A Book Review of ‘The Sett’ by Ranulph Fiennes. Published 1996 by William Heinemann. London.

This incredible biography leaves the reader thinking ‘could this really be true?’ This mild mannered, archetypal man called Alex Goodman, (not his real name), should surely be the hero of the next action packed blockbuster. An Accountant by profession, his life is irrevocably changed on the afternoon of 29th July, 1984, whilst walking in the woods with his wife and daughter. After witnessing a horrendous badger killing, he is savagely beaten and none the wiser when he awakes in a Birmingham hospital, suffering from traumatic amnesia. In the following year, his memory gradually returns and what unfolds are riveting ‘cat and nine lives’ type scenarios, whilst he seeks revenge for the callous murders of his wife and daughter. The search for his family’s killers eventually takes nine years.

Since regaining his memory, Alex Goodman is thrust into the world of the now defunct, but notorious Bank of Credit and Commerce International (B.C.C.I.), C.I.A. and the White House He faces drug runners, the illegal traders in human organs, repugnant badger baiters, as well as murderers, using torture and extreme violence as a way of life. Could these events really happen to a quiet, family orientated white collar worker, whom after reading ‘The Feather Men’, approached the author in the hope of having his own story told? Alex Goodman knew he was dying. He wanted his story published. His resolute motivation to avenge the deaths of his family is commendable. After being taken in and accepted by a criminal drug and manufacturing gang who called themselves ‘The Family’, he was approached by American government agents to infiltrate the B.C.C.I., as an employee to gain access to the information needed to bring the Bank down.

Alex Goodman uncovered corruption on a massive scale involving the C.I.A., the White House, the kidnapping and systematic murder of South American children to obtain human organs for sale on the black market and the workings of ethnic gangs within the United States and Britain. Readers of this book will be intrigued by the detailed recounting of the events which take place. Throughout the book, the events, names and places has been meticulously researched and backed with authentic documentation. This attention to detail is a hallmark of Fiennes’ writing and the reader will not be disappointed.

Goodman does find love again, but the union is short-lived. He befriends a prostitute, who, after some time feels empathy for this strange man who has appeared in her life, and he learns to love again. She bears him a child, but Goodman’s tragedy is compounded when both are killed as he hunts the assassin of his first family. Again and again Goodman has escaped from the revenge of the killers he hunts, only to discover that the friends and acquaintances he has made on this incredible quest are themselves killed.

‘The Sett’ is undoubtedly, amongst one of the best books I have read. This ‘tour de force’ story conjures up many emotions. The cruelty involved in the badger killings was almost unreadable. Many a time I thought I could not continue, but the compelling story drew me back each time. All animal lovers and animal liberationists will find these chapters difficult to digest and come to terms with. The combination of violence, killing and the ‘edge of your seat’ scenarios make this book impossible to put down. Some readers may challenge the veracity of this book, and indeed this story does leave you wondering, how can a normal common man be caught up in the whirlwind of violence and intrigue that descended on Alex Goodman? As they say “You wouldn’t read about it!”

Sir Ranulph Fiennes is not only an accomplished author, he has also received the ‘Order of the British Empire’ from Her Majesty the Queen in 1993 for his efforts in raising 14 million pounds for charity. He was named ‘Best Sportsman’ in the 2007 ITV Great Britain Awards and in 2009 he became the oldest British citizen to successfully reach the summit of Mount Everest. These accolades pale into insignificance when viewed in the light of the trials and tribulations of Alex Goodman, a simple common man who only sought justice for the wrongs perpetrated against him by the evil men that lurk in the world’s shadows.

Imagine you live in an area where sudden attacks are common, where the city in which you live has gone from a warm paradise to a place of sudden death and daily bullet-dodging, and where your job requires you to navigate shifting allegiances and keep your romances limited in scope and subject to sudden, unexplained endings. This is the world of Walter Lukash, the protagonist of Preston Fleming’s Bride of a Bygone War, and as the narrative opens, coming back to it has more than its share of dangers for him.

Set at the turn of the 1980s, the novel follows Lukash, who was suddenly transferred away from Beirut five years before, just as suddenly returning. Told he would be performing a two-month low-profile assignment, his orders are swiftly changed to a two-year assignment involving recruitment of spies from a new military faction among the Lebanese. Dangerous enough by itself, but Lukash has a secret: Before his sudden transfer, he married a Lebanese woman in defiance of standard protocols regarding security clearances and romantic entanglements. To make things more complicated, his present girlfriend is seen as a security risk, one that the CIA is quickly running out of patience over. Between the numerous identities, the women in his past and the travails of simply existing in a war-torn Beirut, the discovery of a secret plot to intensify hostilities and incite deeper U.S. involvement barely passes muster as a noteworthy event in Lukash’s life.

Unlike the dystopic near-future setting of his Kamas novels, Fleming sets this book – part of a trilogy – in a firmly grounded and well-documented historical setting, the Middle East of the 1980s. Bolstered by his own experiences working in the region, Fleming provides a sharp sense of place and time, letting important details work through background settings and keeping the narrative anchored in a tangible world. While some aspects of the plot work better than others – by the book’s end, Lukash’s romantic life almost seems to carry more narrative importance than his job as a CIA case officer – the various threads mesh fairly well in a believable portrait of how professional liars and secret-keepers might navigate love and war in a culture not their own. For fans of Fleming’s other novels, one of his signature touches of mysticism creeps in toward the end; a character’s dream seems to be shared among two wholly unconnected characters and come to life in a direct fashion, which seems to carry a thematic resonance for the author, although its importance to the story as a whole is unclear. Still, this brief detour does not detract from the well-machined flow of the story, which overall displays Fleming’s skill as a writer of literate, thoughtful thrillers that have something more to share than just a mastery of genre mechanics.

