When I commented on the lack of supporting material for the Operation Splinter Factor thesis (in issue 22), I somehow managed to omit the account of it in William Blum’s The CIA: a forgotten history (Zed, London 1986) pp. 59-61. But that is taken entirely from Stewart Steven’s book and his sources. To the latter’s … Read more
[…] the Khan network’s operation. Reasons given at the time were to ‘preserve diplomatic relations’ and, of course, ‘protect the ongoing intelligence operation.’ The former puts one in mind of official interference in the BAe /Saudi scandal more recently.(13) Amin was a seasoned British customs officer with previous experience in international operations. Unlike Edmonds, he […]
[…] even more in her determination to demonstrate the “persistence of illusions about Britain’s place in the world.” (1) This version of events is attractive to the liberal mind because it looks like an exemplary demonstration of the cockup theory of history, and it is that which passes for political sophistication in most of respectable […]
[…] conspiracy fringe – UFOs, maybe. The other reacted immediately: ‘Oh, you don’t want to go there!’ The first agreed enthusiastically, and a kind of double-act developed: ‘ Mind control?’ ‘Don’t want to go there!’ ‘Remote viewing?’ ‘Don’t want to go there!’ ‘Hilda Murrell?’ ‘Don’t want to go there!’ After a couple of minutes of […]
A guided democracy The following appeared in the Daily Telegraph 23 June 2003. ‘Edward Heath created a secret government propaganda unit to persuade the British people to accept the Common Market. Civil servants were engaged in a dirty tricks department of the Foreign Office to cover up the threat to sovereignty and provide rapid rebuttal … Read more
Maggie, Maggie, Maggie Giles Scott-Smith,(1) who wrote about the Congress for Cultural Freedom in Lobster 36 and 38, has written a very interesting study of Margaret Thatcher’s first visit to America in 1967.(2) Scott-Smith shows that Thatcher, then a junior shadow spokesperson in the Tory Party, was talent-spotted by the State Department’s man in the … Read more
[…] out no operation, investigation, surveillance or action against any individual otherwise than for the purposes laid down in its directive.’ The words ‘lying’ and ‘bastard’ come to mind, as they say. Gill takes a deep breath and contents himself with observing that ‘such an inquiry, to be carried out properly, would have taken many […]
[…] as the Nixon people knew that the CIA knew, they (the White House) must have known that it was all going to come out. With this in mind we should perhaps not so readily accept Hougan’s assertion that the Agency couldn’t have foreseen the outcome. Indeed, we need not assume – as Hougan does […]
[…] breakthrough piece chronicling the links between the CIA; the Contras and the crack cocaine explosion in Los Angeles; through the CIA’s use of psychedelics, ex-Nazi scientists and mind control, into the murky worlds of Indo-China; and then, via a chapter on Afghanistan, back to the United States and the cocaine connections to Arkansas and […]
A Note on MRA, CIA and L. Ron. Hubbard In response to my snippet in issue 38 (p.22) on Moral Rearmament and the CIA, Daniel Brandt (1) sent me the following from Miles Copeland’s, The Game Player: Confessions of the CIA’s Original Political Operative (London: Aurum Press, 1989, pp. 176-177). This is a nice demonstration … Read more
