Will they find the plane?

[GonBush]

I don't know, they keep seeing stuff on the satellites, and then the ships can't find it, or the spotter planes find stuff but it turns out to be fishing debris.
So after all this time they still haven't found any wreckage.
What about that peice of whatever that they saw on the satellite that was supposed to be 24 metres long?
I'm sure they would have been able to note it's gps position on the satellite and then send a ship or a plane to check it out.
I don't know, maybe it's not even there.

The black box stops transmitting in a week, and they don't even know where to look for it at the moment.
And the underwater pinger locater the US brought can only go 5 km an hour, so it wont cover much ground.

Seems to me they got ships to the area way too late; when they first thought it may have gone down there they should have sent ships to the area to be ready just in case.

Maybe they wont find it. I mean as time goes on and they don't find any wreckage, then if they do eventually find some it will be a long way from where it went down, and they may not be able to work out where it drifted from after all that time.

 

[D. B. Doober]

No

 

[PetFlora]

The people involved know exactly where the plane is. It was landed safely, but aside from the 20 scientists on board, most likely everyone else was killed

A few have stated divine alien intervention. If true, the passengers are likely safe

Follow the patent rights. They lead to Rothschilds

Subscribe to Veterans Today for updates

 

[Coconutz]

It flew through a wormhole or it was hijacked by elves and its suspended in mid air above the south pole.
Might as well expand the search area.
It could be in northern pakistan like bin laden. Just kidding... that would be retarded
peace homies

 

[Photosynthesis]

Don't believe what the Main Stream Media pumps out.

 

[HempKat]

The problem with the satellite sightings is that by the time those images are studied and released it's been 3 to 4 days later. So whatever the location was, the object isn't there even before the ships get told where to go. As far as I know, all the sightings where they actually found something is when a plane has spotted it and then they send a ship because there's much less of a lapse between the sighting and the dispatching of the ship. In some of these areas they've been looking the ocean currents are strong enough that these objects could move as much as 100 miles a day. So if there is a 4 day delay from when the satellite sees it to when a ship is dispatched that object could already be about 400 miles from where it was spotted.

 

[Storm Shadow]

Diego Garcia shot that shit down

Diversion tactic... MSM main stream media is giving way tooooo much airtime for this "FILLER"

Something big is brewing behind the scenes

 

[foomar]

If it turns out to be deliberate action by one of the pilots there is nothing to stop the same thing happening again , might be time to run aircraft as drones as so many accidents are due to pilot error.

Would you fly on a pilotless plane ?

Surprised that civil aircraft do not require a transponder uploading heading , altitude and airspeed along with GPS to satellite every few minutes rather than a black box with no guarantee of ever finding it overflying deep water.

A battery that lasts for many months and a more powerful signal would add a tiny cost to such an expensive thing as an aircraft , the GPS tracker in my car alarm seems to do a better job for a few hundred pounds.

 

[HidingInTheHaze]

The whole situation is extremely odd.

 

[Stoner4Life]

more pressing to me is whether or not I'll find the film canister of sweet Blue Dream bud I seemed to have lost.......

 

[CosmicGiggle]

..... S4L, I'm sure you realize that film canister is on its way to becoming a valuable antique!

 

[stoned-trout]

eventually ,but don't hold your breath waiting...whats scrap aircraft aluminum going for these days????

 

[Storm Shadow]

Boeing X-37B can fly around in space for 1 year with no pilots no issues...

Why do we even need pilots in todays aircraft?

 

[PetFlora]

Not if you understood what is really at stake.

Subscribe to Veterans Today for real news, though it will likely blow your mind

The whole situation is extremely odd.

 

[PetFlora]

More likely it is in one of DGs hidden hangers. Lots of tax payers' money went into creating that facility

Diego Garcia shot that shit down

Diversion tactic... MSM main stream media is giving way tooooo much airtime for this "FILLER"

Something big is brewing behind the scenes

 

[PetFlora]

Like good little soldiers, MSM only reports what they are told. Conan outed them a couple years back as all reporting the identical 411

News personalities and Talking Heads are not investigators, simply highly paid puppets, and quite likely victims of MK Ultra mind control

Don't believe what the Main Stream Media pumps out.

 

[GreeeeN GRassss]

with the satellite images been a couple of hours delayed even with that could they not predict a route or direction the plane was going in, media reports are making it look like they dont have a clue what direction it went, it seems every other day it went this or that way. i dont think there's anywhere they have not said it has been.
now its a few 1000 miles off australia its just smoke screen.

probably the russians the cold war never ended. are the people on board still been called anti cyber terrorist or has that changed. imagine hacking some nuke programs in the US if that is even possible.

