1975

The North Vietnamese Politburo decided to launch an invasion of the south in 1975. They violated the Paris agreement on December 13th by attacking Phuoc Long Province in the South. Ford responded with diplomatic protests but no military force, due to the congressional ban on all US military activity in SE Asia. North Vietnam’s leaders met in Hanoi to form a plan for final victory.

Vietnam War – Post War 1975
Throughout 1975 North Vietnam attack and gradually take the south of the country. In January, Ford stated that the US was unwilling to re-enter the war even though North Vietnam violated the Paris peace treaty. Through Feb and March city after city fell to the north

SVN lost control of important cities. Hue captured by mid-March 1975. April 30th Saigon captured SVN surrendered unconditionally to the provisional Revolutionary Government.

Koreagate
January 1975 congressman Bob Legett and congressman Joseph Aldabbo were in trouble for allegedly accepting bribes from Korean government. Congressman Hanna, Gallagher, Broomfiled, Hugh Carey, Lester Wolf were all implicated.
Tip O’Neill, Brademas, and McFall’s names also came up.
The NY Times estimated that up to 115 congressmen were involved, eventually Hanna went to jail while congressman Otto Passman (Louisiana) was acquitted (he’d been tried in his own state). Other congressmen quit. Speaker of the House Carl Albert retired at the end of 1976 and it was thought that it was because he’d been touched by the scandal. With this, most of congress was brought to heel – led to deals in 1976 which set stage for Carter foreign intelligence monstrosities. DATES?
Bush took a step up.

Soviet tests with killer satellites were resumed in February 1975, and continued till 1977.
This prompted the US to draw up its own plans to counter the Soviet threat. In November 1976, Dr Malcom Currie, director of defense research and engineering in the US warned the Russians that development of a ‘war fighting’ satellite was a ‘dangerous road’ – both sides decided to go down this road.

CIA
There were whistle-blowers who had worked within the CIA carrying out atrocities and crimes. One such account, a book, written by Victor Marchetti and John Marks, called “The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence”. Marchetti had spent 14 years in the CIA, eventually becoming an executive assistant to the Deputy Director of Intelligence. Marks has spent five years as an intelligence official in the State Dept.
Another was by Philip Agee – another CIA employee – who published “Inside the Company” about his career involving operations in Latin America during 1960s and details the crimes in which he took part.

Ramones – Kraftwerk – David Bowie

March 6th – the Algiers Accord – Iran and Iraq. Saddam and the Shah agreed that the river Thalweg would be the border between their countries. In return the Shah agreed to cut off support for a Kurdish rebellion in Iraq.
http://www.mideastweb.org/algiersaccord.htm

Zapruder’s Film of The Kennedy Assassination
Mistrust of government was widespread – CIA scandal, Watergate, the undead corpse of Kennedy, widespread corruption, high profile mob trials, coming second in the Vietnam War, the massive pile of corpses, an unelected president, a revival in UFO conspiracy theories. Poor economy – oil shortages – inflation and recession. Dirty government continued to interfere in south America and latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Australia, Europe. And there was the cold war, about to make a major revival. First, Kennedy…
The Zapruder film was shown on TV on March 6th 1975. It threw open the ‘who shot Kennedy?’ question all over again. Dan Rather and Life Magazine had lied – they said the film showed JFK being thrown forward by the shot, but he was actually thrown back, meaning the bullet came from the opposite direction than in the officially accepted version of events. Strongman & Parker, pp 123/124

Scottish economist Gavin McCrone wrote a report presented to government in April 1975.
Scotland could become as wealthy as Switzerland and strike for independence thanks to oil. The report was suppressed.
“American companies based in Aberdeen became nervous that a breakaway, socialist in outlook, was threatening their interests. Pressure was exerted on the government to control the situation.” Indie 09 12 2005

13th April 1975 President of Chad, Nagarthu Tombalbaye was machine gunned to death. Harriman, page 75

. In April Saigon was encircled. On April 28th General Duong Van “Big” Minh became president of South Vietnam and appealed for cease-fire. April 29th Operation Frequent wind to evacuate US and Vietnamese civilians from Saigon, the last departing on 30th. Later that day President Minh announces surrender. The Vietnam War is over.
To get some idea of the chaos, and to see actual footage of the US pulling out of Saigon, see “The Deer Hunter”. It includes the helicopters being pushed off an aircraft carrier an image seen by all Americans on their evening news.

