Articles Index Coincidence or Conspiracy?
Conspiracy theories have been around a long, long time. One thing is certain - they show no signs of going away.
Conspiracy theories are fun. They are like true crime novels, and they get you thinking.
Ted Goertzel wrote “Belief in Conspiracy Theories” which was published in Political Psychology 15: 733-744, 1994. In his paper he explained how few had examined the psychology of those that believe in them. He stated,
Nor has there been any previous attempt to discover the psycho¬logical or sociological correlates of belief in conspiracies.
He summed up the obvious in the beginning of his paper,
People who believed in one conspiracy were more likely to also believe in others.
I often say that “I don’t believe in coincidences.” Too much NCIS I guess. But what happens when the facts start to get in the way of logic?
I recently received three different emails from three different people with links to three different articles all claiming the same thing. This was so far out there and - given the national security connection - I had to look in to it.
Friday December 31, 2010 John P. Wheeler III, the former Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force, later, the Special Assistant to the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Logistics and Environment, was murdered and his body was found dumped in a landfill in Delaware.
New Years Eve in Arkansas 3000 to 5000 red-winged black birds fell from the sky. In a town not far away up to 100,000 dead fish washed up on shore on Monday.
Could these three obvious separate incidents have any link to one another? Well, here is a twist that would make Alfred Hitchcock proud. One of the articles I received was from the EU Times,
A shocking report prepared for Prime Minister Putin by the Foreign Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU) states that one of the United States top experts in biological and chemical weapons was brutally murdered after he threatened to expose a US Military test of poison gas that killed hundreds of thousands of animals in Arkansas this past week.
Here are the facts, according to Associated Press via the Washington Post,
BEEBE, Ark. -- Environmental service workers finished picking up the carcasses on Sunday of about 2,000 red-winged blackbirds that fell dead from the sky in a central Arkansas town.
Mike Robertson, the mayor in Beebe, told The Associated Press the last dead bird was removed about 11 a.m. Sunday in the town about 40 miles northeast of Little Rock. He said 12 to 15 workers, hired by the city to do the cleanup, wore environmental-protection suits for the task.
The birds had fallen Friday night over a 1-mile area of Beebe, and an aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found outside of that area. The workers from U.S. Environmental Services started the cleanup Saturday.
The number of birds has now been estimated to be between 3000 and 5000 depending on the report. The article explained that first thoughts were lighting may have caused the birds death,
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission ornithologist Karen Rowe said Saturday the birds showed physical trauma, and speculated that “the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail.”
In a later report the cause was fireworks. According to USA Today,
It was someone shooting off professional grade fireworks in a residential district, scaring the night-blind birds out of their roost into a 25-mph flight that ran them into houses, signs and even the ground, says Karen Rowe, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission ornithologist.
Of course we have all seen birds falling out the sky every July fourth, right? Not to mention we can see from the photo how they would have flown into those tall buildings.
Days later hundreds of more birds were found dead on a highway near Baton Rouge, The Associated Press reported,
First, New Year's Eve fireworks were blamed in central Arkansas for making thousands of blackbirds confused, crashing into homes, cars and each other. Then 300 miles to the south in Louisiana, power lines likely killed about 450 birds, littering a highway near Baton Rouge.
So first its lighting, then fireworks and now, days later it’s the dreaded power lines.
MSNBC reported on the dead fish,
State officials on Monday were investigating why 80,000 to 100,000 fish washed up dead on the shores of the Arkansas River last week.
The mass kill occurred just one day before thousands of blackbirds dropped dead from the sky in Beebe, Ark., which is 125 miles away.
ABC News reported the findings on the lab tests and autopsy of the birds,
According to preliminary testing released late today, the trauma was primarily in breast tissue, with blood clots in the body cavity and internal bleeding.
Interestingly, according to the Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry website the exposure to phosgene gas will cause,
Direct toxicity to the cells leads to an increase in capillary permeability, resulting in large shifts of body fluid, decreasing plasma volume.
Insufficient oxygenation of arterial blood and massive accumulation of fluid in the lungs may be accompanied by cardiovascular and hematological signs.
Destruction of red blood cells in the pulmonary circulation can cause capillary plugging that leads to strain on the right side of the heart and death.
In layman terms, the findings of the birds death is exactly the same as exposure to phosgene gas.
Newsweek referred to the death of John Wheeler as “perplexing”,
The murder of former Pentagon official John P. Wheeler III, whose body was found on New Year’s Eve in a Delaware landfill, has been baffling since it was first discovered. But the more facts that emerge about his mysterious death, the more perplexing it seems to become.
According to John Wheeler’s bio,
Mr. Wheeler graduated from West Point in 1966, serving as a staff officer in Vietnam, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Joint Staff before leaving active service in 1971. While on active duty, he authored the first Biological and Chemical Joint Munitions Effectiveness Manual and the analysis supporting the President's decision that the U.S. will not use biologicals. He was also on the Red Integrated Strategic Operational Plan Team to test the Single Integrated Operational Plan. He was Secretary, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, on the team that worked major insider trader investigations and consultant to the acting Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics regarding tankers and other issues.
Since 2009 Wheeler was a consultant to Mitre Corporation.
