Bomb myths explode Doug Collins ONE OF the fringe benefits of the collapse of the Soviet Union is that Soviet secrets are being revealed. And one of them is how the West was nearly Jost because of the work of communist spies. Much of it was already known before communism went belly up, of course. Kim | nilby was proba- bly the biggest British traitor of modern times, closely followed by “Sir” Anthony Blunt, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess. But now Russians are telling us that J. Robert Oppenheimes was working for the Soviets — the very man who was in charge of the development of the atomic bornb. Most people still know nothing about that because there has been very little coverage in North America’s major media. It has been played down, proba- bly because Oppenheimer was a liberal who got a lot of support when he fell under suspicion after the war and had his security clear- ance revoked. tt was later restored, leftists having worked their butts off for him. They said he was the victim ci “McCarthyism.” But now a former Russian spy- master has spilled the beans. He is 87-year-old Pavel Sudoplatov, and he has presented so much detail in his aptly titled Special Tasks: the Memoirs of an Unwanted. Witness, that the story has to be true. I have not read the book because it hasn’t yet been pub- lished here. It is due this fall. But it has been published in the U.K. The Sunday Telegraph ran a tengthy feature on it, from which I have drawn some of the following points. Sudoplatov is not shy about the murkier side of his activities. Murder was one of his “special tasks,” and it was he who arranged the death of Stalin’s arch-rival, Leon Trotsky, in Mexico. He has been described by a pro- fessor of modern history at ON THE OTHER HAND Cambridge University as “one of this century’s most interesting scri- al killers.” But murder was not on his mind in the Oppenheimer affair. He was after secrets and describes in detail how they were obtained from trust- ed scientists, of whom Oppenheimer was the most impor- tant. None of them were in it for * money. They did it for the human race, believing that communism was good for it. And in Oppenheimer’s case being Jewish helped. Wasn't Hitler destroying the Jews? Wasn’t Statin on our side? Starting with the wife of the Russian ambassador to Washington, therefore, a Jewish network was created that persuaded Oppenheimer he was doing the right thing in funnelling top secret stuff to Moscow. He made five top secret reports available that described progress made on the bomb, and Sudoplatov claims that without such intelli- gence it would not have been pes- sible to develop a Soviet weapon by 1949. Others involved were Klaus Fuchs, later imprisoned in the U.K Bruno Pontercorvo was another. Neils Bohr the Dane was another. Enrico Fermi yet another. “Twelve days before the first atomic bomb was assembled ... we received a description of the device from both Washington and New York (and) | can verify that the sources were Klaus Fuchs and Pontecorvo,” claims the spymaster. Both reports contained a 33- page design of the bomb, A little later photos artived that showed how the atomic plant was con- structed at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Russians never made the mistake of regarding Oppenheimer and Co. as run-of-the-mill spies who could be bullied. “We understood that he and other members of the scientific community were best approached as friends, not as agents.” What it all boils down to was that Joe McCarthy was right. Sure, he started a witch hunt. But there was no Jack of witch- es. America and the West had been betrayed as never before — by some of the best brains around. Sudoplatov throws light on many «ther things. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed in 1953 for conspiracy to pass atomic secrets to the Russians. Propaganda campaigns in the U.S. and several buoks alleged they were innocent. They weren't, says Sudoplatov. Bui they were only small fry. He also relates how internation- al anti-nuclear campaigns had their origins in Moscow. So much for the dupes who backed such campaigns in Canada. So much for the “Vancouver is a nuclear-free zone” nonsense. There's something of a laugh to be got out of all this, though. In 1945, when Harry Truman attended the Potsdam Conference, he informed Stalin that the U.S. had the bomb. How Joe must have chuckled. He probably knew more about it than Harry did. The book is being published by Little, Brown and Co. Venting some real CORE concerns Dear Editer: Tne Cariboo communities are justified in their concern over the proposal by Stephen Owen, Commissioner on Resources and Environment (CORE), as they can see the loss of jobs far in excess of what the government says there will be. All of us in the Lower Mainland shauld be very con- cerned, because the CORE pro- posals will come back to haunt us. health centres * Vitamins & Supplements ¢ Natural Cosmetics ¢ Natural Foods « Weight Management e ae ali & More Seniors’ Day Every Thurs. Capilano Mall (Next to Wat-Mart) 980-5853 The new CORE proposals are technically unsound and will set up 11 new bureaucracies. Premier Harcourt promised no loss of jobs, yet one million are being taken off the cut. Many of the parks created by the CORE plan were not even discussed at the table. So much for community consultation. The guestion is not so much “are we environmentalists” or “do we belicve in preservation?” The answer is “yes!” But what do we do when the taxes from the resources of min- ing, forestry and ranching dry up? Daniel M. Jarvis, MLA North Vancouver-Seymour SEASHORE REALTY LTD. is pleased te sponsor a Real Estate Seminar, for anyone thinking of buying or selling. Thursday, September 22nd, 7:00 pm @ the West Van Library, (1950 Marine Drive.) Call Carmen @ 922-6033 to reserve. Money saving tips, by four respected authorities, followed by a question and answer period. H 1) Robyn Maci