The Manchurian Bloviate

In retrospect, I should have called the previous post "And Out Come The Sheep."

I've received another salvo of links and information, most likely in response to my less-than-flowery comments about Russ Dizdar. I don't retract them, by the way.

Most of them deal with the issue of CIA mind control, which is a concurrent theme and supporting element of those who, like Doug Riggs, advance the idea of an international and intergenerational Satanic conspiracy to fracture children's personalities through ritual abuse and turn them into...something to be activated later through a "trigger."

The Central Intelligence Agency most certainly did experiment with mind control during the Cold War. But in order to understand the roots, history, and modern context of these things, we have to look back to 1945.

After the fall of Berlin and Hitler's suicide in the Fuhrerbunker, the Office of Strategic Services (precursor to the CIA) established the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency, which had one purpose: The capturing and patriation of high-level Nazi German scientists. Lest we think this was some off-the-books "black operation," it's worth noting that the JIOA was a subcomittee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which regularly briefed the president.

So why would we want Nazis? Why not just hang them all? The answer is one of pragmatism. Nazi Germany had technologically eclipsed the Allied Powers in several arenas. They had developed and fielded the world's first jet fighter aircraft, the Me-262. They had developed and fielded the world's first intercontinental ballistic missiles, the V-1 and V-2. The United States wanted to take advantage of wealth of scientific experience and information these men possessed. Additionally, it was desired that these men not fall into the hands of the Soviet Union.

In August 1945, President Truman authorized the JIOA to stand up Operation Paperclip: the capture of German scientists designated as having scientific value pursuant to national security. Ironically, his order expressly excluded anyone found "to have been a member of the Nazi Party, and more than a nominal participant in its activities, or an active supporter of Nazi militarism." This restriction would have effectively disqualified most of the scientists. To get around this restriction, the JIOA independently - and likely illegally - created false employment, political biographies, and expunged all traces of involvement with the Nazi Party from the records of the scientists - thus shoehorning them into eligibility with Truman's directive.

So how did we even know about this list of scientists? As humorous as it may sound, it was crammed in a toilet. During Hitler's ambitious and ultimately failed push to capture Stalingrad, many of Germany's best and brightest Ph.Ds, physicists, and scientists were on the front lines of the Russian Front serving in various combat and support roles. After the series of crushing defeats at the hands of the Red Army, Germany began to find themselves at a serious disadvantage technologically. The head of the Third Reich's Military Research Association, Werner Osenberg, identified these critical scientists, and compiled them in a list, so that they would be recalled and their experience put to use. (The fact that Germany didn't do this at the outset of the conflict speaks volumes to their sometimes-baffling management of resources.) This list, called the Osenberg List, was found by a Polish lab technician crammed into a toilet at the University of Bonn in March 1945. It found its way to the British MI6, and then to American intelligence authorities. The Osenberg List became the "target list" for Operation Paperclip.

The overwhelming majority of these men had nothing to do whatsoever with "mind control." They were by and large, rocketry specialists that ended up at White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico, as well as aeronautical engineers that wound up at Wright Field. There were several notable names that were later associated with their grisly experimentations on concentration camp prisoners: Walter Schreiber, Kurt Blome, and Hubertus Strughold. Of these men, Hubertus Strughold is noted as being the "Father of Space Medicine," a title whose impact is severely lessened considering that the groundwork for his breakthroughs was laid in the Dachau concentration camp.

Several other programs sprang out of the work accomplished through Operation Paperclip:

Project CHATTER: U.S. Navy program begun in 1947 focusing on the identification and testing of drugs during interrogations. Testing performed on both animal and human subjects, including subjecting them to substances such as scopolamine and mescaline. Project disbanded in 1953, due to lack of significant progress.

Project BLUEBIRD: CIA project started in 1950. Program named changed to ARTICHOKE in 1951. Scope of project was interrogation methods through hypnosis, suggestion, morphine addiction (and subsequent withdrawal) in order to produce amnesia and other vulnerable states in subjects. Project rolled into MK ULTRA in 1953.

So now we get to the meat of the matter. Project MK ULTRA - the CIA's research into "mind-control." It is important to understand why this project was started up. During the Korean War and the subsequent Cold War, American prisoners of war were subjected to brainwashing and brutal interrogations at the hands of Soviet agents in North Korea and elsewhere. The CIA wanted to better understand and replicate some of these techniques. A common misperception is that MK ULTRA was designed to create "Manchurian Candidates" or to fracture personalities. They were out to find the most effective interrogation methods to extract information out of captured Soviet spies, no matter the cost. Drugs, sleep deprivation, high stress, all of them played a role. Some of the subjects volunteered. Some did not, and were injected with psychoactive substances against their will. In one infamous case, an unwilling subject threw himself out a window to his death in the throes of an LSD overdose.

