'Karl Rove's IT guru' Mike Connell dies in plane crash

Found an interesting article at Alternet by Amy Goodman in an interview with Mark Crispin Miller.

Here is the link.

Velvet Revolution, a non-profit investigating Connell's activities, revealed this weekend that Connell had recently said he was afraid George Bush and Dick Cheney would "throw [him] under the bus." Cliff Arnebeck had also previously alerted Attorney General Michael Mukasey to alleged threats from Karl Rove to Connell if he refused to "take the fall."

MCM: Well, specifically, there's a computer architecture setup called "Man in the Middle," which involves shunting the election returns from, you know, the state in question -- in this case, Ohio -- shunting them to a separate computer elsewhere. All of the election returns in Ohio in 2004 went from the Secretary of State's website -- this is Ken Blackwell -- to a separate computer in a basement in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which was under the control of another private company called SMARTech.

So we have now two private companies: GovTech Solutions, which is Connell's company, SMARTech, which is run by a guy named [Jeff] Averbeck. And the company -- the third private company that managed the voting tabulators in Ohio was called Triad. All three of these companies worked closely together on election night in Ohio in 2004. It turns out that the state's own IT person was sent home at 9:00 p.m. They said, "Go ahead. Go home. We'll take care of this." So that this trio of highly partisan and, let me add, Christianist companies basically took over the whole --

AG: What do you mean, "Christianist"?

MCM: Well, they're radical theocratic activists, particularly -- particularly Triad and SMARTech. You know, they are fervently anti-choice.

MCM: Well, I cannot assert with perfect confidence that this was no accident, but I will say that the circumstances are so suspicious and so convenient for Rove and the White House that I think we're obliged to investigate this thing very, very thoroughly. And that means, first of all, taking a close look at some of the stories that were immediately circulated to account for what happened, that it was bad weather. That was the line they used when Wellstone's plane went down. There had been bad weather, but it had passed two hours before. And this comes from a woman at the airport information desk in Akron. We're told that his plane was running out of gas, which is a little bit odd for a highly experienced pilot like Connell, but apparently, when the plane went down, there was an explosion, a fireball that actually charred and pocked some of the house fronts in the neighborhood. People can go online and see the footage that news crews took. But beyond the, you know, dubiousness of the official story, we have to take a close look at -- and a serious look at all the charges that Connell was set to make.

Maybe he faked his death. Going to be a silent witness for the .gov!

I have often wondered how many people have decided to "disapear" on purpose.

We will never know of the successful ones.

[edit on 22-12-2008 by whiteraven]

Breaking News Update: Ohio TV station: Was Connell crash an accident or murder?

"Some say Connell was about to reveal embarrassing details involving senior members of the Bush Administration"

Please STOP some of this debunked speculation.

He did NOT run out of gas. One lazy vulture-like journalist (Larissa) started this lie. Connell had enough gas... his engine was running.. his engine was heard by neighbors... his wreckage was covered in fire. He did not run out of gas.

He was NOT scheduled to testify. He had given two hours of testimony before the election, but would probably never give testimony (except possibly related to the CREW case).

Connell probably knew very little about actual Ohio 2004 election. He did program the Ohio election results webpage. He did know about the routing systems, but it is very likely other companies handled the precinct level manipulation of Ohio election results.

Connell DID know about the White House email destruction. The is the what he probably scared the WH about. He probably was involved in illegally destroying emails. Though Jeffery Averbeck in TN knows more about the email routing and backups then even Connell.

Connell's plane crash landed. Until there is any evidence to think anything other then an accident. The weather was clear and reasonably good up until the last few minutes before he crashed when visibility got bad, misting and possible icing took place and it was getting dark. Have you examined his flying record and number of ILS landing? If not then shut up.

The Illuminati have the power to bring down an airplane at any time.

Going in for a landing is perhaps the perfect time.

Although it does seem needless in this case.

How Ron Brown/Mrs. Howard Hunt of him to die so conveniently. The criminals running things are brazen and full of hubris. i am surprised they didn't just have a Blackwater operative pop him in public.

reply to post by Leo Strauss


My oh my. Smells like another Paul Wellstone. You just don't cross the boys from Texas.

reply to post by Leo Strauss


You know what they say,If you live by the sword,you die by the sword !
He was making living cheating America & he thought that he's one of the boys. I just received two videos about him and I think you'll love this web site that you must see if you like political videos.

