Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff Reminds Americans To Remember Meaning Of Memorial Day

By Nick Simeone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2012 - In a round of Memorial Day television interviews today, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff urged Americans to reflect on the meaning of this national holiday, a message underscored by the on-going mission in Afghanistan as well as fresh reminders of the military's obligation to be ready to respond if called upon.

"I would ask people to take a solemn moment at some point during the day to remember exactly what we are celebrating and that is we're celebrating our freedom," Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey told NBC's "Today" show in an appearance from the Pentagon. "The freedom that was purchased by more than two million men and women throughout the course of our history and, of course, more than 64-hundred or so in the past 10 years alone."

On multiple morning news programs, questioning quickly turned to the war in Afghanistan, with Dempsey saying he defines progress there as having Afghans able to provide for their own security and governance.

"Success in Afghanistan will be when the Afghan Security Forces are capable of maintaining stability inside their own country and the central government of Afghanistan is able to provide governance. I think that has always been the definition of success both in Iraq and Afghanistan," he told CNN's "Starting Point" program. "I think we are moving positively toward those objectives."

Dempsey dismissed concerns about a possible resurgence of the Taliban, which Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta called 'resilient' on ABC's "This Week" program yesterday.

"I will say the Strategic Partnership Agreement that we entered with Afghanistan should give pause to the Taliban that they simply cannot wait us out," he said on CNN. That agreement, signed by President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul May 2, establishes the basis for cooperation between both countries over the next decade, after the end of the NATO mission. The agreement includes cooperation on counterterrorism and the continued training of the Afghan National Security Forces.

Dempsey's interviews coincided with reports of a massacre of more than 100 civilians in Syria, in apparent violation of a ceasefire between the government of President Bashar al-Asad and his opponents. On "Fox and Friends," the general called reports of the deaths "atrocious," and would not rule out a possible military option if such atrocities continue.

"My job as senior military leader is to provide the president options when a political decision is taken ...and I frankly believe the pressure has to be mounting on Asad and should continue to mount on Asad and if asked for those options at some point, I'll be prepared to provide them," he said.

But Dempsey's central message, as he told CNN, was the day itself, and he continued to return to what it means, including the daily reminder he receives of the nation's sacrifice every morning as he arrives at the Pentagon.

"I drive to work every day past Arlington Cemetery, and there are 260-thousand small American flags planted at each of these gravesites, so I just want to make sure that they know that we will never forget."

Actor Tom Selleck And Defense Department Leaders Recall Vietnam Veteran's Valor, Sacrifice

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2012 - The Defense Department's most senior leaders today honored Vietnam War veterans, including their own friends and mentors, in a commemoration at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall here they said was long overdue.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and actor Tom Selleck all mentioned friends and mentors whose names are among the 58,282 etched into the black granite panels. They joined President Barack Obama in a ceremony marking the beginning of the 50th anniversary of the war.

The Vietnam War ended in April 1975 when North Vietnamese troops took the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon. While the end date is a certainty, it is a mirror of the war and the divisions it caused that Americans still disagree on when U.S. involvement in the country began.

American advisors were dying with their South Vietnamese soldiers in the mid-1950s. But historians – and the Defense Department – are commemorating the 50th anniversary of U.S. involvement in Vietnam now.

"At this hour, and at this hallowed memorial, we mark the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War – a war that occupies a central place in the American story," Panetta said. "Millions of Americans were sent across the Pacific to a little known place to fight in the service of the country they loved."

Participating in the service was especially moving to Panetta, he said, because he went through ROTC and served in the Army with some of those killed in Vietnam. "No memorial better reflects the pain of the sacrifices that were made (than this one)," he said.

Millions of American served in Vietnam and, at one point, well over 500,000 U.S. service members were deployed there. They returned, Panetta said, to a country that "failed to fully acknowledge their service, their sacrifice and failed to give them the honor they so justly deserved."

The Vietnam generation "is graying now," Panetta said. But it is not too late for the commemoration of Vietnam to right the wrongs of the past, he said.

The secretary spoke of his recent participation in a ceremony presenting the Medal of Honor to the widow of Army Spec. 4 Les Sabo. Sabo, a member of the famed 101st Airborne Division, died saving his platoon in 1970. The award recommendation was lost for years before another Screaming Eagle found it and revived the process.

"The story of Les, in many ways, is the story of the Vietnam War: We forgot and now we finally remember," Panetta said.

