TBR NEWS November 1, 2010
The Voice of the White House
Washington, D.C., November 1, 2010: “Such an interesting situation. I see that the notorious Bank of America has decided to proceed with its program of evictions of people holding bad mortgages. Although they well know that there is no clear title to the foreclosed property, they cheerfully sell these places to suckers looking for a discount. The new owner will soon discover that he does not have a clear title, will get the usual bullshit from the MERS people and sooner or later, the light dawns upon them that they have been yenched. Can they get their money back? Of course noe. And I see that the cuddly crooks at MERS have shipped all of their records over to India (“for security”) so that no American court can demand to see them. Let’s reopen Alxcatraz, why not? Lots of room for the big boatload of mortgage swindlers and their Administration supporters!”
Foreclosure Freeze Cuts Sales, Supply in Hardest-Hit States
October 28, 2010
by John Gittelsohn –
Bloomberg
U.S. home foreclosure sales are slowing in the states hardest-hit by the real estate crash as banks review their practices and delay seizures.
In Arizona, California and Nevada, foreclosure auctions on courthouse steps, known as trustee sales, are down 42 percent since Sept. 20, according to ForeclosureRadar, a real estate tracking service in Discovery Bay, California. In Florida’s Miami-Dade and Broward counties, fewer foreclosures have led to 18 percent declines this month in the number of repossessed homes listed for sale, said Ron Shuffield of Esslinger, Wooten, Maxwell Inc., a realty firm based in Coral Gables, Florida.
In a real estate market where as many as 7 million homes face foreclosure or have already been seized by lenders, according to Zillow Inc., a clog in the pipeline may delay a housing recovery, which won’t occur until home prices stop falling. That could in turn postpone a U.S. economic recovery. Distressed properties accounted for 31 percent of all U.S. home sales last month, RealtyTrac Inc. said Oct. 14.
“If what’s a hiatus turns into a moratorium, that’s quite problematic,” Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow, a Seattle-based real estate data provider, said in an interview. “It will delay the ultimate bottoming process in the market.”
Attorneys general in all 50 states started probes into foreclosure practices after court documents surfaced showing employees signed papers without ensuring their accuracy. Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Ally Financial Inc. temporarily suspended some foreclosure sales or evictions, pending reviews of their procedures.
Record Seizures
Full national data reflecting the effect of the foreclosure freeze isn’t yet available. Lenders took over a record 102,134 properties last month, before most of the delays, RealtyTrac, an Irvine, California-based real estate data provider, reported.
Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California lead the nation in foreclosure rates, according to RealtyTrac. Florida is the only one of those states where courts supervise home seizures, the focus of most of the banks’ reviews.
Bank-owned properties have been pulled off the market in Florida and re-sales of foreclosed homes have stalled in the process of closing, according to Shuffield. One in 56 homes in the state received a foreclosure filing notice in the third quarter, RealtyTrac data show.
Living in Hotel
Four days before Ted Roberts, 35, was scheduled to close on his first house — a $168,000, four-bedroom foreclosed home in Orlando, Florida — Bank of America put the sale on hold. After his apartment lease ended Sept. 30, Roberts moved his family of four to one bedroom at the Homestead Studio Suites in Altamonte Springs, waiting for the sale to close.
Roberts, a federal employee union organizer, could have gotten his $2,000 in escrow refunded. Instead, he is counting on the sale closing to avoid losing $1,000 spent on appraisal and inspection fees. Meanwhile, he’s spent more than $1,000 for the hotel room, furniture storage and a post office box.
“We’re going to try to ride it out,” he said in a telephone interview as he drove his sons Kalen, 13, and Torian, 5, to school, another cost of the temporary relocation. “We’d still like to get a house and obviously a foreclosure is a better deal. But if we knew this was going to happen, we would have looked at a non-foreclosure.”
Resubmitting Affidavits
Bank of America froze 102,000 foreclosures nationwide on Oct. 8 to review its procedures, and has now started the process of preparing affidavits for resubmission to courts. Affidavits will be resubmitted over several weeks, as they are completed through their internal process, according to Dan Frahm, a spokesman for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank. Those cases will proceed through the foreclosure process, including re-sales, he said.
“This review remains in effect and our review is ongoing,” Frahm said. “We are committed to giving our customers confidence they are being treated fairly.”
For the Florida foreclosure-judgment hearings that are canceled this week, banks are almost a month away from rescheduling them. That’s because a hearing can be scheduled no earlier than 25 days in advance under the state’s rules for legal proceedings, said Rick Melendi, a chief deputy court administrator for the 13th Judicial Circuit in Tampa.
Faulty documentation has scared buyers away from foreclosed properties because of concerns their titles may be in question, said Erika Phelan, Roberts’s real estate agent with Buyers Broker of Florida in Orlando.
‘No Foreclosures’
“I just took out a buyer who said ‘no foreclosures’ to avoid the problem,” she said.
Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s senior vice president for marketing, said his company hasn’t seen an “appreciable” dropoff in foreclosure activity so far this month.
“It could just be that these delays will be delayed a little bit before they hit the numbers,” Sharga said yesterday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “Or it could be that the falloff isn’t going to be nearly as big as people have been predicting.”
Before the foreclosure freeze, lenders were taking an increasing amount of time to seize homes as they complied with requirements to offer loan modifications or sought to avoid the costs of repossession. Foreclosed borrowers were an average 484 days — about 16 months — delinquent on their mortgage payments in September, up from an average of about 11 months in January 2009, according to Lender Processing Services Inc. of Jacksonville, Florida.
Bank of America, the largest U.S. mortgage servicer, took an average 18 months to complete foreclosures during the third quarter, Frahm said.
Off the Market
Of 103 foreclosed homes listed for sale by Michael Saunders & Co., a broker based in Sarasota, Florida, 35 were pulled off the market since the foreclosure freeze began, said Tom Heatherman, communications director for the firm. Another 23 properties assigned to the firm for pre-listing by Freddie Mac, the mortgage guarantee company under federal conservatorship, were temporarily held off the market, Heatherman said.
Fannie Mae, another mortgage guarantor under U.S. conservatorship, has also frozen foreclosure sales in cases with questionable documents, said Janis Smith, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based company.
“Transactions on such properties are on hold until the servicer can verify that the problem has been rectified,” Smith said.
Inventory Drop
Foreclosures and short sales, in which lenders agree to sales at less than the mortgage balance, made up 66 percent of transactions in Miami-Dade and Broward counties in September, said Shuffield, the president of Esslinger, Wooten Maxwell.
“The closing pace hasn’t stopped yet,” Shuffield said. “But the inventory has definitely dropped.’ ”
Western states have had a steep drop in foreclosed homes headed for resale, said Sean O’Toole, chief executive of ForeclosureRadar.
The number of trustee sales in Arizona, California and Nevada fell to 4,151 the week ending Oct. 22 from 7,142 four weeks earlier, when the first freeze was announced, O’Toole’s data show. Bank of America, Ally, and PNC Financial Services Group Inc., which also suspended some sales, were the only companies that he found to account for the decline, he said.
In Georgia, which had the seventh-highest U.S. foreclosure rate according to RealtyTrac, the moratorium killed three pending sales this month for Becky Loar, president of the Becky Loar Group LLC, a real estate firm in Snellville, Georgia. One was a cash sale, which was halted two weeks before closing. The other two were in early stages of negotiations.
