# Has this ever happened in history, Government knows about terror attack, lets it happen to take advantage? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 26, 2023, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113 "2023-10-26T04:55:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/21 "2023-10-27T02:23:54Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > I understood something similar applied to Pearl Harbor - that the Japanese code was broken and the intelligence people knew something was coming, but the risk of showing they’d broken the codes was too high. Yep, something was coming but the USN was pretty sure is couldn’t be Pearl. Some have said FDR thought it would be the Phillipines. > [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > There was intelligence that Pearl was about to be attacked. There was also intelligence that the Japanese were going to launch an invasion onto the California beaches, or were going to invade Alaska and come down the coast. Most of the intelligence was just nonsense. Sorting through what is a real threat and what isn’t a real threat isn’t exactly an easy job. Right, I compare it to looking at a jigsaw puzzle. After the fact- it is clear from looking at the box cover, that that piece is part of a cow and goes near the barn, etc. But you see Intelligence doesnt get the box art. And their puzzle is missing a dozen key pieces, and a dozen fake pieces have been tossed in to make things worse. So, you got a fuzzy white piece- sheep? Smoke from the chimney? Clouds? > [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Later investigations by the military blamed the lack of intelligence on compartmentalization, general incompetence, confirmation bias, and a complete lack of understanding of the Japanese culture and leadership. > > The Japanese had similar intelligence failures. They were certain that the U.S. wouldn’t have the resources to rebuild their fleet in time to be of any use, and they knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that the U.S. had no stomach for war and would negotiate some sort of peace that would cede all kinds of territories in the Pacific instead of suffering through a long and costly island hopping campaign. Yeah, neither side knew what the other really meant. > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > For 9/11, there were certainly warnings that Bush and Co. (probably mainly Cheney) chose to ignore. Yeah- that _something_ was coming. Not guided passenger jet attacks into the Twin Towers. > [@Moriarty](#): > > Similarly, in the summer before the 9/11 attacks, US President George W Bush received a daily briefing entitled “Bin Laden determined to strike in U.S.”. It doesn’t mean that the government knew when and where the attack was coming. Exactly. > [@Common\_Tater](#): > > Gentlemen, as you all well know, don’t read other’s gentleman’s mail. **We did.** > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > If the U.S. had taken prudent steps, based on timely warning, to shoot down Japanese planes, and minimize damage by relocating ships, it still would have been the day of infamy, and the vote to declare war would have been exactly the same. Well, they thought they were taking prudent steps to stop sabotage. They were wrong. Intelligence is not always smart. And if our BBs had gotten to sea, they would have been sunk and not salvageable. _“Within **three months** most of the smaller ships and three of the battleships – the USS Pennsylvania, the USS Maryland, and the USS Tennessee – were either returned to service or refloated and steamed to the continental US for final repairs.”_ [Pearl Harbor resurrection: the warships that rose to fight again - CSMonitor.com](https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Decoder/2012/1207/Pearl-Harbor-resurrection-the-warships-that-rose-to-fight-again#:~:text=Recovery%20work%20started%20immediately.,continental%20US%20for%20final%20repairs). ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/22 "2023-10-27T02:31:00Z")
Yeah, the thing most people don’t realize, or at least don’t think about, is that when the _USS Arizona_ sank, its decks were barely awash. They had to basically dismantle everything above water, and leave what’s there today below the memorial. [![](https://www.worldwarphotos.info/wp-content/gallery/usa/us-navy/arizona/Wreckage_of_USS_Arizona_after_Japanese_Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor.jpg) ](https://www.worldwarphotos.info/wp-content/gallery/usa/us-navy/arizona/Wreckage_of_USS_Arizona_after_Japanese_Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/23 "2023-10-27T16:00:29Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > > > For 9/11, there were certainly warnings that Bush and Co. (probably mainly Cheney) chose to ignore. > > Yeah- that _something_ was coming. Not guided passenger jet attacks into the Twin Towers. After all, the Saudis are America’s friends and allies - heck, they even let the USA station troops there. No need to worry about a few Saudi citizens taking pilot training. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/24 "2023-10-27T19:24:07Z")
The closest example I can think of isn’t terrorist per se, but a coup d’état. With a twist. In Vietnam in 1963, Diệm and Nhu knew that some in the army were plotting a coup against them. Their brilliant scheme was to mount a fake coup to flush out the plotters and eliminate them. Instead, the soldiers assigned to mount the fake coup simply turned it into a real one, and that was the end of Diệm and Nhu. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/25 "2023-10-27T20:27:49Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > For 9/11, there were certainly warnings that Bush and Co. (probably mainly Cheney) chose to ignore. The main problem – other than not knowing of exactly _what_ was up – was that the various intelligence agencies do not like sharing with each other. By the end of 2001, some senior members of the intelligence community had started pushing for a more centralized system through which all info would be funneled. I had a source – one of those senior members on a reliable talk radio program – but [the host](https://harrisonline.com/) reorganized his website when he retired and I’ve not been able to find it again. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2023, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/26 "2023-10-28T06:41:53Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > By the end of 2001, some senior members of the intelligence community had started pushing for a more centralized system through which all info would be funneled. One of the purposes of FinCen, at least for SARS, and other financial or money laundering, terrorist financing etc info. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/27 "2023-10-29T03:54:00Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Just to head off another Pearl Harbor myth at the pass, the [14-part message](https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/PTO/Dip/Fourteen.html) which was supposed to be delivered at the same time that bombs were falling on Pearl Harbor but was delivered late due to delays in decoding was **not** a declaration of war or even a breaking off of diplomatic relations. All it said in a very longwinded manner was that Japan “consider[s] that it is impossible to reach an agreement through further negotiations” which had already been at an impasse for quite some time. How is that NOT a declaration of war? Am I missing some diplomatic nuance? "Hey @Dissonance, I don’t think we can come to an agreement anymore by talking to each other. Also, I am bombing your house and wrecking your ability to defend yourself. But, this is NOT a declaration of war! Just want to be clear about that. If you declare war then that’s on you and your doing. Best, @Whack-a-Mole " Not sure how that works. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/28 "2023-10-29T05:51:46Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Hey @Dissonance, I don’t think we can come to an agreement anymore by talking to each other. Also, I am bombing your house and wrecking your ability to defend yourself. But, this is NOT a declaration of war! Just want to be clear about that. If you declare war then that’s on you and your doing. Not being able to talk on agreed terms would describe, say, USA and Russia, USA and China, and multiple other situations which are not war. Surprisingly, for diplomatic language at least, it means exactly what it says - we are at an impasse and further discussion from our positions is. pointless. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/29 "2023-10-29T11:18:05Z")
The key difference here it actually attacking the other. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/30 "2023-10-29T13:40:39Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > I understood something similar applied to Pearl Harbor - that the Japanese code was broken and the intelligence people knew something was coming, but the risk of showing they’d broken the codes was too high. OTOH, as a counter to that, they did defend Midway a few months later based on intercepts. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be any more incorrect. First, the Japanese used many different codes during the war, of course. But mostly we talk about two codes. The diplomatic code [Purple](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_B_Cipher_Machine) which was completely broken by the US, and in fact we could decode and read their encrypted messages faster than the diplomats. The other well-known code was the Japanese navy code JN25 for communication and control which was introduced in June 1939. It wasn’t until 1941 that US codebreakers could even understand the basics of the structure of the code, but they were completely unable to read any of the messages themselves. > [@](#): > > John Tiltman with some help from Alan Turing (at GCSB) had “solved” JN25 by 1941, i.e. they knew that it was a five-digit code with a codebook to translate words into five digits and there was a second “additive” book that the sender used to add to the original numbers “But knowing all this didn’t help them read a single message”. > > By April 1942 JN25 was about 20 percent readable, so codebreakers could read “about one in five words” and traffic analysis was far more useful. [13] Tiltman had devised a (slow; neither easy nor quick) method of breaking it and had noted that all the numbers in the codebook were divisible by three.[14] “Breaking” rather than “solving” a code involves learning enough code words and indicators so that any given message can be read. [15] It’s actually much more complicated than this summary, but it’s a commonly believed myth that by Midway the US was “reading” IJN messages, similar to what we were doing with Purple, where in reality, they were trying to put together enough bits of a puzzle to attempt to guess what was happening. Even by Midway, there were disagreements between Station Hypo in Hawaii and Station NEGAT Washington as to the target of the attack. This is where the famous ruse to prove the target was Midway came in. Not to convince Nimitz, but to convince Washington. Even had the US been better at breaking codes before the way, these war plans would not have been sent by radio, rather, delivered in person or over landlines. It wasn’t until after the war started that there was both enough radio traffic by the Japanese and resources for the US to allow the codebreakers to make more progress. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/31 "2023-10-29T13:55:19Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > The key difference here it actually attacking the other. But they had not attacked America at that point. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/32 "2023-10-29T14:15:44Z")
The 1999 bombings in Moscow, were at the very least allowed to happen by the FSB in order to trigger a war with Chechnya, and aid Putins rise to dictator (and quite likely just carried out directly by them, as a literal false flag operation) > **[Two Decades On, Smoldering Questions About The Russian President's Vault To...](https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-russia-president-1999-chechnya-apartment-bombings/30097551.html)** > > Weeks after Vladimir Putin was plucked out of relative obscurity and named successor to Boris Yeltsin, Russia was panicked by a string of apartment building bombings that killed hundreds in Moscow and elsewhere. Twenty years later, there is still no... ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/33 "2023-10-29T14:39:59Z")
