COINTELPRO Updates: Above Top Secret Forum
Here is what she wrote:
__________________________________________________________________
Things have been pretty interesting around here in the past week. Seems that Joe Quinn's critique of the Above Top Secret forum posting about the 757 that did NOT hit the Pentagon has hit a nerve.
The first indication that we had that something was up was the fact that the Signs of The Times site statistics had a bit of a surge.
Now we keep a pretty good eye on our site statistics because we like to know what subjects really interest our readers. So when there is a surge, we know we are doing our job. This is most particularly true with the publication of the Pentagon Strike video: obviously, so many people "resonated" to the facts presented in this video that the current number of viewers is approacing 600 million.
Yes, that's right: 600 MILLION. It will soon be one of the most widely disseminated items ever to be published on the internet.
For the "Powers That Be," that's a problem.
Enter: Above Top Secret Forum.
Well, actually, we hadn't really paid too much attention to the ATS forum until it became almost a daily event for someone to send us, or post to our modest discussion forum, the link to this ATS post by "CatHerder." Gee, even the name of the poster gives a COIINTELPRO impression; imagine someone trying to herd cats?! That's probably how the PTB view people - a bunch of disorderly cats that need to be herded in a particular direction.
Anyway, after the first time or two that the link was posted to our forum, then people began to try to post the entire article. Well, the fact is, we are in the news publishing business because we intend it as a teaching tool, and we try to check material for validity and to weed out as many lies as possible so our readers don't have to waste a lot of their valuable time reading garbage. Unlike sites such as Rense.com and others, we DO try to publish responsibly. If we utilize mainstream articles that we suspect are "agenda slanted," we try to add comments pointing out the obvious, or at least publish such an article juxtaposed against another that makes clear the agenda. We also use flashbacks to remind readers that a current article may be sayig something exactly the opposite of what was said a few weeks, months, or even years ago. In short, our idea is to help readers learn to think, to spot the deceptions, and to develop or refine their own internal BS meters. So, as a result of our approach, we DO keep a close eye on our statistics so that we know what items interest the greatest number of people which then prompts us to do more research on those items so as to bring to our readers more material that will satisfy that desire for information.
The result of this statistical analysis is the fact that we KNOW that hundreds of millions of people do NOT believe that a 757 hit the Pentagon. They would not be avidly sharing the Pentagon Strike video with their family, friends, acquaintances, to the extent that they have done so if they were not trying to use it as a way of communicating something that is difficult to put into words, not to mention dangerous considering the Fascist takeover of America by Bush and the Neocons.
Getting back to Above Top Secret Forum: as I said, we hadn't really paid a lot of attention to them at all up to this point in time when a cadre of what we think of as COINTELPRO "floaters" hadn't been repeatedly trying to force us to publish the ATS CatHerder piece on our own website. Based on our assessment of the piece, it would have been the same thing as publishing - and giving credibility to - disinformation. We simply weren't going to do it - without commentary as we do when we publish any piece that we consider to be "agenda directed."
In the end, that was exactly what we did: we published it with commentary.
I rather think that if we had published it as a regular news piece on the Signs of The Times daily pages with NO comment, what happened next would not have happened.
But first, let me mention that we did get a lot of positive feedback on the article from readers, including several entries to our discussion forum, one of which really made us laugh:
I want a bumper sticker and a t-shirt that reads....
Evidence That a Frozen Fish Didn't Impact the Pentagon on 9/11 and Neither Did a Boeing 757
We just may see what we can do about that! I expect that such an item would sell in the millions based on the popularity of the Pentagon Strike video dissemination stats!
Now, off to the side, I was, at that moment in time, involved in a discussion with a couple of well-known Anti-war activists about my previous blog post: How to Spot COINTELPRO Agents I had written on Jan 3rd:
I have been thinking about a lot of things over the past few days and decided to make an experimental post to my blog. It was an interesting exercise because re-reading and re-thinking always leads to new understanding.
One of the things that stood out for me in the section about Rick Ross and his "cult awareness network" was this from the Cletus Nelson piece I included (published on The Lew Rockwell site):
**********
"Evidence suggests that these unsubstantiated claims which continue to shade
our perception of the events at Mt. Carmel can be attributed to a small cadre of para-political "watchdog" groups......
... in the lucrative realm of public policy activism lurk a number of pro-
government advocacy groups whose very existence rests upon the notion that
cult activities, political extremism or some other unnamed evil constitutes a dangerous threat to state power.
In order to identify the alleged thought criminals in our midst, operatives
aligned with these private surveillance networks infiltrate unconventional
spiritual or religious movements, maintain files on American citizens, and
work closely with both media and law enforcement to target individuals and
organizations whose beliefs run counter to establishmentarian beliefs.
In essence, these ersatz defenders of human rights act as de facto spokesmen
for our emergent surveillance society. It’s COINTELPRO redux, only this time
with help from a network of dubious, yet-well compensated agents.
***********
Even though I already *knew* that it was so at some level, I hadn't really given much conscious thought to the fact that so-called "watchdog groups" that rant "cult, cult, cult" [or a Boeing 757 hit the Pentagon] are evidently aligned with the National Security State as this article suggests.
In short, any group or individual who goes around with the kinds of rants that Weidner, Bridges (and his buddy Storm Bear Williams and gang)do, are clearly "operatives" that work closely with media and law enforcement to target individuals and organizations whose beliefs run counter to the state sanctioned Mind Control System.
We have to learn how to sort the true from the false.
Nobody was greener than I was back in summer 2001 when it all began... and if it hadn't been for the C's, I would already be toast. But I learned a lot while skirting the edges of disaster and one of the things that has stood me in good stead is a little hint from Gurdjieff:
"A decent man will behave decently even if he thinks that he has been treated unjustly or wrongly. But many people in such circumstances show a side of their nature which otherwise they would never show. And at times it is a necessary means for exposing a man's nature. So long as you are good to a man he is good to you. But what will he be like if you scratch him a little?"
When dealing with COINTELPRO, you don't even have to treat someone unjustly or wrongly, generally just disagreeing with them will do. Or doing something they don't want you to do. Just small "scratches" usually sort people out.
The very next thing that happened was that we received an email from Above Top Secret as follows:
Mark - mark@abovetopsecret.com From : USA wrote :
I am disgusted by your accusation that AboveTopSecret.com, LLP is a "Government funded damage control outlet" I ask that you retract that lie.
My partners and I have spent the last several years building that site and have NEVER received a nickel from ANY government, never been asked to do ANYTHING for or by ANY government and NEVER WILL.
The fact we attract logical members who present THIER analysis and ask that other members treat them with COURTEOUSNESS and keep the discussion at an ADULT level sans flames and rediculous off topic commentary does NOT make us anything more or less than what we are. The number ONE destination on the internet to FREELY Deny Ignorance.
It is truly SAD that when a site allows ALL sides of an issue to be heard people like YOU who believe hook line and sinker there is a conspiracy where there may or may not be one, feel the need to falsely accuse us of being crooked. It makes me SICK and SAD for you.
You obviously haven't read the THOUSANDS of posts that actually SUPPORT your perspective on our site, no that would be too much work wouldn't it?
Much easier to cast a negative light upon our site in the hopes of getting yourself some attention isn't it?
Thoroughly disappointed in and DISGUSTED with YOU.
Springer...
Partner,
AboveTopSecret.com, LLP
Note: the IP that was logged from this post tracks back to Geary,Oklahoma.
I forwarded the email to the group of Anti-war activists I was discussing COINTELPRO with along with the following comments:
...here is a perfect example of the principle I mentioned last night: how
a person behaves when you "scratch" him a little.
