False flag operations are covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations, which are designed to appear like they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one's own. False flag operations are not limited to war and counter-insurgency operations, and have been used in peace-time; for example, during Italy's strategy of tension. A false color image showing the Chesapeake Bay and the city of Baltimore. ... Waking the Dead is a British television crime drama series produced by the BBC featuring a team of CID police officers, a psychological profiler and a forensic scientist or pathologist. ... Burn Notice is an American television comedy-drama series created for the USA Network. ... List of Burn Notice episodes False Flag is the tenth episode of Burn Notice, an American television drama series created for the USA Network. ... A covert operation is a military or political activity carried out in such a way that the parties responsible for the action can be an open secret, but cannot be proved. ... A strategy of tension (Italian: ) is a way to control and manipulate public opinion using fear, propaganda, disinformation, psychological warfare, agents provocateurs, as well as false flag terrorist actions (including bombings). ...

Naval warfare

In naval warfare, this practice was considered acceptable, provided the false flag was lowered and the national flag raised before engaging in battle. Auxiliary cruisers operated in such a fashion in both World Wars. British Q-boats were notorious for this behavior, which Germany used as a reason for its own use of unrestricted submarine warfare. In the most notable example, the German commerce raider Kormoran surprised and sank the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney in 1941 while disguised as a Dutch merchant ship, causing the greatest recorded loss of life on an Australian warship.^[1] In the St Nazaire Raid, by using a Kriegsmarine Ensign and a captured German Morse code book, the British were able to get within a mile of the harbour before the defences responded. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Auxiliary cruisers were merchant ships taken over for conversion into a vessel armed with cruiser-size guns, and employed either for convoy protection against true cruisers, or for commerce-raiding missions, where its appearance was used to trick merchant ships into approaching. ... A hidden gun on a Q-ship in World War I. The Q-ship or Q-boat was an attack vessel disguised as a civilian ship. ... Naval warfare is divided into three operational areas: surface warfare, air warfare and submarine warfare. ... For the German anti-shipping missile, see AS.34 Kormoran. ... HMAS Sydney in 1940. ... This article is about the 1942 raid on St Nazaire. ...

Land warfare

In land warfare, the use of a false flag is similar to that of naval warfare. The most widespread assumption is that this practice was first established under international humanitarian law at the trial in 1947 of the planner and commander of Operation Greif, Otto Skorzeny, by the military court at the Dachau Trials. In this trial, the court did not find Skorzeny guilty of a crime by ordering his men into action in American uniforms. He had passed on to his men the warning of German legal experts, that if they fought in American uniforms, they would be breaking the laws of war, but they probably were not doing so just by wearing the uniform. During the trial, a number of arguments were advanced to substantiate this position and the German and U.S. military seem to be in agreement on it. In the transcript of the trial^[2] it is mentioned that Paragraph 43 of the Field Manual published by the War Department, United States Army, on 1st October, 1940, under the title "Rules of Land Warfare", says: International humanitarian law (IHL), also known as the law of war, the laws and customs of war or the law of armed conflict, is the legal corpus comprised of the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions, as well as subsequent treaties, case law, and customary international law. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: The 1st SS Panzer Divisions Dash Westward, and Operation Greif Operation Greif was a special false flag operation commanded by the notorious Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny during the Battle of the Bulge. ... Otto Skorzeny (June 12, 1908 – July 6, 1975[1]) was a Standartenführer[2] in the German Waffen-SS during World War II. After fighting on the Eastern Front, he is known as the commando leader who rescued Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from imprisonment after his overthrow. ... The Dachau Trials were proceedings against minor war criminals found in the United States sectors of occupation in Germany and Austria, and those accused of committing war crimes against American citizens and military personnel. ... The two parts of the laws of war (or Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC)): Law concerning acceptable practices while engaged in war, like the Geneva Conventions, is called jus in bello; while law concerning allowable justifications for armed force is called jus ad bellum. ...

"National flags, insignias and uniforms as a ruse - in practice it has been authorized to make use of these as a ruse. The foregoing rule (Article 23 of the Annex of the IVth Hague Convention), does not prohibit such use, but does prohibit their improper use. It is certainly forbidden to make use of them during a combat. Before opening fire upon the enemy, they must be discarded".

Also The American Soldiers' Handbook, was quoted by Defense Counsel and says:

"The use of the enemy flag, insignia, and uniform is permitted under some circumstances. They are not to be used during actual fighting, and if used in order to approach the enemy without drawing fire, should be thrown away or removed as soon as fighting begins".

