Media War on "Conspiracy Theorists": National Geographic Special Marginalizing 9/11 Truthers Brought to You by Rupert Murdoch and the CIA
Published by Julia Volkovah under on 11:32 PM
Also see: Why Is National Geographic Still Advertising with Glenn Beck?
Edited by Alex Constantine
Contents of this post:
1) Reviewers who applaud National Geographic's "sledge-hammer" debunking of 9/11 "conspiracy theorists"
2) The National Geographic Channel is controlled by Rupert Murdoch
3) National Geographic, "Voice of the CIA"
4) The CIA's Rupert Murdoch (& Ted Shackley)
5) Claremont Institute - A Dismissive Review: "National Geographic's recent special on 9/11 reflected the CIA's spin on the world"
1) Reviewers who applaud National Geographic's "sledge-hammer" debunking of 9/11 "conspiracy theorists"
From: "National Geographic 9/11 special- the final nail in the coffin for 9/11 Troof"
"Pretty much every claim made by Truthers was debunked so thoroughly and easily, I almost felt bad for the anti-American bastards! ... "
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message871872/pg1
From: "National Geographic Dismantles Truther Mythology - Wth A Sledgehammer"
By Pilgrim
September 1, 2009
" .... I’m not going to review the whole program, but I will say this - they [producers of the National Geographic's special on 9/11 conspiracy theories] made the Truthers look like what they are - tinfoil hat wearing, babbling conspiracy minded fools who can’t accept the fact that this country has murderous enemies and George Bush didn’t kill all those people on 9/11. ... "
http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/national_geographic_dismantles_truther_mythology_-_wth_a_sledgehammer/
TV review|Truthers couldn't be further from the truth
Miami Herald
" ... 9/11: Science and Conspiracy is frontal assault on the truthers, a magnificent coupling of forensic science and investigative journalism. Using high-tech experiments, computer modeling, archival video and interviews with experts and witnesses, the documentary blows up, one by one, the underpinnings of their fanciful arguments. ... "
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/story/1207110.html
National Geographic TV Debunks 9/11 Conspiracy Theories
" ... This should be required viewing for all Truthers. National Geographic Channel will be airing a program on Monday evening that will debunk the conspiracies. Aptly named '9/11: Science and Conspiracy,' the special aims to address truther wackos like Rosie O'Donnell."
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/08/31/national-geographic-tv-debunks-911-conspiracy-theories/
****
2) National Geographic Channel is Controlled by Rupert Murdoch
VIEWER BEWARE:
National Geographic Channel and 9/11 Propaganda
By Christopher Bollyn
24 March 2006
http://www.erichufschmid.net/Bollyn_NationalGeographic.html
who are Jonathan Towers and National Geographic Channel?
Jonathan Towers grew up in a suburb of New York and is a 1982 graduate of Yale University. Fleshing Out Skull & Bones (2003) by Kris Millegan lists Mr. Towers as a 1982 initiate of Yale's super-secret elitist fraternity known as The Order of Skull & Bones.
President George W. Bush belongs to this secret and powerful fraternity, as does his father and grandfather. Sen. John F. Kerry is also a member.
The National Geographic Channel, which carries the program, is primarily controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which might lead one to ask which nation is meant by "national."
Murdoch, the Australian-born owner of FOX News, owns nearly 67 percent of the National Geographic Channel in the United States and 50 percent of National Geographic Channel International (NGCI).
Asked about the propagandistic nature of the "Inside 9/11" film, Dan Saunders, director of marketing for NGCI told AFP: "We have a licensing agreement to broadcast under the brand of National Geographic. Editorially we have to respect the traditions and values of the National Geographic Society."
Asked if he was concerned that Muslims and Arab viewers would be incensed by the content of the 9/11 series, Saunders said, "We have a non-political view of the world." That is, however, clearly not the case with "Inside 9/11," which seeks to place the entire blame for the events of 9/11 on Islamic terrorists.
Murdoch, it should be noted, is known for his support of Israeli right-wing politicians of the Likud Party, especially Binyamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Murdoch openly advocates a pro-war position which has been echoed by the editorial managers of the nearly 200 newspapers and many television networks he controls.
Murdoch is also known for having produced a 2000 program called "The Lone Gunman," in which a passenger jet was remotely hijacked and flown at the World Trade Center with the intention of crashing it into the building. The uncanny similarities between the Murdoch film and the subsequent events of 9/11 is a subject American Free Press has investigated, but one which has been completely ignored by the controlled press.
