- "The implication or latent threat of force alone
was sufficient to insure that the people would comply..." --William
Colby, RIP
-
- Imagine my surprise to learn that the Bruce Lawlor is
serving as the Office of Homeland Security's Senior Director for Protection
and Prevention!
-
- I say this in a blatantly exclamatory fashion because
I interviewed Lawlor for my book, The Phoenix Program, back in 1988, when
he was just a small town lawyer in Vermont. Poor Bruce. He has always had
big ambitions, and he had run for governor of Vermont in 1984. But, as
he told me with abiding bitterness, his political opponents had uncovered
evidence of his participation in the CIA's Phoenix Program in Vietnam.
The bastards had used that awful fact to launch a successful smear campaign
against him. And yes, he'd lost the election as a result.
-
- Nearly 20 years later Lawlor is still licking his wounds,
and there's no doubt that he holds a major general's grudge against the
pacifists and peaceniks who smeared him with Phoenix. So now I'm wondering,
what's he got in store for people like me?
-
- Here We Go Again
-
- Having former CIA Phoenix officers in important government
positions is nothing new in America. I refer you to Congressman Rob Simmons,
a friend of Lawlor's, whom Lawlor describes as a "liberal". Simmons,
good liberal Episcopalian that he is, ran a CIA Province Interrogation
Center in Vietnam. (See The Spook Who Would be a Congressman.)
-
- Having potential war criminals in positions of power
is nothing new, but I'm one of those people who believe that all former
CIA officers--especially those involved in "extra-legal" counter-terror
programs like Phoenix--should not be allowed to hold public office. I believe
this, because the CIA is antithetical to democratic institutions. And that's
why I was so surprised to see, that the guy I knew as "Bruce",
is now Major General Lawlor, and a top-ranking official in the ominous
Office of Homeland Security. By which I mean, he's someone who has access
to Ashcroft's political blacklist, and he has control over the covert action
teams that can be used to neutralize those dissidents.
-
- To get right to the point, I have a sneaking suspicion
that Lawlor, like Simmons, is still working for the CIA, and thus poses
a major threat to democracy in America.
-
- One of the reasons I have this crazy feeling, is that
nowhere in any of Lawlor's official looking, on-line biographies is there
any mention of his CIA service. It's like his biographers are deliberately
trying to hide his CIA connection from us.
-
- For example, The Executive Session on Domestic Preparedness,
"a standing task force of leading practitioners and academic specialists
concerned with terrorism and emergency management" (sponsored by Harvard's
JFK School of Government, the Department of Defense, and the Department
of Justice), posted an official biography of Major General Bruce M. Lawlor.
They mention that he was the "first" commanding general of the
Joint Task Force Civil Support (JTF-CS) located at Fort Monroe. This is
extremely important, because the JTF-CS was formed specifically to provide
"command and control over Department of Defense consequence management
forces in support of a civilian Lead Federal Agency (the CIA?) following
a weapon of mass destruction incident in the United States, its territories
or possessions (italics added)."
-
- This sounds an awful lot like a prelude to the terror
attacks of 11 September, and I'll raise the subject of the JTF-CS in a
bit, but for now I'd like to point out that nowhere do Lawlor's friends
from Harvard (he's a graduate of Harvard's National Security Fellows Program)
or the Departments of Defense and Justice, say that Lawlor was once a CIA
officer. (Please see http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/ BCSIA/ESDP.nsf/www/Contact)
-
- Likewise, in an earlier biography posted on the Internet,
Lawlor was said to be "assigned as the Deputy Director, Operations,
Readiness and Mobilization within the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff
for Operations and Plans in May 1998. As Deputy Director he monitors Army
operations worldwide and oversees National Guard and Reserve Forces Integration
efforts."
-
- This too is incredibly important, and relates directly
to the terror attacks of 11 September, in so far as the National Guard
and Reserves are integral parts of Northcom, the military component of
the forthcoming Department of Homeland Security, which will manage the
"pacification" of the American people. But before we get into
that, let's proceed with the problem of Lawlor's official biographies.
In this particular biography, which was posted in November 2000, it says
"The General's military service began in 1967. After service in Vietnam
from 1971 to 1973, he received a Direct Commission in 1974 as an Intelligence
Officer."
