regime. DSA member Sweeney, who passed away earlier this year, was succeeded by Richard Trumka, who died on August 5. Trumka was replaced by Liz Shuler (above), who had been serving as AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer. Open socialists regard Shuler as a colorless career trade union bureaucrat and preferred Sara Nelson, the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. She addressed the Democratic Socialists of America convention in 2019 and 2021. Though Marxist in orientation, the Democratic Party abandoned the workers who were once considered to be their main constituency. AFL-CIO organizers understand this. Indeed, a panelist on the subject of “A New and Enduring Progressive Majority?,” Nussbaum talked about her efforts to get conservative union members to vote for “progressive” candidates. She indicated this is a struggle since many union members have conservative social views, own guns, and go to church often. These workers want economic and industrial development in traditional fossil fuel industries that AOC and the Democratic Party are trying to bankrupt through the climate change hoax and green energy scams that are part of the pending $3.5 trillion budget plan. But now, Democrat Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia is threatening the advance of socialism in the U.S., though he refers in a Wall Street Journal column to his “Democratic colleagues” rushing to spend the $3.5 trillion on “social-policy action.” The Democratic Party, which controls the Senate by a single vote, needs Manchin’s support. Manchin says, “I, for one, won’t support a $3.5 trillion bill, or anywhere near that level of additional spending, without greater clarity about why Congress chooses to ignore the serious effects inflation and debt have on existing government programs.” AOC is not happy and has personally attacked Manchin for opposing what’s called “Bernie’s budget.” Will Manchin, the “centrist Democrat,” stand his ground? The AFL-CIO is backing the $3.5 trillion bill, a blueprint for a socialist America which has already passed the House. President Liz Shuler calls it “a vital part of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.” The AFL-CIO’s West Virginia affiliate endorsed Manchin for the Senate. Although Manchin seems opposed, at least for the time being, the DSA already claims credit for persuading the Senator to back the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which rewrites U.S. labor law in favor of unionization and will fatten the wallets of Big Labor. (As Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, Shuler made $250,619 in 2019). “On May Day this year,” says Maria Svart, national director of DSA, “86 chapters organized actions in support of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. We organized phonebanks and made one million calls asking voters in key states to call their senators to support the act. And we helped flip two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Angus King of Maine, who had been against the act. Few other national organizations have this kind of energized and empowered force bubbling from the ground up.” Meanwhile, a new film starring AOC, about the “demonization” of socialism, is now being shown. Described as a feature-length documentary on the history and resurgence of socialism in America, the film is titled “The Big Scary ‘S’ Word.” The DSA, which provided “a small grant” from the DSA Fund toward its production, has hosted a series of events inspired by the film, including one featuring the filmmaker, Yael Bridge. Socialism is not so scary anymore, they say. Indeed, the trailer features “socialist stalwart” Cornel West saying that socialism is “as American as apple pie.” West, an honorary chair of Democratic Socialists of America, endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for president but has declared that Bob Avakian, a Maoist who runs the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), “is a long-distance runner in the freedom struggle against imperialism, racism and capitalism. His voice and witness are indispensable in our efforts to enhance the wretched of the earth.” Like Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, “Chairman Bob” Avakian came out of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the group that laid siege to college campuses before turning into the terrorist Weather Underground. The RCP book shop known as Revolution Books in New York City hosted a party and celebration for a 91-page book called Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. Avakian, author of the book, urged his supporters to vote for Joe Biden for president in 2020. A socialist America, he makes clear, “is a process and goal which, fundamentally and in the final analysis, can only be achieved on a global scale, with the advance to communism throughout the world.” Apparently aware of the