Pentagon 'Hit Team'

 

   Iran/Contra Investigator Revealed Assassination Team in Pentagon 

     You’re not going to get ‘a commendation’ from the government for writing about a Pentagon assassination team that murders US officers who are a threat to blow the whistle on illegal covert operations. 

     One example is the murder of Marine Colonel James E. Sabow in January 1991 who was a threat to blow the whistle on a US covert operation that involved running cocaine into Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, CA. 

     This covert operation used CIA proprietary C-130s with payloads exceeding 10,000 pounds; that's more than 5 tons of white powder on return trips from Central America.  If you wanted to know where the crack cocaine epidemic came from, you don't have to look any further. 

     The source of this information was Gene Wheaton, a former Marine and retired Army warrant officer with years of experience in criminal investigation, who passed away on December 31, 2015.

     For me, one of the most outrageous aspect of Wheaton’s story is the existence of a government assassination team whose mission is to murder US military officers who are a threat to blow the whistle on an illegal covert operations. No trial; just a bullet in the head; a hanging in the BOQ. 

     Gene Wheaton was one of the key figures in exposing the Iran Contra Scandal. He was interviewed by Matt Ehling about this in January 2002. The full interview can be found here:

This stuff goes back to the scandals of the 70s... of Watergate and Richard Helms, the CIA director, being convicted by Congress of lying to Congress, of Ted Shackley and Tom Clines and Dick Secord and a group of them being forced into retirement as a result of the scandal over Edmond P. Wilson’s training of Libyan terrorists in conjunction with these guys, and moving C-4 explosives to Libya. They decided way back when, ‘75-’76, during the Pike and Church Committee hearings, that the Congress was their enemy. They felt that the government had betrayed them and that they were the real heroes in this country and that the government became their enemy. In the late 70s, in fact, after Gerry Ford lost the election in ’76 to Jimmy Carter, and then these guys became exposed by Stansfield Turner and crowd for whatever reason... there were different factions involved in all this stuff, and power plays... Ted Shackley and Vernon Walters and Frank Carlucci and Ving West and a group of these guys used to have park-bench meetings in the late 70s in McClean, Virginia so nobody could overhear they conversations. They basically said, "With our expertise at placing dictators in power," I’m almost quoting verbatim one of their comments, "why don’t we treat the United States like the world’s biggest banana republic and take it over?" And the first thing they had to do was to get their man in the White House, and that was George Bush."

 Reagan never really was the president. He was the front man. They selected a guy that had charisma, who was popular, and just a good old boy, but they got George Bush in there to actually run the White House. They’d let Ronald Reagan and Nancy out of the closet and let them make a speech and run them up the flagpole and salute them and put them back in the closet while these spooks ran the White House. They made sure that George Bush was the chairman of each of the critical committees involving these covert operations things. One of them was the Vice President’s Task Force On Combating Terrorism. They got Bush in as the head of the vice president’s task force on narcotics, the South Florida Task Force, so that they could place people in DEA and in the Pentagon and in customs to run interference for them in these large-scale international narcotics and movement of narcotics money cases. They got Bush in as the chairman of the committee to deregulate the Savings and Loans in ’83 so they could deregulate the Savings and Loans, so that they would be so loosely structured that they could steal 400, 500 billion dollars of what amounted to the taxpayers’ money out of these Savings and Loans and then bail them out. They got hit twice: they stole the money out of the Savings and Loans, and then they sold the Savings and Loans right back to the same guys, and then the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation -- the taxpayers money -- paid for bailing out the Savings and Loans that they stole the money from ... and they ran the whole operation, and Bush was the de facto president even before the ‘88 election when he became president. 

See, when Harry Truman signed the National Security Act creating the CIA, he specifically stated in that act that they could not have any police powers. And they could not operate domestically in the United States, because he feared a secret police coup. By creeping in a little at a time, that coup has taken place. 

