Note: sample outtakes of Larry:
The
Tipping Point – Part 2 Enter Lee Oswald
Walking
a Tightrope
With his
early interest in the revolution against Batista and his contacts with the Cuban
Consulate in Los Angeles previously noted, it is perhaps not surprising to find
Lee Oswald entering into Cuban affairs in 1963, first with an initial approach
to the Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC) in March while in Dallas, and then
becoming more visibly active in pro-Cuba activities in New Orleans that summer.
[ 127 ]
During that period, the FBI had access to all of Oswald's correspondence with
the FPCC. The FBI had its own source inside the group's office, which it used
to copy both correspondence, and the FPCC's membership and mailing lists. The
FBI routinely prepared intelligence updates on the FPCC and copied the CIA on
much of that information.
…Oswald
and his wife Marina had been covertly checked out by the CIA’s Domestic Contacts
section, via a contact by Dallas CIA officer J. Walton Moore with George
deMohrenschildt….
Part 3
People in Motion – Fall 1963
As of
fall 1963 Cuban affairs as a whole can only be described as being in a state of
chaos, with radically diverse actors and agendas involving the Cuban
Coordinating Committee, new CIA Special Affairs Staff projects, ongoing Miami
Station maritime missions, Cuban expatriate frustration and independent anti-Castro
actions. A broad variety of secret tracks were being pursued – involving the
CIA, the Department of Defense, the Joint Chief's Special Activities (SACSA)
staff and State Department pursuit of the first hints of possible negotiations
with Castro himself.
Simply
following who was doing what, where and when becomes a challenge. The
following chronology and commentary related to people's movements and
activities during this key period will set the stage for examining the
emergence of the evolving threat to President Kennedy.
Chronology
Sample:
August –
September:
Manual
Artime began to bring the first AMWORLD recruits into the project, Carlos
Hernandez in September, Antonio Soto in October and Felix Rodriquez only by
November. Felix Rodriquez officially did not come on board earlier due to an
"illness" and his new cover ID for travel outside the U.S. was
delayed. In addition to those now familiar names the AMWORLD recruit list also
included names from the independent DRE/McClaney-funded projects of summer 1963
- including Carlos Hernandez, John Koch Gene, and Jorge Navarro.
Early
September, 1963: Journalist Lisa Howard's friend William Attwood (an
advisor with the U.S. delegation at the U.N.) read an article on Cuban
relations by Lisa Howard. He called her and after their telephone conversation
he volunteered his services to establish a back channel to Castro through the
Cuban U.N. delegation.
September
13: President Kennedy's fall trip to Texas was announced to the public in
September, 1963. [ 143 ]
September
24: William Attwood had met with President Kennedy and received his
approval to proceed with the new Cuba outreach; he had also met socially with
Cuban UN representative Lechuga at a cocktail party at Lisa Howard's apartment.
Lechuga had been quite encouraging, suggesting that Attwood come to Havana for
talks. The CIA was not initially informed of this new back channel negotiation,
which was only known to three State Department personnel and to Lisa Howard -
who was working the contacts with Cuba. Castro's personal physician and friend
Rene Vallejo served as a key channel for Castro.
Both
Arthur Schlesinger and William Atwood understood the risk involved in this new
back channel, but later admitted they had not fully considered the fact that
the CIA monitored adversary nation communications at the United Nations, and
the NSA monitored all private calls to Cuba. Both men came to believe the CIA
had quickly become aware of the president's new initiative – something they
deemed to be extremely dangerous.
Years
later William Attwood told author Anthony Summers that he believed word of the
impending talks might well have leaked down through the CIA to radical officers
at JMWAVE, and from them to extremist Cuban exiles. He felt that they would
have reacted violently – it was the end of their dreams of returning to Cuba
and they might have been moved to "violent action". [ 144 ]
Late
September: John Martino traveled to New Orleans on September 27……
Part 4 –
Context for Conspiracy
As
mentioned in the introduction, over a number of years I examined a number of
individuals who have come to researchers' attention, primarily due to the work
of the various official inquiries into the Kennedy assassination. In the end
I've been left with a handful of primary and secondary sources which appear to
me to be credible. In no instance did those individuals "go public"
with their information; what little they had to say was disclosed only to
family or to other individuals or in a fashion that would not allow it to be
attributed to them personally or publicly. In some instances their information
was offered to investigative bodies under the assumption that it would be kept
confidential – only to become known due to records releases or investigative
work by private researchers.
