The Political Insider

I’m a sucker for a good mystery. The tastiest mystery of late is the international intrigue surrounding who sabotaged the Nord Stream pipeline last year. Numerous countries have been investigating the underwater conspiracy, yet we still don’t know as the question goes – whodunit?

However, a recent lengthy report from highly regarded and confidential investigative journalist Seymour Hersh alleges to blow the lid open on this thriller, and the unmasked culprit is making some waves. Without much shock, the proposed saboteurs are the masters of black ops themselves, our own government.

Color me not at all surprised. Let’s look at the allegations and see if this report has any teeth.

RELATED: Surprise! Russia Didn’t Blow Up Their Own Pipeline, as US Politicians and Media Insinuated

Set the Scene

Pulitzer Prize winner and former New Yorker journalist, Seymour Hersh, wrote an over 5,000-word article on his Substack detailing the allegation that the United States government was indeed behind the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline.

“Last June, the Navy divers, operating under the cover of the NATO exercise known as BATOPS22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that, three months later, destroyed three of the four pipelines,” claimed Hersh.

Oh my, that is salacious. From there he goes on to explain the thought process behind the use of Navy divers.

“The divers were Navy only, and not members of America’s Special Operations Command, whose covert operations must be reported to Congress and briefed in advance to the Senate and House leadership – the so-called Gang of Eight.”

In his report, he says that deep sea divers were used from the US Navy Diving and Salvage Center out of Panama City, Florida. He alleges that the divers planted C4 explosives later triggered by a sonar buoy. 

So, what say the White House?

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Lies, all Lies!

When asked for comment, the White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said the allegations are “false and complete fiction.”

Additionally, CIA spokeswoman Tammy Thorp said “This claim is completely and utterly false.”

In Hersh’s piece, he claims that the Norwegian government was also complicit in this operation, to which the Norwegian foreign ministry also replied saying that those claims were false.

In a bit of a more measured response, Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee remarked “If false, slander. If true, war.”

Indeed, it would mean war if what Mr. Hersh alleges is true. Part of his article discusses why this operation not only happened but why it had to happen.

If you recall, a year ago, President Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that “If Russia invades there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”

Once the invasion happened, according to Hersh, the administration began nine months of planning.

“For much of that time,” he states, “the issue was not whether to do the mission, but how to get it done with no overt clue as to who was responsible.”

This is shaping up to be quite the page-turner, but is it fact or fiction?

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The Curse of Anonymity

Suppose you aren’t familiar with Seymour Hersh. In that case, he is famous in journalism for breaking such stories as the mass murder of 500 civilians at My Lai in Vietnam and the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. He’s also known for his penchant for relying lately on unnamed sources.

He did the same for this particular report which is based on information he received from an anonymous source which, as he put it, had “direct knowledge of the operational planning.”

While previously he was highly regarded for his journalistic abilities covering stories like the Watergate scandal under the Nixon Administration, he also has come under fire as a ‘conspiracy theorist’ questioning the Obama administration’s account of the death of Osama bin Laden and the claim that the Syrian government used chemical weapons during their civil war.

While ‘conspiracy theories’ in the past have been widely dismissed, it’s hard not to admit that lately, conspiracy theorists have been on a roll. 

After the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline and allegations flew that the United States was involved, the State Department said “The idea that the United States was in any way involved in the apparent sabotage of these pipelines is preposterous. It is nothing more than a function of Russian disinformation and should be treated as such.”

Hmmm… where have we heard that before…

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We Didn’t do it, But it’s Good That We Did

While we still don’t know the results of the ongoing investigations, some interesting little statements have come through if you pay enough attention.

For example, it wasn’t that long ago that a European official admitted: that there was no evidence that Russia had any direct involvement in the sabotage.

What?! Do you mean to tell me Russia didn’t sabotage their pipeline that was helping fuel their economy?!

Now that is in no way, shape or form surprising. German investigators also recently admitted that they are open to theories that a western state carried out the bombing with the intention of pinning the blame on Russia.

What western state would have the capacity and track record to pull something like that off? There are really only two pathways when it comes to this humdinger of a mystery:

• We never know the truth
• We admit to it, and mainstream media buries it

The government has become good at the second path. You might even think they are already teeing up that machine.

At a Senate hearing Under Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland said to Texas Senator Ted Cruz that “like you, I am, and I think the administration is, very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now, as you like to say, a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea.”

So we aren’t going to say we did it, but we did it, and you’re welcome because we should be happy we did it.

Should we be happy?

It depends on your worldview and what you believe our role should be on the international stage. Regardless, what our government, military, and intelligence community do under cover of darkness should be of interest to all Americans.