Top Ten Real Conspiracies.

The purpose of this post is to point out that conspiracies are real. How often have you mentioned that you are interested in conspiracies only to feel as though your friends and family think that you've somehow lost the plot ? This is your ammo.

While researching this I found that my biggest problem was what to leave out and not if I could find ten real conspiracies.Every coup,revolution,and counter-revolution has at it's root a conspiracy, and a great deal of assasinations too.

The criteria of my choices were that they be spread throughout history, that reflect different types of conspiracy,that they be geographically spread.What we see is that for as long as societies have confered power on their leaders those leaders have abused that power and those that have aspired to power have conspired to get it.

So,conspiracies have always happened and they always will and if you wish to speculate on or expose conspiracies you are simply following a well worn path first walked by men such as Tacitus and later Woodward and Bernstein and if you find reading conspiracies entertaining. Well, Shakespeare thought so too and I think we can agree he knew what made a good story.

These conspiracies are in chronological order.If you have any other examples that you think should be included then reply and add them.


1/ The Assasination Of Julius Caesar

In October, 45 BC, Caesar returned to Rome, and celebrated a triumph over Gnaeus Pompey,one of the two sons of the defeated former ally and Consul who bore the same name. By this time Caesar already had considerable power and was dictator in all but name,coins were issued with his image,and the Senate was constantly voting him new honours (the right to wear the laurel wreath and purple toga and sit on a throne at all public functions for example)

By February, 44 BC Caesar had been named dictator perpetuus. On February 15, at the feast of Lupercalia, Caesar wore his purple robe for the first time in public. At the public festival, Marc Antony offered him a diadem,the traditional symbol of a king, but wisely Caesar refused it,for Rome was a republic.This did not stop speculation amoungst many republicans in the senate who thought that Caesar was indeed setting himself up to be Emperor.

Despite his general popularity and many great achievements, there remained a group of disaffected citizens. Most were former Antony supporters who had been pardoned and given positions of responsibility by Caesar.These formented this imperial speculation which in turn led to bitter conspiracy.

On March 15 (the Ides), 44 BC Caesar attended the last meeting of the Senate before his departure to lead a military campaign against the Parthians.Up to sixty conspirators, led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Brutus Albinus, and Gaius Trebonius, came to the meeting with daggers concealed in their togas.The moment Caesar took his seat, the conspirators surrounded him. They began to petition him to recall from banishment a certain Cimber. When Caesar arose they struck Caesar at least 23 times as he stood at the base of Pompey's statue.Famously,Caesar last words were supposed to have been, Et Tu, Brutus ? as his friend put his knife in.

Unfortunately,the conspirators had not planned for anything after the assasination and they fled in panic,they were eventually hunted down and were either killed in combat or by their own hand.

A conspiracy story so good even Shakespeare couldn't resist retelling it.

2/ Nero Fiddles As Rome Burns

On the night of July 19th, 64 AD, a fire broke out in Rome among the shops lining the Circus Maximus.The events are best described by the historian Tacitus who was living there at the time.

"� Now started the most terrible and destructive fire which Rome had ever experienced. It began in the Circus, where it adjoins the Palatine and Caelian hills. Breaking out in shops selling inflammable goods, and fanned by the wind, the conflagration instantly grew and swept the whole length of the Circus. There were no walled mansions or temples, or any other obstructions, which could arrest it. First, the fire swept violently over the level spaces. Then it climbed the hills - but returned to ravage the lower ground again. It outstripped every counter-measure. The ancient city's narrow winding streets and irregular blocks encouraged its progress.

Terrified, shrieking women, helpless old and young, people intent on their own safety, people unselfishly supporting invalids or waiting for them, fugitives and lingerers alike - all heightened the confusion. When people looked back, menacing flames sprang up before them or outflanked them. When they escaped to a neighboring quarter, the fire followed - even districts believed remote proved to be involved. Finally, with no idea where or what to flee, they crowded on to the country roads, or lay in the fields. Some who had lost everything - even their food for the day - could have escaped, but preferred to die. So did others, who had failed to rescue their loved ones. Nobody dared fight the flames. Attempts to do so were prevented by menacing gangs. Torches, too, were openly thrown in, by men crying that they acted under orders. Perhaps they had received orders. Or they may just have wanted to plunder unhampered.

