American Security Council
Historical Membership List
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Abrahamson, Gen. James A. |
Source(s): 1988, Russ Bellant, Old Nazis, the new right, and the Republican party', p. 53 (has spoken to the USCAB)
Astronaut 1967-69. Staff National Aeronautics and Space Council. Inspector general, Air Force Systems Command, Andrews Air Force Base 1974-76. Director for the F-16 Multinational Air Combat Fighter Program, Aeronautical Systems Division, Wright-Patterson 1976-80. Associate administrator for the Space Transportation System 1981-. Director of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization 1984-89. Executive vice president Hughes Aircraft 1989-92. Co-founder of Crescent Investment Management in New York in 1991, in partnership with Mansoor Ijaz (Pakistani descent; his father was a pioneer in Pakistan's nuclear weapons program; BA in nuclear physics and MS in mechanical engineering; commentator on political and financial news for ABS, CBS, CNN, the BBC, the German ARD and Fox; negotiator with the Sudanese government for Clinton to hand bin Laden over to the US (bin Laden fled to Afghanistan instead and Ijaz claimed it was national security advisor Sandy Berger who overruled Albright in bringing bin Laden in); Middle East correspondent and terror analyst for Fox; Benador Associates; very close to Abrahamson) and Turkey's Global Group. James Woolsey later served as Crescent's vice chairman with Prince Alfred von Liechtenstein being another board member. The firm specializes in national security and Middle East oil investments. Chairman of Oracle Corporation 1992-95. Chairman GeoEye, the world's largest space imaging company.
STRATESEC:
SEC info on Stratesec in 1997: "Marvin Bush, director... James A. Abrahamson, director... Revenues increased by 108.6% from $5.8 million in 1996 to $12.1 million in 1997. The increase was due to work completed for new clients and an increase in work completed on existing projects. Revenues from the World Trade Center project, which commenced in October 1996, increased from $1.6 million in 1996 to $6.6 million in 1997." SEC info on Stratesec in 1998: "Revenues decreased by 45% from $12.1 million in 1997 to $6.6 million in 1998. The decrease was due to the closeout of the World Trade Center Project." No more mentioning of the World Trade Center Complex in the SEC filings after that.
October 29, 2000, St. Petersburg Times, 'Influence and bailouts a business tradition in Bush family': "Stratasec: Marvin [Bush] was recruited to join the board of this secretive Virginia security company that serves international corporations and governments. The company is awash in ex-government security and military personnel. Among them: Barry McDaniel, who served during the Reagan years as deputy director of readiness for the U.S. Army Materiel Command; and retired U.S. Air Force General James A. Abrahamson, who served as director of President Reagan's "Star Wars" Strategic Defense Initiative. The company touts such major customers as Dulles airport near Washington, as well as Los Alamos National Laboratories (where former scientist Wen Ho Lee pleaded guilty to improperly downloading nuclear weapons design secrets). KuwAm Corp.: The investment company, with roots in Kuwait (the country "liberated" by President Bush's Gulf War), is a large backer of Stratasec. Stratasec chief executive Wirt Walker also is a managing director of KuwAm. And KuwAm chairman Mishal Yousef Saud Al Sabah also sits on Stratasec's board."
SEC info, Stratesec Inc., accession Number 925328-1-500017, filed on May 4, 2001: "Lt. General James A. Abrahamson, USAF (Retired), age 67, has served as a director of the Company since December 1997. General Abrahamson is the Chairman and CEO of International Air Safety, LLC. ... General Abrahamson was formerly Commissioner of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security (Gore Commission) [with FBI director Louis J. Freeh, Raymond W. Kelly and former CIA director John Deutch of Raytheon]. ... Barry W. McDaniel, age 52, has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Commercial Services division since December 2000, and as a director since January 1999. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. McDaniel was employed by BDM International from 1989 to 1996, most recently as Vice President of Material Distribution and Management Systems. ... Wirt D. Walker, III, [distant cousin of Bushes] age 55, has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Company since January 1999; he has served as a director of the Company since 1987, and as Chairman of the Board of Directors since 1992. Since 1982, Mr. Walker has served as a director and the Managing Director of KuwAm Corporation, a private investment firm." Held 25,000 shares in Stratesec-linked company KuWan as of April 2001.
January 20, 2002, Margie Burns for American Reporter (the first (award-winning) online newspaper), 'Secrecy surrounds a Bush brother's role in 9/11 security': "- A company that provided security at New York City's World Trade Center, Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., and to United Airlines between 1995 and 2001, was backed by a private Kuwaiti-American investment firm with ties to a brother of President Bush and the Bush family, according to records obtained by the American Reporter. ... Marvin Bush has not responded to repeated telephoned and emailed requests for comment on this story. The American Stock Exchange delisted Stratesec's stock in October 2002. Securacom also had a contract to provide security at Los Alamos National Laboratories, notorious for its security breaches and physical and intellectual property thefts. According to its present CEO, Barry McDaniel, the company had an ongoing contract to handle security at the World Trade Center "up to the day the buildings fell down." Yet instead of being investigated, the company and companies involved with it have benefited from legislation pushed by the Bush White House and rubber-stamped by Congressional Republicans. Stratesec, its backer KuwAm, and their corporate officers stand to benefit from limitations on liability and national-security protections from investigation provided in bills since 9/11. ... The World Trade Center and the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority - which operates Dulles - were two of Securacom's three biggest clients in 1996 and 1997. (The third was MCI, now WorldCom.) Stratesec (Securacom) differs from other security companies which separate the function of consultant from that of service provider. The company defines itself as a "single-source" provider of "end-to-end" security services, including everything from diagnosis of existing systems to hiring subcontractors to installing video and electronic equipment. It also provides armored vehicles and security guards. When, following the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began its multi-million-dollar, multiyear revamping of security in and around the Twin Towers and Buildings 4 and 5, Securacom was among numerous contractors hired in the upgrade. The companies doing security jobs received due mention in print, in security industry publications and elsewhere. The board membership of a son of former President Bush went unnoticed, at least in print. According to SEC filings, Securacom/Stratesec acquired the $8.3 million World Trade Center contract in October 1996. The project generated 28 percent of all revenues for the company in 1996. SEC filings indicate that revenues from the World Trade Center project commenced in 1996 at $1.6 million, peaked in 1997 at $6.6 million ($4.1 million in the first half), and diminished in 1998 to less than $1 million. ... McDaniel makes clear that Securacom's contract with United Airlines was a single-site contract, in Indianapolis (at least five years ago), and not local. The work was finished several years before he joined the board, and was not in or near Washington. The Dulles Internation contract is another matter. Dulles is regarded as "absolutely a sensitive airport," according to security consultant Wayne Black, head of a Florida-based security firm, due to its location, size, and the number of international carriers it serves. Black has not heard of Stratesec, but responds that for one company to handle security for both airports and airlines is somewhat unusual. It is also delicate for a security firm serving international facilities to be so interlinked with a foreign-owned company: "Somebody knew somebody," he suggested, or the contract would have been more closely scrutinized. As Black points out, "when you [a company] have a security contract, you know the inner workings of everything." And if another company is linked with the security company, then "What's on your computer is on their computer." In this context, retired FAA special agent Brian F. Sullivan is angry, and eloquent. "You can have all the security systems in the world, but the people behind the systems make the difference." The Bush administration, says Sullivan, "spit in the faces" of the victims' families, in pushing for last-minute protections for foreign-owned security companies (in the Homeland Security bill). Sullivan points out that "not one single person" in an upper-level position has lost a job as a result of 9/11, "not in the FBI, CIA, FAA, DOT." As he sums up, "No accountability, no progress." Stratesec got its first preventive maintenance contract with Dulles Airport in 1995, generating $0.3 million that year. The Dulles project generated revenue of $1.2 million in 1996, $2.5 million in 1997, and $2.3 million in 1998, accounting for 22% of the company's revenues in 1996 and in 1998 Like other specialists, Professor Dale B. Oderman of Purdue University's aviation technology department, concurs that Dulles "was considered a very high profile target" as the primary international airport near the nation's capital. It serves as port of entry to about 15 international airlines as well as serving eight of the 11 major us passenger carriers. In comparison, Reagan Airport hosts only Air Canada from outside the U.S., and Baltimore-Washington Airport hosts about a half dozen." Stratesec did not handle screening of passengers at Dulles. According to a contracting official for the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority, its three-year contract was for maintenance of security systems: It maintained the airfield access system, the CCTV (closed circuit television) system, and the electronic badging system. In 1997, the World Trade Center and Dulles accounted for 55 percent and 20 percent of the company's earned revenues, respectively. The World Trade Center and Dulles projects figured largely in both Securacom's growing revenues from 1995 to 1997 and its decreases from 1997 to 1998. Stratesec continued to refer to "New York City's World Trade Center" as a former client through April 2001. It listed Dulles Airport and United Airlines as former clients through April 2002. As with the World Trade Center - which also had electronic badging, security gates, and CCTV - the ultimate problem with Dulles' security controls was not the controls themselves, but that they could be sidestepped. All the hijackers had to do was buy a ticket. As former FAA special agent Sullivan comments, "If they [attackers] knew about the security system, they knew how to bypass it." One obvious question for investigators is how much potential hijackers could have known about the security system. From 1993 to 1999, KuwAm - the Kuwait-American Corporation -- held a large and often controlling interest in Securacom. In 1996, KuwAm Corporation owned 90 percent of the company, either directly or through partnerships like one called Special Situations Investment Holdings and another called "Fifth Floor Company for General Trading and Contracting." KuwAm owned 31 percent of Securacom in 1998 and 47 percent of Stratesec in 1999. It currently holds only about 205,000 shares of Stratesec; Walker, KuwAm's managing director, holds 650,000. Marvin Bush was reelected annually to Securacom's board of directors from 1993 through 1999. His final reelection was on May 25, 1999, for July 1999 to June 2000. Throughout, he also served on the company's Audit Committee and Compensation Committee, and his stock holdings grew during the period. Directors had options to purchase 25,000 shares of stock annually. In 1996, Bush acquired 53,000 shares at 52 cents per share. Shares in the 1997 IPO sold at $8.50. Records since 2000 no longer list Bush as a shareholder. Stratesec and KuwAm were and still are intertwined at the top. Walker, while a principal at Stratesec (a director since 1987, chairman of the board since 1992, and formerly CEO since 1999), was also on the board of directors at KuwAm and is still managing director (both since 1982). Mishal Yousef Saud Al Sabah, the chairman at KuwAm, also served on Stratesec's board from 1991 to 2001. Walker and Al Sabah had major stock holdings in each other's companies. The sons of both also held shares in the two companies. Stratesec, which currently lists 45 employees, hired KuwAm for corporate secretarial services in 2002, at $2,500 per month. For several years, Walker has also been chairman and CEO of an aircraft company, Aviation General, about 70 percent owned by KuwAm. The Saudi Arabian embassy, the Kuwait embassy, and KuwAm have office suites in the Watergate complex, where both Stratesec and Aviation General held their annual shareholders' meetings in 1999, 2000, and 2001. Bush was reelected to his annual board position there, across the hall from a Saudi Arabian Airlines office. (This year, the companies' shareholders meetings switched to the fifth floor, in space also hleased by Saudis and Kuwaitis.) ... McDaniel was asked in a brief telephone interview whether FBI or other agents have questioned him or others at Stratesec about the company's security work in connection with 9/11. The concise answer: "No." Asked the same question regarding KuwAm, Walker declined further comment, and referred a reporter to the public record."
February 4, 2003, Prince George's Journal (Maryland), 'Bush-Linked Company Handled Security for the WTC, Dulles and United': "George W. Bush's brother was on the board of directors of a company providing electronic security for the World Trade Center, Dulles International Airport and United Airlines, according to public records. The company was backed by an investment firm, the Kuwait-American Corp., also linked for years to the Bush family. The security company, formerly named Securacom and now named Stratesec, is in Sterling, Va.. Its CEO, Barry McDaniel, said the company had a ``completion contract" to handle some of the security at the World Trade Center ``up to the day the buildings fell down." It also had a three-year contract to maintain electronic security systems at Dulles Airport, according to a Dulles contracting official. Securacom/Stratesec also handled some security for United Airlines in the 1990s, according to McDaniel, but it had been completed before his arriving on the board in 1998. McDaniel confirmed that the company has security contracts with the Department of Defense, including the U.S. Army, but did not detail the nature of the work, citing security concerns. It has an ongoing line with the General Services Administration - meaning that its bids for contracts are noncompetitive - and also did security work for the Los Alamos laboratory before 1998. Marvin P. Bush, the president's youngest brother, was a director at Stratesec from 1993 to fiscal year 2000. But the White House has not publicly disclosed Bush connections in any of its responses to 9/11, nor has it mentioned that another Bush-linked business had done security work for the facilities attacked. Marvin Bush joined Securacom when it was capitalized by the Kuwait-American Corporation, a private investment firm in D.C. that was the security company's major investor, sometimes holding a controlling interest. Marvin Bush has not responded to telephone calls and e-mails for comment. KuwAm has been linked to the Bush family financially since the Gulf War. One of its principals and a member of the Kuwaiti royal family, Mishal Yousef Saud al Sabah, served on the board of Stratesec. The managing director at KuwAm, Wirt D. Walker III, was also a principal at Stratesec, and Walker, Marvin Bush and al Sabah are listed in SEC filings as significant shareholders in both companies during that period. Marvin Bush's last year on the board at Stratesec coincided with his first year on the board of HCC Insurance, formerly Houston Casualty Co., one of the insurance carriers for the WTC. He left the HCC board in November 2002. But none of these connections has been looked at during the extensive investigations since 9/11. McDaniel says principals and other personnel at Stratesec have not been questioned or debriefed by the FBI or other investigators. Walker declined to answer the same question regarding KuwAm, referring to the public record."
February 15, Margie Burns for the Washington Spectator, 'Family Business at the Watergate': "Securacom got the $8.3 million World Trade Center security contract in October 1996 and received about $9.2 million from the WTC job from 1996 (a quarter of its revenues that year) to 1998. But in 1998, the company was "excused from the project" because it could not fulfill the work, according to former manager Al Weinstein, and the electronic security work at the WTC was taken over by EJ Electric, a larger contractor. ... On top of the massive capital infusion from the Kuwaitis, millions were generated through its Initial Public Offering statement in 1997, and revenues from large contracts. Stratesec also obtained capital from numerous investors. Why was that, if the companies were so troubled? Former managers speculate that the Bush connection was helpful. A partial list of companies investing in Stratesec while Marvin Bush was on the board of directors includes several well-known investment management companies, including Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Munder, Fidelity, Putnam, and John Hancock. According to Jeff Gallup, a former Stratesec manager who left the company for a position at Landtek, Inc., Stratesec installed the initial security-description plan—the layout of the electronic security system—at the World Trade Center. Gallup knows the WTC site well, since Landtek, like EJ Electric, was a prime contractor at the trade center. He was "intimately involved" with WTC security, he said in a phone interview last year, up to September 12, 2001, when "the F.B.I. left my office with all the contents of the WTC visitors database," by then three-quarters of a million visitors' badges. It is regrettable that the F.B.I. has not been equipped with an adequate computer system to analyze this information."
October 1, 2001, Electrical Construction and Maintenance, 'E-J Electric workers survive World Trade Center attack': "Nine electricians from E-J Electric Installation Co. escaped from the World Trade Center before the 110-story Twin Towers collapsed. ... E-J Electric, which had a satellite office in Tower 2, built and maintained the World Trade Center's entire security system. On the morning of Sept. 11, the electricians were doing routine maintenance work when the first hijacked commercial airliner slammed into Tower 1. ... While all nine of the electricians were accounted for, [Anthony E.] Mann said he lost many friends in the tragedy. “I have several friends in my community that are missing and presumed dead,” Mann said. “If you're from this area, everyone you know knows someone who is missing. It's sad to see the friends missing with three little kids. It's horrible.” Mann visited Ground Zero, where E-J is helping with the rescue and recovery effort. He described the site as “beyond words.” ... Silverstein Properties and the U.S. unit of the Australian shopping center group, Westfield, took over the leases for the World Trade Center from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey just seven weeks before the tragedy, according to CNN.com. The leases, which were estimated to be worth $3.2 billion, included 10.6 million sq ft of office space in the Twin Towers and two nine-level buildings and 427,000 sq ft of retail space in the shopping mall. The president of Silverstein Properties, Larry Silverstein, vowed to rebuild the site, but not necessarily as Twin Towers. Instead, the World Trade Center may be constructed as four 50-story office towers. “He definitely wants to rebuild it as a symbol of our resolve against terrorism,” Mann said. Vice President Jim Usher said he would like the World Trade Center to stand tall and proud once again. “I would love to see them rebuild,” he said."
CRESCENT:
August 8, 2005, This is Money, 'Share Purchase Agreement with Invicta Networks Inc.': "We welcome the investment by Crescent Technology Ventures PLC. The Company's distinguished Directors and Advisers, including Lt Gen James Abrahamson (USAF Ret), Lt Gen Tom McInerney (USAF Ret), former CIA Director James Woolsey, Dr John Foster and Mansoor Ijaz, have long been contributors to US and global security initiatives."
August 2002, Vanity Fair, 'The journalist and the terrorist': "There is a lot else about Danny and the people who picked him up that is dissimilar, but every reporter has got to start somewhere. And the place Danny Pearl began, shortly after 9/11, was with a phone call to a number in Manhattan. On the line that morning was Mansoor Ijaz, founder and chairman of Crescent Investment Management, LLC, and a U.S. born-and-bred Pakistani-American with unusual friends and interests. His business partner is Lieutenant General James Abrahamson, former director of Ronald Reagan's Star Wars program; and the vice-chairman of his board is R. James Woolsey, director of the CIA under Bill Clinton. For a time Ijaz was also chums with Clinton and his national-security adviser Samuel Berger. This came in handy in April 1997, when, as a private citizen, Ijaz negotiated Sudan's counterterrorism offer to the U.S. and again in August 2000, when Ijaz had Pakistan and India on the seeming verge of cooling the Kashmir cauldron. The deal broke down, as did the relationship with the White House. But soon enough Ijaz was back, as tight with George W. and Condie as he'd been with Bill and Sandy. Danny called on a tip from Indian intelligence, which said Ijaz was wired with leading jihadis. Figuring that a prominent Pakistani-American who came recommended by Indian spooks to get to Muslim militants must have been a gold mine for Danny. Ijaz made introductions to three sources: Shaheen Sehbai, editor of The News, Pakistan's largest English-language daily; a jihadi activist he declines to name; and--most fatefully-- Khalid Khawaja, a Muslim militant and a onetime agent with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI) who counts among his very best friends Osama bin Laden. Within weeks, Danny ... was in the capital, Islamabad, 700 miles to the north, for a several-hour session with Khalid Khawaja. ... But despite his talk of bin Laden's being "a man like an angel," Khawaja was sufficiently broad-minded [LOL] in his allegiances that he got the Taliban to agree to receive Ijaz and ex-CIA director Woolsey. ... Danny made another valuable acquaintance in Hamid Mir, editor of Islamabad's Urdu-language Daily Ausaf and self proclaimed "official biographer" of Osama bin Laden. In their last chat, in early November, bin Laden had boasted of possessing chemical and nuclear weapons. Mir is a Taliban enthusiast. Quietly, though, Danny was onto something much more compelling than the daily bombing reports: he'd found links between the ISI and a "humanitarian" organization accused of leaking nuclear secrets to bin Laden. The group--Ummah Tameer-e-Nau (UTN)--was headed by Mr. Bashiruddin Mahmood, former chief of Pakistan's nuclear-power program and a key player in the development of its atomic bomb. Mahmood--who'd been forced out of his job in 1998 after U.S. Intelligence learned of his affection for Muslim extremists--acknowledged making trips to Afghanistan as well as meeting Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. ... That's not how the CIA saw it. According to the agency, Mahmood and another nuclear scientist, Caudry Abdul Majid, met with bin Laden in Kabul a few weeks before 9/11-- and not to talk about whole-wheat bread. U.S. pressure got the scientists detained in late October, and they admitted having provided bin Laden with detailed information about weapons of mass destruction. But, for what was termed "the best interests of the nation," they were released in mid- December. ... General Hamid Gul--a former ISI director with pronounced anti-American, radically Islamist views--identified himself as UTN's "honorary patron" and said that he had seen Mahmood during his trip to brief bin Laden. Danny and LeVine also discovered that UTN listed as a director an active-duty brigadier general, and ran down a former ISI colonel who claimed that the agency was not only aware of Mahmood's meeting with bin Laden months before his detention but had encouraged his Afghan trips. ... Sheikh, for his part, stayed at a Kandahar guesthouse for several days, conferring with Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar and--reports had it--Osama bin Laden, who was said to refer to him as "my special son." When he crossed the Pakistan frontier in early January 2000, an ISI colonel was waiting to conduct him to a safe house in Islamabad. He went next to Afghanistan, and reportedly helped devise a secure, encrypted Web-based communications system for al-Qaeda. His future in the network seemed limitless; there was even talk of one day succeeding bin Laden. Then came 9/11. Tracing the hijackers' funding, investigators discovered that in the weeks before the Trade Center attack someone using the alias Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad had wired more than $100,000 to hijacking ringleader Mohammad Atta. On October 6, CNN reported that the U.S. had decided that Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad and Sheikh were one and the same. With recruits picked up from other jihadi groups, Sheikh and Ansari, meanwhile, were mounting their first big operation, the October I suicide truck-bomb attack on the Kashmir assembly, which left 38 dead."
ABRAHAMSON ARTICLES WITH CRESCENT PARTNERS:
August 1998, Christian Science Monitor, 'US attack is `best gift' for Sudan' (summary): "Looks at the effects on Sudan of the United States bombing of a pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, Sudan. Sympathy for Sudan aroused by the US strike; Claim by US that it had evidence that the El Shifa factory was producing precursors to nerve gas; Rejection of this accusation by Sudanese officials; Relations between the US and Sudan."
November 10, 1998, Plain Dealer, 'Let Muslims deal with bin Laden': "The U.S. government's indictment last week of Saudi militant Osama bin Laden on charges he masterminded the bombings of U.S. embassy facilities in Kenya and Tanzania last August is not likely to reduce the terrorist threat posed to American citizens, and may inflame Islamic radicals to renew attacks on American targets. Alternative solutions such as embracing the emerging efforts within orthodox Islam to self-police its most radical adherents now should be encouraged by the..."
November 8, 1998, Mansoor Ijaz and James A. Abrahamson and San Jose Mercury News, 'Let Muslims Help Combat Terrorism': "THE U.S. government's indictment this week of Saudi militant Osama bin Laden on charges he masterminded the bombings of U.S. embassy facilities in Kenya and Tanzania last August is not likely to reduce the terrorist threat posed to American citizens and may very well inflame Islamic radicals to renew attacks on American targets. Alternative solutions such as embracing the emerging efforts within orthodox Islam to self-police its most radical adherents should now be encouraged by..."
December 5, 2001, Los Angeles Times, 'Clinton Let Bin Laden Slip Away and Metastasize: Sudan offered up the terrorist and data on his network. The then-president and his advisors didn't respond': "President Clinton and his national security team ignored several opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden and his terrorist associates, including one as late as last year. I know because I negotiated more than one of the opportunities. From 1996 to 1998, I opened unofficial channels between Sudan and the Clinton administration. I met with officials in both countries, including Clinton, U.S. National Security Advisor Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger and Sudan's president and intelligence chief. President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, who wanted terrorism sanctions against Sudan lifted, offered the arrest and extradition of Bin Laden and detailed intelligence data about the global networks constructed by Egypt's Islamic Jihad, Iran's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas. Among those in the networks were the two hijackers who piloted commercial airliners into the World Trade Center. The silence of the Clinton administration in responding to these offers was deafening. As an American Muslim and a political supporter of Clinton, I feel now, as I argued with Clinton and Berger then, that their counter-terrorism policies fueled the rise of Bin Laden from an ordinary man to a Hydra-like monster. Realizing the growing problem with Bin Laden, Bashir sent key intelligence officials to the U.S. in February 1996. The Sudanese offered to arrest Bin Laden and extradite him to Saudi Arabia or, barring that, to "baby-sit" him--monitoring all his activities and associates. But Saudi officials didn't want their home-grown terrorist back where he might plot to overthrow them. In May 1996, the Sudanese capitulated to U.S. pressure and asked Bin Laden to leave, despite their feeling that he could be monitored better in Sudan than elsewhere. Bin Laden left for Afghanistan, taking with him Ayman Zawahiri, considered by the U.S. to be the chief planner of the Sept. 11 attacks; Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, who traveled frequently to Germany to obtain electronic equipment for Al Qaeda; Wadih El-Hage, Bin Laden's personal secretary and roving emissary, now serving a life sentence in the U.S. for his role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya; and Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Saif Adel, also accused of carrying out the embassy attacks. Some of these men are now among the FBI's 22 most-wanted terrorists. The two men who allegedly piloted the planes into the twin towers, Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi, prayed in the same Hamburg mosque as did Salim and Mamoun Darkazanli, a Syrian trader who managed Salim's bank accounts and whose assets are frozen. Important data on each had been compiled by the Sudanese. But U.S. authorities repeatedly turned the data away, first in February 1996; then again that August, when at my suggestion Sudan's religious ideologue, Hassan Turabi, wrote directly to Clinton; then again in April 1997, when I persuaded Bashir to invite the FBI to come to Sudan and view the data; and finally in February 1998, when Sudan's intelligence chief, Gutbi al-Mahdi, wrote directly to the FBI. Gutbi had shown me some of Sudan's data during a three-hour meeting in Khartoum in October 1996. When I returned to Washington, I told Berger and his specialist for East Africa, Susan Rice, about the data available. They said they'd get back to me. They never did. Neither did they respond when Bashir made the offer directly. I believe they never had any intention to engage Muslim countries--ally or not. Radical Islam, for the administration, was a convenient national security threat. And that was not the end of it. In July 2000--three months before the deadly attack on the destroyer Cole in Yemen--I brought the White House another plausible offer to deal with Bin Laden, by then known to be involved in the embassy bombings. A senior counter-terrorism official from one of the United States' closest Arab allies--an ally whose name I am not free to divulge--approached me with the proposal after telling me he was fed up with the antics and arrogance of U.S. counter-terrorism officials. The offer, which would have brought Bin Laden to the Arab country as the first step of an extradition process that would eventually deliver him to the U.S., required only that Clinton make a state visit there to personally request Bin Laden's extradition. But senior Clinton officials sabotaged the offer, letting it get caught up in internal politics within the ruling family--Clintonian diplomacy at its best. Clinton's failure to grasp the opportunity to unravel increasingly organized extremists, coupled with Berger's assessments of their potential to directly threaten the U.S., represents one of the most serious foreign policy failures in American history. * Mansoor Ijaz, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, is chairman of a New York-based investment company."
September 7, 2001, Mansoor Ijaz, R. James Woolsey and James A. Abrahamson for the New York Times, 'Pakistan:Leaving U.S. Sanctions in Place Would Be Grave': "The Bush administration is preparing to lift punitive sanctions imposed on India for its nuclear program. But clearing this hurdle to bolster political, economic and military ties with India while maintaining even sterner sanctions on Pakistan would be seen throughout the Middle East as discrimination of the first order. Islamabad would be pushed in dangerous directions, particularly toward increased reliance on its nuclear and missile programs. ... India and Pakistan's greatest enemies are poverty and insularity, not each other. Lifting U.S. sanctions from both nations could help usher in an era of prosperity for the region while checking pressures to rely on military might. ... Pakistan is a deeply flawed state today. Reversing the current trends there is important for U.S. security. Simultaneously removing the sanctions on both India and Pakistan is a good place to start."
October 1, 2001, Ijaz, Mansoor; Woolsey, R. James; Abrahamson, James A. for Newsweek, 'The Battle Ahead: America and the world must prepare for a long fight' (Newsweek summary: "Provides a projection of the United States' global war against terrorism. Need for constant radical thinking on how to fight against terrorists; How a solid alliance, including Islamic states such as Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan, is crucial; Importance of Russia as an ally to the U.S."): "In the coming months, years and perhaps decades, America's global war against terrorism will demand radical thinking on how to fight an enemy whose goal is to instill fear and confusion, whose armies are militia networks strewn across the globe and whose war finances are untraceable bundles of cash. The American people must accept at the outset that capturing or killing one individual will not rid them or the world of the scourge. Osama bin Laden, in fact, is no longer just a man..."
May 5, 2003, Weekly Standard, Mansoor Ijaz, Nabil Barakat and James Abrahamson for , 'How to Win Iraq's Hearts and Minds: Some ideas for how to rebuild Iraq'. A reasonable article that is giving tips to the U.S. government to rebuild Iraq into a democratic society and dispell rumors that war was about oil. All three men sat on the board of Crescent Investment Management in New York.
October 5, 2004, Financial Times (By James Abrahamson, Mansoor Ijaz and Alfred Von Liechtenstein), 'Turkey's route to empowerment': "The debate over Turkish accession has aroused strong passions on both sides. Proponents argue that a modern and market-oriented Muslim democracy could provide a much-needed physical and political buffer between Europe and many of the Islamic world's authoritarian regimes, which are breeding and bleeding extremism. But opponents fear Turkey's entry would shift Europe's centre of gravity too far to the east, thereby lowering its economic and political standards and diluting its historical secular Christian identity and value system. Whether the EU commissioners decide to recommend Turkey's accession or not, all sides agree that the overriding strategic objective is to strengthen the country's democracy and move it even further towards a market-based economy. A new framework should be made ready to fill the policy vacuum that an EU "No" decision would create. Such a plan should move towards securing Turkey's long-term potential away from mostly military and strategic objectives and towards developing strong macro-economic, judicial and social institutions suited to the modern era. But this modernisation process must seek to avoid confrontations with Europe over which identity - secular and European or traditionalist and Islamic - Turkey ultimately chooses. ... US technological assistance to the Turkish army, which is 500,000 strong and bigger than any army in Europe, would boost the EU's military capabilities and enable it to send peacekeeping forces into troubled spots where a US military presence is not always welcome. It would also enable Turkey to act as a primary force for improving European counter-terrorism efforts in areas such as narcotics, illegal weapons and weapons of mass destruction as well as border security. Turkish Nato training schools, for example, could become home to a hybrid version of the international military and education training programmes run by the Pentagon over the past three decades to modernise and secularise armies in troubled countries. Equally important will be supporting growth in Turkey's secular democratic institutions. Absolute guarantees for human rights and women's rights, not yet enshrined in the Turkish constitution, could be imported from Canada's judicial and parliamentary systems without creating partisan rancor among European politicians who complain about Washington's undue influence over Ankara. ...Prince Alfred von Liechtenstein, Mansoor Ijaz and Lt Gen James Abrahamson (USAF retired) jointly serve on the advisory board of Crescent Investment Management in New York"
January 24, 2006, Abrahamson and Ijaz for the Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Virginia), 'A disabling electromagnetic pulse could be terror's next weapon': "America's greatest failure in the years leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks was one of imagination--failing to imagine how terrorists might turn jetliners into flying missiles or box cutters into lethal weapons. The world cannot afford to make such a mistake twice. And yet, four years after the worst terrorist attacks in modern memory, greater resolve is needed to counter and prepare for what is perhaps the terrorists' ultimate use of weapons against Western civilization--a bloodless attack aimed at disabling large segments of the highly interdependent infrastructure on which our societies depend. One method of delivering such warfare: detonation of a nuclear weapon at high altitude, causing an electromagnetic pulse. ... Any computer or microprocessor within a 200-mile radius of the blast would probably be destroyed, along with all its data. Cars and trucks wouldn't start, making it impossible to move food, fuel, and other vital necessities of everyday life. Backup generators would be rendered useless, affecting primary care facilities like hospitals and clinics. ... Evidence is mounting that EMP weapons have caught the eye of countries with clandestine nuclear weapons programs, and equally nefarious geopolitical agendas. Earlier this year, Iran exploded its Shahab-3 long-range ballistic missile in midflight by what appeared to be a pre-timed self-destruct mechanism, according to Jane's Missiles and Rockets. Why? Perhaps to test a delivery vehicle for launching an EMP weapon. In the re-emerging nexus between states and terror groups, al-Qaida could play an all-important role in EMP attacks as well. An Iranian-made nuclear warhead attached to a Scud missile bought from North Korea for the paltry sum of $100,000 would be ideally suited for launch from an oceangoing freighter, of which al-Qaida owns a number. A nuclear-tipped Scud launched from a freighter anchored off the U.S. coast near a major metropolitan city would unleash catastrophic consequences if successfully detonated. ... MANSOOR IJAZ, chief executive of Crescent Technology Ventures PLC, received his bachelor's degree magna cum laude in physics from the University of Virginia and his master's in mechanical engineering from MIT. LT. GEN. JAMES ABRAHAMSON (USAF RET.) was director of President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative from 1984 to 1989 and remains involved in related U.S. security efforts."
July 11, 2007, New York Post, 'Monaco Mania': "Guests returning from the Monte Carlo wedding of Mansoor Ijaz, the former Fox News Mideast correspondent, and Belgian beauty Valerie Martin are raving over the fireworks, the belly dancers, and the genius of jazzman Herbie Hancock, a groomsman who performed at the nuptials. Fox's Geraldo Rivera and former Oracle chairman Gen. Jim Abrahamson were fellow groomsmen." |
Abramoff, Jack A. |
Source(s): 1991, Russ Bellant, 'Old Nazis, the New Right, and the Republican Party' (digital version): "Several member organizations of the [American Security Council's] Coalition for Peace Through Strength are also close to South Africa's apartheid regime [in direct coordination with ASC leadership]. In 1983, for instance, Jack Abramoff went to South Africa as chairman of the College Republican National Committee to begin an ongoing relationship with the extreme right National Student Federation (NSF)".
Born in 1958. His father, Franklin Abramoff, was president of Diners Club International and worked closely with Alfred Bloomingdale [Knights of Malta; President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under Reagan; 12 year affair with the 36 year younger Vicki Morgan, who was murdered almost a year after Bloomingdale's death], a personal friend of Ronald Reagan. Chairman College Republican National Committee (CRNC) 1981-1985 (23-27 years old). In 1983 founder and chairman of the International Freedom Foundation (IFF), which cooperated with the American Security Council in keeping apartheid in South Africa in place. The IFF received $1.5 million a year in financing from the South African government until 1992. 1991, Russ Bellant, 'Old Nazis, the New Right, and the Republican Party' (digital version): "[ASC's National Security] Caucus Chair Howard Phillips cosponsors trips to South Africa (at a $4,000 fee) which offer "confidential intelligence and financial briefings" and meetings "with the very highest officials of government, business, banking and the military in South Africa." Also promised are "military intelligence briefings." Ads for such trips are placed in John Birch Society publications. [f-339] The Conservative Caucus lobbies vigorously for UNITA and attempted to initiate a corporate campaign against Gulf Oil/Chevron for buying Angolan oil. [f-340] ... Several member organizations of the [American Security Council's] Coalition for Peace Through Strength are also close to South Africa's apartheid regime. In 1983, for instance, Jack Abramoff went to South Africa as chairman of the College Republican National Committee to begin an ongoing relationship with the extreme right National Student Federation (NSF). ... Phillips and Abramoff [who soon also set up the South Africa-financed International Freedom Foundation] have both supported campaigns calling for the dismissal of Chester Crocker and George Shultz from the State Department because they are seen as insufficiently supportive of South Africa. [f-341] The "Dump Schultz" campaign grew out of a meeting of the Council for National Policy, [f-342] a secret membership group that has included Phillips, Abramoff, then-National Security Council officials Oliver North [central Iran Contra figure as CIA director William Casey's assistant] and John Lenczowski, WACL chair John Singlaub [co-founder CIA; SOPAG chair at the Pentagon; ASC startegy board chair; chair OSS Society with all the top special operations and top CIA veterans], and many others with ASC interlocks. [f-343] CNP's secret quarterly meetings bring together right-wing funders (such as Joseph Coors) and foreign policy activists. [f-344] The June 1987 speaker was Richard Secord. [f-345] Secord was a major player in the Iran Contra-gate arms for hostages private network."
Abramoff was a rather unusual ASC affiliate member due his staunchly Jewish background. Reagan appointed him a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council in 1986. Director National Security Caucus Foundation (NSCF; name 1978-1986: Congressional Division of the [ASC's] Coalition for Peace Through Strength) at the turn of the century, headed by long-time ASC head John Fisher and various other leading ASC veterans on the board. These connections continued until 2004 when the NSCF was dissolved. nscf.net/NSCF Board Members.htm (Feb. 10, 2003): "NSCF Board of Directors: John M. Fisher, Chairman and C.E. O. ... Rear Admiral Robert H. Spiro Jr. (USNR) Ret, President and C.O.O. ... James G. Gore, Jr., Esq. Secretary* ... Dr. Young H. Kim, Vice President* [Virginia] ... Manuel Celaya, Director [Colombia] ... Hon. Walter Fauntroy, Vice President*. Chairman, National Black Leadership Roundtable. ... Ruis Coias, Director [Portugal] ... Hon. Sang Chul Kim, Director, Chairman, Asia Pacific Society ... Jack Abramoff, Esq., Director ... Dr. Thomas K. Lee, Director ... Karen Vitiello, Vice President*. USAir, Inc. ... Gregg Hilton, Executive Director*... Andre Soussan, Director Politique Internationale ... Mrs. O. K. Edmunds, Director*... Silver Spring, Maryland 20904 ... * Members of the Executive Committee ..."
nscf.net/congresscochairs.htm (accessed: February 23, 2001): "The Congressional Co-Chairmen of the National Security Caucus: ... (Text copyright 1997 by Congressional Quarterly Inc.) ... Trent Lott ... John McCain ... Richard Shelby ... Ted Stevens ... Bob Graham ... Joseph I.. Lieberman ... Charles [Chuck] Robb..."
From 1999-2003 Abramoff was secretary/treasurer of the Maldon Institute, a MI6, CIA and ASC-linked ultra-right propaganda front. In the early 2000s Abramoff was a partner of the Alexander Strategy Group, which created the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council (parallel to Abramoff's NSCF ties to Korea) in which Henry Kissinger, Ed Feulner, ambassador Richard Walker (Long-time expert on Korea; said to be CIA; former WACL member; member national committee Council for the Defense of Freedom, originally named the Council Against Communist Aggression; ambassador to Korea; director of the Korea Society, together with Robert D. Hormats of Goldman Sachs and the Atlantic Inst., and others from J. P. Morgan and Boeing, just as advisors as Alexander Haig, George H. W. Bush, and Gerald Ford) and Otilie English (lobbyist for a Committee for a Free Afghanistan and supporter of the Mujahidin in the 1980s; traveled deep inside Afghanistan and seen as an expert on that country; came back to the U.S. with 7 hours of taped interviews with Al Qaeda prisoners, one who supposedly repeatedly threatened that they would be "coming to the U.S.". Washington representative to the Northern Alliance in 2000 and 2001; advisor to Haron Amin, the Northern Alliance spokesman during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan) were directors.
Became a lobbyist at Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP in December 1994, after the firm decided it needed a person with strong ties to the conservative wing of the Republicans. Abramoff was already close to Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey in this period. DeLay has called Abramoff "one of (his) closest and dearest friends". In 1995, Abramoff began representing Indian tribes with gambling interests. He became involved with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. One of Abramoff's first acts as a tribal gaming lobbyist was to defeat a Congressional bill to tax Indian casinos. From these casinos his lobbying firm would receive many millions a year, whch was used to buy influence in Congress and the Senate.
Mariani Islands
Abramoff and his law firm were paid at least $6.7 million by the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) from 1995 to 2001, which made manufactured goods with the "Made in the USA" label but was not subject to U.S. labor and minimum wage laws. After Abramoff paid for DeLay and his staffers to go on trips to the CNMI, they crafted policy that extended exemptions from federal immigration and labor laws to the islands' industries. Abramoff also negotiated for a $1.2 million no-bid contract from the Marianas for "promoting ethics in government" to be awarded to David Lapin, brother of Daniel Lapin. Abramoff also secretly funded a trip for James E. Clyburn (D-SC) and Bennie Thompson (D-MS). In 1999 Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) went on an Abramoff-funded trip to the Marshall Islands with John Doolittle (R-CA), Ken Calvert (R-CA), delegates of Guam, American Samoa, Virgin Islands and eight staffers.
Documentation also indicates that Abramoff's lobbying team helped prepare Rep. Ralph Hall's (R-TX) statements on the House floor in which he attacked the credibility of escaped teenaged sex worker "Katrina", in an attempt to discredit her testimony regarding the state of the sex slave industry on the island.
September 25, 2006, TPM Muckraker, 'For Abramoff, Lawmaker Slandered Teen Sex Slave': "In November of 1997, Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) publicly questioned the credibility of a teenage girl's claims that she'd been the victim of the sex trade in the Northern Mariana Islands. The statement, which Rep. Hall entered into the Congressional Record, was prepared by Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist for the islands. "[S]he wanted to do nude dancing," Hall's statement said of the fifteen-year-old girl. She had earlier told federal investigators that she'd been forced to work for a local nightclub in a nightly live sex show. You can read the entirety of Hall's statement here. Press accounts at the time detailed how the girl had been taken from her parents in the Phillippines, and forced to perform sex acts on stage and before video cameras at a Northern Marianas sex club. A 1998 Department of Labor report confirmed those reports. Hall's challenger in Texas' 4th District, history professor Glenn Melancon, has made the episode a campaign issue. "When investigators discovered child prostitution and forced abortions on the Mariana Islands, Congressman Ralph Hall was paid for covering it up and publicly attacking one of the raped children," read postcards his campaign distributed to voters. Hall has called the charge an "outright lie." His office did not respond to our request for comment on this story. But records show that Abramoff's staff contacted Hall's office fifteen times in the two months leading up to his statement in the Congressional Record. Hall has also denied being paid for making the statement, but oddly enough has revealed that "[Tom] DeLay gave him money 10 years ago," according the to the district's local paper, The Herald Banner. DeLay was Abramoff's closest ally in Congress with regard to the Marianas. But Federal Election Commission records do not show contributions to Hall from DeLay or his PAC during that period. The former Majority Leader was known for routing donations through third parties to hide their origin. Hall was a Democrat at the time he says he took DeLay's money -- he switched parties in 2004. Hall visited the Marianas islands on an Abramoff-sponsored junket in 1997, according to emails. ... For months, activists and members of Congress pushed for labor reforms in the Northern Marianas, an American territory that was rife with cases of human rights abuses. The teenaged girl Hall attacked (referred to by lawyers and activists by her stage name, "Katrina," to protect her anonymity) was just one of those cases. The billing records from Abramoff's lobbying firm, Preston Gates, show that Abramoff and his associates logged long hours helping CNMI dodge such charges. ... As detailed in the findings of a Department of Labor investigation, Katrina was taken away from her parents in the Philippines at the age of fifteen to work at a nightclub in the Northern Marianas. Once there, she was forced to sell drinks, dance naked, and perform videotaped "sex acts on stage with customers." She and the other employees lived in barracks set up by the Philippino club owner until Katrina was able to run away and contact the Philippine Consulate. She was eventually given asylum in Hawaii, where she lives today."
Spring 2006 issue, Ms. Magazine, 'Paradise Lost: Greed, Sex Slavery, Forced Abortions and Right-Wing Moralists': "[In] 1975, the islands’ indigenous population of subsistence farmers and fishermen voted to become a commonwealth of the United States—a legal designation that made them U.S. citizens and subject to most U.S. laws. There were two critical exceptions, however: The U.S. agreed to exempt the islands from the minimum wage requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (allowing the islands to set their own lower minimum wage, currently $3.05, compared to $5.15 in the U.S.) and from most provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This has allowed garment manufacturers to import thousands of foreign contract guest workers who, ironically, stitch onto the garments they make the labels “Made in Saipan (USA),” Made in Northern Marianas (USA)” or simply “Made in USA.” ... The guest worker designation means that these foreign laborers can remain on the islands for an indefinite period but are not eligible for U.S. citizenship. If workers complain about conditions, not only can they be terminated at the whim of their employer, but because they’re exempt from U.S. immigration law, they can be summarily deported. ... the workers [produce] for J. Jill, Elie Tahari and Ann Taylor. These name brand companies don’t own the factory; like Liz Claiborne, The Gap, Ralph Lauren and others, they subcontract production to factories like this, scattered around the tiny Micronesian island of Saipan. Counters above the sewing machines indicate how many pieces the women have completed. According to workers, if they can’t finish a set quota of garments in a day, they may have to stay later and work for free, or they won’t be eligible for future overtime opportunities—which they desperately need. Coming from rural villages and the big city slums of poor Asian countries, these garment workers began their sojourn in the Marianas with a huge financial deficit, having paid recruiters as much as $7,000 to obtain a one-year contract job (renewable at the employer’s discretion). Many of them borrow the money—a small fortune in China, where most are recruited—from lenders who charge as much as 20 percent interest. In a situation akin to indentured servitude, workers cannot earn back their recruitment fee and pay annual company supplied housing and food expenses of about $2,100 without working tremendous hours of overtime. Before being able to save her first dollar, a worker who owes, say, $5,000 to her recruiter has to work nearly 2,500 hours at Saipan’s current minimum wage—which equals six more 40-hour workweeks than exist in a year. And that’s assuming she gets paid. Increasingly, workers are filing formal complaints that they have not received their wages, with some women going without paychecks for over five months. Still, workers at RIFU and other Saipan garment factories labor six days a week, sometimes up to 20 hours a day. ... Such abuses have helped a highly profitable garment industry to flourish in the islands. At its peak, the industry annually exported to the U.S. garments worth $1 billion wholesale (with a retail value conservatively estimated at $2 billion). Considering that the success of the industry was tied closely to its low wages and exploitative guest worker program—and the fact that it was exempt from tariffs or quotas on exports to the U.S. mainland—it’s not surprising that both the Marianas’ government and the garment manufacturers have fought long and hard to maintain the deal. Enter Jack Abramoff ... While at the Washington, D.C., offices of the Preston, Gates, Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds law firm in 1995, Abramoff and his team were hired as lobbyists for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. At the time, the islands’ sweet deal was in trouble, as a decade’s worth of rumblings about labor conditions and immigration abuses there had finally led members of Congress and the Clinton administration to press for legislation to eliminate the island’s exemptions from U.S. minimum wage and immigration laws. But Abramoff, using his close ties to Republicans in the House, worked mightily to block such reforms. Many of his efforts focused on the House Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over U.S. territories, including the Marianas. Although members of both houses of Congress and both political parties repeatedly pushed to bring the Marianas under federal immigration and minimum wage laws, not a single legislative attempt has succeeded—most killed in the House Resources Committee. Beginning in 1995 and continuing to the present day, at least 29 different bills—some to raise the minimum wage, some to close off the immigration exemption, and some to deny use of the “Made in USA” label on products of the CNMI—were introduced by Sens. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and by Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and David Bonier (D-Mich.). Twice—in 1995 and again in 2000—the U.S. Senate voted unanimously for Murkowski’s wage and immigration reforms only to have the bills die in the House Resources Committee. Even a 1999 bill, sponsored by New Jersey Republican Rep. Bob Franks, died in the Resources Committee, despite having 243 co-sponsors—a substantial majority of House members, and enough to ensure passage on the floor. Abramoff also cultivated powerful allies in the House leadership, notably Tom DeLay, who, as majority whip at the time, could keep a bill off the House floor even if the Resources Committee voted in its favor. ... Abramoff was in almost daily contact with DeLay’s top aides concerning Marianas-related matters. DeLay himself, the billing records showed, met or talked with Abramoff about the Marianas at least two dozen times in 1996 and 1997 alone. Abramoff would later summarize his early Marianas lobbying successes in the 2001 letter to Tenorio: “We worked with the House leadership to assure the [minimum wage] bill would not move to the House floor, even if the [Resources] committee did act. It also allowed us to acquire some very powerful allies, such as Majority Whip Tom DeLay.” Three of DeLay’s former aides would end up joining Abramoff’s lobby ing team and working on the Marianas account. Abramoff was well-compensated for his lobbying efforts, bringing in nearly $11 million in fees from the Marianas government and from the islands’ garment manufacturers between 1995 and 2004. And his clients got exactly what they hoped for. “Our team has combated and defeated every single attack on the CNMI,” Abramoff wrote to Tenorio in 2001. One of Abramoff’s favorite tactics for influencing members of Congress was to arrange Saipan junkets. As many as 100 people connected to the U.S. Congress—members themselves, or their staffers—traveled to the islands, sometimes with spouses or other family, including nearly half the Republican members of the House Resources Committee or their staffers. In addition to meetings with local officials, the trips—frequently all-expenses paid—typically entailed a stay at the Hyatt Regency resort, snorkeling in the crystalline waters and golf at one of the islands’ four championship courses. Among the visitors were DeLay, his wife and daughter, and six of his aides. During his 1998 New Year’s holiday trip, he told Saipan officials, as was later reported in The Dallas Observer, "When one of my closest and dearest friends, Jack Abramoff, your most able representative in Washington, D.C., invited me to the islands, I wanted to see firsthand the free-market success and the progress and reform you have made.” At a New Year’s Eve dinner on Saipan, DeLay lavishly praised the governor—in a moment caught on camera and later shown by ABC’s 20/20—“You are a shining light for what is happening in the Republican Party, and you represent everything that is good about what we’re trying to do in America, in leading the world in the free-market system.” Two years later, DeLay still saw the islands through rose-colored lenses, as he told The Washington Post: “[The CNMI] is a perfect petri dish of capitalism. …It’s like my Galapagos Island.” Even today, DeLay remains a booster. When Ms. contacted him, he was in Texas and unavailable for comment, but his spokesman Michael Connolly said, “I can’t think of anything that would have changed his position on the Mariana Islands. He stands by the things he has said in the past and he stands by the votes he’s made that pertain to the islands.” To find the dark underbelly of Delay's "Shining light," simply cross a busy Saipan street and walk a few yards down a dirt road. At 10:30 p.m., knots of Chinese women are just getting off work at a nearby garment factory and making their way through the steady rain that slices the black night. These women eschew the more expensive, factory-owned barracks in favor of tiny homes constructed of corrugated tin, with thin wooden doors. In one tin dwelling, three women share a queen-sized bed that rests on a slab of concrete. The smell of frying vegetables wafts from the “kitchen”—a few hot plates and water-filled plastic buckets set outside on a concrete counter. Nine people share one toilet. As they cluster outside, near a thin clothesline that doubles as a closet, one woman says that she’s worked here for two years and is nowhere close to paying the money back to her recruiter; the others shake their heads in agreement. Their fear is palpable: They’re afraid to use their names or to be photographed, even from the back. “I heard that the lender might break my family’s legs if I don’t pay the money soon. I worry about it a lot,” one 35-year-old Chinese woman told Ms. a few days earlier, speaking through a translator. “I can’t imagine how long it will take to pay the money back. It’s very hard to be here. The only foods I can afford to buy are rice and some very cheap precooked vegetables. My teeth are always bleeding,” she says, her eyes like wet stone. Most guest workers here are from poor Asian countries: China, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Thailand. Most have only a third- or fourth-grade education. Of the nearly 30 workers interviewed by Ms., almost all had left children back home with relatives, hoping they’ll earn enough in Saipan to finance their offspring’s education. “The recruiter told us that in America it’s a very free country, and because we had never been here we believed them,” says a 22-year-old garment worker from China’s rural Fujian Province. “They were lying.” Despite the squalid living conditions, the young guest workers want to stay at their jobs long enough to make their sacrifices worthwhile. But if they happen to get pregnant while working in Saipan, they’re faced with a new nightmare. According to a 1998 investigation by the Department of Interior Office of Insular Affairs, a number of Chinese garment workers reported that if they became pregnant, they were “forced to return to China to have an abortion or forced to have an illegal abortion” in the Marianas. ... Women recruited to work in Saipan as waitresses, or in other legitimate jobs, often end up being forced to become strippers or prostitutes... “I thought I was coming to work as a dancer,” says a young Filipina woman, her voice barely a whisper as she speaks behind a curtain of her hair. “I was so surprised on the first night in the club when they told me I had to strip. The only way to get tips was by picking up the money with your breasts and your vagina. And there was a VIP room in the back where people could have sex.” She points to a yellowed building with boarded-up windows and a security camera in the stairwell just off a busy street. There, she and the other strippers, all young Filipinas, were locked inside during the day and not allowed to leave except for work. Eventually, she and a friend escaped their employer after one of them rappelled down from a second-story balcony, using a rope made out of pants. ... The saddest tale we’re told in the Marianas comes from a 24-year-old Filipina who is afraid to give her name. She and the 22-year-old woman sitting on a couch beside her came to Saipan last fall after recruiters offered them $400 a month to work as waitresses. Her 14-month-old son had died of dehydration the year before when she didn’t have enough money for his medication. So, she couldn’t turn down the recruiters, she whispers, because she believed it would enable her to provide a better life for her surviving 3-year-old son. But, “they forced me to work like a prostitute,” she says. They were expected to have sex with as many as four men per day and given but one daily meal of noodles. “The boss lady told me if I don’t work, I won’t return back to the Philippines or see my son, and they will file a complaint and I’ll go to jail.” As she talks in the shelter where they’ve now hidden for five months, the other girl folds her body into a ball, tears streaking her face. Tom Delay insists that he's never heard such stories. “Sure, when you get this number of people, there are stories of sexual exploitation,” he told the Galveston County Daily News in May 2005. “But in interviewing these employees one-on-one, there was no evidence of any of that going on. Most Saipan prostitutes are former garment workers. No evidence of sweatshops as portrayed by the national media. It’s a beautiful island with beautiful people who are happy about what’s happening." Reformer Rep. George Miller, however, heard completely different stories on his visit to the islands. ... “It’s so ironic that people who talk about themselves as having family values are allowing these guest workers to be exploited in the harshest possible ways,” says Miller. “Their money and lobbying allowed the continuation of the worst of human behavior. Hopefully, now DeLay’s influence is diminished and there’s an opportunity to provide some protections.” For guest workers in Saipan, drowning for years in wretched conditions, Miller’s legislation offers but a faint outline of a lifeboat on the horizon. “This is a dark, dark place in America,” says one former garment worker while driving beneath the warm tropical sun past one of the covert abortion clinics. “It’s a nightmare here.”"
Ties to Bush
February 11, 2006, Time magazine, 'First Photo of Bush and Abramoff': "Just how close was the relationship between the White House and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff? The Bush Administration again faced questions about those ties after an e-mail Abramoff sent a journalist friend surfaced last week in which Abramoff wrote that he had met President Bush almost a dozen times over the past five years, and even received an invitation to the President's Crawford, Texas, ranch along with other large political donors. Bush "has one of the best memories of any politician I have ever met," Abramoff mused in the e-mail last month, adding that, He "saw me in almost a dozen settings, and joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids." The White House, however, has continued to assert that the President had no recollection of ever meeting Abramoff. When TIME reported in January that it had viewed unpublished photographs of Abramoff with Bush, aides responded that the pictures meant nothing since the President is photographed with thousands of supporters and White House visitors every year. Now, finally, the first such photo has come to light. It shows a bearded Abramoff in the background as Bush greets an Abramoff client, Raul Garza, who was then the chairman of the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas; Bush senior advisor Karl Rove looks on. The photograph was provided to TIME by Mr. Garza. The meeting took place in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House on May 9, 2001. Told about the photograph in January, the White House said it had no record that Abramoff was present at the meeting. Shown the photograph today, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said the White House had still found no record of Abramoff's presence but confirmed that it is Abramoff in the picture. McClellan told TIME: "The President has taken countless, tens of thousands of pictures at home and abroad over the last five years. As we've said previously a photo like this has no relevance to the Justice Department's investigation [of Abramoff]." This meeting, however, was a relatively small gathering attended by some two dozen people, including Garza and another Indian tribal leader who was Abramoff's client. At least two tribes, the Coushatta of Louisiana and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw, contributed $25,000 each to the anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform, which is headed by Grover Norquist, a well-known conservative ally of the White House. Garza, who is also known by his Indian name, Makateonenodua, meaning "black buffalo," is under federal indictment for allegedly embezzling more than $300,000 from his tribe. Talking about the photo, Abramoff has told friends, "I was standing right next to the window and after the picture was taken, the President came over and shook hands with me, and we chatted and joked." A photograph of that scene as described by Abramoff was shown to TIME two weeks ago. Abramoff's lawyers have said that their client has long had photographs of himself with Bush, but that he has no intention of releasing any of them. Abramoff would not comment on the matter."
Russian ties
April 6, 2005, Washington Post, 'A 3rd DeLay Trip Under Scrutiny 1997 Russia Visit Reportedly Backed by Business Interests': "A six-day trip to Moscow in 1997 by then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was underwritten by business interests lobbying in support of the Russian government, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the trip arrangements. ... DeLay also dined with the Russian executives and two Washington-based registered lobbyists for the Bahamian-registered company, sources say. One of those lobbyists was Jack Abramoff... Lobbyist Julius "Jay" Kaplan, second from left, reportedly met with Rep. Tom DeLay in Moscow. He is pictured with Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, Naftasib's Marina Nevskaya, Alexander Koulakovsky and Dr. Robert Spiro. (Gregg Hilton -- American Foreign Policy Council)."
August 20, 2004, Kommersant newspaper (Russia), 'YUKOS in an Emergency Situation': "[NaftaSib president Aleksandr] Kulakovsky and [vice president Marina] Nevskaya are not particularly well known in Russia, but are more familiar to Americans. In August 1997, NaftaSib paid for the Moscow leg of US House of Representatives leader Tom DeLay's trip to Moscow. Nevskaya accompanied him in Moscow. It was claimed in the American press that she taught at the Military Diplomatic Academy, where personnel for the Main Intelligence Division of the Russian Joint Staff are trained. In January 1998, before a visit by Viktor Chernomyrdin to the United States, the management of NaftaSib held several meetings with lobbyists, including the American Security Council Foundation (ASCF), as "people close to the circle of Viktor Chernomyrdin" (quoted from an AFSC press release). After that visit, part of the "Gore-Chernomyrdin program," Russian companies began to work much more actively in Iraq. According to its official report for 2003, NaftaSib is controlled by Kulakovsky and entrepreneur Mikhail Khimich. Their business has direct dealings with YUKOS. NaftaSib owns 77% of SIDANKO-Vostok, the biggest trader for the Angar oil refinery, which is part of YUKOS. NaftaSib-Irkutsk and SIDANKO-Vostok are suppliers of petroleum products to Siberia and the Russian Far East. SIDANKO-Vostok also supplies petroleum products to military units in Irkutsk and exports oil through the port of Nakhodka. SIDANKO-Vostok used to manage SIDANKO assets in the Far East, but most of them were divided between YUKOS, Rosneft and the Alliance Group in 1999 and 2000. In addition, NaftaSib is the co-owner of Unicor Bank in Moscow. It operates development projects in Moscow and owns 90% of the Tula Salt Co. In 2001, the Radiotelemir television company, which Khimich was the head of, launched the 7TV channel (formerly Children's Project). That company was sold a year later by NaftaSib. That company's most noteworthy connection is with the Ministry of Emergencies, however. Official statistics identify NaftaSib as 49% owner of the service companies for that ministry that call themselves Emerkom: Emerkom-Spetsmontazh, Emerkom-Kompleks, Emerkom-Demayning and Emerkom-Avia. Emerkom is the subsidiary of the Emergencies Ministry that provides humanitarian aid. It is in practice the Emergencies Ministry trading company, through which the ministry buys supplies for humanitarian aid. Emerkom also trades in oil. Emerkom is one of the 170 Russian companies on the list received by Kommersant from the US Congress of companies having preferential rights to trade with Iraq within the Oil-for-Food program. According to the Washington Post, that company and Zarubezhneft were accused in 2002 of secretly financing ex-president of Iraq Saddam Hussein. Emerkom does not hide its ties with NaftaSib. Emerkom provided a Kommersant correspondent with a list of telephone numbers for NaftaSib representatives."
2006, Matthew Continetti, 'The K Street Gang: The Rise and Fall of the Republican Machine' (digital): "[In 2005 Delay, his wife, staff, Abramoff and a few others] golfed, met with Russian religious leaders, visited tourist attractions, and spoke with Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin [all in Russia]. The trip cost over $57,000. When the delegation stayed for two nights at the Le Meriden Moscow Country Club, Abramoff had the room next to the DeLays. The hotel bills show that the group made extensive use of the minibar. One night they attended a sumptuous dinner party hosted by the heads of NaftaSib, a Russian energy company. DeLay met NaftaSib's president, Alexander Koulakovsky, and its executive vice president, Marina Nevskaya. NaftaSib was another client of Abramoff's at Preston Gates."
March 1, 2006, Boston Globe, 'Abramoff pushed plan to drill for oil in Israel: Established firm with two Russians': "Documents reviewed by the Globe show that in November 2001 Abramoff sought a banker's letter vouching that his newly created company, First Gate Resources, could undertake a $5 million project. The letter was addressed to the then-Israeli oil commissioner. A former Abramoff lobbying partner, Ronald Platt, said in an interview that he was shown a brochure about First Gate that listed the company officers as Abramoff and two Russian energy company executives of a Moscow firm called Naftasib. ''They supposedly had some kind of technology for determining oil and gas resources, they had discovered vast oil and gas deposits in the Israeli desert, and [Abramoff believed that] if these were exploited it would change the whole dynamic of the Middle East," Platt said. Abramoff's venture never got off the ground, but the plan provides significant new insights into the lobbyist's ties to Naftasib and its two senior executives. ... His drilling company was set up in a way that shields the names of its officers. A company called First Gate Resources was set up under Delaware incorporation laws on Feb. 6, 2001, and dissolved in 2004, according to records. E-mails released by a Senate committee probing Abramoff show that he counted on his Russian partners to write a letter to Israeli officials pledging financial support for his plan to drill for oil. ... Abramoff wrote an e-mail to a lobbying partner on Nov. 4, 2001, with the subject line of ''first gate," saying he needed the letter ''mega fast. This is something Alexander and Marina were supposed to get but have not done so. Our permit in Israel depends on it and we are running short of time." ... Abramoff, an Orthodox Jew who frequently expressed a desire to help Israel, then drafted a letter to be sent by a bank to Yehezkiel Druckman, who was Israel's oil commissioner at the time. The draft said that ''based on our experience with First Gate Resources Inc. we believe that the company has the means and the financial backing to undertake a project/transaction costing $5 million." The e-mails do not make clear whether the letter was sent or what happened to Abramoff's dream of finding oil in Israel. Druckman, who is no longer the oil minister, could not be reached for comment. The Israeli Embassy in Washington said it had no information on the Abramoff effort. However, an Israeli oil specialist, Philip Mandelker, said that First Gate Resources did try to get a lease for petroleum. ''My understanding is that First Gate Resources had been in contact with the Israeli authorities in about 2001 about the possibility of acquiring petroleum exploration rights," said Mandelker, who works for Zion Oil and Gas, a Texas company with no connection to Abramoff that is looking for oil in Israel. Mandelker, who has discussed the matter with Israeli officials, said First Gate never got the required permits. Israel does have significant natural gas resources, but the country imports nearly all of its oil. A report by the US Department of Energy says that about 460 oil wells have been drilled in Israel since the 1940s ''with little success." But the report quotes Israeli officials as saying that the country could have large oil reserves beneath natural gas fields. Within weeks of the effort to establish the oil-drilling plan, Abramoff discussed with the same Russian partners a plan to purchase night-vision equipment for settlers in territory occupied by Israel, according to his e-mails. One e-mail sent to Abramoff on Oct. 15, 2001, says that it will cost $28,000 to purchase the equipment, and is signed by a person identified as ''Vadim, assistant to Mrs. Nevskaya." It is from an e-mail account at ''naftasib.com," the company where Nevskaya worked. Shortly thereafter, an Abramoff-related group, Capital Athletic Foundation, listed an $18,000 ''donation of thermal imager," suggesting the equipment was bought and sent to the settlers."
Abramoff is particularly close to the extremist Religious Right in the United States. In 2002 co-founder American Alliance of Christians and Jews (AACJ), with Religious Right extremists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. February 2, 2006, The Nation, 'Abramoff's Evangelical Soldiers': "In a January 6 press release issued three days after Abramoff's indictment, [Focus on the Family founder James] Dobson declared, "If the nation's politicians don't fix this national disaster, then the oceans of gambling money with which Jack Abramoff tried to buy influence on Capitol Hill will only be the beginning of the corruption we'll see." ... What Dobson neglected to mention--and has yet to discuss publicly--is his own pivotal role in one of Abramoff's schemes. In 2002 Dobson joined a coterie of Christian-right activists, including Tony Perkins, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, to spearhead Abramoff's campaigns against the establishment of several Louisiana casinos that infringed on the turf of Abramoff's tribal clients. Dobson and his allies recorded messages for phone banking, lobbied high-level Bush Administration officials and took to the airwaves. Whether they knew it or not, these Christian soldiers' crusade to protect families in the "Sportsmen's Paradise" from the side effects of chronic slot-pulling and dice-rolling was funded by the gambling industry and planned by the lobbyist known even to his friends as "Casino Jack." The only Christian-right activist confirmed to be completely aware of Abramoff's rip-off was Ralph Reed. He and Abramoff have a long and storied history together. When Abramoff chaired the College Republican National Committee in the early 1980s, Reed served as the organization's executive director. They reunited in 1989, when Abramoff helped Reed organize the remains of Pat Robertson's failed 1988 presidential bid into the Christian Coalition. In 1997, with the Christian Coalition under IRS investigation and Reed facing accusations of cronyism from the group's chief financial officer, he left to start his own consulting firm, Century Strategies. Reed contacted Abramoff right away. "I need to start humping in corporate accounts," Reed told him in 1998. "I'm counting on you to help me with some contacts." Though Abramoff apparently was not fond of Reed, he viewed him as useful. ... With a steady supply of gambling industry cash, Abramoff dumped a phone-bank budget of more than $60,000 into Reed's war chest for PR efforts against his clients' rivals, the Jena Choctaws (Reed had asked for $150,000)--supplementing the $10,000 in tribal gambling money he directed to Reed's 2001 campaign for chair of the Georgia GOP and the nearly $4 million he ultimately funneled into Reed's personal account. Reed then recruited Falwell to record a phone message against the bill. He also solicited the help of his former boss at the Christian Coalition, Pat Robertson, thanking him for his "leadership for our values." Like the answering of a prayer, tens of thousands of Louisiana Republicans suddenly were bombarded with the voice of God against vice, played by Robertson and Falwell. On March 22, 2001, the bill was resoundingly defeated in the legislature. "You are the greatest!!!" an ecstatic Abramoff wrote to Reed. Miracle accomplished, Abramoff tapped Reed's services again in January 2002, when his clients learned that then-Louisiana Governor Mike Foster had secretly approved a casino site for the Jena Choctaws. ... Abramoff transferred more cash to Reed to blast Dobson's tirade against the Jena casino across Louisiana airwaves. Abramoff was confident his Bush Administration contacts would make sure all the right people heard Dobson's hit. ... But Abramoff's fun didn't stop there. Reed urged a Who's Who of the Christian right to lobby Norton against the Jena compact with a stream of breathless letters. ... American Family Association chair Don Wildmon sent a lengthy missive to Norton filled with statistics on gambling's adverse social impact. The Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly sent another. ... Despite the best efforts of Abramoff and the Christian soldiers Reed recruited, in December Norton approved the Jena compact. Soon after, Louisiana's new governor, Kathleen Blanco, reversed the deal on the basis of her opposition to casino growth. ... In July 2002, at the height of the anti-Jena campaign, Bauer and Rabbi Daniel Lapin, a fixture at Christian-right events, founded the American Alliance of Christians and Jews. On the group's board were Dobson, Robertson, Falwell and one Jack Abramoff. Lapin's organization, Toward Tradition, which administered the AACJ, received $25,000 from one of Abramoff's gambling industry clients in 2000; took $75,000 from Abramoff and his clients; and then, upon Abramoff's written instructions, hired the wife of Tony Rudy to the tune of $5,000 a month. Rudy, who was Tom DeLay's deputy chief of staff at the time, later a lobbyist, has been named in Abramoff's guilty plea. While Abramoff cooperates with federal prosecutors, his former Christian-right surrogates have abstained from coming clean about their relationship with him."
November 6, 2011, CBS 60 Minutes upload toYoutube, 'Jack Abramoff: The lobbyist's playbook' (digital version): "[Narrator:] He would provide freebees and gifts, looking for favors to his clients in return. He'd lavish certain congressman and senators with access to private jets and junkets to the world's greatest golf destinations, like St. Andrews in Scotland, free meals in his own upscale Washington restaurant, and the best tickets to all the areas' sporting events, including two sky boxes at Washington Redskins games. ... [Abramoff:] I spent over a million dollars a year on tickets to sporting events, concerts and all the venues and what not. ... I had two people on my staff whose virtual full-time job was to book tickets for these guys. ... The congressman or senator could take two dozen of his favorite people from their district. ... We'd say: You know, when you are done working on the hill, we would like you to consider to come work for us. And the moment I said that to them, or any of my staff said that to them, we would own them. Every request from our office, every request from our clients, everything that we want, they are going to do. And not only that, they are going to think of things we can't think of to do. ... Right, evil! Yes, terrible! Shameful. Absolutely! It's the worst thing that could happen [in our country]. [reporter and Abramoff both acting upset] I admit, I was involved in a system that I should not have been in. I'm a shamed of the fact that I was there. The very reason now why I'm speaking about it. ... [Narrator:] One of the offices he keyed on was his good friend, the majority leader Tom Delay, eventually hiring his deputy chief of staff and his press secretary, and going into business with Delay's chief of staff. ... We probably had very strong influence in a 100 offices at the time. ... In those days I would view that as a failure, because there were at least 335 offices that we didn't have strong influence in. ... [Bob Ney, senator from Ohio 1984-1995, congressman from Ohio 1995-2006, and part of Abramoff's corrupt network:] I wanted to be speaker of the house, and Jack Abramoff was the beautiful light of day to get to the person I had some conflicts with, Tom Delay. ... But I will still tell you, in that point in time, in order to get a drink at [Abramoff's restaurant] Signatures, you had to shove White House staffers of George Bush the heck away from the bar. It was packed with people and there were members [of both houses of congress]... Now, that doesn't mean that everybody did everything for Jack, but if you want to talk about strict interpretation of violation of the laws of food and drink, [they were broken to the extreme]... [Abramoff:] So, what we did, we crafted language that was so obscure, so confusing, so uninformative, but so precise, to change the U.S. code. ... [No one would know these laws were inserted] except the chairmen of the committees. Members don't read the bills. ... Bribery [you can] call it, because that's ultimately what it is. That's what the whole system is. ... It is done every day. And it is still being done. The truth is there are very few members that I could even name or can think of who didn't at some level participate in that. [Narrator:] [Abramoff] was devoutly religious and exhorbitantly charitable. He said he gave away 80 percent of his earnings. [Abramoff:] Most of the money I made, I gave away to either communal or charitable causes. So, frankly, I thought I was one of the most moral out there. [Narrator:] Things began to unravel for Abramoff when the Washington Post published a largely unflattering portrait of him in 2004, reporting that he charged his clients ten times more than any other lobbyist in town. [February 22, 2004, Washington Post, 'A Jackpot From Indian gaming Tribes: Lobbying, PR Firms Paid $45 Million Over 3 Years'] ... [Abramoff:] You can't take a congressman to lunch for $25 and buy him a hamburger or a stake, or something like that. But you can take him to a fundraising lunch and not only buy him that stake, but give him $25,000 extra, and call that a fundraiser. They get all the same access and the same interaction with that congressman. So the people who make the reforms are the people in the system. No, the system hasn't been cleaned up at all. There's an arrogance on the part of lobbyists, and certainly there was on the part of me and my team, that no matter with what they come up with, we are smarter than they are and we'll overcome it. We'll just find another way through. That's all." |
Adams, Gen. Paul D. |
Source(s): 1968 National Strategy Committee list
He was a student and then faculty member at the Army War College from 1950 to 1951, before being deployed to fight in the Korean War. He consecutively served as Commanding General, 25th Infantry Division, Chief of Staff of X Corps, and Chief of Staff Eighth United States Army during the Korean War. After the war, he was Commanding General, 101st Airborne Division, from June to December 1953. He later served as Commanding General, U.S. Army Forces in the Middle East in 1958. From 1959 to 1960, he commanded V Corps. He concurrently served as Commanding General, Third United States Army, and Commanding General, Fort McPherson, Georgia, from 1960 to 1961. After receiving his fourth star in 1961, he became Commander-in-Chief, United States Strike Command, from 1961 to 1966. General Adams retired in 1966. He was president of Paul D. Adams & Associates from 1966 to 1971. Died in 1987. |
Alarcon, Mario Sandoval |
Source(s): December 16, 1983, New York Times, 'Foreign Affairs': "There are conservative ''think tanks'' in the Washington area that make a point of having good relations with such ultras as Salvador's Roberto D'Aubuisson and Guatemala's Mario Sandoval Alarcon, who are officially shunned by the U.S. because of their murderous reputations. Among them are the Council on Inter-American Security, the American Security Council, and the National Strategic Information Center, the last organized in the 1960's by William Casey, now C.I.A. Director."
April 17, 2003, Associated Press, 'Former Vice President Mario Sandoval dies at 79': "Former Vice President Mario Sandoval Alarcon, a leading figure in conservative Guatemalan politics for decades, died Thursday at the age of 79, his family said. Sandoval served as vice president between 1974 and 1978 in the government of Gen. Kjell Laugerud, whose election victory over Gen. Efrain Rios Montt was widely questioned. He ran unsuccessfully for president himself in 1982 and 1986 for the National Liberation Movement, a right-wing party which participated in the CIA-organized overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz in 1954. Sandoval helped found the party and served as its secretary-general from 1958 to 1993, participating in several international anti-Communist organizations. A party biography said that at the time of the 1954 ouster of Arbenz, Sandoval was imprisoned because of clandestine organizing against Arbenz's left-leaning government. He became private secretary to Col. Carlos Castillo Armas, who took power after Arbenz was overthrown. Sandoval earlier had helped Castillo Armas break out of a prison in 1950. Sandoval also served as an ambassador and congressman and represented his country at the funeral of Spanish strongman Francisco Franco in 1975. The party biography said Sandoval had been named an honorary citizen of the states of Texas and Florida and of the cities of Jacksonville, Florida, and Houston, Texas."
March 8, 1982, The Globe and Mail (Canada), 'Guatemalans cast ballot for new leader': "The most extreme of these is Mario Sandoval Alarcon, a 58-year-old lawyer and a ferocious anti-Communist, who had promised to restore peace by utterly eradicating the guerrillas, though without resort to the torture or the death squads now used in Guatemala's counter-insurgency efforts."
December 19, 1982, Miami Herald, 'U.S. Bankrolling Sandinistas' Foes': "Sources confirmed the CIA had funded and watched over the activities of the contras, using Argentine and Honduran military officers as go-betweens. ... The Argentines' involvement with the contras began in early 1981, according to FDN sources, when former National Guard Col. Emilio Echeverri made contacts with a loosely knit group of Argentine intelligence agents and their collaborators in Central America. Buenos Aires officials became interested in Central America when many of Argentina's Montonero guerrillas turned up in Nicaragua after the Sandinista victory in 1979. ... Argentine military advisers trained the first group of Nicaraguan contras in neighboring Guatemala, sometimes on land owned by rightist poltician Mario Sandoval Alarcon, they said. About 70 former national guardsmen later went to Argentina in three groups of 20 to 25 for six-week training courses at an army counterinsurgency school, exile sources said."
December 20, 1984, San Diego Union-Tribune, 'Assassination foiled': "Unidentified gunmen opened fire on far-right political leader Mario Sandoval Alarcon but bodyguards foiled the assassination attempt, his party said. A press bulletin issued by Sandoval's National Liberation Movement claimed that "unidentified individuals" barged into a cocktail party at noon Tuesday and opened fire on Sandoval Alarcon. Sandoval Alarcon was vice president in the 1974-78 military-backed government of Gen. Kjell Eugenio Laugerud. Published reports have alleged he has ties with death squads in Guatemala as well as in neighboring El Salvador."
June 24, 1984, Gwynne Dyer, a member of RIIA and the IISS, for the San Diego Union-Tribune, 'Guatemalans have two `right' choices': ""The terror is aimed at forcing people to vote for the right," said Vicinio Cerezo, the leader of Guatemala's Christian Democratic Party, a very brave man who has attended the funerals of dozens of his party workers over the years. But the only real question in the Guatemalan election on July 1 is which part of the right will win. Without army intervention, the winner would all too likely be the National Liberation Movement (MLN), whose leader, Mario Sandoval Alarcon, once described it as "the party of organized terror." If elected, he promised a senior Western diplomat recently, his party would put all suspected subversives in front of a firing squad. A government led by Sandoval Alarcon would condemn Guatemala to international ostracism: "It'd be like trying to sell Hitler," a U.S. diplomat in Guatemala City said. So the army, which has ruled Guatemala since the last more or less representative government was overthrown by a CIA-backed invasion in 1954, has moved to safeguard its power. It has created a new "official" party which will keep the self-declared fascists of the MLN and their 5,000-man private army in the background. Aided by total military control of the countryside, and an estimated 50 murders or disappearances a week in the capital since the death squads were unleashed again in February, the army's party is guaranteed to win. Guatemala is returning to its normal pattern. The pattern was rudely interrupted by General Efrain Rios Montt, a fanatical convert to a California-based fundamentalist Protestant sect known as the Church of the Word. He was brought to power in March 1982 by a group of rebellious young officers who were convinced that the army was losing the guerrilla war in the backlands, despite the unbridled military terrorism of the existing regime. It was true: The army was losing ground badly to four leftist guerrilla armies operating in the Mayan Indian areas where half of Guatemala's 7 million people live. Rios Montt was embarrassingly devoted to a foreign sect run by aging, born-again hippies, but he had two great merits: He was honest, and he was a real expert in counterinsurgency. He immediately enforced a quite unaccustomed degree of honesty in government departments, and transformed the way the guerrilla war was being fought. It did not get prettier as a result: "The kill rate was quite high," a local source remarked, "and what it shows is that terror, when applied with political good sense, works." A local Indian living in the formerly guerrilla-infested province of El Quiche put it even more plainly. "The army used to come openly, bombing and killing whoever they could find, but now the tactics have changed. Now the people themselves are compelled to kill their neighbors." Rios Montt's real innovation was a program called "rifles and beans" (fusiles y frijoles). Guatemala's Indians had historically stayed out of the political quarrels of the ruling ladino (mixed-race) population until the guerrillas began mobilizing them as a base -- and even that required a good deal of compulsion and terror, despite the Indians' poverty. "We're finding it a little difficult to convince the Indians that we are fighting for them," remarked a guerrilla representative in Mexico a couple of years ago. Under Rios Montt the government counterterror became more selective, and was combined with civil action projects and food supplies for those who cooperated. Moreover, a local civil defense militia half a million strong was conscripted and armed to control the villages. About 300,000 Indians became refugees during these operations, but the guerrillas have lost most of their bases. However, this military victory did not save Rios Montt, who was overthrown last August by his own defense minister, General Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores. Guatemalan senior officers felt humiliated by Rios Montt's stubborn reliance on the seven junior officers (known as the "seven dwarfs") who had brought him to power. They were also impatient with his unwillingness to compromise with the United States, which has not given Guatemala any military aid since 1977. Mejia was more willing to fall in with Washington's plans for Central America. The weekend before the coup he was in Honduras meeting Gen. Frederick Woerner, the second-ranking officer in the U.S. Southern Command, to discuss reactivating Condeca, the right-wing military pact between Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. A day later Mejia was flown to the U.S. carrier Ranger to meet the defense ministers of those countries. On the day of the coup, Maj. William Mercado, the U.S. deputy military attache in Guatemala, was filmed at the presidential palace, walkie-talkie in hand, talking to the officers whom Mejia had sent to tell Rios Montt his time was up. "The U.S. has been pressing me for months to involve Guatemala against Nicaragua," the deposed president said afterwards. "Now it has found someone who is willing to do it." But President Reagan couldn't deliver the military aid Mejia expected: Congress refused to grant it. "We attracted all sorts of diplomatic criticism for agreeing to go along with the Condeca plan," said an aggrieved senior figure in the Guatemalan regime last November. "And the gringos have given us nothing." So the arrangement collapsed, and Guatemala is still on its own. But Guatemala's army is still successfully applying the fusiles y frijoles formula in the rural areas, and it is not about to relinquish power in the capital, either. The elections this July are part of the traditional process of restoring a legitimate facade to the army's rule after an internal power struggle, and the death squads will make sure democracy doesn't go too far. Everything is under control in Guatemala. Dyer, a Canadian-born journalist now living in London, is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Royal Institute of Foreign Affairs."
July 3, 1984, Miami Herald, 'Guatemalan Centrists Take Early Lead': ""We've had the first election in many years in which the Guatemalan people have been satisfied," said Vinicio Cerezo, head of the Christian Democratic party and a frequent critic of past elections. Unofficial results in the national races, with 2,432 of the country's 4,090 ballot boxes counted, including 793 in the capital, showed the following results: Christian Democrats, 17.6 percent; National Centrist Union, 15 percent; Movement for National Liberation, in alliance with the Authentic National Center, 12.1 percnter, 12.1 percent; and National Renovation party, 8 percent. Defaced or blank ballots accounted for 19 percent. The National Centrist Union, formed last year, appeared to forge its surprisingly strong first showing at the expense of several rightist parties. The share of the vote captured by three army-backed parties that formed a winning coalition in the 1982 presidential election dropped to 14 percent from 35 percent in 1982. The Union's success also appeared to came at the expense of the ultra-rightist Movement for National Liberation, which traces its roots and its name to the CIA-backed exile army that overthrew leftist President Jacobo Arbenz in 1954. Since then, the Movement and its leader, Mario Sandoval Alarcon, representing the most conservative landowners and industrialists, have been Guatemala's most powerful political force, though they never won the presidency. The Movement captured 12 percent of the vote Sunday in coalition with another rightist party, the Authentic National Center. The two parties' combined tally in the 1982 elections was 34.6 percent. Because of the system used to allot deputies to rural districts, the Movement could win more assembly seats than the Centrist Union, sources in both parties said."
April 17, 2003, World News Connection, 'Guatemala: Alleged Death Squad Founder Dies in Guatamala': "The Guatemalan far-rightist politician considered by many the father of the modern Central American death squad movement died here Thursday of a heart attack at the age of 79, his family reported. Mario Sandoval Alarcon, revered by many radical anti-communists along the isthmus, had called his political organization "the party of organized violence." He was a mentor to, among others, Roberto D'Aubuisson, the late Salvadoran rightist believed to be the founder of his nation's prolific death squads blamed in the 1970s and early '80s for thousands of summary executions of suspected leftists. Sandoval Alarcon, known widely as "El Mico" (the Monkey), died at his home in Guatemala City, his family said. Holding the reins of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and in cahoots with the Catholic hierarchy, Sandoval launched a CIA-backed coup and overthrew President Jacobo Arbenz on July 3, 1954. Upon seizing power he formed the Nationalist Democratic Movement (MDN), which elected as president the head of the counter-revolutionary movement, Colonel Carlos Castillo, who was assassinated in 1956 as the result of internal partywrangling. In the 1957 fraudulent elections that were later nullified, MDN candidate Miguel Ortiz won the presidency. In the 1960s Sandoval consolidated his role as a political leader and changed his party's name to the National Liberation Movement (MLN), the so-called "party of organized violence." At the same time he was accused of organizing and leading death squads, such as the "White Hand," which tortured and assassinated popular, leftist political leaders and Marxist sympathizers. Sandoval, in an alliance with the Democratic Institutional Party, backed Colonel Carlos Arana's successful run for the presidency in 1970, while he himself went on to lead congress for four years. In 1974, Sandoval became vice president under General Kjell Eugenio Lauguerud Garcia. In 1982, he ran for president on the MLN ticket, but the election was nullified by the coup that put General Jose Efrain Rios Montt in power. The MLN's power began to decline soon after and it was eventually dissolved. Description of Source: Panama City ACAN-EFE in English -- Independent Central American press agency that is a joint concern of Panama City ACAN (Agencia Centroamericana de Noticias) and Madrid EFE "
May 15, 2003, The Times, 'Mario Sandoval Alarcon': "Mario Sandoval Alarcon, politician, was born on May 18, 1923. He died on April 17, 2003, aged 79. Mario Sandoval Alarcon was a key figure in Guatemalan politics during the turbulent Cold War era, when hundreds of thousands of people died in a long-running civil war between left-wing guerrillas and a succession of conservative regimes. He was involved in the CIA-inspired overthrow of a reformist government in 1954, and was one of the founders of the National Liberation Movement (MLN), which was on the far Right of the political spectrum. He was a fierce nationalist, never accepting the independence of Belize, a former British colony to which Guatemala had a historic territorial claim. Sandoval Alarcon stood twice for president, in 1982, when the results were annulled by a military coup, and in 1986. Earlier he had served as vice president in the military-led government of General Kjell Laugerud between 1974 and 1978, and was speaker of congress in the 1970-74 period, when another general ruled the country. He retired in 1990, and the MLN, which had been unable to adapt to recent changes in Guatemalan politics, was wound up soon afterwards. He was an anti-communist of a particularly implacable kind. In the mid-1960s he was behind the creation of paramilitary death squads, including the notorious Mano Blanca (White Hand), which kidnapped, tortured and murdered people suspected of left-wing sympathies. For all his extremist views, Sandoval Alarcon was clear-headed enough to realise that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 would have a profound impact on his own country, and he supported the protracted negotiations with the guerrillas that finally culminated in peace accords in 1996. Even his enemies recognised his personal honesty, and his courage in continuing in public life despite losing the use of his voice from cancer of the throat. Mario Sandoval Alarcon studied law at San Carlos University in Guatemalan City, where he first became involved in politics, founding an anti-communist student organisation. He later became a leading light in the World Anti-Communist League, founded in 1966 as a public relations front for Taiwan and South Korea. His first political appointment was as private secretary to President Carlos Castillo Armas, the army colonel who replaced the deposed left-wing President Jacobo Arbenz in 1954. After the assassination of Castillo Armas in 1957, he spent two years in exile in Spain."
April 5, 1984, New York Times, 'Abroad at Home; Operation Success': "The Reagan Administration defends all this as realism in a hard world: necessary measures to weaken a left-wing Government that makes trouble for us in Central America. But there is a precedent that mocks the argument of realism. Thirty years ago the United States overthrew a Government in Central America. In June 1954 a coup organized by the C.I.A. removed the elected President of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz. The Eisenhower Administration ran a massive disinformation campaign to paint him as a dangerous radical. The C.I.A. called that venture ''Operation Success.'' Some success. In place of a democratic Government the U.S. installed a colonel, Carlos Castillo Armas. Guatemala began years of military rule, violence, torture and misery - years that have not ended. ''Guatemala has the worst civil rights record of any country in South America,'' Senator Jim Sasser of Tennessee said recently. Successive military leaders have slaughtered their people in an effort to stamp out rebellion. Amnesty International, in a report this week on the use of torture by governments, mentioned thousands kidnapped in Guatemala between 1978 and 1982 and found dumped dead by roadsides with flesh burned and limbs amputated. Has the interest of the United States been served in Guatemala? Hardly. Central America's most populous country has become a center of instability. A historian of the 1954 coup, Ronald Schneider, said 10 years later: ''While the short-run outcome of the intervention in 1954 was viewed at the time as a success for the United States in the Cold War, in a larger perspective it is increasingly difficult to see it as such. Indeed, in light of subsequent events it might reasonably be considered little short of disaster.'' The story of the 1954 coup is told in chilling detail in a recent book, ''Bitter Fruit,'' by Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer. It is chilling especially because it shows the moral price paid by American officials for involvement in such dirty business. John Foster Dulles, his brother Allen and other Americans appear in shameful postures. There is a worrying footnote to the Schlesinger-Kinzer book. The authors got a good deal of official information on the American role in the 1954 coup, but they wanted the full records of the C.I.A. For five years the agency said it had only a few papers. Then the authors sued under the Freedom of Information Act. The agency ''discovered'' 180,000 documents on the coup in its library but said they were too sensitive to produce. Last month a Federal judge in Washington, Thomas A. Flannery, upheld the C.I.A.'s refusal to produce what are by now 30-year-old documents. ''Conditions in Central America are extremely sensitive today,'' he said, ''and any information about past covert activity by the United States in this area could have harmful effects.''"
November 4, 1984, Manchester Guardian Weekly, 'Fighters for human rights face torture': "The Amnesty report has detailed entries on the human rights situation in 117 countries up to the end of 1983. El Salvador and Guatemala are singled out as particularly serious offenders against human rights activists, many of whom have been tortured and killed. ... Amnesty gives as one example among many the Guatemalan lawyer, America Yolanda Urizar, abducted by armed men in an army jeep and never seen again. Her legal work with trade unions had made her a target for death threats. Both these Central American countries have experienced large-scale programmes of killings, mutilations and disappearances of women, children and men by the governments' security forces, Amnesty says. In Sri Lanka security forces killed members of the Tamil minority. The military government in Turkey is also singled out in the report for the practice of "systematic and widespread torture". In military prisons alone there are 21,000 political prisoners, according to Amnesty. There are no figures for civilian gaols. South Africa's record of detention without trial for political prisoners, the death in detention of two political detainees, and "substantial allegations of gross ill treatment" are also among the report's grimmest reading. In both eastern and western Europe Amnesty reports torture. In Spain there are reports of police torturing people held under anti-terrorist laws. In the Soviet Union prisoners are held in labour camps and psychiatric hospitals. Amnesty says it is studying shootings in Northern Ireland to assess charges that the Government has a deliberate policy of having suspected guerrillas killed. Flogging with leather whips and electric cables was practised in Iran, which was holding thousands of prisoners, according to the Amnesty report. In Iraq, detainees had their nails pulled out and limbs broken during interrogation."
October 2, 1989, The Globe and Mail (Canada), ' Latest round of violence in Guatemala marked by bombs, kidnapping, torture': "In the past few months, dozens of students, labor leaders, human-rights activists, peasants and, for the first time, political and business leaders, have been kidnapped, assassinated, or have simply disappeared. Bodies have once again started to show up bearing signs of terrible torture and missing limbs. The capital has also been the site of bomb attacks, including one outside the Camino Real Hotel, a favorite tourist spot. People now openly compare the attacks with la violencia, the horrifying violence of the early 1980s in which as many as 50,000 people died or disappeared at the hands of right-wing death squads and the army. Unionists and human-rights workers report that a white-panelled van, which they call the "death van," has started making the rounds of the city's neighborhoods. Those kidnapped by the van's operators never reappear, the workers said. "Right now there is an indiscriminate repression that we did not really expect," said Ramiro Menchu of the Guatemalan Organization of Unionized Workers. "The methods are the same ones they used in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the same kind of psychosis, the same methods of torture, and it doesn't matter if the victims are men, women or children.""
March 3, 1999, Knight Ridder/Tribune, 'An estimated 200,000 killed: Guatemalan truth commission report finds U.S.complicity in reign of terror': "The report of an independent truth commission in Guatemala made the front page of the New York Times last Friday, but few Americans will understand what happened there or why it should matter to them. That's because our government really doesn't want them to know. And no wonder. The commission found compelling evidence of U.S. complicity in the reign of terror that it chronicled. How deeply was the United States involved? Declassified documents from the CIA include transcripts of interrogation sessions where victims were tortured, in the presence of people who were co-operating with U.S. intelligence. Other documents show that our government had extensive and up-to-date knowledge of massacres and other atrocities, while they maintained a close working relationship with the Guatemalan military at all levels. The United States supplied weapons, training, and other aid to the military throughout most of 34 year period (1962-96). Through some of the worst periods of killings, our government provided crucial political support, to keep the Guatemalan government from being isolated by the rest of the world. In the early '80s, when the army was murdering whole villages _ and our government was fully aware of the details _ President Reagan repeatedly told Congress that Guatemala was improving its human rights record. These are some of the worst crimes committed by any state since Hitler's Germany, and the commission estimated that 200,000 people were killed. In the majority of the 626 massacres committed by the military and their allies, the commission found "evidence of multiple acts of savagery, ... such as the killing of defenseless children, often by beating them against walls or throwing them alive into pits where the corpses of adults were later thrown; the amputation of limbs; the impaling of victims; the killing of persons by covering them in gasoline and burning them alive; the extraction, in the presence of others, of the viscera of victims who were still alive; the confinement of people who had been mortally tortured, in agony for days; the opening of the wombs of pregnant women, and other similarly atrocious acts ... the rape of women, during torture or before being murdered, was a common practice." Furthermore, the commission found that these "were not isolated acts or excesses committed by soldiers who were out of control, nor were they the result of possible improvisation by mid-level army command." Rather, they were part of a "higher, strategically planned policy." It is common to excuse American complicity in these crimes as a product of the Cold War, as though our government was merely tolerating some excesses by allies in a worldwide struggle against the Soviet Union. But this is overly apologetic, and misleading. First, there is a pattern to U.S. foreign policy in this region (as well as elsewhere), and it has little to do with the Soviet Union or Cuba. Fidel Castro was in prison in Batista's Cuba when the CIA overthrew Guatemala's democratically elected government in 1954, ensuring that the nation's poor would have no choice but to take up arms against a succession of military governments backed by the United States."
May 16, 2009, The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), Opinion section: "Dear editor: ... My schoolmate at Stevens Point Pacelli, Brother James Miller, was shot in the back in Guatemala for refusing to let orphans be taken by the U.S./Guatemalan army. Fifteen priests and nuns have died at the hands of these Guatemalan barbarians. Sister Diane Ortiz was tortured there 110 times by her English-speaking U.S. military torture-masters. The Catholic bishop of Guatemala City had his brains smashed in with a brick after he released a report stating that the U.S. Army was responsible for most of the 500,000 peasants slain in the last 30 years."
January 3, 2001, Calgary Herald, 'Children victims of torture': "In Guatemala, the 12-year-old daughter of a human rights activist was allegedly raped by a police official in order to intimidate the family."
-- Castillo --
June 17, 2004, Associated Press, 'Guatemalans still divided on 50th anniversary of CIA-orchestrated overthrow of Arbenz': "In the 1950s, Guatemala found itself caught in the middle of the Cold War during which the United States and its allies launched anti-communist campaigns throughout the world. Guatemala posed no threat to the United States, but U.S. leaders at the time feared the country risked becoming a bastion of communism in the Americas, said Jorge Lujan, professor of history at the Guatemala Valley University. The CIA began its operation to overthrow Arbenz, dubbed PB Success, in 1954. The agency broadcast propaganda from Honduras through clandestine transmissions of "Liberation Radio" and helped military opposition figure Carlos Castillo Armas lead an invasion of Guatemala on June 17. The Americans flew planes overhead and distributed arms and propaganda inviting people to join in "the liberation." Sisniega, who was director and announcer of Liberation Radio, contends that the only support the CIA gave were arms and two airplanes. "Nobody told us what to say or how to manage things," he said. Ten days after the invasion, Arbenz resigned and Castillo Armas took his place. Arbenz's government was followed by a half-century of military regimes and fraudulent elections that unleashed a 36-year civil war in Guatemala in which 200,000 people, mostly civilians, died." |
Allderdice, Norman |
Source(s): His papers at the Online Archive of california show that Allderdice was associated with the ASC from 1961-1974
Vice president of the Pittsburgh Aviation Industries Corporation (PAIC) with a person names Thomas J. Hilliard. National States Rights Party.
Son of Taylor and Ellen (Hansell) A.; ed. pub. schs.; married Hester S. Semple, Dec. 16, 1935. Began with open hearth dept. Carnegie Steel Co., Pittsburgh, 1911; supt. open hearth dept. Nat. Tube Co., 1916-21; mgr. Pitts. office Manning, Maxwell & Moore, Inc., 1921-27; pres., treas. Arch Machinery Co., 1927-36; spl. agt. Frank M. Knox Co., 1936-39, Gen. Am. Transp. Corp. Republican. Club: Old Pueblo. |
Allen, Gary King |
Source(s): Who's Who
Born in 1944. Lead principal engineer Boeing Co., Seattle (Boeing headquarters until 2001), 1966—1973, 1990—2004; lead preliminary design strength engineer Rohr Industries, Chula Vista, California, 1974-78; advance devel. strength engineer Rho Co., Bellevue, Washington, 1978—1982; structural analysis specialist on assignment to Lockheed Corp., Burbank, California, 1982—1983; specialist on assignment to Boeing, Seattle, 1978-82, 84-89; retired, 2004. Member national adv. board Am. Security Council, 1970-76. |
Allen, Richard V. |
Source(s): Very close... but good question
Instructor University Maryland Overseas Div., 1959-61; assistant professor political sci. Georgia Institute Tech., 1961-62; senior staff member Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, 1962-66, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University, 1966-69; foreign policy coordinator Richard Nixon Presidential campaign, 1967-68; senior staff member National Security Council, 1969; deputy assistant to President The White House, Washington, 1971-72; president Potomac International Corp., 1972-80; senior foreign policy adv. to President The White House, 1978-80; assistant to President for national security affairs National Security Council, 1981-82; president Richard V. Allen Co., 1982-90, chairman, 1991—2003. Distinguished fellow, chairman Asian Studies Center Heritage Foundation, 1982-98; senior counselor for foreign policy and national security Rep. National Committee, 1982-88; senior fellow Hoover Institution, 1983—; vice chairman International Dem. Union, 1983-88; chairman German-Am. Tricentennial Foundation, 1983; member Pres.'s Task Force on U.S. Government International Broadcasting, 1991-92; member adv. board Catholic Campaign for Am., 1993-96; member Rep. Congl. Policy Adv. Board, 1998-2001; member U.S. Defense Policy Board, 2001—; fellow St. Margarets College, University Otago, New Zealand, 2008-, hon. fellow, department politics. Chairman committee on intelligence Republican National Committee, 1977-80; trustee St. Francis Preparatory School, Spring Grove, Pennsylvania; board member, co-chair Committee for Human Rights North Korea, 2001. Member Am. Political Sci. Association, Council on Foreign Relations, Intercollegiate Studies Institute (trustee), Committee on Present Danger (director 1976-90), Univ. Club, Burning Tree Club (Bethesda, Maryland), Metropolitan Club.
Published a series of national security highly praised by the ASC.
December 26, 1968, Rowland Evans and Robert Novak for the Washington Post, 'Nixon's Appointment of Assistant To Kissinger Raises Questions': "Beyond that, Allen is on close personal terms with several [American Security] Council staffers--particularly Col. Raymond S. Sleeper, a retired Air Force man and booster of high military hardware spending. Both Allen and Sleeper have addressed the National Strategy Information Center in New York with hard-line speeches." |
Angleton, James J. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
Became responsible for CIA relations with the Mossad (KK/Mountain) and other allied intelligence agencies. Kept this task for the rest of his career. Legendary chief of the C.I.A.'s counterintelligence staff from 1954 to 1974. Known to have been a close associate of George White, the person who invented sexual entrapment operations that supposedly were later used in overseas CIA operations. September 5, 1977, Washington Post, 'The diaries of a CIA operative': "[The Papers] also provide documentary evidence that White met to discuss drugs and safe houses with such CIA luminaries as Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, ... and Dr. Robert V. Lashbrook... Other high-ranking CIA officials mentioned prominently include James Angleton, C. P. Cabell and Stanley Lovell."
January 1986 interview John Stockwell: "Allegedly [Angleton] had a team of assassins [according to Victor Marchetti]. ... We talked about this [Soviet infiltration] a lot and this was our understanding. The place had to be riddled with spies, but they were just not prosecuting them."
July/August 1983, Mother Jones, 'Their Will Be Done' (available since March 2009): "Pope Pius' [1944] decoration of Wild Bill Donovan [with the] Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Sylvester, the oldest and most prestigious of papal knighthoods... marked the beginning of a long-standing, intimate relation-ship between the Vatican and U.S. intelligence that continues to the present day. ...
In 1948, the SMOM gave one of its highest awards of honor, the Gran Croci al Merito con Placca, to General Reinhard Gehlen, Adolf Hitler's chief anti-Soviet spy. (Only three other people received this award.) ... The SMOM had given a different prestigious award in 1946 to another high-level CIA operative, James Jesus Angleton. "It had to do with counterintelligence," Angleton told Mother Jones...
[After an OSS post in Rome during WWII] he ran what was tantamount to the "Vatican desk" for the CIA. According to Angleton, the agency does not have a Vatican desk. Nor does it have an Israel desk, for that matter, yet Angleton also covered that area. The extreme sensitivity associated with Israel and the Vatican required that work relating to them be buried among Angleton's counterintelligence staff, which was well-suited for such assignments. ...
[William] Casey and [Alexander] Haig are both members of the Knights of Malta, a legendary Vatican order dating back to the Crusades... There are many other knights with CIA connections. Clare Boothe Luce, for example... William Buckley, Jr. ... is a member, as is his brother James... "It has no political function," asserts former CIA director William Colby, who declined an invitation to join the illustrious order. ("I'm a little lower key," he confessed.) ... John McCone, a member of the SMOM and [1960s] director of the CIA...
A year-long Mother Jones investigation has revealed a [that] since World War II, the CIA has:
- subsidized a Catholic lay organization that served as the political slugging arm of the pope and the Vatican throughout the Cold War [fits Opus Dei, but also Catholic Action];
- penetrated the American section of one of the wealthiest and most powerful Vatican orders;
- passed money to a large number of priests and bishops — some of whom became witting agents in CIA covert operations;
- employed undercover operatives to lobby members of the Curia (the Vatican government) and spy on liberal churchmen on the pope's staff who challenged the political assumptions of the United States;
- prepared intelligence briefings that accurately pre-dicted the rise of liberation theology; and collaborated with right-wing Catholic groups to counter the actions of progressive clerics in Latin America. ...
