There is an official publication on Anguilla which first came to public notice in 2003. The publication is a book entitled "ANGUILLA": Tranquillity wrapped in Blue. The book was printed and published under the sponsorship of the Anguilla Government with the intention of promoting the island as a first-class tourist destination.
The book on Anguilla contains many useful bits and pieces of information. I found the following piece of information at page 20, to be refreshing, interesting and edifying:-
"In order to defend the island's (Anguilla's) newly acquired freedom, the Peacekeeping Committee approved the launching of an armed attack on St. Kitts. To this end, an eighteen-man party landed in St. Kitts at 2am on Saturday 10th June, 1967, and attacked the Defence Force Camp, Police Headquarters and Power Station. The attacks fizzled out and five Anguillians were captured."
With a St. Kitts population as big as it was in 1967 and with the massive ground-swell of support locally for the Bradshaw Government it is foolish and hypocritical for anyone nowadays to think that there were only 18 persons involved and that the 18 involved were those who travelled from Anguilla by boat.
The Anguillian invaders were not suicide terrorists. They knew that the odds were against them. They knew that a handful of 18 men could never topple the Bradshaw Government. The 18 men came from Anguilla because they were promised aid and assistance by Bradshaw's political enemies in St. Kitts.
The 5 Anguillians who were caught, confessed to Police interrogators, and in the process, gave away details of the entire plot, including the names of Kittitians who were involved and those who were not. Later however, for a variety of reasons including fear, threats, bribes, family reprisals, the captured Anguillians changed their stories and couldn't remember what evidence they had given previously.
According to the Anguillian invaders the boat from Anguilla went off course on tits journey to St. Kitts and arrived at Half Way Tree Bay, much too late to make the prearranged rendezvous with Bradshaw's political opponents in St. Kitts.
Some of the invaders got off the boat at Half Way Tree. The boat sailed up to Lime Kiln Bay where some more of the invaders swam ashore. Two of those who swam ashore at Lime Kiln made contact with a sister who was married to a Kittitian and who was living in the area.
Around 5:30 o'clock in the morning, the brother-in-law of the two (2) Anguillian invaders escorted them up to the Island Main Road in the vicinity of the Texaco Gas Station at Buckley's Site. They were put on a bus that was travelling to Sandy Point. Naturally, when the news got around the brother-in-law who was a teacher, was picked up, questioned and arrested.
Members of PAM, involved in the 10th of June terrorist attack, travelled to Anguilla for regular target practice at the Rifle Range at Junks Hole. People, who know Anguilla, know that Junks Hole is situated in a remote spot in the far east in Anguilla. Junks Hole was the terrorist training camp.
The men from St. Kitts who were trained at Junks Hole were not invisible men. They were flesh and blood men like everybody else. Anguillians saw those men. They recognised them. Anguillians often referred to a prominent Kittitian who was often accompanied by a shorter, fatter, younger-looking, fair-skinned fellow. In light of the foregoing, how can PAMites now say that the party was not involved?
Trucks were made available at Half-Way Tree to transport the invaders to Basseterre. We all know that no truck can drive itself, number one, and, that the Anguillians brought no trucks with them on the boat that left Anguilla. Somebody in St. Kitts had to provide the trucks and the drivers to drive them. Who would do such a thing? Only the political opponents of Premier Bradshaw in St. Kitts.
Nowadays the PAMites argue that their party was not involved as not one of its members was ever convicted. Of course that is true, but that does not say that members of the party were not involved. What really happened was that plenty of people with plenty of money and plenty of influence won the day.
Money was used to make certain people talk a certain talk, and money was also used to buy the silence of certain other persons in possession of damning and damaging information.
The 10th of June court trials was a great victory for Money, Power and Influence, but a great defeat for Justice and the cause of Democracy. The 1967 court cases demonstrated that Justice can be bought. It was a travesty of justice and a perversion of the Legal System.
Some individuals and organisations tell simple, plain, old-fashioned lies. PAM, on the other hand, tells dangerous and stupid lies as a matter of policy and practice. Therefore we should not expect PAM to own up to the honest truth about the 10th of June, 1967. PAM will always lie.
Even as recently as a couple of months ago, one PAM bright spark writing in the Democrat newspaper made the outrageous and dangerous claim that the abolition of Personal Income Tax benefited all the ordinary working-class people who never, ever, paid Income Tax.
PAM's imposition of the Social Services Levy on the heels of the abolition of Personal Income Tax made the lot of the ordinary working man and woman much worse. PAM shifted the burden of Personal Income Tax from the shoulders of those best able to bear it, not the shoulders of those least able to bear it.
