“He [Irvine California police detective Victor Ray] steered the investigation to Ford’s backyard, where men in Andromeda Strain suits would evacuate a neighborhood and haul away an arsenal of toxins, germs, plastic explosives, and guns. In the process they unearthed a trail that stretched all the way from the CIA to apartheid-era South Africa and Dr. Wouter Basson, the man who ran the country’s clandestine bioweapons program.”
“The question still plaguing federal, state, and local investigators is a simple but urgent one: what was Ford planning to do with his germs and bioweapons expertise?The discovery of militia-movement and racist literature among Ford’s papers has raised the possibility that he offered biological or chemical weapons to terrorist groups.Concerns have also mounted over a patented feature of his Inner Confidence suppository: the microencapsulation of beneficial bacteria. It turns out this architecture could double as an ideal delivery system for bioweapons, allowing otherwise fragile disease organisms to be seeded virtually anywhere.Ford, in essence, had patented the prescription for a perfect microscopic time bomb.”
“Ford told the Rileys and others his subsequent work for the military and the CIA included research on biological and chemical weapons, consulting on Iraqi capabilities during the Gulf War, and sneaking into epidemic hot zones in Africa to gather samples of such killer organisms as the Ebola and Marburg viruses.”
“But the AIDS prevention program was for whites in the military, not blacks. A secret rightwing South African organization, the Broeder-bond, [sic] conducted studies around this same time that suggested the AIDS epidemic could make whites the majority in the future.”
“Since then, through the new government’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was formed to probe the abuses of apartheid, information has surfaced about a secret South African bioweapons program. Code-named Project Coast, it was run by another Ford friend and financial benefactor, Dr. Wouter Basson;[South African deputy surgeon general Dr. Niel] Knobel had administrative oversight.Basson’s alleged ties to hundreds of poisonings and assassinations in South Africa and in the neighboring countries of Angola and Zimbabwe earned him the nickname ‘Dr. Death’ in the South African press.Documents indicating he had arranged an offshore bank account for Ford were found in Ford’s papers after his death.”
“The commission uncovered evidence that whole villages, including an Angolan settlement of several hundred people suspected of harboring rebels, may have been decimated by Project Coast weapons. This finding parallels information Nilsson’s ex-girlfriend provided:She said Ford more than once boasted of wiping out an entire Angolan village during a civil war.”
“ ‘I have my suspicions about Ebola too. It developed along the line of the Zambezi River, and I suspect that this may have been an experiment to see if a new virus could be established to infect people.We looked on the serological evidence on strange cases, including a fifteen-year-old child which occurred in 1980. Nothing really made epidemiological sense.Do I have evidence? Only circumstantial.In fact, the Rhodesian security forces were more expert than the Nazis at covering up evidence.’”
“Stamps is speaking weeks before the remarkable evidence was presented by South African soldiers and scientists at the 1998 Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s hearings on South Africa’s covert biological warfare program.The Health Minister doesn’t know just how close to the truth he is.” (Idem.)“Stamps begins to talk gloomily about the revived epidemic of anthrax which now stalks his land.‘Even the wild animals have been infected—antelopes, elephants .. .’ The voice trails off, then picks up again.‘We’ve asked the American Centers for Disease Control to come and help us, but they work only on a cost plus basis and my budget is small.’”
“We talk about the anthrax.‘If you can destroy a person’s cattle, you can destroy his livelihood,’ he says. ‘If you can kill a few people in the process, then you can subjugate a large number of people. And the stuff lasts forever. That is the evil of biological warfare.’Who brought it in? Stamps picks up a cake knife and points to the south.‘Where do you think? South Africa, of course.’”
“Palm says he has a primary source who used biological warfare against the enemies of South Africa during the covert border struggles of the 1980’s . . .Gert teases with some hints about his personal background, but not enough to make an identification.‘I was recruited by [Wouter] Basson,’ he says casually.‘I had the same rank and status, I was a colonel.’”
“The bacteria and viruses, he says, were delivered in containers and used in northern Namibia.Bacteria were placed into a water source ‘wherever you identify one, or wherever you identify one destined for human consumption’.”