Of all the groups that are engaged in the U.S.-sponsored campaign against libera-tion theology, none has played a more significant role than Opus Dei ("God's Work"). ...
Much of what is known about Opus Dei comes from ex-members such as John Roche, a professor at Oxford University in England, who broke his oath of secrecy after leaving the order. According to Roche, self-flagellation with whips and spiked chains is a normal part of the rigid spiritual discipline that Opus Dei imposes on its full-time members, including college-age recruits of both genders. "Personal identity suffers a severe battering: some are reduced to shadows of their former selves, others become severely disturbed," writes Roche in a paper called "The Inner World of Opus Dei." "Internally, it is totalitarian and imbued with fascist ideas turned to religious purposes, ideas which were surely drawn from the Spain of its early years. It is virtually a sect or cult in spirit, a law unto itself, totally self-centered, grudgingly accepting Roman authority because it still considers Rome orthodox, and because of the vast pool of recruits accessible to it as a respected Catholic organization."
In recent years, Opus Dei has emerged internationally as one of the most powerful and politically committed of the Catholic lay groups. Detractors have likened the organization to a "saintly Mafia," for its members control a large number of banks and financial institutions, including Rumasa, the largest conglomerate in Spain's private sector. In the latter stages of the Franco regime, ten out of 19 cabinet officers belonged to or were closely allied with Opus Dei. Despite the active political role the order plays wherever it exists, Father Malcolm Kennedy, an American spokesperson for Opus Dei, insists it is "inconceivable…that Opus Dei leaders in any country would try to influence political decisions." ...
Opus Dei also controls a wide range of media assets (600 newspapers, 52 radio and TV stations, 12 film companies and 38 news agencies) and sponsors educational and social programs in various countries. These efforts have been endorsed by members of the American section of the SMOM such as William Simon (Citicorp) and Francis X. Stankard (Chase Manhattan Bank), who have spoken at Opus Dei seminars and other functions of the group. ...
In Chile, for example, Opus Dei elicited support from Chilean bishops for the overthrow of President Salvador Allende and worked closely with CIA-funded organizations such as the Fatherland and Liberty goon squads, which subsequently merged with DIN A, the dreaded Chilean secret police. In 1971, the CIA began financing the Chilean Institute for General Studies (IGS), which has been described as an Opus Dei think tank. Its members include lawyers, free-market economists and executives from influential publications. One of the leading IGS staffers was Hernan Cubillos, founder of Que Pasa, an Opus Dei magazine, and publisher of El Mercurio, the largest newspaper in Santiago (and one that was subsidized by the CIA). After the coup, a number of IGS technocrats became cabinet members and advisors to the Pinochet junta; Cubillos served as foreign minister.
Opus Dei powerbrokers have gained enormous influence inside the Vatican since they helped install the current pope. The courting of John Paul II began when he was still the archbishop of Krakow. He was asked to speak at Opus Dei colleges and at the group's international headquarters in Rome. In an effort to enhance Wojtyla's image as papabile, these speeches were printed by Opus Dei in book form and circulated among members of the Vatican hierarchy. When Karol Wojtyla became pope, he returned the favor by elevating Opus Dei to the unique status of a "personal prelature." Critics of Opus Dei fear that the pope's edict will allow its members to elude the authority of local bishops in special circumstances, thereby strengthening the order's tendency to function as a "church within a church." This was an important victory for Opus Dei, which had been rebuffed on previous occa-sions by both Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI. ...
In October 1982, President Reagan sent his roving ambassador, General Vernon Walters, a devout Catholic, to confer with John Paul II. The pope may have wondered why Reagan would se-lect a former deputy director of the CIA, one who had been involved, both before and after he joined the agency, in some of its most notorious coups: Iran, 1953; Brazil, 1964; Chile, 1973.
More recently, Walters has played a key role in organizing CIA-backed Nic-araguan exile groups based in Hon-duras who are seeking to overthrow the Sandinista government by force. Not surprisingly, the situation in Latin America was one of the main issues that Walters discussed with the pope. He also attempted to convince the Holy Father that the American bishops had erred in drafting their pastoral letter opposing nuclear weapons. Although John Paul II stood fast on the nuclear question, soon after Walters left the pope did demand that five priests with official positions in the Nicaraguan gov-ernment resign from office.
Toward the end of his papacy, Paul VI let it be known that he was not averse to a center-left coalition of the Italian Communist party and the Christian Democrats. This infuriated hard-line elements within the CIA. In 1976, the Georgetown University Center for Strategic and International Studies [CSIS], a conservative think tank, sponsored a conference on the Communist threat in Italy. Panelists included former CIA director William Colby ... Clare Boothe Luce, who was U.S. ambassador to Rome at the same time; Ray Cline, another ex-CIA official; and John Connally, then a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Their message, which doubtless reached the pope, was unequivocal: Eurocommunism was a threat to U.S. security, and Marxists must never be allowed to participate in the Italian government.
This was not the first time pressures from outside the Vatican were exerted on Pope Paul. In 1967, Paul authored a controversial encyclical, Populorum Progressio, in which he criticized colonial repression and recommended economic and social remedies that were widely interpreted as a denunciation of capitalism. Shortly thereafter, an international group of businessmen asked the Holy Father to "clarify" his economic views. The delegation included George C. Moore, then chairman of Citibank. Pope Paul subsequently issued a statement in which he denied any hostility toward private enterprise. ...
Pope Paul helped fulfill the CIA's predictions by appointing socially conscious bishops and by encouraging church activists who opposed South Ameri-can military dictatorships. Paul's gesture toward the Left was, no doubt, a calculated maneuver directed at the hearts and minds of the Catholic masses. Political reality demanded the promotion of a palatable Christian alternative, lest the brethren put their faith in "Saint" Fidel or Che Guevara. At first, some CIA officials favored Paul's reformist approach as an effective anti-dote to communism, but as time went by a consensus developed inside the agency that Paul VI had gone too far, that his strategy would backfire and play into the hands of the Marxist revolutionaries. ...
As Pope Paul VI grew older, great concern devel-oped within intelligence circles over who would succeed him. Agency analysts drew up profiles on leading papal candidates, identifying those who were likely to be sympathetic to American interests. In 1977, Terence Cardinal Cooke, the current Grand Protector and Spiritual Advisor of the SMOM, traveled to Eastern Europe to discuss the matter of choosing a candidate to succeed Pope Paul. During this sojourn, Cardinal Cooke met personally with Karol Cardinal Wojtyla of Krakow, who was noted for his anti-Communist leanings. Cooke's coalition-building efforts bore fruit the following year, after Paul's successor, Pope John Paul I, died, having served scarcely a month. (There were widespread rumors that he had been poi-soned.) In October 1978, the Vatican's Sacred College of Cardinals elected Karol Wojtyla pontiff. ...
October 1976. Father Patrick Rice is dragged from his prison cell in Buenos Aires by members of the Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance, a paramilitary police agency. ... Father Rice is one of the lucky ones [to survive the torture]. During the past 15 years, 1,500 priests, nuns and bishops have been murdered, imprisoned, tortured or expelled from Latin America. "Any Christian who defends the poor," says Rice, "can expect to be persecuted and mistreated by the security police."
Only a generation ago, the persecution of the Catholic clergy would have been unthinkable, for the church had always sided with the reactionary sectors of society — the wealthy landowners and the military. But Pope John XXII's vision of Catholicism as a community of believers in and of the world sparked major reforms. ...
The CIA was quick to recognize the "subversive" potential of liberation theology and mounted an extensive campaign to undermine the new movement. The agency's strategy, formulated during the late 1960s and early '70s, when Richard Helms was director... As Penny Lernoux documents in her book Cry of the People, the CIA used right-wing Catholic organizations in Latin America to harass outspoken prelates and political reformers. The agency also trained and financed police agencies responsible for the torture and murder of bishops, priests and nuns, some of them U.S. citizens. ...
In 1975, the Bolivian Interior Ministry — a publicly acknowledged subsidiary of the CIA — drew up a master plan for persecuting progressive clergy. The scheme, dubbed the "Banzer Plan" — after Hugo Banzer, Bolivia's right-wing dictator (who retained Klaus Barbie as his security advisor) — was adopted by ten Latin American governments. ...
It was in this last regard that the CIA supported factions within the Catholic church that were instrumental in pro-moting and electing the current pope, John Paul II, whose Polish nationalism and anti-Communist credentials, they thought, would make him a perfect vehicle for U.S. foreign policy. John Paul's recent trip to Nicaragua could not have been matched by any American's for the contri-bution it made to President Reagan's Central American initiative.
Every year in late June a bizarre ritual takes place in Rome. Men and women fly in from all over the world to participate in a cere-mony that has been performed for centuries. Next year, the assembled might find CIA director William Casey in their midst. And Casey could well be accompanied by former Secretary of State Alexander Haig.
If they make the journey, Casey and Haig will join a gathering of the world's Catholic elite on St. John's Day. Dressed in scarlet uniforms and black capes, brandishing swords and waving flags emblazoned with the eight-pointed Maltese cross, these Catholic brothers and sisters will, in an atmosphere of pomp and circumstance befitting a coronation, swear allegiance to the defense of the Holy Mother Church.
But the real power of the order lies with the lay mem-bers, who are active on five continents. Nobility forms the backbone of the SMOM; more than 40 percent of its 10,000 constituents are related to Europe's oldest and most powerful Catholic families. Wealth is a de facto prerequi-site for a knightly candidate, and each must pass through a rigorous screening. ...
The American section of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta has about 1,000 mem-bers—including 300 "dames." They represent the vanguard of American Catholicism, the point at which the Vatican and the U.S. ruling elite intersect. "The Knights of Malta comprise what is perhaps the most exclusive club on earth," Stephen Birmingharn, the social historian, has written. "They are more than the Catholic aristocracy…[they] can pick up a telephone and chat with the pope."
And who are the American Knights? Mother Jones managed to obtain part of the secret membership list. On it we found some familiar names: Lee lacocca of Chrysler; Spyros Skouras, the shipping magnate; Robert Abplanalp, the aerosol tycoon and Nixon confidant; Barren Hilton of the hotel chain; John Volpe, former U.S. ambassador to Italy; and William Simon, who served as both treasury secretary and energy czar in the 1970s. At least one former envoy to the Vatican, Robert Wagner (the ex-mayor of New York), and the current emissary to the Vatican, William Wilson, are also members of the Knights of Malta.
But there is one institution that stands out as the center of the SMOM in the United States—W.R. Grace & Company. J. Peter Grace, the company chairman, is also president of the American section of SMOM. No less than eight knights, including the chancellor of the order, John D.J. Moore (who was ambas-sador to Ireland under Nixon and Ford), are directors of W.R. Grace. J. Peter Grace has a long history of involvement with CIA-linked enterprises, such as Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe, which was the brainchild of General Rein-hard Gehlen. He is also the board chairman of the Amer-ican Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), which has collaborated with multinational corporations and their client dictatorships in Latin America to squelch independent trade unions. Up to $100 million a year of CIA funds were pumped into "trustworthy" labor organi-zations such as AIFLD, whose graduates, according to AIFLD executive director William Doherty, were active in covert operations that led to the military coup in Brazil in 1964.
During the early 1970s, Francis D. Flanagan, the Grace repre-sentative in Washington, D. C., was a member of ITT's "Ad Hoc Committee on Chile," which was instrumental in planning the overthrow of Salvador Allende. AIFLD's National Workers' Con-federation subsequently served as the chief labor mouthpiece for the Pinochet junta."
In 1961-1962 William "Bill" Harvey and James Angleton admitted to British intelligence scientist Peter Wright that they were setting up their own assassination department. 1987, Peter Wright (also spoke about his involvement in the anti-Harold Wilson plot), Spycather: "I said that we would try to develop whatever assets we had down there-alternative political leaders, that kind of thing. "We've done all that," said Harvey impatiently, "but they're all in Florida. Since the Bay of Pigs, we've lost virtually everything we had inside . . ." Harvey began to fish to see if I knew whether we had anything in the area, in view of the British colonial presence in the Caribbean. "I doubt it," I told him, "the word in London is steer clear of Cuba. Six might have something, but you'd have to check with them." "How would you handle Castro?" asked Angleton. "We'd isolate him, turn the people against him ..." "Would you hit him?" interrupted Harvey. I paused to fold my napkin. Waiters glided silently from table to table. I realized now why Harvey needed to know I could be trusted. "We'd certainly have that capability," I replied, "but I doubt we would use it nowadays." "Why not?" "We're not in it anymore, Bill. We got out a couple of years ago, after Suez." At the beginning of the Suez Crisis, M16 developed a plan, through the London Station, to assassinate Nasser using nerve gas. Eden initially gave his approval to the operation, but later rescinded it when he got agreement from the French and Israelis to engage in joint military action. When this course failed, and he was forced to withdraw, Eden reactivated the assassination option a second time. By this time virtually all MI6 assets in Egypt had been rounded up by Nasser, and a new operation, using renegade Egyptian officers, was drawn up, but it failed lamentably, principally because the cache of weapons which had been hidden on the outskirts of Cairo was found to be defective. "Were you involved?" Harvey asked. "Only peripherally," I answered truthfully, "on the technical side." I explained that I was consulted about the plan by John Henry and Peter Dixon, the two M16 Technical Services officers from the London Station responsible for drawing it up. Dixon, Henry, and I all attended joint M15/MI6 meetings to discuss technical research for the intelligence services at Porton Down, the government's chemical and biological Weapons Research Establishment. The whole area of chemical research was an active field in the 1950s. I was cooperating with M16 in a joint program to investigate how far the hallucinatory drug lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) could be used in interrogations, and extensive trials took place at Porton. I even volunteered as guinea pig on one occasion. Both M15 and M16 also wanted to know a lot more about the advanced poisons then being developed at Porton, though for different reasons. I wanted the antidotes, in case the Russians used a poison on a defector in Britain, while M16 wanted to use the poisons for operations abroad. Henry and Dixon both discussed with me the use of poisons against Nasser, and asked my advice. Nerve gas obviously presented the best possibility, since it was easily administered. They told me that the London Station had an agent in Egypt with limited access to one of Nasser's headquarters. Their plan was to place canisters of nerve gas inside the ventilation system, but I pointed out that this would require large quantities of the gas, and would result in massive loss of life among Nasser's staff. It was the usual M16 operation-hopelessly unrealistic and it did not remotely surprise me when Henry told me later that Eden had backed away from the operation. The chances of its remaining undeniable were even slimmer than they had been with Buster Crabbe. Harvey and Angleton questioned me closely about every part of the Suez Operation. "We're developing a new capability in the Company to handle these kinds of problems," explained Harvey, "and we're in the market for the requisite expertise." Whenever Harvey became serious, his voice dropped to a low monotone, and his vocabulary lapsed into the kind of strangled bureaucratic syntax beloved of Washington officials. He explained ponderously that they needed deniable personnel, and improved technical facilities-in Harvey jargon, "delivery mechanisms." They were especially interested in the SAS."
Behind the domestic spying program called MHCHAOS. Angus Mackenzie details how the CIA's little anti-Ramparts unit metastasized into a larger organization that investigated virtually all of the alternative papers at the time. It even planted at least one agent provocateur, Salvatore John Ferrera, on the staff of the Quicksilver Times to spy on it. Before long the unit became known for running a program called MHCHAOS, authorized by the legendary CIA counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton, to carry out domestic political espionage at a priority level ranking with the agency's Soviet and Chinese operations. By the time the program was exposed, by Seymour Hersh in The New York Times in December 1974, MHCHAOS had in its files dossiers on 10,000 Americans.
2011, Frank Rafalko, 'MH/CHAOS: The CIA'S Campaign Against the Radical New Left and the Black Panthers': "This source and other knowledgeable persons believed Helms permitted Angleton to continue the domestic operations because of the power Angleton wielded within CIA. "One answer ... by a CIA insider, is simply that the power of Mr. Angleton, whose CI division is responsible for guarding the agency against foreign infiltration, was such that he could institute such illegal activities on his own, with no one in the CIA - not even Richard Helms - able to stop him." A more reasonable explanaton for Helms' close relationship with Angleton can be traced to the Allen Dulles era in CIA. At the time Helms was considered a logical choice to be the DDP, but Dulles chose Richard M. Bissell instead. The Plans Directorate divided into two camps: one backing Bissell and the other supporting Helms. Angleton supported Helms in all the battles. Loyalty is an important asset, and Helms never forgot the men who backed him. "
December 5, 1987, Washington Post, 'The Secret Ceremony; Israel's Memorial to the CIA's James Angleton': "Although his name appears in few history books about Israel, Angleton played a crucial role in the early years of the young Jewish state. In the 1950s and early 1960s, when most of official Washington was wary of -- even hostile to -- Israel, he helped forge links between the Mossad and the CIA that established the basis for cooperation in intelligence gathering that still exists today. The relationship was one of mutual aid that helped the Mossad establish a reputation as a player in the major leagues of intelligence. Angleton reportedly aided Israel in obtaining technical nuclear data. For their part, the Israelis reportedly provided Angleton with a major intelligence coup -- a copy of the text of Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech denouncing Stalin. Angleton "was a friend you could trust on a personal basis," said Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who spoke at the tree-planting ceremony. Rabin knew Angleton from his days as Israeli Army chief of staff in the mid-1960s and later as ambassador to the United States. Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek, who rose from his sickbed to attend the ceremonies, told the small crowd, "We commemorate a great friend, who saw Israel-U.S. relations through their most difficult period in the 40 years of Israel's existence." Normally, no government official sneezes in this city without a press release being issued. For the Angleton ceremonies, however, even though several prominent public figures attended the two ceremonies -- including Rabin, Kollek and U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering -- the camera-shy Mossad insisted that both events remain secret. "I guess the reasoning is that if the tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to see it, it didn't happen," said a spokesman for Pickering who was himself not informed of the events. Still, two Israeli reporters were tipped off and managed to evade a phalanx of plainclothes security men and police to attend. This report is based on the account of one of them, Andy Court of The Jerusalem Post, as well as details provided after the event by city officials. Those who attended, according to Court, included the current heads of the Mossad and Shin Bet, neither of whom can be named under government security laws; former Mossad chiefs Meir Amit, Zvi Zamir and Yitzhak Hofi; former Shin Bet chiefs Avraham Ahituv and Amos Manor, and former military intelligence heads Aharon Yariv, Shlomo Gazit and Binyamin Gibli. Angleton's widow Cicely, a daughter and a granddaughter were part of the crowd of about 60 people. Several American intelligence representatives here were also said to be present. Despite the professional interest of most of the group, Court said most of the talk concerned Angleton's love of handmade jewelry and orchids -- the lady-slipper was his favorite -- rather than spy craft. Some spy masters recalled that even after Angleton's forced retirement, they would make the long pilgrimage to his ranch in Tucson whenever they visited the United States. Some recalled how Washington used to think of Israel as a hotbed of Soviet and East European spies in the 1950s because of the large, left-oriented immigrant population from those areas. The early chill in relations was not helped by Israeli involvement in the 1956 Suez War, for which John Foster Dulles, then secretary of state, never forgave Israel. Despite his intense anticommunism, Angleton saw the potential advantages of forging ties with Israeli intelligence. For years he jealously guarded his responsibility for liaison with the Mossad even after he became head of counterintelligence and the CIA's chief "mole catcher.""
Invited Rafi Eitan to the United States in 1968. Together with three other Israelis, he visited the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) during the trip.
Angleton had been the C.I.A.’s man in charge of the overseas training program since it was had gotten under way in the mid-1950s. The C.I.A. and other American agencies trained and equipped foreigners to serve their nations — and, in secret, the United States. Once the Americans set up a foreign service, the foreigners could both help carry out American foreign policy by suppressing Communists and leftists, and gather intelligence on behalf of the C.I.A. "The program, according to recently declassified American government documents, had trained hundreds of thousands of foreign military and police officers in 25 nations by the early 1960s. It helped create the secret police of Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, South Vietnam, and Thailand.
Intelligence and Security Fund.
a career as chief of CIA counter-intelligence, becoming 'the key American figure controlling all right wing and neo-fascist political and paramilitary groups in Italy in the post-war period'.
December 25, 1974, New York Times, 'HELMS DISAVOWS 'ILLEGAL' SPYING BY THE C.I.A. IN U.S; Special to The New York Times Angleton, Who Is Resigning His Post, Is Said to Agree With Some Allegations AGENCY AIDE DISSENTS Alleged Domestic Operation Under His Stewardship Is 'Categorically Denied' ' Illegal' Domestic Spying Is Disavowed by Helms': "The State Department said today that Richard Helms, former Director of Central Intelligence and now the Ambassador to Iran, had categorically denied that the C.I.A. conducted any "illegal" domestic spying under his leadership. ABC News via Associated Press James Angleton, who is resigning as chief of the C.I.A.'s Counterintelligence Department, outside his home in Arlington, Va., yesterday. ... In a telephone interview with the Times Angleton accused the Times of "helping out the KGB (Soviet intelligence service) a great deal" by publishing his name and title in its Sunday story. "You’ve done them a great favor,” he said. Asked repeatedly about alleged wrong-doing, Angleton acknowledged that “I’ve got problems.” He explained his domestic activities this way: "A mansion has many rooms and there were many things going on during the period of the (antiwar) bombings. I'm not privy to who struck John." Later, the counterintelligence chief, who is in charge of rooting out foreign espionage agents in the United States, permitted newsmen from three television networks to interview him. He also was quoted by UPI as saying that he had quit the CIA because it was getting involved in domestic "police state” activities. A number of present and former CIA officials expressed pleasure at the forced resignation of Angleton, who was described as being in poor health."
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2. We have the Joe Trento MEMO that appeared in the Wilmington, Delaware, Sunday News Journal. Here's more on the Memo from The Man Who Knew Too Much, Dick Russell, 1992: <Begin Quote> On August 20, 1978, in the midst of the House Assassinations Committee's probe, an article appeared in the Wilmington (Del.) Sunday News Journal. It described a secret CIA memorandum of 1966 that stated that Hunt had been in Dallas on the day of the assassination. Said to have been initialed by Angelton and Helms, the memo was about keeping the importance of Hunt's presence there a secret. A cover story providing Hunt an alibi for being elsewhere "ought to be considered," it reportedly said. [The article is reprinted in Plausible Denial] The memo's date of origin was some years before Hunt became infamous as one of the Watergate burglars in 1972. In 1966 Hunt was little known outside the CIA -- having worked undercover in Mexico City and Tokyo and as the station chief in Uruguay during the 1950s, authoring more than forty novels about the spy trade under various pseudonyms, even helping Allen Dulles prepare his own memoir, The Craft of Intelligence. Joseph J. Trento, who wrote the Wilmington news story, says that his source was none other than Angleton. "In 1978, Angleton called and asked me to come down for lunch at the Army-Navy Club," Trento recalls. [Russel's source for this is a phone call with Trento.] "He said he wanted me to talk to me about something. "This was as the House Committee's investigation was winding up, and he told me a number of things concerning the Kennedy assassination and its aftermath. "Then he explained some very complicated counter intelligence operations. "Did you know Howard Hunt was in Dallas on the day of the assassination?" he said. I said, "So what? So was Richard Nixon, for a Pepsi-Cola convention. "Angleton said, 'What I'm trying to tell you is, some very odd things were going on that were out of our control.' Then he added the possibility that Hunt was there on orders from a high-level KGB mole inside the agency and that this should have been looked into at the time. "If that was true, it seemed plausible that any 'orders' given to Howard Hunt might have come from his boss at Domestic Operations, Tracy Barnes." Hunt has denied under oath that he was in Dallas on the fateful day. According to Trento, after his conversation with Angleton, the ex-CIA chief then arranged for the internal CIA memo to be delivered to him. Angleton simultaneously alerted the House Assassinations Committee, using Tennessee Senator Howard Baker as his intermediary, and the committee also received a copy. "It was all handled in such a way that Angleton was not the source," Trento adds. I later came to conclude that the mole-sent-Hunt idea was, to use his phrase, disinformation; that Angleton was trying to protect his own connections to Hunt's being in Dallas. You see, Angleton was aware of a serious counterintelligence problem with the Cubans. They were making these crazy movements all over Texas and New Orleans. You couldn't tell who was who, and he knew the exiles were heavily penetrated by Castro's intelligence. Things were getting out of hand, and Angleton was trying to find out what was going on at the time of the assassination. My guess is, it was Angleton himself who sent Hunt to Dallas, because he didn't want to use anybody from his own shop. Hunt was still considered a hand-holder for the Cuban exiles, sort of Helms's unhousebroken pet. The godfather of Hunt's youngest son was Manual Artime, the Cuban exiles' invasion leader for the Bay of Pigs.... <END QUOTE> Trento was no dummy. The HSCA was given a copy of the memo but the memo conveniently "disappeared" like so many of the witnesses and evidence did.
November 22, 1993, Newsweek, 'The Real Cover-Up': "Within the CIA, James Angleton spent years obsessing about a communist plot to kill Kennedy. He believed that Yuri Nosenko, A KGB official who had conveniently defected right after the assassination, claiming that the KGB had not recruited Oswald, was a double agent planted to throw the United States off the trail. Angleton speculated that the Cubans murdered Kennedy, perhaps at the behest of the Kremlin. But he had no real proof. "
CLOSE TO ASC BOARD MEMBERS:
Recruited Neil Livingstone. Close friend of General Robert Richardson.
Joseph Trento, Prelude to Terror, p. 147: "Neil C. Livingstone is a Washington enigma. His wife, Susan, is the political force in the family; she would later hold prominent jobs in the Reagan and both Bush administrations. … [Livingstone] lived on the edge of the intelligence community until his late twenties, when he became involved with Israeli Intelligence. According to Mike Pilgrim [a security operative at J. J. Capucci, where Livingstone worked], Livingstone and the legendary James Angleton came from the same hometown, and Livingstone had traded on that relationship with the Israelis, who loved Angleton. “He told me he had hired Angleton’s old CIA secretary, who also worked for Wilson.,” Pilgrim said. “Neil worked for the Israelis and had been recruited by Angleton,” which if true would surprise very few people in the intelligence community. Livingstone does not deny the assertion.
2005, Joseph J. Trento, 'Prelude to Terror', p. 143: "The Israelis needed reassurance about his operations and his sources, especially Wilson. Angleton would be able to tell his Israeli associates if Shackley and his cohorts were playing it straight with them. Angleton had the perfect resource in an old friend, General Robert Richardson [ASC], who ran Exim, one of Wilson’s companies supplying Libya. Angleton’s courting of Wilson began in 1977 and continued up until Wilson’s indictment in 1980. Wilson said, “Old General Richardson was a real close friend of Angleton’s. About once a week he’s say, ‘Come on, Eddie, go to lunch with Angleton at the Army Navy Club.’” When Wilson’s name first surfaced in the investigations by the CIA Inspector General and the Office of Security, Angleton offered Wilson some advice: he suggested that Shackley was playing him for a fool. But Wilson ignored most of it. In retrospect, Wilson admits that when “I first had this trouble out there … Angleton was really trying to help me.” Angleton also warned Wilson that Erich von Marbod was not his friend, but again Wilson did not listen. “I drifted off and he drifted off. Richardson stuck with me as long as he could. He really tried to help. Angleton was right; he was on the right track.”"
January 26, 1983, BBC Summary of World Reports (Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union in English), 'Weinberger's Support for ''Absurd Changes'' over Pope Assassination Attempt': "For example, Clare Sterling was recruited in Rome by the former head of the CIA counter-espionage department, James Angleton. Sterling, 'Covert Action' notes, worked in the 1950s on the journal 'The Reporter', which was controlled by the CIA, and later appeared more than once at various conferences together with the former CIA head W. Colby as an ''expert'' on Italian politics. She in her turn brought in Michael Ledin, an anti-Soviet scribbler and a professional acquaintance of hers in Rome, to work for the American intelligence department. This disinformer, working on orders from the CIA, contributed to the Italian newspaper 'Giornale Nuovo' and had recently become assistant to Vernon Walters, special emissary and professional spy who had some years previously been deputy director of the CIA. Equally well known are the links between the CIA and yet another specialist in fabrications and the juggling of facts - Robert Moss, author of anti-Soviet detective ''works''. The claims about some ''connection'' between Agca, the Turkish terrorist who made an attempt on the Pope's life, and the socialist countries appeared for the first time, as the journal says, in the 'Giornale Nuovo', which has close contacts with the CIA and where Ledin was prominent. The falsification was picked up by the ABC television network in the USA, which referred to evidence given by . . . [Tass ellipses] Robert Moss. After this, provocative hearings into the ''case'' of the assassination attempt on the Pope were set up in the US Senate sub-committee on security and terrorism, where there appeared as chief ''witnesses'' those same Clare Sterling, Michael Ledin and Robert Moss. ''We are asked to believe'' 'Covert Action' says, ''that Sterling, Ledin and Moss, who throughout their careers have been spreading disinformation and been proud of it, have now all of a sudden begun to speak the truth.'' In this whole unsavoury tale, one can thus clearly discern the hand of the disinformers from the CIA headquarters in Langley, the journal notes. In spreading a patent lie about the assassination attempt in Rome - 'Covert Action' notes - the CIA was pursuing specific aims: to cast a shadow over the USSR and its allies, to whip up anti-communist psychosis in the West and to fuel moods hostile to the USSR among the leadership of the Catholic Church, where anti-war feelings are growing high alongside demands to freeze nuclear weapons and put an end to the arms race." |
Arnold, Daniel C. |
Source(s): American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
CIA station chief in Thailand until 1979. Part of Shackley's drug and arms trafficking network. Left the CIA in 1979. December 6, 1981, New York Times, 'Former intelligence aides profiting from old ties': "Many former American intelligence agents have entered into profitable business arrangements based on the extraordinary secret access to foreign officials and to sensitive information they gained in Government service. ... Vernon A. Walters, the former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, now the Reagan Administration's ambassador at large. He earned $300,000 for consulting on a potential arms sale to Morocco before joining the Administration. ... One case involves Daniel C. Arnold, the former chief in Thailand. After leaving the agency in 1979, officials said, he went to work representing companies seeking to do business in Thailand. American officials involved in Thai affairs said they were concerned about Mr. Arnold's continued dealings with top-level Thai officials. Mr. Arnold apparently lives in the Washington area, but he does not have a listed telephone and could not be located."
After his retirement from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in 1979, Mr. Arnold served as a consultant to numerous U.S. and international firms on business, political, and economic developments. His insights have helped clients assess new opportunities and have guided their activities in foreign markets. Mr. Arnold has helped form joint mining ventures in strategic metals in China, served one of the world's largest marketing firms, and assisted a multinational firm with a capital investment project in Thailand. He also has arranged several joint venture projects in Indonesia and Korea, and has served as a pro bono consultant to the Royal Thai Government . Mr. Arnold has traveled extensively in East Asia, and has worked closely with chiefs of state, senior foreign officials of ministerial rank, and senior business officials. He is currently the Chairman, the President, or a member of the Board of Directors of 15 companies in the United Sates and abroad.
What a tragic story, General Vang Pao gave his entire life to helping us Americans. I remember when CIA Handler Daniel C. Arnold got VP to help on an over throw operation dubbed Operation Grand Eagle where we got arms to his people via the DOD's ultra Secret ISA team. Then years later in Nov or Dec 1998 John McCain helped us get arms to his people in another attempt to over throw Laos.
Dan Arnold has also been mentioned in conjunction with the arms and drug trade in Asia, and an alleged cocaine bust in northern California.
CIA drug trafficker (Khun Sa).
Director of Jefferson Waterman International, where a Cercle participant, Samuel M. Hoskinson, is exec. vice president and CFO. Waterman International.
www.escapefromparadise.com/NewFiles/cia.html: 'Dan Arnold aka Daniel C. Arnold Ex-CIA Chief of Station in Thailand Lobbyist for Burma & Strange Bedfellow of S. P. and Hin Chew Chung': "We were able to track down only one photograph of Dan Arnold, which is reproduced in Escape from Paradise, under license from the Associated Press, but for print, only. The press service caption for that photograph reads, "Daniel Arnold, former Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Bangkok, answers questions at a news conference in Bangkok on Thursday, January 25, 1996. Arnold and two other former U.S. government officials came to the defense of a Thai politician who has been denied a visa to the U.S. because he is suspected of drug trafficking.""
Retired Air Force Brigadier General Harry Aderholt and former CIA station chief in Laos and Thailand Daniel Arnold admitted their role in funneling money to the Hmong through World Medical Relief in a November 1982 interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Daniel Arnold, discussion in conjunction with a paper presented by Theodore G. Shackley entitled, "The Uses of Paramilitary Covert Action in the 1980's," reprinted in Intelligence Requirements for the 1980's: Covert Action, Roy Godson, editor (Washington: National Strategy Information Center, 1981), p. 160. Livingstone.
March 6, 1992, U.S. Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, Deposition of Scott Tracy Barnes: "A. Was there any discussion between you and Bo Gritz when you first spoke with him in April of 1981 regarding drug dealings, or any drug connection between CIA Agent Daniel Arnold and General Vang Pao? A. I don't recall if they discussed it. ... Q. Why don't you just tell us what the general drift of the conversation was regarding the drug connection? A. I'd rather not. Q. Well, I'm asking you the question. A. Then I'm going to refuse to answer. ... Q. Well, let me ask you just generally then, whether there was any discussion between you and Colonel Gritz regarding any gun-running connection between Daniel Arnold and General Vang Pao? A. Yes. ... Q. Did Vang Pao tell you or tell Gritz what it was that had made him distrust the CIA? A. Yeah, we all had a discussion. I had kind of previously known from some '80 conversations. During the conclusion of the war, Dan Arnold had promised Vang Pao that he would go ahead and continue the pipeline, that he would get not only his immediate family, but all the high-ranking individuals that worked the Lima sights out. Whatever happened, that didn't happen. He said that Turner ended up screwing everything up 2 years after the fall of Saigon, a lot of the guys ended up being out of work. And that all kinds of Vang Pao's -- and I think there were some loyalty there -- a lot of his men were murdered, killed, and he was very upset at that." Barnes identified himself as a close personal friend of GEN Vang Pao. Barnes sad he had worked in the Army Security Agency during the Vietnam war and had met Vang Pao at a special forces camp. Barnes was present but aside during the Vang Pao meeting.
Sheehan: "Armitage was posted in the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. There Armitage had top responsibility for locating and retrieving American MIA's in Southeast Asia. He worked at the Embassy with an associate, Jerry O. Daniels. From 1975 to 1977, Armitage held this post in Thailand. However, he did not perform the duties of this office. Instead, Armitage continued to function as the "bursar" for Theodore Shackley's "Secret Team," seeing to it that secret Vang Pao opium funds were conducted from Laos, through Armitage in Thailand to both Tehran and the secret Shackley bank account in Australia at the Nugen-Hand Bank. The monies conducted by Armitage to Tehran were to fund Edwin Wilson's secret anti-terrorist "seek and destroy" operation on behalf of Theodore Shackely. Armitage also devoted a portion of his time between 1975 and 1977, in Bangkok, facilitating the escape from Laos, Cambodia and Thailand and the re-location elsewhere in the world, of numbers of the secret Meo tribesmen group which had carried out the covert political assassination program for Theodore Shackley in Southeast Asia between 1966 and 1975. Assisting Richard Armitage in this operation was Jerry Daniels. Indeed, Jerry Daniels was a "bag-man" for Richard Armitage, assisting Armitage by physically transporting out of Thailand millions of dollars of Vang Pao's secret opium money to finance the re-location of Theodore Shackley's Meo tribesmen and to supply funds to Theodore Shackley's "Secret Team" operations. At the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, Richard Armitage also supervised the removal of arms, ammunition and explosives from the secret Shackley-Clines cache of munitions hidden inside Thailand between 1973 and 1975 for use by Shackley's "Secret Team". Assisting Armitage in this latter operations was one Daniel Arnold, the CIA Chief of Station in Thailand who joined Shackley's "Secret Team" in his purely private capacity. One of the officers in the U.S. Embassy in Thailand, one Abranowitz came to know of Armitage's involvement in the secret handling of Vang Pao opium funds and caused to be initiated an internal State Department heroin smuggling investigations directed against Richard Armitage. Armitage was the target of Embassy personnel complaints to the effect that he was utterly failing to perform his duties on behalf of American MIAs, and he reluctantly resigned as the DoD, Special Consultant on MIA's at the end of 1977. From 1977 until 1979, Armitage remained in Bangkok opening and operating a business named The Far East Trading Company. This company had offices only in Bangkok and in Washington, D.C. This company was, in fact, from 1977 to 1979, merely a "front" for Armitage's secret operations conducting Vang Pao opium money out of Southeast Asia to Tehran and the Nugen-Hand Bank in Australia to fund the ultra right-wing, private anti-communist "anti-terrorist" assassination program and "unconventional warfare" operation of Theodore Shackley's and Thomas Cline's "Secret Team"."
1991, Nigel Cawthorne, 'The Bamboo Cage', digital version (appox. p. 163): "Daniel C. Arnold, CIA Station Chief in Washington, DC. [in the early 1980s]" |
Atkinson, Col. James D. |
Source(s): 1967, American Security Council national strategy committee report, 'The changing strategic military balance, U.S.A. vs. U.S.S.R.', a study prepared for the House Armed Services Committee, pp. 8-9: “[Introduction letter] Signed, General Bernard A. Schriever, USAF (Ret.), Chairman. General Paul D. Adams, USA (Ret.). Lt. General Edward M. Almond, USA (Ret.). Prof. James D. Atkinson. Admiral Robert L. Dennison, USN (Ret.). Vice Admiral Elton Watters Grenfell, USN (Ret.). Admiral Ben Moreell,CEC, USN (Ret.). Dr. Stefan T. Possony. General Thomas S. Power, USAF (Ret.). Brig. General Robert C. Richardson, USAF (Ret.). Vice Admiral W. A. Schoech, USN (Ret.). General Bernard A. Schriever, UAF (Ret.). Dr. Edward Teller. Rear Admiral Chester C. Ward, USN (Ret.). General Albert C. Wedemeyer, USA (Ret.). Major General W. A. Worton, USMC (Ret.)."
Georgetown University. Headed the Psychological Warfare School. Member Planning and Development Committee of the Freedom Studies Centre, together with Stefan Possony (ASC) and Lev Dobriansky (ASC). Administrative director of the Centre was Air Force Major-General Edward G. Lansdale (ASC). Author: 'The Edge of War' (Henry Regnery Co., 1960). Author: 'The Politics of Struggle: The Communist Front and Political Warfare' (Henry Regnery Co., 1966). Director American-Chilean Council.
Jan. 16, 1961, Amarillo Globe Times, p. 21: "Col James D Atkinson, former consultant to the Army's Psychological Strategy Board and director of Georgetown University's psychological warfare course."
Oct. 2, 1962, The News and Courier, ''500 expected to attend Cold War seminar Friday: "More than 500 professional, business, and government leaders from throughout the South Carolina Lowcountry are expected to attend the 1962 Cold War Seminar Friday at The Citadel. Gen. Mark W. Clark, president of The Citadel, will deliver a keynote address at 9:10. At 9:30, James D. Atkinson, of the department of government al Georgetown University, will deliver an address on the communist domestic strategy and. A film on the American heritage will be shown at 10:40. This will be folllowed at 11:05 by an address from Edmund S. Whitman, retired vice president of the United Fruit Company. He will speak on the American free enterprise and the communist threat in Latin America. " |
Arzu, Roberto Alejos |
Source(s): January 8, 1991, Russ Baker for Village Voice, 'A Thousand Points of Blight'
Business associate of Guatemala dictator Anastasio Somoza, who lost power to the left-wing Sandinistas. Extreme right CIA asset, a Knight of Malta, involved with the Knights of Malta-run Americares and Covenant House (tied to a major abuse scandal), involved in the Guatemalan death squad killings (including the murder of Covenant House employees who tried to clean up the institution, together with a number of children), and reportedly sent the children of the plantation workers he killed to "local charities". His plantation at one point was used by the CIA to train Cubans for the Bay of Pigs invasion.
May 2, 1981, Boston Globe, 'Guatemalan Death Squads Make Politicians the Target': "In preparation for next year's national elections, death squads are murdering opposition political leaders here. Liberal politicians and foreign diplomats say they are convinced that the killings are the work of the right wing. The principal target has been the reformist Christian Democratic Party, which has lost 76 leaders during the last year to assassination and kidnaping. … Another active campaigner [on behalf of the right wing] is Roberto Alejos Arzu, a founder of the conservative Guatemala Freedom Foundation. He is best known abroad as the owner of La Helvetia, the sprawling plantation that was used as a training camp for Cuban exiles preparing for the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba."
January 8, 1991, Russ Baker for Village Voice, 'A Thousand Points of Blight': "When AmeriCares decided Nicaragua had earned assistance, rightist Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo went to the airport to receive the first shipment, and the well-connected Knights of Malta distributed it. President Bush’s son Marvin was aboard the next AmeriCares flight, which arrived just days after Chamorro’s inauguration. He was met by a Knights of Malta ambassador by the name of Roberto Alejos Arzu, who, beyond his recent role as an avuncular dispenser of charity, has a long history of association with some of Central America’s most reactionary elements. ... Alejos’s links to the Reagan-Bush administrations go back to1979, when he hosted a delegation from the private military lobby, the American Security Council (ASC). The group, led by generals Singlaub (later of Iran-contra fame) and Daniel Graham, met with the president of Guatemala and took helicopter tours of rural counterinsurgency operations. Alejos later came to California and met with Reagan. “Mr. Reagan was in favor of human rights as much as we were,” Alejos said at the time. “I have personal respect and great admiration for Mr. Reagan. I think your country needs him.” Using tactics developed in Vietnam-and promoted there by AmeriCares advisory board member general Stilwell-the Guatemalan army has pursued a brutal scorched-earth policy, bombing and forcing the abandonment of whole villages. In 1983, more than a quarter of the 4 million Indians living in the highlands were pushed from their land, according to the Guatemalan Council of Bishops. Many tens of thousands have died, and the number of orphans is estimated in the hundreds of thousands."
October 7, 1990, Newsday (Melville, NY), 'War for the Children Guatemala Covenant House confronts death squads': "In Guatemala, where New York's embattled Covenant House extended its social service empire 10 years ago, a new director's crusade against death squads was followed by the murder of a counselor and six children. The brutal counterattack began a year ago, human rights officials say, after Bruce Harris took the helm of Casa Alianza, as Covenant House is known in Guatemala. Harris severed the charity's ties to right-wing Guatemalan patrons and began to criticize official violence against children. He also fired 22 staffers and rooted out what he said was financial chaos and sexual abuse at Casa Alianza, in a campaign that was a strange mirror image of the unfolding sex scandal that ousted Father Bruce Ritter, founder of Covenant House. But it was Harris' decision to break Covenant House's silence and demand justice for Nahaman Carmona Lopez, 13, a street child allegedly beaten to death by police, that proved most fateful. It placed Covenant House in the line of fire of Central America's most notorious police force, human rights groups say. Members of Guatemala's security forces, which include municipal and Treasury police and the military, according to human rights observers, for decades have formed unofficial, right-wing "death squads." … After Harris brought legal cases against Nahaman's accused killers, more children died… In June, a former Covenant House counselor was shot in the head and killed, allegedly by a policeman. No one has been arrested in that case. "It is feared that the killing may be a reprisal against Covenant House for the role it has taken," noted an Amnesty International report in July, 1990. Those killings, and death threats against Harris and his staff, prompted Covenant House president Sister Mary Rose McGeady to visit Guatemala last month. Appointed months after Ritter resigned amid allegations of sexual and fiscal misconduct, McGeady is credited with recasting Covenant House's mission and purpose, both in the United States and overseas. … Simon, Grace, Macauley and Ritter are members of the Knights of Malta, an international, conservative Catholic organization with diplomatic status and ties to the Guatemalan right wing. The four also served on the board of Americares. None returned repeated phone calls. Both organizations came together in Guatemala in the person of a sugar plantation owner named Roberto Alejos Arzu. A Knight of Malta, Arzu agreed to ship hundreds of pounds of medicine and food from Americares to Casa Alianza and to broker private donations to the charity. Arzu is also a prominent member of Guatemala's right-wing aristocracy, say human rights officials and experts. In 1960, Alejos lent his sugar plantation to the Central Intelligence Agency to train Cubans for the Bay of Pigs invasion. Atkinson shrugged off talk of Alejos' background. "Roberto [Alejos] was the conduit for tons of supplies," Atkinson said. "He was a good man and I'm not going to condemn him on hearsay." Alejos, however, has also been linked to the abortive kidnaping of a Guatemalan cardinal in 1968 - in a 1982 report prepared by the Washington Committee on Latin America - and by local media to the death squad killings of workers on his plantation. Alejos could not be reached for comment. "When his workers complain, they end up in a ditch," said Allan Nairn, a longtime reporter in Latin America and a regional expert. "Soldiers would take the surviving children of the workers to local charities.""
1996, Senator John DeCamp, 'The Franklin Cover-Up,' second edition', p. 180: "Lauded by the Reagan and Bush Administrations as a showcase for the privatization of social services, Covenant House had expanded into Guatemala as a gateway to South America. According to intelligence community sources, the purpose was procurement of children from South America for exploitation in a pedophile ring. The flagship Guatemalan mission of Covenant House was launched by a former business partner of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, Roberto Alejos Arzu, who had ties to the CIA, according to the Village Voice of Feb. 20, 1990. The Voice quoted Jean-Marie Simon, author of Guatemala: Eternal Spring, Eternal Tyranny: "It's like having Idi Amin on the board of Amnesty International." A top source of money for Covenant House has been Robert Macauley, founder of Americares, a service organization implicated in channeling funds to the Contras." See ISGP's Cercle article for more information on Americares. |
D'Aubuisson, Roberto |
Source(s): July 2, 1980, Washington Post, 'Salvadoran Rightist Eludes Ban Against Entering U.S.': "A retired Army intelligence official from El Salvador, who has been labeled a right-wing "terrorist" by the State Department and whose U.S. visa was revoked last month, gave a press conference five blocks from the Capitol yesterday despite warnings to the Immigration and Naturalization Service that he is in the country. The press conference and subsequent luncheon, sponsored by the American Legion and the American Security Council, was attended by dozens of reporters, at least one congressman and a State Department representative sent to verify the Salvadoran's appearance. State Department officials said they did not know how Maj. Robert D'Aubuisson entered the United States, since his name is listed as "ineligible" on the Immigration and Naturalization Service "lookout list" placed at all U.S. entry points."
Went to the School of the Americas in 1972. Roberto d'Aubuisson, trained at the Political Warfare Academy in Taiwan, and his ARENA Party bore a remarkable resemblance to Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang. El Mozote massacre...
February 21, 1992, Los Angeles, 'Roberto D'Aubuisson, 48; Reputed Head of Salvadoran Death Squads': "During his military career, D'Aubuisson received counterinsurgency and psychological warfare training from the United States and Taiwan. In the 1970s, while radical students, peasants and union workers began to organize against the repressive government of Gen. Carlos Humberto Romero, D'Aubuisson became a political policeman. He was a military intelligence specialist spying on the growing numbers of dissidents taking to the streets to protest military rule, electoral fraud and the crushing poverty in which most Salvadorans lived. D'Aubuisson was a major in the National Guard's intelligence section when a group of young military officers overthrew Romero in October, 1979, and formed a civilian-military government with many of the leftists that D'Aubuisson had been tracking. When the new government established a commission to investigate hundreds of political killings and cases of "the disappeared," D'Aubuisson resigned rather than testify against his superiors. The junta collapsed, and reformers lost power to extreme rightists. In the aftermath, thousands of leftists took up arms. The United States eventually spent more than $4 billion to put down the rebels in the civil war that followed. The right, meanwhile, formed clandestine groups with names like Squadron of Death and Secret Anti-Communist Army that unleashed a campaign of terror. Their death squads killed an estimated 30,000 people between 1980 and 1983. According to a 1983 Times investigation, the killings were part of a deliberate counterinsurgency program designed by a group of rightist military officers and wealthy landowners for whom D'Aubuisson was the spokesman. Over the years, U.S. officials and former Salvadoran military officers implicated D'Aubuisson in some of the most high-profile assassinations, including the archbishop of San Salvador, Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero and Atty. Gen. Mario Zamora in 1980, and two American agrarian advisers and the head of a Salvadoran land distribution institute in 1981. U.S. officials accused D'Aubuisson of plotting to kill Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering. Another U.S. ambassador, Robert E. White, called D'Aubuisson a "pathological killer." He was periodically denied visas to the United States."
March 11, 1980 affidavit of Col. Cutolo: "49. The current intelligence on Archbishop Romero (El Salvador) indicates he is in receipt of physical evidence supporting several allegations that the U.S. is currently with Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Panama covertly training and sponsoring freedom fighters attempting to overthrow the current regime in Nicaragua; that these freedom fighters are also being supported from funds arising from Operation Watch Tower in part; that Mr. Robert D`Aubuisson (El Salvador) secretly aided the freedom fighters by allowing U.S. Advisors to train the freedom fighters inside El Salvador, that D`Aubuisson was contacted by Edwin Wilson and Frank Terpil prior to the freedom fighters being trained inside El Salvador. This information made it necessary to protect Operation Watch Tower and Orwell regardless of the costs. ... 71. During the conversation with Edwin Wilson I was informed of the sensitive data related to Archbishop Romero." Archbishop Romero was murdered by D'Aubuisson 7 days after this affidavit was written.
In 1981, it sponsored a lobbying junket to Congress by El Salvador's Roberto D'Aubuisson, acknowledged leader of their death squads and organizer of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero. The ASC interviewed D'Aubuisson in June 1984 for its radio program and newsletter. In 1982, ASC funded a visit by contra leader Stedman Fagoth in order to allow him to testify before Congress.
April 19, 1993, Christian Science Monitor, 'South Africa Arrests Conservative Leader For Hani's Murder': "Derby-Lewis was elected president of the London-based Western Goals Institute in February 1992 succeeding the late Maj. Roberto D'Aubuisson, founder of the right-wing ARENA party in El Salvador and a notorious death-squad leader. Retired United States Gen. John Singlaub, who was linked to the Iran-contra scandal, was also associated with Western Goals."
October 23, 1998, The Guardian, 'Diary': "ON similar territory, we come to Peer of the Week Baron Sudeley [chair Monday Club; Constitutional Monarchy Assoc.; vice-chancellor Monarchist League]. The noble lord, whose greatest regret is the abolition of slavery, once served as vice -president of Western Goals (UK) - an insanely rightwing outfit whose patrons included General Sir Walter Walker, who in 1975 set up a private army to save Britain from Harold Wilson's mortifying brand of socialism; and the delightful Major Roberto D'Aubuisson, head of death squads in El Salvador."
July 2, 1980, Washington Post, 'Salvadoran Rightist Eludes Ban Against Entering U.S.': "A retired Army intelligence official from El Salvador, who has been labeled a right-wing "terrorist" by the State Department and whose U.S. visa was revoked last month, gave a press conference five blocks from the Capitol yesterday despite warnings to the Immigration and Naturalization Service that he is in the country. The press conference and subsequent luncheon, sponsored by the American Legion and the American Security Council, was attended by dozens of reporters, at least one congressman and a State Department representative sent to verify the Salvadoran's appearance. State Department officials said they did not know how Maj. Robert D'Aubuisson entered the United States, since his name is listed as "ineligible" on the Immigration and Naturalization Service "lookout list" placed at all U.S. entry points. They said his visa was revoked following his alleged participation in a Salvadoran coup attempt last month and death threats made by his organization against U.S. diplomats there. At the press conference, at which he referred to U.S. Ambassador Robert White as a "proconsul" who sympathized with leftist guerrillas, D'Aubuisson urged strong U.S. backing of the Salvadoran military. His organization, the Board National Front of El Salvador, also has been accused publicly by international human rights organizations, and in private by U.S. officials, of organizing the assassination of hundreds of Salvadorans in that country's bloody political warfare in recent months."
October 11, 1981, New York Times, Section 6; Page 142, Column 3: "It was in this effort that I accompanied Maj. Roberto D'Aubuisson to Washington, where he was invited, not by me, as Mr. Hoeffel claims, but by the American Legion and the American Security Council. Major D'Aubuisson, who was forced to leave El Salvador after the 1979 coup because he did not want to surrender incriminating secur ity files to the terrorist-linked junta member Guillermo Ungo, was in Washington to warn about the January 1981 offensive."
December 16, 1983, New York Times, 'Foreign Affairs': "It is easier to see the political underpinning for the conflicting drive to the right. There are conservative ''think tanks'' in the Washington area that make a point of having good relations with such ultras as Salvador's Roberto D'Aubuisson and Guatemala's Mario Sandoval Alarcon, who are officially shunned by the U.S. because of their murderous reputations. Among them are the Council on Inter-American Security, the American Security Council, and the National Strategic Information Center, the last organized in the 1960's by William Casey, now C.I.A. Director. Retired U.S. military officers and former C.I.A. officials are among their active members. They travel to Central America, and arrange high-level meetings for their friends when they come to Washington. These sessions are then used by the Latins to spread word that they have confirmed secret U.S. Government backing, despite public denunciations. U.S. ambassadors have confided that they are powerless to reverse the impact."
December 5, 1984, Washington Post, 'D'Aubuisson Honored by Conservatives at Capitol Hill Dinner': "More than a dozen conservative organizations last night honored Roberto D'Aubuisson, the leader of El Salvador's extreme right wing, with a plaque and a closed-door dinner for 120 people at the Capitol Hill Club. The plaque expresses appreciation for D'Aubuisson's "continuing efforts for freedom in the face of communist aggression which is an inspiration to freedom-loving people everywhere." D'Aubuisson also has scheduled a speech tonight at Georgetown University, and some students are organizing a protest. A former Salvadoran army major who was cashiered for plotting coups, D'Aubuisson has been linked to death-squad murders in El Salvador by former U.S. ambassador Robert E. White and congressional testimony. But D'Aubuisson and the conservatives insist that the charges are false and spread by Marxists opposed to his democratic, free-enterprise views and to the conservative ARENA party whose unsuccessful presidential candidate he was. Richard Mathias, a Georgetown student and official of the Young Americans for Freedom, said the YAF had arranged D'Aubuisson's campus appearance because D'Aubuisson "hasn't had a fair shake" in the U.S. media. "Death squads have a very negative connotation. He's not been able to get across his message of free enterprise, anticommunism, freedom of exports and imports," Mathias said. "We can't think coherently about El Salvador if we think of the primary antithesis to the government as being a death-squad leader." ... Groups that joined in presenting the plaque to D'Aubuisson included the Viguerie Co., Gun Owners of America, the Western Goals Endowment Fund, the Washington Legal Foundation, the United States Defense Committee, the American Foreign Policy Council, the Public Service Research Council, the Moral Majority, The Washington Times, the National Right-to-Work Committee, the National Pro-Life Political Action Committee, Intercessors for America, the Young Americans Foundation and the Young Americans for Freedom. Presidential assistant and former U.S. ambassador Faith Ryan Whittlesey also joined in the presentation, but reportedly did not attend the dinner. "
February 22, 1992, The Independent, 'Obituary: Roberto D'Aubuisson': "WHEN the news began to spread in El Salvador that Roberto D'Aubuisson had contracted cancer of the tongue and throat, there was, in some circles, a gleeful sense that justice had been done. ... Roberto D'Aubuisson was a hard worker who excelled at what he did. When he was running the National Guard's intelligence service, his zeal as a torturer earned him the nickname ''Major Blowtorch''. He was not just doing what he enjoyed. ... From an early stage in his career, Major Bob was persuaded of the virtue of enforcement by extra-official means. In the early 1970s, he and two fellow-officers were described by the general who ran ORDEN, the rural security apparatus, as ''my three little killers''. In the late 1970s he contributed to the peace through the White Warriors' Union, at the time just one death-squad amongst many. There were a number of people who were eager to patronise a man of Major Bob's talents. One of them was Mario Sandoval Alarcon, the leader of the White Hand death-squad in Guatemala. Sandoval Alarcon was a pillar of the World Anti-Communist League, the far-right international, whose membership list read like a Who's Who of Latin American dictators and their retinues. Sandoval Alarcon introduced D'Aubuisson to the League and its regional organisation, the Latin American Anti-Communist Confederation. Sandoval Alarcon was D'Aubuisson's mentor in the bloody years that were to come. A coup in 1979 by a group of reformist officers ended D'Aubuisson's formal military career. He left the National Guard, taking the files with him. The same year had seen another important event for El Salvador - the naming of Oscar Romero as Archbishop. Originally considered a conservative, Mgr Romero was outraged by the murder of a famous liberation-theology priest by the National Guard. From that moment, he was to become the voice of the poor in El Salvador. As the killing score climbed to 1,000 a month, the archbishop thundered against state violence. On 23 March 1980, he preached his last sermon. ''In the name of God, and in the name of this suffering people whose laments rise to Heaven with more tumult every day, I beg you, I ask you, I order you, in the name of God: stop the repression,'' he said. The next day, he was murdered as he celebrated mass. The man repeatedly implicated in his death was Roberto D'Aubuisson. Under the Carter presidency, D'Aubuisson was denied entry into the United States. But with the dawn of the Reagan years in 1980, his fortunes changed. That year, he had attended the Buenos Aires conference of the Latin American Anti-Communist League, where he met Roger Pearson, an aide to the Republican senator Jesse Helms, who was to help him organise Arena in 1981 and to promote the image of the party in the US. By 1982, the party was so well established that it won a majority in the National Assembly and D'Aubuisson became the Assembly's leader. The death-squads moved into the building, too. From then on, the killings were directed from a security office on the second floor of the assembly. As Robert White, the US ambassador to El Salvador in the Carter years, was to write: ''Shortly after President Reagan took office, this administration . . . began the process of rehabilitating ex-Major D'Aubuisson. The Reagan Administration granted D'Aubuisson a visa to enter the United States, made him an honoured guest at our Embassy and saw to it that he met regularly with high-ranking Administration officials and visiting senators and congressmen.'' There were limits, however, to the degree that D'Aubuisson could be cleaned up. He was pursuing two parallel tracks: formal political activity and the killings. Everyone was a potential victim. As D'Aubuisson told a reporter in 1983, ''You can be a Communist, even if you personally don't believe you are a Communist.'' The problem for the US administration was that, whilst it wished to co-opt the right into the formal political process, D'Aubuisson could not be controlled. The United States supported the Christian Democrats when D'Aubuisson ran for president as Arena's candidate in 1984. His campaign was never dull. Reporters who rode in his campaign-car recall his gleefully running over a series of dogs. ''One dog less,'' he said, as he bagged each one. ''Like one Communist less. Better for El Salvador.'' He was a charismatic personality and a compelling presence. He had intense blue eyes and boyish good looks that later took on a ravaged quality, no doubt aided by his heavy drinking and his cocaine habit. He embodied to the extreme the qualities of machismo so widely admired in his culture. Though not an inspiring orator, he had a theatrical quality that thrilled his supporters. In the 1984 campaign, his rallies would climax with the Major splitting a water melon with a machete to the hysterical cheers of the crowd. The water melon stood for Jose Napoleon Duarte's Christian Democrats. ''See,'' Major Bob would shout, ''Green on the outside. Red on the inside.'' He was narrowly defeated by Duarte, a setback that he attributed to the CIA. From then on, his political fortunes declined. He was essential to Arena, as its founder and the leader of its military wing, but with him as its political leader the party could never achieve respectability. It was with a more acceptable candidate, Alfredo Cristiani, that Arena won the presidential elections in 1988, whilst Major Bob was named Arena's honorary president for life and remained the party's eminence grise. His talent for terror was less in demand and the murder of priests had gone out of style. Last December, two men convicted of killing six Jesuit priests were sentenced to long prison sentences. The event was something of a departure for Salvadoran justice. Major Bob's lifetime cause, the defeat of El Salvador's guerrilla movement, was never achieved. He displayed a certain pragmatism when Alfredo Cristiani's efforts to negotiate peace with the guerrilla movement began to bear fruit and helped to keep the party's hard line behind Cristiani's initiative. Shortly before D'Aubuisson's death, peace came to El Salvador, not by the methods he had espoused in the early Eighties, but through negotiation. As Ruben Zamora, a prominent left-wing politician whose brother was murdered on D'Aubuisson's orders, said on hearing of his death, ''He is now in the hands of God, and God will know best how to judge him.''"
February 25, 1985, Associated Press, 'Mystery Millions: Repercussions from Washington to San Salvador': "In a case that has sparked interest in Washington and San Salvador, an adviser to a right-wing Salvadoran opposition leader is awaiting trial here after being arrested on a small Texas airstrip with $5.9 million in small bills. Francisco Guirola, a friend of Roberto d'Aubuisson, is being held in Nueces County jail in lieu of an unusually high $2 million bail. He and two other men are accused of violating federal regulations that prevent anyone from removing more than $10,000 in cash from the country without declaring it. But beyond the formal charges lie suggestions of drug smuggling, money laundering and, possibly, an attempt to influence votes in the March 31 legislative and municipal elections in El Salvador. D'Aubuisson, who has been linked to right-wing death squads in his country, is playing down any connection to Guirola, but the governing Christian Democratic Party has done its best to turn what it calls the "Case of the Pirate Plane" into an election issue. The Christian Democrats say the case reveals attempts to rig the polls with money either from international drug deals or American right-wingers. Reagan administration officials, while publicly insisting the United States is neutral in the upcoming elections, privately express fears that a gain for D'Aubuisson's rightist coalition could frustrate social reforms in El Salvador and undermine prospects for congressional approval of future military aid requests. In a recent radio interview, d'Aubuisson, head of the Republican Nationalist Alliance, said he had "no control" over Guirola. And in Washington, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., a conservative supporter of d'Aubuisson, has angrily denied as "absurd" a charge bySalvadoran Information Minister Oscar Reyes that he and his supporters gave Guirola the money to buy votes in the election. The Christian Democrats said $6 million is twice the Salvadoran presidential budget and enough to finance 10 campaigns.The party also said Guirola used his position as an adviser to d'Aubuisson to get a government passport. According to Assistant U.S Attorney Robert Berg in Corpus Christi, Guirola was carrying that passport _ along with a regular Salvadoran passport and a Costa Rican passport _ when he was arrested Feb. 6 aboard a private jet on the runway of a small airport in Kingsville at the edge of the famous King Ranch. The other men arrested with Guirola, pilot Gus Maestrales, 38, of Boca Raton, Fla., and Oscar Rodriguez, 48, a Cuban-born resident of Miami, are each free on $1 million bond. A witness to the arrests, who asked not to be identified, said the three men had eight heavy suitcases with them containing the $5.9 million in small bills, neatly taped into brown-paper packets. Federal agents had been forced to obtain the search warrant after Guirola claimed diplomatic immunity and refused to consent to a search of the eight suitcases he said were his. The affidavit said the flight plan showed the twin-engine jet was enroute to San Salvador when it stopped to refuel in Kingsville. No drug charges have been filed against Guirola or the others, but the private jet had been under surveillance for months by U.S. Customs and Drug Enforcement Administration agents, because it aroused suspicions with trips between the United States and a number of Central American countries. According to an affidavit filed by customs agents seeking a search warrant, DEA intelligence said that the airplane and its occupants were suspected of laundering money and smuggling drugs. The airplane is also listed in the treasury enforcement computer as being suspected of involvement in narcotics trafficking, the affidavit said. The airplane is owned by Maestrales, who owns a company in Ft. Lauderdale called Commercial Aviation Enterprises Inc."
1999, Gary Webb, 'Dark Alliance', p. 258: "In court records, federal agents charged that the cash money was drug money destined for El Salvador. They cited DEA records that said Guirola had been "reportedly involved in cocaine and arms smuggling in El Salvador and Guatemala" and noted that he was a top aide to Salvadoran death squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson. The latter claim was confirmed by the Los Angeles Times, which reported that Guirola had accompanied D'Aubuisson to a "very sensitive" meeting with former CIA deputy director Vernon Walters in May 1984. According to the story, Walters had been dispatched in a frantic attempt to talk D'Aubuisson out of assassinating Thomas Pickering, the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador. Guirola, who attended college in California with one of Anastasio Somoza's nephews, had allowed D'Aubuisson to use his house as a campaign headquarters when he ran for Salvadoran president in 1984. Guirola's passport, which was signed by D'Aubuisson, identified him as a "special advisor" to the Salvadoran Assembly. ... the source of the funds was never made public. "The investigation came to a sudden, abrupt halt with a lot of questions unanswered," U.S. Customs agent Ernest Allison complained. ... Les than a year later, DEA agent Castillo and his informants were watching Guirola zoom in and out of Illopango, hauling drugs in, carrying cash to the Bahamas, and flashing credentials from the Salvadoran Air Force and the Salvadoran president's office."When I ran Guirola's name in the computer, it popped up in 11 DEA files, detailing his South America-to-United States cocaine, arms and money laundering," Castillo wrote in his memoirs. ... A cable arrived from the Costa Rican DEA office reporting that a pilot named Carlos Amador was intending to fly into Ilopango [El Salvador], pick up cocaine at Hanger No. 4, and take it to Miami. ... CIA records show that Hanger No. 4 had been used by the Agency for covert operations until it was turned over in 1985 to the National Security Council and Oliver North's illegal arms network, "The Enterprise." CIA agent Felix Rodriguez also used the hanger for his helicopter-based counterinsurgency program. The Adjoining hanger, No. 5, was still being used by the CIA in support of the Contra project. Moreover, the suspected CIA pilot, Carlos Amador, had been working with the CIA for years, flying missions for the Costa Rican Contras. The CIA had been collecting information for at least a year indicating Amador was also flying drug planes between Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, and Miami for a pair of major cocaine traffickers, the Sarcovic brothers, at the same time he was flying for the White House." P. 261: Medellin cartel drugs also going to Contras.
Pp. 261-262: "In a February 1988 memo marked "Sensitive," Assistant U.S. Attorney Walter E. Furr told his boss that Rudd "is a very articulate individual and there has been no indication to date that he has not been totally candid. In a real sense his life is on the line for the cooperation he has given so far." Furr probably thought it necessary to add his testament to Rudd's credibility in light of what he was about to report next: the Medellin cartel reportedly had made a deal with Vice President George Bush to supply American weapons to the Contras in exchange for free passage of cocaine deliveries to the U.S. Rudd told the officials that in the spring of 1987 he's met in Medellin, Colombia, with cartel boss Pable Escobar to arrange a drug deal. In the course of their conversation at Escobar's palatial home, Rudd said, the cocaine lord began ranting about Bush and his South Florida Drug Task Force, which was making the cartel's deliveries to the Miami area more difficult. "Escobar then stated that Bush is a traitor who used to deal with us, but now he is tough," Rudd told the federal officials. Escobar described "an agreement or relationship between Bush and the American government and members of the Medellin cartel which resulted in planes similar to C-130s (but smaller) flying guns to the cartel in Colombia. According to Russ, Escobar stated that the cartel then off-loaded the guns, put cocaine aboard the planes and the cocaine was taken to United States military base(s). The guns were delivered and sold to the Contras in Nicaragua by the Cartel." ... "Rudd has stated that Escobar and the rest of the cartel members are very supportive of the Contras and dislike the Sandinistas as they dislike the guerillas which operate within Colombia." Rudd claimed that Escobar had photographic proof to back up his story. Not only were there "photographs of the planes containing the guns being unloaded in Colombia," but he claimed to have a picture of Bush posing with Medellin cartel leader Jorge Ochoa, in front of suitcases full of money." ... "In response, Escobar stated that the photograph was genuine, it would stand up to any test...Escobar stated that the photo would be made public at the 'appropriate time.'"
P. 264: "But declassified record show the Reagan Administration knew there was precious little to substantiate that [the grainy Barry Seal picture implicating Sandinistas in drug trafficking]. Even with the entire CIA contingent in Central America on the alert for Sandinista drug dealing, no evidence had been found. "Although uncorroborated reports indicating Nicaraguan involvement in the shipping of cocaine to the United States had been received, CIA was unable to confirm reports implicating high-level Sandinistas in drug trafficking," the CIA informed the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in April 1984. Two years later, Justice Department officials reached the same discouraging conclusion. A 1988 congressional investigation raised troubling questions about whether or not the Seal sting was even a real sting. It produced evidence suggesting that the whole event had been stage-managed by Oliver North and the CIA as a domestic disinformation operation."
June 19, 1989, The Globe and Mail, 'Fear stalks El Salvador': "On the morning of April 5, Maria Cristina Gomez, a 41-year-old Salvadoran teacher, was grabbed as she left school with her students in the village of Santa Lucia. A little more than a half-hour later, her body was dumped across town by her abductors. Her shoulders had been deeply burned by acid, her right arm had been hacked off and the skin peeled back. Half-a- dozen bullets had been pumped into her body. Every Salvadoran knows that a violated corpse at the roadside is a message from the security forces. To the teachers, agronomists, nurses, priests and nuns who try to better the lot of the poor, the atrocity says: "You are next on the death squad's list. Flee or die." No help can be expected from the police or the military for they are just death squad members in uniform. The church leaders who reported Ms Gomez's torture murder to a federal parliamentary committee last week say she was killed for participating in Canadian-supported programs among El Salvador 's poor. Canadian non- governmental organizations and human rights groups say there is now no area of El Salvador where development and humanitarian work can be carried out without fear of abduction, torture and murder."
July 8, 1996, Globe and the Mail, ‘Ten years after Central America copes with peace Second of a series War-scarred Salvadoreans stepping out from terror BATTLE WOUNDS’: “For weeks, the Salvadorean press has been awash with stories about a series of recent bomb attacks against former right-wing president Alfredo Cristiani Burkard. A handful of far-left university students have been arrested and charged, but that's only half the story, a highly placed security official said. “The origin of the plot was a combination of ex-army and the old death squads. The trail led to a colonel in the city of Usulutan. It was a case of the right wing paying a known left-wing group to plant the bombs, which in El Salvador makes sense." The 10,000 new civilian police, too, still raise concern. Many members of the new force -- 20 per cent are ex-guerrillas, 20 per cent former soldiers, with the balance drawn from the population at large -- have brought with them some disturbing baggage, said the police psychologist encountered at Devil's Gate. Proof emerged last year with the arrests of a police death squad, the Black Shadow. "There are dark acts going on that we can't get to, and what people complain about is that investigations never go to the source -- they go so far, and then they stop," he said. Links to the past endure. In the latter years of the war, El Salvador was governed by the right-wing National Republican Alliance (ARENA), and it still is today, led by Armando Calderon Sol. Mr. Calderon Sol, elected President two years ago, was at one time the lawyer for ARENA's late party president Roberto D'Aubuisson Arrieta, nicknamed Blowtorch Bob, after his favourite torture technique. But no one has offered evidence that Mr. Calderon Sol personally committed atrocities.”
October 26, 2001, OC Weekly, ’31 Scariest People in OC’: “22 BILL NELSON. When he retired as deputy director of operations for the CIA and moved to Orange County in 1976, Congress was grilling the agency over its secret forays into Laos, Cambodia, Chile and Angola. According to newspaper articles at the time, Nelson, who had worked for the CIA since its inception in 1948, was "troubled" over the CIA's involvement in those controversial--and often illegal --operations, which is why he decided to take a nice, quiet job as vice president of security with Irvine-based Fluor Corp. Nelson's qualifications? In Vietnam, he helped carry out Operation Phoenix, the assassination and torture program that wiped out tens of thousands of Viet Cong--along with anyone unlucky enough to be branded a subversive. The specifics of Nelson's tenure at the CIA are still top secret, thanks to government censors, but his career at Fluor is no less shadowy. According to FBI records recently obtained by the Weekly, Nelson maintained an eight-year friendship and business relationship with Ronald Lister, the convicted coke dealer of San Jose Mercury News "Dark Alliance" series of articles fame. Lister claimed he worked for the CIA, and his business dealings with Nelson apparently involved Central America, where his security company worked with the murderous Salvadoran Defense Ministry and Roberto D'Aubuisson, leader of that country's right-wing death squads. What kind of business relationship could Nelson, a former top CIA official working for an Orange County construction company, have with Lister, a drug and weapons dealer, and D'Aubuisson, a Hitler admirer who authorized the 1980 murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero? There's no way to know: the FBI has withheld details of Nelson's relationship with Lister on the grounds that revealing them would violate U.S. national security. MITIGATING FACTOR: Nelson died six years ago.”
August 16, 1981, Washington Post, ‘El Salvador; FROM CONQUISTADORES TO COMUNISTAS, WHY THE KILLING WILL NEVER END‘: “By the first light of day the pulse of the violence is measured, as people go out to pick up their dead. There are days when only a handful of corpses are found scattered in city streets or abandoned on rural roads. Other days there are as many as a dozen bodies in one neighborhood alone, the corpses grotesquely draped across the street with drying rivulets of blood trailing toward the sidewalks. Whole families have been round slaughtered in pajamas still in their homes, the doors they refused to open battered down. So callous has the killing become that in the eastern city of San Miguel recently residents woke to find that 11 of the city's habitual drunks had all been shot in the head and dumped in a park with two dozen slain stray dogs under a hand-lettered sign that said: "Limpieza de San Miguel" -- cleansing of San Miguel. The standard form of execution is a bullet to the temple or a blast in the chest from semi-automatic G-3 rifles that are the favorite weapon of both the guerrillas and the government forces.But not a day goes by without evidence of more gruesome and sadistic modes of dispatch. Bodies turn up regularly with their heads or limbs severed by machete, the traditional weapon of the land that still is carried by troops in full battle dress. Other cadavers have been found charred by a torturer's blowtorch or with their skin peeled off their faces or with steel spikes driven through their ears. … Anybody and everybody is a potential victim. One need not even have taken a political stance for or against the ruling junta that the captains have installed to be marked for execution. A malicious rumors from a personal enemy or a suspicion based on nothing more than an individual's family background, education or profession will do. … There are probably as many different groups involved in the bloodletting as there are methods of killing. There are the death squads funded by the rich and reactionary discomfited by the 1979 coup that go by such names as the "white warriors union" and the "anti-communist armed forces of liberation." There are such murderous vestiges of the ancient dictatorships as ORDEN, an ununiformed rural militia set up to terrorize peasants into obeisance at the whims of the landowners and the military that supported them. There are also groups of dissident soldiers and police, extreme leftist urban guerrillas, anarchists, four left-wing guerrilla groups in the hills and the armed forces themselves with the three ill-disciplined security forces under their command. Despite this multiplicity of agents of death, the consensus, supported even by U.S. diplomats backing the ruling junta, is that most of the killings are the work of rightists, either those believing in the pre-coup order or those backing, or even belonging to, the present military-dominated regime. One diplomat estimates the breakdown at 40 to 60 percent in favor of the right; another puts the rightist killings higher still but no one is in any position to prove the case. U.S. officials embarrassed by these conclusions try to rationalize them by predicting, as is their habit in such cases, a "bloodbath" should the left, backed by the guerrillas of even more extreme views, ever come to power. With no hard evidence to justify such a conclusion, they predict the left would kill 100,000 people if they ever won. In almost the same breath, however, these same diplomats admit that Roberto d'Aubuisson, a former Army major who is the darling of the reactionary right, has openly talked of the need to kill 200,000 to 300,000 people to restore peace to El Salvador.”
GUS MAESTRALES
December 14, 1981 (decided), United States Court of Appeals, No. 80-1684: "On February 17, 1980, Drug Enforcement Agent (DEA) Elena Cox received [**2] information from a confidential informant that a certain Jet Commander aircraft, chartered through Gus Maestrales and piloted by Ben Rhodes and Jean Hauck, would leave Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at approximately 6:00 P.M. Florida time for the Los Angeles area, with a probable destination of the Orange County airport. The informant believed the plane would contain narcotics ... The pilot removed the luggage from the plane. ... On February 18, 1980, pursuant to a search warrant, the DEA agents searched the four suitcases and the attache case. 1 They discovered varying amounts of cocaine in each piece."
EDUARDO D'AUBUISSON
A politician of the ruling Salvadoran ARENA party, founded by his father, who was murdered in February 2007. Alongside other politicians on a visit to Guatemala, Eduardo was kidnapped by (high level) police officers, transported to a Gulf Cartel torture center, tortured and murdered. The police officers in question were murdered in prison soon after, at the hands of a police team dressed up as guards. Later, a consultant involved in the investigation was murdered, a prosecutor was murdered, and a police officer suspected of being involved in the assassination fled to Austria.
May 2019, Le Monde Diplomatique, 'Government turns into a 'criminal organisation': The captured state of Guatemala': "On 19 February 2007 three Salvadoran members of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) were heading for Guatemala in a 44 with 20kg of cocaine and $5m in cash hidden in a secret compartment. Just 20km across the border, Eduardo d'Aubuisson, William Pichinte, José Ramón González and their driver were stopped by police and taken to a spot near the village of El Jocotillo. Next morning, their remains were found in their burnt-out vehicle; autopsies revealed gunshot wounds. Four police officers were arrested for the murders soon after, but were killed while on remand. An official at the interior ministry suspected of having ordered the operation, Victor Rivera, also died a few months later."
February 26, 2007, CBC.ca, 'Rioting inmates kill 4 jailed officers in Guatemala': "National police spokesman Maria Jose Fernandez said she didn't know who had shot the prisoners. ... Police said members of the violent Mara Salvatrucha gang rioted in the prison, capturing five prison officials [however, this was over the fact that they wouldn't be blamed - and released the officials when they could talk to the media]..."
February 27, 2007, Irish Examiner, 'Guatemala: President blames mafia hit for prison deaths': "The four men had been detained over suspected involvement in the killing of three visiting Salvadorean politicians.
President Oscar Berger said "organised crime gangs" reached the officers' cell on Sunday after getting past eight locked doors at the prison, and were responsible for the "violent deaths of four important witnesses who could have helped the investigation". ...
A major question is how the gunmen were able to get past eight doors to reach the suspects, Berger said. ...
"It is clear that the people who committed these killings have some level of influence inside the police, prison or government structure,"" said Rodrigo Avila, head of El Salvador's police force. ... He said Guatemalan officials told him the men were able to get into the prison because they were dressed as guards. ...
A mother of an inmate said that her daughter-in-law was visiting the prison on Sunday when guards forced her and other visitors out. "They told them to get out because there was going to be a search and they starting pushing everyone," she said. "Once (the visitors) were outside, they saw armed men enter the jail. Then, everyone outside heard gunshots." ...
US officials estimate that 75% of the cocaine that reaches American soil passes through Guatemala. Salvadoran President Tony Saca, who asked the FBI to help investigate the case, meets today with US President George Bush at the White House, while Bush travels to Guatemala next month to talk to Berger about the growing drug problem. ...
The four officers killed on Sunday at the prison in Cuilapa, 40 miles east of Guatemala City, included Luis Arturo Herrera, head of the Guatemalan National Police organised crime unit, and three of his officers. ... They had been arrested on Thursday in connection with the February 19 killing of three Central American Parliament members, including Eduardo D'Aubuisson, son of El Salvador's late right-wing leader Roberto D'Aubuisson, and their driver. ...
They were members of El Salvador's ruling party, the Nationalist Republican Alliance [ARENA]."
September 13, 2007, The Nation, 'Getting Away With Murder': "A few days later, all visitors to the prison were asked to leave, and in full view of a public already riveted by the initial crime, a team of assassins passed unimpeded through a series of locked gates, shot the police in their cells [xx - February 27, 2007, Irish Examiner, 'Guatemala: President blames mafia hit for prison deaths'], slit their throats and promptly disappeared. According to the Los Angeles Times, a group of FBI investigators sent to help Guatemala with the subsequent investigation were "appalled" by the conduct of their Guatemalan counterparts and found the crime scenes compromised and obvious leads not followed up. A Central American intelligence official told the LA Times‘s Héctor Tobar that Guatemalan investigators "simply and intentionally refused to pass information to the FBI. ...
Somewhere between 60 and 90 percent of the cocaine destined for the United States is estimated to pass through Guatemala, and narco-traffickers reportedly make regular payments of up to $5,000 a month to well-connected law enforcement officials. ...
Perhaps the only other Guatemalan murder to surpass the February murders in notoriety ... is the fatal bludgeoning of Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera... On April 24, 1998, he issued a massive, church-sponsored human rights report based on testimony from approximately 50,000 victims of political violence (mostly Maya Indians) and backed by files naming the perpetrators (mostly members of the army and other security services). Two days later, Gerardi, then 75, was followed into his parish house and bludgeoned to death with a cement block. It was widely assumed that the motive for the bishop's murder was the release of the report. ...
The Gerardi murder turns out to have been run out of the Estado Mayor Presidencial, an elite military unit responsible for the security of the president and his family. The EMP, as it is known, was a dreaded organization that, during the war, had been the agent of much of the army’s interrogation and torture. The perpetrators of the Gerardi murder, who were eventually tried and convicted, were Col. Byron Disrael Lima Estrada; his son, Capt. Byron Lima Oliva; and Sgt. Maj. Obdulio Villanueva, a particularly brutal NCO with a history of political violence. ...
Captain Lima and Sergeant Major Villanueva were members of the Kaibiles, a Guatemalan special forces unit that reportedly required its trainees to adopt a puppy on induction and strangle it with their bare hands upon graduation. A Kaibil specialty is decapitation by razor-sharp bayonet; in recent years, former Kaibiles have put themselves out for hire with Mexican drug cartels and set new standards for depraved violence in the cartel war zones of the Mexico-United States border. ...
Nothing was easy about the prosecution and conviction of Gerardi's murderers. Thugs broke into the home of the executive director of the Archdiocesan Human Rights Office, terrorized his children and left him a gift box containing a chunk of concrete similar to the one used to assassinate the bishop. An intruder also broke into the home of the Human Rights Office’s legal coordinator, forced him to kneel in his bathroom–in the presence of his wife and children–while the intruder held a gun to his head and told him that he wasn’t going to kill him, just deliver a warning. Most of the important witnesses made statements and then fled the country. Judges were harassed and threatened–one had two grenades tossed into her backyard. The chief prosecutor’s wife, the mother of a 1-year-old child, received repeated phone calls with such messages as "Your husband hasn’t come home yet? Well, he’s not coming home."
Perhaps most interesting, however, was what happened to the Limas after their initial convictions and while they were imprisoned during the appeals process. Both Limas, according to Goldman, are members of a secret brotherhood of present and former military officers known as the CofradÃa. The CofradÃa (which is also implicated in the February murders) is said to be heavily involved in narcotics trafficking and to be a kind of military shadow government in Guatemala. The CofradÃa takes care of its own, and according to documents cited by Goldman, the Limas were permitted to run lucrative rackets (possibly including narcotics) inside the prison. Captain Lima, an admirer of Pinochet (Colonel Lima prefers Hitler), was able to patrol the prison wearing a black ski mask and forcing his fellow inmates to assemble and shout out, "Good morning, Guatemala!"
But things have changed in Guatemala since the end of the war, and the prisons are increasingly filled with members of Guatemala's maras [MS-13]-savage, violent, working-class gangs that run narcotics rackets of their own. In prison, Captain Lima's autocratic militarism, standard for the armed forces during the war, soon wore thin on gang members. In February 2003, gang members led an attack specifically targeting Captain Lima. Although the gang didn’t know it, Captain Lima and his father were out at classes at the time of the attack; two of the maras -- Psycho and Chopper -- managed to corner Sergeant Major Villanueva. He tried to flee through a hole in the wall but proved too fat and became stuck. The maras cut off his head and then stuffed a little military doll that Captain Lima kept on his prison bed into the sergeant's brain case." ...
During the trial, a member of the United Nations mission observed that "Guatemalans in the military had gotten rich through criminal activities such as narcotics trafficking, kidnapping, automobile theft, dealing in contraband, extortion, and so on.†He referred to this array of illegal enterprise as "the clandestine underbelly of official power" and noted that it depended on the military's "being able to commit crimes with impunity."" ...
One of the named targets of this expanded investigation is the far-right presidential candidate Gen. Otto Pérez Molina, who is one of the two finalists in this fall’s electoral runoff. But Goldman also implies that the military may have cut the Limas off for what, in the postwar era, may have been too crude and too blatantly political a crime."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ La_LÃnea_corruption_case #The_"Sindicato"_and_the_ «Cofradia» (accessed: March 14, 2022): "In September 2014, retired captain Byron Lima Oliva, who was already in prison with a 15-year sentence after being formally accused of being the material assassin of bishop Juan José Gerardi, was accused by CICIG of being the one that in fact controlled the Pavoncito prison where he was committed, and practically had control of the whole Guatemalan jail system.[11] Investigations showed that Lima Oliva came and went as he pleased in armored SUVs with a police escort; when he was apprehended outside the prison and taken to the Supreme Court building to testify along with other accused, reportedly he said several times that he was a personal friend of president Otto Pérez Molina."
Aug. 25, 2021, Passblue.com, 'A Highly Respected UN Legacy to Fight Corruption Crumbles in Guatemala': "Cicig was funded by donors known as G13: Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Sweden, Switzerland and the US as well as multilateral organizations like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the UN. With an annual budget of $12 million to $15 million, Cicig was promoted as a model to bolster justice systems in Central America. In the US, it received bipartisan support.
That changed during the Trump administration, from 2017 to 2021.
In 2017, a sector of Guatemalan elite financed a successful lobbying campaign to break the US bipartisan support for Cicig. That allowed [the death squad- and CIGIG case-tied] President [Jimmy] Morales to declare the agency’s commissioner, the Colombian jurist Iván Velásquez, persona non grata. Two years later, after Trump forged a deal with Guatemala to limit emigration from Central America, Morales refused to renew Cicig’s mandate. UN Secretary-General António Guterres criticized the decision, but the US didn’t flinch."
July 15, 2008, BBC, 'Gunmen kill Guatemala prosecutor': "Police in Guatemala say gunmen have shot dead a state prosecutor who was investigating the murders of three Salvadorean politicians last year. [Prosecutor] Juan Carlos Martinez...
Last week, a Guatemalan court acquitted 13 alleged gang members of the police officers' murders, saying there was a lack of evidence. Prosecutors had said they would appeal against the court's decision.
Mr Martinez was also examining the murder in April of Victor Rivera, a former security advisor to the interior ministry who was involved in the investigation, Reuters news agency reports."
July 15, 2008, Reuters, 'Gunmen kill prosecutor probing Salvador murder case': "Gunmen shot dead on Monday a Guatemalan state prosecutor who was investigating the murder last year of three Salvadoran deputies from the Central American parliament, police said. Juan Carlos Martinez, part of a government team probing the murders...
Martinez was also investigating the April murder of Victor Rivera, a former security advisor to the interior ministry. Rivera was involved in the investigation of the murdered congressmen, but rights groups say he was also operating police death squads from his government post. Authorities say drug gangs with links to Guatemala and El Salvador were behind the killings, which have shed light on illegal armed groups operating within Guatemala's security forces and possible links between high-level officials and narcotics traffickers. ...
"There is an atmosphere of terror in the justice system, particularly in the most high-profile cases," it said."
Oct. 31, 2012, CICIG.org (Comision Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala), 'MARÃA DEL ROSARIO MELGAR MARTÃNEZ IS LINKED TO PROCESS IN TWO CASES: RIVERA AND EL INFIERNITO': "Today, Judge Martha Sierra de Stalling, in charge of the Eighth Court of the Criminal Branch, linked MarÃa del Rosario Melgar Martinez to trial for the crimes of illicit association and murder within the investigation into the murder of the former adviser to the Ministry of the Interior, VÃctor Jose Rivera Azuaje (occurred in 2008)."
1991, Celerino Castillo, 'Powderburns: Cocaine, Contras and the Drug War': "I needed some backup for the meeting. I called Victor Rivera, an advisor to the president of El Salvador. The CIA had hired Rivera as a contract agent and advisor to Duarte, and he and I quickly become good friends. His street skills could help any operation. He was one of a half - dozen Venezuelans training the Salvadoran security police in counterinsurgency techniques. Changing political tides had forced them out of Venezuela, and the Salvadorans generously donated an office in national police headquarters in exchange for their expertise. Sharing grisly techniques had become a thriving cottage industry in El Salvador, and Rivera and his cohorts found cozy positions with both the Salvadoran government and the CIA, who paid Victor a reported $5,000 a month for his work."
February 2000, written statement of Celerino Castillo (DEA agent in South America 1984-1990) for the House Select Committee on Intelligence: "Feb. 05, 1986, I seized $800,000 in cash, 35 kilos of cocaine, and an airplane at Ilopango airport in El Salvador. [It involved a left-wing] Colombian M-19 terrorist.
Note: The above case was initiated by Jack McCavett's asset. The operation was conducted by the CIA "goon squad". The squad members were made up of
several former Venezuelans Police Officers working as advisors for McCavett. Leader of this group was Victor Rivera who was involved in several murders for the CIA in El Salvador and Guatemala. This is a FACT that is well documented in DEA files.
Footnote: DEA-6 Case file TG-86-0001, Giatan-Giatan, Leonel.
Example: A Salvadoran Military Major was kidnapped in Guatemala by Rivera and his crew. The Major was then tortured and assassinated by Rivera. This was done with the approval of Jack McCavett [CIA station chief in El Salvador, and also for Guatemala, anno 1986; previously worked in Libya] and CIA agent Manny Brand. I assisted the squad in the capture of the Major in Guatemala City under the pretext that the Major was a fugitive. Who was the plane registered to at Ilopango?"
1996, Cadi Martin, 'El juicio a CAP: inocente o culpable?': "...Luis Posada Carriles, Los Caminos del Guerrero, donde el procesado por el caso de la voladura del avion cubano relata que durante los gobirnos de Luis Herrera Campins y Jaime Lusinchi de mantuvo un contingente political en El Salvador, al mando del comisario Victor Rivera, quien coincidencialmente tuvo una activa participación en las diligencias sumariales del proceso que ahora se ventila en la Corte sobre los 250 millones de bolÃvares de la partida secreta."
[...Luis Posada Carriles, Los Caminos del Guerrero, where the accused in the case of the blowing up of the Cuban plane recounts that during the governments of Luis Herrera Campins and Jaime Lusinchi a political contingent was maintained in El Salvador, under the command of commissioner Victor Rivera, who coincidentally had an active participation in the summary proceedings of the process that is now aired in the Court on the 250 million bolÃvares of the secret item."]
May 16, 2019, InsightCrime.org, 'Kamilo Rivera and the Ghosts of Guatemala's Death Squads' (very confusingly, Kamilo Rivera was an agent in Victor Rivera's death squad, with his brother Edwin being the second-in-command under Victor): "Between 2004 and 2007, investigators claimed, [*this* Kamilo] Rivera was part of a clandestine operation embedded within Guatemala’s interior ministry. His group was known as the "Riveritas" for their boss, Victor Rivera Azuaje, a former Venezuelan police officer.
CICIG ... -- which serves as an appendage to the Attorney General’s Office -- pointed to the Riveritas' involvement in at least three massacres: the killing of seven prisoners in the Pavon prison in 2006, the deaths of three Salvadoran legislators and their driver on February 20th, 2007, and the jailhouse murder of four police officers accused of killing the legislators six days later. ...
Among those accused was the former interior minister and former boss of the Riveritas, Carlos Vielman, whose friends included some of the most powerful economic and political elites in the country.
However, over the years, most of the cases against the police and their bosses had stalled, been diverted or were archived. In some of the cases, witnesses and accused had been killed, including Rivera Azuaje, who was gunned down as he left his ministry office in March 2008. ...
2. Government-sanctioned Death Squads
The Riveritas first graduated from the police academy as potential rising stars, according to a former public safety official who knew the Victor Rivera Azuaje group well.
"They gained the trust of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and businessmen who did not trust the police leadership in the early 2000s," she told InSight Crime on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Inside the government, these men replaced old military commanders, who were known more for inefficiency and corruption than for fighting the type of organized crime triggered by the end of Guatemala’s civil war. To be sure, in post-war Guatemala, kidnappings were rampant, requiring less brute force and more intelligence gathering, Rivera Azuaje's world.
Before working at the ministry, Rivera Azuaje, who went by various alias such as "Zacarias" and "Frank," had spent time with numerous state intelligence agencies, including the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), according to two former Interior Ministry officials who worked alongside him at the ministry.
Following the civil wars in Guatemala and El Salvador, Rivera Azuaje was contracted by business elites in both countries to help negotiate and resolve kidnapping cases. Even after he started working with the ministry, he continued to moonlight in the kidnap ransom and negotiation business, which would eventually lead to his own downfall.
Relatives of three kidnapping victims -- two Guatemalan and one Salvadoran -- in the late 1990s and mid-2000s described alias "ZacarÃas" as an efficient investigator who introduced modern police techniques to the two Central American police forces.
One relative, who spoke with InSight Crime on condition of anonymity, said that Rivera Azuaje "succeeded very quickly, because he knew he did not have to obey the law when obtaining what a normal prosecutor would have taken months to get, such as phone records.â€
This remained true even after Zacarias was hired by the ministry and formed the Riveritas. The former public safety official said the business sector “latched on†to the Riveritas. “They were effective because they went unpunished, even when performing operations well outside the legal boundaries,†the official said.
According to the official, the government created "a parallel state structure that worked because of its impunity. Following the law was seen as rather unsuccessful. These were times when the Attorney General’s Office did not carry out autopsies and simply trusted what police reports said."
On October 23, 2005, CICIG investigators say then-Interior Minister Carlos Vielman held a meeting. In the hours prior, 19 inmates had escaped from the El Infiernito prison in the city of Escuintla on Guatemala’s Pacific coast. Vielman ordered they be recaptured: "dead or alive." Dubbed "Plan Gavilan," the Riveritas led the operation. The plan was simple: the fugitives would be tracked down and, if possible, executed. [Which happened.]
In February 2007, three Salvadoran deputies [of] the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) ... were murdered at a country house outside Guatemala City along the Pan-American Highway. Investigations pointed to four police officials -- not members of Riveritas, but another death squad operating inside the ministry. The theory was that they had murdered the deputies to steal drugs and cash the deputies were carrying from El Salvador.
The policemen were arrested a few days later and - after a famous (and video-taped) interaction with Victor Rivera Azuaje in which one of them clearly threatens to out the head of the Riveritas for his own dirty deeds - sent to El Boqueron prison. Within hours they too were dead, killed mysteriously inside the jail.
Preliminary CICIG reports, which InSight Crime had access to, said that the Riveritas were involved in the killing of the policemen at El Boqueron. Later investigations re-upped on this theory, adding that Vielman and Police Chief Erwin Sperisen were also involved in what became known as the Parlacen case. (Both ex-officials have denied their involvement multiple times.)
Investigators also placed Kamilo Rivera at the El Boqueron massacre and the Parlacen murder cover-up. Worries of top-level involvement spread to other countries as well. In San Salvador, InSight Crime spoke with a former high-ranking official within the government of former President Antonio Saca, who was in power when the deputies were killed. He said numerous Salvadoran officials at the time suspected the Riveritas and their bosses were behind the murders and the coverup.
The United States also expressed suspicions about what happened at El Boqueron. In a confidential cable sent a few hours after the prison's massacre, then-United States ambassador to Guatemala, James Derham, informed the State Department of a possible motive for the crime: "The fear that the alleged murderers -- the policemen -- would talk is broadly perceived as the motive for the intellectual authors of the deputies' murders to silence the murderers," he wrote.
Vielman and Sperisen were eventually tried in another case, but Vielman, who is a Spanish national, fled to Spain before he could be tried in Guatemala. Eventually, the former minister was acquitted. For his part, Sperisen fled to Switzerland, where he was convicted and is serving a 15-year sentence under house arrest.
The prosecutions set the stage for the ongoing battle between the CICIG and the country’s elites and portions of its security forces. Vielman and the Riveritas were among them, and they would not sit idly while they were vilified. After Vielman left the country, the anger subsided somewhat, but it would return when CICIG tried a second time to prosecute him and many others in Guatemala. It was there that Kamilo Rivera would emerge again, this time to keep the international commission at bay.
5. Rivera vs. the CICIG
On the morning of August 14, 2018, agents from the anti-impunity unit (FiscalÃa Especializada Contra la Impunidad -- FECI) of the Attorney General’s Office prepared to carry out a series of arrests in a major case that was culminating. The FECI is CICIG’s partner in the Attorney General’s Office, and the case, dubbed “Construction and Corruption,â€involved several prominent businessmen and politicians.
Given the sensitivity of the case, FECI Director Juan Francisco Sandoval decided to email the Interior Ministry on August 13 to request police backup for the arrests. At first, the ministry told him the police would support him. But in reality, they stalled. Sandoval was furious but not surprised.
By August 2018, the Interior Ministry had turned against the CICIG, positioning people to thwart its investigations and sting operations on a number of occasions. Among those blocking the CICIG was Kamilo Rivera who had been named deputy in January.
This was not just about Rivera’s past with the death squads, Rivera had a vendetta against the CICIG for more personal reasons. As part of its initial investigation into the Riveritas, the CICIG arrested Edwin Emanuel Rivera Gálvez, the former second-in-command of the Riveritas and Kamilo’s brother. Edwin Emanuel was eventually released on appeal and ultimately hired as the security chief of a private company harvesting African palm.
Now it was time for Rivera’s revenge on the CICIG [and he kept stalling for backup in arrests and leaking confidential information]...
6. 'An Honorable Employee'
For a long time, Kamilo Rivera knew how to avoid being directly linked to the controversy following his brother’s arrest. Silently, and with the support of allies in the private sector and the military, Rivera jumped from job to job within Guatemala’s public security institutions, according to statements given to InSight Crime by former CICIG investigators.
By at least 2014, he was already trying to undermine CICIG investigations. One prosecutor, for instance, said that Rivera tried to boycott the CICIG and FECI between 2014 and 2015, while he was the director of criminal investigations at the Attorney General's Office.
But by late 2018, his activities as part of the Riveritas were catching up to him. On the day he escaped capture, several others were arrested, including Vielman and Velasco. They were all charged for several deaths related to the Gavilán Plan. Vielman was eventually given house arrest while he awaits trial, while the others remain in prison.""
p. 21: "Guatemala’s Interior Minister Carlos Vielman dispatched his top operatives to deal with what became known as the “Parlacen case,†after the Spanish acronym for the Central American Parliament. By February 22, Guatemalan authorities had captured four policemen and had formally accused them of killing the three parliamentarians and their driver. However, almost immediately after the arrests, it was apparent that something was amiss.
One of the policemen captured was Luis Herrera López. Herrera was part of a select group of police who was working under Victor Rivera Azuaje, a shadowy Venezuelan who had worked for years with Central American governments and the private sector, dealing with kidnappings and other security matters."
Rivera Azuaje was Interior Minister Vielman’s right-hand man at the time, and after the arrest of the four policemen, he showed up to talk to them. In a video taken of the meeting at the Interior Ministry in downtown Guatemala City, the tension between the captured police and Rivera Azuaje is evident.1
“I am telling you, I am taking you all down with me, because I, I am taking you all down!†Herrera tells Rivera Azuaje. “I’m going down for this. We asked for help, and
this is what you give me? This is the help that you are giving me?†Rivera Azuaje responds to Herrera, but the microphone does not capture the audio. “I am telling you: you are going to remember me,†the policeman says, his face in an angry knot. “You and everyone else. You are going to remember me! I promise you. I swear on my mother’s grave.â€
Three days later, the four police suspects were found dead, killed execution-style in a prison some 65 kilometers south of Guatemala City. The authorities quickly blamed it
on gang members, but it was clear that a cover-up was underway. Later investigations linked the massacre of the police suspects to the “Three ‘V’sâ€: Victor Rivera Azuaje;
Victor Soto Diéguez, the former head of the police investigations who was also part of Vielman’s inner circle of operatives; and Victor Rosales, the head of the prison system.2 At the time, the government, civil society groups and parts of the international community were pushing for the establishment of a new, international body to help it deal with cases like these. They called it the ... CIGIG... Vielman and many of his colleagues who pushed for the CICIG never thought it possible that the commission might one day go after them.
They alleged that, as interior minister, Vielman had various special units, such as that of
the Venezuelan Rivera Azuaje (pictured), and another run by police investigator Soto
Diéguez as well as two other top police officials. Rivera Azuaje’s unit -- which took on
the name “Riveritas,†an homage to Rivera Azuaje’s
leadership -- and the other unit, CICIG investigators
claimed, were more than special forces.
They were a “social cleansing†outfit who started out
extrajudicially executing suspected criminals, including gang
members, kidnappers and bank robbers who they captured
or who had escaped from prison. They soon moved into
more sophisticated criminal acts such as theft of drug
shipments, kidnapping and extortion. All of these activities,
CICIG prosecutors said, were directed by or approved by
Interior Minister Vielman.
Vielman was no ordinary suspect. He was a member of the
country’s traditional economic elite. He was once the
president of the Industrial Chamber of Commerce of
Guatemala’s foremost business association, the
Coordinating Commission of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial and Financial
Associations (Comité Coordinador de Asociaciones AgrÃcolas, Comerciales, Industriales
y Financieras – CACIF). The CACIF is a multipronged institution with vast political
influence, and Vielman was close with some of the most conservative and powerful
members of the business elite.
"Carlos Vielman, Guatemala’s former Minister of Interior, has been acquitted. He has stood trial in January and February 2017 in Madrid, where his responsibility in the execution of eight detainees while he was holding office has been determined. His former wingman and Head of the National Police Erwin Serisen was sentenced by a Genevan tribunal to life imprisonment for the same facts. TRIAL International is concerned this acquittal sends a worrying signal to Guatemala’s civil society."
August 2010, Annie Bird for her rightsaction.org (Guatemala), 'Cracks in the wall of impunity and corruption: Arrests of Guatemalan police death squad connect today’s organized crime to 1980s death squads and the CIA': "This week arrest warrants were issued against at least 19 members of an organized crime network that operated at the highest levels of Guatemalan justice administration from 2004 to 2007, though some have been active in organized crime and death squads since the 1980s.
