The Real Story of the Men Who Stare at Goats

http://www.newsmonster.co.uk/paranormal-unexplained/the-real-story-of-the-men-who-stare-at-goats.html

The Real Story of the Men Who Stare at Goats
Paranormal & Unexplained,
Written by Danny Penman

At first glance, the goat shed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina could be anywhere in the world. Thirty goats were happily munching on their hay and staring at the blank concrete walls of the stable. Every few minutes one of the goats would stop chewing, begin gasping for breath, and then nonchalantly carry on eating as if nothing had happened.

In an equally non-descript room next to the shed, a young sergeant in combat fatigues was staring at the goats through a window fitted with one way glass. Two soldiers and a general were anxiously watching the sergeant. Every so often, the general would shake his head slightly and a worried look would cross his face.

The sergeant took another swig of coffee and then something extraordinary happened. Goat Number 17 let out a silent bleat, keeled over, and died.

"My God," said the general. "It works."

The sergeant nodded silently. He'd just managed to kill the goat using nothing more than the psychic power of his mind. Finally, after years of research, the US Army's Project Jedi seemed to be on the verge of success.

Project Jedi was a top-secret military project to create a breed of ‘super-soldier'. If all went according to plan, the Jedi Warriors would revolutionise warfare. They would be fantastically strong and possess superior intelligence, cunning and intuition. They would use psychic remote viewing to spy on the enemy, disable nuclear bombs with telekinesis, and effortlessly kill with the power of thought alone. But not only that, they would have the ability to become invisible at will and to walk through walls.

You might think that Project Jedi had been dreamt up by Hollywood scriptwriters eager to tempt audiences with a delightfully crazy plot. Indeed, the project does lie at the heart of the soon to be released Hollywood blockbuster The Men Who Stare At Goats starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor. But what is less well known is that the US military did try to create a breed of ‘super-soldier' capable of walking through walls and killing by thought alone.

Even more bizarrely, the fruits of Project Jedi and several other clandestine paranormal projects were actively used in battle and are almost certainly being employed in the war on terror and the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

"You have to understand," says Sergeant Glenn Wheaton, a Special Forces soldier seconded to Project Jedi. "These ideas were not considered wacky. They were seen as the next military frontier. We needed to know whether it was possible to use paranormal forces for military ends. We also needed to know how to protect ourselves should they be used against us."

Back in 1983 Major General Albert Stubblebine III was at the height of his powers. He was one of America's most distinguished soldiers and chief of US Army Intelligence with 16,000 soldiers under his command. General Stubblebine controlled the army's signals, photographic and technical intelligence, and numerous covert spying operations around the world. He was instrumental in the US invasions of Panama and Grenada. It is no exaggeration to say that Albert Stubblebine III was at the heart of America's military machine.

He was also a man who tried to walk through walls.

Visitors to General Stubblebine's offices at Arlington, Virginia, tell of him repeatedly walking at walls - only to bounce painfully off them. In his mind, there was never any doubt that the ability to pass through solid objects would one day be a common tool in the intelligence gathering arsenal. Nonetheless, he was continuously frustrated by his own inability to walk through walls.

"I still think it's a great idea," says General Stubblebine. "I simply kept bumping my nose. It's a disappointment. Same with the levitation."

In the late 1970s General Stubblebine became convinced that America's next war would be fought with the psychic powers of the mind as well as with conventional bombs and bullets. His reasoning lay in the numerous covert psychic projects (all with bizarre names) that the US military had been secretly funding for decades. Very few in the military had even heard of the Stargate Project, MK Ultra and Project Jedi. General Stubblebine, however, had been following them intently and funding some of them lavishly.

The military initially focused on ‘remote viewing', the scientific term for clairvoyance and ESP. They reasoned that training soldiers to view distant locations using nothing more than the power of their mind could be immensely useful on the battlefield. And so they created the Stargate Project to explore such phenomena.

The directors of Stargate began by funding scientists at the Stanford Research Institute in California, one of America's most prestigious science academies. Very soon, Stanford played host to more than a dozen psychic spies. Their skills were once demonstrated to President Jimmy Carter when they were used to search for a downed aircraft.

