Chapter 106: Free At Last!

Previous: Mycroft Returns

The fresh, juicy, sweetness couldn't fail
to bring a smile to his face.

"I've been straight with you, Sherlock," said Mycroft sadly. "I haven't so much as told you a little white lie since we were schoolboys. I should have thought I could expect the same consideration from you. And yet here I sit, my life shattered, and why? Has some monstrous deception on your part cost me my career?"

I handed Mycroft a snifter of cognac and he downed it without hesitation. "You could give me the whole bottle and it would make no difference," he said, anger rising in his voice, "if I have been betrayed by my only brother."

"You have every right to feel aggrieved," replied the detective. "Yet it may lessen my guilt somewhat if you come to understand two vital points."

"I'm listening," said Mycroft, waving the empty snifter in my direction. I took it from him, handed him the tray of fruit, and began to pour the tea.

"We must begin with the fact," said my friend to his brother, "that everything I have told you, concerning this case and otherwise, has been true. Think back -- think very clearly -- and describe the chain of events that led you and the Minister here last Tuesday evening. Please."

Mycroft paused. "Go ahead and eat some more," I interjected. "You need the food." He picked up a handful of strawberries and put one into his mouth. The fresh, juicy, sweetness couldn't fail to bring a smile to his face. But it was still easy to see that he was extremely angry.

"As I recall," said Mycroft, "you came to see me and you told me that you had been investigating the death of Gareth Williams and you were expecting to make an arrest very soon. You said the Minister might be interested in this news, and that I should feel free to share it when I saw him at the weekly meeting on Tuesday. You also said if he wished to consult you about the matter, I should try to put him off, but if he insisted, I could bring him 'round to Baker Street in the evening."

"All of which was true," replied Sherlock. "Doctor Watson and I have been working on the case. I did expect to make an arrest -- and in fact an arrest was made. The Minister was extremely interested, was he not? Clearly he was, as we saw when you brought him here. I won't deny that a tremendous deception has been attempted, but I have played no part in it -- except in trying to pull it apart."

"But you have just admitted," said Mycroft, "that you wanted me to believe something that wasn't true. And I did believe it! And it has cost me my career!"

"The false impression I wanted you to believe," replied the detective, "was created by someone else. It was the Minister who made you think you were doing him a favour, was it not? What could I have done about that?"

Mycroft ate another strawberry and seemed to relax a bit.

"As for your career," continued Sherlock, "you may have lost less than you think, and gained a good deal more than you realise."

"How can you say that?" asked Mycroft. "How could that even be possible?"

"Certainly it hurts to admit it," said the detective, "but you were on your way out anyway. Your workload was being reduced. You were being cut out of important discussions, and unaware of crucial decisions. You told me so yourself.

"Did you think you would last there forever? No, surely. Too much writing was already on the wall. What will you miss? Do you really need the money? We both have plenty of money, do we not? You will miss the challenge, the sense of responsibility, the knowledge that people depend on you and the pride that comes from doing your work well. All these things can be replaced.

"You will miss the buzz, the thrill that comes from rubbing shoulders with political figures of the highest order. And that cannot be replaced. But what is it really worth? And against this trifling loss, you have gained a chance to save your mortal soul!"

"What on Earth do you mean by that?" asked Mycroft.

"I have ample reason," replied his brother, "to believe that the Foreign Office has been neck-deep in evil for quite some time now. I have wished for years that you would see the light and bolt -- yes! run away from the service of your country! I admit I didn't foresee such changes resulting from your involvement in the Gareth Williams case, but I welcome them nonetheless. You're free, Mycroft! You're free at last!"

"You must forgive me if I don't share your elation," replied Mycroft, "but you've gone far too fast for my weakened state. What arrest has been made? Who has been arrested? Where? By whom? And why haven't we heard about it? How can you be so sure that my work, and the satisfaction it brings, can be replaced? And why must we pretend that the Minister was not here on Tuesday evening, when in fact he was?"

"It's a long story," said Sherlock.

"We've all day," replied Mycroft, reaching for more fruit.

"Take this, too," I said, handing him a cup of tea. "And eat as much fruit as you can."

"Thank you, Doctor," said Mycroft, still tense but less so. "The food is helping. Go ahead, Sherlock. Tell me the long story."

