John Loftus

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John Joseph Loftus (born February 12, 1950, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American author, former US government prosecutor and former Army intelligence officer.

A graduate of Boston College (BA, 1971) and Suffolk University (JD, 1977), he served in the US Army from 1971 to 1974, attaining the rank of First Lieutenant. He began working for the US Department of Justice in 1977 and in 1979 joined their Office of Special Investigations, which was charged with prosecuting and deporting Nazi war criminals in the US.

Loftus is the author and co-author of a number of books on Nazis, espionage, and similar topics, including The Belarus Secret (1982), Unholy Trinity: How the Vatican's Nazi Networks Betrayed Western Intelligence to the Soviets (1992), The Secret War Against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People (1994), Unholy Trinity: The Vatican, the Nazis, and the Swiss Banks (1998).

Loftus also serves as a media commentator, appearing regularly on ABC National Radio and Fox News. On August 7, 2005, Loftus provided the La Habra, California address of a suspected terrorist named Iyad K. Hilal on Fox News. However, Hilal left the address three years previously and the home was currently owned by the family of Randy Vorick, who were subjected to threats and vandalism and required police protection. [1] Loftus said "I thought it might help police in that area now that we have positively identified a terrorist" but did not say why he did not contact police in a more direct manner. Loftus later apologized for the mistake. [2]

Loftus is currently a resident of St. Petersburg, Florida. He is a president of The Intelligence Summit and a president of the Florida Holocaust Museum, the first Irish Catholic president of that institution. Loftus serves on the Board of Advisers to Public Information Research.

[edit] Work On Terrorism/Anti-Terrorism and Controversies

Loftus is the proprietor of a website, John-Loftus.com, which focuses on domestic and international terrorist threats.

His primary "victory" in this arena involves documenting the ties a professor of Islamic Studies, Sami Al-Arian -- who was later dismissed by the University of South Florida -- had to Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

He has also been an outspoken advocate for Jonathan Pollard, a high-profile federal prisoner who pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a foreign government. Loftus asserts that, contrary to some others' opinions, Aldrich Ames, and not Pollard, was responsible for the deaths of American spies located behind the Iron Curtain, and suggests that his conviction -- and by extension, lengthy prison sentence -- was due in large part to the relationship former Secretary of Defence Caspar Weinberger had with Saudi Arabia. [3]

Another controversial claim made by Loftus was that the initial American airstrikes on Baghdad -- launched prior to the initiation of Operation Iraqi Freedom -- were successful in killing Saddam Hussein, his two sons, and a host of other high-ranking Iraqi officials.

Loftus has since recanted, and conceeded that this bold statement was the result of incomplete or inaccurate information.

Loftus has also raised the ire of the general aviation community suggesting the private aircraft straying within fifteen miles of Washington DC due to navigational errors should be shot down. He was roundly criticized by private pilots and former air force officers for his extreme statements and lack knowledge on aviation matters. [4]

Loftus explains the Roswell UFO Incident as the crash of a Project Mogul balloon. The subsequent UFO story was concocted by the military as a red herring, in order to divert Russian interest from the project.

Despite these controversies, Loftus continues to make bold assertions on a host of subjects -- often alluding to "on background" information that he is privy to -- on the John Batchelor Show and in other forums. Most of these declarations are related to topical events occurring within the Middle East, and domestically, most of which focus on terrorism or American foreign policy.