Friday, February 26, 2010

MEXICO False Flag attack almost succeeded ...


Joe Bageant's latest essay, Round Midnight: Tortillas and the Corporate State, tears into capitalism and our current state of affairs as few others can. Highly recommended.







Joe has a footnote to the article that describes a little reported event that happened on October 10, 2001, the apparent attempted bombing of the Mexican Congress by Israeli agents. It's a down the rabbit hole tale that didn't make the U.S. main stream media for obvious reasons. It would have led to questions of Israeli involvement in 9/11, especially since so many Israelis and Mossad agents had been rounded up immediately after the September 11 false flag attack. The footnote in its entirety is below.
Ariel Sharon sent a top envoy, who sprang them, following strong pressure from Israeli government. They were whisked off, leaving Mexicans to wonder, What in the hell was THAT all about?" One neighbor here in Mexico says wryly, "That must have cost the Israelis millions in bribes."

Mexican Attorney General Releases Zionist Terrorists

Army general and head of the PGR releases two Israelis arrested with guns and explosives inside the Mexican Congress

by Ernesto Cienfuegos, La Voz de Aztlan

Los Angeles, Alta California - October 15, 2001- (ACN) In a mind-blowing development, La Voz de Aztlan has learned that Mexican Army General Rafael Marcial Macedo de la Concha who heads the Procuraduría General de la República (Mexican Department of Justice) has released the retired Israeli Defense Forces colonel and presumed MOSSAD agent Salvador Guersson Smecke and Israeli illegal immigrant Saur Ben Zvi after both had penetrated the security of the Mexican Congress and where in possession of guns, hand grenades and explosives.
El Diario de Mexico was one of many newspapers
in Mexico that carried the story but after two
days it just died. The two Israeli terrorists are seen
being escorted out of the Congress by police.

This morning La Voz de Aztlan had a personal telephone interview with the Mexican Congressional Press Secretary, Lic. Adriana Lopez, and verified the arrest of the two Israelis after they had entered through the highly secured front entrance of the Palacio Legislativo de San Lázaro. She stated to La Voz de Aztlan that the two terrorists had taken advantage of a situation that occurred around 1700 hours of Wednesday October 10 when a large contingent of Sugar Industry Unionists were entering through the metal detectors. The two Israelis followed about 50 of the unionists to the office of the President of the Mexican Congress Beatriz Paredes. The two Israelis were first pretending to be press photographers but called the attention of the sugar unionists because of their nervous and out of the ordinary behavior. About ten of the unionists confronted them and observed that they were carrying guns and and what looked to them to be explosives. They held the two Israelis until Official Congressional Security personnel took them into custody. The head of Congressional Security Salvador Alarcón verified that the Israelis had in their possession nine hand grenades, sticks of dynamite, detonators, wiring and two 9mm "Glock" automatics.

Mexican Congressional Press Secretary Lic. Adriana Lopez informed La Voz de Aztlan in the telephone interview that Congressional Security then turned the terrorists Salvador Guersson Smecke, age 34, and Saur Ben Zvi, age 27, to the Procuraduría General de la República (Mexican Department of Justice) which is headed by Mexican Army General Rafael Marcial Macedo de la Concha. Initial reports by the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) were that both Israelis worked for a private security agency and that they both had gun permits. It turned out that there is no connection of either suspect to any private security agency. The PGR has released the retired Israeli I.D.F. colonel with the official explanation that he had a legal permit to carry a gun. They also released the illegal Israeli immigrant on about $4000 bail and the case turned over to the Mexican immigration authorities. Mexican Congressional Press Secretary Lic. Adriana Lopez was surprised to hear from La Voz de Aztlan of the release of the two Israelis.

La Voz de Aztlan has also learned that the Israeli Embassy used heavy handed measures to have the two Israelis released. Very high level emergency meetings took place between Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Jorge Gutman, General Macedo de la Concha and a top Ariel Sharon envoy who flew to Mexico City specially for that purpose. Elías Luf of the Israeli Embassy worked night and day and their official spokeswoman Hila Engelhart went into high gear after may hours of complete silence. What went one during those high levels meetings no ones knows, but many in Mexico are in disbelief at their release. Guns and any kind of explosive is highly illegal for Mexican citizens and the fact that these two Israelis had them inside the Mexican Congress makes their release highly suspect. What is really going on? Jorge Gutman, the Mexican Foreign Secretary, has very strong Zionist connections and himself is of Jewish descent. Mexican Army General Macedo de la Concha has strong connections to the U.S. Military Industrial-Complex and through this to the Israeli Defense Forces. Have any of these connections influenced the decision to release the two Zionist terrorists?

The initial arrests of the two Israelis inside the Palacio Legislativo de San Lázaro made top news on Mexico City television and radio on the evening of October 10. TV Azteca had extensive coverage on the first night and on the following day. La Cronica de Hoy Newspaper and El Universal Newspaper both covered the incident the following two days but now it seems that there is a lack of reports. The PGR has a Press Bulletin on their official website at http://www.pgr.gob.mx/cmsocial/bol01/oct/b69701.html but they have made no updates. No U.S. media has made any mention, that we know, except one by USAJewish.com this Sunday at: http://www.usajewish.com/scripts/usaj/paper/Article.asp?ArticleID=1307 {link dead}. Pravda of Moscow has a note of the initial La Voz de Aztlan article at: http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/10/13/17982.html

What were the Israelis up to? We think we know. The Vicente Fox government has been very careful of involving Mexico in a war against Islam. The Mexican population as well as the two major opposition political parties, the PRI and the PRD will not allow it. President Bush and the U.S. Zionists want Mexico fully involved in the war principally because if things get tough in the middle east and the oil rich Arabs leave the coalition, the U.S. military machine is going to need alternative sources of oil and PEMEX is just across the border. We believe that the two Zionists terrorist were going to blow up the Mexican Congress. The second phase was to mobilize both the Mexican and US press to blame Osama bin Laden. Most likely then Mexico would declare war on Afghanistan as well, commit troops and all the oil it could spare to combat Islamic terrorism. {source}

Thursday, February 25, 2010

The Murder of Zia-ul HAQ



The Crash

When the camouflage-painted Pakistan Air Force C-130 transport aircraft hit the ground it did so at an angle of 65 degrees. It was nose-diving, flaps up, wings level, landing gear up and locked, with all four engines functioning normally. It impacted at 190 knots. After a brief moment a monstrous ball of orange flame consumed it as the fuel tanks exploded. Both clocks in the flight deck later showed 3.51 PM exactly on a clear, bright day, a few miles north of the small garrison town of Bahawalpur. Precisely five minutes earlier it had lifted off at the start of its 70-minute flight to Islamabad. After some two minutes of terror all on board had the merciful relief of instantaneous oblivion.

