# Inspired by the thread: "JFK conspiracy.." Try debunk this one. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 24, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071 "2003-02-24T02:51:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Henry\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d78d45/32.png) [@Henry\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henry_B)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/1 "2003-02-24T02:51:38Z")
[http://www.korpios.org/resurgent/L-overclass.html](http://www.korpios.org/resurgent/L-overclass.html) > [@](#): > > The origins of this machine, interestingly enough, can be traced back to the CIA. This is not to say the machine is a formal CIA operation, complete with code name and signed documents. (Although such evidence may yet surface — and previously unthinkable domestic operations such as MK-ULTRA, CHAOS and MOCKINGBIRD show this to be a distinct possibility.) But what we do know already indicts the CIA strongly enough. Its principle creators were Irving Kristol, Paul Weyrich, William Simon, Richard Mellon Scaife, Frank Shakespeare, William F. Buckley, Jr., the Rockefeller family, and more. Almost all the machine’s creators had CIA backgrounds. It is a long one, but I think it is quite easy to Google: MK-ULTRA, CHAOS and MOCKINGBIRD. The story is quite long, but this I found very interesting. (As some of You know, I have been very critical to the US mass-media). > [@](#): > > MOCKINGBIRD was extraordinarily successful. In no time, the agency had recruited at least 25 media organizations to disseminate CIA propaganda. > At least 400 journalists would eventually join the CIA payroll, according to the CIA’s testimony before a stunned Church Committee in 1975. (The committee felt the true number was considerably higher.) > The names of those recruited reads like a Who’s Who of journalism: > > Philip and Katharine Graham (Publishers, Washington Post) > William Paley (President, CBS) > Henry Luce (Publisher, Time and Life magazine) > Arthur Hays Sulzberger (Publisher, N.Y. Times) > Jerry O’Leary (Washington Star) > Hal Hendrix (Pulitzer Prize winner, Miami News) > Barry Bingham Sr., (Louisville Courier-Journal) > James Copley (Copley News Services) > Joseph Harrison (Editor, Christian Science Monitor) > C.D. Jackson (Fortune) > Walter Pincus (Reporter, Washington Post) > ABC > NBC > Associated Press > United Press International > Reuters > Hearst Newspapers > Scripps-Howard > Newsweek magazine > Mutual Broadcasting System > Miami Herald > Old Saturday Evening Post > New York Herald-Tribune So what’s wrong in the article? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/2 "2003-02-24T03:32:41Z")
Nothing’s wrong, it’s all true, the CIA runs everything. The utilities companies are all run by the CIA, the internet is run by the CIA, all credit card companies, and certainly any news source, the sun and moon are on the CIA payroll, and the CIA has a copyright on the oxygen you breathe. ---
**Author:** ![coosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@coosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coosa)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/3 "2003-02-24T03:37:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven \* > \*\*Nothing’s wrong, it’s all true, the CIA runs everything. The utilities companies are all run by the CIA, the internet is run by the CIA, all credit card companies, and certainly any news source, the sun and moon are on the CIA payroll, and the CIA has a copyright on the oxygen you breathe. \*\* **Dex** , someone will be along shortly to have a ‘word’ with you. Don’t go anywhere, okay? ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/4 "2003-02-24T03:41:07Z")
Henry B is an agent of the CIA trying to through me, an agent of another branch of the CIA, off track. ---
**Author:** ![Henry\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d78d45/32.png) [@Henry\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henry_B)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/5 "2003-02-24T04:05:31Z")
Well, **Apos** , let’s not talk about this on the board. We take it at our next scheduled meeting, OK? Henry ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/6 "2003-02-24T04:18:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Henry B \* > \*\*So what’s wrong in the article? \*\* The fundamental problem is that the article makes some extraordinary charges, which would need a great deal of evidence to be taken seriously. However, no evidence at all is offered. In addition, the article includes some outright nonsense. Irving Kristol wasn’t a part of any elite. He was from a poor, Jewish immigrant family. Nor did he have anything to do with the CIA. William Simon became very wealthy due to his business success, but he was not raised as part of any rich elite. ---
**Author:** ![mystic2311](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@mystic2311](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mystic2311)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/7 "2003-02-24T10:32:57Z")
The author of the article that Henry B posted is named Steve Kangas. He was found dead in the bathroom in Richard Mellon Scaife’s building in 1999. It was ruled a suicide, but inquiring minds want to know, did Scaife assassinate Kangas? In case you don’t know who Scaife is, he is the billionaire Clinton-hater who funded the Arkansas Project and was a driving force behind Clinton’s impeachment. Details here: [http://msnoh.tripod.com/kang.html](http://msnoh.tripod.com/kang.html) ---
