False ag

False colors redirects here. For the imaging technique, its crew was captured, but it was a considerable psychosee False-color.
logical victory for the Germans.[6]
The British used a Kriegsmarine ensign in the St Nazaire
Raid and captured a German code book. The old destroyer Campbeltown, which the British planned to sacrice in the operation, was provided with cosmetic modications, cutting the ships funnels and chamfering the
edges to resemble a German Type 23 torpedo boat The
British were able to get within two miles (3 km) of
the harbour before the defences responded, where the
explosive-rigged Campbeltown and commandos successfully disabled or destroyed the key dock structures of the
port.[7][8]

False ag (or black ag) describes covert operations designed to deceive in such a way that the operations appear
as though they are being carried out by entities, groups,
or nations other than those who actually planned and executed them. Operations carried out during peace-time
by civilian organizations, as well as covert government
agencies, may by extension be called false ag operations
if they seek to hide the real organization behind an operation. Geraint Hughes uses the term to refer to those
acts carried out by military or security force personnel,
which are then blamed on terrorists.[1]
deHaven-Smith argues that the terminology has become
looser in recent years due to the increasingly complex
levels of duplicity and international intrigue between
states.[2] Peter Dale Scott argues that false ags are methods used by deep states as a form of deep politics.[3]

1.2 Air warfare

In December 1922February 1923, Rules concerning the

Control of Wireless Telegraphy in Time of War and Air
Warfare, drafted by a commission of jurists at the Hague
The name false ag has its origins in naval warfare regulates:[9]
where the use of a ag other than the belligerents true
battle ag as a ruse de guerre, before engaging the enArt. 3. A military aircraft must carry an exteemy, has long been accepted.[4] Such operations are also
rior mark indicating its nationality and its milaccepted in certain circumstances in land warfare, to deitary character.
ceive enemies in similar ways providing that the decepArt. 19. The use of false exterior marks is fortion is not perdious and all such deceptions are discarded
bidden.
before opening re upon the enemy.
This draft was never adopted as a legally binding treaty,
but the ICRC states in its introduction on the draft that
1 Use in warfare
To a great extent, [the draft rules] correspond to the customary rules and general principles underlying treaties on
the law of war on land and at sea,[10] and as such these
1.1 Naval warfare
two noncontroversial articles were already part of cus[11]
This practice is accepted in naval warfare, provided the tomary law.
false ag is lowered and the true ag raised before engaging in battle.[5] Auxiliary cruisers operated in such a
1.3 Land warfare
fashion in both World Wars, as did Q-ships, while merchant vessels were encouraged to use false ags for pro- In land warfare, the use of a false ag is similar to that
tection. The 1914 Battle of Trindade was between the of naval warfare. The most widespread assumption is
auxiliary cruisers RMS Carmania and SMS Cap Trafal- that this practice was rst established under international
gar, in which Cap Trafalgar had been altered to look like humanitarian law at the trial in 1947 of the planner and
Carmania.
commander of Operation Greif, Otto Skorzeny, by a U.S.
One of the most notable examples was in World War II
when the German commerce raider Kormoran, disguised
as a Dutch merchant ship, surprised and sank the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney in 1941, causing the
greatest recorded loss of life on an Australian warship.
Kormoran was also fatally damaged in that encounter and

military tribunal at the Dachau Trials. In this trial, the tribunal did not nd Skorzeny guilty of a crime by ordering
his men into action in American uniforms. He had passed
on to his men the warning of German legal experts, that if
they fought in American uniforms, they would be breaking the laws of war, but they probably were not doing so
1

just by wearing American uniforms. During the trial, a

number of arguments were advanced to substantiate this
position and the German and U.S. military seem to have
been in agreement on it. In the transcript of the trial,[12] it
is mentioned that Paragraph 43 of the Field Manual published by the War Department, United States Army, on 1
October 1940, under the title Rules of Land Warfare,
says:
National ags, insignias and uniforms as a ruse in practice it
has been authorized to make use
of these as a ruse. The foregoing
rule (Article 23 of the Annex of the
IVth Hague Convention), does not
prohibit such use, but does prohibit
their improper use. It is certainly
forbidden to make use of them during a combat. Before opening re
upon the enemy, they must be discarded.
Also The American Soldiers Handbook, was
quoted by Defense Counsel and says:
The use of the enemy ag, insignia, and uniform is permitted under some circumstances. They are
not to be used during actual ghting, and if used in order to approach the enemy without drawing
re, should be thrown away or removed as soon as ghting begins.
The outcome of the trial has been codied in the 1977
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 (Protocol I):
Article 37. Prohibition of perdy

