Pat Shannan's MUSINGS
Of Rabbit Trails, Spin Doctors & Hegel
Whenever a non-suspect in a crime lies about his whereabouts or participation and the investigators uncover the lie, that non-suspect immediately becomes a suspect. After all, what possible motive would there be for lying, except to protect one's self or others? "I didn't do it, but I saw him do it," is a common response from one who might have been in a position at the time of the crime to provide information later.
On the other hand, the perpetrators of political crimes and terrorist incidents always quickly take credit for their evil games of International "Tag" by proudly announcing to their enemies, "Gotcha' last. Now whatcha' gonna' do about it?"
When Booth shot Lincoln, he leaped onto the stage at Ford's Theater and screamed to the throng (in Latin), "Death to Tyrants." Guiteau and Czolgosz never denied acting alone and both were proud to say that they shot Presidents Garfield and McKinley (although James Garfield died several months later at the hands of bumbling doctors rather than the near-harmless wound). There is not much doubt that these latter two assassins acted alone at the time, although we cannot know what prodding they may have had from others along the way.
A Great Idea!
But these set the stage for the 20th century ploy of orchestrating an assassination behind the scenes and cleverly placing a "lone nut" in a perfect position to take the blame. Oswald, Ray, Sirhan, and Bremer were classic examples.
Lee Oswald II and James Earl Ray both knew they were patsies and said as much. Sirhan Sirhan was so cleverly set up that for years he thought he had actually killed Bobby Kennedy, but now even he knows that he could not have shot the Senator four times from the rear. Arthur Bremer was so "obviously" guilty (of shooting Gov. George Wallace) that nobody bothered to figure out how he fired seven shots from a five-shot revolver.
The so-called "Attack on America" reeks of the same subterfuge. With the multitude of facets gone uninvestigated, most of which have been previously mentioned at this column, it has become obvious that those in charge do not want to know the truth and certainly don't want the American people to know it. This is why, once again, a particular blind alley is chosen early and stuck with to the end, reminiscent of McVeigh and ANFO.
A big question mark was how those airliners could fly around off the radar for so long without anyone noticing. Now the FAA has come forward to say that they did notify the military almost immediately but someone prevented any fighter jets from being sent out. Who and why continues to go unanswered.
FBI's Suspects Not On Board
BBC continues to be perplexed about the transcript of a phone call made by Flight Attendant Madeline Amy Sweeney to Boston air traffic controllers. It seems that she gave the seat numbers of the actual hijackers but a later check showed that these did not match the seat numbers of the men the FBI claims were responsible for the hijacking. There was never a mention from any of the callers (six) on the various flights that these hijackers were Arab or anything else out of ordinary from the American norm. This was made public within days of the events through both print and electronic media.
But in its December 3rd issue, Newsweek repaired the discrepancy by adding its revisionist news for the ages:
"Maintaining a remarkably calm presence, the flight attendant called a manager on the ground to tell him what was happening.
Sweeney told him that four Middle Eastern men wielding knives had taken over the flight. Investigators now believe there were actually five hijackers aboard her plane."
Even as the FBI was admitting that its list of 19 names was based solely on identifications thought to have been forged, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saudi Al-Faisal insisted that an investigation in Saudi Arabia showed that the five Saudi suspects were not aboard any of the four jetliners on September 11. "It was proved that five of the names included in the FBI list had nothing to do with what happened," Al-Faisal told the Arabic Press in Washington after meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House. A sixth identified hijacker is also reported to still be alive in Tunisia, while a 7th named man died two years ago!
Still, from only hours after the attacks to this day, Washington officials continue to state that they are certain that Osama bin Laden was the mastermind. In a matter of days, the pictures and bios of 19 bin Laden henchmen were published worldwide. The American people were sufficiently duped and ready for retaliation; as they draped their homes, businesses, and vehicles with Chinese-made American flags. In '41 and in '01, it was "never mind the facts, let's go kill 'em!" This media-infused, hate-the-camel-jockey attitude, when examined closely, is another blind alley from which most Americans -- especially newsmen -- are unable to retreat
So now we learn that none of the publicized Arab names appeared on the passenger manifests. How can this be so? Did they board the planes without being ticketed? Impossible without some kind of authorization. Never mind that, let's go kill 'em anyway. No, better yet, let's drag them off to Wake Island or Guam, give 'em a secret tribunal, and then kill 'em.
(Meanwhile, in mid-December, Los Angeles Jewish Defense League leaders Irv Rubin and Earl Krugel were arrested and accused of plotting to bomb a mosque and the San Clemente offices of U. S. Congressman Darrell Issa, an Arab American. Will Rubin and Krugel be hauled to the South Pacific for a military tribunal? Will the assets of JDL be seized? If not, why not?)
