Radio show exposes the culture of cover-up in U.S. government, by Bill Conroy

The final interview in the House of Death mass-murder series aired on Pacifica Radio in New York is now available for your listening pleasure at this link.

The show features Sandalio Gonzalez, the former head of DEA’s El Paso field division. Gonzalez is the DEA official who blew the whistle on the U.S. government’s complicity in the mass murder of more than a dozen people in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, just across the border from El Paso.

If you recall, a U.S. government informant, under the watch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents participated in the murders and nearly caused the death of a DEA agent and his family. After exposing these facts through an internal memo written to the head of ICE in El Paso and to U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton in San Antonio, Gonzalez was retaliated against, his career ruined, and the government’s complicity in the murders systematically covered up at highest levels of the U.S. Justice Department. (DEA is part of the Justice Department.)

Narco News has covered the House of Death murders and ensuing cover-up for nearly two years — unearthing hundreds of pages of government documents tracing the path of U.S. government’s deceit.

Tune into the Pacifica Radio show, which is hosted by former DEA agent Mike Levine, and hear the whole story from the source: Gonzalez, a veteran DEA agent who held a number of high-ranking positions in the agency over the course of his 27-year career. Then ask yourself why the cover-up is continuing.

Better yet, ask the new head of ICE, 36-year-old Julie Myers, who claims she is ready for the challenges of her new job, despite charges by critics claiming she is a crony appointment.

Myers was in San Antonio, Texas, yesterday for a press conference, her first public appearance since President Bush put her at the helm of ICE through a recess appointment – a means of circumventing Congressional approval and critics who challenged her qualifications for the post.

But Myers claims her critics are out of line.

From a story in yesterday’s San Antonio Express-News:

In an interview after Friday's news conference, Myers defended her credentials, saying the attacks against her have been unfair.

Before taking over ICE, she was an aide to Bush on personnel issues. She also was assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Commerce Department, overseeing 170 workers and a $25 million budget. She had been Chertoff's chief of staff while he directed the Justice Department's criminal division.

Myers started her career at a private law firm before becoming an assistant U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Though she quickly moved from one job to another, Myers said each of her government positions provided plenty of grounding on immigration and customs law enforcement, the core of ICE's work.

"I've already handled many of the same things I'm now doing here at ICE," she said rapid-fire. "I've prosecuted immigration cases and dealt with complex narcotics violations."

By the way, ICE has some 15,000 employees and a budget of $4 billion. By comparison to the size of ICE, Myers’ job at Commerce would be similar to managing a Wal-Mart store.

More from the Express-News story:

Critics have said Myers might not have survived the confirmation process, arguing the job is way over her head and her rise smacks of nepotism.

Myers previously worked with the person who nominated her, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

She's married to John Wood, Chertoff's chief of staff. And she's the niece of Richard Myers, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Well, maybe asking Myers about the cover-up of her agency’s complicity in the House of Death mass murder in Mexico is a bit much to put on her right now. After all, she will need some time to spin the puffy news on top of ICE as she skates through the next few years to another crony appointment.

Her predecessor Michael Garcia, managed to navigate a similar smooth path through the ICE bureaucracy — also failing to investigate the House of Death cover-up, which occurred on his watch. For his fancy skating efforts, Garcia was rewarded with an appointment to the high-profile job of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

That’s how the circle stays unbroken, how the cover-ups continue and how we all continue to get our regular fix of junk news from the media.

Then there are the whistleblowers, like Gonzalez, whose extensive leadership experience in DEA, ironically, would qualify him to run an agency like ICE. But you can’t have people like that in charge, because they wouldn’t circle the wagons to protect the other cronies. So these whistleblowers have to be ostracized, smeared and expelled from the club – particularly when they start bringing up touchy subjects such as the club’s complicity in covering up criminal conduct.

But this charade is transparent and tiring -- like a bad sit-com rerun. And though it takes time, eventually all bad shows get cancelled because the ratings fall off.

So, until that day arrives, why not switch the channel for a bit. Listen to Levine’s interview with DEA whistleblower Gonzalez and get a taste of what a good cop show is all about….