stakes, Manchin said in his Wall Street Journal column that “…some in Congress have a strange belief there is an infinite supply of money to deal with any current or future crisis, and that spending trillions upon trillions will have no negative consequence for the future. I disagree.” In a statement, former President Trump calls the bill the “Communist Plan to Destroy America,” adding, “It destroys our Borders and the rule of law by granting dangerous amnesty that will flood America’s beautiful cities. It will overwhelm our schools, and make our Nation less safe. It raises taxes like we have never seen, while also making many things you buy everyday more expensive (gas, groceries, and much more). And don’t forget the crazy Green New Deal. America, you are being robbed in the dark of night. It’s time to wake up!” Chairman Bob is salivating at the prospect of a socialist victory. *Cliff Kincaid is president of America’s Survival, Inc. www.usasurvival.org
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 2, 2021 Rochester Woman Pleads Guilty to Accessory After the Fact to St. Paul Arsons MINNEAPOLIS – A Rochester woman pleaded guilty today to being an accessory after the fact to arson of multiple St. Paul businesses, announced Acting U.S. Attorney W. Anders Folk. According to court documents, on May 28, 2020, Mena Dhaya Yousif, 23, and her husband, co-defendant Jose Angel Felan Jr., 35, went to several businesses located on University Avenue in St. Paul. Felan allegedly set fire to the Goodwill retail store, the Gordon Parks High School, and the 7 Mile Sportswear store. Over the course of the following week, Yousif aided and abetted Felan as he fled from Minnesota to Texas, before crossing the border into Mexico. Yousif traveled with Felan and assisted his escape by destroying evidence and providing false information to law enforcement. In February 2021, Felan and Yousif were arrested by Mexican law enforcement authorities and returned to the United States to face prosecution. This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the FBI, the St. Paul Police Department, the St. Paul Fire Department, and the Minnesota State Fire Marshal Division. The fugitive apprehension efforts were led by the U.S. Marshals Service. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Melinda A. Williams and Emily Polachek are prosecuting the case. Chairman Bob and the New Communism By Cliff Kincaid – August 29, 2021 On his way out the door of the New York governor’s office, Andrew Cuomo gave clemency to a communist terrorist, David Gilbert. Then a California parole board voted to free the Palestinian Marxist killer of Robert F. Kennedy, Sirhan Sirhan. On a recent trip to New York, I visited Revolution Books, which functions as a headquarters for the Revolutionary Communist Party of Bob Avakian, a one-time associate of Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. Known as “Chairman Bob,” he is the authentic Maoist. Mao’s Little Red Book is still for sale there. A film was being shown about Avakian’s role in global communism and how his “New Communism” describes the course of current events. He proposes a “Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.” Some people may laugh. But I am not laughing anymore. What’s fascinating to know is that Avakian urged communists to vote for Joe Biden for president. We are seeing in real time why this dedicated Maoist communist made this decision. These communists seemed to anticipate -- or know in advance – that the puppet masters behind Biden and associated with Barack Hussein Obama would accelerate the collapse of what they call American imperialism. “A defeat of the world’s most powerful imperialist country has big repercussions,” their latest video notes. While they don’t endorse the “reactionary” forces of the Taliban, they nevertheless note that the Islamist victory in Afghanistan will fuel Muslim fundamentalist movements around the world and cause more conflicts in the West. The other part of the story is that China and Russia are poised to take advantage of this conflict and disarray in the West. It’s actually an old story, reflecting active Muslim cooperation with -- or subjugation by -- Communist powers over the course of history. The Chinese practice genocide against their own Muslims and will not attempt to build a “democracy” in Afghanistan. Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB Lt. Colonel, demonstrated his contempt for the Muslims in his own country when he invaded Chechnya, a mainly Muslim Russian republic, in 2014. Al-Qaeda’s Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahiri, still on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list, was trained by the KGB and is probably planning another series of biological attacks on the U.S. at this time. Meanwhile, China will pour money and resources into the country to secure vital minerals and accelerate the country’s development into a narco-state. As all of this is happening as communist terrorists are being released from their jail cells in the U.S. Can all of this be accidental? But there’s hope. The left-wing New York Daily News couldn’t stomach the Gilbert commutation, saying, “Andrew Cuomo’s final act as governor was to wrongly grant a proudly admitted, convicted terrorist, a man guilty of the felony murders of police officers, a likely ticket to freedom.” He now goes before the Parole Board. Members of the Kennedy family and some liberals are objecting to Sirhan’s release. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and the elected Chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation, issued a statement of her own opposing the vote by the California parole board panel recommending that Sirhan Sirhan receive parole. She notes that parole for the assassin would still need to be approved by the full California parole board and Governor Gavin Newsom. Sirhan Sirhan’s murder of Robert F. Kennedy was motivated by his allegiance to Palestinian nationalism and Arab socialism. He wrote in support of communism in his diary. “Long live communism,” he said. Like his brother John F. Kennedy, Robert was an anti-communist liberal. Indeed, the Kennedy brothers, President Kennedy and his Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, had warned Martin Luther King, Jr. against associating with communists. He ignored their warnings. The Weather underground, of which David Gilbert was a member, hated RFK as well. During their time in the Weather Underground, before they became “respectable” and “mainstream” and associated with politicians like Barack Hussein Obama, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn signed a document, “Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism,” dedicated to Sirhan Sirhan and others. After the joint Weather Underground and Black Liberation Army assault on the Brinks truck which killed three law enforcement officers in Rockland County, New York, Weather Underground members Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert went to prison, while their “comrades,” Ayers and Dohrn, raised their child, Chesa Boudin. Dohrn was jailed for seven months for refusing to cooperate with a federal grand jury investigating the murders. Chesa Boudin is today the San Francisco district attorney. New York State Assemblyman Mike Lawler is leading a petition drive to keep Gilbert in jail. He has issued a statement asking members of the Kennedy family who oppose the release of Sirhan Sirhan to also oppose Cuomo’s decision to release cop-killer David Gilbert. While Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, David Gilbert and Sirhan Sirhan were waging violence to take power, Chairman Bob was writing about the historical forces that he said would lead to the collapse of America. He has cult hero status on the left and is regarded as the new Karl Marx. It would be laughable were it not so serious and if current events were not falling into place in such a way as to guarantee that a “new socialist republic” will in fact come into existence. With the collapse of the American experiment in Afghanistan, which failed to produce a functioning democracy, the communists and the Islamists are now on the ascendency. America is in retreat all over, leaving Israel exposed to the Red Jihad in the Middle East and Americans at home and abroad are now at the mercy of those who seek to kill us. Even our own solders are being sacrificed for the benefit of our enemies who offer “protection” as the evacuation takes place. As part of this process, a letter to Biden from his left-wing backers calls on the United States to ensure every “properly-screened and eligible individual” currently located at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) is evacuated before the departure of U.S. forces. But no one seriously believes all of these people will have the “appropriate paperwork and documentation” and “required visas.” One has to be a dummy to think the ranks of these refugees are not being infiltrated by Jihadists. We should not forget that some of the 9/11 hijackers were learning how to fly planes on U.S. soil. “Yes, we want state power,” say the Revolutionary Communists backing Charman Bob. “We are fighting for the new society laid out in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, authored by Bob Avakian.” We should take them seriously. They are true believers. They know what they’re doing. They have a plan. It’s called Marxist dialectics, The Sword of Revolution. Remember it was a West Point Cadet, Spenser Rapone, who was photographed in 2018 with the phrase “Communism will win” in his cap. The belief in the Marxist theory of history (historical materialism) has convinced them communism will triumph by moving countries such as the United States through stages of slavery, feudalism, capitalism, and socialism. Afghanistan is stuck in feudalism. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 was a violent attempt to bring the country out of feudalism into communism. It backfired, in much the same way the U.S. failed to impose a democracy on the nation. Chairman Bob -- and the Maoists – understand the theory of communism better than the Russian communists did. America’s failure gives them an opportunity to move from the highest stage of capitalism in the U.S. to socialism and even communism. That’s why Chairman Bob endorsed Biden. Andy Zee, a follower of Bob Avakian and an advocate for the new communism, adds, “Society is being ripped apart” and that America is “two countries sharing the same border…” As they see it, the “New Socialist Republic in North America” is inevitable. “This is a rare time when revolution becomes possible,” Avakian declares. Larry Grathwohl, an FBI informant in the Westher Underground, said, “I remember one meeting when our Weatherman ‘collective’ brought up the subject of the Kennedy assassinations. At least 20 to 25 people were present and Bill Ayers was one of them. I heard Bill state that the murders of both John F. Kennedy and Robert F Kennedy were a good thing because liberals compromise the conflict between U.S. imperialism and the socialist revolution. Liberals prevent the contradictions from becoming obvious and thus prevent a revolution. Therefore, the assassinations of the Kennedys were to be welcomed as a necessary advance on the road to communist world revolution.” In the new America, communist figures like David Gilbert and Sirhan Sirhan will not only be forgiven for their crimes, they will be celebrated as heroes of the revolution. *Cliff Kincaid is president of America’s Survival, Inc. www.usasurvival.org Requiem For Billy Ayers
By Cliff Kincaid Christopher G. Kennedy, chairman of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, led the effort to deny Bill Ayers the title of professor emeritus because Ayers had written a book dedicated in part to the killer of his father, Robert F. Kennedy. But this “book,” titled, Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism, had been written back in 1974. Let’s hope that Christopher Kennedy’s expression of disgust can not only lead to a review of what Ayers said but what he did—in the form of eyewitness testimony that Ayers had knowledge of a bombing plot that took the life of San Francisco Police Officer Brian V. McDonnell back in 1970. One of the speakers will be Larry Grathwohl, a former FBI informant in the Weather Underground who has talked in detail about how Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn specialized in making bombs deliberately designed to kill people with deadly shrapnel. Ayers told Grathwohl that Dohrn planted the bomb that killed McDonnell. And yet Ayers claims they never hurt anybody and didn’t intend to. This is the claim that gets prominent media attention, while Grathwohl’s testimony to the contrary, delivered under oath before grand juries and before a congressional committee, gets mostly ignored or dismissed. Christopher Kennedy’s condemnation of Ayers’ tribute to his father’s killer should be a wake-up call to the liberal and “progressive” community, including President Obama himself, who have excused their associations with Ayers and Dohrn on the pretext that all of this happened many years ago and that the two professors have somehow been rehabilitated. Kennedy said he was not aware of any remorse by Ayers. McDonnell’s body was hit with shrapnel from a pipe bomb and suffered in a hospital for two days. This is why his death is recorded on February 18 and the blast went off on February 16. One of the heavy metal staples from the bomb went through his eye and into his brain. Ayers’ fingerprints were found in a Weather Underground bomb factory discovered by the FBI in San Francisco in 1971. Photographs were taken of the materials, including C-4 plastic explosive. Members of the Weather Underground were taught how to make bombs by the Cuban intelligence service during trips to Cuba. The Weather Underground had organized the so-called Venceremos Brigades to Cuba. The Praire Fire book was co-authored by Dohrn and contains a tribute to their three Weather Underground “comrades” who blew themselves up in a bomb factory in New York City in 1970. Since the book, dedicated in part to the killer of Robert F. Kennedy, was released back in 1974, the question is why it never played a role in denying Ayers a place at the university in the first place. It only belatedly became an issue in the 2008 presidential campaign when commentators such as Sean Hannity of Fox News and others brought it up in the context of Barack Obama’s relationship with Ayers and Dohrn. The claim that Ayers and Dohrn and their ilk never killed anybody and never intended to is contradicted by the evidence taken from the bomb factory and the bombing