Nexus - 0403 - New Times Magazine-pages

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ing his Honduras "rotation", additionally sup- ported by photographs of the original flight logs. Talso have a copy of a TWIX message from the Commander US Forces, Honduras (Task Force Bravo), stating to his superiors that "It has become increasingly evident during the past six weeks that Medevac A/C, in direct support of JTFs, in some cases are being utilised for other than Medevac requirements and are being controlled by other than Medevac Officials." Tatum says he obtained a copy of this message from his Pegasus controller. Talso have a copy of Tatum's full book man- uscript, "Operation Red Rock", together with a letter he sent to William Colby, dated 6 March 1996, which threaten: "I will not only write about the missions but about the NWO. timetable and planned events, including a chronology. And I will name names." T have other documents that I am not permit- ted to reveal but which corroborate missions in South America. 2. The word "contact" is not meant to imply that Don Holmes was a CIA type. 3. Tatum says that, through 1985, "aviation sup- port" for Pegasus was primarily out of Palmerola Air Base, Honduras. Ilopango Air Base is in El Salvador and it had "operational" support. 4. Tatum adds that he had limited flights to Bluefields Air Base, Nicaragua, but "primarily the military aircraft used were USAF C-141s and C-130s at Palmerola, La Mesa and San Lorenzo, Honduras. At San Lorenzo there were also civilian aircraft, including civilian C-123s." 5. In addition to flying rotary-wing aircraft, Tatum was also competent flying smaller fixed- wing craft. He had access to both at Fort Drum. 6. Tatum adds in this connection that they were “supplied with leaves and paste called ‘bazooko'...the reason for that was because they were not supplying the paste fast enough, so they needed the leaves to make up for the time. The leaves were brought from Peru." 7. I wrote this sentence based on information Endnotes 1. Tatum has provided me with a variety of doc- uments covering his military and CIA career from 1971 through 1986 when he was dis- charged from the US Army. His discharge papers outline a series of military decorations and campaign medals including "The Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device" and the "Vietnam Service Medal" (there are many others). Appended to these papers is a medical report, signed by Major Charlie Talbert, which outlines Tatum's various injuries gained during his military career—and includes notations lescribing his capture and torture in South-East Asia. Major Talbert reports that these injuries were treated in June 1972, and adds that latum's medical records are incomplete "as letails on this are classified". I queried Tatum on the date, which should have been recorded as 971. He responded, saying it was definitely 97] and that the Army doctor only had "Secret" security clearance whereas Tatum had "Top Secret" clearance (confirmed in other mil- itary records, dated 1972, in my possession). Tatum avers that this discrepancy was the result of a typographical mistake on the part of the Army doctor. Moreover, Tatum's covert role in the CIA is additionally confirmed by other military papers rovided to me. In one dated 1974, Tatum's assignment orders were "cut" by a Lt General USAF (name redacted) who was Chief Military intelligence Adviser to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Other corroborative documents in my posses- sion include a US Army payslip dated 1985; a copy of an "Inmate Request Form" on the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, showing Tatum was being detained on a "treason" charge; assignment papers to the 3/498th Medac at Fort Campbell, dated 12 April 1984; copies of media news articles describing the attack on hnom Penh; a news report and photograph of Tatum in Grenada; a Special Forces USA MED- DAC Mission Request Form dated 6 April 1985, detailing Barry Seal's "Boss Hogs" list- ing; plus hard copies of Tatum's flight logs dur- provided to me and also extracted from a long list of Q&As prepared by author Rodney Stich for Tatum's attention (and now in my posses- sion). In reviewing this article for errors and omissions, Tatum stated that "there were no US DEA or ATF agents in Pegasus". This appeared to conflict with an earlier reply to one of Stich's questions which stated, in part, that "DEA was represented. We had DEA agents, ATF agents." Naturally, I wanted this clarified and asked Tatum to explain this quite significant amend- ment. He replied, advising that "there were joint missions where DEA and ATF agents were used...they were not officially part of Pegasus”. Nancy Tatum advises that since Chip Tatum was in prison at the time he answered questions submitted by Stich, the "misunderstanding" was hers. 8. Tatum adds that he also "flew fixed-wing, multi-engine props and jets...for the various missions" and he was not limited to rotary-wing aircraft. 9. These injuries occurred during the departure of the "Team", six hours after the assassination itself, when they came under anti-aircraft fire as they flew low-level across the border. Tatum was wearing two Kevlar (lightweight body armour) vests which absorbed the impact of incoming rounds. 0. Tatum has provided me with the name of this individual, a well-known politician. He also asked that I consider excising this account from the article, for a variety of understandable reasons. I have elected to keep it, as I believe it is both an important and highly significant account. 1. I phoned and spoke with Ron Lard, an offi- cial at the DEA HQ, Virginia, to ask about the roperties of Burundanga. He was unable to rovide any information. However, through other sources I can confirm that this drug is well nown to cause both amnesia and a zombie-like trance in which the target follows all orders. Dr Camilo Uribe, head of Bogota's toxicology clin- ic, says "it's like chemical hypnotism". See Wall Street Journal, 3 July 1995. 32 - NEXUS APRIL - MAY 1997