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Nov-08-2011 13:38printcomments

Intimidation and the Colonel Sabow Murder in Southern California

Today, I experienced the kind of intimidation that the Sabow family has lived under for over 20 years.

Jim Sabow USMC
The highly unacceptable death of Jim Sabow was labeled a 'suicide' but the record shows he was a whistleblower - experts say no element of the autopsy supports a 'suicide' theory.

(SOMERDALE, N.J.) - I’ve been working with Dr. David Sabow, the brother of Marine Colonel James Sabow who was murdered in his quarters at MCAS El Toro, California, in January 1991.

Colonel James Sabow - USMC

A few weeks ago Dr. Sabow asked me to help him in writing a book about his brother’s murder and his 20 year investigation to bring the guilty to trial. I agreed to help with the typing and edit his work.

Together with Tim King, founder of Salem-News.com and former El Toro Marine, I had written several columns for Salem-News.com and VeteransToday.com on Col. Sabow’s murder.

Neither Tim nor I are forensic experts and neither of us served under Colonel Sabow while in the Marines. However we were both struck by the cold blooded murder of this senior officer and the determination of his younger brother to find the killers and bring them to justice.

The government calls Colonel Sabow’s death a suicide, but I stopped believing in the tooth fairy decades ago. Dr. Sabow is a court certified forensic neurologist. The list of independent experts who found that the Colonel was murdered is long.

Salem-News.com's Tim King & Bob O'Dowd at El Toro '09

Nich Schou wrote for the Orange County Weekly reported in a story published on February 17, 2000, “Who Killed Colonel Sabow,” that, “Jack Feldman, the Chairman of the Department of Physiological Science at UCLA, reviewed the evidence and reported that Colonel Sabow’s skull was fractured by a blow to the head, and while unconscious, a shotgun was placed in his mouth and triggered by another.

Feldman summarized his conclusions in a June 20, 1994, written statement included in a Marine Corps report on Sabow's death: "Colonel Sabow was rendered unconscious or immobile by a blow to the head that fractured the base of the skull, causing bleeding into the pharynx. Breathing continued after the injury, aspirating blood into the lung. At some time later, a shotgun was placed in the mouth and triggered (by another party) causing death and obscuring any evidence of prior injury... I conclude that the preponderance of evidence does not support the finding that Colonel James E. Sabow died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

The forensic evidence supports murder. Both Tim King and I believe if Colonel Sabow’s death had occurred anywhere else, a grand jury would have indicted the guilty decades ago. But, because Colonel Sabow had threatened to tell all about the shipment of guns for drugs during the Contra War at a courts martial rather than retire early, he was murdered.

The main stumbling block to a Federal grand jury investigation is the questionable finding of suicide by the Orange County medical examiner. The autopsy was conducted by the Orange County medical examiner without the presence of a Naval officer, a direct violation of Naval regulations. The Orange County death certificate lists suicide as the cause of death. Don’t believe it. Independent medical experts agree that the Colonel was murdered. The medical examiner can revise the death certificate even at this late date, but the case for murder would have to be presented by an independent medical authority outside the government and have the full backing of the U.S. Attorney.

The Naval Investigative Service (now the Naval Criminal Investigative Service or NCIS) was in charge of the crime scene at MCAS El Toro and continues to deny any criminal activity took place on January 22, 1991. As recently as September 2010, an NCIS cold case investigator had an affidavit from a prominent pathologist, concluding that the crime scene was tampered with and Colonel Sabow was murdered. The pathologist orally withdrew his sworn affidavit without an adequate explanation, according to Dr. Sabow. Why would the NCIS except an oral withdrawal of sworn affidavit? If this were a horse race, in Philly the locals would know the fix was in.

Device was similar to this unit

Today, I experienced the kind of intimidation that the Sabow family has lived under for over 20 years. Since Dr. Sabow is a quadriplegic, he has difficulty in typing; I agreed to help with the typing and editing. I’m a fast typist, but would still need to record our telephone conversations to be sure that I got everything right.

Dr. Sabow lives in Rapid City, SD, while I’m in Somerdale, NJ. We are thousands of miles apart but with a decent recorder, I would be able to record and then transcribe the record into a draft for editing.

