by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster
September
11, 2001 began as a perfect day in New York City. The first taste of
autumn was in the air. It felt like a wonderful time to be alive.
Then,
everything changed.
In
those endless hours after the first plane hit, we waited to find out
if those we loved had survived. People around the world were praying
for us and for America.
From
home in California I prayed for my daughter, Morgan, who was to have
been in the Twin Towers that morning. Later, I learned the trip
planned for her to replace her fiance's bank card had not happened
because they quarreled. After their squabble John Fund went off in a
huff to his office in the Wall Street Journal. He returned late in
the day, covered with white dust, accompanied by two security guards
who had walked with him across the bridge to Jersey City.
My
relief when Morgan answered her phone brought me to tears.
In
the first shock and grief following 9/11 millions around the world
opened their hearts to America. It seemed as if the long ached for
peace, bringing humanity together, was within our grasp.
The
next week, touched by the memory of fear and hope I wrote this poem.
No.
20 - Crimson Blossoms Sheer and Rend
Crimson
Roses rent the sky; bringing down the autumn sun.
Fracturing
the pillared towers;
Sudden
death writ red as flowers.
My
mind arrested; could not accept, the changes sudden that deformed
The
world I knew was shattered there,
inside
an autumn newly born.
The
scenes surreal, the tears, the shock; the frantic search for those we
love.
Trembled
tones and dust choked eyes.
The
fall of towers from the sky.
Deforming
shock of memories, rescinding trends of history.
From
grief surrendered; steel bent scope.
Was
reborn an edge for hope.
Our
courage spent as offered gift; lives to save mean more than risk.
A
shroud of dust had cloaked the sky
A
cloak of courage, death denied.
A
thousand little moments bled, in mind made journey, our griefs
unsaid.
As
human actions moved our minds.
Ears
heard
echoes of the divine.
Erupting
roses burned our eyes, remaking worlds we will not see.
Recasting
all our best beliefs;
replacing
them with soul seared grief.
Transforming
death; unbending love; our undeflected will to hope.
These
the gifts that roses brought
revealing
need for truer scope.
We
all felt the potential for coming together, I think. But time taught
us how differently a small group of people viewed 9/11.
That
outpouring of compassion from across the globe was transformed into
the wet dream of NeoCon greed. Afghanistan was invaded. Harsh voices
urged more violence based on what we now know were lies. The
bipartisan trust according the White House was used with calloused
disregard of the truth. Further events were manufactured to keep us
in fear.
And
the political operatives, masquerading as media, were accorded heady
powers as the rush for death and profits began.
John
Fund, whose speed dial's first two numbers are Dick Cheney and Karl
Rove, was doubtless briefed on the exciting opportunity 9/11
presented for carrying out the war against Iraq. Invading Iraq was in
the plan when George W. Bush lied his way into the White House in
2000.
For
Fund, 9/11 and its aftermath included the opportunity to evade
charges of domestic violence. For Karl Rove and company, everything
is political.
The
next year and a half were surreal. It was as if the shock of falling
towers continued as a psychic barrage. It was a time which changed me
and my personal world, forever.
Part
II
Why
Saddam Hussein Had to Die
In
November, 2002 I was asked, “Is
Qusay something like E-Bay?”
The query came from my daughter, Morgan. She and I are now estranged.
That
November, Morgan was in hiding with a sympathetic family in Georgia,
following an attempt on her life by John Fund, her former lover.
Although
Fund was employed at the Wall Street Journal as a journalist, serving
on their Editorial Board from 1995 - 2001, his real job was as a
political operative. By the late 90s he was working for what would
become the Bush Administration. His long career in the field of
disinformation began with the Koch brothers in 1979. At the time he
was claiming to be a Libertarian. He also claimed he had run for
office. Both of these were lies according to Justin Raimondo in his
article, John
Fund vs. the Truth,
published in Antiwar. Com April 27, 2006.
Lying
to the public, manufacturing evidence, and destroying lives, was
standard practice for the NeoCons in control of the Bush White House.
Viewing themselves as possessing the right to rule they were
following the political philosophy of Leo Strauss.
John
came into his association with them already trained. As an operative,
John Fund inserted fabricated information into public consciousness.
