An Open Letter To KPFK, Los Angeles

TO: Eva Georgia, Station Manager, KPFK

FROM: Michael Ruppert, Publisher/Editor, From The Wilderness

Date: 17 June 2002

SUBJ: Ongoing Censorship by KPFK

Dear Ms. Georgia:

Many of us wish that your tenure as station manager at KPFK, Los Angeles could have begun under less trying circumstances.

On June 13, 2002 I was again the victim of a preplanned attack on KPFK’s airwaves, the intent of which was to continue to prevent me from presenting to your listeners overwhelming and extremely credible evidence of U.S. government complicity in and foreknowledge of the attacks of last September 11th.

That this was a preplanned attack, executed in a dishonorable manner, is obvious from the way the events unfolded.

1. First, your host, Sonali began by throwing out the bait, which I partially took when she raised the issue of past attacks against me. I responded that such attacks were consistent with COINTELPRO operations of the 60s and 70s. Then she asked me on four separate occasions about my alleged position that the U.S. government had actually perpetrated the attacks; an opinion that I have never once expressed either in writing or in any private or public speech.

2. Next she went to a music interlude – a tactic which is not normal programming procedure on KPFK under any circumstances. Even though she had stated that David Corn had been extended an invitation to be on the show (interesting, in light of the fact that she had made written and verbal assurances to both me and my staff that I was to be the only guest and we had no knowledge of the offer to Corn) she stated that he was now on the line asking to be heard. Would I mind, she asked, since I had already had more than 20 minutes all by myself? Twenty whole minutes!

3. Trying to be gracious, but already reading the writing on the wall, I said yes. God knows how it would have been spun had I said no, considering the guarantees that had been already broken in the past by KPFK under its past station manager, Steven Starr.

4. Then appears Mr. Corn reciting his litany of my offenses and stating the position, apparently one with which Sonali agreed, that because I had – in an interview with Portland Indymedia – expressed my belief that Corn was chosen to be the biographer of retired CIA executive Ted Shackley, that Corn was somehow entitled to respond to me on KPFK. Now let me get this right: Me making a statement to Portland Indymedia afforded David Corn the right to respond on KPFK! [It is well known that Corn omitted any reference in “The Blond Ghost,” to the incredible amount of documented evidence (from the likes of Professors Peter Dale Scott and Alfred McCoy) of Shackley’s direct participation in the drug trade for the CIA in the 1960s and 70s.]

5. Under these criteria then, I should have about four hours on KPFK just to respond to what Corn has done in other venues. David Corn has engaged in a nationwide attempt to discredit me that has been full of falsehoods and distortions. From “The Nation” to “Common Dreams” to literally a dozen or more publications in the U.S. and Canada that have cited him or reprinted his stories in an effort to discredit me, I have been hit by David Corn’s attacks in a non-stop barrage. It is probably no coincidence that the day before my recent lectures in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, news stories quoting Corn and attacking my credibility appeared in local papers. In spite of these attacks the shows were sellouts. If KPFK wishes to use this rationale then fairness would only dictate that I be given free time on KPFK to appear whenever David Corn prints misleading and dishonest material about me anywhere else. What about the KPFK appearance he made in March to attack me and falsely stated that the date on the Vreeland note indicated that it was written after September 11th when in fact the date was the date that the letter was admitted into evidence not the date it was written? Did I then have the right to call in and ask for equal time? In light of the way I was treated when KPFK had Norman Solomon preemptively interrupt my show on March 1, I seriously doubt it.

KPFK has demonstrated its policy on fairness.

What kind of fair play policy do you have? Of course you know that I am in possession of the libelous internal KPFK memo written by Barbara Osborn, Marc Cooper, et al that states that I was fired by the LAPD on psychiatric grounds. In fact, I resigned with no disciplinary actions pending and earning the highest rating reports possible after having been certified from promotion. That letter, along with all of the recent developments, is undergoing legal review at the moment. When have I received an opportunity to address this lie, which has been fully refuted by LAPD records posted at my web site?

How much time was afforded me to respond to libelous and inaccurate statements made about me by Dan Pavlish which were the substance of prior emails between me and Steven Starr and which resulted in Starr encouraging me not to sue the station in exchange for the assurance of future fair play?

And then there is the questionable timing of the oh-so-gracious invitation by Sonali to appear on the exact same day that another lengthy, misleading and factually incorrect hit piece appeared on me in the L.A. WEEKLY where, coincidentally, we also find that Marc Cooper (late of KPFK) is a writer and which had also published the same libelous statement that I had been fired?

There is also the coincidence that I was on a well-publicized speaking tour across Canada and had extreme difficulty with communications to respond to such a well-coordinated attack.

OK – maybe I am just a paranoid. But the fact is that KPFK has been systematically depriving its listeners of a full presentation of facts regarding September 11th. Nothing else should matter to you. The latest performance of the station is utterly disgraceful and has apparently been widely noted by your listeners.

There is an old saying that insanity is repeating the same action over and over again, expecting different results. I can expect nothing but the same kind of treatment from KPFK and so I will not return to your airwaves until your listeners – not you - have convinced me that ethical treatment will be given to me and the people will be allowed to hear what they want and need to hear.

So as not to leave one key question unanswered from Mr. Corn’s appalling behavior, I will state how obvious it was that he was misleading everyone. He has stated both in writing and elsewhere that he first heard of me about six months ago. I guess that he has conveniently forgotten that I engaged him in a brief but intense debate at the National Press Club in 1994 or 1995 when The Blond Ghost was first published. I was then, in fact, an acknowledged member of the journalists’ discussion group headed by Sarah McClendon, the Grand Dame of the Washington Press Corps. There were many witnesses to my exchange with Corn over his dishonesty in the shameful misrepresentation of Ted Shackley’s career. Among them – as I recall – was David MacMichael and also Paul Hoven among others of his list of intelligence contacts. I know them too and they know me.

Corn would not mention that any more than he would acknowledge that I have been an invited guest lecturer at USC and UCLA.

So my official statement regarding my stated belief that David Corn was chosen to be Ted Shackley’s biographer stands. It is based upon a conversation that I recall having with retired CIA case officer David MacMichael and – much more so – upon statements given me from a confidential source who spoke to me on condition of anonymity. I stand by my opinion as expressed in a verbal interview given to a press source other than KPFK. I also stand by my opinion based upon the all-too-obvious fact that a reading of The Blond Ghost will reveal to any educated reader the obvious – that David Corn deliberately omitted any reference to Shackley’s involvement in the drug trade in spite of the fact that there is a mountain of evidence to establish the single most serious crime of Shackley’s CIA career. That would be the same as writing a biography of Adolf Hitler and omitting the Holocaust.

If you do a follow-up show with Corn without me – which I fully anticipate – then you had best read the above statement rather than spin it that I declined to appear because I was afraid of Corn. I most certainly am not. I am just too smart to volunteer to be victim to KPFK’s malicious and unprincipled practices one more time.

Sincerely,

Michael C. Ruppert
Publisher/Editor

“From The Wilderness”
www.copvcia.com