Dr. Sabow offered to lend me his expensive DS-5000 Olympus Digital Voice Recorder and supporting equipment. The equipment cost well over $1,000. Dr. Sabow shipped the recorder on November 3rd via Parcel Post. The postage on the box was $9.58 so you know the box was not empty when shipped by him. An ‘empty’ box arrived yesterday. If this was only a theft, you would normally expect the thieves to take the box and not seal it back with the same tape used to ship it and include the empty containers in the package.

This isn’t quite the same as when Jack Woltz in the Godfather refuses to cast singer Jonny Fontane as a favor for the mob and then changes his mind when he later finds the severed head of his prized racehorse in his bed. The missing recorder and empty box are not the severed head of a prized racehorse, but I get the message.

I still intend to help Dr. Sabow tell his story. It will just take a little longer. Just for the record, I don’t have a death wish nor am I despondent so if I should suddenly turn up death, it’s not suicide.

The package from Dr. Sabow was not insured so tracing it will be virtually impossible. It will be also be difficult helping him type his book without a recording device and the thieves had to know that.

I will ask the Postal Service to do what they can, just on the slim chance that this was only a random theft and others have occurred.

However, it’s looking like Dr. Sabow’s phone is tapped; someone with government credentials knew the package was being mailed, obtained unfettered access to the box, carefully removed the contents, replaced the empty boxes inside, retaped the box and shipped it to me. I get the message.

For those who don’t know the story of Colonel Sabow, the following report was written by Bryan R. Burnett, MEIXA TECH, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, a forensic expert who has followed the Colonel Sabow murder for several years:

      “In early January 2005, I received a phone call from Dr. David Sabow.  He wished to retain my services in the investigation of the death of his brother, Colonel James Sabow (January 22, 1991). Dr. Sabow was interested in my expertise in gunshot residue and crime scene reconstruction.  I received the evidence (clothing and a shotgun) several days later.  I immediately started my examination.  Within an hour into my examination, it was obvious to me the Colonel was murdered.  I called Dr. Sabow and questioned why he sent me this case when the means of death could not possibly be equivocal, as he had initially indicated to me – the Colonel WAS murdered.  More than six years and a number of reports and articles later (by me and others), the case has continually been promoted as a suicide by the Department of Defense thus deflecting any official investigation.  It is apparent our every move to reveal the true nature of Colonel Sabow’s death to the public and initiate a legitimate, official investigation has been blocked (see Dr. Sabow’s following account) by intimidation and likely bribes.

Caption goes here

      The murder of Colonel Sabow and the apparent cover up involves numerous forensic scientists (resulting in expert v. expert), the FBI, the US Attorney General, the South Dakota State Crime Laboratory, numerous US senators and congressmen (especially Congressman Duncan Hunter Sr., Chairman of the Armed Services Committee at the time) and twice instructions in the House DOD Appropriations Bill to investigate the death (which has been skillfully subverted both times). There is no question that the most powerful organization in the world does not want the true nature of Colonel Sabow’s death revealed.   

      The events prior to and after the murder of US Marine Corps, Colonel James E. Sabow at the El Toro MCAS on January 22, 1991 are outlined in the this synopsis.  None of what is described here is fiction although some of the events are surmised from other events.

      Colonel James E. Sabow was assigned to El Toro MCAS in 1990.  He was in charge of air operations of Marine Air, Western Area.   Colonel Sabow soon discovered undocumented C-130 operations at El Toro, but was apparently told by both the Chief of Staff and the Base Commanding General that he was not to be concerned or concerned with these flights.  Sabow later learned, the day before his murder, that these planes were bringing cocaine into the US from Central America (Iran-Contra was still going on – perhaps the gun part was dropped – somebody was making a lot of money).  The parties responsible for the illegal flights, which apparently involved the commanding general, Adams, and his Chief of Staff, Colonel Underwood, knew before Colonel Sabow was assigned to El Toro, that this no nonsense Marine Officer could not be bought or even intimidated.  He would reveal what was going on at El Toro if he found out – Sabow apparently found out the night before his death.  Sabow was relieved of duty by the base general on January 17th for an alleged misuse of military airplanes (was never substantiated). Sabow told several people including Brigadier General Adams, the base commander, Colonel Joe Underwood and General J.K. Davis (retired Asst. Commandant of the Marine Corps) that he would accept absolutely no responsibility for any misuse of aircraft and that if they persisted he, “Would demand a court marshal and he would divulge all of what he had learned and suspected of illegal and criminal use of government aircraft.” That same night, Colonel Underwood who lived next door to the Sabows, threatened Col. Sabow if he revealed what he knew. The threat was overheard by Sabow’s wife, Sally. 

