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World Anti-Communist
League
Acronym/Code: WACL
Updated: 10/90
Categories:
Political, Paramilitary
Background:
The World Anti-Communist League was founded
in 1966 in Taipei, Taiwan. WACL was conceived as an expansion of the Asian
People's Anti-Communist League, a regional alliance against communism formed
at the request of Chiang Kai-shek at the end of the Korean War. (1,9,30,35)
The Asian People's AntiCommunist League (APACL) had roots in the China Lobby,
a group dedicated to stopping official international recognition of the Chinese
Communist government. The China Lobby had U.S. government connections, and
allegedly Ray Cline of the CIA assisted this group in establishing the Taiwanese
Political Warfare Cadres Academy in the late 1950s. (45) The founders of APACL
were agents of the governments of Taiwan and Korea, including Park Chung Hee
who later bacame president of Korea; Yoshio Kodama, a member of organized
crime in Japan; Ryiochi Sasakawa, a gangster and Japanese billionaire jailed
as a war criminal after World War II; and Osami Kuboki and other followers
of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, head of the Unification Church. (4,8,9,11,30)
Sasakawa provided major funding for Moon and the Unification Church. When
Park became president of South Korea after the 1961 coup, he adopted the Unification
Church as his political arm. (45)
One resource states that the Anti-Bolshevic
Bloc of Nations (ABN), headed by the notorious Yaroslav Stetsko since the
1950s, entered the group in the early 1960s. (11,45) The ABN is the largest
and most important umbrella for former Nazi collaborators in the world. (11)
During the 1970s WACL spread to all six continents
and chapters were opened in Japan, Europe, Britain, Australia, the U.S. ,
and Latin America. The organization attracted former Nazi supporters in Europe
and in Latin America. The Latin American group, Confederacion Anti-Comunista
Latinoamericana (CAL), headed by Raimundo Guerrero, sprang from the roots
of Los Tecos, a World War II facist group. (11) CAL was overtly fascist and
connected to a chain of rightwing military plots in Latin America. (59)
The Unification Church (UC) of Sun Myung Moon
has remained a major power within WACL. Moon claimed that he raised $1. 4
million for WACL's 1970 annual conference. (41) In 1975, Moon denounced WACL
as being too facist, and claimed to sever connections between it and the UC.
Reports in the New York Times, Searchlight and elsewhere, however, indicate
the separation is nominal only. (41) In 1985, WACL's Japanese branch was still
run by Osami Kuboki who also headed the Japanese Unification Church. (5)
From 1978 to 1980 Roger Pearson, well known
for his theory of white supremacy and his fascist sympathies, was chairman
of WACL. Pearson concentrated his efforts in Europe and attracted more radical
fascist elements to WACL. For a time WACL appeared to be more anti-semitic
than anticommunist. (11) Pearson and the more radical WACL branches attempted
to oust more moderate groups, but his attempted coup failed. In 1980, WACL
expelled Pearson and said it had purged its fascist elements. As with the
separation from the UC, however, the separation from the fascists was cosmetic
only. Most of the individuals involved were reported by the New York Times,
the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers to be among the attendees at succeeding
annual conferences. (2,31)
After Pearson's ouster, Major General John
K. Singlaub (ret. ) and his newly-formed U.S. chapter of WACL, the United
States Council for World Freedom (USWCF), became WACL's most active branch.
USCWF was founded in 1981 by Singlaub with a $16,500 loan from the Taiwanese
branch of WACL and generous support from beer baron Joseph Coors. (28,35)
From 1984 through 1986, Singlaub was the chairman of WACL. (11)
In 1984, columnist Jack Anderson wrote a series
of exposes on WACL connecting the group with death squads operating in Latin
America, and once again linking them with fascists, this time in Latin America.
He reported that the "godfather" of the death squads in Guatemala,
Mario Sandoval Alarcon, a principal of the CAL, had been on the CIA payroll
for 30 years--since the National Liberation Movement (MLN) was organized by
the CIA to overthrow progressive President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman of Guatemala.
(24,25) Further articles by Anderson reported that CAL, which operated out
of Guadalajara, Mexico, was an outgrowth of Los Tecos. (26,27)
As a result of this expose, Singlaub put pressure
on Dr. Ku, the life-chair of WACL from Taiwan, to expel CAL. (28) Ku complied
but, as with the fascists in Europe, the disassociation was probably only
nominal. (30) A new Latin American wing, the zFederacion de Entidades Democraticas
de America Latina (FEDAL), was begun with Dr. Carlos Barbieri Filho of Brazil
as head. Barbieri Filho has connections to the Argentine AAA death squad.
Moreover, former CAL chieftan Mario Sandoval Alarcon was present at the 1985
WACL convention in Dallas. (30)
WACL maintains offices in a Taipei, Taiwan
government building, and runs its daily affairs out of "The Freedom Center,"
a cluster of buildings in Seoul, South Korea. (30,38) WACL has an executive
structure headed by an honorary chairman, chairman, executive board, and secretariat.
It has eight regional organizations: Asian Pacific Anti-Communist League (APACL);
North American Regional WACL Organization (NARWACL); European Council for
World Freedom (ECWF); African Organization for Freedom and Democracy (AOFD);
Federacion de Entidades Democraticas de America Latina (FEDAL); Middle East
Solidarity Council (MESC); Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN); and World
Youth Freedom League (WYFL). (54) WACL has 130 chapters, and estimates of
the number of countries involved ranges from 90 to 100. (31,35,38) The group
publishes a quarterly magazine, Freedom Digest. (54)
Funding:
The U.S. affiliate, USWCF, had tax exempt
status from the Internal Revenue Service from 1982 through 1987. (38) This
enabled Singlaub to solicit tax-deductible donations from private parties.
