NATO's Secret Armies, Operation Gladio and JFK

[Cliff Varnell]

5 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:

On WhoWhatWhy.org there is an article from March 21, 2019 by John Newman, excerpting volume three of his JFK series Into the Storm, called Antonio Veciana, Mystery Man in JFK Assassination. It’s in 2 parts, and I’m referring to part 2 in this post. If anyone would go to the site and copy the article and paste it on this thread it would be great.

im not sure who has followed this brilliant work by Newman. He’s done a deep dive into Veciana, founder of Alpha 66, and found him to be deliberately deceptive in his public comments, which go back 40 years. By mentioning ‘Bishop’, his CIA contact, and hinting, eventually claiming that Bishop was David Atlee Phillips, and by spreading the story that he saw Bishop with Oswald in 1963, he caused a long lasting stir in this community, and deflected us from a more important connection for Veciana and Alpha 66 - with Army Intelligence and specifically General Edward Lansdale. This outstanding discovery by Newman has led him to start looking at Lansdale’s connection with ACSI and with Lyman Lemnitzer. 

The problem with Prouty is that while he may have pointed us in the direction of Lansdale, he pointed towards CIA and away from ACSI (Asst. Chief of Staff Army Intelligence). And with some careful reading by Rob we now know that Prouty downplayed Lemnitzer while pointing at Lansdale. I think it’s possible that Lemnitzer, the author of Northwoods, tasked Lansdale with creating a false flag attack on JFK. The question that plagues me is whether that attack was meant to kill the president, or just scare the heck out of him and bring him forcefully back into the Cold War fold? Was a false flag attempted assassination hijacked by real assassins? 

Paul, it looks me me like two compartmentalized operations -- one op plotted the field operation of Kennedy's murder (Carl Jenkins, Henry Hecksher most likely imo) while a separate group (Lansdale, Phillips most likely imo) were tasked with sheep-dipping the patsy as a Red agent and then whacking him soon after JFK was hit. 

If Lansdale plotted the murder of Kennedy it doesn't make sense to me he'd be anywhere near Dealey Plaza a couple of hours later. 

But if he was tasked with the Oswald killing -- which was screwed up thus destroying the Red Agent angle -- it makes sense to me he'd conduct a clean-up op in Dealey Plaza like we see in the Tramp Photo and bring back up patsies in from the cold.

 

[Rob Couteau]

10 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

 The reason I raised the question about Lansdale and Alpha 66

Thanks for bringing this up - somehow I missed your earlier post!

[Rob Couteau]

3 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

This is now the number two article at K and K.

 

Good to know --- I wonder how much of that is due to your readers abroad, as Gladio is much more well known in places such as Europe than it is here.

[James DiEugenio]

I imagine that is probably the main reason.

But your essay is sure educating people stateside.

[Paul Brancato]

22 hours ago, Cliff Varnell said:

Paul, it looks me me like two compartmentalized operations -- one op plotted the field operation of Kennedy's murder (Carl Jenkins, Henry Hecksher most likely imo) while a separate group (Lansdale, Phillips most likely imo) were tasked with sheep-dipping the patsy as a Red agent and then whacking him soon after JFK was hit. 

If Lansdale plotted the murder of Kennedy it doesn't make sense to me he'd be anywhere near Dealey Plaza a couple of hours later. 

But if he was tasked with the Oswald killing -- which was screwed up thus destroying the Red Agent angle -- it makes sense to me he'd conduct a clean-up op in Dealey Plaza like we see in the Tramp Photo and bring back up patsies in from the cold.

 

Cliff - did you read the article?

Even though Phillips is not the focus of it, Newman questions the timing of when Phillips and Veciana supposedly met. The inference is that we’ve been looking where Veciana wants us to look, sleight of hand. I know that Phillips was up to his eyeballs in post assassination stories connecting Oswald to Castro, and also with anti FPCC ops. That may have included sheepdipping Oswald as a pro Castro Communist. But It’s time to dismiss Veciana as a source on Phillips or Oswald, and view him as a terrorist linked to Army Intelligence, not CIA. 

