Attn: GeneChing

[Watchman]

I must say that Dr. Bannon's article in your Nov/Dec issue sure made me sit up and take notice.

His story was incredible, to say the least, and I hope to see more material of a LEO/combative nature in your magazine in the future.

Keep up the good work! :D

[Stranger]

Watchman is correct.

I don't get mad.
I get stabby.

[Felipe Bido]

What Stranger said :D

-------------------------
"To be great is to be misunderstood"- Emerson

[GeneChing]

It was somewhat experimental for us, but an intriguing story, yes?
And yes, I am taking the magazine into more combative stuff - did you see our Jan/Feb 2001 issue - the Police special?

http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsma...mag20jani.html

It was very popular and there's more of that on the way - stay tuned.

Gene Ching
Asst. Publisher
Kungfu Qigong Magazine & www.KUNGFUmagazine.com

[diego]

how that police special was Good
i liked that feature with the sergeant/general??

"I finish the job with a tiger claw into the throat. Remember guys'INSERT CORNY WHITEBOY VOICE' use extreme violence against your opponents always, that will discourage them from hurting other people" kungfu site technique sec.VS?."...

[dwid]

Am I the only one who thinks this article stinks of BS. First off, the guy's name is a character from Johnny Quest. Second, the scenario of busting the kiddie porn guys comes off like a bad action movie. Also, his memory of the techniques he used to take out the bad guys is a bit too precise. How does he remember all the attacks he made in the heat of the moment. Anyway, maybe it's true and the guy is just a lousy writer. I would think the story would have been national news or something, though. Anybody else read the article and have thoughts on this?

_________________________________________
The way of the samurai is in desperateness. Ten men or more cannot kill such a man. Common sense will not accomplish great things. Simply become insane and desperate. - Hagakure

[rogue]

Race is just his nickname. Memory is a funny thing, sometimes you remember exactly what you did, sometimes you may not remember what you did but you do remember every detail of some unimportant things. Other times what you do remember may not be what you actually did, but what you intended to do, thought you did or what someone told you did.

Signed,
Rogue, Soke and Senior Grandmaster of Southeast American Brazillian Bagua Combat Chi jitsu Kempo Karate Do and Choral Society.

The only tactical principle which is not subject to change; it is, “To use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wounds, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."

[Budokan]

But ya know what? Race Bannon from the old Jonny Quest cartoons was pretty cool...

K. Mark Hoover

[Phrost]

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/show...threadid=31108

Looks like you got taken in, Gene.

David Race Bannon, who claims to have worked for Interpol as a hit man, was arrested for criminal impersonation - after for years possibly serving as an expert witness in courts and on news channels

Tuesday, January 31, 2006
by Robert Duncan

Call him the spy who never came in from the cold - or better yet, the spy who never was.

David Race Bannon, 42, of Charlotte, North Carolina, claims to have worked for Interpol as a hit man, was arrested Friday, Jan. 27, in Boulder, Colo. for criminal impersonation. Various websites (including a cached version of his website) claim that Bannon has served as an expert witness in U.S. federal appellate court, and appeared on the Discovery Channel, Fox News Channel, A&E, The History Channel, TechTV and National Public Radio.

Jefferson County district attorney spokesman Carl Blesch said in a statement that Bannon didn't resist his arrest Friday at a Boulder restaurant. According to the Rocky Mountain News, Bannon was in Colorado "meeting with a group that was sponsoring his planned appearance today in Boulder." That same article said CBI agents described Bannon as "'dumbfounded' when he was taken into custody." Bannon is scheduled for his first district court appearance on Feb. 2. Bond was set at $5,000. Bannon is the author of "Race Against Evil -- The Secret Missions of the Interpol Agent Who Tracked the World's Most Sinister Criminals.''

A press statement for Bannon's "Race Against Evil" book, claims that "at age 18, the American youth is recruited by Interpol after he is caught in a deadly riot in South Korea. Over the next 15 years, Bannon is trained to work in the darkest regions of humanity, to deny societal inhibitors against killing and embrace the agency's role as deliverer of grim justice to evildoers beyond the reach of the law. His missions take him from investigating the bombing of KAL 858 and infiltrating prisons in Korea to the disappearance of London's most notorious child pornographer and searching out terrorists and criminals in the United States."