**Author:** ![mystic2311](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@mystic2311](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mystic2311)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/8 "2003-02-24T10:57:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven \* > \*\*Nothing’s wrong, it’s all true, the CIA runs everything. The utilities companies are all run by the CIA, the internet is run by the CIA, all credit card companies, and certainly any news source, the sun and moon are on the CIA payroll, and the CIA has a copyright on the oxygen you breathe. \*\* It’s inane replies like this that make me wonder if the Straight Dope is run by the CIA to suppress free thought by disguising prejudice as objectivity. And december, there is tons of evidence in the article, if you actually took the time to read it. The one thing the article left out is how the CIA bought ABC outright after the Ron Rewald scandal here in Hawaii. Peter Jennings did some reporting that embarassed the CIA. Bill Casey tried to get the FCC to revoke ABC’s broadcast license. That didn’t work, so he had his company, Capital Cities, buy ABC. Right after than, Peter Jennings went on the air and said, “The CIA has denied any involvement with Ron Rewald, and I have no reason to doubt them.” Another inquiry squelched. Later, Disney bought Capital Cities/ABC. [http://www.giantleap.org/envision/press.htm](http://www.giantleap.org/envision/press.htm) [http://www.fair.org/extra/9511/monop.html](http://www.fair.org/extra/9511/monop.html) Another interesting episode was when the entire Paris CIA station was deported from France for carrying out corporate espionage. One of their crimes was trying to bribe French officials to let more Disney movies into the country. [http://hootenanny.org/oldsite/disney\_rant/FMPro5.html](http://hootenanny.org/oldsite/disney_rant/FMPro5.html) Info on ABC, CIA, and Rush Limbaugh: [http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jonvwill/resurgent/L-libmedia.htm](http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jonvwill/resurgent/L-libmedia.htm) CIA control of the media is real. Thanks for posting this, Henry B. And everybody else, do your homework before you automatically discount this sort of thing. Be a human, not a freeper-bot. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/9 "2003-02-24T11:17:56Z")
If I may ask, are there any media sources in the world which _aren’t_ CIA influenced? If _eg._ the BBC or the Guardian here in the UK are relatively free from interference, how come they have never run a significant “exclusive” story which was somehow suppressed elsewhere? What might such a story comprise? _Created by Freeper unit #33579@24.2.03_ ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/10 "2003-02-24T11:32:05Z")
Please explain how the CIA controls the SDMB. Also, the best argument pertains to ABC only, not the media as a whole. I don’t reject all conspiracy claims. I’ve made a few myself. I think some evidence is being dramatically overclaimed in this case. The sources are something less than rigorous fact checkers. [sub]ATTN: LANGLEY: THE DOPE IS BURNING, I REPEAT, THE DOPE IS BURNING[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/11 "2003-02-24T11:46:48Z")
Your sources leave out key points, like any opposing views at all. For example, the claims that the CIA penetrated some anti-war groups certainly only tells [half the story](http://www.nationalreview.com/cohen/cohen103002.asp). Those groups have been connected with brutal regimes for years. > [@](#): > > **Moreover, just as in the Cold War (and especially during the Vietnam era), foreign governments may seek to manipulate and finance U.S. war protesters. Former KGB general Oleg Kalugin — who now lives in Washington, D.C. — used to smuggle bagfuls of greenbacks to finance full-page antiwar and disarmament ads in the New York Times. An entire KGB division was dedicated to running dezinformatsiya (disinformation) campaigns, and to recruiting and operating agents of influence. Efforts of this kind were staged against U.S. MX and Pershing missile deployments and in favor of a unilateral "nuclear freeze."** > > Herb Romerstein, for decades a congressional investigator of Soviet penetration of the United States, and author of Venona Secrets: Soviet Espionage and America’s Traitors, noticed the Iranian Fedaeen Organization among the participants. “They were trained by the Iraqis under Soviet supervision to topple the Shah. They participated in Khomeini’s revolution, but later were decimated by him,” he says. The Soviets may be out of the strategic-influence intelligence-operations business, but others — among them Palestinians, Iraqis, Iranians, and North Koreans — are not.[bolding mine] ---
**Author:** ![Henry\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d78d45/32.png) [@Henry\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henry_B)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/12 "2003-02-24T12:39:06Z")
Thank You yourself **mystic2311**. From the beginning I just put this as a freeper-test. (I only learned the meaning of that word yesterday.) I yhought I play along for awhile and then ask: “Do You believe that there is some “disinformation” in France, Russia, etc, from their respective govenment controlled bodies?” “Do You believe that the astronomical sums spent by CIA are only concentrated on finding out what foreigners are doing, like 911 etc.? Or planning of murdering foreigners abroad?” This might be a top secret, for some, but: **Every country has a scale from lobbying to buying media-people.** and **Every country is telling from “how nice they are - to dis-information”.** It is their fucking duty. Did You think any country leaves the most important part untouched, the home-base? Then comes **Beagle** and relieves this big secret! But, it is not just the Cold War, it is everywhere - all the time. What kind of world do You think we are living in? A free one? Show me a free country on this globe - please? May I just add that in Breshnew time the dollars was washed in Austria. Sorry, no cites, but I hope you believe me. And while we are on it, You can also begin to read the site: [thirdworldtraveler.com](http://thirdworldtraveler.com) It’s the nest of lies. 😉 “Freepers, my ass,” they do not exists - or a band name? Have a happy day. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Brian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c89c15/32.png) [@I\_Brian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Brian)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/13 "2003-02-24T12:57:44Z")
