Daniel said the past cannot be changed. Whatever happened, happened. He then altered his theory and started believing the past could be changed. What happened? In attempting to alter the timeline, he merely facilitated what always happened---he told Charlotte she had to leave or she would die and he was killed by Ellie. What happened, happened.
I think Dharma made the same mistake as Daniel. Via Sayid's drugged ramblings (which will doubtless be reexamined after the Incident occurs and after Pierre Chang starts doing unnatural things to those poor bunnies), Dharma knows that a) they will all die and b) Oceanic Flight 815 will crash on the Island, bringing with it people who are Dharma's enemies.
Dharma, in trying to alter the timeline, ends up facilitating it. We haven't heard anything about the Tempest Station in 1977 because it doesn't exist yet; Dharma builds it and starts manufacturing poison gas in order to kill off the Hostiles and prevent its own destruction. Dharma Janitor Ben Linus gets wind of the plan, tattles to Widmore, and Widmore orders the Purge to protect the Others. In trying to change things, Dharma merely ensures that they come to pass.
As the Bram/Ilana faction are with neither Ben nor Widmore, I think they're likely Future Dharma. The head honchos in Ann Arbor didn't know the Purge occurred in 1992 because Ben and the Others moved into the Barracks and maintained the ruse. That's why food drops were still being made in 2004. Dharma then congratulated itself on a job well done, believing the Purge had been halted.
They then set their sights on Flight 815. We know Frank Lapidus was supposed to pilot the plane, but we haven't been told why he didn't. I think Dharma, attempting to keep the plane on the ground, did something to Lapidus (drugged him?), thinking that incapacitating the pilot would cause the flight to either be canceled entirely or at least delayed (which would mean that it wouldn't be in the correct place at the correct time for it to crash on the Island). But as we know, Lapidus never piloted flight 815. What happened, happened.
That's the real reason Widmore faked the 815 wreckage. He didn't care what the world at large thought---he was doing his part to maintain the ruse that Dharma had indeed altered its own fate. If flight 815 was in the Sunda trench, its passengers couldn't be on the Island.
The O6 threw a monkey wrench into everything. Their faces were plastered over televisions across the world, and Dharma started to realize it had failed. Its communications with the Island were halted and it had no more access to the Lamppost (because Mrs. Hawking and her associates controlled it). But via Sayid, it knew that Ajira 316 would also crash on the Island, and it made sure its people were on board so that they could alert Ann Arbor to the Island's location.
I think Dharma made the same mistake as Daniel. Via Sayid's drugged ramblings (which will doubtless be reexamined after the Incident occurs and after Pierre Chang starts doing unnatural things to those poor bunnies), Dharma knows that a) they will all die and b) Oceanic Flight 815 will crash on the Island, bringing with it people who are Dharma's enemies.
Dharma, in trying to alter the timeline, ends up facilitating it. We haven't heard anything about the Tempest Station in 1977 because it doesn't exist yet; Dharma builds it and starts manufacturing poison gas in order to kill off the Hostiles and prevent its own destruction. Dharma Janitor Ben Linus gets wind of the plan, tattles to Widmore, and Widmore orders the Purge to protect the Others. In trying to change things, Dharma merely ensures that they come to pass.
As the Bram/Ilana faction are with neither Ben nor Widmore, I think they're likely Future Dharma. The head honchos in Ann Arbor didn't know the Purge occurred in 1992 because Ben and the Others moved into the Barracks and maintained the ruse. That's why food drops were still being made in 2004. Dharma then congratulated itself on a job well done, believing the Purge had been halted.
They then set their sights on Flight 815. We know Frank Lapidus was supposed to pilot the plane, but we haven't been told why he didn't. I think Dharma, attempting to keep the plane on the ground, did something to Lapidus (drugged him?), thinking that incapacitating the pilot would cause the flight to either be canceled entirely or at least delayed (which would mean that it wouldn't be in the correct place at the correct time for it to crash on the Island). But as we know, Lapidus never piloted flight 815. What happened, happened.
That's the real reason Widmore faked the 815 wreckage. He didn't care what the world at large thought---he was doing his part to maintain the ruse that Dharma had indeed altered its own fate. If flight 815 was in the Sunda trench, its passengers couldn't be on the Island.
The O6 threw a monkey wrench into everything. Their faces were plastered over televisions across the world, and Dharma started to realize it had failed. Its communications with the Island were halted and it had no more access to the Lamppost (because Mrs. Hawking and her associates controlled it). But via Sayid, it knew that Ajira 316 would also crash on the Island, and it made sure its people were on board so that they could alert Ann Arbor to the Island's location.
