"The Transparent Conspiracy" by Michael D. Morrissey: A Review

[Ed Jewett]

Posted by stuartbramhall at 7:09 pm
July 31, 2010
7 COMMENTS
They Want Us to Know: On Conspiracies and Cover-ups


Posted by stuartbramhall on @ 7:09 pm
Article printed from speakeasy: http://blogs.alternet.org/refugee
URL to article: http://blogs.alternet.org/refugee/2010/0...cover-ups/

The Transparent Conspiracy by Michael D. Morrissey: A Review

The Mass Psychology of Partial Disclosure

The Transparent Conspiracy is a collection of essays written between 2006 and 2010, mainly about the 911 and JFK conspiracies and cover up, with a short collection of poems on the same topic. Morrisey’s latest bookis a definite departure from other conspiracy literature. Morrissey has no interest in proving or disproving either the 911 or the JFK conspiracy – he feels this territory is well-covered by other authors. The topic of this book is mass psychology. Morrissey believes our government’s propaganda arm (whatever they call it now) is fully aware that a well-managed conspiracy cover-up can have a very intimidating effect, which can be very effective in keeping the public docile and obedient.
The Government Wants Us to Know
Specifically he argues there is major value (from the government point of view) in disclosing a limited amount of information concerning government culpability in atrocities such as the JFK assassination and 911. He bases his view on something he calls “Transparency Theory” – thus his title The Transparent Conspiracy. He says the CIA has long recognized that “telling part of the truth is the best way to lie.” They even have a term for it: “white propaganda.” Morrissey argues that for the government to brazenly commit criminal acts can be quite effective in demoralizing and alienating the tuned-in segment of the population that fully comprehends the corrupt nature of our government institutions.
He then lays out the hypothetical question: if the reality of the 911 conspiracy were widely accepted by the American public, would they be capable of doing anything about it? Morrissey believes that at this point in history they would be powerless (that they lack the power to bring the culprits to trial or even impeach them). Which he contends is a powerful basis for demoralization and alienation.
Contrasting 911 with the JFK Assassination
He then contrasts the 911 conspiracy cover-up with the cover-up of the JFK assassination, in which years of advanced planning went into creating a fictional identity (as an unstable Marxist) for a US intelligence agent named Lee Harvey Oswald – and in which scores of witnesses were murdered and evidence secretly destroyed and/or fabricated.
In the case of 911 there was very limited – a few fictitious cell phone calls from a high altitude that weren’t technologically feasible in 2001 and some clumsily forged bin Laden videotapes. The government made no attempt to conceal that they were destroying evidence at Ground Zero – they simply loaded all the twisted steel onto trucks and shipped it to Long Island to be melted down into something else. The 911 Commission was more of a whitewash than a true cover-up.
Noam Chomsky’s Puzzling Position on Conspiracies

Morrissey’s essays also cover, at length, his correspondence with American’s pre-eminent dissident Noam Chomsky, regarding the JFK assassination conspiracy and cover-up. Morrisey, who has always been one of Chomsky’s greatest admirers, describes his initial dismay at his hero’s categorical rejection of the mountains of irrefutable evidence that the JFK assassination conspiracy originated at the highest levels of government. He was even more troubled, after their lengthy correspondence (published as Looking for the Enemy in 2008), at Chomsky’s inability to rationally justify his position. He initially tended to side with media critics who believe Chomsky plays some deliberate “left gatekeeping” function (having to do with right wing foundation funding). He now believes Chomsky more likely has other reasons – relating more to what is increasingly self-evident in the 911 Truth movement – that the endless investigation of government conspiracies playing little pragmatic role in the massive institutional change (such as the end of capitalism) which is the only hope for real and permanent change in the US.
Morrissey also touches on his correspondence with Vincent Salandria (published in 2007 as Correspondence with Vincent Salandria). Salandria, a “left leaning” Philadelphia lawyer, was the first to publicly challenge the Warren Commission (in 1965). Morrissey is also careful to credit Salandria’s ideas about the propaganda uses of a well-managed cover-up for helping to develop his own thinking.
The poems make a moving addendum to the essays. They convey quite poignantly Morrissey’s personal struggle with the despair and heartache of learning a government you believed to be fair and democratic is actually deeply corrupt.