“ ‘When Hep. [Hepatitis] A was used, we had to make sure that the operators had a gamma globulin injection first.Cholera was pretty widely used also. I used it.I personally was involved in the Eastern Transvaal against FRELIMO in Mozambique.We placed the cholera upstream . . . we looked for areas, and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work this out, where they didn’t filter the water or don’t clean it—places where there was no chlorination, so you drop it in and prod it.’”
“Who did this? Soldiers? ‘No, no, no, no. Never, never did it happen by ordinary soldiers. You can’t blame any of the normal forces for that.Although sometimes some of our own soldiers did get infected by the cholera that we put in the water.’”
“ ‘This is what I’m saying, usually the guy who did it, who placed it, was dispensable—he would have been very well selected, he’s someone you can compromise, he’s either on drugs, or he drinks too much, or he’s got his hand in the cookie jar.That was all done here in Pretoria.’ Who did the selection? Basson himself?‘He selected the guy with the criminal background . . . It was a criminal operation.The guy would wear civilian clothes.’”
“ ‘Look, I know what one of the very, very, very secret specialized units had. We had to test it. And that was viral capsules that were specifically related to Congo fever and the hemorrhagic fevers.’Ebola? ‘Yes.’So Gert is beginning to corroborate Dr. Stamp’s suspicions in Harare that Ebola and Marburg, although indigenous, were also artificially seeded into Southern Africa. Basson, says Gert, was involved in all this.(when the last terrible Ebola outbreak occurred in Kikwit, Zaire, as late as 1995, Gert claims that Basson was there, unofficially. Twenty years earlier, when the village of Yambuku in northern Zaire witnessed one of the first major Ebola outbreaks, two South African scientists were there, allegedly working hand in glove with US military personnel from Fort Detrick.)”
“Slowly, patiently, Gert confesses that these terrible viruses were ‘researched’ for offensive use by South Africa.Next, he talks elliptically about ‘taking out’ certain enemy units, even though these actions had no military value. It was done in order to find the one soldier who, according to military intelligence, had contracted an hemorrhagic fever.These sick people would then be evacuated from the border areas to South Africa, ‘to see what the effect was, obviously.’. You wanted to see what the effect because you had sown the disease?‘For sure . . . I can tell you that I know of this thing because I did it myself. I did the evacuations. It was up in Eastern Angola, we’re talking mid-eighties.’”
“Gert lifts another veil. ‘There was some HIV tampering,’ he says. Meaning?‘I mean all you have to do is get one covert guy, he’s HIV positive, he’s of the area. You get him to infiltrate the whole town and screw the whole lot . . . get him out and shoot him.’Was that really done? ‘If I tell you, it was obviously done. Look, I was a wild guy.At one stage, I worked with the police, I worked with national intelligence, I worked with military intelligence, I worked with Seventh Med, I worked with everybody. I was never identified, because only a very few people knew where I was positioned.’Was Basson your boss? ‘No, it was higher up, both military and political. [sic]’”
“The Air Force report quotes testimony from a Swiss intelligence agent who laundered money for Basson and who describes a worldwide conspiracy involving unnamed Americans. ‘The death of Dr. Ford and revelations of his South African involvement,’ the report states, ‘[raises] the possibility of a right-wing international network, [still] united by a vision of South Africa once again ruled by whites.’”
“They say he [South African trade attaché Gideon Bouwer] raved about the ability to keep whites in power through biological warfare, and he hinted at being part of a separate agenda—some sort of extragovernmental conspiracy, like the one described in the Air Force report, that had plans to unleash biological agents worldwide on South Africa’s enemies if the need should ever arise.‘Just be ready,’ Fitzpatrick remembers Bouwer warning him cryptically, then asking, ‘How fast could get your daughter out of the country if you had to?’‘I have to be honest,’ Fitzpatrick says. ‘Gideon could be a great guy. But there was something dangerous about him. And when he started talking about that master plan, about what a great service Ford had done for his country, and about getting out of the country, it gave me chills.”