Nero was at Antium. He returned to the city only when the fire was approaching the mansion he had built to link the Gardens of Maecenas to the Palatine. The flames could not be prevented from overwhelming the whole of the Palatine, including his palace. Nevertheless, for the relief of the homeless, fugitive masses he threw open the Field of Mars, including Agrippa's public buildings, and even his own Gardens. Nero also constructed emergency accommodation for the destitute multitude. Food was brought from Ostia and neighboring towns, and the price of corn was cut to less than � sesterce a pound. Yet these measures, for all their popular character, earned no gratitude. For a rumor had spread that, while the city was burning, Nero had gone on his private stage and, comparing modern calamities with ancient, had sung of the destruction of Troy.

By the sixth day enormous demolitions had confronted the raging flames with bare ground and open sky, and the fire was finally stamped out at the foot of the Esquiline Hill. But before panic had subsided, or hope revived, flames broke out again in the more open regions of the city. Here there were fewer casualties; but the destruction of temples and pleasure arcades was even worse. This new conflagration caused additional ill-feeling because it started on Tigellinus' estate in the Aemilian district. For people believed that Nero was ambitious to found a new city to be called after himself.

Of Rome's fourteen districts only four remained intact. Three were leveled to the ground. The other seven were reduced to a few scorched and mangled ruins."

Opinion is divided as to whether Nero ordered the fire started but many historians believe he did.The fire not only consumed the poor quarters of Rome but the marble villas the affluent and wealthy lived in which ordinarily would have been fiercely protected.Tacitus tells us that "Nobody dared fight the flames. Attempts to do so were prevented by menacing gangs. Torches, too, were openly thrown in, by men crying that they acted under orders. "

It was the obscure new religious sect called the Christians who were to be blamed by Nero and he set about their persecution with a gusto.

As Tacitus tells us "For people believed that Nero was ambitious to found a new city to be called after himself. " and sure enough out of the ruins the depraved but artistically minded young emperor built himself the Domus Aurea (Golden House).This new palace which was built in the heart of Rome on the most expensive real estate in the world at the time was comprised of a series of villas, pavillions,and open porticos to enjoy the artificial views. In the centre of the grounds, which included forests, an altar in a sacred grove, pastures with flocks, vineyards, and a man-made lake. Nero also commissioned a colossal 37 meter high bronze statue of himself, dressed in the manner of the Roman sun-god Apollo, the Colossus Neronis, and placed it just outside the main palace entrance.

3/ The Gunpowder Plot - A Conspiracy Within A Conspiracy

Ever since Henry VIII broke away from Roman Catholicism and made himself head of the new Church of England in the 16th century England had experienced violent swings in religious policy.Queen (bloody) Mary had gone back to Catholicism and persecuted English protestants then Elizebeth had swung back to protestantism and persecuted the English catholics.By the time King James the VI of Scotland became King James I of England and united Britain under one monarch catholicism was still being sub but an uneasy policy of pragmatic tollerence appeared to have been adopted.This did not stop some catholics from hoping that one day Britain might embrace Rome once again and it didn't stop some of the more militant young catholics from attempting to take action that might precipitate this desired outcome,as we shall see.

Robert Catesby had called his cousin, Thomas Wintour, to the house of his friend, John Wright, in order to lay before the them both his plan to blow up the King and the House of Lords at the next Opening of Parliament.With the King, the Prince of Wales and most of his leading ministers dead, they would seize the young Prince Charles and the Princess Elizabeth and raise a general revolt to return Catholicism to the land.

From the Spring of 1604, the group of conspirators grew in size from three to thirteen as Guy Fawkes, Robert Wintour, Christopher Wright, Thomas Percy, John Grant, Ambrose Rokewood, Robert Keyes, Sir Everard Digby, Francis Tresham, Thomas Bates all joined in the plot.

The original plan had involved digging a tunnel from a rented house situated near the Palace of Westminster under the Parliament building but the going was slow.In March 1605, Thomas Percy was able to use his connections at the Royal Court to rent a cellar right under the House of Lords itself and the tunnel idea was shelved for good.Guy Fawkes, disguised as a servant, was able to smuggle into the cellar 36 barrels of gunpowder over the following months which he disguised by covering it with coal bags and wood stacks.

