American Conspiracies: on Homeland Security
Arlen Specter:
Originated "magic bullet" theory in JFK assassination
The overlap between the Warren Commission and Watergate legal staffs included Arlen Specter, for a time a member of Nixon's defense team, who was the originator of the "magic bullet" theory.More than a decade later, I find it remarkable how many of th
Watergate players are tied into the Kennedy assassination. They not only escaped justice the first time, but here they are back again. I wondered what else they did in between, what other damage to the country?
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p. 91
Mar 9, 2010
Gerald Ford:
OpEd: Kept FBI informed of Warren Commission activities
After the JFK assassination, Nixon recommended to President Johnson that Ford be put on the Warren Commission. There, Ford served as the FBI's informant about what the commission was up to. This was confirmed long afterward, in an FBI memo stating: "Ford
indicated he would keep me thoroughly advised as to the activities of the commission. He stated that would have to be done on a confidential basis, however, he thought it had to be done."We also have learned from some handwritten notes of Ford's that
he changed one of the most significant findings in the "Warren Report." A first draft had said that a bullet had "entered JFK's back at a point slightly below the shoulder to the right of the spine." Whoops! That trajectory meant there was no way for the
bullet to emerge from Kennedy's neck and then somehow hit Gov. Connally. No more "magic bullet"! So Ford urged the commission to change the description and put the wound up higher. So Ford had always been counted on to help out in critical situations.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p. 88-89
Mar 9, 2010
Jesse Ventura:
Federal surveillance is a waste of taxpayer dollars
Let's focus on rethinking the meaning of surveillance. Certainly in the case of Malcolm X, as well as Dr. King, being shadowed by government agencies seemed to lead inevitably to their death. There is too much secrecy in our government, and surveillance
today is even more widespread that it was then, at a considerable waste of taxpayer dollars. Let's also teach our young people that a willingness to change your attitude, as Malcolm X was willing to do, is a mark not of weakness but sometimes of greatnes
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p. 52
Mar 9, 2010
Jesse Ventura:
Why were there no black boxes from any of the 9/11 planes?
The official story is that, for the first time in history, the black boxes were not recovered. Not from any of the four planes. For the TV pilot I did about 9/11 on TruTV, we spoke to a guy who knew about the existence of three black boxes.
He physically saw one, and his partner saw two more. He says they were taken away in a black government van. Another thing I find very interesting:
Also for the first time in history, no attempt was made to reconstruct the planes with whatever parts they could find. They even did this with TWA flight 800 that went down in 1996 in the Atlantic, and for that they had to dive down 1,200 feet.After
Pearl Harbor, General Martin Shore and some admirals were fired because of their alleged negligence. After 9/11, not a single employee at the FAA or NORAD got punished. In fact, all the major military men involved received promotions.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p.154
Mar 9, 2010
John Lewis:
1964: Warned Malcolm X of assassination
In 1964, John Lewis, the future congressman, happened to run into Malcolm X in Nairobi. Lewis remembers Malcolm telling him "in a calm, measured way he was convinced that somebody wanted him killed." He kept extending his stay abroad, before finally
flying back to the US. Louis Farrakhan released a public statement: "Such a man as Malcolm X is worthy of death." Years later, Farrakhan admitted that he'd "helped contribute to the atmosphere that led to the assassination of Malcolm X."
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p. 48-49
Mar 9, 2010
Condoleezza Rice:
OpEd: Falsely claimed no briefing of 9/11 airplane attacks
With all the advance warnings about a terrorist attack, a fair number of Bush's team should have gotten the axe. Except, right up to the president himself, it was all about denial. Here was Rice: "This kind of analysis about the use of airplanes as
weapons actually was never briefed to us."Oh, really? What about the intelligence briefing Bush received on August 6, 2001, that was headed "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." and even mentioned possible hijackings. Or Condi Rice being warned
about al-Qaeda's plotting by then-CIA Director George Tenet on July 10, 2001, but brushing him off. The 9/11 Commission was aware of this, but decided to leave it out of their report.
