You're right. As a fan of conspiracy theory drama, I love it when I make this discovery (how something went from conspiracy theory to non-conspiracy theory). I had actually read about this before it had its own Wikipedia page and people thought I was crazy if I chose to speak about it - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Popeye
Those who have a deep desire to be in control will try almost anything.
As far as actual conspiracy theories go, I don't see why some people have such a hard time imagining that powerful, control-hungry people could form groups and work together to feed their desires. I guess they just can't relate because that's not how they think or they just don't want to think about it because it makes them uncomfortable.
