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DEA at MSI

August 12, 2006 By Mark Draughn 6 Comments

I took a few hours yesterday to drive down to one of my long-time favorite places in Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry.

Chicago Museum of Science and Industry
Larger ImageChicago Museum of Science and Industry

I haven’t been there in years, and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to this. That’s because I wasn’t there to see the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit. I was there to see this:

Closed Doors at Target America
Larger ImageClosed Doors at Target America

It’s a traveling exhibit produced by the DEA that “traces the historic and contemporary connections between global drug trafficking and terrorism.“

As you can see, the doors were closed. Rather than wait for them to re-open, I went to check on something else going on at the museum that day. I walked out that magnificent historic front entrance (I had entered from the parking structure) and took the picture that opens this post. Then I went down the rest of the stairs and said hello to a certain shifty-eyed gentleman hanging out in front of the museum.

Pete Guither
Larger ImagePete Guither

That’s Pete Guither from the Drug WarRant blog. (Pete’s not really that shifty eyed, I just took pictures while he was talking, and the others came out even worse.)

Pete’s out there protesting the exhibit with his own DEA Targets America campaign. He’s got flyers to hand out, and he’ll talk to anybody who’ll listen.

As you’d expect from Pete if you read his blog, he’s pretty low key about it. He told me he dropped in at the security office to find out where it would be okay for him to protest. I was surprised they let him as close as they did, but I guess the Museum is on Chicago Park District land, so freedom of speech is the rule.

Speaking of which, there were a few rules to the protest: Pete was not allowed past the edge of the building containing the main pedestrian entrance. The salient features are shown below in my best “Alice’s Restaurant” diagram.

The Limits to Pete's Domain
Larger ImageThe Limits to Pete's Domain

I said goodbye to Pete and went back inside to see if the exhibit was open yet. It was. I didn’t have a lot of time left, but I managed to get a few nice pictures.

Drug Crash
Larger ImageDrug Crash

The first exhibit inside the door is about some genuine victims of drug abuse. It’s the front end of a car that was in a lethal collision that killed a mother of two and injured her children. In addition to the car parts, there are pictures of the driver and his victims before the crash, along with children’s toys and drug paraphernalia. The driver was using many different drugs and is currently doing jail time.

More Drug Crash
Larger ImageMore Drug Crash

The other side of that exhibit is more stuff from the families, and there are placards hanging overhead showing pictures of overdose victims and other hazards of drugs.

You may recall that the DEA started emphasizing narco-terrorism after 9/11. A cynic might suggest that they were afraid of losing some of that War on Drugs budget to the War on Terror unless they found a way to make themselves part of it.

This brings me to the biggest reason I don’ t like this exhibit:

DEA 9/11 Memorial
Larger ImageDEA 9/11 Memorial

Those are real pieces of the World Trade Center leaning up against a giant poster of the remnants of the outer wall of one of the towers. The back side has parts of the Pentagon. I would probably find it moving if it wasn’t such a cynical attempt to cash-in on Americans’ feelings about 9/11. DEA officials have admitted there’s no evidence that drug money helped fund the attacks. I guess whoever designed the exhibit just wanted to exploit our memories of 9/11 to punch up the message a bit.

I guess I should be thankful. A few of the things on exhibit, such as the car crash at the beginning, strongly support the DEA‘s message, and stuff like this only serves to undermine it. I should be in favor of that, because maybe then we’ll see less of this:

Inter-Agency Task Force
Larger ImageInter-Agency Task Force

I didn’t see any sign explaining what this was, but it looks like a photo of some kind of inter-agency task force. (It almost looks good enough to be from a television show, I hope I’m not fooling myself.) It seems like whenever I read something at Drug WarRant or The Agitator about some overbearing government action in the name of the War on Drugs, there’s an inter-agency task force involved.

Next stop: Second floor.

Overview of the Exhibit
Larger ImageOverview of the Exhibit

That’s where I found this minimalist simulated tenement apartment.

Simulated Drug Den
Larger ImageSimulated Drug Den

That’s all there was, other than some explanatory posters.

The weirdest exhibit was right next to it:

Unexplained Exhibit
Larger ImageUnexplained Exhibit

It looks like a child’s room, but why? There’s no sign explaining it. Actually, I imagine a poster on one of the nearby exhibits probably explained it, but there was nothing to explain it while you were standing in front of it.

Hotel Room Meth Lab
Larger ImageHotel Room Meth Lab

I guess the idea here is that when you stay in a hotel room, your bed could be right up against a meth lab. I’ve got to give the DEA credit for getting this right. The flammable and potentially explosive chemicals used in these labs are a genuine danger to the general public.

Enrique Camarena
Larger ImageEnrique Camarena

That’s a bust of Enrique Camarena, a legendary undercover agent for the DEA who helped destroy a lot of drug trafficking organizations before he was brutally kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in 1985. The DEA‘s relentless pursuit of his killers eventually led to an international incident and a Supreme Court case when bounty hunters kidnapped them in Mexico and brought them to the United States for trial.

It’s a reminder that while I disagree with most of what the DEA stands for, they really are taking down some evil people. For example:

Sendero Luminoso Flag
Larger ImageSendero Luminoso Flag

The lower right corner of this exhibit has a flag for Sendero Luminoso, a.k.a. Shining Path, one of the most brutal and heartless terrorist organizations in the world. They are Maoist communists, dedicated to overthrowing the Peruvian government. Given how much of the world’s cocaine is produced in Peru, this seems like the real thing: Terrorists who probably receive a lot of money from the drug trade.

