Coup d'etat - Basic Elements

[William Kelly]

The Basic Elements of the Coup d'etat - Were they followed on 11/22/63?

JFKcountercoup: Coup d'etat - Basic Elements - Were they followed on 11/22/63?

Coup D'Etat – A Practical Hanbook (By Edward Luttwak, 1968)

From: Coup D'Etat – A Practical Hanbook (By Edward Luttwak, Penguin, 1968)

Ed Luttwak wrote:

The technique of the coup d'etat is the technique of judo:the planners of the coup must use the power of the state against its political masters. This done by a process of infiltration and subversion in which a small but critical part of the security forces are totally subverted, while much of the rest is temporarily neutralized. This book deals with the military, political, and intelligence techniques which are required to carry out the coup, from the first stage of infiltration to the final phase in which targets are seized and post-coup stabilization begins. The techniques here discussed are politically neutral, and are concerned only with the objective of seizing control of the state, and not at all with subsequent policies. (p. viii)

Evolgato imperii arcano, wrote Tacitus: "The secret of empire was out – an Emperor could be made elsewhere than in Rome."Nowadays the secret of empire is that a president can be made otherwise than bya general election, and the key to that secret is the subject of this book. Itis the coup d'etat. (p. ix)

The…nature of the coup d'etat itself…stands in contrast torevolution…The coup is not an assault from the outside: it is "a seizure of power within the present system…The coup consists of the infiltration of a small but critical segment of the state apparatus which is then used to displace the government from control of the remainder."

The power of the modern state largely depends on the permanent machinery which, with its archives, files, records, and officials,can follow intimately and, if it so desires, control the activities of lesser organizations and individuals…The growth of the modern bureaucracy has two implications which are crucial to the feasibility of the coup: the development of a clear distinction between the permanent machinery of state and the political leadership, and the fact that, like most large organizations, the bureaucracy has a structured hierarchy with definite chains of command…The importance of this development lies in the fact that if the bureaucrats are linked to the leadership, an illegal seizure of power must take the form of a'palace revolution' and is essentially concerned with the manipulation of the body of the ruler. He can be forced to accept new policies or advisors, he can be killed or held captive, but whatever happens the palace revolution can only be conducted from the 'inside,' and by 'insiders.' (p. 4)

Within each department there must be an accepted chain of command, and standard procedures have to be followed. Thus a given piece of information,or a given order, is followup up in a stereotype manner, and if the order comes from the appropriate sources, at the appropriate level, it is carried out.

In the more critical parts of the state apparatus, the armed forces, the poice and the security services, all these characteristics are intensified, with an even greater degree of discipline and rigidity. The apparatus of the state is therefore to some extent a "machine" which will normally behave in a fairly predictable and automatic manner.

A coup operates by taking advantage of this machine-like behavior: during the coup because it uses parts of the state apparatus to seize the controlling levers; afterward because the value of the 'levers' depensds on the fact that that te stte is a machine.

Our strategy, therefore, must be guided by two principal considerations: the need for maximum speed in the transitional phase, and the need to neutralized fully the forces which could oppose us both before and immediately after the coup.. (p. 49)

The fact that the personnel of the state security system isboth numerous and diverse means that we, the planners of the coup, will be able to infiltrate the system. In doing so, we will have the dual task of turning a few of tit somponent units into active participants of the coup, while neutralizing the others. This does not mean that we have to fight them, but merely that we have to prevent their possible intervention against us for the limted time-span of the coup.

Information is the greatest asset we have, and much of our advantage in the planning stage will derive from the fact that, while we know a great deal about the defenses of the state, those who control them know very little about us. We must therefore make every effort to avoid giving any information beyond what is actually required." (p. 82)

Though their structure is so diverse, police forces resemble each other in the purposes they serve: the prevention and detection of crime and the maintenance of public order…Police work also includes an intelligence element. Information is gathered informally by the entire police apparatus (and their informers), but there will usually be a special section of the police whose only function is this area. The intelligence aspect of police work will be effectively neutralized by our general defensive effort… (p. 86)

In order to run a secure operation we will follow rules which derive from the basic assumption that all information about our activities is a source of danger as soon as it exists outside the minds of our inner group. From this all the standard procedures emerge: (a) no information to be communicated except verbally; (no information to be communicated except on a "need-to-know" basis; all communication links from inner to affiliated members is to be on a one-way basis; (d) no activity to be carried out by an inner member if an outer member can do the job. (p. 100)

It must not be thought that our entire operation will automatically collapse if it is penetrated by a security agency. If we have followed the security procedures the chances are that only a small part of ourtotal effort will be identified, and therefore its ultimate purpose may not be discovered. Even if it is discovered that a coup is being planned, the security agency may wait before taking any action, in order to capture all the planners – and this could be too late. As soon as our teams are on the road, actually executing the coup, it will be too late for the security services to oppose uson the 'information' side…Finally, political security agencies are necessarily sensitive to political trends, and they may decide to join the group planning the coup, if they know that it is well organized and ready to seize power. (p.101)

Control over the flow of information emanating from the political center will be our most important weapon in establishing our authority after the coup. (p. 117)