The media tycoon is a known acquaintance of both Larry Silverstein and Frank Lowy, the well-insured lease holders of the World Trade Center property.
****
3) National Geographic, "Voice of the CIA"
The National Geographic appears to have become the mouthpiece of the CIA. Just before 9 11, the National Geographic was preparing maps and an article on Afghanistan.
If you want to know which countries the Pentagon is about to invade, look at the National Geographic. The latest edition of the magazine, dated November 2004, has an article on the "Geography of Terror." The article, written by Walter Laqueur who recently retired from the Kissinger Chair at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, seems full of obvious disinformation.
The article refers to a number of countries:
Ireland – the article fails to mention US financing of terror groups, and the allegation that most of the worst incidents were the work of the UK security services.
Europe – the article fails to mention the CIA links to the terror which hit Italy in the 1980s. Remember the bombs in railway stations that ‘were the work of fascist groups with CIA connections’.
Indonesia – the article fails to mention (1) the CIA terror used to topple President Sukarno and then President Suharto (2) the US training of the generals who have been associated with terror in East Timor, the Spice Islands and elsewhere (3) the links between the US trained Indonesian military and ‘Moslem’ terror groups such as Laskar Jihad (4) the alleged involvement of the Indonesian military in the Bali bomb.
Palestine – the article does not make it clear that (1) the Palestinians were driven from their land by Jewish terrorist groups (2) the Israelis initially aided Hamas in order to weaken Arafat (3) the USA supports Israel in its occupation of Palestinian land and defiance of UN resolutions and in its possession of weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq – the article fails to mention the body of evidence that Saddam was a CIA agent and was put into power by the USA.
Al Qaeda – the article promotes the myth of al Qaeda. It fails to mention (1) the bin Laden links to the Bush family (2) bin Laden’s Jewish mother (3) bin Laden’s death in December 2001 (4) the controlled explosions that brought down the Twin Towers on 9 11 (5) the training of the alleged hijackers at US military bases.
http://drewhempel.gnn.tv/blogs/13595/National_Geographic_is_CIA_Stooge
****
4) The CIA's Rupert Murdoch (& Ted Shackley)
As I have tried to impress upon one and all with bumper-sticker clarity: RUPERT MURDOCH IS A CIA PROPAGANDIST. This is mentioned NOWHERE and should be acknowledged EVERYWHERE. Conformist, CIA-programmed, status quo thinking doesn't begin to notice reality. An individual capable of independent thought begins by looking for telltale signs, say blood-thirsty CIA jackal Ted Shackley, who "had a good relationship with Murdoch when he was CIA station chief in Australia between 1972-75. This was around the time that Murdoch's fortunes changed."
http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=5818&name=Theodore-Shackley
Murdoch's partner, Peter Abeles, a Mafia kingpin, started up Australia's Nugan Hand Bank, the CIA's money laundering front.
And you consider: Perhaps the hideous Rupert Murdoch is not merely an independent "conservative" propagandist whose view of the world is parallel to General Pinochet's, but one deliberately installed to program public opinion. Could that be?
How did he really get to where he is today? No penetrating answers come from the status quo, ever.
Does anyone care that this "conservative" charlatan without a conscience is ushering in open fascist rule on a red carpet of lies?
Murdoch is a former CIA heroin importer, the kind of man Americans adore. Today, he's the beloved programmer of Good Germans everywhere. Time to demand an independent investigation of state propagandists from Langley, because America may not survive them. - AC
By Sterling Seagrave
Aug 22 2007
"Bill Casey was one of the key men in the acquisition of media after WW2. It was one of his proteges (a young German immigrant to the US) who was sent back to Germany after the war to take over Bertelsmann and build it up. Rupert Murdoch was very tight with Shackley, which is how he got launched on his global acquisitions and has now taken over the WSJ. Murdoch was running a failed national newspaper in Australia while Shackley was station chief in Oz. Then suddenly he becomes a US citizen literally overnight and goes on an endless buying spree. Shackley's pockets were infinitely deep. At the time, Murdoch was facing the likely closure of his newspaper THE AUSTRALIAN. His ticket out was Shackley. This also explains why Murdoch was allowed to break all the rules in acquisition of media in America."
