(Conspiracy Nation, 08/21/05) - Kin no yuri, Operation Golden Lily, was imperial Japan's project to systematically loot Asia of an incalculable treasure in gold, gems, and priceless artifacts. During World War II a fortune was buried in the Philippines, to be retrieved later.
This subject had been covered previously by Conspiracy Nation. (See The Yamato Dynasty at www.shout.net/~bigred/Yamato.html) However, new information in Sterling and Peggy Seagrave's Gold Warriors leads to a revisitation of the subject.
Additional information is available at the Seagrave's web site (www.bowstring.net)
Japan's gestapo, the kempeitai, used Yakuza thugs and unsavory military personnel to extract treasure from conquered territories. Because of an allied naval blockade of Japan, it was necessary to hide the fortune in the Philippines. Slave labor battalions were used to dig scores of tunnels and to lug gold bars into the caverns. When the work was finished, Japanese blew up tunnel entrances and buried the diggers inside to ensure secrecy.
More than 175 imperial treasure vaults were guarded by booby traps such as ingenious water traps which could instantly flood tunnels. Coded recovery maps were drawn up by expert cartographers. Only the initiated could understand the maps. For example, a drawing of a flag would indicate whether or not the map was a mirror image. If the flag flew in a certain direction, that meant the map must be held before a mirror to be read properly.
Allied intelligence had some idea of Japanese war loot buried in the Philippines. Following Japan's surrender in 1945, Filipino-American intelligence officer Severino Garcia Diaz Santa Romana (nicknamed "Santy") and Captain Edward G. Lansdale gradually ferreted out the gold and diamonds and shipped it to bank accounts in 42 countries.
To hide the Santa Romana gold recoveries, the U.S. government continues to insist that Japan was flat broke at the end of World War II. All records of the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan remain tightly sealed to this day.
Why is the truth being hidden? As usual, it is claimed to be a matter of "national security." But notwithstanding "national security" sometimes actually meaning national security, deeper waters are involved.
The 1944 Bretton Woods Conference set the U.S. dollar as the benchmark for other currencies. The dollar would be redeemable by other nations, in gold, at a fixed price of $35/ounce. The price of gold had to be stabilized. If it were known that an enormous horde of Japanese gold existed, that might drive down the price of gold and thereby crash currencies pegged to the dollar.
A secret gold cartel, claim the Seagraves, hoards gold, keeps prices artificially high, then discreetly uses the gold as a hidden slush fund. "Gold scarcity," say the authors, is a myth to keep prices high.
As Golden Lily bullion was recovered, it was laundered quietly through central banks. Were the incalculable amount of gold to be made public, gold prices could plummet.
Incidentally, for those constantly harping on the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, during World War II Japanese cargo submarines carried gold to a Nazi submarine base at Lorient, France, where it was exchanged for uranium, "part of Japan's secret project to develop its own atomic bomb." (Seagraves, op. cit.) The Riken Group reportedly was the center of Japanese A-Bomb plans.
From the Golden Lily treasure horde came the M-Fund, named after U.S. General William Frederic Marquat. At SCAP, General Douglas MacArthur's post-war occupation HQ, Marquat, chief of the Economic and Scientific Section, helped conceal the astronomic fortune.
The M-Fund was used to finance clandestine post-war operations, for example helping to keep Italy from going communist. Unfortunately the controllers of this secret fund operated in the shadows and were relatively unaccountable for their actions.
In 1960, according to the Seagraves, Vice-President Richard Nixon traded control of the M-Fund in return for Japan's secret financial support for his presidential campaign. Previously the M-Fund had been controlled by a few Americans close to General MacArthur.
Still, there was an ocean of gold washing like waves across the world. Ultimately controlling it was the secret gold cartel, an "alliance of prime banks, gold processing companies, and national treasuries (including the Federal Reserve and Bank of England) that dominate the official gold market." (Seagraves, op. cit.)
In 1973, the CIA was in turmoil. There was a purge of personnel. These spooky types did not accept a quiet retirement. Instead they formed something called The Enterprise. It consisted of private intelligence organizations (PIOs) and private military firms (PMFs). Recovered Japanese war loot was used to establish "a private FBI-style security force to police the American public, and a separate military-industrial complex" controlled by The Enterprise.
Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines continued making recoveries of secret gold during the 1970s. He turned to The Enterprise to help launder the staggering amounts. Each benefited. According to the authors, about $1.6 trillion in gold was sold by Marcos.
How much gold does the U.S. Government have? There has been no public audit since 1950, more than fifty years ago.
------- Conspiracy Nation http://www.shout.net/~bigred/cn.html