The remote viewers used a deceptively simple method based on what is known as the Ganzfeld technique. The psychic spies induced an altered state of consciousness by seating themselves in a sound proof room and wearing earphones playing white noise. Ping pong balls sliced in half were placed over their eyes to obscure vision. The whole room was then bathed in soft red light.

The map coordinates of the ‘target' would be written on a piece of paper, placed in an envelope and handed to the viewer. He would be allowed to touch the envelope but forbidden to open it. Alternatively, pictures of the target location would be sealed in the envelope. The remote viewers would then slip into a light meditative trance and their "minds eye" would be drawn to the target location. Pictures, feelings and impressions would then drift into their minds from the target, which might be located thousands of miles away.

To an outsider, this approach might appear to produce only hopelessly vague results that were no better than guesswork. But the scientists investigating remote viewing found them to be surprisingly accurate and the military found them useful too.

Joe McMoneagle was a Vietnam veteran and "Remote Viewer Number 1". His primary role was to use remote viewing to look inside Russian military bases and gather intelligence. He spent over 20 years as a remote viewer working for U.S. intelligence at Fort Meade, Maryland, the headquarters of the National Security Agency. His work eventually earned him the Legion of Merit, America's highest military non-combat medal.

"My success rate was around 28 percent," says Joe McMoneagle. "That may not sound very good but we were brought in to deal with the hopeless cases. Our information was then cross-checked with any other available intelligence to build up an overall picture. We proved to be quite useful ‘spies'."

The military was not content to use psychics merely to gather intelligence. They wanted to go further and use them for offensive purposes too. This drive soon turned to paranoia when the Americans learned of a huge Russian programme to develop psychic and ‘psychotronic' weapons. Over 40 Russian institutes were involved.

Psychotronic weapons use sound, radiation or powerful electromagnetic fields to scramble the mind. The Americans were terrified that the Russians would use psychics to disable their nuclear missiles and psychotronic weapons to drive their soldiers insane. They were unaware that the Russians had discovered that psychotronics were a damp squib.

In any case, American laws (and ethics) forbade the development of psychotronic weapons, so they focused their attention on such psychic abilities as psychokinesis - the supposed power to move objects using the power of the mind. American psychics were soon tasked with manipulating the innards of Russian computers and erasing their hard discs. They were then asked to interfere with the detonators of nuclear weapons and interrupt the guidance systems of missiles. All of this work is still highly classified.

Things soon turned far more sinister. The military began studying the power of human thought to inflict damage on living creatures. In technical parlance its known as DMILS (Direct Mental Interaction with Living Systems). It's the basis of spiritual healing - and its flip-side, the Gypsy's curse.

In the late 1960s, American scientists discovered that focusing bitter, vindictive and negative thoughts on mould - the scientific equivalent of the Gypsy's curse - inhibited its growth. In one study, out of 194 mould samples ‘cursed', 151 showed retarded growth. And if all that wasn't strange enough, in later experiments some of those attempting to influence the mould were stationed 15 miles away. Other scientists soon found that negative thoughts could also slow the growth of the food poisoning bug E. coli.

The military immediately saw the implications of this work. If DMILS could be harnessed by their psychic spies, they would become the perfect assassins.

It was only natural, then, for the military to turn to their most accomplished psychics for help. One of them, a youthful Uri Geller, was asked to kill a pig. There was just one problem, which hadn't occurred to his handlers - Uri was a vegetarian with an abiding respect for all life.

"They asked me to kill the poor creature using thought alone," Uri says. "I cannot tell you how shocked I was. I love animals. My powers cannot be used to harm. It's as simple as that.

"In those days I was young and naïve but in that moment I realised who I'd become associated with. I catapulted myself out of that room and left the programme."

The military, of course, didn't abandon the project just because Uri had left. It morphed into Project Jedi at Fort Bragg, headquarters of US Special Forces.