It appears even Bannon's name is in question.

"The former David Wayne Dilley changed his name to Bannon in Spokane, Washington, in 1990, choosing the name because of the character Race Bannon in the classic Hanna-Barbera adventure cartoon 'Jonny Quest,'" according to the Mainichi Daily News. Despite the similarity between Bannon's name and that of a cartoon character from Johnny Quest - specifically the trusty friend of Dr. Quest is called Race Bannon - his book has received support from some fringe groups. "I wish more people would bring this tragic occurance to light. As a mother and a youth leader, I had no idea how much of this was going on in the world. I knew about child abduction and child abuse and have tryed educating parents and teens about safety," reads one reviewer, while another at the same website wrote "This is a fascinating, hair-raising, sometimes hilarious and sometimes tragic account of the brave men and women who went behind the lines in child sex slavery rings." Both those reviewers were anonymous.

But as far back as 2004 Interpol has been saying that Bannon's history is fiction.

Working in collaboration with the U.S. National Central Bureau of Interpol, the Interpol General Secretariat (Lyon, France), and other Interpol member countries, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said Bannon's credentials are bogus and his efforts to profit from the deception to be illegal. He is charged with criminal impersonation, computer crime and attempted theft. "Interpol's General Secretariat in Lyon has no record of David Race Bannon having been employed and no knowledge of individuals mentioned in Mr. Bannon's book. Interpol exists to facilitate the exchange of information between the world's law enforcement agencies and to provide analysis of criminal data and other services. Accordingly, the claims in Mr. Bannon's book can only be seen as deceptive and irresponsible fantasy,'' the Interpol General Secretariat said in a 2004 statement.

Using his alleged background as an Interpol agent and expert in human trafficking, Bannon is compensated for speaking engagements and subject-matter training courses. The Colorado Department of Public Safety confirmed that Bannon had solicited fees in excess of $3,000 for a two-day training course on human trafficking. It is reported that the affidavit also calls into question Bannon's doctorate from a Korean university.

As well as being an alternative radio personality, one website claims that Bannon holds a "Doctorate degree in Asian History form Seoul National University, a Master’s degree in Computer Science, and he is fluent in Korean and Japanese. He has published several books on political and military history of the region, as well as a martial arts encyclopedia and computer text books. Bannon has appeared on the Discovery Channel, A & E, and The History Channel. He has also spoken on International security at world conferences from Berlin to Tokyo to Washington."

There has been no explanation regarding how Bannon could have fooled people, including possibly members of Interpol - if they were indeed members of the organization. In April 2003 the Kungfu magazine interviewed Bannon along with somebody identified as Interpol Commissioner Jacques Defferre, and who was said at that time to be Bannon's retired superior at Interpol. That interview was said to have been granted so the two ex-spies could explain "their motives for working in Archangel (the operation Bannon names in his book). Sitting in a coffee shop in Charlotte, NC, the two plainly described how the underground kiddie porn industry is used to fund terrorist cells, and of the vast international networks of kidnappers and pornographers who continue to earn 'billions of dollars' working above the law."

Other websites, including an Amazon reviewer who says he is an former intelligence officer and goes by the name of Geoffrey Ries claims, that Jacques Defferre was a French-born spy, to whom Interpol gave the code name Archie, "who died this year (2003) at age 67 in Marseilles, France. Protean in his exploits, Defferre served as a commissioner in Interpol. During the Vietnam War, Jacques Defferre set up Interpol's spy operations in Asia and coordinated the exchange of intelligence between France and South Korea."

Here's the original article posted on KFM:

http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezin...hp?article=499

At this point we're not sure how much credit if any can be given to Bullshido's own Samuel Browning for his detailed and extensive investigational work, but he's one of the people who got the ball rolling on taking down this huckster.

[GeneChing]

Looks like you got taken in, Gene.

It wasn't the first time. Probably won't be the last.

For the record, Bannon precedes me here by several years. By the time I came on board, Bannon had already worked his way quite deep into our publications. And also for the record, Samuel Browning had my full cooperation in his investigation, as did other investigators who had their suspicions.

