I'm sitting in a room lined with books and paper, writing this at a late hour. Far, far too late for anyone with a normal profession and normal interests to be up. A solitary lamp lights the corner of the room, throwing strange shadows up on the walls, not dispelling the darkness so much as creating a boundary where it cannot enter. Apart from myself, there is no-one in the room. I have a bottle of scotch in the freezer, and another four on my desk. Chilled glasses in the fridge.
You know nothing.
I'm solitary, but not alone. The demons of the past keep me company, blood-flecked smirks through the lines on my files. Police reports. Autopsies. Bank records. Diplomatic cables, especially of late. Obscure books obtained at great cost, along with political manifestos, tracts and anything digital I could steal or hack. A real political Necronomicon, a Book of Dead Names.
You know nothing.
When the morning comes, when the sky grows lighter but before the sun is truly up, the Eastern Europeans, the Poles and Lithuanians and Romanians will wake and set out for the hard work others refuse to do. But before they go, some will visit their ramshackle church on the corner, and pray for God to deliver them from evil, from demons and atheists and the New Age frauds. And in Little Beirut, the Muslims will visit their small room which passes for a mosque, and ask Allah to deliver them from Iblis and his Shayatin, from America and its British allies, from impure thoughts, from the Crusaders and the Jews and myriad ills that afflict the Ummah.
They know nothing. But they know enough to be afraid.
I will continue to work until I am tired enough to fall asleep. If I fall asleep. I'm not eating properly, I know. Lack of sleep, proper nutrition and living my life once the sun goes down has left me thin, with bags under my eyes and a sickly, pale complexion. The scotch still tastes good though, like it did when I was dicing with Kazakh playboys in Montreaux, but the sun doesn't shine like it did there. Jazz doesn't filter through the air, and unlike Lac Leman, glittering like a diamond in the background, the water here is stale and muddy. Not like back there, with its fresh and summery feel. Clean streets and beautiful views to hide ugly secrets and crusty blood. And that is the necessary environment, for the real work of a real historian, an investigator, once archives and books fail to provide necessary answers.
I knew nothing. But I learn quickly.
I'm not a spy. Or a soldier, though I've met more than enough of both to last a lifetime. But I have to get my hands dirty, regardless. Bloodless history is false history, stripped of essence and that which gives it meaning. It all comes back to blood, in the end. Empires built on the back of it, networks of power and patronage flowing through it, and human sacrifice in order to purify with it. It is also a symbol, of the power of life and death. Knowledge is also a price paid in blood. I may not have had to hang myself from a tree for nine days and nights, or give my eye, but there have been other sacrifices.
You still know nothing.
I'm wasting time. It's all in the files. Litanies to assassination and deception. Murder and torture. To blood, and secrets. The demons are in there, also. Taunting, jeering at the memories I have captured with words and photos, whispering blasphemies and lies. Trying to obscure the truth, drown it. But blood will always out.
Item: On 29th January 1979, Examining Magistrate Emilio Alessandrini assassinated by Red Brigades (Prima Linea) in Milan. Alessandrini handled investigation into Piazza Fontana bombing by right-wing terrorists, was investigating financial affairs of Roberto Calvi (P2/Banco Ambrosiano). Suggested A. Negri involved in Moro kidnap. PL reason for assassination makes no sense ("well known target", no political reasons given).
Item: In 1984, Examining Magistrate Carlo Mastelloni issues arrest warrant for Yasser Arafat, on the basis of PLO sales of arms to Red Brigades, mediated by Hyperion/Superclandestini. Also hinted that the weapons pipeline was protected by the CIA and SISMI. Arafat acquitted for lack of evidence. But SISMI representative in Beirut, Colonel Stefano Giovannone was very close to Al Fatah deputy leader Abu Ayad, aka Salah Khalaf. In 1979 Giovannone had pressured George Habbash (PFLP) to claim ownership of missiles found in Autonomia Operaia possession, in Ortona, Italy (source: Mastelloni). Giovannone also sabotaged 1981 Turin police investigation into PLO/Red Brigades arm sales by intercepting secret cable to the Beirut Embassy and tipping off the PLO, allowing them to denounce the visit as an assassination attempt (source: Mastelloni, Turin Court records). Mastelloni also discovered that Giovannone was part of a secret SISMI unit under the command of SISMI Director Giuseppe Santovito (P2 member). Also part of the unit was Colonel Silvio Di Napoli, charged with providing PLO arms to the Red Brigades, but acquitted after invoking state secrecy.
