The Unbelievable with Dan Aykroyd - Season 3 Episode 03- Shocking Missions
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00:00Viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.
00:09Imagine trying to blast a dictator out of hiding using heavy metal music.
00:15The priests and nuns of the embassy, they can't take it. They want Noriega out of there.
00:22They beg the U.S. military to turn off this racket. Even the Pope gets involved.
00:30Or declaring war on emus.
00:34The emu is not a dumb bird. They split up and they start running in multiple directions.
00:39Some of them take fire and keep going. It's just so mind-boggling.
00:44How about defeating a squad of guerrilla fighters with vampires?
00:48Lansdale has this idea of really learning the enemy and finding out about the superstitions that are popular in this culture.
00:57Instead of having a direct military confrontation, they're going to use psychological operations.
01:03These are the missions so shocking, they are truly unbelievable.
01:07During the Cold War, there seems to be no limit to how far the U.S. will go to fight communism.
01:25But once you turn cats into super spies or capture the enemy using weaponized dolphins, what's next?
01:34It's the 1950s and somewhere deep inside Langley, the CIA's headquarters, the brain trust is hatching a plan.
01:42What better way to challenge the masculine, aggressive Soviet empire than to hit them where it hurts?
01:50The plan is as crazy as it is simple.
01:54What they're going to do is take extra, extra large condoms that are clearly stamped, made in America,
02:00and they're going to re-stamp them as size small.
02:03Then they're going to drop them over Soviet territory.
02:07The idea is upon discovering these American small condoms, they will see an extra, extra large,
02:14and they'll say, that's an American small? Uh-oh.
02:18And it will break the Soviet fighting man's spirit, knowing that they are not as well endowed as the U.S. of A.
02:24Overall, the idea is actually not too bad. It's cheap, it's easy to execute.
02:30This actually seems like a pretty good plan.
02:35Reportedly, the CIA is on the cusp of launching this mission when it finds its way to the ears of some of the higher-ups,
02:42and they hit the brakes on this. They pull the plug.
02:45This just seems a little too bonkers, a little too crazy, and Operation Condom Drop is quickly put on the shelf.
02:52While this mission never actually gets up and running,
02:58the CIA does something even stranger to scare the hell out of communists in Southeast Asia.
03:04The Philippines has a somewhat complicated history with the United States.
03:09From 1898 to 1941, it's an American territory.
03:14But during World War II, Japan invades,
03:18and they occupy the Philippines.
03:21In the aftermath of the Second World War, the country exists as a free, democratic republic.
03:27But the United States has influence there because the United States has interests there.
03:32Even though America claimed to give the Philippines its independence,
03:37they were still controlling the resources of the country.
03:39The United States, through the Central Intelligence Agency,
03:42is attempting to influence Philippine elections to ensure that they elect the right people.
03:48And the right people means not communist.
03:50But not everyone is happy about this arrangement.
03:53And by 1950, all hell is breaking loose.
03:56There is a guerrilla group, the Hukbalahap, and they have an agenda.
04:02They want to create a self-sufficient Philippines with no external influence.
04:08But they need to create a fighting force.
04:12The Hukes start working their way through the country,
04:14going to villages to recruit people, saying,
04:17you can either join us or we will kill you.
04:19So naturally, most people join up.
04:23And this method is working quite well,
04:25because by 1950, there are 70,000 Huked revolutionaries that are willing to take up arms,
04:31and they're going to take over the central government in Manila.
04:34Fearing the Philippines will turn communist, the U.S. decides to intervene.
04:39The man who oversees this operation for the CIA is named Edward Lansdale,
04:44and he's an advertising guy.
04:46And he starts to think about creative, outside-the-box ways that they can maybe solve this problem.
04:52Instead of having a direct military confrontation,
04:56they're going to use psychological operations.
04:58Lansdale has this idea of really learning the enemy
05:02and finding out about the superstitions that are popular in this culture.
05:07During their research, Lansdale and his men come across a being known as the Aswang Vampire.
05:13The Aswang Vampire presents itself as a beautiful woman with wings
05:19and a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth.
05:23And she lives in the forest, among the people where she can strike and get you.
05:29In the early 1950s, the U.S. brings this legend to life,
05:34and Project Aswang officially kicks off.
05:37Just outside of a small village, there are 300 Huk fighters that have started an encampment
05:43with a mission to convince and persuade these villagers to join their cause.
05:49This gives the CIA the opportunity to implement their plan.
05:52They start spreading the rumor among the villages around this concentration of Huk fighters
05:57that there is an Aswang nearby in the forest.
06:01And they know that as the rumor spreads through the villages,
06:06it's also going to spread to the Huk fighters.
06:10A few days later, once Lansdale feels that the rumor has spread enough amongst the Hukes,
06:16it's time for him to strike.
06:18CIA operatives begin stalking a Huk patrol in the dark forest.
06:23As the Hukes are moving along a trail, the CIA operatives quietly wait for them to pass.
06:30As the last man in the patrol passes by, one of the operatives sneaks up behind him,
06:36snatches him off the trail, and into the bushes.
06:39They end up killing this fighter, and they puncture two holes in his neck.
06:47And then they hang him by his feet from a tree, and the blood in his body drains out via these two holes.
