Posted on 03/06/2012 3:19:18 PM PST by IbJensen
WikiLeaks has been releasing emails pilfered from Stratfor, a private global intelligence firm. One email thread in particular has been grabbing headlines today, even though it was actually disclosed last week – The Journal has a story dated March 1st about them.
In this exchange, Stratfor’s vice-president for intelligence, Fred Burton, discusses the disposal of Osama bin Laden’s corpse with CEO George Friedman, and suggests he thinks the official account of bin Laden’s burial at sea is false.
These were internal and confidential emails, sent between the officers of a private firm. They’re big news today because a hacker group stole them, and handed them over to WikiLeaks. There probably isn’t much point in tut-tutting everyone about eagerly taking part in this forcible violation of privacy, but it’s interesting to observe that many of those feasting upon Stratfor’s data today would, on any other day, profess themselves deeply concerned about violations of their digital privacy. Why is anyone who frets about the Patriot Act more comfortable with privacy that exists only until a group of hackers – appointed by no one and accountable to no one - decides to violate it?
Stratfor CEO George Friedman released a statement about the hacker attack on his company’s systems, which he called “a deplorable, unfortunate – and illegal – breach of privacy.” He said this was “a direct attack on Stratfor” designed to “silence and intimidate the company,” and also warned that “some of the emails may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies.” One of the reasons he made this statement was that a fraudulent email supposedly announcing his resignation gained wide circulation on the Internet.
Friedman said Stratfor would not validate any of the leaked correspondence, because “having had our property stolen, we will not be victimized twice by submitting to questions about them.”
Now that global media organizations are writing about the bin Laden exchange, there’s no way to un-spill the milk. If Stratfor sticks to its guns and refuses to confirm the validity of the leaked data, we’re left to consider the conversation on its merits, and wonder if the participants – who are well-connected private analysts, not government officials – actually had access to information concealed from the rest of the world.
In the leaked email exchange, intelligence VP Burton expressed a bit of skepticism toward the official story of bin Laden’s aquatic corpse disposal. A few hours after the raid on the old monster’s compound, Burton said “Reportedly, we took the body with us. Thank goodness.”
25 minutes later, he sent an email declaring “Body bound for Dover, DE on CIA plane. Than [sic] onward to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Bethesda.”
An hour later, Burton once again says he “doubts” bin Laden’s body was dumped at sea, because “we would want to photograph, DNA, fingerprint, etc.” the remains. He discusses the similarity of the bin Laden situation and the death of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann with company CEO George Friedman, who is the son of Holocaust survivors, and a student of military history. Friedman points out that “Eichmann was seen alive for many months on trial before being sentenced to death and executed,” although his body was then cremated to avoid creating a shrine for Nazi die-hards. He thought this was very different than “suddenly burying [bin Laden] at sea without any chance to view him, which I doubt happened.”
Burton agrees with this analysis, and says “the US Govt needs to make body pics available like the MX’s do, with OBL’s pants pulled down, to shout down the lunatics like Alex Jones and Glenn Beck.” I can’t speak for Jones and Beck, but I would like to assure the Administration and the U.S. military that I really don’t need to see that photo.
Fred Burton, in addition to his position at Stratfor and a career in counter-terrorism at the State Department, is also a published author. According to his author bio at MacMillan, he has appeared on Glenn Beck’s show. I haven’t been able to find audio of the appearance, but perhaps Beck will discuss it during his radio show today. It’s not impossible that Burton would nevertheless regard Beck as a “lunatic” on par with Alex Jones, or that he has come to view Beck that way since his last appearance on the show, but it seems a bit unlikely.
A few hours later, an email Burton declared, “Body is Dover bound, should be here by now.”
Once again, we don’t know if this email exchange is genuine, and even if it is, we don’t know if Burton was addressing solid information. The entire leaked conversation between Burton and Friedman happened within eight hours of bin Laden’s death, when a lot of very excited people were saying a lot of different things. The Obama Administration ended up revising the official story of bin Laden’s death something like forty times over the following week.
It’s quite possible these leaked emails are frauds. It is also possible that they are genuine, and Fred Burton was both sincere and misinformed. The decision to release this information to the public was not made by the owners of the Stratfor data, experienced security analysts, or highly trained counter-terrorism officers, but by anonymous hackers.
I would have Osama in the ground, face down, with his butt pointed toward Mecca and a greasy pork sausage stuck therein. Film the whole thing. Completely unmarked and unknown location, then put the film on you tube.
Of course he wasn’t buried at sea. The administration played a SNL “Because You’ll Believe Anything” moment for us!
Actually, I heard they dumped his rotting remains in a pig pen at some farmer’s place in North Carolina. The farmer had to call the vet as four of his pigs got sick and died and the others were put in the vet’s hospital with several internal injuries.
Sounds like a non story to me. The Stratfor guys are speculating. I don’t see any corroboration for Burton’s statement that the body was “Dover bound”
Very badly handled, both from the viewpoint of our national interest, and as propaganda for Obama’s re-election campaign.
Although I guess he knew he could count on the MSM to blare from time to time what a great hero Obama is for getting bin Ladin, after Bush failed to do so. Never mind any inconvenient or missing details.
“Stratfor analysts think bin Laden was not buried at sea”
Me either. I think hussein took him to a taxidermy place since he was personally responsible for bagging the creep. :)
Ebay...
Osama is alive and living in Brazil with Mengele and Hitler.
What?! Obama LIED?! Damn, that shatters my whole image.....NOT!
No he’s not. He’s living in a rest home in Texas with Elvis and JFK.
“Hagfish are eel-shaped slime-producing marine animals (occasionally called slime eels), that average about 18” in length. They are the only living animals that have a skull but not a vertebral column. They are sometimes called ‘the most disgusting creature in the sea.’
“Hagfish can exude copious quantities of a slime or mucus, and can feed upon and often even enter and eviscerate the bodies of dead and dying/injured creatures much larger than themselves. They are known to devour their victims from the inside.
“Hagfish are typically found in large clusters on and near the sea bottom, and will typically swarm a larger carcass as it descends, creating substantial amounts of slime to keep away other scavengers.”
You don’t just pop a terrorist leader you’ve been after for years, went to war over, and who masterminded 911 and throw him on a boat and run and dump him in the water.
The whole thing sounded as phony as obama birth certificate story.
************
Agreed completely. I was offended that Obongo thought I’d believe that horse$hit story.
Mind you, if **I** had been President, his head would have been preserved, stuffed, mounted, and hung on the wall of the Oval Office. And the rest of the corpse sewn inside a pigskin, immersed in liquified pig fat, then burned to a powder, and baked into pork-infused bricks. Then put those bricks into the foundation of the new WTC and over at the Pentagon. . .
. . .but that’s just me. . .
setting up seal team six never made sense. there was no reason
but if osama was captured alive and not killed... then it all makes a bit more sense.
and really, what good muslim would kill osama if they could avoid it (while removing a valuable source of information against a distributed cell network)
No way, he's running a convenience store in Chicago. Mayor Rhambo stops there every morning for coffee.
“I would have Osama in the ground, face down, with his butt pointed toward Mecca and a greasy pork sausage stuck therein.”
You have a way with words, sir. LOL!
Multiple false flags always camouflage the truth....
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