After you finish watching the video,scroll down & click to see all videos.
good luck & I hope you enjoy it like I did.

www.brasschecktv.com...

Federal agencies examining deadly Lake Township plane crash

"Michael L. Connell, 45, of Bath Township, died in the crash at about 6 p.m. outside a vacant house at 2017 Charolais St. NW, Lake Township. No passengers were on the Piper Saratoga."

"Connell was attempting a landing on Runway 23 at the Akron-Canton Airport, but his plane crashed about three miles short of his destination. Troopers with the Highway Patrol’s Canton post said the plane made a forced landing, hit a flagpole and rolled several times."

"the investigation shows that the plane had no issues with flight control and there was no icing"

"The plane’s propeller had damage that indicates the engine was operating when the crash occurred."

"Indications are Connell died from massive traumatic injuries. Although the wreckage burned following the crash, Connell’s body wasn’t burned"

"There are no indications that Connell suffered from any medical problems"

Here is the airnav info, including airport map and runway layouts, for KCAK the Akron-Canton Airport.
AIRNAV: KCAK

[edit on (12/25/08) by AllSeeingI]

reply to post by AllSeeingI


I am curious as to just how this works. A man dies in an aircraft which suffers massive fire, and they say Connell's body was not burned? Did I see a fake video or something? Anyone in the wreckage that I saw would have been burned beyond recognition.

Oh, and is it not interesting that his receipt for breakfast that morning was found? This is kindalike finding the passport of one of the 911 suspects. I'm not buying any of this.

OK GUYS, LETS GET THE FACTS RIGHT. THE PLANE WAS A PIPER SARATOGA, NOT EQUIPPED TO FLY IN ICING CONDITIONS. OUR cHIEF PILOT ARRIVED INTO AKRON CANTON AN HOUR EARLIER AND SAID THERE WAS SUBSTANTIAL ICE ON APPROACH AND IT GOT WORSE FROM THAT TIME ON.
THE PLANE DID NOT RUN OUT OF GAS, HENCE THE POST IMPACT FIRE. I SAW THE HOUSE (WHICH HE DID NOT IN FACT HIT) AND THE SIDING WAS MELTED FROM THE FIRE.
HE WAS NOT A HIGH TIME INSTRUMENT PILOT.
IT WAS PROBABLY A COMBINATION OF THE FOLLOWING:
1. FLIGHT INTO ICEING CONDITIONS
2. SPATIAL DISORENTATION
3. DARKNESS
4. LOW TIME INSTRUMENT EXPERIENSE.

ALSO AS STATED IN AN EARLIER POST, " THE ENGINE MAY NOT HAVE PROVIDED ENOUGH THRUST OVER THE WINGS.
THE WINGS WILL FLY WITH OR WITHOUT ENGINE THRUST, OTHERWISE A PLANE WILL NOT GLIDE.

CONSIPRACY THEORISTS SHOULD LOOK ELSEWHERE FOR CONSPIRACIES. I THINK THIS WAS JUST AN UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENT.

FYI, MY QUALIFICATIONS:
1. LIVE NEAR ACCIDENT SCENE
2. LICENSED PILOT
3. LICENSED AIRCRAFT MECHANIC WITH INSPECTION AUTHORIZATION
4. LICENSED FLIGHT ENGINEER

Why is there no report of this Fatal crash in the NTSB database?

Go to this NTSB database search site...
www.ntsb.gov...

Search for all Fatal Crashes in the last 6 months....

There is no record of this fatal accident!

Even the aircraft destroyed in the 9-11-01 attacks are recorded here.

And before anyone says. "well its only been a few weeks, maybe they havent filed a report"

Well they have reports of other fatal accidents which took more recently then this suspicious accident.

What is going on at the NTSB?

Since this is buried deep in a thread lets have a look at Cheney.

The Enron pipeline connection to 9/11

This is a privileged and confidential work-product document restricted to my legal researchers and not to be released without my express written consent.
A highly reliable confidential client source who wishes to remain anonymous has promised to send me an FBI copy of a high-level Al Qaida report dating back to the embassy bombings in Africa several years ago. The email report was captured in Africa from the computer file of a senior aid to Osama Bin Laden. My client has obtained this document through lawful means,

The email report, written by Al Qaida's head of military operations, Mohammd Atef, describes Al Qaida's view of ongoing secret pipeline negotiations between the US oil companies and the Taliban to build a pipeline through Afghanistan.

