CAG 147 and hist200 Question about a Seal Team Six Operation

[AmericanDude04]

Have either of you heard of a operation in the Philippine's in April of 1989 that took out the leadership of the group that ordered the Assassination of Col. James N. Rowe.


I look Forward to your insight into this issue that I have been researching for about 5 years now and I have come up with nothing. I hope you can shed some light on the issue.

[2RHPZ]

Have either of you heard of a operation in the Philippine's in April of 1989 that took out the leadership of the group that ordered the Assassination of Col. James N. Rowe.


I look Forward to your insight into this issue that I have been researching for about 5 years now and I have come up with nothing. I hope you can shed some light on the issue.

Hm, that´s the task! I must admit that I don´t know nothing about that right now but I will do my best to get infos on this. Hopefully I will bring something soon, don´t want be like :oops: ... :)

Regards
CAG 147

[NcDeuce]

NICK ROWE: U.S. KNEW INDEPENDENTLY OF THREAT TO HIS LIFE
INTELLIGENCE WAS NEVER PASSED ON
Special to the U.S. Veteran
by James Neilson
In the Fall prior to Col. Nick Rowe having been gunned down on April 21, 1989
by members of the communist New Peoples' Army (NPA) in the Philippines, the
U.S. State Department's Intelligence and Research Bureau had assimilated
reliable information on the Communist Party's intensified efforts to ferret
out and execute "deep penetration agents" working for the CIA inside the
Philippines' communist organization, U.S. Veteran News and Report has learned.
The seriousness of this threat contrasted significantly with the State
Department's having ignored Rowe's own warnings that the NPA, the Philippine
equivalent of the Vietcong, was planning major terrorist acts against U.S.
military advisors.
A highly decorated Green Beret and Vietnam veteran who survived five years of
captivity in a Viet Cong prison camp, Rowe was chief of the army division of
the Joint U.S. Military Advisory Group (JUSMAG) providing counter-insurgency
training for the Philippine military. In this capacity, he worked closely with
the CIA, and was involved in its nearly decade-old program to penetrate the
NPA and its parent communist party in conjunction with Philippine's own
intelligence organizations.
Rowe was killed instantly by one of a volley of bullets that were fired from
an M-16 and a .45-caliber pistol from the hooded NPA occupants of a small
white car that had pulled alongside Rowe's unarmored chauffeur-driven
limousine in the Manila suburb of Quezon City.
By the time Rowe was killed, however, the State Department had known for
months about the Philippine Communist Party's efforts to identify CIA-backed
agents which had been infiltrated into the party's ranks since the early
1980's. The State Department also knew that "a number" of these agents had
already been captured, interrogated and executed. For almost a year prior to
Rowe's assassination by the NPA, the State Department had been monitoring the
communist's counter- intelligence efforts, and knew that the CIA's assets in
the party were in jeopardy as a result.
By February, 1989, Rowe had developed his own intelligence information which
indicated that the communist were planning a major terrorist act. As a result
of the intelligence and his analysis of the situation in the Philippines, Rowe
wrote Washington warning that a high-profile figure was about to be hit and
that he, himself, was No.2 or No.3 on the terrorist list.
The State Department ignored Rowe's letter and apparently never warned him
about the seriousness of the threat. Intelligence sources say Rowe was a
"classic expendable;" that he was not warned because he likely would have
tried to safely get out any agents he personally knew of inside the NPA or
communist party.
"Undoubtedly there were some who didn't want to loose those assets," an
intelligence source said.
One reason such assets may have been deemed important enough not to alert Rowe
to the threat was that the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was receiving
information on possible growing Cuban involvement with the NPA.
Six months before Rowe's murder, the DIA had learned that Cuban advisors
appeared to be assisting the NPA in the South-Central Luzon province, one of
the two provinces where the NPA was focusing on ferreting out CIA agents
within its ranks.
Neither the DIA or the State Department would comment on any of the
