McCain and the U.S. Council for World Freedom

[Photo: Rev. & Mrs. Moon - whacko heads of the Moonies]

We mentioned McCain's connection to the U.S. Council for World Freedom in a recent post, noting that he lied about when he severed his connection with this group, claiming it was in 1984. McCain's name appeared on the some of the group's letterhead until 1986, however, plus he attended an awards ceremony sponsored by the organization in 1985.

McCain and his campaign have made a concerted effort in recent days to tie Senator Obama to terrorists, going so far to say Obama "pals" around with terrorists such as William Ayers, a man with an unsavory past but also a man who has turned his life around and become an asset to the community in which he lives.


Let's look at McCain's less than tidy ties. The U.S. Council for World Freedom is a radical, extremist right-wing anti-communist organization. McCain was asked to join the board by General John Singlaub, a friend of his father.

Gabriel Winant at salon.com tells how Singlaub took "the helm of the group after being dismissed from his command in South Korea for criticizing then-President Jimmy Carter's decision to draw down American troops. It was under Singlaub that the U.S. Council for World Freedom became well known for its role as a front working with Oliver North to raise money for the Nicaraguan Contras in the late 1980s. The organization began, however, as an affiliate of a worldwide group, the World Anti-Communist League, allegedly funded by the Taiwanese and South Korean dictatorships." One of the major sources of funding for the Council was the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the whacko leader of the whacko Moonies who thinks he is the Messiah and believes that all governments will unite to kneel at his feet.

This crazy old fart also happens to own the Washington Times, George W.'s favorite newspaper.


One should remember that McCain was a strong supporter of the Contras. And then there's that Taiwan connection again! McCain, as you recall, wants to arm Taiwan to the teeth. We thought it was merely because his foreign policy coordinator is/was a lobbyist for the Taiwanese. But maybe there's more here than meets the eye.

Winant continues: "In 1981, the Anti-Defamation League called the WACL 'a gathering place for extremists, racists and anti-Semites.' Singlaub himself said in 1985 [McCain was still involved with the group in 1985] that some chapters of the League contained former Nazis and had been 'terribly anti-Semitic,' though he claimed that he had purged the League's extremist elements, 'certainly by 1984.'

"...In 1983 and 1984, Washington Post columnist Jack Anderson wrote a series of columns linking the League's (expelled) Latin American affiliates to death squad assassinations. Two weeks after Anderson's column on the group's link to violence, McCain asked to be taken off the advisory board, saying he no longer had time for the Council. In 1986, he reiterated his request, and said, 'I didn't know whether (the group's activity) was legal of illegal, but I didn't think I wanted to be associated with them.'"

So far so good, but it begs belief to think that McCain was a part of this group for several years and did not know of its anti-Semitic tendencies and death-squad linkages in Latin America. It is also quite transparent that it was only after Jack Anderson revealed some of the League's rotten core that McCain suddenly got "religion." But he must not have pushed too hard to disassociate himself as it took two years before he was taken off the advisory board.

What do you think of a candidate for president who pals around with people who have known ties to Nazis and anti-Semites and Latin American death-squads?

For an excellent and more in-depth discussion of McCain's relationship to the WACL, click here.