The outcome of the trial has been codified in the 1977 Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 (Protocol I): The Hague Conventions were international treaties negotiated at the First and Second Peace Conferences at The Hague, Netherlands in 1899 and 1907, respectively, and were, along with the Geneva Conventions, among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in the nascent body of secular international... Protocol I: Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts. ...

Article 37.-Prohibition of perfidy This article belongs in one or more categories. ...

1. It is prohibited to kill, injure, or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:

(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender;

(b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness;

(c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and

(d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.

2. Ruses of war are not prohibited. Such ruses are acts which are intended to mislead an adversary or to induce him to act recklessly but which infringe no rule of international law applicable in armed conflict and which are not perfidious because they do not invite the confidence of an adversary with respect to protection under that law. The following are examples of such ruses: the use of camouflage, decoys, mock operations and misinformation.

Article 38.-Recognized emblems German troops after surrendering to the U.S. Third Army carry the white flag ( WW2 photo). ...

1. It is prohibited to make improper use of the distinctive emblem of the red cross, red crescent or red lion and sun or of other emblems, signs or signals provided for by the Conventions or by this Protocol. It is also prohibited to misuse deliberately in an armed conflict other internationally recognized protective emblems, signs or signals, including the flag of truce, and the protective emblem of cultural property.

2. It is prohibited to make use of the distinctive emblem of the United Nations, except as authorized by that Organization.

Article 39.-Emblems of nationality

1. It is prohibited to make use in an armed conflict of the flags or military emblems, insignia or uniforms of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.

2. It is prohibited to make use of the flags or military emblems, insignia or uniforms of adverse Parties while engaging in attacks or in order to shield, favour, protect or impede military operations.

3. Nothing in this Article or in Article 37, paragraph 1 ( d ), shall affect the existing generally recognized rules of international law applicable to espionage or to the use of flags in the conduct of armed conflict at sea.

Examples of false flag attacks as pretexts for war

In the 1931 Mukden incident, Japanese officers fabricated a pretext for annexing Manchuria by blowing up a section of railway. Six years later, they falsely claimed the kidnapping of one of their soldiers in the Marco Polo Bridge Incident as an excuse to invade China proper. Combatants National Revolutionary Army, Republic of China Imperial Japanese Army, Empire of Japan Commanders Zhang Xueliang, Ma Zhanshan, Feng Zhanhai Shigeru Honjo, Jiro Minami Strength 160,000 30,000 - 66,000 Casualties  ?  ? The Mukden Incident of September 18, 1931, known in Japanese as the Manchurian Incident, occurred in southern Manchuria... Belligerents National Revolutionary Army, Republic of China Imperial Japanese Army, Empire of Japan Commanders Song Zheyuan Kanichiro Tashiro Strength 100,000 - Casualties and losses 16,700 - The Marco Polo Bridge Incident (盧溝橋事變; also known as 七七事變, 七七盧溝橋事變 or the Lugouqiao Incident) was a battle between the Republic of Chinas National Revolutionary Army... China proper refers to the historical heartlands of China in the context of that paradigm which contrasts these heartlands with frontier regions of Outer China (including sections of Inner Asia and other regions). ...

In the Gleiwitz incident in August 1939, Reinhard Heydrich made use of fabricated evidence of a Polish attack against Germany to mobilize German public opinion and to fabricate a false justification for a war with Poland. This, along with other false flag operations in Operation Himmler would be used to mobilize support from the German population for the start of World War II in Europe. Gliwice Radio Tower. ... Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was an SS-Obergruppenführer, chief of the Reich Security Main Office (including the Gestapo, SD and Kripo Nazi police agencies) and Reichsprotektor (Reich Protector) of Bohemia and Moravia. ... For the Soviet Unions military action against Poland under the same alliance, see Soviet invasion of Poland (1939). ... The Gleiwitz incident was a staged attack on 31 August, 1939 against the German radio station Sender Gleiwitz in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, Germany (since 1945: Gliwice, Republic of Poland) on the eve of World War II in Europe. ... Animation of the WWII European Theatre. ...

On November 26, 1939 the Soviet Union shelled the Russian village of Mainila near the Finnish border. The Soviet Union attacked Finland four days after the Shelling of Mainila. Some Russian historians have claimed that the Finns shelled themselves with the intent of later attacking the Soviet Union. This theory is not shared by most historians, and Russia has agreed that the attack was initiated by the Soviets. Also, the nearest Finnish artillery pieces were well outside the range needed to shell Mainila. Location of Mainila on the Karelian Isthmus (according to the borders prior to the signing of the Moscow peace treaty). ...