Item: PLO arrested German and Italian fascist terrorists who gave advance warning of Bologna bombing, training in Lebanon with Falangist forces near Aqura in July 1980. Some of the arrested were questioned by Italian investigators from SISMI. Abu Ayad provided the information.
Item: Arthur John Shawcross, drafted by US Army in April 1967. Army records show he was "in the rear with the gear", but Shawcross claimed to have served in a combat role, and to have cannibalized victims. He also claimed to have seen American soldiers skinned by Vietcong. After returning from Vietnam, he displayed violent and pyrophillic behaviour, leading to an honourable discharge. In New York, Shawcross was sentenced to 22 months for burglary and arson, only to be released on parole. In 1972, Shawcross sexually assaulted and murdered 10 year old Jack Owen Blake. Four months later he raped and killed 8 year old Karen Ann Hill. Was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment under a plea bargain (where he would reveal the location of Jack Blake's body). He was released again on parole in April 1987. He begun killing again in March 1988, raping and murdering 11 women over a 9 month period. During his trial, the defense tried to prove Shawcross was innocent through insanity. His Army medical files were sealed and refused to the defense team, though scans of his brain showed symmetrical scarring – not from natural causes but surgery. Shawcross claimed voices in his head ordered him to kill. What was Shawcross' actual military experience? What surgery did he have to his brain?
Item: William F. Buckley's death. Buckley seized papers and communications of Dr Donald Ewen Cameron, who did MK-Ultra research for the CIA on unwilling subjects in Canada and whose findings were used in the making of the KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation Manual. Betrayed by ex-SAVAK officer in Beirut. After seven months in captivity of Islamic Jihad, he was described as "a gibbering wretch. His words were often incoherent; he slobbered and drooled and, most unnerving of all, he would suddenly scream in terror, his eyes rolling helplessly and his body shaking. ...". Did Islamic Jihad reverse engineer techniques developed by Cameron and kept hidden by Buckley?
Item: According to Victor Ostrovsky, former Mossad officer, Israel had advance warning of the Beirut Marine Barracks bombing, via an informant who worked at a garage and had been asked by Hezbollah to modify the vehicle to carry more explosives. Mossad decided to not pass on the information in revenge for US-French-Italian intervention in Beirut, which had come about due to IDF and Falangist mass killings in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. It was also felt it was not worth losing such an informant, when he may later save Israeli lives, but that American lives were expendable.
Item: As of February 15th 2011, the case against the now deceased Bruce Ivins for the 2001 Anthrax attacks is dead in the water. The National Academy has heavily criticized the FBI's scientific evidence which supposedly gave "definitive" evidence against him. The 2001 attacks were important in building a case for war in Iraq (CBS news repeatedly speculated Saddam Hussein had a part in the attacks). Unanswered questions: which "high ranking government officials" warned Roger Cohen and other well known journalists to start taking Cipro after 9/11 but before the anthrax attacks started? Who managed to get the weaponized anthrax out of Fort Detrick, if not Ivins?
Item: From the NYT, 24/12/2010 – CIA attempted to hide their relationship with the Tinner family, who were an integral part of A.Q. Khan's nuclear weapons smuggling network. CIA claimed to have used the Tinner's to introduce flaws into various nuclear weapons and equipment, which were sold to Libya, North Korea and Iran (among others). See also: Sibel Edmonds and her claims of a US-Turkish-Pakistani illegal nuclear arms triangle.
Item: quote from Seymour Hersh, 30th July 2008, concerning Dick Cheney "There was a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war. The one that interested me the most was why don't we build — we in our shipyard — build four or five boats that look like Iranian PT boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up... it was rejected because you can't have Americans killing Americans. That's the kind of — that's the level of stuff we're talking about. Provocation. But that was rejected."
