See if you find this amusing Bill: "Moon's most expensive political project was the creation of the Washington Times. "Washington is the most important single city in the world. If you can achieve influence, if you can achieve visibility, if you can achieve a measure of respect in Washington, then you fairly automatically are going to achieve these things in the rest of the world. There is no better agency or instrument that I know of for achieving power here or almost anywhere else than a newspaper."
sonic.net
"Rev. Sun Myung Moon may preach that he is the Adam and the Christ reincarnate, but he has been accused in a 447 page Congressional report with bribery, bank fraud, illegal kickbacks and illegal sale of arms. He was also accused of attempting to secretly build nuclear weapons for Korea. A Congressional report also indicated that Rev. Moon's Unification Church was founded by a director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, Kim Chong Pil, as a political tool in 1961.
The House report states, "Kim Chong Pil organized the Unification Church while he was director of the ROK (Republic of Korea) Central Intelligence Agency, and has been using the church, which has a membership of 27,000, as a political tool." Kim was among the inner core of Army officers who led the coup that brought President Park Chung Hee to power in 1961. "Members of the church are actively engaged in increasing membership in farming villages. The church apparently has considerable money, because it pays influential people in the villages a substantial sum for joining the church." The Moon organization denies any ties with the Korean government or intelligence community.
In 1977 Congressman Donald Frazer launched an investigation into Moon's background. The House Committee report states that it uncovered evidence that the Moon organization had systematically violated U.S. tax, immigration, banking, currency and foreign agent registration laws. The report indicates that Moon was paid by the Korean CIA to stage demonstrations at the United Nations and run pro-South Korean propaganda efforts. The investigator for the report commented, "We determined that their primary interest, at least in the U.S. at that time, was not religious at all, but was political, it was an attempt to gain power, influence and authority." But after the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan all investigations were halted. Moon was Vice President George Bush's guest at the inauguration and was a major financial contributor to the Washington conservative establishment."
"Ironically, Napa Sentinel Publisher Harry V. Martin received an offer to become editor of a New York newspaper, News World, which was to commence publishing on December 31, 1976. It was the forerunner of the Washington Times. Martin was promised that if he took over the editorship of the New York paper he would be named editor of the Washington Times. After a thorough investigation of its ownership and upon learning Rev. Moon was in charge, Martin declined the job.
The newspaper policy was subtle, in which editors were to use key words to emphasize political messages. Specific organizations were targeted. The Washington Times gained access to American television. The newspaper fostered the likes of Pat Buchanan, Bill Rusher and Mona Sharon, who suddenly became TV personalities, but were little known before the Times. When Martin declined the assignment, James Whalen accepted it, but he soon became disillusioned. "When we started the paper, there was never any question that it would, in any fashion, project the views or the agenda of Moon or the Unification Church. All to the contrary. We said, look, we're going to put a high wall in place It's going to be a sturdy wall, and it will divide us from you," Whalen said. But Whalen's wall of editorial independence was often breached. "Moon, himself, gave direct instructions to the editors, of who Ð in fact, called the shots. Ultimately, Moon calls all the shots. The Washington Times has become a Moonie newspaper," Whalen said.
The Washington Times is quoted virtually every hour on the hour by Voice of America and on the BBC. When Whalen resigned, Arneau de Borgrave took over. He maintains that the editorial department has complete freedom. But no way, says William Chester. "I protested to Mr. de Borgrave and I was honest when I saw this happening, telling him that this was unethical, improper, unprofessional, and ought to stop. And I also said it was dumb." Chester and four other editors resigned after de Borgrave ordered an about-face on an editorial critical of the South Korean government. The U.S. Justice Department won't investigate complaints that the Washington Times may be in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
The Times provided editorial and financial support to the Contras. When Col. Oliver North wrote a top secret memo proposing the formation of a private foundation called the Nicaraguan Freedom Fund, the Washington Times announced the formation of the foundation on their front page. The Times contributed $100,000 to the cause.
Moon also founded the World Media Association, which pays journalists for junkets all over the world. He told a television show, "There is a total war, basically a war of ideas, war of minds, the battlefield of the human mind. This (the media) is where the battle is fought. So, in this war, all weapons will be mobilized, political means, social means, economic means and propagandist means, and basically trying to take over the person's mind. That is what the Third World War is all about, the war of ideology."
Moon has supplied materials for the rally in support of the Persian Gulf War, slick voter score cards, 30 million pieces of political literature. He sponsors the American Freedom Coalition, which may be in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The Act states that any organization involved in political activities, controlled or directed by a foreign principle must register with the U.S. Department of Justice. One third of the Coalition's money came from the Unification Church.
A federal investigation into Moon's finances led to a 1982 trial on charges of conspiracy and filing false tax returns. Moon was sent to the federal correctional institution in Danbury, Connecticut. He remained there for 13 months.
Moon has sought to influence the American political agenda by pouring more than a billion dollars into the media. Moon looks upon the media as almost the nervous system for a global empire. After his imprisonment he began a media blitz called The New Birth Project. It's strategy was to show that Moon's prosecution was really racial and religious persecution.
Moon's organization told Martin in 1976 that they would establish a newspaper in New York, then Washington and finally one in San Francisco. The San Francisco publication has not been produced to date.
(To be continued.) |
