THE
BAYCITIES
OBSERVER"Have I missed the
mark, or, like a true archer, do I strike my mark?
Or am I a prophet of lies, a babbler from door to door?"
Cassandra, as reported by Agamemnon
"DR."
JOHN PHILIP NICHOLS
1924 - 2001
Today, in Southern California, two newspapers, The Press-Enterprise and The
Desert Sun (Click.) carried
announcements about the death of the former head of the Cabazon Band of Mission
Indians, "Dr." John Philip Nichols. Nichols suffered a heart
attack on Saturday, March 17, 2001 and died at the John F. Kennedy Memorial
Hospital in Indio, California. The two newspapers carried the traditional
background information respectfully skirting the more sensational details of
Nichols' life as a lifelong CIA operative who admittedly wrought death and
destruction around the globe.
It is appropriate that when good men die, the deeds that they accomplished
during their lifetime should live on after them. It is also just that when
bad men die, their history should live on after them. It is, after all,
only by learning from history that those who survive can hope to never repeat
the evil deeds that marked much of Nichols' life.
When this writer remembers the 76-year-old man whose iron hand ruled the Cabazon
nation until his death, I will remember his contribution to political
assassinations, his alleged involvement in the 1981 torture and execution murder
of Cabazon Indian Fred Alvarez and his two friends in the backyard of their
home, the 1985 murder-for-hire trial of Nichols that was curtailed in the
interests of "National Security", the unaccounted for gaming money
used to buy powerful politicians, and the legacy of CIA control of the Cabazons
that still exists today under the iron fist of his son, Mark Nichols.
The arrogance of John Philip Nichols was best demonstrated in the book Inside
Job by Stephen Pizzo, Mary Fricker and Paul Muolo. The book described
the tip of the iceberg involving the Savings and Loan scandal. Page 304
contains the following paragraph:
"At San Marino Savings in Southern California, we
heard about a major borrower, G. Wayne Reeder (who also attempted a couple of
failed ventures with Herman Beebe), meeting in late 1981 at an arms
demonstration with Raul Arana and Eden Pastora, Contra leaders who were
considering buying military equipment from Reeder's Indian bingo-parlor partner,
Dr. John Nichols. Among the equipment were night-vision goggles
manufactures by Litton Industries and a light machine gun. Nichols,
according to former Reeder employees and published accounts, had a plan in the
early 1980's to build a munitions plant on the Cabazon Indian reservation near
Palm Springs in partnership with Wackenhut, a Florida security firm. The
plan fell through. Nichols was a self-described CIA veteran of
assassination attempts against Castro in Cuba and Allende in Chile. He was
later convicted in an abortive murder-for-hire scheme and sentenced to prison."
Of course, the official company line about Nichols' involvement in South
America is contained in the March 21, 2001 Press-Enterprise
article by Mark Henry and Mike Kataoka: "Born in 1924, Mr. Nichols
was active at an early age as a student and labor organizer in Wisconsin.
He went to South America in 1959 and for the next decade helped Indians in
Bolivia and Peru become self-sufficient."
It is common practice in the "legitimate" press to praise the dead and
allow them to be buried surrounded in myth. In the case of "Dr."
John Philip Nichols it is the evil life that the man lived that should be
remembered.
by Virginia McCullough © 2000
vmccullough@hotmail.com