[URL="http://stuartbramhall.aegauthorblogs.com/tag/white-propaganda/"]
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62 year old psychiatrist, activist and author of a recently published memoir THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY ACT: MEMOIR OF AN AMERICAN REFUGEE. Which describes my decision in 2002 - owing to extensive government harassment for my political activities to close my 25-year Seattle practice and begin a new life in New Zealand. What commenced as unrelenting phone harassment and illegal break-ins progressed to attempts on my life and an affair with an undercover operative who railroaded me into a psychiatric hospital

[Peter Lemkin]

Sounds like 'my kind' of book!~and great. Also sounds depressing. I hope there is a ray of hope in there somewhere.....or someone else will write such a book. That said, I'll likely read it and reconfirm my worst nightmares..... :bandit:

John Judge and others have made this point...(that they want the cognoscenti to know they did it and are powerless to do anything about it), like the taunts of the schoolyard bully. Only the current schoolyard bully it the Global bully.....and is not likely to 'grow out of it'....unless challenged by a mass movement of enraged world citizenry and led by righteously indignant 'family' members of the bully...i.e. Americans and their lapdogs.

[Carsten Wiethoff]

For this item a file download (for a charge) in PDF format is available at
http://www.lulu.com/product/file-downloa...or/right/1

Certainly an alternative. I am not affiliated in any way with the book.

[Edit:] Many of the articles and poems in the book are also available online at https://sites.google.com/site/michaeldav...issey/home

[Peter Lemkin]

Vincent J. Salandria speaking to Gaeton Fonzi in 1975. Quoted in The Last Investigation (1993):

I'm afraid we were misled. All the critics, myself included, were misled very early. I see that now. We spent too much time and effort microanalyzing the details of the assassination when all the time it was obvious, it was blatantly obvious that it was a conspiracy. Don't you think that the men who killed Kennedy had the means to do it in the most sophisticated and subtle way? They chose not to. Instead, they picked the shooting gallery that was Dealey Plaza and did it in the most barbarous and openly arrogant manner. The cover story was transparent and designed not to hold, to fall apart at the slightest scrutiny. The forces that killed Kennedy wanted the message clear: 'We are in control and no one - not the President, nor Congress, nor any elected official - no one can do anything about it.' It was a message to the people that their Government was powerless. And the people eventually got the message. Consider what has happened since the Kennedy assassination. People see government today as unresponsive to their needs, yet the budget and power of the military and intelligence establishment have increased tremendously.

The tyranny of power is here. Current events tell us that those who killed Kennedy can only perpetuate their power by promoting social upheaval both at home and abroad. And that will lead not to revolution but to repression. I suggest to you, my friend, that the interests of those who killed Kennedy now transcend national boundaries and national priorities. No doubt we are dealing now with an international conspiracy. We must face that fact - and not waste any more time microanalyzing the evidence. That's exactly what they want us to do. They have kept us busy for so long. And I will bet, buddy, that is what will happen to you. They'll keep you very, very busy and, eventually, they'll wear you down.

[Peter Lemkin]

