the philosophy and politics of fear http://www.investigatingtheterror.com en-uk Copyright 2011 InvestigatingtheTerror Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:45:00 GMT MI5 file on Charlie Chaplin. Recently released by the National Archives, the file shows how the suspicion and allegations that Chaplin was a Communist came from the US. The FBI effectively asked for MI5's help in digging up dirt against Chaplin. This cable from the US shows how they saw the issue. The security services investigated Chaplin, including the strange suggestion that his real name was Israel Thornstein. They found nothing that they considered a security risk, but they did devote considerable time to trying to find out exactly where and when Chaplin was born - to no avail. Ultimately, it was concluded that Chaplin was 'a progressive or radical', rather than a Communist. Also amusing is this excerpt from a cable from Italy about a visit Chaplin made there in 1953. The extract notes that, 'The "Director General of Entertainment", among whose achievements in bygone days was the banning of "The Great Dictator", never let Mr Chaplin out of his sight.' http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/documents/Document_Archive.htm#documentdiary Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:45:00 GMT Charities Commission Report on 7/7-linked Iqra Bookshop. This report was published a year ago but had disappeared from the Charities Commission website. I asked for a copy, which they treated as a Freedom of Information request for reasons I don't understand. Still, they have now provided me with a copy, available here. As shown by files made available by the July 7 inquests, both Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shezad Tanweer were trustees of the Iqra charity and bookshop at the time of inquiries by MI5 and West Yorkshire Police. You can download a declaration by trustees of Iqra here, and an MI5/WYP gist of the operations here. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/documents/Document_Archive.htm#documentdiary Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:30:00 GMT Returning from a break in Scotland, some of the files I reviewed while doing research for my forthcoming 7/7 book is an exchange between MI5 and West Yorkshire Police (WYP) Special Branch. On 2nd February 2004, while the MI5 unit A4 were carrying out surveillance on Omar Khyam and other Operation Crevice suspects, they came across Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shezad Tanweer, two of the alleged 7/7 bombers. You can download and read an MI5 Operations Summary here. They followed Khan over 200 miles all the way up the country to Leeds, saw him drop off two people (Tanweer and Shipon Ullah a.k.a. Waheed Ali) and then park up at a house in Thornhill Park Avenue, Dewsbury. Checks on both the car and the address led MI5 to Hasina Patel - Sidique Khan's wife. Two weeks later, MI5 made a request to West Yorkshire Police (wYP) for information on Hasina Patel and the address in Dewsbury. According to what MI5 told the Intelligence and Security Committee, 'There is no record of a written response to this request.' The ISC's timeline can be read here. I beg to differ, as this document shows, WYP did respond the following day. Their email was clearly labelled 'Operation Crevice' so MI5 had no excuse for not being able to find it when the ISC came asking questions in 2007-8. You can read the exchange between them here. You can download these documents via the July 7 inquests website but I got them via the July 7th Truth Campaign's very helpful archive of the inquest transcripts and exhibits. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/documents/Document_Archive.htm#documentdiary Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:00:00 GMT MI5 and MI6 have been ordered to declassify documents relating to Alexander Litvinenko as part of the inquest into his assassination. In the meantime it is worth reading Litvenenko's book Blowing Up Russia, where he accuses Putin and the FSB of carrying out the 1999 apartment bombings. Perhaps the most important chapter, on the Ryazan incident where an attempted bombing was covered up as a training exercise, can be downloaded here. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/documents/Document_Archive.htm#documentdiary Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:00:00 GMT The Spy Pigeons dossier has been added to the e-book series. This dossier contains extracts from the Security Service (MI5) files on the use of pigeons in the World War Two period. Contains papers on MI5's suspicions about the Nazi use of pigeons to communicate with infiltrators and spies in Britain, and the falcon squadron set up to intercept incoming Nazi pigeons. Also contains papers from the ad hoc committee on postwar pigeon policy, set up to examine future possible uses of pigeons for covert warfare. Among the policies considered were the use of pigeons as suicide bombers, and as a means of delivering biological weapons. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/documents/Document_Archive.htm#documentdiary Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:00:00 GMT To this day pigeons are used for spying and covert warfare. This practice has on occasion caused major international controversy. I recently found myself swept up by the maelstrom that often results from the use of our feathered friends by the intelligence and security services. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/articles/The_Nazi_Pigeon_Controversy.htm Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:00:00 GMT The Samuel Byck dossier has been added to the e-book series. The dossier includes an FBI summary of the event, a laboratory report on the dummy bomb he carried with him, letters that Byck sent to various celebrities and media outlets just before his hijacking attempt, a letter he sent to the Small Business Administration after they turned him down for a loan, and 302s detailing interviews with Byck's mother, a friend, patrolman Troyer and pilot Doug Loftin, who was seriously wounded during the attack. Also contains a list of what was found in Byck's house during a search. