15-03-2009, 07:45 PM
Other reasons for sending RMN in person:
1. To compromise him for subsequent blackmailing purposes -- as if they didn't already have enough on the bastard.
2. To lend the power of his political presence to the settlement of whatever negotiations had led to the exchange; he may have been there to validate the "approval" of the deal by the highest level American politicans -- a guarantee that whatever was coming down was being sanctioned by the big boys.
3. To allow Nixon to see for himself in real time that the deal was being consummated.
The key may lie (My Lai?) in the identities of the exchanged prisoners. Might one or more have been associated with previous deep political operations in which Nixon was implicated, thus making their return -- prior to hostile interrogations -- of paramount importance to the secret state? Henry Cabot Lodge, with whom Nixon met on the trip in question, may stand as a major clue to solving this riddle. Dallas, anyone?
What might their mission(s) have been? Was manipulation of the Sino-Soviet split -- real or manufacturered or both -- involved?
Had they been sent to the North Vietnamese knowingly as hostages to facilitate the yet-unknown transaction?
Further, was gold alone contained in the heavy container -- just enough to cover another heavy cargo beneath?
And were the "enemy" Asians really VC and/or NVA? Were they Chinese or even Filippino paramilitaries disguised as North Vietnamese guerrillas and/or regulars?
The longer we labor at this game, the longer the list of possible explanations becomes.
To be frank, Mr. Hougan's OPLAN 34-A hypothesis fails to satisfy.
1. To compromise him for subsequent blackmailing purposes -- as if they didn't already have enough on the bastard.
2. To lend the power of his political presence to the settlement of whatever negotiations had led to the exchange; he may have been there to validate the "approval" of the deal by the highest level American politicans -- a guarantee that whatever was coming down was being sanctioned by the big boys.
3. To allow Nixon to see for himself in real time that the deal was being consummated.
The key may lie (My Lai?) in the identities of the exchanged prisoners. Might one or more have been associated with previous deep political operations in which Nixon was implicated, thus making their return -- prior to hostile interrogations -- of paramount importance to the secret state? Henry Cabot Lodge, with whom Nixon met on the trip in question, may stand as a major clue to solving this riddle. Dallas, anyone?
What might their mission(s) have been? Was manipulation of the Sino-Soviet split -- real or manufacturered or both -- involved?
Had they been sent to the North Vietnamese knowingly as hostages to facilitate the yet-unknown transaction?
Further, was gold alone contained in the heavy container -- just enough to cover another heavy cargo beneath?
And were the "enemy" Asians really VC and/or NVA? Were they Chinese or even Filippino paramilitaries disguised as North Vietnamese guerrillas and/or regulars?
The longer we labor at this game, the longer the list of possible explanations becomes.
To be frank, Mr. Hougan's OPLAN 34-A hypothesis fails to satisfy.
Charles Drago
Co-Founder, Deep Politics Forum
If an individual, through either his own volition or events over which he had no control, found himself taking up residence in a country undefined by flags or physical borders, he could be assured of one immediate and abiding consequence: He was on his own, and solitude and loneliness would probably be his companions unto the grave.
-- James Lee Burke, Rain Gods
You can't blame the innocent, they are always guiltless. All you can do is control them or eliminate them. Innocence is a kind of insanity.
-- Graham Greene
Co-Founder, Deep Politics Forum
If an individual, through either his own volition or events over which he had no control, found himself taking up residence in a country undefined by flags or physical borders, he could be assured of one immediate and abiding consequence: He was on his own, and solitude and loneliness would probably be his companions unto the grave.
-- James Lee Burke, Rain Gods
You can't blame the innocent, they are always guiltless. All you can do is control them or eliminate them. Innocence is a kind of insanity.
-- Graham Greene