It was 17 August, 1988. Moments before Hafiz Taj Mohammad, who was walking towards his field near the village of Dhok Kamal, near the Sutlej River eight miles north of Bahawalpur, heard the roar of engines and looked up. He watched incredulously as the lumbering plane, which was still rising steadily through 5000 feet, suddenly dropped its nose to fly almost straight at the ground, before, with some superhuman effort, it climbed again. Then, as though its strength had finally gone, it plunged down to extinction. To the man below there was no outward reason, no missile, no mid-air explosion, no fire, no engine trailing smoke, nothing to forewarn of such a disaster.

Dead were the President of Pakistan, General Zia-ul-Haq, and the man who might have succeeded him had he survived, General Akhtar Abdul Rahman Khan, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Gone were the two most powerful men in Pakistan, the head of state and the man who for eight years until 1987, and headed the ISI. At a stroke the Afghan resistance fighters, the Mujahideen, had lost their two most influential champions. Dead were the US Ambassador, Mr. Arnold Raphel, who had known the President for twelve years, and Brigadier-General Herbert Wassom, the US Defense Attachй in Islamabad. Dead also were eight Pakistani generals with their staff, and the crew—thirty-one persons in all.

Disquietingly, neither President Zia nor General Akhtar should have been abroad the plane. Both had been persuaded against their wishes to attend a demonstration of a solitary American M-I battle tank, which the US was keen to sell to the Pakistan Army. It was not a function that required their presence. Such a comparatively low-level event would normally have been handled by the Vice Chief of Army Staff, General Mirza Aslam Beg. It was the first time Zia had left the heavy security of his official residence since he had dismissed the government of Prime Minister Junejo three months before.

It was only on 14 August that Zia had finally given in to the pressure from his former military secretary and Defence Attachй in Washington, Major-General Mehmood Durrani, now commanding the armoured division. He insisted that the President’s presence was diplomatically desirable, and would give added weight to the Pakistani delegation. After all Zia had retained the post of Chief of Army Staff. Against his better judgement he agree to go.

Similarly, General Akhtar had no intention of going to Bahawalpur until a mere twelve hours beforehand. His change of mind was brought about by the persistent phone calls of a former director in ISI, to the effect that Zia was about to make some controversial changes in the military hierarchy about which Akhtar should know. Akhtar consulted with the President, asking for an urgent meeting. Zia, who was then committed to the tank demonstration trip, suggested Akhtar accompany him as they could discuss things on the aircraft. The fate of both was sealed.

4

The callsign of the President’s plane was PAK 1, but the actual aircraft he would use was not selected until shortly before the flight. Usually two of the C-130s based at the Air Force base at Chaklala, a few miles from Islamabad, were earmarked. Then, once the decision was taken, the VIP passenger capsule could be rolled into the aircraft and secured shortly before take off. This was a 21-foot-long by 8-foot-wide plywood and metal structure weighing 5000 pounds, which was fitted out to give some comfort, including an independent air conditioning and lighting system, to an otherwise notoriously uncomfortable aircraft interior. The second aircraft, PAK 2, would follow PAK 1 as a backup. There was routine security search of both planes prior to departure. For this flight there was a problem. The airstrip at Bahawalpur was small and could only accommodate one C-130, so PAK 2 would land 150 kilometers away at Sargodha. Once the President left Chaklala there was no possibility of his changing aircraft.

There would, however, be two other smaller planes on the airfield. The first was the Cessna whose task was to circle the vicinity of the airport as a precaution against missile-armed terrorists. This had been routine practice since an unsuccessful missile attack six years earlier. Then there was the eight-seater plane of General Beg who, as the official host, had to get the small jet that would take him and the ambassador south would be parked at Multan. If the crash was sabotage the two Americans were not part of the target.

The actual demonstration, in front of so much Army brass, was a big embarrassment to the Americans. The much-vaunted Abrams tank failed to score many hits and the billion dollar deal evaporated in the enervating heat.

While the President and the senior officers ate lunch at the officer’s mess PAK 1 sat on the tarmac, baking in the sun. An armed military guard was on duty around the aircraft, but there had been a minor fault with a cargo door so the seven crew technicians worked on it. The pilot, Wing Commander Mash’hood Hussan, who had been personally selected by Zia, together with his co-pilot, navigator and engineer, arrived back at the plane for pre-flight checks in advance of the passengers. These four men would be seated on the elevated flight deck, which was separated from the VIP capsule by a narrow door at the top of three steps, on the left side of the aircraft.

Zia, with his party, arrived at around 3.30 p.m., and knelt towards Mecca before saying his farewells. He had persuaded both the senior US officials to join him for the return flight. They did so with no apparent concern. General Beg made excuses when the President tried to prevail upon him to board PAK 1. He would use his own plane as he had business to attend to at Lahore. It was a known practice of Zia’s to fly with the maximum number of top generals or officials to minimize the risks of a sabotage plot. Shortly before departure two crates of mangoes arrived for the VIPs, which were loaded in the rear without any check, together with a case of model tanks.

Strapped into the sofa and easy chairs inside the VIP capsule were Zia, Akhtar, Afzaal (Chief of the General Staff), Raphel, Wassom, and the President’s military secretary, Brigadier General Najib Ahmed. Zia, Raphel and Akhtar sat close together so they could chat during the flight, although conversation is difficult as the C-130 is an excessively noisy aircraft. At 3.46 p.m. PAK 1 lifted off after the Cessna security plane reported nothing untoward. On the flight deck the take off routine had been uneventful, with clear communications to the control tower. The fact that the aircraft lacked either a black box flight recorder or a cockpit voice recorder would later be the subject of censure, but at lift off none of the crew or passengers had the slightest hint of the catastrophe that was little more than two minutes away. Mash’hood gave his arrival time at Islamabad over the radio as the plane pulled up onto the sky and began to turn on to its correct course.

On the ground General Beg’s pilot was preparing to take off; at Sargodha PAK 2 was airborne, as was the Cessna. All were on the same radio frequency as PAK 1, so all heard the ground controller request PAK 1’s estimated position, and the response, “Stand by”. Then nothing, no mayday call, total silence, despite the increasingly frantic calls from the control tower as it was realized that something was radically wrong.

To the passengers the horror of the sickening plunge, with bodies hanging by their safety belts, unable to move, screams drowned by the uninterrupted roar of the engines, was indescribable. Then, the sudden, few fleeting moments of relief as the plane seemingly came under control and started to climb again, with the occupants lolling in the opposite direction or jammed hard back into their seats. But, finally, yet another terrifying dive as PAK 1 gave up the struggle to survive.

