ISIS: The US-CIA Connection

In July of 2015, U.S. President Barack Obama stated on camera:

“We’re speeding up training of ISIL forces, including volunteers from Sunni tribes in Anbar Province.”[1]

This was immediately dismissed as a “Freudian slip.” However, one need not emphasize such provocative remarks in order to discover a connection between the United States and ISIS. Concrete evidence of such a sub rosa link is contained in a declassified government document.

“The general situation: Internally, events are taking a clear sectarian direction. The Salafist [sic], the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI [i.e., al-Qaeda in Iraq] are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria. The West, Gulf countries, and Turkey support the opposition; while Russia, China, and Iran support the [Assad] regime.”[2]

One possibility is that “the U.S. and other NATO nations are arming and funding ISIS to topple Syrian president Bashir al-Assad, who stands in the way of a critical natural gas pipeline that would depose Russia as Europe’s primary source of energy.”[3]

For example, “[a] Syrian Catholic archbishop has accused the United States of joining forces with al-Qaeda in an attempt to topple President Bashar Al-Assad. Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo of Hassaké-Nisibi said he believed that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was arming and training rebel groups in Syria which were al-Qaeda under ‘a different name.’”[4]

The archbishop’s words followed the assertion, by U.S. Senator John McCain, that Russian military “strikes were against the individuals and the groups that have been funded and trained by our CIA…”[5]

“…‘US Senator John McCain …[recently said]that the Russians are not bombing the positions of ISIS, but rather the anti-Assad rebels trained by the CIA,’ Archbishop Hindo told Fides, a Vatican-based news agency. ‘I find these words are disturbing. …They represent a blatant admission that behind the war against Assad there is also the CIA. …Western propaganda keeps talking about moderate rebels, who do not exist. There is something very disturbing about all this – there is a superpower that since September 11 protests because the Russians hit the militias of al-Qaeda in Syria. …What does it mean, (that) al-Qaeda is now a US ally, just because in Syria it has a different name? But do they really despise our intelligence and our memory?”[6]

Previously, retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas G. McInerney stated:

“[In] Syria we backed, I believe in some cases, some of the wrong people, and …not in the right part of the Free Syrian Army. And that’s a little confusing to people. So I’ve always maintained, and go back quite some time, that we were backing the wrong types. I think it’s going to turn out maybe this weekend, in a new special that Bret Baier [of Fox News] is going to have Friday, it’s going to show that some of those weapons from Benghazi ended up in the hands of ISIS. So we helped build ISIS. Now there’s a danger there. And I’m with you.”[7]

Gen. McInerney’s statement agrees with a later one from retired four-star U.S. Army General Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr., who said:

“Look: ISIS got started through funding from our friends and allies. Because, as people will tell you in the region, if you want somebody who will fight to the death against Hezbollah, you don’t put out a recruiting poster and say, ‘Sign up for us’ or ‘We’re going to make a better world.’ You go after zealots and you go after these religious fundamentalists. That’s who fights Hezbollah. ...It’s like a Frankenstein.[8]

American journalist Steven C. Clemons made similar remarks on the news network MSNBC:

“[W]e see in cases like ISIS instantly, Saudi money, private nongovernment money has helped build ISIS particularly in the early stages.”[9]

Of course, one must bear in mind that the context for these remarks is the fact – already a matter of public record – that the U.S. intelligence community was responsible for the origination of Al-Qaida. Would you believe that Osama bin Laden was a Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) “creation”?

“Osama bin Laden, the man suspected by Washington to be the mastermind behind Tuesday’s [i.e., Tues., Sept. 11, 2001] devastating attacks on the US World Trade Center and the Pentagon, is arguably the creation of a CIA-led coalition that grew out of Afghanistan’s war with the Russians. …So if bin Laden is a monster, the logic goes, then he is a monster created by the US and its allies. …Asked how the current situation had arisen, [author and Afghan expert John] Cooley replied:

“‘The [former U.S. president Jimmy] Carter administration in 1979 decided …to recruit, arm and train, and pay, and deploy an army of mercenary volunteers. They were Muslims from all parts of the world, including black American Muslims. …And the CIA managed the recruiting process. Recruits were sent to Afghanistan, trained under some CIA officers or Pakistani military intelligence officers who were trained by the CIA in the US. There were many former CIA officers in charge of the programme.’”[10]

Additionally, an Agence France-Presse dispatch disclosed that bin Laden had met with a C.I.A. liaison prior to September 11.

“A report today says that Osama bin Laden underwent treatment in July at the American Hospital in Dubai, where he met with a CIA agent. Citing an unnamed source at the hospital, the report says the suspected terrorist arrived in Dubai on July 4 by air from Quetta, Pakistan, and was taken immediately to the hospital for kidney treatment, staying until July 14. During his stay he allegedly met an unidentified CIA agent, who was recalled to Washington on July 15, the report said. It said Mr. bin Laden was accompanied by a doctor, bodyguards and a nurse.”[11]

By 2006, during the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, it was publicly declared that finding bin Laden was no longer even an objective.

“The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday. The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.”[12]

Curiously, bin Laden’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) “Most Wanted Poster,” updated in November of 2001, never reflected the fact that he was supposedly the mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.[13]

Adding to the intrigue is the fact that media reports initially represented bin Laden disclaiming involvement in the attacks of Sept. 11. According to Cable News Network (CNN):

“Islamic militant leader Osama bin Laden, the man the United States considers the prime suspect in last week’s terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, denied any role Sunday in the actions believed to have killed thousands.”[14]

Bin Laden reportedly said:

“The U.S. government has consistently blamed me for being behind every occasion its enemies attack it. I would like to assure the world that I did not plan the recent attacks, which seems to have been planned by people for personal reasons. I have been living in the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan and following its leaders’ rules. The current leader does not allow me to exercise such operations.”[15]

According to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Timothy Weiner, even in the early 1990s, there was “a 36-billion-dollar cache used by the Pentagon to fund its own agenda of top-secret weapons and wars.”[16]

No wonder C.I.A. counterintelligence insider James Jesus Angleton called the world of espionage the “wilderness of mirrors.”[17]

It is in light of this background information that reports about ISIS must be evaluated.[18]

###

For related information, see also ISIS Unveiled in Paris?.

Notes:

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[1] Barack Obama, press statement, Jul. 6, 2015; reproduced at “Freudian Slip? Obama Vows to Speed up ‘Training ISIL’, WH Edit Adds Confusion (Video),” Jul. 8, 2015, updated Jul. 9, 2015, <http://www.rt.com/usa/272470-obama-training-isis-slip/>. See the White House’s edited transcript ““Remarks by the President on Progress in the Fight Against ISIL,” White House, Office of the Press Secretary, Jul. 6, 2015, <https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/07/06/remarks-president-progress-fight-against-isil>.

[2] United States, gov. doc., cached at Judicial Watch, <http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Pg.-291-Pgs.-287-293-JW-v-DOD-and-State-14-812-DOD-Release-2015-04-10-final-version11.pdf>.

[3] Kit Daniels, “Hackers Point out U.S. Arming, Funding ISIS: Hackers Deface U.S. Army Website to Underscore How the U.S. is Supporting ISIS to Topple Assad,” Infowars, Jun. 8, 2015, <http://www.infowars.com/hackers-point-out-u-s-arming-funding-isis/>.