“In the end it was British representatives who decided to approach President Mandela, with a minimum of fanfare, to advise him that he was inheriting an ugly biological assassination program from the previous administrations. Mandela’s first reaction was:‘Oh my God!’He was initially terrified that the South African ‘Third Force’ elements, including such organizations as Eugene Terre’ Blanche’s ultra right-wing and fanatical AWB, might lay their hands on it.”
“The most determined of these whites came to be known as ‘The Third Force’.They comprised not the mad neo-Nazi right, but revanchist politicians and hard men in the military, and the military intelligence and civilian intelligence agencies, and the myriad covert action groups involved in fighting clean or dirty, internally or externally, to maintain white supremacy.”
“Palm spoke enigmatically of ‘Die Organisasie,’ a pulp fiction nom de guerre (which he calls, even more melodramatically, the ‘Spider Network’).It is a group of white South Africans who wait patiently for he demise of the ANC government and a return to the old days.They are not the mad pseudo-Nazis of the far right, but something far more organized, well financed, and patient.Other people know them as ‘The Third Force.’We are to hear of them time and again from ex-soldiers like Nico Palm all the way up to South Africa’s deputy defense minister, Ronnie Kasrils.Significantly, files have also been opened by MI5 in potentially significant union of like-minded South African right-wingers.All of them are ex-pats now living in the United Kingdom, who may support the destabilization of any black South African government.”
“It is with in this context that Gert now raises the question of Die Organisasie. He is clearly apprehensive of its power, and it is the only moment he appears truly concerned. ‘These are people who take no prisoners,’ mutters Nico [Palm]. Gert grimly nods his head.”
“We recall there was, in the documents found at his [Basson’s] home, a fax from Britain. It stated that should Basson ever find himself in trouble—real trouble—there was a safe house ready for him not half-an-hour from London. All he had to do was to make his own way to Heathrow.The signature on the fax had been whited out. In fact, the message had been sent by a former Rhodesian/South African citizen who now lives and works in West London, who was once very close to Basson, and worked with him on the biological warfare program.He is ex-Special Forces, and linked to Die Organisasie. Now he is a businessman, married with family, whose permanent residence is in London.”
“So what was Basson up to that night? He says simply that he was framed. Another version has that he did it purely for personal gain; there is a third explanation, that it was a mixture of personal gain and helping to raise funds for the Third Force, of which Basson is considered to be a member.”
“Basson’s possible connections with the Third Force were elliptically referred to by Juergen Jacomet, the former Swiss military intelligence agent who worked with Basson on money-laundering aspects of Project Coast in Europe . . .”
“In fact, back in the mid-1980’s, the Swiss agent had first worked with General Lothar Neethling, South Africa’s Police Forensic chief, delivering arms to South Africa, in an extensive sanctions-busting arrangement. Neethling introduced Jacomet to Basson, and the two men became friends. Basson often visited Jacomet at his Berne home. Eventually, Jacomet traveled to South Africa on several occasions to help Basson and Neethling in the dirty wars of the 1980’s.”
“Now, sitting in a quiet West London garden on an early spring day in 1998, Jacomet relaxes with coffee and cigarettes and discusses the arrest of Basson and the Ecstasy allegations. He scoffs at the prospect of his friend being a profiteering drug dealer. ‘It makes absolutely no sense if you know him. It makes no sense tat he would mix with street dealers. If it happened at all, there must be a higher interest.’ Such as?‘It might be to procure money to support a certain group which represents the interests of South Africa and wants the return of a white-dominated government.’”
“Jacomet, now nervous, is pressed to expand a little.‘There is a group of people here in London, he says.‘One could call them the friends of South Africa.They have it in mind to see a strong white South Africa again.There are American connections too.They need funds, and it is possible that the drug business has helped them. You know, it would really be very foolish of me to talk more about this.They are serious people.’Jacomet searches for the popular expression, and, remarkably, finds the same aphorism used by Gert about the same people.‘They don’t take prisoners,’ he says finally.”