"Early Tuesday evening," said Sherlock, "we were joined for dinner by two of Scotland Yard's finest, Slate and Robinson by name. They were sitting in my bedroom, with recording equipment running, when you and the Minister arrived.

"After you departed, the Minister asked what I had learned about the Gareth Williams case. In the conversation which followed, he showed one sign of agitation after another, until I accused him directly, at which point he lost his composure completely, babbled about justice being served, virtually confessed to the murder, and threatened to kill me, too, if he could. I slapped a pair of cuffs on him, Slate and Robinson stepped forward and made the formal arrest, and they took him away."

"I never knew anything about any of this," said Mycroft.

"Nobody knows anything about it," replied his brother. "The next day, all the papers published stories saying Slate and Robinson had been escorting the Minister home from a banquet when they stopped to try to break up a gem store heist, and that they were both killed in the attempt.

"You see the problem, don't you? If the Minister was at a banquet, then he couldn't have been here, and vice versa. Therefore you and your story are highly inconvenient. In addition, of course, you would have been seen as pretending to do the Minister a favour, while actually leading him into a trap."

"Can you blame me for feeling used?" asked Mycroft.

"Not at all," said Sherlock. "And I do apologize. But please remember you were used in a righteous cause, against a target unworthy of your loyalty."

"I have never thought of it in such a way," admitted Mycroft.

"But now you must," replied his brother. "A week ago, this man was your boss. You would have done anything the Office asked you to do, without questioning."

"It's a matter of patriotism more than anything else," said Mycroft. "You don't need to love the Minister to love your country."

"Forgive me for saying so, Mycroft," said the detective, "but love of country has inspired, or served as a pretext for, many an evil deed."

"In places like Russia and China, --" said Mycroft.

"And close to home as well!" interrupted Sherlock. Mycroft sat speechless.

"Fill three snifters, Watson," he said in my direction. "I've been waiting a long time for this."

Then he turned to his brother and said, "Mycroft Holmes: You are no longer a pawn of the Foreign Office. You are now a free agent! Finally, completely and utterly free -- free at last!"

Next: A Good Question

Chapter 107: A Good Question

Previous: Free At Last!

Robin Cook resigned in protest
but drew no support from his 'peers.'

Mycroft looked more confused than convinced, but he stood and drank with us.

Then, settling once more upon the couch, he spoke again.

"Thank you very much, gentlemen," he said, "but you raise more questions than you answer."

"Ask, then," replied his brother.

"You have made serious allegations against the Foreign Office. Can you support them?"

"Certainly," said Sherlock. "It may take some time to satisfy you. But we have plenty of time. Where should we begin? Let's start with a question. Why did the United States invade Iraq?"

"Weapons of mass destruction," replied Mycroft.

"What weapons of mass destruction did Iraq have?" asked Sherlock.

"Um," said Mycroft.

"No such weapons were ever found," continued Sherlock. "Was that a surprise to you?"

"Um," said Mycroft.

Hans Blix led a team of UN inspectors
who found no weapons in Iraq.

"It was common knowledge that Iraq had no such weapons. Does the name Hans Blix ring a bell?"

"Um," said Mycroft.

"Surely you remember Hans Blix," insisted Sherlock, "the Swede who was in Iraq, leading a team of weapons inspectors from the United Nations. I heard reports from him every day in the months before the war began. And all of his reports said more or less the same thing: 'We can go anywhere we want. We can see anything we want. Nobody stops us from going anywhere or looking at anything. But we haven't found any weapons.' Do you not remember that?"

"We were told," said Mycroft, "that the Iraqis most certainly had such weapons. Did you know Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium from Africa?"

"Oh, nonsense!" replied his brother. "That story was fabricated, and everybody knew it. Do you mean to say the Foreign Office was unaware of the deception?"

"Um," said Mycroft.

"Um what?" replied Sherlock. "I've heard enough 'um.' Speak, man!"

Mycroft paused for a very uncomfortable moment, while his younger brother glared at him.

It was common knowledge
that Iraq had no such weapons.

"We were under enormous pressure," he said at last.

"Pressure to tell the truth?" asked Sherlock. "Pressure to protect the innocent?"

"Not exactly," said Mycroft.

"I didn't think so," said Sherlock. "Did you ever get the impression that this pressure was being applied by honourable men acting on honourable motives?"

"Um," said Mycroft.

"Or did you just not have enough spine to stand up to it?" asked Sherlock.