Dempsey noted that some people called the war – and the wall – a scar. "But history's temperance allows us to see success where some only saw failure, to see hope where some only saw loss, and to see valor where some simply refused to look," he said.

The war's 50th anniversary gives Americans the opportunity to look, the chairman said.

Dempsey recalled being a 16-year-old in upstate New York and watching Army Capt. John Graham come back from the war, motivating him to want to be a soldier himself. "I remember the day in 1971 when Captain John Graham was buried at West Point," Dempsey said. "He died during his second tour advising the South Vietnamese Army. His son is now on West Point's faculty."

The chairman also spoke of Army Warrant Officer Roy Thomas, a gunship pilot with the 25th Infantry Division. "He died in battle when his son was four months old," the chairman said. "His son is an Air Force officer on my staff."

Those men are just two examples that echo thousands more who share a martial bond with their forbearers, Dempsey said.

"Whether they served in Vietnam or Iraq or Afghanistan, whether they returned home or we still await their homecoming, there is no difference in their courage and sense of duty," he said. "There is no difference when it comes to fear and suffering, on the front line and on the home front. There is no difference in the love and longing of their families.

"And, there is no difference in the wounds that remain both seen and unseen."

Their example calls for Americans to resolve to "never again allow our veterans and their families to be left alone, left to feel outside, left to fend for themselves," Dempsey said. "And let us resolve today to not just say 'welcome home,' but to truly welcome our troops home with the respect and care that they and their families have earned."

Happy 104th Birthday, Ian Fleming

The web site HMSS Weblog notes that today is the late great thriller writer Ian Fleming's birthday.

Today is what would have been Ian Fleming’s 104th birthday. Fleming created James Bond as he composed the first draft of the Casino Royale novel in Jamaica six decades ago. A decade later, after a number of false starts and aborted projects, the first film based on a Bond novels was filmed and released.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://hmssweblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/happy-104th-birthday-ian-fleming/

You can also read my piece on Ian Fleming's World War II service in British naval intelligence and his creation of a naval commando group called 30 Assault Unit, which appeared in Counterterrorism magazine, via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/11/look-back-at-30-assault-unit-british.html

Maintain Peace By Staying Strong: President Ronald Reagan On Memorial Day

The Washington Times is offering excerpts from President Reagan's Memorial Day speech from 1986.

Today is the day we put aside to remember fallen heroes and to pray that no heroes will ever have to die for us again. It’s a day of thanks for the valor of others, a day to remember the splendor of America and those of her children who rest in this cemetery and others. It’s a day to be with the family and remember.

You can read the rest of the excerpts via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/25/maintain-peace-by-staying-strong-324020463/

Welcome Home, Vietnam Veterans: A Look Back At The Vietnam War

Robert F. Turner at the Washington Times notes that on Monday afternoon the Pentagon will host a "Welcome Home" ceremony for Vietnam veterans at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Mall in Washington D.C.

In his piece Turner looks back at the Vietnam War and addresses some of the myths that have come out of the war.

You can read the piece via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/25/welcome-home-vietnam-veterans/?page=all#pagebreak

You can also read my piece on the history of the Vietnam War that appeared in Counterterrorism magazine a while back via the below links:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/VietnamIraqAfghan.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/VietnamIraqAfghan2.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/VietnamIraqAfghan3.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/VietnamIraqAfghan4.jpg

Note: My older brother served in the U.S. Army in South Vietnam at Chu Lai and I served in the U.S. Navy on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk during the Vietnam War.

Oldest Italian Restaurant In America Is Now Ralph's In South Philadelphia

Hadas Kuznits at Philly's Local CBS News reports that with the closing of a restaurant in San Francisco, Ralph's Italian Restaurant in South Philadelphia becomes the oldest Italian restaurant in America.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/05/24/oldest-italian-restaurant-in-america-that-honor-passes-to-south-philadelphia/

My Q & A With Joseph C. Goulden, The Author of 'The Dictionary Of Espionage' And 'The Death Merchant'

My Q&A with Joseph C. Goulden, the veteran journalist and author of The Dictionary of Espionage and The Death Merchant, appears in the current issue of Counterterrorism magazine.

You can read the interview via the below magazine pages or the below text:

Note: You can click on the above to enlarge.

The IACSP Q&A With Joseph C. Goulden 

By Paul Davis

Joseph C. Goulden (pronounced “Golden”) has enjoyed varied careers as a prize-winning newsman, a best-selling author of non-fiction books, a media critic, and as a consultant and commentator on intelligence, national security and public affairs. 

