This program is a “blast from the past.” Recorded just past midnight on 9/20/2001, this broadcast is a [somewhat distorted] conversation recorded via telephone hookup.
Speaking with the late Roy of Hollywood, Mr. Emory parsed some of the intelligence information that was available a little over a week after the attacks.
The program concludes with an eerie statement by Roy, foreshadowing what is taking place in the Middle East today.
Following up information presented in Miscellaneous Archive Show M23 and FTRs 129, 163, this broadcast features the landmark research of Peter Vogel on the Port Chicago explosion of 7/17/1944. One of the largest man-made disasters in history, the Port Chicago explosion claimed the lives of 320 sailors, 220 of them African Americans. Subsequently, African-American sailors refused to continue loading ammunition at Port Chicago and were convicted of Mutiny. Officially the explosion of conventional munitions aboard an ammunition ship, the E.A. Bryan, the Port Chicago blast was actually the test of an early atomic weapon, the autocatalytic uranium hydride lateral implosion experimental device—named the Mark II. After relating Peter’s long odyssey exploring the explosion and the official dissembling that surrounds the event, the program relates the fascinating documentary trail confirming the nature of the explosion and the chronology of this early, significant step in the development of the atomic weapons.
Program Highlights Include: Peter’s proof that a sufficient amount of fissionable material for testing a fission weapon was available in 1944 (despite official pronouncements to the contrary); the negative reactions of Edward Teller (father of the H‑bomb) and Donald Kerr (director of Los Alamos National Laboratory) to Peter’s inquiries about Port Chicago; the tremendous interest of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in this (supposedly conventional) explosion; the background of Captain William Parsons (the point man for the Los Alamos research on Port Chicago); the characteristics of the explosion that pinpoint it as being a nuclear fission blast; correspondence among some of the principals in the Manhattan Project confirming that the Port Chicago explosion was a test of the Mark II; indications that the Germans were working on a uranium hydride weapon; Soviet espionage on the Manhattan Project that indicated awareness of the test of Mark II; the possible significance of the Port Chicago explosion for the revocation of Robert Oppenheimer’s security clearance; the significance of the Port Chicago explosion in the history of African-American civil liberties.
Note: This description is formatted by presenting the questions that Dave asked Peter Vogel, and then a synoptic overview of Peter’s response. For more detailed information about the Port Chicago explosion, see The Last Wave from Port Chicago.
Beginning with discussion of the genesis of JFK Revisited, we highlight a 2013 conference in Pittsburgh, PA, at which Jim DiEugenio delivered a power point presentation about President Kennedy’s foreign policy program and the decisions that resulted from that.
Because the address drew a standing ovation from the audience, one of the attendees brought the material in the presentation to the attention of Oliver Stone, which, in turn, led to the launching of this documentary project.
Citing the routine rhetorical dismissal of the realities of the JFK assassination as a coup d’etat, journalists and politicians routinely employ the rhetorical device “Conspiracy Theory.” Meaning, in effect, a “deranged, lone nut,” the term has its applied origins in an internal CIA discussion about how to counteract Warren Commission critics!
We discuss the MSM’s conflation of the Q‑Anon types with researchers such as Mr. DiEugenio and Mr. Emory.
Immediately following the release of the documentary (along with the DVD’s of the material and the book JFK Revisited), author Tim Weiner penned a piece for Rolling Stone magazine in which he represented the arguments presented in the film (and in the accompanying book, by extension) as stemming from Soviet disinformation.
We note that this type of misrepresentation is in line with the widely distributed propaganda assertion scapegoating Russia and Vladimir Putin for this country’s problems and those of the world in general.
Suffice it to say that none of the material in the documentary is Soviet/Russian.
By way of demonstrating the nonsensical nature of the contention that “Soviet/Russian propaganda” underlies the arguments presented by Stone/DiEugenio, we review a key element from Jim’s magnum opus Destiny Betrayed.
When Richard Helms, head of the CIA at that time, convened a group to discuss Jim Garrison’s prosecution of Clay Shaw, Ray Rocca, the top aide to Agency Counter-intelligence chief James Angleton, opined that Garrison would obtain a conviction of Shaw. Rocca was the acknowledged expert at CIA on Garrison/JFK assassination.
Not even Tim Weiner could dismiss the CIA’s number two counterintelligence official as “a Soviet agent/propagandist.”
Attempts at portraying the JFK assassination as a Soviet conspiracy continue to this day with former CIA chief James Woolsey having authored the recently-released Operation Dragon, which uses the allegations of a former Romanian intelligence agent to pin responsibility for the assassination on the U.S.S.R.
Attempts to attribute the JFK assassination on the Soviet Union and/or Fidel Castro’s Cuba are not new.
The war in Ukraine is a direct echo of an aspect of attempting to “paint Oswald Red.”
The Nazis and fascists in control of the reins of national security power in Ukraine are directly descended from the OUN/B of Stephan Bandera, whose forces collaborated with the Third Reich during World War II.
This political and historical dynamic is set forth in a number of programs, including FTR#876.
After Oswald’s return to the U.S., he was met by Spas T. Raikin, Secretary General of the American Friends of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations. This despite the fact that Oswald had proposed giving military secrets to the Soviet Union.
After the death of Bandera, the OUN/B was headed by Yaroslav Stetzko, the head of the WWII Nazi collaborationist government, which implemented Hitler’s ethnic cleansing programs. The OUN/B dominated the ABN, which was originally named the Committee of Subjugated Nations, when it was formed by Adolf Hitler in 1943.
Echoes of the Bandera organization and the ABN are present in the destabilization of China, as well.
LBJ successfully used the fears of a Third World War that might stem from the perception that the USSR and/or Cuba was behind the assassination in order to persuade Earl Warren, among others, that they should serve on the commission. We discussed “the painting of Oswald Red” in numerous programs, including FTR#‘s 925, 926.
For much of this year, the nation’s attention has been focused on the January 6 Hearings. Noteworthy is the fact that the nation’s lawful government was overthrown on 11/22/1963.
When Biden intones that “our democracy is under fire,” he is “a day late and a dollar short.”
“Our democracy” was, literally, under fire on that Friday in Dallas, and democracy has been a mere façade in the time since.
Members of Congress have sounded grave warnings about the Secret Service and apparently “lost” communications concerning the assaults of 1/06/2021.
As these talks progress, we will highlight the Secret Service and their performance vis a vis the assassination of JFK. Congress, too, is “a day late and a dollar short.”
As will be detailed later in this series, both Presidents Trump and Biden delayed release of the ARRB records at the designated junctures.
Another interesting “Team Trump” link to the assassination investigation concerns Jefferson Morley’s FOIA suit to learn more about George Joannides, who managed the Carlos Bringuier-linked DRE for the CIA.
Morley’s appeal was turned down by an appeals court, with Brett Kavanaugh casting the deciding voter, just before decamping for his hearings on his qualifications for the Supreme Court.
One of JFK’s stances that put him greatly at odds concerning national security and foreign policy was his view toward, and actions in conjunction with, the former Soviet Union.
In that regard, we note: Kennedy’s authorization of the atmospheric test ban treaty, the first substantive arms limitation agreement with the former Soviet Union—bitterly opposed by key members of the national security establishment; JFK’s refusal to invade Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which, combined with his refusal to utilize the military to assist the Bay of Pigs invasion, cemented the view among key national security players that he was a traitor/Communist; Kennedy’s June 1963 speech at American University, in which he recognized the USSR’s enormous contribution toward the defeat of Nazi Germany and called for a new relationship with the USSR; JFK’s proposal that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. undertake joint space exploration.
Bridging discussion that will be continued in our next programs, we note a key quote from the book and documentary by Lisa Pease, noting that JFK stood apart from the Eisenhower/Dulles view that non-alignment among the former colonial territories that achieved independence was the equivalent of pro-Communist orientation.
JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass by Jim DiEugenio; Skyhorse Publishing [HC]; Copyright 2022 by Jim DiEugenio; ISBN 978–1‑5107–7287‑8; p. 352.
. . . . Lisa Pease: His [JFK’s] approach was a radical break from his predecessor. In an oral history interview that Sukarno gave after John Kennedy’s death, he said words to the effect that what made Kennedy special is that he believed non-alignment was not amoral as it had been under John Foster Dulles. I thought that was an interesting way of putting it. . . .
In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, there has been wall-to-wall coverage of his murder and of the world-wide demonstrations stemming from it. The advent of smart phone (with cameras) and the internet affords detailed and intimate experience of such an event.
However, the orgiastic coverage of that event, the memorial service led by FBI informant and alleged [by the late Warren Hinckle] CIA operative in Grenada Al Sharpton stands in stark contrast to the utter silence across the board on the circumstances of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination.
On the fiftieth anniversary of King’s murder, Mr. Emory did a twelve hour program about the circumstances of the assassination, reprising AFA #8 (done in 1985 on the 17th anniversary of the killing) and FTR #46, recorded a decade later and supplemented on 4/3/2018.
Despite exhaustive and perilous research done by the likes of Dr. William F. Pepper, 4/4/2018 was notable for the absence of substantive discussion of King’s murder.
The political and historical significance of such an event was presented by Dr. Pepper in his third book about the King assassination, The Plot to Kill King: ” . . . . . . . . When one is confronted with the assassination of a major leader who personifies the most treasured values of the species and it becomes clear that those responsible for the murder are officials of his own government acting with the sanction of those in the shadows who actually rule, surely one should strive to understand what that means now and for the future. In other words, when the removal of a leader who has offended powerful forces and special interests in the Republic takes on the status of an act of state, citizens must contemplate what this reveals about their culture and its civil and political systems, their freedom, the quality and status of the rule of law, and their entire way of life. . . . ”
It seems that–for many–black lives matter, but not Dr. King’s, apparently, past a point.