Mycroft turned and twisted, clearly becoming even more uncomfortable, but he did not speak.

"Do you happen to remember Robin Cook?" asked Sherlock.

"Yes, of course," replied Mycroft. "He was my superior, for a time."

"Until he spoke out about what was happening, one time too many," said Sherlock. "Then what?"

"Um," said Mycroft.

"The he was shuffled out of the Foreign Office," said Sherlock, "to a position from which he could do less damage to the government. But he still couldn't support the rush to war, over which he resigned in protest and disgust.

"And what support did he get from Parliament? Oh, they stood and cheered his speech, but did they change their ways? Of course not.

"What support did he get from the rest of Cabinet? Did any of them resign along with him?

"What did he get from the Foreign Office?" continued Sherlock. "Did you you stand up for him? Did anybody?"

"Um," said Mycroft.

Shock and Awe: Iraq burns because of a lie...

"Um, indeed," replied Sherlock. "And we all know what happened next. Or at least we should. The information is freely available, even if it isn't common knowledge. The US, aided by the UK and several other countries, bombed and invaded Iraq, setting off waves of violence and chaos that will not subside in our lifetime. The Americans set up death squads, instigated sectarian conflicts, bombed mosques and marketplaces, captured innocent people by the tens of thousands and tortured them -- all with British help.

"The occupation has continued for years, during which they have killed millions of innocent people, injured millions of others, and driven millions more into exile. Those who remain have lost everything: their water, their power, their schools, their hospitals, their museums -- everything!

"Everything the Iraqi people once had is destroyed. No building of any size is still intact. The landscape is poisoned with radioactivity from the depleted uranium the Americans use to make bullets and shells. And the most horrible birth defects are turning up everywhere.

"All this and more was done to a country that had never harmed the US, the UK, or any of the other aggressors, and never intended to, and never could have done so.

"... setting off waves of violence and chaos
that will not subside in our lifetime."

"All this and more was 'justified' by a pack of lies which were quite obviously false, such as the story about weapons of mass destruction, which was disseminated widely and relentlessly, even though Iraq had no such weapons, and even though weapons inspectors on the ground at the time were finding nothing!

"And what did you do about all this?" asked Sherlock. "What did you do other than succumb to the pressure, keep your mouth shut, and allow the lies to circulate unopposed?"

"Are you accusing me," asked Mycroft, "of complicity in the deliberate destruction of an entire country, and the murder of millions of innocent people?"

"Oh, no," said Sherlock. "I would never do such a thing. If you have been put under accusation, it was by your own conscience, not by me. I am merely stating the horrible facts, and asking the obvious questions.

"It is not for me to accuse you," continued my friend. "And by the same token, it is not for me to forgive you."

"Do you think I am in need of forgiveness?" asked Mycroft.

"Do you?" replied his brother. "Honestly?"

"Honestly?" repeated Mycroft. "Honestly? Oh, God, what have I done?"

"That's a good question," answered Sherlock.

Next: How Many Lies?

Chapter 108: How Many Lies?

Previous: A Good Question

Osama bin Laden
was blamed for the attacks
of September 11, 2001 ...

Mycroft slumped on the couch with his head in his hands. Sherlock gestured toward the cognac. "Pour him another, Watson," he said. "It won't do him any harm now."

The detective turned toward his brother and asked, "How much pressure was there about Afghanistan?"

"None, really," replied Mycroft. "There was no need for pressure. The righteousness of the mission was obvious to all of us."

"Is that so?" asked the detective, as I handed his brother another snifter of Vernet's finest.

"Indeed," replied our guest. "And this is -- as I understand it -- one of the reasons why the pressure over Iraq was so great. People were understandably reluctant to divert our forces from the theatre where they were needed, and in which their presence was truly justified.

"Thank you, Doctor Watson," he added, taking another sip.

"And what, according to your sources, justifies our presence in Afghanistan?" asked Sherlock.

"Oh, my!" replied Mycroft. "I'm surprised you don't know this. The attacks of September 11, 2001, were not justified, or justifiable, by any means. They surely called for a powerful and dramatic response, did they not?"

"But against whom?" inquired Sherlock. "Were the people of Afghanistan really behind those attacks?"

"It was not the people," replied Mycroft, "but the Taliban government, which protected Osama bin Laden and refused to hand him over to the Americans for trial."

"You're serious?" asked the detective.