Perhaps the most heinous of experiments carried out under this program were those of the Scottish psychiatrist Donald Ewen Cameron. Cameron, who had been recruited by the CIA, was interested in correcting schizophrenia by erasing existing memories and programming the psyche. His experiments involved putting subjects in a drug-induced coma for weeks at a time, subjecting them to audio recordings of simple and repetitive statements, and applying electroshock therapy at thirty to forty times the recommended power for ECT. Rather than successfully "reprogramming" the subjects, the observed effects were incontinence, amnesia, forgetting how to speak, and confusing research assistants for their own parents. In effect, he created schizophrenia where there was none. He drove them insane. In a sickening irony, Cameron sat on the Nuremberg tribunals where he accused individuals of the very same things he would conduct his entire career.

So what happened to MK ULTRA? Is it still ongoing as some would have you believe?

No.

In December 1974, the New York Times published an expose on CIA human experimentation in th 1960's. This report incensed the public and led to a Congressional investigation in the form of the Church Committee, and also by a separate executive investigative task force, the Rockefeller Commission. In 1975, these two committees revealed to the public for the first time the scope and horror of the CIA's human interrogation experiments.

On the heels of these reports, President Gerald Ford issued the first Executive Order on Intelligence Activities, effectively prohibiting human experimentation without consent. This Executive Order was later expanded by Presidents Carter and Reagan to prohibit any and all human experimentation. Subsequent action by the Inspectors General of the various armed services led to similar rulings across the board for the military.

It is likely that the twisted minds behind the MK ULTRA program saw the writing on the wall prior to their being exposed by the New York Times. In 1973, then-director of the CIA Richard Helms ordered all documents to be destroyed. However, enough of them survived to provide information sufficient enough to expose the program to the public.

In summation, on the basis of the best available historical evidence - NOT personal unsubstantiated anecdotes from people who want to sell books - it becomes clear that the CIA's history of 'mind control' human experimentation ended in 1974. However, there are some files pursuant to MK ULTRA that are still classified, and therefore unavailable through a FOIA request. This does not indicate that the program is still ongoing. It is highly likely that useful information was obtained through the program, and that its notes and research results are still referenced for modern "enhanced interrogation techniques."

So what does all of this mean? Think of a few other things. The Tuskeegee Experiments. My Lai massacre. The prison at Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo Bay. CIA black cites and extraordinary rendition. These, and the MK ULTRA program, are a black stain on the history of our nation. Horrendous and unthinkable "science" done in the name of maintaining parity with Chinese and Soviet interrogation and 'brainwashing.'

However, the fact that these horrendous things occurred in the past is not evidence that they are still going on. For anyone to use the existence of MK ULTRA as an argument for the existence of an international and intergenerational Satanic conspiracy, they must commit multiple logical fallacies and use extremely bad reasoning. That's called confirmation bias, and the more I learn about the world of those who believe in this garbage, the more of it I see.

The best way I know how to sum up MK ULTRA in the context of history is a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche: "He who fights monsters must take care, lest he thereby become a monster."

Seems a particularly salient point considering the whole subject of this website.

-StopDougRiggs

And Out Come The Wolves.

I knew when I started this site that it was only a matter of time until I began taking fire from Mr. Riggs' supporters.

The following is from an e-mail I just received from "SRA survivor":

The bolded portions are my commentary on each point.

"I noticed in your reply that you completely avoided the clearly documented evidence presented on Dr. Ellen Lacter's, as well as made no references to the work of Russ Dizdar who is a Pastor."

Dr. Ellen Lacter is a practicing psychologist who operates a website that has assembled multiple links to articles on the subject of SRA. My cursory review of the information is that it appears to be heavily biased. I have also noticed that none of them appeared to be written in peer-reviewed journals. If I am incorrect in this point, I welcome correction. I'll be going through this information in detail in further points.

This isn't the first time I've heard of Russ Dizdar. His writings are bizarre on a level comparable with Scientology. He seems to amalgamate a multitude of conspiracy theories and unite them under the banner and unifying theme of an international, intergenerational SRA conspiracy. He is like most conspiracists in that his claims exhibit a profound ignorance of both history and political science. I'll be taking aim at his writings in detail later on as well, but here's one for free:

Russ Dizdar is about as qualified as David Icke as an "expert."

"It seems clear that you have an agenda against Doug Riggs and at this point are unwilling to really look at the evidence that your are seeking to debunk."

