Wikileaks: CIA Chief Brennan on Journalist "Witch Hunt" When Michael Hastings was Killed

[James_Madison_Lives]

Wikileaks: CIA Chief Brennan on Journalist "Witch Hunt" When Michael Hastings was Killed

summarized from http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/...-hunt-when-hastings-was-killed/article/421913

An email released by Wikileaks from a top-level CIA contractor says that CIA Director John Brennan, the subject of an upcoming story by now deceased journalist Michael Hastings, had been on a "witch hunt" against "investigative journalists".

Hastings was killed in an unusual high-speed car accident in which the vehicle exploded on impact with a tree, and perhaps before. Hastings' wife confirmed that Hastings' next "big story" was to be on Brennan.

Email by Stratfor President Fred Burton:

"Brennan is behind the witch hunts of investigative journalists learning information from inside the beltway sources.
Note -- There is specific tasker from the WH to go after anyone printing materials negative to the Obama agenda (oh my.) Even the FBI is shocked. The Wonder Boys must be in meltdown mode..."

A witness said "It sounded like a bomb going off in the middle of the night."

Witnesses also reported the car was already on fire before it hit the tree.

Hours before he died, Hastings sent out a series of frantic emails to friends and colleagues, indicating that be believed he was being investigated by the FBI and sounding "panicked," according to his friend Sgt. Joe Biggs,

Biggs tells RT interviewer that he had received an email indicating that police had been present at Hastings' house that day, and that Hastings had been seen looking underneath his car. San Diego 6 News Television journalist Kim Dvorak says she belives the Hastings crash was not a simple one-car accident, and may have involved foul play.

[video=youtube;EysdTBx-ShI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EysdTBx-ShI[/video]

Brennan was architect of CIA "Disposition Matrix" capture/kill list

CIA Director Brennan is developer of the “Disposition Matrix,” described by government officials as a "next-generation capture/kill list."

Sources accuse Brennan of being behind the US policy of running arms to Al Qaeda-linked Syrian rebels.

Bush national counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke told the Huffington Post:

...in the case of Michael Hastings, what evidence is available publicly is consistent with a car cyber attack.

Typically, high speed impacts, even in past generations of automobiles, are characterized by a violent, horrific-sounding crunching of metal and glass, but no gas explosion. Fire can follow, but ignition usually takes place after the initial impact, as fuel vapors heat up and come into contact with hot surfaces. According to the National Fire Protection Association, only 3% of cars catch on fire as the result of crash impacts, and impact explosions are not a statistical category.

[video=youtube;Ta1UjSSeE1s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ta1UjSSeE1s[/video]

http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/...-hunt-when-hastings-was-killed/article/421913

 

[enhanced_deficit]

This is shocking, is this confirmed?

 

[brushfire]

I was hoping his piece would have eventually surfaced. I personally believe that Hastings was murdered. I hope those who did it are brought to justice, no matter how far off or improbable that sounds.

 

[James_Madison_Lives]

This is shocking, is this confirmed?

Here is the article, every fact linked to major source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/...-hunt-when-hastings-was-killed/article/421913

- Wikileaks email undisputed by Stratfor

- San Diego 6 reporter says likely murder, a real journalist with a real news station with real lawyers behind her

- Bush National Security Counter-Terror Czar Richard Clarke, direct quote:

...in the case of Michael Hastings, what evidence is available publicly is consistent with a car cyber attack.

The article is fully sourced and documented. Satisfy yourself. http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/...-hunt-when-hastings-was-killed/article/421913

 

[Zippyjuan]

The quote from his wife (made on CNN) said only that "I have no doubt that he was persuing a hot story. He always had at least five hot stories going. That was Michael (laughter)." This was quoted by the Fox station but not made to the Fox station or Fox News.

Fox6 report later adds that Hastings wife said it was not a deliberate incident but a tragic accident that her husband died "with no malfeasance involved".

 

[phill4paul]

They killed him. I've believed this from the beginning. But to think our government did this is "conspiracy theory." Some say our government just wouldn't do it. Look at the CIA torture. Some say our government is too incompetent. Their fools. The government is competent in what it chooses to be competent in. Being incompetent in everyday affairs allows for this myth-conception.

 

[brushfire]

The quote from his wife (made on CNN) said only that "I have no doubt that he was persuing a hot story. He always had at least five hot stories going. That was Michael (laughter)." This was quoted by the Fox station but not made to the Fox station or Fox News.

Fox6 report later adds that Hastings wife said it was not a deliberate incident but a tragic accident that her husband died "with no malfeasance involved".