06:56When his comrades come looking for him, what they find is someone who, to all appearances,
07:03has been killed by an Aswang vampire.
07:07Once the rest of the squad gets wind of this, all 300 fighters flee.
07:11But then, there's an even bigger, unexpected outcome.
07:16The villagers themselves feel like if the Aswang is targeting Huk fighters,
07:22the last thing I want to do is join the Huk.
07:24And eventually, without the support of the villagers, the Huk dissolves away.
07:32Definitely an effective strategy,
07:35but sometimes achieving a mission means getting a little more down and dirty.
07:41British spies are often considered the best of the best,
07:47and the creme de la creme are known as MI6.
07:50And during the Cold War, MI6 is really at its peak.
07:54Alongside NATO forces, MI6 launches a secret mission
07:58to gather information from Soviet-controlled East Germany,
08:02called Operation Tamarisk.
08:05It's not what you picture when you imagine a conventional espionage operation
08:09where an agent is slipping into an office building at night
08:13and secretly using one of those little tiny spy cameras
08:16to photograph vitally important documents.
08:18That's not what happens in Tamarisk.
08:20To steal intelligence, MI6 exploits the struggling East German economy,
08:25especially a shortage in one vital consumer product.
08:29The Soviets are in an arms race with the United States.
08:32This is a very expensive arms race,
08:34and the last thing they want to spend money on are household items,
08:38including toilet paper.
08:39Thanks to this, even soldiers are forced to improvise when nature calls.
08:44They start to realize that they're literally using any type of paper
08:48they can get their hands on.
08:49Now, sometimes this could mean letters from home,
08:51it could mean receipts for supplies,
08:53but then sometimes it might also be classified documents.
08:58Word spreads quickly,
09:00and the race is on to discover the communists' dirty secrets.
09:03In one mission, you have two British spies
09:06who are hiding out near a firing range
09:09where the Soviet soldiers are practicing.
09:12They wait for the soldiers to finish up and then take off.
09:16The two operatives then move in,
09:18and they go through the septic system.
09:20These British spies show a whole new level of dedication.
09:23They have to sort through all the muck, soil, and everything else
09:27in order to find documents.
09:29They find a lot of what you would expect to be in there,
09:32but they also find the paper
09:33that the troops had been using to wipe themselves.
09:36The agents take these papers back to an office
09:39to be cleansed, reassembled, and analyzed.
09:42What they find is a treasure trove.
09:45There are cipher code translations.
09:47There are reports on troop morale.
09:49You've even got detailed instructions on troop movements.
09:55The mission is so successful, MI-6 doubles down
09:57and sends spies to an abandoned Soviet military encampment
10:01at Neustrelitz.
10:02These two MI-6 spies start digging their way through the latrine,
10:06and what they come across is an entire military log.
10:11It contains valuable information
10:13about the latest Russian tanks in service
10:15and incredibly includes a report on the weak points
10:19inherent in those tanks.
10:21Thanks to this unlikely intelligence source,
10:23the British create a tank-busting missile
10:25that is still in use today.
10:27But even the strangest missions have an expiration date.
10:32Operation Tamaris cannot last forever.
10:34As the 80s go on,
10:36the Russians are able to solve some of their economic problems,
10:39the soldiers get some comfy toilet paper,
10:41and no longer do British spies have to crawl
10:43into Soviet latrines.
10:48As crazy as stealing secrets from Soviet toilets might sound,
10:52Operation Tamarisq goes down
10:54as the single most effective intelligence operation
10:57throughout the entire Cold War.
11:01In ancient Egypt,
11:03cats are the embodiment of all things sacred,
11:05bringing good luck to all they come across.
11:071,700 years later,
11:10one pope disagrees and takes action.
11:15It's the 13th century,
11:17and from 1227 until 1241,
11:21Pope Gregory IX is the ultimate religious leader
11:24of the Western world.
11:26He's the head of the Catholic Church.
11:28His word is infallible.
11:30No one is closer to God than Pope Gregory.
11:33And Pope Gregory is most definitely not a cat person.
11:38In fact,
11:39he believes that cats
11:41are the reincarnation of Satan himself.
11:45Just where does the pope's strong opinion come from?
11:49Conrad von Marburg
11:50is Gregory IX's papal inquisitor,
11:54and his task is to extract confessions
11:57and punish heretics.
11:59Through the course of these torture interrogations,
12:04Conrad unearths a satanic cult in Mainz, Germany
12:08that worships a half-Lucifer,
12:11half-hat-like devil being.
12:14They conduct a black mass in a satanic church
12:17around a statue of a giant cat
12:22who after a while comes to life
12:25and the followers go around
12:29and kiss the cat on the butt.
12:33And then they have a giant orgy.
12:37Once Pope Gregory learns about this satanic cat cult,
12:40he issues an official decree in 1233
12:42condemning all cats to hell.
12:45Some people take this directive
12:48to mean that cats should be destroyed.
12:53Priests and peasants alike
12:54are enlisted in this shocking mission,
12:56and the great cat hunt begins.
13:00Entire communities go on these brutal hunts
13:03to find cats,
13:05and when they catch them,
13:06they burn them alive
13:07or they toss them off of tall buildings.
