Good Day.... FYI....

http://www.smdp.com/Articles-opinion-and-commentary-c-2012-02-09-7345...

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opinion and commentary

Laughing Matters

Hoping the CIA doesn't read this

By Jack Neworth

PHOTO http://www.smdp.com/datedimages/2012/02/09/036FC9RGy4193228.med.jpg
Cold War Warrior: Francis Gary Powers next to a U-2 reconnaissance
plane. photo by Cold War Museum.
http://www.smdp.com/1evisualtablebody.lasso?photographer=Cold%20War%2...

February 10, 2012

Perhaps I'm a tad paranoid because today I'm writing about the 50th
anniversary of one of the most controversial moments in the Cold War.
And one that the CIA had its greasy tentacles all over. By the way,
some historians postulate that we didn't so much win the Cold War
against the Russians as we outspent them.

Some think those were better days. Sure there was the threat of
nuclear annihilation, but at least the country wasn't broke and planes
weren't flying into skyscrapers. (Not to mention those unbearable Bin
Laden basement tapes.)

In memory of that era I wrote a satirical screenplay, "The Last
Straw," about rogue KGB and CIA agents longing to re-ignite the Cold
War. Instead of saving the world from communism, grumpy CIA operative
Rollie Southern curses that he's reduced to having to learn Arabic
from Berlitz tapes on a recorder made in China!

But, dear readers, that's the end of the comedy portion of today's
missive as I reflect back on May 1, 1960. Up to that point that was
clearly the most ominous day in the life of 30-year-old American pilot
Francis Gary Powers. The son of a Virginia coal miner and raised
during the depression, he was on a CIA spy mission when he and his U-2
reconnaissance plane were shot down and captured in Russia. (At the
subsequent trial Powers potentially faced the death penalty.)

When the truth came out the incident embarrassed America in the eyes
of the world. It also derailed President Eisenhower's highly
anticipated peace summit with the Soviets scheduled for only two weeks
later.

The ultra-sleek U-2 was basically a glider equipped with a jet engine.
Precarious to fly, it could, however, cruise above 70,000 feet, out of
range of Soviet artillery. Or so we thought.

Powers, who had flown numerous and dangerous spy missions for years,
was now a powerless pawn in a Moscow show trial. He was sentenced to
10 years, three in a cold, foreboding prison and seven to be in a work
camp.

But, after 21 months in a Russian prison, we finally come to what took
place 50 years ago, today. On a foggy pre-dawn at the Glienicke Bridge
in Berlin, and in a scene right out of a spy movie, Gary Powers was
exchanged for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. But, while Abel was greeted in
Russia as a returning hero, Powers was not.

Powers was subjected to weeks of intense CIA debriefing and public
criticism. (And even death threats.) The left criticized him for his
part in the war machine and the right for his not having killed
himself and destroyed the U-2 when faced with capture. (Ignoring that
those were never his orders.)

There were much publicized Senate hearings that, if they went poorly
for Powers, there was talk that he might be charged with treason. But
after his Senate testimony, Powers received a standing ovation and a
commendation that he had "performed well under dangerous
circumstances." (A slight understatement considering Powers had been
shot down from 70,000 feet.)

As it happens, in my Dec. 16, 2011 column ("Drone, drone on the
range") I mentioned Powers and the U-2 incident. Gleaned from Internet
sites, I noted that Powers had suspected CIA sabotage of his flight to
destroy the upcoming summit with the Russians.

My column posted at 5 p.m. and seemingly at 5:05 I got an e-mail
emphatically denying that Powers believed the sabotage scenario. As
perhaps only I can, I assumed the CIA was reading my columns!

When I finally stopped hyperventilating, I noticed the e-mail was from
Gary Powers Jr. So, to set the record straight on the so-called
sabotage, I stand corrected. (Actually, I'm sitting.)

Powers Jr. did share something about his father and Lee Harvey Oswald,
whose military training included radar and had been stationed at a U-2
base. Powers Sr. thought it likely that Oswald divulged to the Soviets
the U-2's cruising altitude. (Which begs the eternal question, how did
Oswald get back into the U.S., but don't get me started.)

Francis Gary Powers was a Cold War warrior mistreated by his
government. But there is some justice. This past December, the Air
Force announced that in 2012 it will posthumously award Powers the
prestigious Silver Star.

"It is vindication of my father 50 years afterwards,' Powers Jr. said.
"Dad is one of our American heroes."

I second the motion.

Gary Powers Jr. founded The Cold War Museum to honor veterans and
preserve Cold War history. To learn more go to www.coldwar.org. Jack
can be reached at Jns...@aol.com.

(END QUOTE)

Best  Regards  in  Research,

        Don

Donald  Roberdeau
U.S.S.  John  F.  Kennedy,  CV-67,  plank  walker
Sooner,  or  later,  The  Truth  emerges  Clearly

For  your  considerations....

Homepage:  President KENNEDY  "Men  of  Courage"  speech, and
Assassination Evidence,Witnesses, Suspects + Outstanding
Researchers Discoveries and Considerations....
http://droberdeau.blogspot.com/2009/08/1-men-of-courage-jfk-assassina...

Dealey  Plaza  Map  Detailing 11-22-63 Victims precise  locations,
Evidence, Witnesses, Films & Photos, Suspected bullet trajectories,
Important  information &  Key Considerations, in  One  Convenient
Resource.... http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/2192/dpupdated110110.gif

Visual Report:  "The First Bullet Impact Into President Kennedy: While
JFK was Still Hidden Under the 'Magic-limbed-ricochet-tree' "....
http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/2446/206cropjfk1102308ms8.gif

Visual Report:  Reality versus C.A.D. :
the  Real World,  versus,  Garbage-In, Garbage-Out....
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/8543/realityvscad.gif

Discovery:  "Very Close JFK Assassination Witness ROSEMARY WILLIS
Zapruder Film Documented 2nd Head Snap: West, Ultrafast, and
Directly  Towards  the  Grassy  Knoll"....
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2394

T  ogether
E  veryone
A  chieves
M  ore

        For the United States:

        http://www.nationalterroralert.com/advisory7regional.gif

        http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/

On 2/10/2012 7:58 AM, Don Roberdeau wrote:

The real story is slightly more complicated. One prong was the fake Star
Wars project (see The Cuckoo's Egg) which induced the Soviet Union to
divert billions of dollars from the consumer market to building useless
weapons. The other thing which undermined the Soviet economy was the
direct support of the Russian Mafia by our beloved CIA. Millions of
consumer goods were diverted into the black market.

Maybe because bin Laden was still working for us then trying to defeat the
Russians.

The plan was to lure the Russians into a ground war in Afghanistan and
destroy their economy. Seems the old tricks are the best tricks. Every
country which has invaded Aghanistan has shortly thereafter fallen apart.

Reminds me of the movie The Package which has a conspiracy between the CIA
and the KGB to assassinate the Soviet President and blame it on an
American neo-Nazi.

Some people think that was why the CIA flew that mission.

And also their MIGs. But that was before the SA-2.

He was told to destroy the plane and they gave him poison to take.

The FBI was reading your columns even before you posted them.

The Soviets were more interested in its maximum altitude, i.e. how high
it could go to escape an attack.

That day the highest the Soviets could get was 70,000 feet. If the U-2
could climb to 80,000 feet or 90,000 feet the Soviets would have to
develop new weapons to reach it.

And Oswald's mother said, "Lee Harvey Oswald, my son, even after his
death, has done more for his country than any other living human being."