murder of Sgt. McDonnell, whose death has been blamed on Ayers and Dohrn by the San Francisco Police Officers Association. The only questions at this late date are whether the available evidence in the case will be re-tested and re-examined and new witnesses to this and other crimes will come forward so that charges can be brought. A law enforcement entity called the Phoenix Task Force is currently and actively examining the case. Ayers says they had nothing to do with McDonnell’s murder, but he and Dohrn have not been required to testify under oath in the case. When Ayers and Dohrn surfaced in 1980, Ayers released a statement that said, “In 1970, I went underground to fight against the Vietnam War…” This was another lie and the dedication of Prairie Fire to Sirhan Sirhan proves the point. If they were against the war, why did they dedicate a book to the convicted assassin of the leading anti-war candidate? The truth, of course, is that Ayers and Dohrn didn’t oppose the Vietnam War; they supported the side of the communist enemy that was killing Americans. So it’s not just Christopher Kennedy who should take offense. Every American, especially our veterans and the families of those who died in the honorable effort to stave off the communist conquest of Southeast Asia, has a right to be disgusted at the thought that someone like Ayers or Dohrn could get teaching positions at major American universities. Incidentally, while Ayers is retiring and for that reason requested “Professor Emeritus” status, Dohrn still teaches at Northwestern University, where she is said to be a “child advocate” who lectures on “international human rights.” Former FBI agent Max Noel, a member of the Weatherman Task Force in San Francisco, was among those who discovered the Weather Underground bomb factory in that city. He has told me in a recent interview that while FBI agents found dozens of copies of Marxist-Leninist books and pamphlets in the bomb factory, they did not locate any “anti-war” literature. Again, the point is that Ayers and Dohrn were not anti-war activists. They were communist revolutionaries dedicated to the destruction of America and its allies. Their ideology has never changed. What’s more, they haven’t given up; they have simply taken the “struggle” into new directions, such as “education.” But why, for example, have Ayers and Dohrn been traveling to Marxist-ruled Venezuela? Why have they been meeting with former members of the West German terrorist group, the Red Army Faction (RAF)? The Weather Underground had the support of Cuba, while the RAF received critical support from the East German intelligence service. In an interesting development, members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force have just raided the home and office of Michael Kelly, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, an openly communist group, in the U.S. The FBI raids were designed, according to legal documents in the case, to find connections to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Lebanese Islamic terrorist group Hezbollah. Ayers and Dohrn could possibly provide good leads in any such investigation because they have maintained their own contacts with anti-American groups and governments over the years. They have traveled in Venezuela, to sing the praises of the Hugo Chavez regime, and then they showed up in the Middle East to help organize the Free Gaza Movement as part of an anti-Israel propaganda campaign. WorldNetDaily’s Aaron Klein and Kristinn Taylor and Andrea Shea King at BigGovernment.com all wrote extensively about the involvement of Ayers and Dohrn in this effort. What’s more, Ayers and Dohrn raised a son, Chesa Boudin, who worked for Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Chavez has ties to terrorist Iran, the communist guerrillas in Colombia, and apparently has been seeking nuclear weapons. Chesa Boudin was the child of Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, members of a Weather Underground spin-off group who went to prison for an armored car robbery that resulted in the murders of two police officers and a security guard. Lofgren Statement on Robert F. Kennedy’s Assassin Receiving Approval for Parole
August 27, 2021 Press Release SAN JOSE, CA – Today, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (CA-19) – a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and the elected Chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation – issued the below statement opposing the vote by the California parole board panel recommending that Sirhan Sirhan, Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin, receives parole. Parole for the assassin would still need to be approved by the full California parole board and Governor Gavin Newsom. “Sirhan Sirhan not only murdered a man – he murdered hope for America. Our nation is still paying the price for his actions.” America Has Lost its Moral Compass
