This Aum Shinrikyo - deals with Japanese Mafia and this association
resulted in the death of one of the Aum Shinrikyo's scientists.
Note these missing scientists today in particular the one who attended
the St. Jude Meeting - some of these men were said to have worked on
projects to do with the planned mass extermination of 2/3 of the
population which seems to lead to another question.
19 members of this group attempted not too long ago to return to or
relocated in Russia and the Russians said no way, Jose.....
But some of this stuff bothers me, these names. Even the world "siran"
gas.
Not little Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was a progrmmed killer, a terrorist who
joined the Rosicrucians, who had turned "Christian' *which is the
biggest crock of all - note the name Sirhan and Siran Gas.
Even this name Bishara is beginning to get a little notice here, i.e.
this Kamikazi Kid in Tampa who flew his little Cessna into the Bank of
America.....later was revealed his parents had once had a suicide pact,
and the kids real name was Bishara.
Ashahara - Bishara and drop those H's for some still cannot say
"shibboleth".... These names, Ashahara - this man ws a scientist
involved with this AUM group - working on poisons for mass slaughter.
This item which I am reproducing is CIA stuff without a doubt; but I am
thinking that only this AUM group could have pulled off something as big
as Twin Towers....their association with drugs and this Jewish Mafia -
are we dealing with a coalition of the International Order of the Mafia
or black operations on their own?
AUM even had a group or something called El Qada - close to this
spelling, a name which appears to have same meaning as this Al Qiada
which has been spelled also Al Qaeda.......and then of course look what
happened in Nepal where this young Prince was charged with going berzerk
and murdering the King, Queen, and his entire family and Nepal, look on
the map at this stratigic position re India, China, etc.
This oriental link. Are these people over here - look at the money
they had accumulated. What really is behind all this and how is
doomsdayers related to the Twin Towers...and who all knew, like
Oklahoma, who all knew. For McVeigh himself seemed like a doomsdayer
giving his life for a cause - but what was the cause and who got their
hooks into him.
So remember Jack the Ripper for he is alive and well - and hey this guy
was no humanitarian, but too the old Hells Fire Club in those days was
running the streets like the KKK with an ax to grind (forgive theh pun).
Note connection also in Zaire .....and of course the Russian Connection
and the hatred of Hindus? Olson is CIA.
OSaba
�
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Special Issue
Aum Shinrikyo: Once and Future Threat?
Kyle B. Olson
Research Planning, Inc., Arlington, Virginia, USA
On March 20, 1995, members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult entered the Tokyo
subway system and released sarin, a deadly nerve agent. The subway
attack was the most deadly assault in an ongoing campaign of terror
waged by this mysterious cult. Four years later, with Aum Shinrikyo
attempting to rebuild itself, many in Japan and around the world are
asking whether the "Supreme Truth Sect" poses a current or future
threat. Answering this question may further our understanding, not only
of the Aum but also of other extremist and terrorist groups.
Aum Shinrikyo began its public campaign of terror on June 27, 1994. On
that Monday in Matsumoto, a city of 300,000 population 322 kilometers
northwest of Tokyo, a group of cult members drove a converted
refrigerator truck into a nondescript residential neighborhood. Parking
in a secluded parking lot behind a stand of trees, they activated a
computer-controlled system to release a cloud of sarin. The nerve agent
floated toward a cluster of private homes, a mid-rise apartment
building, town homes, and a small dormitory.
This neighborhood was targeted for a specific reason. The dormitory was
the residence of all three judges sitting on a panel hearing a lawsuit
over a real-estate dispute in which Aum Shinrikyo was the defendant.
Cult lawyers had advised the sect's leadership that the decision was
likely to go against them. Unwilling to accept a costly reversal, Aum
responded by sending a team to Matsumoto to guarantee that the judges
did not hand down an adverse judgment. A light breeze (3 to 5 knots)
gently pushed the deadly aerosol cloud of sarin into a courtyard formed
by the buildings. The deadly agent affected the inhabitants of many of
the buildings, entering through windows and doorways, left open to the
warm night air. Within a short time, seven people were dead. Five
hundred others were transported to local hospitals, where approximately
200 would require at least one night's hospitalization.