The
following material provides a brief introduction to sources I find credible, as
well as a synopsis of how they came to be known. Citations are given for their
backgrounds, as developed both in my own works (which contain document sources
and available links to online materials) as well other sources. Most
importantly it describes the limited information which they did provide. In no
instances did they elaborate or claim extensive knowledge of the conspiracy or
the names of those involved; the information they did provide is strictly
consistent with the manner in which it was reportedly obtained.
They
Talked
John
Martino - Martino had been arrested by Cuban authorities in 1959, while working
as a technician in gaming operations at a Havana casino.
According
to both Martino's wife and his son, Martino was very much aware of what was
about to happen to the president, remarking on it both to his wife and in front
of the family during a newscast about JFK's trip to Texas.
"Flo, they're going to kill him. They're going to kill him when he gets to Texas." [ 166 ]
Martino even ordered his teenage son Edward to remain home from school on November 22, instructing him to stay in front of the television rather than leaving the house. [ 167 ]
John
Roselli - Roselli first came to public attention in regard to his role in
multiple CIA efforts to assassinate Fidel Castro. [ 172 ]
He was interviewed at considerable length about those activities by a Senate
inquiry, the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with
Respect to Intelligence Activities (known as the Church Committee) during 1975.
[ 173 ]
However Roselli had confidentially tried to plant an assassination conspiracy
story well before that – similar to what Martino had done immediately after the
assassination
David
Morales - As Chief of JMWAVE operations in 1963, Morales worked with the most
proficient of the Cuban exile paramilitary operators including Rip Robertson
and Grayston Lynch. Given his lengthy history with CIA paramilitary operations
and covert action (in later years he became a consultant in counter insurgency
to the Joint Chief's staff), Morales remains a highly credible source.
Gene
Wheaton - Gene Wheaton, approached the ARRB with a fax to its chairman John
Tunheim on October 20, 1995. Wheaton indicated that he felt he might have
information relevant to the Board's work. As part of that contact Wheaton
provided a four page biography of himself, as well as a letter of commendation
from President Richard Nixon for Wheaton's earlier anti-drug work during an
assignment in Iran.
Wheaton's
career experience was in law enforcement and security operations, initially
with police work and then service with both the Air Force Office of Special
(criminal) Investigations and with the Army Counter Intelligence Division
(criminal and narcotics investigations). Following military service he had
obtained his Bachelor's Degree in law enforcement, and a Master's Degree in
Public Administration. After obtaining his Masters he had moved into security
consulting in the Middle East, working in Saudi Arabia, in Egypt (security
design for the Cairo Airport) and as an advisor on security, police practices
and anti-terrorism to the pre-revolutionary government of Iran. His work on
counter-drug activities with Iranian law enforcement resulted in a special
commendation from President Richard Nixon.
The
individual Wheaton named to the ARRB as having knowledge related to the Kennedy
assassination was CIA officer Carl Jenkins. In addition to Jenkin's name,
Wheaton offered a very limited amount of information, which he had heard in
private conversations among anti-Castro military personnel who had worked with
Jenkins in earlier years. The men had trained under Jenkins and conducted a
variety of missions against Castro's regime, including maritime operations into
Cuba.
The
conversations had occurred during the period when Jenkins was working as a
sales manager for Wheaton, soliciting air transportation contracts for the
Reagan-era Contra support aimed out ousting the governing regime of Nicaragua.
[ 190 ]
Rafael
Quintero - Quintero had been an early volunteer for the initial CIA Cuba
Project, going through special training and participating in infiltration
missions into Cuba prior to the failed landing of the Cuban Expeditionary
Force. He had operated covertly inside Cuba, as had others of the special
infiltration cadre including Tony Izquierdo and Felix Rodriquez. All three had
managed to evade and escape during the Bay of Pigs landings and the following
massive roundup of suspected insurgents. Following his return to the United
States, he had drafted plans for a new covert operations initiative and
presented them to Special Group leaders Robert Kennedy and Maxwell Taylor, who
in turn offered the plans to CIA Deputy Director Richard Helms.