 

[foomar]

If you look through this long list of 238 accidents proven to be due to pilot error we might be safer off without them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3AAirliner_accidents_and_incidents_caused_by_pilot_error

 

[PetFlora]

For those who still think the world government doesn't lie

For those who still think the world government doesn't lie

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif] Did an IBM Engineer Send a Photo From Diego Ga....
http://jimstonefreelance.com/
I just came across this article. I personally trust most of what he writes about. If true, this is amazing. My only question(s) would be when was it sent and could the battery have still had power when it was sent.
Thought you might want to post this in a new thread. It is not in response to a previous thread.
Thanks!!
*************************
snip
RUSH UPDATE: The story below is NOW CONFIRMED 100 PERCENT TRUE.
The blindfold:
The man claimed to be blindfolded when he sent the message. When the American military blindfolds someone, it is accomplished by putting a bag over the head that is locked so you can't get it off. This left the engineers hands free. This would have made it possible for him to pull his Iphone 5 (a fact confirmed by the Exif data) out of his butt as stated, and use the voice command ability of the Iphone to just talk to it to log in and post the message. This explains why he sent a black photo, he could not see what he was sending, he just knew he snapped a photo and sent whatever got taken.
The coordinates:When the coordinates are added to the fact that the photo's exif data does not match the Google coordinates or any other coordinates for Diego Garcia that are posted online, but is still within the boundaries of Diego Garcia, it proves that no one just pulled those coordinates off the web. It helps confirm that this was not just a hoax because the coordinates are exact to wherever on Diego Garcia the Iphone was when it took the photo.
ORIGINAL POST FOLLOWS:
IBM ENGINEER TAKEN FROM HIJACKED FLIGHT 370 GOT A SELFIE OUT TO THE INTERNET.
This image, which appears black was posted as taken in a dark cell by an IBM engineer. The picture is black because the cell was too dark, but a critical piece of information was embedded in the Exif data, the coordinates to Diego Garcia, where the picture was taken. And it's real, this is NOT a hoax. The coordinates in the picture indicate that the photo was taken within 3 miles of what Google officially gives for Diego Garcia. It is NOT EXACTLY what comes up on Google. It is off a couple miles, so NO ONE GOOGLED THIS, thus helping to confirm it's authenticity. I don't know how big the island is, but if it has a runway, that certainly fits.
The picture posted with the following text: "I have been held hostage by unknown military personal after my flight was hijacked (blindfolded). I work for IBM and I have managed to hide my cellphone in my ##### during the hijack. I have been separated from the rest of the passengers and I am in a cell. My name is Philip Wood. I think I have been drugged as well and cannot think clearly."
[/FONT]

 

[trichrider]

http://jimstonefreelance.com/

BLOCKBUSTER: THIS IS ACCURATE AND NOW 100 PERCENT CONFIRMED: HIJACKED IBM ENGINEER PHILIP WOOD SUCCESSFULLY DIALED OUT OF DIEGO GARCIA

...beat me pet.

=========

FLT 370 – A Little Bit of Prestidigitation

The Saga Ends…Or Does It?