I can say this with authority because he kept in touch with me,
feeding me lies which included both Democrats and their political
enemies within the Republican Party.
Protecting
Fund was important to the NeoCon White House. Protecting their
constructed scenario for the War in Iraq being sold to the public,
was essential.
In
the years leading up to the opening of the War in Iraq ordinary
Americans still believed those in control of their government
understood their obligation to act only on the facts and act justly.
We were wrong.
This
narrative uses one story, a minor one, involving one woman without a
conscience, Morgan Pillsbury Gell, to illustrate the ruthlessness and
lack of human values at the core of the Bush Administration. These
policies continued with Obama without change.
The
Personal is also Political - Demanding Proof
Morgan
was a manipulator and a liar, and my entire family knew this from the
time she was still in her teens. But we did not know about
psychopathy – then.
Morgan
came by the condition, which can be inherited, through my first
husband, Richard Lee Barteaux, a psychopath who was supported by his
wealthy parents all of his life. Richard died of severe
cirrhosis of the liver
in
1983.
I
left him after six months and never saw him again for good and
sufficient reasons.
I
began to demand Morgan provide evidence for events too incredible to
believe in 1999. She and I were no longer speaking when she called me
from her apartment in Jersey City to tell me she was broke and
starving. She said she had been in a relationship with John Fund for
nearly a year.
Having
asked John Fund, who I had known politically since 1979, about the
relationship the previous March, I told her she was lying. John
claimed to know her only casually, having fed her cat for her once.
At
that moment, John called her. Putting me on hold, Morgan took his
call, recording
it.
Calling me back she said, “Just
listen.”
What I heard was a stunning indictment of any claim by John Fund to
honesty. At the very time he an I were talking Morgan was in Los
Angeles aborting his child.
This
would become known as the Weasel Search Tape for the website which
originally hosted both tape and article, published in 2001.
Although
I told Morgan, in the strongest possible terms, she should walk away
from the relationship and return to college, she refused the offer.
Instead she asked me to help her find a job in New York. I agreed to
assist her.
During
the year I paid for an apartment in New York Morgan spent far more
time with Fund than looking for a job. She later told me he was
living at the apartment with her about half the time.
At
the beginning of 2001 it was clear Morgan had no interest in working
for a living and I ended my assistance to her. With the plane ticket
I provided she returned to New York from California. Occasionally, I
heard from her but her focus continued to be her relationship with
Fund.
On
May 2, 2001, Morgan called to tell me she had just heard from John,
who had phoned her, dead drunk. The reason for celebration was the
end of the Blumenthal - Drudge suit for libeling Blumenthal as a wife
abuser.
This
event seemed to mark a change in their relationship. Soon, he asked
her to move in with him.
Sex,
Lies, and the Tape
But
there were complications. Morgan had provided interviews about her
relationship with Fund to John Connolly of Vanity Fair. She had also
provided Connolly with the 1999 recording, now known as the Weasel
Search Tape.
If
you read through the characteristics
of psychopathy,
according to Dr. Robert Hare, Morgan's actions, and those of the
NeoCons make chilling sense.
The
beatings started after Connolly's article,
“Sex,
Lies, and the Tape,”
was published, September 4, 2001.
Morgan,
born July 5, 1967, was then 34 years old. Later I learned,
psychopaths court disaster because they enjoy living on the edge.
This behavior was in evidence all of her life.
While
the trauma of 9/11 was playing out, with its grief, anguish, and
shock, most Americans, being emotionally normal, still trusted their
government. The NeoCons in the White House used this opportunity for
carrying out plans already made for war. Instead of using the tragic
events to enact peace, they invaded Afghanistan, and continued their
plan to invade Iraq.
In
parallel with these events, Morgan and John were spiraling down to
violence. John would batter Morgan multiple times. I heard this
happening on the phone, as did Eric Buchanan, the husband of the
couple who later hid her in Georgia.
Although
what Eric and I heard was offered as evidence many times, we were
ignored.
Part
III
Domestic
Violence is a Crime
Listening
to what was transpiring through the phone that day nauseated and
sickened me. That first time I still did not believe Morgan, who had
told me about the beatings a few days earlier. That changed after
this first incident.