The book that is the subject of this review is Daniel Hopsicker’s Barry and “The Boys:” The CIA, the Mob, and America’s Secret History. Hopsicker originally published it in 2001 and updated it in 2006, adding more information in an Introduction and tying this book in with his most recent work. The book’s subtitle neatly explains the subject matter, although many more issues are examined through their relationships with the infamous drug smuggler Barry Seal.

In fact, the sheer number of issues, events, and people that Hopsicker touches on makes it a very daunting task to attempt to review the book. From before World War II, to the Bay of Pigs, to Vietnam, Iran-Contra, Mena, Arkansas, and our current administration, Hopsicker ties together some of the more notable names that have been involved in both the public history of America and the “secret history.” Being unfamiliar with some of the subject matter, this review will focus more on the style and mechanics of the book, rather than most of the actual content.

As a summary of the work, though, the book focuses heavily on the life of Barry Seal, whom Hopsicker calls “the biggest drug smuggler in American history, who died in a hail of bullets with George Bush’s private phone number in his wallet.” Through his relationship with various military-intelligence personnel, and as a CIA employee and pilot, Seal played a part or knew the main participants in nearly every major event in recent American history. He attended a summer camp for the Baton Rouge Civil Air Patrol with Lee Harvey Oswald, and is suggested to have flown a getaway plane out of Dallas on the day of the Kennedy Assassination, for instance. Seal was also heavily involved in flying drugs into the country during the time of the Iran-Contra events, and his plane ended up in the possession of George W. Bush after his death. In the 380-page book, though, these issues are examined in depth, along with dozens of other events.

The sources for the book seem to be mainly interviews that Hopsicker or his associates conducted, and most of them relate to various aspects of the secret history or the life of Barry Seal. This makes the book a great primary source, and there are very few anonymous sources providing information. Seal’s wife is interviewed, along with high school friends, coworkers, and government employees. As issues come up, Hopsicker introduces a player and his or her role, and relates the event back and forth to other events, reminding the reader of the relevance of what has come before and what will come later. This helps casual readers (such as this reviewer) keep all of the names and places a little bit straighter, since the same names seem to keep appearing in various places and times.

The writing style itself is quite easy to read and a bit casual, compared with other books of a similar nature. Hopsicker is very much a part of the story, as he and his researchers attempt to put together the complete picture of the events that surrounded Barry Seal. With each interview and new name added to the mix, the picture becomes more clear, chapter by chapter, until the book traces a single unbroken line through over sixty years of history involving covert wars, drug smuggling, bipartisan political corruption, and various shell corporations and financial intrigues.

Obviously, the author ran into some legal issues with the publication of the book, though, as one chapter is filled with blacked-out, redacted material. Nearly every name is unreadable for an entire chapter while Hopsicker traces the evolution of one of the shell companies mentioned in the book. This detracts slightly from the readability of the material, and it seems that previous versions were missing the chapter completely, which is unfortunate, but the material in the chapter does not seem central to Hopsicker’s main thesis. Of course, this is hard to tell for sure with so much cut out, but the names mentioned in the chapter are not repeated throughout the book, as there are few other blackouts in the remaining thirty-seven chapters.

A 60-page Appendix at the end of the book contains numerous pictures from the life of Barry Seal, as well as documents from his personal records. These provide a treasure trove of resources to browse through to learn more the various issues that Hopsicker examines, especially the trail of ownership of Seal’s planes that were used to smuggle drugs. Following the trail of shell corporations set up simply to shield the true owner of the planes is one of the more tangled yet enlightening portions of the book, and the Appendix explains more of these details with the use of the actual source documents.

A final useful aspect of the book is that Hopsicker has obviously read much about the subject matter he aims to tackle, and provides other recommendations of books that followed the track. Some of these authors, such as Alfred McCoy and Peter Dale Scott, are well-known and respected, and their works provide additional avenues of research for the reader of Barry and “The Boys”. By attempting to add to the information already available from other sources, Hopsicker is able to build on these works and provide his own contributions, rather than simply offering a summary of other works.

Barry and “the Boys” may provide an ideal introduction into the topic of the secret history of America’s involvement in covert wars and drugs, and it is certainly a work to be referred to and read more than once. In fact, as more of the names connected to Seal appear again and again (as they have even since the book was originally published in 2001), the work is more important than ever. As Hopsicker states numerous times in the book, it’s a “Small world,” and it seems that everyone knows everyone else sometimes, except the general public who knows no one and is told as little as possible. Seal, as a tragic figure who rose to the heights of power in the covert world, met his end when he grew a little too big for his own britches and decided to “talk.” Hopefully Hopsicker will be given the opportunity to speak more of the truth as well, as he is saying some important things in this book.

Interview with Tim Smith

author of The Vendetta Factor

PublishAmerica (2006)

ISBN 9781424141258

Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (5/07)

Today, Tyler R. Tichelaar of Reader Views is pleased to welcome Tim Smith, author of “The Vendetta Factor.” Tim Smith is an administrator in the human services field, working with adults with disabilities. He resides in Dayton, Ohio, where he also works as a freelance photographer when he isn’t busy writing and promoting his books.