AS PRETEXTS FOR WAR

2. Ruses of war are not prohibited. Such ruses

are acts which are intended to mislead an adversary or to induce him to act recklessly but
which infringe no rule of international law applicable in armed conict and which are not
perdious because they do not invite the condence of an adversary with respect to protection under that law. The following are examples of such ruses: the use of camouage, decoys, mock operations and disinformation.
Article 38. Recognized emblems
1. It is prohibited to make improper use of the
distinctive emblem of the red cross, red crescent or red lion and sun or of other emblems,
signs or signals provided for by the Conventions or by this Protocol. It is also prohibited to
misuse deliberately in an armed conict other
internationally recognized protective emblems,
signs or signals, including the ag of truce, and
the protective emblem of cultural property.
2. It is prohibited to make use of the distinctive emblem of the United Nations, except as
authorized by that Organization.
Article 39. Emblems of nationality
1. It is prohibited to make use in an armed conict of the ags or military emblems, insignia
or uniforms of neutral or other States not Parties to the conict.
2. It is prohibited to make use of the ags or
military emblems, insignia or uniforms of adverse Parties while engaging in attacks or in order to shield, favour, protect or impede military
operations.
3. Nothing in this Article or in Article 37,
paragraph 1 ( d ), shall aect the existing generally recognized rules of international law applicable to espionage or to the use of ags in
the conduct of armed conict at sea.

1. It is prohibited to kill, injure, or capture an

adversary by resort to perdy. Acts inviting the
condence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international
law applicable in armed conict, with intent to
betray that condence, shall constitute perdy.
The following acts are examples of perdy:

2 As pretexts for war

(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under

a ag of truce or of a surrender;

2.1 Russo-Swedish War

(b) The feigning of an incapacitation by

wounds or sickness;
(c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and
(d) The feigning of protected status by the use
of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United
Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties
to the conict.

In 1788, the head tailor at the Royal Swedish Opera received an order to sew a number of Russian military uniforms. These were then used by the Swedes to stage
an attack on Puumala, a Swedish outpost on the RussoSwedish border, on 27 June 1788. This caused an outrage
in Stockholm and impressed the Riksdag of the Estates,
the Swedish national assembly, who until then had refused to agree to an oensive war against Russia. The

2.4

Cold War

Puumala incident allowed King Gustav III of Sweden,

who lacked the constitutional authority to initiate unprovoked hostilities without the Estates consent, to launch
the Russo-Swedish War (17881790)[13]

2.2

Second Sino-Japanese War

Japanese experts inspect the scene of the 'railway sabotage' on

South Manchurian Railway

In September 1931, Japanese ocers fabricated a pretext

for invading Manchuria by blowing up a section of railway. Though the explosion was too weak to disrupt operations on the rail line, the Japanese nevertheless used this
Mukden incident to seize Manchuria and create a puppet
government for what they termed the independent state
of Manchukuo.[14]

Alfred Naujocks

2.3.2 Winter War

On November 26, 1939, the Soviet army shelled Mainila,

a Russian village near the Finnish border. Soviet authorities blamed Finland for the attack and used the incident
In 1937, in the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, they based as a pretext to invade Finland, starting the Winter War,
their invasion of China proper on the false claim that four days later.[17]
one of their soldiers had been kidnapped, initiating the
Second Sino-Japanese War.

2.4 Cold War

2.3
2.3.1

World War II
Gleiwitz incident

The Gleiwitz incident in 1939 involved Reinhard Heydrich fabricating evidence of a Polish attack against
Germany to mobilize German public opinion for war and
to justify the war with Poland. Alfred Naujocks was a
key organiser of the operation under orders from Heydrich. It led to the deaths of Nazi concentration camp
victims who were dressed as German soldiers and then
shot by the Gestapo to make it seem that they had been
shot by Polish soldiers. This, along with other false ag
operations in Operation Himmler, would be used to mobilize support from the German population for the start
of World War II in Europe.[15]
The operation failed to convince international public
opinion of the German claims, and both Britain and
FrancePolands alliesdeclared war two days after
Germany invaded Poland.[16]

2.4.1 Operation Northwoods

The planned, but never executed, 1962 Operation Northwoods plot by the U.S. Department of Defense for a
war with Cuba involved scenarios such as fabricating
the hijacking or shooting down of passenger and military planes, sinking a U.S. ship in the vicinity of Cuba,
burning crops, sinking a boat lled with Cuban refugees,
attacks by alleged Cuban inltrators inside the United
States, and harassment of U.S. aircraft and shipping
and the destruction of aerial drones by aircraft disguised
as Cuban MiGs.[19] These actions would be blamed on
Cuba, and would be a pretext for an invasion of Cuba
and the overthrow of Fidel Castro's communist government. It was authored by the Joint Chiefs of Sta, but
then rejected by President John F. Kennedy. The surprise discovery of the documents relating to Operation
Northwoods was a result of the comprehensive search for
records related to the assassination of President John F.
Kennedy by the Assassination Records Review Board in
the mid-1990s.[20] Information about Operation North-

3 AS A TACTIC TO UNDERMINE POLITICAL OPPONENTS

gone and their seats empty, the National Socialist German Workers Party went from being a plurality party to
the majority; subsequent elections conrmed this position
and thus allowed Hitler to consolidate his power.
Historians disagree as to whether Van der Lubbe acted
alone, as he said, to protest the condition of the German working class, or whether the arson was planned and
ordered by the Nazis, then dominant in the government
themselves, as a false ag operation.[24][25]

