Scientology: ‘A
State within All States’ (Frankfurter AllgemeineZeitung, Germany)
“It is amazing
to see how far-reaching the sect's power is. In France, Scientology’s Office of
Special Affairs was able to place a bodyguard and elite agent in the immediate
vicinity of former President Mitterrand. In Greece, its influence must be
interpreted as an attack on the state. It is no different in Russia,
considering that the ‘Church,’ with it ‘Centers for Dianetics,’
has placed particular emphasis on defense contractors and secret nuclear installations.
In the U.S. … Scientology has broken through any resistance
and has long-since secured the support of leading figures in the entertainment
industry and - above all - in the highest political circles, including the
State Department.”
This week, actor Katie Holmes filed for divorce from here husband Tom Cruise, and according to the Web site TMZ, Holmes did so out of concern over Cruise's ties to Scientology, 'fearing that Tom would drag Suri (their daughter) deep into the church.'
The Office of Special
Affairs is to Scientology "what the Stasi was to the German
Democratic Republic," says CSU politician and former Bavarian Prime
Minister GüntherBeckstein. Anyone who
sees the documentary by Frank Nordhausen and Markus Thöss, which airs today on Channel One, will realize how
this is not an exaggeration [watch subtitled video below]. For the Office of Special
Affairs - OSA for short - operates worldwide, has an
annual budget of perhaps $1 billion - according to one former Scientologist -
and employs all possible means for combating critics, bringing about global
domination, and convincing followers of L. Ron Hubbard's crude
doctrine. Attacks on life and limb are becoming more commonplace, says one former
cult member who spoke with the two Southwest Broadcasting (Südwest-Rundfunk) documentarians on camera.
Posted
by Worldmeets.US
Frank Nordhausen and Markus Thöss have thoroughly researched their topic. Their journey
takes them from Germany to France, Greece, Russia, and of course the United
States - to Hollywood and to the once-tranquil town of Clearwater, Florida,
where Scientologists are now calling the shots. It is amazing to see how far-reaching
the sect's power is. In France, the OSA was able to
place a bodyguard and elite agent (code name "F-10") in the immediate
vicinity of former President Mitterrand. In Greece, Scientology's influence
must be interpreted as an attack on the state. It is no different in Russia,
considering that the "Church," with it "Centers for Dianetics,” has placed particular emphasis on defense
contractors and secret nuclear installations. In the United States, on the
other hand, as is shown by Nordhausen and Thöss, Scientology has broken through any resistance and
(this is known) has long-since secured the support of leading figures in the
entertainment industry (Tom Cruise, John Travolta) and - above all - in the
highest political circles, including the State Department.
Punishment for offenders
Once the Internal Revenue Service recognized the "Church" as
a charitable institution and awarded it tax-free status, the struggle of Scientology
in America was as good as won. This state within the state could develop
unhindered. Since then, U.S. diplomatic missions in other nations even act like
allies of Scientology. For example, The U.S.
Consulate General in Hamburg, where in 2010 the city senate decided to
effectively close Ursula Caberta's Scientology Task Force. The Southwest
Broadcasting documentarians would have liked to interview the CDU politician, former mayor and erstwhile state Minister
of the Interior for the City of Hamburg ChristophAhlhaus on the subject, but he, was unavailable for
an interview.
Nordhausen and Thöss
received no information on the work of the OSA from
the Church of Scientology, despite dozens of inquiries and lists of questions presented.
In particular, the international spokesman for Scientology Tommy Davis, upon
whose heels the documentarians traveled, can never be reached. Former OSA chief Mike Rinder suspects
that spokesman Davis may have fallen into disfavor with cult leader David Miscavige, and may now be attending a reeducation camp. Rinder found himself in just such a camp after he distanced
himself from the organization and had to, as he says, crawl on his hands and
knees across an artificial lawn until he bled and suffered burns. According to Rinder, this is the punishment for offenders who "haven’t
been confessing what they are supposed to confess."
A kind of ‘Nazi-environment’
Nordhausen and Thöss
learned the hard way how much effort is expended and to what lengths the Office
of Special Affairs will go in pursuing critics of Scientology. Their every move
is under surveillance – and at one point there was a scuffle with an OSA tail [surveillant]. In the United
States, police quickly appear and ask the reporters to pack their bags. A
German surveillant reports how, at the behest of the
cult, he shadowed, monitored and rummaged through the garbage of an attorney
who represented victims of Scientology for months. Around the world, the OSA, we hear again and again, tries to uncover everything
it can about critics of Scientology. Employees are trained in psychological
warfare - learning to lie convincingly, stalk a person past their breaking
point, and drive critics of Scientology to financial and personal ruin.
Young American musician TizianoLugli was under around-the-clock surveillance by
approximately 70 OSA people.Lugli grew up the
child of Scientologists and his knowledge makes him a particular threat to the
cult - a "suppressor," as critics are called in Scientology jargon. Today
Lugli describes the cult as a "kind of Nazi
environment." He has mounted a counter-attack: he is filming his surveillants and makes films about them available on the Internet.
According to the documentary, the Church of Scientology in Clearwater once held
a large event for the sole purpose of having John Travolta ask the wife of a
judge, who had been very critical of Scientology, to dance. The hope was that
the judge, swayed by Hollywood charm, would reconsider his opinions. The plan supposedly
worked.
In the documentary, Bavarian Minister of the Interior
Joachim Hermann says that some have a tendency to underestimate the danger that
Scientology represents. Under no circumstances will anyone who watches the
piece by Frank Nordhausen and Markus Thöss continue to underestimate the cult and its Office of Special Affairs.
The Spies of Scientology: The Cult's
Secret Service the OSA will air on June 26 at
10.45 pm on Channel One (German television)