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=10799&st=0&p=115393&#entry115393
CIA Fascist Ted Shackley
... When Shackley was recalled in February, 1972, he was put in charge of the CIA's Western Hemisphere Division. One of his major tasks was to undermine Philip Agee, an ex-CIA officer who was writing a book on the CIA. The book was eventually published as Inside the Company, but did not include the information that would have permanently damaged the reputation of the CIA.
Shackley also played an important role in the overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile. As his biographer, David Corn points out: "Salvador Allende died during the coup. When the smoke cleared, General Augusto Pinochet, the head of a military junta, was in dictatorial control... Elections were suspended. The press was censored. Allende supporters and opponents of the junta were jailed. Torture centers were established. Executions replaced soccer matches in Santiago's stadiums. Bodies floated down the Mapocho river. Due in part to the hard work of Shackley and dozens of other Agency bureaucrats and operatives, Chile was free of the socialists."
By 1975 he was promoted to Deputy Director of Operations, where he served under George H. W. Bush. He therefore became second-in-command of all CIA covert activity.
Shackley was a close friend of Edwin Wilson, an ex-CIA agent, who became an arms dealer. Wilson was jailed for shipping plastic explosive and detonators to Libya. Stansfield Turner, the head of the CIA, believed Shackley was closely involved in this affair and he was forced to resign. CIA chief, Richard Helms, reportedly said: Ted is what we call in the spook business a quadruple threat - Drugs, Arms, Money and Murder."
After leaving the CIA Shackley formed his own company, Research Associates International, which specialized in providing intelligence to business. He took part in the October Surprise which resulted in the American hostages in Iran being held until Ronald Reagan had defeated Jimmy Carter at the 1980 elections. Soon after Reagan was elected the hostages were released.
During the Ronald Reagan administration, Shackley and some of his former CIA friends, Thomas Clines and Richard Secord, became involved in the Iran-Contra affair. Clines was sent to prison but Shackley managed to escape prosecution. ....
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Theodore_Shackley
****
5) Claremont Institute - A Dismissive Review: "National Geographic's recent special on 9/11 reflected the CIA's spin on the world"
" ... The National Geographic program not only left out key information, but reaffirmed the impression — entirely misleading — that terrorism has nothing to do with states. The CIA's continues to press this point onto the American people. We can only wish that the agency worked as craftily with America's enemies. ... "
National Geographic Spins 9/11
By Angelo M. Codevilla
September 12, 2005
National Geographic's recent special on 9/11 reflected the CIA's spin on the world. It was filled with conjecture based on bad sources, and a few outright falsehoods. As is the case with so many CIA products, it avoided the distinction between what we know and what the U.S. government wants to believe. In doing so, it gave the impression that we know things that we do not.
Here are a few illustrations.
The program claims that in the 1980s, Peshawar was swarming with CIA agents. In fact, there were exactly zero in direct contact with the Mujahideen there (or anywhere else). The Islamabad CIA station had one-and-a-half full-time staff working on Afghanistan, and did so exclusively through Pakistan's security service, the ISI. This was agency policy. The first introductions between CIA officers and the Mujahideen were not even made until October 1984.
The program quoted the CIA line that Osama bin Laden escaped to Pakistan. Not only is there no evidence for this, but there is no evidence of bin Laden's continued existence after November 2001. This, after the world's most thorough manhunt. The several bin Laden tapes have never been credible, and no reputable person claims to have seen him.
National Geographic gave the impression that bin Laden was the focal point, the deus ex machina, of anti--U.S. terrorism. This is the CIA's view, rooted in an eagerness to exonerate Third Word governments from responsibility for terrorism. The CIA would have us believe that private entities like al-Qaeda manipulate vast state intelligence services—not the other way around. Not surprisingly, the CIA draws evidence for this view from the intelligence services of states like Syria, Egypt, and yes, until 2003, Iraq. These state agencies dish up intelligence from terrorists outfits because they have infiltrated every one. They manipulate the groups against other state rivals and against us. And yet the CIA still assumes the information is disinterested.
The CIA's principal fault in its intelligence collection has always been that its "case officers," who are not actually agents, play at intelligence. Case officers have neither the policies, the skills, nor the courage to undertake real undercover work. And so they take what they are told and call it good.
Experience demonstrates that the CIA often thinks it has the upper hand while being taken for a ride by foreign services—hostiles and "friendlies" alike. When we have actually come upon intelligence windfalls, like Germany's Stasi files, we have discovered that nearly all the CIA's agents were actually were working for the other side. Most recently, the CIA's vaunted ROCKSTARS operation in Iraq—on the basis of which part of the April 2003 attack was planned—turns out to have been managed by Saddam.