The stage was now set.The conspirators had only to wait for the day of the State Opening of Parliament on November 5th 1605.

It is believed to have been Francis Tresham, who worried about his brother-in-law, Lord Monteagle who would be in his seat in Parliament that day,wrote a letter that many believed would spell the end for this grand plot.On the evening of the 26th October Lord Monteagle received an anonymous letter.

"My lord, out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care for your preservation. Therefore I would advise you, as you tender your life, to devise some excuse to shift of your attendance of this Parliament, for God and man hath concurred to punish the wickedness of this time. And think not slightly of this advertisement but retire yourself into your country, where you may expect the event in safety, for though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow, the Parliament, and yet they shall not see who hurts them.. This counsel is not to be contemned, because it may do you good and can do you know harm, for the danger is past as soon as you have burnt the latter: and I hope God will give you the grace to make gooduse of it, to whose holy protection I commend you."

Lord Monteagle immediately showed the letter to Robert Cecil, the Earl of Salisbury and Secretary of State. Though rather slow to act, the Privy Council eventually had the vaults beneath the Lords searched on the 4th November, first by the Earl of Suffolk and late the same evening by Sir Thomas Knyvett. Composed to the end, Fawkes coolly let the officials into Percy's cellar. Of course, the gunpowder was quickly discovered and Guy Fawkes was arrested.

All the conspirators were executed bar Francis Tresham who died in custody and to this day effigies of Guy Fawkes are burnt on bonfires across Great Britain every November 5th.

But there is a conspiracy within a conspiracy here.The Secretary of State, Robert Cecil, a machiavelian character,is believed to have let the plot mature almost to fruition before exposing it.Some say that he even allowed the conspirators to get as far as they did having watched it develope for months.The anonymous letter merely being a test of loyalty for the catholic peer,Lord Monteagle.His reason ?

Cecil who was anti-catholic himself was able to instigate a new purge againt British catholics and King James I would decisively come down as a protestant monarch,even comissioning the first bible written in English which bears his name.

4/ Galileo: The Supression of Knowledge.

It should be said that Galileo was not the first to propose that the Earth orbited around the sun but until the publication of his observations, Copernican theory ,as it was known, had been tollerated by the church as a theory that aided scientists in their calculations and not the physical truth.This seems like a silly distinction but it cost Galileo his liberty.

One morning in 1613, Cosimo de' Medici and his mother, the Grand Duchess Christina began discussing the topic of Jupiter's satellites,of which Galileo was an expert as his observations had discovered them. Benedetto Castelli, Galileo's student, who was present, asked Galileo to comment on the central point of that conversation, the conflict between the Bible and Copernican theory. Galileo replied to this in his 'Letter to Grand Duchess Christina' which quickly circulated widely in manuscript form. In it, Galileo famously declared that the Bible teaches how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go. Galileo's belief in the truth of the Copernican hypothesis alarmed the church, and the Inquisition carefully examined Galileo's letter.

And so Galileo's problems with the church began.

Galileo was called to Rome about the Copernican theory on two occasions,in 1616 and in 1632. On the first occasion, in February 1616, it was agreed by the Inquisition that:

a) The immobility of the Sun at the centre of the universe was absurd in philosophy and formally heretical, and that......

b) the mobility of Earth was absurd in philosophy and at least erroneous in theology.


In February 1616, by authorisation of the Pope, Galileo was then summoned to Rome and warned not to speak out in defence of the Copernican theory. Rumours immediately began to circulate that Galileo had been condemned and prosecuted but wisely Galileo had secured a letter stating that this was not the case but that he had had been notified of the Papal decision to censor Copernicus' De Revolutionibus because a heliostatic claim was contrary to the literal meaning of Scripture.

Galileo duly kept away from writing on cosmological matters, concentrating instead, on applying his discovery of Jupiter's satellites for determining longitude at sea.