\*The reply by thhis user has been deleted in accordance with clause 17© of article 1174. We wish to apologise for this inconvenience. - The CIA - ---
**Author:** ![I\_Brian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c89c15/32.png) [@I\_Brian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Brian)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/14 "2003-02-24T12:59:42Z")
Darn CIA spelling errors! Seriously, though - you are right to a degree in your reply above. What you’re missing out on is the notion that perhaps every idea has limitations. Sure, there is “black propaganda” and attempts by various factions to manipulate information. However, the idea of a global conspiracy to hide all the cracks is more than a little hard to swallow. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/15 "2003-02-24T13:27:08Z")
Of course, **Henry** , governments the world over try their best to exert control over their own media. However, the point is that surely any given story would only be suppressed by those countries where its release would have disadvantageous consequences, and it would in fact be _released_ in countries which might profit from such consequences? Hence no matter how strong the CIA’s grip on US media, any significant story would still escape suppression by _eg._ the Guardian, Al-Jazeera _etc._? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/16 "2003-02-24T17:16:13Z")
If the CIA controls the American media, why would they allow [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) to run an article informing Americans that there are actually rules for the CIA, including the rule that says they aren’t allowed to assassinate people? [http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/gen.powell.cia/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/gen.powell.cia/index.html) > [@](#): > > White House reviewing rules governing CIA > September 16, 2001 > > WASHINGTON (CNN) – Bush administration officials are reviewing all the rules governing CIA and other intelligence activities abroad, ranging from the ban on assassinations to rules mandating that informants be checked for their criminal and human rights records, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told CNN on Sunday. > > Powell said the executive order signed in 1976 by President Gerald Ford forbidding assassination “is under review.” Critics charge lifting the order would reduce U.S. moral prestige around the world and make U.S. officials from the president down less safe. If the CIA controls the media, why would they allow [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) to run this article informing Americans that they use anthrax in their biowarfare program? [http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/12/16/cia.anthrax/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/12/16/cia.anthrax/index.html) > [@](#): > > Official: CIA uses anthrax, but no link to letters > December 16, 2001 > > WASHINGTON (CNN) – The CIA uses anthrax in its bio-warfare program but the bacteria did not make it into tainted letters sent to two U.S. senators and several news organizations, an agency official said Sunday. > > The confirmation that the CIA has anthrax comes less than a week after the U.S. Army admitted it has produced small amounts of the potentially deadly bacteria for years. If the CIA controls the media, why would they allow [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) to run this unflattering story? [http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/07/17/attacks.intelligence/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/07/17/attacks.intelligence/index.html) > [@](#): > > Report: FBI, CIA need overhaul > ‘Real gaps in performance’ says lawmaker > July 17, 2002 > > WASHINGTON (CNN) – The devastating terrorist attacks of September 11 underscore the need for major changes in the nation’s three main intelligence-gathering agencies, according to a summary of a critical congressional report. > > While the summary, released Wednesday, does not conclude that last year’s attacks could have been prevented, it does fault the CIA for failing to act on information that “proved to be directly relevant to 9/11” and said counterterrorism gaps existed before then. > > \< snip \> > > The summary also faults intelligence agencies – the CIA, the FBI and the National Security Agency – for not devising a cooperative counterterrorism mission with a single definition of terrorism. It also calls for a crackdown on leaks, saying they have done “major damage” to the intelligence community. Or this one? [http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/12/01/chat.room.firings/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/12/01/chat.room.firings/index.html) > [@](#): > > CIA shuts secret chat room, fires four > December 1, 2000 > > (CNN) – The Central Intelligence Agency has fired four employees and disciplined 18 others for using an unauthorized chat room hidden in the agency’s computer system. > > The chat room, used primarily to