13:10It's not just our furry friends being slaughtered.
13:13People who are harboring cats
13:15are branded Satan-worshipping cat lovers,
13:19and they too are subjected to torture
13:21and even death
13:23simply for refusing to kill the cats.
13:27Pope Gregory's cat-killing mission
13:28goes on for decades,
13:30but it's the cats who ultimately get the last meow.
13:33Around a century after Pope Gregory's war on cats,
13:37the bubonic plague rages through Europe,
13:41killing 25 million.
13:43And the culprit?
13:44Rats.
13:47But you know who's particularly effective
13:49at catching rats?
13:52These cats that have been so mercilessly hunted,
13:56so cats begin falling back into favor.
14:00Lucky for all us feline lovers,
14:02cats make a triumphant comeback.
14:04Today, there are an estimated
14:05600 million cats on the planet,
14:07and I'm sure only some of them are evil.
14:11Unbelievably, 700 years later,
14:14another war is declared on a different animal,
14:16this time Down Under.
14:18It's just after World War I,
14:22and the Australian government decides to do something
14:25really special for Australian fighters
14:27that come home from the war.
14:28They give the soldiers a plot of land to become farmers,
14:32and the 1920s are a great decade for that.
14:36Soon, these veterans-turned-farmers are thriving,
14:39until an unexpected arrival swoops in.
14:42The emu is a flightless bird.
14:44They're six feet tall, about 120 pounds.
14:48They're really fat.
14:50They're also really hungry.
14:53Australia's 20,000 emus begin feasting
14:55on the thriving new farmlands,
14:57causing millions of dollars in lost crops.
15:00If you're a farmer, typically what you might do
15:02is you might take your claim to the agriculture department.
15:05But these aren't only farmers, they're veterans.
15:07So they decide to go to the Ministry of Defense.
15:12The farmers meet with George Pierce,
15:13and their plan is to create an army of well-armed men
15:17to go out and significantly deplete the emu population.
15:21This doesn't exactly sit well with the government,
15:24who reminds them that the emu is Australia's national bird.
15:29But Pierce is adamant, and he says,
15:30no, no, no, no, I have a plan.
15:32We're going to use machine guns,
15:33because that'll make the death quick and painless.
15:36And on top of that, this will be seen as a good act
15:39to aid the veterans that fought in World War I.
15:43Apparently, Pierce makes a strong case,
15:46because Parliament gets on board
15:48and officially declares war on emus in 1932.
15:52The program gets off to a roaring start
15:57when an Australian artillery officer by the name of GPW Meredith
16:01goes out into an area called Campion
16:03for the purposes of exterminating the emu population there.
16:07With a herd of about 100 emus in their sights,
16:10they begin firing.
16:11Then the emus do something they're very good at.
16:17The emu is not a dumb bird.
16:19They're smart, and they split up,
16:20and they start running in multiple directions
16:22in smaller groups at 40 miles an hour.
16:27These emu are pretty freaking hard to hit.
16:30They blast into a pack of 100, they hit five.
16:33A handful of emus sadly do get shot,
16:35but some of them take fire and keep going.
16:38It's just so mind-boggling
16:40that Major Meredith compares these emus to tanks.
16:44After the emus outsmart them at Campion,
16:47the army works on a different approach.
16:50They're going to mount the Lewis machine gun
16:52on the back of a jeep
16:54so they can travel at the same speed as the emu
16:58and fire from the back.
17:00Problem with this.
17:02It is rough terrain.
17:04So the jeep is just bouncing up and down the whole way.
17:07Bullets fly everywhere.
17:09Emus are just like, that's stupid.
17:10Then they scatter once again.
17:12And again, the outcome is the same.
17:15Mission failure.
17:17It's now emus to Aussies nil.
17:20But the soldiers aren't ready to give up.
17:23Now, Major Meredith and his men
17:25think they've got these emus figured out.
17:27They know the guerrilla tactics of these emus.
17:29They know how they run.
17:30They know where they rest.
17:31They know what directions they spread in.
17:34And with this information,
17:35they start carrying out these new missions.
17:37And they start to show more success.
17:40Pierce goes back to Parliament three weeks later,
17:42proudly touting that he and his men
17:44have killed almost 1,000 emus.
17:47Parliament just kind of looks at him and goes,
17:49didn't you say there were 20,000 emus
17:52and you've only managed to kill
17:541,000 of them?
17:57They lambast him with insults,
18:00going so far as to even suggest
18:02that maybe metal should be given to the emu?
18:05With an unbelievable amount of ammunition
18:08and manpower wasted,
18:10Parliament ultimately decides
18:12to give the victory to the emus.
18:14And the mission is declared
18:15an unmitigated failure.
18:17After the emus win the war of 1932,
18:20they continue to wreak havoc on farmers
18:22and their crops for years.
18:24That is, until a worthy opponent appears.
18:27Better fencing.
18:28On October 4th, 1957,
18:33the Russians successfully launched
18:35the first satellite into space.
18:37It's called Sputnik 1,
18:39and the United States is not very happy about it.
18:45America at that time
18:46doesn't really like it when Russia
18:48beats us to the punch on anything,
18:50especially when it comes to space
18:51and weaponry.