These were far from the only warnings. Israel sent two senior agents
of the Mossad to Washington in August 2001 to "alert the CIA and FBI of a big operation." French intelligence warned the US in nine different reports about "Airplane Hijacking Plans by Radical Islamists" connected to bin Laden and the Taliban.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p.154-155
Mar 8, 2010
Donald Rumsfeld:
OpEd: Falsely claimed no intel warning of 9/11
The way I see it, with all the advance warnings about a terrorist attack, a fair number of Bush's team should have gotten the axe. Except, right up to the president himself, it was all about denial. Here was Rumsfeld, testifying before the 9/11
Commission: "I knew of no intelligence during the six-plus months leading up to September 11 to indicate terrorists would hijack commercial airlines, use them as missiles to fly into the Pentagon or the World Trade Center towers."
Oh, really?
What about the intelligence briefing Bush received on August 6, 2001, that was headed "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." and even mentioned possible hijackings.
These were far from the only warnings. Israel sent two senior agents of the
Mossad to Washington in August 2001 to "alert the CIA and FBI to the existence of a cell of as many as 200 terrorists said to be preparing a big operation." The 9/11 Commission was aware of this, but decided to leave it out of their report.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p.154-155
Mar 8, 2010
George W. Bush:
OpEd: Focused on denial of 9/11 warnings despite warnings
The way I see it, with all the advance warnings about a terrorist attack, a fair number of Bush's team should have gotten the axe. Except, right up to the president himself, it was all about denial. Here was Bush in 2001: "Had I had any inkling whatsoeve
that the people were going to fly airplanes into buildings, we would have moved heaven and earth to save the country." Israel sent two senior agents of the Mossad to Washington in August 2001 to "alert the CIA and FBI to the existence of a cell of as
many as 200 terrorists said to be preparing a big operation." Eight months before the attacks, French intelligence warned the U.S. in nine different reports about "Airplane Hijacking Plans by Radical Islamists" connected to bin Laden and the Taliban.
FBI agents working out of the Minneapolis and Phoenix offices tried to alert their superiors.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p.154-155
Mar 8, 2010
Gerald Ford:
1964: Evaluated Kennedy assassination for Warren Report
Life magazine devoted most of its Oct. 2, 1964, issue to the Warren Report, assigning commission member (and future president) Gerald Ford the job of evaluating it. In 1997, the Assassination Records Review Board would release handwritten noted by Ford,
revealing that he had misrepresented the placement of the president's back wound--raising it several inches to suggest he'd instead been struck in the neck--in order to make it fit the theory that a single bullet had hit both Kennedy and Gov. Connally.
Otherwise, the entire lone-assassin notion would have collapsed.That same issue of "Life" underwent two major revisions AFTER it went on sale. One of the articles was illustrated with eight frames from the Zapruder film. But Frame 323 turned out to
contradict the Warren Report's conclusion about the shots all coming from the rear. So the issue was recalled, the plates broken and re-set, (this was all pre-computer) and Frame 313 showing the president's head exploding became the replacement.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p. 40-41
Mar 8, 2010
Jesse Ventura:
Vietnam War was all about somebody making money
My questioning of the "official" line goes back to my school days, being taught that we had to fight in Vietnam to stop the domino effect of Communism. That's what I learned in school, but my father--who was a World War II vet--took the exact opposite
position at the dinner table. He said that was a load of crap, that the Vietnam War was all about somebody making big money off it. At first I thought my dad was crazy, because I could not believe they would lie to me in school.
I fought with him over it, and he'd keep doing his best to debunk what I was saying.When I, in turn, went into the service and learned a whole lot more about Vietnam, I had the good fortune to come home and tell my father that he was right. Especially
growing up in the Midwest, you never even contemplate that your government might not be telling the truth. You don't realize until you get much older that government is nothing but people--and people lie, especially where money and power are concerned.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p. x-xi
Mar 8, 2010
Jesse Ventura:
Lesson from JFK: Don't let feds investigate momentous events
My Take:
A second gunman assassinated the president from the grassy knoll, while Oswald was set up as the fall guy. The perpetrators behind Oswald are tied into the CIA, the Pentagon, and the Mob.
What Should We Do
Now?
One lesson we can take away from the tragedy in Dallas is that the federal government shouldn't be allowed to supersede state and local laws, when it comes to having an "official" investigation into events as momentous as a
presidential assassination or a terrorist attack. We also need to pay close attention to how big media stopped doing their job as the eyes and ears of our democracy, refusing to acknowledge that something might be going on beyond a "lone nut" assassin.
