Hifter or Hafter or Haftar of Libya

The research item below is written by Kevin Carson, someone who truly understands how to follow the money in world politics and business. The bottom line, after all, is always money. Forget talk of democracy, national security, and all the code words intended to distract. Identify the business networks and finance capital behind a policy; then zoom in on the names behind the businesses. You'll find the same people hoping to profit from any given situation. Here Carson looks back on his earlier analysis of what Frank Wisner's presence in Egypt really meant.

Even though I really like the way Carson succinctly describes the planning behind the financial coup, I had to cringe with the trite use of the term "banksters." I detest that word for some reason. I think it tends to obscure people behind a mask. It's much preferable to give them names rather than caricatures.
When the addresses below are plotted on a map, they appear to be strikingly closer to the Pentagon than to Langley. The 1996 address for Keysville, Md. is the only anomaly, appearing to be near the town of Blackstone, Va., where the U.S. Army Base of Fort Pickett was dismantled in 1994. Likely, this is the town in Virginia referred to below--located about 4 hours from D.C.--where the training of Libyan anti-Qaddafy forces took place.

The name "Hifter" appears to be of Austrian origin. However, other sources call him "Khalifa Belqasim Haftar."

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from Ancestry.com

Name:	Khalifa A Hifter
Birth Date:	1 Sept. 1948
Address:		1020 Moorefield Hill Pl SW, Vienna, VA, 22180-6248 [5505 Seminary Rd Apt 1605, Falls Church, VA, 22041-2951 (1993)]  [5505 Seminary Rd Apt 2511, Falls Church, VA, 22041-3546]  [6101 Edsall Rd Apt 1211, Alexandria, VA, 22304-6007 (1996)]  [9451 Lee Hwy Apt 903, Fairfax, VA, 22031-1821]  [RR 3 POB 138, Keysville, VA, 23947 (1996)]

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Those Libyan “Freedom Fighters”: The Fix is On

By Kevin Carson

Hifter or Hafter or Haftar of Libya

May 10, 2011 "C4SS" --  In a column three months ago (“Egypt: Let the Looting Begin,” Feb. 4),  I suggested that was really going on in Egypt was somewhat different from the official narrative. In quite a few of the “people power” revolutions in recent years — no matter how sincere the people on the streets — it turned out that there were attempts to orchestrate things by people behind the scenes, for whom “people power” was the very last thing on the agenda. In that column I reported that Frank Wisner — a veteran spook, described by Vijay Prashad at Counterpunch as a “bagman of empire,” was Obama’s man on the ground.

Wisner, a former Director at AIG and Enron with longstanding family ties to the OSS and CIA, had previously been involved in drafting the Bush administration’s postwar blueprint for Iraq. That agenda involved so-called “privatizations” of state industry that amounted to insider deals with global corporate interests for pennies on the dollar, “strong intellectual property protections” largely written by Monsanto and the RIAA, and draconian crackdowns on genuine freedom fighters in the labor movement and the Iraqi Freedom Congress. Paul Bremer, with the help of his Heritage Foundation boys in the Green Zone, basically oversaw the looting of everything that wasn’t nailed down.

In that light, some recent news from Libya is especially interesting. First, Alexander Cockburn (“What’s Really Going On in Libya?” Counterpunch, April 15)  reports that a high priority for the NATO operation in Libya was to see to the central banking arrangements of the revolutionary government in Benghazi. On March 19 they authorized the Central Bank of Benghazi to handle monetary policy for the country. Qaddafi, it seems, had announced his intention to repudiate the dollar and the euro and encourage the use of the gold dinar as a common currency by all of Africa. He’d gained tentative buy-in, over the previous year, from a number of Arab and African regimes. The government-owned Libyan national bank in Tripoli, which is independent of the global banking industry, has been a thorn in the flesh of global financial elites for some time.

