Mike Regan

It Wasn't Roy Truly... It Was Warren Caster, One Of The TSBD's Managers, & He Brought "Two" Rifles To Work. A .30 odd .06 & A Sporterized Mauser, One Being A Christmas Present For His Son & The Other Being For Himself... He Brought Them To His Office At The Texas School Book Depository After Having Purchased Them During His Lunch Hour On "Wednesday", November 20th...

Hi All, With hope that the moderators will be kind to me this one time and allow me to post, just want to share with all of you, especially to Kathy Beckett, who posted (#2) on John Simkin's July 2nd, 2009 topic, "Rod Serling And The JFK Assassination", her thoughts about the "Twilight Zone's" 1985 broadcast about the JFK assassination entitled "Profile In Silver"... Though I disagree with the show's premise that Oswald was the assassin, the broadcast, to say the least, was quite entertaining... I've posted a link to the 1/2 hour broadcast, in three parts, below... Also hope the moderators will be kind enough to allow me to post thoughts expressed by me today over at the "Patriots For America" web-site, just below the "Profile In Silver" links... "Thanks" Sincere regards, Mike The Twilight Zone's "Profile In Silver" Part 1 http://www.youtube.c...h?v=e1UkcPFyxiU Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbIGeAdZyNA Part 3 (Conclusion) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivQhM4mZx-k "About That Congressional Black Caucus" Hope Nobody Minds That I Express Thoughts Concerning An Issue Which, Frankly, Has Bugged Me For Quite Some Time.. When One Considers The Present Existence Of A "Congressional Black Caucus", Unethically, Ethnically Bias & "Illegally Organized" Within Our Own United States Congress In January of 1969 (With The Name "Congressional Black Caucus" Being Formalized in February, 1971) & Subsidized Through "We The Tax Payers"... They Even Installed An Incredible Dork, And Fellow "Congressional Black Caucus" Member Out Of Illinois, 2005 thru 2008, Barrack Obama, Into Our White House... And Whether We Be Polish, Irish, French, German, Jewish, English, Italian, Scottish, Swedish, Norwegian, Etc., Etc., Etc., We Have "NOT", Justifiably So, Rallied For Our Own Congressional Caucuses...Why...? Because "We The Taxpayers" Have Long Understood That These Wonderful United States Of America, Along With It's Laws & Mandates, Were Designed & Fought For, Through An Enormous Shedding Of Patriots "Blood, Sweat & Tears", By Our Forefathers To Represent "ALL AMERICANS", Whatever Their Race, Color Or Creed... In A Very Large Sense, The Blacks In This Nation Have Yet To Understand This Reality And I Sometimes Wonder If They Ever Will... For Over Four Decades, They've Been Content With Bullying This Country, Much Of It Through Their "Congressional Black Caucus", But Also Through Other Representatives Of Theirs Including, Jesse Jackson, Malcolm X, Al Sharpton, Charles Rangel, Louie Farrakhan, And The List Goes On, And On, And On... And Remain Content In Their Bullying, Intimidation And Downright "Sleaze"... Semper Fidelis, Mike PS (Left Click Below And Read About Those Who Have Made American Life So Miserable These Past Decades) http://en.wikipedia....al_Black_Caucus (Left Click Below For The Pearl Of "TRUTH" Which Represents The Catalyst For All This And Understand What We All Experienced All Those Years Ago And Know Just What It Is That Is A "COUP D'ETAT")

Regarding Don Lewis's Efforts To Organize An All White Basketball League...? Regarding my own thoughts about the rights versus the wrongs of having an "All White Basketball league" (Which I believe is fair), would just like to say that for close to five decades the blacks have pretty much been running the show… Sadly, they've never been content with our elected leadership and seem to thrive on "Black Supremacist" organizations like Lois Farrakhan "Nation Of Islam", "The Congressional Black Caucus", Jesse Jackson and his "Rainbow Coalition", Al Sharpton and his "Action Network", Aaron Michaels and his "New Black Panther Party (Who have been known to parade through our streets with fully automatic weapons) and various splinter groups motivated by the same "Hateful Agenda", to do their bullying for them. "Including" bullying their way into the Nation's Sports Arenas. And can someone tell me why we American tax payers have to pay for the existence of a "Congressional Black Caucus"…??? A caucus who even somehow, someway, installed one of their own, a "Gangster" out of Chicago named Barack Obama, into our Oval Office... It's been suggested that the blacks are superior to whites when it comes to sports, but the truth is that white kids, who have honed their talents (Yes, very much including basketball) through Grammar School, High School and College, only to find themselves weeded out of the "System" in their Junior or Senior years of those Colleges. To satisfy the vicious underground "Black Agenda" that rules the show Bugs me because I enjoy it when the "Hoop It Up" tournaments come to town. The kids come from all over, and it's a pleasure to watch the "White" kids run absolute rings around the best that the "Blacks" have to offer. "White" kids who could put Michael Jordon to shame. So Please! Don't anyone give me that "Uppity Black Superior Crap" Though I remain confused as to why so many blacks put up with these self-proclaimed black leaders, with their Rolex watches, Limos, hugh expense accounts that they've bilked from their own people and other millions they've bilked out of intimidated Corporations who would rather anti-up on huge settlements then drag their Companies through long, drawn our trials to answer to "Trumped Up Discrimination Charges" by the likes of Jesse Jackson and other "Black Leaders" For the life of me, I do not understand why this "Silent Majority" of the African American community does'nt stand up to these bullies. I've no doubt that if I were to drive over to Massachusetts, stand atop a soap box at "Boston Commons", and then rant and rave for an hour or two on whatever injustices befell the Irish during their history, I would last just that About two hours before I'd be tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail. And those carrying that rail would bear such names as , O'Malley, McCourt, Plimpton and Reardon And I'm sure most, if not all, other ethic groups in this awesome US of A would act in similar fashion if one of their member's also took to a soap box It's quite difficult to explain to some of you younger one's out there what it has has been like for those of us Americans who experienced our lives both during the wonderful & peaceful decades prior to the assassination of President Kennedy. When we actually celebrated the birthdays of two of our Nation's most beloved Presidents, George Washington & Abraham Lincoln. They've both been stripped of their much deserved "Honor" and "Federal Holidays" and been replaced by some "Nit-Wit" we know of as Marty King And then the turbulent, violent and despicable decades old behavior to follow. Behavior attributed, primarily, to blacks, beginning with their murder of JFK (Check Out Links At Bottom Of This Page Or Do an "MSN" or BING" Search With "James Jarman, Jr., Assassin" Being The Key Words), and for the 45 years to follow that malevolent and malicious act What was JFK's crime? He had the audacity of offering an olive branch to the blacks in the form of a Civil Rights Bill and was rewarded by having the back of his head blown out... "In front of his wife" It is equally difficult to explain the frustration, especially with regard to those of us who had relatives who served in the American Civil War, but also to many generations of American whites for the absolute, total and complete lack of appreciation extended to this fine Nation by the blacks for the sacrifices made to right a devious wrong Slavery A wrong perpetuated by the collaboration of both the "Tribal Leaders Of Africa" and "Unscrupulous Merchants" of an era beginning "Prior To The American Revolution"... Allowing ourselves to give credit to a young and fledging Nation we now know of as the United States of America, and it's difficult years following the win over Britain, the fact that it took us only about a decade less than 100 years to gather (From scratch) the resources' to tackle this wrong is testament to an incredible Nation that, without any doubt, had it's wonderful heart in the right place And the additional fact that, in the close to 15 decades (145 years) since the end of the American Civil War, not one single black (Including the Liberal's precious Barack Obama) has ever acknowledged, "Thanked" or even come close to showing any level of appreciation or respect toward the "359,528″ Union soldiers who died on so many battlefields to insure a better life for the black man Sacrifices which caused much suffering to family members of those incredible Union Soldiers Family members that, surely, must have amounted in the millions It's appropriate to add here that "275,175″ Union Soldiers were wounded Most severely. It was a time in American History for the black man to embrace the love, the support and the "Blood, Sweat & Tears" provided to them by the awesome people of the United States. Not only to express it, but to pass that expression onto succeeding generations In this, their failure has been complete The only reward received by those Union soldiers, their families and this great Nation is "Contempt" by the black psyche that continues to ferment within their own family lives and, much to the woe of the predominantly European American populace here in the USA, propagate itself into the American mainstream Sincerest regards, Mike Regan PS With regard to the JFK Assassination research, if you cannot access the links below, go to either the "MSN" or "BING" search engine, type in the key words, James Jarman, Jr., Assassin, and click on... "About Three Web-Sites Down , "The John F", Is The Most Comprehensive" Catch ya' later "There is a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but those times have passed away. There is a time to fight, and that time has now come." Peter Muhlenberg, Virginia, 1776 "Be Always Sure You Are Right... Then Go Ahead" Davy Crockett (Left Click On Any Or All Links Below) (The 1st Link, "THE JOHN F", Is The Most Comprehensive) The John F Essay by Michael Regan La solution James Jarman Jr. - Une solution étonnante JamesJarmanJr., Assassin - The Education Forum ________________________________________________ "This Is Pretty Neat" Tour Different Parts Of America From The Air In 5 minutes And 44 Seconds... I Doubt You Have Ever Seen Anything Like This One! "Full Screen And Sound Up" (Left Click On The Gray Box Below Below) __________________________________________________ "America... Why I Love Her" By John Wayne (Left Click Below) ____________________________________________ 'OLE GLORY... FOREVER MAY SHE WAVE...!!! "Ragged 'Ole Flag" By Johnny Cash (Left Click Below) (Skip Ad & Go To Full Screen) ______________________________________________ Wonderful Words Of Wisdom Hopes, Prayers & Wishes Will Remain That Youselves And Your Awesome Families Experience Absolutely Nothing But The Best In 2013...!!! "HAPPY NEW YEAR" Mike (Left Click Below) http://www.openmyeyeslord.net/Train%20Ride.swf

Hey Lee, Another great post and, as usual, chock full of info that has had me both thinking and poring through cyberspace for the last few days. With emphasis on the belief, wrongly I feel, by many that the 3rd shot fired that day was a frontal one. Though I disagree with you on that final shot (More on that in a moment) and your feelings that the kill shot did not originate from the 6th floor, I'm glad that we've hit on a consensus that photographs being proclaimed Dillard photos, not only by the Warren Commission Report, but by various researchers who have used them in analysis, are in fact reconstruction photographs taken in March of '64. Admittedly, I, too, took them seriously but will also say that it always seemed quite odd to me that Harold Norman is peering smack dab into the camera. As if he had fore-knowledge as to the placement of the camera. Thanks for confirming my suspicions with your topic, "Dillard Photo vs. Re-enactment" of June 6, '05... Also spent much of my time attempting to put myself into the mind of Oswald from the time that the employees of the TSBD broke for lunch. Knowing full well that he had sold the Carcano to Jarman earlier, I've begun to think that somewhere along the line, and for reasons I've yet to determine, he became suspicious of the activity of the floor laying crew during the morning hours. Much of his book retrieval involved trips to the 6th floor to full-fill the orders so, surely, he was aware of any activity. Including the crew's placement of boxes in front of the twin windows in the south/east corner (As testified by crew members at the WC). It being known that Oswald's palm print was found on the box which would later provide the seat for the assassin, I've begun to suspect that he actually sat in the lair momentarily just before 11:50 AM (When he was observed on the 1st floor by William Shelly) and Noon (When he was also observed, also on the 1st floor, by Eddie Piper) up until he was observed atop the Depository's steps by Carolyn Arnold at 12:25... These thoughts are preliminary, though, and hope you will be patient wiith me as I ponder the events for awhile with regard to those 40 minutes... Though I realize that you share the thoughts of many that the kill shot to President Kennedy's head came from the front, of which I disagree, please check out the following few paragraphs... They can be attributed to Physicist, Luis W. Alvarez, after his viewing and careful study of the Zapruder film in 1976... His conclusions were published in the "America Journal Of Physics" in September of the same year ('76).. . Catch ya' later, Mike From a forensics point of view, the direction of the head shot is unambiguous. 1) A bullet causes the skull to "dish," i.e. a beveled portion of bone will be knocked out away from the direction of the bullet, like the dishing caused by a bullet going through a pane of glass. Both the dishing at the back of JFK's skull and at the right-front reveal a shot from behind. 2) All the bullet fragments in JFK's skull were right of the centerline, precluding a shot from the right front (GK). 3) There was no exit wound on the left of JFK's skull. Considering physical forces alone, a bullet lacks the force to violently push a human body, such as we see in movies. Such force would also have to recoil against the gunman when firing. Oswald's third shot hit JFK in the cowlick area of the back of the head. JFK's head moved forward for a brief fraction of a second and then his body fell back and slumped to the left side. The explanation for the non-intuitive backwards reaction relies on many possible factors which would be almost impossible to duplicate in a single experiment. Some of the factors are: 1) JFK's nervous system had already been damaged by his first wound, which grazed his spinal cord, 2) The head shot created instant, massive damage to the nervous system, 3) The bullet made a small hole on entry, then created a forward-moving wave of pressure in the soft tissue, causing a large exit wound and the escape of pressure to the front (referred to as the "jet effect"), 4) JFK was wearing a back brace which stiffened his upper body, 5) The vehicle was moving.

Hi all, I've seen all the movies, read all the books, analyzed the photographs and, most importantly, spent many, many hours scouring through witness testimony. Though it remains a forgone conclusion, at this point, that the Warren Commission's sole directive from "dipsy" and "doodle" (Lyndon and Edgar) was to endorse the FBI Report's own conclusion that a lone nut named Oswald did it all, the testimony is the closest that we've all got to viable evidence in the case. The most obvious, and incredibly aggravating, fact to the testimony was the consistent interruptions by council members when any witness attempted to add a footnote or personal thought to the matter. Jimison's attempts in the final paragraphs of his testimony is a prime example. Billy Lovelady's is another. Council member Joseph Ball had asked him where and whom he was with as the motorcade passed. After explaining that he was on the top steps of the Depository with, and to quote, "Bill Shelly and Sarah Stanton, and right behind me.......", Joseph Ball jumps in with the customary interruption. Was Oswald standing behind him...?, Will we ever know..?? Lovelady died of a heart attack in the 70's. Annoying, annoying crap, indeed. I found myself talking out loud to the book, "Geeze..!!, Let these people finish telling their story..!!" But to no avail. The behavior of council continues throughout the report. "And what about Carolyn Arnold...???" This secretary of the Texas School Book Depository told local & Federal authorities that she had seen Lee Harvey Oswald casually eating his lunch within the 2nd floor cafeteria fifteen minutes (12:15 PM) before the shooting took place at 12:30 PM and again at 12:25 just inside the front door vestibule as she stood with friends on the steps to await arrival of the motorcade. All this within the same moments & time frame that Arnold Rowland, standing on the grass on the opposite side of Elm Street with his wife, observed a gunman within the west end window of the building's 6th floor and a black man hanging out the window of the east end of the same floor... Her eyewitness account was quietly dismissed and Carolyn Arnold was not invited to testify at the Warren Commission... The directive was clear. Oswald did it and there will be no deviation. The ineptness of these council members, however, reveals much. Immediately, the question is raised, "What the hell are they trying to hide..?" In all reality, I'm not sure if the majority of the Warren Commission even knew. Their first concern, and fear, was that to tick off the pair of bullies atop this whole mountain of crap or to deviate from the initial directive meant, surely, that they would be hung out to dry at some point in their careers. What were the notorious duo attempting to hide..? For the most part, their own amazing level of ineptness. I'm sure that days, possibly even weeks, had passed before evidence began to filter in that Jarman and his friends of the 6th floor construction crew were behind the shooting. LBJ, the kingpin, whose own reputation and credibility had been under serious congressional scrutiny regarding his possible involvement in both the murder of Henry Marshall, an Agriculture Department agent out of Texas and a vending machine kick-back scheme (In cahoots with Bobby Baker), became concerned. Both he and Hoover, whom he had put in charge of the investigation the night of the assassination, (And who would later assist LBJ toward ending all possibility of investigation into Henry Marshall's murder, the kick-back scheme with Bobby Baker "And The Assassination Of President Kennedy") had already announced to the world that Oswald was the culprit. Bearing in mind that he & Hoover had probably already discarded the truly pristine (Unfired) Parkland Memorial stretcher bullet, "Manufactured" and than introduced CE-399 (The infamous "Magic Bullet") into evidence, could his reputation, or what was left of it, survive another boot in the arse..? Hell no..!! Thus began the campaign of BS that we've all come to know so well. The Attorney General, Bobby Kennedy, who had an obvious interest had already been cut out of the loop was further distanced. A phony baloney commission was established. Great scape-goats, however, in case Congress or anyone else got wise to exchanged bullets, messing with photographic evidence and all the rest of the tampering that went on. And lets not forget LBJ's shifting of any focus of his ineptness by putting the lives, safety, happiness and security of a half million of America's finest on the line in Southeast Asia. Based on both a North Vietnamese attack on the USS Maddox, which never happened, and his "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution" (Based on the same "Fictional" USS Maddox incident), which he bullied thru Congress. Good 'ole President Kennedy's justice was one victim and an additional number of over 58,000 brave American men and women would also pay the ultimate price and be added to the list as LBJ, on a sole mission to keep his sorry butt out of a sling..., guided us into war. With absolutely no game-plan and no heed toward lessons learned in Korea... That the potential of a 3rd world war if China intervened (Causing Russia to escalate... Then we would have been talking nuclear threat.) would exist and that the conflict would remain an inevitable, insured and unavoidable "Stale-Mate". President Kennedy had been on the right track. The situation required a high level of patience, diplomacy & "Financial" & "Logistic" support to South Vietnam. And, of course, the lying. It has been said that a fisherman need open thousands upon thousands of oysters before stumbling upon a single pearl. The pearl, or "truth", with regard to the Dealey Plaza fiasco, is witness testimony. And that "Pearl" was taken from us through tampering, manipulation and omission... Though I've serious doubts toward succeeding in guiding many of you away from the numerous "conspiracy" theories out there, my hope is that you will be leery with regard to the "Commercial" aspects of the assassination. With special emphasis on Hollywood. And the greed, alongside the vast array of "Thespian Twits" who empower it. It is an entertainment medium, designed to excite emotion and sell tickets, with absolutely no concern for truth. Or anything even closely resembling the truth. And, especially, with no concern what so ever for the welfare of this fine nation. It's why I've enjoyed "The Education Forum". Though we're all trying to share with each other our own thoughts and research, the pleasure is that the most sought out aspect appears to be closure. And truth... Sincerest regards, Mike

