Somehow, Mike Benz has survived this long, even though he has done great damage to the CIA by revealing their tactics and corruption. You couldn't blame him for being concerned that someone hired by the CIA might try to kill him, however. In this post at X, he reads the CIA's Assassination Guide, declassified in 1995.
For years I have been wondering: "Why aren't artists speaking out against the vast censorship we have been experiencing? Where are their songs and movies? It appears that they are subject to the same carrots (propaganda) and sticks (censorship) as the rest of us.
60 Minutes Interview with John Stockwell. Who is John Stockwell? (this is from Grok):
John R. Stockwell (born 1937) is a former CIA officer who became a critic of United States government policies after serving in the agency for 13 years. He managed American involvement in the Angolan Civil War as Chief of the Angola Task Force during the CIA's 1975 covert operations. Born in Angleton, Texas, Stockwell spent part of his childhood in the Belgian Congo due to his father's engineering work. After studying at the University of Texas and serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, he joined the CIA in 1964. His career included roles in three major conflicts: the Congo Crisis, the Vietnam War, and the Angolan War of Independence.Stockwell resigned from the CIA in 1976, citing concerns over the agency's methods and the impact of its operations in Third World countries. He wrote "In Search of Enemies," detailing his experiences and criticisms of CIA activities, which became a bestseller. His other notable works include "The Praetorian Guard" (1991) and "Red Sunset" (1982). He has also been a frequent public speaker on issues related to CIA operations.
Why was USAID funding the production of heroin in Afghanistan?
John Kiriakou, who exposed the CIA and went to prison for it: "I went to Afghanistan to do a study on on the heroin Poppy crop. And I'll tell you, nobody liked it. Afghanistan used to be a net food exporter, and as soon as the US takes over, they're producing 93% of the world's heroin. That's right. I'd like to know how the fuck that happened. I get to Bagram Air Base and I said, I'm gonna need a helicopter to Lashkar. We get down there, and it's a god-awful place, but man, I'm telling you, as far as your eye can see, all there is, is Poppy. So I make an appointment to go to this DEA secret site, and they were like, you're in over your head. "There are very powerful forces that want that Poppy to be cultivated." And I said, "Why? It's 93% of the world's heroin." And they said, "Because almost all of that heroin goes to Iran and to Russia, and we want them to be addicted to heroin. It weakens their societies." I'm writing all this up. And [John] Kerry's like, "We're not we're not publishing that." And I was like, ah, they got to him too."
Mike Benz offers the details and they include connections with USAID:
And more details from Benz, including connections to the innocent-sounding "US Institute for Peace:
"And why is USAID’s network partner, the US Institute of Peace, lobbying the Taliban to keep 95% of the world’s heroin supply flowing while taking $56 million from US taxpayers each year?"
Any rational person following Elon Musk's exploratory surgery of USAID will simultaneously feel a wide range of emotions. It is ugly, thrilling, beautiful, distressing. angering and giving rise to some optimism for the first time in a long while. But the travesty of USAID will be unsurprising to anyone who has studied the sordid history of the CIA and it's connections to USAID (thank you, Professor Mike Benz, for tutoring me). Consider also the findings of the 1975 Church Committee:
George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”