“It’s a nightmare for Realtors,” she said. “If you get a contract to closing before they back out, you have a miracle.”
To contact the reporter on this story: John Gittelsohn in New York at johngitt@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kara Wetzel at kwetzel@bloomberg.net.
A Knife in the Dark: Sikh Terrorists in Canada
October 9, 2010
by R. Mohan Srivastava
Sikh Terrorism
Because of the menace of Sikh terrorism now in Canada and threatening to spread to the United States, there is a strong, and growing presence in Vancouver and several other Canadian Sikh centers. Both the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have anti-Sikh offices whose purpose it is to infiltrate and destroy these very dangerous cultists.
There is a growing body of evidence indicating that terrorist groups have been operating effectively in Canada by taking advantage of Canada’s liberal immigration and political asylum policies and the porous Canadian-American border.
Terrorist-related activities in Canada include fundraising, lobbying through front organizations, providing support for terrorist operations in Canada or abroad, procuring weapons and materiel, coercing and manipulating immigrant communities in Canada, facilitating transit to and from the U.S. and other countries, and other illegal activities.
According to an August 2002 report of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), “… with the possible exception of the United States, there are more international terrorist organizations active in Canada than anywhere in the world.
This situation can be attributed to Canada’s proximity to the United States which currently is the principal target of terrorist groups operating internationally; and to the fact that Canada, a country built upon immigration, represents a microcosm of the world. It is therefore not surprising that the world’s extremist elements are represented here, along with peace-loving citizens. Terrorist groups are present here whose origins lie in regional, ethnic and nationalist conflicts, including the Israeli Palestinian one, as well as those in Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Northern Ireland, the Punjab, Sri Lanka, Turkey and the former Yugoslavia.”
According to the CSIS, in recent years, terrorists have moved “from significant support roles, such as fundraising and procurement, to actually planning and preparing terrorist acts from Canadian territory. In order to carry out these efforts, terrorists and their supporters use intimidation and other coercive methods in immigrant communities, and they abuse Canada’s immigration, passport, welfare, and charity regulations.”
The Canadian-American Border and Immigration Policies
The U.S.-Canada border, stretching for over 4,000 miles, is the longest international border in the world.
In December 1999, Algerian terrorist Ahmed Ressam was caught trying to cross the Canadian-American border at Port Angeles, Washington, with explosives in his car. Ressam belonged to a Montreal-based terrorist cell thought to be linked to both the Algerian terrorist group Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and Al Qaeda. The cell was apparently planning a millennium terror attack at Los Angeles International Airport. In April 2001 Ressam was convicted in Los Angeles of conspiracy to commit terrorism, document fraud and possession of deadly explosives.
The ease with which Ahmed Ressam and his fellow terror cell members entered and left Canada and Ressam’s ability to assemble bomb-making materials in Canada heightened concerns about border security and the apparent ease with which potential terrorists can move freely from one country to the other. According to the CSIS, terrorists from 50 different international terrorist organizations come to Canada posing as refugees. Nearly 300,000 immigrants are admitted each year to Canada, many of whom seek political asylum and safe haven. Canada, however, does not detain refugee seekers upon entry, even those with questionable backgrounds, so thousands of potential terrorists disappear annually into Canada’s ethnic communities. Armed with a fraudulent French passport, for example, Ahmed Ressam had entered Canada in 1994 claiming refugee status.
In America, the debate continues as to the utility of tightening the Canadian-U.S. border. Those arguing for increased border security maintain that such controls will deter terrorists. Others argue that increasing the quality and quantity of checkpoints will ultimately do little to restrict the movements of terrorists but would result in decreased trade between the countries and would disrupt the legitimate flow of people across the border. Canada is America’s largest trading partner, accounting for more than one-fifth of America’s exports and a little less than one-fifth of its imports. On a daily basis, there is $1.9 billion in trade across the shared border.
In December 2001, the U.S. and Canada signed a Joint Statement of Cooperation on Border Security and Regional Migration Issues.The declaration established a joint action plan for deter-ring, detecting and prosecuting security threats while ensuring the free flow of people and goods across the border. In November 2003, the U.S. and Canada announced the creation of two more Integrated Border Enforcement Teams (IBETs) to improve security across the border. IBETs are multi-agency teams combining U.S. and Canadian law enforcement, immigration and customs officials, working together daily with local, state and provincial enforcement agencies. They are strategically located along the length of the border to ensure it remains open to trade and travel, but closed to criminal or terrorist elements. With the two new ones, there are now 14 IBETs covering every strategic location across the U.S.- Canada border.
Current Joint Canadian-U.S. concerns
By penetrating various Sikh organizations in the Vancouver, BC area, joint American/Canadian counter intelligence has learned that at least two, and probably three, Sikh groups have set up three secret camps deep in the heavy woods of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. This extensive wilderness area west of Seattle has very few roads and these are mere trails for logging trucks. This area borders on Puget Sound to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west and could easily hide a small army. Counter-intelligence, working both sides of the borders, has yet to positively identify a Sikh camp although radio and cell phone intercepts positively indicate such safe havens. The purpose of such camps is to both hide illegal Sikh immigrants who enter the United States via the harbor at Aberdeen, somewhat south of the Olympic Peninsula, and to hide explosives and weapons that might be discovered by the authorities in Canada. Once there, they can be given false papers, trained in Canadian habits and speech and then brought into Vancouver area, not via the Highway 5 through Blaine but by boat to one of the small harbors that dot the Vancouver area. From there, the smuggled aliens can enter the existing Sikh communities without a problem.
Furthermore, as I have said, the Olympic Peninsula camps are believed to be hiding places for explosives and automatic weapons which, using basic caution, can easily be tested in the forests without the danger of being heard, or seen. From radio and cell phone traffic, a conservative estimate is that at lest 150 persons could be located on the Peninsula at any given time but interdiction and discovery is made more difficult both by the denseness of the woods and the very easy access to small boats, such as small fishing or pleasure craft that are very much in evidence on Puget Sound.
U.S. authorities, in this case both the CIA and the FBI, are very much concerned that the Sikhs might well start to move into the United States where their instability and fanaticism could equal or surpass Al Quaeda in potential terrorist activity.
A program now under consideration is to move American Special Forces into the suspect wooded areas and engage the Sikhs directly with the purpose of killing them and leaving them to rot in the woods. Other Sikhs coming to the area, would find only corpses instead of living terrorists and it is believed that this might cause very real panic and evacuation of all of the training and holding camps.
Sikh Extremism and the Air India Bombings Trial
In June of 1985, known Sikh militants bombed an Air India flight originating in Vancouver, killing all 329 people aboard, including 154 Canadians. The bombing was the single, deadliest incident of aviation terrorism until September 11th. Canadian authorities know that the bombing was masterminded and perpetrated by Sikh terrorists operating from Canada, some of whom were Canadian citizens. Two Canadian-based Sikhs, Ripudaman Singh Malik, 53, and Ajaib Singh Bagri, 51, have been on trial in Vancouver for involvement in the aircraft bombing and for another suitcase bombing at Narita Airport in Tokyo, that killed two baggage handlers. Another British Columbian Sikh extremist, Inderjit Singh Reyat, was convicted in 1991 of building the Tokyo bomb and pleaded guilty in February 2003 to aiding in the construction of the Air India bomb.
