Bruce Hemmings and “The Enterprise”
Interesting quote in Whitney Webbs book
“Who are these people? They are the group that is popularly called the Enterprise. They are in and outside [the] CIA. They are mostly Right Wing Republicans, but you will find a mix of Democrats, mercenaries, ex officio Mafia and opportunists within the group. They are CEOs, they are bankers, they are presidents, they own airlines, they own national television networks.
They own six of the seven video documentary companies of Washington, DC and they do not give a damn about the law or the Constitution or the Congress or the Oversight committees except as something to be subverted and character assassination, and planted stories, the incomplete thought and sentence. They burn and shred files if caught, they commit perjury, and when caught they have guaranteed sinecures with large US corporations. If you let them, they will take over not only [the] CIA but the entire government and the world, cutting off dissent, free speech, a free media, and they will cut a deal with anyone, from [the] Mafia to Saddam Hussein, if it means more power and money.
They stole $600 billion from the S & L’s and then diverted our attention to the Iraqis. They are ripping off America at a rate never before seen in history. They flooded our country with drugs from Central America during the 1980s, cut deals with Haro in Mexico, Noriega in Panama, and the Medillin and Cali cartels, and Castro, and recently the Red Mafia in the KGB. They ruin their detractors and they fear the truth. If they can, they will blackmail you. Sex, drugs, deals, whatever it takes.”
–Former CIA officer and Iran-Contra whistleblower Bruce Hemmings, circa 1990
Unfortunately no source is listed that I could see.
I found another mention of Hemmings here
https://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg81239.html
In December 1990, Bruce Hemmings, a retired CIA senior operations offcer who worked on the Iran desk in 1985, issued several writtenstatements criticizing the CIA's role and cover-up in the Iran-Contra scandal and other misdeeds. In part of
his statement entitled "CIA Gun Running to Iran Goes Back to 1981," Hemmings stated:
"Since at least 1981, a worldwide network of 'free-standing' [i.e., no direct U.S. government ties] companies, including airlines, aviation and military spare parts suppliers, and trading companies, has been utilized by the CIA and the U.S. government to illegally ship arms and military spare parts to Iran and to the Contras. These companies were set up with the approval and knowledge of senior CIA offcials and other senior U.S. government officials and staffed primarily by ex-CIA, ex-FBI and ex-military offcers.
"The companies include Aero Systems, Inc., of Miami, Arrow Air, Aero Systems Pvt. Ltd of Singapore, Hierax of Hong Kong, Pan Aviation in Miami, Merex in North Carolina, Sur International, St. Lucia Airways, Global International Airways, International Air Tours of Nigeria, Continental Shelf Explorations, Inc., Jupiter, Florida, Varicon, Inc., Dane Aviation Supply of Miami, and others, such as Parvus, Safir, International Trading and Investment Guaranty Corp.,Ltd., and Information Security International Inc.
"Through these mechanisms, staffed by ex-intelligence and military officers, the administration and the CIA have been able to circumvent and ignore the legal intelligence mechanisms and Congressional oversight C-130, F4, TOWs and Hawk missile parts were shipped to Iran in violation of the arms embargo and a variety of mechanisms were used, including International Air Tours of Nigeria in August and September 1985, Arrow Air in November 1985, and Global International and Pan Aviation and others going back in 1981."
I cant find the statement when searching CIA Gun Running to Iran Goes Back to 1981. No surprise there, so much is being hidden or disappeared nowadays,
A mainstream reference to Hemmings here
Hemmings was ordered by the CIA to prepare a memo about the incident. When his memo noted that he was advised to tell the FBI not to spread the word, his superiors exploded. A censored version was sent to Congress, Hemmings says
Apparently he died last year, before Mark Middleton and Stephen Hoffenberg. It doesn’t pay to be mentioned in Whitneys book.
https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/22360181/allan-bruce-hemmings
While I trust Whitney, without another source I am afraid it will be hard to convince anyone its a real quote
Yeah this quote was super difficult to track down. It's from a series of affidavits released by former CIA officer Bruce Hemmings, these affidavits only exist in hard copy within the deceased journalist Danny Casalaros personal papers. Here's a link, and the quote can be found on the left-page:
https://archive.org/details/BobBickel-DocumentRegistry-Part4/page/n21/mode/2up