3.2 Project TP-Ajax

Main article: 1953 Iranian coup d'tat
On 4 April 1953, the CIA was ordered to undermine the
government of Iran over a four-month period, as a precursor to overthrowing Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh.[26] One tactic used to undermine Mosaddeh was to
carry out false ag attacks on mosques and key public
gures, to be blamed on Iranian communists loyal to the
government.[26]

Operation Northwoods memorandum (13 March 1962).[18]

woods was later publicized by James Bamford.[21]

3
3.1

As a tactic to undermine political

opponents
Reichstag re

Main article: Reichstag re

The CIA project was code-named TP-Ajax, and the tactic

of a directed campaign of bombings by Iranians posing
as members of the Communist party,[27] involved the
bombing of "at least" one well known Muslims house
by CIA agents posing as Communists.[27] The CIA determined that the tactic of false ag attacks added to the
positive outcome of Project TPAJAX.[26]
However, as "[t]he C.I.A. burned nearly all of its les on
its role in the 1953 coup in Iran, the true extent of the
tactic has been dicult for historians to discern.[28]

3.3 2008 Kurcha incident

In 2008 there was a shooting against two minibuses driving along in a volatile area right on the border between
Abkhazia and the republic of Georgia. The buses were
carrying Georgians who lived in Abkhazia and wanted to
cross the border so they could go and vote in the parliamentary election that day.

The Reichstag re was an arson attack on the Reichstag

building in Berlin on 27 February 1933. The re started
in the Session Chamber,[22] and, by the time the police
and remen arrived, the main Chamber of Deputies was
engulfed in ames. Police searched the building and
found Marinus van der Lubbe, a young Dutch council The country had been experiencing internal political turcommunist and unemployed bricklayer, who had recently moil for the last year, and in an attempt to calm the
situation, president Mikheil Saakashvili moved forward
arrived in Germany to carry out political activities.
both presidential and parliamentary elections. However
The re was used as evidence by the Nazis that the the presidential election in January that year was strongly
Communists were beginning a plot against the German contested, with hundreds of thousands attending protest
government. Van der Lubbe and four Communist leaders rallies. When the parliamentary election came up in May,
were subsequently arrested. Adolf Hitler, who was sworn the mood was still tense.
in as Chancellor of Germany four weeks before, on 30
January, urged President Paul von Hindenburg to pass an On mid day 21 May the two minibuses came under attack
emergency decree to counter the ruthless confrontation with small arms and grenades, and though there were no
of the Communist Party of Germany".[23] With civil lib- casualties, three people were taken to a hospital in Zugerties suspended, the government instituted mass arrests didi, where president Saakashvili later arrived and was
of Communists, including all of the Communist parlia- lmed by TV at the patients bedside.
mentary delegates. With their bitter rival Communists In his comments on TV, which dominated the news dur-

5
ing election day, Saakashvili indicated that the attack had
been an attempt to disrupt the election, implying that it
had been Abkhaz or Russian forces who had been behind
it. This provided for a favorable opportunity for the president to focus the nations attention on an external enemy,
thereby leading attention away from his domestic critics,
as well as making use of his position as leader to rally the
Georgians around his candidates in the election.
An investigation by the United Nations Observer Mission
in Georgia found that the attackers were located on the
Georgian side of the ceasere line, about 100m from the
buses, and that although hard evidence of the attackers
identities was lacking, inconsistencies merited further investigation, particularly the suggestion that the lming of
the attack seemed anticipatory.[29]
A Georgian investigative TV documentary later found
that camera crew from the government-friendly channel
Rustavi 2 had been in position with their equipment before the shooting took place.

Pseudo-operations

Pseudo-operations are those in which forces of one power

disguise themselves as enemy forces. For example, a state
power may disguise teams of operatives as insurgents and,
with the aid of defectors, inltrate insurgent areas.[30] The
aim of such pseudo-operations may be to gather short or
long-term intelligence or to engage in active operations, in
particular assassinations of important enemies. However,
they usually involve both, as the risks of exposure rapidly
increase with time and intelligence gathering eventually
leads to violent confrontation. Pseudo-operations may
be directed by military or police forces, or both. Police
forces are usually best suited to intelligence tasks; however, military provide the structure needed to back up
such pseudo-ops with military response forces. According to US military expert Lawrence Cline (2005), the
teams typically have been controlled by police services,
but this largely was due to the weaknesses in the respective military intelligence systems.
The State Political Directorate (OGPU) of the Soviet
Union set up such an operation from 1921 to 1926.
During Operation Trust, they used loose networks of
White Army supporters and extended them, creating the
pseudo-"Monarchist Union of Central Russia (MUCR)
in order to help the OGPU identify real monarchists and
anti-Bolsheviks.
An example of a successful assassination was United
States Marine Sergeant Herman H. Hanneken leading a
patrol of his Haitian Gendarmerie disguised as enemy
guerrillas in 1919. The Patrol successfully passed several enemy checkpoints in order to assassinate the guerilla
leader Charlemagne Pralte near Grande-Rivire-duNord. Hanneken was awarded the Medal of Honor and
was commissioned a Second Lieutenant for his deed.

