8th Anniversary: How Ghost Troop Stopped a BP Nuke

By Major William B. Fox

The so-called Global War on Terror entered a dangerous new phase for Americans on March 11, 2004, when bomb explosions within the Madrid, Spain transit system killed 191 people. Within a day of the bombing, Fox News laid responsibility on “Al Qaeda Terror”, claiming it was now “90 percent ready” for a “Black Wind of Death” attack on America.

Other global media speculated that Al Qaeda had acquired a suitcase nuke from somewhere within the former Soviet Union. These media have warned the public ever since that it is no longer a question of if, but rather of when Al Qaeda will explode a nuke on U.S. soil.

Ominously for Texans, a year earlier the Bush Administration had released an NSA intercept that Bin Laden wanted to hit the Houston-area petrochemical complex. In response, Captain Eric H. May wrote a February 23, 2003 op-ed for the Houston Chronicle, Don’t Laugh at Duct Tape, It Saves Lives. In it May argued that the Houston area was unquestionably a top terror target. It was the nation’s fourth most populous city, the home of the Johnson Space Center and the declared hometown of the Bush family. Lastly, it not only had the nation’s largest chemical district, but also a climate that could enhance the lethality of a chemical attack.

The “black wind” threat sounded like it could involve a mini-nuke attack on the Houston petrochemical industry, which could spread a toxic cloud over The Bayou City that would be similar to the one causing the catastrophe in Bhopal, India.

May was a former U.S. Army military intelligence officer and a longstanding Houston resident. In all probability, no one in the Bush Administration anticipated that a person with his professional qualifications would eventually form a Ghost Troop of anti-war activists and charge members of the Bush team with foul play.

Paradoxically, in 2004 May’s most senior officer of Ghost Troop was Chase Untermeyer, May’s long-time friend, who had served as best man at his wedding. Untermeyer was a former Navy lieutenant and Bush family intimate who later became assistant Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan. He was also the White House transition team leader between the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. The membership of a high-level insider lent credibility to the early stages of May’s black sheep cyber-intelligence unit.

At this time, Ghost Troop had dozens of former military and civilian members. They included Captain John Spooner, an Air Force Korean War veteran; Staff Sergeant Lee Neadow, an Army air cavalry Vietnam Veteran; and Kay Lucas, Director of the Crawford Peace House. All are still active in Ghost Troop, and believe that their collective efforts after the Madrid bombings affected US and world history.

The aggressiveness of America’s national media in blaming Al Qaeda for the Madrid bombings aroused suspicion in Ghost Troop. Initially the Spanish government had blamed the Basque separatist group ETA. The bombings came only four days before national elections, and with the bombings blamed on ETA, political analysts believed that the electorate would favor the anti-terror policies of the party in power. Supposedly these tough policies had reduced ETA to desperation. On the other hand, if Al Qaeda was involved, the Spanish public might perceive this as blow-back for Spain’s involvement with America in the massively unpopular war in Iraq. The deployment of troops had not been approved by Spain’s parliament.

On Feb. 23, 2006, nearly two years later, May took part in a two-hour radio interview with Frank Whalen on the Republic Broadcasting Network, in which May reflected on the Ghost Troop mission of March, 2004.

“The election backfired,” May said. “The Spanish people said, `Well look, you screwed up so badly now we are getting attacked.’ So they voted the left party in. And exactly at that point the Spanish government changed its story and said, `Yes, you know, come to think of it, now that it doesn’t matter for the elections any more, it was Al Qaeda.’ And then they go out and blow up five guys in an apartment building and say, `You see, it was Al Qaeda, and we killed them .No need to ask any more questions. Case closed and story done.’”

A couple of months before the Madrid bombings, May had met Captain Jeff Cross, a former Marine who had been only a few blocks away from the World Trade Center at the time of the 9/11 attacks. He was then an active duty officer, and his observations differed considerably from the official story. He had tried to tell investigators and reporters that there were unexamined contradictions, but rather than encourage him, they warned him to remain silent. Joining Ghost Troop as executive officer in January 2004, by the time of the Madrid bombings Cross had nearly persuaded May that 9/11 was an inside job.Madrid was the last straw,” May said, “and it removed any remaining doubts about 9/11 for me.”

After Madrid, May’s intelligence background told him that the Bush team would be the major beneficiary of a false flag nuclear strike on American soil, and that his worst-case Houston Chronicle analysis of Houston as the most likely target was becoming more and more likely. Only it wouldn’t be Al Qaeda doing the attack, it would be the Bush administration.

Another 9/11-style attack would give Americans a “booster shot” of fear needed to keep them supportive of America’s flagging Middle Eastern military adventures for what military insiders admitted was “OIL” (Oil, Israel, and Logistics). It would boost Republican candidates in the upcoming 2004 national elections. It would justify a martial law clamp down on growing domestic dissent against the war, and growing suspicion that 9/11 was an inside job. Finally, it would provide quick profits for any Bush insiders who might want to play oil market futures.

