Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:23 am

A Father Lost
by Scott Shane
Baltimore Sun
August 1, 2004

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Since 1953, Eric Olson has heard more than one explanation for his father's mysterious death. Now he believes it was murder.

He was 9 years old when his mother woke him before dawn half a century ago in Cold War America. Eric Olson came blinking into the living room of their Frederick home, where his father's boss and friend, Col. Vincent Ruwet, sat with the family doctor.

"Everybody had this stony-faced expression," Olson recalls. "I remember Ruwet saying, 'Your father was in New York and he had an accident. He either fell out the window or jumped.'"

After decades of dogged inquiry, Eric Olson now has a new verb for what happened to his father, Frank Olson, who worked for the Army's top-secret Special Operations Division at Fort Detrick, where he developed bioweapons and experimented with mind-control drugs.

Eric Olson found the verb in a 1950s CIA manual that was declassified in 1997 - one more clue in a quest that has consumed his adult life.

The verb is "dropped." And the manual is a how-to guide for assassins.

"The most efficient accident, in simple assassination, is a fall of 75 feet or more onto a hard surface," the manual says, adding helpfully: "It will usually be necessary to stun or drug the subject before dropping him."


Eric Olson believes his father - who developed misgivings about his work and tried to resign - was murdered by government agents to protect dark government secrets.

To find out what happened in the Statler Hotel on the night of Nov. 28, 1953, Eric once spent a sleepless night in the room from which his father fell. He confronted his father's close-mouthed colleagues. He had his father's mummified body exhumed. And he built a circumstantial case that Frank Olson was the victim of what he calls a "national security homicide."

The government has long denied the charge of murder. But it has admitted what might be called negligent manslaughter. Its version: that Frank Olson crashed through the window in a suicidal depression nine days after he was given LSD without his knowledge in a CIA mind-control experiment.

Eric never bought that argument. His devotion to the case derailed a promising career as a clinical psychologist that began with a doctorate from Harvard. In some Frederick circles, you'll hear disapproving murmurs about Eric's obsession - contrasted with the success of his younger brother, Nils, a dentist. But Nils Olson, 55, says he admires his brother's tenacity and agrees with his conclusion.

"At every point there seems to be a convergence of the evidence," Nils Olson says. "It all points to my father's being murdered."

The patriotic community surrounding Fort Detrick has long been reluctant to believe such a possibility. Once, Eric Olson says, he was, too.

"I'm not essentially conspiratorial in my worldview," says the lanky psychologist, who seems almost boyish at 59. "In my father's case, I just started turning over stones, and there was a snake under every one."

It may well be that Olson is wrong - that the government merely drugged his father with LSD, treated him thoughtlessly when he fell into madness and covered it up for 22 years. But if Frank Olson was murdered, then part of the plan would naturally be a cover-up.

"No assassination instructions should ever be written or recorded," says the CIA assassination manual. "Decision and instructions should be confined to an absolute minimum of persons."

It adds: "For secret assassination ... the contrived accident is the most effective technique. When successfully executed, it causes little excitement and is only casually investigated."

Whether the truth is homicide or suicide induced by a reckless drug experiment, the Olson saga is a cautionary tale in an era that echoes the early days of the Cold War. In the war on terror, America again appears tempted to use extreme measures.

In Olson's case, it took the government until 1975 to admit to the LSD experiment. When an investigation of CIA abuses exposed the facts in 1975, two White House aides named Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld helped set up a meeting at which President Gerald Ford apologized to the Olson family.

The goal, according to a declassified White House memo, was to avert a lawsuit in which it "may become apparent that we are concealing evidence for national security reasons."

What evidence was concealed, the memo does not reveal. But people who are far from wild-eyed conspiracy theorists accept the plausibility of Frank Olson's death as an execution.

Among them is Army intelligence veteran Norman G. Cournoyer, 85, who worked with Olson at Detrick and became one of his closest friends.

"If the question is, did Frank commit suicide, my answer is absolutely, positively not," says Cournoyer, now frail and wheelchair-bound, living in Amherst, Mass.
Why would he have been killed?

"To shut him up," Cournoyer says. "Frank was a talker ... . His concept of being a real American had changed. He wasn't sure we should be in germ warfare, at the end."

William P. Walter, 78, who supervised anthrax production at Detrick, says Olson's colleagues were divided about his death. "Some say he jumped. Some say he had help," Walter says. "I'm one of the 'had-help' people."

So is James Starrs, a George Washington University forensic pathologist who examined Olson's exhumed corpse in 1994 and called the evidence "rankly and starkly suggestive of homicide."

Based on that finding, the Manhattan district attorney's office opened a homicide investigation in 1996. Two cold-case prosecutors, Steve Saracco and Daniel Bibb, conducted dozens of interviews, hunted records at the CIA and went to California with a court order to question CIA retiree Robert V. Lashbrook, who shared Olson's room the night he died. (Like everyone known to be directly involved, Lashbrook is now dead.)

In 2001, they gave up.

"We could never prove it was murder," says Saracco.

But Saracco, now retired, found plenty to fuel his suspicions: a hotel room so cramped it was hard to imagine Olson vaulting through the closed window; motives to shut Olson up; the ambiguous autopsy; and the CIA assassination manual.

"Whether the manual is a complete coincidence, I don't know," Saracco says. "But it was very disturbing to see that a CIA manual suggested the exact method of Frank Olson's death."

Covert work

For 20 years after its creation in 1949, Detrick's Special Operations Division developed covert germ weapons - dart guns and aerosol sprayers to assassinate foreign enemies.

There is no evidence they were ever used. In fact, the only death that clearly resulted from the program was that of Frank Olson, one of its senior officers.

The son of Swedish immigrants, Frank Rudolph Olson earned a doctorate in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin and joined the World War II bioweapons program at what was then Camp Detrick.

In 1949, Olson was recruited by Detrick's Special Operations Division. Within months, the Korean War was raging, Sen. Joseph McCarthy was launching his hunt for Communist agents, and pressure was on to build new U.S. germ weapons.

By 1951, the Special Operations Division had won praise from a Pentagon committee for the "the originality, imagination and aggressiveness it has displayed in devising means and mechanisms for the covert dissemination of bacteriological warfare agents."

In October 1952, Olson was promoted to acting director of the division. Although his family didn't know it, he had also been recruited by the CIA for a program code-named Artichoke, part of a decades-long hunt for drugs to make enemy prisoners spill their secrets.

As his career prospered, Olson and his wife, Alice, built a dream house on a hillside above Frederick. They became regulars at Detrick's officers' club.

"He and his wife were both fun people," recalls Curtis B. Thorne, a Detrick veteran who pioneered anthrax studies at the University of Massachusetts.

But promotions and parties concealed Olson's qualms about his work. Suffering from ulcers, he left the Army and stayed on at Detrick as a civilian - though he bridled at the Army's strict oversight. A 1949 security document reported: "Olson is violently opposed to control of scientific research, either military or otherwise, and opposes supervision of his work."

The same year, colleagues recall, Olson was influenced by a new book by a mentor. In Peace or Pestilence: Biological Warfare and How To Avoid It, Theodor Rosebury said science should combat disease, not find devious ways to spread it.

Cournoyer, the Army intelligence veteran, says Olson began to raise ethical issues the friends had discussed during night courses in philosophy at the Catholic University of America. Colleagues were astonished to spot Olson chatting with the pacifists who protested outside Detrick's gates.

"He was turning, no doubt about it," Cournoyer says.

By the fall of 1953, according to Cournoyer, Olson was approaching a crisis of conscience. He had witnessed "special interrogations" of prisoners under the Artichoke program during a secret trip to Europe in July.

After returning, Cournoyer recalls, Olson asked, "Have you ever seen a man die?"

"He actually called it torture," Cournoyer recalls. "He said they went so far as to take a life - lives, definitely more than one. Whatever they got out of them, he didn't consider it worth a life."

One colleague, who spoke on condition of anonymity, thinks Olson was upset because he believed the U.S. had used biological weapons against North Korea. Two Canadian researchers, Stephen Endicott and Edward Hagerman, wrote a 1998 book arguing that such attacks occurred.

But the U.S. government has long denied using bioweapons, and most U.S. experts reject the charge. The issue may not be resolved until all the relevant documents are declassified, if ever.

Whatever its source, Olson's disillusionment came to a head after the LSD experiment on Nov. 19, 1953, at a rented cabin on Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland. Olson - who had stepped down to deputy chief of Special Operations - joined six Army colleagues and three CIA men led by Sidney Gottlieb, the eccentric and powerful CIA liaison to Detrick.

By his own account, Gottlieb served Cointreau to seven of the men without telling them he had laced it with LSD, ostensibly to study the drug's effects.

A 'terrible mistake'

Alice Olson would recall that her husband returned home deeply depressed. He told her he had made a "terrible mistake" but wouldn't elaborate. He said he planned to leave the Army and retrain as a dentist.

According to the official CIA version of events, made public in 1975, Olson became increasingly despondent and paranoid. On Nov. 24, concerned colleagues took him to New York to see a doctor, Harold Abramson, who had experimented with LSD.

Three days later, Olson agreed to be admitted to a Rockville psychiatric hospital. He and CIA officer Robert Lashbrook decided to spend the night at the Statler and head south the next morning.

But at 2:45 a.m., Lashbrook told investigators, he awoke to the sound of breaking glass. Olson had thrown himself through the closed shade and closed window, falling 170 feet to his death on the sidewalk below.

From 1953 to 1975, as Alice Olson descended into alcoholism and fought back to sobriety, she and her children were told nothing about LSD. When the story finally surfaced in the Rockefeller Commission report on CIA abuses, they got official apologies from President Ford and from CIA Director William Colby, who handed over CIA documents on the case. They later received $750,000 in compensation.

But 22 years of deception made it difficult to persuade the family that the new official story was the whole truth.

The betrayal was deeply personal. The LSD cover-up had involved Frank Olson's colleagues, particularly his boss, the late Col. Vincent Ruwet - who had consoled Eric with the gift of a darkroom set and a jigsaw after his father's death.

"Whenever suspicions came up, the family would say: 'This can't be correct, because Ruwet would have known, and Ruwet wouldn't deceive us.' Our relationship to Ruwet was symbolic of our relationship to the whole Detrick community," Eric said.

As a teenager, Eric was a patriotic member of that community, where he became an Eagle Scout in the base-sponsored troop. But in college and graduate school, he grew skeptical.

If his mother shared his doubts, Eric said, she never acted on them: "My mother's mantra was: 'You are never going to know what happened in that hotel room.' It's an injunction, a kind of threat, a taboo and a prediction."

Eric's younger sister, Lisa, was killed in a 1978 plane crash along with her husband and 2-year-old son. Ironically, she died on the way to inspect a lumber mill as a place to invest her share of the government's compensation for Frank's death.

His brother, Nils, who was only 5 in 1953, consciously chose dentistry, the alternate career his father had considered.

But Eric, the eldest, couldn't settle down. He moved to Sweden, his father's ancestral home, and had a son, Stephan, with a Swedish woman. Then he returned to the family home, determined to explain his father's death.

One clue came from Armand Pastore, the assistant night manager at the Statler in 1953. He approached the family in 1975 to report what he'd heard from the hotel switchboard operator that night. Immediately after Olson's fall, CIA officer Lashbrook phoned Abramson, the physician. Instead of shocked and emotional voices, the operator had told Pastore, there was a brief and seemingly expected exchange.

"He's gone," Lashbrook said.

"That's too bad," Abramson reportedly answered.

A similar impression came from a CIA investigator's report in Colby's documents. Dispatched to New York immediately after Olson's death, the investigator listened through a closed door as Abramson told Lashbrook he was "worried as to whether or not the deal was in jeopardy" and thought "the whole operation was dangerous and the whole deal should be reanalyzed."

In a report to the CIA on the death, Abramson wrote that the LSD experiment was designed "especially to trap [Olson]." This conflicted with Gottlieb's story and raised a troubling possibility: that the LSD experiment was actually designed to see whether Olson could still be trusted to keep the agency's dark secrets.

And there was Frank Olson's mummified body, exhumed in 1994, the year after Alice Olson died. Starrs, the pathologist, found none of the facial cuts the original autopsy described, but he did find a contusion to the head that he thought was caused by a blow struck before the fall.

All these anomalies Eric Olson has duly recorded on a Web site devoted to his father's memory: http://www.frankolsonproject.org.

A half-century after his father's death, Eric Olson seems to be struggling to put it behind him. He says he believes he knows what happened, even if he doesn't know details of perpetrators and motives. "You can see the truth through the fog," he says. "But you can't quite make out what it is."

Sometimes, in moments of frustration - which come often because he's struggling to earn a living - he says he's sorry he ever looked into his father's death.

"I've ruined my life," he says in one interview. "I regret everything. I regret digging my father's body up ... . For me, the end has come with facing a hard truth, confronting my own naivete. I thought I wanted knowledge. I didn't think that if knowledge is knowledge of murder, then it's not enough - because then you want justice. And you don't get justice with a secret state murder."

At other times, he seems eager for any new scrap of information. He explains the contradiction by citing the Shakespearean son who pursues the truth about his father's murder.

"Read Hamlet," he says. "Hamlet has become like a friend to me. Once you start looking into your father's death, you go to the end."
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:32 am

CIA Publishes Its Own "Assassin's Manual," Proving It Condones Killing Those Who Oppose U.S. Policy
The CIA 'Killer's Manual' was kept out of the public eye for years, but now we know it teaches the 'fine art' of assassination as if it was a mandatory college course.

by Greg Szymanski
8 Sep 2005

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

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If there are any lingering doubts about whether the U.S. government acts like a bunch of mafia hit men, the following documents, classified for years, should clear things up.

And as the “CIA’s Killer’s Instruction Manual” points out remember that possibly the only thing separating the mafia from the U.S. government is that the thugs in the underworld are much, much smarter.

Never in a month of Sundays would mafia thugs ever think of leaving behind a paper trail, like the following CIA documents indicate, on how exactly to pull off the perfect assassination attempt.

But that’s exactly what the U.S. government did when the CIA distributed a training manual for would-be killers called “A Study of Assassination,” distributed to agents and operatives taking part in the agency’s 1953 covert coup in Guatemala, which ousted the country’s democratically elected President.

The killer’s training manual. hidden and classified until 1997, until the National Security Archive, a Washington D.C. public-interest group, obtained a copy among roughly 1,400 pages found by the group concerning the Guatemala coup, in light of CIA statements that it has destroyed all other secret files about the coup.

Since the release of the documents, however, their contents have remained virtually hidden from the public eye, the messy details of how to pull off the perfect assassination never making it into the mainstream press and only viewed by a select few elsewhere.

Presented by the CIA almost like a college course for future killers, the Department of Defense and CIA spokesmen this week denied knowing anything about the manual, adding they were not aware of any such teaching tool being distributed to agents or operatives.

As the manual verifies purely by its publication, the U.S. government is involved up to its neck in the killing business, the involvement going back to the early 1950’s and most likely much farther back.

And it’s safe to say nothing has changed today, since reports by John Perkins in his latest book, “The Economic Hit Man” and other reports surfacing, seem to indicate the killing business is booming for the government.

Take, for example, the recent story told by former Army wife Kay Griggs of Virginia, who recounts how her husband for more than 10 years told her about his involvement with training and participating in government hit squads, knowledge of which leads to the doorstep of some of the most powerful leaders in our country, including the Oval Office.

Also, consider the recent stories coming out of Venezuela where democratically elected President Hugo Chavez is running for his life from the CIA after he publicly on numerous occasions has announced to the world that the Bush administration wants him dead for not cooperating with policies that would leave his country bankrupt and his people starving.

And in a sick, twisted manner, working on a theory that the end justifies the means, the CIA published it s killer’s manual, breaking down the art of committing the perfect assassination into eight major categories, including definition, employment, justification, classification, the assassin, planning, techniques and examples.

Here are the portions of the manual, the words taken directly from the CIA writers illustrating just how sick, twisted and distorted they really are:

DEFINITION

According to the CIA, assassination is a term thought to be derived from "Hashish", a drug similar to marijuana, said to have been used by Hassan al-Sabbah to induce motivation in his followers, who were assigned to carry out political and other murders, usually at the cost of their lives.

It is here used to describe the planned killing of a person who is not under the legal jurisdiction of the killer, who is not physically in the hands of the killer, who has been selected by a resistance organization for death, and whose death provides positive advantages to that organization.

EMPLOYMENT

Assassination is an extreme measure not normally used in clandestine operations. It should be assumed that it will never be ordered or authorized by any U.S. Headquarters, though the latter may in rare instances agree to its execution by members of an associated foreign service.

This reticence is partly due to the necessity for committing communications to paper. No assassination instructions should ever be written or recorded. Consequently, the decision to employ this technique must nearly always be reached in the field, at the area where the act will take place. Decision and instructions should be confined to an absolute minimum of persons. Ideally, only one person will be involved. No report may be made, but usually the act will be properly covered by normal news services, whose output is available to all concerned.

JUSTIFICATION

Murder is not morally justifiable. Self-defense may be argued if the victim has knowledge which may destroy the resistance organization if divulged. Assassination of persons responsible for atrocities or reprisals may be regarded as just punishment. Killing a political leader whose burgeoning career is a clear and present danger to the cause of freedom may be held necessary.

But assassination can seldom be employed with a clear conscience. Persons who are morally squeamish should not attempt it.

CLASSIFICATIONS

The techniques employed will vary according to whether the subject is unaware of his danger, aware but unguarded, or guarded. They will also be affected by whether or not the assassin is to be killed with the subject hereafter, assassinations in which the subject is unaware will be termed "simple"; those where the subject is aware but unguarded will be termed "chase"; those where the victim is guarded will be termed "guarded."

If the assassin is to die with the subject, the act will be called "lost." If the assassin is to escape, the adjective will be "safe." It should be noted that no compromises should exist here. The assassin must not fall alive into enemy hands.

A further type division is caused by the need to conceal the fact that the subject was actually the victim of assassination, rather than an accident or natural causes. If such concealment is desirable the operation will be called "secret"; if concealment is immaterial, the act will be called "open"; while if the assassination requires publicity to be effective it will be termed "terroristic."

Following these definitions, the assassination of Julius Caesar was safe, simple, and terroristic, while that of Huey Long was lost, guarded and open. Obviously, successful secret assassinations are not recorded as assassination at all. [Illeg] of Thailand and Augustus Caesar may have been the victims of safe, guarded and secret assassination.

THE ASSASSIN

In safe assassinations, the assassin needs the usual qualities of a clandestine agent. He should be determined, courageous, intelligent, resourceful, and physically active. If special equipment is to be used, such as firearms or drugs, it is clear that he must have outstanding skill with such equipment.