Again, Dr. Pepper noted that: ” . . . . citizens must contemplate what this reveals about their culture and its civil and political systems, their freedom, the quality and status of the rule of law, and their entire way of life. . . . ”
In said contemplation, this program supplements our previous work on the killing.
Although Dr. Pepper reprises the stunning information he set forth in Orders to Kill in The Plot to Kill King, we will not reprise that here, in the interests of time. (We do recap a short excerpt from Orders to Kill comprising an apparent evidentiary tributary between King’s murder and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, which occurred two months later.)
The bulk of the discussion in this program is presentation and analysis of the political machinery in Memphis, Tennessee that engineered Dr. King’s murder. (Discussion of the Special Forces team that was in Memphis as a back-up unit in case the civilian sniper missed King is detailed in FTR #46.)
In Pepper’s investigation of King’s murderers, he detailed the apparent role of the late Russell Lee Adkins, a member of the Dixie Mafia in Memphis, Tennessee. (The Dixie Mafia is distinct from the Mafia, per se, that operated in the South, although–as Pepper makes clear–they worked with Mafiosi like New Orleans capo Carlos Marcello and Marcello associate Frank Liberto, like Adkins, an operator in Memphis.)
His son Russell Jr. took over executive management of the assassination machinery after his father’s death in 1967.
Note the cooperation between the Ku Klux Klan and elements of the Masons in Memphis. This should NOT be misunderstood as buying into the myriad of anti-Masonic conspiracy theories which have proliferated on the Internet. The bulk of Freemasonry are what they represent themselves as being–civic activists and philanthropists. The Third Reich planned to exterminate the Masons, along with the Jews and others.
That having been said, there have always been networks within the Masons which, due to to their clandestine operating structure, have been utilized for conspiratorial purposes. In these broadcasts, we have noted the P‑2 lodge of Licio Gelli as one such entity.
The Russell Adkins Klan/Mason nexus is another. Note Russell Sr.‘s son Ron Adkins deposition about the decisive influence of this institutionally racist entity and its powerful operational connections:
1.–It dominated Memphis municipal politics empowering Mayor Henry Loeb and Fire and Police Commissioner Frank Holloman, among others figuring in the murder of King.
2.–The Adkins/Klan milieu had long-standing operational links with the FBI. Number two man in the bureau at the time, as well as J. Edgar Hoover’s live-in lover, was close to Russell Adkins and used him to dispense payments to bureau operatives, including the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
2.–The Adkins/Klan milieu networked with the Mafia, as stated above.
3.–Ron Adkins, Russell Sr.‘s son, deposed under oath that: ” . . . . Ron said that his father took him to his first lynching when he was just six years old. . . .”
4.–The Adkins milieu was close to Dr. Breen Bland, whose alleged role in King’s death is discussed below.
Next, we present the role of the Adkins machine as a conduit for Hoover and Tolson’s financing for the escape of patsy-to-be James Earl Ray: ” . . . . . . . . [FBI official Clyde] Tolson was a substantial connection for his [Ronnie Adkins’] father . . . . Of particular interest to this case is that he brought the money which was to be paid to Harold Swenson, the Warden of the Missouri State prison, in Jefferson City, Missouri, in order for him to arrange for the escape of James in 1967. At Hoover’s request, James had been profiled as a potential scapegoat, although the nature of the crime was not revealed. Ron told us about this assignment because he was an actual observer. He saw the money being delivered by Tolson and then, at his father’s invitation, he rode to the prison where the money was paid to Swenson by his father. . . Ray (who was always kept in the dark about this arrangement) successfully escaped from prison on April 23, 1967, and then . . . was monitored, controlled . . . . and moved around until the plans for the assassination and his use were finalized. . . . .”
In the run-up to the assassination of king: ” . . . . In early 1968, two workers, thirty-five-year-old Echole Cole and twenty-nine-year-old Robert Walker were literally swallowed by a malfunctioning ‘garbage packer’ truck. We would later learn this was a planned murder by the Dixie Mafia family of Russell Adkins, in coordination with Memphis Police Department Director of Police and Fire Frank Holloman, in order to compel Dr. King to return to support the strikers. . . .”
Sworn depositions by Lenny Curtis (a custodian for the Memphis Police Department) and Nathan Whitlock, a Memphis policeman named Frank Strausser was the actual shooter selected to execute King: ” . . . . On that day, he [Strausser] broke to take lunch with [MPD Captain Earl] Clark, and when he returned he resumed firing. When he left at around 3:30 p.m., he put the top down on the convertible, took off his powder blue shirt, and threw it over the rifle in the backseat, leaving only his white T‑shirt on. He ruffled his hair and put on a pair of sunglasses. When he left, Mayor Loeb, Holloman, and the other visiting police officers were still there. They had met in Lieutenant Bullard’s office. . . .”
After highlighting the alleged role of Frank Strausser as the actual assassin, we present the operational sequence of events on the ground in Memphis, Tennessee. Again, note the ubiquitous presence of the Adkins/Dixie Mafia/Klan machine in the progression of events. ” . . . . Also observed arriving at the MPD firing range building where he met with the shooter and Earl Clark were Director Holloman and Mayor Henry Loeb. . . .”
Note, also, the roles of Jesse Jackson and the Reverend Billy Kyles in these maneuvers. (As discussed in FTR #1005, both were being paid by FBI official Clyde Tolson, through the Adkins machine. Jackson’s apparent role was to help secure Room 306 in the Lorraine Motel, overlooking the pool and affording a clear shot, as well as to maneuver the Invaders out of the area. (The Invaders were a local Black Power group who were present for security purposes.) Kyles was there to help lure King out onto the balcony for the kill shot.
After King was shot, he was taken to St. Joseph’s hospital, where, again the influence of the Adkins machine came into play: ” . . . . . . . . Ron Adkins Tyler, under oath, told me that Dr. Breen Bland, who, remember was also the Adkins’ family doctor, was in fact, the head surgeon at the hospital. . . . He said he was present and overheard conversations between his father and Dr. Bland, and then, following his father’s death, between his brother (Russell Junior), Police and Fire Director Frank Holloman, and Dr. Bland about the importance of Dr. King being taken to St. Joseph’s if he was still alive. . . . Ron Adkins Tyler has no doubt that they were determined to make certain that Dr. King would never leave the emergency room at St. Joseph’s Hospital alive. Though he did not know the details of the final cause of death, it appears that he was correct. . . .”
Next, we focus on events at St. Joseph’s Hospital on 4/4/1968:
1.–Among those events ” . . . . was the large presence of military intelligence officers who had taken up positions in the hospital well before the shot was fired. According to Dr. Causeway, who was on duty at the time, the military intelligence officers knew the names of all of the emergency room nurses and doctors on duty. . . .”
2.–The attention given to the gravely wounded Dr. King: ” . . . . He [Dr. Causeway] observed that no consideration was given to moving the critically injured victim to the operating room and he saw no surgical effort being made to save him. When he inquired about treatment, he was told that he was being treated. . . .”
3.–According to surgical aide Lula Mae Shelby: ” . . . . there were many MPD officers and army people milling about, in addition to men in suits. . . . Dr. King was lying on a bloodied gurney. She saw the huge hole in the lower left side of his face, but heard one of the ER doctors say that he has a pulse. The ER doctors had performed a tracheotomy and inserted a breathing tube. . . . in a while, the head of surgery (who appears to have been Dr. Breen Bland–the Adkins’ family doctor and collaborator discussed earlier) came into the emergency room with a couple of men in suits and shouted at the staff working on Dr. King, ‘Stop working on the nigger and let him die. Now, all of you get out of here, right now. Everybody get out.’ . . . . as she was leaving, she heard three sounds of the men gathering or sucking up saliva in their mouths–and then she heard two or three spitting sounds. This caused her, on the way out, to glance back over her shoulder, and see that the breathing tube had been removed and Dr. Bland put a pillow on and over the face of Dr. King. . . .”
After the murder, the above-mentioned Lenny Curtis heard rumors about Frank Strausser being the assassin of King, as well as discussion of Strausser being pressured to leave the MPD because of civil rights complaints being lodged against him.
Concerned that Curtis might disclose information about him to the FBI, Strausser confronted him during a drive and delivered a warning: ” . . . . ‘Lenny, you be careful now.’ The look he gave him was clearly threatening. . . .”
Following this incident, Curtis experienced strange, frightening things: ” . . . . . His gas was strangely turned on once when he was about to enter his house. He had lit a cigarette, but as he opened the door he smelled gas and quickly put out the cigarette. A strange Lincoln was occasionally parked across the street from his apartment house. . . . One morning when the car was there, he got into his own car and quickly drove off, and the strange car pulled out and followed him. He managed to see the driver. It was Strausser. At that time, new evidence in the case came up. He said that every time new evidence arose the officer would pop up. He tried to move to a new house without notice but the landlord of the new complex would report seeing a man in the back of his house. When Lenny checked the area, he found a ‘tree stand,’ a V‑shaped stand where you could rest a rifle. When he put a stick in it, it focused on his kitchen and bathroom windows. He moved again, without notice. . . .”
Pepper found Curtis to be inspiring, waiting until after his death in 2013 to come forward with his testimony out of fear for Lenny’s safety. ” . . . . I safeguarded his information and his deposition for all of these years, fearful that the assassin’s masters would kill him if they learned about his cooperation with me. . . .”
