Major Ralph P. Ganis and The Skorzeny Papers – (Skyhorse, NY, 2018)
It has been pointed out by a number of reviewers
that The Skorzeny Papers book lacks
citations and even examples of what the documents contained in them look like, though
Ganis says they are mainly letters between Skorzeny and his wife and carbon
copies of business documents in different languages that had to be translated.
I met Major Ganis in Dallas, talked to him at
length, transcribed one of his radio interviews and have talked to him on the
phone a number of times, all of which makes me believe that he is the real deal
and has supporting records for everything he says, even though at this point,
we have to take his word for it. As a military veteran who has served in three branches
of the service, through five wars, I take the man at his word, though you don’t
have to.
Dallas Names – the Skorzeny Intelligence Network
Overlay
Maj. Ralph Ganis, an experienced and decorated U.S.
military officer, says that he used research techniques he learned working in
intelligence that allowed him, as he read the Skorzeny Papers, to recognize an intelligence network that was
operating as business enterprises, many out of Dallas, Texas. He calls this the
“Skorzeny network,” though there appears to be a number of overlapping
networks, some of different intelligence agencies, others of different
government nationalities.
Major Ganis makes me recall Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer,
who was assigned by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to create the Able Danger
Counter-Intelligence (CI) computerized program that led to the identity of the
network of radical Islamic extremists responsible for the 9/11 attacks, before
the attacks occurred.
Ganis however, because of his military training, and
our own counter-intelligence review, has the retrospective advantage of hinsight
by trying to uncover and decipher the intelligence network responsible for the
Dealey Plaza Operation - years, decades – a half century after it occurred. So
we have vast resources at our disposal, and can narrow down areas of interest
and zero in on those responsible.
According to Ganis: “Skorzeny’s Dallas business and
social circles were the critical piece for carrying out the assassination…..By
analyzing Skorzeny’s Dallas business network, we can see for the first time a
coherent covert assassination operation.”
Years ago I acquired a trade paperback book at a
used bookstore called A Money Tree Grows in Dallas that was a rundown of Dallas corporations, including addresses,
the names of their boards of directors, and major stockholders, that I used to
cross-reference a number of important players – such as Arthur Collins, Leon Jaworski, Jean
deMenil, John Connally, and others, documenting their ties and relationships.
After all, if you serve on the board of directors with less than a dozen men,
you must know them all pretty well.
And Ganis in the Skorzeny Papers plays the same
game, and it works, as we have come to the same conclusions though from vastly
different backgrounds, and using different sources and research techniques.
As Ganis writes, “….The evidence shows that
Skorzeny’s network had access to and control of essential operational elements
necessary for an assassination, the structure to deflect participation, and the
ability (to) synchronize the entire affair.”
(There are) Ganis continues (p. 302-303), “…three
descriptive groups….the action arm, those individuals responsible for the
assassination; the deception group, those responsible for the cover story and
setup of a scapegoat; and the support elements, those in charge of
communications, transportation, logistics, security, safe houses, and other
operational necessities.”
If the assassination was a covert intelligence
operation, then those who planned, set up and conducted the operation must have
had to control the entire scene from beginning to end, and that certainly
narrows down the suspects.
And one of the CIA techniques for determining the
validity of defectors or new sources of information is the amount of new names,
places and events that are provided, and Ganis comes up with quite a few.
One of the Dallas oil men Ganis says is mentioned in
the Skorzeny Papers, who I had never
heard of before, is Algur H. Meadows, who founded the Meadows Foundation in Dallas in 1948 to
promote philanthropic non-profit enterprises, like the Meadows Historic center,
which provides office space for non-profit organizations in Dallas.
It just so happens that the CIA, created just the
year before, set up a means to fund secret CIA covert operations through such
non-profit philanthropic foundations, such as the Meadows Foundation, and the
Catherwood Foundation, also established in 1948. While I have not studied the
Meadows Foundation activities over the years, as I have the Catherwood
Foundation, I am confident that any review will reveal similar operations that
Meadows performed for the CIA.
While this secret funding network was kept from the
American public until it was exposed by Ramparts
Magazine during the LBJ administration, the Soviets knew about it from the
very beginning, as Frank Wisner, the head of CIA covert operations, explained
the details to Kim Philby, the British MI6 representative in Washington who was
also a Soviet double-agent. And Philby wrote about it in his autobiography “My Secret War.”
According to Ganis: “A third man who was deeply
involved with the (Algur H.) Meadows oil deal was Colonel Jack Crichton, vice president and director of DeGolyer &
MacNaughton. Crichton too was a veteran OSS officer from the European
Theater during World War II. Crichton remained in the U.S. Army Reserve after
the war and in 1956 had organized a U.S. Army Intelligence unit in Dallas – the
488th Military Intelligence Detachment. The 488th was
tasked with strategic analysis but by virtue Colonel Crichton’s ties to
Skorzeny through the Spanish oil venture it opens up the possibility that
Colonel Crichton’s unit was somehow connected to the Skorzeny network.