After successfully completing their mission, the cultists drove off to
Kamakuishki, a rural community at the foot of Mount Fuji, home to golf
courses, parks, dairy farms, small villages, and the headquarters of Aum
Shinrikyo in Japan. The cult's facilities consisted of a number of
motley buildings, factories, and dormitories.
Aum Shinrikyo's next major act of violence would serve as a wake-up call
to the world regarding the prospects of weapons of mass destruction and
terrorism. On the morning of March 20, 1995, packages were placed on
five different trains in the Tokyo subway system.
The packages consisted of plastic bags filled with a chemical mix and
wrapped inside newspapers. Once placed on the floor of the subway car,
each bag was punctured with a sharpened umbrella tip, and the material
was allowed to spill onto the floor of the subway car. As the liquid
spread out and evaporated, vaporous agent spread throughout the car.
Tokyo was experiencing a coordinated, simultaneous, multi-point assault.
The attack was carried out at virtually the same moment at five
different locations in the world's largest city: five trains, many
kilometers apart, all converging on the center of Tokyo. The resulting
deaths and injuries were spread throughout central Tokyo. First reports
came from the inner suburbs and then, very quickly, cries for help began
to flow in from one station after another, forming a rapidly tightening
ring around the station at Kasumagaseki. This station serves the
buildings that house most of the key agencies of the Japanese
government. Most of the major ministries, as well as the national police
agency, have their headquarters at Kasumagaseki.
By the end of that day, 15 subway stations in the world's busiest subway
system had been affected. Of these, stations along the Hbiya line were
the most heavily affected, some with as many as 300 to 400 persons
involved. The number injured in the attacks was just under 3,800. Of
those, nearly 1,000 actually required hospitalization�some for no more
than a few hours, some for many days. A very few are still hospitalized.
And 12 people were dead.
Within 48 hours of the subway attack, police were carrying out raids
against Aum Shinrikyo facilities throughout Japan. Police entered cult
facilities carrying sophisticated detection systems and wearing
military-issued chemical gear (which was issued to the Tokyo police the
week before the subway attack).
The real target of the raids that began on March 17 was the building
known as Satyan 7, a supposed shrine to the Hindu god Shiva, the most
prominent figure in the Aum Shinrikyo religious pantheon. In reality,
the building housed a moderately large-scale chemical weapons production
facility, designed by cult engineers, with first-rate equipment
purchased over-the-counter.
Although the facility's design was crude by industry standards, it was
nonetheless very capable of producing the sarin used in the Matsumoto
attack. At the time of the Tokyo attack, however, Satyan 7 was not in
service, having been mothballed after an accident during the previous
summer. In an effort to get the plant back into production, the cult
had, during the fall of 1994, unsuccessfully attempted to recruit
Russian chemical-weapons engineers. The cult was adept at recruiting
educated professionals (scientists and engineers), but most were young
and largely inexperienced. Satyan 7 was designed to produce sarin, not
on a small terrorist scale, but in nearly battlefield quantities:
thousands of kilograms a year.
Chemical weapons were not, however, the only option available to the
Aum. The first cult laboratory for toxin production was actually in
place by 1990 and was subsequently replaced with two new laboratories,
one at Kamakuishki and the other in Tokyo.
Aum dabbled in many different biological agents. They cultured and
experimented with botulin toxin, anthrax, cholera, and Q fever. In 1993,
Ashahara led a group of 16 cult doctors and nurses to Zaire, on a
supposed medical mission. The actual purpose of the trip to Central
Africa was to learn as much as possible about and, ideally, to bring
back samples of Ebola virus.
In early 1994, cult doctors were quoted on Russian radio as discussing
the possibility of using Ebola as a biological weapon.