The status was withdrawn because of complaints to the IRS about the types
of activities in which the USCWF was involvedin Nicaragua. (50) Dallas heiress
Ellen Garwood donated $65,000 to WACL to buy a helicopter for the Nicaraguan
contras. (35) Burt Hurlbut of the USWCF board stated that Taiwan and South
Korea were providing $50,000 a month to WACL for the contras. (11,33) Singlaub
reported that USWCF was raising $50,000 a month from a group of wealthy Texas
conservatives including Bert Hurlbut of First Texas Royalty and Exploration
Co and John Howell of Howell Instruments. (35) Singlaub told the Washington
Post in May 1985 that the Brazil and Argentina chapters of WACL were very
active in supporting WACL activities. (11) A 1985 article attributes donations
of $100,000 a year to the WACL chapter in Saudi Arabia. (35) Other contributors
include Nelson
Bunker Hunt and Herbert Hunt, oil fortune
heiress Tarlton "Topsy" King, and Scott Parrott of the Parrott Oil
fortune. (63)
An undetermined amount of WACL's funding comes
in non- monetary form. For example, a large donation of clothing was obtained
from a Korean manufacturer at greatly reduced prices. WACL also receives support
from other rightwing groups. Singlaub reported that he received commitments
for $100,000 from a fundraising campaign with fellow members of the Council
for National Policy. (35)
Activities:
The purpose of the World Anti-Communist League
is spelled out clearly in its name. WACL operates internationallyto overcome
and eliminate groups or governments considered to pose a "communist"
threat. To achieve this end, WACL appears to be willing to align itself with
any and all governments and movements it considers to be anticommunist. (38)
The group revised its charter in 1987 to include among its purposes the development
of "political and psychological warfare methods in order to expose and
counteract the evil designs and intrigues of Communist imperialism."(53)
At the 1984 convention the group established committees to support and assist
eight anticommunist resistance groups: Nicaragua, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia,
Afghanistan, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. (6,17,21)
Much of the inspiration for WACL activities
and the training in psychological and political warfare come from Taiwan.
(11,30,39) Training courses are offered, with all expenses paid by WACL, at
the Political Warfare Cadres Academy in Peitou. Political warfare is described
by the academy as a system "to remove obstacles to national unity within
and to resist aggression from without."(11) Roberto D'Aubuisson said
of his training there,"(It was) the best course I ever took."(11)
Taiwan is no longer recognized by only the United Nations and its government
is recognized by two dozen nations, half of which are in Latin America. (11)
WACL activities in Central America expanded
greatly in 1984 when Congress shut off all funds to the contra forces. (11)
Between 1984 and 1986 WACL became the principal publicly identified source
of funding for the contras. Singlaub said that he "quite frankly used
the WACL organization... to meet with some people who are capable of contributing"
to the contra cause. He identified his three principal WACL sources for funding
as Latin America, Taiwan, and South Korea. (59)
Afghanistan: At its 1984 and 1985 conventions
WACL voted to support the anticommunist mujahedeen rebels in Afghanistan.
(6,17,21,39) WACL was very active in the foundation and support of the Committee
for a Free Afghanistan (CFA). CFA was founded in 1981 and was given office
space at the Heritage Foundation. (21) CFA--directed by retired Major General
J. Milnor Roberts, a board member of USCWF--raised large sums of money to
purchase arms, ammunition and medical supplies for the mujahedeen. (21,48)
In 1985 WACL, through USCWF, initiated "Project Boots" to bring
humanitarian aid to the Afghan resistance. (21) In 1988, General Daniel Graham,
vice chair of USCFW, was one of an eight-man delegation that met with President
Ronald Reagan in an effort to block the Geneva accords calling for a withdrawal
of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. (21)
Canada: After the U.S. Congress prohibited
the CIA from further assistance to the contras in 1984, the Canadian WACL
chapter became active in procuring and shipping goods to the contras. In 1984
and 1985 the Canadian WACL, Canadian Freedom Fdn (CFF), headed by John Gamble,
a former conservative member of parliament, arranged a series of fundraising
meetings for Singlaub, including some with members of parliament. (38) CFF
also supported the WACL campaign on behalf of the mujahedeen in Afghanistan
by raising funds and holding anti-Soviet demonstrations. (38) A WACL affiliate,
the Freedom Council of Canada, was active in rallying anticommunist sentiment
in Canada following the student protests in Tienanmen Square and the violent
response by the Chinese government. The group claimed to rally the support
of some 4,500 Chinese students studying in Canada. (55) The group is presently
trying to act as official representative of the Vietnamese exile groups in
North America, but as yet agreement has not been reached. (55)
Costa Rica: In 1986, Bernal Urbina Pinto headed
the WACL chapter in Costa Rica and was vice president of FEDAL. FEDAL replaced
CAL after it was expelled from WACL because of its fascist connections in
1984. Urbina Pinto was also the leader of the political group, Free Costa
Rica Movement, which coordinatedthe Organization for the National Emergency
(OPEN), a paramilitary, anti-terrorist force. OPEN trained thousands of peasants
in the basic tactics of counterinsurgency. (11)
In 1982, Argentinians came to Costa Rica to
organize contra forces who had slipped across the border from Nicaragua. They
worked with Urbina Pinto and the Free Costa Rica Movement. (11) Cuban exiles
who are members of WACL also live in Costa Rica. Most notable among them is
Nazario Sargen head of Alpha 66, a Cuban terrorist group and long-standing
WACL member. (11)
John Hull--whose ranch in Costa Rica was used
as a base by the CIA and private groups to bring supplies and military support
to the contras--is a member of WACL. (20) In fact, WACL was considered by
some to be the main CIA conduit in the supply network for the contras. (20)
El Salvador: Roberto D'Aubuisson, Adolfo Cuellar
and Raul Molina, worked together under the direction of National Guard commander
General Jose Alberto "Chele" Medrano. All were members of WACL and
all rose to power in El Salvador. (11) D'Aubuisson, who rose through the ranks
of the Salvadoran National Security Agency (ANSESAL)--the Salvadoran counterpart
to the CIA--became El Salvador's national representative to WACL. (31,61)
In 1977, he went to Peitou, Taiwan for three months of training at the Political
Warfare Cadres Academy. In 1980, D'Aubuisson went to the WACL convention in
Buenos Aires where he arranged for Argentine intelligence operatives to come
to El Salvador and give the National Guard instruction in countersubversion.