"If
I were ever granted immunity, and compelled to testify about past actions,
about Dallas and the Bay of Pigs, it would be the biggest scandal ever to rock
the United States." [ 195 ]
Felipe
Vidal Santiago - Felipe Vidal was an independent, but much respected, activist
within the Cuban exile community. He had also been an officer in the Cuban
Navy. Vidal had no affiliation with the CIA or with JMWAVE; however he was
known to be personally close to John Martino
Also
profiled are Roy Hargraves, Rolondo Otero, Wayne January, Jack Ruby, William
Patterson and William Kent.
Assets
All of
which brings us back to a conspiracy of CIA officers turning assets assembled
to kill Fidel Castro against President Kennedy. From what we can now see of
that conspiracy, it appears to have been constructed around standard CIA
practices - CIA officers plan covert actions, provide support, but surrogates
always carry out the operation and make the actual attack - combined with
William Harvey's criteria for executive action. According to Harvey's own notes
those practices meant that nothing would ever be put on paper, the word
assassination would never be used in conversation, all related documents would
be forged and backdated, the action itself should be coordinated by officers
who were working counter espionage/counter intelligence (not case officers),
and there should always be provisions for blaming the action on the communists.
[ 284 ]
We now
know a good deal about several of those individuals, some of whom show up even
in their CIA records as superior marksmen. We can also identify at least some
of the individuals who were actually assigned to Castro assassination missions.
David Boylan and I have covered their training and activities in our "Wheaton
Lead Exploration" research paper. [ 285 ]
What we cannot know for certain is exactly who volunteered to go to Dallas.
There are suggestions and rumors, but they are simply that – no more, no less.
Given a
mission to kill the president of the United States, absolute trust was the
first criteria in recruiting the shooters. In that regard, only an individual
such as Rip Robertson would have both the trust and paramilitary skills to have
been involved in both recruiting and organizing tactical elements of the
attack. As for the shooters, they would have to be experienced, proficient,
highly trusted, and totally committed. Another assumption which seems
reasonable is that they were personally known and trusted by the recruiting
officer, individuals who had served under his command or even on his missions.
Roselli's
description of the conspiracy revolved around the involvement of a
CIA-organized Castro assassination team. That is particularly interesting
because we have come to learn a great deal about the people who were sent into
Cuba to carry out shooting attacks on Castro, how they were trained, inserted
and even who organized their efforts. [ 294 ]
One of the lessons learned from that research (even though we have only limited
details) is that the Castro attack efforts were indeed carefully developed and
planned, with the collection of considerable information on the points of
attack obtained from both local intelligence and information on the target's
movement and security practices.
While
those efforts were structured with the classic infantry elements – shooters,
and local support personnel for intelligence collection on the target – the
number of personnel involved was quite limited. In practice the attacks were
planned more as guerrilla actions rather than infantry classic assaults. They
were to employ only one or two shooters, and an overall team of perhaps four to
six individuals. The individuals involved were extremely well trained in basic
infantry skills, advanced covert operations skills, especially in infiltration
and exfiltration.
They
constituted a very special cadre within the Cuba Project trainees and practiced
the highest operational security. Their skill level can be seen in individuals
such as Felix Rodriquez, Carlos Hernandez, Nestor Izquierdo, and Segundo
Borgas, all of whom managed to make multiple missions in and out of Cuba, even
successfully getting out.
A
Visible Conspiracy
There is
simply no indication that any effort was made to restrict or structure the
attack on President Kennedy to create the perception of a lone shooter – that
was strictly an artifact of the "lone nut" messaging that emerged
during the 48 hours following President Kennedy's murder. Certainly the first
day reports out of Dallas provided ample suggestion of an organized attack by
multiple participants and of a well-planned conspiracy at work.
The Castro
linkage?
The
sources cited in this work almost unanimously suggest that the attack on
President Kennedy was supposed to point to sponsorship by Cuba and Fidel
Castro. Certainly the early headlines did take full measure of Lee Oswald as a
pro-Castro figure, an activist supporting the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee.