To avoid taking things out of context, I'm waiting until I've had a chance to go through each one of these in detail before posting a concise summary of the writings and their basis in reality. From what I have read, it requires an awful lot of confirmation bias and credulity to believe, and no convincing cases have been cited, only shams like the West Memphis Three and the McMillan Preschool cases. That may change as I delve further into them, but with each example I see the same thing happening: Law enforcement officials and court-appointed therapists entering into investigations with a pre-determined conclusion propped up by self-appointed "experts." I suppose it's worth pointing out that in each of these cases there hasn't been a single shred of physical evidence presented. To the ones that buy into this worldview, that makes law enforcement complicit in the "cover-up."

In my opinion belief in the SRA conspiracy is on the same level as belief in the moon hoax, a flat earth, magnet therapy, ghosts, UFOs, New World Order hokum, and 9/11 conspiracy theories. It should come as no surprise that many who believe in a massive SRA conspiracy also believe in some, if not all, of the above.

And you are correct. I do have an agenda against Doug Riggs. I'd like him to stop tearing families apart. That doesn't seem so unreasonable.

"Below is one of the most updated resources with professionals from several disciplines. I will be watching to see if you interact and respond to this level of documented evidence to the phenomenon you are seeking to refute."

This person is referring to a book written by James Randall Noblitt, who appears to be the most notable, and educated, person advancing the idea of Satanic Ritual Abuse. He is faculty at the California School of Professional Psychology, and by its website, his book appears to be a collection of articles written by various contributors.

I cannot comment in an informed manner on the book in detail because I have not read it, but I will say this much. This is a published book, for sale - not an article or report submitted for academic peer review to a mental health journal. We have only the author's word that all of the contributing stories were fact-checked, properly vetted, and scrutinized for accuracy. This is why peer-reviewed journals are vitally important, because they separate actual research from self-aggrandizing egoists.

However, Mr. Noblitt doesn't have the best track record with reference to factual accuracy in his books. In one of his prior offerings, "Cult & Ritual Abuse:
Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America" he cited several people and ideas that have been revealed to be complete frauds: Mike Warnke, Steven Knight, Dale Griffis, Jim Shaw, and the infamous Taxil Hoax to name a few.

With that kind of pedigree, I don't expect a truthful and accurate effort from Mr. Noblitt. I rather expect to find a tome penned by someone who bought a lot of information at face value and didn't bother to verify a word of it as long as it supported his conclusion. That isn't research, and any professor worth his salt should be ashamed to have his name attached to such garbage.

"I would encourage you to look at whether this "stop Doug Riggs" motivation stems from a root of bitterness. If it indeed does, The Lord will not honor your desire, whether you are right in your desire for vindication or not. You do not have the authority to "stop Doug Riggs" only God does. Therefore you need to seriously be before Him asking if this intention of yours glorifies Him for if it does not, you are fighting a losing battle."

Bitterness? Perhaps. If I am bitter, it's that this man has continued to destroy lives through his "pseudo-therapy" and megalomaniac control of his followers. He's one jug of Kool-Aid away from being Jim Jones. Add to that disturbing allegations of sexual impropriety with his "counselees" as well as allegedly having an appetite for the very things he condemns, and you have a picture of a man that for years has bought into a patently false worldview, and forces this same worldview and his own desires onto genuinely hurting people that come to him in good faith for assistance and end up being convinced their parents abused them as children when there isn't the slightest shred of evidence to suggest it.

But you are correct. I don't have the authority to "Stop Doug Riggs." I don't have the ability to make him do anything. Doug Riggs will be stopped when people see him for what he is rather than what he claims, or the authorities in his area determine that he is acting as an unlicensed mental health professional, and censure him appropriately.

By the way - the toll-free hotline to report a person to the New York Mental Health Association for practicing without a license is 1-800-442-8106.

"P.S
In regard to your question, 2012 is simply the year I was to graduate at the time I created the email account. Nothing more, nothing less."

On a hunch, I asked this person if they also believed in the various theories surrounding the "2012 apocalypse" since the digits were a part of their e-mail address. Question asked, answer received.

-StopDougRiggs

"In Satan's Name"

The following are excerpts from the 1994 documentary "In Satan's Name" by BAFTA-award winning UK filmmaker Antony Thomas. This aired on the British ITV network, and the United States on HBO. It has recently come into rotation on the US Arts and Entertainment cable network.

The content of this video should be more than sufficient to convince an objective observer that what Doug Riggs practiced then, and still practices, is not "therapy." His claims are absurd on the surface, and practically don't need any debunking - as bizarre as they seem.

One of the posters on another board I frequent said something akin to the following after seeing these videos: "I guess he's not very good at casting out demons, since they keep coming back."