The one broadcasting facility which we do have to seize and hold will present a special problem: on the one hand, our need for the facility is absolute; on the other, because it is such an obvious target, the government forces will certainly try to recapture it. This means that the team assigned tothis target will have to be adequately staffed and equipped and, in order toobviate the need for the cooperation of the facility's personnel, should also include a skeleton technical staff. (p. 119)

The active phase of a coup is like a military operation –only more so. IF the general principle of tactics is the application of force at the right place, the coup achieves this with surgical precision by striking at the organizational heart of the whole state; if speed is often important in military operations, in the coup it is an essential requirement. (p. 144)

The fact that the coup has practically no time dimension means that we will rarely be able to correct errors made during its execution;(p. 149)

As soon as the coup starts, the ruling group will know that something is happening,… but they will not know what that something is; ….We should avoid taking any action that will clarify the nature of the threat and thus reduce the confusion that is left in the defensive apparatus of the regime. Our teams will emerge from their bases and proceed to seize their designated targets while operating as independent units; their collective purpose and their coordination will thus remain unknown until it is too late for any effective opposition. (p. 150)

But one major task has not yet been covered in the planning stage: the forcible isolation of the "hard core" loyalist forces…The extreme instability of the balance of forces during the active phase of the coup means that what in other circumstances would only be a minor threat could then have disastrous consequences, and if the "hard core" loyalist forces are large inrelation to our own, we will have to divert much of our forces to their isolation…Our purpose is not to destroy the loyalist forces militarily (since we will be able to deal with their cadres administratively after the coup) but merely to immobilize them for a few crucial hours. (p. 152)

Ideally, the timing of the coup will be completely flexible so that we can take advantage of any favorable circumstances which may arise,such as the temporary absence of the leadership from the capital city….The timing of the coup will therefore be dictated by the progress of our infiltration of the armed forces and police, and as soon as a satisfactory degree of penetration is achieved the coup must be executed. This implies that it will not be possible to designate a date well in advance of the coup which can be communicated to the various teams. This is just as well, since it meansthat the date cannot be leaked to security agencies. Actually, it is quitelikely that some information about us will have reached the security agencies,but this should not affect the outcome. As the preparations for the coup proceed, more and more information about our actions will be in circulation but it will also be increasingly obscured by "noise." (An expression used in the intelligence community to describe the false or irrelevant information which is reported alongside "hard" data.) Every move me make will generate more information which could eventually reach security agencies, but the consequences and misinterpretations of our actions will generate an equal or greater amount of "noise." This will make it increasingly difficult for the analysts of the security agencies to identify the nature of the threat, since their capacity for processing information is not unlimited. (p. 157)

Even if the security agencies could isolate the real data from the "noise," they will not usually take immediate action. Their professional instincts will be to try to explore all the ramifications of the plot so as to be able to arrest all its participants. And, hopefully, the coup will actually take place while the security agencies are still engaged on these explorations….Even without separating the hard data for "noise," the mereincrease in the total flow of information could be interpreted as a danger signal (as it certainly would by a competent analyst) and this might trigger off arrests.

In practice, it will rarely be possible to achieve totalsecurity within the forces of the coup and we should assume as a workinghypothesis that they have in fact been infiltrated by the security forces.

"Apart from the dispersal countermeasures….our only effective defense will be to retain full control over all "horizontal" communications,…This can sometimes be done technically by keeping under our control the actual communications equipment…." (p.169)

The masses have neither the weapons of he military nor the administrative facilities of the bureaucracy, but their attitude to the new government established after the coup will ultimately be decisive. Our immediate aim will be to enforce public order, but our ling-term objective is to gaint he acceptance of the masses so that physical coercion will no longer be needed in order to secure compliance with our orders.

"Our…far more flexible instrument will be our control over the means of mass communications; their importance will be particularly great because the flow of all other information will be affected by our physical controls. Moreover, the confused and dramatic events of the coup will mean that the radio and television services will have a particularly attentive and receptive audience. In broadcasting over the radio and television services our purpose is not to provide information about the situation but rather to affect its development by exploiting our monopoly of these media….(p174)

We will have two principal objectives in the information campaign that will start immediately after the coup…Our first objective will be achieved by conveying the reality and strength of the coup instead of trying tojustify it;…The second objective of our information campaign will be to reassure the general public by dispelling fears that the coup is inspired by foreign and/or extremist elements, and to persuade particular interest groups that the coup is not a threat to them. (p. 176)

Clearly the coup is by definition illegal, but whether this illegality matters, and whether it is possible to counteract its effects, will depend on the total political environment of the country in question… (p. 179)

Once we have carried out our coup and established control over the bureaucracy and the armed forces, our long-term political survival will largely depend on our management of the problem of economic development.(p. 183)

Edited March 13, 2012 by William Kelly

[David Lifton]

The Basic Elements of the Coup d'etat - Were they followed on 11/22/63?

JFKcountercoup: Coup d'etat - Basic Elements - Were they followed on 11/22/63?

Coup D'Etat – A Practical Hanbook (By Edward Luttwak, 1968)

From: Coup D'Etat – A Practical Hanbook (By Edward Luttwak, Penguin, 1968)

[snip]

Bill:

Luttwak's book is very important. I first bought it when published in 1968, and gave it very close study.