(31) The advisers helped Salvadorans set up safe houses out of which the death
squads operated. (28) The project was funded by WACL. (11) D'Aubuisson became
an important figure in politics in 1981 when he established the Nationalist
Republican Alliance (ARENA) party. ARENA is modeled after the ultra-right,
militarist MLN of Guatemala. Soon after ARENA's founding, investigative reporters
linked D'Aubuisson with Mario Sandoval Alarcon of the MLN. Sandoval Alarcon
is head of WACL in Guatemala and of La Mano Blanco, a major Guatemalan death
squad. (10,11) Testimony of U.S. Ambassador Robert White fixes responsibility
for the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero on D'Aubuisson. (11)
Adolfo Cuellar was a member of the National
Assembly for the National Conciliation Party (PCN), a rightwing party in El
Salvador. In 1970, he became head of the Democratic National Organization
(ORDEN), a rural paramilitary group of some eighty thousand anticommunist
informers and vigilantes. He was assassinated in 1981. Medrano went on to
achieve power in the National Guard. (11)
Guatemala: In 1954, with the formation of
the CIA-sponsored Army of Liberation (AOL) organized to overthrow reformist
President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, Guatemala became fixed in a pattern of anticommunist
political violence which persists today. (11) The Eisenhower administration
tagged Arbenz as procommunist and sent E. Howard Hunt of the CIA (and, later,
of Watergate fame) to organize the AOL. (45) In 1957, a radical right faction
of the government set up by the U.S. to replace Arbenz assassinated his successor,
President Castillo Armas, and formed a new party, the National Liberation
Movement (MLN).
Mario Sandoval Alarcon was the driving force
behind the government, and the MLN became the legitimizer of his paramilitary
operations. (11)
Sandoval Alarcon, known as the "godfather,"
launched his career in the AOL, and has been head of the WACL in Guatemala
since 1972. (11) He was the coordinator of La Mano Blanco, which oversaw the
operations of many of the death squads in Central America. La Mano Blanco
was coordinated by CAL. The death squads have terrorized Guatemala since their
formation in the 1960s. When interviewed by the authors of Inside the League
a political analyst said,"People ask if the death squads are controlled
by the [Guatemalan] Army. They are the Army."(11) Sandoval Alarcon was
head of the National Congress and vice president under Colonel Kjell Laugerud
Schell from 1974 to 1978. While vice president, he established close ties
with Taiwan through his leadership of WACL. He sent an estimated fifty to
seventy Guatemalan army officers to the Academy in Taiwan for training. (11)
In 1980, WACL requested that Sandoval Alarcon help D'Aubuisson establish death
squads in El Salvador. (11,45)
In 1979, John Singlaub and Daniel Graham of
the American Security Council and soon to be founders of the new U.S. WACL
branch, the USCWF, visited Guatemala. The purpose of their junket was to begin
to heal the relationship between the U.S. and Guatemala that had become strained
under the Carter administration. They also informed the Guatemalan government
that a Reagan victory would lead to a resumption of military ties between
the countries. Mario Sandoval Alarcon attended President Ronald Reagan's inaugural
ceremonies. (11) Alberto Piedra, WACL member, was appointed ambassador to
Guatemala by President Reagan. (38,40)
While Sandoval failed in his bid to become
president of Guatemala, he remained the power behind the throne. In 1985,
he was still the head of WACL, claimed to have a private army of three thousand,
and the ability to put thousands more paramilitary troops into action on short
notice. (11)
Honduras: In the late 1970s, General Gustavo
Alvarez Martinez brought Honduras into the anticommunist warrior ranks. During
his term as president, he created the Honduran AntiCommunist Movement (MACHO)
and its action arm, the AntiCommunist Combat Army (ELA)."Lobo,"
a leader of the ELA, was a member of the United Democratic University Front
(FUDD) which served as the ELA's front group. (11) He was also a member of
the youth wing of the Latin American Anti-Communist Confederation (CAL)."Lobo"
and other representatives of FUDD were present at the 1980 WACL conference
in Buenos Aires, and there arranged for WACL members from Argentina to come
to Honduras to train contras from Nicaragua. (11) During 1980 and 1982, Jesse
Helm's aide John Carbaugh, who attended the WACL convention in 1980, made
numerous trips to Honduras. (11) The WACL chapter in Honduras was headed by
Moises Jesus de Ulloa Duarte, a conservative radio commentator who traveled
to Korea at the invitation and expense of the Unification Church. (11)
Refugee Relief International, a project of
Soldier of Fortune, joined forces with WACL to deliver supplies to contra
camps in Honduras in 1984. (11)
Mexico: The Confederacion Anticommunista Latinoamericana
(CAL) was run out of the Autonomous University in Guadalajara. (11) CAL was
formed from a well-established, elite, pro-Nazi network called Los Tecos.
(26,27) CAL did not cast off its anti-semitism to don the cloak of anticommunism;
it simply incorporated the latter into its agenda. (11) The Jack Anderson
expose of fascist elements in CAL forced WACL to expel the group in 1984.
However, an article in the Village Voice noted that "the core of the
old Latin fascist apparatus remains."(30)
Philippines: In 1987, General Singlaub visited
the Philippines with Ray Cline, former CIA deputy director. (32,51)
They met with CIA station chief Norbett Garrett.
Singlaub set up an office in Manila at the Nippon Star, a subsidiary of the
Japanese firm, Nippon Electronics. (51) Cline and Singlaub, along with Garret
and General Robert Sweitzer met with Juan Ponce Enrile and General Fidel Ramos
prior to an abortive November coup. (62) Singlaub has also met with Alberto
"Magri" Maguidad, alias Jack Madigan, infamous vigilante leader
from Taguegarao. Madigan has acknowledged that his group has the backing of
Singlaub and WACL. (62)
The Manila Chronicle reported that Singlaub
offered financial support to sugar planters organizing an anticommunist drive
on the island of Negros. (51) Meetings were held with General Luis Villa-Real,
the president of WACL in the Philippines and head of the National Intelligence
Coordinating Authority. (51)
The Counter-Insurgency Command (CIC), a rightwing
civilian vigilante squad, admitted having the backing of "an international
organization led by retired General John Singlaub." The CIC claims to
have 2,000 members and 100,000 sympathizers. (34)
The Philadelphia Reporter and the Washington
Post reported that Singlaub had recruited 37 mercenaries from around the world
to train Philippine soldiers in counterinsurgency tactics. Singlaub denies
this. (51) A Senate Committee headed by Frank Church commented on Singlaub's
activities in the Philippines, calling it "sheep-dipping," i. e."the process by which military men are given civilian documentation,
ostensibly resign from the service and are employed overseas as civilians
primarily for the CIA."(62)
Taiwan: Taiwan, home of the China Lobby and
founder of WACL, is still run by the Kuomintang (KMT). (1,11,45) The Taiwanese
government is no longer recognized as the government of China and has diplomatic
legitimacy in few countries. As a result, some observers feel that Taiwan
uses WACL as its main political conduit for its anticommunist political policies.