[4] Simon Caldwell, “Syrian Archbishop Criticises U.S. for ‘Siding With al-Qaeda’,” Catholic Herald [U.K.], Oct. 6, 2015, <http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/10/06/syrian-archbishop-criticises-us-for-siding-with-al-qaeda/>.

[5] <http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/01/politics/john-mccain-cia-russia-airstrikes/>.

[6] Caldwell, loc. cit.

[7] Gen. Thomas McInerney, appearing on Fox News; as of this writing, the interview segment was posted online as “Retired Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney Admits ‘We Helped Build ISIS’,” YouTube, Sept. 3, 2014, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_zf7GPQqxU>. Cf. Paul Joseph Watson, “Gen. McInerney: ‘We Helped Build ISIS’: Weapons From Benghazi Ended up in the Hands of Islamic State Radicals,” Infowars, Sept. 3, 2014, <http://www.infowars.com/gen-mcinerney-we-helped-build-isis/>.

[8] Gen. Wesley Clark, Brooke Baldwin, “Interview With Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark; President Obama Requests Authority for War On ISIS,” CNN Newsroom, CNN, Feb. 11, 2015, accessed via LexisNexis. Cf. Pete Papaherakles, “U.S. General: West Created ISIS,” American Free Press, Mar. 19, 2015, <http://americanfreepress.net/?p=23265>. As of this writing, the segment is posted online by Brandon Martinez, “Wesley Clark: ‘Our Friends and Allies Funded ISIS to Destroy Hezbollah’,” YouTube, Feb. 17, 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHLqaSZPe98>.

[9] Steven Clemons, interviewed by Edward A. “Ed” Schultz, “The Ed Show,” Politics Nation, MSNBC, Feb. 5, 2015, accessed via LexisNexis. The Saudi angle was also explored by Lyndon Larouche’s periodical. See Ramtanu Maitra, “Under London’s Wing: ISIS: Saudi-Qatari-Funded Wahhabi Terrorists Worldwide,” Executive Intelligence Review, Aug. 29, 2014, <http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2014/4134wahhabi_terrs.html>.

[10] Thierry Masure, “Bin Laden: Product of the Afghanistan War and a U.S. Alliance in the East,” Agence France-Presse [English], Sept. 15, 2001; cached online at <http://www.prisonplanet.com/bin_laden_said_arguably_the_creation_of_a_cia_led_coalition.htm>.

[11] “Bin Laden Was Treated in Hospital, Reports Say,” Agence France-Presse via Globe and Mail [Canada], Oct. 31, 2001, Wednesday, p. A12.

[12] Mark Mazzetti, “C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden,” New York Times, Jul. 4, 2006, p. A4, <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/washington/04intel.html>. For an argument that the real Osama bin Laden in fact died sometime in Dec. 2001, see David Ray Griffin, Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive? Northampton, Mass.: Olive Branch Press, 2009.

Of course, according to the “official” story, the details of which, like so many other fairy tales, are prone to variation, Marvel Comics’s …er, I mean, the Navy’s Seal Team Six assassinated bin Laden and then the remains were taken aboard the U.S.S. Carl Vinson and “slid off [the vessel] into the sea… because no country would accept bin Laden’s remains…”. According to Jim Garamone, “Bin Laden Buried at Sea,” American Forces Press Service, May 2, 2011, <http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=60124>.]

However, according to the hacker group Anonymous, a leaked intelligence email reveals that “Bin Laden WAS NOT buried at sea, but flown to the U.S. for cremation at secret location…”. According to Thomas Durante, Daily Mail [U.K.], Mar. 7, 2012, <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111001/Osama-bin-Laden-WAS-NOT- buried-sea-flown-US-cremation-leaked-emails-reveal.html>.

[13] See “Usama bin Laden,” F.B.I., Jun., 1999, updated Nov., 2001, <https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/usama-bin-laden>.

[14] “Bin Laden Says He Wasn’t Behind Attacks,” CNN, Sept. 17, 2001, <http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/inv.binladen.denial/index.html>.

[15] Osama bin Laden, statement, Al Jazeera [Qatar]; quoted in ibid.

[16] Tim Weiner, Blank Check: The Pentagon’s Black Budget, New York: Warner Books, 1991, back matter; archived online at <https://books.google.com/books/about/Blank_Check.html?id=S7CRPwAACAAJ>.

[17] See David C. Martin, Wilderness of Mirrors, reprint ed., Guilford, Conn.: Lyons Press, 2003 [orig. New York: Harper & Row, 1980], p. 10.

[18] At the outer-limits of plausibility, it has even been suggested that ISIS is being led by an Israeli intelligence “mole.” "The leader of the radical Islamic State (IS), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been reputed to be a Mossad-trained operative whose real name is Elliot Shimon, the son of Jewish parents. This information is said to have originated from 1.7 million pages of top-secret documents recently released by National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden and made public by Iranian intelligence. Arabic Internet radio website 'Ajyal.com' and the Arabic news website 'Egy-press' were also early sources before the news went viral. Although it cannot be conclusively verified at this point, evidence points in that direction." Pete Papaherakles, “Is ‘IS’ a CIA-Mossad Creation?” American Free Press, Aug. 28, 2014, <http://americanfreepress.net/?p=19176>.

Admittedly, this might be disinformation (or “noise”). The U.S. people seem to be a primary target of propaganda. See “U.S. Military Stoking Xenophobia in Iraq,” UPI, Apr. 10, 2006 and Carla Anne Robbins, “Spin Control: U.S. Has Early Priority: Managing Its Message,” Wall Street Journal, Oct 4, 2001, p. A.1. For more information, see James Bamford’s books The Puzzle Palace: A Report on America’s Most Secret Agency, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [U.K.], 1982; New York: Penguin, 1983 and The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA From 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America, New York: Doubleday, 2008.

g00gle

"[C]omplete privacy does not exist."

~ Google's lawyers
(in Boring v. Google, Inc., 598 F.Supp.2d 695 [W.D. Pa. 2009].)


 

(Source)

Recently, the technology giant, Google, successfully defended itself in court against an "invasion of privacy." Google's lawyers accomplished this by arguing, in part, that "...complete privacy does not exist." Hence, whatever Google's public relations representatives might tell the people in order to save their lucrative brand name from disrepute, Google's legal position is that "privacy" is obsolete. On pain of contradiction, it is difficult to conjoin a denial of the existence of "privacy" with any sort of "protection" of it.

(As reported by Hasani Gittens, "Google: Forget Privacy - 'Spying' Suit Defense," New York Post, July 31, 2008, p. 19, <http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/item_4pw7XzwDeiNYpCzP2u4CaN>. Cf. Judi Hasson, "Google wins privacy lawsuit," FierceCIO, February 18, 2009; Steven Musil, "Google wins Street View privacy suit," CNET, February 18, 2009;
Eric Zeman, "Google Says Privacy Doesn't Exist, Get Used To Everyone Knowing Everything About You," July 31, 2008, 
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/07/google_says_pri.html; et alia.)

Google's statement on privacy isn't merely so much rhetoric or a detached and abstract legal strategy. The behemoth corporation is practicing what it preaches, joining with the likes of Facebook and Microsoft to become the National Security Agency's (NSA) partner in a massive project of spying on Americans. This much is now well-known. See here, here, and here.

