Talk:Douglas Mackiernan
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[edit] Errors of Fact in the Douglas Mackiernan article
I am new to Wikipedia but well grounded in Mackiernan. Here are the facts that I notice are wrong when I read the article:
1)"He was eagerly accepted, and by May he was on his way back. He soon found himself recruited for, and ideally suited to, espionage work." He was recruited as a CIA officer before he was posted to Tihwa. He was posted in Tihwa with State Department as cover for his CIA work. See Into Tibet, pgs 22-23.
2)"By the end of August civil conditions had seriously deteriorated, and escape by conventional routes was impossible." Bessac flew into Tihwa on a regularly scheduled flight and those flights continued to run even after Mackiernan and Bessac chose to join Osman. Mackiernan chose to throw in with those viewed as rebels by China and then he chose to go to Tibet-- he could have flown out of China like thousands of other expats. He may have been ordered to join Osman and then go to Tibet by CIA, but he certainly did not 'escape'that way. He had other choices which he did not take. See Into Tibet, pg 103-107, and cited documents in blindnotes
3)"Two days later Mackiernan and a translator, Frank Bessac, sneaked out of the city with their gear," A- They did not sneak out, they drove out the front gate, in a large truck. This is testified to by both Bessac and Zvansov, see Into Tibet, pages 107-115 B-Bessac was not a translator for anyone. Mackiernan did not need that. The retired CIA Officer Fredrick Latrash says that Bessac was a CIA contract agent-- not a CIA officer like Mackiernan. See, Into Tibet pgs 244-245, and associated blindnotes.
4)"Zvonzo" Wrong spelling-- Vasili Zvansov is correct-- as per Zvansov, as cited in Into Tibet
5) "Mackiernan and a small group of associates escaped to Tibet by horseback and camel, with the goal of establishing a base there and providing arms to resist the Chinese." Base? None of the published material says that Mackiernan intended to set up a base. He wanted to get the Tibetan Government to allow his intelligence agents in Sinkiang, to pass through Tibet to India, with their intelligence after Mackiernan. He may have wanted to discuss the possiblity of arming the Tibetans. But there is no evidence that he wanted to set up a base. See, Into Tibet. ---
--Twilson100 22:09, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
[edit] bad links
There are so many bad links on http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~tazewell/dsm.htm that I propose removing the url. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ceaser (talk • contribs) 12:22, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
