JFK vs. Poppy, or: 'The New Frontier' meets 'More Will Than Wallet'

[Octafish]

Looking back, when President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas 48 years ago today, I can see how the tragedy became this nation's turning point.

Contrast what John Fitzgerald Kennedy spoke of in his inaugural, a future where humanity could work together in peace to fight "the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself" with George Herbert Walker Bush, who said our nation has "more will than wallet" and shouldn't even try (of course, later, he would find all the money needed to bail out the S&Ls his son Neil and their cronies had looted).

What's even more troubling, we went from a nation that believed every human life has equal value to an empire where money trumps peace. That's not just un-American. That's Nazi.

[AntiFascist]

1. Prescott Bush fostered Nixon's rise into politics...

Nixon was planning an invasion of Cuba even before he ran against JFK for president, while still Vice President under Eisenhower. When Eisenhower warned us of the evils of the "Military-Industrial-Complex" in his farewell speech, he was likely warning us about the machine being setup to be exploited by the Bush Dynasty.

[Octafish]

2. Allen Dulles, then working for Ike and Nixon, recruited Mafia to kill Castro in 1960.

They did it through Robert "Iron Bob" Maheu, Howard Hughes' right-hand man.

And their crowd has done all they could since to blacken JFK's name in regards to MONGOOSE and everything else.

They not only are despicable, they are traitors.

[McCamy Taylor]

3. If this is a Marvel v. Capcom game, I predict abysmal sales. Everyone knows JFK

can execute a really nasty fung-fu/ kick-box attack. All Sr. has is sarcasm.

[Octafish]

4. Intervention over, man.

Remember McCain giving President Kennedy's murder the old what's for during the debates in '08?



"The 'intervention' in Dallas."

His old chum, Poppy back then was campaigning for US Senate, although the fellah didn't remember that when asked where he was on Nov. 22, 1963.

[hootinholler]

5. What is really scary

Is that Poppy will be relinquishing the reins soon.

Who is the heir apparent?

[Octafish]

7. Jebthro

He heard the "calling." And BCCI types LOVE him.

The Family that Preys Together

EXCERPT...

Jeb: Liaison to Anti-Castro Right

George Herbert Walker Bush's second eldest son, John Ellis or Jeb, was also linked to clandestine schemes in support of the Contras. Soon after congressional prohibition in late 1984, Jeb helped put a right-wing Guatemalan politician, Dr. Mario Castejon, in touch with Oliver North. Jeb acted as the Reagan Administration's unofficial link with the Contras and Nicaraguan exiles in Miami.

Jeb was contacted in February 1985 by a friend of Castejon, who gave him a letter from Castejon to be passed on to then Vice-President Bush. In his letter, Castejon, a pediatrician and later an unsuccessful National Conservative Party presidential candidate, requested a meeting with George Bush to discuss a proposed medical aid project for the Contras. Jeb forwarded the letter to his father. In a March 3, 1985, letter, VicePresident Bush expressed interest in Castejon's proposal to create an international medical brigade.

"I might suggest, if you are willing, that you consider meeting with Lt. Colonel Oliver North of the President's National Security Council Staff at a time that would be convenient for you," Bush wrote. "My staff has been in contact with Lt. Col. North concerning your projects and I know that he would be most happy to see you. You may feel free to make arrangements to see Lt. Colonel North, if you wish, by corresponding directly with him at the White House or by contacting Philip Hughes of my staff."

Castejon later met with North in the White House, where he also saw President Ronald Reagan. When Castejon returned to Washington for a second visit, he was introduced to members of North's secret Contra support network, including retired Maj. Gen. John Singlaub and Contra leader Adolfo Calero. Castejon also met with a group of doctors working with Rob Owen, North's liaison with the Contras.

CONTINUED...

Jeb's almost as smart as Poppy. The rest seems about the same.

[pacalo]

6. You loved JFK as much as I did. The OWS kids would have really embraced him.

[Octafish]

8. Thank you, pacalo. The world hasn't been the same, since.

And what a world it could've become -- one based on peace. Here's a slightly updated version of something apropos...

The expression on Moonwatcher, the 4 million year old Australopithecus who starred in 2001: A Space Odyssey, just about says it all for me.



JFK and the Impossible

When President Kennedy set the nation on a course to go to the moon, he made clear to history that the free world would be first to accomplish what had for millenia, if not eons, been considered the impossible. For that's what the moon shot was, accomplishing what had been thought fantasy -- lunacy -- for as long as human beings had the imagination to wonder.