Charlemagne Pralte of Haiti was assassinated in 1919, after

checkpoints were passed by military disguised as guerrilla ghters

During the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s, captured Mau

Mau members who switched sides and specially trained
British troops initiated the pseudo-gang concept to successfully counter Mau Mau. In 1960 Frank Kitson, (who
was later involved in the Northern Irish conict and is now
a retired British General), published Gangs and Countergangs, an account of his experiences with the technique
in Kenya; information included how to counter gangs and
measures of deception, including the use of defectors,
which brought the issue a wider audience.
Another example of combined police and military oversight of pseudo-operations include the Selous Scouts in
the former country Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), governed
by white minority rule until 1980. The Selous Scouts
were formed at the beginning of Operation Hurricane,
in November 1973, by Major (later Lieutenant Colonel)
Ronald Reid-Daly. As with all Special Forces in Rhodesia, by 1977 they were controlled by COMOPS (Commander, Combined Operations) Commander Lieutenant
General Peter Walls. The Selous Scouts were originally
composed of 120 members, with all ocers being white
and the highest rank initially available for black soldiers
being colour sergeant. They succeeded in turning approximately 800 insurgents who were then paid by Special Branch, ultimately reaching the number of 1,500
members. Engaging mainly in long-range reconnaissance
and surveillance missions, they increasingly turned to of-

6
fensive actions, including the attempted assassination of
Zimbabwe Peoples Revolutionary Army leader Joshua
Nkomo in Zambia. This mission was nally aborted by
the Selous Scouts, and attempted again, unsuccessfully,
by the Rhodesian Special Air Service.[31]
Some oensive operations attracted international condemnation, in particular the Selous Scouts raid on a
Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA)
camp at Nyadzonya Pungwe, Mozambique in August
1976. ZANLA was then led by Josiah Tongogara. Using
Rhodesian trucks and armored cars disguised as Mozambique military vehicles, 84 scouts killed 1,284 people in
the camp-the camp was registered as a refugee camp by
the United Nations (UN). Even according to Reid-Daly,
most of those killed were unarmed guerrillas standing
in formation for a parade. The camp hospital was also
set ablaze by the rounds red by the Scouts, killing all
patients.[32] According to David Martin and Phyllis Johnson, who visited the camp shortly before the raid, it was
only a refugee camp that did not host any guerrillas. It
was staged for UN approval.[33]

6 CIVILIAN USAGE
terrorists created in December 1956 by the Direction de
la surveillance du territoire (Territorial Surveillance Directorate, or DST) whose mission was to carry out terrorist attacks with the aim of quashing any hopes of political
compromise.[36]

5 Espionage
Main article: False ag penetrator

In espionage the term false ag describes the recruiting of agents by operatives posing as representatives of a
cause the prospective agents are sympathetic to, or even
the agents own government. For example, during the
Cold War, several female West German civil servants
were tricked into stealing classied documents by agents
of the East German Stasi intelligence service, pretending
to be members of West German peace advocacy groups
(the Stasi agents were also described as "Romeos, indicating that they also used their sex appeal to manipulate
According to a 1978 study by the Directorate of Military their targets, making this operation a combination of the
Intelligence, 68% of all insurgent deaths inside Rhodesia false ag and "honey trap" techniques).[37]
could be attributed to the Selous Scouts, who were disThe technique can also be used to expose enemy agents in
banded in 1980.[34]
ones own service, by having someone approach the susIf the action is a police action, then these tactics would pect and pose as an agent of the enemy. Earl Edwin Pitts,
fall within the laws of the state initiating the pseudo, but if a 13-year veteran of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigasuch actions are taken in a civil war or during a belligerent tion and an attorney, was caught when he was approached
military occupation then those who participate in such by FBI agents posing as Russian agents.
actions would not be privileged belligerents. The principle of plausible deniability is usually applied for pseudo- British intelligence ocials in World War II allowed douteams. (See the above section Laws of war). Some ble agents to re-bomb a power station and a food dump
false ag operations have been described by Lawrence E. in the UK to protect their cover, according to declassied
Cline, a retired US Army intelligence ocer, as pseudo- documents. The documents stated the agents took preoperations, or the use of organized teams which are dis- cautions to ensure they did not cause serious damage.
guised as guerrilla groups for long- or short-term pene- One of the documents released also stated: It should be
recognised that friends as well as enemies must be comtration of insurgent-controlled areas.
pletely deceived.[38]
Pseudo Operations should be distinguished, notes Cline,
from the more common police or intelligence inltration
of guerrilla or criminal organizations. In the latter case,
inltration is normally done by individuals. Pseudo 6 Civilian usage
teams, on the other hand, are formed as needed from organized units, usually military or paramilitary. The use of While false ag operations originate in warfare and govpseudo teams has been a hallmark of a number of foreign ernment, they also can occur in civilian settings among
certain factions, such as businesses, special interest
counterinsurgency campaigns.[30]
groups, religions, political ideologies and campaigns for
Similar false ag tactics were also employed during the
oce.
Algerian civil war, starting in the middle of 1994. Death
squads composed of Dpartement du Renseignement et
de la Scurit (DRS) security forces disguised them6.1 Businesses
selves as Islamist terrorists and committed false ag terror attacks. Such groups included the Organisation of
In business and marketing, similar operations are beYoung Free Algerians (OJAL) or the Secret Organisation
ing employed in some public relations campaigns (see
for the Safeguard of the Algerian Republic (OSSRA)[35]
Astroturng). Telemarketing rms practice false ag
According to Roger Faligot and Pascal Kropp (1999),
type behavior when they pretend to be a market research
the OJAL was reminiscent of the Organization of the
rm (referred to as "sugging"). In some rare cases, memFrench Algerian Resistance (ORAF), a group of counterbers of an unsuccessful business will destroy some of their