Item: On September 22nd 1999, hexogen explosives were planted in a Ryazan apartment block by men driving a Moscow-registered white Zhiguli automobile, with the licence plate T534 VT 77 RUS. Ryazan Oblast specialist police disabled the explosives before they could go off. A 1,200 strong manhunt was put in place by regional police, which included roadblocks and spot checks. On September 24th, the FSB claimed to have been carrying out "training operations" in Ryazan, despite earlier statements that this was a failed Chechen terrorist attack by several high-ranking individuals, including the head of anti-terrorist operations against the Chechens, Vladimir Rushailo. Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who has good links with the security services, was unaware of any "training operations" by the FSB. The local UFSB were also not aware of any "training operations". The FSB also claimed the bags of sugar were just sugar, despite independent testing confirming hexogen vapours as present in the bags. A local telephone company logged a suspicious call after the launch of the police manhunt, which went "Leave one at a time, there are patrols everywhere". The call came from Moscow and the number was traced to an FSB office in Moscow. On September 23rd, the car was found abandoned, halfway between Ryazan and Moscow. Later on in the year, more sacks of "sugar" containing hexogen were discovered at the military depot of the 137th Ryazan Regiment. The soldiers who discovered the cache were questioned by the FSB.
Item: On June 30th 1947, French Socialist Minister of the Interior Edouard Depreux revealed the existence of Plane Bleu, a covert operation organized by the CIA and British intelligence to prevent the Communists from coming to power, and funded by private donors, such as the Peugeot brothers. According to Depreux, a plan for a military coup d'etat was planned for the summer of 1947. Among the arrested conspirators was Earl Edme de Vulpian. His castle was found to contain "heavy weapons, battle orders and operation plans". A key component of the plans for a coup included escalating tension by carrying out bombing attacks and blaming them on the far left. A plan to assassinate De Gaulle was found among these documents, according to Secret Service expert Roger Faligot.
Item: The CCC (Fighting Communist Cells) in Belgium were a "far-left" terrorist group that carried out 27 terrorist attacks in a one year period between October 1984 and December 1985, bombing American NATO installations, banks and Belgian military bases. The group had been armed, at least in part, by weapons stolen from the Vielsalm police station, which was attacked by US Special Forces based in the UK and assisted by Belgian SDRA8 personnel, masquerading as terrorists. It transpired that Pierre Carette, the leader of the CCC, had founded a far-right terrorist network at the start of the 1980s, and at least one of Carette's associates later went on to join extremist right-wing German groups.
You know nothing. But you know a little.
I worry for my sanity. Even the most simple of investigation leads to dark and dangerous places. A socialist politician is assassinated in Belgium. The gendarmes who investigate it are good men, among the best, and as a consequence, have their investigation hampered, sabotaged and ultimately closed without resolution. So I wonder and look at their other cases. And I find a smiling monster, who kidnaps, rapes and murders young girls. Nothing so unusual about that in these dark days. Except he did all of this while under police surveillance. Except than an associate of his said some of what he did was not pathological, but the girls were kidnapped "to order". Except a woman came forward and named individuals linked to this monster, who abused her. Men who were members of exclusive clubs. A club where an employee claims "unusual" sexual appetites were sated, if large enough sums of cash changed hands. A clientele linked with the fascist underground. A fascist underground linked to robberies, unexplained terrorist attacks, unsolved assassinations and a secret NATO program, supposedly disbanded. A NATO program run out of basements in Langley and Arlington County. Basements in Langley that have protected child traffickers before.
I know enough to worry.
I'm tired. So tired I can barely stand straight, barely feel afraid. I keep lists upon lists, knowing full well they will amount to nothing. This is not even a fraction of a fraction of what I know, what I have discovered or put together. But judges die as easily as anyone else. Prosecutors are not immune to car bombs, or knives in the back in dark alleyways.
As a consequence, they know nothing. Or know enough to know there are cases one does not take.
