Helen Thomas Retires Effective Immediately

[Helen Reyes]

I'll think about it some more, Mark. I think your point is very good, that the people there, surrounding the issue at the time, have a viewpoint we have to exert effort to recreate. From what I can tell we basically agree on the modern state of Israel in its present incarnation. Helen Thomas is also someone who was there at that time and her perspective was rejected out of hand and a little too easily.

On the other hand, was there an alternative scenario available? Was there a way for Arabs and Jews to live in the same area in peace? Was there a possibility to creat a Jewish state in Europe, before or after WWII?

Not that the answers to those questions can in any way serve to pardon or justify crimes against humanity and crimes against peace committed by an inner core of the Netanyahu regime in recent days.

PS It's intereting that Truman subverted the UN plan by recognising Ben-Gurion's UDI, just as the UN was getting started as an international forum, under the auspices of the US and the other victors of WWII. Of course the "United Nations" was the name of the military alliance in WWII that defeated the Axis powers, including the Big Three but many others, such as free China. It was founded as a military organisation and became the post-war League of Nations. And just as the US sabotaged the LoN, so did they ruin the UN at its inception. Any thoughts on that?

[Mark Stapleton]

PS It's intereting that Truman subverted the UN plan by recognising Ben-Gurion's UDI, just as the UN was getting started as an international forum, under the auspices of the US and the other victors of WWII. Of course the "United Nations" was the name of the military alliance in WWII that defeated the Axis powers, including the Big Three but many others, such as free China. It was founded as a military organisation and became the post-war League of Nations. And just as the US sabotaged the LoN, so did they ruin the UN at its inception. Any thoughts on that?

I guess Truman did indermine the UN at the outset by recognising BG's declaration of independence so quickly. According to Clark Clifford, the US recognised Israel five minutes after BG's declaration, beating the Soviets by seven minutes.

Imo, Truman was pressured into it by the Zionists who had bailed out his struggling campaign in 1948 with a large injection of cash, co-ordinated by that ever reliable fundraiser, Abe Feinberg. There was quite a strong Zionist presence around Truman at that time.

If you read his interview in the Truman library oral histories, there's no doubt Israel was the closest thing to Feinberg's heart. Clark Clifford said recognising Israel was the right thing to do without explaining why exactly, and James Forrestal was opposed to the creation of Israel and he got thrown out of a tall building for his trouble, after being replaced as Secretary of Defense by a strong supporter of Israel. Part of Clifford's interview:


http://www.trumanlibrary.org/oralhist/oral_his.htm

[95]

HESS: I'll tell you what I have in mind, and that is Israel.

CLIFFORD: Yes, I think that there could be rare exceptions, but ordinarily these matters were thoroughly discussed and various recommendations would be made. The recommendations usually followed conversations that were held, and there might be modifications occasionally suggested. It seems to me that the relationship was such that these things were talked out pretty well before the formal recommendation came over. Now, an exception to that is Israel, and whenever you want me to I will tell you about that.

HESS: How about right now.

CLIFFORD: All right. In early 1948 (maybe toward early spring), a question arose as to whether the United States would recognize the new nation

[96]

of Israel. Up to that time it was a protectorate. It had been called Palestine. They were going to announce their entry as an independent nationhood on a certain Saturday in March or April. I think they were going to do it about 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

Early that week, say on about a Monday, the President spoke to me and said, "I want to have a conference on this problem of Israel. I would like you to prepare yourself and you be the lawyer for the position that we should recognize Israel." He said, "I am inclined to believe that General Marshall is probably opposed to it, but," he said, "you get ready and we'll set up a meeting for Tuesday morning."

All right, 10, 11 o'clock Tuesday morning, over comes General Marshall and Bob Lovett and their Middle Eastern expert (the name gets away from me); it could have been Loy Henderson, but I'm

[97]

not sure. I appeared on behalf of the one side and I believe that David Niles appeared too. He was the White House assistant in charge . . .

HESS: In charge of minority affairs.

CLIFFORD: . . . of minority affairs, right. And I retained my longhand notes. I got them up just as though I was going to make an argument to a jury. I've done it I don't know how many hundreds of times in my career. I got up those longhand notes and fortunately I saved them; they are now with my Truman Papers out in Independence. President Truman called on General Marshall first, and General Marshall presented the case in opposition to our recognizing Israel. In general, the argument was that there were twenty or thirty million Arabs as compared to a million and a half Israelis and the Israelis were going to end up by being pushed into the

[98]

Mediterranean. Further, General Marshall spoke of the natural resources that existed, the oil in the area, our relationship with the Arabs, our ability to keep peace, and so forth and so on. And he spoke maybe ten or twelve minutes. Then it was my turn and I spoke. I had my material assembled, with an introduction and a body to the argument, and a . . .

