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Capitol
Hill. August 31,2003 --- The U.S. State Department
has officially denied in writing that it permitted
Brian Nelson to live in Florida.
Responding
on behalf of Secretary of State, Colin Powell -- to
a letter from Fr. Sean Mc Manus, President of the
Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus --Ambassador
Cofer Black said: "Because of his felony convictions,
the State Department placed Nelson on the appropriate
watch list, to deny him entry to the United States.
"He
neither applied for, nor received, a waiver to enter
the United States." Mr. Nelson was not legally
in the United States, from the time of his release
from prison, until his reported death. If he was under
an assumed name, it was without the knowledge of the
US government."
Fr.
Mc Manus said: " I am pleased that the State
Department finally answered my letter. Their answer
appears to be unequivocal -- an apparent absolute
denial that the US Government in any way facilitated
Brian Nelson's alleged presence in the United States
up
until his reported death... And notice the State Department's
letter does, interestingly, use that very phrase,
Nelson's ' reported death'.
Even
if Nelson had been placed in the witness protection
program in the US-- a possibility we had considered
-- he would still have been here 'legally'(though,
of course, secretly). So when the State Department's
letter says 'Mr. Nelson was not legally in the United
States from the time of his release from prison until
his reported death', this appears to preclude that
possibility... Unless,of course, the State Department
is allowed to shade the truth in these matters...
Could it be possible, for example, that while Nelson
may not have been the United States ' from the time
of his release', he could have been here some time
after his release? But I do not wish to unfairly or
ungraciously parse each dot and comma of the State
Department's letter.
If,
indeed, Nelson was ' illegally' in the United States
until his reported death, then it means
- He
came here on his own steam, which granting his high
profile seems unlikely (the fact that Republicans
have often done so is different because they had
a vast 'sea to swim
in', whereas Nelson would have had hardly any water
to swim in); or
- He
was placed in the United States by British intelligence
without the knowledge of the US Government, something
which would seem unlikely but which cannot be ruled
out.
After
all, it is well known that even friendly governments
do all sorts of things they are not supposed to do
to each other -- like spying on each other. And we
do know -- don't we ? -- that the British Government
did facilitate Brian Nelson in doing stuff far more
grievously wrong than entering the United States illegally.
So
the question remains: Did Nelson die in the United
States -- if he did die --and how did he get here?
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