Japanese linguist John Hurt

[Jim Root]

Brought back for Lee Forman

Jim Root

[Ian A. Kerr]

Shanet

Are you sure of that Phoenix date, November 21, 1963....This is getting deep.

McGeorge Bundy was part of what I call the "Italian Group" during WWII (see backround in the "Why Assassination Necessary" thread) and worked with John J. McCloy and Maxwell Taylor in the surrender of Italy and the formation of civilian government in occupied territories.

Wasn't Operation Phoenix run by William Colby who came to the OSS via the 99th Battalion (later commanded by Edwin Walker) during WWII?

Wasn't Operation Phoenix similar to covert operations carried out during the Greek Civil War while Edwin Walker was running the Greek desk at the Pentagon?  The Greek Civil War where Thomas Karamesssines (the person in Richard Helms office that was monitoring Oswald's movements) got his start in the CIA.

Does this sound like "Seven Days in May?"

Jim Root

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes to all these, the GREEK situation was very touchy throughout this period,

as they bordered the iron curtain, and had nationalist and royalist interests.

Apparently Nixon was compromised, or very sensitive, about the GREEK

political situation in our time period. Mr. Karamessines was a witting agent

of the joint paramilitary domestic agenda of the period.

Guenther Lewy's book, America in Vietnam shows Colby's Counter-Intelligence

political assassination "corporation" but it showed me the fundamental

futility of separating civilian agency and military forces roles and agendas.

In 1963 this joiint paramilitary force was operating on US soil in illegal

domestic operations, ARTICHOKE< MK ULTRA < PAPERCLIP <BLUE SKY

<CHAOS<COINTEL< etc....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Shanet, ( and all )

Perhaps one can add Dr. Jose Rivera's name to this mix ( remember Adele Edisen? )

Snipped from an on-line obituary for Rivera :

" During the Korean War he served in the 1273rd Medical Field Unit of the 406th Medical General Laboratory and received a battlefield promotion to major. After the war, he was chief of laboratory service and pathology at the U.S. Army Hospital in Tokyo. " ( this was in 1957 )

The 406th didn't limit it's involvement to just " run of the mill " field chemical analytical services, it was actively involved in research, both in the US and abroad. The infamous Japanese Institute of Health was placed under it's supervision after WWII, where experimentation on humans (POW's, civilians, and even US military personnel ) have been documented.

Gen. Charles Willoughby , MacArthur's chief of intelligence was instrumental in getting immunity for the offiicials involved in the Japanese Biological/chemical warfare. Ed Landsdale, among others has a direct line of association to Willoughby. Given the proven presence of the MKUltra program at Atsugi ,( the LSD in the safe, etc ) , and the strange story of Ms.Edisen, things rapidly become less far-fetched. Nevermind all the linkages between MKUltra and the US NIH/NIMH.

Also consider claims of Richard Case Nagell, who purported to have been associated with LHO in a Desmond Fitzgerald run operation to entice the Russian colonel, Nicholi Eroshkin, to defect. Nagell story has been slammed given LHO's having been in hospital during that time period, due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Nagell's assertions can sort of be tied to this thread somewhat, insofar as LHO was supposed to have met Eroshin in the Soviet embassy with Dr. Chicao Fujisawa , a contact of Nagell's (and also of Eroshkin). Nagell claims that Fujisawa was a Soviet agent - who knows ? What we do know is that Fujisawa is known as a Japanese author, philosopher and linguist.

regards,

Ian

[Lee Forman]

Jim,

This thread is facinating, and must continue!

Does the 'CIA Gold?' deal have any bearing I wonder? Lansdale is cited.

- lee

Gold Warriors

The Plundering of Asia

By DOUGLAS VALENTINE

Gold Warriors is more than a book about Japan's "serious, sober and deliberate" plundering of Asia's treasure from 1895 until 1945, and its collusion after the war with American officials to recover and use the loot as a secret political action slush fund to promote right wing regimes: Gold Warriors:America's Secret Recovery of Yamaxxxxa's Gold is a journey into the darkest recesses of history and the human soul. Authors Peggy and Sterling Seagrave not only unravel one of the greatest crimes and cover-ups ever, they reveal something new and startling about the depths of human depravity and barbarity, and the human capacity for deceit.

