CIA Covert Operations

MUSTANG REPORT # 11

 U. S Army Special
Forces: First to take the war into Cambodia

By LTC Daniel Marvin,
U.S.
Army (Retired), Author of Victory Edition - EXPENDABLE ELITE - One
Soldier's Journey Into Covert Warfare

             Everything
to do with my first six months as commander of Special Forces Team A-424,
situated on the Cambodian Border in the district of An Phu had been an
unconventional experience.            It
was late December in 1965 when I accepted the Top Secret mission that would
allow me and my team of Green Berets to take the war into sovereign Cambodian
territory for the first time in that war, I naively thought all the others
would follow as we proved successful. LTC William Tuttle, the commander of all
Special Forces units in the IV Tactical Corps, looked me in the eye and told me
that we would be “on our own” no matter what we faced once inside Cambodia.
There would be no support from our higher headquarters.

            “Not
even medical evacuation?” I asked. Almost nose to nose with me, he replied, “If
you accept, you are on your own." There would  be no support inside Cambodia.
"Once you walk out that door, it will be as if we never met. Understand?”

Equipment Testing in Natick Massachusetts led to

AN OFFER FROM THE DON

By:

Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Marvin

United States
Army Special Forces (Retired)

Author of Expendable
Elite - One Soldier's Journey Into Covert Warfare

In the fall of 1964 Special Forces Master Sergeant Joseph Hill and I were selected by General William Yarborough's Special Warfare
Center headquarters to finalize the
testing of newly designed tubular-frame rucksacks and armor insole jungle
boots. Actual laboratory work would be accomplished by engineers at Natick
Laboratories located just west of Boston
not far from Fort Devens, Massachusetts.
MSG Joe and I would secure the rucksacks, filled with 55-70 lbs of rations,
supplies and clothing, to our parachute harness, board an Army single-engine
Otter aircraft and jump out at 1200 feet above a drop zone located at nearby Fort
Devens, Massachusetts.

MUSTANG REPORT # 3

Part 1

25 August 2006

.

The CIA Versus "Expendable Elite."

by

Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Marvin, US Army (Retired)

Author of

Victory Edition - Expendable Elite - One Soldier's Journey Into Covert Warfare

            During my sworn testimony the week of 23 thru 27 January 2006, before a jury of my peers in the Charleston, South Carolina Federal Court House I was asked by the plaintiff's counsel, Bobby Deaver, if I had truly written my book wanting the CIA to sue me.  I told him that was correct.  He then asked, Why? 

            I told him, in no uncertain terms that the CIA could only sue me for two unlawful acts:  One would be for including TOP SECRET information in my book about illegal CIA operations which is true and evident when reading my book.  The second would be that of revealing the name of CIA Operative Walter Mackem, and stating unequivocally in my book that he was the man who met me in the command bunker of my Special Forces Camp in An Phu, South Vietnam on 10 June 1966 and asked if I would accept a mission to ambush and assassinate the leader of Cambodia, Crown Prince Norodum Sihanouk. I was to make it appear to have been done by the Viet Cong.

            Those facts and the truth about General William Westmoreland aiding the enemy have been included in each and every of my manuscripts leading to the publication of Expendable Elite.  In his book A Soldier Reports General Westmoreland admits permitting the enemy safe-havens in Cambodia and the use of the Mekong River to transport war materiel into Cambodia for use by our enemy to kill our men and our allies. I mailed the manuscripts to those men (who became plaintiffs in the April 2004 lawsuit against me and my publisher) who had served with me in An Phu and who I had located: John Strait, James Taylor, Richard Sirois and Raymond Johnson. It was then evident to the jury why the CIA did not dare take me or my book to court as they would have had to admit to the truth of every detail of what I wrote about regarding any matter classified TOP SECRET.  I then looked Bobby Deaver in his eyes and told him that it would have been worth spending a few years in prison to get the CIA to tell the world that they had perpetrated those illegal actions, had aided the enemy, and denied our forces the ability to win the war. I knew in my heart that the sacrifice of some time in prison could very well lead to an overhaul of the CIA and all other clandestine activities of our government such as President John F, Kennedy wanted done. I believe this is what was the foundation of internal discontent with him in our government, and added fuel to the fire that could not be tamed and led to his being assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