In 1953, the U.S. and British-orchestrated Operation Ajax used "false-flag" and propaganda operations against the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammed Mosaddeq. Information regarding the CIA-sponsored coup d'etat has been largely declassified and is available in the CIA archives.^[3] Soldiers surround the Parliament building in Tehran on August 19, 1953. ... Mohammad Mosaddeq ( ) (Persian: Moḥammad Moá¹£addeq, also Mosaddegh or Mossadegh) (16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967) was a major figure in modern Iranian history who served as the Prime Minister of Iran [1][2] from 1951 to 1953 when he was removed from power by a coup détat. ... A coup détat, or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a small group that just replaces the top power figures. ...

In 1954, Israel sponsored bombings against US and UK interests in Cairo aiming to cause trouble between Egypt and the West.^[4] This operation, latter dubbed the Lavon Affair cost Israeli defense minister Pinhas Lavon his job. Israel (where it is known as "The Unfortunate Affair") finally admitted responsibility in 2005.^[5] The Lavon Affair refers to the scandal over a failed Israeli covert operation in Egypt known as Operation Suzannah, in which Egyptian, American and British-owned targets in Egypt were bombed in the summer of 1954. ... Pinhas Lavon (July 12, 1904 - January 24, 1976) was an Israeli politician and labor leader. ...

The planned, but never executed, 1962 Operation Northwoods plot by the US Department of Defense for a war with Cuba involved scenarios such as hijacking a passenger plane, sinking a U.S. ship, burning crops and blaming such actions on Cuba. It was authored by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, nixed by John F. Kennedy, came to light through the Freedom of Information Act and was publicized by James Bamford. Operation Northwoods memoranda (March 13, 1962). ... The United States Department of Defense, abbreviated DoD or DOD and sometimes called the Defense Department, is a civilian Cabinet organization of the United States government. ... Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States of America symbol The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is a group comprising the Chiefs of service of each major branch of the armed services in the United States armed forces. ... John Kennedy and JFK redirect here. ... Nearly sixty countries around the world have implemented some form of freedom of information legislation, which sets rules on governmental secrecy. ... James Bamford is a bestselling author and journalist who writes about the world of United States intelligence agencies. ...

Former GRU officer Aleksey Galkin^[6], former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko ^[7] and other whistleblowers from the Russian government and security services have asserted that the 1999 Russian apartment bombings that precipitated the Second Chechen War were false flag operations perpetrated by the FSB, the successor organization to the KGB. Galkin has since then, recanted these accusations which he had asserted when a prisoner of Chechen rebels. For other uses, see GRU (disambiguation). ... Aleksey Viktorovich Galkin is a former GRU officer who became well known in connection with Russian apartment bombings controversy. ... Emblem of FSB The FSB (ФСБ) is a state security organization in Russia, and is the domestic successor organization to the KGB. Its name is an acronym from the Russian Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (Федера́льная слу́жба безопа́сности Росси́йской Федера́ции) (Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti Rossiyskoi Federatsii). ... Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko (Russian: ) (30 August 1962[1][2] – 23 November 2006) was a lieutenant-colonel in the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, alleged agent of MI6[3] , and later a Russian dissident and writer. ... The Russian apartment bombings were a series of bombings in Russia that killed nearly 300 people and led the country into the Second Chechen War. ... Belligerents Russian Federation Chechen loyalists Chechen separatists Caucasian separatists Foreign Mujahideen Commanders Vladimir Putin Gennady Troshev Alexander Baranov Valentin Korabelnikov Akhmad Kadyrov Ramzan Kadyrov Dzabrail Yamadayev Sulim Yamadayev Said-Magomed Kakiyev Aslan Maskhadov Sheikh Abdul Halim Dokka Umarov Hamzat Gelayev Shamil Basayev Akhmed Yevloyev Khattab Abu al-Walid Abu Hafs... This article is about the KGB of the Soviet Union. ...

Pseudo-operations

Pseudo operations are those in which forces of one power disguised themselves as enemy forces and, more specifically, when the power is a state, and the other power an insurgency, then as insurgents, often with the aid of defectors, to operate as teams to infiltrate insurgent areas. ^[8] The aim of such pseudo-operations may either be to gather short, or long-term intelligence, to discredit the enemy, to reduce the civilian support of the enemy, or to engage in active operations, in particular assassinations of important enemies. However, they usually involve both, as the risks of exposure highly increase with time, and thus lead to violent confrontation. Pseudo-operations may be directed by police forces, military, or both. Police forces are usually best suited to intelligence tasks; however, military provide the structure needed to back up such pseudo-ops with military response forces. According to US military Lawrence Cline (2005), "the teams typically have been controlled by police services, but this largely was due to the weaknesses in the respective military intelligence systems." For other uses, see Intelligence (disambiguation). ... Assassin and Assassins redirect here. ...

