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SEMPER FIDELIS (THE STORY OF COLONEL JAMES E. SABOW) |
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by David Hoffman
hafreepr@vel.net 323-462-2407
On January 14, 1991, Colonel James E.
Sabow, 51, was named Acting Chief of Staff of Marine Corps Air
Operations for the Western United States. Eight days later he was found
at his home at El Toro Air Station, killed by a shotgun blast to the
head.
Like Admiral Boorda, he left behind a
wife and two children.
And, as in the case of Admiral Boorda,
the Marine Corps and the NCIS claimed that Colonel Sabow took his life
because he was despondent over an investigation of a minor infraction:
whether he took some stereo equipment and household items to his son
while making a routine flight onboard a military plane.[*]
Yet Sabow suspected that there was more
than just the alleged misuse of aircraft. He and his friends in the
Corps found it rather absurd that Marine Headquarters would consider the
matter of such importance that they would jeopardize the operations of
this strategic base during “Operation Desert Shield.” At least some of
the allegations levied against Sabow (and his neighbor, Colonel Joseph
Underwood, Chief of Staff at El Toro at the time) were of a type that
were considered trivial and “common practice” among the military flying
community. In fact, retired Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps
Major General J.K. Davis said that any pilot who had ever flown in the
military would be “canned” had they been held to the same standards as
the allegations against Colonel Sabow.[*]
General David Shuter gave a glowing
eulogy of Colonel Sabow, in which he described him as a man “without
compromise,” one of the few who could give himself fully to the Corps
and country and simultaneously to his family. He also described Sabow by
all those in the Corps who knew him as the “straightest of straight
arrows.”[1]
Sabow’s family asserts that “Jimmy” Sabow
- a dedicated, discipline Marine and family man - would not kill
himself. “He was a fighter, and I don’t see how he could just change
like that,” said his 17-year-old daughter, Deirdre.
Sabow’s attorney, Captain Paul McBride,
wrote that “Colonel Sabow was in a state of high anxiety; however he
never displayed hysteria or irrational behavior.”[*]
Sabow’s brother, David, a South Dakota
neurosurgeon, didn’t buy the suicide story. If the Colonel killed
himself, his brother wanted to know, why did X-rays show a swollen area
on his head, a possible sign that he had been struck?[2*]
As Dr. David Rubinstein, a radiologist from Denver’s University Hospital
writes:
“The depressed skull fracture... is not
likely to have resulted from the shotgun blast. What caused the
depressed fracture is open to speculation. It is unlikely to have
occurred if the patient fell backwards and struck the ground.”[3]
Since the shotgun blast severed Colonel
Sabow’s brain stem - which Dr. Sabow and other forensic pathologists say
would have ended breathing instantly - why was there a large amount of
blood in his lungs?[4]
And if Sabow put the shotgun in his mouth
and pulled the trigger, why, as in the case of Vince Foster, was there
no blood on the gun? As Martin L. Fackler, a world renowned wound
ballistics expert, writes:
“The position of the shotgun (under his
body) and the lack of gross blood on the front of the white garments
that Col. Sabow was wearing at the time of his death make suicide
appear, to me, unlikely....”[5]
Since none of Sabow’s fingerprints were
found on the gun or the shell casings, his wife and brother became
highly suspicious.[6*]
As Fackler adds:
“One of the reasons given, however, for
the lack of fingerprints - that the barrel gets so hot that any
fingerprints on it would be burned off - is simply absurd. This is
within my area of expertise: I have handled many shotguns immediately
after they have been fired - the barrels are not even hot to the touch.”[7*]
According to standard police procedure,
all shootings are supposed to be treated as “suspicious” until proven
otherwise. Yet before the autopsy report was even complete, the Provost
Marshal and the NCIS ruled that Colonel Sabow had committed suicide.
This ruling was made within minutes, even before forensic evidence or
ballistic reports were available![*]
Contrary to policy, the Orange County
Coroner was summoned to participate in the investigation and to conduct
the autopsy.[8*] By law, either a Navy
pathologist or his representative must be present, and the autopsy
results would have to have been reviewed by the Armed Forces Institute
of Pathology (AFIP). Yet neither the AFIP nor the regional
military forensic pathologist were invited to participate in the
examination nor review the autopsy report.[*]
“All of these laws were broken,” says Dr.
