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Prussian military theoretician Karl Von Clausewitz observed that “war is the continuation of politics by other means.” By the same token, politics could be seen as “the continuation of war by other means.” This lecture analyzes the election of the year 2000 as constituting a coup d’etat and highlights a number of different aspects of the political landscape in 1999 and 2000. The discussion details what was, in effect, a military-style operation. In that context, a number of violent actions (some of them lethal) were conducted in combination with a strategic program of political and psychological warfare. These elements can be understood in the context of a military paradigm and, together, they doomed the Gore campaign.
The talk begins with brief discussion of the destabilization of President Clinton’s administration. This destabilization fractured the ranks of the Democratic Party and made it extremely difficult for Gore to politically exploit the economic success of the Clinton years.
The substantive part of the lecture begins with the probable murder of JFK, Jr. and the effect his death may have had on the campaign. The available evidence suggests the distinct possibility that the crash that took his life was not an accident. Contrary to news reports at the time, the weather was clear and the visibility was from between two and five miles. Kennedy was about four minutes from the airport, was within visual contact radius of the island and had radioed the airport to get permission to land. He did not broadcast a “Mayday” distress call. Eyewitnesses reported Kennedy’s plane approaching the airport at an altitude of less than 100 feet. (This contrasts markedly with the “radar track” which was leaked to the media, showing Kennedy’s plane beginning its “graveyard spiral” at an altitude of 1800 ft. It is extraordinarily unlikely that Kennedy would have been at that altitude when coming in for a landing. Contrary to press reports at the time of Kennedy’s death, he was an excellent pilot with over 300 hours of flying time. Some reports erroneously said he had as little as 35 hours.) Eyewitnesses reported seeing a “flash” or explosion over the water when Kennedy’s plane disappeared. Most importantly, numerous media political pundits reported that Kennedy was going to be offered either the Presidential or (as is most likely) Vice-Presidential nomination, in an attempt to assure victory for the Democrats in the 2000 election! His death eliminated that possibility.
Mr. Emory also noted that, at the time of the death of JFK, Jr., his father’s assassination was once again on the front burner. Boris Yeltsin publicly gave President Clinton the KGB files on Oswald (which demonstrated that they felt Oswald was probably an American agent.) (Tabloids reported, perhaps incorrectly, that JFK, Jr. was interested in investigating his father’s murder.)
The lecture highlights the phony “oil shortage” of the late 1970s against the background of the allegedly real “oil shortage” of the year 2000. (The Secret War Against the Jews; pp. 333–335.) In The Secret War Against the Jews, the authors draw on veteran American and British intelligence officers in order to document collusion among elements of George Bush’s CIA, the petroleum industry and the government of Saudi Arabia. Together, these elements fabricated an alleged Soviet petroleum shortfall, as well as a phony “decline” in Saudi oil production. Career oil industry professional George Bush gave Jimmy Carter a CIA report that falsely forecast a world-wide oil shortage. (Idem.) The report also ruminated about the possibility that the Soviets might invade the Middle East in order to augment allegedly failing domestic production. The goal of the report was to influence Jimmy Carter to increase oil production and sell weapons to Saudi Arabia in order to “defend against the Soviet menace”. (Idem.) Carter and Energy Secretary James Schlesinger instead responded with a program of conservation. This enraged the petroleum interests, which then responded with the phony “gas shortage” of 1979. This gas shortage helped to propel Jimmy Carter from office. (Schlesinger had resigned his post earlier in Carter’s administration.)
Former CIA director Bush became Vice-President under Reagan and (according to some sources) became “power behind the throne.” Eventually, it became evident that the CIA report was false, and that the Middle East was swimming in oil. Nonetheless, the CIA/Saudi/petroleum industry fraud was successful in conning consumers into accepting dramatically higher gasoline prices. Those rising prices destabilized the Carter administration, and persuaded Congress and the President to authorize a Saudi military buildup. That Saudi build-up tipped the military balance of power in favor of the Arabs. Most importantly, the phony oil shortage set the stage for an unprecedented military build-up during the Reagan administrations. That military build-up tripled the U.S. national debt in eight years.
The talk highlights the manner in which the Reagan-Bush campaign conspired with the Muslim fundamentalist forces in Iran in order to assure Carter’s defeat–the “October Surprise” of 1980. Mr. Emory speculates that the rise in petroleum prices in the year 2000 was deliberately contrived to drive up oil prices, aggravate voters, weaken the economy and pave the way for the accession of George W. Bush.