HESS: Just like a good lawyer.

CLIFFORD: Well, it was the way I had been trained to do, and ended up with a ringing peroration.

Well, it infuriated General Marshall. He said something to the effect that he had been proceeding on the assumption that he was Secretary of State and that this was his area of responsibility; he didn't understand why Clifford was even there at the meeting. And President Truman rather tartly said that Clifford was

[99]

there because President Truman had asked him to come there.

That didn't deter General Marshall at all. He said that this was an important, serious question of policy and that he rather assumed that I was there because there was some political facet to it. He argued that it should not be decided on a political basis, but should be decided upon the merits. And certainly from his standpoint he didn't need any assistance from Clifford in reaching his own judgment on the matter.

That's a rather mild report of what took place. The President then hastened to mollify General Marshall by saying he wanted a thorough discussion and that he just felt that it was wise to hear both sides. He added that he had been greatly impressed by General Marshall's presentation, and the General need not concern

[100]

himself because as far as President Truman was concerned we would not recognize Israel.

Now, that was not the way President Truman wanted it to turn out, but I think he felt that it was very likely the best way to get out of a very bad situation at the time. He was a great admirer of General Marshall's and so forth.

They then all left. I gathered up my papers and he said, "I'm sorry, Clark, how this turned out. I didn't have any idea it would turn out this way."

I remember saying, "Mr. President, this isn't the first case I've lost, nor will it be the last."

Later that day Bob Lovett called and said that he was awfully uneasy about the decision and about the attitude of the State Department. He asked, "What do you think we had ought to do?"

[101]

Well, I said, "There isn't anything I can do at this end. The thing for you to do is persuade General Marshall that he's wrong. But, Bob, I'll tell you, he's just as wrong as he can be. This would be a terrible mistake."

My recollection is that I reported that to President Truman and I got the feeling from President Truman that he felt that Marshall just needed a little time. And sure enough, he was right on that because on Thursday Lovett called me and said he thought General Marshall was coming around. By Friday General Marshall had come around and the President was perfectly content with having it work out that way. The President felt very strongly about Israel; he believed in it. I think he just wanted to give General Marshall some time to come around.

I remember Bob Lovett called me Saturday morning and invited me to luncheon at the

[102]

F Street Club. We sat there after the luncheon and wrote out the release that would be given out. Then I hurried back to the White House, phoned the representative of Palestine (he was still called at that time), and said, "Get your request at once to the State Department." I told him the manner in which it must be handled. It was now going to break all right.

He got that done right away and sent a copy of it to the White House. The State Department responded and sent the request over. The President said, "Yes," and at 4 o'clock that afternoon (I remember it was terribly dramatic and exciting) Israel announced its creation as an independent nation. About five minutes after 4 it was recognized by the United States, and about twelve minutes after 4 it was recognized by the Soviet Union. We had wanted to recognize Israel before the Soviet Union did.

[103]

So, that's a rather interesting story. I think Jonathan Daniels goes into some detail on that in his book, but I can't remember.

HESS: The subject has been covered in various books.

What were your reasons for seeing that the recognition of Israel was necessary?

CLIFFORD: Well, they are in all--they are in detail so that you could apply when you look at those notes, generally . . .

HESS: Were political considerations a factor?

CLIFFORD: Political considerations were not a factor, and that's why I think both President Truman and I were pretty incensed at the position that General Marshall had taken.

The fact is there had to be a settlement of the whole Jewish problem. It has exacerbated that part of the world and major powers for

[104]

years, going back as far as the Balfour Declaration, which occurred in the very beginning of the Twentieth Century. It had to be settled. These people were entitled to have their own nation, and they were entitled to the support of the major powers.

That was it mainly. The President, I think, felt all along that he had a commitment in this regard. He had had talks with Mr. [Dr. Chaim] Weizmann and with a number of other prominent Jewish leaders. It was very clear at the time that this was the decent and honorable course of action.

Now, the military approach to the question, which I think General Marshall reflected, was exactly the opposite. The oil in the Middle East was a very important military factor. Maybe by that time the Soviet Union was poking around over there, and I think the military was concerned

[105]

that in the Middle East the Soviets would end up with all the Arab nations as allies, while we ended up with this poor pitiful little country, Israel. That's about the way that the arguments went.

HESS: Do you recall that Eddie Jacobson was very influential in the President's thinking on the Israeli matter?