Although obviously not written with the JFK assassination in mind, Luttwak's book applies to many critical aspects of the Kennedy case, including the planning of the Texas trip, the motorcade, the autopsy, and the journey of the cabinet plane to Tokyo (with so many of Kennedy’s key advisers on board).

IMHO: Its a critically important work, not only as to specifics, but for the mindset involved, in coup planning.

My advice: get a copy--a used copy is fine--sit down in a quiet place, and prepare to read and study this book. Then go back and study whatever aspect of the Kennedy case is your cup of tea.

Thanks for bringing it to everyone's attention.

DSL

Edited March 13, 2012 by David Lifton

[David Lifton]

DUPE POST--DELETED

Edited March 13, 2012 by David Lifton

[Harry J.Dean]

The Basic Elements of the Coup d'etat - Were they followed on 11/22/63?

JFKcountercoup: Coup d'etat - Basic Elements - Were they followed on 11/22/63?

Coup D'Etat – A Practical Hanbook (By Edward Luttwak, 1968)

From: Coup D'Etat – A Practical Hanbook (By Edward Luttwak, Penguin, 1968)

Ed Luttwak wrote:

The technique of the coup d'etat is the technique of judo:the planners of the coup must use the power of the state against its political masters. This done by a process of infiltration and subversion in which a small but critical part of the security forces are totally subverted, while much of the rest is temporarily neutralized. This book deals with the military, political, and intelligence techniques which are required to carry out the coup, from the first stage of infiltration to the final phase in which targets are seized and post-coup stabilization begins. The techniques here discussed are politically neutral, and are concerned only with the objective of seizing control of the state, and not at all with subsequent policies. (p. viii)

Evolgato imperii arcano, wrote Tacitus: "The secret of empire was out – an Emperor could be made elsewhere than in Rome."Nowadays the secret of empire is that a president can be made otherwise than bya general election, and the key to that secret is the subject of this book. Itis the coup d'etat. (p. ix)

The…nature of the coup d'etat itself…stands in contrast torevolution…The coup is not an assault from the outside: it is "a seizure of power within the present system…The coup consists of the infiltration of a small but critical segment of the state apparatus which is then used to displace the government from control of the remainder."

The power of the modern state largely depends on the permanent machinery which, with its archives, files, records, and officials,can follow intimately and, if it so desires, control the activities of lesser organizations and individuals…The growth of the modern bureaucracy has two implications which are crucial to the feasibility of the coup: the development of a clear distinction between the permanent machinery of state and the political leadership, and the fact that, like most large organizations, the bureaucracy has a structured hierarchy with definite chains of command…The importance of this development lies in the fact that if the bureaucrats are linked to the leadership, an illegal seizure of power must take the form of a'palace revolution' and is essentially concerned with the manipulation of the body of the ruler. He can be forced to accept new policies or advisors, he can be killed or held captive, but whatever happens the palace revolution can only be conducted from the 'inside,' and by 'insiders.' (p. 4)

Within each department there must be an accepted chain of command, and standard procedures have to be followed. Thus a given piece of information,or a given order, is followup up in a stereotype manner, and if the order comes from the appropriate sources, at the appropriate level, it is carried out.

In the more critical parts of the state apparatus, the armed forces, the poice and the security services, all these characteristics are intensified, with an even greater degree of discipline and rigidity. The apparatus of the state is therefore to some extent a "machine" which will normally behave in a fairly predictable and automatic manner.

A coup operates by taking advantage of this machine-like behavior: during the coup because it uses parts of the state apparatus to seize the controlling levers; afterward because the value of the 'levers' depensds on the fact that that te stte is a machine.

Our strategy, therefore, must be guided by two principal considerations: the need for maximum speed in the transitional phase, and the need to neutralized fully the forces which could oppose us both before and immediately after the coup.. (p. 49)

The fact that the personnel of the state security system isboth numerous and diverse means that we, the planners of the coup, will be able to infiltrate the system. In doing so, we will have the dual task of turning a few of tit somponent units into active participants of the coup, while neutralizing the others. This does not mean that we have to fight them, but merely that we have to prevent their possible intervention against us for the limted time-span of the coup.

Information is the greatest asset we have, and much of our advantage in the planning stage will derive from the fact that, while we know a great deal about the defenses of the state, those who control them know very little about us. We must therefore make every effort to avoid giving any information beyond what is actually required." (p. 82)

Though their structure is so diverse, police forces resemble each other in the purposes they serve: the prevention and detection of crime and the maintenance of public order…Police work also includes an intelligence element. Information is gathered informally by the entire police apparatus (and their informers), but there will usually be a special section of the police whose only function is this area. The intelligence aspect of police work will be effectively neutralized by our general defensive effort… (p. 86)

In order to run a secure operation we will follow rules which derive from the basic assumption that all information about our activities is a source of danger as soon as it exists outside the minds of our inner group. From this all the standard procedures emerge: (a) no information to be communicated except verbally; (no information to be communicated except on a "need-to-know" basis; all communication links from inner to affiliated members is to be on a one-way basis; (d) no activity to be carried out by an inner member if an outer member can do the job. (p. 100)