Just to add a couple of thoughts regarding my 1st post... Common sense would have suggested to "anyone" who had plans to assassinate JFK that day would have had second thoughts when they awoke to the rain that morning of 11/22/63. Though it was a light rainfall, it was pretty much assured that the "Bubble Top" would be atop the limo. Nobody, including the assassin, could foresee that the rain would stop before noon. Despite whatever fore-casts. Particularly with regard to Oswald. If his intent was murder he would have noticed the rain and left the Carcano in the garage. His intent, though, was to sell the rilfle to James Jarman, Jr. so he wrapped the weapon and headed off to the TSBD. And bear in mind that the assassin's lair was constructed of heavy boxes of books piled 5-high. Not an easy task, but ample time was available for the morning floor-laying crew to build it. Bonnie Ray Williams sat and ate his lunch right next to the lair up until 12:15 PM which would have allowed Oswald, at the most since the shooting would go down at 12:30 PM, 15 minutes to construct the lair. An impossible task... The whole plot was an incredible and unfortunate fluke... Not that I'm proud of the fact, I smoked my share of marijuana in the 70's and remain aware of the uninhibited qualities which can result (Especially while jamming alongside a few other guitars and, not to mention, some incredible evenings with an amazing lady named Suzy)... James Jarman, Jr., the a**-hole who fired those three shots was in a total, complete, full-focused control and uninhibited haze and couldn't give a hoot about the possibility of any of the hundreds of people spotting him from the street below. And one did... A teenaged African American kid named Amos Euins. Moments later, Amos would relay the info to Dallas KRLD (CBS) television reporter and ex-Marine James R. Underwood (At the bottom of this post I will include a brief exchange between WC's Joseph Ball and James Underwood)... I say the above because Charles Douglas Givens (Slim), a member of the floor laying crew, had a history with the Dallas Police that included drug possession, use and sales. To sum up, a lot of "tokkin'" took place that morning and things, simply put, got out of hand. The motive...??? Racist Anyway, whatever anyone's thoughs, hope we can agree to disagree or, perhaps, agree to agree... Thanks for taking time out to read. Catch ya' later, Mike PS Again, it should be noted that there is a photograph of James Jarman, Jr. floating around out there in cyberspace which depicts him in the 5th floor window... "These Are Not A Dillard Photographs". These pictures were snapped on March 20th of 1964 by a Warren Commission photographer during a "Re-Construction" attempt by the Commission to misguide the American people into believing Jarman's "Untruthful" testimony that he was in that 5th floor window at the time of the assassination... Which he was not. This Warren Commission "Re-Construction" is mentioned during Jarman's testimony if you decide to read it... __________________________________________________________________________ Joseph Ball & James Underwood Enchange: Mr. UNDERWOOD. I went from the railroad yards--actually, I was back in the track area---I went immediately with these men at a run to the Texas School Depository. Mr. Ball. Which entrance? Mr. Underwood. The front entrance. Mr. Ball. On Elm? Mr. UNDERWOOD. Yes; and I ran down there and I think I took some pictures of some men--yes, I know I did, going in and out of the building. By that time there was one police officer there and he was a three-wheeled motorcycle officer and a little colored boy whose last name I remember as Eunice. Mr. Ball. Euins? Mr. UNDERWOOD. It may have been Euins. It was difficult to understand when he said his name. He was telling the motorcycle officer he had seen a colored man lean out of the window upstairs and he had a rifle. He was telling this to the officer and the officer took him over and put him in a squad car. By that time, motorcycle officers were arriving, homicide officers were arriving and I went over and asked this boy if he had seen someone with a rifle and he said "Yes, sir." I said, "Were they white or black?" He said, "It was a colored man." I said, "Are you sure it was a colored man?" He said, "Yes, sir" and I asked him his name and the only thing I could understand was what I thought his name was Eunice. _______________________________________________________________________ Further Thoughts: Hi all, I've seen all the movies (Including Vince Bugliosi's staged trial where Harold Norman, mostly through omission, is seen lying though his teeth), read all the books, analyzed the photographs and, most importantly, spent many, many hours scouring through witness testimony. Though it remains a forgone conclusion, at this point, that the Warren Commission's sole directive from "dipsy" and "doodle" (Lyndon and Edgar) was to endorse the FBI Report's own conclusion that a lone nut named Oswald did it all, the testimony is the closest that we've all got to viable evidence in the case. The most obvious, and incredibly aggravating, fact to the testimony was the consistant interruptions by council members when any witness attempted to add a footnote or personal thought to the matter. Jimison's attempts in the final paragraphs of his testimony is a prime example. Billy Lovelady's is another. Council member Joseph Ball had asked him where and whom he was with as the motorcade passed. After explaining that he was on the top steps of the Depository with, and to quote, "Bill Shelly and Sarah Stanton, and right behind me.......", Joseph Ball jumps in with the customary interruption. Was Oswald standing behind him...?, Will we ever know..?? Lovelady died of a heart attack in the 70's. Annoying, annoying crap, indeed. I found myself talking out loud to the book, "Geeze..!!, Let these people finish telling their story..!!" But to no avail. The behaviour of council continues throughout the report. "And what about Carolyn Arnold...???" This secretary of the Texas School Book Depository told local & Federal authorities that she had seen Lee Harvey Oswald casually eating his lunch within the 2nd floor cafeteria fifteen minutes (12:15 PM) before the shooting took place at 12:30 PM and again at 12:25 just inside the front door vestibule as she stood with friends on the steps to await arrival of the motorcade. All this within the same moments & time frame that Arnold Rowland, standing on the grass on the opposite side of Elm Street with his wife, observed a gunman within the west end window of the building's 6th floor and a black man hanging out the window of the east end of the same floor... Her eyewitness account was quietly dismissed and Carolyn Arnold was not invited to testify at the Warren Commission... The directive was clear. Oswald did it and there will be no deviation. The ineptness of these council members, however, reveals much. Immediately, the question is raised, "What the hell are they trying to hide..?" In all reality, I'm not sure if the majority of the Warren Commission even knew. Their first concern, and fear, was that to tick off the pair of bullies atop this whole mountain of crap or to deviate from the initial directive meant, surely, that they would be hung out to dry at some point in their careers. What were the notorious duo attempting to hide..? For the most part, their own amazing level of ineptness. I'm sure that days, possibly even weeks, had passed before evidence began to filter in that Jarman and his friends of the 6th floor construction crew were behind the shooting. LBJ, the kingpin, whose own reputation and credibility had been under serious congressional scrutiny regarding his possible involvement in both the murder of Henry Marshall, an Agriculture Department agent out of Texas and a vending machine kick-back scheme (In cahoots with Bobby Baker), became concerned. Both he and Hoover, whom he had put in charge of the investigation the night of the assassination, (And who would later assist LBJ toward ending all possibility of investigation into Henry Marshall's murder, the kick-back scheme with Bobby Baker "And The Assassination Of President Kennedy" had already announced to the world that Oswald was the culprit. Could his reputation, or what was left of it, survive another boot in the arse..? Hell no..!! Thus began the campaign of BS that we've all come to know so well. The Attorney General, Bobby Kennedy, who had an obvious interest had already been cut out of the loop was further distanced. A phony baloney commission was established. Great scape-goats, however, in case Congress or anyone else got wise to exchanged bullets, messing with photographic evidence and all the rest of the tampering that went on. And lets not forget LBJ's shifting of any focus of his ineptness by putting the lives, safety, happiness and security of a half million of America's finest on the line in Southeast Asia. Based on both a North Vietnamese attack on the USS Maddox, which never happened, and his "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution" (Also based on the same "Fictional" incident), which he bullied thru Congress. Good 'ole President Kennedy's justice was one victim and an additionl number of over 58,000 brave American men and women would also pay the ultimate price and be added to the list as LBJ, on a sole mission to keep his sorry butt out of a sling..., guided us into war. With absolutely no game-plan and no heed toward lessons learned in Korea... That the potential of a 3rd world war if China's intervened (Causing Russia to escalate... Then we would have been talking nuclear threat.) would exist and that the conflict would remain an inevitable, insured and unavoidable "Stale-Mate". President Kennedy had been on the right track. The situation required a high level of patience, diplomacy & "Financial" & "Logistic" support to South Vietnam. And, of course, the lying. It has been said that a fisherman need open thousands upon thousands of oysters before stumbling upon a single pearl. The pearl, or "truth", with regard to the Dealey Plaza fiasco, is witness testimony. And that "Pearl" was taken from us through tampering, manipulation and omission... Though I've serious doubts toward succeeding in guiding many of you away from the numerous "conspiracy" theories out there, my hope is that you will be leery with regard to the "Commercial" aspects of the assassination. With special emphasis on Hollywood. And the greed, alongside the vast array of "Thespian Twits" who empower it. It is an entertainment medium, designed to excite emotion and sell tickets, with absolutely no concern for truth. Or anything even closely resembling the truth. And, especially, with no concern what so ever for the welfare of this fine nation. It's why I've enjoyed "The Education Forum". Though we're all trying to share with each other our own thoughts and research, the pleasure is that the most sought out aspect appears to be closure. And truth... Sincerest regards, Mike

Yes, Len... I do admit to a prejudice... Toward those of both narrow-mindedness and who wander through life wearing that proverbial set of blinders... Kinda' like yourself... Mike

Stand corrected, Tom, on your service in Vietnam... Can only add: "Glad you got home safe and sound" "Welcome Home" & "Thank You For Your Service" Catch ya' later, Mike

Tom, early on in this topic had thought you had read B.G. Burkett's book but have now begun to wonder. Because much, if not all, of the questions you've raised are covered in his research... Totally agree, with both yourself and Burkett, that drug abusing pond scum did find it's way into the military in Vietnam. Among all the services... Important to emphasize, though, that proportionally, the problems never rose above the same drug abuse problems faced by authorities within the civilian populace back in the states.. Obviously, you served with the Special Forces and, again obviously, did so quite honorably, but it is impossible to determine if you were of the Vietnam war era. Your biography doesn't indicate age but can only venture that your fine service was after the Vietnam war era... Just to share, I served with an infantry Company during most of '68 and into the first couple of months of '69... Half of that tour as a squad leader. Though it was known that a few of the guys (Excluding myself and the vast majority of the three Platoons.) toked a few joints during the single time we found ourselves in a rear area (We were all preparing for "Pegasus", the operation to relieve Khe Sahn...) never, and I do mean never, did I see any kind of drug use in the bush, meaning the jungles along the DMZ... The drug problem, both among the military and civilian, didn't really reach critical and rampant levels until the 70's... Upon finishing my Nam tour, landed at El Toro, and myself and a few guys found ourselves in nearby Irvine searching for, What else...!, an American cheeseburger. Walking though the town was like experiencing a ten year culture shock. Hair and clothes styles had changed dramatically. As did the music...Johnny Cash, Motown, Elvis, etc. had taken a back seat to Dylan, Hendrix, the Beatles and it's "White Album", etc.... All this occurring "after" we had embarked a single year before... Was the same when I checked back into Long Island a few days later. Drugs, though, wouldn't dominate the scene until months later... Wasn't 'till the winter of '70 when a few fellow vets and I headed up to Syracuse University on an invite from a student we knew for their annual homecoming football game with Penn State that it became obvious that drugs had become a major problem. Stayed an entire weekend at Rob's, our buddy, fraternity house and, Wow...!, what an eye-opener. We vets avoided the drugs, any political conversation, simply focused on the booze & girls and had a good time... 1970 was also the same year, in direct proportion with the states, that drugs became prevalent among troops serving in Vietnam. Just a note... It wasn't until 1987, when the bouncing ball led me to the fact that an African American, James Jarman, Jr., assassinated President Kennedy, that I realized the subtle, subliminal, "Pleading" and honest statement that the white youth of America were making during the 60's and 70's with their "African Tribal" dress of tie-dyed shirts & jeans, afro hair styles and all the colored beads. Just Perhaps... You can read between the lines here. Could very well be that the "American Youth" of the when & then were as "Perceptive" as the "American Youth" of the here & now... Can only suggest the you read my former topic, "Gettin' A Kick Out Of Truth"... Catch ya' later, Mike

Dear Royce, Dixie & Tom, Sincerely, and I do mean "Sincerely" appreciate your comments... Thank you And a special "Thanks" to you, Royce. Rare, indeed, for a Vietnam War vet to read a comment such as your's and it is very much appreciated... Thanks Tom, if you ever decide to begin a search on "That quite limited level of pond scum" that found inself clad in G.I. green while serving in Vietnam, and we're talking the true dregs of society here, suggest strongly that you begin with the likes of Oliver Stone, John Kerry and Al Gore... Every journey has to start somewhere... And I. too, am a combat veteran... But hold absolutely nothing against that 80% (Actually, I've read that the figure is closer to 90%) of non-combat troops who served the rear echelon areas. They, too, had jobs to do and I believe performed them very well... Catch ya' later, Mike