In this very close Presidential race, the small percentage of the vote garnered by Green Party candidate Ralph Nader did, as some critics had warned, prove to have decisive impact. Mr. Emory presents the Nader candidacy as constituting, in effect, one part of a “pincers movement.” (This is a military strategy, in which an attacking force simultaneously strikes at both of the enemy’s flanks.) The Nader candidacy pinned down the Gore campaign by attacking it from the ideological left, as Bush was attacking the Vice President from the ideological right. By limiting Gore’s populist appeal and attacking his environmental record, Nader denied vital strategic ground to the Gore campaign. (More than any other mainstream politician, Gore was identified with environmental causes.) A vote for Nader was indeed a vote for Bush, particularly in Florida. (Nader got more than 90,000 votes in Florida.) Note that the “Green Movement” (although progressive for the most part) has surprising historical links with fascism.
In addition to analyzing the Nader campaign from a strategic perspective, Mr. Emory detailed some aspects of Nader’s financial and professional history that have escaped popular attention. In particular, the discussion highlights the hypocritical investment policy that Ralph Nader has executed. (“How Nader Profits While He Preaches” by Jeff McMahon; bushwatch.net/nader.htm; 10/27/2000.) Nader owns up to $250,000 worth of shares of Fidelity Magellan Fund, a firm that is heavily invested in many of the corporations that Nader has been most vocal in criticizing. (Idem.) Among those firms that Fidelity invests in are Halliburton Oil, headed by Dick Cheney until shortly after his nomination as Bush’s running mate. Fidelity also invests in Occidental Petroleum, a firm that has been criticized by environmentalists.
Al Gore’s mother’s trust owns a significant block of Occidental stock. Gore’s populist credentials have been impugned by Nader Vice-Presidential candidate Winona La Duke because of that stock. (Idem.) The lecture underscores disturbing aspects of Nader’s anti-labor activities, and his avoidance of social issues. Multi-millionaire Nader has fiercely resisted attempts at unionization by the underpaid employees of his organizations. (“1.75 Cheers for Ralph” by Doug Henwood; Left Business Observer; 10/1996 [#74].) Mr. Emory sets forth Nader’s refusal to permit publication of CIA/corporate collusion in his Multinational Monitor (Idem.)
Another effective element of political and psychological warfare that worked against Gore was the Wen Ho Lee case. A Taiwanese American citizen who had been employed as a nuclear scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lee was falsely charged with espionage in 1999, triggering a Republican-led congressional investigation. That investigation hinted that Lee’s alleged espionage on behalf of the People’s Republic of China was linked to “Chinese” campaign donations to the Clinton administration. The case garnered much journalistic attention, and cast a pall of suspicion on Asian Americans employed in sensitive national security-related jobs. Most importantly, it figured in the criticism that the Republicans directed toward the Democrats during the 2000 campaign. Al Gore’s appearance at the much-ballyhooed Buddhist Temple fundraiser was utilized by the Republicans to race bait the Gore campaign by associating it with “the yellow peril.”
In this lecture, Mr. Emory sets forth the details of one of the arms deals that Oliver North’s Iran-Contra operatives arranged — a missile sale from the People’s Republic of China to the Contras. The American-supplied Contra guerillas were looking for weapons with which to effectively combat the Sandinistas’ Soviet-supplied attack helicopters. North arranged for a shipment of SA‑7 surface-to-air missiles to be sent to the Contras. The documented sharing of nuclear weapons information with the PRC during the Reagan administration was characteristic of the type of quid pro quo arrangement that Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh found to be commonplace during the course of the Iran-Contra operations. Like other nations that supplied weapons to the Contras for the Reagan Administration, the Chinese expected favors in return for their efforts. Since the alleged theft of nuclear secrets took place during the Reagan and Bush years, they cannot be blamed on Clinton. The “theft” may well have been an outgrowth of the SA‑7 deal.
