William Haddad

[Guest Mark Valenti]

I came across an interesting side story in Victor Lasky's "It Didn't Start With Watergate" - his defense of Nixon's actions surrounding Watergate.

Lasky details how Lawrence O'Brien, head of the DNC, knew about the Watergate break-ins *before* they happened, but let them happen anyway because he wanted to develop dirt on the Republicans. Here's the story, based on sworn testimony during the Watergate hearings - this particular set of revelations being delivered to none other than Republican Fred Thompson, minority member of the panel and current fave among some on the right as an heir to Ronald Reagan.

A.J. Woolston-Smith, a NY private eye, William F. Haddad, former official of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and Jack Anderson, muckraking journalist, all gave testimony about their knowledge of this pre-break-in awareness.

Woolston-Smith was a self-described "security consultant" to something called "Science Security Associates, Inc." He was formerly a British intelligence agent and he had testified that, following the Bay of Pigs debacle, his offices in NY were used by the CIA as a clearinghouse for those returning from Cuba. He said he had excellent sources in the "intelligence community" which was where he first heard of the possible bugging of the DNC.

Haddad wrote a letter to Lawrence O'Brien, saying he'd been hearing "some very disturbing stories about GOP sophisticated surveillance techniques now being used for campaign purposes and of an interesting group here in New York where some of this 'intelligence' activity is centered."

Haddad said the stories had come to him "from a counter-wiretapper who helped me once in a very difficult situation in Michigan." Haddad said his information was so important that it might be wise for O'Brien to "have someone call me so you can get this info first hand and take whatever action you deem necessary."

O'Brien told John Stewart, the DNC's director of communications, to follow up. Stewart flew to NY and on April 26, 1972, met in Haddad's office with Haddad, Woolston-Smith and Ben Winter, VP of a NY bank.

At the meeting, Haddad suggested that "little Cuba in Miami" was involved in the planned bugging of the DNC, and that Republicans were after evidence that the Democrats were being subsidized by Castro's Cuba.

They talked about ways in which the funding of an espionage operation might be traced.

They also discussed a Republican team called The November Group that had connections with Gordon Liddy.

At the meeting, Woolston-Smith showed the others a "sophisticated bug" and gave it to Stewart and Haddad. He claimed to have visited the building in which the November Group was located, but said he remained in the hallway and never entered the suite of offices.

Two days after the NY meeting, Haddad wrote to Stewart and said that Woolston-Smith wanted to be paid to cover his expenses.

Haddad also sent his information to columnist Jack Anderson.

As Lasky points out - the Democrats did nothing in response to this explosive information. O'Brien said, "In retrospect, we should have paid more attention to it..."

Fred Thompson said later that he wanted to investigate this angle further, but that he ran out of time and budget.

[David Butler]

Fire destroys home of ex-JFK confidant, Peace Corps co-founder

PATTERSON, N.Y. -- A home belonging to a former assistant to President John F. Kennedy and U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy has been destroyed by fire.

William Haddad, who was also co-founder of the Peace Corps and manager of Mario Cuomo's first successful run for New York governor, arrived home from a business trip Tuesday to find the house ablaze.

"Flames were shooting 30 feet high, and the fire trucks were just getting here when I arrived," said a visibly shaken Haddad.

The family dog, Shorty, a cat, several parakeets and turtles perished. Haddad's wife, Doreen, their daughter and two grandchildren had left the house about 45 minutes earlier to attend a school function.

Doreen Haddad said she got a call about the fire but by the time she got home it was gone.

"The house collapsed into the basement," Patterson Fire Chief Frank Smith said. "It's the worst fire in Patterson in two or three years."

The smoke was visible for miles as flames engulfed the large, 4,500-square-foot colonial home on Manor Road, which was on a wooded cul-de-sac lined with spacious homes and large, well-tended lawns and gardens.

The family was put up at a local motel by the Red Cross Tuesday night. On Wednesday, a bulldozer cleared the area where the house once stood.

Eight fire departments from Putnam and Dutchess counties responded to the 2:45 p.m. fire. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/new...egion-apnewyork

[John Dolva]

Hadden seems one of the real good guys.

He has been fighting a long struggle with the Medicine Cartels to bring generic medicine at very afordabe rates to third world countries and has had a measure of success.

important AIDS drugs have been reduced from $12000 a year to $1 a day

the end of long patents has been achieved and vastly cheaper generic drugs are available much sooner

William F. Haddad

Member of the Board

Bill Haddad is a generic drug manufacturer, a founder of the generic trade association and its chairman/president for over a decade. Was vice chairman and CEO of solid dosage manufacturing for Schein Pharmaceutical, one of the largest generic companies. He initiated and negotiated the Drug Price Competition and Patent Restoration Act (Hatch-Waxman); helped to organize the team leading to the reducing of AIDS prices in Africa from $12-15,000 a year to less than a dollar a day. He began his studies/hearings/writings on the multinational pharmaceutical companies as an assistant to the late Senator Estes Kefavuer.

Was one of the founders, Associate Director and Inspector General of the Peace Corps and the poverty program (OEO). He worked as an assistant to Robert Kennedy and during the presidential campaign as a liaison between Robert and Jack Kennedy. He was Mario Cuomo's campaign manager in his first successful effort to win the governorship in New York.

He won a dozen awards and nominated for the Pulitzer Price as reporter and investigative editor of the New York Post and New York Herald Tribune. For the Tribune he exposed the tetracycline* cartel resulting in fines of $200,000,000 and a collapse of the cartel.

He held the subpoena power for the New York Assembly and in joint hearings with the US House of Representatives exposed and collapsed the Uranium Cartel. His investigation of the oil companies resulted in several billion dollars in rebates to the States.

As an author, he has written several books.

He is currently attempting to create a generic biotech industry where the issues are not scientific, but political.

Bill is Chairman/CEO of Biogenerics, Inc. and represents Cipla Ltd. (as a volunteer) on AIDS medicine campaign.

???

*tetracycline is also a chemical used to create 'dead seeds', ie seeds that produce the plant but no new viable seeds that then makes the farmer dependent on the seed manufacturer.

This is interesting in the context of bio-fuels based on corn. IOW a supposedly better option to oil dependence is maneuvered to become a new money maker. IOW what is also a valuable food will get locked into a bo-fuel cycle for profit - business as usual?

A current struggle is against the 'forever' patent that may apply to bio tech products. So the greening of fuel is not going to happen without a fight. At the moment it's in the hands of powerful business interests that seem determined to keep it that way.

Madden will be worth following up on as time goes by.

Within hours it seems the very hot, very fast, very totallly consuming fire consumed the entire Mansion and bulldozers moved in. Yet 'investigations continue'. How do fire forensic teams work in a bulldozed pile of rubble?

Edited May 18, 2007 by John Dolva