The Culprits

In Judicial terms it was either misadventure or murder. When the news broke, the chances of finding any Pakistani who believed it was an accident were a million to one against. Zia was a man with umpteen enemies. There has been at least six previous attempts at assassination, including a near miss by a missile fired at his plane. Probably his most uncompromising opponents within Pakistan were the Bhutto family. Zia had, despite the international outcry to commute it, confirmed the death sentence on the present Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s father—this, to the man who, as prime minister, had personally picked Zia, then the most junior lieutenant-general, for promotion of Chief of Army Staff over the heads of his seniors. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had made a decision that, three years later, he would pay for with his head. On 4 April, 1979, he was hanged in Rawalpindi jail. Thereafter the family feud was unrelenting. Zia imprisoned Benazir Bhutto and her mother, banned Bhutto’s political party, and had his sons Shah Nawaz and Mir Murtaza convicted of serious crimes in absentia. In exile Mir Murtaza established an anti-Zia terrorist group named Al-Zulfikar (The Sword) in Kabul, where it shared offices with the PLO. From there, and Damascus, it carried out a campaign of killing and sabotage which, in 1981, included the hijacking of a Pakistan International Airlines passenger jet. Then, in 1985, Shah Nawaz died a painful death in sinister circumstances in Paris, it being rumoured that he had been poisoned by Zia’s agents. There was, and still is, an implacable hatred between these two families. Benazir Bhutto claimed the crash was ‘An act of God’, before going on to win the general election three months later, to become Pakistan’s first woman prime minister.

Zia was a military man who, along with Akhtar, was the last officer to have been commissioned from the Indian Military Academies just before the partition of India in 1947. Once in politics he would often boast that “The Armed Forces are my constituency” and he never vacated the post of Chief of Army Staff that Bhutto had given him. But even within the military he had few friends. He quickly developed an uncanny knack of spotting potential rivals for power. These were removed from the scene by sacking, or posting to positions well away from the political centre at Islamabad. His only role as Chief of Army Staff had been to vet the promotions and postings of all officers to the rank of major-general or above. Numerous disgruntled Service chiefs were secretly delighted that Zia was dead.

Potential assassins were not restricted to Pakistanis. Ever since Zia had backed the Mujahideen in their struggle against the Soviets and their Afghan allies, Pakistan had been swamped with KHAD agents bent on undermining his government by a terror campaign of bombing civilians. KHAD is the Afghan secret police organization, trained and advised by the KGB. At the top of its hit list was President Zia, closely followed by General Akhtar. The Soviets were withdrawing from Afghanistan solely because Zia and given sanctuary to the Mujahideen and had, for nine years, been arming, training and advising them in a bloody guerrilla war that had cost the Soviet military 13,000 lives. The USSR blamed Pakistan for continuing to encourage and supply the Mujahideen in their attacks during the withdrawal, which was half-completed at the time of the crash. It had gone so far as to warn Pakistan, through the US Ambassador in Moscow, that it intended to teach Zia a lesson.

Then there was India. Pakistanis and Indians had slaughtered each other on three separate occasions, in 1947, 1965 and 1971. India’s Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandhi was convinced that Zia was supplying weapons to Sikh terrorists. They had murdered his mother, and now several thousand armed Sikh insurgents were active in India. Zia was accused of meeting their leaders, and giving shelter and training to the guerrillas inside Pakistan. To counter this, Delhi had established a special branch of its Intelligence Service, with the unpretentious title of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), specifically targeted on Pakistan.

Even the US government shed few genuine tears at Zia’s death. It was the State Department’s belief that Zia had outlived his use fullness. With the Soviets leaving Afghanistan, the last thing the US wanted was for communist rule in Kabul to be replaced by an Islamic fundamentalist one. American officials were convinced that this was Zia’s aim. According to them his dream was an Islamic power block stretching from Iran through Afghanistan to Pakistan with, eventually, the Uzbek, Turkoman and Tajik provinces of the USSR included. To the State Department such a huge area shaded green on the map would be worse than Afghanistan painted red.

On the very day of the disaster the Pakistan Chief of Air Staff ordered a Board of Inquiry set up to inquire into the circumstances of the crash, assess damage and costs, apportion blame (if any) and make recommendations to avoid similar occurrences in the future. Air Commodore Abbas Mirza presided, with three other senior Pakistan Air Force (PAF) officers sitting as members. To provide technical advice and expertise six USAF officers were hurriedly flown from Europe to join the inquiry. They were led by Colonel Daniel Sowada.

For two months the Board deliberated and sifted evidence. Witnesses were interviewed, while exhaustive laboratory tests were carried out regarding the aircraft structure, instruments engines, propellers, and flight controls, both in Pakistan and the USA, with the full cooperation of Lockheed, the aircraft’s manufacturers. One after another possible causes of the crash were eliminated with meticulous care. Crew fitness, fatigue and stress were ruled out. There had been no pilot error. Adverse weather was not a factor, nor was fuel contamination. No in-flight fire had occurred prior to impact; the aircraft was structurally intact when it hit the ground; there was no metal fatigue; engines and propellers were functioning normally, as were hydraulic fluid, electrical power and control cables. No evidence of a high-intensity internal explosion was found. Finally, no missile or rocket had been used to down the plane. The inevitable conclusion—a criminal act of sabotage had killed thirty-one people.

5

The board was of the opinion that the crew in the cockpit had been instantaneously and simultaneously incapacitated by the use of a chemical agent such as fast-working nerve gas. The presence of an odourless and colourless gas would not alarm the crew, so they would not don helmets and masks to breathe oxygen. It was established that none of the flight crew was wearing helmets at the time of the crash. The Board commented that such a chemical agent could have been packed in a small innocuous container such as a drink can, thermos flask or gift parcel, and smuggled onboard without arousing suspicion.

It was not possible to substantiate the type of gas used as ‘no proper autopsies on the flight deck crew were carried out’. Only the body of Brigadier Wassom was examined before the authorities at the military hospital at Bahawalpur were ordered not to perform autopsies. He had been in the VIP capsule, not on the flight deck, and all that could be deduced was that he had not suffered injuries from any explosion prior to impact. Neither had he breathed in any toxic fumes, as would have been the case with a fire before the plane hit the ground. The instructions not to perform autopsies came as a shock, as it was a routine procedure. Later, it was stated that all the bodies had been completely destroyed in the fire, rendering autopsies impossible. When General Akhtar’s family wanted to see his body before burial, they were refused, on the grounds that it was totally disintegrated, with nothing of any substance left.

The reason was not believed. Witnesses at the crash site said that, while the passengers at the rear of the aircraft were virtually totally destroyed, this was not the case with the senior officers in the capsule or the crew in the cockpit. The condition of Wassom’s body did not prevent thorough examination. Zia’s Holy Koran survived, charred but easily recognisable, as did Akhtar’s uniform cap, together with his personal file cover with its crest, and the words ‘CHAIRMAN JCSC’ still clearly readable. A US official was to announce that the bodies were not available for autopsy as Muslim custom requires burial within 24 hours. While this is true in normal circumstances, it never applies within the Services, as shown by the Army medical staff at Bahawalpur when they automatically made preparations to proceed.

The Board had no members qualified to undertake criminal investigations, but they did record that, “although 31 death certificates have been received no physical body count was carried out at the wreckage site or in the hospital. The possibility of someone not boarding the aircraft at Bahawalpur cannot be ruled out”.

