From: cberlet@igc.apc.org (NLG Civil Liberties Committee)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy
Subject: Re: Bellant: Old Nazi Networks in US
Date: 12 Dec 92 02:27:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #R:cdp:1299600110:cdp:1299600121:000:10064
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!cberlet    Dec 11 18:27:00 1992


/* Written  9:10 pm  Dec  8, 1992 by cberlet in igc:publiceye */
/* Written  8:30 pm  Dec  6, 1992 by cberlet in igc:p.news */
/* Written  7:06 pm  Mar  4, 1990 by nlgclc in igc:publiceye */
Bellant: Old Nazis/Am. Sec. Council 4
	     
PART TWO - SECTION 4
	
     - The Propaganda Arm of the Military Establishment -
	
      Reagan's NSC turned to the ASC early on for collaboration 
on its projects. A March 11, 1982 letter from then-National 
Security Advisor William Clark praised ASC's 1980 film "Attack on 
the Americas" as "effective and accurate" and asked the ASC to 
produce an updated version incorporating Reagan's Caribbean and 
Central American policies. The "Dear John" letter to Fisher on 
White House letterhead claimed that it was necessary to turn to 
the ASC because "media coverage has been fraught with both 
misinformation and disinformation. . . ." Clark ended the letter 
with a "look forward to working with you in the future."
	
      The ASC produced the film, bringing Sam Dickens in as a 
consultant. [f-151] In August 1982, the ASC Foundation held a 
speakers training forum in the White House with high 
administration officials participating. [f-152] The speaker's 
bureau was another ASC vehicle made available to the 
Administration to help develop public support for its policies. 
The 1980 version of "Attack on the Americas" reportedly received 
funds for its $500,000 budget from several extreme right-wing 
groups in Guatemala with links to death squads in that country. 
[f-153] 
	
      Another film on Central America, "Crisis in the Americas," 
was also produced with NSC interests in mind. According to one 
source, however, the NSC paid the ASC for its help. "I was 
screening the film footage taken in Central America so that we 
could make a copy," said British Broadcasting Corporation 
producer David Taylor, who works in Washington, D.C. "The film's 
producer, Walter Gold, told me I couldn't use some of the footage 
because it was shot for the NSC through a contract arrangement 
with the ASC. It was supposed to be secret." Taylor said that 
some of the footage was of a classified U.S. air base in El 
Salvador to which journalists could not get access. "For them to 
get to that base, they had to be cleared." Some of the footage 
had a C-130 aircraft landing at the base that Gold identified as 
"a CIA transport." He also told Taylor that footage of the 1984 
elections in El Salvador had "CIA election observers." It was 
never explained why the NSC wanted this footage, nor how much was 
paid to the ASC to produce it. [f-154] The public version of 
"Crisis in the Americas" premiered in the White House in 
February, 1985. [f-155] NSC head Robert McFarlane headlined the 
event, while former presidential assistant Faith Whittlesey 
praised the ASC for its "initiative."
	
      Another source of funds for ASC film efforts came from the 
First National Bank of Chicago. In 1987, the <American Banker>  
noted the FBI was investigating the unauthorized use of $100,000 
by two former bank officials to aid an ASC promotional film. 
One bank employee, Wayne Gregory, was head of the Illinois Branch 
of the ASC's U.S. Congressional Advisory Board (USCAB), a part 
of ASC's fundraising operation. [f-156] Gregory's 
attorney, Matthias Lydon, said of the ASC's involvement, "nothing 
was said, assumptions were made" between Gregory and the ASC. 
[f-157] The ASC gave Gregory an award "to honor the example and 
dedication he has shown." [f-158] The USCAB had further problems 
when the home of former Illinois Congressman Robert Hanrahan, who 
headed the national USCAB fundraising operation, was raided in a 
"nationwide investigation into a scheme to hide drug profits." 
[f-159] 
	
      In September, 1983 Reagan sent a "Dear John" letter to 
Fisher on White House stationery which began "I am glad to hear 
that you are launching an IN DEFENSE OF AMERICA project 
to counter the massive Soviet propaganda and disinformation on 
issues like Central America and the nuclear weapons 
freeze....My Administration will cooperate fully with you in this 
project." [f-160]
	
      The "In Defense of America" project was geared toward 
shaping public opinion for the 1984 campaign. The centerpiece of 
the fifteen-million-dollar project was production of two films 
that were intended to play a campaign role similar to the use 
made of "The SALT Syndrome" in 1980. The Coalition's November 
1983 newsletter notes that "a special team drawn from the 
National Security Council, the State Department, [and] the 
Department of Defense" will assist the ASC project.
	
