P.O.

Box 2
Lincoln College
incorporatin2
Canterbury NZ

December 1987 nO.16 News!etter of Citizens for the Demilitarisation of Harewood

�-----.--------�

Decorating the fence outside the USAF-MAC buildings,

Harewood action, October 18.

In This Issue: US Dirty Tricks in the Philippines - Parallels with New Zealand

Changing of the Guard at Christchurch USIS Office

Book Review: "The Book of Leaks"

Anti-Bases Campaign Discussed at National Peace Workshop

How to Stop a Starlifter

The Siege of Pine Gap

The Ultimate Shared Intol1igence: 30 Minutes to Oblivion

'Civilian' Hercules labelled as Navy

2

U.S. DIRTY TRICKS IN THE PHILIPPINES � PARALLELS WI'm NEW ZEALAND

by Nuclear Pree Kiwis

During the last few years, Nuclear Free Kiwis have published articles in
"Nuclear Free", "NZ Monthly Revisw", "Peacelink", and "Peace Researcher". The
theme of these articles has been the threat to NZ's nuclear freedom from
American subversion. A recent report of a U.S.-Philippine fact-finding
mission to the Philippines, May 20-30 this year, provides a graphic
confirmation of the validity of our concern and work to date.

The report is titled "Right-Wing Vigilantes and U.S. Involvement",

published by the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, July 1987.
The authors are headed by highly respected, former U.8. Attorney-General, Mr
Ramsey Clark. Another author is ex-CIA agent, Mr Ralph McGehee, who made a
lecture tour to NZ in 1986. The remaining authors are also prominent leaders
in the human rights movement. What the report reveals is a pattern of US
action, both overt and covert, to set up death squad operations in the
Philippines ('The star' cited the report on 26 May 19B7). These operations
are modelled on those the US has engineered in Vietnam, Indonesia, El
Salvador, Guatemala, and other countries. The objective is to eliminate
leftist activists and their supporters.

From a NZ perspective, what is so striking about the report's contents

are the parallels. between US operations in the Philippines for a specifically
bloody purpose and US operations in NZ for a non-violent kind of subversion.

Articles by Nuclear Rree Kiwis have described a network of US agencies

and activities in NZ. This network has involved, inter alia, 1) the United
States Information Service (USIS), 2) a right-wing Anzus think-tank led by
"ex"-CIA agent'. Ray Cline, with connections to the Moonies and the neo-fascist
World Anti-Communist League (WACL), 3) CIA covert operations like the
so-called Maor! Loans Affair, 4) various Moonie fronts, 5) the instigation of
local pro-nuclear groups, 6) "red-scare" ploys, 7) the US National Endowment
for Democracy (NED) and its backing for the Pacific Democratic Union and the
NZ National Party, and 8) the US national labour union body (the AFL-CIO) and
CIA-inspired union activity. What the Philippines fact-finding study reveals
is a similar network in action but one which is unrestrained by the
conventions and context of a developed Western country. In the Philippines,
this US subversion programme is prepared to use the most ruthless means to
achieve its ends.

To make the parallels between the NZ and the Philippines situations more
meaningful, we shall cite below various examples of US activity described in
the Ramsey Clark report. Quotes are from the report. NZ parallels are given
where relevant.

Examples of US Activity

(a) On the island of Mindanao in Davao City, there has emerged a

particularly vicious right-wing vigilant. group, the Alga Masa. The aim of
Alsa Masa is to eliminate left-wing activists under the pretext of their being
communists. In fact, most victims of Alsa Masa and other vigilante violence
in the Philippines are "poor farmers, labourers. and slum dwellers struggling
for a better 11fe". VI'
 3

� The principal instigator of Alsa Masa in Davao City is US-trained Lt Col

Franco CaUda. To quote the report, "More recently, he [CalidaJ has met
frequently with William Parker of the USIS". In New Zealand the origins of
certain pro-nuclear groups like the Plains Club and Collective Security have
been linked to USIS-sponsored trips to the US by key group members.

CIA steps up its Philippine operations

Pra!,:i.dent Reagan has '""sued a iiew. vigilante squads. Mission meml:iet'
"findin9'; that will add. 12 ag�hts t(,. ·the 'lla1l'h McGahee, said that when ha was in.
115.-membar. CIA station in. Manila", reported Vil'tni$l!l with the CIA he workad with simii�
tha Marc!> 23.Newswaak. It , «1S9 "",,:%""" lar groups callad "provincial racon-',
thorised _cov�rt, actions naissance units" which; were- act�alJ.y;
forea ovarflights of rahel araas. assassination taam sant to "puri-
'fy" villagas of allaged·conlmunists.
Tha April 9 � Eastern !££::
Another mission participant, Black
nomic Review confirmed the "rePort'�
lawyer Garald Horna, commantad that
adding that tha CIA would also ba"
the godfathar of tha original Alsa
"rainvigorating" tha Philippines
vigilantes in Davao, Cole CA >
saerat police.
"does not make a move without
In 'May
formar US
a human rights'mission' ,led
Attornay-Ganaral"
by
Ramsey Clark
.=B",.i"l",l'---c:"-'==,,"""
saw aviden"a tha CIA was involved with the

(b) On the island of Cebu, "The team also learned that the USIS had
sponsored lectures on the 'evils of communism' and distributed literature of
the same tenor to top ranking students In the area who were then encouraged to
form associations to combat it. Material from CAUSA International (the
political arm of Rev Moon's Unification Church), an extreme rightist group, is
freely available from the USIS and similar literature is distributed through
the USIS library. Representatives of student groups told the Team that these
activities have been going on since 1984". As well, CAUSA was funding the
activities of anti-communist agitators.

