“Which story is worse? (…) The answer is they’re both as bad. In both scenarios, an utterly false picture of what happened in Salisbury was given to the skeptical President to twist his arm into taking action he didn’t want to take. As they say, when in a hole, better stop digging.”

Rob Slane — The Blogmire

June 9 2019 — First, The New York Times told us that CIA Director Gina Haspel had showed President Trump some (fake) pictures of dead ducks and sick children to persuade him to retaliate against Russia for the Skripals’ poisoning. Two months later, the New York Times journalist claims that he made a mistake. Such pictures do not — of course — exist. And now, the readers are asked to believe that Haspel showed some pictures of ‘actual nerve agent victims’ who were never anywhere near Salisbury to persuade Trump to take the strongest action. Seriously? Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

RELATED POST: On This Day — The Skripals Drama Begins (March 4 2018)

RELATED POST: The Skripal Affair — Does Anyone Believe The Official Narrative?

RELATED POST: Skripal Poisoning : Medics Reveal Fears [Documentary]

RELATED POST: Salisbury Incident — President Putin : “Skripal Would Be Dead If Poisoned By Novichok”

RELATED POST: Salisbury Incident — OPCW Corrects Own Director Over Novichok

RELATED POST: Salisbury Incident — UK Media silenced by D-Notices Over Skripal Affair

“This gentleman, Skripal, had already been punished. He was arrested, sentenced and then served time in prison. He received his punishment. For that matter, he was off the radar. Why would anybody be interested in him? He got punished. He was detained, arrested, sentenced and then spent five years in prison. Then he was released and that was it.”

 President Vladimir Putin  (June 27 2019)

UPDATE (June 27 2021) — According to Wikipedia, The Salisbury Poisonings is a fact-based television drama, starring Anne-Marie Duff, Rafe Spall and Annabel Scholey which portrays the 2018 Novichok poisonings and decontamination crisis in Salisbury, England, and the subsequent Amesbury poisonings.

Writing in The Guardian, Lucy Mangan praised the show’s script and direction as being “admirably restrained”, and compared the calm actions of its characters facing a “new normal” to the reactions of the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The following message appears in the introduction of the series:

“In 2018, the people of Salisbury were faced with an unprecedented crisis. A chemical weapons attack on a British city. Based on first hand accounts and extensive interviews, this is their story.”

And yet, at the beginning of part II, a friend of Sergei Skripal tells an extraordinary story.

Inspector — Do you remember exactly what he [Skripal] said?

Friend — He said: “Putin is going to get me.”

This is total nonsense. This is not only false, it is the exact opposite of what happened.

When Sergei Skripal recovered, he was told that the UK intelligence agencies suspected that Russia was behind the assassination attempt.

His reaction to the news was very clear. Sergei stated that he believes none of that…

I was flummoxed and speechless. Why the lies? Why repeating, time and again, this nonsensical anti-Russia propaganda?

I asked the opinion of a person who knows a thing or two about UK intelligence agencies and their links to the British media. Here is his reply:

“I believe there can be no doubt that the Guardian is ruled by the Spooks. I watched the Salisbury Poisonings for less than half an hour until I realised that it was a work of political fiction.

The Guardian seem to take their orders from the Integrity Initiative and/or the 77th brigade or some other grouping of security/intel agencies.”

Let me repeat one more time. As Rob Slane — The Blogmire — has convincingly explained, the official ‘Salisbury poisonings’ narrative put out by the Metropolitan Police is not simply questionable, it is plain impossible.

The simple fact that the MET removed their ‘official timeline’ from their website is evidence to that!

“Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.” [Franklin D. Roosevelt]

This new series has only reinforced my suspicions… Like Sergei Skripal, I believe none of it.

END of UPDATE

“A lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good, just because it’s accepted by a majority.”

Booker T. Washington

UPDATE (June 9 2021) — No one who has looked into the case in any detail can possibly be satisfied that the account given by the UK Government and The Metropolitan Police is correct.

The narrative put out by the Metropolitan Police is not simply questionable, it is plain impossible. I believe that this affair is a carefully constructed drama to push Russia in a corner and justify Western foreign policies in various places such as Ukraine, Iran and Syria.

Who really tried to assassinate Sergei Skripal? And why?

RELATED POST: Three Years Ago — The Skripals Drama Begins (March 4 2018) [UPDATE : From Novichok to SPUTNIK V]

Over the last 12 months, we have learned absolutely nothing new regarding this specific case. In fact, everyone seems to have forgotten the Affair.

But, according to a series of leaked documents, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have sponsored Reuters and the BBC — alongside intel contractors and Bellingcat — to conduct a series of covert programs aimed at promoting regime change inside Russia and undermining its government across Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The story was always transparent nonsense. Yet, many in power chose to accept it as true despite a long list of absurd, implausible and sometimes downright impossible things that one has to believe to accept that story presented by The Met and the UK Government.

END of UPDATE

“I made a significant error in my April 16 profile of Gina Haspel. It took a while to figure out where I went wrong. Here is the correction: […] The intelligence about the ducks and children were based on an early intelligence report, according to people familiar with the matter. The intelligence was presented to the US in an effort to share all that was known, not to deceive the Trump administration. This correction was delayed because conducting the research to figure out what I got wrong, how I got it wrong and what was the correct information took time. I regret the error and offer my apology. I strive to get information right the first time. That is what subscribers pay for. But when I get something wrong, I fix it. “

Julian E. Barnes (June 5 2019)

On April 16 2019, the New York Times published a report by Julian E. Barnes and Adam Goldman about the relation between CIA Director Gina Haspel and President Donald Trump.