This Atef report was almost certainly reviewed by the late John O'Neill at the time of the Embassy bombing, shortly after the Al Qaida report was written. At the time, O'Neill was the FBI agent in charge of the Embassy bombing investigation. The shocking pipeline information may explain why O'Neill became fixated about the Saudi-Taliban-Al Qaida relationship for the few remaining years of his life.

After O'Neill's investigations were repeatedly shut down by his superiors, O'Neill allegedly began making discreet inquiries to French intelligence using two reporters as cut-outs. Both reporters were known consultants for French intelligence and are specialists on both the oil industry and terrorism.

It is plausible that the French Government was upset at being shut out of the Caspian Basin deal, and may have been helping O'Neill behind the backs of his superior's in Washington. It does seem that the more that O'Neill learned, the less he was alowed to do with it.

The last straw was Cheney's refusal to follow up on O'Neill's request to pursue the leads in the Phoenix memo in April 2001. After resigning from the FBI in disgust, John O'Neil spoke candidly to several people, including the two French authors, whom he met again in July.

They have now written about the pipeline deal in "The Forbidden Truth." The book, not yet translated into English, quotes O'Neill as saying that his Al Qaida investigations were blocked to protect the Saudis. The Caspian Basin pipeline issue is discussed at length as the motive for the coverup.

I do not think that the French authors have the Atef document or they would have released it in their book. The Atef memo may indeed be a smoking gun, but I need to see the exact text to be sure before I release it to Congress.

This Al Qaida document may be the first hard evidence to break the Enron pipeline cover-up apart. I need your advice and confidential assistance in making a discreet collection of all Afghan pipeline research for a memo to present to Congress.

Here is my investigative hypothesis which needs to be greatly fleshed out and footnoted before I go to Congress. I have presented my thoughts by topic, rather than in chronological order.

Back in the 1970's and 80's, Saudi intelligence (not the CIA as has been reported) funded the early Taliban faction and later Al Qaida as part of the insurgency to throw the Russians out of Afghanistan. A few years afterwards, US energy companies (Enron, as the Afghan pipeline consultant for UNOCAL) used the Saudi intelligence connection to the Taliban to begin negotiations for a pipeline across Afghanistan.

Prince Turki, chief of Saudi inteligence, has publicly admitted making several trips into Afghanistan to negotiate a peace mission with the Taliban. My sources say he was the pipeline mediator for Enron. Prince Turki was fired as head of Saudi intelligence immediately after the pipeline discussions collapsed in August 2001.

Prince Turki is allegedly close to the Bin Laden family which was allegedly promised the construction contract in return for a percentage to the Saudi Royal family. This is a common business practice initiated by the Carlyle Group's contracts in Saudi Arabia.

As the Republican IPO magazine, Red Herring, confirms, President Bush' father was business partners in the Carlyle Group with the Bin Laden family during this period . This company is a Who's Who of former Democratic and Republican intelligence and political officials, whose specialty is acting as super-lobbysists at the highest levels of government. They are also suspected of arranging construction kickbacks to the Saudi royal family in return for discount oil sales.

Red Herring alleges that during a visit to Kennebunkport, Bush senior lectured his son on placating the Saudis, especially with regard to Israel, and even called the Saudis in his son's presence to reassure them that he had told his son their point of view.

Apparently, the deeply angered President Bush mentioned the private meeting with his father to a close friend, who leaked it to Red Herring. Shortly afterward, another Republican newspaper, the Boston Herald, ran a scathing expose on the number of White House officials with investments in Saudi oil, calling it an "obscene conflict of interest."

It should be noted that President Bush at first semed to reject his father's advice about Israel quite strongly, and secrtely ordered all American troops to begin a total withdrawl from Saudi Arabia. White House sources began a steady drumbeat of leaks about Saudi involvement with terrorism, and even authorized long-delayed raids on the Saudi charities in Virginia that served as a money laundry for terrorist operations against Israel.

Suddenly, President Bush made a sudden and startling switch to adopt a more pro-Saudi view. The documents seized in the Virginia raids are barely being translated, let alone investigated.

Nevertheless, the Israelis have been privately informed that criminal cases against the Saudi-financed terrorists in the US like Sami Al Arian, are being dropped for "lack of evidence" before the evidence has even been collated.

The State Department's recent report on Global Terrorism is being denounced as a blatant white-wash by Republicans and Democrats alike.