By Cliff Kincaid – August 26, 2021 The disgraced former CIA director David Petraeus, once called “America’s greatest living general,” is lecturing America that we didn’t try hard enough at building a democratic Muslim nation in Afghanistan. This retired General cheated on his wife with his biographer, as he bungled the military operation in Afghanistan and then took over Obama’s CIA. The Wall Street Journal devotes a whole story to the self-righteous ramblings of this man who disgraced the uniform and betrayed his wife but then built a lucrative career in the financial and high-tech world. The Wall Street Journal story has these headlines: “David Petraeus Reflects on the Afghan Debacle. He offers unsparing words about Trump and Biden, a defense of nation-building, and he says U.S. soldiers may have to re-enter Kabul in force to rescue Americans.” His role as commander of forces in Afghanistan is just as disgraceful as his personal life. Under the headline, “China is Big Winner in Afghanistan,” Peter Flaherty of the National Legal and Policy Center notes that with the Taliban takeover and the terror group’s ties to Beijing, China will dominate the economy. “Afghanistan has significant mineral resources, including rare earth elements, which are increasingly under Chinese control worldwide,” he points out. But another outcome is China’s control of a narco-state. The Afghan Army praised by Petraeus developed a reputation as the “Hashish Army,” as many in the Afghan army and police forces were taking drugs and engaging in pedophilia. A Journal article from 2010 noted, “Use of marijuana, opium and heroin among Afghan troops, even while on patrol, is just one of the challenges coalition forces face in working with the Afghan National Army…” A 2013 documentary, “This is What Winning Looks Like,” showed Afghan soldiers using drugs as evidence surfaced of Afghan police commanders sexually abusing young boys. The Commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan (2010–11), Petraeus was not asked by the Journal writer about the use of drugs by the Afghan forces. Instead, he predicts a Taliban regime will use drug money to help finance its national budget. This is undoubtedly true. But part of his job was stopping this. A 2016 report, “The War on Drugs in Afghanistan: Another Failed Experiment with Interdiction,” found that General David Petraeus and General Stanley McChrystal “became the centerpiece of newly elected President Barack Obama’s renewed counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan,” combined with the “troop surge” beginning in 2009, that was intended “to encourage provincial governors to provide local farmers with economic alternatives to opium cultivation.” The billions of dollars were wasted, as “poppy cultivation continued to rise.” The money was used to produce additional opium, with “the opium economy” getting “stronger and more concentrated in Taliban hands than at any time before or during the invasion.” Analyst Vanda Felbab-Brown had predicted last October that, with the possible collapse of the Afghan state, “The drug economy will become further entrenched.” She added, “Most counternarcotics measures adopted since 2001 have been ineffective or outright counterproductive economically, politically, and with respect to counterinsurgency and stabilization efforts.” Now, with China taking over the country, including the drug trade, it will be able to supply addicts with more lethal heroin, to complement the fentanyl the communists are providing to Mexican cartels, for shipment to the United States. At the same time, the Chinese will get richer as they dominate the rare earth metals market. These failures didn’t cost Petraeus his job, even though by his own admission he had lost his “moral compass” through an adulterous affair. Apparently, however, none of his personal failings are considered to have tainted his advice on how to run the world. Hence, the Wall Street Journal gives us his “reflections” on how Afghanistan went down the drain, under his leadership and others. At the time the scandal broke, I covered it, noting that the CIA director was caught leaking classified information to his mistress, Paula Broadwell, who served in the United States Army and the United States Army Reserve. It was one of the worst scandals of the Obama Administration. He turned over his “Black Books,” containing national defense information, including Top Secret//SCI and code word information, to his biographer, in order to write and publish, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus. Petraeus lied about this to the FBI. He was sentenced to two years’ probation and a $100,000 fine. His mistress was demoted from lieutenant colonel to major after the affair, lost her top-secret security clearance and received a formal reprimand. All of this is now forgotten. “In a Zoom interview,” reported Journal writer Tunku