CLIFFORD: I had heard that, but I don't know. I knew Jacobson, since he occasionally would be on the boat with us. I'm sure he felt strongly about it, and I suppose he talked to the President, but he just didn't happen to hold any discussion in my presence.

HESS: You mentioned David Niles. Did he speak with force in this particular meeting?

CLIFFORD: He was not called on, as I remember. I

[106]

think that he was there to be present and hear all the arguments. He may have taken part in the discussion, but I don't recall his presenting any argument, in opposition to that submitted by Marshall.

[Keith Millea]

Need a laugh today?I sure do.

http://www.counterpunch.org/ketcham06142010.html
June 14, 2010
Scenes From the Butcher Block

The Re-Education of Helen Thomas

By CHRISTOPHER KETCHAM
Moab.
Note: These thoughts were implanted in Helen Thomas’ brain after a long and grueling surgical intervention conducted by Likudnik neurosurgeons, who were assisted by U.S. Congressmen, the White House press pool and a dozen rhesus macaques dressed as newspaper publishers. The surgeons found that sections of Thomas’ conscience were difficult to get at.
IMPLANT: Israel the best. Best. Love Israel. Love love love. Chosen ones. Big time. All the time. Must. Kiss. Israeli. Ass. Now! Do it! Chosen! No questions for Israelis. Freedom, truth, beauty, justice – Western values on the barricades. When Palestinians kill, terror. When Israelis kill, freedom and justice. Our falafel better than Arab falafel.

THOMAS’ CONSCIENCE: Lying shithead hypocrite assholes.

IMPLANT: Helen, listen to me: you are just an old bag of bones with a pen. We are the CHOSEN ONES! Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel –

THOMAS’ CONSCIENCE: Oh to hell with Israel already. Don’t we have more important things to think about –

[Surgeon 1 to Surgeon 2: “Need some help here.” Fellow American journalists enter in chains carrying press passes, whose dull edges they use to poke at Thomas’ exposed brain-flesh]

JOURNALISTS IN CHAINS: Oh ee oh. Oh ee oh.

IMPLANT: Helen, good little Helen: Come. Yes. That’s it. Now…wittle Isweal thweatened, googoo gaga. Need help, need money and weapons to make cwadle of civiwization safe for peace and justice. Isweal make kaka in Amewican mouth! Tasteee Fweedom Kaka!

THOMAS: Lies and terror – state terror. Nothing but state terror.

[Surgeon 2: “Lost cause?” Surgeon 1: “Shut her down.” They turn to the Journalists in Chains. In a single balletic motion, the Journalists drop their pants and piss on her. Thomas’ conscience is no match for the flood of urine that buoys her up and out of the room. Journalists, with pants around ankles, congratulate each other.]

Christopher Ketcham, a freelance writer in Brooklyn, NY, is writing a book about secession movements. Contact him at cketcham99@mindspring.com

[Keith Millea]

http://www.counterpunch.org/gardner06152010.html
June 15, 2010
Helen and Martha

Helen Thomas' Watergate Scoop

By FRED GARDNER
The alacrity —the relief— with which her fellow journalists allowed Helen Thomas to be offed is shameful but understandable. She showed them all up. She was the only one whose questions weren't mealy-mouthed, the only anti-war voice in a roomful of enablers.

Polite reviews of her career credit Thomas with gender-related firsts and longevity. None acknowledge the role she played in exposing the Watergate cover-up. It was Helen Thomas who lent a sympathetic, respectful ear when Martha Mitchell claimed that the burglary of Democratic Party files had been planned at the highest levels in the White House. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear…

John Mitchell, Martha's second husband, was a successful Wall St. lawyer whose firm hired Nixon after Tricky Dick lost his bid to become Governor of California in 1962. Six years later, with the U.S. military mired in Vietnam, Lyndon Johnson resigned, the Democrats split into pro- and anti-war camps, and Nixon was elected president. John Mitchell moved to Washington to be attorney general.

At first, Martha Mitchell, a belle from Arkansas, actually believed Nixon's lip-service about the wives of his cabinet members playing an active role in his administration. She soon became disenchanted. She hated the way, at parties, "the men went off by themselves for cordials and cigars on the sun porch and the women went to another room." She would look at the women in the living room "in their beautiful gowns, lined up like dolls in a museum and think 'We're nothing but window dressing!'" She hated Chief Justice Warren Burger because he gave her a lecture about smoking.