Except in terroristic assassinations, it is desirable that the assassin be transient in the area. He should have an absolute minimum of contact with the rest of the organization and his instructions should be given orally by one person only. His safe evacuation after the act is absolutely essential, but here again contact should be as limited as possible. It is preferable that the person issuing instructions also conduct any withdrawal or covering action which may be necessary.

In lost assassination, the assassin must be a fanatic of some sort. Politics, religion, and revenge are about the only feasible motives. Since a fanatic is unstable psychologically, he must be handled with extreme care. He must not know the identities of the other members of the organization, for although it is intended that he die in the act, something may go wrong. While the Assassin of Trotsky has never revealed any significant information, it was unsound to depend on this when the act was planned.

PLANNING

When the decision to assassinate has been reached, the tactics of the operation must be planned, based upon an estimate of the situation similar to that used in military operations. The preliminary estimate will reveal gaps in information and possibly indicate a need for special equipment which must be procured or constructed. When all necessary data has been collected, an effective tactical plan can be prepared. All planning must be mental; no papers should ever contain evidence of the operation.

In resistance situations, assassination may be used as a counter-reprisal. Since this requires advertising to be effective, the resistance organization must be in a position to warn high officials publicly that their lives will be the price of reprisal action against innocent people. Such a threat is of no value unless it can be carried out, so it may be necessary to plan the assassination of various responsible officers of the oppressive regime and hold such plans in readiness to be used only i f provoked by excessive brutality. Such plans must be modified frequently to meet changes in the tactical situation.

TECHNIQUES

The essential point of assassination is the death of the subject. A human being may be killed in many ways but sureness is often overlooked by those who may be emotionally unstrung by the seriousness of this act they intend to commit. The specific technique employed will depend upon a large number of variables, but should be constant in one point: Death must be absolutely certain. The attempt on Hitler's life failed because the conspiracy did not give this matter proper attention.

The techniques portion of the manual then went on to provide details about the particular effectiveness and use of an assortment of weapons, including all types of firearms, explosives as well as blunt and sharp-edged weapons. However, the most interesting assassination techniques recommended by the CIA were:

1. Manual

It is possible to kill a man with the bare hands, but very few are skillful enough to do it well. Even a highly trained Judo expert will hesitate to risk killing by hand unless he has absolutely no alternative. However, the simplest local tools are often much the most efficient means of assassination. A hammer, axe, wrench, screw driver, fire poker, kitchen knife, lamp stand, or anything hard, heavy and handy will suffice. A length of rope or wire or a belt will do if the assassin is strong and agile. All such improvised weapons have the important advantage of availability and apparent innocence. The obviously lethal machine gun failed to kill Trotsky where an item of sporting goods succeeded.

In all safe cases where the assassin may be subject to search, either before or after the act, specialized weapons should not be used. Even in the lost case, the assassin may accidentally be searched before the act and should not carry an incrimin ating device if any sort of lethal weapon can be improvised at or near the site. If the assassin normally carries weapons because of the nature of his job, it may still be desirable to improvise and implement at the scene to avoid disclosure of his identity.

2. Accidents

For secret assassination, either simple or chase, the contrived accident is the most effective technique. When successfully executed, it causes little excitement and is only casually investigated.

The most efficient accident, in simple assassination, is a fall of 75 feet or more onto a hard surface. Elevator shafts, stair wells, unscreened windows and bridges will serve. Bridge falls into water are not reliable. In simple cases a private meeting with the subject may be arranged at a properly-cased location. The act may be executed by sudden, vigorous [excised] of the ankles, tipping the subject over the edge. If the assassin immediately sets up an outcry, playing the "horrified witness", no alibi or surreptitious withdrawal is necessary. In chase cases it will usually be necessary to stun or drug the subject before dropping him. Care is required to insure that no wound or condition not attributable to the fall is discernible after death.


Falls into the sea or swiftly flowing rivers may suffice if the subject cannot swim. It will be more reliable if the assassin can arrange to attempt rescue, as he can thus be sure of the subject's death and at the same time establish a workable al ibi.

If the subject's personal habits make it feasible, alcohol may be used [2 words excised] to prepare him for a contrived accident of any kind.

Falls before trains or subway cars are usually effective, but require exact timing and can seldom be free from unexpected observation.

Automobile accidents are a less satisfactory means of assassination. If the subject is deliberately run down, very exact timing is necessary and investigation is likely to be thorough. If the subject's car is tampered with, reliability is very low. The subject may be stunned or drugged and then placed in the car, but this is only reliable when the car can be run off a high cliff or into deep water without observation.

Arson can cause accidental death if the subject is drugged and left in a burning building. Reliability is not satisfactory unless the building is isolated and highly combustible.

3. Drugs

In all types of assassination except terroristic, drugs can be very effective. If the assassin is trained as a doctor or nurse and the subject is under medical care, this is an easy and rare method. An overdose of morphine administered as a sedative will cause death without disturbance and is difficult to detect. The size of the dose will depend upon whether the subject has been using narcotics regularly. If not, two grains will suffice.

If the subject drinks heavily, morphine or a similar narcotic can be injected at the passing out stage, and the cause of death will often be held to be acute alcoholism.

Specific poisons, such as arsenic or strychine, are effective but their possession or procurement is incriminating, and accurate dosage is problematical. Poison was used unsuccessfully in the assassination of Rasputin and Kolohan, though the latte r case is more accurately described as a murder.

EXAMPLES

Agents may be presented brief outlines, with critical evaluations of the following assassinations and attempts:

Marat, Hedrich, Lincoln, Hitler, Harding, Roosevelt, Grand Duke Sergei, Truman, Pirhivie, Mussolini, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, Benes, Rasputin, Aung Sang, Madero, Kirov ,Abdullah, Huey Long, Gandhi, Alexander of Yugoslvia, Trotsky.

Greg on the Radio.

Listen to my Radio Broadcast live every Monday night at 8pm Pacific time on LewisNews Radio. Look for program scheduling each week at http://webs.lewisnews.com/radio/index.htm. Greg is also a weekly regular on "The Power Hour with Joyce and Dave," a three-hour syndicated daily radio broadcast on the Genesis Network, broadcasting on many AM/FM stations nationwide. Greg appears every Monday at 7a.m to 8a.m. Pacific time.

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Greg Szymanski is an independent investigative journalist and his articles can been seen at http://www.LewisNews.com. He also writes for American Free Press http://www.AmericanFreePress.net and has his own site http://www.arcticbeacon.com. Greg has a live Radio show every Monday night on mms://media.LewisNews.com/Greg and on mms://media.LewisNews.com/RadioLewisNews at 8 pm Pacific time. Greg is also looking for sponsors for his popular new show and he can be contacted at patriott2424@aol.com.
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:44 pm

A Study of Assassination
by Central Intelligence Agency
Estimated Publication Date: December 31st, 1953
Transcription Ebooked and Revised by Sokol (2002)

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

• PREFACE
• A STUDY OF ASSASSINATION: DEFINITION. EMPLOYMENT. JUSTIFICATION
• CLASSIFICATIONS. THE ASSASSIN
• PLANNING. TECHNIQUES
• EXAMPLES
• ANNEX 1: CONFERENCE ROOM TECHNIQUE
• ANNEX 2: ORIGINAL 'A STUDY OF ASSASSINATION' DOCUMENT PAGES
• ANNEX 3: ORIGINAL GUATEMALA '54 COUP ASSASSINATION LISTS

PREFACE

Here you find a transcript of the CIA file titled 'A Study of Assassination'. This unsigned and undated (estimated publication date: Dec 31st, 1953) 19-page typewritten file was part of a collection of CIA documents pertaining to Operations PBFORTUNE and PBSUCCESS and was declassified under the Freedom of Information Act on May 15, 1997.

After years of answering Freedom of Information Act requests with its standard "we can neither confirm nor deny that such records exist," the CIA has finally declassified some 1400 pages of over 100,000 estimated to be in its secret archives on the Guatemalan destabilization program. An excerpt from this assassination manual appears on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times on Saturday, May 31, 1997.

Operations PBFORTUNE and PBSUCCESS were the CIA code-names of the 1952-54 attempts to topple the Guatemalan government under the democratically elected President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman.

Arbenz Guzman was elected President of Guatemala in 1950 to continue a process of socio-economic reforms that the CIA disdainfully refers to in its memoranda as "an intensely nationalistic program of progress colored by the touchy, anti-foreign inferiority complex of the 'Banana Republic.'"* The first CIA effort to overthrow the Guatemalan president - a CIA collaboration with Nicaraguan dictator Anastacio Somoza to support a disgruntled general named Carlos Castillo Armas and codenamed Operation PBFORTUNE - was authorized by President Truman in 1952.

As early as February of that year, CIA Headquarters began generating memos with subject titles such as "Guatemalan Communist Personnel to be disposed of during Military Operations," outlining categories of persons to be neutralized through "Executive Action" (= murder) or through imprisonment and exile. The "A" list of those to be assassinated contained 58 names, all of which the CIA has excised from the declassified documents.

PBSUCCESS, authorized by President Eisenhower in August 1953, carried a US$2.7 million budget for "psychological warfare and political action" and "subversion," among the other components of a small paramilitary war. But, according to the CIA's own internal study of the agency's so-called "K program," up until the day Arbenz Guzman resigned on June 27, 1954, "the option of assassination was still being considered."

While the power of the CIA's psychological war, codenamed "Operation SHERWOOD," against Arbenz Guzman rendered that option unnecessary, the last stage of PBSUCCESS called for "roll-up of Communists and collaborators."

Although Arbenz Guzman and his top aides were able to flee the country, after the CIA installed Castillo Armas in power, hundreds of Guatemalans were rounded up and killed.

Between 1954 and 1990, human rights groups estimate that the repressive operatives of successive military regimes killed more than 180,000 individuals.
Among them are the Mayans massacred in 626 documented government-sponsored or government-committed attacks on native villages, today only remembered by a rather small number of people abroad as the cause for 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, an ethnic Mayan, to start her struggle for civil rights and peace in the region.

This document has been carefully reformatted (and in instances where the HTML transcript had obvious errors not related to the original document, corrected*) and put into e-book format to be read onscreen or printed out and read at leisure by sokol. This introductory text has been in most parts adapted from George Washington University's National Security Archive website at http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/

sokol, June 2002

__________________________________________________________________

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Job - 79-000001025A
Box - 73
Folder - 4
Training file of PBSuccess

THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN APPROVED FOR RELEASE BY CSI/HACo ON 12/JULY 95


THE COVER OF THE ORIGINAL CIA FILE

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A STUDY OF ASSASSINATION

DEFINITION


Assassination is a term thought to be derived from "Hashish", a drug similar to marijuana, said to have been used by Hasan-Bin-Sabah to induce motivation in his followers, who were assigned to carry out political and other murders, usually at the cost of their lives.

It is here used to describe the planned killing of a person who is not under the legal jurisdiction of the killer, who is not physically in the hands of the killer, who has been selected by a resistance organization for death, and whose death provides positive advantages to that organization.

EMPLOYMENT

Assassination is an extreme measure not normally used in clandestine operations. It should be assumed that it will never be ordered or authorized by any U.S. Headquarters, though the latter may in rare instances agree to its execution by members of an associated foreign service. This reticence is partly due to the necessity for committing communications to paper. No assassination instructions should ever be written or recorded. Consequently, the decision to employ this technique must nearly always be reached in the field, at the area where the act will take place. Decision and instructions should be confined to an absolute minimum of persons. Ideally, only one person will be involved. No report may be made, but usually the act will be properly covered by normal news services, whose output is available to all concerned.

JUSTIFICATION

Murder is not morally justifiable. Self-defense may be argued if the victim has knowledge which may destroy the resistance organization if divulged. Assassination of persons responsible for atrocities or reprisals may be regarded as just punishment. Killing a political leader whose burgeoning career is a clear and present danger to the cause of freedom may be held necessary.

But assassination can seldom be employed with a clear conscience. Persons who are morally squeamish should not attempt it.

CLASSIFICATIONS

The techniques employed will vary according to whether the subject is unaware of his danger, aware but unguarded, or guarded. They will also be affected by whether or not the assassin is to be killed with the subject. Hereafter, assassinations in which the subject is unaware will be termed "simple"; those where the subject is aware but unguarded will be termed "chase"; those where the victim is guarded will be termed "guarded."

If the assassin is to die with the subject, the act will be called "lost." If the assassin is to escape, the adjective will be "safe." It should be noted that no compromises should exist here. The assassin must not fall alive into enemy hands.

A further type division is caused by the need to conceal the fact that the subject was actually the victim of assassination, rather than an accident or natural causes. If such concealment is desirable the operation will be called "secret"; if concealment is immaterial, the act will be called "open"; while if the assassination requires publicity to be effective it will be termed "terroristic."

Following these definitions, the assassination of Julius Caesar was safe, simple, and terroristic, while that of Huey Long was lost, guarded and open. Obviously, successful secret assassinations are not recorded as assassination at all. [Illeg] of Thailand and Augustus Caesar may have been the victims of safe, guarded and secret assassination. Chase assassinations usually involve clandestine agents or members of criminal organizations.

THE ASSASSIN

In safe assassinations, the assassin needs the usual qualities of a clandestine agent. He should be determined, courageous, intelligent, resourceful, and physically active. If special equipment is to be used, such as firearms or drugs, it is clear that he must have outstanding skill with such equipment.

Except in terroristic assassinations, it is desirable that the assassin be transient in the area. He should have an absolute minimum of contact with the rest of the organization and his instructions should be given orally by one person only. His safe evacuation after the act is absolutely essential, but here again contact should be as limited as possible. It is preferable that the person issuing instructions also conduct any withdrawal or covering action which may be necessary.

In lost assassination, the assassin must be a fanatic of some sort. Politics, religion, and revenge are about the only feasible motives. Since a fanatic is unstable psychologically, he must be handled with extreme care. He must not know the identities of the other members of the organization, for although it is intended that he die in the act, something may go wrong. While the assassin of Trotsky has never revealed any significant information, it was unsound to depend on this when the act was planned.

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PLANNING

When the decision to assassinate has been reached, the tactics of the operation must be planned, based upon an estimate of the situation similar to that used in military operations. The preliminary estimate will reveal gaps in information and possibly indicate a need for special equipment which must be procured or constructed. When all necessary data has been collected, an effective tactical plan can be prepared. All planning must be mental; no papers should ever contain evidence of the operation.

In resistance situations, assassination may be used as a counter-reprisal. Since this requires advertising to be effective, the resistance organization must be in a position to warn high officials publicly that their lives will be the price of reprisal action against innocent people. Such a threat is of no value unless it can be carried out, so it may be necessary to plan the assassination of various responsible officers of the oppressive regime and hold such plans in readiness to be used only if provoked by excessive brutality. Such plans must be modified frequently to meet changes in the tactical situation.

TECHNIQUES

The essential point of assassination is the death of the subject. A human being may be killed in many ways but sureness is often overlooked by those who may be emotionally unstrung by the seriousness of this act they intend to commit. The specific technique employed will depend upon a large number of variables, but should be constant in one point: Death must be absolutely certain. The attempt on Hitler's life failed because the conspiracy did not give this matter proper attention.

Techniques may be considered as follows:

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1. Manual.

It is possible to kill a man with the bare hands, but very few are skillful enough to do it well. Even a highly trained Judo expert will hesitate to risk killing by hand unless he has absolutely no alternative. However, the simplest local tools are often much the most efficient means of assassination. A hammer, axe, wrench, screw driver, fire poker, kitchen knife, lamp stand, or anything hard, heavy and handy will suffice. A length of rope or wire or a belt will do if the assassin is strong and agile. All such improvised weapons have the important advantage of availability and apparent innocence. The obviously lethal machine gun failed to kill Trotsky where an item of sporting goods succeeded.

In all safe cases where the assassin may be subject to search, either before or after the act, specialized weapons should not be used. Even in the lost case, the assassin may accidentally be searched before the act and should not carry an incriminating device if any sort of lethal weapon can be improvised at or near the site. If the assassin normally carries weapons because of the nature of his job, it may still be desirable to improvise and implement at the scene to avoid disclosure of his identity.

2. Accidents.

For secret assassination, either simple or chase, the contrived accident is the most effective technique. When successfully executed, it causes little excitement and is only casually investigated.

The most efficient accident, in simple assassination, is a fall of 75 feet or more onto a hard surface. Elevator shafts, stair wells, unscreened windows and bridges will serve. Bridge falls into water are not reliable. In simple cases a private meeting with the subject may be arranged at a properly-cased location. The act may be executed by sudden, vigorous [excised] of the ankles, tipping the subject over the edge. If the assassin immediately sets up an outcry, playing the "horrified witness", no alibi or surreptitious withdrawal is necessary. In chase cases it will usually be necessary to stun or drug the subject before dropping him. Care is required to ensure that no wound or condition not attributable to the fall is discernible after death.


Falls into the sea or swiftly flowing rivers may suffice if the subject cannot swim. It will be more reliable if the assassin can arrange to attempt rescue, as he can thus be sure of the subject's death and at the same time establish a workable alibi.

If the subject's personal habits make it feasible, alcohol may be used [2 words excised] to prepare him for a contrived accident of any kind.

Falls before trains or subway cars are usually effective, but require exact timing and can seldom be free from unexpected observation.

Automobile accidents are a less satisfactory means of assassination. If the subject is deliberately run down, very exact timing is necessary and investigation is likely to be thorough. If the subject's car is tampered with, reliability is very low. The subject may be stunned or drugged and then placed in the car, but this is only reliable when the car can be run off a high cliff or into deep water without observation.

Arson can cause accidental death if the subject is drugged and left in a burning building. Reliability is not satisfactory unless the building is isolated and highly combustible.

3. Drugs.

In all types of assassination except terroristic, drugs can be very effective. If the assassin is trained as a doctor or nurse and the subject is under medical care, this is an easy and rare method. An overdose of morphine administered as a sedative will cause death without disturbance and is difficult to detect. The size of the dose will depend upon whether the subject has been using narcotics regularly. If not, two grains will suffice.

If the subject drinks heavily, morphine or a similar narcotic can be injected at the passing out stage, and the cause of death will often be held to be acute alcoholism.

Specific poisons, such as arsenic or strychine, are effective but their possession or procurement is incriminating, and accurate dosage is problematical. Poison was used unsuccessfully in the assassination of Rasputin and Kolohan, though the latter case is more accurately described as a murder.

4. Edge Weapons.

Any locally obtained edge device may be successfully employed. A certain minimum of anatomical knowledge is needed for reliability.

Puncture wounds of the body cavity may not be reliable unless the heart is reached. The heart is protected by the rib cage and is not always easy to locate.

Abdominal wounds were once nearly always mortal, but modern medical treatment has made this no longer true.

Absolute reliability is obtained by severing the spinal cord in the cervical region. This can be done with the point of a knife or a light blow of an axe or hatchet.

Another reliable method is the severing of both jugular and carotid blood vessels on both sides of the windpipe.


