TBR News December 15, 2019
The Voice of the White House
Washington, D.C. December 15, 2019:“Working in the White House as a junior staffer is an interesting experience.
When I was younger, I worked as a summer-time job in a clinic for people who had moderate to severe mental problems and the current work closely, at times, echos the earlier one.
I am not an intimate of the President but I have encountered him from time to time and I daily see manifestations of his growing psychological problems.
He insults people, uses foul language, is frantic to see his name mentioned on main-line television and pays absolutely no attention to any advice from his staff that runs counter to his strange ideas.
He lies like a rug to everyone, eats like a hog, makes lewd remarks to female staffers and flies into rages if anyone dares to contradict him.
It is becoming more and more evident to even the least intelligent American voter that Trump is vicious, corrupt and amoral. He has stated often that even if he loses the election in 2020, he will not leave the White House. I have news for Donald but this is not the place to discuss it.
Commentary for December 15: “As the imprechement drama proceeds, the rabid right wing and their stooges in Congress are screaming with a mixture of fear and rage. Trump, himself, is clogging Twitter with juvenile and semi-literate squealings redolent of a small girl whose puppy was eaten by Dad’s alligator. Working in the White House is like working in a combination of a ghetto reip-off club and the back wards of a nut house.”
The Table of Contents
• The lies have it: Republicans abandon truth in Trump impeachment defence
• Top Democrats make case for Republicans to endorse Trump impeachment
• Round Robin letter to right wing Trump American support groups
• Are the Trumps really friends of Israel? One of his relatives obviously was not:
• Middle East pressures building: a 1914 reprise?
• The Season of Evil
• CIA Files on the Kennedy Assassination Plot
The lies have it: Republicans abandon truth in Trump impeachment defence
As the GOP counter-offensive runs on fake news and conspiracy theories, critics say truth itself is under attack
December 15, 2019
by David Smith in Washington
The Guardian
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four,” George Orwell wrote in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. “If that is granted, all else follows.”
The pro-Donald Trump industrial complex has not yet denied basic arithmetic. But as impeachment looms, his allies appear to be waging an increasingly frantic political and media counter-offensive that puts truth itself in the dock.
A bewildering array of fake news, warped facts and conspiracy theories have been propagated in the past week by conservative media, Republican politicians, White House officials and the president in his own defence. It is, commentators say, a concerted disinformation war, intended to crowd out damaging revelations as the House of Representatives prepares its ultimate sanction.
“The more facts come out, the more desperate they get,” said Kurt Bardella, a former spokesman and senior adviser on the House oversight committee. “They know in a debate centred on facts, truth and reality, they lose. Their only mechanism to survive is to muddy the waters, distort, distract and hope if they repeat lies often enough, they become real.”
Trump this week became the only fourth US president to face articles of impeachment. The two against him charge him with abuse of power by pressuring Ukraine to announce investigations that would boost his 2020 re-election campaign, and obstruction of Congress by ordering witnesses to defy subpoenas.
At public hearings and in countless media interviews, Republicans sought to argue that Trump was, in fact, justified in seeking the two investigations: one into whether Ukraine meddled in the 2016 the presidential election, the other into a Ukrainian gas company with ties to Hunter Biden, the son of potential 2020 rival Joe Biden.
Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, even flew to Ukraine with the ardently pro-Trump One America News Network (OANN) to interview officials for a “docu-series”. The Wall Street Journal reported that when Giuliani got back to New York last week, the president called him on the runway and demanded: “What did you get?”
The former New York mayor reportedly replied: “More than you can imagine.”
Giuliani visited Trump at the White House on Friday.
The entire US intelligence community has found no evidence to support the claim of Ukrainian interference in 2016. Fiona Hill, formerly top Russia expert at the White House, has warned that to spread “the fictional narrative” is to spread Russian propaganda and do the bidding of Vladimir Putin. Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, said this week there was “no indication” that Ukraine interfered.
Yet several Republican senators continue to peddle this counter-narrative. Last Sunday Ted Cruz, runner-up to Trump in the 2016 primary, told NBC’s Meet the Press: “Ukraine blatantly interfered in our election.”
Host Chuck Todd’s eyebrows shot up with surprise.
“Senator, this sort of strikes me as odd,” he said, noting how Trump viciously went after Cruz during the primary campaign, questioning his birthplace and religion and insulting his wife.
But Rick Wilson, a Republican strategist and author of Everything Trump Touches Dies, said: “I’m not surprised at Ted Cruz being sycophantic to Trump. Trump broke Ted Cruz a long time ago. The Republicans have the worst political Stockholm syndrome we’ve ever seen.
“These guys are all in an abusive relationship with Trump. I don’t mean that in a flippant way. They behave the way you see victims of domestic violence behave. But they’ve got culpability in this thing: they’re not just victims, they’re enablers.”
Wilson noted there is no punishment for Trump’s allies.
“There are no consequences for being untruthful. It’s become a feature, not a bug. The audience expects them to lie. There’s a certain liberty in not having a conscience and being able to lie about anything and watch Trump blow stuff up. Trump revels in paying the joker and they revel in him playing that role.”
Republicans have also worked hard to justify Trump’s demand for an investigation into Biden. All week they continued to push for Hunter to appear as a witness, even though there is no evidence of wrongdoing on his part. On Thursday, Matt Gaetz of Florida presented an amendment to the impeachment articles that would replace a reference to investigations into Joe Biden with “the true topic of the investigation, Burisma and Hunter Biden”.
Another Republican defence hinges on political tribalism. Full of righteous indignation, they claim Democrats had been plotting to impeach Trump all along and so the inquiry is a “sham”. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House judiciary committee, said Democrats “can’t get over the fact Donald Trump is president of the United States and they don’t have a candidate that they think can beat him”.
‘It is incredible’
The impeachment inquiry is not the only glimpse into Trump and his allies’ parallel universe. This week saw the release of a justice department inspector general report that debunked the conspiracy theory that the investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign and its ties to Russia originated with political bias. The report quoted the FBI deputy general counsel as saying: “The FBI would have been derelict in our responsibility had we not opened the case.”
Trump’s long-held contention that the Russia investigation was a hoax and witch-hunt was demolished before his eyes. Yet his first response from the White House came from a parallel universe in which up is down and two plus two equals five.
“The IG report just came out, and I was just briefed on it, and it’s a disgrace what’s happened with respect to the things that were done to our country,” he told reporters.
“It should never again happen to another president. It is incredible. Far worse than I would have ever thought possible. And it’s an embarrassment to our country. It’s dishonest. It’s everything that a lot of people thought it would be, except far worse.”
Trump turned to Pam Bondi, a special adviser on impeachment and former Florida attorney general to whom he once donated. Like Cruz, she did not disappoint.
“You know, so many of us who are career law enforcement today are outraged,” she said. “And I think the American people really should be terrified that this could happen to you when we’re supposed to live in a society of integrity and honesty.”
Sometimes, Trump just makes stuff up. At a campaign rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania, he made the baseless allegation that the former FBI agent Peter Strzok needed a restraining order against ex-colleague Lisa Page when their affair ended. The couple’s anti-Trump text messages are a favourite Republican talking point.
“This poor guy, did I hear he needed a restraining order after this whole thing, to keep him away from Lisa?” Trump asked the crowd. “I don’t know if it’s true, the fake news will never report it, but it could be true.”
Page tweeted: “This is a lie. Nothing like this ever happened. I wish we had a president who knew how to act like one. SAD!”
