David Morales - The fresh face of innocence

[Tim Gratz]

Pat, I was refering to a successful murder, not a failed attempt.

[Steve Rosen]

Mr. Richards,

You wrote that:

"I am currently interviewing several guys from Morales' past ... I will have some more information soon as I have lined up an interview with a guy who served with Morales during his stint in Vietnam. He worked with Paul Ogg who was Morales' right hand man at the time."

Have you found anything further about Morales from his school chums, Vietnam co-workers, or anyone else that you can discuss here?

Best,

Steve Rosen

[James Richards]

Hi Steve,

I did indeed speak to several folk who knew Morales and was able to get a real sense of the type of man he was.

He was not well liked but indeed respected. He did wield considerable power and appeared to be able to act autonomously within Agency ranks. His personality was rooted in cold indifference, even being described by some as a brutal man with absolutely no compassion.

Although it has been mentioned here before that he had no direct contact with certain Agency assets, this is not true. Family members of a deceased Cuban exile say that Morales was his direct contact and was most influential in his development as a covert operator.

I am planning to present more details and several unpublished photographs in a web site which is currently on the drawing board. My dance card is full at the moment but if all goes to plan, it will be on-line later this year.

Cheers,

James

[Steve Rosen]

James,

Thanks for the updated information and analysis. I look forward to your website.

Best,

Steve Rosen

[Steve Rosen]

On September 23, 2008, U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon granted summary judgment in favor of the State Department and dismissed Jefferson Morley and David Talbot's Freedom of Information Act requests for State records on David Morales and George Joannides.

Morley and Talbot had asked for passport information, visa papers, code names, and aliases. The State Department released three unredacted passport applications for Joannides and one for Morales, but refused to confirm or deny the existence of any pseudonyms.

Judge Leon ruled that the State Department properly cited two FOIA exemptions in failing to comment as to whether or not the requested records even existed in State archives. First, Judge Leon held that pursuant to Executive order governing "Secret" material, the mere confirmation or denial by State of the existence of such alias information would reveal sources and methods and damage national security. Judge Leon agreed with the assertion by Margaret P. Grafeld of the State Department that revealing whether State granted such aliases would undermine the "covert nature" of "intelligence-gathering activities". Second, Judge Leon ruled that the State Department is not compelled to come clean merely because the CIA has already "officially acknowledged" aliases for Morales and Joannides in documents released under the JFK Act.

It is unknown if Morley and Talbot are appealing this ruling to the Circuit Court level.

Note: The above suit arose from routine FOIA requests from Morley and Talbot. In December 2006, David Talbot filed FOIA requests with the CIA for temporary duty travel records for 1968 and all photographs of George Joannides, Gordon Campbell, and David Morales. (Those proceedings were granted a stay by Judge Leon in August 2007. Their current disposition is unknown but is not affected by Judge Leon's ruling.)

Judge Leon's opinion can be found here: https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_p...c?2007cv0277-34

This article by Michael Doyle at http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/law/20...d-alias--1.html summarizes the lawsuit.

Will Hilary Clinton's appointment as Secretary of State effect such future similar requests, in light of her

that "I will do whatever I can consistent with legitimate concerns about national security to release information"?

Steve

[Steve Rosen]

Recently there was an anti-climatic coda to David Talbot's lawsuit against the CIA and Jeff Morley's lawsuit against the State Department.

See Michael Doyle's Suits and Sentences blog at: http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/law/2009/09/s...ey-for-you.html

As discussed in prior posts within this thread, Talbot and Morley jointly sued for passport records for David Morales and George Joannides, along with code names and pseudonyms for the two deceased covert operatives. The information was ruled properly withheld as protected "sources and methods".

Talbot sought the recovery of about $400 in attorney fees. Judge Richard Leon - who currently presides over Morley's unrelated lawsuit against the CIA for Joannides service records - emphatically denied the request, using an exclamation point to underscore his decision.

Judge Leon's decision: https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_p...c?2007cv0277-48

- Steve

[Steve Rosen]

Jesse Ventura was on Piers Morgan on April 4, 2011 promoting his new book 63 Documents the Government Doesn't Want You to Read.

Morgan asked: John F. Kennedy's assassination ... who did that?

Ventura: It was done by William Harvey, who was the head of the CIA's assassination unit at that time. David Morales was directly involved in it. He likewise is the man, the gentleman who killed Che Guevara, down in Bolivia in '67, when they put him up against the firing wall and killed him, and shot and killed him, Morales was part of that.

Ventura bases this on E. Howard Hunt's somewhat dubious deathbed confession.

Still, it was interesting to hear these names mentioned on prime-time CNN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYKHT2nTUXY&feature=related

Check out the four part interview (the above is part 2 beginning with the JFK part).

It's good, even though Morgan uses a number of straw-man arguments, like (paraphrased) "You believe in every conspiracy!"

Edited April 7, 2011 by Steve Rosen

[Steve Rosen]

And on CNN's American Morning on April 5, 2011:

Kiran Chetry: "63" for when Kennedy was shot, right? Why'd you write the book?

Jesse Ventura: Because Dick Russell and I felt 63 was a great number. That was the year Jack Kennedy was killed ... [On the show Conspiracy Theory] We had a confession. E. Howard Hunt confessed to his son St. John Hunt on his deathbed. He said it was called the "Big Event". He was on the fringes of it. He named who it was. It was William Harvey, who at that time was head of the CIA's assassination team, and David Sanchez Morales. And he is also famous for something else, you know what? He killed Che Guevara, in Bolivia, in 1967, when they put Che against the wall and executed him. Sanchez used to wear Guevara's Rolex as a trophy ... What does it matter today? Because if you can kill our President and get away with it, then what can't you do? I challenge you that.

Again, very interesting to hear these shadowy names bandied about on a brightly-lit morning talk show.

The link is here (about 40 seconds in):

http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/05/jesse-ventura-talks-conspiracy-theory-2012-presidential-race/

[Karl Kinaski]

Quote (Jesse ventura):

...and David Sanchez Morales. And he is also famous for something else, you know what? He killed Che Guevara, in Bolivia, in 1967, when they put Che against the wall and executed him. Sanchez used to wear Guevara's Rolex as a trophy ... What does it matter today? Because if you can kill our President and get away with it, then what can't you do? I challenge you that.

Cl Quote.

Quote wiki:

In 1967, the CIA recruited Rodriguez to train and head a team to hunt down Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, who was attempting to foment a revolution in Bolivia. After Guevara was wounded and captured by Bolivian special forces trained and supported by the CIA, (Felix) Rodriguez interrogated him. Rodríguez stated that he wanted to keep Guevara alive for further interrogation, but was thwarted by the order of the Bolivian President that Guevara be summarily executed. Rodríguez, whose cover was that of a Bolivian army major, repeated those orders, later stating that it was a Bolivian decision, and Guevara was killed. RODRIGUEZ has in his possession Guevara's Rolex wristwatch.

Cl Quote

Close, but no banana, Jesse...