The Canadian government believes the bombings were part of a conspiracy by British Columbia-based Sikh extremists to take revenge against the Indian government for its 1984 storming of the Golden Temple, a Sikh shrine. The Indian government sought to flush out armed Sikh extremists fighting for a separate Sikh homeland. Bagri, a former preacher and supporter of Sikh separatism, was second in command in the Babbar Khalsa, a terrorist group dedicated to the creation of a separate Sikh homeland called Khalistan. Babbar Khalsa raised funds in Canada until its charitable status was revoked in the mid 1990s. The Canadian government added Babbar Khalsa to its list of banned terrorist organizations in June 2003.
Canadian Anti-Terror Initiatives
In December 2001, the Canadian Parliament passed the Anti-Terrorism Act, which made perpetrating, financing, or contributing to terrorist activity in Canada a crime. It is now a crime to knowingly support terrorist organizations through overt violence, documentary support, shelter or funds. The legislation requires the publication of a list of terrorist groups deemed to constitute a threat to the security of Canada and Canadians. The act also increased the government’s investigative powers and paved the way for the country to sign the last two of the United Nations’ 12 antiterrorism conventions.
. Some Sikh extremists have been separatists pursuing the formation of a Sikh state, often referred to as Khalistan. Some extremists took part in the Indian independence movement. Some extremists took part in sectarian or other religious violence. Religious terrorism has been used in the Khalistan movement. It has been suggested that addressing extremism requires both political and religious action.
Sikh extremist activity in the independence movement seems to have started in the late mid-19th century, with agitation against British rule, by the extremist Sikh sect of Kuka (Namdhari).
In the early 20th century, other Sikhs who employed extremist tactics emerged whose goals were Indian independence and the British leaving India. Such extremists included Kartar Singh Sarabha (Ghadar conspiracy), Bhagat Singh, Ajmere Singh and Udham Singh.
Ajit Singh, Kishan Singh were Kartar Singh Sarabha‘s co-conspirators, and were also alleged by the British to be extremists . Sikhs participated in Indian independence movement with such a zeal that Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya advised Hindus to raise at least one of their family members as Sikh. Sikhs also raised several rebel units in Japan, Italy and Germany. Sikhs also engineered the Marine Revolt in Bombay and the Signal Regimental mutiny in Jubblepur, India.
History of Sikh separatism
Sikh separatism began in colonial times, or soon after India gained independence in 1947. By the 1970s, some felt the government of India had not responded adequately to Sikh grievances.
A demand for a separate Sikh homeland was made by Jagjit Singh Chauhan, who at the time was Secretary General of the Akali Dal party. In 1971, Jagjit Singh was expelled from the party for his “anti-nationalistic” activities. He later returned to India, denouncing terrorism and pursuing Khalistan through democratic means
In October, 1991, The New York Times reported that “many”Sikhs claimed they were being discriminated against, and that the Punjab region was not treated equally with other regions of India. “By February 1997, a UN report appears to have found that Sikhs had religious freedom, but that there were reportsof discriminatory practices in public administration
Amnesty International reported that, from 1983 to 1994, armed groups struggling to form an independent Sikh state were responsible for “widespread” human rights violations, killing “thousands” of civilians and taking hostages. It further reported that the police responded with a “crackdown”, illegally detaining, torturing and killing “hundreds of young men”.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that from the 1980s Sikh separatists were guilty of serious human rights violations through “…massacre of civilians, attacks upon Hindu minorities in the state, and indiscriminate bomb attacks in crowded places…”. HRW also reported that the government response resulted in further serious human rights violations against “tens of thousands”. HRW noted that one case currently under investigation by India’s National Human Rights Commission focused on allegations that “thousands” had been killed and cremated by security forces throughout Punjab
Sikh terorist events
Udham Singh, of Sikh background, was described variously as a freedom fighter, an “extremist revolutionary”,and a terrorist. While Udham Singh was living in the UK, he shot and killed Michael O’Dwyer in London on 1 April 1940. O’Dwyer had been the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab at the time of Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Udham Singh was hanged in UK on 25 June 1940, and his ashes were returned to India in 1974.
Bhagat Singh, a Sikh by religion, was active in the Indian independence struggle. He was called an extremist by Mahatama Gandhi. He murdered a Lahore Police officer and his mercy plea was rejected by British Viceroy of India Lord Irwin
Immediately after Operation Blue Star, authorities were unprepared for how quickly extremism spread and gained support in Canada, with extremists “…threatening to kill thousand of Hindus by a number of means, including blowing up Air India flights.”
The 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 off Ireland, the deadliest aircraft terror attack until the September 11, 2001 attacks, and the attempted bombing of Air India Flight 301, were alleged by the Canadian government to have been carried out by Sikh extremists. However, Inderjit Singh Reyat, of the ISYF, who was found guilty of manslaughter for making the bombs, is the only individual convicted in these attacks as of 2 May 2010.
Canadian Member of Parliament Ujjal Dosanjh, a moderate Sikh, stated that he and others who spoke out against Sikh extremism in the 1980s faced a “reign of terror”.
Indian counter intelligence agencies reported that, in the early 1990s, journalists who did not conform to militant-approved behavior were targeted for death. It also reports that there were indiscriminate attacks designed to cause extensive civilian casualties: derailing trains, exploding bombs in markets, restaurants, and other civilian areas between Delhi and Punjab. It further reported that militants assassinated many of those moderate Sikh leaders who opposed them and sometimes killed rivals within the militant group. It also stated that many civilians who had been kidnapped by extremists were murdered if the militants’ demands were not met. Finally, it reports that Hindus left Punjab by the thousands.
In August 1991, Julio Ribeiro, then Indian Ambassador to Romania was attacked and wounded in a Bucharest assassination attempt by gunmenidentified as Punjabi Sikhs.
Sikh groups claimed responsibility for the 1991 kidnapping of the Romanian chargé d’affaires in New Delhi, Liviu Radu. This appeared to be retaliation for Romanian arrests of KLF members suspected of the attempted assassination of Julio Ribeiro, then 62, the Indian ambassador to Romania, in Bucharest. Radu was released unharmed after Sikh politicians criticized the action.
In October, 1991, The New York Times reported that violence had increased sharply in the months leading up to the kidnapping, with Indian security forces or Sikh militants killing 20 or more people per day, and that the militants had been “gunning down” family members of police officers.
On January 24, 1995, Tarsem Singh Purewal, editor of Britain’s Punjabi-language weekly “Des Pardes”, was killed as he was closing his office in Southall. There is speculation that the murder was related to Sikh extremism, which Purewal may have been investigating. Another theory is that he was killed in retaliation for revealing the identity of a young rape victim.
On August 31,1995, Chief minister Beant Singh was killed by a suicide bomber. Babbar Khalsa claimed responsibility for the assassination, but “security authorities” were reported to be doubtful of the truth of that claim. A 2006 press release by the Embassy of the United States in New Delhi indicated that the responsible organization was the Khalistan Commando Force.