Before concluding the program, we revisit the statement of one of the Special Forces officers comprising the back-up fire team–a man Pepper described under the pseudonym “Warren.” ” . . . . . . . . Warren said that on that occasion they also had a secondary mission, which was to do recon (reconnaissance of a home up in the Western Hills near the UCLA campus.) The recon was to determine the feasibility of a ‘wet insert ops determined’ operation. (‘Wet insert ops determined’ means that the unit carries out a surreptitious entry at night into the targeted residence, kills everyone there, and leaves without a trace.) He said that their recon determined the feasibility of such an operation. Warren subsequently learned that the house was used by Senator Robert F. Kennedy when he was in Los Angeles in 1967–68. . . .”
We end the program with a caveat delivered to former Representative Walter Fauntroy [of Washington D.C.]–a founder of the Congressional Black Caucus. After informing then Speaker of the House of Representatives Carl Albert that he wished to head what was to become the House Select Committee on Assassinations: ” . . . . Albert said to him, ‘Walter, you don’t want that job.’ To which Fauntroy replied, ‘But I do want it; why not?’ Albert whispered, ‘Walter, they will kill you.’ . . .”
Resuming analysis of AOC’s highly questionable credentials, we note the shady circumstances of her victory over long-time incumbent Joe Crowley: ” . . . . she capitalized on an extremely low primary turnout to eek out a 57% vs. 43% (15,897 vs. 11,761) victory. And while it is true that the young candidate deployed an impressive grassroots canvassing strategy, the devil is in the details— including dirty local politics, vitriolic campaign rhetoric, far left agitators, and an intensive Facebook advertising blitz in the lead up to the primary. . . .”
She drew on the support of disgraced and convicted abuser Hiram Monserrate, and deflected criticism with her standard retreat into identity politics: ” . . . . Part of the local controversy revolved around the involvement of disgraced ex-Queens politician Hiram Monserrate. A domestic abuser who spent time in prison on a corruption conviction, Monserrate has feuded with Crowley for years. During their contentious primary, Crowley accused Ocasio-Cortez of seeking support from the ex-con, even speaking at an event held at a Democrat Club he runs in Queens. . . . Monserrate told the New York Post ‘there were a group of us, in the (club) and other community activists I have been working with for years who understood that we would do our part to get rid of Joe Crowley…We were in support of Alexandria’s campaign.’ . . . .”
In our series on Surveillance Valley (FTR #‘s 1075 through 1081) we noted that the Internet is an information weapon, conceived in the context of counterinsurgency and solidified in applications of counter-democracy. The rise and operations of AOC are inextricably linked with the Internet, social media, in particular.
AOC’s campaign drew on Internet resources, and interests outside of her district: ” . . . . In fact, the vast majority of Ocasio-Cortez campaign donations have come from out-of-district and out-of-state. Of particular note is Blue America PAC, a “collaboration between the authors/publishers of DownWithTyranny.com, Hullabaloo.com and CrooksandLiars.com.” The PAC made an $11,000 independent expenditure in opposition to Joe Crowley, creating the website QueensAgainstCrowley.com. . . . The meme-heavy social media pages for the PAC’s various websites pushed out vitriolic blog and social media posts during the primary, using budget graphics with British-English copy to promote hashtags like #AbolishICE #Berniewouldhavewon and #MobBossCrowley. . . .”
Drawing momentum, in part, from foreign trolls and bots, AOC’s signature “Abolish Ice” campaign plays right into the hands of Team Trump and the racist/xenophobic right. ” . . . . . For anyone engaging with Ocasio-Cortez’ social media posts, the foreign bot and troll activity is noticeably synchronized and pervasive. There’s no better example than the #AbolishICE campaign she championed as her number one primary issue and has helped take national. Much of her social media content has focused on the “Abolish ICE solution” to immigration reform while accusing “Boss Crowley” and other Democrats of being “Pro-ICE”. In the one month lead up to the June primary, Ocasio-Cortez’ campaign spent over $80,000 on Facebook advertising — the largest of her expenditures. . . .”
Next, we note AOC has quoted and defended Eva Peron. Although this may well just be another manifestation of identity politics, it is worth noting that Eva Peron (nee Eva Duarte) was a Nazi spy prior to, and during, World War II, and a Bormann/Vatican agent after that:
” . . . . . . . .The all-conquering Evita left Spain for Rome on June 25, 1947. Father Benitez would smooth her way in the Vatican with the aid of Bishop Alois Hudal [one of the key members of the Vatican/Nazi “Ratline”]. Two days after she arrived she was given an audience with pope Pius XII, spending twenty minutes with the Holy Father–“a time usually allotted by Vatican protocol to queens.” However, there was a more sinister side to the Rome trip. Using Bishop Hudal as an intermediary, she arranged to meet Bormann in an Italian villa at Rapallo provided for her use by [Argentine shipping billionaire Alberto] Dodero. The shipowner was also present at the meeting, as was Eva’s brother Juan Duarte. There, she and her former paymaster cut the deal that guaranteed that his Fuhrer’s safe haven would continue to remain safe, and allowed Bormann to leave Europe at last for a new life in South America. . . . ”
Next, the discussion turns to Peter Thiel and his Palantir firm, the alpha predator of the high-tech surveillance jungle. As we have seen and as we will review, there is reason to suspect that “Mr. AOC”–“Subhas Chandra” Chakrabarti–is a Thiel protege.
Palantir is one of the firms pivotally involved with facilitating ICE’s activities: ” . . . . The database created by Palantir uses information pulled from the DHS, FBI and other sources to build profiles of people who have crossed the border, including ‘schooling, family relationships, employment information, phone records, immigration history, foreign exchange program status, personal connections, biometric traits, criminal records, and home and work addresses,’ the Intercept reported last year. . . . . Policing software provided by Palantir and Forensic Logic’s COPLINK program enables Information sharing between ICE and state and local law enforcement. . . . Palantir software has been implemented by DHS fusion centers across California, as well as by police departments in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Burbank; and sheriff’s departments in Sacramento, Ventura, and Los Angeles counties. The company has received more than $50 million from these agencies since 2009, mostly financed by DHS grants, the report shows. . . .”
We then review substantive evidence of Thiel/Palantir/Chakrabarti networking:
1.–Chakrabarti worked for Bridgewater Associates: ” . . . . After graduating from Harvard, Mr. Chakrabarti worked for a year as a technology associate at the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, and then moved to Silicon Valley to help found the technology company Stripe. . . .”
2.–Bridgewater Associates was a major source of the venture capital to launch Palantir.
3.–Former FBI director James Comey was the chief counsel for Bridgewater Associates. As FBI director, Comey was instrumental in handling the election to Trump.
4.–It appears that Chakrabarti’s stint as head of product development at Stripe may well have been as a Thiel protege.
Reviewing information from past broadcasts, there are indications that the scapegoating of illegal immigrants by Team Trump is part of a “psy-op,” with AOC helping to generate “black propaganda” by branding the Democratic Party as “Illegal Immigrants R Us.”
In FTR #718, we warned [back in 2010] that Facebook was not the cuddly little entity it was perceived to be but a potential engine of fascism enabling. Momentum for the remarkably timed immigrant caravan that became a focal point for Trump/GOP/Fox News propaganda during the 2018 midterm elections was generated by a fake Facebook account, which mimicked a Honduran politician/human rights activist, Bartolo Fuentes. Significant aspects of the event:
1.–” . . . . Facebook has admitted the account was an imposter account impersonating a prominent Honduran politician. But it is refusing to release information about the account, who may have set it up or what country it originated from. . . .”
2.–” . . . . In response to a query from BuzzFeed News, a Facebook spokesperson said the phony account ‘was removed for violating [the company’s] misrepresentation policy,’ but declined to share any further information, such as what country it originated from, what email address was used to open it, or any other details that might reveal who was behind it. Facebook added that, barring a subpoena or request from law enforcement, it does not share such information out of respect for the privacy of its users. Fuentes said he believes it’s important to find out who was behind the rogue account — but hasn’t gotten any answers from Facebook. ‘Who knows how many messages could have been sent and who received them?’ . . . .”
4.–” . . . . Fuentes has been unable to get any information from Facebook about the account, but one small detail stood out. Whoever created it listed the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa as Fuentes’s hometown, rather than the San Pedro Sula suburb of El Progreso. That might seem like a minor error, but it’s the sort of mistake a foreigner — not a Honduran — would make about the well-known former lawmaker, whose left-wing party stands in opposition to the current president’s administration. . . . ”
5.–” . . . . It operated entirely in Spanish and precisely targeted influencers within the migrant rights community. And rather than criticize or undermine the caravan — as other online campaigns would later attempt to do — it was used to legitimize the event, making a loosely structured grassroots event appear to be a well-organized effort by an established migrant group with a proven track record of successfully bringing Central American people to the US border. . . .”
6.–” . . . . before the account got started not many people seemed to be joining. Only after the account kicked into gear did enthusiasm and participation spike. The account also claimed falsely that the caravan was being led by a migrant rights organization called Pueblo Sin Fronteras. Later, once the caravan swelled to a massive scale, the Pueblo Sin Fronteras did get involved, though in a support rather than leadership role. . . .”
7.–” . . . . It appears that this account helped the caravan gain key momentum to the point where its size became a self-fulfilling prophecy, spurring even more to join and groups which hadn’t been supportive to get involved. . . .”
8.–” . . . . It’s hard to believe one Facebook account could play that decisive a role. But the account seems to have been sophisticated. And it is equally difficult to believe that a sophisticated operator or organization would have gone to such trouble and limited their efforts to a single imposter account. . . .”
In the summer of 2018, we highlighted the first degree murder charge laid against an “illegal” Mexican migrant worker following the discovery of a deceased white Iowa college girl Mollie Tibbetts. This became propaganda fodder for Team Trump.