"A decent man will behave decently even if he thinks that he has been
treated unjustly or wrongly. But many people in such circumstances show a
side of their nature which otherwise they would never show. And at times it
is a necessary means for exposing a man's nature. So long as you are good to
a man he is good to you. But what will he be like if you scratch him a
little?"
Yes, we have read the posts that supported the conspiracy view of 9/11 on
their site, but we also read their own posts where they worked very hard to
make those who supported the insider complicity argument feel stupid.
This [email from AboveTopSecret reveals the same kind of outrage that comes from people like Vinnie and Jay and the gang... they are "outraged" and "sick and sad" for us and so on and so forth. Smoke and mirrors.
And of course, we are "invited" to feel guilty by accusing us of us "casting
a negative light" in order to "get attention."
What he is most exercised about seems to be the suggestion that Above Top Secret is a
"government funded damage control outlet." Methinks he protests too much.
Now, what would have happened if he had written to me and said: "Hey, I read
your piece and even though we disagree on the subject, I would like to
object to being labeled a disinfo source. I set up the site for the same
reasons you have your site: to find the truth. I just don't see any
evidence of what you are saying... " etc etc...
But, since he is not there to argue the evidence, but rather to promote the
lies, he can't do that. And people like that only know one way to function:
to seek to destroy the other views by ridicule, shaming, playing guilt
cards, aggressive insults, etc. Even if they try to mask their behavior by
platitudes about being adult and courteous, they belie it by their own
words. In other words, they know the words, but not the music. They are
blind to their own lack of courtesy to the truth.
Or, they are disinfo...
My money is on the latter.
Ark responded to Mark/Springer of AboveTopSecret as follows:
To: mark@abovetopsecret.com
Date sent: Wed, 04 Jan 2006 08:10:18 +0100
Subject: Re: Your false accusation
On 4 Jan 2006 at 0:08, mark@abovetopsecret.com wrote:
> You obviously haven't read the THOUSANDS of posts that actually SUPPORT your
> perspective on our site, no that would be too much work wouldn't it?
>
> Much easier to cast a negative light upon our site in the hopes of getting
> yourself some attention isn't it?
>
> Thoroughly disappointed in and DISGUSTED with YOU.
Well, if you are welcoming posts supporting our perspective, than you should be
also happy (rather than disapointed and disgusted) that there is another view
supporting our perspective - namely OUR view.
Regards,
ark
##################################################
Dr Arkadiusz Jadczyk
http://quantumfuture.net/quantum_future/homepage.htm
The next day, an email came from another AboveTopSecret "partner" - to Ark's private email address rather than the site address. Obviously, he got this from Mark/Springer, above.
To: Arkadiusz Jadczyk
Subject: Your 9/11 article on your website...
Send reply to:
From: "SkepticOverlord"
Date sent: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 07:56:16 -0600
Greetings...
It has come to our attention that your article here:
http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/Above_Top_Secret_article.htm Is in violation of our clearly stated Creative Commons Deed, linked here:
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/cc.php?tid=79655&pid=816414 You have developed a derivative work (your content, integrated with our content) for commercial purposes (to promote the sale of a book.)
This is in clear violation of our stated license. The concept of "fair use" does not apply in this case since your current utilization of our material is in clear violation of our stated use rights.
However, in the interest of balanced debate on this subject, we do not necessarily desire the material to be removed from your site. We would be happy to see it to remain if you would kindly make the following changes: 1) Comply with the "BY:" attribute of our Creative Commons Deed (proper link and attribution). 2) Alter the HTML file name so that it does not contain our site name. 3) Alter the images directory so that it does not contain our site name. 4) Remove the text link at the
bottom that promotes the sale of a book in context with your article (the banner link at the left for the same book can certainly remain since it is not in context with the text of your article).
Thank you in advance for your consideration and cooperation.
Bill,
aka "SkepticOverlord"
Community and Technology Director
Partner in AboveTopSecret.com, LLP
Note: Skeptic Overlord's email came from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Nothing unusual about that.
Since there was already clear identification of the author and source of the article in the first paragraph of our article, including an ACTIVE LINK to same, it seemed to us that the primary issue that AboveTopSecret had with us was the naming of the file and images folder on our website. Anyone familiar with our website knows that there are thousands of files, most of which are named after the subject matter they contain, which is the easiest way for us (or anyone) to keep track of them. If we want to find a file and make a correction, addition, or whatever, that's how we find it in the list.
Now why, we asked ourselves, would AboveTopSecret be concerned about the name of the file and the name of the images folder on our website?
There was only one obvious answer: they were concerned about search engines, that a search engine would display a link to our damning analysis of their Pro-government agenda among the returns given to anyone searching for "Above Top Secret." In short, they wanted to "own" the phrase and to monopolize the views of readers.
Not a very good example of their claimed desire to present "all sides of a question," now is it?
So, Ark replied:
To: skepticoverlord@abovetopsecret.com
Subject: Re: Your 9/11 Article
Date sent: Thu, 05 Jan 2006 18:14:36 +0100
On 5 Jan 2006 at 14:16, skepticoverlord@abovetopsecret.com wrote:
> It has come to our attention that your article here:
> http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/Above_Top_Secret_article.htm
>
> Is in violation of our clearly stated Creative Commons Deed, linked here:
>
> http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/cc.php?tid=79655&pid=816414
>
Hi,
Sorry to say, but what you say does not make any sense whatsoever.
Can you explain? Do you mean that it is your policy to be a governement
agency? Or what?
Regards,
ark
Skeptic Overlord was fast on the draw. He responded:
From: "SkepticOverlord"
Copies to: simon.gray@abovetopsecret.com
Date sent: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 11:54:17 -0600
For now I'll ignore the insult and try to remain cordial.
From our vantage point, the manner in which you presented the content of your article here:
http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/Above_Top_Secret_article.htm
Appears to be designed to capitalize on our content both for commercial purposes (the selling of a book) and user confusion (file and directory names "above_top_secret").
For now, we're hoping to assume that non-compliance with our Creative Commons License (http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/cc.php?tid=79655&pid=816414 ) is accidental. And that no malicious intent is behind using our unique site name in the naming conventions of your content.
(More information on creative commons here: http://creativecommons.org/ )
The non-compliance is related to two issues:
1) Your author, Joe Quinn, and has developed a derivative work based on our material. This is not allowed under the terms of the linked CC deed. 2) Our content is used in conjunction with solicitation for the sale of a book titled, "9/11: The Ultimate Truth". This is also a violation of the terms in our linked CC deed.
The CC deed link is provided at the bottom of every piece of content on our site, and clearly provides information on how our material can be reused.
In addition, including our site name as a part of the naming system for the HTML file and subdirectories is indicative of potential malicious intent to confuse web surfers and search engines. We hope this is accidental.
We believe our request for changes to be in the spirit of collaborative debate on these important issues. Rather than insist our content be removed (which is within our rights under the clearly stated usage guidelines), we're asking for the following: 1) Comply with the "BY:" attribute of our Creative Commons Deed (proper link and attribution). 2) Alter the HTML file name so that it does not contain our site name. 3) Alter the images directory so that it does not contain our site name. 4)Remove the text link at the bottom that promotes the sale of a book in context with your article (the banner link at the left for the same book can certainly remain since it is not in context with the text of your article).
Thank you.
"SkepticOverlord"
Community and Technology Director
Partner in AboveTopSecret.com, LLP
So, we were right: there is was, explicitly stated: "including our site name as a part of the naming system for the HTML file and subdirectories is indicative of potential malicious intent to confuse web surfers and search engines. We hope this is accidental."
They apparently do NOT wish for any alternative view of what they are promoting to be available. Control of search engine results is what they are after. That suggests some serious COINTELPRO thinking has gone into the website AboveTopSecret, especially in terms of vectoring websearches and seekers of information. Ark was curious about these two approaches, the "good cop, bad cop" routine. So, he wrote back to "Skeptic Overlord," (geez, that "handle" is sure suggestive too!)
