A document on plans for a withdrawal was among 800 pages of Joint Chiefs of Staff records made public in late December by the Assassination Records Review Board.
"All planning will be directed towards preparing RVN (South Vietnamese) forces for the withdrawal of all U.S. special assistance units and personnel by the end of calendar year 1965," said an October 4, 1963 memo from Gen. Maxwell Taylor, chairman of the joint chiefs.
Taylor drafted the message for discussion by the joint chiefs, but their reaction was not reflected in the new documents.
Less than a month after Kennedy's murder, new President Lyndon Johnson told his commanders to plan for "increased activity" against north Vietnam, another paper showed. In making such plans, LBJ said that commanders shold take into consideration "the plausibility of denial," the possibility of North Vietnamese retaliation, and "other international reaction" --- suggesting Johnson wanted to act against Hanoi surreptitiously.
Fair Play also received the following from Mr. Backes:
I have learned from Peter Dale Scott that Noel Twyman cites David Lifton as a source for the identification of "Scelso" as John Whitten on p. 386 of Bloody Treason. Here's what he (Twyman) writes:In April 1997, David Lifton revealed to me that in scanning CIA documents he had discovered the real name of John Scelso. He is John Whitten, listed in Who's Who in the CIA. Lifton said that it was his understanding Scelso is living in a foreign country, and is now in his 70's and somewhat fearful of his identity becoming known. Lifton said that he informed the ARRB's Jeremy Gunn, Gunn informed the CIA, and they said in effect, "We blew it!".Another important disclosure was sent to me by Bob Dorff in June 1997. Anthony Summer, in researching his new book on Richard Nixon, found a portion of an HSCA deposition of E. Howard Hunt on November 3, 1978, in which Hunt answered a question concerning the radical anti-Castro Cuban organization DRE - with which Oswald had been associated in New Orleans:
Mr. Hunt: The DRE. Dave Phillips ran that for us. But that is classified, I think. He was the head of it."
The importance of this is that it links Oswald's activities in New Orleans to Phillips and the CIA; also to Dallas-the DRE safehouse on Hollandale Street, and gun running involving Jack Ruby-adding to the credibility of the evidence that Phillips was the Maurice Bishop who met Oswald in Dallas. Moreover, it places Phillips even more deeply in the JFK assassination plot.[From Bloody Treason, p. 386. See next "Updates" item, "New Document Links LHO, 'Bishop'"]
The E. Howard Hunt deposition of November 3, 1978 is Document #180-10131-10342, released February 9th, 1996, Federal Register Notice January 2, 1996 pps. 48-52. It's broken up into two parts. Part one goes from p. 1-44, then it starts up again with part two which started at 3:30 pm and they number the pages starting at 1 again. It's part two page 29 that you want:
Mr. Hunt. The DRE. Dave Phillips ran that for us. Albert Muller is still in prison over there. But that is classified, I think. He was the head of it. He went to Cuba and was captured."Twyman deletes reference to Muller. I take from this that Muller was involved in DRE but was subordinate to Phillips.
Now add the above with the Army intelligence document that just got released, RIF # 198-10004-10015. I don't know when this was released but I believe very recently, like this month [November 1997]. I have the Federal Register notice for Nov. 4, 1997, pps. 59646-59654 but I don't see any documents starting with 198-.
I also got this from May Ferrell's database:
Name: JOHN M. WHITTEN (alias John Scelso)
Resides: Austria
Sources: CIA 223-647 (re-released as JFK 104-10015-10229); David Lifton's pages 121-134; Who's Who in CIA, Mader, p. 554; State Dept. Biographic Register, 1969; John Newman mentions Scelso in Oswald and the CIA.
Comments: Whitten was in Austria 1955-60; in Korea 1960-1962. Whitten has been living in Austria for a number of years.
DOB: April 7, 1920."Lifton's pages" refers to Lifton's record keeping of ARRB releases.
The story first surfaced in the 1970s. Alpha-66 founder Antonio Veciana told the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he had seen Oswald in Dallas with his --- Veciana's --- CIA handler, a man he knew as "Maurice Bishop." "Bishop" is believed to have been a pseudonym.
The newly-released document is an Army Intelligence report dating to 1962. Newsday quotes an unidentified official as saying the report's subject "used a different name, but we believe this man fits Bishop's profile very closely."
Author and former HSCA investigator Gaeton Fonzi identified "Maurice Bishop" as David Atlee Phillips. In 1962 Phillips was the CIA's chief of clandstine operations in Mexico City.
The above photograph of Lee Oswald accompanied the Newsday article. It dates to 1959, and according to some experts is a previously unseen version of what may be a fabricated picture.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 24, 1997
DALLAS, TX: JFK LANCER, at its 1997 November In Dallas Conference, announced the formation of a task force to draft legislation establishing a legislative amnesty initiative. Its goal will be to encourage surviving material witnesses in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to come forward.
The initiative is designed to be the logical successor legislation to the historic JFK Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. It is modeled on the South Africa Commission of Truth and Reconciliation, and is intended, in the words of Conference Chair George Michael Evica, "...to make historical sense of the flood of new and important documents made available by the Assassination Records Review Board." Evica added, "We are offering what most likely will be the last opportunity for these witnesses to clear their conscience, serve their country, and tell the truth."
The task force, in consultation with its legal advisor Miami attorney and former federal prosecutor William Xanttopoulos, will draft the new legislation that will be acted upon in the next session of congress. The Task Force membership is:
George Michael Evica
Chris Courtwright
Charles Drago
Roger Peterson
Bill Xanttopoulos
Margaret Snyder
Debra Conway
JFK Lancer supports a grass roots historical research group; its mission is to make JFK assassination information available in full to the citizens of the United States and the world.
Details concerning the legislative amnesty initiative will be released by JFK Lancer's task force in the coming weeks.
CONTACT: George Michael Evica, Acting Chairperson of the Legislative Task Force at 860-523-8504 (fax), 860-232-9673 (voice), evica@uhavax.edu (email)
Debra Conway, JFK Lancer 714-699-2744 (voice), 714-699-2755 (fax), debra@jfklancer.com (email)
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Kerry McCarthy, a cousin of the slain President, said: "His death was not an act of anger. It was the premeditated murder of our nation's leader, motivated for very specific reasons, and benefiting those who ordered it. The people of this nation know that, and they still hope for answers."
Her comments came during the closing session of the 2nd annual November in Dallas conference on Saturday, November 22, the 34th anniversary of JFK's assassination.
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