(11) It is through WACL that the KMT offers training in unconventional warfare,
interrogation and counterterror tactics at their Political Warfare Cadres
Academy. The KMT philosophy, carried out in the academy training, is to create
a politicized military whose first loyalty is to the party, then to the military,
and finally to the nation. Through the academy, both Taiwan and WACL have
established a military and political network in Latin America. (11)
According to the authors of Inside the League,
Taiwanese students in the U.S. are watched by KMT agents who fill out monthly
reports about the total number of students suspected of being "communist."(11)
United States: The first WACL chapter in the
U.S. was the American Council for World Freedom (ACWF) founded in 1970 by
Lee Edwards. Edwards was the former director of Young Americans for Freedom,
the youth arm of the John Birch Society. (11) John Fisher of the American
Security Council served as ACWF's first chairman. The American Security Council
is a virulently anticommunist group that originally focused on internal security.
It currently heads up the rightwing lobby group the Coalition for Peace Through
Strength, which includes among its members a number of members of Congress.
(61) In 1973, the ACWF, at the urging of board member Stefan Possony, complained
to WACL about the fascist members from Latin America. The report was discredited,
but in 1975, ACWF left WACL and its members drifted off to other groups in
the New Right. (11)
The second U.S. chapter of WACL (1975-1980),
the Council on American Affairs, was headed by noted racialist Roger Pearson.
During this period Pearson had strong links to the American Security Council.
(61)
In 1980 John Singlaub went to Australia to
speak to the Asian branch of WACL. (46) Shortly thereafter he was approached
to begin a new U.S. chapter of the organization. The U.S. Council for World
Freedom (USCWF) was started by the retired General in 1981 with a loan from
WACL in Taiwan and local funding from beer magnate, Joseph Coors. (28,35)
USCWF has been the most active chapter of WACL of this decade, with the action
picking up tremendously in 1984 with the cessation of offficial U.S. government
funding to the contras. Singlaub was selected by the White House in 1984 to
be the chief private fundraiser for the contras. The key private funders were
to be wealthy business people, Taiwan, South Korea, and "an anti-communist
organization with close ties to those governments."(9) Other major contributions
came from Guatemala and Argentina, countries where Singlaub had strong WACL
connections. In his position as chief private fundraiser for the contras Singlaub
reported directly to Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council.
(59) It is highly likely that Singlaub's USCWF/WACL high-profile,"private"
contra fundraising may have served as a cover for North's illegal government-sponsored
supply network.
In his deposition at the Iran-Contra hearings,
Singlaub's claims that he raised $10 million in contra aid were questioned.
In 1985, for example, when claims of millions of dollars in aid raised from
private sources were reported frequently by the media, the USWCF financial
statement reported income of $280,798. (46) In the previous year, reported
income was just over $41,000. (47) Singlaub responded that a good deal of
the aid was "in-kind" and that the dollar values were somewhat uncertain.
He also claimed that his statements had been exaggerated by the press. (46)
What Singlaub has done as a private citizen
and what he has done in the name of USCWF and WACL is unclear. However, WACL
paid for the services of the public relations firm of Carter Clews Communications
to improve Singlaub's public image in order to enhance his fundraising efforts.
(46)
The USCWF and Soldier of Fortune established
a private training academy for Salvadoran police forces and Nicaraguan contras.
Located in Boulder, Colorado, the Institute for Regional and International
Studies was headed by Alexander McColl, the military affairs editor of Soldier
of Fortune Magazine. (11) Robert Brown of Soldier of Fortune invested $500,000
in Freedom Marine. In December 1985 Freedom Marine sold three "stealth
boats" to USCWF for $125,000. The hulls of the boats had been reinforced
for machine gun mounts. In Honduras the coastal resupply system for rebels
inside Nicaragua utilized three "stealth boats."(7) Bruce Jones,
former CIA liaison to the contras in Costa Rica, worked for USCWF in Tucson.
(11)
In 1987, USCWF lost its tax-exempt status
because of complaints about the group's support of the Nicaraguan contras
and is reported to be short of money. (38,50) USCWF apparently moved its offices
from Phoenix to Alexandria, Virginia in 1988. Singlaub was indicted in 1986
and 1988 over USCWF activities in support of the contras. (56,57) Because
of these costly legal problems USCWF has been politically inactive and NARWACL
did not hold its annual meeting in 1988-1989. (55)
David Finzer and Rafael Flores founded the
World Youth Freedom League (WYFL), the youth branch of WACL in 1985. Flores,
worked for contra fundraiser, Carl (Spitz) Channell, also indicted in the
Iran-contra case. Finzer and Flores worked together at the International Youth
Year Commission, a group linked to Oliver North's contra supply network. (44)
In April 1989 the ABN held a policy seminar
at the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC. The conference was attended by
100 representives from the subjugated nations and Rep. Bill Young from the
U.S. Congress was the main speaker. (55)
Government
Connections:
The following is a brief summary of the military
and intelligence activities of Major General John K. Singlaub (USA - ret.
). Singlaub was an officer in the Office of Strategic Services (predecessor
to the CIA) during World War II. He served on the China desk of the CIA in
1948 and 1949 and became deputy chief of the CIA in Seoul during the Korean
War. (30) He served for two years in Vietnam during the 1960s. There he was
commander of the Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force (MACVSOG), the outfit
that ran Operation Phoenix, infamous for its assassinations and counterterror
tactics, and responsible for the deaths of thousands of Vietnamese civilians.
