burden of hearing a tale as extraordinary as Thirion’s and realizing that no one wants to hear it has not been an easy one to bear. Carrying this story around since 1987 has been a bitter task and the lack of feedback and support has only fueled my cynical view of America and American politics and the American media.
Alexis De Toqueville predicted in 1835 in his extraordinary book, Democracy In America, that (1) the United States and Russia would someday represent opposing views on the world stage, (2) the United States could become a police state where the people lost the political will to govern themselves, and (3) the rebirth of freedom in America would come through the arts. Only De Toqueville’s third prediction hasn’t come true, the rebirth of freedom in America has yet to occur.
In an ironic footnote to Norman’s story, in June 2001, I wondered what had happened to Norman Thirion. My curiosity caused me to enter his name, Norman Bernard Thirion, into Google, the internet search engine. Because I had been disappointed so often in the past, I didn’t expect anything different this time. But this time I was to be wrong. This time another piece in the story told by Norman Thirion was to fall unexpectedly into place.
There, on my computer screen, the words, Norman Bernard Thirion, had taken me to the site of Georgetown University’s Lauinger Library’s special collection of Ambassador William A. Wilson’s papers spanning the years 1980-1992.
There, in box 1, folder 54, was noted the following correspondence, “@ Roger W. Hunt, Hunt & Haugaard, attorneys at law, South Dakota. Includes correspondence from the following re the invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR: Norman Bernard Thirion, International Banking Services to W.A.W. (William A. Wilson). General Abdul Wali to W.A.W., copy, E.T. Barwick, E.T. Barwick Industries, Inc., Georgia, to Prince Bandar Ibn Sultan, copy*.”
Just as fate had unexpectedly given me Norman’s story fifteen years before, fate, now, just as unexpectedly had corroborated Norman’s story regarding his relationship with Reagan’s alleged bagman, Ambassador William A. Wilson. The names in Wilson’s file were familiar to me, told to me by Thirion years before—Roger Hunt was Norman’s attorney and had handled his appeal, General Abdul Wali had been the aide to the former King of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah, who headed the Afghan resistance that was to receive the Saudi money; E.T. Barwick of Atlanta, Georgia, was Thirion’s partner, and Prince Bandar Ibn Sultan received the proposal to fund the Afghan Government-In-Exile on behalf of the Saudi royal family.
William Wilson’s gift to Georgetown University revealed further evidence of Wilson’s participation. In box 2, folder 56 of Wilson’s bequest to Georgetown University, were papers sent by USC Professor Dr. Nake Kamrany to William Wilson and to Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Sultan regarding Afghanistan’s independence from the USSR.
Because Dr. Kamrany had been a central figure in the events recounted by Norman Thirion, I had always been curious about what Dr. Kamrany actually knew. So, two years after Google had unexpectedly provided proof of William Wilson’s participation, I decided in May 2004 to contact Dr. Kamrany directly.
I emailed Dr. Kamrany at the University of Southern California. I said I possessed information provided by Norman Thirion regarding a possible skim of Saudi funds intended for the Afghan resistance. My e-mail got an immediate response. Dr. Kamrany called back and launched into an emphatic denial of Thirion’s assertions.
He asked how I knew Norman and how I got my information. I told Kamrany I had met Norman in prison and was writing a book about my experiences. Kamrany then confirmed he knew Norman Thirion, William Wilson, Perry Morgan, and General Cushman. He did deny, however, any knowledge of Transglobal Productions or about a conspiracy to skim the funds. He did say that General Cushman had mentioned a private venture.
Kamrany also denied knowing Transglobal directors Dr. Jon Speller and Rabbi Morton Rosenthal (Rabbi Rosenthal was the Transglobal director who played a key role in the purchase of captured Soviet Syrian arms from Israel). Kamrany did admit he had seen the Soviet armaments used by the Afghan resistance in Afghanistan and personally had never received an adequate explanation about where the large supply of Soviet arms had come from.
Then Kamrany unexpectedly asked if I knew anyone in the movie business (I was to find out his son had an idea for a movie). It was a question that was to lead to our meeting in person. Rawson Thurber had written and directed a movie that was about to be released. and Marshall Thurber, his father, was my close friend from law school.
The movie, Dodgeball, was opening nationwide June 18th and Marshall had invited friends and family to a private showing in Los Angeles on the 17th. I obtained invitations from Marshall for Dr. Kamrany and his guests to attend.
There, I met Dr. Kamrany and we continued our discussion. After our talk, I had no doubt what Norman had told me was the truth, that Kamrany’s denial of a skim was based only upon his ignorance of its existence. The conversation confirmed that Kamrany had absolutely no knowledge of Transglobal Productions or any inkling of the conspiratorial designs of its principals.
Finally, now, after the revelations of the internet and my meeting with Dr. Kamrany, I was to get some closure to the extraordinary story I had heard during my first year in prison. And with it came a realization that has given me a measure of acceptance and peace: Two thousand years ago, the Pharisees and Publicans were in power. They still are today. A story isn’t going to change anything.
There is, however, an interesting detail that still remains unresolved. When I entered Norman Bernard Thirion into Google’s search engine, I also googled the names of others alleged to have participated in the skim. Transglobal director, Rabbi Morton Rosenthal and Transglobal vice-president Dr. Jon Speller in particular brought up interesting information.
When I googled the name of Dr. Jon Speller, a website connected Dr. Speller not only to Rabbi Rosenthal, but also to a company “Transglobal Resources” co-owned by the two men.
The weblink stated:
“The key link between the ADL [Anti Defamation League] and the Sikh extremists who murdered Prime Minister Gandhi runs through Rabbi Rosenthal a senior ADL employee and head of the league’s Latin American Affairs Division, who is directly linked to the man who ordered the assassination, Dr. Jagjit Singh Chauhan. It also runs through Rosenthal’s longtime intimate political collaborator and sometimes business partner Jon Speller. Speller is widely believed to be a high-level intelligence agent for British intelligence [with] documented links to Israeli, Soviet, and American intelligence services. One year before Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination, Speller sponsored a U.S. visit by Jagjit Singh Chauhan…After Mrs. Gandhi’s death, Rabbi Rosenthal and Speller, operating through a front company they had jointly established called Transglobal Resources, arranged a series of secret meetings in Washington, London, and Quito, Ecuador, which resulted in the Ecuadoran government offering Chauhan a large tract of land on which to establish a Khalistani homeland.”
But, by far the most interesting link occurred when I entered the name Ronald Sablosky into Google’s search engine. When Norman Thirion was fired as Transglobal’s banker, General Cushman replaced Thirion with Ronald Sablosky; and, in 2002, a search on the internet was to connect Ronald Sablosky directly to the office of President Ronald Reagan.
The name Ronald Sablosky led to a Google first page reference to the site of the Presidential Papers of the Ronald Reagan Library. There, in Box 92335 of the litigation files of Jonathan Scharfen, legal advisor to the National Security Council under President Reagan, was the case US v. Ronald Sablosky.
Advised by the Reagan Library to submit a Freedom of Information Act request to review the White House file, I did so in August 2002. I was informed it would take 22-24 months to process the request which included a 30-day notification to the representatives of President Reagan