Prestidigitation: sleight of hand​

a : a cleverly executed trick or deception
b : a conjuring trick requiring manual dexterity
c : skill and dexterity in conjuring tricks
Najib Razak “Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived… we must now accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean.” (NY Times)
Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister has announced that missing flight MH370 crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.
Razak based his announcement on new analysis by British satellite firm Inmarsat, which provided satellite data, and the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) which used that data to access the probability of the aircraft’s ability to reach dry land.
The firms “have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth,” Mr Razak said.
“This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.”
The Aircraft is now lying on the bottom of the ocean. All souls onboard have been lost. The finality of the announcement brings closure to the family members of the passengers and crew of MH370. Oh, really?
The Malaysian government and several members of the search and rescue teams involved have publicly thanked INMARSAT for their diligent review of the data. So who exactly is INMARSAT, and what could a private company hope to gain by providing information which may be a “sleight of hand” rather than a valid end to the Saga?
We may be quite surprised to find out who is behind the global company and how their political alignments may have affected the finding.
INMARSAT is a British satellite telecommunications company offering global mobile services. It provides telephone and data services to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals, which communicate to ground stations through eleven geostationary telecommunications satellites. Inmarsat’s network provides communications services to a range of governments, aid agencies, media outlets and businesses with a need to communicate in remote regions, or where there is no reliable terrestrial network.
The company was originally founded in 1979 as the International Maritime Satellite Organization (Inmarsat), a not-for-profit international organization, set up at the behest of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a UN body, for the purpose of establishing a satellite communications network for the maritime community.
Originally, the model was that of Intelsat, an international consortium which provided satellite communications among the member countries. The founding member of Intelsat, and the USA member, was Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT). Comsat also took the lead in the founding of Inmarsat. Inmarsat began trading in 1982. From the beginning, the acronym “Inmarsat” was used. The intent was to create a self-financing body which would improve safety of life at sea. The name was changed to “International Mobile Satellite Organization” when it began to provide services to aircraft and portable users, but the acronym “Inmarsat” were kept. When the organization was converted into a private company in 1999, the business was split into two parts: The bulk of the organization was converted into the commercial company, Inmarsat PLC, and a small group became the regulatory body, IMSO. Inmarsat was the first international satellite organization that was privatized.
In 2005 Apax Partners and Permira bought shares in the company. The company was also first listed on the London Stock Exchange in that year. In March 2008 it was disclosed that U.S. Hedge Fund Harbinger Capital owned 28% of the company. In July 2009, Inmarsat completed the acquisition of a 19-per-cent stake in SkyWave Mobile Communications Inc., a provider of Inmarsat D+/IsatM2M network services, which in turn purchased the GlobalWave business from TransCore.[ On 15 April 2009, Inmarsat completed the acquisition of satellite communications provider Stratos Global Corporation (Stratos)
It would be prudent to pay particular attention to the largest single owner of INMARSAT:
Harbinger Capital
Harbinger was founded by its Senior Managing Director Philip Falcone and Harbert Management Corporation, a Birmingham, Alabama-based investment company that provided much of the original funding. Harbinger had funds under management of $26.5 billion (£13.4 billion) as of the end of June 2008. In 2009, Harbinger acquired the ownership of its funds from Harbert, although Harbert handled administrative functions for Harbinger for a short transitional period. Also in 2009, Harbinger acquired controlling stock of the Zapata Corporation and changed its name to The Harbinger Group Inc.
Harbinger has owned large stakes in The New York Times Company, Cleveland-Cliffs, and 28% stock ownership of satellite communications company Inmarsat. The company has also owned stakes in rival satellite operators SkyTerra and Terrestar.
Harbinger Capital, which owned Russell Hobbs, merged it with Spectrum Brands on June 16, 2010 for $661 million and now controls approximately 64% of the appliance maker, Spectrum.
Now as we perform our due diligence and follow the money, we find that there is one company that stands out here. Who is that you ask? Well, let’s take a look at The Zapata Corporation:
ZAPATA CORPORATION
Harbinger Group Inc. (NYSE:HRG), formerly Zapata Corporation, is a holding company based in Rochester, New York, and originating from an oil company started by a group including the former United States president George H. W. Bush. Links between the company and the United States Central Intelligence Agency exist . In 2009, it was renamed the Harbinger Group Inc. in an attempt to thwart such affiliations.
Now we have come to the point in which we have asked what this “private” company could hope to gain from providing misleading data and sending the world to the southern Indian Ocean, which is the most desolate and dangerous ocean in the world.
It has been stated that FLT 370 carried 12 crew members and 227 passengers from 15 nations. Who were these passengers? Out of the 227, 20 were employees of Freescale Semiconductor, a company based in Austin, Texas – 12 were from Malaysia, and 8 from China.
Freescale was involved in a classified government project with the U.S. Department of Defense.
What is unusual is that the Malaysian government has continually refused to release the cargo list. Was there something onboard that aircraft? Perhaps something developed by the Freescale engineers and on its way to Beijing to be sold or turned over to the Chinese?
Could it be that Inmarsat is complicit in diverting the delivery of this cargo and group of engineers to Beijing?
Could it be that there are other reasons that those controlling Inmarsat do not want the truth to be told about the whereabouts of the Malaysian Boeing 777?
A little “Sleight of Hand” and the world is convinced that Flt 370 lies beneath the oceans.

...
Harbinger Group...(images edited out)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Harbinger Group Inc. (NYSE:HRG), formerly Zapata Corporation, is a holding company based in Rochester, New York, and originating from an oil company started by a group including the former United States president George H. W. Bush. Various writers have alleged links between the company and the United States Central Intelligence Agency. In 2009, it was renamed the Harbinger Group Inc.