‘The attorney general is a Fox News bot’
The president has found another useful enabler in Bill Barr, the attorney general, who joined him in dismissing most of the inspector general’s findings and promising that his handpicked prosecutor, John Durham, will have the final word.
Jeffrey Toobin, a lawyer and legal analyst, told CNN: “The attorney general of the United States is a Fox News bot. And it’s an outrage. [Barr] keeps demanding investigation after investigation until he gets the results that he wants? That’s something that happens in the Soviet Union, not in the United States.”
Trump has far more tools at his disposal than Richard Nixon or Bill Clinton did when facing impeachment in the 1970s and 90s. No matter how outlandish, his assertions are amplified and seldom questioned by loyal hosts on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News network.
Bardella said: “If Fox News did not exist, the Republican embrace of wild conspiracy theories would not be tenable or possible. They are the editorial centre of the Republican party now.”
This is further augmented by social media. Under the headline “Fact-based impeachment can’t penetrate the pro-Trump Web”, the Washington Post highlighted how Friday’s impeachment hearing was watched by a private Facebook group with more than 75,000 members under the banner “The Trump deplorables”.
It reported: “The defense mounted by Trump’s allies made perfect sense to those following live on social media, in groups sealed off from general scrutiny, where facts are established by volume, and confirmation comes from likes. The effect of social media is to jack up the tenor of everything.”
This calibrated, multi-pronged Republican assault has left the nation in what some call a state of “truth decay” as all sense of shared reality breaks down. The tactics offer a chilling preview of how the president intends to fight next year’s election.
Bardella said: “We have one chance to return to a certain amount of normality and respect. Much more than Donald Trump is on the ballot, fact and truth and our democratic way of life are on the ballot.”
Top Democrats make case for Republicans to endorse Trump impeachment
December 15, 2019
by Sarah N. Lynch and David Lawder
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives made a last-minute pitch to Republicans on Sunday for why they should put partisanship aside and vote to impeach President Donald Trump.
Trump is expected to become the third U.S. president to be impeached when the full Democratic-led House votes on the charges, likely this week, setting up a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” warned that Trump poses “a clear and present danger” to democracy.
Schiff and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, speaking on the same show, said lawmakers have a constitutional duty to hold Trump to account for trying to recruit Ukraine to launch a corruption investigation into his Democratic political rival Joe Biden.
Their comments come as the Democratically-controlled U.S. House is poised later this week to vote along party lines on whether to approve two articles of impeachment. The Republican-controlled Senate has shown little appetite for removing Trump from office.
“The misconduct hasn’t stopped,” Schiff said, noting that Trump has still urged Ukraine, as well as China, to investigate the Biden family, and that Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani is still traveling to Ukraine to conduct a “sham” investigation.
“The threat to our election integrity … goes on. It’s a clear and present danger, I think, to our democracy and not something that we can turn away from simply because the Republicans in the House refuse to do their duty.”
Both Democrats used their air time on Sunday to urge the Senate to call witnesses and seek documentary evidence that they said the White House has withheld.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has raised the prospect of conducting a short Senate impeachment trial without calling any witnesses.
Nadler on Sunday said such a move would do a disservice to the Senate, whose members will all effectively serve as jurors who will need to weigh the evidence to decide whether Trump should be convicted and removed from office.
Some of Trump’s staunch Republican defenders in the Senate have already said they believe Trump did nothing wrong, though others have taken a more cautious approach, saying they want to see the evidence first.
During an interview with CNN International at the Doha Forum in Qatar on Saturday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham dismissed the idea that he should be a “fair juror” and said he does not see the need for a formal trial in the Senate.
But Republican Senator Pat Toomey on Sunday said on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, “I think we ought to hear what the House impeachment managers have to say, give the President’s attorneys an opportunity to make their defense, and then make a decision about whether and to what extent we go forward from there.”
Separately this weekend, the Washington Post reported that Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, an anti-impeachment Democrat, will soon join the Republican Party.
Trump tweeted in response to the news: “Wow, that would be big. Always heard Jeff is very smart!”
Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Chris Sanders and David Lawder; Editing by Nick Zieminski
Round Robin letter to right wing Trump American support groups
America was founded in 1620 by Religious Dissenters, True Christians, who fled from secular persecutions in England. They set up a religious community in Plymouth Bay and flourished greatly.
But in subsequent years, America drifted away from her True Christian origins and became a nest of Secularism. Americans have turned away from the One True God to worship Mammon and materialism! Self-indulgence has replaced self-discipline and the cell phone has replaced Our Lord Jesus Christ in daily importance!
But rejoice in your hearts because the True Disciples of Christ have organized to save America from Secular Humanism and hedonism and we are now at the very gates of the True Kingdom of Heaven on earth! The True Disciples have begun their Sacred Mission by gaining virtual control over the Republican Party in almost every state in the Union, have elected a President of our One True Faith, have filled the halls of Congress with Representatives of both the people and Christ the Lord! We are well on our way to reestablish the True Christian nation, under God Almighty, that was founded in 1620.
After years of suffering the watering down of American society by the uni-sex, uni-race forces, America finally has a President who recognizes the vital importance of a white, Christian society and whose aim of cleansing America of alien elements is the true aim of true Americans.
An army of former, imported black slaves, an even larger army of dark-skinned rejects from Central America have flooded America, bringing drugs and a lower standard of living with them. The imported slaves have become the foundation of a degenerate society, devoted to producing an army of welfare children with the brains of chickens.
Donald Trump was elected by the white, and concerned, citizens of this country to cleanse the national stables of impacted filth and return America to her rightful position as leader of the Free World.
Forced integration, gay rights, civil rights, feminism, minorities, taxes, and other issues can be viewed as the result of the American Republic jumping the tracks during the Civil War and being out of control.
Now, with the advent of a True Christian as a President of the United States, we Christians stand closer now to establishing a truly Christian-based government in this country since 1620!
By faith and determination, we have placed many of our people into the ranks of the Republican Party; have organized local elections to put our members on vital school boards where they can, and have, successfully supplanted the false Darwinism with the Divinely Inspired Biblical Creationism.
We have elected members to serve in Congress who are sensitive to our needs and wishes but we need far more in order to establish a firm majority.
Since 2016 dozens of True Christians, by Presidential order have been placed in key positions within the Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Drug Administration and on commissions and advisory committees where they have made serious progress.
The earlier God-sent Bush Administration established one of the most righteous sexual health agendas in the Western world.
But the reawakening of America is being blocked by the enemies of the True State who are fearful that our President and his supporters will ruin their plans for global integration so their answer to this is to fight our President and his legion of the righteous, to block, and eventually destroy his goal to make America great again. But his enemies do not realize the growing control and spiritual influence of True Christians in establishing strict control of the American political and educational realms.
Now danger appears and the enemies of white America are working under cover to control and destroy the actions of our President. Rumors in a lying press, many devious plots being launched and plans drawn up to break the President, return to globalism and open our borders to a flood of criminals and degenerates who detest the American system and bring with them disease and drugs. What is to be done?
The true Americans and the loyal supporters of our President must unite and fight against the common enemies of white Americans.
Unite and organize so that by your strength, and your weapons, you can show the enemies of the True State that the armies of True America, by the same force of arms that made America a great country under George Washington, can once again drive out the alien trash and reestablish America as the true leader of the world.
What a man cannot say in words, his gun can say in action.
The bullets of the Lord will cleanse this country of the Liberal Democrats, sexual degenerates and racial trash that have brought America to the brink of destruction.
Note: This letter, sent to neo-Nazi groups, obviously fell into the wrong hands.