I watch talking heads on TV, pushing their mindless propaganda, their partisan talking points. They do not even have the attention span for a 24 hour news-cycle without the help of executive assistants and legions of "researchers", whose expertise is quotes out of context and demonization. They definitely do not have the requisite character traits for deep research. For examining horror without flinching, or running away, or ascribing it in totality to their political enemies. I see the journalists in the "serious" newspapers, encouraging ridicule at the very idea of government engaging in covert operations and lying to the public, while they aided and abetted in the propaganda effort for invading a country that never attacked us, to disarm it of weapons it never had, so it could not pass it on to terrorists who it never cooperated with. I watch the political scientists, captured in their logical towers, fascinated by the abstractions they paint in mirrors, not realizing the importance of studying "anomalies". Or worse, acting as hired guns for their chosen patrons, patrolling and disciplining the academies.
They most certainly know nothing.
I see the pathetic, whimpering and paranoid "conspiracy theorists" on their internet forums and their Youtube videos. I watch as they rave about collapsing towers and death lasers and Bohemian Grove and the Council on Foreign Relations and they import anti-Semitic tropes into their diatribes against internationalism, against banks, against their every imagined enemy. I watch as they fail to see what is right under their nose, in the "lamestream media" they so despise, with its investigative journalists who have uncovered more government secrets than a legion of paranoiacs with unhealthy fixations on Alex Jones. I watch as they scratch their heads in confusion if someone were to mention "Licio Gelli" or "Operation Piano Solo", while claiming exclusive access to the truth and damning all those who disagree as paid shills. As if government needs to pay for disinformation.
They have chosen to know nothing. And so are doomed to irrelevance and paranoid fantasies.
I listen to H.P Lovecraft, as he gently mocks my pretensions. I wanted truth, as he points out, and I got it. I should have known better, he chides. The truth may not set one free, merely drive one to the limits of sanity and decency, as one learns of all the new ways in which mankind has learnt to kill and revel and enjoy themselves. Machiavelli, ever the pragmatist, whispers that when confronted with a conspiracy, one should form another conspiracy, and strike first, for hesitation only works to the benefit of the enemy, and it is better to choose the ground for war than to have that choice taken from you. I know Wáng Jìngzé counsels spreading dissension and strife amongst my foes, hiding the knife behind a smiling face and attack through surprise and overwhelming force.
They are dead men. The dead know nothing.
There is no United States. No United Kingdom. Certainly no EU. No China, nor Russia. They are fictions, mirages. Maps are pathological liars and not to be trusted. No. There is a Pentagon, however. A JSOC. Certainly a CIA, you can believe in that. A State Department. A Propaganda Due. An MI6. An Absalom. A Gazprom and an FSB. A Laskhar al-Zil, perhaps. A state implies unity, as does a conspiracy. There is no unity, no state, no mastermind. There are just dark actors cloaked in shadows, on the edge of consciousness, manipulating, seducing and killing. Blood drowns even the coldest of beasts, in the end.
I know enough to know there is only blood. There is nothing more to learn.
Fuck me running.
I'm not sure if I could handle the world you live in, Cain.
:mittens: to the whole thing.
especially appreciated this:
QuoteI watch talking heads on TV, pushing their mindless propaganda, their partisan talking points. They do not even have the attention span for a 24 hour news-cycle without the help of executive assistants and legions of "researchers", whose expertise is quotes out of context and demonization. They definitely do not have the requisite character traits for deep research. For examining horror without flinching, or running away, or ascribing it in totality to their political enemies. I see the journalists in the "serious" newspapers, encouraging ridicule at the very idea of government engaging in covert operations and lying to the public, while they aided and abetted in the propaganda effort for invading a country that never attacked us, to disarm it of weapons it never had, so it could not pass it on to terrorists who it never cooperated with. I watch the political scientists, captured in their logical towers, fascinated by the abstractions they paint in mirrors, not realizing the importance of studying "anomalies". Or worse, acting as hired guns for their chosen patrons, patrolling and disciplining the academies.
They most certainly know nothing.