With regard to NZ the US National Security Council has instructed the

USIS to "lead a government-wide public affairs strategy addreSSing [our
nuclear free statusJ". ('The Press', 22 May 1986, p. 4)

(c) The Frederick Ebert Foundation, a German organisation rumoured to be

a CIA front, had given $100,000 to a local radio station on Cebu. The Trade
Union Congress of the Philippines, apparently CIA subverted according to the
report, owns the station which was also receiving money from NED. The radio
station, previously linked to Marcos, "has been whipping up waves of
anti-communist hysteria".

The US has tried to subvert NZ unions through AFL/CIO (CIA) activity in

the form of the Labour Committee on Pacific Affairs. (1)

(d) WACL was supporting anti-communist activists on Cebu. So was a

closely related organisation, The World Christian Anti-Communist Crusade. The
latter organisation was giving a lot of attention to the Philippines with its
Vice-President, John Whitehall, frenetically scurrying between the islands and
his US residence.

In NZ in recent years a number of National Party MP's have been involved

in WACL. J
4

� (e) On the island of Negros, one of the right-wing vigilante groups is

called the Kristiano Kontra Kommunismo (Christians Against Communism). "It is
one of many vigilante groups with a fanatic religious connection." The CIA
and WACL did not need the US fundamentalist groups to teach them about the
potential of politico-religious cults in the Third World.

In a different sort of setting and style, the Moonies and certain

religious fundamentalist groups serve foreign-inspired reactionary ends in NZ.
Various Moonie fronts in NZ, like the Professors' World Peace Academy and
CARP, have been at work. Yet another Moonie front organisation the 3lobal
Economic Action Institute (' Covert Action', No. 27, Spring 1987 ) , probing NZ
for weak spots, received some publicity when it gave Sir Robert Muldoon an
award. ("The Mo �n o:gani �a�ioIJ i s skilled at using the prestige of
.
out-of-power polltlclans. CA , No. 27, p. 46) The Institute has known links
to the CIA. Muldoon said that his association with the Institute went back as
far as the change of NZ government in 1984 ('The Press', 17 Sept 1987). He
had attended a number of the Institute's meetings.

(f) On Luzon, the Team found more vigilante groups emerging, the most
nocable among them being the Citizens Against Communism, a group with ties to
WACL. In Central Luzon, CAUSA has spearheaded "a virulent and intensive
anti -communist propaganda campaign " • • •

"CAUSA'S activities since the early 1980's have paralleled US government

operations in Central and South America, Southeast Asia and other parts of the
Third World, suggesting covert US funding." One moderate Filipino
presidential advisor expressed concern about CAUSA and said that he thought it
was a CIA front.

(g) CAUSA and WACL are intimately interlinked and reflect the
privatisation of US foreign policy - the involvement of private groups (as
disclosed in Irangate) which carry out US dirty work overSeas. They evidently
work hand in glove with the CIA, USIS, NED and similar agencies. In the
Philippines they were actively engaged in supporting, propagandising and
organising the anti-communist vigilante movement. CAUSA has recently joined
the other Moonie fronts operating in NZ ( 'Wellington Confidential', No. 38,
October 1987).

(h) A whole pattern of events in the Philippines was found to be typical

of a major CIA programme. Evidence of direct CIA involvement came in various
forms. "In a presidential finding of early 1987 President Reagan directed the
CIA to conduct low intensity operations against the communist New People's
Army." These operations were to include the creation of new political groups
and disinformation/propaganda tactics. Infiltration and penetration of the
leadership of leftist movements would be another obvious priority. Later in
the year, Reagan authorised $10 million and 12 new agents for CIA covert
operations in the Philippines. A filipino newspaper report stated that a CIA
branch of 70 agents was recently established in Mindanao!

Further, it is very significant that "Ray Cline (a long-time CIA asset)"

and leneral John Singlaub visited the Philippines and met together with former
Filipino Defence Minister, Juan Ponce Enrile, and 3eneral Fidel Ramos, Chief
of Staff, prior to the aborted November coup attempt in 1986.

Retired 3eneral Singlaub, " • who apparently serves in the capacity of

• •

CIA contract agent", is the US's leading organiser of death squad operations
in the Third World. A member of a secret Pentagon committee on unconventional
warfare, Singlaub has a long history of dedicated murderous activity. Once
operations leader of the US' s Phoenix assassination programme in Vietnam,
Singlaub has been prominent of late rW1ning arms to the contras, and now
instigating death squads in the Philippines. Until recently, Singlaub was ../
chairman of WACL.
 5

I"" Ray Cline is at the centre of a spider web of CIA, WACL, Moonie and other
extreme rightist organisations. He is an unabashed enthusiast for terrorism
to roll back national liberation movements. He visited NZ in 1985 on a covert
mission.

The contacts, activities, and movements of Singlaub in particular were

evident to the investigating Team. "It was General Singlaub who suggested to
the businessmen at gatherings during his visit to the Philippines that they
organise into groups to oppose leftist tendencies." Singlaub was arranging
for US Special Forces personnel to train Filipino soldiers in unconventional
warfare techniques. He also visited people very close to Aquino such as her
brother, Peping (sic, Clark report) Cojuangco, and speech writer, Teodoro
Locsin.

