428 lines
22 KiB
Plaintext
428 lines
22 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 9 Num. 53
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======================================
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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OCTOBER SURPRISE
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================
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(From the September 1996 Conspiracy Nation Newsletter)
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In 1980, fifty-two American hostages were being held by Iran.
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The President at that time was Jimmy Carter. He was being
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challenged in his bid for re-election by the Reagan-Bush ticket.
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Though Reagan-Bush led in the polls, they secretly feared that
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Carter would stage what was called an "October Surprise." The
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Republicans feared that if Carter were to bring about the release
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of the American hostages in late October, subsequent national
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euphoria would boost Carter in the polls and get him re-elected.
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So, according to numerous and disparate witnesses and
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investigators, the Reagan-Bush faction initiated secret
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negotiations with the Iranians. The deal reportedly was that if
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the Iranians would ignore Carter administration overtures, the
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Republicans would give the Iranians an especially good deal
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later, when Reagan-Bush came to power.
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Some may say, "Well, Congress looked into these allegations and
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found nothing there." But that is like saying that the Columbo
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crime family looked into the Genovese mafia and concluded,
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"They're not such a bad bunch of guys." Congress has also looked
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into the strange death of White House deputy counsel Vincent
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Foster -- twice -- and concluded that Foster committed suicide
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right where his body was found in Fort Marcy Park. So if
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Congress is so infallible, why is Special Prosecutor Kenneth
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Starr now also investigating the Foster death? And why do
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two-thirds of Americans not believe what the Congress keeps
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telling them, vis-a-vis Foster?
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Gary Sick served on the National Security Council staff under
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Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan. Sick was the principal
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White House aide for Iran during the hostage crisis of 1979-81.
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He was skeptical at first, regarding the October Surprise
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allegations, yet gradually found that
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A reality that I thought I knew well turned out to be
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little more than a facade. I had to utterly reevaluate
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whole constellations of events, even those that I had
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experienced personally...
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[Sick had thought that] The events of 1980 could be
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explained adequately without resort to what I considered to
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be a conspiracy theory...
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[Yet] As time went on, seemingly inexplicable fragments of
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information began to appear. My experience was not unlike
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that of a medieval scholar discovering traces of a hidden
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text beneath the script on an old parchment.
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Sick is cautious when he writes, in his book, October Surprise,
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that "there is not enough evidence at this point to launch a
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prosecution," yet he obviously feels that the October Surprise
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story is grounded in fact: "If the evidence presented in this
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book means what it seems to mean, we must conclude that in 1980 a
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deception was inflicted on the hostages, the government, and the
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American people that has few if any parallels in our history.
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That evidence is not easily dismissed."
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Not so cautious as Sick has been Ari Ben-Menashe, who worked for
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the Israeli intelligence agency, the Mossad, before he surfaced
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to write a tell-all book, Profits of War (1991). Ben-Menashe
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says he was part of a team which worked with the French to
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arrange secret meetings between George Bush, William Casey, and
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the Iranians. At one particular meeting in Paris, on October 19,
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1980, a final agreement allegedly was concluded: In exchange for
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a $40 million bribe and future arms shipments, the Iranians
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agreed not to release the American hostages until the January
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1981 Presidential inauguration. This, in fact, did happen; the
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52 hostages were released on January 20, 1981.
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Barbara Honegger worked for the Reagan administration in the
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White House Office of Policy Development. She worked there for 3
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years before she became "the first resignation of conscience from
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the Reagan-Bush Administration." She held off from publishing
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her book, October Surprise, until 1989, due to a sense of loyalty
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she felt toward Ronald Reagan.
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Honegger points out that George Bush had been a Director of CIA
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and, as such, had plenty of covert connections and know-how with
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which to implement secret dealings between the Republicans and
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Iran. Many in CIA hated Jimmy Carter for downsizing the Agency
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and were eager for revenge. Honegger, like Gary Sick, is
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cautious; throughout her book she refers to the October Surprise
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story as "allegations." Yet her evidence leads overwhelmingly to
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the reality of the October Surprise conspiracy.
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For example, Honegger points to the many witnesses who have gone
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public concerning the affair. While some might consider these
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CIA contract agents to be shady characters and therefore not
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sterling witnesses, she asks: Why didn't this body of witnesses
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ever get to tell their stories to the American people? Writes
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Honegger: "As an independent journalist, I believe profoundly in
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the right of the American public to hear from all parties who
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claim to have information on charges as serious as that an
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arms-for-hostage-delay deal was made between the Reagan-Bush
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campaign and Iran."