In 1624 Galileo had an audience with the newly elected Pope Urban VIII, who was a friend and former patron. In the meetings he had with the Pope, Galileo believed he was encouraged to discuss the Copernican theory so long as it was treated as an hypothesis and began to write the 'Two Chief World Systems', which was published in 1632. The work caused an outcry because Galileo seemed to have gone against the injunction of 1616 not to advocate the physical truth of Copernicus' claim.

The sale of the book was suspended six months after its publication.

In September 1632, Galileo was summoned to Rome again and he arrived in January 1633. First the inquisitors tried to get Galileo to admit that he had earlier been officially banned from teaching Copernicus' theory as true, but Galileo produced his letter of 1616 to contradict this. A plea bargain to plead guilty to a lesser charge was scuppered, however, when Urban VIII decided in June that Galileo should be imprisoned for life. Galileo was then interrogated under threat of torture, and made to abjure the 'vehement suspicion of heresy'. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Galileo spent the rest of his life at his home at Arcetri, under house arrest with the Archbishop of Siena. Pleas for pardons or for medical treatment were refused.

5/ The Dreyfus Affair

On September 26th, 1894, The French Intelligence Services intercepted a message from a German Spy they concluded that because of the nature of the imformation the spy must be an French artillery officer and a member of the General Staff.After a brief enquiry the finger pointed to Captain Alfred Dreyfus, an artillery officer from Alsace and a jew.In October of that year Dreyfus is arrested and by December,despite his continual protestations of innocense,he is found guilty of high treason and deported to Devil's Island where he is kept in irons and in solitary confinement in the following years.

Less than two years later the identity of the actual spy is realised by the French military authorities his name is Infantry Major Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy.However,rather than trying to right this wrong the authorities decide that the embarrassment from this revelation would cause the military to be damaged and so they embark on a conspiracy of cover up involving perjury and forgery and extraordinary irresponsibility.

On January 10th 1898 After revelations and pressure from the media Esterhazy,who is now known by the authorities to be the real traitor,has his case reviewed by a military tribunal who staggeringly conclude that there is not enough evidence for trial and he is cleared.

On the 13th of January, Emile Zola publishes his world famous frontpage article in the newspaper L'Aurore, J'accuse a stunning edictment of the political and military handling of the entire affair.

Ironically,the cover up continued and Zola himself was then charged with criminal libel.He was found guilty and fled to England.

To list every twist and turn of what then follows would take to long.Lies and forgeries are uncovered and with each revelation resignations follow and slowly public opinion falls behind the truth but it is not until September 1899 that Dreyfus is retried and even then ,despite the balance of clear evidence he is still not found innocent and sentenced to a further ten years detention.He is immediately pardoned by the French President.

Of all the conspiracies this example of one man persecuted by an entire state aparatus with all it's authority is the most chilling.

6/ The Birth Panama and it's Canal

In 1902 , the U.S Congress and President Theodore Roosevelt negotiated a treaty with Colombia to try to buy land in the Isthmus of Panama for the Panama Canal. When the treaty was taken to the Columbia's Congress, they rejected it.

In New York, Dr. Manuel Amador Guerrero,a Columbian Physician who worked for the Panama Railroad and hailed from Panama City had been coached by officials of the Canal Company and his employers, and given a secret interview with President Roosevelt in Washington. He was instructed to hold a revolution in the Isthmus of Panama on the 3rd November 1903,a date chosen because it would be election day in the United States and the newspapers would be filled with other news that would crowd out any unhelpful despatches that might come out from central America.(one of the first examples of burying unwelcome news)He was supplied with a flag suitable for the "Republic of the Isthmus," which his revolution was to establish, and provided with funds to help him recruit other "revolutionaries".

On the set date Dr. Amador began his "spontaneous uprising" marching with the new flag of Panama conveniently alongside the American Consul General carrying the Stars and Stripes, he led his band of forty or forty-five paid "Freedom Fighters" declaring Panamanian independence.The Columbian General in charge of the garrison at Panama City had been paid $15,000 to concede defeat.Meanwhile, American warships were patrolling both coasts to discourage Columbian reinforcements, and in one place American marines landed to instruct the locals, who did not know they had "spontaneously revolted".

When news came through that the revolution had been successful the U.S government immediately recognised the new state of Panama.