Nonetheless, the Republicans have attempted to pin the blame on the Clinton administration, campaigning on the falsehood that the Democrats compromised American nuclear security in exchange for campaign contributions. Among the most vocal of those pinning the blame for the Lee affair on the Clinton administration was Judge James Parker, a Reagan appointee. (The New York Times; 9/14/2000; p. A1.) The program highlights the fact that Lee and his wife had cooperated with the CIA in connection with his Chinese contacts. (San Jose Mercury News; 8/11/2000; p. 10A.) Mr. Emory also notes that Energy Secretary Bill Richardson was savaged by Judge Parker and the Republicans, and speculates about the possible use of the Lee/PRC contacts as a campaign dirty trick. (The New York Times; 9/14/2000; p. A1.) Richardson at one time was considered a possible Vice Presidential running mate for Al Gore. In addition, the Lee case helped to discredit the Department of Energy and made it difficult for that Department to follow Clinton’s directive to help hold down the price of oil. This added to the effectiveness of what Mr. Emory believes was a replay of the oil price gambit of 1979–80.
The discussion then turns to the death of Missourri Governor Mel Carnahan. The New York Times noted that the Democrats had a slim chance to retain control of the Senate. (“Democrats Have Outside Chance to Wrest Senate” by David E. Rosenbaum; New York Times; 10/16/2000; p.1.) One of the races that offered the possibility of a Democratic victory was the crucial race for the Senate seat held by John Ashcroft (R‑Missouri.) (Idem.)
The day after that observation was printed, Ashcroft’s Democratic opponent, Governor Mel Carnahan, was killed in the crash of a private plane. (“Governor, 2 Others Flying in Bad Weather” by Jim Salter; San Francisco Examiner; 10/17/2000; ppA‑1, A‑12.) An investigator noted that the wreckage was found in ” very small pieces spread over a large area,” more characteristic of a bomb explosion than the accidental crash of an aircraft. (Idem.) The crash came too late for the Democrats to nominate an alternative candidate. (Idem.) The lecture underscores contradictions in the official account of the tragedy. The plane was initially reported to have crashed in very bad weather and (possibly) to have been struck by lightning. (Idem.) Subsequent accounts indicate that the weather was not particularly bad for flying and that the pilot had reported gyroscope trouble. (“Doomed Plane Apparently Had Instrument Trouble” by John W. Fountain; New York Times; 10/18/2000; p. A20.)
Analysis of Carnahan’s death suggested that his demise would lessen the Democrats’ chances of winning control of the Senate and reduce Gore’s chances of winning Missouri, a crucial swing state. (“Equation Changed by a Fatal Crash” by James Dao; New York Times; 10/18/2000; pp. A1, A20.) The state Democratic infrastructure also was pessimistic about the outcome for the Senate race. (“Governor Mourned as Public Servant” by Stephanie Simon; San Jose Mercury News; 10/18/2000; p. 15A.) One should not fail to note the superficial similarity to the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. Although Ashcroft’s widow took his seat when he was posthumously elected, Bush carried Missourri (a key swing state.) The role of Carnahan’s death in this campaign should not be discounted. Note, also, that John Ashcroft became Attorney General in the Bush administration and presided over the implementation of many of the draconian, unconstitutional legal revisions instituted by Dubya.
As discussed above, the “oil shortage” of 1979–80 combined with the humiliation of the United States at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists in Iran to assure Jimmy Carter’s election defeat. An “oil shortage” and “Middle Eastern terrorism” were front and center during the 2000 campaign, as well. Tensions in the Middle East were heightened by the bomb attack on the destroyer U.S.S. Cole. Al Qaeda and the combatants of Osama bin Laden were behind the attack. (“U.S. Says Yemen Attackers Used Inside Information” by David A. Vise and Vernon Loeb; San Francisco Chronicle; 10/13/2000; p. A6.) The lecture reviews information about the probable role of the Bin Laden family in supplying a portion of the investment capital that was used to establish George W. Bush’s first oil company. The possibility that petroleum-related elements of U.S. intelligence and what Mr. Emory calls “the Underground Reich” may have been behind the attack on the Cole should not be too readily cast aside.
The attack was used by the Bush campaign to attack the Democrats. Once again, Mr. Emory underscored the significance of the increase in oil prices for the economy, the stock market and the Gore campaign. Oil price increases have historically led to recessions and a falling Dow Jones Industrial average and, during Presidential election years, this has led to the incumbent being voted out of office. (“Can Al Gore Survive Rising Oil Prices and Falling Stocks?” by Floyd Norris; New York Times; 9/22/2000; p. C1.) Once again, the fact that Dubya’s father was the head of the CIA and the presence in the political process of elements intimately involved with the Agency’s covert operations establishment is not to be overlooked.