“And who are ‘they’? Jacomet mentions some well-known South African names—men previously associated with Third Force activities. He also refers to an American name known to Britain’s MI5 for his alleged involvement with Basson in money laundering, sanctions busting, and biological agents procurement.[Emphasis added.] Once again, Die Organisasie is mentioned in respectful tones, and, once again, the details remain scant and elusive. Jacomet remains silent.”
The WHO Chronicle noted by 1968—ten years into the WHO's viral research program—"WHO virus reference centers" had served as authorized technical advisors and suppliers of "prototype virus strains, diagnostic and reference reagents (e.g., antibodies), antigens, and cell cultures" for more than "120 laboratories in 35 different countries." Within a year of this announcement, this number increased to "592 virus laboratories.. [and] only 137 were outside Europe and North America."
Over these 12 months, the NCI and CDC helped the WHO distribute 2,514 strains of viruses, 1,888 ampoules of antisera mainly for reference purposes, 1,274 ampoules of antigens, and about 100 samples of cell cultures. More than 70,000 individual reports of virus isolations or related serological tests had been transmitted through the WHO-NCI network.12
LAV, identical to HTLV-III had been isolated by Montagnier's French team and allegedly forwarded to Gallo in 1983.3
Most important of these [aspects] is that it might be refractory to the immunological and therapeutic processes upon which we depend to maintain our relative freedom from infectious disease. Members of the NAS-NRC had instructed scientific leaders in the DOD this work might be accomplished "within 5 years."4 This research was then carried out by American defense contractors despite the authorization and signing of the Geneva accord by Dr. Henry Kissinger and President Nixon outlawing the production and testing of such biological weapons.5
Prior to this, Gallo et al. had published studies identifying:
Subsequent studies published in 1970 by Gallo and co-workers identified "RNA dependent DNA polymerase" (i.e., the unique AIDS-linked enzyme, reverse transcriptase) responsible for "gene amplification... biochemical cyto-differentiation," (i.e., the development of unique WBC characteristics including cancer cell production) and "leukaemogenesis";10 and identified L-Asparaginase synthetase—a key enzyme that, if repressed, will induce treatment resistant leukemias and other cancers.11
Perhaps not coincidentally, the Cell Tumor Biology Laboratory's output increased in 1971 as measured by the publication of eight scientific articles by Gallo and co-workers compared to at most four in previous years.
These reports included Gallo's discovery that by adding a synthetic RNA and feline (i.e., cat) leukemia virus (FELV) "template" to "human type C" viruses (associated with cancers of the lymph nodes), the rate of DNA production (and subsequent provirus synthesis) increased as much as thirty times. The NCI researchers reported that such a virus may cause many cancers besides leukemias and lymphomas including sarcomas.13
They stated that "by studying viral or cellular mutants or cell segregants... which have conditional variations in virus-specific cellular alterations, it should be possible to more precisely determine the biological significance of the RNA variation reported here." Clearly, the group was working to determine the relevance of various viral genes on the development of human cancers and immune system collapse. They reported their desire to use this information to find a cure for cancer, but at this time their activity was more focused on creating various cancers as well as new carcinogenic viruses which could infect humans.