It must not be thought that our entire operation will automatically collapse if it is penetrated by a security agency. If we have followed the security procedures the chances are that only a small part of ourtotal effort will be identified, and therefore its ultimate purpose may not be discovered. Even if it is discovered that a coup is being planned, the security agency may wait before taking any action, in order to capture all the planners – and this could be too late. As soon as our teams are on the road, actually executing the coup, it will be too late for the security services to oppose uson the 'information' side…Finally, political security agencies are necessarily sensitive to political trends, and they may decide to join the group planning the coup, if they know that it is well organized and ready to seize power. (p.101)

Control over the flow of information emanating from the political center will be our most important weapon in establishing our authority after the coup. (p. 117)

The one broadcasting facility which we do have to seize and hold will present a special problem: on the one hand, our need for the facility is absolute; on the other, because it is such an obvious target, the government forces will certainly try to recapture it. This means that the team assigned tothis target will have to be adequately staffed and equipped and, in order toobviate the need for the cooperation of the facility's personnel, should also include a skeleton technical staff. (p. 119)

The active phase of a coup is like a military operation –only more so. IF the general principle of tactics is the application of force at the right place, the coup achieves this with surgical precision by striking at the organizational heart of the whole state; if speed is often important in military operations, in the coup it is an essential requirement. (p. 144)

The fact that the coup has practically no time dimension means that we will rarely be able to correct errors made during its execution;(p. 149)

As soon as the coup starts, the ruling group will know that something is happening,… but they will not know what that something is; ….We should avoid taking any action that will clarify the nature of the threat and thus reduce the confusion that is left in the defensive apparatus of the regime. Our teams will emerge from their bases and proceed to seize their designated targets while operating as independent units; their collective purpose and their coordination will thus remain unknown until it is too late for any effective opposition. (p. 150)

But one major task has not yet been covered in the planning stage: the forcible isolation of the "hard core" loyalist forces…The extreme instability of the balance of forces during the active phase of the coup means that what in other circumstances would only be a minor threat could then have disastrous consequences, and if the "hard core" loyalist forces are large inrelation to our own, we will have to divert much of our forces to their isolation…Our purpose is not to destroy the loyalist forces militarily (since we will be able to deal with their cadres administratively after the coup) but merely to immobilize them for a few crucial hours. (p. 152)

Ideally, the timing of the coup will be completely flexible so that we can take advantage of any favorable circumstances which may arise,such as the temporary absence of the leadership from the capital city….The timing of the coup will therefore be dictated by the progress of our infiltration of the armed forces and police, and as soon as a satisfactory degree of penetration is achieved the coup must be executed. This implies that it will not be possible to designate a date well in advance of the coup which can be communicated to the various teams. This is just as well, since it meansthat the date cannot be leaked to security agencies. Actually, it is quitelikely that some information about us will have reached the security agencies,but this should not affect the outcome. As the preparations for the coup proceed, more and more information about our actions will be in circulation but it will also be increasingly obscured by "noise." (An expression used in the intelligence community to describe the false or irrelevant information which is reported alongside "hard" data.) Every move me make will generate more information which could eventually reach security agencies, but the consequences and misinterpretations of our actions will generate an equal or greater amount of "noise." This will make it increasingly difficult for the analysts of the security agencies to identify the nature of the threat, since their capacity for processing information is not unlimited. (p. 157)

Even if the security agencies could isolate the real data from the "noise," they will not usually take immediate action. Their professional instincts will be to try to explore all the ramifications of the plot so as to be able to arrest all its participants. And, hopefully, the coup will actually take place while the security agencies are still engaged on these explorations….Even without separating the hard data for "noise," the mereincrease in the total flow of information could be interpreted as a danger signal (as it certainly would by a competent analyst) and this might trigger off arrests.

In practice, it will rarely be possible to achieve totalsecurity within the forces of the coup and we should assume as a workinghypothesis that they have in fact been infiltrated by the security forces.

"Apart from the dispersal countermeasures….our only effective defense will be to retain full control over all "horizontal" communications,…This can sometimes be done technically by keeping under our control the actual communications equipment…." (p.169)

The masses have neither the weapons of he military nor the administrative facilities of the bureaucracy, but their attitude to the new government established after the coup will ultimately be decisive. Our immediate aim will be to enforce public order, but our ling-term objective is to gaint he acceptance of the masses so that physical coercion will no longer be needed in order to secure compliance with our orders.

"Our…far more flexible instrument will be our control over the means of mass communications; their importance will be particularly great because the flow of all other information will be affected by our physical controls. Moreover, the confused and dramatic events of the coup will mean that the radio and television services will have a particularly attentive and receptive audience. In broadcasting over the radio and television services our purpose is not to provide information about the situation but rather to affect its development by exploiting our monopoly of these media….(p174)

We will have two principal objectives in the information campaign that will start immediately after the coup…Our first objective will be achieved by conveying the reality and strength of the coup instead of trying tojustify it;…The second objective of our information campaign will be to reassure the general public by dispelling fears that the coup is inspired by foreign and/or extremist elements, and to persuade particular interest groups that the coup is not a threat to them. (p. 176)

Clearly the coup is by definition illegal, but whether this illegality matters, and whether it is possible to counteract its effects, will depend on the total political environment of the country in question… (p. 179)

Once we have carried out our coup and established control over the bureaucracy and the armed forces, our long-term political survival will largely depend on our management of the problem of economic development.(p. 183)

Right,On Target!