(i) Crucial to the CIA programme were " media and propaganda operations
• . •

built around a cadre of recruited members of the target country media.

Through the long-term build-up of an integrated media structure united with a
network of agents-of-influence in the military. political, labour, academic,
religious, cultural and social fabric of a country, the CIA initiates an
entire series of operations designed to raise the level of anti-communism to a
hysterical pitch". "The fact-finding Team found that many of the typical
media operations are being implemented today in the Philippines."

The CIA concentrates on subverting the media in countries of primary

operational interest. It is its major contribution to subversion. One of the
media operations cited in the report concerns "stories of Russian ships
depositing weapons at isolated beaches". Such a story suggestive of possible
CIA input appeared in NZ in the form of a 'NZ Truth' story, 23 June 1937,
which alleged Maori army rebels were smuggling guns to revolutionary gangs.

Summary and Conc14sions

In the Philippines, the Reagan Administration has the advantage of having

key people in the Filipino government and military who are publicly, as well
as secretly, prepared to support efforts to set up right-wing vigilante
groups. One of Singlaub's contacts was apparently Filipino Defence Secretary,
Rafael Heto, who confirmed to the fact-finding Team that "vigilante groups
are tolerated and encouraged by the Department of National Defence as
necessary to combat communism in that country". Various other sources also
indicated that vigilantes have the enthusiastic endorsement,
'
encouragement and
support of the military high command.

Human rights and cause-oriented groups are rapidly becoming prime targets
of the Vigilantes and the military. The military has now accused 22
left-leaning church, labour and human-rights organisations of serving as
fronts for the communist party ('The Press', 22 Nov. 1987). One of the
accused organisations is the highly respected Catholic Task Force Detainees
group on which Singlaub personally attempted a subterfuge in an effort to
extract information. So-called civilian defence groups are being set up while
death-squad activities are increasing,

To quote the fact-finding Team again, "At this moment in the Philippines,
forces represented most graphically by a growing right-wing Vigilante movement�
6

,...are bent on violently eliminating those who seek fundamental changes in an

unjust social and economic order".

The tragedy of what is currently happening in the Philippines should

motivate people to publicise US activity there and to actively support the
cause of justice and Filipino human rights. The report, "Right-wing
Vigilantes and US Involvement", points out that "Washington's policy towards
Manila is establishing ties with right-wing military and vigilante networks to
move the Philippines government to the right, or even overthrow it". Any
democratic dissent is suspect and open to attack. Repeated coup threats and
coup attempts serve the objective of coercive diplomacy. The centre-left
forces which brought Aquino to power and which continue to agitate for labour
rights and against economic exploitation and the presence of US bases, have to
be destroyed. Aquino herself has publicly endorsed the NAKASAKA vigilante
group.

On her visit to NZ earlier this year, international peace worker Dr Helen

Caldicott told peace activists here in NZ that, "If you were in Central
America now, many of you would be dead and Mr Lange would have been killed by
now" ('The Star', 3 August 1987). In the Philippines, the terror of the
Marcos era is returning in an even worse form. Meanwhile. in the quite
different situation of NZ, the US continues activities parallel to its
operations in the Philippines, Central America, Fiji, and elsewhere.
According to 'Covert Action' (No. 28, Summer 1987) New Zealand is one of the
countries where a major CIA operation is currently underway. The style is
different as circumstances dictate different tactics but the ultimate aim is
to destroy the peace movement, at least in the Sense of political influence.
We must never relax our vigilance if our anti-nuclear independence is to
survive.

Note

(1) See compilation of press articles by Denis Freney, entitled "All the Way
with the CIA? The Labour Committee for Pacific Affairs and the attack on the
Pacific Trade Unions", 1984; available from PR/OB.

CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT CHRISTCHURCH USIS OFFICE

As readers of PR/OB will know, we have a USIS office in our midst here in
Christchurch. It opened officially in January of 1986 with Patrick Linehan as
its first public affairs officer. Mr Linehan's tour lasted less than two
years. He left Christchurch for duty in Hokkaido, Japan, in July of this
year. In the 'Star' (24 June 1987) he commented on life as a diplomat, "You
work for a country you don't live in. You are in a country where you don't
belong". That last statement certainly applies to his agency, but not, in the
writer's opinion, to a chap as amiable as Patrick. He kept a very low profile
and we're not sure just what his role here was. Librarian? Surely not the
whole story.

Pat Linehan has been replaced by the even younger Karl Stolz. At 27 Mr
Stolz is serving in his first diplomatic role. According to a press report,
he said, "This is an ideal job. I get to travel, work with people, write, and
do promotional work". But he probably won't be here much longer than Mr
Linehan. He gets itchy feet after about two years in One place and ultimately
wants to work in the Soviet Union. J
 7

� Is his job description accurate and complete? Perhaps it is for the

backwater Christchurch posting. Linehan mentioned on leaving that his office
had been picketed by protesters. And he said 'anti-American demonstrators'
had discussed US policies with him. Apparently, any New Zealander, (or
indeed, American) who criticises US policies is anti-American. If you're not
for Reagan and his henchmen, you're anti-American; never mind what the bulk of
Americans might think about US policies in Nicaragua, Fiji, Belau, 3renada,
and southern Africa, to name but a few regions subjected to US covert and/or
overt intervention.