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So why didn't we hear all sides of the story? After all, in a
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democracy it is supposed that the public can think for itself,
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and do not need to be shielded from witnesses which some
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self-appointed authority decides are "not credible." By what
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right do the few have such control over what the many are allowed
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to hear?
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Rodney Stich, in his classic and definitive book on government
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corruption, Defrauding America (1-800-247-7389), suggests part of
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the reason information is withheld, diminished, or twisted -- The
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CIA's Media Wurlitzer.
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The CIA has many media personnel on its payroll to plant
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stories or discredit charges against the CIA. It pays out
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large sums of money for articles and books to be written on
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the CIA's behalf. Its control over the media is like a
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Wurlitzer, orchestrating and manipulating all segments of
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the written or broadcast media. It must be remembered that
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the CIA has iron-clad control over the establishment media
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in the United States, and spends money supporting
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journalists and the media.
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In light of the July 1996 issue of this newsletter ("The Smiling
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Pope"), it is noteworthy that Ms. Honegger goes into the
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Propaganda Due, or P-2, connection. You'll recall that P-2 is a
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secret, illegal Masonic lodge founded in Italy by Licio Gelli in
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1966. Honegger points to Alexander Haig, later to become the
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Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan, as having been made an
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"honorary" (non-Italian) member of P-2 prior to 1980. Honegger
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further states that Licio Gelli, finance wizard Michele Sindona,
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Alexander Haig, and CIA Director William Casey "were also
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reportedly members of the Vatican's military order, the Knights
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of Malta, whose initiates must take an oath of allegiance to the
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Pope." Furthermore, P-2 is linked to the Mafia, which also seems
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to have played a part in the October Surprise plot; writes
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Honegger: "A number of press reports, taken together, suggest
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that there may have been a P-2 and Gambino Mafia connection to
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the release of the fifty-two American hostages from the U.S.
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embassy in Tehran."
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(By the way, in light of the July issue of this newsletter, "The
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Smiling Pope," I recommend the movie, "The Godfather, Part 3.")
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Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr was president of Iran during the hostage
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crisis. As of 1991, he was living in exile, in Paris. In his
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book, My Turn To Speak, Bani-Sadr corroborates the October
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Surprise allegations.
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While some may wonder why Iran would have negotiated with "the
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Great Satan," i.e., the United States, it now appears that this
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rhetoric served mainly to help unite a fractious Iran against a
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common enemy. (Such techniques are used here in the U.S., where
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the government uses the Big Enemy technique to rally support --
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for example, Big Enemies such as Russia, narcotics, and now,
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increasingly, supposed omnipresent terrorists.) Writes
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Bani-Sadr: "The takeover of the U.S. embassy was wholly in line
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with [Ayatollah] Khomeini's strategy of focusing hostility
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abroad." Remember too that the U.S. had frozen Iranian funds and
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had military spare parts desperately needed by the Iranians.
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Former-president Bani-Sadr says he has proof of contacts between
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Iran and the Reagan-Bush forces as early as the spring of 1980.
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He claims that "the sole purpose of [these contacts] was to
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handicap Carter's re-election bid by preventing the hostages'
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release before the American elections in November 1980."
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The late Paul D. Wilcher was a Washington attorney who
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investigated the October Surprise charges. In a 100-page letter
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addressed to Attorney General Janet Reno and dated May 21, 1993,
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Wilcher offered her a comprehensive look at American "deep
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politics." (The term "deep politics," comes from Professor Peter
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Dale Scott's penetrating look at the assassination of John F.
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Kennedy, Deep Politics and the Death of JFK. Berkeley:
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University of California Press, 1993.) One section of Wilcher's
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letter to Reno is entitled, "The 'October Surprise' Treason &
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Coup D'Etat." (My thanks to a subscriber for sending me this
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disturbing document.) Writes Wilcher:
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My client here is Gunther Karl Russbacher, a life-long
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covert operative for the CIA and the Office of Naval
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Intelligence ("ONI") who has operated at the highest levels
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of both of these super-secret organizations over the past
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30 and 25 years, respectively.
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Because of his extremely high intelligence, his exceptional
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physical skills, his extensive training, his fluency in 8
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languages, his proficiency as one of the CIA's top pilots
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and marksmen, and the fact that his father was one of the
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original founders (along with William Casey, "Wild Bill"
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Donovan, and others) of the Central Intelligence Agency,
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back in 1947, Gunther has always operated at the highest
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levels of these "intelligence" organizations, and has been
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entrusted with carrying out some of their most difficult,
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sensitive, and top secret covert operations.
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[......]