Tyler: Welcome, Tim. To begin, would you describe for us the basic premise of your novel, “The Vendetta Factor”?

Tim: “The Vendetta Factor” is a throwback to the types of pulp fiction novels written by Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane. It involves Nick Seven, a former CIA agent living in Key Largo, Florida, getting pulled into a nasty turf war between two Mafia families. One organization controls the action in Miami, but a rival Don in Saratoga Springs, New York wants to take over. Nick finds himself being pressured by both families, as well as a Federal prosecutor with a personal agenda, while discovering that he’s been betrayed by someone he thought was a friend.

Tyler: The setting and your reference of Raymond Chandler remind me of the old film noirs, especially the film “Key Largo” which is a crime story as well. Why did you choose the Miami area for your setting?

Tim: I’ve been vacationing in The Keys and southern Florida for quite a few years. When I sat down to write my first Nick Seven adventure I asked myself a question: if I were a former CIA spook who wanted to go somewhere to start over, where would it be? The Keys was the obvious choice for me.

In that part of the country you have everything that lends itself to a good adventure story – exotic locations, atmosphere and sunsets to die for, nearly every nationality represented, and tremendous name recognition. When you mention “Key Largo” most people instantly picture Bogart and Bacall. Thanks to the wealth of movies and TV shows set in Miami and South Beach, a lot of readers are already familiar with the area. Besides, it beats setting a crime thriller in Dayton, Ohio and gives me a great excuse to go there every year for research and parasailing.

Tyler: What do you feel sets your book apart from all the other crime novels and stories about the mafia?

Tim: This isn’t a typical cops and robbers crime thriller, where you have the police or a private eye cracking the case. My hero, Nick Seven, is Joe Citizen, just a guy minding his own business with no desire to get back into the action or intrigue that was part of his former life. Once he gets dragged into the mix he has to rely on his wits and instincts to get out and get his life back. There’s also a lot of humor and satire thrown in, including a running argument between two hit men about whether Frank Sinatra or Julius LaRosa had the biggest impact on pop culture.

Tyler: Of course, Frank Sinatra was a great singer and had an Italian background and I believe there were rumors about mafia connections, but pardon my ignorance, who was Julius LaRosa?

Tim: To quote one of the characters, “You never heard of Julius LaRosa, one of the greatest singers of all time?? That’s un-flippin’-believable! That guy could hit a high C like I hit targets. You ever hit a high C?”

Seriously, LaRosa was an up-and-coming young crooner on Arthur Godfrey’s daily TV show in the 1950’s. (You have heard of Arthur Godfrey, right? Good). One day Godfrey fired LaRosa on the air – live – for some imagined slight, and his career never fully recovered. Although I’m a huge Sinatra fan, I thought it might add some laughs to have the argument as a running gag throughout the book, with no disrespect intended for either gentleman.

Tyler: Well, my bet is still on Frank Sinatra, but thank you for the explanation. Tim, what really makes a good crime novel is often the hero or detective. Will you tell us a little bit about your main character, Nick Seven?

Tim: Nick is a former CIA spook who spent his career tracking down terrorists around the globe. While on an assignment years earlier his wife was killed in a bombing that was intended for him. After getting revenge on the man responsible, he left the service and set up shop in the Florida Keys, running a club on the Gulf of Mexico with Felicia, a former co-worker from Barbados whom he always had a thing for.

Nick is cynical, cool and hard-boiled with a sensitive romantic side he likes to keep hidden. When he was a spy he always operated as a maverick, and still insists on running his life on his own terms. He’s the kind of guy your mother wouldn’t let you play with, but one you’d want on your side.

Tyler: Would you say you are a lot like Nick Seven, or is he predominantly a fantasy character?

Tim: A lot of my own personality traits went into Nick Seven, and I think of him as my alter ego. He gets to do the things I can only dream about – living in The Keys with a beautiful woman from Barbados, getting involved in intrigue, beating the bad guys, and winning at Blackjack and Poker.

Tyler: Nick sounds like a character many men would want to be. Richard Blake, who reviewed “The Vendetta Factor” for Reader Views, said the novel has great movie potential. How would you envision a film of the book, and whom would you want to play Nick Seven or even some of the other characters?

Tim: I could see this as a cross between “CSI: Miami” and “Peter Gunn,” utilizing the exotic locations I described in the book accompanied by a retro jazz score. I’ve always pictured George Clooney or Pierce Brosnan playing Nick. They both have the requisite “cool factor” and sarcastic wit to embody the character I created. As for Felicia, I’m holding out for Khandi Alexander or Vanessa Williams.

Tyler: I understand “The Vendetta Factor” is your third novel. What were your previous novels about?

Tim: “Memories Die Last” introduced Nick Seven, bringing him out of his self-imposed exile when the CIA convinces him that the terrorist who killed his wife may still be alive, forcing Nick to revisit events he had long ago banished to the cellar. His investigation reveals high-level government corruption and cover-ups.

The follow-up, “Never Trust Your Dreams,” has Nick and Felicia unwillingly involved in America’s war on terror while trying to outsmart a rogue agent from their past. Part of the conspiracy has Nick being set up as the fall guy for a murder he didn’t commit, one which he must solve to clear himself.

Tyler: I understand you’ve won some awards for your novels. I’ve always been curious about award contests because there are so many out there. Would you tell us which awards your novels have won, how you entered the contests, and how a writer should decide which contests are worthwhile to enter?