Sabow. “Not one of these procedures were followed.... The NCIS
and the Marine Corps refused to give me certain information that
obviously I should have been privy to: the autopsy report, the NCIS’s
preliminary findings, fingerprint evidence, ballistic evidence, etc.,
etc.... I was stonewalled and told I could not have the autopsy report.
That generated even more suspicion....”[9]
Sabow subsequently sought the help of his
government - a government he believed existed to “serve and protect” the
rights of its citizens.
“I tried to obtain the help of the
military, the Marines, the NCIS, the FBI, Justice Department, my
Senators, Congressmen, you name it,” says Sabow, “and I was totally shut
down....”[10*]
Within 12 hours of granting an interview
with the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Sabow was called by General Tom
Adams, the commander of El Torro.
“Adams had been informed by NCIS agent
Cheryl Baldwin through her supervisor, Mike Barrett, that I intended to
go to the LA Times because I was not satisfied with the conduct
of the investigation.”
As a condition of the meeting, Sabow
asked that Colonel William Lucas, the Staff Judge Advocate, General
David Shuter and General J.K. Davis, retired Assistant Commandant of the
Marine Corps be present. Adams agreed.
Yet when Sabow got to the meeting, Lucas
was nowhere to be found.
“I was disturbed by his absence, for I
believed that he had the most critical information that I needed at this
point in my search,” says Sabow. “He was privy to the events leading up
to the dismissal of Colonel Sabow, and surely he would have access to
the autopsy report and other essential documents that I was being
denied.”
Instead, Lucas was replaced with Colonel
Wayne Rich.
“At that time, I had no knowledge of
Rich’s importance in relation to his presence at this meeting,” says
Sabow. “Later I learned that he was the Assistant Attorney General of
the U.S. ‘in charge of training.’ In fact, he never did any training,
but rather was brought into the Attorney General’s office in the late
80’s for ‘damage control’ in such matters as ‘Iran-Contra’ and the
‘Inslaw affair.’
“It was obvious at that meeting that
these people were lying - from beginning to end. They said at the
meeting again, that the autopsy material wasn’t available, fingerprint
material wasn’t available, etc., etc.....
“Then I realized they were trying to
intimidate me. They were accusing my brother of horrible
activities. They thought they would deter me from going ahead with the
interview, for if I did then they would tell what a horrible person
Colonel Sabow was - what he crook he was, and a felon.”
Dr. Sabow and the Colonel’s grieving
widow, Sally, said they were threatened and yelled at during the
meeting.
“The abuse we sustained during that
meeting was horrible,” says Sabow. “At one point, Adams leaned in front
of me, pointed at Mrs. Sabow, then screamed at her to stop any contact
with his ex-wife. Adams then warned Sally to stop spreading a rumor that
he had some involvement in Jimmy’s death. In fact, at that point, Sally
had not given this even the slightest consideration!”
It was only then that Sabow realized he
being played for a pawn in a complex web of conspiracy and intrigue.
“It became obvious to me that these two
had conspired to concoct a scenario of lies that would paint the dead
Colonel with a brush of disgrace,” says Sabow. “They hoped this would
shame the Colonel’s widow and me into silence. I didn’t buy their act.”
After Sabow threatened to go public,
Adams drafted a letter to the South Dakota medical authorities, “making
the strongest complaint that could be mustered against Dr. Sabow,” and
threatened to send it unless Sabow “ceased all questioning of the
investigation,” according to civil suit documents.[11*]
The Murder
Slightly over two months after Dr.
Sabow’s traumatic meeting at El Toro, he received a mysterious package
containing some very disturbing documents.
“I received a package from what I call a
‘deep-throat’ source,” says Sabow, “and that package had hand-written
notes from an individual who subsequently proved to be Colonel Wayne
Rich, who really chaired the meeting.”
The notes were written during a
conversation with Colonel George Lang III, Deputy Staff Judge Advocate
in Washington, stating their intention to convince Dr. Sabow that his
brother’s death was a suicide. The call was made on March 8, l99l, the
day before Sabow was to meet with General Adams.