On March 13, two days after Madrid, May issued a city-wide prediction of a March 31, 2004 false flag terror attack on a petrochemical target in the Houston area, in line with his Houston Chronicle op-ed. At the same time, he began making regular contact with the FBI, the Secret Service, and local police.

On March 21 an Associated Press story, Claims made about al-Qaeda, ‘smart briefcase bombs’, stated: “Osama bin Laden’s terror network claims to have bought ready-made nuclear weapons on the black market in central Asia, the biographer of al-Qaeda’s No. 2 leader was quoted as telling an Australian television station.” The next day Israel assassinated Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and media reported that Al Qaeda had vowed revenge against the United States.

May found that he was getting nowhere with national agencies and local police, whose reactions became increasingly hostile as the media picture of a looming nuclear terror attack became more vivid.

“Eventually, on March 23, Special Agent Robert Stult of the Houston FBI said `Shut up, or we are going to prosecute you,’” May said, “and of course my reply to them was “Shut up!? I am an MI — an intelligence officer giving you good intel. If you are trying to shut it up, whose side are you on?”

On March 23, May contacted an old media colleague, Tara Howard of KTRH (740 AM, Clear Channel Radio). After an hour-long conversation she was alarmed enough to bypass the Houston FBI and call FBI national headquarters. On March 25 the FBI issued a Gulf Coast terror alert, conspicuous in its parallels to May’s false flag scenario, warning that the Texas oil industry might be a terror target. They did not cite May, but instead claimed that it had no specific, corroborated details about any potential threats. The next day, the FBI held a secret emergency press conference with local media and police. May was not invited.

May believes that the ultimate mission of the FBI and Homeland Security in the Houston area was to support a Bush administration false flag attack, then pin the blame on what he calls “Al CIA-duh.”

On March 30 the British Petroleum refinery in Texas City, Texas exploded. Texas City is a petro suburb of Houston, and the event confirmed May’s target and time to within 24 miles and 24 hours. Gasoline futures on the stock market jumped to historic highs and currency markets became unnerved. A Reuters article, Fire Strikes Third Largest U.S. Refinery, quoted a BP spokesman, who said that the cause of the fire, which began as an explosion in the gas-producing unit, did not appear to have been caused intentionally. Intelligence insiders didn’t believe the BP official story, though.

“My local police contacts told me that the FBI went down and shut down the scene for the next week with Homeland Security and would not let anyone close,” May said. Local police forces remained on full alert after the 30th, fearing that something worse might take place on the 31st.

Assuming that May’s prediction was correct, why did a conventional explosion rather than a nuke occur on March 30? May’s response to this is what he calls the cockroach theory:

“When Ghost Troop shines a public spotlight on a potential target, potential conspirators get very nervous, like exposed cockroaches,” he said.

He explained that they do not know how much he knows, or how much of what he has published the public believes. They do not know who might be tipping him off, or who could be getting alerted among their associates or members of their chain of command. Fearing that they might get caught in high treason, they may get nervous and abort their false flag operation.

“However, rather than abort completely, the conspirators probably feel a need to at least do something to show potency,” said May. “They also need to pay off fellow members of their rat packs who benefit from inside information. This keeps the accomplices on board and reduces the likelihood that they will snitch.”

May says that one must look at potential targets when considering false flag scenarios, especially “white elephants.” He noted that in the case of the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, there is the insider profit angle. The towers were functionally obsolescent, under-tenanted, and had major problems with asbestos.

Similarly, the British Petroleum refinery in Texas City sits on one of the most environmentally contaminated sites in the world. Many refineries are decades old and need replacement, says May. According to one press report, BP self-insures below $300 million. Experts estimate that needed improvements to the BP refinery will cost over $1 billion.

“Therefore, a nuke might just do the trick to lay off environmental contamination liability onto ‘terrorists,’” said May. “Once a refinery site is hit with a disaster large enough to qualify for Federal aid or insurance coverage, it might also be able to circumvent enough red tape to fairly quickly build a fully modernized facility.”

Another tip-off, according to May, is when the message of “Al Qaeda terrorists” gets blasted through the mainstream media. This provides a patsy in advance, one that the public is trained to believe deserves the blame. May also notes that arsonists like to burn their own homes and businesses, and a similar pattern was involved in the attacks on the World Trade Center towers and Pentagon. The same could also hold true for Houston, largely controlled by the oil industry and the Bushes.

May says that, quite by accident, he became aware of similarities in the numbers in the dates of terror events, so he began studying numerological codes, like those used by the powerful and secretive Skull and Bones fraternity of George W. Bush, father George H.W. Bush, and John Kerry.

“These types of patterns have been involved in many historical terror strikes,” said May. “The numbers 3, 9 and 11 have been favorites. Between the 9/11/2001 U.S. attacks to the 3/11/2004 Madrid attacks, there was a highly suspicious interval of 911 days,” he explained, “and any good intelligence officer would have picked up the signs of a code.”

