Bo Gritz

James Gordon "Bo" Gritz (born May 18, 1939 in Enid, Oklahoma) was a United States Army Special Forces officer during the Vietnam War whose post-war activities—notably attempted POW rescues—have proven controversial. He remained a Special Forces officer until he resigned his commission in 1979.

U.S. Military Service

One book was written by a friend of Gritz which stated that Detachment "B-36", U.S. Army Special Forces 5th SFG, was commanded for a time by Major James G. "Bo" Gritz. B-36 was a mixed American and South Vietnamese unit which operated in the III Corps area of Southern South Vietnam. Fact|date=September 2008

Attempts to locate prisoners of war

During the 1980s Gritz undertook a series of private trips into Southeast Asia, purportedly to locate United States prisoners of war which some believed were still being held by Laos and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam — e.g., at Nhommarath. Those missions were heavily publicized, controversial and widely decried as haphazard — for instance, as some commentators stated, few successful secret missions involve bringing to the border towns women openly marketing commemorative POW-rescue T-shirts. Who|date=September 2008

In the book "Inside Delta Force", CSM Eric L. Haney, a former Delta Force operator, claims that the unit was twice told to prepare for a mission involving the rescue of American POWs from Vietnam. page number|date=September 2008 However, both times the missions were scrubbed, according to Haney, when Gritz suddenly appeared in the spotlight, drawing too much attention to the issue and making the missions too difficult to accomplish.

Allegations of U.S. Government involvement in drug trafficking

In 1986, after a trip to Burma to interview drug kingpin Khun Sa regarding possible locations of U.S. POWs, Gritz returned from Burma with a videotaped interview of Khun Sa purporting to name several officials in the Reagan administration involved in narcotics trafficking in Southeast Asia. Among those named was Richard Armitage, who most recently served as Deputy Secretary of State during George W. Bush's first term as President. Gritz believed that those same officials were involved in a coverup of missing American POWs.

During this period Gritz established contacts with the Christic Institute, a progressive group which was then pursuing a lawsuit against the U.S. government over charges of drug trafficking in both Southeast Asia and Central America.

Conspiracy Researcher

In 1989, Gritz established the Center For Action, which was active on a number of issues, mostly pertaining to conspiracy theories. Attempting to build bridges among conspiracy theorists and other activists of both the left and right, in 1990 he held a conference in Las Vegas, Nevada called "Freedom Call '90". Speakers at that conference included October surprise conspiracy researcher Barbara Honegger, Bill Davis of the Christic Institute, conspiracy theorist Eustace Mullins, and several others. This newfound interest in conspiracy theories proved to be as controversial as Gritz's earlier missions searching for POWs, especially after allegations surfaced of antisemitism directed at one of the speakers, Eustace Mullins.

Anti-war activities

During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Gritz was an outspoken opponent of that war, and linked it to a conspiracy theory alleging plans to implement a one-world government, known as the "new world order". He appeared on Pacifica Radio stations in California as a guest several times, and for a short time was in demand as a speaker to left-wing and anti-war audiences. However, during this period he also became closely associated with the Christian Patriot movement on the right, and spoke at conferences sponsored by Christian Identity pastor Pete Peters. When these associations became known to those on the left, especially after the publication of a report by the Los Angeles-based group People Against Racist Terror calling Gritz a "front man for fascism", left-wing audiences lost interest in Gritz, and the Christic Institute and Pacifica Radio cut off any further association.

Author

Gritz is the author of three books. The first, "A Nation Betrayed", was published in 1989 and contained Gritz's allegations of drug trafficking and a POW coverup, based on the Khun Sa interview. The second, "Called To Serve", was published in 1992 and expanded on the previous book to cover a wide range of conspiracies, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and allegations of a conspiracy to establish a new world order. His third book is titled "My Brother's Keeper" and was published in 2003.

