From The Wilderness Publications

P.O. Box 6061-350, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413

(818) 788-8791 (818) 981-2847 fax

www.copvcia.com - mruppert@copvcia.com, e-mail

July 11, 2001

Dear Friend of From The Wilderness:

>From The Wilderness, the internationally acclaimed newsletter and
web site (http://www.copvcia.com), read by 16 members of congress
and by professors at 11 universities in the U.S., Canada and Great
Britain, staunch critic of the war on drugs and exposer of the

CIA's management of the global drug trade to benefit the U.S. economy
is in peril.

Over the last four years FTW has broken major stories, some picked
up by major media, that no other independent publication has offered.
They include:

o Two years of groundbreaking coverage on the Vietnamization of Colombia.

o Three years of reporting on the channeling of drug profits through Wall

Street.

o The first news entity to publish the entire deposition of Adm. Thomas

Moorer admitting sarin gas use in SE Asia.

o Exclusive coverage on the contents of a CIA IG report (10/98) admitting

direct CIA involvement in the drug trade.

o Expanded coverage of the CIA illegally transferring military aircraft

to private companies that were later used to smuggle cocaine in the

1990s.

o The connection between the crack cocaine epidemic and massive
foreclosure

of HUD financed homes in South Central Los Angeles. (Ethnic Cleansing)

o The first US news agency to report in detail on connections between the

KLA and the heroin trade.

o An exclusive two-part series connecting Dominican drug lords to money

laundering through the Democratic Party.

o The first US news agency to fully explore the massive looting of Russia

through the Bank of New York and link it to the drug trade.

o Gov George Bush flying in a Texas state airplane once owned by Barry

Seal (picked up by the AP).

o Perjury committed by Deputy Attorneys General in the conviction of
Edwin

Wilson.

o The Democratic Party's Presidential Drug Money Pipeline.

o The 9thCircuit Court affirming Contra Leaders Claims of CIA Sanction
for

Drug Traffcking.

o Promis Software (2000).

o The Bush-Cheney Drug Empire.

o European Economic Conference on US Economy - (dateline Moscow).

o Massive Holes in the US Position on the Shootdown of Missionaries in

Peru.

I regret to advise you that, barring a miracle, "From The Wilderness,"
the news letter, 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 a publishing venture known as "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 soon after it was published.
My dream was to make it available to you.

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. He has moved and his phones have
been disconnected.

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 donors 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 multi-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. 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 $1,200 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.

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

818-788-8791

Thank you,
Michael C. Ruppert
Publisher/Editor
"From The Wilderness"
http://www.copvcia.com

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