June 1975 – Bush denigrated US capabilities in comparison with that of Israel, saying that the US could not match what Israel was able to do – “we do have a very important role in furnishing intelligence to policymakers and our friends on the movement of international terrorists, but to indicate that we have that kind of action capability – the answer is frankly “no”.
Bush said that his policy on this matter was to fight terrorism with better intelligence, for “the more the American people understand the more support the CIA will have.”
Executive Order 11905 authorized the CIA “to conduct foreign counter-intelligence activities…in the United States”, which opened the door to many things. Apart from restrictions on physical searches and electronic bugging, it was still open season on Americans abroad. The FBI was promised the Levi Guidelines and other agencies would get charters written for them. In the interim, the power of the FBI to combat various “subversive” activities was reaffirmed. Political assassination was banned, but there were no limitations or regulations placed on covert operations, and there was nothing about measures to improve the intelligence and analytical product of the agencies.

HALLOWEEN MASSACRE ??? – began preparation in the White House summer 1975. ????

In 1975 the Cold War was thawing – Soviet-US relations were looking positively rosy. This is where Nixon’s policies really paid off. There was even an unprecedented joint space mission – a Soyuz-Apollo joint flight on July 17th 1975.
The Cold War was being fought out in little wars like the one in Angola

Election Campaign 1975
Presidential primaries were held and Carter was considered to have little chance. The official story has it that because Carter presented himself as an outsider, he was able to cash in on not being tainted by Watergate. Government reorganisation was centre piece of his campaign. When he won the election he was the first Deep South president this side of the American Civil War.

Ford ditched Rockefeller and chose Bob Dole as his running mate. WHY?
Ford launched straight into an election campaign. Election was due in 1976. Ford narrowly defeated Reagan for Republican nomination in 1976.
“Gerald Ford (in a presidential TV debate with Jimmy Carter) informed a giggling world that Poland was not part of the Soviet bloc…Who, in that debacle, had the job of drafting a 'statement of clarification' for the President - then fuming impotently as, after reading it, Ford said he still thought of Warsaw as kind of free? Cheney, Ford's Chief of Staff at 34…one of America's master minders.” Peter Preston, Guardian, Dec 2000
Gerald Ford’s last year as president - 1976. It was election year and the wannabes were campaigning throughout the year. The Democrat candidate Jimmy Carter was playing the part of hick peanut farming ex-governor of the state of Georgia. His peanut farming exploits were covered by media in great detail. Actually, since the autumn of 1973, Carter had been associated with David Rockefeller and other members of an international elite. He was connected through a Think-Tank called the Trilateral Commission (TLC), a Rockefeller policy making organisation. Its predecessor, the Council on Foreign Relations, was still functioning in ’95.
The TLC is an alliance of several hundred politicians  and businessmen from North America, Japan and Western Europe. They offer advice to political leaders. Carter was picked as a future Presidential candidate by Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski in 1970, according to the Italian publication “Europa”. Many members of TLC were then picked for Carter’s administration. Walter Mondale  -vice president, was a member of TLC .

“Micro-Soft” first used by Bill Gates on November 29th 1975. Muicrosoft registered as a trademark on Nov 26th 1976.
A bomb exploded at NYC La Gyardia Airport killing 11 on December 29th.

Research the story of Carter’s selection by Rockefeller and finally the Democratic Party.

Association of Former Intelligence Officers 1975
David Atlee Philips, head of CIA’s western hemisphere operations (dirty tricks in South america) founded the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) which has supported Bush in every campaign he has ever waged.

A US ship accidentally fouled cables between Eire and Wales in 1975 – the cables were part of a detection system similar to AFAR. Denmark has a similar system detecting subs entering the Baltic.

November 10th UN Resolution 3379
The vote went 72 to 35 (32 abstained)
The UN GA approved a resolution equating Zionism with racism.

10th November a 729 foot long freighter – the largest ship on the Great Lakes, SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a storm. 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay – all 29 crew died.

