What is a false flag?
As a pretext for war...
The
Mukden incident in 1931 involved
Japanese officers fabricating a pretext for annexing
Manchuria by blowing up a section of railway. Six years later in 1937 they falsely claimed the kidnapping of one of their soldiers in the
Marco Polo Bridge Incident as an excuse to invade
China proper.
[citation needed]
The
Gleiwitz incident in 1939 involved
Reinhard Heydrich fabricating evidence of a
Polish attack against
Germany to mobilize German public opinion for war, to establish
casus belli for war, and to justify the
war with Poland. This, along with other false flag operations in
Operation Himmler, would be used to mobilize support from the German population for the start of
World War II in Europe.
[citation needed]
The
Kassa attack in 1941 involved the city of
Kassa, today Košice (
Slovakia), which was then part of the
Hungary, being bombed by three unidentified planes of apparently Soviet origin. This attack became the pretext for the government of Hungary to
declare war on the
Soviet Union.
The replacement of Iran's
Anglo-Persian Oil Company with five American oil companies and the
1953 Iranian coup d'état in 1953 was the consequence of the U.S. and British-orchestrated false flag operation,
Operation Ajax. Operation Ajax used political intrigue,
propaganda, and agreements with
Qashqai tribal leaders to depose the democratically elected leader of
Iran,
Mohammed Mosaddeq. Information regarding the
CIA-sponsored
coup d'etat has been largely declassified and is available in the CIA archives.
[8]
The planned, but never executed, 1962
Operation Northwoods plot by the
U.S. Department of Defense for a war with
Cuba involved scenarios such as fabricating the hijacking or shooting down passenger and military planes, sinking a U.S. ship in the vicinity of Cuba, burning crops, sinking a boat filled with Cuban refugees, attacks by alleged Cuban infiltrators inside the United States, and harassment of U.S. aircraft and shipping and the destruction of aerial drones by aircraft disguised as Cuban MiGs.
[9] These actions would be blamed on Cuba, and would be a pretext for an invasion of Cuba and the overthrow of
Fidel Castro's communist government. It was authored by the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, but then rejected by President
John F. Kennedy. The surprise discovery of the documents relating to Operation Northwoods was a result of the comprehensive search for records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by the Assassination Records Review Board in the mid-1990's.
[10] Information about Operation Northwoods was later publicized by
James Bamford.
[11] Source: Wikipedia
False Flag Terrorism
"False flag terrorism" occurs when elements within a government stage a secret operation whereby government forces pretend to be a targeted enemy while attacking their own forces or people. The attack is then falsely blamed on the enemy in order to justify going to war against that enemy. Or as
Wikipedia defines it:
False flag operations are
covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations, which are designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as if they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one's own. False flag operations are not limited to war and counter-insurgency operations, and have been used in peace-time; for example, during Italy's
strategy of tension.
The term comes from the old days of wooden ships, when one ship would hang the flag of its enemy before attacking another ship in its own navy. Because the enemy's flag was hung instead of the flag of the real country of the attacking ship, it was called a "false flag" attack.
There are many examples of false flag attacks throughout history. For example, it is widely known that the Nazis,
in Operation Himmler, faked attacks on their own people and resources which they blamed on the Poles, to justify the invasion of Poland.
And it has now been persuasively argued — as shown, for example, in this History Channel video — that Nazis set fire to their own parliament, the Reichstag, and blamed that fire on others. The Reichstag fire was the watershed event which justified Hitler's seizure of power and suspension of liberties.
And in the early 1950s, agents of an Israeli terrorist cell operating in Egypt
planted bombs in several buildings, including U.S. diplomatic facilities, then left behind "evidence" implicating the Arabs as the culprits (one of the bombs detonated prematurely, allowing the Egyptians to identify the bombers). Israel's Defense Minister was brought down by the scandal, along with the entire Israeli government.
Click here for verification.
The Russian KGB apparently conducted a wave of bombings in Russia in order to justify war against Chechnya and put Vladimir Putin into power (see also
this essay and
this report). And the Turkish government has been caught
bombing its own and blaming it on a rebel group to justify a crackdown on that group. Muslim governments also play this game. For example, the well-respected former Indonesian president claimed that their government
had a role in the Bali bombings.
This sounds nuts, right? You've never heard of this "false flag terrorism," where a government attacks its own people then blames others in order to justify its goals, right? And you are skeptical of the statements discussed above? Please take a look at these historical quotes:
"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." - U.S. President
James Madison
"Why of course the people don't want war ... But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." -
Hermann Goering, Nazi leader.
What about the U.S.?
Is it logical to assume that, even if other countries have carried out false flag operations (especially horrible regimes such as, say, the Nazis or Stalin), the U.S. has never done so? Well, as documented by the
New York Times,
Iranians working for the C.I.A. in the 1950's posed as Communists and staged bombings in Iran in order to turn the country against its democratically-elected president (see also
this essay).