Tim: “Memories Die Last” won the Allbooks Reviews Editor’s Choice Award for fiction in 2004, and was named Best Mystery Novel of 2005 by Blackrefer.com. “Never Trust Your Dreams” was named Best Mystery Novel of 2006 at Blackrefer.com, and “The Vendetta Factor” is currently a finalist in a contest at Authorisland.com. The citations for the first two books came as a complete surprise, since I didn’t know those sites gave awards. You’re right that there are many contests out there, and I would advise writers to research the sites or organizations before entering. They should realize, too, that there is often a cost involved, which prohibits many starving authors. Quite often you need to compare that against the potential exposure you may or may not receive and go from there. If you’re an unknown, I wouldn’t suggest sending your book to the Pulitzer people unless your horoscope was really good that day.

Tyler: Thanks for the information, Tim. What would you say were your major influences, literary or otherwise, that have inspired your writing?

Tim: From a literary standpoint I’ve always been a fan of Raymond Chandler, Mickey Spillane, Robert B. Parker and James W. Hall. I suppose their style influenced the way I write. My biggest inspiration, the one that keeps me writing, is the response I get from people who have read my books. The nicest compliment I can get is when they say “I can’t wait to read your next one.” It doesn’t get much better than that.

Tyler: I agree with you there, Tim. Appreciation by others for your work outweighs any other benefits. Do you consider yourself solely a writer of crime fiction thrillers, or do you see yourself branching out into other genres?

Tim: I’m comfortable writing in this genre, but recently tried my hand at a romantic comedy told from the man’s perspective. Surprisingly, I found that it wasn’t that hard to switch gears, especially since I was able to draw on my own experiences in the relationship wars.

Tyler: What are you writing now? Will we see that romantic comedy in print anytime soon, or is there another chapter to be written about Nick Seven?

Tim: The romantic comedy is currently in the rewrite-and-polish phase before I have it proofed and edited. I’m also working on another Nick Seven adventure, tentatively titled “Jinx Money.” There will be more Nick stories coming, since a character with as many layers as he has will always find some kind of trouble to get into. All I need to do is look at today’s headlines and imagine what he would do in the situation.

Tyler: Thank you so much for joining me today, Tim. Before we go, will you let our readers know your website address so they can find out more information about “The Vendetta Factor” and your other award-winning novels?

Tim: They can visit http://www.timsmithauthor.com to read all about my books, and see some photographs of locations where the stories take place.

Tyler: Thank you, Tim, for being here today. I hope we can look forward to many more Nick Seven stories.

Anyone who has ever wondered about how the human brain might be manipulated can discover much information on the topic. Countless people feel that the history behind the manipulation of thought is fascinating. While numerous individuals might dismiss the subject as science fiction, many others believe that thought manipulation has been utilized by various government agencies in countries across the world. Additionally, certain religious movements and cults may have exerted thought reform.

If a person is to understand the concept of thought reform, examining the topic in- depth is probably a good idea. Exploring the history of mind control and programming is one way to begin such research. There is much information worth considering, regarding how thought manipulation may have developed. It is also interesting to consider how thought reform may have been used by various individuals, agencies, and groups.

One term that is commonly used in association with this subject is the word, brainwashing. The origin of the word, brainwashing, may be traced to an article written in 1950, by Edward hunter. The term was used in an article in reference to thought reform, which may have been implemented by the Chinese government on certain people, such as American military personnel who were held captive. Such prisoners may have been compliant with the demands implemented by their captors. It is possible that this behavior could be attributed to brainwashing. In some cases, prisoners became loyal to the Chinese government, instead of the United States government.

Some people believe that the Korean government brainwashed American soldiers during the Korean War. However, the United States Army has officially denied that this is true, after much research on the topic produced no evidence that such brainwashing was used. The official conclusion on this topic seems to be that the North Korean government did not use such a technique on American prisoners of war.

In 1950, the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States is known to have developed its own brainwashing program. This action was in response to the fact that other governments were experimenting with this process, as well. In an effort to remain competitive in the field of thought reform on captives, the Central Intelligence Agency, which is commonly referred to as the CIA, explored the topic of brainwashing. Many individuals believe that research was performed on a covert level by the CIA for decades.

Government agencies are certainly not the only entities known to have experimented with brainwashing. Various religious groups and cults have also utilized thought reform as a way of manipulating people. In the United States, cults and religious movements have implemented thought manipulation since the 1960s. One common method of thought reform used to manipulate on a spiritual level is to disassociate people from their friends, family, and colleagues. By doing this, the leaders and other members of a cult can manipulate people far more easily than they would be able to, if the individuals were in close contact with the people who care about them.

A book called Cults in Our Midst, which was written by Margret Singer in collaboration with Janja Lalich, describes the six main steps used to exert thought reform. There are six conditions that can make a person susceptible to thought reform. The first step is to ensure that a person is not aware that anything suspicious is happening. The second step describes creating a physical and social setting that is entirely manipulated and isolated. The third step is to make the person being manipulated feel powerless. The fourth step is to manipulate through punishment and reward, in order to disassociate the individual from former behavior and lifestyle. The fifth step involves implementing reward and punishment as a method of making the group and its ideals seem highly appealing. The sixth and final step is to exert absolute authority over the individual who is being manipulated by the cult.