Before he became a writer, Goulden worked as an underground minor and in military counterintelligence. A native Texan, Goulden worked as a reporter for the Dallas Morning News and later the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he was the newspaper’s chief of the Washington bureau. 

As a newsman, Goulden said he played softball with Fidel Castro and dodged bullets from Castroist guerillas in Guatemala. He has written 18 books, including two highly regarded books on intelligence – “Truth Is The First Casualty” on the Gulf of Tonkin incident; and “The Death Merchant” on rogue intelligence officer Edwin P.Wilson. 

Goulden’s updated “The Dictionary of Espionage: Spyspeak Into English” was recently published by Dover Publications. Peter Earnest, a retired CIA officer and now the executive director of the International Spy Museum, wrote the forward to the updated “Dictionary of Espionage.” 

Joseph C. Goulden was interviewed by Paul Davis, an online columnist (Threatcon) and a contributing editor to the Journal. 

IACSP: Your updated “The Dictionary of Espionage” was recently published. Why did you write the book originally and why update it? 

Goulden:Well, I’ve always read spy nonfiction and I’m a chronic note taker. I started a file of these terms way back, 30, 40 years ago. And suddenly I said to myself there might be a little book here. At the time there was no good dictionary of these terms. The terms were thrown around and made familiar by the Church Committee, and anybody who goes to a James Bond movie knows about them. So I thought I’d check out where these words came from and how they are used and give some anecdotes. It did quite well. 

IACSP: Who is your target audience? 

Goulden:First of all, people in the intelligence community who want some of these things available in a nonclassified form. The CIA, the FBI and other government agencies put out their internal glossaries, but usually those are classified at least Confidential. Secondly, the book is for anybody who is just interested in espionage. That’s a lot of people. 

IACSP: That includes me. 

Goulden: The way this new edition came about was the acquisition editor for Dover Books, which specializes in out of print books, was in Washington last summer and he went by the International Spy Museum and talked to Peter Earnest, who is the executive director, and by coincidence, a good friend of mine. He asked him what book he would like to see back in print. And the way Peter tells me, he turned around and pulled the “The Dictionary of Espionage” off the shelf and said they could sell this book by the hundreds. So this gave me a chance to do an update on it, correct some errors, flesh it out a bit and put in some spy trivia. This is a book where you can sit down and pick any page and find something, I hope, of interest. 

IACSP: Peter Earnest notes in his forward to the book that you’ve known more spies and more about clandestine operations than many of the real spies he writes about. As a journalist you’ve written a good bit about espionage and the intelligence world, am I right? 

Goulden: My main exposure came about in the 1960s. I had an Alicia Patterson fellowship in Guatemala and Mexico. There was a strong insurgency going on in Guatemala supported by the Cubans. I wrote quite a bit about that and I got to know quite a few of the CIA and special ops people on the ground. By the time I got to Washington for the Philadelphia Inquirer, I wrote excessively about the Pueblo, the U.S. Navy spy ship taken in by the North Koreans. And for the last 20 years, I’ve reviewed books on intelligence and espionage for the Washington Times. 

IACSP: Can you tell us a bit more about your background? 

Goulden: I had three ambitions as a kid. I wanted to be a reporter for a big city paper, I wanted to have the Washington bureau for a big paper and I wanted to work aboard. And by the time I was 34 years old, I’d done it all. I had written a couple of books on the side when I was with the Philadelphia Inquirer and I had a little money saved and I had some comp time coming from the Inquirer, so I thought I could make it. If I didn’t I could always go back into newspapering. My book “The Superlawyers” was published in 1972 and the second week out it was on the New York Times best-seller list and it stayed there for 23 weeks, getting up to number three. That gave me the cushion and the courage I needed to keep on doing it full time. 

IACSP: As a Navy veteran who served on an aircraft carrier in the Tonkin Gulf on “Yankee Station” during the Vietnam War, I thought your book on the Tonkin Gulf incident that started the war was interesting. Can you tell us a bit about that book? 

Goulden: The basic story is President Johnson wanted a pretext to go to war in Vietnam and he seized upon the pretext even when the Navy said hold off, let us figure out exactly what happened out there. We’re still trying to do an after action report. The skipper of the USS Maddux told me that he was still sending flash messages off to Washington, trying to get them to slow down, when he looked up and saw jets going overhead to Haiphong. 

IACSP: Is there any one espionage story in particular that you’ve covered over the years that most interest you, even today? 