This crowd really believes that the unwashed masses are ignorant, that we are people who are not capable of governing ourselves, that we need this elitist group to control the country, and the world -- these guys have expanded. They look at the United States not as a country, not in any kind of patriotic mode now, but they look on it as a state within a world that they control. And that’s this attitude that they have. They’re not unlike any other megalomaniac in the world. They’re nutty as fruitcake, but they’ve got distinguished gray hair, three-piece dark suits and they carry briefcases, and they’ll stand up and make speeches just as articulate as anybody in the world, but they don’t socialize and function outside their own little clique. My experience with them is that they could be certified as criminally insane and put away in a rubber room and have the key thrown away. That’s how dangerous they are. But they’re powerful, and they’re educated. And that makes them twice as dangerous. And that’s basically what’s running the world right now. 

If I had not been part of this, and hadn’t seen it first hand, I would not believe a word I’m saying. You couldn’t convince me that something like this -- and the American people will not believe it. Because you can’t get the average citizen . . . I’ve talked to judges and lawyers who have invited me in to talk to them. Some of them really patriotic concerned people. It turns them off, because it changes their entire life experience, and the reason that they have existed, and the things they have believed in all their life if you tell them this. 

I have sat on the banks of the Potomac in restaurants with 75 and 80-year-old retired CIA people and retired generals, West Point graduates, honorable people ... these old men have sat with tears in their eyes and told me that, "Gene, what you’re into, you understand it more than we did, and it’s absolutely true, but it’s just so big you can’t do anything about it." I guess if I believed that, I’d go off to some South Sea island and drink a few Cuba Libres laying in the sand or something, but somebody has to keep charging in there, you know. The biggest chink in their armor – and it would take somebody smarter than me to figure out how to exploit it -- is their insecurity. They are afraid of a peasant with a pitchfork. And the reason they react so strongly and violently against anybody who opposes them, is because they’re afraid someone will grab a thread and unravel it, and their whole uniform will come unraveled. 

The only way I can think of to get this thing exposed, would be to coordinate with all of the different independent small newspapers and radio stations in the United States -- and television networks -- and get them to start blasting this thing -- and some universities -- because the major media’s not going to do anything about it.

Marines Blamed Others for TCE Plume

I don’t believe in ghosts. If I ran into one or two, maybe I’d change my mind. The stories of lights in the former El Toro control tower after the power was cut off decades ago may be just someone’s wild imagination or I guess if you believe in paranormal activity, maybe the ghosts of Marines who served on the base and returned to haunt the place.  If ghosts do exist, they couldn’t have picked a better place to haunt.    

 

 

 

In 1985, the Orange County Water District (OCWD) found two TCE contaminated agricultural wells off the base and one on the base; the one on the base was Irvine Company Well No. 55, just outside of the TCE’s plume footprint, northwest of Runway 7L. The two Irvine Company wells off base were located 7,000 and 2,000 feet west of the base. 

OCWD looked to El Toro as the source of the contamination. TCE had been used on the base for decades; the gradient from El Toro pointed to the base as the most likely source of the contamination. 

The Marine Corps noted for their valor in battle and grit to defend our country against all enemies did the unthinkable; they blinked, denied the obvious and blamed the contamination on the Irvine Company, the owner of the agricultural wells. We don’t know if pressure came from Headquarters Marine Corps but even if it did that should not have mattered.  To deny the obvious and then blame another party for something you did was definitely unworthy of the high moral standards ascribed to by the Corps.  The fight in Southern California went on for years until a lawsuit 16 years later forced the Navy to accept responsibility for the plume. The repercussions of this fight would cost the federal government millions in remediation cost, result in El Toro earning ignominious Superfund status, the transfer of the 3^rd Marine Aircraft Wing to Miramar, base closure in July 1999, and the sale of most of the base to a real estate joint venture in 2005. 

 

 

El Toro used huge quantities of TCE for decades without any environmental controls to protect contamination of the soil and groundwater in accordance with practices followed by many others.  TCE was used throughout the military services and industry; it was an excellent metal degreaser.  Much of TCE environmental contamination of soil and groundwater was done before the EPA (1970), the Safe Water Drinking Act (1974) and the Love Canal tragedy (1978).  U.S. production of TCE reached a peak of 600 million pounds per year in 1970, falling to 100 million pounds by 2000 and continues to fall today.

