From: cberlet@igc.apc.org (NLG Civil Liberties Committee)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy
Subject: Re: Bellant: Old Nazi Networks in US
Date: 12 Dec 92 02:28:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #R:cdp:1299600110:cdp:1299600126:000:15463
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!cberlet    Dec 11 18:28:00 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  7:29 pm  Mar  4, 1990 by nlgclc in igc:publiceye */
Bellant: Old Nazis/Allies 5
     
PART THREE - SECTION 5
	
ALLIES AND ALLEGIANCES
	
     - The Campaign Against OSI -
	
      At the July, 1988 Captive Nations banquet in Michigan, Vice 
President Bush was introduced by  Bohdan Fedorak [see photo], 
whose brief comments included a strong denunciation of the U.S. 
Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations (OSI). Bush 
nodded his agreement and applauded the comment.
	
      There is perhaps no current issue which sets the emigre 
fascist network apart from mainstream American society more than 
the campaign against the Office of Special Investigations.
	
      The OSI was established by a 1978 act of Congress to 
discover and deport Nazi war criminals who entered the U.S. after 
World War II. Almost immediately the <Ukrainian Quarterly> 
(published by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America) 
denounced OSI, as did the quasi-Nazi Liberty Lobby and the 
neo-fascist Lyndon LaRouche organization. Soon the 
Lithuanian-American Council, the American Lithuanian Community 
and the Joint Baltic American National Committee--all members of 
the ASC's Coalition for Peace Through Strength--joined in the 
anti-OSI campaign. Other Coalition for Peace Through Strength 
groups that actively opposed the OSI pursuit of Nazi 
collaborators were the Byelorussian-American Association, 
Congress of Russian-Americans and the World Federation for a Free 
Latvia. [f-309]
	
      While some organizations claimed they only opposed the 
methods employed by OSI, others called for its abolition. The 
specific method used by OSI which drew the sharpest criticism 
concerned the use of evidence from Soviet citizens, archives and 
prosecutors. Even though such evidence is independently 
scrutinized and tested by the U.S. government and must meet U.S. 
rules of evidence in court, the anti-OSI groups call it "KGB 
evidence" without offering any proof of their own to back up that 
assertion. All of the above groups claim there is an "OSI/KGB 
partnership." [f-310] None of the groups has supported the legal 
proceedings against even one suspected war criminal, even when 
the accused has publicly confessed his crimes. The charges of KGB 
plots, according to the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 
appear to be a "propaganda smokescreen that seeks to exploit 
anti-communism," in an attempt to stop the OSI investigations and 
legal proceedings. [f-311]
	
      Right-wing groups such as Accuracy in Media and individuals 
such as former Reagan advisor Patrick Buchanan and writer Joseph 
Sobran have joined in the anti-OSI campaign.
	
      A New Hampshire organization, the American Freedom Company, 
which publishes a periodical called <The Truth>, began anti-OSI 
activity as early as 1982. [F-312] The group is a member 
organization of the Coalition for World Freedom, the political 
arm of Singlaub's U.S. Council for World Freedom. [f-313]
	
      The emigre fascists have employed a variety of methods to 
protect those charged with war crimes and to stop the OSI 
investigations. These methods include lobbying Congress and the 
White House, urging their respective ethnic communities not to 
cooperate with government investigators, and in some cases, 
employing increasingly anti-Semitic propaganda and historical 
revisionism which denies the facts of the Nazi Holocaust.
	
      The Lithuanian-American Council (LAC) is an example of a 
group that practices the latter technique. In 1979 the Council 
published a book that blamed the Germans and the Jews but not the 
Lithuanians (other than a few "irresponsible Lithuanians with 
criminal inclinations") for the annihilation of Lithuanian Jews. 
[f-314] A 1986 book distributed by the LAC suggests that Jews 
brought persecution on themselves, [f-315] while another 
LAC-distributed book (available by mail order from LAC or from 
the literature rack at their offices in Chicago) praises 
pre-Christian, pagan Lithuania. [f-316] The 1975 book, by Charles 
Pichel (see Order of St. John in Part 2) says that "Christianity 
has failed her [Lithuania] miserably and as a result, many 
Samogitians [Lithuanians] have turned to ancient, pagan 
prophecies as a guide and hope for their future." [f-317]
	
      Why the Lithuanian-American Council promotes a brand of 
paganism used as the basis for the racialist beliefs of Nordic 
chauvinists ranging from Nazi Heinrich Himmler to racialist Roger 
Pearson is in itself unclear, but then the Lithuanian-American 
Council has never acknowledged--much less condemned--the brutal 
Lithuanian Greywolves organization and Lithuanian police units 
that actively pursued the German Nazi policy of exterminating 
Jews, Russians and political opponents of the German military 
occupation in that region.
	