The book begins in 1895 with a fascinating account of the grisly assassination of Korea's Queen Min by terrorists posing as business agents of Japanese companies. The clever coup d'etat provides Japan with official deniability, and the confusion that follows provides the Japanese with a pretext for its military occupation and plundering of Korea. Japan's brutal conquest of Korea foretells how it will achieve one victory after another in Far East Asia over the ensuing 45 years.

The next victory occurs in 1904, when tiny Japan defeats Russia and annexes Southern Manchuria. Manchuria, unlike Korea, has little gold worth stealing. But it is rich in natural resources, so the Japanese settle in for the long haul, and slowly develop Manchuria over several decades. They build roads and create industries and, more importantly, they work with corrupt warlords and Chinese gangsters associated with Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang Party to transform Manchuria into a vast poppy field. By 1937 the Japanese and their gangster and Kuomintang associates are responsible for 90% of the world's illicit narcotics. They turn Manchu emperor Pu Yi into an addict, and open thousands of opium dens as a way of suppressing the Chinese. When subversion and propaganda don't get the job done they commit unspeakable atrocities. In late 1937 and early 1938 the Japanese slaughter an estimated 350,000 Chinese civilians and prisoners of war in Nanking. Tens of thousands of women and girls are raped, and many are mutilated or murdered. Nanking foretells what will happen as Japan expands its empire to include Indochina, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

It's also with the Rape of Nanking that the authors introduce the main characters in the book; the Japanese soldiers, crime lords, and officials who, by the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, realize they have bitten off more than they chew, and begin their retreat to Japan. A small inner circle becomes responsible for securing billions of dollars worth of gold, platinum, cultural artifacts and precious gems stolen over the previous 45 years. The Japanese call this operation Golden Lily, and the Seagraves do not shy away from naming those involved. They finger General Doihara, and Japan's top yakuza gangster, Kodama Yoshio, both of whom worked closely with Chinese drug smugglers in Manchuria and Shanghai. Golden Lily's overall boss is Prince Chichibu, one of Emperor Hirohito's three brothers. The Kempeitai were Golden Lily's first agents, moving 6000 metric tons of gold from Nanking to Japan in 1938. But most of the Golden Lily treasure was buried in the Philippines by General Yamaxxxxa, and it is in the Philippines that most of the action in the book takes place.

When the Seagraves claim that their lives are in danger for having written this book, they aren't kidding. This is explosive material, for they not only name the Japanese involved in Golden Lily, they name the Japanese corporations, including Nissan, Mitsui (which processed Manchurian opium into heroin in the 1930s), Mitsubishi and Sumitomo as having used American POWs as slave laborers during the war. They also name the Americans who worked with the Japanese to recover the buried loot after World War II. The Japanese had no monopoly on deceit or disregard for human suffering, and some of these Americans conspired with the Japanese to deny reparations to the POWs, sex slaves and forced laborers that survived.

The reader will learn how, in order to share in the plunder, members of General Douglas MacArthur's occupation army, along with US government officials and banks, connived to absolve Japanese corporations, war criminals and drug smugglers ­ many prominent officials in the Post War government ­ of responsibility for these ghastly crimes. How the Americans went about this is very interesting. To ensure his silence, General Yamaxxxxa was hanged by a military tribunal in February 1946, while his right hand man, Kojima, was tortured by a Filipino, Santa Romana, into revealing where the treasure vaults were buried in the Philippines. Romana then guided CIA officer Edward Lansdale to the loot. Lansdale did a quick inventory, and for the next 20 years supervised Romana, the unlikely front man for a number of slush funds. Thereafter the purloined gold was moved through 176 accounts in 42 banks in several countries, to people and organizations the CIA wanted to secretly support.

