Back to the Presidio

And ahead, to the Roman Catholic Church.

The Presidio is one of those cases that many people have in mind when they claim that Satanic Ritual Abuse has been "debunked." There were seemingly wild accusations that hundreds of children had been sexually tortured; there was the implication of military involvement, including the tabloid sensationalism of a lieutenant colonel leading a Satanic cult; and yet, finally, the legal procedure went nowhere.

This is from a lengthy and persuasive San Jose Mercury News article by Linda Goldston, published July 24, 1988, entitled "Army of the Night":

Larry and Michelle Adams-Thompson had noticed changes in their daughter's behavior after placing her in Gary Hambright's class four or five times in September and October of 1986. The girl, who turned 3 in October, had begun having nightmares and would wet herself when frightened. Her parents believed it was just "a bad stage" she was going through until they heard about the Tobin boy in January. The girl was taken to a therapist at Letterman Army Medical Center in February. In therapy, the girl talked about being sexually abused by Hambright and by a man named "Mikey" and a woman named "Shamby" whose identities were unknown. On Aug. 12, 1987, the Adams-Thompsons were shopping at the PX at the Presidio. Suddenly the girl ran to Larry Adams-Thompson and clutched his leg. He looked up and saw a man whom he knew as Lt Col. Michael Aquino.

"Yes, that's Mikey," the 3-year-old told Adams-Thompson. After being taken outside, the girl added, "he's a bad man and I'm afraid." As they were leaving the parking lot, the Adams-Thompsons saw Aquino's wife, Lilith. Larry asked the child if she knew the woman.

"Yes, that's Shamby," the girl said.

The family went home and called the FBI.

When interviewed by authorities the next day, the girl identified Gary Hambright from a photo lineup and said she had been driven to Mikey and Shamby's home by Hambright. There, she said, she was abused by Hambright, Mikey and Shamby in a room with black walls. She said that she had been photographed. She said Hambright and Mikey were dressed in women's clothes and Shamby was dressed in man's clothes.

The investigators drove her to Leavenworth Street in San Francisco. The girl was asked to identify any of the houses that she had been to before. While walking past 2430 Leavenworth, the girl identified the house as the one where she met "Mikey" and "Shamby." It was the Aquino's' house.

...

The criminal case is closed, but by June, the parents of 23 children had filed $55 million in claims against the Army, the first step toward filing a civil suit against the government alleging negligence that led to the abuse.

Last December, the Army reassigned several people connected with the case, including Lt. Col. Walter Meyer, the director of personnel and community activities and John Gunnarson the director of child development services responsible for supervising the day-to-day operations of the center. Diana Curl, the day care center director, resigned. In late June, Gary Hambright was "still trying to decide where he wants to settle," said assistant federal public defender Nanci Clarence, one of Hambright's attorneys Clarence said he is "in and out" of San Francisco.

The case that so many did not want to believe is still very much alive in the nightmares and sexual acting out that continue for many children, in the jarring statements that come suddenly out of nowhere, such as the 4 year old girl who sat at her kitchen table a few months ago and told her mother she wanted to kill herself with a knife. Others say they hate themselves. One 6-year-old girl was playing with modeling clay at school one day when she suddenly started stabbing it. "Mr. Gary is bad and I'm bad because I let him do it," she told her teacher.

"People keep telling us we've got to let it go just forget about it and go on," said parent Gretchen Runyan. Two of the Runyans' four daughters were among the victims, both had confirmed cases of chlamydia.

"Three weeks ago, our youngest daughter was having nightmares and our other daughter was closing out the whole world, going to her room and sitting there, with no radio, no TV, no nothing. Tell me it's over."

I read Goldston's article last night for the first time, and posted it on the RI board. The reply from "Human" contained a startling thread of continuity that may lead to the cover-up of ongoing abuse in the Catholic Church. ("Human" had originally posted this research on Democratic Underground in March, in a "Gannongate Wrinkles" thread, but I thought it important enough to bear repeating here.)