exchange jokes, gossip and off-color remarks, was by invitation only. Chat room users would vote on whether to accept new members, who would then pledge not to reveal the cyber room’s existence, a CIA spokesperson said Friday. > > About 160 employees were involved over the years in the chat room, which began in the mid-1980s as an unofficial users group on the mainframe. Or this one? [http://www.cnn.com/US/9908/21/cia.deutch.01/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/US/9908/21/cia.deutch.01/index.html) > [@](#): > > CIA suspends former director’s security clearance > August 21, 1999 > > WASHINGTON (CNN) – The CIA has suspended the security clearance of former director John Deutch because he kept classified files on an unsecured home computer. Or this one? [http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/09/16/deutch.pentagon/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/09/16/deutch.pentagon/index.html) > [@](#): > > Pentagon continues to investigate ex-CIA director Deutch > September 16, 2000 > > Jamie McIntyre > CNN Military Affairs Correspondent > > WASHINGTON (CNN) – Pentagon officials said Saturday there are currently two different Department of Defense investigations under way involving former CIA director John Deutch. > > The investigations are focused on Deutch’s time at the Pentagon, when he served first as defense undersecretary for acquisitions and technology beginning in April 1993, and then as deputy defense secretary from March 1994 until he was tapped to head the CIA in 1995. Or this one? [http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/09/20/cia.chile/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/09/20/cia.chile/index.html) > [@](#): > > CIA reveals 1970s role with Chilean intelligence chief > September 20, 2000 > > WASHINGTON (CNN) – With the release on Wednesday of a report mandated by Congress on the CIA’s 1970s-era covert operations in Chile, the agency revealed a relationship with a top Chilean intelligence official it knew to be one of the country’s worst human rights abusers. Or this one? [http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/04/09/cia.chinese.embassy/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/04/09/cia.chinese.embassy/index.html) > [@](#): > > CIA fires 1, punishes 6 in bombing of Chinese Embassy in Belgrade > April 9, 2000 > From National Security correspondent David Ensor > > WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Central Intelligence Agency said it fired one employee and disciplined six others for their roles in the accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia during the Kosovo conflict last year. > > U.S. officials said punishment for those disciplined ranged from an oral warning to letters of reprimand, which preclude future promotions. An eighth CIA employee, assigned to another agency, also was expected to be reprimanded. Or this one? [http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/04/20/cia.nightmare.idg/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/04/20/cia.nightmare.idg/index.html) > [@](#): > > CIA tackles records nightmare > April 20, 2000 > by Dan Verton > > (IDG) – The CIA has embarked upon an agencywide data standardization and systems integration effort after a report by the National Archives and Records Administration found severe weaknesses in the agency’s program for preserving key government records. > > Despite the CIA’s long history of collecting vast amounts of information with great alacrity, its recordkeeping practices and policies have lagged behind and now threaten the preservation of information that one day may be of historical significance, according to the NARA CIA records management report. Are you starting to see a pattern here? Ooooh, I know–Maybe [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) is controlled by the _enemies_ of the CIA, that would explain all the bad stories… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Henry\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d78d45/32.png) [@Henry\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henry_B)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/17 "2003-02-24T17:21:02Z")
**SentientMeat** Yes. Absolutely. The stories **are** different, even significiant stories, and they are released but not often enough in English: - like 24 nuke-attache cases missing in Russia. (I am not an expert in this field of nukes, but Lebedev was to be charged if he didn’t have been killed in a helicopter accident.) - two guys took themselves into a nuke-submarine in England in December. Spent half an hour there and put on the alarm. That all that these peace-activists could do. That I felt like a “hush-hush”. If only the terrorists would have known… 40 kg of plastics, gives a panic-wave, in any city, where nobody wants anything in their ports anymore. Not just in a city like Portshmouth. The nukes had been unharmed in the subs, but, The Most Honourable Reverend Blair would have had much to explain. Yes, The Scotshman and some other “never-heard of papers” wrote about it. I got the news from a Finnish paper. Now, here comes the problem, for any national 3-letter-guys (FSB, CIA etc.): **The InterNet** If You know, let’s say 4 languages and is cross-reading actively the news, I would say You get a picture. I am able to read in 6 linguas, but I think it is a little bit rare. But 90% of the people, from any country, are not on these boards, surfing in news, understand a jig what is sent from Bagdad, translated to e.g. Russian (maybe falsified, or let’s say “streamlined” etc.). Within a decade You do not only have some crazy Finn here writing to You, there will be the guys from African countries, Asia much more represented, and