7
own property to conceal an unrelated crime (e.g., safety
violations, embezzlement) but make it appear as though
the destruction was done by a rival company.

6.2

Political campaigning

Political campaigning has a long history of this tactic in

various forms, including in person, print media and electronically in recent years. This can involve when supporters of one candidate pose as supporters of another,
or act as straw men for their preferred candidate to debate against. This can happen with or without the candidates knowledge. The Canuck letter is an example of
one candidate creating a false document and attributing
it as coming from another candidate in order to discredit
that candidate.

A bomb threat forged by Scientology operatives

stationery to forge bomb threats and have them mailed

to a Scientology oce. The Guardians Oce also had
a plan for further operations to discredit Cooper known
In the nal days of the 1994 campaign, Governor Lawton as Operation Freakout, but several Scientology operaChiles' ran a false ag operation that paid for tens of thou- tives were arrested in a separate investigation and the plan
[44]
sands of calls to elderly voters using false organization failed.
names. The calls purported to be from Republican groups
and told voters that Jeb Bush was against Social Security
and seniors. Chiles denied his campaign was behind the 7 See also
calls. After winning re-election and facing an investigation, Chiles admitted the truth in November 1995.[39]

7.1 Concepts

In 2006, individuals practicing false ag behavior were

discovered and outed in New Hampshire[40][41] and
New Jersey[42] after blog comments claiming to be from
supporters of a political candidate were traced to the IP
address of paid staers for that candidates opponent.
On 19 February 2011, Indiana Deputy Prosecutor Carlos
Lam sent a private email to Wisconsin Governor Scott
Walker suggesting that he run a "'false ag' operation
to counter the protests against Walkers proposed restrictions on public employees collective bargaining rights:

Agent provocateur
Black propaganda
Casus belli
Covert operation
Denial and deception
Front organization

Joe job, a similar online concept

If you could employ an associate who pretends to be
sympathetic to the unions cause to physically attack you
Mimicry
(or even use a rearm against you), you could discredit
the unions, read the email. It went on to say that the
State terrorism
eort would assist in undercutting any support that the
media may be creating in favor of the unions. The press
had acquired a court order to access all of Walkers emails 7.2 Examples
and Lams email was exposed. At rst, Lam vehemently
195051 Baghdad bombings where Iraqi Zionist undenied it, but eventually admitted it and resigned.[43]
derground members targeted the Baghdad Jewish
community

6.3

Ideological

Proponents of political or religious ideologies will sometimes use false ag tactics. This can be done to discredit
or implicate rival groups, create the appearance of enemies when none exist, or create the illusion of organized
and directed opposition when in truth, the ideology is
simply unpopular with society.
In retaliation for writing The Scandal of Scientology, some
members of the Church of Scientology stole stationery
from author Paulette Cooper's home and then used that

Bloed, Bodem, Eer en Trouw (Flemish neo-Nazi

group preparing false ag attacks)
Canuck letter
Celle Hole
CIA Operation Ajax (United States overthrowing of
Mohammed Mossadeq, Prime Minister of Iran, in
1953)[27]
Gleiwitz incident aka Operation Himmler

8
Lavon Aair Israeli attempt to plant bombs in Western targets in Egypt, in blaming Arab elements
Marxist-Leninist Party of the Netherlands (fake
party set up by the Dutch security service)
Masada Action and Defense Movement (French
white supremacists, under the guise of a fake extremist Zionist movement, conducted bombings of
Arab targets in France in an attempt to start a war
between French Arabs and Jews.)
Operation Gladio