"Never more so," replied his brother.

"Are you aware," asked Sherlock, "of any evidence implicating Osama bin Laden in the September 11th attacks?"

"We were told," said Mycroft, "that there was no doubt about it."

"Told by whom?" continued Sherlock. "The same people who told you about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction?"

"Now that you mention it," replied Mycroft, "I do believe you are correct."

"How many other lies did they tell you?" asked his brother. "And how many of them did you believe?"

"What are you saying?" asked his brother.

"Everything you have told us," replied Sherlock, "and, unless I am much mistaken, everything you have been told -- about Iraq, Afghanistan, and September 11th -- has been false.

"Immediately after the attacks, the Americans announced that they had evidence implicating Osama bin Laden, but no such evidence was ever produced.

"In fact, although the FBI had Osama bin Laden on its Top Ten Most Wanted list, it never mentioned anything about him in connection with the September 11 attacks -- because, according to an FBI spokesman, the Bureau had no hard evidence against him.

"Surely, if they had such evidence, they would have lost no time in parading it before the eyes of the world. And therefore it is entirely reasonable to deduce that they had no such evidence.

"It follows, then, that their claims about bin Laden's guilt, and especially about their ability to prove it, were outright lies."

"We were told," replied Mycroft, "they had found a videotape in which Osama bin Laden is seen confessing. Was that a lie, too?"

"Have you ever seen that videotape?" asked Sherlock.

"I can't say I have," replied his brother.

"You haven't missed anything of value," answered the detective, "if you value evidence implicating the alleged villain. But if you value evidence of deliberate fraud, I suggest you find a copy of that video and study it closely."

"Why do you say that?" asked Mycroft.

... but the actor who played bin Laden
in the "confession video"
didn't look very much like him.

"The man in the video," replied Sherlock, "is most certainly not Osama bin Laden. He doesn't even look very much like him. He is much more heavily built, his nose is substantially broader, and his skin appears to be several shades darker.

"Fundamentalist Muslims, such as bin Laden, don't wear gold, and yet the man in the video sports a gold ring. And he can be seen writing with his right hand, whereas the real bin Laden was left-handed."

"You're saying the video must be a forgery," said Mycroft.

"In every possible way," replied Sherlock. "The text, as translated by the Pentagon and added to the video in the form of English subtitles, appears to leave no doubt that the speaker -- whoever he is -- claims responsibility for the attacks. But independent analysts, people fluent in Arabic but not affiliated with the Pentagon, have stated very firmly that the words attributed to the speaker are not to be heard in the original."

"Are you sure about this?" asked Mycroft.

"Absolutely," replied Sherlock. "I could go on and on about it, and I probably will. But you're very tired, and there's no rush. Why don't you occupy my bedroom for a while? Lie down and relax, and see if you can sleep. We will have plenty of time to talk tomorrow."

Next: How Plausible Is That?

Chapter 109: How Plausible Is That?

Previous: How Many Lies?

Tony Blair led Britain into a war
against Iraq that was 'justified' by lies.

"Now it's my turn to ask a difficult question," said Mycroft.

"Go ahead," replied Sherlock.

"I find it difficult," said his brother, "to understand how you can be so brilliant and so thick, all at the same time. So I must ask you: Are you serious?"

"Yes, of course," replied the detective. "About bin Laden, you mean?"

"No," answered Mycroft. "About me. What in the world makes you think I could sleep at a time like this?"

"Possibly," said his brother, "because you haven't slept since the middle of last week."

"Bah!" snorted Mycroft. "You've just drawn me face-to-face with the most difficult questions of my life. Tired or not, I surely need to deal with them before I can relax enough to sleep at all."

Sherlock showed a hint of a smile and said, "Ask me anything."

Mycroft paused for a few seconds before speaking. "If what you've just told me is true, the implications are staggering."

"I assure you it is, and they most certainly are," replied Sherlock.

"You're absolutely certain?"

"Completely."

"Well then," continued Mycroft, "how could it be that I have never heard of any of this before now?"

"Until now," replied Sherlock, "you have been tracing an exalted, but very tight, orbit. You live alone, and you spend your leisure time at the Diogenes Club, whose members are forbidden to speak to one another, or to anyone else, save in the Stranger's Room."

"It is a very peaceful place to sit and read," retorted Mycroft, somewhat defensively. "I am proud to be a founding member."