Much of the lecture sets forth information about the role in the 2000 electoral coup played by the CIA-linked, anti-Castro Cuban milieu in Florida. The angry crowd that menaced (and consequently affected) the Miami-Dade election officials was summoned by Radio Mambi, closely connected to the Anti-Castro Cuban community in Miami. (“Miami’s Cuban Americans May Get the Last Word” by Peter Dale Scott; Pacific News Service; http://pacificnews.org; 12/4/2000.) The political milieu that generated the furor over Elian Gonzalez is identical to that involved with intimidating the Miami election officials, and has historical links to the Bush faction of the CIA. (Idem.)
Highlighting these connections in more detail, the discussion highlights the role of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) and its founder Jorge Mas Canosa in setting up Radio Mambi. (“Miami-Dade Reversal÷A Cuban terrorist Payback to Bush Family?” by Peter Dale Scott; Pacific News Service; http://pacificnews.org; 12/7/2000.) Mr. Emory relates informed speculation that the CIA (under William Casey) precipitated the founding of CANF in 1981. (Idem.) Two of Mas Canosa’s proteges in CANF were the brothers Guillermo and Ignacio Novo, both implicated in the assassination of former Chilean Ambassador Orlando Letelier. (Idem.) The elder George Bush was closely connected to this milieu, and deflected inquiries into the Letelier assassination that led in the direction of the CIA supported coup in Chile. (Idem.)
The broadcast also details the connections of this milieu to Cuban-Americans involved in the Contra support effort in the 1980’s. (Idem.) Next, the discussion illuminates the role of a Cuban-American splinter group (Vigilia Mambisa) in the agitation that forced the halting of the recount. (Unpublished update by Professor Scott to “Miami’s Cuban Americans May Get the Last Word” by Peter Dale Scott; Pacific News Service; http://pacificnews.org; 12/4/2000; made available to Mr. Emory by a kind listener.)
The talk also sets forth links between Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the CANF milieu, the Contra support effort, and the failure of the Broward Federal Savings & Loan Association. (Unpublished update by Professor Scott to “Miami-Dade Reversal÷A Cuban terrorist Payback to Bush Family?” by Peter Dale Scott; Pacific News Service; http://pacificnews.org; 12/7/2000.)
An “ex” CIA officer (Charles Kane) allegedly participated in a scheme to deliver some of the fraudulent absentee ballots that helped tip Florida to Bush. (“Absentee Ballot Fraud in 5 Florida Counties” by David E. Scheim; Associated Press; 12/7/2000; at http://www.campaignwatch.org.) The lecture highlighted the deliberate and fraudulent exclusion of African American voters in Florida was discussed. Many of them were labeled as “felons” and consequently prevented from voting.
In addition, it turns out that the head of the political desk at Fox News (who led the media stampede to reassign Florida from Gore to Bush) was Jeb and “W’s” cousin John Ellis. (“One More election Embarrassment for the Press: Bush Cousin” by Tom Rosenstiel; The Los Angeles Times; 11/15/2000; p. B9.) Ellis was in close telephone contact with Jeb and “W” on election night, apparently feeding them political intelligence on the election. (“News Executive Called Races, and Bush” by Bill Carter; The New York Times; 11/14/2000; p. A17.) Ellis’ call led the media charge to reverse the call of Florida as being won by Gore. This was critical to Bush’s success, because it created the impression that Gore was a “sore loser” and facilitated the capitulation of the Democrats. The lecture also points out that Theodore Olson, the new Solicitor General, was one of the lead attorneys for the Bush campaign in Florida. (The Solicitor General is often referred to as “the tenth Supreme Court Justice.”)
Olson was heavily involved in the campaign to discredit Bill Clinton, as well. The ascent of Olson and Ashcroft to two of the most important positions in the Department of Justice could be said to complete the electoral coup of the year 2000. The lecture concludes with analysis of the “energy crisis” in California as a deliberately structured destabilization of the California Democratic electoral base. California went heavily for Gore in 2000 and Gray Davis has been discussed as a possible opponent for Bush in 2004. The California “energy crisis” may well be setting the stage for “the electoral coup of the year 2004.” (Recorded on 2/24/2001.)
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