FBI Chief Robert Mueller admitted on September 20 and again on September 27 (Washington Times) that the FBI had nothing to prove the true identities of the suicidal hijackers. Yet in the government's haste to move forward on the already planned war in Afghanistan (with a rich harvest of opium and oil awaiting), the FBI, always the lapdog of the current administration, continues to ignore evidence that points away from the designated suspect, CIA asset Osama Bin Laden. And yet unlike any other proud victor of a terrorist score, Ol' Sammy denied any involvement -- at least until December.
However, the talking heads from the Electronic Thought Processors now tell us that the feds have secured a video tape of Ol' Sammy admitting that he masterminded the dirty deed. A month or so after this story broke (these things take time to manufacture), the tape was finally played on all the networks (on 12/13/01) with an alleged translator telling us in English what Ol' Sammy is supposed to be saying. Of course, with the principal's voice muted (on the version Americans saw), it will take an Afghan lip-reader to discern the truth of the matter. Some said we were behaving just a little too cynically to believe that the translation was a hoax and that Ol' Sammy in this scene may merely be thanking his host for serving such a delicious meal, but experience is the best teacher.
The government must always justify its acts. Our friend Dave Wilber says, "If you can believe what the feds put on video tape, then you believe what Disney puts on video tape."
European Translators Agree
A week later, a German TV show found that the White House's translation of the "confession" video was not only inaccurate, but even "manipulative".
On 20 December 2001, German TV channel "Das Erste" broadcast its analysis of the White House's translation of the Ol' Sammy video that George Bush has called a "confession of guilt". On the show "Monitor", two independent translators and an expert on oriental studies told of the discrepancies in the White House's translation of the tape. (Are there no reporters in the U. S. who speak Arabic?)
Dr. Abdel El M. Husseini, one of the translators, states, "I have carefully examined the Pentagon's translation. This translation is very problematic. At the most important places where it is held to prove the guilt of Bin Laden, it is not identical with the Arabic."
Whereas the White House would have us believe that Ol' Sammy admits, "We calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy," translator Dr. Murad Alami finds that: "'In advance' is not said. The translation is wrong. At least when we look at the original Arabic, and there are no misunderstandings to allow us to read it into the original."
At another point, the White House translation reads: "We had notification since the previous Thursday that the event would take place that day." Dr. Murad Alami: "'Previous' is never said. The subsequent statement that this event would take place on that day cannot be heard in the original Arabic version."
Prof. Gernot Rotter, professor of Islamic and Arabic Studies at the Asia-Africa Institute at the University of Hamburg sums it up: "The American translators who listened to the tapes and transcribed them apparently wrote a lot of things in that they wanted to hear but that cannot be heard on the tape no matter how many times you listen to it."
Intimidation
Who paid a visit to Dr. Van Romero? He just happens to be Vice President for Research at New Mexico Tech, one of the government's leading counter-terrorist contractors. He was the one who emphatically stated on September 11th that the Twin Towers could only have collapsed with the help of secondary explosives. Ten days later, he retracted his statement. What changed your mind, Doc? Did you make a mistake with your calculations or only by opening your big mouth?
Leslie Robertson, the WTC structural engineer, may have learned a lesson from the Romero incident and refuses to go out on such a precarious limb, even if his reluctance does reveal a shade of stupidity. When asked by a reporter (and quoted in New Yorker magazine) how long the buildings should have stood after impact, he replied with this gem of wisdom: "I think there are times when logic just isn't the right way to think."
Hmmm. Nice tap dance, Les, even if most of the world will forever think you are an idiot. You and I know better, don't we?
FEMA Had Prior Knowledge
For weeks there was speculation regarding the quick appearance on the New York scene by the large FEMA team. The suspicions were confirmed by the remarks made by Tom Kennedy, a member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) "National Urban Search and Rescue Team" during an interview on CBS-TV News anchor Dan Rather.
During the interview, Mr. Kennedy let slip a frightening truth. FEMA sent the Urban Search and Rescue Team to New York City the night before the attacks occurred! Mr. Kennedy tells Dan Rather, "We're currently one of the first teams that was deployed to support the City of New York in this disaster. We arrived on late Monday night and went right into action on Tuesday morning."
The so-called "Attack on America" occurred on Tuesday. If Kennedy was talking about the following Monday, then FEMA could not have been "one of the first teams" deployed. Therefore, we can only conclude that he was speaking of September 10th, the night before the attacks at the WTC. Who ordered the FEMA to New York the day before the attacks? The ghost of Jeanne Dixon?
Bush Without Cue Cards
When President Bush spoke from his own recall to a Florida audience on December 4th, he said that he witnessed on television the morning of September 11th something unseen by the rest of the world -- the first WTC crash. The reader will remember that the rest of us saw the second plane strike at 9:03 a.m., with the first tower already burning in the background and the film crews gathered.
At a Florida speaking engagement, the president opened the meeting to questions from the floor. One youngster named Jordan, aged nine, who was there with his mother, inadvertently opened a new can of worms for the administration.