Controlled Demolition as a Limited Hangout
Oct. 1, 2009
I have been saying this for several years (most recently in "9/11 Aletheia"),
and the recent articles by Kevin Ryan144 support my point. As I wrote in
2006145:
Thus one can argue that it is in the interest of Big Brother to limit the
discussion to the question of controlled demolition at the WTC.
Now, three years later, when everybody who is ever going to believe it (unless
they hear it on Fox News) does believe it, thanks to the long-awaited and
highly touted scientific proof of explosives at the WTC provided by the
paper146 published by Jones et al. last April (one of whose authors was Kevin
Ryan), the limited hangout can begin it's second phase. I am not saying that
Jones or Ryan are government agents. I am saying they have been dealing with
what Michael Green calls a tar baby – although he misidentifies it. (Green is
one of those who most vociferously argue that "no plane [at least, no 757] hit
the Pentagon" is the tar baby.147)
I have not heard a single report of anyone being persuaded by the
"definitive" thermite paper who was not already persuaded that the Towers
came down by controlled demolition. It has made zero impact on the
"scientific community," the government, and on the public at large, which
should in itself validate my argument that "truthers" who insist on limiting
discussion to this one – most obvious, to anyone who sees the WTC videos
and has also seen videos of controlled demolitions – aspect of 9/11 are
serving the interest of Big Brother.
What the thermite paper does seem to have signalled is the end of the
"research" phase regarding explosives and the beginning of the "forensic"
phase. Ryan provides us with enough suspects for placing the explosives in the
Towers to keep "independent researchers" busy for many years. Let me list
them, in the order they appear in the first two parts of his article (a third is yet
to come) to make the point:
Al-Qaeda operative Ramzi Yousef, Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey, Marsh & McLennan, Baseline Financial Services, First Commercial
Bank, Fuji Bank, Mizuho Holdings, Deutsche Bank, AON Corporation,
Chuo Trust, Washington Group International, Primark Corporation,
144 See http://www.911truth.org/article.php?stor...3033854249 and
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?stor...3150853871.
145 See "The Onion Peeled," in this volume.
146 See http://stj911.org/press_releases/ActiveT...erial.html.
147 See "9/11 Aletheia," in this volume.
The Transparent Conspiracy
127
Bankers Trust, Exco Resources, Oppenheimer & Co., Morrison-Knudsen,
Komatsu, Aoki Construction, Special Devices Inc., In-Q-Tel, TASC,
Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Halliburton, SAIC,
Dresser Industries (now Halliburton), UBS, BCCI
and this is only from Part 1 – "approximately fifty people ... and their possible
links to explosive technology and expertise," as Ryan begins Part 2. In Part 2
he adds Kroll Inc., Electronic Systems Associates, E.J. Electric Installation,
Ensec International, Securacom Inc., Silverstein Properties, and a bunch of
other names of people who, he summarizes, "were deceptive and/or corrupt,
and appeared to have benefited from the attacks," who "were connected to
each other and to the investigations into previous acts of terrorism and the
terrorist financing bank BCCI," who "did major work for the Saudi Arabian
government, or the royal family of Kuwait," or whose history "shows a level
of greed and corruption that overshadowed all preconceptions about U.S.
politics."
I have not read the article carefully, I confess, because the tar is sticking to
my fingers, and my point here is not to question the accuracy of Ryan's
research – nor, in fact, the value of it, for those who want to continue dealing
with the tar baby. There is obviously plenty more work to do, and it is equally
obvious, I think, that it will lead everywhere and nowhere. I would feel sorry
for Ryan, who like Stephen Leacock's comic hero Lord Roland now wants to
fling himself upon his horse and ride madly off in all directions, except that
his previous behavior does not exactly qualify him as a naif. He joined in the
denunciation of the 2008 effort by Joel Hirschhorn et al.148 to get Congress to
look at aspects of 9/11 that (in Ryan's view) are "poorly defined, and highly
implausible" because it "minimizes the chances that Congress would be willing
or able to investigate the actual evidence for the demolition of three WTC
buildings."
It could be that Ryan et al. have actually increased the possibility that
Congress will investigate "the actual evidence for the demolition," and if and
when that evidence is officially acknowledged, the door will be open,
presumably, to further investigations of how the explosives got into the
Towers. Enter Ryan's current foray into the murky networks of corporate and
state intelligence networks. Imagine how long it will take Congress, comprised
of people who are themselves hugely involved in such networks, to become
"willing or able to investigate" any of this! If they will not take his physics
seriously, how can he expect them to take his detective work about possible
sinister connections among dozens of companies and individuals seriously? Or
more to the point, why does he feel it preferable to point in this direction
148 See http://stj911.org/press_releases/Misrepresentation.html.