all Muslim countries that are left. But still, after that the main news goes as usual, for the 90%: One lemming writes a story and the other lemmings copies and streamlines it. I am still curious: Why do not the ABC, BBC and others, just make the same questions to the different countries representatives? Just like take the foreign minister of Iraq and the equal from USA and give them ready written questions? You say they would not agree to give their propaganda? Crap. If the questions are written beforehand, and given the parties a chance to formulate some questions themselves, put the shit through the satellite etc. one in Bagdad or Paris, one in Washington. You think one of the sides would refuse a prime-time hour. OK. Tell both, that if the other is absent, we give You the whole one hour of prime-time. You think they would still refuse? The media has incredible power, but it does not use it. And do you think people would watch that program? All over the world! And so on. But these fucking lemmings with resources does nothing else than change the headline of the story that Reuters cables out. Naturally if there is news like: “North-Korea has made an alliance with Saddam: We will attack South, if USA attacks Iraq. Syria and Iran is wagering, knowing they are the next!”, could and would not be hush-hushed anywhere. But when the braking news are: “The president has a penis and he admits it”-style, the whole Europe is laughing. Or did You see the writings on the walls in former Yugoslavia: “Monica, why did You not use Your teeth?” It is true, now nobody is laughing, not even to the “braking news”. We are all f^=\>()% worried! The world is at a brink of deep depression, and some guy wants a war, on arguments that he could use against a dozen of countries. And the news: “How stupid, ungrateful are not the French, Germans, the devil and his grandmother…” Sic. Btw. Did anyone actually read the story? Not just the extracts it put in the OP? ---
**Author:** ![Henry\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d78d45/32.png) [@Henry\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henry_B)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/18 "2003-02-24T17:36:23Z")
**DuckDuck** 1. Why not? It does not harm CIA in any way. 2. The press is not in any country except some dozen, controlled to the extent You suggest. Do not think that even 5% of the reporters are “insiders” in let’s say USA, Sweden, Finland, Germany. 3. Study propaganda and You see that even in a controlled situation You give out leaks. If You had 10.000 people working for You, legally in every respect, do You think that it would not sound inhuman to not make mistakes. To punish these, is showing that You are a “righteous” body. “See, we bombed the Chineese, see now we punish, see, we really didn’t do it on purpose”. ---
**Author:** ![mystic2311](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@mystic2311](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mystic2311)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/19 "2003-02-24T20:25:43Z")
Oh no! Henry B is from Russia! I have been duped by the International Stalinist Conspiracy! Thunk! What was that? Wow a sack full of cash just landed on my roof, and there’s a signed letter of thanks from Stalin himself! Duckduckgoose, those CNN stories are what are known as “limited hang-outs,” in which minor peccadilloes of the CIA are revealed to make people think there is actually some democratic oversight. A good example is the murder of Frank Olson. The story that was circulated for many years is that the CIA gave him LSD and he jumped out of a window. Now the truth has come out, he was assassinated and thrown out of the window. Olson was in charge of the secret biowarfare program in the Korean war. Rumsfeld and Cheney were involved in the coverup of his murder. And how about John Deutch? He took home a computer with classified info on it and proceeded to surf porn sites on the internet, thus making the info accessible to anyone with a modem. Since he is probably an Israeli double agent, why isn’t he sharing a cell with Jonathan Pollard? The stories come out, but there is no follow-through, no action taken, and the stories just die. And people who come after the CIA have their careers ruined. Torricelli pursued justice for his constituent Jennifer Marbury, whose husband was murdered by a CIA contract agent in Guatemala. He gets accused of corruption and bribery (which by the way every politician is guilty of) and his career is over. Now you understand how it all works. ---
**Author:** ![bbonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecb155/32.png) [@bbonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbonden)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071/20 "2003-02-24T20:48:52Z")
Personally, I love these ideas. Nixon, the ultimate public paranoiac, never realizes that it is the CIA out to get him all along. Scaife, the man behind the man behind the man, is so nefarious that he has his self-declared nemesis executed on Scaife’s own property – you know, just to show that he is above the law. Bill Bradlee is a CIA stooge. How do we know? Because he denied being a “slanted liberal thinker.” Sure, stooge or “slanted liberal”; that’s the world dichotomy. Peace Corps? CIA. Catholic Church? Double CIA. Skull and Bones? Disney? Major League Baseball? The Ivy League? Check. Check. Check. Check. Of course, the only “evidence” I see in the piece are that (1) Capital Cities bought ABC; (2) many awards for American Catholics in fact go to Catholic Americans; and (3) Bill Bradlee doesn’t like being called a liberal. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-the-thread-jfk-conspiracy-try-debunk-this-one/157071.md?page=2)