The Parts Left Out of the Good Shepherd

Hollywood recently released the first behind-the-curtain account of the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency and its relationship with a secret society at Yale University known as Skull and Bones. HIGH TIMES asked the world's leading authority on the group to help us separate truth from fiction.

By Kris Millegan

I hope you are lucky enough to meet someone you trust. I regret to say. I haven't.—Dr, Fredricks [Michael Gambon] in The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd is Robert De Niro's effort to mine the dramatic materials at the very real-life nexus of secret societies. intelligence agencies and recorded history, apparently in an attempt to forge a Godfather-style franchise. But one is left wincing at the thought of The Good Shepherd. Part II, given that the film begins and ends with the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and its aftermath, with the assassination of JFK and its attendant wilderness of conspiracy lurking just over the horizon, Will the "right people" end up washing the blood off their hands in a sequel, laying the action off on some mob operation gone rogue, which then had to be covered up for "the good of the country"? All just an honest mistake....

But I seem to be getting ahead of myself. I have often been asked. 'What do you think of the movie The Good Shepherd? And the best response I could usually offer was: "Well. I haven't seen it yet." I'd been aware of the film for several years, and followed its progress to the silver screen, but I don't get out much. Then, finally, the DVD version of the film wound its way to our local store, and I picked up a copy to see what I could find. My first viewing brought up a host of indignant furies, all riled at the historical hubris of the tale and the simple fact that most of the characters in it and even the film's central story of betrayal are amalgamations at best, and total confabulations at worst. Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that you shouldn't watch this movie, As a matter of fact. I recommend it highly — but with caveats, as will soon become clear.

Nonetheless, it is through the routine spy story that the movie interjects one of its greatest truths, albeit through the lips of a tortured Russian defector stoned on LSD:

Soviet power is a myth, a great joke. There are no spare parts; nothing is working — nothing. It's nothing but painted rust. But you, you need to keep the Russian myth alive to maintain your military-industrial complex. Your system depends on Russia being perceived as a mortal threat. It's not a threat. It was never a threat. It will never be a threat. It is a rotted, bloated cow. How might this sobering fact be received by the audience, coming as it does from the mouth of an enemy agent tripped out on acid, appearing in a fictional film based upon an unreliable chronicle? Might it just covertly confirm the reality that many know to be true-but without causing the uproar that such a significant revelation should engender?

Around this real-life charade revolve some other themes of the movie, leaving us with an insight into Napoleon's famous dictum: History is a set of lies agreed upon. For when even "honorable" men lie, who is trustworthy? What is real? Are our secrets safe? Do secrets give us safety? And at what cost?

"Men linked to the structures of United States intelligence" was how an Italian Senate investigation described the perpetrators of the 1980 Bologna train bombing, an act of terrorism that killed 85 people and injured over 200. The bombing was part of a series of actions carried out over many years in Italy, targeting the political left by essentially blaming and demonizing it for acts done covertly by agents of the right. The plan, known as Operation Gladio, sought to terrorize the populace into voting for strong right-wing governments in order to suppress the left.

"You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from the political game. The reason was quite simple: to force ... the public to turn to the state to ask for greater security" was how Operation Gladio participant Vincenzo Vinciguerra put it later during his testimony to Italian authorities.

Operation Gladio, which was initially sold as a "stay-behind force" in case of the Communist takeover of Western Europe, was instead used for psychological warfare and political manipulation. Terrorism, assassination and subverting the electoral process were just a few of the deeds carried out using fascist elements, cult members, secret government agents, gangsters and covert military units.

How much of our history is simply psychological warfare, including the traumatizing of the masses through fear, the creation of false enemies, media manipulation, electoral theft and other terrorist acts, all done as a means to an end?

"A mind-set that thrives on secrecy and deception ... encourages professional amorality — the belief that righteous goals can be achieved through the use of unprincipled and normally unacceptable means," wrote ex-CIA officer Victor Marchetti in his book The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence. And my ex-CIA father, in a 1979 newspaper interview, stated: “When you work for the CIA, the ends justify the means." Is that the brutal reality behind the horrific acts of Sept. 11, 2001? Was this watershed event a managed tragedy, an occult means to invoke repression and war?

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Peace,

K

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