-
- Once again, and rather conspicuously, there is no mention
that Lawlor was a CIA officer in Vietnam. In fact, you get the feeling
that he was in the military. You might go so far as to say that the folks
at Homeland Security are dissembling, in order to hide the fact that one
of their most senior officers probably still is a CIA officer!
-
- Why would Lawlor consent to this subterfuge, if, in fact,
he is an honorable man?
-
- The Phoenix Program
-
- I first read about Lawlor in Everything We Had by Al
Santoli. I was researching the Phoenix Program at the time, and Santoli's
interview with Lawlor was in a section titled "The Phoenix".
Santoli identified Lawlor as having been a CIA case officer in I Corps,
from November 1971-December 1973, and he quoted Lawlor as saying that in
order to win the Vietnam War, "what we had to do was get in and eliminate
the ability of the VC to control or influence the people. That's what pacification
was all about. The buzzword was "root out." We tried to go in
and neutralize their political structure."
-
- For those who are unfamiliar with Phoenix and its jargon,
"neutralize" meant to assassinate, imprison, or turn someone
into a defector or double agent.
-
- Lawlor apparently made some very provocative statements
to Santoli, including this one: "We permitted the Vietnamese to corrupt
the system and we did it because we basically were corrupt ourselves."
Lawlor's position about Phoenix seemed to be that it was "an extermination
program" that was "used to settle old scores."
-
- In an effort to find out if this was Lawlor's position,
I wrote to him and requested an interview. Lawlor agreed, and we did taped
interviews, portions of which I included in my book, The Phoenix Program,
between pages 407-411.
-
- What Lawlor told me basically confirmed everything Santoli
had attributed to him. Except there were some additional, startling details.
To begin with, Lawlor told me that he joined the CIA in 1967, while he
was getting his BA at George Washington University. The CIA hired him to
work the night shift, and after he graduated, he was given the chance to
become a regular CIA staff officer. He took the paramilitary course, which
included instruction in weapons and military tactics, but he was also trained
as a foreign intelligence officer, the kind who manages secret agents.
After that he was assigned to the Vietnam Desk at Langley headquarters,
where he received specialized training in agent operations in Vietnam,
and took a language course in Vietnamese. During this time, Lawlor formed
a rapport with the Vietnam Desk officer, Al Seal, and when Seal was assigned
as the base chief in Danang, he asked that Lawlor accompany him. Lawlor,
notably, was just as gung-ho about fighting the Viet Cong as John Kerrey.
(See Bob Kerrey, the CIA and War Crimes.)
-
- Lawlor arrived in Vietnam in November 1971 and was assigned
as an undercover staff officer at the US Embassy's translation section.
He arrived in Danang a few weeks later, at the beginning of 1972, and was
assigned to regional headquarters, in the counter-intelligence office.
He worked at that job through the Easter Offensive of 1972, but then things
changed dramatically. Lawlor became the Police Special Branch advisor in
Quang Nam Province, in which capacity, in the summer of 1972, he did what
Rob Simmons had done in nearby Quang Ngai Province; he organized the most
aggressive Special Branch officers into a paramilitary Special Intelligence
Force Unit that hunted members of the Viet Cong Infrastructure in the hamlets
and villages. As advisor to the Special Branch, Lawlor also ran the Quang
Nam Province Interrogation Center, and there got to know the CIA's regional
PRU advisor, Patry Loomis. Bored with merely filing reports, Lawlor jumped
at the chance, when Loomis asked him if he'd like to out on some PRU operations.
That's when Lawlor started dressing in tiger fatigues and going out on
ambushes, and traditional PRU "snuff and snatch" operations.
-
- For those unfamiliar with Phoenix lexicon, the PRU--Provincial
Reconnaissance Unit--Program was a unilateral CIA operation, formed by
the CIA, paid by the CIA, and staffed by mercenary Vietnamese who worked
for the CIA, often against the interests of their own government. The PRU
were originally called "counter-terror teams" and, according
to Nelson Brickham (the man who created the Phoenix program) their job
was to go into VC areas "to do to them what they were doing to us."