Sergeant Glenn Wheaton, a special forces soldier and a member of Project Jedi, recently told me of the attempts to kill numerous different animals. First they tried dogs but the psychic soldiers couldn't bring themselves to kill them, especially when the creatures were looking at them with their big brown eyes. They finally latched onto goats. They reasoned that no one could empathise with a creature as ugly as a goat.

"One of the special forces soldiers, Michael Echanis, could stop the heart of a goat just by thinking about it," says Sergeant Wheaton. "I watched him do it.

"Blood began to drip from its nose. Froth then started to bubble from its mouth. The creature fell on to its side, had a fit and died. I can't have taken longer than 30 seconds. It was chilling to watch."

"We realised soon after that everything comes with a cost. Michael suffered a sympathetic injury to his heart. Maybe it was karma."

News of the U.S. military's involvement with psychic spying and the Jedi Warriors gradually leaked out. The psychic programmes had always been controversial within the military. Many opposed them on religious grounds, they were seen as Satanic, others saw them as deeply irrational and unbefitting for a modern military. It was hardly surprising then, that General Stubblebine was quietly retired. The Stargate Project was then downsized and eventually transferred to the CIA before being closed down.

In 1995, the Pentagon finally confirmed that they had indeed investigated paranormal phenomena "in the national interest". They argued that because the Russians were using psychics, the US must investigate such phenomena too.

To diffuse the row, they immediately appointed two external scientists to investigate their research. It was a classic fudge. They knew that everyone would focus their attention on the more ‘believable' Stargate remote viewing programme. The rest was deniable.

After more than a year of waiting, the results of the external audit of the military's work was released. One researcher, Ray Hyman, concluded that the military had proven scientifically that psychic powers appeared to be real phenomena - but could not bring himself to actually believe in them.

The other, Professor Jessica Utts from the University of California at Davis, concluded that psychic phenomena are indeed real. The US Army had genuinely discovered a way of harnessing the paranormal.

It's hardly surprising then, that some are claiming that the US military has re-activated its psychic spying programme. I have spoken to four former psychic spies. All agree that the U.S. is actively hunting for Bin Laden using remote viewers. Only one, Sergeant Glenn Wheaton, would go on the record.

"Sooner or later Bin Laden will be found," he says. "His location will be narrowed down to four or five locations. They will all be hit simultaneously."

And what of Project Jedi? That's dead and buried. Well, that's the official line anyway.

'08 turnout same as or only slightly higher than '04

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/06/report-08-turnout-same-or-only-slightly-higher-than-04/

November 6, 2008
Report: '08 turnout same as or only slightly higher than '04
From CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart
North Carolina had the highest increase in voter turnout, according to a report released Thursday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A new report from American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate concludes that voter turnout in Tuesday’s election was the same in percentage terms as it was four years ago — or at most has risen by less than 1 percent.

The report released Thursday estimates that between 126.5 and 128.5 million Americans cast ballots in the presidential election earlier this week. Those figures represent 60.7 percent or, at most, 61.7 percent of those eligible to vote in the country.

“A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout,” the report said. Compared to 2004, Republican turnout declined by 1.3 percentage points to 28.7 percent, while Democratic turnout increased by 2.6 points from 28.7 percent in 2004 to 31.3 percent in 2008.

“Many people were fooled (including this student of politics although less so than many others) by this year’s increase in registration (more than 10 million added to the rolls), citizens’ willingness to stand for hours even in inclement weather to vote early, the likely rise in youth and African American voting, and the extensive grassroots organizing network of the Obama campaign into believing that turnout would be substantially higher than in 2004,” Curtis Gans, the center’s director, said in the report. “But we failed to realize that the registration increase was driven by Democratic and independent registration and that the long lines at the polls were mostly populated by Democrats.”

Some experts also note that national turnout trends may mask higher turnout in swing states with more intensive attempts by both campaigns to get their supporters to the polls. Several large states, including California and New York, had no statewide races and virtually no advertising or get-out-the-vote efforts by either presidential campaign.

According to the report, several Southern states — North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, and Mississippi — and the District of Columbia saw the greatest increases in voter turnout.

