Nexus - 0223 - New Times Magazine-pages

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handful of frightened People's Temple members, Ryan and four others were shot dead. Larry Layton, the man later charged with shooting Congressman Ryan, was the son of Dr Laurence Layton, a former Chief of Chemical Warfare for the US Amny, and allegedly a specialist in ethnic behav- iour-modification drugs tested during the CIA's MKULTRA program.” Whatever horror actually killed the resi- dents of Jonestown took place within hours of Ryan's assassination in what has become known since as "The White - Night". : The first report of the tragic event hit the front page of The New York Times on 20th November 1978: : “Guyana Official Reports 300 Dead at Religious Sect‘s Jungle Temple — Troops Find Bodies — Mass Suicide is Indicated after Attack on Americans in which 5 were Slain." Within another two days the head- lines read: "US Copters Reach Guyana to Aid Jungle Hunt for Cult Survivors — Up to 500 may be Lost in Wild Area.” One week later, these 500 missing indi- viduals also mysteriously turned up dead where the first bodies were found. Newspapers reported they had been hidden under the other bodies all along, but one can only speculate on what really hap- pened to them in between the first and last body counts. Clearly, 500 bodies could not be obscured by an initial 300 in any race who kidnapped and brainwashed million- aire heiress, Patricia Hearst.” During Senator Ryan's inspection of the Jonestown compound on 15th November 1978, he was threatened by one of Jim Jones’ aides who held a six-inch fishing knife to his chest while holding him in an arm-lock by the throat. Then, approxi- mately one-and-a-half hours later, whilst his party was preparing to fly out from the dirt airstrip at nearby Port Kaituma with a dence and, apparently, the ability to con- vince other members of his committee that there was a conspiracy, and so his col- leagues successfully stopped the investiga- tion. In his frustration at the failure of his efforts, Ryan was quoted as saying, Well, something has to be done about these peo- ple’. "The next alleged CIA cult to come to Ryan's attention was the Symbionese Liberation Army, the revolutionary group Jim Jones, founder of the People's Temple. case. On 4th December 1978, just two weeks after the first public report of the massacre appeared, Time magazine ran the story that typifies the widcly accepted "mass suicide" version of Jonestown. One part of the arti- cle reads: . "Psychiatrists and other experts on group psychology and mind-control tech- niques offered rational explanations of how humans can be conditioned to commit such irrational acts.""" Amongst the psychologists quoted by Time was Dr Margaret Singer, who it would seem is expert enough to offer a “rational” explanation for mass-media pur- poses, but not scientific enough for the American Psychological Association or the courts to endorse her views. Both Louis Jolyon West and Robert J. Lifton also wrote articles reinforcing the ‘official’ ver- sion of events. And the Door Revolves and Revolves An investigation by the House Intelligence Committee found that there "was no evidence at all" to support claims that the CIA was involved in Jonestown. However, critics dismiss the report as nothing more than another government 32 ¢ NEXUS DECEMBER 1994 - JANUARY 1995