Cointelpro
FBI harassed and threatened Lesbian and feminist activists (Lexington KY, Hartland and New Haven, Conn. 1975)
Hispanic Commission of the Episcopal Church and numerous other Puerto Rico and Chicano religious activists and community organisers – harassed by FBI (Chicago, NYC, Puerto Rico, Colorado and New Mexico, 1977)
Militant Union leaders of NATO shipyards, San Diego – entrapped and frame up. Murder of socialist labour and community organisers (Greensboro, NC 1980)
Redstar cadre in Tampa Florida – sham political group Red Collective (1972 to 1976) in New Orleans.

Friend of America, Franco, fascist and ruler of Spain, died 20th pf November 1975. Attempt to bring about peace = Green March in Spanish Sahara November 1975 – pp52. But the war continued.

At

Notes
South Vietnam and South East Asia were to have served as a source of raw materials complementing the Japan-based industrial economy of non-communist East Asia, and producing finished or semi-finished goods for domestic use and export, provide an inexhaustible supply of wood, petroleum and minerals for Japan’s expanding economy.
Nixon aimed to make private direct investment by multinationals the centre of US foreign aid in the 1970s. The Vietnam War created conditions ideal for investment and development – traditional society and culture were demolished, and a mass of rootless individuals created.

Talks
The Paris Peace Talks of 1970? They hit deadlock early on. Kissinger opened up a new series of secret talks wth the new leader of North Vietnam, on February 21st. These talks continued for two years while the Paris talks remained in deadlock.

Early in year there were increasing NV raids against the South. Washington’s response to this came on February 21st: B-52s were used to bomb the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

In Cambodia scores of villages had now been reduced to rubble and ashes by the US air power. This prompted a stream of Cambodian refugees. Were the terror raids on Saigon, therefore, a response to this attack on Cambodia? The first week of May, 450 civilians in Saigon were killed by the Viet Cong. The highest weekly death toll so far in the war.
On the 5th of May the US Senate stopped financial support to US troops in Cambodia as of June 30th.

The NVA began a new offensive in June toward Phnom Pen in Cambodia. The US supported Lon Nol’s troops with air-strikes. On June 22nd USA stopped using defoliants in Vietnam. On June 24th the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was repealed. On June 29th the last US troops withdraw from Cambodia. Over 350 Americans had died during the incursion. How many Cambodians?

Cambodian Coup
John Foster Dulles wanted to place Cambodia under protection of SEATO, a toothless version of NATO for SE Asia. Sihanouk refused. In his memoirs he described SEATO as “an aggressive military alliance directed against neighbours whose ideology I did not share but with whom Cambodia had no quarrel.” Dulles was “an acidly, arrogant man”.
“CIA Director Allen Dulles soon turned up with a briefcase of documents “proving” that Cambodia was about to fall victim to “communist aggression” and that the only way to save the country was to accept the protection of SEATO.”
The “proofs” did not coincide with Sihanouk’s own intelligence and he refused again to have anything to do with SEATO. Cambodia was to remain neutral. Dulles was forced to pack his bags and leave.
These visits were the start of a campaign by the US aimed at pressuring Sihanouk into aligning his nation with the West and joining the War Against Communism. This continued until 17th March 1970 (18th according to Wikipedia) when Sihanouk was finally overthrown in US-backed coup and the US invaded Cambodia [started on april 29th 1970]. Nixon ordered US forces into neutral Cambodia on May 1st sparking nationwide riots in the US. Sihanouk went to Beijing where he set up a government in exile.

The USSR agreed to continue supporting Vietnam on the 11th of June.
August 11th South Vietnamese troops take over defence of border, and August 24th there was heavy bombing in demilitarised zone.

This détente thing was catching. West and East Germany signed the Basic Mutual Relations Treaty on 21st December.

Whodunnit?
“ITT were in on the coup” – Tony Benn, UK minister.

Iraq 1973
Dr Mahmoud Othman later (in 1976) formed an organisation under the name of KDP – Preparatory committee – a member of the KDP’s Politburo during Barzani’s time and his main foreign relations advisor. Visited USA with Idris Barzani in 1973 to form the first link through the CIA.

Iran
Super sophisticated Tomcat fighter aircraft to be sold to Iran – a landmark move. So began sales of sophisticated equipment to the Middle East. By late 1980s arsenals in some Middle East states resembled that of NATO or Warsaw Pact countries.

