Kalifornia Dreamin' A False Flag Fire Drill By Captain Eric H. May Military Correspondent All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray, I've been for a walk on a winter's day, I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A., California dreamin' on such a winter's day. -- The Mamas and the Papas Ashes were falling like snow across Southern California last week, as the Santa Ana winds blew in to fan the flames and a heat wave bore down. It was hot for everybody, no matter where they were; but for those fighting the fires it was hotter than hell. Folks wept at their losses and lamented that their beautiful landscape had become a desolate moonscape. The fires started on Sunday, Oct. 21, and they encircled their principal target of San Diego with military precision. You can't fault people for feeling like they're under attack when a natural disaster hits them. As the week wore on and the flames burned on, disturbing facts began to emerge to show that their feelings were right. Cold-Blooded Arson Whoever did this knew what they were doing, said Kris Concepcion, a fire authority battalion chief. Multiple witnesses attested to multiple fires being set by arsonists to attack targeted areas. Police shot and killed one alleged arsonist who was trying to make a getaway. Fox News lead an infowar campaign to attribute the arsons to Al Qaeda, the ubiquitous Bush League bogeyman. By the end of the first week, though, there was no evidence to support the claim that bin Laden's buddies had torched dreamland. This would not do at all. There must be a criminal for every crime, else the people will begin to ask uncomfortable questions about just who the criminals might be. Politicos and Presstitutes searched for an appropriate patsy, and reasoned that if the incendiaries couldn't be little brown Muslims then they must have been little brown Mexicans, who were a pretty close match in the public mind. It was too little too late, of course. The Internet cat came yowling and scratching out of the mainstream media bag, despite their best efforts to contain it. Now, on the 10th day since the advent of the fires, cybersleuths have exposed the Fox Al Qaeda stories as warmed over propaganda from 2003 FBI sources. Likewise, they have networked the information that California fire stations were reporting professional efforts to gather intelligence on their layout and operations during the summer. Hard-Boiled Facts Call me a cynic if you must, but it's never easy for me to accept the pat answer to any complex question. I oppose historic official stories blaming the Christians for burning Rome, the Jews for burning the Reichstag and the Muslims for burning the Twin Towers. Accordingly, I also oppose the current official story blaming the Mexicans for burning California. One fact stares at me through all the smoke and mirrors. The fires began only hours after a border fracas between Turkey and Iraqi Kurds ended with dozens dead and a nation of Turks crying out for a punitive invasion. While California cooked, the government of Turkey authorized war, then mobilized and massed its forces against Northwest Iraq. There was an uncomfortable possibility that they would attack under the pretext of rooting out terrorists, then take over oil resources. All of this was fine historic irony, of course, since four years ago, Turkey refused a substantial US bribe in exchange for permission to use its territory as a staging area for an attack to root out terrorists, then take over oil resources. It required something very gripping to distract the American people away from the spectacle of our collapsing "central front in the war on terror," something like a San Diego sideshow, perhaps. The Bush League has always been lucky when it comes to catastrophes. Without 9/11 they never would have had an excuse to initiate the Global War or implement the Homeland State, two projects they had already envisioned and planned for before Bush assumed the presidency. The Germanator and the Burning Bush I appreciate the leadership of Governor Schwarzenegger. I said earlier when we were at the neighborhood, there's no hill he's not willing to charge, no problem he's not willing to solve. -- George W. Bush, standing beside Arnold Schwarzenegger I'm guilty of yellow journalism for labeling Arnold "The Germanator." He was born in Austria, after all, and I know that quite well. But then again, Hitler was born in Austria, too. If the jackboot fits, then Arnold must wear it. It's impossible for me to see any leader standing in a fire zone beside our cheerleader in chief and not think of them both as a couple of Neo Nero's, fiddling with torches. Seeing all of this destruction this week has been saddening, but at the same time I have to say it also has been very inspirational, because we have seen how people have come together. -- Arnold Schwarzenegger, standing beside George W. Bush See what I mean? Every word of the Germanator's script for California after the fires could have been used by Rudy Giuliani (and probably was) for New York after 9/11. Disaster is good for the soul and brings out the best in us. It goes without saying that it also provides wonderful economic opportunities for interested parties... Portero: A Blackwater Backwater Blackwater mercenary corporation comes to mind as a big beneficiary of the recent arsons. One of the first targets to burn down was Portero, a town 20 miles southeast of San Diego on the Mexican border. Portero had become a national cause célèbre for its determined opposition to the Blackwater mercenary company setting up a thousand acre training facility in its boundaries. Nowadays the people of Portero, though, have more immediate interests than peacenik protests, like rebuilding their homes. Blackwater has gone on record in recent days. An official spokesman lamented the bad luck that hit poor Portero. He wished aloud that Blackwater had finished building its Portero facility, since then the town could have relied on their fire equipment and water reserves. In all probability, area residents will now welcome any investments, and they won't be so picky about who is making them. Private military contractors have picked up the scent of smoke, and several of them are now shopping around the idea of a yearly contract fee for interested municipalities, presumably to supplement their firefighters and police with motivated mercenaries. It goes without saying that where there is smoke there is fire, and it shouldn't go unsaid that, occasionally, where there is arson there is extortion. # # # Captain May is a former Army military intelligence and public affairs officer, as well as a former NBC editorial writer. His political and military analyses have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Houston Chronicle and Military Intelligence Magazine. On Thursday, 1/11, he will appear on KBOO radio in Portland to discuss the California fires with Presswatch host Theresa Mitchell. The program will air at 9 a.m. Pacific Time: http://kboo.fm/program/presswatch