Hi all, This is a bit off topic, and for that I aopolgize... Posted it over at the "Vietnam" topic last night and, what the heck, felt quite at home at this topic for a long while and thought you might find it of interest... Well, here goes... Have been a member of this Forum now for a few years and during that couse, and after checking many biographys of fellow members, found that there are numorous fellow Vietnam War vets listed. With thought in mind that, thanks to Hollywood and the Media, the dis-honest and well manufactured perception and stereotype tag placed on us could sway opinions and, further, that many, possibly including some of you, do not quite take our contributions here at the Forum (Not just here at the JFK Assassination Debate...) as seriously as one could, thought I'd share this article (Below) found some time ago while surfing the web... Bought the book... Found it very interesting... Focus is on all the 'Phonies' and 'Vietnam War Vet' wanna-be jerks out there who have both contributed to and re-enforced that whacked out stereotype which Hollywood and the rest of those media clowns spent so much time in creating... Making life for the vast, vast majority of us who served honorably as miserable as hell... Altering, dramatically, how the public perceives us... And making us about as mis-understood as it can get... The article is an adaptation from B.G Burkett's 'Stolen Valor: How The Vietnam Generation Was Robbed Of It's Heroes And History'. I bought it from 'Amazon' for $21 plus $3.99 shipping. Though this article, in itself, is revealing, it only represents the tip of the iceberg. The additional lies and deception revealed by B.G. Burkett within an incredibly well researched book (Hardcover... Close to 700 pages) is nothing less than stunning... It's a bit of a long read but well worth it... Had known that some of this crap was going on out there, but not to the extent that this essay and the book indicates... Catch ya' later & Semper Fi', Mike ___________________________________________________________________________ Subject: The Truth about Viet Nam Vets The morning of Friday, April 18, 1997, Daniel Wells of McKinney took the stand in his own defense. Charged with aggravated sexual assault for fondling his girlfriend's 8-year-old daughter, Wells explained it was all a misunderstanding. Wells was a decorated Vietnam war hero, with two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Medals for valor. On cross-examination, testimony revealed that even the mother initially hadn't believed the little girl. It was the war hero's word against the child's. In desperation the prosecutor's office tracked down B.G. Burkett, a silver-haired Dallas financial adviser who has obtained a national reputation as a military researcher and historian of the Vietnam War. Within an hour, Burkett had obtained Wells' military record. That afternoon, Burkett drove to McKinney, was sworn in as an expert witness, and testified that Daniel Wells was a fake. He had a mediocre military career as a Navy cargo handler; he had never served in combat, nor had he ever received any valorous decorations. Wells' story fell apart. He was sentenced to 20 years. Like the nationally infamous Larry Lawrence, the big Democratic donor who invented a story of heroic action in the merchant marine and was briefly interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Daniel Wells had concocted his Vietnam war stories from true-life accounts in books and magazine articles. Wells' lies were no surprise to B.G. Burkett. Whenever a media story portrays a troubled Vietnam vet who relies on the war to explain or excuse himself, Burkett investigates. In most cases, the purported vet is an exaggerator or an outright fake. For the last decade, Burkett, now 63, has undertaken a one-man crusade to advance the truth about the men who fought in Vietnam and to expose the frauds who have played on the image of Vietnam vets as homeless, unemployable, suicidal, or addicted. Burkett, a graduate of Vanderbilt and the University of Tennessee, served as an ordnance officer with the 199th Light Infantry in 1968-1969. Burkett's mission began in 1986 when he agreed to serve as co-chairman of the effort to build the Texas Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Fair Park. (President George Bush was the honorary chairman.) Repeatedly, Burkett tried to interest reporters in writing about the memorial only to be asked instead about homeless veterans and drug abuse rates. Time and again he made fund-raising calls to Dallas' corporate leaders and philanthropists, only to be rebuffed. After doing some research, Burkett realized that what everyone thought they 'knew' about Vietnam veterans was wrong. The fact is, Vietnam veterans--real Vietnam veterans--are among the most successful generation of warriors in the nation's history. The popular image of the permanently traumatized Vietnam vet, perpetuated by fakes adept at capitalizing on the public image, is so wrong that it almost amounts to a parody. Determined to set the record straight, Burkett became a detective of sorts. Whenever he saw someone in the newspaper or on TV described as a Vietnam veteran, Burkett filed a Freedom of Information Act request for his or her military record. Most often he checked the 'image makers,' the veterans used by reporters to illustrate stories on homelessness, Agent Orange illnesses, criminality, drug abuse, or alcoholism. Burkett has filed FOIA requests for more than 1,700 individuals in the last decade, and more often than not, the records revealed that the 'veteran' was bogus. Those claiming to be involved in covert operations or members of elite military groups like the Navy SEALs or Green Berets were even more likely to be impostors. Some of the phonies had built elaborate frauds, going to extraordinary lengths to forge and steal documents and photographs, then altering them to support their pretensions to heroism. They bought medals at flea markets and through catalogs. They cried on camera when talking about their dead buddies, about witnessing atrocities. Some had fooled their families, their wives, fellow workers, psychiatrists, even military commanders who had also been in Vietnam. In the process, Burkett also uncovered a much larger story, an immense public fraud almost completely overlooked by the press and historians and other alleged experts on the Vietnam War. Those who fought it were neither particularly young nor disadvantaged nor overwhelmingly black or brown, nor apt to abuse drugs in the jungle or to return home as emotionally devastated misfits. Just the opposite, in fact, has been the case. Vietnam vets have fared as well or better than any other generation of warriors and continue to make important, positive contributions to the nation. In effect, they have been slandered. Burkett's massive investigations reveal a silent conspiracy among both individuals and institutions eager to advance their various agendas and indifferent to the truth, which long since became the first casualty of the Vietnam War. Now, Burkett and I have co-authored what amounts to a comprehensive indictment of this fraud: Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation was Robbed of Its Heroes and History, a book that is certain to provoke controversy and redress decades-old wrongs that have tainted society's view of Vietnam vets. Burkett's research began in Dallas, but he soon uncovered phonies who had deceived the nation's most prestigious news organizations. For example, the murderer who snookered the Boston Globe and Mike Wallace of '60 Minutes' and wrangled early release from prison because his heroin addiction was supposedly caused by war trauma suffered in Vietnam. Or the bogus SEAL who pulled the wool over Dan Rather's eyes and became the centerpiece of an award-winning CBS documentary on the Vietnam War. And the phony Green Beret who testified before a federal judge against members of a Mafia family. Burkett's expertise in Vietnam-era military records has often embarrassed the news media. In March of this year, when self-styled 'Vietnam vet' and 'Navy SEAL' Jason Leigh seized a VA building in Waco in a 14-hour stand-off with police, national network news reporters were quick to identify him as a Vietnam veteran and Navy SEAL. Like so many times before, Burkett quickly proved Leigh was a phony; he had been released from the military after only five months and had never served in Vietnam. But to Burkett he was only one more in a long string of those who would like us to believe their problems began in Vietnam. Phonies and Frauds When Burkett first began to investigate his suspicion that fakes were trading on Vietnam stereotypes, Dallas provided plenty of examples. -- Former Green Beret Jesse Duckworth was a common sight at Dallas-area veterans events in the mid-'80s. Slovenly in dress, he stank of alcohol and always needed a shave. He frequently bragged that he had been awarded the Silver Star for combat heroism. Photographers gravitated to Duckworth at parades and wreath-laying ceremonies. Journalists asked him for quotes. On Veterans' Day 1986, an Associated Press picture of Duckworth saluting a pair of jungle boots at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Washington Mall appeared in newspapers across the country with captions such as: 'Vietnam veteran salutes war dead.' But Duckworth had never been a Green Beret. He was awarded no medals for heroism. And he had not served in Vietnam. J.W. Duckworth had been a private first class in the Army, and his only overseas duty was in Germany. Court-martialed while at Fort Hood on two charges of AWOL, Duckworth had been sentenced to 40 days hard labor and reduced to private E-1 before being discharged. -- Joe Testa was president of the Dallas Vietnam Veterans of America chapter in the mid-'80s and often donned old combat fatigues for events where cameras might be present. Testa claimed he had been drafted in 1967 and had served 18 months with an infantry division headquartered west of Saigon. When Oliver Stone's movie 'Born On The Fourth of July' was being filmed in Dallas, Testa appeared at calls for extras, wearing a Silver Star and walking with the help of a cane, as if suffering from an old war wound. Reporters often turned to Testa when they wanted to write about veterans and Agent Orange, mental illness, drug abuse, or homelessness. But Testa had not been drafted. He enlisted in the Army in 1967. After going AWOL twice, he received court-martial sentences totaling nine months of hard labor. Testa did not serve in Vietnam, received no Silver Star or anything close to it, and was discharged under conditions 'other than honorable.' -- In July 1989, the Dallas Times Herald reported that Vietnam veterans Gaylord Stevens and Ken Bonner had opened a Vietnam War Museum at the Alamo Plaza in San Antonio, the only museum of its kind in the country. The two men organized volunteers to solicit money on the street-wearing ragged military garb, of course. Stevens, the director, was gaunt and bearded, seemingly hardened by his service as an elite Navy SEAL in Vietnam during 1968-1969. Co-founder Bonner had served in the Green Berets in 1971-1972. Both gave the Herald their discharge papers to authenticate their war service. But both were impostors. Stevens had not been a SEAL; he had served in the Coast Guard on stateside duty from 1969 to 1972. Bonner hadn't entered the Army until 1978, three years after the war ended, and had never been a Green Beret. He had, however, taken the precaution of adding seven years to his reported age in order to seem old enough to have served in Vietnam. -- While an inmate in federal prison in Texarkana on drug and firearms charges during the 1980s, John Woods founded the first 'incarcerated' chapter in Texas of the Vietnam Veterans of America. After his release from prison, Woods became an outspoken advocate for troubled Vietnam veterans who had been driven into crime by war-related problems. He testified on their behalf before the U.S. Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and the U.S. House of Representatives, telling how wartime traumas led to crime. Woods' own problems, he told people, had been triggered by his experiences as a secret assassin in Vietnam. In 1988, Woods was appointed executive director of the Vietnam Veterans Resource & Service Center in Dallas to help veterans obtain VA benefits and services. A story about Woods in The Dallas Morning News called him a 'ballpoint guerrilla,' a 'point man in near-daily firefights,' the 'Vietnam Veterans of America's answer to Rambo in Texas.' 'His motivation comes from personal experience,' wrote reporter Steve Levin. 'Four times, he has had surgery to remove tumors he believes are related to his exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange in South Vietnam as a member of the Coast Guard.' But John Woods served in the Coast Guard as a seaman apprentice for only one year, from October 1970 to October 1971, and that service was entirely in American waters. The closest he came to the Vietnam War was a short cruise to Honolulu. Though Woods signed up for a four-year tour, he was discharged early, declared 'unsuitable for military service' after repeated abuse of drugs aboard the Coast Guard cutter Mellon. In his one year of active duty, Woods progressed from smoking marijuana to taking heroin, suffering three separate drug overdoses. After he left the service, Woods had been arrested at least a dozen times and convicted of three felonies. Burkett showed the record to a Dallas Morning News reporter, who wrote a copyrighted story in the paper exposing Woods. After his exposure, four members of the center's board of directors resigned, including Howard Swindle, an assistant managing editor of The Dallas Morning News. Incredibly, the Texas VVA decided to ignore Woods' lies, apparently because he had not falsified his record to obtain employment or government benefits. In the ultimate irony, Woods was elected president of the Dallas VVA Chapter and for a ceremony on Memorial Day in 1994 played host to General Westmoreland. Today, he is employed by the national VVA organization and has continued to insist he suffers tumors caused by exposure to Agent Orange. -- Retired Lt. Colonel Michael Donley was well-known among his colleagues as a Vietnam War hero who was still struggling to put the horrors of combat behind him. His first day in-country, Donley was ordered to lead the rescue of a downed Huey transport helicopter in the Delta region. 'By the time we'd gotten there,' he told a reporter, 'VC had overrun the position, and our job really became retrieving the bodies.' A few months later, he was again aboard a Huey, this time on a classified mission. When Donley was shot in the leg, his sergeant threw him over his shoulder and carried him 200 yards to cover. Treated in Japan, Donley was sent back into combat and later shot in the same leg. Two Purple Hearts to his credit, he was sent home where he retired from the military as a lieutenant colonel. But Donley struggled with war memories, waking in the night with the memories of the stench of burning bodies, the sounds of screaming. The internal pressures cost him two marriages. Elected first vice president of the Dallas-area NAACP, Donley told friends he used religion and the teachings of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X to overcome the trauma the war caused in his life. But military records show Donley was stationed at Webb Air Force Base during his tour of duty--as an inventory management specialist. In other words, during the Vietnam War, he was an enlisted supply clerk in Texas. -- During his campaign for the Addison City Council in 1991, Archie 'Bud' Akin boasted that he had served as a lieutenant in Vietnam and piloted A-4 Skyhawks for five years in the U.S. Navy, an important qualification in a town whose chief asset is its corporate airport. Akin was duly elected. But after being accused of 'meddling' in an important lawsuit against the city, hiring friends for contracts, and wasting city funds, Akin became the target of a recall campaign. That's when voters discovered that Akin had never served in Vietnam. Although he had joined the Navy at age 17 in 1960, he had never come close to piloting Navy Skyhawks. --When private investigator James Joseph Young Jr. went into business in Dallas, he made much of his experiences as a Special Forces colonel who saw combat in three wars--World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He used the title 'Retired Colonel' and scattered military memorabilia throughout his office. Young proudly talked about his experiences in covert operations and his many decorations, which included the Distinguished Service Cross, two Purple Hearts, and more than 50 commendations from the Army. But the 'retired colonel' had served only in WWII, and then his highest rank was private first class. Young's fabrications were exposed in a bizarre way, by a true hero. In 1987, Young was hired by Dallas developer Robert Edelman to kill his estranged wife. Young turned to an acquaintance, the late Fred William Zabitosky, to help him find a hit man. As a Green Beret in Vietnam, Zabitosky was assistant team leader of a nine-man Special Forces recon team. The group was operating deep within enemy territory on Feb. 19, 1968, when a larger NVA force attacked. Though seriously wounded himself, Zabitosky rescued the injured pilot from a burning helicopter while under heavy enemy fire. He received the Medal of Honor for his heroism. When approached by Young, Zabitosky immediately contacted the FBI. He cooperated with federal agents by setting up a sting, telling Young he wasn't interested but that he could find someone who was. Taped by Zabitosky talking about the hit, Young ultimately pleaded guilty to his involvement in the proposed murder-for-hire and went to prison. --One night in 1988, a social worker named Keith Roberts invited a pretty young woman whom he had treated for depression at a Dallas-area psychiatric hospital to meet him at a local hotel. At the hotel, Roberts tied her up and slipped a black leather hood over her head and a red dog collar around her neck and attached a leash to it. While forcing himself on her, Roberts told her he had been part of an assassination team in Vietnam, highly trained men who infiltrated villages at night and slit civilians' throats. The grisly story terrified the young woman. Roberts' message was clear: Tell and you're dead. Roberts used the story not just in bizarre seduction ploys. He told others around the hospital the same wild stories of assassinating civilians in Vietnam. But as Christine Wicker reported in The Dallas Morning News, the truth came out when the young woman filed a personal injury lawsuit against Roberts and the hospital where he worked: The social worker had never served in Vietnam. The patient was awarded $1.1 million. --'Vietnam vet' Scott Barnes, an Arizona dress-shop owner, told lies that possibly changed the course of American history. In May 1992, Ross Perot, Dallas' very own populist billionaire, was racking up a commanding 37 percent in presidential polls. But when Barnes, who had somehow managed to get Perot's ear, told the independent candidate he had been hired by the Republicans to tap Perot's phones, smear his daughter Carolyn, and disrupt her August wedding, Perot called off his campaign. That was just one of many bizarre events in the topsy-turvy world inhabited by Barnes. In 1985, ABC News bought Barnes' assertion that he had been hired by the CIA to assassinate a Honolulu businessman; the network later was forced to retract the story. A self-described former intelligence operative, Barnes over the years has claimed to have been an Army MP, a Navy SEAL, a Green Beret, a CIA assassin, and a DEA agent. He is best known for contacting POW-MIA groups, claiming sightings and escapes of men still missing in Vietnam, and asking for money and other help to stage rescue attempts. That's apparently how he first met Perot, whose interest in the POW issue he adroitly played on. But military records show Barnes was never involved in Special Forces or intelligence operations, nor did he ever serve in Vietnam. In reality, Barnes' sole military experience was as a low-level security guard in a detention facility at Fort Lewis, Wash. Apparently, he failed even at that. Barnes was discharged 16 months after his enlistment for 'failure to meet acceptable standards for continued military service.' A Myth Contradicted By Fact The myth of the Vietnam veteran as a social misfit, Burkett believes, has been perpetuated by the liars and wannabes who have seized on Vietnam either as an excuse for their problems or as a way to add color to their otherwise drab lives. In their efforts, the fakers have been aided and abetted by the VA, veterans advocates, and the mental health care industry. Not only do they denigrate fighting men who were among the finest America ever produced, but the monetary cost has been enormous for American taxpayers. Even today, the Veterans Administration often does not check the records of those who claim to suffer from maladies caused by Vietnam, even though it is patently clear from Burkett's research that many of those who make the claims never came within spitting distance of Southeast Asia. But the deeper harm may be to our understanding of our own history. The image of those who fought in Vietnam as poorly educated, reluctant draftees--predominantly poor whites and minorities--is not true. -- During the Vietnam War, seven million men volunteered for the military; only two million were drafted. Burkett's research indicates that 75 percent of those who served in Vietnam itself were volunteers. 95They were the best educated and most egalitarian military force in America's history. In WWII, only 45 percent of the troops had a high school diploma. During the Vietnam War, almost 80 percent of those who enlisted had high school diplomas, and the percentage was higher for draftees--even though, at the time, only 65 percent of military-age youths had a high school degree. Throughout the Vietnam era, the median education level of the enlisted man was about 13 years. Proportionately, three times as many college graduates served in Vietnam than in WWII. They were hardly teenagers, despite the common belief that youngsters were sent to Vietnam as cannon fodder. An analysis of data from the Department of Defense shows that the average age of the more than 58,000 men killed in Vietnam was almost 23 years old. -- The stereotype holds that those who died in Vietnam were disproportionately black and Hispanic. About five percent of those killed in action were identified as Hispanic and 12.5 percent were black--making both minorities slightly under-represented in their proportion of draft-age males in the national population. (When asked by Burkett, most people guess that 'thousands' of 18-year-old black draftees died in Vietnam. In reality, only seven of the killed-in-action match that description.) --Another common negative image of the soldier in Vietnam is that he smoked pot and shot up with heroin to dull the horrors of combat. However, except for the last couple of years of the war, drug usage among American troops in Vietnam was lower than for American troops stationed outside the war zone. And when drug abuse rates started to rise in 1971 and 1972, almost 90 percent of the men who fought in Vietnam had already come and gone. A study after the war showed the use of illegal drugs among those who went to war and those who stayed at home to be about the same. -- Of the 5,000 men who deserted the U.S. military for various causes during the 10 years of the war, only about 250 did so while attached to units in Vietnam. Only 24 deserters attributed their action to the desire to 'avoid hazardous duty.' And 97 percent of Vietnam veterans received honorable discharges, exactly the same rate for the military in the peaceful 10 years prior to the war. -- After the war ended, reports began to circulate of veterans so depraved from their war experiences that they turned to crime, with estimates of the number of incarcerated Vietnam veterans as high as one-quarter of the prison population. But these estimates relied on the self-reporting of criminals. In every major study of Vietnam veterans where military records were verified, a statistically insignificant number of prisoners were found to be Vietnam veterans. --A corollary to the prison myth is the belief that substantial numbers of Vietnam veterans are unemployed. But a study by the Labor Department in 1994 showed that the unemployment rate for Vietnam veterans was 3.9 percent, significantly lower for male veterans of all eras (4.9 percent) and the overall unemployment rate for males (6 percent). 95Since the war, the stereotype of the homeless Vietnam vet has been buttressed by panhandlers with signs like 'Vietnam Vet: Will Work for Food.' But the few studies using military records show that the percentage of Vietnam veterans among the homeless is very small. -- The same is true for the belief that Vietnam vets have high rates of suicide. More Vietnam veterans, it is often reported, have died by their own hand than did in combat. Not true. A 1988 study by the Centers for Disease Control found that the suicide rates of Vietnam veterans aren't any different than those of the general population. Contrary to these perceptions, Vietnam veterans as a group have higher achievement levels than their peers who did not serve in the military. Those who remained in uniform reshaped the American military after the Southeast Asian disaster and mobilized to win the Gulf War with lightning speed. Disproportionate numbers of Vietnam veterans--such as Dallas' own Sam Johnson and Arizona's John McCain, both POWs--serve in Congress. Florida's former congressman (and POW) Pete Peterson is now U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam. Vice President Al Gore is a Vietnam veteran, as is Gen. Colin Powell, former head of the joint chiefs of staff. Dallas City Manager John Ware is a Vietnam veteran, as is civic leader Roger Staubach, along with scores of our top corporate CEOs. The stereotypes may persist, but meanwhile, real Vietnam vets are helping to run the country. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Adapted from Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation was Robbed of Its Heroes and History, by B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley, published by Verity Press Inc