So there a lot of blurred lines here. What is very common is you have some radical underground political organization carrying our acts of terror, and it turns our that actually the organization had been infiltrated from top to bottom with agents. And in fact the people who had been the most radical and pushing to carry our more violent acts were the ones who were working for the government. Where does letting acts of terror happen to protect your informant become letting them happen for political reasons? Two examples of this that come to mind off the top of my head: Various anti-tzarist revolutionaries, eg: [Yevno Azef - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevno_Azef) British agents in the various northern Irish terror organizations during the troubles: eg: [Stakeknife - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakeknife) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/34 "2023-10-29T14:52:45Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > What is very common is you have some radical underground political organization carrying our acts of terror, and it turns our that actually the organization had been infiltrated from top to bottom with agents. And in fact the people who had been the most radical and pushing to carry our more violent acts were the ones who were working for the government. That seems a False Flag attack which the OP excluded. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/35 "2023-10-29T14:56:10Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > That seems a False Flag attack which the OP excluded I mean it’s definitely a blurred line. I mean if the informant is directly taking orders to carry out a specific attack, but it’s normally more complicated than that, they probably informed their handlers that the attack was going to happen, and they choose to let it happen. Is that protecting their informant or letting the attack happen for political reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/36 "2023-10-30T00:55:39Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > > [@Dissonance](#): > > > > Just to head off another Pearl Harbor myth at the pass, the [14-part message](https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/PTO/Dip/Fourteen.html) which was supposed to be delivered at the same time that bombs were falling on Pearl Harbor but was delivered late due to delays in decoding was **not** a declaration of war or even a breaking off of diplomatic relations. All it said in a very longwinded manner was that Japan “consider[s] that it is impossible to reach an agreement through further negotiations” which had already been at an impasse for quite some time. > > How is that NOT a declaration of war? Am I missing some diplomatic nuance? > > "Hey @Dissonance, I don’t think we can come to an agreement anymore by talking to each other. Also, I am bombing your house and wrecking your ability to defend yourself. But, this is NOT a declaration of war! Just want to be clear about that. If you declare war then that’s on you and your doing. Best, @Whack-a-Mole " > > Not sure how that works. Seriously? It’s not diplomatic nuance, it’s how the English language works, and your example bears no relation whatsoever to the events that occurred. The 14-part message was actually a non-message, as the war warnings I’ve fully posted here clearly show: - “Chances of favorable outcome of negotiations with Japan very doubtful.” - “Negotiations with Japan looking toward stabilization of conditions in the Pacific have ceased and an aggressive move by Japan is expected within the next few days.” - "Negotiations with Japan appear to be terminated to all practical purposes with only the barest possibilities that the Japanese Government might come back and offer to continue. " All the 14-part message stated was the blindingly obvious, that the negotiations that Japan had already stopped were stopped. What didn’t make it a declaration of war is that there was no declaration that a state of war now existed between Imperial Japan and the US. Again, no diplomatic nuance, that’s how language works. [This](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_declaration_of_war_on_the_United_States_and_the_British_Empire) is the text of the Japanese declaration of war on the United States and the British Empire that was delivered by publishing it in Japanese newspapers 7 1/2 hours after Pearl Harbor had been bombed (and incidentally was republished on the 8th of every month the war went on). I’ll only quote the first two paragraphs, note how blindingly simple and specific the second sentence is, bolding mine: > We, [by the grace of Heaven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_the_Grace_of_God), [Emperor of Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_of_Japan), seated on the [throne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysanthemum_Throne) occupied by [the same dynasty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_House_of_Japan) from time immemorial, enjoin upon ye, Our loyal and brave subjects: > > **We hereby [declare War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war) on the [United States of America](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) and the [British Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire)**. The men and officers of [Our Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Japanese_Army) and [Navy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Japanese_Navy) shall do their utmost in prosecuting the war. Our public servants of various departments shall perform faithfully and diligently their respective duties; the entire nation with a united will shall mobilize their total strength so that nothing will miscarry in the attainment of Our war aims. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/37 "2023-10-30T13:55:58Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Seriously? So, bombing Pearl Harbor (not to mention engaging the US in the Philippines) was not a de-facto declaration of war? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/38 "2023-10-30T14:28:54Z")
Of course not. A declaration of war is an entirely optional _de jure_ form. It’s not an actual prerequisite for initiating or waging war. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/39 "2023-10-30T16:06:34Z")
Again, seriously? What part of this: > [@Dissonance](#): > > Things had long since passed that point by December 1941; war was expected, considered imminent, and that it would be launched without any notice was considered extremely likely given Imperial Japan’s history of starting the war first and declaring war afterwards (Russo-Japanese War, Sino-Japanese War). Could you not understand? The myth around the 14-part message is that it was a declaration of war that was supposed to be delivered as the bombs started falling. It wasn’t. It was a banal non-message saying nothing in long form. You’ve already been provided with the text of the actual declaration of war delivered by Japan via publication of it in Japanese newspapers 7 1/2 hours after the attack had occurred. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113/40 "2023-10-30T16:35:08Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Of course not. A declaration of war is an entirely optional _de jure_ form. It’s not an actual prerequisite for initiating or waging war. As Churchill said, “When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ever-happened-in-history-government-knows-about-terror-attack-lets-it-happen-to-take-advantage/992113.md?page=3)