Notice also that a CC of the above email has been sent to a "Simon Gray." Hmmmm.... Who is Simon Gray? We'll get to that soon enough...
From: Arkadiusz Jadczyk
To:
Subject: Re: Your 9/11 Article
BCC to: sott@signs-of-the-times.org
Date sent: Thu, 05 Jan 2006 19:20:21 +0100
> For now I'll ignore the insult and try to remain cordial.
Hi,
Does that mean that you do not agree with the Mark (mark@abovetopsecret.com ) who
wrote to us:
"Much easier to cast a negative light upon our site in the hopes of getting yourself some attention isn't it?
Thoroughly disappointed in and DISGUSTED with YOU."
I undestand from his letter that he (or you?) was not happy with our criticism, but
he did not provide any argument why our tentative conclusion was incorrect.
Now you seem to provide arguments that our tentative conclusion was correct, right?
So, if I am correct, in a sense you are arguing with mark@abovetopsecret.com.
Can't you guys solve these problems within your institution?
Regards,
ark
Skeptic Overlord replied:
From: "SkepticOverlord"
Copies to: simon.gray@abovetopsecret.com
Date sent: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 12:41:10 -0600
I'm not aware of what Mark had sent you. However, is has no bearing on the reality that your article violates our published usage rights.
In my position as Community Director, I have no desire to debate which point of view is more valid or not, only to resolve the issues I've outlined in both of my emails.
Pleased indicate your intent specific to the concerns I've communicated.
Thank you.
Ark forwarded the comments of Mark/Springer to Skeptic Overlord who then responded:
From: "Arkadiusz Jadczyk"
To: "SkepticOverlord"
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 06:01 PM
Subject: Your 9/11 Article
> I'm not aware of what Mark had sent you.
OK,
Here it is:
[Mark/Springer's email snipped]
And here is what I wrote back to him:
"Well, if you are welcoming posts supporting our perspective, than you should be
also happy (rather than disapointed and disgusted) that there is another view
supporting our perspective - namely OUR view."
I still keep the same attitude. Only through an open discussion and analyzing
all the available data there is any hope of ever getting to the truth.
Kind regards,
ark
One thing that was becoming abundantly clear was that AboveTopSecret.com was NOT the least bit interested in really searching for the truth of anything. So far, their only issues were commercial and suppressing competition of information. We next received an email from another stranger who wrote:
Date sent: 5 Jan 2006 18:23:38 -0000
To: Arkadiusz Jadczyk
From: computerbball23@yahoo.com
Subject: ATS catherder article rebuttal
Amar - computerbball23@yahoo.com From : USA : California wrote :
I was wondering if you would please comply with ATS's terms of service and creative commons license so that we can discuss your debunking article of Catherder's Pentagon plane crash article. I am not a government agent and neither is Skeptic's Overlord of AboveTopSecret. I am just a normal human being that is wanting a fair argument on what really happened at the pentagon and using your article to discuss the controversy at ATS will help a lot, but we can only use your website if you comply
with ATS's rules.
thank you,
Amar
Well, since we had, as far as we knew, from the beginning, complied with the legal requirements of Fair Use for criticism and analysis,(including source and link), it seemed that the AboveTopSecret forum Overlords were putting pressure on members of their own forum to put pressure on us so they could discuss our analysis of CatHerder's disinfo piece in the forum that claimed to be willing to discuss all sides of an issue! Ark decided to see if he find out what was really going on:
To: skepticoverlord
Date sent: Thu, 05 Jan 2006 20:26:10 +0100
Subject: Re: Your 9/11 Article
On 5 Jan 2006 at 13:05, SkepticOverlord wrote:
> As requested, please focus on the issues I've itemed in my emails.
>
> Thanks.
Hi,
Just a while ago I got the following:
[Amar's message, quoted above, snipped]
Can you tell me who is "Amar"? Or is it you in disguise? The IP suggest the
second conjecture...
ark
At the same time, we decided, in the spirit of cooperation, to see if we could come to an agreement. Ark wrote the following:
From: Arkadiusz Jadczyk
To: skepticoverlord@abovetopsecret.com,
mark@abovetopsecret.com,
computerbball23@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Your 9/11 Article
Date sent: Thu, 05 Jan 2006 21:13:44 +0100
Hi,
here is the more technical part:
On 5 Jan 2006, at 11:54, SkepticOverlord wrote:
>
> >From our vantage point, the manner in which you presented the content of
> >your article here:
> http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/Above_Top_Secret_article.htm
> Appears to be designed to capitalize on our content both for commercial
> purposes (the selling of a book) and user confusion (file and directory names
> "above_top_secret").
The intent of the article is self-evident: education and, to some extent,
parody.
>
> For now, we're hoping to assume that non-compliance with our Creative Commons
> License ( http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/cc.php?tid=79655&pid=816414 )
> is accidental. And that no malicious intent is behind using our unique site
> name in the naming conventions of your content.
"Above Top Secret" is a common phrase, long in use.
>
> (More information on creative commons here: http://creativecommons.org/ )
>
> The non-compliance is related to two issues:
> 1) Your author, Joe Quinn, and has developed a derivative work based on our
> material. This is not allowed under the terms of the linked CC deed.
Joe Quinn's work is not "derivative." It is transformative commentary and
parody. In a 1994 case, the Supreme Court emphasized Transformative in
Character as being a primary indicator of fair use.
* Has the material been transformed by adding new expression or meaning?
* Was value added to the original by creating new information, new
aesthetics, new insights and understandings?
In a parody, for example, the parodist transforms the original by holding it
up to ridicule. Purposes such as scholarship, research or education may also
qualify as transformative.
All of these apply in this instance.
2) Our
> content is used in conjunction with solicitation for the sale of a book
> titled, "9/11: The Ultimate Truth". This is also a violation of the terms in
> our linked CC deed.
It is not a violation of copyright law.
>
> The CC deed link is provided at the bottom of every piece of content on our
> site, and clearly provides information on how our material can be reused.
Thanks. We'll stick with standard copyright law.
>
> In addition, including our site name as a part of the naming system for the
> HTML file and subdirectories is indicative of potential malicious intent to
> confuse web surfers and search engines. We hope this is accidental.
From our point of view, it is the simplest way to identify the file in the
many thousands of files on our website(s).
>
> We believe our request for changes to be in the spirit of collaborative
> debate on these important issues. Rather than insist our content be removed
> (which is within our rights under the clearly stated usage guidelines), we're
> asking for the following:
1) Comply with the "BY:" attribute of our Creative
> Commons Deed (proper link and attribution).
As soon as the webmaster returns from Ireland, we'll have him make the
requested changes.
2) Alter the HTML file name so
> that it does not contain our site name.
Sorry, but that is not possible. As noted above, it is the easiest way to
identify the file among the many thousands of files on our website(s).
3) Alter the images directory so that
> it does not contain our site name.
Sorry, but that is not possible. As noted above, it is the easiest way to
identify the files among the many thousands of files on our website(s).
4) Remove the text link at the bottom that
> promotes the sale of a book in context with your article (the banner link at
> the left for the same book can certainly remain since it is not in context
> with the text of your article).
In the spirit of cooperation, we will agree to this request.
Regards,
ark
The only response was the following:
To: Arkadiusz Jadczyk
Subject: Re: Your 9/11 Article
From: "SkepticOverlord"
Date sent: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 21:40:13 -0600
Please confirm if this is your correct mailing address:
Laura Jadczyk
Dluga 40 m3
Castenau Barbarens, 32450
FR
(Obtained from the public domain record)
Thank you.
Now, let's come back to the all-important question: Who is Simon Gray???
