W. Niederhut

For many years, until fairly recently in my life, I was suckered by the mainstream U.S. media into believing that Oliver Stone was a flaky pseudo-historian--- a meme that was recently repeated by Fred Litwin in his Canadian television ( CBC) interview, posted here by David Von Pein. I don't even remember where I originally got that erroneous negative opinion about Oliver Stone, but it was probably from the New York Times, which I have read fairly regularly for the past 45 years. It was only after I watched Stone's film, JFK, again a few years ago, and started reading some related literature (by Fletcher Prouty, Sylvia Meagher, James DiEugenio, and others) that I realized Oliver Stone had been skillfully defamed by the mainstream media. Lately, I have been carefully studying all of Oliver Stone's films-- including Nixon, W., Salvador, the Vietnam trilogy, On Any Given Sunday, Wall Street, Natural Born Killers, the Doors, Talk Radio, etc. I also watched his Untold History of the United States series, and read the companion book that Stone co-authored with American University history Prof. Peter Kuznick. I realize now that Oliver Stone is, frankly, a national treasure-- as an artist AND as a historian of our American culture and imperial mythology.

It's complicated. Are you familiar with "automatic obedience," which is exhibited by some people during episodes of catatonia? As with MPD, people need to observe these phenomena to realize that they are real. Some people respond to childhood trauma by becoming resourceful, empathic humanitarians (or veterinarians in the case of one of my former patients.) Others become serial murderers-- if they develop a pathological "identification with the aggressor." To be honest, I have never used hypnotic suggestion(s) and/or psychotropic drugs to induce a patient to commit a crime. What sort of person would do such a thing?! And, yet, we know that the CIA's MK-ULTRA doctors experimented with those techniques.

There are multiple determinants of the severity of PTSD and dissociative disorders. Some people I have treated were shattered by experiences that others weathered. In the case of dissociation, one factor is whether the traumatized child had sufficient mirroring and empathic support (from SOMEONE) to develop narrative memory-- an integrated sense of self over time, including an ability to integrate full consciousness of their traumatic experiences, rather than blocking (dissociating) them. If you are as functional as you sound, my hunch is that you had SOMEONE in childhood who supported and empathized with you sufficiently to help you integrate your traumatic experience into a continuous narrative memory-- rather than having a fragmented (dissociated) self. The hallmark of dissociation is amnesia. If you can remember your normal, and traumatic, childhood experiences, you don't have a dissociative disorder. As for Sirhan, how do you know that he killed someone-- as opposed to firing blanks?

Utterly horrific. I didn't realize that Sirhan had experienced such severe childhood trauma. All children have a capacity to dissociate-- to escape from painful experiences through alter states of consciousness-- but this dissociative capacity is enhanced by childhood trauma. No wonder Sirhan was so dissociative, and so susceptible to hypnotic induction.

Before I started working in the late 80s on a psychiatric ward that specialized in treating MPD, (mainly in on-call coverage) I was skeptical about dissociative disorders. At times, adult patients there would talk and act like four year old children, and describe amnesia and apparent fugue states-- losing time, finding themselves in places without knowing how they got there, and even buying things without knowing they had done so. I gradually realized that we all have "alter" ego/self states-- e.g, our 5 year old self, 15 year old self, etc.-- but that most of us have co-consciousness of our shifting ego states, and an integrated sense of self over time. But some people do not. Usually in response to childhood developmental trauma, they develop enhanced dissociative defenses against trauma, and "wall off" traumatic self experience from consciousness. I don't know a great deal about Sirhan's childhood, but susceptibilty to trance and hypnotic induction (and amnesia) is often increased in people who experienced childhood trauma.

I should probably chime in here, because I am a Board Certified psychiatrist (1989) and a graduate of Harvard Medical School (1983.) During my 35 year career as an adult psychiatrist, I have observed many adults experiencing hypnotic trance states, psychogenic amnesia, fugue states, and even true multiple personality disorders. In fact, I worked for awhile in the late 80s on a psychiatric ward here in Denver that specialized in the treatment of MPD. These dissociative phenomena are very real. And the hallmark of dissociation is amnesia. (Benzodiazepine, barbiturates, and alcohol can also cause amnesia.) I have also conducted amytal interviews, with some positive results. People have variable susceptibilties to hypnosis. Some, like Sirhan, are easily induced. I believe that Sirhan fired a gun at RFK in response to a conditioned post-hypnotic suggestion, and that he has amnesia for the event, which is psychogenic, and, possibly, drug-induced.

I probably know less about this stuff than anyone on the forum, but I do recall reading about a 1978 HSCA file that was declassified in October of 2017 regarding a Cuban American, Orest Pena, who owned a bar n New Orleans in 1963. Pena testified to the HSCA that he had observed Oswald meeting with an FBI agent in his bar-- the same FBI agent that Pena, himself, reported to. I can't remember the FBI agent's name, but I think it was De Brueys (?)