Kurdistan
The March agreement in Iraqi Kurdistan – signed in 1970 –when it was finally published as the Autonomous Region Law in March 1974 subjected all decisions by the Autonomous Legislative Council to Baghdad’s approval and demanded the Kurds recognise the leading role of the Baath Party. This was a great disappointment to the Kurdish movement.
Barzani of the Kurdish Movement signed agreement on March 11th with Saddam Hussein – ignoring the Shah of Iran’s strong pressure not to do so. The March agreement gave the Kurds autonomy. In the following four years the government gradually scaled down its commitments.

Jordanian War 1st to 8th of September. Egyptian president Gamal Abd an-Nassir died. Anwar sadat became pesident. Egypt shifted its stance to pro-US.

Canada enriched itself on the destruction of Indo-China. Japanese economy began to recover with Korean War but Vietnam moved economy into high gear.

The Arab oil embargo
US politicans, OPEC and Persian oil-producers collaborated to deliberately inflate the price of oil. In 1971 US State Department established oil policy priorities during internatioanl negotiations, emphasising the “stability, orderliness and durability” of supply with no intention of maintaining price limits. Only two years later the Arab oil embargo disrupted both the cost and continuity of foreign oil. White House reported benefits of oil increases – OPEC surplus started recycling back into the US economy.
OPEC agreed that the price of oil was too low. Within a year the oil exporting nations quadrupled the price. Arab oil dollars were then deposited in Western banks which were desperate to re-invest them.
Oil producers in the Persian Gulf doubled the price on 23rd December.
Third world leaders were keen to oblige. Interest was low and terms easy. Grandiose Mega projects, eg, nuclear reactor in the Philippines and Mirage jets in Peru.
Commercial bank loans to the Third World increased by 550% from…?
From Project Censored: “The US and Midddle East embroiled in a tug-of-war over oil. American military presence in the Gulf was failry insignificant. But dominance in this region was very attractive to a group of hard-line, pro-military Washignton insiders, Democrats and Republcians. Now known as “neoconservatives” – important in Defence Departments of Ford, Reagan and Bush, and in conservative think tanks throughout  the 1980s and 1990s.
Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld becoame closely aligned when they served in the Ford Administration.

Neo Cons – Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Richard Perle – on Pentagon’s Defence Policy Board, William Kristol – of Weekly Standard and Project for a New American Century.

Yom Kippur war – Arab Israeli October War between Israel and Syria. Kissinger got involved in the talks, beginning his “shuttle diplomacy” effort to ‘mediate’ in Arab-Israeli conflict.
Early Sharon appearance – Sharon elected to the Knesset, only to retire a year later.

From 1973 to 1975 US, Iran and Israel supported a Kurdish insurgency in Iraq. Documents examined by the US House Select Committee on Intelligence “clearly show that the President, Dr Kissinger and the Shah hoped that our clients (the Kurds) would not prevail. They preferred instead that the insurgents simply continue a level of hostilities sufficient to sap (Iraqi) resources…This policy was not imparted to our clients, who were encouraged to continue fighting. Even in the context of covert action, ours was a cynical enterprise.” Then, in 1975, the Shah and Saddam Hussein of Iraq signed an agreement giving  Iran territorial concessions in return for Iran’s closing its border to Kurdish guerrillas. Teheran  and Washington promptly cut off their aid to the Kurds

Willie Brandt became West German chancellor on 21st of October.
Warsaw Pact countries proposed a conference about European security on 17th March.
26th May USSR-French agreement about economical and trade co-operation for years 1970 to 1974.
USSR-GB long-term business agreement for 1969 to 1975 on 3rd June.
February 26th  the USSR proposed a new definition of armed aggression in the UN.
17th November – the first round of SALT negotiations. USA and USSR in Helsinki, ratified by both parties on 24th November.

Europe
The EC expanded to 9 nations.
GATT talks began in Paris – the most important decision-making body in the regulation of world trade and tariff barriers. This was especially important for the Third World.
French and UK sugar-beet farmers wanted to expand their produciton to meet Europe’s need – disaster for poor nations (mauritius).

