False Flag Alarmism

Note: This page is still a work in progress and may be missing sources.

"False flag" attacks (not 9/11 or OKC both have their own articles) such as Pearl Harbor, and John Belushi.

One of the most used CT arguments is the "argument from historical precedent. They allege that some if not all of the events addressed below were all false flag events, and thus proves that they have the motives to do such things on 9/11. The popular internet documentaries, like Zeitgeist, did a 5 minute drive-by analysis of some of these events, but anyone who has spent time looking into the claims themselves or from reading this site's zeitgeist critique knows, that these film are extremely unreliable sources. So the big question is, which of these are really false flag events, if any?

USS Maine

History:

"USS Maine, a second-class battleship built between 1888 and 1895, was sent to Havana in January 1898 to protect American interests during the long-standing revolt of the Cubans against the Spanish government. In the evening of 15 February 1898, Maine sank when her forward gunpowder magazines exploded. Nearly three-quarters of the battleship's crew died as a result of the explosion.

While the cause of this great tragedy is still unsettled, contemporary American popular opinion blamed Spain, and war followed within a few months. Maine's wreck was raised in 1912 to clear the harbor and to facilitate an investigation into the cause of her sinking. Her remains were subsequently scuttled in deep waters north of Havana." [1]

So it all comes down to the source of the explosions. If they were internal, it could be explained by the "coal fire hypothesis" or the false flag hypothesis. The false flag hypothesis would mean that someone part of the United States Navy planted a bomb of some sort in the ship. If the explosions came from an external source, it would probably be a mine put there by either the Spanish or the US. There were four official investigations that looked into the cause of the Maine's sinking. The first two investigations done concluded that the explosion was probably the result of a mine, where as the second two investigations concluded it was probably a coal fire. Ships have suffered coal fire explosions before, so this is very plausible and in order to suggest a bomb was planted, we need some evidence.

The bottom line is the American public wanted to go to war with Spain and with the initial investigation and uncertainties of the Maine's demise, they decided to go to war. One could argue that the investigation was fraudulent and they just made up the bomb hypothesis as an excuse for war. This is speculative and therefore cannot be proved nor disproved. The sinking of the Maine was most probably the result of a coal fire which occurred in the same manner as the above described example.

Lusitania
One of the most frequent claims about the Lusitania is that it got us into WW1 and that we let it sink on purpose. Two problems with this claim is that it DIDN'T get us into WW1, we entered the war two years later and the second part is where the majority of this section will look at.


Pearl Harbor The Pearl Harbor conspiracies can become complex and require books to refute all of their claims. Here I will discuss the top four claims.

Winds Message
The first claim which is the most important one, states that US intelligence officers decoded Japanese warning telegrams before the attack on Pearl Harbor. This claim is rejected by the vast majority of historians because the telegrams did not reach US intelligence till 6 hours after the attacks. (1) But even if this were true, whoever decoded it would still be clueless about where Japan was going to attack.
"A new critical investigation by the National Security Agency confirms that a Japanese so-called ‘Winds execute’ message was not heard until hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor began on December 7, 1941, and, in any event, contained no actionable intelligence."  [2]

The message didn't say anything about time, date or place. At the time, the US had many bases on islands like the Phillipines. The reason why the Japanese succeeded in surprising us is because of a well though out plan.

"Many in this nation still feel that it was simply impossible for the United States to be completely and utterly fooled. For some bizarre reason, we find it more comforting to think that someone in a position of power in our nation was the clever traitor and helped our enemies to gain an advantage. Surly, no foreigner could match an American for imagination, ingenuity and cleverness." [3]

The Japanese radio transmissions were overheard
"Nagumo's use of radio as he prepared his carriers for the journey towards Hawaii is dramatic evidence."[4]
The problem with this claim is that Nagumo and the Japanese have stated that they did not use radio transmissons on their journey to Hawaii. They were trying to sneak up on us and so turned all radio devices off. Not only is their testimony a major problem for this claim but the cryptology experts who looked over all the available messages have found no evidence to back this up.

"By analyzing all the available Secret Message Serial (SMS) numbers originated by the Japanese CinC 1st Air Fleet, it is clear that no messages were sent by radio during the formation of the Strike Force or during its transit to Hawaii. It was not until the attack on Pearl Harbor had commenced that radio transmissions began. The Strike Force maintained strict radio silence and thus there was no Allied foreknowledge of the attack through radio communications-despite revisionist claims to the contrary." [5]

The McCollum memo

In conclusion, there is no evidence or reason to think that FDR knew in advance that Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked. Why would he knowingly allow thousands of people die, when he could have had them fight back? They could still go to war with Japan, as they did attack them first. The truth is that the Japanese caught us by surprise.


Recommended links and sources:
1) http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/06/Pearl-Harbor-warning-tale-debunked/UPI-21811228612980/
2]http://www.csicop.org/si/show/pearl_harbor_winds_message/
3]http://www.bartcop.com/0658.htm#Op/Ed%20-%20Conspiracy%20Theories%20Abound
4]Day of Deceit Page 335 Notes section       Robert Stinnett
5]Jacobsen, P. H. 2007. Radio Silence of the Pearl Harbor Strike Force Confirmed Again: The Saga of Secret Message Serial (SMS) Numbers. Cryptologia 31, 3 (Jul. 2007), 223-232.







http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/myths/index.html
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=445     A true debate on the subject with experts on both sides

Gulf of  Tonkin

WTC 1993

Madrid Bombings 2005

7/7 London bombings

Driver's liscense survives explosion but not terrorist
Israel Embassy knew in advance of the attacks
Bombs were placed underneath the trains
There was a controlled demolition van parked next to blown up bus
The Buses all said: "Terror
Terrorist drills went on in the exact same locations
Bus with explosives was diverted to Tavistock Square
One of the bomber's ID was found at two seperate locations
Lead terrorist was a brittish intelligence asset
The bombers bought two way tickets
The bombers had good jobs and played cricket the night before
The bus surveillance cameras didn't work

1.http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/spanam/events/maineskg.htm