intelligence it has collected on the NPA or Communist Party. Although Rowe was
a visible military official and certainly a target for the communist
terrorists, some intelligence sources believe his assassination resulted from
his having been fingered as a possible control officer or trainer of agents
inside the NPA or Communist Party who had been identified and interrogated.
Evidence suggests that Rowe's Vietnam experience was not coincidental to his
selection as a target. In June of 1989, from an NPA stronghold in the hills of
Sorsogon, a province in Southern Luzon's Bicol region, senior cadre Celso
Minguez told the Far Eastern Economic Review magazine that the communist
underground wished to send "a message to the American people" by killing a
Vietnam veteran.
"We want to let them know that their government is making the Philippines
another Vietnam," Minguez, a founder of the communist insurgency in Bicol and
participant in the abortive 1986 peace talks with President Corazon Aquino's
government told the REVIEW.
In May 1989, U.S. Veteran News and Report reported that according to a source
who had served under Rowe, the Vietnamese communist also wanted Rowe dead and
very likely collaborated with the Philippine insurgents to achieve that goal.
The source who wished to remain anonymous said that prior to Rowe being
assigned to the Philippines in 1987, at one point in Greece while Rowe was on
assignment, Delta Force, the U.S. anti-terrorist organization, moved in,
secured the area and relocated Rowe. They had received reports that Vietnamese
communist agents were planning an action against Rowe.
"He was a target when he went over there because of his dealings with the
North Vietnamese and his time as a prisoner," Robert Mountel, a retired
Special Forces colonel and former commander of the 5th Special Forces Group,
subsequently explained, confirming what the other source had said. "They had
him on their list."
Despite the clear danger especially posed to Rowe and other intelligence
operatives, Rowe was not given a heavily armored car to travel in. One reason
for this, U.S. Veteran News and Report has learned, is that budget cuts for
the Defense Attache System (DAS) for 1989 had resulted in a 72 percent cut in
the DAS's vehicle armoring program, causing the program to be canceled
entirely last year (except for a skeleton infrastructure maintained to handle
basic functions). This had a direct impact on the DAS's ability to provide
adequate security to U.S. personnel abroad, according to a well-placed
intelligence source.
---------------
The book "Pacific Stars and Stripes, VIETNAM Front Pages" published in 1986
states:
Five Star Edition
Vol. 19, No. 304
Friday, Nov. 1, 1963
3 Aides Seized in Vietnam Battle
Saigon (AP) Communist guerrilas smashed a Republic of Vietnam task force
after disrupting its radio communication Tuesday, and probably captured all
three U.S. Army advisers with the 120-man Saigon outfit.
The three Americans listed as missing and believed captured were two
officers and an enlisted medic. Stragglers returning from the rout said both
officers had been wounded early in the fight -- one in the head and one the
other in the leg.
The Army identified the three as Capt. Hubert R. Versace, Baltimore; 1st Lt.
James M. Rowe, McAllen Tx; and Sgt. Daniel L. Pitzer, Spring Lake, N.C.
A second government force of about 200 men operating only a few thousand
yards from the main fight, learned of the disaster too late to help. U.S.
authorities said the communist radio jammers had knowcked out both the main
channel and the alternate channel on all local military radios.
Five Star Edition
Vol 21, No. 270
Tuesday, Sept. 28, 1965
Report 2 Advisers Executed
Saigon (UPI) -- The viet Cong executed two captive servicemen Sunday
morning, the clandestine Liberation Radio said late Sunday night.
The communist radio identified the two Americans as Capt. Albert Rusk Joseph
and Sgt. Kenneth Morabeth (as received phonetically).
American authorities in Saigon were comparing the names with a list of
missing American servicemen to determine if any such individuals were,
indeed, communist captives. The reported executions came less than three
days after the Vietnamese government's execution of three convicted Viet
Cong terrorists in Da Nang.
In revenge for the last previous execution of a Viet Cong by the governemnt.
the communists announced that they had executed Sgt. Harold Bennett, of
Arkansas, on June 24.