One figure apparently involved in this network worked for President Ronald Reagan aid Lt Col. Oliver North and former CIA agent Luis Posada Carriles. Amongst other political crimes, the network appears to have been involved in the 2007 murders of PARLACEN congressmen.
The investigation by CICIG, the United Nations sponsored Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, has focused on extrajudicial executions within the prison system. Jails in Central America have played a key role in structuring and coordinating organized crime activities. Control of the prisons is critical in the struggle for dominance between organized crime networks.
Two of those wanted for arrest are Carlos Vielmann, named Minister of Governance in July 2004, and Edwin Sperinsen, named Director of the National Civil Police in August 2004. The two resigned together in March 2007 amid accusations of running a death squad and they left Guatemala in 2007. A third, Alejandro Giammettei, was Director of the Penitentiary System, and on Friday, August 6, 2010 sought asylum in the Honduran embassy in Guatemala City.
The 2007 accusations, and this week’s arrests, were related to "social cleansing," extrajudicial executions, within the prison system. Though 'social cleansing' is sometimes looked upon favorably by some sectors of the public given the intolerable levels of violence, the investigations of CICIG demonstrate that this network killed gang members and criminals with the logic of protecting the higher levels of organized crime, protecting perpetrators of kidnappings,
extortions, drug trafficking, and other crimes.
Sperinsen and Vielmann worked closely together, and were also implicated in a strategy of criminalizing protests and killing protestors. Incidents for which they are considered responsible include the August 31, 2004 Nueva Linda massacre, the January 11, 2005 murder of Raul Castro Bocel (while protesting the Glamis Gold/Goldcorp Inc mine), the March 14, 2005 murder of Juan Lopez Velazquez during a protest against the Central America Free Trade Agreement CAFTA, among others.
Between August 10 and 12, at least 9 have been arrested while at least 10 arrest warrants are pending execution. Those arrested include former heads of the special police units to fight kidnapping, extortion, and an elite unit within the penitentiary system.
ARRESTED FOR PRISON MASSACRES BUT IMPLICATED IN MANY OTHER CRIMES
All of the arrests were related to two "Operations" undertaken by the network, Operacion Gavilan (Operation Hawk), which tracked three prisoners who had escaped from El Infiernito prison in October 2005 and weeks later extra-judicially executed them, and Operacion Pavo Real (Operation Peacock).
In Operacion Pavo Real, prison authorities supposedly re-took control of El Pavon prison, in the course of which seven prisoners were killed. Though the press reported that prisoners were killed in the confrontation, it was demonstrated they were executed and that the death squad had compiled a list of targets to be executed during the operation.
The operation was highly lauded, press reports claimed that a mafia had controlled the prison for 10 years, and that prison installations served as the headquarters for criminal activities, that kidnap victims were held in the prison, drugs were processed, etc.
Many of those now with arrest warrants participated directly in the operation, including then Minister of Governance, Carlos Vielmann, then Director of Police Edwin Sperisen, Chief and Assistant Chief of special investigations Javier Figueroa and Victor Soto, and Director of the Penitentiary System Alejandro Giamattei.
CICIG investigators have stated that it is expected that the network will be implicated in at least eight more crimes that will come to light over the course of the trial, including among others, drug trafficking and kidnapping.
LINKS TO CENTRAL AMERICAN PARLIAMENTARIAN KILLINGS, EDUARDO D’AUBUISSON
On February 19, 2007 a caravan of six official cars traveled from San Salvador to Guatemala City, escorted by police. Upon arriving in Guatemala City one of the cars, transporting Eduardo D'Aubuisson, Jose Ramon Gonzalez and William Rissiety Pichinte, all from the ARENA party, left the caravan. They were stopped by a police car and taken to a torture center outside of Guatemala City where they were tortured for several hours before their bodies and their car were burned and abandoned on a farm near the border with El Salvador.
The police officers implicated were quickly identified via video surveillance footage and GPS systems in police cars. Warrants for the arrest of nine officers were issued, and four were detained. The El Salvadoran and Guatemalan governments requested the assistance of the FBI, but on February 26, 2007 just hours before a scheduled polygraph tests the four police officers were killed in a maximum security prison.
Crowds of prison visitors reported that an armed contingent freely entered the prison; some claims include witnessing then Police Director Sperinsen with the squad. Approximately twenty minutes later shots were heard, and later gang members rioted. Minister of Governance Carlos Vielmann claimed the four police officers had been killed in a gang uprising, though later confronted with witness reports officials claimed the armed men forced entry into the prison.
Eduardo D’Aubuisson was the son of the infamous Roberto D’Aubuisson, death squad leader and leader of the ultra right wing ARENA party.
On July 26, 2010 Guatemalan district attorneys indicted Manuel de Jesus Castillo, a former Guatemalan congressman, and eight others in the killing of three El Salvadoran PARLACEN congressmen and their driver in Guatemala in 2007. Former El Salvadoran PARLACEN member Roberto Carlos Silva Pereira, thought to be involved in drug trafficking, is pending deportation from the United States to face charges.
Two motives for the killings have been advanced, that Silva sought revenge for his expulsion from ARENA for drug association or that they were rivals in the drug business.
At least two of those sought for arrest demonstrate a clear connection to the PARLACEN killings. In addition to Sperinsen himself, Victor Soto was part of Edwin Sperinsen's elite Anti Kidnapping Command and participated in the September 2006 raid on El Pavon prison. In March 2007 he was fired from his position of Director of the Criminal Investigations as he was the direct superior of the four police officers arrested then killed in El Boqueron.
A truck that reportedly assisted in the transportation of the victims to the torture center and farm where their bodies and car were burned was owned by Gulf cartel kingpin Jorge Arturo Paredes Cordova, also implicated in the 2008 killing of Victor Rivera, a special advisor to Minister of Governance. "El Gordo" Paredes is currently serving a 31 year sentence in the United States, convicted of cocaine trafficking after being arrested in Honduras in May 2008. He reportedly had inherited control of the Gulf cartel following the arrest of Otto Herrera.
VICTOR RIVERA- CIA ASSET WORKED WITH OLIVER NORTH & POSADA CARRILES
Victor Rivera had been a special advisor in the Ministry of Governance on kidnapping investigations since at least 2000. According to former DEA agent Celerino Castillo, Victor Rivera was originally from Venezuela but came to El Salvador as a CIA asset to work with former CIA agent Luis Posada Carriles and Ronald Regan aid Lt. Col. Oliver North in the Ilopango Air Base "drug trafficking, kidnapping and training death squads" in the early 1980's.
Rivera advised 'security structures' in El Salvador in the 1980s and early 1990. After the peace accords he became an advisor to the El Salvadoran Vice Minister of Security Hugo Barrera, with whom Rivera, under the pseudonym Zacarias, helped create the new National Civil Police and the parallel, unofficial Police Analysis Unit that operated out of the office of a business owned by Barrera.
In 1996, Rivera was forced to leave El Salvador when a warrant was issued for his arrest in relation to his role in the police killing of a medical student, Adriano Vilanova, according to some reports as a possible consequence of a romance between Vilanova and Roberto D'Aubuisson daughter. In 1997 Rivera began assisting in kidnapping investigations in Guatemala and since at least 2000 was formally contracted as an advisor to the Guatemalan Ministry of Governance,
there again forming a parallel police 'investigation' apparatus.
On April 7, 2008 Victor Rivera was fatally shot while driving, one week after his contract was not renewed in the Ministry of Governance. On July 26, 2010 it was announced that as a result of CICIG investigations, an arrest warrant was issued for his secretary and principal assistant, MarÃa del Rosario Melgar for helping coordinate Rivera’s murder.
According to CICIG’s investigations Melgar is also implicated in the Vielmann / Sperinsen network. Rivera was reportedly very close to Vielmann.
There is also speculation that Rivera was involved in the PARLECEN killings; a video has emerged of the four officers in custody speaking with Victor Ramirez [Rivero] in which one reportedly said to him, "Ok, I will go (to prison), but I will take all of you with me." Three days later all four officers were dead.
It is not clear why "El Gordo†Paredes had Rivera killed. According to CICIG’s Director, the two had a long standing relationship, and the murder order could have arisen from “the kidnapping of the son (of Paredes) that ended tragically, in which he could have blamed Rivera and waited years until he could take revenge, or it could be some joint activity that came out badly and as you know with this class of business you pay with your life.â€
ONE OF BISHOP GERARDI'S KILLERS DECAPITATED IN PRISON IN 2003, ANOTHER APPARENTLY CONNECTED TO GULF CARTEL
Sperinsen and Vielmann's positions in power began with Oscar Berger's presidency in 2004. Though no one has implicated any connection, and the events predate Vielmann, the decapitation of inmate Obdulio Villanueva on September 12, 2003 in Pavon prison demonstrates a pattern similar to other cases that implicate Vielmann’s network.
Sergeant Obdulio Villanueva, together with Colonel Byron Lima Estrada and Capitan Byron Lima Oliva, father and son, were convicted of the 1998 murder of Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi following the release of the report of a Catholic Church sponsored truth commission he directed.
Obdulio Villanueva’s defense was that he was in prison the night of the murder, though investigators were able to establish that Villanueva left prison at will and indeed had left the night of the murder. Villanueva had been serving a sentence for the killing of a milkman in a confusing incident while he served in the Estado Mayor Presidencial, a presidential guard and intelligence agency.
In March 2010 a notebook taken from Villanueva’s accomplice, Byron Lima Oliva, showed notes with contact information for top members of the Gulf Cartel.
WHO ARE VIELMANN, SPERISEN, GIAMATTEI AND SOTO?
Carlos Vielmann began his government career with high approval as then President Oscar Berger’s special commissioner on corruption. One of his first actions was rescinding over valued contracts to supply food to the prison system, coordinating new low priced contracts, an interesting fact given that food suppliers have notoriously been the suppliers of weapons to the crime networks that control Central American prisons. Vielmann quickly was named Minister of Governance.
Vielmann currently lives in Spain.
Erwin Sperisen, reportedly of Swiss ancestry, currently lives in Switzerland. Sperinsen’s father was Guatemala’s representative to the World Trade Organization. After briefly serving as advisor to the Guatemala City mayor, Sperinsen was named director of the National Civil Police in 2004 with no prior experience. He is reported to have placed 30 military officers in high ranking police positions. During his term as Director of Police he was known to engage in ‘social cleansing’ and reportedly discussed these actions in his televised evangelical sermons.
Alejandro Giammattei is wanted for his participation in the Operation Pavo Real while Director of the Penitentiary System. He was the Presidential Candidate in 2007 for the then incumbent GANA party. On Friday, August 6, days before the arrest warrants were made public, he sought asylum in the Honduran Embassy on Friday claiming he had received death threats over the past 45 day as a result of his vocal opposition to the administration of the current President Alvaro
Colom.
Yesterday the Honduran ambassador informed the press the asylum request had been denied and Giammattei was expected to leave the embassy by Friday.
Victor Hugo Soto was Director of the SIC, Special Criminal Investigation unit, of the National Civil Police. He began his police career in the police death squad known as the "Archivo" in the 1980s, and went on to serve in a series of elite police units, including anti kidnapping units. While head of SIC, in 2002, he was part of a strange incident in which police and military exchanged fire in a shoot out in Guatemala City during a kidnapping victim’s ransom drop.
A witness claimed Soto pocketed the ransom. In 2004 he was investigated for blocking investigation of corrupt officers. He is accused in participation in the Operacion Pavo Real. He has been closely associated with Victor Rivera. Investigators failed in an attempt to capture Soto during a birthday party for the mayor of Ocos, San Marcos, a township infamous for the high level of drug trafficking.
THE PAST IS CLOSE BEHIND
These stories go on and on; they are not over. Last week's arrest shine a small but important light on the "clandestine structures of power" that operate in Guatemala with next to complete impunity. These arrests are small but important steps in cracking the wall of corruption and impunity. Stay tuned."
July 29, 2010, taiwannews.com.tw, 'UN probe: Guatemala ex-adviser killed by drug lord': "U.N. investigators say a Guatemalan drug lord imprisoned in the United States ordered the 2008 slaying of a former security adviser for Guatemala's Interior Ministry. They say drug lord Jorge "El Gordo" Paredes ordered Venezuelan-born security expert Victor Rivera killed, perhaps because Rivera failed in an attempt to negotiate the release of Paredes' kidnapped child. Rivera was a specialist in kidnapping cases. Chief U.N. investigator Carlos Castresana said Wednesday that Rivera's assistant apparently aided in the killing. Castresana heads a U.N. commission responsible for battling corruption and crime in Guatemala. He leaves office next week after resigning, blaming poor cooperation from Guatemalan prosecutors."
May 30, 2011, insightcrime.org, 'Guatemala Kingpin's Brother Killed': "A brother of Guatemalan kingpin Jorge Mario Paredes Cordoba, alias "El Gordo," was gunned down along with two associates. [His] death follows the killing of a third brother, Arturo Paredes Cordoba, in November 2010. ...
The U.S. State Department accused Jorge Mario of heading a drug trafficking group called the Paredes Organization, which shipped multi-ton quantitites cocaine into Guatemla, and sent much of this on to the U.S."
state.gov/narcotics-rewards-program-target-information-brought-to-justice/jorge-mario-paredes-cordova-captured/ (accessed: March 17, 2022): "Upon arrival in Guatemala, the cocaine was either sold to a third party bulk distributor or shipped directly to the United States by the Paredes Organization. The Paredes Organization had criminal associates in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, New York and Georgia who distributed the cocaine, collected the proceeds from the cocaine sales, and smuggled bulk cash shipments exceeding $1million back to the Paredes Organization in Guatemala."
January 9, 2011, Elfaro.net (online El Salvador newspaper), '"No entiendo por qué El Salvador se queda callado y acepta esta investigación amañada"' ("I don't understand why El Salvador remains silent and accepts this rigged investigation"') (The Costa Rican prosecutor involved in the CIGIG investigation and interviewed here is not menioned by name in the article): "The Costa Rican prosecutor says that the investigation that ended in Manolito's conviction for the murder of the Salvadoran deputies was initiated by "a criminal." She adds that the evidence pointed to a network of officials, but the former head of the Guatemalan anti-mafia commission sold himself to the highest bidder: "I told Castresana that he was highly corrupt."
[Q:]In 2007, people who were linked to the Berger government told El Faro that these extermination groups existed with the complacency of the Guatemalan government itself. And that these were allowed because it was about controlling “cholosâ€, as gang members are called in Guatemala, and criminals in general. [A:] Ajum. [Q:] And therefore, they had no problem with their existence. The problem is when these groups are linked to crimes of drug dumps, loss of caches and even suspicions of carrying out kidnappings. ...
[A:] [Deputy director of the National Civil Police (PNC)] Javier Figueroa confesses that. And he tells how many times they [the government people] were the ones who planned the kidnappings and used criminals or low-ranking police officers to carry out these activities, then liquidated them. That was a pattern of behavior. ... They did social cleaning. This is admitted by Figueroa, by "El Toyota", by "The Lord of the Rings" (protected witnesses of the CICIG) and others with whom we spoke. They say that VÃctor Rivera was the one who decided. They all dressed in black and went in those cars with a basin (pick up), the ones used by the PNC, to zone 3 or zone 5 to gather gang members. They picked them up, killed them and were going to throw them in Chimaltenango, in Lake Amatitlan or in Lake Izabal. ...
Since July 2004 they start with the structure, when they are already consolidated to do their pranks, it is the case of the Loma Linda farm, where there are some peasant leaders who are assassinated. These people have a monthly salary paid by private entrepreneurs and a salary paid by the government. The money was given to Vielmann and he distributed it. Who got most of it? To Rivera, Sperisen, Figueroa, Soto Diéguez and Vielmann, of course. The others were given any cochinadilla. That's how they start. But this is getting out of hand. These no longer decide only to kill, but to steal drugs and kidnap. They get involved in crime. How can I tell them? This is such a gross thing. We all know that there are corrupt people everywhere, but in Guatemala it is another case. One begins to hear witness after witness about that coldness, about how Rivera organized kidnappings, how they hired criminals to carry them out, how they later killed them all in the "rescue" and how they stole the money. Sometimes they saved the victims and sometimes they didn't.
[Q:] He talks about a structure that supposedly also includes [Chief homicide prosecutor Alvaro] Matus Flores, [Victor] Soto Dieguez [head of the Criminal Investigations Division], Figueroa...
[A:] ... Florido (former Attorney General of Guatemala)... Let's see, I explain how they operated so you can understand. We are going to see the manipulation of the evidence from the case of El Infiernito, in Pavón, in Parlacen and in El Boquerón. It is a structure that commits crimes, Vielmann orders them, but they have to have people in the Public Ministry to cover up their misdeeds and cover them up. So, the attorney general, Florido, appoints Matus Flores. This was an assistant in the Prosecutor's Office and it goes up like foam. From one moment to the next, he is promoted to head of crimes against life. Why? Because they are the ones who are going to see the scene with the people from the Dinc. They plant or suppress evidence, clean up the scene, let's say. The group of "Los Riveritas", in addition to participating in events, is also in charge of manipulating the scene. And the MP ensures that this test is fine, that the chain of custody is fulfilled and impunity is sought. If an analysis is made of what the Parlacen case file is and of all these cases, we are going to see this same pattern of conduct: the same prosecutors in all the scenes, Matus Flores always involved there. ...
According to our witnesses, [Edwin] Emmanuel Rivera [second-in-command of the Riveritas] and Victor Rivera are at the La Parga farm when they take the deputies [including Roberto D'Aubuisson]. In other words, those who participate in the event are the ones who do the investigation. ...
[Q:] "Los Riveritas" were in the area?
[A:] Yes, but the official investigation is not going to prove evidence linking them. ... Another point: Herrera drives the vehicle, he takes it to a carwash to clean and then brings it in. ... According to witnesses interviewed by the CICIG, the vehicle is delivered to [Deputy director of the National Civil Police (PNC)] Javier Figueroa who, with the Benitez brothers, takes it to a place in zone 7. And then certain evidence appears, some credit card vouchers and other things.
What other irregular procedures were seen in the Parlacen case?
An important thing: How is it possible that on the 20th I already know that these people are the ones who kill the deputies and their driver? ...
How is this credited?
Simply because Soto Diéguez said in the debate. "They confessed to me that they killed the deputies and their pilot," nothing more. With only that, the court considers it proven that they killed him. No one denies that they are the ones who intercepted the deputies' vehicle, but there is no way to prove that they are the ones who killed them. How is it possible that absolutely nothing is seized from the police office? The people who work there are not interviewed! They don't go to their houses...
No! They lived across the street from the National Civil Police facilities, in zone 1. They rented some rooms across the street and they all lived there. The raids on those rooms were carried out in April 2007 and were carried out by "Los Riveritas". Two months later! And supposedly that's when they find everything. That's when Herrera's agenda appears and Castillo Medrano appears. That's where the bond with him is established. How do I know that Herrera wrote that down? Do you have any graphoscopic expertise to corroborate that?... For me, all this evidence is planted because it is found two months later and there are witnesses who tell me: "Look, that house was totally clean before."
And since the four policemen are dead, they cannot defend themselves.
Of course.
When the four policemen are killed, [chief homicide prosecutor Alvaro]] Matus Flores comes out swearing and perjuring himself that a group of gang members are responsible. In the end, they are released from the charges... After they are acquitted of the El Boqueron case, seven of them are murdered. All except "El Diabolico" [an MS-13 leader who stood up against prison abuse, but also accused of occasionally using his gang for political terror] are murdered in December 2008.
The Parlacen case is beginning to fill me with death: the deputies, their driver, the four policemen, the seven gang members...
...Yes, in addition to advisors, policemen, assistant prosecutors, witnesses...
... Witnesses? Assistant prosecutors?
Yes, they killed a witness who requested the CICIG to protect him, and it was not done. They killed an assistant prosecutor linked to the El Boqueron case, Juan Carlos Martinez. At that time, he was working with us. His case was something very strange. That day he had a meeting to make the appeal in the El Boqueron case, because they had just acquitted the gang members who had allegedly participated in the murder of the police officers in the Parlacen case. He was supposed to speak with [chief homicide prosecutor Alvaro] Matus Flores and with the prosecutor who was handling the case.
What is strange in this murder?
We investigated and it turns out that MartÃnez, days before his murder, had met with an Arab who had a sale of spare parts in zone 1. Supposedly this man was going to give him information about who killed Rivera.
What information was it?
Nothing is known about what they talked about. We tried to make contact with him, but that was when I disassociated myself from the Victor Rivera case to continue with the Parlacen case. What I can tell you is that Juan Carlos MartÃnez is totally riddled with bullets, like a sieve. And they also kill the brothers José Luis and Henry Danilo BenÃtez, who were advisers to Sperisen, in June 2008. They had already had an attack before. And they kill Saúl Hernández, another police adviser, in October 2008.
Are all these homicides related?
According to what these witnesses tell us, the BenÃtez brothers participate in the El Boqueron murders, along with [Victor] Soto Dieguez [head of the Criminal Investigations Division], who visits the prison at noon on February 25, 2007. Victor Rivera arrives with him. That is documented. We went to inspect the prison and the prison cells. According to our investigation, it was very difficult for gang members to leave the other sector to go where they were. For us, they take the police out of the cells, they kill them where there are some piles and then they take the bodies to the cells. They kill them with long and white weapons.
And these people are the ones who handled the Parlacen case at first?
Yes, together with VÃctor Rivera.
Didn't you suspect them when you took on the Rivera Azuaje murder case?
I took on the case about the week he died, in April 2008... We began to hold work meetings, but it wasn't until April 28, 2008 that we were able to see the file. We have a first meeting with the prosecutors, in which Matus Flores arrives, and we go with the head of La Dinc, who was Victor Ruiz. At that time I did not know anything about Matus Flores. I just knew that he was the head of crimes against life. He thought that in the case there was a joint work. First we ask to see the file, I begin to review and we go to the scene of the crime... We do all of this with Juan Carlos Martinez, an assistant prosecutor who was killed on July 14, 2008, in Santa Rosa de Culiapa.
What made you mistrust the process and Matus Flores?
First, it was a fact that MarÃa del Rosario Melgar Padilla, who was the partner of Victor Rivera, lied. What was the attitude of Matus Flores? He started out with what he said was an attitude of support for the investigation, but it was a total lie. So much so that they don't give us the whole file. They gave us the least relevant things.
Didn't this harm the CICIG investigation?
No, because we began to investigate very close to the event. So we saw no drawbacks. I began to look for who VÃctor Rivera was, where he had his offices, with whom he worked... as if going hand in hand with the Public Ministry (MP), but with our own facts. First there is an obstruction for us to see the evidence. When I start to ask who the "Los Riveritas" team was, they don't tell me. As they try to hide them. Then I ask about the raids on VÃctor Rivera's house. And Matus Flores says that a search of the victim's house could not be carried out. That's absurd! The victim always leaves traces, things that can lead us to find out what bothered him, if he had written something in a document, which were the cases he was investigating... All of this is not given to us and the investigation is obstructed.
Why does she say that MarÃa del Rosario Melgar Padilla is lying?
From the first moment I say that I want to talk to this woman. She, in her version, said that they left Pollo Campero in zone 15 and turn back towards Guatemala City through the street in zone 10. At the height of the walkway, she hears the shots, and VÃctor Rivera tells her falls over sideways. According to what he says, she takes the wheel of the vehicle and parks it. The car was very well accommodated on the street! The explanation doesn't add up to me and I start asking for a reconstruction of the event. On the other hand, according to what was in the file, it is said that she is injured. However, I was not so convinced of that.
Why?
First, when I start to review the file, I realize that her X-rays did not appear. Afterwards, the hospital is reluctant to release this woman's information... Time of death is like 11 at night. She is in the San Juan de Dios hospital, where she is supposed to be operated on, but the next day she is transferred to the Nuestra Señora del Pilar hospital. Our information tells us that the Minister of the Interior [in 2007-2008], Adela de Torrebiarte, [with Carlos] Vielmann and another person transferred her and paid the bill at this hospital. The alleged bullet that was taken from Maria del Rosario was delivered to the MP at the Nuestra Señora del Pilar hospital when she underwent surgery at the previous hospital. There is already something that does not smell good. If they intervene in San Juan de Dios, they will not take the patient and the bullet to the other hospital.
Chain of custody broken?
Yes. I question this to Alfredo Solórzano Flores, the prosecutor assigned to the case, and the auxiliary prosecutors Antonio Castañeda and Marlon Rosales, with whom he managed to have a closeness, an empathy, in the investigation. Solórzano Flores and another prosecutor complain about how the case has been manipulated. They make their lives like little squares in the MP.
It is not clear to me when MarÃa del Rosario, VÃctor Rivera's assistant, is lying...
... It is that when I asked her if VÃctor Rivera had told her if he feared for his life, if he was afraid that they would kill him, she just cried and justified that he was an exceptional man, who fought against impunity, against crap in Guatemala. Her answers seemed very theatrical to me. Then we found a video from in front of VÃctor Rivera's house. There we see that on the day of the event, a Salvadoran driver he trusts a lot takes things out of that house. Rivera's daughter tells us that MarÃa del Rosario, one of the first things she does after the murder, is to call her and tell her that she has to let people take out the things that he has in his apartment. Why, if she is hurt and is so affected, does she have this type of behavior? My perception: she didn't believe him, she wasn't a woman that moved me. Especially because when she comes to talk to me, she is accompanied by [chief homicide prosecutor Alvaro] Matus Flores, Alfredo Solórzano, the prosecutor in charge of the case, and assistants Antonio Castañeda and Marlon Rosales. Why did Matus Flores have to be there? His control of the investigation was evident. Already, at that moment, she began to feel that there was something ugly. There, she begins to explain to me that they shot her, etc. And she tells me that she was injured, that she couldn't attend the funeral. There was something about her that I don't believe. That is when I say that we have to reconstruct the fact.
This was never done.
No, as soon as I say that, they take her out of Guatemala. I interviewed her around May 6, 2008. When I ask the MP to speak again with MarÃa del Rosario to ask new questions, they go around the bush and never show her to me. This was the case until I confront Matus Flores and he tells me that she left the country. “How come she left the country! How is it possible? Who authorized this?†I said. "She is a victim and she made herself for protection," he told me. “Wait a minuteâ€, I said, “how do you know that she is a victim?â€...
How far do you go with the case of VÃctor Rivera?
Well, my hypothesis, MarÃa del Rosario and his team, "Los Riveritas", are the ones who murdered him with the complicity of the entire structure.
[Q:] Now they are blaming a drug trafficker, "El Gordo" Paredes, right?
There is one thing here. When we began to investigate the case and approached "Los Riveritas", [Edwin] Emmanuel Rivera came up with the story that Manolito was the one who had Rivera Azuaje killed. Then they come out with the story that he was Byron Lima, Captain Lima in the Monsignor Girardi murder case. And then they come out with another story. When I start asking them about their mobile, everything they said came to nothing. All the evidence is manipulated.
There were some videos to analyze, too. The type of vehicle, who is moving is one of these trucks that has a basin (pick up), two guys in the back. In them you can never see the face of who is shooting, so much so that we sent them to Spain to analyze them to see if the face could be seen. But what a strange thing, later it turns out that in the video you can see who is shooting. The video of the lifting of the VÃctor Rivera scene is completely cut.
On the other hand, his autopsy is totally rigged. He had like an envelope on his abdomen, between the shirt and the t-shirt. This envelope does not appear. Also, when we review the video we see that he is carrying a lot of documents in folders. After several minutes of the video, these folders appear empty. In the end, all the evidence of the case disappears, it is stolen!
In addition, I request that a comparison be made of the shell casings at the crime scene with the weapons of "Los Riveritas." It is not done. It is prevented that information be taken from the computers in the office of Rivera Azuaje in the Ministry of the Interior. They do this with the approval of Ãlvaro Matus Flores.
Manipulated?
Yes, so much so that the doctor who does the autopsy refuses to sign the final report because it was not what he had put. Myriam Ovalle de Monroy, general director of the Guatemalan National Institute of Forensic Sciences, fired him and the doctor filed an injunction to prevent it. In the end, he signs the document so as not to be fired. And so you see cases of constant obstruction. In order to be able to interview the group of “Los Riveritas†I had to 'enjaquetar' (show annoyance). I told him: “I want to talk to all the members of that teamâ€. And I hid them. All this is in files that are being joined in the investigation.
Didn't they question Matus Flores for how the evidence was handled, for this manipulation of which he speaks?
I speak with other prosecutors, who confirm this manipulation, and I do not question Matus Flores. But I put all that in my reports.
Why?
Because I begin to see all the deficiencies of the investigation, the concealment of information, and everything is put in a document called "Log of actions in the case to the detriment of VÃctor Rivera." That was like the captain's log.
Why not question Matus Flores about these anomalies?
With Matus Flores I did have confrontations and I did confront him. This was a criminal who wanted to see my face. In October 2008, I told [CIGIG commissioner] Carlos Castresana that a case had to be opened against him. He couldn't continue confronting him because it was putting him on notice that he was being investigated.
That is when Matus Flores is accused, although the MP does not obtain a strong accusation.
Yes, it is a movement that is fatal for all these cases.
Why?
Because these people cannot be accused of an isolated incident. It must have been showing how they operated, how they handled each case. If you evaluate the test in isolation, it gives you a very different result. I didn't understand it at the time, but now it's clear to me. I didn't measure him at that time and I told Carlos Castresana, in October 2009: “This is a criminal, we have to get him outâ€. Matus Flores had hidden all the evidence from me, he had taken Melgar Barillas, Rivera Azuaje's assistant, out of the country. So, they accuse Matus Flores of obstructing the investigation of Rivera Azuaje... that was a mistake. ... what happened to Matus Flores ended up being a warning to the rest of the structure. And then Castresana backs off with the rest of the investigation.
How?
In the beginning I made many reports and I see that [CIGIG commissioner] Carlos Castresana has a normal attitude, of fighting against what he touches. But after we make contact with [deputy director of the National Civil Police (PNC)] Javier Figueroa, in May-June 2009, he changes. When we make contact with him, I tell Castresana to come with me. He does not want. So, I ask Maurizio Salustro, who had been an Italian anti-mafia judge in Calabria, who had worked in Kosovo investigating war crimes and was the head of investigations at CICIG, to come with me. When we return, Castresana does not call us to inform him about the trip. Like he didn't want to know about it. Salustro begins to knock on his door and say to him: “What is happening? What are we going to do with Figueroa?â€
What did you reply?
Nothing. Since he did not say anything, we decided to continue acting on our own and we looked for what to do with him because Guatemalan law did not provide for the figure of effective collaborator. Castresana tells me that Figueroa was like "Dr. Death." I asked him how he knew and if he had proof of it, I told him that as long as we didn't prove it we could use his testimony. It is then that he tells me that it would be a shame for Manolito to go free. I told him: "More shame is that we know that this trial, this process, is crap and that it is an official version to justify to El Salvador and the world what it is not and hide this structure."
Wasn't Castresana interested in speaking publicly about this structure?
No, it seemed that he did not want to. On one occasion when he was not in the country, Maurizio Salustro signed a document requesting that the Parlacen case be transferred to the CICIG. When he arrives he asks us what we did and tells us that we don't know what he has to deal with, that "there are political moments" and that we didn't understand anything. After that, Maurizio resigns. I also submitted my resignation and asked to speak with him. “What's wrong with you?†he asked me. “It happens to me that I think you are a great corrupt person,†I told him. In the CICIG they said about the Parlacen case and that they did not want to act."How is it possible that we have already identified these structures and with a case about to go to oral and public debate at any moment, we are left with our arms crossed?" He told me to give him time, I decide to stay and start collecting evidence - these documents with stamps and receipt signatures - to show that.
Why wait so long to say this?
It is clear that I represent a danger. I have said it: I am a free person and I am not afraid of anything. I dared to open my mouth and I was knocking on many doors in Guatemala to say this. The first ones I looked for were those from El Periodico, in Guatemala, and Prensa Libre. They paid no attention to me. I don't know if they were afraid or what, because I understand that this is dangerous. It's not that I stay put, I start looking for someone to talk to but it seemed that nobody was interested.
Prosecutor MarroquÃn asked why he didn't file the complaint with the prosecutor, back in Guatemala, instead of speaking to newspapers in Costa Rica.
If I started talking in Guatemala, I didn't even get within 100 meters of the plane. Here (Costa Rica) they sent word that they were going to kill me. Well, I accept those consequences but I'm not going to stop, because they don't intimidate me.
Everyone saw the CICIG as the great guarantor of justice in Guatemala. From what he says, we see that the CICIG, within a corrupt system, can be corrupted.
Yes... CICIG, as a model for a failed state like Guatemala, had very good intentions. The problem is that behind all this there are many interests. And my impression is that Carlos Castresana was sold to the highest bidder.
And who was the highest bidder?
Yes, let's say, the Guatemalan oligarchy, the people of power. People who want to continue using this model of extrajudicial groups for their convenience. I was such an idiot that I thought I was going to do what the mandate said; I was so naive that I thought I could do something as a prosecutor. I did not go to the CICIG to see things, to turn a blind eye and earn in dollars. I did not go Guatemala to that. I had no idea what I was going to get into in Guatemala.
El Salvador is looking for a CICIG, President Funes has recognized that.
You have to wonder why they want it. First you have to ask yourself if the judicial system, flaws and all, works or not. We are supposed to trust the Public Ministry and the judges, and not bring in foreigners to do the work that corresponds to the democratically established entities.
Is the Guatemalan case different from the Salvadoran or is it the same to need a CICIG?
I understand that El Salvador has a very different situation."
July 2, 2009, Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA.org), 'Guatemalan Democracy: Hanging on By its Fingernails': "Nearly a year after the Zacapa massacre, the commission faced what Director of CICIG Carlos Castresana called a “mockery†of justice in the case of former Attorney General Alvaro Matus. Matus led the investigation into the murder of Victor Rivera, an advisor to the Minister of the Interior, who was fired just two days before he was killed. At the time of his termination, Rivera was investigating the deaths of three Salvadoran legislators who were killed while on a visit to Guatemala. On February 3, 2009, Matus handed himself into authorities after CICIG reported to the press that the case “involved ‘an act of organized crime which has been concealed within the public prosecutor’s office.’†The layers of political corruption beginning with the murder of the Salvadoran legislators to the murder of Rivera to Matus’ alleged cover-up scheme should have resulted in a guilty verdict and a high-profile victory for CICIG and Guatemala’s criminal justice system. Yet, Matus was released from his cell the very day that he had turned himself in after the Public Ministry dropped the charges of conspiracy and perversion of the course of justice that CICIG originally had lodged against him. ...
In a country where an average of 17 murders are committed each day and 98 percent of criminal cases remain unsolved, the May 10, 2009 assassination of prominent Guatemalan lawyer, Rodrigo Rosenberg, could easily have been dismissed along with thousands of other ill-handled and heavily manipulated political murder investigations. Instead, the dramatic elements of a video recording shown at the attorney’s funeral, in which Rosenberg forewarns the viewers of his own death as a result of the alleged plotting of President Ãlvaro Colom, his wife Sandra Torres, and Colom’s chief of staff Gustavo Alejos, has brought Rosenberg’s murder to the height of national attention.
In light of the recent sharp protests that erupted in the aftermath of the video’s release, the political divides of Guatemala’s economically and culturally conflicted society are even more obvious now than before the garish Rosenberg murder. The government bussed thousands of Colom’s supporters from the country’s rural area to the capital to counter the protests of equally large numbers of urban middle and upper class residents using the event as a wedge to call for Colom’s immediate resignation. While the prevalence of violence and corruption is a common matter of concern among Guatemala’s citizens, effective solutions to these problems are a point of persistent division and predictable ineffectuality. The counter protests in the days following Rosenberg’s funeral mainly stem from denouncements by the political factions, which had become even more manifest during Guatemala’s 2007 presidential election.
Guatemala’s ballot of that year was less a matter of determining the best candidate than the lesser of two evils. Otto Pérez Molina, the founder and candidate of the right wing Partido Patriota (PP), is a graduate of the School of the Americas. From 1992 to 1993 he murderously commanded Guatemala’s infamous army intelligence unit known as G-2, and also served as the head of the Presidential General Staff (EMP) of President Ramiro de León in 1994. Human rights groups have repeatedly implicated the G-2 and the EMP in political assassinations and massacres led by death-squads throughout Guatemala’s 36-year civil war that cost the country some 200,000 victims, particularly during the years of Pérez’s command. Colom, the center-left candidate of Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE), was investigated in 2004 for illegal transfers of government funds into accounts belonging to his political party. He eventually “found a check†and returned the $65,000, while managing to maintain his freedom at the same time that the authorities had imprisoned Controller General Oscar Dubón Palma. Since this incident, Colom has continued to face allegations of corruption as well as charges of using political influence to evade justice.
The campaigns of both candidates addressed the issues of violence, crime, and corruption that have plagued Guatemala since the signing of the 1996 Peace Accords. These agreements were supposed to end the longest civil war in Latin American history, but instead left the country with a fragile system of quasi-democracy, if that. Colom’s campaign, symbolized by a dove, promised increased spending on social programs, improvements in the country’s violence-prone security forces, and a review of the status of Guatemala’s notorious judiciary. Pérez’s campaign, under the slogan “mano dura, cabeza y corazón,†(tough hand, head, and heart) predictably called for increasing the involvement of the military in domestic politics, reinstating the death penalty, and using the tough "mano dura" policy of the civil war era to solve Guatemala’s manifold security problems.
During his campaign, Pérez established a sizeable base in Guatemala City, where rates of drug violence are so elevated that citizens prefer the risks of a “mano dura†approach to any alleged benefits introduced by the Colom administration. In contrast, most of Colom’s support during the election campaign came from poor, rural and indigenous voters and his plans to enact a tax increase pushed the country’s wealthy and business elite—who adamantly do not want to “hand their money over to a corrupt stateâ€â€”even closer to the opposition. While the support of the rural poor was necessary for Colom’s victory, elements coming from low social and economic status that have been continuously marginalized, have had little influence beyond, episodically, the ballot box in a government that is easily and frequently bought over by the highest bidder. Rifts between the elite and the marginalized have provided a fertile habitat for the Rosenberg assassination and a long line of political killings to destabilize many of the country’s all-but failed political institutions.
The pervasive divisions in Guatemala’s civil society make underhanded maneuvering by the opposition an inevitable fact of life. Colom defeated Pérez by a 5.5 percent margin in the second round run-off election, in which only 48.2 percent of the voters participated in comparison to 60.5 percent in the first round. Analysts have suggested that apart from being a case of voter fatigue, the low turnout was a result of the negative and often violent campaign tactics that have characterized this election cycle. More than 50 political activists and candidates from all parties were killed during the campaign, in which some voters claimed that the violence surrounding the election was sufficient to either scare them from casting their votes or to encourage them to withhold their votes in protest. If the violence emanating from both sides during the election was enough to deter such voters from participating, then perhaps it is sufficient evidence of the dangerously antagonistic atmosphere in which the administration and the opposition have existed. This might be enough to render a destabilization plot crafted by the opposition sufficiently plausible to begin explaining the Rosenberg assassination.
Of further significance are the backgrounds of radio and T.V. journalist Mario David GarcÃa and former Guatemalan liaison to El Salvador’s rightwing extremist ARENA party, Luis Mendizábal. As the presidential candidate for the ultra-right Nationalist Authentic Central party (CAN), GarcÃa lost the 1985 election to Vinicio Cerezo, Guatemala’s first civilian president since 1970. Cerezo proposed tax and minimum wage increases, much like Colom has done. GarcÃa’s controversial television program “Here is the World,†was shut down after he was charged with being involved in an attempted coup on May 11, 1988. Twenty-one years later, Luis Mendizábal and Mario David GarcÃa, reportedly close friends of Rosenberg, distributed video copies of Rosenberg’s accusations, which they had helped him record a week before his death.
In addition to its response to the Rosenberg case, the Colom administration has labeled this year’s surge in the murders of bus drivers as related to the destabilization plot spearheaded by the opposition. At first, such claims might seem far fetched and intended to perpetuate the twisted moves of Guatemala’s corrupt politicians and their rightist supporters, but with suspicious figures like GarcÃa, Mendizabal, Perez, and even Colom purportedly involved in the affair, Guatemala’s history of corruption and violence is too appalling for anything, no matter how garish, to be simply dismissed.
Despite the potential pressure on the Colom administration to flirt with the idea of joining Pérez’s iron-fisted campaign, many observers expected that as the country’s first genuinely left-leaning president since the 1954 CIA-backed coup of Jacobo Arbenz, Colom might want to take advantage of the public support associated with his 2007 campaign. In his 2007 essay, “Incoming Government: ‘Trojan Horse’ or ‘The Old Man and the Sea?’,†political analyst Matthew Creelman suggests that the Guatemalan political process, in focusing mainly on market control and prevention of political crises within areas directly under government influence, has led only to a superficial tranquility in previous administrations. ...
CICIG did not begin work until September 2007 due to a slow-moving and fractious Guatemalan Congress. ... CICIG’s intentions and the parameters of its mandate are in the right place. As of September 2008, the commission had 109 staff members representing 24 countries, including Guatemala, and a $13.8 million budget from the contributions of thirteen donors. Yet, 41 of the 109 CICIG staff members were security officers and the commission had used 44% of its budget by September 2008 in order to establish its “operating structure.â€"
July 28, 2010, Lahora.gt, 'They point to "El Gordo" Paredes as the intellectual author of the murder of Voctor Rivera' (translated from Spanish): "For two years, according to [outgoing CICIG head] Castresana, evidence was collected for the murder of former private security adviser Victor Rivera, who was killed on April 7, 2008, accompanied by his personal secretary, Maria Rosario Melgar MartÃnez. The incident occurred on Vista Hermosa Boulevard, zone 15, at night.
According to the hypothesis, there were at least fifteen shots, which caused the death of Rivera, and minor injuries to his assistant.
Jorge Mario "El Gordo" Paredes Cordova, linked to the Zacapa cartel and who is in prison in the United States after being extradited, is the one who would have ordered the execution and is considered the mastermind. ...
According to the CICIG hypothesis, Paredes would have ordered the murder of Rivera as revenge for the death of his son, in which Rivera was involved; It is not clear if Rivera had criminal links with "El Gordo", but it is suggested that there would be links.
Jorge Alberto Soto Zepeda, Paredes' right-hand man, would have been the one who coordinated the attack, which was materially carried out by Aurelio Ruiz and Werner Gómez Sandoval, both assassins. Soto and Gómez are missing, possibly dead.
Aurelio Ruiz, one of those accused of material authorship, is already captured, as are others who are linked to the network of assassins, in addition to those who would have helped to register the weapons under fictitious names.
Maria Rosario Melgar Martinez, Rivera's personal assistant, would have provided the information for the murder to be committed, and would have received a $100,000 reward. Melgar MartÃnez was taken out of the country under the Protected Witnesses program of the Public Ministry, but following her trail, she disappeared, without the Prosecutor's Office knowing where.
There is scientific evidence of ballistics, so it has been possible to locate the weapons used, despite the fact that they were registered under scientific names. Wiretaps were also used, as well as testimonies from protected witnesses and anticipated testimonies.
Alvaro Matus, the prosecutor for Crimes Against Life, at the time of the murder of VÃctor Rivera, is accused of having obstructed justice by not having ordered raids to investigate the case, having destroyed evidence and having taken Melgar MartÃnez out of the country. without taking prior testimony, it would be linked to a parallel case."
Nov. 18, 2010, voiceselsalvador.wordpress.com, '$5 Million Dollars and 20 Kilos of Cocaine': "Tuesday we posted an article about a report by investigators from the UN-sponsored International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) ...
In February 2007, the Salvadoran diputados, who included William Pichinte, Eduardo d´Aubuisson, and Ramón González, and their driver Gerardo RamÃrez were diverted from a highway outside of Guatemala City to the isolated La Parga farm. ...
The CICIG investigation determined that the motive for the assassinations of the three diputados was robbery. William Pichinte, an ARENA diputado, was carrying $5 million dollars and 20 kilos of cocaine in a secret compartment of his vehicle. The parallel ‘security’ structure in Guatemala had identified the delegation, diverted them to La Parga farm, stripped the vehicle until they found the money and cocaine, and then assassinated the diputados and their driver.
The four Guatemalan police officers were not the only ones involved in the robbery/murder to be killed. The Venezuelan Victor Rivera, aka “Zacarias,†was one of the principles responsible for organizing the robbery. He arrived at La Parga farm, supposedly to confirm the orders to kill the diputados, and he also intervened during the arrests of the four police officers."
March 13, 2011, NBC News, 'Mexican drug cartels move into Central America': "El Gordo," who ran an arm of the Gulf Cartel in Guatemala... There have long been connections between five to six families here and the Gulf cartel and Sinaloa cartel," said U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala Stephen McFarland. "Most groups had dealings here with one or the other or both ... generally the drug-trafficking organizations more or less left each other alone."
research.ridgway.pitt.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/ 05/ParedesPROFILEFINAL.pdf: "The Paredes group trafficked drugs for the Gulf cartel and Los Zetas as well as for the Sinaloa cartel, the Lorenzana family, and the Mendozas family."
January 9, 2014, es.insightcrime.org, 'Belize Arrest Shows Guatemala's Once-Powerful Drug Clan Is Still Alive' (translated from Spanish): "The Paredes organization was one of the most powerful of Guatemala's so-called transport clans - groups hired to move drug shipments. According to the US State Department, the group used connections in Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico and El Salvador to move multi-ton shipments of cocaine into Guatemala. Once in the country, it was either sold in bulk to third-party distributors or taken to the United States and distributed to contacts there.
Paredes, his brothers Ever Omar and Arturo, and his right-hand man Otoniel Turcios MarroquÃn, alias "El Loco", are believed to have worked closely with Mexico's Zetas [defunct link]. However, according to some accounts, after Paredes' arrest and the murder of his two brothers, the Zetas turned against Turcios, forcing him to leave his territory."
CARLOS VIELMAN:
Sep. 5, 2015, cmiguate.org, 'El candidato y su relación con militares' ('The candidate and his relationship with the military'): "Jimmy Morales ... came to the FCN in 2012 at the invitation of retired Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Justino Ovalle Maldonado...
Ovalle Maldonado is mentioned in the investigation published by elPeriódico on August 6, 2012 with the title "The bones located in Cobán are from a cemetery", which highlighted that... "others affirm that it were common graves with bodies showing signs of torture. ... Maldonado, who served as Operations Officer (S3) at the Cobán military base for 3 months in 1983. Ovalle, a lawyer and current deputy secretary of the Frente de Convergencia Nacional [National Convergence Front - FCN], spoke by phone, arguing that it was too sensitive a subject to grant a personal interview. ...
[We] tried [and failed] to interview General Luis Felipe Miranda Trejo and Colonel César Augusto Cabrera MejÃa, who, according to declassified documents compiled by the National Security Archive (NSA), headed the Intelligence Section (S2) of the Cobán detachment between 1982 and 1983."
As we point out later, in the case of Cabrera MejÃa, he would be very close to Jimmy Morales. Regarding Miranda Trejo, as we mentioned later, he is one of the founders of the FCN. ...
It was registered and recognized as a political party by the TSE on March 8, 2008 and no longer with the name of FNC but with that of FCN. On that date it also held its first General Assembly in which the positions of the National Executive Committee (CEN) were elected. ...
[In 2015] retired generals José Luis Quilo Ayuso and Luis Felipe Miranda Trejo acted as Assistant Secretary Generals I and II, respectively, whom declassified files from the United States point to as having serious human rights violations and being linked to the "Red Moreno".
Eduardo Suger Cofiño and Gustavo Adolfo Anzueto Vielman also stood out among the founders as members of the Political Council. ... In the case of Anzueto Vielman (now deceased), he was a 52-year-old architect who served as Minister of Public Works during the military government of Colonel Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio (1970-1974). A staunch anti-communist and conservative whom he is linked to the founding of death squads such as "La Mano Blanca". In the 1982 elections he was the presidential candidate of the Authentic Nationalist Central (CAN), the party founded by Arana Osorio as Central Aranista Organizada (CAO), and at that time advocated a total war against the guerrillas, while at the same time a total liberalization of the Guatemalan economy, the stimulation of production and the creation of jobs. Precisely, at that time he is credited with the formation of the air reserve made up of civil aviators, who, at their expense and by express will, piloted their planes to bomb unarmed communities that "supported the guerrillas." He was the uncle of Carlos Vielman Montes, former member of the CACIF Crisis Committee in 1993 and former Minister of the Interior during the government of Óscar Berger (2004-2008), and today awaiting trial and conviction in Spain for the case of the extrajudicial executions of inmates in the "Caso Pavon".
wikiguate.com.gt/julio-vielman-pineda/ (accessed: March 18, 2022): "Julio Vielman Pineda (Guatemala, October 18, 1927 - April 6, 2015) was a banker, periodist, historian and Guatemalan writer (Villalobos, 2015). Vielman graduated in Economics and History from Harvard University, Massachusetts, United States, in 1949. He was a periodical in various media of communication such as Imparcial and Prensa Libre [Free Press]. One of the founders of elPeriódico and correspondent of The New York Times (Villalobos, 2015).
He worked for more than four decades in Guatemalan banking, was general manager of several banks in the system, among which was Banco Agricola Mercantil, Financiera Industrial y Agropecuaria -FIASA- and Banco Internacional. He was President of the Banking Association of Guatemala and of the Finance Chamber. He was also director of Banco CSI (Villalobos, 2015).
Vielman published in 2013 the book 'Los enigmas de la Independencia 1808-1823' (Villalobos, 2015). ... "
September 8, 1958, New York Times, 'Guatemala Writer Cancels U.S. Visit': "Julio Vielman, a reporter for El Imparcial, has notified the American Press Institute in New York that he cannot, attend the Latin American press seminar starting today at Columbia University."
April 14, 2015, PrensaLibre.com, 'Acucioso periodista y banquero' ('Diligent journalist and banker'): "His eternal love, however, was journalism. He practiced this profession for almost a decade in the most important Guatemalan newsrooms - in the now defunct Nuestro Diario and El Imparcial, as well as in Prensa Libre. He was also one of the founders of elPeriodico and for some time a correspondent for The New York Times. ...
Once he published a report pointing out the errors of the regime of General Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes [anti-communist president Guatemala 1958-1963 who was a favorite of the CIA, but was toppled by even more right-wing leaders]. This, annoyed, summoned him to his office to recriminate him. After a strong exchange of words, the ruler gave him a punch followed by a kick. Vielman Pineda limited himself to turning around and leaving that place."
Aug. 13, 1958, New York Times, 'Reporter Accuses Guatemalan Chief': "Julio Vielman, reporter for Prensa Libre, charged today that President Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes had struck a glancing blow at him and kicked him this morning."
1958, Hispanic American Report, p. 426: "The APG complained again when Prensa Libre reporter Julio Vielman, who is also a stringer for the New York Times , was slapped and kicked by President Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes for a report he had published in Prensa Libre . The President said that he objected, not to attacks against himself, but to Vielam's "attack against the nation" in which he wrote "Guatemala is bankrupt."[which was true] ... Financial experts from the International Monetary Fund , called in by the government to advise on monetary policy, pointed out that an increase of imports over exports had resulted in a $ 25 million trade deficit and that a serious reduction in gold was threatening the long-standing stability of the quetzal. Mexican federal authorities in Tampico were alerted to a rumored landing of a large shipment of arms intended for the overthrow of the rightist government of Guatemala . Informed sources in Tampico said Communist elements allegedly associated with the regime of former President Jacobo Arbenz were preparing to move against the Guatemalan Government from Mexico ."
August 21, 2013, plazapublica.com.gt, 'Los militares y la élite, la alianza que ganó la guerra' (The military and the elite, the alliance that won the war'): "A decade later, when the genocide trial against RÃos Montt and Mauricio RodrÃguez Sánchez began on March 19, 2013, the elite did not seem to give it much importance. The riosmonttistas and the sons of soldiers insistently requested the support of the Coordinating Committee of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial and Financial Associations (CACIF). ...
Later, Zury RÃos, the clever politician and daughter of RÃos Montt, achieved what was impossible a decade before: an audience with the private sector to incite them and worry them that after her father, the Prosecutor's Office and the victims' organizations they would prosecute them and demand agrarian reform. ... The elite, however, was finally convinced when their own warned them. Entrepreneurs who saw in the trial a turning point in the country's history, since it represented a case in which the private sector was excluded from decisions. To political scientists advising CACIF, who made two analyzes during the trial warning them that if RÃos Montt was convicted, the investigations would follow the chain of command and the Council of State of 1982 and 1983, of which six large businessmen were part, could be prosecuted. ...
Corporate power over the military - as was the case with virtually all governments between 1954 and 1985 was significant. So much so that they had, even in the worst times of repression, the right to free expression, not to have to do military service, to be able to have armed groups to defend themselves against the guerrillas and to publicly oppose government decisions. An example was on November 18, 1982, when, in a paid field in Prensa Libre, the Chamber of Industry complains to the Government for decisions that were "inconvenient", "incongruous" and "worrying" for the national economy. The criticisms published in the media of the time, by the way, never refer to counterinsurgency or violence against civilians, but instead focus on RÃos Montt's style of governing, which was reflected in his speeches on morality against labor exploitation or his rudeness to Pope John Paul II.
“We have to remember that the private sector suffered direct attacks from the guerrillas. Since they burned our crops, kidnapped and murdered us, like the cases of Luis Canella or Alberto Habbie. Some might consider that we had the freedom to participate or not participate (in military service), but on the other hand we were involved in the conflict and we had to be defending ourselves from guerrilla attacks. In a situation like that, you couldn't have everything,†contextualizes businessman Marco GarcÃa Noriega, who began training in the leadership of Cacif 33 years ago. ...
In his first week in power, Rios Montt [president of Guatemala 1982-1983, backed by the ASC and CNP network in the U.S.] sent emissaries to knock on CACIF's door asking for political support. And he got it. A third of his cabinet was made up of businessmen. Julio Matheu Duchez left the presidency of the Chamber of Commerce and the vice presidency of the oil company Basic Resources, now Perenco, to become Minister of Economy; Otto MartÃnez Recinos, the Chamber of Agriculture to be Minister of Agriculture; and Adolfo Castañeda Felice, president of the College of Physicians and brother of agricultural business leader Rodolfo Castañeda, became Minister of Health.
The business sector appointed six other elite businessmen to the Council of State. The Chamber of Industry appointed Ramiro Castillo Love, from CervecerÃa Centroamericana and VÃctor David Benchoam Perera, from Banco Industrial; the Chamber of Commerce appointed Juan Carlos Simmons, former director of the Francisco MarroquÃn University (UFM), former manager of Fabrigas and militant of the National Liberation Movement (MLN, of the extreme right); and to Roberto Carroll RÃos Sharp, honorary consul of Ireland; and the Association of Banks, to Julio Vielman Pineda, representative of the banks before the Bank of Guatemala on several occasions, and to Rafael Viejo RodrÃguez, one of the main sugar producers, according to reports from El Observador. The Council of State was a corporatist entity, which advised and legitimized the government in its decisions. One of its stellar products was the law that would later create the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the Nominating Commissions, to elect magistrates and the attorney general. For Harris Whitbeck "the relationship was good because the businessmen were grateful because they understood that [ultraright CIA death squad president] Efrain (Rios Montt) was trying to pacify the country. In the Council of State, in which there were 30 regulars and 30 alternates, there were businessmen such as Ricardo Asturias, Ernesto Viteri, Ramiro Castillo Love, or Julio Vielman Pineda. There were also 20 indigenous people and even a guerrilla commander from Todos Santos who had sneaked in, because they were leaders chosen by the communities. Look, if Efrain (RÃos Montt) had wanted to kill everyone, he would not have summoned them to the Council of State. ...
"The United States embargo during Carter (since 1978 [over its human rights record, which was lifted in 1983]) was causing a crisis because all the aircraft were American and we did not have spare parts. Colonel René Morales and civilian [commander] Gustavo Anzueto Vielman [son of Gen. Roderic Anzueto Valencia, who died in 1966; and Cristina Vielman Escobar; part of the political party of the murderous General Carlos Arana Osorio] invited civilian pilots to join the war effort. At certain times they even participated in combat actions, in attacks on subversive camps or bombing the camps." ...
Government Agreements 153-82 and 154-82, of July 20, 1982, which are part of the General Order of the Army for Officers 19-82 , give an account of this military recognition signed by the then President of the Republic and Commander General of the Army, José EfraÃn RÃos Montt. Among those recognized are some members of the Guatemalan elite. The Reserve Lieutenants in the Aviation Arm lead: Gustavo Anzueto Vielman ... Anzueto Vielman, whose health condition did not allow him to give an interview for this report, was one of the leaders of the extreme right during the eighties. He was a presidential candidate for the National Aranista Central (CAN), with which he carried out the first libertarian proposal designed by Manuel Ayau and the leaders of the Francisco MarroquÃn University, according to Juan Carlos Simmons, from the second 2.30 of the video whose link appears at the end of the report. [Shows photocopy of the recognitions]...
In the list of 103 members of the Reserve Air Force there were businessmen and pilots of the businessmen, who were conferred the title of Reserve Second Lieutenant in the Aviation Arm. Among the businessmen, coffee grower Max Quirin Schoder stands out, who has been CACIF's representative before the Monetary Board of the Bank of Guatemala for several periods and is now its representative before the Guatemalan Institute of Social Security; Quirin declined to respond for this interview."
Sep. 21, 2016, Insightcrime.org, 'Guatemala Elites and Organized Crime: The CICIG': "By the early 1990s, the parallel state had a name: Illegal Clandestine Security Apparatuses (Cuerpos Ilegales y Aparatos Clandestinos de Seguridad - CIACS). The CIACS were not a single unit or organization, but loosely defined groups who had worked with each other during the war, mostly in the intelligence branches of the military....
The face of the CIACS was Gen. Francisco Ortega Menaldo. The general is a near-perfect example of a member of the bureaucratic elite. In the early 1970s, he worked with the EMP. Later, he worked in the Finance Ministry. He married the daughter of an ex-president [1970-1974: General Carlos Arana, a top CIA_backed death squad and secret police leader since the 1960s], himself a former military officer. In the mid-1980s, he became head of the [murderous] G-2 military intelligence division. And in the early 1990s, during the presidency of Jorge Serrano Elias [1991-1993], Ortega Menaldo ran the EMP, where he became what the country’s leading magazine called "the government’s shadow." [10] ...
Ortega Menaldo was also a criminal who ran the most powerful of the CIACS -- the Cofradia -- according to Guatemalan and US investigators who spoke to InSight Crime. In the early 1990s, Ortega Menaldo and his military cohorts skimmed millions of dollars from customs proceeds.[12] The scam took on the name Moreno for its principal operator, Alfredo Moreno, a former military intelligence officer who had worked under Ortega Menaldo when he was head of the G-2 intelligence division. The Moreno case involved falsifying bills of lading and the theft of merchandise, among other schemes. It reached the highest levels of the security sector, including the chief of police and numerous military officials, who received regular envelopes with cash from the customs office ...
Where the FRG party filled positions with ex-military officials, [2004-2008 Guatemalan president Oscar] Berger filled them with businessmen. Among his most important appointments was naming Carlos Vielman as interior minister. Vielman is the son of a military colonel, from well-heeled, traditional elite stock. These traditional elites saw themselves as a modern, inclusive group that could reestablish order following the FRG debacle. What that meant in practice is still up for debate, and the question lies at the heart of this case study. Vielman, for instance, coordinated security matters closely with scions of wealthy families who sometimes employed foreign mercenaries to do their dirty work. Among those mercenaries was Victor Rivera Azuaje, a Venezuelan who would eventually play a key role in some of the Interior Ministry’s most infamous extrajudicial activities.
Stein and Vielman had known each other for years, and when Berger named Vielman to his cabinet, the vice president became a key ally in the establishment of what would eventually become the CICIG. ... The proposal had its opponents. The FRG and many other parties were wary of the commission’s mandate, which gave its objective as the CIACS. They felt, rightly so, that they were main targets. Members of CACIF were also fearful of the commission. ... Nonetheless, most likened it to MINUGUA, an experiment that proved relatively harmless in their eyes. Stein told InSight Crime that few in the elites really understood the implications of the commission. ... They thought the CICIG, in other words, could help them return to a time when the traditional economic elites ran the country and used the military as their guardians. ... For elites like Vielman and his cohorts in the CACIF business association, the most important aspect was that the CIACS remained the stated objective of the commission. While the definition was broad, the bureaucratic and emerging elites were clearly the CICIG’s stated targets. ... Not surprisingly, RÃos Montt’s party, the FRG, which still held the reins of Congress, led efforts against the proposal. The effort to establish CICIG gained some momentum in February 2007, following the Parlacen murders and subsequent killings of the chief suspects.
On August 1, 2007, the day of the vote, pressure continued. Police told the president of Congress that there was a bomb threat and that he should evacuate the building.36 The president decided to hold the vote anyway, so RÃos Montt’s FRG party and other opponents stormed out of the session. European, UN and US diplomats also openly lobbied for the accord. The US even threatened to suspend some economic cooperation with Guatemala should Congress reject the agreement.37 (CICIG brinksmanship and US pressure would become an enduring pattern for the commission.) And with 110 votes in its favor, only just above the minimum it needed, the CICIG was finally born."
2003 Ph.D. thesis at the University of Essex, Roman Krznaric, 'The Worldview of the Oligarchy in Guatemalan Politics': "Taking a narrative approach to a Latin American oligarchy is quite unfashionable. Latin American testimonial literature ... generally ignores elites. We have heard the voice of Rigoberta Menchu, but who is familiar with the life of Guatemalan industrialist Carlos Vielman Montes?...
"What do you think of these people in CACIF, for example Peter Lamport and ... ?"
"Look, Peter belongs, along with Victor Suarez, Carlos Vielman, who is my cousin – no, he *was* my cousin but I no longer recognise him as a cousin [laughs] - Juan Luis Bosch [G8], Edgar Heinemann, there’s a group that formed an entity within CACIF called Pyramid. This is the financial force of CACIF and it’s the group that defends CACIF’s privileges. As an example of this, within Pyramid are the sugar growers."
(Gustavo Anzueto Vielman, interview 31/5/00)
Many businessmen consider that CACIF and othe r business associations are controlled by small groups that use the organisations to maintain their particular privileges. This is obvious from Gustavo Anzueto’s testimony, in addition to that above from Luis Reyes and Humberto Pret...
"Who are the most powerful businessmen in Guatemala?"
"Novella, Gutierrez...Paiz, Ibarguen, the sugar growers, Herrerra [family; Roberto Herrera Ibarguen (1921-2015): Carlos Arana (1970-1974)'s foreign minister (anno 1972) and interior minister (anno 1973), and considerd a major death squad founder of that time] is very powerful, I’d say [long pause] I'd say probably 30 families are very powerful, very very powerful here."
Something I don’t understand is how these families influence the business organisations [...] "Well, Mario Montano is President of the Chamber of Industry – he's a Novella, from the cement company. There’s a Castillo in the Chamber of Finance, a Torrebiarte [clan member: Juan Miguel Torrebiarte Lantzendorffer] in both the Chambers of Industry and Finance. [...]
The sugar growers, they are eight families. The eight sit down and they all reach agreement. I would say that at the moment CACIF can function at the rhythm that the Sugar Growers' Association wants." (Humberto Preti Jarquin, interview 26/6/00) ...
"Guatemala has an elite who socialise with each other, who have beach houses, who live in gated communities. But it’s quite restricted, quite small. The rest is a group of businessmen that is fairly disperse, in the sense of poorly structured and poorly organised. Really, CACIF doesn't represent many businesses at all [...] It’s a pretty closed group, a group to which I have access because I'm friends with a few of them and we get on well. But it’s a group that I’ve never really liked as I’ve never wanted my children to grow up in that environment [...] I don’t want my kids to grow up in a superficial culture.""
(Luis Reyes Mayen, b. 1951, interview 4/4/2)
"Carlos Vielman is my friend even though I'm not from the elite... Furthermore, Carlos Vielman fought to incorporate me into the elite - 'let’s have dinner together, and bring along your wife and kids...’ [...] Eh, he fought to bring me in socially, and I never did it."
(Luis Reyes Mayen [president Guatemalan Institute of Social Security (IGSS) 2003-2013, fired when a video of him surfaced in which he offered promotion in exchange for sexual services], b. 1951, interview 9/6/00)"
Sep. 21, 2016, Insightcrime.org, 'Guatemala Elites and Organized Crime: The CICIG': "The G8 was kind of an elite within the traditional economic elite. It included Juan Luis Bosch and Dionisio Gutiérrez Mayorga of the Gutiérrez-Bosch chicken empire; Juan Miguel Torrebiarte of the Banco Industrial; Rodrigo Tejada of the Castillo family’s beer conglomerate; and Fraterno Vila of one of the top sugar-producing families. It exerted incredible influence on political and economic policy. The G8 had direct access to the president, and, according to Colom’s former finance minister, [59] bullied him when he tried to modernize the antiquated and grossly unfair tax system that had favored the G8 and their cohorts in the CACIF for decades. [60]"
EDWIN SPERISEN AND HIS FATHER, LONG-TIME VICE ECONOMICS MINISTER AND WTO AMBASSADOR EDUARDO
Sep. 12, 2012, Swissinfo.ch, 'Sperisen, de represor temido a detenido común' ('Sperisen, from feared repressor to common detainee'): ""El Vikingo", as Sperisen was known in Guatemala, is accused by the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CIIG) and by local justice of having been one of the heads of the death squads that operated in the Central American country between July 2004 and March 2007. ...
They were all officials of the State Security services or similar forces and would have carried out extrajudicial executions of prisoners. The group was headed by Carlos Vielman; the former presidential candidate Alejandro Giammattei - at the time chief of prisons - and Erwin Sperisen, head of the police and now detained in Geneva.
The son of a notable Guatemalan -Eduardo Sperisen [Eduardo Sperisen Yurt], his country's ambassador to the World Trade Organization-, "The Viking" lived in Geneva since 2007, where he had fled from Guatemala taking advantage of his status as a dual citizen. He was politically active, publicly, in the Swiss Evangelical Party.
Among the facts imputed to Sperisen and his group is the massacre of a dozen peasants in the Nueva Linda community in August 2004, a month after his nomination for police headquarters."
1992, eight report, U.S. International Trade Commission, 'Annual Report on the Impact of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act on U.S. Industries and Consumers', chapter 1, p. 10: "Central America: In testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives, the Vice Minister of Economy of Guatemala, representing Governments of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, stated that CBERA has "helped nurture an independent business class with close ties to the United States."[63] He added that, while nearly 70 cents of every export dollar earned by CBERA producers is returened to the United States in the form of purchases of U.S. goods and services... [63] Text of testimony prepared for delivery by Eduardo Sperisen, Vice Minister of the Economy of Guatemala, on behalf of the economic Vice Ministers of Central America and Panama before the Subcommittee on Trade and Oversight of the House Ways and Means Committee on the Caribbean Basin Free-Trade Agreements Act of 1993, June 24, 1993."
Jan. 19, 1996, U.S. Congress, 'Report on Trade Mission to Costa Rica, Chile, and Argentina, Volume 4', p. 12: "Members of the delegation: ... Philip M. Crane, Chairman... August 5, 1996: ... Eduardo Sperisen, Executive Director of the Chamber of Industries."
May-June 1996, Latin Trade, p. 10, 'Good News for Business': "Guatemala's trade is expected to increase as a result of the new administration led by President Alvaro Arzu [whose administration did away with the death squads], local and foreign business leaders say. "They've got a good team, with a good economic plan," says Chuck Chambers, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Guatemala.
New deputy economy minister for foreign commerce is Eduardo Spirensen, a Swiss-educated longtime business leader and expert on commercial integration."
Eduardo Sperisen Yurt: Vice Minister of Economy, Guatemala anno 1992, apparently again from mid 1996, still or again in 2004. Executive Director of the Chamber of Industries anno Jan. 1996. Photographed shaking hands with Robert Zoellick at the August 5, 2004 signing of the Free Trade Agreement with The United States in Washington, D.C. Ambassador Guatemala to the WTO from at least 2005-, until at least 2021, serving as the chairman of the WTO's Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation over at least 2007-2021.
March 24, 2004, Gettyimages.com, 'Guatemalan Vice Minister of Economy...' (seems Sperisen actually is not being shown, but neither is Zoellick, but both were part of this meeting): "Guatemalan Vice Minister of Economy Eduardo Sperisen-Yurt (L) and El Salvadoran Minister of Trade Miguel Lacayo (2nd L), listen to Costa Rican Trade Minister Alberto Trejos prior to the start of a meeting of CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement [signed in May 2004]) trade ministers 24 March, 2004, in Washington, DC, with US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick."
August 5, 2004, Gettyimages.com, 'Trade representatives shake hands after Dominican Republic...': "Trade representatives shake hands after Dominican Republic joins five Central American countries in the Free Trade Agreement with The United States in Washington, DC on August 5, 2004 From left to right, are: ... Robert Zoellick, US Trade Representative [and president World Bank 2007-2012; managing director Goldman Sachs; Trilateral Commission 1995-2020s; Bilderberg 2003-, and soon steering committee]; [and] Edwardo Sperisen, Vice Minister of Economy, Guatemala."
July 4, 2005, trade.ec.europa.eu backed up letter, WTO-related (gives a list of WTO ambassadors): "H.E. Mr Eduardo Sperisen-Yurt, Ambassador, Guatemala."
Feb. 7, 2007, wto.org, 'WTO chairpersons for 2007': "Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation: H.E. Mr. Eduardo Ernesto Sperisen-Yurt (Guatemala). [Pascal Lamy was WTO director general 2005-2013]"
Edwardo Sperisen,
Vielman arrestd in Spain in 2010. Sperisen in 2012 in Switzerland.
Oct. 25, 2015, El Faro, 'El testigo clave del asesinato de los diputados dice que mintió por petición de la FiscalÃa': "[The authorities] established that members of the Jalpatagua gang used a white BMW truck to persecute the Salvadoran deputies. The BMW van belonged to a relative of Jorge Mario Paredes, "El Gordo Paredes", a Guatemalan drug trafficker, [and] was later transferred to the sister of Carlos AmÃlcar Orellana Donis, "Chejazo" [El Chejazo is head of the Jalpatagua gang]." ...
"One of those witnesses [who emerged in 2008] was "Fredys", a man who began by stealing a vehicle at the Ricaldone school, in San Salvador, and who ended up moving weapons and money to Los Zetas, in Guatemala. His rise in the criminal world allowed him to participate in meetings where he conspired to assassinate Salvadoran deputies." ...
[After international media attention] no one seems to have subsequently been interested in scrutinizing the 35 pages that make up the dusty judicial file filed on the eighth floor of the Torre de Tribunales in Guatemala. After reading these files, it is clear that the police officers in charge of the murders were convicted mainly based on video evidence, GPS and map of phone calls, while the masterminds fell thanks to two witnesses: Fredys and a Guatemalan "coyote". One of the testimonies indicates that Silva Pereira's main target was Eduardo d'Aubuisson. The former PCN deputy was convinced that [he] had betrayed him to the DEA. ...
The policemen [of Herrera] did not know that those who were driving in the Land Cruiser were Salvadoran deputies to Parlacen. For those police officers, the operation was a drug or money “tumbe†that they had coordinated with some drug traffickers from Jalpatagua.
The deputies were transferred to a desolate place known as the La Parga farm, where the policemen used to do target practice. There, DINC agents dismantled the van in search of drugs or money. While the police were on the farm, the surveillance cameras of a gas station captured the moment when members of the Jalpatagua gang bought gasoline that they would later use to incinerate the deputies. ...
[Fredys assasination meeting on January 29, 2007 with El Coronel:] Carlos Humberto Orellana Aroche, one of the two convicted policemen who did not die in the massacre at El Boquerón prison. Aroche had not yet been captured when four of his accomplices were killed inside the prison. ... When they were walking (The Colonel) mentioned (to Fredys) that Mr. 'Chejazo or Chajazo' was there. The witness proceeded to stand up (in court) and stated: "The person is not here." Chejazo was in that room, but Fredys said he didn't recognize him. [Chejazo was acquitted, but arrested again in 2020]
The second meeting took place on February 1, 2007, 18 days before the crime. It was the same procedure. The only variant is that there was one more person in the carwash: "Mr. Carlos Silva Pereira, deputy or former deputy of the Republic of El Salvador, who was accompanied by other armed people in a blue Cherokee truck." The colonel was traveling in a modest gray Toyota Corolla.
On this second occasion, Silva Pereira, Aroche and El Coronel were together for between 30 minutes and an hour.
The Colonel told him that “after (taking away the drugs or the money, the deputies) should be killed, due to the fact that these people had participated in the removal of immunity from deputy Silva Pereira. That apart from the drug theft, it was a revenge that he already had planned and that was being financed by Mr. Silva Pereiraâ€.
... In Fredys's account, this was an attack against the three deputies who were traveling in the truck. In the account of the other key witness of the trial, the plot was the same but he adds information: it was about a revenge against all the deputies, but in particular against Eduardo d'Aubuisson. ... Silva Pereira, the coyote recalled, began to talk about “after he had fed them, they were biting his hand...†The coyote assured that the men asked Silva Pereira if he knew who had "put the finger on him." Silva Pereira answered clearly: Eduardo d'Aubuisson. Later, the coyote recounted, Silva Pereira said that "that son of a bitch paid for it, he paid for it."
At the end of the meeting, the coyotes followed Silva Pereira, who in Santa Tecla gave them the money to move the migrants. ...
After the second meeting with Silva Pereira at the carwash, Fredys decided not to participate, and told his boss so. The Colonel accepted and told him that "he had to shut up, because otherwise he was going to suffer serious consequences.""
|
Almond, Lt. Gen. Edward M. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; Member of the original National Strategy Committee: November 1, 2005, John M. Fisher, 'History milestones: American Security Council and American Security Council Foundation' (written by ASC founder); 1968 National Strategy Committee list
Blamed the poor results of his division during WWII on the high percentage of Afro-Americans. Claimed they cheated him of a promotion. Chief of personnel at General MacArthur's General Headquarters (GHQ) 1946-1949. Chief of Staff to General Douglas MacArthur 1949-1950. Without any experience in amphibious operations, MacArthur placed him in command of the main landing force just prior the amphibious invasions of Inchon and Wonsan. Pushed his X Corps forward despite indications of an overwhelming amount of Chinese troops leading to defeat and many casualties. Still received promotion. Also recommended that his military aide, Alexander Haig, a son-in-law of a friend of his, be recommended for promotion. Commandant of the Army War College. |
Atkinson, James D. |
Source(s): 1968 National Strategy Committee list; American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
"Communist Uncon- ventional Warfare," Soviet Total War, Vol. I. The Edge of War. Freedom Studies Centre. The crucial Planning and Development Committee of the Centre is dominated by members of the rightwing American Security Council, including Professor Stefan T. Possony of the Hoover Institute and Professors Lev E. Dobriansky and James D. Atkinson, both of Georgetown University. Department of Government, Georgetown University. |
Aulakh, Gurmit Singh |
Source(s): July 17, 1986, Washington Post, 'The Contra Conclave': "... several hundred members of the of the conservative American Security Council assembled yesterday at the Capital Hilton for their annual meeting ... Yonas Deressa, a spokesman for the Ethiopian Democratic resistance... Gurmit Singh Aulakh, an invited guest from the International Sikh Organization, made the case for U.S. aid to Sikh liberation. ... "India is completely in the Soviet bloc." Asked about the assassination of Indira Gandhi, he said, "She asked for it." [her son Rajiv took over and was assassinated in 1991] ... Souksomboun Sayasithsena of Laos, left, and Adolpho Calero at yesterday's ASC meeting. ... Fisher made periodic appearances on the platform, presenting a plague to ... Caspar Weinberger and a mounted white alabaster eagle to ... Robert J. Dole. "
Supporter of the Kalistan cause.
November 10, 1990, New York Times, 'In India, the Tyranny Of the Majority Rules': "Shobha Shetty (letter, Oct. 17) suggests that India's strength lies in its secularism. But any close examination of India's so-called democracy displays that secularism in India is merely pretense. Mr. Shetty fears that "religious secessionists in Punjab or Kashmir will sound the death knell to India's unity and integrity." What unity and integrity? Hindu India's lack of secularism makes Sikhs, Muslims and Christians all over India demand independence. The Indian Government's June 1984 attack on the Golden Temple at Amritsar, which left at least 20,000 Sikhs dead, was planned as a blow to the Sikh nation, making clear the Indian Government's regard for unity. Over the six years since, 90,000 Sikh lives have been claimed by Indian police and security forces. It is comforting to those who see Indian unity as an ideal to say that the Indian Government needs to be more sensitive to its minorities. However, Indian unity under its Hindu government has come to form the tyranny of the majority. It is naive to ask people living under Indian Government oppression to believe in unity and integrity. It is unwise to think these minorities will ever trust India again."
June 27, 1985, Associated Press, 'Religious Group Accuses India of Trying to Frame Sikhs in Air-India Crash': "Two Sikh groups say the government of India, attempting to discredit their religion, was behind a phone call in which someone claiming to be a Sikh said his group had blown up an Air-India jetliner. The Sikh Association of America and the World Sikh Organization charged Wednesday that the man who called The New York Times saying he was a member of the Sikh Student Federation was really an Indian intelligence agent. A spokesman at the Indian embassy said the allegation "deserves to be dismissed with contempt." The caller told the Times that Sikhs were claiming responsibility for an explosion aboard an airborne jetliner off the coast of Ireland on Sunday. All 329 passengers and crew members are believed dead, and the cause of the crash has not been officially determined. But Sikh spokesmen said Wednesday that the call was part of an Indian campaign against Sikhism's 15 million followers, most of whom live in India. "A number of non-Sikh agents of the government of India have been sent to the United States and Canada to infiltrate peaceful Sikh organizations and bring a bad name to Sikhs by indulging in illegal acts. It was definitely one of these agents who made the phone call in which he claimed credit for planting a bomb on the Air-India plane," Hardam Singh Azad of Houston, chairman of the Sikh Association of America, told a news conference here. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, executive vice president of the World Sikh Organization, charged in a telephone interview that the phone call was "evidently the work of (the) Indian intelligence agency." Indian Embassy press attache Deepak Vohra said such charges "do not even deserve the dignity of being put in print." "No true Sikh can carry out an act of terrorism," Azad said, noting that several Sikhs were among those killed in the Air-India crash. In addition, he said, language reportedly used by the caller made him doubt the person could have been a Sikh. The Sikh Association of America was formed a year ago to represent the estimated 250,000 to 350,000 Sikhs living in the United States, said Azad."
June 30, 2004, Canadian Press NewsWire, 'Witness claims India had alleged Air India bombing mastermind killed': "A defence witness told the Air India trial Wednesday that an alleged bombing mastermind was an Indian agent killed to cover up India's involvement in downing the airliner. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, a Sikh separatist leader based in Washington, D.C., testified under the Crown's cross-examination that alleged mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar was killed by Punjab police in 1992 "to cover all their footprints." He suggested to the court that India had infiltrated all major Sikh separatist groups, including Parmar's Babbar Khalsa group. Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik are charged with murder and conspiracy in two June 23, 1985 bombings that targeted Air India and killed 331 people. Prosecutor Richard Cairns asked Aulakh: "Is what you are saying there, sir, that Talwinder Parmar was a government agent and that he was killed by the Indian police because they wanted to cover up their tracks?" Aulakh admitted he didn't have any evidence Parmar was an agent, but suspected he was because Parmar returned to India when other separatists were fleeing. "Nobody with a sane mind would go over there if they were really fighting the Indian government," Aulakh said. Cairns asked Aulakh if he believed it a crime to kill someone in the name of religion. "It may be criminal for other people, but for the Sikh nation it is not," Aulakh said."
June 10, 1985, Associated Press, 'Officials Drawing Tight Security Net For Prime Minister's Visit': "Authorities concerned that India's bloody conflict with minority Sikhs may spill over into the United States are drawing a tight security net for Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's visit here this week, law enforcement officials said Monday. Security officials have received death threats against Gandhi, whose mother was gunned down by her own Sikh bodyguards last year, and are watching the borders closely to guard against potential assassins, according to sources who spoke on condition that they not be identified. The visit comes a month after police in New Orleans arrested four Sikhs who allegedly plotted to kill Gandhi. Those men have been tied to the World Sikh Organization, which is staging anti-Gandhi demonstrations in Washington during the visit, the sources said. ... Two Sikhs, identified as Ammand Singh and Lal Singh, are still wanted in connection with that alleged plot, according to FBI spokesman Lane Bonner. Gandhi's visit, to begin Tuesday, comes almost a year after the Indian army attacked what they called extremists at the Sikh's Golden Temple, leaving more than 1,000 Sikhs and 220 soldiers dead. Indira Gandhi was later killed in apparent retaliation for the attack. ... A leader of Sikhs living in this country denied that his people would cause trouble. "We are very, very peaceful," said Gurmit Singh Aulakh, head of the World Sikh Organization. "We are a deeply religious people. We don't believe in violence." Aulakh said there is no organized Sikh plot against Gandhi, but said the prime minister is "more cruel" than his mother. "What would be the reaction of the Jewish people if they could look Hitler in the face," he said. "I would be sad for the loss of any life for any human being, but if a human takes thousands of lives, what can you do?""
September 17, 2005, The Times, 'Indira's India and the KGB': "INDIRA GANDHI NEVER realised that the KGB’s first prolonged contact with her occurred during her first visit to the Soviet Union, a few months after Stalin’s death in 1953. As well as keeping her under continuous surveillance, the Centre (KGB headquarters) also surrounded her with handsome, attentive male admirers. Two years later Indira accompanied her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, the inaugural Prime Minister of independent India, on his first official visit to the Soviet Union. Like Nehru, she was visibly impressed by the apparent successes of Soviet planning and economic modernisation exhibited to them in stage-managed visits to Russian factories. During her trip Khrushchev presented her with a mink coat which became one of the favourite items in her wardrobe — even though a few years earlier she had criticised the female Indian ambassador in Moscow for accepting a similar gift. Soviet attempts to cultivate Indira Gandhi during the 1950s were motivated far more by the desire to influence her father than by any awareness of her own political potential. Moscow still underestimated her when she became Prime Minister. In her early parliamentary appearances she seemed tongue-tied and unable to think on her feet. The insulting nickname coined by a socialist MP, Dumb Doll, began to stick. But her political genes were soon to show their worth. Following a split in the Congress Party in 1969, the Communist Party of India (CPI), encouraged by Moscow, swung its support behind her. At the elections of February 1971, Mrs Gandhi’s wing of Congress won a landslide victory. In August she signed a Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Co-operation with the Soviet Union. Both countries immediately issued a joint communique calling for the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam. India was able to rely on Soviet arms supplies and diplomatic support in the conflict against Pakistan which was already in the offing. Despite diplomatic support from both the United States and China, Pakistan suffered a crushing defeat in the 14-day war with India. For most Indians it was Mrs Gandhi’s finest hour. A Soviet diplomat at the United Nations exulted: “This is the first time in history that the United States and China have been defeated together!” In the Centre, the Indo-Soviet special relationship was also celebrated as a triumph for the KGB. The residency in Delhi was rewarded by being upgraded to the status of “main residency”. Its head from 1970 to 1975, Yakov Prokofyevich Medyanik, was accorded the title of “main resident”. In the early 1970s the KGB presence in India became one of the largest outside the Soviet bloc. Indira Gandhi placed no limit on the number of Soviet diplomats and trade officials, thus allowing the KGB and Soviet intelligence as many cover positions as they wished. Oleg Kalugin, who became head of Foreign Counter-Intelligence in 1973, remembers India as “a model of KGB infiltration of a Third World government”. He recalls one occasion when the KGB turned down an offer from an Indian minister to provide information in return for $50,000 on the grounds that it was already well supplied with material from the Indian foreign and defence ministries: “It seemed like the entire country was for sale; the KGB — and the CIA — had penetrated the Indian government. Neither side entrusted sensitive information to the Indians, realising their enemy would know all about it the next day.” The KGB, in Kalugin’s view, was more successful than the CIA, partly because of its skill in exploiting the corruption that became endemic under Indira Gandhi’s regime. Suitcases full of banknotes were said to be routinely taken to her house and one of her opponents claimed that Mrs Gandhi did not even return the cases. The Prime Minister is unlikely to have paid close attention to the dubious origins of some of the funds that went into Congress’s coffers. That was a matter she left largely to her principal fund-raiser, Lalit Narayan Mishra, who, though Mrs Gandhi doubtless did not realise it, also accepted Soviet money. Short and obese, Mishra looked the part of the corrupt politician. Indira Gandhi, despite her own frugal lifestyle, depended on the cash he collected from various sources to finance her party. Money also went to her son and anointed heir, Sanjay, whose misguided ambition to build an Indian popular car and become India’s Henry Ford depended on government favours. When Mishra was assassinated in 1975, Mrs Gandhi blamed a plot involving “foreign elements” — doubtless intended as a euphemism for the CIA. The Delhi KGB residency gave his widow 70,000 rupees, though she doubtless did not realise the source. Though there were some complaints from the Communist leadership at the use of Soviet funds to support Mrs Gandhi, covert funding for the Congress Party of India seems to have been unaffected. By 1972 the import-export business founded by the CPI to trade with the Soviet Union had contributed more than 10 million rupees to party funds. Other secret subsidies, totalling at least 1.5 million rupees, had gone to state Communist parties, individuals and media associated with the CPI. The funds that were sent from Moscow to party headquarters via the KGB were larger still. In the first half of 1975 they amounted to over 2.5 million rupees. India under Mrs Gandhi was probably the arena for more KGB active measures than anywhere else, though their significance appears to have been considerably exaggerated by the Centre, which overestimated its ability to manipulate Indian opinion."
August 18, 2007, Asia Times, 'India's silent warriors The Kaoboys of R&AW: Down Memory Lane by B Raman': " The Richard Nixon administration in Washington initiated a joint program with Islamabad to hit back at India by encouraging a separatist movement among the Sikhs of Punjab. The US National Security Council, led by Henry Kissinger, sponsored allegations in the press and public forums of violations of Sikhs' human rights. US interest in the Khalistan [the Sikh's independent state] insurgency remained firm up to 1984. ... After the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, the first act of mass-casualty terrorism on the ground in India, R&AW pieced together credible evidence of the direct hand of the ISI. Kao remarked at that time in disgust that, in spite of solid proof, "the US will never act against Pakistan for anything it does to India". Raman adds wryly that "this is as valid today as it was in the past" (p 277). ... Intriguingly, R&AW [India's external intelligence agency] and the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) simultaneously colluded to prevent a possible Chinese takeover of northern Burma. George H W Bush, the director of the CIA from 1975-77, became a personal friend of [R&AW chief R. N.] Kao. Later, when Bush was US vice president, Kao succeeded in persuading him to turn off the aid tap to Khalistani terrorists."
|
Aquino, Col. Michael A. |
Source(s): April 12, 1988, USA Today, 'Dateline: Washington, D.C.' (member ASC advisory board) (denies it)
To London, Brussels and Germany to inspect NATO installations in 1982, a trip sponsored by the World Affairs Council. Hadn't been to London and Brussels since 1958 and not to Germany since XIII (?).
Worked under Colonel Paul Vallely: Benador Associates. Center for Security Policy. Iran Policy Committee. Intelligence Summit. AFIO Weekly Intelligence Notes #32-10 dated 31 August 2010: "Don't miss this special opportunity to attend a relaxing cruise to the Caribbean with top intelligence experts November 13-20, 2010. By registering, SpyCruise® will donate funds to and have a special ceremony onboard for the CIA Officers' Memorial Foundation and the Scott Vallely Soldiers Memorial Fund. Meet and mingle with our exclusive speakers and special guests: Gen. Michael Hayden, ret [former NSA and CIA director], Porter Goss [former CIA director], Maj Gen. Paul Vallely, ret, Peter Brookes, Michael Braun, Bill Harlow, Fred Francis, Clare Lopez, Andre LeGallo, Michael Thorton, Tom Mangold and more."
Commander of the 7th PSYOP Group.
1989, Carness Lord and Frank Barnett, National Strategy and Information Center, 'Political Warfare and Psychological Operations'. p. 49: "The 7th PSYOP Group in Okinawa provided valuable backup support in printing and high-altitude leaflet dissemination. During the height of US involvement in Southeast Asia, the Army stationed PSYOP units at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and in Germany, Panama, and Okinawa as well as the 4th PSYOP Group in the Republic of Vietnam. By the mid-1970s, however, all that remained in the active component was an understrength group at Fort Bragg with antiquated equipment-a condition that did not improve significantly for ten years. The mid-1980s saw an upturn for the fortunes of PSYOP."
January 27, 2011 email from Col. Michael A. Aquino: "From what I recall, all members were designated "Advisory Board", which I assume was just a gimmick to make us feel more important. It was still just a correspondence membership. ... From what I recall, the invitation I received was more along the line of a mass-mailing. I don't know the basis on which it might have been assembled. ... Yes, I see that [John Fisher] was included in my list of source-appreciations, but at this point in time I don't know specifically why. When I was researching the dissertation, I cast nets out to every possible source, and of course thanked those who responded and/or gave me information/further leads. But now I don't know what that might have been in Mr. Fisher's case. I just did a search for his name elsewhere in the dissertation, including the footnotes & bibliography, and didn't find anything. So I presume he may have given me some source leads to track down in Washington, etc. ... This would be just coincidence, since I knew nothing of ASC's attitudes concerning any of the specialized topics I was addressing in MindWar. That was a paper stemming specifically from my U.S. Army PSYOP experience and my academic Political Science background. ... No, none of these [have I been acquainted with: John Singlaub, Daniel O. Graham, or Vernon Walters]. ... I was in Vietnam June 69-June 70. I was an officer in the 306th PSYOP Battalion (Strategic) and later its parent 7th PSYOP Group, USAR, during the 1970s. During that time I also performed numerous specialized assignments as a Foreign Area Officer/West Europe and Defense Attaché. 86-87 attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, then 3 years as the Budget Director of the USAR Personnel Center, St. Louis. Then assigned as a Space Intelligence Officer to HQ US Space Command until I retired from the Active USAR in 1994."
January 21, 2011 email from Col. Michael A. Aquino: "Of course [I have contacts in Belgium], as I was a Defense Attaché and West Europe Foreign Area Officer of the U.S. Army. I interacted both through the U.S. Embassy and NATO/SHAPE Headquarters. [but said he didn't know any of the Belgian ISGP names. In another article said he hadn't been in Brussels between 1958 and 1982. In another email he said he had the above role in the 1970s.]"
April 12, 1988, USA Today, 'Dateline: Washington, D.C.': "WASHINGTON - The founder and high priest of one of the country's foremost satanic worship groups is also a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel with a top secret security clearance, an impressive military intelligence background and a penchant for holding pagan magic rituals in old Nazi castles. The Pentagon says it can do nothing because of Michael A. Aquino's constitutional right to freedom of religion. But Aquino, 41, said this week he is declining public appearances anyway because it makes the Army brass nervous. Lt. Col. Aquino, a former faculty member at the Army's general staff college in Kansas, now holds a high military management post at the Army Reserve Personnel Center in St. Louis. He drew attention recently when he backed out of an interview with Cable News Network talk show host Larry King following what the show's producers characterized as pressure from the Pentagon. Both Aquino and the Pentagon say there was no pressure. "Aquino, like everyone else, has an absolute right to freedom of religious belief," Army spokesman Lt. Col. Greg Rixon said Tuesday. "As long as he doesn't commit any crime in furtherance of that belief, we remain very supportive of his constitutional rights. The fact that I'm in abject disagreement with his beliefs has no consequence." Aquino, a former Green Beret and Bronze Star winner in Vietnam, is technically in the Army Reserve but has been on full-time, full-pay active duty for six years in the Active Guard and Reserve program. He has a resume that would make many regular Army officers drool: A doctorate in political science from the University of California; masters degrees from the University of California and George Washington University in public administration; Army Airborne graduate; psychological operations officer, U.S. Army Institute for Military Assistance; honors graduate, U.S. Army Military Intelligence School; honors graduate, Army Command and General Staff College; graduate, Army Institute of International Studies; advisory board of the American Security Council; and graduate, National Defense University. Aquino was also once national commander of the Eagle Scout Honor Society of the Boy Scouts of America. Aquino kept a fairly low profile since founding the Temple of Set (an ancient Egyptian god of evil) a dozen years ago but had agreed to recent public exposure to clear his name in a child molestation scandal at the Presidio Army Base in San Francisco, where he and his wife, Lilith, lived in 1987. Aquino, who insists on his innocence, never has been charged, but San Francisco police kept referring to him publicly last winter as a "possible suspect" in the molestation. Aquino founded the Temple of Set in 1975 after breaking with hippie cultist Anton LaVey's Church of Satan. Aquino claimed LaVey was selling bishoprics and that the worship of Satan deserved serious treatment as a religion, not a money-making device. Aquino insists on referring to the Temple of Set as a serious church instead of a cult and has registered it with California and the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt, non-profit religion. Rixon says Aquino is highly respected by colleagues, and his official performance reports show "he is an absolutely competent officer." Yet, when he attended the National Defense University here last year, Aquino's presence at the school for promising officers triggered a "colonel's revolt" at the Fort McNair school. "Yes, they did," conceded Rixon Tuesday. "There were classmates who would not attend lectures with him and who would not attend seminars when they knew he was in them. They were not disruptive, and they were later informed their action was inappropriate." Much of the controversy surrounding Aquino centers on his 1983 trip to a little-visited Westphalian castle in West Germany, one that Gestapo chief Heinrich Himmler modified during World War II for black magic rituals and occult ceremonies in its Hall of the Dead. Aquino later wrote his Temple of Set international membership - which he says numbers several hundred - that he conducted a "working" or occult meditation there "to summon the Powers of Darkness at their most powerful locus." He now says he was seeking enlightenment about internal strife in the Temple of Set, and as part of a study of occultism "throughout human history." Aquino says of the Temple of Set: "We have nothing in common with the political and social philosophy of the Nazis. We consider the Nazis as barbaric, as any reasonable adult would. You know, all the occult records of the SS are on microfilm reels in the National Archives in D.C. I'm probably the first one to blow the dust off them, too. I read them till my eyes glazed." Aquino says he understands the controversy he has engendered: "I have enough maturity to know that if I follow an emotion-laden religion like this one, I have to expect some lack of tolerance. I'm not demanding equal time in Army chapels." Regarding his canceled TV appearance, he says, "Nobody grabbed me or twisted my arm, but it was clear the Army was getting a bit spooked. I heard that the message had come down to headquarters here in St. Louis: `Here he goes again.' Not showing up seemed sort of the decent, mature thing to do." Rixon said he saw King on TV promoting the show as dealing with "Satan, child abuse and the U.S. Army." The Army spokesman said he had no specific knowledge Aquino was involved but "alerted my taping people" and called Maj. Graham Yates, chief public affairs officer for the Army Reserves, who called Maj. Art House, public affairs specialist at the St. Louis personnel center. Word got back to Aquino, and he backed out. "Certainly, the Army is concerned when Aquino appears publicly," Rixon said Tuesday. "That's because it causes us a great deal of work explaining who he is and why he's still allowed to serve." The Army spokesman says each time he's publicly quoted about Aquino, the White House gets letters "calling me a moron" and asking President Reagan to fire both officers. "The Army has almost surprised me over the years with how sensitive to the Constitution they have been," said Aquino this week. "You'd almost expect with the Army being so John Wayne-ish that they'd get nasty over something like this.""
1980, Col. Paul E. Valley with Major Michael A. Aquino, 'From PSYOP to MindWar: The Psychology of Victory' (written for: Headquarters, 7th Psychological Operations Group, U.S. Army Reserve, Presidio of San Francisco): "We shall rid ourselves of the self-conscious, almost "embarassed" concept of "psychological operations". In its place we shall create MindWar. ... A definition is offered: MindWar is the deliberate, aggressive convincing of all participants in a war that we will win that war. ... Was the United States defeated in the jungles of Vietnam, or was it defeated in the streets of American cities? ... [MindWar] must not only weaken the enemy; it must strengthen the United States. It strengthens the United States by denying enemy propaganda access to our people, and by explaining and emphasizing to our people the rationale for our national interest in a specific war. Under existing United States law, PSYOP units may not target American citizens. That prohibition is based upon the presumption that "propaganda" is necessarily a lie or at least a misleading half-truth, and that the government has no right to lie to its people. ... Quite right, and so it must be axiomatic of MindWar that it always speaks the truth. ... MindWar thus involves the stated promise of truth." |
Banister, Guy |
Source(s): January 27, 1978, HSCA, Delsa & Robert Buras report of an interview with Joseph Oster: Mr. Banister had an office on Robert E. Lee Blvd., but then moved to the Balter Building where Mr. Oster joined him...Two sources that were used were Fidelafax and American Security Council... The American Security Council was used for security checks about political backgrounds with special interest in any communist type activities. These two organizations were headed and staffed mostly by retired FBI agents."
Guy Banister Guy Banister was born in 1901. He served in the FBI, eventually retiring as the Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office in 1955 after 20 years of service. (In that capacity, he was [apparently] the superior to Robert Maheu during Maheu's service in Chicago; see below.) After serving briefly in the New Orleans police department as the assistant police superintendant,6 he opened a private detective agency called Guy Banister Associates, which was apparently a front for American intelligence operations. ... Banister was the Louisiana coordinator for the Minuteman, according to one former Minuteman, Jerry Milton Brooks, who worked for Banister.7 More significantly, Banister was involved in the Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean, part of the larger World Anti-Communist League.* Banister organized the Friends of Democratic Cuba in 1961, a group which raised funds for the Cuban Revolutionary Council, the CIA-organized Cuban government in exile that we have encountered on a number of occasions in this narrative. During the Bay of Pigs operation, Banister worked with Sergio Arcacha Smith of the CRC (see Chapter 5), whose office was across the hall from Banister's, at 544 Camp Street in New Orleans; Banister and Arcacha Smith were close friends.8 (We will note below in this chapter the connection between this office and the address used by Oswald on his FPCC literature.) A CIA memo indicated that Banister during this period was one of Arcacha Smith's FBI contacts; we may conclude therefore that Banister was still working for the FBI at this time.9 Banister was also working with Wray Gill, Marcello's lawyer, to help block the Justice Department's deportation of Marcello.10 Banister died in 1964. ...[W]ho was paying for Banister's anti-Communist activities: governmental intelligence, the New Orleans Mafia, or some third force allied with both together[?] Those stressing intelligence (Garrison, William Turner, Anthony Summers) have pointed to Banister's years of service in the FBI and the Office of Naval Intelligence, his association with the CIA-sponsored Cuban Revolutionary Council, and his work for the Louisiana State Committee on Un-American Activities. [fn] Those stress the mafia, following the lead of G. Robert Blakey and the House Committee on Assassinations, have argued that Banister was "closely associated with G. Wray Gill, an attorney for Mafia leader Carlos Marcello, and David W. Ferrie, who performed investigative services for both Banister and Gill." [fn: Blakey/Billings.] A third and more likely possibility is that OSwald and Banister were working for what was in effect a third force: an intelligencemafia gray alliance, rooted in the deep political economy of New Orleans. PD Scott 1993, p. 87. Lee Harvey Oswald spent a good deal of time with Guy Banister in his office in the summer of 1963. "Guy Banister's widow has revealed that her husband's office storeroom contained a supply of the 'Hands Off Cuba!' handbills that were distributed by Oswald. George Higgenbothan, one of Banister's collegiate undercover agents, recalled that when he kidded his boss about sharing abuilding with people papering the streets with leftist literature, Banister snapped, 'Cool it-- one of them is mine.'"11 We will return to the matter of documenting this connection further below. Another important person in these events, David Ferrie, was also heavily involved in the affairs of the agency.12
February 26, 1961, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 'Banister Tells Aims, Positions': "[Guy Banister:] I take a positive stand in favor of segregation of the races. There are 15 active organizations in New Orleans promoting integration of the races. Ten of these organizations are Communist fronts or have submitted to Communist influence and direction. As council-man-at large, I can be helpful in nullifying the machinations of these Communist agents and help in maintaining peace and harmony in the city."