Although the ISI was initially tasked with investigations, its efforts appeared less than enthusiastic. Service personnel at Bahawalpur were surprised that they were not subjected to rigorous interrogation. The discovery of a murdered policeman nearby was not successfully investigated, while the efforts of interrogators to extract a confession from the pilot of PAK 2 were bizarre, as well as unrewarding. A recent killing of a Shiite leader had been blamed by his followers on Zia. Both the pilot of PAK 2 and co-pilot of PAK 1, Flight Lieutenant Sajid, were Shiites, so it was suggested that the PAK 2 pilot had persuaded Sajid deliberately to crash the plane in a suicide mission. Only when the Board of Inquiry showed that such actions would have been physically impossible was the unfortunate man released.

So it was an act of mass murder. The likely method was pinpointed by the Board, although the culprits remained unidentified. As explained above, many people, organizations, even nations, had powerful personal or political motives for wanting Zia removed. What has gone before are the facts as far as I have been able to ascertain them; what follows are my own comments on how it might have been done.

First, I will deal with the point sometimes made that the violent roller-coaster movements of the aircraft indicated a last despairing attempt by somebody to fly the plane. If it had been a crew member he would certainly have shouted some warning over the radio, but there was absolute silence. Assuredly the crew were incapacitated. Afterwards it was suggested that the voice of Brigadier Najib Ahmed had been heard calling out to the captain, and that he had managed to get into the cockpit where his cries had been picked up on the radio as the pilot’s hand was still locked to the switch. One version of this theory has Najib actually trying to control the aircraft. I believe this is nonsensical. Once PAK 1 got out of control there was no way anybody could physically leave his seat and struggle forward, climb the steps, open the door and get onto the flight deck. Finally, there is no mention of anyone hearing Ahmed’s voice in the Board of Inquiry’s report. Had such a thing happened it would have been there. The erratic climbing and plunging has another explanation. According to a Lockheed C-130 expert, if this type of aircraft flies unattended its nose rises steeply, a mechanism in the tail reverses this and the plane dives. The plane over-corrects, again with the same results. This might occur several times before a crash. The technical term for this pattern is ‘phugoid’.

I believe the primary air was to assassinate Zia. The original plan may have been to murder Akhtar as well, and at the same time, but I doubt it. It was really asking a lot to kill them simultaneously. Akhtar was detested by many senior officers, he was near the top of KHAD’s his list, and he was assumed by many to be ready to step into Zia’s position if he died. Perhaps it was part of the plot to get him on board PAK 1 that afternoon, but if so it was a very last-minute arrangement. On balance I feel his death was probably regarded as an unexpected bonus by the killers.

Certainly the use of a plane crash was selected as the means because the chances of evidence to incriminate the plotters surviving would be minimal even if it was later established as sabotage. The use of ultra-sophisticated poison gas, capable of killing four crewmembers simultaneously, points to the involvement of at least one intelligence agency. The problem would be the source of the gas. Pakistan would be unlikely to have it, but the KGB and CIA would surely have access. Both KHAD and RAW could have obtained it through their Soviet contacts. If the conspirators were among the Pakistan military then it is conceivable that the CIA could have supplied it, albeit for another purpose.

Also highly probable is the involvement of the Pakistan military, certainly at comparatively junior level, probably at senior as well. Neither the KGB nor KHAD or RAW could have halted the autopsies at a military hospital. With military involvement, the obtaining of the President’s flight schedule becomes comparatively simple, as does getting around security at airports, and the actual planting of the device inside an aircraft.

The planners must have been getting desperate as week after week passed without Zia showing any inclination to use his plane. The tank demonstration was not likely to interest him without considerable persuasion, and was probably used as a last resort. The problem was to convince him to go without making him suspicious. Quite possibly somebody convinced General Durrani, the tank division commander, that Zia’s attendance would add to the importance of the event, and was in Durrani’s own interests. His subsequent success in inducing the President to go could have been entirely innocent.

We must assume that the lethal gas device had already been obtained while awaiting an opportunity, and the person destined to plant it given his instructions. He was undoubtedly in the military, probably a technician within the Air Force, possibly, if my theory is correct, from No.6 Squadron PAF. This is the unit that operates the C-130 transports out of Chaklala a few miles south of Islamabad. A decision had to be taken as to when to plant the gas. Once it was confirmed that Zia would fly to Bahawalpur the choice lay between doing it there or at Chaklala, when it was clear exactly which aircraft would be PAK 1.

Most theories suggest the planting of the device was done at Bahawalpur, but I believe it much more likely to have been Chaklala. At Bahawalpur there would be no Air Force personnel except the crew, so none of them would do it—unless they were willing to go down with the plane. How could the plotters be sure an Army man could get on the guarded aircraft? The device had to be put in the cockpit which involved climbing up the steps, through the door, on to the flight deck. This was virtually impossible for a soldier, and certainly did not happen with the mango delivery. The crew working on the cargo door perhaps? But they were to fly back to Islamabad. Neither they nor the security guard would allow a soldier or civilian into the aircraft, let alone go climbing up into the cockpit. I cannot say with absolute certainty it was not done at Bahawalpur, but if it was it was a highly risky operation with the odds against success.

At Chaklala an intelligence agency would have an easier task in infiltrating the permanent Air Force staff. Access to the C-130s was part of the everyday duties of the technical or maintenance personnel. A perfect opportunity occurred when the VIP capsule was rolled up inside PAK 1. It identified the aircraft and, with the bustle of activity in strapping it to the floor and pre-flight checks, nobody would have questioned anybody going into the cockpit, perhaps changing a fire extinguisher or inserting the device in an airvent. If the sabotage was carried out at Chaklala then it would have needed two devices to set it off—a timer and an altitude device. The timer would be set to activate the altitude switch. With the former a four-hour time lapse would be safe, allowing for one hour before the plane took off, just over an hour’s flight, and then as PAK 1 sat on the strip at Bahawalpur the altitude device would be armed. All that was needed would be the climb to the required height, then inside the cockpit the deadly gas would escape. If Chaklala was the scene of the sabotage then it was a double-arming device that was used, otherwise PAK 1 would have crashed shortly after take-off and suspicion would have been focused on the Air Force base personnel.

The plot worked flawlessly, except for one major calamity: both the US Ambassador and the military attachй died. Certainly, whoever carried out this multiple murder had not intended these two senior Americans to be among the victims. There was no way of knowing that Zia would invite them to join him for the journey at the last minute. The conspirators were appalled. They anticipated the most thorough, penetrating and wide-ranging investigation, which would undoubtedly uncover their identities. It never happened. The final phase of this merciless terrorist act was the US cover-up.

6

The Cover-up

The State Department would have much preferred an accident, some sort of technical failure, pilot error, anything rather than sabotage. If it was murder of two high-ranking US officials then the American public would expect, indeed demand, to know the culprits. For such an outrageous act of terrorism the outcry against the perpetrators would be loud and long. The government would probably find it impossible to silence the clamour to exact retribution. Depending on who had done it, exposure could mean the ruin of US policy objectives in the area, and elsewhere in the world.

Supposing the KGB, or their surrogates in KHAD, were responsible, how would revealing the USSR as the organizer of mass murder, of the assassination of a head of state, affect the build-up of goodwill between East and West? How could the US avoid a major outbreak of hostility between themselves and the USSR ? Almost certainly the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan would be reversed. The implications of Moscow being to blame were unnerving.