The Transparent Conspiracy
128
rather than to the further investigation of the physical evidence regarding
many aspects of 9/11 other than controlled demolition?
For example, just to mention one such aspect, Pilots for 9/11 Truth149
have just produced a video full of technical data that proves that either the
data supplied by the NTSB regarding the speed and trajectory of the airplanes
that supposedly crashed into the WTC is false, in which case, the narrator
says, no one should set foot in an airplane again, or whatever hit the buildings
was not a "stock, airline fleet, Boeing 767." Previous videos have said the same
about Flight 77 that supposedly hit the Pentagon and Flight 93 that
supposedly crashed in Shanksville (both 757s). This is hard, technical data that
is at least as compelling as the evidence for explosives adduced by Ryan et al.,
and yet you can search in vain on the Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice
site150 – or Jim Hoffman's site(s),151 to which STJ911 frequently links – for any
sign that people who challenge the government line on Flights 77 and 93
(except for the possibility that it may have been shot down) are anything but
"disinformation agents."
The latter, it should be said, though it seems to be a well-kept secret,
would have to include David Ray Griffin, who has consistently presented
evidence demonstrating the falsity of the official story of Flights 77 and 93, as
well as 11 and 175. Griffin is far and away the most popular 9/11 "truther,"
and has been careful (and wise) to avoid the internecine squabbles among
fellow truthers, but he presents a plethora of evidence about much more than
controlled demolition that, if it came from anyone else, I am certain Hoffman
and the Jones Boys (STJ911.org, whose spokesman is however a Girl named
Victoria Ashley, who is close to Hoffman) would also denounce as
"disinformation."
The Pilots are a conservative group, too, but they are not blind. Their data,
at the very least, proves the official story of what happened on 9/11 with
regard to all four planes is false. They try hard not to speculate, but what they
are saying is that no 757s or 767s (at least, they will add, no unmodified
planes, meaning no commerical jetliners) crashed on 9/11. This is the rocket
science, for me – at least, airplane science – but the further conclusions based
on this are not, even though the pilots refrain from saying them out loud. The
planes were supposed to be ordinary jetliners. That is the official story. If they
were not ordinary jetliners, not only is the official story false, but all of the
questions about what really happened on 9/11 scream out at us for answers.
We are at one fell swoop far beyond the question of demolition and the
hopeless morass of the question of who put the explosives in the buildings.
149 See http://pilotsfor911truth.org/.
150 See http://stj911.org/.
151 See http://911research.wtc7.net/.
The Transparent Conspiracy
129
This is true of many other aspects of 9/11, which as I say David Griffin
and others have consistently presented but which Kevin Ryan and his
associates at STJ911.org have consistently refused to deal with and
aggressively demonized. (My reward for objecting to this patently unscientific
behavior was to be thrown out of the organization.) Instead of chalking up the
"proof" of thermite in the WTC dust as a (modest) victory and going on to
more interesting questions, such as the questions the Pilots have taken on,
questions which are much more likely to show the hand of the military in the
events of 9/11, Ryan et al. want us to ride off madly in all directions after the
bad guys he has discovered at the WTC, who are at the most small fry in the
context of what happened on 9/11. Well, thanks, but no thanks.

[Darius Alexander]

I have mentioned this in more clarity before... does this not make you wonder of the nature of this forum, and exactly what is being discussed here?

[Jack White]

I have mentioned this in more clarity before... does this not make you wonder of the nature of this forum, and exactly what is being discussed here?

We all know the nature of this forum and what is being discussed here.

Jack

[Darius Alexander]

I find it strange for you to have such a high post count if you do know its true nature and content. Nonetheless, I do hope you really do understand.

[Magda Hassan]

Darius, I don't understand what it is you are referring to. Can you please explain?

[Darius Alexander]

Darius, I don't understand what it is you are referring to. Can you please explain?

Hello Magda,

Yes, I will explain succinctly. The nature of this control mechanism, which has been placed within our immediate and distant reality, orchestrated the wave, i.e. promotion, of current news via the media and extended media. The purported news of today, e.g. imminent threats, financial scandals, assassinations, and the like, are intended for mass consumption, whether by means of mainstream outlets or counterculture movements. The latter seemingly oppositional force is still controlled by the same collective entity.

That is the explanation I can provide in a nutshell. I do have podcasts which are intended to speak of such matters. In the future, I will have documentaries which explain this system in better detail and realization.

Thank you for reading Magda and regards,
Darius Alexander