We note in this context that:
1.–The announcement of Rivera’s arrest for the Tibbetts murder happened on the same day that Paul Manafort’s conviction was announced and Michael Cohen pleaded guilty. Might we be looking at an “op,” intended to eclipse the negative publicity from the the Manafort/Cohen judicial events?
2.–Rivera exhibited possible symptoms of being subjected to mind control, not unlike Sirhan Sirhan. ” . . . . Investigators say Rivera followed Mollie in his dark Chevy Malibu as she went for a run around 7.30pm on July 18. He ‘blacked out’ and attacked her after she threatened to call the police unless he left her alone, officers said. . . . It is not yet clear how Mollie died. . . . Rivera told police that after seeing her, he pulled over and parked his car to get out and run with her. . . . Mollie grabbed her phone and threatened to call the police before running off ahead. The suspect said that made him ‘panic’ and he chased after her. That’s when he ‘blacked out.’ He claims he remembers nothing from then until he was back in his car, driving. He then noticed one of her earphones sitting on his lap and blood in the car then remembered he’d stuffed her in the truck. . . . ‘He followed her and seemed to be drawn to her on that particular day. For whatever reason he chose to abduct her,’ Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation special agent Rick Ryan said on Tuesday afternoon. . . . ‘Rivera stated that she grabbed her phone and said: ‘I’m gonna call the police.’ . . . . ‘Rivera said he then panicked and he got mad and that he ‘blocked’ his memory which is what he does when he gets very upset and doesn’t remember anything after that until he came to at an intersection.’ . . .”
4.–Just as Sirhan had been in a right-wing milieu prior to the Robert Kennedy assassination, so, too, was Rivera: ” . . . . The prominent Republican family which owns the farm where Mollie Tibbetts’ alleged killer worked have insisted that he passed background checks for migrant workers. Christhian Rivera, 24, who is from Mexico, was charged with first degree murder on Tuesday after leading police to a corn field where Mollie’s body was dumped. Dane Lang, co-owner of Yarrabee Farms along with Eric Lang, confirmed that Rivera had worked there for four years and was an employee ‘of good standing.’ Dane’s brother is Craig Lang, former president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and the Iowa Board of Regents, and a 2018 Republican candidate for state secretary of agriculture. . . .”
5.–Trump cited the Tibbetts murder in a Charleston, West Virginia, rally that day: ” . . . . President Donald Trump chirped in during his Tuesday address at a rally in Charleston, West Virginia, blaming immigration laws for Mollie’s death. ‘You heard about today with the illegal alien coming in very sadly from Mexico,’ he said. ‘And you saw what happened to that incredible beautiful young woman. ‘Should’ve never happened, illegally in our country. We’ve had a huge impact but the laws are so bad. The immigration laws are such a disgrace. ‘We are getting them changed but we have to get more Republicans.’ Gov. Kim Reynolds complained about the ‘broken’ immigration system that allowed a ‘predator’ to live in her state. . . .”
In a transition to our next program, we underscore the decisive role of Glenn Greenwald in paving the legal road for the realization of the “Leaderless Resistance” strategy that dominates the contemporary political landscape.
We note in this context:
Citizen Greenwald’s views on immigration echo those of Donald Trump: “ . . . . ‘The parade of evils caused by illegal immigration is widely known,’ Greenwald wrote in 2005. The facts, to him, were indisputable: ‘illegal immigration wreaks havoc economically, socially, and culturally; makes a mockery of the rule of law; and is disgraceful just on basic fairness grounds alone.’ Defending the nativist congressman Tom Tancredo from charges of racism, Greenwald wrote of ‘unmanageably endless hordes of people [who] pour over the border in numbers far too large to assimilate, and who consequently have no need, motivation or ability to assimilate.’ Those hordes, Greenwald wrote, posed a threat to ‘middle-class suburban voters.’ . . . .”
In FTR #809, we highlighted evidentiary tributaries running between the assassinations of both Kennedy brothers and the Manson crimes, the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, in particular. The Reeve Whitson connection may have some connection to the information discussed in that program. A new book about the Manson Family and their killings highlights the probability that elements of the intelligence community may have had involvement with the group and its development. One of the most striking of the apparent intelligence community connections to the Manson investigation is the aforementioned Reeve Whitson. Reeve Whitson: 1.–Was alleged by Iranian immigrant Shahrokh Hatami to have phoned him with knowledge of the killings of Sharon Tate, et al, before the crime was reported by the news media and before law enforcement even arrived at the crime scene!; 2.–Was alleged by the LAPD’s top investigator and Sharon Tate’s father (a Colonel in Army intelligence) to have been deeply involved with the Manson investigation; 3.–Was alleged by attorney Neil Cummings to have maintained some kind of surveillance on the Cielo Drive home, as part of some sort of work he was doing for the intelligence community; 4.–Was confirmed as an officer of the CIA by his own ex-wife; 5.–Was known to have felt that he was–in the end–betrayed by the faction of the CIA for which he worked; 6.–Was associated, through his intelligence work with Otto Skorzeny and his wife Ilse; 7.–Was the special adviser to the chairman of the board of the Thyssen firm, also as part of his intelligence work; 8.–Was apparently a close associate of retired General Curtis LeMay, George Wallace’s Vice-Presidential candidate in 1968; 9.–Was associated with LeMay when the latter became vice-president of a missile parts manufacturer, which was headed by Mihai Patrichi. Patrichi was a former Romanian army general and a member of the Romanian Iron Guard, part of the Gehlen “Org” and the GOP.
1.–The State Department’s “Ministry of Truth” is going to be headed by a Fox News and CIA veteran, Lea Gabrielle. Designed to neutralize what the Powers That Be deem to be foreign propaganda, the blandly-named Global Engagement Center has been exemplified by its attempts to portray as “Russian disinformation” the verifiably Nazi character and political heritage of the OUN/B successor organizations wielding the police, educational and national security reins in Ukraine. ” . . . . Gabrielle, who begins her job on Feb. 11, was described to reporters by deputy spokesman Robert Palladino on Thursday as ‘a former CIA-trained human intelligence operations officer, defense foreign liaison officer, United States Navy program director, Navy F/A‑18C fighter pilot, and national television news correspondent and anchor at two different networks. . . .”
2.–Fox News rejected a national buy for an ad that was to run during Sean Hannity’s show. The ad promotes the Oscar-nominated documentary A Night at the Garden, about a 1939 Nazi rally in New York City. The ad includes the warning “It Can Happen Here” about the potential dangers of President Donald Trump’s brand of populism. Hannity might be the most ‘Alt-Right’ of all the Fox News personalities (although he has competition). The ad never got to run, and was precluded by breaking news coverage of Trump’s rally in Texas–where Trump so riled up the audience against ‘the media’ that a BBC cameraman was violently attacked by someone wearing a MAGA hat.
3.–The El Paso Trump rally manifested a contemporary iteration of “A Night at the Garden”. ” . . . . Trump’s rally in El Paso was in support of his border wall. In his State of the Union address last week he claimed, falsely, that border fencing that was built south of the city in 2010 transformed El Paso from a dangerous place into a safe one. Its Republican mayor lashed out at the president last week for his falsehood. El Paso’s declining crime rate started well before the border fencing was built. But Trump repeated the lie Monday night. And for his audience, the lie was now the truth. ‘Once they built that wall, it was amazing how statistically the violence started going down,’ 39-year-old El Paso resident Michael Blanco, who owns an accounting business, told HuffPost outside the coliseum. ‘I’m a complete witness of it. Seen it growing up.’ Henri Rafael, a 58-year-old El Pasoan wearing a black Trump 2020 hat, said that even though the mayor corrected Trump, ‘I know for a fact that the crime was high back in the ’70s and ’80s, and when they built those walls, [crime] has dropped.’ In fact, violent crime increased in El Paso in the two years after the wall was built, according to a study from the El Paso Times. Trump periodically paused his speech Monday for chants of ‘Build the wall!’ and ‘USA!’ When he talked of the ‘fake news’ media, the crowd jeered. At one point, a particularly inspired Trump supporter attacked a BBC journalist . . . .”
4.–Next, we have an update on Data Propria, the Cambridge Analytica offshoot created by Brad Parscale’s company Cloud Commerce. The GOP hired the services of Data Propria for the 2018 mid-terms. Data Propria employs four ex-Cambridge Analytica employees, including Cambridge Analytica’s chief data scientist. Cambridge Analytica’s former head of product, Matt Oczkowski, leads Data Propia. Oczkowski led the Cambridge Analytica team that worked for Trump’s 2016 campaign, and was reportedly overheard bragging to a prospective client about how he’s already working on Trump’s 2020 campaign (which he subsequently denied). Brad Parscale ran the Trump 2016 campaign’s extensive digital operations that included extensive micro-targeting of individuals outside of the Cambridge Analytica efforts.
5.–Matt Oczkowski is now the running Parscale Digital in addition to Data Propria. Parscale Digital is the rebranded version of Parscale’s old marketing company. As the following article notes, Parscale sold his shares in Parscale Digital in August 2017, at the same time he purchased $9 million in stock for Cloud Commerce and took a seat on its board. August of 2017 is also the same month Parscale Digital was sold to Cloud Commerce. Thus, Parscale is a co-owner of Cloud Commerce which the owner of Parscale Digital. Now Matt Oczkowski, the former head of product for Cambridge Analytica, is running Parscale Digital.
