What's Worrying Portland?

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By Steve Beckow (about the author) Page 1 of 2 page(s)

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For OpEdNews: Steve Beckow - Writer

A group of citizen journalists in Portland, Oregon are concerned about military drills coming up in that city between Oct 15th and 19th, 2007.

The drills are TopOff 4 (“TopOff” stands for “Top Officials”) and Vigilant Shield 08.

They will feature the simulated detonation of three nuclear devices by terrorists, providing a scenario to practice the implementation of martial law.

The group is known as the Oregon Truth Alliance or OTA.

At their website, www.OregonTruthAlliance.org, they point out that similar drills have been closely tied to both the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001 and the London bombings of July 7, 2005.

Both these events appear to have been “false-flag” operations --- attacks staged by one country, blamed on an adversary, and used to railroad reluctant populations into war.

Beside these two clandestine operations, other examples of false-flag operations are discussed at the OTA site. They include the destruction of the U.S.S. Maine, the Reichstag Fire, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and the attempted sinking of the U.S.S. Liberty. (1)

I have to acknowledge at the outset that I am not neutral in the matter. I share OTA’s concerns.

It is widely believed that the official story of 9/11, as set out in the 9/11 Commission Report, is implausible in light of the facts and evidence surrounding the events of that day and the historical motives of the present administration’s leaders.

The administration’s motives were well documented in a Project for the New American Century report entitled Rebuilding America's Defenses. (2) In short, Vice President Cheney and leading neoconservatives asserted that America would not rebuild its defences adequately save by the occurrence of a "new Pearl Harbor." That is exactly what they got on 9/11.

The 9/11 attacks paved the way for the suppression of civil liberties in the U.S. and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

A second 9/11 would pave the way for further suppression of civil liberties and a war with Iran.

OTA says that the London bombings were carried out behind the veil of a drill. Conducted by Visor Consultants, that drill took place in the same venues and at the same times as the bombs went off. This meant that all the police and fire department resources needed to be on the scene were already there. (3)

The odds of a drill happening by coincidence at the same location as a bombing seem too remote to be plausible.

National Security Presidential Directive 51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20 gave the President dictatorial powers in the event of "catastrophic emergencies," as defined by him. The worry is that the temptation of these powers might "coincidentally" lead to another contrived emergency. (4)

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