The cult attempted several apparently unsuccessful acts of biological
terrorism in Japan between 1990 and 1995. As early as April 1990, the
cult had tried to release botulin toxin from a vehicle driving around
the Diet and other government buildings in central Tokyo. In early June
of 1993, another attempt was made to release botulin toxin, this time in
conjunction with the wedding of the crown prince. A vehicle equipped
with a spray device was driven around the imperial palace as well as the
main government buildings in central Tokyo.
Later that month, pursuing an alternative technology, the cult attempted
to release anthrax spores from its mid-rise Tokyo office building
laboratory. At that time, police and media reported foul smells, brown
steam, some pet deaths, and stains on cars and sidewalks. Then, in March
1995, just before the sarin subway attack, an attempt to spray botulin
toxin in the subway at Kasumagaseki Station was preempted by a cult
member who opted not to load the improvised briefcase sprayers with
actual agent.
No injuries were reported in any of these biological events despite the
fact the cult was dealing with very toxic materials. The cult's failures
can be attributed to a variety of factors. The cult may not have had the
right agents or the right technologic facilities; they could have
overcooked the bioagents or not known how to use them.
While the cult was well financed, it was not very successful in its
efforts to recruit biological scientists. Still, the possibility exists
that casualties associated with some of these releases might have not
been detected or were attributed to other causes.
The cult's operations were worldwide, promoting a theology drawn from
different sources, including Buddhism, Christianity, Shamanism,
Hinduism, and New Age beliefs.
Cult membership around the world was likely 20,000 to 40,000. One cult
leader estimated the cult's net worth in March of 1995 at about $1.5
billion. The money was collected through donations, tithing, sales of
religious paraphernalia, videotape and book sales, and other sources.
The cult conducted seminars and hosted training courses for members,
offering indoctrination in Aum's teachings, charging believers from
hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars for attending these sessions.
Aum Shinrikyo also had a number of commercial enterprises, even a
company that manufactured computers. Imported components from Taiwan
were assembled in a cult factory at Kamakuishki and sold in Aum's
computer store in downtown Tokyo. The cult also ran a chain of
restaurants in Tokyo and several other Japanese cities.
Another source of income was the practice of green mail. Aum would
threaten to establish a cult compound in a city and, if the city fathers
did not bribe them to go away, the cult would set up shop.
Several cities paid rather than have Aum establish operations there. The
cult manufactured illegal drugs and had a marketing agreement with the
Japanese Mafia (the Yakuza). In 1996, the Yakuza would be found
responsible for the assassination of the cult's lead scientist,
(And here is how they made big bucks - drugs - for profit and murder?
Saba note)
Dr. Hideo Murai, in the days following the Tokyo subway attack.
Concerned at his frequent televised appearances, the Yakuza silenced him
for fear that he would betray the linkage between the two shadowy
groups. Extortion, theft, and murder were also part of the cult's
fund-raising activities. Among the cult leaders, "Doomsday guru" Shoko
Ashahara is the undisputed head. Ashahara (born Chizuo Matsumoto) had
numerous exalted titles, including venerated master, yogi, and holy
pope.
Highly charismatic, this partially blind, apparently very talented yoga
instructor was very ambitious politically and financially. He and more
than 20 of his followers ran for Parliament in 1989. They were defeated,
which some Japanese analysts have suggested marks the moment when the
cult's leader elected to pursue weapons of mass destruction and the
violent overthrow of the established order.
Millennial visions and apocalyptic scenarios dominate the group's
doctrine, evidenced by the prominent role of Nostradamus as a prophet in
Aum Shinrikyo teaching. Ashahara has, on many occasions, claimed to be
the reincarnated Jesus Christ, as well as the first "enlightened one"
since the Buddha. He has frequently preached about a coming Armageddon,
which he describes as a global conflict that would, among other things,
destroy Japan with nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.
According to Ashahara, only the followers of Aum Shinrikyo will survive
this conflagration.