I recall Hastings wife saying that she thought it was a tragic accident. With all due respect to Ms Hastings, her opinion may have held more weight in my mind had she been in the passenger seat of the car, or even on the street. So far as I can tell, she is receiving her information from the same sources that we are.

There were all sorts of oddities with the incident - I find the courtesy cremation as especially odd.

 

[phill4paul]

The quote from his wife (made on CNN) said only that "I have no doubt that he was persuing a hot story. He always had at least five hot stories going. That was Michael (laughter)." This was quoted by the Fox station but not made to the Fox station or Fox News.

Fox6 report later adds that Hastings wife said it was not a deliberate incident but a tragic accident that her husband died "with no malfeasance involved".

Well, his wife's personal opinion would be the definitive end-all, surely. And there is certainly no way in which her opinion could be influenced.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Yet she is cited as a source (along with speculation by a Fox reporter) "proving" that he was killed.

 

[Zippyjuan]

I recall Hastings wife saying that she thought it was a tragic accident. With all due respect to Ms Hastings, her opinion may have held more weight in my mind had she been in the passenger seat of the car, or even on the street. So far as I can tell, she is receiving her information from the same sources that we are.

There were all sorts of oddities with the incident - I find the courtesy cremation as especially odd.

He was half cremated in the crash. And despite rumours to the contrary (also made by the same reporter above), it was at the request of the family.

 

[phill4paul]

Yet she is cited as a source "proving" that he was killed.

I guess. I've never really seen her opinion taken as proof one way or the other. I've never really considered her opinion. Opinions are just that. Opinions.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Her opinions have been questioned: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/michael-hastings-conspiracy-theories-kim-dvorak

Meet the Journalist Spreading Michael Hastings Conspiracy Theories
"Whether it turns out to be true or not, that's a whole other issue," says Kim Dvorak.

The Los Angeles Police Department has ruled out foul play in journalist Michael Hastings' fatal car crash two months ago in Hollywood, but several media outlets are continuing to promote conspiracy theories about the circumstances surrounding his death. The theories, which suggest Hastings was assassinated shortly after sending friends a frantic email, have received attention beyond the usual fringe suspects partly because of ongoing reporting by freelance blogger Kimberly Dvorak for the CW Television Network affiliate San Diego 6.

Dvorak, whom the station touts as an "investigative journalist," is a "National Homeland Security Correspondent" for Examiner.com, a blog network owned by Republican billionaire Philip Anschutz that has minimal editorial oversight. Since Hastings' death, San Diego 6 has repeatedly given Dvorak airtime to float conspiracy theories—that the crash was not consistent with a car accident, that Hastings was cremated to cover up foul play, that federal officials may have ordered him killed. None of these theories, which often come from unnamed sources, are backed up by convincing evidence, but reputable media outlets keep falling for Dvorak's reporting anyway.

Last month, for example, the Independent, a major British newspaper, picked up Dvorak's report claiming that Hastings' body "was cremated and it wasn't the request of the family…in fact, the family wanted Michael's body to go home." But on Tuesday, veteran journalist Russ Baker dispelled the myth on his news site WhoWhatWhy by talking to a family member who confirmed that the cremation was done at the family's request. Dvorak later removed the passage saying Hastings' family wanted his body to "go home," but her story still hints at a cover-up, calling the cremation a "macabre twist."

Dvorak's other theories are just as questionable. She claimed on air that the engine of Hastings' Mercedes C250 coupe had been found behind the crash site, which would have been impossible with the forward velocity of an ordinary accident. The engine was found in front of the crash site. Her suggestion that a grainy video of the crash showed evidence of a "pre-explosion" sabotage has been dismissed by car experts. She has also reported that the intensity of the resulting fire might suggest the use of thermite accelerants—a popular theory among 9/11 truthers who believe thermite was used to melt the World Trade Center towers' steel columns. She's written credulously about the theory that President Barack Obama may not have been born in the United States. And Dvorak has repeated speculation by Richard Clarke, the former Bush- and Clinton-era counterterrorism czar, that Hastings' car's computer system may have been remotely hacked—something that's technically possible but highly unlikely.

Dvorak also thinks the LAPD's refusal to turn over information about its investigation is evidence of a conspiracy. "Despite the LAPD's categorization of the Hasting fatal accident as [not involving foul play]," she wrote, the police continue to ignore "requests made by San Diego 6 News for the police report, 9/11 call, autopsy, bomb squad and toxicology reports, or make the Mercedes available for inspection." The police department's reluctance to comply with Dvorak's requests "only fuels conjecture," she added. Dvorak recently received the 911 calls, which she suspects the LAPD may have given her to defy federal officials who are covering up the investigation, and says she's enlisted the help of Judicial Watch, a conservative legal watchdog group funded by billionaire media mogul Richard Mellon Scaife, as she continues to file public records requests with local and federal agencies.