18:53The biggest fear among U.S. military brass
18:56is that next,
18:57the Soviets will beat America to the moon.
19:01America has to do something
19:03to catch up with the Soviets.
19:04So, NASA turns to the Air Force
19:07and said,
19:07hey, let's work together.
19:09We know it sounds crazy,
19:10but let's just think of every
19:11out-of-the-box idea you can,
19:13and let's get them.
19:14Instead of sending a man to the moon,
19:16the Air Force suggests
19:18something much more unbelievable.
19:21So, the idea from the Air Force
19:23is to blow up
19:24an atomic bomb on the moon.
19:29As crazy as it sounds,
19:32the Air Force actually suggests
19:33that we send a nuclear weapon
19:35to the moon
19:35and create a mushroom cloud
19:38big enough
19:39for everyone to see
19:40all over the world.
19:41The crater that it leaves behind
19:43is going to be ongoing
19:45perpetual evidence
19:46of supremacy.
19:47They want everyone on Earth
19:49to look up at that thing
19:50and know that it is
19:51an American crater.
19:54What they want to do with this
19:56is send a warning sign.
19:58Don't mess with us.
20:00Incredibly, NASA doesn't
20:01immediately shoot down the idea.
20:03In fact, they give it
20:04the green light.
20:06They call this mission
20:07Project A-119,
20:09and they bring together
20:11this team of genius scientists,
20:13including a young graduate student
20:15by the name of Carl Sagan.
20:17They propose using
20:19a W-25 warhead
20:21that has a 1.7 kiloton yield,
20:24and they want to strap it
20:26to a ballistic missile
20:27and shoot it straight up
20:28to the moon.
20:30But before they can push
20:31the launch button
20:32on Project A-119,
20:33the government abruptly
20:34shuts down the mission.
20:37There are concerns
20:38that the weapon might miss fire
20:39and come down somewhere
20:41in the United States,
20:42or worse yet,
20:43come down somewhere
20:43in Russia,
20:45triggering a nuclear response
20:46from the Soviet Union.
20:48And then,
20:49we're in full-scale war.
20:52This mission
20:53was obviously classified,
20:55so for a very long time,
20:57nobody knew how close
20:58we came to detonating
21:00a nuclear warhead
21:01on the moon.
21:01If trying to destroy the moon
21:05to best your enemy
21:05sounds a bit brash,
21:07why not do something
21:08a little more
21:09down-to-earth?
21:11This is the story
21:12of a property-line dispute
21:13and a deadly mission
21:14to have a better view.
21:16On August 18, 1976,
21:21over two decades
21:22after the conclusion
21:23of the Korean War,
21:2415 soldiers
21:25from the United States
21:26and South Korea
21:27enter the demilitarized zone,
21:29the DMZ.
21:30They enter a specific area
21:32of the DMZ
21:33called the JSA,
21:34Joint Security Area.
21:37The JSA is unique
21:38because it's the only space
21:39in the demilitarized zone
21:41where soldiers from the north
21:42and south can intermingle.
21:44In the middle
21:45of this neutral zone
21:46is a sprawling
21:47100-foot poplar tree.
21:50South Korea
21:51and the United States
21:51need clear line of sight
21:53of the DMZ.
21:54North Korea
21:55could try to stage
21:55an invasion
21:56or you could have
21:57a citizen
21:57that's trying to defect.
21:59It's blocking
22:00the view
22:01of this particular area
22:02of the DMZ.
22:04The tree is an obvious
22:05security issue,
22:06so the South Koreans
22:07and NATO
22:08decide to chop it down.
22:09No big deal, right?
22:11As it turns out
22:12to the North Koreans,
22:13it is a big deal
22:14Here come the North Koreans,
22:1630 soldiers
22:17under the command
22:17of Senior Lieutenant
22:18Pak Chul
22:19and he is known
22:20as Lieutenant Bulldog
22:21for his history
22:22of starting fights
22:23and scraps
22:24inside the JSA.
22:25Bulldog tells
22:26the working group
22:27they have to stop.
22:28This is a special tree.
22:29It was planted
22:30by their current leader
22:31Kim Il-sung,
22:32the founder of North Korea.
22:34Lieutenant Bulldog
22:35and his men
22:35pull out crowbars,
22:37clubs, and axes.
22:39The South Koreans
22:39and Americans
22:40think they're bluffing,
22:41so they go ahead
22:42and proceed
22:43to cut down the tree.
22:45It isn't a bluff.
22:46Lieutenant Bulldog
22:47shouts,
22:48chukyu,
22:49or attack.
22:51And the 30 North Koreans
22:53rush the 15 American
22:54and South Korean allies,
22:56and a brutal,
22:58bloody melee begins.
23:00Two U.S. Army officers,
23:02Captain Arthur Boniface
23:03and First Lieutenant Mark Barrett,
23:05are killed in the skirmish.
23:07This is the United States
23:08of America
23:09we're talking about here,
23:10so there has to be
23:11a response.
23:12But it can't be
23:13too much of a response
23:14because now we risk
23:15sparking a full-fledged war.
23:17However,
23:18we can't let North Korea
23:19get away with killing
23:20two U.S. service members.
