From CGI member oldmaninthedesert:
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A couple of more very interesting chapters of Walter Bowart's work. In the first chapter there is a extensive interview with a 'retired' assassin, and he says some things that will cause you to pause, no matter how dated this material seems to be. Two of the instances that caused me to sit and ponder and then start to attempt to pull up more information on the subjects was what he said about the NSA, and his comment on Nixon, which got me wondering about the 8 years of the last guy because the prior words did not jive at all, with the promises. The second chapter touches on brain implants, and I find it quite troubling, given everything we have witnessed over the span since publication,as well as the now constant drumbeat of A.I....Oh yeah the first chapter opens with perhaps the first attempt at controlling the minds of others for benefit of the controller..
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..... In 1298 Marco Polo returned from his Asiatic travels with a tale of assassins who were motivated by an unusually clever technique. Polo described a fortress he had visited in the valley of Alamut in Persia. He said the valley was the headquarters of a notorious group known as the Hashishin, from which the word "assassin" evolved.
Polo's story echoed numerous legends about an "Old Man of the Mountain," named Allauddin, who used subtle and elaborate psychological tricks to motivate simple country boys to undertake fearless acts of murder. The Old Man had created an inescapable valley between two mountains by building up high walls at both ends. He turned the valley into a beautiful garden, the largest and most beautiful that had ever been seen. In this valley he planted every kind of fruit tree and built several elaborate, ornamented pavilions and palaces which were said to be of such elegance they could not be described in words. Everything that could be, was covered with gold. The buildings housed the most exquisite collection of paintings and sculpture in the known world. Man-made streams flowed wine, milk, honey, and water.
Also in the Old Man's garden was a harem of the most beautiful houris in the world, trained to play all manner of instruments, and to sing and dance in the most sensuous and seductive manner. All had also been highly trained in the fine art of lovemaking, and were reputed to know every possible way in which to make a man happy.
The garden was well fortified, and there was no way to get in or out of it except through the Old Man's castle. None were allowed to enter the Old Man's Garden except those who had been selected to be among the Hashishin.
Youths from the countryside were attracted to the Old Man's court, lured by tales of the fantastic paradise. They believed that the Old Man was one of God's elect, and that angels did his bidding. Only those ranging in age from twelve to twenty years who displayed a taste for soldering and were in prime physical condition were admitted to the Hashishin.
The Old Man's garden duplicated every detail of Paradise as described in the Koran by the Prophet Mohammed. A young man selected for the Hashishin would soon come to believe in the Old Man just as he already believed in Mohammed.
After the proper indoctrination was completed, the Old Man would have his candidate drugged with a mysterious potion that would cast him into a deep sleep. Once asleep, the candidate would be lifted and carried into the garden and would wake up to find himself in a place he was certain must be Paradise.
As time went on, he'd become more and more convinced that he was in Paradise. Ladies offered everything a young man could want, beyond even the wildest expectations of these simple folk. After only a few days in this garden, no young country boy would have left of his own accord.
When the Old Man wanted to send one of his young Hashishin on a mission, he would again have him given the mysterious potion, and carried in his sleep from the garden to the castle. There the youth would be dressed in his old clothes and placed into the original position in which he'd fallen asleep before being taken into the Garden.
Upon awakening to "reality" he would experience a great sense of loss at finding that he was no longer in Paradise. Then, as if meeting this young man for the first time, the Old Man would ask him where he had come from. Usually the youth would reply that he had just come from Paradise, and in great excitement explain that it was exactly as Mohammed had described it in the Koran. This would, of course, give eavesdroppers an even greater desire to get there, and the strongest among them would, days later, wake up in the arms of the houris of paradise.
When the Old Man wanted a rival prince killed, he would command such a youth who'd just returned from Paradise, "Go thou and slay So-and-so; and when thou returnest my angels shall bear thee back into Paradise. But shouldst thou die in the process, nevertheless, even so will I send my angels to carry thee back into Paradise."
https://exploringrealhistory.blogspot.com/2019/11/part-7-operation-mind-controlthe.html