# Let's take a moment to revisit this cartoon clip



## IncredulousP (Dec 11, 2019)

American Dad Season 3 Episode 15


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## leon315 (Dec 11, 2019)

wow, a tipical antisocialism/communism propaganda video which promotes capitalism.


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## IncredulousP (Dec 11, 2019)

leon315 said:


> wow, a tipical antisocialism/communism propaganda video which promotes capitalism.


what?


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## leon315 (Dec 11, 2019)

IncredulousP said:


> what?


Dude, it's hard to take AD seriously.


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## leon315 (Dec 11, 2019)

anyway, it's a very educational video anyway!


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## notimp (Dec 11, 2019)

Peter Dale Scott, Jonathan Marshall: Cocaine Politics. Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America. University of California Press, Los Angeles 1998

(First entry on Wikipedia.  see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_involvement_in_Contra_cocaine_trafficking )

Also - I have to post this again. Its mandatory. 


Yay pop culture references!  (Also yay for simple language used in the video in the OP.)
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As for discussing the video - I really have not much to add. I've not read up on the history of that incidence actually.
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Pretty much all that I can say on that matter is that central/south american recent history is a treasure trove for stories similar to this one, because you had a bunch of american operations that failed there - from the 80s onward.

And yes there are such things as black budgets. (Budgets for certain agencies that get put together without congressional oversight). Afaik thats done not to leave too much of a paper trail. Or in this case to greenlight an operation that the CIA and the president knew would not be greenlit by congress at the time.

Financing those through drug sales within the US - is alledged in this case. You'll hear more commonly about weapon trades that are done "not in the open". Usually as 'weapons declared for A' ended up in B's possession (so with potential deniability baked in), which was also a part of the financing flow in this case.

Oh, and speaking about financing flow - US currently is the only (?) nation in the world, that can map international finance flows (the ones one the up and up) pretty thoroughly. So this is also how you catch operations like this one normally. That is if money isn't laundered through f.e. drug trafficing (like in this case).

edit We could also talk about the practice how to take over a (smaller) developing world country.  So first you send in CIA, then you manufacture or finance opposition, then train them, then you manufacture incident for the public to be mad about. Then your opposition tries to garner public support... *half a year later* and you produce a coup. For coup to sustain, you usually also have to be in agreement with some of the local elites, and... 

Or you train the military forces of third world country in a US training facility. Make them part of transnational networks at age 25+  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdel_Fattah_el-Sisi

Or you finance university courses.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Gigi_Ibrahim_at_the_2011_Egyptian_protests.jpg (Gigi Ibrahim is on record (Comedy Central, Daily Show interview) saying that she attended a Kairo international university course on 'how to better topple regime' prior to becoming an egypt spring activist, that apparrently was held through a US network.)

Or you finance a local warlord later to become dictator.
(See: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/world/asia/05afghan.html f.e.)

edit: Or you build designated leaders abroad, to later become political leaders.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malala_Yousafzai (Watch this: https://emirateswoman.com/malala-yousafzai-david-letterman/)


Why drugs?

It should actually be an economy thing. So those countries are poor. Whats the most profitable crop you can plant? Bingo. So for Afghanistan f.e. there have been reports that if you destroy their poppy trade, you ruin their economy (country becomes unstable). So if you want to launder significant amounts of money, and a countries main (or at least significant) export is cocaine - some Jack at a three letter agency apparently gets ideas.. 

This then conflicts with public morals (of course, I'm with you on this  ). And someone has to take the blame. In the public this is then produced as a "random rogue agent  going too far" in an isolated case. Lets hope, that in this case it really is. 

How does this play into laws (legal system)?

What laws? Three letter agencies in that field are set up as extralegal entities. They are under congressional oversight (usually a smaller committee that gets briefed under a secrecy clause).

Why do you want "less paper trail" on some of those initiatives? Well, public opinion - mostly. Pesky journalists and their research. Or congressional approval would take too long, or... The vast majority of those agencies financing actually still happens through congress (tax payers money), so at least there is accountability on the institutional level. Just not on every project it seems.


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