Are the Trumps really friends of Israel? One of his relatives obviously was not:
The current American President is directly descended from the German Trumpf family. His ancestor in the direct line, was Johannes Trump(f), a native of the village of Kallstadt where Trump grandfather immigrated from.
The same Trumpf family also produced one Arnold Wilhelm August Trumpf.
Arnold Trumpf was Vorstand Reichsverband Deutscher Landwirtschaftlicher Genossenschaften-Raiffensene.V and Hauptabteilungsleiter III of the Reichsnahrstand, Allegemeine SS since 1934.
This Trumpf was also a director of the Reichsbank.
SS background of Arnold Trumpf:
SS-Oberführer / Leutnant d.R. a.D.
Born: 27. Oct. 1892 in Gifhorn
Died: 7. January 1985 in Garmish-Partenkirchen
NSDAP-Nr.: 389 920 from 1, December 1930
SS-Nr.: 187 119
Promotions:
SS-Oberfuhrer: 30. Jan. 1939
Career:
Bei dem RuS-Hauptamt: (9. Nov. 1944)
Decorations & Awards:
1914 Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse
Kriegsverdienstkreuz II. Klasse ohne Schwerter
Verwundetenabzeichen, 1918 in Schwarz
Ehrenkreuz fur Frontkampfer
Ehrendegen des RF SS
Totenkopfring der SS
The RuSHA was founded in 1931 by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler
Among their duties were:
• Kidnapping of children suitable for Germanization
• Population transfers
• The persecution and liquidation of Jews
The RuSHA also employed Josef Mengele from November 1940 to early 1941, in Department II of its Family Office, where he was responsible for “care of genetic health” and “genetic health tests”
References
• http://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Trumpf,_Arnold
• Das Deutsche Führerlexikon, Otto Stollberg G.m.b.H., Berlin 1934
• Dienstaltersliste der Schutzstaffel der NSDAP 9, November 1944
Middle East pressures building: a 1914 reprise?
Both the State of Israel and the United States view Syria as a potentially dangerous enemy. Joint intelligence indicates that Syria is a strong supporter of the Hezbollah Shiite paramilitary group.
Israel had planned a punitive military operation into Lebanon both to clip Hezbollah’s wings and send a strong message to Syria to cease and desist supplying arms and money to the anti-Israel group. Because of its involvement in Iraq, the United States indicated it would be unable to supply any ground troops but would certainly supply any kind of weapon, to include bombs, cluster bombs and ammunition for this projected operation.
A casus belli was created by the Israeli Mossad’s assassination of Rafik Haarri, a popular Lebanese politician and subsequent disinformation promulgated and instigated by both Israel and the United States blamed Syria for the killing.
The IDF was being supplied faulty and misleading intelligence information, apparently originating from Russian sources that gave misinformation about Hezbollah positions and strengths and therefore the initial planning was badly flawed.
In full concert with the American president, the IDF launched its brutal and murderous attack on July 12, 2006 and continued unabated until the Hexbollah inflicted so many serious casualties on the Israeli forces and also on the civilian population of Israel that their government frantically demanded that the White House force a cease fire through the United Nations. This was done for Israel on August 14, 2007 and the last act of this murderous and unprovoked assault was when Israel removed their naval blockade of Lebanese ports.
The contrived incident that launched the Israeli attack was an alleged attack by Hezbollah into Israeli territory where they were alleged to have ‘kidnapped’ two Israeli soldiers and subsequently launched a rocket attack to cover their retreat.
The conflict killed over six thousand people, most of whom were Lebanese, severely damaged Lebanese infrastructure, displaced 700,000-915,000 Lebanese, and 300,000-500,000 Israelis, and disrupted normal life across all of Lebanon and northern Israel. Even after the ceasefire, much of Southern Lebanon remained uninhabitable due to unexploded cluster bombs.
During the campaign Israel’s Air Force flew more than 12,000 combat missions, its Navy fired 2,500 shells, and its Army fired over 100,000 shells. Large parts of the Lebanese civilian infrastructure were destroyed, including 400 miles of roads, 73 bridges, and 31 other targets such as Beirut International Airport, ports, water and sewage treatment plants, electrical facilities, 25 fuel stations, 900 commercial structures, up to 350 schools and two hospitals, and 15,000 homes. Some 130,000 more homes were damaged.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered commanders to prepare civil defense plans. One million Israelis had to stay near or in bomb shelters or security rooms, with some 250,000 civilians evacuating the north and relocating to other areas of the country.
On 26 July 2006 Israeli forces attacked and destroyed an UN observer post. Described as a nondeliberate attack by Israel, the post was shelled for hours before being bombed. UN forces made repeated calls to alert Israeli forces of the danger to the UN observers, all four of whom were killed. Rescuers were shelled as they attempted to reach the post. According to an e-mail sent earlier by one of the UN observers killed in the attack, there had been numerous occasions on a daily basis where the post had come under fire from both Israeli artillery and bombing.
* On 27 July 2006 Hezbollah ambushed the Israeli forces in Bint Jbeil and killed eighteen soldiers. Israel claimed, after this event, that it also inflicted heavy losses on Hezbollah.
* On 28 July 2006 Israeli paratroopers killed 5 of Hezbollah’s commando elite in Bint Jbeil. In total, the IDF claimed that 80 fighters were killed in the battles at Bint Jbeil. Hezbollah sources, coupled with International Red Cross figures place the Hezbollah total at 7 dead and 129 non-combatant Lebanese civilian deaths.
* On 30 July 2006 Israeli air strikes hit an apartment building in Qana, killing at least 65 civilians, of which 28 were children, with 25 more missing. The air strike was widely condemned.
* On 31 July 2006 the Israeli military and Hezbollah forces engaged Hezbollah in the Battle of Ayta ash-Shab.
* On 1 August 2006 Israeli commandos launched Operation Sharp and Smooth and landed in Baalbek and captured five civilians including one bearing the same name as Hezbollah’s leader, “Hassan Nasrallah”. All of the civilians were released after the ceasefire. Troops landed near Dar al-Himkeh hospital west of Baalbeck as part of a widescale operation in the area.
* On 4 August 2006 the IAF attacked a building in the area of al-Qaa around 10 kilometers (six miles) from Hermel in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. Sixty two farm workers, mostly Syrian and Lebanese Kurds, were killed during the airstrike.
* On 5 August 2006 Israeli commandos carried out a nighttime raid in Tyre, blowing up a water treatment plant, a small clinic and killing 187 civilians before withdrawing.
* On 7 August 2006 the IAF attacked the Shiyyah suburb in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, destroying three apartment buildings in the suburb, killing at least 120 people.
* On 11 August 2006 the IAF attacked a convoy of approximately 750 vehicles containing Lebanese police, army, civilians, and one Associated Press journalist, killing at least 40 people and wounding at least 39.
* On 12 August 2006 the IDF established its hold in South Lebanon. Over the weekend Israeli forces in southern Lebanon nearly tripled in size. and were ordered to advance towards the Litani River.
* On 14 August 2006 the Israeli Air Force reported that they had killed the head of Hezbollah?s Special Forces, whom they identified as Sajed Dewayer,but this claim was never proven.. 80 minutes before the cessation of hostilities, the IDF targeted a Palestinian faction in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in Sidon, killing a UNRWA staff member. Sixty two refugees had been killed in an attack on this camp six days prior to the incident.
During the campaign Hezbollah fired between 3,970 and 4,228 rockets. About 95% of these were 122 mm (4.8 in) Katyusha artillery rockets, which carried warheads up to 30 kg (66 lb) and had a range of up to 30 km (19 mi). An estimated 23% of these rockets hit built-up areas, primarily civilian in nature.
