MAJOR GENERAL JOHN SINGLAUB

Virtual Truth Commission

John Singlaub's life-long military specialty has been unconventional warfare, which he defines as "low-intensity operations such as sabotage, terrorism. Chris Holt's Contra Cards #07

World War II

World War II - Singlaub led a mission which rescued 400 Allied POWs from a Japanese camp on Hainan. Parachuted into occupied France. The Case of General Singlaub

Laos

Laos. "The CIA worked closely with the Meo tribespeople in Laos who were not only fighting the Pathet Lao, but were opium growers to boot. ... They would 'buy up the entire local crop of opium. About twice a week an Air America plane would arrive with supplies and kilo bags of opium which were loaded on the plane." Source: Henrik Kruger, "Iran-Contra and Consistent Themes During the Cold War" (no longer on internet)

Ted Shackley's deal with Vang Pao included Air Force support to destroy Vang Pao's opium rivals in exchange for Vang Pao's support to train and equip Laotian trisbesmen for incursions against North Vietnamese supply lines and to carry out assassinations against suspected communist sympathizers. Tom Clines, Shackley's second in command, directed training of the tribesmen. John Singlaub ran the assassinations arm of the enterprise. Richard Secord coordinated the flights that ferried arms, personnel and heroin to various points throughout Europe and Asia. Air America Acts 1-V

Vietnam

From 1966-1968, Singlaub was head of the super-secret "Studies and Observations Group". In 1964 SOG took over Oplan 34-A from the CIA; it involved dropping off commandos in North Vietnam. The CIA had promised payments to families during the time commandos were captives, but instead, families were told the commandos had been killed. Now some are free and in the U. S., and seeking payment. Singlaub says, "I don't think there is a legal or moral justification for saying we should accept responsibility for them...They are not Americans." "Operation Tailwind" alleged use of sarin nerve gas in September, 1970, that it could be more important to the survival of U. S. troops to kill defectors than enemy soldiers because the defectors' knowledge of communications and tactics "can be damaging." Source: Special Forces article seeking to disprove CNN. On June 7, 1998, CNN posted an interactive by April Oliver which was said to have taken 8 months and to have been based on inerviews with 200 people, including dozens who fought or flew on the mission, called Operation Tailwind. CNN retracted the material and withdrew it from the internet a month later.

On May, 1999, April Oliver, primary author of CNN's Operation Tailwind report, filed a counter-lawsuit against retired Army Gen. John Singlaub, naming him as her source for the Tailwind report. Singlaub was among a group of veterans who sued CNN and Time magazine, claiming the reports defamed them. "This is an act of defense," Oliver said. "He sued me for a story he confirmed. He was offered the script to read although he declined...I think that people should understand that he confirmed the central ideas of the Tailwind broadcast." Attorneys for Singlaub could not be reached for comment. Source: a brief article with an Associated Press credit which appeared in the May 8, 1999 Baltimore Sun (page 8A), "Fired producer sues CNN, defends nerve-gas report."

Korea

In 1979 -- President Carter retired General Singlaub for openly defying him regarding troop reductions in Korea. Hawks and Helicopters, Radio Free Michigan Archives.

Fired by Jimmy Carter in 1976 when he protested Carter's plan to withdraw US troops from Korea. "Since then he's been helping freedom fighters fight Communism on Communist soil--in Afghanistan, Angola, Mozambique, and Nicaragua."The Case of General Singlaub

Contras

Singlaub, Retired General John. 1984-86, Reagan administration's chief liaison in so-called 'private' Contra supply effort. Later directed CIA-linked Special Operations Group infiltrations of North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (raids conducted without consulting Congress.) 1966-1968, chief of SOG in Vietnam, launched cross-border operatoins into Laos. Source: an article by J. Wehling, "Iran-Contra and Consistent Themes During the Cold War" which is no longer on the internet.

Through his chairmanship of the world Anti-Communist League (WACL) and its U.S. chapter, the U.S. Council for World Freedom (USCWF), he enlisted paramilitary groups, foreign governments, and American conservatives in the contra cause. Chris Holt's Contra Cards #07

Contra abuses: "These 'freedom fighters' were well known for their terrorist tactics used to subjugate the native population to their will. They destroyed crops, irrigation projects, health centers, schools and community centers....'Their brutality earned them wide notoriety'" (Blum.) As reported in the London Guardian, Nov 15, 1984, "Rosa had her breasts cut off. Then they cut into her chest and took out her heart. The men had their arms broken, their testicles cut off, and their eyes poked out." Source: J. Wehling, "Iran Contra and Consistent Themes During the Cold War (no longer on internet).

Drugs. Kerry's committee concluded that drugs were in fact used to finance the operation, as well as making many of the Contra leaders very wealthy. Source: J. Wehling, "Iran Contra and Consistent Themes During the Cold War (no longer on internet).

Guatemala

In a tape-recorded interview last August (1988), Singlaub said that he was "terribly impressed at how the Lucas regime was 'desperately trying to promote human rights' and lamented the fact that 'as the (Guatemalan) government loses support from the United States, it gives the impression to the people that there's something wrong with their government." Allan Nairn, "Reagan Administration's Links to Guatemala's Terrorist Government", Covert Action Quarterly, Summer, 1989

World Anti-Communist League

A key supporting role in the 1980 Bolivian "Cocaine Coup" of neo-fascists and drug lords was played by the World Anti-Communist League, led by World War II fascist war criminal Ryoichi Sasakawa of Japan, and the Rev. Sun Myong Moon. Georg Hodel, "Evita, Swiss and the Nazi's", The Consortium for Independent Journalism, Jan 7, 1999

Impact on America

Singlaub supplied weapons and training to Philippine counter-subversives. This became a model used by Larry Pratt, former advisor to the Reagan and Bush administrations on Latin America, and author of "Armed People Victorious". Shortly after the Ruby Ridge stand-off between the FBI and white supremacist Randy Weaver, Pratt proposed at a meeting in Estes Park, Colorado the formation of militias as a direct action armed formation to defend gun rights, based on the model of armed Christian evangelical forces that had fought insurgencies in the Philippines and Guatemala. Reactionary Forces Link up in Militias

Singlaub was honored, along with other prominent contras like Adolfo Calero and his brother, by Bill Clinton with an "Arkansas Traveller" award. Source: Untitled material on Drug-running and Arkansas

Titles "Virtual Truth Commission" and "Telling the Truth for a Better America" © 1998, Jackson H. Day. All Rights Reserved.
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Updated May 8, 1999

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