If the subject has been rendered unconscious by other wounds or drugs, either of the above methods can be used to ensure death.

5. Blunt Weapons.

As with edge weapons, blunt weapons require some anatomical knowledge for effective use. Their main advantage is their universal availability. A hammer may be picked up almost anywhere in the world. Baseball and [illeg] bats are very widely distributed. Even a rock or a heavy stick will do, and nothing resembling a weapon need be procured, carried or subsequently disposed of.

Blows should be directed to the temple, the area just below and behind the ear, and the lower, rear portion of the skull. Of course, if the blow is very heavy, any portion of the upper skull will do. The lower frontal portion of the head, from the eyes to the throat, can withstand enormous blows without fatal consequences.

6. Firearms.

Firearms are often used in assassination, often very ineffectively. The assassin usually has insufficient technical knowledge of the limitations of weapons, and expects more range, accuracy and killing power than can be provided with reliability. Since certainty of death is the major requirement, firearms should be used which can provide destructive power at least 100% in excess of that thought to be necessary, and ranges should be half that considered practical for the weapon.

Firearms have other drawbacks. Their possession is often incriminating. They may be difficult to obtain. They require a degree of experience from the user. They are [illeg]. Their [illeg] is consistently over-rated.

However, there are many cases in which firearms are probably more efficient than any other means. These cases usually involve distance between the assassin and the subject, or comparative physical weakness of the assassin, as with a woman.

(a) The precision rifle.

In guarded assassination, a good hunting or target rifle should always be considered as a possibility. Absolute reliability can nearly always be achieved at a distance of one hundred yards. In ideal circumstances, the range may be extended to 250 yards.

The rifle should be a well made bolt or falling block action type, handling a powerful long-range cartridge. The .300 F.A.B. Magnum is probably the best cartridge readily available. Other excellent calibers are . 375 M.[illeg]. Magnum, .270 Winchester, .30 - 106 p.s., 8 x 60 MM Magnum, 9.3 x 62 kk and others of this type. These are preferable to ordinary military calibers, since ammunition available for them is usually of the expanding bullet type, whereas most ammunition for military rifles is full jacketed and hence not sufficiently lethal. Military ammunition should not be altered by filing or drilling bullets, as this will adversely affect accuracy.

The rifle may be of the "bull gun" variety, with extra heavy barrel and set triggers, but in any case should be capable of maximum precision. Ideally, the weapon should be able to group in one inch at one hundred yards, but 2 1/2" groups are adequate. The sight should be telescopic, not only for accuracy, but because such a sight is much better in dim light or near darkness. As long as the bare outline of the target is discernable, a telescope sight will work, even if the rifle and shooter are in total darkness.

An expanding, hunting bullet of such calibers as described above will produce extravagant laceration and shock at short or mid-range. If a man is struck just once in the body cavity, his death is almost entirely certain.

Public figures or guarded officials may be killed with great reliability and some safety if a firing point can be established prior to an official occasion. The propaganda value of this system may be very high.

(b) The machine gun.

Machine guns may be used in most cases where the precision rifle is applicable. Usually, this will require the subversion of a unit of an official guard at a ceremony, though a skillful and determined team might conceivably dispose of a loyal gun crew without commotion and take over the gun at the critical time.

The area fire capacity of the machine gun should not be used to search out a concealed subject. This was tried with predictable lack of success on Trotsky. The automatic feature of the machine gun should rather be used to increase reliability by placing a 5 second burst on the subject. Even with full jacket ammunition, this will be absolute lethal if the burst pattern is no larger than a man. This can be accomplished at about 150 yards. In ideal circumstances, a properly padded and targeted machine gun can do it at 850 yards. The major difficulty is placing the first burst exactly on the target, as most machine gunners are trained to spot their fire on target by observation of strike. This will not do in assassination as the subject will not wait.

(c) The Submachine Gun.

This weapon, known as the "machine-pistol" by the Russians and Germans and "machine-carbine" by the British, is occasionally useful in assassination. Unlike the rifle and machine gun, this is a short range weapon and since it fires pistol ammunition, much less powerful.

To be reliable, it should deliver at least 5 rounds into the subject's chest, though the .45 caliber U.S. weapons have a much larger margin of killing efficiency than the 9 mm European arms.

The assassination range of the sub-machine gun is point blank. While accurate single rounds can be delivered by sub-machine gunners at 50 yards or more, this is not certain enough for assassination. Under ordinary circumstances, the SMG should be used as a fully automatic weapon. In the hands of a capable gunner, a high cyclic rate is a distinct advantage, as speed of execution is most desirable, particularly in the case of multiple subjects.

The sub-machine gun is especially adapted to indoor work when more than one subject is to be assassinated. An effective technique has been devised for the use of a pair of sub-machine gunners, by which a room containing as many as a dozen subjects can be "purified" in about twenty seconds with little or no risk to the gunners. It is illustrated below.

While the U.S. sub-machine guns fire the most lethal cartridges, the higher cyclic rate of some foreign weapons enable the gunner to cover a target quicker with acceptable pattern density. The Bergmann Model 1934 is particularly good in this way. The Danish Madsen SMG has a moderately good cyclic rate and is admirably compact and concealable. The Russian SHGs have a good cyclic rate, but are handicapped by a small, light projectile which requires more hits for equivalent killing effect.

(d) The Shotgun.

A large bore shotgun is a most effective killing instrument as long as the range is kept under ten yards. It should normally be used only on single targets as it cannot sustain fire successfully. The barrel may be "sawed" off for convenience, but this is not a significant factor in its killing performance.

Its optimum range is just out of reach of the subject. 00 buckshot is considered the best shot size for a twelve gauge gun, but anything from single balls to bird shot will do if the range is right. The assassin should aim for the solar plexus as the shot pattern is small at close range and can easily [illeg] the head.

(e) The Pistol.

While the handgun is quite inefficient as a weapon of assassination, it is often used, partly because it is readily available and can be concealed on the person, and partly because its limitations are not widely appreciated. While many well known assassinations have been carried out with pistols (Lincoln, Harding, Ghandi), such attempts fail as often as they succeed, (Truman, Roosevelt, Churchill).

If a pistol is used, it should be as powerful as possible and fired from just beyond reach. The pistol and the shotgun are used in similar tactical situations, except that the shotgun is much more lethal and the pistol is much more easily concealed. In the hands of an expert, a powerful pistol is quite deadly, but such experts are rare and not usually available for assassination missions.

.45 Colt, .44 Special, .455 Kly, .45 A.S.[illeg] (U.S. Service) and .357 Magnum are all efficient calibers.

Less powerful rounds can suffice but are less reliable. Sub-power cartridges such as the .32s and .25s should be avoided.

In all cases, the subject should be hit solidly at least three times for complete reliability.

(f) Silent Firearms.

The sound of the explosion of the propellant in a firearm can be effectively silenced by appropriate attachments. However, the sound of the projectile passing through the air cannot, since this sound is generated outside the weapon. In cases where the velocity of the bullet greatly exceeds that of sound, the noise so generated is much louder than that of the explosion. Since all powerful rifles have muzzle velocities of over 2000 feet per second, they cannot be silenced.

Pistol bullets, on the other hand, usually travel slower than sound and the sound of their flight is negligible. Therefore, pistols, submachine guns and any sort of improvised carbine or rifle which will take a low velocity cartridge can be silenced. The user should not forget that the sound of the operation of a repeating action is considerable, and that the sound of bullet strike, particularly in bone, is quite loud.

Silent firearms are only occasionally useful to the assassin, though they have been widely publicized in this connection.
Because permissible velocity is low, effective precision range is held to about 100 yards with rifle or carbine type weapons, while with pistols, silent or otherwise, are most efficient just beyond arms length. The silent feature attempts to provide a degree of safety to the assassin, but mere possession of a silent firearm is likely to create enough hazard to counter the advantage of its silence. The silent pistol combines the disadvantages of any pistol with the added one of its obviously clandestine purpose.

A telescopically sighted, closed-action carbine shooting a low velocity bullet of great weight, and built for accuracy, could be very useful to an assassin in certain situations. At the time of writing, no such weapon is known to exist.

7. Explosives.

Bombs and demolition charges of various sorts have been used frequently in assassination. Such devices, in terroristic and open assassination, can provide safety and overcome guard barriers, but it is curious that bombs have often been the implement of lost assassinations.

The major factor which affects reliability is the use of explosives for assassination. The charge must be very large and the detonation must be controlled exactly as to time by the assassin who can observe the subject. A small or moderate explosive charge is highly unreliable as a cause of death, and time delay or booby-trap devices are extremely prone to kill the wrong man. In addition to the moral aspects of indiscriminate killing, the death of casual bystanders can often produce public reactions unfavorable to the cause for which the assassination is carried out.

Bombs or grenades should never be thrown at a subject. While this will always cause a commotion and may even result in the subject's death, it is sloppy, unreliable, and bad propaganda. The charge must be too small and the assassin is never sure of: (1) reaching his attack position, (2) placing the charge close enough to the target and (3) firing the charge at the right time.

Placing the charge surreptitiously in advance permits a charge of proper size to be employed, but requires accurate prediction of the subject's movements.

Ten pounds of high explosive should normally be regarded as a minimum, and this is explosive of fragmentation material. The latter can consist of any hard, [illeg] material as long as the fragments are large enough. Metal or rock fragments should be walnut-size rather than pen-size. If solid plates are used, to be ruptured by the explosion, cast iron, 1" thick, gives excellent fragmentation. Military or commercial high explosives are practical for use in assassination. Homemade or improvised explosives should be avoided. While possibly powerful, they tend to be dangerous and unreliable. Antipersonnel explosive missiles are excellent, provided the assassin has sufficient technical knowledge to fuse them properly. 81 or 82 mm mortar shells, or the 120 mm mortar shell, are particularly good. Antipersonnel shells for 85, 88, 90, 100 and 105 mm guns and howitzers are both large enough to be completely reliable and small enough to be carried by one man.

The charge should be so placed that the subject is not ever six feet from it at the moment of detonation.

A large, shaped charge with the [illeg] filled with iron fragments (such as 1" nuts and bolts) will fire a highly lethal shotgun-type [illeg] to 50 yards. This reaction has not been thoroughly tested, however, and an exact replica of the proposed device should be fired in advance to determine exact range, pattern-size, and penetration of fragments. Fragments should penetrate at least 1" of seasoned pine or equivalent for minimum reliability.

Any firing device may be used which permits exact control by the assassin. An ordinary commercial or military exploder is efficient, as long as it is rigged for instantaneous action with no time fuse in the system.

The wise [illeg] electric target can serve as the triggering device and provide exact timing from as far away as the assassin can reliably hit the target. This will avoid the disadvantages of stringing wire between the proposed positions of the assassin and the subject, and also permit the assassin to fire the charge from a variety of possible positions.

The radio switch can be [illeg] to fire [illeg], though its reliability is somewhat lower and its procurement may not be easy.

EXAMPLES

[Illeg] may be presented brief outlines, with critical evaluations of the following assassinations and attempts:

Marat
Heydrich
Lincoln
Hitler
Harding
Roosevelt
Grand Duke Sergei
Truman
Pirhivie
Mussolini
Archduke Francis
Ferdinand Benes
Rasputin
Aung Sang
Madero
[illeg]
Kirov
Abdullah
Huey Long
Ghandi [sic]
Alexander of Yugoslavia
Trotsky

CONFERENCE ROOM TECHNIQUE

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1.

(1) Enters room quickly but quietly

(2) Stands in doorway


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2.

(2) Opens fire on first subject to react. Swings across group toward center of mass. Times burst to empty magazine at end of swing.

(1) Covers group to prevent individual dangerous reactions; if necessary, fires individual bursts of 3 rounds
.

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3.

(2) Finishes burst. Commands "shift." Drops back thru [sic] door. Replaces empty magazine. Covers corridor.

(1) On command "shift", opens fire on opposite side of target, swings one burst across group.


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4.

(1) Finishes burst. Commands  "shift". Drops back thru [sic] door. Replaces magazine. Covers corridor.

(2) On command "shift", re- enters room. Covers group: kills survivors with two-round bursts. Leaves propaganda.


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5.

(2) Leaves room. Commands "GO". Covers rear with nearly full magazine.

(1) On command "GO", leads withdrawal, covering front with full magazine.

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6.


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ORIGINAL DOCUMENT – PAGE 1

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ORIGINAL DOCUMENT – PAGE 4

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ORIGINAL DOCUMENT – PAGE 5

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[ILLEGIBLE]

31 March 1954

MEMORANDUM

TO: All Staff Officers

FROM: C/[DELETE]

SUBJECT: Selection of individuals for disposal by Junta Group.

C/[DELETE] has requested a list of names be compiled for study by Staff Officers to determine if they meet the latest criteria for inclusion on the Junta's disposal list.

Consideration for inclusion on the final list should positively establish that the individual falls into one or more of the following groups:

1) High government and organizational leaders whose outward position has not disclosed the fact they are motivated and directed by the Cominform and who are irrevocably implicated in Communist doctrine and policy.

2) Out-and-out proven Communist leaders whose removal from the political scene is required for the immediate and future success of the new government.

3) Those few individuals in key government and military positions of tactical importance whose removal for psychological, organizational or other reasons is mandatory for the success of military action.

This document is routed to Staff Officers for deletions, additions, and/or comments.
It is requested that a final list of disposees be approved promptly to permit P.M. planning to proceed on schedule.

The following list of individuals for consideration has been assembled from old lists supplied by the Junta and from recent intelligence available [Handwritten Note: "not not done"] at [DELETE]. Your careful consideration is requested in making additions or deletions.

Each officer is to indicate his concurrence by placing his initials after each name on the attached list which he believes should remain on this list. Exceptions, additions or deletions are to be noted on the blank pages following the attachment.

[Handwritten Note: Elimination List April [illeg] - [Illeg] is taking a copy of list of names for checking with the [illeg] April 7 - Original Memo with attached Biographic data has been passed to [deleted] Returned by [deleted] on 1 June 1954]

Attachments:

1. Disposal list
2. Blank pages
3. Biographic data


FIRST PAGE OF ONE OF THE MANY ASSASSINATION LISTS COMPILED BY THE CIA DURING PLANNING FOR OPERATION PBSUCCESS. AS THE MEMORANDUM INDICATES, THE CHIEF OF ONE OF THE CIA'S DIVISIONS INVOLVED IN THE COUP (THE DIVISION TITLE HAS BEEN DELETED) REQUESTED A LIST OF NAMES OF ARBENZ GUZMAN GOVERNMENT LEADERS, MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY, AND INDIVIDUALS "OF TACTICAL IMPORTANCE WHOSE REMOVAL FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL, ORGANIZATIONAL OR OTHERS REASONS IS MANDATORY FOR THE SUCCESS OF MILITARY ACTION."

THE MEMO ASKS THAT CIA PERSONNEL READ THROUGH THE LIST AND INITIAL THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO SHOULD BE INCLUDED ON A "FINAL LIST OF DISPOSEES." THE LIST (AND THE INITIALS OR NAMES OF ALL CIA OFFICERS APPEARING IN THE DOCUMENT) HAS BEEN WITHHELD. A HANDWRITTEN NOTE ATTACHED ON THE BOTTOM OF THE MEMO READS:

Elimination List April [illeg] - [Illeg] is taking a copy of list of names for checking with the [illeg] April 7 - Original Memo with attached Biographic data has been passed to [deleted] Returned by [deleted] on 1 June 1954

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REPORT #1

REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES

TO: Chief, [DELETE]

FROM: [DELETE]

SUBJECT: Guatemalan Communist Personnel to be disposed of during Military Operations of Calligeris.

1. Included herein is the list of Guatemalan Communist Personnel to be disposed of during military operations to be carried out by Calligeris.

a. Category I - persons to be disposed of through Executive action (attachment #1)

b. Category II - persons to be disposed of through imprisonment or exile (attachment #2)

2. This list is a revision, revised by Calligeris, of an original list prepared by Headquarters in February 1952. [ILLEGIBLE]

Attachments: 2

Distribution: Orig. & 1, Headquarters

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Communists: Category #1

1. [DELETE]
2. [DELETE]
3. [DELETE]
4. [DELETE]
5. [DELETE]
6. [DELETE]
7. [DELETE]
8. [DELETE]
9. [DELETE]
10. [DELETE]
11. [DELETE]
12. [DELETE]
13. [DELETE]
14. [DELETE]
15. [DELETE]
16. [DELETE]
17. [DELETE]
18. [DELETE]
19. [DELETE]
20. [DELETE]
21. [DELETE]
22. [DELETE]
23. [DELETE]
24. [DELETE]
25. [DELETE]
26. [DELETE]
27. [DELETE]
28. [DELETE]
29. [DELETE]
30. [DELETE]
32. [DELETE]
33. [DELETE]
34. [DELETE]
35. [DELETE]
36. [DELETE]
37. [DELETE]
38. [DELETE]
39. [DELETE]
40. [DELETE]
41. [DELETE]
42. [DELETE]
43. [DELETE]
44. [DELETE]
45. [DELETE]
46. [DELETE]
47. [DELETE]
48. [DELETE]
49. [DELETE]
50. [DELETE]
51. [DELETE]
52. [DELETE]
53. [DELETE]
54. [DELETE]
55. [DELETE]
56. [DELETE]
57. [DELETE]
58. [DELETE]

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Communists: Category #2

1. [DELETE]
2. [DELETE]
3. [DELETE]
4. [DELETE]
5. [DELETE]
6. [DELETE]
7. [DELETE]
8. [DELETE]
9. [DELETE]
10. [DELETE]
11. [DELETE]
12. [DELETE]
13. [DELETE]
14. [DELETE]
15. [DELETE]
16. [DELETE]
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18. [DELETE]
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FIRST PAGE OF ANOTHER VERSION OF THE ASSASSINATION LISTS COMPILED BY THE CIA AND CARLOS CASTILLO ARMAS (CODE-NAMED CALLIGERIS) IN THE COURSE OF PREPARING FOR THE 1954 COUP. THE NAMES OF THE AGENCY'S INTENDED VICTIMS WERE DIVIDED INTO TWO CATEGORIES: PERSONS TO BE DISPOSED OF THROUGH "EXECUTIVE ACTION" (I.E. KILLED) AND THOSE TO BE IMPRISONED OR EXILED DURING THE OPERATION. BEFORE RELEASING THIS DOCUMENT TO THE PUBLIC, THE CIA DELETED EVERY NAME, LEAVING ONLY THE ROWS OF NUMBERS TO INDICATE HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE TARGETED.

'ATTACHMENT # 1' OF THE ABOVE. THE LIST OF INDIVIDUALS TO BE MURDERED CONTAINED 58 NAMES.

