Cult Watch
See other Cult Watch Articles
Title: High-Ranking Members Of US Military Part Of ‘Knights of Malta,’ ‘Opus Dei,’ Reporter Claims
Source:
RawStory
URL Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/ ... alta-opus-dei-reporter-claims/
Published: Jan 21, 2011
Author: Stephen C. Webster
Post Date: 2011-01-21 14:15:35 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 28824
Comments: 34
Veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh has broken some massive stories in his day, but uncovering secret societies within the highest echelons of America's military would probably be the biggest of his career.
Well, get ready for the media storm: That's essentially what Hersh told an audience in Doha, Qatar recently, according to a report published earlier this week by Foreign Policy.
Speaking at a campus operated by Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, Hersh said he was working on a new book that details "how eight or nine neoconservative, radicals if you will, overthrew the American government."
"It's not only that the neocons took it over but how easily they did it -- how Congress disappeared, how the press became part of it, how the public acquiesced," he continued, according to the published quotes.
Hersh also lamented President Obama's continuance of the Bush administration's worst abuses.
"Just when we needed an angry black man, we didn't get one," he reportedly said.
The Foreign Policy report added that in 2003, those "in the Cheney shop" were not concerned about the havoc the invasion of Iraq was destined to cause.
"[The] attitude was, 'What's this? What are they all worried about, the politicians and the press, they're all worried about some looting?" Hersh was quoted as saying. "Don't they get it? We're gonna change moseques into cathedrals. And when we get all the oil, nobody's gonna give a damn.' That's the attitude. We're gonna chance mosques into cathedrals. That's an attitude that pervades, I'm here to say, a large percentage of the Joint Special Operations Command [JSOC]."
He further claimed that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Vice Admiral William McRaven and others in the JSOC were members of the "Knights of Malta" and "Opus Dei," two little known Catholic orders.
"They do see what they're doing -- and this is not an atypical attitude among some military -- it's a crusade, literally," Hersh reportedly continued. "They see themselves as the protectors of the Christians. They're protecting them from the Muslims [as in] the 13th century. And this is their function."
He added that members of these societies have developed a secret set of insignias that represent "the whole notion that this is a culture war" between religions.
It was President George W. Bush who first invoked images of a holy war in the Middle East, when he suggested soon after Sept. 11, 2001 that the US was on a "crusade" in the region.
The "Knights of Malta" were a Catholic order founded in 1085 as a group of monks who cared for the wounded. It evolved into a military order that safeguarded Christian pilgrims from Muslims during the nine "Crusades," where Europe's Christian states laid siege to Muslims for control of Jerusalem.
"Opus Dei," popularly depicted in the Hollywood film "The DaVinci Code," was founded in 1928 and officially accepted as part of the Catholic church in 1947. The group's website claimed their principle calling was to bring about a "Christian renewal" around the world.
Doubts, denials and a distinctive trend
Raw Story reached out to Hersh and The New Yorker to confirm the accuracy of his quotes, placing this report on hold until they responded. Both declined to make any further statement, neither confirming nor denying the quotes.
However, one source close to Hersh who spoke to Raw Story off the record, suggested that Foreign Policy's report was indeed correct.
Raw Story followed-up on the quotes due to a widely-reported false claim attributed to Hersh in May 2009, where he'd allegedly said former Vice President Dick Cheney ordered the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
The report, which appeared to have originated in Pakistan, was picked up by The Wall Street Journal and the conservative-leaning American Spectator, but both removed the links after Raw Story published a denial from Hersh. A link to Raw Story's original report was unavailable due to a database malfunction.
Hersh, a Pulitzer-winning author and reporter, has previously reported that the JSOC was set up by former Vice President Cheney as something of an "executive assassination squad" that operated outside of congressional authority.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who resigned after Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings quoted him mocking the US civilian command, led JSOC before taking command of America's war effort in Afghanistan.
In an email to the military's Stars and Stripes publication, McChrystal's spokesman, David Bolger, panned Hersh's claim.
“The allegations recently made by Seymour Hersh relating to General McChrystal’s involvement with an organization called The Knights of Malta are completely false and without basis in fact,” he reportedly wrote. “General McChrystal is not and has never been a member of that organization.”