On November 18, 1998, Journalist Tara Singh Hayer, was gunned down. The publisher of the “Indo-Canadian Times,” a Canadian Sikh and once-vocal advocate of the armed struggle for Khalistan, he had criticized the bombing of Air India flight 182, and was to testify about a conversation he overheard concerning the bombing. Because of his murder, his 15 October 1998, statement to police was not admissible at the trial of Ajaib Singh Bagri.
In 2004, violence erupted at a protest against a play, “Behzti” (Dishonour), that was to have been performed at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. The protest organizer, Sewa Singh Mandla, chairman of the Birmingham council of Sikh Gurdwaras, blamed the violence on extremist members of The Sikh Federation. Amrik Singh Gill, chairman of the Federation, said his members had taken part in the opposition to the play from the start, and denied that its members played any part in the violence. Another member of the Sikh Federation, Kulwinder Singh Johal, expressed happiness that the play had been canceled, confirmed that Sikh Federation members had taken part in the protest against the play, and denied that there had been any violence on the part of the protesters. The Sunday Herald reported that when it appeared the play might be presented despite the protest, death threats increased, and the playwright went into hiding. The play was canceled.
In 2006, a Brooklyn, New York, jury convicted Khalid Awan of providing money and financial services to the Khalistan Commando Force, a terrorist organization responsible for thousands of deaths in India since its founding in 1986. The investigation began in 2003, when Awan, jailed at the time for credit card fraud, bragged of his relationship with Paramjeet Singh Panjwar, leader of the KCF.
The Indian Express reported in its online edition on 19 June 2006 that “Police claimed” that the KZF was behind bomb blasts in Jalandhar, India, at the Inter-State Bus Terminus that left three people killed and injured 12. A police spokesman said the attack was planned by a pair of KZF leaders, one based in Pakistan and one in Canada, and executed by a “local criminal”.
Terry Milewski reported in a 2006 documentary for the CBC that a minority within Canada’s Sikh community was gaining political influence even while publicly supporting terrorist acts in the struggle for an independent Sikh state. In response, the World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO), a Canadian Sikh human rights group that opposes violence and extremismsued the CBC for “defamation, slander and libel”, alleging that Milewski linked it to terrorism and damaged the reputation of the WSO within the Sikh community.
Canadian journalist Kim Bolan has written extensively on Sikh extremism. Speaking at the Fraser Institute in 2007, she reported that she still received death threats over her coverage of the 1985 Air India bombing.
In February 2008, BBC Radio 4 reported that the Chief of the Punjab Police, NPS Aulakh, alleged that militant groups were receiving money from the British Sikh community. The same report included statements that although the Sikh militant groups were poorly equipped and staffed, intelligence reports and interrogations indicated that Babbar Khalsa was sending its recruits to the same terrorist training camps in Pakistan used by Al Qaeda.
A June 2008 article by Vicky Nanjappa, writing for Rediff.com, stated that a report by India’s Intelligence Bureau indicated that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence organization was “desperately trying to revive Sikh” militant activity in India.
In 2008, a CBC report stated that “a disturbing brand of extremist politics has surfaced” at some of the Vaisakhi parades in Canada, and The Trumpet agreed with the CBC assessment. Two leading Canadian Sikh politicians refused to attend the parade in Surrey, saying it was a glorification of terrorism.
In 2008, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, expressed his concern that there might be a resurgence of Sikh extremism.
On May 24, 2009, armed Sikh men attacked the Gurdwara Nanaksar, the Ravidas temple in Rudolfsheim Vienna. They left 16 injured, including visiting Dera Sach Khand head Nirajnan Das, 68, and another leader, Rama Nand, 57, dead. The attack triggered protests and rioting across northern India resulting in at least one death. There were claims and denials of responsibility in the name of the Khalistan Zindabad Force, and suspicions that the attack might have been made by members of a rival sect.
On September 24, 2009, United News of India, published that police arrested two Babbar Khalsa “militants” earlier in the day. The article described the arrests as a “major breakthrough in the assassination case of Rulda Singh, president of the Punjab Rashtriya Sikh Sangat who was shot at and seriously injured by two unidentified persons at his residence near New Grain market on 29 July.”
On September 29, 2009, Rajinder Soomel was murdered on Cambie Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. The murder renewed fears of gang violence. Soomel had been released on parole shortly before his murder. In March, 2008, Soomel had been sentenced to 4 years in prison after confessing he had tried to hire an undercover police officer to kill Hardip Uppal. Uppal had identified Ravinder Soomel, younger brother of the victim, as one of two assassins who killed Tara Singh Hayer in 1998.
Militant Organizations
Sikh involvement in militant organisations have existed Pre-1947 (before Indian Independence), and after 1947. The goal of some pre-1947 organisations being to gain Indian Independence from the British
A militant extremist organisationset up overseas to drive the British out of India. Its members were mostly from the Sikh community and were dubbed “Sikh extremists”.by the British authorities at that time.
The Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Armywas formed by Mohan Singh Deb (who was described as an extremist) to free India from British rule, and fought in Southeast Asia, with support from Japan, during WWII.A part of this movement, led by Chandra Bose, formed a special unit in the German Wehrmacht and fought in combat with them.
A 2007 Australian research reportcited difficulties in researching both violent and non-violent activities of the various (perhaps 22, in 1987) Sikh separatist groups. Names of groups are used interchangeably in reports, intentionally or through error. Bias and sensationalism in government and media reports reduce their reliability. The illegal nature of the organizations also presents challenges. Institute for Conflict Management, on its South Asia Terrorism Portal, alleged that Pakistan’s ISI was making “serious attempts” to reinvigorate terrorism in India, and that “terror groups” were working together to accomplish that goal.
Babbar Khalsa
Babbar Khalsa has been listed as a terrorist organization in the European Union, Canada, India, UK, and the United States. A Canadian Sikh, Ajaib Singh Bagri, co-founder of Babbar Khalsa, said in a 1984 speech, after Hindus had murdered thousands of Sikhs in Delhi that “Until we kill 50,000 Hindus, we will not rest.”
The United States has designated the Babbar Khalsa responsible for the bombing of Air India Flight 182 on 27 June 2002. Canadian courts have further established that Talwinder Singh Parmar, a founder of Babbar Khalsa, was the mastermind of the Air India bombings. Milewski further reported that some parade floats portray Parmar as a “shaheed” (martyr).
Babbar Khalsa was listed in 1995 one of the 4 “major militant groups” in the Khalistan movement
International Sikh Youth Federation
Lord Bassam of Brighton, then Home Office minister, stated that ISYF members working from the UK had committed “assassinations, bombings and kidnappings” and were a “threat to national security.” The ISYF is listed in the UK as a “Proscribed Terrorist Group”.It was also added to the US Treasury Department terrorism list on 27 June 2002. There are allegations that the ISYF has long been supported by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence organization.
Andrew Gilligan, reporting for The London Evening Standard, stated that the Sikh Federation (UK) is the “successor” of the ISYF, and that its executive committee, objectives, and senior members… are largely the same. The Vancouver Sun reported in February 2008 that Dabinderjit Singh was campaigning to have both the Babbar Khalsa and International Sikh Youth Federation de-listed as terrorist organizations.
