July 10, 2001 Dear Friend of "From The Wilderness:" This letter is sent to those friends, supporters and subscribers who have been with me from the beginning. It is not intended to be an indiscriminate mass mailing but you may forward it as you see fit. I regret to advise you that, barring a miracle, "From The Wilderness," the newsletter, and my web site are on their last legs. This emergency is the result of a business venture gone sour and has a second equally tragic set of circumstances attached to it. For more than 18 months I have worked hard to fulfill the plan to make "Suppressed Writers" a reality. Our first venture was to have been the republication of a classic and little known work by Professor Peter Dale Scott, PhD. of UC Berkeley called "The War Conspiracy" (TWC). That 1972 book contained more detailed information on the "manufacture" of the Vietnam War than most of us have ever seen. It contains awesome research on CIA connections to the drug trade from the 1950s through the early 70s. It has been out of print for almost 30 years now, having been quickly shuffled aside after it was published. Eighteen months ago, a partner and cherished friend began the arduous task of scanning and reformatting the text of TWC. As he did, Peter Dale Scott began making, what were at first, small improvements to the original text and some comparisons with present-day Colombia. That process eventually produced a powerful and indispensable new book entitled "Colombia and Vietnam: Deep Politics and the War Conspiracy." This new book is worthy of a major publisher but in this day and age - much as in the Vietnam era - there are none, it seems, to be found with the will to tell the truth. Approximately nine months ago an investor came forward. He was a man with whom I had gone to high school. He agreed to finance the project, secure a competent project manager, provide funding for advertising and see FTW incorporated as a real publishing house. Over the course of the next five months, as a show of sincerity, he purchased FTW a computer, donated a laptop, assisted in cover design, and put forth more than $3,000.00 in cash. Yet, after four "dates certain" for him to produce a lawyer, finish the incorporation and then secure FTW lines of credit, he suddenly withdrew citing personal reasons. This was about two months ago. I have not heard from him since. The tragedy is that I had, based upon the belief that my friend would come through, invested everything I had, going deeply into debt and laying aside any other plans for expansion or increased sales. I put all I had in the pot for this one project. The result is that we have produced a finished, world-class book at a critical moment in history and FTW is now totally unable to publish it. What's worse, our entire operation is now in jeopardy. This is not about asking for money so that I or FTW can publish Peter's magnificent work. The book is far too important to place in the hands of an operation where there is only me and one assistant and it would be an insult to the work to try to e-publish the book on a shoestring. No one would know of it. As a result of the investor withdrawing I am now consumed with the chores of keeping a roof over my head, over the head of my mother and staving off bankruptcy and the end of FTW. Accordingly, I have released Peter from his contract and he is now free to take the new book anywhere he chooses. I will derive no financial benefit from that deal, if and when it takes place. Mike L, my cherished friend - who put in hundreds of hours to layout and proofread the book - and Peter both deserve the money. Perhaps most importantly the people of Colombia desperately deserve for the book to be released - NOW. Again, I must stress that I do not want to be contacted with ideas about how I can publish this book. The task is beyond me. I will welcome any contacts with major publishers and any doors that might be knocked on that I can forward to Peter. I am no longer able to consider publishing the book. My problem is the simplest. All I need is money. Without it I will have to go silent. FTW has begun a major three-part series on AIG, ADFA, Goldman Sachs and Carlos Lehder. Our ability to complete this important work is now in question. The survival of FTW is, in fact, in question. We may not even have the necessary money to mail next month. Our second computer is down. We are past due on a $660 quarterly lease payment for our mailing machine. The credit card payments are now, as a result of our investment in the Suppressed Writers project, more than $900 a month. I have no medical insurance. I cannot afford to pay my assistant. The phone bills are over $500 and I have been working 100 hour weeks lately to hold it together and research the critical three-part series, "Hostages." My health is suffering as a result. Also, my ailing mother has invested in this project and I must now look to my responsibilities to her in the wake of these tragic events. Accordingly, the option of closing "From The Wilderness," selling my limited assets and library of nearly 200 books, taking down the web site and "going dark" is something that I must take seriously. I hope you will too. I cannot promise to repay anything you send but I can promise to give you what I have always given you, my heart and soul - everything I have - to bring you information you cannot get anywhere else. I am limping and wounded and I need a minimum of $7,500 within the next 60 days to stay afloat. That money can get the creditors off my back, bring my assistant back to work full-time, get our on-line operations back to speed, upgrade the web site, provide me the money I need to research the series, pay for printing and mailing costs and to do a hundred other things that now clamor for my attention. I have given this my best, my heart, and I am proud to have had a hand in bringing "Colombia and Vietnam" to life. But I am tired and broke. There are many who will cheer this fact. I know that you, my friends, will not. My future, and the future of "From The Wilderness" is in your hands. Please send whatever you can to: FTW P.O. Box 6061-350 Sherman Oaks, CA 91413 Thank you, Mike Ruppert Publisher/Editor "From The Wilderness" www.copvcia.com 818-788-8791 Please let us stay on topic and be civil. To unsubscribe please go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cia-drugs -Home Page- www.cia-drugs.org OM Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