Overall turnout was highest in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, South Dakota and North Carolina, according to the report.

In 2004, 122 million Americans voted in the general election.

Edwards Admits Sexual Affair

Robalini's Note: When I first heard of the recent Enquirer story, my instincts were that it was true, that the only reason Edwards was at the hotel was because he did father Hunter's baby. While he still denies that part of the story, most of the Enquirer allegation has been proven correct. The unstated question: did information on the affair and/or lovechild push Edwards out of the Democratic Presidential race early? At the time, Edwards, while unlikely to win, could have used his kingmaker status with his delegates to push for a choice pick as VP again. It is interesting to note that at the time, I was one of many who observed that Edwards and Obama were splitting the anti-Clinton vote, and Edwards' departure help paved the rise of Obama from a likely distant runner-up to the top vote-getter. It is also important to remember the Enquirer's role in the rise of Arnold in California, where American Media, owners of the tabloid, paid at least one women $20K for her exclusive story on an alleged affair, a story which they then squashed. Given this history of covering up for a GOP politician, is it possible they were part of a secret move to force Edwards to exit the campaign? I heard from multiple GOP sources in February they felt the only chance McCain had of winning this year is if the Democratic Party tore itself in half during the primary, and Edwards bowing helped push the bitter Obama-Clinton feud forward.

Enquiring minds want to know...

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5441195

Edwards Admits Sexual Affair; Lied as Presidential Candidate
In an ABC NEWS NIGHTLINE Interview, Edwards Reveals He Cheated, But Didn't Father Child
By RHONDA SCHWARTZ, BRIAN ROSS, and CHRIS FRANCESCANI
August 8, 2008 —

John Edwards admitted to ABC News in an interview with Bob Woodruff Friday that he repeatedly lied about an extramarital affair with a 42-year old campaign employee, but strenuously denied being involved in paying the woman hush money or fathering her newborn child. The former Democratic U.S. senator from North Carolina said he would be willing to take a paternity test and divulge the results publicly.

"Two years ago I made a very serious mistake, a mistake that I am responsible for and no one else. In 2006, I told Elizabeth about the mistake, asked her for her forgiveness, asked God for his forgiveness. And we have kept this within our family since that time."

Edwards, 55, said he told his entire family about the affair after it ended in 2006, and that his wife Elizabeth, who has incurable breast cancer, was "furious" but that their marriage would survive. The couple have three children, Cate, 25, Emma, 9, and Jack, 7. When he confessed his affair to his wife, "she was mad," Edwards said.

"She was angry," he said. "I think 'furious' would be a good way to describe it. She didn't understand. We both went through a process of trying to figure out how it happened, why it happened." Late Friday evening, Elizabeth Edwards posted a message on her blog, saying that she and her children will stand by Edwards.

"Our family has been through a lot. Some caused by nature, some caused by human weakness, and some  most recently  caused by the desire for sensationalism and profit without any regard for the human consequences," she wrote on http://elizabethedwards.dailykos.com/. "None of these has been easy. But we have stood with one another through them all. Although John believes he should stand alone and take the consequences of his action now, when the door closes behind him, he has his family waiting for him."

She too, denied in the blog post that Hunter's child was fathered by her husband.

Edwards told ABC News that he met secretly with former lover Rielle Hunter as recently as last month in a California hotel room at her request because "she was having some trouble, she just wanted to talk."

"I wanted her not to tell the public what had happened," he said at another point. "Very simple. That's the reason I went."

Edwards contacted ABC News and requested that he be interviewed about the allegations. He agreed before the interview to place no limitations on the questions he would be asked, but limited the amount of time he would be questioned. He declined to clarify exactly when the relationship began or ended but said it was over before he announced his campaign for the presidency on Dec. 28, 2006.

"I think my family is entitled to every detail," Edwards said. "They've been told every detail&I think beyond the basics&I think that's where it stops in terms of the public because I think everything else is within my family and those privacy boundaries out to be respected."

A series of dramatic allegations revolving around the affair have been reported by the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer. The most serious of those allegations is that Hunter has been receiving hush money through the Edwards campaign in order to keep her quiet.

