Tuesday, April 23, 2013

On The Origin of "Conspiracy Theory" - 3

In this series we have been detailing the government's massive use of conspiracy theory in federal trials that prosecute alleged criminals who are said to have been involved in a criminal conspiracy.

These are generally investigated by the FBI, a federal agency that provides prosecutors with details of conspiracies, then those prosecutors present a conspiracy theory to the jury in a federal criminal trial.

Any such conspiracy theory basically says that "these defendants conspired together" to do a federal crime:
Additionally, we are looking at the perversion of that concept by the American Media, as a function of propaganda, which may harm the justice system by destroying one of the system of justice's most useful tools:
The concept of criminal conspiracy has its earliest roots in fourteenth century English common law. At that time, it saw limited use as a legal theory. It became more broadly applied in the United States in the nineteenth century, though still the scope of prosecutions was not wide. Today, however, conspiracy is a far-reaching legal principle, embracing antitrust actions, an enormous number of more traditional criminal cases, and even tort lawsuits. It is the basis of prosecutions dealing with, among other crimes, drug violations, securities fraud, murder for hire, bank robbery, and extortion.

... Conspiracy is an agreement by two or more people to commit a crime.
(ibid, quoting Dept. of Justice Conspiracy Theories). The McTell News has perverted the concept of "conspiracy theory" in the minds of the public, who are the source of those who become jurors in federal prosecutions.
(On The Origin of "Conspiracy Theory" - 2, emphasis in original). Thus, the term "conspiracy theory" has long been a sound concept in American Jurisprudence, and was recently used in the Boston Marathon Bombing criminal complaint:
He has been charged with two federal counts: using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction – an improvised explosive device – and malicious destruction of property, resulting in deaths.

The criminal complaint also makes a point of alleging that the bombings damaged "interstate and foreign commerce".

Though the reference to disrupted trade sounds gratuitous, it is significant, as it allows federal prosecutors to take the lead; that, in turn, paves the way for a possible federal death penalty, which would not be possible were the case handled by Massachusetts, where capital punishment is outlawed.
(Guardian, 18 U.S.C. § 2332a(a), emphasis added). Interestingly, in ~1967, the CIA began a propaganda campaign to instill a meme into the minds of the American public, through their assets in the media, to dichotomize the meaning of "conspiracy theory" (i.e. to create "doublespeak").

A meme that would inform the public that only "crazoids" suspected that any conspiracy could occur, if it was one that could cause any public distrust of the government:
Basically, our entire legal system is based on the idea of conspiracy. Despite this fact we have been conditioned by the government and the media to blindly accept the official reports and to treat any questioning of those reports as “conspiracy theorizing." That is, you are a conspiracy theorist if you don’t believe the government’s conspiracy theory.

This cultural phenomenon goes back to 1967. At that time, in response to questions about the Warren Commission Report (which President Ford helped create), the CIA issued a memorandum calling for mainstream media sources to begin countering “conspiracy theorists.”[CIA Document #1035-960] In the 45 years before the CIA memo came out, the phrase “conspiracy theory” appeared in the Washington Post and New York Times only 50 times, or about once per year. In the 45 years after the CIA memo, the phrase appeared 2,630 times, or about once per week.