It seems apparent that another fatal flaw (literally fatal in some cases) with the "covert" aspect of the cover up was that, over time, many "insiders" must have learned that Oswald had, in fact, been working for U.S. intelligence, and was not a lone assassin. Is that, perhaps, why C.D. Jackson died in September of 1964? As I recall, the Warren Commissioners, themselves, learned as early as January of 1964 that Oswald had been an FBI informant, rather than a KGB, pro-Castro asset.

Jim, Do you know whether Clay Shaw had known or worked with William Harvey circa 1963? Wasn't Harvey transferred to Rome around the time that JFK fired Allen Dulles?

Thanks for posting this review. As a newbie on this scholarly forum, I will ask what is, most likely, a "sophomoric" question. Does Metta describe any details about the alleged* connections between CMC, Permindex, and the Banco Commerciale Internationale (BCI) of Basle, Switzerland? * Michael Collins Piper alleged in his book, Final Judgment, that the Israeli Mossad financier Tibor Rosenbaum and BCI were somehow involved with Permindex-- but the documentation for this allegation is unclear to me. From your review, it sounds like Metta has not unearthed anything about the alleged Mossad involvement in Permindex. (As I recall, Collins also alleged that Meyer Lansky was also involved, through BCI, with Permindex.)

I have read those chapters by Lisa Pease in The Assassinations anthology. I have not yet read her recently published book. Does her book include substantial new information? If Sirhan was, in fact, a Manchurian candidate -- which seems to be the case -- it would have made perfect sense for him to fire blanks, in order to avoid killing or injuring Cesar and any other assassins in the pantry. In the process, he created a major distraction in the room while setting himself up as the obvious culprit for the murder -- provided that the detectives and forensic experts overlooked the obvious evidence that RFK was NOT killed by a frontal shot, and that too many shots had been fired.

Yes, I read that book review at Kennedys and King. The timing of C.D. Jackson's death in relation to the publication of the Warren Commission Report was somewhat peculiar. I wonder if he had expressed any concerns about Life magazine's collusion in the obvious cover up of the Crime of the Century.

Jim, Is anything known about the circumstances of Life magazine editor C.D. Jackson's death on September 18, 1964-- exactly two weeks prior to the date of these three October 2, 1964 editions of Life magazine? Reportedly, Jackson died of "natural causes."

Jim, No such conscious allusion on my part. (And, in any case, it looks like the forum administrators have judiciously deleted Mr. Mileto's unflattering description of Mr. Litwin.) Thanks for the reference on Permindex. I'm still mystified by the history of that organization. I thought I had read somewhere that Permindex had something to do with Israel-- but the only possible connection mentioned by Maurice Phillips (and the Bloomfield archives) is the reference to Rothschild. David Pipes, as I recall, has been actively involved in the Neocon's "Green Menace"/Islamophobia movement-- so essential to the Bush-Cheney "War on Terror." Why Pipes' associate, Fred Litwin, would find it necessary to defame Garrison and the Warren Commission Report critics remains a mystery to me.

What motivated Fred Litwin to write and market this obvious disinformation about Jim Garrison and the JFK assassination? This question came up on the original thread on this forum when he published his book. Does it have something to do with Clay Shaw and the CIA's alleged involvement with Permindex and the Mossad? As I recall, Litwin had previously described himself as a "Zionist."

The more I learn about Harry Connick, Sr.'s role in undermining the truly heroic work of Jim Garrison, the less interest I have in listening to my old Harry Connick, Jr. jazz CDs. How could a jerk like Harry Connick, Sr. have sired such a gifted young jazz artist? It's like finding out that Wynton Marsalis's father used to be a CIA/mafia gun-running colleague of Davide Ferrie.