"And rightly so," continued his brother, "but in all these years, you have learned nothing at all from the other members. And aside from your club and your flat, you spend all your other waking hours at work. They're not going to tell you the truth at the Foreign Office."

"And why not?" asked Mycroft.

"Because," replied Sherlock, "you are one of the most gifted intelligence analysts in the world. If you knew what was happening, you would inevitably draw the most logical conclusions. And they can't have that. So they feed you fabricated stories, knowing you will follow the trail they have laid out for you, and reach the conclusions they require.

The Downing Street Memos reveal the
purpose of the pre-war 'intelligence.'

"You may have heard of the so-called 'Downing Street Memos,' one of which states quite clearly that in the lead-up to the war against Iraq, 'the intelligence' was being 'fixed around the policy.'

"This admission, implicating then-Prime Minister Tony Blair and some of his closest associates, came as a shock to more than a few people. But others knew that such is almost always the case.

"The men who pull the strings, in and behind the government, implement predetermined policies, regardless of incoming 'intelligence.' They care less about reality than about 'managing' your 'perceptions.'

"The only value of 'intelligence,' from their point of view, is that it allows them to claim they know more than the public, and gives them opportunities to find, or invent, pretexts to 'justify' the actions they have already decided to take.

"They give men such as you bogus 'intelligence' to 'analyze,' and then you provide the justification for whatever they wanted to do in the first place. That is how the system works, and why I have wanted you out of there for so long. You are too powerful a force to be used by evil men for evil purposes."

"This may very well be true," replied Mycroft, "but my knowledge of current affairs doesn't all come through the Foreign Office. I don't just sit at the Club and stare out the window.

"I read all the papers, almost every day. And if what you say is true, if the reality of the September 11 attacks is not what we've been told, then this is the story of the century! Surely fame and fortune lie in store for the journalist who exposes the truth of the matter. And yet, no one seems to be chasing the story.

"Where is the Daily Mail on all this? Where is the Guardian? What of the New York Times, the Washington Post, der Spiegel, le Monde?

"If you are right, and the truth about September 11 is being hidden from the public, it's being hidden by all the governments and all the news-gathering organizations in the world. Are the world's governments and news media all colluding on this? They must be, if what you say is true. But how plausible is that?"

"You are asking good questions," responded Sherlock, "but your entire line of questioning is predicated on the assumption that the job of the press is to dig up the truth and serve it to its readers. This view is naive at best. All the major news organizations are owned by powerful financial interests, and no editor is about to bite the hand that pays him.

"As fewer and fewer owners have gained control of more and more of the news media, opportunities and motives for collusion have come more frequently, so that a coordinated blocking of selected stories has become not only plausible, but perhaps even inevitable.

"And yet, even if you believe collusion on this scale to be exceedingly implausible, you must admit that it is possible. And the same cannot be said for the official explanation of the events of September 11."

Next: Impossible On Several Levels

Chapter 110: Impossible On Several Levels

Previous: How Plausible Is That?

"Those towers blew up!" said Sherlock.

"When you say it's impossible," said Mycroft, "what, exactly, do you mean?"

"The official story of the September 11 attacks is impossible on several levels," replied Sherlock. "It doesn't even fit the known facts of the case."

"In what way?" asked his brother.

"Those towers blew up!" said Sherlock. "And the whole world saw video of it happening -- over and over and over. But within minutes, we were being told they had collapsed.

"They didn't collapse -- they disintegrated. Most of the steel and concrete turned to dust and blew away in the wind. Nothing like it has ever happened, before or since, absent explosives. And yet we are supposed to believe these extraordinary 'collapses' were the natural results of the buildings being hit by airplanes, and the resulting fires.

"Building 7, which was not hit by any plane, disintegrated in much the same way, later in the day. And we are supposed to believe that this 'collapse' was also natural, and caused by burning office furniture.

The Pentagon: "a round hole no bigger
than a cruise missile"

"We are also supposed to believe a jumbo jet hit the Pentagon, making a round hole no bigger than a cruise missile, and that the entire airplane -- wings, engines, tail, everything -- disappeared through that hole and entered the building, where it was vaporized by a fire so intense that it left no idenfiable parts behind. But at the same time we are supposed to believe that the hijackers were identified by DNA found inside the Pentagon.

