Reply #33: Detailed response.... [View All]

[Media_Lies_Daily]

No, I can't say that I do understand your post. I've been accused of being conspiracy minded on lots of occasions, but I have a hard time buying much of what you say. Do you have any reputable links for anything you said in the first paragraph?

Specifically, "When General Al Haig took over as White House Chief of Staff, the nuclear codes "football" was assigned to someone else."

Yes, I do. One of my sources was a military officer assigned to Kissinger's staff at the time and worked in the White House Situation Room. I had a chance to talk with him when we were both assigned to Operation Gallant Knight in 1980. And no, I'm not going to reveal his name on this board...we were both in highly classified positions at the time.

Um, your point is what exactly? It is interesting that after H. R. Halderman, the next three COS's were Haig, Cheney and Rumsfeld, but put more meat on the bones and back it up.

"Haig reported directly to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, not to anyone in the civilian chain of command."

In which capacity? As Head of NATO Forces (under Ford and Carter), he would report directly to the Joint Chiefs, but as Secretary of State, or Presidential Chief of Staff, that is certainly false.

What does Cheney and Rumsfeld have to do with Nixon's final year in office? What point were you trying to make by inserting that into the dialogue?

Do you recall that Haig was a 2-star general when he was assigned the role of White House Chief of Staff? He had already been working for Kissinger since 1969, there was no Vice President because Agnew had already resigned, and Ford had not yet been appointed as the new Vice President. Nixon was cut out of the command loop, and Haig reported to the JCS. In his role, Haig bridged the gap between the outgoing Nixon and the incoming Ford.

Haig's reward for his work in the White House was a 2-star promotion to 4-star general and command of NATO from 1974-1979. To be awarded this command, Haig was promoted over about twenty higher-ranking officers. As you might guess, that caused quite a bit of turmoil among the higher echelons of the Army, and that turmoil is well-documented.

"the day that Haig took over acting for the military, a top secret teletype was sent to all major US commands to "disregard all orders from the Commander-in-Chief"."

Again... what? Took over acting for the military? What do you mean?

Surely you're not that naive. What do you think I mean by "acting for the military"?

In regards to the message, a friend of mine was part of a Navy listening post on Guam in 1973 and pulled the message noted above from his teletype. He told me about the teletype message one day before we graduated from Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island in 1977.

We all know that Haig is a megalomaniac. But that doesn't mean anyone listened to him then any more than they did when he dubbed himself "in charge" when Reagan was shot. He is delusional. In any event, a link please.

Haig wasn't a megalomanic in 1973-1974. He was a shrewd, crafty senior military officer who knew the inner workings of the Executive Branch as well as anyone during that period of time. He also commanded a great deal of respect not only for his senior rank but also because of the high-powered relationships he built in DC, Europe, and Asia.

A West Point grad in 1947, he served in Korea from 1950-1951. From 1951-1954 he was assigned to duties in Europe. From 1954-1960, he was assigned to the 5412 Group in the White House and got to know Nixon very well. He was assigned to various roles in DC from 1960 until 1967 when he received orders to Vietnam. By 1969, Haig was back in DC and part of Kissinger's staff. By 1973-1974, Haig was a player and part of the inner circle...and everyone knew it.

By the time Haig was Secretary of State for Bush I in 1981-1982, he exhibited delusional behavior for all the world to see the day that Reagan was shot.

If your going to make wild accusations, you must be willing and able to back them up.

LOL. "Wild accusations"? If you think what I've discussed is a "wild accusation", then you really don't know U. S. history very well.

Now, as far as the questions on Woodward's access to all these spooks, yes, those are all compelling questions, but again, why would any govt agency (ie. the intelligence agencies) bite the hand that feeds them? It doesn't make sense to me. I take the polatics that force Nixon to resign at reletive face value. I'm 44, so I still remember those times very well.

"Why would any govt agency (ie. the intelligence agencies) bite the hand that feeds them?" Nixon had gone too far and the powers behind the presidency decided that he had to be removed from office. He had threatened the use of nuclear weapons in a closed committee meeting against at least one other foreign power. He had also threatened the CIA with revealing all that he knew about "that whole Bay of Pigs thing", a statement that was believed by one of Nixon's top staffers to be code for the JFK assassination. In short, many of the people close to Nixon believed that he was very close to a nervous breakdown.

I was 23 in 1974 and still in college. I watched every minute of the Watergate hearings because I knew what was at stake. I have also done extensive research of the time period between 1958 and 1974...a time period which had a profound effect on our nation's history.

In closing, I submit that you don't know nearly as much as you think you do. If you're currently 44, you were only 13 when Nixon resigned in 1974, and I doubt very much that you had as much interest in Watergate as I did.