Cities hit included Haifa, Hadera, Nazareth, Tiberias, Nahariya, Safed, Afula, Kiryat Shmona, Beit She’an, Karmiel, and Maalot, and dozens of Kibbutzim, Moshavim, and Druze and Arab villages, as well as the northern West Bank. Hezbollah also engaged in guerrilla warfare with the IDF, attacking from well-fortified positions. These attacks by small, well-armed units caused serious problems for the IDF, especially through the use hundreds of sophisticated Russian-made anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs). Hezbollah destroyed 38 Israeli Merkava main battle tanks and damaged 82. Fifteen tanks were destroyed by anti-tank mines. Hezbollah caused an additional 65 casualties using ATGMs to collapse buildings onto Israeli troops sheltering inside.
After the initial Israeli response, Hezbollah declared an all-out military alert. Hezbollah was estimated to have 13,000 missiles at the beginning of the conflict. Israeli newspaper Haaretz described Hezbollah as a trained, skilled, well-organized, and highly motivated infantry that was equipped with the cream of modern weaponry from the arsenals of Syria, Iran, Russia, and China. Lebanese satellite TV station Al-Manar reported that the attacks had included a Fajr-3 and a Ra’ad 1, both liquid-fuel missiles developed by Iran.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah defended the attacks, saying that Hezbollah had “started to act calmly, we focused on Israel[i] military bases and we didn’t attack any settlement, however, since the first day, the enemy attacked Lebanese towns and murdered civilians Hezbollah militants had destroyed military bases, while the Israelis killed civilians and targeted Lebanon’s infrastructure.” Hezbollah apologized for shedding Muslim blood, and called on the Arabs of the Israeli city of Haifa to flee.
* On 13 July 2006 in response to Israel’s retaliatory attacks in which 43 civilians were killed, Hezbollah launched rockets at Haifa for the first time, hitting a cable car station along with a few other buildings
* On 14 July 2006 Hezbollah attacked the INS Hanit, an Israeli Sa’ar 5-class missile boat enforcing the naval blockade, with what was believed to be a radar guided C-802 anti-ship missile. 24 sailors were killed and the warship was severely damaged and towed back to port.
* On 17 July 2006 Hezbollah hit a railroad repair depot, killing twenty-two workers. Hezbollah claimed that this attack was aimed at a large Israeli fuel storage plant adjacent to the railway facility. Haifa is home to many strategically valuable facilities such as shipyards and oil refineries.
* On 18 July 2006 Hezbollah hit a hospital in Safed in northern Galilee, wounding twenty three.
* On 27 July 2006 Hezbollah ambushed the Israeli forces in Bint Jbeil and killed forty one soldiers, and destroyed 12 IDF vehicles and destroyed three armored vehicles and seriously damaged eight more. Israel claimed it also inflicted heavy losses on Hezbollah.
* On 3 August 2006 Nasrallah warned Israel against hitting Beirut and promised retaliation against Tel Aviv in this case. He also stated that Hezbollah would stop its rocket campaign if Israel ceased aerial and artillery strikes of Lebanese towns and villages.
* On 4 August 2006 Israel targeted the southern outskirts of Beirut, and later in the day, Hezbollah launched rockets at the Hadera region.
* On 9 August 2006 twenty three Israeli soldiers were killed when the building they were taking cover in was struck by a Hezbollah anti-tank missile and collapsed.
* On 12 August 2006 24 Israeli soldiers were killed; the worst Israeli loss in a single day. Out of those 24, five soldiers were killed when Hezbollah shot down an Israeli helicopter, a first for the militia. Hezbollah claimed the helicopter had been attacked with a Wa’ad missile.
One of the most controversial aspects of the conflict has been the high number of civilian deaths. The actual proportion of civilian deaths and the responsibility of it is hotly disputed.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch blamed Israel for systematically failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians, which may constitute a war crime, and accused Hezbollah of committing war crimes by the deliberate and indiscriminate killing of civilians by firing rockets into populated areas
* On 24 July 2006, U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said Israel’s response violated international humanitarian law, but also criticized Hezbollah for knowingly putting civilians in harm’s way by “cowardly blending…among women and children”.
During the war, Israeli jets distributed leaflets calling on civilian residents to evacuate or move north.
In response to some of this criticism, Israel has stated that it did, wherever possible, attempt to distinguish between protected persons and combatants, but that due to Hezbollah militants being in civilian clothing
Direct attacks on civilian objects are prohibited under international humanitarian law. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) initially estimated about 35,000 homes and businesses in Lebanon were destroyed by Israel in the conflict, while a quarter of the country’s road bridges or overpasses were damaged. Jean Fabre, a UNDP spokesman, estimated that overall economic losses for Lebanon from the month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah totaled “at least $15 billion, if not more.” Before and throughout the war, Hezbollah launched over 4000 unguided rockets against Israeli population centers, seeking to terrorize the Israeli population. This was in direct response to Israel’s attack on residential sections and the deliberate targeting of civilians
Amnesty International published a report stating that “the deliberate widespread destruction of apartments, houses, electricity and water services, roads, bridges, factories and ports, in addition to several statements by Israeli officials, suggests a policy of punishing both the Lebanese government and the civilian population,” and called for an international investigation of violations of international humanitarian law by both sides in the conflict.
Israel defended itself from such allegations on the grounds that Hezbollah’s use of roads and bridges for military purposes made them legitimate targets. However, Amnesty International stated that “the military advantage anticipated from destroying [civilian infrastructure] must be measured against the likely effect on civilians.”
Human Rights Watch strongly criticized Israel for using cluster bombs too close to civilians because of their inaccuracy and unreliability, suggesting that they may have gone as far as deliberately targeting civilian areas with such munitions. Hezbollah was also criticized by Human Rights Watch for filling its rockets with ball bearings, which “suggests a desire to maximize harm to civilians”; the U.N has criticized Israel for its use of cluster munitions and disproportionate attacks.
Amnesty International stated that the IDF used white phosphorus shells in Lebanon. Israel later admitted to the use of white phosphorus, but stated that it only used the incendiary against militants. However, several foreign media outlets reported observing and photographing a large number of Lebanese civilians with burns characteristic of white phosphorus attacks during the conflict.
Hezbollah casualty figures are difficult to ascertain, with claims and estimates by different groups and individuals ranging from 43 to 1,000. Hezbollah’s leadership claims that 43 of their fighters were killed in the conflict, while Israel estimated that its forces had killed 600 Hezbollah fighters. In addition, Israel claimed to have the names of 532 dead Hezbollah fighters but when challenged by Hezbollah to release the list, the Israelis dropped the issue. A UN official estimated that 50 Hezbollah fighters had been killed, and Lebanese government officials estimated that up to 49 had been killed.
The Lebanese civilian death toll is difficult to pinpoint as most published figures do not distinguish between civilians and militants, including those released by the Lebanese government. In addition, Hezbollah fighters could be difficult to identify as many did not wear military uniforms. However, it has been widely reported that the majority of the Lebanese killed were civilians, and UNICEF estimated that 30% of those killed were children under the age of 13
The death toll estimates do not include Lebanese killed since the end of fighting by land mines or unexploded US/Israeli cluster bombs. According to the National Demining Office, 297 people were killed and 867 wounded in such blasts.
Official Israeli figures for the Israel Defense Forces troops killed range from 116 to 120. The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs gives two different figures 117 and 119 the latter of which contains two IDF fatalities that occurred after the ceasefire went into effect. In September 2006, two local Israeli newspapers released insider information ensuring that the Israeli military death toll might climbed to around 540 soldiers.