Another cult leader, Fumihiro Joyu, now 35 years old, was a bright young
engineer with the Japanese space program, specializing in artificial
intelligence. He left that organization to go to work for Aum, where he
very quickly rose through the ranks, ultimately to head the cult's
operations in Russia. Joyu oversaw this important cult expansion, among
other things "investing" as much as $12 million in the form of payoffs
to well-placed officials.
The cult's investment paid off with expedited access to office
buildings, dormitories, and other facilities throughout Russia.
At the time of the Tokyo subway attack, the cult's principle venture in
Russia was the Moscow-Japan University, with headquarters in offices
across the street from the Bolshoi Ballet. Their senior Russian partner
in the university was a man by the name of Oleg Lobov, at that time also
chairman of Russia's National Security Council and a close confidant of
Boris Yeltsin.
Joyu was convicted of perjury after the subway investigation, but he
received an extremely light sentence (3 years) for his involvement in
the cult's activities. Joyu has apparently maintained close ties to the
cult, and he is slated for release toward the end of this year. After
leaving prison, he may make a play for leadership of the remaining cult
elements. He is the most charismatic member of the cult, other than
Ashahara. In the days right after the Tokyo subway attack, he was on
Japanese television so frequently, and featured in magazines and
newspapers so often, that he became a teen heartthrob.
In the days and weeks immediately following the gas attack, more than
200 key members of the cult were arrested.
Approximately 120 are still in jail, on trial, or have been convicted.
Ashahara himself has been on trial for 3 years. The trial may continue
for 5 or 6 years, a judicial timetable that is aggressive by Japanese
standards in cases where the defendant refuses to cooperate with the
prosecution.
Three cult members involved in the attack are still at large. Russian
operations were ended by legal action and the assets seized by the
government. The cult's legal status in Japan as a church has been
revoked, but many of its assets are unaccounted for.
Today, Aum Shinrikyo is once again soliciting donations, collecting
tithes, selling materials to members, holding seminars, conducting
training, and selling computers. Active recruiting is under way. Aum
Shinrikyo is holding 50 "educational" seminars a month for current and
potential members. The cult has offices throughout Japan, around Tokyo
and other cities, and, according to Japanese sources, they maintain 100
hide-outs throughout that country as "safe houses."
These sources estimate that at least 700 members are live-in, fully
committed devotees. Mind control is still a part of the cult's package.
Cult members can be seen in Aum-owned houses wearing bizarre electric
headsets, supposedly designed to synchronize their brain waves with
those of the cult's leader.
What is the message that these events to impart policy-makers? The
objective of the Tokyo subway attack was not irrational. The objective
that day was to kill as many policemen as possible; Aum Shinrikyo had
become aware of police plans to conduct raids against cult facilities,
beginning on March 20. The cult's timetable could not permit that
interruption.
Aum's actions were perfectly logical within the context of their value
system. They were a self-legitimized group that had rejected and,
ultimately, felt obliged to confront society. Outnumbered as they were
by Japanese police and military might, one can argue that developing and
even using an asymmetric capability was a logical consequence of their
situation. Unable to achieve their objective�political power�through
legitimate means, they determined that a preemptive strike was
necessary.
Is Aum Shinrikyo a potential threat? Is Shoko Ashahara just the first of
many, or has he been relegated to the scrap heap? These are open
questions we will be forced to grapple with for many years to come.
����� Mr. Olson is adviser, consultant, and writer on
high-technology terrorism, the threat of chemical and biological
weapons, and the practical challenges of arms control; member of the
Central Intelligence's Nonproliferation Advisory Panel; guest lecturer
on chemical and biological weapons terrorism at the Defense Nuclear
Weapons School, Air War College, Naval War College, and U.S. Air Force
Special Operations School, and an adjunct faculty member at George
Washington University.
����� Address for correspondence: Kyle B. Olson, Research
Planning, Inc., 6400 Arlington Blvd., Suite 1100, Arlington, VA 22042,
USA; fax: 703-237-8085; e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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