The Americans viewed this money as a War prize, and every American president from Harry Truman to George W. Bush has used the slush funds for various purposes. Truman, through a number of his top aides close to the Harrimans and the Rockefellers, set up the Black Eagle Trust Fund to fight communism. General MacArthur set up the Yotsuya Fund to finance Japan's yakuza underworld, and one of his aides set up the M-Fund to help reconstruct Japan and turn it into an economic powerhouse. Eisenhower used the M-Fund to help create Japan's Liberal Democratic Party in 1956, and in 1960, Vice President Richard Nixon turned over M-Fund over to Japan's Prime Minister, Kishi Nobosuke, in return for kickbacks Nixon used to help finance his presidential campaign. Carter, Reagan, Clinton and both Bushes were complicit, using Golden Lily slush fund money to buy elections in nations all around the world. George W. got into the act in March 2001, sending Navy SEAL commandos to the Philippines to recover a portion of General Yamaxxxxa's gold. Bush was privately in the market to buy some of the bullion that was being recovered. His representative was William S. Parish, his nominee as ambassador to Great Britain, and the manager of his blind trust

Most of the action in the book takes place in the Philippines, where the Japanese buried much of the Golden Lily loot in 175 vaults in and around Manila. Prince Takeda Tsuneyoshi (using the nomme de guerre, Kimsu) was in charge in Northern Luzon and gave maps to his Filipino aid, Ben, indicating where the vaults were located. Kimsu swore Ben to secrecy, but gradually the maps slipped out and in 1971, a treasure hunter named Roxas unearthed several gold bars and a Golden Buddha that, amazingly, weighed a ton. Word of the discovery reached Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and soon thereafter Roxas was arrested, tortured, and imprisoned, and Marcos acquired the Golden Buddha. Marcos, notably, had been working with the CIA for years using Golden Lily assets to bribe nations to support the Vietnam War. In return for services rendered, Marcos was allowed to sell over $1 trillion in gold through Australian brokers.

By the 1970s, rumors about General Yamaxxxxa's gold had grabbed the imagination of a number on treasure hunters and in 1975, Robert Curtis acquired copies of Kimsu's maps. Financed by far right wing John Birch Society, and working with cutthroat Ferdinand Marcos, Curtis joined with Ben and Japan's Lord Ichiwara to find the remainder of the loot. Alas, the partners were mutually untrustworthy and Curtis, like Roxas, ran into trouble. But the dangers of hunting for buried Japanese gold in the Philippines did not dissuade others, and in the mid-1980s a group of disgruntled former CIA officers and military men, including Generals John Singlaub and Robert Schweitzer, organized an expedition using former Navy SEALs and Army Special Forces personnel. One member of the team, Charles McDougald, actually recovered 325 metric tons of gold in 1987, although, as one might suspect, he found himself in trouble too.

The Seagraves conclude their exciting and excellent book by taking us down the Money Trail, and explaining, in layman's terms, how the Gold Warriors have been able to cover their tracks. Emperor Hirohito, for example, worked directly with Pope Pius XII to launder money through the Vatican bank. In another instance, Japan's Ministry of Finance produced gold certificates that were slightly different than ordinary Japanese bonds. The Seagraves interview persons defrauded in this scam, and other scams involving the Union Bank of Switzerland and Citibank.

Without descending into convoluted legalese, the Seagraves describe the devious means bankers have used to conceal the vast hordes of Nazi and Japanese gold in their possession. The Seagraves do this primarily by examining multi-million-dollar lawsuits filed by Roxas, Curtis, and Santa Romana's heirs against Citibank, the US government, and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. In this way the Seagraves reveal how the banks use complex accounting methods, or claim that gold certificates are fake, or simply move gold to offshore accounts to conceal it. In every case the US government assists the banks by stonewalling, refusing to investigate, or ignoring Freedom of Information Act requests.

In one noteworthy case, attorney W.R. "Cotton" Jones walked into the Swiss Bank Corporation in New York City and asked the bank to authenticate a $25 million certificate of deposit issued by the Bank and bearing the Federal Reserve seal. Cotton was quickly arrested by the Secret Service and his certificates were confiscated. As Cotton rhetorically asks, how can a Swiss bank have a federal agency intervene on its behalf and confiscate personal possessions? What right does the Secret Service have to arrest, interrogate, intimidate, and threaten anyone on a Swiss bank's behalf, without due process of law?

The answer is obvious: the banks that maintain the US government's stolen gold are above the law, and if they stonewall long enough, anyone trying to sue them will eventually fade away. The Seagraves asked the Treasury Department, Defense Department, and the CIA for records on Yamaxxxxa's gold in 1987, but were told the records were exempt from release. During the 1990s, the records mysteriously went missing. Other records were destroyed in what the Seagraves caustically call "history laundering."