Israel refused any outside agency access to its lists of the dead and wounded but an examination of all the accurate information available as of January 1, 2007 indicates that Israeli Defense Forces lost a total of 2300 killed with 600 of these dying in militatary hospital facilities subsequent to the conclusion of the fighting and an additional 700 very seriously wounded.
Hezbollah rockets killed 43 Israeli civilians during the conflict, including four who died of heart attacks during rocket attacks. In addition, 4,262 civilians were injured, 33 seriously, 68 moderately, 1,388 lightly, and 2,773 were treated for shock and anxiety
In March, 2007, the Israeli comptroller released an interim report that accused the army and Olmert of leaving Israeli civilians virtually defenseless during the last Lebanon war, in which Hezbollah guerrillas fired a barrage of rockets and missiles at northern Israel.
The Season of Evil
by Gregory Douglas
Preface
This is in essence a work of fiction, but the usual disclaimers notwithstanding, many of the horrific incidents related herein are based entirely on factual occurrences.
None of the characters or the events in this telling are invented and at the same time, none are real. And certainly, none of the participants could be considered by any stretch of the imagination to be either noble, self-sacrificing, honest, pure of motive or in any way socially acceptable to anything other than a hungry crocodile, a professional politician or a tax collector.
In fact, the main characters are complex, very often unpleasant, destructive and occasionally, very entertaining.
To those who would say that the majority of humanity has nothing in common with the characters depicted herein, the response is that mirrors only depict the ugly, evil and deformed things that peer into them
There are no heroes here, only different shapes and degrees of villains and if there is a moral to this tale it might well be found in a sentence by Jonathan Swift, a brilliant and misanthropic Irish cleric who wrote in his ‘Gulliver’s Travels,”
“I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most odious race of little pernicious vermin that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.”
Swift was often unkind in his observations but certainly not inaccurate.
Frienze, Italy
July 2018-August 2019
Chapter 28
They drove through the middle of a very smoggy Reno and headed out into the dry, rolling country beyond.
The air conditioning was back on again and Eric was playing a slow game of solitaire, the thin sounds of music leaking out from his earphones. Chuck pulled a tape out of the console.
“Do you mind if I listen to some music, Gwen? It’s classical so I thought I would best ask first.”
She shrugged.
“It’s fine with me. I don’t know much about classical music anyway. I might learn. I mean I’ve learned about caviar and what spoons to use and all kinds of interesting things from you and I might learn about music too.”
He looked sharply at her to see if she was being sarcastic but there was no sign of it. Still, he thought, she obviously plays a mean game of poker and bluff is important in that game.
Chuck put on a tape of the Bach cello suites and turned up the volume.
The rich sounds filled the vehicle and Gwen closed her eyes and concentrated on listening.
When one side was over, Chuck turned it off.
“The Casals actually is better but the Yo-Yo Ma version has more depth. One grew used to Casals and it takes a bit of doing to get accustomed to another version of the same piece. Were you bored?”
“On no. Actually, it’s exciting.”
“Interesting view.”
They listened to the rest of the tape in silence.
Northern Nevada was bleak and off to the left, over the hills, was a black thunderhead threaded with flashes of lightening.
When the Bach was over, Chuck put on a selection of Haendel organ concertos and tried to unknot his mind.
The afternoon storm swept across the highway in front of them and they drove through its heavy downpour for ten minutes. Lars had gone to sleep on the back bench seat and there was only the rumble of thunder and swishing of the wipers.
“Chuck. Can I ask you a question?”
“Go ahead.”
“You keep acting like someone is after you. My dad used to act like that when he thought the narcs were moving in. And don’t tell me that nothing is wrong because I know better. I had an interesting childhood. Am I right?”
“You are.”
“Is it the police?”
“No, not the police. I’m sure we got away clean from Santa Clara. Not the police at all but someone is after me and if they find me, they will kill me. Does that scare you, Gwen?”
“Not really. I’ve seen all that before. Who is it?”
“My uncle.”
“Your uncle wants to snuff you? Shit. Why?”
“Money, dear, not shit. It’s a long, ugly story.”
“Well, we don’t have anything else to do now, do we? I listened to your music and now I’d like to listen to you. Oh yes, one other little thing. You were really pissed off back at the gambling place. Why? Are you mad because I made some money?”
Chuck thought about the question and considered various answers, finally deciding on the truth.
“No, I’m glad you skinned them. I was mad because I couldn’t find you and I thought you had taken off.”
She stared at him.
“Are you kidding?”
“No. And if you ask dumb questions, you’ll get dumb answers. What do you care anyway?”
“I guess you care. I used to wonder if my people would leave me behind in some dirty old motel when my dad was out on the road. That’s not a nice feeling, Chuck, believe me. Why should I run out on both of you? You’ve been really good to me and I like you and Lars very much. For different reasons. Do people ditch you?”
“They used to…if I let them. I don’t want to talk about my family right now. We have to get to Minnesota and go from there. I don’t think that someone will come up alongside us and fire a cannon into us but I am careful. My sainted cousin tried to blow me up with a bomb, a guy who looked a lot like me was shot right off his bicycle and one Christmas I got a box of candy in the mail. I don’t eat candy so I gave it to an old lady in my apartment and they found her dead in her living room the next morning. Poisoned by the candy. Cops blamed her grandson but since he was in prison at the time, they had a hard time prosecuting him, but they did anyway.”
“What happened to him?”
“He was executed last month, protesting his innocence to the end but the courts are never wrong, dear. That’s why you keep away from anything connected to them. You know, the statues of Justice show her with a blindfold and scales. They should really show her with a gas mask so she can avoid the stink of the judicial cesspit. If you really don’t mind, I would like to listen to more music. Do you mind?”
She put her hand on his lean one gripping the steering wheel.
“No, Chuck, I love the music. Just play it all you want. When do you want to stop?”
“We’ll go to Elko and spend the night. I’ve already made reservations and with luck, we ought to be in by seven thirty.”
They got in at eight because of an accident on the highway. A truck full of hogs had turned over, releasing the frenzied animals to race up and down the road and into the paths of oncoming vehicles. Some escaped into the landscape and when the van arrived at the scene, state troopers and animal control people armed with tranquilizer guns and nooses were chasing the newly liberated animals while tow trucks were taking away several cars with fractured front ends. At least a dozen very dead hogs were lying in a row by the side of the highway and traffic crept past very slowly.
“Poor hogs,” Chuck commented, “on their way to have their throats cut under barbaric circumstances. A moment of liberty, a brief moment and then run over by a lumber truck or a car full of fat children on their way to Disneyland. And the ones running around out in the fields will be killed by coyotes or die of thirst. Life is cruel, children, especially for animals. Did you know,” he said as they threaded their way around a glistening pile of hog intestines, “that man is the only animal that kills its own for fun?”
The tall windows of the room looked out to Lake Michigan, now darkening in the early evening. The gray silk curtains that shielded the room in the early morning hours were now pulled back and the only light came from outside.
“You know, George, when I pay for service, I expect to receive it. I don’t mind overpaying for something just as long as I get something for my money! You do understand this concept, don’t you?”
The speaker was a short man with thinning gray hair in a comb over. He was sitting in a large leather armchair in a corner of the room, hard to make out in his dark suit. His face and hands, a few inches of white shirt cuff and the occasional glint of light from a finger ring were all one could see of him.
“Of course I understand this, sir.”
“He killed my son, George, my only son. He’s standing right in my way. How much more money do I have to give you to make absolutely certain that he dies?”