[Robert Howard]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/40055502/Edward-Luttwak-Coup-d-Etat-A-Practical-Handbook

Here is a link to the book online.

Penn Jones referenced the book in the following passage.....

Certainly a thought provoking little article....

Now we're going to take a look at the interesting "extra-curricular activities," I guess you could say, of the woman who was the *first* publisher of Ms. magazine. Sometime in the early '70s, a woman by the name of Pat Carbine ("Carbine," sort of ironic in light of Pottinger's role in these assassinations) was, she became the publisher of Ms. Before that, the publisher of Ms. magazine was a woman named Elizabeth Forsling Harris (sp?). And it appears that Elizabeth Forsling Harris played a primary role in the assassination of John Kennedy.

Reading from Volume IV of one of the best series of books on the Kennedy assassination... It's called, Forgive My Grief[1]. It occurs in 4 volumes. It's authored by Penn Jones, Jr.

Now Penn is the editor of the Midlothian Mirror (Midlothian is a suburb of Dallas), and he's one of the foremost researchers, and a man who began investigating the Kennedy assassination *on* 11/22/63 and stuck with it for a long time. Far, far longer than most. And he published Forgive My Grief, Volume IV, in 1974. Copyright 1974, privately published by Penn Jones, Jr., in softcover.

By the way, the title comes from a poem: "In Memoriam," by Alfred Lord Tennyson. It says,

Forgive my grief for one removed,

Thy creature whom I found so fair.

I trust he lives in Thee,

And there I find him worthier to be loved.

(A lot of people have wondered where that reference comes from.)

But anyway, far more important than that reference, is the association of Gloria Steinem and Ms.'s first publisher, Elizabeth Forsling Harris. And it appears that Elizabeth Forsling Harris was involved in planning the assassination of John Kennedy. (Interesting, in light of Steinem's paramour, J. Stanley Pottinger, and his connections not only to the assassination of Martin Luther King, but also his association with people like Michael Vernon Townley, Frank Turpel, Edwin Wilson -- and not to mention George Bush -- in the assassination of Orlando Letelier.)

Reading now from Forgive My Grief, Volume IV.

(And by the way, most of the articles in Penn's book are actually editorials or investigative columns done by Penn in the Midlothian Mirror. And this is one of them.)

Infiltrating Again

The Women's Liberation Movement, as well as the Youth Movement, must constantly be aware of the problem of infiltration by enemies. In fact, the [Women's] Liberation group may very well have been taken over already by the Ms. publisher, Elizabeth Forsling Harris. According to the Dallas papers, Mrs. Harris accompanied Liberation leader Gloria Steinem during the Steinem appearances in Dallas.

Since reading Coup d'Etat by Edward Luttwak, it is easier to understand the enormous planning, and checking and double-checking, necessary before the killing of President John Kennedy could be successfully accomplished. Taking over the most powerful country in the world is not a small task. Having constant surveillance on the opinion makers in Dallas was only one of the necessary requisites in the planning stages. Betty Forsling Harris appears to have been one of the high-level observers moved here from Washington. She left Dallas shortly after the assassination.

Elizabeth Forsling came to Dallas a few years before the assassination. She was a great and good friend of Stanley Marcus of Nieman-Marcus [department store]. She married and divorced Leon Harris of the A. Harris firm. Elizabeth Forsling Harris worked for the Saul Bloom Advertising Agency and was referred to by Washington planners as "our Dallas contact." She attended the important planning sessions for the coming visit of the President. The Bloom Agency handled the public relations for the visit, then also handled public relations for the Jack Ruby trial. This was a first for any court, to have a public relations firm employed in a court case.

Elizabeth Forsling Harris was a very close co-worker, with Jack Pewterbaugh (sp?), on the Dallas trip which cost the life of President John Kennedy. Pewterbaugh came to Washington from Minnesota, with Orville Freeman (sp?). In the Agriculture Department, Pewterbaugh was working closely with Billy Sol Estes, later convicted and sent to prison. It was Pewterbaugh who made the decision to hold the lunch in the Trade Mart, "because of the proximity to Love Field." And it was Pewterbaugh who made the decision to take the unauthorized and unnecessary detour in Dealey Plaza.

The two decisions make Pewterbaugh up to his hips in the assassination. Neither he, nor Betty Harris, were ever questioned by the Warren Commission.

And again, the Bloom Agency handled the P.R. not only for President Kennedy's visit to Dallas, but also handled the public relations for Jack Ruby's trial. This was the first time any court had had a public relations firm employed in such a capacity. (Although my understanding is that now that is sort of standard operating procedure, where anyone can afford it. So this was sort of a ground-breaking event.)

One thing that is *not* included in that particular article about the Bloom Agency (and recall that's with whom Elizabeth Forsling Harris was working) is that Oswald had visited the Bloom Agency a number of times before his alleged (and obviously non-existent) role in the assassination of Kennedy.

