Everyone loves a conspiracy.
An outlandish word most everyone thinks about today whenever a national tragedy occurs. Ever since witnesses say they heard shots fired from the grassy knoll the day President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas Nov. 22, 1963, a swarm of doubt and paranoia has led Americans and the world to believe that behind every groundbreaking news story is a cover-up.
What happened to Princess Diana in August is the latest example. On the night the world learned she died in a car crash; a coworker said the whole thing was probably a plot.
He wasn’t the only one to conclude this. Took the news media less than a week to start reporting of possible conspiracy scenarios.
Shows like “Primetime Live” last month questioned driver Henri Paul’s behavior at the Ritz, who according to the hotel’s surveillance cameras acting like he is in complete control of himself. What the program didn’t tell viewers though is the known fact some people who drink can develop a high tolerance to alcohol without anyone knowing they are drunk.
And just when I thought French investigators were about ready to close the books on what was the most watched televised event since JFK’s funeral; blaming the cause of the crash primarily on Henri Paul and not necessarily the paparazzi, new stories are surfacing.
Now there are reports a second car may have been involved. French investigators have apparently found fragments of taillight covers near the scene believed to belong to a Fiat that might have hit the princess’ car from behind before the crash.
A story reported by the Associated Press Sept. 21 says a couple of “unidentified witnesses” say they saw “a small hatchback...near the smashed Mercedes” that raced away from the scene going about 70 m.p.h.
“My own feeling is that these were people in a hurry not to be there,” said British lawyer Gary Hunter who was quoted in London’s Sunday Times. “I am confident that the car was getting off the scene...it looked quite sinister.”
The fact Diana’s bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones can’t recall what happened in those final moments before the crash will only raise more questions than answers.
This comes as no shock considering the public still has doubts about a couple of “unresolved mysteries.”
Earlier this year, journalist Pierre Salinger released photos to the media of what he says was a missile believed to be in the sky shortly before TWA Flight 800 exploded shortly after takeoff last July. Salinger has since gone on record accusing the government, law enforcement agencies and the military of being involved in a massive cover-up.
His contention is the crash was caused by our nation’s armed forces who he thinks may have been in the area conducting military exercises at the time of the explosion.
A segment of “20/20” shot earlier last summer, however, showed the probability existed that a spark from a half empty fuel tank on the plane could have brought down the 747.
In the case of the Oklahoma City bombing, defense attorneys for suspect Terry Nichols will mention again that “John Doe 2” still exists or died in the explosion of the Murrah Federal Building that killed 168 people two years ago.
This theory, however, much less the fact the terrorist act may have been the result of an international conspiracy, did not convince the previous jury who convicted bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh last June to die by lethal injection.
Even after the guilty verdict was read, however, people still didn’t believe McVeigh was the only one involved.
A poll taken in the June 16 issue of Time said 77 percent of Americans believe law enforcement officials have not apprehended everyone involved in the Oklahoma City bombing.
The following week, an article in the June 23 issue, said militia groups sent out “reports of seismographic readings that pointed to two distinct explosions, 10 seconds apart on April 19, 1995.”
The article quoted a Washington State patriot leader saying, “Incontrovertible scientific evidence exists to refute the single-bomb theory.”
And so Princess Diana, like the JFK Assassination, TWA Flight 800, and Oklahoma City before her, is the latest in a long list of national tragedies people still continue to question that includes the deaths of Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Marilyn Monroe, and the events surrounding Roswell, Watergate, Iran Contra, Whitewater and the Branch Davidian Siege in Waco, Texas.
Thank the tabloid television news media, the internet, liberal Hollywood and print journalism for all this.
Because of them, the word “trust” has not been a part of society’s vocabulary since 1963 and that is just as sad and tragic as the incidents themselves.
©10/8/97
An outlandish word most everyone thinks about today whenever a national tragedy occurs. Ever since witnesses say they heard shots fired from the grassy knoll the day President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas Nov. 22, 1963, a swarm of doubt and paranoia has led Americans and the world to believe that behind every groundbreaking news story is a cover-up.
What happened to Princess Diana in August is the latest example. On the night the world learned she died in a car crash; a coworker said the whole thing was probably a plot.
He wasn’t the only one to conclude this. Took the news media less than a week to start reporting of possible conspiracy scenarios.
Shows like “Primetime Live” last month questioned driver Henri Paul’s behavior at the Ritz, who according to the hotel’s surveillance cameras acting like he is in complete control of himself. What the program didn’t tell viewers though is the known fact some people who drink can develop a high tolerance to alcohol without anyone knowing they are drunk.
And just when I thought French investigators were about ready to close the books on what was the most watched televised event since JFK’s funeral; blaming the cause of the crash primarily on Henri Paul and not necessarily the paparazzi, new stories are surfacing.
Now there are reports a second car may have been involved. French investigators have apparently found fragments of taillight covers near the scene believed to belong to a Fiat that might have hit the princess’ car from behind before the crash.
A story reported by the Associated Press Sept. 21 says a couple of “unidentified witnesses” say they saw “a small hatchback...near the smashed Mercedes” that raced away from the scene going about 70 m.p.h.
“My own feeling is that these were people in a hurry not to be there,” said British lawyer Gary Hunter who was quoted in London’s Sunday Times. “I am confident that the car was getting off the scene...it looked quite sinister.”
The fact Diana’s bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones can’t recall what happened in those final moments before the crash will only raise more questions than answers.
This comes as no shock considering the public still has doubts about a couple of “unresolved mysteries.”
Earlier this year, journalist Pierre Salinger released photos to the media of what he says was a missile believed to be in the sky shortly before TWA Flight 800 exploded shortly after takeoff last July. Salinger has since gone on record accusing the government, law enforcement agencies and the military of being involved in a massive cover-up.
His contention is the crash was caused by our nation’s armed forces who he thinks may have been in the area conducting military exercises at the time of the explosion.
A segment of “20/20” shot earlier last summer, however, showed the probability existed that a spark from a half empty fuel tank on the plane could have brought down the 747.
In the case of the Oklahoma City bombing, defense attorneys for suspect Terry Nichols will mention again that “John Doe 2” still exists or died in the explosion of the Murrah Federal Building that killed 168 people two years ago.
This theory, however, much less the fact the terrorist act may have been the result of an international conspiracy, did not convince the previous jury who convicted bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh last June to die by lethal injection.
Even after the guilty verdict was read, however, people still didn’t believe McVeigh was the only one involved.
A poll taken in the June 16 issue of Time said 77 percent of Americans believe law enforcement officials have not apprehended everyone involved in the Oklahoma City bombing.
The following week, an article in the June 23 issue, said militia groups sent out “reports of seismographic readings that pointed to two distinct explosions, 10 seconds apart on April 19, 1995.”
The article quoted a Washington State patriot leader saying, “Incontrovertible scientific evidence exists to refute the single-bomb theory.”
And so Princess Diana, like the JFK Assassination, TWA Flight 800, and Oklahoma City before her, is the latest in a long list of national tragedies people still continue to question that includes the deaths of Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Marilyn Monroe, and the events surrounding Roswell, Watergate, Iran Contra, Whitewater and the Branch Davidian Siege in Waco, Texas.
Thank the tabloid television news media, the internet, liberal Hollywood and print journalism for all this.
Because of them, the word “trust” has not been a part of society’s vocabulary since 1963 and that is just as sad and tragic as the incidents themselves.
©10/8/97
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