The religious indoctrination of US soldiers has been in headlines in recent weeks as soldiers who "failed" the "spiritual fitness" portion of the "comprehensive soldier fitness" test claimed they were forced to attend Christian ceremonies and become "born again" by professing love for the Christian deity.
Similarly, GQ magazine uncovered last year a series of top-secret military briefings prepared by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that included passages from the Bible.
Trijicon Inc., a defense contractor, was also discovered last Janurary to have been for years placing scriptural references on gun sights used by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Their actions revealed, Trijicon was forced to provide the Pentagon with kits to remove the codes. (1 image)
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
He further claimed that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Vice Admiral William McRaven and others in the JSOC were members of the "Knights of Malta" and "Opus Dei," two little known Catholic orders."They do see what they're doing -- and this is not an atypical attitude among some military -- it's a crusade, literally," Hersh reportedly continued. "They see themselves as the protectors of the Christians. They're protecting them from the Muslims [as in] the 13th century. And this is their function."
Raw Story reached out to Hersh and The New Yorker to confirm the accuracy of his quotes, placing this report on hold until they responded. Both declined to make any further statement, neither confirming nor denying the quotes.
However, one source close to Hersh who spoke to Raw Story off the record, suggested that Foreign Policy's report was indeed correct.
I call BS, Hersh did not confirm this and the Catholic Church under Pope John Paul II considered the Iraq War of Bush to be an illegal, sinful, immoral war.
If anything, the Iraq war was praised not in American Catholic circles but in Messianic American Protestant circles because they were in "rapture" mode after 9/11.
http://www.cjd.org/paper/jp2war.html
Pope John Paul II calls War a Defeat for Humanity: Neoconservative Iraq Just War Theories Rejected
#2. To: Brian S (#0)
Why would the information in the article be a surprise.
Reinhard Gehlen (3 April 1902 – 8 June 1979) was a General in the German Army during World War II, who served as chief of intelligence-gathering on the Eastern Front. After the war, he was recruited by the United States military to set up a spy ring directed against the Soviet Union (known as the Gehlen Organization), and eventually became head of the West German intelligence apparatus. He served as the first President of the Federal Intelligence Service until 1968. Gehlen is considered one of the most legendary Cold War spymasters.
Knight of Malta [wiki]
Google Nazi's - Knight of Malta
Then the Ratline/operation paperclip of Nazi's out to USA,South Am.
Dulles Brothers and Nazi's,....and Knights of Malta.
#3. To: Brian S (#0)
Now this is getting weird.
Only one media, FP, had this.
Not one other media picked it up. At least a google found nothing else.
As RawStory alludes.
But then the Starsand Stripes Immediately comes out to disavow.
A Non Denial Denial. The problem for SpecOps now is that the military is dividing into religious camps. That's what happens when the firewall is breached.
SpecOps Catholic. AirForce Evangelical.
On Sunday, Bush warned Americans that "this crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take awhile." He and other US officials have said that renegade Islamic fundamentalist Osama bin Laden is the most likely suspect in the attacks.
And a btw. Until this post I found it impossible to find this quote. Thanx to RawStory/Starsand Stripes and the CSMonitor. And you BrianS for bringing it to LF. 8D
#4. To: Godwinson (#1)
I call BS, Hersh did not confirm this and the Catholic Church under Pope John Paul II considered the Iraq War of Bush to be an illegal, sinful, immoral war.If anything, the Iraq war was praised not in American Catholic circles but in Messianic American Protestant circles because they were in "rapture" mode after 9/11.
Means nothing.
Seen the pope ex communicate anyone?
Like the Waffen SS, 25% Catholic. None ever excommunicated.
But the pope took out that Nicaraguan priest and Aristiede post Haste.
Fascists. Like Spain's Catholic Franco.
#5. To: mcgowanjm (#4)
Means nothing.
It means everything. The Catholic Church did not back Bush nor like him much under John Paul II. I am not a Catholic either so I am not doing this to support that church. It is clear that the ones screaming for a "crusade" these last 8 years were the right wing American fundamentalist Christian Zionists and their Zionist Jewish co-conspirators.
"Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!" - Various Tea Party signs.
#6. To: Godwinson (#5) (Edited)
It is clear that the ones screaming for a "crusade" these last 8 years were the right wing American fundamentalist Christian Zionists and their Zionist Jewish co-conspirators.
Indeed.
Welcome to the forum btw. Hope to see you around here often.
:)
Never swear "allegiance" to anything other than the 'right to change your mind'!
#7. To: Godwinson (#5)
You have to make allowances for that one. Ruddie has Jedi level cognitive dissonance skills.
#8. To: Ferret Mike (#7)
Typical response to a run of the mill site commie pest. No amount of fact makes a dent in your indoctrination. You hate people and freedom. That is why you are a leftist. You hate life and what it offers and that is why you are a proud member of the death cult called homosexuality.
Well, [war's] got to do something for attention, his multiple personalities aren't speaking to him any more, and his imaginary friends keep finding excuses not to come over.
#9. To: Godwinson (#5)
The Catholic Church did not back Bush nor like him much under John Paul II.
As I recall, Bush's war policy was at odds with the Church's teaching on "just war".
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains. Thomas Jefferson
#10. To: Rudgear (#8)
Heh, yeah, the big lie technique; I am not against gays, so I must be one.
Sorry dumbshit, but not hating homosexuals just ain't the same as being one.
#11. To: lucysmom (#9)
As I recall, Bush's war policy was at odds with the Church's teaching on "just war".
I recall Freerepublic went from praising the late pope to calling him vile names after he condemned Bush's war of choice.
"Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!" - Various Tea Party signs.
#12. To: Rudgear (#8)
"No amount of fact makes a dent in your indoctrination."
You Rightwing Wingnutz are gonna start posting facts? It that not against your core principles? ;-D
Sorry, that is just stretching things way too much.
#13. To: Ferret Mike (#10)
True to form, you routinely misread what is sent to you. Cognitive Dissonance issues, perhaps? You are a liberal because you hate your fellow man, so you find refuge in socialismliberalismcommunism. The picture you post of yourself does not argue your case for you, Tinkerbell.
You yourself resorted to vehemence and name calling, so I have to conclude I hit another one out of the park with regards to you.
Well, [war's] got to do something for attention, his multiple personalities aren't speaking to him any more, and his imaginary friends keep finding excuses not to come over.
#14. To: Ferret Mike (#10)
Sorry dumbshit, but not hating homosexuals just ain't the same as being one.
Happy, mature people are really too busy and satisfied with their own lives to waste time hating anyone.
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains. Thomas Jefferson
#15. To: lucysmom (#14)
Sorry dumbshit, but not hating homosexuals just ain't the same as being one.Happy, mature people are really too busy and satisfied with their own lives to waste time hating anyone.
That sounds like hate to me. BTW, you two are the ones who spend your days posting here. I MEAN ALL DAY. Being Democrats and fascists or communist sounds like you two have the hate issues.
Well, [war's] got to do something for attention, his multiple personalities aren't speaking to him any more, and his imaginary friends keep finding excuses not to come over.
#16. To: Rudgear, Ferret Mike, lucysmom (#13)
You are a liberal because you hate your fellow man,
Why do conservatives who love their fellow man fight against a social safety net?
"Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!" - Various Tea Party signs.
#17. To: Rudgear (#15)
BTW, you two are the ones who spend your days posting here. I MEAN ALL DAY.
Then you ain't paying attention.
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains. Thomas Jefferson
#18. To: lucysmom (#17)
Then you ain't paying attention.
You spend even more time? Maybe that's a blessing for Lucy. The more time you waste here the less time you have to screw up her thinking.
Well, [war's] got to do something for attention, his multiple personalities aren't speaking to him any more, and his imaginary friends keep finding excuses not to come over.
#19. To: Rudgear (#15)
"That sounds like hate to me. BTW, you two are the ones who spend your days posting here. I MEAN ALL DAY."
I generally always have one of my laptops with me, and thus it is easy to tune in here as I do what I mainly do. Thus your laughable notion I would spend all day in this place is yet again a technique you use to skew reality.