Similarly, the dilemma was almost as serious if the plotters were within the Pakistan military. If investigation uncovered a clique of anti-Zia generals the American people would be outraged that, after all these years of massive support to the Pakistan Armed Forces and the Mujahideen, they had killed a US ambassador and a brigadier-general. It would be futile to say they hadn’t intended to! US-Pakistan relations would be in ruins. Aid would have to be curtailed, the military might be forced into prolonged presidential rule, the democratic elections scheduled for November would be abandoned, and with them the prospect of the more acceptably moderate Benazir Bhutto becoming prime minister. As I have said earlier, the US was not sorry to see Zia go. The State Department was happy to see the Soviets out of Afghanistan, but decidedly unhappy with the likelihood of, as the US perceived it, Zia backed fundamentalists talk over in Kabul. Nor did it like his determination to have nuclear weapons. By mid-1988 Zia was becoming a liability rather than an asset to the US.

Though unlikely, it was conceivable that some minor political faction or terrorist group. like Al-Zulfikar, had somehow achieved the impossible. The problem was, once serious investigations started there was no knowing what unwelcome worms might emerge from the can as the lid was lifted. Testifying before the House of Representatives Judiciary Sub-Committee on Crime in June, 1989, Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Armitage justified the lack of any serious investigations into the sabotage by claiming note 1 , “hopefully moving Pakistan in a more democratic manner…. The military in Pakistan as well as their presidency just being decapitated, we were very alarmed there might be some backsliding”. In other words they were quite prepared to write off Ambassador Raphel’s and Brigadier Wassom’s murders if that meant not rocking the boat.

None of this soul-searching would have been necessary if no Americans had died—particularly such senior ones. The whole business was complicated by the fact that as recently as 1986 Congress had passed a law that gave the FBI the legal right, indeed the duty, to inquire into terrorist acts overseas that involved attacks on US citizens. It is often referred to as the ‘Long Arm’ law.

The State Department did four things immediately after the crash which, taken together, point unerringly at a cover-up. First, within hours, it sent a team of purely technical airforce advisers to assist the PAF Board of Inquiry. Secondly, it did not insist, through its embassy, on autopsies on the bodies of the victims, particularly the crew, but rather allowed them to be buried knowing that essential evidence as to how the crash was caused was being buried with them. Thirdly, it sent a Deputy National Security Adviser, Robert Oakley, to take over Raphel’s post. He could be relied upon to sit on the lid of the can. Later, in June, 1989, he told a highly sceptical sub-committee that when he attended the National Security Council meeting to decide on the US response to the crash, he simply forgot all about the ‘Long Arm’ law. This, despite the fact that he had personally lobbied hard to get it passed. Fourthly, and most importantly, it vetoed the FBI’s request clearance and on 21 August had been given it verbally, but, within hours, it had been withdrawn—probably on the instructions of Oakley, who was by then in Islamabad.

General Beg, who had just avoided dying with his President, had circled the burning wreckage in his own aircraft before flying straight to Islamabad. There troops were alerted, key points protected, and a crisis cabinet meeting called. But there was no military takeover. Beg accepted immediate promotion to Zia’s old post of Army Chief of Staff, while the civilian chairman of the Senate, the 73-year-old Ghulam Ishaq Khan, took over as head of the interim government. The November election would go ahead.

Almost certainly the military authority that halted the autopsies will never be named, nor will the details of the collusion that must have taken place so swiftly between the Pakistani authorities and the US Embassy in Islamabad. It was not until ten months later that congressional pressure finally forced the State Department to allow three FBI investigators to go to Pakistan. As Congressman Bill Mclollum (R. Fla.) said, “At this late date, can the FBI find out what actually happened in Pakistan ? I don’t know. But we intend to find out what happened at the State Department”. The FBI team seemingly lacked enthusiasm for the task. It was reported that ‘awkward’ questions were not asked; the agents appeared disinclined to investigate evidence that conflicted with the statement that the bodies were too badly burned to permit autopsies and, with their schedule arranged by the Bhutto government, were apparently more interested in sightseeing than cross-questioning witnesses. According to a Washington Times source they only left Islamabad for tourist trips. Their attitude made it quite clear that they were following instructions not to stir the pot.

There was much hypocrisy in high places at the funeral on 20 August, 1988. India had sent its President and declared national mourning at home, the Russian Ambassador laid a wreath with solemn ceremonial, while US Secretary of State George Schultz called Zia a ‘martyr’ and assured the Mujahideen fundamentalist Leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, that the US would do all it could to ensure their success in freeing Afghanistan. The funeral had both a military and an Islamic flavour. Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis gathered near the gold-plated Faisal Mosque to watch the coffin, covered in the national flag and flowers, and carried on the shoulders of soldiers, arrive for the final rites. Prayers were followed by the measured boom of a 21-gun salute.

There was genuine sorrow and foreboding among the three million Afghan refugees encamped just inside the Pakistan border. There was a great sense of loss among the Mujahideen, for Zia and Akhtar had been the architects of their successes in the field. Now, with the Soviets withdrawing, with victory in sight, continued, uninterrupted support would be indispensable for the final push to Kabul. As the reader will discover the Mujahideen were to be bitterly disappointed.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Gladio, Octopus, Le Cercle and the Safari Club.....



Gladio, Octopus, Le Cercle and the Safari Club.....

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the occult became obsessed with a new esoteric based political concept, known as "synarchy", first proposed by a man by the name of Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre. Saint-Yves d'Alveydre believed that he had received instructions from the "Hidden Masters", an enlightened group of people that dwelled in the underground realm of Agartha, or Shamballah, located in Tibet. Most likely the story was conceived to make it more acceptable to the occult-minded masses, or perhaps it symbolized that it was an ancient doctrine. It was claimed that the Knights Templar were among the groups that followed the principles of synarchy, which in it's most basic form was essentially the rule of the world by secret societies. Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre stated that the synarchist form of government was based by the rule of a secret elite, located behind the scenes, based on religious and economic pillars of society. It focused heavily on the unification of Europe into a single state.

The ideals of synarchy are closely affiliated with the Martinist Order, of which Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre was a member of. Martinism was an esoteric form of Christianity based on meditation, co founded by Saint-Yves d'Alveydre's close friend, Gérard Encausse, better known as "Papus". Papus, who was very prominent in the occult underworld, strongly supported the idea of synarchy. Papus was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which later splintered into Ordo Templi Orientis (a member of which was the famed Aleister Crowley. NASA scientist got very involved in the magical workings of the Golden Dawn and O.T.O., such as Jack Parson, a close friend of whom was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. Parsons, Hubbards, and Crowley even participated in certain rituals together.), and he was also credited with the writing of the Protocols of Zion, the infamous document which in part inspired the holocaust. Papus was also a member of the Rite of Memphis-Misraim Masonic Order, an Egyptian-based rite of Freemasonry, of which Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre was also affiliated. From wikipedia:

quote:
Among the Masonic Rites, Memphis-Misraim has occupied a particular position since its origin. It is considered to be among the Egyptian rites that drank from the source of the ancient initiatic traditions of the Mediterranean basin: Pythagoreans, Alexandrian hermetic authors, neo-Platonics, the Sabbeans of Harrân, and others. It is said that it was necessary to wait until the 18th century to find any traces in Europe, but evidence seems to show that this is when these rites originated, and with most rites, it therefore has a constructed history. These two would associate and then merge under the influence of General Garibaldi in 1881.
Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval uncovered a plethora of evidence in their book Talisman indicating the role of people who would later be connected to this Rite in the instigating of the French Revolution.

