Robert Anderson is a professor at an American Community College, and was in the US Air Force 44 years ago. He claims that, while he was in Vietnam, he was ‘loaned’ to the CIA for covert work. He also says quite explicitly that he was “was not an official of the CIA”. Nevermind that small detail, his story is presented as if he were the head of CIA himself. Also, nevermind the fact that the only proof that Mr Robert Anderson was a covert agent of CIA in Vietnam was his own word.
I learned about Mr Robert Anderson from an interview published by Dr Awab’s blog. I read the interview and found myself laughing out loud. It was so silly I could not believe my eyes. It seemed to be published with no critical thinking perhaps because Dr Awab liked what he had to say. So what if he is a liar? Can you prove that he what he is saying isn’t true? Too many people seem to be willing to set aside all of their critical thinking and accept anything anyone tells us as long as it is what we want to hear.
What is funny is that Dr Awab also presents this interview which was conducted by the blog Talkhaaba which has accused Pakistani bloggers of being “seized by the Ahmedis/athiests” and having the goal “to throw each and every true Muslim out of this state of Pakistan”. The blog even accuses Dr Awab specificially by name! This same blog has been a promoter of anti-American conspiracy theories for years now. So what should we expect from such a source?
Actually calling this an “interview” is a stretch of the imagination. What sort of interviewer asks a question like this:
Given the capability of Tehreek-e-Taliban, Pakistan, some defense analysts assert that terrorist attacks in Pakistan can’t be carried out by Taliban; instead these are planned and perpetrated by CIA? In the light of your experience in Laos, can you endorse and substantiate this assertion?
Of course, Mr Robert Anderson answers that “It is possible but I don’t know any details”. Nevermind that this man admits he was never a CIA official and has never stepped one foot in Pakistan and admits that he doesn’t know any details. IT’S GOOD ENOUGH! An American who was in the military and claims to have been secretly loaned to the CIA almost half a century ago says it is possible!
Mr Robert Anderson also points people to another American named John Perkins. Mr Perkins wrote a famous book with the title, ‘Confessions of an Economic Hit Man’. A friend loaned me a battered copy several years ago and told me that if I read this book I would learn the truth. I did read it, and it had a big effect on me. How could it not? An exciting story about secret plots to create chaos, control weak government, and take over the world through economic sabotage! Exciting stuff!
But once you set aside the drama and look at what Mr Perkins actually claims, there’s not much there. And what is there doesn’t make any sense. Don’t take my word for it, either. Sebastian Mallaby who is an expert in global economics termed Mr Perkins “a frothing conspiracy theorist, a vainglorious peddler of nonsense” and thoroughly debunked his ‘confessions’ back in 2006.
Also, this isn’t the only book that John Perkins has written. He has also written a book called ‘Shape Shifting’ that examines “the actual transformation of a human being into another living creature”. That’s right, this man who was supposedly a top secret agent of the US wrote a book about humans transforming themselves into plants and animals. Really.
This is what makes me so mad that my head hurts. Dr Awab and a lot of other people who buy the non sense being peddled by these conspiracy nuts are TOO SMART FOR THIS. But time after time I see people ignoring their basic common sense and believing any lunatic who says something that they want to hear – NO PROOFS REQUIRED!
I’m not asking you to believe one way or the other about America or Raymond Davis or drones or anything else. I’m just asking you to THINK FOR YOURSELF. Just because someone is an American, it doesn’t mean they are an authority on anything. People in American build careers from cheap conspiracy theories just like people do here. For every Zaid Hamid or Ahmed Quraishi, the Americans have their own guy just like him. We have plenty of our own crazies, we don’t need to import other people’s, too.