Which means mutilating people, sticking their heads on poles after they
were killed, killing the families of suspected VC terrorists or political
chiefs, and other unconventional CIA terror tactics.
-
- After the 1972 Easter Offensive the PRU were ostensibly
placed under the jurisdiction of the Special Branch, and were renamed Special
Reconnaissance Units. At this point the CIA still controlled the PRU purse
strings, but it wasn't providing as much money and as a result, it lost
a certain amount of control over the PRU leadership. The top ranking Vietnamese
PRU officers turned to graft, drug dealing, and shakedowns to make up the
differential. Very bad things started happening. On one unforgettable occasion
Lawlor walked into the Hoi An Interrogation Center and saw that a woman,
who knew about the regional PRU chief's dirty dealings, had been raped
and murdered. Her body was stretched over a table. "All of a sudden,"
Lawlor told me, "Mr. (Phan Van) Liem (the PRU chief) wants me to go
on a mission with him, and the other PRU guys are telling me, 'Don't go!'"
-
- This may seem a minor detail to the people at Homeland
Security, or then again, it may be one reason why Lawlor's resume is so
lacking in CIA information. You see, all CIA Province Interrogation Center
advisors were obligated to report any incidents of torture, murder, or
abuse they witnessed. So, where's Lawlor's report?
-
- I believe Lawlor probably filed a report. Back in those
rough and tumble Phoenix fighting days he was a man of conscience. For
example, when Seal was replaced as the CIA's Regional Officer in Charge
(ROIC) of I Corps, the new ROIC, Tom Flores, brought in a new staff. Having
worked in the region's counter-intelligence office, Lawlor knew that an
NVA spy ring still existed in the area, and that one of these NVA agents
was the girl friend of Flores' operations chief. When Lawlor reported this
to Flores, he was accused of having "gone native." So Lawlor
told the CIA's security chief in Saigon, at which point his office furniture
was confiscated and he was handed a ticket home.
-
- "After that I became disillusioned," Lawlor
confessed. He tendered his resignation to Ted Shackley in 1974. "The
agency betrayed us," he said. "To go after the VCI, we had to
believe it was okay. But we were too young to understand what happens when
idealism cracks up against reality. We risked our lives to get information
on the VCI, information we were told the President was going to read. Then
guys who didn't care gave it to superiors more interested in booze and
broads."
-
- That's what Bruce Lawlor said to me back in 1988. He
was definitely embittered, but there's something weird about him that makes
him keep going back for more. When former Director of Central Intelligence
William Colby heard that the Phoenix smear campaign had cost Lawlor the
1984 election in Vermont, he offered Lawlor his moral (as it was) support.
Lawlor was summoned to Langley and interviewed for a job in the freewheeling
Special Operations Division, which was then breaking every international
law in places like Nicaragua and Afghanistan. But details of the "gone
native" incident surfaced, and Lawlor was not, to his immense disappointment,
rehired by the CIA.
-
- Reprisal is the Name of the Homeland Security Game
-
- People look for vindication in many different ways. Take,
for example, the reaction of the right wing to America's humiliating defeat
at the hands of the Vietnamese. Phoenix creator Nelson Brickham compared
that reaction to the frustration and bitterness of the German nation after
the First World War. As we all know, that frustration and bitterness enabled
Hitler to do his thing.
-
- Since the terror attacks of 11 September, we've seen
the same phenomena here in America. Symbolically, that traumatic event
wiped the slate clean. As a result, all the moral and psychological prohibitions
on the reactionary right have been lifted, and all the anger and frustrations
it cultivated during the Vietnam War, and the Carter and Clinton Administrations,
is poised to be unleashed under the aegis of counter-terrorism, not only
on the usual suspects--foreign enemies sitting on vast oil reserves, suspected
terrorists, and domestic dissidents--but on the unwitting, flag-waving
American public as well.
-
- I happen to believe that Bruce Lawlor is one of those
frustrated, bitter people. And I believe that he subscribes to the fascist
theories of Michael Ledeen. A former counter-terror expert in the corrupt
Reagan Regime's State Department and National Security Council, Ledeen
in a 1 October 2001 article for the National Review blamed the terror attacks
of 11 September on Bill Clinton, "for failing to properly organize
our nation's security apparatus."