 I’m looking more closely at Lansdale now because Veciana hid that relationship for his lifetime, ongoing. Not sure of Lansdale’s  role, or even whether killing JFK was the aim of the plot. Post assassination role for Lansdale regarding silencing Oswald? Maybe. Again, that could be true whether or not JFK was targeted for death. 

I realize these posts have strayed from the thread subject. I’m trying to connect them through Lemnitzer and Lansdale. 

Edited August 1, 2019 by Paul Brancato

[Cliff Varnell]

5 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:

Cliff - did you read the article?

Even though Phillips is not the focus of it, Newman questions the timing of when Phillips and Veciana supposedly met. The inference is that we’ve been looking where Veciana wants us to look, sleight of hand. I know that Phillips was up to his eyeballs in post assassination stories connecting Oswald to Castro, and also with anti FPCC ops. That may have included sheepdipping Oswald as a pro Castro Communist. But It’s time to dismiss Veciana as a source on Phillips or Oswald, and view him as a terrorist linked to Army Intelligence, not CIA. 

Does it have to be one or the other?

What about Veciana's Maurice Bishop composite sketch closely resembling Phillips?

Quote

 I’m looking more closely at Lansdale now because Veciana hid that relationship for his lifetime, ongoing. Not sure of Lansdale’s  role, or even whether killing JFK was the aim of the plot. Post assassination role for Lansdale regarding silencing Oswald? Maybe. Again, that could be true whether or not JFK was targeted for death. 

I realize these posts have strayed from the thread subject. I’m trying to connect them through Lemnitzer and Lansdale. 

I view the JFKA and the LHOA as supra-institutional plots involving select personnel from the military, the CIA, the FBN, organized crime and the State Department.

Edited August 2, 2019 by Cliff Varnell

[Rob Couteau]

Some sad news: Robert F. Kennedy’s granddaughter, Saoirse Kennedy Hill, died at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport, Massachusetts, the family announced Thursday night.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/01/us/kennedy-compound-overdose.html

[Michael Clark]

Any gun enthusiast will be able to confirm what was a mysterious near disappearance of .22 caliber round ammunition at stores for a number of years, between around 2010 and lasting for some 5 or 6 years. .22 Lr rounds (Long Riflie) are about the smallest, cheapest bullet, often used for “plinking” and target shooting. The disappearance was beyond remarkable and there was no good explanation. The disappearance of 22 Lr ammunition would be analogous to a sudden, years-long disappearance of any brand of hot dog from American grocery stores.

If you followed the atrocities and violence of the ISIS campaign, you may have noticed something. They were in no short supply of ammunition. Some of the campaigns, attacks, mass murders, liquidations, and cold blooded executions were carried out with a clear disregard for any notion of a need for conservation of ammunition. Some of these videos show multiple assailants attacking a simple cab driver and putting multiple clips worth of Ak47 rounds into a single body; or an attack on a village, by dozens of fighters, reigning an absolute fusillade of bullets in preparation for and onset of the attack. When I saw this, it was clear to me that the disappearance of 22 lr rounds from store shelves and the unreal and unnatural abundance of 7.62 rounds in the hands of ISIS had to be related. Does onyone else, ar has anyone make or made that connection or presumption?

US ammunition manufacturers very likely re-tooled to provide ISIS with a flood of ammunition. Who paid for, approved, ordered and ran this operation can be easily guessed-at, but the affect and presumed intent was to destroy a generation of Shia Muslims throughout the Middle East. It is also something that could be proved-out, by investigation; some people had to have worked in those ammunition factories. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008–13_United_States_ammunition_shortage

 

 

***edit: added Wki Article

Edited August 5, 2019 by Michael Clark

[W. Niederhut]

1 hour ago, Michael Clark said:

Any gun enthusiast will be able to confirm what was a mysterious near disappearance of .22 caliber round ammunition at stores for a number of years, between around 2010 and lasting for some 5 or 6 years. .22 Lr rounds (Long Riflie) are about the smallest, cheapest bullet, often used for “plinking” and target shooting. The disappearance was beyond remarkable and there was no good explanation. The disappearance of 22 Lr ammunition would be analogous to a sudden, years-long disappearance of any brand of hot dog from American grocery stores.