A plausible explanation for the dramatic policy reversal is that someone (allegedly Cheney) told President Bush to call off the dogs at CIA and FBI, because if the Saudis went down, they would take his father down with them. I think our President has a good heart, but is completely boxed in and does not know how to get out from under his father's legacy.

The Israeli government is angered and bewildered over the sudden switch, and has begun to release documents showing prior US knowledge of Al Qaida operations as well as Saudi support for terrorism. As Crown Prince Abdullah's visit to both Bushes in Texas showed, a modus vivendi has been reached.

The simplest explanantion is that both Crown Prince Abdullah and President Bush can blackmail each other over the Taliban pipeline. Both sides have agreed to pretend that they have always been allies in the war against terrorism, and that Iraq is the real enemy.

Mutual blackmail makes a bit of sense. The Saudi intelligence connection was the key to get the Taliban pipeline negotiations going without the CIA or FBI finding out. The Enron political connection to the Bush and Clinton administrations was key to keeping the CIA and FBI off of the Saudis' backs while the negotiations were underway. Messy little details about terrorism were swept under the rug for the sake of the big picture.

The truth is already starting to leak out. It has just been discovered that Enron had purchased huge tracts of land in the Caspian basin, especialy in Turkmenistan, which property is allegedly still on their books. The acerage is enormous, and worthless.

But, if the Taliban pipeline had been built, Enron might have owned some of the most valuable oil exploration sites in the world, and rescued itself from insolvency. Any White House insider who helped Enron would have gotten rich, filthy rich.

When Bush's son came into office, Enron allegedly approached Cheney in late January and told him veguely about the secret Saudi-Taliban pipeline negotiations, and how important it was to America's energy policy for generations to come.

Like an idiot, Cheney agreed to keep the lid on any Saudi-Taliban investigations for a while. For the sake of the Caspian Basin pipeline, Cheney passed the word inside the beltway not to allow anyone in the Government to connect the dots.

All across America, ongoing Saudi-Taliban investigations were hindered, obstructed, or closed down, just as the Clinton administration had done before them.

What no one did was check Enron's accounting. The pipeline deal made little economic sense in view of Russian cooperation. To Enron's horror, the pipeline deal collapsed in August. Then came 9/11. Then came the Enron collapse. Then came the Cheney coverup.

Cheney's biggest problem is the two fairly senior intelligence officalls who rebelled and became whistleblowers: Robert Baer of CIA and John O'Neill of FBI. The rest of the FBI and CIA higher ups have kept their mouths shut, although a lot of lower level people are now coming forward to question their superior's strange behavior. The two rebels, Baer of CIA and O'Neill of FBI, were of course, driven into retirement.

Much of the Saudi information was blacked out of Baer's book by CIA censors, but enough remains to thoroughly document the brazen avarice of senior Clinton NSC officials for a Caspian Basin pipeline.

Baer names a few names, but he was driven into retirement before he could learn too much. Still, he learned that both Republican and Democratic officials were involved with the pipeline coverup to the great detriment of American intelligence.

Sami Al-Arian

As part of his activism, Al-Arian met with then candidate George W. Bush at a campaign event in Florida in March 2000 where Bush and his wife, Laura, posed for a photo with Al-Arian and his family members. Al-Arian later claimed to have spoken to Bush about the government use of "secret evidence" in deportation proceedings against accused terrorists. When Bush subsequently brought up the issue in a debate with Al Gore, Al-Arian was reportedly "thrilled--and began registering local Muslims for the Republican Party and praising Bush at local mosques." He also lobbied Congress on civil liberties matters, contributed thousands of dollars to the campaigns of influential members of Congress, and renounced violence during television appearances.[10]

In June, 2001, Al-Arian joined 150 Muslim-American activists in a White House briefing with Karl Rove. His son Abdullah Al-Arian was the subject of national media attention when he was escorted out of the White House event by the Secret Service without explanation, prompting an apology by President George W. Bush.[8]

en.wikipedia.org...

This is a guy who knows the whole story.......and knows that the IT guy was a target as the IT guy knows about the pipeline, Enron as well as may have had access to some very damming documents.

Lucky for Cheney and Rove that the IT guy had an accident.

Unless of course some FBI guys decided to hide the IT guy knowing that all of the efforts from Senior Bush, Clinton, Cheney stopped and blocked any and all investigations concerning the Saudia Royal family.