Hi all, Found this article (Below) while surfing the web and bought the book... Found it very interesting... Focus is on all the 'Phonies' and 'Vietnam War Vet' wanna-be jerks out there who have both contributed to and re-enforced that whacked out stereotype which Hollywood and the rest of those media clowns spent so much time in creating... Making life for the vast, vast majority of us who served honorably miserable as hell... And about as mis-understood as it can get... The article is an adaptation from B.G Burkett's 'Stolen Valor: How The Vietnam Generation Was Robbed Of It's Heroes And History'. I bought it from 'Amazon' for $21 plus $3.99 shipping. It's a bit of a long read but well worth it... Had known that some of this crap was going on out there, but not to the extent that this essay and the book indicates... Semper Fi', Mike Subject: The Truth about Viet Nam Vets The morning of Friday, April 18, 1997, Daniel Wells of McKinney took the stand in his own defense. Charged with aggravated sexual assault for fondling his girlfriend's 8-year-old daughter, Wells explained it was all a misunderstanding. Wells was a decorated Vietnam war hero, with two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Medals for valor. On cross-examination, testimony revealed that even the mother initially hadn't believed the little girl. It was the war hero's word against the child's. In desperation the prosecutor's office tracked down B.G. Burkett, a silver-haired Dallas financial adviser who has obtained a national reputation as a military researcher and historian of the Vietnam War. Within an hour, Burkett had obtained Wells' military record. That afternoon, Burkett drove to McKinney, was sworn in as an expert witness, and testified that Daniel Wells was a fake. He had a mediocre military career as a Navy cargo handler; he had never served in combat, nor had he ever received any valorous decorations. Wells' story fell apart. He was sentenced to 20 years. Like the nationally infamous Larry Lawrence, the big Democratic donor who invented a story of heroic action in the merchant marine and was briefly interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Daniel Wells had concocted his Vietnam war stories from true-life accounts in books and magazine articles. Wells' lies were no surprise to B.G. Burkett. Whenever a media story portrays a troubled Vietnam vet who relies on the war to explain or excuse himself, Burkett investigates. In most cases, the purported vet is an exaggerator or an outright fake. For the last decade, Burkett, now 63, has undertaken a one-man crusade to advance the truth about the men who fought in Vietnam and to expose the frauds who have played on the image of Vietnam vets as homeless, unemployable, suicidal, or addicted. Burkett, a graduate of Vanderbilt and the University of Tennessee, served as an ordnance officer with the 199th Light Infantry in 1968-1969. Burkett's mission began in 1986 when he agreed to serve as co-chairman of the effort to build the Texas Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Fair Park. (President George Bush was the honorary chairman.) Repeatedly, Burkett tried to interest reporters in writing about the memorial only to be asked instead about homeless veterans and drug abuse rates. Time and again he made fund-raising calls to Dallas' corporate leaders and philanthropists, only to be rebuffed. After doing some research, Burkett realized that what everyone thought they 'knew' about Vietnam veterans was wrong. The fact is, Vietnam veterans--real Vietnam veterans--are among the most successful generation of warriors in the nation's history. The popular image of the permanently traumatized Vietnam vet, perpetuated by fakes adept at capitalizing on the public image, is so wrong that it almost amounts to a parody. Determined to set the record straight, Burkett became a detective of sorts. Whenever he saw someone in the newspaper or on TV described as a Vietnam veteran, Burkett filed a Freedom of Information Act request for his or her military record. Most often he checked the 'image makers,' the veterans used by reporters to illustrate stories on homelessness, Agent Orange illnesses, criminality, drug abuse, or alcoholism. Burkett has filed FOIA requests for more than 1,700 individuals in the last decade, and more often than not, the records revealed that the 'veteran' was bogus. Those claiming to be involved in covert operations or members of elite military groups like the Navy SEALs or Green Berets were even more likely to be impostors. Some of the phonies had built elaborate frauds, going to extraordinary lengths to forge and steal documents and photographs, then altering them to support their pretensions to heroism. They bought medals at flea markets and through catalogs. They cried on camera when talking about their dead buddies, about witnessing atrocities. Some had fooled their families, their wives, fellow workers, psychiatrists, even military commanders who had also been in Vietnam. In the process, Burkett also uncovered a much larger story, an immense public fraud almost completely overlooked by the press and historians and other alleged experts on the Vietnam War. Those who fought it were neither particularly young nor disadvantaged nor overwhelmingly black or brown, nor apt to abuse drugs in the jungle or to return home as emotionally devastated misfits. Just the opposite, in fact, has been the case. Vietnam vets have fared as well or better than any other generation of warriors and continue to make important, positive contributions to the nation. In effect, they have been slandered. Burkett's massive investigations reveal a silent conspiracy among both individuals and institutions eager to advance their various agendas and indifferent to the truth, which long since became the first casualty of the Vietnam War. Now, Burkett and I have co-authored what amounts to a comprehensive indictment of this fraud: Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation was Robbed of Its Heroes and History, a book that is certain to provoke controversy and redress decades-old wrongs that have tainted society's view of Vietnam vets. Burkett's research began in Dallas, but he soon uncovered phonies who had deceived the nation's most prestigious news organizations. For example, the murderer who snookered the Boston Globe and Mike Wallace of '60 Minutes' and wrangled early release from prison because his heroin addiction was supposedly caused by war trauma suffered in Vietnam. Or the bogus SEAL who pulled the wool over Dan Rather's eyes and became the centerpiece of an award-winning CBS documentary on the Vietnam War. And the phony Green Beret who testified before a federal judge against members of a Mafia family. Burkett's expertise in Vietnam-era military records has often embarrassed the news media. In March of this year, when self-styled 'Vietnam vet' and 'Navy SEAL' Jason Leigh seized a VA building in Waco in a 14-hour stand-off with police, national network news reporters were quick to identify him as a Vietnam veteran and Navy SEAL. Like so many times before, Burkett quickly proved Leigh was a phony; he had been released from the military after only five months and had never served in Vietnam. But to Burkett he was only one more in a long string of those who would like us to believe their problems began in Vietnam. Phonies and Frauds When Burkett first began to investigate his suspicion that fakes were trading on Vietnam stereotypes, Dallas provided plenty of examples. -- Former Green Beret Jesse Duckworth was a common sight at Dallas-area veterans events in the mid-'80s. Slovenly in dress, he stank of alcohol and always needed a shave. He frequently bragged that he had been awarded the Silver Star for combat heroism. Photographers gravitated to Duckworth at parades and wreath-laying ceremonies. Journalists asked him for quotes. On Veterans' Day 1986, an Associated Press picture of Duckworth saluting a pair of jungle boots at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Washington Mall appeared in newspapers across the country with captions such as: 'Vietnam veteran salutes war dead.' But Duckworth had never been a Green Beret. He was awarded no medals for heroism. And he had not served in Vietnam. J.W. Duckworth had been a private first class in the Army, and his only overseas duty was in Germany. Court-martialed while at Fort Hood on two charges of AWOL, Duckworth had been sentenced to 40 days hard labor and reduced to private E-1 before being discharged. -- Joe Testa was president of the Dallas Vietnam Veterans of America chapter in the mid-'80s and often donned old combat fatigues for events where cameras might be present. Testa claimed he had been drafted in 1967 and had served 18 months with an infantry division headquartered west of Saigon. When Oliver Stone's movie 'Born On The Fourth of July' was being filmed in Dallas, Testa appeared at calls for extras, wearing a Silver Star and walking with the help of a cane, as if suffering from an old war wound. Reporters often turned to Testa when they wanted to write about veterans and Agent Orange, mental illness, drug abuse, or homelessness. But Testa had not been drafted. He enlisted in the Army in 1967. After going AWOL twice, he received court-martial sentences totaling nine months of hard labor. Testa did not serve in Vietnam, received no Silver Star or anything close to it, and was discharged under conditions 'other than honorable.' -- In July 1989, the Dallas Times Herald reported that Vietnam veterans Gaylord Stevens and Ken Bonner had opened a Vietnam War Museum at the Alamo Plaza in San Antonio, the only museum of its kind in the country. The two men organized volunteers to solicit money on the street-wearing ragged military garb, of course. Stevens, the director, was gaunt and bearded, seemingly hardened by his service as an elite Navy SEAL in Vietnam during 1968-1969. Co-founder Bonner had served in the Green Berets in 1971-1972. Both gave the Herald their discharge papers to authenticate their war service. But both were impostors. Stevens had not been a SEAL; he had served in the Coast Guard on stateside duty from 1969 to 1972. Bonner hadn't entered the Army until 1978, three years after the war ended, and had never been a Green Beret. He had, however, taken the precaution of adding seven years to his reported age in order to seem old enough to have served in Vietnam. -- While an inmate in federal prison in Texarkana on drug and firearms charges during the 1980s, John Woods founded the first 'incarcerated' chapter in Texas of the Vietnam Veterans of America. After his release from prison, Woods became an outspoken advocate for troubled Vietnam veterans who had been driven into crime by war-related problems. He testified on their behalf before the U.S. Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and the U.S. House of Representatives, telling how wartime traumas led to crime. Woods' own problems, he told people, had been triggered by his experiences as a secret assassin in Vietnam. In 1988, Woods was appointed executive director of the Vietnam Veterans Resource & Service Center in Dallas to help veterans obtain VA benefits and services. A story about Woods in The Dallas Morning News called him a 'ballpoint guerrilla,' a 'point man in near-daily firefights,' the 'Vietnam Veterans of America's answer to Rambo in Texas.' 'His motivation comes from personal experience,' wrote reporter Steve Levin. 'Four times, he has had surgery to remove tumors he believes are related to his exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange in South Vietnam as a member of the Coast Guard.' But John Woods served in the Coast Guard as a seaman apprentice for only one year, from October 1970 to October 1971, and that service was entirely in American waters. The closest he came to the Vietnam War was a short cruise to Honolulu. Though Woods signed up for a four-year tour, he was discharged early, declared 'unsuitable for military service' after repeated abuse of drugs aboard the Coast Guard cutter Mellon. In his one year of active duty, Woods progressed from smoking marijuana to taking heroin, suffering three separate drug overdoses. After he left the service, Woods had been arrested at least a dozen times and convicted of three felonies. Burkett showed the record to a Dallas Morning News reporter, who wrote a copyrighted story in the paper exposing Woods. After his exposure, four members of the center's board of directors resigned, including Howard Swindle, an assistant managing editor of The Dallas Morning News. Incredibly, the Texas VVA decided to ignore Woods' lies, apparently because he had not falsified his record to obtain employment or government benefits. In the ultimate irony, Woods was elected president of the Dallas VVA Chapter and for a ceremony on Memorial Day in 1994 played host to General Westmoreland. Today, he is employed by the national VVA organization and has continued to insist he suffers tumors caused by exposure to Agent Orange. -- Retired Lt. Colonel Michael Donley was well-known among his colleagues as a Vietnam War hero who was still struggling to put the horrors of combat behind him. His first day in-country, Donley was ordered to lead the rescue of a downed Huey transport helicopter in the Delta region. 'By the time we'd gotten there,' he told a reporter, 'VC had overrun the position, and our job really became retrieving the bodies.' A few months later, he was again aboard a Huey, this time on a classified mission. When Donley was shot in the leg, his sergeant threw him over his shoulder and carried him 200 yards to cover. Treated in Japan, Donley was sent back into combat and later shot in the same leg. Two Purple Hearts to his credit, he was sent home where he retired from the military as a lieutenant colonel. But Donley struggled with war memories, waking in the night with the memories of the stench of burning bodies, the sounds of screaming. The internal pressures cost him two marriages. Elected first vice president of the Dallas-area NAACP, Donley told friends he used religion and the teachings of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X to overcome the trauma the war caused in his life. But military records show Donley was stationed at Webb Air Force Base during his tour of duty--as an inventory management specialist. In other words, during the Vietnam War, he was an enlisted supply clerk in Texas. -- During his campaign for the Addison City Council in 1991, Archie 'Bud' Akin boasted that he had served as a lieutenant in Vietnam and piloted A-4 Skyhawks for five years in the U.S. Navy, an important qualification in a town whose chief asset is its corporate airport. Akin was duly elected. But after being accused of 'meddling' in an important lawsuit against the city, hiring friends for contracts, and wasting city funds, Akin became the target of a recall campaign. That's when voters discovered that Akin had never served in Vietnam. Although he had joined the Navy at age 17 in 1960, he had never come close to piloting Navy Skyhawks. --When private investigator James Joseph Young Jr. went into business in Dallas, he made much of his experiences as a Special Forces colonel who saw combat in three wars--World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He used the title 'Retired Colonel' and scattered military memorabilia throughout his office. Young proudly talked about his experiences in covert operations and his many decorations, which included the Distinguished Service Cross, two Purple Hearts, and more than 50 commendations from the Army. But the 'retired colonel' had served only in WWII, and then his highest rank was private first class. Young's fabrications were exposed in a bizarre way, by a true hero. In 1987, Young was hired by Dallas developer Robert Edelman to kill his estranged wife. Young turned to an acquaintance, the late Fred William Zabitosky, to help him find a hit man. As a Green Beret in Vietnam, Zabitosky was assistant team leader of a nine-man Special Forces recon team. The group was operating deep within enemy territory on Feb. 19, 1968, when a larger NVA force attacked. Though seriously wounded himself, Zabitosky rescued the injured pilot from a burning helicopter while under heavy enemy fire. He received the Medal of Honor for his heroism. When approached by Young, Zabitosky immediately contacted the FBI. He cooperated with federal agents by setting up a sting, telling Young he wasn't interested but that he could find someone who was. Taped by Zabitosky talking about the hit, Young ultimately pleaded guilty to his involvement in the proposed murder-for-hire and went to prison. --One night in 1988, a social worker named Keith Roberts invited a pretty young woman whom he had treated for depression at a Dallas-area psychiatric hospital to meet him at a local hotel. At the hotel, Roberts tied her up and slipped a black leather hood over her head and a red dog collar around her neck and attached a leash to it. While forcing himself on her, Roberts told her he had been part of an assassination team in Vietnam, highly trained men who infiltrated villages at night and slit civilians' throats. The grisly story terrified the young woman. Roberts' message was clear: Tell and you're dead. Roberts used the story not just in bizarre seduction ploys. He told others around the hospital the same wild stories of assassinating civilians in Vietnam. But as Christine Wicker reported in The Dallas Morning News, the truth came out when the young woman filed a personal injury lawsuit against Roberts and the hospital where he worked: The social worker had never served in Vietnam. The patient was awarded $1.1 million. --'Vietnam vet' Scott Barnes, an Arizona dress-shop owner, told lies that possibly changed the course of American history. In May 1992, Ross Perot, Dallas' very own populist billionaire, was racking up a commanding 37 percent in presidential polls. But when Barnes, who had somehow managed to get Perot's ear, told the independent candidate he had been hired by the Republicans to tap Perot's phones, smear his daughter Carolyn, and disrupt her August wedding, Perot called off his campaign. That was just one of many bizarre events in the topsy-turvy world inhabited by Barnes. In 1985, ABC News bought Barnes' assertion that he had been hired by the CIA to assassinate a Honolulu businessman; the network later was forced to retract the story. A self-described former intelligence operative, Barnes over the years has claimed to have been an Army MP, a Navy SEAL, a Green Beret, a CIA assassin, and a DEA agent. He is best known for contacting POW-MIA groups, claiming sightings and escapes of men still missing in Vietnam, and asking for money and other help to stage rescue attempts. That's apparently how he first met Perot, whose interest in the POW issue he adroitly played on. But military records show Barnes was never involved in Special Forces or intelligence operations, nor did he ever serve in Vietnam. In reality, Barnes' sole military experience was as a low-level security guard in a detention facility at Fort Lewis, Wash. Apparently, he failed even at that. Barnes was discharged 16 months after his enlistment for 'failure to meet acceptable standards for continued military service.' A Myth Contradicted By Fact The myth of the Vietnam veteran as a social misfit, Burkett believes, has been perpetuated by the liars and wannabes who have seized on Vietnam either as an excuse for their problems or as a way to add color to their otherwise drab lives. In their efforts, the fakers have been aided and abetted by the VA, veterans advocates, and the mental health care industry. Not only do they denigrate fighting men who were among the finest America ever produced, but the monetary cost has been enormous for American taxpayers. Even today, the Veterans Administration often does not check the records of those who claim to suffer from maladies caused by Vietnam, even though it is patently clear from Burkett's research that many of those who make the claims never came within spitting distance of Southeast Asia. But the deeper harm may be to our understanding of our own history. The image of those who fought in Vietnam as poorly educated, reluctant draftees--predominantly poor whites and minorities--is not true. -- During the Vietnam War, seven million men volunteered for the military; only two million were drafted. Burkett's research indicates that 75 percent of those who served in Vietnam itself were volunteers. 95They were the best educated and most egalitarian military force in America's history. In WWII, only 45 percent of the troops had a high school diploma. During the Vietnam War, almost 80 percent of those who enlisted had high school diplomas, and the percentage was higher for draftees--even though, at the time, only 65 percent of military-age youths had a high school degree. Throughout the Vietnam era, the median education level of the enlisted man was about 13 years. Proportionately, three times as many college graduates served in Vietnam than in WWII. They were hardly teenagers, despite the common belief that youngsters were sent to Vietnam as cannon fodder. An analysis of data from the Department of Defense shows that the average age of the more than 58,000 men killed in Vietnam was almost 23 years old. -- The stereotype holds that those who died in Vietnam were disproportionately black and Hispanic. About five percent of those killed in action were identified as Hispanic and 12.5 percent were black--making both minorities slightly under-represented in their proportion of draft-age males in the national population. (When asked by Burkett, most people guess that 'thousands' of 18-year-old black draftees died in Vietnam. In reality, only seven of the killed-in-action match that description.) --Another common negative image of the soldier in Vietnam is that he smoked pot and shot up with heroin to dull the horrors of combat. However, except for the last couple of years of the war, drug usage among American troops in Vietnam was lower than for American troops stationed outside the war zone. And when drug abuse rates started to rise in 1971 and 1972, almost 90 percent of the men who fought in Vietnam had already come and gone. A study after the war showed the use of illegal drugs among those who went to war and those who stayed at home to be about the same. -- Of the 5,000 men who deserted the U.S. military for various causes during the 10 years of the war, only about 250 did so while attached to units in Vietnam. Only 24 deserters attributed their action to the desire to 'avoid hazardous duty.' And 97 percent of Vietnam veterans received honorable discharges, exactly the same rate for the military in the peaceful 10 years prior to the war. -- After the war ended, reports began to circulate of veterans so depraved from their war experiences that they turned to crime, with estimates of the number of incarcerated Vietnam veterans as high as one-quarter of the prison population. But these estimates relied on the self-reporting of criminals. In every major study of Vietnam veterans where military records were verified, a statistically insignificant number of prisoners were found to be Vietnam veterans. --A corollary to the prison myth is the belief that substantial numbers of Vietnam veterans are unemployed. But a study by the Labor Department in 1994 showed that the unemployment rate for Vietnam veterans was 3.9 percent, significantly lower for male veterans of all eras (4.9 percent) and the overall unemployment rate for males (6 percent). 95Since the war, the stereotype of the homeless Vietnam vet has been buttressed by panhandlers with signs like 'Vietnam Vet: Will Work for Food.' But the few studies using military records show that the percentage of Vietnam veterans among the homeless is very small. -- The same is true for the belief that Vietnam vets have high rates of suicide. More Vietnam veterans, it is often reported, have died by their own hand than did in combat. Not true. A 1988 study by the Centers for Disease Control found that the suicide rates of Vietnam veterans aren't any different than those of the general population. Contrary to these perceptions, Vietnam veterans as a group have higher achievement levels than their peers who did not serve in the military. Those who remained in uniform reshaped the American military after the Southeast Asian disaster and mobilized to win the Gulf War with lightning speed. Disproportionate numbers of Vietnam veterans--such as Dallas' own Sam Johnson and Arizona's John McCain, both POWs--serve in Congress. Florida's former congressman (and POW) Pete Peterson is now U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam. Vice President Al Gore is a Vietnam veteran, as is Gen. Colin Powell, former head of the joint chiefs of staff. Dallas City Manager John Ware is a Vietnam veteran, as is civic leader Roger Staubach, along with scores of our top corporate CEOs. The stereotypes may persist, but meanwhile, real Vietnam vets are helping to run the country. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Adapted from Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation was Robbed of Its Heroes and History, by B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley, published by Verity Press Inc