Things that make you go “Hmmmm …”

Meanwhile, Russ Baker at Alternet announces (“The CIA’s Man in Libya?” April 26)  that the latest head of rebel forces in Libya, Gen. Khalifa Hifter, is a CIA asset. Hifter has lived in the Greater Washington area of Virginia (cough cough Langley cough) for almost twenty years, enjoying an unusually comfortable lifestyle considerably disproportionate to his visible means of support. Hifter has headed the military wing (Libyan National Army) of an opposition movement in exile (NSFL) for most of that time. The CIA sponsored a training operation for the Libyan National Army at a base in Chad during the reign of Bush I, with a view to a possible future overthrow of Qaddafi. In 1996, Hifter headed a failed overthrow attempt, after which he returned to the United States.
 
So the head of the opposition movement is on the CIA payroll, and the first order of business of the insurgent regime is to create a central bank that takes orders from international finance capital.  Doesn’t look real good for “freedom” in Libya, does it? Looks pretty damn good for the banksters, though.

If the attempt to overthrow of Qaddafi had anything to do with genuine freedom, it’s a safe bet the U.S. government would have had nothing to do with it.  Put not your faith in princes.

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Excerpt from Patrick Martin

"A CIA commander for the Libyan rebels"

...A 2001 book, Manipulations africaines, published by Le Monde diplomatique, traces the CIA connection even further back, to 1987, reporting that Hifter, then a colonel in Gaddafi’s army, was captured fighting in Chad in a Libyan-backed rebellion against the US-backed government of Hissène Habré. He defected to the Libyan National Salvation Front (LNSF), the principal anti-Gaddafi group, which had the backing of the American CIA. He organized his own militia, which operated in Chad until Habré was overthrown by a French-supported rival, Idriss Déby, in 1990.

According to this book, “the Haftar force, created and financed by the CIA in Chad, vanished into thin air with the help of the CIA shortly after the government was overthrown by Idriss Déby.” The book also cites a Congressional Research Service report of December 19, 1996 that the US government was providing financial and military aid to the LNSF and that a number of LNSF members were relocated to the United States.

This information is available to anyone who conducts even a cursory Internet search, but it has not been reported by the corporate-controlled media in the United States, except in the dispatch from McClatchy, which avoids any reference to the CIA. None of the television networks, busily lauding the “freedom fighters” of eastern Libya, has bothered to report that these forces are now commanded by a longtime collaborator of US intelligence services.

Nor have the liberal and “left” enthusiasts of the US-European intervention in Libya taken note. They are too busy hailing the Obama administration for its multilateral and “consultative” approach to war, supposedly so different from the unilateral and “cowboy” approach of the Bush administration in Iraq. That the result is the same—death and destruction raining down on the population, the trampling of the sovereignty and independence of a former colonial country—means nothing to these apologists for imperialism.

The role of Hifter, aptly described 15 years ago as the leader of a “contra-style group,” demonstrates the real class forces at work in the Libyan tragedy. Whatever genuine popular opposition was expressed in the initial revolt against the corrupt Gaddafi dictatorship, the rebellion has been hijacked by imperialism.

The US and European intervention in Libya is aimed not at bringing “democracy” and “freedom,” but at installing in power stooges of the CIA who will rule just as brutally as Gaddafi, while allowing the imperialist powers to loot the country’s oil resources and use Libya as a base of operations against the popular revolts sweeping the Middle East and North Africa.

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A New Successful Covert Operation  

Mar 26, 1996 by rmcgehee

Reuters news reports yesterday state that unrest in the Jabal Akhdar mountains of Eastern Libya is caused by armed rebels who may have joined escaped prisoners in an uprising against the government.


This is an operation to overthrow Gaddafi led by Col. Khalifa Haftar, of a contra-style group based in the United States called the Libyan National Army. The army is the military wing of the Salvation Front for the Liberation of Libya.


It is obvious that the CIA is behind this group and indicates a new "awakening" for the CIA now that it has been cleared and re-energized by all the various official exonerations; and led by the new Director Deutch who pushes for more covert operations. With "Mr. Intervention," Richard Haass of the Council on Foreign Relations advising the government on intervening via mililtary and covert operations toward China and probably also Libya and the rest of the world, we can expect a number of additional "successful" CIA covert operations similar to that of Vietnam, Central America and Afghanistan.