Having done this terrible deed to the poor people of this country, PAM then turned around and told them that the Social Services Levy was not a tax on their income, simply because the financial imposition was termed a Levy and not a Tax.
PAM went on to make the foolish and dangerous claim that all the poor people in St Kitts and Nevis became better-off because Personal Income Tax was abolished. PAM knew that the claim was a dangerous and far-fetched lie, because the St. Kitts-born Economist, Dr. Terry Somersall, advised the PAM Government in a Report that the abolition of Personal Income Tax would favour the rich and hurt the poor. PAM ignored Dr. Somersalls sage and professional advice.
One defeated PAM candidate, the one from "The East" wrote an article headed "Blood ON Their Hands" published at page 23 of the Democrat newspaper for the period June 16th to 22nd, 2007.
In his article the defeated candidate made a number of false ridiculous, preposterous and down-right self-serving allegations and accusations against our Labour Party Government. In the article the writer tried to link the Labour Party to the disappearance of Billy Herbert.
The writer further went on to insinuate that the copy of the Scotland Yard Report that has been made public is inaccurate and incomplete, that the Labour Party Government refused to give to the grieving Herbert family a copy of the Scotland Yard Report, and that the Labour Party wanted Billy Herbert out of the way and somehow or other, contrived to make him disappear.
I feel sorry for the defeated candidate. I feel sorry because I am convinced that with his academic qualifications he should not be writing those fanciful, far-fetched and totally incredible articles in the Democrat newspaper. He ought to be capable of much better.
Secondly, by writing the type and quality of articles which he specialises in, he is committing political suicide. He comes across in his articles as a person who cannot be trusted. A person who will tell plenty lies and engage in all sorts of dirty tricks in an effort to gain some short-term or long-term political advantage for himself and for his party.
His articles do no harm to the Labour Party. Instead, his articles show him up for what he truly is; a man who is prepared to sacrifice principle and self-respect in order to gain a seat in the National Assembly.
Billy Herbert was no threat to the Labour Party. If you doubt me, just take a look at history. PAM was formed on January 15, 1965 with Dr. William Herbert as President and Dr. Kennedy Simmonds as Secretary. PAM contested the General Elections of 25th July 1966, the 10th May 1971 and the 1st December 1975 General Elections. Following the Elections of 1975 Dr. Herbert was forced by Party supporters to give way to Dr. Simmonds as President of PAM.
Dr. Herbert ran as a PAM candidate in 1966, 1971 and 1975. his party lost and he himself failed to win a seat even once. As a result of such devastating defeats, Dr. Herbert handed over the presidency of the party to Dr. Simmonds.
What was there to fear from a man who led his party into three successive election defeats from 1966 to 1975 and never succeeded in wining a seat even for himself? The story that the Labour Party was afraid of Billy Herbert is a PAM myth, nothing more.
Billy Herbert was a highly successful business-man and a high-profile lawyer. He made millions of dollars. But as a politician he was nothing to shout about outside of PAM.
He is credited with crafting our 1983 Independence Constitution, with drafting The House of Assembly Elections Ordinance (Amendment) Act, and with getting Dr. Simmonds to renege on the terms and conditions agreed to under the Four Seasons Accord.
Billy's handiwork profited his party for a while. Shortly after PAM was voted out of office in 1995, the party became grossly dissatisfied with the operation of The House of Assembly Elections Ordinance (Amendment) Act. The party is clamouring now to have the legislation changed. PAMites now realise that some of the 'trick' clauses and provisions which Billy inserted in our Constitution have come back home to haunt the leaders of PAM.
The Hon. Shawn Richards greatly desires to be Leader of the Opposition, but the Hon. Malcolm Guishard (deceased) had the Constitution on his side. PAM fretted and fumed, but could do nothing about it. What you buy you must wear.
By the time the 1980 General Elections came around both Bradshaw and Southwell were already dead. The Labour Party was dis-united, disorganised and ill-prepared to contest the Elections. It was the weakened condition of the Labour Party that contributed to its failure to win all 7 seats as usual.
If the 10th of June coup had succeeded Dr. Herbert would have been announced as the new Premier of St. Kits-Nevis and Anguilla according to the Anguillian historians. The coup failed. Bradshaw remained as Premier. So to sum it all up, I would say that as a businessman and a lawyer, Dr. Herbert was a success. As a politician and a diplomat, Dr. Herbert was less than successful. His presence on the political scene inspired no fear in the hearts and minds of Labour politicians.