We don’t know the volume of TCE and other organic solvents usage at El Toro.  The EPA reported that El Toro kept no usage records on TCE. Engineers can argue over the volume, but there’s no doubt that based on several miles of the TCE plume spreading into Orange County, El Toro used a great deal of it over several decades. TCE and other chlorinated solvents such as PCE, and 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA) were used in maintenance activities in Hangar 296 and 297 and elsewhere on the base.  Aircraft washing typically used detergents and PD-680 (Stoddard Solvent – a petroleum hydrocarbon distillate), according to the Navy. The Navy claimed aircraft washings used organic solvents but only on an exception basis. [i]  

PES Environmental, Inc. performed an independent technical evaluation in 2000 on behalf of the city of Irvine. The evaluation reported that greater quantities of organic solvents were used outside areas evaluated by the Navy and questioned the southwest quadrant of the base as the sole source of the regional groundwater contamination. The Navy disputed the PES Environmental study. There’s no dispute that a great deal of TCE and other organic solvents at El Toro went into the ground and over time seeped into the aquifer.[ii] But, El Toro fought state and local regulatory authorities for years over ownership of the TCE plume since the polluter had to pay millions for the remediation costs. 

In July 1987, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board ordered the Marine Corps to investigate the source of the contamination and clean-up the wells.  The reaction of the Marine Corps was to vehemently deny any responsibility for TCE contamination of wells.  Captain S. R. Holm replied to the order, "There does not seem to be any substantiation for the conclusion that the contamination does in fact come from this air station.” 

Demonstrating an incredible amount of hubris, Captain Holm told the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board that the Marine Corps would clean up the well on base property but the Irvine Company should bear the costs of "constructing wells to monitor the contamination [off-base] since virtually all of it is underneath the company's land." 

Frustrated over the Marine Corps’ refusal to accept responsibility for the TCE plume, state officials threaten to sue.  An Orange County Register news story of August 29, 1987, “State Water Officials Threaten to Sue Marines over Contaminated Wells,” quoted James Reilly, Director of Water Quality for OCWD, "They don't want to do anything until they study the thing to death. This isn't the first time that the water board has struggled with the Marines."

The primary source of the TCE plume was traced by the Navy and EPA to two huge maintenance hangars in the southwest quadrant of the base.  The two hangars were over 400,000 square feet in area.  The official reports from both the Navy and EPA state that El Toro stopped using TCE .in the mid-1970s.  Don’t believe it.

TCE was just too good of a degreaser.  Marine veterans reported to Salem-News that TCE continued to be used until the base closed in 1999 long after its use was no longer authorized.  Steps were taken hide its use from others. TCE drums were buried on the base to keep them from the eyes of the Marine Corps Inspector General.  The Navy was informed of this practice but no efforts were made to locate and remove the toxic chemicals rotting in their steel coffins.  Some of the Marines who used TCE without face masks and protective clothing would pay a terrible price in debilitating cancers and premature deaths.  The government’s response to the health effects of those who were exposed to this carcinogen was to close their eyes and look the other way.   

 

Cocaine Airlines

              The use of former military aircraft to fly cocaine into US military bases avoided US Customs and arrest by DEA agents.  It was the perfect scam.  Aircraft loaded with cocaine flew over the border with government transponder codes allowing them to avoid interference from US Customs, landed at secured US military bases; the deadly cocaine was transported off the bases, processed into crack cocaine, sold on the streets, causing the deaths of thousands in the 1980s and 1990s.

 Lockheed C-130A/Es and P3As aircraft were swapped for outdated C-119s, transferred from the Defense Department to the Department of Agriculture for use in firefighting and found their way to CIA proprietary airlines.  These aircraft were used to ferry supplies and weapons to Central America and cocaine into the US. This was a covert military operation used to fund the right wing Nicaraguan Contras when Congress prohibited the use of appropriated funds to support the Contra War and the Reagan Administration turned to private parties, friendly countries and narcotics to fund an unpopular war.   