In the interview, Edwards denied knowing anything about any support being provided to Hunter or to Andrew Young, the former Edwards campaign aide who has said that he, not Edwards, is the child's father.

If any such support was being provided, Edwards insisted, "I had nothing to do with any money being paid, and no knowledge of any money being paid, and if something was paid, it wasn't being paid on my behalf."

Edwards' 2008 national finance chairman Fred Baron said late Friday that he had provided "assistance" to Hunter and others without Edwards' knowledge.

In a statement emailed to ABC News, Baron said that he "decided independently to help two friends and former colleagues rebuild their lives when harassment by supermarket tabloids made it impossible for them to move forward on their own." "I did this of my own volition without the instruction or suggestion of anyone, and made a conscious decision not to tell anyone, including John Edwards, that assistance was provided. The assistance was offered and accepted without condition. This is now and shall always remain a private matter between these individuals and me."

Edwards said he knows he could not be the father based on the timing of the baby's birth on February 27, 2008.

A grainy photo that appears to show Edwards holding a child was published recently in the National Enquirer, which claimed that the baby was Rielle Hunter's child Frances Quinn. Edwards said he couldn't make "sense" of the photo.

"I don't know if that picture is me," Edwards said. "It could well be. It looks like me. I don't know who that baby is. I have no idea what that picture is."

Pressed to clarify whether the child in the picture was Hunter's child, Edwards suggested that the tabloid may have digitally altered the picture, but also noted the frequency with which politicians hold babies. "Do you know how many pictures have been taken of me holding children in the last three years? I mean it happens all the time."

Edwards was asked again about the meeting.

"Are you saying you don't remember holding that child of Miss Hunter?"

"I'm saying you asked me about that photograph. I don't know anything about that photograph, I don't know who that baby is. I don't know if the picture has been altered, manufactured, if it's a picture of me taken some other time, holding another baby&I have no idea. I was not at this meeting holding a child for my photograph to be taken I can tell you that."

Edwards finally told Woodruff that he did not remember a baby being present at the meeting last month in California.

Edwards blamed the affair on the adulation surrounding his remarkable rise into presidential politics.

"I went from being a senator, a young senator to being considered for vice president, running for president, being a vice presidential candidate and becoming a national public figure. All of which fed a self-focus, an egotism, a narcissism that leads you to believe that you can do whatever you want. You're invincible. And there will be no consequences."

According to friends of Hunter, Edwards met her at a New York city bar in 2006. His political action committee later paid her $114,000 to produce campaign website documentaries despite her lack of experience. Edwards said the affair began during the campaign after she was hired. Hunter traveled with Edwards around the country and to Africa.

When the National Enquirer first reported the alleged Edwards-Hunter affair last October 11, Edwards, his campaign staff and Hunter vociferously denounced the report.

"The story is false, it's completely untrue, it's ridiculous," Edwards told reporters then.

He repeated his denials just two weeks ago.

Edwards today admitted the National Enquirer was correct when it reported he had visited Hunter at the Beverly Hills Hilton last month.

Edwards made a point of telling Woodruff that his wife's cancer was in remission when he began the affair with Hunter. Elizabeth Edwards has since been diagnosed with an incurable form of the disease.

Edwards was asked whether he loved Hunter.

"I'm in love with one woman," he responded. "I've been in love with one woman for 31 years. She is the finest human being I have ever known."

The former senator was asked why his wife was not by his side as he made the admissions about his affair to ABC News.

"I have seen these public figures who bring their wives along when they say they've done something wrong; confessing some wrong and the wife - they bring their wives to stand beside them I guess, to show support - Elizabeth didn't do anything wrong. I didn't ask for her to be here. I asked for her not to be here. Uh, this is my responsibility; my alone. I have to be the man and take responsibility."

Earlier in the interview, Edwards described his experiences in personal, visceral terms.

"I am imperfect," he said. "And anybody, anybody watching this broadcast or who hears about this who wants to beat me up for this, they should have at it. The truth is you can't possibly beat me up more than I have already beaten myself up."