Larry Grathwohl prepared remarks at October 21, 2010, America’s Survival “Marxism in America” conference

Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen and thanks for taking the time to attend this conference and listen to my message seeking “Justice for Victims of the Weather Underground.” I would like to be able to say that the San Francisco Park Police Station bombing of 40 years ago has been solved and the perpetrators had been arrested, convicted and sentenced. A young police Sergeant, Brian V. McDonnell, died in that bombing.

The charges have not yet been brought in this “cold case” but I can tell you that a law enforcement entity called the Phoenix Task Force is working to solve the murder of Sergeant McDonnell as well as other police officers who died in the line of duty during that period of Weather Underground violence and terrorism.

I was in the Weather Underground as an informant for law enforcement and the FBI. I had returned from serving in Vietnam, where I fought for my country. I was alarmed upon my return to find people like Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn fighting against my country and supporting the communist enemy. I decided that I could continue to serve my country by going underground in the Weatherman movement, under the pretext that I was a disgruntled former serviceman. They bought it. I was there, watching these terrorists operate on U.S. soil from inside one of their communist “cells.” I reported back to the FBI on a regular basis.

Later, after I had to surface when the Bureau arrested some members of my group, my former “comrades” put out a “Wanted” poster on me, calling me an enemy of “the people.” In the end, some of the Weathermen went to prison; others, like Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, escaped justice. Incredibly, officials of the FBI were prosecuted and convicted and later pardoned by President Reagan for violating the rights of terrorists. This was madness. But justice can still be done. And that is why I am here today.

I have recently met with the Lieutenant in charge of the Phoenix Task Force, made up of law enforcement personal, which includes representatives from the FBI, the California Department of Justice and the San Francisco Police Department. He assures me that the effort remains focused and the motivation is to gather the evidence and bring the killers to justice. I should add that the murder of Sergeant John Young by the Black Liberation Army when they attacked the Ingleside Police Station in 1971 has been solved and successfully prosecuted. It was suspected that Marilyn Buck, a member of the Weatherman had participated in this murder, but she was never charged.

A few weeks ago I was privileged to be part of the interviews, along with retired FBI Agent Max Noel, which are being released today for the first time by Cliff Kincaid and America’s Survival. Max is the Agent who placed the hand cuffs on the Unabomber, Ted Kaczyinski. Please take the time to watch these interviews. They are available at www.usasurvival.org This is the first time that Max has gone on the record about his work on the Weatherman Task Force. This is the first time you will see what he and other FBI agents found inside a Weather Underground bomb factory on Pine Street in San Francisco that included the fingerprints of Bill Ayers and Mark Rudd.

Remember that Ayers had claimed that he and his associates never killed anyone and never intended to. One of the devices found in the Pine Street location was a voice-activated detonator, meaning that it was designed to be set off when someone said something. One of the photographs of the bomb factory shows shrapnel in the form of nails. Heavy metal staples were also popular. The Weathermen were also making stabbing devices disguised as ball point pens.

The evidence from the Pine Street bomb factory is still important in solving the Park Station and other cases. Not only were fingerprints from many of the top leaders of the weatherman found at the Pine Street location, but there were tools, watches, wiring, C-4 explosive, and pipes of different lengths with end caps to create pipe bombs. The Weathermen used latex gloves to make their bombs. This fact is established by the bomb residue found on the gloves.

There are some modern-day forensic procedures that can be used to take another look at this evidence. Max talks about this in one of the videos. For example, why not check the gloves, inside and out, for fingerprints and DNA? This is one of several options that can be considered.

In addition, you will see that the videos at the end include telephone numbers for the Phoenix Task force and the San Francisco Police Department. We believe there are other witnesses available, including possible former members of the SDS or the Weathermen, who might want to step forward and provide evidence in this and other cases.

While this investigation continues, people like Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dorhn and Jeff Jones have yet to be questioned under oath. This must change.

The same applies to Mark Rudd, who got $50,000 from a News Corporation subsidiary for a book he published last year, in which he admitted that he “assented” to the planting of a bomb at a dance at Fort Dix in New Jersey. It could have killed hundreds of officers and their wives and dates. Instead, it went off in a Weather Underground bomb factory, killing three of Rudd’s comrades.

Mark is still a communist. But as someone who attended one of his speeches in California last year and questioned him, I got the impression that perhaps he has had some second thoughts about the Weatherman campaign of violence and terrorism of which he was a key part. He knows, for example, that Diana Oughton wanted out of the Weathermen. But she died in that bomb factory explosion.

He told us that he knew nothing about the Park Station bombing but also said that he had never been put under oath to testify about it.