The Reagan Administration made no secret about their support of the Contras and their opposition to the Sandinistas.  This was not the 1930s, the US couldn’t invade Nicaragua and overthrow the government but the administration seized on an opportunity to support covert actions against Nicaragua.  There was no need to put US boots on the ground in Nicaragua when the Contras could be supported with weapons and supplies to do the job. 

Formed in 1981 to resist the Sandinistas, the Contras were composed of ex-guardsmen of the National Guard (Guardia Nacional); Nicaraguans who had supported the revolution but felt betrayed by the Sandinista government; and Nicaraguans who opposed the Sandinistas' increasingly socialistic, anti-democratic regime.

The Boland Amendments, named after U.S. Representative Edward Boland who authored them from 1982 to 1984, outlawed military assistance to the Contras for the purpose of overthrowing the Nicaraguan government.  The restriction prevented the use of appropriated funds, but the administration, using the President’s National Security Council (NSC) found a way around the law. They attempted to circumvent Congress by using the profits from the sales of weapons to Iran (in exchange for the release of Americans held captive in Lebanon), private donations from wealthy benefiters, ‘gifts’ from foreign governments and the sale of illegal drugs by the Contras in the US.  Supplies were air dropped to Contras in Nicaragua.  A connection to the NSC and the White House was made when a Southern Air Transport C-123K aircraft was shot down on a resupply mission in Nicaragua in October 1986.

On October 5, 1986, a Fairchild C-123K dropping supplies over Southern Nicaragua is shot down by the Sandinistas.  Eugene Hasenfus, a 45 year old cargo handler and former Marine, is the sole survivor.  Against orders, he was wearing a parachute when the aircraft was hit.  It saved his life.  There were no other survivors.  The ‘cat is literally out of the bag.’  The media is all over the story.  Hasenfus’ capture and photo is published in newspapers across the US.  President Reagan fires North from the NSC in November 1986. 

The Point Man for Iran/Contra

Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was point man for Iran-Contra, involved in negotiations with the Iranians, shipments of TOWs and Hawk missiles to Iran used in the trade of arms-for-hostages and diversion of funds from the sale of arms to the Contras, keeping the Contras  supplied with weapons in violation of the Boland Amendments.  His testimony to Congress was riveting, drawing millions of viewers away from the “Soaps” on TV.  Some Marines were angry because he wore his Marine Corps greens at the hearings when he was on assignment from the Corps to the NSC and not taking orders from the Corps.  Even those who think he’s a liar had to be impressed with his composure and responses to aggressive questioning.  His boyish good looks charmed millions of viewers.  There’s no question that North was a dedicated, talented, and successful salesman for the Reagan administration at least until the Fairchild C-123K was shot out of the air over Nicaragua.  

 Before they could be impounded, North took his notebooks (2,848 pages of daily notes from September 1984 through November 1986) from the While House after he was fired from the NSC staff by President Reagan in November 1986. 

North turned the notebooks over to his lawyer who asserted his Fifth Amendment Rights when the notebooks were requested by the Senate’s Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations (the Subcommittee).  North or his attorney censored 1,269 pages of the notebooks before turning them over to Kerry’s staff for review in December 1987, according to the Subcommittee.  Congress granted North immunity but he still objected to handing over the full notebooks.  The Subcommittee concluded that the deletions in the notebooks made it difficult to determine the full extent of “narcotics trafficking.” [1]

Despite the deletions and refusals to hand over all of the notebooks in the possession of North (now a former NSC employee whose classification clearance had been terminated), the White House’s position was that the notebooks were “federal property and subject to classification at the highest level.”  Some of the entries in North’s notebooks found by the Subcommittee to be related to narcotics include: 

ü  May 12, 1984…contract indicates that Gustavo is involved w/drugs (Q0266)  

ü  June 26, 1984, DEA—followed by two blocks of text deleted by North (Q0349)

ü  June 27, 1984, Drug Case—DEA program on controlling cocaine—Ether cutoff—Columbians readjusting—possible negotiations to move refining effort to Nicaragua—Pablo Escobar—Columbian drug czar—Informant (Pilot) is indicted criminal—Carlos Ledher—Freddy Vaughn (Q0354)