The idea that we could go to the moon also meant that we could do anything we wanted to on earth. Provided we approach the problems with a can-do attitude, financial resources and national commitment, we could tackle and beat homelessness, joblessness, poverty, ignorance, preventable disease and most anything else. Most important, we could also tackle the ages old question of war and peace.

And peace in our time is the most important thing to remember President Kennedy for. When Congress, his Cabinet and the Pentagon were screaming for war with the Soviets over the missiles in Cuba, Kennedy kept the peace.

Otherwise, had the U.S. attacked the missile bases, things would have immediately escalated to nuclear conflagration with the Soviet Union left a pile of glowing rubble and the United States from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York and down to Miami likewise.

Do you think Junior Bush or Poppy Bush, Ronnie Reagan or Tricky Nixon were president in 1962, they would have held back? Gen President Eisenhower himself said that if there were only two Americans left and one Soviet, "We won!"

No, it is bigger than the Apollo Program. The greatest thing President Kennedy did was to keep the the peace during his time as President. How many since can make the same claim? In fact, it seems like the United States has not accomplished much in the last 40 years, since the space program. Greedheads run the banks and corporations. And wars are all around us.

[Octafish]

9. 'Arrogant' CIA Disobeys Orders in Viet Nam

One of the most important things I'd like DUers and all who care about the future to know:



A bit of history from the last weeks of President Kennedy's life,
courtesy of The Education Forum by DUer John Simkin:

'SPOOKS' MAKE LIFE MISERABLE FOR AMBASSADOR LODGE

'Arrogant' CIA Disobeys Orders in Viet Nam

Richard Starnes
The Washington Daily News, Wednesday, October 2, 1963, p.3

SAIGON, Oct.2 - The story of the Central Intelligence Agency's role in South Viet Nam is a dismal chronicle of bureaucratic arrogance, obstinate disregard of orders, and unrestrained thirst for power.

Twice the CIA flatly refused to carry out instructions from Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, according to a high United States source here.

In one of these instances the CIA frustrated a plan of action Mr. Lodge brought with him from Washington because the agency disagreed with it.

This led to a dramatic confrontation between Mr. Lodge and John Richardson, chief of the huge CIA apparatus here. Mr. Lodge failed to move Mr. Richardson, and the dispute was bucked back to Washington. Secretary of State Dean Rusk and CIA Chief John A. McCone were unable to resolve the conflict, and the matter is now reported to be awaiting settlement by President Kennedy.

It is one of the developments expected to be covered in Defense Secretary Robert McNamara's report to Mr. Kennedy.

Others Critical, Too

Other American agencies here are incredibly bitter about the CIA.

"If the United States ever experiences a 'Seven Days in May' it will come from the CIA, and not from the Pentagon," one U.S. official commented caustically.

("Seven Days in May" is a fictional account of an attempted military coup to take over the U.S. Government.)

CIA "spooks" (a universal term for secret agents here) have penetrated every branch of the American community in Saigon, until non-spook Americans here almost seem to be suffering a CIA psychosis.

An American field officer with a distinguished combat career speaks angrily about "that man at headquarters in Saigon wearing a colonel's uniform." He means the man is a CIA agent, and he can't understand what he is doing at U.S. military headquarters here, unless it is spying on other Americans.

Another American officer, talking about the CIA, acidly commented: "You'd think they'd have learned something from Cuba but apparently they didn't."

Few Know CIA Strength

Few people other than Mr. Richardson and his close aides know the actual CIA strength here, but a widely used figure is 600. Many are clandestine agents known only to a few of their fellow spooks.

Even Mr. Richardson is a man about whom it is difficult to learn much in Saigon. He is said to be a former OSS officer, and to have served with distinction in the CIA in the Philippines.

A surprising number of the spooks are known to be involved in their ghostly trade and some make no secret of it.

"There are a number of spooks in the U.S. Information Service, in the U.S. Operations mission, in every aspect of American official and commercial life here, " one official - presumably a non-spook - said.

"They represent a tremendous power and total unaccountability to anyone," he added.

Coupled with the ubiquitous secret police of Ngo Dinh Nhu, a surfeit of spooks has given Saigon an oppressive police state atmosphere.

The Nhu-Richardson relationship is a subject of lively speculation. The CIA continues to pay the special forces which conducted brutal raids on Buddhist temples last Aug. 21, altho in fairness it should be pointed out that the CIA is paying these goons for the war against communist guerillas, not Buddhist bonzes (priests).