I see the pathetic, whimpering and paranoid "conspiracy theorists" on their internet forums and their Youtube videos. I watch as they rave about collapsing towers and death lasers and Bohemian Grove and the Council on Foreign Relations and they import anti-Semitic tropes into their diatribes against internationalism, against banks, against their every imagined enemy. I watch as they fail to see what is right under their nose, in the "lamestream media" they so despise, with its investigative journalists who have uncovered more government secrets than a legion of paranoiacs with unhealthy fixations on Alex Jones. I watch as they scratch their heads in confusion if someone were to mention "Licio Gelli" or "Operation Piano Solo", while claiming exclusive access to the truth and damning all those who disagree as paid shills. As if government needs to pay for disinformation.
They have chosen to know nothing. And so are doomed to irrelevance and paranoid fantasies.
It always amuses me that so many people invent conspiracy theories when there are so many real conspiracies around. Researching the real conspiracies takes a lot of work, though, unlike the other kind.
Thanks for putting your own sanity at risk so I don't have to.
:horrormittens:
:x :mittens:
PMZ,
didn't know any of that shit
Hot damn.
:x and :mittens: about sums it up.
wow
:aaa: :? :x :mittens:
I had a friend who studied this stuff. He ended up going batshit. Be careful, Cain.
:x
I am filled with a combination of "Oh, I want to know the things Cain knows" and further appreciation for what Lovecraft called the most merciful thing in the world. More of the former, though, much to my concern.
Very fascinating read, Cain.
Man, I feel like that sometimes these days and I'm not exposed to half of the horrible truths that you are. Killer piece of writing, and mad props for keeping your head.
This is not bedtime material for the weak of heart.
I read a bit of it, and it's GREAT, absolutely phenomenal writing, but I'ma have to come back to it when I can try to give it justice.
Holy shit.
Quote from: Cain on August 06, 2011, 06:54:52 PM
They are dead men. The dead know nothing.
There is no United States. No United Kingdom. Certainly no EU. No China, nor Russia. They are fictions, mirages. Maps are pathological liars and not to be trusted. No. There is a Pentagon, however. A JSOC. Certainly a CIA, you can believe in that. A State Department. A Propaganda Due. An MI6. An Absalom. A Gazprom and an FSB. A Laskhar al-Zil, perhaps. A state implies unity, as does a conspiracy. There is no unity, no state, no mastermind. There are just dark actors cloaked in shadows, on the edge of consciousness, manipulating, seducing and killing. Blood drowns even the coldest of beasts, in the end.
I know enough to know there is only blood. There is nothing more to learn.
This is great. And by great I mean terrifying.
I just spent some time with an old friend who is one of those conspiracy nuts. I don't spend much time with him anymore, partially for that reason. I simply cannot sit there while he goes on and on about how the problems with the economy is part of some sinister plan of a small group sitting in some dark room to create The One World Government. As if they were competent enough, as though the scope of such people would reach that far, that stupidly.
I don't even come close to grasping these things fully. I may know nothing, but I know enough that it's all I can do to not stand up and start shouting in people's face when they start talking about Zeitgeist that there is indeed worse things out there than their toy paranoia allows.
I can't find the smiley to do it justice. Really phenomenal writing.
This is excellent writing, Cain. Real powerful shit.
Holy crap.
Just when I thought I had an idea how bad it really is...
:mittens:
Your words took me to dark places where red embers always glow in pairs that can only be the eyes of the Watchers, making sure none approach too close or uncover too much.
Damn glad I read this during the day and not at night.
Most outstanding, sir.
Wow.
:mittens:
that is a fantastic piece of writing
That was amazing. I'm going to send this link to the head editor of that fringe magazine I volunteer at. I bet he'll get a kick out of it (if that's okay with you, Cain--just for him to read, if he wants to do anything else with it, I'll ask you first. he's away till Monday anyway)
:mittens:
Man, I should go camping more often if I'm going to come back to writing like this.
Your piece makes me think of "The Wire," because it's the most vivid illustration I have of how corruption actually works.
Aren't you worried that someone will come after you for investigating these things?
:mittens:
Be careful out there. Men like you are an endangered species. You are to be protected, though it sounds like you know that and take care of yourself for the most part...but still. Have a care, Cain.
And thank you for sharing with us what you have discovered. As painful as it is for all to witness.