'ATTACHMENT # 2' OF THE ABOVE. 74 INDIVIDUALS WERE SINGLED OUT FOR IMPRISONMENT OR EXILE. AS NAMES HAVE BEEN DELETED IN BOTH LISTS, IT HAS BEEN IMPOSSIBLE TO VERIFY THE CIA'S CLAIM THAT IN SPITE OF THE NUMBER OF ASSASSINATION PROPOSALS, NO SUCH KILLINGS WERE ACTUALLY CONDUCTED DURING THE COUP.

_______________

Notes:

* That Arbenz Guzman confiscated two-thirds of United Fruit Co.'s land did not endear him to the USA. In these days, anti-communist paranoia was at its highest, and a politician who took away United Fruit's land (even if to improve the lives of the plantation workers, who were living in slavery but by name) had to be a closet Ruskie.

* like the doubled lines in the 'Explosives' section.
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Mon Jan 08, 2018 10:51 pm

Ana Maria Quintero Lowry
allauthor.com
Accessed: 1/8/18

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Ana Maria Quintero Lowry is president and C.E.O. of A & P International, Inc., an International Consulting and Training corporation providing Cross Cultural Business Solutions for entrepreneurs and corporate America.

For 28 years, Mrs. Lowry has created and built programs and trainings which have been delivered nationally and internationally. As a consultant and executive trainer, Mrs. Lowry and her multi-ethnic team provide professional advice to large corporations developing their diversity supplier procurement programs. In addition, Ana Maria serves as a business coach and business developer to Diverse and Women Owned Business Enterprises who want to become winners of multi-million dollar contracts.

Mrs. Lowry received her Juris Doctorate and Master Degree in International Trade in 1981 from The Pontifical Javeriana University in Bogotá Colombia, the sister College of George Town University. Right after her graduation she started traveling around the world assisting corporations and minority entrepreneurs with clients from other cultures.

Mrs. Lowry was recognized as “A Woman Who Mean Business – Business Owner of the Year” by the Orlando Business Journal in 2017 among other several awards and recognitions for her and her corporation.
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

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Norte del Valle Cartel
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Norte del Valle Cartel
Years active Late 1990s – 2012
Territory Valle del Cauca department of Colombia
Ethnicity Colombian
Criminal activities Drug trafficking, murder, money laundering, gun-running and human trafficking
Allies Sinaloa Cartel[1]
Rivals Medellin Cartel (defunct)

The Norte del Valle Cartel, or North Valley Cartel, was a drug cartel that operated principally in the north of the Valle del Cauca department of Colombia. It rose to prominence during the second half of the 1990s, after the Cali and Medellín Cartels fragmented, and it was known as one of the most powerful organizations in the illegal drug trade. The drug cartel was led by the brothers Luis Enrique and Javier Antonio Calle Serna, alias "Los Comba", until its takedown in 2012 by the authorities of the United States.

History

It is alleged that the Norte del Valle cartel was formed after an event where the brothers Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela and Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, leaders of the Cali Cartel, came to an agreement with the Colombian government that if they surrendered themselves and their organization to the Colombian justice system they would be given perks, such as imprisonment in Colombian prisons for not more than five years and the promise of no expropriation of their substantial assets. It is stated that they organized a meeting with their lieutenants, main subordinates, and junior partners in the business, to inform them that the decision had already been taken to stop all the illicit business immediately. Those members who refused this sudden dissolution, including Carlos Alberto Rentería Mantilla, Juan Carlos Ortiz Escobar, Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía, Diego León Montoya Sánchez, and Orlando Henao Montoya, formed the North Valley cartel.

Known members

Its members were Orlando Henao Montoya alias El Hombre Overol (The Overall Man), Colonel Danilo Gonzalez, Ivan Urdinola Grajales Alias El Enano (The Dwarf) Efrain Hernandez Ramirez Don Efra (Mr. Efra), Andres Lopez Lopez Florecita (Floweret); Arcangel de Jesus Henao Montoya El Mocho, middle brother of Orlando Henao, Lorena Henao Montoya La Viuda De La Mafia (The Mafia Widow) sister of Orlando Henao, Wilber Alirio Varela Fajardo, Jabón (Soap), Diego León Montoya Sanchez Don Diego (Mr. Diego), Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia Chupeta (Lollipop), Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante Rasguño (Scratch), Victor Patiño Fomeque El Quimico (The Chemist) or La Fiera (The Beast). Ex member of Cali Cartel, Luis Alfonso Ocampo Fomeque Tocayo (Namesake) half brother of Victor Patiño, Carlos Alberto Renteria Mantilla Beto Renteria, Ramon Alberto Quintero Sanclemente RQ, Miguel Fernando Solano Don Miguelito (Mr. Miguelito) Juan Carlos Ortiz Escobar Cuchilla (Blade) and Jorge Eliecer Asprilla El Negro Asprilla.

Activities

According to Diego Montoya's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) profile, the U.S. government accuses him of being involved in the willing production and distribution of multiple tons of cocaine into the United States. It also considers him and his organization as heavily relying on violence enjoying the protection of both right-wing and left-wing illegal armed groups classified as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.[2]

According to a 2004 U.S. government Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) indictment, between 1990 and 2004, the Norte del Valle cartel exported more than 1.2 million pounds – or 500 metric tons – of cocaine worth in excess of $10 billion from Colombia to Mexico and ultimately to the United States for resale.

The indictment charges that the Norte del Valle cartel used violence and brutality to further its goals, including the murder of rivals, individuals who failed to pay for cocaine, and associates who were believed to be working as informants.

The indictment alleges that the cartel members employed the services of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary organization internationally classified as terrorist, to protect the cartel's drug routes, its drug laboratories, and its members and associates. The AUC is one of the 37 Foreign Terrorist Organizations identified by the U.S. State Department in 2004.

Leaders of the Norte del Valle cartel allegedly bribed and corrupted Colombian law enforcement and Colombian legislators to, among other things, attempt to block the extradition of Colombian narcotics traffickers to the United States to be prosecuted for their crimes. According to the indictment, members of the Norte del Valle cartel even conducted their own wiretaps in Colombia to intercept the communications of rival drug traffickers and Colombian and United States law enforcement officials.

Changes in leadership

The chiefs of the Norte del Valle cartel at one time included Orlando Henao a.k.a. "el hombre del overol" ("The overall man"), Montìguéz Franco a.k.a. "Monty", Diego León Montoya Sánchez, a.k.a. "Don Diego", Wilber Varela, a.k.a. "Jabón" ("Soap"), and Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía, a.k.a. "Chupeta" ("Lollipop").[citation needed] Until his capture in late 2007 Diego Montoya was part of the list containing the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.

Fierce rivalries that divided the cartel into warring factions erupted in 2003 when Hernando Gómez, Wilber Varela and their inner circle, prompted by a rising number of extradition of cartel members to the United States, apparently attempted to negotiate a possible surrender deal with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in a move which was strongly rejected by Diego Montoya and several of the other cartel drug lords. After a failed hit on Varela left him in the hospital with multiple gunshots, Varela declared war on Diego Montoya who he held responsible for the attack.

This situation led to brutal gang warfare, which left a deathtoll of more than 1,000 people between 2003 and 2004 throughout different northern locations of the Valle del Cauca department.

The consequences of such an internal vendetta led Colombian authorities to intervene in order to increase law enforcement efforts against the cartel, which resulted in the 2004 arrest of some 100 assassins in the employ of both rival factions, and in the 2005 capture of Varela's close associate Julio César López (alias "Ojitos", or "Small Eyes"), and Montoya's chief hatchetman, Carlos José Robayo Escobar (alias "Guacamayo", or "Macaw"), among others. On June 4, 2008 Julio César López was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison by a federal court in New York. More than $100 million worth in properties and luxury assets was also seized, along with an almost complete fiberglass narco submarine that would have been built by the cartel in order to smuggle drugs into the United States and other foreign countries.

All of these events may have influenced several members of the Norte del Valle cartel to seek a deal with Colombian and U.S. drug enforcement authorities during late 2004 and early 2005, whether through direct negotiation proposals or employing the possible protection that they may gain through the infiltration of the AUC's then ongoing peace negotiations with the Colombian government.[3]

Diego Montoya was captured in Colombia on September 10, 2007. Wilber Varela was killed in the Venezuelan city of Mérida.[4]

Cartel arrests

The Norte del Valle Cartel is believed to be the single most powerful existing cartel in Colombia with exception of the smaller North Coast Cartel, the FARC Marxist guerrilla, and the right wing paramilitary group AUC. Due to their violent warfare that left more than 1,000 people dead between 2003 and 2004, the Colombian government with support of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), FBI, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have pursued the cartel heavily for over four years.

2003–2004

Image
José Dagoberto Flores Ríos

The first significant blow to be dealt to the Norte del Valle Cartels internal membership came with the arrest of Juan Carlos Montoya Sánchez, brother to top Norte del Valle boss Diego Montoya. Juan Carlos was arrested in December 2003 in Colombia and extradited to the United States two years later on May 4, 2005 where he was sentenced to 262 months in prison for drug trafficking and money laundering, he was believed to be responsible for overseeing the cartels cocaine laboratories.[5][6][7][8] Along with Juan Carlos, Carlos Felipe Toro Sánchez, alias "Pipe", was arrested. Carlos Felipe was believed to be responsible for overseeing the drug shipments of cocaine to their destination in the U.S., Mexico, and Europe. Carlos Felipe was extradited to the United States ten days before Juan Carlos, on April 25, 2005.[6] The following month after the capture of Juan Carlos came the arrest of José Dagoberto Flores Ríos whose alias is "Chuma." Jose Dagoberto, who was the top lieutenant to Arcángel Henao Montoya, was arrested in January 2004 in Colombia and later extradited to the United States where he is in custody in New York.[9][10]

Image
Arcángel De Jesús Henao Montoya: alias "El Mocho" being escorted by ICE agents.

In 2004, four additional captures occurred of Norte del Valle hierarchy. The capture of Arcángel Henao Montoya, also known as "El Mocho" ("The Amputee"), was a top leader of the cartel. Arcángel was arrested on January 10, 2004 in Panama and extradited to New York.[5][8][9][11][12][13] In July 2004 Luis Hernando Gómez Bustamante, alias "Rasguño" ("Scratch"), one of the founders and top leaders of the cartel, was arrested on July 2, 2004 trying to enter Cuba on a false passport. He was held in Cuba awaiting extradition to Colombia and ultimately to the U.S. In March 2004, the Colombian government seized properties belonging to Bustamante in excess of $100 million. He would not be extradited to the United States for over three years.[11] Gabriel Puerta Parra, alias "El Doctor" ("The Doctor"), was arrested on October 7, 2004 near Bogotá, Colombia. Gabriel Puerta was an attorney and counselor to the Norte del Valle cartel. He acted as a highly respected intermediary between the Norte del Valle Cartel and major Mexican cartels, assisted in resolving disputes within the cartel and, influencing the Colombian government with extradition matters. He invested his own money in drug shipments and facilitated money laundering operations through front companies he owned and setup for the cartel, as well as acquiring local and international real estate to launder the cartel's illegal proceeds.[7][10]

2005–2006

Image
Jhonny Cano Correa

Arrests continued throughout 2005 as José Aldemar Rendón Ramírez, alias "Mechas", was arrested by Colombian authorities on July 15, 2005. José Aldemar operated as a financial officer within the Norte del Valle Cartel, responsible for the launder of its illegal proceeds.[11] Jhonny Cano Correa, alias "Flecha" ("Arrow"), was arrested later the year on October 29, 2005. Jhonny Cano operated as a chief of security for Luis Hernando Gómez Bustamante. He was responsible for ensuring the security of cocaine processing laboratories, drug shipments, and murdering rivals. He was eventually extradited to the United States in September 2006.[11]

Following the capture of Luis Hernando Gómez Bustamante, and his chief of security, Jhonny Cano, came the capture of Bustamante's lieutenant, Jaime Maya Durán, alias "Alejandro". Following Bustamante's arrest, Durán assumed more responsibility within the cartel. He was captured in Mexico in September 2006 and shortly after extradited to the United States.[14] The following month brought the capture of Orlando Sabogal Zuluaga, alias "Alberto", another high-ranking lieutenant to Luis Hernando Gómez Bustamante on October 31, 2006 in a shopping mall in Spain.[15]

2007

In 2007 five members of the cartel were captured, Eugenio Montoya Sánchez, alias "Don Hugo," younger brother to top cartel boss Diego Montoya, was arrested January 15, 2007 in the Cartel's stronghold town of El Dovio.[16] It is believed Eugenio took over his brother's major operations to allow his brother to remain at large from Colombian and U.S. authorities.[17]

Image
Luis Gómez a.k.a. "Rasguño" (scratch)

February 2007 brought about the extradition of Luis Hernando Gómez Bustamante, arrested years prior. Bustamante was extradited to Colombia from Cuba on July 20, 2007, he was then handed over to DEA agents in Bogotá for transport to the United States. Bustamante reportedly offered to cooperate with U.S. authorities in exchange for protection after receiving numerous death threats while in Colombian custody.[18][19][20][21][22] February also led to the capture of Laureano Rentería, right-hand man to Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía, Laureano Renteria was detained at one of Ramirez's stash houses containing $19 million. He tried convincing authorities he was a simple construction worker hired to remodel the house and accepted a plea deal to 44 months in prison. While in prison an informant in New York revealed he was Ramírez's confidant who protected Ramirez during their six-year prison term served in a Colombia during the 1990s. Laureano Renteria was responsible for managing Ramírez's financial structure including the stash house logistics and bribing of high Colombian government officials. When the DEA learned of this information they had the Colombian authorities transfer Rentería to a maximum security prison to await a speedy extradition to the US. On February 27, 2007 the extradition order was to be served, but authorities found Rentería dead in his cell due to cyanide poisoning. His death went unsolved, but Ramírez is suspected to have ordered the hit to prevent him from revealing vital cartel secrets.

On February 25, 2007, Eduardo Restrepo Victoria, also known as "El Socio", was arrested in Colombia. It is believed that Eduardo is the right-hand man and the partner of the cartel leader, Wilber Varela. On September 7, 2006, Colombian police seized 65 Restrepo properties in the cities of Bogota, Cali and no state of Tolima valued at more than US $ 25 million. Henry Loaiza Ceballos, "El Alacran" ("The Scorpion"). When it was captured and extradited Restrepo assumed its operations and in partnership with Varela. [23] The month following the capture of Juan Carlos Ramirez-Abadia, incidentally "Chupeta", one of the main masters of Cartel Norte del Valle. In January 2007, four separate raids of Ramírez's houses in the city of Cali, Colombia. Ramirez was arrested in Brazil on August 7, 2007. [24] Ramirez was extradited by Brazil to the United States on Friday, August 22, 2008. Diego León Montoya Sánchez, alias "Don Diego", "El Señor de la Guerra" ("The Warlord"), was arrested on September 10, 2007 at 8:20 a.m., in a rural farm house in Valle, Colombia. Montoya was believed to be the top leader of the Norte Del Valle Cartel. The arrest of Diego Leon ends the Montoya Clan's claim in drug trafficking, with Juan Carlos Montoya Sánchez serving a 262-month prison term in the United States and his younger brother Eugenio Montoya Sánchez detained in a maximum security prison in Colombia awaiting extradition. After news of Montoya's arrest, Colombian Defense Minister claimed his extradition to the US was inevitable.[5][8][23] He was extradited to Miami on December 12, 2008.[24]

2008

The Colombian and US governments were targeting Wilber Varela, believing he would try to take over Montoya's business as well and possibly start another war with the emerging leaders. However, Varela was found murdered on January 30, 2008 in a hotel resort in the state of Mérida in Venezuela. Colombian authorities believe he was murdered by his own men on orders of jailed paramilitary drug lord Carlos Mario Jimenez alias "Macaco" to end Varela's power struggle in the rival city Medellin and surrounding areas in Antioquia. Jimenez was later extradited to the United States on May 7, 2008 for failing to meet the terms of his surrender and for continuing to run his criminal organization in prison.

2009–2010

On June 1, 2009 Aldemar Álvarez Tabares alias "Pelón", the supposed successor of Bustamante, was arrested in Cali. Ramón Quintero Sanclemente (alias "RQ" or "Lucas"), an old guard high-ranking member of the cartel, was arrested in Quito (Ecuador) and immediately deported to Colombia. Quintero is now being held in the Combita maximum security prison, awaiting extradition proceedings to the United States. Quintero was one of the 10 most wanted DEA drug traffickers in the world, and he had a reward for his capture, valued up to $5 million. Quintero was accused of being one of the last leaders of the NVC organization, and also of trafficking large amounts of cocaine through Mexico using his Mexican cartel connections / partners (some reports claim that his organization was moving up to 50 metric tons per year to the United States and Europe). The formal request for extradition was submitted by the United States in July 2009. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bonnie S. Klapper and Walter M. Norkin in the Eastern District of New York.[25]

Future

Diego Montoya's arrest and Wilber Varela's murder closed a chapter in Colombia's war on drugs. However, Colombian and US officials have identified the remaining cartel members that may fight for leadership of the organization. Authorities have identified the following targets as possible successors for both the Montoya and Varela Organization.[citation needed] As a preventive initiative, the Colombian government has issued arrest warrants for all these men before they can organize and restructure the cartel. Close to $250,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of each suspect. All suspects have extradition requests from the United States.[citation needed]

Los Machos (Diego Montoya Organization)

Los Machos is a Colombian drug trafficking paramilitary organization.[26] The group started as Montoya's security force. Oscar Varela Garcia alias "Capachivo" is posed as the most likely candidate to assume leadership. Fifty-four-year-old Varela, along with the Robayo brothers, has control of Montoya's security force of Los Machos. Varela started his career as a hitman with Wilber Varela for the late drug baron Orlando Henao Montoya. Varela remained friends with Wilber Varela until he sided with Montoya during the Montoya-Varela war. Oscar Varela's name became known after he organized the Jamundí massacre, where ten investigative agents were murdered by a corrupt military unit. On July 5, 2008 Varela was captured by Colombian authorities in a farmhouse in Palmira, Valle del Cauca. The operation was during the early morning where Varela was captured while he was sleeping in his underwear with his girlfriend.[citation needed]

Jorge Urdinola Perea alias "La Iguana" ("The Iguana") is another potential candidate. Urdinola is 42 years old and is cousin to the late drug baron Ivan Urdinola Grajales. He owns and operates many drug laboratories in the cartel's stronghold of the Canon Of Garrapatas and in the Colombian state of Choco. He is also the current leader of Diego Montoya's private army and hit squad "Los Machos". If Urdinola assumes control, his brother Hilbert Urdinola Perea alias "Don H" (Mr. H), will also co-lead. On June 25, 2008 Jorge Urdinola Perea was captured by Colombian authorities in Zarzal, Valle del Cauca.[citation needed]

The fourth possible candidate was 39-year-old Gildardo Rodriguez Herrera alias "El Señor de la Camisa" ("The Man of the Shirt"). He started his career as a leftist guerrilla and after spending ten years at Montoya's side he learned the trade. He also managed Montoya's security forces of Los Machos. After Montoya's arrest, Gildardo was starting to gain strength until Colombian authorities captured him on May 16, 2008 in a farmhouse in the Colombian state of Cundinamarca. The arrest was made possible on information provided by an informant who was paid the reward money.[citation needed]

Los Rastrojos (Wilber Varela Organization)

Los Rastrojos is a Colombian drug trafficking paramilitary organization. The group was formed by Norte del Valle cartel capo Wilber Varela, alias "Jabon" and one of his right-hand men, "Diego Rastrojo", around 2004 when Varela fell out with fellow-capo Diego Leon Montoya, alias "Don Diego".[27] The group became independent after the murder of its main founder in Venezuela in 2008 and has since become one of the most important drug trafficking organization in Colombia.