Ralph McGehee CIABASE - Information from CIABASE files reveals:


Academia

Libya, 92 Most guerrillas of cia-backed national salvation front from Libyan students living in u.s. and europe.

Washington post 4/18/92 a15


Assassinations

Libya, 84 In may 84 15 gunmen attacked the residence of Col. Qadhafi. A Sudan-based group called the national libya salvation front claimed responsibility for the attack. Nair, k. (1986).
Devil and his dart 98

Libya, 84 The cia backed, trained and continues to support the exile group that tried to assassinate Qaddafi in 84. The plot failed and qaddafi executed a number of the group. The cia-backed group is called the national Front for the salvation of libya (nfsl) and is led by gen youssef Magarieff. The Saudis have provided $7 million to the nfsl. Cia agents advised nfsl leaders and trained their recruits in western europe, sudan and morocco. Jack anderson washington post 6/12/85


Libya, saudi arabia, 84 Despite an executive order forbidding assassinations, the cia trained and supported the national front for the salvation of libya before, during and after its attempt to assassinate Qaddafi on 5/8/84. The anti-qaddafi group was slaughtered in a day-long Battle less than a mile from the barracks where qaddafi was. Group's Leader, youssef magarieff, went ahead with op to show his cia and saudi Arabian backers what they got for support. Jack anderson washington post 11/8/85


Covert Action
China, 96. The Washington Post reported 3/24/96 that the Secretary of Defense William J. Perry and other top Pentagon officials discussed policy toward China with independent expert Richard Haass. (The author
of the book, Intervention). Page 31.


Chad, 91 Former chad chief of staff, and his patriotic salvation movement (Mps) preferred by france and libya. And u.s. Forced to remove its 700-man Libyan national liberation army (nla). Saudi arabia had set up bank account In libreville, gabon under control of dr. Yusuf al-margariaf. Since 81 Had been secretary-general of national front for salvation of libya (nfsl).


In 81 a nie said funding for qaddafi's opponents came from saudi arabia, Egypt, morocco and iraq. Some believe nfsl created by cia in early 80s. Morocco provided nfsl trg in 81-82. In 84 front based in sudan. Later in Egypt. In 89 when egypt and libya became friends nfsl moved to ndjamena, Where it spliced with nla. Israel lent trainers. Nls's 700 contras Recruited from among 2,000 libyan prisoners taken by chad in border Skirmishes between 83-87. Col Abdoulgassim khalifa hafter made nla Commander. Group turned over to 30 u.s. Military advisers for training in Commando and terrorist ops. Nla also intended for use against sudan and Other countries. Sudanese people's liberation army (spla) shut down. Office Described as u.s. Chadian op.

In 89 op centered in villa of head of chad's Secret service, the dds, and staffed by u.s.Personnel. U.s. Finally Admitted nla a u.s. Op in 3/91. Israel used cameroons intel orgs and sent Instructors run nla trg centers. U.s.
Apparently had major supply base at Yoko in central cameroon. Further details treverton, g. (1987). Covert Action summer 91 47-51

Chad, libya, israel, 90-91
Fall of pres habre in chad in dec 90 ended a Major u.s.-israeli covert war against libya. Cia-created libyan
national Liberation army (lnla) assembled from prisoners taken by chad between 83-87. Group had just laid mines in s. Libya.

"Africa confidential" 1/6/89 Reported u.s. And israel est series of bases in chad, cameroon, gabon and Central african republic where group aka contras trained. Originally group Called national front for salvation of libya (nfsl). Op funded in part by Saudi arabia. After change gvt in chad cia reportedly flew out 1st group of 100 libyan contras.


Iric reported on 12/7/90 2 burly u.s. Diplomats kept Them from interviewing 200 pows being loaded onto u.s. Plane. Icrc tried Gain access to libyan pows for years. U.s. Air force flew contras to Nigeria where possibly at libya's request for repatriation.

Israeli foreign Affairs 1/91 1-5 Egypt, libya, 81-87

Before sadat's assassination, secretary state haig Referred to Qaddafi as a cancer that has to be cut out.