As it happens, a little investigation produces the following WhoIs information about AboveTopSecret.com:
Registrant:
Gray, Simon
1 Sackville Close
Swindon, Wiltshire SN3 3EJ
UK
Domain Name: ABOVETOPSECRET.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Gray, Simon simon.gray@abovetopsecret.com
1 Sackville Close
Swindon, Wiltshire SN3 3EJ
UK
+44 1793 486619 fax: 999 999 9999
Record expires on 19-May-2013.
Record created on 18-May-1997.
Database last updated on 6-Jan-2006 08:22:18 EST.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS4.DNSMADEEASY.COM 216.88.44.132
NS3.DNSMADEEASY.COM 64.246.42.123
NS2.DNSMADEEASY.COM 66.80.146.131
NS1.DNSMADEEASY.COM 69.10.137.166
NS0.DNSMADEEASY.COM 66.80.146.130
What is MOST interesting is that the information on this WhoIs entry was updated on 6 January 2006. Wonder what triggered that? I also wondered what it said before January 6, 2006?
There happens to be an interesting post on a discussion forum named BELOWTopSecret.com (thread name: ABOVETOPSECRET.COM CIA)as follows:
I did a trace route on http://www.abovetopsecret.com/, the Node Name is listed and maintained by the government.
IP Address
213.206.128
213.206.129
213.206.130
Node Name
Gov-bb21-lan-14
Gov-bb22-lan-15
Gov-bb23-lan-16
Location
Langley, Virginia
MS
60
Network Used
whois.nic.mil (for military network information)
It was difficult to get the IP Address, It was spoofed and looped over 9 times. Anyway Langley, Virginia is where the CIA headquarters is. I�m more than concerned.
The discussion on that board is interesting because we notice "Springer" there and a general "ha ha that was a great joke" attitude about the above quoted "find." More interestingly, we discover the raw whois output for belowtopsecret.com:
Registrant:
Gray, Simon
1 Sackville Close
Swindon, Wiltshire SN3 3EJ
UK
Domain Name: BELOWTOPSECRET.COM
Administrative Contact:
Gray, Simon simon.gray@abovetopsecret.com
1 Sackville Close
Swindon, Wiltshire SN3 3EJ
UK
+44 1793 486619 fax: 999 999 9999
Technical Contact:
Network Solutions, LLC. customerservice@networksolutions.com
13200 Woodland Park Drive
Herndon, VA 20171-3025
US
1-888-642-9675 fax: 571-434-4620
Record expires on 21-Oct-2013.
Record created on 21-Oct-2003.
Database last updated on 7-Jan-2006 06:48:53 EST.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS3.DNSMADEEASY.COM 64.246.42.123
NS4.DNSMADEEASY.COM 216.88.44.132
NS2.DNSMADEEASY.COM 66.80.146.131
NS1.DNSMADEEASY.COM 69.10.137.166
NS0.DNSMADEEASY.COM 66.80.146.130
Again we notice that the WhoIs database was updated just today, January 7, 2006. Seems that the issue of whether or not AboveTopSecret may be COINTELPRO has provoked a flurry of "updating" activity.
Again we wonder: Who is Simon Gray?
On the AboveTopSecret website you will find the following:
ATS Weekly: Edition 001
July 19, 2005
A Word From Our Founder
This is a fantastic time for AboveTopSecret.com. Over the past few years we have seen tremendous growth in many ways, most notably in terms of the sheer amount of people who visit the ATS websites. These people have formed together into a collective virtual community, and together have expanded the wealth of information on our website to nearly a quarter of a million accessible pages, making us one of the most highly regarded websites of our genre.
Moderator's Musings
When thinking about what to write here, the first thing I thought about was how much I personally appreciate ATS. So this little article is a BIG thank you to everyone that makes ATS what it is. Thanks to Simon for creating ATS. Thanks to SkepticOverlord for the continued work to improve and protect the site. Thanks to the Staff who do a wonderful job keeping the quality of input here the best on the Net.
The Council Report
Hi! This is the first of a series of short columns the Council staff will be contributing in the coming months. Here we will seek to give you an overall view of what the Council is up to. I've volunteered to kick off the column with my thick prose, but other Council staff members will be presenting their comments in future columns.
What's New at ATS
ATS is happy to announced a long anticipated foray into the incredibly divisive and heady world of the Creationistm and Evolution controversy. Many threads relevant to creationism, evolution, and origins in general have been moved out of their original forums and transplanted into this new forum, where they have been actively revived, while new threads on new subjects are adding up at a great pace.
From the Front Office
Welcome to the first edition of the newly tooled and re-imagined ATS newsletter. Just twelve days ago one of your board adminstrators, William One Sac, thought it might be a good idea to resurrect Simon's old email newsletter. It ended up being such a good (and obvious) idea, several people worked diligently behind the scenes to make sure it happened in a way everyone could be proud of. And for members of the AboveTopSecret.com discussion board community, there's a great deal to be proud of.
Interestingly, a search on google for Simon Gray brings up the following result:
Who besides Simon Gray and the 'Bildebergers' can you source regarding US concentration camps stowing & drugging 2 million americans? & tell us Simon's credentials? TIA
Registrant:
Gray, Simon (ABOVETOPSECRET-DOM)
1 Sackville Close
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
Domain Name: abovetopsecret.com
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Gray, Simon (SG2699) simon@ABOVETOPSECRET.COM
1 Sackville Close
Swindon
Wilts
SN3 3EJ
UK
(01793) 486619
Record expires on 19-May-2001.
Record created on 18-May-1997.
Database last updated on 24-Aug-2002 12:09:13 EDT.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS.LIQUIDWEB.COM 64.91.224.2
NS1.LIQUIDWEB.COM 64.91.228.2
Did you notice that Sackville Close is partly in California and partly in UK? How interesting! Well, we are not going to criticize anyone for fudging on their home address. Considering the kinds of attacks that we have experienced in this "business," we don't hold it against anyone for wanting to protect themselves from lunatics.
Figuring out just who Simon Gray is has actually been turned into a promotional enterprise at AboveTopSecret.com. It looks like they are trying to create a legend.
WIN 10,000 POINTS! "Who is Simon Gray?"
William posted on 26-8-2003 at 09:50 PM
Now that we have a nice shiny new points system... let's have some fun!
Who is Simon Gray?
What does he do? What does he look like? What are his hobbies? What does he eat? Does he shave? Perhaps he fancies a certain kind of ladies under-arm deodorant?
These are the burning questions that have tormented the denizens of Above Top Secret for years-on-end.
Well, now is your chance to add the fiction that has become legend that will become myth. Help us paint the complex tapestry of the person known as, "Simon Gray" so that the legend may become larger than life... nay, larger than the planet... nay, larger than the solar system!
Post your best prose. Find your best photos. Describe your best "Simon Gray".
The winner, as judged by forum staff, will receive 10,000 bright shiny new points directly from the ATS mint. These points are good for any merchandise in the ATS store and may not be redeemed for ladies under-arm deodorant.
Well, AboveTopSecret.com begins to look like a dramatically STAGED "experiment." And I use the word "staged" deliberately. Have a look here:
Deja vu, all over again
2005 has been a year of the sequel, the remake and the revival - and no bad thing for all that
Mark Lawson
Friday December 30, 2005
The Guardian
Was 2005 the year when art ran out of ideas? December always encourages retrospection but looking back at the culture of the last 12 months constantly involves a double jump as every new idea seems to have an old one behind it.
[...]
Looking at these pictures of familiarity across television, film and theatre, it's possible to argue that imagination has come to a standstill and that, from now on, writing is rewriting and the job of director becomes truly deserving of the French word répétiteur.[...]
