#1302 – Sterling Seagrave

Author Sterling Seagrave reads sections from his book "Red Sky in the Morning" Gives a glimpse into the raw wild, machiavellian world of Manilla after WWII Documents from Ed Lansdale's G2 Manilla file led to the book (3 foot tall stack of papers) Philip Mehan, adventures in the Philippines, Pete Peterson, escaped imprisonment "Cheez", arrested, liberated, and vanished, an anti-Communist White Russian, Chirskoff It was Lansdale who really started the Cold War, murder as many Huks as they could find Demonizing Vietnamese dirt farmers, Laos and Cambodia, then Central America, death squads "The Manila File" - three feet high, declassified portion, Bohannon, secret agendas, private armies Billions in funds, rich tycoons, crooked banks, dirty tricks, total control of the media Philip Mehan, missed combat, part of Operation Magic Carpet, USS Admiral C.F. Hughes Filipinos have mixed feelings regarding the U.S., big U.S. corporations, President Manuel Quezon Elpidio Quirino, Americans welcomed as liberators, scams, bribery and kickbacks Phil was assigned to a freighter and there met Pete Peterson, Java China Trading Company jobs Reconditioning and selling U.S. surplus ships, Lansdale, warning of the Red Beast of Communism Huks retreated, guerrilla warfare, Lansdale, mailed-fist policy, a campaign of terror Killed men, women and children, hundreds of villages were mortared, Bohannon, Napoleon Valeriano Lansdale, was shown 12 vaults of solid gold ingots, Dulles, Bissell, Braden, Meyer, Wisner, Fitzgerald Counting ears, Vadim Chirskoff, the Manila Hotel, Mina, time to get out of the Philippines Lansdale had the three spied on as Communists agents Ed Lansdale - "If we can't find one (a Russian agent), we'll invent one" Logging hardwoods, needing to flee, Bilibid Prison, escape by Harley-Davidson, Clark Air Base "Cheez" arrested, for inciting Huks, on October 26, 1951 he was released, then he simply vanished Perhaps he was dropped into the ocean from a helicopter, Lansdale's favorite means of disposal Red Sky in the Morning available here