It is also important to take a second to look at General Garibaldi.

quote:
Giuseppe Garibaldi (July 4, 1807 – June 2, 1882) was an Italian patriot and soldier of the Risorgimento. He is considered the Italian national hero. He personally led many of the military campaigns that brought about the formation of a unified Italy. He has been dubbed the "Hero of the Two Worlds" in tribute to his military expeditions in South America and Europe.
Giuseppe Garibaldi was also a close associate of Giuseppe Mazzini, the famed Italian patriot who was important in the two wars of Italian indepedence. Most interestingly, he was in close contact with Adam Weishaupt, who founded the Bavarian Illuminati. It is even said that Weishaupt passed leadership of his Illuminati onto Mazzini when the secret society was outlawed. In light of Memphis Misraim's link to Mazzini, maybe the conspiracy theorist claim that the Illuminati instigated the French Revolution needs to be re-examined. Mazzini is also thought by many historians to have been the creator of the famed Mafia, and he was also in contact with 33rd degree Mason Albert Pike, who is credited as the founder of the Ku Klux Klan. Mazzini also had a strong desire to see the unification of Europe, which mentioned above was a strong focus in synarchist belief.

Synarchy certainly had some strange direct and indirect ties through it's relationship with the Memphis Misraim Rite. But, moving forward in time, we'll see that they have even more bizarre connections.

Synarchist groups, such as the Synarchist Empire Movement, became widespread in France before and during the Second World War. OSS agent William Langer wrote about a group of French bankers and industrialists, saying:

quote:
"even before the war, had turned to Nazi Germany and had looked to Hitler as the savior of Europe from Communism... These people were as good fascists as any in Europe... Many of them had extensive and intimate business relations with German interests and were still dreaming of a new system of "synarchy", which meant government of Europe on fascist principles by an international brotherhood of financiers and industrialists."
It would be wrong to assume, however, that the synarchists were a pro-Nazi group, for they had many ties to the underground French resistance groups. One such group was the occult-based Alpha Galates.

The Alpha Galates were founded by a man named Pierre Plantard, who later gained fame when Holy Blood, Holy Grail was released, discussing his role as Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. There is much evidence to suggest that the Alpha Galates and the Priory of Sion are one and the same, despite what Plantard protests. The structure of the two organizations are identical, with overlapping memberships, and the publications of the two maintain identical themes and ideas.

The publication of the Alpha Galates was called Vaincre, meaning "Victory". It promoted, among other things other things, the idea of a United Europe, as well as occult ideas stemming directly from synarchy, such as underground world in Tibet, Agartha, and Hidden Masters. Plantard claimed that Vaincre was a resistance journal, that it's articles were codes to other groups, even though the distinctive synarchist flavor of the writings. It did appear that the Alpha Galates did have a relationship to the underground anti-Hitler movement: one member of the secret society was one Hans Adolf von Moltke, the cousin of Helmut James Von Moltke. Helmut James was leader of the Kreisau Circle, the resistance group that was responsible for the Bomb Plot to assasinate Hitler on July 20th, 1944. However, the Kreisau Circle had another side to them: they promoted the idea of a "United States of Europe" (a term used exactly in Vaincre), which indicates the possible influence of synarchy. Indeed, Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince have shown much evidence that the Priory of Sion and the Alpha Galates are not hoaxes, but covers for the Synarchy groups in the World War eras. Check out this link that studies the relationship between the Priory and the Protocols of Zion, which is interesting to take a look at in the light of Papus' possible role in writing them:

http://www.rose-croix-veritas.com/protocols.htm

The Kreisau Circle was in contact with Allen Dulles, an OSS agent who later became Director of the CIA, the first of many connections between these groups and the world of intelligence.

An important terrorist group in this era, the CSAR (Comite Secret pour l'Action Revolutionnaire), also known as the "Cagoules" (Hooded Ones) has been revealed as being a division of the Synarchist Empire Movement. One member of the CSAR was Jean Violet, a French intelligence agent and member of the Vatican based organization, Opus Dei.

Jean Violet, after the war, founded a secretive, privately founded "think-tank" known as Le Cercle, which draws members of intelligence communities, economic, politics, and religious worlds. The activities of Le Cercle over the years have been, to say the least, very shady. Lets take a look at some of the founding members.

Three of the fellow founding members of Le Cercle were essential in creating the European Union: Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Dr. Otto von Hasburg. However, all three of these people can also be linked to synarchy.

Robert Schuman, who was behind the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, was also a member of a pro-European Unification think tank known as Energie. The founder of Energie was a man by the name of Louis Le Fur, who was a member of the Alpha Galates, close friend of Han Adolf von Maltke and Pierre Plantard, and author for numerous Vaincre articles. Like Jean Violet, he was also a member of the Opus Dei.

Jean Monnet, the 'father of the common market', can also be connected to synarchy. Monnet was involved in a group known as the Estates General of the Youth (an associate of which was Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, founder of the PanEuropean Union and alos a Le Cercle member), founded by a woman named Jeane Canudo (Canudo was a member of the Rosicrucian Order of the Polaires, a member of whom was famed Nazi Otto Rahn, who researched for the Holy Grail near Rennes-le-Chateau. The authors of Dagobert's Revenge have speculated that the Polaires are another guise of the Priory of Sion). Canudo was a synarchist member, and an important player of the "Synarchist Pact", which unified the Synarchist Empire Movement, so it's possible she was also in contact with Jean Violet.

Dr. Otto von Hasburg was a member of the PanEuropean Council, related to Synarchy via Coudenhove-Kalegri's connections to the synarchist Estates General of the Youth. Hasburg was also a member of the Belgian Cercles de Nations with Jean Violet, which will be explored later. Like Schuman and Violet, Hasburg was a member of the Opus Dei, and also the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta.

So we can see several themes forming: Le Cercle in the beginning concerned itself with members with 1)Strong ties to Synarchic groups, 2)Strong desires to see the Unification of Europe, and 3)Connections to Vatican based groups. It would not be illogical to assume to that Le Cercle, like the Alpha Galates and the Priory of Sion (and possible the Polaires), is yet another front for synarchy. It would certainly seem that way, taking to light the emphasis on uniting Europe. But what of the relationship to the Vatican?

The Vatican has always maintained close ties to the intelligence community: the majority of directors of the OSS, then the CIA, were members of either the Knights of Malta (SMOM)(it should also be noted that Plantard told the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail that many Priory of Sion members were also Knights of Malta), or the Opus Dei, or both. The same can be seen in the world of Le Cercle, which itself has established numerous ties to the intelligence community. OSS Director William Donovan established a Catholic intelligence group in the Second World War known as Pro Dei (for God), which after the war became installed in the Vatican.

