Oswald LeWinter
 Oswald LeWinter    (academic, poet, spook) | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 2, 1931 |
| Died | February 13, 2013 (Age 81) |
| Parents | • Louis LeWinter • Regina LeWinter |
A shady character who issued a lot of conflicting statements and claimed to be ex-CIA. The official narrative about him - "it's all lies, he's a complete fraud" - scores for simplicity, but does not explain how he could have been well on such a wide range of deep state operations. | |
Contents
Official narrative
Wikipedia highlights allegations that LeWinter is a "convincing storyteller", and reports that "he was best known for his role in the October Surprise controversy". Wikipedia cites a 2001 article in the Washington Post by Vernon Loeb and Bill Miller entitled "He's Played the Part of an Ex-CIA Agent for Years Now. It's a Convincing Act", including such testimony as Vincent Cannistraro's claim that "The guy is a chameleon. He can show up and pretend to be anyone."[1] The article portrays LeWinter as a charlatan and claims that the FBI arrested LeWinter in 1953 for illegally wearing a Marine Corps uniform -- a federal offense -- to hitch a ride on a Coast Guard plane to Florida.[2]
=Official denials
LeWinter is also mentioned in the 1998 Assassination Records Review Board report. In response to a query about whether there were records of LeWinter's CIA employment, the report states that "FBI and CIA files indicate that LeWinter is a well-known fabricator with an interest in intelligence and law enforcement activities who frequently makes claims related to sensational or unusual news events. The records that the Review Board examined did not show that Oswald LeWinter was ever employed by or worked for the CIA in any capacity."[3] It appears not to treat this with a hint of scepticism, as if official denials of involvement were proof positive - ignoring the evidence of history, as provided by cases such as Edwin Wilson.
Career
LeWinter pursued a shady career involving a lot of fake identities, military/intelligence contacts and international drug smuggling - consonant with work as a spook - or just perhaps, a high flying and lucky con man. Trowbridge H. Ford claimed that LeWinter was "Duane Clarridge's deputy for European operations."[4]
1971 London Arrest
He was reportedly "Arrested in London in 1971 after authorities caught him with a New York City police detective's badge and papers suggesting he was a diplomat. One certificate proclaimed he was the Honorable Dr. Oswald LeWinter, ambassador extraordinary, who should be afforded diplomatic privileges because he was with the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta. British authorities jailed LeWinter briefly before deciding not to pursue charges."[2]
1980s German Military contacts=
"In the early 1980s, LeWinter was divorced, working as a University of Maryland professor teaching psychology to American military personnel in Germany."[2]
1984 Drug Smuggling arrest
In 1984, LeWinter was arrested by German authorities and extradited to Newark, N.J., where he pleaded guilty of taking part of a $100 million scheme to smuggle into the United States a chemical used in the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine.
Testimony
October surprise conspiracy
In 1988, LeWinter, using the alias "Razine" emerged as a key source for at least two authors and numerous journalists when he testified about the October surprise conspiracy that he had "provided security during a meeting in Paris that involved William Casey, soon to become CIA director; vice presidential candidate George Bush; and CIA official Donald Gregg". He later claimed his testimony "had been a complete fabrication."[2]
Gladio
Alan Francovich was apparently convinced enough of "Colonel Oswald LeWinter"'s credibility to include him extensively in his BBC Timewatch programme on Operation Gladio, where he is introduced as "CIA - ITAC Liason Officer, Europe". The ITAC is the Intelligence Tactical Assessment Center of the DIA, which was assigned to a CIA officer.[citation needed]
Lockerbie
LeWinter appeared in another Alan Francovich film, The Maltese Double Cross, where he is identified as "CIA, 1968-1985."
Olof Palme
LeWinter has been termed "the disinformant who did most damage in the Palme murder investigation. He kept the Police Investigation Group (PU) working for four years. LeWinter led an incredible double life."[5]
Diana, Princess of Wales
After Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed were "unlawfully killed"[6] in an August 1997 car crash, Fayed's father, Mohammed Al-Fayed, became convinced that their deaths were not accidental, and offered a reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.[2] LeWinter, claiming to be a CIA officer, offered Al-Fayed what he said were CIA documents that showed that MI6 had arranged the assassination at the behest of Buckingham Palace.. Negotiations for the documents took place in the United States and were conducted between Al-Fayed's security head John Macnamara and an American lawyer and a journalist.[Who?]
LeWinter reportedly demanded $US4 million for the documents and insisted on meeting outside the United States, whereupon Al-Fayed suspected fraud and notified the FBI, the CIA, and police in Vienna, where the meeting was to take place.[2]
When LeWinter produced the documents at the meeting in Vienna, he was arrested. The documents were judged forgeries and LeWinter was convicted of fraud. He served over two and a half years in prison, and was released in December 2000. The US government chose not to press charges, leading Mark S. Zaid, one of Fayed's Washington lawyers, to speculate that LeWinter might indeed "have served the CIA in some capacity that the agency would just as soon forget".[2]
Fayed hired Terry Lenzner, former assistant chief counsel for the United States Senate Watergate Committee, in the Fall of 1998 to investigate the claims of LeWinter and his associates to determine if the British government was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Princess Diana.[7] Describing him as a "convincing storyteller", Lenzner stated that the "evidence we collected supported the conclusion that Oswald LeWinter was not a credible source."[7]
References
- ↑ http://jclass.umd.edu/archive/newshoax/casestudies/idfraud/IDPoet.html
- ↑ a b c d e f g Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedLoeb - ↑ Assassination Records Review Board (September 30, 1998). "Chapter 6, Part I: The Quest for Additional Information and Records in Federal Government Offices". Final Report of the Assassination Records Review Board (pdf). Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. p. 110. Retrieved December 24, 2012.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
- ↑ http://codshit.blogspot.com/2004/02/why-it-took-so-long-to-catch-spies.html
- ↑ http://www.leopoldreport.com/LRsajt74.html
- ↑ The verdict handed down by a jury specifically disallowed from returning a verdict of murder.
- ↑ a b Lenzner, Terry (2013). The Investigator. New York: Penguin Group. ISBN 9780698148994.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