The only other USIS office in New Zealand is in the American embassy in
Wellington. It is not surprising that the USIS people there have a bit higher
profile than those in Christchurch. The embassy public affairs officer, Mike
30uld, recently released for media and public consumption an 8-page paper
entitled "Disinformation and the Fiji military coup". To quote "Wellington
Pacific Report" (No. 5, Nov. 1987), "Rather than attempting to rebut
allegations about US involvement in the coup, [the 30uld/USIS paper] attempts
to smear them as Soviet-inspired. The document is extremely interesting for
all the evidence it does not attempt to rebut, and can be taken as
confirmation [of] much of the evidence for US involvement (e.g., that in
'Wellington Confidential", now reprinted in full in 'Lobster", No. 14)." **

In addition to maintaining an operational base in New Zealand via its two

offices, the USIS actively promotes the US image and policies through its
International Visitor Grant Program. This is part of a "vigorous campaign to
overturn New Zealand's nuclear free policy" (see "NZ Monthly Review', No. 295,
February 1987, p. 12). In that article NFK published a list of New Zealanders
who had traveled to the US under USIS sponsorship (Mr Linehan refused a
request for that list; it was obtained from the USIA in Washington), Reaching
influential members of the local media is one of the current key goals of this
programme.

The Christchurch office of the USIS in its first one year-plus of

operation has refrained from public controversy (except for one comical
exchange with 'Canta', see PR No. 15). A number of American speakers have
been sponsored by the USIS to speak on topics ranging from Antarctica to
foreign policy. Local groups have picketed the USIS from time to time, and
will probably continue to do so. The agency is not simply tne innocent source
of information about good-friend America that it purports to be. The USIS is
here for a reason and it appears to be largely because of continuing protest
about the American military presence at Operation Deep Freeze.

Like the Harewood military base, the USIS in Christchurch, in addition to

its information and publicity activities, is a contingency asset'; it is an
arm of the US embassy ready for action to influence New Zealanders, either
overtly or covertly, whenever American hegemony is threatened in this remote
part of the world (also see Philippines article by NFK in this issue)•

•• Copies of the cited WPR and WC are available to PR/OB subscribers for $1.00
each to cover copy and postage costs.
8
"THE BOOK OF LEAKS"
"Exposes in Defence of the Public's Right to Know"

by Brian Toohey and Marian Wilkinson, Angus & Robertson, 268 pp.

reviewed by Murray Horton

Toohey and Wilkinson are two of Australia's top investigative

journalists. Both have worked for that gem of the Fairfax crown, 'The
National Times' (now 'The Times on Sunday'), Indeed, Toohey was its editor.
He now edits a small satirical magazine, 'The Eye', and recently caused a
furore in NZ with a throwaway line in the lengthy 'Listener' article stating
that Hayden and Hawke study intercepted NZ diplomatic cables for evidence of
Lange's foibles.

The seven chapter headings and subheadings of this book succinctly sum it
up: "The BogIe-Chandler mystery, Does the FBI know what happened?", "The
Loans Affair. Was the Labor Party set up?", "The 1975 Dismissal. Was Whitlam
a security riSk?", The Intelligence Services. A law unto themselves?", "The
Timor Papers. Did Australia condone the invasion?", The Nugan Hand Swindle.
A CIA 'dirty tricks' operation?", "The Defence Strategies. Fraser or
Hawke?".

The BogIe-Chandler murder mystery chapter is the most fascinating in a'c

individual sense, but also the weakest and most unconnected one. Most of the
rest form a seamless pattern. Several were happening simultaneously. The
'
loans affair (s) led to the Whitlam dismissal in 75, the same year Indonesia
invaded East Timor, with Whitlam's tacit approval (and overt US support). I
lived in Sydney in 1975-76 and this brought back to me what a hectic year it
was, not only in Australia but worldwide - the final liberation of Vietnam,
the superpowers' proxy war in Angola.

Not surprisingly, most of the exposes involve security agencies, domestic

and international. Australia crawls with spies. The NSA monitored Labor
government communications to tip off the Tories about the highly irregular
loans negotiations; Australian and American agencies were deeply disturbed by
Whitlam starting to lift the veil off Pine Gap; the existence of ASIS was kept
top secret for many, many years; Nugan Hand (which included Mr Asia amongst
its select clientele) was run as a money laundering operation and financial
front for the CIA;

The leaks have come right from the top: tapes of personal phone calls by
Whitlam's Treasury Secretary, alerting fellow senior bureaucrats of the loans
fiasco; daily CIA briefings for President Ford, proving that Indonesia was
actively intervening in East Timor months before its outright invasion, and
that the US knew and approved.

It has material relevant to NZ. Whitlam, without fanfare, wouldn' t allow

any US nuclear warships into Australia during his term. The Americans were
thoroughly alarmed, but didn't behave in the same public and
counter-productive way as they have towards Lange. They just made sure they
got rid of Whitlam.

(Incidentally, the book lists one individual called Dunning Idle.

Somebody with that name could only be a CIA agent.)