6.–After a member of an “antifa” group was stabbed at a white supremacist rally, the FBI investigated the protesters, rather than the KKK. ” . . . . Federal authorities ran a surveillance operation on By Any Means Necessary (Bamn), spying on the leftist group’s movements in an inquiry that came after one of Bamn’s members was stabbed at the white supremacist rally, according to documents obtained by the Guardian. The FBI’s Bamn files reveal: * The FBI investigated Bamn for potential ‘conspiracy’ against the ‘rights’ of the ‘Ku Klux Klan’ and white supremacists. * The FBI considered the KKK as victims and the leftist protesters as potential terror threats, and downplayed the threats of the Klan, writing: ‘The KKK consisted of members that some perceived to be supportive of a white supremacist agenda.’ * The FBI’s monitoring included in-person surveillance, and the agency cited Bamn’s advocacy against ‘rape and sexual assault’ and ‘police brutality’ as evidence in the terrorism inquiry. The FBI’s 46-page report on Bamn, obtained by the government transparency non-profit Property of the People through a records request, presented an ‘astonishing’ description of the KKK, said Mike German, a former FBI agent and far-right expert who reviewed the documents for the Guardian. . . . ”
7.–The FBI investigation into the motive behind Stephen Paddock’s massacre in Las Vegas has omitted Paddock’s links with the Sovereign Citizen movement, which we highlighted in FTR #1011. ” . . . . The high-stakes gambler responsible for the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history sought notoriety in the attack but left his specific motive a mystery, the FBI said Tuesday as it concluded the investigation of the 2017 massacre that killed 58 country music fans. . . .”
8.–This society has been sowing the Nazi and fascist winds for a long time. Failing to come to terms with the Nazi and fascist sympathies of American industrialists who financed Hitler, the incorporation of the Nazi SS into the CIA via the Gehlen org, and the incorporation of Eastern and Central European SS-allied fascists into the GOP has borne its inevitable fruit. Now it will be reaping the Nazi whirlwind. An extremely popular children’s lip-synching app called TikTok has incorporated murderously racist invective against people of color and Jews, in addition to sharing overtly Nazi propaganda.
9.–Even as officialdom and the media downplay or outright dismiss the Junior Prom photo from Baraboo High School, we should expect things to become dramatically worse. Time grows short. Tik Tok! ” . . . . Police announced on Monday they were investigating after a photo emerged on social media showing dozens of pupils — mostly 16 and 17 — from Baraboo High School apparently performing the ‘Sieg Heil’ greeting during their junior prom. One former student at the school in Baraboo, a town of around 12,000 people, said she knew some of the boys in the photo and that their behaviour was ‘definitely not surprising’. ‘Some of the boys in this photo are notorious at our school for this kind of behaviour,’ said the 19-year-old, who graduated earlier this year and wished to remain anonymous. . . .”
10.–Announced Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris opposed the 2012 parole bid of demonstrably innocent Sirhan Sirhan, the patsy for the RFK assassination.
11.–With the New Cold War gathering momentum and Trump’s withdrawal from the treaty on intermediate range nuclear missiles pointing the world toward war, it is worth reflecting on the history and deep politics that brought this about. Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty has written about events in August of 1944 that are indicative of the coalescence of the “Christian West” concept that we discussed in AFA #37 and further developed in FTR #1009. Note that this was well before the official incorporation of the Gehlen “Org” into CIA. We note that it was in August of 1944 that the famous “Red House” meeting at which the Bormann flight capital network realized under the auspices of Aktion Adlerflug was launched. ” . . . . On August 23, 1944, the Romanians accepted Soviet surrender terms and in Bucharest the OSS rounded up Nazi intelligence experts and their voluminous Eastern European intelligence files and concealed them among a trainload of American POW’s who were being quickly evacuated from the Balkans via Turkey. Once in “neutral” Turkey, the train continued to a planned destination at a site on the Syrian border, where it was stopped to permit the transfer of Nazis and POW’s to a fleet of U.S. [Army] Air Force planes for a flight to Cairo. I was the chief pilot of that flight of some thirty aircraft . . . . It was this covert faction within the OSS, coordinated with a similar British intelligence faction, and its policies that encouraged chosen Nazis to conceive of the divisive ‘Iron Curtain’ concept to drive a wedge in the alliance with the Soviet Union as early as 1944–to save their own necks, to salvage certain power centers and their wealth, and to stir up resentment against the Russians, even at the time of their greatest military triumph. . . . .”
These are the twenty-third, twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth (and concluding program) in a long series of interviews with Jim DiEugenio about his triumphal analysis of President Kennedy’s assassination and New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison’s heroic investigation of the killing.
The first interview begins with a telling editorial written for “The Washington Post” by former President Harry Truman.
Destiny Betrayed by Jim DiEugenio; Skyhorse Publishing [SC]; Copyright 1992, 2012 by Jim DiEugenio; ISBN 978–1‑62087–056‑3; pp. 378–379.
. . . . On December 22, 1963, Harry Truman wrote an editorial that was published in the Washington Post. The former President wrote that he had become “disturbed by the way the CIA had become diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of government.” He wrote that he never dreamed that this would happen when he signed the National Security Act. he thought it would be used for intelligence analysis, not “peacetime cloak and dagger operations.” He complained that the CIA had now become “so removed from its intended role that it is being interpreted as a symbol of sinister and mysterious foreign intrigue–and a subject for Cold War enemy propaganda.” Truman went as far as suggesting its operational arm be eliminated. He concluded with the warning that Americans have grown up learning respect for “our free institutions and for our ability to maintain a free and open society. There is something about the way the CIA has been functioning that is casting a shadow over out historic position and I feel hat we need to correct it.” . . . .
Former CIA Director (and then Warren Commission member) Allen Dulles visited Truman and attempted to get him to retract the statement. He dissembled about then CIA chief John McCone’s view of the editorial.
The focal point of the first two programs is the dramatic changes in U.S. foreign policy that occurred because of JFK’s assassination. Analysis in FTR #1056 continues the analysis of Kennedy’s foreign policy and concludes with riveting discussion of the striking policy undertakings of the Kennedy administration in the area of civil rights. Jim has written a marvelous, 4‑part analysis of JFK’s civil rights policy.
Discussion of JFK’s foreign policy and how his murder changed that builds on, and supplements analysis of this in FTR #1031, FTR #1032 and FTR #1033.
Lyndon Baines Johnson reversed JFK’s foreign policy initiatives in a number of important ways.
When the United States reneged on its commitment to pursue independence for the colonial territories of its European allies at the end of the Second World War, the stage was set for those nations’ desire for freedom to be cast as incipient Marxists/Communists. This development was the foundation for epic bloodshed and calamity.
Jim details then Congressman John F. Kennedy’s 1951 fact-finding trip to Saigon to gain an understanding of the French war to retain their colony of Indochina. (Vietnam was part of that colony.)
In speaking with career diplomat Edmund Gullion, Kennedy came to the realization that not only would the French lose the war, but that Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh guerrillas enjoyed great popular support among the Vietnamese people.
This awareness guided JFK’s Vietnam policy, in which he not only resisted tremendous pressure to commit U.S. combat troops to Vietnam, but planned a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam.
Perhaps the most important change made after JFK’s assassination was Johnson’s negation of Kennedy’s plans to withdraw from Vietnam.
LBJ cancelled Kennedy’s scheduled troop withdrawal, scheduled personnel increases and implemented the 34A program of covert operations against North Vietnam. Executed by South Vietnamese naval commandos using small, American-made patrol boats, these raids were supported by U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin, which were electronically “fingerprinting” North Vietnamese radar installations.
The electronic fingerprinting of North Vietnamese radar was in anticipation of a pre-planned air war, a fundamental part of a plan by LBJ to involve the United States in a full-scale war in Southeast Asia.
Destiny Betrayed by Jim DiEugenio; Skyhorse Publishing [SC]; Copyright 1992, 2012 by Jim DiEugenio; ISBN 978–1‑62087–056‑3; pp. 368–371.
. . . . Clearly now that the withdrawal was imminent, Kennedy was going to try and get the rest of his administration on board to his way of thinking. Not only did this not happen once Kennedy was dead, but the first meeting on Vietnam afterwards was a strong indication that things were now going to be cast in a sharply different tone. This meeting took place at 3:00 p.m. on November 24. . . . Johnson’s intent was clear to McNamara. He was breaking with the previous policy. The goal now was to win the war. LBJ then issued a strong warning: He wanted no more dissension or division over policy. Any person who did not conform would be removed. (This would later be demonstrated by his banning of Hubert Humphrey from Vietnam meetings when Humphrey advised Johnson to rethink his policy of military commitment to Vietnam.) . . . . The reader should recall, this meeting took place just forty-eight hours after Kennedy was killed. . . .
. . . . Therefore, on March 2, 1964, the Joint Chiefs passed a new war proposal to the White House. This was even more ambitious than the January version. It included bombing, the mining of North Vietnamese harbors, a naval blockade, and possible use of tactical atomic weapons in case China intervened. Johnson was now drawing up a full scale battle plan for Vietnam. In other words, what Kennedy did not do in three years, LBJ had done in three months.
Johnson said he was not ready for this proposal since he did not have congress yet as a partner and trustee. But he did order the preparation of NSAM 288, which was based on this proposal. It was essentially a target list of bombing sites that eventually reached 94 possibilities. By May 25, with Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater clamoring for bombing of the north, LBJ had made the decision that the U.S. would directly attack North Vietnam at an unspecified point in the future. But it is important to note that even before the Tonkin Gulf incident, Johnson had ordered the drawing up of a congressional resolution. This had been finalized by William Bundy, McGeorge Bundy’s brother. Therefore in June of 1964, Johnson began lobbying certain people for its passage in congress. . . .