This is the same Doug Riggs that would have you believe in a world where the CIA has continued the MKULTRA program, and that it's being run by Nephilim/Freemasons/Satanists, and has programmed thousands of people through horrendous child sacrifices (of which there appears to be a conspicuous lack of evidence).

However, my opinion is that there are those that cling to such theories for validation, self-importance, or because they've been eating out of the hand of a seriously deluded egomaniac who wraps up this garbage in the disguise of becoming utterly dependent upon Jesus Christ in the deepest and most desperate of ways. The severity of that statement should be enough to give any person pause, regardless of your stance on faith.

A great site reference for you.

As pointed out below, I'm working on a piece on Lawrence Pazder's legacy as it results to the modern proliferation of the idea of Satanic Ritual Abuse.

In the meantime, check out this website. It's a great resource on the consequences of abandoning critical thinking. A lot of information on the infamous McMartin Preschool case.

-StopDougRiggs

"The SRA Phenomenon - Or Not" Part 1

Hello, and welcome to Stop Doug Riggs.

This website is intended to call attention to the destructive and abusive therapy of this supposed "man of God." In time, as more information about the history of his "ministry" is compiled through research and anecdotes, I will post it here. What is known is that Doug Riggs, along with his wife Lori, have traveled across the United States with a small group of utterly devoted followers. He practices "deprogramming" and exorcisms through intense multiple hour counseling sessions, and it has been speculated that these have often been abusive in nature.

As for myself, I was involved in his church in Tulsa, Oklahoma during the 1990's. I was only a pre-teen at the time, but I still remember the screaming, the exorcisms, the hand-drawn diagrams showing how each one of the congregational families were linked to shadowy organizations that wanted to subject us to unspeakable horrors. I remember hours and hours of a charismatic, intelligent, physically imposing man filling my head with fear of the most absolute kind. Through his lessons, my world grew darker. My family isolated themselves from their relatives. This is par for the course for someone in Morningstar Testimonial Church, and is practically lifted out of any cult leader's handbook. Convince your flock that their own families and existing support systems are part of "THEM," and your control of them is that much stronger.

Why even do something like this? Why call out a person from behind the anonymity of the Internet? It's because the Internet is a double-edged sword, and impossible to silence. As much as it has been used to spread misinformation and bizarre destructive beliefs and foster the communities that espouse them, it has also exposed many charlatans and provided a networking opportunity for their victims to find solace in their shared experience.

We don't know a great deal about his background prior to beginning his demon-blasting, and in all reality, it isn't particularly relevant.

(What is known is that he is not a licensed mental health professional. Keep that in mind.)

Let's begin taking at Mr. Riggs' bread and butter as a "pastor" and self-styled "therapist" - and if you are a prior victim of his ministry, you know this term very intimately.

Satanic Ritual Abuse.

Let those words hang in the air for a moment.

Sounds powerful, frightening. Conjures up images of shadowy figures in the dark unleashing untold horrors upon innocent men, women, and children. Human sacrifices, mutilated children, ingesting the severed limbs of children, bizarre sexual rituals, programming with thousands of separate personalities designed to carry out an agenda paving the way for Satan's destruction of the Church.

When taken to that extreme, most objective observers would start to raise an eyebrow and note its resemblance to any number of bad horror films.

According to some, this horror is not only plausible, but is currently being inflicted on untold masses of people. To what end is not always specified. The ultimate agenda of the programming and abuse tends to change depending on what SRA proponent you ask.

If the proponents of this phenomena are to be believed, there is an unseen and bloodthirsty cabal of ancient European bloodlines with their fingers in every corner and facet of society, playing the innocent like meat puppets in an opera only they understand.

This should alarm and shock us all, right? To the point of action, even.

Not so fast.

To trace the roots of this phenomena, we look not to ancient European bloodlines, or Anton Szandor Lavey. We will not trust in the cartoon ravings of Jack Chick, the nearly self-parodying earnestness of Bob Larson, and will absolutely not take one Pastor Doug Riggs at his word.

When the history of claims of this type of abuse are traced through the objective lens of verifiable factual information, they converge on one man in the early 1970's - the late Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder, and his therapy sessions with a patient by the name of Michelle Smith.

What happened in the aftermath of of those counseling sessions is an astounding lesson in the infectiousness of fear, the effects of confirmation bias, the complete breakdown of critical thinking, and twisting a person's earnest search for faith and acceptance into an abuse far more heinous than what it purports to treat.

In postings to come, we will take a closer look at Pazder's saga - as it cuts to the very heart of what Riggs preaches and instills in his flock. In the meantime, make sure to check out a few of those links above.

-StopDougRiggs