Once upon a time, though: "Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg hacked the Harvard databases of student IDs to create Facemash, the predecessor to his current multibillion-dollar site. As a teenager, Apple founder Steve Jobs sold boxes built by his friend Steve Wozniak to fool the phone company and make free long-distance calls. Microsoft's Bill Gates hacked the accounts of an early computer company to avoid having to pay to use it."

(Michael Scherer, "The Geeks Who Leak," Time, June 24, 2013, pp. 26-27.)

Elsewhere, a Time journalist opines: "The truth is that those with the most power over who can speak and who can be heard in the internet age aren't judges or prosecutors or even the President. They're officials at Internet and telecom companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Verizon, and AT&T."

(Jeffrey Rosen, "The Deciders," Time, June 24, 2013, p. 28.)

In fact, Google may be quite ambitious in terms of its aspirations to become an intelligence hub. "OSS.Net CEO Robert David Steele Vivas envisages Google displacing the CIA as the national information processing and sharing model of choice."

(John C. K. Daly, "UPI Intelligence Watch," UPI, November 21, 2005.)

Google retains (at least for eighteen months) information on searches made via its famous engine. Unsurprisingly, the CIA has been found using persistent "cookies" to track online behavior.

(Amber Brinker, "Google. Saves. Every. Word.: Even a low profile won't guarantee anonymity on the Web," Vox, June 28, 2007, http://www.voxmagazine.com/stories/2007/06/28/google-saves-every-word/. Lloyd de Vries, "CIA Caught Sneaking Cookies, CBS, February 11, 2009, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/20/tech/main504131.shtml.)

The public is sometimes less than enthusiastic about these measures.

"European privacy regulators and advocates reacted angrily Saturday to the disclosure by Google, the world’s largest search engine, that it had systematically collected personal data since 2006 while compiling its Street View photo archive.

"After being pressed by European officials about the kind of data the company compiled in creating the archive — and what it did with that information — Google acknowledged on Friday that it had collected personal data on people around the world. In a blog post on its website, the company said information had been recorded as it was sent over unencrypted residential wireless networks as Google’s Street View cars with mounted recording equipment passed by.

"The data collection, which Google said was inadvertent and the result of a programming error, took place in all the countries where Street View has been catalogued, including the United States and parts of Europe. Google apologized and said it had not used the information, which it plans to delete in conjunction with regulators. But in Germany, Google’s collection of the data — which the company said could include the websites viewed by individuals or the content of their e-mail — is a violation of privacy law, said Ilse Aigner, the German minister for food, agriculture and consumer protection.

"In a statement Saturday, her ministry demanded a full accounting. 'Based on the information we have before us, it appears that Google has illegally tapped into private networks in violation of German law,' Aigner said. 'This is alarming and further evidence that privacy law is a foreign concept to Google.'  ...But in its review, Oberbeck said the company learned that its data collection performed by roving Street View vehicles was much more extensive, including a record of sites viewed by the user and potentially the contents of messages if users did not secure their WLANS with a password.  ..."

(Kevin J. O'Brien, "Google's data collection angers Europeans," New York Times via St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 16, 2010, http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/BDE3CA727A0244BB86257724007DEB3D)

Yet, Google's data mining efforts are not necessarily undertaken solely on its own initiative. There is growing evidence that, as the title of one San Francisco Chronicle article put it, "Google has lots to do with intelligence".

"When the nation's intelligence agencies wanted a computer network to better share information about everything from al Qaeda to North Korea, they turned to a big name in the technology industry to supply some of the equipment: Google Inc.

"The Mountain View company sold the agencies servers for searching documents, marking a small victory for the company and its little-known effort to do business with the government. ...

"Federal, state and local agencies, along with corporations and schools, are increasingly seen by the company as lucrative sources of extra revenue. ...Spy agencies are using Google equipment as the backbone of Intellipedia, a network aimed at helping agents share intelligence. Rather than hoarding information, spies and analysts are being encouraged to post what they learn on a secure online forum where colleagues can read it and add comments. ..."

(Verne Kopytoff, San Francisco Chronicle, March 30, 2008, p. C1, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/29/BUQLUAP8L.DTL.)

"If there is a company out there doing intelligence research, it's likely that In-Q-Tel, the CIA's personal investor, either looked them up or made a check out to them.  It's all to ensure that the Agency remains on the forefront of tech. Not long ago, In-Q-Tel invested heavily in a company called Keyhole. Never heard of them? Maybe you know their work, a little project eventually known as Google Maps. ..."

("25 Cutting Edge Firms Funded By The CIA," Business Insider, August 11, 2012. Other of the firms listed include the following: 3VR, Adaptx, Basis Technology, Biomatrica, DSSP, FireEye, Gainspan, GATR, Ember, Infinite Power Solutions, Infinite Z, Looxcie, MiserWare, MotionDSP, Oculis Labs, OpenSpan, Palantir, Perceptive Pixel, Recorded Future, Seventh Sense, Sonitus Medical, Spotter RF, Visible Technologies, and Walleye. Cf. Michael Liedtke, "Google Buys Digital Mapping Company," Associated Press, October 28, 2004 and Michael Liedtke, "Google incorporates satellite maps into search engine," Associated Press, April 4, 2005..)

"...Google Maps sprang out of Google's acquisition last October of the Keyhole company that owns a huge library of satellite imagery and has also developed 3-D picture display services (EarthViewer). Several American government departments, and particularly the Pentagon, are customers of Keyhole. ...the National Geospatiale-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is using technology developed by Keyhole in Iraq."

("Google and CIA Connection," Intelligence Online, April 15, 2005, n. 498.)

"...In-Q-Tel is the venture-capital arm of the CIA. ...In-Q-Tel, set up in 1999, invests about $ 35 million a year in young companies creating technology that might improve the ability of the United States to spy on its nemeses. ...it has been so successful that the CIA wants to extend In-Q-Tel's charter. ... The Defense Department even wants to duplicate the In-Q-Tel model for the military. ...

"...In-Q-Tel isn't run by a CIA operative. ...Gilman Louie... runs In-Q-Tel. ... Louie previously founded a couple of video game companies.  ...The board of directors is a mix of famous maverick capitalists and political operatives, including James Barksdale, the one-time CEO of Netscape Communications; Norm Augustine, former CEO of Lockheed Martin; and William Perry, who was secretary of Defense under President Clinton. ...

"In-Q-Tel exists because the CIA knew it was losing its edge in information technology. In December 1998, CIA Director George Tenet and his executive director, Buzzy Krongard, called on Augustine, the respected builder of Lockheed Martin. As Augustine recalls, Tenet explained that the CIA and government labs had always been on the leading edge of tech.

"But the Internet boom poured so much money into tech start-ups, the start-ups leapt ahead of the CIA. And scientists and technologists who had innovative ideas went off to be entrepreneurs and get rich -- they didn't want government salaries at the CIA. ...Why do that instead of just buying the latest technology?

"[T]he VC [venture capitalist] route lets the CIA use the whole technology industry as a lab. ...To lead this new entity, the CIA found Louie. He had built the popular flight simulation game Falcon F-16, and in the 1980s imported the wildly successful game Tetris from, of all places, the Soviet Union, then a Cold War enemy.

