THE STRANGE TALE OF
THE SECRET ARMY
ORGANIZATION (USA)
an Diego is a strange town, where the niceties of West-
S
ern civilization cannot hide the power of the buck
and the hint of brute force. It is the city builfwith
the largesse of twenty-five years of imperial sway; a
stronghold, a haven of anticommunism, a base for racke-
teers. Richard Nixon considered it his lucky city. He
wanted the Republican Convention to be held there, and
though the city fathers and the people of San Diego were
not terribly enthusiastic, the plans went forward until May
1972, when the President abruptly changed his mind.
Included in these plans, it turns out, was a tumultuous,
massive, bloody riot—on such a scale as to justify the most
extraordinary preventive measures, including burglary, bug-
ging, sabotage, and perhaps even kidnapping. Watergate, we
learn from the likes of John W. Dean, was simply part of a
strategy to maintain domestic tranquility in the face of a
serious left-wing threat.
Presumably, this Red Menace existed in San Diego as
well as Miami. But San Diego has never been a radical
stronghold, and while local activists did undertake extensive
preparations for anti-war demonstrations during the GOP
convention, the Committee to Re-elect the President seems
to have had a far higher opinion of their organizing suc-
cesses than they themselves dared to entertain.
Unless, of course, CREEP and its local San Diego allies
were hell-bent on making certain that bedlam did in fact
occur. That is precisely what a defecting agent provocateur
named Lewis Tackwood suggested almost two years ago.
Tackwood told an incredible story back in October and
November 1971, one which suggested the Republicans were
doing their utmost to turn San Diego into a bloodbath
during the convention, with the aim of annihilating the left,
smearing the Democrats, and coasting comfortably into
four more years of conservative rule. His allegations were
regarded as the ravings of a madman until testimony in the
Senate caucus room appeared to corroborate some of his
wildest stories. He told of preparations to seal off and then
bomb 100,000 demonstrators attending a rock concert on
Fiesta Island in Mission Bay, San Diego. All sorts of may-
hem was supposed to occur. Bombs were to be smuggled
into Convention Center in hollow furniture, which was al-
Richard Popkin taught philosophy at the University of California,
San Diego and now teaches at Washington University, St. Louis.letter
is a world-renowned expert on skepticism and author o/The Historyup this Red Scum, and say hello, here is some information
of Skepticism and The Second Oswald.
by Richard Popkin
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ready being built in Los Angeles. At least one major Repub-
hcan official would perish in the melee. The Democratic
Party would be tied in to the events, discredited, possibly
outlawed. The Republican candidate would then win an
easy victory with the overwhelming support of an outraged
citizenry. Today, Tackwood sticks by his original story (to
be published in September by Avon as The Glasshouse
Tapes), though he now adds that the plan also called for
blowing up the podium as President Nixon was making his
acceptance speech!
[CIVIL WAR IN SAN DIEGO]
I
ncredible as the Tackwood scenario seemed back in
1971, it sounded less outlandish to San Diego radicals
than to those on the outside. For two years, they had
quite literally been engaged in protracted warfare
with right-wingers determined to drive them out of the
area. As early as 1970, activists associated with the San
Diego Street Journal, an underground newspaper, were liv-
ing in an armed fortress which they guarded around the
clock against the attacks of night riders who would shoot
into their houses, firebomb their cars and threaten their
lives. (Curiously, this terror campaign intensified as the
paper exposed more and more illegal activities of San Diego
kingpin C. Arnholt Smith.) On one occasion, for example,
sentries spotted two men crouched behind a car with a
high-powered rifle trained on the house. It was late at night,
but they were prepared for such emergencies. At a signal,
they switched on floodlamps which bathed the house in
light and they announced over a loudspeaker system that
they would open fire if the men did not withdraw. The
gunmen waited a moment, then dismantled their rifle, and
drove off into the night.
By late 1971, the vigilantes had stepped up their attacks
and had chosen their principal targets. One of these was a
certain Peter Bohmer, a radical who at the time was teach-
ing economics at San Diego State College. He began receiv-
ing threatening phone calls, and on November 13, 1971, a
car parked in front of his house was firebombed. Then on
December 27, 1971, a group calling itself the Secret Army
Organization put out a Special Bulletin on Peter Bohmer.
