It's one of those sleepless Friday nights...I've been surfing the web and reading Wayne Madsen's site. Without commenting on his credibility, I'll say his stories are certainly interesting reads. This time, rather than simply take everything he writes with a grain of salt, I decided to do some research into his sources. Well, one source. I kind of took a "click this link" approach where I started with one footnote, number 91 of 105, and clicked through to my little hearts delight. I was reading an
article about Israeli Art Students and 9/11, simply taking it in, and for some reason I honed in on this nugget:
On October 10, 2001, two Israelis, one a former Israeli Army Colonel and the other a Mossad agent, were arrested in the Mexican Congress with 9mm pistols and dynamite. According to the Mexican Justice Department official web site "the head of Congressional Security Salvador Alarcón verified that the Israelis had in their possession nine hand grenades, sticks of dynamite, detonators, wiring and two 9mm `Glock' automatics." The Israelis were subsequently released after the intervention of the Israeli embassy in Mexico City.[91]
His footnote, #91, led me to this:
[91] "La PGR Informa Sobre La Situación De Los Sujetos Detenidos En La Cámara De Diputados," Justice Department of Mexico, October 12, 2001.
My Spanish is advanced beginner. I simply cut and pasted the title of the Mexican Justice Department report and did a Google search. It came up with 14 links. I clicked on a link that appears to be straight from the Mexican Justice Department, but I clicked through to a translated version. I also scanned the Spanish version. Here is the page I got.
Inside I found this:
740/01 28 882 KILOGRAMS OF NARCOTICS WERE INCINERATED
739/01 27 NARCOTIC DIFFERENT MÀS OF ONE TON ARE INCINERATED
738/01 27 EXPULSION OF AMERICAN NATIONAL ROGER WAYNE OVERSTREET
737/01 26 TO GUARD BY THE STRICT APPLICATION OF THE LAW IS THE UNICO COMMITMENT: RAFAEL MACEDO OF THE SHELL
736/01 26 The PAN-AMERICAN RACE IS UNITED To The FIGHT AGAINST The FARMACODEPENDENCIA
735/01 26 MORE OF 80% OF THE CRIME VICTIMS IT DOES NOT PRESENT/DISPLAY DENUNCIATION: DRA. MARIA OF THE LIGHT FILES MALVIDO
734/01 25 THEY EXPEL FROM NATIONAL TERRITORY TO ITALIAN ANDREA ROSSI
733/01 25 THEY EXERCISE CRIMINAL ACTION AGAINST FIVE ELEMENTS OF THE BAND OF "THE COLMENOS"
732/01 25 THE TERRORISM LEANS IN THE TRANSNATIONAL DELINQUENCY
731/01 24 930 GRAMS OF MARIJUANA SEIZE TWO TONS 304 KILOS
730/01 24 THE PGR GAVE IN EXTRADITION TO THE AMERICAN NATIONAL MICHAEL HENRY WOODWARD
For some unknown, subconscious reason, maybe cause it's Friday, I honed in on the name Michael Henry Woodward. The number "730/01" in bold and italics was a javascript link, you can go to the source page and click on it yourself. I clicked on it and found this (translated using Google), with a photo purportedly of Woodward:
[snip]
It is possible to now mention that in March of 1995 Michael Henry Woodward it agreed with other subjects, prisoners, to initiate the contraband of more than 2.000 pounds of marijuana, with the purpose of distributing it in the United States of America later to wash the illicit gains by an approximated amount of 100.000 dollars. Michael Henry Woodward was given to the U. S. Marshalls in the offices of the delegation of Interpol-Mexico of the Airport the International of this capital, in the presence of personnel of the Main directorate of Protection of the Human rights. The representatives of American justice transferred it to the city of San Antonio, Texas to put it to disposition of the judicial authority that demands it.
I Googled Michael Henry Woodward's name. I received four results. Three appeared to be from the Mexican Justice Deparment/Attorney General at this link. Their homepage translated through Google:
The General Office of the judge advocate general of the Republic is the institution in charge to investigate and to persecute the federal crimes, looking for - at all moment that who have infringed the law, they are sanctioned by the courts of the federation, with respect to its human rights, but also with all firmness and yet rigor. During the present Administration the General Office of the judge advocate general of the Republic has become a modern institution, with effective equipment, responsible and enabled elements that has been known to gain the confidence of the Mexicans.
This site turned out to be the source that Wayne Madsen referenced. More on that in a bit.
Another was from a Mexican technology/manufacturing company called Grupo Condumex. They feature a decent volume of news stories pertaining to Mexico and it seems like a good source of basic information. That link took me here:
Mexico extradites alleged U.S. drug trafficker
Mexico City, Oct 24 (EFE).- Mexico extradited a U.S. citizen accused by U.S. authorities of drug trafficking and money laundering on Wednesday, the Attorney General's Office (PGR) announced.
Michael Henry Woodward was arrested in Dolores Hidalgo, in the central state of Guanajuato, on Sept. 20 with the intention of extraditing him to the United States.
He had been arrested previously in San Antonio, Texas, in March 1995 for drug trafficking and laundering some $100,000.
The PGR said that Woodward was handed over to U.S. officials at Mexico City's international airport. EFE
EFE is a Spanish-language news agency. Here is their English site. Here is their Spanish site. Here is their Wikipedia entry and important information about its founder.
I'm going somewhere. I plugged Michael Henry Woodward's name into a Nexis news search of more than 2,200 sources. I searched for all available dates.
I got nothing.
I searched the same data for "Michael Woodward" and "Mexico." I got 20 hits. None were relevant to this topic.
So my very basic question, which quite frankly grew from drinking too much coffee today and not being on the computer for a few days and wanting to look into Wayne Madsen's sources, which are voluminous, is this:
How much drugs do you have to be accused of smuggling from Mexico to the United States to get any press in this country?
What's really funny, in that very unfunny way, is that there are articles in local papers on a routine basis about people charged with possessing a few grams of cocaine or a pound of marijuana.
Oh, my other question: what happened to Michael Henry Woodward?
From what I have gathered - and anyone who would like to go down this path with me, please do so and inform me if I am lost somewhere - it seems that this Michael Henry Woodward who was arrested - and charged? ever? - for major drug smuggling and money laundering was extradited to the United States from Mexico in Oct. 2001. And not one mention among more than 2,000 sources.
I could speculate, but I won't. I endeavored on this winding road of research simply because I was curious if what they say about Wayne Madsen around here is true. As it turns out, I was never able to substantiate Madsen's information about "the Israelis [having] in their possession nine hand grenades, sticks of dynamite, detonators, wiring and two 9mm `Glock' automatics," because I just didn't go down that route but I did stumble upon this at Grupo Condumex, reported by EFE:
Arrest of two armed men causes turmoil in Mexican Congress
Mexico City, Oct 11 [2001 -- missreporter](EFE).- Two armed men, a Mexican and an Israeli, were arrested inside the Mexican House of Representatives, officials said.
The distraction caused by a demonstration of hundreds of sugar producers allowed the men to enter the building, congressional officials said.
The suspects, arrested Wednesday when they were seen taking photographs, claimed to work for a private security firm, though this information has not yet been confirmed.
The men refused to make any further statements.
The lower house's communications office told the press the men 'were both carrying guns and a case.'
Miguel Garita, the House's legal director, said 'cables and tubes' were found inside the case.
'The legal office of the House of Representatives, suspecting a possible crime, will hand them over to the proper authorities,' Garita told the press. EFE
..for what it's worth.
Well...Happy Friday/Saturday everyone. Sleep well.