On 6/18/81 President had signed secret intel finding directing cia to provide Non-lethal support and training to anti-qaddafi exiles. In october, former Libyan diplomat mohammed mugharief founded national front for salvation of Libya, underwritten largely by cia with help of saudi arabia.


Based in Sudan, front established a propaganda radio station. Martin, d. & walcott, J. (1988). Best laid plans 79 Libya. A reporter from arab newspaper al-hayat allowed to visit national Front for salvation of libya - an arab opposition group in u.s. Territory. Leader of national liberation army is Col. Khalifa Hafter who said front has 400 fighters in u.s. Located in (virginia?) 4 hours from d.c. Libyan Group said they waiting right moment to return to libya. The 400 men are in 25 states and are given regular military training.

From al-hayat newspaper 12/18/91. Top secret autumn-winter 92 28-9 Libya, 73-88 U.s./cia waging a secret war against qaddafi for 15 years.

Through surrogates, agents, national proxies, armies developed from crumbling remnants of libyan opposition movements, and in 86, actual military intervention.

In early 80s cia established links with national Front for the salvation of libya. Cia strengthened nfsl, headed by Aly Abuzaakouk.

In 81 cia and pentagon plan code-named "op early call," designed to provoke Qaddafi into attacking sudan by faking a pro-libyan takeover of Sudan gvt. Plan discovered by Qaddafi.


In may 84 cia supported a coup that crushed bloodily with more than 75 plotters killed. Libyan task force group Chief, vince cannistraro, and nsc officer donald fortier, made plan that included arming libyan
dissident groups in egypt and algeria. Dcia, Robert Gates, suggested u.s. support an egyptian invasion of libya - op called Flower/rose stopped by sos shultz. Perry, m. (1992).


Eclipse: the last days of the cia 165 Libya, 81-83 On june 18, 81 president signed intel finding directing cia to provide non-lethal support to anti-Quaddfi exiles.


In oct a former Libyan diplomat, mohammed mugharief, founded national front for salvation of libya - underwritten by cia with help from saudi arabia. Based in sudan It established a radio station and began
looking for prominent exiles. Blp 79. On 12/10/91 president signed national security decision directive 16 - That established task force to implement new libya policy. Martin, d. & Walcott, j. (1988).


Best laid plans 81 Libya, 81-92 The national salvation front has no fixed hqs. Its leader, Ibrahim sahad, operates out of his home in virginia. Front forced to move From morocco to sudan and then out of
arab world altogether and close down its radio station in sudan and then egypt. Front once had hundreds of troops recruited from libyan soldiers captured in chad. About 350 brought to us by cia after chad gvt expelled them. Now they scattered in 25 states.


In 84 front launched an unsuccessful rocket and machine-gun attack against Military barracks of bab aziziyya - usually used as a residence by Qadhafi. Most guerrillas libyan students living in u.s. and europe.
In dec 91 "al Hayat" from front sources wrote "libyan contra camp in america," and said 400 rebels are preparing to fight - they training in the u.s.

Washington Post 4/18/92 a15 Document Iran, france, 85 The front for the salvation of iran (fsi), backed by the Cia, printed and distributed a million copies of a fake iranian postal stamp showing the faces of Amini and the young Shah. Taheri, Amir.

(1988). Nest of spies 150 Domestic op Libya.


A reporter from arab newspaper al-hayat allowed to visit national Front for salvation of libya - an arab opposition group in u.s.

Territory. Leader of the national liberation army is col. Khalifa Hafter who said Front has 400 fighters in u.s. Located in (virginia?) 4 hours from d.c. Libyan group said they waiting right moment to return to libya.

The 400 men Are in 25 states and are given regular military training. From al-hayat Newspaper 12/18/91.

Top secret autumn-winter 92 28-9
Front org Libya. National front for the salvation of libya. An anti- Qadaffi exile Group supported by cia. Carl, l. (1990). The international dictionary of Intelligence 252 Libya, 84


In may 84 15 gunmen attacked the residence of col. Qadhafi. A Sudan- based group called the national libya salvation front claimed responsibility for the attack. Nair, k. (1986).