-
- According to Ledeen, Clinton's sneering lack of respect
for security took "a terrible toll on the system, and (Tom) Ridge
will not find it easy to instill a proper respect for proper secrecy, even
in his own offices. It takes quite a while to stamp out corrupt habits
of mind and action."
-
- Leeden's solution to the problem of domestic terrorism
is ideological. It is "to stamp out" the "corrupt habits
of mind (italics added)" that are still lingering around, somewhere.
In other words, the reactionary right wing, as represented by the fascist
Bush Regime, with its ambitions for a military dictatorship, must impose
its "proper" ideology through the institution of an official
Thought Police--the current Office of Homeland Security and the forthcoming
Department of Homeland Security. Stamping out, or pacification, is what
is required to create the politically correct, security conscious, uniform
American citizenry, marching in lockstep with their fellow flag waving
TIPsters, that is necessary to win the tough eternal war on terror that
lies ahead. It's a matter of will power.
-
- "This is time for the old motto, "kill them
all, let God sort 'em out." New times require new people with new
standards," Ledeen asserts. "The entire political world will
understand it and applaud it. And it will give Tom Ridge a chance to succeed,
and us to prevail."
-
- It's obvious that many people with an axe to grind are
jumping on the Homeland Security bandwagon. Knowing this, and fearing that
Bruce Lawlor is of the Ledeen "reprisal" persuasion, I immediately
tried to get an interview with him. I called his office at 202-456-5687
and spoke with his secretary. She said he would call me back, but he hasn't
responded.
-
- I know he was angry with me after The Phoenix Program
was published. He did not like how I portrayed the CIA, or him, personally.
He was so upset he helped a CIA-nik write a rebuttal to my book. So I'm
a little concerned, not just for myself, but for anyone who opposed the
Vietnam War, and now opposes the Bush Regime's blatantly fascist policies
at home and abroad. So I'm writing this as an open letter to General Lawlor.
-
- As far as I know, General Lawlor, we still live in a
democracy. Although the Bush regime seems hell bent on using the uninvestigated
terror attacks of 11 September as a pretext to turn America into a military
dictatorship, we are not yet (as far as I know) under martial law. Public
officials, like you, still have a responsibility to respond to our concerns.
So speaking on behalf of people concerned by the gaping window of opportunity
for the abuse of human rights and civil liberties presented by the corrupt
Bush Regime, through its Homeland Security apparatus, here are the main
questions that need to be answered:
-
- Questions for Major General Bruce Lawlor
-
- 1) What happened in July 1995 to make you leave your
law practice and go to the Army War College? Did the CIA have a role in
that decision?
-
- 2) How did your education at the War College pave the
way for your assignment as Special Assistant to the Supreme Allied Commander
in Europe, from June to October 1996? CIA officers often go by the term
"Special Assistant." Were you serving as the CIA's liaison to
the Supreme Commander?
-
- 3) In May 1998 you got the very important job as Deputy
Director of Readiness and Mobilization within the office of the Deputy
Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans. Your job was managing the National
Guard and Reserves around the world. Did the CIA help you get this job?
How were you involved with the CIA in this position?
-
- 4) You were the first commander of the Joint Task Force,
Civil Support at Fort Monroe. Your job was to work with civilians. Was
this a CIA assignment? How were you involved with the CIA in this position?
Was this assignment based in any way upon your Phoenix-related experiences
as a CIA officer in Vietnam, and was it precisely that "Phoenix"
sensibility that you brought, as your main qualification, to the job? What
are your other qualifications? Who else bid for the job? Isn't this where
General Wayne Downing was assigned after 11 September, and if so, what
was and is your relationship with him, and the CIA, in terms of formulating
Homeland Security policy?
-
- 5) In a 24 March 2000 statement to Congress, you seemed
to be preparing for the Homeland Security job you have now. In a way you
predicted the calamitous events of 11 September. Did you, in fact, have
any foreknowledge of those attacks?