"Human" begins by quoting Dave McGowan's "Pedophacracy" regarding the Presidio case:

Aquino and some of his defenders have consistently claimed that no one was ever prosecuted in the case due to a lack of evidence. This is cited as proof that the entire affair was no more than a "witch hunt." Of course, the failure to prosecute the federal charges could have been due to the fact that, at the time, the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco handling the case was Joseph Russoniello. Russoniello would later be identified by reporter Gary Webb (of the San Jose Mercury News) as a player in the Contra cocaine smuggling operation led by Lt. Col. Oliver North and company, just as witnesses would later identify Lt. Col. Michael Aquino as an operative in the very same sordid affair.

After detailing some of Russoniello's favours to military intelligence, "Human" presents this find from "In Catholic Circles" of Spring 2005:

The Sexual Abuse Crisis

The president of the USCCB appointed a new chairman and five new members to the National Review Board, the USCCB-sponsored group of laypeople charged with monitoring the hierarchy's response to the sexual abuse crisis. Nicholas P. Cafardi, dean of Duquesne University Law School, Pittsburgh, and serving board member, was named chairman until the conclusion of his term in June, 2005.

The new members, appointed for three-year terms ending October 2007, are: Dr. Patricia O'Donnell Ewers, educational consultant and president emeritus of Pace University, New York; Dr. Angelo P. Giardino, vice president for clinical affairs of St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Philadelphia; Mr. Ralph I. Lancaster, Esq. of Pierce Atwood, Portland, Maine; Judge Michael R. Merz, United States Magistrate Judge; Mr. Joseph Russoniello, Esq. , senior counsel and resident in the San Francisco office of Cooley Godward, LLP. One member, New York attorney Pamela Hayes, resigned her position early after conservative Catholic groups alleged that she made contributions to prochoice organizations.

"Human" remarks:

So, after all of that, basically what I'm pointing out is that a longtime CIA/FBI asset in the legal profession, Russoniello, who prosecuted (covered-up) the Peoples Temple / Jim Jones situation, who was implicated in the CIA Contra Cocaine scandle, who failed to prosecute Satanist Michael Aquino for his role in child abuse in California (which ties in directly to Offutt Air Base/Franklin Coverup/Gosch case), is now responsible for looking into pedophilia in the Catholic Church.

Saying a case was "debunked" means little, if the judiciary itself needs debunking.

I'm reminded of Martin Short's study of Freemasonry, Inside the Brotherhood, and the observations of an informant called "Badger," who had been a Freemason for 35 years and a master of seven lodges. "For years," Short writes, "he was convinced that Freemasonry was a worthwhile institution. As he became more elevated in the Masonic hierarchy he gradually came to realize it was not."

According to "Badger":

Freemasonry is a mechanism of social control. It's a feudal pyramid.... Have you ever thought why the police are so cultivated by Freemasonry? I have met scores of policemen throughout my Masonic career, but I haven't met a single fireman or postman. There must be some firemen and postmen in Freemasonry but nowhere near as many policemen, lawyers, local government officials and businessmen.

Mechanisms of social control are evident, too, in the church and military intelligence, which also function as feudal pyramids instilling hierarchic loyalties. Perhaps it's because these loyalties are known to cross medical and legal professions, and potentially conflict with professional oaths, that elements within Freemasonry, the Roman Catholic Church and Military Intelligence have all been accused in recent years of collusion in Satanic Ritual Abuse. And perhaps it is also why so few cases have been successfully prosecuted at the highest level.


By the way, and for what it's worth (and considering the source, it may not be much), there are rumblings here of an imminent strike on Iran. Imminent as in Friday at the latest. And there is this message from a day earlier, from someone calling herself "GI Wife," who claims the US military in Germany is in lockdown, "Just like the week before the Iraq invasion. That means "ready to go", cancelled leave, stay close to base, and all those other little restrictions that make me so mad."

So who knows? Certainly not me. But we'll know soon enough.

Also, Kos is reporting today that contrary to his repeated claims, Jeff Gannon, or James Guckert, "never served in the United States Marine Corps, according to the Personnel Management Support Branch located at Marine Corps Base Quantico." Unless, I suppose, he served under yet another name.