January 27, 1978, HSCA, Delsa & Robert Buras report of an interview with Joseph Oster: "[Oster met Banister] in the New Orleans Police Department in the early 1960's when Mr. Banister headed up a group of special investigators to check on corruption within the Department's ranks. Mr. Oster was one of the members of this squad. Mr. Banister was fired in 1957 and Mr. Oster soon after went into business with him. Mr. Oster stated that he did most of the investigating and later, date unknown, became dissatisfied because Mr. Banister did not take an interest in the investigations that could have made money for the firm. Mr. Banister had an office on Robert E. Lee Blvd., but then moved to the Balter Building where Mr. Oster joined him...Two sources that were used were Fidelafax and American Security Council... The American Security Council was used for security checks about political backgrounds with special interest in any communist type activities. These two organizations were headed and staffed mostly by retired FBI agents. The personnel in the office at that time were: Carmen Bollino, an ex-FBI agent from Washington, D.C. He and ‘The Chief' worked Remington Rand Corporation checks. 'The Chief' was Guy W. Banister's nickname. It should be noted that Mr. Thomas Beckham states that LEE HARVEY OSWALD always said that the 'Chief' would take care of him. Mr. Beckham didn't know if OSWALD meant Mr. Banister or J. Edgar Hoover. Mr. Oster stated that he has heard Banister call Washington and speak directly to J. Edgar Hoover. Mr. Banister used to call and speak to someone in the CIA, but Mr. Oster does not remember any name. John Sullivan, another employee of Mr. Banister's who was also a retired FBI agent from Vicksburg, Mississippi. "
John Sullivan committed suicide shortly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I received this communication from Sullivan's grandson, Jeremy Sullivan: I was told that he committed suicide but my dad didn't think so. He told me there was an investigation and the FBI was involved. They deemed it suicide. The story I heard had changed depending on who told it, I believe that they had been out fishing all day and John Daniel had been drinking. After they got home, he was alone in his room and there was a gunshot and he was found dead. Jim Garrison had an undisclosed case against Sullivan in 1961. Delsa continues Other employees and people that had business with Mr. Banister: Edward Jack S. Martin and Major Stewart who wrote and owned the Westbank Herald located in Algiers, Louisiana. (This is New Orleans but it is located on the West Bank of the Mississippi River.) This paper was active in Latin American affairs. Mr. Oster feels that Major Stewart had intelligence ties to Latin America. Jack S. Martin was a part-reporter, part-investigator. Mr. Oster describes him as very smart and an adventurer, always trying to impress people with the important people he knew. Mr. Oster remembers catching Mr. Jack S. Martin with a very young sailor in the Colonila Hotel located in Exchange Alley. Mr. Oster will attempt to find the report made on this case, in which Jack S. Martin was allegedly involved in homosexual acts with the sailor. (The New Orleans Police Department arrest sheets do not reflect any such arrest, but Mr. Oster feels these sheets might have been tampered with over the years.) Mr. Jack S. Martin denies to the investigators that he was ever involved in homosexual activities, even though he associated with many young men and know deviates such as David Ferrie...Mr. George Singleton and Mr. Banister were close friends. Mr. Singleton wrote for the Citizens Council and was close to Judge Leander Perez in the fight against integration. Col. Buford Balter, Mr. Singleton, Mr. Stewart and others around Mr. Banister were interested in ultra-conservative politics in which Mr. Oster did not take any active part. Colonel Balter would take out ads in the local papers against integration...Alvin Cobb was a friend of Banister. Mr. Cobb was a supporter of the KKK. [HSCA interview 1.27.78 Delsa & Robert Buras]
Robert Maheu once worked under him. Also close to Maheu through his employee Bellino.
Great piece of work, Mark. Just recently I discovered that Guy Banister attended Soule Business College right after Louisiana State
and remained a close friend of George Soule and that Banister reported to William Harvey when they both worked for the FBI during World War II apparently. And apparently the Soules were made members of Draper's American Coalition of Patriotic Societies started by Major John B. Trevor, Sr.
of Draper's Pioneer Fund as well. Gerry Hemming also said that Banister's boss claimed he was CIA but in fact he was retired FBI like Banister both of whom were considered out of control psychos looking to kill JFK. Dan Smoot and H. L. Hunt also had contacts with George Soule. Banister's contacts newly discovered with the Miss Sov Comm, Senator James Eastland, The World Anti-Communist League and the Jacobo Arbenz coup in Guatamala along with H. L. Hunt firmly cement Banister as one of the Top Ten major players in the entire JFK conundrum and the plot as well.
More later on George Soule who also knew Medford Evans, the Bircher and Boris Pash associate who was with The Citizens Councils in Jackson, MS.
In 1963, Soule was chairman of the 12th Annual National Congress of Freedom. (Who's Who in the South and Southwest 1963 - 1964) General Walker's lawyer, Clyde Watts, was a speaker at this event. (NOTP; April 7, 1963). J. A. Milteer was also in attendance. (Weisberg; Frame-Up; p481)
Louisiana State University. Monroe Police Department. |
Baruch, Bernard M. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
1870-1965. Son of Simon B. (surgeon C.S.A.) and Belle (Wolfe) B.; A.B., Coll. City N.Y., 1889; LL.D., Williams Coll., 1923, U. S.C., 1925, Johns Hopkins, 1933, Oglethorpe U., 1933, Coll. Charleston, S.C., 1935, The Citadel, 1937; D.C.L., Union Coll., 1937; LL.D., Coll. City N.Y., 1947; married Annie Griffen, Oct. 20, 1897 (died Jan. 16, 1938); children—Belle Wilcox, Bernard M., Renee B. Samstag. Mem. N.Y. Stock Exchange many years; apptd., 1916, by Pres. Wilson, mem. Adv. Commn. of Council Nat. Def.; was made chmn. Com. on Raw Materials, Minerals and Metals, also commr. in charge of raw materials for War Industries Bd., and mem. Commn. in charge of all purchases for the Allies; chmn. War Industries Bd., 1918-19; mem. drafting com. econ. sect. chmn. raw materials div. Am. Commn. to Negotiate Peace; Supreme Econ. Council; Am. del. on econs. and reparation clauses; econ. adviser for Am. Peace Commn. Mem. President’s Conf. for Capital and Labor, 1919, President’s Agrl. Conf., 1922. Adviser to James F. Byrnes, war moblzn. dir., 1943—; apptd. head fact finding com. on synthetic rubber by Pres. Roosevelt, 1942; made report to Pres. and James F. Byrnes on War and Postwar Plans, Feb. 1944. U.S. rep. UN Atomic Energy Commn., 1946. |
Bauman, G. Duncan |
Source(s): American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
Publisher of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat from 1967 until 1984. Worked with FBI in discrediting King.
April 6, 2010, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri), 'P-D editorials on kidnapping inflamed the FBI's Hoover Paper chided bureau over handling of 1953 abduction, killing of boy.': "In April 1972, while meeting with Globe-Democrat publisher G. Duncan Bauman at FBI headquarters, Hoover compared the Post-Dispatch with the New York Times, New York Post and The Washington Post as "classic examples of the worst in newspaper reporting." It would be among his last recorded pronouncements about the newspaper he had grown to detest. Less than a month later, on May 2, 1972, Hoover died."
October 19, 1995, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri), 'Dunc's Globe': "Like the country editor, "Dunc" wrote some of his own editorials, cut out and pasted up copy from a gluepot on his desk, showed up at all manner of community functions, was a kingmaker in local politics, and played cards on a regular basis with longtime cronies. Unlike the country editor, Bauman drove a sleek, black Buick, lived in a tony Clayton condo, notched thousands of miles on exotic vacation trips, wore designer-made silk neckties, chomped on long, imported cigars and had a long and controversial career that came to a screeching halt when his newspaper - the St. Louis Globe-Democrat - ceased operations (for the first time) in 1984. Bauman joined the Globe in 1943, where he became known as a "gut reporter" who decried injustices. He later became assistant city editor and took a leave of absence to attend Washington University Law School before becoming the newspaper's personnel manager in 1951. (He never earned a degree in journalism and, during our conversation, insisted that the only qualifications for a good reporter are a sound education and an unquenchable desire to right injustice). In 1959, he was named business manager and in 1967 publisher, succeeding the late Richard H. Amberg. ... We sat in the family room where a sterling silver crown from the Torah commands a prominent place. The crown is one of countless awards, tributes and photographs of Bauman and celebrities that fill the house. He took me on a tour and provided a narration for some of them, including the document that certified his position as Knight of Malta, one of the highest honors a Catholic layman can receive. "That's me with J. Edgar Hoover, days before he died . . . We're on (Gerald) Ford's campaign train . . . There's George Bush with us. We knew him quite well and he came to see us before he was president. He's probably the most qualified for the job . . . That's Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin with me.""
April 15, 2003, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri), 'Globe-Democrat publisher served many causes': "Mr. Bauman served on many civic boards, including those for the Boys Club, the YMCA, the St. Louis Symphony, the Arts and Education Council, the Boy Scouts, the Better Business Bureau, the United Fund, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the former Laclede School of Law in St. Louis, and the national board of the Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. Mr. Bauman was active in Catholic church organizations. He was a member of the boards of DePaul Community Health Center, the President's Council of St. Louis University, Catholic Charities and the Human Life Foundation. In 1972, Pope Paul VI named him a Knight of Malta, one of the highest honors a Catholic layman can receive. ... Mr. Bauman continued the Globe-Democrat's conservative editorial views and occasionally wrote editorials. In 1977, he wrote a front-page editorial titled, "For Hanoi? Or America?" It attacked the Post-Dispatch for reporting that the FBI had provided the Globe-Democrat with information about radical groups during the 1960s."
March 17, 1996, State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL), 'St Louis saw Buchanan on the rise': "Long before Pat Buchanan was shaking up the Republican mainstream with his unapologetic brand of conservatism, St. Louis newspaper readers were getting a taste of things to come. Just 23 years old when he joined the now-defunct St. Louis Globe-Democrat in 1962, it wasn't long before the fighting Irish in Paddy Joe Buchanan hit the page in his only career stop outside the Washington Beltway. Communist-bashing was an almost daily ritual for Buchanan editorials. He vehemently supported the death penalty and escalation of the war in Vietnam. In his book "Right From the Beginning," Buchanan says he demanded the jailing of civil rights protesters involved in illegal demonstrations. He also admits using material leaked from the FBI to criticize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ... "The publisher, Richard Amberg, said he was a great talent and should be on the editorial page." It was a good match, the ultraconservative newspaper with the equally right-wing young writer. Some of his crusades paid dividends. Flach recalled that a state prison in Jefferson City was "a mess" until Globe writer Denny Walsh and Buchanan teamed up for a series of stories and editorials that led to reforms. ... "To my knowledge, he is not anti-Semitic and not anti-black," said Duncan Bauman, the Globe editor who hired Buchanan. "If you listen to what he says, he's a compassionate man." But Jake McCarthy, former editor of a Teamsters newspaper in St. Louis and now a columnist for the weekly Riverfront Times, remembers a different In his column last week, McCarthy wrote that Buchanan's rise is "a rather unnerving development to some of us who knew him in St. Louis in the '60s as, although affable enough, a man of unbending uptightness and social views from the days of robber barons and white supremacy." In 1965, Nixon stopped by the Globe during a visit to St. Louis. Don Hesse, then the Globe's editorial page cartoonist, hosted a party for Nixon at his home in Belleville, Ill. "Pat, who was very enterprising, got invited to this beer and pretzel party, and Nixon took a shine to him and invited Pat to become a speech writer," Duggan recalled."
Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations, U.S. House of Representatives, 95th Congress, 2d session, pp. 437-441: "The case involved the relationship between the FBI and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 9 as it was uncovered by a rival newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In a series of articles published in 1977, the Post-Dispatch identified the publisher of the Globe-Democrat and a reporter on the paper's staff as individuals who "were looked upon by the St. Louis FBI office as key outlets in the mid-1960's for news the Bureau wanted published...."(65) The Post-Dispatch series was the result of a review of FBI documents the paper had obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request. (The documents were also reviewed by the committee.) The publisher was identified as Richard H. Amberg, who died in 1967, and the reporter as Denny Walsh, who had since left the paper. (66) The name of the publisher of the Globe-Democrat in 1968, G. Duncan Bauman, had been deleted from certain documents the FBI provided to the post-Dispatch. The committee obtained copies of internal documents referred to in the post-Dispatch series, and they revealed the ease with which the Bureau had been able to use the newspaper for its counterintelligence initiatives. For example, a memorandum from the St. Louis special agent-in-charge to Director Hoover on May 28, 1968,(67) discussed activities to disrupt "new left" organizations ... Then, on October 18, 1968,(68) the St. Louis field office received a memorandum from FBI headquarters giving permission to provide a source on the Globe-Democrat with information to disrupt organizing activities by Students for a Democratic Society at area high schools. A note appended to the memorandum praised the newspaper and its staff: ... Denny Walsh, a Globe-Democrat reporter named in the released FOIA documents, was interviewed by the post-Dispatch and by committee. He verified that the Globe-Democrat, as well as he personally, had enjoyed a close working relationship with the FBI.(69) Knowledge of the presence of a willing news media outlet for the FBI in St. Louis led the committee to scrutinize carefully a COINTELPRO initiative from FBI headquarters and Globe-Democrat editorial, both of which preceded the assassination of Dr. King by less than a week.10 The editorial addressed a march on Washington that Dr. King had scheduled for the spring of 1968. In late 1967, Dr. King had announced plans to lead a massive march on Washington in the spring of 1968. Alternately called the Washington Spring Project and the Poor People's Campaign, it generated a great deal of interest as well as considerable concern among the hierarchy of the FBI. Following the sanitation workers march in Memphis, led by Dr. King on March 28, 1968, the Bureau decided to seize upon the violence that had erupted as evidence that Dr. King was unable to conduct a peaceful demonstration by a large number of people. The theory behind the strategy was to call into question the peaceful intentions of the Washington Spring Project. On the very day of the ill-fated march, a memorandum was circulated outlining an FBI-authored editorial to be placed with "cooperative news media sources."11 (70) It took Dr. King to task for getting involved in the Memphis strike and for not being able to control the march, suggesting that Memphis was merely a prelude to what was coming in Washington. (72) ... "While the evidence was insufficient to link COINTELPRO to the assassination, the committee obtained ample evidence to warrant strong condemnation of FBI efforts that were directed against Dr. King and SCLC for the risk they created for Dr. King. The editorial writers at the Globe-Democrat were exercising first amendment freedoms, so their conduct was constitutionally privileged. There was, however, no similar privilege covering the conduct of the FBI. Not only did this conduct contribute to the hostile climate that surrounded Dr. King, it was morally reprehensible, illegal, felonious, and unconstitutional. There is no place in a free society for such governmental conduct. It deserves the strongest condemnation."
Pat Buchanan: Editorial writer St. Louis Globe-Dem., 1962-64, assistant editorial editor, 1964—1965; executive assistant to Richard M. Nixon, 1966-69; special assistant to President Richard NIxon The White House, 1969-73; consultant to Presidents Nixon and Ford, 1973-74; commentator NBC Radio Network, 1978-82; columnist TV Guide, 1975—1977; syndicated columnist New York Times Special Features, 1975-78, Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate, 1978-85; director communications The White House, Washington DC, 1985-87; syndicated columnist Tribune Media Services, 1987-91, 93-95, Creators Syndicate, 1997—1999, 2001—. Co-host Buchanan-Braden Show, Station WRC, 1978-83, columnist; co-host Crossfire (TV show) Cable News Network, 1982-85, 87-91, 93-95, 97-99; panelist The McLaughlin Grp., NBC/PBS, 1982-85, 88-92, 97-99, 2001—, After Hours WTOP-TV, 1979-1982; moderator Capital Gang (TV Show) Cable News Network, 1988-91; co-host Buchanan and Press, MSNBC, 2002-2003; editor-in-chief newsletter PJB-From the Right, 1990-91; co-founder, editor The Am. Conservative, 2002-07; candidate for Rep. Nomination for President, 1992, 96, Reform Party candidate for President, 2000; founder, chairman The Am. Cause, 1993-95, 97-99, 2001—, Buchanan & Co., Mutual Broadcasting System, 1993-95; political analyst MSNBC, 2003-. Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization, 2002, Where the Right Went Wrong: How Neoconservatives Subverted the Reagan Revolution and Hijacked the Bush Presidency, 2004, State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America, 2006, Day of Reckoning: How Hubris, Ideology, and Greed are Destroying America, 2007, Churchill, Hitler and "The Unnecessary War": How The Britain Lost Its Empire and The West Lost The World, 2008. Named Knight of Malta, 1987. |
Barnett, Frank R. |
Source(s): November 1, 2005, (ASC founder) John M. Fisher, 'History milestones: American Security Council and American Security Council Foundation' (not on ASC board it seems, but program director of the IAS, the later ASCF. Also worked closely with Wood and Fisher in setting up National Military-Industrial Conferences)
Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. Held Rockefeller and Ford fellowships. Member Council on Foreign Relations. Vice president H. Smith Richardson Foundation 1955-1962. Program director Institute for American Strategy. November 1, 2005, (ASC founder) John M. Fisher, 'History milestones': "The American Security Council Foundation (ASCF) was incorporated in Chicago, Illinois as the Institute for American Strategy on February 24, 1958 ... The Institute for American Strategy (IAS) was organized to ... manage the annual National Military-Industrial Conferences where, beginning in 1955, top military, business, education and organization leaders came together in Chicago to analyze the growing threat of Communism and propose strategies to meet the challenge at all levels..." Planning secretary of the National Military-Industrial Conferences (funded with H. Smith Richardson grant). Co-founder NSIC. Member Committee on the Present Danger. Board member Citizens Committee for Peace with Freedom in Vietnam (with the ASC's Eugene Wigner, but als Douglas Dillon of the Pilgrims.).
April 18, 1981, John S. Friedman, 'Culture War II', Nation 232, no. 15, pp. 452- 53: "The Smith Richardson Foundation, which has C.I.A. officials among its consultants reviewing grants, provides management training to C.I.A. and Defense Department employees through an affilate."
In the late 1950s and early 1960s ASC gained some notoriety when it was revealed that one of its affiliates, the Institute for American Strategy (IAS), had been used by the National Security Council as the vehicle for training military personnel on national security issues, with help from the right-wing Richardson Foundation. Fisher was president of the IAS. The ASC's General Edward Lansdale became administrative director of the Institute for American Strategy in the mid 1960s. Lansdale recruited John Deutsch in 1961, a later CIA director.
August 18, 1993, New York Times, 'Frank R. Barnett, 72, an Expert On Military Strategy and Security': "A native of Chillicothe, Ohio, Frank Rockwell Barnett was educated at Wabash College, Bradley University, Syracuse University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Zurich and, as a Rhodes Scholar from Indiana, at Oxford University. In World War II, he was a Russian interpreter in the 69th Infantry Division, which met the Soviet Army on the Elbe River in April 1945. After the war, he was attached to the staff of the United States Military Government in Berlin. From 1955 to 1962 he was a vice president and director of research of the Smith Richardson Foundation, an anti-Communist group founded in 1935. He was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. ... Frank R. Barnett, founder and president of the National Strategy Information Center of Washington and New York, died on Sunday at a Manhattan nursing home. He was 72 and lived in Manhattan. ... He founded the center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan body, in 1962. Its goal was to bring together leaders of public opinion and provide information on national defense and international security through seminars, policy workshops and briefing sessions. Known for its anti-Communist and pro-military stance, the center continued to monitor the military equations after the demise of the Soviet Bloc."
1978, partial National Strategy Information Center officers list (photocopy): Frank Barnett (president). Directors: Karl Bendetsen, Adm. Thomas Moorer, Eugene Rostow. Advisory council: Joseph Coors, Henry Fowler, John W. Hanes Jr. Program director: Sven Kraemer. Research associate: Dr. Roy Godson. William Casey helped set up NSIC. Richard Mellon Scaife has been an important financier of the NSIC. |
Beatty, John T. |
Source(s): Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, Guide to the Ernie Lazar FBI FOIA Files on Anti-Communism and Right Wing Movements TAM.576 (New York University website): "Senior Advisory Board: Bennett Archambault, John T. Beatty (JBS), Robert Donner (JBS), Robert W. Galvin, Hughston M. McBanin, Gen. Robert E. Wood."
Member of the initial council of the John Birch Society. |
Bendetsen, Karl R. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; 1988, Russ Bellant, 'The Coors connection', p. 49 (board member in the 1980s).
1907-1989. Practiced law, Aberdeen, Washington, 1932-40; Directed evacuation of Japanese from West Coast, 1942. Served to colonel U.S. Army, 1940-46; special rep. secretary of war to General MacArthur 1941. Management counsel, 1946-47; consultant special assistant to secretary U.S. Department Defense, 1948; assistant secretary Department Army, 1948-50, under secretary, 1950-52; director general U.S. R.R.s, 1950-52; chairman board Panama Canal Co., 1950-54; counsel Champion Papers, 1952-53, vice president Texas div., 1953-55, vice president operations, 1955-60, chairman board, president, chief executive officer, 1960-67; director Westinghouse Electric, 1961-80; chairman, president, chief executive officer Champion International, 1967-72; director New York Stock Exchange, 1972-82; chairman executive committee Champion International, 1973-75. Special U.S. rep. with rank of ambassador to W.Ger., 1956, special U.S. ambassador to Philippines, 1956; chairman adv. committee to secretary Department Defense, 1962; vice chairman Defense Manpower Commission, 1974-76; board overseers Hoover Institution; chairman panel on Strategic Defense Initiative for President Reagan, 1980-84. Director National Strategy Information Center anno 1978. Member of an advisory group to Ronald Reagan that received security clearances to learn about new weapons developments such as nuclear x-ray lasers. Has been a consultant to the National Security Council. Went to the Bohemian Grove in 1980. Committee on the Present Danger. Co-founder of High Frontier with Gen. Daniel O. Graham.
March 4, 1985, New York Times, 'Reagan's Star Wars Bid; Many Ideas Converging': "In May 1981, Dr. George A. Keyworth 2d was named the President's science adviser. A nuclear physicist, he was intimately familiar with the X-ray secrets and had been strongly endorsed for the job by Dr. Teller. Also in 1981, a group of influential scientists, industrialists, military men and aerospace executives began to meet in Washington, D.C., at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative ''think tank.'' Their goal was to formulate a plan for creating a national system of defense. Among them were Dr. Teller, Dr. Wood and such members of the President's ''kitchen cabinet'' as Joseph Coors, a beer executive; Justin Dart, a wealthy businessman, and Jacquelin Hume, an industrialist. The group's top officer was Karl R. Bendetsen, once Under Secretary of the Army, later chairman of the board of the Champion International Corporation, and a long-time overseer of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. Since the 1940's he had known Dr. Teller, who in addition to his weapons work also held a post at Hoover. The group's second-in-command was Lieut. Gen. Daniel O. Graham ... But by late 1981 the group began to split over differing visions of how to carry out the task of space-based defense. Mr. Bendetsen, Dr. Teller and the Reagan 'kitchen cabinet' separated into a small group to investigate sophisticated proposals that would require much more research before being ready to use, while General Graham and his group, known formally as High Frontier, emphasized systems that could be built primarily from ''off the shelf.'' Another factor in the split, according to General Graham, was that Dr. Teller insisted on the inclusion of third- generation weapons powered by nuclear bombs. ''He wanted very much to leave in the nuclear options,'' the general said. ''The man is carrying a load and has taken a lot of abuse as the 'father' of the H-bomb. Now he wants to see nuclear technology turn out to be the answer in the opposite direction, to save the Western world.'' The split had vast implications in terms of Presidential access. Mr. Bendetsen and his friends visited the White House with ease. General Graham did not." March 3, 1985, Washington Post, 'Reagan Seized Idea Shelved In '80 Race; Activists Nurtured Shift to 'Star Wars'': "For the first two years of his presidency, Reagan focused on the modernization of offensive weapons: the B1 bomber, the MX, the Trident submarine. But others continued to advance the concept of strategic defense, including the Heritage Foundation, and Graham put together a study on the topic called "High Frontier." Reagan also talked about it with a group of "kitchen cabinet" friends, including industrialist Jacquelin Hume; brewer Joseph Coors; William Wilson, ambassador to the Vatican, and Karl R. Bendetsen..." |
Bermudez, Col. Enrique |
Source(s): April 18, 1991, Col. Sam Dickens for Roll Call, 'Premature Hero Status': "The American Security Council sponsored a visit to Washington last week of the widow and son of Enrique Bermudez. They visited with several Members of Congress, met with Bush Administration officials, and testified before the Organization of American States to assess the tragic and pitiful situation in Nicaragua.""; September 8, 1987, Associated Press, 'Kemp Says Honduran President Supports Aid to Contras': "Rep. Jack Kemp, a presidential candidate, said Tuesday he was told by the president of Honduras that U.S. aid should continue to Nicaraguan rebels despite a new Central American peace plan. ... Shortly after arriving Tuesday, Kemp and a few other members of the group were taken to a Nicaraguan rebel camp in southern Honduras for a meeting with Col. Enrique Bermudez. ... Among those in the group are Howard Phillips of the Conservative Caucus; Lyn Bouchey of the American Coalition for Traditional Values; Republican fund-raiser Richard Viguerie, and Sam Dickens of the American Security Council Foundation."; April 9, 1991, Washington Times, 'Autopsy disputed in death of Contra': "Two Miami morticians who examined the body of slain Nicaraguan resistance leader Enrique Bermudez have challenged important details about the murder contained in an official death certificate and a statement by Nicaragua's Marxist military chief. ... Retired Air Force Col. Samuel Dickens, a director of the American Security Council and friend of Mrs. Bermudez's, spoke with the undertakers about the handling of the body at her request. The Washington Times reported last month that intelligence reports provided strong circumstantial evidence linking military chief of staff Gen. Humberto Ortega to the slaying. ... "I believe they [the Nicaraguans] removed the internal organs because they did not want the bullet or any fragments to be found," Col. Dickens said in an interview."
CIA.gov, 'Northern Front Contras: The Contra Story': "Enrique Bermudez Varela served as an officer in the Nicaraguan National Guard Corps of Engineers from 1952-1979. During his military career, he was a student at the U.S. Army School of the Americas, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the Inter-American Defense College. After completing his study at the Inter-American Defense College, Bermudez was assigned as the Nicaraguan Defense Attaché in Washington from 1976 to 1979. During that period, Bermudez was openly critical of the Somoza Regime and its General Staff."
March 8, 1985, Facts on File World News Digest, 'Contra Atrocities Reported': "A report by a U.S. human rights group detailing rights abuses by the Nicaraguan contras was issued March 5. [See 1984, pp. 932E3, 791A2] The group, Americas Watch, charged that throughout 1984 and early 1985, the contras had raped, murdered, tortured, kidnapped and mutilated unarmed civilians, including women and children. The report said that the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN), the largest contra group, had systematically executed prisoners and participated in "the deliberate use of terror." The FDN and the Misura Indian group were the worst offenders, the report said. Americas Watch, a private nonpolitical organization, also charged that the Sandinista army was guilty of some abuses but that there had been a "sharp decline" in such violations since 1982. It said the government had committed "major abuses" in December 1981, when its forces massacred between 14 and 17 Miskito Indians, and referred to seven more massacres and disappearances the following year. [See 1984, p. 821D1] The group accused the U.S. government of aiding and abetting the contras in the abuses by providing financial and other support. A U.S. State Department official commented, in response to the charges: "It seems to be what you would expect in a war." A senior administration official was quoted as saying, "The contras have a tendency to kidnap young girls." FDN military commander Enrique Bermudez, a member of the National Guard under former President Anastasio Somoza Debayle, maintained that the charges resulted from Sandinista propaganda aimed at discrediting the FDN. Bermudez was in Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress for the resumption of aid to the contras. A separate report officially issued March 7 showed findings similar to those of Americas Watch. The report was prepared by Reed Brody, a former New York state assistant attorney general, at the suggestion of a U.S. law firm representing the Nicaraguan government. It listed 28 incidents of atrocities by the FDN. The FDN March 7 called for further investigations into the allegations and invited U.S. congressional members to accompany rebel units on patrol. And in testimony before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz expressed skepticism about the reports, saying that "all sorts of stuff starts appearing" whenever a vote on Nicaragua appeared near."
December 5, 1991, Washington Post, 'Rebels With U.S. Blessing': "In his riveting and well-documented book "The Commandos," Sam Dillon, a prize-winning journalist who writes for the Miami Herald, reveals that there were two different contra groups in Nicaragua. One was an army of peasants rebelling against a revolution they originally thought would give them hope but which meant security police and cooperative farms. These independent farmers quickly resented "being lectured on what to plant; they didn't like meetings, and they didn't like land confiscations." If they complained, they would be called counterrevolutionaries and the most vocal were arrested, had their land confiscated and were handed over to Sandinista militants. While peasant farmers were taking up arms, a parallel movement was created by the CIA, based on ex-National Guardsmen from the Somoza era. This coterie, led by the late Enrique Bermudez, included men, Dillon shows, who indulged in systematic torture, rape and brutalization of their own troops and used money paid to them by the CIA for home improvements, mink coats, first-class meals and travel -- all while their troops were often hungry, ill-clothed and living in insufferable conditions in Honduras or the Nicaraguan countryside. While the CIA was channeling tens of thousands of dollars each month to Bermudez's general staff, "Bermudez's staff officers were pocketing the money [and] ... were also stealing half the CIA's food budget." These men included top Bermudez aides "Mack," the contra's chief trainer and intelligence boss from 1988 to 1990; counterintelligence head Mike Lima; and Ricardo Lau, a former Somoza secret police officer who carried out death squad killings of Honduran dissidents, as well as the murder of contra rebels he suspected of being Sandinistas."
October 6, 1991, San Francisco Chronicle, 'Inside the Contra Camp': "Now Sam Dillon, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Miami Herald, brings us ''Comandos: The CIA and Nicaragua's Contra Rebels.'' Centered directly on the ''comandos,'' as the Contras called themselves, the book tells how the CIA backed the Contras' most right-wing faction, protecting it against power plays by more independent, moderate leaders, and worked to cover up the hard-liners' steady bloodbath of human-rights abuses. Dillon focuses on Luis Fley, a Contra troop commander who arrived in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in mid-1988 to become the rebels' chief spokesman and human-rights investigator. Fley was the point man for a high-profile U.S. effort to clean up the Contras' human-rights record. But Fley, with the likable sincerity of a rookie detective, promptly uncovered a wide pattern of torture and killings by Contra officials. He was subjected to a coverup orchestrated by the rebel high command, CIA officials and U.S. Ambassador to Honduras Everett Briggs. Despite pressure from Congress and the State Department, Fley's investigation was eventually quashed. As Dillon reveals, Fley's case was the tip of the iceberg. In the early 1980s, Contra leaders had formed a death squad for the Honduran military, torturing and killing about 250 leftist Honduran students, trade union leaders and Salvadoran immigrants. In the late 1980s, rebel counterintelligence teams killed hundreds of fellow Contras under the pretext of rooting out Sandinista infiltrators. Although it is unclear whether the CIA knew about the killings while they were occurring, Dillon says, CIA agents and State Department diplomats helped cover them up. Dillon also provides copious detail on the corruption and sexual debauches of top Contra officials, including military chief Enrique Bermudez. Contra human- rights lawyer Marta Baltodano, who tried but failed to stop the routine sexual abuse of female rebels, described her superiors as ''a Mafia like I'd never seen.'' Of the many U.S. officials described, typically well researched is U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Don Johnson, a gregarious U.S. military adviser with an infectious smile who may actually have been, according to Dillon, the CIA's chief military strategist for the Contras. Dillon quotes a Contra official who described Johnson standing in gym shorts in the rebel command post, directing a major offensive in December 1987 against three Nicaraguan mining towns: '' 'He was arranging everything on his maps. ''Let's try this! Now let's move them here!'' It was like a party, in his own house, as if he were playing with lead soldiers. . . . It was like it was a big game,' the official said. 'That's when we saw that Johnson was giving direct orders to Bermudez. ''Colonel, sign this for me!'' he'd tell Bermudez. And he'd hand Bermudez an order, already typed up. . . . He wasn't even consulting. And Bermudez was signing.' '' Although Dillon savages the Contra leadership and U.S. officials, he stubbornly portrays the Contras' cause as a noble one worth backing. He clearly and accurately describes how most Contra fighters were peasants driven into rebellion by Sandinista arrogance and Marxist policies. It was not their fault, Dillon says, that their revolt was hijacked by the CIA and right-wing thugs. Dillon's point might be stronger, however, had he compared the Contras' situation with the similar dilemma of many equally humble Nicaraguans who fought to defend legitimate Sandinista reforms -- despite their distaste for their own hijackers, who happened to be Soviet and Cuban."
August 27, 1996, NPR, 'California Reporter Alleges CIA Approval of Drug Ring': "GARY WEBB: ... The way it operated in was this - they would bring the cocaine in, in various means, through Miami, through Houston, along the coast of California. And they would distribute it and collect the money, and the money would be sent- at least some of the money would be sent to the Contras in Nicaragua. And the biggest part of the- the drug operation that we were able to find operated in South Central L.A. in Compton. ... Correct. And that's- You know, as you realize, there were several of- several guerrilla groups that we called the Contras. Actually, the biggest one and the one that was directly sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency was the FDN, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, in English. And the fellow who was the- the Southern California distributor for this ring was a man named Denielo Blandone [sp], who was a former official of the Somoza government. And he arrived in the United States in 1979 and testified recently that he began selling cocaine in South Central Los Angeles in- in early 1982. After he had met with the military commander of the FDN, which was a fellow named Colonel Enrique Bermudez [sp], who, you know, as the Iran-Contra hearing showed, was on the CIA's payroll for almost a decade, probably even longer than that. ... What we found was that they were meeting with CIA agents - Enrique Bermudez, number one; Aldofo Colero [sp], number two. We- we found and printed a picture of Aldofo Colero, who was the political leader of the FDN, that was taken in June of 1984 in a kitchen in San Francisco, in the company of Norlind Menessas [sp], who was the Nicaraguan exile who actually ran the drug ring. He was Denielo Blandone's boss. As far as protecting the ring, I mean, this thing came very close to being broken by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in late 1986, and according to an affidavit for the search warrant that I found, the police knew that this ring was selling cocaine and funneling the profits to the Contras through a brokerage firm in Florida. It was a very, very detailed affidavit for a search warrant. They raided 12 to 13 locations, they arrested a number of Nicaraguans, but they didn't find anything. And when I asked the police department what happened- I mean, usually when you have raids of this magnitude, you go in and you find things. And the attorney for the police officer who led the raid said that the police had always believed that it was compromised by the CIA. Now, we also had received documents from the National Archives that we had declassified, which told of a customs investigation in '85- '84, in which a customs official claimed that his investigation was sidetracked and stymied by 'national security interests.' Then we also reported that on- in El Salvador at that same time, a DEA agent named Selerino Castillo [sp] had discovered that drugs were being flown out of a couple of hangars at Ilipango Air Base [sp] outside of San Salvador. He was told that it was a CIA covert operation, that he was not to interfere with it. And he continued writing reports and eventually said he was drummed out of the DEA. So, you have three different agencies, at roughly the same period of time, reporting similar problems when they attempted to investigate this ring. ... Well, Denielo Blandone, who, by the way- I mean, this fellow is not a drug dealer who is trying to beat a rap by- by going public with this thing. He is working for the federal government at the moment, and he testified as a DEA witness in a case in San Diego where most of this came out last March. And he estimated that in the first year, 1981, that he started working with this ring, they sold around 900 kilos of cocaine. You know, we figured out that the wholesale value, alone- I mean, this isn't street value. We- we were playing very conservative with these figures. The wholesale value was $54 million. In 1990, Blandone was taped by the DEA bragging that he had sold the black drug dealers in Los Angeles between 2,000 and 4,000 kilos. And you just need to multiply that out. That's like four tons of cocaine. ... Blandone was arrested in 1992, and was charged with conspiracy to possess cocaine, and pleaded guilty. The probation department recommended a life sentence and a $4-million fine. What happened was that he was released from federal prison after 28 months in custody, was not fined, and, in fact, was given a job with the Drug Enforcement Administration to work for them as an informant. And we found records indicating that he had been paid approximately $166,000 in the last 18 months for his work with the DEA."
January 9, 2011, Contra Costa Times (California), 'The return of "Freeway" Ricky Ross, the man behind a crack empire': "That white powder and the life it promised intrigued him. One day a friend, a teacher, urged him to start dealing. So Ross looked around for opportunities. And what he saw -- what others might not have seen -- was a vast and untapped market in South Central Los Angeles, where he grew up. Everyone told him his plan was impossible. Cocaine was too expensive; most of the black folks who lived there were too poor to afford it. But Ross made it work. He distilled the powder into rock, using an existing method developed in the late 1970s. He marketed his product to the gangs, Crips and Bloods, who ran the streets. More often than not, his customers paid him in $1 bills. Ross was the man to see if you wanted to unload cocaine in L.A. His fame on the streets led him to Oscar Danilo Blandon, a Nicaraguan dope dealer with ties to the Contras -- a ragged band of mercenaries and ex-landowners trying to overthrow the Sandinista-led government in Nicaragua with the help of the U.S. Congress and the CIA. By the early 1980s, Ross had heard that Blandon was trying to unload huge quantities of premium-grade cocaine. So one day, Ross says, he and Blandon both paid $60,000 to a broker who arranged for them to meet. "I made all my money back that same day," he says. Ross and Blandon were made for each other. Blandon had more cocaine than anyone could have wished for. And Ross had a mind for business that rivaled that of many CEOs. "He just had so much," Ross says, "and the cheaper I got it, the cheaper I could sell it." And sell it he did. Ross pulls his truck to a stop at 74th and Western avenues and points to a gated set of buildings, now shuttered, rusting and empty. This was Ross' "shop." From here he sold tires and wheels. He had a beauty salon and a carwash -- all of it a front. "I was selling drugs all over the place out here," he says, and turns up the volume on the radio, from which Eminem is wailing about his marital problems. "This was state of the art. We kept cars full of money, or drugs, on all these streets." The high life Ross and Blandon made millions of dollars together. Blandon and his cohorts shipped the cocaine into the U.S. through Miami and then out to Ross, who started building networks to other cities across the country. In the course of his rise, prosecutors estimate that Ross exported several tons of cocaine to New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, and made more than $600 million in the process. ... Ross ran his empire with corporation-like precision. If his employees had legal problems, he supplied them with a lawyer. If buyers wanted an early delivery, he made sure they got it. He gave some of his clients preferential rates. And because Blandon gave him such bargain-basement prices, he undercut his competition at every turn. By the mid-1980s, Ross claims there were a few days when he made more than $2 million hawking crack on the streets. The San Diego DEA officials who would investigate, and convict, him a decade later refer to him now, in unusually understated language, as a "large-scale crack-cocaine dealer." Ross didn't know what to do with all his money. He paid his mother and his girlfriends a weekly allowance. He bought cars and houses and motels and apartment buildings. He lost count of all the property he owned. "Twenty houses, maybe 30," he says, "I don't know." A few miles more and he stops the truck in front of a gold and white house with Greek columns on Hillcrest Avenue, a quiet street in Inglewood. At the height of his power, he bought this house from a liquor store owner for $250,000 in cash. And because the liquor store owner needed small bills to run his business, Ross paid him in $1 bills. Downfall Blandon and Ross made an odd pair. Blandon was Nicaraguan, well-to-do, disdainful of his poor black customers. Blandon hated the Socialists who had taken over his country. Sometimes he told Ross that he was helping the rebels out with the money he made selling crack. But Ross didn't ask too many questions. He was trying to stay one step ahead of the law."
August 24, 1996, The Times, 'CIA aided drug ring 'to fund Contras'': "AS AMERICA'S most infamous crack cocaine millionaire was sentenced yesterday in a federal court, detailed allegations emerged that his supply network was protected by the CIA in order to channel profits to anti-government rebels in Nicaragua. "Freeway" Ricky Ross, who was convicted on drugs charges earlier this year, was for much of the 1980s the main customer of a powerful cocaine ring in the San Francisco area tolerated by the CIA as an important source of funds for Nicaragua's Contras, the San Jose Mercury News reported. Ross, 34, who had a talent for street-level organisation, bought a tonne of the drug for $ 54 million (Pounds 35 million) in 1981 alone, according to Oscar Blandon, a former Contra leader, drug dealer and the American Government's chief informer in its case against Ross. Mr Blandon, his chief supplier, said in 1994 that the reason for his involvement in the drug trade was simple: "We started raising money for the Contra revolution. Whatever drugs we were running in LA, the profit was going to the Contra revolution." It was Juan Norwin Meneses [Cantarero], Mr Blandon's boss, the crucial link between the crack epidemic and funding for the Contras, who was able to run his business with impunity thanks to US intelligence, documents obtained by the newspaper show."
August 28, 1996, Dayton Daily News (Ohio), ''Crack' plague tied to CIA': "For the better part of a decade, a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. This drug network opened the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles, a city now known as the 'crack' capital of the world. The cocaine that flooded in helped spark a crack explosion in urban America - and provided the cash and connections needed for L.A.'s gangs to buy automatic weapons. This page looks at the bizarre relationship that developed between a U.S.-backed army attempting to overthrow a revolutionary socialist government and the Uzi-toting 'gangstas' of Compton and South-Central Los Angeles. - The San Jose Mercury News JUST THE FACTS * The 5,000-man Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) was created in mid-1981 when the CIA combined several existing groups of anti-communist exiles into a unified force it hoped would topple the new socialist government of Nicaragua. * From 1982 to 1988, the FDN - run by both American and Nicaraguan CIA agents - waged a losing battle against Nicaragua's Sandinista government, the Cuban-supported socialists who'd overthrown U.S.-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. * Former FDN leader and drug dealer Oscar Danilo Blandon Reyes, who began working for the FDN's drug operation in late 1981, testified that the drug ring sold almost a ton of cocaine in the United States that year - worth $ 54 million at prevailing wholesale prices. * Blandon testified that 'whatever we were running in L.A., the profit was going for the contra revolution.' At the time of that testimony, Blandon was a full-time informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration, a job the U.S. Department of Justice got him after releasing him from prison in 1994. * Though Blandon admitted to crimes that have sent others away for life, the Justice Department turned him loose on unsupervised probation after only 28 months behind bars and has paid him more than $ 166,000 since. * Blandon's boss in the FDN's cocaine operation, Juan Norwin Meneses Cantarero, has never spent a day in a U.S. prison, even though the federal government has been aware of his cocaine dealings since at least 1974. * Meneses - who ran the drug ring from his homes in the San Francisco Bay Area - is listed in the DEA's computers as a major international drug smuggler and was implicated in 45 separate federal investigations. Yet he and his cocaine-dealing relatives lived quite openly in the Bay Area for years, buying homes, bars, restaurants, car lots and factories. * While a prosecutor says Meneses' organization was 'the target of unsuccessful investigative attempts for many years,' records show that a number of those probes were stymied by agencies of the U.S. government. * Agents from four organizations - the DEA, U.S. Customs, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement - have complained that investigations were hampered by the CIA or unnamed 'national security' interests. * It wasn't until 1989, a few months after the contra-Sandinista war ended and five years after Meneses moved to a ranch in Costa Rica, that the U.S. government took any action against him: Federal prosecutors in San Francisco charged Meneses with conspiracy to distribute one kilo of cocaine in 1984, a year in which he was working publicly with the FDN. * The Meneses indictment was quickly locked away in the vaults of the San Francisco federal courthouse, where it remains today - inexplicably secret for more than seven years. Meneses was never arrested. * Reporters found a copy of the secret indictment in Nicaragua, along with a federal arrest warrant issued Feb. 8, 1989. Records show the no-bail warrant was never entered into the national law-enforcement database that police use to track down fugitives. THE CONSEQUENCES * While the FDN's war in Nicaragua is barely a memory today, black America is still dealing with its poisonous side effects: * Inner cities are grappling with legions of homeless crack addicts. * Thousands of young black men are serving long prison sentences for selling cocaine - a drug that was virtually unobtainable in black neighborhoods before members of the CIA's army brought it into South-Central in the 1980s at bargain-basement prices. * L.A. gangs used their enormous cocaine profits to arm themselves and spread crack across the country. * The U.S. Department of Justice is left to explain why nearly everyone convicted in California's federal courts of 'crack' cocaine trafficking is black: * Danilo Blandon - the Crips' and Bloods' first direct-connect to the cocaine cartels of Colombia - is a free man living in Nicaragua and running a wood exporting business. One prosecutor said Blandon had sold so much cocaine in the United States that his mandatory prison sentence would be 'off the scale.' * But Ricky Ross, the young black man who was L.A.'s premier crack wholesaler and Danilo Blandon's biggest customer, awaits sentencing on a cocaine conspiracy conviction. Blandon helped set up the sting that netted Ross. THE SETUP * The contra army's financiers - who met with CIA agents both before and during the time they were selling drugs in L.A. - delivered cut-rate cocaine to the gangs through a young South-Central crack dealer named Ricky Donnell Ross. * 'Freeway Rick,' a dope dealer of mythic proportions in the L.A. drug world, turned the cocaine powder into crack and wholesaled it to gangs as far east as Dayton. * The cash Ross paid for the cocaine was used to buy weapons and equipment for a guerrilla army named the Fuerza Democratica Nicaraguense (Nicaraguan Democratic Force) or FDN, the largest of several anti-communist groups commonly called the contras. * Former FDN leader and drug dealer Oscar Danilo Blandon Reyes didn't try to peddle the FDN's cocaine in Beverly Hills or Malibu. He and several other Nicaraguan exiles headed for the vast, untapped markets of L.A.'s black ghettos. * Blandon's marketing strategy - selling the world's most expensive street drug in some of California's poorest neighborhoods - might seem baffling, but he and his compatriots arrived in South-Central L.A. just as street-level drug users were figuring out how to make cocaine affordable: by changing the pricey white powder into powerful little nuggets that could be smoked - crack. * With crack, cocaine smokers got an explosive high unmatched by 10 times as much snorted powder. And since only a tiny amount was needed for that rush, cocaine no longer had to be sold in large, expensive quantities. Anyone with $ 20 could get wasted. * It was a 'substance that is tailor-made to addict people,' said Dr. Robert Byck, a Yale University cocaine expert, during congressional testimony in 1986."
September 19, 1996, Geraldo Rivera show, 'Panelist discuss the possible involvement of the CIA in the crack cocaine epidemic': "Mr. ALAN FENSTER (Attorney For "Freeway Rick" Ross): Well, one of the arguments, of course, is that the government is strenuously requesting that he--that Ricky Ross be sentenced to a mandatory life prison. That is, he will die in prison, whereas Blandon, a man responsible for bringing thousands of kilos of cocaine into the United States, was let out of jail after doing 28 months. And on top of that, he's been paid $ 166,000 so far by the American taxpayers and apparently is still counting."
September 15, 1996, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania), 'CIA tied to Calif. drug ring' (written by Gary Webb): "'There is a saying that the ends justify the means,'' former FDN leader and drug dealer Oscar Danilo Blandon Reyes testified during a recent cocaine trafficking trial in San Diego. ''And that's what Mr. Bermudez (the CIA agent who commanded the FDN) told us in Honduras, OK? So we started raising money for the Contra revolution.'' The CIA link Recently declassified reports, federal court testimony, undercover tapes, court records here and abroad and hundreds of hours of interviews over the past 12 months reveal that Blandon was no ordinary drug dealer. Shortly before Blandon - who had been the drug ring's Southern California distributor - took the stand in San Diego as a witness for the U.S. Department of Justice, federal prosecutors obtained a court order preventing defense lawyers from delving into his ties to the CIA. Blandon, one of the FDN's founders in California, ''will admit that he was a large-scale dealer in cocaine, and there is no additional benefit to any defendant to inquire as to the Central Intelligence Agency,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney L.J. O'Neale argued in his motion shortly before Ross' trial on cocaine trafficking charges in March. The 5,000-man FDN, records show, was created in mid-1981 when the CIA combined several existing groups of anti-communist exiles into a unified force it hoped would topple the new socialist government of Nicaragua. From 1982 to 1988, the FDN, run by both American and Nicaraguan CIA agents, waged a losing war against Nicaragua's Sandinista government, the Cuban-supported socialists who'd overthrown U.S.-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. Blandon, who began working for the FDN's drug operation in late 1981, testified that the drug ring sold almost a ton of cocaine in the United States that year, $ 54 million worth at prevailing wholesale prices. It was not clear how much of the money found its way back to the CIA's army, but Blandon testified that ''whatever we were running in L.A., the profit was going to the Contra revolution.'' ... ''He has been extraordinarily helpful,'' federal prosecutor O'Neale told Blandon's judge in a plea for the trafficker's release in 1994. Though O'Neale once described Blandon to a grand jury as ''the biggest Nicaraguan cocaine dealer in the United States,'' the prosecutor would not discuss him with the Mercury News. Dealer not jailed Blandon's boss in the FDN's cocaine operation, Juan Norwin Meneses Cantarero, has never spent a day in a U.S. prison, even though the federal government has been aware of his cocaine dealings since at least 1974, records show. Meneses, who ran the drug ring from his homes in the San Francisco Bay area, is listed in the DEA's computers as a major international drug smuggler and was implicated in 45 separate federal investigations. His organization was ''the target of unsuccessful investigative attempts for many years,'' prosecutor O'Neale acknowledged in a 1994 affidavit. But records and interviews revealed that a number of those probes were stymied not by the elusive Meneses but by agencies of the U.S. government. Agents from four organizations - the DEA, U.S. Customs, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement - have complained that investigations were hampered by the CIA or unnamed ''national security'' interests. One 1988 investigation by a U.S. Senate subcommittee ran into a wall of official secrecy at the Justice Department. In that case, congressional records show, Senate investigators were trying to determine why the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, Joseph Russoniello, had given $ 36,000 back to a Nicaraguan cocaine dealer arrested by the FBI. The money was returned, court records show, after two Contra leaders sent letters to the court swearing that the drug dealer had been given the cash to buy weapons for guerrillas. Russoniello said it was cheaper to give the money back than to disprove that claim. ''The Justice Department flipped out to prevent us from getting access to people, records - finding anything out about it,'' recalled Jack Blum, former chief counsel to the Senate subcommittee that investigated allegations of Contra cocaine trafficking. Meneses moved to a ranch in Costa Rica in 1984, and was eventually arrested on cocaine charges in Nicaragua in 1991. After his arrest, his judge expressed astonishment that the infamous smuggler went unmolested by American drug agents during his years in the United States. A sudden downfall Blandon led an equally charmed life. For at least five years he brokered massive amounts of cocaine to the black gangs of Los Angeles without being arrested. But his luck changed overnight. On Oct. 27, 1986, agents from the FBI, the IRS, local police and Los Angeles County sheriff's officers fanned out across Southern California and raided more than a dozen locations connected to Blandon's cocaine operation. He and his wife, along with numerous Nicaraguan associates, were arrested on drug and weapons charges. The search warrant affidavit reveals that local drug agents knew plenty about Blandon's involvement with cocaine and the CIA's army nearly 10 years ago. Despite their intimate knowledge of Blandon's operations, however, the police raids were a spectacular failure. Every location had been cleaned of anything remotely incriminating. No one was ever prosecuted. FBI records show that soon after the raids, Blandon's defense attorney, Bradley Brunon, phoned the sheriff's department to suggest that his client's troubles stemmed from a most unlikely source: a recent congressional vote authorizing $ 100 million in military aid to the CIA's Contra army. According to a December 1986 FBI teletype, Brunon told the officers that the ''CIA winked at this sort of thing (selling cocaine to raise Contra money). . . . (Brunon) indicated that now that the U.S. Congress had voted funds for the Nicaraguan Contra movement, the U.S. government now appears to be turning against organizations like this.'' Blandon has also implied that his cocaine sales were, for a time, CIA-approved. He told a San Francisco federal grand jury in 1994 that once the FDN began receiving American taxpayer dollars, the CIA no longer needed his kind of help. ''When Mr. Reagan get in the power, we start receiving a lot of money,'' Blandon testified. ''And the people that was in charge, it was the CIA, so they didn't want to raise any (drug) money because they have, they had the money that they wanted.'' ''From the government?'' asked Assistant U.S. Attorney David Hall. ''Yes, for the Contra revolution,'' Blandon said. ''So we started - you know, the ambitious person - we started doing business by ourselves.'' Asked about that, prosecutor Hall said, ''I don't know what to tell you. The CIA won't tell me anything.'' None of the government agencies known to have been involved with Meneses and Blandon over the years would provide the Mercury News with any information about them. A Freedom of Information Act request filed with the CIA was denied on national security grounds. FOIA requests filed with the DEA were denied on privacy grounds. Requests filed months ago with the FBI, the State Department and the Immigration and Naturalization Service have produced nothing so far. The Texas connection The Contra-cocaine connection also arose during the sensational 1992 cocaine trafficking trial of Meneses after he was arrested in Nicaragua in connection with a staggering 750-kilo shipment of cocaine. His chief accuser was his friend Enrique Miranda, a relative and former Nicaraguan military intelligence officer who had been Meneses' emissary to the cocaine cartel of Bogota, Colombia. Miranda pleaded guilty to drug charges and agreed to cooperate in exchange for a seven-year sentence. In a long, handwritten statement he read to Meneses' jury, Miranda revealed the deepest secrets of the Meneses drug ring, earning his old boss a 30-year prison sentence in the process. Meneses ''and his brother Luis Enrique had financed the Contra revolution with the benefits of the cocaine they sold,'' Miranda wrote. ''This operation, as Norwin told me, was executed with the collaboration of high-ranking Salvadoran military personnel. They met with officials of the Salvadoran air force, who flew (planes) to Colombia and then left for the U.S., bound for an Air Force base in Texas, as he told me.'' Meneses, who has close personal and business ties to a Salvadoran air force commander and former CIA agent named Marcos Aguado, declined to discuss Miranda's statements during an interview at a prison outside Managua in January. He is scheduled to be paroled this summer after nearly five years in custody. U.S. General Accounting Office records confirm that El Salvador's air force was supplying the CIA's Nicaraguan guerrillas with aircraft and flight support services throughout the mid-1980s. Miranda did not name the Air Force base in Texas where the FDN's cocaine was purportedly flown. The same day the Mercury News requested official permission to interview him, he disappeared. While out on a routine weekend furlough, Miranda failed to return to the Nicaraguan jail where he'd been living since 1992. He has not been seen in nearly a year."
October 2, 1996, The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey), 'The gang's all here: Time to probe drug links among CIA, Contras': "Time to probe drug links among CIA, Contras, Crips and Bloods It should not shock our sensibilities that there are allegations of Uncle Sam's culpability in pushing tons of cocaine among street gangs in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, with profits earmarked for the CIA-supported Nicaraguan Contras. There have been suspicions among countless people in urban America for a couple of decades that some sinister force in Washington, in conjunction with perhaps an appendage of the criminal class, funneled illicit drugs into black communities. The heads of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Justice Department have dismissed such charges. Both departments, however, currently are investigating allegations of the CIA involvement in drug trafficking from the Contras to the streets of Los Angeles. Even the assurances by CIA and Justice Department officials have been insufficient to assuage the anger of many African-Americans who, since the charges first surfaced, have demanded a full-blown congressional investigation. ... The Contra crack scandal was first uncovered last August in a three-part series of the San Jose Mercury News, which reported that a Nicaraguan cocaine dealer, Danilo Blandon, funneled drugs to "Freeway" Ricky Ross, a South Central crack dealer who Blandon later testified in federal court was his biggest customer. Ross turned Blandon's cocaine into crack and distributed it to the Crips and Bloods street gangs. Blandon, now an undercover informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration, told the DEA in 1995 that at the height of his business, he was providing 100 kilos of cocaine a week to the gangs."
January 30, 1998, New York Times, 'C.I.A. Report Concludes Agency Knew Nothing of Drug Dealers' Ties to Rebels': "The Central Intelligence Agency today released the first volume of an internal investigation concluding that the agency knew nothing about California cocaine dealers who claimed connections with rebels in Nicaragua backed by the agency. The inspector general's report was an effort to answer accusations made in newspaper articles published in August 1996 that drug-dealing Nicaraguan rebels and their supporters were responsible for introducing crack cocaine to black neighborhoods in California in the 1980's. The series of articles in The San Jose Mercury News suggested that the C.I.A. condoned the drug trafficking because the cocaine dealers kicked back millions of dollars to rebels fighting the Marxist Sandinista Government of Nicaragua. The articles ignited a storm of protest, fanned by talk radio, the Internet and the grapevine. The intelligence agency fervently denied the accusation and undertook the internal investigation to try to restore its image. The Director of Central Intelligence, George J. Tenet, said today that "no investigation, no matter how exhaustive, will completely erase that false impression or undo the damage that has been done" to the agency by the articles. The Mercury News published a long note from its editor last year saying the articles were overblown. The reporter who wrote them, Gary Webb, has resigned. The agency's report released today, the first of two volumes, includes fragments of evidence about connections between the cocaine dealers and the rebels, known as contras, but nothing like the seamless web reported by The Mercury News. The report concludes that one of the cocaine dealers mentioned by The Mercury News, Oscar Danilo Blandon, gave a contra leader, Eden Pastora, several thousand dollars, the use of two cars and a free place to stay. But, the agency says, their relationship was not political. Mr. Blandon also met with another contra leader, Enrique Bermudez, but says that he gave him no money. Mr. Blandon told the C.I.A. that he and another cocaine dealer, Norwin Meneses, donated tens of thousands of dollars to contra sympathizers in Los Angeles. The agency says it cannot prove or disprove that assertion. Its report says neither man claims to have been "motivated by any commitment to support the contra cause or contra activities undertaken by C.I.A.," and that the agency was unaware of their existence in the 1980's. Another convicted drug dealer, Renato Pena Cabrera, who says he was an unpaid representative of the contras in California from 1982 through 1984, told C.I.A. investigators that he had heard from a Colombian associate of Mr. Meneses that some proceeds from several million dollars' worth of cocaine he sold went to support the contras. The report includes no more information on that assertion, other than to say that the C.I.A. never had a relationship with Mr. Pena. The second volume of the report, to be completed next month, will examine accusations that some contras and their supporters dealt in drugs. A 1989 Senate investigation concluded that they did. It said the largest contra group moved money through a drug-smuggling network; that drug traffickers gave the contras money, guns, planes and pilots, and that Government money meant to support the contras went to drug traffickers. The C.I.A.'s inspector general, Fred Hitz, said today that he had found no evidence that the agency, or any of its employees, had dealt in drugs to support the contras."
February 1, 1990, Associated Press, ' Attorney: Contra Leader Ordered Killing of U.S. Citizen': "An attorney charged Thursday that new information points to Contra military leader Enrique Bermudez as the official who ordered the killing of a U.S. volunteer building a rural dam in Nicaragua. Benjamin Linder, 27, of Portland, Ore., died April 28, 1987, when the U.S.-backed rebels attacked the hydroelectric dam in northern Nicaragua. His family contends the engineer was abducted, tortured and executed, but the Contras said he was armed, and died in a firefight between rebel and Sandinista government troops. The family has filed a $$50 million wrongful death suit in federal court in Miami against the Contras and their leadership, including Bermudez. The Contras at one time had a headquarters in Miami. "This was not just an attack on a dam ... this was an attack to assassinate a man," family attorney Michael Ratner told U.S. District Judge Stanley Marcus. "Linder was taken alive and executed subsequently, and Enrique Bermudez gave the order." The charge was based on a deposition from Fermin Cardenas, former head of operations for the Contras, and later given amnesty in Nicaragua. Cardenas, who died shortly after giving his statement, said Bermudez had ordered Linder killed to sabotage the dam project, and congratulated the patrol's commander afterward. Bermudez continues to head the rebel military. Thursday's hearing came on the family's request to amend the suit with the Cardenas deposition, thus making it more specific, instead of basing it on general claims that the Contras routinely conducted such raids against civilian workers."
May-July 2010, Volume 11, Issue 11, American Security Council Foundation News Review, Henry A. Fisher, ASCF president: "The ceremony on March 21, 2010 was to be held at a rally to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the murder of Contra commander Comandante‟ Enrique Bermudez. Enrique Bermudez, codenamed “Comandante 380,” founded and commanded the Contras, the largest group of Free-dom Fighters in the war against Nicaragua‟s Marxist Sandinista government. From the inception in 1979 until the end of the military conflict in 1990, Bermudez was responsible for all military operations for the 25,000 man strong Contra force, and later the transition to a peaceful opposition political party after the historic free and fair election of President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro on February 25, 1990. Prior to his affiliation with the Contras, Enrique Bermudez had risen through the ranks of the Nicaraguan Guardia National to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and served under former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza De-bayle. Lt. Colonel Bermudez was serving as military attaché‟ to the United States at the time of the 1979 revolution in Nicaragua by the Sandinistas. At that time Bermudez moved immediately into armed opposition against the Sand-inista Government becoming one of the most influential leaders in the fight for a free Nicaragua."
July 30, 1989, Washington Post, 'U.S. Wants Contras to Keep Arms Until Nicaraguan Voting': "Meanwhile, some strains have developed in the administration and conservative political circles over how State Department officials are implementing the administration's contra policy. State Department officials have strongly criticized some veteran contra leaders, such as longtime civilian political chief Adolfo Calero and military commander Enrique Bermudez, charging that Bermudez, Calero and others are more interested in preserving their personal political bases than adapting to the political situation in the United States and Nicaragua. These criticisms, coupled with the State Department's decision to give the contra field commanders a greater role in the political process, have prompted counter-charges from Bermudez and Calero that the State Department is seeking to force them out and undermine the contras' traditional political leadership. ... Some longtime conservative political allies of the contras also have criticized the State Department. In a recent letter to Bush, 15 conservatives joined Samuel T. Dickens, director of the American Security Council, a conservative group strongly supportive of the contras, in accusing the department of seeking to undermine the contras' political and military leadership. Officials backing the State Department said it is not seeking to oust Bermudez and Calero but trying to force them to adapt to the changing political situation. "In any sort of transition period, there are certain changes that take place that require a certain adjustment," one official said. "In an earlier time . . . , [Bermudez] was sort of an undisputed leader. Now he's not going to have the sole role. The leadership has expanded.""
April 18, 1991, Col. Sam Dickens for Roll Call, 'Premature Hero Status': "The Feb. 16 assassination of former resistance leader Enrique Bermudez was just one of many such killings over the past year. At least 50 former members of the resistance (Contras) who laid down their arms to participate in the democratic process have been murdered by government security forces. ... The Nicaraguan government has, in short, willfully blocked an effective probe of the Bermudez murder. This implies knowledge of high-level Sandinista involvement in the killing. Sandinista-controlled death squads continue to operate with impunity in Nicaragua. Murders of former resistance people continue. The American Security Council sponsored a visit to Washington last week of the widow and son of Enrique Bermudez. They visited with several Members of Congress, met with Bush Administration officials, and testified before the Organization of American States to assess the tragic and pitiful situation in Nicaragua."
May 3, 1991, New York Times, 'A Man of Hate Meets His Violent Destiny': "To the Editor: In all the denunciations of the assassination in Managua in February of Col. Enrique Bermudez, I note that no one bothers to mention just who this contra leader really was. President Bush called it a heinous crime, and Samuel T. Dickens, the director of inter-American affairs at the American Security Council, accuses the Sandinistas of perpetrating the deed (Op-Ed, April 16). But Enrique Bermudez was so hated by so many that anyone could have done it. What's more, the United States press had well recorded his viciousness in the past. When Enrique Bermudez became the contras' top commander in 1988, you reported (May 6, 1988) that contra field chiefs petitioned the Central Intelligence Agency to get rid of him on the grounds that he was too brutal and personally corrupt. And when the C.I.A. refused, you reported that 7 of the 38 commanders quit (July 21, 1988). Newsweek informed (Aug. 1, 1988) of his boast that under his command the contras would use new methods, "such as assassination of Sandinista leaders," adding, "we could use even terrorism." But there were a lot of ordinary Nicaraguans who would have eagerly sought Enrique Bermudez for revenge. I met one such, a woman more than 70 years old, when I went to Nicaragua as a member of the international team of observers of the 1984 elections. They called her La Dulce, the soft one, because she never raised her voice and never raised her eyes. She walked with a slight shuffle as if lugging a sack of dead wood on her shoulders, and she clutched a walking stick as if it were a tomahawk. "My son was tortured to death in front of my eyes," she finally told me one day, "to force me to tell them where some students were hiding. I didn't tell them, you know why, because I didn't know, but they killed him anyway." Then, pulling out a crumpled newspaper picture and showing it to me, La Dulce, who never supported or joined the Sandinistas, added: "This man was the one who kept putting the picana" -- an electric rod attached to a portable generator -- "in my son's mouth. The others were holding him and holding me. But he was the one who burned out my son's eyes. Him." The picture was one of Enrique Bermudez, commander of the dictator Anastasio Somoza's National Guard. JOHN GERASSI Professor, Political Science Queens College, CUNY."
June 17, 1992, United States Court of Appeal, 11th District, No. 90-5862, 'David LINDER, Elisabeth Linder, individually and as Co-Personal Representatives of the Estate of Benjamin Linder, John Linder, Miriam Linder, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Adolfo Calero PORTOCARRERO, et al., Defendants-Appellees': "After graduating from college with a mechanical engineering degree in 1983, Linder, as a civilian, went to remote areas of Nicaragua to construct dams and hydroelectric plants. He chose San Jose de Bocay, a town that had never had electricity, as a plant site. In April 1987, Linder went to the site with six co-workers. He wore civilian clothes and carried a rifle. His co-workers were volunteers from a local farming cooperative. Some wore military uniforms and carried guns because, although not Nicaraguan Army soldiers, they were civilian Self-Defense Militia members. Lying in ambush were at least a dozen members of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN). After Linder and his co-workers put down their rifles and began their work, the FDN patrol attacked them with grenades and machine guns. The patrol shot Linder through both of his legs and his left arm, immobilizing but not mortally wounding him. While he lay defenseless, patrol members tortured him by stabbing him thirty to forty times in the face. He was then executed by shooting him through the temple from a range of less than two feet. 3 This planned attack on Linder was allegedly part of a policy, pattern and practice of widespread torture targeted at development workers and development projects for the purpose of destroying the projects and terrifying other development workers, foreign and Nicaraguan, from engaging in similar development work. 4 Four individual defendants, Enrique Bermudez, Adolfo Calero, Aristides Sanchez and Indalecio Rodriguez are allegedly responsible for the torture and murder of Linder.1 These individuals, who resided in Miami, Florida, were responsible for the military decisions and operational directions that were issued."
April 26, 1986, UPI, 'Contra accuses other rebels of corruption, drug trafficking': "A Contra guerrilla has accused the main U.S.-backed rebel group of beating and paralyzing him because he ''denounced corruption'' and drug trafficking in the force. Leonardo Zeledon Rodriguez left the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, or FDN, which operates out of base camps along the Honduran border, in 1982 to join a smaller Contra force. ''Although there was no food at the camps, here in Tegucigalpa the leaders, such as '380,' went around drinking rum in the bars,'' Zeledon said Friday. He identified FDN military chief Enrique Bermudez as 380. ''Who doesn't remember that Troilo Sanchez, brother of Aristides Sanchez who is a member of the FDN directorate, was caught in Costa Rica with pillows full of cocaine,'' he said. ''Troilo is a brother-in-law of Adolfo Calero,'' one of the top rebel leaders, Zeledon said. ''Troilo sold 200 pounds of cocaine and received $6.1 million for it.'' Zeledon also charged the FDN with ordering an assault against him. He said he was in a Tegucigalpa night club Jan. 21 when he met Leonardo Montalvan, who told him the Contras wanted to ''screw me over'' because he had taken local reporters to an FDN instruction school near the Honduran capital. ''Leonaro Montalvan told me I was on a (secret police) list and that they were going to kill me,'' he said. He said he left the club at about 1:30 a.m. and the next thing he remembered was waking up in a hospital, Zeledon said. ''It has left me immobile,'' Zeledon said of the beating that left him paralyzed from the chest down. He denied taking reporters to the training center. ''They did this to me because I denounced corruption, and I'm going to continue to denounce it while I'm still alive,'' Zeledon said from his bed in the Military Hospital School. Zeledon said that until last September he was private secretary to Stedman Fagoth, leader of a Nicaraguan rebel force made up of Misura Indians [who since 1983 was allied with the FDN]."
The Kerry Committee would soon establish that the rebels on the U.S. side had participated in the Colombia-U.S. drug pipeline. The committee's report, issued in December 1988, concluded that: "[I]t is clear that individuals who provided support for the Contras were involved in drug trafficking, the supply network for the Contras was used by drug trafficking organizations, and elements of the Contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers. In each case, one or another agency of the U.S. government had information regarding the involvement either while it was occurring, or immediately thereafter." |
Calero, Adolpho |
Source(s): July 17, 1986, Washington Post, 'The Contra Conclave': "... several hundred members of the of the conservative American Security Council assembled yesterday at the Capital Hilton for their annual meeting ... Yonas Deressa, a spokesman for the Ethiopian Democratic resistance... Gurmit Singh Aulakh, an invited guest from the International Sikh Organization, made the case for U.S. aid to Sikh liberation. ... "India is completely in the Soviet bloc." Asked about the assassination of Indira Gandhi, he said, "She asked for it." [her son Rajiv took over and was assassinated in 1991] ... Souksomboun Sayasithsena of Laos, left, and Adolpho Calero at yesterday's ASC meeting. ... Fisher made periodic appearances on the platform, presenting a plague to ... Caspar Weinberger and a mounted white alabaster eagle to ... Robert J. Dole. "
As Kerry himself put it in a closed session statement, later released: "It is clear that there is a networking of drug trafficking through the contras, and it goes right up to Calero, Mario Calero, Adolpho Calero, Enrique Bermudez. And we have people who will so testify and who have. "
August 4, 1987, New York Times, 'Iran-Contra hearings; Summing up a summer's work': "Adolpho Calero Portocarrero: Political leader of the largest contra army, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force Q. Mr.Calero did there come a time when you gave travelers checks to Col. North? A. Yes. Q. And in total , how much did you give him? A. We figure it's $90,000, about $90,000. Q. How did you come to give these checks to Col. North? A. In one of our meetings he brought out the fact that there was a private effort going to liberate the American hostages . . . . And so I reacted immediately, saying that hostages -Nicaraguan hostages of the Sandanistas, American hostages of these groups in Lebanon - were one and the same, and that I was happy to help, I would be happy to help in their liberation. (May 20)"
April 16, 1988, Washington Post, ' Testimony of Bush Aide in Question': "An entry in a newly released notebook of former White House aide Oliver L. North has raised new questions about when Vice President Bush's national security adviser, Donald P. Gregg, learned about the secret, North-directed operation to supply the contras during a congressional ban on U.S. military aid. ... The entry states, "1630 -- mtg w/ Jim Steele/Don Gregg." The notes then cite a proposed visit by Calero and contra military chief Enrique Bermudez to an air base to set up logistical and maintenance support."
March 16, 1998, Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony, 'Testimony, March 16, 1998, Maxine Waters, congresswoman, House Select Intelligence, CIA involvement in drug trafficking': "The following individuals associated with the Contras are, or were, either CIA agents or CIA assets: - Adolpho Calero - Enrique Bermudez - Marcos Aguado - Contra pilot and accused drug dealer. - Francisco Aviles - Contra official in Costa Rica in Frogman case. - Ivan Gomez - CIA agent who accepted drug money from Meneses. - Dagaberto Nunez - ran shrimp company for Oliver North in Costa Rica. - Rene Corvo - Cuban American who worked with Contras in Costa Rica. - Francisco Chanes - Owner of shrimp company for Oliver North in Costa Rica. - Edmundo Meneses - American-trained Nicaraguan general and Norwin's brother. - Sebastian Gonzalez - Contra leader in Costa Rica and drug partner of Meneses. ... Incredibly, the Report fails to mention anything about the activities of Adolpho Calero, only mentioning that he was interviewed. He was the key Contra leader and CIA agent in the Southern Front. Damning public information ties Calero to drug trafficking. In a December 1986 interview, Calero told the Costa Rican newspaper La Nacion that he met with drug kingpin Norwin Meneses at least six times and that he knew Meneses was involved in illegal activities."
March 16, 1998, Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony, 'Testimony, March 16, 1998, Maxine Waters, congresswoman, House Select Intelligence, CIA involvement in drug trafficking': "Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, I am here today to testify about the failure of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to conduct a serious and thorough investigation into the allegations of CIA involvement in cocaine trafficking to fund its Contra war activities. Unfortunately, my fear that the CIA would be unable to investigate itself has been confirmed with this report. The Inspector General's Report lacks credibility. It is fraught with contradictions and illogical conclusions. In a September 3, 1996 memo, then CIA Director John Deutch laid out the framework for this investigation. In his instructions to CIA Inspector General Frederick P. Hitz, Director Deutch stated, "I have no reason to believe that there is any substance to the allegations published in the Mercury News." Despite his premature conclusion, a serious, substantial and credible investigation and interview process would have proven him wrong. If the CIA Director's premature conclusion was meant to direct the final outcome, he has succeeded. This Report's sweeping denial of the CIA's knowledge of drug trafficking related to the Contras defies the evidence and the logic that the CIA should have known. From the days of the CIA's first response to the allegations raised in the "Dark Alliance" series, many skeptics believed that the CIA could never produce a credible or truthful review of wrongdoings by its own agency. These skeptics could point to this Sunday's Los Angeles Times to confirm their fears. The Times reported that, after 37 years, the CIA finally admitted publicly the most profound deception imaginable on an American family. Thomas Pete Ray and his top secret squadron of National Guard bombers were shot down during a CIA bombing mission in the Bay of Pigs debacle. For 37 years the CIA denied that Mr. Ray and his squadron even existed, much less were shot down by Cuban troops in 1961. Only this month, faced with a document obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request by the National Security Archives, did the CIA finally admit the truth - 37 years later. My deep concern about the allegations raised in the "Dark Alliance" series that my government could have in any way been involved in, or had knowledge of, drug trafficking, has caused me to spend my own time and resources to find out more about these allegations. After reading the "Dark Alliance" series, I interviewed Gary Webb, the writer of the series. I invited him to come to my district in South Central Los Angeles to respond to questions from local residents. My community encouraged my investigation and supported me in my efforts to delve deeper into these allegations. I personally interviewed a number of key figures in the "Dark Alliance" series. I first interviewed Alan Fenster, the attorney for Ricky Ross. Then I drove to San Diego to interview Mr. Ross who was being held in the Metropolitan detention facility on drug charges. I also drove to a restaurant in the Valley where I met with Celerino "Sully" Castillo, the DEA agent who had investigated the drug trafficking operation at the Ilopango airfield in El Salvador. Castillo had documented that the CIA directed this drug trafficking operation out of two hangers, using the Contra supply network as the route for shipping drugs into the U.S. I interviewed former LAPD officer Mike Ruppert, who states he was forced to leave LAPD after he uncovered a connection between the CIA and narcotic trafficking operations in California and Louisiana. Mr. Ruppert also was interviewed by the CIA for its Report. I met and had numerous telephone conversations with Jerry Guzetta, a detective with the City of Bell and a key member of the multi-agency task force working with the LA Sheriff's Department investigating the Blandon narcotics operation. Guzetta. was the Level 1 informant whose information was the basis of the affidavit of LA Sheriff Tom Gordon that resulted in the October 1986 raid of the Blandon operation's 14 sites in Southern California. I visited the records division of the LA Sheriff's Department and uncovered the Sheriff s reports regarding the October 1986 drug bust. I was the first to obtain copies of the documentation regarding the raids. On January 3, 1997, using my personal funds, I flew to Nicaragua to meet with Enrique Miranda Jaime, a former Sandanista official and drug partner of Norwin Meneses, a central figure in the allegations in the "Dark Alliance" series. I was contacted by someone who had information about the Colombian Cartels and their connection to Norwin Meneses. When I arrived in Nicaragua, I was taken to the prison in the town of Grenada by the State Department where I met with Miranda himself. Mr. Miranda told me some of the information that he gave to the CIA in this investigation, which is reported on pages 54 and 55 of the IG's Report. Mr. Miranda currently is in prison after being convicted for smuggling 764 kilos of cocaine with his partner Norwin Meneses. Meneses told Miranda - in detail - that Meneses worked for the Contras and that his drug trafficking operation had the support of the CIA. Meneses also told Miranda that he was receiving support directly from Oliver North and passing on the funds to support Contra groups. I met with Tomas Borge, a former Sandanista Interior Minister and head of intelligence. Mr. Borge also came to South Central LA to meet with me. I met with him for several hours. I also had numerous telephone conversations with Coral Talavera Baca, the girlfriend of Rafael Cornejo, who was a relative and part of Norwin Meneses' drug trafficking organization, as well as a long-time business partner of Danilo Blandon, another central figure in the "Dark Alliance" series. I received information from Ms. Baca and Mr. Cornejo who were connected to Carlos Lehder, a Columbian drug dealer and co-founder of the Medellin Cartel. It was through Lehder's private island that the Medellin Cartel moved massive amounts of cocaine to Miami and the United States. Ms. Baca had visited Carlos Lehder's private island and have information regarding the connection between Mr. Lehder and Norwin Meneses. I have looked into many of the main allegations raised in Gary Webb's series and I have thoroughly reviewed the Inspector General's Report. In addition, I have read many letters and reviewed volumes of information sent to me and have visited a large number of people who have claimed to have information about the drug dealing in South Central Los Angeles. In my informed opinion, the CIA IG Report and the investigation lacks credibility and its conclusions should be dismissed. Let me turn to some of the specifics of the Inspector General's Report. The average reader likely will find the structure of this Report bizarre and confusing. I also question the Report's methodology, its sweeping conclusions, its cleverly worded denials and its selective quoting of documents. The Report states that 365 interviews were conducted, but only summarizes statements from 12 individuals connected to the South Central Los Angeles specific allegations. I have a list of over 70 individuals who should have been interviewed under oath by the CIA if the investigation was to be considered credible. Did the CIA interview all of these people? Because the Report fails to list who was interviewed, we have no way of knowing. In addition, only 40 pages of this Report titled "The California Story" actually deal with the allegations of the South Central/crack cocaine/Contra connection. The Report mentions a half dozen other CIA and Contra officials interviewed, but does not offer even a cursory summary of their testimony. So let me do what the Report failed to do. The following individuals associated with the Contras are, or were, either CIA agents or CIA assets: - Adolpho Calero - Enrique Bermudez - Marcos Aguado - Contra pilot and accused drug dealer. - Francisco Aviles - Contra official in Costa Rica in Frogman case. - Ivan Gomez - CIA agent who accepted drug money from Meneses. - Dagaberto Nunez - ran shrimp company for Oliver North in Costa Rica. - Rene Corvo - Cuban American who worked with Contras in Costa Rica. - Francisco Chanes - Owner of shrimp company for Oliver North in Costa Rica. - Edmundo Meneses - American-trained Nicaraguan general and Norwin's brother. - Sebastian Gonzalez - Contra leader in Costa Rica and drug partner of Meneses. Today, I am asking this Committee to obtain a written response from the CIA that either categorically confirms or denies they are or were CIA assets or agents. Another major problem with the investigation underlying the Report was the CIA's lack of subpoena power. This meant that some of the most important CIA and other officials were never interviewed. Three former unnamed senior CIA managers would only respond in writing. Six other key CIA personnel and former DEA agent, "Sully" Castillo, refused to be interviewed. The CIA agents included Duane Clarridge, Joseph Fernandez, and Clair George. All of these senior CIA officials had major responsibilities for the CIA's Contra operation. There can be no thorough investigation without sworn testimony from each of these individuals. Joseph Fernandez was the former CIA station chief in Costa Rica while the Meneses' drug organization was operating from there. Duane "Dewey" Clarridge was the CIA officer who helped create the Contras at a time when the Meneses ring first began dealing cocaine for the FDN. His name also appeared in Oliver North's notebooks as being responsible for making quid pro quo deals with known drug kingpin Manuel Noriega. Clarridge summed up how serious he thought this investigation was when he told reporters in December 1997 that the CIA quote "sent me questions that were bullshit, and I wrote back they were a bunch of bullshit." When I spoke with journalists following the release of the Report this past January, much to my surprise, many had to admit to me they had not even read the entire report. They admitted that they only had read the glossy eight page summary which offered unsubstantiated conclusions of the CIA's innocence and blanket denials of the "Dark Alliance" series allegations. Had they only read the report in its entirety as I did, they would have learned that allegations of drug trafficking and connections between the Contra and the CIA were not new. In fact, the Report even lists and summarizes some of the other investigations that found Contra involvement in drug trafficking. For example, the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, chaired by Senator John Kerry conducted a two-year investigation into allegations of Contra involvement in drugs and arms trafficking. The CIA Inspector General's Report summarizes some of the Kerry Commission's 1,166-page report's devastating findings on pages 35 through 38. These are some of the admissions: - Drug traffickers used the Contra war and their ties to the Contras as a cover for their criminal enterprises in Honduras and Costa Rica. Assistance from the drug lords was crucial to the Contras, and the traffickers in turn promoted and protected their operations by associating with the Contra movement. - Drug traffickers provided support to the Contras and used the supply network of the Contras. Contras knowingly received both financial and material assistance from the drug traffickers. - In each case, one or another U.S. Government agency had information regarding these matters either while they were occurring, or immediately thereafter. - Members of the Contra movement were involved in drug trafficking, including pilots who flew supplies for the Contras, mercenaries who worked for the Contras and Contra supporters throughout Central America. - Drug traffickers helped in the Contra supply operations through business relations with Contra groups. - Drug traffickers contributed cash, weapons, planes, pilots, air supply services and other materials to the Contras. - U.S. State Department funds, authorized by Congress for humantarian assistance, was paid to drug traffickers. In some cases, these drug traffickers received the State Department funds, after having been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, and in other cases, were the subject of pending investigations by those agencies. - The FDN Contra group moved Contra funds through a narcotics drug trafficking and money laundering operation. - Drug trafficking for the Contra movement was done by some because they were told that their actions were either on behalf of, or sanctioned by, the U.S. Government. Not included in the CIA IG Report are other key findings by the Kerry Committee. - Despite widespread trafficking through the war zones of northern Costa Rica, the Kerry Committee was unable to find a single case which was made on the basis of a tip or report by an official of a U.S. intelligence agency. This despite an executive order requiring intelligence agencies to report drug trafficking to law enforcement officials and despite direct testimony that drug trafficking on the Southern Front was reported to CIA officials. - U.S. officials involved with the Contras knew that drug traffickers were using the Contra infrastructure and that the Contras were receiving assistance from drug profits. Yet, they turned a blind eye and did not report these individuals to the appropriate law enforcement agencies. How can this Report include these incriminating findings by elected officials, including Senators Kerry, Brock and Moynihan and others while summarily dismissing any CIA knowledge of, or involvement in, Contra drug trafficking into the U.S.? This is an outrageous contradiction. Moreover, the Report is littered with damaging admissions. - Norwin Meneses was one of the biggest drug dealers in America, either North and South, and he supplied Danilo Blandon. Blandon, in turn, was the source who supplied Ricky Ross. And Blandon and Meneses did so unhindered by the CIA. Is it unreasonable to think Meneses was connected to the CIA given that the Contras were a CIA creation and that the CIA handled every aspect of the Contra operation? Pages 22 through 24 of this Report confirms that the CIA essentially created, funded, supplied, and trained the Contras and that the CIA was intimately involved in determining their strategy and running their operations. Meneses was never arrested by U.S. law enforcement. He was permitted free entrance to the U.S. and was even issued a visa. How was this allowed and why was it allowed to continue? - The CIA and DEA records are full of knowledge about Meneses' drug dealing operation. This knowledge was substantiated in this Report. The CIA knew of his drug trafficking by 1984 and the DEA had known of his trafficking activities as early as 1974. - Incredibly, the Report fails to mention anything about the activities of Adolpho Calero, only mentioning that he was interviewed. He was the key Contra leader and CIA agent in the Southern Front. Damning public information ties Calero to drug trafficking. In a December 1986 interview, Calero told the Costa Rican newspaper La Nacion that he met with drug kingpin Norwin Meneses at least six times and that he knew Meneses was involved in illegal activities. In addition, there were many other key facts confirmed by the Report: Drug Kingpin Norwin Meneses supported and was involved with the Contras- On pages 76 - 77, drug dealer Norwin Meneses admitted giving money to the California chapter of the FDN/Contras and that he was involved in the 1985 attempted to obtain "material support, medical and general supplies" for the Contra movement. Pages 70 - 71 of the Report documents the connection between CIA asset and FDN military leader Enrique Bermudez, Meneses and Blandon. Blandon and Meneses "traveled to Bolivia in 1982 to make a drug deal, and stopped in route in Honduras." While in Honduras, Blandon and Meneses met with Bermudez for the second time. Bermudez asked Blandon and Meneses to help raise money and supplies for the FDN. He let the drug traffickers know that their support would be welcome because "the ends justify the means." Blandon then describes how "he and Meneses were escorted to airport by armed Contras" after the meeting with Bermudez. Blandon left the meeting with $100,000 to buy drugs. The profits from the sale of these drugs were to be used to buy supplies and fund the Contras. Blandon tells of how he ran into trouble at the airport in Honduras when he was caught with the $100,000. But, the Contras intervened and secured Blandon's release. Where did the $100,000 come from? Did they give back the $100,000 to Blandon because of the Contra-CIA connection? - The CIA knew that Meneses was both a drug dealer and involved with the Contras - On page 45, the Report documents a declaration from the Records Validation Officer for the CIA (RVO) submitted in response to the CIA IG Report investigation. The RVO Declaration certified that the CIA had confirmed to the FBI that Meneses was a drug trafficker. On page 49, the Report details a June 11, 1986 CIA cable from the LA Division Station informing CIA Headquarters that Contra leader Fernando Chamorro was asked by Meneses in August or September 1984 to help "move drugs to the U.S." At the time, Chamorro was a CIA asset. A second June 1986 CIA cable reported that "Meneses was involved in the transporting of drugs." What did the CIA do with this information? A CIA cable, dated Oct. 31, 1986, contained the following two admissions. First, it details a CIA cable dated Dec. 5, 1984 reporting that "Norwin Meneses was apparently well known as the Nicaraguan Mafia, dealing in drugs, weapons and smuggling and laundering of counterfeit money." Second, it quotes a CIA cable, dated Mar. 25, 1985, which "described a Norwin ((Meneses)) Cantatero, as the kingpin of narcotics traffickers in Nicaragua prior to the fall of Somoza. On page 48, the Report describes a 1984 CIA cable discussing Meneses' drug trafficking activities with Tuto Munkel and Sebastian Gonzalez Medieta. Sebastian Gonzalez was a key CIA player in the Contras Southern Front. He was in charge of logistics for the supply of arms supplied by Manuel Noriega. This cable shows the CIA knew Gonzalez also was involved in drug trafficking with Norwin Meneses in 1984 - when the CIA was still directly involved in Contra operations, before the hand off to Oliver North's operation. Remarkably, this Report makes no mention of Gonzalez being a key CIA agent, nor mention of his critical role as a Contra in the Southern Front. Tuto Munkel was arrested in Florida as part of the Frogman case and is a crucial link between that case and the Meneses Contra connection detailed above. What did the CIA do with this information in their cables? The Report does not indicate that any action was taken. Despite this damning information to the contrary, the Report goes on to quote Meneses' own testimony as if it were fact. On page 54, the Report repeats without comment Meneses' denial that he trafficked in cocaine or other narcotics on behalf of the CIA or any Contra group, and that he denied he ever had any contact or relationship with CIA, DoS, the U.S. military, or U.S. civilian assistance groups that provided assistance to the Contras. As I mentioned earlier, Enrique Miranda told me some of what he told the CIA when it interviewed him a year ago in Central America. - The CIA directly intervened in the Frogman case to protect a CIA asset - In one of the most amazing admissions in this Report, pages 113 through 115 detail the direct intervention of the CIA in the Frogman Case. The Frogman case was, of course, California's biggest cocaine bust at that time. The CIA intervened in the case by arranging the return of $36,000 seized from a drug trafficker. The CIA did so because of the trafficker's involvement with the Contras and CIA agents. Again, this Report catalogs the pattern of the CIA returning money to known drug dealers -$100,000 in the Bermudez/Blandon case, $36,000 in the Frogman case. How many more times did this happen? An internal CIA cable dated 1984 details that the CIA made contact with prosecutors in the Zavala/Frogman case in order to protect what the CIA believed was an operational equity. That cable is included on page 113, and makes for incredible reading. Evidently, the CIA feared that exposure of the CIA's connections to the drug case had "the potential for disaster", according to a cable described on page 115. Well Mr. Chairman, if I have anything to do with it, that cable and the confirmed facts sifted from this confused Report will mean disaster for the CIA. This Committee has a responsibility to look into the nefarious activities surrounding the massive Contra-cocaine drug network and to use its subpoena power to provide the American people with the truth that has been denied them for too long." |
Chitunda, Jeremias |
Source(s): July 11, 1986, PR Newswire, 'News Advisory': "WHAT: The "freedom fighters" will convene in the first "Contra Summit" as part of the Peace Through Strength Summit sponsored by the American Security Council Foundation as the educational secretariat of the Coalition of Peace Through Strength. ... WHERE: The Capital Hilton Hotel, 16th and K streets N.W. Among those attending the summit will be Adolfo Calero, senior directorate, United Nicaraguan Opposition; Maj. Gen. Pok Sam Anh, Khmer People's National Liberation Front, Cambodia; Jeremias Chitunda, foreign minister, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola; Yonas Deressa, Ethiopian People's Democratic Alliance; Eshan Jan Areef (Jamiat-i-Islami), Afghan Freedom Fighters; and Souksomboun Sayasithsena, International Union of Lao Organizations, Laos. The meeting will also feature addresses by Weinberger; U.S. Sens. E.J. (Jake) Garn, R-Utah, and Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz.; U.S. Reps. Jack Kemp , R-N.Y., Samuel S. Stratton, D-N.Y., Robert H. Michel, R-Ill., and Bill Chappell Jr., D-Fla. In addition, Sen. Dole will be the recipient of the 1986 Eagle Award..."
North American representative and later vice president of UNITA in Angola under Jonas Savimbi. |
Bissell, Richard M., Jr. |
Source(s): American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
Yale educated. CIA. United Technologies. Consultant Ford Foundation.
Research assistant Yale University, New Haven, 1934, instructor econs., 1935-39, assistant professor, 1939-42; member staff Bureau Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Department Commerce, Washington, 1941-42; economist Combined Shipping Adjustment Board; assistant to deputy administrator War Shipping Administration, Washington, 1942-43; U.S. executive officer Combined Shipping Adjustment Board, 1942-45, director ship requirements, 1943-45; economic adviser to director War Moblzn. and Reconversion, Washington, 1945-46, deputy director, 1946; asso. professor econs. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, 1942-48, professor, 1948-52; executive secretary Pres.'s Committee Foreign Aid (Harriman Committee), Washington, 1947-48; assistant administrator program Economic Cooperation Administrn., 1948-51; acting administrator, 1951; member staff Ford Foundation, 1952-54; special assistant to director CIA, Washington, 1954-59, deputy director plans, 1959-62; president Institute for Defense Analyses, 1962-64; director marketing and economic planning United Aircraft Corp., East Hartford, Connecticut, 1964-74; business consultant Farmington, 1974-94. Consultant to director Mutual Security, 1952; consultant various intervals Connecticut Pub. Utilities Commission, Fortune Magazine, Social Sci. Research Council, Cosmopolitan Shipping Co., U.S. Steel Corp., Scudder, Stevens & Clark, Brightwater Paper Co., Asiatic Petroleum Co. Member Am. Academy Arts and Scis., Am. Economic Association, Econometric Association, Council on Foreign Relations, Washington Institute Foreign Affairs, Connecticut Academy Arts and Scis. Clubs: Hartford; Graduate Club Association (New Haven); Yale (New York City).
Assassination requests would normally have gone to Richard Bissell. Because Bissell was away on vacation, Dulles told Eisenhower he would take care of Lumumba. |
Black, Gen. Edward |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
U.S. Army. |
Black, Gen. Edwin F. |
Source(s): 1988, Russ Bellant, 'The Coors connection', p. 49: "The ASCF also created a "Strategy Board" in the early 1980's that included a number of persons with covert operations backgrounds Major General John Singlaub; the late Edwin Black ... Ray Cline; and Ed Feulner."; American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
Commander of U.S. forces in Thailand. Director of the CIA drug trafficking bank, the Nugan Hand Bank.
1915-1985. Commissioned 2d lieutenant U.S. Army, 1940, advanced through grades to brigadier general, 1965; with Office of Strategic Services, Europe, World War II; comdg. officer 2d battalion 505th Airborne Infantry 82d Airborne Div., Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 1950-51; comdg. officer 2d battle group 19 Ind., 25th Div., Schofield Barracks, Honolulu, 1957-58; mil assistant to deputy secretary Department Defense, Washington, 1959-61; comdg. general U.S. Army Support Command, Thailand, 1967-69; assistant div. Commander 25th Infantry Div., Vietnam, 1969; assistant chief of staff U.S. Army Pacific, Honolulu, 1970; retired U.S. Army, 1970; executive vice president Freedoms Foundation, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1970-71; director business plans Southeast Asia LTV Aerospace Corp., Bangkok, 1971-74; managing director KRA Canal Survey Office, 1972-76; director international business devel. LTV Corp., 1974-75; director industrial devel. Government of Am. Samoa; consultant on economic devel. Trust Ters. of Pacific Islands, 1976-77; vice president international business devel. I.R.A.S. Devel. Corp., White Plains, New York , 1980-85. Special assistant to president Radiation Tech., Inc., Rockaway, New Jersey, 1983-85. Member Council Foreign Relations, Outrigger Canoe Club, Waialae Country Club, Royal Bangkok Sports Club, Army-Navy Country Club, Army-Navy Club (Washington).
November 13, 1982, New York Times, 'Austrialia suspects bank link to CIA': "Australian detectives are expected to visit the United States and Southeast Asia in the next few weeks as they attempt to determine whether the failed Sydney-based Nugan Hand Merchant Bank was involved in trafficking in heroin and covert activities of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. … The police report said of Mr. Hand: ''His business activities in the late 1960's and the early 1970's with members of the C.I.A.- controlled airline, Air America, and C.I.A.-connected Continental Air Service, and Agency for International Development led to the strong inference that Hand's intelligence activity was with the C.I.A. ''There is some evidence to suggest that Hand retained his U.S. intelligence ties through the 1970's and probably into the 1980's. Houghton was associated with U.S. intelligence personnel in Southeast Asia and Australia, and had some type of association with personnel in the Australian security and intelligence organization.'' … The sections include ''The destruction of Nugan Hand records;'' his meetings in 1979 with a former C.I.A. operative, Edwin P. Wilson, who was recently arrested in the United States and charged with exporting explosives to Libya to help train terrorists, and one headed, ''Houghton and two Australian clients of Nugan Hand - a case of fraud?'' Colby Is Named The report included a list of Americans who worked for Nugan Hand. Among them were Rear Adm. Earl Yates, U.S.N., retired, the first president of Nugan Hand International; William E. Colby, Director of Central Intelligence from 1973 to 1976, who worked as legal adviser to Nugan Hand International after 1979; Walter McDonald, former economist and oil expert at the C.I.A., who joined Nugan Hand International in 1979 as a consultant; Brig. Gen. Edwin Black, U.S.A., retired, the bank's representative in Hawaii; Lieut. Gen. LeRoy Manor, U.S.A.F., retired, the Nugan Hand representative in Manila; Dr. Guy Pauker, a consultant to Nugan Hand International, and Dale Holmgren, the bank's Taiwan representative, who was an Army officer in Taiwan." |
Blunt, Roy D. |
Source(s): 2010 American Security Council Foundation document (on Congressional Advisory Board)
United States Senator-elect for Missouri. Accused of close connections to the questionable Jack Abramoff, together with Tom Delay.
Born in 1950. Secretary state State of Missouri, 1985-93; president Southwest Baptist University, 1993-96; member US Congress from 7th Missouri district, 1997—, chief deputy majority whip, 1999—2002, assistant majority leader (majority whip), 2002—2007; assistant minority leader (minority whip) US Congress from 7th Missouri District, 2007—2009; interim majority leader US Congress from 7th Missouri district, 2005—2006 Career Related Member Federal Election Commission Adv. Panel; del. Atlantic Treaty Association Conference, 1987; member Congl. Committee on Commerce, 1999—2004, International Relations, 1997-98, 2004-, House Reps. Steering Committee, 1997-; del. National Hist. Publications and Records Commission, 1997—; member ho. appropriations committee, 1999. Board directors Center Democracy; member Missouri Mental Health Advocacy Council, 1998-99; member executive board Am. Council of Young Political Leaders, 1998-99; chairman Missouri Housing Devel. Commission, Kansas City, 1981, Rep. State Convention, Springfield, 1980; chairman Gov.'s Adv. Council on Literacy; co-chmn. Missouri Opportunity 2000 Commission, 1985-87; Rep. candidate for lieutenant governor of Missouri, 1980; active local American Red Cross, Muscular Dystrophy Association, others. Memberships Member National Association Secretaries of State (chairman voter registration and education committee, secretary, vice president 1990), Am. Council Young Political Leaders, Kiwanis, Masons. Political Affiliation Republican Religion Baptist |
Braden, Spruille |
Source(s): 1964, ASC Press, 'Peace and Freedom through Cold War Victory' (lists Frawley, Teller, Adm. Ward, Gen. Wedemeyer, Gen. Wood, Hazlitt, Liebman, Possony, Braden, Fisher)
Co-owner Braden Copper Company in Chile. Shareholder United Fruit Company, also active in South America. Directed the W. Averell Harriman Securities Corporation. As an agent of Standard Oil, he played a role in the Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay and espoused an openly anti-union position. State Department protege of Nelson Rockefeller. Major coup plotter. President of the Metropolitan Club 1967-1973. 1964, Benjamin R. Epstein, 'Danger on the Right', p. 181: "of leaders of the John Birch Society — Tom Anderson and Clarence Manion of its national council; Spruille Braden, a former Birch Council member; and such endorsers of the Birch Society as Frederick G. Reinicke, Archibald B. Roosevelt [1964, The Nation, volume 198: "Archibald Roosevelt. had furnished literature for distribution by the John Birch Society"]..."
Post march 1968 pamphlet of the Citizens Committee for a Free Cuba list Spruille Braden as chairman. John M. Fisher, head of the ASC, had joined by 1964 (1964 CCFC pamphlet: Terror and Resistance in Communist Cuba, written by Paul D. Bethel). Founding members of the committee in May 1963 included Edward Teller, Adm. Arleigh Burke, Claire Boothe Luce, Nicholas Duke Biddle, Leo Cherne, and its executive secretary/director, Paul D. Bethel (briefly JM/Wave; apparently working with Alpha 66 and a close friend of David Atlee Philips at the same time, which in interesting in regard to Antonio Veciana of Alpha 66 and his Maurice Bishop (David Atlee Philips) and Oswald. First Fonzi thought that Bishop was Bethel, but Veciana knew Bethel). 1969, Paul D. Bethel, "The Losers,"p. 398: "There is no doubt that President Kennedy and his brother, the Attorney General, consciously set about the business of stopping all efforts to unhorse Fidel Castro-from outside exite attacks, and from Cuba's internal resistance movement."
Braden had strong interests of his own in the region. In 1921 he was directly involved in the creation of Standard Oil of Bolivia, owned by his father, William Braden. Some maintain that Braden senior attempted to coax Bolivian President Daniel Salamanca into obtaining arms and funds to take over the Paraguayan Chaco. There are numerous interpretations regarding the war, which had its roots in oil interests and a dispute between US Standard Oil and the British firm, Royal Dutch Shell.
1894-1978. dir. Am. Ship and Commerce Corp., W.A. Harriman Securities, Pa. Coal and Coke, Marion Steam Shovel Co., Kingscote Realty Corp., Capitol Theatre Corp., others; trustee, mem. exec. com. Dry Dock Savs. Bank. numerous assignments as ambassador and spl. rep. U.S. Pres., from 1935; ambassador to Colombia, 1939-42, Cuba, 1942-45, Argentina, 1945; asst. sec. state Am. Republic Affairs, 1946-47. Pres., Americas Found., 1960-66, Colombia Found., Colombian Assn. Mut. Aid. Chmn. N.Y.C. Anti-crime Com., 1951-58. Conservative. Mem. PanAm Soc. U.S. (pres. 1953-59, hon. pres., 1959-78), Inter-Am. Edn. Assn. (hon.), Chevaliers du Tastevin (grand officer), Soc. of Cincinnati (hon.), Am. Arbitration Assn. (dir., exec. com.), Navy League U.S. (life). Clubs: Met. (past pres. N.Y.C., hon. life); Nejapa Country (Managua, Nicaragua). Author: Diplomats and Demagogues-the Memoirs of Spruille Braden, 1971. Negotiated peace treaty settling Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay. Address: New York, N.Y.
Chairman of Citizens Committee For a Free Cuba. |
Brady, Lawrence J. |
Source(s): February 4, 1980, Aviation Week & Space Technology, 'Soviet Trucks in Afghanistan Reheat Export License Debate': "Brady has joined the non-profit American Security Council..."
Deputy director of Commerce Dept.'s Office of Export Administration, resigned. Brady openly has challenged his superiors in the department and urged termination of U.S. support for the Kama project since May, 1979, when it was disclosed in congressional testimony by the Central Intelligence Agency that Kama trucks were being diverted to military use. Joined the non-profit American Security Council and is assigned to organize a branch of the nationwide Coalition for Peace Through Strength in New Hampshire, his home state. |
Buder, Gustavus A., Jr. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
His father: 1871-1954. Son of William and Susette B.; LL.B., Washington U., 1892; married Lydia D. Feuerbacher, June 6, 1899 (died Aug. 27, 1930); 1 son, Gustavus Adolphus. Admitted to bar, 1892; since practiced law in St. Louis; sr. mem. G.A. Buder. Son & Assos. Pres. Arc. Realty Co., Arcadia Realty Co., Pontiac Realty Co., Arcadia Refining Co., Arcadia Royalty Company; president, director Lyiade Investment Trust; dir., atty. Scruggs, Vandevoort-Barney, Inc., Burroughs Adding Machine Company, Packard Motor Car Company of Missouri, Selden-Breck Constn. Co., Arcarea Reserve Co., Miss. Served as pvt. Battery A, 1st Mo. Vol. Arty., Spanish-Am. War; participated in Puerto Rican expdn., 1898. Decorated Medal of Order of Leopold II (Belgium) for services, 1914-18. Incorporator, former v.p., hon. dir., life mem., Municipal Theater Assn.; mem. St. Louis Pub. Library Bd., St. Louis Park and Playground Assn. (v.p.), Am., Mo., Ill., St. Louis bar assns.; mem. Spanish-Am. War Vets., Vets. Fgn. Wars, Mo. Press Assn. (former pres.), Am. Press Assn. (former pres.), St. Louis Law Library (life mem.). Republican. Unitarian. Clubs: Rotary, Bankers of Am., New St. Louis, Advertising, Mo. Athletic, St. Louis Automobile (St. Louis); Detroit. Home: 3137 Longfellow Blvd. Office: Buder Bldg., St. Lous, Mo |
Burgess, Michael C. |
Source(s): 2010 American Security Council Foundation document (on Congressional Advisory Board)
Congressman from Texas. Active in the health care reform debate, having served as a campaign surrogate for Sen. John McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign. |
Burke, Adm. Arleigh |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
1901-1996. Commanded destroyer and carrier groups during WWII. Chief of Naval Operations 1955-1961. Co-founded the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. with David Abshire. August-September 1985, Mother Jones Magazine, p. 38: "Ray Cline reminded me that David Abshire, the president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies when Heritage began in 1973, thought "CSIS should stay away from Heritage because they appeared to be a bunch of wild Reaganites and Joe Coors people." |
Butler, Edward S. |
Source(s): Who's Who (ASC's cold war victory committee 1966-68 (28 member Cold War Victory Advisory Committee))
Both of Butler's grandfathers had been members of Louisiana's prestigious Boston Club. Public relations man with the Army from 1957 to 1959. Member John Birch Society before he became public. Supported by Hale Boggs, of the later Warren Commission.