It also stated of Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day that “he has not been approached by anyone lobbying to delist the banned groups”. Day is also quoted as saying “The decision to list organizations such as Babbar Khalsa, Babbar Khalsa International and the International Sikh Youth Federation as terrorist entities under the Criminal Code is intended to protect Canada and Canadians from terrorism”
Numbers and Demographics
Worldwide, there are 25.8 million Sikhs and approximately 75% of Sikhs live in the Indian state of Punjab, where they constitute about 60% of the state’s population. Even though there are a large number of Sikhs in the world, certain countries have not recognised Sikhism as a major religion. Large communities of Sikhs live in the neighboring states, and large communities of Sikhs can be found across India. However, Sikhs only make up about 2% of the Indian population.
Sikh Migration beginning from the 19th century led to the creation of significant communities in Canada (predominantly in Brampton, along with Malton in Ontario and Abbotsford, Mission, Lower Mainland, Surrey in British Columbia), East Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom as well as Australia and New Zealand. These communities developed as Sikhs migrated out of Punjab to fill in gaps in imperial labour markets. In the early twentieth century a significant community began to take shape on the west coast of the United States. Smaller populations of Sikhs are found in within many countries in Western Europe, Mauritius, Malaysia, Fiji, Nepal, China, Pakistan, Afganistan, Iraq, Singapore, Mexico and many other countries.
Numbers of Sikhs
The precise number of followers of any religion is difficult to estimate. Some sources, like telephone surveys and government censuses count adults who identify themselves as from a specific faith. Predictions by religious organizations are generally higher because they might count individuals as members who do not consider themselves of that faith.
Various sources estimate that Sikhism has about 23 or 24 million followers, making it the fifth largest organized religion in the world. It is surpassed in numbers only by Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. If one defines the term “religion” very inclusively, it is the ninth largest religion in the world, being fewer in numbers than secularists, and followers of Chinese traditional religion, African traditional religions and aboriginal faiths
The Real Sikhism web site estimates that about 21 million (89%) Sikhs live in the Punjab, India. About 400,000 (2%) live in North America, and 360,000 (2%) are in the UK. (2004 data)
The Sikh population of Canada increased from about 147,000 in 1991 to 278,000 in 2001, according to the Canadian census. 3 Independent estimates between 1995 and 2005 range from 160,000, by the 1997 Britannica Book of the Year, to 300,000 by Christian Century magazine.
Data on the number of Sikhs in the U.S. is highly variable:
The ARIS study of 2001 derives its data from random phone calls to over 50,000 American households. They count how many American adults identify themselves with each religion. They estimated that only 57,000 U.S. adults consider themselves as Sikhs.
The 1996 Britannica Book of the Year estimates that there are 240,000 Sikhs in the U.S.; the 1997 edition estimates 190,000.
In 1999, the New York Times estimated a population of 175,000; the Salt Lake Tribune estimated 500,000.
R. Mohan Srivastava, a former cryptographer in the Indian Navy, is now resident in Coquitlam, BC and is employed as a mathematician for FSS International Inc. .(a holding company of Radian Holdings Premier, Inc. Kyoto, Japan) in Vancouver, B.C. He is the co author of several intelligence analysis papers for the Routledge Institute of Great Britain. His co-authors are Philip L. Kushner and Thomas K. Kimmel
Opening statements begin in DeLay’s Austin Trial
November 1, 2010
by Juan A. Lozano
Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Opening statements began Monday in the trial of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who is accused of helping to illegally finance Texas legislative races in 2002.
Prosecutors began laying out their case against DeLay, the once powerful but polarizing Republican, to jurors on Monday. Defense attorneys were to follow.
DeLay was upbeat as he entered an Austin courtroom.
“The prosecution doesn’t have a case. How can I not feel confident,” DeLay, standing next to his wife Christine, said before the proceedings.
DeLay has been pressing for a trial since he was indicted five years ago, but the case was slowed by appeals of pretrial rulings, including his attorneys’ attempt to move the trial out of Austin — the most Democratic city in one of the most Republican states.
DeLay, who has long denied any wrongdoing, is charged with money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison. Jurors were selected last week, and the trial is expected to last three weeks.
Prosecutors allege that DeLay and two associates — Jim Ellis and John Colyandro — illegally funneled $190,000 in corporate money, which had been collected by a group DeLay started, through the Washington-based Republican National Committee to help elect GOP state legislative candidates in 2002.
Under Texas law, corporate money cannot be directly used for political campaigns.
Republicans in 2002 won a majority in the Texas House for the first time since the Civil War era. That majority helped Republicans push through a congressional redistricting plan engineered by DeLay that sent more Texas Republicans to Congress in 2004.
DeLay and his lead attorney, Dick DeGuerin, have said the charges were politically motivated by former Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who brought the original case but has since retired. Earle is a Democrat.
DeLay’s defense team also worried about the trial being held in liberal Austin and its timing, since opening statements were scheduled to begin a day before the contentious midterm elections.
Lead prosecutor Gary Cobb has said the charges were not politically motivated, but acknowledged “there will be politics talked about during the case.”
DeLay was once one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress, earning the nickname “the Hammer” for his heavy-handed style.
The criminal charges in Texas, as well as a separate federal investigation of his ties to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, forced DeLay to step down as majority leader and eventually to resign after representing suburban Houston for 22 years. The Justice Department has since ended its federal investigation into DeLay’s ties to Abramoff without filing any charges against DeLay.
Ellis and Colyandro, who face lesser charges, will be tried later. A previous charge alleging they and DeLay had engaged in a conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws was dismissed.
DeLay has been mostly out of public view since resigning from Congress, except for an appearance on ABC’s hit television show “Dancing With the Stars.” He now runs a consulting firm based in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land.
Conversations with the Crow
When the CIA discovered that their former Deputy Director of Clandestine Affairs, Robert T. Crowley, had been talking with author Gregory Douglas, they became fearful (because of what Crowley knew) and outraged (because they knew Douglas would publish eventually) and made many efforts to silence Crowley, mostly by having dozens of FBI agents call or visit him at his Washington home and try to convince him to stop talking to Douglas, whom they considered to be an evil, loose cannon.
Crowley did not listen to them (no one else ever does, either) and Douglas made through shorthand notes of each and every one of their many conversation. TBR News published most of these (some of the really vile ones were left out of the book but will be included on this site as a later addendum ) and the entire collection was later produced as an Ebook.
Now, we reliably learn, various Washington alphabet agencies are trying to find a way to block the circulation of this highly negative, entertaining and dangerous work, so to show our solidarity with our beloved leaders and protectors, and our sincere appreciation for their corrupt and coercive actions, we are going to reprint the entire work, chapter by chapter. (The complete book can be obtained by going to:
http://www.shop.conversationswiththecrow.com/Conversations-with-the-Crow-CWC-GD01.htm🙂
Here is the fortieth chapter
Conversation No. 40
Date: Friday, October 4, 1996
Commenced: 9:01 AM CST
Concluded: 9:51 AM CST
RTC: Hello, Gregory. I wanted to give you a call because I have just had a long talk with Jim Critchfield. He says he managed to reach you this week and had a discussion with you. Whatever did you say to him? Jim’s howling mad over this. I hope you didn’t go too far.
GD: No, not at all, Robert. He went on a fishing expedition with me and I tried to answer all his questions. That’s absolutely all. I was not rude or threatening to him at all. What did he say?
RTC: He said that you are a very dangerous person and he is going to stop your filthy lies about him and the Company. He thinks you are a renegade intelligence officer who can be legally stopped because of confidentiality agreements he is sure you must have signed at some point.