QUESTION: ... how did you feel when you heard about the terrorist attack?
BUSH: Well... (APPLAUSE) Thank you, Jordan.
Well, Jordan, you're not going to believe what state I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in Florida.
And my chief of staff, Andy Card -- actually I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works.
And I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on, and I used to fly myself, and I said, "There's one terrible pilot." And I said, "It must have been a horrible accident."
But I was whisked off there -- I didn't have much time to think about it, and I was sitting in the classroom, and Andy Card, my chief who was sitting over here walked in and said, "A second plane has hit the tower."
It was an honest reply, spoken from the heart not by a tap dancing politician but by a man, a father, a fellow American from an older generation attempting to communicate with a youngster.
But the question looms: how did he see it? Might this have been a private transmission from a government (FEMA) camera previously focused on the target? We heard of no official explanation from the administration.
The New York Times confirmed that the 130 Israeli casualities claimed by President Bush were grossly inaccurate. Apparently, at last count, only one Israeli actually died in the World Trade Center, a figure so incredibly low that it offers strong circumstantial evidence that at least some Israelis may have been warned in advance. The Washington Post's news bytes, according to an Internet reporter, also confirmed that Israeli employees in the WTC got prior warnings through Odigo instant messages, two hours before the attacks. However, all official comment continues to be vague and evasive and mostly nonexistent.
Unusual Stock Trading
Reuters' Erik Kirschbaum reported in his December 16th story, "German Firm Probes Final World Trade Center Deals," that "German computer experts are working around the clock to unlock the truth behind an unexplained surge in financial transactions made just before the two planes crashed into the WTC on September 11th."
These are questions that have been whispered by stock brokers around the country since the first week of the tragedy. Were criminals responsible for the sharp rise in credit card transactions that moved through some computer systems at the WTC shortly before the planes hit the twin towers? Or was it coincidence that unusually large sums of money, perhaps more than $100 million, were rushed through the computers as the disaster unfolded?
A world leader in retrieving data, German-based firm Convar is trying to answer those questions and help credit card companies, accountants, and telecommunications firms in New York recover their records from computer hard drives that have been partially damaged by fire, water or fine dust.
Using a pioneering laser scanning technology to find data on damaged computer hard drives and main frames found in the rubble of the WTC and other nearby collapsed buildings, Convar has recovered information from 32 computers that support assumptions of "Black Tuesday" dirty dealings.
Short-selling involves selling borrowed shares of a stock the seller does not yet own, in the expectation he will be able to buy the stock later at a cheaper price than at which he sold it. Put Options are contracts that give the holder the right to sell an asset at a specified price by a certain date.
Between September 6 and 7, the Chicago Board Options Exchange saw purchases of 4,744 Put Options on United Airlines, but only 396 Call Options. Although there was no news at that time to justify so much "left-handed" trading, United Airlines stock fell 42 percent, from $30.82 per share to $17.50, when the market reopened after the attacks. Assuming that 4,000 of the options were bought by people with advance knowledge of the imminent attacks, these "insiders" would have profited by almost $5 million.
Sources tell us that a large amount of the United Airlines "Puts" were purchased through Alex. Brown, Inc., a firm managed until 1998 by the current Executive Director of the CIA, A. B. "Buzzy" Krongard. Upon the merger of Alex. Brown with Bankers Trust Corporation in September 1997, Mr. Krongard became Vice Chairman of the Board of Bankers Trust and served in such capacity until joining the CIA. He also served as Chairman of the Securities Industry Association in 1996 and was named the outstanding executive in the financial services industry in 1995 and 1996 by Financial World. (If you say, "So what?" you are not reading the white part of this page.)
On Monday, September 10th, 4,516 Put Options were purchased for American Airlines with only 748 Call Options. No other airlines showed similar trading patterns to those experienced by United and American, the two that were used in the attacks. These two were 600% above the normal day's trades. From 9/6 through 9/10/01, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, et al. also noticed highly abnormal levels of Put Options on these two airline stocks.
Hegelian Dialectic1
Previous and longtime experience of dealing with the real enemies of freedom has made many people suspicious of the goings-on during that dark week in September.
The Hegelian Dialectic process provides a simple recipe to manipulate a situation. It begins by creating a problem known as the "thesis" (terrorist attack). The next step is to provide a "solution", called the "antithesis" (heightened security, restricted freedoms and military action - the "war on terrorism," etc.). The party causing the problem appears to be different from the party providing the "solution", but behind the scenes they are one and the same. The "solution provider" achieves the intended result of enraging the citizens to wave the flag and support a war, while further restricting the personal freedoms of, in this case, Americans. This is known as the "synthesis".
In summary, the ploy is designed from the beginning to create a problem, provide a solution, and achieve the desired result with the full blessings of the mass population.
This one appears to have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
Archives of Pat's previous "Musings" columns can be found at his website: www.patshannan.com