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Governments admit to faking terrorism: a list

ritholtz.com

91–100 of 138 posts

Re: Governments admit to faking terrorism: a list

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

False flag operations are the bread and butter of conspiracy theorists, and I'd like to show this list to some I know... This may not be an ideal list, but it describes things that actually occurred. The false-flags that involved the US are the exceptions that prove the rule. You can see how far these proposals typically get in the US government.

> The false-flags that involved the US are the exceptions that prove the rule. Are they? They are certainly rare, but so are actual terrorists attacks in the United States. If you choose at random an attack on the US outside of a combat zone within our lifetimes, you have a nontrivial probability that it was an admitted false flag operation. And that's just counting the ones they've admitted. This isn't to say that w…

> If you choose at random an attack on the US outside of a combat zone within our lifetimes, you have a nontrivial probability that it was an admitted false flag operation.

Really? What are the admitted false flag operations against the US, forgetting about how old any of us are? If I look at the list from the article, the ones involving the US are either not false flag operations (my post), operations never put into action, or actual false flag operations but against a foreign country (Iran, Italy).

Re: Governments admit to faking terrorism: a list

#92
post #26

Isn't the whole Iraq war a false flag act of terrorism? Accepting that the 9/11 attack was executed by those purported to have done so, and even if you accept that all the knowledge of the preparation and planning for the act was overlooked and filled with institutional incompetence and failure; using one act as a justification for action of a totally different nature and rationale is just that. Was it really just op…

Not really. I've read the books of Clarke and Tenet, and according to them yes, it was just opportune. Wolfowitz, Cheney, et al had decided to go to war years before and had written about it extensively.

After Afganistan, intelligence services were directed to "find a link" over and over again until such information could be gathered, no matter how flawed. Feith at DOD was (inappropriately) tasked with finding intelligence that supported the administrations conclusions. ( http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/... ) Cheney even went out and made several speeches saying the link was substantial to the bewilderment of CIA. In truth, no significant link was ever found.

Re: Governments admit to faking terrorism: a list

#93
This is something that is really starting to bother me: More and more websites are doing this thing (on tabets such as the nexus 7 I'm on now) where they load most of the way in a second or two, and then some loading screen pops up and I have to wait 15-20 more seconds for some god-awful "mobile" paginated monstrosity that is slower and harder to read than the desktop site.

Can we stop that please? Just...stop.

Re: Governments admit to faking terrorism: a list

#94
post #73
post #3

I don't see the recent "secret weapons" in Iraq thing.

Maybe someone can explain this one to me ... about WMD in Iraq. 1) Iraq kills > 500 civilians using chemical weapons (google Ali Chemicali, Halabja, ...) (documented, amongst others, by the UN) 2) it is known that for at least a decade after that, Iraq was producing chemical weapons. (again, documented by the UN) 3) US invades 4) finds no weapons Apparently the conclusion after this series of events is "there never w…

They had it in the 80's and a bit later. After twenty years of sanctions they had little left but residual infrastructure.

The inspector conclusions at the end of Gulf II weren't that there was zero evidence of WMD, just that no stockpiles of it were found. It was not found in neighboring countries either.

Turns out Saddam was bluffing, which he admitted to later. He could not appear to be weak before US and Iran, literally surrounded by enemies. Everyone was wrong on WMD, he had fooled them with his elaborate games. Saddam's mistake was that he misjudged American govt resolve to oust him after 9/11. That they fabricated the reasons may have even surprised him.

Re: Governments admit to faking terrorism: a list

#95
I would like to say that the Russian apartment bombings, although not officially proven to originate from the government, upon thorough investigation appear to have a very significant probability of being an actual brutal false flag. In addition to the available facts and possible motives, one can also consider that all serious journalists investigating this in Russia, and several KGB whistleblowers, have been assassinated.