Here is the latest update. It appears that Mike Connell declared an emergency shortly before his plane crashed.

Raw Story

According to a preliminary incident report filed by the safety division of the Federal Aviation Administration on December 22, "The plane was on ILS (Instrument Landing System) approach to runway 23. Tower noted plane left of course. Tower directed plane to climb and maintain 3000 feet and didn’t comply. When advised to climb a second time, the pilot declared an emergency and was lost from radar shortly thereafter."

The National Transportation Safety Board has now posted a more complete report, but one which still leaves unresolved both the exact nature of Connell's emergency and the cause of the crash.

According to the NTSB, Connell initially contacted air traffic control (ATC) at the Akron-Canton Airport to ask whether there were any reports of icing and was told there were none. His approach was then uneventful until ATC noted that he was left of his course and asked if he would like to be resequenced. Connell replied "correcting." ATC then advised him again that he was "well left of the localizer" and Connell responded that he would "like to correct."

The report continued, "N9299N [Connell's plane] was about 2 ½ miles from the airport when it then transmitted if it could execute a 360-degree turn. ATC then instructed N9299N to climb and maintain 3,000 feet and queried N9299N’s present heading. N9299N transmitted, 'heading due north and climbing.' N9299N then declared an emergency."

NTSB spokesperson Bridget Serchak told RAW STORY on Monday that she had spoken with Senior Air Safety Investigator Mitchell Gallo, the NTSB investigator on the case, and could confirm that "the pilot asked for assistance landing."

When reached by RAW STORY on Tuesday, Gallo, who had reviewed a tape of the full radio exchange, explained that the Connell had not elaborated when declaring the emergency. "He didn't describe the nature of it," Gallo stated, "but then following that ... I don't remember what the actual verbiage was ... you'd have to again refer to the actual report."

The NTSB report further cites an eyewitness who "was outside of his home when he first heard a 'loud' engine sound from a small aircraft. The sound was coming from the north and sounded as though the pilot was trying to accelerate 'rapidly.' Suddenly, the witness saw two bright lights coming almost nose first toward the ground with the engine 'roaring.' Based upon the witness’ view of the lights, he assumed the airplane was flying west to east. He lost sight of the airplane when it descended below a tree line."

The eyewitness, who wishes to remain anonymous, has spoken with Raw Story and provided a copy of the statement which he wrote up immediately following the crash. (See image below)

According to the witness's statement, when the plane vanished from his sight, "I was certain it was going to crash and was actually waiting for the sound. However, once again there was a tremendous roar of the engine and I thought it was just the pilot doing a stunt over their house. It was almost instantly after I once again heard the engine that I heard the thud as it hit the ground. Approximately 1 second later, the sky became orange and there was no doubt what had happened."

Couple of things. Apparently the body was burned beyond all recognition???

Also an interesting comment from one reader. Wondering what some of you pilots out there think of this theory:

"This is a totally and complete text book case, completely consistent with the theories that someone was manipulating the instrument assisted landing system. The theory is if you hack into the system and broadcast to the plane that the ground is actually 50 feet lower than it is. The pilot then crashes into the actual ground 50 feet before his instruments tell him its where it thinks it is. Other information can be changed with the same effect. Compass bearing, whether the plane is pointed up or down. First they said he ran out of gas but witnesses say the engine was "roaring" right before the crash, and i dont think all those flames seen in the video were from an EMPTY gas tank. then they said there was icing but this report states the tower stated specifically there was no icing. However, he thinks he's on course for the airport but the tower tells him he's way left. I'm sure slightly puzzled he correct and turns slightly right noting that his instruments are telling him he's ON course. The Tower tells him your even FARTHER left. I'm sure he's even more puzzled now as his instruments are still telling him he's on course. He even says "I'd LIKE to correct" as if he's trying but can't. Finally they tell him to abort the landing. Now he's going to try and climb and execute a full 360° turn while someone is screwing with his instruments. Next thing you know he's declaring an emergency and witnesses say he was giving the engine full throttle even though he was headed nose down! The witness was certain he would crash but it seems when he finally had some visibility he tried to correct and was able to pull out for a couple seconds before losing total control."

They murdered him. It's not that difficult for them to do. Nothing conspiratorial about it. I guarantee it was one-hundred percent calculated.

Here is the NTSB preliminary report....

NTSB Report www.ntsb.gov

Everything points towards murder in this case.