After the war, the emphasis shifted onto Soviet Russia as the next major threat as the Cold War era loomed. The best way to protect against the Soviet was the unification of Europe, the intelligence community realized, and they began to back the idea. This connection between the intelligence community and the cause for United Europe could help explain the Vatican's relationship to it. The Vatican has also been strongly anti-communist.

One important member of the pro-European Unity movement was a man by the name of Dr. Joseph Retinger. Retinger was a close associate of both Helmut James von Moltke and his cousin Adolf von Moltke, as well as Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman. In July of 1949, he travelled to the United States, which resulted in the creation of the American Committee on a United Europe (ACUE), the chairman of whom was William Donovon (mentioned above), and the vice chairman was Allen Dulles of the OSS and CIA (mentioned above as being connected to the Kreisau Circle). The secretary was one George S. Franklin, director of the Council on Foreign Relations, and co-coordinator of the Trilateral Commission. Using the funds of the CIA distributed through the ACUE, Retinger forged ties with Prince Bernard of the Netherlands (former member of NW7, the intelligence arm of I.G. Farben, which manufactured the gases used in concentration camps). Together, they created a think-tank which is now known as the Bilderberg Conference. It could certainly be fuel for conspiracy theorists, the Bildeberg, the Trilateral Commission, and the Council on Foreign Relations all being linked in such ways.

One of the most notorious and famous joint OSS/Vatican projects was the "Operation Paperclip", which involved the smuggling of Nazi war criminals to South America via 'ratlines'. Nazis smuggled include the infamous Eichmann, who was later captured by Mossad agents. Another was Reinhard Gehlen, the famed Nazi spymaster who specialized in anti-Communist plots. After the war, he became a contract agent for the CIA and founded the Gehlen Org, the German intelligence division which hunted KGB spies. He later became a member of Le Cerlce and close friend of Otto Von Hasburg. We should note that he also became a member of the Knights of Malta.

Operation Paperclip made the deal with the Nazis that in exchange for their avoidance of war crimes, they dedicated themselves to stopping the spread of the Soviet Union. The ratlines and underground spy networks laid the foundation of Operation Gladio, a massive CIA/NATO operation throughout Europe. It functioned with "Stay Behind" units, basically a secret underground army that would take control of the country in the event of a Communist takeover, ranging from Soviet invasion to poltical elections. The largest of these networks was based in Italy, where it's most insidious machinations came to light.

Intangled in the Operation Gladio was not only the Italian Mafia, but also the corrupt Masonic lodge known as P2. P2 was pro-facicism, borderline neo-Nazi. During the Cold War, P2 functioned as a shadow government in Italy, with it's members in every political position possible, as well as in the economic world and in the media. P2 also controlled in most part the Vatican Banking system, which it used to distribute it's drug money as well as the money for Operation Gladio (which ran off drug money). These events would lead to the death of Robert Calvi, "God's Banker". It is very interesting that the intelligence community related head of P2, Lucio Gelli, was a member of the Memphis Misraim Masonic lodge prior to his founding of P2. Also interesting is the possible ties between P2 and the Priory of Sion (and thus synarchy): an informant known only as "Cornelius" sent information to the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail linking P2 member/Vatican Bank associate Michael Sindona to the Priory, stating that he managed their banking account funds. Another key Vatican Banker and associate of Michael Sindona was Cardinal Jean Danielou (later found dead), who was also a close friend of Jean Cocteau, who was named one of the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion and ran in the same occult circles as Papus and other Martinist/Synarchist key players. Another informant informed Tracy Twyman (author of The Merovingian Mythos) that P2 was actually a splintered off faction of the Priory, with P2 basically meaning "Priory 2". Most importantly though, a member of P2 actually named the CIA as the creator and controller of the lodge. This member was later found murdered, two months after these accusations.

Another relationship between synarchy and Gladio lies in the Order of the Solar, one of the most notorious suicide cults of all time. A French researcher, Jean-Marie Abgrall,

quote:
reveals that the Order of the Solar Temple, as Amorc and ORT, were created and controlled by networks of french secret service and foreign," says Mr. Leclerc - information, underlines the lawyer, whose psychiatrist did not receive the instruction.
He uncovered that many OST members were involved in the financial aspects of Operation Gladio. Most importantly is the fact that the Order of the Solar Temple describes itself as Synarchist Order, descended from the Knights Templar. Also importantly, the founders of the OST, Luc Jouret and Jean Thiriat, were involved in the Belgian division of Gladio, known as SDRA-8. They were also involved in the creation of the Partie Communtaire European, which was affiliated with the Cercle Des Nations, members of which include SMOMs/Le Cercle members Jean Violet and Otto von Hasburg.

There were many overlapping members of Operation Gladio and Le Cercle. One major connection lay in a group known as The 61. Le Cercle director Brian Crozier, with many other Le Cercle members, oversaw the creation of this group. It's goals were, in Crozier's own words:

quote:
"... a Private Sector Operational Intelligence agency, beholden to no government, but at the disposal of allied or friendly governments... Our main concerns would be:

To provide reliable intelligence in areas which governments were barred from investigating, either through legislation (as in the US) or because political circumstances made such inquiries difficult or potentially embarrassing.
To conduct secret counter-subversion operations in any country in which such actions were deemed feasible.
It was agreed that no outsiders should be made aware of the existence of this organization, except if, in the judgement of one of us, the person was deemed a suitable candidate for recruitment

One key member of The 61 was a man by the name of General Vernon Walters. Walters was a CIA agent, working various anti-Communist plots in Central America, Cuba, and Europe, and not surpisingly, a Knight of Malta. He ran Operation Gladio with CIA station chief William Harvey, who was named by CIA agent E. Howard Hunt (of Watergate fame) as a key plotter in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Walters and Harvey worked alongside another CIA agent, Ted Shackley, at the JM WAVE CIA station located in Miami, Florida, which organized various attempts to remove Castro from power in Cuba, includng the failed Bay of Pigs. The men of JM WAVE maintained a close friendship with members of organized crime, including Jimmy Hoffa, Carlos Marcello, and Santo Trafficante, all of whom had a vested interest in Cuba, which housed many of their casinos. Many researches have penned this as the group responsible for the assassination of JFK.

The main fund system of Gladio was the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, a private bank founded in London by Agha Hasan Abedi in 1972. It became known as one of the worst banking scandals of all time, as it was revealed as being controlled by the CIA and other intelligence agencies, as well as organized crime, as means to smuggle drugs, money, and weaponry to terrorism groups and fund black operations. The economic advisor to BCCI at one point was Le Cerlce president Julian Amery.