Two weeks later a treaty was signed between Panama and the United States. This treaty gave the United states a permanent lease on a section of central Panama 10 miles wide, where the canal would be built, the right to take over more Panamanian land if needed, and the right to use troops to mediate in Panama. The United States also had to give Panama 10 million dollars for the land and had to pay an annual fee of $250,000 for the land of the Canal Zone.

7/ The Reichstag Fire.

The Reichstag fire was started at around 9 pm on the night of February 27th, 1933 and could be said to mark the beginning of the end of the Weimar Republic and the end of the beginning of Nazi Germany.The blaze appeared to have been started in several places and the Reichstag building (German Parliament) was engulfed by the time the emergency services had arrived.Still on the scene they found Marinus van der Lubbe, a known Communist agitator.

Herman G�ring,who arrived on the scene very quickly with Adolf Hitler, immediately declared that the fire was set by the Communists and had the party leaders arrested. Hitler declared a state of emergency and rushed the elderly President Paul von Hindenburg into signing the Reichstag Fire Decree, abolishing most of the human rights provided for by the 1919 constitution of the Weimar Republic.

Marinus van der Lubbe along with the leaders of the Communist Party were imprisoned pending trial and as a consequence the Communists were badly defeated in the next election and those Communist (and some Social Democratic) deputies that were elected to the Reichstag were not permitted by the SA to take their seats. Hitler was swept to power with 44 percent of the vote and coerced the remaining minor parties to give him the two-thirds majority for his Enabling Act which gave him the right to rule by decree and suspended many civil liberties.

At his trial, Van der Lubbe was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was beheaded on January 10, 1934

Most historians generally agree that Van der Lubbe was involved in the Reichstag fire. The extent of the damage, however, has led to considerable debate over whether he acted alone. Considering the speed with which the fire engulfed the building, Van der Lubbe's reputation as a fool hungry for fame, and cryptic comments by leading Nazi officials, it is generally believed that the Nazi hierarchy was involved in order to reap political gain.

At Nuremberg, captured General Franz Halder, claimed that G�ring had confessed to setting the fire: "At a luncheon on the birthday of Hitler in 1942, the conversation turned to the topic of the Reichstag building fire and its artistic value. I heard with my own ears when G�ring interrupted the conversation and shouted: 'The only one who really knows about the Reichstag is I, because I set it on fire!' With that he slapped his thigh with the flat of his hand."

8/ The Suez Crisis

In 1952, officers in the Egyptian army overthrew the monarchy under King Farouk. Abandoning policies which were co-operative with European powers, the new government desired to undertake a more nationalistic and assertive stance. This led to conflict with Israel and the European powers over the Suez Canal.

In 1956, Egypt, under the leadership of President Nasser, blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba and closed the Suez canal to Israeli shipping. At the same time, Egypt nationalized the canal, a vital trade route to the east, in which British and French banks and business held a 44% stake.

In the months that followed Egypt's nationalisation of the canal, a secret meeting between Israel, France and Britain took place at S�vres, outside Paris. All parties were agreed that Israel should invade and that Britain and France would subsequently intervene, instruct the Israeli and Egyptian armies to withdraw their forces either side of the canal, and then place an Anglo-French intervention force in the Canal Zone around Port Said.

On October 29, Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula and made rapid progress towards the canal zone.

And so as per the agreement on the pretext of keeping the peace , Britain and France offered to reoccupy the area and separate the warring armies.The offer was refused by Nasser but the invasion went ahead anyway to secure the Suez Canal.

The invading forces were forced to withdraw in March 1957 under pressure from the United States and pressure from the USSR who had offered to intervene on the Egyptian side.

9/ The Watergate Scandal

In the early hours of June 17th, 1972 the Democratic Party's National Committee offices situated in the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C were burgled by five men who were caught redhanded trying to bug the offices.It is discovered that one of the burglars is a GOP security aide but former attorney general John Mitchell, head of the Nixon reelection campaign, denies any link to the operation.

It is then discovered that a $25,000 cashier's check, apparently earmarked for the Nixon campaign, had found it's way into in the bank account of one of the Watergate burglars and that John Mitchell, while serving as attorney general, controlled a secret Republican fund used to finance widespread intelligence-gathering operations against the Democrats.