Martha Mitchell overheard a lot of things that dismayed her. Occasionally she would place a nocturnal phone call to a reporter —Helen Thomas of United Press International was her favorite— to share observations. Nixon viewed her as a vague threat. He feared and hated women in general, according to Martha. "I didn't even exist," she told Winzola McClendon, a reporter who became her biographer; "nor in my opinion, did any woman, as far as Richard Nixon was concerned. He wanted men around him."

Martha wanted John to leave the government and return to his law practice in Manhattan. According to McLendon's revealing biography, she dreamed of throwing dinner parties for his sophisticated private-sector clients, far away from Haldeman, Ehrlichman and the other low-level management types who ran the White House. John promised that they would get out of Washington after the '72 election. He resigned as Attorney General that spring so he could run the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP).

Mitchell's strategy called for Nixon to remain in the White House and act "presidential." He feared that if Nixon were out campaigning, the American people might pick up on just how bizarre his personality really was. By the spring of 1972, the Republicans' top drawing card at campaign events was none other than Martha Mitchell. When Henry Kissinger had to bow out of a June 16 fundraising event in Newport Beach, CREEP assigned Martha. That's where she was —partying with Charlton Heston, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and John Wayne— on the night of the Watergate break-in. The party was a drag and Pat Nixon snubbed Martha, as usual.

Back at the hotel Martha wanted to discuss the snub with John, but he was huddled with his aides. They didn't tell her that five CREEP operatives had just been caught trying to steal files from Democratic Party headquarters. Keeping the about-to-break news from Martha was literally the first step of the Watergate cover-up. Next morning John flew back to D.C. to direct the disinformation campaign, after convincing Martha to stay in California because she needed rest.

Martha got an LA Times and read that James McCord, a CREEP employee, had been arrested. The story contained a statement by her husband that she knew to be a lie: "A man identified as employed by our campaign committee was one of five persons arrested at the Democratic National Committee headquarters... The person involved is the proprietor of a private security agency who was employed at our committee months ago to assist with the installation of our security system... We want to emphasize that this man and the other people were not operating either in our behalf or with our consent."

John Mitchell had delegated two people to stay with Martha at the Newporter Inn: his secretary, Lea Jablonsky, and a security guard named Steve King. Martha kept drinking Scotch, smoking Salems and growing more and more agitated as her husband refused to take her phone calls. On June 22 she called her Washington apartment and told John Mitchell's aide, Fred LaRue, that if her husband didn't quit politics immediately, she would leave him. She added that she was going to tell the press. She then called Helen Thomas of UPI. While Martha was on the phone with Thomas, Steve King --alerted by LaRue or Mitchell-- ran into her bedroom, threw her onto the bed and ripped the phone out of the wall.

"The conversation ended abruptly when it appeared someone took away the phone from her hand," Helen Thomas reported. "She was heard to say 'You just get away.'" When Thomas called back the hotel operator told her, "Mrs. Mitchell is indisposed and cannot talk."

The White House put out the story that Martha was about to be institutionalized. Back at the Newport Inn, her guards wouldn't give her food but plied her with liquor. She eventually negotiated the right to fly back east. She checked into the Westchester Country Club and called UPI to declare, "I'm leaving him until he decides to leave the campaign. It's horrible to me... I'm not going to stand for all those dirty things that go on. If you could see me you wouldn't believe it. I'm black and blue. I'm a political prisoner... They don't want me to talk."

In his famous comeback interview with David Frost in September '77, Richard Nixon said, "If it hadn't been for Martha, there'd have been no Watergate, because John wasn't mindin' the store." Nixon told Frost that Martha was mentally unbalanced and that "John was practically out of his mind about Martha in the spring of 1972. He was letting Magruder and all these boys, these kids, these nuts, run this thing."

It was a total lie. In the spring of 1972 Martha Mitchell was a highly active, visible and popular member of the Committee to Re-Elect the President. They turned her into a crazy drunken dame.

In All The President's Men there's a turning-point scene in which Jason Robards, the editor of the Washington post (played by Ben Bradlee) tells Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford (played by Carl Bernstein and Robert Woodward) that he just can't let them make unsubstantiated allegations about the president of the United States —as if the Attorney General's wife hadn't been making the same allegations for months to Helen Thomas! Woodward and Bernstein didn't break the story, they confirmed it.

Fred Gardner is editor of O'Shaughnessy's. He can be reached at: fred@plebesite.com

[Ed Jewett]

I'd be wary of replaying the Watergate events again in a different context but I do take note of the presence of yet another "successful" Wall Street lawyer sitting inside the heart of government power at times when some sort of shenanigan or two was going down. There oughta be a law...