"At the time, Louie was head of Hasbro's video game group. Tenet appealed to his patriotism. ...In-Q-Tel is not inside the CIA -- it's more like an appendage. ...

"'We are extremely pleased and satisfied,' Krongard says. ' can't get into specifics, but In-Q-Tel has made significant contributions.' Louie offers this rundown: In-Q-Tel has invested $ 150 million, and the result is 22 new technologies inserted into 40 government programs. That's as detailed as he'll get. ...

(Kevin Maney, "CIA invests in start-ups. The dividend? Technology," USA Today, March 3, 2004, p. 1A. Other start-ups explicitly named in the article include: an image search engine called PiXlogic; a "nano-tech" company named Nanosys; a translation utility, Language Weaver; the advanced information "structuring" program, Stratify; information routing software termed Tacit; and the aforementioned Keyhole, forerunner to Google's mapping function.)

Gilman Louie's video game background is presented as entirely innocuous. There is some reason to doubt this, however. For example, in 1994, it was reported that the video game company, "Activision, ...was teaming up with William Colby, the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency, to develop and publish espionage thriller video games". Given the CIA's history of experimentation with "mind-control" technologies of various sorts, one might justifiably wonder whether Colby's function vis-à-vis Activision was to be limited merely to being something like a color commentator.

("Activision Spy Games," New York Times, January 06, 1994, <http://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/06/business/activision-spy-games.html>.)

Additionally, Mr. Krongard has been in news before. One of the firms used to buy pre-9/11 "Put" stock options was once headed by man who would later become executive director of CIA. Care to guess who?

"Share speculators have failed to collect $ 2.5m (pounds 1.7m) in profits made from the fall in the share price of United Airlines after the 11 September World Trade Centre attacks. The fact that the money is unclaimed more than a month later has re- awakened investigators' interest in a story dismissed as coincidence. …

"The authorities are examining the possibility that if they knew what was coming, traders were intent on taking their profits immediately, before regulators had woken up to any possible scam. ...

"To the embarrassment of investigators, it has also emerged that the firm used to buy many of the 'put' options - where a trader, in effect, bets on a share price fall - on United Airlines stock was headed until 1998 by 'Buzzy' Krongard, now executive director of the CIA. Until 1997, Mr Krongard was chairman of Alex Brown Inc, America's oldest investment banking firm. Alex Brown was acquired by Bankers Trust, which in turn was bought by Deutsche Bank. His last post before resigning to take his senior role in the CIA was to head Bankers Trust - Alex Brown's private client business, dealing with the accounts and investments of wealthy customers around the world. …"

(Chris Blackhurst, “Attack on Afghanistan: Mystery of Terror 'Insider Dealers'," Independent [U.K.], October 14, 2001, p. 8.)

According to an ex-CIA agent, early in its corporate development, the Central Intelligence Agency actually bankrolled Google itself.

"...Robert David Steele, a 20-year Marine Corps infantry and intelligence officer and a former clandestine services case officer with the Central Intelligence Agency...[said:] http://oss.net/ 'I think Google took money from the CIA when it was poor and it was starting up and unfortunately our system right now floods money into spying and other illegal and largely unethical activities...' citing "trusted individuals" as his sources for the claim.

"'Let me say very explicitly - their contact at the CIA is named Dr. Rick Steinheiser, he's in the Office of Research and Development,' said Steele. ...

(Paul Joseph Watson, "Ex-Agent: CIA Seed Money Helped Launch Google: Steele goes further than before in detailing ties, names Google's CIA liaison," Prison Planet, December 6, 2006, http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2006/061206seedmoney.htm. Cf. Marcus Yam, "Former Agent Says Google and CIA in Partnership," Daily Tech [weblog], October 31, 2006, http://www.dailytech.com/Former+Agent+Says+Google+and+CIA+in+Partnership/article4774.htm
and http://www.infowars.net/articles/march2008/310308Google.htm.)

What is known, however, is that the CIA and Google have a number of shared projects. In another development: "The investment arms of the CIA and Google are both backing a company that monitors the web in real time — and says it uses that information to predict the future. The company is called Recorded Future, and it scours tens of thousands of websites, blogs and Twitter accounts to find the relationships between people, organizations, actions and incidents — both present and still-to-come. In a white paper, the company says its temporal analytics engine 'goes beyond search' by 'looking at the *invisible links* between documents that talk about the same, or related, entities and events.'"

(Noah Shachtman, "Exclusive: Google, CIA Invest in ‘Future’ of Web Monitoring," Wired, July 28, 2010, http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/exclusive-google-cia/.)

Besides these little financing (ad)ventures, Google is also getting involved with behavior profiling and analysis.

"Internet giant Google has drawn up plans to compile psychological profiles of millions of web users by covertly monitoring the way they play online games. The company thinks it can glean information about an individual's preferences and personality type by tracking their online behaviour, which could then be sold to advertisers. Details such as whether a person is more likely to be aggressive, hostile or dishonest could be obtained and stored for future use, it says. ...

"It says people playing online role playing games such as Second Life and World of Warcraft would be particularly good to target, because they interact with other players and make decisions that probably reflect their behaviour in real life. ...Google could also monitor people playing on any game console that hooks up to the internet, including the Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Wii and Microsoft's Xbox. ...[I]nformation could be retrieved from previous game details saved on memory cards..."

(David Adam and Bobbie Johnson, "Google may use games to analyse net users, Guardian [U.K.], May 12, 2007, http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2078061,00.html.)

''We are moving to a Google that knows more about you."

~Eric Schmidt, Google chief executive

(Quoted by Saul Hansell, "Google's Chef Speaks, but Not Its Finance Officer," New York Times, February 10, 2005, p. C8; cf. Saul Hansell, International Herald Tribune, February 11, 2005, p. 20.)

For more information, see HERE.
###

"By Way of Deception"?

In passing, someone remarked to me that “...the motto of the Israeli Mossad...is 'By way of deception'”, and the (seemingly run-of-the-mill and innocent) act of Googling this set me off on a bit of a wild adventure.

Specifically, I undertook a mini-investigation (just enough to satisfy myself) regarding the credibility of the boisterous denials of the (mere possibility of the veracity of the) “By way of deception...” translation. For example, on “YAHOO! Answers” one can read the following question and the (pretty typical) replies.

Question:

internet tuff girl

Resolved Question

Is the mossad motto really "By way of deception, thou shalt do war"?

Or is this more "anti-zionist" lies? When are they going to use truth? Is it too late?

Shay p

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

be-tachbūlōt ta`aseh lekhā milchāmāh
Hebrew בתחבולות תעשה לך מלחמה

What you are referring to is the old motto, still it does not translate to what you wrote, it translate to: "For by wise counsel thou shalt wage thy war".

The new motto, is from the Old Testament
be-'éyn tachbūlōt yippol `ām; ū-teshū`āh be-rov yō'éts (Hebrew:
באין תחבולות יפול עם, ותשועה ברוב יועץ‎
Translation
"Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety." (Proverbs XI, 14).

Hope this helps.

43% 3 Votes

Other Answers (5)

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Jarmen Kell (GLA)

Nope. This is another myth that anti-semites use the internet to disseminate.

Most of what they say is similar. Like Protocols of Zion.