Joan Mellon, 'A farewell to justice': "Other CIA assets Oswald encountered in New Orleans included Ed Butler, who debated him on the radio. “Mr. Butler is a very cooperative contact and has always welcomed an opportunity to assist the CIA,” Butler’s Domestic Contact Service Information Sheet reads. Yet the CIA asked Butler to leave its “Free Voice of Latin America” because he was too right wing. Other Butler CIA documents emanate from the Office of Security." Same book claimed Edwin Walker and Edward Butler were occasional visitors of Guy Banister's office.
Headed the Information Council of the Americas. Public relations man with the Army from 1957 to 1959. Youth editor of the Washington Radio Report of the American Security Council. Appeared on the air with "communist" Lee Harvey Oswald (with Carlos Bringuier, the CIA operative who hit Oswald) and is still convinced that Oswald was a dedicated communist. Stated to have met Guy Banister a couple of times. Report of the American Security Council. President of Radio Free Cuba. Formed the Information Council of the Americas. William Stuckey described the Information Council of the Americas as an "anti-communist propaganda organization. Its principal activity is to take tape-recorded interviews with Cuban refugees and distribute these tapes...to radio stations throughout Latin America." In September 1961, Edward Butler worked with Sergio Arcacha Smith. An FBI source reported: "Butler had requested to assist Smith in any way he could, as Smith was working on plans to overthrow Fidel Castro in Cuba." [FBI 62-109060-4707]. Promoted the Hitler in Havana movie.
Carlos Bringuier, who together with his close friend Ed Butler, debated Oswald on WDSU radio in New Orleans, exposed his defection to Russia, and publicly released a "truth tape" of the debate right after the assassination. Butler was head of the Information Council of the Americas (INCA). He conceived of the propaganda activity he called "truth tapes" while serving in a special Army Unit in Alexandria Virginia. After 1963 he sat on the Planning Committee for the Freedom Studies Center of the American Security Council with Edward Lansdale.
1966 brochure, Information Council of the Americas (INCA), 'What Lies Ahead?': "INCA international advisory committee: Alton Ochsner, M.D., chairman; Edward Scannell Butler, director; George Albertini, publisher, Est & Quest Magazine (Paris); ... Alberto C. Fowler, Director, International Relations, City of New Orleans; ... Juanita Castro, chairman, Marta Abru Foundation, anti-communist sister of Fidel Castro; ... Patrick J. Frawley, Jr.; ... C. C. Too, director, Psychological Warfare Section, Malaysia." Frawley was a major financier and strategy board member of the American Security Council. Butler was a member of the ASC also. Ochsner worked closely with Clay Shaw (of the JFK assassination) at International House and the International Trade Mart.
September 10, 1968, New Orleans States Item, 'Dr. Ochsner Renamed by Info Council': ""Dr. Alton Ochsner Sr. has been reelected president of the Information Council of the Americas. Other officers recently elected were Dean A. E. Papale, honorary vice president; Percival Stern, honorary vice president; Dr. Robert J. Mead, first vice president; Ed Butler, vice president for mass communication; Dr. Joseph V. Schlosser, vice president for educational affairs; Edgar A. G. Bright, vice president for organizational affairs, and James T, Richards, vice president for financial affairs. Richard T. Newman, vice president for project development; R. Kirk Moyer, vice president for truth forum; Dr. James H. Allen, vice president for membership; Gonzalo Abaunza, Jr., secretary; Dr. J. D. Grey, treasurer; Gibbons Burke, general counsel; Bruce Baird, chief of protocol, and Robert Rainold, chief of security. INCA's new list of directors includes Richard Baumbach, Edgar A. G. Bright Jr., Pat Brown Sr., James Bryan, Perrin O. Butler, Gilbert Charbonnet, Capt. J. W. Clark, C. C. Clifton, Jr., E. T. Colton, Dr. Joseph Craven, Eberhard P. Deutsch, Richard G. Drown Jr., B. Frank Eshleman, C. Allen Favrot, Darwin Fenner and Pat Frawley Jr. Archbishop Phillip M Hannan, Clyde Hendrix Jr., Hayward Hillyer III, Dr. Joseph Hopkins, Harvey Koch, J. P. Labouisse, Dr, William Locke, William Monaghan, Clayton L. Nairne, Dr. John Ochsner, Bishop H. Perry, Frank G. Purvis Jr.,—Ed M. Rowley, Eustis H. Reily, A. J. Rhodes, William E. Robertson, Cecil Shilstone, C. C. Walther, J. Walter Ward Jr. and William Walter Young."
Account executive Brown-Friedman Advertising, New Orleans, 1960; director staff Information Council of Ams., 1961-62, executive vice president, 1963-69, vice president communications, 1970, executive vice president, 1971-77, president, 1978—, Scannell Associates, Inc., 1967—. Senior consultant to chairman board Eversharp Inc., 1966-70, Technicolor Inc., 1966-70, Frawley Corp., 1989-91, Schick Health Services, 1989-91; speaker to national and local business education and professional groups, also appearances on radio and TV, 1961– ; Member national adv. committee Cold War Council, 1963-66; member adv. committee Friends of Free Asia, 1966-67; member adv. board Young Ams. for Freedom, 1967-69; Board directors World Youth Crusade for Freedom, 1967-68. Producer: record album Oswald: Self-Portrait in Red, 1964, Oswald Speaks, 1967; TV special Hitler in Havana!, 1967; host: TV special Oswald: Self-Portrait, 1968; TV series The Square World of Ed Butler, 1969-70; host, executive producer: TV series Spirit '76, 1975-76; radio-TV series Spirit U.S; Author: Revolution Is My Profession, 1968; Contributor articles to trade, professional and popular publications. Member Young Men's Business Club Greater New Orleans (defense bureau chairman 1962, editor Action 1963, Americanism award 1963), New Orleans Jaycees (editor Forward 1963, Distinguished Service award, Outstanding Young Man in New Orleans award 1969), Am. Security Council (cold war victory committee 1966-68). Roman Catholic.
April 12, 2001, Miami New Times (Florida), 'Revelation 19.63; For nearly four decades the CIA has kept secret the identity of a Miami agent who may have known too much too early about Lee Harvey Oswald': "As Borja safeguarded the group's boats and guns on Catalina Island, just off the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, he heard from a close friend, Carlos Bringuier, with whom he had grown up on the beaches of Tarara, just east of Havana. "Carlitos," Borja reminisces. "We called him Vistilla nearsighted , because he was a little bit blind, and his glasses were this thick. He was our delegate in New Orleans. He notified us that this guy was putting in propaganda all throughout New Orleans, and he wanted our directions." The guy was Lee Harvey Oswald. ... On Saturday evening, August 21, 1963, Bringuier and Oswald debated the Cuban revolution over radio station WDSU. In the middle of the discussion, in which Oswald defended Castro's policies, Stuckey suddenly shifted gears. Was it true, the moderator asked, that Oswald had lived in Russia? "That is correct, and I think those -- the fact that I did live for a time in the Soviet Union -- gives me excellent qualifications to repudiate charges that Cuba and the Fair Play for Cuba Committee is communist controlled," Oswald replied, obviously taken aback. "I would like to know," Bringuier chimed in, "if it is the Fair Play for Cuba Committee or Fair Play for Russia Committee." Bringuier was pleased with the program. When it was over, he drafted a press release that called on the U.S. Congress to investigate Lee Harvey Oswald and denounce the FPCC. A rewritten and slightly toned-down version of the press release was issued in the name of the Directorate, as well as Alpha 66 and five other hard-line exile groups."
Jim DiEugenio, 'Ed Butler: Expert in Propaganda and Psychological Warfare' (www.ctka.net): "Edward S. Butler was born in 1934 to an upper class New Orleans family. He went into the Army Management School from 1957-59 at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. When he returned home he took a position as an account executive with Brown, Friedman and Company, an advertising firm. But, according to New Orleans authority Arthur Carpenter, his service in the military affected all his later adult life. Butler wrote that at the time of his service he became interested "in psycho-politics and particularly Soviet applications." As Carpenter notes, in June of 1960, Butler wrote an article in Public Relations Journal, which became a declaration for his later career as a propagandist. There he wrote about the Communist threat to America and how a spirit of crisis had to be created to resist it; how America had to use propaganda to counter the Soviets' skill in that field; how public relations experts like himself had to be recruited in this endeavor; and finally how private funds had to be enlisted to finance this war and his efforts. He also proposed that this effort would serve as a complement to the State Department, USIA, CIA, free institutions abroad, and the various legislative committees dealing with trade information, foreign aid and the like. In short, a private adjunct to America's foreign policy apparatus. The article turned out to be his vocational outline. Some of the people Butler recruited in New Orleans to help finance his propaganda efforts were Clay Shaw and Lloyd Cobb of the International Trade Mart and Alton Ochsner, the extremely conservative physician and philanthropist. By 1961 he had become involved in two associations that were meant to fight this propaganda war: the Free Voice of Latin America and the American Institute for Freedom Project. The former had its office in Shaw's International Trade Mart and through the latter Butler engaged both Ochsner and Guy Banister, who was Oswald's handler in New Orleans in the summer of 1963. But according to an investigation by Jim Garrison, Butler was so imperious and abrasive within the former group that he was forced out in 1961. At that time, Butler began to organize its successor organization, the Information Council of the Americas, or INCA. This was to be, in essence, a propaganda mill that had as its targets Central and South America, and the Caribbean. It would create broadcasts, called Truth Tapes, which would be recycled through those areas and, domestically, stage rallies and fund raisers to both energize its base and collect funds to redouble its efforts. By this time, as Carpenter and others point out, Butler was now in communication with people like Charles Cabell, Deputy Director of the CIA, and Ed Lansdale, the legendary psy-ops master within the Agency who was shifting his focus from Vietnam to Cuba. These contacts helped him get access to Cuban refugees who he featured on these tapes. Declassified documents reveal the Agency helped distribute the tapes to about 50 stations in South America by 1963. There is some evidence that the CIA furnished Butler with films of Cuban exile training camps and that he was in contact with E. Howard Hunt --- under one of his aliases --- who supervised these exiles in New Orleans. Some of the local elite who joined or helped INCA would later figure in the Oswald story e.g. Eustis Reily of Reily Coffee Company, where Oswald worked; Edgar Stern who owned the local NBC station WDSU where Oswald was to appear; and Alberto Fowler, a friend of Shaw's; plus future Warren Commissioner Hale Boggs who helped INCA get tax-exempt status. Butler also began to befriend ground level operators in the CIA's anti-Castro effort like David Ferrie, Oswald's friend in New Orleans; Sergio Arcacha Smith, one of Hunt's prime agents in New Orleans; and Gordon Novel, who worked with Banister, Smith and apparently, David Phillips, on an aborted telethon for the exiles. Two other acquaintances of Butler's were Bill Stuckey, a broadcast and print reporter, and Carlos Bringuier, a CIA operative in the Cuban exile community and leader of the DRE, one of its most important groups in New Orleans. These three figure in one of the most fascinating and intriguing episodes in the Kennedy assassination tale. In August of 1963 --- three months before the assassination --- Bringuier was involved in a scuffle with Oswald as he distributed literature for the FPCC, the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. As many commentators have noted, Oswald was the only member of that "committee" in New Orleans, and some of the literature he distributed gave as the FPCC headquarters address, the office of rabid anti-communist Guy Banister --- further exposing who Oswald really was. WDSU filmed some of these leafleting events. When Bringuier found out about this, he confronted Oswald on the city streets and verbally and physically assaulted him. The police came. Bringuier got off; Oswald was busted for disturbing the peace --- even though Bringuier was the aggressor. This event brought Oswald to the attention of Stuckey who had him on his WDSU show, Latin Listening Post, on August 17th. After the show, Stuckey and his friend Ed Butler asked Oswald to return four days later. Oswald continued his leafleting, this time in front of the International Trade Mart. In the interim, through contacts in Washington, they found out about Oswald's voyage to Russia, his stay there, and his attempted defection. The morning of the program, the 21st, Stuckey informed the FBI that Oswald would appear on the program. Butler and Stuckey used the Washington information to "unmask" Oswald on the show, and thereby discredit the supposedly liberal and sympathetic FPCC as harboring Soviet Communists in its midst. Right afterwards, Butler went over to a neighboring TV station, WVUE, where he was put on the air to announce Oswald's exposure on the 10 PM news. ... Could there be anything more to add to the suspicions about Butler? When New Orleans DA Jim Garrison began investigating Oswald's activities in the summer of 1963, he inevitably came around to Butler, Ochsner and INCA. When word got out about this aspect of the investigation, Butler and Ochsner began to attack Garrison both locally and through national media like The New York Times (12/24/67). According to Carpenter, they began a whisper campaign that Garrison was mentally unbalanced and that his followers, like Mark Lane and Harold Weisberg, were lunatic leftists who wanted America to crumble from within. They became so worried about Garrison that Butler packed up all the files of INCA and moved to Los Angeles where he accepted a job offer from another conservative philanthropist, William Frawley of the Schick-Eversharp fortune. Frawley was one of the early backers of Ronald Reagan, governor at the time, who had failed to extradite two Garrison suspects. Frawley credited Reagan's success to public disgust over "Niggers, the Watts riots, dirty students, the Cesar Chavez Reds and fair housing." Butler wrote a book in 1968 entitled Revolution is My Profession in which he attacked as communist infiltrators those whose tactics have "been to try to link the CIA with all sorts of crime, especially President Kennedy's assassination." (P. 242) In that same year, he himself infiltrated a meeting of Mark Lane's Citizens Committee of Inquiry and capsized their proceedings. Later that summer he hooked up with two other ultra-rightists, Anthony Hilder and John Steinbacher, to try to sell the idea that Sirhan had been under the influence of the Madam Blavatsky meditation cult, and that she had been a disciple of Stalin. Hilder and Steinbacher even produced an "instant book" on the subject: Robert Francis Kennedy THE MAN, THE MYSTICISM, THE MURDER. (As some commentators have pointed out, there are indications this book was actually put together before the RFK assassination.) Butler was at the press conference to promote the book. Butler then put out a magazine financed by Frawley called The Westwood Village Square which tried to link all three assassinations --- both of the Kennedys and King's --- to the Communists. The centerpiece of the article was his testimony before the Dodd committee."
November 23, 1963, Washington Post, 'Chief Suspect Once Defected to Reds; Active Among Pro-Castroites in U.S.': "Oswald and several Cubans were arrested two months ago in the Louisiana city [New Orleans] for passing out allegedly pro-Communist literature. Edward Scannell Butler III, of the Information Council of the Americas, said he and Oswald once debated communism. He said Oswald renounced his United States citizenship and went to the Soviet Union to marry a Russian."
January 1, 1967, New York Times, 'Court holds up Oswald record': "The recording [of Oswald] was made Aug. 17, 1963 ... The Information Council of the Americas ... claims ownership of the tape and plans to issue a recording of its own. In the interview [in which Edward S. Butler was involved], Oswald described himself as a member of the pro-Castro Fair Play for Cuba Committee..."
February 28, 1967, Lebanon Daily News (Pennsylvania), 'New Probe Links Oswald To Castro's Communists': "Ed Butler claims possession of certified copies of six letters handwritten by Lee Harvey Oswald to leaders of the Communist Party U.S.A. reporting on his progress in setting up a Fair Play For Cuba Committee front organization in New Orleans. ... On this record Oswald attacks Cuban exiles as "criminals" whose hands are steeped with blood."
April 21, 1967, The Cumberland News (Maryland), p. 11, 'These days: Kennedy and nihilism': "While Jim Garrison is trying to reopen the Oswald case the two Louisianians who run the New Orleans-based Information Council of the Americas, Dr Alton Ochsner and Edward Scannell Butler, express a well founded horror at the suggestion that Mark Lane, who is a most rigid man, might deputized as an assistant District Attorney to help Garrison flush the alleged conspiracy."
December 24, 1967, New York Times, 'Garrison's Charges on Assassination a Thorn to New Orleans': "Edward S. Butler, executive director of the Information Council of the Americas, rose in the audience and angrily challenged Mr. Lane to a debate on the spot. Mr. Butler's request was refused, and he started questioning Mr. Lane directly, but the exchange was drowned out by shouts and arguments in every part of the room. ... Many working people look frightened when asked about Mr. Garrison. After several questions, a saleswoman in a downtown department store mumbled, "I suppose he's got something, but I don't want to talk about it." When asked what he thought of Mr. Garrison, a Negro cab driver said: "You've got to watch who you talk to about that guy. The Governor hasn't said anything and I'm not going to say anything either. I don't want any trouble."
October 28, 1966, New York Times, 'TV: Right-Wing Propaganda and Razor Blades': "[Hitler in Havana] invited the conclusion that Premier Fidel Castro, through use of propaganda, aroused Lee Harvey Oswald to violence and therefore was responsible for the assassination of President Kennedy. After newsreel scenes of the murder of the President, the program went on to contend that Communist influences in this country wanted "to get a grip on the minds of a minority of American youngsters and convert them into carbon copies of Lee Harvey Oswald." "Hitler in Havana" was produced and narrated by Edward Scannell Butler, executive vice president of the Information Council of the Americas, which specializes in the production of radio recordings to combat Communism in Latin America. By coincidence, the program stressed the need for supporting such so-called "truth tapes" lest college campuses in the United States be converted into "armed camps" and young people turned "against God, country and family and toward la dolce vita." ... It was sponsored by Patrick J. Frawley... In other respects, "Hitler in Havana" was the crudest form of propaganda, employing the tactics it professed to deplore."
April 7, 1968, New York Times, 'Coast Rightists Publish a Psychedelic, Quasi-Hippie Magazine': "The latest right-wing foray against the left is a lavishly printed 11-inch-square magazine called "Square," which uses psychedelic design style and a quasi-hippie approach to cloak its message. The magazine's main backer is Patrick J. Frawley Jr. ... Its publisher and editor is Ed Butler, a 33-year-old publicist who is executive vice president of the New Orleans-based Information Council on the Americas. This group figured prominently in the welter of anti-Castro and pro-Castro activities in which Lee Harvey Oswald, President Kennedy's assassin, was involved."
October 7, 2005, Times-Picayune (New Orleans), 'Edward S. Butler III, radio host, activist': "During a stint in the Army, Mr. Butler worked with the Defense Intelligence Agency while stationed at the Army Management School at Fort Belvoir, Va. Later, he co-founded The Information Council Of The Americas, a non-profit organization that became involved with aiding people displaced by Fidel Castro's communist revolution in Cuba. In the course of his work with the council, Mr. Butler came in contact with Oswald, who was promoting a pro-Castro organization in New Orleans and seeking help from the American Communist Party. Mr. Butler confronted Oswald on a New Orleans radio show in August 1963 and forced him to admit that as a Marxist, he had gone to the Soviet Union and tried to renounce his U.S. citizenship. Oswald soon moved to Dallas, killing Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963. In 2002, Mr. Butler recalled his on-air debate with Oswald: "He wore a very heavy wool suit in August, a very hot August day in New Orleans. He was parboiling, but he didn't have a bead of sweat on him, and he was very self-contained. "I was shocked when I heard he had killed Kennedy. I would not have been shocked if he had tried to kill me. I was concerned about the guy from the minute I met him." After Kennedy's assassination, Mr. Butler wrote a study of political revolution, "Revolution Is My Profession," in which he predicted unrest in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s and the rise of terrorism. He also produced a television show based in large measure on the Oswald radio debate, as well as a feature film examining the nature of the Castro regime: "Hitler In Havana." During his years in California, Mr. Butler produced and starred in a weekly television show, "The Square World Of Ed Butler," and in documentaries, including two series: "Spirit '76" and "Spirit U.S." He also published a West Coast magazine, "Westwood Village Square.""
August 30, 1970, Washington Post, 'The Right Wing's Biggest Spender': "Butler began his career before the Bay of Pigs by latching onto a reputable New Orleans anti-Castro group called the Free Voice of Latin America, but he was eventually ousted. A former officer of the group explained why: "This young man's ultra-right wing views were not only an embarresment but in my opinion dangerous. He could think of nothing but the danger of some globe-encircling Communist conspiracy..." Butler formed his own propaganda outfit, the Information Council of the Americas (INCA) and began cranking out "documentaries" called Fact Films, Eyewitness Albums and Truth Tapes. The tapes were beamed over INCA's 130 Latin America radio affiliates to "help deprive the Communist minority of vital mass suppurt." It was as the producer of "Hitler in Havana", one of the Fact Film series, that Butler came under Frawley's patronage. Soon the industrialist's name appeared on the INCA Advisory Committee alongside those of such anti-communists as Herbert Philbrick, who spied on Boston Communists for the FBI in the 1940s. ... In his book, "Revolution is My Profession", Butler reveals that his aim is to frustrate the current campus movement with "professional conflict managers". The conflict managers, he says, "will infiltrate troublemaking groups, try to divert them from their goals, break up their structure, create internal dissensions."
June 27, 1969, New York Times, Page 42, Column 1 (students and student life): "40 students calling themselves 'squares' and 'revolutionaries' picket SDS hq, Chicago, shouting 'SDS are Fascist pigs'; youths, led by Edward S Butler 3d, are attending Natl Student Conf on Revolution sponsored by Information Council of Amers; have spent most of their time working on tactics to fight campus radicals with radical action; hold SDS is their arch villain."
February 17, 1991, Orange County Register (California), 'The purpose of perestroika': "Analyst Ed Butler thinks the Soviets are applying a subtle and potentially dangerous revolutionary strategy that could pay off enormously -- especially if people in the West are unaware of what's going on. Butler, who edited a magazine for which I worked almost 25 years ago, is president of the Information Council of the Americas, which he founded along with former American Cancer Society President Dr. Alton Ochsner and the presidents of Tulane and Loyola universities in New Orleans in 1961. ... Ed Butler thinks reports of the break-up of the communist enterprise are premature. "Almost everybody has it exactly wrong," he told me a couple of weeks ago. "The Soviets are poised to emerge from the revolutionary turmoil they purposely unleashed on their own society stronger and more dynamic than ever. They have disassociated themsleves from the onus of past communist atrocities, and their leaders are serenely confident. Despite their economic weakness, they have achieved big political gains. "My best guess is that the embattled communists have changed their ultimate strategic goal regarding the USA from hostile takeover to friendly merger. But they intend to be, even if not immediately, the senior partners. ""
In 1967 Jim Garrison began investigating the activities of Lee Harvey Oswald in New Orleans. Alton Ochsner told a friend that he feared Garrison would order his arrest and the seizure of INCA's corporate records. Ed Butler took these records to California where Frawley arranged for them to be hidden. Ronald Reagan, the governor of California refused all of Garrison's extradition requests. Frawley had previously helped fund Reagan's political campaigns in California.
-- Dr Alton Ochsner, Jr.--
Ran the Information Council of the Americas with Ed Butler.
2000, Donald Gibson, 'The Kennedy assassination cover-up': pp. 163-166 (father of Ochsner): "Ochsner was part of the local aristocracy and he was thoroughly plugged into the national power structure, particularly the "internationalist" parts of it. Any right-wing yahoo looking to Ochsner for leadership would have been shocked to learn that Ochsner was thoroughly connected to the very same old, big moneyed interests that non-upper-class right wingers love to hate, or love to pretend to hate. Ochsner was a leader in the 1960s of both the International House (IH) and the International Trade Mart (ITM), where he worked with Clay Shaw. [he] was a guest in 1965 at the Bohemian Grove ... [friends] with Edward W. Ball of the DuPont interests. ... Ochsner had become a supporter of the Somoza regime in Nicaragua. Due in part to the efforts of Ochsner, Tulane became a major center for Latin American study. The University was aided by grants fromthe Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation... Brent's Missisippi Shipping apparently subsidized the Latin American Reportm published in the 1940s and 1950s by William G. Gaudet. Gaudet, who also received support from Ochsner and was associated with Edward Bernays of United Fruit, claimed that he worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. Whatever his true employer, Gaudet turned up as the man who accompanied Lee Oswald (or an Oswald imposter) on the famous trip to Mexico. ... Hecht [connected to Stillman-Rockefeller interests] provided a non-collateralized loan to Alton Ochsner and four other doctors to establish the Ochsner Clinic, opened in 1941. Brent and New Orleans attorney J. Blanc Monroe also were involved in the creation of the clinic. Hecht and Brent were, with Clay Shaw, members of the governing board of the ITM at the time of its incorporation in 1945. ... Ochsner had a friendship with Turner Catledge, managing editor of the New York Times. Ochsner was personally close to Samuel Zemurray of United Fruit and to Edgar B. and Edith Rosenwald Stern of the Sears Roebuck fortune. ... Ochsner's foundation and hospital received financial support in the 1950s from Crawford Ellis of United Fruit, from the Ford Foundation, and from three of the wealthiest Texas-based families - Murchison, Richardson, and Bass. The chairman of the Ford Foundation from 1953 to 1965 was John J. McCloy, who spent part of the summer of 1963 with Clint Murchison. McCloy served as honorary chairman of International House in New York City and was a director of United Fruit. In the early 1960s, David Rockefeller, a close associate of McCloy and, like McCloy, Kennedy's opponent on many issues, was a trustee and chairman of the executive committee of IH. "David's interest in IH went back at least to 1946 and his family contributed regularly to IH. At the 1959 dedication of a new building for the Ochsner hospital, Ochsner introduced as guest speaker Monroe J. Rathbone, President of Standard Oil of New Jersey (Exxon). Rathbone had been an executive of Standard Oil in Louisiana during the time that Standard clashed with Huey Long. In 1962 Ochsner was president of IH; his tenure there probably overlapped with Shaw's time as Managing Director of IH. ... When Ochsner and Butler created the Information Council of the Americas (INCA) a month after the Bay of Pigs failure, they acted not as local right wingers, but as Establishment right wingers. When Butler formed INCA in May of 1961 he was forming his second right-wing group in a year. He had created Free Voice of Latin America in 1960; it was headquartered at the ITM. According to historian Arthur carpenter, INCA developed from three sources: Edward Butler, Alton Ochsner, and elite anti-communism. ... A few months after he and Ochsner created INCA, Butler was bragging about his relationship with CIA Deputy Director Charles P. Cabell, who would soon be fired by President Kennedy."
March 31, 1986, ADWEEK, 'Battle Over Aid to Contras Fought on Ad Front': "An ongoing effort to sell the Contras to Americans (at presstime Senate committees were wrestling with the issue) is being made by the New Orleans-based Caribbean Commission. Dr. Alton Ochsner Jr., the group's president, has designed a program called "Adopt a Contra Family." Its purpose, said Ochsner, is "to humanize the contras by associating them with their families" and thus counter their media image as "callous mercenaries who rape and torture and kill.""
March 21, 1994, Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), 'Peace put to the test; Salvadorans relish vote': "Voters turned out in droves Sunday to participate in El Salvador's first national elections since the 1992 peace accord ended a 12-year civil war. ... About 3,000 international observers, including several from the New Orleans area, came to monitor the elections, which were preceded by months of tension and occasional violence. ... "There's an entirely different climate down here this time," said Alton Ochsner Jr., a retired surgeon from New Orleans who observed Sunday's elections and those in 1989 as a guest of ARENA [of death squad leader Robert D'Aubuisson]. "You could hear explosions going off all over the city (in 1989). Today there were no disruptions." Richard Herberg, a retired Marine from Belle Chasse who accompanied Ochsner to several rural voting centers Sunday, said he'd been impressed by the commitment of the voters, many of whom waited for hours in the hot sun to cast their ballots."
October 12, 1994, Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), 'Ochsner gives up license': "The namesake of the principal founder of the Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation is surrendering his license to practice medicine after being investigated for prescribing narcotics without authorization. Although he was entitled to a hearing before the state's medical licensing board, Dr. Alton Ochsner Jr. said he decided to give up his license because he planned to retire anyway Nov. 16, when he turns 70. "I guess I could have gone to court, but it just wasn't worth it," he said. In a report, the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners said it was investigating whether Ochsner prescribed habit-forming drugs illegally. Ochsner, who lives in New Orleans and has a Metairie office for his family practice, said the inquiry was the result of a clerical error last year when he applied for his 1994 license to prescribe such drugs. The form lists four classes of controlled substances. Ochsner said he accidentally marked only one group on the application, not the three groups he usually did, but continued to write prescriptions for all three categories. "I don't know how it happened," he said. "I was ordering drugs I have always ordered all my life. The first thing I knew, the Drug Enforcement Administration was here.""
January 7, 2000, Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), 'Alton Ochsner Jr., 75, N.O. surgeon, educator': "Dr. Alton Ochsner Jr., a well-known surgeon and a son of one of New Orleans' most famous doctors, died Thursday at his home. He was 75. Dr. Ochsner was born Edward William Alton Ochsner Jr. in 1924 aboard the SS America in the Atlantic Ocean. He lived in New Orleans most of his life. He graduated from Southern Arizona School in Tucson, Ariz., and attended Tulane University and the University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate. He graduated from Tulane School of Medicine in 1948 and interned at Charity Hospital before winning fellowships at Tulane and Western Reserve Medical School in Cleveland. He did residencies in surgery at University Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Baylor University-affiliated hospitals in Houston. Dr. Ochsner was an associate professor of clinical surgery at Tulane for many years and was affiliated with more than a dozen local hospitals. He was president of St. Claude General Hospital in 1976. After serving in the Army during World War II, he was a captain in the Army Medical Corps in 1953-54, assigned to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. He published articles and book chapters on fund-raising, carcinoma of the lung, and diseases of the heart, diaphragm and blood vessels. He was a former editor of the International Surgical Digest. Dr. Ochsner received the Rudolph Matas Award in the History of Medicine, and the Volunteer and Information Agency Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service. He was a member of many local, national and international medical organizations, and a past president of the Louisiana Heart Association, the Orleans Parish Heart Unit and the Nu Sigma Nu Alumni Association. He was active in the local Chamber of Commerce and its Americanism and Jazz committees, the New Orleans International Jazz Festival, the Audubon Area Zoning Association, Louisiana Festivals and many other civic groups. Dr. Ochsner was a former chairman of the Caribbean Commission and Americans for Freedom, president of Project Hospital Ship Oceanic Inc., and a board member of the Louisiana Conservative Union, the Information Council of the Americas and the National Captive Nations Committee. He was a member of the Boston Club, Pickwick Club, Lamplighter Club and several Carnival organizations, and was active in boating, fishing, swimming, tennis, polo and art collecting." |
Carroll, William F. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
FBI agent. Founder of the American Security Council as the Mid-Western Research Library. |
Carroll, William F., Jr. |
Source(s): American Security Council website
ASC member since 1974, director 2004-2006, and president in 2005. Vice president of Occidental Chemical Corporation in Dallas, Texas. President-elect of the American Chemical Society. Roman Catholic. |
Chambers, Whittaker |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
Senior editor Time magazine 1943-48. Founding editorial board National Review. Also wrote for Life and Fortune magazines. His writings have been an inspiration to conservatives in the 1980s. |
Chappell,William V., Jr. |
Source(s): July 23, 1984, New York Times, 'The High Cost of Advising': "The American Security Council Foundation is soliciting funds by mail in behalf of the United States Congressional Advisory Board ... Co-chairmen of the board are two Republicans, Senator Jake Garn of Utah and Representative Jack F. Kemp of upstate New York, and two Democrats, Senator J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana and Representative Bill Chappell Jr. of Florida."
Democrat Congressman from Florida 1969-1989. Moderate to conservative Democrat. Served on the United States House Appropriations Committee. Chairman of the United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense until his defeat in 1989. |
Claiborne, Clay |
Source(s): American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
Born in 1948. Grew up in Atlantic City in a strongly Conservative Republican family (claimed he is entirely different). Met Nixon when he was five years old through his father. Clay Claiborne was an African American student at Wash U. beginning in 1966. He was arrested for his protest activities. Well-known activist.
Founder and head Cosmos Engineering Co.
April 20, 2001, Olin Library, Washington University, Lisa Salt (WU Student) interview with Clay Claiborne: "My father was very strongly Republican. He worked for the Republican National Committee. He worked as a consultant almost all his life in a Republican camp. ... You know, my father always had the news on. He always, he had a lot of political connections, so very young, I met a lot of political people. I went to Washington, D.C. I met Richard Nixon when he was Vice President and I was five years old. So my father, while he held very different politics from what I have subsequently developed, he did definitely introduce me to the world of politics and political thought."
Black activist Clay Claiborne takes it even farther. In a Daily Kos column headlined.
October 23, 2010, Daily Kos, 'Was Meg Whitman Fooled by Her Maid?': "It's another one of those cases, like with the slave codes, sodomy laws, the anti-marijuana laws, or the anti-skate boarding laws of Atlantic City that made me a rebel in my youth, when the law is wrong and the people are right. I never have a problem with people breaking such laws." Pictures of Claiborne posted in one of his articles at Daily Kos showed this Claiborne is black.
Member of the Council of 56 of the Religious Roundtable, together with Jerry Falwell, General Daniel O. Graham, General George Keegan, Jr., James Kennedy, Larry McDonald, Phyllis Schlafly, Jesse Helms and Nelson Bunker Hunt. Executive director of the Black Silent Majority. Daily Kos?
August 18, 1980, New York Times, Page 7, Column 1: "Mr. McAteer now heads the Religious Roundtable, which he founded, and which has on its board of 56 - ''the same number as the signers of the Declaration of Independence'' - virtually all the leaders of the New Right, from the Congress, the electronic ministries, the tactical and issue organizations, and the independent church networks. ... Senators Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina, and Gordon J. Humphrey, Republican of New Hampshire, are on it, as is Representative Phillip M. Crane, Republican of Illinois. Other members include Mr. Weyrich and Mr. Falwell and other television evangelists, as well as Clay Claiborne, the head of an organization known as the Black Silent Majority."
June 1, 2009, Whittier Daily News, 'Liberal Seekers to discuss holocaust in Vietnam': "The topic of discussion will be, "Before Iraq there was Vietnam," the tagline for the film "Vietnam: American Holocaust" by Clay Claiborne and narrated by Martin Sheen." |
Clark, Gen. Mark W. |
Source(s): American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1968
Son of Col. Charles Carr and Rebecca C.; ed. Highland Park (Ill.), High Sch.; B.S., U.S. Mil. Acad., 1917; grad. Inf. Sch., 1925; command and Gen. Staff Sch., 1935; Army War Coll., 1937; LL.D., Pa. Mil. Coll., Loyola Univ., Clemson Coll., U. of So. Cal., Oberlin Coll., U. of San Francisco, U. of S.C., U. Akron, Belmont Abbey Coll., Butler U.; D.P.S., University of Vienna, University of Naples, also, The Citadel; D.C.L., Oxford University; D.Sc., U. of Florence; L.H.D., Newberry College; married Maurine Doran, May 17, 1924 (dec.); children—Patricia (Mrs. Gordon H. Oosting) (dec.), William Doran (maj., U.S. Army nat.); married 2d, Mrs. Mary Millard Applegate, Oct. 17, 1967. Commd. 2d lt., Infantry, 1917, advanced through the grades to gen., 1945, ret. 1953; commander-in-chief of U.S. Occupation Forces in Austria and U.S. High Commr., 1945; U.S. mem. Allied Commn. for Austria; dep. U.S. Sec. of State, 1947, with Council of Fgn. Ministers negotiating a treaty for Austria; head of 6th Army, 1947-49; Western Area rep. of Sec. of Defense for Unification of Facilities and Services, 1948-49; chief of Army Field Forces, Ft. Monroe, Va., 1949-52; comdr. in chief, U.N. Command in Korea; comdg. gen. U.S. Army Forces in Far East; gov. Ryukyu Islands 1952. Retired in 1952.
Headed the 1954-55 Clark Committee, officially called Task Force on Intelligence Activities. Gen. Clark was chairman of the committee. It studied the workings of the CIA and the various other intelligence agencies. For the CIA it recommended congressional and executive oversight and made a number of other suggestions to make the whole intelligence community run more effiently.
President the Citadel Military College of South Carolina, 1954-66, pres. emeritus, 1966-84. Episcopalian. Awarded: Maltese Order of Malta (Cross of Merit First Class). Nominated ambassador to the Vatican by Truman, from which eventually withdrew under protest from various groups. Early director (and the most senior) of Wackenhut with George Wackenhut, Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker and ASC co-chair Lloyd Wright. Identified as a director in 1967 with Wright. Retired as a director of Wackenhut in 1974. April 30, 1974, Wall Street Journal, p. 21: "Wackenhut Corp elects Gen S J McKee, Gen B A Schriever and C L Wright dirs. Gens M W Clark and K P McNaughton resign as dirs."
John Rees used to supply information to Wackenhut.
Appeared on the cover of the John Birch Society's American Opinion, volume 9, October 1966.
March 13, 1977, letter from Gen. Mark W. Clark to Tom Ryan: "First, I did not feel that President Truman should have relieved General MacArthur at the time he did. General MacArthur was having a hard time in Korea and was naturally sending back bitter messages, yelling for help. Some of those messages were rather curt and I believe offended President Truman. I believe also, General MacArthur would have been the Republican nominee for the Presidency of the United States had he not be relieved. General Eisenhower and I were at West Point. We were nearly the same age, and were close friends. General MacArthur was ten or twelve years older than I was, and although I knew him, not intimately like Ike, I admired them both."
Dec. 8, 1952, Spokane Daily Chronicle, Washington Merry-Go-Round, Eisenhower Faces Four Alternatives: Clark Favors All-Out Offensive: "These alternatives are: 1. Negotiate a peace with the reds. This appears to be increasingly difficult unless there are heavy concessions on our side. 2. Pull American ground troops out of Korea, leaving South Koreans and possibly Chinese nationalists to continue a long drawn-out war, with American air and naval support backing them up. 3. Launch an offensive next spring, one which carries no international risk such as bombing beyond the Yalu river. 4. Launch an all-out offensive with no holds barred. This would include bombing beyond the Yalu river, also the use of atomic artillery; perhaps also blockading Chinese ports. The last alternative carries the greatest political complications. … However, this all-out offensive is what General Clark favors, and, of course, so also did his more spectacular predecessor, Douglas MacArthur." August 12, 1954, News and Courier (Charleston, S.C.), Preventive war opposed by Eisenhower: Disagrees with Clark on breaking off of Soviet diplomatic ties: "With the air of a man reluctant to disagree with an old comrade, Eisenhower told his news conference his administration by no means shares Gen. Mark Clark’s view the United States should break off diplomatic ties with Russia and throw the Communists out of the United Nations. … Eisenhower was warm in his personal praise of Gen. Clark… Now president of the Citadel … Clark appeared yesterday before a Senate Internal Security subcommittee [where he made the remarks]. … Clark, who is conducting a Hoover Commission investigation of the super secret Central Intelligence Agency, also had some critical words for some American diplomats."
WWII REPUTATION:
I'm very interested what our American friends know about General Mark Clark and to what extent knowledge that this fellow is responsible for more than 60,000 dead soldiers is common in USA. 60,000+ bodies within seven month... + more wounded and thousands of irreparable battle stress casualties... (To be really honest, this achievement of Mark Clark was shared with British General Alexander, General Leese, General Freiburg from NZ and dumbest of all of them - Polish General Anders.) "The Abbey at Monte Cassino (the Abbazia di Montecassino), bombed into rubble by the Allied forces, only to make ideal cover for the German troops who rapidly re-entered the Abbey after the bombing. As a result, the Allies attempted again to "take" the hill on which the Abbey was situated; thousands of soldiers lost their lives in this action. Military leadership during the Peninsular Campaign by Field Marshall Alexander and General Mark Clark was inept at best and caused thousands of casualties -- civil and military -- that blemish the record of the services even today. Monte Cassino tops any list of disgraces resulting from egocentric military leadership, planning and execution. Historians now agree that none of the bombing and fighting served any true military purpose. It was simply a contest between the leadership of the American, English and Polish forces to see whose men could take the hill. The senseless waste of human life sickened many of us who photographed it. One small town in Texas lost 3000 of its National Guardsmen in about 3 hours in a Mark Clark-directed operation to force surrender of the town of Cassino. The operation failed."
The book The Impossible Victory" by Brian Harpur has some revealing insights into Mark Clarke's character, including an interview with the man himself. It seem he was obsessed with being the one to liberate Rome, without any regard for the strategic value or cost in terms of casualties. Yes, indeed. And little correction - Mark Clark dreamed about being "Rome conqueror" not "liberator". It's just subtle difference, but for anyone familiar with mentality out of West Point, very important. I recall something to this effect --the coming 'Operation Overlord' invasion of Normandy caused Clark to lunge for Rome in order to grab some headlines before the Atlantic Wall was pierced by Ike and Monty... Unfortunately, this led to the escape of a sizable number of German troops that could have been cut off instead. Clark, like Gen. Douglas MacArthur and to some extent Gen. Bernard Montgomery, was tainted with a tinge of megalomania. |
Van Cleave, William |
Source(s): November 1, 2005, (ASC founder) John M. Fisher, 'History milestones: American Security Council and American Security Council Foundation' (appointed co-chair of an ASCF Strategy Board in or around 1983); American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
Member Team B Strategic Objectives Panel. 2nd Committee on the Present Danger. Advisor Center for Security Policy. Ariel Center, and the Hoover Institution. Co-director of research at the Jerusalem-based Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies (IASPS). a Senior Research Fellow in National Security Affairs at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University and a Member of the Board of Trustees of the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
Political scientist Stanford University, 1964-67; member faculty University Southern California, 1967-87, professor international relations, 1974-87; professor and department head Southwest Missouri State University, 1987—2005, professor emeritus, 2005— . Senior research fellow Hoover Institution Stanford University, 1961-1987; chairman Strategic Alternatives Team, 1977-90; acting chairman Pres.'s General Adv. Committee on Arms Control, 1981-82; special assistant Office Secretary Defense, member Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) delegation, 1969-71; director Defense and Strategic Studies Center University Southern California, 1971-1987, Center for Defense and Strategic Studies Southwestern Missouri State University, 1987-2005; member B team on National Intelligence Estimates, 1976; member executive panel, board director Committee Present Danger, 1980-93; director transition team Department Defense, 1980-81; senior national security advisor to Ronald Reagan, 1979-80; member national security affairs adv. council Republican National Committee, 1979-89; research council Foreign Policy Research Institute, Institute Foreign Policy Analysis; co-dir. Ann. International Security Summer Seminar, Federal Republic Germany, 1981-98; trustee Am. committee International Institute Strategic Studies, 1980—; visiting professor U.S. Army Advanced Russian Institute, Garmisch, Federal Republic Germany, 1978-79; chairman adv. board International Security Council, 1991-96; consultant in field, member numerous government adv. committees. Co-author: Strategic Options for the Early Eighties: What Can Be Done?, 1979, Tactical Nuclear Weapons, 1978, Nuclear Weapons, Policies, and the Test Ban Issue, 1987, Strategy and International Politics, 2000; author: Fortress USSR, 1986; member board editors Global Affairs. Co-chmn. Scholars for Reagan, 1984; member executive council, director NCAA relations Haka Bowl, NCAA Postseason Football Bowl. With US Marine Corps, 1953-61. Member International Institute Strategic Studies (U.S. committee, board trustees).
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
January 29, 1990, Washington Times, 'Show us results, not rhetoric, Soviet military experts told': "A unique panel of U.S. and Soviet military experts, including a former Marine Corp commandant and a retired chief of naval operations, concluded two days of talks, with the Americans saying the Soviets must produce more concrete evidence of political and military change. "On the American side, we were interested in hearing the Soviet description and explication of the new political thinking," said William R. Van Cleave, a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution. "I would be less than candid if I did not acknowledge that we were more impressed with the words than we were with the evidence of change," he said at a news conference following the meeting. The conference, which ended Friday, was jointly sponsored by the Washington-based International Security Council, a privately funded think tank, and the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences. The U.S. side was led by Mr. Van Cleave and included Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., former chief of naval operations; Gen. Paul X. Kelley, retired commandant of the Marine Corps; and Donald Rumsfeld, former secretary of defense." 1991, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, 'The astrology of the Four Horsemen: how you can heal yourself and planet earth', p. 309: Mentions these delegates, including Gen. Keegan and two less important men. That information came from a 1991 Global Affairs issue on the meeting. October 7, 1991, C-Span, on the ISC meeting 'Change and Continuity in Soviet Military Policy': Chairman of the meeting is William Van Cleave. Introduces the members of his delegation as Admiral Zumwalt, General Michael Dugan (Air force chief of staff), General Carl E. Vuono (Former chief of staff of the army), General John L. Piotrowski (Commander NORAD and U.S. Space Command), General Alfred M. Gray (Commandant Marine Corps), Donald Rumsfeld, Fred Ikle, David Bar-lan (Chief Editor of Jerusalem Post; later Netanyahu policy advisor and spokesperson; anti-Palestinian; claimed that the West only protects the the Palestinians for oil), William T. Lee (DIA analyst) and a few others. It was the second meeting.
Observers?
July 22, 1993, Washington Post, 'Libyan Spin Control': "Joseph Churba, head of the International Security Council, a conservative and pro-Israel Washington think tank, met with senior Libyan political figures in Rome in April. Churba says he used the meeting to press the Libyans to open the country to inspection of suspected chemical weapons factories and missile sites. The failure of the Libyans to give him a clear answer on this, and objections to the contacts from the State Department, led Churba to cancel a second meeting scheduled in Geneva. Churba told me the Rome conference cost his organization $ 50,000. Most of his activities are funded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the South Korean evangelist whose newspaper, The Washington Times, published on July 6 an interview in which Gadhafi praised President Clinton as "a kind, well-intentioned man." The story emphasized Gadhafi's willingness to cooperate with Clinton on counterterroist intelligence if America made a gesture to Gadhafi."
January 19 1988, The Times, 'Times Diary: Moonshine': "The balloon of international optimism inflated by the Reagan-Gorbachov summit is about to be pricked by 24 military experts being put up in London this week by the Rev Sun Myung Moon. After concentrating for some years on the vagaries of South-east Asia, the International Security Council - a Moonfunded think tank of hawkish soldiers, civil servants and scholars - is turning its attention to the INF treaty. Richard Perle, Reagan's former assistant defence secretary, and Joseph Luns, Lord Carrington's predecessor as Nato secretary-general, are among those now at the Hyde Park Hotel." |
Cline, Ray S. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; 1988, Russ Bellant, 'The Coors connection', p. 49: "The ASCF also created a "Strategy Board" in the early 1980's that included a number of persons with covert operations backgrounds Major General John Singlaub; the late Edwin Black ... Ray Cline; and Ed Feulner."; November 1, 2005, (ASC founder) John M. Fisher, 'History milestones: American Security Council and American Security Council Foundation' (appointed co-chair of an ASCF Strategy Board in or around 1983); American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
1918-1996. OSS 1943-1946 and worked in the Far-East with Paul Helliwell and Gen. Singlaub. Harvard degrees. Intelligence analyst CIA 1951-1953. Good friend of Chiang Kai-shek's son. Co-founder Political Warfare Cadres Academy with Kai-shek's son in 1951 (from which Roberto D' Aubuisson graduated). Attaché, United States embassy in London, England, CIA 1951-1953. Chief of the agency's staff on the Sino-Soviet bloc CIA 1954-1958. Accurately predicted that Beijing and Moscow would go their separate ways. Seemingly responsible for setting up the Asian People's Anti-Communist League (APACL) in Taiwan and South Korea in 1955-1956. CIA station chief in Taiwan 1958-1962 (official position: Director, United States Naval Auxiliary Communications Center, Taipei); deputy director CIA 1962-1966; CIA station chief in Bonn 1966-1969 where he oversaw the local Gladio forces; confirmed the authenticity of FM 30-31A & B, instruction manuals of the DIA which included false flag terrorist actions that were to be blamed on the USSR; director Department of State's Bureau Intelligence and Research 1969-1973; director world power studies at Georgetown's CSIS 1973-1986; co-founder of the WACL with Gen. Singlaub; representative of CAUSA, founded by Moonie Col. Bo Hi Pak; the Jonathan Institute; founder U.S. Global Strategy Council in 1981 and headed it from 1986 to 1994; great supporter of non-lethal weapons. President National Intelligence Studies Center by the early 1990s. Member Association of Former Intelligence Officers. Associated with the John Birch Society. Risk consultant to General Dynamics, Hewlett Packard and several oil companies.Advisory board Interaction Systems, McLean, Vi. since about 1983. Published Chiang Ching-kuo Remembered: The Man and His Political Legacy (Washington: United States Global Strategy Council. 197 pp.). Chiang Ching-kuo, so of Kai-shek, was the director of the notorious secret police of Taiwan from 1950 to 1965.
APACL:
1986, Scott Anderson and Jon Lee Anderson, 'Inside the League': "Chiang's rule was corrupt, inept, and impotent, perhaps best illustrated by the speed with which he lost mainland China to Mao after World War II. Even the American military officials who advised him during World War II had no faith in him or in his Kuomintang (KMT) political party. As early as 1943, General Joseph Stilwell had disgustedly called the Chiang Kai-shek rule "a one party government supported by a Gestapo." ... If the Formosans were hoping for moderation from the Kuomintang or assistance from the Americans, they were soon disillusioned. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek may not have been able to defeat the communists, but the unarmed Formosans were a different story, under the cover of darkness, he rushed some twelve thousand of his Nationalist soldiers to the island. The massacres that ensued were indiscriminate and vast in scale. "From an upper window," George Kerr, a State Department official in Formosa, wrote, "we watched Nationalist soldiers in action in the alleys across the way. We saw Formosans bayoneted in the street without provocation. A man was robbed before our eyes-and then cut down and run through. Another ran into the street in pursuit of soldiers dragging a girl away from his house and we saw him, too, cut down. "This sickening spectacle was only the smallest sample of the slaughter then taking place throughout the city."[1] Dr. Ira Hirschy, the chief medical officer in Formosa for the United Nations Rehabilitation and Relief Agency, was also a witness to the killings: "In the city of Pintung where the inauguration of the brief people's rule was marked by the playing of the Star Spangled Banner on phonographs, the entire group of about 45 Formosans who were carrying on various phases of local government were taken out to a nearby airfield from which, later, a series of shots were heard. A Formosan, who, representing the families of these people, went to the military commander to intercede for their lives, was taken to the public square and, after his wife and children had been called to witness the event, he was beheaded as an example to the rest of the people not to meddle in affairs which did not concern them."[2] After the initial wave of killings, which claimed the lives of most of Formosa's prominent businessmen, intellectuals, and political leaders, the Nationalists turned their attention to the younger generation. "We saw students tied together," Kerr reported, "being driven to the execution grounds, usually along the river banks and ditches about Taipei [the capital].... One foreigner counted more than thirty bodies—in student uniforms-lying along the roadside east of Taipei; they had had their noses and ears slit or hacked off, and many had been castrated. Two students were beheaded near my front gate." The March 1947 massacre took an estimated twenty thousand lives; the fledgling Formosan independence movement had been crushed and the way was paved for Chiang Kai-shek and his soldiers retreating from the mainland to establish a government-in-exile. The atrocity also proved the efficacy of total and unconventional warfare, a mode of combat the Nationalists would later teach to other anticommunists, often through the auspices of the World Anti-Communist League. ... Although the U.S. government has denied the authors access to the pertinent records, it appears clear that the United States was largely behind the formation of both the Asian People's and the World Anti-Communist Leagues. Because the United States propped up the regimes of Synghman Rhee and Chiang Kai-shek, these rulers naturally initiated programs and pursued policies that their American advisers favored. Conversely, they could not easily embark on a project that the United States did not desire. Given the political realities of the time, it would be hard to believe that the Leagues were established without American assistance- after all, their stated objectivesto actively fight communism-were very much in keeping with American foreign policy objectives. It is equally doubtful that the Taiwanese and South Korean governments footed the bills for the Leagues. Taiwan was still woefully poor in the 1950s, while Korea 7 devastated by the Korean War, was suffering famine in some provinces. ... Former intelligence officers suggest that the funds most likely came out of money already designated for economic or military assistance, CIA discretionary funds, or U.S. Embassy Counterpart Funds, and that it was done not out of Korea but out of Taiwan. ... Since the Chinese Nationalists were in no position to repay the American assistance in the 1950s 7 an arrangement was made whereby the United States was given "credits" in the Taiwanese currency (NT) for its debts. Using this method, the Taiwanese then embarked on various programs dictated by the Americans as a means to lower their debt. Thus the much-hailed Taiwanese missions to Africa to teach farmers better agricultural practices were actually an American program, paid for by Counterpart Funds in the American Embassy. These funds were not just numbers in a ledger book. They were actual sacks of money that sat in a safe in the American Embassy in Taipei. From the little-scrutinized Counterpart Funds account may have come the initial financing for the Asian People's Anti-Communist League in 1954 and the preparatory meeting of the World AntiCommunist League in 1958. The most likely American conduit for the latter operation was a flamboyant Harvard graduate named Ray Cline. Having served as an intelligence officer for the U.S. Navy and for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Asia during World War II, Cline was CIA station chief in Taiwan from 1958 to 1962. As such he had access to the Counterpart Funds account at the time when the first preparatory meetings were being held toward the establishment of the World League. ... Whatever the validity of this theory, Cline continues to have a close relationship with the League. Not only has he attended several conferences, including those of 1980, 1983, and 1984 7 but he is also a close friend of retired Major General John Singlaub; their relationship dates back to the 1940s, when both served with the OSS in China. ... Cline has contributed to the flourishing of the international ultraright in ways more verifiable than his possible early work with the League. Despite his local notoriety in Taiwan for having built the gaudiest home on the island (dubbed "the Pink Palace"), Cline developed a deep and lasting friendship there with a man named Chiang Ching-kuo... the son of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and heir-apparent to the Taiwan dictatorship. He had an intelligence background similar in some respects to Cline's, except that he had the added advantage of having been trained by the enemy. ... In the late 1950s they joined forces to create an instrument of war that continues to have a hidden impact on events throughout the world: the Political Warfare Cadres Academy. Today, much of the international recruitment for this academy is coordinated through the World Anti-Communist League. ... Its primary function, as with the Soviet model, is to ensure party (in this case, Kuomintang) control of the military through political incloctrination. Kuomintang cells, called "political departments" and composed of graduates of the academy, are established in every military unit down to company size. These political commissars watch over troops as well as the non-academy officers, test their political awareness, and submit regular status reports to the General Political Warfare Department on each person. "The surveillance or inspection function of the company political officer is by far his most ominous duty. Each member of the unit has the responsibility to report on dissidence and deviant political attitudes which may be observed on the part of his comrades."[8] The commissars' primary loyalty is not to the military but to the Party, and according to former American advisers in Taiwan, in disputes between army and political officers, the latter always win. ... One Taiwanese, a former Kuomintang Party member now living in exile, was selected from his university class to attend a two-month training course at the academy. "We were taught that to defeat communism, we had to be cruel. We were told to watch our commander, that if he showed weakness or indecision in combat, we were to kill him. They also had us watch fellow classmates who, of course, were watching us.""
Rollback!: "During World War II, Cline served as a naval intelligence officer and worked for the OSS in Kunming, China, with John Singlaub, Mitchell Livingstone WerBell III, Richard Helms, and Howard Hunt."
2004, Peter Dale Scott, 'War and state terrorism', p. 196: "The importantce of the Kunming OSS station to the postwar drus-intelligence connections is illustrated by the subsequent careers of its members. Stationed there were Helliwell, who later set up CAT, Inc. and Sea Supply, Inc.; Lou Conein, who became the CIA's liaison to Corsican and other traffickers in Saigon; Ray Cline and John Singlaub, both part of the CIA's GMD connection and its offshoot, the drug-sponsoring Asian People's (later World) Anti-Communist League; Howard Hunt, who also helped set up what became the World Anti-Communist League; and Mitchel WerBell, an armorer for the CIA later indicted for an arms-for-drugs deal. WerBell was also involved in a questionable deal for the resettlement of Hmong tribesmen with the Nugan Hand Bank. Presiding over the Kunming station was George Olmsted, whose Washington bank was eventually acquired by BCCI."
1989, Thomas Bodenheimer and Robert Gould, 'Rollback!', p. 64: "Such old-time covert warriors include John Singlaub, Thomas Clines, Paul Helliwell, Richard Stilwell, and Ray Cline, all of whom worked in the OSS operation in the Burmese-China theater during World War II."
2010, Rodney Stich, 'Japanese and U.S. World War II Plunder and Intrigue', pp. 40-41: "Paul Helliwell [served under] CIA William Donovan. Helliwell was involved in Far East activities, including creating CIA front companies, proprieties. These included Civil Air Transport, later renamed Air America, which was based in Taiwan, and the Sea Supply Corporation based in Bangkok. ... Helliwell established an office in Miami for the CIA's Sea Supply Corporation that used Castle Bank and Trust Company, a bank heavily involved in laundering CIA activities and drug money laundering. ... [Ray Cline] once revealed that between 1945 and 1947 OSS and CIA personnel, Santa Romana and Lansdale, had arranged for the shipment by banks of tons of gold retrieved from the Japanese plunder in the Philippines and placed in over 150 bank accounts in over 40 countries. He also helped establish such covert proprieties as Sea Supply Corporation and Castle Bank." Paul Helliwell ran the Eagle Project. Ray Cline and Henry Stimson are suspected of having started the project.
2010, Rodney Stich, 'Japanese and U.S. World War II Plunder and Intrigue', p. 140: "However, Curtis was then informed by a phone call that Reagan had personally endorsed the Nippon Star and Phoenix Exploration groups [to search for gold in Philippines]. Reagan couldn't publicly endorse the explorations but had fully briefed the U.S. embassy in Manila... Other involved in the exploration included ... General Daniel Graham ... and Ray Cline."
January 14, 1993, USA Today, ''Inside ouster' scenario was only wishful thinking': "The air strike on Iraq Wednesday was but a stopgap measure in the U.S. government's longstanding goal of toppling Saddam Hussein. But President Bush expected long ago that domestic pressures - particularly the humiliating defeat of the Iraqi army during the gulf war - would have led to Saddam's overthrow, says former CIA deputy director Ray Cline. Cline, who retired from the government in 1973 and now heads the Washington-based National Intelligence Study Center, says Bush told him more than a year ago that he expected Saddam to be ousted by his own military. ''He said these people are going to just destroy Saddam Hussein,'' Cline says. The Bush administration has not made much of a secret of its covert action program to foment a military-led coup against Saddam. The operation has reportedly included support for dissident groups, propaganda broadcasts and dissemination of phony currency to undermine the economy."
Cline has also worked with the far-right in the Philippines. After relocating the offices of WACL to the Nippon Star Trading Company complex in Manila in late 1986, John Singlaub met with Cline, Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, and General Luis Villa-Real. Villa-Real, the president of WACL's Philippine chapter, played a central role in the creation of right-wing death squads in that country. (15) Both Cline and Singlaub were identified by the 'Philippine Daily Inquirer' as aiding the forces behind the 1986 coup attempt against the Aquino government. (16)
Has stated that Moscow is behind international terrorism.
AB, Harvard University, 1939. MA, Harvard University, 1941. PhD, Harvard University, 1949. Postgrad., Balliol College, Oxford University, England, 1940. Junior fellow Harvard University, 1941-42; with Office of Strategic Services, 1943-46, Office Chief Military History, Department Army, 1946-49, CIA, 1949-51; attaché Am. Embassy, London, 1951-53; with CIA, 1954-58; director U.S. Naval Auxiliary Communications Center, Taipei, 1958-62; deputy director for intelligence CIA, 1962-66; special adviser Am. embassy, Bonn, Germany, 1966-69; director Bureau Intelligence and Research, Department State, 1969-73; director world power studies Georgetown University Center Strategic and International Studies, Washington, 1973-86; chairman U.S. Global Strategy Council, 1986-94. President National Intelligence Study Center, Washington; adjunct professor Georgetown University, 1974-94. Author. Member Oxford Society, Council Foreign Relations, Washington Institute Foreign Affairs, Harvard Club (Washington and New York City), Phi Beta Kappa.
November 9, 1966, New York Times, 'World body is aim of anti-communists': "Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 8--Anti-communist leaders from 24 Asian, African and Middle Eastern countries adopted today a charter for a nongovernmental worldwide anti-communist body to be organized in Taipei, Taiwan, next fall. The charter for the World Anti-Communist League was adopted during the closing session of the annual conference of the Asian Peoples Anti-Communist League. The conference was attended by delegates from 24 member countries and by observers from five American and European countries, including the United States. The Asian League, founded in 1954 in South Korea, intends to play a leading role in organizing and coordinating the activities of anti-communist groups around the world."
September 25, 1954, New York Times, ''Hate Japan' drive is spurred by Rhee': Rhee continues propaganda against population to hate Japan. Doesn't want Japan to join APACL.
April 7, 1984, Central News Agency - Taiwan, 'Ku Cheng-Kang flies to Belgium to attend meeting': Joint meeting in Belgium of WACL and APACL April 9-11.Dr. Ku Cheng-Kang is chairing the meeting. Then left for Holland to visit WACL there.
May 5, 1979, Washington Post, 'Even U.S. Suspect At Anti-Communist League Gathering': "A decade ago, had an American ambassador attended a meeting of the World Anti-Communist League, he probably would have been greeted with the same enthusiasm as Moshe Dayan at an Israeli Bonds dinner. There would have been smiles, applause and calls for the obligatory spech. Last week, however, when U.S. Ambassador Robert E. White made a surprise appearance at the opening session of the League's 12th annual congress, it was as if Dayan had walked into a conference of the Palestine Liberation Organization. "They didn't quite know what to do with me," White said afterwards, recalling his trip into the ultra-conservative lion's den, where the Carter administration's foreign policy is about as popular as that of the Kremlin. Among those at this year's conference were former Nazi SS officers, two neo-Fascists from Italy reportedly wanted for terrorist acts, members of Alpha 66, a right-wing Cuban exile group, and Pedro Ibanez Ojeda, who attended as Chilean President Augusto Pinochet's personal envoy. When Frederick Guirma, the delegate from Upper Volta, gave a speech urging the League to support blacks in South Africa, Rhodesia and Namibia, who he said "are fighting for their rights," there was dead silence. The League later passed a resolution stating that South Africa is "beset by communist subversion" and that journalists who write about that country's policy of racial separation in a negative manner are "at the service of Marxism and its campaign of psychological aggression." What became quite clear during the conference was that the Anti-Communist League supports any government, no matter how repressive or racist, that says it is anti-communist. The Carter administration's human rights policy is seen as nothing more than playing into the hands of the international communist conspiracy-as was the U.S. decision to recognize Peking. "If the United States had a strong, pro-capitalist foreign policy, quite naturally many nations would strengthen their ties with the U.S.," said Bruce Larsen, head of the New Zealand delegation. Larsen said he believed in democracy. When asked if he considered Paraguay, generally classified as Latin America's most authoritarian dictatorship, a democracy he said. "Certainly, it is. I do not believe in democracy for subversive leftist elements." The League is particularly secretive about its own inner workings, about how many members it has and where its money comes from. There were about 400 delegates from 86 countries at this year's conference, several of whom admitted that they had not paid their own way and most of whom refused to discuss the League or their presence. Diplomatic observers said some delegates told them that all of their expenses were paid for, probably by the Paraguyan government. The conference's most exciting moment came during the final session, when the debate over where to hold the next congress brought into the open a simmering internal dispute that some observers said could change the very nature of the League. Until now, according to these observers, the League has been pretty much dominated by the Nationalist Chinese, who founded it. Taiwan's hope was to draw into the organization any anti-communist group that supported it in its diplomatic struggle with Peking. According to the observers, however, one faction within the Saudi royal family has been pumping money into the League with the aim of capturing control and turning it against Israel. At least one of the working groups at this year's conference passed a resolution supporting the Palestinians and condemning "Zionist expansionism in the Middle East." Asked why the League was supporting the Palestinians, who have close ties with the Soviet Union, over the Israelis, who have close ties with many of the governments which the League supports, such as South Africa and Chile, Sam G. Dickson [a major racist], an Atlanta lawyer who was a U.S. delegate, said "Israel has made herself repugnant to most nations of the world. "Occasionally, one has to decide that the enemy of mine enemy is not my friend," Dickson said."
--
April 13, 2002, The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 'Shanghai, by jiminy': "Small wonder that the first meeting of the Chinese Communist Party took place in Shanghai in 1921 (the building remains open for inspection) and that the ideas found a ready market. It was from the Bund that Chiang Kai-shek loaded nearly all of China's gold reserves - 500,000 ounces - as he fled to Taiwan in 1948."
Washington Times columnists include Ray Cline's son-in-law Roger W. Fontaine (Director of Latin American Affairs, National Security Council 1981-1983; Washington Times columnist; publisher of Sun Myung Moon's book 'Inquisition' under the name Andromeda publications, but his wife said the book was published by Regnery Gateway; Director of Latin American Studies, CSIS; principal professor of the Institute for World Politics). Moon: 1991, PBS, 'The Resurrection of Reverend'. Also shows pictures of Sasakawa and Mussolini. Shows that the Washington Times, the White House, the Justice Department and Moon himself all refused to give any comments. Max Hugel, William Casey's friend and briefly his deputy for covert operations, was picked by Moon to bail him out.
RAY CLINE - BOUGEROL - BONVOISIN - BORCHGRAVE
Arnaud de Borchgrave: PIO contact at Newsweek. CIA liaison to de Bonvoisin. Moss also on PIO press list and with de Borchgrave at Mid-Atlantic Research Associates. With Cline and Casey at Ashbrook Center in 1986. Moss and Borchgrave: The Spike.
The World and I (Moonies): editor was Arnaud Borchgrave and Ray Cline sat on editorial board. Stilwell wrote for magazine. Washington Times: Roger Fonatine (Cline's son-in-law) and Borchgrave. USGSC: chairman was Ray Cline. Board member was
Interview with Ray Cline by Alan de Francovitch and the BBC team preparing the programme Gladio Story, quoted by Bouffioux in Telemoustique, 23/4/92 - this experience may explain PIO's English-language title: "counter-insurgency training [was] given to the Belgian Major Jean-Marie Bougerol and his men in the US..." |
Cohen, Sam |
Source(s): American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
Nuclear physicist. A veteran of the Manhattan Project. Conceived, designed and advocated development of the neutron bomb, a high-radiation anti-personnel weapon. Cordially despised the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). During the Vietnam War, Cohen argued that using small neutron bombs would end the war quickly and save many American lives.
Cohen spoke at an April 2000 fundraiser in La Canada, California, for then-Reform Party presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan. |
Collins, LeRoy |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
Democrat Governor from Florida.
Leon County rep. to Florida Legislature, 1934-40; member Senate, 1940-54; governor State of Florida, 1955-61; president National Association Broadcasters, 1961-64; director Community Relations Service, 1964-65; undersec. U.S. Department Commerce, 1965-66; private practice law Tampa, Florida, 1966-68; of counsel Ervin, Varn, Jacobs, Odom & Kitchen, Tallahassee, 1970-91; member Florida Constitution Revision Commission, 1977-78, Southern Legal Council, 1977-91. Former chairman National Governors Conference, Southern Governors Conference; member national adv. council Peace Corps; member honor corps National Conference of Christians and Jews; chairman South Regional Education Board, 1955-57; member Commission on Goals for Higher Education in South, 1961-62, Commission on Future of South, 1980-81; trustee Florida Defenders of Environment, 1981—; board directors Committee on Constitutional System, 1984—; chairman Dem. National Convention, 1960. Lieutenant US Naval Reserve, World War II. |
Colson, Charles W. |
Source(s): Donald Freed, Gemstone - the Bottom Line (1974)
Colson was the key figure. Publicly, as Special Counsel, he was liaison between the White House and various political groupings-the Reverend Carl McIntire, the Liberty Lobby, and similar right-wing extremists; the Eastern European ethnics, many of them neo-fascists; the American Security Council and the National Rifle Association; Teamster officials and organized crime; ITT, the multinationals, and the CIA. Covertly, he was liaison to the White House from the secret government, with primary responsibility for Operation Gemstone. Charles Colson was the double agent, and his plan was simplicity itself:
Later Colson would arrange anti-Nixon incidents at the AFLCIO convention in Miami and hard-hat attacks against antiwar demonstrators in New York. It seems likely that he was also involved in an early rehearsal of Gemstone at a Nixon appearance in San Jose, California, in late October. According to Congressman Paul McCloskey and the local police chief, the ultraconservative Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) sent its members to pose as anti-Nixon demonstrators. Both Hunt and Colson were founders of YAF.
Private practice, Washington, 1961-69; assistant to assistant secretary Department Navy, 1955-56; administrative assistant to Senator Leverett Saltonstall US Senate, 1956-61; senior partner Gadsby & Hannah, 1961-69; special counsel to President The White House, 1969-72; partner Colson & Shapiro, Washington, 1973-74; associate Fellowship House, 1975-76; founder Prison Fellowship Ministries, 1976—. |
Coors, Joseph |
Source(s): 1988, Russ Bellant, 'The Coors connection', p. 49: "Joe Coors served on the ASCF board through the 1980s..."
With Adolph Coors Co., Golden, Colorado, vice president, from 1947, president, 1977-85, chief operating officer, 1982—1988, vice chairman, 1975, 1982—2000. Regent University Colorado, 1967-72. Founder, honorary trustee Heritage Foundation, 1972. Friend of Reagan. Governor Council on National Policy. Contra financier. Advisory board National Strategy Information Center.
March 24, 2003, Advertising Age, 'Obituary: Joseph Coors made his brand a household name; Exec known for conservative political agenda': "During his leadership of the brewery Mr. Coors was virulently anti-union and his conservative stances produced various union boycotts in the mid- '70s. He later began turning over management duties to others, among them his son, Peter, who remains chairman, to spend more time pushing conservative causes. ... In 1972, it was his $250,000 that helped found the conservative Heritage Foundation, which today remains influential in conservative politics. He was the founder and investor in the Committee for Survival of a Free Congress, another conservative group, and he also supported the arch conservative John Birch Society. Mr. Coors was also close to President Reagan, serving as a major backer of his early campaign and eventually as part of Mr. Reagan's informal kitchen cabinet. He lobbied for the appointment of James G. Watt as secretary of the interior."
November 8, 2000, New Straits Times (Malaysia), 'Group of shadowy power-players with mind set on one-world control': "In the 1970s, Weyrich and Coors made appointments and set up political contacts on Capitol Hill for Franz Joseph Strauss, Bavarian head of state who helped emigre Nazi collaborators."
January 10, 1989, AP, 'Former Congressman, Coors Added To Witness List': "Coors made the $$65,000 contribution to the Contras after meeting with North in 1985, less than three months before the letter to Barnes from the NSC. Coors has said he met in June 1985 with then-CIA Director William Casey, who referred Coors to North when Coors expressed an interest in giving money to the Contras at a time when U.S. military aid to them was banned by Congress. At a meeting in Casey's office in the old executive office building next to the White House, the CIA director "said Ollie North is the guy to see," Coors said in 1987 in congressional testimony on the Iran-Contra affair. Coors then walked over to see North, who said the Contras needed a Maule aircraft and gave Coors the number of a Swiss bank account where he could send his contribution. The account number was for Lake Resources Inc., part of the maze of companies which Richard Secord and Albert Hakim, who also are charged in the Iran-Contra case, used to funnel money to the Contras from the administration's arms sales to Iran as well as from a private fund-raising network. Coors arranged for $$65,000 to be sent to the Lake Resources account and then contacted North, saying he had made it clear he wanted to give humanitarian, non-military aid to the Contras. Coors said North "indicated that this plane would fit into that pattern.""
February 27, 2002, Associated Press State & Local Wire, 'Abortion, vouchers major issues for Simon donors': "Another major Simon contributor, brewing magnate Joseph Coors, helped create the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington, D.C., think tank that Simon and his father have supported financially. Both Simons have been Heritage board members." |
Craigmile, Charles S. |
Source(s): 1968, ASC National Strategy Committee list
1892-1977. Son of David Francis and Mary Louise (Holt) C.; student U. Ill., 1910-13; married Nellie Marie Truby, Mar. 15, 1924; children—Winston Charles, David Francis, Donald Holt. Elec. engr. Dolese & Shepard Co., 1913-15, Belden Mfg. Co., Chgo., 1915-18, chief insp., 1919, gen. foreman, 1920, plant supt., 1921, gen. foreman, 1922-23, asst. gen. supt., 1924-27, gen. supt., 1928-34, v.p., 1935-41, exec. v.p., 1942-48, pres., 1948-63, chmn. bd., chief exec. officer, 1963-65, hon. chmn., from 1965, dir. Dir. Greater Chgo. Safety Council from 1936, pres., 1939-42; dir. Jr. Achievement of Chgo., Inc., 1949-52, Chgo. Adv. Council, 1952-55; trustee Village of Hinsdale, Ill., 1949-52, president of the village, 1953-56. Served as 1st lieutenant, 331st F.A., 86th Div., U.S. Army, 1917-19; with A.E.F., 5 mos. Mem. Am. Mgmt. Assn. (v.p. 1933-34, dir. 1944-47, 1950-52) Ill. Mfrs. Assn. (dir. 1950-53, chmn. 1958, member of the advisory board from 1959), Associated Employers Ill. (dir., from 1939, v.p. 1939-45, pres. 1946-53; chmn. exec. com., 1953-57), Nat. Metal Trades Assn. (nat. pres. 1952-53, mem. adminstrv. council 1945-53), Employers Assn. (dir., from 1941, pres. 1944-45; adv. council, 1949-53, exec. council, 1954-56), N.A.M. (dir., 1956-58), Tau Kappa Epsilon. Republican. Conglist. Clubs: Executives (vice pres. 1939-41), Commercial, University (Chgo.); Hinsdale (Ill.) Golf (pres. 1942-44); Illinois Senior Golf (pres., 1955-56). Home: Hinsdale, Ill |
Dennison, Adm. Robert L. |
Source(s): 1967, American Security Council national strategy committee report, 'The changing strategic military balance, U.S.A. vs. U.S.S.R.', a study prepared for the House Armed Services Committee, pp. 8-9: “[Introduction letter] Signed, General Bernard A. Schriever, USAF (Ret.), Chairman. General Paul D. Adams, USA (Ret.). Lt. General Edward M. Almond, USA (Ret.). Prof. James D. Atkinson. Admiral Robert L. Dennison, USN (Ret.). Vice Admiral Elton Watters Grenfell, USN (Ret.). Admiral Ben Moreell,CEC, USN (Ret.). Dr. Stefan T. Possony. General Thomas S. Power, USAF (Ret.). Brig. General Robert C. Richardson, USAF (Ret.). Vice Admiral W. A. Schoech, USN (Ret.). General Bernard A. Schriever, UAF (Ret.). Dr. Edward Teller. Rear Admiral Chester C. Ward, USN (Ret.). General Albert C. Wedemeyer, USA (Ret.). Major General W. A. Worton, USMC (Ret.)."
Dennison was born in Warren, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1923. He later received a doctorate in engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Held numerous commands in the United States Navy, including submarines, destroyers, and the U.S.S. Missouri. Truman twice sailed on the Missouri while Dennison commanded it. Naval aide, when a Rear Admiral, to Harry S Truman from 1948 to 1953. As a naval aide, along with others, won Truman's support for Dennison's classmate, Arleigh Burke, later Chief of Naval Operations, whose views at the time had nearly ruined his career. He was the Commander in Chief of the United States Atlantic Fleet (CINCLANTFLT) and United States Atlantic Command (CINCLANT) from February 28, 1960 to April 30, 1963. While in charge of the Atlantic forces, he was given the duty of blockading Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. |
Deressa, Yonas |
Source(s): July 11, 1986, PR Newswire, 'News Advisory': "WHAT: The "freedom fighters" will convene in the first "Contra Summit" as part of the Peace Through Strength Summit sponsored by the American Security Council Foundation as the educational secretariat of the Coalition of Peace Through Strength. ... WHERE: The Capital Hilton Hotel, 16th and K streets N.W. Among those attending the summit will be Adolfo Calero, senior directorate, United Nicaraguan Opposition; Maj. Gen. Pok Sam Anh, Khmer People's National Liberation Front, Cambodia; Jeremias Chitunda, foreign minister, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola; Yonas Deressa, Ethiopian People's Democratic Alliance; Eshan Jan Areef (Jamiat-i-Islami), Afghan Freedom Fighters; and Souksomboun Sayasithsena, International Union of Lao Organizations, Laos. The meeting will also feature addresses by Weinberger; U.S. Sens. E.J. (Jake) Garn, R-Utah, and Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz.; U.S. Reps. Jack Kemp , R-N.Y., Samuel S. Stratton, D-N.Y., Robert H. Michel, R-Ill., and Bill Chappell Jr., D-Fla. In addition, Sen. Dole will be the recipient of the 1986 Eagle Award..."
Washington-based opponent of Marxist President Mengistu Haile Mariam of Ethipoia. Supporter EDU and EPDA. Did not support the EPRDF and Eritrean independence. In May 1991, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) forces advanced on Addis Ababa from all sides, and Mengistu fled the country with 50 family and Derg members. He was granted asylum in Zimbabwe as an official guest of Zimbabwean (formerly Rhodesia) President Robert Mugabe.
May 17, 1989, Washington Post, ' Army Coup Attempted In Ethiopia; Official Radio Says Revolt Was Foiled': "Ethiopian military officers attempted to overthrow the government of Marxist President Mengistu Haile Mariam but failed, the state radio said early today. The report, monitored here, said that the military chief of staff and air force commander were killed Tuesday as they took part in the attempt, and that the other officers involved had surrendered. The Associated Press reported from Addis Abbaba that the capital was calm. But there was no independent confirmation that the mutiny had been put down. In what appears to have been the most serious challenge to Mengistu's rule since he assumed undisputed control of Ethiopia in 1977, senior officers reportedly deployed soldiers and tanks at key ministries in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, shortly after Mengistu left Ethiopia for a four-day state visit to East Germany. The state radio report said: "Some conspiring generals wanted to create great unrest and disturbance, to shed the blood of innocent people and generally destabilize the unity of our motherland, even though their treacherous aims did not succeed. They tried to use force but were killed." The report named the dead officers as Maj. Gen. Merid Negusie, chief of staff and Maj. Gen Amha Desta, commander of the air force. ... The army has suffered tens of thousands of casualties in the past two years in battles against well-organized rebels in the northern regions of Eritrea and Tigray. Mengistu again this week signaled his intention to continue to seek a military victory over the rebels. According to Yonas Deressa, the leader of a Washington-based Ethiopian refugee organization, the Ethiopian leader recently "imposed a quota of 50,000 youngsters [to be conscripted] in Addis Ababa alone. They have been taking young children . . . almost kidnapping 13 and 14-year-old boys. There have been the wailings of mothers and . . . a great deal of tension in the last month." Army desertions and mass refusal to fight have marked many of the rebel victories in the north. According to western diplomats, Mengistu traveled to Eritrea last year to investigate army loses. In one battle alone, at the town of Afabet, an estimated 18,000 Ethiopian soldiers were killed or captured. While in the north, diplomats say, Mengistu ordered one of his losing generals shot in front of his troops. Mengistu in 1977 gained undisputed control of the Dergue, the original inner circle of army officers that toppled emperor Haile Selassie three years earlier, after he organized the assassination of seven rival Marxist revolutionaries."
April 25, 1986, Washington Post, 'Ethiopian Security Police Seized, Tortured CIA Agent': "Two years ago, Ethiopian security police abducted and tortured a Central Intelligence Agency officer involved in a CIA covert propaganda campaign against the Marxist government in Addis Ababa, according to informed sources. The officer was held captive for more than a month, suffering a fractured skull, chipped vertebrae and dislocated shoulders during his captivity. He was freed in February 1984 when then ambassador-at-large Vernon A. Walters flew secretly to Addis Ababa, confronted Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile-Mariam and obtained the officer's release, the sources said. ... According to informed sources, administration officials have engaged in preliminary discussions in recent months on how to escalate CIA support for Ethiopian dissident groups dedicated to overthrowing the Mengistu regime. One Ethiopian exile leader has met with Reagan. This leader, Yonas Deressa, said in an interview that he has been told by sources close to the White House that his cause will receive priority attention after Congress disposes with the president's request for additional aid to the contras fighting the Nicaraguan government. One difficulty for U.S. strategists has been trying to identify a resistance group with a reasonable chance of success that espouses neither Marxism nor secessionism, since the administration strongly opposes movements dedicated to fracturing Ethiopian territory. One group, the Ethiopian People's Democratic Alliance (EPDA) based in London, has received covert CIA support since 1981, according to informed sources. But this group has few guerrillas in the field and scant popular support inside Ethiopia, according to U.S. sources. Among the strongest dissident factions, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front has been fighting for years to split the northern province of Eritrea away from Ethiopia. The Tigrans, also a northern ethnic group, have their own liberation front which is partly Marxist."
July 16, 1986, IPS, 'Central America: Contra leader welcomes Contadora "death"': "The leader of the U.S.-backed Nicaraguan rebel force today pronounced with satisfaction that the Contadora peace process, which he termed "pacifist nonsense," is now dead. "People have realized," Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) leader Adolfo Calero said, that "there is only so much you can do with communists in negotiations." ... While Calero and Savimbi were toasted for their successes in receiving U.S. aid, one rebel leader, Yonas Deressa of the Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Alliance (EPDA), was bitter. He complained of the administration's failure to swing its might behind efforts to unseat the Marxist government of Mengistu Haile-Mariam in Addis Ababa. "For six years we have waited for the Reagan Doctrine to apply to Ethiopia," Deressa told the audience, asking that anyone with "access" to President Reagan "please convey our message to him." Deressa, who heads the small, London-based group of former officials of the staunchly anti-communist Haile Selassie monarchy, overthrown in 1974, has himself met Reagan personally. Under pressure from right-wing groups here, the Reagan Administration is reportedly contemplating a covert paramilitary training program for rebels fighting Addis Ababa. In the meantime, EPDA has received about $500,000 a year since 1981 from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for propaganda and resistance tactics, according to the "Washington Post." The major regional armies fighting for independence for Tigre and Eritrea, however, have reportedly received no support from the administration."
September 28, 1988, www.heritage.org, 'Subsidizing Tragedy: The World Bank and the New Colonialism': "The Soviet client regime in Ethiopia has committed crimes beyond descript ion, worse even than those of the infamous Idi Amin. This is a dictatorship that during its Red Terror campaign of ten years ago murdered hundreds of schoolchildren and left their bodies stacked in the streets and hanging from lamp posts. Political murder s number in the thousands, and everyone in the cities lives in fear of the midnight knock on the door, of being taken away to disappear forever. Suspected democrats are tortured by suspending them from shackles and hanging concrete weights from their genit a ls. This regime has earned for itself the distinction of being the most cruel on the face of the earth. In its determination to construct a new Marxist-Leninist workers' paradise, it is destroying everything it touches, with no regard for the havoc and mi sery it leaves in its wake. In true Stalinist fashion, this dictatorship is engaged in a massive social engineering program that is wrecking the very structure of Ethiopian society, destroying the lives and families of millions, and ruining the country's a bility to feed itself. And, most ironic and tragic of all, Mengistu is using money from the West - from the World Bank - to do it. The World Bank has given over $659 million to a regime that is recognized as the most oppressive and inhuman in the world. W hy? Yonas Deressa is President of the Ethiopian Refugees Education and Relief Foundation. He spoke at The Heritage Foundation on July 28, 1988." |
Dickens, Col. Samuel T. |
Source(s): February 5, 1987, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, 'Contra Confrontation; Contras: The Money Trail' (executive member); February 8, 1991, CNN, Larry King Live (transcript; discussing the enfolding Gulf War with Secretary of State James Baker and Senator William Cohen)
Fighter Squadron Commander in Vietnam. Director Council for Inter-American Security. Executive director for inter-hemispheric affairs for the American Security Council (ASC). Washington defense and foreign affairs consultant. On CNN with administration officials during the time of the Gulf War.
February 8, 2007, Washington Times, 'Samuel T. Dickens, 80 Ret. Air Force colonel': "After graduating from high school in 1943, he became a clerk in the Foreign Service at the American Embassy in Buenos Aires, and in 1945 joined the U.S. Army. As a sergeant, he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1947. Upon graduation in 1951 and pilot training in 1952, he reported to the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron in Korea, where he flew 12 combat missions. After the Korean War, Col. Dickens flew reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union, China and North Korea. Col. Dickens served in a variety of positions, including flight commander for Royal Air Force Squadron 263 in Britain and assistant air attache in Spain. He was assigned to South Vietnam in 1968, where he became operations officer and then commander of the 615th Tactical Fighter Squadron. He flew 225 combat missions. Later, he was base commander of Torrejon Air Base in Spain, director of operations of the 401st Tactical Fighter Wing and coordinator of U.S.-Spanish negotiations on the U.S. military presence in Spain. After a brief tour at the Pentagon, he attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Fort McNair. While there, he obtained a master's degree in administration from George Washington University. In 1974 he became chief of the Western Hemisphere Division of the Air Force Policy, Plans and Programs division, serving as a delegate to the Inter-American Defense Board and as co-chairman of NATO's Canada-U.S. Regional Planning Group. Among his decorations are the Legion of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses and 12 Air Medals. After retiring in 1979, Col. Dickens was an adviser to the national commander of the American Legion and for 10 years served as director of Inter-American Affairs at the American Security Council Foundation. Col. Dickens served as an adviser to the 1984 Kissinger Commission on Central America and served as secretary of the James Monroe Memorial Foundation. In 2000, on the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, Col. Dickens was chosen to represent the Air Force to receive the newly authorized Korean War Service Medal."
April 22, 1985, San Diego Union-Tribune, 'The Nicaraguan connection': "Soviet-backed guerrillas in Central America have been paying attention to the dynamics of our economic system here in the United States. Officials in Cuba and Nicaragua have established a covert "joint venture" with organized crime in other Central American nations and the United States to supply/sell a greater number of illicit drugs. The effect has been devastating on anti-drug efforts in this country and on the social fabric of small-town America. In a recent State Department report and in testimony before Congress, government officials have outlined the motivation behind the increased flow of drugs like cocaine and heroin from communist-led nations and guerrilla groups in Central America. All of the experts on Central American affairs agreed. Cuban and Nicaraguan government officials working with communist guerrilla groups, mostly in Colombia, are accomplishing two important revolutionary goals by making drug exports to the United States a top priority. They are using cash generated by the narcotics sales to purchase arms for their forces and they are undermining the social structure of the dominant capitalist nation in the world, the United States. As the guerrillas opened the flood gates on drugs flowing into this country, organized crime in America faced a serious problem."
April 18, 1991, Col. Sam Dickens for Roll Call, 'Premature Hero Status': "The Feb. 16 assassination of former resistance leader Enrique Bermudez was just one of many such killings over the past year. At least 50 former members of the resistance (Contras) who laid down their arms to participate in the democratic process have been murdered by government security forces. ... The Nicaraguan government has, in short, willfully blocked an effective probe of the Bermudez murder. This implies knowledge of high-level Sandinista involvement in the killing. Sandinista-controlled death squads continue to operate with impunity in Nicaragua. Murders of former resistance people continue. The American Security Council sponsored a visit to Washington last week of the widow and son of Enrique Bermudez. They visited with several Members of Congress, met with Bush Administration officials, and testified before the Organization of American States to assess the tragic and pitiful situation in Nicaragua."
May 3, 1991, New York Times, 'A Man of Hate Meets His Violent Destiny': "To the Editor: In all the denunciations of the assassination in Managua in February of Col. Enrique Bermudez, I note that no one bothers to mention just who this contra leader really was. President Bush called it a heinous crime, and Samuel T. Dickens, the director of inter-American affairs at the American Security Council, accuses the Sandinistas of perpetrating the deed (Op-Ed, April 16). But Enrique Bermudez was so hated by so many that anyone could have done it. What's more, the United States press had well recorded his viciousness in the past. When Enrique Bermudez became the contras' top commander in 1988, you reported (May 6, 1988) that contra field chiefs petitioned the Central Intelligence Agency to get rid of him on the grounds that he was too brutal and personally corrupt. And when the C.I.A. refused, you reported that 7 of the 38 commanders quit (July 21, 1988). Newsweek informed (Aug. 1, 1988) of his boast that under his command the contras would use new methods, "such as assassination of Sandinista leaders," adding, "we could use even terrorism." But there were a lot of ordinary Nicaraguans who would have eagerly sought Enrique Bermudez for revenge. I met one such, a woman more than 70 years old, when I went to Nicaragua as a member of the international team of observers of the 1984 elections. They called her La Dulce, the soft one, because she never raised her voice and never raised her eyes. She walked with a slight shuffle as if lugging a sack of dead wood on her shoulders, and she clutched a walking stick as if it were a tomahawk. "My son was tortured to death in front of my eyes," she finally told me one day, "to force me to tell them where some students were hiding. I didn't tell them, you know why, because I didn't know, but they killed him anyway." Then, pulling out a crumpled newspaper picture and showing it to me, La Dulce, who never supported or joined the Sandinistas, added: "This man was the one who kept putting the picana" -- an electric rod attached to a portable generator -- "in my son's mouth. The others were holding him and holding me. But he was the one who burned out my son's eyes. Him." The picture was one of Enrique Bermudez, commander of the dictator Anastasio Somoza's National Guard. JOHN GERASSI Professor, Political Science Queens College, CUNY."
Reviewed and commented extensively on Robert McNamara's new book 'In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam'. "[The book] isn't a mea culpa. It's a justification of his actions as Secretary of Defense that led to such a disaster for the United States," said Dickens, who said that NcNamara's underlying thesis is that McNamara was right in his point of view but wrong in that he failed to convince LBJ of this position. The book, Dickens said, "is full of extraordinary statements," such as that there were no Far East experts in the U.S. government at that time, and, he said, the book repeatedly shows that LBJ, General Westmoreland and others wanted to win the war, but McNamara "squashed" their efforts. "We lost a lot of fighter pilots" because the bomb targeting strategy was decided by the Secretary of Defense and White House, Dickens said, concluding: "It's a very important book and it does show why Desert Storm was fought the way it was fought -- with a definite objective. I do recommend the book -- I hope people realize [because of it] the damage one man can do."
February 5, 1987, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, 'Contra Confrontation; Contras: The Money Trail': "KRAUSE: According to the Senate Intelligence Committee in a preliminary report by Kerry's staff, three men played key roles as intermediaries between North, the private aid network and the contras themselves. They were: General John Singlaub, former chairman of the World Anti Communist League, who claims to have raised millions of dollars for the contras from private sources; General Richard Secord, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, who was directly involved with Colonel North in the Iranian arms sales and providing weapons to the contras; and finally, Robert Owen, a paid consultant to North at the National Security Council whose photograph has never been published. ... Colonel Sam Dickens is an executive at the American Security Council, a conservative pro contra lobbying group in Washington. He says the notion that the private aid network was controlled by North or by the CIA is a figment of Sen. Kerry's imagination. Col. SAM DICKENS, American Security Council: The thought that the U. S. government controlled private sector operations is really ridiculous. It's various organizations that have their own membership, and so it's sort of an interlocking, interrelated, all with the same common purpose; but not a formal network where there's a leader giving instructions to people down the line to provide this. KRAUSE: Do you think your activities are viewed favorably by the White House? Col. DICKENS: Yes, absolutely, yes. Anyone that claimed a positive role and a strong role, encouraging the Reagan Administration's efforts to support the contra, of course is going to be viewed favorably." |
Disney, Walt E. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
1901-1966. Prod. Co-founder of the Walt Disney Corporation. Mem. Order De Molay. |
Dobriansky, Lev |
Source(s): 1993, Peter Dale Scott, 'Deep Politics and the Death of JFK', p. 216: "Willoughby in particular was also part of the defense-industrial lobby, the American Security Council, along with politically active army reserve officers like Lieutenant Colonel Lev Dobriansky." (names apparently taken from the book Power on the Right); Who's Who
Member expert advisory board NBC, Washington, 1977-80. Ambassador to the Bahamas 1982-1986. Founded and chaired for many years the related National Captive Nations Committee. Helped create the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and was its long-time chairman. Involved in the Ukrainian National Information Service, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, U.S. Gobal Strategy Council, and the United States Council for World Freedom. Mourned by many across the globe, including Viktor Yushchenko, the president of Ukraine.
Ukrainian National Information Service (UNIS) First Director[5]. OSS officer during WWII (OSS was the forerunner of the CIA). American Council for World Freedom (ACWF), board member. National Captive Nations Committee, Chairman. United States Council for World Freedom Director. Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Chairman Emeritus. [6]
Paula Dobriansky, daughter of Lev: Board member Center for Security Policy.
Who's Who: Member faculty NYU, 1942—1948; from assistant professor econs. to professor Georgetown University, Washington, 1948—1986, professor emeritus, 1986—2008, chairman department, 1953—1954; executive member Institute Ethnic Studies, 1957—1965; director Institute Comparative Economic and Political Systems, 1970—1986; grad. faculty National War College, 1957—1958; US ambassador to Bahamas US Department State, Nassau, 1982—1986; president Global Economic Action Institute, 1987—1992; chairman Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Inc., 1994—2003. Lecturer on Soviet Union, Communism, U.S. Foreign Policy; chairman National Captive Nations Committee, Inc., 1959-2008; president Ukrainian Congress Committee Am., 1949-82, Am. Council for World Freedom, 1976-79; member Economists National Committee on Monetary Policy; strategy staff Am. Security Council, 1962-70; econs. editor Washington Report; member Pres.'s Commission on Population, 1974-75; consultant Corpus Instrumentation, Kreber Foundation, Department State, 1971-75, US Information Agency, 1971-74; member Am. Committee to Aid Katanga Freedom Fighters, Emergency Committee Chinese Refugees; International member Pacific Rim Community Institute, 1992-96; hon. president Ukrainian Congress committee Am., 1992-2008. Planning member Freedom Studies Center, Boston; assistant secretary Republican National Convention, 1952; adviser Rep. National Committee, 1956; member Committee on Program and Progress of Rep. Party, 1959; assistant to chairman Rep. National Convention, 1964; vice chairman nationalities div. Rep. National Committee, 1964; senior adviser United Citizens for Nixon-Agnew, 1968; executive member ethnic div. Committee to Reelect the President, 1972; advisor to Governor Reagan, 1980; issues director Republican National Committee, 1980; chairman Ukrainian Catholic Studies Foundation, 1970-73; board governors Charles Edison Youth Fund, 1976-87; member expert adv. board NBC, Washington, 1977-80. chairman Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Inc., chairman emeritus, 2003-08. Lieutenant colonel (res.) 352d Military Government Civil Affairs 1958; colonel U.S. Army Reserve, 1966. Member Free World Forum (executive committee), Citizens for Democracy, Academy Political Sci., National Academy Econs. and Political Sci., American Association of University Professors, Am. Academy Political and Social Sci., Am., Catholic economic associations, Am. Finance Association, National Society Study Education, Shevchenko Sci. Society, U.S. Global Strategy Council, Social List of Washington, Council Am. Ambassadors, NYU Alumni Association, Georgetown University Alumni Association (hon.), Reagan Alumni Association, International Cultural Society Korea (hon.), Am. Legion, Reserve Officers Association, National War College Alumni Association, University Club of Washington (hon.), Capitol Hill Club, International Club, Gold Key Society, Beta Gamma Sigma, Delta Sigma Pi. |
Dodd, Sen. Thomas J. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; 1966, Senate hearing, 'State Department Security-1963-1965: The Otepka Case--XIV': "At this point I noted Senator Thomas J. Dodd, the vice chairman of the subcommittee, was listed as a member of the editorial staff of the American Security Council."
Established Nat. Youth Adminstrn. program in Conn., 1935; asst. chief civil rights sect. Dept. Justice, 1938-45; vice chmn. review bd., chief trial counsel Nuremberg Trials, Nazi war criminals, 1945-46; pvt. practice of law, Hartford, 1947-71; mem. Congress, 1st Dist. Conn., 1953-57; U.S. senator from Conn., 1959-67; mem. fgn. relations, judiciary, space coms.
1993, Peter Dale Scott, ' Deep Politics and the Death of JFK', p. 215: "Finally, the chief press contact of the Shickshinny Knights, Guy Richards of the New York Journal-American, published the claim (soon taken up by Frank Capell, by the John Birch Society, and by Willoughby's American Security Council) that Oswald, like another alleged KGB assassin (Bogdan Stashynsky), had been trained at a KGB assassination school in Minsk.18 A toned-down version of the story was subsequently published by Julien Sourwine's Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, with help supplied via Senator Thomas Dodd from within the CIA." |
Donchess, Stephen L. |
Source(s): November 1, 2005, (ASC founder) John M. Fisher, 'History milestones: American Security Council and American Security Council Foundation'
Stephen L. Donchess, representing member company U.S. Steel Co. |
Donner, Robert |
Source(s): Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, Guide to the Ernie Lazar FBI FOIA Files on Anti-Communism and Right Wing Movements TAM.576 (New York University website): "Senior Advisory Board: Bennett Archambault, John T. Beatty (JBS), Robert Donner (JBS), Robert W. Galvin, Hughston M. McBanin, Gen. Robert E. Wood."; June 30, 1962, The Nation, p. 592
Chairman of the Donner Corporation. Head of the Rhode Island John Birch Society. |
Douglass, Joseph D., Jr. |
Source(s): American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
has 35 years experience in national security matters as a researcher, author, and frequent speaker. He is a recognized authority on U.S. and Soviet nuclear strategy, chemical and biological warfare, Communist decision-making, and Soviet strategic intelligence operations. Over the past twenty years his work has focused on the international narcotics trafficking and the war on drugs, the leading role of Russian intelligence in international terrorism and organized crime, chemical and biological warfare agents for use in political and intelligence operations, US defense policy, and on the fate of missing American POWs, which is the subject of his most recent book Betrayed. Dr. Douglass has worked in the AEC’s Sandia Laboratory, the Advanced Research Projects Agency at the Department of Defense and several national defense corporations. He has taught at Cornell University, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is a frequent speaker and author of over a hundred scholarly articles, op ed pieces and a dozen books, including Red Cocaine: The Drugging of America and, most recently, Betrayed: Missing American POWs. He is also the co-author of America The Vulnerable: The Threat of Chemical/Biological Warfare, Why the Soviet Union Violates Arms Control Treaties, CBW: The Poor Man's Atomic Bomb, and Soviet Strategy for Nuclear War
Wrote America The Vulnerable in 1987 with Neil Livingstone. |
Durbrow, Elbridge |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; 1975 document (national strategy committee)
Deputy Chief of Mission in Moscow in the late 1940s (under Walter Bedell Smith) and later the US ambassador to South Vietnam from March 1957 to April 1961. Chairman American Foreign Policy Institute. President of James Angleton's Security and Intelligence Fund.
Angleton today is the Chairman of the Security and Intelligence Fund whose President is former Ambassador Elbridge Durbrow (the Chairman of the American Foreign Policy Institute) and whose Secretary-Treasurer is Robert C. Richardson III. Until its move in late 1984 to 1010 Vermont Avenue, N.W. in Washington, D.C., it shared offices with the ASC and the CPTS. The letter heads of the three organizations show extensive membership overlaps.
January 15, 1975, New York Times, 'Private U.S. Group Begins A Tour of South Vietnam': "Elbridge Durbrow, United States Ambassador to Vietnam from 1957 to 1961, arrived here with seven other persons on a private fact-finaing tour today. The touring group is part of the conservative American Security Council, a private nonprofit organization..." |
Engalitcheff, John |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
Born a Russian prince, he was forced by the Bolshevik revolution to emigrate in 1924 to the United States, where he eventually made his fortune manufacturing air- conditioning products. The entrepreneur began making contributions to anti-Communist and pro-defense groups. On November 15, 1984, he collapsed just as he was about to shake hands with President Ronald Reagan in a White House receiving line, days after the President’s reelection, and he died several days later. |
Fagoth, Stedman |
Source(s): February 26, 1982, Associated Press, 'U.S. Official Alleges Nicaragua Killing Indians': "Fagoth said the American Security Council, a private organization known for its militant stand on defense and foreign policy issues, brought him to Washington."
Leader of Misura.
March 8, 1985, Facts on File World News Digest, 'Contra Atrocities Reported': "A report by a U.S. human rights group detailing rights abuses by the Nicaraguan contras was issued March 5. [See 1984, pp. 932E3, 791A2] The group, Americas Watch, charged that throughout 1984 and early 1985, the contras had raped, murdered, tortured, kidnapped and mutilated unarmed civilians, including women and children. The report said that the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN), the largest contra group, had systematically executed prisoners and participated in "the deliberate use of terror." The FDN and the Misura Indian group were the worst offenders, the report said. Americas Watch, a private nonpolitical organization, also charged that the Sandinista army was guilty of some abuses but that there had been a "sharp decline" in such violations since 1982."