Authorities now believe Wilber Varela's main captains Diego Perez Henao alias "Diego Rastrojo" and Luis Enrique Calle alias "Combatiente" ("Combatant") conspired with AUC commander Carlos Mario Jiménez alias "Macaco" to murder Varela.[citation needed] With the murder of Varela, Jimenez consolidated himself as the maximum authority in drug trafficking in Colombia controlling the drug trade in ten Colombian states and having authority over the cartel. His control lasted until his extradition in 2008. Luis Enrique Calle's rise to power will include his brother Javier Antonio Calle.[citation needed] Together they operated Varela's drug laboratories and oversaw transportation through their controlled drug routes. Under Jimenez's conditions, the Varela organization was to leave any interests in Medellin and Antioquia and share power between Henao and the Calle brothers.[citation needed]

Other Varela organization members of interest include Gilmer Humberto Quintero, alias "Cabezon" ("Big Head"), Ramon Quintero Sanclemente alias "Lucas" (arrested in Ecuador on April 2010, deported to Colombia for extradition proceedings to the United States), Jaime Umberto Palomino alias "Piernas Locas" ("Crazy Legs"), Roberto Londono Velez, Jaime Alberto Marin Zamora alias "Beto" (beto was captured in Venezuela in 2010[28]), Jose Ignacio Bedoya Velez, and Diego Perez Henao's brother Wilmar Perez Henao. Longtime Varela partner Ramon Quintero is suspected of being the most powerful and experienced target but is suspected of being at war with Diego Perez Henao over a 10 million dollar dispute.[citation needed]

Gilmer Humberto Quintero was found dead inside a police station bathroom with a shot in the head. Apparently, he committed suicide with a .25 caliber pistol he had hidden from police when he was captured June 14, 2008.

North Valley remnants (Ramirez Abadía Organization)

After Laureano Renteria's mysterious murder in his jail cell and the capture of Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía in Brazil,[29] authorities identified Aldemar Rojas Mosquera[30] as the most likely inheritor of Ramirez's organization.[31]

References

1. "La caída del principal narco del mundo, con conexiones en RD".
2. FBI.gov Archived March 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
3. "Capos del narcotrafico de Colombia ofrecen entregarse a EE.UU". terra. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
4. "Colombian drugs lord found dead". BBC News. February 1, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
5. "Top Colombian drug suspect seized". BBC. January 11, 2004.
6. b "High-ranking Colombian Drug Traffickers Sentences on Cocaine Charges". United States Department of Justice. February 27, 2006.
7. The Drug Enforcement Administration's International Operations(PDF). United States Department of Justice. pp. 113, 123, 133, 138.
8. "Cali cartel leader caught in drug swoop". Sydney Morning Herald. January 11, 2004. Archived from the original on December 11, 2012.
9. "Jose Dagoberto Flores Rios". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 2008-02-15. Retrieved 27 July2012.
10. "Colombian police nab reputed leader of drug cartel". USA Today. December 28, 2004.
11. "ICE, Colombians Work Together To Dismantle Norte Valle Cartel". United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
12. "Man Accused Of Being Kingpin Is Arrested". New York Times. January 14, 2004.
13. "Colombia drug cartel suspect nabbed". CNN. January 11, 2004. Archived from the original on December 10, 2007.
14. "Jaime Maya Duran". United States Department of State.
15. "Orlando Sabogal Zuluaga". United States Department of State.
16. Kingpin Eugenio Montoya Sanchez nabbed after gunbattleArchived January 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine., a January 16, 2007 Associated Press story via CNN
17. "Eugenio Montoya-Sanchez". United States Department of State.
18. "Colombia extraditing suspected drug kingpin to U.S". Associated Press. July 19, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-09-26.
19. Hugh Bronstein (July 19, 2007). "Colombia extradites cocaine lord "Scratch" to U.S". Reuters.
20. "Colombia cartel raid nets $100m". BBC. March 11, 2004.
21. "Cuba deports suspected drug baron". BBC. February 9, 2007.
22. "Cuba seizes Colombia 'drug chief'". BBC. July 9, 2004.
23. Sibylla Brodzinsky (September 11, 2007). "Colombian drug lord captured".
24. "Despegó vuelo de la DEA que lleva extraditado a E.U. a 'Don Diego'". El Tiempo. December 12, 2008.[permanent dead link]
25. "USDOJ: US Attorney's Office - Eastern District of New York". Justice.gov. Archived from the original on 2013-10-20. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
26. "La tardía guerra contra las llamadas Bacrim, Opinión". Semana.com. 2011-02-09. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
27. "Rastrojos". Colombia Reports. 2012-09-18. Retrieved 2012-09-20.
28. Vheadline.com, 17 September 2010, "Top Colombian narco-trafficker 'Beto Marin' captured in Venezuela"
29. Martes 29 de julio de 2014. "Autoridades persiguen en Colombia al heredero de 'Chupeta', Aldemar Rojas Mosquera - Archivo - Archivo Digital de Noticias de Colombia y el Mundo desde 1.990". eltiempo.com. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
30. [1] Archived May 18, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
31. "Autoridades persiguen en Colombia al heredero de 'Chupeta', Aldemar Rojas Mosquera" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Tue Jan 09, 2018 1:54 am

Marine Barracks Washington, D.C.: 8th & I
"Oldest Post of the Corps"
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NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

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Nov 10, 2017
World War II Memorial - The official party [General Alfred M. Gray] returns from laying the wreath at the Pacific Arch of the World War II Memorial during the Marine Corps’ Birthday Wreath Laying Ceremony, Washington D.C., Nov. 10, 2017. The wreath laying ceremony is an annual event held to celebrate the U.S. Marine Corps’ birthday and honor those who gave the last measure of devotion to country and Corps. (Official U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Damon A. Mclean/Released)


Marine Barracks Washington, D.C., also known as "8th & I," is the oldest active post in the Marine Corps. It was founded by President Thomas Jefferson and Lt. Col. William Ward Burrows, the second commandant of the Marine Corps, in 1801.

Located on the corners of 8th & I Streets in southeast Washington, D.C., the Barracks supports both ceremonial and security missions in the nation's capital.

The Barracks is home to many nationally recognized units, including the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon, the Marine Drum and Bugle Corps, the Marine Band, the official Marine Corps Color Guard, and the Marine Corps Body Bearers. It is also the site of the Home of the Commandants, which, along with the Barracks, is a registered national historic landmark.
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

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Gaeta
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 1/8/18

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Gaeta
Comune
Comune di Gaeta
Image
Gaeta's historic quarter from Monte Orlando.
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Location of Gaeta in Italy
Coordinates: 41°13′N 13°34′E
Country Italy
Region Lazio
Province / Metropolitan city Latina (LT)
Frazioni Arenauta, Ariana, Fontania, Porto Salvo, Sant'Agostino, Sant'Erasmo, San Vito, Serapo
Government
• Mayor Cosmo Mitrano (PdL)
Area
• Total 28.48 km2 (11.00 sq mi)
Elevation 2 m (7 ft)
Population (9 October 2011)
• Total 20,762
• Density 730/km2 (1,900/sq mi)
Demonym(s) Gaetani
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 04024
Dialing code 0771
Patron saint Saint Erasmus
Saint day 2 June
Website Official website

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The natural sea grotto of the Turchi.

Gaeta (Italian pronunciation: [ɡaˈeːta]; Latin: Caiēta, Ancient Greek: Καιέτα) is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 kilometres (75 miles) from Rome and 80 km (50 mi) from Naples.

The town has played a conspicuous part in military history: its fortifications date back to Roman times, and it has several traces of the period, including the 1st-century mausoleum of the Roman general Lucius Munatius Plancus at the top of the Monte Orlando.

Gaeta's fortifications were extended and strengthened in the 15th century, especially throughout the history of the Kingdom of Naples (later the Two Sicilies).
Present day Gaeta is a fishing and oil seaport, and a renowned tourist resort. NATO maintains a naval base of operations at Gaeta.

History

Ancient times


It is the ancient Caieta, situated on the slopes of the Torre di Orlando, a promontory overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Gaeta was an ancient Ionian colony of the Samians according to Strabo, who believed the name stemmed from the Greek kaiétas, which means "cave", probably referring to the several harbours. According to Virgil's Aeneid (vii.1–9), Caieta was Aeneas’ (another legend says Ascanius') wet-nurse, whom he buried here.

In the classical age Caieta, famous for its lovely and temperate climate, like the neighbouring Formia and Sperlonga, was a tourist resort and site of the seaside villas of many important and rich characters of Rome. Like the other Roman resorts, Caieta was linked to the capital of the Empire by Via Appia and its end trunk Via Flacca (or Valeria), through an opposite diverticulum or by-road. Its port was of great importance in trade and in war, and was restored under Emperor Antoninus Pius. Among its antiquities is the mausoleum of Lucius Munatius Plancus.

Middle Ages

At the beginning of the Middle Ages, after the Lombard invasion, Gaeta remained under suzerainty of the Byzantine Empire. In the following years, like Amalfi, Sorrento and Naples, it would seem to have established itself as a practically independent port and to have carried on a thriving trade with the Levant.

As Byzantine influence declined in Southern Italy the town began to grow. For fear of the Saracens, in 840 the inhabitants of the neighbouring Formiæ fled to Gaeta. Though under the suzerainty of Byzantium, Gaeta had then, like nearby ports Naples and Amalfi, a republican form of government with a dux ("duke", or commanding lord under the command of the Byzantine Exarch of Ravenna), as a strong bulwark against Saracen invasion.

Around 830, it became a lordship ruled by hereditary hypati, or consuls: the first of these was Constantine (839–866), who in 847 aided Pope Leo IV in the naval fight at Ostia. At this same time (846) the episcopal see of Gaeta was founded when Constantine, Bishop of Formiae, fled thither and established his residence. He was associated with his son Marinus I. They were probably violently overthrown (they disappear suddenly from history) in 866 or 867 by Docibilis I, who, looking rather to local safety, entered into treaties with the Saracens and abandoned friendly relations with the papacy. Nevertheless, he greatly expanded the duchy and began construction of the palace. Greatest of the hypati was possibly John I, who helped crush the Saracens at Garigliano in 915 and gained the title of patricius from the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII.

The principle of co-regency governed the early dynasties: Docibilis associated John with him and John in turn associated his son Docibilis II with him. In 933, three generations were briefly co-ruling: John I, Docibilis II, and John II. On the death of Docibilis II (954), who first took the title dux, the duchy passed from its golden age and entered a decline marked by a division of territory. John II ruled Gaeta and his brother, Marinus, ruled Fondi with the equivalent title of duke. Outlying lands and castles were given away to younger sons and thus the family of the Docibili slowly declined after mid-century.

Allegedly, but improbably, from the end of the 9th century, the principality of Capua claimed Gaeta as a courtesy title for the younger son of its ruling prince. In the mid-10th century, the De Ceremoniis of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus lists the ceremonial title "prince of Gaeta" among the protocols for letters written to foreigners.[2]

Prince Pandulf IV of Capua captured Gaeta in 1032 and deposed Duke John V, assuming the ducal and consular titles. In 1038, Prince Guaimar IV of Salerno took it from him and, in 1041, established the Norman counts of Aversa, who were afterwards princes of Capua, as puppet dukes. The native dynasty made a last attempt to wrest the duchy from Guaimar in 1042 under Leo the Usurper.

In 1045, the Gaetans elected their own Lombard duke, Atenulf I. His son, Atenulf II, was made to submit to the Norman Prince Richard I of Capua in 1062, when Gaeta was captured by Jordan Drengot. In 1064, the city was placed under a line of puppet dukes, appointed by the Capuan princes, who had usurped the ducal and consular titles. These dukes, usually Italianate Normans, ruled Gaeta with some level of independence until the death of Richard of Caleno in 1140. In that year, Gaeta was definitively annexed to the Kingdom of Sicily by Roger II, who bestowed on his son Roger of Apulia, who was duly elected by the nobles of the city. The town did maintain its own coinage until as late as 1229, after the Normans had been superseded by the centralising Hohenstaufen.

In the many wars for possession of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Gaeta, owing to its important strategic position, was often attacked and defended bravely. In 1194 the Pisans, allies of Emperor Henry VI in the conquest of the kingdom, took possession of the city and held it as their own.

In 1227 the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II was in the city and strengthened the castle. However, in the struggle between Emperor Frederick and the Papacy, in 1228 it rebelled against Frederick II and surrendered to the pope, after the Papal forces destroyed the imperial castle in the fray. After the peace of San Germano of 1230, it was given back to the Sicilian kingdom. In 1233, Frederick regained control of the important port and fortress. In 1279 Charles I of Anjou rebuilt the castle and enhanced the fortifications. In 1289 King James II of Aragon besieged the city in vain. From 1378 Gaeta hosted for some years antipope Clement VII. The future King of Naples Ladislaus lived in Gaeta from 1387. Here, on 21 September, he married Costanza Chiaramonte, whom he repudiated three years later.

King Alfonso V of Aragon (as Alfonso I of Naples) made Gaeta his beachhead for the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples in 1435, besieged it, and to his own disadvantage displayed great generosity, by aiding those unable to bear arms who had been driven out from the besieged town. After a disastrous naval battle he captured it, and gained control of the kingdom. He enlarged the castle, which became his royal palace, and created a mint. In 1451 the city was home to the Treaty of Gaeta, stipulated between Alfonso V and the Albanian lord, Skanderbeg: the treaty ensured protection of the Albanian lands in exchange for political suzerainty of Skanderbeg to Alfonso.[3]

Modern era

In 1495, king Charles VIII of France conquered the city and sacked it. The following year, however, Frederick I of Aragon regained it with a tremendous siege which lasted from 8 September to 18 November.

In 1501 Gaeta was retaken by the French; however, after their defeat at the Garigliano (3 January 1504), they abandoned it to Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Ferdinand the Catholic's general.

In 1528 Andrea Doria, admiral of Charles V, defeated a French fleet in the waters off Gaeta and gave the city to its emperor. Gaeta was thenceforth protected with a new and more extensive wall, which also encompassed Monte Orlando.

In the War of the Spanish Succession, on 30 September 1707 Gaeta was stormed and taken after a three-month siege by the Austrians under General Daun. On 6 August 1734 it was taken by French, Spanish and Sardinian troops under the future King Charles of Naples after a stubborn defense by the Austrian viceroy of four months. Charles' own daughter Infanta Maria Josefa of Spain was born here in 1744. The fortifications were again strengthened; and in 1799 it was temporarily occupied by the French.

On 18 July 1806 it was captured by the French under André Masséna, after an heroic defence. It was created a duché grand-fief in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples, but under the French name Gaete, for finance minister Martin-Michel-Charles Gaudin, in 1809 (family extinguished in 1841).

On 8 August 1815 it capitulated to the Austrians after a three months' siege. It had been attacked and partially reduced by ships of the Royal Navy on 24 July 1815.

After his flight from the Roman Republic, Pope Pius IX took refuge at Gaeta in November 1848. He remained in Gaeta until 4 September 1849.

On 1 August 1849, the USS Constitution while in port at Gaeta, received onboard King Ferdinand II and Pope Pius IX, giving them a 21-gun salute. This was the first time that a Pope set foot on American territory or its equivalent.

Finally, in 1860, it was the scene of the last stand of Francis II of the Two Sicilies against the forces of United Italy. The king offered a stubborn defense, shut up in the fortress with 12,000 men and inspired by the heroic example of Queen Maria Sophie after Garibaldi's occupation of Naples. It was not until 13 February 1861 that Francis II was forced to capitulate when the withdrawal of the French fleet made bombardment from the sea possible, thus sealing the annexation of the Kingdom of Naples to the Kingdom of Italy. Cialdini, the Piedmontese general, received the victory title of Duke of Gaeta. During the functioning of the Government of Montenegro in exile from 1919 to 1924, the headquarters of Montenegrin nationalist regular troops and rebels that supported the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty and opposed the unification of Yugoslavia (The Greens) were located in Gaeta.

Contemporary age

Image
Gaeta within the province of Latina

After the Risorgimento and until World War II, Gaeta grew in importance and wealth as a seaport. The nearby town of Elena, separated after the Risorgimento and named after the queen of Italy, was reunited to Gaeta following World War I. Mussolini transferred Gaeta from the southern region known today as Campania (formerly Terra di Lavoro, to which it is historically and culturally attached) to the central region of Lazio.

After the king dismissed Mussolini in the summer of 1943, the latter was initially taken via Gaeta to the island prison of Ponza. After Italy surrendered to the Allies, however, the town's fortunes began to decline. Recognizing its strategic importance, and fearful of an Allied landing in the area, German troops occupied the city and expelled most of the population. The zone of exclusion began with a five-kilometre border from the historical city centre. Soon after, however, the population was expelled even beyond this point. The Gaetani were finally ordered to leave the area completely. Those who could not were placed in a concentration camp, and a few were taken to Germany.

Following the Allied advance across the Garigliano and the Allied occupation of Rome, the Gaetani were allowed to return to their city and begin the process of rebuilding. In subsequent decades the city has boomed as a beach resort, and it has seen some success at marketing its agricultural products, primarily its tomatoes and olives. Many of its families count seamen among their number. However, the decades since World War II have been as difficult for Gaeta as they have been for most of Italy's Mezzogiorno. In particular, its importance as a passenger seaport has nearly vanished: ferries to Ponza and elsewhere now leave from the nearby town of Formia. All attempts to build a permanent industry as a source of employment and economic well-being for the town have failed. Notable losses include the Littorina rail line (now used as a parking lot and a marketplace), the AGIP refinery (nowadays a simple depot), and the once-thriving glass factory, which has become an unused industrial relic.

Gaeta does have a viable tourism industry, as it is a popular seaside resort. Its warm, rain-free summers attract people to its numerous beaches along the coastline, such as Serapo and Sant'Agostino Beaches. Nearly equidistant to both Naples and Rome, Gaeta is a popular summer tourist destination for people from both cities' metropolitan areas.