Real motto is "Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety."


Source(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protoco…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossad

jd

You can't handle the truth. Or know it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j61ktUeDD…

The Doctor

no its Be'ein Tachbulot Yipol Am, Uteshua Berov Yoetz (Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety; Proverbs 11:14)
and yes its more anti zionist lies

Arieh

"For by wise counsel thou shalt wage thy war" is the "motto" of Mossad.

Eric M

Do you even know who Mossad is?

It's quite unclear what you're babbling about.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090107141809AADM7xi

Here's a screen capture of (the most relevant portion of) the page:

The above “answers” are heavily infused with rhetoric. But, I don't know Hebrew. So I decided to run a simple test. I would just take the top Google hits for a few quick searches, following a simple, two-step procedure. First, I would find the Hebrew for Proverbs 11:14. Second, I would paste said Hebrew into Google's translate engine.

And so...if one types “Proverbs 11 Hebrew” into Google's search field, one gets the following result: mechon-mamre dot org.

If one subsequently clicks on the link and goes to the online interlinear Hebrew-English version of Proverbs at “the Mamre Institute”, one gets the following text:

Proverbs Chapter 11 מִשְׁלֵי

א  מֹאזְנֵי מִרְמָה, תּוֹעֲבַת יְהוָה;    וְאֶבֶן שְׁלֵמָה רְצוֹנוֹ.	1 A false balance is an abomination to the LORD; but a perfect weight is His delight.
ב  בָּא-זָדוֹן, וַיָּבֹא קָלוֹן;    וְאֶת-צְנוּעִים חָכְמָה.	2 When pride cometh, then cometh shame; but with the lowly is wisdom.
ג  תֻּמַּת יְשָׁרִים תַּנְחֵם;    וְסֶלֶף בֹּגְדִים ושדם (יְשָׁדֵּם).	3 The integrity of the upright shall guide them; but the perverseness of the faithless shall destroy them.
ד  לֹא-יוֹעִיל הוֹן, בְּיוֹם עֶבְרָה;    וּצְדָקָה, תַּצִּיל מִמָּוֶת.	4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath; but righteousness delivereth from death.
ה  צִדְקַת תָּמִים, תְּיַשֵּׁר דַּרְכּוֹ;    וּבְרִשְׁעָתוֹ, יִפֹּל רָשָׁע.	5 The righteousness of the sincere shall make straight his way; but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
ו  צִדְקַת יְשָׁרִים, תַּצִּילֵם;    וּבְהַוַּת, בֹּגְדִים יִלָּכֵדוּ.	6 The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them; but the faithless shall be trapped in their own crafty device.
ז  בְּמוֹת אָדָם רָשָׁע, תֹּאבַד תִּקְוָה;    וְתוֹחֶלֶת אוֹנִים אָבָדָה.	7 When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish, and the hope of strength perisheth.
ח  צַדִּיק, מִצָּרָה נֶחֱלָץ;    וַיָּבֹא רָשָׁע תַּחְתָּיו.	8 The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.
ט  בְּפֶה--חָנֵף, יַשְׁחִת רֵעֵהוּ;    וּבְדַעַת, צַדִּיקִים יֵחָלֵצוּ.	9 With his mouth the impious man destroyeth his neighbour; but through knowledge shall the righteous be delivered.
י  בְּטוּב צַדִּיקִים, תַּעֲלֹץ קִרְיָה;    וּבַאֲבֹד רְשָׁעִים רִנָּה.	10 When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth; and when the wicked perish, there is joy.
יא  בְּבִרְכַּת יְשָׁרִים, תָּרוּם קָרֶת;    וּבְפִי רְשָׁעִים, תֵּהָרֵס.	11 By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted; but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.
יב  בָּז-לְרֵעֵהוּ חֲסַר-לֵב;    וְאִישׁ תְּבוּנוֹת יַחֲרִישׁ.	12 He that despiseth his neighbour lacketh understanding; but a man of discernment holdeth his peace.
יג  הוֹלֵךְ רָכִיל, מְגַלֶּה-סּוֹד;    וְנֶאֱמַן-רוּחַ, מְכַסֶּה דָבָר.	13 He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets; but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth a matter.
יד  בְּאֵין תַּחְבֻּלוֹת, יִפָּל-עָם;    וּתְשׁוּעָה, בְּרֹב יוֹעֵץ.	14 Where no wise direction is, a people falleth; but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.
טו  רַע-יֵרוֹעַ, כִּי-עָרַב זָר;    וְשֹׂנֵא תֹקְעִים בּוֹטֵחַ.	15 He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it; but he that hateth them that strike hands is secure.
טז  אֵשֶׁת-חֵן, תִּתְמֹךְ כָּבוֹד;    וְעָרִיצִים, יִתְמְכוּ-עֹשֶׁר.	16 A gracious woman obtaineth honour; and strong men obtain riches.
יז  גֹּמֵל נַפְשׁוֹ, אִישׁ חָסֶד;    וְעֹכֵר שְׁאֵרוֹ, אַכְזָרִי.	17 The merciful man doeth good to his own soul; but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.
יח  רָשָׁע--עֹשֶׂה פְעֻלַּת-שָׁקֶר;    וְזֹרֵעַ צְדָקָה, שֶׂכֶר אֱמֶת.	18 The wicked earneth deceitful wages; but he that soweth righteousness hath a sure reward.
יט  כֵּן-צְדָקָה לְחַיִּים;    וּמְרַדֵּף רָעָה לְמוֹתוֹ.	19 Stedfast righteousness tendeth to life; but he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.
כ  תּוֹעֲבַת יְהוָה, עִקְּשֵׁי-לֵב;    וּרְצוֹנוֹ, תְּמִימֵי דָרֶךְ.	20 They that are perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD; but such as are upright in their way are His delight.
כא  יָד לְיָד, לֹא-יִנָּקֶה רָּע;    וְזֶרַע צַדִּיקִים נִמְלָט.	21 My hand upon it! the evil man shall not be unpunished; but the seed of the righteous shall escape.
כב  נֶזֶם זָהָב, בְּאַף חֲזִיר--    אִשָּׁה יָפָה, וְסָרַת טָעַם.	22 As a ring of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman that turneth aside from discretion.
כג  תַּאֲוַת צַדִּיקִים אַךְ-טוֹב;    תִּקְוַת רְשָׁעִים עֶבְרָה.	23 The desire of the righteous is only good; but the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
כד  יֵשׁ מְפַזֵּר, וְנוֹסָף עוֹד;    וְחֹשֵׂךְ מִיֹּשֶׁר, אַךְ-לְמַחְסוֹר.	24 There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth only to want.
כה  נֶפֶשׁ-בְּרָכָה תְדֻשָּׁן;    וּמַרְוֶה, גַּם-הוּא יוֹרֶא.	25 The beneficent soul shall be made rich, and he that satisfieth abundantly shall be satisfied also himself.
כו  מֹנֵעַ בָּר, יִקְּבֻהוּ לְאוֹם;    וּבְרָכָה, לְרֹאשׁ מַשְׁבִּיר.	26 He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him; but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.
כז  שֹׁחֵר טוֹב, יְבַקֵּשׁ רָצוֹן;    וְדֹרֵשׁ רָעָה תְבוֹאֶנּוּ.	27 He that diligently seeketh good seeketh favour; but he that searcheth for evil, it shall come unto him.
כח  בּוֹטֵחַ בְּעָשְׁרוֹ, הוּא יִפּוֹל;    וְכֶעָלֶה, צַדִּיקִים יִפְרָחוּ.	28 He that trusteth in his riches shall fall; but the righteous shall flourish as foliage.
כט  עֹכֵר בֵּיתוֹ, יִנְחַל-רוּחַ;    וְעֶבֶד אֱוִיל, לַחֲכַם-לֵב.	29 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind; and the foolish shall be servant to the wise of heart.
ל  פְּרִי-צַדִּיק, עֵץ חַיִּים;    וְלֹקֵחַ נְפָשׁוֹת חָכָם.	30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that is wise winneth souls.
לא  הֵן צַדִּיק, בָּאָרֶץ יְשֻׁלָּם;    אַף, כִּי-רָשָׁע וְחוֹטֵא.	31 Behold, the righteous shall be requited in the earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner!