December 29, 1981, UPI, 'Four dead in Honduras plane crash': "The crash of a Honduran Air Force plane killed four people and injured 30 others, including three rightist Nicaraguan exiles whose presence on board went unexplained by Honduran authorities. Stedman Fagoth, leader of a movement of blacks and Indians against the leftist government of Nicaragua, was hospitalized Monday with cuts and bruises in Tegucigalpa's Hospital Escuela, a hospital spokesman said. Also among the 30 people injured in the crash of a Honduran Air Force DC-3 in Puerto Lempira, 248 miles northeast of Tegucigalpa, were Fagoth's wife Dinah Rivera de Fagoth and Silvia Mercado, the spokesmen said. An Air Force spokesman declined to name the four dead but radio reports said the plane's captain died along with two other officers and a civilian. The three Nicaraguans belong to the right-wing exile community that began moving to Honduras when leftist Sandinista guerrillas toppled President Anastasio Somoza in July 1979. Fagoth, who was once a security agent for Somoza, fled to Honduras after his followers clashed in a bloody uprising with Sandinista troops in January. Many of the exiles, branded ''counterrevolutionaries'' by Nicaragua's Sandinista government, frequently stage guerrilla-style raids across the border and have killed scores of Sandinista soldiers in the past two years. The Sandinistas have repeatedly charged the rightist exiles operate with the close cooperation of the Honduran military, an allegation Honduras has denied. There was no immediate explanation by Honduran officials as to why the rightist Nicaraguans were on the flight."
February 26, 1982, Associated Press, 'U.S. Official Alleges Nicaragua Killing Indians': "A high-ranking State Department official has joined a Miskito Indian leader in accusing Nicaragua's government troops of killing members of the tribe. Elliott Abrams, assistant secretary of state for human rights, said Thursday that troops of Nicaragua's Sandinista regime have "viciously attacked these Indian tribes, killing many." "There are allegations that Sandinista soldiers buried alive badly injured Indians," Abrams told the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Western Hemisphere affairs. Meanwhile, Stedman Fagoth Muller, an elected official of the Miskitos in eastern Nicaragua, told a separate Senate panel that his tribesmen are "being murdered, burned, buried alive and forced to march to concentration camps without proper regard to women and children." But Dr. Willaim M. Leogrande, director of political science at The American University in Washington and an expert on Latin America, said there was not enough information to "either condemn or excuse" the action of the government troops in eastern Nicaragua. Miskito Indians were evacuated from their villages because "armed incursions from Honduras were rapidly converting the region into a war zone," said Leogrande, who spent 2 1/2 weeks in Nicaragua last month. Angela Saballos, press officer of the Nicaraguan Embassy in Washington, was not available in her office when called for comment. After Fagoth finished reading his prepared statement to the Senate Appropriations subcommittee, he answered questions in Spanish through an interpreter. Anti-government activity among the Miskitos, "started when the Sandinistas first took power, started precisely when they wanted to destroy our organization and culture," he said. Fagoth said the American Security Council, a private organization known for its militant stand on defense and foreign policy issues, brought him to Washington."
February 25, 1982, Associated Press, Washington Dateline: "Fagoth said he was brought to Washington by the American Security Council, a private organization that takes a militant stand on defense and foreign policy issues. Col. Sam Dickens [ASC], a retired Air Force officer who is a consultant to the council, served as Fagoth's interpreter."
June 29, 1984, Associated Press, 'Rebel Leader Disputes Charges of Killing, Kidnapping Children': "The leader of a Nicaraguan rebel group Friday disputed statements by three Miskito Indians that his commandos killed and kidnapped children during an April 17 raid on their village. Stedman Fagoth, leader of a CIA-backed rebel force of Indians fighting Nicaragua's leftist government, told reporters at a press briefing that the raid was staged as an attack on a garrison of Sandinista troops in the village of Sumubila. Fagoth, who said he planned the operation, claimed that 33 of 40 Sandinista soldiers in the village were killed and three others were wounded in a two-hour fight. Three other government troops were captured, he said. "The people in the village were starving but the military in the form of the Sandinistas were well fed. They also had a large cache of arms," Fagoth said through a translator. "Our target was to capture the weapons that they had ... and after that we distributed the food they had to the people in the village," said Fagoth, leader of a contra group known as the MISURA, short for the names of three Indian tribes, Miskito, Sumo and Rama. An aide to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who interviewed the three villagers last month, said Fagoth's account sharply conflicted on several points with the stories he heard about the raid. Fagoth appeared at a press briefing arranged by the National Forum Foundation, a group founded and chaired by Sen. Jeremiah Denton, R-Ala., a supporter of U.S. aid to Nicaraguan rebels. The contra leader said the three villagers who gave their accounts of the raid last month "came here under pressure by the Sandinistas." Irma Coleman tearfully told a May 25 forum sponsored by Kennedy how her 9-year-old son Fermin died of wounds suffered during the rebel attack. Awakened about 4:30 a.m. by the sound of gunfire, Mrs. Coleman said she looked out the window and saw the village medical center in flames. Another villager, Aristides Sanchez, said the contras kidnapped his 17-year-old son, who later escaped and returned home "very thin and very sick." "Nothing happened today that made me doubt the truthfulness of the three witnesses that testified on May 25th," Kennedy's national security adviser, Gregory Craig, said Friday. "Irma Coleman testified about the death of her son in the course of the fighting. I have no reason to doubt that her son was killed," Craig said. Mrs. Coleman and the third villager, Irma Hammer, said they did not know why the raid occurred. The three villagers made no mention of a Salvadoran military garrison in their town or a fight between government troops and contra fighters, Craig noted. "If it's true that there were 40 soldiers there, it's an unusual number to be killed in a fight as opposed to being wounded or taken prisoner," Craig said. Fagoth "didn't talk about civilian casualties ... and he does not deny the raid. He doesn't deny his organization conducted the raid," Craig said. "Where there is conflict in the testimony is whether these individuals were kidnapped or not or whether there was a Sandinista garrison there or not." "According to these three people, there was no exchange of fire, there was no return of fire coming that they knew about," Craig said. Fagoth said that 90 young people in Sumubila volunteered to become MISURA fighters, and all but seven were found fit for military service. He denied that anyone was taken against their will. The contra leader said Mrs. Coleman's statements were motivated by a fear of the Sandinista government, which had imprisoned 17 of her relatives. "The only fears she expressed to me were fears of Stedman Fagoth," Craig said. "It may well be she was under pressure." The State Department has expressed concern that the Nicaraguan government is violating the human rights of Miskito Indians. U.S. officials say 10,000 remain in detention camps and another 15,000 have fled to Costa Rica and Honduras. Officials said recently they continue to receive reports of Miskitos being tortured, killed or arbitrarily arrested by government forces. Denton criticized the Senate's recent vote to delay action on $21 million in emergency military aid for the Nicaraguan contras this year. "We're talking about $21 million to keep a nation from genocide, to keep a whole nation from rape by totalitarian communism," said Denton."
April 26, 1986, UPI, 'Contra accuses other rebels of corruption, drug trafficking': "A Contra guerrilla has accused the main U.S.-backed rebel group of beating and paralyzing him because he ''denounced corruption'' and drug trafficking in the force. Leonardo Zeledon Rodriguez left the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, or FDN, which operates out of base camps along the Honduran border, in 1982 to join a smaller Contra force. ''Although there was no food at the camps, here in Tegucigalpa the leaders, such as '380,' went around drinking rum in the bars,'' Zeledon said Friday. He identified FDN military chief Enrique Bermudez as 380. ''Who doesn't remember that Troilo Sanchez, brother of Aristides Sanchez who is a member of the FDN directorate, was caught in Costa Rica with pillows full of cocaine,'' he said. ''Troilo is a brother-in-law of Adolfo Calero,'' one of the top rebel leaders, Zeledon said. ''Troilo sold 200 pounds of cocaine and received $6.1 million for it.'' Zeledon also charged the FDN with ordering an assault against him. He said he was in a Tegucigalpa night club Jan. 21 when he met Leonardo Montalvan, who told him the Contras wanted to ''screw me over'' because he had taken local reporters to an FDN instruction school near the Honduran capital. ''Leonaro Montalvan told me I was on a (secret police) list and that they were going to kill me,'' he said. He said he left the club at about 1:30 a.m. and the next thing he remembered was waking up in a hospital, Zeledon said. ''It has left me immobile,'' Zeledon said of the beating that left him paralyzed from the chest down. He denied taking reporters to the training center. ''They did this to me because I denounced corruption, and I'm going to continue to denounce it while I'm still alive,'' Zeledon said from his bed in the Military Hospital School. Zeledon said that until last September he was private secretary to Stedman Fagoth, leader of a Nicaraguan rebel force made up of Misura Indians [who since 1983 was allied with the FDN]." |
Feinstone, Sol |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
Born in Lithuania in 1888 immigrated to the United States in 1902. Died in 1980.
In 1973 a library was established. A newly constructed library building was to be named “Sol Feinstone Library for the Survival of Freedom”. Mr. Feinstone was a well known historian, philantropist, and collector of American primary source material from the Revolutionary War and the early years of the United States. |
Feulner, Edwin |
Source(s): 1988, Russ Bellant, 'The Coors connection', p. 49: "The ASCF also created a "Strategy Board" in the early 1980's that included a number of persons with covert operations backgrounds Major General John Singlaub; the late Edwin Black ... Ray Cline; and Ed Feulner."; American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
Le Cercle. Center for Security Policy.
November 8, 2000, New Straits Times (Malaysia), 'Group of shadowy power-players with mind set on one-world control': "Recently, the Washington-based Heritage Foundation published a scathing attack on Malaysia, calling the country's economy "mostly unfree" in its 2001 Economic Freedom Index. Who or what is the Heritage Foundation? ... [Paul] Weyrich at one time was considered a powerful man in American politics. He co-founded Heritage in 1973 with funding from Joseph Coors of the Coors beer empire and Richard Mellon-Scaife, heir of the Carnegie-Mellon fortune. There were other financiers of Heritage, including oil company Amoco, General Motors, Chase Manhattan Bank (through David Rockefeller) and Olin and Bradley, a right-wing foundation. ... In the 1970s, Weyrich and Coors made appointments and set up political contacts on Capitol Hill for Franz Joseph Strauss, Bavarian head of state who helped emigre Nazi collaborators. Another fascist, Roger Pearson, writer and organiser for the Nazi Northern League of northern Europe, joined the editorial board of Policy Review, the monthly Heritage publication in 1977. ... Meanwhile, there was also a connection between Heritage and the Rev Sun Myung Moon (founder of the Moonies). This first appeared in a 1975 congressional investigation on the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) activities in the US. The report noted, "In 1975, Ed Feulner ... was introduced to KCIA station chief Kim Yung Hwan by Neil Salonen and Dan Feffernan of the Freedom Leadership foundation". Salonen was head of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church in the United States. The Freedom Leadership Foundation (FLF), a political arm of Moon's Unification network, was linked to the World Anti-Communist League. In the early 1980s, the KCIA began making donations to Heritage Foundation. In turn, Heritage established an Asian Studies Centre. The Wall Street Journal in an edition of August 1995 made reference to the Korea Foundation, one of Heritage's largest donors and an affiliate of the South Korean government, though it did not mention Moon. "While Heritage has gotten most of its attention on domestic issues, it also has been an active proponent for an array of trade and other policies supported by South Korea and Taiwan." "Such efforts, it says, reflects "the growing importance of the Asia- Pacific community". "Heritage's Feulner himself has taken an active role in promoting South Korean issues in Congress through actions such as testifying before committees to promote the think-tank's pro-South Korea positions.""
November 10, 1977, Washington Post, 'Moon Sect Support of Nixon Detailed': "The subcommittee has recommended that Fefferman be cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer some of its questions. Fefferman testified that he had some social contacts with Korean embassy officials and once arranged for Minister Kim Yung Hwan to meet Ed Feulner Republican Home staff aide, about a possible trip to Korea for congressional aides. Kim at the time was the KCIA station chief at the embassy, Fefferman said he didn't know that." |
Field, Marshall, III |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
a |
Field, Marshall, IV |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
His great-grandfather was a Pilgrims Society member. Harvard. University of Virginia. Owner of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1956 to 1965. Two professorships at the University of Chicago were named after him. |
Fischer, Betsy |
Source(s): American Security Council website
Secretary and Treasurer of the North County Republican Club for over ten years. Has been on the Board of Directors for the Visiting Nurses Association as well as the Boys and Girls Club of Indian River County. Committeewoman on the Republican Executive Committee until 2008. Served on the ASC board since about 2005. |
Fisher, John M. |
Source(s): January 8, 1979, Washington Post, 'Boston, Va., Estate Near Blue Ridge Is Home of American Security Council': "[American Security] Council president John M. Fisher... [Ian] Smith, who visited here, and Singlaub, who got a public speaking job here [at NSC headquarters], joined a parade of hundreds of congressional aides, retired military officers and corporate executives who each year come to this tiny, bucolic hamlet to talk about the Pentagon, Moscow, and ultimately, World War III."; Director Institute for American Strategy (later ASCF) on an August 12, 1960 IAS document; American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
The Religious Round Table of Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell described John M. Fisher and Joseph Coors as good friends (1988, Russ Bellant, 'The Coors connection', p. 50).
With Belden Manufacturing Co., Richmond, Ind., 1941; special agent FBI, 1947—1953; executive staff assistant to vice president personnel and employee relations Sears Roebuck & Co., Chicago, 1953—1957, chairman corp. security committee, 1957—1961; chairman, CEO, operating director American Security Council, 1956—2002, president, 1957—2002. President Am. Research Foundation, 1961-90; president, CEO Am. Security Council Foundation, 1962-87, CEO, 1987-2002, chairman, 1992-2002; president Communications Corp. Am., 1972-80, chairman, 1980—; president Am. Coalition Patriotic Societies, 1978-91; administrative chairman Coalition for Peace Through Strength, 1978-2002; director Center for International Security Studies, 1977-83; organizer, president Fidelifax, Inc., 1956-57; chairman mercantile division National Safety Council, 1959-60, 1st vice chairman trades and services section, 1961-62. President American Council for World Freedom, 1971-72; member executive committee National Captive Nations Committee, 1968-70; board visitors Freedoms Foundation, 1964-65; board directors Am. Foreign Policy Institute, 1976-84, Security and Intelligence Fund, 1976-84. Chairman National Security Caucus Foundation, 1997-2002. Member American Society Industrial Security (director 1959-62). Republican. Presbyterian.
January 6, 1981, New York Times, 'Lobbying body to': "The success of the American Security Council as a political action group since it established its voting index in 1970 can be measured by the 232 senators and representatives who have joined the Coalition for Peace through Strength, which was set up in Congress under the lobbying group's auspices. ... Before the election, the American Security Council issued a voting index that rated members of Congress by their votes on 10 security issues last year. Eight out of 10 senators given low ratings were defeated, and 26 representatives given an ''antidefense'' rating were unseated. Their replacements are generally strong supporters of expanded military spending to ''stop Soviet expansionism,'' as the text of the resolution proposes. The voting index kept by the American Security Council on the Senate and House will continue to single out ''antidefense'' incumbents in Congress. ... Mr. Fisher said that the lobbying group, which maintains an office near the Capitol; the security council foundation, and the modern communications center at Boston, Va., were maintained by 230,000 dues-paying members who provided $4 million a year. ... Opponents of those programs are described in Washington Report as ''the antidefense lobby.'' Among organizations so identified in the December 1978 issue were the American Friends Service Committee, the National Council of Churches, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace."
November 2, 1982, AP, 'Dateline: Washington': "The resolution, which Fisher called "squarely in conflict with the freeze," says the United States has not been militarily or technologically superior to the Soviet Union since 1969 and should regain superiority."
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Fisher, Thelma |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
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Foster, John S., Jr. |
Source(s): Website of Wackenhut Security International, board of directors, biography of John S. Foster, who is: director since 2002; chairman of the Compensation Committee, Audit & Finance Committee and the Government Security Committee. Also: member Advisory Board of the American Security Council.
Born in 1922. Dr. Foster began his career at the Radio Research Laboratory of Harvard University in 1942. He spent 1943 and 1944 as an advisor to the 15th Air Force on radar and radar countermeasures in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, and the summers of 1946 and 1947 with the National Research Council of Chalk River, Ontario. Received his bachelor’s of science degree from McGill University, Montreal, in 1948. He received his doctorate in physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1952. In 1952, Dr. Foster joined the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and was promoted to Associate Director in 1958, and served as Director of the Livermore Laboratory and Associate Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 1961 to 1965. Dr. Foster served on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board until 1956. He then served on the Army Scientific Advisory Panel until 1958 and was a member of the Ballistic Missile Defense Advisory Committee, Advanced Research Projects Agency in 1965. He has served on and off as a panel consultant to the President’s Science Advisory Committee. From 1973 until 1990, he was a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Director of Defense Research and Engineering for the Department of Defense, serving for eight years (1965 – 1973) under both Democratic and Republican administrations. Retired from TRW as Vice President, Science & Technology, in 1988 and served on the Board of Directors of TRW from 1988 to 1994. Senior Fellow member of the Defense Science Board and served as Chairman of the DSB from January 1990 to June 1993. Chairman of the Board of GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, Co-Chairman Nuclear Strategy Forum, member of the board of Wackenhut Services, Inc., and consultant to Northrop Grumman Corp., Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Intellectual Ventures, and Defense Group Inc. Serves on the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States and on the Advisory Committee to the Director of DARPA. Member of the American Defense Preparedness Association, National Advisory Board of the American Security Council, National Security Industrial Association and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Committee on the Present Danger.
Other Wackenhut directors anno 2010: Carol Boyd Hallett (served on the CIA director’s national security advisory panel from 1999 to 2005 and is co-chair of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) transnational threats task force. director Rolls-Royce North America.), vice-chair James L. Long III (director/manager U.S. Department of Energy’s Pantex Plant, a nuclear weapons manufacturing facility in Texas, and Protection Technology Idaho, responsible for securing the Energy Department's Idaho National Engineering Laboratory; director Space Gateway Support LLC, a joint venture between Northrop Grumman and Wackenhut Services, Incorporated responsible for facilities operation and maintenance at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station), chairman Adm. David J. Jeremiah (vice chair Joint Chiefs of Staff; at the National Security Council; Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, commanded a three carrier task force in combat operations off Libya, directed the capture of the Achille Lauro hijackers and earlier in his career commanded a battle group, destroyer squadron and guided missile destroyer; director In-Q-Tel). |
Fox, Edward J., Jr. |
Source(s): Who's Who
BA in Political Sci., Ohio State University, 1972. MA in Legis. Affairs, George Washington University, 1976. Republican. Political appointments under Reagan and Bush. Research assistant US Congress, Washington, 1973-74, legis. assistant, 1974-75; minority consultant US House Foreign Affairs Committee, 1975-83; deputy assistant secretary for legis. affairs US Department State, 1983-84, principal deputy assistant secretary for legis. affairs, 1985; special assistant to President for legis. affairs The White House, 1985-86; assistant secretary for legis. & intergovernmental affairs US Department State, 1986—1989; managing director governmental & international affairs group Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, Professional Corporation, 1989—2000; founder, president Fox & Associates; vice president international affairs The Carmen Group; assistant administrator bureau legis. & pub. affairs US Agency International Devel. (USAID), Washington, 2001—2007; assistant secretary for pub. affairs US Department Homeland Security, 2007—2009; executive director American Security Council Foundation, 2009—; president, CEO Fox & Associates, 2009—. |
Frawley, Patrick J. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; Who's Who (member of the Senior Advisory Board)
Great financial supporter of Nixon. In 1961 Alton Ochsner, with the financial help of Clint Murchison, established the Information Council of the Americas (INCA). Ed Butler (close to Clay Shaw and Guy Banister, for whom Oswald worked as a communist agitator; in close contact with Charles Cabell, Deputy Director of the CIA, and CIA/DOD covert operations specialist Edward Lansdale) was appointed as Executive Director of INCA. The main objective of the organization was to prevent communist revolutions in Latin America. It was Frawley who became INCA's largest financial contributor. The organization used some of this money to make a film about Fidel Castro entitled, Hitler in Havana. The New York Times reviewed the film calling it a "tasteless affront to minimum journalistic standards."
November 9, 1998, New York Times, 'Patrick Frawley Jr., 75, Ex-Owner of Schick': "In quick succession, he made a fortune as the creator of the leak-proof Paper Mate pen, expanded it with the introduction of stainless-steel blades for Schick razors and then, following the Communist takeover of a Schick plant in Cuba, was quickly transformed from an essentially apolitical businessman into a leading stalwart of the American right, financing an array of conservative organizations. Mr. Frawley was also not reluctant to use Schick's advertising bud get as a weapon in the cold war. When ABC News once broadcast a documentary in which Alger Hiss attacked Richard M. Nixon, Mr. Frawley tried to cancel $3 million worth of scheduled advertising. The network declined to let him out of the contract."
August 30, 1970, Washington Post, 'The Right Wing's Biggest Spender' (by William Turner, a former FBI agent): "Before 1960 he had only faint interest in politics. But that year, Frawley's Schick Safety Razor Co. properties in Cuba were expropriated by the Castro government. ... [on] the boards of directors [of his companies] ... Robert Morris ... Gen. Thomas S. Power ... and J. Fred Schlafy... The ASC roster of officers and advisers includes employees of J. Edgar Hoover."
President, chairman Frawley Corp., L.A., 1970—; chairman board Shadel Hospital, Seattle, 1964—, Schick-Shadel Hospital, Fort Worth, 1970—, Santa Barbara, California, 1979—; president, chairman Schick Laboratories, L.A., 1971—; chairman Schick Ctrs. for Control of Smoking and Weight, 1971—, Sunn Classic Pictures, L.A., 1972-80, Twin Circle Pub. Co. division Frawley Corp.; chairman board directors Technicolor, Inc., 1961-70, chairman fin. committee, 1968-70; chairman Eversharp, Inc., Schick Safety Razor Co., 1958-66; founder, owner Paper Mate Pen Co., 1949-55. Trustee Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. Chairman of American Businessmen for Barry Goldwater and TV for Goldwater-Miller in 1964. |
Galvin, Robert W. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; 1968 National Strategy Committee list (chairman)
With Motorola, Inc., Chicago, 1940—1948, executive vice president, 1948—1956, former president, 1956, chairman board, 1964—1990, CEO, 1964—1986, chairman executive committee, 1990—2001, also director; retired, 2003; chairman board Semantech Inc., Austin, Texas. Past member Pres.'s Commission on International Trade and Investment.; chairman industry policy adv. committee U.S. Trade Rep.; active Pres.'s Private Sector Survey; chairman Pres.'s Adv. Council on Private Sector Initiatives, Illinois Institute Tech., University Notre Dame; board directors Junior Achievement, Chicago. Became chairman of the National Strategy Committee of the ASC during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
On the board of Americares.
www.americares.org (Feb. 11, 1998): "Ambassador-at-Large Barbara Bush. Honorary Chairman Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski. Founder and Chairman Robert C. Macauley. ... Vice President and Chief Financial Officer A. James Forbes, Jr. ... Corporate Operations Secretary Leila Macauley. ... Advisory committee: Chairman (1982-1995) J. Peter Grace, Jr. Chairman, W. R. Grace & Co. (1948-1995). Louis F. Bantle, Chairman Emeritus, UST. Prescott S. Bush, Jr. Prescott Bush Resources, Ltd. Lawrence S. Eagleburger, Former Secretary of State. Thomas J. Flatley, President, The Flatley Company. Robert W. Galvin, Chairman, Executive Committee, Motorola. Gordon J. Humphrey, United States Senate (1979-1990). James Earl Jones, Horatio Productions. Virginia A. Kamsky, Founder and CEO, Kamsky Associates, Inc. Sol M. Linowitz, Academy for Educational Development. Peter S. Lynch, Vice Chairman, Fidelity Management Research Corporation. J. Richard Munro, Chairman, Executive Committee, Time Warner. Gen. Colin L. Powell USA (RET). Howard J. Rubenstein, President, Rubenstein & Associates. Teresa I. Tarnowski, AmeriCares Project Director (1982-1996). Elie Wiesel 1986 Nobel Peace Prize."
Paul Galvin, chairman of Motorola: Financier in early days. |
Garn, Jake |
Source(s): July 23, 1984, New York Times, 'The High Cost of Advising': "The American Security Council Foundation is soliciting funds by mail in behalf of the United States Congressional Advisory Board ... Co-chairmen of the board are two Republicans, Senator Jake Garn of Utah and Representative Jack F. Kemp of upstate New York, and two Democrats, Senator J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana and Representative Bill Chappell Jr. of Florida."
Involved in a space flight. Upon his return, he co-authored a novel entitled Night Launch. The book centers around terrorists taking control of the Space Shuttle Discovery during the first NASA-USSR space shuttle flight. It was first published in 1989, with a paperback edition coming out in 1990.
Born: Richfield, Utah, October 12, 1932 Education BS, University Utah, 1955 Career City commissioner, Salt Lake City, 1968-72; mayor, 1972-74; U.S. Senator from Utah, 1974-93; vice chairman Huntsman Corp., Salt Lake City, 1993-99; managing director Summit Ventures LLC, 1999— Career Related Board directors Dean Witter InterCapital, New York City, Franklin Covey, Salt Lake City. Awards Recipient Tom McCoy award Utah League Cities and Towns, 1972, Wright Brothers Memorial trophy, 1992. Civic Served to lieutenant US Naval Reserve, 1956-60; brigadier general Utah Air National Guard, 1963-79; payload specialist, space shuttle mission 51D, 1985. Memberships Member Utah League Cities and Towns (president 1971-72, director 1968– ), National League Cities (1st vice president 1973-74, hon. president 1975), Sigma Chi. Religion Member LDS Church.
May 7, 1989, New York Times, 'Spies & Thrillers': "Senator Jake Garn of Utah was the first member of Congress to go into space. Now, with Stephen Paul Cohen, he has written a novel, NIGHT LAUNCH (Morrow, $18.95), about a joint American-Soviet launching of a space shuttle, which an East German astronaut attempts to hijack for a terrorist group." |
Garnier-Lancon, Monique |
Source(s): Who's Who: "Consultant to the ... American Security Council."
Visitor of Le Cercle. |
Garwood, Will Clayton |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
And Ellen Garwood. |
Giddens, Kenneth R. |
Source(s): Bio mentioned in a paper of Giddens's November 1980 presentation at Hillsdale during the Center for Constructive Alternatives seminar, “The Media: Recorders or Makers of the News?”
1908-1993. Washington director Voice of America 1969-77. Assistant director of the U.S. Information Agency. President Alabama Broadcasters Assoc. President National Broadcasters Assoc. Board member Committee on the Present Danger. Member American Security Council. Senior advisor Young Americans for Freedom. Member of the Media Advisory Committee of the Ethics and Public Policy Center at Georgetown University. |
Gitlow, Benjamin |
Source(s): J. Murrey Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte, 'Benjamin Gitlow Papers, 1910-1968': "American Security Council 1962-66 ”
Papers. Prominent communist who became prominent anti-communist. |
Goure, Dr. Leon |
Source(s): 1983 National Strategy Committee list (Soviet specialist)
Protege of the ultra-hawkish Air Force General Curtis Lemay. Staff member, Rand Corporation 1951-69. Primary (and manipulative) pusher of the air war over Vietnam throughout the 1960s and key advisor to LBJ and McNamara on this issue. Director of Soviet studies, Center for Advanced International Studies, University of Miami 1969-1978. Associate director, Advanced International Studies Institute, Washington, D.C. 1978-1980. Director, Center for Soviet Studies, Science Applications International 1980-2004. Advisor to the Reagan presidential campaign. Speaker to the American Security Council in the late 1970s and on its national strategy committee in the 1980s. Visitor of the International Security Council.
In 1967, the New York Times (NYT 1967:1, 32) revealed that the FPRI had been funded directly by the CIA since the fifties.
April 9, 2007, Los Angeles Times, 'Leon Goure, 84': "Goure focused on civil defense at a time when the United States and the Soviet Union were taking civil defense measures, even though the Cold War doctrine of "mutual assured destruction" required that both populations be vulnerable to nuclear annihilation. Convinced that the Soviets had concluded they could limit the damage and casualties resulting from nuclear war, Goure reported in 1961 that the Soviet Union was quietly engaged in a massive civil defense buildup. Years later he told the Washington Post that Soviet civil defense was "extremely comprehensive" and that it included compulsory annual training for adults and children beginning in the second grade, as well as detailed evacuation, shelter and post-attack recovery plans. Civil defense, he said, was a key component of the Soviet Union's nuclear war doctrine. "They intend, if there is such a war, to win it," he said. Commenting on what he considered the relative lack of serious civil defense planning in the United States, he told The Times in 1986 that "the best you could do right now in case of nuclear attack would be to get away from the downtown area and hide in the basement of a supermarket." His reports prompted an expansion of U.S. civil defense efforts during the final years of the Cold War. ... Shortly after arriving in Hoboken, N.J., Goure enlisted in the Army. He returned to Germany as an infantryman and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He later served in counterintelligence, using his fluency in German, French and Russian to interview Nazis and collaborators who were being held after the war. ... Goure became an analyst with the Rand Corp. in Washington, D.C., in 1954 and in 1959 transferred to Rand's Santa Monica branch, where he began to develop his ideas on civil defense. He also advised President Johnson's administration on military policy in Vietnam. ... In 1969, he moved to the University of Miami's Center for Advanced International Studies as director of Soviet studies. In 1980, he joined Science Applications International Corp., a consulting firm in McLean, Va., and was director of Russian and Central Eurasian studies until his retirement in 2004." |
Graham, Gen. Daniel O. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; comes up a lot as the public face of ASC; Who's Who (consultant Am. Security Council 1978—1981; also named a Director of Special Projects)
Republican Roman Catholic (rumors of being a Knight of Malta). Deputy CIA director to William Colby in 1972-1974; director DIA 1974-1976; consultant American Security Council 1978-1981; founding chair High Frontier, Inc. 1981-1995, an organization intended to promote Star Wars; member U.S. Global Strategy Council under Ray Cline; member advisory board CAUSA; member of the Moon-linked American Freedom Coalition; director National Religious Broadcasters, together with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Vice chair WACL U.S. under Singlaub. Co-chairman Coalition for Peace Through Strength. Foreign Affairs Research Institute.
March 10, 2008, Heritage Foundation website, 'President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative Proposal 25 Years Later: A Better Path Chosen': "In 1982, The Heritage Foundation sponsored the release of the High Frontier study.[2] The study proposed using the U.S. technological lead in space to field just the sort of missile defense proposed by President Reagan. As the study's primary author, the late Lt. Gen. Daniel O. Graham, put it, "In the fall of 1981, High Frontier became a project of The Heritage Foundation where it has profited from the strong support of Mr. Edwin Feulner, Jr., President.""
November 9, 1990, Conservative Leadership Conference, 'Strategic weapons in a changing world': "If we conservatives are not searching for the truth than we can just as well disband. And your up against a bunch of liars as far as technology and science goes. I mean, flat-out pseudo-scientific liars. Let me give you some cases. The environmentalists. They tell you that the world is getting hotter. That's bunk. That's bunk. It's not getting hotter. ... It's getting cooler. As a matter of fact, just before I left government a bunch of scientists out of CIA came and said, 'boy, we are really gonna have a problem, because the world is cooling down and the Soviet farmland is gonna shrink up and they are going to have to charge south to pick up some more farm land, okay. And time goes by, and now it is getting too hot. The sea is gonna rise and is gonna flood New York. ... My friends, that's not science. ... They're not worried scientifically. Their issues are falling apart. They've latched on the "big green" issue to be sort of the spine of left-wing globalism. So you need to know how to counter those. ... Acid rain, that's a lot of bunk too."
But in an interview with the New York Times, retired Lieut. General Daniel O. Graham, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, indicated that the military had unquestionably been involved in psychic research. While he considered McRae's $6 million budget figure an exaggeration, he said, "I wouldn't be surprised if the intelligence community were following this. They would be remiss if they didn't."
High Frontier, Inc. people:
George Washington Baughman (1911-1998): Petroleum geologist Phillips Petroleum Co., Wichita, Kansas, 1932-40; project engineer Cessna Aircraft Co., 1940-51; staff specialist Lockheed Aircraft Corp., Marietta, Georgia, 1951-54, operations research scientist, 1954-56, assistant project engineer, Monticello project, 1956-58; principal operations analyst Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, Arlington, Virginia, 1958-67, head systems environmental group Bangkok, Thailand, 1967-70 (CAL did classified counter-insurgency research here for the DOD). Consultant SST program, Federal Aviation Agency, Washington, 1965-67. Consultant future aviation President Aviation Adv. Committee, Washington, 1971-72; tech. coordinator High Frontier Inc., Arlington, 1990-98; member task force senior scientists engineers American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, 1991-98. Member American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (chairman Atlanta chapter 1953-54, national counselman 1954), Sons of the American Revolution D.C. Society, Am. Association Petroleum Geologists, Kansas Geological Society, Tau Beta Pi.
Missilethreat.com, 'Brilliant Pebbles': "In the early 1980s, scientists Edward Teller, Lowell Wood, and Gregory Canavan began gaming out a new missile defense concept known as “Smart Rocks” at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Smart Rocks involved deploying thousands of tiny rocket-propelled canisters in orbit, each capable of ramming itself into an incoming ballistic missile. ... Brilliant Pebbles made significant progress between 1988 and 1990, and received enthusiastic support from the Bush I Administration. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney referred to Brilliant Pebbles as the White House’s “number one project,” and the program received generous funding even as other SDI initiatives were phased out. In March 1990, George Monahan, Director of SDI, announced that Brilliant Pebbles would be the first-deployed U.S. missile defense system. His successor, Henry F. Cooper, streamlined the Brilliant Pebbles contractor team to two companies, TRW-Hughes and Martin Marietta, and lobbied aggressively on Capitol Hill for more funding and support. ... Following the Middle East crisis, Brilliant Pebbles was enhanced to give its interceptors the ability to swoop down into the atmosphere, thus improving its overall effectiveness against Scuds and cruise missiles."
September 26, 2006, Defense Daily International, 'Russia Concerned U.S. May Deploy Space-Based Assets': "Russian leaders are concerned that the U.S. may deploy space-based missile defense assets, reports Defense Daily International. At a recent symposium hosted by the Henry L. Stimson Center, a Washington DC think tank, analysts noted that Russia could respond by detonating a nuclear weapon in space to create a radiation belt that would render U.S. space-based defenses useless. Such a move would also annihilate functioning of Russian satellites, although Russia has far less to lose. According to retired Russian General Vladimir Dworkin, now senior researcher with the Center for International Security at the Institute for World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Science, Russia’s concerns about lasers in space do not apply to existing components of the multi-layered U.S. missile defense system, such as the Airborne Laser. “We’ve gotten used to it,” Dworkin said. “But if you’re talking about reviving … Star Wars,” perhaps by resurrecting Brilliant Pebbles or developing a laser BMD system, then that “would be a shock” to Russians that they would not easily get used to. The more the U.S. pushes to develop a space-based BMD system, the more sharply Russia would be likely to respond, Dworkin warned." |
Graham, Gen. Gordon |
Source(s): American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
U.S. air force general with intelligence experience. Consultant to Union Oil Co. of California and Shell Oil. President McDonnell Douglas, Japan, and vice president for the Far East 1973-77. Vice president McDonnell Douglas, Washington 1977-83.
1918-2008. Grad. Flying School, 1941; commissioned 2d lieutenant US Army Air Force, 1941; advanced through grades to lieutenant general US Air Force, 1968; Commander 354th Fighter Squadron, 1944-45, 361st Fighter Group, 1945; assistant chief staff operations 8th Fighter Command, 1945-46; deputy assistant chief staff operations 10th Air Force, Brooks AFB, Texas, 1946; Commander 182d Base Unit Reserve Training Detachment, Carswell AFB, 1946-47, 178th Base Unit Reserve Training, Brooks AFB, 1947; chief target analysis div. Office Director Intelligence Hdqrs. US Air Force, 1949-53; director targets, directorate intelligence Hdqrs. Far East Air Force, 1953-55; deputy Commander 31st Strategic Fighter Wing, Turner AFB, Georgia, 1955, Commander, 1955-59; chief tactical div., directorate operations Hdqrs. US Air Force, 1959-60, deputy director operational forces, 1961-62; Commander 4th Tactical Fighter Wing, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, 1962-63; vice Commander Hdqrs. 19th Air Force, 1963-64; deputy operations Hdqrs. Tactical Air Command, Langley AFB, Virginia, 1964-66; vice Commander 7th Air Force, Pacific Air Forces, 1966-67; Commander 9th Air Force, Shaw AFB, South Carolina, 1967-68; vice Commander Tactical Air Command, Langley AFB, Virginia, 1968-70; Commander U.S. Forces Japan, 5th Air Force, 1970-72, 6th Allied Tactical Air Force, 1972-73; corporate vice president Far East, McDonnell Douglas Corp.; also president McDonnell Douglas Japan, Ltd., Tokyo, 1973-77, corp. vice president Washington, from 1977. Member Am. Institute Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers, Am. Fighter Aces Association, Air Force Association, Order Daedalians, National Rifle Association (life), Tau Beta Pi. |
Grenfell, Adm. Elton Watters |
Source(s): 1967, American Security Council national strategy committee report, 'The changing strategic military balance, U.S.A. vs. U.S.S.R.', a study prepared for the House Armed Services Committee, pp. 8-9: “[Introduction letter] Signed, General Bernard A. Schriever, USAF (Ret.), Chairman. General Paul D. Adams, USA (Ret.). Lt. General Edward M. Almond, USA (Ret.). Prof. James D. Atkinson. Admiral Robert L. Dennison, USN (Ret.). Vice Admiral Elton Watters Grenfell, USN (Ret.). Admiral Ben Moreell,CEC, USN (Ret.). Dr. Stefan T. Possony. General Thomas S. Power, USAF (Ret.). Brig. General Robert C. Richardson, USAF (Ret.). Vice Admiral W. A. Schoech, USN (Ret.). General Bernard A. Schriever, UAF (Ret.). Dr. Edward Teller. Rear Admiral Chester C. Ward, USN (Ret.). General Albert C. Wedemeyer, USA (Ret.). Major General W. A. Worton, USMC (Ret.)."
From June 1953 until August 1953, he commanded Submarine Flotilla One, after which he had duty in the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Navy Department, where he served as a Special Deputy to the Chief of Naval Operations. On July 13, 1954 he became Deputy to the Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel in connection with Military Personnel Security with additional duty as Assistant Chief of Naval Operations (Military Personnel Security), and in June 1955 was designated Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel for Personnel Control, with additional duty as before. On August 31, 1956 he assumed duty as Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. |
Groves, Gen. Leslie R. |
Source(s): 1960 IAS board list
Oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II. Vice president Remington Rand Division of Sperry Rand Corp. |
Guirard, Jim, Jr. |
Source(s): July 4, 1990, Washington Times, 'Making the machine mightier': "Jim Guirard Jr. is a Washington lawyer-lobbyist. Previously, he served as national affairs director of the American Security Council Foundation."
Global Warming skeptic.
American Security Council Fascist Jim Guirard's "TrueSpeak" Institute
Jim Guirard is one of many corporate fascists clogging the Internet, hailing from the extreme-right American Security Council (ASC) - a faded fascist front that was aligned with the ultra-nationalist John Birch Society, Daniel Graham's High Frontiers and the notorious Western Goals surveillance operation (it spied on liberals exclusively - for no other reason than that they were liberals) - founder of the TrueSpeak Institute in Alexandria, Virginia (the insistence that these extreme right-wing assholes alone know the "truth" is a dead giveaway that they are peddlers of heavy-handed propaganda).
Far-right psyop fronts on the Net promote the multinational agenda and oppose any measures that might interfere with corporate profits. Guirard claims, for instance, that the "Global Warming Movement (AGW) has taken on the worrisome attributes of a pseudo-religious cult." The same could be said of the GOP, Christian "conservatism," CIA and right-wing media, but somehow Guirard doesn't notice. The global warming "cult" is not only mistaken in its naive belief that the ice caps are melting, it is to be feared, like Al Qaeda, TrueSpeak's largest obsession: "Since this worldwide Movement and its strident policies of Less Energy at Higher Prices (in order to achieve reductions in everyone's 'carbon footprint') are at the heart of America's enormous energy shortfall, it poses a national security threat of major proportions." Sure-sure. I'm scared. ... All the Net needs is another "conservative" perception manager and turd in the punchbowl ... here's the wanker's resume:
TrueSpeak Institute
Jim Guirard, President
1129 Cameron Road
Alexandria, Virginia 22308
703-768-0957 Justcauses@aol.com
Jim Guirard, a native of Louisiana and now a Washington DC-area attorney, national security affairs consultant, writer and lecturer, has a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science (1958) and a Law Degree (1963), both from Louisiana State University.
Between undergraduate and law school studies and degrees, he was a Fulbright Scholar in Political Science at the University of Bordeaux, France (1959). During that year, he delivered several lectures to civic and university audiences under sponsorship of the US Information Agency (USIA) and served as a Member of the Paris-based Committee for American Students in France.
On Capitol Hill, Mr. Guirard served for almost two decades as Chief of Staff to Congressman Edwin Willis (1964-67), US Senator Allen Ellender (1968-72) and US Senator Russell Long (1973-81) -- all three of them presiding as House and Senate Committee Chairmen throughout tenure with them. During this period, he was recognized by both Who's Who in US Government and Who's Who in American Politics.
During 1981, he served as the National Affairs Director of the American Security Council Foundation (Coalition for Peace Through Strength). Throughout the 1980s he was a Board Member of both the Committee for a Free Afghanistan and the ASCF Working Group on Central America.
From 1994-2004 he was a Board Member of the Democratic Russia-USA Foundation and is currently on the Committee of Advisors of the US Chapter of the Mackinder Forum, a London-based geopolitical affairs think tank.
From 1982-2003 he was engaged by many major clients as an energy and national security affairs consultant, writer and lecturer -- and was from 2000-02 a Civilian Consultant (unpaid) to the US Army Science Board on the subject of Strategic Mobility.
Since 2002, Mr. Guirard has served as founder and President of the new TrueSpeak Institute, whose primary focus is truth-in-language and truth-in-history in public discourse. He currently writes and lectures extensively on the vital "war of words" and "war of ideas" aspects of the broader Global War on al Qaeda-style Terrorism. Several of his recent op-ed articles, all of which can be found on this website, can also be found on the FamilySecurityMatters.org website, where he is a Contributing Editor.
Major briefings/Q&A sessions during late 2004 and 2005-06 have included the following:
|
Haig, General Alexander |
Source(s): 1988, Russ Bellant, Old Nazis, the new right, and the Republican party', p. 84: "The ASC Task Force on Central America included a handful of retired generals, including John Singlaub, Daniel O. Graham, Richard Stillwell, Gordon Sumner, William P. Yarborough, and Alexander Haig."
Pilgrims Society. |
Hamilton, Lady Natalie Douglas |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; 1988, Russ Bellant, 'The Coors connection', p. 49 (board member in the 1980s).
Her husband, Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton, died in 1964: Armed Services Commitee of the Shickshinny Knight of Malta.
Came to the United States around 1931. Founded the American-Scottish Foundation. Recently disclosed documents from MI5 show, that, on August 1, 1936, Lord Malcolm flew a de Havilland plane to Spain, that he delivered to pro-Franco nationalists. Another plane was flown the next day by Dick Seaman. Only two weeks earlier, General Franco was flown in a de Havilland from the Canary Islands to Morocco and onwards to Spain, helped by two other Britons, Hugh Pollard and Cecil Bebb. Ran his own charter flying company in the early 1960s, together with his son. His plane went missing over the heavy equatorial mountainous jungle of Cameroon. Following an exhaustive manhunt by Lord Malcolm's family, including assistance from United Fruit, his remains were located in the jungle. Neither his son nor the passengers were ever located.
Married twice: firstly in 1931 to the Hon. Pamela Bowes-Lyon (a granddaughter of the 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne) and cousin to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother; secondly he wed in 1953 to Natalie Winslow. |
Harkins, Gen. Paul D. |
Source(s): 1984 list
US Army. Deputy Chief of Staff to George S. Patton during WWII. The first Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) commander from 1962 to 1964. Director U.S. Strategic Institute. Wrote a book in 1969 on General George S. Patton Jr. and Third Army titled When the Third Cracked Europe: The Story of Patton's Incredible Army. Harkins also is credited as a technical consultant for the 1970 film Patton.
About the use of napalm on villages in Vietnam, Harkins happily replied: "It really puts the fear of God into the Viet Cong. And that is what counts."
Patton: Supported Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh in the America First political comittee. Became head of the military government in Bavaria after WWII. Notorious for keeping Nazi elements in power and primarily focusing on anti-communism (September 23, 1945, New York Times, 'Patton Belittles Denazification; Holds Rebuilding More Important'). Rebuilding a number of SS units |
Harrigan, Anthony |
Source(s): 1968, associate editor ASC Washington Report (according to one of its papers); 1974, Science Associates/International, inc., Readers advisory service: Selected topical booklists, Volume 1, Numbers 1-35, page xlviii: "WASHINGTON REPORT (American Security Council). 1969-Date. ... Its weekly publication [is]the WASHINGTON REPORT ... Among the writers preparing material for WASHINGTON REPORT are Anthony Harrigan, Richard Ichord, John F. Lewis, William D. Pawley, and Stefan T. Possony" John Fisher's history of the ASC: "Fisher established a Washington Bureau headed by Lee R. Pennington retired FBI Inspector and retired head of the American Legion Americanism Committee. He added just-retired Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Navy, Rear Admiral Chester C. Ward, as editor of the ASC Washington Report newsletter."
June 9, 2010, Post and the Courier, 'Anthony Harrigan dies in Va. at 84': "He began his journalism career in 1948 as a reporter with The News and Courier. ... Harrigan became a columnist and member of the editorial board. He left the newspaper as an associate editor after nearly 20 years with the company. ... After retiring from the newspaper business, Harrigan enjoyed success as a columnist, author and contributing editor to the National Review. He wrote several books and dozens of essays on military affairs, foreign policy and domestic issues, particularly economics. Harrigan's column was published in more than 250 newspapers. Harrigan also appeared on numerous television and radio programs. Born Oct. 27, 1925, in New York, Harrigan was the son of the late Anthony H. Harrigan and Elise E. Hutson Harrigan, and a former president of the U.S. Business and Industrial Council, a position he held from 1970 to 1990. Harrigan sat on professional boards and lectured across the country. He was the executive vice president of Southern States Industrial Council and was a member of the Institute of Strategic Studies. He was also a research associate for the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a trustee of the National Humanities Institute. In the early 1980s, Harrigan was president of the U.S. Industrial Council Educational Foundation and was a research committee member of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. While living in Charleston, Harrigan sat on the boards of the Gibbes Art Gallery and the South Carolina Historical Society. He was a World War II Marine Corps veteran and was twice awarded the Military Review Award of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Harrigan served as vice chairman of the Philadelphia Society and was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He was a member of the National Press Club, the Carolina Yacht Club, the Reform Club, the Society of Colonial Wars in South Carolina and the Piping and Marching Society." |
Harriman, W. Averell |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
Pilgrims. |
Hazlitt, Henry |
Source(s): 1964, ASC Press, 'Peace and Freedom through Cold War Victory' (national strategy committee), Liebman, Possony, Braden, Fisher)
Ludwig von Mises. Promoted Hayek. The novelist Ayn Rand was a friend of both Hazlitt and his wife, Francis, and it was Hazlitt who introduced Mises to Rand, the two figures who would become most associated with the defense of pure laissez-faire capitalism.
Member staff Wall St. Journal, 1913-16; fin. staff New York Evening Post, 1916-18; writer monthly fin. Letter of Mechanics and Metals, National Bank, New York City, 1919-20; fin. editor New York Evening Mail, 1921-23; editorial writer New York Herald, 1923-24, The Sun, 1924-25, lit. editor, 1925-29, The Nation, 1930-33; editor Am. Mercury, 1933-34; editorial staff New York Times, 1934-46; asso. Newsweek; writer column Business Tides, 1946-66; internationally syndicated columnist, 1966-69; co-editor The Freeman, 1950-52, editor-in-chief, 1953. Author: Thinking as a Science, 1916, 69, The Anatomy of Criticism, 1933, A New Constitution Now, 1942, rev. edition, 1974, Economics in One Lesson, 1946, rev. edition, 1979 (10 translations), Will Dollars Save The World?, 1947, Condensed in Reader's Digest, 1948, The Great Idea, 1951, rev. as Time Will Run Back, 1966, The Free Man's Library, 1956, The Failure of the New Economics; An Analysis of the Keynesian Fallacies, 1959, 73, What You Should Know About Inflation, 1960, 65, The Foundations of Morality, 1964, 73, Man versus The Welfare State, 1969, The Conquest of Poverty, 1973, The Inflation Crisis and How to Resolve It, 1978, From Bretton Woods to World Inflation, 1983; editor: A Practical Program for America, 1932, The Critics of Keynesian Economics, 1960, new edition, 1977, Failure of the New Economics, 1984. Awards Recipient Honor medal Freedoms Foundation, 1950, 60, 62. Member Mont Pelerin Society Clubs: Authors (London, England); Century, Dutch Treat, Overseas Press (New York City). Family. |
Healey, Kerry |
Source(s): American Security Council, Benefactors page, Corporate Circle (December 2010)
In 1985, she married Sean Healey, a multi-millionaire businessman worth over $100 million. The 70th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. She served from 2003 to 2007 with Governor Mitt Romney. She was the 2006 Republican nominee for Governor of Massachusetts, losing to Democrat Deval Patrick in November 2006. She currently serves as a TV Host on New England Sports Network. |
Hertog, Roger |
Source(s): American Security Council, Benefactors page, Executive Associates (December 2010)
Associated with various conservative and neoconservative think tanks and publications. Chairman emeritus of the Manhattan Institute and board member of the American Enterprise Institute and the Club for Growth. He also helped found the Shalem Center in Israel (a "think tank known as the A.E.I. of Israel.). In December 2005, Hertog was the Center's president. According to William Kristol, who also serves on the board, the Center was "founded as Israel's first 'neoconservative think-tank,' ... in an effort to give the Israeli right a better foundation in history, economics, archaeology and other topics." He was a part-owner of now-defunct New York Sun, was a part-owner of The New Republic, and is a board member of Commentary magazine. In February 2003, the Sun's "most memorable contribution to American letters [was] its statement that Iraq War protesters were guilty of 'treason'." Director and vice chairman of the board of Alliance Captial Management Corporation, "which was valued in 2002 at about $100 billion", and formerly president and CEO of Sanford C. Bernstein & Company. Hertog was described by Mark Gerson, "president of the investor-relations company the Gerson Lehrman Group and editor of The Neoconservative Reader", as the "one man who has, far more than anyone else, financially enabled this movement to exist", "this movement" being the "intertwined world of the neoconservatives". Hertog and Kovner "also chipped in to join" neoliberal Martin Peretz as co-owners of The New Republic (TNR), which was completely bought out in February 2007 by CanWest. In 2002, "ex-Canadian media mogel" Hertog , New York moneyman Bruce Kovner, chairman of the Caxton Corporation, and Conrad Black, "helped fund a new newspaper, The New York Sun, now [2003] fighting its anti-liberal battle with its New York Times–counterprogrammed slogan, 'A Different Point of View.'" July 21, 2010, The Star, 'Conrad Black out of jail': "Roger Hertog, a conservative New York philanthropist, put up the unsecured bond on Black’s behalf — a gesture that demonstrated Black still has friends with deep pockets yet simultaneously raised doubts about what remains of the Canadian-born British peer’s own fortune." Hertog is an executive committee member at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a member of the U.S. board of trustees of The Israel Center for Social & Economic Progress (ICSEP), a member of the board of trustees at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, and a member of the board of directors of The Jerusalem Post's America's Voices in Israel. The Post was owned by New York Sun partner Conrad Black. Hertog also funds the Hertog Global Strategy Initiative, a research program Columbia University that uses historical analysis to confront problems in world politics. Participants include high-ranking government officials, scholars, and graduate students. Council on Foreign Relations.
Securities analyst Oppenheimer & Co.; executive vice president Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., Inc., 1973—1993, president, CEO, 1993—2000; vice chairman Alliance Capital Management Corp. (merged with Bernstein), 2000—. Board member Am. Enterprise Institute Public Policy Research, Washington; member New York Society Security Analysts; chairman, part owner New York Sun; board member Commentary magazine. Chairman emeritus Manhattan Institute; chairman New York Hist. Society; board member New York Pub. Libr., Metropolitan Museum Art, New York Philharmonic. Jewish. |
Hilton, Gregg |
Source(s): November 11, 1989, National Journal, 'In from the cold': "... Gregg Hilton, executive director of the ASC..."
Director of Public Affairs for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). Executive Director of the National Security Foundation and the American Security Council.
Gregg Hilton is a relatively obscure figure in the Jack Abramoff scandal but Hilton's ties to Abramoff probably date back to the early '80s. In or around 2001, Jack Abramoff was on the Board of Directors of Hilton's National Security Caucus Foundation (NSCF).
Claims the New Deal made things worse. |
Hinkel, Col. John V. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
1906-1986. a Washington, D.C. public relations counselor and a veteran newspaperman, with an extensive military career and a reputation as a lecturer on Arlington National Cemetery as well as other historical subjects. |
Hood, Clifford F. |
Source(s): 1968, ASC, National Strategy Committee
Born 1894. Son of Edward Everett and Ida Florence (Firoved) H.; B.S., U. of Ill., 1915; LL.D., Thiel Coll., 1952, Monmouth Coll., 1954; E.D., Case Inst of Technology, 1953, Northeastern U., 1954; Youngstown University, 1958; H.H.D., Bethany College, 1958; married Emilie R. Tener, Dec. 8, 1917 (deceased); children—Randall F., Richard.; married 2d, Mary Ellen Tolerton, May 6, 1943. Began as technical apprentice with Packard Elec. Co., 1915; sales engr. Packard Elec. Co., Warren, O., 1915-17; with Am. Steel & Wire Co., 1917-49 (except during military service, World War I), as clerk, May-June 1917, foreman, 1919-25, asst. supt. South Works, 1925-27, supt., 1927-28, asst. mgr., later mgr. Worcester Dist., 1928-35, v.p. in charge operations, 1935-37, exec. v.p., Jan.-Dec. 1937, pres., 1938-40; pres. Carnegie-Ill. Steel Corp., 1950; executive vice pres. U.S. Steel Co., 1951-52; pres. U.S. Steel Corp., 1953-59, now mem. exec. com., dir. Served as 1st lt. with coast arty., A.U.S., with A.E.F., 1917-19. Mem. Am. Iron and Steel Inst., Chi Phi. Republican. Baptist. Mason. Clubs: Duquesne (Pitts.); The Links (N.Y.C.). Home: Pittsburgh, PA. Deceased |
Houser, Theodore V. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
1892-1963. Son of Theodore and Carrie (Wolfe) H.; B.E.E., Ia. State Coll., 1915, D.Sc., honorary; LL.D., Loyola U., Chgo.; married Lovera Lundin, June 5, 1915 (dec.); children—Elizabeth (Mrs. James Hennessy), Mary K. (Mrs. Larry Lewis); married 2d, Pauline Means, Oct. 7, 1944. With Sears, Roebuck & Co., 1928-58, v.p. in charge merchandising, 1939-52, vice chmn. bd. dirs., 1952-54, chmn., 1954-58; chmn. executive com., director Bell & Howell Company, 1961—; dir. Sears Roebuck Co., Quaker Oats Co., Am. Hosp. Supply, One William St. Fund. Chmn. Com. for Econ. Devel. Mem. corp. of Mass. Inst. Tech.; trustee Northwestern U., George Williams Coll., YMCA (bd. mgrs.); bd. mgrs. Am. Nat. Red Cross; pres. Chgo. YMCA. Clubs: Commercial, Chicago; Metropolitan (Washington). Home: Moss Neck Manor, Fredericksburg, Va.
Member of the inner circle that formed the American Security Council (ASC) in 1938? |
Hunt, Nelson Bunker |
Source(s): Associate. Not a known member.
1001 Club. President of the Council for National Policy.
June 27, 1987, Associated Press, 'Paper Says Administration Kept Up With Private MIA-POW Fund-Raising': "Administration officials were regularly informed of private efforts to raise funds to search for Americans missing in Southeast Asia, despite policy statements discouraging the practice, a published report says. ... John Fisher, executive director of the American Security Council Foundation, a Virginia clearinghouse for anti-communist information, told the papers the NSC regularly was informed about private efforts in Southeast Asia. "This was something that had more than the casual blessing of the White House," said Fisher, whose group contributed $8,500 to private POW-MIA efforts. ... The paper said the contributors to the POW-MIA groups included Nelson Bunker Hunt of Dallas, who donated $30,000, and Ellen St. John Garwood of Austin, Texas, who chipped in $3,500. Hunt later gave about $250,000 to aid the contras, and Mrs. Garwood donated $2.2 million." |
Hearst, George R., Jr. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "History Milestones" (One of 18 members of the ASC's Industrial Relations Committee)
Born in 1927. Son of George R., Sr. who was the son of William Randolph Hearst. Private business, 1946-48; staff LA Examiner, 1948-50, San Francisco Examiner, 1954-56; with LA Evening Herald-Express, from 1956, business manager, 1957, pub., from 1960, LA Herald-Examiner, from 1962; grp. head Hearst Real Estate; vice president Hearst Corp., 1977—, chairman, 1996—. President Hearst Foundation; director Randolph William Hearst Foundation. Named one of Forbes 400: Richest Americans, 2006—. Member VFW Clubs: Burlingame Country, Jonathan, California, Riviera. Son of George and Blanche (Wilbur) Hearst; Married Mary Thompson, April 23, 1951 (deceased December 1969); children: Mary, George Randolph III, Stephen T., Erin; Married Patricia Ann Bell, November 30, 1969 (div. November 1985).
Newspapers, magazines (Cosmopolitan, Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Popular Mechanics), television, radio, A&E, History Channel, ESPN, iVillage. 12 daily newspapers, 14 weekly newspapers, 17 US consumer magazines |
Jackson, Henry M. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
Jonathan Institute. Co-founder Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs in 1973.
The Jackson family created the Henry M. Jackson Foundation to give grants to nonprofits and educational institutions. Board members have included Richard Perle, Tom Foley, and Jeane Kirkpatrick. Perle is patron Henry Jackson Society.
From 1969 to 1980, Perle worked as a staffer for Democratic Senator Henry M. Jackson of Washington. Wolfowitz was another aide of Jackson in the 1970s.
The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, with the cooperation of the Jackson family, awards a Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson Distinguished Service Award to individuals for their career dedication to U.S. national security.
Senator
Frank Gaffney, founder of the Center for Security Policy: professional staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee under the chairmanship of the late Sen. John Tower, and a national security legislative aide to the late Senator Henry M. Jackson.
1912-1983. Son of Peter and Marine (Anderson) J.; married Helen E. Hardin, Dec. 16, 1961; children—Anna Marie, Peter Hardin. LL.B., U. Wash., 1935. Bar: Wash. bar 1935. Asso. with Black & Rucker, 1935-38; pros. atty. Snohomish County, 1938-40; mem. 77th-82d Congresses from 2d Wash. Dist., U.S. senator from, Wash., 1953-83; ranking minority mem. com. on energy and natural resources, mem. Armed Services Com., chmn. strategic arms control subcom. Chmn. Democratic Nat. Com., 1960-61; bd. regents Smithsonian Inst.; bd. overseers Whitman Coll.; bd. advisors John F. Kennedy Inst. Politics, Harvard U. Mem. Wash. Bar Assn., Phi Delta Phi, Delta Chi. Presbyterian. Home: Everett, Wash.
Co-founder America-Israel Friendship League in 1971. August 31, 2003, New York Times, 'How to Talk About Israel': "This confidence is what Podhoretz and other neoconservatives sought to save from the wreckage of Vietnam. One of their most powerful political allies in this enterprise was Senator Henry (Scoop) Jackson, mentor of Richard Perle, among others. Jackson, a gentile, a Democrat and a staunch cold warrior, was the perfect bridge on which former leftists could cross over to the right, without actually joining the Republican Party. Henry Jackson was a founder of the America-Israel Friendship League. Israel, to him, was not a sentimental issue but an essential part of his vision of the United States as a nation destined to free the world from tyranny."
American-Israel Friendship League: "A remarkably distinguished group of American leaders founded the AIFL in 1971. Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, Senators Henry "Scoop" Jackson and Nelson A. Rockefeller, civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph, Raymond M. Patt, Herman Z. Quittman and Congressman Herbert Tenzer all served among the League's founders."
1976, Pike Report, pp. 112-113: "Upon hearing testimony from Helms in February 1973, Senator Church's Multinational Corporations Subcommittee informed the CIA on 21 February 1973 that it had found “significant discrepancies” between Helms’s testimony and data ITT had supplied. On that same day, Theodore Shackley (Chief, Western Hemisphere Division, DP) took the first step to limit damage to the Agency. He recommended to DCI Schlesinger that the Agency should work [through Senators Stennis or Symington who "could be persuaded" to agree to a "controlled appearance" for the DCI before the Multinational Corporations Subcommitte] … Two days later, on 23 February 1973, Agency officers began quiet efforts with the help of Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, a close friend of the CIA, to blunt Senator Church's scrutiny of CIA, Chile, and Richard Helms. Jackson offered his protective assistance in a remarkable backstage meeting he had with Ted Shackley and CIA Congressional liaison chief John Maury the next day. … [Jackson made several suggestions on how to protect the CIA, as written down by Shackley] … Jackson pledged to work with CIA "to see that we got this protection." Shackley noted that Senator Jackson, who had been "extremely helpful," believed that it was "essential" to prevent the establishing of any procedure that could call upon CIA to testify before a wide variety of Congressional committees. Following that meeting, Shackley and Maury at once briefed Colby, who was then CIA's Executive Director, and Tom Keramessines, the DDP. DCI Schlesinger then asked Senator Jackson to set the wheels in motion for Senator McClellan to call a special meeting of his Oversight Committee. Three weeks later, on 13 March, CIA’s senatorial friends arranged to shield the Agency from unwanted scrutiny… McClellan, Symington, Jackson, John Pastore (D-RI), Strom Thurmond (R-SC, and Roman Hruska R-NE). Colby, Shackley, and Maury accompanied DCI Schlesinger.” p. 173: “[CIA legal counsel Mitchell] Rogovin … accused Pike’s staff of having stolen a copy of the [Ted Shackley] memorandum outlining the sensitive meeting of CIA officers with Senator "Scoop" Jackson in May 1973…" |
Johnson, Gen. Leon W. |
Source(s): 1983 list
Air Force. Retired Senior Editor, Fortune. |
Johnston, J. Bennett |
Source(s): July 23, 1984, New York Times, 'The High Cost of Advising': "The American Security Council Foundation is soliciting funds by mail in behalf of the United States Congressional Advisory Board ... Co-chairmen of the board are two Republicans, Senator Jake Garn of Utah and Representative Jack F. Kemp of upstate New York, and two Democrats, Senator J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana and Representative Bill Chappell Jr. of Florida."
Senator. |
Johnston, Wayne A. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; 1968 ASC National Strategy Committee list
President, Illinois Central Railroad. Early member Senior Advisory Board of the ASC.
Born: Urbana, Illinois, Nov. 19, 1897. Son of Harry W. and DeEtta Bird (Boomer) J.; B.S., U. of Illinois, 1917; LL.D., Middlebury Coll., La. State U., 1959; married Blanche Lawson, June 17, 1922; children—Wayne Andrew, Bette Jane (Mrs. B. Boothby). Began as accountant in office of div. supt., Ill. Central R.R., Champaign, Ill., Oct. 1919, chief clk. to supt., 1920; chief clk. to gen. supt., northern lines, Chicago, Oct. 1921, corr. clk. office of v.p. and gen. mgr., Sept. 1925, gen. agt. traffic dept., Apr. 1934, office mgr., v.p., traffic dept., Feb. 1935, gen. traffic agent in charge of mail, baggage, express and merchandise traffic, Sept. 1937, asst. to v.p. and gen. mgr., operating dept., Jan. 1938, acting supt. Ky. Div., Paducah, Ky., Nov. 1940, asst. to v.p. and gen. mgr., operating dept., Chicago, June 1941, asst. gen. mgr., Mar. 1942, asst. v.p., April 1944, gen. mgr., Sept. 1944; pres., 1945-66, chmn. bd., 1966—; chmn. bd. and dir. Madison Coal Corp., Peoria & Pekin Union Ry.; pres., dir. Chicago & Ill. Western R.R., Paducah & Ill. R.R. Dir. Terminal R.R. Assn. of St. Louis., Ry. Express Agency, Harris Trust & Savings Bank. Mem. board of national council, member national executive board, pres. Chgo. Council Boy Scouts of Am., mem. exec. bd. YMCA, and mem. Foundn. Bd. and Adv. Council, U. Ill.; trustee DePauw U., U. Ill.; pres. Old Peoples Home, Chgo.; trustee Sunday Evening Club. Mem. Chgo. Assn. Commerce and Industry, Assn. Am. R.R.’s (dir.), Newcomen Soc. Eng., Alpha Phi Omega, Beta Gamma Sigma, Phi Gamma Delta. Rep. Mason (33°). Clubs: Chicago, Chicago Athletic, Traffic, Western Railway Illini, Economic, Commercial, South Shore Country, Old Elm Country (Chgo.); Flossmoor (Ill.) Country; Metropolitan, Links (N.Y.); Boston, New Orleans Country (New Orleans). Home: 2509 Brae Burn Road, Flossmoor, Ill. Office: 135 E. 11th Pl., Chgo. 5 Death Died Dec. 5, 1967. |
Judd, Walter H. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
American politician best known for his battle in Congress (1943–63) to define the conservative position on China as all-out support for the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-sheck and opposition to the Communists under Mao. After the Nationalists fled to Formosa (Taiwan) in 1949 Judd redoubled his support. After training with the ROTC for the United States Army near the end of World War I, he earned his medical degree at the University of Nebraska in 1923, then was Traveling Secretary for the Student Volunteer Movement. He was a medical missionary in China, 1925–31 and 1934–1938, with a stint at the Mayo Clinic in between. He came back to the United States to urge Americans not to be isolationists but to support China against Japanese aggression. Elected to the U.S. Congress from Minnesota in 1942, where he became a powerful voice in support of China. He served for 20 years from 1943 until 1963 in the 78th, 79th, 80th, 81st, 82nd, 83rd, 84th, 85th, 86th, and 87th congresses. In the early 1950s Judd helped organize the Committee of One Million, a citizens' group dedicated to keeping the People's Republic of China out of the United Nations. |
Jung, Harry |
Source(s): Good question
American Vigilance Intelligence Federation. The first major US distributor of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion). |
Kalinger, Daniel J. |
Source(s): May 3, 1993, Washington Post, 'Article: Appointments': "The Boards of the American Security Council and the American Security Council Foundation in Washington elected Daniel J. Kalinger executive vice president."
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs in 1991. |
Keegan, Gen. George J., Jr. |
Source(s): APPARENTLY NO SOURCE
International Security Council.
USAF. Co-chairman Coalition for Peace Through Strength. Worked for the CIA from 1963-1966. Council of 56 of the Religious Roundtable'
February 7-9, 1986, speech of Col. Bo Hi Pak, CAUSA International Military Association Conference: "I am still very far away from perfection, but I want to serve the country with honor and, furthermore, serve humanity with honor. Save our civilization with honor. This came from this movement. CAUSA International, CIMA work, is merely one aspect of our effort. We have the International Security Council. Gen. George Keegan is a member of that council, and he testified to you, I am sure, about a recent meeting in Tel Aviv on state-sponsored terrorism."
CAUSA Foundation official history, 'Give and Forget - Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)': "In 1984 the International Security Council (ISC) was founded under the CAUSA umbrella to conduct research and develop studies aimed at more accurately assessing the military and geopolitical threat posed by the Soviet Union and its ideological and military allies. Led by the late Dr. Joseph Churba who had served as a member of the National Security Council (NSC) under President Reagan, the ISC gathered top scholars on international security, including Eugene Rostow and Ambassador Charles Lichenstein."
In November of 1975 - large amounts of hydrogen gas with traces of tritium were detected at Semipalatinsk by U.S. Air Force TRW reconnaissance satellites. General George Keegan had been paying special attention to this facility ever since one of his men warned him of something "fishy" there in 1972. This was evidence confirming his suspicions of Soviet particle beam research.
1921-1993. Commissioned 2d lieutenant US Air Force, advanced through grades to major general; chief Air Force Intelligence, 7th Air Force, Vietnam, 1967-69; deputy chief plans and operations Hdqrs. Air Force Logistics Command, 1970-71; chief Air Force Intelligence, Hdqrs. US Air Force, Washington, 1971-77; retired, 1977; executive vice president U.S. Strategic Institute, Washington, editor Strategic Rev., 1977-78; founder, president Institute Strategic Affairs; vice chairman Coalition for Peace through Strength, 1980-93. Board directors International Security, Washington, 1987-93.
Dale G. Stonehouse, 'FIRE FROM THE SKY: Battle of Harvest Moon & True Story of Space Shuttles': "Keegan revealed his findings on Soviet particle beam developments to CIA head William Colby in 1975. Colby convened the Nuclear Intelligence Panel which determined that, since the US could not build such a weapon, it was impossible that the Soviets were doing it. Colby never passed the information from the Air Force intelligence on to the President or Secretary of Defense. Keegan retired and started making the information public, through the American Security Council (of which I am a member of the National Advisory Board) and other groups. His story was greeted with high-level official sneering, the most acrimonious sneers coming from the self-styled "nuclear engineer" President Jimmy Carter and Defense Secretary Harold Brown (formerly from Lawrence Livermore Lab). "But despite the official denials, the Soviets continued their work, carrying at least eight electron-beam experiments into space on board Cosmos, Soyuz and Salyut spacecraft..." (AW & ST) and conducting tests at Semipalatinsk and Sarova. "At the same time, younger U.S. physicists, uninhibited by the ego problems of their elders, also were making progress on the key techniques required for beam weapons development. ... The Soviets have already successfully tested particle beam weapons (as has France!). "U.S. particle beam weapons experts who have access to U.S. intelligence information and personal contacts with Russian physicists involved in magnetic and plasma physics programs believe the Soviets will field a ground-based proton beam weapon between 1980-1983." ... Whoever puts satellites with particle beam weapons into orbit first (property controlled by complex sensors and computers) can control the world. ANY GUIDED MISSILE OR AIRCRAFT CAN THEN BE ZAPPED OUT OF EXISTENCE IN A FRACTION OF A SECOND AFTER LAUNCH. Under those conditions, we will still have nuclear bombs, but it would be impossible to deliver them against an enemy who is protected by particle beams."
April 28, 1996, Miami Herald, 'Herald staff': "Churba, Joseph, 62, who was the Air Force's top Middle East intelligence expert in 1976 when he publicly criticized comments by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. George Brown, about Israel's being a military burden for the United States; in New York of a heart attack. Churba was president of the International Security Council, a Washington- based research institute. He was a presidential campaign adviser to Ronald Reagan in 1980 and an adviser to the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in 1981 and 1982. On Oct. 19, 1976, Churba told a reporter that Brown's comments had been "dangerously irresponsible," because they encouraged the Arabs and Russians to think U.S. backing for Israel had diminished. He said the comments indicated a growing "tilt against Israel in the defense department." Later Churba's superior, Maj. Gen. George Keegan, told him that because he had talked to the reporter, his special security clearances for signal and satellite intelligence had been suspended and that he was no longer of any value to the Air Force as an intelligence estimator."
April 28, 1996, New York Times, 'Joseph Churba, Intelligence Aide Who Criticized General, Is Dead': "Mr. Churba made his unusually blunt criticism of the top service officer in telephone conversations with a reporter on Oct. 19, 1976. Mr. Churba said that General Brown's comments had been "dangerously irresponsible" because they encouraged the Arabs and Russians to think American backing for Israel had diminished. He said the comments were indicative of a growing "tilt against Israel in the Defense Department.""
April 21, 1996, Washington Times, 'Joseph Churba, 62, foreign policy expert': "He was a protege and close associate of Maj. Gen. George J. Keegan, former chief of Air Force intelligence."
October 19, 1989, Xinhua General News Service, 'Chinese vice-president meets u.s. visitor': "Chinese vice-president Wang Zhen met dr. Joseph Churba, president of the United States International Security Council (ISC), here today. " |
Kemp, Jack F. |
Source(s): July 23, 1984, New York Times, 'The High Cost of Advising': "The American Security Council Foundation is soliciting funds by mail in behalf of the United States Congressional Advisory Board ... Co-chairmen of the board are two Republicans, Senator Jake Garn of Utah and Representative Jack F. Kemp of upstate New York..."
1935-2009. Quarterback Pittsburgh Steelers, 1957, San Diego Chargers (formerly L.A. Chargers), 1960—1962, Buffalo Bills, 1963—1969; special assistant to Governor State of California, 1967; special assistant to chairman Republican National Committee, 1969; member US Congress from 39th New York District, 1971—1973, US Congress from 38st New York District, 1973—1983, US Congress from 31st New York District, 1983—1989; secretary US Department Housing & Urban Devel., Washington, 1989-92; co-dir. Empower America, 1993—2005; visiting fellow Hoover Institute; co-dir. Empower America, 1993—2004; weekly columnist Copley News Service, 2000—2009; founder Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, 2001; chairman Kemp Partners, from 2002; co-chmn. FreedomWorks Empower America, 2004—2005. Chairman, US House Republican Conference, 1981-87; pub. relations officer Marine Midland Bank, Buffalo; candidate for Rep. Presidential nomination, 1987-88; Rep. nominee for vice president, 1996; co-founder, NFL Players Association; board directors Oracle Corp., 1995-96, 1996-2009, Hawk Corp., IDT Corp., CNL Hotels & Resorts Inc., Six Flags Inc., 2005-09, InPhonic Inc. Member Pres.'s Council on Physical Fitness & Sports; member executive committee player pension board NFL; member advisory board Toyota’s Diversity Initiative, Thomas Weisel Partners, Thayer Capital. Member National Association Broadcasters, Engineers and Technicians, Buffalo Area C. of C., Sierra Club, Am. Football League Players Association (co-founder, president 1965-70). Republican. Advisory board Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. |
Kintner, William R. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; November 1, 2005, (ASC founder) John M. Fisher, 'History milestones: American Security Council and American Security Council Foundation' (appointed co-chair of an ASCF Strategy Board in or around 1983)
1915-1997. Commissioned 2d lieutenant U.S. Army, 1940, advanced through grades to colonel, 1956; infantry battalion co., Korean War; member senior staff CIA, 1950-52; member planning staff National Security Council, 1954; member staff special assistant to President, 1955; consultant Pres.'s Committee to study U.S. Assistance Program (Draper Committee), 1959; chief long-range plans strategic analysis section Coordination Group, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, 1959-61; retired, 1961; professor emeritus political sci. Wharton School, University Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1961-85; deputy director Foreign Policy Research Institute, 1961-69, director, 1969-73, president, 1976; Am. ambassador to Thailand, 1973-75. Consultant Department Defense, National Security Council, Stanford Research Institute; fellow Hudson Institute; senior adviser Operations Research Office, Johns Hopkins University, 1956-57; member academy board Inter-Am. Defense College, 1967-72; member Board Foreign Scholarships, 1970-73; civilian faculty adv. committee National War College, 1970-72; member adv. board Naval War College, 1985; board member U.S. Peace Institute, 1986–. Trustee Freedom House, New York City; member board General Church of New Jerusalem, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania; member adv. committee World Affairs Council, Philadelphia Memberships Member Council Foreign Relations, Am. Political Sci. Association, Pennsylvania Society, Council Am. Ambassadors, U.S. Institute Peace (board directors).
Spring 1982, David Stoll, Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 9, No. 2, Minorities in the Americas, 'The Summer Institute of Linguistics and Indigenous Movements', p. 93: "SIL's [Summer Institute of Linguistics'] advances into the Philippines (1953) and South Vietnam (1956) were personally expedited by Presidents Ramon Magsaysay and Ngo Dinh Diem, each under the tutelage of the CIA's Edward Lansdale. According to a document released by the U.S. State Department, in 1961 one of Lansdale's superiors ten years earlier at the CIA, Colonel William R. Kintner, was about to help SIL enlist the Kennedy White House in a scheme to eradicate illiteracy and fight communism all over Latin America. That same month Townsend suddenly prevailed over a decade of stiff Catholic resistance in Colombia and secured a contract from the Lleras Camargo govern- ment. As a public authority on the Cold War, Kintner (1962: 282-89) advocated total mobilization of private U.S. private organizations for the anticommunist cause. In 1960" |
Kirkpatrick, Jeane |
Source(s): Who's Who
Leading neocon until her death. Le Cercle participant.
2nd Committee on the Present Danger. Advisory board Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. Etc. |
Kissinger, Henry |
Source(s): American Security Council, Benefactors page, President's Circle (December 2010)
Pilgrim. Ultra-connected.
December 10, 2010, New York Times, 'In Tapes, Nixon Rails About Jews and Blacks': "“The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy,” Mr. Kissinger said. “And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.” “I know,” Nixon responded. “We can’t blow up the world because of it.” ... “What it is, is it’s the insecurity,” he said. “It’s the latent insecurity. Most Jewish people are insecure. And that’s why they have to prove things.” Nixon also strongly hinted that his reluctance to even consider amnesty for young Americans who went to Canada to avoid being drafted during the Vietnam War was because, he told Mr. Colson, so many of them were Jewish. “I didn’t notice many Jewish names coming back from Vietnam on any of those lists; I don’t know how the hell they avoid it,” he said, adding: “If you look at the Canadian-Swedish contingent, they were very disproportionately Jewish. The deserters.”"
May 2007, vanity Fair, 'The Kissinger Presidency' (Excerpted from Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power, by Robert Dallek): "Nixon is dead, but Henry Kissinger remains very much a man in public life. In recent years, President George W. Bush has consulted him for advice on the Iraq war, which Kissinger has supported. Since 2001, Kissinger has, according to Bob Woodward's State of Denial, met with the president every other month, and with Vice President Dick Cheney every month, and he has advised President Bush that "victory … is the only meaningful exit strategy" for Iraq. ... Nixon did not anticipate the extent to which Kissinger, whom he barely knew when he appointed him national-security adviser, in 1969, would be envious and high-strung—a maintenance project of the first order. Nixon had a running conversation with Haldeman about "the K problem," as Haldeman noted in his diaries. Nixon complained in one taped conversation with the chief of staff: "Henry's personality problem is just too goddamn difficult for us to deal [with].… Goddamn it, Bob, he's psychopathic about trying to screw [Secretary of State William] Rogers." Haldeman feared that if Kissinger "wins the battle with Rogers" he might not be "livable with afterwards." Nixon agreed that he would "be a dictator." "Did you know that Henry worries every time I talk on the phone with anybody?" he told Haldeman and domestic counselor John Ehrlichman in another taped conversation. "His feeling is that he must be present every time I see anybody important." ... Using language that has a painfully contemporary echo, Kissinger and Nixon very quickly came to private conclusions about Vietnam that they never revealed publicly and denied entertaining. "In Saigon the tendency is to fight the war to victory," Nixon told Kissinger, according to the transcript of a 1969 phone conversation. "But you and I know it won't happen—it is impossible." Even so, according to Haldeman's unpublished diaries, Nixon later urged that Democratic critics making this same point should be labeled "the party of surrender." When someone told Kissinger that Nixon could not be re-elected, because of Vietnam, he disputed it and added, according to a memo of a conversation, that "anytime we want to get out of Vietnam we can," and that "we will get out of Vietnam before the [1972] election." Nixon wanted to plan the removal of all U.S. troops by the end of 1971, but Kissinger cautioned that, if North Vietnam then de-stabilized Saigon during the following year, events could have an adverse effect on the president's campaign. According to Haldeman's diaries, Kissinger advocated a pullout in the fall of 1972, "so that if any bad results follow they will be too late to affect the election." He apparently had nothing to say about the American lives that would be lost by deliberately prolonging the war. ... Kissinger was deeply unsettled by the revelation, in June of 1971, that the Pentagon's secret history of the Vietnam War had been given to The New York Times by a former adviser to Kissinger on Vietnam, Daniel Ellsberg. Would Kissinger be tarred by association? When he saw Nixon, according to a taped conversation, Kissinger said of Ellsberg, "That son-of-a-bitch. I know him well. He is completely nuts.… He always seemed a little bit unbalanced." As for The New York Times, Nixon and Kissinger were determined to come down hard. "Goddamn newspapers—they're a bunch of sluts," Nixon said. In another taped conversation, two weeks later, he said, "I don't give a goddamn about repression, do you?" "No," Kissinger replied. ... Nixon confided to Haldeman, according to the unpublished diaries, that he was "quite shocked" at how Kissinger had "ranted and raved" at Alexander Haig during a 1971 phone conversation, telling Haig that he "had handled everything wrong," and calling U.N. ambassador George H. W. Bush "an idiot." Nixon believed that something more serious was going on, and it is known that he once mused to Ehrlichman that Kissinger might need psychiatric help. The subject of Kissinger's stability came up again in 1972. Having read The Will to Live, by Dr. Arnold Hutschnecker, his former psychotherapist, Nixon recommended it to Haldeman as providing a road map to what Nixon, according to Haldeman's unpublished diary notes, called "K's suicidal complex." Haldeman went on: "He also wants to be sure I make extensive memoranda about K's mental processes and so on, for his file." ... Nixon's deep antipathy toward Jews is well known, and he took a strange satisfaction in having Kissinger in his inner circle, where he could periodically taunt him. Nixon told Haldeman and Ehrlichman, according to the transcript of a conversation, that "anybody who is Jewish cannot handle" Middle Eastern policy. Henry might be "as fair as he can possibly be, [but] he can't help but be affected by it. Put yourself in his position. Good God … his people were crucified over there. Jesus Christ! Five—five million of them popped into big ovens! How the hell's he feel about all this?" Kissinger acquiesced in Nixon's anti-Semitism, and more. He took care not to bring too many Jewish N.S.C. staff members to meetings with the president. On one occasion, speaking with Leonard Garment, a special consultant to the president on such issues as Israel and Jewish affairs, Kissinger asked, according to a transcript of the telephone conversation, "Is there a more self-serving group of people than the Jewish community? … You can't even tell the bastards anything in confidence because they'll leak it." ... In April of 1971, after months of secret exchanges facilitated by Pakistan, the government of Communist China indicated its willingness to receive a special envoy from the United States. Soon after getting this message, Nixon and Kissinger agreed on a positive response. They now went back and forth over which administration official should make the first trip to Beijing. Kissinger badly wanted the assignment, but Nixon wasn't ready to offer it, and seemed to take perverse pleasure in toying with him, raising the names of other people as possible envoys. According to a transcript of an April telephone conversation, Nixon said he was considering David Bruce, a longtime senior diplomat, but was concerned that his involvement in the Paris peace talks might make the Chinese uncomfortable. "How about Nelson [Rockefeller]?," Nixon asked. "Mr. President, he wouldn't be disciplined enough," Kissinger objected, hoping to scuttle the chances of the man who had been his crucial patron for many years. "How about Bush?," Nixon suggested. "Absolutely not," Kissinger replied. "He is too soft and not sophisticated enough." Nixon responded, "I thought of that myself," and returned to the notion of Rockefeller, telling Kissinger to keep Nelson "in the back of your head." Kissinger then made an indirect case for himself by implying that no one was more conversant with Nixon's thinking about international affairs than he was. He described distinctions between the Chinese and the Russians in a way he knew would appeal to Nixon: "The difference between them and the Russians is that if [you] drop some loose change, when you go to pick it up the Russians will step on your fingers and the Chinese won't." When the subject of the China visit came up again the next day, Kissinger made the case for himself more directly. He told the president, according to a taped conversation, "I don't want to toot my own horn, but I happen to be the only one who knows all the negotiations." Nixon now relented: "Oh hell fire, I know that. Nobody else can really handle it." Nixon dismissed Rockefeller as an amateur. "Jesus Christ, I could wrap Rockefeller around my finger and he'll never know it." Again, Kissinger made no attempt to stand up for his former mentor. He simply replied, "That's right." On the morning of July 1, as Kissinger was about to leave for China, Nixon spent more than an hour with him, giving final instructions on what he should say to the Chinese premier, Chou En-lai. Nixon counseled against any lengthy "philosophical talk," according to a recorded conversation. His own success in dealing with Communist leaders was due to the fact that "I don't fart around I'm very nice to them—then I come right in with the cold steel." Nixon had to be talked into letting Kissinger give a background press briefing after the trip. He was sure "the press will try to give K the credit in order to screw the P," Haldeman recorded in his unpublished diaries. ... Kissinger's demands for influence and attention incensed Nixon, who occasionally talked about firing him. Watergate made this impossible. Nixon's need to use Kissinger and foreign policy to counter threats of impeachment made Kissinger an indispensable figure in a collapsing administration. The balance of power shifted massively and irrevocably. ... From the outset Kissinger, who was now secretary of state as well as national-security adviser, centered control of the crisis [Yom Kippur War] in his own hands. The Israelis had informed him of the attacks at six a.m. that Saturday, but three and a half hours would pass before he felt the need to consult Nixon, who had escaped Washington for his retreat in Key Biscayne, Florida. At 8:35 a.m., Kissinger called Haig, who was with the president, to report on developments. He said, according to a phone transcript, "I want you to know … that we are on top of it here." To ensure that the media not see Nixon as out of the loop, Kissinger urged Haig to say "that the President was kept informed from 6:00 a.m. on." When Kissinger finally called Nixon, at 9:25 a.m., the president left matters in Kissinger's hands. But he asked, according to a transcript, that Kissinger "indicate you talked to me." At 10:35 a.m., Kissinger again called Haig. They discussed how to work with the Soviets to bring the fighting to a halt. When Haig reported that Nixon was considering returning to Washington, Kissinger discouraged it—part of a recurring pattern to keep Nixon out of the process. Over the next three days, Kissinger oversaw the diplomatic exchanges with the Israelis and Soviets about the war. Israeli prime minister Golda Meir's requests for military supplies, which were beginning to run low, came not to Nixon but to Kissinger. Although he consistently described himself as representing the president's wishes, Kissinger was seen by outsiders as the principal U.S. official through whom business should be conducted. On October 7, for example, a Brezhnev letter to Nixon was a response to "the messages you transmitted to us through Dr. Kissinger." On October 9, a telegram to King Hussein of Jordan urging continued non-involvement in the conflict came not from Nixon but from Kissinger. Although Kissinger spoke to Nixon frequently during these four days, it was usually Kissinger who initiated the calls, kept track of the fighting, and parceled out information as he saw fit. On the night of October 7, according to a telephone transcript, Nixon asked Kissinger if there had been any message from Brezhnev. "Oh, yes, we heard from him," Kissinger replied, volunteering no more. Nixon had to press, asking lamely, "What did he say?" At 7:55 on the night of October 11, Brent Scowcroft, Haig's replacement as Kissinger's deputy at the N.S.C., called Kissinger to report that the British prime minister, Edward Heath, wanted to speak to the president in the next 30 minutes. According to a telephone transcript, Kissinger replied, "Can we tell them no? When I talked to the President he was loaded." Scowcroft suggested that they describe Nixon as unavailable, but say that the prime minister could speak to Kissinger. "In fact, I would welcome it," Kissinger told Scowcroft. What is striking is how matter-of-fact Kissinger and Scowcroft were about Nixon's condition, as if it had been nothing out of the ordinary—as if Nixon's drinking to excess was just part of the routine. They showed no concern at having to keep the prime minister of America's principal ally away from the president. ... Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger were symbiotic rivals—men who shared many similarities, including cynicism and insecurity, and who desperately needed each other despite their often poisonous antagonism and mutual suspicion. Nixon distrusted Kissinger, doubting his professions of admiration. Kissinger's eagerness for the spotlight and his self-serving ambition put Nixon on edge. Nixon rightly believed that Kissinger saw himself as a superior intellect manipulating a malleable president. Nixon called him "my Jew boy" behind his back and occasionally to his face as a way to humiliate him and keep him in his place. Kissinger reciprocated, according to a raft of transcripts and other documents. He despised Nixon's top aides. "I have never met such a gang of self-seeking bastards in my life," Kissinger told the British ambassador in 1970, in a remark preserved in an ambassadorial memo in the National Archives in London. "I used to find the Kennedy group unattractively narcissistic, but they were idealists. These people are real heels." The president himself fared little better. Kissinger privately referred to Nixon as "that madman," "our drunken friend," and "the meatball mind." By the spring of 1974, public attitudes toward Nixon and Kissinger were heading in opposite directions. The president's political survival seemed more uncertain with every passing day, while Kissinger's public standing reached new heights. Kissinger remained publicly supportive of Nixon, but in his own mind he viewed America's well-being as inextricably linked to his own. After returning from the Middle East in June of 1974, Kissinger spoke by phone with Jacob Javits and told the New York senator, "You know, what really worries me, Jack, [is that,] with the President facing impeachment, what's been holding things together is my moral authority abroad and to some extent at home. If that's lost we may be really in trouble."" |
Knight, Albion W., Jr. |
Source(s):
Brig. General Albion W. Knight: CNP Board of Governors (1982). Chairman of the CNP National Defense Committee, contributor to Front Line, Inc. of Missouri, and a member of the Council of 56 of the Religious Roundtable.
Rt. Rev. Albion W. Knight, Jr, missionary bishop, United Episcopal Church of America and member of the American Security Council. Advisory Board of United States Council for World Freedom (1986) which is the U.S. branch of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL), home for many fascists and neo-Nazis. The U.S. branch brought these elements to the U.S. for WACL's annual meetings in 1984 and 1985. Included was a delegate [Yves Gignac] who served five years in prison for attempting to assassinate Charles DeGaulle, persons who led Nazi SS units or corraborationist puppet governments during World War II, and architects of mass murder in Latin America. Those meetings served to build support for the FDN Contras as well as UNITA and RENAMO, both allies of South Africa. The U.S. branch, led by Major General John Singlaub, also has had racists, anti-Semites and at least one member of a Nazi collaborationist organization on its board. [Bellant (CC); Anderson 256-7, 270;
Jr.: Episcopal bishop. Missionary bishop, United Episcopal Church of America and member of the American Security Council. Advisory Board of United States Council for World Freedom (1986) which is the U.S. branch of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL), CNP governor.
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Kraemer, Sven |
Source(s): American Foreign Policy Council, New and Events, September 1, 1991, Questions in Moscow: "Sven Kraemer, Director of Policy at the American Security Council..."
Son of Fritz Kraemer. Fritz Kraemer was born in Essen, in the Rhineland, then technically part of Prussia. His father was a state prosecutor, and his mother was the daughter of a prominent industrialist. He had a brilliant academic career. He was educated at the Arndt gymnasium in Berlin, then at the London School of Economics and the universities of Geneva and Berlin. He subsequently earned doctorates both from the Goethe University in Frankfurt and from the University of Rome. In 1933, he left Germany to work as a legal adviser for the League of Nations in Rome, and he wrote eight books on international law. Having observed fascism in both Italy and Germany, he fled to the United States in 1939 on the eve of war. Once in the American Army, he cut an eccentric figure, habitually wearing a monocle and carrying a riding crop while speaking loudly in a strong German accent. At Camp Claiborne in Louisiana, his demeanor attracted the attention of Maj. Gen. Alexander R. Bolling (Commd. 2d lt., U.S. Army, 1917, advanced through grades to lt. gen., 1952, comdr. 3d Army, Ft. McPherson, Atlanta; ret., 1955), the commanding officer of the 84th Division, who assigned him to his headquarters. When the US 84th division, the "Railsplitters", arrived in Germany in early 1945, after the battle of the Ardennes, Kraemer was able to arrange for the young Kissinger to become General Bolling's German-speaking driver. The appointment launched Kissinger into the counter- intelligence corps, and a series of responsible jobs in the postwar US military government of Germany that were to be the making of his career. In truth, the two men's relationship was not without its disagreements. In the years of Richard Nixon's presidency, when Kissinger was at his most powerful, the inflexible Kraemer could not accept his former protege's policy of detente, and they did not speak for 28 years. Last year, however, Kissinger telephoned Kraemer to make it up. He went on to give the address at Kraemer's funeral, and has written that Kraemer "will remain to me a beacon".
Pentagon Fritz Kraemer shares offices with former Defense Intelligence Agency chief Daniel Graham. November 9, 1990, Conservative Leadership Conference, 'Strategic weapons in a changing world' (CSPAN video): "Speakers Gaffney, [Daniel] Graham, and [Fritz] Kraemer spoke of various strategic issues and forces and of the importance of the Strategic Defense Initiative. All three expressed their opposition to arms reduction and discussed the need to remain vigilant despite the end of the Cold War."
From 1951 until his retirement in 1978, he worked in the Pentagon as a senior civilian counselor to defense secretaries and top military commanders. His son, Sven, a Pentagon official, said that Mr. Kraemer's title often changed but that he occupied the same map-covered office from which he would be called on to prepare briefings, often on short notice, on such diverse subjects as political developments in Southeast Asia, economic prospects in China and French views on nuclear weapons. He also developed close and mentoring relationships with many officers who either occupied or would rise to powerful positions, among them, Gen. Creighton Abrams; Gen. Alexander M. Haig Jr.; Gen. Vernon A. Walters, who later served as ambassador to the United Nations; and Maj. Gen. Edward G. Lansdale, the theoretician of counterinsurgency. Also influenced James Schlesinger and Rumsfeld.
January 5, 1987, Mae Brussel, World Watchers International, Broadcast 787: "In light of Reagan's life and the conservative policies, by having Fritz Kraemer continue in the National Security Council — until this point I knew he was of tremendous influence sharing offices with Daniel Graham of Star Wars and Fred Ikle, Deputy of the Defense Department..."
Sven Kraemer: Staff member Senator John Tower. Office Secretary of Defense 1963-67. Staff NSC 1967-76. Advisory council National Strategy Information Center anno 1978. Director of arms control at the NSC 1981-87. Member Republican Policy Committee. In charge of the defense planning staff at the National Security Council under Reagan. Member unofficial Madison Group (with Perle and others). Director of Policy at the American Security Council in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Policy advisor to Douglas J. Feith, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy 2001-05. Guest lecturer at the Institute of World Politics. Advisory council Center for Security Policy (anno 2011). |
Kubek, Anthony |
Source(s): 1993, Peter Dale Scott, 'Deep Politics and the Death of JFK', p. 292
Protege of Robert Morris. 1963 author of How the Far East Was Lost.
Anthony Kubek was born in 1920. After a year as a scholarship student at Geneva College, he served during World War II in the US Navy in the Pacific theater and the Far East. He earned three degrees from Georgetown University: B.A. in Foreign Service (1948), M.A. (1950), and Ph.D. in American Diplomatic History (1956). During his academic career, he served as the Academic Dean of Frisco College, in Frisco, Texas, and as a professor at the University of Dallas, where he was chairman of the Department of History and Political Science. He was widely known as a lecturer and a consultant on American foreign policy. He was active in the national honor society Phil Alpha Theta, the Political Science Association, and the American Historical Association. Roman Catholic.
Singlaub and another leader of his U.S. WACL chapter (Anthony Kubek) joined the advisory board of Western Goals. Though Singlaub left Western Goals in 1984, the organization is controlled today by Carl Spitz Channell, who in 1986 met with Oliver North “five or ten times” about his TV advertising campaigns against political candidates opposed to contra aid.
United States Council for World Freedom: Possony; Milnor; Singlaub; Graham; Dobriansky; Kubek; Robert Morris; Raymond Sleeper; Lewis Walt; Ray Cline. Roger Fontaine (son-in-law of Ray Cline; Washington Times ).
1995, Sara Diamond, 'Roads to dominion', p. 349: "The letterhead of Liebman's American Chilean Council includes the following, listed as "founding member": ... Lev Dobriansky ... Anthony Kubeck ... Stefan Possony."
Dean and chief academic officer at the University of Plano (of Robert J. Morris) for a year before teaching for 10 years at Troy State University in Troy, Ala. Taught part time at St. John's University in New York before retiring from teaching in 1993.
Devout Catholic and was a member of St. Luke Catholic Church and had been a member of Holy Family Catholic Church, both in Irving.
Professor University of Dallas 1959-74 (chairman of the department of history and political science). Wrote How The Far East Was Lost [to communism] in 1963 (Henry Regnery Co.). Professor at Fu-Jen Catholic University in Taiwan in 1966. In 1970, he met with Chiang Kai-shek, leader of Taiwan's Nationalist Party. Consultant to the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee. Co-founder American-Chilean Council. Advisory board Western Goals Foundation and WACL U.S.
October 25, 1995, South Bend Tribune (Indiana), 'JAPANESE WANTED TO END WAR LONG BEFORE BOMBS DROPPED * MICHIANA POINT OF VIEW': "Prevailing wisdom concerning the August 1945 atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki holds that those twin horrors were undertaken to force Japan to sue for peace. Had the bombs not been employed, this belief holds, an enormous number of American troops would have perished in an inevitable amphibious operation against the Japanese mainland. Such a concept is a myth. My studies have led me to believe that the Japanese began sending out peace feelers as early as 1942, after the Battle of Midway. In August 1942, the interned British ambassador, Sir Robert Craig, was given a peace communique, according to the 1950 book "Journey to the Missouri," by Toshikasu Case. Also according to Case, on June 26, 1944, Baron Kido, a close adviser to the emperor, sent for Foreign Minister Shigemitsu and asked him if he would work out some plan looking toward an eventual diplomatic settlement. In the fall of 1944, Emperor Hirohito attempted to make peace with China, as documented in the 1950 book "I Was There" by Admiral William D. Leahy. The Japanese explored the possibility of peace through the Vatican in November 1944. A Japanese communique was sent to Gen. Douglas MacArthur in January 1945, indicating a willingness to surrender with the same terms as those after the bombing of Nagasaki. This is according to 1945 reports in the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times Herald. Please remember that 65,000 Americans were either wounded or killed at Iwo Jima and Okinawa - a total wasteof lives. The Japanese made efforts for peace through Soviet mediation on June 1, 1945, to "secure peace at any price." ("No Wonder We Are Losing," by Robert Morris, 1966) and also made efforts for peace through Prince Carl Bernodotte of Sweden on July 6, 1945. ("How the Far East was Lost" by Professor Anthony Kubek, 1963). Gen. MacArthur's communique was rejected by President Roosevelt and later by Gen. Marshall and President Truman, according to the 1966 book "The Death of James Forrestal" by Cornell Simpson. The purpose of Roosevelt, Truman and Marshall was to wait for Russia's entry into the war against Japan to secure Manchuria, Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands for Josef Stalin, as well as his aid to Mao Tse-Tung to achieve victory for communism in China. In addition, the world's people were horrified into accepting the embryonic concept of world government through the United Nations, due to the potential of nuclear holocaust. Since the Japanese peace overtures were rejected by the United States, they fought to the death, thus the use of kamikaze pilots. This column is in no way attempting to justify Japanese treachery and atrocities committed during the war. But I do believe that Roosevelt, Marshall and Truman were political criminals. James Engan is a Middlebury resident." |
Lamble, William K. |
Source(s): 1962, Irwin Suall, 'The American Ultras: The extreme right and the military-industrial complex', p. 9
Lecturer for the American Security Council. Spoke at a 1961 meeting of We the People. |
Lane, Arthur Bliss |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
1894-1956. U.S. Minister to Nicaragua (1933–1936); Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (1936–1937); Kingdom of Yugoslavia, (1937–1941); and Costa Rica (1941–1942). U.S. Ambassador to Colombia (1942–1944); Poland (1944–1947). Wrote the book I Saw Poland Betrayed. Active in investigating the Katyn Massacre (of Soviet secret police on Polish civilians) and in several anti-Communist organizations (National Committee for a Free Europe). |
Lansdale, Gen. Edward G. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; 1991, Russ Bellant, 'Old Nazis', p. 37: " Edward Lansdale became administrative director of IAS [later ASCF] in the mid-1960's, serving the American Security Council."
