The "American Assassination" of Paul Wellstone - new book

[JackRiddler]

I just read "American Assassination. The Strange Death of Senator Paul Wellstone" by Four Arrows and Jim Fetzer, and I'm here to give it an almost unqualified thumbs-up.

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22american+assassination%22+vox+pop&sourceid=opera&num=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Many of you want to avoid issues of assassinations and other covert political crimes because they would force a very different approach than the compliant go-along pretend-opposition that the Democrats usually pretend.

We have a duty to understand that fascism and gangsterism don't stop at the lies and symbols and open policies we decry; no it goes all the way to murder. Exposing this in a case like Wellstone's is a simple matter of self-defense. Denying it empowers the murderers to keep committing more crimes.

As far as the Oct. 2002 crash is concerned, the book argues impeccably and irresistibly. Nothing is left standing of the NTSB's internally inconsistent arguments.

Control and communications ceased simultaneously a few minutes before the plane crashed. To buy the NTSB's arguments, you have to believe both pilots didn't notice the danger signs and paid no heed to altitude or speed instruments for at least 90 seconds.

Whereas an EMP pulse or perhaps a small bomb to incapacitate the cockpit both explain the outstanding facts.

The simple reality that the NTSB team (led by the 10-year CIA agent Carol Carmody) did not ever consider any sabotage hypothesis, as though this were a priori impossible, is smoking gun for a cover-up.

Please kick it if you know it!

[aquart]

1. kick

They NEVER considered sabotage in the death of a controversial political figure? Isn't that the first thing to rule out?

[undeterred]

2. Your link is to a google search

I don't know if this is true or not, but I am interested in reading the book.

[JackRiddler]

3. oops...

Here's the link to the publisher page on the book:

http://www.drenchkiss.com/wellstone.html

Here's a long review by Brad Ayers, a charter-plane pilot and former CIA agent:

http://www.raintaxi.com/online/2004winter/assassination.shtml

If you order it, make sure you tell Sander you read about it from Jack Riddler on Democratic Underground. ;-)

[ChiciB1]

17. Thanks A Lot.... I Loved Wellstone And It Was Particularly

difficult for me when I heard of his death. He died on my birthday!

[spooked911]

4. I read it about about six months back.

The book is a bit thin on material and repetitious on certain points, but overall I think makes a pretty convincing case that Wellstone's plane was brought down by unnatural forces, and that most likely it was a dark covert operaiton.

In fact, this book is why I chose Wellstone as my avatar here--- he was a GREAT liberal and I think he was brought down by the dark forces in our government represented by Bush and Cheney.

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. kick

:kick:

[jmaier]

6. an EMP?

If we had an effective, yet limited electromagnetic pulse weapon, you'd be seeing a lot more unexplained charter plane crashes around the world.

[JackRiddler]

10. hmmm...

First, how do you know we're not?

But seriously, what makes you think that this technology would end up in so many hands so quickly?

There's a nice long section on the EMP phenomenon generally and the development from the early 1990s forward of EMP weapons, press reports, etc.

[jmaier]

34. It doesn't have to end up in many hands.

I mean if we (the U.S.) have the weapon it would be in play in numerous situations today. Wellstone was in and of himself not that significant a threat.

[JackRiddler]

42. honestly?

If the U.S. started using this, how long before others figure it out and render the U.S. Air Force useless?

[Eloriel]

7. Thanks. I'm sure it's a terrific book.

At least one of the authors -- Fetzer -- is a university professor.

[ailsagirl]

15. Fetzer is well-known in research fields

As was mentioned, he's written books about the JFK assassination.

[Octafish]

8. Wellstone was "Enemy Number 1" to the Bush Gang.

Thanks for the heads-up on this new book, JackRiddler. Fetzer's done important work in the JFK assassination.

Regarding who's responsible for the "fortuitously" timed "accident," one name comes to mind:

To war turds like Bush, peaceniks like Wellstone are a problem.
You know what the Mafia does to problem people?
Same thing the NAZIs and the commies do.

Paul Wellstone, Fighter

John Nichols

Paul Wellstone is a hunted man. Minnesota's senior senator is not just another Democrat on White House political czar Karl Rove's target list, in an election year when the Senate balance of power could be decided by the voters of a single state. Rather, getting rid of Wellstone is a passion for Rove, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush and the special-interest lobbies that fund the most sophisticated political operation ever assembled by a presidential administration. "There are people in the White House who wake up in the morning thinking about how they will defeat Paul Wellstone," a senior Republican aide confides. "This one is political and personal for them."

That has made it political and personal for Wellstone. The man who decided to abandon a self-imposed two-term limit on his Senate service at least in part because of his determination to block Bush's conservative agenda wears the target with pride. At a moment when most Democrats are still trying to figure out how to challenge a popular President, the former college wrestler is leaping into the ring. Wellstone is not running for cover; he is running to deliver a message about politics in a state and a nation that he believes to be far more progressive than the readers of political tea leaves in Washington could begin to imagine.

SNIP...