Singlaub denies participation in Operation Phoenix. (11) As chief of staff
of the United Nations Command in South Korea in 1978, he publicly condemned
the decision of President Jimmy Carter to reduce the number of U.S. troops
in Korea. He was then forced to retire. (11) Singlaub served as honorary chairman
of Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign in Colorado. (30) In 1984, Under
Secretary of Defense Fred Ikle appointed Singlaub to head a committee studying
U.S. responses to the insurgency in El Salvador. (28)
When questioned on the CBS Television show
"60 Minutes" about his connections with contra funding Singlaub
was asked by Mike Wallace,"Let me put a thesis to you, General Singlaub.
Private citizen Jack Singlaub has become Ronald Reagan's secret weapon to
sidestep a Congress that will not permit him to act in the areas where he
believes that our security interests are at stake. True?" Singlaub's
response: "True."(52)
Lieutenant General Daniel O. Graham, former
director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, is on the board of USCWF.
Graham is the head of High Frontiers, an organization promoting the Strategic
Defense Initiative (SDI). He is also on the board of the Council for National
Policy and has been an important figure in CAUSA, the major political arm
of the Unification Church. (11,39,43) Graham, Singlaub, Walter Judd, and John
LeBoutillier are members of the American Freedom Coalition, an organization
which is the result of a merger of a rightwing Christian lobby organization
and an offshoot of the Unification Church. (13,14)
John Carbaugh, chief aide to Jesse Helms,
attended WACL conventions in 1980 and 1984. Upon receiving a memo from Carbaugh,
Helms assisted in the creation of the Conservative Caucus, headed by Howard
Phillips, who was working in Helm's office at the time. (12) Margo Carlisle,
aide to Sen. James McClure (R-ID), also attended the 1980 convention. (11)
Carlisle was on the 1982-1983 board of governors of the Council for National
Policy, listed there as the executive director of the Senate Republican Conference.
(39) Rep. Tom Loeffler (R-TX) spoke at the WACL convention in 1985. (19) Other
congresspeople who have participated in WACL events include: Rep. Robert Dornan
(RCA), Sen. Jake Garn (R-UT), Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), Sen. James McClure
(R-ID), Sen. Steven D. Symms (R-ID), Sen. Stromm Thurman (R-SC), Rep. Duncan
Hunter (R-CA), and Rep. Walter Judd (RMN). (11)
Roger Pearson, WACL chairman from 1978 to
1980, was oustedfrom WACL in 1980 for Nazi affiliations and attempting to
expel more "moderate" WACL groups in Europe. (30) The same Roger
Pearson received a letter of commendation from President Ronald Reagan in
April 1982 for an article he wrote. The AntiDefamation League protested to
the president about support of a man known to be a promoter of neo-Nazi, anti-semitic
and racist ideology but received no response. In 1986, Pearson was head of
the Council of American Affairs in Washington DC (11,23)
Lev Dobriansky, a former OSS officer in Germany
in World War II, was chairman of the National Captive Nations Committee and
on the U.S. WACL board in the 1970s. (11) He was appointed U.S. ambassador
to the Bahamas by President Ronald Reagan. (11,30) Dobriansky's daughter Paula
was on the National Security Council during the Reagan administration. (61)
Lewis Tambs, the ambassador to Costa Rica
until 1986, was a WACL member as was Alberto Piedra, appointed by Reagan as
ambassador to Guatemala. (38,40)
The Washington Post in December of 1984 reported
Singlaub saying that,"he and others have sent millions of dollars in
uniforms, food, medicine and other aid to contras or their families and to
refugees in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala." He went on to say,"the Defense Department has helped to coordinate the private aid."(11)
In an Oct 1986 interview on "60 Minutes," Singlaub acknowledged
that he and Col. Oliver North worked together to establish the Nicaraguan
contra supply network. (52)
Representative Gerald B. Solomon was a keynote
speaker at the 1989 WACL conference in Brisbane. The message he carried was
that we must not let our guard down in the fight against communism. It is
up to "us" to "finish the job and liberate this world from
the blight of communism!" Solomon also delivered a personal message from
President George Bush. (55)
Private Connections:
John Singlaub is founder and chairman of
the U.S. Council for World Freedom. He also has served on the boards of the
Council for National Policy; Refugee Relief Intl, a subsidiary of Soldier
of Fortune; Western Goals, a group involved in surveillance of the U.S. left;
Committee for a Free Afghanistan, a right-wing group supporting the mujahedeen
rebels; and, Western Goals in the United Kingdom, a group set up with the
specific task of undermining the radical left in that country. (9,11,37).
Singlaub also has served as Educational Field Director and Private Sector
Co-Chairman of the American Security Council, a promilitary lobby, and as
an adviser to the Council for Inter-American Security, a rightwing research
and policymaking institute. (11,21) Singlaub served on the American Security
Council's Task Force on Central America, a group which included Daniel O.
Graham, Alexander Haig, Admiral Thomas Moorer and a number of congressmen.
(61) USCWF is a member of the Coalition for Peace Through Strength, the anti-Soviet
lobbying coalition of the American Security Council, which in 1987 had a group
membership of 170 rightwing activist organizations. (21) In 1985 Singlaub
served on the advisory board of Skyhook II Project, a group headed by John
LeBoutillier that raised funds to release U.S. prisoners of war believed
still to be held captive by the communist forces in Southeast Asia. General
Daniel Graham also served on the advisory board. (64)
Martin Lasater, a leader of Elizabeth Claire
Prophet's Church Universal and Triumphant, was sent by the church to Taiwan
where he became the editor of the Asia Bulletin, a publication of the Asian
branch of WACL. In 1985 Lasater became the director of Asian Studies at the
Heritage Fdn. (21)
The chairman of the Committee for a Free Afghanistan,
Major General J. Milnor Roberts has been on the board of USCWF. (21) Roberts
attended WACL conferences in 1980, 1983, and 1984. He has been a professor
at Georgetown University when it was associated with the Center for Strategic
and International Studies. (11) Ray Cline, on the USCWF board, has had a close
association with WACL since he was stationed in Taiwan from 1958 to 1962 as
CIA station chief. He was a deputy director of the CIA from 1964 to 1967.