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/documents/Document_Archive.htm#documentdiary Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:15:00 GMT The suicide hijacking is a terrorist tactic with a much longer and more elaborate history than many people realise. Even those in the 9/11 truth movement are largely unaware that its history goes back nearly 30 years prior to the attacks on the WTC and Pentagon. The first article in this series looks into the case of Samuel Byck, who attempted a suicide hijacking in 1974 with the aim of assassinating Richard Nixon. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/articles/A_Brief_History_of_Suicide_Hijackings___Part_I.htm Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:15:00 GMT The application by Pat Finucane's family for a Judicial Review of the decision not to hold a public inquiry into his (state-sponsored) assassination is now available online, courtesy of the Pat Finucane Centre, here. The document reveals that, 'The stated reasons for refusing to establish a public inquiry are not the true reasons. In the course of the meeting at 10 Downing Street on 11 October 2011 the Prime Minister stated "It is true that the previous administration could not deliver a public inquiry and neither can we. There are people in buildings all around here who won't let it happen." (my emphasis) http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/documents/Document_Archive.htm#documentdiary Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:35:00 GMT FBI documents on Charles J Bishop, obtained via a Freedom of Information request. Bishop was a troubled 15 year old boy who stole a Cessna and flew it into the Bank of America building in Tampa, Florida. This was in January 2002, only a few months after 9/11. Further analysis is coming but for now you can read Bishop's suicide letter, in which he claims to have met with Al Qaeda, an FBI summary of the incident, which includes a typed-text version of the suicide note, and a 302 detailing an interview with officials at his school. The running theme throughout the full version of the documents released so far, which run to hundreds of pages, is that no one saw it coming and no one had any idea why Bishop killed himself. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/documents/Document_Archive.htm#documentdiary Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:30:00 GMT The Mutt and Jeff and the Johnny Roselli dossiers have been added to the e-book series. The dossiers are shorter than the e-books but still contain a fascinating selection of intelligence agency documents on these highly interesting and historically important cases. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/documents/Document_Archive.htm#documentdiary Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:15:00 GMT The FBI responded to a FOIA request I filed concerning Samuel Byck. He was an unemployed possible manic depressive who in 1974 attempted to hijack a plane with the intention of crashing it into the White House and killing Richard Nixon. A longer piece and a dossier on Byck is in the works but for now you can look at this FBI report summarising his hijacking attempt, which was a bloody and horrible failure. Confirming his intention to carry out a suicide hijacking directed at the White House is a tape recording he sent to composer Leonard Bernstein, detailed in this memo. For those interested in his motives, here is a letter that Byck sent to various media outlets including the Atlanta Journal. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/documents/Document_Archive.htm#documentdiary Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:35:00 GMT A few days ago the former head of Turkey's army Ilker Basbug was arrested as part of the ongoing Operation Sledgehammer/Ergenekon investigation. He is so far the highest ranking official to be jailed in connection with the alleged coup plot involving Turkey's Deep State. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/articles/Sledgehammer_under_the_Microscope.htm Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:05:00 GMT The family of murdered lawyer Pat Finucane have been granted a judicial review of the decision not to hold a public inquiry into his death. Finucane was assassinated by Irish loyalists in 1989 and several inquiries have concluded that there was British state collusion in his murder. According to papers filed at the High Court in Belfast, PM David Cameron told Finucane's wife Geraldine that 'a mystery intervention led to an apparent change of mind by Mr Cameron over the holding of a full independent inquiry'. Story here. Perhaps of significance is a 2005 embassy cable showing that MI5 were happy to turn over their evidence to an inquiry, as long as the inquiry was held under the 2005 Inquiries Act. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/documents/Document_Archive.htm#documentdiary Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:00:00 GMT The alternative media is awash with claims that we live in a time of unprecedented military aggression and that we are spiralling into World War 3. What the current period reminds me of is the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, exactly 50 years ago, when a covert, Cold war of provocation and manipulation almost spilled over into nuclear war. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/articles/Venezuelan_Missile_Crisis.htm Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:05:00 GMT In 1980-81 the BBC and the British government were at loggerheads over a proposed Panorama documentary on the Intelligence services. In 2004 the BBC broadcast a reality TV show where members of the public were trained to be spies. Following on from my Overt Ops series, this article looks at the radical change in publicity policy for Intelligence and Security Services over the last thirty years. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/articles/Spook_Publicity.htm Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:40:00 GMT Files from the office of the Prime Minister (then Margaret Thatcher) from 1981, on a variety of topics, just released by the National Archives. Highlights include the much-publicised advice to Thatcher in the wake of the Toxteth riots that renewal projects were wasted money and that 'managed decline' might be a better option. You can read this advice, in a letter from chancellor Sir Geoffrey Howe, here. Also worthy of consideration is a secret report from April 1981 that predicted that summer's rioting in some detail, available here. Policies implemented in the wake of the riots included arming police with baton rounds and the use of military camps as overflows for the prison system. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/documents/Document_Archive.htm#documentdiary Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:45:00 GMT 7/7: What Did They Know? is a brand-new documentary by Keelan Balderson of Wideshut.co.uk that explores in detail the questions of predictability and preventability with regard to the 7/7 bombings in London. Based on extensive research by the July 7th Truth Campaign and no doubt inspired somewhat by my own work on the subject and conversations between Mr Balderson and myself, this is the most detailed single video exploration of these questions to date. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/articles/7_7__What_Did_They_Know%20-%20A%20Review.htm Tue, 02 Jan 2012 19:50:00 GMT FBI records on actor, director and producer Orson Welles. Recently released files on Welles show how he was investigated for a long time by the FBI as a suspected Communist. The information in the reports and memos largely comes from informants, suggesting that the Bureau had a lot of people within Hollywood and the social scene around film and theatre throughout the early Cold War period. The informant evidence against Welles was that he was involved in various anti-Fascist, pro-peace and black civil rights causes and groups. In particular, his support for 'the negro' caused the FBI great concern. This report is an effective summary of the full 200 page version, and though it admits that there's no real evidence of Welles being a Communist, this memo recommended that a Security Index Card be prepared that listed him as a Communist. Paranoia of the Present Danger? http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/documents/Document_Archive.htm#documentdiary Tue, 02 Jan 2012 16:30:00 GMT Iran has been on and off the war agenda for the last five years. The strained relationship between the US and Iran has its history in a series of covert operations. It is in these operations that we find the likely motives behind the overt diplomatic struggle being played out in the UN and the mainstream media. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/articles/The_Iran_Question.htm Mon, 01 Jan 2012 16:00:00 GMT The School of the Americas is one of the central institutions in the history of state-sponsored terrorism. This article outlines its history and development and considers its present-day significance. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/articles/Schooling_the_Americas.htm Sat, 18 Dec 2011 15:25:00 GMT 7/7: Crime and Prejudice is now available as a podcast. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/Videos/7_7__Crime_and_Prejudice.htm Sat, 17 Dec 2011 12:00:00 GMT Part 4 of this series will look at the possible reasons why covert ops are becoming overt ops, why these once-secretive methods are being hung out in public, and what the results are of this cultural-political shift. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/articles/Overts_Ops_Part_IV.htm Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:00:00 GMT In Part I of this series we saw how in recent news events references to covert operations are distinctly overt. In Part II we explored how Western state doctrine of small-scale warfare has become increasingly open in its advocation of the use of terrorism. In this part we will see that the same trend that occured in the theory also occured in the practice of unconventional warfare. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/articles/Overt_Ops_Part_III.htm Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:00:00 GMT In Part I we saw how recent news has included open admissions of the use of covert ops, known in current US military doctrine as Unconventional Warfare. In Part II we will look at how this doctrine has become more explicit in its advocation of the use of low-intensity political violence, including terrorism. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/articles/Overt_Ops_Part_II.htm Fri, 9 Dec 2011 12:00:00 GMT As conflicts destabilise much of the world, amidst the violence we can see a trend towards increasing admissions and advocations of the use of what are usually termed 'covert ops'. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/articles/Overt_Ops.htm Thu, 8 Dec 2011 12:00:00 GMT In our latest conversation, James Corbett of The Corbett Report and I discussed some of the examples of triple agents and their implications for our understanding of security and intelligence services. http://www.investigatingtheterror.com/articles/Triple_Agents___a_conversation_with_James_Corbett.htm Tue, 6 Dec 2011 12:00:00 GMT