"I'm going out on a limb reporting this," Dvorak tells Mother Jones when asked about her theories. "Journalists are becoming so irrelevant right now." As Dvorak sees it, the story of Hastings' crash must be told, even though she says she's received death threats over her reporting, and no other journalists are interested in telling it. She hasn't ruled out the possibility that the "stars could have aligned" and resulted in a tragic accident. But she says she remains suspicious that Hastings may have "faked his death" or been assassinated. "Whether it turns out to be true or not, that's a whole other issue," she adds. (San Diego 6's news director, Irv Kass, who also writes for Examiner.com, did not respond to requests for comment.)

Dvorak's reporting—and mainstream media outlets' embrace of it—is ongoing. On Monday, Dvorak reported that she had "confirmed" a claim made last week by Hastings' widow, Elise Jordan, that Hastings was working on a profile of CIA Director John Brennan at the time of his death. (The news that Hastings had been investigating Brennan first appeared in the Los Angeles Times the day after Hastings' death in June.) "It's curious how his wife came out and talked about [Hastings' death] and kind of had a smile on her face and didn't seem like a grieving widow," Dvorak says.

Riffing off the Brennan detail, Dvorak referenced an old WikiLeaks email about the Obama administration's investigation of classified leaks to suggest that Brennan may have targeted Hastings. The next day, Reason linked to Dvorak's report, citing its supposedly "[n]ew details." Fox News, the International Business Times, and the Epoch Times also cited her reporting.

If Brennan or the CIA didn't play a role in Hastings' death, perhaps Army General Stanley McChrystal, who resigned after Hastings quoted him and advisers in Rolling Stone mocking government officials, had something to do with it, Dvorak has suggested. After quoting a friend of Hastings who said the crash "wasn't an accident," Dvorak cited a passage from The Operators, Hastings' book about the Afghanistan war. Hastings wrote that Jake McFerren, a top civilian adviser to McChrystal, threatened that he and other McChrystal staffers would "hunt…down and kill" Hastings if they didn't like how the Rolling Stone profile turned out. (Hastings wrote that McFerren later apologized.)

Dvorak is a "fucking disgrace," Matt Farwell, a writer and friend of Hastings who is finishing his Brennan profile for an upcoming issue of Rolling Stone, told WhoWhatWhy. Farwell wants Hastings' death to be investigated, but "unless it's good solid shoe leather journalism…it's not helping anyone," he said. "It makes the LAPD and the feds go into closed-off mode and makes people not want to say anything." (Asked to comment on the Hastings investigation and Dvorak's theories, the LAPD replied with an email saying, "We have no further comment on this matter.")

Farwell is unlikely to sway Dvorak, who says she doesn't know who he is and that his criticism "doesn't bother me one way or another." She says she probably won't keep making regular appearances on TV until she hears back about her latest records requests but plans to keep reporting until details of Hastings' death become clear. "There's a huge dialogue that's been created out of this," she says. "I think Michael would have really liked that. I'm fairly certain he would welcome that discussion."

Just a correction for my earlier posts. At the time, San Diego Channel 6 was not a Fox station but a member of the now- defunct WB network. Channel Six is now a Fox station.

 

[jmdrake]

Yet she is cited as a source (along with speculation by a Fox reporter) "proving" that he was killed.

Oh come on zippy. For once quit playing games. Her statement goes to motive not means or opportunity. And if she did believe he was murdered for investigating powerful people self preservation could motivate her not to be forthcoming in that belief.

 

[jmdrake]

Her opinions have been questioned: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/michael-hastings-conspiracy-theories-kim-dvorak



Just a correction for my earlier posts. At the time, San Diego Channel 6 was not a Fox station but a member of the now- defunct WB network. Channel Six is now a Fox station.

Correction. Her publicly stated opinion has been questioned. Who knows what she really thinks? Most people are not as brave as we would like to think. And that's especially true of women. Not saying this to bash women. But the survival instinct of women needs to be particularly strong for the sake of the children. (I don't think this particular couple had children, but that doesn't change the survival instinct). If she started pushing for a murder investigation of her husband and pointed that investigation at the CIA, and if the belief that her husband was murdered by these powerful people, what would her life expectancy be?

 

[charrob]

They killed him. I've believed this from the beginning.

me too.

But to think our government did this is "conspiracy theory." Some say our government just wouldn't do it. Look at the CIA torture.

yep.

Some say our government is too incompetent. Their fools. The government is competent in what it chooses to be competent in. Being incompetent in everyday affairs allows for this myth-conception.

[+1 rep]. Totally agree.