Varadarajan, “I ask Mr. Petraeus, 68, what effect the ignominious withdrawal will have on military morale.” His answer was, in part: “I think—particularly for those who served there—that it is very sad. It is heartbreaking. It is tragic. And I think it is disastrous.” What about the effect on morale of a retired general cheating on his wife and leaking classified information and still being treated as a respected commander? He avoided prison time through a political plea deal. He could have been charged with lying to the FBI and violating the Espionage Act. Rather than being prosecuted for a felony, he went on to establish the KKR Global Institute, described as “an integral part of the KKR investment process — working in partnership with KKR deal teams, portfolio companies, and limited partners to help enable smarter investing through a better understanding of the world.” KKR is a private-equity firm. Not only that, but he became “a member of the boards of directors of Optiv and OneStream, a venture investor in some 20 startups, and engaged in a variety of academic endeavors,” his bio says. Optiv is a cyber security solutions provider while OneStream is a software company. He is a member in good standing of the Trilateral Commission. It appears he bounced back as a member in good standing of the military-industrial complex. The Petraeus bio notes trivia, such as that he threw out the first pitch of a World Series game and did the coin toss for a Super Bowl but carefully avoid his admitted loss of a moral compass. It looks like the Afghan operation lost a moral compass, too. Perhaps, before we do more nation-building abroad, we ought to do more nation-building at home. If we don’t find our moral compass, we are doomed.
PRESS RELEASE:
Regarding Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo Granting Clemency to David Gilbert For Immediate Release: August 25, 2021 Sheriff Craig S. DuMond Statement from Delaware County Sheriff Craig S. DuMond Regarding Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo Granting Clemency to David Gilbert The disgraceful decision by former Governor Andrew Cuomo to issue a last-minute commutation to David Gilbert, a self-avowed domestic terrorist who was convicted of three murders in the 1981 killings of Nyack Police Sergeant Edward J, O’Grady, Police Officer Waverly Brown and Brink’s Guard Peter Paige is reprehensible. Cuomo’s despicable actions while leaving office in disgrace, is one last example of his disrespect for police officers who gave their lives protecting the communities as well as the families they left behind. David Gilbert clearly deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison. Chesa Boudin could still visit her father in prison, the families of these men can only visit their loved ones in a cemetery. These men left behind nine children, who had to grow up without their fathers to share life’s milestones and their many achievements. To tell them that one of the people responsible for the murder of their father has served enough time, or that he shouldn’t have to face the full consequences for his crimes, is in one word, unconscionable. Since 2017, Cuomo’s appointed parole board has released fifteen (15) cop killers from prison into our communities. These actions, coupled with his pro-criminal bail reform legislation, has and will continue to create countless victims of crime for years to come in New York State. David Gilbert was an Extreme radical Weather Underground member. His fingerprints were found by my partners and me in the Weather Underground Bomb Factory at 1038 A Pine Street in San Francisco on April 14, 1971, along with many other Weather Underground members. This "safe house" was used to launch numerous attacks on the Bay Area Police Departments and Officers. In addition to a large block of C-4 plastic explosive, radical communist, black separatist literature was found. An unexploded bomb found in the San Francisco Hall of Justice was claimed by the WUO and tools found in the apartment were forensically linked to the construction of that bomb. The escape from custody of Timothy Leary was plotted and carried out from that apartment. Gilbert and his partner Kathy Boudin were two of the most radical members of the WUO. They committed crimes against innocent Security officers and Policemen. I've never heard an apology from either. They are among the most despicable WUO members and should never be forgiven.
Update: the Pine Street apartment (called the Tribe House by Mark Rudd in his book, "Underground-My life in the SDS and Weather Underground" ) was where the bombing of the Marin County Courthouse was planned in retribution for the killing of Jonathan Jackson (George Jackson's brother) by the police in a botched attempt to free George Jackson during his trial. The presiding Judge was taken hostage and he was also killed in the shootout with police. Max Noel FBI 1968-1999 |