THE SFA/SOA NEWS CONFERENCE WAS CONDUCTED
ON 26 JUNE 1998 AT THE HILTON
HOTEL IN ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO. CNN,FOX AND SEVERAL NEW
MEXICO TELEVISION
STATIONS COVERED THE CONFERENCE. IN ADDITION, THE WASHINGTON
TIMES, REUDERS
NEWS SERVICE AND COX NEWS SERVICE AND OTHERS HAD COMPLETE COVERAGE
OF THE
CONFERENCE.
STATEMENTS WERE PRESENTED BY JIMMY DEAN, HAROLD JACOBSON, CLYDE SINCERE,
RUDI
GRESHAM, JOHN PLASTER, AND EUGENE MCCARLEY (ATTACHMENTS).
THE REPORTERS
QUESTIONS WERE ANSWERED BY JOHN PLASTER, EUGENE MCCARLEY, RUDI GRESHAM
AND
JIMMY DEAN. OVER 500 MEMBERS OF THE SFA AND GUESTS ATTENDED
THE CONFERENCE
AND ANSWERED EACH STATEMENT WITH A STANDING OVATION.
ON THE 27TH OF JUNE 1998, A COMPLETE BRIEFING OF OPERATION "TAILWIND",
WAS
PRESENTED BY JOHN PLASTER AND EUGENE MCCARLEY. DURING
THE BRIEFING, THE
CNN/TIME MAGAZINE CHARGES WERE COMPLETELY REFUTED POINT BY POINT.
AGAIN, CNN
AND FOX TELEVISED THE BRIEFING. JOHN PLASTER WAS ON THE PAD
WHEN THE RAIDERS
RETURNED AND EUGENE MCCARLEY WAS THE GROUND COMMANDER OF THE FORCE.
IT WAS
DURING THIS BRIEFING THAT THE JAY GRAVES STATEMENT WAS RELEASED.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
OPENING STATEMENT BY JIMMY DEAN
MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO THE SFA/SOA
PRESS
CONFERENCE CONCERNING THE CNN/TIME MAGAZINE REPORT THAT OPERATION
"TAILWIND"
WAS A MISSION BY SOG TO KILL AMERICAN DEFECTORS AND USED SARIN NERVE
GAS
DURING THAT OPERATION. THE SFA AND SOA HAVE CONDUCTED AN INTENSIVE
INVESTIGATION AND STATE THAT THE CNN/TIME MAGAZINE CHARGES ARE FALSE.
WE WILL
PRESENT SEVERAL STATEMENTS AND THEN WILL TAKE YOUR QUESTIONS.
THANK YOU.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
PRESS RELEASE
We, the Special Forces Association and Special Operations Association,
demand
CNN to do a total retraction of Newsstand's "Tailwind" story dated
June 7 and
8, 1998 and the follow-up of June 14 and 15, 1998. We also
demand a
retraction from Time Magazine.
1. We demand the immediate dismissal of all senior staffers
and personnel who
were directly involved in the decision making in the airing of this
program.
2. We demand a complete, un expurgated copy of the report
by CNN
investigator, Floyd Abrams, including all findings and all advice
provided.
3. We also expect equal air time on CNN to clear Special Forces'
name and all
Vietnam Veterans involved in this operation.
Signed for,
Special Forces Association and Special Operations Association
by:
Harold Jacobson
President
Special Forces Association Clyde Sincere, Jr
President
Special Operations Association
dated June 26, 1998 at Albuquerque, NM
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
June 26, 1998
PRESS RELEASE FROM OFFICE OF
ADMIRAL THOMAS MOORER THROUGH HIS
SPOKESMAN, RUDI GRESHAM
CNN'S Claims in "Operation Tailwind" Segment
of NEWS STAND Denied
Subsequent to the broadcast of the Operation Tailwind segment on
the CNN
series entitled NEWS STAND, I have conducted detailed research among
documents
provided to me by the Pentagon and by various service groups and
private
individuals connected with -- or professionally interested in --
the legacy of
the Vietnam era.
Close inspection of these documents plus discussion with high-ranking
peers in
the military at that time has led me to the following conclusions:
1. Operation Tailwind was part of on-going efforts in Laos
to disrupt the
progress of communist forces.
2. Operation Tailwind was NOT designed to pursue American soldiers;
such a
notion seems better suited to a Hollywood film such as Apocalypse
Now than any
U.S. operation I have ever heard about or would approve.
3. Operation Tailwind may have used CS gas as part of the extraction
strategy. (CS gas is a tear-gas designed for crowd control;
it has no lethal
power.) Operation Tailwind DID NOT use sarin or any other
kind of nerve gas;
indeed, had such a gas been used as described in the CNN program,
it would
have killed both the North Vietnamese and the American troops --
and include
the helicopter crews involved in the extraction.
Finally, I would ask any further queries be routed to me via Rudi
Gresham. He
is my designated spokesman (904) 775-8982 and fax 9917.