Goulden: The Alger Hiss case, which I’ve made a long study of. My interest goes back to when Nixon ran for governor of California. He was beaten and ABC News put out a so-called documentary called “The Political Death of Richard Nixon.” Included in the people interviewed was Alger Hiss. Now by happenstance my publisher at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Walter Annenberg, was a director of ABC and owned the ABC outlet in Philadelphia. He raised hell at corporate management and refused to let the outlet air the documentary. There was a great hubbub about censorship and Walter called me up to his office and said OK, it is obvious by some of the mail we’ve been getting that these people don’t have any idea who Alger Hiss was and why this was an important case. I want you to go back and write me a long piece and if it runs two pages of type, that’s OK with me. The Philadelphia Inquirer library had copies of transcripts of both of his trials, which was one hell of a lot of paper. I holed up in an office and I read that stuff nonstop for two weeks and took notes. I wrote an exhaustive study of the Hiss case, which ended with his being found guilty by a federal court jury and sent to prison. We made a big splash out of that piece and I got a very nice note from none other than Richard Nixon. The Nation magazine wrote that Hiss was framed and I wrote several long rebuttal pieces. The Nation later got some Russian general to look at the KGB files during the period the Russians were opening up some of their files. The general reports back that the KGB had nothing about Alger Hiss in their files, therefore he is innocent. 

IACSP: That’s because Hiss was a spy for the GRU, Soviet military intelligence. 

Goulden: That’s the whole thing! By happenstance, this general was working on POW issues and he was in Washington testifying. I was there with another old red-baiter, a guy named Herb Romerstein, and we looked across from one another and as soon as the testimony ended he was coming out and we hit him - one on one side, one on the other. Here are two former PFCs in the U.S. Army cross-examining a three-star general in the Red Army, with a four-star U.S. general acting as an interpreter. We told him Hiss didn’t work for the KGB he worked for the GRU and the Comintern. Did you check their records? No, he didn’t, as he was asked to check the KGB. He went back to Moscow and said the GRU was not releasing information on Hiss. And he retracted what he said about Hiss. Now the New York Times had run the thing on the front page when they said Hiss was innocent. The retraction? What do you think? Way inside. 

IACSP: I believe there are intercepts that absolutely prove that Hiss was a Soviet spy, am I right? 

Goulden: Yes, the Venona intercepts. But the GRU has still not released anything on him. 

IACSP: But it is beyond doubt that Hiss was in fact a Soviet spy. 

Goulden: Case closed. 

IACSP: I’d like to ask about your book “The Death Merchant.” I believe it was the first book of yours I read. In light of the death of Kaddafi in Libya, please tell us about how you came to write the book about Edwin Wilson, the illegal arms dealer? 

Goulden: Edwin Wilson was working as a contract officer for a naval intelligence task force that did reporting on foreign ship movements and such. Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, then the director of naval intelligence, told me that he was down at some senator’s office and there was a weird guy there, a big, strapping fella, and he came over to Bobby and said, you know I work for you. Bobby said, yeah, tell me more. They went to lunch and this guy said, look I know the Navy needs some influence with senators and I can certainly handle that for you. Bobby didn’t say much, just said thanks, I’ll think about it. He went back to the office and checked him out and sure enough he had these Navy contracts. So Bobby burned him on the spot. He kicked him out. Wilson then gets contracts with Kaddafi and he wants Special Forces, DoD men and others to come to Libya to work for him. First thing, the Libyans took their passports. There are three ways to get out of the country; you leave legitimately on a passport, you swim out, or you walk across the desert. Hell, they were trapped. The Libyans start doing all sorts of nefarious things and they could not do a damn thing about it. The irony is, Wilson was making millions of dollars on legitimate military contracts, uniforms and boots and things like that, but he couldn’t resist the dirty part. Things started rolling up on him and people who worked for him went before Grand Juries, and they talked to the FBI, the CIA and all that. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. had a whole platoon of those guys. The U.S. Attorney allowed me to talk to these guys after they were debriefed. They had a lot they wanted to get off their chest and it was fascinating to listen to them. One person I tried to get to was Wilson, but he ignored me. So he finally gets out of jail and calls me and raises hell for my not getting his side of the story. I said I asked you for an interview and you had a chance to testify, but didn’t. What am I supposed to do, make up your side of it? He called me a dirty name and hung up. 

IACSP: Well, he may not have liked the book, but we did. 

Thanks for talking to us. 

Paul Davis is a contributing editor to the Journal. He can be reached at PaulDavisOnCrime@aol.com