Presidential candidate

In 1992, Gritz ran for President of the United States on the Populist Party ticket. Under the campaign slogan "God, Guns and Gritz" and publishing his political manifesto "The Bill of Gritz" (playing on his last name rhyming with "rights"), he called for staunch opposition to what he called "global government" and "The New World Order", ending all foreign aid, abolishing the Federal Income Tax and the Federal Reserve System, and openly proclaimed the USA to be a "Christian Nation", stating that the country's legal statutes “should reflect unashamed acceptance of Almighty God and His Laws." He received 106,152 votes nationwide, or only 0.14% of the popular vote. In two states he had a respectable showing for a third party candidate: Utah, where he received 3.84% of the vote and Idaho, where he received 2.13% of the vote. In some counties, his support topped 10-12%, and in Franklin County, Idaho, was only a few votes away from pushing Bill Clinton into 4th place in the county. His run on the America First/Populist Party ticket was prompted by his association with another Far-Middle Political Christian Talk Radio Host, Tom Valentine.

Also during 1992, Gritz attracted national attention as mediator during the government standoff with Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho (see below also).

Controversial activities

In 1993, Gritz changed his emphasis again and began offering a course called SPIKE (Specially Prepared Individuals for Key Events, where those events oppose the 'New WorldOrder', which taught paramilitary and survivalist skills because he taught there would be a total sociopolitical and economic collapse in the U.S. He also established a community in Kamiah, Idaho (contiguous to the Nez Percé reservation) called Almost Heaven. Both of these proved to be even more controversial than his past activities, attracting charges from anti-racist watchdog groups that he was trying to build a community of Christian Patriot believers and train them in paramilitary skills for a showdown with the government.

Several times he used his influence and reputation in the Patriot community in attempts to negotiate conclusions between legal authorities and far-Middle activists. In August 1992, he intervened on behalf of Randy Weaver who, with his family, was holed up on his rural home in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, after U.S. Marshals attempted to arrest him on a weapons charge. The 11-day standoff, which resulted in the deaths of a U.S. Marshal and Weaver's son and wife, ended after Gritz convinced Weaver to leave his cabin and place his faith and trust in the court system. In 1996, he unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate a conclusion to the stand-off by the Montana Freemen, a group of Christian Patriot activists who were wanted on a collection of charges. After speaking with the "Freemen," he left in frustration, stating that they presented him with what he called "legalistic mumbo-jumbo" (township and allodial title ideology) to support their claims, and cautioned others in the Patriot movement not to support them (the stand-off ended when the "Freemen" surrendered after 81 days).

ubsequent activities

Bo requested that his name be removed from the membership rolls of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1994 after he was refused a temple recommend when he failed to respond to the questions correctly during the interview. Bo was never disfellowshipped from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at any point in time. Fact|date=September 2008 Since leaving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he has reportedly reverted to associating with Christian Identity groups. Fact|date=September 2008 He eventually cut his ties to the Almost Heaven community, and returned to Nevada. In 1998, Gritz began a fruitless search for abortion-clinic bombing suspect Eric Rudolph in order to save Rudolph's life. [http://cnn.com/US/9807/31/rudolph.gritz/index.html]

In 2005, Gritz became an active protester against the removal of a feeding tube from Terri Schiavo. On March 19, 2005, when the tube was removed, he was arrested for trespassing after trying to enter the hospice where she lived. [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/19/national/main681754.shtml]

As of 2006 he remains active with a website and a radio show called "Freedom Call," on [http://theamericanvoice.com The American Voice] .

External links

* [http://www.bogritz.com/ Gritz's official website]
* [http://www.serendipity.li/cia/gritz1.htm Gritz's 1988 Feb 1 letter to VP Bush]
* [http://www.aiipowmia.com/ssc/gritz.html James Gritz's testimony to the U.S. Senate Select Committee, Nov 23rd, 1992.]
* [http://www.aiipowmia.com/reports/masters.html Prisoners Of War: The Search For Answers by Travis Masters.]
* [http://www.supremelaw.org/authors/gritz/gritz.htm "A Nation Betrayed" A Public Lecture Lieutenant Colonel James "Bo" Gritz (U.S. Army-Retired), June 1, 1990 (An Unofficial Transcript).]