Notes and references

[1] Hughes, Geraint (2011): The Militarys Role in Counterterrorism: Examples and Implications for Liberal
Democracies, Letort Paper, Strategic Studies Institute,
May. p.105 http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.
mil/pdffiles/PUB1066.pdf
[2] deHaven-Smith, Lance (2013). Conspiracy Theory in
America, Austin: University of Texas Press. pp.225-226
http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/dehcon
[3] Scott, Peter Dale (2007). The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America, Berkeley: University of
California Press. pp.267-268 (http://www.ucpress.edu/
book.php?isbn=9780520258716)
[4] deHaven-Smith, Lance (2013). Conspiracy Theory in
America, Austin: University of Texas Press. p.225
[5] the use of a false ag has always been accepted as a legitimate ruse de guerre in naval warfare, the true battle
ag being run up immediately before engaging (Thomas,
Rosamund M., ed. (1993), Teaching Ethics: Government ethics, Centre for Business and Public, p. 80, ISBN
9781871891034).
[6] Squires, Nick. "HMAS Sydney found o Australias west
coast", The Telegraph, 17 March 2008.
[7] Guinness World Records (2009), p.155
[8] Young, P (Ed) (1973) Atlas of the Second World War
(London: The Military Book Society)

NOTES AND REFERENCES

[13] (Finnish) Mattila, Tapani (1983). Meri maamme turvana

[Sea safeguarding our country] (in Finnish). Jyvskyl:
K. J. Gummerus Osakeyhti. ISBN 951-99487-0-8. (),
p. 142.
[14] Weland, James (1994).
Misguided Intelligence:
Japanese Military Intelligence Ocers in the Manchurian
Incident, September 1931. Journal of Military History
58 (3): 445460. doi:10.2307/2944134.
[15] Bradley Lightbody, The Second World War: Ambitions to
Nemesis, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0-415-22405-5, Google
Print, p.39
[16] Steven J. Zaloga, Poland 1939: The Birth of Blitzkrieg,
Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1-84176-408-6, p. 39
[17] Turtola, Martti (1999). Kansainvlinen kehitys Euroopassa ja Suomessa 1930-luvulla. In Leskinen, Jari;
Juutilainen, Antti. Talvisodan pikkujttilinen. pp. 44
45.
[18] U.S. Joint Chiefs of Sta, Justication for US Military Intervention in Cuba (TS)", U.S. Department of Defense, 13 March 1962. The Operation Northwoods document in PDF format on the website of the independent,
non-governmental research institute the National Security
Archive at the George Washington University Gelman Library, Washington, D.C. Direct PDF links: here and here.
[19] Excerpts from declassied 1962 U.S. Joint Chiefs of Sta
Memo Operation Northwoods: Justication for U.S.
Military Intervention in Cuba
[20] Horne, Douglas P., Chief Analyst for Military Records,
Assassination Records Review Board (2009). Inside the
Assassination Records Review Board: The U.S. Governments Final Attempt to Reconcile the Conicting Medical Evidence in the Assassination of JFK. self published.
ISBN 098431444X. Retrieved April 2014.
[21] James Bamford (2002). Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the
Ultra-Secret National Security Agency. Anchor Books. pp.
8291. ISBN 978-0-385-49907-1.
[22] Tobias, Fritz, The Reichstag Fire. New York: Putnam,
1964, pages 2628.
[23] History of the Reichstag Fire in Berlin Germany

[9] The Hague Rules of Air Warfare, 1922-12 to 1923-02,

this convention was never adopted (backup site)

[24] The Reichstag Fire. Holocaust Encyclopedia. United

States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 12 August 2013.

[10] Rules concerning the Control of Wireless Telegraphy in

Time of War and Air Warfare. Drafted by a Commission
of Jurists at the Hague, December 1922 February 1923.:
Introduction. ICRC. Retrieved December 2010.

[25] DW Sta (27 February 2008). 75 Years Ago, Reichstag Fire Sped Hitlers Power Grab. Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 12 August 2013.

[11] Gmez, Javier Guisndez (20 June 1998). The Law of

Air Warfare. International Review of the Red Cross 38
(323): 34763. doi:10.1017/S0020860400091075.
[12] Source: Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals. United
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of Otto Skorzeny and others General Military Government Court of the U.S. zone of Germany 18 August to
9 September 1947

[26] Callanan, James (2009). Covert Action in the Cold War:

US Policy, intelligence and CIA operations, London: I.B.
Tauris. p.115
[27] Risen, James. Secrets of History: The C.I.A. in Iran
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'79). The New York Times, 16 April 2000
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[29] Report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia (PDF). United Nations Security Council.
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[31] Cline (2005), p. 11.
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Covos-Day Books, 1999, p. 10 (republished by Covos
Day, 2001, ISBN 978-1-919874-33-3)
[33] Cline (2005), who quotes David Martin and Phyllis Johnson, The Struggle for Zimbabwe: the Chimurenga War,
New York: Monthly Review Press, 1981, pp. 241242.
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Cilliers, Counter-insurgency in Rhodesia, London: Croom
Helm, 1985, pp. 6077. Cline also quotes Ian F. W.
Beckett, The Rhodesian Army: Counter-Insurgency 1972
1979 at selousscouts
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Dcouverte. ISBN 2-7071-4747-8. Extract in English
with mention of the OJAL available here.
[36] Luonis Aggoun and Jean-Baptiste Rivoire, ibid., quoting Roger Faligot and Pascal KROP, DST, Police Secrte,
Flammarion, 1999, p. 174.
[37] Crawford, Angus (20 March 2009). Victims of Cold
War 'Romeo spies". BBC Online. Retrieved 10 April
2009.
[38] Britain 'bombed itself to fool Nazis". BBC. 28 February
2002. Retrieved 4 November 2008.
[39] http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&
dat=19951211&id=gZosAAAAIBAJ&sjid=
wfwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4981,49418 Lakeland Times
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[40] Steele, Allison, "Bass staer in D.C. poses as blogger: Bogus posts aimed at his political opponent", Concord Monitor, 26 September 2006 (URL last accessed 24 October
2006).
[41] Saunders, Anne, Bass aide resigns after posing as opponents supporter online, The Boston Globe, 26 September
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[42] Miller, Jonathan, Blog Thinks Aide to Kean Posted Jabs At
Menendez, New York Times, 21 September 2006 (URL
last accessed 24 October 2006).
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[44] United States of America v. Jane Kember, Morris Budlong, Sentencing Memorandum; pp. 2325.