“During the discussion, Ms. Haspel, then deputy C.I.A. director, turned toward Mr. Trump. She outlined possible responses in a quiet but firm voice, then leaned forward and told the president that the “strong option” was to expel 60 diplomats.

To persuade Mr. Trump, according to people briefed on the conversation, officials including Ms. Haspel also tried to show him that Mr. Skripal and his daughter were not the only victims of Russia’s attack.

Ms. Haspel showed pictures the British government had supplied her of young children hospitalized after being sickened by the Novichok nerve agent that poisoned the Skripals. She then showed a photograph of ducks that British officials said were inadvertently killed by the sloppy work of the Russian operatives.“

On June 5 2019, The NYT issued a correction :

“An earlier version of this article incorrectly described the photos that Gina Haspel showed to President Trump during a discussion about responding to the nerve agent attack in Britain on a former Russian intelligence officer.

Ms. Haspel displayed pictures illustrating the consequences of nerve agent attacks, not images specific to the chemical attack in Britain. This correction was delayed because of the time needed for research.”

Rob Slane of the Blogmire quickly noted a serious issue with the original narrative:

“In addition to the extraordinary nature of this revelation, there is also a huge irony here. Along with many others, I have long felt that the duck feed is one of the many achilles heels of the whole story we’ve been presented with about what happened in Salisbury on 4th March 2018. And the reason for this is precisely because if it were true, there would indeed have been dead ducks and sick children.

According to the official story, Mr Skripal and his daughter became contaminated with “Novichok” by touching the handle of his front door at some point between 13:00 and 13:30 that afternoon. A few minutes later (13:45), they were filmed on CCTV camera feeding ducks, and handing bread to three local boys, one of whom ate a piece. After this they went to Zizzis, where they apparently so contaminated the table they sat at, that it had to be incinerated.

You see the problem? According to the official story, ducks should have died. According to the official story children should have become contaminated and ended up in hospital. Yet as it happens, no ducks died, and no boys got sick (all that happened was that the boys’ parents were contacted two weeks later by police, the boys were sent for tests, and they were given the all clear).”

“In March 2018, Gina Haspel lied to President Trump about the Skripal Affair in order to persuade him to escalate measures against Moscow. On April 16 of this year, The New York Times reported it without correcting Haspel’s falsehood. Please, note that the story told by the Times is not only false, it also contradicts the official narrative.”

Intel Today (June 5 2019)

Why the correction? Why now?

In a recent post, I reminded you that CIA Director Gina Haspel was the Chief of Station in London from 2013 to 2017.

RELATED POST: How Did Spygate Begin?

And I concluded:

” There can be only one conclusion: Haspel was running the European chapter of Russiagate.”

Indeed, it seems clear now that CIA — and therefore Brennan & Haspel — were profoundly involved in the Russiagate project.

The Spygate investigation could reveal that the CIA, in collaboration with European Intelligence Agencies, attempted to sabotage Trump, first as a candidate and then as the President.

I have long argued that the Skripal Affair is also part of Russiagate. And again, the Spygate investigation may very well reveal the Novichok story as a complete fabrication.

The CIA has plunged into full panic mode. Time to spell it CYA (Cover Your Ass)…

NYT Apologizes For Misreporting On Skripal Incident

UPDATE (June 9 2020) — This story raises an important question. Does the CIA collect Intelligence and advise the President, or does the CIA actually write Foreign Policies?

As I am currently writing a short book on the Lockerbie tragedy, I will tell you a story about Bill Clinton that clearly answers this fundamental question.

A month later, in March of 1998, U.S. President Clinton visited President Mandela in Johannesburg.

South African government sources say that after discussing a variety of issues, Mandela asked for Clinton’s aides to leave so that he could speak with the American president privately.

After the doors closed behind the American aides, Prince Bandar unexpectedly dropped in for five minutes to participate in a talk about the Libyan sanctions.

“We were surprised to find how little Clinton knew about this matter,” Gerwel [Mandela’s chief of staff] noted.

“[US National Security Advisor] Sandy Berger almost had a heart attack over having the president talk on something he hadn’t been briefed on before. It was clear he actually knew very little about the matter.” [Strategic Moral Diplomacy]

Obviously, the facts about the Lockerbie negotiations had not been relayed to the US President.

For example, President Clinton was not even aware that Libya had committed in writing to a trial under Scottish law as first suggested by Professor Black in 1994, and to the two accused being imprisoned in Scotland if convicted.

This short anecdote speaks volumes…

“Spygate is the first American scandal in which the government wants the facts published transparently but the media want to cover them up.”

British journalist John O’Sullivan — Tweet (May 24 2019)

REFERENCES

Gina Haspel Relies on Spy Skills to Connect With Trump. He Doesn’t Always Listen. — NYT

No children or ducks harmed by novichok, say health officials — The Guardian

Odd NYT ‘Correction’ Exculpates British Government And CIA From Manipulating Trump Over Skripal Novichok Incident — Moon of Alabama

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NYT Apologizes For Misreporting On Skripal Incident

One Year Ago — NYT Apologizes For Misreporting On Skripal Incident

Two Years Ago — NYT Apologizes For Misreporting On Skripal Incident

Two Years Ago — NYT Apologizes For Misreporting On Skripal Incident [UPDATE — TV Series : The Salisbury Poisonings]