The voice, educated, polite and well modulated, suddenly turned sibilant and hissed like an angry snake.
“Mr. Rush, these things are not like novels. We just can’t write our own endings. Let me review some of the findings…”
“Yes, George, please do so. I might have missed something important.”
“We do not know what name your nephew is using now. At the motel he was Robert Burns…”
“Obviously a joke. Go on.”
“And we tracked him to that jewelry store in Brentwood and he was using the name Charles Arthur…”
“My name. And then what? Santa Claus? Harry Truman? What?”
“We simply do not know. There was the trouble with the police, the business was destroyed and Cyril vanished. We think his friend disappeared with him. The trouble is, we can tell you all about that one but not Cyril.”
“That one.”
“Yes sir. Osvald Nordberg. From Hibbing, Minnesota. We got the police to check his place and we found him gone. Everything left behind. No trace at all.”
“But you found that one’s name, why not Cyril’s?”
The voice was cold and insistent.
The man he was talking to was sitting in another chair and more could be seen of him. Thin, with a hooked nose and thick glasses, he had long, artistic fingers he kept entwining as he talked.
“Because, sir, we found this Osvald person had worked at another store and one of the clerks remembered the place. We got his information from there. The police could find nothing at the jewelry store. There were no personnel records of any kind as you know.”
“Either the owners were idiots or someone took them. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who that someone is, does it?”
“No sir, it does not.”
The room grew darker.
“And nothing much on Nordberg. We know what he looks like from his driver’s license picture and no criminal record. Social Security has no record of any current employment. We are in touch with his mother. Told her that her son had won a prize in a magazine sweepstake and we wanted to surprise him. She promises to call us if he contacts her but she hasn’t heard from him in two years. I assure you, Mr. Rush, if we find one we will find the other.”
“Probably a couple of queers. Rotten degenerate son of a bitch! He killed my son and the police in Los Angeles will not even investigate it. A drug killing! My son was a champion athlete. He never used any kind of drugs. My God, he didn’t even like to take aspirin. How much did the police cost out there?”
The other looked in a small notebook.
“We spent five hundred thousand dollars, sir. And they did help us with the Nordberg person. It’s just that Cyril is hard to catch. He doesn’t make mistakes.”
“He takes after my father. That’s why the old man liked him so much. They think the same way. Tricky and treacherous. Father tried to tie my hands but I beat him and I assure you, I will beat my filthy nephew into the ground. Now I’ll give you another hundred thousand but by God, George, I want results! You do understand that, don’t you?”
“I do indeed sir. I can assure you that we will find him.”
“Dead!”
“Oh yes, Mr. Rush, dead.”
When he got up to leave, he buttoned his suit coat and covered the holstered pistol at his belt.
“I said dead, George, and I mean it.”
(Continued)
This is also an e-book, available from Amazon:
CIA Files on the Kennedy Assassination Plot
Secret documents, long buried in private papers, concerning the murder of Kennedy.
The ZIPPER File and the official murder of JFK
In March of 1963, a plot was constructed inside the highest levels of the CIA that eventually resulted in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The chief architects of this plot, eventually labeled as ‘Operation ZIPPER’ were James Angleton, head of CIA counterintelligence and Robert Crowley, Deputy Director of the CIA’s Clandestine Operations. Angleton had discovered that Kennedy, through his brother Robert, the Attorney General, had been in contact with Soviet leader Khrushchev and had exchanged what the CIA considered to be top level intelligence secrets with him.
ZIPPER was not put on paper, for obvious reasons, but a record was kept of various meetings, telephone conversations, trips and other events. This record is a very interesting example of how plots can be developed and eventually put into action.
This material, and more. Has been taken from “Regicide: The Official Assassination of John F. Kennedy” by Gregory Douglas.
1963
MARCH
1 MAR 63
8:30 AM- Noon
Conference with DCI, JJA, RTC.
Implementation of ZIPPER. Pre-
sentation of RFK intercepts to
DCI. Review of investigative
data to date. DCI requests more
data.
2 MAR 63
9:45 AM- 11:15 AM
Presentation by JJA and RTC to
DCI of evidentiary material.
2:20 PM
Request by DCI for interview
with Director/FBI
4 MAR 63
8:15 AM- 10:00 AM
Conference with DCI, JJA
with Director/FBI and DD/FBI
Sullivan.
10:20 AM- 10: 35 AM
Conference with DCI, JJA, RTC
and Sullivan.
7 MAR 63
8:30 PM-12:06 AM
Conference with JJA and Sullivan
8 MAR 63
2:02 PM- 3:45 PM
Conference with JJA, RTC in
re RFK.
4:15 PM- 4:38 PM
Telephone conference JJA with
DCI concerning above meeting
12 MAR 63
8:30 AM-9:23 AM
Conference JJA and Sullivan
1:20 PM- 2:10 PM
Lunch conference with JJA and
RTC. Joined by DCI.
13 MAR 63
9:10 AM- 9:30 AM
Telephone conference by DCI
with Walter Jenkins in re VP.
Request for personal interview.
3:30 PM- 3:34 PM
Conference JJA with DCI on
Jenkins request.
14. MAR 63
9:45 AM- 10:23 AM
and
3:37 PM – 4:11 PM
Conferences with JJA, Jenkins,
RTC and telephone conference
with WKH on ZIPPER. Views
of VP are discussed. Extreme
caution on part of VP subject
of both conferences. Tentative
acceptance of basic thrust of
ZIPPER. VP to speak with
DCI on 15 MAR.
15 MAR 63
12:35 PM-1:43 PM
Luncheon conference with DCI
Jenkins and A. Fortas, Met. Club.
Present: JJA and RTC. Discussion by
VP’s aides of two conversations with
DIR/FBI Hoover on ZIPPER. AF requests
copies of telephone intercepts.
16 MAR 63
1:08 PM- 1:16 PM
Telephone conference by RTC
with SG in re U/C.
1:24 PM- 2:19 PM
Telephone conference by RTC
with JJA in re SG.
2:45 PM- 3:10 PM
Telephone conversation by JJA
with DCI in re SG.
3:32 PM- 4:50 PM
Telephone conference with WKH
by JJA in re SG.
18 MAR 63
8:44 AM- 9:29 AM
Telephone conference by JJA w SC/
INTERARMCO in re weaponry
and delivery.
3:04 PM-3:30 PM
Telephone conferences with DCI
and RTC in re SC analysis.
9:30 PM- 11: 27 PM
Conference RTC with WJ and AF.
Copies of RFK reports for VP.
19 MAR 63
11:45 AM
Telephone report by SG to RTC
concerning need for US passports.
20 MAR 63
3:27 PM- 3:29 PM
Telephone conference by RTC
with SG in re passports
Affirmative response.
21 MAR 63
11:55 AM-2:37 PM
Lunch meeting with DCI, RTC and JJA.
Review of telephone taps on RFK.
Report by JJA on Soviet receipts.
25 MAR 63
9:45 AM- 10:17 AM
Telephone conference with Jenkins
in re VP, RTC
28 MAR 63
3:15 PM- 4:25 PM
Conference with DCI and JJA
Coordination of JCS objectives with ZIPPER
4:45 PM-4:48 PM
Telephone conference with Jenkins
concerning VP RTC
4:55 PM-5:01 PM
Telephone conference with DCI on VP RTC
29 MAR 63
2:35PM-3:15 PM
Telephone conference: DCI
with FBI/Sullivan
6:60 PM-9:55 PM
Conference with RTC and WKH
reference logistics of ZIPPER
APRIL
3 APRIL 63
11:08 PM- 1:21 AM
Telephone conference between JJA
and Amos Minor, Israel l, in re possible
cooperation in ZIPPER
4 APRIL 63
11:31 AM- 1:02PM
Conference with JJA and RTC in re Minor
assistance.