      The following morning, January 22nd, life in the Sabow household was as normal as it could be considering the events of the previous day.  Colonel Sabow was described by his wife as being relaxed and after breakfast was watching TV coverage of Desert Storm.   At about 0830, Sally, upset by the many phone calls that morning (to and from the Marine attorney assigned to Colonel Sabow) and Colonel Underwood’s threat, decided to attend the morning Mass at the nearby Catholic Church.  Unbeknownst to the Sabows, a Marine helicopter from Camp Pendleton landed on a seldom used portion of the El Toro airfield that bordered a field adjacent to the backyards of both Underwood and Sabow.

      Four members of the International Response Team (IRT), a sanctioned government assassin team working for the military, disembarked the helicopter and headed for the Sabow/Underwood residences.  They entered the Underwood fenced backyard through a gate and joined Underwood.  Colonel Sabow was lured into his backyard by a call from Underwood and ambushed.  He was struck unconscious by a blow with a formidable bat like weapon.  The blow crushed his skull and was ultimately fatal.  The assailants then ran to the back door of the Sabow house and entered with the intent to murder Sally.  Sally had left for church only seconds before.  Underwood having realized that Sally had left for church at the very moment that he lured Col. Sabow into the backyard thought she would soon return and they could complete the planned double homicide.  However, Sally decided to do some grocery shopping after church. 

      An operation that was supposed to take only a few minutes extended to almost a half hour and Sally never returned – their plan was never completed.  The assassins waited in the Sabow expecting her arrival at any moment. However, LtCol Gary Albin arrived at the Sabow home, knocked on the front door, and waited to talk with the Colonel – since the Colonel’s distinctive Corvette was parked at the curb he thought the Colonel was in the shower and waited on the order of 10-15 minutes outside. This posed a serious problem for if Sally arrived home at this time.  She would have invited Albin into the house. What then would have ensued is anybody’s guess. 

      A crime scene analysis of the Colonel’s death leaves no doubt he was murdered.  The bloodstain/spatter patterns, gunshot residue (hands and clothing), backspatter residue, pathology, body position, position of the clothing on the body all support the homicide scenario.

Col. Sabow with Arthur Godfrey

       But that was only the beginning! The years following the homicide there were a number of suspicious deaths of individuals involved in the investigation of the Colonel’s murder or the transport of illegal drugs into the United States on former US military planes with non-military personnel:  Sergeant  Thomas Wade, gunshot to head, execution style; Colonel Jerry Agenbroad, was in charge of MWR (where the records of the illegal flight were stored at El Toro – that data was destroyed prior to official examination), by hanging;  “Kevin” retired from the Marines  (he took part in the transport of illegal drugs while in central America and let others know of his involvement), died by hanging in his parents barn;  Jack Chisom, T&G Aviation – supplied C-130s & DC-7s to clandestine operations, death by hit and run driver in the desert in the middle of the night; Danny Casolaro investigative reporter working on the DoD clandestine drug operation and the Sabow murder,  death by wrist slashes in a hotel room – his notes , contacts and manuscript disappeared.  An enlisted Marine who helped supply information about the IRT and the helicopter records to El Toro, was forced off a cliff and killed while in his car.  Gary Webb, Pulitzer Prize winner for his series on Dark Alliance which chronicled the CIA involvement in the import of cocaine and the Iran-Contra scandal was found dead of a gunshot wound to his head (Webb had been in touch with Dr. Sabow on several occasions while researching his articles - although in the case of Webb, suicide could well have occurred, it is yet another death associated with this story).

      Former Marine Captain Pete Barbee had inside information about the cocaine deliveries through El Toro and as well as drug dealers and corrupt officials in the County of Ventura, California.  He was beaten numerous times and apparently framed for murder; Sergeant Randy Robinson was an MP who was first at the Sabow crime scene.  He observed the body without a lawn chair on top of the decease Colonel.  Later descriptions and images show a lawn chair on the body – indeed, a crime scene reconstructionist hired by the DOD produced a suicide scenario incorporating the chair.  Robinson was later arrested on an apparent trumped up rape charged (strong evidence to this exists), convicted and incarcerated.