Concern over the rise of Italian communists in 1975


Post War Vietnam
The country was compelled to take on the debts incurred by the Saigon regime to support the US war effort. Not only were they massacred by America, but they had to pay the bill for it too. This compelled them to accept “free market reforms” and the industrial base has severely eroded or been taken over by foreign capital – the usual result.
The World Bank reported that famines have erupted affecting over a quarter of the health system collapsed with other social programs – similar to Nicaraguan since they accepted US terms in 1990.

Cambodia
Communists took control of Cambodian countryside, and in 1975 cut supply routes to Phnom Penh. Nol left Cambodia on April 1st, 1975. Khmer Rouge occupied Phnom Penh on 17th april and Pol Pot’s “killing fields” became a reality.
Out of a population of 7 million, 1.2 million died from 1975 – 1977 alone. A Catholic missionary reported “15,000 to 20,000 suicides” when the American Security Council invited all three major networks to a conference on this, not one sent a correspondent. It wasn’t till 1984 and British film “Killing Fields” that many Americans became aware of the Cambodian abuses.

Jamaica
Once Bush assumed control of the CIA – in his first few months the CIA launched a campaign of destabilisation of Jamaica to prevent Michael Manley’s re-election. Included a campaign of violence and large amounts of illegal arms  exports. $10m was spent on this Kissinger initiative and at least three assassination attempts took place with CIA involvement. Unofficial Bush biography

Angola became independent from Portugal on November 11th 1975

CIA interference in Australia
Whitlam was dismissed by the Governor General on 11th November 1975.
Australian intelligence did support CIA to topple Allende, but when Whitlam threatened to deprive the CIA of the Pine Gap listening post on Australian territory, leaving the CIA effectively deaf in one ear, the CIA felt they had to do something.
On 8th November Bush was now known to be the next CIA head – Theodore Shackley sent a telegram to Aussie intelligence threatening to cut them off. On November 11th the Royal Governor General dismissed Whitham as PM.
In a shock move Prime Minister Edward Whitlam is forced to resign and his government dissolved. This was some ancient constitutional arrangement whereby the Queen’s representative, the Governor General, has the power to dissolve democratically elected government, much as the Queen does in Britain.
In this case it appears that John Kerr – the Governor General at the time – who has been described as a long-time CIA collaborator – was leaned on by the CIA wield this archaic never-used constitutional right. Could he have done this without prior agreement from the Queen? The Queen must have been involved. Where does she fit in? Or was it the prime minister using Royal Prerogative? Could this happen? It is all the more concerning as the approach being taken by the labour government of the day was one of isolating and withdrawing from Chile, in protest against killings, arrests, and the emergence of a police state. Did the Queen go over the government’s head and make a foreign policy decision in conflict with the lawful elected government? Will we ever know for sure?
The whole episode was unprecedented and stunned Australia. How could Britain and USA step in to remove a lawfully elected government in Australia? It leaves you wondering what constraints are still placed on Australian governments and what would happen if a government chose to transgress them?
Malcom Fraser and the conservatives came back to power. Then the labour majority in the lower house voted no confidence in Fraser, the Governor dissolved the lower house and called an election. Nugan Hand bank involved? Anglo US involved with drug money laundering.

East Timor
In December 1975, Indonesian military forces invaded East Timor following a short lived civil war there. The little known war of aggression by Indonesia was continued with the assistance of the USA. The results have been the establishment of Indonesian military rule in East Timor, as well as major violations of the population’s human rights to self determination. CENSORED NEWS P.85
US claims to have suspended military aid to Indonesia Dec 75 to Dec 76 was a sham.
“Kissinger’s Green light, stepped up weapons shipments.” Ford and Kissinger gave the green light to Indonesia’s invasion of East timor while attending a state dinner with President Suharto in Jakarta that was held in their honour. They also pledged a substantial increase in US military aid to Indonesia for the following year. In 1975 arms sales quadrupled to greater than $65m and military aid more than doubled 1974 to 1976 from $17m to $40m.
www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/indoarms.html

Mafia
A footnote to the Jimmy Hoffa story. In 1975 he disappeared on his way to a restaurant near Detroit. He was attempting to make a come back against the advice of his former backers. His body was never found, and it’s virtually certain that he was whacked by his former Mafia associates. “Crime Inc”