AND THEN, FOLKS...??? The COVER-UP BEGINS... Here's another link for ya'...

And About That Instigator, Charles Douglas Givens, From My Previous Post...??? Check out the link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry9n8Uew4gE

That's Right, Bill, No Jews Signed The Declaration Of Independence... You Might, Though, Do A Bit Of Research On A Roman Catholic Signer Named Charles Carroll. And A Family Member, Daniel Carroll, Would, In 1893, Donate The Land Upon Which Our Capitol Stands. Another Family Member, John Carroll, Would Become The Nation's First Roman Catholic Bishop. The Carroll Family Was, Perhaps, The Wealthiest Of The Era And Supported The American Revolution Immensely. And Stood To Lose The Most, Including Their Lives... Though A Bit Off Topic, Thought I'd Add That James Hoban, A Roman Catholic, Designed The White House... After The Irish House Of Parliament In Dublin, Ireland... Not Even Going To Debate You, Bill, On Israel's Negative Influence On Both The United States And The Middle East (Which Has Direct Bearing On The Shambles The American Economy Is Now In)... Spelled It All Out For Ya' On A Previous Topic And, Of Course, On Two Posts Within This One. And Please Note That My Emphasis Has Been On "Israel". Not On The Vast, Vast Majority Of Our Fine Populace Of Jewish Americans... Mike

Here's One For Ya', Bill With The Simple Fact Being That, Much Like England Did In The Early To Mid 18TH Century, Israel Is Now Running The Show Here In The Good 'Ole United States, It Appears Very, Very Appropriate To Strongly Suggest That We Begin To Wake Up... They Have Corrupted Our Politicians, Destroyed Careers And Lives Of Those Americans Who Chose To Oppose Israel, Dictate Both Our Domestic And Foreign Policies To Our Intimidated Officials, Instigated Conflict (Beginning With Their "Unprovoked" Attack On Their Arab Neighbors In 1967) And Continue To Undermine The Very "Christian" (As Were Each And Every One Of The 56 Signers Of The Declaration Of Independence) Fabric Upon Which This Country Began And Stood... Israel, Through It's Agents In Both The Media And Entertainment Industry, Continue In Their Attempts To Undermine And Disrupt Our Christian Values, Our Fine Law Enforcement Agencies, Instigate Racial Strife And, Most Damaging, Have Spent Decades Corrupting That Wonderful Unit That, Simply Put, Played The Pivotal Role In Building This Fine Nation... "The American Family" Also Seems Appropriate That We All Take A Moment To Read The Enclosed (Below) And Gather A True Sense Of The Sacrifices Made By Our Forefathers, Their Wives And Families And To Grasp And Understand The Full Significance Of Their Suffering... Catch ya' later, Mike _________________________________________________________________________ THE 4TH OF JULY Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward. Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt. Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday to silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid. Remember: freedom is never free! I hope you will show your support by sending this to as many people as you can, please. It's time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games. ____________________________________________________ Religious Affiliation of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence Religious Affiliation # of signers % of signers Episcopalian/Anglican 32 57.1% Congregationalist 13 23.2% Presbyterian 12 21.4% Quaker 2 3.6% Unitarian or Universalist 2 3.6% Catholic 1 1.8% TOTAL 56 100% Name of Signer State Religious Affiliation Charles Carroll, Maryland Catholic Samuel Huntington, Connecticut Congregationalist Roger Sherman, Connecticut Congregationalist William Williams, Connecticut Congregationalist Oliver Wolcott, Connecticut Congregationalist Lyman Hall, Georgia Congregationalist Samuel Adams, Massachusetts Congregationalist John Hancock, Massachusetts Congregationalist Josiah Bartlett, New Hampshire Congregationalist William Whipple, New Hampshire Congregationalist William Ellery, Rhode Island Congregationalist John Adams, Massachusetts Congregationalist; Unitarian Robert Treat Paine, Massachusetts Congregationalist; Unitarian George Walton, Georgia Episcopalian John Penn North Carolina, Episcopalian George Ross, Pennsylvania Episcopalian Thomas Heyward Jr., South Carolina Episcopalian Thomas Lynch Jr., South Carolina Episcopalian Arthur Middleton South Carolina, Episcopalian Edward Rutledge, South Carolina Episcopalian Francis Lightfoot Lee, Virginia Episcopalian Richard Henry Lee, Virginia Episcopalian George Read, Delaware Episcopalian Caesar Rodney, Delaware Episcopalian Samuel Chase, Maryland Episcopalian William Paca, Maryland Episcopalian Thomas Stone, Maryland Episcopalian Elbridge Gerry, Massachusetts Episcopalian Francis Hopkinson, New Jersey Episcopalian Francis Lewis, New York Episcopalian Lewis Morris, New York Episcopalian William Hooper, North Carolina Episcopalian Robert Morris, Pennsylvania Episcopalian John Morton, Pennsylvania Episcopalian Stephen Hopkins, Rhode Island Episcopalian Carter Braxton, Virginia Episcopalian Benjamin Harrison, Virginia Episcopalian Thomas Nelson Jr., Virginia Episcopalian George Wythe, Virginia Episcopalian Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Episcopalian (Deist) Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania Episcopalian (Deist) Button Gwinnett, Georgia Episcopalian; Congregationalist James Wilson, Pennsylvania Episcopalian; Presbyterian Joseph Hewes, North Carolina Quaker, Episcopalian George Clymer, Pennsylvania Quaker, Episcopalian Thomas McKean, Delaware Presbyterian Matthew Thornton, New Hampshire Presbyterian Abraham Clark, New Jersey Presbyterian John Hart New, Jersey Presbyterian Richard Stockton, New Jersey Presbyterian John Witherspoon, New Jersey Presbyterian William Floyd, New York Presbyterian Philip Livingston, New York Presbyterian James Smith, Pennsylvania Presbyterian George Taylor, Pennsylvania Presbyterian Benjamin Rush, Pennsylvania Presbyterian

Israel's Appropriation of Arab Water: An Obstacle to Peace by Ronald Bleier "There is no reason for Palestinians to claim that just because they sit on lands, they have the rights to that water," Mr. Katz-Oz [israel's negotiator on water] said. "The mountains do not own the water that fall on them. It's the same with Canada and the United States. It's the same all over the world." -- NYT 10/93 On the whole, when it comes to the common water resources shared with Palestinians and other Arabs, Israel ... acts like a great sponge. -- Sharif Elmusa (1993) Palestinian hopes for genuine self-determination hinge on a number of factors, not the least of which is Israel's ability to solve its perennial and growing water shortage. According to Dr. Hussein A. Amery, of the Department of Geography, Bishop's University, Quebec, Israel uses 17% more than the 1.9 billion cubic meters of water that is renewable from natural sources. "The deficit in water supply is being met by desalinating brackish salty waters, recycling waste water and over- pumping underground waters." ("Israel's designs on Lebanese water," MEI, 10 September 93 [No. 458] p. 18.) But these facts and figures don't address the question of equity. Arguably 50% or more of the water that Israel uses is unilaterally appropriated from water that should fairly go to its Arab neighbors. Even the New York Times used the word "theft" when quoting an "Arab" in connection with Israel's appropriation of regional water resources. ("Hurdle to Peace: Parting the Mideast's Waters" by Alan Cowell NYT, 10.10.93 p. 1) As a settler community, the Jewish state has historically taken for itself land and resources belonging to its Arab inhabitants and the neighboring Arab countries. A clear example of Israel's appropriation of the water belonging to Arabs is Israel's interest early on in diverting the waters of the Jordan River from the Jordan Valley to the Mediterranean and to the Negev. Accordingly, in 1951, contrary to the armistice agreements and over the protests of U.S. and U.N. officials, the Israelis began moving military units and bulldozers into the demilitarized zone on the Syrian border. Spurred by hostilities in the area over water, in 1953, the Eisenhower Administration prepared a unified plan for the use of the Jordan River. In September 1953, Israel, in an apparent attempt to preempt the American plan, secretly began a crash program to construct a nine-mile long pipeline in the demilitarized zone to divert Jordan River waters. When the Americans learned of Israel's activities which included around the clock work crews, they protested and President Eisenhower went so far as to suspend vital economic aid to Israel. No announcement about the aid suspension was made at the time, perhaps to keep from drawing the ire of the Zionist lobby at home. However, soon afterward, the Israelis launched an unrelated attack on a West Bank Jordanian village, killing 53 people which came to be known as the Kibya massacre. As a result of the ensuing furor, on October 18, 1953, the Eisenhower administration made public its cutoff of aid to Israel. Eleven days later, under the pressure from the U.S. Zionist lobby and a pledge by Israel to suspend work on the diversion project, U.S. aid was resumed. (Taking Sides: America's Secret Relations with a Militant Israel, by Stephen Green, William Morrow and Co., N.Y. 1984. "The 1953 Aid Cutoff: A Parable for Our Times," pp. 76- 93.) Israeli work on diverting the water of the Jordan River was only temporarily suspended -- perhaps for as long as two years. By 1960, however, the diversion project -- which came to be known as the National Water Carrier -- was complete and in fact was the target of the PLO's first (and unsuccessful) attack in 1964. Jordan and Syria strongly protested Israel's unilateral appropriation of their water because Israel's diversion made local agricultural activity impossible. Before the Israeli diversion, the U.S. plan apportioned 33% of Jordan River water for Israel's use. As Stephen Green points out, the significance of this figure is that only 23% of the flow of the Jordan River originates in Israel. The Israelis, however, wanted more than 33%. Today, Israel takes virtually all of the Jordan River flow leaving only brackish, unusable water for the Syrians and Jordanians. Moreover, Israel's diversion of the Jordan River water to the Mediterranean littoral and to the Negev, defies an important principle of international law regarding water use; namely that water should not be diverted from its catchment basin. THE 1967 WAR The '67 war was preceded by hostilities between the Syrians and the Israelis over Israel's violations of armistice agreements regarding the demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria. Israeli encroachments on agricultural lands and raids on villages in the area forced hundreds of Arabs to flee their homes and in turn resulted in the Arab shelling from the Golan Heights which Israel used as an excuse to attack and conquer the area in the Six Day war. (See Laura Drake, "The Golan Belongs to Syria" MEI, 11 September 1992, pp. 24-25.) The Israeli plan to conquer the Golan Heights appears to be the reason that Israeli jets and torpedo boats attacked the American spy ship, the USS Liberty, a day before the assault on the Golan Heights. Apparently the Israelis didn't want the Americans monitoring their assault on the Golan while Syria had agreed to a cease fire. The Israeli strike resulted in the deaths of 34 American sailors and a cover-up by both governments of Israel's surprise attack on the defenseless ship. When Israel conquered the Golan Heights, they captured the headwaters of the Jordan and thus secured for themselves the greatest part of the flow of the Jordan River. Israel captured the final portion of the Jordan River flow in their 1982 invasion of Lebanon when they included as part of their self-declared "security zone" the Hasbani and Wazzani Rivers which arise in Lebanon and flow into the Jordan. THE WEST BANK AND GAZA Ever since the Israelis captured the West Bank and Gaza in the Six-Day War in 1967, they have strictly controlled the water resources in the territories largely because they have become so dependent on Palestinian water emanating from underground aquifers on the West Bank. West Bank water not only makes up 30% of the water in Tel Aviv households but also is critical to preserving the pressure balance which keeps the salt water of the Mediterranean from invading the coastal aquifers. Israel has permitted no new drilling of agricultural wells for water for the Palestinians in the territories and has permitted fewer than a dozen for domestic use. Moreover, the Israelis charge the Palestinians fees that are three times higher than they charge Israelis for water for domestic use (with even higher relative charges in Gaza). As Sharif Elmusa points out: "n terms of relative GNP per capita, Palestinians pay a minimum of fifteen times more than Israeli consumers -- a phenomenal difference for water systems managed by the same company." ("Dividing the Common Palestinian-Israeli Waters: An International Water Law Approach" in Journal of Palestine Studies, Spring 1993, No. 87, p. 63. See also note 11, p. 74.) West Bank water is so critical to Israeli water usage that it is difficult to imagine the Israeli government making even minor concessions on water issues in upcoming negotiations with the Palestinians. Indeed, according to press reports, the present public negotiating position of the Israelis is to ignore Palestinian claims to the water of the West Bank and Gaza to "negotiate" instead over new water sources, presumably through desalinization techniques. Needless to say, Palestinians will have difficulty accepting Israel's negotiating policy on water. The water shortage in Gaza is even more critical than it is on the West Bank. Experts predict that before the year 2000, under current use, the Gaza aquifer will be so depleted that salt water from the Mediterranean will make it unusable. Even in Gaza where the Arab population outnumbers the approximately 5,000 Jewish settlers by more than 170 to 1, the Israeli government appropriates 10-25% of Gaza water for Jews. (see Elmusa, pp. 61) THE WATERS OF LEBANON Zionist interest in the waters of Lebanon goes back as least as far as the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 when Chaim Wietzman wrote to the British Prime Minister explaining that because of its water requirements, a Jewish homeland in Palestine must include the Litani River. In the 50's, Israeli Prime Minister Moshe Sharett recorded in his diaries that Moshe Dayan's plan for the control of the Litani River was to "'enter Lebanon, occupy the relevant territory' then the 'territory south of the Litani will be annexed to Israel and everything will fall into place.'" (Quoted in Amery, pp. 18-19) IS ISRAEL TAKING LEBANON'S WATER? Since its invasion of Lebanon in 1982 there have been innumerable rumors and many unsubstantiated reports that Israel has been taking more or less water from the Litani River. Since Israel doesn't allow outside observers to the Litani area or to its self-proclaimed "security zone" these rumors and reports have been impossible to verify. However, after the 1982 invasion Israel prohibited the sinking of new wells just as they did on the West Bank. They also "seized all the hydrographic charts and technical documents about the Litani and its hydro-electric installations, and carried out seismic soundings and surveys near the Litani's western bend, most likely to determine the optimum place for a diversion tunnel." (Amery, p. 19) So far Professor Amery is alone in pointing to the "hydrological" aspect of the barbarous Israeli barrage of Lebanon during the last week of July 1993 where the express purpose was to create hundreds of thousands of refugees and make much of the area uninhabitable. Amery's analysis suggests that Israel's interest in Lebanon is -- along with its political goals -- to maintain and/or establish control over as much of Lebanese water as possible. Amery notes that since 1985 former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon has been calling for an enlarged "security zone" in Lebanon that stretches to the Awali River (north of the Litani). Amery quotes a Lebanese newspaper that agues that a larger security zone was already in process of "being established by depopulating and flattening 30 ... villages that border the zone" (p. 19). Longer term, the demographic issue is bound to have a major impact on the politics of water use. The population of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza and Jordan today is approximately 10 million. Current forecasts are that by 2020 the population of the same area will double to 20 million with no prospect of any significant increase in water supplies. Without a peaceful resolution of land and water issues, instability and possibly more war loom as awful prospects. Despite or because of the September 1993 Oslo Accords, it is clearly even more urgent to ask if there is any means to convince Israel to reverse its policy of unilaterally taking for itself the legitimate Arab share of the area's water. THE END