But a more optimistic view would be that good artists have a sense of the history of their medium and that these old stories are often retold with originality: Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, though a continuation of a franchise, saw the series through new eyes, while Spielberg's War of the Worlds was a conscious post-9/11 take on alien invasion rather than a case of a film-maker borrowing inspiration from the video-shop.
A similar generosity is possible towards the number of repeats in theatre this year. These were not lazy restagings but exuberant rediscoveries, including an improbable pair of Schiller hits (Don Carlos and Mary Stuart), little-known Ibsens (Pillars of the Community) and John Osbornes (Epitaph for George Dillon), and a neglected Simon Gray (Otherwise Engaged.) All of these productions imbued the word "revival" with an almost medical meaning.
Is the Simon Gray of AboveTopSecret.com the playwright, Simon Gray?
Encyclopedia Brittanica tells us:
Simon Gray
born Oct. 21, 1936, Hayling Island, Hampshire, Eng.
in full Simon James Holliday Gray British dramatist whose plays, often set in academia, are noted for their challenging storylines, witty, literary dialogue, and complex characterizations.
Gray alternately lived in Canada and England, attending Westminster School in London; Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (B.A., 1957); and Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A., 1961). While working as a university lecturer in both countries, he wrote satiric novels and farcical plays for stage and television. His first stage play was Wise Child (1968), which features a criminal transvestite.
Gray's first international success was Butley (1971; filmed 1974), a play about a petulant university professor whose venomous wit masks an inner emptiness. Similarly, Otherwise Engaged (1975) concerns a sardonic publisher who strives to isolate himself but is prevented from doing so by a series of dramatic interruptions. Quartermaine's Terms (1981) is the sadly comic story of a gentle, ineffectual English teacher. Among Gray's other plays are Spoiled (1971), The Rear Column (1978), The Common Pursuit (1984), Hidden Laughter (1990), Cell Mates (1995), Fat Chance (1995), and Simply Disconnected (1996).
But actually, as I pursue the man, I come to the idea that the playwright, Simon Gray, is NOT the "Simon Gray" of AboveTopSecret - unless he is having a good laugh at everyone's expense:
Saturday March 5, 2005
The Guardian
The Smoking Diaries, by Simon Gray (Granta, £7.99)
It may be hopelessly vulgar to bring up the subject of a successful television programme when discussing this book, but when reading The Smoking Diaries there are times when it seems impossible not to think that Simon Gray is the Grumpy Old Man's Grumpy Old Man. Take, for instance, his impatient eye-rolling when he describes how a Frenchman who smacked his unruly son on the bottom in Edinburgh was jailed for a few days to teach him a lesson. "Some good may come of this," he writes; "it might teach the French to stop romanticising the Scots". Half-Scot himself, he wonders how to describe this inheritance in the most offensive manner, so disillusioned is he with them. And if disillusionment with one half of yourself is not enough, he is even impatient with synonyms: "if a synonym will do instead of the word you're using then you're probably not using the right word."
Of course, there is much more to The Smoking Diaries than grumbling. One expects a man who has, shall we say, lived fully (three bottles of champagne a day for how many years?) to be dissatisfied with the state of his hands, but there is more than one note here. In these apparently free-floating pensées-cum-memoirs (they are presented as having been written straight off - Gray loves the line "When this warm scribe my hand is in the grave" from "Hyperion", conjuring up as it does the very act of writing, the physical immediacy of it) we are also given, as well as a little snapshot of his state-of-the-nation address, any number of memories, from pederastic teachers, to childhood crimes of his own, to the closing down of his favourite restaurant.
Previous memoirs of his, such as Enter a Fox and Fat Chance, have been more theatrically minded; Gray is, after all, a playwright. Dramatists can sometimes be more fascinated with the details of their profession than non-dramatists - this is what makes Fat Chance, about Stephen Fry's disappearance from Gray's Cell Mates, more interesting to us than Enter a Fox, which has not so dramatic an incident at its core. But The Smoking Diaries is much more about what it is to be a 60-something human being than a 60-something dramatist.
There is something splendidly universal about this, and it is the core of its charm and success. One can entertain a healthy scepticism as to how off-the-cuff this stuff is, compared to how much it declares it is. In her review of the book for this paper, Jenny Diski said it was "fashioned to within an inch of its life. Not untrue, by no means untrue, but carefully formed to appear naturalistic." I am not quite so sure: it has all the fresh tang of immediate and expert recall, and there is no smell of the lamp about it.
Neither did I find this book as laugh-out-loud funny as many of the reviewers quoted on the back claim it is. To make people, well, me, laugh out loud you have to fashion jokes - which takes time. Yet it is by some way the most substantial of Gray's memoirs, with a continuous tone of disgruntled drollery that is hugely and consistently entertaining. If you were hearing him reading this out, or better still, coming out with it in real time round a dinner table, for instance, then you would, I'm fairly certain, be gasping from laughter long before the end.
Ultimately, though, it doesn't matter if it is artless or artful, as it is so full of life, even as Gray stares mortality, his own and his friends', in the eye. At times his sentences gain the dizzy momentum of Burton's in The Anatomy of Melancholy or of Beckett's more accessible prose, and if a reminiscence that starts at point A suddenly leaps to point Q without having rested anywhere near point B, then we are happy to be taken on the journey. Pace Richard Sheridan, the easy writing's not vile hard reading. It's a book to curl up with.
Then there are excerpts from a review of the play mentioned in the above quoted Guardian article:
Otherwise Engaged
By Simon Gray
Criterion Theatre
Review by Philip Fisher (2005)
In his notes in the programme, Simon Gray is at pains to deny that the protagonist in Otherwise Engaged, Simon Hench is autobiographical. Apparently, the choice of the name Simon was made because it was "the first name that came into my head". One imagines that Freudian psychologists might quite easily explain why this was the case.
One hopes that the denial really is correct as this self-centred - or, more accurately, self-obsessed - publisher is not the pleasantest of men and with 30 years perspective, the writer might reasonably be embarrassed if he really did behave like this.
There is at least one big difference between writer and subject in this production, as on opening night, Gray was to be seen just outside the theatre fervently puffing away on a beloved cigarette while Richard E Grant playing the other Simon was abstemious in this respect, if in no other.
Revivals of plays from this period are currently in vogue, especially those that look at middle-class sexual freedom amongst the intelligentsia. There is clearly a nostalgia for the 1970s which is perhaps fitting as the main players of the day are now approaching or just beyond retirement age.[...]
Director Simon Curtis is brave to take on this play in view of the fact that it was so successful when it launched in 1975 with Alan Bates playing Simon under the direction of Harold Pinter, who then took it to Broadway a couple of years later for a long run with Tom Courtenay taking over from Bates.[...]
Eventually, one realises that Simon Gray views people very much in black-and-white. His men are either happy-go-lucky philanderers, for whom success is a given, or struggling workhorses who can be used as the butt of jokes or a reminder that society has an underside. The women fare little better, being either brazen sex objects offering one night stands or sensitive but downtrodden victims.
Richard E Grant plays Simon as a cold fish who is absolutely indifferent to human kindness and has an air of permanent boredom as the world revolves around him. Humanity only begins to impinge on this man's outward impassivity towards the end of the play, following Beth's appearance.
Otherwise Engaged is beginning to show its age and some of the jokes miss completely before a 21st century audience. As a piece of social history, it may well prove successful and with well-known names in the leads and some very funny moments, could run for some time.
So much for Simon Gray, the playwright. He lives in London, as one source mentions, not Sackville Close. Problem is, NO Simon Gray lives in Sackville Close that I could discover.
So, just WHO is Simon Gray???
We find tracks of AboveTopSecret's Simon Gray rather early on the web:
Simon Gray
Jul 6 1999, 8:00 am
Newsgroups: alt.magick.sex
From: "Simon Gray"
Date: 1999/07/06
Subject: GREAT WEBSITE
www.abovetopsecret.com !!!
