9/11 to Ukraine: A World in Peril - with Ex-CIA Officer Turned Whistleblower Ray McGovern

Ray McGovern has supported the 9/11 Truth Movement for years and will discuss why. He will then provide an analysis of the post-9/11 geopolitics including the lead up to the war in Iraq for which he actively sought to expose the lies of the Bush Administration, the subsequent wars in the Middle East, and the Ukrainian “revolution” and current war, as well as increasing tensions now with China.

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Ray came to Washington from his native Bronx in the early Sixties as an Army infantry/intelligence officer and then served as a CIA analyst for 27 years, from the administration of John F. Kennedy to that of George H. W. Bush. Ray’s duties included chairing National Intelligence Estimates and preparing the President’s Daily Brief, which he briefed one-on-one to President Ronald Reagan’s five most senior national security advisers from 1981 to 1985.

In January 2003, Ray co-created Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) to expose how intelligence was being falsified to “justify” war on Iraq. On the afternoon of the day (Feb. 5, 2003) Secretary of State Colin Powell misled the UN Security Council on Iraq, VIPS sent a blunt memorandum to President George W. Bush, in which VIPS gave Powell a C-minus. VIPS ended the memo with this:

“No one has a corner on the truth; nor do we harbor illusions that our analysis is irrefutable or undeniable [as Powell had claimed his was]. But after watching Secretary Powell today, we are convinced that you would be well served if you widened the discussion beyond … the circle of those advisers clearly bent on a war for which we see no compelling reason and from which we believe the unintended consequences are likely to be catastrophic.”On July 20, 2002, CIA Director George Tenet had told his British counterpart that the “intelligence and facts were being ‘fixed’ around the policy of ‘regime change’ in Iraq.”  On June 5, 2008, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Jay Rockefeller, announced the main conclusion of a five-year study by his committee, saying, “In making the case for war, the administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when it was unsubstantiated, contradicted or even nonexistent.”  In sum, the “intelligence” was not mistaken; it was out-and-out fraud.

On the early afternoon of May 4, 2006, in Atlanta, Ray confronted Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on live TV with pointed questions like: “Why did you lie to get us into a war that was not necessary and that has caused these kinds of casualties?”

Ray’s opinion pieces have appeared in many leading newspapers and other publications in the U.S. and abroad – except for the NY Times and Washington Post.  His website writings are usually posted first on consortiumnews.com as well as here on raymcgovern.com.  Many are then cross-posted elsewhere.

He has debated three times at the Oxford Forum.  The second time, in early 2013, he chose a lighter tone in explaining why it is still possible to dream the American dream:

Most Oxford folks – like the NY Times, the Washington Post, and other “mainstream media” – strongly supported Hillary Clinton; fully expected her to win just five days later; and were thankful that the U.S. two-party system – broken or not – had served up a “winner” (Clinton) to be president.  Ray’s attempt to expose the crucial influence of the media (whose masters are convinced they know what’s best for the country) – not only in rooting for candidates, but also suppressing violations of the Constitution, in order to guarantee criminals like George W. Bush a second term – fell on mainstream (deaf) ears).  

Ray has appeared on The Newshour, C-Span’s Washington Journal, CNN, BBC, a number of domestic Russian TV channels, Aljazeera, RT, PressTV, CCTV and many other TV & radio programs and documentaries. Ray’s favorite gig was debating Iraq with yellow-cake-aluminum connoisseur and ex-CIA Director James Woolsey on Charlie Rose on Aug. 20, 2004. (See minute 17:48 when Woolsey plays the “anti-Semitic” card against Ray.)

Ray was in NYC with filmmaker Robert Greenwald for the debut of his full-length documentary, Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War. Ray is often on the road, giving talks and interviews to a wide variety of audiences in the U.S. and abroad.

Ray’s B.A. and M.A. degrees – both from Fordham University – are in Russian history, language, and literature, with minors in theology, philosophy, and classics.  He has taught Russian as an adjunct at the University of Virginia.  Ray also holds a Certificate in Theological Studies from Georgetown University and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

Ray is fluent in Russian, German, and Spanish.  He and his wife have been married 55 years; they have five children and nine grandchildren.
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