See note (1)
James ‘Bo’ Gritz, linked to the US Army Intelligence Support Activity (ISA), was detained with Lance Corp. Edward Trimmer whilst trying to enter Thailand. (Guardian 23rd September 1983) They were apparently on another mission looking for American POWs. In December, for the first time since 1975, American troops were in Laos investigating jungle sites in the south of the country for missing servicemen. (Guardian 21 December 1983)
Out of 2500 Americans missing in action during the Vietnam War, only two are officially listed as missing, a classification that assumes they are alive. One, Robert Garwood, returned to the US in 1979 to a court marshall for collaboration with the enemy. He has been the subject of numerous ‘POW sightings’. In one interview he claimed that he had taken Russian roulette games a la film The Deer Hunter. (International Herald Tribune 24 March 1983)
A new faction book, J.C. Pollock, MIA Mission (New English Library, 1983) tells the story of these bizarre searches, based on the operations of Sarg. Major Daniel Lee Pitzer, with a foreword by Major General John K. Singlaub (Rtd). Singlaub (an old buddy of mercenary and arms dealer Mitch Werbell) is active in the American Security Council, and on the board of Western Goals, brainchild of right-wingers Larry McDonald (a leading John Bircher who died in KAL 007), and John Rees, editor of The Information Digest.
Singlaub was dismissed by President Carter because he publicly opposed the withdrawal of some ground forces from South Korea. This may be explained by his membership of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) which is heavily backed by the Korean Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church. In 1980 Singlaub went to Central America with Reagan adviser and former director of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) Gen. Daniel Graham (rtd), backing Guatemalan officials and the terror killings. In 1981 Singlaub was elected chairman of the new US national WACL branch. Also a member of the WACL is Laotian heroin trafficer General Vang Pao, now living in the US. The ‘Activity’ mission into Laos in November 1981 was led by General Vang Pao and James ‘Bo’ Gritz. They were allegedly supported by Representative Robert K. Dornan, also a member of WACL. (See Anarchy 37)
(1) See Lobster 1, item 12.
Grenada
Also involved with the MIA project was Tom Smith who, according to a report in Private Eye (21 Oct 1983) was part of an attempted clandestine operation in Grenada which was called off shortly before the US invasion. Joining Smith were Robert Lusk, a Texas businessman and one-time drug trafficer, and George Petrie, ex-Special Forces, whose speciality in Vietnam was to lead assassination teams behind Vietcong lines. Petrie has ‘associates in the CIA’.
A short time before the Grenada invasion Mr Wyche, Democratic Chairman of the House Intelligence Sub-Committee on Central America, disclosed that covert intelligence operations were likely against two countries in the next few weeks. “They tend to start with 10 men and $1000 dollars and to end up with thousands of men supported by millions of dollars.” (Guardian October 1983)
James Watkins, the Chief of Naval Operations, bemoaned what he described as ‘the emasculation of the human aspects of our intelligence services’ due to the lack of agents in the field. The US, he claimed, had been largely unprepared for events in Iran, Nicaragua, Lebanon and Grenada. (Times 16th December 1983)
It is reported that DCIA William Casey assigned the ISA a number of covert missions (Newsweek 10th October 1983) – including Grenada?
The ground had been prepared in the media throughout 1983 in support of the inevitable invasion. (See Reagan’s Big Lie in Covert Action Bulletin 19 and Chris Searle, Destabilisation in Grenada (Writers and Readers, 1983) In the Times (7th July 1983) Brian Crozier, known intelligence lackey, wrote ‘in Grenada new air and naval installations can only be for a Soviet base. Since a coup in 1979, the island has been a Cuban colony’. Nothing like the big lie. Supporting the Reagan policy of roll-back, reversing the supposed Soviet advance, Crozier went on, ‘four countries stand out as qualifying for low-risk or no-risk intervention: Angola, the Seychelles, Grenada and Surinam’.
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Among the first ashore during the invasion were members of the US Army’s Psychological Operations Battalion. Capt. Charlie Borchini, of the unique 150 man Battalion from Fort Bragg (also home of the ISA), came to the island well prepared for winning the important propaganda battle. (Observer 18th December 1983) The Battalion contains experts on Central and South America, Asia and Africa, and counts on the help of academics throughout the US.
Printed matter was prepared in collaboration with the State Department, and was flown in with assault troops. Major Douglas Frey tried to claim that it was prepared only two days before the invasion. Tapes were produced and beamed to Grenada on the morning of the invasion. They came from the US forces’ transmitter on Antigua which is used by the Voice of America. Two propaganda exercises would seem to be the formation of a ‘Committee of Thankful Grenadians’ and the production of a petition calling for closer links with the US and the US presence to stay on the island for at least five years’. (Guardian 5th January 1984)
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Power resides with the experienced Ambassador Charles Gillespie, who was in Indonesia when the Army took over in 1975, and Indonesia became America’s most reliable Asian ally. One of his leading advisers is Mike Donovan, regional representative of the ‘American Institute for Free Labour Development’, a branch of US trades union organisation which “works closely with the US government in seeking information on Bishop’s supporters in the trades unions and co-operatives. US forces have continued interrogation of suspects.” (Observer 11th December 1983)
The American Institute for Free Labour Development (AIFLD) was founded in 1961 for training local workers in trade unionism. It channels funds to anti-communist unions in an attempt to cut the ground away from the militants. It is a non-profit, private organisation, and finance is obtained from foundations, business and the Labour organisation AFL-CIO. Many of its agents in the field work for the CIA and no appointment is made abroad without the approval of the AFL-CIO, which favours CIA operatives. (On this see Philip Agee, CIA Diary (Penguin 1975).
The AIFLD has been at work in El Salvador where its support for slightly democratic principles was too much for the Salvadorean leadership.
AIFLD received $1.500,000 in aid from the Israeli union organisation the Histadrut. (New Internationalist November 1982). Histadrut partly owns the arms manufacturers Soltam Ltd which is linked to large pay-offs to Richard Perle, Assistant Secretary of Defence. (New Statesman 22 April 1983)
In Belize the US ambassador Mr Malcolm Barnesby was accused of meddling in the country’s affairs, and it was suggested that the US had a hand in the split which neutralized the country ‘s biggest trade union, the left-led United General Workers Union. (Guardian 5th October 1983). Familiar AIFLD tactics.
One hundred businessmen were invited to the White House to be told of the investment opportunities on the island. (Guardian 8th December 1983) Jay Morris, Deputy Director of the US Agency for International Development (AID) “assured his audience that an American study group sent in shortly after the invasion had found a lot of interesting business prospects. It’s a two-way street”. A better reason for invasion than the Cuban runway scam.
AID is run by the State Dept. and uses funds politically, sometimes in conjunction with CIA offices in the country concerned. It has financed internal security operations, including Iran’s Savak.
Steve Dorril