This book is a fascinating revelation about the secret elites who

manipulate, ignore or actively oppose elected governments. It's also about
governments who deceive and destabilise other governments, and governments who
lie to their own people. It doesn't tell uS anything we don"t already know.
But it proves it.
 9

Newsletter of Citizens for the Demilitarisation of Harewood.

p.a. Sox 2258, Chri'tchurch, New Zealand

ANTI-BASES CAMPAIGN DISCUSSED AT NATIONAL PEACE WORKSHOP

The National Peace Workshop this year was held at Curious Cove in the
magnificent Marlborough Sounds. An anti-bases campaign workshop was held on

the first day. Attendance and enthusiasm were good and over 2:) signed 2 Ii.i.,t
wanting to be involved in some way with further work on the campaign.

The workshop was led off by Owen Wilkes of Peace Movement Aotearo2 and
Bob Leonard of CDH. The three existing bases (Harewood, Black Birch and
Tangimoan;:::-:.) were described in some detail and a number of questions ar:G. iE;:,:ue�:',
were discu�;8ed amongst the participants. Jenny Easton facilitated thE; lat',ter
part of the meeting as we got down to the hard part: what to do about the
bases. There was a CO::lsensUS that Aotearoa/New Zealand should not be hosting
them. But the wider peace movement� let alone the general publiC, simply does
not grasp the significance of the bases to our nuclear free status and
independence from US nuclearism�

No firm plan of action was deci.ded upon at the workshop, but a

brainstorming �Jession produced a long list of pOfJsible tasks and actions that
could be undertaken locaLLy or nationally. The national campaign was kicked
off in October at the demonstration at Harewood. Such actions will continue
at the bases in 1938.

Education is another urgent need" It can be accomplished in part by the

production of leaflets, videos, and articles for broad distribution to and by
the grass roots peace groups. Bases do not engender the strong feelings that
warships invading our harbours do. This is part of the problem we face. The
base�::; may be just as important as the ship visits but the issues ar8 more
complex and often technical� They don�t involve nuclear weapons directl:r sc:,
people miss the connection between the bases and the insidious nuclear
war-fighting strategies dominating the US global view.

Who will do the work of the anti-bases campaign? If it is to suc,:

� e�d
campaign will require the same broad corl. mittment
a Labour government that has gone about as far as it thinks it can given the
pressures it faces from its � friends'" �
CDH has agreed to play a c.: ordinating
role in the south island and to help people in the north to find a group ,'" �
10

�centre to do likewise up there. Of course, there is PMA in Wellington, but

running such a campaign is not in their brief. Their assistance is assured,
of course. PMA researchers do the bulk of the detailed research work that is
central to our understanding of the bases. We hope that the Manuatu Peace
Movement will want to play a role given their proximity to Tangimoana.

As a footnote, it is important to recognise that the bases issue is not

static - we face yet another one to be built in the Marlborough region in
1999-89. It will be a satellite snooping station in the Waihopai Valley not
far from Blenheim. In the fond tradition of past NZ governments, the station
is shrouded in secrecy by the Prime Minister. But the indefatigable Owen
Wilkes has managed to produce a challenging paper which gives excellent
insight into the likely capabilities and uses of the Waihopai facility. A
copy can be obtained from CDH, or from PMA.

If you are concerned about the continuing foreign military and

intelligence presence in NZ, despite our nuclear free policy, please let uS
know of your interest. We can send you literature on the bases and keep you
informed as to what you and your group can do as the campaign develops.

HOW TO STCP A STARLIFTER - HOLD A DEMO (OR THREE)

CDH organised a march, demonstration and encampment to coincide with

large and well-planned ' Close Pine Gap' actions in Australia along the route
of the weekly Pine Gap Starlifter (Richmond near Sydney, and Alice Springs).
A major purpose was to protest, yet again, the regular Sunday Channel flight
of a Starlifter on its way to Pine Gap in service to the C.I.A. Our protest
drew 75 supporters. At Richmond RAAF Base near Sydney there were 300, at
Alice Springs 700. It was sufficient in our view to cause the U.S. Air Force
to reschedule or perhaps even cancel the flight (Alice Springs Peace Jroup
tells us the flight arrived on the Wednesday, two days late).

We didn't draw the numbers they did in Aussie but we got excellent radio
and newspaper coverage. The Australian actions were big, colourful,
well-organised, and very newsworthy. Hundreds were arrested at Pine Jap,
including Senator Jo Vallentine, for violating a security area (see article by
Murray Horton for·details elsewhere in this issue). Our action did not
involve civil disobedience but it was a big success.

On Sunday morning, October 18, a few early risers gathered in the Square
with banners and placards (we were outnumbered by the latter and had to stow a
few). It was a beautiful morning and a shame so many of the faithful missed a
magnificent march to the airport. At just after 10 am we set off in our
single digit numbers for Hagley Park and across to Fendelton Road which
magically changes into Memorial Ave. As we approached the airport Our numbers
swelled into double digits including Owen Wilkes for the last 200 metres.
Owen told us we were late and, noting that numbers were not all that great as
yet, suggested that peace people were not feeling the appropriate sense of
outrage toward "a country which bombs Tripoli, invades Grenada, threatens
Nicaragua, arms Iran, nuclearises Belau, militarises space, supports French
testing, opposes the Rarotonga Treaty. refuses to Sign the UN Convention on
the Law of the Sea, and doesn't want a comprehensive nuclear test ban" (Have
you guessed the country?).

