Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press by Alexander Cockburn, Jeffrey St. Clair Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press
Book Review: Section on Mafia is based on Pantaleone and is wrong.
Summary: 1 Stars
I would suggest that the authors read more current and accurate history on relationship between Mr. Luciano and the U.S. Government. Their historical analysis is dependent on Mr. Pantaleone's fabricated history of the relationship between the U.S. Government and the allegedly resurgent Mafia.Most recent symposium held at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut (April 1998) clearly outlined the fact that the attempts to link Luciano with OSS Secret Intelligence operations in Italy were rejected out of hand by Max Corvo, Chief of Operations for OSS, SI in Italy prior to any landings in Sicily.
Pantaleone's statements which have appeared in print and in televised media have taken on a life, all be it, an inaccurate one, of their own. For the authors to reprint this tripe as if it were fact creates serious doubt as to the validity of their other work.
A simple examination of their book indicates that they are not familiar with the American military campaign in Sicily. The reality of that situation is that the OSS Secret Intelligence operation landed three days after the main forces had already been on the island. Patton's Army did not need help from Don Calogero Vizzini, even if he were in a position to assist (which he was not) and the entire comedy described by Pantaleone of the yellow flag dropped from the airplane to initiate a Mafia supported Sicilian uprising is laughable to say the least.
The post war politics on the island of Sicily have lent themselves to the trashing of the U.S. Government by left wing politicians for the alleged U.S. Government plan to have the Mafia established as the primary political force on the island. No serious proof has ever been offered that anyone of any substance made this policy decision in Washington, nor has it ever been substantiated that such activity took place in Italy under the direction of the State Department or even secretly by the CIA.
It has been clearly established, with documented proof that Mr. Luciano was able to make a deal with U.S. Naval Intelligence to somehow supply assistance in the guarding of U.S. harbors from alien sabotage during the war. Mr. Luciano got the better part of the bargain.
Mr. Luciano did not have any seriously documented impact on the war in Italy from July of 1943 to its conclusion in April 1945.
As to allegations raised by the authors relative to Max Corvo's contacts with the Mafia they are merely a rehashing of a large volume of historical tripe which has been able to gain credence as a result of multiple levels of sloppy historians repeating the same garbage to each other over the years.
I suggest that the authors read the most current writing of former partisan Vittoio Gozzer in the Spring 1999 edition (Volume 4, Number 1) of theJournal of Modern Italian Studies. This would give them a more serious appreciation of the real work that was accomplished by Corvo and the other Americans who worked diligently from 1941 until the conclusion of hostilities in 1945 as volunteers in the U.S. Army.
They can also really read Corvo's autobiographical history of OSS, S.I. operations in Italy published by Praeger under the title "The OSS in Italy" which they carry in their bibliography but obviously did not read at all.
As for Mr. Pantaleone's allegations, the authors should try and substantiate, from the American Army side of the story, even one of the elements which he has printed as fact. They will be surprised to find that there is no record of any flight of the type he suggests nor is there any record of who the American soldiers were who were supposed to have met with Don Calogero Vizzini. That is because they did not exist then and are merely a fabrication created from whole fabric by Mr. Pantaleone.
Book Review: Engaging
Summary: 3 Stars
Dark Alliance this is not. Dark Alliance was good in that Webb attributed his sources throughout the text. These authors chose to bunch their sources as endnotes concluding each chapter. Bad move. Perhaps in a later edition they should correct this (i.e., use footnotes instead). The way they did it makes it read like the National Enquirer in places. Otherwise, I feel the book continues an important discussion regarding the CIA & the role gov't corruption plays in our society.Book Review: Extremely fascinating, well crafted...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an extremely fascinating, well crafted synthesis of information on the role of the CIA in collaboration with many of the most brutal regimes in modern history. Cockburn and St. Clair also introduce new material to enhance the story from their newsletter COUNTERPUNCH. Anyone who cares about the role of the United States in world affairs and the often horrible consequences that arise from the US's actions will benefit by reading this book. One caveat: The hardcover Verso version is rife with typos, hopefully this will be resolved by the time the paperback version appears.Book Review: An overview of some outstanding investigative journalism
Summary: 5 Stars
The book examines in exhaustive detail suggested links between the CIA and drug trafficking networks. One volume tells many stories: the Agency's support for the mujadin's heroin empire in Afganistan, the drug tests of MKULTRA, crack money for the contras, CIA complicity with Nazi scientists and South American cocaine kings, the fraud of the "War On Drugs" in Mexico which used U.S. funds to massacre Chiapas peasants, and the entire history of CIA alliances with Opium bosses in Southeast Asia. "Whiteout" is a rare combination of exhaustive documentation and a gripping read. The authors also hold the mainstream press to account for denying the CIA's actions in the face of overwhelming evidence and vilifying those reporters bold enough tell the tale.
Book Review: a chilling history of the CIA's history of drug trafficking
Summary: 5 Stars
The CIA would never, ever, knowingly collaborate with drug traffickers, right? Wrong, say Cockburn and St. Clair, and then go on to demolish, in 400 well documented pages, all the flimsy denials offered up by the Agency and its apologists. From dealings with the gangster Lucky Luciano half a century ago and up through the Clinton years, White Out offers a definitive history of the CIA's collusion with some of the world's nastiest drug dealers. After reading this book, it's hard to see how the press is still so willing to swallow CIA denials of its involvement in the drug trade.