Pat Shannan's MUSINGS
RUTHLESS LEGERDEMAIN
In the ancient Book of Chicanery, it's the oldest trick in the book. A government must justify its own existence with the systematic creation of enemies. The hiring of more policemen is justified by rising crime in the streets. One of Sun Tsu's published ploys was to always keep the enemy confused: when weak, show strength; and when actually strong, feign weakness. It works at the poker table, and it works at the political table.
What the large majority of hoi polloi have failed to realize is that we are the real enemy. Governments routinely rely on hoaxes with which to sell their agenda to an otherwise reluctant public.
Lincoln maneuvered the South into firing the first shot at Fort Sumter by ignoring what was (by then) "foreign soil" and transporting troops into South Carolina. Then the lawfully seceded Southerners were officially branded as "rebels" and "insurrectionists."
On April 24, 2001 the Baltimore Sun and ABC News reported on a shocking, declassified Pentagon document, titled Operation Northwoods. In 1962, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called for hijacking jet airliners, attacking US military bases, blowing up US ships, and wounding American civilians using paramilitary sniper teams. At the time it was proposed as an excuse to blame Castro and invade Cuba, but JFK rejected it.
It is a well-known fact today that Roosevelt manipulated and allowed the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor in order to galvanize the hearts and minds of the American people. Lesser known is the method by which Lyndon Johnson lured his troops into Vietnam with the mythical attack on American ships at the Gulf of Tonkin in August of 1964.
This non-happening gave the president license to go on national television and "explain" to the American people that the North Vietnamese torpedo boats had launched an "unprovoked attack" on the USS Maddox while on routine patrol. It was a fabrication from the start, and Johnson knew it, but it "justified" his announcement that night of the retaliatory air strikes against North Vietnam to commence the next day - to avenge an attack that never happened. President Johnson needed to help his friends who owned defense and chemical companies to do a little business, not to mention the bazillions in heroin trafficking.
In 1991, George H. W. Bush found that his oil profits were being diluted with the influx on Iraqi oil on the world market. The next thing the naïve public saw was America's first live-TV war. A half million troops on each side allegedly were blowing each other up right and left, but when the smoke cleared it became evident that the Americans had suffered more casualties to friendly fire and accidents than to the enemy's insurgence. And the missiles and bombs dropped into Baghdad certainly killed more women and children than Iraqi soldiers. But here it was "Mission Accomplished," and the name "Saddam Hussein" was forever etched into the walls of our minds as the world's greatest living terrorist.
Fear the "Terrorism"
Then there was the explosion at the WTC, instigated, paid for, and carried out by the FBI. (See NY Times - 10/27/93) It killed six and wounded a hundred. Then the phony terrorism at OKC, for which nobody ever took credit. Then the great FBI cover-up of the missile hitting TWA-800, claiming hundreds never saw what they saw, followed by the Olympics explosion. Then there was Bill Clinton's "wagging of the dog." Then the many unanswered questions about 9-11, followed by the Anthrax "scare." And how many more did we forget, all of which led back to Washington?
Then it was a very real sniper who was killing innocent people. But what faction was behind it? Certainly not the two buffoons who were blamed. If the foregoing clues from history aren't enough, then consider the president's three-week silence on the issue. Even John Ashcroft was muzzled, except to issue a puzzling statement that the FBI would not oversee the case that involved a highly skilled marksman killing people over a three-state area. Why not? The FBI is usually overly anxious to get involved, even when they are not invited, and suspicion (not proof) that the criminals have crossed a state line is all it needs.
There is a very big but little-known problem with Muhammad's rifle. He bought it from the Tacoma gun shop in December of 1999. However, he sold it back to them in May of 2000. The shop then sold it to someone else who reportedly has it stored for safekeeping now, presumably to prevent the government from confiscating it and supplanting it as evidence against the defendants. What all this means is that the rifle the authorities possess and will use at trial is not the one owned by Muhammad and never was.
Was Muhammad actually part of a military "Special Ops," programmed to turn himself in on cue? Could Lon Horiuchi have been the mysterious triggerman all along? He does have a penchant for shooting women and children and his whereabouts has been unknown for a long while. What happened to that white van and the "Angry White Male?"
As for the president and his deceptive administration, Americans will eventually see through this phony "Christian" façade and realize too late that Jr. is but a chip off Sr.'s crooked block. If the president's name were but George Walker, he would still be trying to figure out how to get elected to the Texas House of Representatives.