Israel's Appropriation of Arab Water: An Obstacle to Peace by Ronald Bleier -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "There is no reason for Palestinians to claim that just because they sit on lands, they have the rights to that water," Mr. Katz-Oz [israel's negotiator on water] said. "The mountains do not own the water that fall on them. It's the same with Canada and the United States. It's the same all over the world." -- NYT 10/93 On the whole, when it comes to the common water resources shared with Palestinians and other Arabs, Israel ... acts like a great sponge. -- Sharif Elmusa (1993) Palestinian hopes for genuine self-determination hinge on a number of factors, not the least of which is Israel's ability to solve its perennial and growing water shortage. According to Dr. Hussein A. Amery, of the Department of Geography, Bishop's University, Quebec, Israel uses 17% more than the 1.9 billion cubic meters of water that is renewable from natural sources. "The deficit in water supply is being met by desalinating brackish salty waters, recycling waste water and over- pumping underground waters." ("Israel's designs on Lebanese water," MEI, 10 September 93 [No. 458] p. 18.) But these facts and figures don't address the question of equity. Arguably 50% or more of the water that Israel uses is unilaterally appropriated from water that should fairly go to its Arab neighbors. Even the New York Times used the word "theft" when quoting an "Arab" in connection with Israel's appropriation of regional water resources. ("Hurdle to Peace: Parting the Mideast's Waters" by Alan Cowell NYT, 10.10.93 p. 1) As a settler community, the Jewish state has historically taken for itself land and resources belonging to its Arab inhabitants and the neighboring Arab countries. A clear example of Israel's appropriation of the water belonging to Arabs is Israel's interest early on in diverting the waters of the Jordan River from the Jordan Valley to the Mediterranean and to the Negev. Accordingly, in 1951, contrary to the armistice agreements and over the protests of U.S. and U.N. officials, the Israelis began moving military units and bulldozers into the demilitarized zone on the Syrian border. Spurred by hostilities in the area over water, in 1953, the Eisenhower Administration prepared a unified plan for the use of the Jordan River. In September 1953, Israel, in an apparent attempt to preempt the American plan, secretly began a crash program to construct a nine-mile long pipeline in the demilitarized zone to divert Jordan River waters. When the Americans learned of Israel's activities which included around the clock work crews, they protested and President Eisenhower went so far as to suspend vital economic aid to Israel. No announcement about the aid suspension was made at the time, perhaps to keep from drawing the ire of the Zionist lobby at home. However, soon afterward, the Israelis launched an unrelated attack on a West Bank Jordanian village, killing 53 people which came to be known as the Kibya massacre. As a result of the ensuing furor, on October 18, 1953, the Eisenhower administration made public its cutoff of aid to Israel. Eleven days later, under the pressure from the U.S. Zionist lobby and a pledge by Israel to suspend work on the diversion project, U.S. aid was resumed. (Taking Sides: America's Secret Relations with a Militant Israel, by Stephen Green, William Morrow and Co., N.Y. 1984. "The 1953 Aid Cutoff: A Parable for Our Times," pp. 76- 93.) Israeli work on diverting the water of the Jordan River was only temporarily suspended -- perhaps for as long as two years. By 1960, however, the diversion project -- which came to be known as the National Water Carrier -- was complete and in fact was the target of the PLO's first (and unsuccessful) attack in 1964. Jordan and Syria strongly protested Israel's unilateral appropriation of their water because Israel's diversion made local agricultural activity impossible. Before the Israeli diversion, the U.S. plan apportioned 33% of Jordan River water for Israel's use. As Stephen Green points out, the significance of this figure is that only 23% of the flow of the Jordan River originates in Israel. The Israelis, however, wanted more than 33%. Today, Israel takes virtually all of the Jordan River flow leaving only brackish, unusable water for the Syrians and Jordanians. Moreover, Israel's diversion of the Jordan River water to the Mediterranean littoral and to the Negev, defies an important principle of international law regarding water use; namely that water should not be diverted from its catchment basin. THE 1967 WAR The '67 war was preceded by hostilities between the Syrians and the Israelis over Israel's violations of armistice agreements regarding the demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria. Israeli encroachments on agricultural lands and raids on villages in the area forced hundreds of Arabs to flee their homes and in turn resulted in the Arab shelling from the Golan Heights which Israel used as an excuse to attack and conquer the area in the Six Day war. (See Laura Drake, "The Golan Belongs to Syria" MEI, 11 September 1992, pp. 24-25.) The Israeli plan to conquer the Golan Heights appears to be the reason that Israeli jets and torpedo boats attacked the American spy ship, the USS Liberty, a day before the assault on the Golan Heights. Apparently the Israelis didn't want the Americans monitoring their assault on the Golan while Syria had agreed to a cease fire. The Israeli strike resulted in the deaths of 34 American sailors and a cover-up by both governments of Israel's surprise attack on the defenseless ship. When Israel conquered the Golan Heights, they captured the headwaters of the Jordan and thus secured for themselves the greatest part of the flow of the Jordan River. Israel captured the final portion of the Jordan River flow in their 1982 invasion of Lebanon when they included as part of their self-declared "security zone" the Hasbani and Wazzani Rivers which arise in Lebanon and flow into the Jordan. THE WEST BANK AND GAZA Ever since the Israelis captured the West Bank and Gaza in the Six-Day War in 1967, they have strictly controlled the water resources in the territories largely because they have become so dependent on Palestinian water emanating from underground aquifers on the West Bank. West Bank water not only makes up 30% of the water in Tel Aviv households but also is critical to preserving the pressure balance which keeps the salt water of the Mediterranean from invading the coastal aquifers. Israel has permitted no new drilling of agricultural wells for water for the Palestinians in the territories and has permitted fewer than a dozen for domestic use. Moreover, the Israelis charge the Palestinians fees that are three times higher than they charge Israelis for water for domestic use (with even higher relative charges in Gaza). As Sharif Elmusa points out: "n terms of relative GNP per capita, Palestinians pay a minimum of fifteen times more than Israeli consumers -- a phenomenal difference for water systems managed by the same company." ("Dividing the Common Palestinian-Israeli Waters: An International Water Law Approach" in Journal of Palestine Studies, Spring 1993, No. 87, p. 63. See also note 11, p. 74.) West Bank water is so critical to Israeli water usage that it is difficult to imagine the Israeli government making even minor concessions on water issues in upcoming negotiations with the Palestinians. Indeed, according to press reports, the present public negotiating position of the Israelis is to ignore Palestinian claims to the water of the West Bank and Gaza to "negotiate" instead over new water sources, presumably through desalinization techniques. Needless to say, Palestinians will have difficulty accepting Israel's negotiating policy on water. The water shortage in Gaza is even more critical than it is on the West Bank. Experts predict that before the year 2000, under current use, the Gaza aquifer will be so depleted that salt water from the Mediterranean will make it unusable. Even in Gaza where the Arab population outnumbers the approximately 5,000 Jewish settlers by more than 170 to 1, the Israeli government appropriates 10-25% of Gaza water for Jews. (see Elmusa, pp. 61) THE WATERS OF LEBANON Zionist interest in the waters of Lebanon goes back as least as far as the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 when Chaim Wietzman wrote to the British Prime Minister explaining that because of its water requirements, a Jewish homeland in Palestine must include the Litani River. In the 50's, Israeli Prime Minister Moshe Sharett recorded in his diaries that Moshe Dayan's plan for the control of the Litani River was to "'enter Lebanon, occupy the relevant territory' then the 'territory south of the Litani will be annexed to Israel and everything will fall into place.'" (Quoted in Amery, pp. 18-19) IS ISRAEL TAKING LEBANON'S WATER? Since its invasion of Lebanon in 1982 there have been innumerable rumors and many unsubstantiated reports that Israel has been taking more or less water from the Litani River. Since Israel doesn't allow outside observers to the Litani area or to its self-proclaimed "security zone" these rumors and reports have been impossible to verify. However, after the 1982 invasion Israel prohibited the sinking of new wells just as they did on the West Bank. They also "seized all the hydrographic charts and technical documents about the Litani and its hydro-electric installations, and carried out seismic soundings and surveys near the Litani's western bend, most likely to determine the optimum place for a diversion tunnel." (Amery, p. 19) So far Professor Amery is alone in pointing to the "hydrological" aspect of the barbarous Israeli barrage of Lebanon during the last week of July 1993 where the express purpose was to create hundreds of thousands of refugees and make much of the area uninhabitable. Amery's analysis suggests that Israel's interest in Lebanon is -- along with its political goals -- to maintain and/or establish control over as much of Lebanese water as possible. Amery notes that since 1985 former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon has been calling for an enlarged "security zone" in Lebanon that stretches to the Awali River (north of the Litani). Amery quotes a Lebanese newspaper that agues that a larger security zone was already in process of "being established by depopulating and flattening 30 ... villages that border the zone" (p. 19). Longer term, the demographic issue is bound to have a major impact on the politics of water use. The population of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza and Jordan today is approximately 10 million. Current forecasts are that by 2020 the population of the same area will double to 20 million with no prospect of any significant increase in water supplies. Without a peaceful resolution of land and water issues, instability and possibly more war loom as awful prospects. Despite or because of the September 1993 Oslo Accords, it is clearly even more urgent to ask if there is any means to convince Israel to reverse its policy of unilaterally taking for itself the legitimate Arab share of the area's water. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE END

Remember When the Arabs were Our Allies...? Granted, our hand has been forced and manipulated into dealing with all the hate that has erupted these past decades from the Middle East, but ever wonder where lies the root of it all...? Read on... Remember when the Arabs were our friends...? Can you recall when a barrel of crude was priced within the single digits...? I can. Because I opened and operated a gasoline franchise during those peaceful years with a retail value of fuel set at 29 cents a gallon. Militarily, things were quite balanced in the Middle East. Despite demands from the Israeli Prime Minister of the time, President Kennedy, hell bent on keeping a military balance in the Middle East, would continuously rebuff Ben Gurion's attempts to acquire from the United States both technology for a nuclear weapons program and funds to expand their armed forces. And then what happened...? Perhaps one of the finest Presidents this country ever produced was assassinated. And Israel...? They aligned themselves with Communist China, pooled their resources, and developed their own nuclear weapons programs. Both country's would test their nuclear bomb before the end of 1964. To present date, Israel, despite it's bull-s**t overtures with regard to world peace, have steadfastly refused to sign the 'Non-Proliferation Act'. Even China and Russia, our enemies of past, have signed on. Enter Lydon Baines Johnson, without a doubt both the sleaziest and most cowardly U.S. President of all time. Though Israel continued to parley with a Communist nation, Johnson would extend, to a degree that simply boggles the mind, military aid to Israel that would bolster their armed forces to an extent never before seen in the Middle East. LBJ simply lacked the moxie it would have taken to stand up to Israel. Many, if not most, of the the Arab nations, confused that a good & loyal friend and a Nation (The United States) would arm a neighboring country to the teeth, even waited patiently for close to a decade before their shock and dis-belief that this former friend would do such a thing , simply put, turned to hatred. And aggression... First, economically, as a barrel of crude soared well into the upper digits and, second (?)... Well... The incredible level of violence we've all come to witness, not only on 9/11, but in years both prior and since pretty much spells out the entire picture. Poor 'ole' 'Uncle Sam', thanks to the lackeys & corrupt individuals that Israel has installed in both Washington politics and within American media, has been placed in bed with Israel... Much to both the dismay of some of our former allies upon the world stage and the suffering of Arab nations in the Middle East, including the 'Ethnic Cleansing' campaign of which Israel earnestly and actively carries out against the Palestinian people. And, without a doubt, with regard to the suffering of 'Middle Class' tax-payers of America. The fine people who have been forced to provide the billions upon billions of sustenance dollars necessary to feed an aggressive, provocative & sleazoid Israeli 'Regime'. Catch ya' later, & 'GOD BLESS', Mike PS My hope is that when Israel is done bullying the Palestinians, made peace with them for the sake, especially, of the fine American men & women who are fighting and dying in the Middle East to satisfy their sadistic whims and despicable ego, Israel will allow their neighbors a suitable (And appropriate) plot of land where they can plant a flag and call home and stopped behaving like a bunch of flaming ass-holes (Along side all those corrupted lackeys and dipxxxxs they've installed in both Washington politics & American media). And for the sake of 'Peace In The Middle East' & the end of terrorism... Allowed the entire world a sigh of relief as they sign the 'Non-Proliferation Act'..... Catch ya' later,, Mike Regan Safety, Happiness & Security To All Who Served On The 'USS Liberty' (Check out their web-site)... With Special Regard to 'The Spirits Of The Many Who Sacrificed Their Lives' while defending their ship against an incredibly aggressive, and unprovoked, attack by the Israeli Air Force on June 8th, 1967... 'God Bless All Those Wonderful Sailors And Marines'