And, as confirmed by a former Italian Prime Minister, an Italian judge, and the
former head of Italian counterintelligence, NATO
carried out terror bombings in Italy with the help of the Pentagon and CIA and blamed communists in order to rally people's support for their governments in Europe in their fight against communism. As
one participant in this formerly-secret program stated: "You had to attack civilians, people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple. They were supposed to force these people, the Italian public, to turn to the state to ask for greater security."
Moreover,
declassified U.S. Government documents show that in the 1960s, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff signed off on a plan code-named Operation Northwoods to blow up American airplanes (using an elaborate plan involving the switching of airplanes), and also to commit terrorist acts on American soil, and then to blame it on the Cubans in order to justify an invasion of Cuba. The operation was not carried out only because the Kennedy administration refused to implement these Pentagon plans.
For lots more on the astonishing Operation Northwoods, see the
ABC news report;
the official declassified documents; and watch
this interview with James Bamford, the former Washington Investigative Producer for ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.
One quote from the Northwoods documents states: "A 'Remember the Maine' incident could be arranged: We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba. Casualty lists in US newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation."
-------------------end update--------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINALLY...
It’s On! US Troops Land In Israel By The Thousands
The incoming American soldiers are officially categorized as participants in
Austere Challenge 12, the biggest joint US-Israeli war game ever held. We told you this was coming in our post a mere 48 hours ago: US To Deploy Troops and Warships In Israel For War With Iran Thousands of US troops began descending on Israel this week. Senior US military sources told debkafile Friday, Jan. 6 that many would be staying up to the end of the year as part of the US-IDF deployment in readiness for a military engagement with Iran and its possible escalation into a regional conflict. They will be joined by a US aircraft carrier.
The warplanes on its decks will fly missions with Israeli Air Force jets. The 9,000 US servicemen gathering in Israel in the coming weeks are mostly airmen, missile interceptor teams, marines, seamen, technicians and intelligence officers.
The maneuver was originally designated Juniper Stallion 2012. However, the altered name plus the comment heard from the exercise’s commander, US Third Air Force Lt. Gen. Frank Gorenc, during his visit two weeks ago, that the coming event is more a “deployment” than an “exercise,” confirmed that Washington has expanded its mission. The joint force will now be in place ready for a decision to attack Iran’s nuclear installations or any war emergency. Our sources disclose that it was decided at the last minute in Washington and Jerusalem to announce the forthcoming Austere Challenge 12 on Thursday night, Jan. 5, ahead of the bulletin released by Tehran about another Iranian naval exercise at the Strait of Hormuz to take place in February, although its 10-day drill in the same arena only ended Monday, Jan. 2.
The early release was decided in consultations among US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the two army chiefs, US Gen. Martin Dempsey and Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz. British Defense Minister Phillip Hammond, on a visit to Washington, was brought into the discussion. The handout circulated to US correspondents from Hammond’s talks in the US capital affirmed that Britain stands ready to strike Iran if the Strait of Hormuz is closed.
However, that phrase was omitted from the British minister’s remarks at a news conference, following a last-minute request from Panetta, signifying the Obama administration’s interest of keeping a low profile on plans for attacking Iran. Tehran too is walking a taut tightrope. It is staging military’s maneuvers every few days to assuring the Iranian people that its leaders are fully prepared to defend the country against an American or Israeli strike on its national nuclear program.
By this stratagem, Iran’s ground, sea and air forces are maintained constantly at top war readiness to thwart any surprise attack. The joint US-Israeli drill will test multiple Israeli and US air defense systems against incoming missiles and rockets, according to the official communiqué.
READ MORE HERE
http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?p=7824/
NOW...
Military Drill With the U.S. Is Postponed, Israeli Says
By ISABEL KERSHNER
Published: January 16, 2012
JERUSALEM — Israel and the United States have agreed to postpone major joint missile-defense exercises that had been scheduled for the spring because of regional tensions and instability, according to Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman. The move appears intended to avoid further escalating tensions with Iran, which is under intense international diplomatic and economic pressure to curb its nuclear program out of fears that it is seeking to make a nuclear bomb.
Iran itself recently held 10 days of naval exercises near the Strait of Hormuz, and Israel has kept open the possibility of a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. At the same time, the United States is leading an effort to increase sanctions on Iran, and an Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated in Tehran, the fourth such attack reported in two years. Iran blames the United States and Israel for the killings.
Speaking Monday on Israel Radio, Mr. Lieberman cited “diplomatic and regional reasons, the tensions and instability” as factors in delaying the exercise. The Israeli military said in a statement that the joint exercise, Austere Challenge 12, would take place during the second half of the year. The exercises, involving thousands of American and Israeli soldiers, were designed to test various Israeli and American air defense systems against missiles and rockets from a range that would include Iran, The Associated Press reported.