(11)
Roger Fontaine of the USCWF board is a reporter
for The Washington Times and has served as the director of Latin American
studies at the Center for Strategic and Intl Studies. (11) Wealthy Texas oilman
Bert Hurlbut is on the USCWF board and in 1986 was an official of the National
Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC). (11) Stefan Possony, whose
research was responsible for the ouster of CAL, quit WACL in 1975, but rejoined
in 1980. Possony is a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford
University and board member of the American Security Council. (45) In 1986,
David Keene of the USCWF board was president of the World Youth Crusade for
Freedom and chairman of the John Birch Society's Young Americans for Freedom.
(11)
The group Civilian Material Assistance (formerly
Civilian Military Assistance, CMA) headed by Tom Posey, is a member of WACL.
CMA provided security at the 1985 WACL convention. (9) Posey until recently
faced trial in Florida for violating the Neutrality Act for allegedly organizing
and funding mercenary missions into Nicaragua. (42) WACL reportedly has given
financial support to Friends of the Americas, a rightwing humanitarian aid
organization which has supported the contras. (36)
The American Security Council is a member
of the Coalition for World Freedom, an arm of the USCWF. (61)
Roger Pearson moved to the U.S. in 1975 and
founded the Council on American Affairs. The Council shortly began to sponsor
seminars and publish monographs with Edwin Fuelner, president of the Heritage
Foundation and Ray Cline. The Council on American Affairs served as the U.S. chapter of WACL from 1975 to 1980. (61)
Howard Phillips of the USCWF board is chairman
of the Conservative Caucus and on the board of the Council for National Policy.
(40) Andy Messing, former chair of the Conservative Caucus, is on the USWCF
board, on the board of the Council for National Policy and was the head of
the National Defense Council Foundation. (11) J. A. (Jay) Parker, president
of the Lincoln Institute for Research and Education, is on the board of USCWF
and on the advisory council of the American Freedom Coalition. (48,49) He
was a speaker at the 1983 CAUSA conference in Honduras. (11) David Finzer
is co-founder of the World Youth Freedom League, the youth branch of WACL.
(41) Finzer heads the Washington-based Conservative Action Foundation, a group
which has supported the Mozambique National Resistance (MNR or RENAMO). The
World Youth Freedom League reportedly received funding from WACL in South
Korea. Finzer also served on the board of the International Youth Year Commission,
an entity implicated in diversion of funds to the contras in the IranContra
scandal. (44) Finzer coordinated the Ban the Soviets Coalition office in Washington
DC. Ban the Soviets was a coalition of rightwing groups--including Cuban exile
groups Alpha 66 and Cuba Independiente Democratica, the contra Nicaraguan
Democratic Force, the Conservative Caucus, Friends of Freedom Foundation,
American Freedom League, the Unification Church's Collegiate Association for
Research of Principles, and Richard Viguerie Communications--that worked to
ban the Soviets from the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. (60)
WACL was a member organization of RAMBO (Restore
a More Benevolent Order) coalition. (16) Through RAMBO, WACL was linked to
Young Americans for Freedom, College Republicans, Students for America, Freedom's
Friends, The Conservative Caucus, Alpha 66, American Coalition for Traditional
Values, Alive and Free, Natl Young Vietnamese for Freedom, and Nemesis. (16)
Heritage Foundation, the conservative think
tank, appears to be home base for the ABN in the United States. The Heritage
Foundation hosted ABN conferences in April and May 1989. (55,58)
Misc:
Former President Ronald Reagan's message
to the 1985 WACL convention in Dallas was,"I commend you all for your
part in this nobel cause. Our combined efforts are moving the tide of history
toward world freedom. We must persevere and never falter. I send you all who
help in your crusade for liberty my best wishes. God bless you."(30)
President George Bush sent a message of support
to the 1989 WACL conference held in Brisbane, Australia. (55)
Sayid Khybar, author of "The Afghan Contra
Lobby," considers WACL a major factor
in the preservation and power of the political rightwing. He wrote in 1988
that .".. it (WACL) is a coalition of three principal groups: Asian
gangsters backed up by the remnants of the Japanese arm of the Axis and the
Korean Central Intelligance Agency, former West German Nazis and their former
East European collaborators, and elements from the Western intelligence community
who were anxious to reorganize the fanatical refuse salvaged from the Hitler
coalition for a new anti-Communist crusade."(21)
Comments:
WACL is an international, anticommunist,
mercenary group available to rightwing governments around the world to assist
in carrying out "extra-legal" activities. Since its inception it
has been closely linked to the governments of South Korea and Taiwan. Fred
Clarkson contends that "the Moon organization is an integral part of
WACL, which in turn has played a pivotal role in the development and activities
of the Unification Church."(41) Jonathan Marshall, Peter Dale Scott,
and Jane Hunter in their book The Iran-Contra Connection state that WACL has
played a role in the drug-funded secret war of the CIA which began in the
1950s in the Far East, was active in Vietnam and now in Latin America."A
leading institution in this historic continuity has been the drug-linked WACL,
which between 1984 and 1986 was the principal publicly identified source of
funding for the contras."(59)
To quote from Inside the League,"As
long as it serves such important purposes for so many notorious groups around
the world, and as long as there are men and women who will wail about the
influx of 'criminal elements' but turn around and quietly work with those
elements, there will be a World AntiCommunist League.
"The League is not a 'paper tiger. '
"It is a well-funded, six-continent federation
of men and women who have given up on
democracy, or who never believed in it in the first place, and who are now
fighting their enemies on their own terms."(11)
U.S. Address: 108-A South Columbus Street,
Barrister Square, Alexandria, VA 22314
Principals:
WACL council chairman in 1989 was Genevieve
Aubry. (55) Dr. Ku Cheng-Kang was honorary chairman and Hon. Sen. Jose Desmarets
was council chairman in 1987. Prof. Dr. Woo, JaeSeung of Korea is or was secretary-general
in 1987. (54) Major General John Singlaub, was chair until mid-1986. (18)
Osami Kuboki, head of the Unification Church in Japan and co-founder and chair
of Shokyo Rengo, the Japanese branch of WACL and has been an executive board
member for many years. (41,21) Dr. Yaroslav Stetsko, executive board member,
is a former Nazi collaborator from the Ukraine; Dr. Manuel Frutos, executive
board member from Paraguay; Sheik Ahmed Salah Jamjoon of Saudi Arabia, a member
of the royal family representing the Middle Eastern Solidarity Council on
the executive board; and Patrick Walsh of Canada, executive board member.
