Even more scary than the possibility of Bush’s coup, at least in my opinion, is something I uncovered while reading The Creature From Jekyll Island today. I’ve always known a great deal about the United States entry into WWI and thought there wasn’t anything really shocking to it. Well, as it turns out, I was wrong.

I had known since AP Euro that the Lusitania was carrying ammunition and fitted for armaments, a fact which I despised the British for. I even knew of the orders the British made to fire upon German U-Boats instead of allowing a German Search Party to determine whether or not it was an enemy ship, forcing the Germans to pick back up Unrestricted Submarine Warfare and fire upon all ships without warning. I didn’t know, however, just how big of a set up the sinking of the Lusitania really was.

Because the British knew that unless the US could be brought into war, the Allies may lose, they had to figure out a reason to convince the American Public that America should enter the war. The way the British forced the Germans to pick back up Unrestricted Submarine Warfare increased the chances of an American merchant vessel being torpedoed.

The Lusitania was was fitted in May of 1913 with extra armor and revolving gun rings, so she could be used as a warship if needed. She was also used as a luxury liner. If the Germans saw the Lusitania they would certainly fire upon her.

It has also been determined that the Lusitania was carrying a great deal of munitions and war materials at the time of her sinking. The Germans knew all of this well before the Lusitania set sail and knew of the possible implications if she were sunk. The German embassy in Washington filed a formal complaint to the US government claiming that the ship was clearly in violation of international neutrality treaties. The response denied any knowledge of the cargo. The German embassy made a last ditch effort to prevent the impending catastrophe by placing ads in fifty East Coast newspapers warning Americans not to board the Lusitania. We’ve all seen the ad. Here’s a link in case you never took history class. What I’ve never heard until now was that the ad only made it into one news paper, the Des Moines Register on the requested date, because of threats of libel by the State Department. The fact that our government would deliberately keep the American people blind to the dangers of such a ship for ulterior motives scares the shit out of me. It makes me wonder just what else our government has done. The 9/11 truth movement will have a field day once they get their hands on this information.

Here’s a quote from Colin Simpson, author of “The Lusitania”, page 97:

“George Viereck [who was the editor of a German-owned newspaper at that time and who had placed the ads on behalf of the embassy] spent April 26 asking the State Department why his advertisement had not been published. Eventually he managed to obtain an interview with [Secretary of State, William Jennings] Bryan and pointed out to him that on all but one of her wartime voyages the Lusitania had carried munitions. He produced copies of her supplementary manifests, which were open to public inspection at the collector’s office. More important, he informed Bryan, no fewer than six million rounds of ammunitino were due to be shipped on the Lusitania the following Friday and could be seen at that moment being loaded on pier 54. Bryan picked up the telephone and cleared the publication of the advertisement. He promised Viereck that he would endeavor the President publicly to warn Americans not to travel. No such warning was issued by the President, but there can be no doubt that President Wilson was told of the character of the cargo destined for the Lusitania. He did nothin, but was to concede on the day he was told of her sinking that his foreknowledge had given him many sleepless hours.”

The Lusitania was ordered to rendezvous with a British destroyer, the Juno, just off the coast of Ireland for extra protection. When the Lusitania reached the point the destroyer was not there. The Juno had actually been called out of the area at the last minute. The Lusitania was forced to head straight into an area where German U-Boats were known to be operating without any protection, and travelling at 75% of her potential speed. She was ordered to cut back on the amount of coal she used in order to cut costs.

We all know what happened from there. The Lusitania was sunk on May 17, 1915 forever changing American public sentiment of the war.

I just read all this information and felt compelled to share it. I am truly getting more and more worried every day of what this government is capable and willing to do.

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