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt2811.htm

Zooming out to fit a bit more into the viewable screen, I got this:

If one then pastes into Google translate the Hebrew text across from verse 14 - “יד  בְּאֵין תַּחְבֻּלוֹת, יִפָּל-עָם;    וּתְשׁוּעָה, בְּרֹב יוֹעֵץ. ” - one gets the following:

“Without sabotaging your hand, fell - with, and salvation, Barb consultant. ”

; or, pasting: “בְּאֵין תַּחְבֻּלוֹת, יִפָּל-עָם;    וּתְשׁוּעָה, בְּרֹב יוֹעֵץ ”

one gets:

“Without finagle, fell - with, and salvation, multi Advisor”

Of course, “sabotaging” seems fairly well-known and obviously negatively tinged (connotatively), but for those unaware, “finagle” means:

“fi·na·gle

verb /fəˈnāgəl/ finagled, past participle; finagled, past tense; finagles, 3rd person singular present; finagling, present participle Obtain (something) by devious or dishonest means - Ted attended all the football games he could finagle tickets for Act in a devious or dishonest manner - they wrangled and finagled over the fine points

”

https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Afinagle&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=1tE&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=finagle&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=6gZdUJa2F-jaywH78oGoBg&ved=0CB8QkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=3e1960d58e8957d2&biw=1024&bih=606

The Hebrew word (תַּחְבֻּלוֹת ) translated “finagle” or “sabotage” (or “contrive”) is “tachbulah”/“tachbūlōt” (or a cognate). Searching Google on “תַּחְבֻּלוֹת,”, yields (amongst other hits):

“Lexicon Results

Strong's H8458 - tachbulah

תַּחְבֻּלוֹת

Transliteration tachbulah	Pronunciation takh·vü·lä' (Key)
Part of Speech feminine noun	Root Word (Etymology) From חָבַל (H2254) as denominative from חֵבֶל (H2256)
TWOT Reference 596a

Outline of Biblical Usage

1) direction, counsel, guidance, good advice, (wise) counsel

a) direction, guidance

b) counsel

1) good or wise counsel

2) of the wicked

”

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H8458&t=KJV&cscs=Job

Notice the variation. There is a semantic range that seems to allow the word to mean “prudent counsel” - what “Gesenius's Lexicon” calls good counsel – or it can mean “cunning counsel” - what is called bad counsel. Hence, it seems, “finagle” or “sabotage” fit in with what is termed “bad counsel.”

Back to the original question, then:

“Is the mossad motto really 'By way of deception, thou shalt do war'?”

To some extent, we can ignore the “best answerer's” old motto-new motto distinction because the word “tachbulah” shows up in both. But if we simply ask whether a reasonable person could translate “tachbulah” - for example, as it occurs in Proverbs 11:14 – as “cunning counsel”, also known as, “deception”, “contrivance”, “finagling”, etc., the answer seems to be a resounding: Yes! In fact, it's Google's first choice.

I hasten to add that I am not saying subtle translation issues can be settled with Google searches. Rumor has it that “CIA Seed Money Helped Launch Google” in the first place! Source: http://www.infowars.com/articles/bb/google_cia_seed_money_launched_google.htm (cf.: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/exclusive-google-cia/)

Of course, with the seemingly cozy relationship that CIA has with Mossad, one might wonder where this leaves us with respect to the matter at hand. But, spook-i-ness aside, I am simply suggesting that, in virtue of the fact that something close to the “deception”-translation (namely, Google's “finagle”/“sabotage” translation) is obviously available as a surface reading, it is disingenuous (at best) and propagandistic (at worst) to accuse of “anti-Semitism” or “anti-Zionism” those who adopt the “deception”-reading. After all, an uneasily duplicable search (conducted by a person of good will) shows that the decision is not a one between an obviously correct reading and an obviously incorrect reading. Rather, the choice is a one between a positively-connoted sort of “counsel” and negatively-connoted sort of “counsel”. This is a close call. One might say that it has a delicious ambiguity. In such case, only surrounding context – and neither a priori penchants for philo-Semitism/anti-Semitism nor philo-Zionism/ anti-Zionism – can determine the best reading in any situation. It may well bell that the occurrence in Proverbs 11:14 is best construed as positive. As for the Mossad Motto, those with some background knowledge of the likes of Yitzhak Shamir and his ilk (and Shamir's involvement with the terrorist group (euphemistically designated by Wikipedia, et. al. as a the “more militant faction” of a “Zionist paramilitary group”) known as the “Stern Gang”), might come to a different conclusion than those who are blissfully or willfully ignorant.

Update:

Subsequent to my initial Google-experience, I have discovered that the “by way of deception” information comes via former Israeli Mossad case officer, Victor Ostrovsky. Ostrovsky wrote a book entitled, By Way of Deception – and variously subtitled “The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer”, “A Devastating Insiders-Portrait of the Mossad”, and suchlike.

As of “9 September 2012 at 01:26”, the relevant Wikipedia page (“By Way of Deception”) has the following text:

“The title of the book is supposedly a translation of part of Proverbs 24:6, which Ostrovsky alleges is the former motto of the Mossad: be-tahbūlōt ta`aseh lekhā milkhamāh (Hebrew: בתחבולות תעשה לך מלחמה. Ostrovsky claims this translates, 'By Way Of Deception, Thou Shalt Do War.' The Hebrew word בתחבולות translates into English as, 'Ploys, Tricks, Trickery, Subterfuges, or Stratagems' (Source: Google Translate) Alternatively, translations of בתחבולות into English in Proverbs 24:6 in Christian Bibles substitute a different meaning from the original Hewbrew. For example, the King James translation of Proverbs 24:6 is 'For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war"; the American Standard Bible translation is, 'For by wise guidance thou shalt make thy war'; the New American Standard Bible translation is 'For by wise guidance you will wage war.'[1] In contrast The Jewish Study Bible published by Jewish Publication Society at Oxford University Press (2004) under the editing scrutiny of Michael Fishbane, Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler reads 'For by stratagems you wage war, and victory comes with much planning'.”

And the relevant footnote #1 is as follows:

“^ "Proverbs 24:6 -- Parallel Translations". Retrieved May 18, 2011.”

