Fair Proxy Web

Papers: UK hired astrologer in WWII fight

LONDON, England (AP) — Desperate for a glimpse into Adolf Hitler’s unpredictable mind, British spies hired an astrologer during World War II to write horoscopes for him and other Nazi leaders, documents declassified Tuesday show.

They soon regretted it.

The file released to Britain’s National Archives catalogs the frustrations of MI5 handlers as they tried to prevent the astrologer, Louis de Wohl, from publicly embarrassing high-ranking intelligence and military officers.

I have never liked Louis de Wohl — he strikes me as a charlatan and an imposter, reads the first line in the astrologer’s file. The letter is typical and appeared to be signed by Dick White, who went on to become the head of Britain’s domestic spy agency, MI5, in the 1950s. Watch how de Wohl conned intelligence officials

That view didn’t keep de Wohl from winning a temporary rank as a British army captain. He was sent by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who did not believe in astrology, to the U.S. to persuade Americans that the Nazis would lose within months if they entered the war.

When de Wohl’s services were no longer needed, intelligence agents puzzled over how to get rid of the man who called himself Britain’s state seer, the declassified documents show.

De Wohl was born in Berlin in 1903 and fled to Britain in 1935 to avoid Nazi persecution for being part Jewish. His wife, Alexandra, fled to Santiago, Chile, where she claimed to be a Romanian princess and was known as La Baronessa.

In London, de Wohl claimed variously to be a Hungarian nobleman, the nephew of an Austrian conductor, the grandson of a British banking magnate and a relative of the Lord Mayor of London. His break came, he wrote in a later book, during a dinner at the Spanish Embassy, when a Spanish duchess asked de Wohl to reveal Hitler’s horoscope to Britain’s foreign secretary, Lord Halifax.

Sir Charles Hambro, the head of Britain’s Special Operations Executive, soon hired de Wohl as part of his network of agents across Europe.

The government rented the astrologer a hotel apartment on London’s exclusive Park Lane. There, de Wohl wrote horoscopes for Allied and Nazi leaders on paper with the letterhead Psychological Research Bureau.

But de Wohl’s predictions were often vague. His December 1942 prediction read: The German astrologers must pray that enemy action does not force the Fuerher into making important decisions within the first eight days of the month (of July), as this would lead to great disaster.

Agents complained de Wohl’s flamboyant demeanor was destroying their carefully constructed cover story that his apartment was paid for by a wealthy female patron and that his special operations liaison officer was a mistress. Agents also complained of his boasting about connections to the War Office and Naval Command.

His task in the U.S. was to counter a convention of pro-German astrologers that had predicted Hitler would win the war. Billing himself as The Modern Nostradamus, de Wohl proclaimed the stars showed the opposite — that Hitler would lose.

Ultimately it was Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, that brought the U.S. into the war — not de Wohl’s assurances that President Franklin Roosevelt had a stunning horoscope.

His services no longer needed, de Wohl was called back to London in February 1942. He returned to find his hotel apartment stripped bare and his department disbanded.

According to the released MI5 correspondence, senior officers offered a number of proposals on how to dispose of de Wohl, including interning him in a camp or moving him to a remote corner of the country. Two other options are blanked out.

Deciding de Wohl was potentially damaging the reputation of his employers, MI5 decided to keep him happy and continue to employ him.

But even Hambro had tired of the astrologer.

I have no doubt if I checked up his successes, I would see that he had more than an equal number of failures, but I have not the inclination nor the time to do so, Hambro wrote.
found here.

Suicide bombers kill 5 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) — Twin suicide bombers set off explosives at a naval college in Pakistan Tuesday, killing at least five other people and wounding at least 16, one critically, the government said.

Security officers prevented the two bombers from entering the Pakistan Navy War College in the eastern city of Lahore, according to a statement issued by the Pakistani military’s Inter-Services Public Relations agency.

One of the explosions set off a chain reaction in a campus parking lot, with gas cylinders in nearby storage sheds exploding and cars powered by compressed natural gas catching fire, the ISPR said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said earlier a bomber had rammed his car into another vehicle, but the ISPR statement made no mention of the attackers using a car.

Lahore police told CNN five people had been killed in addition to the two bombers, and 16 were wounded. Local reports said 19 were injured.

Authorities immediately closed off access to the college and put the city on high alert, the Urdu language daily Jang reported. Watch aftermath of blast

The college, located in the busy center of Pakistan’s second-largest city, trains senior naval officials from Pakistan and other countries.

Television footage showed a college gate blown apart. Black smoke billowed into the sky, while paramedics loaded bodies covered in blood-stained white sheets onto the back of trucks.