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For the moment, however, I want to focus on one pivotal
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event in Gunther's career -- the fact that he was the CIA
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pilot who flew George Bush and others (listed below) to and
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from Paris on this "October Surprise" weekend, and then
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flew George Bush back to America on the CIA's hypersonic
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spy plane, the SR-71 -- to get him back home before anyone
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would notice that he was gone.
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Russbacher says his passengers on the flight to Paris during the
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October 19, 1980 weekend, included George Bush, William Casey,
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Donald Gregg (later to become Ambassador to South Korea), Robert
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Gates (later to become Director of CIA), Robert McFarlane
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(President Reagan's National Security Advisor), Robert Allen
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(President Reagan's first National Security advisor), Earl Brian
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(of later INSLAW notoriety), Jennifer Fitzgerald (reportedly one
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of George Bush's mistresses), Congressman Daniel Rostenkowski
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(a.k.a. "Rosty," now in jail), Congressman Dan Burton, Senator
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Robert Byrd, Senator John Tower, Senator John Heinz, and other
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prominent Members of Congress.
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Wilcher's letter describes who got what:
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The gist of these negotiations (and deal) was that Bush and
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Casey delivered to the Iranians $40 million in cash (it
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started out as $62 million, but by the time many of the
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Americans had dipped their hands into the till, only about
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$35 million was left to give to the Iranians), basically as
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bribe money, plus the promise of $5 billion more in illegal
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arms sales and spare parts... in exchange for the Iranians'
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agreement not to release the 52 American hostages captured
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in Tehran on November 4th, 1979, until after the November
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4th, 1980, U.S. Presidential election -- in order to
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guarantee the humiliation and defeat of then-President
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Jimmy Carter, and the victory of Ronald Reagan and George
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Bush.
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The important point to remember about this flight, and all
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those who were participating in it, is that the entire
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exercise was a carefully planned, and well executed CIA
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covert operation -- which had been ordered and sanctioned
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at the highest levels of the "Shadow Government" --
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specifically for the purpose of taking back control of the
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federal government from the Democrats, and returning it to
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the CIA and the "Shadow Government."
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In other words, this entire operation was -- and was
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specifically designed to be -- a treasonous coup d'etat, to
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take back control of the federal government from Jimmy
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Carter and the Democrats...
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Paul Wilcher, by the way, is numbered among the so-called
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"Clinton Body Count" -- persons connected to Bill Clinton who
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have died mysteriously and/or violently. The story of the
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Clinton Body Count was first brought to light by Indianapolis
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attorney Linda Thompson. She described how the information was
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first intimated to her, by a purported CIA agent, on the February
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3rd, 1994 broadcast of Chuck Harder's "For the People" radio
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show:
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CHUCK HARDER: Now, Linda, you were talking [about]... The
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Clinton Body Count. You say 25 people that have surrounded
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Bill Clinton, with some type of a personal relationship
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with him.....
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LINDA THOMPSON: Uh-huh. [Affirmative]
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CHUCK HARDER: .....have turned up dead within
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approximately the last 12 months.
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LINDA THOMPSON: Right.
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CHUCK HARDER: Can you name them "off the top of your
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head," to the best of your ability?
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LINDA THOMPSON: Sure.
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CHUCK HARDER: And who were they, and how come, and that
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sort of thing.
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LINDA THOMPSON: C. Victor Raiser was Bill Clinton's
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campaign finance chairman, and his son, who was also very
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active in the campaign, Victor Raiser, Jr., were killed in
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a plane crash, enroute to Alaska, in July of '92. Now
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that's where the body count begins. And it begins there...
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I almost didn't include them because I was going to divide
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it up into post-Presidency and pre-Presidency. The fellow
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that had called me and suggested that I do this was CIA.
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And he said, you know, "Do a body count around Clinton."
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And I said, "What?!" [He answered,] "Just do one. Do one
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before he became President and do one after he became
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President." Because I would not have thought of this on my
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own. I really... It would never have occurred to me to
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even think of doing this.
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Besides Wilcher and Raiser, other names amongst the still-growing
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Clinton Body Count are: Paul Tully, DNC political director,
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heart attack; Paula Gober, worked as Clinton's interpreter for
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the hearing-impaired, car crash; Jim Wilhite, friends with Mack
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McLarty and Bill Clinton, skiing accident; Vincent Foster, Jr.,
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deputy White House counsel, "suicide"; Luther "Jerry" Parks,
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owner of a security service which supplied guards for Clinton
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during his 1992 presidential campaign, murdered by multiple
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gunshots; Jon Parnell Walker, RTC Senior Investigation Specialist
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looking into wrongdoing at Madison Guaranty S&L, supposedly
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jumped to his death while apartment hunting; Kathy Ferguson, wife
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of Danny Ferguson who said he brought sex-accuser Paula Jones to
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Bill Clinton's hotel room at which time Clinton is alleged to
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have sexually harassed Jones, "suicide" by pistol; Herschel
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Friday, a member of C. Victor Raiser's (see above) finance
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committee, plane crash; Ed Willey, manager of Clinton's
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presidential campaign finance committee, supposedly shot himself
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on November 30, 1993; John A. Wilson, a Washington, D.C. city
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councilman about to go public with information on Bill Clinton,
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"suicide" by hanging; Ron Brown, the late Commerce Secretary,
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killed in a suspicious plane crash.