Under "free.uk.info" we find another:
Newsgroups: free.uk.ufo
From: "Above Top Secret"
Date: 2000/03/22
Subject: www. Above Top Secret .com - The UK's ultimate website for US conspiracies
http://www.AboveTopSecret.com
This is the UK's ultimate conspiracy website for those interested in Area
51, secret government projects, aircraft programs including a very detailed
Aurora page, agencies, and even hacking information.
Multi-award winning information.
--
Simon Gray - Webmaster/Researcher of www.AboveTopSecret.com
E-Mail - s...@abovetopsecret.com
And so on. If you go to the above links, you can click "find messages by this author" and you will get 184 returns, among which are the following:
Movies
http://www.hotmoviez.com -- Simon Gray - Webmaster/Founder of http://www.AboveTopSecret.
com E-Mail - s...@abovetopsecret.com Get Paid For Nothing! ...
alt.2600.hackerz - Jul 13 2000, 8:10 pm by Above Top Secret - 6 messages - 6 authors
Cheat AllAdvantage
If you're interested in getting paid for NOTHING, then
check out http://paid4surf.abovetopsecret.com
alt.2600.hackerz - Jul 13 2000, 10:53 am by Above Top Secret - 3 messages - 3 authors
Make $100s surfing the net!!!
How would you like to earn $100sa month by surfing the internet? A brilliantly
simple form of income that requires no effort at all. ...
alt.best.of.internet - Apr 1 2000, 7:21 am by Above Top Secret - 1 message - 1 author
Earn $100s surfing the web!!!
How would you like to earn $100sa month by surfing the internet? A brilliantly
simple form of income that requires no effort at all. ...
alt.make.money - Apr 1 2000, 6:27 am by Above Top Secret - 2 messages - 2 authors
Make money surfing the net!!!
How would you like to earn $100sa month by surfing the internet? A brilliantly
simple form of income that requires no effort at all. ...
free.uk.ufo - Mar 31 2000, 9:01 pm by Above Top Secret - 1 message - 1 author
www. Above Top Secret .com - The UK's ultimate website for US ...
http://www.AboveTopSecret.com This is the UK's ultimate conspiracy website for those
interested in Area 51, secret government projects, aircraft programs ...
free.uk.ufo - Mar 23 2000, 3:27 am by Above Top Secret - 1 message - 1 author
www. Above Top Secret .com
Check out this website for information about Area 51, UFOs, secret facilities,
organisations, government projects, the New World Order, and more. ...
alt.paranet.ufo - Mar 21 2000, 3:43 pm by Above Top Secret - 1 message - 1 author
MYSTERIOUS CALIFORNIA TEST FACILITIES
McDonnell Douglas "Llano" Facility Lockheed "Hellendale" Facility Northrop
"Tejon Ranch" Facility www.abovetopsecret.com/southcal.html
alt.alien - Jul 26 1999, 5:07 am by Simon Gray - 1 message - 1 author
MYSTERIOUS TEST LOCATIONS
McDonnell Douglas "Llano" Facility Lockheed "Hellendale" Facility Northrop
"Tejon Ranch" Facility www.abovetopsecret.com/southcal.html
alt.alien.wanderers - Jul 25 1999, 5:07 pm by Simon Gray - 1 message - 1 author
29 PROTOTYPE STEALTH AIRCRAFT
BLACK PROJECTS , SECRET UNDERGROUND DULCE FACILITY , 29 PROTOTYPE STEALTH PLANES ,
ALIEN/GOVERNMENT COLLABORATION http://www.abovetopsecret.com/lecture.html
alt.alien.wanderers - Jul 22 1999, 3:56 pm by Simon Gray - 1 message - 1 author
ET Exposure Law (page now updated)
www.abovetopsecret.com/etlaw.html !!!
alt.alien.visitors - Jul 9 1999, 5:29 am by Simon Gray - 2 messages - 2 authors
AURORA in detail !!!!!
The following website has been updated an incredible amount, including an Aurora
page with an amazing amount of detail !!! www.abovetopsecret.com !!!
alt.conspiracy.area51 - Jul 8 1999, 9:20 pm by Simon Gray - 1 message - 1 author
GREAT WEBSITE
www.abovetopsecret.com !!!
alt.magick.sex - Jul 7 1999, 3:05 am by Simon Gray - 1 message - 1 author
COOL WEBSITE
www.abovetopsecret.com , now hugely updated !!! -- Simon
Gray - Webmaster www.AboveTopSecret.com
alt.alien.visitors - Jul 7 1999, 2:07 am by Simon Gray - 1 message - 1 author
AREA 51 and RELATED PAGES
go to www.abovetopsecret.com
alt.conspiracy.black.helicopters - Jun 21 1999, 2:18 am by Simon Gray - 1 message - 1 author
COOL WEBSITE
www.abovetopsecret.com has some cool information which may be of interest !!!
alt.fans.chat2 - Jun 16 1999, 11:10 am by Simon Gray - 1 message - 1 author
COOL WEBSITE
www.abovetopsecret.com is a very interesting site. Why not check it out!
alt.sport.air-guns - Jun 15 1999, 5:56 am by Simon Gray - 1 message - 1 author
COOL WEBSITE
Great website at www.abovetopsecret.com ! ! !
alt.sport.table-tennis - Jun 15 1999, 1:13 am by Simon Gray - 1 message - 1 author
COOL WEBSITE
www.abovetopsecret.com ! ! !
alt.sport.horse-racing - Jun 15 1999, 12:41 am by Simon Gray - 1 message - 1 author
COOL WEBSITE
www.abovetopsecret.com !!!
alt.sport.darts - Jun 14 1999, 4:14 pm by Simon Gray - 1 message - 1 author
I leave it to the reader to draw their own conclusion about whether or not AboveTopSecret was set up to make money, or to be a "vacuum cleaner" operation. Of course, the two objectives are not mutually exclusive! One thing is certain, this "Simon Gray" was way too busy and energetic to be the playwright. Whoever it was, it looks like he's out to make a million bux one way or the other.
I would also suggest that the reader go to the webarchive and go back over the history of AboveTopSecret.com and notice that it is quite obviously set up to draw in alternative researchers. Why? Obvious answer is to vector ideas. Re-read my post on COINTELPRO.
I'm still amused at the idea that Simon Gray of AboveTopSecret.com - obviously a Brit "specializing" in American conspiracies - being Simon Gray the dramatist. It seems that this is not exactly an isolated case. In recent times the Pentagon's contract with another Brit, for the purposes of spreading disinformation, came to the attention of the mainstream media. Let's look at the strange case of "Christian Bailey.":
So, just who is Christian Bailey?
A 30-year-old Oxford graduate with no public relations experience was the recipient of a $100m (£56m) contract from Donald Rumsfeld's Department of Defence for buying space in Iraqi newspapers to place deliberately one-sided stories written by US "psy-ops" troops, at a time when the chaos of Iraq makes genuine journalism all but impossible and when journalists risk their lives on a daily basis to report the truth.
The office building situated at 1420 K Street NW has nothing obvious to commend it other than its prime location. Just a couple of streets from the north-west gates of the White House, it sits in the heart of lobbying land - the K Street corridor that represents one of the most crucial centres of power, influence and money in the United States.
This grey building, neighboured to one side by an off-licence and to the other by a travel agent, is home to the Lincoln Group, a previously little-known "business intelligence" company headed by a heretofore little known young Briton, Christian Bailey, an Oxford graduate and consummate net worker. He is at the centre of a mounting storm of controversy surrounding the Bush administration's covert propaganda war in Iraq.
It was recently revealed that Bailey's company was the recipient of a $100m (£56m) contract from Donald Rumsfeld's Department of Defence for buying space in Iraqi newspapers to place deliberately one-sided stories written by US "psy-ops" troops, at a time when the chaos of Iraq makes genuine journalism all but impossible and when journalists risk their lives on a daily basis to report the truth.