The attack took place on the same day the top U.S. military officer, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen, met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi to discuss the security situation in the country.

Pakistan has experienced a wave of deadly attacks, most of them suicide bombings, that it blames on Islamic militants. Watch why this attack is significant

There were at least four attacks in the four days leading up to the bombing at the naval war college. Four army personnel were killed in the bombing of a bus in Rawalpindi on Monday.

On Sunday, a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a gathering of tribal leaders in the North West Frontier Province, killing at least 30 people. The blast wounded another 25 people, officials in the area told CNN.

On Saturday, a suicide attack killed at least nine Pakistani security troops and wounded 11 civilians in the Bajaur district, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATAs).

A day earlier, a suicide attack on the funeral of a district superintendent of police — killed earlier in the day in a separate attack — killed at least 11 people and injured 50 in the North West Frontier Province.

And on February 25, the army’s top medical officer, Lt. Gen. Mushtaq Ahmad Baig, was killed in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi, where the army has its headquarters.
found here.

Hispanics a key to Texas Democratic deadlock

AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) — The virtually tied Texas Democratic primary has East Austin diners talking at Cisco’s, where politicos have gathered over breakfast for generations.

A day before the critical election, the state’s 3.6 million eligible Hispanic voters could tip the balance in delegate-rich Texas toward Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. But they’re deeply divided.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Hillary Clinton, said Manuel Hernandez over his morning coffee and huevos rancheros. But she just doesn’t attract me the way that Barack Obama does.

Both campaigns are targeting voters in the state’s heavily Hispanic regions: The New York senator is relying on a loyal grass-roots network of community leaders, while Obama is working to attract younger voters to the polls.

The stakes are sky-high for both candidates, as each looks at Texas and Ohio voters on Tuesday to help rack up more delegates needed to win the party nomination. After 11 straight defeats by Obama, Clinton’s longtime strategist James Carville has said if the former first lady fails in either Texas or Ohio, this thing is done. Watch more about why Latinos are critical in Texas

Loyal Hispanics may save Clinton — or younger Hispanic voters may allow Obama to basically wrap up the nomination in Texas, said Democratic consultant Kelly Fero.

Voter surveys suggest Obama may be chipping away at Clinton’s domination of the Hispanic vote.

A recent Gallup poll of eligible Hispanic voters nationwide showed Obama not only erasing a 31-point gap against Clinton in just a week, but taking the lead by 4 percentage points.

Clinton led Obama 63 percent to 32 percent in the poll’s results from February 5-9. But by February 13-17, Obama had taken the lead 50 percent to 46 percent. See how Latinos make up a large portion of U.S. voters

The tracking poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, surveyed about 2,000 eligible Democratic voters.

At Cisco’s, where politicos ranging from former Democratic President Lyndon Johnson to Texas GOP Gov. Rick Perry have mixed their eggs and politics, Hernandez has made up his mind.

I want a change in the politics, I just don’t want to see another Clinton name up there — and all that baggage coming off her husband, said Hernandez, who works with Austin parks and recreation. However, he laughs, my friends that are Hispanic are all voting for Hillary.

Hernandez and others at the diner named the economy, health care insurance, immigration, education and the Iraq war as issues most important to them.

Last month a Texas AM/Latino Decisions nonpartisan survey interviewed 500 Latino registered voters in the state and found an overwhelming majority opposed a proposed fence along the U.S.-Mexican border to control illegal immigration. An overwhelming majority of poll respondents also favored ending the Iraq war and free state college tuition for undocumented students who grew up in Texas and graduated from state high schools.

The poll showed Clinton as viewed favorably by 76 percent of respondents, and 66 percent said they viewed Obama favorably.

Cisco’s manager, Elizabeth Punky Boyce, tells how President Johnson’s aides used to call the cafe’s owner, the late Rudy Cisco Cisneros, minutes before his motorcade would arrive, alerting him that Clyde was about to stop for a visit.

Decades later, Cisco’s has changed little, she said, with its bright, old fashioned Formica tabletops in the front and the darkened backroom, with its big, round table where high-stakes card games went into the night.

Not far from the grill, diners remarked how similar Obama and Clinton are on many issues — and because of that — they’ve chosen their candidates based on their gut feelings.

Being a minority, Obama understands what it is to struggle, said Hernandez. A lot of people don’t understand that as a minority we have to struggle coming up. Cisco’s server Lydia Guerreo says she’s comfortable with Clinton because the senator has campaigned in Texas for 30 years on behalf of her husband or other Democrats.