The State Political Directorate (OGPU) of the Soviet Union set up such an operation from 1921 to 1926. During Operation Trust, they used loose networks of White Army supporters and extended them, creating the pseudo-"Monarchist Union of Central Russia" (MUCR) in order to help the OGPU identify real monarchists and anti-Bolsheviks. Soviet poster of the 1920s: The GPU strikes on the head the counter-revolutionary saboteur State Political Directorate was the secret police of the RSFSR and USSR until 1934. ... Operation Trust (операция Трест) was a counterintelligence operation of the State Political Directorate (OGPU) of the Soviet Union. ... White army may refer to: The military arm of the White movement, a loose coalition of anti-Bolshevik forces in the Russian Civil War The Saudi Arabian National Guard The National Guard of Kuwait This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share...

An example of a successful assassination was United States Marine Sergeant Herman H. Hanneken leading a patrol of his Haitian Gendarmerie disgused as enemy guerillas in 1919. The Patrol successfully passed several enemy checkpoints in order to assassinate the guerilla leader Charlemagne Péralte near Grand-Rivière du Nord . Hanneken was awarded the Medal of Honor and received a commission to for his deed. United States Marine Corps Emblem The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is the second smallest of the five branches of the United States armed forces, with 170,000 active and 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2002. ... For other uses, see Sergeant (disambiguation). ... Brigadier General Herman Henry Hanneken (1893-1986) was a United States Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient. ... A gendarmerie or gendarmery (pronounced ) is a military body charged with police duties among civilian populations. ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... Charlemagne Masséna Péralte was a Haitian leader that opposed the US Invasion of his country in 1915. ... For other uses, see Medal of Honor (disambiguation). ...

During the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950's, captured Mau Mau members who switched sides and specially trained British troops initiated the pseudo-gang concept to successfully counter Mau Mau terrorists. In 1960 Frank Kitson, (who was later involved in the Northern Irish conflict and is now a retired British General), published his account of his experiences with the technique in Kenya Gangs and Counter-gangs about how to counter gangs and measures of deception, including the use of defectors, which brought the issue a wider audience. Combatants Mau Mau British Empire Commanders * Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi * General China (Waruhiu Itote) * Stanley Mathenge * Evelyn Baring(Governor) * General Sir George Erskine Strength Unknown 10,000 regular troops (Africans and Europeans) 21,000 police, 25,000 home guard[1] Casualties 10,527 killed in action;[2] 2,633 captured... General Sir Frank Edward Kitson. ... The Troubles is a term used to describe two periods of violence in Ireland during the twentieth century. ...

Another example of combined police and military oversight of pseudo-operations include the Selous Scouts in former country Rhodesia (current Zimbabwe), governed by white minority rule until 1980. The Selous Scouts were formed at the beginning of Operation Hurricane, in November 1973, by Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Ron Reid-Daly. As all Special Forces in Rhodesia, by 1977 they were controlled by COMOPS (Commander, Combined Operations) Commander Lieutenant General Peter Walls. The Selous Scouts were originally composed of 120 members, with all officers being white and the highest rank initially available for Africans being colour sergeant. They succeeded in turning approximately 800 insurgents who were then paid by Special Branch, ultimately reaching the number of 1,500 members. Engaging mainly in long-range reconnaissance and surveillance missions, they increasingly turned to offensive actions, including the attempted assassination of ZIPRA leader Joshua Nkomo in Zambia. This mission was finally aborted by the Selous Scouts, and attempted again, unsuccessfully, by the Rhodesian Special Air Service.^[9] The cap badge of the Selous Scouts was a stylised osprey. ... This article is about the former British colony of Southern Rhodesia, todays Zimbabwe. ... A dominant minority is a group that has overwhelming political, economic or cultural dominance in a country or region despite representing a small fraction of the overall population (a demographic minority). ... The explosion cloud resulting from the Operation Hurricane detonation Operation Hurricane was the test of the first British atomic bomb. ... Lieutenant General George Peter Walls (born in 1927[1]) served as the Commander of the Combined Operations Headquarters of the Military of Rhodesia, and later Zimbabwe, from 1977 until his retirement on July 29, 1980. ... ZIPRA or the Zimbabwe Peoples Revolutionary Army was the armed wing of the communist party ZAPU (the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union) and participated in the Second Chimurenga against white minority rule in the former Rhodesia. ... Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo (June 19, 1917 – July 1, 1999) was a Zimbabwean nationalist leader and revolutionary, a member of the Ndebele (or Matebele) ethnic group, and the leader and founder of the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU). ... This article covers C Squadron, Special Air Service Regiment (to 1960), C Squadron (Rhodesian) Special Air Service (1962-1978), and 1 (Rhodesian) Special Air Service Regiment (from 1978). ...