On November 11th, 1972: Nixon is reelected in one of the largest landslides in American political history, taking more than 60% of the vote and crushing the Democrat, Sen. George McGovern.

In early 1973 Former Nixon aides G. Gordon Liddy and James W. McCord Jr. are convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping in the Watergate incident. Five other men plead guilty, but much is still unexplained.

In the Spring of 1973 Nixon's top White House staffers, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst resign over the scandal. White House counsel John Dean is fired.Soon after The Senate Watergate committee begins its nationally televised hearings.

It is revealed in June that John Dean had told Watergate investigators that he discussed the Watergate cover-up with President Nixon at least 35 times and later it is discovered that since 1971 Nixon had recorded all conversations and telephone calls in his offices.Nixon,though, refuses to turn over the presidential tape recordings to the Senate Watergate committee or the special prosecutor.

There are repeated official demands for the original tapes before eventually impeachment precedings begin on July 27th, 1974,when the House Judiciary Committee passes the first of three articles of impeachment, charging obstruction of justice.

On August 8th, 1974, Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to resign. Vice President Gerald R. Ford assumes the country's highest office. He will later pardon Nixon of all charges related to the Watergate case.

10/ The Iran/Contra Affair.

Ever since the Shah of Iran (a key western ally) had been overthrown by the Iranian revolution in 1979 and a new Islamic Republic had been declared under the leadership of the Ayatollah Khomeini relations between the United States and Iran had taken a dramatic turn for the worse to say the very least.

When the Iran/Iraq war started in September 1980,Iraqs leader ,Saddam Hussein ,received a great deal of military aid and support from the United States who took every opportunity to undermine the islamic fundamentalist state.Iran fought back in it's own way by sponsoring terrorism across the region and the world.Today it might seem strange that regimes that were so obviously sponsoring terrorism against the U.S and the West as a whole could last very long but this was at the height of The Cold War and there was a very careful world balance to maintain.The USSR who were allies of Iran already occupied Afghanistan on Irans northern border and so across the third world this covert form of warfare by proxy was fairly prevalent.

In August 1985 Israeli official approached the U.S.A with a proposal to exchange 508 of their own American-made TOW anti-tank missiles for the release of Reverend Benjamin Weir who was a hostage being held in the Lebanon by an Iranian backed terrorist group.All this with the understanding that the U.S.A would reimburse Israel with replacement missiles.The transfer took place over the next two months.This transaction and the others that followed not only violated United Nations sanctions (proposed and voted for by the U.S.A) but also Acts of the U.S Congress which specifically prohibited sale of weapons to Iran.

In November, there were more negotiations, where the Israelis proposed to ship to Iran 500 HAWK anti-aircraft missiles in exchange for the release of all remaining American hostages being held in Lebanon.Only 18 missiles were shipped to Iran on this occasion.

In January of 1986, Reagan approved a plan whereby an American intermediary, rather than Israel, would sell arms to Iran in exchange for the release of the hostages. In February, 1,000 TOW missiles were shipped to Iran (We know that this arrangement was cleared at the very top because Reagans personal diary entry for January 1st, clearly states "I agreed to sell TOWs to Iran,"). From May to November, there were other shipments of various weapons and parts.

Of couse, all these illegal transactions were producing millions in black money and the big question was what to do with it all.........

........And so the black money was diverted,through Oliver North (aide to the U.S. National Security Advisor John Poindexte) to a right wing terrorist organisation who were trying to overthrow the democratically elected socialist government of Nicaragua.

The Sandinistas had formed a majority government there after winning 61 of the 96 seats in the national legislature in an election where 7 parties had vied for power and where independent observers from Western democracies had declared the election to be both fair and free.

Reagan declared the election "fraudulent" and even instigated a U.S. trade embargo initiated in May 1985.

The Contra Rebels,as they are commonly known,received weapons and training from the CIA, especially in guerrilla tactics such as destroying infrastructural elements and assassination.Some claim there is also evidence that the CIA and perhaps other parts of the US government may have been involved with drug trafficking to raise money for the Contra campaign.

The entire scandal began to unravel when in November of 1986, the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reported that the United States had been selling weapons to Iran in secret in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.