Throughout the book, the writing is descriptive and engaging. Having authored several books about the Far East, the Seagraves are experts in their field and their arguments are convincing. In fact, they have compiled so much supporting evidence that many of the documents are contained on companion CDs the reader can buy separately at the Seagraves' web site. There are two CDs, the first containing eleven files. This writer examined three of them ­ on Lansdale, Kodama, and Golden Lily ­ and found them utterly fascinating. The second CD contains 19 files, many concerning the various lawsuits the Seagraves have used as evidence to prove their case.

And they do more than prove their case. In the end, Gold Warriors transcends its subject matter, and its great triumph is that it tells us something new about the savage and avaricious side of human nature. The reader will walk away from this book astounded and outraged at the immensity of the fraudulent activities that the world's governments, banks, and spies are engaged in. Gold Warriors is chilling in its accumulation.

Douglas Valentine is the author of The Hotel Tacloban, The Phoenix Program, and TDY. His fourth book, The Strength of the Wolf: The Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 1930-1968,

will be published in May 2004. His latest article, "Whose Homeland Security", appeared in the July 2003 issue of Penthouse Magazine.

For information about Mr. Valentine, and his books and articles, please visit his web sites at www.DouglasValentine.com and http://members.authorsguild.net/valentine

[Jim Root]

Lee

Based on the post above you might enjoy this historical note.

After the invasion of southern France (during WWII) the First Special Services Force (by then commanded by Col. Edwin Walker) was disbanded. The Canadian Elements were returned to various Canadian Airborne units, etc. The American troops, on the other hand, were kept together and combined with the 99th Battalion and remnants of some elite Ranger units to form the 474th Battalion (Seperate) commanded by Col. Edwin Walker. They were then assigned to Patton's Third Army.

As Patton's Army drove into the Bavarian Alps they stumbled upon Merkers Mine. This huge underground salt mine was being used to store looted Nazi Gold and other treasures. The amount stored was literally tons and in todays dollars would have been worth perhaps billions.

Assigned to transport this treasure..........Col. Edwin Walker's 474th Battalion (seperate).

Jim Root

[Shanet Clark]

I have read Seagrave's book on Yamashta's gold hoard in the Philippines.

It was the gold taken from Chinese and Indochinese temples and caches during the Japanese Imperial period. It ended up in the hands of US military and Philippine collaborators.

It would not suprise me at all if Yamashta's gold was the funding source for dirty tricks, programs and illegal operations developed by Ed Lansdale and Alexander Haig...and I sure Nixon, Bush and Reagan recieved a portion as they protected Marcos...a highly recommended book........

[Ian A. Kerr]

Shanet

Are you sure of that Phoenix date, November 21, 1963....This is getting deep.

McGeorge Bundy was part of what I call the "Italian Group" during WWII (see backround in the "Why Assassination Necessary" thread) and worked with John J. McCloy and Maxwell Taylor in the surrender of Italy and the formation of civilian government in occupied territories.

Wasn't Operation Phoenix run by William Colby who came to the OSS via the 99th Battalion (later commanded by Edwin Walker) during WWII?

Wasn't Operation Phoenix similar to covert operations carried out during the Greek Civil War while Edwin Walker was running the Greek desk at the Pentagon?  The Greek Civil War where Thomas Karamesssines (the person in Richard Helms office that was monitoring Oswald's movements) got his start in the CIA.

Does this sound like "Seven Days in May?"

Jim Root

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes to all these, the GREEK situation was very touchy throughout this period,

as they bordered the iron curtain, and had nationalist and royalist interests.

Apparently Nixon was compromised, or very sensitive, about the GREEK

political situation in our time period. Mr. Karamessines was a witting agent

of the joint paramilitary domestic agenda of the period.

Guenther Lewy's book, America in Vietnam shows Colby's Counter-Intelligence

political assassination "corporation" but it showed me the fundamental

futility of separating civilian agency and military forces roles and agendas.