Perhaps it is naïve to think Rudd has a conscience. But maybe, just maybe, he or someone else in the organization will step forward to tell the truth. Perhaps a twinge of conscience is why he admitted in his book to approving that bomb plot at Fort Dix. He knew that he had approved the killing of hundreds of innocent people. In any case, he should testify under oath.

Let me set the record straight about Bill Ayers himself. Rather than avoiding hurting or injuring anybody, he was helping the group to which I was assigned plan the bombings of the Detroit Police Officers Building and the 13th Precinct. He specifically stated that the bombs should be placed when and where the greatest number of police officers would be killed. I had no misunderstanding as to the purpose of this action and when I pointed out the fact that there would probably be more collateral damage and deaths, his response was “Sometime innocent people die in a revolution”. I suppose that’s true as long as you’re not one of the innocent people who have to die in Bill’s revolution.

It was to be a bloody revolution that was to culminate with the overthrow of the U.S. Government and the establishment of “re-education centers” for 100 million Americans and the elimination of 25 million people who failed to meet the standards of the NEW order. These “anti-war” activists were actually pro-war on America and its allies. They still believe in the communist “struggle.”

Regardless of what Ayers and Rudd say about hurting or killing people, the point is that they have not been put under oath. By contrast, my statements have been made under oath before three Federal Grand Juries and a Senate committee as well as documented in my book titled, Bringing Down America.

Writing a book is not the same as being under oath. For one thing , you run the risk of perjuring yourself if you lie under oath. And depending on the persecutor and judge, you might go to jail. I told the same story under oath.

Sure, some of the facts might become less exact as time fades, and details about who or how many attended a meeting, might change. But my testimony about Ayers and Dohrn and the Park Station bombing has not changed. Ayers told me that Dohrn planted that bomb and that he was angry about it. Interestingly, this is one of the bombings blamed on the Weathermen by the FBI but never claimed by Ayers and Dorhn. They knew the risks of claiming responsibility for a murder. They had to understand that there was no statute of limitations on murder and that, if they ever surfaced publicly, as they later did, they could be prosecuted for that crime.

The Weathermen who accuse me of lying never had to appear before a congressional committee to explain what they had done. Wouldn’t it be great if they did? Is it too late? I don’t think so. Let them be forced to testify under oath. It is not too late to seek justice for Sgt. McDonnell, his family, and others who have suffered.

My greatest fear today is that the Department of Justice will protect these terrorists by blocking an attempt to bring them to justice. Consider that President Obama held his first fund raiser at the home of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorhn when he was running for the State Senate in Illinois. Do you think there might be some resistance to placing these two people on trial for the murder of Brian McDonnell? These are President Obama’s friends. He and Bill served on a board and appeared at functions together. I’m concerned that the work and efforts of the Phoenix Task Force might be in vain if the evidence ends up implicating friends of the President of the United States. We need public pressure on the Justice Department to pursue justice in the case.

Don’t forget that Holder was involved in Clinton Administration pardons of two Weather Underground members.

I urge the new Congress to create a committee or subcommittee to facilitate the efforts of law enforcement in bringing terrorists to justice. For example, a new House Internal Security Committee can assist in that regard. The Senate could consider re-instating a Senate Internal Security subcommittee. Such committees should also investigate the groups that represent a current danger to the internal security of this country. The Marxist terror threat has not gone away, as we have seen with the recent FBI raids on U.S.-based Marxist groups suspected of providing assistance to foreign terrorist groups in the Middle East and Latin America. Some Marxists are now openly supporting what they call “revolutionary Islam.” Osama bin Laden is recommending anti-American books written by U.S. “progressives.”

As Paul Kengor’s new book shows, the congressional committees investigating what were called “un-American activities” were important and valuable in getting people on the record under oath. Defectors from communist or subversive groups can provide valuable testimony. These committees could be effective in disrupting the operations of terror support groups and networks. We need every advantage in this war we find ourselves in. There is no reason why Democrats and Republicans should not support such investigations and hearings. Safeguarding national security should be a bipartisan concern.

Adding urgency to this problem, let me say that we cannot rule out the possibility that remnants of the Weather Underground network still exist, protecting terrorists and facilitating their activities. It is significant that the FBI recently updated its “Most Wanted” listing for Leo Frederick Burt, accused of bombing the University of Wisconsin, on August 24, 1970, killing a 33-year-old researcher and causing $6 million in damage to the building. He is still on the run. Burt was not a member of the Weather Underground but a spin-off group. The Washington Post reported, “the search is heating up again. New tips have flowed to the FBI in recent months, and the bureau is taking advantage of the bombing's 40th anniversary to bring new attention to the case in the hopes that the publicity might lead them to Burt.”

The same kind of effort can and should be made in regard to the Brian McDonnell murder case. The FBI and law enforcement at all levels have to be supported in bringing the Weather Underground to justice for this murder.

Thank you.