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Freezing rain { November 7 2002 } Subject: Wellstone's Murder! Was Wellstone murdered? It's a legitimate question journalists must feel free to ask By Kéllia Ramares Online Journal Contributing Editor November 7, 2002-Soon after the news of Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone's death hit the wires, I got a phone call in the newsroom of radio station KPFA in Berkeley, Calif. The caller was a listener who said that, after hearing of Wellstone's death, he called the Washington, DC, office of Sen. Barbara Boxer (D- Calif) to urge that the senator get the Canadian government to investigate the circumstances of Wellstone's plane crash. The listener also said that Boxer's staff told him that they were getting "flooded with calls," urging that the Canadians or some other foreign government investigate the crash. The next day I moderated a teach-in after a major anti-war demonstration in San Francisco. The second speaker asked the audience of approximately 40 people, "Does anyone here not think that Wellstone's plane crash was a hit?" No one raised a hand. As I circulated among the literature tables during one of the speeches, I noted that people were talking about the news reports on Wellstone's death and that they had been paying attention to how the stories evolved. It seemed that the later the report, the worse the weather was near the Eveleth-Virginia, Minn., airport at the time of the crash. Although the possibility of icing seemed to be the concern of the networks by Saturday evening, several people at the teach-in were aware of the exchange between CNN's Wolf Blitzer and a reporter on the scene, who discounted weather problems. From CNN?s Initial Report: The crews on the ground found two large sections of plane. The tail section was intact. The weather did not have anything to do with the crash, said the on the scene reporter. Wolf Blitzer tried to correct her. He said, The plane was flying into the storm of freezing rain, right? "There is no evidence that weather had anything to do with the crash." The on-the-scene reporter stuck to her guns. Peruse the Internet and you will easily find people who doubt that the crash was an accident and they back up those doubts with rational questions about the flight and rational concerns about the state of the country. But Wellstone was barely in his grave when a news director on a radio listserve to which I belong made a comment that is typical, even stereotypical, of what I've come to call the Lily-Livered Left: "I can't stand it how so many people, not just in the left, get invested in conspiracy theories when the power structures anyone can see and observe in broad daylight suffice to explain what's going on. . . . More than once I head callers to Talk of the Nation or The Connection start making truthful, to-the-mark observations about power politics only to veer off into lunatic conspiracy theories, disqualifying their entire statement. Thanks a lot, man! ". . . . May I remind people that air travel is dangerous? In January an FAA inspector died in a plane crash in Alaska, called to investigate the high incidence of plane crashes there. A conspiracy? How about bad weather? "Please, I'm not denying that we have murderous power structures, but I don't like it when people start discrediting themselves, especially when they are in the alternative media business." Yes, bad weather happens, mechanical parts fail, pilots make mistakes, and birds fly into planes. All these matters are being investigated in the Wellstone case, rightly so. Here are some of the preliminary findings: Safety Record of the type of aircraft involved: Fifty accidents involving King Air A100s have occurred since 1975, according to the FAA. Five were fatal, but three of those five weren't the plane's fault. King Air A100 accidents since 1975 have killed eight people in the United States and injured nine others. The aircraft's safety record is particularly impressive considering its widespread use. (From the Duluth-Superior 10-25-02) Experience of the Pilots: . . . only one pilot is required to fly the plane, two were hired because a senator was on board. The pilots of Wellstone's plane . . . Conry had nearly 5200 hours of flying time and the highest certification a pilot can attain, his company said. Guess had 650 hours and was certified as a commercial pilot; he graduated from UND's aeronautics program. (From the Minneapolis Star Tribune 10-26-02) Physical Condition of the Pilots: Dr. Thomas Uncini, St. Louis County's chief medical examiner, said Monday his preliminary conclusions are that the two pilots were in good physical condition and there were no signs that they suffered a heart attack or stroke. "No, it didn't happen," he said of medical problems. "It looked pretty straightforward." (From the 10-29-02 St. Paul Pioneer Press) Newspaper reports, as well as an email exchange I have had with a former private pilot, indicate a catastrophic loss of control in the last minutes of the flight, in an airplane with a good reputation, with two fully qualified pilots, in good health, the more experienced of whom had passed a test required to maintain licensure just two days before. Think about it again: Last minute catastrophic loss of control of an airplane that was carrying a man with a reputation as being the most liberal US senator, who was last on the Chamber of Commerce's list of business-friendly senators, who was the only senator up for re-election in a close race who voted against Bush's Iraq war resolution, who was regarded as an enemy by those who occupy the White House, and who was holding a seat the White House wanted in order to regain control of the Senate . . . and the polls were showing that Wellstone's "no" vote on the Iraq war resolution was gaining him support! Those of us who look askance at "coincidence theory" are wondering, "What are the odds that two Democratic Senate candidates, in two closely contested races important to the Bush camp, would die in purely accidental plane crashes in the waning days of their campaigns in two consecutive election cycles?" According to the airport manager, the pilots clicked on the runway lights by sending a signal from the plane, and were never heard from again. Maybe the switch that turned on the runway lights was rigged with a gas bomb, knocking out both pilots who slumped over their controls causing the plane to take a steep dive into the ground. Then again, maybe shortly