In April 2003 the Kungfu magazine interviewed Bannon along with somebody identified as Interpol Commissioner Jacques Defferre, and who was said at that time to be Bannon's retired superior at Interpol.

We published the article online only. It was submitted by a freelancer. The original article was published in our Nov/Dec 2001 issue. For validity's sake, we've added a disclaimer to the ezine article that links to this thread. Thus ends the David Bannon story. What a bizarre detour that was for us.

[Phrost]

It wasn't the first time. Probably won't be the last.

For the record, Bannon precedes me here by several years. By the time I came on board, Bannon had already worked his way quite deep into our publications. And also for the record, Samuel Browning had my full cooperation in his investigation, as did other investigators who had their suspicions.

We published the article online only. It was submitted by a freelancer. The original article was published in our Nov/Dec 2001 issue. For validity's sake, we've added a disclaimer to the ezine article that links to this thread. Thus ends the David Bannon story. What a bizarre detour that was for us.

Yeah, please don't take it as any kind of dig at you or KFM. If I remember correctly, Jason Putnam is suspected of being complicit with the deception.

I wonder if this would be cause for a lawsuit, depending on how the case pans out.

Still, more than anything this shows that a lot of people look on the Martial Arts community as an "easy mark" for fraud. Personally, I imagine that this is due in large part to the willing suspension of disbelief many in the MA community have for outlandish claims.

Like I said before, I'm not sure to what extent we managed to influence this outcome, but it does show the need for Martial Artists to be more skeptical of people making claims about their involvement in MA.

[GeneChing]

It's unfortunate, that's for sure. We're debating whether we should print a retraction in the print magazine, but the original article was half a decade ago, so the only people that might remember would be our online readership. I'm leaning towards printing it personally. Hopefully, our readership will understand that such errors happen and at least, we're honest enough to admit when we've made an error.

Frauds like this happen to major news agencies. I don't think that martial artists are particularly easy prey. That such a fraud should be perpetrated on little old us is just plain unfortunate.

[Phrost]

It's unfortunate, that's for sure. We're debating whether we should print a retraction in the print magazine, but the original article was half a decade ago, so the only people that might remember would be our online readership. I'm leaning towards printing it personally. Hopefully, our readership will understand that such errors happen and at least, we're honest enough to admit when we've made an error.

Frauds like this happen to major news agencies. I don't think that martial artists are particularly easy prey. That such a fraud should be perpetrated on little old us is just plain unfortunate.

I don't think there will be much fallout from this on your side. If I were you I'd just update the online version of the article (comes up #1 on a google search for David Bannon I believe) and leave it at that.

If you need any more information I can put you in contact with Sam Browning who's done a ridiculous amount of research on this. He's even sent someone to a Paris graveyard to look for the headstone mentioned in the story.

"Little old us"... you guys are the best KF magazine out there!

[GeneChing]

We've already added the disclaimer to that article and linked it to this very thread.

I have Samuel Browning's email somewhere I'm sure, from when he contacted me about his investigation. We discussed the possibility of him writing up something exclusive for our e-zine when his investigation reached a conclusion. That was a long time ago, and we've not kept in touch. Nevertheless, I salute his persistance on this.

It really is a shame. David did some decent work for us in the early years. There are even a few of his China history articles still in our online archive. I wonder if we can sue him for damages...

[Phrost]

We've already added the disclaimer to that article and linked it to this very thread.

I have Samuel Browning's email somewhere I'm sure, from when he contacted me about his investigation. We discussed the possibility of him writing up something exclusive for our e-zine when his investigation reached a conclusion. That was a long time ago, and we've not kept in touch. Nevertheless, I salute his persistance on this.

It really is a shame. David did some decent work for us in the early years. There are even a few of his China history articles still in our online archive. I wonder if we can sue him for damages...

That'd all depend on if there would be any real chance of collecting or if the suit makes enough of a statement to the public (PR-wise) to justify the expense on your end.

I just noticed you guys accept article submisisons. I might put together an article for you guys on the topic of consumer protection in the Martial Arts if you'd like.