National Security Memorandum 263
. . . . Johnson seized upon the hazy and controversial events in the Gulf of Tonkin during the first week of August to begin he air war planned in NSAM 288. Yet the Tonkin Gulf incident had been prepared by Johnson himself. After Kennedy’s death, President Johnson made a few alterations in the draft of NSAM 273. An order which Kennedy had never seen but was drafted by McGeorge Bundy after a meeting in Honolulu, a meeting which took place while Kennedy was visiting Texas. . . .
. . . . On August 2, the destroyer Maddox was attacked by three North Vietnamese torpedo boats. Although torpedoes were launched, none hit. The total damage to the Maddox
was one bullet through the hull. Both Johnson and the Defense Department misrepresented this incident to congress and the press. They said the North Vietnamese fired first, that the USA had no role in the patrol boat raids, that the ships were in international waters, and there was no hot pursuit by the Maddox. These were all wrong. Yet Johnson used this overblown reporting, plus a non-existent attack two nights later on the destroyer Turner Joy to begin to push his war resolution through Congress. He then took out the target list assembled for NSAM 288 [from March of 1964–D.E] and ordered air strikes that very day. . . .
. . . . For on August 7, Johnson sent a message to General Maxwell Taylor. He wanted a whole gamut of possible operations presented to him for direct American attacks against the North. The target date for the systematic air war was set for January 1965. This was called operation Rolling Thunder and it ended up being the largest bombing campaign in military history. The reader should note: the January target date was the month Johnson would be inaugurated after his re-election. As John Newman noted in his masterful book JFK and Vietnam, Kennedy was disguising his withdrawal plan around his re-election; Johnson was disguising his escalation plan around his re-election. . . .
In addition to noting that Hubert Humphrey, contrary to popular misconception, was an opponent of Johnson’s war strategy, we note that Robert McNamara was also opposed to it, although he went along with the Commander in Chief’s policies.
After detailed discussion of the human and environmental damage inflicted on Vietnam and the strategy implemented by LBJ after Kennedy’s assassination, the discussion turns to Johnson’s reversal of Kennedy’s policy with regard to Laos.
The fledgling nation of Laos was also part of French Indochina, and Jim notes how outgoing President Eisenhower coached President-Elect Kennedy on the necessity of committing U.S. combat forces to Laos.
Again, Kennedy refused to commit U.S. ground forces and engineered a policy of neutrality for Laos.
Destiny Betrayed by Jim DiEugenio; Skyhorse publishing [SC]; Copyright 1992, 2012 by Jim DiEugenio; ISBN 978–1‑62087–056‑3; p. 54.
. . . . At his first press conference, Kennedy said that he hoped to establish Laos as a “peaceful country–an independent country not dominated by either side.” He appointed a task force to study the problem, was in regular communication with it and the Laotian ambassador, and decided by February that Laos must have a coalition government, the likes of which Eisenhower had rejected out of hand. Kennedy also had little interest in a military solution. He could not understand sending American troops to fight for a country whose people did not care to fight for themselves. . . . He therefore worked to get the Russians to push the Pathet Lao into a cease-fire agreement. This included a maneuver on Kennedy’s part to indicate military pressure if the Russians did not intervene strongly enough with the Pathet Lao. The maneuver worked, and in May of 1961, a truce was called. A few days later, a conference convened in Geneva to hammer out conditions for a neutral Laos. By July of 1962, a new government, which included the Pathet Lao, had been hammered out. . . .
Whereas JFK had implemented a policy affording neutrality to Laos–against the wishes of the Joint Chiefs, CIA and many of his own cabinet, LBJ scrapped the neutralist policy in favor of a CIA-implemented strategy of employing “narco-militias” such as the Hmong tribesmen as combatants against the Pathet Lao. This counter-insurgency warfare was complemented by a massive aerial bombing campaign.
One of the many outgrowths of LBJ’s reversal of JFK’s Southeast policy was a wave of CIA-assisted heroin addicting both GI’s in Vietnam and American civilians at home.
LBJ also reversed JFK’s policy toward Indonesia.
In 1955, Sukarno hosted a conference of non-aligned nations that formalized and concretized a “Third Way” between East and West. This, along with Sukarno’s nationalism of some Dutch industrial properties, led the U.S. to try and overthrow Sukharno, which was attempted in 1958.
Kennedy understood Sukarno’s point of view, and had planned a trip to Indonesia in 1964 to forge a more constructive relationship with Sukharno. Obviously, his murder in 1963 precluded the trip.
In 1965, Sukarno was deposed in a bloody, CIA-aided coup in which as many as a million people were killed.
Of particular interest in connection with Indonesia, is the disposition of Freeport Sulphur, a company that had enlisted the services of both Clay Shaw and David Ferrie in an effort to circumvent limitations on its operations imposed by Castro’s Cuba:
Destiny Betrayed by Jim DiEugenio; Skyhorse publishing [SC]; Copyright 1992, 2012 by Jim DiEugenio; ISBN 978–1‑62087–056‑3; pp. 208–209.
. . . . In Chapter 1, the author introduced Freeport Sulphur and its subsidiaries Moa Bay Mining and Nicaro Nickel. These companies all had large investments in Cuba prior to Castro’s revolution. And this ended up being one of the ways that Garrison connected Clay Shaw and David Ferrie. This came about for two reasons. First, with Castro taking over their operations in Cuba, Freeport was attempting to investigate bringing in nickel ore from Cuba, through Canada, which still had trade relations with Cuba. The ore would then be refined in Louisiana, either at a plant already in New Orleans or at another plant in Braithwaite. Shaw, an impressario of international trade, was on this exploratory team for Freeport. And he and two other men had been flown to Canada by Ferrie as part of this effort. More evidence of this connection through Freeport was found during their investigation of Guy Banister. Banister apparently knew about another flight taken by Shaw with an official of Freeport, likely Charles Wight, to Cuba. Again the pilot was David Ferrie. Another reason this Freeport connection was important to Garrison is that he found a witness named James Plaine in Houston who said that Mr. Wight of Freeport Sulphur had contacted him in regards to an assassination plot against Castro. Considering the amount of money Freeport was about to lose in Cuba, plus the number of Eastern Establishment luminaries associated with the company–such as Jock Whitney, Jean Mauze and Godfrey Rockefeller–it is not surprising that such a thing was contemplated within their ranks. . . .
LBJ reversed Kennedy’s policy vis a vis Sukarno. It should be noted that Freeport had set its corporate sights on a very lucrative pair of mountains in Indonesia, both of which had enormous deposits of minerals, iron, copper, silver and gold in particular.
Destiny Betrayed by Jim DiEugenio; Skyhorse publishing [SC]; Copyright 1992, 2012 by Jim DiEugenio; ISBN 978–1‑62087–056‑3; pp. 374–375.
. . . . Shortly after, his aid bill landed on Johnson’s desk. The new president refused to sign it. . . .
. . . . In return for not signing the aid bill, in 1964, LBJ received support from Both Augustus Long and Jock Whitney of Freeport Sulphur in his race against Barry Goldwater. In fact, Long established a group called the National Independent Committee for Johnson. This group of wealthy businessmen included Robert Lehman of Lehman Brothers and Thomas Cabot, Michael Paine’s cousin. . . . Then, in early 1965, Augustus Long was rewarded for helping Johnson get elected. LBJ app[ointed him to the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. This is a small group of wealthy private citizens who advises the president on intelligence matters. The members of this group can approve and suggest covert activities abroad. This appointment is notable for what was about to occur. For with Sukarno now unprotected by President Kennedy, the writing was on the wall. The Central Intelligence Agency now bean to send into Indonesia its so called “first team.” . . . .
. . . . Suharto now began to sell off Indonesia’s riches to the highest bidder. Including Freeport Sulphur, which opened what were perhaps the largest copper and gold mines in the world there. . . . Freeport, along with several other companies, now harvested billions from the Suharto regime. . . .
Yet another area in which JFK’s policy outlook ran afoul of the prevailing wisdom of the Cold War was with regard to the Congo. A Belgian colony which was the victim of genocidal policies of King Leopold (estimates of the dead run as high as 8 million), the diamond and mineral-rich Congo gained a fragile independence.
In Africa, as well, Kennedy understood the struggle of emerging nations seeking freedom from colonial domination as falling outside of and transcending stereotyped Cold War dynamics.
In the Congo, the brutally administered Belgian rule had spawned a vigorous independence movement crystallized around the charismatic Patrice Lumumba. Understanding of, and sympathetic to Lumumba and the ideology and political forces embodied in him, Kennedy opposed the reactionary status quo favored by both European allies like the United Kingdom and Belgium, as well as the Eisenhower/Dulles axis in the United States.
Destiny Betrayed by Jim DiEugenio; Skyhorse publishing [SC]; Copyright 1992, 2012 by Jim DiEugenio; ISBN 978–1‑62087–056‑3; pp. 28–29.
. . . . By 1960, a native revolutionary leader named Patrice Lumumba had galvanized the nationalist feeling of the country. Belgium decided to pull out. But they did so rapidly, knowing that tumult would ensue and they could return to colonize the country again. After Lumumba was appointed prime minister, tumult did ensue. The Belgians and the British backed a rival who had Lumumba dismissed. They then urged the breaking away of the Katanga province because of its enormous mineral wealth. Lumumba looked to the United Nations for help, and also the USA. The former decided to help, . The United States did not. In fact, when Lumumba visited Washington July of 1960, Eisenhower deliberately fled to Rhode Island. Rebuffed by Eisenhower, Lumumba now turned to the Russians for help in expelling the Belgians from Katanga. This sealed his fate in the eyes of Eisenhower and Allen Dulles. The president now authorized a series of assassination plots by the CIA to kill Lumumba. These plots finally succeeded on January 17, 1961, three days before Kennedy was inaugurated.