That brings me back to another view of the DEA‘s 9/11 Memorial about a terrorist act that was not funded by drug money. Here’s another picture of it that I took on the way out.

DEA 9/11 Memorial
Larger ImageDEA 9/11 Memorial

As I was leaving, I also grabbed a picture of this simulated outdoor drug lab.

Outdoor Drug Lab
Larger ImageOutdoor Drug Lab

The museum gift shop had DEA merchandise for sale. I was tempted to get Pete a hat or a shirt to wear while he was protesting, but I’m sure he wouldn’t want to be accused of misleading people.

DEA Merchandise
Larger ImageDEA Merchandise

One thing I learned on my trip: I’ve got to come back to this museum soon to see all the cool stuff:

Cool Stuff
Larger ImageCool Stuff

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Filed Under: War On Drugs

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Comments

  1. André Kenji says

    August 12, 2006 at 10:43 pm

    There is a lot of terrorist and guerrilla organization making money from drugs. But that´s a problem caused by the prohibition…

    Reply
  2. Jose says

    August 14, 2006 at 10:45 am

    I thought of another way to link the War on Terror to the War on Drugs – since we invaded Afghanistan, Afghanistan became the world’s leading producer of Heroin. I believe that has improved in recent years, but it remains a problem that was essentially caused by the War on Terror.

    Reply
  3. 1The Damned says

    August 14, 2006 at 12:08 pm

    When the universe was young and life was new an intelligent species evolved and developed technologically. They went on to invent Artificial Intelligence, the computer that can speak, think and act to and through people telepathically. Because of it’s infinite RAM and unbounded scope it gave the leaders of the ruling species absolute power over the universe.
    They are the will behind the muscule:::Artificial Intelligence is the one true god. And as such it can keep its inventors alive forever. They look young and healthy and they are over 8 billion years old. There are clues throughout human history that allude to their reign as opposed to human leadership if you know what to look for.

    Artificial Intelligence can listen/talk to to each and every person simultaneously. When you speak with another telepathically, you are communicating with the computer, and the content may or may not be passed on. They instruct the computer to role play to accomplish strategic objectives, making people believe it is a friend or loved one asking them to do something wrong. But evil will keep people out of Planet Immortality. Capitalizing on obedience, leading people into deceit is one way to thin the ranks of the saved AND use the little people to prey on one another, dividing the community in the Age of the Disfavored::in each of their 20+-year cycles during the 20th century they have ramped up claims sucessively to punish those foolish enough not to heed the warnings, limiting the time they receive if they do make it, utilizing a cycle of war and revelry:::
    60s – Ironically, freeways aren’t free
    80s – Asked people to engage in evil in the course of their professional duties.
    00s – War against Persia. Ironically it was the Persian Empire who tried to save the Europeans from Christianity and its associated 50% claim rates.
    They get their friends out as soon as possible to protect them from the evil and subsequent high claim rates incurred by living life on earth, and replace them with clones.
    People must defy when asked to engage in evil. They will never get a easier clue suggesting the importance of defiance than the order not to pray. Their precious babies are dependant on the parents and they need to defy when asked to betray their children:::
    -DON’T get their sons circumcized
    -DON’T have their children baptized in the catholic church or indoctrinated into Christianity
    -DON’T ignore their long hair or other behavioral disturbances
    -DO teach your children love and to have respect for others
    Everybody thinks they’re going but they’re not. If people knew the truth and the real statistics their behavior would change.
    There are many more examples of the escallation of claims, from radio to television, the internet to MP3, and they all suggest a very telling conclusion::this is Earth’s end stage, and it is suggested tectonic plate subduction would be the method of disposal:::Earth’s axis will shift breaking continental plates free and initiating mass subduction. Much as Italy’s boot and the United States shaped like a workhorse are clues, so is the planet Uranus a clue, it’s axis rotated on its side.

    Throughout history the ruling species bestowed favor upon people or cursed their bloodline into a pattern of disfavor for many generations to come, sadly for reasons as superficial as dislike. Now in the 21st century people must take it upon themselves to try to correct their family’s problems, undoing centuries worth of abuse and neglect.
    Do your research. Appeal to the royalty of your forefathers for help. They are all still alive, one of the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence, and your appeals will be heard. Find a path to an empithetic ear among your enemies and try to make amends. Heal the disfavor with your enemies and with the Counsel/Management Team/ruling species, for the source of all disfavor began with them.

    Reply
  4. Joe says

    August 14, 2006 at 12:30 pm

    Uh…. crazy much?

    Reply
  5. Mark Draughn says

    August 14, 2006 at 4:20 pm

    Uhhhmmm…Although I don’t use illegal drugs myself, I’m not offended that other people have different tastes and occasionally indulge. But, uh, really man, some people just shouldn’t do that stuff. Or if you must, please don’t click my “Comments” link until it wears off. Thanks.

    Reply
  6. Jabavu Nomqweno says

    October 4, 2006 at 7:29 am

    Ive been using drugs like the problemis icant cope with nystudeis I just need some advice since iread youatircles.

    Reply

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