Reply #14: Shackley, Clines, and Wilson

[starroute]

From the MadCow article: "More famous names: Thomas Clines, the notorious Edwin Wilson and "Blond Ghost" Ted Shackley, Mr. Spook himself… all involved with Operation Forty, as was Barry Seal."

Michael Ruppert mentioned these same three names when reporting on the Congressional hearings on CIA drug trafficking in LA in the 90's: "J. Porter Goss - Republican Congressman from So. Florida. Chair of the House Intelligence committee (HPSCI) charged with conducting hearings on Volume II. Retired CIA case officer who worked in South Florida with Shackley, Clines and Wilson. (Can you say "Conflict of Interest?")

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ciadrugs/witness_list.html


Goss's association with these others isn't speculative -- they were all part of the same JM/WAVE anti-Castro operation in Miami in the early 60's. And the names of Shackley, Clines, and Wilson keep popping up in a trail of later operations, most of them involving drug-smuggling and arms-trading, extending from Vietnam through Iran-Contra:


Narrator: “Whether there is actually an organized secret team, or simply a loose association of individuals, it is clear that there are a number of people who have been working actively behind the scenes in these covert operations. Some of the names are Theodore Shackley, who was Assistant Deputy Director of Operations for the Central Intelligence Agency as of 1976 under George Bush, who was CIA Director at the time. Thomas Clines, who worked as a case officer under Shackley in Miami and in Laos. General John Singlaub, who worked with Shackley and Clines in Vietnam and was in charge of the CIA’s special operations over the border into Laos. General Richard Secord, who supervised the air operations into Laos and was later assigned to the Pentagon where he was put in charge of arm sales to Iran. Albert Hakim, who was a salesman for the U.S. weapons companies and a middle man in the Iran-Contra Affair.”

http://www.addictedtowar.com/coverup.htm


Thomas Gregory Clines first met Richard Secord during the "secret war" in Laos. Clines, as CIA Base Chief in Long Tieng, supervised the creation of a secret army of Hmong tribesmen to fight the communist Pathet Lao forces. The Hmong were traditionally opium growers. With the CIA's help, General Vang Pao, leader of the Hmong army, became a major supplier of opium. Secord's air wing flew tactical raids against the Pathet Lao, which also had the effect of destroying Van Pao's competition. Air America, the CIA's airline, trasported the opium from Laos to Thailand. The CIA's secret Laotian operations were partially financed by opium profits.

Clines and Secord teamed up again in the Middle East during the mid-1970s. The Pentagon awarded Clines' company, EATSCO, a contract worth over $1 billion, to ship arms to Egypt. According to renegade CIA agent Edwin Wilson, Secord, who had helped to secure the contract, was also a silent partner in EATSCO, as was Theodore Shackley. This blatant conflict of interest led to Secord's early retirement from the military. Clines pleaded guilty in 1983 to overcharging the Pentagon $8 million, for which he paid fines of $110,000.

http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/chris.holt/home.informal/bar/corsair.afdq/contra.cards/22.html


Theodore (Ted) Shackley (the CIA station chief in Laos and Saigon), Thomas Clines and retired general Richard Secord later became shadowy figures in the contra war and there were allegations that they were involved in drug and arms trafficing. Clines and Secord were friends of Edwin O. Wilson, a former CIA employee who was convicted of selling C4 explosive and detonators to Maummar Qaddafi.

http://www.bearcave.com/bookrev/backfire.htm


One of the CIA officials Wilson claims were involved in the Libyan situation was Thomas Clines. Thomas Clines is named in Col. Cutolo's affidavit by Wilson as being in charge of Operation Watch Tower. Thomas Clines was recently named in the Iran-contra affair for his failure to declare monies earned in that affair.

http://www.copi.com/articles/guyatt/neri.html