-
- 6) In your statement to Congress you said that as Commanding
General of the JTF-CS, you created Civil Support Teams to assist in case
of a weapon of mass destruction incident. Formerly known as Rapid Assessment
and Initial Detection (RAID) teams, CSTs, you said, "are National
Guard assets, and thus can function under state or federal authority. They
are equipped with sophisticated communications systems that will enable
local first responders to talk with neighboring jurisdictions or link up
with federal centers of expertise. CSTs are also being equipped with state
of the art detection equipment that will enable them to help local first
responders quickly identify potential WMD agents." That's what you
told Congress. Would you now please tell us what role the CIA plays in
CST operations? It sounds like a great CIA cover outfit to me. Are they?
Is there a Civil Support team near me? Will you allow me to observe how
it functions?
-
- 7) In your role as Senior Director for Protection and
Prevention at the Office of Homeland Security, what is your relationship
with Northcom and the CIA? In fact, what is it that you do? Is it true
that the Office of Homeland Security will be strategy-making part of the
Homeland Security apparatus, and that the forthcoming Department of Homeland
Security will be the tactical and operational part? What is the function
of the Homeland Security Council, and what is your relationship with it?
Can we have organization charts of these entities, including ones that
show where the CIA is hiding it covert assets?
-
- 8) Last but not least, please explain the conspicuous
absence of any reference to your CIA background in your official biographies.
This seems to suggest that you are still CIA. Are you? And tell us, please,
if you and others like intend to use your power to seek revenge against
your political opponents?
-
- Lingering Doubts
-
- From mid 1972 through 1973 Bruce Lawlor ran the same
sort of anti-terror programs that are now in vogue. The CIA has already
launched a worldwide Phoenix Program. Is that why he got the Homeland Security
job? Is that why the CIA finally let him back inside the fold? Did he promise
to allow the CIA to use his Homeland Security programs as a cover to repress
political dissent in America? Will he become one of those corrupt officials
he hated in Vietnam, and use his power to take revenge on his personal
enemies? Is that what Homeland Security is really all about?
-
- Like most Americans, those of us who oppose the Bush
Regime's fascist policies are willing to participate in our own defense,
if there is in fact a threat, and if in fact the CIA didn't manufacture
the threat. We just want honest forthright leaders whose first responsibility
is to defend the liberties we cherish, and not to subvert them under the
aegis of Homeland Security.
-
- Douglas Valentine is the author of The Hotel Tacloban,
The Phoenix Program, and TDY, all of which are available through iUniverse.com.
For information about Mr. Valentine and his books and articles, please
visit his website at www.douglasvalentine.com
-
- He can be reached at: redspruce@attbi.com
-
- http://www.counterpunch.org ___
-
-
- Comment
-
- Know Your Enemy
-
- From Brasscheck ken@brasscheck.com 8-25-2
-
- Thank goodness there are a few real journalists left...
-
- Douglas Valentine reveals the Phoenix Program credentials
of one of the leading executives in the Office of Homeland Security.
-
- Excerpt: "Imagine my surprise to learn that the
Bruce Lawlor is serving as the Office of Homeland Security's Senior Director
for Protection and Prevention!
-
- I say this in a blatantly exclamatory fashion because
I interviewed Lawlor for my book, The Phoenix Program, back in 1988, when
he was just a small town lawyer in Vermont. Poor Bruce. He has always had
big ambitions, and he had run for governor of Vermont in 1984. But, as
he told me with abiding bitterness, his political opponents had uncovered
evidence of his participation in the CIA's Phoenix Program in Vietnam.
The bastards had used that awful fact to launch a successful smear campaign
against him. And yes, he'd lost the election as a result.
-
- Nearly 20 years later Lawlor is still licking his wounds,
and there's no doubt that he holds a major general's grudge against the
pacifists and peaceniks who smeared him with Phoenix. So now I'm wondering,
what's he got in store for people like me?"
-
- Brasscheck notes:
-
- Lawlor ran the Quong Nam Province Interrogation Center.
-
- In 1995, Lawlor left his law practice in Vermont and
enrolled in the Army War College. From there his new career as internal
security expert skyrocketed with 9-11 lifting him to new heights.