If I can recall, the last I heard is that his killers are still in jail.

SEALs...Mega Force? They don't exist buddy.

[2RHPZ]

Yes, these two murders are still in jail, US goverment recently insisted that they will stay in. BTW, I have realized also that SFOD D was sent to protect Col. Rowe to Greece in 1987:


1987 - Sent to Greece to secure U.S. Army Col. James "Nick" Rowe in response to reports that Vietnamese communist agents were planning an action against him.

http://seals.longboys.net/delta.htm

Anyway, he was really interesting man, also involved in CIA operations - ie., Operation Watch Tower. I will continue to do research.

Regards

[hist2004]

I have never heard of the operation that you are inquiring about. Col. Rowe was assassinated that very month.
It is highly unlikely that the U.S would have had “assets” in place that quickly to perform such an operation. It
would’ve been a high risk operation even after the extended time it would take to plan (gather intell, mission
mission launch date etc.) The leadership would have to be together (which calls for real-time Intell.) To execute
a mission in their “backyard” would also prove difficult. Typically the U.S. would credit the host nation if they were
successful.

Regards,
Hist2004

[2RHPZ]

I have never heard of the operation that you are inquiring about. Col. Rowe was assassinated that very month.
It is highly unlikely that the U.S would have had “assets” in place that quickly to perform such an operation. It
would’ve been a high risk operation even after the extended time it would take to plan (gather intell, mission
mission launch date etc.) The leadership would have to be together (which calls for real-time Intell.) To execute
a mission in their “backyard” would also prove difficult. Typically the U.S. would credit the host nation if they were
successful.

Regards,
Hist2004

In fact, I am afraid that there is nothing exact on web (which is unbeliveable, of course). Only thing I have found is a site about US citizens taken as hostages and killed by guerillas.


Thursday, May 20, 1993
(UPI) -- Government operatives captured a reputed former communist hitman allegedly involved in the killing of a U.S. Army colonel and in the abduction of an American businessman, police said Thursday. In a joint police and military raid, officers arrested Roger dela Torre in his home province of Iloilo, 270 miles south of the capital.


Arrests in Rowe Assassination

Wednesday, December 27, 1995
(AP) -- Two rebels captured in a government crackdown on leftist guerrillas are suspected in the 1989 killing of a U.S. Army colonel, officials said today. Col. James ''Nick'' Rowe was ambushed on April 21, 1989, as he was being driven to his office in suburban Quezon City. Two others convicted in the killing are serving life prison terms.

[Half Pint]

I think you've read this in one of **** Marcinko's books, right? **** mentioned this in one of his books (Option Delta, i think) that when Nick Rowe was assasinated, former Pres. Bush called Adm. Ace Lyons (i'm not sure) to act on it. Adm Lyons, in turn, called Marcinko and Red Cell to act on it. They went to the Phils., and staged a mock-up exercise (in the process, "blowing" up a carrier). While they were doing this, he wrote on the book that they are the guys who took down the Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB) tangos who killed Col. Rowe.

[Half Pint]

btw, my msg is for Americandude04, :)

[AmericanDude04]

The little bit I have found on my own is that it wasn't Seal Team Six Op.
It was done by Red Cell which was led by **** Marcinko. Also the date I offered is wrong the Op went down about 90 days after the Assassination.
The way I heard it was President Bush at the time called Admiral Ace Lyons and told him to deal with the problem.

I will tell you that the information I have comes from Echo Platoon one of **** Marcinko's books. It just sounded alittle to real to have been made up for the point of just making it upto sell some books.

[AmericanDude04]

Yeah I did hear it there then I asked some friends who were in the teams at the same time that this was supposed to have happned and they say they heard something through the grape vine about a Op that went down with Marcinko leading it.

I just hope it was true because I was a real big fan of Col. Rowe's and his story was one of Inspiration to me and alot of others who read his book "Five Years To Freedom".

So that is why I am asking about this. Because I hope it really did happen. It was the right way for his assassination to be avenged.

[hist2004]

AmericanDude04-

Keep in mind that Marcinko had long fallen out of favor with the military/government.
There is no way that a mission of this type (or any other) would be assigned to Richard
Marcinko. Marcinko was a convicted felon. The U.S. military had plenty of “qualified”
people to conduct operations. Remember that the U.S. government didn’t react to the
killing of Nick Rowe in the manner that should have been accorded this heroic man.

Regards,
Hist2004

[mack pl]

col. Rowe (http://www.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Philippines-US-Colonel.html&OP=6b37585aQ2FQ25-54Q25vXUitXX_pQ25Q5ElXQ5BseQ5B5Q25eQ5B_5tQ5BQ5E_eXQ5BQ5EsQ25Q3AfQ51fmeselleQ5B5iQ51G!Q51Q5CXsXQ5B5s9m_Q5Ds)

[gaijinsamurai]

Now it's time for some payback!

[RGRBOX]

I know from my own experience that a warning order was called and an op order was written... but I can't say more then that... but at the last moment one element was returned from the op... why I never found out... I know this doen't say a lot... but things are still in the dark.... As for other units involved don't know and if an Operation was conducted... don't know????

[TURBOIS417]

I was in the PI in Aug/Sep of 89. I don't remember any special threats toward military personnel. We did jungle perimeter patrols with live ammo around Subic Bay and camp Tamez. They had a big problem with the NPA stealing anything that wasn't welded down. We had free liberty privledges and I had a bootcamp buddy who was security forces at Subic. I just don't remember any serious threat to military personnel. We also did JEST and training at green and red beach. When we were at green beach there was a SF team there and evertything seemed OK. Just training.....


I may be wrong?