Some offensive operations attracted international condemnation, in particular the Selous Scouts' raid on a ZANLA (Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army) camp at Nyadzonya Pungwe, Mozambique in August 1976. ZANLA was then led by Josiah Tongogara. Using Rhodesian trucks and armored cars disguised as Mozambique military vehicles, 84 scouts killed 1,000 alleged guerrillas in the camp, registered as a refugee camp by the United Nations (UN). Even according to Reid-Daly, most of those killed were unarmed guerrillas standing in formation for a parade. The camp hospital was also set ablaze by the rounds fired by the Scouts, killing all patients ^[10]. According to David Martin and Phyllis Johnson, who visited the camp shortly before the raid, it was only a refugee camp which did not host any guerrillas.^[11] ZANLA or the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army was the armed wing of the Zimbabwean political movement ZANU (the Zimbabwe African National Union) and participated in the Second Chimurenga against white minority rule in Rhodesia. ... Josiah Tongogara is a fallen hero of the Zimbabwe revolutionary war, and streets are named after him in almost every town in the country. ... bjhgfshudgfgbfsfas Refugee camp for Rwandans located in what is now the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo following the Rwandan Genocide A camp in Guinea for refugees from Sierra Leone. ... UN redirects here. ...

According to a 1978 study by the Directorate of Military Intelligence, 68% of all insurgent deaths inside Rhodesia could be attributed to the Selous Scouts, who were disbanded in 1980.^[12]

If the action is a police action then these tactics would fall within the laws of the state initiating the pseudo, but if such actions are taken in a civil war or during a belligerent military occupation then those who participate in such actions would not be privileged belligerents. The principle of plausible deniability is usually applied for pseudo-teams. (see the above section Laws of war). This article is about the definition of the specific type of war. ... Belligerent military occupation occurs when one nations military garrisons occupy all or part of the territory of another nation or recognized belligerent during an invasion (during or after a war). ... A combatant is a person who takes a direct part in the hostilities of an armed conflict who upon capture qualifies for prisoner of war under the Third Geneva Convention (GCIII). ... Plausible deniability also Deniability is the term given to the creation of loose and informal chains of command in government, which allow controversial instructions given by high-ranking officials to be denied if they become public. ...

Some false flag operation are have been described by Lawrence E. Cline, a retired US Army intelligence officer, as pseudo-operations, or "the use of organized teams which are disguised as guerrilla groups for long- or short-term penetration of insurgent-controlled areas." The United States Army Intelligence and Security Command[1] (INSCOM). ... Guerilla may refer to Guerrilla warfare. ... “Insurrection” redirects here. ...

Pseudo Operations should be distinguished, notes Cline, from the more common police or intelligence infiltration of guerrilla or criminal organizations. In the latter case, infiltration is normally done by individuals. Pseudo teams, on the other hand, are formed as needed from organized units, usually military or paramilitary. The use of pseudo teams has been a hallmark of a number of foreign counterinsurgency campaigns."^[8] See: espionage, urban exploration, entryism, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. ... Paramilitary designates forces whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military force, but which are not regarded as having the same status. ... Counter-insurgency is the combatting of insurgency, by the government (or allies) of the territory in which the insurgency takes place. ...

Spy tradecraft

In espionage the false flag technique is used to recruit people into spying or stealing critical documents, by convincing them that they are working for a friendly government or their own government. The technique can also be used to catch a spy by having a loyal agent pose as a spy from the other side and approach someone suspected of spying. Earl Edwin Pitts, 43, a 13-year veteran of the FBI and an attorney, was caught when he was approached by FBI agents posing as Russian agents. Earl Edwin Pitts was a member of the FBI who, in 1996, was arrested at the FBI Academy. ...

See false flag penetrator

Civilian usage

While false flag operations originate in warfare and government, they also can occur in civilian settings among certain factions, such as businesses, special interest groups, religions, political ideologies and campaigns for office.