As part of the project - in which the US military hid its involvement - Lincoln Group staff paid Iraqi journalists to write similarly misleading stories about US forces and the Iraqi government that ignored anything negative about the occupation. One headline read: "Iraqis Insist on Living Despite Terrorism."
The revelations have created a furore. President Bush is said to be "very troubled" by the news, while on Capitol Hill members of both the Senate and House armed services committees demanded inquiries. The Pentagon said it would launch an immediate investigation.
Much is unclear about the Lincoln Group, its youthful executive vice-president and his string of previous companies that have left only the faintest paper trail. Indeed, Christian Bailey may not be his real name: a number of student associates said at some point during his four years that he changed his name from Yusefovich - an unlikely surname for someone called Christian.
The Independent has been unable to confirm this. Yet the details known about Bailey and the contract his company won provide a remarkable insight into the way influence and power operate in Washington. Just two years after arriving here, Bailey, 30, who has a penchant for socialising, has apparently developed contacts both within the Republican establishment and the world of private intelligence.
Senator John Warner, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said of the false news operation: "I remain gravely concerned about the situation." Since the controversy broke Bailey has kept a low-profile and has offered just the fewest public words about his organisation and what it does. (He failed to respond to requests for an interview.) It also appears a number of internet references linking him to the Republicans can no longer be found.
Yet it is clear the Lincoln Group and its contract with the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element, part of the Pentagon's Special Operations Command, is inextricably linked with Bailey. He apparently named the company and its various offshoots after Lincoln College, Oxford, from which he graduated in 1997 with an MA in economics and management. [abovetopsecret.com was registered in 1997]
Many observers have been surprised Bailey, from Surrey, has been awarded such a sizable contract, give that he appears to have no experience in public relations. Indeed, since he moved to the US in the late 1990s, he has spent much of his time in private finance, working in hedge funds in San Francisco and New York.
It appears he has been especially interested in new technology markets. A brief biography presented by the organisers of a conference held earlier this year in Dubai at which Bailey was listed as a speaker, said he had worked in Palo Alto, California, "where he advised portfolio companies and identified, evaluated and developed emerging technology investments".
The Briton has always enjoyed a reputation for business. Several Oxford associates said it was rumoured that the popular student kept two computers in his room to monitor the stock markets. Bailey has said he founded and sold two companies while an undergraduate. "He was quite enterprising, I believe," said Graham De'ath, of Winchester, who was in the same year.
Kate Smurthwaite, who is now a stand-up comic but shared a flat with Bailey in his third year, told The Independent that the young entrepreneur hired a personal assistant to work for him in his student digs as he ran an operation selling self-help advice on cassettes.
He also had a reputation as a hard-working networker. While in New York he became treasurer of the Oxonian Society, a club for graduates of Oxford and other universities, which invites high-profile figures to speak. He was involved in at least one charity fundraising effort with other hedge-funders. Perhaps of more significance, Bailey became the co-chairman of the New York chapter of Lead21, a networking group for young Republicans. At least a dozen of its members have gone on to work for either the Bush administration, Congress or the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
During a Lead21 trip to the Republican National Convention in New York last autumn, Bailey said of his colleagues to one reporter: "These are going to be the big supporters, the big donors, to the Republican Party in five years."
According to other members, Bailey was very popular. Auren Hoffman, chair of Lead21 and chairman of the Stonebrick Group, a San Francisco-based consulting firm, said Bailey was a good friend. "Christian is a terrific guy personally. Everyone I know that has ever met him instantly likes him. He is very likeable and charming. Very intelligent. Very interesting."
When he moved to Washington, his reputation as a networker continued. He often hosted parties at home and mixed with a set of young, up-and-coming journalists and congressional staffers. He enjoyed a reputation as a good cook, a welcoming host and for making cappuccinos with a machine in his kitchen. He also enjoyed flying: Federal Aviation Administration records show that he is qualified to fly aeroplanes and helicopters.
How and when did Bailey make the switch from hedge funds to private intelligence and PR? One clue is provided by the Alternative Investment News newsletter of 1 March 2003, just weeks before the invasion of Iraq. It reported Bailey's hedge fund, Lincoln Asset Management Group, had launched a buyout fund to start buying companies in the defence and security industries. Bailey said he had obtained commitments of $100m from six institutional investors, whom he declined to name.
Apparently with an eye to the preparations for war being made in the deserts of northern Kuwait, he added: "[The] timing is extremely good to look at defence companies." Shortly afterwards, a subsidiary called Lincoln Alliance Corp was established, offering what it called "tailored intelligence services [for] government clients faced with critical intelligence challenges".
By last autumn Bailey had formed another Lincoln subsidiary, called Iraqex, which seems to have formed a partnership with another American PR firm called Rendon, famous in Washington for having promoted Ahmed Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress.
At some point Bailey also went into business with Paige Craig, 31, a former US Marine who served in Iraq and elsewhere. [Bailey and Craig are flatmates in a fashionable part of Washington, close to U Street. The flat is just yards away from Café Saint- Ex, popular with young professionals.]
In September, Iraqex won a $6m Pentagon contract to design and execute "an aggressive advertising and PR campaign that will accurately inform the Iraqi people of the Coalition's goals and gain their support". It appears one project was an attempt to persuade the Iraqi and US public that Iraqi troops played a vital role in last year's effort to clear Fallujah.
A strategy document obtained by ABC News revealed the Lincoln Group was seeking to promote the "strength, integrity and reliability of Iraqi forces during the fight for Falujah". In reality, most assessments suggest the small number of Iraqi troops present were minimally involved.
But the real breakthrough came this summer when Bailey's company, having again changed its name to the Lincoln Group, secured a $100m contract for information and psychological operations. Part of the contract was for placing "faux" news stories in some of the 200 Iraqi-owned newspapers that now exist.
Pentagon officials have said that, while not factually incorrect, these stories only presented one side of the story and would not include anything negative about the occupation. It was reported this week that the $10Om was part of a larger $300m "stealth PR effort" in a number of countries around the world.
One PR consultant with experience of the private-intelligence sector, said: "Doctrinally, this is all part of what the military calls information superiority. It is part of the plan for what they call, rather upsettingly, full-spectrum dominance. The truth is that it is just propaganda. And there has always been propaganda in a war. And this is a war, so ... thus runs the thinking."
According to reports from former Lincoln employees, their main task was to take news dispatches, called storyboards, which had been written by specially trained psy-ops troops, have them translated into Arabic and then distribute them to the newspapers. They would also deal directly with members of the Iraqi media through something called the Baghdad Press Club, a group of journalists who were paid to write and publish positive stories. Typically, Lincoln paid newspapers between $40 and $2,000 to run the articles as either news or adverts.
To help it carry out its work, Bailey and Craig - the latter is apparently responsible for most of the Iraq-based end of the business - have reached out to some of the foremost specialists in security and intelligence. Among "advisers" listed on their website is Andrew Garfield, a former British military-intelligence officer and specialist in psychological warfare who has advised the Ministry of Defence. In an e-mail to The Guardian Garfield confirmed his collaboration with Lincoln but gave no details.
Another adviser is Colin Rees Mason, who two years ago received an OBE for his service as a lieutenant-colonel in the Territorial Army, and who for almost 20 years has been a consultant to the Centre for Operational Research and Defence Analysis, a subsidiary of BAE Systems.
The Lincoln Group also has Republican links. Among lobbyists registered to represent it are Charles Black, an adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr and Marlin "Buzz" Hefti, who served as a director at the Pentagon.