(11)
In 1989 heads of the regional organizations
were: Dr. Robert N. Thompson, NARWACL; Dr. Han, Lih-wu, APACL; Cdt. Georges
A. Rombouts, ECWF; and Mme. Slave Stetsko, ABN. Sergio Tapia is vice president
of FEDAL. (The acronyms are defined later in the text. )(55)
The World Anti-Communist League (WACL) does
not print annual reports or publish other documents available to the public
giving details about the organization and its membership. However, WACL does
hold elaborate, by-invitation-only annual meetings at which the purpose of
the organization is reconfirmed and long- and short-term planning is conducted.
It is presumed, therefore, that those who attend the annual meetings play
a principal role in setting the goals and planning the operations of WACL.
Throughout this report the past tense will be used when referring to WACL
memberships, but many of these people are still presumed to be active in the
group.
A number of significant people have attended
WACL annual conferences from Latin America. These include Carlos Barbieri
Filho of Brazil, reportedly an agent of the Taiwanese government and head
of the Federacion de Entidades Democraticas de America Latina (FEDAL). (37)
Mario Sandoval Alarcon (the "Godfather") of the National Liberation
Movement (MLN) of Guatemala; Adolfo Calero of Nicaragua, a leader in the Nicaraguan
Democratic Front (FDN) contra forces; Roberto D'Aubuission of El Salvador,
founder of the rightwing ARENA party and founder of the Salvadoran death squads;
Benito Guanes, former chief of Paraguayan military intelligence; and Raimundo
Guerrero of
Mexico, professor at the Autonomous University
of Guadalajara and principal leader of the Tecos were other attendees. (11)
From the South African WACL chapter, Ivor
Benson, known for his racist and anti-semitic books, has attended. (37)
The "former ruling class" has been
represented by Anastasio Somoza, former ruler of Nicaragua;(37) former president
of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos;(36) and former president of South Vietnam
Nguyen Van Thieu. (36)
European WACL chapters have included these
participants at conferences: St. C de Berkelaar of the Netherlands, former
SS officer and president of Sint Martinsfonds, an organization of hundreds
of former Dutch SS officers;(11) Alfred Gielen from Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry
who represented West Germany until the mid-1980s;(21) and Giorgio Almirante
of Italy, an official in the Benito Mussolini government. (9)
The U.S. WACL delegation has included many
people from anti-Soviet (often pro-fascist) groups from eastern Europe. Among
them have been Dr. Anton Bonifacic of Croatia, wanted in Yugoslavia for war
crimes, and a member of the American chapter of the Croatian Liberation Movement,
and John Kosiak of Byelorussia, wanted in the U.S. S. R. for war crimes.
Kosiak is now in the U.S. and is chairman of the Byelorussian Liberation
Front. (11) Others from the U.S. delegation were Anthony Bouscaren, William
Starr, Lee Edwards, and Roger Peterson. Bouscaren, a professor at Le Moyne
University has served on the board of the U.S. Council for World Freedom
(USCWF). (9) William Starr of Tucson, AZ represented CAUSA, the political
arm of the Unification Church. (9) Lee Edwards, founder of the first U.S.
chapter of WACL, acted as a registered foreign agent for WACL until 1982.
(11) An anthropologist and author of racial supremacy books, Roger Pearson
was chairman of WACL from 1978 to 1980. (23)
Yaroslav Stetsko, chairman of the Anti-Bolshevic
Bloc of Nations (ABN), attended many WACL conferences. Stetsko was a Nazi
collaborator and briefly was the self-declared leader of the Ukraine. (11)
The Canadian WACL was represented at the conference
by Patrick Walsh of the executive board and by Chirila Ciuntu, who remains
a member of the Rumanian Iron Guard, a group notorious for its pogroms against
the Jews. Ciuntu is active in WACL in Canada. (11)
The Asian WACL chapters have sent numerous
representatives to the WACL conferences. From Japan came Ryiochi Sasakawa,
a member of the Diet in World War II who was classified as a war criminal
by the U.S. and served two years in prison. Takeshi Furuta, a representative
of the Intl Federation for Victory Over Communism, the original political
organization of the Unification Church is another major Japanese WACL supporter.
(11)
South Korean representatives have included
Colonel Lee Byung Hee, member of the KCIA and minister-without-portfolio for
President Park and General Lee Yung-Joon. The latter was a member of the Japanese
army in World War II, Korean army chief of staff in 1949, minister of communications
in 1955, and in 1986 was an adviser to the Assoc of Veterans and a member
of the State Affairs Advisory Council of South Korea. General Honkon Lee,
in 1986 a member of the State Affairs Advisory Council, a former army chief
of staff and former ambassador to the Philippines and Great Britain, has also
participated in WACL conferences. Colonel Shin Chan, also a participant in
WACL conferences, was a spokesman for the ministry of national defense in
1975, executive director of the Association for Promotion of War Industry
in 1979, and the director of the KCIA in 1981. Another Korean participant
was General Yoo Hanksoung, director of the KCIA in 1980. (11)
Edward Entero Chey of Cambodia, attended a
WACL conference as a representative of Son Sann, a rebel organization fighting
against the Cambodian government. Chey's expenses were paid by the government
of Taiwan. (9)
Dr. Ku Cheng-kang of Taiwan is the honorary
life chairman of WACL and was a high-level leader of the Nationalist Party
when the group began in Taiwan. In 1986, he served as senior policy adviser
to the president and was the president of the Republic of China's National
Assembly. (11,28)
Sources:
1. Craig Pyes,"Private General,"
New Republic, Sept 30, 1985.
2."Rebel Groups May Have Broken I. R.
S. Pledge," New York Times, Aug 27, 1985.
3. Moore, The Nation, Nov 2, 1985.
4. Peter Stone,"Contras' of the World
Unite," Sunday Times-Times of London, Sept 15, 1985.
