Speaker 1: Murder in Miami is a production of iHeartRadio. In this
Speaker 1: week's bonus episode, Leslie Bickerton lays out a case for
Speaker 1: the complicated connections between the drug trade and the balance
Speaker 1: of world power and unrest. I'm recognizing more and more,
Speaker 1: laurent is this connection, this web of connection, and it's
Speaker 1: intimately connected from what happened forty two years ago, which
Speaker 1: involved directly not only the drug smuggling and the CIA
Speaker 1: and the subcontractors, but also Central America and South America,
Speaker 1: which also has a connection at the same time with Afghanistan,
Speaker 1: so tracing it back even with Vietnam. It's an ongoing
Speaker 1: scenario in one sense of greater insight into the Cold
Speaker 1: War that it has never ended, it continues to this day.
Speaker 1: And so part of this has to do with these
Speaker 1: alliances from the Iran contract. Just that alone has been
Speaker 1: documented that the CIA's direct involvement with an alliance with
Speaker 1: drug lords and with ruthless dictators such as Samosa right
Speaker 1: from Nicaragua, which we had been talking about, but the
Speaker 1: secret funding these covert warfare, which then also the alliance
Speaker 1: with the Colombian cartels, also the drug lords of Afghanistan
Speaker 1: and the existence from the Vietnam War is the heroin trade, right,
Speaker 1: the poppy trade, the heroin trade, the catapulted to all
Speaker 1: of this from Vietnam and Laos and the covert funding
Speaker 1: that was happening back then. But that ties in both
Speaker 1: of the Columbian cartels and to the herring cartels that
Speaker 1: the CIA was involved in with Afghanistan in fighting Russia.
Speaker 1: Of this is documented starting back in nineteen seventy nine,
Speaker 1: the National Security Advisor to Carter. Again, I say this
Speaker 1: as a disclaim. I'm not a Republican, I'm not a
Speaker 1: Democrat because I know that somebody can say, well, you're
Speaker 1: this side of that side. No, I'm telling you all
Speaker 1: of it. So back in nineteen seventy nine, it was
Speaker 1: about getting back at Russia. Revenge for the Russians involvement
Speaker 1: in the Vietnam War was a motivating factor. And there's
Speaker 1: a quote from Brazinski, who was the National Advisor quote,
Speaker 1: destabilizing Central Asia would then bring Russia into Afghanistan. So
Speaker 1: then with that, how do you find any kind of
Speaker 1: a covert war? Right while you need arms? So how
Speaker 1: do you get arms? Well, you have to pay for
Speaker 1: illegal arms shipments in the way that you do that
Speaker 1: is to the drug trade. It's beyond a business. This
Speaker 1: is a commodity, just like oil. Is the war undrugged.
Speaker 1: And what has transpired is that initially the first money
Speaker 1: came out of the Iran Contra, of the contras in Nicaragua,
Speaker 1: five hundred million dollars was brought into Afghanistan to start
Speaker 1: funding the so called Northern Alliance, which has different elements
Speaker 1: to it. And I really want to make this clear.
Speaker 1: It's really important because we always hear about mujah Haddien
Speaker 1: a quick aside. Mujha Hadeen refers to members of various
Speaker 1: guerrilla groups operating in Afghanistan during the Afghan War, which
Speaker 1: took place in nineteen seventy eight to nineteen ninety two,
Speaker 1: that opposed the invading Soviet forces and eventually toppled the
Speaker 1: Afghan Communist government. Rival factions thereafter fell out amongst themselves,
Speaker 1: precipitating the rise of the Taliban and their countering faction,
Speaker 1: the Than Alliance. But what they don't tell you is
Speaker 1: that the funding came through go arms length and this
Speaker 1: is how they get around. Our country gets around no
Speaker 1: accountability or no transparency and really complete impunity. Is that
Speaker 1: you fund so directly funding you fund through another country,
Speaker 1: and we were funding even back then through Pakistan and
Speaker 1: Pakistan's military intelligence who are also Islamic fundamentalists, and that
Speaker 1: money was going to one of the most two of
Speaker 1: the most ruthless drug lords in Afghanistan, the Hakkani network
Speaker 1: and then gou Budden hex Meyer. That goes back to
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine. How all of this got started and
Speaker 1: this whole Cold War that's been ongoing, and this brings
Speaker 1: us to funding elements such as these terrorist groups, the
Speaker 1: Taliban and the Kaida became exponentially with all the billions
Speaker 1: of dollars that our government in the CIA and the
Speaker 1: Department Defense, all the White House had a direct involvement
Speaker 1: in funding some of the worst people in the world
Speaker 1: and these terrorist groups that have now become so powerful
Speaker 1: because they've got the arms. And this has been in
Speaker 1: the works for over twenty years. And this is something
Speaker 1: that I know that the American public doesn't know about
Speaker 1: because it hasn't been told to any of us. And
Speaker 1: as a result of this, this is the blowback. Okay,
Speaker 1: what goes around comes around. It's in anguish because Afghanistan
Speaker 1: was used as a Pawn and Leslie links today's current
Speaker 1: crisis in Afghanistan to another region covered in the podcast.
