Murphy's Law: February 12, 2003

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During the 2001 Afghanistan campaign, the CIA Special Operations Group operated it's own little air force, which included some helicopters, Predator UAVs and fixed wing aircraft. The SOCOM commandos (SEALs and Special Forces) had even more aircraft, but both organizations freely helped each other out with transportation whenever they could. If a SEAL or Special Forces guy was going in the same direction as a CIA helicopters, he could easily hitch a ride. Several of these hitchhikers discovered that, in one way, the CIA had something they didn't have. Most of these flights took place at night, in blackout (very little light inside the chopper) conditions. But when the CIA helicopter came in to land near dawn, the non-CIA hitchhiker often found that the plastic wrapped bundles he had been sitting on was comprised of stacks of hundred dollar bills. The CIA had $70 million in cash to pass out to friendly, or soon-to-be-friendly Afghan warlords. The cash had to be delivered to the warlord, wherever he was hanging out at the moment. The CIA folks didn't mind having an extra SEAL or army commando on board as they made a money run.

 

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