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32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Goldwater Did It, February 14, 2007
This review is from: The Zenith Secret: A CIA Insider Exposes the Secret War Against Cuba and the Plot That Killed the Kennedy Brothers (Paperback)
Like many of us, I've been waiting a long time for the release of Brad Ayer's book. And I'm certainly glad to have it. He tells his life story in a very engaging and likable way. I wish his life had worked out better. And the fact that it did not is just one more indictment of our increasingly dark and dangerous society.
However, as an assassination text, it's pretty useless. (With one major exception for which we should all be grateful. See below.) First off, the initial half of the 280-page book has almost nothing to do with Dallas. It tells a rather too-detailed -- and at times turgid -- story of Ayers's family and professional life. How his first marriage ended. How he smoked pot with a beautiful Cuban dish and then had the best sex of his life. (Pot will do that.) How he hooked up with his beautiful second wife. (Not the Cuban.) On and on. All told in print so tiny as to scare the editors of the Condensed Oxford English Dictionary. (Why? So the publisher wouldn't have to go to press with a 400-page book?)
In the first half of "Zenith Secret", Ayers is clearly an odd-man-out. He does not have any first-hand or documentary evidence about what was going to happen to Jack Kennedy. And then the murder occurs, Brad has his great sex, and his life moves on.
The second part of the book is truly heartbreaking. Bradley Ayers is clearly a very good man. And the people around him treated him like garbage, even refusing to acknowledge his existence at times. But he became a man on a mission -- the mission being to tell the story of his time inside the hive, inside the JM/WAVE station in Miami, and the jolly men he met there. But his mission goes beyond that, into chasing the Holy Grail of Dallas. This leads him toward a very strange direction.
Basically, that the plot to murder John Fitzgerald Kennedy was hatched in the offices of Senator Barry Goldwater. This door is opened by a woman named Pearl, who was the daughter of some Goldwater aide, and this aide passed on info regarding David Morales, Richard Helms, Richard Nixon, Des Fitzgerald and others all making strange visits to Goldwater's office in the months leading up to Dallas. There was even a name to whatever they were working on: The Gila Project. The notorious murder of journalist Don Bolles may have been connected to his investigation of Gila.
Hmmmm. I suppose there's a good rule of thumb in weighing the credibility of anything concerning 11/22/63: if you've never heard of it before, after 43 years of serious research, forget it.
Especially is this rule a good one to follow in regards to that silly tome known as "Ultimate Sacrifice". A genuine piece of disinformation crap that the Ayers book gives the boot to. Nothing -- NOTHING -- in Bradley Ayers' experience at JM/WAVE even suggests there was an imminent invasion of Cuba when Kennedy was murdered by the national security state. And that is what makes this book valuable.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A disappointing book, February 17, 2007
This review is from: The Zenith Secret: A CIA Insider Exposes the Secret War Against Cuba and the Plot That Killed the Kennedy Brothers (Paperback)
As others have noted, the size of the print is a problem, to the point that for me at least it was difficult, nearly painful, to read. If I weren't so interested in the topic I'd have never purchased the book due to the print size. It would have been better to cut some of the unnecessary verbage and increase the font.
I'm extremely puzzled by the author's identification of Gordon Campbell as the individual (from Veciana's description) drawn as Bishop for the HSCA. To my knowledge only one photo of Campbell exists, and it is the one the author refers to in his book--that appeared on the video that was available on the BBC in November 2006--if in fact that was Campbell. To me if that was Campbell, or if that person looked anything like the real Campbell, he doesn't look anything like the HSCA drawing of Bishop. Which makes me wonder about Ayers' other identifications.
Ultimately, the author really doesn't know any new details about the JFK case (although he may be correct about some of those involved), but his description of his involvement in the anti-Castro activities in the 1960s is worthwhile to those interested in every available tidbit about that, but be prepared to strain your eyes to be able to read about it.
I was looking forward to this book, but it disappoints, mainly due to the lack of any real evidence cited.
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19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not Just For The Buffs..., February 10, 2007
This review is from: The Zenith Secret: A CIA Insider Exposes the Secret War Against Cuba and the Plot That Killed the Kennedy Brothers (Paperback)
First, the good news. Brad Ayers "The Zenith Secret" is the first inside look at the massive US JMWAVE operation against Cuba from Florida based CIA cover Zenith Technical Enterprises. Zenith served as a cover organization for logistics and training of Cuban exiles in Florida. The ultimate aim of the operation was the launching of an invasion force of Cuban exiles capable of securing a beachhead on Cuban soil, allowing the US to recognize and support a Cuban "government-in-exile" and the ability to provide open support to that "government" against the Castro regime. This would be done with the help of US military advisors who would train the exile force in destabilizing and toppling Castro's government. I think it is fair to say the above information has been confirmed by so many sources in and out of the government that there is not much controversy about it thus far.
Enter Brad Ayers, a US Military Special Ops guy with a whole lot of special training who maintains that he served as a key officer in the training of the proposed invasion force. He later wrote a heavily censored book about his experiences called "The War That Never Was", which I found entertainng, describing his activities in general terms, but disguised the identities of the key characters. The Zenith Secret is a total rewrite of TWTNW and includes the identities of such key players as Des Fitzgerald, David Morales, Ted Shackley, Johnny Roselli, etc. It is a terrific read, with Ayers describing not only his experiences in Florida, but a lifetime of mysterious breakins, betrayals, bewilderment and near dispair. It is a jfk assasination book that reads like a McCarry novel, and in keeping with that, there is not table of contents, preventing an old skimmer like me from hoppinhg to my particular interest and skipping chapters. Instead, I read from Chapter 1 and was surprisingly caught up in the story; yes, it is a story, a memoir if you will, of a young man cught up in something bigger than he understands, and his lifetime of trying to make sense of it.
I've only had the book a few days, and have read just five chapters, but I am far more intrigued than I usually am when reading a new jfk book, because I'm not looking for the new bits of information; i'm reading a very good story which is unraveling at a nice pace. It is like Bill Turners Rear View Mirror in many ways, though far more intense and dark. I've waited for this book for about two years, through its numerous setbacks to publication, and I'm glad I did. I recommend it highly to espionage fans, thriller lovers, and those who enjoy being drawn into a personal odyssey. Whatever the truth behind the story, I do believe that Ayers experienced what he says he did, and I respect him both for the man he is and was. Kudos also to Sander Hicks and Vox Pop for actually responding to my emails regarding publication.
Now for the bad news. The typeface on this book is actually the size of most footnotes in other books, because it was printed in China (don't ask). I hope that Vox Pop will be able to doa second edition or sell the rights to a a mainstream publisher and printer before my eyes give out. That said, this book pulls many of the obscure characters mentioned above who were not even known of during the WC and HSCA investigations. This one is not just for the 'buffs'. I hope Brad Ayers finds some solace in seeing his dream come true.
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