       The force behind this story is the relationship between the two Sabow brothers, David and James (Jimmy).  The love between them can only be described as extraordinary.  David without regard to his health, career and money sought to prove Jimmy’s death was by homicide and when he discovered the motive behind the Colonel’s death, he extended his investigation into the clandestine organization that has infiltrated the DoD and other branches of government. He has witnessed a government cover-up so deep and equally broad that its exposure will have ramifications that would demand a “fleet”  of special prosecutors.  Despite overwhelming obstacles that would deter most people, his courage and fortitude in pursuing the investigation for over twenty years can be characterized as heroic. 

      Jimmy and David were very close growing up.   They were separated in birth by only a year. Their higher education brought them to the same university, but their career paths were quite different: after college Jimmy went into the Marine Corps and David to medical school.  David, being quite bright, was accepted to medical school after his third year in college.  Unfortunately, at the end of summer of that year, David broke his neck causing “irreparable” damage to his spinal cord (at least this was told to his family).  Remarkably, David managed a partial recovery - he could eventually walk with mechanical assistance and had partial use of his arms and hands.  He told the medical school that had accepted him to delay his admission for a year, not telling them of his injury.  That following summer Jimmy, who was always physically fit, became David’s physical fitness instructor.  Jimmy pushed hard and David regained much more of his physical control.  Although there were issues presented by his damaged spinal cord, David successfully completed medical school despite official concern of him completing the program.  David went into neurology and set up a successful practice in Rapid City, South Dakota.

      David was devastated upon hearing of Jimmy’s death the morning of January 22, 1991. The notion that Jimmy committed suicide was totally alien to him – he knew, of course, Jimmy well enough that this was near impossible.  David immediately left for El Toro.  In the days following Jimmy’s death it was quite clear to him that Jimmy was murdered, even with the scant evidence he uncovered at this time.

      The years that followed can only be described as a well-written murder/spy mystery.  David hired several investigators whose investigative skills were second to none.  Also a number of individuals came forward with information which not only allowed for a reconstruction of the circumstances of the Sabow murder, but also of the clandestine paramilitary operation which transported drugs on paramilitary planes into El Toro and other military airfields.  

      David and Sally Sabow were invited to a meeting at El Toro six weeks after Jimmy’s death.  General Adams, the commander of El Toro, crime scene investigators from the NIS, two other generals and a lawyer from the United States Attorney General’s office, Wayne Rich, who happened to be a Marine Reservist, attended the meeting.  Secret documents given to Dr. Sabow prove beyond a doubt, that the purpose of the meeting turned was to convince David and Sally Sabow that Jimmy had committed a number of criminal felonies and he committed suicide to avoid prosecution.  David would have none of this and challenged Adams and the Rich the entire time.  Several months later, David received a package from an anonymous source with copies of the handwritten notes of Colonel Rich describing the “game plan” for the meeting.  It was obvious from these notes that Colonel Rich was not concerned with truth or fact finding, but was there to perpetrate lies, slandering Col. Sabow’s integrity and reputation hoping that this would intimidate Dr. Sabow. Adams, Rich and the other generals present were aware of the bonds between these brothers and assumed that the emotional wounds inflicted by these lies would preclude Dr. Sabow from continuing his inquiry into his brother’s death. Also in that package were two letters by General Adams to the South Dakota Board of Medicine requesting that David Sabow’s medical license be revoked.

      David immediately started his own investigation hiring several PIs.  One investigator, Bill Taylor, while in Washington DC, was forcefully picked up by a White House limo and delivered to the Situation Room at the White House. Remarkably, Taylor was allowed to keep his firearm during this visit.  Sandy Berger spent an hour with Taylor to determine what he had found out.  The next day in Washington, Taylor had an exchange of gunfire with an assailant, he was wounded and the assailant killed.  The superficial abdominal wounded Taylor received was treated by private medical (no official record of his wounding) and he quickly recovered.