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Castle of the houses of Anjou and Aragon

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The famous bell tower of the Cathedral

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Dome of San Giovanni a Mare church

Main sights

The main attractions of the city include:

• The massive Aragonese-Angevine Castle. Its origins are uncertain: most likely it was built in the 6th century, in the course of the Gothic War, or during the 7th century to defend the town from the Lombards' advance. First documents mentioning it date to the age of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, who strengthened it in 1233. The current structure is made of two different edifice: the "Angevine" one, in the lower sector, dating to the House of Anjou's rule in the Kingdom of Naples; and the "Aragonese", at the top, built by emperor Charles V, together with the other fortifications that made Gaeta one of the strongest fortresses in southern Italy. The Angevine wing housed a military jail until the 1980s (German war criminal officers Walter Reder and Herbert Kappler were imprisoned here). Now it is a property of the Gaeta municipality, which uses it for conferences and exhibitions. In the dome of the tallest tower is the Royal Chapel, built by King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies in 1849.
• The Mausoleum of Lucius Munatius Plancus (22 BCE) is a cylindrical travertine monument at the top of Monte Orlando (168 m). It stands at 13.20 m and has a diameter of 29.50 m. Another important Roman public man, Lucius Sempronius Atratinus, Mark Antony's fleet commander, has a mausoleum, sited in the more recent district of Gaeta: of similar diameter, it is however not as well preserved.
The Sanctuary of SS. Trinità, mentioned as early as the 11th century and visited, among the others, by St. Francis and Saint Philip Neri. The Crucifix Chapel was built in 1434 over a rock which had fallen from the nearby cliffs. From the sanctuary the Grotta del Turco can be visited: it is a grotto which ends directly in the sea and where the waves create atmospheric effects of light.
• Sanctuary of Santissima Annunziata - A church and adjacent hospital were built at the site in the 14th century, but rebuilt at the beginning of the 17th century in Baroque style by Andrea Lazzari. It houses works by Renaissance painters including A Sabatini and GF Criscuolo; as well as late-Baroque artists such as Giordano, Conca and Brandi. The church has a Gothic-style sarcophagus of Enrico Caracciolo. Also notable is the Golden Chapel or Grotto, a Renaissance-style chapel where Pope Pius IX meditated before issuing the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.[4] The ceiling is gilded, and the walls contain 19 canvases (1531) by Criscuolo. The main altarpiece is an Immacolata by Pulzone.
• San Giovanni a Mare - The church was initially built outside the old sea walls, by the hypate Giovanni IV in the 10th century. It combines the basilica form with the Byzantineone. The simple façade has a Gothic portal and a dome, while the interior has a nave with two aisles. The inner pavement is slightly inclined to allow waters to flow away in the case of maritime floods.
• The Cathedral of Assunta e Sant'Erasmo was erected over a more ancient church, Santa Maria del Parco, and consecrated by Pope Paschal II in 1106: it had a nave with six aisles separated by columns with Gothic capitals. In 1778, however, two of the aisles were suppressed and the Gothic lines hidden. In the 13th century Moorish arches were added over the capitals. In 1663 the crypt was decorated in Baroque style. The interior houses a banner from the Battle of Lepanto, donated by Pope Pius V to Don John of Austria, who used it as his admiral's flag. The main sight of the church is however the marble Paschal candelabrum, standing 3.50 m tall, from the late 13th century: it is in Romanesque style, decorated with 48 reliefs in 4 vertical rows, telling the Stories of the Life of Jesus. There are also paintings by Giacinto Brandi and Giovanni Filippo Criscuolo. The cathedral contains the relics of St. Erasmus, transferred from Formia; the remarkable campanile, in Arab-Norman style, dates from the 12th century. At the base are slabs and parts of columns from ancient Roman edifices.
• The Cathedral has a great bell tower, standing at 57 m, which is considered the city's finest piece of art. The base has two marble lions, and the whole construction made large reuse of ancient Roman architectural elements. The upper part, octagonal in plan, with small Romanesque arches with majolica decoration, was completed in 1279.
The Chapel of the Crucifix is a curiosity: built on a huge mass of rock that hangs like a wedge between two adjoining walls of rock. Legend tells how the rock was thus split at the moment of our Saviour's death.
• San Francesco - According to the legend, the church was constructed by the Saint himself in 1222, was in fact built by Frederick II, in very fine Gothic-Italian style, and contains paintings and sculpture by many of the most famous Neapolitan artists.
• The parish church of Santa Lucia, the former St. Maria in Pensulis, was once a Royal chapel and here prayed Margherita of Durazzo and king Ladislaus. It had originally Romanesque and Sicilian-Arab lines, but in the 1456 it was rebuilt in Renaissance style, and in 1648 adapted to a Baroque one. The side has a Mediaeval pronaos with ancient fragments and figures of animals.
The Medieval Quarter of Gaeta is itself of interest. It lies on the steep sides of Mount Orlando and has characteristic houses from the 11th-13th centuries.

Gaeta is also the centre of the Regional Park of Riviera di Ulisse, which includes Monte Orlando, Gianola and the Scauri Mounts, and the two promontories of Torre Capovento and that of Tiberius' Villa at Sperlonga.

NATO base

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View of Monte Orlando from a former anti-aircraft position on the harbour of Serapo. The Montagna Spaccata is the sharply vertical cliff on the right side of the promontory. The bastions of Charles V can be seen just on the lower left corner of the convent in the wood.

In 1967, a NATO base was established in Gaeta with support facilities on Monte Orlando.[5] This was done following the transfer of the responsibilities of Lead Nation for NATO Naval Forces in the Mediterranean from the United Kingdom to the United States. The British Mediterranean Fleet was abolished - its former base in Malta was no longer exclusively under British control due to that nation having achieved independence from the UK.

It is currently used as the home port for the flagship of the United States' Sixth Fleet. The Sixth Fleet commander, typically a 3-Star US Navy Vice-Admiral, has operational control of Naval task forces, battle groups, amphibious forces, support ships, land-based surveillance aircraft, and submarines in the Mediterranean Sea. Gaeta's role has been important since the early 19th century to the US Navy’s commitment to forward presence. Pope Pius IX and King Ferdinand II of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, paid visits to the USS Constitution while in Gaeta in 1849. Nine ships have been stationed in Gaeta, with the primary mission of serving as the flagship for the Sixth Fleet commander. The first was USS Little Rock (CG-4). Other Sixth Fleet flagships included USS Springfield (CLG-7), USS Albany (CG-10), USS Puget Sound (AD-38), USS Coronado (AGF-11), USS Belknap (CG-26) and USS La Salle (AGF-3). The current flagship is USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20).

The town is host to the families of the crews who work on the ship. There was a DOD school for American children and the US Naval Support Activity, Gaeta, which provided health care and other services until it was closed down in 2005. The NATO base itself was located on Monte Orlando, which overlooks the Gulf of Gaeta. It has recently been transferred to a shore based facility where the Commander Sixth Fleet also operates.


Culture

Gaeta has erected a monument to Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), who, according to many sources, was born there - though other sources give Genoa or Chioggia. Other notables include the painters Giovanni da Gaeta and Giovan Filippo Criscuolo. For a full list, see People from Gaeta.

Gaetani speak a dialect of Italian that, while similar to the nearby Neapolitan, is one of the few Italian dialects to preserve Latin's neuter gender.

Distinctive local cuisine includes the tiella, which resembles both a pizza and a calzone. The tiella can be made with a number of stuffings. Typical stuffings include diced calamari with parsley, garlic, oil, hot pepper and just enough tomato sauce for color. Other stuffings include escarole and baccalà (dried codfish), egg and zucchini, spinach, rapini and sausage, and ham and cheese. The town is also notable for its distinctive brand of olives, marketed throughout the world (the main production, however, takes place in neighbouring Itri), and its beaches (Serapo, Fontania, Ariana, Sant'Agostino). Sciuscielle, mostaccioli, susamelli, and roccocò are also local desserts most often made during the Christmas season. A Latin text found in Gaeta dating from 997 AD contains the earliest known usage of the word "pizza".[6]

The most famous folklore event of Gaeta is Gliu Sciuscio of 31 December, in which bands of young Gaetani in traditional costumes head to the city's streets, playing mainly self-built instruments.

Notes

1. Demographic data from Istat
2. De ceremoniis Archived 2006-06-19 at the Wayback Machine.
3. Frashëri, Kristo (2002), Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu: jeta dhe vepra, 1405–1468 (in Albanian), Botimet Toena, pp. 310–316, ISBN 99927-1-627-4
4. Yachtmedfestival.com Archived 2010-04-23 at the Wayback Machine.
5. Globalsecurity.org
6. Ceccarini, Rossella (2011). Pizza and Pizza Chefs in Japan: A Case of Culinary Globalization. Leiden: Brill. p. 19. ISBN 978-90-04-19466-3.
7. "A Message from the Peace Commission: Information on Cambridge's Sister Cities," February 15, 2008. Retrieved 12 October 2008.
8. Richard Thompson. "Looking to strengthen family ties with 'sister cities'", The Boston Globe, October 12, 2008. Retrieved 12 October 2008.
9. "Online Directory: Alabama, USA". SisterCities.org. Archived from the original on 2007-12-18. Retrieved 2007-11-17.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gaeta". Encyclopædia Britannica. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 384–385.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "article name needed". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton.
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Tue Jan 09, 2018 3:44 am

The Hidden (And Not So Hidden) Messages in Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut”, Part 1
by The Vigilant Citizen: "Symbols Rule the World, Not Words Nor Laws"
July 8, 2013

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

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“Eyes Wide Shut” was promoted as a steamy, suspenseful movie starring the “It” couple of the day: Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. While the actors were prominently featured in the movie, it is everything around them that told the true story of “Eyes Wide Shut”. Stanley Kubrick’s attention to detail and symbolism gave the movie an entire other dimension – one that cannot be seen by those who have their eyes wide shut. This multiple-part series will look at the hidden symbolism of Kubrick’s final film.

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I remember when I first watched Eyes Wide Shut, back in 1999. Boy, did I hate it. I hated how slow everything was, I hated how Nicole Kidman tried to sound drunk or high and I hated seeing Tom Cruise walking around New York looking concerned. I guess I reacted the same way critics did at the time the movie came out and thought: “This movie is boring and there is nothing hot about it.” More than a decade later, equipped with a little more knowledge and patience, I re-watched the movie … and it blew my mind. In fact, like most Stanley Kubrick films, an entire book could be written about the movie and the concepts it addresses.

Eyes Wide Shut is not simply about a relationship, it is about all of the outside forces and influences that define that relationship. It is about the eternal back-and-forth between the male and female principles in a confused and decadent modern world. Also, more importantly, it is about the group that rules this modern world – a secret elite that channels this struggle between the male and female principles in a specific and esoteric matter. The movie, however, does not spell out anything. Like all great art, messages are communicated through subtle symbols and mysterious riddles.

Stanley Kubrick unexpectedly died only five days after submitting the final cut of the movie to Warner Bros, making Eyes Wide Shut his swan song. Considering the fact that Eyes Wide Shut is about an occult secret society that eliminates those who cross its path, some theories arose about Kubrick’s death and its suspicious nature. Did he reveal to the public too much, too soon? Maybe.

Let’s look at the main themes of Kubrick’s last creation.

The Modern Couple

The stars of Eyes Wide Shut were the “It” couple of 1999: Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Those who were expecting the movie to be a sort of voyeuristic experience showing hot scenes of the couple were probably very disappointed. The audience rather got a cold, egoistic and profoundly unsatisfied couple, one that seems to be tied together not by pure love, but by other factors, like convenience and appearances. While the couple is very “modern” and “upper-class”, the forces that keep it together are the result of basic, primal and almost animalistic behavior. If we look at the instinctive behavior of humans and animals, males primarily look for females that have good child-bearing qualities while females look for a strong provider. Remnants of this behavior still exist today as males tend to display wealth and power to attract females while females showcase their beauty to attract males. In Eyes Wide Shut, the couple perfectly follows that instinctive script.

Tom Cruise’s character is called Dr. Bill … as in dollar bill. Several times during the movie, Dr. Bill either waves his money or his “doctor badge” at people to get them to do what he wants. Bill is part of the upper class and his dealings with people of the lower class are often resolved with money.

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In order to get this taxi driver to wait for him in front of the mention, Dr. Bill tears up a hundred dollar bill and promises him to give him the other half when he comes back. Dr. Bill's motto is probably "Everybody has a price".

Played by Nicole Kidman, Alice lost her job in the art world and is now fully supported by her husband’s salary. While she lives very comfortably, Alice appears to be extremely bored with her life as a stay at home mother. The name Alice is most likely a reference to the main character of Alice in Wonderland – a fairy tale about a privileged girl who is bored with her life and who goes “through the looking glass” to end up in Wonderland. In Eyes Wide Shut, Alice is often shown staring at the looking glass – grooming herself or … maybe looking for something more to life.

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Alice spends a lot of time in front of the mirror being pretty - maybe because it is the only "attribute" that keeps her in that social status. Her daughter, Helena (maybe named after Helena of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world) follows in her footsteps.

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Promotional images for the movie feature Alice kissing Bill but looking at herself in the mirror, almost as if she was seeing an alternate reality.

While the couple shows signs of fatigue, Bill and Alice put on their “happy masks” when it is time to attend social events. Like the elite people they socialize with, there is a big difference between the facade they put on and reality.

Brushing With the Elite

Bill and Alice go to a classy party given by Victor Ziegler, one of Bill’s wealthy patients. Judging from Victor’s house, he is not simply rich, he is part of the ultra-elite. While his party is very elegant and is attended by highly cultured people, it doesn’t take long for the viewers to realize that this facade hides a disgusting dark side. Also, small details inserted by Kubrick hint to a link between the party and the occult ritual that occurs later in the movie.

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When entering the party, the first thing we see is this peculiar Christmas decoration. This eight-pointed star is found throughout the house.

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The star at Zeigler’s house is nearly identical to the ancient symbol of the star of Ishtar.

Knowing Kubrick’s attention to detail, the inclusion of the star of Ishtar in this party is not an accident. Ishtar is the Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war and, mostly, sexuality. Her cult involved sacred prostitution and ritual acts – two elements we clearly see later in the movie.

“Babylonians gave Ishtar offerings of food and drink on Saturday. They then joined in ritual acts of lovemaking, which in turn invoked Ishtar’s favor on the region and its people to promote continued health and fruitfulness.”
– Goddess Ishtar, Anita Revel


Ishtar herself was considered to be the “courtesan of the gods” and had many lovers. While inspired in bed, she was also cruel to the men that got attached to her. These concepts will constantly reappear in the movie, especially with Alice.

During the party, Bill and Alice go their separate ways and are both faced with temptation. Alice meets a man named Sandor Szavost who asks her about Ovid’s Art of Love. This series of books, written during the times of Ancient Rome, was essentially a “How to Cheat on Your Partner” guide, and was popular with the elite of the time. The first book opens with an invocation to Venus – the planet esoterically associated with lust. Interestingly enough, Ishtar (and her equivalents in other Semitic cultures) was considered to be the personification of Venus.

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Sandor drinks from Alice’s glass. This trick is taken right out of Ovid’s The Art of Love. It sends Alice a message that is not very subliminal: “I want to exchange fluids with you”.

Sandor’s name might be a reference to the founder of the Church of Satan: Anton Szandor Lavey. Is this Kubrick’s way of saying that this man, who urges Alice to cheat on her husband, is a part of the occult elite and its decadent ways? The Hungarian man is apparently skilled in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) as he nearly hypnotizes Alice with well-calculated phrases about the futility of married life and the necessity of pursuing pleasure.

Meanwhile, Bill is discussing with two flirtatious models who tell him that they want to take him to “where the rainbow ends”.
While the meaning of this enigmatic phrase is never explicitly explained in the movie, symbols talk for themselves.

Rainbows Everywhere

Rainbows and multicolored lights appear throughout the movie, from the beginning to the end.

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The name of the store where Bill rents his costume is called “Rainbow”. The name of the store under it: “Under the Rainbow”. Kubrick is trying to tell us something…Something involving rainbows.

As if to emphasize the theme of multicolored rainbows, almost every scene in the movie contains multicolored Christmas lights, giving most sets a hazy, dreamy glow.

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Almost every time Bill enters a room, the first things we see are multicolored Christmas lights.

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Sometimes Christmas lights are the focal point of attention.

These lights tie together most scenes of the movie, making them part of the same reality. There are however a few select scenes where there are absolutely no Christmas lights. The main one is Somerton palace – the place where the secret society ritual takes place.

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Sharply contrasting with the rest of the movie, Sommerton is completely devoid of multicolored lights. Everything about this place is in sharp opposition to the “outside world”.

In Eyes Wide Shut, there are therefore two worlds: The Christmas lights-filled “rainbow world”, where the masses wander around, trying to make ends meet and the other world… “where the rainbow ends”- where the elite gathers and performs its rituals. The contrast between the two worlds gives a sense of an almost insurmountable divide between them. Later, the movie will clearly show us how those from the “rainbow world” cannot enter the other world.

So, when the models ask Bill to go “where the rainbow ends”, they probably refer to going “where the elite gathers and performs rituals”. It might also be about them being dissociated Beta Programming slaves. There are several references to Monarch mind control (read this article for more information) in the movie. Women who take part in elite rituals are often products of Illuminati mind control. In MK Ultra vocabulary, “going over the rainbow” means dissociating from reality and entering another persona (more on this in the next article).


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The models ask Bill to leave the “rainbow world” (there’s a Christmas tree right behind them) to indulge in the debaucherous rituals of the occult elite.

Behind the Curtain

Bill’s flirting with the models is interrupted when Ziegler calls him to his bathroom. There, we get a first glance of “where the rainbow ends” – the dark truth about the elite.

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Bill meets Ziegler in his gigantic bathroom. The man is dressing up and is with a naked unconscious woman…who is not his wife.

If we rewind a little, when Bill and Alice first entered the party, they were welcomed by Ziegler and his wife in a room filled with Christmas lights. We saw two respectable couples talking about respectable things in a room full of enchanting lights. But when Bill goes “where the rainbow ends” (notice there are no Christmas lights in the bathroom) we see reality: Ziegler with a Beta programming slave who overdosed on goofballs. When the woman gains consciousness, Ziegler talks to her in an odd, paternal matter, highlighting the fact that he’s the master and she’s the slave. The luxurious setting of this scene is Kubrick’s way of saying that extreme wealth does not necessarily equal high morals.

Ziegler then urges Bill to keep everything he just saw a secret. The world “where the rainbow ends” must never be revealed to the outside world. It operates in its own space, has its own rules and depends on the masses’ ignorance.

