was able last week b scenario of what ma• The theme of the me] to these friends, was Top of the Week the protagonist was N, A reputable prods H ITCH Poland, Frykowski, f: Case of the Green Berets PAGE 26 - no real career in this RD drugs—as a user and The astonishing arrest of Col. Robert last year he had the i B. Rheault, the commander of U.S. Spe- of Gibby Folger, a cial Forces in Vietnam, on suspicion of ious other purposes rich girl who moved murder has raised disturbing questions n's plans for future New York City to the cupations of the mov about both U.S. military justice and the use, has the power money, and Frykows. use of American soldiers in espionage trol and police the it, according to friend: operations. And although the case ways done so with drugs—LSD, heroin, against Rheault and seven of his men is Its military-affairs juana and a new the still shrouded in secrecy, it has already without expertise. —and peddled them cast grave doubt on the future of the de the reputation kowski had two regi ed him in the Pres- Canadians, in his dri elite Green Berets. From files by May- ing military con- he is known to have nard Parker, Kevin P. Buckley and Francois Sully in Saigon, Lloyd 'econd world war. with them. What's me Norman in Washington, Henry P. Leifermann at Fort Bragg, N.C., on was probably are known to have 1: and other correspondents, Associate Editor Russell Watson wrote an anyone else for as recently as two d this week's cover story. In a companion article, Associate Editor Should the wheel Tate's party. Robin Mannock describes Colonel Rheault himself. (Newsweek cover approval of this Odd Taste: Frykov photo by Al Satterwhite—Camera Five.) ye devices, as it go, was connected to ight become the much through her husband, Polanski, as weex resinie. it,c octrette, ai wi to uell iiemocrats- best net for a 1972 Presi- through her former fiance, Jay Sebring, angry debate, has refused by a two- dential comeback. with whom Frykowski shared a taste for vote margin to turn down the Presi- odd sexual fun and games. All three liked dent's request for deployment of an NEAR-HYSTERIA to trip together on pot or acid. Friends anti-ballistic-missile defense system. Sense of proportion has been lost in believe drugs were used by the victims The House has passed an admirable the current near-hysteria. It has hap- on the night of the murder (though this tax reform and relief bill but one that pened before. On the eve of the sec- has not been confirmed by the medical would reduce government income too ond world war, the House came with- examiner), but Miss Tate presumably substantially. Both branches have ex- in a vote of suspending the draft. abstained in view of her pregnancy. tended the temporary 10 per cent After that war, public demand to Some suspect the group was amusing surtax, but the Senate has refused to "bring the boys home" was so insistent itself with some sort of black-magic rites— go along with the House on other that the armed forces were all but as well as with drugs—that night, and anti-inflation measures. disbanded. Secretary of Defense Louis they mention a native Jamaican hip to Yet the first seven months were less Johnson was a hero one day for presid- voodoo who had recently been brought in- notable for any of these achievements ing over their dissolution and a scape- to Frykowski's drug operation. Some such than for "the revolt against the Penta- goat the next for the nation's lack of parlor rites might account for the hood gon." This was the phenomenon that preparedness to fight the war in Ko- found over Sebring's head and the rope toned the period. The sound and fury rea. Conditions can change attitudes binding him to Miss Tate. Indeed, one of it were deafening. It was the itch with the speed of light. group of friends speculates that the mur- politicians and the media spent their The Senate-based campaign against ders resulted from a ritual mock execution energies scratching. It was what the the Pentagon would be excessive in that got out of hand in the glare of hallu- ABM debate in the Senate was about. easier times and is especially so with cinogens. Others are convinced that the Its shibboleth, "restore civilian control the world as tense as it is now. The murderers surprised their victims at play of the military," was so pervasive that recent resumption of enemy attacks in —and believe the killers were Frykow- nobody bothered to ask how some- Vietnam and immovability of Commu- ski's Canadian accomplices with whom he thing that had never been lost could nist negotiators in Paris seem to be had quarreled and perhaps also the Jamai- be restored. It was as faddish as mini- the answer to Averell Harriman's the- can. The police, who are known to be on skirts and mutton-chop sideburns. ory that what we need do is set a pa- the Canadians' trail, feel that the killers POLITICAL PAYDIRT cific example in order to stop the fight- at least had their wits about them and cite ing. The Soviets are outbuilding us in the fact that the telephone wires leading Denunciation of the "military-in- strategic weapons and catching up in to the house had been carefully cut. dustrial complex" looked like political naval power, displayed in the Medi- Polanski himself—one of the hottest di- paydirt, and members of Congress, terranean and even in the Caribbean. rectors in Hollywood since the success of especially those sitting in shaky seats, Potentially contagious crises persist in "Rosemary's Baby"—was in England at hastened to dig it. Disillusionment the Middle East and along the Sino- the time of the killing, working on plans with Vietnam, the high cost of sophis- Soviet frontiers and Moscow is delay- for a new film. Whatever he knows has so ticated military hardware and the in- ing arms-control talks. far remained a secret between him and flation resulting in part from paying But we are advised not to be timid the police. But no one is talking about the bills for it made the digging easy. about reducing armaments. After all, Polanski any longer as a master of the Opponents of ABM in the Senate China is a distant threat and the new macabre. At the burial of his young wife came so close to winning and were so Soviet leaders are reasonable fellows. —together with the unborn child who universally applauded for the effort Those who give this advice would do would have been his first son—the help- that they almost all became overnight well to read testimony by Anatoly less director broke down and wept on his military experts. They were soon pro- Kuznetsov, the recently defected So- mother-in-law's shoulder, no more the posing to cut authorizations for an air- viet author, on the stability of the pres- master of this horrible tale than any other craft carrier, for a new tank, for exper- ent Soviet leadership. man would have been in his place. • August 25, 1969 25 7ZZ `id&i:AR
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