Remember When the Arabs were Our Allies...? Granted, our hand has been forced and manipulated into dealing with all the hate that has erupted these past decades from the Middle East, but ever wonder where lies the root of it all...? Read on... Remember when the Arabs were our friends...? Can you recall when a barrel of crude was priced within the single digits...? I can. Because I opened and operated a gasoline franchise during those peaceful years with a retail value of fuel set at 29 cents a gallon. Militarily, things were quite balanced in the Middle East. Despite demands from the Israeli Prime Minister of the time, President Kennedy, hell bent on keeping a military balance in the Middle East, would continuously rebuff Ben Gurion's attempts to acquire from the United States both technology for a nuclear weapons program and funds to expand their armed forces. And then what happened...? Perhaps one of the finest Presidents this country ever produced was assassinated. And Israel...? They aligned themselves with Communist China, pooled their resources, and developed their own nuclear weapons programs. Both country's would test their nuclear bomb before the end of 1964. To present date, Israel, despite it's bull-s**t overtures with regard to world peace, have steadfastly refused to sign the 'Non-Proliferation Act'. Even China and Russia, our enemies of past, have signed on. Enter Lydon Baines Johnson, without a doubt both the sleaziest and most cowardly U.S. President of all time. Though Israel continued to parley with a Communist nation, Johnson would extend, to a degree that simply boggles the mind, military aid to Israel that would bolster their armed forces to an extent never before seen in the Middle East. LBJ simply lacked the moxie it would have taken to stand up to Israel. Many, if not most, of the the Arab nations, confused that a good & loyal friend and a Nation (The United States) would arm a neighboring country to the teeth, even waited patiently for close to a decade before their shock and dis-belief that this former friend would do such a thing , simply put, turned to hatred. And aggression... First, economically, as a barrel of crude soared well into the upper digits and, second (?)... Well... The incredible level of violence we've all come to witness, not only on 9/11, but in years both prior and since pretty much spells out the entire picture. Poor 'ole' 'Uncle Sam', thanks to the lackeys & corrupt individuals that Israel has installed in both Washington politics and within American media, has been placed in bed with Israel... Much to both the dismay of some of our former allies upon the world stage and the suffering of Arab nations in the Middle East, including the 'Ethnic Cleansing' campaign of which Israel earnestly and actively carries out against the Palestinian people. And, without a doubt, with regard to the suffering of 'Middle Class' tax-payers of America. The fine people who have been forced to provide the billions upon billions of sustenance dollars necessary to feed an aggressive, provocative & sleazoid Israeli 'Regime'. Catch ya' later, & 'GOD BLESS', Mike PS My hope is that when Israel is done bullying the Palestinians, made peace with them for the sake, especially, of the fine American men & women who are fighting and dying in the Middle East to satisfy their sadistic whims and despicable ego, Israel will allow their neighbors a suitable (And appropriate) plot of land where they can plant a flag and call home and stopped behaving like a bunch of flaming ass-holes (Along side all those corrupted lackeys and dipxxxxs they've installed in both Washington politics & American media). And for the sake of 'Peace In The Middle East' & the end of terrorism... Allowed the entire world a sigh of relief as they sign the 'Non-Proliferation Act'..... Catch ya' later, Mike Regan Safety, Happiness & Security To All Who Served On The 'USS Liberty' (Check out their web-site)... With Special Regard to 'The Spirits Of The Many Who Sacrificed Their Lives' while defending their ship against an incredibly aggressive, and unprovoked, attack by the Israeli Air Force on June 8th, 1967... 'God Bless All Those Wonderful Sailors And Marines'

Remember When the Arabs were Our Allies...? Granted, our hand has been forced and manipulated into dealing with all the hate that has erupted these past decades from the Middle East, but ever wonder where lies the root of it all...? Read on... Remember when the Arabs were our friends...? Can you recall when a barrel of crude was priced within the single digits...? I can. Because I opened and operated a gasoline franchise during those peaceful years with a retail value of fuel set at 29 cents a gallon. Militarily, things were quite balanced in the Middle East. Despite demands from the Israeli Prime Minister of the time, President Kennedy, hell bent on keeping a military balance in the Middle East, would continuously rebuff Ben Gurion's attempts to acquire from the United States both technology for a nuclear weapons program and funds to expand their armed forces. And then what happened...? Perhaps one of the finest Presidents this country ever produced was assassinated. And Israel...? They aligned themselves with Communist China, pooled their resources, and developed their own nuclear weapons programs. Both country's would test their nuclear bomb before the end of 1964. To present date, Israel, despite it's bull-s**t overtures with regard to world peace, have steadfastly refused to sign the 'Non-Proliferation Act'. Even China and Russia, our enemies of past, have signed on. Enter Lydon Baines Johnson, without a doubt both the sleaziest and most cowardly U.S. President of all time. Though Israel continued to parley with a Communist nation, Johnson would extend, to a degree that simply boggles the mind, military aid to Israel that would bolster their armed forces to an extent never before seen in the Middle East. LBJ simply lacked the moxie it would have taken to stand up to Israel. Many, if not most, of the the Arab nations, confused that a good & loyal friend and a Nation (The United States) would arm a neighboring country to the teeth, even waited patiently for close to a decade before their shock and dis-belief that this former friend would do such a thing , simply put, turned to hatred. And aggression... First, economically, as a barrel of crude soared well into the upper digits and, second (?)... Well... The incredible level of violence we've all come to witness, not only on 9/11, but in years both prior and since pretty much spells out the entire picture. Poor 'ole' 'Uncle Sam', thanks to the lackeys & corrupt individuals that Israel has installed in both Washington politics and within American media, has been placed in bed with Israel... Much to both the dismay of some of our former allies upon the world stage and the suffering of Arab nations in the Middle East, including the 'Ethnic Cleansing' campaign of which Israel earnestly and actively carries out against the Palestinian people. And, without a doubt, with regard to the suffering of 'Middle Class' tax-payers of America. The fine people who have been forced to provide the billions upon billions of sustenance dollars necessary to feed an aggressive, provocative & sleazoid Israeli 'Regime'. Catch ya' later & 'GOD BLESS', Mike PS My hope is that when Israel is done bullying the Palestinians, made peace with them for the sake, especially, of the fine American men & women who are fighting and dying in the Middle East to satisfy their sadistic whims and despicable ego, Israel will allow their neighbors a suitable (And appropriate) plot of land where they can plant a flag and call home and stopped behaving like a bunch of flaming ass-holes (Along side all those corrupted lackeys and dipxxxxs they've installed in both Washington politics & American media). And for the sake of 'Peace In The Middle East' & the end of terrorism... Allowed the entire world a sigh of relief as they sign the 'Non-Proliferation Act'..... Catch ya' later, Mike Regan Safety, Happiness & Security To All Who Served On The 'USS Liberty' (Check out their web-site)... With Special Regard to 'The Spirits Of The Many Who Sacrificed Their Lives' while defending their ship against an incredibly aggressive, and unprovoked, attack by the Israeli Air Force on June 8th, 1967... 'God Bless All Those Wonderful Sailors And Marines'

Hi Mike, After reading that blast directed at you by Tom Purvis, just wanted to let you know that you've got my full support... Hands down, you have more experience, more objectivity, more training and, most importantly, more "Common Sense" than many of the rest combined.... And definitely, out of respect for my father who did his Army infantry tour against the Japs in WW II, in many cases alongside Marines, wouldn't want to bad mouth the Army but will say that if a four man team of "United States Marine Corps Force Recon" was put up against a four man team of "United States Army Special Forces"...? There would be bloodied Green Berets, caps and all, lying from one end of the battle field to the other within quite the short time. And the four Marines would be sitting nearby enjoying a smoke. This one's for you, Tom... "Those Marines wouldn't be "bragging" about their feat" There are about a dozen of them, and their greatest enjoyment is to hi-jack any thread containing posts which appeal to any form of "Common Sense"... They're a bunch of self-proclaimed experts who, frankly, would amaze me if they could figure out where to wipe after their morning poop. Much less find out who assassinated President Kennedy (Not that they really care)... And if you're looking for decorum or a sense of mutual respect...? Forget it... These guys have controlled this topic for years and they're not about to give up their reign. Come close to the truth, or threaten their basic theory that the government was involved in the actual shooting (Though the government, surely, was involved in a cover-up), watch out, because they go into attack mode. Tell them that the logistics and keeping umpteen co-conspirators quiet for forty five years, alone, would eliminate such a theory and they go bananas. Or toward whatever else which might make sense. These few guys do not want the truth. They want to be on this forum until the day they die because it's the only thing they've got that represents some sort of life. They jump from one ridiculous theory to the next like frogs toward the next lily pad... Give your family a hug and "DO NOT" let these twirps get under your skin. Know in your heart that you're a "Class Act"..... "And Thank You For Your Service" Catch ya' later & "Semper Fi", Mike Regan And, Tom, as you read this, just want to share with you a bit about the Marine Corps... Whether a guy is Force Recon, a Truck Driver, a Pilot, a Cook, other Infantry, etc., etc., when we meet in the "Slop Shoot" (Bar) at the end of a day we are all, simply put, Marines. And we all know that. No matter what everyone's job is, or what an individual's training has been, we'll share a joke or two, a few tales about the babes and buy each other a beer. There are no elite Marines within the Marine Corps. No special caps, no special uniforms, an occasional pin maybe but, after all is said and done, we regard each other as fellow Marines. Guys who would good naturedly keep the rivalry going between the Services but never, ever, lambast, ridicule and attempt to humiliate a fellow Veteran within a public furum, or in public at all. And we take care of each other...We've all, no matter what the Service, and in one way or another, "Been through the ringer"... Just needed to be said. To close, Tom, can only repeat what I said to Mike Williams..... "Thank You For Your Service" ___________________________________________________________________________ For anyone else reading this post, just dropped in to assist a good man who had backed me up earlier on. Without a doubt this time, I'm out of here ... For good. And if any of you ever get to be President be sure to wear a football helmet if your motorcade winds up in Dallas... I believe that Jarman's buddy, Charles "Slim" Givens (A probable instigator...), is still on the loose... "Happy Hunting", "Best Of Luck" & "God Bless", Mike

Hey Lee, No way could I leave this fine "Forum" without expressing a "Special Thanks" to you. Have enjoyed your posts and threads (especially, "Dillard Photographs Versus Re-Enactment") over these last few years and really appreciate your objectivity, sincerity and the obviously "Well Researched" material that you always presented to the "Forum"... It was of great help to me... Thanks, pal. Hope nobody minds that I conclude any further involvement here at the "Forum" with a response to a fellow member over at my previous thread, "Gettin' A Kick Out Of Truth"... He had asked, "Are you saying that Jarman killing JFK amounts to a "coup d'etat" by African-Americans culminating in Obama's run for office?"... Seems appropriate to re-state my response (Below) because I believe the thread got a bit muddled up, what with all the "Hoopla" that erupted, for whatever the reason... Again, Lee, Thanks for everything. And Thank you all..."Best Of Luck" Semper Fi' & "God Bless", Mike _____________________________________________________________ Do I believe your quote, "Are you saying that Jarman killing JFK amounts to a "coup d'etat" by African-Americans culminating in Obama's run for office?" You can bet that I do believe just that. By a "Minority" of the African American community. The "Majority" of that community, I feel, simply want to fit in and go about raising families and enjoying the fruits of their labors. Though I remain confused as to why they put up with so many of these self-proclaimed black leaders, some of the names of which I posted earlier, with their Rolex watches, Limos, hugh expense accounts that they've bilked from their own people and other millions they've bilked out of intimidated Corporations who would rather anti-up on huge settlements then drag their Companies through long, drawn our trials to answer to "Trumped Up Discrimination Charges" by the likes of Jesse Jackson and other "Black Leaders"... For the life of me, I do not understand why this "Silent Majority" of the African American community does'nt stand up to these bullies. I've no doubt that if I were to drive over to Massachusetts, stand atop a soap box at "Boston Commons", and then rant and rave for an hour or two on whatever injustices befell the Irish during their history, I would last just that... About two hours before I'd be tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail. And those carrying that rail would bear such names as , O'Malley, McCourt, Plimpton and Reardon... And I'm sure most, if not all, other ethic groups in this awesome US of A would act in similar fashion if one of their member's also took to a soap box.... You live in Australia, and have little or no knowledge or experience as to what it has been like to live here in the good 'ole United States for over four decades. Do you want more "Residual" results of the assassination...? You've not seen two of America's most honorable and cherished Presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln stripped of their well deserved National Holidays and replaced by a less than honorable man, Martin King (Do a "Google" on, "Martin Luther King, Communist"). You've not raised children who have gone to both High Schools & Colleges that have included (And, in many cases, forced upon the kids) "African History Study" into their carriculums. You've not owned a business and had every nook & cranny of your records examind for six months by the IRS because you refused to hire a minority (And a felon) who could enjoy an early release from prison if you would just, "Hire the poor fella'...". And to satisfy the Feds and their "Early Release Program". You've not watched a son and his girl friend, now his wife, stuggle as they "Worked" (Grocery Markets, Furniture Stores, Starbucks, etc. ) their way into Associates Degrees, Bachelor Degrees and, finally, Masters Degrees. And another fine son's great wife, who also paid her own way through college. And the myth that blacks are superior to whites when it comes to sports...? The truth is that white kids, who have honed their talents (Yes, very much including Basketball) through Grammar School, High School A College, only to find themselves ignored by the "System" in their Junior or Senior years of College... To satisfy the vicious underground "Black Agenda" that rules the this awesome Nation's sports arenas... Bugs me because I've enjoyed it when the "Hoop It Up" tournaments come to town.... Along with a son & his buddies (Who have competed in numerous States), guys come from all over and it's a pleasure to watch the "White" fellows run absolute rings around the best the blacks have to offer... "Whites" who could put Michael Jordon to shame... Something to think about when some clown tries to hand you a whole pile of that "Uppity Black Superior Crap"... And about those college tuitions...? No "Affirmative Action" for those fine kids, and millions like them, who remain saddled in debt because their skin isn't quite dark enough. You've not witnessed the annual expendature of billions upon billions of your hard earned tax dollars guided into an abused and corrupt "Welfare System"... And you remain unaware, as do many, as to the fact that the media does'nt allow a glimpse into some of the true violence going on here. Do another "Google" on, "Black On White Crime". and be surprised... Again, I've no doubt that the majority of African Americans simply want to fit in and, I've no further doubt, remain aware of sacrifices made by so many White Americans on their behalf. Lest we forget Abraham Lincoln. Lest we forget 364,511 Union Soldiers who sacrificed their lives in our Civil War. Lest we forget the 281,881 Union Soldiers who were wounded (Most severely). Lest we forget one of this Nation's finest President's, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who held out an olive branch in the form of a Civil Rights Bill and was rewarded for his efforts by having the back of his head blown out... In front of his wife. The best, Mike PS Union Army casualty numbers quoted from "Wikipedia"...