The United States Congress, on November 18th, 1987 issued its final report on the affair, which stated that Reagan bore "ultimate responsibility" for wrongdoing by his aides and his administration exhibited "secrecy, deception, and disdain for the law."

On June 27th, 1986 the International Court of Justice ruled in favour of Nicaragua in the case of "Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua". The U.S. refused to pay restitution and subsequently vetoed a United Nations Security Council Resolution calling on all states to obey international law. The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution in order to pressure the U.S. to pay the fine. In spite of this resolution, the U.S. still did not to pay the fine.

Great post JB1 , a good example that people shouldn't jump to conclusions when when brings up the subject of 'conspiracy'. I'm sure there are some more that can be added to the list, I'll have to think about that...

what about the JFK conspiracy?? That has to be up there in the all time great conspiracies.

Warren Commission report was a bunch of crap but sounded technically feasable with experts telling everyone about the "Magic Bullet" theory. You just have to watch the film and see the final headshot to know that he was hit in the head from a forward angle to the right it appears in my opinion. The back of your head doesn't blowout if you're shot from behind. Governments have been involved in conspiracies since their inception.

I've kept this list to conspiracies that are accepted by the majority of historians.

I may write a top ten classic conspiracy theories at a later date in which case I would include JFK.

This is just ammo against those that will tell you conspiracies don't exist.

I'm not sure if this is a conspiracy, but it's now generally accepted that America knew in advance about the Japanese and Pearl Harbour. Great list BTW.

Excellent post, JB! Nice piece of research!

Another favorite conspiracy of mine (only recently uncovered) is King Richard III and the Princes In The Tower. First reported on in Josephine Tey's novel, DAUGHTER OF TIME (great read, BTW), it appears that Richard's name was the subject of a smear campagn after his death to make sure that nobody would question the right of the upstart Tudors to rule England.


An interesting page about Elizabeth Mackintosh (Josephine Tey) is here:
www.r3.org...

A short summary of the whole affair is here:
www.r3.org...

History buffs might be intrigued to note that the authors of the scandal appear to be Henry VII and Thomas More (also written as Moore... there wasn't consistant spelling in those days.) Some of the controversy that surrounded his eventual execution was part of the framework for the movie, "A Man For All Seasons."

Originally posted by DEEZNUTZ
what about the JFK conspiracy?? That has to be up there in the all time great conspiracies.

I have to agree. The Assasination of not only JFK but also RFK whould be up there as one of the top conspiracies of all time. Also the events of 9/11 should also be up there, although I can see why they weren't added since the events were relatively recent.

Pearl Harbor? I don't think it is generally accepted that the U.S. knew about it prior to the attack.

Here's the thing: They were getting so much intel at the time that i became cluttered and lost in the hundreds upon hundreds of information pieces. On top of that, when the attack was to come, the U.S. didn't "let it happen" or "use it as an excuse" because we simply didn't know it was coming. It is fact that the radar operator made a mistake, fact that we were expecting a squadron of bombers in that day, and we did not know, at the time, that Japan was an enemy.

Up until Pearl Harbor, we were neutral. We didn't want to jump to conclusions, or make it seem that we were hostile to anyone. This is what led to Pearl Harbor. Either way, Japan paid for it up the nose. =/

-wD

Thanks for the post, I knew there were real conspiracies floating around that I couldn't quite grasp. Now I know ten.

Originally posted by Ocelot

Originally posted by DEEZNUTZ
what about the JFK conspiracy?? That has to be up there in the all time great conspiracies.

I have to agree. The Assasination of not only JFK but also RFK whould be up there as one of the top conspiracies of all time.

i also have to agree also dont forget about JFK jr.

the best conspiracies are the ones that are never known. so truly the best one that has been perpetrated against the public in this world is MIND CONTROL. it is a conspiracy that virtually no one will accept, they all want to believe that they all have there own minds and nothing can alter it.
it is the one conspiracy that everyone on this planet should know about but the public just have a closed mind to it. just how strong mind control is today no one really knows, or it seems cares about.




[edit on 7-7-2005 by andy1033]

That is true. The known mind control is the media and the news (Ill admit that I watch the news sometimes), but I dont take it very seriously. There are some closed minded people who assume that the news tells the 100% truth. If those people found out the truth about everything or at least some of the truth, they will go crazy.