The “Google Translate” citation brings back memories. Here's the Wikipedia screen capture:

(Note: Even though I ran Proverbs 11, and the Wikipedia blurb speaks about Proverbs 24, the word “בְתַחְבֻּלוֹת” is the same in both places. Google translate gives the meaning of the word – as taken from Proverbs 24:6, via the website http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt2824.htm – as “contrive”, “sabotage”, “circumvent”, and “wangle”. Like I said at the outset, I was simply trying to satisfy myself with respect to the question of how seriously to take the hysterical denials of the "by way of deception" translation. And I am satisfied.)

###

There is no rational basis for persisting in the notion that Iraq had WMD at the time of the U.S. invasion in 2003

There is no rational basis for persisting in the notion that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) at the time of the U.S. invasion in 2003.

Below, please find my substantiation of the above conclusion, drawing from FOX NEWS, the JERUSALEM POST, and comments from George W. BUSH himself as well as other Bush administration officials. In other words, the conclusion that Iraq did not possess WMD can be justified from sources with which even neoconservatives (of the sort that advanced the case for Iraq "regime change" by asserting that Saddam did possess WMD), and their sympathizers, cannot easily quibble.

Fox News reported, on January 12, 2005:

"The search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has quietly concluded without any evidence of the banned weapons that President Bush cited as justification for going to war, the White House said Wednesday."

("Officials: Search Is Over for Iraq WMD," Fox News | Wednesday, January 12, 2005, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144143,00.html)

The Jerusalem Post reported:

John McCain, in discussing the possibility of war with Iran on the TV show "Hardball", admitted that justifying such a war would be difficult owing to the present 'credibility gap' neoconservatives have and "which was created after President George W. Bush justified the invasion of Iraq in 2003 on the existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction" that did not exist. Plainly, there would not now be a "credibility gap" if Bush's primary war justification had been vindicated.

("McCain: War with Iran would be hard sell," JPOST.COM STAFF | Apr 16, 2008 9:58 | Updated Apr 16, 2008 10:20, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1208246581260&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull)

In an article entitled "Powell regrets UN speech on Iraq WMDs", the former Secretary of State called his infamous speech " '...a blot' on his record" admitting that his speech "will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now." "In the February 2003 presentation to the UN Security Council," recall, "Mr Powell forcefully made the case for war on the regime of Saddam Hussein, offering" what Powell at the time regretably called "'proof' that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The presentation included satellite photos of trucks that Mr Powell identified as mobile bioweapons laboratories. After the invasion, US weapons inspectors reported finding no Iraqi nuclear, biological or chemical weapons." Powell said that "said he felt 'terrible' at being misinformed."

As an aside, Powell also noted that "he had 'never seen evidence to suggest' a connection between the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States and the Saddam regime."

(ABC News Online | Friday, September 9, 2005. 10:28am (AEST), http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200509/s1456650.htm)

Still aside, former Vice President, Dick Cheney, remarked that "...there was 'never any evidence' that Saddam Hussein's Iraq played any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. 'On the question of whether or not Iraq was involved in 9/11, there was never any evidence to prove that,' Cheney said during an interview Monday [June 1, 2009] night with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren. 'There was some reporting early on, for example, that Mohammed Atta had met with a senior Iraqi intelligence official,' Cheney said. 'But that was never borne out.' ..."

(Andy Barr, Cheney: No 'evidence' of Iraq, 9/11 link, Politico, Tue Jun 2, 12:13 pm ET, http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090602/pl_politico/23228/print)

Some have alleged, without citing any concrete evidence, that Saddam did have WMD after all, but that the reason no weapons inspectors have been able to verify this is because Saddam spirited his WMD cache out of Iraq, prior to the invasion. Syria is sometimes mentioned as the WMD destination in these speculations.

(Mention of Syria, in this regard, can perhaps be traced to comments made in April of 2003 by Israel's then prime minister, Ariel Sharon. Baghdad had just fallen to the U.S. and Sharon, for several reasons, was eager to try to direct the U.S. to quickly follow up with an attack on Damascus. In an effort to build momentum for aggression against Syria, Sharon denounced president Assad to the media as "'dangerous' ... and he [Sharon] claimed that Assad had allowed Saddam to move military equipment into Syria just before the Iraq war began." [John J. Mearshimer and Stephen M. Walt, The Israeli Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007), p.272.] Sharon has very little credibility, here. Firstly, his comments were plainly motivated by his desire to pursuade the U.S. to attack Syria, for Israel's benefit. And, secondly, Sharon had badly misled the U.S. regarding Iraq. "Following the invasion and the revelation that there were no WMD in Iraq, the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Israeli Knesset released separate reports revealing that much of the intelligence Israel gave to the Bush administration was false." [Ibid., pp. 235-6.] And, in the buildup to war with Iraq, "by Sharon's own reckoning, 'strategic coordination between Israel and the U.S. [had] reached unprecedented dimensions." [Ibid., p. 235.])

Note that according to the above-mentioned Fox News article, instead of protesting or even hinting that the WMD were moved to Syria:

President Bush himself "appointed a panel to investigate why the intelligence about Iraq's weapons was wrong".

Take note. Bush tacitly admitted that the intelligence regarding Iraqi WMD was WRONG - as in *not correct*.

Bush tacitly admitted it.

Moreover, Bush's "White House press secretary Scott McClellan said there no longer is an active search for weapons and the administration does not hold out hopes that any weapons will be found."

See, again, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144143,00.html

Hence, according to the Bush White House, the search for Iraqi WMD is over, and none were found.

The CIA's final assessment was in agreement with the White House press secretary:

"CIA's final report: No WMD found in Iraq"

"In his final word, the CIA's top weapons inspector in Iraq said Monday that the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has 'gone as far as feasible' and has found nothing, closing an investigation into the purported programs of Saddam Hussein that were used to justify the 2003 invasion. 'After more than 18 months, the WMD investigation and debriefing of the WMD-related detainees has been exhausted,' wrote Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, in an addendum to the final report he issued last fall."

("CIA's final report: No WMD found in Iraq: Recommends freeing detainees held for weapons knowledge," AP | updated 8:24 p.m. CT, Mon., April 25, 2005, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7634313/)

As to the notion that WMD were "[transferred] from Iraq to Syria[, one of the CIA report's addenda stated that:] No information gleaned from questioning Iraqis supported the possibility... The Iraq Survey Group believes "it was unlikely that an official transfer of WMD material from Iraq to Syria took place. ..."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7634313/

And on the point of speculated transfers, the opinion of the Iraq Survey Group - that no such transfers took place - was echoed by "intelligence and congressional officials [who have said that] they have not seen any information - never 'a piece,' said one - indicating that WMD or significant amounts of components and equipment were transferred from Iraq to neighboring Syria, Jordan or elsewhere."

("U.S. found no evidence WMD moved from Iraq: No signs that weapons were smuggled, intelligence officials say," AP | updated 1:24 a.m. CT, Mon., Jan. 17, 2005, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6834079/)

Again, take careful note: There is no evidence of WMD transfers.

But, then again, plausibly, Iraq was not really attacked over WMD in the first place. Even administration insiders didn't care much about WMD, or a lack thereof, as early as 2003 - the year the Invasion was launched.