      In 1996, David testified before a committee of the US Senate regarding the incidence of an unusual number of suicides in the military.  Towards the end of the hearing (Senator Dirk Kempthorn, (R-ID) was Chairman) David rose to request rebuttal time and fell to the floor–  the meeting was adjourned while he laid on the floor.  For a time, no one helped David get up, some of the senators stepping around David to meet with dignitaries attending the meeting.

      Later David Sabow and his attorney, Danny Sheehan, filed suit in Federal Court against the Marine Corps and the US Government.  The government persuaded the Federal Court to deny much of the evidence David had accumulated, which essentially gutted the case.  The case was dismissed.

      David Sabow refused to give up.  From 2003 to 2011 a number of other suspicious instances that can only point to cover up occurred.  Two of those require recounting. 

Congressman Duncan Hunter

      In 2003, Congressman Duncan Hunter, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee became aware of the suspicious nature of the Sabow death.  The DOD Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2004 provides specific instructions to the DOD for the reinvestigation of the Colonel Sabow case.  All those instructions were ignored by the DOD.  In addition forensic expert Bryan Burnett, who was hired by David Sabow, produced a detailed analysis of the crime scene which convinced Hunter that the Colonel was murdered.  Hunter, who was about to bring the DOD to task for this behavior, suddenly became mute and unreachable and left office without additional comment.  Some of us have the suspicion that Hunter left office because of his association with ex-congressman Cunningham who is now serving prison time for corruption.  Was Hunter threatened to be exposed if he pursued the Sabow investigation further?

      Last year, NCIS Special Agent Julie Haney, who specializes in cold cases, began an investigation.  She started out with good intentions and with an affidavit from noted forensic pathologist, Dr. Werner Spitz, which claimed in no uncertain terms - murder and the body was manipulated, launched into her investigation.  Haney obviously did not understand what she was getting into. Within several days after she received the Spitz notarized affidavit, Spitz verbally (nothing was written) reversed his opinion to suicide, upon which Haney embarked on a route to extricate herself from the case.   This culminated in a bizarre conference with the Medical Examiner of San Diego, Dr. Glenn Wagner, who spent most of his career in the military.  Bryan Burnett, who is a court accepted expert in crime scene reconstruction and gunshot residue even though a resident of San Diego County was excluded from the meeting.  Dr. Wagner who expressed a suicide scenario for the Sabow death to Haney, refused to allow a talk by Bryan Burnett in a “brown bag” presentation to the Medical Examiner’s facility.

      There are many more instances such as described above.  Taken in their entirety there is no doubt that a very powerful entity has actively subverted an honest investigation into the Colonel Sabow death.  This subversion occurred at all levels of government from the United States Congress to city and state investigative organizations in southern California and South Dakota.  There is also no doubt that any attempt to make this story into a viable production project will be met with threats, bribery, legal attacks based on “National Security” and perhaps even physical violence.”  Bob O'Dowd's legal affidavit regarding the stolen mail.

_________________________________
Bob O’Dowd is a former U.S. Marine with thirty years of experience on the east coast as an auditor, accountant, and financial manager with the Federal government. Half of that time was spent with the Defense Logistics Agency in Philadelphia. Originally from Pennsylvania, he enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 19, served in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Marine Aircraft Wings in 52 months of active duty in the 1960s. A graduate of Temple University, Bob has been married to Grace for 31 years. He is the father of two adult children and the grandfather of two boys. Bob has a blog site on former MCAS El Toro at mwsg37.com. This subject is where Bob intersected with Salem-News.com. Bob served in the exact same Marine Aviation Squadron that Salem-News founder Tim King served in, twenty years earlier. With their combined on-site knowledge and research ability, Bob and Tim and a handful of other ex-Marines, have put the contamination of MCAS El Toro on the map. The base is highly contaminated with TCE, trichloroethelyne

You can email Bob O’Dowd, Salem-News.com Environmental and Military Reporter, at this address: consults03@comcast.net




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Clifton November 15, 2011 5:02 am (Pacific time)

If you haven't already read THE SECRET TEAM by L. Fletcher Prouty, read it to get a better idea about where the insidious "muscle" of the military/industrial complex Ike warned us about in 1960 started. This is without doubt the same shadowy bunch of criminal punks and traitors.


