Tom Clancy Nailed It

[NYer]

In Tom Clancy's Red Rabbit, the Soviet Union ordered a hit on the Pope. Today, An Italian parliamentary commission concluded "beyond any reasonable doubt" that the Soviet Union was behind the 1981 attempt on Pope John Paul II's life. (http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/02/D8G3HQB02.html)

The commission held that the pope was a danger to the Soviet bloc because of his support for the Solidarity labor movement in his native Poland. Solidarity was the first free trade union in communist eastern Europe.

"This commission believes, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the leaders of the Soviet Union took the initiative to eliminate the pope Karol Wojtyla," said a draft of the commission's report obtained by The Associated Press. Wojtyla was John Paul's Polish name.

The draft has no bearing on any judicial investigations, which have long been closed. If the commission approves the report in its final form, that would mark the first time an official body had blamed the Soviet Union for shooting John Paul.

The report also said a photograph shows that a Bulgarian man acquitted of involvement in the May 13, 1981, assassination attempt was in St. Peter's Square when the pontiff was shot by Mehmet Ali Agca.

The Bulgarian secret service allegedly was working for Soviet military intelligence, but the Italian court held that the evidence was insufficient to convict the Bulgarians in the plot.

[Simon666]

That's blatantly false information. It's wishful thinking, the same kind of wishful thinking that says there were WMD in Iraq just before the invasion. It is but the politically motivated wishful thinking of the president of that commission without factual evidence.


Did the Soviet Union really want Pope John Paul dead? (http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/article_1134163.php/Did_the_Soviet_Union_really_want_Pope_John_Paul%A0 dead)

Rome - The Soviet Union wanted Pope John Paul II dead because of his support for Poland's Solidarity labour movement and his opposition to communism in Eastern Europe. The theory, long alleged but never actually proved in court, is now being backed by the head of a parliamentary commission in Italy, which has spent the past three years investigating the affair.

According to a draft report about to be submitted to parliament - extracts of which were published in the Italian media on Thursday - Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish man who shot and seriously wounded the Polish-born pontiff in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981 acted with the complicity of Bulgarian and East German secret agents, who were in turn obeying orders imparted directly by then Soviet Union leader Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev.

According to its president, Senator Paolo Guzzanti, a member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, the commission 'believes, beyond any reasonable doubt' that the heads of the Soviet Union took the initiative of eliminating Pope Karol Wojtyla. Unfortunately, this opinion is not shared by all members of the Mitrokhin commission, which was set up by the Berlusconi government in 2002 and was named after the Soviet archivist who defected to Britain in 1992. Walter Bielli, a member of the opposition Democratic Left party, says Guzzanti's conclusions are 'fantasies, hypotheses which are not backed by any documented evidence.'

In an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, Bielli said he was 'outraged' by Guzzanti's conclusions and said the report would not be endorsed by opposition MPs within the commission. Bielli notes that the so-called 'Bulgarian connection', which holds that Bulgarian agents helped Ali Agca in his assassination attempt, has never been proven. For instance, Guzzanti's report claims that the presence in St. Peter's Square at the time of the attack of Sergei Antonov, a suspected Bulgarian agent who at the time was working in Rome for Balkan Air, has been confirmed by an expert probe into photographic evidence of the scene of the crime.

But Bielli argues that such evidence is inconclusive. He also notes that Antonov stood trial for the attempted murder but was eventually found not guilty by judges for want of evidence. According to Guzzanti's version of events, Brezhnev had asked the Soviet Union's Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU, to eliminate the Polish-born pontiff. 'The GRU was instructed to arrange all of the necessary operations required to carry out a murder whose seriousness is unparalleled in modern history,' Guzzanti's report says. But according to Bielli, there is no documented evidence that confirms the theory that the GRU - a secret body independent of the KGB and charged with handling the country's military intelligence - was able to enroll with such ease the services of spies from other Eastern European countries. Guzzanti says he obtained the evidence from Italian and European investigators who have probed the assassination attempt and other politically-motivated crimes during the Cold War.

Unfortunately, some of the evidence cited by Guzzanti was also supplied by Ali Agca himself, who then changed his version of events numerous times - and who at one stage claimed he was Jesus Christ. And in any case, notes Bielli, 'none of this has actually been proven in court.' Ali Agca, who is currently detained in a prison in Turkey, was a member of the right wing 'Grey Wolves' fascist movement. 'To now cast him as a communist is absurd,' Bielli says.

