Video Explores Suspected Murder of Marine Colonel James Sabow

Jim Sabow was a career Marine, a Harrier pilot, third in command of El Toro, and he wasn't going to allow the illegal drug running to keep taking place on his base.

Col Jim Sabow, the third ranking officer at MCAS El Toro, was murdered for exposing a continuing illegal government weapons for drugs trading program that funded the Contras.

(EL TORO, Calif.) - In early 1991, something happened at the El Toro Marine air base that was so bad, so shameful, that it will not go away. It's the highly controversial death of Marine Colonel James Sabow. A fighter pilot, a hero of the Vietnam War, a man considered by those who knew him, to be 'general material'.

First and foremost, Jim Sabow was the last man who would have ever contemplated suicide. He made it through 220 missions as a fighter pilot in Vietnam and had risen far in rank. The only officers who ever criticized him were almost certainly the same ones involved in his demise.

By any logical account based on a large amount of evidence from multiple sources, Colonel James Sabow was murdered because he was going to bring the roof down on a number of senior Marines at El Toro, for their involvement in the continual running of drugs to aid terrorist groups in Nicaragua known as the Contras.

Today the old El Toro Marine Air Station is a closed down, deserted ghost town; a toxic EPA Superfund site that poisoned and contaminated the Marines who worked here.

The flightline was the center of west coast Marine air operations, and the place where Col. Sabow and other pilots took off and landed in their fighter jets.

Looking North

You remember Marine Colonel Oliver North? He was national news for a long time for his role in the program that led to vast amounts of toxic white drugs landing in the streets of America, through the weapons for drugs program; the Iran/Contra Affair.

These government-supplied drugs were deadly for America, particularly in black neighborhoods that were already stricken with poverty.

North was convicted of three felonies, all were later dismissed on a technicality.

By the time Col. Jim Sabow got wind of this activity in late 1990, and threatened to blow the whistle, the drugs for weapons program to aid the Contras had been specifically outlawed by the U.S. government for five years.

Jim Sabow was a career Marine, a Harrier pilot, third in command of El Toro, and he wasn't going to allow the illegal drug running to keep taking place on his base.

Tim King's report on the Death of Marine Corps Colonel James Sabow

We know a bit about the workings of this. Our contact Tosh Plumlee flew these C-130's for the CIA with contraband, and he remembers landing at El Toro. Knowing what he does, Plumlee is and has been firmly convinced that Col. Sabow met with foul play.

The details of this event are included in several existing reports. The links are at the bottom of the page.

On the morning of January 22, 1991, Col Sabow's wife came home and found him dead in the back yard. He had apparently been sitting in a lawn chair. His body appeared to be holding a double-barrel shotgun.

For starters, Col. Sabow had a massive contusion on his neck and head, and severe bruising that would be consistent with a strike with a blunt object from behind, like from the butt of a shotgun.

He had other injuries, and he had aspirated a significant amount of blood, meaning his heart was beating after he was severely injured. The shotgun was the tool used to make his death appear as a suicide.

For a medical doctor like Col Sabow's brother, Dr. David Sabow, there is no question that the shotgun had nothing to do with his brother's death.

Dr. Sabow, former Marines Robert O'Dowd, John Uldrich and myself, are hoping that a movie production company will find this to be an interesting prospect.

I am available via email at the bottom of this article, and I will connect any interested parties with Dr. David Sabow.

This may be one of the nation's most shocking stories because of the substantial implications against the U.S. government.

Americans should be infuriated by the murder of this Marine Corps officer, husband, father, brother, and son.

Mar-08-2010: Former CIA Pilot Tells of Guns and Drugs Shipments - Robert O'Dowd and Tim King Salem-News.com

Mar-05-2010: Pentagon Shooter and the Murder of Col. James Sabow - Tim King Salem-News.com

Mar-03-2010: Jerry Brown: Brother of Murdered Marine Needs Your Help - Robert O'Dowd Salem-News.com

Jan-22-2010: Who Killed Colonel James E. Sabow, USMC? - Robert O'Dowd Salem-News.com

Tim King in 2008, covering the Iraq War

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Tim is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from The Associated Press the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs, Electronic Media Association and The Red Cross In a personal capacity, Tim has written 2,026 articles as of March 2012 for Salem-News.com since the new format was launched in December, 2005.

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