In 1963 this joiint paramilitary force was operating on US soil in illegal

domestic operations, ARTICHOKE< MK ULTRA < PAPERCLIP <BLUE SKY

<CHAOS<COINTEL< etc....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Shanet, ( and all )

Perhaps one can add Dr. Jose Rivera's name to this mix ( remember Adele Edisen? )

Snipped from an on-line obituary for Rivera :

" During the Korean War he served in the 1273rd Medical Field Unit of the 406th Medical General Laboratory and received a battlefield promotion to major. After the war, he was chief of laboratory service and pathology at the U.S. Army Hospital in Tokyo. " ( this was in 1957 )

The 406th didn't limit it's involvement to just " run of the mill " field chemical analytical services, it was actively involved in research, both in the US and abroad. The infamous Japanese Institute of Health was placed under it's supervision after WWII, where experimentation on humans (POW's, civilians, and even US military personnel ) have been documented.

Gen. Charles Willoughby , MacArthur's chief of intelligence was instrumental in getting immunity for the offiicials involved in the Japanese Biological/chemical warfare. Ed Landsdale, among others has a direct line of association to Willoughby. Given the proven presence of the MKUltra program at Atsugi ,( the LSD in the safe, etc ) , and the strange story of Ms.Edisen, things rapidly become less far-fetched. Nevermind all the linkages between MKUltra and the US NIH/NIMH.

Also consider claims of Richard Case Nagell, who purported to have been associated with LHO in a Desmond Fitzgerald run operation to entice the Russian colonel, Nicholi Eroshkin, to defect. Nagell story has been slammed given LHO's having been in hospital during that time period, due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Nagell's assertions can sort of be tied to this thread somewhat, insofar as LHO was supposed to have met Eroshin in the Soviet embassy with Dr. Chicao Fujisawa , a contact of Nagell's (and also of Eroshkin). Nagell claims that Fujisawa was a Soviet agent - who knows ? What we do know is that Fujisawa is known as a Japanese author, philosopher and linguist.

regards,

Ian

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Further to the Nagell info, I came across this while surfing the 441st site : http://www.441st.com/

" Additional history commentary from Jim Cate JCate4@cs.com : "I served with the 441st CIC in Tokyo, Japan, from January 1957 until its reorganization in March of 1958. I served in the Counter Espionage - Soviet. The Korean War was over in the early 1950s. In 1958 there was a general reduction of military personnel worldwide. The 441st CIC encountered a major reorganization in approximately March of 1958 (Need to consult my orders and records for detailed information.) It was reduced to 36 people and was officially known as the 36th Detachment. Most married personnel with dependents were returned to the US for other assignments. The single or unmarried personnel such as myself at the time were mostly reassigned to the 308th CIC in Seoul, Korea. I was in the group sent to Korea to complete our military term of duty. I personally know many of the persons that remained behind in Japan as a part of the 36th Detachment. In fact my former Holabird classmates, Roger Hart and Will Callihan, were retained in Japan as a part of the 36th. I made a couple of trips from Seoul, Korea back to Japan somewhat as a liaiaon between the 2 units and some continuing activity in some open intelligence cases. I still have an order listing all the names of the personnel in the 441st at the time of its reduction or reassignment. I note Col. Rainford was listed as the CO. He finished his tour of duty and returned to the US in 1958. LTC Hontoon (? spelling) the executive office assumed the position for the short period of time until the 36th was established. Ed Meiser, S-4, was then the ranking officer under Hontoon. Ed is still alive and lives in NY State. I am in constant contact with him. I would like to contribute more to this history after some more careful review of records. If I can be of specific assistance, please advise. I shall be most happy to assist. In Japan the 441st was unique. McArthur had CIC with a wide range of authority. This continued until the reorganization. The CIC did much of the work that the CIA would normally do. When the "phasedown" occurred, much of the CIC activity was turned over to the CIA. The CIC in my years in Tokyo targeted the Soviet Embassy. We even ran a number of "defection" operations. Our best agent was often "followed" by CIA personnel in attempts to learn his sources. He was the best in the business. He is now in his early 80's having been at Pearl Harbor on December 7 and ending up WWII being shot down as a bomber pilot over Germany and captured. He now lives near Ft. Huachuca in retirement. I visited with him on January 5, 1999 and then went on the visit the MI Museum at Ft. Huachuca. His "right hand" fellow agent now lives in Los Angeles. Incidentally, I served as President of the National Counter Intelligence Corps Association in 2000. Currently, I am Vice Chairman of this organization. "

IMO,this dovetails nicely with Nagell's assertions re: his background , and LHO's involvement.