The role of states in terrorism—Iraq, Syria, Iran, the PLO—is at the heart of disputes over U.S. foreign policy. Yet the CIA has bent over backwards to deny their role. The program reflects this. It first states that Ramzi Youssef arrived in the U.S. "with a perfectly forged Iraqi passport." The photocopy we have, however, shows no evidence of forgery, meaning that the guy came from Baghdad (and returned there) as someone known and accepted by the Iraqi authorities. Why believe—the CIA's and the program's unspoken assumption—that he's neither Ramzi Youssef nor Iraqi?
According to the CIA (accepted by National Geographic) his real name and unforged identity are supposedly reflected in the Kuwaiti document he presented to New York's Pakistani consulate while obtaining the passport he used to leave the U.S. after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. And it is only on the basis of that presumed identity (one Abdul Karim), that he can be believed to be—as CIA believes and the program stated—Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's nephew. The trouble is that Karim's document says that he's is 5' 8" tall, whereas Ramzi Youssef, sitting in the federal pen in Colorado, is 6' tall.
The program mentions that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's interrogation "provided details" of the 9/11 plot. Embellishment is more accurate. He shed light on nothing. He talked a lot about bin Laden's alleged day--to-day involvement, but everything we independently know points to him as the plot's director. In fact, Mohammed, along with Youssef/Karim, were involved in the conspiracy before either met bin Laden. The money for both came from another of Mohammed's "nephews." Why did they do it? The program suggests Islamic motives. But neither Mohammed's nor Youssef lived Islamic lives. Because bin Laden told them? But they were doing it before.
There is no doubt that a number of Islamic radicals were recruited for the plot. It is not clear by whom, with what understanding, or with what documentation. But one thing is beyond doubt, and it wasn't mentioned in the program: According to surveillance cameras, the faces of nine or so of the hijackers who boarded the planes of September 11 did not correspond to the names on their visas. In fact, one Saudi identified as a hijacker called a TV station to say that he was alive, had nothing to do with the plot, and had reported his passport stolen in Denver two years before.
The National Geographic program not only left out key information, but reaffirmed the impression—entirely misleading—that terrorism has nothing to do with states. The CIA's continues to press this point onto the American people. We can only wish that the agency worked as craftily with America's enemies.
Edited by Alex Constantine
Contents of this post:
1) Reviewers who applaud National Geographic's "sledge-hammer" debunking of 9/11 "conspiracy theorists"
2) The National Geographic Channel is controlled by Rupert Murdoch
3) National Geographic, "Voice of the CIA"
4) The CIA's Rupert Murdoch (& Ted Shackley)
5) Claremont Institute - A Dismissive Review: "National Geographic's recent special on 9/11 reflected the CIA's spin on the world"
1) Reviewers who applaud National Geographic's "sledge-hammer" debunking of 9/11 "conspiracy theorists"From: "National Geographic 9/11 special- the final nail in the coffin for 9/11 Troof"
"Pretty much every claim made by Truthers was debunked so thoroughly and easily, I almost felt bad for the anti-American bastards! ... "
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message871872/pg1
From: "National Geographic Dismantles Truther Mythology - Wth A Sledgehammer"
By Pilgrim
September 1, 2009
" .... I’m not going to review the whole program, but I will say this - they [producers of the National Geographic's special on 9/11 conspiracy theories] made the Truthers look like what they are - tinfoil hat wearing, babbling conspiracy minded fools who can’t accept the fact that this country has murderous enemies and George Bush didn’t kill all those people on 9/11. ... "
http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/national_geographic_dismantles_truther_mythology_-_wth_a_sledgehammer/
TV review|Truthers couldn't be further from the truth
Miami Herald
" ... 9/11: Science and Conspiracy is frontal assault on the truthers, a magnificent coupling of forensic science and investigative journalism. Using high-tech experiments, computer modeling, archival video and interviews with experts and witnesses, the documentary blows up, one by one, the underpinnings of their fanciful arguments. ... "
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/story/1207110.html
National Geographic TV Debunks 9/11 Conspiracy Theories
" ... This should be required viewing for all Truthers. National Geographic Channel will be airing a program on Monday evening that will debunk the conspiracies. Aptly named '9/11: Science and Conspiracy,' the special aims to address truther wackos like Rosie O'Donnell."