Edward Bernays, who was alive throughout most of the twentieth century, made much progress in the exploration of thought reform. Edward Bernays was the nephew of Sigmund Freud. Mr. Bernays believed that thought manipulation was an essential function in any societal structure. Edward Bernays utilized this type of manipulation to run several marketing and public relations campaigns. Mr. Bernays ran a successful campaign to manipulate Americans into thinking that Ivory soap was better than other soaps. He also ran a campaign that used the feminist movement to promote cigarettes. The extent to which he was successful at using thought reform is impressive, and he even created propaganda that was utilized to overthrow the government of Guatemala.

Although numerous individuals feel that thought reform has only been used in negative ways, many others feel that the technique may be utilized to accomplish positive things, as well. Hypnosis is considered by some to be a form of thought manipulation, and numerous people have implemented hypnosis to change unhealthy behavioral patterns. Hypnosis has been used to help people stop smoking, lose weight, change career paths, and explore personal fulfillment. Hypnosis might also be used to alter thinking errors, work on anger management, and minimize anxiety. Many individuals have experienced great success with hypnosis, so it may be possible that thought manipulation can be used in a positive way.

Guided imagery is another technique that could be described as manipulation of thought. This technique is often performed in a counseling office, and a counselor typically assists a client in implementing it. This technique can aid a person in transforming negative thought patterns into positive ones. As a result of doing this, a person may be able to change a variety of habits and thoughts that have been detrimental to physical, mental, or emotional wellness.

The concept of thought reform is certainly not a new one, but it is as fascinating today as it was, when it was first introduced to the general public. Exploring the subject of brainwashing is probably a beneficial thing for almost anyone to do. People who are impressionable may wish to learn about thought reform, so they are not manipulated against their will at some point in their lives. Those who wish to utilize thought manipulation, in order to improve themselves and their lives, can find a wide range of professionals to assist them in such an endeavor.

What is a black site? And why do we have them?

While writing my latest novel, I did a lot of research into “black sites,” CIA, and Human Intelligence. All of the subjects were interesting but the one that caught my eye and made me truly dig in and ask more questions was “black sites.”

According to Wikipedia, “a black site is a location in which a black project is conducted.”

The explanation is simple but not very detailed, don’t you think? I did however, know what a black project was but just to confirm my suspicion I did look it up. According to Wikipedia, “a black project is a classified military/defense project, unacknowledged publicly by the government, military personnel, and defense contractors. Yup, I was right.

From Wikipedia I was able to discern that black sites were secret prisons operated by the CIA outside of the US and currently used in the War on Terror. Through my research, I was able to discern that black sites existed before the War on Terror.

Why are black site prisons located outside the US and managed by the CIA or contractors for the CIA?

It is illegal for the government to hold prisoners in isolation in secret prisons. In the US, prisoners have rights. They have a right to an attorney and the right to mount a defense against their accusers. This is why the CIA placed the detainees overseas. The thing to note is many of the host countries have the same laws as the US as well.

In an attempt to avoid these laws, the CIA captures and detains suspected terrorists outside the reach of any justice system.

Why outside any justice system?

The absence of human right guarantees, the CIA can use approved “enhanced interrogation techniques,” some of which are prohibited by the United Nations and military law.

Enhanced Interrogation Techniques?

What are “enhanced interrogation techniques” and what are the approved military interrogation techniques?

Enhanced interrogation techniques are non-military approved methods used by the CIA to extract information from detainees. These include but are not limited to:

The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirtfront of the detainee and shakes him.

Attention Slap: An interrogator delivers an open-handed slap to the face aimed at causing pain and triggering fear.

The Belly Slap: The use of a hard open-handed slap to the stomach aimed at causing pain, but not internal injury. A punch would more likely cause lasting internal damage.

Long Time Standing: Detainees stand, handcuffed, and with their feet shackled to an eyebolt in the floor, for more than 40 hours. This technique leads to exhaustion and sleep deprivation and is considered among the most effective in yielding confessions, according to the CIA.

The Cold Cell: The detainee stands naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). This extreme cold induces hypothermia. Hypothermia is any body temperature below 35 degrees Celsius.

Waterboarding: The detainee is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. With material wrapped over the detainee’s face, water is poured over his head or his head is lowered into water. After just a few seconds, the gag reflex kicks in and a fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.

Standard Military Interrogation Techniques

The following is a summarized list of the standard military approved interrogation techniques included in the Army Field Manual FM 2-22.3 (FM 34-52) HUMAN INTELLIGENCE COLLECTOR OPERATIONS.

Direct: In using the direct approach, the Human Intelligence collector or Interrogator asks direct questions. The direct approach, according to the Army Field Manual is 90 percent effective. Apparently, the detainees want to talk.

Incentive: The incentive approach is trading something that the detainee wants for information. The thing that you give up may be a material reward, an emotional reward, or the removal of a real or perceived negative stimulus. I found a real example of this in an article I found online that told of a Human Intelligence collector who brought donuts with her.

Emotional: Emotional approaches focus on how the source views himself and his interrelationships with others. Through observation and initial questioning, the Human Intelligence (HUMINT) collector can often identify dominant emotions that motivate the detainee. The motivating emotion may be greed, love, hate, revenge, or others.

Emotional Love: The interrogator focuses on the anxiety felt by the detainee about the circumstances in which he finds himself, his isolation from those he loves, and his feelings of helplessness. The interrogator directs the love the source feels toward the appropriate object: family, homeland, or comrades. If the interrogator can show the source what the source detainee can do to alter or improve his situation or the situation of the object of his emotion, the approach has a chance of success.