“It’s things like this,” says Sabow, “in
his own handwriting now: ‘Dr. Sabow is planning on giving an interview
with the LA Times. We are about to try to convince Sabow’s
brother that his brother was a crook & so big a crook....’ Towards the
end it says: ‘script meeting.’”[12*]
The mystery package also contained
requests to the legal department at El Toro to inquire about methods of
having Dr. Sabow’s medical license suspended - a directive from none
other than General Tom Adams.[13]
(See Appendix)
Also included was a copy of responses of
“witnesses” interviewed by the Inspector General (IG), attempting to
depict misconduct by Colonel Sabow. Only the responses were transcribed.
“Not one of the questions that were
supposedly asked in these interviews was included,” claims Sabow. Sabow
also learned that at least one Marine officer interviewed, Major Bob
Friend, when asked to sign the transcript, refused, claiming the
statements did not accurately reflect his responses.
Shortly thereafter, Dr. Sabow received a
phone call from an ex-NCIS agent who offered his help. Fearing that he
might be a plant, Sabow had him checked out. Yet the ex-investigator
would prove to be a highly valuable source of information. He had
learned from a lawyer in the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG)
office that dates on documents written following Colonel Sabow’s death
were altered to show that they were written before his death - an
attempt to bolster the fraudulent allegations against him. The
falsification was ordered by senior officers, but was carried out by
those in the JAG office, all of whom were attorneys.[*]
Yet Dr. Sabow would soon come to learn
that documents and witness statements weren’t the only thing that was
altered. Another of Sabow’s sources - an NCIS agent at the time of the
shooting - had watched a series of bizarre events unfolding at the scene
of the crime. Hidden in a trash cubical behind Colonel Sabow’s backyard,
the agent witnessed everything that would take place at the scene
subsequent to the shooting.
Several minutes after the fatal shot was
fired, the Provost Marshall, Major Goodrow and his deputy, Captain
Fouquer arrived on the scene. Their radio dispatch was intercepted by
Sergeant Randy Robinson, an M.P. patrolling in the vicinity, who arrived
a minute later.
At the same time, the NCIS was notified,
and soon after their entire office showed up, followed by the base
emergency medical technicians.
That, according to Sabow, is where the
situation started getting weird.
“Before they even have the crime scene
secured,” says Sabow, “three men in civilian clothes show up in the
backyard. And they walk up and ask who is in charge of the crime scene.
And an NCIS agent by the name of Cheryl Baldwin, who was assigned as the
case officer, said ‘I am.’ At this point nobody knows who they are,
nobody except Baldwin. And a big argument ensues, and they do something
or show her something that convinces her to get the hell out - clear
everybody out of the entire crime scene. They were not only forced out
of the backyard, they were forced across the street![*]
“And then after everybody was cleared
out, then these three men go back through the house, and proceed to
sanitize the entire backyard.”
According to the hidden NCIS agent, one
of the men walked directly to the common area separating the Sabow and
Underwood homes, stooped down in the relatively lush grass, and picked
up a club - most likely the club that had caused the bruise on Colonel
Sabow’s head.[*] While the others
rearranged the remainder of the crime scene, this man headed directly
for a gate that few knew existed, hidden in the back of Colonel
Underwood’s yard, and disappeared. Once the crime scene had been
sanitized, everyone was allowed back in.
“One of the NCIS agents who witnessed
this, from the short distance in the backyard,” said Sabow, “knew that
something very, very strange - totally unorthodox, was taking place.
Later he wrote the series of events in his official report, and was
ordered to destroy it.”
Sabow would never learn the identity of
the three mystery men. But he would later learn of the presence of a CIT
(Counter-Intelligence Terrorism) team at El Torro that day. The team was
stationed at Camp Pendelton, flown by a regular Marine courier
helicopter and dropped off at a remote area of the El Torro airfield,
directly behind the Sabow house, approximately 300-350 yards away.
Rather than land at the tower, the chopper landed at a point on the
field that was closest to the back of the Sabow and Underwood homes.