The Mitrokhin commission was originally set up with the aim of investigating the activities of Eastern European spies in Italy. Over the years, it has looked into a plethora of unresolved mysteries - including a bomb attack on a train station in Bologna that killed 87 people, back in 1980. According to Bielli, the commission head is moved by the idea that 'communism was responsible for all of the world's evils' and his aims are purely political: to discredit the heirs of Italy's once powerful Communist Party, such as Bielli himself. As is often the case in Italy, it appears that even the assassination attempt of Pope John Paul is the subject of competing views dictated by one's political beliefs.

[candypreet]

In Tom Clancy's Red Rabbit, the Soviet Union ordered a hit on the Pope. Today, An Italian parliamentary commission concluded "beyond any reasonable doubt" that the Soviet Union was behind the 1981 attempt on Pope John Paul II's life. (http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/02/D8G3HQB02.html)

The commission held that the pope was a danger to the Soviet bloc because of his support for the Solidarity labor movement in his native Poland. Solidarity was the first free trade union in communist eastern Europe.

"This commission believes, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the leaders of the Soviet Union took the initiative to eliminate the pope Karol Wojtyla," said a draft of the commission's report obtained by The Associated Press. Wojtyla was John Paul's Polish name.

The draft has no bearing on any judicial investigations, which have long been closed. If the commission approves the report in its final form, that would mark the first time an official body had blamed the Soviet Union for shooting John Paul.

The report also said a photograph shows that a Bulgarian man acquitted of involvement in the May 13, 1981, assassination attempt was in St. Peter's Square when the pontiff was shot by Mehmet Ali Agca.

The Bulgarian secret service allegedly was working for Soviet military intelligence, but the Italian court held that the evidence was insufficient to convict the Bulgarians in the plot.

he is a good author - remember debt of honour - where he mentions a jet crashing into washington

[Simon666]

he is a good author - remember debt of honour - where he mentions a jet crashing into washington
My girlfriend read that book and thinks that's were the terrorists got their idea from. I maybe need to read it one day. Is that book any good?

[candypreet]

My girlfriend read that book and thinks that's were the terrorists got their idea from. I maybe need to read it one day. Is that book any good?
its a must read, though the pilot in the book was a jap. He even came on TV ( it was shown I think either on CNN or Fox) after 9/11

[morpheus]

My girlfriend read that book and thinks that's were the terrorists got their idea from. I maybe need to read it one day. Is that book any good?
its ok. not one of his best works.

[morpheus]

he is a good author - remember debt of honour - where he mentions a jet crashing into washington
i remember Clancy getting called before Congress after Red Storm Rising and Hunt for Red October were relesed. They wanted to know how he knew all the specs to top secret weaponry.

[candypreet]

its ok. not one of his best works.
each to his own, but I find most of his work good. His research is pretty good too.

[morpheus]

each to his own, but I find most of his work good. His research is pretty good too.
thats why i mentioned he was called before congress regarding his research.

[candypreet]

thats why i mentioned he was called before congress regarding his research.
exactly have most of his books even the netforce ,powerplay etc types which are not so good

[morpheus]

exactly have most of his books even the netforce ,powerplay etc types which are not so good
funny story, my brother did some plumbing work for a guy involved with Netforce and Powerpalys. The guy had the book open on his laptop until my brother said he did some writing too. Guy SLAMMED the laptop shut. :add09:

And I have all of TCs books except the PP and NF. My favorite is Without Remorse. Whats yours?

[candypreet]

funny story, my brother did some plumbing work for a guy involved with Netforce and Powerpalys. The guy had the book open on his laptop until my brother said he did some writing too. Guy SLAMMED the laptop shut. :add09:

And I have all of TCs books except the PP and NF. My favorite is Without Remorse. Whats yours?
Its a difficult question you ask my friend I like all his books, yes but WR is also one of my favs.

[candypreet]

and all his serial books like pp,nf and op centre ones are created by him and written by other authors. His last book was red rabbit which was a letdown

[morpheus]

and all his serial books like pp,nf and op centre ones are created by him and written by other authors. His last book was red rabbit which was a letdown
yea, not thrilled with Red Rabbit.

[candypreet]

yea, not thrilled with Red Rabbit.
what other authors do you like, I am akind of book-aholic

[morpheus]

what other authors do you like, I am akind of book-aholic
recently I've gotten back into reading the David Eddings series. Kinda like a poor mans Lord of the Rings.

[candypreet]

recently I've gotten back into reading the David Eddings series. Kinda like a poor mans Lord of the Rings.
havent read that one , will try and buy them .
you must try humphrey hawksley he has written three /four books- dragon strike, the thirld world war etc. He is very good