Devil and his dart 98 Liaison Chad, 91 Former chad chief of staff, and his patriotic salvation movement (Mps) preferred by france and libya. and u.s. Forced to remove its 700-man Libyan national liberation army
(nla). Saudi arabia had set up bank account in libreville, gabon under control of Dr. Yusuf al-Margariaf. Since 81 Had been secretary-general of national front for salvation of libya (nfsl). In 81 a nie said funding for qaddafi's opponents came from saudi arabia, Egypt, morocco and iraq. Some believe nfsl created by cia in early 80s. Morocco provided nfsl trg in 81-82. In 84 front based in sudan.


Later in Egypt. In 89 when egypt and libya became friends nfsl moved to N'Djamena, where it spliced with nla. Israel lent trainers. Nls's 700 contras recruited from among 2,000 libyan prisoners taken by chad in border skirmishes between 83-87. Col. Abdoulgassim Khalifa Hafter made nla Commander. Group turned over to 30 u.s. Military advisers for training in Commando and terrorist ops. Nla also intended for use against sudan and Other countries. Sudanese people's liberation army (spla) shut down. Office Described as u.s. Chadian op.


In 89 op centered in villa of head of chad's Secret service, the dds, and staffed by u.s. Personnel. U.s. Finally Admitted nla a u.s. Op in 3/91. Israel used cameroons intel orgs and sent Instructors run nla trg centers. U.s. Apparently had major supply base at Yoko in central cameroon. Further details covert action information Bulletin (now covert action quarterly) summer 91 47-51


Overthrow

Libya, israel, 87-89 Israel and u.s. Training "contra force of  libyans" In number of west and central african countries. They called "national Front for salvation of libya," and located in chad. Contras from about 2000 Libyan prisoners war, leader khalifa haftar. Cia controls weapons. Saudi Arabia contributed to libyan contras. Israeli foreign affairs 2/89 1,6


Propaganda

Egypt, libya, 81-87 Before sadat's assassination, secretary state haig rReferred to qaddafi as a cancer that has to be cut out. On 6/18/81

President had signed secret intel finding directing cia to provide Non- lethal support and training to anti-qaddafi exiles. In october, former Libyan diplomat mohammed mugharief founded national front for
salvation of Libya, underwritten largely by cia with help of saudi arabia. Based in Sudan, front established a propaganda radio station.

Martin, d. & walcott, J. (1988). Best laid plans 79


Publication

Libya, 81-83 On june 18, 81 president signed intel finding directing cia To provide non-lethal support to anti-quaddfi exiles. In oct a former Libyan diplomat, mohammed mugharief, founded national front for
salvation Of libya - underwritten by cia with help from saudi arabia. Based in sudan It established a radio station and began looking for prominent exiles. Martin, d. & walcott, j. (1988). Best laid plans 79

Did Frank Gardiner Wisner, Sr. work for Bechtel before 1942?

Vijay Prashad

"Frank Wisner, Jr., is seasoned State Department official, a very close friend of Mubarak, a man more committed to stability than democracy, and, yes, an employee at Patton Boggs, where one of the portfolios is for Patton Boggs to lobby on behalf of the government of Egypt."

--VIJAY PRASHAD    

Removing the Velvet Glove

Recently interviewed by Amy Goodman, Prof. Prashad from Hartford, Connecticut's Trinity College summed up the contradictions present in the ongoing diaglogue in Egypt by saying: 

"On the one side, you have sections in the State Department under the illusion that they are carrying forward a policy based on freedom and human rights, and on the other side, there is this much darker foreign policy apparatus conducted by the CIA special envoys, who are actually better called "proconsuls," and of course the United States military. There seems to be this contradiction at work, but it may not in the end of the day be a contradiction, because on one side you can say that the iron fist is being shrouded by the velvet glove. So, Margaret Scobey talking about human rights, going to see ElBaradei, talking about supporting the kind of upsurge of democracy, and on the other side, in much darker, more dangerous rooms, people like Frank Wisner, perhaps the CIA chief, discussing with Mubarak and Omar Suleiman how do we maintain your authority and change perhaps the face of that authority before the Egyptian people and the world."

