World League For Freedom and Democracy - History

History

The WACL held annual conferences at various locations throughout the world. Its core activity involved providing financial and material aid to right-wing organizations and anti-communist militias around the globe, notably by providing scholarships for political warfare training at the Political Warfare Cadres Academy in Taiwan. However, by the mid-1980s WACL had become the leading non-governmental supplier of arms to anti-communist rebel movements in southern Africa, Central America, Afghanistan and the Far East.

It has been alleged but not proven that the League had close ties with the governments of Taiwan under Kuomintang rule, and (to a lesser extent) South Korea. Numerous groups participated, including the Unification Church of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. The WACL also enjoyed support from many U.S. Congressmen, most notably 2008 presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who sat on the USCWF Board of Directors in the early 1980s. McCain has said previously he resigned from the council in 1984 and asked in 1986 to have his name removed from the group's letterhead.

At the 17th Annual WACL Conference held in San Diego, California, John K. Singlaub, president of the WACL's US chapter, read a letter from President Ronald Reagan which said in part, "The World Anti-Communist League has long played a leadership role in drawing attention to the gallant struggle now being waged by the true freedom fighters of our day. Nancy and I send our best wishes for further success."

Singlaub was the former US Chief of Staff of both United Nations and American forces in South Korea, but was relieved in 1977 by U.S. President Jimmy Carter after publicly criticizing Carter's decision to reduce the number of troops on the peninsula. Singlaub became a member of the WACL in 1980, and founded and became president of its U.S. chapter, the United States Council for World Freedom.

In 1978, Roger Pearson became the World Chairman of the WACL. Pearson had close neo-Nazi associations, and sources report that as a result of an article in the Washington Post in 1978 critical of WACL and alleging extreme right wing politics of Pearson that either he was expelled from WACL or at least was pressured into resigning from his position as World Chairman.

During the 1980s, the WACL was particularly active in Latin America, notably by aiding the Contra forces in Nicaragua. During this period, WACL was criticized for the presence in the organization of neo-Nazis, war criminals, and people linked to death squads and assassinations.

The WACL produced numerous publications, such as Can the Two Chinas become One? by S. Senese and D. Pikcunas (1989).

The 21st WACL Conference was held in Geneva, 27–29 August 1988, and was addressed by U.S. Congressmen Richard Armey, former president of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu, George Wortley, and Major-General Singlaub.

The League held its 22nd World Conference in Brussels in July 1990. But following the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1990 and 1991, WACL's main purpose, at least in Europe, became less clear.

On September 17, 1994, The Irish Times reported that the WACL is now known as the World League for Freedom and Democracy. It is still sponsored by Taiwan and South Korea, and now officially has turned itself to "global affairs, the need for peace initiatives and co-operating with developing countries."

Two further reports claim that the World League for Freedom and Democracy is responsible for producing what its opponents call "troops of killers", while ostensibly organizing to provide support for Corazon Aquino from the right-wing in the Philippines (The Village Voice, February 27, 1996), and for supporting the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) movement in Mozambique (The Guardian, August 6, 1994).