23:22President Gerald Ford
23:24decides on an appropriate response,
23:26Operation Paul Bunyan.
23:27They're simply going to go
23:28and cut down the poplar tree,
23:30but bring a little security
23:31just in case.
23:3316 U.S.
23:34and South Korean soldiers
23:35return with axes,
23:37and 60 Special Forces soldiers
23:39follow behind them.
23:41They also bring tanks
23:42and seven AH-1
23:44Cobra attack helicopters
23:45that are circling overhead,
23:47ready to strike.
23:49Gerald Ford also makes sure
23:50that there are
23:5110,000 more soldiers
23:53stand in reserve
23:53with 12,000 more on the way.
23:56At that point,
23:57around 150 North Korean soldiers
23:59just stand there in silence,
24:01watching them
24:01from the other side of the bridge.
24:03Most notably,
24:04Lieutenant Bulldog,
24:05nowhere to be found.
24:07About 42 minutes later,
24:09engineers lop off
24:10the top of the tree,
24:11and the whole crowd,
24:13all of the assembled soldiers,
24:14erupt in cheers.
24:15And as each subsequent limb falls,
24:19there's another cheer
24:20from the South Korean
24:21and American side
24:22until all that remains
24:23is a 20-foot stump.
24:25They want to leave this stump
24:26to remind everyone
24:27that there was a tree here
24:29and we got rid of it.
24:31Today, the site of the tree
24:32is marked by a stone memorial
24:33to Captain Boniface
24:34and Lieutenant Barrett.
24:38And that's the story
24:39of how World War III
24:40was almost started
24:42over the chopping down
24:43of a tree.
24:47For thousands of years,
24:48music has been used
24:49as a military tactic.
24:51drums, horns, and singing
24:53have all been implemented
24:54to raise morale
24:55and even intimidate the enemy.
24:58But in Panama,
25:00in 1989,
25:01it gets turned up
25:02to a whole new level.
25:04General Manuel Noriega
25:08is a shady fellow.
25:09Across the 1980s,
25:10he more or less becomes
25:11the de facto dictator
25:12of Panama.
25:14He begins to traffic drugs
25:16via Panama's military
25:17and he amasses
25:19a sizable fortune.
25:22By the late 1980s,
25:24Noriega is beginning
25:26to threaten
25:27the U.S. monopoly
25:29over the Panama Canal.
25:30And the Panama Canal
25:32is the linchpin
25:33to American economic activity
25:36in the hemisphere.
25:37In 1989,
25:39when the country
25:39holds elections,
25:41he rigs the election
25:42and chooses
25:43to remain in power.
25:44This is the last straw
25:46for the United States.
25:48And they demand
25:49that Noriega steps down.
25:52Noriega resists.
25:54And now we have a showdown.
25:57On December 19, 1989,
25:59President George H.W. Bush
26:01orders 26,000 troops
26:03to storm the capital city
26:05and seize the dictator.
26:07The mission is called
26:08Just Cause.
26:09And one of the first things
26:10the troops do
26:11is trying to choke off
26:13Noriega's escape routes.
26:15They seize his Learjet,
26:17seize his boat.
26:18He has nowhere to go.
26:19He's cornered.
26:21That's when the general
26:22pulls a Hail Mary.
26:24Sir, he's a very crafty man
26:25as we found out.
26:26I'm not sure exactly
26:27how it worked.
26:27General Noriega
26:29seeks refuge
26:30in an embassy,
26:32but not just any embassy,
26:33the Vatican's embassy.
26:36The troops can't enter
26:37because the embassy
26:39is part of the Catholic Church
26:41and they are offering
26:41safe haven.
26:43American forces
26:44bang their heads together
26:46and decide on a plan
26:47that is as creative
26:48as it is loud.
26:49American intelligence
26:51knows that he is
26:52a lover of the opera.
26:54And folks who love
26:56the opera
26:56don't usually love
26:58heavy metal.
27:00Operation Just Cause
27:01changes its trajectory.
27:03They roll in a fleet
27:05of Humvees
27:06with giant speakers
27:07mounted to them.
27:08Then they start blaring
27:10rock music
27:11at deafening levels,
27:13attempting to blast
27:14the general out of hiding.
27:15The playlist
27:16is pretty perfect.
27:18It includes hits like
27:19I Fought the Law
27:20by The Clash.
27:22We're Not Gonna Take It
27:23by Twisted Sister
27:24and of course
27:25Panama by Van Halen.
27:28The idea is that
27:29Noriega is going to be
27:30completely unnerved
27:31by all the hardcore
27:32metal screaming
27:34that's coming out
27:34of these songs.
27:35They'll essentially
27:36drive him nuts
27:36and thereby drive him
27:38out of the embassy
27:38and into the waiting hands
27:40of the U.S. military.
27:41After three days,
27:43Noriega is not budging,
27:45but there's a
27:46second order effect
27:48on the priests
27:49and nuns
27:50of the embassy.
27:51They can't take it.
27:53They want Noriega
27:54out of there.
27:56They beg
27:56the U.S. military
27:58to turn off
27:59this racket.
28:00Even the Pope
28:01gets involved
28:02asking President Bush
28:04to knock this off.