Fitzroy Bryant, God rest his soul, was the master politician. He was creative, he was innovative and he was way ahead of his time. The name Fitzroy Bryant struck terror in the PAM camp and that is why Dr. Herbert inserted the "Bryant Clause" in the 1983 Constitution. PAM could not face up to the political acuity of Fitzroy Bryant.
PAM's defeated candidate from the East is making the allegation that the Scotland Yard Report, as circulated locally, is inaccurate, incomplete and misleading. My response to the allegation is this: Is PAM in possession of a true, genuine and complete copy of the Report? If so, then PAM should publish its copy in the Democrat or some other local newspaper. If PAM does not have a copy of the Report, and does not have access to the original of the Report, what then is PAM saying?
The entire country is by now fully aware of PAM's political tactics and strategies. PAM lied to the country by saying that the PAM Government only made slight changes in 1983 to the law governing our Electoral System. But up until now, PAM has never backed up its chats by publishing in the Democrat a copy of The House of Assembly Elections Ordinance (Amendment) Act.
In like manner, the feature writers in the Democrat newspaper would lambaste the Reports of the Commission of Inquiry and say all manner of ill about them. One feature writer often referred to Professor Williams as 'Dog Face'. But up until now, PAM has never backed up its chats by publishing for the public consumption a copy of the Sir Louis Blom-Cooper Report. One PAM lawyer referred frequently and publicly to Sir Louis as 'Bloomers Coopers'.
No one in the Labour Party was ever interested in seeing Dr Herbert disappear. Dr. Herbert was no threat to the Labour Party or to any politician in the Labour Party. Remember that Dr. Herbert ran three (3) times for PAM and failed to win a seat. He also led his party to defeat on three (3) consecutive Elections.
Based on information carried by the international press, one can safely, quickly and easily conclude that in the course of his activities and his business transactions, Dr. Herbert made himself the enemy of a number of powerful and influential men.
Ian Ball, writing in the London Daily Telegraph for April 27, 1987, had this to say in an article captioned Drugs Money used to buy guns for IRA
'A detailed picture of how drug money from American street sales of marijuana was "laundered" in the tiny British Caribbean colony of Anguilla by IRA-fund-raisers, with the help of an ambassador to the United Nations, and then used to buy seven tons of illicit arms and ammunition has been pieced together by the FBI and Scotland Yard'
The following is an extract from a joint article by Paul Eddy and Sara Walden, captioned "Devils' Island", and published in the London Sunday Times for February 26th, 1995:-
"In 1986 a joint British-American task force (code-named Operation Cougar in Britain and Operation Man in the US) set out to find and plug the channels trough which major drug traffickers and other international criminals laundered their money. The trail led to Billy Herbert. Two Scotland Yard detectives began to investigate him."
The DEA, FBI and Scotland Yard began tracking Dr. Herbert in 1986, and he disappeared in 1994 on Father's Day. Dr. Herbert was under constant surveillance and it is extremely difficult for a sane and sober individual to see how the Labour Party or any member of it could hatch a plot to do away with Dr. Herbert without the knowledge of at least one member of one of the three (3) law-enforcement agencies.
International journalists have reported that the Scotland Yard detectives have concluded that neither the Labour Party, nor any of its members, had the resources, expertise, money or opportunity to do away with Dr. Herbert.
PAM is nasty and brutish. And members of that party are up to their old tricks again. With no evidence whatsoever, PAMites tried to implicate Lee Moore in the untimely death of the Hon. C.A. Paul Southwell in St. Lucia. With no evidence whatsoever PAM is trying again to pull off its usual trick. This time PAM is trying to implicate Dr. Douglas and the Labour Party in the disappearance of Dr. Herbert.
Superintendent Alex Ross of Scotland Yard, with a driver and two bodyguards, was in St. Kitts investigating the disappearance of Dr. Herbert. Was PAM able to give Alex Ross any relevant evidence or information connecting Dr. Douglas or the Labour Party to the disappearance of the MAXI II? The answer is No! why? Because then or now, PAM has no relevant, reliable and factual evidence linking any known individual or organisation to the disappearance of Dr. Herbert.
PAM is in a state of hopelessness and desperation. So PAM is engaging in its customary and well-known practice of base and baseless political propaganda. Can the leopard change its spots?
The article in the Democrat captioned Blood On Their Hands says nothing really about the Labour Party or its leaders. On the contrary, the article reveals a great deal about the nature, character, the heart, and the soul and mind of the writer. The article condemns him as being totally unfit and unsuitable to be a representative of people.