Emotional Hate: The HUMINT collector must clearly identify the object of the source’s hate or desire for revenge and, if necessary, build on those feelings so the emotion overrides the source’s rational side.

Emotional Fear Up: In the fear-up approach, the HUMINT collector identifies a preexisting fear or creates a fear within the detainee then links the elimination or reduction of the fear to cooperation on the part of the detainee.

Emotional Fear Down: In the fear-down approach, the Interrogator mitigates existing fear in exchange for cooperation on the part of the detainee.

Emotional Pride and Ego-up: In this technique, the source is flattered into providing certain information in order to gain credit and build his ego. This should produce positive feelings on the source’s part as he receives desired recognition. The source will eventually reveal pertinent information to solicit more favorable comments.

Emotional Pride and Ego-down: The emotional-pride and ego-down approach is based on attacking the detainee’s ego or self-image. The source, in defending his ego, reveals information to justify or rationalize his actions.

Emotional Futility: In the emotional-futility approach, the HUMINT collector convinces the source that resistance to questioning is futile. This engenders a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness on the part of the source. The HUMINT collector gives the source a way out of the helpless situation.

Other Approaches:

“We know all”: In the “we know all” approach technique, the HUMINT collector convinces the source that his questioning of the source is perfunctory because any information that the source has is already known.

File and Dossier: The file and dossier approach is a variation of the “we know all” approach. The Interrogator prepares a dossier containing all available information concerning the source or his organization. The Interrogator convinces the detainee that the information contained in the file is damning and inaccurate, and needs correction.

Establish Your Identity: The HUMINT collector insists the detained source has been correctly identified as an infamous individual wanted by higher authorities on serious charges, and he is not the person he claims to be. In an effort to clear himself of this allegation, the detainee makes a detailed effort to establish or substantiate his identity.

Repetition: In one variation of this approach, the HUMINT collector listens carefully to a source’s answer to a question, and then repeats the question and answer several times. He does this with each succeeding question until the source becomes so bored with the procedure he answers questions fully and candidly to gain relief from the tedium of this method.

Rapid Fire: In this technique, the Interrogator asks a series of questions in such a manner that the detainee does not have time to answer a question completely before the next one is asked. This confuses the detained source, and he tends to contradict himself as he has little time to formulate his answers. The Interrogator then confronts the detainee with the discrepancies. In many cases, the detainee will begin to talk freely in an attempt to explain himself and deny the claims of inconsistencies.

Silent: When employing this technique, the HUMINT collector says nothing to the source, but stares him in the eye with a slight smile on his face. It is important not to look away from the source but force him to break eye contact first. The source may become nervous, begin to shift in his chair, cross and re-cross his legs, and look away. To break the silence the source may blurt out questions.

Change of Scenery: The change-of scenery approach may be used to remove the source from an intimidating atmosphere such as an “interrogation” room type of setting and to place him in a setting where he feels more comfortable speaking.

Approaches that require approval prior to use:

Mutt and Jeff: The goal of this technique is to make the source identify with one of two interrogators and thereby establish rapport and cooperation. This approach involves a psychological ploy that takes advantage of the natural uncertainty and guilt that a source has as a result of being detained and questioned. AKA Good cop/bad cop.

False Flag: This involves convincing the detainee that individuals from a country other than the United States are interrogating him, and trick the detainee into cooperating with US forces.

Separation: Is a restricted approach. The purpose of the separation approach is to deny the detainee the opportunity to communicate with other detainees in order to keep him from learning counter-resistance techniques or gathering information to support a cover story and thereby decrease the detainee’s resistance to interrogation.

I mentioned that the United Nations and military law prohibit some of the “enhanced interrogation techniques.” Here are a couple of things you should know as to why these organizations disallow the use of the interrogation tactics.

According to section M-16 of the Army Field Manual it states, “Any inhumane treatment-including abusive practices, torture, or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment as defined in US law, including the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005-is prohibited. Beyond being impermissible, these unlawful and unauthorized forms of treatment are unproductive because they may yield unreliable results, damage subsequent collection efforts, and result in extremely negative consequences atnational and international levels.”

Notice the underlined words above. The US military has known that abusive interrogation techniques may yield UNRELIABLE results and that the consequences can be extreme.

The US and many, if not all of the host countries of the black site prisons signed the UNCAT which stands for the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. As of December 2008, 146 countries have signed the treaty to prevent torture.

The countries who signed this agreement agreed in Article 1 to the definition of the term “torture”. In short, Torture is defined as any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for the purposes of obtaining from that person or a third person information, a confession, or punishment for an act he or a third person has committed, or is suspected of having committed.

Article 2 outlines that each State Party shall take effective measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction. Article 2 also outlines that there is never an excuse or reason for torture to be used. “There are no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal, political, instability or any other public emergency that may be invoked as a justification of torture. An order from a superior officer or a public authority cannot be used as a justification of torture.”

In Article 3 of the UNCAT, the participants agreed that “no State Party shall expel, return, or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture.” Yet, this is exactly what the black site prisons, extraordinary rendition, and the use of enhanced interrogation techniques lead.

Snowden, Ted Rall, Seven Stories Press, 2015

In graphic novel form, this book looks at the life and motivation of Edward Snowden, one of the most famous, or infamous, people in the world.

