One of Connell's sisters says she believes the family will file a wrongful-death lawsuit against Republican strategist Karl Rove if foul play ever is proven in the plane crash.
Those are two of the major revelations in a stunning recent investigative piece at BradBlog, by award-winning television producer and writer Rebecca Abrahams.
Connell, the founder of New Media Communications in Richfield, Ohio, was considered a skilled and experienced pilot. He developed campaign Web sites for a number of Republican clients, including George W. Bush and John McCain.
Connell had been forced to give a deposition in an election-fraud lawsuit on November 3, 2008, the day before the general election. Roughly six weeks later, his plane crashed next to a vacant house in Lake Township, Ohio, as Connell was returning from a business trip to Washington, D.C. The cause of the crash is unknown, and it remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Why was Mike Connell a central figure in election-fraud issues? And why have questions been raised about the nature of the plane crash that killed him? Abrahams summarizes:
Although mainly un-reported, there's a great deal of controversy surrounding Connell's death--largely in part because he was the architect of many Republican websites including GeorgeWBush.com and GWB43.com, the site Karl Rove used for 95% of his email correspondence. Connell was also considered a key witness in the election fraud lawsuit King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association v. Blackwell. The suit implicates Former Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth J. Blackwell, Karl Rove and others of 2004 election night vote rigging.
Attorneys in the case believe that Connell, who had not been accused of any wrongdoing, had firsthand knowledge about the missing White House emails and Rove's alleged wrongdoing with respect to the 2004 Presidential election.
Connell's sister, Shannon, says she believes her brother's work related to politics led to his death. Reports Abrahams:
Although her brother never spoke of his work, Shannon believes that Mike's ties to the Bush Administration and the GOP are somehow related to his death.
"It just seems way too convenient, the timing since he had been deposed. He didn't get to testify. But I don't think he would've perjured himself. When it comes down to it, he was basically an honest person. If push came to shove and he was under oath testifying, I believe that he would've told the truth. I think that there were other people who believed that as well."
The Connell family has received tangible evidence that suggests foul play in the plane crash. Reports Abrahams:
Recently, the Connell family has been dealt another blow--an anonymous memo penned by someone identifying themselves as "Mark Felt" (the name of the man who was ultimately revealed to be "Deep Throat"), cataloguing an order and mission to remotely intercept and rig the instrument panel of Mike Connell's plane then "sanitize" the area.
Heather confirms receipt of this memo, which was cc'd to six unknown recipients.
What does the memo mean? Abrahams reports that it is being taken seriously:
Those close to the case believe the person behind the memo is a real informant with inside knowledge about Connell's plane crash. There are a number of Intelligence officials looking into it, including the FBI. The FBI field agent in charge of the case, Jack Vickery, did not return my calls. But Cliff Arnebeck, the prosecuting attorney in the case and the one who deposed Mike Connell last November, issued the following statement:
We received copies of the "deep throat" letter and redacted report of a jackal that "is not supposed to exist." We passed on to the FBI this and other information we have relevant to the matter. Our impression is that the FBI is doing its job of investigating specific allegations regarding the assassination of a vital witness in our federal election fraud case.
The term "jackal" refers to a hired assassin. And Abramhams quotes an expert on the subject:
Former CIA operative John Perkins wrote about such "jackals" in his book, Confessions of an Economic HitMan, and says while he doesn't have any inside knowledge about Connell's death, he would not be surprised if he was murdered.
"It wouldn't surprise me a bit. They've certainly assassinated a lot of people in this country. The Kennedys were assassinated. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It's entirely possible that Paul Wellstone was assassinated. We've had a long, long history of assassinations. It's extremely successful in terms of turning politics around and getting people off cases. In a way, Bill Clinton was assassinated but it was a personality assassination. The Connell case is just one more possibility."
Perkins says that the mysterious plane crash long has been a popular tactic with hired assassins:
"It's so easy to cover it up. The evidence is destroyed and everybody knows airplanes are fragile anyway, small airplanes in particular. So it's a very clean type of assassination in terms of ways to do it because the area where the plane crash happens can be quickly cordoned off . . . and the evidence can be cleaned up very quickly and most of it is destroyed anyway. But if there's anything left, it can be disposed of very, very quickly."
The Connell family wants to know the identity of the informant. The family also wants to know more about threats Mike Connell reportedly received in the weeks leading up to his death.
Shannon Connell is quick to say that justice will be difficult to achieve in her brother's death. Reports Abrahams:
Shannon says if there were proof of foul play, she believes her family would file a wrongful death suit against Karl Rove. But she says she's not sure her family will ever know what really happened that day in December.
