False Flag Operations
False flag has its origins in naval warfare where the use of a flag other than the belligerent's true battle flag as a ruse de guerre, before engaging an enemy, has long been acceptable. It is also acceptable in certain circumstances in land warfare, to deceive enemies in similar ways providing that the deception is not perfidious and all such deceptions are discarded before opening fire upon the enemy.
Covert military or paramilitary operations designed to deceive in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities may be described as being carried out under a false flag or black flag. Operations carried during peace-time by civilian organisation, as well as covert government agencies, may by extension be called false flag operations if they seek to hide the real organisation behind an operation.
Read more about False Flag Operations: Naval Warfare, Air Warfare, Land Warfare, Pseudo-operations, Espionage, Elections, Civilian Usage, Dirty War
Famous quotes containing the words false, flag and/or operations:
“The true is inimitable, the false untransformable.”
—Robert Bresson (b. 1907)
“By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“There is a patent office at the seat of government of the universe, whose managers are as much interested in the dispersion of seeds as anybody at Washington can be, and their operations are infinitely more extensive and regular.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)