It was our intent to greet the Sunday Starlifter from a vantage point
along the fence near the new Customs quarters. While we waited for the
imminent arrival in a cool Nor'easter, various speakers provided information
on Operation Deep Freeze and the military, the international anti-bases
campaign, and the current situation in the Philippines, in Central America, �
,.... and in Australia. The , sta�lif�er still had not arrived and we began to
•
11
suspect that it wouldn t (�t dldn t until Tuesday).

So we moved our centre of action to the long fence beside the Naval
hangar and USAF MAC buildings in Orchard Road. CDH had brought along bags of
colourful rags and ribbons with which to festoon the ugly gray fence. This
kept the protestors busy for well over an hour, resulting in AOTEAROA
'ANTI-BASES CAMPAIGN 1987-1988' woven and knotted along about 50 metres of
fence in letters two metres high. Our presence apparently was not threatening
to either the military or the police. The latter kept a very low profile. US
Naval personnel kept a bemused watch from near the buildings, coming out later
to ponder the meaning of Aotearoa.

When a few of uS entered the gate and were allowed into Naval offices to
ask a question, we were politely told that the Navy knew nothing about Air
"orce flights - i.e., the Starlifter was not their concern. It is widely

known that the various US services don't get on too well (they' re very
competitive, particularly over things like who has the biggest missiles), but
in this instance it is somewhat revealing. If the Starlifter were on
significant Deep Freeze business, it would seem likely that the Navy would
know about it. A service run to the CIA at Pine Gap would not concern the
Navy.

Getting back to the fence, another notable decoration was an artistically

rendered MAC checK-in counter complete with surly officer ready to process
passengers for the Ice, or Pine Gap. depending On your business with the
versatile US Air Force. One large arrow pointed up, the other down,
representing roughly the great divergence of Starli.fter destinations from
Christchurch.

We then held the great frozen "Credible Duck" raffle, first prize being
an edible version of the "Credible Dove" cargoes carried by the Starlifters to
Pine Gap. The duck was won by Elsie Locke. The dove bit is a code name for
the upgrading of the spy base at Pine Gap. a process that is still continuing
with the addition of yet more radomes.

Our encampment followed the main event. A small contingent erected a

large marquee tent in a paddock overlooking Deep Freeze. There was a
Starlifter there but it had arrived days before and was destined for the Ice
in the service of science. There were also 5 ski-Hercules on the tarmac. We
spent the night - some sleeping soundly, some fretting a bit over the
intentions of horn-honking yahoos who seemed terribly agitated over our
presence.

By 9am we and our tent and our porta-loo were gone. We were well
satisfied, along with our Australian cohorts. It had been a successful
exercise in solidarity across the Tasman. Thanks to the interested media the
issues were raised before the public yet again - as they will be again and
again and again '"
12

THE SIEGE OF' PINE GAP

(Selected excerpts from a report)

by Murray Horton

In July/August 1986 I spent 6 weeks travelling Australia by rail, meeting

peace activists in every state and territory except WA and Tasmania. The
definite highpoint for me was the week I spent with the Alice Springs Peace
Group. They were the best organised, most imaginative group I'd met in a long
time.

At that stage the ASPG was building up to the start of its 12-month-Iong
'
campaign against Pine Gap (CDH expressed its s�lidarity with its October 86
Spies' Picnic at Harewood). I resolved then to get back to Alice for the
'
October 87 climax, a national (and international) demonstration outside, AND
INSIDE, the CIA's biggest and most important electronic spybase outside of the
US.

So I fully intended to go as an individual. The situation changed

however when first Owen Wilkes and then Bob Leonard had to decline the
invitation to become the featured New Zealand speaker at the "Australia Beyond
The Bases" forum that was part of the weeklong activities in Alice. I then
became the New Zealand speaker.

I was not the only New Zealander there; Nerissa Te Patu and Marie Laufiso
of Te Whanau A Matariki (Dunedin) were there to take part in the Pacific
indigenous peoples' session of the forum, and to foster links with indigenous
groups, both in Australia and around the Pacific. But I was the only
representa tive of the "pakeha peace movement" (their words). Another New
Zealand resident who made a big sPlash in Alice was Jone Dakuvula of
Wellington, representing the Coalition for the Restoration of Democracy in
F'iji. He got a lot of well deserved media coverage locally, nationally and
internationally.

"Australia Beyond The Bases" was held over two consecutive nights. In
the first session on and by indigenous peoples, several speakers presented
comprehensive accounts of the struggles in their countries against US
imperialism, French colonialism, Indonesian genocide, reactionary groups, and
all pervasive European racism. It adds up to a devastation of indigenous
peoples throughout the Pacific.

I took part in the second session, which examined defence alternaives for
Australia. This was chaired by Senator Jo Vallentine, the Independent
anti-nuclear senator for WA (both sessions were introduced by Brian Doolan,
spokesperson for both the ASPG and the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign
Coalition). My fellow speakers were Margaret Clark from Canberra Richard
Tanter of Melbourne's Monash University, and Nancy Shelley of Can berra.

