The name "Iran-Contra", while capturing two aspects of what went on, nevertheless omits the weapons, the hostages and the drugs. Most definitely the drugs. Is this just 'how it happened', or was this a carefully worked out label designed to obscure what went on? As usual, no easy answers, but a healthy diet of food for thought.

Our main piece is the first hand testimony from Beau Abbott about the business of flying drug loads of cocaine internationally. His specialty was small planes for short field landings. He provides a bunch of interesting names and details, and sketches out a few larger pictures, while also narrating his development from a naive young patriot who was ready and willing to be employed to whatever ends his handlers wanted (his pilots training, for example, was provided by the DEA) to a more worldly wise one with courage to tell them he wanted 'out'. He tells us that things did not go to plan; the cache of documents he had collected provided no insurance - it resulted only in the murder of his Swedish wife, some of his other friends were also murdered and he narrowly survived a similar fate by unknown assailants. His testimony of being charged with drug smuggling is an interesting adjunct to episode 715 on general patterns in whistleblower cases. His testimony lacks corroborating evidence - all we have is his word for it - but I felt compelled to help give it a wider audience.

In our second hour, we introduce Iran Contra with a couple of minutes of retrospective by Russia Today, which says nothing about drug trafficking. We conclude the show with another 20th century recording - a vintage episode of Radio Free America - which provides commentary on the assassination of Barry Seal (mentioned by Beau Abbott), and other drug smuggling connections to the Iran Contra scandal. The fact that the drugs angle of Iran Contra was being commented upon even while the hearings were being carried out is evidence of just how effectively the Deep State employed a combination of diversionary tactics and control of the media/governmental 'investigations' to erase drug smuggling from people's consciousness - notwithstanding exemplary documentation by Gary Webb.

Thanks to Radio Free America for the discussion we played in Hour#2 - which I downloaded from the spitfire list, a huge archive of material on related topics.