After listing his anti-war activities, and his background, the
He said; "For any of our readers who may care to look
(Continued on page 56)
WANTED for TREASON
v'ANTHD

TREASON
1 HiS MAN !iwant«dtor tit««»»neius
vtiv^tiGS against the Umted St«t»*:
Bf^ti-aymg th« CoriififtitiOf! I'which
^^; iwom ta uphold
H^ :i *t,ir>inc3 fno sovereignty ijf
' h t U S OV0! tc *h» communist
onS^olied Uo.led Hahom
He nb^U^ymg c-u' htend^ Cuba,
K^s.if.qa Poftugaf «ridb«ffiiBrtd-
nyot^f et'.emifti k^^i^'M Yugml&~
V^RONG t
^.v^^i-Cobs-
3 H«hasbs»r>Ux manforcmg Com-
munist Rsgtsttatioo laws
4 He has gtvsfi suppo'' aod^ncout-
asemont to the Comrnufitst insp-
.r«d r.
5 He h»i iy®9»!iv ifvadndii lovBE^
«igr, State with l«d«tai t-oopi
(y ho has consJStsntV tppomfed
AnthChf^snaos to f •d«rsi oHtc«'
Upholds tb« Supreme Court in
-H Anti-ChmhBn rJjng^
Al:»m snd knov.^^ Commsjn^sts
Abound mHdo^.'-:
>t»it>^
L i f S m f h e Ame op.e '

Warren Commission t'xhibit 996

NIXON
DESCRIPTION
F U L L NAME: Ricl ird ^t^lh<)ix-. \ i \ > H i !]•> h i s n u u ' y . r * 1 3 at Yorba Linda,
CaUfortiia. FORM P (H L t PA 1 K)
n u m , :.ind niodioort \ K < Ht-^iiU ni
tt lUfatinu, la^^ cU r k , s e c o n d r a t e c o n g r e s s -
U( { [ P \ | { ) \ P r o l t s s i o n a l l i a r and double "Godfrey
c r o s s f ; r (p:irt timr t n i ID f
broiv!!. HAIK; bl ck H! < " 1
ciiizeivship but fjcuoii-. prtH i^ U - n 1
i-^ I i
]'
Pic~jd.nt(
Mi
U L I u H l 170 pounds. EYES:
^ ^ ION \ L n \ C l a i m s A o i e r i c a n
^ K \ ( ' H \ ADDl-sl-Sh 1600 P e n n s y l v a n i a
testified that
A v e n u e , Washington, b ' » it. l i i t o r n i a hnit out )
he had paid
CRIMINAL RECORD
KICHAKI) NIXON {niis.- r r \ - H : i b v Nixcn, a i i e a s r r i c k \ Dicky) i s an e x p e r t in d i s g u i s e s and the printer
h a s succe^^sfully p a s s e d h i m s e l f off a s an a n t i - c o n i m u a i s t in the p a s t . He may a g a i n t r y u s i n g
t h i s d i s g u i s e if p r e s s e d tor v o t e s in 1971;, .Saying one thing, then doing tKe o p p o s i t e i s N i x o n ' s
M(.>.^. While he campaiv^ned in 19«s>i or, :' piulfnrm ot" c t t r t a i i i n g s o c i a l i s m he h a s in fact done
for the posters,
a i o r e to e s t a t i l i s h a .«<x ialii-.tie <lic>.iior-hin than eiihiir of the l a s t l u o D e m o c r a t a d n i i n i s t r a -
itonfc. His economit.' ptdieie,-, iiave ee-iLinue,! to eiu-ieh i^ig I n d u s t r i a l i s t s while r i s i n g p r i c e s picked them up,
and h i g h e r t a x e s h a v e all hut r e d i i e c j ilu- a v e r a g e w o r k e r to a s t a t e of financial s l a v e r y . T h i s
c r i m i n a l has even m a d e vicioua allaelcs on s m a l l e h i l d r e n (forced b u s i n g to a c h e i v e " r a c i a l
Iralanee") and has c a u s e d the deatriictit.a of local s c h o o l s y s t e m s . W.ARSING: Nixon s u i t e r s
and was
from .an KM PEROH COM CI f-:x and i)'.e-,ie.> e x t r e m e l v d a n g e r o u s when c r i t i c i z e d .
