|
Simply Shady: My Family Ties With Black Ops
A true story by Robert Paulsen
Adapted from an earlier article "Am I the Only One?" by the same author
My alarm clock radio turned on at 7:20 in the morning on September 11, 2001 after I had already pressed the snooze button twice. Suddenly aware of the report on the radio of a building on fire, I turned on the TV to see one of the twin towers in New York City on fire. I vainly attempted to look around the burning tower to see where the other tower was. Gradually it dawned on me that the other tower was no longer standing. After getting verbal confirmation from the broadcaster that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center, I called my girlfriend to break the shocking news. As her phone was ringing, I watched in horror as the second tower collapsed. When she answered, all I could blurt out was, "The twin towers are gone! The twin towers are gone!"
As everyone else did, I spent the day in a state of shock. Getting in touch with relatives to share my dismay and grief consumed me that afternoon. I got in touch with one of my sisters who conveyed a sense of fright over the events that day. But the details of the story she told that frightened her were a revelation to me. I was aware of only minor details regarding her husband's previous career as a military officer. I knew that during the 1980's he had served in operations in Central America, including stints in Honduras and Panama. I also knew that he left the military because of recurring nightmares, many that my sister witnessed where she had to wake him up as he screamed, "Over there! They're in the trees! They're in the trees!"
The truth that my sister confirmed to me on September 11 is that he was a contract killer for the CIA involved in covert operations during the late 1980's. For more than ten years he had severed his ties with the intelligence community without so much as leaving a forwarding address. But at 8:15 a.m. pacific time, a note was left on his front door while he was away from a representative of his former commanding officer, trying to renew his interest in returning to his former line of work. Now, consider the timing of this incident. They had been out of touch for ten years, including the first bombing of the World Trade Center as well as the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, yet only 45 minutes after the second tower collapsed, they were knocking on his door in the belief that the services he used to specialize in would be required. To me, it seemed a little suspicious. Granted the attacks of September 11 were far more devastating to the country than the 1993 WTC bombing or the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, but at 8:15 a.m., nobody knew whether the source of this terrorism was domestic or foreign. Or did they?
By that afternoon, the media has already pinpointed Osama bin Laden as the primary suspect. Then on September 12, news from Boston that a man in the airport parking lot reported an altercation with some suspicious looking men of Middle Eastern descent compelled authorities to impound the abandoned vehicle where flight manuals were found on the front seat. In Arabic. It felt to me, to quote X in the movie JFK, "as if a cover story was being put up". Arabic flight manuals left in an airport parking lot seemed analogous to doctored photos of Oswald toting a Mannlicher Carcano left in his garage. The analogy seemed even more appropriate when, a couple days later, it was revealed that these same terrorists had attended flight training schools and perhaps had training from our own military. If this is true, what was the point of briniging Arabic flight manuals to the airport? Carelessness after a late night cramming session? But the kicker for me was the report that amidst the scene of chaos and cremation at Ground Zero, somehow the passport of one Mohammed Atta managed to float down without being incinerated and land where authorities could retrieve it. What's a conspiracy without a little magic: JFK had his "magic bullet", 9/11 had a "magic passport".
Since then, we've had so many more questions raised than have been answered that despite a Congressional and "independent" bipartisan commission investigating 9/11 we are nowhere closer to the truth than when we started. Perhaps the release of the information contained in the 27 pages of censored material from the congressional report on 9/11 would help us draw the arrows. But if Bob Graham is correct that the Bush administration, FBI and CIA blocked the congressional investigation into the involvement of the Saudi government in 9/11, then rather than wait for the release of that material, which may happen sometime after the Warren Commission censored material becomes available, we should all make an effort to investigate the claims of Sibel Edmonds into how our government aided and abetted the 9/11 conspiracy and has covered it up after the fact.
What do we know about Sibel Edmonds? We know that she has accused people in the highest levels of our government with treason. We know that before she was fired from the FBI for being a whistleblower, she saw papers that show the US knew al Qaeda would attack cities with airplanes. We know that she discovered that international terrorist activities converge with government action through "front organizations" that deal in everything from drugs to money laundering to arm sales. Fianlly, we know that John Ashcroft has had a gag order placed on Sibel Edmonds since 2002. With all the damning information she has revealed despite this gag order, imagine what she hasn't told us.
Until extensive research or future revelations bear fruit, I have only the nagging questions, various theories and the experience of my sister to go by. And what of her now ex-husband? I visited him at his home three weeks ago. Obviously, he did not follow the path of the late CIA operative Johnny Michael Spann into Afghanistan. I'm not exactly sure what the truth behind the CIA's query into his availability is. He refuses to talk about September 11. I've discovered it's very difficult extracting the truth out of a spook. You have to approach your intended subject in a roundabout manner. When I spoke with him last month, he was very happy to talk about his recent travels, including a trip to Panama. He was pretty animated talking about how wonderful the weather was and how relaxing it was. So I took a chance and asked, "Weren't you there before, during the war in 1989?" He smiled and said, "Oh, I was there in 1989, but not during the war. I was there before the war". The CIA was conducting black ops against Noriega (himself a paid CIA operative) before the war. He was beaming with pride as he said, "We basically ended that war before it even began". I tried digging for more but that was the extent of his disclosure.
Will it take another 15 years before he lets a sliver of the truth slip out about September 11? I'm willing to wait and I'll try to finesse it out of him every chance I get.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