            Can you imagine the impact, politically and strategically if the CIA were forced to admit that they had sent their operative to meet with me in my camp in An Phu District, South Vietnam with a request that I take action to kill the crown prince of Cambodia?  AND, perhaps even more dramatic, if they were forced to defend their dispatch of a heavily armed, twelve hundred man ARVN Regiment to attack my camp and kill us all because I had unilaterally aborted the mission to assassinate Prince Sihanouk for the reason detailed in Expendable Elite?

            Presented to that same jury were audio tapes prepared by John Strait and Richard Sirois of their own volition and mailed to me early in 1988, confirming what I had written of their time in An Phu to be true and adding information from their personal recollections, asking that I include it in the book. 

            The vital and most significant corroboration of critical portions of my book by former ARVN Lieutenant General Quang Van Dang, my Vietnamese Special Forces Counterpart Major Phoi Van le and South Vietnamese interpreters Tony Trung and Jean Pham, who had both worked for me in An Phu, was certain to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to the jury that the CIA had asked me to assassinate Cambodian Crown Prince Norodum Sihanouk inside Cambodia while doing what was necessary to make it appear to have been perpetrated by the Viet Cong. In addition there was testimony and written evidence that was brought out in court that left no doubt in the jurors' minds that the CIA had "arranged" for a heavily armed force of more than one  thousand ARVN soldiers with their U.S. Advisors to attack and destroy my camp. The evidence presented did, in fact, support what I had written in Expendable Elite.

            It was on the 29^th day of January in 1984 that my youngest daughter led me to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ in the cab of a U-Haul truck on a highway in the Florida panhandle. From that day forward I no longer feared our government sending someone trained like me to "silence" me if I were to tell what I know, from personal involvement, of the many illegal activities perpetrated by our government. I was confident that Jesus Christ would guide, direct and protect me and those who helped me in this struggle against an awesome foe - those evil forces that exist within the United States Government.

            It was that very day that I began putting together in my mind what I would have to do to write a book of truth about my year as a Green Beret with an independent command along the border with Cambodia in a place called An Phu, South Vietnam. It was the home of 64,000 Buddhist Hoa Haos, the most wonderful and most courageous people I'd known to that day.      We men of Special Forces Team A-424 called ourselves The Bassac Bastards. It was a name based on the fact that the Bassac River ran through our area and on into Cambodia and because we were not Hoa Haos - we thought of ourselves as the bastards sent there to help them against the Communist enemy!

            On 31 January 1988 I completed the first readable draft of a manuscript I titled The Bassac Bastards and mailed a copy of that draft (no maps or captioned photos) to Martha Raye and asked if she would consider writing the Foreword.  Martha Raye, who wore a Green Beret and the rank insignia of Lieutenant Colonel as an honorary Special Forces Officer - so appointed and honored by the 5^th Special Forces Group Commander - was known as Colonel Maggie by those of us in Special Forces who loved and respected her.

            In just 20 days Martha Raye called me, recalled her rather risky visit to our camp in An Phu in 1966 when her chopper got two fifty caliber slugs in the fuselage on the way in to my camp. She told me she would be honored to write the Foreword, wrote it from memory and mailed it to me on 22 February 1988, reaching me just two days later.  My manuscript was then changed to include her Foreword, documentation needed to support the narrative, and many pages of photos that would, in 2003, become a part of my book published in 2003 as Expendable Elite - One Soldier's Journey Into Covert Warfare

                In March of 1988 I mailed the complete manuscripts with maps and photos to John Strait, James Taylor and Richard Sirois, three of my former team members. I included with each manuscript a form titled “Background Information & Personal Data (BIPD)” form. More and more support and corroboration was made available to me as the book was developed.  My men provided input and I was able to locate South Vietnamese who had served there with me or in higher headquarters in Can Tho and Saigon.