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/08/31/national-geographic-tv-debunks-911-conspiracy-theories/
****
2) National Geographic Channel is Controlled by Rupert Murdoch
VIEWER BEWARE:
National Geographic Channel and 9/11 Propaganda
By Christopher Bollyn
24 March 2006
http://www.erichufschmid.net/Bollyn_NationalGeographic.html
who are Jonathan Towers and National Geographic Channel?
Jonathan Towers grew up in a suburb of New York and is a 1982 graduate of Yale University. Fleshing Out Skull & Bones (2003) by Kris Millegan lists Mr. Towers as a 1982 initiate of Yale's super-secret elitist fraternity known as The Order of Skull & Bones.
President George W. Bush belongs to this secret and powerful fraternity, as does his father and grandfather. Sen. John F. Kerry is also a member.
The National Geographic Channel, which carries the program, is primarily controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which might lead one to ask which nation is meant by "national."
Murdoch, the Australian-born owner of FOX News, owns nearly 67 percent of the National Geographic Channel in the United States and 50 percent of National Geographic Channel International (NGCI).
Asked about the propagandistic nature of the "Inside 9/11" film, Dan Saunders, director of marketing for NGCI told AFP: "We have a licensing agreement to broadcast under the brand of National Geographic. Editorially we have to respect the traditions and values of the National Geographic Society." Asked if he was concerned that Muslims and Arab viewers would be incensed by the content of the 9/11 series, Saunders said, "We have a non-political view of the world." That is, however, clearly not the case with "Inside 9/11," which seeks to place the entire blame for the events of 9/11 on Islamic terrorists.
Murdoch, it should be noted, is known for his support of Israeli right-wing politicians of the Likud Party, especially Binyamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Murdoch openly advocates a pro-war position which has been echoed by the editorial managers of the nearly 200 newspapers and many television networks he controls.
Murdoch is also known for having produced a 2000 program called "The Lone Gunman," in which a passenger jet was remotely hijacked and flown at the World Trade Center with the intention of crashing it into the building. The uncanny similarities between the Murdoch film and the subsequent events of 9/11 is a subject American Free Press has investigated, but one which has been completely ignored by the controlled press.
The media tycoon is a known acquaintance of both Larry Silverstein and Frank Lowy, the well-insured lease holders of the World Trade Center property.
****
3) National Geographic, "Voice of the CIA"
The National Geographic appears to have become the mouthpiece of the CIA. Just before 9 11, the National Geographic was preparing maps and an article on Afghanistan.
If you want to know which countries the Pentagon is about to invade, look at the National Geographic. The latest edition of the magazine, dated November 2004, has an article on the "Geography of Terror." The article, written by Walter Laqueur who recently retired from the Kissinger Chair at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, seems full of obvious disinformation.
The article refers to a number of countries:
Ireland – the article fails to mention US financing of terror groups, and the allegation that most of the worst incidents were the work of the UK security services.
Europe – the article fails to mention the CIA links to the terror which hit Italy in the 1980s. Remember the bombs in railway stations that ‘were the work of fascist groups with CIA connections’.
Indonesia – the article fails to mention (1) the CIA terror used to topple President Sukarno and then President Suharto (2) the US training of the generals who have been associated with terror in East Timor, the Spice Islands and elsewhere (3) the links between the US trained Indonesian military and ‘Moslem’ terror groups such as Laskar Jihad (4) the alleged involvement of the Indonesian military in the Bali bomb.
Palestine – the article does not make it clear that (1) the Palestinians were driven from their land by Jewish terrorist groups (2) the Israelis initially aided Hamas in order to weaken Arafat (3) the USA supports Israel in its occupation of Palestinian land and defiance of UN resolutions and in its possession of weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq – the article fails to mention the body of evidence that Saddam was a CIA agent and was put into power by the USA.
Al Qaeda – the article promotes the myth of al Qaeda. It fails to mention (1) the bin Laden links to the Bush family (2) bin Laden’s Jewish mother (3) bin Laden’s death in December 2001 (4) the controlled explosions that brought down the Twin Towers on 9 11 (5) the training of the alleged hijackers at US military bases.
http://drewhempel.gnn.tv/blogs/13595/National_Geographic_is_CIA_Stooge
****
4) The CIA's Rupert Murdoch (& Ted Shackley)
As I have tried to impress upon one and all with bumper-sticker clarity: RUPERT MURDOCH IS A CIA PROPAGANDIST. This is mentioned NOWHERE and should be acknowledged EVERYWHERE. Conformist, CIA-programmed, status quo thinking doesn't begin to notice reality. An individual capable of independent thought begins by looking for telltale signs, say blood-thirsty CIA jackal Ted Shackley, who "had a good relationship with Murdoch when he was CIA station chief in Australia between 1972-75. This was around the time that Murdoch's fortunes changed."
http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=5818&name=Theodore-Shackley
Murdoch's partner, Peter Abeles, a Mafia kingpin, started up Australia's Nugan Hand Bank, the CIA's money laundering front.
