Is Gideon Rachman a twat?

It’s one of his pieces and you just can’t get anymore willfully ignorant than this (if that is, indeed what it is)………..

Revealed: the hidden story behind conspiracy theories

By Gideon Rachman

Published: July 31 2007 03:00 | Last updated: July 31 2007 03:00

Conspiracy theorists have a bad reputation. They are usually portrayed as  paranoid, isolated, deluded people, best avoided.

It is true that there are many sinister and unpleasant conspiracy theories.  These are usually the ones that seek to blame all the world’s ills on a single  racial or social group – Jews, Catholics, Freemasons.

But there are also conspiracy theories that are delightfully dotty. A friend  in Ankara tells me many Turks are convinced that, during the cold war, the  Russians infested the Sea of Marmara with a sturgeon-devouring predator that  sent these valuable fish fleeing into the Russian bit of the Black Sea – thus  allowing the Russians to control the world’s supply of caviar. That is a theory  worthy of James Bond.

The idea that conspiracy theorists are an isolated bunch, on the fringes of  society, is also wide of the mark. Some theories are so widely believed that  they are now almost mainstream. A recent BBC opinion poll suggested that only 43  per cent of Britons accept the official verdict that the car crash that killed  Diana, Princess of Wales, was an accident. The countless “9/11″ conspiracy  theories also have a surprisingly wide audience – even in America. A Zogby poll  last year found that 42 per cent of Americans think the US government is  “covering up” facts about the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001.

Why do conspiracy theories command such a wide audience?

I have my own theory about that. There are four environments that

help to create and sustain paranoia about secret plots. There are closed  societies – typified in the Middle

East. There are divided societies, such as the US and Spain. There are  countries with a genuinely conspiratorial elite, such as Russia. And finally,  even in government, there are certain types of people who are natural conspiracy  theorists.

The Middle East is particularly fertile ground for people peddling theories  about plots. Ahmad Ashraf, an Iranian academic, says that Persians “have relied  on conspiracy theories as a basic mode of understanding politics and history”.  Given their history, this is understandable to a degree. There really was a  successful Central Intelligence Agency plot to overthrow the Iranian government  in 1953. Other Middle Eastern countries have similar tales to tell. The  Anglo-French Suez invasion of 1956 fits the narrative of a conspiracy theory  very neatly – there was a secret agreement and the official reason for the  intervention was a pretext.

But there is also something internal to Middle Eastern countries that may  foster conspiracy theories. A friend who visited Egypt after 9/11 reported back  that he could find almost nobody who believed that al-Qaeda had carried out the  attacks. My colleague thought that it had something to do with not having a free  press. If you start from the notion that the mainstream news is nonsense, then  almost anything could be true.

But if censorship promotes paranoia in the Middle East, how does one account  for the popularity of conspiracy theories in the US? Bumper stickers that  proclaim: “I don’t believe the liberal media” reflect the deep mistrust and  political divisions between liberals and conservatives. Who knows what The New  York Times or CNN are concealing for their own nefarious, liberal reasons?  Perhaps it is those UN-controlled “black helicopters” buzzing around in the  skies.

In Spain, the wounds of the Spanish civil war lie just beneath the surface of  democratic politics and left and right still seem capable of believing the very  worst of each other. Both sides have given vent to some pretty scurrilous  theories about the “real story” behind the Madrid terrorist bombings of  2004.

Perhaps the most conspiratorial places that I have visited are Russia and  Indonesia. In both places, the legacy of dictatorship and the existence of  powerful secret services have created a deep belief that there is always a  hidden narrative behind the official story.

Russians of all political persuasions often seem to react to any news event  by asking: “Who benefits?” So if opponents of President Vladimir Putin gain  credibility and sympathy because some of them have been murdered, perhaps Mr  Putin’s opponents have actually organised the killings themselves? And if  President Putin launched the Chechen wars after terrorist attacks in Moscow,  perhaps the Russian government itself was the hidden hand behind the  explosions?

Many Russians and students of Russia believe these theories. This can create  a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you believe that the other side is engaging in  nefarious conspiracies, it would be foolish not to do a bit of plotting and  provocation yourself.

All this suggests that conspiracy theories flourish above all among the  powerless or in undemocratic countries. But even powerful people in the free  world can be drawn to conspiracy theories. A long career in the intelligence  services can sometimes drive people slightly potty. James Jesus Angleton, a  famous head of counter-intelligence for the CIA during the cold war, eventually  came to suspect that the heads of several allied governments were KGB agents. He  compared the effort to foil Soviet espionage with being trapped in a “wilderness  of mirrors”.

When powerful people begin to see hidden narratives and plots around them,  the consequences can be dangerous. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, one of my  more conspiratorial pals told me: “Iraq did this. Take a look at Laurie  Mylroie’s book.” So I bought a copy of Ms Mylroie’s work, Saddam Hussein’s  Unfinished War Against America.

It attempted to prove that the Iraqis had been behind numerous terrorist  attacks on the US, including the first assault on the World Trade Center in  1993. But even more interesting than the contents of the book were the glowing  endorsements on the back – from people such as Paul Wolfowitz, then number two  at the defence department and Richard Perle, then chairman of the Pentagon’s  advisory board. The Mylroie thesis has now been widely debunked. But – at a  crucial moment – some important American officials bought the theory that Iraq  was the hidden hand behind terrorist attacks on America.

