Dale Smith
Platinum Member
This was a conversation between Mike Harari and Buddy Young on a copter flight. Buddy Young was in charge of Clinton's security detail. This is from the memoirs of Chip Tatum...long time CIA employee and whistle blower.
"The general released us and accompanied us to the embassy. When I arrived at the embassy, I was introduced to William Barr, Mike Harari, and Buddy Young. I had met Mr. Young one year prior in Little Rock, Arkansas. Mr. Barr represented himself as an emissary of Vice President Bush, who would be arriving in the future. This was an advance party designed to set up meetings for Vice President Bush. We joined the cocktail party and then accommodations were arranged at a local hotel. I was then asked to join Mr. Barr, Mr. Young, and Mr. Harari at a local German restaurant. I was picked up by the embassy car. Major Felix Rodriguez was in the car when I entered. We met the others for dinner and continued the meeting at the hotel. I was told that Mr. Young and Mr. Harari would fly back to Palmerola with me in the morning.
We departed the following morning with the passengers listed in Item 19 Remarks section of the Department of Defense Flight Plan dated 16 March, 1985.
The following conversation took place between Messrs. Harari and Young during the flight to Palmerola Air Base. The passengers were wearing headsets and speaking over the aircraft intercom system due to the high noise level in the helicopter. As the command pilot, I routinely monitor all conversations on our intercom. I did not advise our passengers that I was listening, or that I was recording the conversation."
Buddy: "Arkansas has the capability to manufacture anything in the area of weapons - and if we don't have it - we'll get it!"
Mike: "How about government controls?"
Buddy: "The Governor's on top of it, and if the feds get nosey - we hear about it and make a call. Then they're called off." He was looking around the countryside and continued, "Why the hell would anyone want to fight for a shit-hole like this?"
Mike: Shaking his head in awe, answered,"What we do has nothing to do with preserving a country's integrity - it's just business, and third world countries see their destiny as defeating borders and expanding. The more of this mentality we can produce - the greater our wealth. We train and we arm - that's our job. And, in return, we get a product far more valuable than the money for a gun. We're paid with product. And we credit top dollar for product."
Buddy: Still looked confused.
Mike: "Look - one gun and 3,000 rounds of ammo is $1,200. A kilo of product is about $1,000. We credit the Contras $1,500 for every kilo. That's top dollar for a kilo of cocaine. It's equivalent to the American K-Mart special - buy four, get one free. On our side - we spend $1,200 for a kilo and sell it for $12,000 to $15,000. Now, that's a profit center. And the market is much greater for the product than for weapons. It's just good business sense - understand?
Buddy: "Damn! So you guys promote wars and revolutions to provide weapons for drugs - we provide the non-numbered parts to change out and we all win. Damn that's good!"
Mike: "It's good when it works - but someone is, how do you say, has his hand in the coffer."
Buddy: Responding on the defensive,"Well, we get our ten percent right off the top and that's plenty. GOFUS can make it go a long way." Mike:"Who is GOFUS?"
Buddy: "Governor Clinton! That's our pet word for him. You know they call the President 'POTUS' for 'President of the United States'. Well, we call Clinton 'GOFUS' for 'Governor of the United States'. He thinks he is anyhow.
Mike: "That's your problem in America. You have no respect for your elected officials. They are more powerful than you think and have ears everywhere. You should heed my words and be loyal to your leaders. Especially when speaking to persons like me. Your remarks indicate a weakness - something our intelligence analysts look for."
Buddy: "Aw hell, Mike. Everybody knows the Clinton's want the White House and will do anything to get it. That's why I'm here instead of someone else. We know about the cocaine - hell! I've picked it up before with Lasater when he was worried about going on Little Rock Air Base to get it."
A new line of conversation ensued. Harari questioned Young about his knowledge of who the 'players' were. He went down a list. He started with 'The Boss - Clinton'. Here's a synopsis of the players according to Young.
Buddy: "Clinton - thinks he's in charge, but he'll only go as far as Casey allows. Me and my staff - we keep the lid on things you know - complaints about night flying - Arkansas people are private folks - they don't like a lot of commotion and Mena just isn't the right place for the operation. It keeps us busy at the shredder - if you know what I mean. Dan the Man (Lasater) - He does magic with the money - between him and Jack Stevens we don't have to worry a bit. Then we got Parks - if there's a problem - he's the man. We call him the Archer - that's the codename that Casey and Colby told us to assign to that position. Finnis oversee's our drop zone. Nash - he's just the boss' 'yes' man. Personally I think he's a mistake! Seal and his guys - I like his attitude "and leave the driving to us!" he said, quoting one of Seal's good ole boy sayings.
Mike: "You like Seal?"
Buddy: "Hell! He's the only one I trust - respect is the word."
Mike: "Do you see much of him?"
Buddy: "Hell, yea. We test drive Clinton's rides before we send 'em on, ya know? (He laughed, grinding his hips.) Say - how much coke do you recon you can make in a week?"
Mike: "One camp can produce 400 keys a week. The others are about half that. But that's just our operation here. We have other sources in various parts of the world. Why do you ask?"
Buddy: "What? Oh, the Governor wanted to know our capacity."
Mike: "Who else is on the team?"
Buddy: "Well, hell, I forgot who I told you about."
Mike ran down the list from memory.