Snowden grew up in Maryland, just a few miles from the headquarters of the National Security Agency, or NSA. It was the sort of community where one learns not to ask their neighbor, or their spouse, just what they do for a living; it’s probably secret. An attempt to join the Army after 9/11 was not successful. As a CIA employee, he was stationed for a time in Switzerland. He was exposed to other systems of values, and began to wonder if America was really the “good guys.”

He left the CIA, and joined the NSA, eventually becoming a systems administrator, or sysadmin. He spent some time in Japan, which further removed any notion that America was on the side of the angels. As a sysadmin, he had access to all sorts of classified files that detailed America’s surveillance plans. Whenever he had a chance, he downloaded file after file onto flash drives.

Here are a couple of examples. An NSA program called “Captivated Audience” lets them track you through your smartphone and listen to conversations in your home, even if the phone is Off. “Gumfish” allows the NSA to take a picture of you, at any time, using the camera in your laptop. Smart TVs, those that allow streaming of web content, have a camera that the government can activate at any time to watch anybody (like the telescreens in Orwell’s “1984”).

Now working in Honolulu for an NSA contractor, one day Snowden hopped a taxi to the airport with his flash drives. His next stop was Hong Kong where he leaked his information to a couple of journalists. After the worldwide bombshell, he was planning to fly to Latin America to ask for asylum. While in the air, his passport was revoked. He also knew that if he flew through the airspace of a US ally, the ally would force the plane to land. Snowden would be arrested, handed over to American authorities and “disappeared” (like Bradley/Chelsea Manning). Snowden got as far as Moscow, where he remains today.

Say what you will about Edward Snowden (he is a hero or he is a traitor), this is an excellent, and very easy to read, look at why he did what he did. It’s very highly recommended.

This lesson is going to explain an incredibly misunderstood concept, the concept of rapport.

Rapport is one of the most important parts of being human. Its simply having something in common: being on the same wavelength as someone else, or being “in Sync”wit the girl you are chatting with.

Rapport happens when your subconscious mind realizes that the girl you’re talking with is on your side. Rapport is being in a state of cooperation, you definitely don’t want to neg or tease when you are in rapport with a girl.

So in the first five minutes of the conversation, I want you attracting the girl. Teasing her, push/pulling, flirting, misinterpreting, being playful etc.

Once you do this and see she is attracted to you, then its time for rapport building.

The 2 kinds of conversational rapport are deep rapport and wide rapport.

Deep rapport is basically taking the conversation to a deeper level that is based on feelings. When you and the girl get into deep rapport, you’ve dug down to a super deep level of a certain conversational subject. To really create deep rapport, its essential that you agree on the way the thing you’re talking about makes you feel.

That’s why its easy to create a deep rapport using “Sensory Language”.

Deep rapport still can be achieved even if you disagree on the topic, but you just have to agree on the overall feelings.

For instance, I sometimes will ask the girl if she likes skiing or snowboarding better. Whatever her answer is, I intentionally disagree with her about the better sport but then I say that I agree with her that being outdoors on the mountain is an awesome feeling.

Now on the other hand, Wide Rapport is simply being able to be on the same page with the girl over a ton of conversational subjects. This is why I LOVE learning a little about a lot of things!

If you are familiar with “Multiple Threading”, this is a great example of how you can accomplish wide rapport.

Getting wide rapport with a girl does not mean you agree with every single word she says, that will only make you a brown noser. The best way to do it is to bring up things you’re interested in that you also think she’ll like. For instance, if you love the Killers and the girl is wearing a killers tshirt, bring it up!

One more way of building rapport COVERTLY is called “Pacing”. Pacing is basically deliberately copying someone else’s body language and movements. So sit the same way she is, make the same gestures etc, if you can do this without her catching on, then she’ll feel really connected to you and won’t exactly know why. Really sneaky CIA type stuff!

The uncontainable nature of the OSS – Office of Strategic Services, during World War II, is historically accurate and universally accepted. Recent literary efforts have attributed the death of General George Patton to the rogue agency, in a homicidal plot to silence his pending public criticism regarding the conduct of the war. Following the Potsdam Conference in August 1945, President Harry S. Truman summarily disbanded the OSS upon returning to the United States, even though the war with Japan was still very much undecided. President Truman is believed to have assessed the OSS, and its insolent leader, “Wild” Bill Donovan, as more serious a threat to the American way of life than operating no US civilian spy agency at all. Until the CIA – Central Intelligence Agency was later founded in 1947 the United States had no civilian spy agency. It is also historically accurate to say that “Wild” Bill Donovan campaigned forcefully for the position of CIA Director in 1947, and was soundly and summarily rejected for the position by President Truman.

I know that President Truman was well-acquainted with Omar Ketchum, Jack Ketchum’s father and president of the VFW – Veterans of Foreign Wars in Washington, DC. I have a picture of Omar Ketchum standing behind President Truman at the signing ceremony for the GI Bill, pivotal legislation for every American veteran. I also believe that President Truman knew that the OSS caused the death of the Jack Ketchum crew on their way home, June 13, 1945. Any sane person would regard such a heinous crime committed against the Jack Ketchum crew as monumentally unacceptable. Although Omar Ketchum was fed the collective “cover story” about the Ketchum crew being killed in a C-54 crash that never really occurred, I contend that President Truman found it increasingly difficult to promote such a charade. He surely regarded “Wild” Bill Donovan and the OSS as contemptible, and even though the murder of the Jack Ketchum crew was “buried” to prevent public awareness, President Truman clearly made a deliberate decision to eliminate the murderers of these innocent American servicemen from the ranks of the US Government.