10

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

Text

False ag Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag?oldid=669401057 Contributors: Olivier, Jdlh, Michael Hardy, Ixfd64, IZAK,
Skysmith, Kingturtle, Ugen64, GCarty, Wikiborg, Furrykef, Tempshill, AnonMoos, Vardion, PBS, Donreed, ZimZalaBim, Bkell, Carnildo,
Tom harrison, Capitalistroadster, Iceberg3k, Tagishsimon, GeneMosher, Tothebarricades.tk, Kevin B12, Asbestos, Neutrality, Klemen
Kocjancic, Cab88, D6, Jayjg, Discospinster, Wikiacc, Narsil, Kostja, Antaeus Feldspar, Bender235, El C, Ascorbic, Cacophony, Martey,
Mike Schwartz, John Vandenberg, Wiki-Ed, Toh, Hardy, La goutte de pluie, BM, Idleguy, Mrzaius, Alansohn, Uncle.bungle, Hackwrench,
Geo Swan, PatrickFisher, Ynhockey, Malo, Bart133, Max rspct, M3tainfo, Lapinmies, Kober, Vuo, Alai, LukeSurl, Zntrip, Hq3473,
Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), OwenX, Woohookitty, Mindmatrix, Timharwoodx, Je3000, MONGO, Mangojuice, SDC, Plrk, Stefanomione, Betsythedevine, Mandarax, RedBLACKandBURN, Graham87, A Train, Kbdank71, Dpr, Rjwilmsi, Bill Cannon, Carbonite,
Jtpaladin, The wub, Tarc, KiernMoran, Fred Bradstadt, Cassowary, Ground Zero, FrancisDrake, MacRusgail, GagHalfrunt, Tequendamia,
Diza, Coolhawks88, Bgwhite, WriterHound, Cornellrockey, Jayme, Subwayguy, YurikBot, Kollision, Jimp, John Quincy Adding Machine,
Briaboru, Zaroblue05, DanMS, Kirill Lokshin, Shaddack, Big Brother 1984, Aryaniae, LaszloWalrus, Grafen, Nutiketaiel, Aaron Brenneman, Lomn, Ospalh, Syrthiss, IceWeasel, BusterD, Miraculouschaos, Closedmouth, E Wing, Petri Krohn, Garybel, Shyam, Ephilei,
Kurai, Je Silvers, Paul Pieniezny, Victor falk, JohnLeonard, SmackBot, Nicolas Barbier, Stie, Kintetsubualo, Nil Einne, Portillo, GoldDragon, Ksenon, Kaliz, Jprg1966, Hugzz, Sloane, Paulfp, Sb617, AKMask, Tewk, Xeryus, Ian Burnet~enwiki, Chendy, Ncameron, JRPG,
Tim Pierce, Georey Gibson, Bolivian Unicyclist, Robma, Cybercobra, Akral, Xyzzy n, Chrylis, Weregerbil, Doodle77, Xiutwel, Kukini,
Tesseran, Crouchbk, Byelf2007, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Tazmaniacs, Robosh, JoshuaZ, Mgiganteus1, Minglex, Cmh, Karlwiegand,
Meco, Dr.K., SmokeyJoe, OnBeyondZebrax, Skandaprasadn, Clarityend, Poechalkdust, Hwonder, Joseph Solis in Australia, AlexLibman,
Phoenixrod, Lent, Generalcp702, Ehistory, CmdrObot, Megaboz, Olaf Davis, Erik Kennedy, Dgw, Outriggr, Location, Cydebot, Treybien, Goldfritha, Gogo Dodo, Manik52, DumbBOT, Patrick O'Leary, Mathew5000, Septagram, Satori Son, Mamalujo, Malleus Fatuorum,
Thijs!bot, Interested2, Ucanlookitup, Hcberkowitz, Bobblehead, Davidhorman, Kingnixon, Oreo Priest, AntiVandalBot, Opelio, JHFTC,
Joe Schmedley, Legitimus, Arkan5, Erxnmedia, JAnDbot, MarritzN, Minitrue, Attarparn, Lsi, Acroterion, Bencherlite, Canjth, Parsecboy,
NeoJudus, LCJ, SSZ, Bryanpeterson, JaGa, Pax:Vobiscum, Gwern, Dan Dean, Phantomsnake, General Jazza, Ekotekk, KTo288, Nono64,
Pharaoh of the Wizards, PCock, Rodrigo braz, PalestineRemembered, JPLeonard, Maurice Carbonaro, Hodja Nasreddin, Cop 663, Grosscha, RenniePet, Chiswick Chap, Spartelite, C1010, DadaNeem, Xyl 54, Vanished user 39948282, Julyda4th, WLRoss, Ashcroftgm,
Morenooso, Indubitably, Nug, TXiKiBoT, Xenophrenic, Zurishaddai, Room429, EnglishDez, Jaqen, Andrewaskew, Enigmaman, Spadgos, THEODICEAN, AlleborgoBot, GavinTing, Guerillamarketing, StAnselm, DarknessEnthroned, Rabbeinu, Pretest, Jc-S0CO, Fredburks, Cicorp, Tensaije, Anakin101, Capitalismojo, ZaneSteez, LarRan, Sab128, Startswithj, Hoplon, MenoBot, ClueBot, MBD123,