Lincoln Group also lists as a partner the Virginia-based private intelligence group WCV3 Security. Last year that company's executive vice-president took unpaid leave to produce Stolen Honour: Wounds That Never Heal, a film that, at a critical time in the presidential election campaign, condemned the Democrat John Kerry and questioned his version of events in Vietnam.
Despite the concern on Capitol Hill about the placing of false stories in foreign media outlets - a practice that dates back to the Cold War - it is unknown what will be the outcome of the Pentagon's investigation. It is also unclear how the controversy has affected the ability of the Lincoln Group or Bailey to fulfil its contract. In a statement the company said: "Lincoln Group has consistently worked with the Iraqi media to promote truthful reporting across Iraq. We counter the lies, intimidation, and pure evil of terror with factual stories that highlight the heroism and sacrifice of the Iraqi people and their struggle for freedom and security."
The London Times had more revelations about "Christian Bailey."
British geek made millions running the Pentagon's propaganda war in Iraq
IT WAS astounding enough for Washington’s political elite: last month they discovered that the man at the heart of a scandal over the planting of US propaganda in Iraqi newspapers was a dapper but unknown 30-year-old Oxford graduate who had somehow managed to land a $100 million Pentagon contract.
What is even more remarkable however, after an investigation by The Times, is that just ten years ago Christian Bailey, whose US company is under investigation for planting fake news stories in Iraqi newspapers, was a nerdy, socially awkward English school-leaver called Jozefowicz.
The transformation of the geeky but ambitious Christian Jozefowicz, who just a few years ago was growing up in a modest terraced house in Godalming, Surrey, to the charming, baby-faced multimillionaire Christian Bailey now rubbing shoulders with some of the most powerful figures in Washington — and who next year will probably face questions on Capitol Hill about his company — is one of the more extraordinary stories to have emerged from the Iraq war.
This month it was revealed that Mr Bailey’s US company, the Lincoln Group, was the recipient of a Pentagon contract to help to fight the information war in Iraq. It then emerged that the company was paying Iraqi journalists to plant optimistic news “stories†in Iraqi papers that had been written by the US military.
Interference with the press touches a raw nerve in America. The fake stories revelation provoked a furore among Republicans and Democrats. President Bush said he was “very troubled†by it. Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, has promised a Pentagon investigation. Congress plans hearings into the scandal.
The journey from the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, which Mr Bailey left in 1994, to the heart of K Street in Washington, the centre of money and influence in the US capital, has been remarkably rapid. Today he has a reputation in Washington for being a socialite with links to influential Republicans. He is a helicopter and aircraft pilot and his home is in a fashionable area.
Through a Lincoln Group spokesman, Mr Bailey answered questions from The Times to help to explain how, at just 30, he landed the Pentagon as an important client. He was born Christian Martin Jozefowicz on November 28, 1975, in Kingston upon Thames, to Jerzy and Anne Jozefowicz.
His father, a Polish architect, died in April 1998. His mother, who has since reverted to her maiden name of Seifert, was born in West Germany. The family lived in East Molesey, southwest London, before moving to Godalming, Surrey.
Mr Bailey’s Royal Grammar School contemporaries recall a business-obsessed, “geeky†individual with few friends. “He was a nerd at school,†one told The Times. Another described him as a “school joke†who told everyone he was going to be a millionaire. He was the first at school to have a mobile phone and was interested in early versions of the personal computer.
He founded a Young Enterprise company, Chameleon, which led to his selection as one of the top six Young Enterprise participants in Britain.
His school yearbook records Christian Jozefowicz as “Mr Business himself†and that he was elected vice-president of the International Student Forum, a business gathering in the US. In 1994 he won a place at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he read economics and management. He kept computers in his room, thought for monitoring the stock markets.
In his third year at Oxford he hired an assistant to help him to run his first proper company, Linck Ltd, which sold self-help tapes. In 1998, he changed his name to Bailey. “Following his father’s death, Bailey assumed the name for family reasons, something which children commonly do,†a Lincoln Group spokesman said.
In the late 1990s he moved to San Francisco to try his hand as a dotcom entrepreneur, and then to New York, where he became treasurer of the Oxonion Society, a club for intellectual Anglophiles. He became co-chairman of a networking group for young Republicans. With his Republican contacts growing, Mr Bailey moved to Washington, where he spotted a golden business opportunity: the looming war in Iraq. He formed a partnership with Paige Craig, a former US Marine who served in Iraq.
In early 2003, just before the invasion, Mr Bailey formed a Lincoln subsidiary, the Lincoln Alliance Corp, offering “tailored intelligence services [for] government clients faced with intelligence challengesâ€. He also formed another subsidiary, Iraqex, which won a $6 million Pentagon contract to launch “an aggressive advertising and PR campaign that will accurately inform the Iraqi people of the coalition’s goals and gain their supportâ€.
The big breakthrough came in June this year when the Pentagon awarded the Lincoln Group a contract worth up to $100 million over five years to support the US military’s “joint psychological operationsâ€, known as “psyopsâ€.
Lincoln group defended the planting of stories and the company has emphasised that none of them were factually incorrect. “By not speaking through the local media, the coalition would allow a vacuum for rumours and untruths perpetrated by the insurgents’ thuggery and threats,†a spokesman said.
LIFE AND WORK
November 28, 1975: Born Christian Jozefowicz, Kingston upon Thames
1987-94: Attends the fee-paying Royal Grammar School, Guildford
1993-94: Listed on electoral roll as Christian Jozefowicz-Seifert
1994-97: Obtains a 2:1 in economics and management from Lincoln College, Oxford. While at university, runs Linck Ltd.
October 1998: Founds Linck Corporate Finance under the name of Christian Bailey. Fails to declare previous surname or other directorship
1999: Moves to America
2003: Co-founds Lincoln Group, now subject to investigation into planting of US military propaganda in Iraqi newspapers
We consider it a possibility that someone is using the name of the playwright, Simon Gray, to "dramatize" disinformation via the AboveTopSecret.com website and that someone may be "very close" to "Christian Bailey." Looking at all the clues, comparing the dates, we notice that abovetopsecret.com domain was first registered in 1997, on May 18. The site was unused throughout 1997 and 1998. "Christian Bailey's" father died in April 1998. That gave him the freedom to change his name, to launch all kinds of activities that he otherwise might not have been able to do under the watchful gaze of his parent.
Bailey traveled to the U.S. "in the late 90's" and we notice that abovetopsecret.com finally gets an "entry page" in 1999. Later in the year, a very professional looking website suddenly appears sometime between February and October of 1999.
"Simon Gray" was off to a running start...
To finish of this little survey, let's look at one of "Christian Bailey's" co-horts in crime which will show that setting up AboveTopSecret.com as far back as 1997 is entirely in character with the "way things are done."
See: The Man Who Sold the War: John Rendon, Bush's general in the propaganda war
"Rendon is a man who fills a need that few people even know exists. Two months before al-Haideri took the lie-detector test, the Pentagon had secretly awarded him a $16 million contract to target Iraq and other adversaries with propaganda. One of the most powerful people in Washington, Rendon is a leader in the strategic field known as "perception management," manipulating information -- and, by extension, the news media -- to achieve the desired result. His firm, the Rendon Group, has made millions off government contracts since 1991, when it was hired by the CIA to help "create the conditions for the removal of Hussein from power." Working under this extraordinary transfer of secret authority, Rendon assembled a group of anti-Saddam militants, personally gave them their name -- the Iraqi National Congress -- and served as their media guru and "senior adviser" as they set out to engineer an uprising against Saddam. It was as if President John F. Kennedy had outsourced the Bay of Pigs operation to the advertising and public-relations firm of J. Walter Thompson."
I reckon I'll put my money on Christian Bailey and his gang being the "Simon Gray" behind "AboveTopSecret.com".
posted by The Observor at 11:41 PM
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