[Lee Forman]

Jim,

Great thread!

Thanks for the update on Walker! The man probably deserves his own thread. Very interesting information, and new for me. I have read before of the alledged 'neo-Nazi' connection concerning the 'attempted' hit on Walker. Still many pieces of the puzzle missing - for me anyway.

Jim et al:

Is there anything to this connection? Why would the HSCA contact the Chief of the CIC, B. Hugh Tovar, concerning Richard Gibson? NARA hit on CIC.

Hit 1 of 1

AGENCY INFORMATION

            AGENCY : CIA

      RECORD NUMBER : 104-10059-10281

    RECORDS SERIES : JFK

AGENCY FILE NUMBER : 80T01357A

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

        ORIGINATOR : CIA

              FROM : TOVAR, B. HUGH, , CHIEF/CIC

                TO : SA/DDO/EO

              TITLE : RESPONSE TO HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON ASSASSINATIONS

                      (HSCA) REQUEST ON RICHARD GIBSON AND GEORGE A. BOUHE.

              DATE : 05/16/1978

              PAGES : 1

      DOCUMENT TYPE : PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

          SUBJECTS : HSCA REQUEST; GIBSON, RICHARD; BOUHE, GEORGE A;

                      OSWALD, LEE H.

    CLASSIFICATION : SECRET

      RESTRICTIONS : OPEN IN FULL

    CURRENT STATUS : OPEN

DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 07/09/1993

          COMMENTS : JFK8:F50 1993.07.09.18:34:01:710330:

Document # 104-10018-10053 is a one page cable from CIA to the White House, Department of State, and the FBI. It is titled, "Cable concerning the Lee Harvey Oswald case." It is dated December 18, 1963. This document originates from "John Scelso". Richard Thomas Gibson, U.S. citizen who was once associated with the F.P.C.C. was interviewed in Paris, France by U.S. consular officials to see if he had an information on Lee Harvey Oswald. He gave two stories.

One, in late summer 1962, while working for the F.P.C.C. in New York, Gibson got a letter from a Lee Bowmont in Ft. Worth, Texas enclosing a photo and a newspaper clipping on activity similar to F.P.C.C., and asking for information on F.P.C.C.. Gibson thinks he sent a routine reply enclosing literature on F.P.C.C.. At the time he did not assume that Lee Bowmont was an alias, but he feels it might have been Lee Oswald. Two, in Summer 1962, Gibson received a group of Trotskyites among whom may have been Lee Oswald. Gibson has no special reason for thinking this. "Scelso" signs off for Richard Helms as the releasing officer.

http://spot.acorn.net/jfkplace/09/fp.back_...rrb_batch8.html

Members of the F.P.C.C. wondered constantly whether their colleagues were government stool pigeons. One former New Jersey member, Hal Verb, recalled that suspicion even fell on one of the group’s founding directors, a CBS Radio journalist named Richard T. Gibson. While Gibson has staunchly denied any disloyalty, recently released C.I.A. documents include a letter in which – more than a decade later – the Agency formally asked a commercial company “to assist C.I.A. by placing on retainer Mr. Richard T. Gibson.” “How would that have come out? …,” said Gibson, when we told him about the document, “I’m amazed. It sounds a little bit like disinformation to me.” He suggested that the letter might be about a different man with the same name and middle initial.

from The Ghosts of November, By Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan (updated 2001)

[Jim Root]

Lee

FYI: John Scelso and John Whitten are one in the same person.

This article by Jefferson Morley may be of interest to you:

The ‘Scelso Deposition’: What John Whitten Said

Over the years, my Jane Roman story became the subject of intermittent, heated exchanges on alt.assassination.jfk, the most informative JFK chat group on the Internet. In these discussions, people who didn’t know me, had never spoken to me (or to Jane Roman) called me a fraud, a failure, a faker, and a conspiracy theorist. Others suggested I might be on to something. Oliver Stone described me a “very conservative reporter” which I took as a compliment.

For the most part, I stayed out of the online discussions and away from the JFK assassination conferences. I disliked the low ratio of new facts to old opinions. I stayed in touch with John Newman who continued teaching at the University of Maryland while writing a book about U.S. policy toward Cuba in the 1950s and 1960s. We took comfort from new evidence that corroborated what Roman had said.