Neptunas Rex November 9, 2011 10:58 pm (Pacific time)

Great Report! You can still find all those environment problems at
http://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/

Editor: Thank you


Roger E. Bütow November 9, 2011 6:44 am (Pacific time)

It's difficult for me to drive by this former base because I now have such a different personal perspective on it. I no longer feel that "The Few, The Proud, The Marines" vibe I felt for so long.
Now I feel shame, I feel outrage, I feel even more suspicious and distrustful of government than ever in my life. I look out over this site from the freeway while passing and all I see is just one big graveyard.
Even the residual cleanup should have a tombstone somewhere there, they've buried the historical and residual unmitigated or reduced contamination impacts using the same strategy they used to deeply bury the facts in Sabow's case: Denial.
Ditto for other present and past USMC bases, including Lejeune. In fact, almost every base rehab has skullduggery and scandal, ineptitude and fiscal intrigue---They seem to be fellow travelers when it comes to remediation of military facilities.
Denial, and relying upon the attrition, the dropout rate every issue falls prey to.....Guys like Bob and I get old, we become infirm or our lives other problems become distractions, meanwhile less and less attention equals a burnt out topic. It just runs out of fuel. The fires go out and the government coverup caravan moves on in the stealth of night.
Though a writer myself, I can't express the disgust I feel, the gamut of frustration-related emotions that well up...... I sense that all Marines who ever served in the USMC have been dishonored and shown no respect---First to fight and die, first to be shit-canned, tossed aside like rubbers after being used by politically nebulous, clandestine powers.
As Bob Dylan sang about the manipulation by rich influential whites of the poor white trash that led to the assassination of postman Medgar Evers, we too as Marines were/are/will be "Only A Pawn In Their Game," we're expendable goods, our lives are cheap toys that they play with and when we break or need repair they turn their collective backs on us.


Tim King November 9, 2011 2:50 am (Pacific time)

Well it doesn't get a lot more interesting than this. It is clearly obvious that we are stepping on toes, and some might say they're Uncle Sam's toes, but they're not.  They belong to criminals that work for this thing called the US govt. and the Gods of greed and corruption.  They work for the dark forces, the same people who killed Jim Sabow, what can we say. They know who they are, and let's just say they're friends haven't all been perfectly quiet.  People trust us when it comes to these matters; we have a major track record covering Marine Corps stories in both wars overseas, historically and with respect to Veterans. Guilt is a bitch and some people succumb to it in amazing ways, others,  like those who killed this man who flew 220 combat missions in Vietnam; they live with this shit every day.  It's because of 'people' like this that I believe there is a place called Hell.

With respect to Jim Sabow's Murder and the feds plucking the items from the box being mailed to Bob O'Dowd, we know there are several people still active in and connected to the federal government who are connected to this, and yes, we have solid information that would sink a lot of important people if anything ever were to happen to Bob or myself or Jim Sabow's brother, Dr. David Sabow.  We have significant information in the hands of several people.  Sure, we know they could do it, and we know our lives may well be in danger, but we have a system ready to launch if this ever were to happen and we have substantial media and political contacts in our world who possibly could not do anything to prevent an act, but they could and would be able to use any similar type of incident to really open doors.  Bear in mind, Bob and I, along with our Laguna Beach-based writer Roger Butow, also a former El Toro Marine,  are  people who have really disrupted life for Lennar Corp., the Orange County Great Parks Corp., the city of Irvine, and so on.  At the same time we befriended two Irvine city council members who asked for our help (From Oregon in my case) and we responded testifying before the Irvine City Council about the horrific contamination. 

One other thing, we're former Marines who live in a country where firearms are legal, and I promise that if anyone ever attempts to harm us, we will absolutely harm them back and it will be on YouTube and five other video sites within an hour.

Most of our work has centered around El Toro's contamination, but Jim Sabow's story has been well on our radar for more than two years.  When Jim blew the whistle about the drugs being flown and offloaded at El Toro in late 1990, (Five years after Iran-Contra supposedly ended - it obviously had not) the Marine Corps retaliated by charging Col. Sabow with a crime involving the use of a Harrier jet that was totally fabricated.  He was facing a court martial when he was murdered and the attorney that represented him, a Marine JAG lawyer named Paul Mitchel who practices law in LA today, had also been my Marine Corps lawyer in 1982.  It is a small world, and it only gets smaller.  