You also ignore how 'Gnu name, same idiot,' And other people hardly ever do not mention homosexuality in their posts.
I never post here at home, as I only share wifi IP numbers with sites like this, and I view this sort of posting as a minor sidebar diversion to other things I do.
But in any event, thanks for the amusing Penny Little grade distortion. I am much entertained.
#20. To: lucysmom (#17)
"Then you ain't paying attention."
Or using all of his or her brain housing group.
#21. To: Ferret Mike (#19)
Message boards are what you mainly do.
As for brain capacity, I'm not the one clinging to a system of governance that has failed every time it has been applied so much so that it must fall back on capitalism to fund itself as fascism. Then the icing on the cake is to broad-brush everyone who points out the truth to you as a fascist.
Perhaps a brainy guy like you can explain the popular tactic of calling someone who accuses you of doingbeing the very thing you do or are? It wouldn't be to put the other one on the defensive, would it?
Well, [war's] got to do something for attention, his multiple personalities aren't speaking to him any more, and his imaginary friends keep finding excuses not to come over.
#22. To: Rudgear (#18)
The more time you waste here the less time you have to screw up her thinking.
LOL.
True.
ME: Thanks for admitting that you ARE trying to spin this (AZ shooting, and terrorism) onto Palin, and conservatives in general.
Brian S(ocialist): I have never hidden that fact...
"There will be no more money when the U.S. dollar has no value, until that time we can keep printing more." -- go65, LF's resident mental giant --
#23. To: Rudgear (#21)
"Message boards are what you mainly do."
Once upon a time, that was true of my Internet activity. Not anymore though.
There are many more options for both making money on the 'Net these days, and forums are a smalled segment of the ways there are to talk politics online.
But thanks for sharing your goofy spin, I'm much amused.
#24. To: Rudgear (#21)
"Perhaps a brainy guy like you can explain the popular tactic of calling someone who accuses you of doing being the very thing you do or are? It wouldn't be to put the other one on the defensive, would it?"
I don't have the time I once had to post in forums, and to do as you say I would have to cut my local associations and activities if I were to try to relive the Time.Com/Politics board days I loved so much.
I just keep my finger on the pulse of forums and do far more lurking when I've the time than posting.
And when I post, I don't sweat the small stuff. Name calling, insults, slander, and the use of unethical tactics I usually leave to you guys in here.
I will elbow someone right back rhetorically, but it generally takes a rhetorical punch at me to get one back. To me, this sort of posting is minor league shadow boxing and not worth a large expenditure of energy getting upset over when there is some cause to, and I don't bother hating anyone in any forum I talk on. It is a waste of time and energy.
#25. To: Ferret Mike (#23)
See, I don't think you are amused. I think you are basically an angry person with the hate graphics on every post. You come across as intelligent but not to bright, and you can't figure out why you aren't more successful in life. It never seems to occur to you its the wedding of impractical, unworkable and failed values of socialism that, while they seem benevolent, they do not produce anything but a spoiled fruit.
Perhaps you've followed the pipers call for more than half your life and have discovered that it was all a lie and a manipulation by scuzzy politicians who didn't believe it themselves and now you feel stuck.
Or maybe you've never learned that lesson and you still think that a skillful dose of poison yet will cure the patient and Barry Hussein the media fiction is just the one to apply it through socialized medicine.
Either way don't you think it is time for you to put away childish things and become a man?
Well, [war's] got to do something for attention, his multiple personalities aren't speaking to him any more, and his imaginary friends keep finding excuses not to come over.
#26. To: Rudgear (#25) (Edited)
Heh, you should like the proverbial blind men trying to describe an elephant they are looking at with their hands.
You are always welcome to share your impressions of me. Fortunately for me however, they are far from the mark.
You mention my signature graphics, and ignore the attacks against the person which is generally the core element of many posts in here. You ignore how some used the title and ping posting bocks inappropriately. And generally, if a person close to your political stripe is doing that you feel that the end justifies the means and would never speak out against such a thing anyway.
Note I have no signature at Robin's place. I rarely use them - especially bombastic ones unless there are a whole lot of abuses going on in a place like this one.
