A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning the blame on other party.
The term is popular among conspiracy theorists in referring to covert operations of various governments and cabals.
Originally the phrase was coined for the pirate ships flying the colours of other nations to deceive merchant ships into thinking that they are dealing with a friendly vessel.
Now the term extends to include countries that organize attacks on themselves and make the attacks appear to be by enemy nations or terrorists, thus giving the nation that was supposedly attacked a pretext for domestic repression and foreign military aggression.
False Flag Operations
Reichstag Fire
One of the most famous incidents considered by many to be a false flag operation is ‘The Reichstag Fire’ which took place on the night of 27th February 1933.
The Reichstag fire was arson attack which burned the building that housed Reichstag (German Parliament) in Berlin.
Claiming the fire was part of a communist attempt to overthrow government, the newly named Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler used the fire as an excuse to seize absolute power in Germany, paving the way for the rise of his Nazi regime.
9/11 Attacks
9/11 is short for four coordinated terrorist attacks carried out by Al-Qaeda an Islamist extremist group on morning of September 11, 2001.
Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the world trade center in New York City, a third plane hit the pentagon just outside Washington D.C and fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Almost 3,000 people lost their lives during 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In the times we live in, things get murkier easily and quickly, thanks to social media.
Whether a modern false flag operation is real or not, people will continue to fight bitterly over it on internet.
To many online conspiracy theorists, the biggest false flag operation of all time was the 9/11 attacks.
9/11 conspiracy theorists believe that these attacks were deliberately carried out by U.S government as a way to justify subsequent attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq, which they believe were carried out to install a gas pipeline across Afghanistan to seize the oil wealth of Iraq.
The claims that 9/11 was a false flag operation have been strongly disputed by U.S government and various experts.
But it is highly unlikely that conspiracy theories swirling around 9/11 will ever go away.
This is only one of the many examples of conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11.
Sandy Hook Elementary School Shootings of 2012
Sandy Hook elementary school also known as Newtown shootings of 2012.
On December 14, 2012 Adam Lanza after murdering his mother, fatally shot 20 children and 6 adults.
It is one of the deadliest shootings in U.S.
But various conspiracy theorists have claimed that the shooting was actually orchestrated by U.S government as a part of an elaborate plot to promote stricter gun control laws.
