Jimmy's Bourne connection
WASHINGTON
A ghost from the 1970s has conjured up lots of names -- from former President Jimmy Carter to Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda, from Mary King and Cuban spymaster Julian Rizzo to Dr. Peter Bourne and Khun Sa, a Burmese drug lord.
As Democratic Party candidates get shrill, it is worth reminding ourselves of the treachery achieved by past Democrats.
Last month, Khun Sa, 73, a colorful figure in the drug world, died of natural causes. As one the world's most prominent opium traffickers, he had worldwide contacts and protectors.
He was indicted on drug-trafficking charges in the United States in 1990 but continued to live comfortably with no evidence that he was ever being hunted. Khun Sa claimed he only used the drug trade to finance his struggles against Burma's military government. This was a war cherished by elements of U.S. intelligence because it was inexpensive and brought them support from liberal Democrats.
Khun Sa "surrendered" to the Burmese government in 1996. It actually was a lucrative deal for his family and friends. Opium and information continue to flow, showing that his networks continue their deadly work.
In Washington, news agencies reporting Khun Sa's death turned to the very distinguished Dr. Peter Bourne, 68, who called him "one of the most impressive national leaders I have met."
Under President Carter, Bourne was special assistant to the president for health issues and the first to hold the position "drug czar," the director of the National Drug Control Policy. But he acted much more as a special adviser to the president.
Bourne was born in Oxford, England, in 1939 and has had a varied career -- a physician turned soldier, politician, writer and academic. He is a close friend and biographer to both Carter and Fidel Castro and is obsessed by Cuba.
To his detractors, Bourne is typical of England's Dragon School, where he received his early education. There, for nearly 150 years, students have been taught the skills of "robust informality and relaxed rigor."
After he had qualified as a medical doctor from Emory University, Bourne served a combat tour in Vietnam, as a U.S. Army captain, and was awarded the Bronze Star, the Air Medal and the Combat Medical Badge. After returning to Atlanta he became a leader in Vietnam Veterans Against the War, part of the Institute for Southern Studies, formed by Washington's Institute for Policy Studies.
In July 1971, Bourne, 31 at the time and through first lady Rosalynn and her concerns with mental health, became active in Democrat politics working in the offices of the newly elected Gov. Carter on Georgia's drug problems. But his real claim to fame was writing the first memo in July 1972 telling Jimmy Carter to run for president. Bourne remained and several years later became the deputy campaign manager for Carter in Washington.
Carter was elected, Bourne moved to a powerful place in the White House and his wife, Mary King, became deputy director of ACTION, the agency responsible for the Peace Corps and VISTA, and Carter's adviser on women's issues. She has worked with Carter for 35 years, is now 67, an academic, activist and author.
Bourne introduced Tom Hayden, the former leader of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), to President Carter in the Oval Office early in 1978. An account of this meeting, written by Hayden, indicated that Carter agreed that power wielded by "the heads of the giant multinational corporations, whom we do not elect and rarely see, are going to be the great problems of the future."
Carter said to Hayden: "I'm proud to get to know you. I've followed your activities with interest and I think you've made important contributions to our country." The president also told Hayden to "send our regards to Jane. We respect her very much." (Fonda was then married to Hayden.)
Bourne resigned from the White House in 1978 after columnist Jack Anderson reported Bourne had snorted cocaine at a Christmas party with Hunter S. Thompson and David Kennedy.
Peter and Mary immediately left Washington, leaving the White House to solve its own many drug and deviancy problems.
By 1979, Bourne was back as an assistant secretary-general at the United Nations, where he established and organized the "International Drinking Water Decade." In 1982, he left the United Nations to join the boards of numerous liberal charities and to work in private business.
He became chancellor of St. George's University School of Medicine in Grenada, was actively involved in economic and political issues relating to the Caribbean and became very active with Cuban Ambassador Julian Rizzo and his Chicago-born wife, Gail Reid Rizzo.
Julian, as regional head of Castro's secret police, was responsible for masterminding the attempted takeover of Grenada by Castro in 1983, which was ended only by U.S. intervention ordered by President Ronald Reagan.
Rizzo escaped from Grenada and was posted to the United Nations, where he became Orlando Letelier's case officer -- until he was declared persona non grata for his continued covert activities on behalf of Castro.
Let's fast-forward to 1995. Bourne became a foreign policy adviser to then-U.S. Rep. Bill Richardson, now governor of New Mexico and a candidate for the presidency. Bourne accompanied him on a number of publicity-seeking trips, such as to Baghdad for a meeting with Saddam Hussein, and subsequently collaborated on a number of Richardson's efforts in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya and North Korea.
Why was Khun Sa such an impressive national leader to Peter Bourne?
Why did Jimmy Carter listen to him and Mary King for all those years?
Will it ever be possible to trust a Democrat with the presidency?