Mrs. Clinton will help Spanish people more with immigration and health care, said the 48-year-old single mother of four. Guerreo is concerned about how her son, who’s attending college, will be able to pay for his education as the nation’s economy slows.

Austin has seen much economic change in past decades, such as when the home of the University of Texas added semi-conductor and software businesses along with computer giant Dell, earning the nickname Silicon Hills. Local Democratic officials described the city’s economy as vibrant, pointing out new home construction in East Austin as evidence.

During this decade, Texas is seeing a generational change in its political landscape, said Fero, as a new and larger generation of Hispanics has come of voting age in time for this critical primary.

The more voters you have, the closer the contest, said Fero, who’s not allied with either Clinton or Obama. We’re in real uncharted territory here.

State Rep. Juan Garcia, an Obama supporter in heavily Hispanic South Texas, agreed that without a doubt there is a generational piece to this thing.

Voters at Cisco’s also said they were seeing more interest among younger Hispanic voters than during any election in memory.

Ten days of early voting, which ended on Friday, has already resulted in heavy turnout compared to 2004 — including many traditionally Hispanic precincts, according to unofficial returns. Texas’ most populous 15 counties showed five times more Democrats showing up to cast ballots early than four years ago, according to the secretary of state’s Web site.

At Clinton’s Austin headquarters, evidence of the push to win Hispanics was as evident as the Spanish writing on the wall. Yo soy tu chica! — or I’m your girl! said the ruby red reference to Clinton scrawled on an office window.

She’s facing intense pressure from the string of Obama victories, but Clinton strategist and longtime friend Garry Mauro said Texas represents just as big a test for Sen. Obama as it is for us. He can’t lose Texas.

Mauro, a former Texas land commissioner, expressed confidence that Clinton’s grass-roots network will serve her well in the end. Those roots go deep, he said. But the Hispanic community also is very young. It’s not just about those roots, it’s also about communicating with those young Hispanic voters today.

In addition to Austin, other key Texas battlegrounds to win Hispanic voters include populous Houston and Dallas, targeted because some state delegates are allocated based on 2004 voter turnout.

But nowhere else is the fight for Hispanic voters more competitive than South Texas, where Clinton and Obama have enlisted powerful political forces to rally support.

Hispanic South Texas is Clinton country and that really is her most important base for support, said Fero.

Popular former state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos has been stumping for Clinton in the region, speaking to voters who, he said, want an experienced candidate. They want somebody they know, who’s been in the trenches, somebody that’s been working on health care for years, he said.

Obama has been playing catch up in South Texas against Clinton’s familiarity quotient since early February, said Obama supporter U.S. Rep. Charles Gonzales. It doesn’t give you much time to come into Texas and establish a relationship with voters — over the relationship Clinton has had over the years.

Gonzales expressed confidence that, once people listen to [Obama] and they hear him — they view him in a totally different light.
found here.

Ecuador: Colombian raid prevented release of captives

(CNN) — Ecuador’s president said Monday that a deal to release political prisoners — including former Colombian Sen. Ingrid Betancourt — was nearly complete before a Colombian raid into his country Saturday.

I can tell you we were involved in very close conversations with the guerrillas, and we were very close to gaining the release of 12 captives, one of them Ingrid Betancourt, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa told reporters.

Correa announced Monday that his country had severed diplomatic ties with Colombia.

Both countries bolstered troops on the border after Colombia’s raid, which killed a member of the rebel group holding the hostages. Luis Edgar Devia Silva, known as Raul Reyes, was second-in-command of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which has fought to overthrow the Colombian government for 40 years.

Correa called Saturday’s raid an unjustified massacre that left civilians dead.

We will not permit this outrage. … The situation is extremely grave and the Ecuadorean government is disposed to go to the ultimate consequences, he said over the weekend.

And Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez called it a murder.

The two leftist leaders, who are key allies, ordered troops to the border.

The mounting tensions among the three nations has some in the region concerned it could be on the brink of war.

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States will meet Tuesday in Washington in an effort to head off an escalation between Ecuador and Colombia, a senior administration official told CNN.

The goal of the meeting, according to the official, is to calm everyone down and determine what the facts are, pertaining to this weekend’s attack. The official asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the situation.

Brazil’s foreign minister, Celso Amorim, said Monday that his country is working to mitigate toward a peaceful solution while condemning the Colombian incursion into Ecuador.

The Colombian government on Monday said it would not send additional troops to the borders of Ecuador and Venezuela.

In a communique carried on his Web site, President Alvaro Uribe said his government reiterates its affection and respect for the two neighbors.