“Four civilian-dressed people were
dropped off from the helicopter,” says Sabow. “The helicopter then
immediately took off, went right across the airfield, and landed where
it usually does, at the tower. The pilot got out and told the people in
the tower that he was having some trouble and he was checking himself
out and that’s why he had landed across the field. But he said he wasn’t
sure and he may do the same thing again, and he did.”
The team was dropped off at 8:05 am.
“And at five or ten after 9:00, he landed
there again, and picked up the men. We were told he picked them up from
the records. However, we feel the records are false and he only picked
up only one man,” accounting for the three that remained behind at the
scene of the crime.
Colonel Sabow was killed between 8:00 and
9:00 am.
“The window is very narrow,” says Sabow.
“It’s between 8:32 and 8:58 am. And everybody agrees to that.
As for as the CIT team, “They’re nothing
but professional assassins, trained by and work for the military,” says
Sabow. “They can use any uniform they want. From what I understand from
the experts, they have a team like in two or three places in the
country. There’s only a few of these teams. These are tough, tough
sociopaths. And let’s say they are going to do something domestically,
say on a military base, then they don the appropriate apparel.”
Dr. Sabow believes plan was to kill
Colonel Sabow and his wife.
“The team was in charge of killing the
Colonel and Sally,” said Sabow. “It was supposed to be a
murder/suicide.”
Killing both would make it appear that
the Colonel first murdered his wife and then took his own life. This
would help explain the lack of a suicide note, for it was common
knowledge that the Sabows were very close, and if Sabow would take his
own life, he would surely have said “good-bye” to Sally. Murder,
followed by suicide, solved this problem. But equally important, if
Sabow had confided in Sally concerning the clandestine operations that
led to his murder, her death would ensure the continuing secrecy. Hence,
there were two shells in the chamber of the double barreled shotgun, not
just one!
In a chronology meticulously pieced
together through years of dogged, painstaking investigation, Dr. Sabow
believes the events that unfolded on the morning of his brother’s death
transpired as follows:
“At 8:30 and I mean exactly at
8:30, Colonel Sabow received a phone call, which Sally witnessed. He
said ‘This is Colonel Sabow’ and there was a hesitation, and he said
‘this is Colonel Sabow’... three times, and there was no response.”[*]
Dr. Sabow is convinced the mystery caller
telephoned to determine whether his brother was at home. Yet he believes
either that call or another caused him to go into the backyard. Sabow
thereupon met Underwood who had just passed through the gate. They
started to walk back to Sabow’s house when Underwood asked Sabow where
Sally was. Sabow explained that Sally had just run to Mass but would be
returning immediately thereafter. Underwood realized that a weekday Mass
would indeed last only from 20 to 30 minutes and that she would probably
return between 9:00 and 9:l0 a.m.
The walk continued along the 50 foot
distance from the fence to the door. Suddenly, Underwood dropped a step
behind and hit Sabow in the back of the head, “cold-cocking” him. The
blow fractured the base of Sabow’s skull (although it’s possible that
while Underwood was diverting Sabow’s attention one of the accomplices
delivered the fatal blow).[*]
With Sabow rendered unconscious, one or
perhaps two accomplices rushed through the gate from Underwood’s
backyard to join him, carrying the loaded shotgun which had previously
been removed from the Sabow house (probably by Underwood the previous
weekend). Sabow lay on the ground, already near death, drowning in his
own blood. The gun was then shoved into the dying Colonel’s mouth and
fired.[*]
The assailants then ran into the house to
apprehend Sally, for Underwood still wasn’t sure she was not home since
her car was in the driveway when he called. The killers then waited,
peering out a bedroom window, expecting Sally at any moment. Yet their
plan to kill her was thwarted by the arrival of Lieutenant Colonel Gary
Albin, who was returning some flight manuals to Sabow. Getting no
answer, Albin decided to wait on the porch and try again.
By this time, it was nearly 9:l0 and
Underwood knew Sally would return from church at any moment. If she did,
in all likelihood, she would invite Albin into the house. This would
result in Albin discovering the body with Sally, and it would then be
necessary to kill Albin too. But that would ruin the murder-suicide plan
which was already in place.
Instead the killers ran out the back of
the house and put the shotgun under Colonel Sabow. The accomplices then
exited through a partially hidden gate in the rear of Underwood’s
backyard which led to the airfield, allowing for a quick getaway by
helicopter.