The thing is, Binksternet, Mild Bill Hiccup, Foofbun, LonelyBeacon, Trivialist, Grandpallama, Geo247, CuandoCubango, P.jasons, Xme,
Mlas, Tony May, Thingg, Belchre, 3d-geo, DumZiBoT, Kurdo777, Sannleikur, Ost316, Dominatrixdave, Bazj, Addbot, Mhines54,
Heavenlyblue, MrZoolook, Daverogue, Disbelieve, Download, Fogeltk421, Lihaas, SpBot, Numbo3-bot, Peridon, Alanscottwalker, Lightbot, Nhalks, Aadieu, Henri rouge, PMLawrence, Reenem, AnomieBOT, VanishedUser sdu9aya9fasdsopa, DemocraticLuntz, Tryptosh,
Jim1138, McSaddle, Short Brigade Harvester Boris, Glenfarclas, Ulric1313, Materialscientist, Fuelsaver, Tbvdm, Cliftonian, LilHelpa,
Xqbot, MaxPuckett, Thouliha, Catastrophe420, Rbrt21, Srich32977, RibotBOT, Carrite, A Quest For Knowledge, Shadowjams, LucienBOT, Lothar von Richthofen, Mark Renier, MureMan, TurningWork, Haeinous, HJ Mitchell, Liverworth, Citation bot 1, Pinethicket,
Bmclaughlin9, RedBot, MastiBot, Nikolas93ts, ARMitre, Ionisiso, Princesssissi, Lotje, Defender of torch, Aoidh, Tbhotch, RjwilmsiBot,
Grondemar, EmausBot, John of Reading, WikitanvirBot, GoingBatty, Slightsmile, Acidrain4696, Doelleri, ZroBot, Ahears, Dpenn89,
MRBigdeli, Lhixson, Wingman4l7, Columbia666, Carmichael, Why is pizza so good?, Farizana94, Mcc1789, 8h3d0kg, Whoop whoop
pull up, ClueBot NG, Wertydm, Bazuz, CopperSquare, Helpful Pixie Bot, Legoless, Zlisha Khan, Regulov, BG19bot, Londonboy2011,
Shurusheero, Shorisharo, Terry Hildebrand, Darkness Shines, Mark Arsten, Great50, Jacob van Maerlant, Harizotoh9, Turnr44, BattyBot,
Gauzeandchess, Pratyya Ghosh, Ddcm8991, JYBot, Mogism, Ranze, XXzoonamiXX, Lugia2453, Keptautokeptauto, 93, Pc1985, Halsingpurg, Kabulbuddha, Jgmoneill, Chris troutman, MopSeeker, Lixinheth, GeeBee60, Ter M. Ahn, Damon161, Darkone123, Monkbot,
Magma1983, Gdeblois19, Phantomop, Mister Sneeze A Lot, A1491625 and Anonymous: 382

9.2

Images

File:193109_mukden_incident_railway_sabotage.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/193109_
mukden_incident_railway_sabotage.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: published in japanese newspaper Rekishi Syashin Original
artist: Unknown
File:Alfred_Naujocks.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Alfred_Naujocks.jpg License: Public domain
Contributors: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, item number CW-004 Original artist: U.S. Army
File:Charlemagne_Pralte.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Charlemagne_P%C3%A9ralte.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Nombreux sites Internet et ouvrages divers Original artist: Unknown
File:Cooper_bomb_threat.gif Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Cooper_bomb_threat.gif License: Public
domain Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Liftarn using CommonsHelper. Original artist:
Original uploader was ChrisO at en.wikipedia
File:NorthwoodsMemorandum.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/NorthwoodsMemorandum.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.gwu.edu/~{}nsarchiv/news/20010430/doc1.pdf Original artist: ?
File:Question_book-new.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0
Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007
File:Wikisource-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Contributors: Rei-artur Original artist: Nicholas Moreau

9.3

9.3

Content license

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

11