[edit on 11-7-2005 by BigPimpin]

I got to say guys, rock on with the Conspiracy opinions and all. You have given me a great reason to look up on much topics such as these.

So who do you think killed JFK??

1. The assasination of Abraham Lincoln.
20 people were convicted of being involved in the shooting, and/or J.W. Booth's attempted escape. 4 were hanged for treason.

2. The Boston Tea Party.
Freemasons dressed as indian threw the taxed tea into Boston harbor.

3. The Teapot Dome scandal.
The "watergate" of FDR's administration. Selling oil out from under public lands, I think.

4. The "XYZ" affair
The Brits manipulated US domestic sentiment in turning against France just as Napoleon was seizing power. The British could not afford for America to ally with her sister republic of France, since there was growing sentiment in Britain for a pro-republican revolution.
The story got out that the french secretary of state, Talleyrand, had demanded a bribe before dealing with the American. The British circulated the story that Pinckney, the American delegate, had replied with the now famous "Millions for defense, but not one cent in tribute!" Pinckney never said it, and President Jay had been prepared to pay Napoleon's bribe, but American anti-French fever made it impossible. And so USA remained neutral in the Napoleanic wars.

5. Possible Conspiracy: The Assassination of Huey Long
In the South, up until JFK, the Long shooting was powerful conspiracy fodder. Any old used bookstore in the south will fearture a number of books on the topic. Long as governor of Louisiana began bringing the South out of the dark ages of reconstruction. He did it by taxing big business and the rich. He also concentrated Louisiana's political power into one man: himself. His style was populist to the point of being national socialist. He was the first American politician to use radio as a propaganda tool. His slogan "Every man a king, but no one wears a crown" could have been aimed directly at FDR. The week he was assasinated by the nephew of a long-time rival, he was ahead of FDR in the polls . . .

There is a saying that "two people can keep a secret when one of them is dead", or alternate, "it's not a secret if more than one person knows". That would make conpiracies 'open secrets'. So how can they're really be conspiracies without every one finding out? Paranoia is becoming fashionable.

Great post. I often wonder about conspiracies. How can one conclude a conspiracy is such if it is a conpiracy ? What if the word conspiracy is the conspiracy ? Who decides what is or is not a conspiracy ? Perhaps this thread is a conspiracy for all we know.

All the conspiracies you mentioned are real. Only the controlled bias media will make the viewer believe, that the only conspiracies there are are those who are against the powers that be. Such flip-flop mentality. For every con there is a pro, for every for there is an against. Schools should teach the Hegelian Dialectic, but they won't for the information will come back to haunt them. But the more we push the truth, the real deal, and the more the cons of freedom or liberties are pushed up against the wall, the more the People will find a way around this quagmire called the new world order. The funny thing about the new world order is, it's only about new faces, because a lot of their intricate belief systems are based on ancient mystic rites, the Egyptian Horus, the Temple of Solomon, Knights Templar, et cetera...but there are new tools at their disposal: oil, technology, and media (on a mass scale). The premise is still there, Great Architect of the Universe, only the means to achieve the end result have changed.

Anyway, thanks much for your information, I have placed it in my favorites. I hope to see more of your facts and ideas. Thanks much, Edward

Originally posted by andy1033
... the best one that has been perpetrated against the public in this world is MIND CONTROL. it is a conspiracy that virtually no one will accept, they all want to believe that they all have there own minds and nothing can alter it.
it is the one conspiracy that everyone on this planet should know about but the public just have a closed mind to it. just how strong mind control is today no one really knows, or it seems cares about.

I was about to get very angry and agitated by reading the truth of what you wrote, but then I heard a robotic voice in my head telling me to calm down and just fuhgeddiboutit.


"We are all in reality in hospital beds being monitored and programmed by these mad scientists, and this world is not real for them. The scientists watch over us to see what we're doing."
---Andrew Wurst 14, school shooter from Edinborough, PA, Parker Middle School; 1 dead, 3 wounded (4-24-98)

Originally posted by Arek
I'm not sure if this is a conspiracy, but it's now generally accepted that America knew in advance about the Japanese and Pearl Harbour. Great list BTW.

Not by historians.