There is no doubt that Wheeler had an interest in the use by anyone of biological weapons. Mitre Corporation describes itself on its website as follows,
MITRE manages Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs): one for the Department of Defense (known as the DoD Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence FFRDC), one for the Federal Aviation Administration (the Center for Advanced Aviation System Development), one for the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (the Center for Enterprise Modernization), and one for the Department of Homeland Security (the Homeland Security Systems Engineering and Development Institute).
The overview of the company,
• Acquisition and Systems Analysis
• Airspace Development, Safety, Security
• Command and Control
• Cybersecurity
• Emerging Technologies - Biotechnology, Biosecurity, Nanotechnology, Neurosciences, Computational Imaging, and Quantum Computing
• Enterprise Systems Engineering
• Global Networking
• Healthcare Transformation
• Homeland Security
• Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance
• Large-Scale Enterprise Transformation
• Cloud Computing
• Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)
• Social Software and Collaboration
So how does this conspiracy explain how these chemicals would have been released? According to the article from the EU Times,
Wheeler was hired in 2009 as a consultant to the Mitre Corporation, whose aviation system development department, the GRU reports, is at the forefront of creating the computer command and control systems used by the US Air Force in their fleet of aerial spraying planes.
These aerial spraying planes, this report continues, are based at the Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas that over the past few months have been involved with ‘test dispersants’ of poisonous gasses in the Afghanistan War Theater using chemical weapons stocks obtained from Iraq and held at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, also located in Arkansas.
Little Rock Air Force Base describes itself as follows,
Little Rock Air Force Base is the home of C-130 Combat Airlift. The 19th Airlift Wing is the host unit which reports to Air Mobility Command. The 314th Airlift Wing, an associate unit, reports to Air Education and Training Command. Another unit, the 29th Weapons Squadron, also reports to Air Combat Command. Additionally, the 189th Airlift Wing of the Arkansas Air National Guard is located here. The 189th reports to Air Education and Training Command.
Here are some facts on Pine Bluff according their own website,
Pine Bluff Arsenal is located in the mid-south region of Arkansas.
Serving the needs of the joint warfighter and the citizen, a full spectrum logistics center providing expertise in specialized munitions and chemical-biological defense products and services.
Okay, that’s something to ponder “specialized munitions and chemical-biological defense products and services.”
Thus far, everything I researched from this article is factual, except (and this is a big except) for the connections. The only thing I cannot confirm is whether or not such a report was actually prepared for Prime Minister Putin by the Foreign Military Intelligence Directorate.
One would assume that proof of such a report would clinch it. I doubt the Russians would bother to write, let alone give to Putin, the former KGB head, a report that cannot be substantiated full of theories.
If, and I say if, there had been even an accidental release of any type of harmful gas in the area, would someone with John Wheeler’s background, government clearance and education not be privy to it or at least maybe figure it out and question it?
Considering John Wheelers past history of being against the use of chemical weapons is it not likely he would have wanted to get that information out to the public?
And then there is the biggest if of all… Would any group or our own government actually murder someone to keep things quiet?
There is no doubt that we have all the makings of a murder mystery with intrigue, government spies, secret weapons and hit men. Oh, and lets not forget the civilian population that may have been exposed to all this. Then again, why have no people died yet?
So, there you have it. Too many coincidences or too many facts?
You don’t believe that your government could be involved in such a thing? Perhaps, but then again there are the “Ten Proven US Government Conspiracies”. Read them at your own risk. You are likely to believe more.
Authors Note: It must be said that John Wheeler III was much more than a public servant who served honorably both in the military as well as under 3 different Presidents. His work with charitable organizations was beyond admirable. Mr. Wheeler also served as Chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (1979 – 1989). Many have stated that had it not been for his undying commitment and work the Vietnam Veterans wall in Washington, D.C. would never have been built.
He also served as the Chairman and CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (1983 – 1987). In 1993 he created the Vietnam Children's Fund and served as CEO until his death.
Mr. Wheeler will be greatly missed and we hope that those responsible for his death will be found and convicted.
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2011-01-12 18:22:10 |75.189.224.xxx| Reese
This is amazing digging...gives a lot to ponder. I'm one of those that doesn't believe in coincidences either...and this just is a bit...Thanks again Gadi for another great article.
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2011-01-12 23:05:47 |137.118.137.xxx| Anonymous
With highest level security clearance I had assumed he knew more then the powers that be were comfortable with. Had no idea the full magnitude that has the ring of truth by multiple vantage points. For an extremely gifted man who went from top of his game to disoriented and disheveled within the course of 1 day 2 tops I suspected a bio-chemical agent like the famous case some years ago of the former KGB spy who was poisoned/ murdered in Lodon in a similar way of very rapid progression of internal deterioration.
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2011-01-13 10:46:00 |74.214.40.xxx| Anonymous
Pondering: This makes me think of the Anthrax situation, where for years they had "their suspect" then all of a sudden the scientist that worked with the Anthrax stuff was founded apparent suicide and then posthumous he was way laid as guilty of the anthrax scare.
Great job in connecting the dots!
Just one comment on the attribution of bird deaths to power lines. Power lines? Come on, now - power lines do not kill birds. Birds sit on power lines and don't die. Why? Because they're NOT GROUNDED. That explanation is almost as plausible as that of the missile launch off the left coast being an airliner's vapor trail.
Yeah, they really do think we're that dumb.