Many conspiracy theorists are convinced that there is a secret story behind  America’s decision to invade Iraq. It is also possible, however, that America  went to war partly because some senior officials had themselves fallen prey to a  conspiracy theory. But perhaps I am getting lost in the wilderness of  mirrors.

FT Article:  abb89ef0-3efe-11dc-bfcf-0000779fd2ac.html#axzz1b5g4HL6A

 

Let me just highlight something here for those of you that just don’t get it:

When powerful people begin to see hidden narratives and plots around them,  the consequences can be dangerous. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, one of my  more conspiratorial pals told me: “Iraq did this. Take a look at Laurie  Mylroie’s book.” So I bought a copy of Ms Mylroie’s work, Saddam Hussein’s  Unfinished War Against America.

It attempted to prove that the Iraqis had been behind numerous terrorist  attacks on the US, including the first assault on the World Trade Center in  1993. But even more interesting than the contents of the book were the glowing  endorsements on the back - from people such as Paul Wolfowitz, then number two  at the defence department and Richard Perle, then chairman of the Pentagon’s  advisory board. The Mylroie thesis has now been widely debunked. But – at a  crucial moment – some important American officials bought the theory that Iraq  was the hidden hand behind terrorist attacks on America.

Many conspiracy theorists are convinced that there is a secret story behind  America’s decision to invade Iraq. It is also possible, however, that America  went to war partly because some senior officials had themselves fallen prey to a  conspiracy theory. But perhaps I am getting lost in the wilderness of  mirrors.

 

Gideon! I refuse to call you a twat (even though this suggests you are) but you suggest Wolfowitz and Perle FELL VICTIM to a conspiracy theory?? They WROTE it (not the book, but the whole “Iraq being behind 9/11″ fiction) long before the book suggested it and guess what? They happen to be jews! So why wouldn’t Richard Perle write such a glowing review of the book? What were you saying about blaming things on a social group? But no, just like every Irishman was not a member of the IRA (but perhaps should have been, who knows?) not every jew is a zionist while zionism IS completely different to judaism as well you know. If it weren’t then how can we have Christian zionists? How can we have VP Joe Biden proclaim himself zionist? How can we have David Cameron and William Hague and a whole lot more on BOTH sides of the political spectrum proclaim themselves “Zionist”? Are they JEWS? No! They’re Zionists! Meanwhile we have the “Roman Catholic” Tony Blair as one nasty little fcuker of a Fabian Zionist corporate whore getting pimped out by the Rothschilds to make his fortune through JP Morgan!

Shut the fcuk up Gideon until you learn some shit!

“Move over, Tom Clancy; Laurie Mylroie has written the year’s thriller. Based on
a thorough examination of the evidence..”. — Richard N. Perle, Assistant
Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, 1981-1987

Perle the PNAC, neocon who went on British TV hours after the 9/11 events with Barak (the Israeli PM) screaming for the US to hit Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan etc when it was all about Bin Laden (or it was MEANT to be!) Do you think EVERYONE is gullible Gideon?

Here’s another one:

“Laurie Mylroie understands that what we do not yet know about terrorism, crime,
and war may be more important…” — Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, U.S. Ambassador to
the United Nations, 1981-1985

Now let’s look at Jeane Kirkpatrick shall we?

She was a staunch supporter of the State of Israel. Anti-Defamation League  President Abraham Foxman  issued a press release upon her passing saying that “She will be fondly remembered for her unwavering and valiant support of the State of Israel and her unequivocal opposition to anti-Semitism, especially during her tenure at the United Nations. She was always a true friend of the Jewish people.”

4941_94.htm

That’s like Abe Foxman telling me that Tony Blair is a hero! Or on the other hand, me telling Abe Foxman that Yitzhak Rabin was a hero!

Who the FCUK does Abe Foxman think he is to tell the American people (not Israeli zionists/pro zionist christian fanatics) who their heroes and heroines are? Oh yeah, I forgot, he’s a “chosen one”.

And here’s another one….

“In this … Laurie Mylroie shows that a thorough, incisive, solitary scholar
can be worth far more than battalions of bureaucrats.” — R. James Woolsey,
Director of Central Intellegence, 1993-1995

Woolsey is a member of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and was one of the signatories to the January 26, 1998 letter sent to President Clinton that called for the removal of Saddam Hussein. Of course Gideon either won’t know what PNAC is and the people who complement it (doubtful) OR he just doesn’t like to acknowledge the neocon/zionist faction because it dwells in the shadows of “Conspiracy theory”.

Within hours of the September 11 attacks, Woolsey appeared on television suggesting Iraqi complicity. In September 2002, as Congress was deliberating authorizing President Bush to use force against Iraq, Woolsey told The Wall Street Journal that he believed that Iraq was also connected to the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993.

Aye sure Gideon, ALL these people just fell for rubbish being spouted by Laurie Mylroie! Get a fricking brain man! Or better still, stop assuming your readership don’t have any!

 

Actually Gideon, I’ve reconsidered. Perhaps you are!