If you followed the atrocities and violence of the ISIS campaign, you may have noticed something. They were in no short supply of ammunition. Some of the campaigns, attacks, mass murders, liquidations, and cold blooded executions were carried out with a clear disregard for any notion of a need for conservation of ammunition. Some of these videos show multiple assailants attacking a simple cab driver and putting multiple clips worth of Ak47 rounds into a single body; or an attack on a village, by dozens of fighters, reigning an absolute fusillade of bullets in preparation for and onset of the attack. When I saw this, it was clear to me that the disappearance of 22 lr rounds from store shelves and the unreal and unnatural abundance of 7.62 rounds in the hands of ISIS had to be related. Does onyone else, ar has anyone make or ade that connection or presumption?

US ammunition manufacturers very likely re-tooled to provide ISIS with a flood of ammunition. Who paid for, approved, ordered and ran this operation can be easily guessed-at, but the affect and presumed intent was to destroy a generation of Shia Muslims throughout the Middle East. It is also something that could be proved-out, by investigation; some people had to have worked in those ammunition factories. 

 

        I would be interested to hear from Rob Couteau and others about NATO's role (including MI6) in the CIA's Operation Timber Sycamore to overthrow the Assad regime in Syria-- training and funding proxy Sunni militias like Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, and "ISIS."   The truly "scandalous" information in Hillary's hacked State Department Emails, IMO, was ignored by the mainstream media-- i.e., the fact that the CIA was running guns to Al Qaeda in Syria from Libya.

[Paul Brancato]

2 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

 

        I would be interested to hear from Rob Couteau and others about NATO's role (including MI6) in the CIA's Operation Timber Sycamore to overthrow the Assad regime in Syria-- training and funding proxy Sunni militias like Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, and "ISIS."   The truly "scandalous" information in Hillary's hacked State Department Emails, IMO, was ignored by the mainstream media-- i.e., the fact that the CIA was running guns to Al Qaeda in Syria from Libya.

Seems to me we don’t figure out secret operations for decades after the fact. It’s up to us to draw conclusions from what we can glean in the present. I agree with you that CIA military support for Al Qaeda in Syria in order to overthrow Assad was largely overlooked after it was revealed, and very revealing.

one observation - the lack of any mention of Israel when talking about Assad is suspicious, as Israel has the most to gain by a weak Syria. I think we usually act in concert with Israeli needs, and that this is no exception. 

[Larry Hancock]

I've written about many of these operations in Shadow Warfare and more current ones in Surprise Attack.  There is evidence that we were in the process of sending weapons from Libya to Syria (one boatload had gone out)  but not to Al Qaeda but to carefully screened non-jihad militias.  Al Qaeda operatives found out about it and killed our ambassador in Libya who was actually orchestrating the shipments as part of an effort to derail the effort (which worked like a charm for them).  As a corollary Some of the Gulf States stepped in with shipments to the Jihad groups and further undermined the effort as well.

To complex to discuss here but if anyone has Surprise Attack they will find it addressed in the analysis of the attack on Benghazi.  And yes both CIA and State were involved, but it was actually a very early effort to put the non-jihad militias which was compromised and failed.   As usual what I was able to learn at the time is in the book.

[James DiEugenio]

Larry:

This is cryptic: And yes both CIA and State were involved, but it was actually a very early effort to put the non-jihad militias which was compromised and failed.

 

Can you explain what you mean by "to put" . To put what where?

As per the effort to overthrow Assad and the CIA, I only saw one major article on that subject focusing on the Al Nusra front, which is usually translated as al Qaeda in the Levant.  It was by Stephen Kinzer. THere was no follow up as far as I know.