"I think Mike got caught up in some other people's lives and didn't know how to get out or was trying to get out. You know, I'm real cynical about whether justice will be done. A lot of the government officials probably have gotten away with a lot of things. My position now is what's going to make this different? What's different with my brother's death that's any different than Paul Wellstone's?"
Whether we can make things right or not is not the issue, the obvious is we must give our best in getting this insanity back into balance in the sane category of America.
ReplyDeleteKarl Rove, et al. are insane.
Criminally insane mass murdering "degenerates," whose masters (George W. Bush, Jr., et al.) are in "Golden Decline" and their desperation is driving the entire agenda of how to enslave the entire planet of human beings.
True madness.
www.godsmadmen.
yep, mad men and women too (Sarah Palin more than proves it).
biloxi
It's not "insanity," when one is aware of one's intent. Rather, it is sociopathy. There is a big difference, especially in the eyes of the law.
ReplyDeleteThe information is out there and experts in Ohio have concentrated on the situation Connell was so involved in. I don't think it's a matter of extorting the truth once the villains are found. In most cases that's possible, especially with the FBI retained.
ReplyDeleteIt's the machinery much stronger than most of this, a controlling network right out of the novel 1984, the Rove machine, which is probably controlling the FBI. What a waste of money to watch them go through the motions.
We have to get smarter quickly. Not only must we know the truth, which we do, but to pursue it--the difficult part of that verse out of Psalms, well sort of--substitute "truth" for "peace." They're not so far apart, both so intricately obstructed.
We need far more of the creativity of the opposition, the ingenuity. Is there such a thing as moral ruthlessness? That's what we need, that's the winning formula.
We must fight Rove by becoming Rovian, in other words, but not jaded. What a challenge. They are so enervating, those immoral, amoral swine.
What we have is the truth. That must keep us motivated.
We need to go creative. How?
If only we could link Wellstone's murder to these thugs.
ReplyDeleteOnce the levers of power are pried from their fat, grasping fingers, the assassination stories will roar out in a tsunami bringing a true new morning to America.
Thanks to everyone who continues to cover this most important story of our time.
S
What the People lack is the ability to name the argument. For instance, we need health insurance reform, but we've been debating health care. What we need is rebuilding American industrial capability and utilization, what we get is economic stimulation. We need an understanding at the top, of the importance of this, and we need a direct pipeline for feeding meme suggestions to those who might help establish them.
ReplyDeleteVery Interesting.
ReplyDeleteSince it happened, I have strongly suspected that Howard Hunt's wife was murdered in similar fashion for political reasons during the Nixon years.
Hopefully when Rove is no longer useful or becomes inconvenient he will suffer the same fate in spades.
ReplyDeleteI think none of this comes with anything but hearsay from people who sling around words like insane and evil. Folks, Karl Rove is a standard political operative. He's good at what he does but he's not some monster and he's not screwing around killing people. What, this guy was the *only* person around who could verify things and then Rove went and involved some number of people in a conspiracy to kill him? Kinda sounds kooky to me.
ReplyDeleteBut it's true many people have been assassinated through sabotaged airplanes, especially if they're about to have to testifty to Bush drug running or politically sensitive crimes.
ReplyDeleteKarl Rove plays a small role in investigating me as I expose criminal network on coast of GA that uses CIA drug 'scopolamine' to divert money from elderly to the perpetrators. There are Bush connections to this place and the people involved.
Anyone who thinks that Mr. Connell {RIP} was NOT assassinated is deeply mistaken. There is no such thing as coincidence. Whether or not he received death threats, could he timing of his plane crash be any more suspicious? Some of the most evil people on earth today, the bushes, cheney, rove, and their capos are the most despicable excuses for a human seen in the last 60 years.
ReplyDeleteAnd it is exactly them, NOT osama bin laden, who with the direct participation of a complicit mainstream media killed 2,749 innocent souls {RIP} on 9/11/01. Utterly, utterly evil.
I'm no stranger to conspiracy theories and believing them, but as a professional airline pilot with over ten thousand hours, I am absolutely certain this accident was pilot error, starting with the poor decision to fly this flight in those poor weather conditions, in an aircraft not suited for in flight icing. Mr. Connell actually had little experience, only just over 500 hours flying time and just over 50 in the last year. ATC transcripts indicate he was off course and disoriented, and other reports showed other aircraft in the area were accumulating ice. His aircraft wasn't certified to fly in known icing conditions.
ReplyDeleteThe Wellstone crash was not a conspiracy either.
I believe Connell helped to steal the election, but this crash that took his life was his fault and not sabotage.