In the meantime Underwood ran through his
kitchen door, picked up a coffee mug and proceeded to walk casually out
his front door to be seen by Albin, hoping to establish an alibi.[14]
Stepping from his porch, coffee cup in
hand, he was noticed by Albin, who asked where Colonel Sabow was.
Underwood casually replied that Sabow was not at home, and was with
Sally at the base exchange.
“Not only should Underwood not have known
the whereabouts of Jimmy,” says Dr. Sabow, “he initially told Albin that
Sabow wasn’t at home, and then only an hour later told the NCIS that he
was on his way to visit him! Furthermore, Underwood never visited Sabow
by the front entrance but always through the gate in the back yard!”
After Sally discovered her husband’s
body, she ran to Underwood’s house in hysterics and screamed “Jimmy is
dead!”[*] Feigning shock, Underwood ran
to the backyard, opened the gate, and without taking another step, came
out, picked up the phone, called General Adams and said, “Jimmy Sabow
shot himself in the mouth.”[15]
Interestingly, Mrs. Sabow only said that
her husband was dead, not that he had shot himself in the mouth, or that
he lay in the back yard.
“Yet, Underwood, without even asking, ran
directly to the backyard and then confirmed the death from a distance of
over 40 feet!” exclaims Sabow.... Now if you were standing right
on top of my brother, you could not tell he was shot in the mouth, you
could not. I have the photographs. How did Underwood know the exact
nature of the wound? He was 30 yards away.... The photos prove that he
couldn’t have determined that from that distance.”[16]
Underwood also claimed that he didn’t
hear the shot, stating that he was watching TV with his wife. However
Underwood’s wife had a brain tumor and was hypersensitive to sound, so
the TV volume was always kept quite low.[*]
Furthermore, there were ill-fitting horizontal Plexiglas louvered panels
in the Underwood’s TV room which provide virtually no acoustical
insulation. A shotgun blast is quite loud.
“These facts were totally disregarded,”
says Sabow, “not out of sheer ignorance, but because of a frightful and
glaringly transparent government participation in a cover-up in the
murder of Colonel Sabow!”
Nevertheless, the OIG would attempt to
explain away this discrepancy, claiming that local air traffic muffled
the noise. Yet records from air traffic control document that there were
no departures between 8:30 and 9:00 that morning.
“Since it has been documented and
conceded that the death occurred during that time frame,” explains Sabow,
“the explanation for the next door neighbor not hearing the blast is
absurd.”[17]
Approximately one month after his
brother’s death, Dr. Sabow confronted Underwood.
“He suspected that I wasn’t satisfied
with the suicide theory and was being too inquisitive about the
details,” says Sabow. “When I inquired about Underwood’s activities
while Albin was on the Sabow front porch, he became defensive and
blurted out that he was not even in my brother’s house when Albin was
knocking. I had never even remotely implied that he was!”[*]
Approximately one week after Sabow’s
death, NCIS Special Agent Craycraft visited Sally. According to Sally,
the agent told her, “I could swear it was Joe [Underwood]. I just can’t
pin it on him.”
Also mentioned in the OIG (Office of
Inspector General) report is a conversation Sally had with a woman
(who’s name is redacted), who told her during a dinner at their home,
“I’ll deny I ever said this, but I want you to know that your husband
was murdered.”
As the report states: “When asked if XXX
had told her who was responsible for the murder, she stated, “She
implied that it was Joe (Col. Underwood.)”[18]
The Motive
Ultimately, Dr. Sabow believes his
brother was killed to cover up the government’s drug-smuggling
activities. His suspicions about Colonel Underwood would prove
portentous.
“We developed information that implicates
Underwood in an operation that involved the misappropriation of C-130
Hercules aircraft to small proprietary airlines,” says Sabow. “These in
turn were contracted to the CIA and other agencies for unauthorized
activities such as the transportation of weapons to Central and South
America, as well as bringing cocaine into the U.S. on their return
trips.”[*]
According to the OIG report:
“Mr. [Gene] Wheaton alleged that MCAS El
Toro was being used in support of a legal covert activity that had been
undertaken by a U.S. intelligence agency under the cover of a U.S.