[Larry Hancock]

Jim, at this point all I can do is refer you to Surprise Attack which cites several field news investigations (generally not mainstream media) out of Libya and Syria as well as separate data on monitoring of air transport flights from the Gulf States to the jihad militia.  I go into it in a good bit of depth in Surprise Attack (and cite sources and links)  including my own analysis of how the pieces appear to fit together for that scenario, but I'm working on a new book and doing a number of other projects and honestly I have time to do more than point it out. Don't mean to be cryptic and I'm not pitching books but sometimes its a little frustrating to realize how little some of my more recent national security related work has been read within this community. 

Oh, and by "to put" I meant CIA field personnel under in cover in Syria screening militias and working up the contacts to move in weapons collected by the large, covert CIA field team in Benghazi and then shipped by boat to specific vetted militias....the weapons being Russian weapons out of Libya which would support a cover story of them coming from capture of similar weapons from Assad's forces, which was occurring a good deal at the time.  One shipment had already gone in, using Libyan shipping company contacts set up by our Ambassador; the same company he was scheduled to meet with again on his Benghazi trip.

 

[W. Niederhut]

15 minutes ago, James DiEugenio said:

Larry:

This is cryptic: And yes both CIA and State were involved, but it was actually a very early effort to put the non-jihad militias which was compromised and failed.

 

Can you explain what you mean by "to put" . To put what where?

As per the effort to overthrow Assad and the CIA, I only saw one major article on that subject focusing on the Al Nusra front, which is usually translated as al Qaeda in the Levant.  It was by Stephen Kinzer. THere was no follow up as far as I know.

Isn't it true that "Al Qaeda" --the "data base" -- has always been affiliated on some level with the CIA, beginning with the backing of Osama Bin Laden and the mujaheddin resistance fighters in the Soviet-Afghan War?

Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cooke made that claim shortly before he died, mysteriously, while hiking in the Scottish Highlands back in 2003.

And John Schindler claimed in his book, Unholy Alliance, that Osama and his "Al Qaeda" associates were working with the CIA and the Izetbegovic regime in Bosnia in the 1990s.

[Larry Hancock]

Yes and No and sorry but I'm going to do it again because I spent chapter after chapter addressing this in Shadow Warfare...mea culpa

Bottom line....in Afghanistan phase one the CIA sent money through Pakistan and partnered with Saudi to send even more money.  Nobody cared where the money went as long as Russians got killed. And the Pakistani intelligence was literally allowed to run the entire show, with no CIA  field involvement or oversight....

In reality the Saudi's and their ultra religious wing wanted the money to go to very specific jihad oriented groups as did the Pakistani's...and it did.  CIA teams did not go in with it nor exercise normal field control of any sort.  We just shoveled money to the Pakistani's, the Saudi's sent even more money and Bin Ladin went with it to ensure the right groups got it, establishing his base first in Pakistan and then Afghanistan.

In phase two, other non jihad nationalist groups in Afghanistan complained they were being cut out of the money but as more and more Russians were being killed the CIA station chief in Pakistan was in no way going to sacrifice his primary goal of  victory over the Russians over a few religious complaints. 

Finally, in phase three, things had gotten so bad that when we tried to send CIA folks into the field in Afghanistan to check they were threatened and sent packing by jihad militia - but by that point it was totally out of control and the Taliban was set to take the country back for the jihad (not for the old line nationalist or royalist Afghans...who eventually ended up forming the  Northern Alliance - who would be our new post 9/11 friends).

But we had shipped in anti-aircraft missiles, taken down lots of Hind gun ships, bloodied the Russians and made them look really bad, got our revenge for Vietnam and every politician involved took a bow......and promptly chose to ignore the whole bloody mess and how much we had been taken by the Saudi's and Pakistani's - until 9/11.

Oh, and on your other point, the first warning of exactly how bad things had gotten was when CIA intel from Bosnia began to show that the same jihad groups the Pakistani's and Saudi's had funded in Afghanistan were showing up as well organized units in Bosnia...with plenty of weapons and plenty of money, stockpiled from the Afghan funding no doubt, but with new investments from Bin Laden and their own "charitable" fund raising.

That's the short story, the citations are in the book...grin.