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Video - Michael Caputo: "The funny thing is... I was sent in 1994 to Russia by the Clinton administration to get involved in THEIR elections!"

https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/886027423074197508

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

Getting beat up in other threads, time to start another one, eh?

I don't think you get that, at least in theory, we're on the US side here.

So we're concerned with US law, US sovereignty.

See how that works?

Are you a citizen?

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

He's not gonna understand the reference.

Better get him Austin Powers.

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

Felchgoblin socks, eh?

So much for any knowledge of US history, heroic pilots, or US/Russian intelligence crises.

Are you sure you're from the US?

Did you sneak in, or overstay your visa?

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

So now history is "insane spew."

FFS. What a moron.

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

Yep.



Gary Powers – was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)[1] U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 incident.

U-2 pilots flew espionage missions at altitudes above 70,000 feet (21 km),[5][6][7] above the reach of Soviet air defenses.[8] The U-2 was equipped with a state-of-the-art camera[8] designed to take high-resolution photos from the edge of the stratosphere over hostile countries, including the Soviet Union. U-2 missions systematically photographed military installations and other important sites.[3]:41

"The primary mission of the U-2s was overflying Russia. The border surveillance and atomic sampling, though vital, were secondary." Additionally, the U-2 flew "special missions". "If there was a trouble spot in the Middle East, the U-2s observed it." Beginning on September 27, 1956 and continuing until 1960, "the United States was spying not only on most of the countries in the Middle East but also on her own allies."[3]:260–263

Soviet intelligence had been aware of encroaching U-2 flights at least since 1958 if not sooner[3]:47,59 but lacked effective countermeasures until 1960.[9] On May 1, 1960, Powers' U-2A, 56-6693, departed from a military airbase in Peshawar, Pakistan,[3]:53 with support from the U.S. Air Station at Badaber (Peshawar Air Station). This was to be the first attempt "to fly all the way across the Soviet Union...but it was considered worth the gamble. The planned route would take us deeper into Russia than we had ever gone, while traversing important targets never before photographed."[3]:53–54

Powers was shot down by an S-75 Dvina (SA-2 Guideline) surface-to-air missile[10] over Sverdlovsk. A total of fourteen were launched,[11] one of which hit a MiG-19 jet fighter which was sent to intercept the U-2 but could not reach a high enough altitude. Its pilot, Sergei Safronov, ejected but died of his injuries. Another Soviet aircraft, a newly manufactured Su-9 in transit flight, also attempted to intercept Powers' U-2. The unarmed Su-9 was directed to ram the U-2 but missed because of the large differences in speed (the Su-9 flew above Mach 1.1, while the U-2 flew at approximately Mach 0.6).

The first of three SA-2 Guideline (S-75 Dvina) surface-to-air missiles launched at the U-2 near Kosulino in the Ural Region impacted the aircraft. "What was left of the plane began spinning, only upside down, the nose pointing upward toward the sky, the tail down toward the ground." Powers was unable to activate the plane's self-destruct mechanism before he was thrown out of the plane after releasing the canopy and his seat belt. While descending under his parachute, Powers had time to scatter his escape map, and rid himself of part of his suicide device, a silver dollar coin suspended around his neck containing a poison-laced injection pin, though he kept the poison pin.[12] "Yet I was still hopeful of escape." He hit the ground hard, was immediately captured, and taken to Lubyanka Prison in Moscow.[3]:61–63,67–71,76 Powers did note a second chute after landing on the ground, "some distance away and very high, a lone red and white parachute".[3]:69,148–149,274,278[13]:159–160

When the U.S. government learned of Powers' disappearance over the Soviet Union, they issued a cover statement claiming a "weather plane" had strayed off course after its pilot had "difficulties with his oxygen equipment". What CIA officials did not realize was that the plane crashed almost fully intact, and the Soviets recovered its equipment.

The incident set back talks between Khrushchev and Eisenhower. Powers' interrogations ended on June 30, and his solitary confinement on July 9. On August 17, 1960, his trial for espionage began before the military division of the Supreme Court of the USSR. Three generals, Lieutenant General Borisoglebsky, Major General Vorobyev, and Major General Zakharov presided. Roman Rudenko acted as prosecutor in his capacity of Procurator General of the Soviet Union. Mikhail I. Grinev served as Powers' defense counsel. In attendance were Gary's parents and sister, as well as Barbara and her mother. Gary's father brought along his local attorney, Carl McAfee, while the CIA provided two additional attorneys.[3]:110,114,119,120,142–143,148,157–158,162,188,220

On August 19, 1960, Powers was convicted of espionage, "a grave crime covered by Article 2 of the Soviet Union's law 'On Criminality Responsibility for State Crimes'". His sentence consisted of ten years confinement, three of which were to be in a prison, with the remainder in a labor camp. The US Embassy "News Bulletin" stated, according to Powers, "as far as the government was concerned, I had acted in accordance with the instructions given me and would receive my full salary while imprisoned".[3]:157–161

He was held in Vladimir Central Prison, about 150 miles (240 km) east of Moscow, in building number 2 from September 9, 1960 until February 8, 1962.

On February 10, 1962, Powers was exchanged, along with American student Frederic Pryor, in a well-publicized spy swap at the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin. The exchange was for Soviet KGB Colonel Vilyam Fisher, known as "Rudolf Abel", who had been caught by the FBI and tried and jailed for espionage.[15] Powers credited his father with the swap idea. When released, Powers' total time in captivity was 1 year, 9 months and 10 days.[3]:237–24

On March 6, 1962, Powers appeared before a Senate Armed Services Select Committee hearing chaired by Senator Richard Russell and including Senators Prescott Bush, Leverett Saltonstall, Robert Byrd, Margaret Chase Smith, John Stennis, Strom Thurmond, and Barry Goldwater, Sr. During the hearing, Senator Saltonstall stated, "I commend you as a courageous, fine young American citizen who lived up to your instructions and who did the best you could under very difficult circumstances." While Senator Bush declared, "I am satisfied he has conducted himself in exemplary fashion and in accordance with the highest traditions of service to one's country, and I congratulate him upon his conduct in captivity..." Finally, Senator Goldwater sent Powers a handwritten note stating, "You did a good job for your country."[3]:264,270–280

Powers received the CIA's Intelligence Star in 1965 after his return from the Soviet Union. On June 15, 2012, Powers was posthumously awarded the Silver Star medal for "demonstrating 'exceptional loyalty' while enduring harsh interrogation in the Lubyanka Prison in Moscow for almost two years."[24] Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz presented the decoration to Powers's grandchildren, Trey Powers, 9, and Lindsey Berry, 29, in a Pentagon ceremony.[25][26]

quote:

ORIGINAL: Musicmystery
I don't think you get that, at least in theory, we're on the US side here.
So we're concerned with US law, US sovereignty.
See how that works?