For example, the JFK Assassination Records Review board released several chapters from an unpublished memoir written by Win Scott, the man who had been serving as chief of the CIA’s Mexico City station in 1963. Scott, renowned among colleagues for his photographic memory, wrote that Oswald was the object of “keen interest” from the moment he arrived in Mexico City.

That was the exact same phrase that Roman had used and it contrasted sharply with the CIA’s official story that Oswald was a passing stranger of no particular interest.

More corroboration came in May 1996 when the JFK Records Review Board released a sworn deposition given by a retired CIA official known only as “John Scelso.” Scelso was a cover name for John Whitten, a former senior staffer in the Western Hemisphere division of the covert operations directorate. Whitten’s identity was so sensitive that it was illegal to publish it until October 2002, when the CIA finally declassified his name.

People who say there’s nothing new to be learned about the Kennedy assassination don’t know the story of John Whitten. A native of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, he fought for the U.S. Army in Europe during World War Ii. He began working on embassy security and became a career CIA man. Brilliant and decisive, he rose in the government’s civil service earning the highest possible GS-17 ranking, and a reputation for cracking espionage puzzles. He won a medal for pioneering the use of the polygraph for the intelligence community. In November 1963, he was trusted.

Less than a day after Kennedy’s death, Dick Helms put John Whitten in charge of the agency’s review of files related to accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Assisted by a staff of 30 people, Whitten went to work. But as he plowed through mountains of paper, Helms thwarted his efforts. When Whitten complained, Helms relieved of his duties. Whitten went back to his desk, kept his own counsel, retired, and moved overseas. In 1978, congressional investigators found him living in self-imposed exile and interviewed him in secret session.

Under oath Whitten described how he had pursued his investigation around the clock for a couple of weeks after the assassination. His testimony confirmed the unusual handling of pre-assassination information about Oswald.

He was asked about the cable of October 10, 1963 which Jane Roman had described as “very dull, very routine.” Whitten was puzzled that someone as senior as Tom Karamessines had signed off on it. Standard agency procedures involving reporting on Americans abroad, he said, did not normally require such high-level attention.

Accounting for Oswald’s Cuba-related activities proved especially difficult, he testified. In early December 1963 Whitten was writing up what he had gleaned from CIA files, when he was invited to the White House for a look at the FBI’s preliminary report on Oswald. Reading the report, Whitten was shocked. The FBI had all sorts of information about Oswald that had never been given to him. Whitten went back to his office realizing that deputy director Dick Helms and counterintelligence chief James Angleton had been withholding “vital information” about the accused assassin from him.

“Could you give us some examples of that?” his interrogator asked.

Whitten remembered quite clearly.

“Yes,” he said. “Details of Oswald’s political activity in the United States, the pro-Cuban activity…” Later on he reiterated the point: “Oswald’s involvement with the pro-Castro movement in the United States was not at all surface[d] to us in the first weeks of the investigation,” he said.

Why would Helms and Angleton not share such information his colleague in charge of the agency’s investigation of Oswald?

Whitten never found out. He testified that as soon as he learned he had been denied key files on Oswald, he complained to Helms around Christmastime 1963. His initial conclusion that Oswald had acted alone, he said, was “obviously, completely irrelevant in view of all this Bureau information.” Helms relieved him of his responsibilities.

Whitten kept his distance from Helms after that experience. He was bothered by Helms’s failure to give him files on Oswald’s Cuba-related activities. He was appalled to learn in the 1970s that Helms had been organizing a conspiracy to kill Castro in November 1963 and failed to share information about the plots with the Warren Commission. Helms’s actions were “completely morally reprehensible,” he said. Like Jane Roman, Whitten was an insider who could recognize the subtleties of what was going on in the CIA’s Directorate of Plans at the time of Kennedy’s death. Unlike Roman, Whitten was bothered by what he saw and said so under oath.

Is Whitten’s deposition important?

John Tunheim, the federal judge who served as chairman of the JFK review board, once told men, “the so-called ‘Scelso deposition’ was perhaps the single most important documents we uncovered.”