Curiously, during his trip to Iraq in July of 2003, a mere four months after the invasion, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz proclaimed to the Associated Press, "I'm not concerned about weapons of mass destruction" and relegated the issue of Iraqi WMD to a "secondary" status, when "President Bush [had] cited [allegations of Iraqi WMD capability] as his main justification for going to war".

("Wolfowitz: WMD secondary issue in Iraq," AP | Posted 7/22/2003 8:44 AM, http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-07-22-wolfowitz-iraq_x.htm)

Appallingly, "According to a stunning report posted by a retired Navy Lt Commander and 28-year veteran of the Defense Department (DoD), the Bush administration's assurance about finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was based on a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) plan to "plant" WMDs inside the country."

("US tried to plant WMDs, failed: whistleblower," Daily Times Monitor | Tuesday, August 12, 2003, http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_12-8-2003_pg1_9)

Such a plan is not without historical precedent. For example, "In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba. Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban e/migre/s [emigres], sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities. The plans were developed as ways to trick the American public and the international community into supporting a war to oust Cuba's then new leader, communist Fidel Castro. America's top military brass even contemplated causing U.S. military casualties, writing: "We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba," and, "casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation."

(See: David Ruppe, "U.S. Military Wanted to Provoke War With Cuba," ABC News, May 1, 2001, http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662)

But, whatever the truth of these allegations about planting WMD, retrospect (in the form of a "study by two nonprofit journalism organizations") has revealed "that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks."

That is, Bush and other related administration personnel issued statements which are now, in hindsight, and in many cases through investigation (such as the hundreds of millions of dollars search for WMD in Iraq) known to be false.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080123/ap_on_go_pr_wh/misinformation_study

An interesting question, then, is whether the Bush administration knowingly (i.e., intentionally) issued false statements, possibly, as the above "study concluded that the statements 'were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.' ..."; or whether the Bush administration was merely woefully incorrect.

But, the key point - about which there can be no argument - is that the Bush administration turned out to have been wrong - whether innocently or not.

It is worth mentioning, however, that the Bush White House's track record on lying is not stellar.

For instance, "The Environmental Protection Agency's internal watchdog says White House officials pressured the agency to prematurely assure the public that the air was safe to breathe a week after the World Trade Center collapse. The agency's initial statements in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were not supported by proper air quality monitoring data and analysis, EPA's inspector general, Nikki L. Tinsley, says in a 155-page report released late Thursday. An e-mail sent just one day after the attacks, from then-EPA Deputy Administrator Linda Fisher's chief of staff to senior EPA officials, said "all statements to the media should be cleared" first by the National Security Council, the report says. Approval from the NSC, which is chaired by President Bush and serves as his main forum for discussing national security and foreign policy matters with his senior aides and Cabinet, was arranged through an official with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the report said. That council, which coordinates federal environmental efforts, in turn "convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones," the inspector general found. For example, the report found, EPA was convinced to omit from its early public statements guidance for cleaning indoor spaces and tips on potential health effects from airborne dust containing asbestos, lead, glass fibers and concrete. ...The White House directed EPA to add and delete information..."

(JOHN HEILPRIN, "EPA influenced by White House on air quality statements," The Associated Press, State & Local Wire August 22, 2003, Friday, BC cycle; cf.: "Spinning 9/11: The White House toned down EPA reports on air quality after terrorist attacks," The Times Union, THREE STAR EDITION, (Albany, NY; The Hearst Corporation), August 26, 2003 Tuesday, MAIN, Pg. A14.)

The Bush administration has also misrepresented paid advertisements, supportive of Bush's policies, for news stories.

(See, for example, Andrew Buncombe, "Bush 'planted fake news stories on American TV',"
Independent, Monday, 29 May 2006,
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bush-planted-fake-news-stories-on-american-tv-480172.html?service=Print
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bush-planted-fake-news-stories-on-american-tv-480172.html )

OBJECTION!

Someone might object that Fox News reported that WMD WERE found after all. And, indeed, at one point, Fox News touted the discovery of "500 WMDs" inside of Iraq. The article quotes Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) as declaring: "We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons."

("Report: Hundreds of WMDs Found in Iraq," FOXNews.com | Thursday, June 22, 2006
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2006/06/22/report-hundreds-wmds-iraq/

But, regarding the 'discovery' "...the Pentagon and outside experts stressed that ... [these "WMD" were in fact 500] abandoned shells, many found in ones and twos, [that they] were 15 years old or more, [that] their chemical contents were degraded, and [most importantly, that] they were unusable as artillery ordnance." Even the Fox article acknowledges that the shells "contain[ed] degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent".

Hence, the '500 WMD' were unusable shells that dated back to Iraq's war with Iran.

A box of unusable shells was discovered - shells which dated from the era of the Iran-Iraq war.

"Since the 1990s, such 'orphan' munitions, from among 160,000 made by Iraq and destroyed, have turned up on old battlefields and elsewhere in Iraq, ex-inspectors say. In other words, this was no surprise."

And this was not corroboration of the Bush Administration's allegations regarding Iraqi WMD capability.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-believing-wmd,0,5878038.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

However, despite the fact that the White House has acknowledged publicly that WMDs were never located; and despite the fact that the CIA's official report not only stated that WMD were never found, but also, that WMDs were in all likelihood NOT transferred to Syria; and despite the fact that even President Bush himself tacitly acknowledged the falsity of the "Intelligence" regarding Iraq's WMD; lamentably:

"Half of U.S. Still Believes Iraq Had WMD"

This disregard for the results of careful investigatiion, however, is explicable as a psychological phenomenon. Repeated claims become familiar and take on an aura of truth. And there have been many "repeaters", for example "a drumbeat of voices from talk radio to die-hard bloggers to the Oval Office".

This "don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up" mentality is also, I must remark, a by-product of intentional exposure to psychological warfare mechanisms. And, as the Wall Street Journal reported as early as October of 2004, in the wake of 9/11: "The Pentagon...has begun deploying forces to mount psychological operations, or 'psy-ops'"

(Carla Anne Robbins, "Spin Control: U.S. Has Early Priority: Managing Its Message," Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition, New York, N.Y.: Oct 4, 2001, p. A.1.)

And, as the UPI reported in a wire report on April 10, 2006:

"'US Home Audience' Admitted Target of US Military Propaganda"

("U.S. military stoking xenophobia in Iraq," UPI, UPI NewsTrack TopNews, April 10, 2006.)

But, let us simply end where we began, and remind readers that even Fox News, which has often been Bush's defender over these past 8 years, now reports that no WMD were ever found in Iraq.

The search is over.

Even Fox News now reports that the search for WMD ended without turning up any.

Officials: Search Is Over for Iraq WMD
Fox News / AP | Wednesday, January 12, 2005
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144143,00.html

Anyone still advancing the notion that Iraq had WMD is either ignorant or deranged. And those still placing their faith in speculations of WMD transfers to Syria or elsewhere are simply advancing a position that even former President Bush never publicly propounded and for which there is no evidence. Being a lone voice, however, does not automatically render one incorrect, of course. But, it certainly does relocate the "burden of proof".

Until or unless solid evidence can be brought forth, contrary to the evidence and testimony cited briefly herein, and much other evidence besides, the positions that Iraq had WMD or that it transferred WMD out of the country, simply should not be rationally believed.

- Matthew J Bell (Newly Updated July 2009)