-
- The May 2001 outing of Phoenix war criminal Bob Kerrey
looks even more like a 'desensitization' operation to me now than it did
when it was taking place.
-
- Why after so much time and with seemingly no provocation
did the normally 'hyper-tolerant' US news media suddenly become so concerned
about Senator Kerrey's conduct during the Vietnam War? Function. Immediately
after this press event, which featured a broad mainstream defense of Kerrey
and his criminal conduct, Phoenix grads started finding their way into
high level Bush administration posts.
-
- =================================================
-
- Previous Brasshcheck notes on Phoenix:
-
- The scope of Phoenix
-
- "By 1968, when (William) Colby was elevated to the
rank of special ambassador, Phoenix was forcing 250,000 civilians through
South Vietnam's prison system, often relying on no more that the word of
paid informers. This was at a time when the CIA estimated that the Communist-led
National Liberation Front (NLF) totaled at most 150,000 people. Moreover,
the flow of 250,000 suspects continued *annually* until 1972, when the
operation shut down."
-
- Source: "Thy Will Be Done" by Gerard Colby
and Charlotte Denett" (HarperCollins)
-
- ===============================================
-
- About Phoenix 'Interrogation' centers
-
- "I never knew in the course of all those operations
any detainee to live through interrogation. They all died. There was never
any reasonable establishment of the fact that any one of those individuals
was, in fact, cooperating with the VC, but they all died and the majority
were either tortured to death or things like thrown from helicopters."
-
- Bart Osborn in testimony to Congress in 1971. Cited in:
"The Phoenix Program" By Douglas Valentine
-
- ===============================================
-
- Phoenix: 'Protecting the People from Terrorism'
-
- "Under the banner of 'Protecting the People from
Terrorism,' US and GVN psywar teams crisscrossed the countryside using
Phoenix-supplied radios, leaflets, posters, TV shows, movies, banners,
and loudspeakers mounted on trucks and sampans to spread the word."
-
- Source: "The Phoenix Program" By Douglas Valentine
-
- Now they just use CNN.
-
- ===============================================
-
- June 8, 2001
-
- Phoenix Program Boss in Bush White House
-
- Meet Richard Armitage, best friend of Colin Powell and
unanimously endorsed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his
new position as Deputy Secretary of State...and major Phoenix Program operative.
-
- Here's just one of the things he's up to:
-
- "HR 19, just introduced (01/01) by Georgia Congressman
Bob Barr, would repeal the Executive Orders of presidents Reagan and Carter
prohibiting federal employees, including the military, from carrying out
assassinations. This implies that the Bush administration plans to deal
harshly with terrorists and other inconvenient persons. Richard Armitrage,
who was involved in the Iran Contra deal as well as CIA covert operations
in Vietnam, will reportedly head up what's called 'The Terrorist Elimination
Act of 2001."
-
- That's our new Deputy Secretary of State.
-
- 8/25/02 note:
-
- Pre-9/11. Pre-9/11. All these guys were in motion in
the Bush White House with their incomprehensible and discredited schemes
pre-9/11. Now they're mainstream. How convenient is that?
-
- Comment
-
- From <mailto:wmiller@zoo.uvm.edu>
Will Miller
- 8-27-2
-
- Dear Douglas,
-
- Thanks for you excellent piece on Bruce Lawlor. A couple
of corrections might be useful. Lawlor ran for the Democratic Party nomination
for for the Attorney General of Vermont in 1984. He put the Phoenix Program
on his political resume that was handed out to the press. Terry Allen,
a journalist with a small weekly, the Vermont Vanguard, called me for
information about Phoenix and then published the first critical article
about Lawlor and Phoenix. By the time of the state Democratic convention
the anti-intervention/anti-imperialist and pacifist groups in the state
had organized and produced bottoms for the convention delegates that said
"No Assassins for Attorney General." Lawlor then lost in the
Fall primary--even though William Colby visited Vermont during the campaign
to speak on his behalf. Having been part of a covert assassination program
did not seem suitable for someone seeking to be Vermont's chief law enforcement
officer!
-
- It is truly appalling--but not surprising--that Lawlor
is now with Homeland Security!
- Again, thanks for your exposing of Lawlor's latest!
|