His first week in office, Kennedy requested a full review of the Eisenhower/Dulles policy in Congo. The American ambassador to that important African nation heard of this review and phoned Allen Dulles to alert him that President Kennedy was about to overturn previous policy there. Kennedy did overturn this policy on February 2, 1961. Unlike Eisenhower and Allen Dulles, Kennedy announced he would begin full cooperation with Secretary Dag Hammarskjold at the United Nations on this thorny issue in order to bring all the armies in that war-torn nation under control. He would also attempt top neutralize the country so there would be no East/West Cold War competition. Third, all political prisoners being held should be freed. Not knowing he was dead, this part was aimed at former prime minister Lumumba, who had been captured by his enemies. (There is evidence that, knowing Kennedy would favor Lumumba, Dulles had him killed before JFK was inaugurated.) Finally, Kennedy opposed the secession of mineral-rich Katanga province. . . . Thus began Kennedy’s nearly three year long struggle to see Congo not fall back under the claw of European imperialism. . . . ”
In the Congo, as in Indonesia, LBJ reversed JFK’s policy stance, and the corporate looting of the Congo resulted under General Joseph Mobutu, himself a beneficiary of the piracy.
Destiny Betrayed by Jim DiEugenio; Skyhorse Publishing [SC]; Copyright 1992, 2012 by Jim DiEugenio; ISBN 978–1‑62087–056‑3; pp. 372–373.
. . . . But in October and November [of 1963], things began to fall apart. Kennedy wanted Colonel Michael Greene, an African expert, to train the Congolese army in order
to subdue a leftist rebellion. But General Joseph Mobutu, with the backing of the Pentagon, managed to resist this training, which the United Nations backed. In 1964, the communist rebellion picked up steam and began taking whole provinces. The White House did something Kennedy never seriously contemplated: unilateral action by the USA. Johnson and McGeorge Bundy had the CIA fly sorties with Cuban pilots to halt the communist advance. Without Kennedy, the UN now withdrew. America now became an ally of Belgium and intervened with arms, airplanes and advisers. Mobutu now invited Tshombe back into the government. Tshombe, perhaps at the request of the CIA, now said that the rebellion was part of a Chinese plot to take over Congo. Kennedy had called in Edmund Gullion to supervise the attempt to make the Congo government into a moderate coalition, avoiding the extremes of left and right. But with the Tshombe/Mobutu alliance, that was now dashed. Rightwing South Africans and Rhodesians were now allowed to join the Congolese army in a war on the “Chinese-inspired left.” And with the United Nations gone, this was all done under the auspices of the United States. The rightward tilt now continued unabated. By 1965, Mobutu had gained complete power. And in 1966, he installed himself as military dictator. . . . Mobutu now allowed his country to be opened up to loads of outside investment. The riches of the Congo were mined by huge Western corporations. Their owners and officers grew wealthy while Mobutu’s subjects were mired in poverty. Mobutu also stifled political dissent. And he now became one of the richest men in Africa, perhaps the world. . . .
In FTR #1033, we examined JFK’s attempts at normalizing relations with Cuba. That, of course, vanished with his assassination and the deepening of Cold War hostility between the U.S. and the Island nation, with a thaw of sorts coming under Barack Obama a few years ago.
There is no more striking area in which JFK’s murder reversed what would have been historic changes in America’s foreign policy than U.S.-Soviet relations.
JFK had implemented a ban on atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, bitterly opposed by the Pentagon, In a June, 1963 speech at American University, JFK called for re-evaluating America’s relationship to the Soviet Union, and cited the U.S.S.R’s decisive role in defeating Nazi Germany during World War II.
JFK was also proposing joint space exploration with the Soviet Union, which would have appeared to be nothing less than treasonous to the Pentagon and NASA at the time. After JFK’s assassination, the Kennedy family used a backchannel diplomatic conduit to the Soviet leadership to communicate their view that the Soviet Union, and its Cuban ally, had been blameless in the assassination and that powerful right-wing forces in the United States had been behind the assassination.
Perhaps JFK’s greatest contribution was one that has received scant notice. In 1961, the Joint Chiefs were pushing for a first strike on the Soviet Union–a decision to initiate nuclear war. JFK refused, walking out of the discussion with the disgusted observation that “We call ourselves the human race.”
In FTR #‘s 876, 926 and 1051, we examined the creation of the meme that Oswald had been networking with the Cubans and Soviets in the run-up to the assassination. In particular, Oswald was supposedly meeting with Valery Kostikov, a KGB official in charge of assassinations in the Western Hemisphere.
This created the pretext for blaming JFK’s assassination on the Soviet Union and/or Cuba. There are indications that JFK’s assassination may well have been intended as a pretext for a nuclear first strike on the Soviet Union.
JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters by James W. Douglass; Touchstone Books [SC]; Copyright 2008 by James W. Douglas; ISBN 978–1‑4391–9388‑4; pp. 242–243.
. . . . As JFK may have recalled from the National Security Council meeting he walked out of in July 1961, the first Net Evaluation Subcommittee report had focused precisely on “a surprise attack in late 1963, preceded by a period of heightened tensions.” Kennedy was a keen reader and listener. In the second preemptive-war report, he may also have noticed the slight but significant discrepancy between its overall time frame, 1963–1968, and the extent of its relatively reassuring conclusion, which covered only 1964 through 1968. . . .
. . . . In his cat-and-mouse questioning of his military chiefs, President Kennedy had built upon the report’s apparently reassuring conclusion in such a way as to discourage preemptive-war ambitions. However, given the “late 1963” focus in the first Net Report that that was the most threatening time for a preemptive strike, Kennedy had little reason to be reassured by a second report that implicitly confirmed that time as the one of maximum danger. The personally fatal fall JFK was about to enter, in late 1963, was the same time his military commanders may have considered their last chance to “win” (in their terms) a preemptive war against the Soviet Union. In terms of their second Net Report to the President, which passed over the perilous meaning of late 1963, the cat-and-mouse game had been reversed. It was the generals who were the cats, and JFK the mouse in their midst.
The explicit assumption of the first Net Report was “a surprise attack in late 1963, preceded by a period of heightened tensions.” The focus of that first-strike scenario corresponded to the Kennedy assassination scenario. When President Kennedy was murdered in late 1963, the Soviet Union had been set up as the major scapegoat in the plot. If the tactic had been successful in scapegoating the Russians for the crime of the century, there is little doubt that it would have resulted in “a period of heightened tensions” between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Those who designed the plot to kill Kennedy were familiar with the inner sanctum of our national security state. Their attempt to scapegoat the Soviets for the President’s murder reflected one side of the secret struggle between JFK and his military leaders over a preemptive strike against the Soviet Union. The assassins’ purpose seems to have encompassed not only killing a President determined to make peace with the enemy, but also using his murder as the impetus for a possible nuclear first strike against that same enemy. . . .
With the GOP and Trump administration openly suppressing voting rights of minorities, African-Americans in particular, the stellar efforts of JFK and the Justice Department in the area of civil rights is striking. JFK’s civil rights policy was exponentially greater than what had preceded him, and much of what followed.
The conclusion of the discussion in FTR #1056 consists of Jim’s discussion of his marvelous, 4‑part analysis of JFK’s civil rights policy.
House Select Committee on Assassinations Assistant Counsel Jonathan Blackmer: “. . . . ‘We have reason to believe Shaw was heavily involved in the Anti-Castro efforts in New Orleans in the 1960s and [was] possibly one of the high level planners or ‘cut out’ to the planners of the assassination.’ . . . .”
This is the twenty-second in a planned long series of interviews with Jim DiEugenio about his triumphal analysis of President Kennedy’s assassination and New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison’s heroic investigation of the killing.
This program continues examination of the House Select Committee on Assassinations.
Eventually, the collaborationist mainstream media began an assault on Richard Sprague and the work of the committee. The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post began the assault, which quickly drew blood. . . .
Destiny Betrayed by Jim DiEugenio; Skyhorse Publishing [SC]; Copyright 1992, 2012 by Jim DiEugenio; ISBN 978–1‑62087–056‑3; pp. 333–334.
. . . . The only time he ever had his credentials questioned was during the six months he agreed to swerve as counsel to the HSCA. And that is simply because he was going to supervise a real investigation of the JFK case. Yet, the same thing happened to him as happened to Jim Garrison. In fact, like Garrison, Sprague was also even accused of being in bed with the Mafia. When the first press attacks began. HSCA staffer Chris Sharrett remembers thinking, ‘It’s Garrison all over again.’ Or, as Joe Rauh, who knew Sprague from Philadelphia and had a front row seat to the controversy in Washington said, ‘You know, I never thought the Kennedy case was a conspiracy until now. But if they can do that to Dick Sprague, it must have been.’ With Sprague’s resignation, the House Select Committee survived. The interim Chief Counsel was Tanenbaum with Al Lewis, a friend and colleague of Sprague’s as his deputy. . . .
In the interim, between Sprague’s resignation and the ascension of G. Robert Blakey to the Chief Counsel position, George DeMohrenschildt died of a shotgun wound to the head.
DeMohrenschildt: was part of the family that managed the Nobel Oil Fields for the Czar; was the cousin of Baron Konstantin Maydell, in charge of Abwehr operations in the United States for a time (Abwehr was German military intelligence); was a suspected Nazi spy in World War II; was an associate of George H.W. Bush; was a longtime CIA asset; was a petroleum geologist.
DeMohrenschildt implemented the Oswalds’ introduction to the White Russian milieu in Dallas. Of particular significance for our purpose is the fact that he made contact with the couple at the suggestion of J. Walton Moore, who was the primary CIA officer in the Dallas area!