Yet even as he follows the progressive playbook, Wellstone is no sure bet. In a state that gave America liberal Democratic icons like Hubert Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy and Walter Mondale, and that has not backed a Republican for President since 1972, current polls show Wellstone running roughly even with Republican challenger Norm Coleman, a former mayor of St. Paul. To be sure, Coleman has benefited from being "Bush's best boy" and from steady infusions of campaign cash that are available to the Administration's chosen ones. But the full explanation for Wellstone's tight spot is found in a more complex calculation that involves Wellstone himself, the changing character of the upper Midwest, the flux in which the Democratic Party finds itself and the machinations of the people who manipulated Bush into the highest office in the land. "Sure, the Bush Administration is targeting Paul this year, but Paul is never a shoo-in," says Myron Orfield, a Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) state senator widely regarded as one of the nation's top experts in the study of voting patterns. "Paul's a controversial guy. He's the little guy who takes on the big guys. That is not something the political process is designed to reward these days. If you take strong stands you put yourself at risk--and Paul takes more strong stands on more issues than just about anyone else."

Virtually alone among Senate Democrats, Wellstone sees himself not just as a member of Congress but as a member of a movement. He identifies with progressives, organizes family-farm rallies in Washington, marches with striking hotel workers and dares to title a book The Conscience of a Liberal. That does not mean that Wellstone is the unbending leftist that his critics allege and that many of his supporters would prefer. The man who began burning bridges with the Bush family when he challenged then-President Bush's Persian Gulf War preparations on their first meeting ("Who is this chickenshit?" Bush Sr. asked) may be the Senate's boldest foe of the Star Wars national missile defense program and of increased military aid to Colombia. But he disappointed peace activists when he joined a unanimous Senate vote to authorize an ill-defined military response to the September 11 attacks and dismayed civil libertarians when he refused to join Senator Russell Feingold's solo opposition to constitutionally dubious antiterrorism legislation.

Still, Wellstone has few rivals on the left side of the Senate aisle. Congressional Quarterly says no senator had a more consistent record of voting against Bush Administration proposals during the new President's first year. Wellstone racks up 100 percent ratings from the AFL-CIO, Americans for Democratic Action and the League of Conservation Voters. He is the veteran grassroots organizer hailed by consumer activists for waging a three-year battle to temper the draconian "bankruptcy reform" bill pushed by the credit card industry. He is the former college professor who has been the chief Senate voice of those who maintain that education-reform initiatives must involve better measures of success than standardized tests. He is the crusader for disability rights and healthcare reform who--since he was diagnosed in February as having a mild form of multiple sclerosis--is in demand not merely as an advocate but as a very human example of what the struggles are about. The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently described him as "the go-to guy to advance the causes of educators, environmentalists, consumer and labor groups, the elderly and the poor."

CONTINUED...

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020527&s=nichols

No man.
No problem.

It WAS assassination. Remember how Wolf Blitzer tried to get the on-scene reporter to blame the weather? WTF? Whatever happened to journalists caring about the Truth? Haven't seen too much of it on the national level since 22 November 1963. That guy was a peacenik, too.

[JackRiddler]

9. I certainly hope...

Lots of people will be considering this... If we forget, we are doomed.

[Octafish]

11. Time is on their side.

"It is not necessary to bury the truth. It is sufficient merely to delay it until nobody cares." -- Napoleon Bonaparte

Truth is on ours.

[stickdog]

12. I consulted on the book. I was 95% happy with the final release.

And I recommend the book 100% with the above caveat.

[JackRiddler]

13. Gee...

I would have never guessed that your handprint was all over certain sections. ;-)

I was rather disappointed not to see Democratic Underground mentioned, given how many of these arguments were developed here (by you, especially, among others).

Kudos to the real DUers!

[stickdog]

14. I rejected attribution, although I asked for DU to be credited.

As you suggested, it wasn't all my work. This place is basically a think-tank at its best.

That's about 1% of the 5% I'm not happy with. It's still a very important book, and I can vouch for the personal integrity of both authors.

[FogerRox]

16. I went to Camp Wellstone in March. 3 days of Prograssive FEEDING FRENZY

Maybe Paul would have been President?

NAHHHH lets just KILL him---there-- no Pauly no presidentee

[JackRiddler]

21. I will guess another 1 percent...

is that it has typos and edit errors, at least in what I read (1st ed., 1st print).

So what are the other 3 percent? (Let's keep this kicked...)

[stickdog]

29. Mostly because they just left out a little evidence I thought was

compelling -- for example, most of stuff about the bizarre (and unique) way that a number of the pilots' coworkers felt compelled to come forward to speak ill of their recently slain comrades, both to the NTSB and the press.

I would have loved to have seen those folks cross-examined.

[DemonFighterLives]

18. Thanks for filling us in

I heard mention of the book today on Al Franken. Todd Blodgett(sp) was on and when asked he stated that no one really believes the assassination story. Unreal that someone in the Wellstone Camp isn't researching and documenting this a little more.
Politics -
We're all supposed to play nice now for the good of the country. Something was not right, but better luck nextime. I will never in my whole life believe it was pilot error as is the stated case.
:freak:

[JackRiddler]

19. Blodgett is specifically taken on in the book

"No one believes..." I see.