Tell you what, if this place ever gets good management and the monkeyshines stop, I'll ditch the graphics I got both from Robin's place and DU. I'm not particularly attached to them.
You also speak of intelligence in a manner meant to insult in a passive aggressive manner.
Suffice it to say, as I don't care whether you can understand I am as heterosexual as you claim to be, I don't much care of your what your subjective measurement of my mental horsepower is.
I don't care either of how financially successful you feel I am either. That's just more passive aggressive backhanding, and there is no cause to get excited at suck badly aimed arrows.
As for manhood, learn President Obama's name, then get back to me with the alleged lack of maturity comment. Again, you create entertainment for me, and not much else. Cheers, and thanks for sharing. ;-D
#27. To: Godwinson (#5)
Means nothing.It means everything. The Catholic Church did not back Bush nor like him much under John Paul II.
Then it's useless.
"Eventually, though, even Pope John Paul II had to give up his opposition to the war and deal with the cold, violent realities on the ground. He no longer inveighs against the invasion and Vatican officials insist that Western troops need to stay in Iraq as long as is necessary in order to ensure the stability of the nation and freedom of the Iraqi people. To quote one source at the Vatican, “The vase had been broken, and we have to try to find a way to mend it.”
Again I note how quickly the Church fights v Liberation Theology, Defrocking ExCommunicating anyone in it's way.
The Last time you heard Freemasons and Opus Dei denounced was....;}
#28. To: mcgowanjm (#27)
I am not seeing this as you are - that the Vatican was working with Bush to invade the Muslim world. Sorry.
"Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!" - Various Tea Party signs.
#29. To: Godwinson (#28)
I am not seeing this as you are - that the Vatican was working with Bush to invade the Muslim world. Sorry.
Don't be sorry. You're trying. And that's a great start.
;}
Did they ever find out who killed Roberto Calvi and $$$ laundered for the IOR?
Just askin. 8D
#30. To: All (#29) (Edited)
Guess not. 8D# # Pope's decree vows to tackle money-laundering in Vatican Dec 30, 2010... into the Institute for Religious Works (IOR) — the official name of ... from the IOR after the financial intelligence office at the Bank ... mafiatoday.com/.../popes-...ey-laundering-in-vatican/ - Cached
Roberto Calvi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia On the day before his body was found, Calvi had been stripped of his post at ... belonging to the P2 lodge, or to the Institute for Religious Works (the Vatican ... since the prosecutor's office in Rome had already opened a second ... the character of Tony, played by Heath Ledger, is found hanging (alive) under ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Calvi -
#31. To: Godwinson (#28)
I am not seeing this as you are - that the Vatican was working with Bush to invade the Muslim world. Sorry.
Meanwhile, BA was in dire financial straits. Calvi began skimming from illicit funds flowing through BA to prop up existing bad loans, and even agreed to "launder" drug money for gangsters. He reportedly sought financial aid from a Catholic organization called the Opus Dei ("God's Work") a secretive but large and politically influential masochistic/self-flagellation cult of which John Paul II is a member (as is FBI Director Louis Freeh), and traveled to London to meet with group's treasurer in hopes of selling it a minority stake in BA. But Calvi's good luck had run out. He'd double-crossed too many powerful people for too long and his wholesale skimming operation threatened to set off a massive political scandal. On June 17, 1982, Calvi was found hanging by a rope around his neck from a bridge in Rome, dead. A decade later, a Mafia defector told investigators Calvi had been killed on the orders of a British drug dealer named Francesco DiCarlo.
#32. To: mcgowanjm (#31)
I honestly don't get what you are on about. I am not Catholic but I don't see the Bush connection. All I have read indicates an anti-Bush policy by the late pope during the Iraq war. Sorry.
"Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!" - Various Tea Party signs.
#33. To: Godwinson (#32)
I am not Catholic but I don't see the Bush connection.
Where did I say 'bush Catholic connection'?
#34. To: Godwinson (#32)
All I have read indicates an anti-Bush policy by the late pope during the Iraq war. Sorry.
Now we have a problem.
And I see a solution.
Expand your reading list.
The Vatican gets foamy at the mouth when Capitalism/fascism is questioned.
Note, Again, the number of ExCommunicated. And how quickly.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]