It
started with Morgan's voice dropping and growing unsteady as the
sound of the door opening came through the phone. She left the phone
on, probably putting it down. Then John began talking. He accused her
of breaking 'the rules,' talking to other people and repeating a
bewildering list of requirements she was to follow to retain his
trust.
His
voice began rising. It sounded like he was beginning to snarl, like
he was an animal preparing to attack. Even more frightening, Morgan
sounded like a little girl, her voice growing shaky and rising in
pitch.
I
heard something crash, like it was knocked over. This was followed by
the sound of a hand hitting flesh. Morgan cried out but I could not
understand her words. John, however started laughing, a deep,
maniacal sound that made me shudder. I could not stop listening, but
my hands were shaking and I had to use both of them to hold on to the
phone.
It
went on for a long time. Blow following blow, each accompanied by her
little girl voice, begging him to stop. Finally, I heard him ask what
she had made for dinner. From Morgan, there was no sound.
I
hung up and called the Jersey City Police. It was not long before I
had the number memorized. I began to learn how events are
manufactured and altered beyond recognition. John knew a lot of
people in politics.
The
police and the authorities in New York and New Jersey knew these
incidents had been heard both by myself and by Eric Buchanan. Neither
of us were ever called or mentioned in their reports. We offered
statements. Neither of us was allowed to give one in the months, and
years, which followed.
Criminal
Minds – Political Lies
I
vacillated between rage at how Morgan was being treated and wondering
if she deserved it, as everyone else in the family believed. My third
daughter, Ayn, told me, “We
should let John solve the problem for us.” She
meant Morgan. But even though Morgan was a liar she was still, then,
my child. I could not turn my back on her.
Those
screams and the sound of John's maniacal voice still haunt me today,
even knowing she has no conscience or empathy for others.
I
had felt as if the blows were landing on my own body.
In
late January Morgan finally listened to my pleas and agreed to move
to an apartment in New York, for which I paid.
A
few days later she called and told me John had found her and moved
it. It felt as if my stomach had dropped out. I was dizzy and
nauseated. To say it was surreal understates the case. I could not
believe she had permitted it.
But
she began sending me scans of John's mail, which he would leave there
on the floor, for instance, the letter to him from Fidelity
Investments,
dated January 25, 2002. John is also a habitual liar, then claiming
Morgan was out of his life.
In
March I flew in to see some plays with a friend, calling Morgan from
the taxicab a few blocks away. When Morgan answered the phone I could
hear John talking in the background. When I arrived Morgan was bloody
and he was gone.
I
insisted she file a police report, as any normal person would do. I
hoped the police in Manhattan would be different. Initially, they
were. But what I did not know, because she did not tell me, was that
John had been promised help by Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. He had
apparently found her so he could extort the proof in the form of the
notarized
statement.
She did this because John offered to pay her. I was stunned to learn
she would lie for money without blinking.
I
had never imagined domestic violence would be viewed as a political
issue and handled accordingly. I was wrong.
An
attempt on Morgan's life took place in late April, 2002. Someone with
a key turned the first lock. Morgan, who was talking to me on the
phone as she stood in the tiny kitchen next to the entry door, threw
the deadbolt. I immediately told her to call security. The camera
showed a man's back leaving the building. The Manhattan police
refused to investigate.
The
search began for someplace where she would be safe. Morgan left New
York as if she was headed to spend a weekend in the Hamptons, her
other possessions shipped, one box at a time, ahead of her.
Desperately
Seeking Help
During
the time we were desperately looking for help Sidney Blumenthal had
ignored our pleas for assistance. The police and DA's office were
refusing to follow the law in the case of domestic violence filed by
Morgan against John Fund on February
19, 2002.
It
was Fund who had come up with the idea for Matt Drudge to libel
Blumenthal as a wife beater. Instead of helping, Blumenthal tried to
persuade Morgan to supply material for his book, “Clinton's
War.“ The
request was made via this email,
dated June 22, 2002. Morgan refused and was very angry with his
dismissal of a real case of domestic violence and the attempt on her
life.
She
was even angrier a short time later. Blumenthal, she discovered, had
stolen the information he had requested from her computer, using a
keylogger. She had found the Keylogger and traced its origin.
Morgan
returned the favor. Soon, she was reading the never ending revisions
of Sidney's book and his emails.