The important thing in examining Oswald, by the way (as we looked at not only in "The Guns of November," but in a number of Radio Free America shows -- the "Aryan Nation" series and "World Anti-Communist" series in particular [CN: Tapes of past broadcasts may still be available; phone 415-346-1840, or contact Conspiracy Nation for more info]), but the important thing about examining Oswald is to find out *who* manipulated him in such a way as to take the fall for the Kennedy assassination. Lee Harvey Oswald didn't kill anyone.

The point here is that Elizabeth Forsling Harris appears to have been a primary planner in the Kennedy assassination. She was never questioned by the Warren Commission, she worked for the Bloom Agency, which had some curious roles throughout the [Ruby] trial. And beyond that, she was heavily involved, along with Jack Pewterbaugh, in planning the motorcade route for John Kennedy. (That, of necessity -- for those who've studied the details of the assassination -- has to have placed her, as Penn Jones indicated, in the very center of the conspiracy itself. And as we've looked at in our "Aryan Nation" series as well as "The Guns of November," the Kennedy assassination was, for all intents and purposes, a military coup.)

Now again, perhaps the Steinem association with Elizabeth Forsling Harris in and of itself wouldn't be too damning. But in light of all the other information -- the Independent Research Service connections, in light of her association with J. Stanley Pottinger and some of the things Pottinger's been involved in -- it's one more very interesting detail concerning Steinem and her involvement in a very deep intelligence mileau.

And again, Elizabeth Forsling Harris replaced (ironically enough) by Pat Carbine, as publisher of Ms. magazine.

Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 9 Num. 35

[CN transcript of remarks by west coast researcher Dave Emory.] [...continued...]

http://www.naderlibrary.com/bulletin_board/viewtopic.php?p=17377&sid=898b5364c516de3fe5115f424d64a7c6

HARRIS, ELIZABETH FORSLING "BETTY"

Sources: HSCA Vol 11, pp. 520-521, 526; Dallas Times Herald, Sun, 12/26/71, p. F-7; Dallas Times Herald, Thurs, 2/3/72, p. B-1; Dallas Times Herald, Thurs, 2/3/72 7/12/77, p. B-5; New York Times, Sat., August 7, 1999, p. A-14; Dallas Morning News, Sat., August 7, 1999, p. 39-A

Mary's

Comments: Born Jan. 8, 1922, in Greenville, Tennessee. Graduated from Mount Vernon College in Washington, D.C. Married to Leon A. Harris, President of A. Harris. Had worked for Sergeant Shriver at Newsweek. She worked for Sam Bloom and attended "planning session" for JFK's Dallas visit in Eugene Locke's office with Jack Puterbaugh, Sorrells, Bloom, etc. She divorced Harris and became publisher of Gloria Steinam's MS Magazine (in 1971) but left after first issue was published. Later (in 1975) sued Gloria Steinam and Pat Carbine for $1.7 million contending they had misrepresented value of magazine's stock. The suit was dismissed. Died July 14, 1999, at age 77, in Manhattan of complications from emphysema.

Also see Mad Woman at The Peace Corps

http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/2010/03/28/mad-woman/

Edited March 13, 2012 by Robert Howard

[William Kelly]

Thanks for the response David, as I too have an original first edition 1968 hardbound copy.

Luttwak was wrong about the assumption he makes about the inability of popular insurrection to effect regime change, as Arab Spring has proved that wrong.

Glad you liked it Harry,

And Robert, thanks for calling attention to Penn Jones' statement and his focus on Ms. E. F. Harris, whose Sam Bloom ad agency was the client whose project Oswald himself worked on when he was at Jaggers/Chiles/Stoval at the time he ordered the weapons.

BK

JFKcountercoup

[William Kelly]

I've added a brief introduction to the Coup article:

The JFK Assassination - Crackpot or Coup?

By William Kelly

“By every readable signal the situation was red.Assassinations generally precede attempts to overthrow governments, and GeneralTaylor issued a special warning to all troops stationed in the Washingtonarea. At interior Bill Pozen had assumed that this was the first stage in acoup. Never within his memory had the capitol been so wide open. Six Cabinetmembers were over the Pacific, and both the President and Vice President werein Dallas….” – William Manchester, The Death of a President (Harper & Row 1967)

One of the hardest things to believe about the officialversion of what occurred at Dealey Plaza is the assassination of the Presidentwas the result of the actions of a despicable loser and loner who couldn’t holda job or do anything right or meaningful in his life except kill the Presidentof the United States.

Rather than the accidental act of a madman, if theassassination of the President was a very well planned and executed covert operationand coup d’eta, then there should be some record of it among the archives ofgovernment, and I think that record is the Air Force One radio communicationson November 22, 1963, or what remain of those records. The audio tapes of theAir Force One radio transmissions give us a unique porthole window view intowhat was happening at critical locations at a crucial time, and provide a wayinto the heart and bowls of the coup.

As noted in the investigation of homicides, if the motivefor the murder was elimination, then it is not the triggerman or killer whoprovides the clue and the links to those actually responsible, but the victimhimself. As other researchers have assumed this approach (as Vincent Salandria,Jim Root and Larry Hancock have done), and investigated the assassination fromthe top down rather than the bottom up, there should be a point where the twoapproaches meet – and there is – in the El Chico Restaurant parking lot in OakCliff.