GD: Well, Robert, I think that comes of your telling him I was an intelligence officer.
RTC: Well, Gregory, I admit that I could have hinted at it when he was asking about you, but I was never specific. Never specific. Did he tell you I was?
GD: No, he took your hook, bait and all.
RTC: Jim said he knew absolutely that you were, or had been, an agent of influence because no one from the outside could possibly have your inside knowledge.
GD: Well, he’s wrong. He tried to threaten me with this so-called agreement and told me I was way out of line. That’s after I stuck the knife into him. I figured I’d do this because he was trying to find out what I knew about his operations or who might have told me. He never admitted knowing Mueller and kept trying to pass Krichbaum off as an army officer, not an SS man. I filled him in on Willi’s background and he certainly wasn’t happy.
RTC: I would imagine not. That whole Gehlen organization was stuffed with Nazis, most of whom were on the automatic arrest lists. He knew this and now he knows you know it. If this ever gets out, I mean really out, it will ruin his career and do damage to the German BND.
GD: Well, that’s a given. He says he’s writing a book about himself and Gehlen and now, he’s worried I’ll shit in his soup.
RTC: And he mentioned this Atwood several times. I know something about him and he claims you have made false accusations about some explosives deal.
GD: I got that from Atwood while he was drinking. It had to do with the two of them plotting to sell ex-Soviet atomic artillery shells to a Pakistani terrorist organization.
RTC: Jesus. Is that true?
GD: I don’t make these things up, Robert.
RTC: I’m not saying you do, Gregory, but could this Atwood have been indulging in fantasy?
GD: No. From Critchfield’s verbal reaction, some or all of it must be true.
RTC: You didn’t tape him, did you? He said you were visiting with some former Army intelligence officer that he had a very bad opinion of.
GD: John busted Atwood back in the early ‘60s for fraud, theft, tax evasion and so on. I would imagine that if Critchfield and Atwood were at all friendly, Jack’s name would cause spastic colon. As soon as he found out where I was, he got right off the line. He probably spent the day on the toilet.
RTC: This tape. You have it?
GD: Certainly. Would you like me to play it for you? Over the phone?
RTC: At this point, Gregory, that doesn’t matter. Yes, play it for me. Jim gave me his view of what was said and now I’d like to hear what really happened.
GD: Then give me a minute to get it hooked up.
(Pause)
Transcription of a telephone conversation between James H. Critchfield and Gregory Douglas, Stillwell Kansas, on Wednesday, October 2, 1996
JHC: Mr. Douglas? Is this Mr. Gregory Douglas?
GD: Yes, it is.
JHC: This is Jim Critchfield. A friend of Bob Crowley’s. I wrote to you recently.
GD: Colonel Critchfield. Yes. Bob told me about you and I did get your letter.
JHC: I’ve been reading your book on Mueller. Very, very interesting to me. Fascinating.
GD: Why thank you very much, Colonel.
JHC: I’m not disturbing you, am I? I can always call later.
GD: No, no, not at all. I’m just visiting a military collector in Stillwell.
JHC: Your phone was busy but I did get a hold of your son who gave me this number. You’re sure this is not an imposition?
GD: No, not all. What can I do for you?
JHC: Well, as I said in my letter, Bob said you were looking for some information on the Pullach people and since I was actively involved with them, he thought I might be able to help you.
GD: He did speak of you. You were up there. That’s a Nazi summer home colony, isn’t it?
JHC: Yes, it was. And I understand you knew Gehlen?
GD: Yes. I met him in the summer of 1951 when I was in Munich.
JHC: Gehlen lived in Munich then, didn’t he?
GD: He might have but when I knew him, he was living at the Villa Rechsberg on the northeast corner of the Starnberger See. He was working for what he called an oil company up at Pullach and he was using the name Major Stephanos. General Staff. That wasn’t his name and Franz told me about him.
JHC: Would I have known this Franz?
GD: Franz von Brentano. One brother was Heinrich, the West German Foreign Minister and his other brother was Ambassador to Italy. He was with the Attaché Abteilung of the OKW during the war.
JHC: I think I remember the name. Were you staying with him?
GD: No, I was living at the Hotel Post in Starnberg. I think it’s a police station now. Gehlen lived down the road so I used to walk down and talk with him.
JHC: An interesting man.
GD: Yes, very.
JHC: Well, I’m writing a book about him and his organization and I was very much interested in your comments about Krichbaum.
GD: So I gathered from your letter.
JHC: Did you ever meet him?
GD: Willi? Oh yes, a number of times. He was living at Bad Reichenhall then. Used to live in Dresden during the war but got bombed out.
JHC: Willi was an army officer.
GD: Well, he was during the First World War, Colonel, but not in the Second.
JHC: I’m certain he was a Wehrmacht colonel then.
GD: I think he might have misled you. Willi Krichbaum had been a lieutenant in a Baden artillery unit in the first war, later was in the Freikorps and then joined the SS. Willi was an Oberführer in the SS. He was in charge of the Grenzpolizei in the south and was Heinrich Müller’s standing deputy in the Gestapo. Of course during the last war, Willi was chief of the Geheime Feldpolizei which was under the OKW. But he was still an SS colonel, not an army one.
JHC: My, my, Mr. Douglas, that is most interesting. Did Willi tell you this?
GD: No, Müller did. I do have a copy of Willi’s SS file, however, complete with picture.
JHC: I always thought he was a regular soldier.
GD: No, an SS man. He was assigned to the RSHA, Amt IV or the Gestapo. I rather liked Willi, Colonel. Ever look at his hands?
JHC: Oh yes.
GD: Badly wounded in the first war. You were asking about his connection with Gehlen? Willi was the chief recruiter for Gehlen’s Org. They used the CROWCRASS list mainly. I mean that’s the list of wanted Nazi war criminals. They took it away from Frenchy Grombach.
JHC: Mr. Douglas, Bob tells me you were serving in Germany after the war. What unit were you with?
GD: I was not in service in Germany, Colonel.
JHC: But to know what you do, you must have been. You certainly weren’t with our people. You were with the Army?
GD: Well, some time ago. Not now.
JHC: Ah, I knew it. Well, as a fellow soldier, I can see that we have some things in common. But I ought to advise you that your book is just a little too informative. You did sign a confidentiality agreement when you left?
GD: My God, so much paperwork.
JHC: Oh, I know. But I wanted to caution you against publishing anything that might jeopardize security matters. You have come rather close to this in certain areas.
GD: I probably have.
JHC: Just a friendly reminder.
GD: Thank you for the heads-up Colonel. I will keep that in mind.
JHC: Are you planning to write any more books on that subject? On Müller?
GD: Yes, I am. I have spoken with Robert about this.
JHC: You know, as I wrote to you, this book is stirring up some interest up at Langley. I’m sure you are aware that some of your comments are viewed with disbelief by some.
GD: Oh yes, Colonel, I’m sure they are.
JHC: There’s quite some information in the files that Müller died in Berlin in ’45.
GD: I know that. Did you know that they found the body of Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller, his wife and two daughters in the courtyard of the Air Ministry?
JHC: Well, you see….