Questioning Marriage

While Alice ultimately rejected Sandor’s advances, she was nevertheless enticed by them. The next day, Alice tells Bill that she could have cheated on him at the party. When Bill tells his wife that he loves and trusts her, she completely loses it. She then proceeds to tell him a story about how she was once ready to cheat on him with a naval officer she met in a hotel. This cruel story highlights the “Ishtar” side of Alice as she brings up in her husband feelings of jealousy, insecurity, betrayal, and even humiliation. In short, Alice purposely summoned everything that is negative in relationships to pop Bill’s “love bubble”. This wake-up call prompts Bill to embark on a strange journey around New-York city, one that has multiple levels of meanings. That strange night will ultimately lead him to the exact opposite of a monogamous relationship: Anonymous, masked copulation with strangers in a ritual setting. Bill’s journey will be further analyzed in the second part of this series of articles.

Conclusion of Part One

The first part of this series about Eyes Wide Shut took a broad look at Bill and Alice, a modern couple that has the “privilege” of brushing with the upper-echelon of New York. While everything appears great on the surface, Kubrick quickly tells the viewers to not be deceived by appearances and to not be impressed by exhibitions of wealth. Because, behind the “rainbow world”, exists a dark and disturbing reality, one that Kubrick exposes in many subtle ways throughout the movie.

While Bill and Alice are simply “guests” in the elite circle, they are nevertheless fascinated and attracted by it. They see in this lifestyle a way of fulfilling their dark and secret needs. In the next part of this series, we’ll look at the occult meaning of Bill’s journey – a story told by subtle symbols peppered throughout the movie.

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Part 2
July 18, 2013

The second part of this series of articles on Eyes Wide Shut takes a closer look at the elite secret society discovered by the film’s main character, Bill Harford, and how it resembles real life organizations. Was Stanley Kubrick trying to warn the world about the occult elite and its depraved ways?

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In the first part of this series on Eyes Wide Shut, we looked at main characters of the film and the symbolic world Kubrick created around them. We saw that Bill and Alice Harford are a married upper-class couple that was not immune to the temptations of adultery. We also saw that the couple was in contact with the upper-echelon of New-York and its decadent ways – a world that fascinates Bill, but that has a dark side, one that is kept from the public. In this article, I will jump straight to the most unsettling part of the movie: The secret society ritual.

When Bill learns that his wife has considered cheating on him, he embarks on a strange series of encounters (which I will analyze in the third and final part of this series), eventually ending up in a luxurious house in Long Island where he encounters a large gathering of masked individuals partaking in an occult ritual. Since he was never initiated into that secret society, Bill was not even supposed to know that it existed, let alone bear witness to one of its “meetings”. So how did he find out about this thing? Well, a little birdie told him.

Nick Nightingale

At one point during his strange night out, Bill meets his old friend Nick Nightingale at a jazz cafe. The professional piano player reveals to Bill that he is sometimes hired by mysterious people to play, blindfolded, during mysterious parties that are full of beautiful women. This juicy piece of information intrigues Bill to the highest degree because. Since his talk with his wife, he appears to be looking for some kind of … experience. Nick ultimately makes a big mistake and agrees to provide Bill with all of the information needed to access the venue.

A nightingale is the type of bird that is known for singing at night, just like Nick Nightingale “sings” secret information at the start of Bill’s fateful night.

The password to enter the ritual is “Fidelio”, which means “faithfulness”, a main theme of the movie. More importantly, as Nightingale points out, “Fidelio” is the name of an opera written by Beethoven about a wife who sacrifices herself to free her husband from death as a political prisoner.
This password actually foreshadows what will happen during that ritual.

After getting the details from Nightingale, Bill rents a costume at a store named “Rainbow” (more about the store in the next article) … and then proceeds to go to Somerton, the estate where the party is being held.

The Occult Elite

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The occult ritual takes place at Somerton, in Long Island. The building used to film the outside scene is Mentmore Towers in the UK.

The location selected to film the elite scenes is quite interesting. Mentmore Towers was built in the 19th century as a country house for a member of the most prominent and powerful elite family in the world: The Rothschilds. By selecting this location, was Kubrick trying to show his audience the “real world” equivalents to the ultra-elite shown in the movie? Incidentally, the name of Bill’s connection to the elite, Victor Ziegler, is of German-Jewish origins, like Rothschild.

It has been documented that the Rothschilds do actually partake in masked events very similar to those shown in Eyes Wide Shut. Here are rare pictures from a 1972 party given by Marie-Hélène de Rothschild.

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Baroness Marie-Hélène de Rothschild and Baron Alexis de Redé at a 1972 party. Invitations were printed in reversed writing. One wonders if this party “degenerated” into something resembling what is shown in Eyes Wide Shut.

In the movie, when Bill enters the mansion, he mixes with a crowd of masked people silently watching the ritual. One of these people appears to instantly recognize Bill (or the fact that he doesn’t belong here).

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A couple wearing Venetian masks (more specifically “female jester” and “bauta” masks) slowly turn towards Bill and nod in a very creepy matter. Ziegler and his wife? Perhaps. Kubrick likes to keep things mysterious.

Venetian masks were originally worn during the Italian Renaissance in Venice and were a way for the powerful elite of the time to indulge in debauchery without reprisal.

“Though the precise origin of the mask-wearing tradition can’t be known for certain, the prevailing theory goes something like this: beginning in the Italian Renaissance, Venice was an extremely wealthy and powerful merchant empire. Its position on the Mediterranean sea opened it up to a myriad of trading opportunities across Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor, and its powerful navy allowed it to exert the military force necessary to defend its vast wealth. In a city-state so prosperous, it’s a small wonder that Venetian society was class-obsessed and rigidly stratified. One’s individual standing was immensely important for the perception of his or her entire family, and so naturally the pressure to act in accordance with the social morays governing one’s social standing was immense and stifling. The Venetians, the theory goes, adopted the practice of wearing masks and other disguises during the Carnival season as a way of suspending the rigid social order. Under the cloak of anonymity, the citizens of Venice could loosen their inhibitions without fear of reprisal. Masks gained so much popularity that the mascherari (mask makers) became a venerated guild in Venetian society. However, as word of the famed Venetian Carnival spread, more and more outsiders flocked to the city every year to take part in the festivities. The Carnival celebrations became increasingly chaotic and debaucherous as the years progressed until their decline in the 18th Century.”
– Geoffrey Stanton, Guide to Venetian Carnival Masks


Since then, Venetian masks have been used in elite circles and have somewhat become a symbol of its dark occult philosophy. Even The British Royal Family appears to enjoy the same type of masks and events.

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Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla at Clarence House with bauta masks.

That particular Royal event featured masked women who were as NOT dressed as those in the Eyes Wide Shut ritual.

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Models at the party attended by the Royal Family.

It seems evident that Kubrick carefully selected the Rothschild-owned location and hand-picked the masks worn by participants of the ritual, echoing real-life families and events.

Setting of the Ritual

When Bill enters Somerton, everything about the movie changes. There are no more colorful Christmas lights and no tacky decorations. Instead of incessant chatter between needy people, it is all about stillness and silence.

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Staring right at the camera (and at the movie viewers), the creepy masks are silent yet disturbing reminders showing the “true faces” of the elite. Note that the multi-faced mask on the left which is similar to the one worn at the Royal party above.

The music in the movie also changes drastically. The song heard in the background is called “Backwards Priests” and features a Romanian Orthodox Divine Liturgy played backward. The reversal or inversion of sacred objects is typical of black magic and satanic rituals. By having this Christian liturgy played backward right before widespread fornication is Kubrick’s way of stating that the elite is nothing less than satanic.

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Here we see Nick Nightingale playing the song “Backwards Priest”, meaning that people in the ritual actually hear that music and that the whole thing is choreographed to it. Nightingale is blindfolded because the “profane” cannot witness the occult rituals of the elite.

The interior scenes of the party were shot at Elveden Hall, a private house in the UK designed to look like an Indian palace. When the “festivities” begin, a Tamil song called “Migration” plays in the background, adding to the South-Asian atmosphere (the original version of the song contained an actual scriptural recitation of the Bhagavad Gita, but the chant was removed in the final version of the movie). This peculiar Indian atmosphere, combined with the lascivious scenes witnessed by Bill as he walks around the house, ultimately points towards the most important, yet most hidden part of the movie: Tantric Yoga and its Western occultism derivative, Sex Magick. This last concept was “imported” by British occultist Aleister Crowley and is now at the center of the teachings of various secret societies:

“Aleister Crowley’s connections with Indian Yoga and Tantra were both considerable and complex. Crowley had direct exposure to some forms of these practices and was familiar with the contemporary literature of the subjects, wrote extensively about them, and – what is perhaps the most important – he practiced them. In his assessment of the value of Tantra, he was ahead of his time, which habitually considered Tantra a degenerate form of Hinduism. Instead, he claimed that, “paradoxical as it may sound the Tantrics are in reality the most advanced of the Hindus”. Crowley’s influence in bringing Eastern, primarily Indian, esoteric traditions to the West extends also to his incorporation of the elements of Yoga and Tantra into the structure and program of two influential magical orders, the A.:A.: and the OTO.”
– Martin P. Starr, Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism


The above quote stipulates that Tantric concepts were incorporated in two important secret societies: the A.:A.: and the OTO (Ordo Templi Orientis). The OTO is still extremely influential in elite circles and reaches the highest levels of politics, business, and even the entertainment industry. At the core of these orders is the Thelema, a philosophy created by Aleister Crowley that he summed up with the saying “Do What Thou Wilt”. This saying is actually a translation of “Fais ce que tu voudras” the motto of an 18th-century secret society, the infamous Hellfire Club.

Hellfire Clubs were said to be “meeting places of ‘persons of quality’ who wished to take part in immoral acts, and the members were often very involved in politics”. According to a number of sources, their activities included mock religious ceremonies, devil worship, and occult rituals. Although details are vague regarding that elite club, they were known for performing elementary Satanic rites as a prelude to their nights of fornication. These acts were however not just “for fun” or to “shock people” as some sources might claim, the members were initiates of occult mysteries and their rituals were based in ancient rites involving invocations and other forms of black magick.

In short, although Kubrick never actually names the secret society infiltrated by Bill, there are enough clues to understand what kind of club he is referring to. Most importantly, he is telling his viewers: These societies still exist … and they are more powerful than ever.


The Ritual and its Participants

The ritual begins with the High Priest, dressed in red, performing a ceremonial routine. He is at the center of a “magic circle” formed by young women who are very likely to be Beta Kitten slaves. Later, when Bill is unmasked, another magic circle is formed.

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Magic circles is a concept used in ritual magic during invocations. The placement of the people in this scene recalls magic circles. Right: A magic circle as pictured in an ancient grimoire.

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The last scene of the movie takes place at a toy store – a place full of highly symbolic items (more on it in the next article). Here, Helena Harford walks by a toy called Magic Circle – showing that the occult elite’s ways seep through popular culture, but are not noticed by those who have their eyes wide shut.

Amanda

At the beginning of the ritual, one of the Beta slaves goes to Bill and urges him to leave the house before he got caught. We ultimately learn that it was Amanda, the girl that was passed out in Ziegler’s bathroom. When Bill gets caught and gets (literally) unmasked by the High Priest, Amanda appears at the balcony in a very dramatic fashion and tells the High Priest she wants to “redeem” him, in a tone that approaches ritual drama. The Priest then replies “Are you sure you understand what you’re taking upon yourself in doing this?” This implies that she will be repeatedly abused and then sacrificed.

The next day, Bill discovers the true power of that secret society.

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Bill discovers in the newspaper that Amanda was found dead in a hotel room due to an overdose. The way in which this ritualistic murder is disguised as an overdose is highly similar to the many celebrity ritual deaths disguised as overdoses that occur in real life.

By freeze-framing and actually reading the above news article about Amanda, we learn important details about Amanda’s background (classic hidden sub-plot integration by Kubrick). To those “in the know”, the article perfectly describes the life of an entertainment industry Beta Programming slave (i.e. Marilyn Monroe). We indeed learn that Amanda was “emotionally troubled” as a teen and underwent “treatments” (a code word for MK Programming perhaps?), she had “important friends in the fashion and entertainment worlds”, and she had an “affair” with a powerful fashion designer who got “wowed by her private, seductive solo performances” (typical behavior of a Beta Kitten). What the article however conveniently doesn’t mention is that she was selling her body to elite people and being used in their occult rituals.

As it is the case for Beta Kittens who’ve gone “rogue”, she was eliminated by the people who controlled her life. The article states that she was last seen being escorted to her hotel room by two men and that she was “giggling” (drugged and dissociated?). Like “real life” elite sacrifices, “overdose” is cited as the cause of her death.

The High Priest

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Cloaked in red, the High Priest sits on a throne which features a very important symbol: A double-headed eagle topped by a crown.

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The double-headed eagle is one of the most ancient and prominent symbols of Freemasonry. A crowned double-headed eagle is representative of the 33rd degree of Freemasonry, the highest degree attainable. Is Kubrick implying that the High Priest is a 33rd Degree Freemason?

Like other participants of the ritual, the true identity of the High Priest is never revealed. However, Kubrick left a few clues hinting at his identity and his relationship with Amanda.

In the movie’s end credits (and sources such as IMDB), it is listed that the role of the High Priest was played by “assistant director” of the movie, Leon Vitali. If one carefully reads the news article mentioned above, Leon Vitali is the name of the London fashion designer Amanda had an “affair” with. Furthermore, the High Priest has an unmistakable English accent. We can, therefore, deduce that the High Priest is the fashion designer.

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A snippet of the article mentioning Leon Vitali.

This hidden subplot is interesting as it reveals the true nature of the fashion and entertainment industry. High-ranking individuals in these fields are initiated in occult secret societies and deal with MK slaves.

The Power of the Secret Society

When Bill is uncovered by the High Priest, he gets told that he and his family would pay for any transgression. The next day, he realizes that he is being followed by strange people and becomes paranoid.

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The headline of this newspaper is “Lucky to be alive”. This applies to Bill.

Right after Bill leaves the morgue to confirm that Amanda died, Ziegler calls him and invites him over.

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Taking place in Ziegler’s pool room, the back and forth between the two men is more intense than any game of pool.

Although Bill is a rich doctor, he is not part of the elite. Ziegler’s attitude towards Bill makes it very clear. While Ziegler appears to want to be honest and straight with Bill, we realize that he is simply trying to cover the ugly truth. After all, Bill is an “outsider”. He tells Bill:

“I don’t think you realize what kind of trouble you were in last night. Who do you think those people were? Those were not just ordinary people there. If I told you their names – I’m not gonna tell you their names – but if I did, I don’t think you’d sleep so well.”


Ziegler, therefore, admits that people attending the ritual were high-level, well-known and powerful people. Kubrick is making clear that the richest, most powerful deciders of the “real world” meet in these types of rituals … and that these rituals are off-limits to the profane.

When Bill mentions Amanda, Ziegler gets more defensive and replies: “She was a hooker” – meaning that she was a Beta slave that could be easily disposed of. Then Ziegler tells Bill that everything that happened at the ritual was a charade to scare him, Bill answers:

“You called it a fake, a charade. Do you mind telling me what kind of f—-cking charade ends with someone turning up dead?”


This highlights the fundamental difference between the public’s perception of occult rituals and what actually happens. Regular people are lead to believe that these elite rituals are nothing more than goofy meetings of people with too much time on their hands. In reality, these elaborate rituals often incorporate real attempts at Black Magick and include real blood sacrifices and other terrible acts.

Then Ziegler proceeds to tell Bill the same stuff media tells the masses when someone has been sacrificed by the elite: She OD’ed, she was a junkie, it was only a matter of time, and the police did not see any foul play.

Conclusion of Part II

The second part of this analysis focused exclusively on the unnamed secret society Bill stumbles upon and its ritual. Although nothing is explicitly spelled out to the viewers, the symbolism, the visual clues and even the music of Eyes Wide Shut tell reveals a side of the occult elite that is rarely shown to the masses. Not only does the movie depict the world’s richest and most powerful people partaking in occult rituals, it also shows how this circle has also the power to exploit slaves, to stalk people, and even to get away with sacrificial murders. Even worse, mass media participates in covering their crimes.

The secret society in the movie closely resembles the infamous Hellfire Club, where prominent political figures met up to partake in elaborate Satanic parties. Today, the O.T.O. and similar secret societies still partake in rituals involving physical energy as it is perceived to be a way to attain a state of enlightenment. This concept, taken from Tantric yoga, is at the core of modern and powerful secret societies. Although none of this is actually mentioned in Eyes Wide Shut, the entire movie can be interpreted as one big “magickal” journey, characterized by a back-and-forth between opposing forces: life and death, lust and pain, male and female, light and darkness, and so forth … ending in one big orgasmic moment of enlightenment. This aspect of the movie, along with other hidden details, will be analyzed in the third and final part of this series of articles on Eyes Wide Shut.

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Part 3
August 16, 2013

In the third and final part of this series on Eyes Wide Shut, we’ll look at Bill’s journey as a whole and at its underlying esoteric meaning. We’ll see how symbolism placed by Kubrick connects all of the women in the movie, making Bill’s encounters a multi-faceted exploration of the feminine principle.

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The previous parts of this series of articles on Eyes Wide Shut were solely dedicated to the secret society discovered by Bill. This elite club, attended by the world’s most powerful people, deals with Satanism, black magick, and even ritual sacrifices. Aided by his friend Nightingale, Bill infiltrates one of the secret society’s occult rituals and witnesses a ceremony presided over by a high priest. Then an orgy ensued.

In the second article, I explained how real life secret societies, such as the Hellfire club and the O.T.O., actually practice these kinds of rituals. The occult principles behind them derive from Tantric yoga, where the energy generated by physical arousal is used to reach a “higher state”. This concept was reused (and maybe corrupted) by Aleister Crowley who called it “Sex Magick”. According to him and his peers, knowledge of this type of magick was the biggest secret of past secret societies and was only disclosed to the highest initiates.

There is, however, no (direct) mention of any of this in Eyes Wide Shut. In fact, the ceremony witnessed by Bill, with its elaborate choreography and its creepy music, appears to be one big, empty, phony piece of dramatic theater that simply exists to give the rich people some kind of mystical reason to engage in gratuitous debauchery. While Kubrick stripped the occult ritual of all of its esoteric, “magickal” meaning, he did infuse the entire movie with it. If one looks at the pace of the movie, at Bill’s journey and the people he encounters, it becomes somewhat apparent that the “magick” does not occur during the ritual itself but during the movie as a whole. Was Kubrick somehow initiated into occult secrets? Was he trying to communicate them through his movie? Let’s look at the concepts behind the ritual.

Kundalini Rising

The concept of magick through reproductive forces is said to originate from ancient ritual practices, as traces of it can be found in Hinduism, Taoism and in Medieval secret societies, such as the Knight Templars. In today’s Western world, the O.T.O is said to be the heir of this path as it claimed by Aleister Crowley and his acolyte, Theodor Reuss.