5. Fred Clarkson,"These 'Freedom Fighters'
Act A Lot Like Fascists," Guardian, Oct 2, 1985.
6. Washington Post, Oct 19, 1986.
7. Frank Greve and Steven Stecklow,"Civilian
Says He Helped CIA Ship Arms To Contras," Miami Herald, Feb 5, 1987.
8. Robert Parry and Brian Barger,"Reagan's
Shadow CIA," New Republic, Nov 24, 1986.
9. Fred Clarkson,"Behind the Supply
Lines," Covert Action Information Bulletin, Winter, 1986.
10. Charles Babcock,"Dallas Hosts Anti-Communist
League," Washington Post, Oct 1, 1985.
11. Scott Anderson and Jon Lee Anderson, Inside
the League: The Shocking Expose of How Terrorists, Nazis, and Latin American
Death Squads Have Infiltrated The World Anti-Communist League (New York, NY:
Dodd, Mead & Co, 1986).
12. Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, Holy Terror:
The Fundamentalist War on America's Freedoms in Religion, Politics and Our
Private Lives (New York, NY: Delta, 1984).
13. American Freedom Coalition letterhead,
undated but circa Fall 1987 and conversation with natl AFC office, Sep 9,
1987.
14. Wes McCune, Group Research Inc, Sep 9,
1988.
15. Washington Post, Apr 9, 1987.
16. Sara Diamond,"Shepherding,"
Covert Action Information Bulletin, Spring 1987.
17. Shirley Christian, New York Times, Sep
15, 1985.
18. Encyclopedia of International Organizations,
1989.
19."Loeffler's High Honor," Texas
Observer, Mar 4, 1985.
20. Peter Dale Scott, Pacific News Service,
Oct 21, 1986.
21. Sayid Khybar,"The Afghan Contra
Lobby," (unpublished paper), Mar 1988.
22. Washington Post, Apr 13, 1988.
23. Joe Conason, Village Voice, May 7, 1985.
24. Jack Anderson,"Death Squads Have
Permeated Latin America," Washington Post, Jan 13, 1984.
25. Jack Anderson,"Latin Terrorists'
Leader Retains Support of CIA," Washington Post, Jan 30, 1984.
26. Jack Anderson,"Nazis' Concepts Survive
Among Latin Rightists," Washington Post, Feb 9, 1984.
27. Jack Anderson,"Mexican Group Said
to Promote Neo-Nazi Cause," Washington Post, Sep 11, 1984.
28. Craig Pyes, The Nation, Sep 1985.
29. Paul Valentine,"The Fascist Specter
Behind The World Anti-Red League," Washington Post, May 28, 1974.
30. Joe Conason and Murray Waas, Village Voice,
Oct 22, 1985.
31."Rightists: Anti-Communist League
Is Prospering," Los Angeles Times, Sep 16, 1985.
32. Philippine Witness, No. 11, Jan-Feb 1987.
33. Fred Clarkson,"Behind the Times:
Who Pulls the Strings at Washington's #2 Daily?" Extra!, Sep 1987.
34. Michael Bedford, Peacework, Oct 1987.
35. Peter Stone,"Private Groups Step
Up Aid," Washington Post, May 3, 1985.
36. Jon Steinberg,"Discovering Right
Is Wrong," Links, NCAHRN, 1987.
37. Derrick Knight,"Profile of Western
Goals--UK ," British Council of Churches, Christian Aid, Nov 1988.
38. Howard Goldenthal, Glenda Hersh and Nick
Filmore,"Right Winging It," This Magazine, Vol 22, No 3, June-July,
1988.
39. Listing of officers and board of the Council
for National Policy, 1982-1983.
40. Conversation with Albuquerque Public Library,
July 13, 1989.
41. Fred Clarkson,"God Is Phasing Out
Democracy," Covert Action Information Bulletin, #27, Spring 1987.
42."Group Sending Supplies to Contras
Got Tax-Exempt Status," Albuquerque Journal, July 16, 1989.
43. In These Times, Apr 8-14, 1987.
44. Jack Anderson and Joseph Spear,"North
Linked to '85 Youth Conference," Washington Post, Apr 9, 1987.
45. Thomas Bodenheimer and Richard Gould,
Rollback: Right-wing Power in U.S. Foreign Policy (Boston, MA: South End
Press, 1989).
46. Report of the Congressional Committees
Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix B, Vol 25, 1988.
47. USCWF, Internal Revenue Service 990 form,
1984.
48. U.S. Council for World Freedom, Board
of Directors, undated, received Feb 1987.
49. Phone conversation with national office
of the American Freedom Coalition, Sep 9, 1988.
50. Don Devereux,"U.S. Considers Nicaraguan
Canal," Scottsdale Progress, Feb 29, 1988.
51. Doug Cunningham,"Singlaubs Recruits
His Own Army in the Philippines," The National Reporter, Spring 1987.
52. Copy of "60 Minutes," CBS Television,
Oct 5, 1986.
53. Revised Charter of the World Anti-Communist
League, 1987.
54."Freedom for All Mankind, WACL brochure,
undated, received in 1989.
55. Freedom Digest, Vol 23, No. 3, WACL, September
1989.
56. Don Devereux, Scottsdale Progress, Mar
25, 1988.
57."Beltway Bandits," The Nation,
Jan 16, 1988.
58. Freedom Digest, Vol. 23, No. 2, WACL,
June 1989.
59. Jonathan Marshall, Peter Dale Scott, Jane
Hunter, The IranContra Connection: Secret Teams and Covert Operations in the
Reagan Era (Boston, MA: South End Press, 1987).
60. Sara Diamond, Spiritual Warfare: the Politics
of the Christian Right (Boston, MA: South End Press, 1989).
61. Russ Bellant, Old Nazis, The New Right
and the Reagan Administration: The Role of Domestic Fascist Networks in the
Republican Party and Their Effect on U.S. Cold War Politics (Boston MA: Political
Research Associates, 1989).
62."Vigilante Terror," The National
Reporter, Fall 1987.
63. The Texas Observer, March 7, 1986.
64. Listing of the board of directors of Skyhook
II Project, undated.
The underlying cites for this profile are
now kept at Political Research Associates, (617) 666-5300. www.irc-online.org.