28:06The Vatican embassy
28:07tells Noriega
28:09that he needs
28:10to give up.
28:11And if he doesn't
28:11give up,
28:12they're going to
28:12simply move the embassy
28:14to a local
28:15Catholic high school.
28:16And the U.S.
28:17would be free
28:17under these conditions
28:18to just walk in
28:20and take him.
28:22Finally,
28:22after 10 days
28:23of heavy metal torture,
28:25the general comes out,
28:27Bible in hand,
28:28and surrenders.
28:30Noriega is flown
28:31to Miami
28:32where he stands trial
28:33for drug trafficking.
28:34He's convicted
28:34and essentially
28:35is given a life sentence.
28:37Noriega was
28:38a ruthless
28:39authoritarian dictator.
28:40He was a hard criminal,
28:41but hard rock
28:42is what brought him down.
28:43While days
28:45of musical torture
28:46is enough
28:47to take down
28:47one dictator,
28:49there are other ways
28:50governments can mess
28:51with enemy minds.
28:55There is
28:56a quiet little hamlet
28:58in the south of France,
28:59and the local mail carrier
29:02in this village,
29:03Léon Armunier,
29:04is doing his regular
29:05postal route.
29:07Everything seems normal,
29:09and then he starts
29:10to feel unwell.
29:11And he falls
29:13off his bike.
29:16He starts screaming.
29:19He's yelling
29:20that his body
29:21is on fire,
29:22that he is physically
29:23shrinking in size,
29:24and that massive snakes
29:25are coiling around him.
29:27So when Léon
29:28is taken to the hospital,
29:30he is actually
29:30put into a straitjacket
29:32and confined
29:33for his own safety
29:34because he is
29:35experiencing
29:35hallucinations.
29:38But it's not
29:39just the mailman.
29:40All across town,
29:41people are embarking
29:43on this long,
29:44strange trip.
29:45There's a report
29:46of a 20-year-old man
29:48who tries to drown himself,
29:50screaming that his belly
29:51is being eaten
29:52by snakes.
29:54You have a man
29:55who says,
29:56I'm a plane!
29:57And then just proceeds
29:58to jump out of the window,
30:00fall three stories,
30:01and break both
30:03of his legs.
30:03And by the time
30:05it's all over,
30:06300 people
30:07have been affected
30:08by it,
30:0830 of them
30:09have been committed
30:10to asylums,
30:11and seven are dead.
30:12So what's behind
30:13all this unusual behavior?
30:16Doctors believe
30:17it's actually
30:17from bread
30:18ingested
30:19by the townspeople
30:20from one bakery
30:21in particular.
30:22They suspect
30:23that some of the rye
30:25was impacted
30:26by a fungus
30:27called ergot,
30:29and now they believe
30:30that fungus
30:30is at work.
30:31Part of this theory
30:32makes sense.
30:33Ergot does
30:34cause hallucinations.
30:36What's strange, though,
30:36is that there hasn't been
30:37an ergot outbreak
30:38in France since 1816,
30:40so it's a little suspect
30:42as a theory.
30:44There's another
30:45very strange possibility.
30:47In the early 2000s,
30:49a journalist
30:49named Hank Alvarelli
30:51is researching
30:52a book
30:52about Edgewood Arsenal.
30:54Edgewood Arsenal
30:55in Maryland
30:56was a U.S. military
30:57test facility
30:58that ran
30:59between 1948
31:00and 1975.
31:02And normally,
31:02Edgewood is conducting
31:04these experiments
31:04on soldiers
31:05who volunteer.
31:07The testing
31:07included the effects
31:08of mustard gas,
31:10PCP,
31:11and LSD.
31:13During his research,
31:14Alvarelli
31:15claims to find
31:16a top-secret document
31:17that was buried
31:18by the director
31:18of Edgewood Arsenal.
31:20The document states
31:22that the Ponce-en-Esprit
31:23incident
31:24is not the result
31:25of a hallucinogenic fungus.
31:27But in fact,
31:28CIA placed LSD
31:30inside the dough
31:31of this bread
31:32to see what the result
31:33would be
31:34on the people
31:35of this small French town.
31:37But why would the CIA
31:38carry out
31:38a top-secret mission
31:39to make a bunch
31:40of French people
31:41hallucinate?
31:43This is during
31:44the Cold War.
31:45This is a time
31:45when there are all kinds
31:46of experiments happening.
31:47And Ponce-en-Esprit
31:49may have been
31:49a place
31:50where they just thought
31:51they could quietly
31:52pull off an experiment
31:53and see how it went.
31:55It is worth noting
31:56that skeptics say
31:58that, well,
31:58if you ingest
31:59that much LSD,
32:00the effects
32:01should be immediate.
32:02There shouldn't be
32:03a delayed response.
32:04So the jury's still out
32:06as to whether
32:06this is an example
32:07of just tainted flour
32:09or if it was
32:10some sort of
32:10covert psyops mission
32:12that was carried out
32:12by the CIA.
32:13We may never actually
32:14find out the truth.
32:19On a cold February morning
32:21in 1942,
32:22at 6.30 a.m.,
32:24the Canadian city
32:25of Winnipeg
32:26wakes up
32:26to what might just be
32:28their worst nightmare.