The pattern of denial continues, and we the people must demand thorough investigation and honest, unbiased information.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p. 43
Mar 8, 2010
Jesse Ventura:
1999: Special Ops ID'ed several 9/11 hijackers, but ignored
Ever heard of an army project called Able Danger? It was established in 1999 as part of the Special Operations Command. Able Danger was an offensive counter-terrorism project which was designed to kill senior al-Qaeda leadership. It wasn't long before th
Able Danger squad uncovered al-Qaeda cells in the NYC area, one of whose members was Mohamed Atta. At least six witnesses later recalled seeing Atta's picture on a chart they'd drawn up back in January 2000. Turns out three more of the alleged hijackers
had been ID'ed by Able Danger before 9/11, as well.But when the 9/11 Commission came up with reasons for leaving Able Danger out of its report, the media nodded off again. One 9/11 expert concluded that the commission and the Pentagon were "covering
up dangerous information that suggested Atta was being protected. Combine this observation with the money reportedly sent to Atta--the Able Danger evidence provides additional reason to suspect that the 'hijackers' were really paid assets."
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p.159-160
Mar 8, 2010
Jesse Ventura:
I'm more afraid of the culture of fear than of al Qaeda
Given all the illegal activity that the non-elected Bush Administration engaged in since the millennium, we can't be too surprised at the reaction. A government that played on people's worst nightmares to achieve its own ends created a culture not only
of fear, but mistrust to the point of insurrection--which is what they secretly seem to have been longing for.I've gone to some lengths to trace these developments since 9/11, because I'm a lot more afraid of this than an assault by al-Qaeda.
What's going on inside our military also frightens me. More and more, we're seeing an army run by Christianist extremists and an accompanying cadre of what can only be described as neo-Nazis. Since the endless "war on terror" began, our armed services
have been turning a blind eye to their own military statutes. A 2005 DoD report said: "Effectively, the military has a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy pertaining to extremism." White supremacists are walking as enlisted men around our bases.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p.194-195
Mar 8, 2010
Richard Nixon:
Warren Commission was greatest hoax ever perpetrated
In a conversation [caught on the White House tapes released during Watergate] about the shooting that paralyzed Alabama governor George Wallace, Nixon suddenly flashed back to the Kennedy assassination and called the
Warren Commission "the greatest hoax that has ever been perpetuated." Somebody might have been able to ask what the president meant by that, except the tape transcript wasn't released by the National Archives until 2002!
When the presidential tape was released [in 2002, we also heard]: "Well, we protected Helms from one hell of a lot of things," Nixon said on the tape, referring to the CIA Director. "Of course, this Hunt, that will uncover a lot of things.
You open up that scab, there's a hell of a lot of things and we just feel that it would be very detrimental to have this thing go any further. This involves these Cubans, Hunt, and a lot of hanky-panky that we have nothing to do with ourselves."
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p. 32&85-87
Mar 8, 2010
Thomas Kean Jr.:
CIA destroyed videotape interrogations of Qaeda operatives
The 10-member commission in summer 2004 debated referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, according to several commission sources.
Staff members and some commissioners thought that e-mails and other evidence provided enough probably cause to believe that military and aviation officials violated the law by making false statements to Congress and to the commission.
The 9/11 Commission's Chairman Thomas Kean, and Vice-Chair Lee Hamilton, have since come out and said: "...the recent revelations that the CIA destroyed videotape interrogations of
Qaeda operatives leads us to conclude that the agency failed to respond to our lawful requests for information about the 9/11 plot. Those who knew about those videotapes--and did not tell us about them--obstructed our investigation."
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p.162
Mar 8, 2010
Thomas Kean Jr.:
CIA destroyed videotapes of al Qaeda operatives after 9/11
The 10-member commission in summer 2004 debated referring the [9/11 conspiracy] matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, according to several commission sources.
Staff members and some commissioners thought that e-mails and other evidence provided enough probably cause to believe that military and aviation officials violated the law by making false statements to Congress and to the commission.
The 9/11 Commission's Chairman Thomas Kean, and Vice-Chair Lee Hamilton, have since come out and said: "the recent revelations that the CIA destroyed videotape interrogations of
Qaeda operatives leads us to conclude that the agency failed to respond to our lawful requests for information about the 9/11 plot. Those who knew about those videotapes--and did not tell us about them--obstructed our investigation."
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p.162
Mar 8, 2010
Page last updated: Dec 12, 2018