I had the unenviable job of speaking first and warming up the crowd.
They seemed quite warm by the time r 'd finished. My paper was entitled 'The
View from Aotearoa·. It dispelled the myth that we are nuclear free
detailing the continued existence of objectionable military faciliti � s at
Harewood, Black Birch and Tangimoana. It filled in the history of how Lange
was forced to adhere to his anti-nuclear policy by the peace movement. And it
canvassed arguments for and against nuclear free Aotearoa having any form of
military alliance or relationship with an Australia that is a staunch member
of ANZUS and a most loyal satellite of every aspect of US nuclear strategy. �
 13

;r It was heartening to receive loud applause when I stated that Aotearoa is

nuclear free and out of ANZUS. I called for Australians to help uS finish the
job, and for us to help them fight the much bigger and much more entrenched US
military and intelligence presence in their country.

The audience (several hundred attended each session) appreciated some

humour, and people were surprised to learn that my speech was on behalf of two
groups (CAFCA/CDH) and had been cleared, line by line, by special CDH
meetings. (For a copy of the complete, sanitised speech send your address and
$2 to Box 2258, Christchurch, to cover photocopying and postage.]

But the forum was only one of the activities in an action packed week
(October 13-20). There were workshops on every day, all day, for the first
part of the week on such topics as Kanaky, Fiji, the Philippines,
cross-cultural awareness, non-violent direct action training, and legal
briefings (Pine Gap is protected by all sorts of very draconian laws).

One whole day was set aside for a meeting of delegates to the Australian
Anti Bases Campaign Coalition. The giant US communications base at North West
Cape will be the focus of attention in 'S8 as its lease is up for renewal next
year. There will also be a national protest in Sydney in October S8' .As
part of the vastly overblown Australian Bicentennial celebrations, the US Navy
is sending 74 warships Simultaneously into Sydney Harbour that month. So the
AABCC is organising a national protest under the slogan "No Tall Ships! No
Warships!" (the former being the reenactment of the First Fleet - of
convicts)•

One particularly positive result of the AABCC meeting was an agreement to

establish a regional committee to run a regional campaign against US bases,
and to put money towards this. There are 3 countries involved - Australia,
New Zealand, and the Philippines. Australia will assist US and send delegates
to our planned actions at Harewood, Black Birch, and Tangimoana. I am the New
Zealand representative. The Philippines' anti-bases campaign plans major
actions at both Clark Air Force Base and Subic Bay Naval Base in December 38.
They want Australians and New Zealanders to take part.

Overall coordinator is Joy Balazo of the Philippine Resource Centre in

Melbourne.

What happened at the Pine Gap action?

The organisational skills of the Alice Springs Peace Group were superb.
Several hundred people came from all over Australia, some in chartered luxury
coaches, some in private buses, vans, trucks and cars. They all stayed at the
Heavytree �ap caravan park, where the AABCC established its campaign office.
There was a rich and diverse gathering of people - Helen Caldicott in her
white hat and pearls, Nancy'Shelley in her pith helmet and white gloves, David
Bradbury the filmmaker ("Chile. Hasta Cuando"), Mum Shirl from Redfern who
regaled uS with tales of her multitudes of adopted children, innumerable
grandkids and great grandkids. There were greatly disparate types of people -
the union delegates in shorts and tanktops, the Christians dressed as
cockroaches (the only lifeform to survive nuclear war), the Nimbin hippies,
the Sydney punks, a group of women who identified themselves in a paintup of
"
the road to the base as "feral lesbians . Not to mention the various
political groupings, including several rival communist parties, which all gO �
on.
14

� It was interesting that in a town where Pine Gap is the biggest employer,
there was no organised opposition to the protestors, no perceptible hostility.
But very few locals took part (apart from ASPG stalwarts). It was very much
an out-of-town affair.

The ASPG organised superb media coverage. The demo received extensive
written and pictorial cover in all major Australian papers and was a lead item
on ABC national TV and radio news. There was also heavy coverage on
commercial TV networks.

October 18 and 19 were the days of actual protest and they were
exhaustively planned. Affinity groups were formed; people had to discuss and
decide on whether to get arrested or not, to hammer out a coherent plan of
attack. Then the mass meeting recovened to reach a consensus: it was to enter
the base. Por two days the CIA/National Security Agency ground the place to a
halt. No worker 's buses in or out, no cars at all in or out. On the 19th
some of us went to Alice's civilian airport to greet the weekly USAF MAC
Starlifter from Harewood via RAAF Richmond. It never arrived at any of those
airports; at Alice we were told it was delayed "because there's trouble in
town". Someone had gone to the trouble of painting anti-Pine Gap slogans on
the runway.

Earlier in the week 9 people were arrested for trying to stop one of the
buses entering the base. The bus initially refused to stop, and pushed the
protestors along the ground. They face the quaintly worded charge of "failing
to cease to loiter". Another protest was aimed at the Mayor and her public
pro-US policy, and at the council which recently decided that if notified of
an imminent Soviet missile strike, they'd doorknock the town to suggest people
might like to run very fast (believe it or not that's their policy).

Obviously, the main focus was the base, outSide and in. Invaders began
early and were numerous. Seven got up to the inner security fence around the
radomes and superglued themselves to the fence. This superglue business was
to exercise a powerful fascination over the media. One group interviewed by a
commercial TV network was asked if each protestor carried a tube of the stufc'
for sticking themselves to things. Imagine what a coup it would be to glue
yourself to a CIA agent. Two people did scale the surveillance camera tower
just inside the main gate and very publicly glued themselves to it. The cops
had to use acetone to disconnect them.