Before the CIA memo came out, the Washington Post and New York Times had never used the phrase “conspiracy theorist.” After the CIA memo came out, these two newspapers have used that phrase 1,118 times. Of course, in these uses the phrase is always delivered in a context in which “conspiracy theorists” were made to seem less intelligent and less rationale than people who uncritically accept official explanations for major events.
(Dig Within, cf. JFK Lancer). That propaganda campaign did not work well at first, because the public pressure caused the government to have to investigate for two years then conclude:
The Committee investigated until 1978 and issued its final report, and concluded that Kennedy was very likely assassinated as a result of a conspiracy.
(Wikipedia, emphasis added; U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations). One FBI Agent, who managed and/or performed investigations to support government conspiracy theories in federal prosecutions, was Ted Gunderson:
“Ted Gunderson was born in Colorado Springs. He graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1950. Gunderson joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation in December 1951 under J. Edgar Hoover. He served in the Mobile, Knoxville, New York City, and Albuquerque offices. He held posts as an Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge in New Haven and Philadelphia. In 1973 he became the head of the Memphis FBI and then the head of the Dallas FBI in 1975. Ted Gunderson was appointed the head of the Los Angeles FBI in 1977. In 1979 he was one of a handful interviewed for the job of FBI director …”
(Wikipedia). In an interview FBI Agent Gunderson discusses a conspiracy theory concerning the 1993 World Trade Center bombing:
I was head of the FBI … Southern California … except for two counties … I was in charge … had over 700 personnel under my command. I had a budget of over $22.5 million dollars [~1980 dollars].

We were the elite investigative organization of the world in our day.

There’s no question who was responsible for the 1993 bombing of The World Trade Center.

Through their informant Salaam … they [FBI agents in NY] had control of whether to place a dummy bomb or a real bomb.

They placed a real bomb, and the reason they did was to pass the anti-terror legislation.
(see FBI Agent Video -- end of post; cf. another video of interview). Agent Gunderson also indicated that those who work in the intelligence field know that agents and operatives can and do "go rogue" to become criminals themselves.

Including CIA agents.

By now the CIA itself, not just a few rogue agents, is becoming a bad agency in the minds of many:
The errant actions of the C.I.A. are by now so evident that they are a staple of Washington conversation. Like the weather, though, it is the topic everybody talks about, but does nothing about. The drone revelations, and the administration's stonewalling, that coincided with John Brennan's confirmation hearings created a stir. That incident struck a nerve because the White House looked ready to extend its claim to a right to kill Americans abroad to the domestic scene. The prospect of moves to bring the Agency to heal quickly died down once he made a vague promise to downsize the drone program. Moreover, no elected official voiced concern about the implications of killing lots of foreigners -- even innocent civilians -- as we are doing routinely in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.
(The C.I.A.: A National Liability?, Huffington Post). But that sort of thing is not limited to spies, it has happened for hundreds of years in several different disciplines:
Benedict Arnold (January 14, 1741 [O.S. January 3, 1740] – June 14, 1801) was a general during the American Revolutionary War who originally fought for the American Continental Army but defected to the British Army. While a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fort at West Point, New York, and planned to surrender it to the British forces. After the plan was exposed in September 1780, he was commissioned into the British Army as a brigadier general.
(Wikipedia). There are rogues of that type in the federal and state governments now, and always have been there:
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain (and the British monarchy) during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution. When their cause was defeated, about 20% of the Loyalists fled to other parts of the British Empire, in Britain or elsewhere in British North America. The southern colonists moved mostly to Florida, which had remained loyal to the Crown, and to British Caribbean possessions, while northern colonists largely migrated to Ontario and New Brunswick, where they were called United Empire Loyalists. Most were compensated with Canadian land or British cash distributed through formal claims procedures.

Historians have estimated that between 15 and 20 percent of the 2.5 million whites in the colonies were Loyalists, or about 500,000 men, women and children.
(Wikipedia). The descendants of those "Loyalists," whether descended physically or ideologically, believe at some point as their ancestors did that "the king can do no wrong."

Their belief is fervent enough that they are willing to give up our constitutional rights to have us instead "trust the king for our rights" once again.

They are of the ilk who put Americans into concentration camps during World War II because of the national origin of those Americans.

They are still at work today in America to weaken or take away our rights to instead have "the king" exercise all relevant power.

We need to be smarter than they are by not believing every story they feed us in the media, now that they have subverted the substantial media outlets to do their authoritarian bidding.

Who knows, The Germ Theory of Government may be for real.

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

Interview with Ted Gunderson:


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