GD: Yes, it was Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller of the RSHA but it was also Doctor Heinrich Müller and he was not in the Gestapo. That’s why my Müller was called ‘Gestapo Müller.’ And that one had only a son and daughter. The wife and the two children are still alive. A different person with the same rank and similar posting, Colonel. I have a copy of his file as well. So much for that myth.
JHC: I think our problem here, Mr. Douglas, is that if certain people got it into their heads that, as you allege, the head of the Gestapo had even had contact with us, let alone worked for us, there would be quite a stink.
GD: I assume you’re talking about the Jewish community.
JHC: Well yes, of course that’s what I’m talking about. All they do is yammer about how important they are. They would raise cain about all of this if they ever believed it and you know how much trouble they can stir up. And you mentioned a Swiss interview with a so-called interrogator. Could you perhaps tell me who this person was? It could be very helpful in authenticating your book.
GD: Why, that’s no problem. The interrogator was James Speyer Kronthal who was the CIA station chief there in Switzerland. James was of the Speyer banking family. German Jews originally. Worked in Berlin before the war, selling stolen artwork for Hermann Göring. Did you know him?
JHC: I may have heard the name.
GD: The CIA did away with Kronthal eventually. He was a practicing homosexual and they believed, though never proved it, that he had been compromised by a Russian agent.
JHC: Did you, by any chance, hear this from Bill Corson?
GD: Corson? No. Müller told me.
JHC: Corson wrote a book on this….
GD: I know. ‘Widows.’
JHC: Right. Did you ever discuss this with Corson?
GD: Of course. Müller had told me that Kronthal’s favorite uncle had died of the influenza epidemic in ’18 and Corson said he knew this from the sister but had never published it. A small detail but I like the small details, Colonel. When Willi got in touch with his former boss, Heini was working for Swiss intelligence. Haussaman and Masson as I recall. Used the name Schwartzer and lived in an elegant villa on the Lake Geneva. Did you ever meet him?
JHC: No, of course not. I mean your book was a revelation to me and many of my friends.
GD: I can believe that. Bob said you raised horses. Do you?
JHC: Why, yes, Mr. Douglas, I do. Are you interested in horses?
GD: Oh yes. I learned to ride over at Possenhofen. You know where that is, I assume?
JHC: Oh yes, I do.
GD: I had an Arabian mare and always rode English. Actually, I used an old German army saddle and I still have it. Don’t ride anymore but I loved it. My instructor was a former Waffen-SS cavalry NCO. You wouldn’t know him, would you?
JHC: I..I really don’t recall.
GD: Good man. Taught me to take a jump with a coin under my ass. The idea was to have it there when you came down. You used to be in the cavalry, as Bob told me.
JHC: Yes, I was, and then we became an armored unit.
GD: I had a relative in the panzers. Got the Knight’s Cross.
JHC: I didn’t know that you were German.
GD: I wasn’t born there but I have family members there. Have you seen Mr. Livingston lately? He was at Pullach and I met him at Gehlen’s place once. In fact, I met you twice.
JHC: Did you? I don’t recall you, Mr. Douglas. You have a good memory.
GD: I’ve been told. I just take it for granted. Dulles bought Gehlen a villa on the east side of the lake. Will you put that in your book?
JHC: Did you get that from Bob?
GD: No, another source.
JHC: Mr. Douglas I have to ask you a serious question. Who are you working for now? Some people think you might have Russian connections.
GD: That’s giving me too much credit, Colonel. I have no secrets to sell to anyone. I just like to put puzzles together…to find out things.
JHC: Couldn’t that cause trouble?
GD: For others, Colonel, certainly not for me. I just write scenarios.
JHC: For our people?
GD: For anyone who will pay me and I have expensive tastes. American agencies like to threaten people to get information on the cheap and that doesn’t impress me. After all, Colonel, it isn’t love but money that makes the world go around. I don’t know if you were aware of this, but Müller used to sell looted art for the CIA. Auctioned some of the unknown pieces off. Lots of money involved. When he died in ’83, I got some of the pieces. A lovely Raphael for instance. Of course, I can’t even think of selling it because they’re still looking for it. Came from Hans Frank’s collection and before that, Poland. Worth millions if it had a clear title but it looks fine on my wall. And you might be interested in the knowledge that parts of the famous Amber Room were right there in Berg. You know Berg, of course. Bodeman-Soden people. It went to Thyssen down in Lugano eventually.
JHC: Well, that’s not in my field.
GD: I think we have a mutual friend, Colonel. Jimmy Atwood? Worked for the CIA in Berlin? Guns? INTERARMCO? Sam Cummings? That one.
JHC: Yes, I had some dealings with him.
GD: I had a run in with him in Austria in 1990. He tried to rip me off on a deal and he got the very dirty end of the stick.
JHC: I don’t…
GD: Does the name Globocnik mean anything to you?
JHC: In what context?
GD: Just curious. I always wondered what Langley did with a box full of gold painted paving stones. But enough of that. Poor Jimmy. You know, when he’s on the sauce, Jimmy talks far too much. He mentioned you once or twice. Now he lives on that lake near Berlin right next to Marcus Wolf. Not surprising considering Jimmy worked for him too.
JHC: I think right now you are way out of line.
GD: He did tell me about the Russian atomic artillery shells but you were a cavalry man and probably wouldn’t be interested. But Jimmy talks far too much and Jimmy is not a gentleman. Abandoned his wife and daughters after she had stuck by him when Angolia got him arrested in ’62. Walked off and left her.
JHC: I know about that. Left her for a tart he met in a club. You knew Angolia?
GD: I’m sitting in his office as we speak. He runs a security company now.
JHC: Is he the one who answered the phone?
GD: As a matter of fact, he did.
JHC: I’m going to have to get off now. It’s been an interesting time talking to you. You will hear from me later on some of these things.
GD: I am certain of that, Colonel. In my next book, I’m going to cover all the Nazi SS and Gestapo people who worked for Gehlen. And Bob Wolfe got me a U.S. Army General Staff listing from 1948 with the names of all the people we brought in then. Of course it was marked not to be released by order of the President of the United States but maybe Wolfe got a promotion and we don’t know it.
JHC: I really have to get off now. It’s been interesting talking with you.
GD: Well, the same, Colonel, and I hope I’ve cleared up some of your questions.
GD: I missed about thirty seconds at the beginning while I was turning on the recorder. The call came in to Jack and he took it on the speaker phone. When Critchfield announced himself and said he wanted to talk to me, Jack acted like he was going to leave but I waved him back into his seat. That’s when I turned on the recorder. Does it match with what he said?
RTC: In essence, but the way Jim tells it, he had complete control over the conversation. It’s obvious the reverse was true. Jim has a very high opinion of himself and he expects people to fall down and worship him. Actually, Gregory, I loved that tape. Listening to it and comparing it with Jim’s rantings, you have made me very happy.
GD: Don’t think I didn’t enjoy myself, too, Robert. What a stuffed shirt he is. Does he really think he can bluff me? With what? Some CIA-inspired court order? He can take one of those, roll it into a tube, insert it into his flabby ass and set it on fire.
RTC: You see, Gregory, if you had been connected with some official intelligence agency and signed the usual confidentiality agreement, he could get such an order. But, of course, if you never did, he’s shit out of luck.
GD: Isn’t that wonderful? I did warn him that Atwood had a huge mouth and gave him a few examples.
