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Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 11:22:43 -0800
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From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: Can whole nation be fooled? (fwd)

<snip>
>
>Many supporters of the official conclusion that White House
>counsel Vince Foster killed himself in Fort Marcy Park implicitly
>assume it's impossible for an *official government investigation*
>--with its vast resources of people and money--to be wrong.  
>While small errors are to be expected, for an official government
>investigation to err it its *main conclusion* would mean the
>people who ran it were either incompetent or corrupt.
>
>For many good, honest Americans, either of these choices would be
>too unsettling to contemplate.  For them, there's essentially no
>option: the government's conclusion *must* be correct.
>
>If you're fairly new to the Vince Foster controversy, and tend to
>believe those who disagree with the official story are a bit
>wacko, this essay is for you.  Because history contains dozens of
>cases in which an *entire society* said, in effect, up is down. 
>Two of these are described below: One is the famous Dreyfus case,
>from France.  Another is from closer to home.
>
>Much of what follows is from a post by Mike Rivero, who in turn
>credited David Martin (DCDave) for an essay on "America's Dreyfus
>Affair: The Case of the Death of Vince Foster."  I thought it was
>great stuff.  I've added some ideas and edited freely, but credit
>for the core material belongs to either Dave or Mike.  Gentlemen,
>I hope you won't feel I've ruined your good work.
>====
>
>  In 1894, just after the Franco-Prussian war, a document filled
>with French military secrets was intercepted on its way to
>Germany.  One suspect in this espionage was Captain Alfred
>Dreyfus.  
>
>  Convinced *a priori* of his guilt, prosecutors and the French
>media convicted him in the press: stories by the most respected
>journalists of the day claimed (falsely) that Dreyfuss had
>confessed to the crime.  Virtually every member of the French
>government, press, and society elite joined in condemning him. 
>That he was Jewish did not help the matter.
>
>  There was no actual evidence that he was guilty, but the
>government wanted to be seen as acting swiftly and decisively and
>Dreyfus was convenient.  Evidence was manufactured to make him
>appear guilty, and prosecutors concealed documents showing his
>innocence.  Not surprisingly, he was convicted and imprisoned.  
>
>  Over the next few years, however, evidence continued to surface
>showing Dreyfus was innocent and that the real spy was Major
>Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy.  But as accusations of government
>misconduct and coverup increased, many people began claiming that
>it simply wasn't possible, both because the government just
>didn't do such things and because such a conspiracy--and its
>coverup--would have had to involve so many people that secrecy
>could never be maintained.  (They were right about that, though
>not in the way they expected.)
>
>  Facing mounting criticism, defenders of the official story
>began claiming that the buzz about Dreyfus's innocence was being
>spurred by a "syndicate" of Jewish interests.  Those who publicly
>accused government officials of framing Dreyfus were imprisoned
>for libel.  Those who noticed that the espionage for which
>Dreyfus had been convicted continued in his absence were ordered
>to keep silent.
>
>  Finally a public challenge on the authenticity of the evidence,
>and the discovery of at least one forged document that had been
>used to frame Dreyfus, resulted in a new trial (though not until
>several years after the forgery was discovered). 
>
>  With the new trial the conspiracy was revealed, and shortly
>thereafter one of the men who helped frame Dreyfus confessed (the
>man later committed suicide).  With the evidence against him
>shown to be a forgery by the very military prosecutors who had
>originally convicted him, Dreyfus was at last exonerated.  
>
>  Later, memoirs by the German military attache, Maximillian von
>Schwarzkoppen, confirmed that Major Walsin-Esterhazy had indeed
>been the spy all along.
>
>  While the Dreyfus case is fascinating for its courtroom drama,
>it's far more important for what it reveals about human nature: 
>Virtually all of French society had strongly supported the
>official story even after it was clear that substantial evidence
>existed showing the official story was full of holes.  
>
>  Such behavior was to be expected from poorly educated folk, of
>course.  But this was different: so many *smart*, well educated
>people--the elite of French society--for years stood shoulder to
>shoulder in defense of a provable lie.  It was unsettling: How
>could *intelligent* people have been wrong for so long, in the
>face of clear evidence that the official story was false?
>
>  Nearly a century later, of course, we finally know enough about
>group psychology to find such a question amusing.
>
>  The Dreyfus affair shows not only that conspiracies can exist,
>but more important, that they can dupe an entire nation for
>years.  Obsessed by the desire never to be seen to be in error,
>the entire government of France spent years--and nearly all its
>credibility--defending a conspiracy that framed an innocent man.  
>
>  Ah, you say: that was France; such a thing could never happen
>here!  Then consider the Lindburgh kidnapping case.
>
>  Prior to the execution of Bruno Hauptman, it was known by
>several officials, including New Jersey Governor Harold Hoffman,
>that the Lindburgh baby had not actually been kidnapped at all. 
>Instead, members of the Lindburgh household leaked word--before
>Hauptman's execution--that Elizabeth Morrow, sister of
>Lindburgh's wife Anne, had killed the baby in a fit of rage. 
>Indeed, it had been a standing order in the Lindburgh household
>that Elizabeth was never to be left alone with the baby. 
>
>  Following the announcement of the "kidnapping", Elizabeth's
>whereabouts were so kept from the public that newspapers
>speculated that she too was missing.  In truth she had been
>barred from the family and died soon after.
>
>  A ransom note was found in the Lindburgh home--a note that
>exhibited some odd traits, such as having allegedly appeared in
>an already searched location.  The note indicated that
>instructions would be delivered for payment of a ransom.  