      While these emigre organizations concern themselves with 
issues other than OSI, several groups have been formed for the 
specific purpose of stopping OSI's investigation and deportation 
of war criminals. One of these groups, the Coalition for 
Constitutional Justice and Security (CCJS), is a member of the 
Coalition for Peace Through Strength. It has called for a 
suspension of OSI activities and the "initiation of public 
inquiries into possible links between OSI, FBI, KGB, extremeist 
[sic] groups." [f-318] CCJS is led by Anthony and Danute Mazeika, 
who helped arrange the 1986 Republican Heritage Groups Council 
Annual Convention in Los Angeles.
	
      The CCJS has also claimed that recent bombings which 
targeted two accused war criminals living in the U.S. were "a 
direct result of the Justice Department's lack of control of the 
Office of Special Investigations' method of operation. . . ." [f-319]
	
      Intense emotions and rhetoric have accompanied the anti-OSI 
efforts. The World Jewish Congress has charged that the 
motivating factor behind such activity is "the fear that the 
Justice Department's prosecutors are exposing the American public 
to the historical facts that Hitler's annihilation of six million 
Jews was carried out not by the Germans alone, but rather with 
the extensive collaboration of Lithuanians, Latvians, Ukrainians, 
Estonians, and other Europeans." [f-320]
	
      Various fascist emigre elements have, over the years, 
attempted to present themselves as advocates of human rights and 
champions of persecuted minorities. Being identified with Nazi 
campaigns of murder does not lend credibility to their assertions 
when they make their public presentations in forums ranging from 
the Helsinki Human Rights Review to local U.S. rallies endorsed 
by Congressional representatives and the President of the United States.
	
      Given the claimed patriotic purpose of the American 
Security Council, it makes little sense why the Coalition for 
Constitutional Justice and Security is a member of the ASC's 
Coalition for Peace Through Strength--especially since the 
primary purpose of the group is to shield accused Nazi war 
criminals from prosecution. One can also ask why the Republican 
National Committee remains indifferent when one of its 
components, the Republican Heritage Groups Council, opposes OSI.
	
     - Support for South Africa and Apartheid -
	
      When Jonas Savimbi, the head of the Union for the Total 
Independence of Angola (UNITA), met with President Reagan and 
Administration officials in a high profile, whirlwind tour of the 
Capital in January, 1986, it represented the success of a 
ten-year American Security Council effort to get recognition and 
funding for UNITA. Savimbi's Washington visit was hosted and 
coordinated by the American Security Council. [f-321]
	
      UNITA is a South African-allied military force attempting 
to take over the government of Angola. The government of Angola, 
which is unfriendly to the apartheid regime in South Africa, came 
to power in 1975, despite a major CIA effort that supported 
UNITA. [f-322] Since then, a virtual South African lobby has 
sprung up in American right-wing circles demanding a defense of 
the apartheid regime.
	
      "We first invited Savimbi to come to the U.S. in 1975," 
says ASC president John Fisher. "We paid for a plane to bring him 
here with a dozen staff from Africa. We set them up in a hotel 
for 10 days. We set up Congressional meetings." [f-323] Congress 
at the time was preparing to cut off aid to UNITA. The Clark 
Amendment was finally passed, which barred further aid to UNITA.
	
      The ASC began what it called a decade-long "educational 
campaign" to have the amendment repealed. In 1981, Savimbi again 
was an ASC guest at its Virginia estate, and meetings with "the 
Secretary of State [Alexander Haig] and numerous Congressional 
leaders" were arranged, according to an ASC newsletter. [f-324] 
With the repeal of the Clark amendment in 1985, ASC hosted a 
celebration with members of Congress and UNITA's Jeremias 
Chitunda, who said that "John Fisher has always been standing by 
us. . . ." [f-325]
	
      The effort to aid UNITA was so crucial to the ASC that they 
gave their 1986 "Distinguished Service Award" to Senator Bob Dole 
for his behind-the-scenes work on behalf of UNITA. Dole is now 
attempting to do the same for another South Africa-backed 
operation against Mozambique called RENAMO. [f-326] RENAMO has 
ties to the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) and its 
representatives spoke at the WACL 1984 and 1985 conferences.
	