Dark and Dangerous Rooms

What are these dark and dangerous rooms of which Prof. Prashad speaks?
 It has only been fairly recently that we have come to understand the true significance of the role this man's father--Frank G. Wisner, Sr.--played in shaping the world following the second world war. Attorney and author, John J. Loftus, has fought for many year to disclose the secrets contained in documents handled by Frank Gardiner Wisner, Sr. At long last he was able to publish a newly updated, declassified and uncensored version of the original work The Belarus Secret (nominated for the 1982 Pulitzer in history). The CIA's velvet glove was finally removed from the iron fist (to use Prashad's metaphor), thus revealing the true horror of what Loftus, as an attorney fresh from law school, discovered about the American justice system.
He says in the Introduction of this new edition of his expose, entitled America's Nazi Secret:

Declassified!

"My new boss shook my hand and said, 'Welcome to the Justice Department. You now represent the most corrupt client in the world, the United States Government.' I thought he was kidding."

Despite all the documents Loftus found and was forbidden by his employer from revealing to the world until now, Loftus still maintains that it is not the government per se which is corrupt--only its law firm, that is, the Justice Department.

That dichotomy posed by Loftus demands further attention. He does not place the blame for the criminal activity on the Central Intelligence Agency, but instead on the State Department and Justice Department lawyers who were working within the agency, compartmentalized from the agents, with all their files hidden from the records of the CIA itself. These are the dark and dangerous rooms on which we must shed light in order to understand how attorneys hired to represent the interests of "the government," i.e. the people as a whole, divert government policy so as to work for the interests of the few.

Conflicts of Interest
Perhaps it is the nature of the legal profession which allows some attorneys to work on behalf of their private clients' interests without seeing the inherent conflict with the interest of their public client.

Take Frank Gardiner Wisner, for example. What more do we really know about this man from Mississippi who attended an elite Episcopal boarding school in Virginia, graduated from the University of Virginia in 1931 and then from its law school in 1934? He was tapped for the Seven Society, the University of Virginia's version of Skull and Bones, according to Evan Thomas in The Very Best Men. Burton Hersh tells us, however, in The Old Boys, that Wisner didn't really fit into the mold from which most Wall Street attorneys are formed. Hersh instead paints a picture of a barefoot boy from the old South, a typical stereotype that tends to rile most southerners.

Frank's father, Frank George Wisner, was on the War Industries Board of the lumber branch during World War II, while his banking partner, Philip Stimson Gardiner (Frank Senior's maternal uncle), was secretary of the War Council of the YMCA, going to France and England for service with the American Expeditionary forces in 1917. In those days, that was the closest thing there was to a civilian intelligence agency.

Frank's mother, Mary Jeannette Gardiner, had married Frank George Wisner in 1897 in Iowa, and her first cousin, Sarah Gardiner, married Lauren Eastman. The Wisner and Eastman families originally set out west from Penn Yan, New York, after the Civil War and met up in Iowa with the Gardiners (who descend from Lion Gardiner of Long Island); they moved their families south, virtually building the town of Laurel, Mississippi, such as it was, from scratch.

Wisner, Gardiner and brother-in-law A. Field Chisholm ran the local Laurel Bank. The Gardiners and Eastmans engaged in the lumber business under the name of Eastman, Gardiner & Company, and Frank headed the Laurel Cotton Mills and handled the banking for all the businesses. While the men were 32nd degree Masons, the women joined the Daughters of the American Revolution. All attended the local Episcopal Church.

Young Frank attended the Laurel high school initially, but then was sent to an Episcopal prep school called Woodberry Forest, about halfway between Washington, D.C. and Lynchburg, Va. to force some discipline into the rebellious. When his father:

"...directed his only son to forget collegiate sidelines [two years after finishing law school he was hoping to win a place on a 1936 Olympic team] and get into something, Frank trooped along to Wall Street, where Woodberry Forrest classmates helped snag him a trainee berth at Carter, Ledyard and Milburn, attorney to the Stock Exchange, where Franklin Roosevelt practiced." (Burton Hersh, The Old Boys)

Of course, Roosevelt wasn't practicing law in 1936. He was President of the United States. He had begun there as an associate in 1907 at the same time as Grenville Clark, who would become a member of Harvard Corporation in 1931. But FDR stayed only one year before dabbling in politics. Twelve years later he returned to the law, forming a new firm with Grenville Emmet and Langdon Marvin.