Department of Agriculture program named “Screw Worm,” allegedly a
program to eradicate the screw worm in Mexico. Mr. Wheaton also alleged
that the covert operation was actually legitimately providing weapons,
ammunition and other material to the Government of Peru in their
struggle against guerrilla forces know as the “Shining Path.” Mr.
Wheaton further alleged that a number of individuals involved in this
covert operation were concurrently conducting an illegal covert
operation whereby they were smuggling additional weapons, ammunition and
material to Peru. The individuals were allegedly selling the weapons,
ammunition and material to the Shining Path as well as to the Government
of Peru, for money and narcotics. The money and narcotics were then
allegedly smuggled back into the United States and air dropped at remote
locations on military installations in the western part of the United
States.... Mr. Wheaton further alleged that this operation continued
until approximately the time of Col. Sabow’s death.”[19]
Interestingly, General Tom Adams, El
Torro’s base Commander, was the base Commander at Yuma, Arizona Marine
Corps Air Station in the mid ‘80’s at the time when several duffel bags
full of cocaine were dropped “by mistake” next to the runway. Sabow was
Commander of the Third Marine Air Group stationed at Yuma during that
time. This base was the very first secret National Programs Office
(organizationally part of the NSA), set up in 1983 by Oliver North.
According to CIA researcher Brian Downing Quig, “NPOs are top security
guarded by the CIA.”[20*]
The OIG report continues:
“Mr. Wheaton alleged that his
investigation had developed witnesses who stated that during the period
of time from 1989 to about the time of Col. Sabow’s death, C-130
aircraft landed at MCAS El Toro in the middle of the night, unannounced
and unknown to anyone on the installation other than Col. Underwood. Mr.
Wheaton told us that, according to his witnesses, the aircraft were
unmarked or marked with logos of civilian companies, and were flown by
nonmilitary type crews, i.e., long hair and bluejeans. The C-130s would
go to a remote part of the airfield, described as “Spook Corner,” where
unidentified material and equipment was loaded or unloaded as part of
the illegal covert operation or for some sort of servicing of the
aircraft. The aircraft would then depart El Torro. Mr. Wheaton stated
that he had MP witnesses who had provided testimony to this effect. Mr.
Wheaton identified one such witness as Mr. Robinson, but he refused to
identify any other member of the military who possessed knowledge of
these alleged covert operations. Mr. Wheaton alleged that Mr. Robinson
had informed him that Col. Underwood had directed the Provost Marshal,
Capt. Betsy Harries, to keep all military policemen away from the
unidentified aircraft while they were on the airfield.
“In our interview of Mr. Robinson, he
stated that on one occasion he had gone to Col. Underwood’s office to
brief him on an investigation and that Capt. Harries had accompanied
him. During the conversation the topic of aircraft landing late at night
came up and Col. Underwood told them “Keep your ass off the airstrip at
night. Leave those airplanes alone. Don’t go near them. Don’t worry
about them....”[21*] (See Appendix)
A similar illegal operation, “Operation
Black Eagle” was the basis for what came to be known as the Iran-Contra
affair. (The exposure of the sale of TOW missiles to Iran, a relatively
minor event by comparison, was intended to divert the attention away
from the government sanctioned drug-running.)[22]
Al Martin, a self-described former Naval
officer, claims to have set up phony corporations for former Major
General Richard Secord (a close associate of Ted Shackley and Tom
Clines), through which wealthy right-wing donors could “invest,” money
funneled to the Contras. They would then write off the investment on a
two-for-one basis.
Martin told the author via numerous
interviews that he worked closely with Oliver North, Felix Rodriguez,
Secord, and Jeb Bush (son of then-Vice President George Bush).
According to some in the foreign press,
Jeb Bush and his Colombian-born wife are reportedly big in laundering
dope proceeds overseas.[23]
The operation reportedly involved
sophisticated electronics developed by NSA contractor E-Systems of
Greenville, Texas. E-Systems, owned by Raytheon, allegedly developed
sophisticated systems to create electronic “holes” which would allow
planes to cross the border without tripping aircraft warning systems.