"How could a fire hot enough to vaporize metal possibly leave human tissue intact? And how could the hijackers' DNA be matched, unless they had previously given DNA samples? The entire story is preposterous, Mycroft. And yet, it remains in circulation. How do you suppose that happens? By accident?"

"If it's not an accident," replied Mycroft, "then it must be very well coordinated. It must encompass whole governments -- not just the parties in power but the opposition parties as well. Otherwise, surely it would be the biggest issue in every election campaign. It must also encompass all manner of security agencies, and even independent investigators."

"Now you're starting to catch on," said Sherlock.

"I am not!" retorted his brother. "I am pointing out the flaw in your argument."

"But please consider the facts." argued Sherlock. "The official story fails because it does not explain the available evidence. But it would fail even if there were no available evidence. Even if we had never seen video of the towers crumbling, even if we had never seen photographs of the hole in the Pentagon, the story would still ring false."

"How so?" asked Mycroft.

Six of the 'suicide hijackers'
were still alive after the attacks.

"We were told," replied Sherlock, "that some of the passengers on the doomed flights made cell phone calls to their family members. These calls allegedly gave us the only descriptions of the hijackers. And yet -- as was well known to those working in telecommunications at the time -- cell phones of the day were non-functional at high altitudes. This alone should have put an end to the story. But instead the story was changed, and the calls were said to have been made from air phones.

"Never mind that some of the recipients of these calls had said, 'I knew who it was because I recognized the number on my call display.' None of these people would have recognized the number of an air phone, let alone misinterpret it as the cell phone of a loved one. But that didn't matter. It didn't even matter that the planes in question had no air phones. The story stood, and was spread around the world, while those who challenged it were dismissed as lunatics.

"The FBI released the names and photos of the 19 so-called hijackers. Where did these names and photos come from? Within a few days, half a dozen of these 'suicide hijackers' turned up alive and well. Some said their passports had been stolen, and to any thinking person it was obvious that a massive deception had taken place. But the FBI never wavered. It didn't question the identities of any of the so-called hijackers, or anything else about the story -- at least not in public. Why not?"

"We were told all this was thoroughly investigated," said Mycroft.

"You were told a great many things that were not true," replied Sherlock, "things that could not possibly have been true, things that were known to be untrue at the time. How do you suppose that happened? By accident?"

"You're sounding more and more like a conspiracy theorist," said Mycroft.

Philip Zelikow, who supervised
the 9/11 whitewash, is an expert
in public myth-making.

"Nonsense!" replied the detective. "I am only pointing out the facts. The man who directed the 'investigation' was Philip Zelikow, an expert in public myth-making. Unknown to the public, this supposedly independent investigator had very close ties to the White House.

"Zelikow had been part of the 'transition team' which helped put George W. Bush in office, despite his apparently having lost the presidential election of 2000. He had written a book with Bush's National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice. He had come to the attention of certain political insiders by writing a paper about catastrophic terrorism, and the political uses to which it could be put.

"Before the investigation even began, Zelikow had crafted an outline of its final report. In the outline, he laid out the entire story, chapter by chapter, complete with section headings and sub-headings. Then he assigned different writers to write specific sections. Nobody ever saw all the evidence. Nobody ever knew the whole story except Zelikow, and his contact in the White House, Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove.

"The entire '9/11 Commission' was a fraud. Five of the nine commissioners are now on record as saying they didn't get the true story. And that doesn't count one of the original would-be commissioners, who resigned before the whitewash ever got rolling.

"Architects and engineers say the towers could not have collapsed as we were told they did. Pilots say no one could have flown a jumbo jet on the flight path that allegedly struck the Pentagon. Emergency workers at the World Trade Center say they heard bombs going off prior to the buildings 'collapsing.' And in the case of Building 7, some say the area was evacuated several minutes before the explosions began.

"Yet, those who believe Zelikow's impossible story are called experts, and those who question it are ignored if not slandered. And why? By accident? Hardly.

"Are the governments, news media, and security experts engaged in a conspiracy to mislead the public? That may depend on your definition of conspiracy. It's plain that they are working together to mislead us. But are they planning every deceitful move in secret meetings? I don't think so.

"Furthermore, as your own experience shows, it is possible to be engaged in the deception unwittingly. Certainly some of those who have helped to spread these lies were in the same position as you, and did so under the impression that they were speaking the truth. But not all, Mycroft, not by any means."

Next: What To Do Next