Re: Governments admit to faking terrorism: a list

#96
post #86
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine you were a US intelligence officer with an extremely in-depth knowledge of socioeconomic momentum around the world. You are aware that oil is a relatively irreplaceable dependency and that most oil is controlled by foreign regimes that are not allies of the US. You realize that if things keep going this way, those in control of oil will have huge advantages in the future. You have the ability to recognize tha…

"Society is not familiar enough with the threat.." Yeah, that whole line of bullshit is definitely the sort of rationalization people unfortunately make. Unfortunately its also bullshit. The United States is just as much an evil, selfish empire as any that came before it. Someday people like you may learn to think on your own rather than rationalizing immoral acts. One way to make it easier for yourself. Try to think…

I apologize for the miscommunication in my post. I am certainly not an advocate for the Iraq war or the line of thinking you're criticizing. I was hoping to propose a follow-up thought experiment to GP's in order to provoke discussion around the fact that the US is continually engaging in such inadequate behavior.

Re: Governments admit to faking terrorism: a list

#97
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It would take extensive use of brainwashing and belief in fairy tales about an enlightened government, a city on hill exceptional-ism or what-have-you to think these don't happen. And the only way a government could pull that off would be to do something drastic, like if it forced all citizens to sit listening to government employees deliver government curricula for 8 hours a day for twelve years during some of the…

In schools, some countries tell the kids to do morning prayer, and some tell them to sing the national anthem. Some countries tell them to do both. I can't think of that many countries where they are not normally prompted to do either one or the other.

There are many countries which prompt for neither prayer nor patriotism. Ireland certainly does not and I don't think the UK does either (certain very religious schools of course may differ).

Re: Governments admit to faking terrorism: a list

#98
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe someone can explain this one to me ... about WMD in Iraq. 1) Iraq kills > 500 civilians using chemical weapons (google Ali Chemicali, Halabja, ...) (documented, amongst others, by the UN) 2) it is known that for at least a decade after that, Iraq was producing chemical weapons. (again, documented by the UN) 3) US invades 4) finds no weapons Apparently the conclusion after this series of events is "there never w…

They had it in the 80's and a bit later. After twenty years of sanctions they had little left but residual infrastructure. The inspector conclusions at the end of Gulf II weren't that there was zero evidence of WMD, just that no stockpiles of it were found. It was not found in neighboring countries either. Turns out Saddam was bluffing, which he admitted to later. He could not appear to be weak before US and Iran, li…

[deleted]

Re: Governments admit to faking terrorism: a list

#99
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It would take extensive use of brainwashing and belief in fairy tales about an enlightened government, a city on hill exceptional-ism or what-have-you to think these don't happen. And the only way a government could pull that off would be to do something drastic, like if it forced all citizens to sit listening to government employees deliver government curricula for 8 hours a day for twelve years during some of the…

In schools, some countries tell the kids to do morning prayer, and some tell them to sing the national anthem. Some countries tell them to do both. I can't think of that many countries where they are not normally prompted to do either one or the other.

In Canada we don't do either in public schools. Singing the national anthem is pretty much reserved just for Remembrance Day, maybe with a little bit of practice for a few days beforehand to avoid embarrassment at not knowing the lyrics. Certainly no prayers are ever said at school.

Re: Governments admit to faking terrorism: a list

#100
post #19

This is a tried and true tactic. It would take extensive use of brainwashing and belief in fairy tales about an enlightened government, a city on hill exceptional-ism or what-have-you to think these don't happen. However, this level of brainwashing is achieved in US quite often. It is a lot worse vis-a-vis the rhetoric of independence, free thinking, individualism. But that in an of itself (this belief that we are no…

they realize what they have to do in their jobs contradicts the high idealized patriotic beliefs of what this country is about This is extremely uncommon. For example, I used to be a submarine officer in the Navy, and I left as a conscientious objector because of this realization. In an average year, less than 100 active duty service members will apply for conscientious objector status (there are over 1 million activ…

People may have ethical conflicts but not voice or do much with them because they feel the security their job provides is superior to leaving & having to find something new.
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