(See Chapter XX) E-Systems, a major intelligence contractor which
allegedly has “wet-teams” (assassination teams), was directed by former
NSA Director and CIA Deputy Director Bobby Ray Inman.[*]
Other facilities were reportedly located
at Mena, Arkansas, Fire Lakes, Nevada, Joppa, Missouri, and Iron
Mountain, Texas, some guarded by Wackenhut.
As researcher J. Orlin Grabbe writes:
“The monetary logistics of this operation
were overseen in part by Vince Foster of the Rose Law Firm, using the
financial software resources of Systematics, Jackson Stephen’s Little
Rock software company. Vince Foster’s “NSA connection” involved an
extensive knowledge of the NPO’s management of the flow of men and
materials, money and drugs.”
As one pilot told Grabbe: “It was good
money. They would pay $100,000 a flight. They would send out maybe eight
planes at a time, and if only two of them got shot down, the operation
would still be profitable. So there was some risk involved.”[24]
On February l9, l995, CBS “60 Minutes”
did a story on the illegal C-l30 acquisitions and some of the activities
in which these planes were engaged, including the transportation of
drugs. The producer of the show, David Fitzpatrick, attempted to
interview the manager of Aero Union, a proprietary airline in Chico, CA
which had received a C-l30 and a P3-A from the Air Museum at El Toro.
Fitzpatrick was denied the interview and was then informed that the
“Justice” Department had ordered Aero Union to say nothing.
“There were 37 C-130s,” says Sabow. “Then
there were about eight P-3 Oriens and several helicopters. And all of
these planes went through the Department of Agriculture, Forestry
Division, into the hands of Hemet Aviation. Hemet has I think seven of
them. And then a couple of them ended up in Grayville, Wyoming, There’s
one up at Aero Union. I have the tail numbers of every one of them and
know exactly where they all are - every one of them.
“El Torro was the seat of operations for
the hiring and disposition of these contract airlines to transport
weapons and materiel,” adds Sabow. “That was at the time when these
little proprietary airlines were being placed and provisioned to carry
out activities previously undertaken by Air America. And our
investigations show that General J.K. Davis was one of the main
architects of this.”
While Sabow claims he has no definite
proof, he makes some interesting observations.
“First of all, the C-130 aircraft swindle
was hatched in the early ‘80s when General Davis was the Assistant
Commandant of the Marine Corps (1983 to 1986). And that was at the
height of the activity in Iran-Contra. And being part of Marine Air, he
had to at least be aware of these plans if not an active participant. I
have no proof but I have been told that during that period, he was a
member of the Joint Special Operations subgroup which was tasked to
develop and coordinate clandestine military activities which would have
included the C-130 plan....”
At the time of his death, Colonel Sabow
was Chief of Operations for Marine Corps Air, Western United States.
“I’m talking about entire Marine Air,”
says Sabow. “Being in the position he was in, he had to be involved in
covert activities... had to be. However, my brother was aware and
probably participating in what he considered ‘on the table,’ approved
covert activities.”
Dr. Sabow claims his brother had meetings
with Oliver North on at least on three occasions in the late 80s, after
Iran-Contra broke. North was in charge of the Joint Special Operations
subgroup supplying weapons to the Contras.
“My brother knew about the U.S.
[illegally] supplying military materiel to the Latin Americans,” says
Sabow. “However he knew only about the north-to-south runs (weapons),
but he found about the south-to-north runs (drugs), several days before
he died.
“One of the brains behind this, in the
field, was Colonel Underwood,” says Sabow. “Underwood was a significant
operative of this whole business. Underwood was actually more powerful
than General Adams - much more powerful! We’ve traced him and his
activities from 1980 all the way up to this. He came on board in covert
activities in ‘81-‘82, and he became a friend of [former Panamanian
President Manuel] Noriega, and was working, even back then with Noriega
and others in South America, on a special assignment in the Marine
Corps.[25]
“They used these people - the Ollie
Norths and the Underwoods - kind of in the field, as tactical
operatives. But as far as architects, as far as the brains in the
operation it was people at the level of [George] Bush, [Ted] Shackley,
Rob Owens, J.K. Davis....”
Underwood, however, had been formerly
investigated by the NCIS for smuggling contraband into this country.
“What type of contraband?” says Sabow.