3:35 PM-4:45 PM
Telephone conference RTC and SG, Sicilian
referral
9 APRIL 63
8:31 AM- 8:45 AM
Telephone conference, JJA with LtCOL Cass,
S’Domingo in re ZIPPER. Agreement for
conference.
9:08 AM- 9:14 AM
Conference with DCI and JJA concerning
Cass meeting and SG progress
11 APRIL 63
1:45 PM- 1:56 PM
Telephone conference with Jenkins
in re VP. Clarification of DCI memo.
2:30 PM-2:46 PM
Telephone conference with Pentagon
in re Cass meeting.
4:36 PM – 5:15 PM
Meeting JJA and DCI on progress for
Zipper. No direct contact between DCI
and Cass.
13 APRIL 63
8:22 PM- 9:07 PM
Telephone conference RTC
and SC in re ZIPPER
14 APRIL 63
9:35 AM- 11:07 AM
Conference with DCI, JJA, WKH
Reference update with WKH. Suggestion
received from Lemnitzer on rep. LtCOL
Cass in S’Domingo.
2:35 PM-3:12 PM
Telephone conference with LtCOL
Cass in re ZIPPER
15 APRIL 63
12:35 AM-2:23 PM
Conference with WKH and SC
concerning weaponry and logistics.
INTERARMCO
5:20 PM- 5:45 PM
Telephone conference with Jenkins
in re VP
18 APRIL 63
1:23 PM- 1:25 PM
Telephone conference with SC
of INTERARMCO
2:01 PM-2:05 PM
Telephone contact with SG in Chicago in re
RTC meeting. RTC
2:25 PM-2:31 PM
Telephone conference with JJA
concerning SG.
2:33 PM- 2:40 PM
Meeting with DCI about Chicago.
RTC, JJA
19 APRIL 63
Telephone conference with ARM in
re LANCER SS protection. JJA
23 APRIL 63
Conference with RTC and SG concerning
logistics for ZIPPER. Chicago
24 APRIL 63
Conference with RTC and SG concerning
logistics for ZIPPER. Chicago
3:09 PM- 3:33 PM
Conference with JJA and LtCol Cass in
re ZIPPER
30 APRIL 63
9:31 AM -1:45 AM
Telephone conference with RTC and
Jenkins in re VP. Further clarification
on post-ZIPPER.
2:20 PM- 5:38 PM
Conference DCI and Sullivan in re
contact with Director/FBI. Supply
RFK transcripts.
MAY
2 MAY 63
1:00 PM- 2:59 PM
Conference with DCI, JJA, RTC, Sullivan
in re intercepted phone conversations
from Hickory Hill. Also, intercepted
and decoded conversations from Soviet embassy.
4 :09 PM-4:21 PM
Telephone conversation RTC and SG on Marseilles
contacts.
430 PM- 5:37 PM
Conference with RTC and JJA concerning SG
referrals. Also Mass. sailboat plan. Rejected.
5 MAY 63
2:02 PM- 4:45 PM
Telephone conference between JJA,
RTC. With reference to progress on
ZIPPER. Subject of discussions:
1. SS Presidential security.
2. Projected Presidential visits,
a. Inside US.
b. Outside US
3. Disinformation in reports to White
House aimed at disrupting channels of
communication.
4. Contact with NSA in re blocking of
calls transmitting information to Soviet
Union
5. Close coordination with JCS concerning
military action against Cuba
6. Ascertaining attitudes of VP in re para 5.
7. Communicating compromising material
on President to Soviet Union….loss of
confidence.
8. Information on planned RFK prosecution of
VP aides. To discredit VP and give motive for
removing from the ticket in ‘64. Give to AF?
This entry is the most informative. It is obvious that this log was prepared by various people over the period from March through November. Vice President Lyndon Johnson obviously was brought into the plot through contact with Walter Jenkins and Abe Fortas. Not a bold man, Johnson’s concerns are entirely typical of the man. He had forced himself on the 1960 Democratic ticket against Kennedy’s wishes and throughout the thousand days of the Kennedy presidency, Johnson was treated with contempt by Kennedy’s people. Their favorite epithet was ‘Uncle Cornpone’ and it became common knowledge that Kennedy was planning to replace Johnson on the 1964 ticket. To accomplish this, Bobby Kennedy was preparing criminal charges against Bobby Baker, one of Johnson’s top aides. Johnson was aware that such charges would give the Kennedy faction the ability to force him off the ticket. Since Vice Presidents traditionally have run for the Presidency at the expiration of the mandatory two term limit, any hope of gaining the White House would have been dashed. Johnson, therefore, became a willing if very timid participant in the ZIPPER project.
6 MAY 63
9:34 AM- 10:21 AM
Conference JJA with DCI in re 5 May
conference. Approval noted.
11:10 AM-3:17 PM
Telephone conferences by JJA
& RTC with:
a. WJ in re VP
b. JCS in re ZIPPER and plans
c. SG in re team progress
d. SC in re logistics
The inclusion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is a thread that runs throughout the entire development of ZIPPER. Giancana obviously reported on his efforts to line up a foreign team and Sam Cummings, who was in charge of the weapons, reported on his task.
10 MAY 63
Lunch conference
DCI, Sullivan, JJA, RTC, WKH
Discussion of progress of ZIPPER.
Decision to launch disinformation
program in re Soviets.
Decision to expand sources to
include source, AF1
Decision for dual payments to
UC and to SG
AF1 refers to Air Force One but any attempt to destroy the President’s aircraft was eventually abandoned due to extraordinary security in place. Both Giancana and the Unione Corse were to be paid for their services, the former to ensure his continued cooperation.
14 MAY 63
4:45 PM
Report by SC in re weaponry
21 MAY 63
3:20 PM- 4:11 PM
Conference DCI, RTC
in re NSA communications
surveillance
The National Security Agency or NSA is, and was in 1963, positioned to monitor all foreign and domestic telephone and radio traffic.
24 MAY 63
2:25 PM
Contact with source on AF1
It was at this point that any action involving the President’s aircraft was abandoned.
3:10 PM
Conference DCI, JJA on subject
payment for AF1 source
25 MAY 63
2:10 PM-4:43 PM
Conference, UClub, RTC, JJA, WKH
with rep, Chair/JCS in re ZIPPER.
Coordination of ZIPPER w. MARLINSTRIKE
The meaning of MARLINSPIKE is not known at this writing but appears to be a plan designed to draw the United States into war with Cuba, a strong desire of the JCS and its Chief, General Lyman Lemnitzer.
27 MAY 63
9:45 AM- 12:00 PM
&
2:30 PM- 5:52 PM
Conference JJA, RTC in re ZIPPER
28 MAY 63
8:32 AM-9:01 AM
Telephone conference JJA with
LtCOL Cass in re ZIPPER
11:34 AM- 12:30 PM
Conference JJA, DCI in
re NSA transcripts
31 MAY 63
1:35 PM-2:50 PM
Conference JJA, AF in re VP
Discussion of VP attitudes in re
MARLINSTRIKE, ZIPPER
3:00 PM-3:21 PM
Telephone conference JJA.
JCS in re AF conference.
3:30 PM-3:34 PM
Telephone conference JJA
DCI in re AF & JCS
JUNE
3 JUNE 63
2:20 PM- 3:05 PM
Conference with DD Carter
and GEN Blake, DIR/NSA
concerning ZIPPER.
