July 10, 2008 (LPAC)--In what is being described as a terrorist attack, gunman attacked the American Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey yesterday. Six people were killed including three Turkish security guards and three individuals who reportedly launched the attack. One person is believed to have escaped. No Americans were hurt, because the attack took place outside the 15 foot high wall that surrounds the compound. No one has taken responsibility.

The attack took place while three very high-level U.S. officials were attending an international drug enforcement conference now taking place in the city. As Lyndon LaRouche emphasized, we do not know if there is a direct connection between the attack and the anti-drug conference. However, even if the conference was not the cause of the incident, it reflects the environment in which that attack took place, especially in light of recent developments in Colombia.

The conference is the 26th annual International Drug Enforcement Conference co-sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Turkish National Police. Among the 300 participants from 93 countries are: Michele Leonhart, acting director of the U.S. DEA; Scott Burns, deputy director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, the Commander of the U.S. Southern Command; Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manual Santos Calderon and Colombian National Police director, General Oscar Naranjo.

Leonhart's speech, which was delivered on July 8th, draws special attention to the great victory achieved by Colombia over the FARC. Addressing the Colombian Defense Minister and director general of the Colombian Police she said, "We thank you for your leadership and courage in the fight against narco-terrorism.

"I must mention the Colombian Army's superb and flawless July 2nd rescue mission of 15 FARC hostages, Colombian and American citizens; some held by the FARC for over a decade. Not a shot was fired during the mission, or a drop of blood shed -- this may be recorded as the most ambitious rescue operation in modern history."

On the FARC, Leonhart pointed out the link between the victories against the FARC in Colombia and the arrest last June of top arms dealer Monzer al Kassar in a sting operation involving an attempt to sell weapons to the FARC and the arrest of Victor Bout, the Russian arms trafficker, who was also charged with trying to sell weapons to FARC.

In reference to Turkey, Leonhart pointed out that Turkey is one of 19 countries involved in Operation Containment, which went into effect in 2001 to reduce the flow of Afghan heroin to Western Europe. She stated that this year alone, Turkey, which "was a key junction on the ancient Silk Road," but which is today a major transshipment country for heroin from Afghanistan, has seized no less than 13 tons of heroin that originated in Afghanistan.

Throughout her speech, Leonhart emphasized the relationship between the drug trade and terrorism. In the case of Turkey, she reported that "The President of the United States designated the PKK here in Turkey a drug kingpin, a 'terrorist organization which obtains funding from drug proceeds.'"

Although there is no doubt that there are forces within U.S. drug enforcement institutions who are serious about combating narco-terrorism, as in the case of the U.S. support for the Colombian Army's actions against the FARC, in the case of the PKK, there is strong evidence that the Bush administration is in fact working with the PKK and the PKK-linked operation in Iran, the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK) to conduct covert operations against the government of Iran.

As Seymour Hersch reported in the New Yorker magazine's July 7 and 14 issues, U.S. congressional leaders agreed late last year to President Bush's request to fund covert operations in Iran to undermine the Iranian regime. Among the organizations receiving covert support from the Bush administration is the PKK-linked PEJAK, which is the principle trafficker of Afghan heroin that passes from the British occupied poppy-growing zone in Afghanistan through Turkey to Europe. It is believed to control up to 80% of the European market.