1908-1983. OSS during WWII. Rose to become General in the Air Force, which was largely a cover for his CIA operations. Ran the election campaign of the in 1953 elected Philippine president Colonel Ramon Magsaysay (died in 1957 in a plane crash). Advisor on special counter-guerrilla operations to French forces against the Viet Minh in French Indo-China (the region of present-day: Vietnam; Laos; Cambodia; Thailand; etc.) in 1953. Head of the Saigon Military Mission (SMM) 1954-1957. Active in training and bolstering the Vietnamese National Army (VNA) and a campaign to drive Catholic refugees from the north down to the Saigon region. Friend and advisor to the corrupt first president of South-Vietnam (1955-1963), a Catholic. At the DOD from 1957 to 1963: Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special Operations, Staff Member of the President's Committee on Military Assistance, and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations. Together with Gen. William H. Craig, Landsdale drew up the plans of Operation Northwoods. Gen. Lemnitzer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, supported the plans and provided them to the Kennedy administration. First to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and three days later to Kennedy. A JCS/Pentagon document (Ed Lansdale memo) dated March 16, 1962 titled 'Meeting with the president', 16 March 1962 reads: "General Lemnitzer commented that the military had contingency plans for US intervention [in Cuba]. Also it had plans for creating plausible pretexts to use force, with the pretext either attacks on US aircraft or a Cuban action in Latin America for which we could retaliate [Operation Northwoods]. The President [Kennedy] said bluntly that we were not discussing the use of military force..." Following presentation of the Northwoods plan, Kennedy removed Lemnitzer as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Lansdale headed Operation Mongoose/Cuban Project after the failed Bay of Pigs incident in 1961, an invasion Lansdale had opposed from the beginning because he did not think it would lead to a popular uprising. Claimed to have been fired by McNamara after declining Kennedy's offer to play a role in the overthrow of the Catholic Diem regime. L. Fletcher Prouty's March 1990 letter to Jim Garrison: "For example: the most important part of my book, "The Secret Team", is not something that I wrote. It is Appendix III under the title, "Training Under The Mutual Security Program". ... This material was the work of Lansdale and his crony General Dick Stillwell. ... Lansdale and Stillwell were long-time "Asia hands" as were Gen Erskine, Adm Radford, Cardinal Spellman, Henry Luce and so many others." 1980, Richard Drinnon, 'Facing west:', p. 365: "For that union of covert operations of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the special operations of the U.S. Army, one has to go back to a seminal document circulated within the Eisenhower administration. Titled "Training under the Mutual Security Program" and dated May 15, 1959, it came primarily from the pen of Brigadier General Richard Giles Stilwell, ... who was said by David Halberstam to be "a former CIA man". ... It incorporated a good deal of material written by other cold warriors and in particular a "Confidential memorandum prepared by Colonel E. G. Lansdale." Online Archive of California, Edward G. Lansdale Papers: "Box 43: ... "Training Under the Mutual Security Program," by R. G. Stilwell, May 15, 1959." July 24, 2005, Washington Times, 'How the Kennedys hoped to take down Castro': "What appalled veterans such as Halpern, Helms, and officers such as Ted Shackley, who eventually ran CIA's vast Miami station, JMWAVE, was that Lansdale insisted on planning covert operations without first doing the essential first step of gathering intelligence on what could likely be done inside Cuba. Consequently, writes Mr. Bohning, although some of the schemes were "creative, others [were] obviously unrealistic, unachievable, and even idiotic.""
Became administrative director of the Institute for American Strategy in the mid 1960s. In the late 1950s and early 1960s ASC gained some notoriety when it was revealed that one of its affiliates, the Institute for American Strategy (IAS), had been used by the National Security Council as the vehicle for training military personnel on national security issues, with help from the right-wing Richardson Foundation. Lansdale recruited John Deutsch in 1961, a later CIA director.
Michael Hand was one of the 5 top aids of General Edward Landsale. |
Larkin, Gen. Richard X. |
Source(s): 1983 ASC national strategy committee list
MG Larkin was a native of Omaha, NE and after graduating from West Point in 1952, immediately entered into the Korean War as a platoon leader and then company commander. MG Larkin later served as commander of the 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1968-1969, and as commander of the 2nd Brigade and Assistant Division Commander of the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at Fort Carson, Colorado. MG Larkin also served as the Defense Attaché to the U.S. Ambassador to Russia from 1977 to 1979, followed by assignment as the Deputy Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the position he held until retiring from active duty in 1981. MG Larkin held masters degrees in Russian from Columbia University and in Industrial Engineering from George Washington University. He also graduated from the U.S. Army War College in 1971. Following his military career, he held several positions with defense contractors before starting his own defense consulting company, where he continued his life’s work of protecting our nation. During his second career, he remained active in national security, including serving as President of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), and as an expert witness in espionage cases. He also served as his West Point class President for 20 years. Died in 2010. |
Larson, Larry G. |
Source(s): Who's Who (regular member)
1931-2002. In US Air Force 1950-1954. Research engineer Econs. Laboratory, Inc., St. Paul, 1957—1959; senior devel. engineer Philco Western Devel. Laboratory, 1959—1960; supervisor Lockheed Missiles and Space Co.; group manager Honeywell, 1968; director programs Textron, Inc., Dalmo Victor Co., Belmont, California, 1968—1969; president, CEO, chairman board EOCOM Corp., Irvine, 1969—1979; vice president, general manager Electro-Optics div. Honeywell, Inc., 1979—1984; president to CEO RECON/Optical, Inc., Barrington, Illinois, from 1984. Achievements include appointed by President Carter to serve UN Day Chmn; appointed by President Carter to serve Illinois Ambassador by Governor Thompson. |
Laxalt, Paul D. |
Source(s): Mentioned by various sources; His daughter, Michelle: American Security Council, Benefactors page, President's Circle (December 2010)
A hawkish Republican, Paul Laxalt is one of the bigger names in Nevada politics, having served as governor, from 1967 to 1971, and later as a US senator, from 1974 to 1987. Co-chairman of the Coalition for Peace Through Strength, founded in 1978. He was a close friend confidant of Ronald Reagan (National Chairman of all of Ronald Reagan's campaigns in 1976, 1980, and 1984), a strong supporter of the MX nuclear missile program, and a liaison between the Senate and the White House during the Iran-Contra scandal. An Army veteran, he was also, according to the New York Times, a good friend of late CIA director William Casey. General Chairman of the Republican Party from 1983 to 1987. Present at the second Jonathan Conference on international terrorism, organized in 1984. Founder of the Paul Laxalt Group, a lobby firm for major corporations, among them Philip Morris and Lockheed Martin.
Born in 1922. Practice in, Carson City; partner firm Laxalt, Ross & Laxalt, 1954-62; district attorney Ormsby County, 1951-54; city attorney Carson City, 1954-55; lieutenant governor Nevada, 1962-66; governor, 1966-70; senior partner Laxalt, Berry & Allison, Carson City, 1970-74; US Senator from Nevada, 1974-86; attorney Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Heine, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey, Washington, 1987-88, Laxalt, Washington, Perito & Dubuc, Washington, 1988-90; founder, president The Paul Laxalt Group, 1990—. President, general manager Ormsby House Hotel and Casino, Carson City, 1972-75. General chairman National Rep. Party, 1983-87; chairman Ronald Reagan for President, 1976, 80, 84; co-chmn. George Bush for President, 1988, 92. Republican. Roman Catholic. |
Laxalt, Michelle |
Source(s): American Security Council, Benefactors page, President's Circle (December 2010)
Daugther of Senator Paul Laxalt from Nevada. Owner of the Laxalt Corporation. President of the Paul Laxalt Group, a lobby firm for major corporations, among them Philip Morris and Lockheed Martin.
Research director National Rep. Senatorial Committee; deputy fin. director Committee to Re-elect Senator James L. Buckley; legis. assistant to assistant minority leader Senator Ted Stevens; policy assistant Senate Rep. Conference; director surrogate program Rep. National Committee, 1974-80; director legis. affairs Agency for International Development; legis. director for military assistance, sci. and tech. Department State, Washington, 1980-84; president The Laxalt Corp., 1984—. |
Lemay, Gen. Curtis |
Source(s): 1968 ASC National Strategy Committee list; American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
1906-1990. Flying cadet Air Corps, U.S. Army, 1928, commissioned 2d lieutenant, 1930; advanced through grades major general US Army Air Force, 1943; temporary general US Air Force, 1951; chief staff Army of the United States Stategic Air Forces, 1945; deputy chief Air Staff for Research and Development, Washington, 1945; comdg. general US Air Force in Europe, 1947. Commander Strategic Air Command 1948-1957. Vastly improved the efficiency of SAC in these years and built it into the most powerful military force in the world. Vice chief staff Hdqrs. US Air Force, Washington, 1957-61, chief staff, 1961-65; chairman board Networks Electronic Corp., after 1965. Trustee National Geog. Society. Member Masons (33d degree), Sigma Tau, Tau Beta Pi, Theta Tau.
On 20th January 1945 he appointed as head of 21st Bomb Group based on Guam. By this time the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force had devised the strategy of creation firestorms. This was achieved by dropping incendiary bombs, filled with highly combustible chemicals such as magnesium, phosphorus or petroleum jelly (napalm), in clusters over a specific target. After the area caught fire, the air above the bombed area, become extremely hot and rose rapidly. Cold air then rushed in at ground level from the outside and people were sucked into the fire. This strategy was used successfully by LeMay in Japan. During 1945 some 100,000 tons of incendiaries were dropped on 66 cities killing over 260,000 people and destroying an estimated 2,210,000 buildings. The large number of Japanese buildings made of wood made it easy for the bombers to create firestorms. On the 9th and 10th March 1945, a raid on Tokyo devastated the city. Robert McNamara, who served with LeMay during the war, later claimed that they would have been prosecuted as war criminals if the United States had lost the war. Curtis LeMay was involved in the discussions concerning the use of the B-29 Stratafortress bomber to drop the atom bomb on Japan. He helped select the targets of Hiroshima (6th August) and Nagasaki (9th August).
Rude, crude and a bully. Apparently had grown immune to the horror of killing. He had directed the gasoline-jelled fire bombing of Japan -- estimated to have killed "more persons in a six-hour period than at any time in the history of man." He said of war: "You've got to kill people, and when you've killed enough they stop fighting." He once said, "We killed off -- what -- twenty percent of the population of North Korea." More than two million civilians died in LeMay's campaign from napalm bombing and destruction of massive dams to flood waterways. An advocate of preventive nuclear war against the Soviet Union. His very first war plan drawn up in 1949, proposed delivering, "the entire stockpile of atomic bombs in a single massive attack." That meant dropping 133 A-bombs on 70 cities within 30 days. He argued that, "if you are going to use military force, then you ought to use overwhelming military force. Use too much and deliberately use too much.. you’ll save lives, not only your own, but the enemy's too."
He battled with Admiral Arleigh Burke over the control of the nuclear Polaris submarines. LeMay wanted them under his command and actually achieved some control in the Pacific theater. But Burke successfully fought the Air Force every way he knew -- in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in Congress, and in the press -- any way to prevent LeMay's power grab.
As chief of staff, LeMay clashed repeatedly with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Air Force Secretary Eugene Zuckert, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army general Maxwell Taylor. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, LeMay clashed again with U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Defense Secretary McNamara, arguing that he should be allowed to bomb nuclear missile sites in Cuba. He opposed the naval blockade and, after the end of the crisis, suggested that Cuba be invaded anyway, even after the Russians agreed to withdraw. LeMay called the peaceful resolution of the crisis "the greatest defeat in our history". Unknown to the U.S., the Soviet field commanders in Cuba had been given authority to launch—the only time such authority was delegated by higher command. They had twenty nuclear warheads for medium-range R-12 ballistic missiles capable of reaching U.S. cities (including Washington) and nine tactical nuclear missiles. If Soviet officers had launched them, many millions of U.S. citizens would have been killed. The ensuing SAC retaliatory thermonuclear strike would have killed roughly one hundred million Soviet citizens, and brought nuclear winter to much of the Northern Hemisphere. Kennedy refused LeMay's requests, however, and the naval blockade was successful. Initially supported Nixon. However, LeMay gradually became convinced that Nixon planned to pursue a conciliatory policy with the Soviets and accept nuclear parity rather than retain America's first-strike supremacy. Consequently LeMay, being fully aware of George Wallace's segregationist platform and undeterred by his racist intentions, decided to throw his support to Wallace and eventually became Wallace's running mate. The general was dismayed, however, to find himself attacked in the press as a racial segregationist because he was running with Wallace; he had never considered himself a bigot. During the 1968 campaign, LeMay became widely associated with the "Stone Age" comment, especially because he had suggested use of nuclear weapons as a strategy to quickly resolve a deeply protracted conventional war which eventually claimed over 50,000 American plus millions of Vietnamese lives.
Lemay was doing aggressive SAC spy overflights over the east of the Soviet Union. When Truman forbid him to continue these practices he found ways around this by using Churchill and the British Air Force. Under Ike he continued with the agressive overflights. He was convinced that the U.S. could easily win a war against the Soviet Union at this point and did not seem to have been bothered by a confrontation, not even nuclear. Lemay tried to wrestle control of the U.S. nuclear arms arsenal, but was heavily opposed by Admiral Burke (Pilgrims). He even wanted to introduce weapons into the Korean conflict. (1996, Ike Jeanes, 'Forecast and solution: grappling with the nuclear, a trilogy for everyone', pp. 308-309)
In this case in support with Gen. Maxwell Taylor, Lemay urged LBJ to use force against North Vietnam after the questionable Gulf of Tonkin incident in August 1964. LBJ did not want to go to war before the elections. He easily won the elections, because the republicans backed Sen. Goldwater who was very pro-intervention. Most people hoped LBJ would be the anti-war candidate. After the election LeMay was disappointed that Lyndon B. Johnson did not order a sustained bombing campaign like the one he organized against Germany and Japan during the Second World War. Once again LeMay clashed with Robert McNamara. According to Daniel Ellsberg McNamara was the main person responsible from stopping LeMay "from firebombing or nuking Vietnam".
Lemnitzer and Lemay were supporters of the first Single Integrated Operational Plan that called for a massive retaliation of the entire U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal on Russia, China and all Soviet-allied states in case of a Soviet-only nuclear attack. Kennedy resented the plan and McNamara ordered it revised in 1963.
October 8, 1996, Guardian, 'Portrait: The real doctor Strangelove: General Curtis LeMay twice pushed the world to the edge of nuclear oblivion. Paul Lashmar recalls the life of a cold war warrior': "GRANITE faced, taciturn, and with a cigar perpetually stuck in the side of his mouth, General Curtis E LeMay was the epitome of the fifties nuclear general. He was reputedly the model for the mad military chief in Stanley Kubrick's cold war masterpiece, Dr Strangelove. And, as I discovered while researching a television documentary on his life, he at least twice pushed the world close to nuclear oblivion. LeMay had finshed the second world war a hero. In early 1945, as the youngest major general ever appointed to the US air force, he was sent to the Pacific to invigorate the bombing campaign against Japan. He had witnessed Bomber Harris's campaign in Europe. Like Harris, he was an engineer by training and treated every problem as a logistics puzzle. In Japan, he turned B-29s from industrial and strategic centres to fire-raids on whole cities. He started with a night raid on Tokyo on March 9, 1945. Using incendiaries and napalm, LeMay's airforce created a massive firestorm, which produced the most destructive six hours in the history of warfare. One hundred and forty thousand civilians were killed, more than at Dresden, Hiroshima or Nagasaki. LeMay began a systematic campaign to bomb the heart out of urban Japan, burning up 62 cities in four months. Then the dropping of the A-bombs (the planes were nominally under LeMay's command) brought the war to an end. In autumn 1948, after brillantly organising the US side of the Berlin Airlift, LeMay took over the newly-formed, but demoralised, Strategic Air Command. Through inspired leadership he rapidly turned SAC into an elite unit, whose long-range bombers became the most powerful nuclear offensive force the world has ever seen. By 1953 they were capable of delivering a major strike against the communist world - LeMay's famous "Sunday punch". These were the years when much of the American military believed that Stalin was about to launch a full-scale attack on the West. In Washington, the idea of a pre-emptive strike on the Soviet Union before it had an atomic stockpile - a concept euphemistically dubbed "preventive war" - was being discussed. LeMay proposed a variation on preventive war. In the early 1950s, the US Air War College drew up a plan called Project Control, designed to roll back the Soviet Union. Under stage one, the US would issue an ultimatum; if the Soviets did not capitulate within six months, Project Control would move to a series of air attacks, including the use of nuclear weapons. Central to Project Control were overflights by LeMay's spyplanes to police Soviet airspace. Even before the plan had been shown to the politicians, LeMay ordered a test run of this central tenet. On May 8, 1954, a converted B-47 bomber took off from RAF Fairford in Oxfordshire. It flew round the coast of Norway to Murmansk. There, it suddenly turned south and flew deep into the Soviet Union, photographing airfields and military installations. The Soviets were furious. The pilot of this provocative mission, Colonel Hal Austin, had been personally briefed by the general. "LeMay said, 'Well, maybe if we do this overflight right, we can get world war three started.' I think that was just a loose comment for his staff guys, because General (Thomas) Power was his hatchet man in those days, and he chuckled. General Power never laughed very much, so I always figured that was kind of a joke between them." If Austin thought LeMay's remark might be a joke, an encounter between the two men 30 years later showed it was not. "His (LeMay's) comment there again was, 'Well, we'd have been a hell of a lot better off if we'd got world war three started in those days."' By late 1954, Project Control had received a major political knockback when the State Department rejected it. Then followed another blow. The Air War College war-gamed the idea for many months into 1955 and a letter to LeMay tells of the result: the Red Team (acting as the USSR) launched a preventive nuclear strike on the Blue Team (acting as the US). "Blues large-scale overflights of Red territory triggered off the conflict." Despite this, in 1956, LeMay undertook a major series of spyflights over the Soviet Union. In April alone there were three sets of nine simultaneous penetrations of the USSR's northern borders. There are believed to have been many more such flights that year, though no record of President Eisenhower being informed has ever been found. Eisenhower's aide, General Andrew Goodpaster, has told BBC-2's Timewatch programme: "I simply remember no incident where such flights were authorised and I would be astounded a) that it happened, and b) that I don't now remember if it did happen. I think I would have known because that was my job; I was the defence liaison officer in Eisenhower's office. President Eisenhower said that he was not going to have members of the armed forces flying over the Soviet Union. That actually was an act of war." There is evidence that the Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev was infuriated by LeMay's flights but decided that the USSR should not respond. However, they did produce a further tension to the cold war. In 1981, LeMay was interviewed in retirement by Professor Michael Sherry, of Northwestern University. At one point, LeMay told Sherry to turn off his tape recorder. "LeMay did tell some stories in his boastful manner of how SAC deliberately sent American bombers into Russian airspace in the 1950s. There was a hint that he wouldn't have minded if such over-flights had provoked an escalating series of incidents between the US and Russia that would allow that kind of preventative attack to take place." LeMay was again to bring the world close to nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. As Chief of the US Air Force he took the most bellicose stance of the American crisis team. The joint chiefs of staff held daily meetings and most advocated military action - bombing the missile sites and possibly invading to wipe them out. If Krushchev had misjudged the US and provoked a crisis, LeMay was prepared to face him down. The CIA analyst, Dino Brugioni, says LeMay argued at one Pentagon briefing that "the Russian bear has always been eager to stick his paw in Latin American waters. Now we have got him in a trap, let's take his leg off right up to his testicles. On second thoughts, let's take off his testicles, too." LeMay was pushing Kennedy into attacking Cuba. If necessary, he would launch a strategic nuclear attack on the Soviet Union and China if they showed any sign of retaliation. Fortunately, President Kennedy and Krushchev negotiated a deal and the Soviets took their missiles home. LEMAY took the view that the US had lost. "The Kennedy administration thought that being strong, as we were, was provocative and likely to start a war," he said later, with obvious contempt. "We in the Air Force, and I personally, believed the exact opposite . . . We could have gotten not only the missiles out of Cuba, we could have gotten the communists out of Cuba at the same time . . . During that very critical time, in my mind there wasn't a chance that we would have gone to war with Russia because we had overwhelming strategic capability and the Russians knew it." What LeMay did not know, and no one in the US government knew until 1989, was that, contrary to CIA estimates, the Soviet forces in Cuba possessed one to three megaton hydrogen warheads for some 20 medium-range ballistic missiles targetable on US cities as far north as Washington. In addition, there were tactical nuclear weapons under local Soviet commanders in Cuba. There were also 43,000 - not 10,000 - Soviet military personnel on the island. If the Soviet field commanders had launched their missiles, millions of Americans would have been killed. After the Cuban crisis, LeMay found it increasingly difficult to work with Kennedy. He fell out with the Defence Secretary, Robert McNamara, over his refusal to authorise production of a new bomber, the B-70, though after JFK's assassination, Lyndon Johnson kept both men on. LeMay retired in 1965 and died in 1990. Paul Lashmar is producer of Baiting the Bear, to be shown on Timewatch, BBC-2, tonight at 9pm. His book, Spyflights of the Cold War, is published this week by Sutton."
October 9, 1996, The Times, 'How to make a conspiracy out of a mystery': "Timewatch: Baiting the Bear (BBC2) went better still. Not only did it have the former head of Soviet air intelligence on hand to describe the day world war three almost broke out, it had Nikita Khrushchev's son to explain that his father was a much misunderstood man, who spent half his career as Soviet leader pretending that the Kremlin had far more military resources than it actually had and the other half actually having them. But I may have got my bomber gaps and missile gaps mixed up, so please don't take my word for it. This was the story of General Curtis E. LeMay, whose career of astonishing aggression began with the fire-bombing of Tokyo and ended shortly after what was for him a very disappointing Cuban missile crisis. His mission statement: "My job is to kill the enemy and when I've killed enough of them, they'll stop fighting." Together with his side-kick and eventual successor at Strategic Air Command, General Thomas Power, LeMay was a man who thought that nuclear war was so winnable he set out to start one. Quietly, without telling President Eisenhower, he started sending U2 spy-planes over the Soviet Union in the hope of provoking a response. Project Control it was called, but Project Out of Control might have been more accurate. Paul Lashmar's film contained an impressive amount of first-hand testimony but took too long to get to the extraordinary goings- on of the late 1950s and early 1960s, by which time it was difficult to tell who was the madder, LeMay or Power. Thank goodness, somebody invented rock and roll to take our minds off it all."
LEMAY ON UFO'S:
1965, Curtis LeMay and MacKinlay Kantor, 'Mission with LeMay: My Story', pp. 541-543: "Here, for what they are worth, are my own comments on the subject. Naturally I am not quoting any Classified information. I am giving the straightest answers I can give... The bulk of the [flying saucer] reports could be run down. Some natural phenomenon might usually account for those sightings which had been seen and reported, and thus explain them. However, we had a number of reports from reputable people (well-educated, serious-minded folks - scientists and flyers) who surely saw something. There is no question about it: these were things which we could not tie in with any natural phenomena known to our investigators. Many of the mysteries might be explained away as weather balloons, stars, reflected lights, all sorts of odds and ends. I don't mean to say that, in the unclosed and unexplained or unexplainable instances, those were actually flying objects. All I can say is that no natural phenomena could be found to account for them. ... Unfortunately there is a current belief, on the part of the public as a whole - the intelligent public - that the United States Air Force has made and is still making a deliberate effort to discount all reported sightings. Furthermore, if they couldn't actually discount a certain case by referring to hallucination, inexperience, or mass hysteria - to disregard it completely. It is alleged also that there have been attempts, by word of mouth or by directive to newspapers from the Air Force, to hush the whole thing up. To muzzle the press...People who believe these rumors are clinging to a falsehood. It is absolutely untrue that any such directive was ever put forth. I never heard of it in 1947, when the first saucer accounts were published; I never heard of it after I came to command SAC; never heard of it when I was in the Pentagon...We must have had a bad public relations program in this particular area, to let such an impression get out. ... Let me repeat: to my knowledge, there's never been any directive or effort from the top, in the Air Force, to control the public attitude toward UFOs. And repeat again: there were some cases we could not explain. Never could."
The author with LeMay had himself seen a UFO. January 1966, Popular Science, 'Why I Believe - MacKinlay Kantor - Pulitzer Prize winning author of "Andersonville"': "The noted writer--co-author with Gen. Curtis E. Lemay of "Mission with LeMay. My Story"--tells of the strange personal sighting that convinced him that UFOs are real. Well, to begin with, I saw one. But for some years previously. I had believed that Unidentified Flying Objects must exist. I'd heard the calm testimony of too many experienced pilots and other observers, not to believe. Let's say that you are a skeptic--the same sort of grimly determined Doubting Thomas that I used to be. Would your skepticism still prevail if you could hear the dry steady voice of Gen. Curtis E. LeMay saying-- as indeed I've heard him say: "Repeat again: There were some cases we could not explain. Never could." When I first spotted the UFO it was hanging motionless in the sky. I looked at my wristwatch. 6:07 p.m. The date was January 4, 1954, a Monday. The place: My own beach on the Gulf of Mexico about five miles from downtown Sarasota, Fla., on an island called Siesta Key. On viewing the UFO, I felt a great wave of thankfulness. By golly, I thought, at last it's here. Now I don't just have to believe. Now I know. It looked like the top third of an apricot. The sun had fallen below the horizon a few minutes before, and earth and Gulf were now in shadow. But that object in the sky still gleamed brightly. I assumed that the orange coloration came from the sun's reflection on a curved surface of metal or some similar substance, rather than from any light radiating from the critter's interior. Also, there seemed to be some sort of rim around the bottom. It was at too great a distance: I couldn't tell whether there were any windows or ports. And, both on the right and left sides of the curved body, dark shadows came up to claim the surface and accentuate a brilliant sheen on that portion of the curve nearest me. ... As for true altitude and size, there was nothing to do but guess and wonder. The UFO had to be somewhere out over the Gulf of Mexico. Since I didn't know its size I couldn't establish any true altitude. Nor could I do more than guess at its distance from me. ... The thing was motionless. It moved neither to right nor left, for a matter of minutes. ... On the next property an old man stepped onto the beach, Dr. Gillespie who had rented the place for the season. I headed for him as fast as I could move. "Doctor! Doctor! Look!" I pointed as I ran. He stared, turned, gazed toward the sea. When I reached him he was looking a little too far to the west, and I put my arm around his shoulders and turned him more toward the south. "Above the trees! Don't you see it?" "I see it," he said, "but I can't make out just what it is. Doesn't that look like--? Isn't it two airplanes refueling in midair?" "If it's two airplanes refueling in midair, aren't they headed in opposite directions?" The doctor chuckled. "Guess they are." "But, Doctor, that thing's absolutely motionless. It doesn't move to right or left." "I guess you're right." At that moment the object took off. It started with unbelievable speed, moving on a diagonal line, ascending as it receded into the southwest. I didn't take my eyes off the thing. It was really traveling. I had never seen anything hurtle so rapidly except a meteorite. I have messed around with the Air Force for a good long generation and have poked my nose into two wars. I know of no aircraft which might move with such terrific speed through our atmosphere. Then it was gone. ... Next morning I drove to MacDill Air Force base at Tampa to report the incident to Col. Michael McCoy, who was then commanding the bomb wing. At MacDill, I found Mike McCoy in his office, and proceeded to sit down and tell him the whole story. I drew some sketches, too. When I was through, Mike sat tugging at his red-gray moustache. Well, what do we do, Mack? Send a report to Project Blue Book at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base?" "No," I said, "I guess not." "You saw it, didn't you?" "Yes. But if we send in this report some character will come along and tell me patiently that what I saw was the planet Venus or the planet Mars or the star so-and-so, or a Navy balloon, or a conventional aircraft; or that maybe I was the victim of an illusion induced by hysteria." "Exactly," said Colonel McCoy. "That's what they're always saying. Let's just forget it." "I won't forget it," I told him. "I'll remember it." Recently Curt LeMay and I were discussing UFOs while I worked with him on his autobiography (Mission with LeMay--My story, by General Curtis E. LeMay with Mackinlay Kantor, Doubleday, 1965). Let me quote a few lines from what General LeMay had to say about UFOs. [see above]"
April 25, 1988, The New Yorker, p. 70: "I used to receive a hundred calls a year from people who wanted me to get into the Green Room at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, because that's where the Air Force stored all the material gathered on UFOs. I once asked Curtis LeMay if I could get in that room, and he just gave me holy hell. He said, "Not only can't you get into it but don't you ever mention it to me again." Now, with the millions of planets that we know are up there, it's hard for me to believe that ours is the only goddam one that has things that can think walking around on it. So when people tell me they've seen UFOs, I don't say they haven't. In fifteen thousand hours of flying, I've never seen one, but I've talked to pilots who have. I talked to an airline crew that swore up and down that an object came alongside of them one night, and before they could do anything it vanished. We lost a military pilot who went up to intercept strange lights and never came back. His airplane disappeared, too. I won't argue for or against." Goldwater can be seen making similar statements on Youtube. Goldwater was a USAF reserve general. |
Lemnitzer, Gen. Lyman L. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; Strategy Board 1983
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1960-1962. Supported and signed the planning of Operation Northwoods under Gen. Edward Lansdale and Gen. William H. Craig. Presented Northwoods first to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and three days later to Kennedy. A JCS/Pentagon document (Ed Lansdale memo) dated March 16, 1962 titled 'Meeting with the president', 16 March 1962 reads: "General Lemnitzer commented that the military had contingency plans for US intervention [in Cuba]. Also it had plans for creating plausible pretexts to use force, with the pretext either attacks on US aircraft or a Cuban action in Latin America for which we could retaliate [Operation Northwoods]. The President [Kennedy] said bluntly that we were not discussing the use of military force..." Following presentation of the Northwoods plan, Kennedy removed Lemnitzer as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Supreme Allied Commander of NATO 1963-. Co-chairman Coalition for Peace Through Strength.
Commissioned 2d lieutenant U.S. Army, 1920, advanced through grades to general, 1955, instructor U.S. Military Academy, 1926-30, 34-35, instructor tactics C.A. School, 1936-39, member General Staff Corps, 1941-42; with war plans div. War Department, assistant G-3, Hdqrs. and chief plans div. Army Ground Forces; comdg. general 34th A.A. Brigadier Norfolk (Virginia) and England, 1942; assistant chief of staff, G-3 to General Eisenhower Allied Force Hdqrs., London and Algiers, 1942; deputy chief of staff to General M.W. Clark 5th Army, 1943; comdg. general 34th A.A. Brigadier, Tunisian campaign, 1943; deputy chief general staff to General Sir Harold Alexander 15th Army Group, Sicily and Italy, 1943-44; deputy chief of staff Allied Force Hdqrs. to Field Marshal Alexander, 1945; Army member Joint Strategic Survey Committee, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1946-47; deputy commandant National War College, 1947-49; director foreign military assistance Department Defense, 1949-50; comdg. general 11th Airborne Div., 1951, 7th Infantry Div., Korea, 1951-52; deputy chief of staff plans and research Department Army, 1952-55; comdg. general Army Forces Far East and 8th U.S. Army in Japan and Korea, 1955; Commander in chief Far East Command; Commander in chief UN Command, governor Ryukyu Islands, 1955-57; army vice chief of staff, 1957-59; army chief of staff, 1959-60; chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1960-62; Commander in chief European Command, 1962-69; supreme allied Commander Europe, 1963-69. Member Masons (33 degree), Knight Templar, Shriners. |
Lewis, John F. |
Source(s): 1968, associate editor ASC Washington Report (according to one of its papers); 1974, Science Associates/International, inc., Readers advisory service: Selected topical booklists, Volume 1, Numbers 1-35, page xlviii: "WASHINGTON REPORT (American Security Council). 1969-Date. ... Its weekly publication [is]the WASHINGTON REPORT ... Among the writers preparing material for WASHINGTON REPORT are Anthony Harrigan, Richard Ichord, John F. Lewis, William D. Pawley, and Stefan T. Possony" John Fisher's history of the ASC: "Fisher established a Washington Bureau headed by Lee R. Pennington retired FBI Inspector and retired head of the American Legion Americanism Committee. He added just-retired Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Navy, Rear Admiral Chester C. Ward, as editor of the ASC Washington Report newsletter."
Associate editor ASC Washington Report 1960s and 1970s. Coordinating editor Committee on Internal Security in the 1970s. His son was probably a senior FBI agent:
John F. Lewis, Jr.: FBI director of intelligence and counter-intelligence. Head of national security at the FBI. Director of Global Security for Goldman, Sachs & Co., New York. Chairman of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Committee on Terrorism. Biographical information from: June 5, 2000, Report of the National Commission on Terrorism, Countering the Changing Threat of International Terrorism: "L. Paul Bremer III... Maurice Sonnenberg... Richard K. Betts... [General] Wayne A. Downing [Commander in chief, US Special Operations Command. Appointed to assess the 1996 attack on the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia]... Fred Ikle... John F. Lewis, Jr. ... R. James Woolsey..."
January 24, 2002, Washington Times, 'CIA rethinks rules that limit recruits': "The CIA is reviewing whether to abandon 1995 restrictions that limit the recruitment of agents with unsavory backgrounds. "The matter is under review," said a U.S. intelligence official, who noted that "the guidelines have already been relaxed." The 1995 rules require all CIA officers in the field to obtain approval from CIA headquarters before recruiting foreign agents with histories of human rights abuses. They were passed by Congress under pressure from Democrats. CIA clandestine service officers opposed the rules, saying they would hamper efforts to recruit agents and have a chilling effect on their spying activities. CIA spokesmen have said there hasn't been a negative effect on recruitment. Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the rules were modified to permit CIA officers to again recruit foreigners with questionable pasts without first checking with Langley headquarters. But they are still required to report the recruitment efforts. "The decision to use an individual with an unsavory background, because that individual committed serious crimes or human rights abuses, can be made in the field if that individual has insights about terrorist activities and threats," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. However, CIA headquarters must be informed within several days of the recruitment attempt or information-collection effort, "and a formal decision with respect to continued use rests with the deputy director for operations," the official said. The deputy director for operations is the CIA's senior official in charge of espionage operations. "The restrictions have not been rescinded, but modified in a way that will speed our ability to obtain information that might be useful in the fight against terrorism," said a U.S. official. The October decision was made by CIA Director George J. Tenet due to "the urgency of the situation." A section of the fiscal 2002 Intelligence Authorization Act, signed into law by President Bush on Dec. 28, calls on Mr. Tenet to "rescind the existing 1995 CIA guidelines for handling cases involving foreign assets or sources with human rights concerns." The law states new guidelines are needed that will "allow for indications and warnings of plans and intentions of hostile actions or events, and ensure that such information is shared in a broad and expeditious fashion so, that to the extent possible, actions to protect American lives can be taken." In 1995, the restrictions were instituted after a Guatemalan army colonel on the CIA payroll was linked to the murder of an American. The CIA then fired about 1,000 of its agents and imposed the recruitment restriction. The fired agents included Middle Eastern sources who could have provided information about terrorist operations. L. Paul Bremer, head of a blue-ribbon commission that investigated terrorism policies in 2000, said the commission heard testimony from several CIA officers who said the restrictions hampered efforts to recruit terrorists and other intelligence sources. The commission's report made public in June 2000 stated that "complex bureaucratic procedures now in place send an unmistakable message to Central Intelligence Agency officers in the field that recruiting clandestine sources of terrorist information is encouraged in theory but discouraged in practice." The panel included 10 national security specialists, including former CIA Director R. James Woolsey and former FBI Assistant Director John F. Lewis Jr. " |
Ley, Bessie H. |
Source(s): November 18, 1978, Washington Post, 'Bessie H. Ley, 72, Ex-Secretary At Agriculture Bessie Hughes Ley, 72, a retired secretary with the Department of Agriculture, died of cancer Tuesday at her Washington home'
Washington Post: Mrs. Ley was born in Wabash Valley, Va. In 1934, after attending business college in Roanoke, Va., she joined the Department of Agriculture as a private secretary. She retired in 1968.She was active in several organizations here, including the Black Silent Majority Committee and the American Security Council.She also was active in Republican politics... |
Liebman, Marvin |
Source(s): Some of Liebman's papers at the Online Archive of California read "American Security Council, 1963-1968"; 1964, ASC Press, 'Peace and Freedom through Cold War Victory' (lists Frawley, Teller, Adm. Ward, Gen. Wedemeyer, Gen. Wood, Hazlitt, Liebman, Possony, Braden, Fisher)
Fired from the army for his homosexuality. Later Irgun agent. Fundraiser United Jewish Appeal. Co-founder and secretary Committee of One Million 1953-1969. Co-founder WACL in 1958 and secretary of its first steering committee. Co-founder American Emergency Committee for Tibetan Refugees in 1959. Co-founder Young Americans for Freedom in 1960. Worked on the Barry Goldwater campaign of 1964. Co-founder in 1964 of the American Conservative Union with his friend William F. Buckley. Managing director Sedgemoor Productions in London 1969-1975. His firm Marvin Liebman Inc. had clients as Friends of Free China, American-Chilean Council and Covenant House. Worked on Reagan’s 1980 campaign.
June 1, 1979, Washington Post, 'American-Chilean Council Held Illegal Agent of Chile Dictator': "A federal court judge ruled here yesterday that the American-Chilean Council, nominally a group promoting friendship between Chileans and Americans, has illegally engaged in political activities in the United States on behalf of the Chilean military dictator, Gen. Augusto Pinochet. ... [Judge] Pratt said that registration papers filed by the council and Liebman do not list Pinochet as "their foreign principal" and that Liebman "willfully failed to register his public relations film, Liebman Inc.," with the Justice Department and to disclose that it has been "acting in the United States as an agent of the government of Chile."" December 19, 1978, Washington Post, 'Justice Dept. Says Group Illegally Lobbies for Chile': "In addition, Justice included documents with the suit allegedly showing that the [American-Chilean] council, through Liebman and a Washington public affairs consultant, L. Francis Bouchey, helped plant material favorable to Chile with conservative columnists Lee Edwards and Ralph de Toledano. ... "I am very upset over the hostile treatment that a firm ally and staunch anticommunist nation is currently receiving from our government," Bauman said in his letter."
Marvin Liebman Associates.
General secretary of the first steering committee of the WACL. Organizer Committee of One Million. In close contact with Taiwanese government. YAF
but I did owe the book a debt of gratitude for having drawn my attention to the American-Chilean Council. The founder of that group, Marvin Liebman, turned out to be a crucial missing link, connecting Young Americans for Freedom, the World Anti-Communist League, and the direct-mail fundraising scams of the New Right.
Marvin Liebman (1923-97) was a former Communist turned fervent anti-Communist. In the early 1950's, he was a leader of the so-called "China Lobby," serving as secretary of the Committee of One Million Against the Admission of Red China to the United Nations. Founded in 1953, this organization would survive until 1971 (the year that China was finallly admitted to the UN), with Lee Edwards taking over as secretary from Liebman in 1969. A number of its former members would join Liebman in the American-Chilean Council. Liebman's activism was not limited to the United States. In 1947, he was working with Irgun, a right-wing terrorist organization which was attempting to secure Israeli independence through a campaign of bombings aimed at the Arabs and British. And in 1958, Liebman became general secretary of a steering committee announced in Mexico City to explore the possibility of combining the Asian People's Anti-Communist League with its own Latin American offshoot to form what would eventually become the World Anti-Communist League. But Liebman's most enduring connection was with William Buckley, going back at least to Buckley's founding of National Review in 1955. It was Buckley who persuaded Liebman to convert from Judaism to Catholicism and then served as his godfather. And when Buckley started Young Americans for Freedom in 1960, the organization was represented by Liebman's public relations firm and made use of Liebman's office space. Liebman's PR work for YAF, the most important aspect of which consisted of developing and maintaining a mailing list of contributors, would establish the pattern for direct-mail fundraising subsequently followed by Richard Viguerie, who was YAF's executive secretary in the 1960's. Alan Crawford says in Thunder on the Right that "[George] Wallace's fundraiser [in 1968] was Viguerie, who had been tutored in the art by Leibman [sic] when Viguerie was running Young Americans for Freedom's fundraising operation out of Leibman's New York office."
While a student Douglas Caddy developed right-wing opinions and as a teenager became a strong supporter of Barry Goldwater. In 1960 Caddy established the "Youth for Goldwater" organization. Caddy came under the influence of Marvin Liebman, a former member of the American Communist Party who had been dishonorably discharged from the United States Army for homosexuality. In September, 1960, Caddy, Liebman and William F. Buckley established the far right group, Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). The first meeting was held at Buckley's home in Sharon, Connecticut. Caddy became YAF's first president. Its first national council included eleven members of the John Birch Society. The main mission of the YAF was to “prepare young people for the struggle ahead with Liberalism, Socialism and Communism”. |
Linen, James A., III |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
1912-1988. Grad., Hotchkiss School, 1930. AB, Williams College, 1934. Advertising salesman Time magazine, 1934-37. Advertising salesman Life magazine, Detroit, 1937-38, advertising manager New York City, 1938-42. With Office of War Information, 1942-45. Pub. Time magazine 1945-60, president, 1960-69; president, also board directors Time, Inc., 1960-69, chairman executive committee, 1969-1973. Past national fund chairman American Red Cross; past president United Community Funds and Councils Am., Inc.; hon. trustee The Hotchkiss School, Alephi University; trustee Williams College, Asian Institute Tech.; chairman council of the trustees Rockefeller University; chairman board executive committee Athens (Greece) College; vice-chmn. Iran-U.S. Business Council; member adv. council Japan-U.S. Economic Relations; member Emergency Committee Am. Trade; member adv. committee Japan Foundation, U.S. Japan Commission, U.S. Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange. Member Business Council, Council Foreign Relations, International C. of C. (senior trustee U.S. council), National Urban League (past president), Blind Brook Club (New York City, Round Hill Country Club (Greenwich, Connecticut), Mid-Ocean (Bermuda), Seminole Club (West Palm Beach, Florida, Stanwich Club. |
Livingstone, Neil C. |
Source(s): American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
Founder and CEO of the GlobalOptions Group in 1998, which he was part of until 2008. Chairman and CEO of ExecutiveAction LLC 2007-. Both firms had former CIA director James Woolsey, former FBI director William Sessions and Sir Richard Needham in common.
globaloptions.com/ advisory_board.htm (accessed: June 10, 2004): "Admiral William J. Crowe, Chairman. ... R. James Woolsey, Vice Chairman. Ambassador Frances D. Cook ... Robert L. (Bob) Livingston. Sir Richard Needham. ... William S. Sessions ... William H. Webster..."
executiveaction.com/advisoryboard (accessed: Feb. 13, 2008; same make up until the company ceased to exist in 2012): "R. James Woolsey – Chairman. William Sessions – Vice Chairman. Maria Cattaui. Sir Richard Needham. Celia Sandys. Rear Admiral James Stark(ret.)." executiveaction.com/executives (accessed: Feb. 13, 2008): "Neil C. Livingstone, Chairman and CEO."
CIA history:
2005, Joseph Trento, 'Prelude to Terror', pp. 147-150: "Neil C. Livingstone is a Washington enigma. His wife, Susan, is the political force in the family; she would later hold prominent jobs in the Reagan and both Bush administrations. … [Livingstone] lived on the edge of the intelligence community until his late twenties, when he became involved with Israeli Intelligence. According to Mike Pilgrim [a security operative at J. J. Capucci, where Livingstone worked], Livingstone and the legendary James Angleton came from the same hometown, and Livingstone had traded on that relationship with the Israelis, who loved Angleton. "He told me he had hired Angleton's old CIA secretary, who also worked for Wilson.," Pilgrim said. "Neil worked for the Israelis and had been recruited by Angleton," which if true would surprise very few people in the intelligence community. Livingstone does not deny the assertion. … Air Panama was every inch a badly run CIA proprietary that had outlived its usefulness. Livingstone and his partner took it over in the hopes of turning a profit. Frequently Colonel Noriega would use an Air Panama plane. While Noriega would be billed, Livingstone had learned enough about Panama not to press him for payment. Livingstone had come to Panama via an arrest in Libya in 1976. Libyan authorities released him only after he signed a "confession" that he was "a Zionist spy." That same afternoon, according to Livingstone, the U.S. Embassy invited him to a National Day celebration. In fact, the man Livingstone met was Michael Harari, the Israeli adventurer, who had business interests in Panama. Livingstone said he was constantly scrambling for deals, and the Air Panama deal was one that "looked good". Intelligence work was sporadic, at best, and this guy had an interesting deal." Livingstone confirms that he was present in Panama when OPERATION WATCHTOWER was beginning, in late 1976 and early 1977. "Drugs were not yet a big part of the smuggling," Livingstone said. "Sure, endangered animals, weapons, but not drugs. Then with WATCHTOWER, Noriega was in the thick of it from then on." Livingstone acknowledges that Wilson was not involved in WATCHTOWER: "He was in Lybia most of the time and never in Panama." Asked if Clines' involvement in WATCHTOWER was part of his intelligence role, Livingstone laughed. "Are you serious? He did it for the money, and I can tell you who his partner was - Michael Harari." Mike Harari was much like Ed Wilson, a front man used by the Mossad who had a deep interest in personal profit.
In 1977, after Noriega arranged for the assassination of one of Livingstone's business partners, Livingstone was looking for a new way to make a living. The well-known "businessmen" with long ties to U.S. Intelligence urged him to go see Don Lowers at Wilson's townhouse in Washington. One of those businessmen was the late James Cunningham, who had managed Air America for the CIA and had worked closely with Wilson. Livingstone was quickly put to work in the J. J. Capucci operation, despite Wilson's claims that Livingstone never worked for him. … Livingstone rarely saw Wilson, but said, "Shackley and Clines were there all the time. I mainly worked with Schlachter and Lowers. Lowers ran the operations." To Livingstone [Joe] Capucci was "nearly senile and didn't seem to know what was going on." As a security expert, Livingstone was assigned to organize the training program for Sadat's praetorian guard. That is how Livingstone met Felix Rodriguez, who was hired for the training program by Clines. According to Livingstone, Shackley and Clines had complete access to all the security planning for Sadat through the office files. "A lot went on in the office I was not privy to… Shackley came down to the townhouse all the time to see Clines. Shackley was still at the CIA when he came by." But even when Shackley left the CIA, he remained in a position to supply Israel with critical intelligence through the companies set up by Wilson and ostensibly controlled by Clines. The information Shackley was able to give the Israelis on Sadat's security operation was invaluable. Never had the Israelis had detailed access to the entire security plan for an enemy president."
By doing favors for the CIA and hiring self-styled, freelance spooks like Neil Livingstone, [Robert Keith] Gray was even able to extend his influence into Washington's Dark Side.
Together with Terrell E. Arnold, Livingstone wrote the 1985 book 'Fighting Back: Winning the War Against Terrorism'. The foreword was written by Robert McFarlane. "At that black tie party at the Palm Restaurant on the 4th of December in 1985, I was specifically invited by Neil Livingston and to come in and meet Ollie North, and it was a party to promote Neil Livingston’s(sic) book, called "Fighting Back", and the subtitle was "The War on Terrorism". He and a State Department/CIA spook by the name of Terry Arnold wrote that book together and this was the coming-out party for the book, and all the covert operations community, the real snake eaters, were going to be there with black ties. Ollie North was there and Bud McFarland and I don’t know, 75 or 100 people in black ties, having drinks and dinner and hobnobbing and they felt like ... the atmosphere at that party was one of ‘We are the shadow government running the United States.’ It was almost like a diplomatic party or a State Department coming out party for a regime. These guys were in charge, and that was how they presented it."
Terrell E. Arnold: columnist for Rense since 2002. Focuses on Israel's prominent role in US policy. Intelligence Officers for 9/11 Truth. Supporter of the work of David Ray Griffin.
Rense bio: "Terrell E. Arnold is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer and former Deputy Director of the U.S. State Department Office of Counterterrorism."
Also with Arnold: 'Beyond the Iran-Contra Crisis' in 1988.
globaloptionsgroup.com, GlobalOptions Group Advisory Board, (accessed October 12, 2012): "Our Advisory Board is a "Who's Who" of world-renowned experts from government, the military, and businesses. Senior Advisory Board: Ambassador Frances D. Cook, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State [CIA/MI6/SAS-linked]; ... Honorable William S. Sessions, Former Director of the FBI; Honorable William H. Webster, Former FBI Director and Director of the CIA; ... General Wesley K. Clark, Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander."
November 2, 2001, Austin Chronicle, 'Naked City Nailing Down Neil': "If the name Neil Livingstone sounds familiar, it's probably because he has been a ubiquitous media presence since Sept. 11. When the subject is terrorism, Livingstone -- who will deliver a free lecture at the Texas Union on Nov. 6 -- is one of the first people the networks and newspapers call. He's appeared on Nightline, Crossfire, Meet the Press, and Dateline, among many other shows, serves as a consultant to corporations and the government, and in 1982 wrote a book titled The War Against Terrorism. As described in the Texas Union's press release, he is "one of the country's most visible anti-terrorism experts." Not everyone is so enamored of Livingstone's expertise, however. In the July/August 1995 issue of its magazine Extra!, the left-wing media criticism group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (F.A.I.R.) published a report on the most-quoted terrorism "experts" in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing -- as well as those experts' frequent errors. F.A.I.R. cited Livingstone as one of four whose credentials were most questionable (along with Steve Emerson, Vincent Cannistraro, and Daniel Pipes). F.A.I.R. ridiculed terrorism advice Livingstone gave to a Washington Post reporter ("If you don't want to look like an American, wear tinted glasses") and stressed how quickly he had blamed the Middle East for Oklahoma City (which, of course, was wrong). When OKC turned out to be the work of a right-wing American extremist, Livingstone told Meet the Press, "We didn't think they were that severe a threat until these events. We don't see these people as terrorists, but there are some troublemakers." Wharton University Professor Edward S. Herman devoted three highly critical pages to Livingstone in his 1989 book The "Terrorism" Industry: The Experts and Institutions That Shape Our View of Terror. In particular, he blasts Livingstone for having a "talent for disinformation" and for conveniently becoming more right-wing as the Reagan doctrine took hold. Herman also slams Livingstone for an unsubstantiated theory that the Iranian civilian airliner IAF-655 (blown out of the air by the U.S. Navy in 1988) was on a suicide mission against the USS Vincennes. Livingstone speculated that bodies fished out of the water were corpses planted in the plane by the Iranians to arouse world opinion against the U.S. Fiercely anti-communist while soft on American-supported terrorism, Livingstone once said of Latin American death squads, we "should not wring our hands over this problem." And if that weren't enough, Herman notes, Livingstone is a staunch ally of Iran-Contra criminal Oliver North. Iran-Contra plotters attempted to use Livingstone's Institute on Terrorism and Subnational Conflict as a conduit for contra funding, according to the Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair."
"In The Boston Globe, on May 16, 1995, another CIA Iran-contra figure, anti-terrorism "expert" Neil Livingstone, also claimed that Middle Eastern terrorists engineered the Oklahoma blast. A veteran of Air America, the notorious CIA opium courier in Southeast Asia, Livingstone once publicly defended the Agency's assassination manual. He was recruited to Air America by James Cunningham, its founder - later a central participant in CIA "renegade" Edwin Wilsonís arms sales to Ghaddafi. Livingstone has long-standing ties to Israeli intelligence and the fascist Popular Alliance Party of Spain. He was also an executive at Robert Keith Gray's public relations firm Gray & Co. in the District of Columbia. He was brought into the firm by Charles Crawford, who ran the International Division that served as a branch office of Oliver Northís civilian supply network."
Livingstone worked with Ed Wilson, Air Panama, and as a front man for business activities sponsored by the CIA and Israeli intelligence. Owen and Livingstone traveled frequently to Central America to meet with the Contras in 1984. An interesting footnote to Iran-Contra is that in 1986, Saudi Arabian arms broker Adnan Khashoggi hired Hill and Knowlton and Gray and Co. to milk maximum publicity out of his major donation to a $20.5 million sports center, named after him, at a American University.
"To push the terrorism charge, the White House used Neil Livingstone, a self-proclaimed "expert on terrorism" and senior vice president with the public relations firm of Gray & Company. In fact, considerable circumstantial evidence suggests that Gray & Company was itself connected to secret arms and money shipments connected with the Iran/Contra affair."
The model most frequently cited for counterterror in the 1980s was Israel, although even counterterror advocates were not wholly convinced that the Israeli policies of reprisal, retaliation, and preemptive strikes did not do more to nurture than to neutralize future threats to Israel’s survival.77 Neil Livingstone, who favored the Israeli approach, dates its wholehearted adoption of aggressive counterterrorism to the Black September group’s murder of eleven members of Israel’s Olympic team in Munich in 1972, and the subsequent decision to devise a new approach to the terrorist threat.”78 The outcome was, by his account, the creation of a new division within Israel’s secret intelligence service, the Mossad, known as “Mivtzah Elohim” or “Wrath of God,” described by Livingstone as a new organization committed to fight fire with fire... [that] relentlessly struck back at the Black September terrorists, conducting daring raids into Beirut to kill the top leadership of the organization, tracking down Palestinian operatives in Europe and other locations and assassinating them.79 The Israeli approach, in Livingstone’s view, was to “wage a war in the shadows... sending out hit teams to terminate the architects and executioners of terrorism” as a threat and a warning to others.80 Livingstone’s thesis in brief is that under certain circumstances, in order to defend national interest in a dangerous world, “systematic murder must be sanctioned and legitimized as an instrument of national policy.”81
Livingstone, The War Against Terrorism [Oct. 1984], p. 175, terms this “executive action.” He adds that ideally “the targets of such terminations should not be nationals of the country on whose soil the hit is made so as to diminish the concern of that government over the incident and to relieve it of the need to retaliate against the offending nation out of a sense of obligation to its own citizens.” |
Lodge, John D. |
Source(s): American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
Pilgrims Society. |
Lovestone, Jay |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
Co-founder Communist Party of America in 1919. To the Comintern Congress in 1928. Sympathetic to Bukharin instead of Stalin. When Stalin purged Bukharin from the Soviet Politburo in 1929, Lovestone suffered the consequences. Went to Stalin to make his case that he should stay on, but still was forced out as the party's secretary. Set up his own parallel communist parties. Director of the AFL-CIO's International Affairs Department 1963-1973. During this time he was providing intelligence to James Angleton.
This close American interest in Socialism on the other side of the Atlantic was nothing new. During the war the American trade unions had raised large sums to rescue European labour leaders from the Nazis, and this had brought them closely in touch with American military intelligence and, in particular, with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), whose chief in Switzerland and Germany from 1942 to 1945 was Allen W. Dulles, later, of course, to become famous as head of the CIA in its heyday. The principal union official in these secret commando operations had been Jay Lovestone, a remarkable operator who had switched from being the leader of the American Communist Party to working secretly for the US Government. And as the Allied armies advanced, Lovestone's men followed the soldiers as political commissars, trying to make sure that the liberated workers were provided with trade union and political leaders acceptable to Washington - many of these leaders being the ~migr~s of the Socialist Commentary group. In France, Germany, Italy and Austria the commissars provided lavish financial and material support for moderate Socialists who would draw the sting from Left-wing political movements, and the beneficiaries from this assistance survive in European politics to this day - though that is another story.
September 13, 1975: Award to Jay Lovestone from the Council Against Communist Agression. |
Luce, Clare Boothe |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"; American Security Council, Strategy Board, 1984
1903-1987. Wife of Henry R. Luce. Dame of Malta. Outspokenly anti-communist. Campaigned on behalf of Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. Ambassador to Italy 1953-1956. Supporter of the Barry Goldwater campaign in 1964. Member 2nd Committee on the Present Danger. Director American Security Council. Member President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board 1973-77 and 82-87. President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board 1981-1983. Association of Former Intelligence Officers. National Committee U.S.-China Relations. U.S. Strategic Institute. Board member Accuracy in Media. Republican. |
Luce, Henry R. |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
1898-1967. His mother was Elizabeth Root, from a family that had earlier intermarried with the Spencers and Pomeroys. Born in Shantung Province, China, in Presbyterian mission house. Attended Chefoo School, Chefoo [Yantai], China from 1908-1912. Attended St. Alban's School north of London, England 1912-1913. Attended Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn. 1913-1916. B.A., Yale University in 1920 where he was introduced into Skull & Bones. Student at Oxford University in England 1920-1921. Reporter for the Chicago Daily News and Baltimore Sun 1921-1922. Co-founded Time with Briton Hadden (Skull & Bones 1920) in 1923 with the help of J.P. Morgan partners Thomas Lamont and Dwight Morrow (both Pilgrims). Harvey Firestone, E. Roland Harriman, and various members of the Harkness family were other funders of his early media empire. Married to Lila Holz 1923-1935. Founded Fortune in 1930. Editor-in-chief, Time Publications 1930-1938. First “March of Time” radio program in 1931. First “March of Time” newsreel in 1935. Married Clare Boothe Luce, a Dame of Malta, in 1935. Founded Life in 1936. Editorial director, Time, inc. 1938. Organizer of United China Relief in 1940. Initiated the Commission on Freedom of the Press in 1944. Awarded the Order of Auspicious Star (China) in 1947. Founded House and Home in 1952. Founded Sports Illustrated in 1954. Influential member of the Republican Party. Member of the Atlantic Union. Luce was a strong opponent of Fidel Castro and his revolutionary government in Cuba. This included the funding of Alpha 66 (which was guided by the CIA). In 1962 and 1963 Alpha 66 launched several raids on Cuba which included attacks on port installations and foreign shipping. When Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, Luce's Life Magazine purchased the Zapruder Film for $150,000. Soon after the assassination they also successfully negotiated with Marina Oswald the exclusive rights to her story. This story never appeared in print, but in an interview she gave to the Ladies Home Journal in September 1988 she argued: "I believe he worked for the American government... He was taught the Russian language when he was in the military. Do you think that is usual, that an ordinary soldier is taught Russian? Also, he got in and out of Russia quite easily, and he got me out quite easily." Luce published individual frames of Zapruder's film but did not allow the film to be screened in its entirety. It was shown to the public in March 1975 which convinced many that the fatal head shot come from the Grassy Knoll (because of Kennedy's violent backward and leftward movement while the bullet is supposed to have come from the back). Retired from Time/Life in 1964. Important member of the American Security Council. Member Pilgrims Society. His son later became a president of the Pilgrims of the United States.
These [Alpha 66] anti-Soviet raids also had the blessing and financial backing of Henry Luce and his Time-Life empire, which allegedly “spent close to a quarter of a million dollars during 1963-1964 on the renegade Cuban exile commandos.”[18] Life magazine dispatched a correspondent, Andrew St. George, to take part in the March 27 attack on the Soviet freighter Baku.[19] (Such arrangements usually meant that Life helped underwrite the costs of the raid.) |
Luttwak, Edward N. |
Source(s): 1983 National Strategy Board
Richard Perle and Edward Luttwak were roommates at the London School of Economics. Both later went to work for Senator Henry Jackson's campaign in favor of additional ballistic missiles. November 11, 1985, Los Angeles Times, 'Perle Wages Behind-the-Scenes Crusade Against Kremlin : Soviets' Mortal Foe Lurks at Pentagon': "Perle interrupted his studies at USC to spend the 1962-63 academic year at the London School of Economics. His roommate was Edward N. Luttwak..." October 15, 2002, The Nation, 'Perle's Passion Is Served': "It was not far from there to the London School of Economics, where Edward N. Luttwak, now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, recalls Perle defending President Kennedy's bold embargo of Soviet missiles in Cuba in a university debate, almost single-handedly turning anti-American audience opinion." 2008, Justin Vaisse, 'Neoconservatism: the biography of a movement', p. 119: "In 1963 [Perle] attended the London School of Economics (where one of his classmates was Edward Luttwak…) … Wohlstetter, Nitze and Acheson wanted to help Jackson defeat Symington and were in need of research assistance. In addition to Perle, they hired… Paul Wolfowitz, the son of celebrated mathematician Jacob Wolfowitz, with whom Wohlstetter himself had studied. (Two other researchers would later be added to the staff: Peter Wilson and Edward Luttwak.)" B.Sc. with honors, London School Econs., 1964. Wrote the 1968 book 'Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook'. Came to U.S., 1972, naturalized, 1981. PhD (Univ. fellow), Johns Hopkins University, 1975. Doctor (hon.), University Bath, England, 2004. Visiting professor political sci., Johns Hopkins University, 1973-78. Research professor international security affairs, Georgetown University Center Strategic and International Studies, 1978-82. Senior fellow, Georgetown University Center Strategic and International Studies, 1978-87. May 31, 1984, Associated Press, 'Pentagon Warned Against Escalating Salvador War': "A panel of counter-insurgency experts [SOPAG], headed by retired Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub, has warned the Pentagon against escalating and Americanizing the war in El Salvador, sources familiar with their report say. In a classified report submitted last week, the eight-member advisory group opposed sending sophisticated military hardware, aerial bombs, napalm or American combat troops, according to several sources who insisted on anonymity. The group also said the U.S. government should avoid setting timetables for victory, recognizing that an "unconventional" war against a guerrilla army can last for decades. And the panel advised against use of covert operations that circumvent the law or could prove embarrassing if discovered, according to the sources. ... Pentagon officials declined to release the report or discuss its contents but confirmed they had talked with Singlaub and others recently about U.S. military aid to Central America. "The suggestions made by these individuals are being considered," said Col. Richard Lake, a Pentagon spokesman. ... Singlaub, the panel's chairman ... Also on the panel, selected by the Defense Department, was retired Maj. Gen. Edward G. Lansdale ... Other panelists were Col. John Waghelstein, chief of the U.S. military advisory group in El Salvador in 1982-83; retired Brig. Gen. Harry C. Aderholt, who directed covert air operations during the Vietnam War; Edward N. Luttwak, a Pentagon consultant and senior fellow at the Georgetown University Center for Strategic and International Studies; Seale Doss, a philosophy professor at Ripon College in Wisconsin; and F. Andrew Messing Jr., executive director of the Conservative Caucus and a former Special Forces officer. Specifically, the group criticized the Pentagon's supplying the Salvadoran army with sophisticated artillery. The panel advocated instead greater use of mortars, which, it argued, are less expensive and easier to maintain. The group also advocated supplying attack helicopters armed with machine guns instead of fixed-wing aircraft using bombs, which have been accused increasingly of inflicting civilian casualties in El Salvador. ... While opposing military escalation, the panel recommended that Congress permit the United States to train Salvadoran police to improve the professionalism of the security forces that have been accused of human rights abuses. The panel also complained that in general, the Defense Department devotes too much money to conventional warfare while spending too little on so-called "unconventional" or guerrilla warfare. It said these low-level conflicts account for more 30 wars currently occurring in the world." Burke chair in strategy, Georgetown University Center Strategic and International Studies, 1987—, Director geo-econs., Georgetown University Center Strategic and International Studies, 1991-94. Senior fellow in preventive diplomacy, Office of Secretary of Defense, National Security Council and Department State. Senior fellow, Georgetown University Center Strategic and International Studies, 1994—. Consultant Office of Secretary of Defense, National Security Council, Department of Defense Army, Navy and U.S. Air Force, Foreign (allied) Governors and U.S., overseas business entities. Supporter of death squads tactics. Member SOPAG at Pentagon. Member of the National Security Study Group of the Department of Defence at the Pentagon. Member advisory board Washington Institute for Near East Policy. September 16, 2008, Farnesina: Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale, 'Press release detail': "At 9:15 tomorrow morning Minister for Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini will open the sessions of the conference "Italy, Europe and Israel: how to build a privileged partnership" arranged by the Aspen Institute and held in the International Conference Room of the foreign ministry in Rome. ... In addition to Israeli Minister of Welfare Isaac Herzog, who will also hold a meeting with Minister Frattini, other participants are to include ... Minister for Economic and Financial Affairs Tremonti and former Minister for Foreign Affairs Massimo D'Alema, business world such as Carlo De Benedetti [protege of the Agnellis], Piero Gnudi, Giancarlo Elia Valori, and journalism, including Renato Mannheimer, Edward Luttwak, Arrigo Levi, as well as major representatives of the Jewish community such as Chief Rabbi Di Segni and President of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities Gattegna." Luttwak and Valori (Le Cercle, P2, and major behind-the-scenes player in Italy) both have also been involved in the company Italintesa. Political affiliation: independent. Jewish.
In May 2008 the New York Times published an opinion piece by Luttwak in which he argued that then-presidential candidate Barack Obama "was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood" and would be considered an "apostate" by the world's Muslims if he were to become president (see Apostasy in Islam).[3] Luttwak was widely criticized by those authors who consider this analysis a misrepresentation of sharia, or Islamic law, including by the public editor of the New York Times, Clark Hoyt.
July/August 1999, Edward Luttwak for Foreign Affairs, 'Give War a Chance': "An unpleasant truth often overlooked is that although war is a great evil, it does have a great virtue: it can resolve political conflicts and lead to peace. This can happen when all belligerents become exhausted or when one wins decisively. Either way the key is that the fighting must continue until a resolution is reached. War brings peace only after passing a culminating phase of violence. Hopes of military success must fade for accommodation to become more attractive than further combat. Since the establishment of the United Nations and the enshrinement of great-power politics in its Security Council, however, wars among lesser powers have rarely been allowed to run their natural course. Instead, they have typically been interrupted early on, before they could burn themselves out and establish the preconditions for a lasting settlement. Cease-fires and armistices have frequently been imposed under the aegis of the Security Council in order to halt fighting. NATO's intervention in the Kosovo crisis follows this pattern. But a cease-fire tends to arrest war-induced exhaustion and lets belligerents reconstitute and rearm their forces. It intensifies and prolongs the struggle once the cease-fire ends -- and it does usually end. This was true of the Arab-Israeli war of 1948-49, which might have come to closure in a matter of weeks if two cease-fires ordained by the Security Council had not let the combatants recuperate. It has recently been true in the Balkans. Imposed cease-fires frequently interrupted the fighting between Serbs and Croats in Krajina, between the forces of the rump Yugoslav federation and the Croat army, and between the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims in Bosnia. Each time, the opponents used the pause to recruit, train, and equip additional forces for further combat, prolonging the war and widening the scope of its killing and destruction. Imposed armistices, meanwhile -- again, unless followed by negotiated peace accords -- artificially freeze conflict and perpetuate a state of war indefinitely by shielding the weaker side from the consequences of refusing to make concessions for peace." |
Lynch, James C. |
Source(s): Who's Who (regular member)
Chief Intelligence and Security div. Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, 1950-1960 (von Braun and his staff also began working here in 1950); security advisor to NATO Hawk Production Organization, Paris, 1960, security program chief, 1964; security specialist US Army Safeguard Systems Command, Huntsville, 1968—1972; president, chairman board Asset Protection Associates, Inc., Alabama, 1973—1991. Mem.: VFW, Security and Intelligence Association, Am. Legion, American Security Council, Smithsonian Associates, Association US Army, Am. Society Industrial Security (national treasurer 1984, board directors 1982—84), Huntsville-Madison County C. of C. (chairman international trade committee 1976—78), Knights of Columbus, Elks, Burning Tree Country, Huntsville Country. Republican. Roman Catholic. |
MacArthur, Gen. Douglas |
Source(s): American Security Council document from the group's website: "The Founders, Benefactors and Strategists of the American Security Council"
1880-1964. Son of Lt. Gen. Arthur and Mary P. (Hardy) MacA.; grad. U.S. Mil. Acad., 1903, Engr. Sch. of Application, 1908; D.M.Sc., Pa. Mil. Coll., 1928. Married Jean Faircloth; 1 son, Arthur. Commd. 2d lt. Engrs. Corps, U.S. Army, 1903, and advanced through grades to gen., 1930; general of the army, 1944; chief of staff 42d (Rainbow) Div., 1917, comdg. gen., 1918; also comd. 34th Brigade, 1918; with Army of Occupation, Germany, 1918-19; participated at Luneville, Baccarat, and Esperance-Souain sectors, also at Champagne; in Champagne-Marne and Aisne-Marne defensives, St. Mihiel, Essey Pannes, Meuse-Argonne, Sedan offensives; supt. U.S. Mil. Acad., 1919-22; mil. adviser Commonwealth Govt. of Philippines, 1935; field marshal of Philippine Army, 1936-37; comdr.-in-chief U.S. and Filipino Forces, during invasion of Philippines by Japanese, (1941-42; comdr. U.S. Armed Forces in Far East, 1941-51; supreme comdr. Allied Forces in S.W. Pacific, 1942; apptd. supreme comdr. to accept surrender by Japan, 1945; comdr. occupational forces in Japan, 1945-51; comdr. in chief UN Forces in Korea, 1950-51. Chmn. bd. Remington Rand Inc., 1951-55, Sperry Rand Corp., 1955—. Decorated Congl. Medal of Honor, D.F.C., D.S.C. with 2 oak leaf clusters, D.S.M. with 6 oak leaf clusters, Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster, Silver Star with 6 oak leaf clusters, D.S.M. (Navy), Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal (U.S.), also highest honors and decorations from Gt. Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslovakia, Rumania, Mexico, Ecuador, Australia, China, Greece, Guatemala, Netherlands, Philippines. Comdr.-in-chief Mil. Order World War, 1927; hon. pres. Soc. Am. Legion Founders; pres. Am. Olympic Com., 1928.
April 9, 1964, The Evening News, '10-Year-Old Interviews Published: MacArthur Blamed ‘Betryal’ for Failure to Crush Reds': "According to Lucas story, MacArthur became convinced he was the victim of a conspiracy in which the State Department was showing his communications with Washington to the British, who in turn relayed these to the Chinese Reds. … The Lucas story quoted MacArthur as saying “those fools in Washington” prevented his winning the Korean War with his plan for bringing in Nationalist Chinese troops and sowing a 5-mile-wide belt of radioactive cobalt along the Yalu River after defeating the Red Chinese to permanently seal China off from Korea. MacArthur reportedly said the United States had cobalt "in abundance" as a by-product – presumably from atomic weapons manufacture – and the radioactive belt would make it suicidal for an army to try to cross it. The story said MacArthur was told of British “betrayal” by a field commander, Lt. Gen. Walton Walker, but “said he became convinced he was the victim of a conspiracy” only after he had ordered Lt. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer to bomb the Yalu River bridges after the Chinese intervened. Just as the bombers were about to take off four hours later, MacArthur was quoted as saying, his order was “peremptorily” countermanded by Gen. George C. Marshall, then secretary of defense. … Truman has written in his memoirs that quickly upon receiving a message from Stratemeyer that MacArthur ordered bombing of a Yalu bridge connecting Korea with Manchuria, the President conferred with Secretary of State Dean Acheson. Acheson in turn had checked various State and Defense Department officials, including Dean Rusk … Truman said Rusk, now secretary of state, “pointed out that we had a commitment with the British not to take action which might involve attacks on the Manchurian side of the river without consulting with them.” So only an hour and 20 minutes before the planes were to take off, Truman said, a message was sent to MacArthur banning al bombing of targets within five miles of the Manchurian border until further orders. … The Hearst writer also quoted MacArthur as saying he almost convinced President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower on Dec. 17, 1952, to adopt an undisclosed plan by MacArthur ro end the cold war but was frustrated by the late John Foster Dulles who was to become Eisenhower’s secretary of state." April 9, 1964, New York Times, 'Pentagon Weighed Plan to Use Cobalt in Korea; Military Abandoned Idea as Impractical for Border -- MacArthur Supported It': "The proposal cited by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur in an interview published yesterday, to sow radioactive material along the Chinese-Korean border, was actively considered in the Pentagon at that time, according to military circles. ... [MacArthur:] I would have dropped 30 or so atomic bombs . . . strung across the neck of Manchuria. Then I would have introduced half a million Chinese Nationalist troops at the Yalu and then spread behind us -- from the Sea of Japan to the Yellow Sea -- a belt of radioactive cobalt . . . it has an active life of between 60 and 120 years. For at least 60 years there could have been no land invasion of Korea from the North. I am certain that the Russians would have done nothing about this strategy. My plan was a cinch." April 18, 1964, Spokane Daily Chronicle, Jack Anderson, Merry-Go-Round, 'A-Bomb No Go in Korea; Everybody Offered Advice': "One of the most important points raised by Gen. Douglas MacArthur in his posthumous criticism of President Truman and Great Britain regarding the Korean war was their ban against use of the atomic bomb. According to MacArthur, dropping 30 to 50 A-bombs would have brought victory for the United States in Korea. The hitherto confidential files of the Defense Department, however, show that there were two very important factors wrong with MacArthur’s strategy: 1. The United States at that time had only 20 atomic bombs… 2. It was impossible to locate sufficient concentrations of Chinese troops in North Korea to justify dropping atomic bombs. It is true that when the Chinese burst into Korea, the retreating Eighth Army pleaded for nuclear support. At that time, the Fifth Air Force drew up a list of targets for an atomic strike, but none was considered to be worth such massive destruction. It would have been the old story of using an elephant gun to kill a mouse." August 2, 1950, Daytona Beach Morning Journal, 'Mac Arthur Visits Chiang Kai-shek'. April 6, 1951, Toledo Blade, 'Both Parties Confused About Troops': "Republican leader in the House of Representatives, Joseph W. Martin of Massachusetts, who demands to know why the armed forces of China on Formosa [Taiwan] are not being used to open a second Asiatic front against the Communists. … “Why in God’s name,” shouts Representative Martin, “aren’t the forces of Chiang Kai-shek being used?” The minority leader then produces a letter from Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the U.N. commander in chief in Korea, who says there is no conflict of “logic or tradition” in using the troops of the Nationalist Government. … It is logical from a military viewpoint for the Nationalists to be encouraged to open a second front on China’s mainland and thus draw Communist troops away from the Korean battle area. … The problem of using the Nationalist forces has been up again and again here. The Department of State has counseled against it on the theory that the Nationalists are not strong enough or that they would require American aid which would amount to intervention by us on the mainland of China and that this would assuredly bring Russia into the war. … General MacArthur evidently has heard these arguments and is not persuaded by them. He thinks apparently that the diplomats have been bluffed into a timid state and that Russia, conscious of the weakness of the diplomats and their fears, is moving ahead aggressively to help the Chinese Communists in Korea anyway. In truth, MacArthur realistically points out that the Chinese Communists have made war upon us and the only question to be answered is whether America will meet the challenge or let its own troops in Korea be chewed up as a consequence of a limited strategy and a refusal to use “force without stint.”" February 5, 1953, Milwaukee Sentinal, 'George E. Sokolsky [NAM writer and McCarthyist]--These Days: Chiang's Bondage Ended By New American Policy': "When the Communist army of Gen. Lin Piao was freed by our perfidy to march from South China to Manchuria, a distance of about 1,000 miles, I wrote the story and asked why Chiang Kai-shek was not being permitted to bomb that army. When their crack troops marched into Korea and faced Gen. Douglas MacArthur with a new war, after he had actually won the war in Korea, the betrayal was complete. … Before the Truman-Acheson decision had been made to imprison him on Formosa and to use the American 7th Fleet to prevent him from bombing an army that was moving forward to kill our sons, Chiang was actually conducting a brilliant guerilla war that was pinning down crack Chinese Communist troops in the south where they could do us no harm. Up to the Korean War, it was the Marshall-Acheson policy to eliminate Chiang Kai-shek and to find a means of recognizing Soviet China. The final device hit upon was to have Soviet China recognized and seated in the United Nations by a majority vote. ... The British had already recognized Soviet China and were pledged to a policy of elimination of Chiang Kai-shek. The State Department was seeking a way of co-ordinating American with British policy without violating American public opinion. This policy was reversed on June 25, 1950, when the Korean war started. The U.S. assumed responsibility for the defense of Formosa, but with the proviso that Chiang Kai-shek would cease his raids on the mainland. In effect, it was the Chinese Communists and not the Chinese Nationalists who were being protected. Eisenhower has now said so. … In spite of our enormous American casualties, Truman and Acheson refused to recognize facts and proceeded with their fantastic program in Korea. Until they left office, this policy of imprisoning Chiang on Formosa and the eventual recognition of Soviet China remained American policy. Gen. Eisenhower and State Secretary Dulles, supported by such experts as Gen. MacArthur, Gen. Albert C. Wedemeyer, Adm. Leahy and Adm. Radford, have now reversed that policy and have freed Formosa from the bondage of enforced inactivity." May 29, 1957, Gadsden Times, Drew Pearson: "[Ike’s] 1952 campaign for president was filled with oratory about Truman’s mistake in not unleashing Chiang Kai-shek. So Ike unleashed Chiang Kai-shek by withdrawing the 7th Fleet, then found he had to send it back in a hurry to protect Chiang from Red Chinese invasion. … Withdraw the U.S. 7th Fleet from holding back Chiang, Radford argued, and the generalissimo would retake China. Eisenhower bought the idea. … [MacArthur] told Republican senators visiting him in Japan that Chiang Kai-shek could use Formosa as a base to land on the Chinese mainland and retake Red China. The Chinese people would rise up in welcome, MacArthur maintained. Mac didn’t figure that the Nationalist Chinese would rise up against Americans first [by attacking the American embassy, beating up its workers and destroying furniture]."
CHIANG KAI-SHEK WAS BRUTAL DICTATOR AND PSYCHOPATHIC KILLER:
March 29, 1947, New York Times, 'Formosa killings are put at 10,000; Foreigners Say the Chinese Slaughtered Demonstrators Without Provocation': "Foreigners who have just returned to China from Formosa corroborate reports of wholesale slaughter by [anti-communist Nationalist] Chinese troops and police during anti-Government demonstrations a month ago. These witnesses estimate that 10,000 Formosans were killed by the Chinese armed forces. ... Foreigners who left Formosa a few days ago say that an uneasy peace had been established almost everywhere, but executions and arrests continued. Many Formosans were said to have fled to the hills fearing they would be killed if they returned to their homes. An American who had just arrived in China from Taihoku said that troops from the mainland arrived there March 7 and indulged in three days of indiscriminate killing and looting. For a time everyone seen on the streets was shot at, homes were broken into and occupants killed. In the poorer sections the streets were said to have been littered with dead. There were instances of beheadings and mutilation of bodies, and women were raped, the American said. ... Chinese were well received and invited to lunch with the Formosan leaders. Later a bigger group of soldiers came and launched a sweep through the streets. The people were machine gunned. Groups were rounded up and executed. The man who had served as the town's spokesman was killed. His body was left for a day in a park and no one was permitted to remove it. A Briton described similar events at Takao, where unarmed Formosans had taken over the running of the city. He said that after several days Chinese soldiers from an outlying fort deployed through the streets killing hundreds with machine-guns and rifles and raping and looting. Formosan leaders were thrown into prison, many bound with thin wire that cut deep into the flesh. The foreign witnesses reported that leaflets signed with the name of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek promising leniency, and urging all who had fled to return, were dropped from airplanes. As a result many came back to be imprisoned or executed. "There seemed to be a policy of killing off all the best people," one foreigner asserted. The foreigners' stories are fully supported by reports of every important foreign embassy or legation in Nanking. Formosans are reported to be seeking United Nations' action on their case."
Chiang Kai-shek's lost the last stronghold in mainland China in Dec. 1949.
March 14, 1949 CIA report, 'Probably Developments in Japan': "Chinese Nationalist leaders have made significant progress in the development of Taiwan as a base for continued resistance and as a final refuge. The families and properties of a number of highly placed Nationalists as well as some important officials have already moved to Taiwan. In addition, the government has transferred to the island the major part of its gold bullion resources. The government may have as many as six divisions now in training on the island. ... There is strong sentiment in Taiwan favoring autonomy, but the situation is complicated by the conflicting interests of the native Taiwanese and Chinese Nationalist elements [Chiang's KMT]. The Taiwanese bitterly resent the performance of the Nationalist administration on Taiwan since VJ [Victory over Japan Day] day. The Chinese rulers have exploited the native population to the limit, without regard for their welfare or the preservation of the island’s resources. The explosive nature of the Taiwanese problem was dramatically demonstrated in the abortive insurrection of 1947. The native population of Taiwan would welcome release from their domination by mainland Chinese. The Taiwanese probably do not have strong aspirations for immediate independence, but could be expected to favor a trusteeship status under the UN or some form of US protectorate. US acquiescence in Nationalist control of Taiwan is resented by the Taiwanese. Positive support to the Nationalists would probably drive the Taiwanese toward the Communists. On the other hand, US support to Taiwanese aspirations would require taking over authority from the established Nationalist regime. ... It is unlikely that the US, in any course or action, can avoid incurring the hostility of either the Chinese Nationalists or the Taiwanese, each of whom would resent and resist any effort to support the other. … Positive support of the Nationalists would probably drive the Taiwanese toward the Communists."
Lieutenant General Albert C. Wedemeyer, U.S Relations with China (Washington: Division of Publications Office of Public Affairs, Department of State, 1949), p. 308: "The Central Government [the Kuomintang] lost a fine opportunity to indicate to the Chinese people and to the world at large its capability to provide honest and efficient administration.... [They] ruthlessly, corruptly and avariciously imposed their regime upon a happy and amenable population. The Army conducted themselves as conquerors. Secret police operated freely to intimidate and to facilitate exploitation by Central Government officials."
"Military Situation in the Far East," Hearings Before the Senate Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Foreign Relations, 82nd Cong. 1st sess., 1951 (Washington: Congressional Record, 1951), p. 23 [MacArthur]: "I superficially went through Formosa. I was surprised by the contentment I found there. I found that the people were enjoying a standard of living which was quite comparable to what it was before the war.... I found representative government being practiced.... I went into their courts. I found a judicial system which I thought was better than a great many of the other countries in Asia. I went into their schools. I found that their primary instruction was fully on a standard with what was prevalent in the Far East.... I found many things I could criticize too, but I believe sincerely that the standard of government that he [Chiang] is setting in Formosa compares favorably with many democracies in the world."
May 29, 1954, The Bend Bulletin, 'Our Asian Policy': "One of the keystones of our Asian policy embodies support for the government of Chiang Kai-shek on gosa. Our wisdom is thrown into question by the currect dispute between Chiang, on the one hand, and Dr. K. C. Wu, formerly Minister without Portfolio for the Formosan government. Dr. Wu, now in this country, has been expelled from Formosa because of his criticism of Chiang’s regime. Dr. Wu’s loyalty to western democracy is beyond reproach. While in this country, he has delivered a series of anti-Communist talks, explaining how the Reds infiltrate into and subvert organizations and governments. Until recently, he was Governor of Formosa under Chiang, and before the Chinese he was Mayor of Shanghai. These positions have given him experience. It is his contention that Chiang’s present regime in Formosa is dictatorial, and is alienating the Chinese people. Moreover, he charges Chiang’s political control of the Army has “almost totally wrecked the morale of the troops” while the secret police of the island have resorted to torture, blackmail and illegal arrests. These charges are probably true, and our support of Chiang is useless. Under such conditions Formosa cannot be an effective ally of the free world. Other Asian nations, notably India, resent our support of Chiang. Perhaps the time has come to readjust our policy towards Formosa. Stopping our support to the Chiang regime might win us many friends in Asia whom we now need."
April 16, 1964, Spokane Daily Chronicle, Jack Anderson and Drew Pearson, Merry-Go-Round, 'Report on Korean Crisis Paints Tale of Confusion': "Confidential files of the Pentagon, hitherto not declassified, tell a quite different story from the bitter interview given by Gen. Douglas MacArthur regarding the reasons for the stalemate in the Korean War. They show that MacArthur refused to believe the Chinese would enter the war, even though his own intelligence reported that during four months in the summer of 1950 the Chinese had built up their troops in Manchuria from 116,000 to 850,000. … [Nov. 4: MacArthur says not to make hasty conclusions, even though his forces had been halted by Chinese. Nov. 5: MacArthur half in panic. Wants bridges destroyed.] … Meanwhile, MacArthur had divided his ground forces into two commands, the Eighth Army under Lt. Gen. Walton Walker and the Tenth Corps. Under Maj. Gen. E. M. Almond. Apprehensive, the Joint Chiefs questioned MacArthur about the split. He replied that nothing would be gained by combining the two armies. But the Chinese drove a wedge between the two commands, forcing retreats, until MacArthur’s messages became panicky. … MacArthur drew up plans on Dec. 7 for evacuating Korea completely. The plans were approved by the Joint Chiefs two days later. But meanwhile, Collins reported that Gen. Matt Ridgway, the field commander, thought the retreating Americans should stand and fight. … MacArthur’s evacuation plans were scrapped, and responsibility for the Korean operation was quietly turned over to Ridgway. Back in Tokyo, MacArthur brooded, became bitter and finally was relieved of his duties entirely. He was obviously still brooding when he gave the two interviews, now published, which blamed failure in Korea on the British, and President Truman." Ridgway made changes in tactics which let to the saving of South Korea. He then took over command from MacArthur in Japan until 1952. Nov. 23, 1973, Montreal Gazette, 'Truman's View of Nixon: Shifty-eyed liar' (comments made in early 1960s to interview Merle Miller): "He said Eisenhower… was a weak field commander in the army and was “nothing but a damn coward’ during the early 1950s when the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) was charging widespread communist infiltration in the government. As for MacArthur, whom he dismissed from command for insubordination during the Korean war, Truman said, “There were times when he, well, I’m afraid when he wasn’t right in the head.” Truman said he fired MacArthur “because he wouldn’t respect the authority of the president. I didn’t fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was. [thought that most generals were and that Gen. Marshall was the exception]."
U.S. INFLUENCE IN TAIWAN AND KOREA:
Inside the League: "That MacArthur had achieved such a firm grasp of the state of affairs in Taiwan during a single day's visit was not questioned by the American legislators. Indeed, his promises of American support were prophetic. As the Korean War turned against the United States, Chiang Kai-shek, with his dream of returning to the mainland and defeating the communists, was seen as a potential pressure point against Mao. With the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy and his "exposing" of communist sympathizers in the federal government, American officials muted or stopped their criticism of Chiang's rule. Suddenly the Kuomintang was respectable, and American aid began to pour in. The American Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in Taiwan grew from a handful of advisers in 1951 to 2,300 five years later. Economic aid and war materiel flowed in at a rate that the island could not possibly absorb. By 1961, military expenditures, nearly all provided by the American government, were three-quarters of the national budget."
April 7, 2010, Examiner.com, 'Inside Taiwan's Political Purgatory: CIA documents tell secret story of betrayal': "George Keenan and Dean Acheson at the State Department began planning an overthrow of Chiang Kai-shek and tasked diplomat Livingston Merchant with recruiting ROC General Sun Lien to lead the coup. General Sun did meet with Douglas MacArthur in Tokyo to discuss the plan but declined to participate. The subsequent outbreak of the Korean War then cemented the U.S. position on tolerance for Chiang’s abuses against the Taiwanese people."
Deputies as Gen. Willoughby (chief of intelligence (G-2) for MacArthur; director Citizens Foreign Relations Committee; director Shickshinny Knights; International Committee for the Defence of Christian Culture) and Gen. Pedro Del Valle (USMC general; offered to become station CIA station chief in Japan, because Walter Bedel Smith thought he disliked MacArthur; founder and head Defenders of the American Constitution (included Gen. Claire Chennault on the board); co-founder and director Liberty Lobby; friendly with American Nazi Party head George Lincoln Rockwell; director Ten Million Americans Mobilizing For Justice; involved with Suvarov Union, a White Russian exile group; director Shickshinny Knights; president Christian Educational Fund; supporter of the Protocols of Zion, Rothschild theories and that Jews control Russia; in a letter referred to a "high command" that doled out orders) were notoriously right wing. George E. Stratemeyer (director Ten Million Americans Mobilizing For Justice; director Citizens Foreign Relations Committee; director Shickshinny Knights; co-founder and director Liberty Lobby). General Alfred Wedemeyer (gave air support to MacArthur's army in Korea; director For America; director Citizens Foreign Relations Committee; lots of correspondence with the Liberty Lobby). Gen. Bonner Fellers (had been chief of psychological operations under Eisenhower; national director For America; chairman executive council Defenders of the American Constitution; vice chairman Americans for Constitutional Action (founded by Adm. Ben Morreel); John Birch Society; director Shickshinny Knights; said about him: "the most violent Anglophobe I have encountered"). Another close friend of MacArthur was General Courtney Whitney (Born and lived in Manilla, Philippines, where he a lawyer; special operations aide and spokesman for MacArthur during the Korean War; retired when MacArthur was fired by Truman in 1951; supported MacArtur in the press against Truman; published 'MacArthur: His Rendezvous With History' in 1956).
Despite the fact that this group supposedly hated the Rockefellers, MacArthur was introduced by Nelson Rockefeller during a 1963 dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in honor of his work. Back in 1954 he and Willoughby had attended a large Rockefeller party for prime minister Yoshida--whom both had worked with.
March 8, 1946, St. Petersburg Times, Drew Pearson, Washington Marry-Go-Round: "Unfortunately, also, some of the men close to Gen. MacArthur appear to be a root cause of that trouble. Filipinos bluntly accuse them of using their military prestige and position during the war to further their economic positions after the war. … Except for military strategy, Whitney, a close friend of MacArthur, virtually ran the Philippines [during WWII]. … Gen. MacArthur is also reported to have heavy investments in the Philippines, and to be associated with Soirano and Gen. Whitney in the Consolidated gold mine and Antamok mine. Unfortunately, this has added to Filipino economic unrest and the feeling that the war was won partly to retrieve the vested interest of the MacArthur military clique."
Nov. 28, 1951, Toledo Blade, 'General MacArthur's Toadies: " [Gen. Willoughby and Gen. Whitney, MacArthur’s chief advisers] were pretty generally regarded as overbearing sycophants vastly overstuffed with the reflected glory of their chief."
Feb. 21, 1951, Spokane Daily Chronicle, Drew Pearson, 'Washington Marry-Go-Round': "John Gunther reports from Tokyo that, while dining with Maj. Gen. Charles Willoughby … Willoughby proposed the following toast: “To the second greatest military genius in the world—Francisco Franco.”"
Nov. 24, 1954, Lawrence Journal-World, 'Many Set-Ups Will Fight Communism': "Most recent of these organizations to appear is the “Ten Million Americans … Mobilizing for Justice.” … Purpose of this organization is to get 10 million signatures in support of “Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy and the fundamental principles he symbolizes.” The states objective is to build up so much pressure that the Senate will reject the Watkins committee censure charges. … As with every organization, it is necessary to have one or more Big Names to head it up. … Stratemeyer [head] … Lt.-Gen. Pedro A. del Valle of the Marines…"
Worthpoint.com, shows photocopy of Liberty Lobby announcement of its founding, description: "Broad side EXCELENT condition announces the formation of THE LIBERTY LOBBY office to be opened in Washington DC lists Advisory Board including; Willis Carto, Lt. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer, Lt. Gen. Pedro del Valle, TAYLOR CALDWELL and more! " Proceedings volume of the Geological Society of America for 1960: "Bela was also a member of the Policy Board of Liberty Lobby, Washington, D. C., and his name appears on their letterhead along with such nationally known men as Lt. General George E. Stratemeyer, the Hon. J. Bracken Lee, and Lt. General P. A. del Valle."
Nov. 23, 1973, Montreal Gazette, 'Truman's View of Nixon: Shifty-eyed liar' (comments made in early 1960s to interview Merle Miller): ""
1989, Michael Schaller, 'Douglas MacArthur: the Far Eastern general', p. 80: "During the summer of 1943 the SWPA commander [MacArthur] dispatched General Charles Willoughby, his intelligence chief, to discuss his prospects with Senator Vandenberg and other prominent Republicans, such as Robert E. Wood. Vandenberg and Wood (who spoke with MacArthur in April in Australia and agreed to fund a behind-the-scenes campaign) proceeded to organize a small movement of conservative Republicans who would communicate with the general through his staff." 2011, David M. Jordan, 'FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944', p. 37: "There were plenty of people who were happy to encourage MacArthur. An old and wealthy friend, a former West Point classmate named Robert Wood, now president of Sears, Roebuck, formerly active in the isolationist America First movement, offered whatever money might be needed. … Congresswoman Clare Boothe [Luce], disappointed with Wendell Willkie, considered MacArthur a very real possibility." 1989, Howard B. Schonberger, 'Aftermath of War: Americans and the Remaking of Japan, 1945-1952', pp. 70, 73, 89: "Robert Wood, a key organizer of his [MacArthur’s] 1944 and 1948 presidential campaigns ... MacArthur sent virtually an identical letter to Robert Wood, his trusted political advisor in 1944, the next day.102 MacArthur regarded MacNider and Wood as "invincibly honest" and the "strongman" of his 1948 campaign. Together the two men developed the basic strategy of the campaign. ... [MacArthur’s] travel expenses were covered by such ultraconservatives as oil men H. L. Hunt and Clint Murchison… But many of his critics were convinced that MacArthur once again sought the Republican presidential nomination, especially after some of the groups that had backed MacArthur for president in 1948 resumed activity again in the winter of 1952. … But MacArthur’s forces were even more disorganized, short of funds, and lacking in party influence that in 1948. As Eisenhower’s supporter grew, Robert Wood and other onetime MacArthur backers shifted allegiance to Taft.In all probability the main purpose of MacArthur’s slashing attacks on Truman and his slaps at Eisenhower’s candidacy was not to promote his own candidacy but to strengthen the right-wing of the Republican party and the chances of a Robert Taft nomination."
2001, William M. Leary, 'MacArthur and the American Century: A Reader', p. 303: "He deprecated Thomas Dewey as "shopworn" and called Robert Taft a "provincial" politician. His cruelest jabs, however, were reserved for Eisenhower. MacArthur accused his former aide of secretly having "Jewish blood in his veins," disqualifying him as either a "real" Republican or true American. Much to the astonishment of an aide, MacArthur also referred to Truman as "that Jew in the White House"."
Colonel Sinclair, had been a military attaché to General Douglas MacArthur during WWII -- and later supervised training of Japanese in intelligence methods. MacArthur and members of his team have long been associated with the Octopus -- perhaps because of the General’s role as Japan’s "Shogun" after WWII and the inevitable contacts created with the Japanese crime clans, the Yakuza. It has recently been revealed that MacArthur appears to have personally benefited from war loot plundered by the Japanese and later secretly recovered by the OSS and the CIA. This was in the form of gold bullion accounts set-up in MacArthur’s name by the OSS/CIA officer Santa Romana.
Back in 1951, after General Douglas MacArthur was relieved of his Korean command by President Truman, H.L. Hunt accompanied MacArthur on a flight to Texas for a speaking tour. Hunt and Murchison were the chief organizers of the pro-MacArthur forces in Texas. They would always remember the general standing bareheaded in front of the Alamo, urging removal of the `burden of taxation' from enterprising men like themselves, charging that such restraints were imposed by `those who seek to convert us to a form of socialistic endeavor, leading directly to the path of Communist slavery.'
According to Russell, Hunt went on to set up a MacArthur-for-president headquarters in Chicago, spending $150,000 of his own money on the general's reluctant 1952 campaign, which eventually fell apart as MacArthur adopted the strident rhetoric of the right wing. "Still, connections were made," wrote Russell, "Charles Willoughby, for example, was a regular part of the MacArthur-Hunt entourage and undoubtedly was acquainted with Murchison as well." Both [the Hunts and the Murchisons] cultivated not only powerful people on the far right, but also J. Edgar Hoover, Richard Nixon, organized crime figures, and Lyndon Johnson, whose rise to power emanated directly from his friends in Texas oil. "Like Hunt, Murchison was an ardent supporter of Senator Joseph McCarthy's anticommunist crusade. McCarthy came often to the exclusive hotel that Murchson opened in La Jolla, California, in the early 1950's. So did Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover.
August 17, 1964, New York Times, 'H.L. Hunt: Magnat with a mission': "Mr. Hunt spent $150,000 to support ... Douglas MacArthur for the 1952 Republican Presidential nomination..."
Chairman of Remington-Rand after his retirement.
saved Moon during the invasion of Korea.
July 20, 1995, Independent, 'Obituary: Ryoichi Sasakawa': "With the defeat of Japan, it was inevitable that Sasakawa should face the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal. When MacArthur's GHQ ordered him to report to Sugamo Prison on 12 December 1945, his reaction was predictably dramatic. He was so delighted to be designated an A-class criminal that he arrived at the prison one day early, accompanied by a truck of cheering supporters and preceded by a brass band blasting out the "Gunkan Battleship March". He enjoyed life in prison, where he wrote a letter to President Truman accusing him of being a war criminal because of the atomic and hydrogen bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For this effrontery he was beaten up by the prison guards. But he was freed from Sugamo on 24 December 1948, the day before General Kideki Tojo was hanged there with seven other A- class war criminals. Among those freed with Sasakawa were Nobusuke Kishi (elected prime minister in 1957) and Yoshio Kodama (later implicated in the Lockheed bribery scandal). Sasakawa never revealed why he was not hanged: it is rumoured that he had CIA connections, as had Kiski and Kodama."
September 23, 1979, Washington Post, 'Hoover: Life With A Tyrant': "Hoover never involved either himself or the bureau that deeply in a presidential election again. He started beating the drums to help Gen. Douglas MacArthur win the Republican nomination in 1952, but MacArthur's campaign fell as flat as Hoover's had, and when the director saw there was no chance for his man, he dropped him and supported Dwight Eisenhower."
--- Yamashita's gold ---
January 9, 1991, Robert A. Ackerman letter (photocopy from Sterling Seagrave's CD1, which can be bought as an addition to the book Gold Warriors): "Following is a description of the efforts of George J. DePontis (hereinafter "D"), with whom I am cooperating, to retrieve large sums originally delivered in Gen. Lansdale's Philippine days to a now deceased agent, Severino Santa Romana—which I have overlooked. … D contacted Ray Cline recently for financial or other support in an effort to retrieve large sums of money out of 174 odd bank accounts in 40 countries including USA/NYC set up by former agent Santa Romana under various aliases and names of corporations controlled by him. D is working on behalf of a Philippine lady who was a close coworker of the dead agent and her two Philippine lawyers. Ray Cline referred D to me in mid-December. I agreed to work with D on a contingency basis and have been in telephone contact… Santa Ramona is said (by whom is not clear) to have known George Bush. … Santa Romana's long time trusted assistant, Tarciana C. Rodriguez…" Transcript of a phone conversation (photocopy from Sterling Seagrave's CD1, which can be bought as an addition to the book Gold Warriors): "Phone conversation between Bob Curtis in Las Vegas and George DuPontis in Miami on June 3, 1992, (with George Evangelis listening in in Miami): DePontis had spent the previous weekend with Mrs. Luc Santa Ramano in California (her father had just passed away). "I have spent two solid years, 20 hours a day on this," DePontis said of his role in the handling of the Santa Ramano estate. "There are accounts and it does exist," he said of the estate. "It is not a myth, believe me." He said Ferdinand Marcos had been one of the trustees of the estate until his death, when his trusteeship ended. … Mr. Santa Ramano was an American citizen, DePontis said. He said Gen. MacArthur and Gen. Lansdale both were involved with Yamashita's Treasure. … He said that Marcos stole billions of dollars from the estate. DePontis said 43 or 44 people have been killed in pursuit of the estate, many of them soldiers of fortune. The last of these to die was Billy Guerrero. "I’m sure you're aware there is massive intelligence involved in this," DePontis said. "Are you familiar with Ray Cline?" That was quickly followed up by, "Yeah, Singlaub’s been looking." DePontis said that when he got involved two years ago, he went to Ray Cline. Cline sent him to Washington, D.C., attorney Bob Ackerman, who served in the CIA for 15 years and then in the Justice Department. He … represented Eleanor Dulles. … DePontis acknowledged that payments were being made to the CIA, that the U.S. government was getting a 50-percent share. "We came within one day of closing on 12,000 metric tons (of gold) two weeks ago," he said. Of that, 6,000 metric tons was to go to "Uncle Sam" and the other 6,000 metric tons was to go to a group including DePontis… He asks Curtis if he knows Gen. Black and CIA operative Charlie Prinnble of Virginia." Of his affiliation with attorney Bob Ackerman, DePontis said: "I think that gives me a good leg up." … "Citibank is really hung out on this," DePontis said of its role in the Santa Ramano estate. I think Citibank is going to go down big time." DePontis can be reached in Miami at 305-573-5449."
2003, Sterling Seagrave and Peggy Seagrave, 'Gold Warriors: America's Secret Recovery of Yamashita's Gold', p. 190: "This is why Santy was brought to Washington in 1973, and pressed to make over funds to which he held title. When Santy died the following year, this may explain why several of his biggest accounts at Citibank and UBS were quickly transferred to Lansdale’s control. How they were used is unknown."
"Singlaub, Graham, Keegan and Vessey were all marked down for 1 percent. In addition, Singlaub and Schweitzer were to take another 4-6 percent of profits"
Involved: General Douglas MacArthur, General Willoughby, General Lansdale, General Singlaub, General Black, General Graham, Ray Cline.
"Soon after the liberation of the Philippines, American special agents began to discover a few of the hidden gold repositories. The key figure was a Filipino American born in Luzon in either 1901 or 1907 named Severino Garcia Diaz Santa Romana (and several other aliases), who in the mid-1940s worked for MacArthur’s chief intelligence officer, General Willoughby. As a commando behind the lines in the Philippines he had once witnessed the unloading of heavy boxes from a Japanese ship, their being placed in a tunnel, and the entrance being dynamited shut. He had already suspected what was going on. After the war, Santa Romana was joined in Manila by Captain Edward Lansdale of the OSS, the CIA’s predecessor. ... Together, Santa Romana and Lansdale tortured the driver of General Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japan’s last commander in the Philippines, forcing him to divulge the places where he had driven Yamashita in the last months of the war. Using hand-picked troops from the US Army’s Corps of Engineers, these two opened about a dozen Golden Lily sites in the high valleys north of Manila. They were astonished to find stacks of gold ingots higher than their heads and reported this to their superiors. Lansdale was sent to Tokyo to brief MacArthur and Willoughby, and they, in turn, ordered Lansdale to Washington to report to Truman’s national security aide, Clark Clifford. As a result, Robert Anderson, on the staff of the Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, returned to Tokyo with Lansdale and, according to the Seagraves, then flew secretly with MacArthur to the Philippines, where they personally inspected several caverns. They concluded that what had been found in Luzon, combined with the caches the Occupation had uncovered in Japan, amounted to several billion dollars’ worth of war booty. Back in Washington, it was decided at the highest levels, presumably by Truman, to keep these discoveries secret and to funnel the money into various off-the-books slush funds to finance the clandestine activities of the CIA. ... On orders from Washington, Lansdale supervised the recovery of several Golden Lily vaults, inventoried the bullion, and had it trucked to warehouses at the US Naval base at Subic Bay or the Air Force base at Clark Field. According to the Seagraves, two members of Stimson’s staff, together with financial experts from the newly formed CIA, instructed Santa Romana in how to deposit the gold in 176 reliable banks in 42 different countries. These deposits were made in his own name or in one of his numerous aliases in order to keep the identity of the true owners secret. Once the gold was in their vaults, the banks would issue certificates that are even more negotiable than money, being backed by gold itself. With this seemingly inexhaustible source of cash, the CIA set up slush funds to influence politics in Japan, Greece, Italy, Britain and many other places around the world. ... Santa Romana died in 1974, leaving several wills, including a final holographic testament, naming Tarciana Rodriguez, a Filipina who was the official treasurer of his various companies, and Luz Rambano, his common-law wife, as his main heirs. They set out to recover the gold since, after all, it was in his name in various banks and they had custody of all the account books, secret code names, amounts, records of interest paid, and other official documents proving its existence. Using the famous San Francisco attorney Melvin Belli as her representative, Rambano actually filed a suit against John Reed, then CEO of Citibank in New York and today president of the New York Stock Exchange, charging him with ‘wrongful conversion’: that is, selling $20 billion of Santa Romana’s gold and converting the proceeds to his own use. The Seagraves vividly describe the extraordinary meetings that took place between Rambano and Reed, with phalanxes of lawyers on both sides, in Citibank’s boardroom in New York. Reed apparently ordered the gold moved to Cititrust in the Bahamas. ... Twenty years after Santa Romana stopped searching in 1947, a secondary - and quite violent – hunt for gold began, carried out by Ferdinand Marcos. Marcos recovered at least $14 billion in gold – $6 billion from the sunken Japanese cruiser Nachi in Manila Bay, and $8 billion from the tunnel known as ‘Teresa 2′, 38 miles south of Manila in Rizal province. During 2001, Philippine politics were rocked when the former solicitor-general Francisco Chavez alleged that Irene Marcos-Araneta, Marcos’s youngest daughter, maintained an account worth $13.2 billion in Switzerland. Its existence apparently came to light when she tried to move it from the Union Bank of Switzerland to Deutsche Bank in Düsseldorf. Marcos, who personally supervised the opening of at least six sites and routinely used his thugs to steal any treasure that local peasants happened to find, died in exile in Honolulu in 1989. ... The key to Marcos’s discoveries was the services of one Robert Curtis, a Nevada chemist, metallurgist and mining engineer, whom Marcos hired to resmelt his gold, to bring it up to current international requirements for purity so that it could be marketed internationally. Curtis proved to be the only person who could decipher the few Golden Lily maps that survived, in the possession of Takeda’s former valet, a Filipino youth from Bambang. The Seagraves describe very thoroughly Curtis’s activities, including his narrow escape from death on the orders of Marcos’s henchman General Ver, after he struck gold at Teresa 2."