Businesses

In business and marketing, similar operations are being employed in some public relations campaigns (see Astroturfing). Telemarketing firms practice false flag type behavior when they pretend to be a market research firm (referred to as "sugging"). In some rare cases, members of an unpopular business will destroy some of their own property to conceal an unrelated crime (i.e. safety violations, embezzlement, etc.) but make it appear as though the destruction was done by an ideological group who opposes them. For the Arrested Development episode, see Public Relations (Arrested Development episode). ... For the artificial grass, see AstroTurf. ... Market research is the process of systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of data about customers, competitors and the market. ... Sugging is a market research industry term, meaning selling under the guise of research. This behavior occurs when a product marketer falsely pretends to be a market researcher conducting a survey, when in reality they are simply trying to sell the product in question. ...

Political campaigning

Political campaigning has a long history of this tactic in various forms, including in person, print media and electronically in recent years. This can involve when supporters of one candidate pose as supporters of another, or act as “straw men” for their preferred candidate to debate against. This can happen with or without the candidate's knowledge. A straw man argument is a logical fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponents position. ...

In 2006, individuals practicing false flag behavior were discovered and "outed" in New Hampshire^[13][14] and New Jersey^[15] after blog comments claiming to be from supporters of a political candidate were traced to the IP address of paid staffers for that candidate's opponent. For other uses, see New Hampshire (disambiguation). ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... An IP address (or Internet Protocol address) is a unique address that certain electronic devices use in order to identify and communicate with each other on a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol standard (IP)—in simpler terms, a computer address. ...

Ideological

Political or religious ideologies will sometimes use false flag tactics. This can be done to discredit or implicate rival groups, create the appearance of enemies when none exist, or create the illusion of organized and directed opposition when in truth, the ideology is simply unpopular with society.

In late 2007, a rash of Swastikas and other anti-semitic vandalism appeared on a Jewish student's door at George Washington University.^[16] Police subsequently placed a hidden camera, and discovered that the vandalism was perpetrated by the victim herself.^[17] The student claimed that the first incident of vandalism was real (committed by an unknown person), but she perpetrated the remaining incidents to draw attention to the university's inaction. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Vandalism is the conspicuous defacement or destruction of a structure, a symbol or anything else that goes against the will of the owner/governing body. ... The George Washington University (GW), is a private, coeducational university located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The school was founded in 1821 as The Columbian College in the District of Columbia by Baptist ministers using funds bequeathed by George Washington. ...

Terrorism and false flag operations

During the Italian strategy of tension in which several bombings in the 1970s, attributed to far-left organizations, were in fact carried out by far-right organizations cooperating with the Italian secret services (see Operation Gladio, 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing, 1972 Peteano attack by Vincenzo Vinciguerra, 1973 assassination attempt of former Interior Minister Mariano Rumor, 1980 Bologna massacre, etc. and various investigations, for example by Guido Salvini). In France, the Masada Action and Defense Movement, supposedly a Zionist group, was really a neo-fascist terrorist group which hoped to increase tension between Arabs and Jews in France. A strategy of tension (Italian: ) is a way to control and manipulate public opinion using fear, propaganda, disinformation, psychological warfare, agents provocateurs, as well as false flag terrorist actions (including bombings). ... Emblem of Gladio, Italian branch of the NATO stay-behind paramilitary organizations. ... The Piazza Fontana bombing (Italian: ) refers to the terrorist bombing on December 12, 1969 in the offices of Banca Nazionale dellAgricoltura (National Agrarian Bank) in Piazza Fontana, Milan, Italy, carried out by far-right terrorists. ... Vincenzo Vinciguerra was a member of Avanguardia Nazionale (National Vanguard), a far-right terrorist organization founded by Stefano Delle Chiaie and involved in Italys strategy of tension promoted by Gladio networks. ... Mariano Rumor (June 16, 1915 – 22 January 1990) was an Italian politician, a member of the Democrazia Cristiana and several times Prime Minister of Italy. ... Rescue teams making their way through the rubble The Bologna massacre, also known in Italy as the Strage di Bologna, was a terrorist bombing against the Central Station of Bologna, Italy on the morning of 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 200. ... Guido Salvini is an Italian judge, based in Milan. ... The Masada Action and Defense Movement (French: Mouvement dAction et Défense Masada) was a French terrorist organization which carried out three bombings against Arab targets. ... A bilingual poster in Romanian and Hungarian promoting a film about Jewish settlement in Palestine, 1930s. ... The terms Neo-Nazism and Neo-Fascism refer to any social or political movement to revive Nazism or Fascism, respectively, and postdates the Second World War. ... This article is becoming very long. ... For other uses, see Arab (disambiguation). ...