The American defense secretary, Leon E. Panetta, said last month that the drill exemplified unprecedented levels of military cooperation between the two countries and that it was meant to back up Washington’s “unshakable” commitment to Israel’s security, The A.P. said. Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel and the United States made the decision to delay the exercise “because it was not the right time.” He did not elaborate.
Israeli officials have saluted the effectiveness of existing sanctions against Iran while also urging more, specifically on Iran’s Central Bank and its petrochemical sector. In an interview published Saturday in The Weekend Australian, Mr. Netanyahu said he was seeing Iran “wobble” for the first time. “If these sanctions are coupled with a clear statement by the international community, led by the U.S., to act militarily to stop Iran if sanctions fail,” he said, “Iran may consider not going through the pain.”
On Sunday, Moshe Yaalon, a vice prime minister and minister of strategic affairs, described the Obama administration’s failure to add more sanctions as “a disappointment so far.”
READ MORE HERE
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/world/middleeast/major-us-israel-military-exercises-delayed.html
Striking Iran Possible Despite Delay of War Games
An Israeli soldier, dressed as a civilian, bends down while a siren is herd during a military exercise simulating the hit of a non conventional war fare missile in Israel, held in a military base near the southern kibbutz of Zikim on 22 November 2011. (Photo: AFP - David Buimovitch)
In a speech before the US Congress last May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted, "you don’t need to send American troops to Israel. We defend ourselves." Six months later, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro announced a record deployment of US troops to Israel to help the country defend itself against a potential missile strike. Called "Austere Challenge 12," the joint drill would have involved thousands of Israeli and American troops in a planned missile defense exercise.
On January 15, days after an assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist that was widely believed to have been the handiwork of the Israeli Mossad, and which Israeli generals offered winking approval for, the joint drills were postponed for several months. The postponement raised important questions that have yet to be answered in a convincing fashion by either side: Who initiated the postponement and why? And does the delay alter possible Israeli plans to attack Iran?
On the day the delay was announced, Laura Rozen, a national security reporter for Yahoo News, published a report citing "American and Israeli officials" claiming that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called off the exercises. U.S. European Command (EUCOM) spokesman Captain John Ross offered Rozen a boilerplate statement, declaring that "in general, leaders from both sides believe that optimum participation by all units is best achieved later in the year." Rozen then cited the Jewish Telegraph Agency blogger-reporter Ron Kampeas' claim that "Israeli budget cuts" prompted the postponement.
The Wall Street Journal ran a story a day before that raised strong doubts about the notion that Israel initiated the delay of the joint maneuvers. The Journal reported: U.S. defense leaders are increasingly concerned that Israel is preparing to take military action against Iran, over U.S. objections, and have stepped up contingency planning to safeguard U.S. facilities in the region in case of a conflict.
President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other top officials have delivered a string of private messages to Israeli leaders warning about the dire consequences of a strike. The U.S. wants Israel to give more time for sanctions and other measures intended to force Iran to abandon its perceived efforts to build nuclear weapons to take effect. Stepping up the pressure, Obama spoke by telephone on Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. U.S. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will meet with Israeli military officials in Tel Aviv next week. The Wall Street Journal story clearly rattled the Obama administration, which initiated the Austere Challenge drills to promote its pro-Israel bonafides.
As Assistant Secretary of State Shapiro said when he announced the drills back in November: "I believe that no American administration has done as much as ours for Israel’s security." Now, the White House risked the perception that it had reneged on its promise to Israel and its supporters in the United States. On January 17, a group of senior US defense officials (most likely civilians with political roles in the Pentagon) initiated a call with Jeffrey Goldberg. One official assured Goldberg that "Minister [Ehud] Barak called Secretary [Leon] Panetta and asked if we could take the exercise off the calendar. The Israelis were concerned that they did not have the resources in place to carry it out effectively." The following day, Goldberg published an anodyne statement he received from Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren.
“The exercise between the U.S. Army and the Israel Defense Forces, scheduled to be held this spring, has been postponed to the latter half of the year," Oren declared. "The decision, taken jointly by the European Command (EUCOM) and by the IDF, stemmed solely from technical issues. Such postponements are routine and do not reflect political or strategic concerns. The United States and Israel remain committed to holding the exercise – code-named Austere Challenge 12 – the largest and most robust in their historic alliance.”
Goldberg is a self-appointed enforcer of pro-Israel orthodoxy in Beltway media circles who maintains access to the Obama administration. An unrepentant promoter of the war on Iraq, he recently proclaimed, “I’m all for creating the impression in Iran that Israel or America is preparing to strike.”
READ MORE HERE
WILL IT BE A FALSE FLAG THAT STARTS WW3?