32:32Air raid sirens
32:33are blaring,
32:34bombs are going off,
32:35and as they leave
32:36their houses,
32:36they hear a cacophony
32:37of machine gun fire
32:39that seems to be
32:39getting closer.
32:41By 9.30 a.m.,
32:42it all turns quiet.
32:46Over the Winnipeg radio,
32:48it's announced
32:48that their mayor,
32:49their government,
32:50have just surrendered
32:51to the Nazis.
32:54They see a site
32:55they never expected.
32:56Hobnailed,
32:57jackboot Nazis
32:58marching past
32:59Portage in Maine,
33:00the main intersection
33:01in Winnipeg.
33:02This is a crazy moment.
33:04You have tanks
33:05on every street corner,
33:06the Nazi flag
33:07hanging at City Hall.
33:09But don't worry,
33:10this isn't something
33:10you missed
33:11after you fell asleep
33:12in history class.
33:13The Nazis never really
33:14invaded Winnipeg.
33:15It's all part of a mission
33:17to keep Canadians
33:18on their toes.
33:21It's part of a massive
33:22Canadian propaganda
33:23operation that's supposed
33:24to awaken Canadians
33:26to the potential danger
33:27of Nazi threats.
33:28They call it IFDE.
33:30This is actually
33:31the largest military
33:32mobilization in the history
33:33of the province
33:34of Manitoba.
33:353,500 men
33:36in German uniforms
33:37take to the city streets.
33:39The Nazis are actually
33:42reservists and volunteers
33:44dressed in costumes
33:46and gear
33:46provided by Hollywood studios.
33:49And these young soldiers
33:50are taking their
33:51Nazi acting seriously.
33:53They board up synagogues.
33:55They burn books.
33:57They go into shops.
33:58They go into restaurants.
33:59They go into schools.
34:00And they verbally abuse
34:02and accost people.
34:03This is what life
34:04would be like
34:04under Nazi occupation.
34:07By 5.30 p.m.,
34:08the prisoners,
34:09along with Winnipeg's mayor,
34:10are released.
34:11And the staged occupation
34:12is over.
34:14The genesis of this idea
34:15for IFDE
34:16comes from the
34:17Greater Winnipeg
34:18Victory Loan Committee,
34:19who believes
34:20that using fear
34:21will be the best motivation
34:23for getting people
34:24to contribute
34:25to the war effort.
34:26And it works.
34:27Within days,
34:283 million Canadian dollars
34:30are raised in war bonds.
34:31Within weeks,
34:32you're talking about
34:3265 million dollars.
34:34This is one of the
34:35greatest fundraising schemes
34:37ever put together.
34:39Not all missions
34:41need to frighten
34:42or destroy.
34:43Some missions are there
34:44to make people
34:45feel good inside.
34:46And for a mission
34:47like this to work,
34:48all it takes
34:49is a sweet tooth.
34:52It's post-World War II.
34:54Germany has been
34:55split in half,
34:56and so has the city
34:57of Berlin.
34:58In June of 1948,
35:01Joseph Stalin orders
35:02the closure
35:03of the transit road,
35:04which connects
35:05West Berlin
35:06across communist
35:08East Germany
35:08to West Germany.
35:10Since nothing
35:11can be delivered
35:12by rail
35:13or by truck,
35:14the only means
35:15of getting supplies
35:16to 2 million people
35:17in the city of Berlin
35:18is the air.
35:19The United States
35:21needs to get supplies
35:22to the people
35:23in Berlin,
35:24so they create
35:24Operation Berlin Airlift.
35:27A 27-year-old
35:29American pilot,
35:30Colonel Hal Halverson,
35:31is involved
35:32in Berlin Airlift.
35:34And as Halverson
35:35is reporting for duty
35:36at Templehoff Air Force Base,
35:38he sees these kids
35:39on the other side
35:40of a fence.
35:41The kids are poor,
35:43they're hungry,
35:44and they really
35:45strike at Hal's heart.
35:46So he wants
35:47to give them something
35:48to ease their suffering.
35:49And he reaches
35:50into his pocket,
35:51and all he has
35:52is two pieces of gum.
35:54So he gives that to them.
35:56They're so excited
35:57to have these
35:58two pieces of gum
35:59that it plants
36:00a seed in his mind,
36:01and he comes up
36:01with a really unique idea.
36:04Hal wants to use
36:05his plane to bomb
36:06the children
36:06with candy.
36:09So he talks to people
36:11and spreads his message
36:12around the base
36:13about his mission
36:14to airdrop treats
36:16to these children.
36:17And everybody's on board.
36:19They give them
36:19all the candy they have.
36:21So he and his fellow
36:23servicemen get together,
36:24and they have
36:25a little craft night.
36:26They basically create
36:27these little candy parachutes.
36:29They use handkerchiefs
36:30that they tie,
36:31and at the bottom
36:32of their little knot,
36:33they have pieces of candy.
36:35On July 18th, 1948,
36:38Operation Little Vittles,
36:40or Little Food,
36:42takes flight.
36:43They see a group
36:43of children down below,
36:45and then they start
36:46throwing their little
36:47parachute candies
36:48out of the window.
36:49And they drop onto
36:51absolutely delighted
36:53children below.