            Subsequent to reading the manuscript, James Taylor returned his BIPD in May of 1988. In the bottom section where he was asked to rate me as his commander, he wrote as worst traits:  “Headstrong at time, impatient at times, bad cigars."  Commenting on my best traits, he wrote, “Willing to learn, ability to listen, and realize we had to work as a team. Good sense of humor in good and bad times."

            That same month, on the 10^th, I received an audio tape from Richard Sirois telling me his recollections of An Phu, South Vietnam in my command.  He also sent a second audio tape telling of his Special Forces medical training with emphasis on the “Dog Lab” training vehicle at Fort Bragg where they maintained a number of "muted" dogs which became the personal training dog of each student.  Each dog was shot by his personal master, then operated on by that same man, and at the end of the course of instruction killed by that same man. All of his narrative on those tapes were positive and supportive of my book.

            On the 26^th of May in 1988 I received the first of two tapes recorded by John Strait who had been my executive officer in An Phu. In the two tapes John, a retired Major living in Jonesville, Michigan, included his recollections of his time with me in An Phu, including many actions that I would include in a revised manuscript. These audio tapes tell of  his personally corroborating most of what is in my book, tell of his recalling  my having saved his life at Khanh Binh and went so far as to tell how he recalled the ARVN Regiment “that was going to come in and take the camp.”  Expressing his confidence in the Hoa Hao CIDG he had helped train, he stated flatly on the tape “So I had my doubts at the time that that a regiment or even a division would have [taken] us.”  It is interesting to note that John, referring to the plot to assassinate Sihanouk, said on the tape, “I’m not sure when you got the mission.  But these people can doubt you, but my experience with you, damn it, if you said you had a mission- you did!  I don’t doubt it – not for one minute, which I don’t know if it’s any consolation to you."  It surely was!

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            Very important to you as reader of this true account is the fact that you can go to our website at www.ExpendableElite.com  and listen to the entirety of all the  audio tapes presented at the trial and heard by the Judge and Jury alike. Then YOU can be the Judge!

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            On 8 July 1988 John Strait, Jim Taylor, Richard Sirois and I celebrated together at the Annual Special Forces Convention which took place in the Bordeaux Motor Inn Convention Center in Fayetteville, North Carolina. We not only celebrated my book coming together but were privileged to get together with Martha Raye and celebrate her captivating Foreword to what was then called The Bassac Bastards.  John Strait’s wife and Richard Sirois’ wife joined us at a picnic held at Fort Bragg during the convention.

            On 18 July 1988 I received a hand written note from John Strait’s wife, Shirley. saying “I really had a great time and John really had a nice time. Sure hope I get to meet Kate in the near future."  Her final request of me at the end of her note was "Take care and good luck with your book.”

            Just three days after Shirley wrote, John called me to tell me that he was upset that the Hoa Haos had been labeled “bandits” by some of our military leaders.  John told me "They weren’t bandits and all they wanted was peace and to stay in their home area and keep it safe."

On 17 June in 1989 I mailed copies to John Strait, Richard Sirois and James Taylor of my new and updated manuscript that included input from them and others. It was titled “The Bassac Bastards – The True Story of U.S. Army Special Forces Detachment A-424 and Independent Warfare in An Phu, South Vietnam - December 1965 – August 1966.”  On the cover page of the one I sent to James Taylor I hand-wrote a note that read “17 June 1989.  Jim Taylor, You are a big part of the story and I am sure proud to know you! Your Comrade-in-Arms, Dangerous Dan.”  This was one of the many pieces of evidence presented to the jury during the January 2006 trial.

            In September 1989 former CIA Saigon Station Chief Tom Polgar wrote General Quang Van Dang, the South Vietnamese Officer who had rescued all of us at An Phu from the wrath of the CIA in June 1966.  It was only through my correspondence with President George H. W. Bush that an investigation to clear General Dang of false allegations placed against him by our own government (most likely from the CIA). In that letter Tom Polgar wrote, "It is very noble of Colonel Marvin that he took up the crusade."  The crusade he referred to was my year long struggle to force an investigation that cleared General Dang and to then bring him into this country from Canada with a permanent entry visa.