The two official days of mass protest action were a triumph. Hundreds of
people took part each day (remember Pine Gap is thousands of km from the
nearest large city in any direction). Each day began with a short march to
the main gate, with a great variety of colourful banners, flags, constant
mUSic, speeches, street theatre, and reading of the Nuremberg Principles.
Everyone took photos in violation of laws providing 7 years gaol for anyone
filming in the vicinity.

The cops were obviously under orders to behave themselves. They'd got
heavy with the '83 women's camp and earned opprobrium. So they didn't try to
defend the outer fence from the outside, only arresting people on the outside
if they were actually cutting it with hacksaws or boltcutters. There was no
thuggery. People were bailed quickly, with no conditions attached to bail.
So some people were arrested more than once. Apparently the cops even gave
fruit to those arrested.

People weren't deterred by draconian laws, high fences, barbed wire or

masses of heavies - Northern Territory cops, Federal police, and the J
 15

TAustralian Protective Services (the special body that guards the US bases).
They went straight over the fence, cut through the gate, cut the barbed wire.
Some made a run for it, some made it into the cover of scrub, others simply
walked up to the nearest cop. One woman chained herself to the fence. By
October 20, the number arrested had reached 213.

Those arrested could not be labelled the extremists. Somewhere between a

third and a half the total number of protestors were arrested. Most of the
ASPG leaders jumped the fence (I suspect to get a few hours peace from
meetings and phones). Or Bill Williams of Victoria, was arrested in a blaze
of media coverage, trying to hand over a petition on behalf of International
Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. The police were mortified at
having to arrest 13 grandparents or great-grandparents. The highest profile
arrest was that of Senator Jo Vallentine. Indeed her arrest kicked off the
mass actions.

It was the mass arrests that captured the lavish media coverage. But
there was no violence, from either side. It did not get sidetracked into a
law and order issue. The week was a great success, as indeed was the whole
campaign. The Australian anti-bases movement is going from strength to
strength. We can learn a lot from them.

THE ULTIMATE SHARED INTELLIGENCE: 3D MINUTES TO OBLIVION

After years of federal politicians lying to the Australian people about

the true functions of US bases, the Hawke government now admits that Australia
is a nuclear target because it hosts strategic U.S. facilities that are
essential to nuclear war fighting. So if deterrence fails and the missiles
start flying, how much time will the Australian government have to prepare to
pay the price of alliance with the US? 3D minutes warning is the time
reported by the Reuter news agency in Sydney ('The Press', 21 April 1987).

Richard Armitage, US Assistant Secretary of Defanse for internal Security

Affairs, could not confirm that the US had agreed to share nuclear
early-warning information with Australia in a formal system link. But he
thought there was nothing new in the report because he would expect complete
information would be given to an ally, and perhaps even some similar
information to New Zealand. We lost formal ALLY status recently on passage of
the Broomfield bill in the US Congress.

Armitage displayed some fancy verbal footwork in trying to explain why NZ

was no longer an ally, while Israel, caught red-handed spying on the US, "• • •

was deserving of the status of a major non-NATO ally". NZ has 'torn the
fabric of the western alliance' and thus we may not share in the 3D-minutes
notice of an ICBM attack on Australia. Perhaps we 'll notice the fallout.
16

CIVILIAN' HERCULES LABELLED AS NAVY

We ask you - Why are transport aircraft which are owned by a civilian
science agency given prominent military labels?

During our overnight encampment in October there were five National

Science Foundation ski-Hercules parked on the tarmac at Deep Freeze. We
happened to notice that some of them said ' U.S. Navy' in letters somewhat
smaller than 'UNITED STATES OF AMERICA' boldly painted above. The labelling
actually seemed to be only partially complete. It was as follows:

Hercules No. 01: ' USA, VXE 6'

No. 02: ' USA, VXE 6. U.8. Navy
No. 03: ' USA, VXE 6. U.S. Navy ,

No. 04: ' USA, U.8. Navy

VXE 6, U.S. Navy
,

No. 05: ' USA,

Many months ago when CDH asked the National Science Foundation (NSF)
about the labelling of the Hercules, we were told the fuselage label was
simply 'United States of America'. Our study of title to the aircraft (see
'Peace Researcher' No. 10, 1986) revealed that the planes are indeed owned by
the NSF. So why the Navy labels?

We wrote the NSF representative at Deep Freeze about it recently. He

replied, "Close to the front door of the aircraft is a marking which states
that the aircraft are owned by the National Science Foundation, and operated
for them by the U.S. Navy". This label is so small that it takes binoculars
to read it from any distance. It must be intended primarily to inform
boarding scientists and other civilian personnel.

We wrote back, "It is curious that the principal and only obvious
labelling of the fuselage is U.S. Navy , not NSF. It would seem quite
• • •

logical for the Foundation to want the general public to associate these
unique aircraft with its highly laudible Antarctic programme". We've had no
further response.
ZlGGY

... CONGRATULA'T7CJNS
MR. PRESIf?ENi·! 'Iou
J./AVr; JUSTSUCC6SSFVU}r' .

LAUNCHED A Pf<E-EMPTlVC" .
FIf<ST-Sf7:<IK£ A6AINST
ANfARCT/CA!
.

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tJ

'Peace Researcher' published by

P.O. Box 2 Educate for Nuclear Disarmament (E.N.D.)
Lincoln College Christchurch
Canterbury New Zealand