“Theodor Reuss was quite categoric: the OTO was a body of initiates in whose hands was concentrated the secret knowledge of all oriental orders and of all existing Masonic degrees.(…) The order had “rediscovered” the great secret of the Knights Templar, the magic of sex, not only the key to ancient Egyptian and hermetic tradition, but to all the secrets of nature, all the symbolism of Freemasonry, and all systems of religion.”
– Peter Tomkins, The Magic of Obelisks


The basic principle behind this “great secret” is the raising of the Kundalini or “life force”, an energy that can be used for magickal purposes.

“In all Tantric magic, the essential requirement – whether in the ecstasy of couples or the solo ritual of a priestess – involved the raising of the energy known as the serpent of fire, or kundalini. This mysterious energy described as lying dormant in the lowest of the seven chakras, can be aroused by two distinct methods, called, traditionally, the right- and the left-hand path. The right hand allots supremacy to the male principle, the left to the feminine. As the serpent power is aroused, according to clairvoyants, it climbs up the backbone of the adept, energizing each chakra, till it emerges from the skull – symbolically as the snake’s head like those so clearly depicted in Egyptian statuary.

(…)

As adepts describe the rising of the serpent, it unites with the “many-petaled lotus of the cerebral region” to bring about illumination – or the highest form of initiation - as the current “climbs from the duality to unity by reversing the path it originally took the chakras to procreate humanity.”

Details of the OTO’s initiation into Hindu and Tibetan Tantra, including ceremonies involving the use of “exudation” from specifically trained priestess were brought to a wider public by Crowley’s follower Kenneth Grant. Sacred courtesans, experts in ritual eroticism, known in India as nautch girls (…) were exceptionally honored.”
– Ibid.


While sacred courtesans were “exceptionally honored” in Eastern esotericism, today’s twisted black magic orders use Beta Programming slaves and dispose of them when they are through with them. In short, the exact opposite of being “exceptionally honored”.

Kundalini rising, the concept behind Tantric magic is wholly represented in a single image, Eliphas Levi’s depiction of Baphomet.

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This famous depiction of Baphomet includes all of the symbols of Sex Magick – the rising of the kundalini (represented by the phallic pole wrapped by two serpents) through the union of opposite forces. The torch above the goat head represents illumination.

So what does all of this have to do with Eyes Wide Shut? At first glance, nothing much. While we see a ritual involving “sacred courtesans” in the movie, there is absolutely no mention of “kundalini rising” during the whole thing. However, if we take a closer look at Bill’s journey as a whole, from the beginning of the movie to the end, we realize that the real ritual does not occur at the elite mansion but within Bill’s head. As he encounters new women and is exposed to new opportunities, his kundalini rises – and Kubrick added clues to denote this fact.

The Movie as a Ritual

While Eyes Wide Shut appears to be all about sexuality, nobody in the movie ever reaches climax. While Bill has many chances of satisfying his urges with attractive women, it never actually happens. However, as the movie progresses, there’s a definite increase in desire and lust, but Bill manages to keep it under control. Managing this “life force” is at the core of Tantric magic. Viewers are constantly reminded of this process several times during the movie when Bill imagines his wife with a naval officer. Each flash is increasingly intense – going from kissing to all-out copulating.

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As the movie progresses, Bill’s flashes of Alice cheating on him become more intense. Towards the end of the movie, she’s about to reach climax. These scenes reflect Bill’s kundalini rising. Having these flashes would be hurtful and painful and they remind the viewers that Bill’s journey started out of pain and humiliation.

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Towards the end of the movie, Bill is so horny that he gets flirty and grabby with a complete stranger, minutes after he met her. While that scene was rather odd and surreal, it reflects his “progress” in the ritual.

The very last lines of the movie conclude and define Bill’s journey. After running around New York and getting aroused by all kinds of stuff, Bill stands face-to-face with his wife and talks about how “awake” he is now. With his “life force” fully charged, Alice ends the movie with a phrase completing the ritual:

“- I do love you. And you know, there is something very important that we need to do as soon as possible.
– What’s that?
– F*ck.”


Ending the movie on that particular note suggests that the entire journey was one of increasing intensity, one that ultimately leads to a “magickally charged ” climax, the goal of Crowleyan-magick.

Bill’s journey was not all fun and games, however. As the movie progresses, there is a constant back-and-forth between pleasure and pain, attraction and repulsion, life and death, and so forth. The path is all about duality and, just like the floors of Masonic lodges are checkered in black and white, Bill’s journey consists on his alternatively stepping on black and white tiles – seeing the dualistic nature of all things.

Eros and Thanatos

Bill’s night out in New York City is characterized by numerous encounters with the female gender – each one of them offering a “cure” to a broken heart. However, each encounter also bears a potentially destructive aspect to it, one that counterbalances its appeal and attraction. While Bill is looking to procreate, he sees that his urges engender pain and even death. Bill’s journey is, therefore, a back-and-forth between man’s two basic impulses as defined by Freud: Eros and Thanatos.

Freud saw in Eros the instinct for life, love and sexuality in its broadest sense, and in Thanatos, the instinct of death, aggression. Eros is the drive toward attraction and reproduction; Thanatos toward repulsion and death. One leads to the reproduction of the species, the other toward its own destruction. While each one of Bill’s encounters promises the sweet temptation of lust, they also have a destructive counter side.

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Bill’s first encounter occurs when he visits one of his regular patients that died. The dead patient’s daughter kisses Bill and tells him that she loves him. We, therefore, see in this scene a juxtaposition of concepts of lust and desire with death. Also, if Bill went with this woman, it would ultimately hurt her husband – another bad side of succumbing to lust.

Each one of Bill’s female encounters promises gratification but ends up being interrupted by something negative, such as guilt or potential danger. Also, every time Bill is in contact with the sleazy-yet-tempting aspects of lust (prostitution or slavery), he quickly discovers the dark, exploitative and destructive side of it.

For instance, right after Bill enjoyed the “delights” of seeing MK Kittens at work at the elite ritual when returning his costume, he immediately sees the dark side of it all. The shop owner, who previously caught his underage daughter with two Asian businessmen and was outraged by it, had a sudden change of heart.

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Standing behind his business counter, the shop owner sells his underage daughter as if she was another product. After enjoying masked slaves in lavish rituals, Bill sees the other side of the “trade”: Young girls being sold by exploitative people to a system feeding on minors, turning them into MK slaves. Is that why this store was called “Rainbow”?

Bill’s journey is, therefore, one that continually alternates between the primal allure of lust and the destructive social constructs that are erected around it. There is nothing more basic and instinctual than carnal attraction, but our modern world has made these relations complex, bound by rules, and prone to exploitation. While lust is nature’s way of pushing humans to procreate, social constructs have created all kinds of fetishes, distortions, games, and perversions around this primal urge … to the point that it has been denatured and debased into an unhealthy obsession.

As Bill navigates between joy and pain, monogamous marriage and anonymous debauchery, we notice that there’s a common thread uniting his various encounters.

Red-Headed Women

The most important women in the movie are Bill’s wife, his daughter Helena, Amanda (the Beta slave who was sacrificed at the ritual) and Domino (a prostitute he met on the street). All three adult women are somewhat physically similar as they are tall, well-proportioned, and red-headed. They also appear to be connected on “another level”.

While Alice is a respectable, upper-class lady, she makes a living using her looks in a loveless relationship, a little like what a prostitute would do. On the other hand, the time spent between Bill and Domino is sweet and tender, a little with what happens in a loving relationship. Alice is therefore not very different from Domino, and vice-versa.

There are also links with Amanda. While Alice was (probably) not at the occult ritual attended by Bill, when he comes back from it, she describes to him a dream that is similar to what he just witnessed and what Amanda just experienced.

“He was kissing me. Then we were making love. Then there were all these other people around us, hundreds of them, everywhere. Everyone was f-cking. And then I …I was f-cking other men. So many. I don’t know how many I was with. And I knew you could see me in the arms of all these men … just f-cking all these men.”


Alice’s dream “connects” her with Amanda who was at the ritual and who actually lived Alice’s dream.

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The day after the ritual, Bill finds his mask creepily “sleeping” next to his wife. Is this Alice’s way of saying that she’s aware of what’s going on? Maybe that she’s participating in this? Is it a warning from the secret society? Alice never acknowledges the mask, so I guess we’ll never know.

Was Domino in the ritual? It is also interesting to point out that “Domino” is a type of mask used in these types of gatherings.

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A Domino mask

Looking closer at the “magic circle” formed by the women of the ritual, we can identify a few women who could be Domino. The day after the ritual, Bill shows up at Domino’s house with a gift, but her roommate informs him that she is HIV-positive … and that she might never be back again. Is this true or was Domino yet another “casualty” in Bill’s journey? Like Amanda and Nightingale, Domino mysteriously disappears after the ritual.

The fact that these women are all connected reveals one fundamental fact: Bill’s journey is not about a specific woman, it is about the feminine principle as a whole. It is an esoteric quest to understand and “be one with” the feminine principle that is opposite to his.


Helena Down the Same Path?

Throughout the movie, Helena (Bill’s daughter) is shown to be groomed to be another Alice. There are also some cues linking Helena to Domino. For instance, there’s a stroller in front of Domino’s apartment and, at the end in the movie, in the toy store, Helena is very interested in a stroller and shows it to her mother.

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Domino on her bed with a stuffed feline, a symbol of Beta Kitten programming.

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An entire row of this exact same toy is at the store where Helena shops in the final scene of the movie.

There is also something strange about the scene above: The two men behind Helena happened to be at Ziegler’s party at the very beginning of the movie.

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The two same men at Ziegler’s party: same hair, same physical stature and the guy on the right wears similar glasses.

Why are these two men in the store, looking at toys? Is New York City such a small town? Was Kubrick lacking extras to appear in that scene? Unlikely. Could it be that they’re part of the secret society that’s been following Bill and his family? Strange fact: When the men walk away and disappear from the shot, Helena appears to follow them … and we don’t see her for the rest of the movie. The camera indeed zooms onto Alice and Bill, who are completely absorbed with themselves. Is this a VERY subtle way of saying that their daughter will be sucked in by the Beta slave system of the secret society? Another enigma.

In Conclusion

Stanley Kubrick’s works are never strictly about love or relationships. The meticulous symbolism and the imagery of all of his works often communicate another dimension of meaning -- one that transcends the personal to become a commentary on our epoch and civilization. And, in this transitional period between the end of 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, Kubrick told the story of a confused man who wanders around, desperately looking for a way to satisfy his primal urges. Kubrick told the story of a society that is completely debased and corrupted by hidden forces, where humanity’s most primal urge -- procreation -- has been cheapened, fetishized, perverted and exploited to a point that it has lost all of its beauty. At the top of this world is a secret society that revels in this context, and thrives on it. Kubrick’s outlook on the issue was definitely not idealistic nor very optimistic.

His grim tale focuses on a single man, Bill, who is looking for an undefined something. Even if he appears to have everything, there is something missing in his life. Something visceral and fundamental that is never put into words, but that is quite palpable. Bill cannot be complete if he is not at peace with the opposite of him: the feminine principle. Bill’s quest, therefore, follows the esoteric principle of uniting two opposing forces into one. As suggested by the last lines of the movie, Bill will ultimately “be one” and get physical with his wife. After that, the alchemical process and the Tantric ritual would be complete. However, as Kubrick somehow communicates in the final scene, even if these two extremely self-absorbed, egotistical and superficial people believe they’ve reached some kind of epiphany, what does it really change? Our civilization as a whole still has its eyes wide shut … and those were Kubrick’s last cinematographic words.
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Wed Jan 10, 2018 1:37 am

Headmaster of the Hun School Retires To Hard Work in Community Activities
by Walter Il Waggoner
New York Times
July 6, 1976

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Paul R. Chesebro has ended a 50‐year career as an educator, the last 25 years of them as headmaster of the Hun School in Princeton. But he feels his work is far from done and has committed himself to a heavy agenda of community service.

A tall, lean man with an air of benevolent patience, Mr. Chesebro, 70 years old, sat in his office last week enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of imminent retirement, his desk drawers empty except for a stack of recent testimonials that included a signed photograph from President Ford.

“As of July 1,” he said, “I'll be off campus. But I'll have an office of my own somewhere and be working as hard as I can in three activities.”

The activities are those with which Mr. Chesebro has been associated for years—for almost as long as his life in Princeton, which began as a graduate student at Princeton University in 1927.

Tireless in work he believes will benefit individuals and the community, Mr. Chesebro will carry on actively in the Greater Princeton Chamber of Commerce, of which he will be president next year; Rotary International, where ‘he will continue his devotion to its youth programs, and the Mercer County Heart Association, which he says is one of his ways of remembering his father, a hard‐working Connecticut farmer who died of a heart seizure on Sept. 21, 1938, during the New England hurricane that blew the roof off his barn and flattened his orchards and cornfields.

Mark Left on School

If he has made a name for himself in the community, Dr. Chesebro, as he is known locally—he has an honorary doctorate on top of his B.A. from Amherst 50 years ago and his master's degree from Princeton—has also left his mark on Hun School.

When he became headmaster in 1951, after 11 years of teaching mathematics at Princeton High School, Hun School had 75 students and two buildings, and was in deep financial trouble. Now, after a memorably harrowing experience of having to raise $25,000 in 10 days or seeing the school close on the very eve of his taking the headmaster's chair, Dr. Chesebro can talk of 500 students, eight buildings on a 45‐acre campus and a secure portfolio.

His influence on at least some of those students has been as constructive as on the physical plant of this fashionable 62 — year — old preparatory school, which sends 95 percent of its graduates to Ivy League and other colleges.

Alan L. Marcus, who graduated from Hun School in 1966 and was master of ceremonies at a testimonial dinner for Dr. Chesebro on June 19, said the other day that his former headmaster “was certainly the embodiment of the philosophy of Hun School, which was to be educated not only in the books but in how to deal with your fellow man.”

Mr. Marcus, now a successful young public relations counselor in New Jersey, added.

“Were is not for Dr. Chesebro, with his particular method of guidance and preparation, I could never have achieved what I have achieved in life.”

Dr. Chesebro's accomplishments in education and comnunity service have been recognized on many occasions over the years. In 1973, the Greater Princeton Chamber of Commerce close him Princeton's Man of the Year, and he has received citations from both Rotary International—of which only 100 have been awarded by the 770,000‐member worldwide service organization — and the county heart associations.

The climax came June 19 at his retirement dinner.

Governor Byrne issued a proclamation noting Dr. Chesebro's 25 years as the Hun School's headmaster and 50 years as a Princeton educator; Mercer County commemorated his public service with its own proclamation; Vice President ‘Rockefeller wrote him a letter congratulating him on “an extraordinary career in education,” and Elisha Hasek, writing for the White House, sent him a photograph of President Ford inscribed “with best wishes.”

As he strolled with visitors among the several new buildings of the school, including the Paul Ridgely Chesebro Academic Building, Dr. Chesebro exhibited the informality that students and associates have identified as his particularly effective style.

“Hello, Bob,” he said to a maintenance supervisor working among some shrubs.

“Hiya, Doc,” the worker replied.

“He's the kind of a man who's harder to get than member of the faculty,” Dr. Chesebro remarked.

‘A Very Large Family’

In his commencement address to the class of 1976, Dr. Chesebro described the headmaster's job as being “akin to that of a parent of a very large family.”

His own attitudes, toward family, young people and society in general, have been influenced by the life he led growing up in Connecticut, he said.

First of all, he explained, “I liked the idea of going to school, which was looked upon with great favor by my parents.”

His father, he said, was farm market gardener.

“Every summer I worked on the farm,” he said, “when I was in high school especially, working from daylight to dusk. It was a life of dirt, sunsrine and fresh air.

“I feel that I have blessed, but unfortunately these days not many youngsters, can grow up in the healthy atmosphere I had.”

Little remains in Dr. Chesebro's office that can be clearly identified as his personal belongings. But on the wall above the desk there is a pair of mounted deer heads that had been given him by a friend from Texas.

“I'll leave those to my successor,” he remarked, “and he can do what he wants to with them.”

His successor is Thomas M. Woodward Jr., who has been assistant headmaster of Haverford, (Pa.) School.
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Wed Jan 10, 2018 2:08 am

Dr. Robert J. Edwards
Obituary Condolences
Published in Daily Press from July 25 to July 30, 2006

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NEWPORT NEWS - Dr. Robert J. Edwards, USMC Lt.C.(Ret), died on Sunday, July 23, 2006, at the age of 86. Born April 13, 1920, he was the son of the late Rev. Harold J. and Catherine S. Edwards. Dr. Edwards received a B.S. Degree from Hobart College in 1942 and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Rochester in 1951. After the conclusion of World War II, he was released from active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps and taught in the Biology department at Hobart College for several years. He was recalled to active duty to serve in the Korean War, which at that time he accepted a regular commission. In 1969, Dr. Edwards retired from the USMC with the rank of Lt. Colonel, after 21 years of active duty and 6 years of reserve duty. He had 10 months of combat duty in the Pacific Theatre during World War II, 12 months in the Korean War and 13 months in Vietnam at the DMZ during the TET offensive. His duty assignments included Artillery Battalion Commander, National Security Agency Division Chief, Marine Division Assistant Chief of Staff G-2 (intelligence), Assistant Chief of Staff G-3 (plans), and Commanding Officer of the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station Marine Security Detachment. Dr. Edwards was awarded 22 combat and service awards including the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star with Combat 'V,' the Navy Commendation Medal, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry 1st Class and the Presidential Unit Citation with Star. Dr. Edwards joined the faculty of Christopher Newport College in 1969 as a member of the Biology department. From 1971-1972, he was chairman of the Division of Natural Sciences; 1972-1974 he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate of Virginia; 1973-1977, he served as Associate Dean of the Faculty. This office later became Vice President for Academic Affairs, which Dr. Edwards served from 1977-1982. He resigned this position in 1982 and returned to full time teaching in the Biology department. The CNC Board of Visitors presented Dr. Edwards the Mace Award and Plaque of recognition 'For exemplary and judicious administration of the academic life of Christopher Newport College.' He retired from full time teaching in 1985, but continued to teach for several years as Professor Emeritus and also taught as an adjunct professor at Thomas Nelson Community College for over 10 years. Among his volunteer endeavors, Dr. Edwards was a docent at The Mariners' Museum, and volunteered at the Virginia Living Museum and the Refill Pharmacy at Langley AFB. He was a member of MENSA and an elected member of Sigma XI Society, which is dedicated to research in the sciences. He was awarded the Key to the city of Miami Beach in 1957, in recognition of public service while Inspector/Instructor of the Miami based Marine Corps Reserve Artillery Battalion. He is survived by his loving wife, Edith Herman Edwards; Edith's family in Germany; and a niece, Lynne Crogan of Tewksbury, Mass. The family will receive friends from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1, followed by a memorial service at 7 p.m. at Peninsula Funeral Home. Interment will be at 3 p.m. Sept. 7 in Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Virginia Living Museum, 524 J. Clyde Morris Blvd., Newport News, VA 23601.
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