            It was a 14 September 1989 letter from James L. Halmo, Director of the Office of Public and Diplomatic Liaison in the U.S. State Department, that told me that General

Dang was issued an immigrant visa on September 7, 1989. Halmo referred to my 17 July 1989 letter to President George H.W. Bush.  It was the letter in which I asked President Bush to take immediate action to cause a government-wide investigation to clear General Dang of the heinous charges that had been levied against him (by our government) and to issue him a permanent entry Visa.

            No sooner had I gotten assurance from the White House (through James Halmo) that I could bring General Dang into this country without incident then, on 20 September of that year, a CIA secret friend of mine called to tell me that an ambush was planned to kill General Quang and me on this side of the Canadian border when I brought him into the USA. I immediately arranged with four volunteers from the New York State Police who knew me from the time I gave instruction to their two Mobile Response teams in the Control of Fear to follow me in unmarked cars to ambush any ambush by the CIA's thugs - most likely Mafia hit people. I then called Congressman Matthew McHugh and warned him of the probability of much bloodshed on the border unless he took action to get the CIA out of the picture.  Within an hour Congressman McHugh called me back and told me “Dan, you can tell General Dang that the safest place in the world for him will be to be with you as you cross the border.”

            .  After hearing from Matt called I called my contact in the NY State Police, told him what Congressman McHugh had said and I called off the counter-ambush. I did notice, on the way into this country an unmarked State Trooper car sticking close by our U-Haul truck.

            On the 24^th of September in 1989 I personally brought General Dang across the border and into the United States of America.  Perhaps a mile or more before we got to the border checkpoint we could see cars and trucks all pulled over and parked next to the road.  When we arrived at the customs checkpoint, only the officials of the checkpoint were in or around the building.  They did not inspect the truck and all they did was take General Dang’s fingerprints and complete the paperwork processing. We were out of there in less than 30 minutes and headed south into the U.S.A.  Immediately they opened up the checkpoint to traffic going north and south.

            Interestingly enough, the man who had refused to so much as talk to General Dang prior to my involvement, U.S. Consul General Antippas wrote our Secretary of State on 2 October 1989 telling him that General Quang Van Dang had crossed the border at Champlain POE on Sunday, Sept. 24, 1989.  He added a "cute" remark, “His buddy, Col. Marvin, drove the getaway van. Case closed (we hope).” and signed it “Antippas.”

            On 9 October 1989 former CIA Saigon Station Chief Tom Polgar wrote General Dang and told him of his pleasure knowing that General Dang was in the United States “once again.” Mr. Polgar gave General Dang his home phone number and told him to “write to [him] or call [him]” if he could be of assistance.

            Just nine days later the CIA Saigon Station Chief (Theodore G. Shackley) that Polgar had succeeded, after getting the news about General Dang, wrote me to congratulate me on “a Herculean job well done” in helping General Dang get into

this country and, in that same letter, Mr. Shackley praised the work of General Dang telling of his being “a man who understood national interests.” 

            As late as 2 June in 2003 I received a letter from Raymond Johnson, who had read the published hardcover book Expendable Elite.  He told me "I hear that Jimmy Dean got a copy." He wrote that he'd read it and sent it to his brother to show him "what the Sneaky Pete were up to." And, Raymond sent a $35.00 check and asked me to mail him a copy for his daughter who "wants one."

            During the entire time that I was in touch with and providing manuscript copies to my team members not a one suggested that anything was wrong with my book. Not a one mentioned even the thought of suing me.  It wasn't until the summer of 1997, after I had provided evidence of possible Special Forces involvement in the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King to attorney William Pepper, that action started within the SFA to silence "Dangerous Dan."

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Three more parts to Mustang Report # 3 will follow.  They are titled:

 Part 2: Who or What caused my men to turn against me?

 Part 3:  Was it the CIA who backed the SFA with secret $?

 Part 4:  The post-trial actions of the SFA that deny the truth!