False flag tactics were also employed during the Algerian civil war, starting in the mid-1994. Death squads composed of DRS (Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité) security forces disguised themselves as Islamist terrorists and committed false flag terror attacks. Such groups included the OJAL (Organisation of Young Free Algerians) or the OSSRA (Secret Organisation for the safeguard of the Algerian Republic) ^[18] According to Roger Faligot and Pascal Kropp (1999), the OJAL reminded of "the Organization of the French Algerian Resistance (ORAF), a group of counter-terrorists created in December 1956 by the DST (Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire / Territorial Surveillance Directorate) whose mission was to carry out terrorist attacks with the aim of quashing any hopes of political compromise." ^[19] Combatants Algerian government Islamic Armed Movement (MIA) Islamic Salvation Army (AIS) others. ... // A death squad is an armed squad of men that kills civilians. ... The département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité (DRS) is the Algerian intelligence service. ... The Organisation of Young Free Algerians (OJAL, French Organisation des jeunes Algériens libres) was an anti-Islamist, pro-government armed group in the Algerian Civil War, active mainly in 1994 and 1995. ... Roger Faligot is a French journalist, who started working in Ireland in 1973 before working as freelance investigative journalist for Britton, Parisian or foreign newspapers and magazines (Ireland, England, Japan). ... Daylight saving time (DST), often referred to as daylight savings time, is a widely used system of adjusting the official local time forward, usually one hour, from its official standard time for the duration of the spring and summer months. ...

On the night of Feb. 27, 1933 the Reichstag building was set on fire. At the urging of Hitler, Hindenburg responded the next day by issuing an emergency decree “for the Protection of the people and the State,” which stated: “Restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press; on the rights of assembly and association; and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications and warrants for house searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.” After 74 years, the question of who actually started the Reichstag fire is still unknown and occasionally debated. The Reichstag fire was a pivotal event in the establishment of Nazi Germany. ...

There are various 9/11 conspiracy theories which say the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US were a false flag operation. A variety of conspiracy theories question the mainstream account of the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States. ... A sequential look at United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11—pronounced nine eleven or nine one one) consisted of a series of coordinated terrorist[1] suicide attacks upon the United States, predominantly...

Dirty War

Main article: Dirty War

During a 1981 interview whose contents were revealed by documents declassified by the CIA in 2000, former CIA and DINA agent Michael Townley explained that Ignacio Novo Sampol, member of CORU, an anti-Castro organization, had agreed to commit the Cuban Nationalist Movement in the kidnapping, in Buenos Aires, of a president of a Dutch bank. The abduction, organized by civilian SIDE agents, the Argentine intelligence agency, was to obtain a ransom. Townley said that Novo Sampol had provided six thousand dollars from the Cuban Nationalist Movement, forwarded to the civilian SIDE agents to pay for the preparation expenses of the kidnapping. After returning to the US, Novo Sampol sent Townley a stock of paper, used to print pamphlets in the name of "Grupo Rojo" (Red Group), an imaginary Argentine Marxist terrorist organization, which was to claim credit for the kidnapping of the Dutch banker. Townley declared that the pamphlets were distributed in Mendoza and Córdoba in relation with false flag bombings perpetrated by SIDE agents, which had as their aim to accredit the existence of the fake Grupo Rojo. However, the SIDE agents procrastinated too much, and the kidnapping ultimately was not carried out.^[20] Poster by the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo NGO with photos of disappeared. This article especially refers to the Argentine dirty war; however, the term has been used in other contexts, for example in Morocco; see also lead years. ... The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... Look up Dina in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Michael Townley, a U.S. expatriate, first worked for the CIA before working for the DINA, Chilean secret police under Augusto Pinochets dictatorship, where he participated in operation Condor. ... Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU) has been described by the FBI as an anti-Castro terrorist umbrella organization.[1] It has taken part in operation Condor, organizing Chilean former minister Orlando Leteliers assassination in Washington, D.C. in 1976. ... The Opposition to Fidel Castros Cuban government is largely unofficial and illegal within Cuba. ... An ancient time This page is about the town Side on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. ... Mendoza is a city in the west of Argentina, and the capital of the Mendoza Province. ... Córdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas mountains on the Suquía River, about 700 km west-northwest from Buenos Aires. ...