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The list contains many more names than the above. I may write a
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more detailed account in the future. Readers familiar with the
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many violent and/or mysterious deaths of potential witnesses
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connected to the JFK assassination will be familiar with the
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pattern suggested by the Clinton Body Count. For now, add one
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more name to the list of suspicious deaths connected to Bill
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Clinton: Susann Coleman. As documented in the book, Clinton
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Confidential (by George Carpozi), Ms. Coleman, said to be
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pregnant by Bill Clinton, died by "suicide" on February 15, 1977.
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Writes Carpozi, "Coleman is purported to have put the muzzle of a
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shotgun into her mouth and pulled the trigger."
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But how does October Surprise lead to the Clinton Body Count?
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The October Surprise coup d'etat led to the 12-year Reagan-Bush
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Administration. During that time, the illegal Contra war in
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Nicaragua was funded in part by CIA gun- and drug-smuggling via
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Arkansas, condoned by then-Governor Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton,
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according to Roger Morris, author of Partners in Power, is a
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long-time CIA agent. The Arkansas smuggling operation was under
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the command of George Bush, himself a former Director of CIA and
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long-time agent of that roach hotel. So how does October
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Surprise lead to the Clinton Body Count? Well, as we all know,
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roaches multiply.
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Robert Parry has worked for Associated Press, Newsweek magazine,
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and the PBS program, "Frontline." He has been an investigative
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reporter for over 20 years. Parry has continued to look into the
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October Surprise story, has had a book published on the subject
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(Trick or Treason), and recently came up with some startling
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information which he published on Internet.
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Following a Congressional task force report which debunked the
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October Surprise allegations (a report which, writes Parry, rests
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on "an elaborate set of alibis"), Parry sought access to the task
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force's files. He obtained permission to examine unclassified
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papers, stored in a Rayburn building sub-basement, in a converted
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Ladies' washroom now used for storage. To Parry's surprise, "Not
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only did I find unclassified notes and documents about the task
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force's work, but also 'secret' and even 'top secret' papers..."
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Parry's study of these documents led him to believe, more firmly
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than ever, that the October Surprise plot had indeed occured.
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Among the confidential documents that Parry lucked onto was a
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six-page Russian report, sent in response to a query by Rep. Lee
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Hamilton (D-Ind.) According to Parry, the "Russian report
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stated, as fact, that Casey, George Bush and other Republicans
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had met secretly with Iranian officials in Europe during the 1980
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presidential campaign. The Russians depicted the hostage
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negotiations that year as a two-way competition between the
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Carter White House and the Reagan campaign to outbid one another
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for Iran's cooperation on the hostages. The Russians asserted
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that the Reagan team had disrupted Carter's hostage negotiations
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after all, the exact opposite of the task force conclusion."
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Still don't believe the October Surprise machinations occured?
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Tell that to former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir who,
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when asked in May of 1993 if there had been an October Surprise,
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responded, "of course, it was." Tell that to senior
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representatives of Iran's current government, who, writes Parry,
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are "amused at how wrong the House task force had been." Tell
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that to veteran White House correspondent Sarah McClendon, who,
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when I stated to her in late August of 1995, "So you agree with
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the story of the 'October Surprise,'" responded:
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Oh definitely. There definitely was. And Bush has denied
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it all along. And people have seen him in Paris at the
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time he claims he wasn't there. They saw him there and
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they know he went to the meeting. And I definitely think
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the agreement was made there.
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An "October Surprise" has also come to have a generic meaning.
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According to William Safire, writing in the New York Times on or
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about August 20, 1996, "An 'October Surprise,' in political
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parlance, is the making of big news to affect a November
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election." Safire points to two events which, he says, are "in
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the pipeline" -- a possible indictment of Hillary Clinton for
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perjury and obstruction of justice, and a possible punitive
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strike against Iran in retaliation for allegedly masterminding
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the recent bomb attack against a military barracks in Saudi
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Arabia.
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of Conspiracy Nation, nor of its Editor in Chief.
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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