Contents


[hide]

• 1 Early business history
• 2 Connections with the CIA
  • 2.1 FBI memos
  • 2.2 Allegations by former CIA staff
  • 2.3 Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)
  • 2.4 The Watergate Scandal (1972)
  • 2.5 Iran-Contra affair (1986–1988)
• 3 Decline
• 4 Glazer era and the birth of Harbinger Group Inc.
• 5 References
  • 5.1 Public records
  • 5.2 Zapata
  • 5.3 George Bush
  • 5.4 CIA
  • 5.5 Others
• 6 External links

Early business history[edit]

The company traces its origins to Zapata Oil, founded in 1953 by future-U.S. President George H. W. Bush, along with his business partners John Overbey, Hugh Liedtke, Bill Liedtke, and Thomas J. Devine. Overbey was a ‘landman’, skilled in scouting oil fields and obtaining drilling rights cheaply. Bush and Thomas J. Devine were oil-wildcatting associates.[1] Their joint activities culminated in the establishment of Zapata Oil.[2] The initial $1 million investment for Zapata was provided by the Liedtke brothers and their circle of investors, by Bush's father Prescott Bush and his maternal grandfather George Herbert Walker, and their family's circle of friends. Hugh Liedtke was named president, Bush was vice president; Overbey soon left.
According to a CIA internal memo dated November 29, 1975,[2] Zapata Petroleum began in 1953 through Bush's joint efforts with Thomas J. Devine, a CIA staffer who had resigned his agency position that same year to go into private business, but who continued to work for the CIA under commercial cover. Devine would later accompany Bush to Vietnam in late 1967 as a "cleared and witting commercial asset" of the agency, acted as his informal foreign affairs advisor, and had a close relationship with him through 1975.[3]
In 1954, Zapata Off-Shore Company was formed as a subsidiary of Zapata Oil, with Bush as president of the new company. He raised some startup money from Eugene Meyer, publisher of the Washington Post, and his son-in-law, Phillip Graham.[4][5]
Zapata Off-Shore accepted an offer from an inventor, R. G. LeTourneau, for the development of a mobile but secure drilling rig. Zapata advanced him $400,000, which was to be refundable if the completed rig did not function, followed by an additional $550,000 together with 38,000 shares of Zapata Off-Shore common stock when it did.
The U.S. government began to auction off mineral rights to the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Central American coast in 1954, and in the late 1950s and early 1960, Zapata Off-Shore concentrated its business in these areas.[6] In 1958, drilling contracts with the seven largest U.S. oil producers included wells 40 miles (64 km) north of Isabela, Cuba, near the island Cay Sal.
In January 1959, the Cuban Revolution overthrew the Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista, and Bush bought control of Zapata Off-Shore, funded with $800,000,[7] splitting Zapata Corporation into two independent companies with the Liedtkes still in control of Zapata Petroleum. Bush moved his offices and family that year from Midland, Texas to Houston for access to the Caribbean through the Houston Ship Channel.[8] But although Zapata Offshore had only a few drilling rigs, Bush set up operations also in the Gulf of Mexico, the Persian Gulf, Trinidad, Borneo, and Medellin, Colombia, and the Kuwait Shell Petroleum Development Company was among the company's clients.[9]
In 1960, Jorge Diaz Serrano of Mexico was put in touch with Bush by Dresser Industries. Dresser was owned by Prescott Bush's Yale friends Roland and W. Averell Harriman, and had been George H.W. Bush's first employer upon his graduation from Yale, giving him his start in both the oil business and the defense contractor business.[10] Serrano and Bush created a new company, Perforaciones Marinas del Golfo, aka Permargo, in conjunction with Edwin Pauley of Pan American Petroleum, with whom Zapata had a previous offshore contract. The deal with Permargo is not mentioned in Zapata's annual reports, and SEC records are missing. In 1988, a Bush spokesman claimed that the deal lasted only from March to September 1960. However, Zapata sold the oil-drilling rig Nola I to Pemargo in 1964. John Sherwood, who led the CIA's anti-Castro operations in the early 1960s, said that Zapata Offshore was used as a conduit to fund these operations, in the guise of oil contracts.[11]
Zapata's filing records with the U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission are intact for the years 1955–1959, and again from 1967 onwards. However, records for the years 1960–1966 are missing. The commission's records officer stated that the records were inadvertently placed in a session file to be destroyed by a federal warehouse, and that a total of 1,000 boxes were pulped in this procedure. The destruction of records occurred either in October 1983 (according to the records officer), or in 1981 shortly after Bush became Vice President of the United States (according to, Wison Carpenter, a record analyst with the commission).[12]
In 1962, Bush was joined in Zapata Off-Shore by a fellow Yale Skull and Bones member, Robert Gow. By 1963, Zapata Off-Shore had four operational oil-drilling rigs—Scorpion (1956), Vinegaroon (1957), Sidewinder, and (in the Persian Gulf) Nola III.
In 1963, Zapata Petroleum merged with South Penn Oil and other companies, to become Pennzoil.
By 1964, Zapata Off-Shore had a number of subsidiaries, including: Seacat-Zapata Offshore Company (Persian Gulf), Zapata de Mexico, Zapata International Corporation, Zapata Mining Corporation, Zavala Oil Company, Zapata Overseas Corporation, and a 41% share of Amata Gas Corporation.
In 1965, an oil rig that had cost three million dollars was reported lost in Hurricane Betsy and Zapata received a claim settlement of eight million dollars from Lloyds of London; for this insurer to settle a claim for an oil platform disaster without any physical evidence was unprecedented.[13]
In 1964, Bush ran for the United States Senate, and lost; he continued as president of Zapata Off-Shore until 1966, when he sold his interest to his business partner, Robert Gow, and ran for the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 1966, William Stamps Farish III, age 28, joined the board of Zapata.
Connections with the CIA[edit]