1. NSA SIGINT surveillance
of Cuba, Mexico and Dominican
Republic.
2. NSA domestic surveillance,
3. Confirming reports on RFK
conversations.
4. TASS communications.
5. Soviet internal communications
6. White House communications
General Marshal Carter, USA was a senior official in the CIA and later went on to head the NSA.
4 JUNE 63
Lunch conference, DD/MC,
JJA, RTC in reference Blake
position.
Lieutenant General Gordon Blake, USAF, was Director of the NSA from July 1962 through May, 1965. He was replaced by General Marshal Carter.
6 JUNE 63
7:30 PM- 9:20 PM
Conference, JJA, RTC in
re NSA intercepts.
11 JUNE 63
9:55 AM-10:02 AM
Telephone conference with
AF in re VP. Anxiety
12 JUNE 63
12:30 PM-12:45 PM
Telephone conference with
LtCOL Cass, S’Domingo
As U.S. Military Attaché to the Dominican Republic, Lt. Colonel Cass had been involved with the CIA assassination of Trujillo and had handled the weapons used in the killing, which had arrived in the diplomatic pouch.
4:11 PM- 4:34 PM
Telephone conference with
JJA & A. Manor in re UC team
5:30 PM- 6:45 PM
Telephone conference with
JJA & AF in re VP. More
reassurances needed.
True to form, Lyndon Johnson is still trying to have his cake and eat it as well.
19 JUNE 63
11:35 AM- 12:40 PM
Telephone conference, DD/MC
with D/NSA Blake concerning
NSA intercepts
1:45 PM-1:50 PM
Telephone conference, DD/MC
with RTC concerning SG.
24 JUNE 63
Report from SC in re weapons.
5:39 PM-5:51 PM
Telephone conference, DCI
and JJA, RTC and WKH
25 JUNE 63
Receipt of NSA report
3:09 PM- 3:30 PM
Telephone conference, WKH
with LtCOL Cass, S’Domingo
26 JUNE 63
9:30 AM- 9:54 AM
Telephone conference. AF
to RFK in re VP. Agreement
in general.
At this point in time, Lyndon Johnson had decided to join the Presidential poker game.
10:07 AM- 10:09 AM
Telephone conference RTC
with DCI. in re AF call
11:30 AM-11:45 AM
Telephone conference RTC
with Lemnitzer aide in re
ZIPPER
JULY
3 JULY 63
Arrival of B. Bauman from
Toronto.
Binjamin Bauman, a Shit Bet operative, had been a member of the terrorist Stern Gang and was one of the men who planted a huge bomb in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946. A large number of British officers and civilians were killed in the subsequent blast. Bauman was recruited by Angleton through his friend, Amos Manor, head of the Shin Bet, ,internal security organ of the Israeli government.
4 JULY 63
Receipt of courier reports
NSA.
7:39 PM- 11:45 PM
Personal interview with JJA, RTC
& MC with Bauman
5 JULY 63
Evaluation of AF1 material by
JJA, WKH, RTC.
2:33 PM-3:15 PM
Conference with DCI, JJA on
AF1 findings. Negative
11 JULY 63
Review by JJA on RFK and
White House telephone
transcripts.
It is obvious that both James Angleton and NSA were involved in electronic surveillance of the Attorney General and in all probability, the White House as well.
11:00 AM- 12:15 PM
Conference with JJA, MC and
RTC in re intercepts
16 JULY 63
10:45 AM- 11:14 AM
Telephone conference with
MC and Blake in re NSA
intercepts.
1:45 PM- 5:15 PM
Conference with BB, JJA
MC in re ZIPPER and
UC team.
17 JULY 63
6:30 PM-11:00 PM
Conference with JJA
& BB
9:45 PM- 10:15PM
Telephone conference JJA &
BB with SC in re weapons
19 JULY 63
7:01 PM-11:43 PM
Conference with DCI, AWD, MC,
JJA, RTC in re ZIPPER. Agreement
in principle on all issues.
AWD are the initials of Allen Welsh Dulles, former longtime head of the CIA who had been fired by Kennedy over the CIA failures in the Bay of Pigs fiasco.
31 JULY 63
9:40 AM-10:20 AM
Telephone conference with CHAIR/JCS
in re AWD, VP overviews.
11:30 AM-1:29 PM
Conference, MC, JJA, RTC in re
ZIPPER. Transfer operation to
WKH
It is at this point that the actual execution of ZIPPER was turned over to William King Harvey. All future records reflect a series of progress reports by Harvey on a weekly basis to his superiors.
AUGUST
9 AUGUST 63
1:50 PM-2:10 PM
Conference, WKH, JJA
Progress Report
16 AUGUST 63
7:50 PM-11:01 PM
Conference, WKH, JJA
Progress Report
23 AUGUST 63
8:15 PM-10:19 PM
Conference, WKH, JJA
RTC
Progress Report
30 AUGUST 63
7:50 PM- 8:45 PM
Conference, WKH, JJA
Progress Report
SEPTEMBER
6 SEPT 63
3:19PM-5:12 PM
Conference, WKH, MC, JJA
Progress Report
12 SEPT 63
2:45 PM- 3:18 PM
Conference, WKH, JJA
Progress Report
20 SEPT 63
10:20 PM- 1:45 AM
Conference, WKH, RTC
MC
Progress Report
27 SEPT 63
9:30 AM-10:17 AM
Conference, WKH, DCI,MC,
JJA, RTC
Progress Report
OCTOBER
18 OCT 63
7:45 PM- 11:30 PM
Conference, WKH, JJA
Progress Report
Dallas
This is the only reference in this document to Dallas, Texas. On the 17th of October, Lee Harvey Oswald began his employment at the Texas Book Depository.
24 OCT 63
11:20 AM- 11:22 AM
Telephone conference, SG,
JJA in re UC arrival Montreal
At this point, members of the Corsican assassination team arrived in Quebec, Canada.
NOVEMBER
1 NOV 63
8:40 PM-12: PM
Conference WKH, WTC
Progress Report
14 NOV 63
1:45 PM-1:56 PM
Telephone conference, WKH
MC. in re UC/Dallas
The Unione Corse team was now in Dallas and preparing for their task when President Kennedy made his official visit on November 22.
Abbreviations used in the ZIPPER Document
DCI Director of Central Intelligence, John McCone
DD/FBI Deputy Director of Federal Bureau of Investigation, William Sullivan
USMC United States Marine Corps
JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff of U.S. Armed Forces
SIGINT Signals Intelligence
AG Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy
OAS Organisation de l’armée secrète, Secret Army Organization of former French officers who did not recognize the independence of Algeria
JJA James Jesus Angleton, CIA Counterintelligence
RTC Robert Trumbull Crowley, CIA Clandestine Operations
VP Vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson
WKH William King Harvey, senior official of the CIA
Met.Club Metropolitan Club, Washington, D.C.
AF Abe Fortas, advisor to Lyndon B. Johnson
SG Sam Giancana, Chicago Mafia chief
U/C Unione Corse, Corsican Mafia
SC Sam Cummings, INTERARMCO (CIA proprietary)
ARM unidentified
Lancer SS Code name for Secret Service for J. F. Kennedy travels
NSA National Security Agency
WJ Walter Jenkins, advisor to Lyndon B. Johnson
AF1 Air Force One (President’s official aircraft)
UClub University Club, Washington, D.C.
MC Marshal Carter, senior officer of CIA, later with NSA
D/NSA Director NSA, Gordon Blake
BB Binjamin Baumann, Shin Beth (Israel)
AWD Allen Welsh Dulles, former DCI