after the pilots clicked on the runway lights, a stray loon flew into the windscreen, shattering it, knocking out both pilots who slumped over their controls causing the plane to take a steep dive into the ground. Sound journalism, especially in today's political climate, asks both questions. Lily-Livered Leftists, concerned with being "discredited," (by whom?) discredit themselves by closing off the possibility of foul play. As anyone familiar with the entertainment industry knows, plane crashes happen. That fact also makes it easy to dismiss (and hide?) sabotage. The world is full of criminals, people with such a lust for power or taste for money that they are not beyond killing someone, or paying off someone to kill, if it suits their goals. It's an ugly reality, but assassination happens. So why do some journalists feel the need to demonize the possibility of conspiracy with adjectives such as "lunatic?" After all, doesn't organized crime exist? What about the corporate executives who are being led away in handcuffs these days? Does anyone seriously believe that each person guilty of crimes in the current corporate accounting scandals acted alone, in total ignorance of what their colleagues were doing? If there is concerted action in criminal enterprises such as drug trafficking, and in the so-called "legitimate" business world, e.g. Arthur Andersen, isn't it lunacy to believe that criminal conspiracies never, ever happen in politics? Indeed, if the plane that crashed had carried Bush, Cheney or any of the Cabinet members to their deaths, wouldn't assassination be the first thing everyone would be investigating? In fact, the first assumption in their cases would be "It was Al Qaeda!" (Terrorism was briefly raised and quickly eliminated in the Wellstone case). Isn't any terrorist organization a criminal conspiracy? I think that facile dismissal of the possibility of foul play in Wellstone's case is symptomatic of the state of denial many media makers are in concerning the ruthlessness of the Bush camp. What reason is there to believe that there is some magical, moral bright line that these political actors who have committed atrocities abroad would refuse to cross in pursuing their agenda at home? The notion that there would never be criminal conspiracies among the highest echelons of American politics is at best naïve grade school patriotism and at worst it's "them not us" racism. That this notion of "lunatic conspiracy theories" persists even after the truly non-corporate journalists have exposed the Bush camp's foreknowledge of 9-11 shows that the denial runs very deep. The person who spoke of "lunatic conspiracy theories" on the listserve said, "Also, if the 'Repiglicans' wanted to snatch that Senate seat all they had to do is prop up the Green candidate hoping it would divert enough votes; it's been tried in Oregon." But what if gaining that particular Senate seat was not the main goal? What if the main goal was to intimidate members of Congress? I think that has been tried also, in the form of anthrax letters sent to Democratic leaders during the debate on the USA PATRIOT Act. It's worth noting that the anthrax was American-made and the attacks stopped once that unconstitutional abomination was passed. The next problem is the Lily-Livered Leftist insistence that we focus on abstractions, rather than on human actors who can be held accountable. There are times when social change has to be approached systemically, such as in passing amendments to the Constitution. But, just what is a "murderous power structure?" Is it a high-voltage electrical tower come to life and gone berserk? How does a structure commit murder? What is a power structure but a group of people operating within a certain set of rules, rules which may include eliminating their enemies? In these cases, the only way to get to the "root cause" of the problem, as the structuralists like to call it, is to go after the criminals. Catch enough of them, and the system may change because the bad actors will realize that they can't get away with murder. Focus on incremental, institutional change during a revolutionary time like the present, and you may find yourself in an institution. As a journalist, what is most troubling to me about the comment made on the listserve is its source. It came from the news director of a community radio station. And it reflects a viewpoint held by so-called progressive writers such as Norman Solomon, David Corn, and Marc Cooper, who are respected in left media circles. In essence, what this news director is saying is that people in the independent media should eliminate certain lines of inquiry before the investigation fairly begins. By this approach, rather than testing the conspiracy theory against the facts, he refuses to even formulate the hypothesis. A comment such as "I don't like it when people start discrediting themselves, especially when they are in the alternative media business," reeks of the need for approval. Approval from whom? Certainly not the anti-war protesters who believe Wellstone was murdered. And those are the very people likely to be using independent media. Whenever someone says, "Don't go there. Don't ask about that. Don't investigate that," as Dick Cheney is saying about 9-11, that is the first place a reporter should go, ask about and investigate. Anything else allows gatekeepers to limit the scope of the reporter's search for truth. Once that happens, journalism is turned into stenography for the power elite. Unfortunately, that is the way some of the Lily-Livered Leftists would have it. For more information: Scoop Media Survey of Wellstone Plane Crash Stories Paul Wellstone, Fighter-The Nation 5/27/02 Twin Cities Indymedia The Gatekeepers-Bob Feldman Kéllia Ramares also produces R.I.S.E. - Radio Internet Story Exchange and reports for KPFA-FM in Berkeley, Calif. Download a printable version. For a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here.

Attempt in colombia { December 1 2000 } Felony pilot Freezing rain { November 7 2002 } Herbicide attempt colombia Killed wellstone M word More planes { October 28 2002 } Muslims mourn New data confirms not weather Plane off course Remote control aircraft { October 30 2002 } Republicans criticise service Sen wellstone { October 4 2002 } Venture names barkley Wellstone murdered Wellstone remembered What papers said Why { October 28 2002 } Witness heard nothing Files Listed: 19

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