“Between 9-11-2001 and 3-30-2004 there were 930 days — another most interesting coincidence. Finally, 3-11 (if you multiply the two numbers) equals 33, which is the number you get from the 3-30 date code for the Texas City attack. Madrid on 3-11 was the single biggest factor, setting up the Texas City attack for 3-30, and the numeric code bears that out.” May further explained that zeros and punctuation marks are omitted when breaking the date codes.

In addition, May says that he finds it interesting that a certain verbal parallelism applies to targets of major terrorist strikes in America:

“To date, these strikes have focused on sites whose names mirror their states or adjacent place names. Examples include Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and New York City, New York. Texas City, Texas fits this pattern. I believe that Sears Tower is another false flag target, and it’s on the Chicago River, Chicago, with the zip code of 60606, or 666.”

May suggests that in a false flag scenario, one necessity is political and media control within the target area.

“The Bush cabal has quite a few heavy hitters with extensive political influence in the Houston area, such as father George H.W. Bush, James Baker, former Secretary of State, and Dick Cheney, former CEO of Halliburton. The Houston media has also been a big booster for the Bush team and its oil wars.”

The importance of national media propaganda is paramount, says May

“They have to put the public in a receptive frame of mind to the act they are going to help the government commit. You could call it like seduction. They have to tranquilize us. That’s the whole idea. If you get into their decision cycle, if you put information out that blows their scenario, they are impotent. They can’t do it because it doesn’t look like random Al Qaeda terror any more, does it? Instead it looks like a government operation.”

The movie Independence Day, released by Fox in July 1996, or five years before 9-11, has eerily prescient themes. A fighter-pilot president has to repel alien terror strikes that include blowing up two towering skyscrapers and a Washington, D.C. iconic target on the first day of the movie’s three-day storyline. On the second day, the president has to use a nuke in the Houston area.

“Remember that the movie had its own box office code,” May explained, “which was ‘ID-4’ — which was a way of staying in code ‘this movie will be an identification for (ID-4) the pending global war plan, which started on 9/11 prediction date.”

Fox television aired the movie nationwide in prime time less than a week before May’s 3/31 prediction date.

“They were setting the public up for what was coming,” he said.

May believes that the same globalist powers that control Hollywood also control the news media and politicians who set up and carry out false flag schemes. They design certain movies to help propagandize the American public.

“For instance, the remake of The Alamo was scheduled for release just after the Texas City BP refinery explosion. It had a subliminal racial suggestion: that dark-skinned Mexicans in The Alamo were like Arab terrorists,” May said, noting that at the end of the movie the Texans massacre the Mexicans at the San Jacinto Battleground, which is inside the Houston metro area, and only miles from Texas City.

“Ghost Troop’s intel network runs deep and has proved accurate,” says May, who moved his family from their home in Houston 30 miles north just days before the Texas City explosion.

Realizing that his interference with what he considered a false flag attempt could result in an effort to “eliminate” him, May went underground for a month afterward. Three months later, in July 2004, he tried to apply for political asylum in Canada, but was refused.

A couple of months after the explosion, Ghost Troop officer Chase Untermeyer was selected by the Bush administration to become ambassador to Qatar. May believes that Untermeyer was removed to keep him from involvement with future Ghost Troop missions.

May’s theory that the Texas City explosion was due to an aborted nuclear conspiracy is still based upon circumstantial evidence and conjecture, not hard witness testimony or declassified documents. Still, May thinks it is much better to err on the side of excessive suspicion of government malfeasance to prevent a nuclear false flag event than to find out after the fact of a nuclear blast that complacency allowed it to happen.

He offers the same challenge to all critics of the Ghost Troop mission to save Texas City:

“There might be one or two explosions like that of March 30, 2004, in the Houston area every year,” he said, “and that makes for long odds indeed against anybody making a random pick within one day of one of those events. I bet all my credibility and contacts on our Ghost Troop prediction — and events proved us right.”

According to an October 2006 New York Times/CBS poll, 53 percent of American adults think the Bush administration is hiding something about 9/11. With public suspicion so high, May considers it less dangerous to speak out today compared to early 2004.

The Internet continues to put the Bush Administration on the defensive, despite its desperate efforts to escalate its Middle Eastern military adventurism into new countries such as Iran and Pakistan.

“By openly addressing the possibility of more false flag events, we can continue to keep the Bush Team on the defensive and, hopefully, avoid the depth of evil that would accompany more false flag terror,” said May.

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Postscript, March 30, 2012:  This article was originally published as Thwarting Nuclear Terror in Texas in The Lone Star Iconoclast on October 8, 2007. Ten days later May issued a national red alert, warning of a false flag petrochemical event in the Houston area; four hours afterward, Dow Chemical, in nearby Port Arthur, exploded. Pacifica journalist Theresa Mitchell broadcast the story in her Presswatch program as It pays to monitor terror exercises. Based on this and many other correct Ghost Troop alerts, The Iconoclast would later publish Time To Investigate Houston Is Now and Captain Eric H. May Deserves Medal of Honor.

William B. Fox is a former Marine Corps Major with experience in logistics, public affairs, and military intelligence. He is a second year honors graduate of the Harvard Business School and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from the University of Southern California.