Borrow, Smith and Gallo injected this chicken virus RNA into human WBCs to determine if the cells were prompted to produce proteins (including new viruses) encoded by the viral RNA.17 Robert, Smith and Gallo also evaluated the neoplastic effects of single stranded 70S RNA reverse transcriptase delivered by the cat leukemia virus (FELV) and the mason-Pfizer monkey virus on nor-mal human lymphocytes (NHL).18
Additional bio-logical weapons contractors with whom Dr. Gallo and/or his co-workers associated during the late 1960s and early 1970s included the University of Chicago,24 Texas,13 Virginia,25 and Yale,17 Merck and Co. Inc.,20 and Hazelton Laboratory, site of the famous 1989 Marburg-Ebola-like (Reston) virus outbreak.22
Litton Bionetics, a subsidiary of Litton Industries, Inc. remains in business as a proprietor of the Frederick Cancer Research Center, a "privately owned, government contracted" facility. Bionetics, it was noted, currently acts as an agency under,
Besides administering research grants and government funds earmarked for the NCI, Litton Bionetics also developed a division which produced and marketed test kits for blood-borne, infectious diseases including mononucleosis, hepatitis B, and AIDS.28 This division was sold to Organon Teknica in 1985.26
Zaire, indebted by over $4.5 billion to the International Monetary Fund, and headed by President Mobutu—paradoxically regarded as one of the world's wealthiest men with "a personal fortune put at $2,939,200,000 [1984 estimate] banked in Switzerland—was wooed by NATO allies during the 1970s (principally the U.S.) to be a staging area for CIA backed, Portuguese, French, and mainly South African mercenaries.38,39
However, in 1975 Mobutu apparently turned against NATO allies and increased negotiations with China and Russia40-41 He proclaimed his intention to nationalize foreign owned enterprises.4243 In June 1975, following the CIA's thwarted efforts to convince the U.S. Congress to appropriate more funds for Mobutu and the Angola program (A total of $31.7 million had already been "drawn from the CIA's FY 75 contingency fund" which was "exhausted on 27 November 1975").39 Mobutu expelled the American ambassador and arrested many of the CIA's Zairian agents, placing some under death sentences.40,41
Meanwhile, according to John Stockwell, Former Chief of the CIA's Angola Task Force, "the United States was exposed, dishonored and discredited in the eyes of the world," as "15,000 Cubans were installed in Angola"40 despite the CIA's best efforts and a continuing policy of lying "to State Department officials, Congressmen, American press, and world public opinion in varying degrees, depending on the need" about the CIA's covert military campaign in Angola and Zaire.39
Many of today's Nationalist leaders in Pretoria," the paper reported, "were Nazi sympathizers: many ex-Nazis settled in South Africa after 1945 . . ."48
The contract "made OTRAG sovereign over territories once inhabited by 760,000 people"54 in the Eastern and South-central portion of Zaire. The leased property positioned North of the Shaba militarized region, expanded Southeast along the Congo River—the countries main waterway, and south of the Kinshasa highway—better known as the "AIDS Highway" which runs through Zaire's Northeast corridor and across central Africa bypassing the "Isle of Plaques," Mount Elgon and Kitum Cave allegedly by the author of The Hot Zone to be the breeding ground for the Ebola, Marburg, and AIDS viruses.44
OTRAG and its principals were traced back to the West German government and,
In 1979, under pressure from the Soviet Union and Zaire's neighboring countries, Mobutu announced OTRAG would "halt its rocket testing" program. It was clear, however, strong diplomatic, military, and economic ties between West Germany, the U.S. and Zaire continued.49-57
However, more recently, the high ranking Soviet press official Boris Belitskiy, offered an alternative account regarding the origin of such "propaganda".59
Two years after Belitskiy's announcement, in 1991, Dr. Jacobo Segal, professor emeritus of Berlin's Humboldt University told the international press that the Pentagon theory of AIDS made sense. He alleged the virus was likely developed "through gene technology" as a result of Pentagon sponsored animal research, "to permit the attack on human immune cells." Furthermore, he reported this theory is "supported by many European scientists and has not been refuted."60
Increased political/military interest in Central Africa, and a burgeoning of WHO and NCI contracts for the supply of simians for "defensive" research.44
Though records of who initiated and directed this covert activity were destroyed by the CIA, along with the famous Watergate tapes,68 Mr. Nathan Gordon, Former Chief of the CIA's Chemistry Branch, Technical Services Division confessed knowledge that some of the stored substances were to be used to,
Furthermore, following Nixon's resignation, President Ford and Henry Kissinger were made aware that the CIA maintained a residual supply of biological weapons, but neither ordered their destruction according to testimony pro-vided by Former CIA Director Richard Helms.70
Several authorities have argued these vaccine trials might best explain the unique and varying epidemiological patterns of HIV/AIDS transmission between the U.S. and Africa.
During the holocaust, Nazi scientists assayed non-Arian blood to deter-mine race specific disease susceptibilities. Blacks and homosexuals, along with Jews, were persecuted by the Nazis. Over 10,000 gay men were murdered.3
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