And you consider: Perhaps the hideous Rupert Murdoch is not merely an independent "conservative" propagandist whose view of the world is parallel to General Pinochet's, but one deliberately installed to program public opinion. Could that be?
How did he really get to where he is today? No penetrating answers come from the status quo, ever.
Does anyone care that this "conservative" charlatan without a conscience is ushering in open fascist rule on a red carpet of lies?
Murdoch is a former CIA heroin importer, the kind of man Americans adore. Today, he's the beloved programmer of Good Germans everywhere. Time to demand an independent investigation of state propagandists from Langley, because America may not survive them. - AC
By Sterling Seagrave
Aug 22 2007
"Bill Casey was one of the key men in the acquisition of media after WW2. It was one of his proteges (a young German immigrant to the US) who was sent back to Germany after the war to take over Bertelsmann and build it up. Rupert Murdoch was very tight with Shackley, which is how he got launched on his global acquisitions and has now taken over the WSJ. Murdoch was running a failed national newspaper in Australia while Shackley was station chief in Oz. Then suddenly he becomes a US citizen literally overnight and goes on an endless buying spree. Shackley's pockets were infinitely deep. At the time, Murdoch was facing the likely closure of his newspaper THE AUSTRALIAN. His ticket out was Shackley. This also explains why Murdoch was allowed to break all the rules in acquisition of media in America."
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=10799&st=0&p=115393&#entry115393
CIA Fascist Ted Shackley
... When Shackley was recalled in February, 1972, he was put in charge of the CIA's Western Hemisphere Division. One of his major tasks was to undermine Philip Agee, an ex-CIA officer who was writing a book on the CIA. The book was eventually published as Inside the Company, but did not include the information that would have permanently damaged the reputation of the CIA.
Shackley also played an important role in the overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile. As his biographer, David Corn points out: "Salvador Allende died during the coup. When the smoke cleared, General Augusto Pinochet, the head of a military junta, was in dictatorial control... Elections were suspended. The press was censored. Allende supporters and opponents of the junta were jailed. Torture centers were established. Executions replaced soccer matches in Santiago's stadiums. Bodies floated down the Mapocho river. Due in part to the hard work of Shackley and dozens of other Agency bureaucrats and operatives, Chile was free of the socialists."
By 1975 he was promoted to Deputy Director of Operations, where he served under George H. W. Bush. He therefore became second-in-command of all CIA covert activity.
Shackley was a close friend of Edwin Wilson, an ex-CIA agent, who became an arms dealer. Wilson was jailed for shipping plastic explosive and detonators to Libya. Stansfield Turner, the head of the CIA, believed Shackley was closely involved in this affair and he was forced to resign. CIA chief, Richard Helms, reportedly said: Ted is what we call in the spook business a quadruple threat - Drugs, Arms, Money and Murder."
After leaving the CIA Shackley formed his own company, Research Associates International, which specialized in providing intelligence to business. He took part in the October Surprise which resulted in the American hostages in Iran being held until Ronald Reagan had defeated Jimmy Carter at the 1980 elections. Soon after Reagan was elected the hostages were released.
During the Ronald Reagan administration, Shackley and some of his former CIA friends, Thomas Clines and Richard Secord, became involved in the Iran-Contra affair. Clines was sent to prison but Shackley managed to escape prosecution. ....
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Theodore_Shackley
****
5) Claremont Institute - A Dismissive Review: "National Geographic's recent special on 9/11 reflected the CIA's spin on the world"
" ... The National Geographic program not only left out key information, but reaffirmed the impression — entirely misleading — that terrorism has nothing to do with states. The CIA's continues to press this point onto the American people. We can only wish that the agency worked as craftily with America's enemies. ... "
National Geographic Spins 9/11
By Angelo M. Codevilla
September 12, 2005
National Geographic's recent special on 9/11 reflected the CIA's spin on the world. It was filled with conjecture based on bad sources, and a few outright falsehoods. As is the case with so many CIA products, it avoided the distinction between what we know and what the U.S. government wants to believe. In doing so, it gave the impression that we know things that we do not.