Various writers have suggested that Zapata Off-Shore, and Bush in particular, cooperated with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), beginning in the late 1950s.[14]
FBI memos[edit]


Memo from FBI Special Agent Graham Kitchel in Texas, regarding call by "GHW Bush of Zapata Off-Shore Drilling Company" received 75 minutes after JFK's murder



Memo from J. Edgar Hoover, referring to "Mr. George Bush of the CIA", briefed 24 hours after JFK's murder


Two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) memoranda have been offered to show connections between the CIA and George H. W. Bush during his time at Zapata.
The first memo, written by FBI Special Agent Graham Kitchel on November 22, 1963, names Zapata Off-Shore regarding the John F. Kennedy assassination at 12:30 pm CST that day. It begins: "At 1:45 pm Mr. GEORGE H. W. BUSH, President of the Zapata Off-Shore Drilling Company, Houston, Texas, residence 5525 Briar, Houston, telephonically furnished the following information to writer. .. BUSH stated that he wanted to be kept confidential. .. was proceeding to Dallas, Texas, would remain in the Sheraton-Dallas Hotel."
A second FBI memorandum, written by J. Edgar Hoover, identifies "George Bush" with the CIA. It is dated November 29, 1963 and refers to a briefing given to Bush on November 23. The FBI Director describes a briefing about JFK's murder "orally furnished to Mr. George Bush of the Central Intelligence Agency. .. [by] this Bureau" on "December 20, 1963. When this second memorandum surfaced during the 1988 presidential campaign, Bush spokespersons (including Stephen Hart) said Hoover's memo referred to another George Bush who worked for the CIA.[15] CIA spokeswoman Sharron Basso suggested it was referring to a George William Bush. However, others described this G. William Bush as a "lowly researcher" and "coast and beach analyst" who worked only with documents and photos at the CIA in Virginia from September 1963 to February 1964, with a low rank of GS-5.[16][17][18] Moreover, this G. William Bush swore an affidavit in federal court denying that Hoover's memo referred to him:

I have carefully reviewed the FBI memorandum to the Director, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State dated November 29, 1963 which mentions a Mr. George Bush of the Central Intelligence Agency. ... I do not recognize the contents of the memorandum as information furnished to me orally or otherwise during the time I was at the CIA. In fact, during my time at the CIA, I did not receive any oral communications from any government agency of any nature whatsoever. I did not receive any information relating to the Kennedy assassination during my time at the CIA from the FBI. Based on the above, it is my conclusion that I am not the Mr. George Bush of the Central Intelligence Agency referred to in the memorandum.(United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Civil Action 88–2600 GHR, Archives and Research Center v. Central Intelligence Agency, Affidavit of George William Bush, September 21, 1988.)
​

Allegations by former CIA staff[edit]

US Army Brigadier General Russell Bowen wrote that there was a cover-up of Zapata's CIA connections:

Bush, in fact, did work directly with the anti-Castro Cuban groups in Miami before and after the Bay of Pigs invasion, using his company, Zapata Oil, as a corporate cover for his activities on behalf of the agency. Records at the University of Miami, where the operations were based for several years, show George Bush was present during this time.[19]
​

Another writer quotes four former U.S. intelligence officials saying that Bush was involved with the CIA prior to the Bay of Pigs:
Robert T. Crowley and William Corson of the CIA:

Bush was officially considered a CIA business asset, according to Crowley and Corson. "George's insecurities were clay to someone like Dulles", William Corson said. To recruit young George Bush, Robert Crowley explained, Dulles convinced him that "he could contribute to his country as well as get help from the CIA for his overseas business activities."[20] [Bush] was, according to Corson, "perfect at talent spotting and looking at potential recruits for the CIA. You have to remember, we had real fears of Soviet activity in Mexico in the 1950s. Bush was one of many businessmen that would be reimbursed for hiring someone the CIA was interested in, or simply carrying a message."[21]
​

John Sherwood of the CIA:

Bush was at first a tiny part of OPERATION MONGOOSE, the CIA's code name for their anti-Castro operations. According to the late John Sherwood, "Bush was like hundreds of other businessmen who provided the nuts-and-bolts assistance such operations require... What they mainly helped us with was to give us a place to park people that was discreet."[22]
​

An anonymous official connected to "Operation Mongoose":

George Bush would be given a list of names of Cuban oil workers we would want placed in jobs... The oil platforms he dealt in were perfect for training the Cubans in raids on their homeland.[22]
​

John Loftus, in his book Secret War quotes former U.S. intelligence officials reporting the same story:

The Zapata-Permargo deal caught the eye of Allan Dulles, who the "old spies" report was the man who recruited Bush's oil company as a part time purchasing front for the CIA. Zapata provided commercial supplies for one of Dulles' most notorious operations: the Bay of Pigs Invasion. – Chapter 16, p. 368
​

In 1960, Fabian Escalante was in the Department of State Security (G-2) in Cuba. At the time of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Escalante was head of a counter-intelligence unit, and was part of a team investigating a CIA operation called Sentinels of Liberty, an attempt to recruit Cubans willing to work against Castro. His information about Bush comes from a counterintelligence operation against Tracy Barnes of the CIA:

Tracy Barnes functioned as head of the Cuban Task Force. He called a meeting on January 18, 1960, in his office in Quarters Eyes, near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, which the navy had lent while new buildings were being constructed in Langley. Those who gathered there included the eccentric Howard Hunt, future head of the Watergate team and a writer of crime novels; the egocentric Frank Bender, a friend of Trujillo; Jack Esterline, who had come straight from Venezuela where he directed a CIA group; psychological warfare expert David A. Phillips, and others. The team responsible for the plans to overthrow the government of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954 was reconstituted, and in the minds of all its members this would be a rerun of the same plan. Barnes talked at length of the goals to be achieved. He explained that Vice-President Richard Nixon was the Cuban "case officer", and had assembled an important group of businessmen headed by George Bush [Snr.] and Jack Crichton, both Texas oilmen, to gather the necessary funds for [Operation 40]. Nixon was a protege of Bush's father [Prescott], who in 1946 had supported Nixon's bid for congress. In fact, [Prescott] Bush was the campaign strategist who brought Eisenhower and Nixon to the presidency of the United States. With such patrons, Barnes was certain that failure was impossible.[23]
​

Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)[edit]


George Bush on Zapata oil rig, c.1963


In early November 1960, the CIA agreed to use US contractors for the maritime component of the operation.[24] The CIA codename for the Bay of Pigs Invasion of April 1961 was "Operation Zapata".[25] Through his work with Zapata Off-Shore, Bush is alleged to have come into contact with Felix Rodriguez, Barry Seal, Porter Goss, and E. Howard Hunt, around the time of the Bay of Pigs operation.[26]
CIA liaison officer Col. L. (Leroy) Fletcher Prouty alleges[27] that Zapata Off-Shore provided or was used as cover for two of the smaller ships (LCIs) used in the Bay of Pigs invasion: the Barbara J and Houston. Prouty claims he delivered two ships to an inactive Naval Base near Elizabeth City, North Carolina, for a CIA contact and he suspected very strongly that George Bush must have been involved:

They asked me to see if we could find – purchase – a couple of transport ships. We got some people that were in that business, and they went along the coast and they found two old ships that we purchased and sent down to Elizabeth City and began to load with an awful lot of trucks that the Army was sending down there. We deck-loaded the trucks, and got all of their supplies on board. Everything that they needed was on two ships. It was rather interesting to note, looking back these days, that one of the ships was called the Houston, and the other ship was called the Barbara J. Colonel Hawkins had renamed the program as we selected a name for the Bay of Pigs operation. The code name was "Zapata." I was thinking a few months ago of what a coincidence that is. When Mr. Bush graduated from Yale, back there in the days when I was a professor at Yale, he formed an oil company, called "Zapata", with a man, Lieddke, who later on became president of Pennzoil. But the company that Lieddke and Mr. Bush formed was the Zapata Oil Company. Mr. Bush's wife's name is Barbara J. And Mr. Bush claims as his hometown Houston, Texas. Now the triple coincidence there is strange; but I think it's interesting. I know nothing about its meaning. But these invasion ships were the Barbara J and the Houston, and the program was "Zapata." George Bush must have been somewhere around.[28]
​