When
Morgan left New York I stopped having nightmares about flying in to
view her body. During this time, the ramp up to the invasion of Iraq
was mounting.
The
Ramp Up to War
In
September of 2002, along with the rest of Americans, I listened as
the claims for Weapons of Mass Destruction began, were debunked, and
then began again, reaching the level of hysteria. In October, the
National Intelligence Estimate became available. It was all remote,
horrible, but without immediate impact on us. I thought.
Morgan
had never kept up on unfolding events for anything but what
immediately interested her. However, what interested her had changed
somewhat, beginning in early summer, 2002 due to events in her own
life. By November she had been monitoring traffic to and from the
computer owned by Sidney Blumenthal for six months.
Later,
I realized what must have been happening in the background, out of
sight.
Part
IV
Saddam
Considers His Options
Having
considered his options, Saddam Hussein, whose career had started as
an operative for the CIA, offered to leave Iraq, if he was paid. He
could have had no illusions about what happen if Iraq was invaded.
But he probably believed the powers set against him would be happy to
lower their transaction costs for getting access of Iraqi oil. He was
wrong, too.
The
Bush agenda had assigned a role for Saddam. He was to be the villein
in the drama, now launched. Therefore, his continued presence was
essential. Bush wanted him dead, and dead he was going to be, the
facts not withstanding. How much this would cost in money, lives and
suffering, was not an issue.
But
someone had to keep Saddam in place and this could not be anyone
associated with the Bush Administration. So, in late 2002 Bill and
Hillary Clinton, aided by Sidney Blumenthal, undertook the job via
emails which flowed through the Blumenthal computer.
Reassured,
Saddam Hussein stayed in Iraq.
Morgan
was still reading Sidney's emails in between baking cookies in the
middle of the night and trips with Mrs. Buchanan to Walmart.
When
Morgan sent me the first email involving Saddam Hussein I had a
friend, expert in computers, ascertain where the email sent to
Blumenthal originated. The answer came back, the Emirates, likely
Baghdad.
I
knew perfectly well it was illegal for the Clintons, now private
citizens, to manipulate policy. I still could not imagine a
presidency which routinely manipulated events for their own profit as
anything but treason. I also could not imagine this kind of
cooperation between Bush and Clinton, given what the NeoCons had done
to Bill during the Monica Lewinsky Debacle.
I
knew it was my duty to inform authorities, which I did.
In
the mean time, Morgan and Eric had managed to get a keylogger on
Qusay's
computer by using a subject line which read, “Women
without Veils.”
Morgan
was watching on March 20, 2003 at about 02:30 UTC, or about 90
minutes after the lapse of the U.S. 48-hour deadline for Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq ended. According
to The Pentagon, 36 Tomahawk missiles and two F-117 launched GBU-27
bombs were used in this assault.
The
targets were high-level Iraqi governmental officials, including
Saddam Hussein himself, and were based on intelligence which led the
U.S. government to believe it knew his movements. Civilian buildings
were also hit.
On
May 29, 2003, it was claimed the Bunker never existed, but the
computer was definitely hit. Morgan told me about watching as the
ping moved to CIA headquarters in Virginia, calling me immediately
afterward.
I
had told Morgan the Clintons and Blumenthal would be charged with
treason. When this did not happen I realized I had failed to
understand the NeoCons running the Bush Administration.
We
would now become targets ourselves. This began April 1, 2003. See the
John
Fund site
/Time
Line & Evidence. Scroll down to April Fool's Day, 2003.
We
knew too much. Our credibility needed to be destroyed. With Morgan,
this was not hard to do. Even I, her mother, did not believe her
without hard proof. With me this was somewhat more difficult.
I
had been active in politics and organizations for years.
Overtly,
they ignored me. The DA's office refused to take a statement from me
regarding John Fund's battery of Morgan.
Knowing
most people are ignorant of the law they secured what they needed to
put paid to Morgan's credibility.
In
the spring of 2003 John Fund received from Green Hills Software,
Inc., the corporation for which my former husband was Senior Vice
President, an uncertified deposition Morgan had given in early 2001.
This went up on a website he and his girl friend, Gail
Herriot
put up on June
21st
.
The site came down soon after May 17th
2014, shortly after I published an article pointing out the
deposition was illegally obtained and used.