Certainly, Crichton had a communications channel to Skorzeny via the General
American Oil Company.” (p. 160 – not listed in the index)
Skyhorse books in New York City published Ganis’
book, and also published another book on the assassination of President Kennedy
in 2013 by Republican political dirty trickster Roger Stone, that blames the
assassination on LBJ. Stone also lists Jack Crichton in the index, but none of
the references are included in the text narrative, which means they were
intentionally censored from Stone’s manuscript.
According to Stone’s index, Crichton, John Alston is
mentioned on eleven pages under the headings of Bush (315-16), Castro
assassination plot (305), Mamantov (273, 317), in motorcade (235), Operation
40 (299), papers of (317) and Texas connections (316-17), but if you go to each
of those pages, there is no mention of Crichton at all.
There are two different spellings of Crichton’s name
in the Skorzeny book index – Crichton and Critchton, with the former being the
correct one, and the one that I will use.
Now we can surmise what some of these index
references were about – such as the fact that (Ilya) Mamantov was recruited by
Crichton to serve as a translator for Marina Oswald in the hours after the
assassination, but I don’t know of any association between Crichton and
Operation 40 or a Castro assassination plot, though I’m sure those references
would be interesting.
There are other listings for Jack Crichton in Ganis’
book however (p. 225), in which he mentions three other men I have never heard
of before – Clifford Forster, James Burnham, and Archibald Roosevelt, Jr., and
their political action organizations.
As Ganis writes: “In February 1960, (attorney Clifford) Forster, along with James Burnham, a contract CIA officer, founded the American Committee for France and Algeria….Later, Forster would also be involved with ‘The Committee for Aid to Katanga Freedom Fighters,’ another CIA-associated pressure group for the Congo. This group included CIA station chief Archibald Roosevelt, Jr. and Colonel Jack Crichton of Dallas, among other linked to this story….all represent the exact geographical areas, precisely the right time, for Skorzeny’s covert operations in these areas.”
As Ganis writes: “In February 1960, (attorney Clifford) Forster, along with James Burnham, a contract CIA officer, founded the American Committee for France and Algeria….Later, Forster would also be involved with ‘The Committee for Aid to Katanga Freedom Fighters,’ another CIA-associated pressure group for the Congo. This group included CIA station chief Archibald Roosevelt, Jr. and Colonel Jack Crichton of Dallas, among other linked to this story….all represent the exact geographical areas, precisely the right time, for Skorzeny’s covert operations in these areas.”
As has been pointed out before, one man’s freedom
fighter is another man’s terrorist, so it’s hard to discern who is on the right
side here.
Now it certainly is curious that Jack Crichton
was interested in the situation in the Congo as well as Algeria, as both come
into play in the assassination.
Both President Kennedy and Fidel Castro also held
interest in the situation in the Congo, originally a Belgian colony. Certain
areas of the Congo – and I suspect it is Katanga, held important uranium
reserves used in making nuclear reactions and atomic bombs. Castro sent some of
his military to the Congo and some of those JMWAVE Cubans went to the Congo
after the assassination.
Although I’m not acquainted with the political
situation in the Congo at the time, though I will beef up on it as soon as
possible, I believe President Kennedy supported the independence of African
nations from their European imperialists, as he did with Algerian independence
from France, another hot spot that had the attention of JFK, as well as those
suspects in his assassination.
It is certainly interesting that the Dallas oil men
like Crichton would be concerned about the foreign affairs of both the French in
Algeria and Belgians in the Congo.
Another Dallas oil man – Jean deMenil, was head of
the French Schulemburger company, whose Huma, Louisiana facility had an
underground arms bunker where explosives, dynamite, arms and ammunition were
kept. Before the Bay of Pigs and French Algerian crisis, both of which occurred
in mid-1961, the Huma arms bunker was burglarized, by David Ferrie and his band
of bozos, and the booty taken to Guy Bannister’s office and Ferrie’s apartment
in New Orleans. Some of the burglars said that they had a key, and it was not a
burglary, but a gift, and the arms were to be used either for Cubans fighting
Castro or the OAS terrorists fighting deGaul to keep Algeria French.
The CIA’s Catherwood Foundation philanthropic front,
besides covertly funding the Cuban Aid Relief and Catholic Welfare charities
supporting Cuban refugees, also funded the Columbia-Catherwood Award for
journalism. In 1963 the New York Times reporter won the award for his reporting
on the Algerian crisis.
According to Ganis, the Skorzeny Papers reveal that:
“The American Committee for France and Algeria’s first publication, called
‘Integration,’ did not appear until September 1960. The organization’s mission
statement read, ‘The American Committee for France and Algeria has been
organized to explain to the American people the reasons why we, a group of
American citizens, believe that, in the interest of humanity and Western
civilization, American policy is, as that of our allies will, be best served by
an Algeria integrated with France.” (p. 225-226)
Of course once President Kennedy assumed office,
that did not jive with his policies, which encouraged French President deGaul
to free Algeria as a French colony, and led to a number of assassination
attempts on deGaul, including some by the OAS. One such assassination attempt
on deGaul by the OAS was a “military style” ambush of his motorcade that
failed.