“That’s what we don’t know. After a 13 month investigation it was
dropped. I looked at Underwood and said, ‘Tell me, why was it dropped?’
and he wouldn’t answer.”
In October of 1991, General Hollis
Davison, the Inspector General for the Marine Corps, arrived at El Toro
for the express purpose of closing down the illegal operation in a way
that would give the least possible publicity to the Corps.
“They wanted Underwood out of there,”
says Sabow. “And they wanted him out of there quietly, because Underwood
knew so damn much he could ruin the reputation of the Corps. He was
forced to resign, and he just resigned with a full pension.”[*]
General Davison also felt that it would
be wise to have Colonel Sabow’s resignation because of his potential
knowledge of the operation. Yet Underwood and his operatives became
fearful that Sabow would not go quietly. As the situation worsened,
Sabow made a decision to fight the allegations and informed Underwood as
well as General Davis. Dr. Sabow said his brother was a protégé of
Davis’ going back almost 20 years.
“They were very close, professionally,”
says Sabow. “J.K. Davis was the last person my brother talked to the
night before he died, for 63 minutes.... My brother told him that if
they persisted in bringing charges against him for improper use of a
military plane, my brother would demand a court-martial and tell it all.
He wanted J.K. to ‘call the bastards off.’ He was literally telling J.K
‘What in the hell do they think they are doing?! I’ve never done
anything. What in the hell do you think they are doing?’”[*]
Colonel Sabow made it quite clear that he
did not intend to leave the Corps under any but the most honorable
circumstances, even if it required him to expose what he was learning
about the illegal activity taking place at El Toro. To dissuade Sabow,
Davis and Underwood warned him that he would be implicated in those very
same activities (a common silencing tactic).[26]
Colonel William Callahan (USMC, retired)
a fellow pilot and long-time friend of Sabow’s, also believes the
Colonel was murdered. According to the OIG report:
“Mr. Callahan alleged that during a visit
to Col. Sabow’s house, Col. Underwood told Col. Sabow what had
transpired over the previous years, citing several reasons that he
believed put himself at risk. Col. Underwood then told Col. Sabow that
the USMC considered Col. Sabow to be just as guilty as himself. “It was
at this time that Jim (Col. Sabow) knew he would not accept early
retirement and his only choice was to clear his name and take his case
to court martial.” According to Mr. Callahan, “it was this decision that
started the chain of events which lead [sic] to Jim’s death.”[27]
(See Appendix)
On the evening of January 21, the day
before Sabow was killed, Underwood visited him and pointed a finger in
his face while screaming, red-faced, “You will never take this to a
court-marshal!”[28]
Less than 12 hours after the tense
discussion with Davis and the heated warning by Underwood, Colonel Sabow
was dead. Dr. Sabow believes the conversation with Davis was the
catalyst for the Colonel’s death.
“I believe with all my heart that J.K.
Davis was the one who ordered the death of my brother,” says Sabow.
Another link may come through
Major-General Rich Herndon. Although probably not involved in the
murder, Hernon was head of the 3rd Marine Air Group in Yuma, Arizona in
late 1970s-early ‘80s. Sabow was his Executive Officer.
In 1987 Herndon was Assistant Commandant
of the Marine Corps under General Al Gray. One of Gray’s immediate
subordinates was Colonel George Griggs. As Grigg’s wife, Kay Pollard
Griggs, told the author, “Army General Carl Stiner, Marine General Jim
Joy, General Charles Wilhelm, head of Marine Southern Command - part of
Joint Special Operations Command, and my husband who worked under him at
the State Department - they’re all Al Gray’s boys. They do the
assassinations. Say if they’ve got someone who’s talking too much. Gray
will say, ‘We’ve got a problem....’[*]
According to Griggs, Gray is heavily
involved in drug-smuggling. Herndon was stationed in Panama - a key drug
transshipment point - and had a key position with Special Operations
(CIA), training death squads in Central America.
“They train assassins,” says Griggs.
“It’s called the Phoenix Program, but it involves mind-control.... It’s
an old boy network, it’s an institution, and it’s run through the State
Department....[*]
As Griggs says, “Herndon is one of Al
Gray’s boys.”
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