Hand Over Millions

Nevertheless, on the first of every month, the CIA dutifully hands over a quarter million American dollars to pay these special forces.

Whatever else it buys, it doesn't buy any solid information on what the special forces are up to. The Aug. 21 raids caught top U.S. officials here and in Washington flat-footed.

Nhu ordered the special forces to crush the Buddhist priests, but the CIA wasn't let in on the secret. (Some CIA button men now say they warned their superiors what was coming up, but in any event the warning of harsh repression was never passed to top officials here or in Washington.)

Consequently, Washington reacted unsurely to the crisis. Top officials here and at home were outraged at the news the CIA was paying the temple raiders, but the CIA continued the payments.

It may not be a direct subsidy for a religious war against the country's Buddhist majority, but it comes close to that.

And for every State Department aide here who will tell you, "Dammit, the CIA is supposed to gather information, not make policy, but policy-making is what they're doing here," there are military officers who scream over the way the spooks dabble in military operations.

A Typical Example

For example, highly trained trail watchers are an important part of the effort to end Viet Cong infiltration from across the Laos and Cambodia borders. But if the trailer watchers spot incoming Viet Congs, they report it to the CIA in Saigon, and in the fullness of time, the spooks may tell the military.

One very high American official here, a man who has spent much of his life in the service of democracy, likened the CIA's growth to a malignancy, and added he was not sure even the White House could control it any longer.

Unquestionably Mr. McNamara and Gen. Maxwell Taylor both got an earful from people who are beginning to fear the CIA is becoming a Third Force co-equal with President Diem's regime and the U.S. Government - and answerable to neither.

There is naturally the highest interest here as to whether Mr. McNamara will persuade Mr. Kennedy something ought to be done about it.

SOURCE:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=7534&mode=threaded

ADDENDUM from Education Forum writer:

“The most important consequence of the Cold War remains the least discussed. How and why American democracy died lies beyond the scope of this introductory essay. It is enough to note that the CIA revolt against the presidency of John Fitzgerald Kennedy – the single event which did more than any other to hasten its end – was, quite contrary to over forty years of censorship and deceit, both publicly anticipated and publicly opposed.

No American journalist worked more bravely to thwart the anticipated revolt than Scripps-Howard’s Richard Starnes. His ‘reward’ was effectively to become a non-person, not just in the work of mainstream fellow-journalists and historians, but also that of nominally oppositional Kennedy assassination writers. It could have been worse: John J. McCone, Director of Central Intelligence, sought his instant dismissal; while others within the agency doubtless had more drastic punishment in mind, almost certainly of the kind meted out to CBS’ George Polk fifteen years earlier.

This time, shrewder agency minds prevailed. Senator Dodd was given a speech to read by the CIA denouncing Starnes in everything but name. William F. Buckley, Jr., suddenly occupied an adjacent column. In short, Starnes was allowed to live, even as his Scripps-Howard career was put under overt and intense CIA scrutiny - and quietly, systematically, withered on the Mockingbird vine.”

From “Light on a Dry Shadow,” the preface to ‘Arrogant’ CIA: The Selected Scripps-Howard Journalism of Richard T. Starnes, 1960-1965 (provisionally scheduled for self-publication in November 2006).

As far as I am aware, the remarkable example (above) of what Claud Cockburn called “preventative journalism” has never appeared in its entirety anywhere on the internet. Instead, readers have had to make do with the next-day riposte of the NYT’s Arthur Krock. The latter, it should be noted, was a veteran CIA-mouthpiece and messenger boy.

Dick Starnes was 85 on July 4, 2006. He remains, in bucolic retirement, a wonderfully fluent and witty writer; and as good a friend as any Englishman could wish for.

I dedicate the despatch’s web debut to Judy Mann, in affectionate remembrance.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=7534

--------------------

The Education Forum is an outstanding resource for those interested in President Kennedy, his administration, and his assassination.

From what we've learned in the last few years is that Lodge also was disregarding orders -- from President Kennedy.

More here:

Vietnam and Iraq Wars Started by Same People

Know your BFEE: Hitler’s Bankers Shaped Vietnam War

JFK Would NEVER Have Fallen for Phony INTEL!

PS: Original OP (great replies from DUers): 'Arrogant' CIA Disobeys Orders in Viet Nam

[bobthedrummer]

10. K&R

:patriot:
RECALL WALKER/KLEEFISCH!!!