See also

• Black propaganda
• Casus belli
• Conspiracy theory
• Covert operation
• Gleiwitz incident
• Front organization
• Bloed, Bodem, Eer en Trouw (Flemish neo-Nazi group preparing false flag attacks)
• February 27, 1933 Reichstag Fire, which led to the Reichstag Fire Decree which suspended the Weimar Constitution until the end of the Third Reich
• TPAJAX, CIA Operation Ajax (USA overthrowing of Mohammed Mossadeq, Prime Minister of Iran, in 1953)
• SIS (MI6) Operation Boot (UK Operation for overthrowing of Mohammed Mossadeq, Prime Minister of Iran, in 1953 with Americans) [1]
• Operation Northwoods
• Black Operation, Rogue Operation Project Cherry CIA's Non-Stop assassination program to kill Prince of Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk [2].
• Special Activities Division
• The Plaza Miranda Bombings in the Philippines, which led to Ferdinand Marcos's suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.
• The Spanish believed that the explosion on the USS Maine was a false-flag operation to provoke the Spanish-American War
• 3/11, 7/7 and 9/11 conspiracy theories
• Shelling of Mainila and Winter War
• State terrorism
• Marxist-Leninist Party of the Netherlands (fake party set up by the Dutch security service)

Black propaganda is propaganda that purports to be from a source on one side of a conflict, but is actually from the opposing side. ... Casus belli is a modern Latin language expression meaning the justification for acts of war. ... For other uses, see Conspiracy theory (disambiguation). ... A covert operation is a military or political activity carried out in such a way that the parties responsible for the action can be an open secret, but cannot be proved. ... Gliwice Radio Tower. ... A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, criminal organizations, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations. ... Bloed, Bodem, Eer en Trouw (BBET; Blood, Soil, Honour and Loyalty) is a Flemish neo-Nazi group, created in 2004 from a splinter of the Flemish branch of the international Nazi skinhead organization Blood & Honour. ... is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Reichstag fire was a pivotal event in the establishment of Nazi Germany. ... A German newspapers final issue, announcing its own prohibition (Verbot) by the police authorities on the basis of the Reichstag fire decree The Reichstag Fire Decree (Reichstagsbrandverordnung in German) is the common name of the decree issued by German president Paul von Hindenburg in direct response to the Reichstag... The Weimar Constitution in booklet form. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... Soldiers surround the Parliament building in Tehran on August 19, 1953. ... Motto: (traditional) In God We Trust (official, 1956–present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at the federal level; English de facto Government Federal Republic  - President George W. Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence - Declared - Recognized... Sis may refer to: An abbreviation of sister. ... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), more commonly known as MI6 (originally Military Intelligence Section 6), or the Secret Service, is the United Kingdom external security agency. ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent... Operation Northwoods memoranda (March 13, 1962). ... A black op is a black operation, a term used in political, military, intelligence, and business circles to refer to operations that are either secret (which may also be called a covert operation) or of questionable ethics or legality. ... The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... Time in office: Apr. ... The Special Activities Division (SAD) is a division of the Central Intelligence Agencys former Directorate of Operations, now the National Clandestine Service, responsible for covert paramilitary operations, effected when the U.S. Government does not wish to be overtly associated with such activities. ... This article covers the history of the Philippines during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos. ... Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralín Marcos (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was President of the Philippines from 1966 to 1986. ... For other uses, see Habeas corpus (disambiguation). ... For other ships of the same name, see USS Maine. ... Belligerents United States Republic of Cuba Philippine Republic Kingdom of Spain Commanders Nelson A. Miles William R. Shafter George Dewey Máximo Gómez Emilio Aguinaldo Patricio Montojo Pascual Cervera Arsenio Linares Manuel Macías y Casado Ramón Blanco y Erenas Casualties and losses 385 KIA USA 5,000... The scene of one of the Madrid bombings. ... Many questions, rumors and theories about the July 2005 London bombings have been raised. ... A variety of conspiracy theories question the mainstream account of the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States. ... Location of Mainila on the Karelian Isthmus (according to the borders prior to the signing of the Moscow peace treaty). ... Combatants Finland Soviet Union Commanders Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Kliment Voroshilov Semyon Timoshenko Strength 250,000 men 30 tanks 130 aircraft[1][2] 1,000,000 men 6,541 tanks [3] 3,800 aircraft[4][5] Casualties 26,662 dead 39,886 wounded 1,000 captured[6] 126,875 dead... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... The Marxist-Leninist Party of the Netherlands (Marxistisch-Leninistische Partij Nederland, MLPN) was a fake pro-China communist party in the Netherlands set up by the Dutch secret service BVD to develop contacts with the Chinese government for espionage purposes. ...

Notes