Is it true that before it became known as 'The Phoenix Program' this assassination program was known as ICE-X? Is it true that the program was responsible for the deaths of over 26,000 people? Is it also true that the operatives would sometimes cut off the ears of the victims just to prove they'd been killed? Anyway, it was quite a successful CIA program, as CIA programs go. Douglas Valentine wrote a well researched book on the subject: I think he thinks the program has morphed into something else, and is still operational. What do you think? Far-fetched or plausible? Finally, I'm reading Denis Johnson's National Book Award fictionalized account of the 'P-P' and it's stunningly good. I already told Ryerson about it. It's the kind of novel that could only have come out of the US. I can't think of anything like it from any other country. I mean that in a bad way, though the novel has me floored.

I'm a big fan of your work too and I read you all the time, especially when I'm not busy.