It was uncovered by CNN that Osama Bin Laden himself a major stockholder in the banking system, (see http://edition.cnn.com/2001/BUSINESS/09/26/binladen/ for more info) as was his brother, Salem bin Laden. Salem bin Laden is interesting to take a look at, because he was close friends with BCCI James R. Bath, who was also co-owner of an oil company known as Arbusto, with George W. Bush, whom he was close friends with. Bath even bought shares of Arbusto for James R. Bath, thus creating a link between the Bush and Bin Laden family via the CIA's black networks. Arbusto has even been indicated as a CIA front. Perhaps it is most important to take note that Halliburton, which profits so much from the War on Terror, was a principle financer of a shadowy European company known as Permindex. Other financers include various Texas based oil companies, many of which were Bush affiliated. The reason that Permindex is worth taking a look at it is because many have presented evidence that it was connected to the JFK assassination, thus bringing it in contact with JM WAVE and then the Gladio Networks. Furthermore, many members of Permindex have been revealed to have ties to Le Cercle members, so we can conclude that they are similar to the function of the BCCI.

The BCCI also reared it's head again the Iran-Contra scandal, in which many other people from the Gladio days make appearances. The most important thing to take note on Iran Contra was the drug smuggling and arms dealings. One source of funding to the Contras went through the Americares, an organization ran by a man named J. Peter Grace, who happens to be both a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the head of the American division of the Knights of Malta (in fact, many researchers have wondered if the Knights of Malta were essential in the spreading of funds to the Contra rebels). Grace was also affiliated with Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe (which promoted ideas of a Unified Europe), which was funded by the CIA and created by Reinhard Gehlen (mentioned above).

The Americares worked closely with the World Anti-Communist League, run by Major General John Singlaub (a close associate of Ted Shackley of JM WAVE). Singlaub was a member of the Unification Church and CAUSA, the church's intelligence division, to put it simply (the founder of the Unification Church, Reverend Moon, is a close friend of George W. Bush. There seems to be a strange relationship between the SMOM and the Unification Church. See http://www.cephasministry.com/church_and_state_knights_of_,malta.html , http://www.rickross.com/reference/unif/unif106.html , and http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen01142003.html for more info)

Another key player in Iran-Contra, according to various whistleblowers, was the P2 masonic lodge, which apparently oversaw the smuggling of weaponry. Behind Iran-Contra seems to be a vast network of assassins, drug runners, and arm smugglers in the employment of the intelligence community. This group would seem to be directly related the Gladio networks. Iran-Contra whistleblower Gene Wheaton (a former intelligence agent who worked at JM WAVE, his company, National Air, became the main CIA operating apparatus in the Iran-Contra affair) named a group of people, including Ted Shackley, General Vernon Walters, William Harvey, Oliver North, and other CIA agents as being part of a "private assassination program", resposnible in part for the assassination of JFK. Based on the connections we've seen, this is probably true and this team is directly related to Gladio. To quote Gene Wheaton in full:

quote:
"At that black tie party at the Palm Restaurant on the 4th of December in 1985, I was specifically invited by Neil Livingston and to come in and meet Ollie North, and it was a party to promote Neil Livingston’s book, called "Fighting Back", and the subtitle was "The War on Terrorism". He and a State Department/CIA spook by the name of Terry Arnold wrote that book together and this was the coming-out party for the book, and all the covert operations community, the real snake eaters, were going to be there with black ties. Ollie North was there and Bud McFarland and I don’t know, 75 or 100 people in black ties, having drinks and dinner and hobnobbing and they felt like ... the atmosphere at that party was one of ‘We are the shadow government running the United States.’...

The covert operations subculture and the pyramid system of it is difficult for the average citizen to understand. And I understand it because I saw it, but it’s awfully hard to describe. This stuff goes back to the scandals of the 70s ... of Watergate and Richard Helms, the CIA director, being convicted by Congress of lying to Congress, of Ted Shackley and Tom Clines and Dick Secord and a group of them being forced into retirement as a result of the scandal over Edmond P. Wilson’s training of Libyan terrorists in conjunction with these guys, and moving C-4 explosives to Libya. They decided way back when, ‘75-’76, during the Pike and Church Committee hearings, that the Congress was their enemy. They felt that the government had betrayed them and that they were the real heroes in this country and that the government became their enemy. In the late 70s, in fact, after Gerry Ford lost the election in ’76 to Jimmy Carter, and then these guys became exposed by Stansfield Turner and crowd for whatever reason ... there were different factions involved in all this stuff, and power plays ... Ted Shackley and Vernon Walters and Frank Carlucci and Ving West and a group of these guys used to have park-bench meetings in the late 70s in McClean, Virginia so nobody could overhear they conversations. They basically said, "With our expertise at placing dictators in power," I’m almost quoting verbatim one of their comments, "why don’t we treat the United States like the world’s biggest banana republic and take it over?" And the first thing they had to do was to get their man in the White House, and that was George Bush.

Reagan never really was the president. He was the front man. They selected a guy that had charisma, who was popular, and just a good old boy, but they got George Bush in there to actually run the White House. They’d let Ronald Reagan and Nancy out of the closet and let them make a speech and run them up the flagpole and salute them and put them back in the closet while these spooks ran the White House. They made sure that George Bush was the chairman of each of the critical committees involving these covert operations things.

This crowd really believes that the unwashed masses are ignorant, that we are people who are not capable of governing ourselves, that we need this elitist group to control the country, and the world -- these guys have expanded. They look at the United States not as a country, not in any kind of patriotic mode now, but they look on it as a state within a world that they control. And that’s this attitude that they have. They’re not unlike any other megalomaniac in the world. They’re nutty as fruitcake, but they’ve got distinguished gray hair, three-piece dark suits and they carry briefcases, and they’ll stand up and make speeches just as articulate as anybody in the world, but they don’t socialize and function outside their own little clique. My experience with them is that they could be certified as criminally insane and put away in a rubber room and have the key thrown away. That’s how dangerous they are. But they’re powerful, and they’re educated. And that makes them twice as dangerous. And that’s basically what’s running the world right now.

If I had not been part of this, and hadn’t seen it first hand, I would not believe a word I’m saying. "

His description matches exactly that of the Octopus, described by journalist Danny Casolaro (who died under extremely mysterious circumstance). His research revealed a powerful cabal of intelligence groups that ran drug smuggling rings, arm dealings, and political assassinations. He stated that this group was "born in the shadows of the Cold War". After his death, another journalist known by her pen name of Carol Marshall followed up Danny's research and wrote a book entitled "The Last Circle, which can be read at http://www.lycaeum.org/books/books/last_circle/circle!.htm . She concludes that the head of the "Octopus" is the F.I.D.C.O. Corporation (First Intercontinental Development Corporation), the head of which is Robert Maheu, a former FBI agent who worked for Howard Hughes, and mainted close contact with different organized crime figures as well as the CIA agents of JM WAVE. He's frequently mentioned in JFK assassination theories.

I believe "Carol" is wrong though. If the Octopus is born out of Gladio, and based on the connections we've seen, then the head would probably be Le Cercle, a group consisting of intelligence agencies, economic figureheads and political figures. And it seems that at one time, Le Cercle was operating as a front for synarchy. Whether or not it still is is a matter of speculation, until any hard proof can be found.