I haven't encountered one person who lines up politically with Wellstone who doesn't.

I have encountered a few far to the right of him who also do!

[DemonFighterLives]

20. I will have to get this book

I already thought Fetzer was a hero.
No one remaining in the House or Senate has the guts of Paul Wellstone.

:patriot:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

35. There's a lot of free-floating suspicion that it was an assassination

I was living in Oregon at the time, and all sorts of people who knew that I'm a native Minnesotan came up to me and whispered, "Do you think it was really an accident? I don't" or words to that effect.

When I went back to Minnesota for Christmas that year, my 90-year-old great aunt greeted me with, "Wasn't that awful about Wellstone? I think the Republicans killed him."

[FredStembottom]

22. I don't believe he was assasinated...

I used to fly with my Dad a lot in small planes and he had lots of stories of pilots making the most astounding Controlled Flights Into Terrain (I believe the term is). That's when only slightly distracted pilots steer the plane right into the ground. It really doesn't take much to make that happen!

However....a theme I have been spouting for years (since the Iran-Contra non-hearings) that no amount of mere timidity can account for Congressional Democrat's traditional spinelessness. Something else acts on them that makes them so jellylike- and one possibility (there are others) is real fear. Maybe of a type you and I don't have to deal with. But of what?

I am willing to consider that the death of Paul Wellstone might be a manifestation of the "what".

But I don't think I'll ever really know.

[stickdog]

26. "This was not a controlled flight into the ground."

http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/2002/10/27/news/local/4377905.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

NTSB investigators refused to draw any conclusions from the physical evidence. But one experienced aviator from the area said the evidence suggested that something happened that caused the pilots to lose control of the plane. "They were no longer in control of the aircraft," said Don Sipola, a former president of the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport Commission, who has 25 years of experience flying at the airport. "That will be the $64 question—what occurred in the last few minutes that distracted them or caused them to wrestle control of the aircraft."

"Something caused them at low altitude to veer off course," Sipola said.

The angle of descent also indicates an out-of-control flight, Sipola said. The normal approach for the aircraft is a descent of 3 degrees, he said. But Sipola said NTSB investigators told him Saturday that the plane was descending at 30 degrees.

"This was a real steep bank, not a nice, gentle don't-spill-the-coffee descent," Sipola said. "This is more like the space shuttle coming down. This was not a controlled flight into the ground."

[FredStembottom]

39. I deserve that reply.........

:-) I should read up on it more. I remeber it being called Controlled Flight Into Ground. But.....obviously not.:blush:

[converted_democrat]

23. Does anyone really wonder why Dem leaders don't want to stand up?

I get so mad at the Dem leadership for not standing up, then I read this or something about the Kennedy's or King's, and I understand why people are hesitant to stand.

[JackRiddler]

30. But the way to stand up...

Would be to finally call them on one of these assassination jobs.

And if you're not sure about Wellstone, you could do it on anthrax, which is plain as day.

Otherwise these people should pack it in.

You shouldn't want to be a politician, if you're not brave enough to risk harm from evil forces. There is more at stake than your life, you have to protect the interests of millions and (in the present world, as an American politician) everyone in the world. Or admit it's useless, speak out on the intimidation, and resign.

[converted_democrat]

32. I'm not at all implying we should not stand up, please don't get me wrong.

I 'm just simply reasoning that people think twice about standing up to these pukes. I personally am quite outspoken about my opposition to this and any other unjust administration. It just bothers me that if you want to grow up and be a Republican leader, this problem does not really apply. If you want to grow up and be a Dem leader it is something that you have to think about. It's just not right that one party has no problem with this issue, but the one other does.

[Helga Scow Stern]

24. Thanks for telling us of the book...

Wellstone's assassination was obvious from the moment his death was announced weeks before his re-election.

They needed him out of the way. Assassination has been a tried and true political method for ages. We need to keep naming it, not sweeping it under the rug. It really doesn't jive with what we call "democracy."

[Lydia Leftcoast]

36. Not "weeks," ten days.

Exactly on the last day his name could be taken off the ballot.

[Binka]

25. Late Night Kick

:kick: for the memory of Paul and his beautiful wife and daughter.

[Jamastiene]

27. Kicking

and nominating...

[DemonFighterLives]

28. Kick

:kick:

[ArkDem]

31. Does the book come with a signed tinfoil dust cover?

:tinfoilhat:

[JackRiddler]

40. ha ha

You're so funny insightful & original. Thanks for the kick.

[Placebo]

33. bump

[in_cog_ni_to]

37. I have to read this book.

I knew he was assassinated. :grr:

[jimshoes]

38. I'll have to get this book,

I attended a symposium chaired by Dr. Fetzer in Duluth, Minnesota concerning part of the JFK assassination film evidence. When I Met Dr. Fetzer I found him to be very freindly, and personable and a passionate researcher. Looking forward to reading his new book.

[JackRiddler]

41. night kick