A Disassociated Press Report, Paris, June 9, 2005
By Morris Whitely
Evidence gathered over recent weeks has U.S. intelligence
officials convinced that leading figures of the Priory of Sion currently reside
in France. Their existence in the
European nation poses an ongoing problem to top Bush administration officials,
who have warned foreign nations against providing shelter or other aid to
terrorists.
The evidence includes intercepted communications by a
fugitive art history professor known for his now banned 1996 book The
Magdalene and the Chalice
and a feminist militant who appeared in a video in which French feminist critic
Helene Lowenthal denounced George W. Bush as a "petro-fascist,"
according to U.S. officials. All
three are now believed to be in hiding in Paris.
According to officials, the CIA has also tracked Denise
Plantard, Priory operative and daughter of previous Priory leader Pierre
Plantard, to the French coastal town of Le Havre, although failed to apprehend
her. The young Plantard was believed to be engaged in forging works of medieval
art in order to dupe honest Christians and undermine America's beneficent
theocratic rule of the world as well as cast doubt on American Republican presidents'
rightful situation at the right hand of the Son, who sits at the right hand of
the Father, who is God. Two of
Plantard's associates were captured, however.
The capture was a coup for the Bush Administration, which
spent weeks tracking the art forgery ring and setting up the intelligence
operation that led to the two Priory operatives being taken into custody.
The officials said that interrogations of the two women,
who are now being held in an undisclosed location in Egypt, have yielded
confirmation of many Priory tactics, including defacement of art treasures and
wanton proliferation of mysterious neo-pagan symbologies both in the form of
graffiti and in the margins of returned library books.
U.S. intelligence agencies also have evidence stretching
back to the late 1990s that indicates Philippe Sauniere, brother of murdered
Louvre curator Jacques Sauniere, remains in hiding in the south of France. He is wanted as one of the masterminds
of the 1992 defacement of the Poussin painting "Shepherds of
Arcadia".
Philippe, who also goes by the alias Frere Retors
("Friar Cunning") has been charged as a fugitive by the United
States, accused of conspiracy to warp doctrine. He currently has a $5 million bounty on his head.
U.S. authorities have long alleged that the 1992 Poussin
defacement was carried out by the old guard of the Priory leadership, of which
the Sauniere brothers were representatives.
Intelligence agencies have gathered evidence, including a specific
phone number, indicating that Philippe was living in Aix-en-Provence, and claim
to have uncovered other information about his recent activities.
Nicholas Banks, State Department undersecretary for
political affairs, told Congress yesterday that the French government has
refused to identify any Priory members it may know about on French soil.
"France continues to harbor senior Priory leaders who
are wanted for defacing important works of art and plotting to spread
misinformation about the Trinity and early Christian history," Banks
said. "Some of these figures
are also wanted for Jungian sympathies."
Banks referred the Swiss theoretician of archetypes Carl G.
Jung and his followers.
Top administration officials have repeatedly warned France
against harboring or assisting suspected terrorists. The French have denied that the Priory of Sion is a real
organization and have thus refused to recognize that the group poses a threat
to either France or the United States.
On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld warned
neighboring European countries not to help suspected Priory operatives and made
reference specifically to Denise Plantard.
"Were a neighboring country to take her in and provide
haven for her, they, obviously, would be associating themselves with a major
linkage in the Priory network," Rumsfeld said.
Email: inthemargins03@hotmail.com
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