ü  July 9, 1984, Call from Claridge—Call Michael re Narco Issue—RIG at 1000 Tomorrow—(Q0384)

ü  DEA Miami—Pilot went talked to Vaughn—wanted A/C to go to Bolivia to p/u paste—want A/C to p/u 1500 kilos—Bud to meet w/Group (Q0385)

ü  July 12, 1984, Gen Gorman—Include Drug Case (Q0400)

ü  Call from Johnstone—(While House deletion) leak on Drug (Q0402)

ü  July 17, 1984, Call to Frank M—Bud Mullins Re—leak on DEA piece—Carlton Turner (Q0418)

ü  Call from Johnstone—McManus, LA Times—says/NSC source claims W.H. has pictures of Borge leading cocaine in Nic (Q0416)

ü  July 20, 1984, Call from Clarridge—Alfredo Ceasar Re Drugs-Borge/Owen leave Hull alone (Deletions)/Los Brasiles Air Field—Owen off Hull (Q0426)

ü  July 27, 1984, Clarridge—(Block of White House deleted text follows)—Arturo Cruz, Jr.—Get Alfred Caesar on Drugs (Q0450)

ü  July 31, 1984, --Finance:  Libya—Cuba/Bloc Countries—Drugs…Pablo Escobar/Fredric Vaughn (Q0460)

ü  July 31, 1984, Staff queries re (White House deletions) role in DEA operations in Nicaragua (Q0461)

ü  December 21, 1984, Call from Clarridge:  Ferch (White House deletion)—Tambs—Costa Rica—Felix Rodriquez close to (White House deletion)—not assoc.  W/Villoldo—Bay of Pigs—No drugs (Q0922)

ü  January 14. 1985, Bob Owens—John Hull—no drug connection—Believes (Q0977)

ü  July 12, 1985, $14 million to finance came from drugs (Q1039) [2]

In 1988, for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, North was charged with sixteen felonies, convicted on three felonies (accepting an illegal gratuity; aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry; and ordering the destruction of documents).   He was sentenced to a three-year suspended prison term, two years' probation, $150,000 in fines, and 1,200 hours community service. North's convictions were vacated, after the appeals court found that witnesses in his trial might have been affected by his immunized Congressional testimony.

North didn’t have the authority to pull this off on his own. He reported to National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and Annapolis graduate, and then to his successor, Vice Admiral John M. Poindexter.  On paper Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was the deputy director of political-military affairs.  The facts support that North was the point man on Iran-Contra.  He was literally all over the map, negotiating with the Iranians for what amounted to arms for hostages deal with the mark-up over costs going into secret bank accounts to purchase weapons and supplies for the Contras in Central America. 

Was Lt. Colonel North a scapegoat, taking the hit for others higher in the government? Probably and it worked, too.  George H.W. Bush had total control over the intelligence apparatus of the US government.  Bush and North had to know about the operation to fly cocaine into US military bases; they just looked the other way. If North was a scapegoat, it didn’t hurt him financially; he didn’t go to jail; he’s drawing his Marine Corps retirement pay; making bucks from book sales and TV appearances and life has been good to him.  Not bad for someone who could have spent much of his life in Federal prison. You can argue whether supporting the Contras was good or bad for the US. However, no one would disagree that the shipment of drugs into the US on the same aircraft that delivered weapons to the Contras was anything but destructive.  Like many others, North just chose to look the other way. The objective was to get the hostages out of the Middle East and bring down the Sandinista government.  If the Contras were dealing in illegal drugs, then that was somebody else’s problem.  

Those in the administration who knowingly turned the other eye to the illegal drugs would have faced serious jail terms and not just ‘slaps on the wrists’ handed out by the judicial system. The revelation that US military bases and personnel were used to support the Contras’ supplies of weapons and drugs is not widely known and disputed by those who served in the Reagan administration.  Those involved in these activities include the CIA, the NSC, the Pentagon, and CIA proprietary airlines and their crews.