Speaker 1: Back in Nicaraguan, Central America. Vasadis were involved with illegal
Speaker 1: funding these wars in Central America and destabilizing countries and
Speaker 1: full knowledge of Saudi's funding our war against Russia in
Speaker 1: Afghanistan and destabilizing an entire area. Arabs were also fighting
Speaker 1: back then in Afghanistan and what transpired out of that
Speaker 1: is the horrific events that happened in our country called
Speaker 1: nine to eleven. Those Arabs, the extreme groups never went away.
Speaker 1: They never went away. They're there, They've always been there.
Speaker 1: And the United Nations just came out with the report
Speaker 1: November twenty twenty two resolution and United Nations quote, according
Speaker 1: to the latest statistics, the Taliban hosts more than ten
Speaker 1: thousand foreign fighters including Arabs, Chetnians, ISIS and El Qaeda,
Speaker 1: which is increasing day by day. And based on the
Speaker 1: United Nations reporting two twenty one, the income from drugs
Speaker 1: in the hands of the Taliban each more than two
Speaker 1: billion dollars. And they say it's ninety seven percent of
Speaker 1: the people in Afghanis Center now below the poverty rate.
Speaker 1: And that doesn't even account for all the disappearances and
Speaker 1: the genocide we've been told. I mean, I was raised
Speaker 1: this way too, right, you know, we're the good guys, right,
Speaker 1: we're saving the world from evil in what has transpired
Speaker 1: for such a long period of time as sort of
Speaker 1: this deadly combination of power and ego and greed and
Speaker 1: political ambitions and economic ambitions on such a global scale,
Speaker 1: with complete impunity and catastrophic results that are still ongoing.
Speaker 1: And that's something that brings Leslie back forty two years.
Speaker 1: The shadow wars, the subcontrast, so they're like people like Lamar,
Speaker 1: caught up in all of this. This has become such
Speaker 1: a huge business, and you think of a black is
Speaker 1: a black water and the end Dyne Corps. And now
Speaker 1: there's now this legal loophole that's been created called one
Speaker 1: two seven E. Please look it up. Among other things,
Speaker 1: United States Code one twenty seven E permits the Secretary
Speaker 1: of Defense to spend up to one hundred million dollars
Speaker 1: per physical year in support of special operations to combat terrorism.
Speaker 1: What our country has been doing, besides covert activities, is funding, arming,
Speaker 1: and training mercenaries. All of I call it mercenaries, which
Speaker 1: to Leslie, presents the possibility of those efforts backfiring, just
Speaker 1: as they did during her lone Star era. It's really
Speaker 1: the tip of the iceberg. There's so many elements with
Speaker 1: just the stories about drugs and guns and foreign places
Speaker 1: right exotic islands, and spies, corrupt officials, this whole web
Speaker 1: of deception and lies. But there's a lot more to it,
Speaker 1: and it affects all of us. So what has happened
Speaker 1: so many years ago, It's been ongoing to the point
Speaker 1: where we really are on the brink beyond what we
Speaker 1: can even imagine. Murder in Miami is giving us a glimpse.
Speaker 1: But if you listen to it much more carefully and
Speaker 1: follow through with Joseph Trento and what Happy was saying
Speaker 1: about the drugs, etc. I really think that this is
Speaker 1: it could be a wake up call for all of us.
Speaker 1: There is this dark side to human nature, unfortunately into mankind.
Speaker 1: And then the question becomes like a David and Goliath.
Speaker 1: It's all connected to nine to eleven, the warrant, drugs,
Speaker 1: the warrant terrors, the Cold War. What do we do
Speaker 1: about this? Telling the truth, getting trying to get the
Speaker 1: truth out there. The American public has the right to know.
Speaker 1: We have the right to know, and no matter how
Speaker 1: uncomfortable it is and how much it hurts. We talked
Speaker 1: about collateral damage, that there is this element out there,
Speaker 1: even within our own government that's not easy for me
Speaker 1: to say this, that we are I was collateral damage
Speaker 1: from Mara's collateral damage, Afghanistan's collateral damage, Nicaragua, and just
Speaker 1: Americans as a whole, we're collateral damage. There's golowback for
Speaker 1: all of this, and awareness and education. The more that
Speaker 1: we can be aware of it and the more we
Speaker 1: can educate ourselves about it, I think it's really important
Speaker 1: because what's kind of a legacy do we want to
Speaker 1: leave in this world. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: the stories that matter to you.