-Caveat Lector- from; http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- Vietnam War Kennedy Driving Force Behind Vietnam Covert Operations Kicking the panty-waist CIA's ass, etc. JOHN F KENNEDY was the driving force behind "dirty tricks" used by the American military in Vietnam, says the author of a new book which details the operations for the first time. He was so keen on using covert operations in Indo-China that he took the responsibility away from an unenthusiastic CIA and gave it to a special military group. Richard Schultz, author of The Secret War Against Hanoi, told The Telegraph yesterday, said: "Kennedy began to press for this kind of activity from the time of the first week of his presidency." Although the Vietnam war threw up many examples of American politicians and soldiers practising dirty tricks "the Kennedys - John and Bobby - were the dirtiest", Mr Schultz said. Among projects laid before the Kennedys was a scheme to arm and train the small Catholic minority and the hill tribes of North Vietnam as a focus of resistance to Hanoi. Following pressure from the Kennedy White House, the covert Studies and Observation Group planned a series of illegal operations. One was to frame North Vietnamese and Vietcong prisoners by sewing secret documents into their clothes to make them seem to be spies and then sending them back across the border. Mr Schultz, director of international studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts, said that several hundred PoWs were executed by their own side as a result of this deception. In another operation, more than 1,000 innocent North Vietnamese fishermen and farmers were kidnapped by the SOG and taken to an island off the South Vietnamese coast. They were led to believe they were still in the Communist-held north and left for weeks at a time in a bogus "rebel" village. The SOG then took them back to the north in blindfolds, with the intention that they should spread word of the "rebels" among their own communities and undermine faith in the regime of Ho Chi Minh. Mr Schultz said that many of these people were likely to have ended up before firing squads too. He said: "I think the main message of the book is the extent to which JFK was the real driving force behind this secret war. He gave the CIA orders to get cracking, but they didn't move fast enough for him and by the end of 1962 he had had enough and handed it all over to the military. "At first they resisted him, partly because they didn't think these sort of tactics worked and partly because they thought it was beyond the pale." The covert operations were not put into effect until after Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, but were also driven by his successor, Lyndon Johnson. The London Telegraph, December 16, 1999 Currency Markets Euro Supplants Dollar in International Bonds Not to worry. We still got nukes. Take that, you bastards. In spite of its lacklustre performance on the foreign exchange markets, the euro has proved the most popular currency in the international bond markets since its launch in January. With the equivalent of almost $600bn worth of bonds launched in euros during the past 12 months, the single currency pipped the US dollar to the post as the denomination of choice for borrowers. Both currencies accounted for about 45 per cent of all bond issuance in 1999, compared with less than 10 per cent for sterling, the third most popular currency. Economists attribute the euro's success on the debt markets to the growth of liquid capital markets in Europe. "The US dollar has punched well above its weight in the financial markets over the last 30 years because it had no competitor," said David Knott, head of fixed-income research at Deutsche Bank. "But now borrowers can choose between two markets." Many analysts dismissed the euro's popularity in early 1999 as a blip. They said volumes had been artificially lifted by the fact that many European companies wanted to establish a benchmark in the euro for public relations purposes. However, the volume of bonds launched by US companies in euros has outweighed those issued by European companies during the year. This is in part because interest rates in the euro-zone are much lower (at 3 per cent) than in the US (5.5 per cent), meaning that US companies can borrow at cheaper rates in euros. "There is a connection between the weakness of the euro and its popularity among borrowers - namely, low interest rates," said Avinash Persaud, head of global research at State Street Bank. "The euro's weakness against the dollar may also have been helped by the fact that US borrowers will swap the proceeds of their bond issues by selling euros for dollars." Bankers say the trend, which has been boosted by the decision of European investors to diversify away from domestic government bond markets since their domestic currencies were abolished, will continue during the next 12 months. In particular, non-European central banks are expected to step up their purchase of euro- denominated securities to rebalance foreign exchange reserves away from the US dollar. US interest rates are likely to continue to rise during the next few months, according to most forecasts. This would increase borrowing costs for US companies, many of which would attempt to reduce costs by tapping the euro. "Borrowers around the world now have two markets to choose from and they will generally decide on the basis of cost," a banker said. The Financial Times, December 16, 1999 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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