The sale of arms to Iran and the transfer of weapons to the Contras were activities not approved by Congress and in violation of Federal laws.  Besides Lieutenant Colonel North, a few of the key players of Iran-Contra Affair include William Casey, Admiral John Poindexter, Robert McFarlane, Elliott Abrams, Duane Clarridge, Alan Fiers, Clair George, and Caspar Weinberger. However, if this were a play, top billing would go to North, who with his Marine Corps dress greens and boyish charms, claimed the attention of millions of Americans in 1987 during the Iran-Contra hearings. The flights of unmarked C-130s into El Toro did not go unobserved. 

There’s no way that civilians would have access to the El Toro without the knowledge and consent of Marine Corps leadership.  The unmarked C-130s unloaded their drug cargo in the early morning hours when everyone except for duty watches was asleep. The long-haired civilians who off-loaded the drugs had to be CIA contract employees or Contras.  But, you couldn’t just drive onto the base.  El Toro’s Marine sentries would challenge any vehicle without a decal or pass.  Occupants were subject to identity checks.  Marines with short hair might get by without showing their military IDs, if their vehicle had a military decal, but long hair civilians in a vehicle without a decal or approved pass would be stopped by the MPs.  And, the aircraft loaded with weapons and illegal drugs couldn’t enter and leave the US without clearance from US Customs and, at the very least, the tacit approval of the DEA and CIA.

Robert Tosh Plumlee, CIA Pilot

The story of the use of former military aircraft to ferrying weapons and narcotics was told to us by William Robert Plumlee who blew the whistle to Congress on the illegal operations and others.

Plumlee was a long time contract CIA pilot; put his life on the line to tell government officials about illegal narcotrafficking of flights into MCAS El Toro and other military bases.  Some listened; others didn’t.  Plumlee’s Colorado home was burned to the ground, he was shot at while driving his pick-up truck and beaten-up with a warning to shut-up or else.   Plumlee wasn’t deterred.[3]

Plumlee was born in Panama City, Florida, on November 25, 1937.  He enlisted in the Army in 1954 and was assigned to military specialized operations at Fort Bliss, Texas in April 1954.  He used the Korean War GI bill to learn to fly. The CIA recruited Plumlee to fly for them; the government made good use of his exceptional flying skills. 

Plumlee was the co-pilot in a covert flight from Panama in March 1983 where a DC-3 was shot up with .50 caliber machine guns but managed to make the 3 hours flight and still land in one piece at a secret airstrip at Santa Elena, Costa Rica.

Robert Tosh Plumlee in the 1980s 

Plumlee was interviewed by San Diego journalist Neal Matthews for his story of the hair raising flight, “I Ran Drugs for Uncle Sam.” The story was published in The San Diego Reader on April 5, 1990 and reprinted in the Phoenix Journal Express in May 1991.

Matthews’ story includes a map with notations by Plumlee of landing fields at the Delgado Ranch, a few miles south of San Felipe, Mexico; an airstrip on the Pacific coast, just outside of Cabe San Lucas; and drop points in the Anza-Borrego, Twenty-nine Palms, and the old Patton bombing range east of the Salton Sea.  It would be hard to make this stuff up.  Plumlee is the real thing; he’s the proverbial cat with nine lives.

 

 

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[1] North turned the notebooks over to his lawyer who asserted his Fifth Amendment Rights when the notebooks were requested by the Senate’s Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations (the Subcommittee):  Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy Report, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and international Operations, Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, December 1988, pg. 145.

[2] Entries in North’s notebooks found to be related to narcotics: Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy Report, op. cit, pg 146-147.

[3] Plumlee put his life on the line to tell government officials about illegal narcotrafficking supported by flights. As one of the civilian pilots who ran weapons for the US government in the 1980s, Tosh Plumlee said that he made numerous operationally approved trips to Latin America; trips that he described as "sanctioned drug interdiction operations."  See Neal Matthews, “I Flew Drugs for Uncle Sam,” San Diego’s Weekly Reader, April 5, 1990.