Just wanted to thank you for posting this, as I [self-censor].

I'd like try to boil things down a little further for people:

1) Most things in the modern world require high degrees of trust. Once a significant portion of people begin to question the system, it fails.

2) The main goal of most organizations/governments, in general sense, who find themselves in a favorable position is to keep the game going.

3) Though it's impossible to control for all variables, 'we' believe we can manage most common ones. The uncommon (foreseen and unforeseen) often arise in times of crisis (panic behavior) and often are unwieldy.

So... the veracity of the story is generally less important than is managing reactions to it.

4) IANAL, but I worked w/them for many years and have crafted many statements. Communication is an art form open to interpretation.

5) I've long suspected that such "tampering" was standard practice, for any global power. Why? See point 2.

I encourage anyone skeptical about any portion of the story, to don his/her 'megalomania'-cap for a bit. Then everything, at least conceptually, should make sense.

Cheers!