      The ASC has worked with South Africa itself, and not just 
its proxies. In 1979 an ASC "fact-finding mission" visited South 
Africa, then-white supremacist Rhodesia, and South 
Africa-occupied Namibia. [f-327] The trip was funded and 
coordinated by the Southern African Freedom Foundation, which had 
been exposed the year before as a project secretly funded by the 
South African government. [f-328] Press coverage at the time 
identified Ray Ackerman, a Capetown businessman, as an architect 
of the SAFF. [f-329]
	
      The ASC praised Ackerman with "a special debt of thanks," 
for helping to raise the "funds needed for the project." Ian 
Smith, head of the white minority Rhodesian regime, had been a 
guest at the ASC estate near Boston, Virginia just months 
earlier. [f-330]
	
      Two months after the Reagan Administration came to power, 
the ASC hosted and coordinated the visit of five military 
intelligence officials from South Africa to the U.S., including 
the head of military intelligence. The Council arranged for them 
to meet with staff at the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency 
and the National Security Council. [f-331] Through Roger Pearson 
associate and Jesse Helms staffer Jim Lucier, meetings were 
arranged on Capitol Hill. [f-332] A meeting was also arranged 
with then-Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick. 
[f-333] Because South African military officials were supposed to 
be banned from U.S. visits, the intelligence officials were 
hurried out of the U.S. after six days of activity, including a 
two-day briefing for the ASC on Southern Africa. [f-334] Several 
days after the visit, then-Secretary of State Al Haig called for 
the repeal of the Clark Amendment. [f-335]
	
      Several member organizations of the Coalition for Peace 
Through Strength are also close to South Africa's apartheid 
regime. In 1983, for instance, Jack Abramoff went to South Africa 
as chairman of the College Republican National Committee to begin 
an ongoing relationship with the extreme right National Student 
Federation (NSF). The NSF noted this as a "grand alliance of 
conservative students. . .an alliance that would represent the 
swing to the right amongst the youth in America and Western 
Europe." [f-336] After an exchange of trips between College 
Republicans and South African student rightists, the College 
Republican National Council passed a resolution condemning 
"deliberate planted propaganda by the KGB," and "Soviet proxy 
forces" in Southern Africa, without mentioning apartheid or 
racism. [f-337] The National Student Federation, which says that 
72% of its funding comes from corporations, resolved out of these 
meetings "To inspire, focus and unite the national will. . .to 
achieve. . .`Peace Through Strength'." [f-338]
	
      Another Coalition for Peace Through Strength member, the 
Conservative Caucus (which is also part of the World 
Anti-Communist League), works directly with South African 
government officials.
	
      Caucus Chair Howard Phillips cosponsors trips to South 
Africa (at a $4,000 fee) which offer "confidential intelligence 
and financial briefings" and meetings "with the very highest 
officials of government, business, banking and the military in 
South Africa." Also promised are "military intelligence 
briefings." Ads for such trips are placed in John Birch Society 
publications. [f-339] The Conservative Caucus lobbies vigorously 
for UNITA and attempted to initiate a corporate campaign against 
Gulf Oil/Chevron for buying Angolan oil. [f-340]
	
      Phillips and Abramoff have both supported campaigns calling 
for the dismissal of Chester Crocker and George Shultz from the 
State Department because they are seen as insufficiently 
supportive of South Africa. [f-341] The "Dump Schultz" campaign 
grew out of a meeting of the Council for National Policy, [f-342] 
a secret membership group that has included Phillips, Abramoff, 
then-National Security Council officials Oliver North and John 
Lenczowski, WACL chair John Singlaub,  and many others with ASC 
interlocks. [f-343] CNP's secret quarterly meetings bring 
together right-wing funders (such as Joseph Coors) and foreign 
policy activists. [f-344] The June 1987 speaker was Richard 
Secord. [f-345] Secord was a major player in the Iran Contra-gate 
arms for hostages private network.
	
      Because the ASC and WACL have a shared history, leadership 
and political outlook, it seems appropriate to note one other 
South African connection to American rightists.
	
      Although it doesn't show up on the list of delegates at 
WACL conferences, WACL has a South African chapter. It has been 
headed for years by Ivor Benson, [f-346] who has also been the 
South African correspondent to <The Spotlight,> [F-347] 
the notoriously anti-Semitic newspaper published by the 
quasi-Nazi Liberty Lobby. Benson wrote a speech for the 1986 
meeting of the Institute for Historical Review, [f-348] an 
organization devoted to proving the Nazi Holocaust against Jews 
and others was a hoax. The Institute is the brainchild of Willis 
Carto, who also runs Liberty Lobby and <Spotlight>. Benson was 
unable due to illness to attend the 1986 IHR conference, but his 
speech was delivered by a colleague (at the same IHR event 
attended by Dr. Ronnett). Benson's speech implied that South 
Africa's troubles were due to a Jewish conspiracy. [F-349]
	
      Like other friends of Liberty Lobby who are also members of 
WACL, Benson stays out of sight so as to not embarrass other 
African delegates. He has, however, addressed at least one 
meeting of North American WACL chaired by Gen. Singlaub. South 
Africa's main interest in WACL is to garner support for UNITA and 
RENAMO. Benson's direct and publicized presence could only hurt 
this effort at coalition- building, so he stays in the shadows.
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy,talk.politics.misc