If the assassination was a well planned coup in which thosewho killed the President also took over the reigns of government, then it wouldhave been conducted according to the well developed principles used to conductcoups, and as outlined in the operational manual, “Coup d’etat – A Practical Handbook” (Ed Lutwak, Knof, NY, 1968).

According to Lutwak, it is imperative that those engineeringthe coup have complete control over key communications links during the firstcrucial hours of the operation.

While Lutwak’s outline was designed for small Latin Americancountries, its basic principles remain the same for any coup, which is definedas a forceful change in power from within the government itself.

As President Kennedy himself noted on the morning of hisdeath that it would be very easy to murder the President while he was away fromthe White House, if this analysis is correct, and complete control overcommunications was a necessary attribute of the coup, then the assassinationhad to take place while the President was out of Washington and Air Force Oneradio communications were used.

JFKcountercoup: Coup d'etat - Basic Elements - Were they followed on 11/22/63?

[Robert Howard]

I've added a brief introduction to the Coup article:

The JFK Assassination - Crackpot or Coup?

By William Kelly

“By every readable signal the situation was red.Assassinations generally precede attempts to overthrow governments, and GeneralTaylor issued a special warning to all troops stationed in the Washingtonarea. At interior Bill Pozen had assumed that this was the first stage in acoup. Never within his memory had the capitol been so wide open. Six Cabinetmembers were over the Pacific, and both the President and Vice President werein Dallas….” – William Manchester, The Death of a President (Harper & Row 1967)

One of the hardest things to believe about the officialversion of what occurred at Dealey Plaza is the assassination of the Presidentwas the result of the actions of a despicable loser and loner who couldn’t holda job or do anything right or meaningful in his life except kill the Presidentof the United States.

Rather than the accidental act of a madman, if theassassination of the President was a very well planned and executed covert operationand coup d’eta, then there should be some record of it among the archives ofgovernment, and I think that record is the Air Force One radio communicationson November 22, 1963, or what remain of those records. The audio tapes of theAir Force One radio transmissions give us a unique porthole window view intowhat was happening at critical locations at a crucial time, and provide a wayinto the heart and bowls of the coup.

As noted in the investigation of homicides, if the motivefor the murder was elimination, then it is not the triggerman or killer whoprovides the clue and the links to those actually responsible, but the victimhimself. As other researchers have assumed this approach (as Vincent Salandria,Jim Root and Larry Hancock have done), and investigated the assassination fromthe top down rather than the bottom up, there should be a point where the twoapproaches meet – and there is – in the El Chico Restaurant parking lot in OakCliff.

If the assassination was a well planned coup in which thosewho killed the President also took over the reigns of government, then it wouldhave been conducted according to the well developed principles used to conductcoups, and as outlined in the operational manual, “Coup d’etat – A Practical Handbook” (Ed Lutwak, Knof, NY, 1968).

According to Lutwak, it is imperative that those engineeringthe coup have complete control over key communications links during the firstcrucial hours of the operation.

While Lutwak’s outline was designed for small Latin Americancountries, its basic principles remain the same for any coup, which is definedas a forceful change in power from within the government itself.

As President Kennedy himself noted on the morning of hisdeath that it would be very easy to murder the President while he was away fromthe White House, if this analysis is correct, and complete control overcommunications was a necessary attribute of the coup, then the assassinationhad to take place while the President was out of Washington and Air Force Oneradio communications were used.

JFKcountercoup: Coup d'etat - Basic Elements - Were they followed on 11/22/63?

Since this thread has sort of slacked off a little, I wanted to post, what I consider to be a somewhat overlooked passage from One Hell of A Gamble, in fact the entire Chapter entitled Dallas to Moscow, is extremely revealing.

http://www.jfk-online.com/fursenko.html

Another book that has some passages that merit serious consideration is

Walter Lippman and the American Century - Ronald Steel

pages 538-558;

Lippman's dealings with JFK were extremely relevant to the "brain-trust" regarding the whole nine yards, from Vietnam, the Multi-Lateral Force [that was one of the last major developments of the JFK presidency until November 22, 1963]

and his relationship with LBJ. Lippman had a very habitual manner of derailing his relationships with [POTUS] the occupant of the White House, JFK was by no means an exception.

Books are a two edged sword they are not "government documents" and are not binding in the sense that Congressional Testimony and WC, Church Committe, HSCA or ARRB are, of course, but there are author's whose integrity and dedication to historical fact merit serious analysis, Fursenko/Naftali and Ronald Steel are certainly qualified.

Edited March 24, 2012 by Robert Howard

[William Kelly]

JFKcountercoup

Three Time Hits – An investigative research technique – Wm.Kelly

"The intelligence profession does not exactly condition one to accept coincidence as an explanation for a sequence of events." – David Atlee Phillips (Nightwatch, 1977)

In the course of my historical research into the assassination of President Kennedy I developed a research technique that proved efficient for coming to understand diverse but connected properties.

It first occurred to me during the summer after the final report of the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) was issued, along with a number of supporting volumes of documents and testimony that took a number of months to read.