36:54They are screaming,
36:56candy is falling
36:56from the sky.
36:57This is like a rare moment
36:59of joy in a time of war.
37:01News of the heroic mission
37:02reaches the U.S.,
37:03and Halverson is quickly
37:04dubbed the Berlin Candy Bomber.
37:07And when the candy makers
37:09hear about this,
37:10they want to join in.
37:11So they begin making candy
37:13for this mission
37:13and donating it to Hal.
37:15By the end of the Berlin Airlift
37:17in 1949,
37:19American troops
37:19had dropped
37:20250,000 handkerchiefs
37:22of candy,
37:23totaling about 23 tons
37:25of sweet, sweet treats.
37:31Throughout history,
37:32many leaders have demanded
37:33victory at all costs.
37:34In the case of one mission,
37:37all costs translates
37:38to something
37:39completely unexpected
37:40and very expensive.
37:44It's March 1968,
37:47and Soviet submarine
37:48K-129 is on patrol
37:50around 1,500 miles
37:52northwest of Hawaii
37:54when an unknown
37:55catastrophic accident happens,
37:58and the submarine
37:59and its wreckage
38:00sink to the floor
38:01of the Pacific
38:01three miles deep.
38:03Using sonar,
38:04the U.S. picks up signals
38:06from this sunken submarine
38:07and becomes very intrigued.
38:10This is the height
38:10of the Cold War.
38:12It's a nuclear submarine.
38:13It's armed
38:14with nuclear weapons.
38:15If the United States
38:16could somehow
38:17get to this submarine,
38:18the intelligence
38:19they could gather
38:19would be huge.
38:20How they operate,
38:21understanding what
38:21their weaknesses are,
38:22how they can be targeted.
38:24This is a massive treasure
38:26that they could plunder.
38:27President Nixon
38:28approves a CIA task force
38:30to begin work
38:31on getting the sub
38:33out of the water.
38:34So the CIA
38:34starts building the plan
38:36that they will dub
38:37Project Azorian.
38:39The CIA goes out
38:40and hires a company
38:42called Global Marine,
38:43and they put together
38:45a terrific plan.
38:46They want to essentially
38:47build a giant claw,
38:50just like those arcade games,
38:51that reaches down
38:53and picks up the toy
38:54and pulls it back up.
38:56But this is no stuffed toy,
38:58and retrieving a vessel
38:59this big and deep
39:01has never been done before.
39:03This is 1,700 tons,
39:06328 feet long,
39:08that you have to get
39:09in one grab.
39:10You basically have to bring
39:11the whole thing up
39:12to the surface together.
39:14To keep this mission
39:15on the down low,
39:16the CIA asks for help
39:17from an unexpected patriot.
39:19For a cover story,
39:21they enlist none other
39:23than famed eccentric billionaire
39:25Howard Hughes
39:26to say that he's building
39:28this ship in Long Beach
39:29as a mining research vessel.
39:32Now, using Hughes
39:33is the perfect cover,
39:34considering that Hughes
39:36has in the past
39:37already spent millions
39:38of his dollars
39:39on a seaplane
39:40that only flew once,
39:41and it earned the nickname
39:42the Spruce Goose.
39:44And it works.
39:46For five years,
39:47no one questions
39:48why Hughes would be
39:49building such a thing.
39:50In the summer of 1974,
39:52the Hughes Glomar Explorer
39:54sets sail
39:55on her covert mission
39:56from Long Beach, California.
39:58So the Glomar Explorer
39:59gets to the spot,
40:01and they essentially
40:02park right on top of it.
40:04They slowly begin lowering
40:05the giant claw device
40:07named the Clementine.
40:08It takes three weeks
40:10to get just in the right spot
40:12to pick up that sub,
40:13and once they start to lift it,
40:15it takes eight whole days
40:16for them to bring
40:17this sub to the surface.
40:19Unfortunately,
40:20the vessel breaks apart
40:21before it's out of the water,
40:23leaving just a 38-foot section
40:25of the bow intact.
40:27But the CIA,
40:28not deterred.
40:29They start making plans
40:30to try to go back
40:31and pick up
40:32the rest of the sub.
40:33The CIA is committed
40:35to covering up this mission
40:36because it doesn't want
40:38another escalation
40:39of the Cold War.
40:40But a year later,
40:41the mission is revealed.
40:43In February 1975,
40:44the L.A. Times breaks the story,
40:47and it includes
40:48some damning details.
40:50They pour $800 million
40:52into it,
40:53and that's about
40:54$5 billion today.
40:56With their cover blown,
40:58Project Azorian,
40:59one of the most expensive missions
41:01of the entire Cold War,
41:02is officially sunk.
41:04American taxpayers
41:05are irate.
41:06Irate that the CIA
41:07wasted so much
41:08of their money,
41:09irate about the failure
41:11of the mission,
41:11and irate about
41:12the secrecy itself.
41:16It takes determination,
41:18bravery, and commitment
41:19to complete a mission,
41:20no matter what
41:20its intended purpose,
41:22whether it's declaring war
41:23on emus
41:23or blowing up the moon.
41:25These missions
41:26are all so shocking.
41:28They are truly unbelievable.
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