By Catherine Austin Fitts
While reading Peter Dale Scott’s marvelous new book, The American War Machine, I was struck by Scott’s description of Allen Dulles returning from Europe in 1945 to practice law at Sullivan and Cromwell in New York.
Dulles was asked by General Vandenberg as he assumed leadership of Central Intelligence to form a board of consultants to advise him personally on the problems of “central intelligence.” Dulles, operating from Sullivan and Cromwell, formed a group consisting of Kingman Douglas, William H. Jackson, Robert Lovett, Paul Nitze, Frank Wisner and Admiral Souers.
What caught my eye was Scott’s description that this group included two Dillon Read partners, Dillon Read being a firm where I was to work and become a partner many years later. (See Dillon, Read & Co. Inc & the Aristocracy of Stock Profits.)
In fact, Paul Nitze was long gone from Dillon Read when he served in this small group. Kingman Douglas had left Dillon to serve in the military during the war. I don’t know if he had returned at this time.
Scott’s footnote regarding this revelation attributed the information to an autobiography written by Richard Helms, published in 2003 following his death in 2002.
I had not realized that Helms had published a book. For personal reasons (See Meditations at the Crossroads), I am interested in those deeply involved in events surrounding the Church Committee.
Helm’s history is an official story. We see the cost of having to manage in a world where sides are more blurred that is widely understood and where intelligence agencies are managing a significant number of double binds.
In Helm’s version, there is no drug running, no systemic mortgage fraud and use of housing policy and for ethnic cleansing (The Real Deal on US Housing Policy) no federal contracting fraud, no insider trading, no mind control experiments, no assassinations of citizens or Presidents.
Indeed, according to Helms, President Kennedy is killed by a lone assassin. The assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, both occurring while Helms was head of the CIA, warrant only a few sentences each. Given Helm’s descriptions of how well he got on with Bobby Kennedy during the Kennedy Administration, the treatment is curious.
Hence, this is a book to be read by those who already understand the covert history of this era and can glean nuggets from an official history.
The book leaves me sad, reaffirming a truth I often revisit when reading “official history.” There is no statute of limitation on murder. Despite all the legal constructions created to sanction murder in the name of national security, there is no doubt that those who manage intelligence and political operations live in terror of being identified with the murders and assassinations that occur on their watch.
This is one of the reasons that the children of those who have been murdered or assassinated bear more than their fair share of risks. Those who killed their parents fear liability. They often treasure their resulting fortunes. They do not care to share the profits with succeeding generations.
Perhaps someday when everyone who bears potential legal liability for the assassinations of the 1960’s has died, real change can come to America.
If ever there was a country that could benefit from a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, it is America.
Footnote #1:
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For those interested in Dulles role in helping to maintain global corporate investment despite the war and subsequent protection of Nazi leadership and investment, I encourage you to read:
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