Thanks for clarifying that one, Jim. I think I did read about Tracy Barnes leadership role in the Domestic Op Division in a Church Committee transcript. But I have been confused by a Seymout Hersch NYT article from 1974 that describes Hunt becoming Chief of DOD in 1961. Hunt Tells of Early Work For a C.I.A. Domestic Unit By SEYMOUR M. HERSHDEC. 31, 1974 About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems. Please send reports of such problems to archive_feedback@nytimes.com. View page in TimesMachine December 31, 1974, Page 1 The New York Times Archives WASHINGTON, Dec. 30—E. Howard Hunt Jr., a Watergate burglar who pleaded guilty, told the Senate Watergate committee last year in still unpublished testimony that he served as the first chief of covert action for the Central Intelligence Agency's Domestic Operations Division. Mr. Hunt, testifying before the Senate investigators in closed session on Dec. 18, 1973, revealed that his domestic activities included the secret financing of a Washington news agency as well as the underwriting of the popular Fodor's travel guides. A copy of Mr. Hunt's testimony before the Watergate committee, marked “confidential,” was made available today to The New York Times. [In a report to President Ford, William E. Colby, Director of Central Intelligence, has confirmed allegations that the C.I.A. spied on thousands of United States citizens under previous Administrations, according to The Los Angeles Times.] In a telephone interview today, Mr. Hunt said that he spent about four years working for the Domestic Operation Division, beginning shortly after the unit was set up by the C.I.A. in 1962. Mr. Hunt, who is now free and living in Miami pending the appeal of his Watergate conviction, denied any involvement or knowledge of domestic spying on radicals and other dissidents by the Domestic Operations Division. But he said that some of his projects from 1962 to 1966—which dealt largely with the subsidizing and manipulation of the news and publishing organizations—did seem “to violate the intent of the agency's charter.” The New York Times, quoting a former undercover agent for the Domestic Operations Division, said in Sunday editions that the agent was directly involved in the monitoring of antiwar dissidents and radical groups in New York City beginning with the student uprisings at Columbia University in 1968. Mr. Hunt's testimony suggests that questionable domestic activities by the C.I.A. had apparently begun under the Kennedy Administration, continued during the Johnson Administration and, as well‐informed sources have told The Times, reached a peek during the antiwar outbursts in opposition to President Nixon's Vietnam policy. The Times also Sunday that the new domestic unit was formed in 1964, but Mr. Hunt recalled that it was assembled shortly after the failure of the Bay of Pigs operation in late 1961. Many agency men connected with that failure were shunted into the new domestic unit, Mr. Hunt said.

As a fellow Brown University alum, I have always been curious about the strange, multi-faceted career of E. Howard Hunt. After JFK canned Allen Dulles in 1961, Hunt was, apparently, appointed Director of the CIA's special Domestic Ops Division-- a position that he held until 1965. Many of the Operation Mongoose team were, allegedly, shunted to Hunt's DOD, after JFK and his brother shut down Mongoose. Under the circumstances, it's hard to imagine that Hunt would NOT have been involved with Harvey, Morales, Sturgis, et.al., on 11/22/63. As for Hunt's role in Watergate, any thoughts about WHY Helms and the CIA might have wanted Nixon over a barrel?

Question for the experts here. For some reason, I had the impression that Hunt and McCord had deliberately botched the Watergate burglary in order to help Helms and the Company put Nixon over a barrel. Is this not what happened? As I recall, someone had scared Nixon BEFORE the 1972 election, (and the Watergate burglary) by hinting that Larry O'Brien and the DNC had possession of some damning information about Nixon (?) and the "Bay of Pigs thing." I may have read that story in a dubious source-- Roger Stone's book, Nixon's Secrets. And, BTW, hasn't Bob Woodward-- who played such a crucial role in bringing Nixon down-- always been a CIA-affiliated journalist? The guy graduated from Yale, and worked in Naval Intelligence prior to being hired by Ben Bradlee at WaPo.

The Swiss historian Daniele Ganser published a history of Operation Gladio in 2005, called "NATO's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe."

Didn't Hunt conveniently leave himself (and Angleton, Lansdale, et.al.) out of the JFK assassination plot, in his death bed confession to his son? As I recall, he pointed a finger at LBJ and Harvey.

Jim, In the cases of Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, and Jim Lehrer, do you have a sense that these news anchors actually believe the Warren Commission narrative, as opposed to being told by their corporate bosses (e.g., Don Hewitt, et.al.) that they have to promote the WCR? For many years, I tended to trust Dan Rather, as a conscientious "liberal." In fact, I stopped watching corporate television news altogether, in disgust, after Dan Rather was fired over the forged Dubya Bush National Guard letter. I have also trusted Jim Lehrer, for the most part.

So, we can add Tom Brokaw (and NBC) to the list of U.S. mainstream media anchors, along with Dan Rather at CBS and Jim Lehrer at PBS, who have perpetuated the prevailing mythology about JFK and Vietnam. Terrific.

This is the unmentionable "Pandora's Box" of the history of Zionism in the 20th century. The French historian, Laurent Guyenot, has written at length about the subject in his recent monograph, From Yahweh to Zion-- a truly fascinating read. (Guyenot is also the author of the book, From JFK to 9/11-- 50 Years of Deep State.) I noticed that Michelle Goldberg at the New York Times recently published an op-ed on the subject of Anti-Semitism vs. Anti-Zionism. Can one criticize militant Zionism (Haganah, Mossad, Likud, etc.) without being "anti-Semitic?" My own feeling about it is that it is more appropriate for Jewish intellectuals (rather than non-Jews) to criticize Zionism, given the disastrous history of Anti-Semitism in the 20th century. Ron Unz and Israel Shamir (and Alan Sabrosky) are examples of Jewish intellectuals who have published detailed critiques of modern Zionism.

Steve, Allen Dulles and James Angleton didn't want Americans to know what was really happening in the Arctic Circle during the Cold War. It was an issue of national security (and corporate retail profitability.)