(Prouty is incorrect, Barbara Bush's full name is Barbara Pierce Welch Bush. Although Barbara Bush does not have a "J" in her name, the ship which George Bush served on during WWII while he was flying airplanes which he named "Barbara," was the U.S.S. San Jacinto. So the Barbara J might very well be the Barbara J(acinto))
John Loftus writes: "Prouty's credibility, however has been widely attacked because of his consultancy to Oliver Stone's film JFK," but notes on page 598 that: "While his credibility has suffered greatly because of his consultancy to Oliver Stone's film JFK, his recollections about the CIA supply mission have been confirmed by other sources."[29]
A CIA memorandum states that the freighter ships were leased, not purchased, by the Garcia Line Corporation that had offices in Havana and New York City. The owners were Alfredo Garcia and his five sons. The CIA was using the Rio Escondido for "exfiltrating anti-Castro leaders......prior to 1961 BOP planning." It had brought out Nino Diaz, and Manolo Ray. Its captain Gus Tirado was well known to the CIA. Eduardo Garcia met with two CIA agents in NYC and D.C. to arrange the use of the Garcia ships for the invasion. The alleged price was $600.00 per day per ship plus fuel, food and personnel. Eduardo selected and hired 30 men who were "executioners for Batista" Miro Cardona of the Frente, and the CIA did not like the choice of men hired to protect the Garcia ships. "Nobody questioned that Eduardo was coming along with the expedition. "I'm going to be in charge of my ships", he said.
Memorandum From the Chief of WH/4/PM, Central Intelligence Agency (Hawkins) to the Chief of WH/4 of the Directorate for Plans (Esterline):

The Barbara J (LCI), now enroute to the United States from Puerto Rico, requires repairs which may take up to two weeks for completion. The sister ship, the Blagar, is outfitting in Miami, and its crew is being assembled. It is expected that both vessels will be fully operational by mid-January
at the latest.
In view of the difficulty and delay encountered in purchasing, outfitting and readying for sea the two LCI's, the decision has been reached to purchase no more major vessels, but to charter them instead. The motor ship, Rio Escondido (converted LCT) will be chartered this week and one additional steam ship, somewhat larger, will be chartered early in February. Both ships belong to a Panamanian Corporation controlled by the Garcia family of Cuba, who are actively cooperating with this Project.
These two ships will provide sufficient lift for troops and supplies in the invasion operation.
​

The Bay of Pigs operation was directed out of the "Miami Station" (code-name JM/WAVE), that was the CIA's largest station worldwide. It housed 200 agents who handled approximately 2,000 Cubans. Robert Reynolds was the CIA's Miami station chief from September 1960 to October 1961. He was replaced by career-CIA officer Theodore Shackley, who oversaw Operation Mongoose, Operation 40 (including Porter Goss, Felix Rodriguez, Barry Seal), and others. In 1976, when Bush became CIA Director, he appointed Ted Shackley as Deputy Director of Covert Operations. In 1981, when Bush became Vice President, he appointed Donald Gregg as his National Security Advisor.
Kevin Phillips[30] discusses George Bush's "highly likely" peripheral role in the Bay of Pigs events. He points to the leadership role of Bush's fellow Skull and Bones alumni in organizing the operation. He notes an additional personal factor for Bush: the Walker side of the family (who initially funded Zapata Corporation) had apparently lost a small fortune when Fidel Castro nationalized their West Indies Sugar Co. Edwin Pauley was "known for CIA connections", according to Phillips; it was Pauley who put Pemargo's Diaz and Bush together.
The Watergate Scandal (1972)[edit]

Phillips and others have detailed subsequent involvement by Zapata associates in the Watergate affair. George Bush, as Richard Nixon's ambassador to the United Nations, allegedly urged his former Zapata partner Bill Liedtke to launder $100,000 to the White House plumbers. After Nixon's 1972 re-election, he appointed Bush as Chairman of the Republican Party National Committee. When the laundering was exposed, those involved included several CIA officials: E. Howard Hunt, Frank Sturgis, Eugenio Martínez, Virgilio González, and Bernard Barker. A discussion of the laundering appears on the Nixon tapes for June 23, 1973.[31]
Iran-Contra affair (1986–1988)[edit]