But Wisner was at Carter, Ledyard & Milburn for seven years, all of that time working on litigation "on behalf of the engineers at Bechtel."

So something is missing from what we have been told up till now.

The Missing Link

The missing link is a man named John Lowery Simpson. He was the uncle of S.D. Bechtel's wife, according to his obituary that appeared in the Los Angeles Times in 1981:

In addition to the Bechtel connection, it must not be overlooked there is also a United Fruit Co. link as well through John Lowery Simpson. He was chairman of the board for 15 years of International Railways of Central America!

United Fruit owned the Int. Railways of Central America

"Under dictator Jorge Ubico (1931-1944), American-owned United Fruit Company gained control of 42% of Guatemela's land, and was exempted from taxes and import duties. The other two of Guatemala's three main enterprises -- International Railways of Central America and Empress Electrica -- were controlled by United Fruit."

J. Henry Schroder Banking Corp. was one of the primary clients of another Wall Street law firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, home to John Foster and his brother Allen Dulles. After William J. Donovan recruited Allen for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS):

"Eleanor Roosevelt would complain in a memo to FDR that Allen, a recurring personage in 'Bill Donovan's outfit,' was 'closely tied up with the Schroeder [sic] Bank, that is likely to be representative of the underground Nazi interests after the war,' one of a 'great many people who are pretty close to the business side.' " (quoted in The Old Boys, p. 89)

 As it would turn out, Eleanor was spot on about the Dulles brothers and their Nazi friends. Nevertheless, little has ever been said about Wisner's own connection to the same bank. Although it is considered by some to be anathema to use Eustace Mullins as a source, the paragraph below was taken from his book, Secrets of the Federal Reserve, because it is factual and accurate:

If anyone supposes this is all ancient history, with no application to the present political scene, we introduce the name of John Lowery Simpson of Sacramento, California. Although he appears for the first time in Who’s Who in America for 1952, Mr. Simpson states that he served under Herbert Hoover on the Commission for Relief in Belgium from 1915 to 1917; U.S. Food Administration, 1917 to 1918, American Relief Commission, 1919, and with P.N. Gray Company, Vienna, 1919 to 1921. Gray was the Chief of Maritime Transportation for the U.S. Food Administration, which enabled him to set up his own shipping company after the war. Like other Hoover humanitarians, Simpson also joined the J. Henry Schroder Banking Company (Adolf Hitler’s personal bankers) and the J. Henry Schroder Trust Company. He also became a partner of Schroder-Rockefeller Company when that investment trust backed a construction company which became the world’s largest, the firm of Bechtel Incorporated. Simpson was chairman of the finance committee of Bechtel Company, Bechtel International, and Canadian Bechtel. Simpson states he was consultant to the Bechtel-McCone interests in war production during World War II. He served on the Allied Control Commission in Italy 1943-44.

He married Margaret Mandell, of the merchant family for whom Col. Edward Mandell House was named, and he backed a California personality, first for Governor, then for President. As a result, Simpson and J. Henry Schroder Company now have serving them as Secretary of Defense, former Bechtel employee Caspar Weinberger. As Secretary of State they have serving them George Pratt Schultz, also a Bechtel employee, who happens to be a Standard Oil heir, reaffirming the Schroder-Rockefeller company ties. Thus the "conservative" Reagan Administration has a Secretary of Defense from Schroder Company, a Secretary of State from Schroder-Rockefeller, and a vice president whose father was senior partner of Brown Brothers Harriman.

We also learn that this same John L. Simpson in 1954 was a director of the San Francisco Chamber of
Commerce, as reflected in  BAY REGION BUSINESS, Vol. II (1954):