Ganis says that, “One last facet of the Congo saga
that is a unique and important link connecting Otto Skorzeny to the CIA efforts
in the country is a private psychological warfare group formed in the wake of
Lumumba’s death. This was a pressure group aligned with conservative elements
within the United States government supporting an independent Katanga, called
‘The Committee for Aid to Katanga Freedom Fighters.’ The committee was a small,
but powerful lobby directed at garnering U.S. public support for the breakaway
province in the Congo. It appeared on the scene in the fall of 1961, months
after Skorzeny’s jaunt down to the Congo to conduct his Lumumba assassination
assessment, but well within the CIA’s continued period of covert action in the
country. That interest actually never abated, and the Congo Crisis went on for
years. Skorzeny is directly linked to The Committee for Aid to Katanga Freedom
Fighters and, from all available evidence in the Skorzeny papers, was a hidden
advisor to the group. His principal contact to the group was one of his main
business partners, Cliford Forster, the well seasoned veteran of the
psychological warfare and political operations such as those in France in 1949
involving Paix et Liberte. Forster will also support a similar pressure group
for the French Algerian crisis.”
As Ganis points our, “Significantly, a member of
the Katanga committee was Dallas, Texas oil executive, and U.S. Army Reserve
intelligence officer, Colonel Jack
Crichton. Crichton also knew Skorzeny from the Delta oil drilling
project in Spain beginning in 1953 and continuing through 1963. Crichton’s
involvement with the Congo pressure group brings him even deeper into the
covert operations of the Skorzeny network.”
“To gain international attention,” Ganis writes, “the
committee took out a full-page ad in the New York Times in December 1961,
explaining the mission and goals of the organization and declaring, ‘Katanga is
the Hungary of 1961.’ The stated purpose was ‘a wholehearted desire to keep
alive the spirit of resistance of the Katanga people, who only wish to live
their lives in peace, without outside interference.”
It should be noted that the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee (FPCC), to which the accused assassin belonged, also took out a full
page ad in the New York Times in order to explain its mission and goals and
garner public support. And Ganis comes up with yet another new name – Michel
Stuelens, when he writes: “The committee operated in conjunction with a Belgian
expatriate named Michel Stuelens. He
ran the Katanga Information Service (KIS), a Katangese government organization,
from its headquarters on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. The KIS engaged in a massive
press campaign directed at the American public, including Washington
politicians, business leaders, and academia….” (p. 289)
According to Ganis (p. 225-226), “Oddly, the last
issue of the US/France Report appears
to be Number 11, December 1963.. That issue carried the headline article ‘The
Assassination.’ The article, on ‘the conspiracy’ which it explains is a vast
communist network within the United States, aligned with the left. According to
the article, the reason the assassination took place, was to lay blame on the
far right, and this would have happened if not for the capture of Lee Harvey
Oswald before his intended escape.”
It is also of passing interest that George H. W. Bush was in Dallas on the day of the assassination, staying at the Dallas Sheraton Hotel, the scene of many curious events, and was in Tyler, Texas at the time of the assassination, flying there on Joe Zeppa's plane.
Ganis informs
us that the Skorzeny Papers mention
the fact that: “On January 9, 1963, Dallas papers announced the formation of
the new petrochemical company called Premier
Petrochemical. The company was to deal in synthetic fertilizers. An
important factor for this book is the chairman of the new company was Algur H.
Meadows and that one of the companies’ stockholders was Colonel D. Harold Byrd. Others included Lewis W. McNaughton and Joe
Zeppa of Delta Drilling,
overseen by Colonel Jack Crichton.”
Ganis (p. 335) concludes that, “It should also be
pointed out here that the Skorzeny papers also confirm he too was involved in
synthetic fertilizer. The importance of the company formation is its potential
use by Skorzeny in manipulating the support pieces to the Dallas operation. In
fact, on October 12, 1963, the Dallas papers carried an article on Meadows,
stating he was to receive a medal from the Spanish government for his oil work
in the country…..There is yet much to be investigated in these connections. But
clearly the Skorzeny Dallas business network was active in Madrid just prior to
the assassination.”
Indeed, there is much more to be investigated in
these connections, but clearly there was a covert intelligence network
operating in Dallas at the time of the assassination, and Colonel Jack Crichton
and Colonel D. Harold Byrd were in the thick of it.
1 comment:
Belgium and Belgian Congo / independent Congo remind me of the russian emigres who used Belgian nationality cover before struggling their way to the USA and specifically Texas and New Orleans.
The Skorzeny stuff has to finally be judged when the "papers" themselves are made available, at least in 'sample' form so that not just the network but the methodology can be analyzed.
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