Buddy: "Ok, there's the manufacturers - hell, these two.."
The tape stopped.
Chip Tatum
"The general released us and accompanied us to the embassy. When I arrived at the embassy, I was introduced to William Barr, Mike Harari, and Buddy Young. I had met Mr. Young one year prior in Little Rock, Arkansas. Mr. Barr represented himself as an emissary of Vice President Bush, who would be arriving in the future. This was an advance party designed to set up meetings for Vice President Bush. We joined the cocktail party and then accommodations were arranged at a local hotel. I was then asked to join Mr. Barr, Mr. Young, and Mr. Harari at a local German restaurant. I was picked up by the embassy car. Major Felix Rodriguez was in the car when I entered. We met the others for dinner and continued the meeting at the hotel. I was told that Mr. Young and Mr. Harari would fly back to Palmerola with me in the morning.
We departed the following morning with the passengers listed in Item 19 Remarks section of the Department of Defense Flight Plan dated 16 March, 1985.
The following conversation took place between Messrs. Harari and Young during the flight to Palmerola Air Base. The passengers were wearing headsets and speaking over the aircraft intercom system due to the high noise level in the helicopter. As the command pilot, I routinely monitor all conversations on our intercom. I did not advise our passengers that I was listening, or that I was recording the conversation."
Buddy: "Arkansas has the capability to manufacture anything in the area of weapons - and if we don't have it - we'll get it!"
Mike: "How about government controls?"
Buddy: "The Governor's on top of it, and if the feds get nosey - we hear about it and make a call. Then they're called off." He was looking around the countryside and continued, "Why the hell would anyone want to fight for a shit-hole like this?"
Mike: Shaking his head in awe, answered,"What we do has nothing to do with preserving a country's integrity - it's just business, and third world countries see their destiny as defeating borders and expanding. The more of this mentality we can produce - the greater our wealth. We train and we arm - that's our job. And, in return, we get a product far more valuable than the money for a gun. We're paid with product. And we credit top dollar for product."
Buddy: Still looked confused.
Mike: "Look - one gun and 3,000 rounds of ammo is $1,200. A kilo of product is about $1,000. We credit the Contras $1,500 for every kilo. That's top dollar for a kilo of cocaine. It's equivalent to the American K-Mart special - buy four, get one free. On our side - we spend $1,200 for a kilo and sell it for $12,000 to $15,000. Now, that's a profit center. And the market is much greater for the product than for weapons. It's just good business sense - understand?
Buddy: "Damn! So you guys promote wars and revolutions to provide weapons for drugs - we provide the non-numbered parts to change out and we all win. Damn that's good!"
Mike: "It's good when it works - but someone is, how do you say, has his hand in the coffer."
Buddy: Responding on the defensive,"Well, we get our ten percent right off the top and that's plenty. GOFUS can make it go a long way." Mike:"Who is GOFUS?"
Buddy: "Governor Clinton! That's our pet word for him. You know they call the President 'POTUS' for 'President of the United States'. Well, we call Clinton 'GOFUS' for 'Governor of the United States'. He thinks he is anyhow.
Mike: "That's your problem in America. You have no respect for your elected officials. They are more powerful than you think and have ears everywhere. You should heed my words and be loyal to your leaders. Especially when speaking to persons like me. Your remarks indicate a weakness - something our intelligence analysts look for."
Buddy: "Aw hell, Mike. Everybody knows the Clinton's want the White House and will do anything to get it. That's why I'm here instead of someone else. We know about the cocaine - hell! I've picked it up before with Lasater when he was worried about going on Little Rock Air Base to get it."
A new line of conversation ensued. Harari questioned Young about his knowledge of who the 'players' were. He went down a list. He started with 'The Boss - Clinton'. Here's a synopsis of the players according to Young.
Buddy: "Clinton - thinks he's in charge, but he'll only go as far as Casey allows. Me and my staff - we keep the lid on things you know - complaints about night flying - Arkansas people are private folks - they don't like a lot of commotion and Mena just isn't the right place for the operation. It keeps us busy at the shredder - if you know what I mean. Dan the Man (Lasater) - He does magic with the money - between him and Jack Stevens we don't have to worry a bit. Then we got Parks - if there's a problem - he's the man. We call him the Archer - that's the codename that Casey and Colby told us to assign to that position. Finnis oversee's our drop zone. Nash - he's just the boss' 'yes' man. Personally I think he's a mistake! Seal and his guys - I like his attitude "and leave the driving to us!" he said, quoting one of Seal's good ole boy sayings.
Mike: "You like Seal?"
Buddy: "Hell! He's the only one I trust - respect is the word."
Mike: "Do you see much of him?"
Buddy: "Hell, yea. We test drive Clinton's rides before we send 'em on, ya know? (He laughed, grinding his hips.) Say - how much coke do you recon you can make in a week?"
Mike: "One camp can produce 400 keys a week. The others are about half that. But that's just our operation here. We have other sources in various parts of the world. Why do you ask?"
Buddy: "What? Oh, the Governor wanted to know our capacity."
Mike: "Who else is on the team?"
Buddy: "Well, hell, I forgot who I told you about."
Mike ran down the list from memory.
Buddy: "Ok, there's the manufacturers - hell, these two.."
The tape stopped.
Chip Tatum