Note from Bush to Rodriguez, December 1988


Michael Maholy alleges[32] that Zapata Off-Shore was used as part of a CIA drug-smuggling ring to pay for arming Nicaraguan Contras in 1986–1988, including Rodriguez, Eugene Hasenfus and others. Mahony claims Zapata's oil rigs were used as staging bases for drug shipments, allegedly named "Operation Whale Watch." Mahony allegedly worked for Naval Intelligence, US State Department and CIA for two decades.
Decline[edit]

Zapata, under Robert Gow's direction, sought to acquire a controlling interest in the United Fruit Company in 1969, but was outbid by AMK Corp.[33] Robert's father, Ralph Gow, was on United Fruit's board of directors.
Gow apparently left Zapata in 1970. He took with him from Zapata Peter C. Knudtzon. Ties to the Bush family continued. In 1971, both Jeb Bush and George W. Bush worked for Gow's new company, Stratford of Texas (also known as Stratford of Houston). Stratford imported tropical plants. According to Knudtzon, George W. Bush reportedly flew for Stratford to Florida and Guatemala.[34] Stratford evidently had ties to a large commercial plantation in La Democracia, Huehuetenango, Guatemala.
In the 1970s, under chairman and CEO William Flynn, Zapata expanded its business to include subsidiaries in dredging, construction, coal mining, copper mining and fishing.
By the late 1970s, saddled with weak operations, high debt and low return on investment, the company again began undergoing changes in management and direction. Led by John Mackin, who succeeded William Flynn, the company began selling off some of those businesses and refocused on offshore oil and gas exploration and production.
In 1982, chief operating officer Ronald Lassiter assumed the role of CEO, and presided over a decade of loss-making brought on by the collapse of oil prices. In 1982, Zapata Off-shore became Zapata Corporation. Its stock performed poorly. By 1986, Zapata was one of the bad loans that shook the foundations of San Francisco-based Bank of America, with a debt of more than $500 million and a fiscal year loss of $250 million. The company announced several restructurings during those years and managed to stave off bankruptcy, but continued to incur major losses. In 1990 the oil drilling company proposed selling its entire fleet of offshore drilling rigs to focus solely on fishing. The company had not had a profitable quarter in more than five years.
In 1990, Zapata Offshore sold 12 of its drilling rigs to Arethusa Offshore, which a few years later merged with Diamond Offshore. Still struggling with debt by 1993, Zapata signed a deal with Norex America to raise more than $100 million through a loan and stock sale. But financier Malcolm Glazer, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL franchise and at the time owner of 40 percent of Zapata, did not want his holdings diluted and filed a lawsuit to block the deal.
Glazer era and the birth of Harbinger Group Inc.[edit]

By 1994, the company had come under Glazer's control, after a proxy fight. Glazer became chairman of Zapata, replacing Ronald Lassiter, and in 1995 Avram Glazer was named CEO and president of Zapata. De facto headquarters moved from Houston to Rochester, New York. It no longer engaged in exploration, but owned several natural gas service companies. It also produced protein products from the menhaden fish. In subsequent years Zapata sold its energy-related businesses and focused on marine protein.
Between 1998 and 2000, Zapata tried to position itself as an internet media company under the "zap.com" name. In July 1998, Zapata announced its plans to acquire several web sites, including ChatPlanet, TravelPage and DailyStocks.com.[35] The company's stock boomed and crashed along with other dot-coms, and in 2001 the company conducted a 1 for 10 reverse stock split. The venture was cited by many investment journalists as an example of a company jumping on the internet bandwagon without any relevant experience. This period is probably best remembered for Zapata's unsolicited (and unsuccessful) takeover bid of the Excite internet portal.[36]
During this period, Zapata also built up a controlling stake in Safety Components International, a manufacturer of air bag fabrics and cushions.
On December 2, 2005, Zapata Corporation Chairman, Avram ("Avi") Glazer, announced the sale of 4,162,394 shares, 77.3%, of Safety Components International to Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. for $51.2 million. The company sold its remaining stock in Omega Proteine on December 1, 2006, leaving it with no active subsidiary. The Glazer family sold its controlling stock of the Zapata Corporation to Philip Falcone’s Harbinger Capital in 2009, and the company’s name was charged to Harbinger Group Inc. with the ticker symbol HRG on the NYSE.[37][38] In 2010–2011, Harbinger Capital Partners LLC transferred its 54.4% interest in Spectrum Brands to Harbinger Group Inc. giving the company controlling interest in that company.[39][40] Also in 2011 Harbinger Group Inc. acquired the insurance company Old Mutual U.S. Life Holdings, Inc.[41][42]




interesting connections there...