On
April 9th
Dan O'Dowd incorporated the Fallen
Heroes Last Wish Foundation
with a goal of providing $5,000 each for college to 100 orphans of
servicemembers who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The site was
announced on the April 10.
In
return for their assistance Green Hills Software, Inc., began getting
defense contracts, eventually becoming a major supplier of software
for drones through Green Hills and, eventually, its wholly owned
subsidiary, INTEGRITY
Global Security.
Green Hills President O'Dowd also made sure I did not get the stock
due me from my divorce.
This
was another “Throw Mama from the Train” deal like the one Dan
O'Dowd had made with my former husband, his Senior Vice President,
Craig Franklin in late 1997.
Craig
had made sure Dan's partner, Glenn Hightower, could not exercise his
buy out option by orchestrating a walk out of critical personnel
during due diligence. In return, O'Dowd had a new stock option
agreement written by an attorney in Los Angeles, Anne Fisher.
The
campaign to destroy our credibility and my financial resources picked
up steam as Operation Iraqi Freedom continued.
John
persuaded Eric Alterman and other ambitious journalists to write hit
pieces. Alterman's piece appeared in The Nation on May 15, titled,
"Who
Framed John Fund?,"
published in The
Nation. Herriot wrote an email letter to Gene Gaudette, an editor of the site where the Connolly article is still hosted.
Nation. Herriot wrote an email letter to Gene Gaudette, an editor of the site where the Connolly article is still hosted.
On
July 22, 2003 Wendy MacElroy, a struggling writer who called her self
a feminist while supplying articles to men's groups explaining why
women are as violent as men, traded a hit piece for a continuing gig
at Fox News. The article,
False
Rape Charges Hurt Real Victims.
MacElroy
did not bother to call either myself of Morgan. I had known MacElroy
personally since the 70s.
Cheney
arranged to have me hit with IRS liens. With the public relations
extravaganza on the war then building I knew all too well it was
unlikely anyone would pay attention or believe me.
For
the next eleven I was left caring for a disabled son, 24/7 with no
money and no resources. When I say we nearly starved several times I
am not exaggerating. I know how ruthless these people are from very
personal experience.
But
over the next years the learning curves of millions has continued.
Our world had changed and so have we. What has not changed is the
lack of conscience in those who today hold power.
Today,
we have endured the trauma of endless wars, destroying nations,
murdering millions of innocent people. All of this was carried out to
profit a small elite who also have further plans for us.
The
individuals who orchestrated this reign of terror, controlled by both
major political parties, are following the same marching orders now
as they did then. For them, there are no rules.
For
those of us who empathize, trust, and love, seeing is believing.
Those without conscience have no limits.
Today,
the reality of psychopathy, those without conscience, is finally
sinking in. Theories on the meltdown of the economy now acknowledge
the impact of the disordered. Agencies such as the FBI take it into
account.
I
learned in ways which were immediate and personal. Questions from an
entire lifetime were answered when I realized Morgan is a psychopath,
too. Understanding how the lack of a conscience alters behavior
forced me to see the world through their eyes. It was a frightening
moment.
Pieces
of an enormous puzzle suddenly fit for me personally, politically,
and spiritually.
In
their hands 9/11 became not a beacon for peace but a much desired
justification for endless war and profits. They have no beliefs.
When you hear them use the words and images which touch our hearts
and evoke our trust they are feeling only the satisfaction of having
fooled us.
Republican,
Democrat, there is no difference. We
must lose our illusions and move past the barriers constructed to
keep us divided.
Saddam
was marked for death because he knew too much. Having been part of a
previous scam he had to have realized he had finally been scammed
himself. The power he thought he held was illusion. The illusion
killed him.
He
had become more useful as a symbol for evil than as a hired player in
their game. The fact he had nothing to do with 9/11 was irrelevant.
Learn
to see through the eyes of a psychopath. Understand them, act
locally, where we can better observe those around us. At the same
time, be aware of what is happening around the world.
Real
security is only possible when facts are transparent globally and
locally. When this is so we are no longer vulnerable to manufactured
illusions. We need this because only then will peace,
justice, and a clean and healthy Earth be possible for our children.
Notes:
And John Fund is still employed, though now at National Review.
Here is the site
I put up which seemed to make him rethink keeping his own site
active.
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