>
>  At this point a forger and con-man named Jacob Nosovitsky--
>apparently sensing an opportunity for a fast buck and oblivious
>to the risks--sent a note to the Lindburgh family claiming to be
>the kidnapper.  The Lindburghs could hardly announce that he was
>not, and a meeting was arranged at a local cemetery to transfer
>the money.  A family friend, Dr. Condon, would handle the payoff.
>
>  Nosovitsky fit the description given by Condon of the man he
>met at the cemetery. 
>
>  Shortly after the ransom was paid, the baby's body was found,
>buried in a shallow grave *within sight of the Lindburgh
>mansion.*  
>
>  Bruno Hauptman was charged with the crime after he spent some
>of the money paid to the cemetery man.  A friend had asked if
>Hauptman would keep some money for him temporarily.  The friend
>owned Hauptman a small sum, and Hauptman unilaterally decided to
>settle the debt. 
>
>  The money was the only solid evidence linking Hauptman to the
>crime.  Virtually every other piece of evidence was coerced or
>outright fraud.  A wooden ladder, allegedly used by the kidnapper
>to enter the second-floor nursery window, showed clear signs of
>having been altered to match wood and nail holes inside the
>Hauptman garage. 
>
>  To describe the atmosphere surrounding the "kidnapping case"
>and later trial as frantic would be an understatement, and the
>press led the frenzy.  Eager to exploit what they were calling
>the crime of the century, the press printed story after story of
>testimony that never occurred, evidence that didn't exist, and
>confessions never made.  It was the Dreyfus case all over again.
>
>  Spurred on by public outrage, the case rolled toward its
>inevitable conclusion.  Despite a new investigation by Governor
>Hoffman (which ended his political career), Bruno Richard
>Hauptman was electrocuted on April 3rd, 1936.
>
>  As more information has gradually become public, it now appears
>certain that the state executed an innocent man.  But at the time
>the switch was thrown, all America believed Hauptman was guilty,
>because the media had told them for months that he was, and
>because prosecutors were willing to ignore all contradictory
>evidence.  Perhaps most disturbing is that even though at least
>some state officials knew the baby had never been kidnapped, they
>kept quiet while an innocent man was executed.
>
>  Like people in other organizations that claim a high degree of
>elitism and prestige, people in government and the media seem to
>be astonishingly resistant to the idea of admitting to the public
>that they may have made a mistake.  To do so would show feet of
>clay--fallibility that would diminish the prestige of the
>organization.  And of its often-arrogant members.
>
>  Thus once such an organization has committed to a particular
>story and the first few public pronouncements have been made by
>officials and the media, then even if later evidence shows it's
>wrong, the we-don't-make-mistakes reflex is usually strong enough
>to ensure that this story will be acted on as if it *were*
>correct, regardless of any adverse consequences.  
>
>  It isn't surprising that any group whose prestige is linked to
>being right will to defend its version of things.  What *is*
>surprising is how viciously such a group typically fights to make
>its version prevail, long after evidence surfaces that something
>is gravely amiss in its story.
>
>  The good news is that a competent, uncorrupt outfit--whether
>government or press--should get things right most of the time. 
>The bad news is that in those cases when the chosen theory or
>explanation is the wrong one--whether due to error or malice--
>then the nation is almost always committed for the whole ride,
>regardless of the outcome.
>
>  In the case of the death of Vincent Foster, the official story
>is suicide.  Yet the official record contains literally scores of
>items inconsistent with suicide, like the *complete absence* of
>any fingerprints from the exposed smooth metal surface of the gun
>supposedly used by Foster.  (No, he wasn't found wearing gloves.)
>
>  It's important to note that this absence of prints (to take
>just one example) isn't just some conspiracy tale.  It's part of
>the *official body of evidence* put on record as part of the
>Senate investigation.  And there are *scores* of things of this
>scale inconsistent with the government's official conclusion.
>
>  Supporters of the official government conclusion claim that
>between the imperfect observation or memory of most interview
>subjects and inevitable clerical errors in transcription, almost
>all cases show a few such inconsistencies.  Agreed.  But how to
>explain when two or more *independent* witnesses report the same
>observation inconsistent with suicide?  And how many so-called
>"clerical errors" do we accept before most objective people
>conclude that something more than random error is at work?
>
>  Defenders of the government's version of Foster's death also
>contend that the charges of coverup--and the identification of
>evidence in the official record contradicting the suicide
>story--are being advanced by shadowy right-wing figures.  While
>many on the political right would no doubt like to bring down the
>Clinton administration, it's worth recalling that in the Dreyfus
>case, defenders of the French government's frame-up blamed the
>appearance of contradictory evidence on a shadowy "syndicate" of
>Jewish interests.
>
>  By demonizing its critics as tools of an unpopular group, the
>French government and its friends in the press were able to hold
>off the truth about the Dreyfus case for another year or two.
>
>  But in the Dreyfus affair, at least, truth finally prevailed.
>
<snip>

===========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell, Sui Juris      : Counselor at Law, federal witness 01
B.A.: Political Science, UCLA;   M.S.: Public Administration, U.C.Irvine 02
tel:     (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night 03
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website: http://supremelaw.com       : visit the Supreme Law Library now 05
ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech,  at its best 06
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_____________________________________: Law is authority in written words 09
As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice.  We shall 10
not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. 11
======================================================================== 12
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