If anyone doubts the significance of the Jim Sabow story, they should read up on it, we have many stories and we are not the only source. Remember the guy from California who opened fire at the Capitol Mall near the Pentagon in March 2010, wounding at least one security guard, dying in the exchange of gunfire?  

His name was John Patrick Bedell and as I wrote at the time, he must have had a lot on his mind as he went through the motions of a dead man walking. He knew this would be it; nobody opens fire near the Pentagon without falling in a hail of bullets.  It must be brutal in the last seconds, to enter the very last stage of life. Surely that is what he thought, and that had to be what Marine Colonel Jim Sabow thought, as he took his last breath in 1991.

This was on the mind of Bedell when he drove from Hollister, California to Washington D.C. to make his final stand. Bedell was extremely disturbed by the death of the Marine Colonel 19 years earlier, he viewed it as the final proof that the U.S. government is truly at least in part, a dirty and dishonest group.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

JPatrickBedell wrote that he was "determined to see that justice is served" in the death of Marine Col. James Sabow, who was found dead in the backyard of his California home in 1991. The death was ruled a suicide but the case has long been the source of theories of a cover up. Sabow's family has maintained that he was murdered because he was about to expose covert military operations in Central America involving drug smuggling. (from:
Pentagon Shooter and the Murder of Col. James Sabow)

 Jim's brother David is and was a medical doctor when Jim was killed; they were very close and David has never given up his pursuit of justice, read 'pursuit of his brother's murderers'   If politicians in this country had a backbone they would join this fight, however the volunteers are low and limited, yet not a force to take lightly, and by that I mean us.  The power of the pen is strong, and the Internet next to the pen, is a spaceship next to a bicycle.  Besides, we have the spirit of everything that is right about the Marine Corps and the USA on our side, the people who kill Marine colonels do not.   Like I said, if anything were to happen to Bob or I, it is absolutely connected to El Toro and Jim Sabow.      

More Background on El Toro

It was the summer of 2008 just before I went to Iraq to cover the war that I met Bob.  He maintains the Website http://www.mwsg37.com/ that is named for the Marine Corps Aviation Support Group that we were both attached to, almost exactly twenty years apart.  Bob served until the early Vietnam War era, and I joined the Corps a few years after that war ended.  We served in the same hangars, at at the same chow halls and lived in the same barracks.  Our purpose in initially becoming friends was tied to my increasing awareness of the contamination issues affecting our old base, which was closed in 1999 and eventually targeted for a part and real estate development.

 Our reports that began in those summer months of 2008 about the base and also Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, also very contaminated and still an active base, now number 159.  All of these reports in chronological order begin on this page, (Salem-News.com El Toro articles Page 1) showing the most recent articles, progressing to May 1 2008 when my first article was filed.  Shortly after that I went to El Toro to research the story and all I can say is that it only becomes worse.  The contaminants are mostly chemical degreasers that were poured into the groundwater after use.  It is a toxic deadly pool and not one, but two of my children suffered serious health problems in their first year; one had an enlarged epiglottis (the size of a 40-year old man's) and the other had a bowel collapse at the age of four months, it almost killed him.  

So there I was in 2008 learning about the horrible base contamination and it all began making sense; the stomach aches I frequently had that stopped after I left El Toro, the health problems both boys experienced, and I was pissed!  Then our mentor Dr. Phil Leveque, told me the real details and he believes (as a retired Physician, Forensic Toxicologist and Professor of Pharmacology)  this is a place that should be fully vacated of all human contact for a thousand years.  Seriously, where Bob and I served, in the MWSG-37 area, the contaminants (TCE) trichloroethylene primarily, is at surface level and it makes the asphalt stick to your car tires if it is 75 degrees outside.  I have this strange thing on videotape.   You drive away from the hangars thinking you have a flat tire, but it is blacktop that stuck right where the car tires contact the pavement.  This is the story of my old Marine Corps base, it is shameful and wrong. BTW, the comments for this story need to address the subject, we're in a serious subject and I will delete all comments that are insulting and off-topic, so be productive.


Matt Johnson November 8, 2011 5:10 pm (Pacific time)

Few things in this world are more wrong than the murder of this honorable warrior.

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Sean Flynn was a photojournalist in Vietnam, taken captive in 1970 in Cambodia and never seen again.



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