reimbursed
CAUTION
I ' r i e k e r y and d e c e i t a r e Nixon's I r a d e m a r k s . At the p r e s e n t t i m e Nixon and his chief h e n c h -
by the FBI,
m a n IIKNHY (CZAK) Kl.SSINGKR a r e ravaged in t o r m i n g an a l l i a n c e u i t h a n o t h e r g a n g of
c r i m i n a l s , the Red C h i n e s e , t h e H i d ; CIII.N'.A C.A.N'C Inn c slau.ghtered an e s t i m a t e d fifty
and that the
million of t h e i r own people s i n c e e e = i,e';,:, 'o power, i his d o d i c s s h o r d e of h a r l j a r i a n s t a i l e d
ilinusaiuls of .Americans in the Kore.m i'. a r {shooting c a p t u r e d s o l d i e r s and s t a r v i n g and t o r -
l u r i n g p r i s o n e r s of w a r ) . The H t J l C'lns.*, (;,\X',; have l>een supplying the NORTH VIETNAIM-
FBI understood
KSK l i ' W D I T S with weapon.s and huilels to kill .Ameriean s o l d i e r s in a n o t h e r n o - w i n w a r in
Vietnam, T h e v e r y fact that Nixon is dt-aling vvit;] !he',e ,-\KCn liNK.MlES O F F R E E D O M i s
the nature of his
rnnugli to convict him <.f t r e a s o n . i>(< NO I LIiT IHI.s CliiMINAI, STINM, YOUR F K E F : D 0 M .
lJhM.\Nl.i HIS .AHKESl- l.\ P i t D p M t .-S i I !|iiiH I l l s .AM) HIS IHl.AL FOii THE CRIMIC O F expenditures
liUdf i iu-:AS(.i,\'.
and saw all
® Secret Army Organization
of his SAO
publications."
RAMPARTS 37

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Notes on the
Energy Crisis
S
uddenly, "energy crisis" has become a household
term. Like the food crisis and inflation, it has come
on us like gangbusters, and it will no doubt stay
wiih us for some time to come.
People are looking for culprits, and while there are
indeed culpriis-and they should be found, we ought not let
that investigation cloud our understanding of the more
fundamental currents which have recently surfaced as an
energy crisis. These will continue to affect our lives long
after the current gasoline shortage has abated.
James Ridgeway is author of The Last Play: The Struggle to Monop-
olize the World's Energy Resources published by Dutton.
by James Ridgeway
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The energy crisis, as popularized by the major inter-
national oil corporations, works on two levels. First, as
natural resources become more scarce they become more
expensive to extract, process and market. The pressure has
been building since the end of the second world war, and
we now are becoming more aware of it. Assuming that the
structure of the petroleum and mining industries remains
the same, the result is that fuel and energy prices will rise
steadily. As this happens, the poorer segments of the popu-
lation will find it increasingly difficult to afford energy.
Second, mineral resources are finite. If current rates of
growth continue, they will be reduced substantially,
perhaps exhausted by the end of this century, or more
probably by the middle of the next. Natural gas, then oil,
will become scarce. Even the supply of coal, which is con-
sidered to be abundant, may be exhausted rapidly if it is
widely used as a base for synthetic gas.
This situation is made confusing and rational solutions
difficult by the existence of the energy industry, that con-
glomeration of large petroleum companies which for the
last half century has pretty much controlled the political
and economic decisions affecting energy policies. Tradi-
tionally the business has been dominated by seven com-
panies, the so-called "seven sisters," namely. Standard Oil
Co. of New Jersey, Texaco, California Standard, Gulf,
Mobil, Shell and British Petroleum. They control two thirds
of the world's oil, dominate the refining, transportation and
marketing of petroleum and natural gas products. In the
U.S. they produce a sizeable amount of our coal and ura-
nium, and they are engaged in chemicals, petrochemicals,
fabrication of nuclear fuel as well as in some instances the
manufacture of nuclear power plants. Perhaps most impor-
tantly, the large petroleum companies are the only source
of information the government has for the extent of our
mineral fuels resources. They dominate the technology for
developing alternative fuels made from synthetics.
As a practical matter these large corporations constitute
a private government of energy. Any understanding of the
"crisis" which they are so enthusiastically publicizing must
begin with a brief history of oil operations in recent years.
(THE MATTEI AFFAIR]
T
he recent origins of the energy crisis go back at
least 20 years. One place to start is 1953 with the
CIA-engineered coup that overthrew Mohammad
Mossadegh and returned the Shah to power in Iran.
Mossadegh had nationalized the Iranian oil industry, up
until then controlled by the British. After the Shah was
brought back, Eisenhower sent Herbert Hoover, Jr., as his
emissary. Hoover arranged for the oil industry to be con-
trolled through a consortium of companies, including
British, French, Dutch, and for the first time in Iran's his-
tory, American concerns. But the new oil consortium fool-
ishly blocked membership by other countries, most impor-
tantly Italy. This so infuriated Enrico Mattel, head of the
Itahan state enterprise, ENI, that he determined to break
the Anglo-American oil cartel.
Mattel got his chance right after the Suez crisis in 1956.
With feelings running high against the British and French,
he helped the Iranian parliament write a new petroleum law