But the Colombians described the raid as the most significant blow yet against the FARC.

And evidence found in the raid suggests that Chavez recently gave the FARC $300 million, Colombia’s national police chief said Monday.

Speaking at a news conference, Gen. Oscar Naranjo said evidence in three seized computers also suggests FARC had given Chavez 100 million pesos when he was a jailed rebel leader.

Naranjo said other evidence in the computers suggests FARC purchased 50 kilograms of uranium this month.

The revelations about agreements between the terrorist group FARC and the governments of Ecuador and Venezuela will be submitted to the Organization of American States and the United Nations, Uribe’s communique said Monday.

Naranjo said the evidence also shows that Ecuador’s minister of security met recently with Reyes, and that Ecuador had an interest in formalizing relations with the FARC, according to an account published on a Colombian government Web site.

But Correa said Ecuador’s only contact with the guerilla group was an effort to get hostages released.

All contacts we have had with FARC were for humanitarian reasons, together with France’s government, he said. I don’t hear them accusing [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy of involvement with FARC.

Betancourt, 46, a French citizen, was abducted by FARC six years ago and, according to former hostages, is in poor health.

The former lawmaker is one of an estimated 750 prisoners held by FARC, some of them for years. FARC calls hostage-taking a legitimate military tactic in a long-running and complex civil war that also has involved right-wing paramilitaries, government forces and drug traffickers.

Colombia says its police and air force attacked targets in Colombia and shot back only after its forces came under fire from FARC rebels about a mile inside Ecuador.

Both Ecuador and Venezuela reject the Colombian government’s allegations and its description of the raid.

Sunday night, Correa called the raid a massacre that killed several civilians. He withdrew Ecuador’s ambassador to Colombia, expelled Colombia’s ambassador to his country and, on Monday, severed all diplomatic ties with the nation.

Chavez called the attack a cowardly murder that was coldly prepared. Watch what led to attack

He ordered 10 battalions of Venezuelan troops to the Colombian border Sunday and closed Venezuela’s embassy in the Colombian capital of Bogota. He pledged to support Ecuador and said Venezuela would have declared war on Colombia if Colombian troops had attacked targets on Venezuelan soil.

Chavez also blamed the United States — a close ally of Uribe.

We don’t want war, but we will not allow the North American empire — which is the master — and its sub-President Uribe and the Colombian oligarchy to divide, to weaken us, he said. We will not allow it.

Chavez, an outspoken U.S. foe, used his leftist credentials to help secure the recent release of six FARC hostages. Many have been held for years in harsh conditions in the South American jungle.

State Department Deputy spokesman Tom Casey said Monday that the United States hopes the two countries will solve their differences diplomatically.

Our hope would be that other countries would act on this issue to the same extent; that what they would do would be encourage the parties to sit down and work it out, Casey said.

In addition to the United States, the European Union and Colombia also label the FARC a terrorist organization.

In addition to Reyes — a member of the seven-man FARC leadership council known as the general secretariat — Colombia’s raid also killed another leading FARC figure, Guillermo Enrique Torres or Julian Conrado, a key ideologue.
found here.

Six killed, including children, in Memphis shooting

(CNN) — Six people were killed, including two children, and another three children wounded in a shooting Monday in Memphis, Tennessee, authorities said.

Memphis Fire Department spokeswoman Melanie Young said firefighters responded to a 911 call at a home at 6:11 p.m. Monday when the bodies and wounded children were found.

The wounded children — a 7-year-old boy, a 10-month-old girl and a 4-year-old whose gender wasn’t immediately known — were transported to Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center.

They were in the emergency room being treated for gunshot wounds, said hospital spokeswoman Jennilyn Utkov.

The Commercial Appeal newspaper that one child was upgraded to stable condition late Monday, another was upgraded to critical and the third was still in extremely critical condition.

Police do not know of a motive, the newspaper reported.

We just don’t know the motive or cause of death, but we do have four adults and two children [dead], Memphis police Lt. Jerry Guin told the paper. I’ve been on a scene where there were one or two or three [victims], but I don’t remember anything this large.

Rob Robinson told the Commercial Appeal that he was the landlord for the brick, single-family house that rented for $550 per month.

They were very nice, very polite to me, Robinson told the paper of the residents.

It’s kind of surprising, actually. I’ve never had any trouble with them, no damage to the property. They paid their rent and even helped with repairs and stuff.

Video showed emergency vehicles on the scene, with people embracing in rainy weather outside police tape surrounding the home. E-mail to a friend

found here.