RTC: I heard. I have a feeling that Atwood won’t be long for this world given that Paki deal. If he has a sudden heart attack….
GD: Or goes out on the river in a little boat….
RTC: Then I’ll know that you were dead on. We can see.
GD: We could have a pool. Six months?
RTC: Probably. Or less.
GD: Will he come after me?
RTC: You’re not a Company man, Gregory. They’ll do everything they can to keep you out of print. Threaten any prospective publisher with dire financial problems and believe me, not one article about you or your book will ever appear in any American newspaper or on any American television talk show. And I mean ever. They’ll put a blackout on you. And I can assure you that even as I speak, Jim is gathering in all kinds of government informers to write terrible things about you…
GD: You mean like Wolfe…
RTC: Yes, and Naftali and the rest of the third grade Hebrew character assassination brigade.
GD: Yes, but most of them, if not all of them, are little pismires that no one knows anything about. Librarians, minor academics and so on. Pathetic little weasels with the brains of cockroaches. I know because I’ve had to listen to their whinings about the book. Oh mercy, Percy, I just can’t believe this! That’s what they go on about.
RTC: What’s your response?
GD: I tell them something my late grandfather used to say to the idiots he had to deal with. ‘I beg your pardon, sir, but are you anybody in particular?’
RTC: Oh that’s just the thing to say to them. Funny.
GD: They may be big men at home where they terrify small children and pets but in the real world, they remind me of furious squirrels chattering in a park when you stop throwing them soggy peanuts. They think that because they read a paper on some arcane subject at a meeting of other rodents that somehow they have reached the pinnacle of earthly grandeur.
RTC: And then the New York Times gives them some space in their Sunday edition and they cut out the article, frame it and stick it up on the wall of their cubicle.
GD: Failures but unaware of it. Their betters give them fake steering wheels, like little kids in strollers and let them spin them around, thinking they are running the boat. Well, do you want to bet on Atwood? Five will get you ten he’ll be dead meat within…let’s say within a year. Are you game?
RTC: No, I never bet on a sure thing.
GD: I’ve got a thick file on Atwood. Eventually, I’ll publish it. When Jack got him indicted, he threatened to snitch on the CIA so they got the indictment quashed. Jimmy has been involved in all kinds of gun deals where the CIA gives weapons to various groups in foreign countries then proceed to shoot all the leaders the CIA wants to get rid of. Like Guatemala for instance.
RTC: Best wait until he’s dead to do that.
GD: I’d much rather do it while he’s alive. I do so enjoy the shrieks of rage, followed by the sound of the toilet flushing.
RTC: Gregory, I just knew you’d do a good job. I knew it in my heart. I’ll have to tell Bill about this.
GD: What about Kimmel?
RTC: I’d rather not. He keeps warning me not to listen to you because you’re crazy as a loon and that no one must listen to you, ever.
GD: And he’s so friendly with me, too.
RTC: Don’t turn your back on him, Gregory.
GD: Should I send you the tape?
RTC: No, put it in a safe place.
GD: I will. Sure you don’t want to bet on Atwood’s remaining time on earth?
RTC: No. I told you I never bet on a sure thing.
(Concluded at 9:51 AM CST)
Dramatis personae:
James Jesus Angleton: Once head of the CIA’s Counterintelligence division, later fired because of his obsessive and illegal behavior, tapping the phones of many important government officials in search of elusive Soviet spies. A good friend of Robert Crowley and a co-conspirator with him in the assassination of President Kennedy
James P. Atwood: (April 16, 1930-April 20, 1997) A CIA employee, located in Berlin, Atwood had a most interesting career. He worked for any other intelligence agency, domestic or foreign, that would pay him, was involved in selling surplus Russian atomic artillery shells to the Pakistan government and was also most successful in the manufacturing of counterfeit German dress daggers. Too talkative, Atwood eventually had a sudden, and fatal, “seizure” while lunching with CIA associates.
William Corson: A Marine Corps Colonel and President Carter’s representative to the CIA. A friend of Crowley and Kimmel, Corson was an intelligent man whose main failing was a frantic desire to be seen as an important person. This led to his making fictional or highly exaggerated claims.
John Costello: A British historian who was popular with revisionist circles. Died of AIDS on a trans-Atlantic flight to the United States.
James Critchfield: Former U.S. Army Colonel who worked for the CIA and organizaed the Cehlen Org. at Pullach, Germany. This organization was filled to the Plimsoll line with former Gestapo and SD personnel, many of whom were wanted for various purported crimes. He hired Heinrich Müller in 1948 and went on to represent the CIA in the Persian Gulf.
Robert T. Crowley: Once the deputy director of Clandestine Operations and head of the group that interacted with corporate America. A former West Point football player who was one of the founders of the original CIA. Crowley was involved at a very high level with many of the machinations of the CIA.
Gregory Douglas: A retired newspaperman, onetime friend of Heinrich Müller and latterly, of Robert Crowley. Inherited stacks of files from the former (along with many interesting works of art acquired during the war and even more papers from Robert Crowley.) Lives comfortably in a nice house overlooking the Mediterranean.
Reinhard Gehlen: A retired German general who had once been in charge of the intelligence for the German high command on Russian military activities. Fired by Hitler for incompetence, he was therefore naturally hired by first, the U.S. Army and then, as his level of incompetence rose, with the CIA. His Nazi-stuffed organizaion eventually became the current German Bundes Nachrichten Dienst.
Thomas K. Kimmel, Jr: A grandson of Admiral Husband Kimmel, Naval commander at Pearl Harbor who was scapegoated after the Japanese attack. Kimmel was a senior FBI official who knew both Gregory Douglas and Robert Crowley and made a number of attempts to discourage Crowley from talking with Douglas. He was singularly unsuccessful. Kimmel subsequently retired and lives in retirement in Florida
Willi Krichbaum: A Senior Colonel (Oberführer) in the SS, head of the wartime Secret Field Police of the German Army and Heinrich Müller’s standing deputy in the Gestapo. After the war, Krichbaum went to work for the Critchfield organization and was their chief recruiter and hired many of his former SS friends. Krichbaum put Critchfield in touch with Müller in 1948.
Heinrich Müller: A former military pilot in the Bavarian Army in WWI, Müller became a political police officer in Munich and was later made the head of the Secret State Police or Gestapo. After the war, Müller escaped to Switzerland where he worked for Swiss intelligence as a specialist on Communist espionage and was hired by James Critchfield, head of the Gehlen Organization, in 1948. Müller subsequently was moved to Washington where he worked for the CIA until he retired.
Joseph Trento: A writer on intelligence subjects, Trento and his wife “assisted” both Crowley and Corson in writing a book on the Russian KGB. Trento believed that he would inherit all of Crowley’s extensive files but after Crowley’s death, he discovered that the files had been gutted and the most important, and sensitive, ones given to Gregory Douglas. Trento was not happy about this. Neither were his employers.
Frank Wisner: A Founding Father of the CIA who promised much to the Hungarian and then failed them. First, a raging lunatic who was removed from Langley, screaming, in a strait jacket and later, blowing off the top of his head with a shotgun.
Robert Wolfe: A retired librarian from the National Archives who worked closely with the CIA on covering up embarrassing historical material in the files of the Archives. A strong supporter of holocaust writers