It was while reading those records that I noticed on more than two occasions, the role of witnesses and subjects who worked for CollinsRadio Company, a relatively obscure defense contractor.

I first came across Collins Radio while reading GeorgeDeMohrenschildt's manuscript "I'm a Patsy!," in which the sophisticated DeMohrenschildt mentions how he introduced Oswald to retired Admiral Chester Bruton, who worked at Collins Radio. DeMohrenschildt asked Bruton about getting Oswald a job at Collins, after all, he was a former Marine who worked in a radio factory in Russia.Over lunch however, Oswald's distain for officers like Bruton precluded that from ever happening.

Then I read where J.D. Tippit's good friend Carl Mather was at work at Collins Radio while someone who looked like Oswald was driving his car around Oak Cliff at the time of Tippit's murder.

As I read this I still considered it just a coincidence, but then I read a November 1, 1963 New York Times newspaper report about the CIA ship Rex, which ran covert raids against Cuba, that was leased to CollinsRadio, the same company Mather worked for and where the accused assassin once considered seeking employment.

That made me think of Ian Fleming's remark, which he attributes to Auric Goldfinger, "Mr. Bond, they have a saying in Chicago, 'Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time it's enemy action.'"

At that point I opened a new file on the Collins Radio Company and began to acquire what appeared at first to be random entries that began to form a pattern of covert operational behavior, and the subject of a talk I gave at the 1994 COPA national conference in Washington D.C. [see: TheCollins Radio Connections].

But that isn't the end of it, as I applied the same techniques to other subjects that also appear, at first to be happenstance, but with the addition of more information, begin to take a more clear form even though they were intended to remain behind the scenes.

The Pan Am Bank of Miami and the International Rescue Committee are two other similar institutions that appear in three or more apparently unrelated areas of the assassination.

From Russia (with love) Oswald wrote three times to the International Rescue Committee seeking assistance in returning home from the Soviet Union. Founded by Leo Cherne, the IRC was also closely affiliated with the CIA's"Operation Wringer," originally established by German Nazi Gen. Reinhard Gehlen to interview and interrogate refugees from Communist countries. Cherne was also affiliated with some anti-Castro Cuban organizations involved in the assassination. Tom Doley was affiliated with Cherene and the IRC in Vietnam and Warren Commissioner Gerald Ford appointed Leo Cherne to the PresidentsForeign Intelligence Advisory Board. There's more to the IRC than meets theeye, but I haven't had the time to find out what it is.

The Pan Am Bank is another. I first came across the Pan AmBank of Miami in the HSCA (Vol. IX,p. 590) reports on Robert Ray McKeown, who was a personal friend of Castro and was offered a position in the government when Castro took over. McKeown had run guns to Castro in the mountains and Castro trusted him and even visited him in Texas to offer him a job.

Apparently learning about McKeown's connection to Castro from news accounts, both Oswald and Ruby separately visited McKeown seeking weapons and access to Castro.

According to the HSCA report, "Regarding sources of income for the gunrunning operations, McKeown stated in an interview that he received money from his Cuban contacts in the office of an attorney who was counsel for Haiti and that the money was always bound in Pan American Bank wrappers."

The HSCA also took the sworn testimony (Vol. V. p. 113) of Lewis McWillie, who Jack Ruby visited in Havana and deposited money in a Miami bank for McWillie's casino bosses, the Fox borthers, upon his return.

McWillie himself was asked:

Q: From 1958 through 1961, did you ever return to the United States for visits?

A: Many times, yes. I used to bring money and deposit it forthe Foxes.

Q: And where would that be deposited?

A: Sir?

Q: Where would that be deposited?

A: Well, I deposited money in the Pan Am Bank and I deposited money in the, I think it was a Miami bank, I don't know….

Peter Dale Scott, in his book Crime and Coverup (p. 17) notes that, "…Batista's investment ally Anselmo Alliegro, whose Miami bank (PanAmerican National) was allegedly used by Benton and McLaney for placement of worthless securities…" [scott cites: MiamiHerald, 9/18/49, p.385/Gerth, pp. 259, 261]

Then there's Antonio Veciana's account of being recruited asan agent of "Maurice Bishop," the shadowy CIAofficer who Veciana saw with Lee Harvey Oswald in the Southland building in Dallas in the summer of 1963. According to the official report:

"Veciana specifically recalled meetings with Bishop becauseof their special nature. For instance, shortly after reestablishing contact with him in Miami, Bishop took Veciana to an office in the Pan Am Bank Building in the downtown section of the city. Veciana did not recall the exact floor of the building nor if there was any name on the office door. Bishop unlocked the office with a key, and in the presence of two men who were in the office, asked him to sign a piece of paper and take part in a 'commitment' ceremony. 'It was like a pledge of my loyalty, a secret pledge.' Veciana testified, 'I think they wanted to impress on my responsibility and my commitment to the cause.' Veciana could not identify the two men who were present with Bishop at this ceremony…'They were like spectators,' he said….The (CIA) records indicate that Veciana was hired by the Agency even though his application was never signed."

The Pan Am Bank of Miami,the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Collins Radio are three organizations that came to my attention where additional documentary records and new witness testimony can be obtained, if anyone bothers to look.

Edited April 4, 2012 by William Kelly