WikiLeaks: U.S. saw Israeli firm's rise in Latin America as a threat

[Judi Lynn]

Source: McClatchy News

Posted on Monday, May 9, 2011
WikiLeaks: U.S. saw Israeli firm's rise in Latin America as a threat
By Tim Johnson | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — A security company led by the former head of operations for the Israeli military made such inroads into Latin America a few years ago that U.S. diplomats saw it as a security risk and moved to thwart the company's expansion, U.S. diplomatic cables show.

The diplomats' efforts were made easier when an interpreter for the Israeli firm, Global CST, was caught peddling classified Colombian Defense Ministry documents to Marxist guerrillas seeking to topple the state, one cable said.

Still, the ability of the Israeli security consultancy to obtain contracts in Colombia, Peru and Panama in rapid succession speaks to the prowess of retired Israeli military officers in peddling security know-how amid perceptions that they'd bring better results than official U.S. government assistance.

At one point, Panama's intelligence chief threatened to rely more heavily on the Israelis out of anger that U.S. officials wouldn't tap the phones of the president's political enemies, according to then cables. U.S. officials countered that such an arrangement would threaten all security cooperation with Panama, and the Panamanians backed down.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/05/09/113919/wikileaks-us-saw-israeli-firms.html

[Enrique]

1. i wonder how much that company benefitted from U.S. military assistance money

if any.

[Peace Patriot]

2. I would just say, beware of hidden agendas when reading these cables.

For instance, the U.S. ambassador to Panama (a career diplomat) who wrote the cable about Panama's president asking for help in spying on his political enemies and how appalled she was, etc., could have been a non-insider on Bush Junta ops, or could have been covering her ass in some way, or covering up a U.S. operation. The cables go from the ambassador TO eyes in the State Department, the CIA, the NSA, the Pentagon, etc. They are low security cables. Could they be intended to be leaked (depending on various situations)?

In the present case, I strongly suspect the U.S. was funding Global CST, and/or Global CST was operating--in Colombia in particular--with Bush Junta permission. Thus, this cable could have been intended to cover the Bush Junta's ass, if a linkage were made between the U.S./Bush Junta and Global CST dirty ops. And I don't mean their dealings with "Marxist guerrillas." I mean the assassination of trade unionists, human rights workers, teachers, peasant farmers and others on the Colombian government's hit list. The Colombian government under Bush Junta tool, Alvaro Uribe, was spying on everybody--judges, prosecutors, trade unions, human rights groups, opposition politicians--and, more than likely, had Bush Junta help in doing so. (Uribe has certainly had the Obama administration's help in covering it up and avoiding prosecution for it--which, in my opinion, points to Bush Junta culpability). Panama's president, a Uribe crony, likely heard about this and asked for similar illegal spying help against his own "political enemies" in Panama. Was the U.S. ambassador to Panama trying to cover THAT track--Panama's president to Colombia's president to Bush Jr. and his Junta here--by acting so appalled at Panama's president's request?

There was a curious little newsbit, early this year, that the State Dept. had "fined" Blackwater for "unauthorized" "trainings" of "foreign persons" (don't know who) IN COLOMBIA "for use in Iraq and Afghanistan" (!).

What was THAT all about (really)? What is THIS all about?

I wouldn't treat these cables as straightforward disclosures. Look for motives. Look for agendas. Try to understand the context. And try to figure out what was/is really going on--as if you were looking at the "tip of an iceberg" or at a full or partial mirage--or at a magician's trick. What does the writer of the cable want the reader(s) of the cable to believe? Is the low security cable a handy item to have ready to leak, should something go wrong? Is it actually reporting on a successful cover up of something (reading between the lines)? Is it--say, in the case of these Panama cables--warning certain agencies of a "loose cannon" (the president of Panama)? Like that. Dig deep. Don't accept surface meaning.