The White Russians appeared to be working to separate Marina and Lee, and were involved in handling Marina after the assassination.
A long-standing CIA asset, DeMohrenschildt had worked with the agency on numerous projects in Yugoslavia, Haiti and elsewhere. Suspected of having spied on the Aransas Pass Coast Guard Station (in Texas) for the Third Reich, DeMohrenschildt was the cousin of Baron Kontantin Maydell, who oversaw Abwehr operations in the U.S. for a time. (The Abwehr was German military intelligence.)
As discussed in FTR #712, we highlighted DeMohrenschildt’s links to former CIA director George H.W. Bush, for whom CIA headquarters is named. In that same program, we covered Bush’s involvement in the JFK assassination. LIke DeMohrenschildt and many of the White Russians who associated with the Oswalds in the Dallas area, Bush had roots in the petroleum industry.
Noteworthy in the context of Oswald’s presence in Dallas, is that this alleged traitor was employed by Jaggars, Chiles and Stovall, a firm that did classified work for the military, including projects associated with the U‑2 spy plane! That the “traitor” Oswald, who offered to disclose classified information about the U‑2 and U.S. aviation operations to the Soviets could be employed by such a firm is unthinkable, IF we are to take the official version of Oswald at face value.
Ultimately, DeMohrenschildt handed the Oswalds–Lee and Marina–off to the “Quaker liberals” Michael and Ruth Paine.
DeMohrenschildt’s death was ruled a suicide, but the circumstances surrounding his demise are noteworthy.
At the time he died, DeMohrenschildt was networking with a Dutch journalist named Willem Oltmans, who began spreading disinformation after DeMohrenschildt’s demise. DeMohrenschildt was also networking with journalist Edward Epstein, who pressed the “Soviets did it” meme for a time and whose behavior vis a vis DeMohrenschildt is questionable.
Prior to his death, DeMohrenschildt was undergoing psychiatric treatment, apparently including electro-shock therapy, from a Dallas physician named Mendoza. DeMohrenschildt’s widow thinks the treatments may have had something to do with her husband’s death.
The physical evidence in connection with DeMohrenschildt’s death suggests the distinct possibility of foul play.
Destiny Betrayed by Jim DiEugenio; Skyhorse Publishing [SC]; Copyright 1992, 2012 by Jim DiEugenio; ISBN 978–1‑62087–056‑3; p. 337.
. . . . Even though a coroner’s inquest ruled his death as self-inflicted, there are some serious questions about DeMohrenschildt’s demise. First, according to the crime scene report and the autopsy, there was not any exit wound to the rear of the skull. Yet DeMohrenschildt allegedly placed a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. It’s true that shotgun shells disperse more quickly than jacketed bullets. But his shot was almost within contact distance. Neither the maid nor the cook heard the shotgun blast, even though both women were right below the room that DeMohrenschildt was in at the time. The police also had problems explaining the blood spatter on the wall. When a blood spurt hits a flat surface, it creates a different pattern than if it hits a surface that is perpendicular to it. In looking at photographs of the spatter pattern, it appears that the bathroom door was closed at the time the shooting took place, because the blood pattern looked continuous. But the police said this was not the case. The bathroom door was open at the time. The testifying officer demeaned the jurors for asking this question and then jumped to a new topic. But it would appear that someone altered the crime scene afterwards. The final oddity about the scene is the position of the weapon after death. It fell trigger side up, parallel to the chair DeMohrenschildt was in, with the barrel resting at his feet and the butt of the rifle away from him and to his left. The police had a problem with this issue and so did the inquest jurors. As author Jerry Rose has noted, this strange positioning of the rifle suggests it was “placed” by someone.
Ms. Tilton was not at home at the time of DeMohrenschildt’s death. But she had left strict instructions for the maid to record her favorite TV programs. The home had an alarm system which caused a quiet bell to ring, anytime an outside door or window was opened. During the hearing, the tape of the program was played. When it was the alarm bell went off and then the gun blast was heard. . . .
Subsequently, writer Jerry Policoff felt that Oltmans was threatening him and that the Dutch journalist was a malefactor.
An initial candidate to replace Richard Sprague was former Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, who had been JFK’s Secretary of Labor.
Destiny Betrayed by Jim DiEugenio; Skyhorse Publishing [SC]; Copyright 1992, 2012 by Jim DiEugenio; ISBN 978–1‑62087–056‑3; p. 339.
. . . . Former Justice of the Supreme Court Arthur Goldberg was one candidate who turned down the job. Al Lewis had talked Goldberg into filling the position. But Goldberg had one reservation. He wanted to know if the CIA would cooperate with him. Lewis suggested calling up Stansfield Turner, President Carter’s CIA Director. So Lewis called him and told him Goldberg wanted to talk with him. He put Goldberg on the line and the candidate asked Turner if he could guarantee the Agency would cooperate if he became Chief Counsel. A long silence ensued. It got so long and so quiet that Goldberg turned to Lewis and said, ‘I’m not sure if he’s there anymore.’ Lewis suggested that he say something. So Goldberg asked if he was still on the line and Turner said he was. Goldberg asked him for an answer to his question. Turner said, ‘I though my silence was my answer.’ . . . .
Eventually, the HSCA settled on G. Robert Blakey as Chief Counsel and Richard (Dick) Billings as a key aide. Both had been involved with tarring Jim Garrison with the Mafia brush in a 1967 Life Magazine series.
Destiny Betrayed by Jim DiEugenio; Skyhorse Publishing [SC]; Copyright 1992, 2012 by Jim DiEugenio; ISBN 978–1‑62087–056‑3; p. 276.
. . . . But [David] Chandler’s most serious blast against Garrison and his inquiry was a two-part article written for Life in the fall of 1967. This appeared in the September 1 and September 8 issues of the magazine. The pieces masqueraded as an expose of Mafia influence in large cities in America at the time. But the real target of the piece was not the mob, but Garrison. The idea was to depict him as a corrupt New Orleans DA who had some kind of nebulous ties to the Mafia and Carlos Marcello. There were four principal participants in the pieces: Chandler, Sandy Smith, Dick Billings, and Robert Blakey. Smith was the actual billed writer. And since Smith was a long-time asset of the FBI, it is very likely that the Bureau was the Bureau was the originating force behind the magazine running the piece. . . .
. . . . It was the work of Chandler, a friend of both Clay Shaw and Kerry Thornley, which was the basis of the completely phony concept that Garrison was somehow in bed with the Mafia and his function was to steer attention from their killing of Kennedy. . . .
Blakey:
1.–Effectively eclipsed the New Orleans leads developed by Jim Garrison.
2.–Bought into the Magic Bullet Theory.
3.–Eclipsed evidence about “Oswald’s” sniper’s nest in the Texas School Book Depository.
Most importantly, Blakey gave the intelligence services the right to veto what information would go into the committee’s report.
Destiny Betrayed by Jim DiEugenio; Skyhorse Publishing [SC]; Copyright 1992, 2012 by Jim DiEugenio; ISBN 978–1‑62087–056‑3; p. 350.
” . . . . When Robert Blakey took charge of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, he agreed to do something that Richard Sprague would not. In return for access to classified materials, members and employees f the committee signed agreements pledging not to disclose any information they garnered while doing their work. Then, when Blakey, Gary Cornwell, and Dick Billings edited the report and volumes, the agencies they made agreements that [the agencies] were allowed to veto what information was included in the published volumes. This is the reason that the HSCA report on Mexico City–assembled by two law students of Blakey’s from Cornell–was not part of the published volumes in 1979. For when it came time to vet the report for release, Blakey, Ed Lopez and Dan Hardway met with the CIA representatives. The Agency made so many objections, it took four hours to get through the first two paragraphs. The report is over 300 pages long. It was therefore classified until the ARRB was created. And then it had to go through several reviews. But even today, an annex to the report, ‘Was Oswald an Agent of the CIA’ has not been released. This long classified report confirms that, as Garrison wrote in 1968, the Commission version of what happened in Mexico City was deliberately covered in mist. . . .
Near the end of his investigation, Blakey was on the receiving end of some questionable behavior from CIA liaison Regis Blahut:
Destiny Betrayed by Jim DiEugenio; Skyhorse Publishing [SC]; Copyright 1992, 2012 by Jim DiEugenio; ISBN 978–1‑62087–056‑3; p. 340.
. . . . Toward the end, when CIA liaison Regis Blahut was caught mishandling Kennedy’s autopsy photos while they were secured in a safe, the Agency offered Blakey four ways to do an inquiry of what had happened. The main object being to see if Blahut was part of a larger operation to undermine the HSCA. One option was to do the inquiry through the D.C. police, another was through the FBI, and the third was an internal HSCA inquiry. The last was to have the CIA do it. Even though the Agency officers at this meeting strongly encouraged Blakey not to choose them to do the investigation, he still did. The reporting officer, Haviland Smith, made the only conclusion he could from this meeting He wrote that his interpretation of what Blakey wanted was the Agency ‘to go ahead with the investigation of Blahut and that he expects us to come up with a clean bill of health for the CIA.’ Which, of course, they did despite the fact that Blahut flunked three polygraph tests. When the author talked to HSCA staffer Eddie Lopez about this matter, I told him that in reading these memoranda, I was struck by how friendly Blakey was with these CIA officers. That is, what a seemingly easy rapport he had with them. I said, ‘You know, Eddie he talks to them . . . “Lopez interrupted me in mid-sentence and completed the thought for me: ‘He talks to them like he’s one of them.’ . . . .”
We note that, during the early phase of the HSCA’s investigation, George H.W. Bush was in charge of the CIA. George Joannides, who managed the DRE for CIA, was the Agency’s main liaison to the HSCA.
Recent Comments