Hey all, With thanks to you all for allowing me to be part of this fine "Education Forum", this will be my last post. My research spanned well over two decades with most of my notes, 3x5 card stuff, discarded soon after words were converted onto an old Underwood typewriter. At least right up until the inclusion of Jarman's DPD affidavit. After that a computer came into play. And responding to each reply means spending much time surfing the net to find the source material of so many years ago which had supported my work and, frankly, I'm tired as hell of the whole Dealey Plaza "Thing"... Anyway, I've begun to feel like Captain Ahab with his quest for the White Whale. Unlike Ahab, though, I'm not going to bring my whole "Crew" (Family) down with me. No doubt, my research led to failure of a good marriage, but with the recent addition of a grand-child, my ex-wife and I have begun, not only to re-relate, but to date again. The family is coming back together again... Something I do not want to again jeopardize... Hope, of course, that President Kennedy and his fine family one day soon receive their well deserved and long over-do justice, but time has arrived for this guy to hang up the 'ole spikes... I've got some major living to catch up on... But not before posting the following story. That un-mentionable word, "Vietnam", somehow managed to creep it's way into my last thread and, for the most part, and with regard to those of us who served there, in not so favorable a light. So thougt I'd fill you in on just a bit of one Vietnam veteran's experience. It should be noted that this is a simple part of my story as a Vietnam War veteran. Represented in an e-mail sent to a home town buddy who I hadn't seen since the sixties and who served in the Air Force... Their are thousands of stories like it from other vets. My hope is that others, someday... Will search out additional stories. To prove that we are not the monsters that the media, especially Hollywood, has spent decades trying' to prove otherwise. With a smear campaign that infected, not only the guys and gals (Lest we forget the nurses, Red Cross and USO ladies) who came home, but the entire Nation. And I hold no grudge. If I had spent those years on the home front I believe that I, too, may very well have jumped upon the media's band wagon of BS and ostracized those arriving home from a difficult war. In any case, my confidence is that those "Others" will one day find that the vast, vast, vast majority of us performed honorably. That William Calley and the rest of those a-holes who were involved in what went down at My Lai represent, again, to that vast, vast, vast majority of those of us who fought honorably, some kind of surreal freak show that is almost impossible for us to comprehend. But that we do comprehend the tragedy, that our hearts, love and prayers go out to the spirits of the 500 plus victims, innocent men, women, children and the elderly and that our hopes and prayers are for the demise, hopefully violent, of those soldiers involved in the massacre. I know this because I know many Vietnam war veterans and because most of those who served together in a Platoon of the Marine Corps 3rd Division still keep in touch and we all share the same sentiment. Anyway, hope you will all pardon the length of the enclosed and, hopefully, enjoy. Especially the humor and, yes, the mischief... And hope you will remember those of us who fought with honor... "Best Of Luck To Everyone" Semper Fi' & "God Bless", Mike Regan ____________________________________________________________________________ Hey John, Guess I'll start it off... Despite a few marriage difficulties, Suzy and I have begun to form a positive relationship. Part of the difficulties (There were others) were that, somewhere along the line, we both became a reminder to each other of a painful era (Vietnam). She had lost a brother, Gregg. And I had also lost her brother, a friend, along with close to a dozen other friends. Funny, though, but the birth of Tim & Merry's (Tim's awesome wife) baby, Alexandra, has helped to mend fences a bit. The little girl is about the happiest kid you'd ever want to meet and has actually succeeded in filling a void left by the loss of family members. And Greg's recent marriage to another awesome lady, Stephanie, and the recent DVD of their wedding have only added to the good times Suzy and I are sharing. Not sure if you've got any buddies who served in the infantry, but a rather extreme form of survivors guilt becomes a fact of life upon return from whatever the conflict (I came to truly understand & respect my dad's experience in the Pacific). Suzy's brother, Gregg, was a friend lost. In addition to others. pals that I had spent month upon month within those mountains along Vietnam's DMZ. Sharing pup-tents about half the size of the bathroom back on good 'ole Marvin Ave. and, of course, sharing in all the fighting. Among the really, really good friends lost from the platoon were Poncho, Jerry Baldwin, Jimmy Krysal, Gary Wilkins and Warren Bibbs,. And Mike LaCoste and others that I had trained with at Paris Island. Perhaps the most painful experience of all was the loss of a rookie of which I, as squad leader, was responsible for. It was I who had assigned him a position to defend during a late afternoon fire-fight that developed outside a Village named Cam Lo. And defend it he did... But died in the process. His name is Jimmy Armstead, a black kid from Queens, New York. He was also a friend, and the incident pretty much bowled me over. I had made a kinda' silent vow to myself that, somehow, someway, I would get all my guys home safe & sound and, for the months to come, I pretty much walked around in a zombie state. It wasn't until last month, while talking to a friend from the platoon (Sgt. "Bro" Brambough), that I found out that another member of my squad, Poncho, died on a Re-Con mission he volunteered for a month after I had gone back to the states. Sounds a bit funny, but nobody ever knew his full name. He was just the Mexican kid with the incredible sense of humor that we all called "Poncho". He also spoke fluent Spanish and the platoon CO would use him at times to communicate troop movements to another Spanish fellow at Regimental HQ so as to confuse the NVA. Who we all knew were capable of listening in on our radio transmissions. Anyway, I was once again back into that zombie state for a couple of weeks after the talk with Sgt. "Bro". But at this stage in my life, good 'ole "Faith" kicks in more often then not and I'm back to remembering the great times (Especially the humor) shared with all the guys. Anyway, and now that I've dumped on you a bit (Thanks...), thought I'd fill in some of the gaps that exist since we parted company when you left for the Air Force. Was that one heckava party... !!! Or What...! Guess I'll start my story during the infamous trip to, Disneyland, The Hickey's and the awesome 90 MPH car flip down the south-bound lane along California's Route 101. I think this all went down at about the same time you had sunk Tom Bowdry's car in Long Island Sound and Pat found herself stranded during a snow storm up no north somewhere. Not sure if you know this, but Gregg Lavery and I rented an El Camino while stationed at Camp Pendleton, San Diego just prior to heading off to Okinawa and then, Vietnam. We headed north in mid-afternoon to Disneyland with hope of scoring with a couple of babes. Failed in the babe area but had a good time, though. I had earlier called ahead from the Camp, spoke with PJ, so we drove up to LA for a Hi-Dee-Ho with the Hickey's. We couldn't stay long because of the midnight curfew on the pass, so we headed south toward Pendleton. Gregg said he was bushed and asked that I drive. After about 25 miles, I got a bit paranoid that I might get pulled over without a license and Gregg took over the driving. Somewhere around San Diego, while I was asleep on the passenger side, Gregg also went to sleep. Unfortunately, he was driving at the time. Two eye-witnesses, cruising in the north-bound lane of Rt. 101 and who would do a loop at the next exit and come to our aid, would tell the police that the El Camino was doing well over 90 MPH before it flipped more times then they could count. To date, I have no Idea how Gregg got out in one piece, but I must have been thrown out the passenger door after the second or third flip. Though the momentum threw me out faster then the flipping car, all I remember was waking up and counting the pebbles of the highway as I flew past. No kiddin'..! The whole thing was in slow motion. When I stopped, the car was doing its final flip pretty close by and I jumped down a steep embankment, which added to the injuries. When I crawled back up, I saw Gregg, with nary a scratch, wandering around in a kinda' shock. He seemed O.K., though, so I sat on the road, watched the flames from the over-turned car and wondered how the hell we had gotten out of that crash alive. A few moments later, a couple (The eye-witnesses) in a brand new Cadillac stopped, guided me onto their backseat and I laid there feeling like crap because I was getting blood all over the white upholstery. Soon after, it looked like every police car in San Diego was at the scene. They questioned everyone and finally placed me into an ambulance. Before they left, Gregg stopped by. We stared at each other for a moment and then, spontaneously, started laughing our heads off, The cops, attendants and eye-witnesses thought we had flipped (Pardon the pun). Hope you will appreciate some humor that came out of the incident but, for starters, and this one might sound screwy, but I was still worried about the curfew and asked the driver to take me to the Navy's Hospital at Pendleton. Which they did... Along with a concussion, every thing that bends (Elbows, knees and, yes, part of my thick skull) was scraped to the bone but those wonderful Navy doctors & nurses stitched, patched and pretty much set me up for another life. Healing was the thing, though, so my orders were changed from going to the Nam to spending four to six weeks at the Navy Hospital at Pendleton. Back to the humor... Buddies, most from the Paris Island crowd, stopped by once in awhile and, together, we hatched a scheme. The 13 month over-seas tour of duty basically started when you left the Continental USA, so with everyone (Except me) scheduled to leave on January 12Th, '68, a few of us thought it would be a gas if I was sneaked aboard the plane. Sneaked out of the hospital, packed all my gear, had it on the parade ground shortly before take-off, and soon we were all flying west toward Okinawa and laughing our heads off. When landing at Okinawa, there was a jeep waiting as we de-planed. Leaning on it was a pair of M.P.'s. No offense to them, but I guess the doctors & nurses got wise and radio transmissions are a lot faster then a plane. My cap hadn't succeeded in covering the head bandages, either, so the M.P.'s knew who to head for. It also took me about a week to get back down that darned plane ramp, which didn't help my case. For the next few hours, I sat in an office with the M.P.'s while everyone there debated on whether to charge me AWOL right there on the spot and put me in a brig or to ship me back to San Diego & let them read me the riot act. Some guy, joking, asked me what my punishment should be... Everyone waited and, without a blink, I said, "Why not send me to the Nam...?". Humor (And I thank God that my parents instilled it into all of us) again won the day and they all cracked up. I was shipped off to another Navy Hospital on Okinawa, no charges filed, and spent the next three weeks there until heading off to that lovely Asian paradise we've all come to know as the Nam. But not before a Sergeant introduced me to the red-light district outside the gate. And introduce me to the most beautiful Japanese girl I'd ever seen. And the silkiest black hair that ever existed...? Well, anyway, she was absolutely stunning and I spent an entire blissful evening with her. In each and every picture of me taken while in the Nam, there's a big grin that goes from ear to ear. The whole Okinawa thing, by the way, took a whole month off my tour so I spent twelve months in the Nam, as opposed to the Marines mandatory 13 months. And the humor doesn't end there... About 10 months later, a supply chopper flew into our position, dropped off all the bullets, beans, mail and stuff and the co-pilot said that he was to take "Some guy named Mike Regan back to Quang Tri...". I hopped on board, flew back with them, and reported to Hotel Company's Gunnie. He sent me off to talk with some legal officer who asked me if I had been involved in an automobile accident back in January. This is great because it turns out that, here we all were, perhaps in the most dangerous spot on planet earth at the time (The N/W sector of South Vietnam, near both the DMZ & Laos) and some some poor fellow who owns a private ambulance service in San Diego is threatening to garnish (No kiddin'...!) my salary. The Marines never paid the guy the $225 for the trip to the Navy Hospital. I confirmed the accident, signed some papers and headed back to the platoon on the next morning's supply chopper. If you don't think that people in the most dire of situations can't enjoy a great belly laugh you should have heard us all after the guys got the gist of what the little chopper trip back to Quang Tri was all about. Even Poncho, our favorite Mexican of all, had trouble getting his breath back together. We laughed at the Marines, the Ambulance company and, of course, those in the rear (Went with the territory at the time but, in retrospect, they all did a hellava fine job) Anyway, some of us decided to direct some wrath toward all those dips, from every side of that dufus oval table at the Paris Peace Talks. Including that head clown, Hank Kissinger... Who would later lie to the North Vietnamese about reparations he promised if the North would sign an accord and release our POW's. They signed, released the prisoners and the good 'ole U.S. of A. pulled out in January of '73. And, of course, the NVA never received Kissinger's reparations (Which didn't even amount to much), waited until April, '75 for their toys and, finally, over-ran what we all knew of as South Vietnam. And all the blood, sweat & tears went to waste. I sometimes think of those wonderful South Vietnamese people we left behind, especially those we ran into and, on many occasions, broke bread with... And do say an occasional prayer with hope that things turned out O.K. for them. Tops on the list was a fine lady, way aged before her time, that we nick-named "Mama Yokum". My squad was assigned to her & her husband's home & rice paddy in a little Village named Quat Sah during harvest time to protect it and them from both the NVA/Viet Cong. Who were quite known to enter a Village by the hundreds toward the end of harvesting, lop off the head of the Village Chief, the School Master, anyone else who got in their way and walk off with the entire rice crop. A brutality that nobody ever read or heard about from the main-stream media. Not from Cronkite, Rather, Brokaw, Newsday, The Times nor from any of those other media clowns who ran around during those days. Not heard or read about then, and not heard or read about now.... Anyway, before dusk would fall, "Mama Yokum" would come out to insist that we all come in and share dinner with her family. She and her husband had two children. She would get all worked up when we couldn't send everyone into her home at once. She could have brought food out to us, but simply wanted to share her home with us. After a day or two, we worked out a shift deal and great food was had by all. Not a word of English could be spoken with her and her family, but everyone understood everything. We stayed till the end of harvesting, about ten days, and said our good-bys. But those of us who pulled that particular assignment will never, ever forget "Mama Yokum". She was quite the lady. And if you think that everyone in the Nam were Buddhist, think again. Mama Yokum and her family were very much Christian. Whooops...! Not sure if Kissinger or the rear guys got to me, but didn't mean to get a bit political and melancholy there. Hopefully, some of the humor will take the sting out of any dumping. Well, that about covers it. Got home in February, '69 and, surprise, surprise, Nixon was offering an early out to anyone with less then six months to go and, like a lot of the guys, jumped all over that one like white on rice. My orders were to be an explosives instructor at the Officer Candidate School at Cherry Point. Hope they missed me, because I was out of the Marines like a rocket out of hell. The Marines even called a week later to say I had been awarded the Navy Achievement Medal and asked me to report to Fort Hamilton for a ceremony set up for about a dozen guys. I told the Sergeant thanks anyway and told him to mail it to me. Too many fellow Marines, better then I, had died without such an acknowledgment, and I felt all wrong about it. In retrospect, though, not only do I very much respect and miss the Marine Corps, but wish that I had gone to Fort Hamilton. I think my parents would have gotten a kick out of it. Many years later, I would finally come to appreciate both the gesture and the Secretary Of The Navy, John Chafee's signature. Still feel, though, that it was'nt deserved To make a long story a bit longer, though I was still a bit of a zombie, got back into Hicksville Hess (With a brief stop-over (Thanks to Gene Clark) to work on Barbara Streisand's, "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever", as a grip for the Electrical Local 3. It filmed in Manhattan and director, Vincente Minelli, and Streisand argued day in and day out and it was no surprise when the film flopped. Actually shared a few words with Streisand (Who I had never heard of) and thought she was O.K. Has a great voice, too. Actually, those months after returning from the "Nam" were awesome, despite many of the horror stories we've heard from other returnin Vets (Had a few run-ins with the clowns from the anti-war movement, but nothing worth writing about). Early on, I was sitting with a group of buddies at the local pub, 'Shady Maples', met some babes and within the hour this gorgeous Jewish brunette asked me to her senior prom (Bearing in mind that I was but a year older). And it was all up-hill from there... 'What a friggin' night...!'. And it was great to get back into a tuxedo again. Hope nobody ever accuses me of being an anti-Semite, because that wonderful girl, not only understood what I had been through in the "Nam", but showed me one heckava evening... A "Lady", in every true sense of the word... Again, things continued up-hill... Four of us (One Marine, one Army and an Air Force veteran, along with good friend, Billy Healy) rented a bachelor pad (Split level) on Long Island's North Shore, worked our asses off all week and when the weekend arrived, 'Holy xxxxe...', booze, broads, music, you name it... What with all the booze and munchies, money was tight, so, with no phone, any forms of communication were organized in the apartment below the split. This is great... The apartment below was occupied by a senior member of the SDS. Remember them...? The radical 'Students For a Democratic Society'... What an a-hole...! We'd pick his lock with a butter knife, help ourselves to his fridge and start gettin' the calls out for our latest bash. One guy would stand by a window and give us the high-sign when his Volkswagen appeared and we'd all hightail it back up-stairs. One afternoon we had a toilet back-up, checked the driveway to ensure that he (OR any of his pals) weren't around and broke in. We found the pipe, which was right above his bed, and opened it. Shoved a broom handle in and about three gallons of water & xxxxe poured out... Of course, we had a major Budweiser buzz going, and laughed our asses off... He asked, even accused, us about it later and we all played 'Dumb' while expressing our hope that all turned out O.K. What's really funny is that even with a raided fridge, phone bills that must have been through the roof and walking into a bedroom soaked in xxxxe, the dip-xxxxe never had a clue. To warn his SDS pals, who would at times show up, he had spray painted on the wall, 'BEWARE THE PIGS UPSTAIRS'... Is life cool, or what...! Anyway, had a great time with a lot of the 'ole town crowd, including yourself, who were coming out of the service and, especially, enjoyed those two bachelor pads that John Nichols, good 'ole Billy Healey, George Schaeffer, Jimmy O'Connell and myself got involved with. And all those babes...!!! By the way, hope you weren't offended when that stereo gag was pulled on you when we were all singing to a Beatles tune. You had the ear-phones on and some drunk turned off the exterior speakers and you found yourself singing a solo for us all. Not a bad voice..! And hope you didn't mind the initiation. Fact is, we were always pulling stunts like that on each other. They got George Schaeffer one night at a crowded bash when he dozed off (In a drunken stupor) on a couch. After filling both his hands with shaving cream, one of his fellow drunks kept tickling his nose with a feather and I guess you know how that ended up. A good laugh was had by all and we waited for the next "victim"... The real bummer is that you hadn't gotten home in time for the great week-end ski trips to Hunter Mountain. I think they were during the '70/'71 Winter Season. Suffice to say, what with all the girls, actual skiing was at a minimum (Though some of us did hit the slopes all day Saturday) and we ended it all on Sunday night by pouring the excess booze into a huge punch bowl, singing songs till the wee hours and closing with a rousing chorus of "Hey Jude". Cost for the weekend rental of this hugh house we used was well over $300 and I can't recall ever spending more then about $15 for my share, so you can imagine what one heckava great mad-house it became. I guess, John, it's time for me to finally shut up. I know, because of your high security clearance and status at the time, you feel tied to the life-time non-disclosure document (And honorably so) you signed with the Air Force but I'm sure there are at least a few anecdotes or funny stories you might share. That wouldn't undermine the obvious loyalty, again quite honorable, you feel toward the Air Force... Thanks for writing and hope to see ya' soon... Mike