October 8, 1955, New York Times: "Because of the development of science, all countries on Earth will have to unite to survive and to make a common front against attack by people from other planets. The politics of the future will be cosmic, or interplanetary."
DOUGLAS MACARTHUR II:
Douglas MacArthur II (1909-): Nephew of the famous general; episcopalian. Assistant to John Foster Dulles in the early 1950s and flew with him all across the world. Appointed ambassador to Tokyo Dec. 1956 (Dec 13, 1956, Star-News, 'Ike getting liberals in high posts'); ambassador to Brussels 1961-1965; assistant secretary of state and head of the State Department's Bureau of Congressional Relations 1965-1967; ambassador to Austria 1967-1969; ambassador to Iran during the Shah's reign 1969-1972 (retired after evading a kidnapping attempt); independent international affairs consultant in Washington 1972-1997; director Banque Bruxelles Lambert; one of five senior advisors to Hill and Knowlton at least from 1981 to 1983. December 7, 1981, Washington Post, 'Communications': "[Former U.S. Senator] Gale McGee ... has been named a member of the senior advisory board of Hill and Knowlton. He will serve on the committee with Douglas MacArthur II (nephew of the late general) ... Najeeb Halaby [FAA] ... Adm. Thomas Moorer ... and Edmond C. Smith [White House staffer]..."; since 1981, chair of the European Institute of Management (EIM), a privatized fascist army intelligence group which tried to undermine the Belgian democratic process and appears to have been at the center of a child abuse, torture and murder ring; member of the editorial advisory board of The Washington Times since Sun Myung Moon founded it in 1982; chaired Moon's World Media Conference in Tokyo in the mid-1980s; openly supported the Women's Federation for World Peace when Moon founded it in 1987; founding chair of Sun Myung Moon-funded Panda Motor Corp in China since 1988, a company that went bankrupt within a few years (October 16, 1989, Daily Herald, 'Moon-backed Panda car drives into skepticism of auto industry'); his uncle Douglas MacArthur saved Moon during the invasion of Korea; big supporter of the UN's Temple of Understanding; died in 1997.
Dec. 15, 1986, Charles Stuart Kennedy for the The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Interview with Douglas MacArthur II (Library of Congress, American Memory home): "MACARTHUR: I was with the Secretary, and as coordinator, I accompanied him to most of the meetings, because we also met in San Francisco [10th anniversary UN, July 1955] with Mr. Pinay, who was the French Foreign Minister, whom I had known well in the period when I served in France just after the liberation. And I accompanied, I remember, Secretary Dulles to a meeting when we were in Paris before going on to Austria in May. I went along with the Secretary to call on Chancellor Adenauer ... I knew most of Adenauer's people..."
1991, David N. Gibbs, 'The Political Economy of Third World Intervention': "[Douglas MacArthur II:] stated that Leon Lambert, of the Lambert group, “was a very great admirer of Paul Henri Spaak” (Douglas MacArthur II, interview with author, April 30, 1987)." Halt magazine in 1990 said MacArthur had sat on the board of Compagnie Bruxelles Lambert.
March 17, 1966, letter from Paul Vanden Boeynants to Douglas MacArthur II: "Dear Ambassador, My Dear Friend, ... I hope very much to have the pleasure of meeting you the next time you are in Brussels and meanwhile request my friend JOSI to convey to you, dear Ambassador, my dear Friend, when handing you this letter, the expression of my sincere respects and warm affections." Response: March 25, 1966, letter from Douglas MacArthur II to Paul Vanden Boeynants: "Dear Mr. Prime Minister and Cher Ami: I cannot tell you how touched I was to receive your letter of March 17 which our good friend, Jean Josi, delivered to me yesterday. The day before Jean arrived I had written you a note of congratulations which I sent through the Embassy and which you will receive in due course. In it I sent you our warmest and best wishes as you assume the heavy burdens and responsibilities as Prime Minister of Belgium. … Needless to add, I feel a particular warmth for Belgium which is my second country because, as you know, my daughter, who lives in Brussels, married a Belgian and I have a Belgian-American granddaughter. As I said to Jean Josi yesterday, if I can be of any service to you, I hope you will not fail to let me know. My wife and I plan to visit our children in Brussels next October and we will hope to have the opportunity to pay our respects to you and your charming wife whom we remember with so much pleasure. Again, many thanks for your letter and every good wish from the bottom of our hearts for you and Madame Vanden Boeynants." Jean Josi seems to be the person of Josi & Cie in the early 1960s. On Nov. 27, 1964 there was a proposition to induct Josi as an officer in the Ordre de la Couronne. The same corporation still exists. www.ejustice.just.fgov.be: "JOSI & C°, société anonyme, rue des Colonies 11, 1000 BRUXELLES" At the same address is located Groupe Josi, managed by Jean-Pierre Laurent Josi (member of Cercle de Lorraine, where Etienne Davignon, Albert Frere, Maurice Lippens and every other Belgian aristocrat can be found). His father was Jean-Marie Josi (1991, Georges Timmerman, 'Main basse sur Bruxelles', pp. 53, 85, 113, 117, 129: 1908-1979; president of Groupe Jose, until the early 1980s an important insurance firm. Around 1990 board members included Jean-Pierre Laurent Josi, Albert Frère, Aldo Vastapane, Ado Blaton and Pierre Salik (Salik International). Director Banque Bruxelles Lambert; director Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas (financier of the WTC project); vice president Brussels Airways under Charlie De Pauw in late 60s; vice president Sobeli, under presidency of Michel Relecom).
1990 (approximately), Halt magazine (journalist/author Walter de Bock and others), 'Profile: Douglas MacArthur II: An American in Brussels': "From 1961 to 1965 Douglas MacArthur II was ambassador in Belgium. In Belgium at the time the Catholic socialist government of Lefevre-Spaak (1961-1965) was in power. This government had not easily been formed, primarily because of problems surrounding sanctions that had been taken against socialist and communist strikers in the dtrik of ’60-’61. Eventually the bad bllod of the strike was wiped off. But as a counter-measure public control was increased (the so-called anti-strikelaw of 7 June 1964). … None other than Paul Vanden Boeynants was the promoter for stronger law enforcement. So during the Belgian ambassadorship of Douglas MacArthur II, an important shift from “power on the street” to power of the state took place. … What we have been able to find out is that Douglas MacArthur II and the CIA in that period were two hands on one belly. That he was a CIA employee is not really a surprise. But it is nice to have that confirmed: the story was related to us by a person who was a CIA informant at the time, and has been confirmed by two other reliable sources. That the CIA at the time would have had a lot of interest in Belgium should be clear to anyone."
May 5, 2009, Business Times, 'AIG set to sell Tokyo property for US$1b': "Former AIG chief executive officer Maurice 'Hank' Greenberg, who led the insurer for nearly 40 years, had warned that the sale of the Tokyo office building would further demoralise the company's Japanese employees, the The Wall Street Journal said. AIG arrived in Japan in the wake of World War II upon the invitation of General Douglas MacArthur." MacArthur sat on the board of AIG since at least 1982 (1985, Eustace Mullins, 'The World Order', based on S&P 1982 report on AIG; name appears also in mainstream publications on AIG from 1985 and on) and was a director until his death in 1997 (Dec. 24, 1996, SEC filing).
June 4, 1993, Virginia Crawford for the The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Interview with Wendell W. Woodbury (Library of Congress, American Memory home): "After the occupation ended we showed our finesse by sending out a Foreign Service officer by the name of Douglas MacArthur II; I think that was about the dumbest thing we have ever done. Many of my friends told me he was a terrible man to work for and his wife was even worse. So after them, Reischauer and Mrs. Reischauer seemed like saints. Everybody liked them, in fact he was almost revered, especially by the language officers. MacArthur II, while unlovable was such a strong man that he made the American ambassador The President's representative in Japan rather than the commander of U.S. Forces, Far East." Many others said the exact same thing, both about his influence and the manners of him and his wife.
February 9, 1990, Charles Stuart Kennedy for the The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Interview with Roger C. Brewin (Library of Congress, American Memory home): "I think the political section was constrained; there is no question about that. They were constrained about reporting on human rights violations, on the opposition to the Shah. I think that constraint was present going back even to 1953 when we put the Shah back on his throne. Some Ambassadors were far more vehement on this subject than others--Douglas MacArthur II, for example, would tolerate no criticism of the Shah in the post's reporting whatsoever."
On his involvement in Belgium. Dec. 15, 1986, Charles Stuart Kennedy for the The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Interview with Douglas MacArthur II (Library of Congress, American Memory home): "As a member of General Eisenhower's staff in Normandy, Assistant Political Advisor for French Resistance Affairs, I had not only participated in the liberation of Paris... [Eisenhower] said, "MacArthur, I want you to go up and see how Monty does liberating Brussels tomorrow." So I went forward. It was only a two- or three-hour drive with military escort, and participated in the liberation of Brussels [on September 3, 1944]... I was sent [back] there as first secretary after I finished my tour of duty in Paris in '48. I went to Belgium as first secretary [under Ambassador Admiral Kirk]. While I was there, Paul Henri Spaak was both prime minister and foreign minister, one of the free world's great post-war statesmen. ... Then in May 1949, I had been there less than a year, I got word that the Secretary [of State] wanted me to become Chief of the Division of Western European Affairs."
1998, Anson Schupe, 'Religion, Mobilization, and Social Action', p. 212: "More recently Falwell has also by his actions accepted that Moon is now a major player in the New Christian Right, acceptable even to fundamentalist Baptists whose theologies would otherwise reject the Korean as a false messiah. In 1994 Falwell appeared to endorse the inauguration of the Unificationist Youth Federation for World Peace, sharing a commemorative photograph (along with Mr. and Mrs. Moon seated and Falwell standing beside Pak) with, among other dignitaries, Maureen Reagan, Sir Edward Heath, former U.S. Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr (Moffit, 1994)."
December 11, 1992, Charles Stuart Kennedy for the The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Interview with Ulrich A. Straus (Library of Congress, American Memory home): "Q: What was the feeling within the American military towards General MacArthur? STRAUS: Well, you know, MacArthur never had the adoration of the troops as let's say Eisenhower did. He was an aloof figure and a showman. My own feeling was that perhaps he was a better administrator of Japan than he was a General. There was a good deal of dissension below MacArthur. There were two most prominent political wings, one conservative, under Major General Willoughby, who was in charge of G-2 (Intelligence) and the other under General Whitney, who handled the Government Section, the more liberally inspired section. Things got so bad between the two sections that we were ordered not to talk to each other. Q: You were in which? STRAUS: After I left the war crimes trial, I was in G-2. But my best friend and roommate was with the Government Section. ... I was in Japan in 1955 when he was appointed and I thought that it was a big mistake to appoint anyone with that name. But the Japanese saw it differently. He had been the Counselor in the Department, a man who obviously had the ear of the Secretary of State, one of the high and mighty and the Japanese were flattered to get an important person like that. However, I found the Embassy was not a very happy place. In fact, compared to all the others places I have been subsequently, it was a very unhappy place. I remember one incident, for example, this was a time of turmoil in the spring of 1960 with a lot of demonstrations going on... The Ambassador held forth for all but a minute of this 50 minute interview where he tried to persuade the president of a prominent university that these demonstrations against the security treaty, against Kishi, the Prime Minister at the time, were all wrong. And that it was his Christian duty, as it were, to oppose this kind of thing. At the end of that 50 minutes, he was rather summarily dismissed and thanked for contributing his views, which the man never had the chance to do. I think that was kind of the way MacArthur ran things. At a later point we were asked our thoughts about the Eisenhower Presidential visit and it was clear to everybody, at least below the DCM level, that it needed to be postponed. But at that point I think the Ambassador's ego was involved in the visit and he wanted to continue it until finally the Japanese indicated that they were concerned about the safety of the Emperor as much as anything. Protocol demanded that the Emperor go out to the airport. So at their insistence it was postponed. ... As part of the peace treaty of 1952 we had negotiated with Japan a security treaty which allowed for the stationing of American forces in Japan. By 1959, with Japan starting to feel more independent, it was clear that the treaty that had been negotiated earlier was not adequate. It had to be revised because it provided for such things as the possibility of American forces interfering militarily in Japan. That wasn't appropriate any more. So it was revised really to provide more powers to the Japanese and to limit American powers. So there was nothing wrong with that except that the left wing force in Japan didn't want any security treaty. They wanted so-called unarmed neutrality and to rest their security on the tender mercies of the United Nations as well as non-aggression pacts with the United States, the Soviet Union and China. I think our reading was that these demonstrations in Japan, which were, I think, conveyed in the press to the American public as being anti-American demonstrations, were only partly that. That the majority focus, maybe 70 percent, was really directed against Mr. Kishi, then the Prime Minister. Kishi's background was that he had been a very prominent politician, a member of the wartime Tojo cabinet and got within a whisker of being tried as an A Class war criminal. He was probably the most conservative of the post-war Japanese politicians. A very wily politician. It was Kishi's somewhat Japanese idea that the revised security treaty should be a present for Eisenhower. It should all have been wrapped up by the time he came. But given the opposition to this treaty among the trade unions and the left wing in Japanese politics, it became impossible to get it through without ramming it through...what the Japanese call the tyranny of the majority. Yes. It was then that the anger of a lot of middle-of-the-road people also exploded. It was roughly 70 percent directed towards Kishi. Maybe another 20 percent against having the security treaty with the United States and 10 percent against the planned Eisenhower visit. I think maybe the Japanese were in a way disappointed that the President of the United States wouldn't come. ... The reporting first of all was excessive. MacArthur had a way...he was an early riser and by the time he came to the office he had read the English-language Japan Times, which was his bible. He would mark virtually all the articles that dealt with Japanese domestic or international affairs for reporting. We were required to report them even if the articles turned out to be false. I remember I was told, "Well, then you say that the Times said this but on further checking it wasn't true." So it was excessive. I felt that the lower ranks, certainly people like Dave Osborn, knew the score exceedingly well. But the reporting that was done above the political counselor level was often slanted. ... Well it was a major change from MacArthur to Reischauer. It was a more relaxed style of leadership. For example, the Embassy had a swimming pool which nobody other than the Ambassador and DCM could ever use. Immediately that was opened to everybody which greatly endeared the Reischauers to us. We got to know them as people and they were delightful."
June 14, 1994, Charles Stuart Kennedy for the The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Interview with Jack A. Sulzer (Library of Congress, American Memory home): "Shortly before I left, Riddleberger departed and Douglas MacArthur II arrived as Ambassador. ... Ken is given to very colorful language, a very outspoken fellow. We were discussing these rumors about who our next ambassador was going to be. Ken said, "Well, I don't give a ___ who it is as long as it isn't that *@*@*@ Douglas MacArthur." Brandin looked at him and said, "If you're going to say things like that, I guess I better tell you that we have received a request for agrément (from the Austrian government, which of course hadn't been announced, was still a secret because they didn't have the Austrian reply yet) "for MacArthur." In due course we heard lots of stories about him and his wife, one of them from the wife of the British ambassador in Austria, who had been the British ambassador in the Philippines when MacArthur was ambassador to Japan. This good woman told my wife at a British Embassy party that they were saddened to hear that they were going to be in contact with the MacArthurs again, because when they were out there in the Pacific the Ocean was not big enough for the two of them even though they were not in the same country. People tell stories about the MacArthurs much more freely than I would expect. Much more freely than normal gossip. ... He was ambassador in Belgium when he was named to Austria. He had no background in the area, no knowledge of German. When we got a message from him about his arrival, they were taking the train from Brussels to Salzburg but wanted the Ambassador's car and driver to meet them in Salzburg instead of going all the way to Vienna on the train. The Ambassador's car was to be equipped permanently with a cooler to be kept stocked with a certain brand of champagne for Mrs. MacArthur. The cooler was to be maintained in the car, supplied with this brand of champagne at all times. When she was calling on foreign ambassador's wives or cabinet members' wives or going shopping or whatever, this brand of champagne was to be available in the car. After they got established, she would occasionally have Embassy wives in for coffee. Coffee and orange juice and so on would be served to the wives, except Mrs. MacArthur who drank only this champagne. ... Another request of a personal nature he made when he arrived, he wanted to be outfitted with a proper hunting costume. This was one of his interests. He wanted to go hunting chamois [deer] in the Austrian mountains. ... It was a very different sort of atmosphere, a different relationship. He was much more formal than Riddleberger, much less approachable. He was even a little bit formidable. Not as much fun to work for. But my experience with him was brief and I was not very unhappy about that."
On decolonization in the Congo: Dec. 15, 1986, Charles Stuart Kennedy for the The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Interview with Douglas MacArthur II (Library of Congress, American Memory home): ""The Belgian system was totally different from the British or the French system. The Belgian system of colonialism ran the whole show virtually from Brussels. It didn't have the type of governor general setup with a local assembly of some sort, where views could be expressed and things of that kind. It was operated from Belgium, and it was operated not just by the government alone, but by the companies, the important Belgian companies--agricultural and mineral companies--Union Miniere, from whom during the war we got uranium for our atomic bombs that we used in Japan. ... The Belgians looked around and saw all these things happening to the British and French colonies in Africa, but they persisted in the belief that they had 20 to 30 years to decolonize, that they needed that time to get started in setting up some kind of the beginnings of a local assembly system so there could be an orderly transition from this very paternalistic system operated from Brussels to a more democratic system with people who had absolutely no training equivalent to the training that the British and French had given the native inhabitants of their colonies, not just in Africa, but in the Middle East and elsewhere. The system was operating, and I think there were a great deal of pressures from important companies like Union Miniere, which was a big hunk of the Societe General, which is Belgium's largest company that has been in contention recently because an Italian is trying to take it over, because it operates or is the key to 500-and-some major industrial companies that are operating in Belgium. I think there were pressures from them. They didn't want to give up probably their prerogatives. I was not there at that time, but I understood later that there had been pressures from them. But basically, the system seemed to be going all right. It continued to operate all right. There didn't seem to be any outbursts of riots or things for emotionalism. Then all this changed in 1959, when suddenly there was an explosion, and Lumumba and other people led the business. Then the Belgians panicked. They had to send their armed forces in in 1960--I think it was '60--to restore order, because there were tens of thousands of Belgians in the Congo working. In the meantime, the United Nations got into the act at the request of some of the other African nations and the Soviet Union, China, and the Belgians sent their troops in to restore order, which they did, but a series of United Nations resolutions were passed that were highly critical of Belgium, and Belgium then panicked and said that they could have their independence in less than six months. ... So within the new African states, they had a tremendous burden. When you never have had a system of government above the tribal system, you've never had a national system, you've had a Middle East and Asia and the Far East, in Europe, you've never been above tribalism, and there's these fierce tribal rivalries, and in one newly independent country that was formerly a colony, you throw together five or six tribes, some of which have been basic enemies from the beginning of time, you have problems. And that's been one of the burdens that these newly independent nations of Africa have had to bear, and the principal reason for the tremendous instabilities that have plagued them. ... But in any event, then there was a resolution calling the Belgians to pull their troops out, and some of the resolutions of the United Nations were very, very crudely or brutally, in terms of diplomatic language, accusatory of the Belgians, and we voted right down the line. Understandably, we were for decolonization. We were once a colony ourselves, we always had been, and so forth."... So there was a psychological problem on the part of the Belgians, a feeling of bitterness that they had been faithful allies and done what they could to work with us, and we had had friendly relations, and now suddenly, for reasons of our own, we had turned on them and gone further than we had to go in voting for resolutions and statements and one thing and another. So as I say, when I arrived there, there was considerable bitterness, and it was particularly reflected in certain important companies of the Societe General, like Union Miniere. Now, I don't want to get into a whole history of the Belgian Congo. ... Unfortunately, [Jesse Jackson's] wife is reported to have made speeches about the Congo matter, in which she told people that the Belgians, if a Congolese stole, they chopped his arm off and things of that kind. These stories all got back to Belgium, to the Belgian Embassy here, and I remember a dinner where the Belgian ambassador and Mike Mansfield, who was then Majority Leader of the Senate, he was the guest of honor, I guess, and the Belgian ambassador started talking about it, and tears came in his eyes and streaked down his cheeks, he was emotionally so upset by some of the things that had happened. ... So I went there with a clear mandate. I mean, the Congo's independence was here to stay at that time, but the problem when I went there was not the Congo's independence; it was the fact that a civil war had broken out, an insurrection had broken out, and that insurrection was a very dangerous thing, because it was being supported by the Soviet Union through Congo Brazzaville, which was a client state, if you will, where they had strong influence with resources and the like. The former Belgian Congo, Zaire as it now is, occupies a key position in the heart of Africa. It's surrounded by about eight states, and if the Congo went bad, went the wrong way, that is, went the way where it became an Ethiopia, a Soviet client state, the emanations, exactly what can happen from Nicaragua if it's strong enough, going out to the neighboring Costa Rica, Guatemala, and all the rest, the spreading out of a cancer from the center of Africa, it could spread out on both sides--east, west, north, and south. So this was something that we felt should not happen and that I should work with the Belgians and try to see what we could do to do this thing. Well, I arrived in Belgium, I had the greatest of good fortune. Seldom do ambassadors have the good luck that I had. I arrived there, and the foreign minister was Paul Henri Spaak, with whom I had worked as foreign minister and prime minister when I was chargé d'affaires, a man I admired greatly... Now, Spaak was a very sensible man, and he did not approve of certain of the things that some of the companies politically, of the Societe General, which was divided on this subject primarily because of Union Miniere, basically they wanted the Congo to be split up, because Katanga, where the heart of the mineral resources were and so forth, was where they had their operations, and that was part of the dissident rebellious part of the Congo that was trying to break away. So there were complications for Spaak and the Belgian Government of an internal domestic order, which had very important economic and political implications for the government and the party. The situation with Spaak and the relationships--and he said it in his memoirs that he felt that I had always spoken to him with the greatest frankness about our concerns and the depth of our concerns and our basic feelings and commitments, but on the other hand, he felt that I was transmitting to Washington an accurate portrayal of his problems, too, and the kinds of dilemmas that Belgium faced in this insurrection of what to do about it. They had withdrawn their troops, the insurrection was going on, and then the thing finally came. I won't go into all the things that happened over a three-year span, but it finally came when Lumumba seized about 2,000 foreign hostages. Lumumba was the one that declared that Americans and Belgians were to be seized. He may have been bumped by that time, but in that period leading up to the seizure of the hostages, he had encouraged the idea. [fact: Lumumba had been dead for more than three years, killed by Moishe Tshombe of Katanga, soon followed by a (temporary) declaration of indepence of Katanga, where all the minerals were present, when Chinese-trained Patrice Lumumba started his violent insurrection and took hostages in mid 1964] ... So Spaak and I came over to this country, the United States, in '64, Spaak allegedly to make a speech in Bermuda and then come on here for some private thing, and I came back on consultation. Spaak and I had put together by this time the idea that American planes could airlift Belgian paratroopers in to smash the rebellion. I say smash the rebellion--to smash in and recuperate the hostages, but on a basis that we agreed that it would not be a military operation, which would immediately bring the majority of the United Nations against us, saying that we were in there militarizing, trying to overthrow the thing and recolonize and imperialism. It would be a pure humanitarian rescue operation, where we would go in, pick up the hostages, and get the hell out. ... Then we came back here and met in the Department with the Secretary, I believe, and that night we had a dinner at Averell Harriman's in Georgetown, and Spaak had, I think, Robert Rothschild and maybe Stevie Davignon, later commissioner of the AEC, a brilliant chef de cabinet adjoint. We put the proposition--I don't remember who was at the dinner; it was a very small one--to Harriman and the Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, and I guess we had EUR there, too, because of Spaak, and Livy, maybe, that this would not be a commitment of American troops, we would simply provide the airlift to rescue hostages. So it was agreed we'd meet again the next morning in the Department after there had been time to consult the President. ... But in any event, we got back, and the Pentagon agreed to send over within 48 hours four of their best planners as tourists with civilian tourist passports, and they arrived the day after we got back, and they went to work right away. ... We've done it successfully, we've picked up 1,500 to 1,700 hostages and saved their lives. ... We saved 300 more people up there, including several Americans, and we brought them back and we pulled out, and the operation was over."""
October 5, 1992, Charles Stuart Kennedy for the The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Interview with Robert M. Beaudry (Library of Congress, American Memory home): "Yes, [MacArthur was difficult to work with and] with a difficult wife. ... The Belgians provided a 500-man combat battalion of paratroopers and we dropped them over Stanleyville. In a way it was a marker for other people in Africa that even though you weren't on the coast, the 20th century gunboats could get you if you weren't careful. It was done at the behest, pretty largely, of Averell Harriman. MacArthur had been in Washington when they decided to do it."
Dec. 15, 1986, Charles Stuart Kennedy for the The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Interview with Douglas MacArthur II (Library of Congress, American Memory home): "There were problems in the Middle East, there were lots of problems with the Israeli lobby. I'd like to say a word about lobbies. Let me start with the whole question of lobbies. In the middle Sixties, when I was doing this congressional relations job, I think the most powerful single lobby was the Israeli lobby. This was before K Street in Washington, D.C., had built up with all the modern buildings we see today. Because in those days, while there were lobbyists and people were sent here to lobby high members in organizations or companies to lobby the Congress, but the day had not yet arrived when we had this huge agglomeration of what they called corporate offices in Washington, which is now the biggest business in Washington, the corporate office, which is another name for Washington lobbyist organizations for industry and business and organizations' corporate offices. The Israeli lobby was extremely, extremely effective on anything and everything that in any way the government of Israel felt affected adversely its interests and in anything that the government of Israel wanted, such as money, billions of dollars each year in support. I had one very difficult experience with the chairman of a very important committee. I will not name him. I went over at a certain moment when the President and the State Department had reached an agreement on modification of our Middle East policy, to try to be a bit more even-handed between Israel and the Arabs in our presentations and in what we were doing. It was not a major thing, in my judgment then. But I went to the chairman of this very important committee and explained the reasons why we felt that the importance of the Middle East and the Arab world should be the appearance and the substance of a more even-handed approach to the Middle East problem, not always simply taking the Israeli position on any problem that arose in that area, in which Israel had an interest, virtually none in which it did not have an interest. And the man looked at me and he said, "Doug, you go back and tell the President to get off that line." He said, "In our great urban centers, the East, Middle West, California, we have anywhere from 12 to 15, 18% of our population in the urban centers, in important urban centers, very important ones, are Jewish. The Jewish people are a very civic-minded people. The average record for the average American, just barely over half, 52% or 53% of them, even take the trouble to go and vote. They go and vote 100%." And he said, "You know and I know that the Israeli lobby is very strong, and that by and large, Jewish people support the position of the government of Israel." That was true at that time. He said, "Take a constituency that has 12% to 13% Jews. When election day comes around, that's 25% of the vote. And if there's 15% or 17%, it's over a third of the vote that's automatically against you if you oppose this particular thing. And they'll certainly be against this. So you go back, tell the President and your friends in the State Department that it won't go, that I'm against it, and there will be plenty of other members from the urban centers who are against it." And that's how they operated. I had a very good Jewish friend who was deeply concerned about the growing impression that the Jewish people put the interest, although American citizens, born American citizens, many of them, put the interests of another country, Israel, ahead of the United States. He was concerned that the lobbying was so open and blatant in the promising of campaign contributions and votes that it would fan anti-Semitism at some stage of the game. He was a very sincere, thoughtful man. He told me how the operation worked. You go into a congressman's office when something came up that was controversial with Israel, and he'd have a desk as big as this desk, six feet long, stacked, a foot and a foot and a half high, with telegrams from his constituents or from his state, if he was a senator. This man told me how it worked. He said, "The Israeli Embassy knows, or is convinced that you've got all their telephone lines tapped, and when something comes up that's important in the Congress, a member of the embassy staff goes to a public pay telephone, he calls a certain number in a certain city, gets a guy on the other end and says, 'We want 5,000 telegrams on the desk of Senator So-and-so (or Congressman So-and-so) in the next 48 hours.' And there's no record, no trace of that or anything else. Then the organizational man there of the lobby whom he's called gets those telegrams on the desks of the senators and congressmen." Well, if you're a congressman and had only a two-year pulse, and you get 5,000 telegrams on your desk from people in your constituency or in the general area in which you come, even if it's outside of your constituency, it makes an impression on you if you've got to run for re-election and only have got a two-year pulse, and maybe a year of that pulse has already been used up when you get smothered with telegrams and telephone calls and letters. Sure there were [other lobbies] in a national sense, but in the foreign affairs sense, there was no other lobby that could approach this."
Dec. 15, 1986, Charles Stuart Kennedy for the The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Interview with Douglas MacArthur II (Library of Congress, American Memory home): "In the preceding decade, the U.S., including the State Department, and the Secretary of State, to a certain extent, Mr. Dulles at that time, certainly at the beginning of the Eisenhower Administration, we all regarded the Chinese-Soviet relationship as a steel-hard ball with no cracks or fissures that you could get your fingernails into, and that they would work and support each other, whether it be in the U.N. or here or there, more actively in support of the propagation and spread of communism. That, of course, was before the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union, which, under Khrushchev, pronounced that war was no longer inevitable."
January 24, 1985, Los Angeles Times, 'Basking in the Inauguration Afterglow': "Saturday night before the Presidential Gala, Lester B. Korn, chairman of the board of Korn/Ferry Intl., and his wife Carolbeth and Ambassador Douglas MacArthur (nephew of the general) and his wife Laura (daughter of former Vice President Alben W. Barkley) hosted a party for some of the Reagan team and other interesting folk at the MacArthurs' Washington home. The guest of honor was Ronald H. Walker, a Korn/Ferry partner who was chairman and CEO of the 1985 Presidential Inaugural Committee. Some on that guest list were Mrs. Michael Deaver (Mike had the flu); the President's Chief of Staff James Baker and his wife; Atty. Gen. and Mrs. William French Smith; Mike and Linda Curb; Gordon and Karen Luce; former Secretary of Transportation Drew Lewis and his wife; the Donald Rumsfields and Presidential Assistant Robert Tuttle and his wife Donna."
October 16, 1996, Charles Stuart Kennedy for the The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Interview with Arthur F. Blaser, Jr.: "Yes, that's right. I don't want to over-stress that, but Ambassador MacArthur was a very aggressive, hard driving individual, who knew what he wanted to do, and it often worked out that way. And I think he was maybe a little bit insensitive to the point you just suggested. ... I have worked for many fine ambassadors, but he was the best. When you worked directly for MacArthur, you became a member of the family. I lived through the ambassador's very serious bout of pneumonia and an assassination attempt which was kept secret for over a year. That was the beginning of terrorism in Iran which eventually led to the revolution. ... he would constantly bombard the Department pointing out the importance of the issues and the Shah's vital role in maintaining our role in the Gulf. I thought MacArthur was extremely effective; he worked well with all elements of the U.S. representation in Iran. For example, there was no doubt that he was completely abreast of the CIA's operations in Iran; the station was well staffed, but all knew who the "leader" was. That went for the military as well; he was the boss there as well. He was a tough professional, but effective. He had a very human side as well. I remember that at one time, there was a young boy who attended the American School who was killed in some kind of accident. He didn't know the family at all, but he wept openly when he got the news. I was really startled. He had the reputation of being a very tough leader, but he was so moved by this event that he just broke down. MacArthur was a great bird hunter. My guess is that he got involved in that when he was our ambassador in Brussels and Vienna. He undoubtedly had a lot of hunting friends there; he would join them on their hunting expeditions. He brought a group of them to Tehran one time. ... Mrs. MacArthur called me over. She asked :"Tom, do you love your wife?" I knew the theater group involved an interesting group of women, but it seemed a very strange question. I said, "Of course, I do." Then Mrs. MacArthur said, "I am glad to hear that because she is not doing your career any good!" Then "Wahwee" noted that my wife had gotten in the food catering line ahead of Mrs. Lehfeldt, the wife of the economic counselor. They two were chatting and my wife, I am surely entirely inadvertently, had gotten ahead of Mrs. Lehfeldt - out of protocol order! I should note that Mrs. MacArthur had helped to write our own local protocol manual and so she was fully aware of all of it picky requirements. The point that Mrs. MacArthur made caught me entirely by surprise and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I was very upset with Wahwee, but I was wise enough not to respond and the episode passed without any further notice. Wahwee would not let local-hire staff into the residence to attend social functions there. That was appalling because most officers really needed translators since few spoke Farsi. When we had an event one of the embassy's substantive sections would send a suggested guest list. I would screen it as did our Iranian social secretary. The final word was of course the ambassador's. He would take it home, let Wahwee review it and then he brought it back and invitations were issued. I remember at one time, near the end of his tour, that Bill Lehfeldt was trying to get some of his local employees in the commercial section invited. He needed their help and would have added immeasurably to their status in the Iranian community. I reviewed his proposed list and didn't touch the FSNs on the list. I sent the list to Mrs. MacArthur. Much to our surprise, the list came back with the FSNs still on it. We all thought we had made a breakthrough. The night of the event, as I was standing just before the receiving line, making the introductions, Mrs. MacArthur came up to me and said: "Tom, what are these local employees doing here?" I told her they had been on the list that she had approved. She then said: "Tom, in the future... Oh, I guess, you don't have much of a future in the Foreign Service!" I should at this stage mention that Mrs. MacArthur was very nice to me at a later stage in my career. After the MacArthurs retired in Brussels, in part to be with their daughter who had married a Belgian, I had a chance to meet them again. I was traveling in Europe trying to find other employment - I was thinking of leaving the Foreign Service. I sent them a message that I would be in Brussels and would like to call on them. I really did worship him. I got a very warm response inviting me to stay with them. When I arrived, Mrs. MacArthur met me at the airport driving their old Mercedes by herself. She took me to their lovely apartment. They had kept the Filipino housemaid that they had had for many years and who stayed with him until his death. The MacArthurs could not have been warmer, although I did detect a second agenda. At the time, I was the consul general in Winnipeg working for Ambassador Thomas O. Enders. He had been the DCM in Belgrade for Ambassador William Leonhart. Leonhart had been MacArthur's second DCM in Tokyo. Leonhart had fired Enders, which in turn resulted in Leonhart's removal. The MacArthurs wanted to know all of the"dirt" surrounding this feud. I have never worked for a smarter man than Tom Enders; he was a very effective ambassador. Fortunately, I got along very well with Enders - many did not. So I had nothing but praise for the Enders. I think that disappointed the MacArthurs. After Mrs. MacArthur died, I had lunch with the ambassador. That was the second time I saw him weep. This was about six weeks after her death and he was still very much in shock. ... Iran was one of the reasons I resigned from the Foreign Service in 1980. I think we made a big mistake in turning our back on the Shah; that was not what I consider a valid American policy. The Shah was our friend and Americans don't turn their backs on friends. Q: What did you think MacArthur's attitude was toward the Shah and the ruling clique? HUTSON: He related well with them socially."
JAPAN-YAKUZA-BLACK DRAGON-MACARTHUR-MOONIE-LINK:
Dec. 24, 1948, Earnest Hoberecht for United Press, '17 Japanese War Crimes Suspects Obtain Amnesty': "Seventeen major Japanese war crimes suspects still awaiting trial were granted a Christmas amnesty today by General Douglas MacArthur and 16 of them were released from Sugamo Prison at noon. The seventeeth, Dr. Shumei Okawa, is under treatment for a mental condition… MacArthur’s legal section announced the amnesty was granted because it appeared highly improbable that the suspects could be convicted if they were brought to trial. … Japanese of all classes appeared baffled by the amnesty. They considered some of those granted freedom were the ideological instigators of the Japanese attempt at world conquest. This, in the Japanese mind, is a greater crime than those charged against Tojo. One Japanese intellectual said it did not make sense to hang Tojo and his six codefendants if the “real plotters of aggression” were turned loose. The 17 men are all who were left in the class A of the suspects. … The amnesty was granted 36 hours after Tojo and six other condemned war criminals were hanged and their ashes scattered to the winds." Dec. 25, 1948, Schenectady Gazette, 'MacArthur Amnesty Ruling Baffles Japan': "Some insisted it did not make sense to hang Hideki Tojo and six others, while turning loose 17 men whom they believed equally guilty. Others said that if the allies did not want to continue the trials, they should have permitted the Japanese to set up courts here similar to the denazification courts in Germany. Many Japanese intellectuals felt the Amnesty heightened the possibility of a fascist revival in Japan. … They asked what the logic was in turning loose men like Shumei Okawa [translator for the army; associated with Black Dragon Society; from 1918 to 1932 he worked for the East Asiatic Economic Investigation Bureau of the South Manchurian Railway, reportedly a key intelligence bureau for the Black Dragon Society; founder of the Daigaku ryo [Colonization Academy and other names] in 1921, a secretive think tank and indoctrination center under the patronage of the emperor and which also counted a professorship of Black Dragon Society founder Toyama; founder of the Jimmu Society in 1931 (named after a mythical emperor with imperial tendencies) [David Bergamini, p. 331, wrote about the Daigaku ryo: "Here studied everyone of the Class A war criminals tried by Allied judges in 1946 and 1947. Here, if anywhere, was hatched the criminal conspiracy' of which Japan's war leaders, with the exception of Hirohito, were judged guilty. Here only were all Japan's criminals' together in one place at one time to conspire."]; involved in assassinations and coups in the 1930s, for which he went to jail in 1935 with the son of Toyama [1935, The China monthly review: Volume 74: "Tokyo Supreme Court Delays Verdict on “May 15” Case: ... Two other accused, Shuzo Toyama and Kenichiro Homma, who nssistcd Dr. Okawa in plotting an insurrection received sentences of three and four years of imprisonment respectively. The first of these is the third son of Mitsuru Toyama..."]; head of the East Asiatic Economic Investigation Bureau 1937-1939; professor at Hosei University since 1939; promoted a clash of civilization with Japan against the United States and other countries], “the father of Japanese aggression,” and Yoshisa Kuzu, former head of the Black Dragon society, while hanging former Premier Koki Hirota, and keeping ambassador to London, Mamoru Shigmitsu, behind bars. Okawa and Kuzu, they said, were the “ideological instigators” of Japanese imperialism, and therefore “the biggest criminals of all.” Dr. Yushi Uchimura, head of Maisuzawa Hospital for mental patients, where Okawa has been hospitalized since he slapped Tojo on the head the opening day of the international military tribunal, said Okawa has been “virtually normal” for the past year. Medical test, however, show that he is not completely cured. He said Okawa reads the newspapers daily and read of the hanging of Tojo and others, but made no comment." Dec. 24, 1948, Associated Press, 19 Top Japs Get Amnesty: "The parade from Sugamo included these members of Tojo’s Pearl Harbor cabinet--- Nobusuke Kishi, commerce minister; Michiyo Iwamura, justice minister; and Ken Terashima, communications minister. Kisaburo Ando, who later became Tojo’s home minister, and Kazuo Aoki, who was named greater east Asia minister in 1943, also were released. Alva C. Carpenter, head of MacArthur's legal section, said officials in the group had held office at a time when they could not have been responsible for atrocities, or were industrialists who could not be charged with atrocities. Three were widely known as leaders during Japan’s saber rattling days. They are Yoshihisa Kuzu [or Kuzuu], who once was president of the Black Dragon society which was notorious in Japan’s plotting for conquest; Gen. Toshizo Nishio, once commander in chief in China and a close associate of Tojo, and Eiji Amau, a diplomat who wrote the notorious “Amau statement” on Japan’s plan for conquest. Others freed were Genki Abe…vice-chief of the cabinet planning board; Fumio Goto, minister without portfolio in 1943-44; Yoshio Kodama, navy purchasing agent; Ryoichi Sasakawa, organizer of extremist parties; Sankichi Takahashi [suspected of Black Dragon Society involvement; anno 1942-1943, vice-president of the East Asia Development Association, "a totalitarian corporation organized since the fall of Singapore to develop, exploit, and integrate the whole of Asia into one great economic bloc."; known for imperialist rhetoric], an organizer of the wartime political party of the Imperial Rule Assistance association and a member of the supreme war council, and Masayuki Tani, chief of the cabinet information bureau."
BLACK DRAGON SOCIETY:
16 Black Dragons active in U.S. internment camps, undermining morale by intimidating pro-US Japanese. Were separated and detained. ( Feb 6, 1943, St. Petersburg Times, Drew Pearson, Washington Merry-Go-Round) June 4, 1943, Schenectady Gazette, 'Late War Bulletins': "The Tokyo radio quoted the Japanese Black Dragon society as demanding that President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and other United Nations lenders “surrender unconditionally to Japan” or else “succumb under divine punishment within a fatefully short time,” the federal communication commission said." October 6, 1945, George H. Johnston for The Argus (Melbourne 1848-1956), 'Japanese Still Fear the Black Dragon: The Militarist Secret Society Which Helped Mould The Destiny of Japan Has Gone Underground': "My first realization of the terror which strikes most Japanese at the mention of the evil and infamous Tokuryo-Kai, better known as the Black Dragon Society, came when visiting the beautiful little mountain village of Gotemba at the foot of the soaring peak of Fujiyama. I had called on a man who was personal physician to Prince Chichibu, and in the course of conversation I asked him who was living now in Gotemba, home of old Mitsuru Toyama [died in Oct. 1944], who had helped in founding the Black Dragon secret society in 1901, and who had died at the age of 90 last year. The doctor blanched with fear, and stammered and protested he did not know anything about Toyama or his home, and did not want to know anything concerned with the strange organization. His anxiety to change the subject was pitiful. The next development occurred on September 13, when General MacArthur ordered the abolition of the society and asked for the arrest of the seven leaders of the society. So far, with almost a week gone, only one man has given himself up, although another still carries on his business as a member of Prince Higishikuni’s Cabinet. In that time I have been making investigations into this strange and evil organization, an investigation which culminated in the interview with frail, long-bearded, 72-year-old Yoshihisa Kuzu, who accepted the presidency of the Tokuryo-Kai after the death of its earlier leaders, Toyama and Uchida, who were often known as “Unofficial Prime Ministers of Japan.” The blunt fact that emerges from this interview and earlier investigations, is that the Black Dragon Society has gone underground to continue fostering militant youth organizations and to spread the gospel of hatred and superiority; to fight for the belief that the Japanese are a master race operating a “rule of the gods,” which will result in the whole world being under one roof, with the Mikado at its head. More than any other organization or faction in Japan, the Black Dragon works for tomorrow’s war. … The black dragon was founded 44 years ago, and organized with strong assistance from the Army, the Navy, and Government leaders, most of whom held membership. It had a stranglehold on the War Ministry and was represented in all occupied territory, holding enormous power through its squads of strong-arm thugs and assassination groups, who ruled by terrorism. Among its more recent machinations were the great “blood purge” of 1936, the beginning of the “China incident,” and the attack on Pearl Harbor. … We found Yoshihisa Kusun after five days’ search through bombed-out shambles of Tokyo city. He was living in a neat, simple, typically Japanese, house … In the inner room we met the leader of Japan’s most evil secret society… Because of some nervous tic, his right cheek twitched constantly. … The Black Dragon Society, he explained, was a peace-loving organisation. Yes, some of its members might have committed murders, he admitted, but on their own volition, and without the orders or approval of the society. The Black Dragon no longer existed, he explained softly, and it was absurd for General MacArthur to issue an order for its abolition. “I liquidated it a long time ago,” he said, “and handed all its documents into the Japanese Foreign office. I was its last president and its last member.” We asked him about the seven members General MacArthur had named in the black list, and he waved his thin hand impatiently and smiled a trifle supercillously: “Two of the seven have been dead for several years,” he said gently. “The other five have never been members of the society.” We asked him about Colonel Kingoro Hashimoto, one of the wanted men, who had already given himself up to arrest. … Kusun explained that Hashimoto was not a member of the Black Dragon Society, but founder of the Nippon Youth Movement a decade ago. He denied that the movement was, in effect, a junior branch of Black Dragon. … Then we questioned him about Black Dragon terrorism, and pointed out that Ambassador Grew and other Ministers of Foreign Powers had directly blamed Black Dragon for the long series of political murders—Premiers Hara, Inukai, Inouye, Hamaguchi, Viscount Saito, Takahashi, and Watanabe. The old man’s hands gestured almost imperceptibly. Black Dragon, he said, knew nothing of these terrible crimes…. We insisted that all the evidence indicated that these murders could be laid at the door of old Toyama, master mind of the society. He shook his head slowly. “I am a disciple of Toyama,” he said. … “He was a man with a great love of peace.” … Kusun explained that in 1930 Ryuhei Uchida (first name on General MacArthur’s wanted list of Black Dragons), who had been one of the founders of Black Dragon and was its president, had died, and to prevent disintegration of the society he had taken over its presidency. “Its aims were strictly confined to social enterprises within Japan,” he lied softly. “Beyond meeting in small groups to discuss the war, it had no part in the war…”… [Kusun] went on to explain the principles of Shinto Fanaticism, which is the subname of “Tennoism” (Emperor worship), and which had fundamentally become the national policy of Japan, and which was still being kept up by the underground, and inculcated into the minds of thousands of young Japanese fanaticists. It professes a creed that Nippon is one great household, with the Sun God (Emperor Hirohoto) at its head. For half a century it has been the dominant policy of Black Dragon and with its correlated policy – that Tennoism can only be successful with the domination of all Asia under the Sun God, it being taught throughout secret Japanese youth movements, who are urged “to write the Imperial message in letters of fire to the far corners of the universe.” Then Kusun delivered the most startling statement of all. “When Russia began to interfere in East Asia, we had to stop it by setting up a buffer state. Then, when America in 1941 unfairly broke off commercial relationships, and began to rearm and to introduce conscription, we knew it was preparing for war with Japan. Except that we ran out of weapons, we would have won.” When he was asked what he thought of Japanese atrocities, he shrugged his shoulders unconcernedly. “I have read reports,” he admitted, “but I have no way of knowing whether they are true. But eliminate the causes of war and there would be no atrocities.” He admitted that, although there was no longer any Black Dragon Society, some of its former members were now with other secret societies. We left Kusu’s house, he bowing us out with a strange triumphant expression in his black eyes. In spite of the immaculate cleanliness of his home, I had the feeling that the thing I wanted most was to have a bath in disinfectant. I had the feeling also that this fragile old man controlled immense forces for evil, of which we, at best, we only partly aware. I had the feeling, also, that with Kusun’s influence on Japan’s underground and the fanatical youth movements, little of the foulness of Japanese nationalism and racial superioty had been swept away by surrender, that the next war was being hatched in the very ashes of defeat, and that when It came the “defunct” Black Dragon Society would, as in the past, have much to do with its coming." Sep. 4, 1951, The Argus (Melbourne 1848-1956), 'It Could Happen Again: Sinister Mr. Ishihara and the Black Dragon Gang': "Three sinister men played important parts in Japan’s penetration in South-east Asia, and were heavily involved in the network of espionage and fifth column organizing which paved the way for the Pacific war. These men were Mitsuru Toyama, controller of the Black Dragon Society (the Kokuryokai), Shumei Okawa, the thug and spy trainer who pretended to a mystic vocation, and Koichiro Ishihara… Okawa was gaoled for his part in organizing the murder of the Japanese Prime Minister of the day, Unukai, in May, 1932…. [The Black Dragon Society’s] original purpose was to support the Sun Yat Sen movement against the Manchu tyranny… The East Asiatic Economic Investigation Bureau was one of its many offshoots; Shumei Okawa was the chief of this Bureau. Under his guidance the Bureau trained espionage agents and sent them throughout Asia to collect economic and political information. It was such an important organization that it received copies of all reports sent to Tokyo by diplomats; undercover organizations and industrial concerns, all of which were Japanese espionage agencies. In fact, it was the spearhead of Japan’s espionage attack in South-east Asia. It worked directly for the government of Japan, and is known to have been one of the chief advisers of the army, with whose most reactionary officers Okawa was closely associated." April 7, 1958, Milwaukee Journal, 'The Secret Black Dragon Society': "Kuzu and Toyama were co-founders of the Dragons. … Kuzu was imprisoned for three years as a war criminal suspect, then released without being tried. Recently he died at 85—probably the last of the important zealots who had been conscripted by the patriarch Toyama. … Dozens of patriotic Japanese who advocated a peace policy were murdered by the Dragons. The gang formed spy rings in several countries in preparation for the attempted conquest of all Asia and possibly the rest of the world. Toyama held no public office, preferring to wield his vast authority through subordinates. … Foreign correspondents in Japan before 1940 were always hearing about the Black Dragon and Toyama but never learned much about them. Hundreds of Japanese writers, in books and magazines, explained that Toyama was a great patriot, beloved by all, but they never gave details about his rise to eminence. … Toyama, an organizer of rare talent, formed a faction called Genyosha, which wanted a war against China for territory and other spoils. The premier and foreign minister favored a peace policy. One of Toyama’s men tossed a bomb at the minister, who lost a leg. The assailant promptly killed himself and became a national hero. … As mentioned before, the Black Dragons were formally organized when the expansionists realized that Russia was the ultimate foe in the contest for seizing China. … in the late 1920’s Toyama gained royal favor. Hirohito (then crown prince and now emperor) was betrothed to a girl of a leading clan. A powerful general, member of a rival clan, protested the choice of the girl, and consternation struck imperial court circles. Toyama bluntly told the general to withdraw his protests and stop meddling. The general obeyed. … In the early 1930’s they filtered into Manchuria to provoke “incidents” which would call for intervention. The cabinet was opposed to war, so the Dragons murdered the prime minister and several other government leaders. For several years before World War II, the Black Dragons openly ran the empire. While Toyama dozed into his eighties, his disciples took over. Sugiyama led the invasionof China in 1937. Premier Hirota made Japan a partner of Hitler in the Axis. Tojo was the empire’s strong man when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Then, a few years later, events really turned black for the Black Dragons, and they disappeared into history." Sep. 30, 1945, Sunday Morning Star, 'Black Dragons Merely Terrorist Killers Racketeers: Famous Author, Authority on the East To Write for The Star [Owen Lattimore]': " Unfortunately the sensational aspects of such gangs as the Black Dragon Society and the Dark Ocean Society, by playing up to the comic-strip side of our prevailing notions about mysterious oriental killers and cut-throats, hinder us from using our normal common sense in calling the turn on a political racket. The truth is that the Black Dragon Society, and other societies with which it has interlocking directorships, is not mysterious at all. That is why, forseeing the situation that would arise after the defeat of Jpan, I wrote in “Solution in Asia” that: “We should include among war criminals all officers and civilians with proved associations of the Black Dragon type who should be punished according to their guilt, with deportation and internment as the minimum. It will not be difficult to apprehend these criminals. The ‘secret’ societies were secret only in a manner of speaking. The more dangerous terrorists were well known and boasted of their associations.” My analysis is borne out of the fact that the first seven leaders arrested include such public figures as Koki Hirota, a former Premier; the swashbuckling Col. Kingoro Hashimoto, who staged the attack on the American gunboat Panay, off Nanking, in 1937… As a matter of fact, we know a great deal about the Black Dragon and similar societies. They had such a bold contempt for the law that they actually printed a great deal of material about their organizations, their history, their members and their backers. … The essential facts about the secret societies are that they were founded by the same people who created the modern imperial institutions of Japan, and are controlled by exactly the same people who still control the Emperor—the Zaibatsu or big industrial and financial monopolists. … Men with such ideas were worth the handsome subsidies paid to them by the big industrialists who wanted fat naval and military budgets to expand their industries, and a docile labor force. … It is hardly surprising that the Japan Advertiser, the American-owned paper in Tokyo, once referred to Toyama, the biggest of all the Black Dragon big shots, as “a most romantic reactionary, medieval but sincere.” Naturally, there have been ups and downs in the relations between the Black Dragons and their paymasters. That is always true in gang rackets. The paymasters had their own times and reasons for wanting to turn the killers loose or hold them back. At other times the killers, feeling their strength, turned the heat on the paymasters, and some of the paymasters even got hurt. … They are sacrifing some of the front men, but hoping to keep the racket."
Sasakawa: Wealthy business man. Founder in 1931 and head of the Patriotic Peoples' Party, where he first met Kodama, who was a member. Nippon Foundation biography of Sasakawa: "The Patriotic People's Party [Kokusui Taishu-to] (PPP) [was] established by Ryoichi Sasakawa on March 10, 1931... Under Sasakawa, the party supported Japan's entry into Manchuria, the creation of Manchukuo, and in 1933 called for Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations. It advocated for a state built around the emperor, and favored a Japanese advance into Southeast Asia. ... It should be mentioned here that Sasakawa's relationship with PPP member Yoshio Kodama began at this point, not while the two were in prison under the U.S. occupation. ... Sasakawa and several members of its leadership were arrested [in 1935] on trumped up charges of blackmail. ... Sasakawa sat in prison, and though he was tentatively released in 1938, it would be 1941 before the Osaka Appellate Court finally acquitted all 17 members of the PPP that had stood trial. ... [Sasakawa provided] a certain amount of support for the army. The most concrete examples of this were personal visits that he paid to soldiers and officers in China and Manchuria, in order to comfort them in the field... in the fall of 1945, Sasakawa organized roughly 20 speeches in Osaka, in which he publicly volunteered to be arrested as a Class A suspect. [to defend emperor and Japan]..." Send his wealth to support the military in conducting its wars. Won a seat in parliament in 1942. During the war he flew a squadron bomber to Rome and met Mussolini. Upon hearing in December 1945 that his name was on a list of suspected war criminals he stated to be proud on the list because it contained "Japan's first-class persons" (Dec. 4, 1945, Spokesman-Review, 'Diet plans recess'). Has had a friendly audience with Pope Jean Paul II (pope embraces him).
August 26, 1974, Time magazine, 'Japan: The Godfather-san': "Back in 1964, former Japanese Premier Nobusuke Kishi needed a big favor: a guarantee that his brother Eisaku Sato would succeed ailing Hayato Ikeda as Premier. So Kishi paid a secret visit to a Tokyo businessman who obligingly made a few telephone calls to his friends. As a result, Sato's opponent hastily withdrew from the race, and Sato went on to become Japan's Premier for an unprecedented eight years. The tale illustrates the astonishing behind-the-scenes influence wielded by Ryoichi Sasakawa, 75, the most powerful remaining member of a vanishing breed of Japanese kingmakers known as kuromaku. The word translates literally as black curtain,* but the closest equivalent in American slang of the power it connotes is godfather. ... In traditional fashion, he likes to boast of his conquest of more than 500 women, ranging from "a distant relative of Emperor Taisho to almost all the top geisha." His unbridled admiration for Benito Mussolini —"the perfect fascist and dictator" —lingers to this day. Indeed, Sasakawa sometimes boasts that he is the "world's wealthiest fascist.""
In jail 1945-1948. Founder in 1948 and chairman of the Japan Motorboat Association. Founder in 1980 of the U.S.-Japan Foundation, together with Angier Biddle Duke. The Duke family was put in contact with Sasakawa through Gen. William Draper, former assistant secretary of defense who was also involved with rebuilding Japan. Henry Kissinger took place on the board. John Brademas later sat on the board also. Jimmy Carter supporter it.
Dec. 23, 1989, The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Back to save the world': "When Japanese millionaire Ryoichi Sasakawa visited the Carters in 1981, Carter recalls, he expressed consernation that a former President lived in "such a humble cottage"." Photographed jogging with Carter in 1984. Put Carter on the board of his U.S.-Japan Foundation. April 15, 1991, Observer-Reporter, 'Carter’s money': "The Global 2000 project, a Carter effort to help the sick and handicapped and end famine in Africa, Western Asia and China received most of its financing from a Japanese gambling czar and a Pakistani financier whose bank laundered drugs money. One of the donors, Ryoichi Sasakawa…. The other donor is Agha Hasan Abedi… Combined the two men and foundations they control gave $19.1 million to Global 2000 and another $3.8 million to other projects at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta."
www.us-jf.org/about.html#organization: "The United States-Japan Foundation, incorporated under United States law in 1980, was founded with a grant of $44.8 million from the Japan Shipbuilding Industry Foundation (now known as the Nippon Foundation). ... the concept of a private foundation that would help Americans and Japanese to understand each other better grew out of a conversation among friends. ... In this case, the friends were Robin Chandler Duke, her husband, the late Ambassador Angier Biddle Duke, and the late Japanese entrepreneur, Ryoichi Sasakawa. Robin and “Angie” Duke, a prominent New York couple, had met Ryoichi Sasakawa in the late 1970s through their common interest in supporting United Nations programs in the developing world. ... In the 1970s he donated more than $25 million to United Nations activities, most notably to the World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNESCO, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the UN Fund for Population Activities. He had also given generously to the City of New York (250 cherry trees for Central Park) and $6 million to American universities including Morehouse and Duke. ... Serving as Chief of Protocol under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, he accompanied Prime Minister Eisaku Sato during his visit to the United States. In 1976, as Commissioner of Civic Affairs and Public Events for New York City, he was in charge of arrangements for the visit of Emperor Hirohito to the city. ... Robin Duke had become passionately interested in world population problems, and was a member of the Population Crisis Committee, then headed by General William Draper. ... It was William Draper who introduced Robin Duke to Ryoichi Sasakawa. ... Angie and Robin Duke gathered a group of eminent American leaders to advise the Foundation. The group included former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger; Jack Howard of Scripps Howard Publications; ... Robert S. Sarnoff, former Chairman of RCA; ... Anthony Drexel Duke, Executive Chairman of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy; William Mellon Eaton, attorney; ... Important Japanese advisors at this time, in addition to Sasakawa, included Seiji Kaya, former President of Tokyo University; Kazuo Iwata, Chairman of the Toshiba Group; Nobuhiko Ushiba, a former Ambassador to the United States, and Akio Matsumura, a UN advisor on planned parenthood. ... [anno 2012: Honorary advisors: Hon. Jimmy Carter ... Hon. Thomas S. Foley [Trilateral Commission chairman]"
Founder in 1962 of the Nippon Foundation as the Japan Shipbuilding Industry Foundation, primarily aimed at developing Japan's marine resources and maritime industry. President Nippon Foundation 1962-1995, later taken over by his son Yohei took it over. Sasakawa became a major supporter of the United Nations and its programs. The foundation gave $300 million to charity in 1980 and in 1998 this had risen to $540 million.
President of the Japanese Shipbuilding Foundation. April 10, 1972, Toledo Blade, 'Mountain ceremony marks Bataan's fall to Japanese': "Symbolizing postwar reconciliation, Japan was represented for the first time at a Bataan [death march] ceremony by Ryoichi Sasakawa, member of parliament during the war. He is now a philantrophist and promoter of friendship with the Philippines."
November 3, 1945, Evening Independent, 'New Japan Parties To Bear Watching':
Sep. 24, 1980, Ottawa Citizen, 'Japanese godfather promises sunken treasure to charity': "Sasakawa’s critics have suggested that the $300 million he gives away every year is just an elaborate smokescreen to divert public attention from his less savory activities, such as the World Anti-Communit League convention held in Tokyo’s giant martial arts hall and guarded by members of judo and karate clubs supported by him. The source of the former right-wing politician’s charitable donations is a network of 24 motorboat gambling concessions throughout Japan. … “All those who criticize me are Red, or jealous, or spiteful because I don’t give them money.” Sasakawa’s personal message is written in huge Chinese characters on the Tenoh: “The world is one and all men are brothers.”"
July 9, 1981, The Times-News, 'The UN throws some parties!' (John Roche): "First the facts: the United Nations Information Department has been paying 15 newspapers throughout the world to run quarterly supplements on the noble work of the U.N. … However, the interesting thing these quarterly blurbs about the U.N. is that they appeared to be news coverage with no indication they had been bought. The source of the money is even more interesting: … Ryoichi Sasakawa. … He has organized a private army, the “International Federation for Anti-Communism,” which specializes in breaking up left-wing demonstrations. In short, a marginal charmer, but obviously not all devious and wicked: his bust is on prominent display at UNESCO headquarters in Geneva, and he has passed out millions to various UN projects. He probably also likes dogs and small children. … What is surprising is the number of eminent papers that picked up the offer and cash – “Le Monde” among them. … Meanwhile, back at UNESCO another one of Sasakawa’s projects seems to be in trouble. The $60,000 “Peace Education Prize,” which he hoped would rank with the Nobel, seems to be heading toward Pulitzer status. A committee of dubious eminence was supposed to name the winner last spring, but to date nothing has happened. One rumor has it that Sasakawa wants it awarded posthumously to Mussolini."
July 31, 1985, Times-News, 'Treasure hunters have been hitting it lucky lately': "Off Japan, the wreck of the Russian cruiser Admiral Nakhimov has not yet lived up to its legend. The ship was torpedoed by the Japanese fleet in the battle of Tsuhima on May 27-28, 1908. Some historians say it was carrying the treasures of Czar Nicholas II to Vladivostok, along with 20 million pounds sterling. Estimates of the treasure ranged from $2 billion to $38 billion. In June 1984, divers brought up the first find – about 100 pieces of silver tableware. Since February, a 50-member salvage group, including 20 divers aboard the Ten Oh-Maru, chartered by the Tokyo-based World Development Technologies Center, has made three searches without finding the main treausure. Ryoichi Sasagawa, the eccentric 86-year-old multimillionaire who finances the center, claimed in 1980 that divers had recovered 16 platinum ingots of 70 percent purity, worth about $2,4 million. Later, the company disclosed that the ingots were some other metal—it wouldn’t say what. When he announced the find, Sasagawa offered to exchange the ship;s treasure for the Kurile Islands off northern Japan, which the Soviets seized at the end of World War II. The Soviets claimed ownership of the ship and its treasures that same year, but lately have had little to say on the issue. Masatoshi Yuwahashi, a spokesman for Sasagawa, said the offer to swap for the Kuriles still stands."
2012, David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro, 'Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld: 25th Anniversary Edition', pp. 63-64: "In 1980, Sasakawa's company grossed $7.4 billion—an extraordinarily sum in those days. At the same time, Sasakawa won over the various bakuto gangs. He bragged publicly that he was a drinking companion of Japan’s leading godfather, Yamaguchi-gumi head Kazuo Taoka. In the karomaku tradition, Sasakawa also reportedly served as a mediator between feuding yakuza gangs. And, like his cohort Kodama, he employed squads of financial racketeers to push along his controversial investments. … He counted himself among the founders of the Asian People’s Anti-Communist League and its stepchild, the World Anti-Communist League (WACL), along with such early supporters as Syngman Rhee and Chiang Kai-shek. In 1963, Sasakawa became an advisor to the Japanese branch of … Moon’s Unification Church, known in Japan as Genri Undo. Moon and Sasakawa brought a number of Japanese rightist groups together in a WACL subsidiary known as Kokusai Shokyo Rengo, the International Federation for Victory over Communism, and Sasakawa assumed the roles of both patron and president."
1971: Sasakawa sets up venture in Taiwan to start mining silicon.
October 1, 1970, Taiwan Today, 'Anti-Communist victory in Japan': "The IFVC [International Federation for Victory over Communism] workers are clean, neat and full of evangelistic fervor. Dedicated preachers they truly are. ... The politico-religious dedication to victory over Communism was introduced to Japan by Koreans about a decade ago and perfected by the Society for the Study of Anti-Communist Theories sponsored by the Christian Unification Church of Japan. When IFVC was established in the spring of 1968 following a number of seminars and conferences, Osami Kuboki [head WACL/APACL Japan], the head of the church, became federation president. ... He went to Bangkok in 1969 as a member of the Japanese delegation to the 3rd WACL Conference. Already a determined anti-Communist, he was convinced that his religious ideals could not be realized without the destruction of Communism. He proposed that Japan host the 4th WACL... The Japan Chapter of WACL and APACL is the international department of the Free Asia Association established in 1955 by Dr. Tetsuzo Watanabe and other distinguished party and civic leaders. This chapter publishes a monthly periodical and has worked for the outlawing of the Communist party in Japan. But the strength of the chapter was not sufficient to sponsor anti-Communist meetings of worldwide scope. As it turned out, IFVC's contribution was so large that Kuboki was chosen chairman of the WACL/APACL Councils and presided over the league conferences in Kyoto. He also was chairman of the WACL World Rally Executive Committee. President of the committee was Ryoichi Sasakawa... Assisting Sasakawa's executive committee was the WACL World Rally Promotion Committee headed by Nobusuke Kishi, former prime minister of Japan..."
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APACL, FOUNDED IN 1954 (Chapters in Taiwan, Japan, South Vietnam, South Korea and Thailand)::
Ku Cheng-kang (honorary life chairman APACL)
Cheng Yen-fen (read Chiang Kai-shek message to 1973 conference)
Chiang Ching-kuo (son of Chiang Kai-shek; speaker at 1973 APACL conference)
Madame Chiang Kai-shek (president at 1973 conference)
Nobusuke Kishi: delegate from Japan (LDP PM; headed APACL del. in early 1960s)backed by Kodama and Sasakawa)
Ishii Mitsujiri (pro-Taiwan hardliner in LDP)
Kitazawa Naokichi
Chiba Naka
Funada Naka (pro-Taiwan hardliner in LDP)
Osami Kuboki: (vice-president WACL Japan under Watanabe; chairman of the APACL Japan anno 1973; joined Unification Church in 1962 and soon became national leader; adviser and lecturer to Kodama's Youth Lectures; helped Kodama and Sasakawa with setting up Victory Over Communism; with Sasakawa at WACL World Rally)
Admiral Sohn Won (APACL chairman from South Korea in 1973)
Tran Tam (exec. secretary APACL)
Mem., Vietnamese Del. to 3rd Cong, of Asian People's Anti-Communist League, Saigon Mar-Apr 1957
Nguyen Van Thieu (PM South Vietnam 1965-1975; previously loyal to Diem; supported by APACL visitors)
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Kodama: Born in 1911. Became a criminal. Member Black Dragon Society (photo taken around 1930 shows him sitting in a group meeting with Mitsuru Toyama). First jail sentence in 1931 for threating to assassinate a Diet member. A USAF Pacific counter-intelligence file stated that Kodama had been involved in a large opium ring that he ran from Shanghai. Founder in 1934 of the Tengyo Society, a militant group focused on assassinating government officials and businessmen (according to CIA files). Involved in a bombing plot that year against government officials (in context: moderate globalist Hara Takashi was assassinated in 1921 by an ultranationalist; moderate prime minister Osachi Hamaguchi was severely wounded in a 1930 assassination attempt by a member of Japanese ultranationalist secret society; military invaded Manchuria in 1931 without consent from government (premise: military heard explosion in their occupied part of Manchuria, same reason for 1937 invasion). Military diet voted to withdraw from Manchuria. Prime minister Inukai Tsuyoshi was assassinated in 1932; a military coup was put down in February 26, 1936). Advisor to the temporary post-war government. Assigned to become bodyguard of Wang Jingwei, a defector from Chiang Kai-shek's ranks, in 1939. Worked for the Showa Trading Company in 1940 and 1941. Set up his Kodama Agency in Shanghai in December 1941, a procurement and purchasing agency for the navy. Employes several hundred right wing thugs, criminals and agents of the military secret police. Initial purpose is to deliver copper and airplane parts to the navy, but soon expands his operations to supply food, clothes, vehicles and rare materials to the navy. He also expands his activities as far as Burma. Reportedly paid approximately $1,5 billion dollars by the navy between 1941 and 1945. Basically robbed the Chinese for the most part. Reportedly he took about $175 million back to Japan with him (as well as thousand gold bars). Put in jail in 1946. Released in December 1948 by MacArthur, together with Sasakawa, Kishi, Okawa and Kusu, head of the Black Dragon Society. Founder Daiko Trade Company in 1949, to be used to infiltrate agents into the communist China. Professed his loyalty (and that of his friends) to MacArthur in a 1950 letter, closing off with "I remain your obedient servant".
Chairman of the Japan National Party. Had a stroke in 1974 and was bedridden since that time. Protected at his home after the Lockheed affair by members of his extreme-right Youth Thought Study Society, also called the Youth Ideological Research Organization.
In 1928, he founded a right-wing group, the Dokuritsu Seinen Sha (Independence Youth Society). It tried to assassinate both opposition leaders and Prime Minister Saito Makoto, for which Kodama was sentenced to 3.5 years of imprisonment. By the 1930s, he had been rehabilitated by the Japanese and formed both an intelligence network in Manchuria and an extensive system for purchasing strategic materials, such as cobalt, copper, nickel and radium, sometimes bartering drugs for materials. Kodama called it "an organization with no thought of profit," but, by the end of the war, it was worth $175 million and the Japanese government made the former prisoner a rear admiral. After the war, Kodama began to pour part of his fortune into the careers of Japan's most conservative politicians, and he became a key member of a CIA operation that helped bring them to power. He worked with American businessmen, OSS veterans, and ex-diplomats to pull off an audacious covert operation, bankrolled by the CIA, during the Korean War.[28] This operation obtained tungsten needed for U.S. munitions, for which the United States Department of Defense paid $10 million, with underwriting of $2.8 million from the CIA. According to Weiner, the operation left Kodama in bad odor with the CIA's Tokyo station. "He is a professional liar, gangster, charlatan, and outright thief", the station reported on 10 September 1953. "Kodama is completely incapable of intelligence operations, and has no interest in anything but the profits". The relationship was severed, and the CIA turned its attention to the care and feeding of up-and-coming Japanese politicians - including Kishi - who won seats in the Diet, Japan's parliament, in the first elections after the end of the American occupation." July 5, 1974, St. Petersburg Times, 'Traditional power in Japan slipping from hidden men': "Yoshio Kodama is among the most powerful men in Japan. He was instrumental in founding the nation’s governing political party, he has had a hand in naming several premiers, he had settled dozens of disputes among top businessmen. He also commands the allegiance of Japan’s ultraright wing and his strong influence over the yakuza, or gangsters, of the underworld here. Few people in or outside Japan have ever heard his name. For Kodama is what the Japanese call “kuromaku,” a term from the traditional kabuki drama meaning “black curtain”. The Japanese prefer their power to be hidden and applied with subtlety and have refined the use of the man-behind-the-scenes into an art. There are kuromaku everywhere in Japanese life, in politics, business, education, sports, religion. Yoshio Kodama is the godfather of them all. But Kodama, who is 63 years old, and his longtime friend, Ryoichi Sasakawa, another leading kuromaku, who is 75, may be the last of a breed. … For their roles before and during the war, both Kodama and Sasakawa were imprisoned as war criminals, though neither was brought to trial. … Kodama stays of the public eye and his name is rarely mentioned in the press – and then most discretely. He is chairman of an obscure colliery company and advisor to several other small companies. Some of his income comes from a sports newspaper. Sasakawa thrives on publicity and uses it to blow a smokescreen over his other activities. He is chairman of the Japan Shipbuilding Association and a list of his other titles, such as sponsor of martial-arts associations, fills a page. Kodama works from a small, drab office in an unassuming office building… He has a black Cadillac and white Mercedes-Benz parked in the driveway… Kodama’s rise began in World War II when he ran the Kodama Agency in China, ostensibly to purchase war materials for the Japanese Navy. The Kodama Agency is also to have engaged in espionage and smuggling. Kodama brought vast amounts of money out of China and gave them, through an intermediary, to Ichiro Hatoyama, later premier, to start what is now the Liberal Democratic Party. Asked how much it was, Kodama said: “In cash, there was 70—million yen” In today’s purchasing power, that would have been about $3,5-million. What about platinum? “Well, he said, “about half this room full.” In addition, he said, he brought three large sacks of industrial diamonds from Shanghai to Singapore. Sasakawa, who has reportedly made several fortunes in the shipping and shipbuilding industries and in the stock market, is perhaps best known as the chairman of the Japan Motorboat Association. But his kuromaku work is much like that of Kodama. They have both had a hand in naming several premiers. Kodama helped break the late Shigeru Yoshida, the strongman of Japan’s postwar governments, and make his friend Hatoyama premier. While Kodama was in prison as an accused war criminal, he became a friend of Nobusuke Kishi, a government official who in 1957 was chosen as premier. Kishi was later in danger of being overthrown by internal party quarreling, but Kodama used his political influence to help have him re-elected by the party in 1959. According to Sasakawa, both he and Kodama helped to make Eisaku Sato premier in 1964. Generally, Kodama is critical of postwar Japan. The prewar political parties were corrupt, “but today’s Liberal-Democratic Party is more corrupt,” he asserts." January 19, 1984, The Age, 'Japan's fixer dies in hospital sanctuary': "Mr. Kodama, 72, died of heart failure in the Tokyo hospital where he has lived for the past several years and thus avoided sentencing in the Lockheed bribery scandal. A secret consultant to the Lockheed Aircraft Corp., Mr. Kodama had been instrumental in getting Japan’s All-Nippon Airways to buy the company’s Tristar widebodied aircraft 10 years ago. … Last October [former prime minister Kakuei] Tanaka was sentenced to four years jail for taking nearly $2 million from Lockheed, and is on bail pending appeal. Mr. Kodama was tried in a separate case, but the verdict was not given because he was said to be too ill to appear in court. His secretary was found guilty of foreign exchange law violations. According to prosecuters Mr Kodama was largely responsible for getting the airline to choose the Tristar, at a cost of more than $8 million in bribes and payments.This involved replacing the airline’s president (who was in favor of the rival DC-10), getting import approval delayed until the Tristar was flying, and generally greasing the works in the Transport Ministry and Tanaka Cabinet. An ultra-nationalist from an early age Mr Kodama first came to public attention in 1930 when he sent the Finance Minister of the day a knife. After a period in jail, he went to occupied China where the Imperial Army employed him as a bodyguard to the Chinese collaborator Wang Ching-wei. In 1941 he set up an agency on behalf of the Imperial Navy to buy and impound rare metals and commodities. He brought back much of his stolen wealth to Japan to start the postwar period a wealthy man. Arrested by the allied occupation authorities as a Grade A war crimes suspect in 1946 he spent two years in Tokyo’s Sugamo Prison where he met such conservative leaders as Mr. Nobusuke Kishi… Funder of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Mr Kodama organized Right-wing thugs to protect US President Eisenhower on a planned visit. Alarmed at Left-wing protest over Mr Kishi’s strengthening of US-Japan defence links, the visit was called off. From the late 1950s Mr Kodama was on a secret retainer from Lockheed, helping it win an order from Mr Kishi’s Government for 230 F-104 Starfighters. In a recent paper, the Berkeley political scientist, Mr Chalmers Johnson, summed up Kodama as one of Japan’s most notorious prewar political strongmen and postwar unofficial intermediaries between the world of politics and the worlds of gangsters, bullies for controlling stockholders’ meetings (sokaiya) and fanatical Right-wingers."
November 3, 1945, Evening Independent, 'New Japan Parties To Bear Watching': "Kyodo said two of the most widely known of these Nationalist leaders were Yoshio Kodama, heading what is called the Japan National party, and Ryoichi Sasagawa, current member of the of representatives, named by the agency as backing the National Federation of Toilers. The latter recently proclaimed a “finish fight” with Communists. Kodama was a wartime youth leader. Kyodo said he also was purchasing agent for militarists who were stripping raw materials from conquered areas. Kodama served briefly as advisor to the Higashikuni cabinet. At that time, sources told the Associated Press “Kodama is known as a militarist backer and was appointed advisor in order to keep him quiet during the readjustment period.” "
Ryuzo Sejima was intimate with the group of Hattori Takushiro, Tsuji Masanobu and Kodama Yoshio, etc.. Ryuzo Sejima worked with them after World War II. (Japanese book with ISBN number 978-4-10-122421-3). Kodama Yoshio and Ryuzo Sejima became intimate with Park Chung-hee and the Korea Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) of South Korea in 1960's. Especially, because Ryuzo Sejima and Park Chung-hee were the relations of the senior and the junior at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, Ryuzo Sejima became intimate with Park Chung-hee. By the way, Hisayuki Machii was also intimate with them. Hisayuki Machii cooperated in kidnapping of Kim Dae-jung. Ryuzo Sejima was able to become intimate with Chun Doo-hwan from the relations of Ryuzo Sejima and Park Chung-hee in 1980 because Chun Doo-hwan had been worshiping Park Chung-hee. When Yoshio Kodama died on January 17, 1984, Ryuzo Sejima was also intimate with U.S. Government and CIA as if Ryuzo Sejima succeeded the work of Yoshio Kodama. Ryuzo Sejima became the honorary post to govern NTT in June, 1986. Ryuzo Sejima managed the telephone records etc. of users of NTT and offered those information to the United States side. Brent Scowcroft etc. had come in contact with Ryuzo Sejima. The Japan Forum For Strategic Studiesscandal[32] was established on March 1, 1999. Ryuzo Sejima became the chairman of the Japan Forum For Strategic Studies.
December 13, 1976, Ocala Star-Banner, 'Japan's underworld finds status: crime, politics and finger chopping': "The underworld's gross total earnings for 1976, according to national tax-administration officials perpetually frustrated by the yakuza's understated returns, will surpass $5 billion. … Yoshio Kodama … could boast freely of his power as "boss over Tokyo's yakuza world" before pleading illness and retiring to his carefully guarded estate during the Lockheed probe. Professing that he himself was "not a yakuza," Kodama still claimed "brotherly" relations with Kazuo Taoka after having failed to pull the Yamaguchi into a nationwide gangster alliance. "We are united in our opposition to Communism," he once said. ... Dragooned as laborers on the front during the work on the Chinese mainland during the Japanese occupation of the 1930s, yakuza dug trenches and built airfields for Japanese forces fighting in South-east Asia during World War II. As recently as 1960, Kodama could recruit some 18,000 gangsters, supplemented by 10,000 gang-controlled street vendors, to confront demonstrators massed for President Eisenhower's visit."
2012, David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro, 'Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld: 25th Anniversary Edition', pp. 63-64: "The eminent historian Ivan Morris wrote in 1960: “Kodama is considered to be extremely influential as an undercover man in conservative and financial circles. At the same time he maintained links with former military men and rightists … Among Kodama’s many associates in the “New Japan” were Yakuza boss Karoku Tsuji, Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama, political wheeler dealer Ichiro Kono, and ultranationalist Bin Akao. (The last named was linked to the dramatic 1960 stabbing assassination of Socialist Party leader Inejiro Asanuma, and as late as that year Akao was calling himself the “Hitler of Japan”) … Kodama reportedly owned part of the Ginza nightclub empire that was controlled by his strikebreaking pal Korean gang boss Hisayuki Machii. … By 1958, six years or so after he had left the direct employ of G-2, Kodama was placed on the CIA payroll, with many lucrative spinoffs coming his way. And, from his talents as a strikebreaker, nurtured by General Willoughby’s organization, Kodama went into private practice. He hired himself out to industrialists to protect them against undue labor problems—a job that kept him in close contact with underworld bosses."
2012, David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro, 'Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld: 25th Anniversary Edition', pp. 98-99: "In December 1963, three years after leaving office as prime minister, Kishi had acted as vice chairman of a committee in charge of arrangements for a yakuza funeral. Later, in 1974, he was among scores of promising guests invited byYamaguchi godfather Kazuo Taoka to the lavish wedding of his son. Unable to attend, Kishi made sure the family received a congratulatory telegram, as did Ryoichi Sasakawa and Eitaro Itoyama, Sasakawa’s relative and an LDP Diet member. Itoyama apparently saw himself carrying on a noble tradition. After twenty years in the Diet, he retired in 1996 and publicly boasted of his underworld ties. “Among Japanese politicians with the most influence with the yakuza, I have to say it’s me,” he told the Washington Post. … During the term of Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira in the late 1970s, police raiding the home of a Yamaguchi-gumi boss made an unexpected discovery: a huge, blown up photo, proudly displayed, of Mr. Ohira hobnobbing over drinks with the gangster, apparently taken at a party. Then there was the case of Toshiki Kaifu, who became prime minister in 1989. Five years earlier, while education minister, he was photographed shaking hands with a well-known racketeer, and his name engraved on a commemorative stone to mark the occasion. Then there the news reports in 2000 accusing then-Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori of being “married to the mob” after he admitted joining five lawmakers at a 1996 wedding reception for the son of a former godfather. At the reception, Mori allegedly served as the “nakodo,” or go-between, for the bride and groom – a major role in Japanese weddings. Mori insisted he had “no personal relations” with the ex-yakuza and knew nothing of the man’s background. His closest aide, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa, resigned months later after facing allegations, among others, that he had ties to the leader of a rightist group. Even if all this is true, it paled in comparison to Noboru Takeshita, who, as will be shown, rose to become prime minister [1987-1989] with the direct help of one of Tokyo’s top godfather."
May 30, 1981, Lakeland Ledger, 'Editorial: Legalizing bribery': "Mitsuyasu Maeno donned the headband and uniform of the Japanese Imperial Army, crawled aboard a rented Piper Cherokee, cried out “long live the emperor,” and steered the craft solidly onto the veranda of Yoshio Kodama. … The modern-day kamikaze dive-bomber gave his life to protest, if not to propiate, American corporate sin. But his target, Yoshio Kodama, was not having tea on his veranda that day and escaped death… This was not the only example of American corporate derringdo with bizarre and tragic results. Some others: (1) Eli Black, a former rabbinical student, in February of 1975 smashed out the window of his skyscraper office in Manhattan, tossed out his briefcase, and then leaped to his own death. He was president of United Brands, shortly to be exposed for paying $2.5 million in bribes. (2) Robert N. Waters, treasurer of Lockheed, in mid-1975 was found shot to death – an apparent suicide – on the eve of congressional probe of massive Lockheed bribery. (3) Mitsuhiro Shimada, head of Japan’s sixth largest trading firm, jumped to his death from his office in central Tokyo in February 1979. He had been questioned for days about payoffs by Grumman to sell aircraft to Japan."
PRIME MINISTERS OF JAPAN:
Liberal Democratic Party. Considered a centre-right political party in Japan. In continuous power from 1959 to 2009.
Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni - 1945 - In period of surrender. Stripped of wealth.
Kijūrō Shidehara - PP - 1945-1946 - Appointed for being pro-west. Married to family that founded and owned Mitsubishi. Ambassador the the U.S., U.K. and Netherlands. Non-militaristic policy. Foreign minister. League of Nations supporter. Interim PM in 1931. Man for the job. Went to LDP later. Except... people didn't like him. May 2, 1946, The Age, 'May Day in Tokyo': "Thousands of Tokyo May day celebrators chorused, "We want more food," "Down with Shidehara," and "Death to the Zaibatsu" (Japan's financial oligarchy.) ... Japan's bombed-out Zaibatsu munitions factories [belong to] Mistui, Mitsubishi, Yasuda and Sutitomo." MacArthur was against the Zaibatsu.
Aug. 4, 1949, Evening Independent, DeWitt Mackenzie, 'MacArthur breaks power of Japan's economic rulers': "Gen. MacArthur announces that he has broken up the Zaibatsu. … They made and sold everything from needles to battleships. They bought everything from Malayan rubber to American scrap iron. … [everything] could be traced to some 11 families… The Zaibatsu (the name means “finance clique”) … One of the oldest Zaibatsu families, Mitsui, dates back to the 1600s. … The Zaibatsu intermarried with all these other elements as a matter of policy, as well as with the imperial family under whose figurehead rule Japan was secretly governed. … The process went something like this: To finance an invasion, say, of North China, the government would sell bonds. The Zaibatsu would buy them, as nobody else had that much dough, and earn it back by selling arms. The army would take North China. To run its economy, it would set up so-called joint Sino-Japanese development companies with a controlling interest in Japanese hands. … Naturally experienced men would be borrowed from Mitsui, Mitsubishi, and other Zaibatsu firms [to run these companies]. … Quarrelling [among Zaibatsu] was never allowed to interfere too long with really big business. … Personally, most Zaibatsu people are well-educated and very charming individuals."
Ichiro Hatoyama - Founder Liberal party in 1945, apparently with war loot coming from Kodama. Purged days before being able to assume prime ministership in 1946. Gave it to Yoshida.
July 7, 1947, China Weekly Review, p.9: "According to Central News Agency's Tokyo correspondent, many top-ranking Liberal Party members may be involved in the scandal caused by the revelation that Liberal Party Dietman, Koichi Seko has accused high officials of implication in Yen 50,000,000,000 worth of hoarded goods. Government Party sources alleged that Ichoro Hatoyama, purged President of the Liberal Party, Karoku Tsuji, Liberal Party's "money man," and "a certain Liberal Minister" in Yoshida's cabinet, are central figures in the scandal."
Shigeru Yoshida - Liberal Party (different) - 1946-1947: Had married the eldest daughter of Count Nobuaki Makino, who became lord privy seal and a close adviser of the Emperor. Had served in London (also as ambassador), the U.S. and was at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. His father-in-law was not favored by the military establishment and he was a civilian during the war. Even briefly detained for his opposition to the war in 1944-1945. Foreign minister in the first cabinet of Shidehara. Began rebuilding. In favor of economic strength in cooperation with the West (Dulles wanted that; MacArthur not...); not militaristic.
April 29, 1949, Miami News, Stewart Alsop, 'American Policy Ruins Japanese Middle Party': "Mr. Yoshida explains that he is not a conservative at all. On the contrary, he is very liberal. Hardly anyone on Japan would agree. … The economic policy eagerly proposed by the Yoshida government to Mr. Dodge would so arrange things that, in name of a Japanese version of free enterprise, the industrial workers would be reduced to total misery. Mr. Dodge has firmly quashed this proposal. Mr. Yoshida speaks with deep and sincere affection of the Zaibatsu… On his mission here some months ago, the former under-secretary of war, William Draper, met and talked to a number of Japanese political leaders. After the meeting, he remarked to an aid, “That man who sat opposite me was head and shoulders above the rest—real prime minister material. Who was he?” He was Mr. [Sanzo] Nozaka, the most powerful of Japanese Communists. Mr. Draper was intuitive. Mr. Nozaka is generall accounted Japan’s cleverest politician. … The squabbles and stupidities of the Social Democrats themselves contributed largely to their political destruction. But according to competent observers here, occupation policy also played a big part. Last summer, for example, a law was written in military government headquarters outlawing strikes and collective bargaining in the railroad, communications, tobacco, and other government-run industries. The American labor union men in headquarters (who eventually resigned on the issue) bitterly opposed the legislation, and so did the Social Democrats. However, the Social Democrat labor minister was handed the law with instructions to sponsor it. The face-losing spectacle of a labor party sponsoring such legislation helped to destroy the Social Democrats. Thus, the two most powerful internal political forces in Japan are represented by the aged, cheerful, Mr. Yoshida, the friend of the Zaibatsu, and the clever, confident Mr. Nozaka, the friend of the Kremlin. The army officers who run Japan (except perhaps General of the Army Douglas MacArthur himself) seem blithely unconcerned by the withering away of Mr. Katayama." 2007, Yoshida Shigeru, 'Yoshida Shigeru: Last Meiji Man' (translation of Yoshida's memoirs), pp. 122-123: "General MacArthur’s headquarters further displayed, from the beginnings of the purges, a pronounced prejudice against the leaders of Japan’s financial world. This sprang from what one might call the left-wing conception that the nation’s capitalists had lured the politicians and militarists into an imperialistic and aggressive war in pursuit of personal profits; the extent of which prejudice could be gauged from the fact that initially a considerable number of our financiers were listed with those to be detained in Tokyo’s Sugamo Prison to answer charges of war crimes before the International Military Tribunal of the Far East at the Tokyo war trials. … Foreigners generally in Japan … entertained feelings of animosity towards our financial leaders and there was already much talk among them of the coming disintegration of the trading “empires” which had been built up. So it came as no surprise when, at a press conference with foreign correspondents held shortly after the formation of the Shidehara cabinet in October 1945, with myself as foreign minister, I was confronted with the kind of questions one might expect. The general purport was that, since the financiers had been behind the war, the strictest measures should be taken against them. I answered that it would be a great mistake to regard Japan’s financial leaders as a bunch of criminals: that the nation’s economic structure had been built by such old-established and major financial concerns as Mitsui and Mitsubishi, and that modern Japan owed her prosperity largely to their endeavors, so that it was most doubtful whether the Japanese people would benefit from the disintegration of these concerns. I explained further that the so-called zaibatsu had never worked solely for their own profit, but often at a loss, as, for instance, during the war when they continued to produce ships and planes on government orders regardless of the sacrifices involved; that the people who had actually joined hands with the militarists and profited from the war were not the established financial groups, but the new rich, who were alone permitted by the military to conduct business in Manchuria and other occupied terrorists to the detriment of the old-established concerns; and that those who had the most heartily welcomed the termination of the Pacific conflict were the leaders of these old-established concerns..."
2007, Yoshida Shigeru, 'Yoshida Shigeru: Last Meiji Man' (translation of Yoshida's memoirs), pp. 43-44: "At the meeting thus arranged, General MacArthur seems to have been much impressed by the emperor and told me later that he had never met a person who behaved to nobly and naturally [the emperor took responsibility and did not try to convince MacArthur to exonorate him]. The first meeting was followed by several more, and the emperor, too, seems to have become completely at ease with the general in their conversations together. … The general had come to have a great respect for the emperor, and even told me once that, although Japanese people and the reconstruction of Japan depended on the people rallying to the imperial symbol. It was this attitude towards the emperor which must have dictated General MacArthur’s policy in regard to the Tokyo war-crimes trial… his decision to exculpate the emperor from all and any relationship with war crimes, did more than anything else to lessen the fears of the majority of the Japanese people in regard to the occupation and to reconcile them to it. I have no hesitation in saying that it was the attitude adopted by General MacArthur towards the throne, more than any other single factor, that made the occupation an historic success. … Another instance of the supreme commander’s quick grasp of a situation was in the matter of the continued use of the trade names of those financial groups that had been ordered to be dissolved. GHQ had ruled that new business firms that arose as a result of the dispersal of the so-called Zaibatsu combines should be prohibited from adopting the former trade names such as Mitsui, Mitsubishi, and Sumitomo. But calculations indicated that if the new firms were obliged to adopt new trade names, the expense involved would total a staggering sum in the neighborhood of fifteen million yen—while, further, the losses incurred in our export trade before new names would become well-known in world markets would come to even more. I explained this dilemma to General MacArthur, reminding him that a general election was approaching and the Liberal Party, of which at that time I was president, would inevitably lose if we were forced to take a step resulting in such catastrophic loss to the financial world. … General MacArthur thought over my words for some time and then said in that case he would postpone enforcement of the step for one year. In fact, the matter was never raised again." 2007, Yoshida Shigeru, 'Yoshida Shigeru: Last Meiji Man' (translation of Yoshida's memoirs), p. 134: "General MacArthur added that, in case of Mr. Hatoyama, the Soviet Union had insisted strongly on his being purged and it was difficult for the U.S. government alone to reach a decision on the matter. In this connection, I may have been partly to blame for getting Mr. Hatoyama into the Soviet Union’s bad books. Shortly after the termination of the war, when Mr. Hatoyama was actively planning the formation of the liberal party, he came to see me and the talk turned on the political program to be adopted by the new party. On that occasion I stated that Communism was going to pose problems everywhere… and that it might be a good idea if the new party were openly to advocate an anti-Communist policy and make it one of its chief features. .. [this] may well have incensed the Soviet Union and caused them to object to the last to his being de-purged. Mr. Hatoyama may have changed his opinions since that time." 2007, Yoshida Shigeru, 'Yoshida Shigeru: Last Meiji Man' (translation of Yoshida's memoirs), pp. 60-62, 77, 79-80: "General MacArthur’s headquarters… admitted that the purges had in some respects been too sweeping. But though GHQ raised no objection to the lifting of restrictions on others, difficulties were present in the case of Mr. Hatoyama, who had been purged at the instance of the Soviet government…. The government … finally secured GHQ’s consent to the restoration of all rights to Mr. Hatoyama in [August 1951, after a five year ban from politics]. Unfortunately, Mr. Hatoyama suffered a serious stroke in June of that year … and it was out of the question for me to hand back the presidency of the ruling party to him as some members of the party apparently expected me to do. … I set about the task of organizing my fourth cabinet, completion of which task was delayed by the fact that the pro-Hatoyama faction within the party insisted on naming him as head of the party and next prime minister. … The members concerned, numbering more than twenty, next formed a rival group within the party, which subsequently represented a serious source of instability in the gereral political situation that followed the organization of the new cabinet. [Yoshida ultimately thought it strange the press and others in the party wanted him to give back power to Hatoyama; a normal democratic process should decide that] ... The case was different with Mr. Hatoyama and those of his followers who had left our party with him. Mr. Hatoyama favored revising Japan’s new Constitution to permit the nation to rearm; to this as I shall write later, I could not agree. Mr. Hatoyama has since come to speak less of rearmament and the revision of the Constitution, particularly after he formed his own cabinet, but I continue of the opinion that I was right in not agreeing with him at that time. … the maintenance of a defense corps along the lines of our system of collective security with the United States seems to me, even today, the best means of defense. However, a desire became apparent among the group led by Mr. Hatoyama to return to the fold of the Liberal Party, and talks to that end were begun, which lasted from the summer to the autumn of 1953. … we now numbered 229 members in the House of Representatives, or very nearly half the total membership, and were able to enact the defense bills in the next Diet." 2007, Yoshida Shigeru, 'Yoshida Shigeru: Last Meiji Man' (translation of Yoshida's memoirs), p. 156, 158, 215: "upon the occasion of Mr. Dulles’s first visit to Japan in June 1950 the question of security was discussed only in general terms, although Mr. Dulles did suggest the desirability of Japan’s rearming—a proposal against which I protested. … But when Mr. Dulles came to Japan again in January 1951 the armies of the Communist China had intervened in the Korean conflict, while we ourselves had formed a National Police Reserve to supplement our police force. Conditions having thus drastically changed since his first visit, Mr. Dulles had progressed from ideas on Japanese rearmament to more definite views on the conclusion of a mutual security pact between the United States and Japan. …I myself have consistent opposed rearmament, and said so throughout my tenure in office. … To me, the idea of rearmament has always seemed to be one verging on idiocy. A nation such as the United States may possess sufficient arms and equipment to call herself armed, but this is made possible by the untold wealth of the American people… To questions as to what we would do if the United States demanded that Japan rearm, I myself answered that we must obey the constitutional ban on rearmament, and would decline to take such a step, even if such a demand were received." 2007, Yoshida Shigeru, 'Yoshida Shigeru: Last Meiji Man' (translation of Yoshida's memoirs), pp. 99-101: "The ship’s newspaper, the Ocean Times, on October 30 [1954] carried the news that Japan had been granted the right to negotiate with other countries concerning trade and tariff agreements, which was a first step towards being admitted to GATT, and this naturally pleased me. Upon our arrival in New York we were immediately taken to the house of Mr. John D. Rockefeller III outside the city. It was the sort of residence that one would find hard to duplicate, or even think of, in Japan. It covered so many acres that I was told it Mr. Rockefeller more than half an hour by car to visit one of his relatives living within the grounds. Included in this spacious domain were pastures where cattle grazed, milking cattle and beef cattle confined to separate pastures. … Mr. John D. Rockefeller III … since he has accepted the position of the Japan Society in New York City, numerous Japanese business men and politicians of note, including such prominent public men as Mr. Hatoyama Ichiro… have been placed under an obligation to him as the kindest and most genial of hosts. He and his wife have visited Japan on several occasions, and cultural enterprises in my country—including one of such scale and scope as the founding of International House in Tokyo—are indebted to him for his generosity and support. On November 5 a dinner was given to welcome me by the Japan Society at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, to which some fifteen hundred people were invited… I was told Japanese residents of New York had never before been present at a dinner party of such distinction and magnificence… It was also a personal pleasure to me to be able to meet General Douglas MacArthur again during my stay in New York. Now president of the Remington-Rand Company, … [he] was as interested in Japan as ever. … I also had the opportunity of discussing old times with General Charles A. Willoughby …I further delivered a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, and made a broadcast for the Columbia Broadcasting System. After which busy day in New York, I left with my party for Washington on November 7. … I was able, while in Washington, to see President Dwight D. Eisenhower; Vice President Richard Nixon; Mr. John Foster Dulles, the secretary of state; Mr. Charles E. Wilson, the secretary of defense; … I also met Mr. Eugene R. Black, president of the World Bank… I would add that no feature of my visit comforted me so much as meeting Mr William Richards Castle and Mr. Joseph C. Grew [p. 24: "I was on particularly friendly terms with [Grew]"] again, both former U.S. ambassadors to Japan, who welcomed me with the same kindness I had always remembered." November 6, 1954, New York Times, 'Yoshida Warns of Red 'Peace Lie,' Calls for Relaxed Trade Barriers; Yoshida Warns of Red 'Peace Lie,' Calls for Relaxed Trade Barriers': "Premier Shigeru Yoshida of Japan warned the United States last night not to be deceived by the Communist "peace offensive" in Asia. He asserted that the whole of Southeast Asia was a major target of the Communists and that conquest of Japan was their ultimate aim in the Pacific." November 8, 1954, New York Times, 'Yoshida Is Greeted in Washington By $100,000,000 U. S. Aid Plan': "Premier Shigeru Yoshida of Japan arrived tonight in search of United States economic assistance to forestall a threatening Japanese economic crisis." Clearly Yoshida was quite a hawk, but thought it best that the Japan rely on military assistance from the U.S. so that it doesn't need to militarize itself. This was in opposition to the people backing Kishi.
Mac Masakatsu Horino (journalist whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, e.o. mainstream publications), 2004, 'Japan's Denial And Macarthur's Secret Deal', pp. 16-18: "MacArthur had picked Yoshida to deal with his most imminent problems—the issue of war crimes and the Imperial future. Yoshida wanted to persuade MacArthur to save the Imperial system and emperor’s family at any cost. Japan’s number-one priority was to save the Emperor’s life. The second Japanese priority was to protect Hirohito from possible prosecution as a war criminal at the International War Crimes Tribunal. The third priority was to allow the monarchy to stay intact, in exchange for unlimited prosecution of all other military and government officials. In return, the Japanese were willing to offer all-out cooperation wit MacArthur… Yoshida was a very effective mediator between MacArthur and the old Japanese establishment, and his influence became powerful enough to build a foundation for the Liberal Democratic Party (which was conservative, contrary to its name) that lasted well into the 1990s. ... The U.S. government wanted to establish corporate friendly labor movement in Japan to emulate American corporate capitalism. MacArthur too the same [Mccarthyist] route, purging Communists and labor union leaders who, he felt, might distract the country from the development of democracy. ... Due to Yoshida’s incluence, MacArthur even moderated his initial tough stance against Zaibatsu… that held a monopoly in war economy and had supported the cause of military government. The “purged” government bureaucrats and businessmen who had supported the war were quickly allowed to play an active role again. Word spread that MacArthur was a “respectable leader”. Thereafter he began to gain the solid support of Japan’s elitist middle class. … I am quite sure that the General really enjoyed the way the Japanese treated him… when an agreement is made with the Emperor, the rest happens automatically in Japan to “honor commitments”. … The secret of success in Japan is reaching out to scratch the itchy spot on another’s back without prior request; this has been the most important Japanese social virtue for centuries. This virtue was abundantly extended to General MacArthur. … MacArthur was reported to have received a $500,000 payoff for the distinguished service as Military Advisor to the Philippine government. This kind of political scandal could never have surfaced in Japan’s post-war cultural environment. … [MacArthur] accomplished the American objective of democratizing Japan, while allowing the Japanese to keep their old establishment, their elitist government bureaucrats and their big corporate managers."
Tetsu Katayama - 1947-1948: Japan's first and last Socialist Prime Minister. Said to Yoshida he wanted a number of liberals in his cabinet. But because the left-wing within the Socialist party also wanted to work with the communist, Yoshida had to refuse (2007, Yoshida Shigeru, 'Yoshida Shigeru: Last Meiji Man' (translation of Yoshida's memoirs), p. 70). After the Socialists stopped working with the communists, an uncomfortable coalition was made. Katayama's government was responsible for the enactment of a wide range of pr | |