Today’s United States Air Force was founded in 1947 during the same time-period as the Central Intelligence Agency. To date, the USAF has been totally inert in efforts to uncover the truth about the Jack Ketchum crew. For all its chest thumping bravado, the USAF continues to totally acquiesce each time it is denied information by the CIA about the crash of the Jack Ketchum crew. A US Army Air Corps crew, the predecessor to the USAF, was murdered on their way home by the predecessor to the CIA, and in response, the USAF would have to rally to appear merely impotent. Justice for the Jack Ketchum crew still remains elusive, although the mystery of their loss has been solved and that truth is now shared very publicly. Their story has evolved into a public affair with a global audience. That audience must now decide whether the last mission of the Jack Ketchum crew remains forgotten and whether the OSS, CIA and USAF led cover-up is still socially acceptable.

It is rare, rare indeed when a major media entity bucks the trend, and does what it believes in. Recently ABC under Disney’s guidance aired the $40 million production, “The Path to 9/11”. This was a five hour-two night portrayal of the events that led to 9/11. Having gone through the history of terrorism over the last 25 years, I believe this portrayal was as accurate as you can get. The screenwriters were not politically motivated in any way. They could have come down on the Clinton Administration much harder than what you saw; Bush was not given a free pass either.

Bill Clinton was no different than the Presidents before him. Every President from Jimmy Carter forward, whether Republican or Democrat was soft on terrorism. The Presidents chose to use the notion that terrorism is an illegal act, and should be treated as such, in the courtroom. This meant countless indictments by grand juries of overseas terrorists that would never be brought to trial in America. It was a MARVELOUS political choice of not having to deal with a problem.

The “Path to 9/11” could have humiliated Clinton on this score. They took it easy on the man. I do not criticize Clinton for his actions. He was simply extending the policies of his predecessors into the present. The problem was that terrorism came home to roost big time under the Clinton Administration. The entire plot to take those planes into those buildings was hatched, and prepared while Clinton was President.

The FBI was asleep at the switch, and the CIA wasn’t talking to the FBI. Ask the FBI how they spent a $150 million on a computer system that didn’t work? Ask them if they are computerized as of right now, or are they still using paper index cards in most of their offices? Ask them if more than half their agents have laptop computers today, five years after 9/11? I know the answers to those questions, and you would be surprised at them.

The FBI and the CIA have a long history of dislike for one another. If you want proof, go back to World War II when J. Edger Hoover ran the FBI, and Will Bill Donovan ran the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the current CIA. The two men hated one another, and their respective organizations followed through on the anger. Within days after WW II ended, Hoover forced the new President Harry Truman to disband the OSS as unnecessary. At the same time the Russians were consolidating their gains in Eastern Europe.

The CIA formed just a few years after the was over, was created in spite of Hoover’s strenuous objections. The notion of judicial process of terrorists was continued right on up through our current President, George Bush. This President turned the tables after 9/11. Would you believe that the FBI was still fighting for judicial processing of terrorists after 9/11 while the CIA was fighting for “let us deal with it”? The President sided with the CIA, and the military, against the protests of the FBI, and Justice Department.

Just a few short months earlier, Bush would have probably made the same call as Clinton. Our current President is the first President in my lifetime to deal with terrorism for what it is. It’s an ACT of WAR against this country. For those who want to treat it as something else, let me remind you of the stakes. We lost 2,749 people in the World Trade Centers, and many, many more in the Pentagon and a small field in Pennsylvania. One small nuclear weapon that can fit into a brief case would make New York City uninhabitable for decades at a minimum, probably kill of 250,000 within seconds, with another 300,000 to 500,000 casualties with hospitals that couldn’t help them.

If you don’t think that Osama Bin Laden on a daily basis is not trying to acquire that weapon, than you need to change what you are smoking. These people if they could snap their fingers and remove 300 million Americans from the planet would snap those fingers. Usually people that hate us don’t have the capacity to follow through on their hatred. If you live in a village in the middle of a mountain pass, and you hate Americans, what can you really do, while you sleep in a bug infested hut, eating scrapings from the Chieftain’s table?

Osama on the other hand, has cash estimated at $500 million. Additionally, he raises BIG MONEY on a yearly basis from Arabs who hate us also, and governments seeking to buy protection from him. Do you think it’s just luck that the Saudi Arabian pipelines have not been touched in a terrorist act? Those pipelines are wide open, and just waiting to be blown up. Such an act would put us all on gas lines in the United States, and probably rationing. Aren’t you surprised that Kuwait has not been attacked, or any other oil producing juggernaut.

Oil comes from all the bad neighborhoods of the world, and it is the lifeline of American productivity. We must do whatever we must do to protect that lifeline. If you are concerned about war with extreme Islamic fundamentalists, let me remind you that we once fought a foe just as militant, and just as extreme.

There were once 50 million Nazis that hated our souls, and if gave the chance would have killed every one of us. We fought a war for five years against them. How many Nazis do you see around the world today? They are a group so small that they can be counted on the fingers of a mutilated left hand. If we can successfully eliminate the Nazis, we can successfully eliminate Islamic terrorists from our world as well.

The answer is not hauling them into court and putting them on trial. The answer is to keep them overseas. We must do whatever has to be done to keep this marvelous, wonderful bastion of democracy free from those who would destroy our entire society. We have been God’s gift to the world for 200 years. Yes, we have made mistakes through the decades, but can any other country in two centuries have acted in as wise, and decent a fashion as us ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I think not.