Here are a few illustrations.
The program claims that in the 1980s, Peshawar was swarming with CIA agents. In fact, there were exactly zero in direct contact with the Mujahideen there (or anywhere else). The Islamabad CIA station had one-and-a-half full-time staff working on Afghanistan, and did so exclusively through Pakistan's security service, the ISI. This was agency policy. The first introductions between CIA officers and the Mujahideen were not even made until October 1984.
The program quoted the CIA line that Osama bin Laden escaped to Pakistan. Not only is there no evidence for this, but there is no evidence of bin Laden's continued existence after November 2001. This, after the world's most thorough manhunt. The several bin Laden tapes have never been credible, and no reputable person claims to have seen him.
National Geographic gave the impression that bin Laden was the focal point, the deus ex machina, of anti--U.S. terrorism. This is the CIA's view, rooted in an eagerness to exonerate Third Word governments from responsibility for terrorism. The CIA would have us believe that private entities like al-Qaeda manipulate vast state intelligence services—not the other way around. Not surprisingly, the CIA draws evidence for this view from the intelligence services of states like Syria, Egypt, and yes, until 2003, Iraq. These state agencies dish up intelligence from terrorists outfits because they have infiltrated every one. They manipulate the groups against other state rivals and against us. And yet the CIA still assumes the information is disinterested.
The CIA's principal fault in its intelligence collection has always been that its "case officers," who are not actually agents, play at intelligence. Case officers have neither the policies, the skills, nor the courage to undertake real undercover work. And so they take what they are told and call it good.
Experience demonstrates that the CIA often thinks it has the upper hand while being taken for a ride by foreign services—hostiles and "friendlies" alike. When we have actually come upon intelligence windfalls, like Germany's Stasi files, we have discovered that nearly all the CIA's agents were actually were working for the other side. Most recently, the CIA's vaunted ROCKSTARS operation in Iraq—on the basis of which part of the April 2003 attack was planned—turns out to have been managed by Saddam.
The role of states in terrorism—Iraq, Syria, Iran, the PLO—is at the heart of disputes over U.S. foreign policy. Yet the CIA has bent over backwards to deny their role. The program reflects this. It first states that Ramzi Youssef arrived in the U.S. "with a perfectly forged Iraqi passport." The photocopy we have, however, shows no evidence of forgery, meaning that the guy came from Baghdad (and returned there) as someone known and accepted by the Iraqi authorities. Why believe—the CIA's and the program's unspoken assumption—that he's neither Ramzi Youssef nor Iraqi?
According to the CIA (accepted by National Geographic) his real name and unforged identity are supposedly reflected in the Kuwaiti document he presented to New York's Pakistani consulate while obtaining the passport he used to leave the U.S. after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. And it is only on the basis of that presumed identity (one Abdul Karim), that he can be believed to be—as CIA believes and the program stated—Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's nephew. The trouble is that Karim's document says that he's is 5' 8" tall, whereas Ramzi Youssef, sitting in the federal pen in Colorado, is 6' tall.
The program mentions that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's interrogation "provided details" of the 9/11 plot. Embellishment is more accurate. He shed light on nothing. He talked a lot about bin Laden's alleged day--to-day involvement, but everything we independently know points to him as the plot's director. In fact, Mohammed, along with Youssef/Karim, were involved in the conspiracy before either met bin Laden. The money for both came from another of Mohammed's "nephews." Why did they do it? The program suggests Islamic motives. But neither Mohammed's nor Youssef lived Islamic lives. Because bin Laden told them? But they were doing it before.
There is no doubt that a number of Islamic radicals were recruited for the plot. It is not clear by whom, with what understanding, or with what documentation. But one thing is beyond doubt, and it wasn't mentioned in the program: According to surveillance cameras, the faces of nine or so of the hijackers who boarded the planes of September 11 did not correspond to the names on their visas. In fact, one Saudi identified as a hijacker called a TV station to say that he was alive, had nothing to do with the plot, and had reported his passport stolen in Denver two years before.
The National Geographic program not only left out key information, but reaffirmed the impression—entirely misleading—that terrorism has nothing to do with states. The CIA's continues to press this point onto the American people. We can only wish that the agency worked as craftily with America's enemies.
