Roots of Rendition (Albarelli & Kaye)

[Jan Klimkowski]

Colin Ross MD, a former President of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation, has undertaken much important work into understanding the mechanisms which might be used to programme a person to perform a particular action. His original book, Bluebird, was updated and reissued in 2006 as The CIA Doctors.

Ross' own definition of Manchurian Candidate is as follows:

According to my definition, the Manchurian Candidate is an experimentally created dissociative identity disorder that meets the following four criteria:

1) Created deliberately
2) A new identity is implanted
3) Amnesia barriers are created
4) Used in simulated or actual operations.

From Ross, The CIA Doctors, p 35.

The known predecessor programmes to MK-ULTRA included BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE, and Ross found many documents which clearly reveal the ultimate intention of the projects. For instance:

A document entitled "Hypnotic Experimentation and Research, 10 February 1954", describes a simulation experiment of relevance to the creation of Manchurian Candidate assassins:

Miss (whited out) was then instructed (having previously expressed a fear of firearms in any fashion) that she would use every method at her disposal to awaken Miss (whited out) (now in a deep hypnotic sleep) and failing in this, she would pick up a pistol nearby and fire it at Miss (whited out). She was instructed that her rage would be so great that she would not hesitate to "kill" Miss (whited out) for failing to awaken. Miss (whited out) carried out these suggestions to the letter including firing the (unloaded pneumatic pistol) gun at (whited out) and then proceeding to fall into a deep sleep. After proper suggestions were made, both were awakened and expressed complete amnesia for the entire sequence. Miss (whited out) was again handed the gun, which she refused (in an awakened state) to pick up or accept from the operator. She expressed absolute denial that the foregoing sequence had happened.

From Ross, The CIA Doctors, p 46

Ross further states that there are four primary routes leading to the creation of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) (see eg p233ff The CIA Doctors:

i) childhood abuse; ii) childhood neglect; iii) factitious (ie self-created to attract attention); iv) iatrogenic - which means created by a doctor or therapist.

Manchurian Candidates are prime examples of iatrogenic DID.