Whitten, unfortunately, is not available to comment on it. He died in January 2000. I had attempted to locate him and interview him before his death but failed. I’m not sure it would have made any difference. It would have been illegal for him to talk about the Kennedy assassination on the record with the Washington Post.

Jim Root

[Lee Forman]

Jim,

From the New York Tribune, european edition, Paris, Tuesday, September 29, 1964, as relates to the reaction of Walker to the release of the Warren Report.

"Former Maj. Gen. Edwin Walker described the report as 'whitewash.'  ....Gen Walker said the report was aimed at concealing 'some sort of conspiracy.'"

Comical.

- lee

[Antti Hynonen]

Lee Forman Posted Yesterday, 12:30 AM

  Jim,

From the New York Tribune, european edition, Paris, Tuesday, September 29, 1964, as relates to the reaction of Walker to the release of the Warren Report.

QUOTE

"Former Maj. Gen. Edwin Walker described the report as 'whitewash.'  ....Gen Walker said the report was aimed at concealing 'some sort of conspiracy.'"

Comical.

- lee

He would know wouldn't he.... just trying to cover his a**.

[Jim Root]

Lee and Antti

The post assassination life of Edwin Walker is sort of a downward spiral. For example he was not alllowed to travel to Canada because the Canadian Government felt his politics to radical. This ment that he was not allowed to meet with former comrades from the joint American Canadian First Special Services Force. His cross country speaking tours lost steam, he was never considered a great orator, and eventually he disappeared from the mainstream of the anti communist movement in America. It is even reported that he faced a few distastful legal problems.

Because he had "resigned' from the military he gave up his rights to a retirement pension, which would have provided a substantial income. The pension was eventually granted after Walker applied to have it reinstated. Even this request met with controvery. His first request met with a denial followed by appeals, then the eventual reinstatement of full retirement benifits, without comment from the goverment on why they were reinstated.

He is buried in the Center Point, Texas Cemetary along side his mother and father, brother and other family members and friend. The cemetary itself holds the distinction of being the final resting place of the most former Texas Rangers of any cemetary in Texas. His grave marker is the simple military marker available to all soldiers who served in World War II and is located near the back of the cemetary under the shade of a large tree. When I visited the area a few years ago the young man mowing the grass did not even know who the General was or where his grave was located.

I believe that he did know that there was some sort of coverup. His statement of September 29, 1964 in the European edition of the New York Tribune, while new to me, seems consistant with statements he made throughout the remainder of his life, including his final interview. It is my belief that Walker recognized Oswald's picture on TV following the assassination and believed that he would be implicated in a conspiracy (see previous posts). To protect himself, I believe, he provided information to a German publication that would tie himself to Oswald's attempted assassination of him. If Oswald did in fact attempt to assassinate Walker, not because of his political beliefs but because he had been part of an organization that helped him into the Soviet Union, we find a new and different approach to what would be called "the conspiracy."

The Edwin Walker papers are stored at the University of Texas at Austin and are restricted from reseachers. The University library does not povide a release date. To bad. I wonder what infromation his papers contain and IF they would shed some light on the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Jim Root

[George Bollschweiler]

To protect himself, I believe, he provided information to a German publication that would tie himself to Oswald's attempted assassination of him.

Jim,

the German newspaper was the Deutsche National Zeitung, a facistic newspaper

published by Gerhard Frey. Frey was a member of a Nazi organisation called

Witiko League, lead by Walter Becher who opened 1950 an office in the USA.

Through this office they had contact to Joe McCarthy, Charles Willoughby, Edwin Walker, Robert Morris, Douglas MacArthur and FBI-Agent Dan Smooth.

George

[Jim Root]

George

Can you provide additional documentation about the "Witiko League, led by Walter Becher?" Do you know where the office was located in the USA?

I am going to bring back a thread that I started several months ago about the Deutsche National Zeitung. Perhaps you could provide some additional insights into this area on that particular thread.

Thanks,

Jim Root

[Robert Howard]

In an effort to keep this thread alive and as a 'heads up' to all interested parties, John Heard, and John Hurt's names are mentioned on the current thread concerning Abraham Bolden

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.ph...topic=6064&st=0

[James Richards]

Do you know where the office was located in the USA? (Jim Root)

Just to jump in here. I believe it was in Washington.

James