      The first film was "A Strategy for Peace Through Strength" 
which, like all ASC propaganda, claims U.S. military inferiority. 
A scene of Carter embracing Brezhnev is later contrasted with a 
hard-line Reagan speech, giving viewers an idea as to who is 
weakening America.
	
      The second film was "Crisis in the Americas." Its graphics 
featured a bear from the eastern horizon aggressively looming 
over Central America. President Reagan and Administration 
spokesmen are the star players in the script.
	
      Part of the appeal to raise the $15 million for the ASC 
project was to double the number of groups in the Coalition for 
Peace Through Strength, from 158 to 300. Another goal was to 
build state and local units of the Coalition. A separately stated 
goal was to "Encourage the organization of affiliated Coalitions 
in all other free world countries." [f-161]
	
      In several interviews, Fisher declined to discuss any means 
by which they intended to organize other "Free World" Coalitions. 
Although he suggested that CIOR, the NATO reserve officers 
association, would be a possible vehicle, he seemed to have no 
plan, or intention of developing one. It was also unclear what 
the international character and function of a Coalition for Peace 
Through Strength may be in, say, Chile, Paraguay or South 
Africa--countries where domestic peace is maintained through the 
strength of police and military units deployed by the government.
	
      Those aspects of the ASC project related to Reagan's 
re-election, however, were implemented with some success. J. 
Walter Thompson Advertising Company arranged half-hour slots on 
nearly 200 commercial stations to show the "Peace Through 
Strength" film a month before the November election. Public and 
cable TV showings were also arranged. The "Crisis in the 
Americas" film didn't make it before the elections.
	
      The ASC planned to complement that week of film showings on 
TV with "Peace Through Strength" rallies in 48 states. [f-162] 
Most were poorly attended. The ASC also planned a "World Peace 
Through Strength Day" on September 19, 1984. Although the nature 
of the event was unclear, the ASC noted "the day-long 
extravaganza is scheduled for the eve of America's Presidential 
elections" which the ASC felt "further enhances its 
significance." [f-163]
	
      The coordinators of some of the state Coalition activities 
represent the extreme politics of the national organization. The 
North Carolina Coalition coordinator during the 1984 re-election 
effort for Senator Jesse Helms was Milton Croom, [f-164] a 
longtime supporter of Lyndon LaRouche's activities, and a partner 
in a western Maryland radio station owned by the LaRouche 
group.[f-165] The LaRouche network frequently organizes around 
anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi themes, and collaborates with American 
neo-Nazi groups and the Ku Klux Klan. Former members say the core 
of the organization is a cult with members totally subservient to 
LaRouche. [f-166]
	
      Betty McConkey, the Iowa Coalition coordinator, was a 
candidate for state legislative office under the banner of the 
Populist Party, [f-167] a political front of the anti-Semitic and 
quasi-Nazi Liberty Lobby. The Populist Party openly includes 
elements from the Ku Klux Klan as well as the violent 
paramilitary Posse Comitatus. [f-168]
	
      When the ASC put together the "In Defense of America" 
project, they assembled a "strategy board" for the ASC 
Foundation. [f-169] It included two former directors of covert 
operations of the CIA, and two former intelligence operatives 
involved in organizations aiding the illegal shipments of lethal 
material to Libya under the direction of former CIA operatives 
Edmund Wilson  and Frank Terpil.
	
      One of the operatives involved in the Wilson-Terpil arms 
trade is Brig. Gen. (retired) Robert C. Richardson III. He was a 
vice-president of Consultants International from 1973-77, [f-170] 
a front company used in the Libyan operations. [f-171] A senior 
officer in U.S. Air Force Politico-Military Affairs (covert 
operations), he is an associate of Roger Pearson (see Pearson 
section) and retired Lt. Daniel O. Graham's High Frontier,  a 
group which lobbies for a form of Star Wars and is also a member 
group of the Coalition for Peace Through Strength.
	
      Another covert operator on the strategy board was the late 
Brig. Gen. Edwin F. Black. Formerly on Eisenhower's Operations 
Coordinating Board, which implemented National Security Council 
policies and supervised the CIA, [f-172] Black was a principal of 
the Nugan Hand Bank of Australia. [f-173] The Australian 
government found that the bank was involved in drug and gun 
trafficking [f-174] and that it aided the Wilson-Terpil 
operations. [f-175]
	
      The government also noted the bank's employment of "so many 
former high ranking U.S. and Armed Services personnel and other 
people widely known to have had a previous formal connection with 
the U.S. intelligence community." [f-176] Although the government 
did not find Nugan Hand to be a sanctioned covert cover for CIA 
activities, it remarked that "there are a number of matters that 
give rise to serious disquiet," including "the relationships that 
some of the Nugan Hand group. . .had with persons of U.S. 
intelligence background." [f-177] Black and Richardson also serve 
on the ASC National Strategy Committee. [f-178]