rant · moment 14 of 25
Black Ops, MK Ultra, and Seymour Hersh's Claims
from Babies in a Volcano · #53
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
6 minTim goes deep on alleged black-ops psychological operations, citing Seymour Hersh's claims about videotapes of children being raped in front of parents to extract secrets, and questions what happens to operatives capable of such acts.
- 32:52Tim describes a hypothetical party moment where someone brings up American Idol and he wants to interject with the reality of CIA torture.
- 33:18Seymour Hersh's claim: a videotape exists of children being raped in front of their parents to coerce secrets from them.
- 33:47Tim argues that if a government is going to commit atrocities, it needs an organized group willing to do them and justify it to themselves.
- 34:27Problem with conspiracy theorists: they believe anything, which isn't good, but real black ops atrocities make it hard to dismiss the truly unbelievable claims.
- 35:00Tim wonders how people get recruited into black ops work where they're willing to justify extreme violence.
- 35:42Neoconservative ideologues like Wolfowitz and Pearl justify total war and killing civilians for geopolitical goals.
- 36:19Tim notes Brent Scowcroft was picked to run Iraq War planning because he doesn't like things when they get rough.
- 36:56Some black ops operatives are sociopaths who get off on violence and power, beyond just following orders.
- 37:24The torture operative who flew to witness Khalid Sheikh Muhammad's waterboarding didn't need to be there—suggests she was getting off on the violence itself.