The crimes hidden behind "national security" must be prosecuted.

[bobthedrummer]

The time of using that broadest of brushes of any administration since 1947 to cover-up crimes and murder must end now. No more internal investigations, let decent law-enforcement (that has been stymied and blocked from doing it's job for political reasons) loose.

Anyone agree with me?

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. When it was done in '47 it was very limited

these days it covers just about everything and that is the problem

We need a broad review of what consitutes National Security sensitive information.

I mean there are miliary secrets that do fall in that category... but there are other thigns that do not fall in that category

Hell these days an attack by a pretzel on the President can be classified as National Security

[bobthedrummer]

3. When George H. W. Bush was Director/ CIA about the only known thing

was that he increased the use of secrecy contracts throughout government, aside from that known fact he was the most secretive Director of all.

That's why this is a major impediment to the many law enforcement professionals that have horrific investigations and cases unable to proceed-that's got to stop.

The criminal element of BFEE must be prosecuted, they cannot use the National Security umbrella any longer-a good start to this would be the prosecution of the military intelligence, intelligence, and mercenaries involved in the Iraqi prison torture case, which does include a murder according to S/Sgt Frederick II.

A lot of GI's are getting killed or wounded as a direct result of the behavior of national security criminals imo.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Read above, we most return to the standards of

1947.... they will not cover the political deals

But in order for this to happen.. we need to retake the white house, and the hill

[bobthedrummer]

2. This includes the use of mercenaries and Private Military Companies.

There's been an intelligence failure since it's creation in the 1947 National Security Act when real Nazis that had been "recruited" and given identities and jobs as Americans working national security were formally brought into the very foundation of the US intelligence community.

These Nazis found a political home in the RW of the Republican Party.
http://www.spiritone.com/~gdy52150/ratlines.htm

That was treasonous imo, there must be prosecution for crimes committed by national security since then.

Anyone got an example?

[Octafish]

6. And THAT's the secret they want covered up the most.

The original sin, the KKK and billionaires joined forces with their spiritual kin, the NAZÎs and the Mafia through their secret government, crafted in large part by the Dulles Brothers and Clark Clifford. Nice people, these, who really believe in Feudalism.

[bobthedrummer]

7. That's a fact, Jack!

That's why DYN CORP has the contract for law enforcement and corrections in Iraq, just like they did in Bosnia-it's EVIL when organized crime is law enforcement hiding behind national security-that's the BFEE indeed.

[seemslikeadream]

12. The Assassination of the Presidents and the Beginning of the "Apocalypse"

The U.S. and the Genocide in Rwanda 1994


U.S. diplomats and intelligence identified who was perpetrating the killing in Rwanda on the second day of the genocide, according to recently declassified documents posted to the Web today by the National Security Archive to mark the 10th anniversary of the start of the genocide.

The documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Archive consulting fellow William Ferroggiaro identify the elite Presidential Guard as perpetrators both of the shoot-down of the Rwandan president's plane and the targeted killings that laid the basis for the ensuing slaughter of an estimated 800,000 Rwandans from April through July 1994.

The documents reveal

CIA's report to top officials on day two of the crisis identified the "Presidential Guard, gendarmerie, and military" as killers of "several government officials-including the Prime Minister";
State Department intelligence informed policymakers the morning after the shoot-down of the plane that "rogue Hutu elements of the military-possibly the elite presidential guard" were probable culprits;
The U.S. defense attaché in Rwanda, who reported to State Department, defense intelligence and U.S. European Command officials, on the second day forwarded "reports that the Presidential Guard is "out of control" on the streets of Kigali while all other military units remain in their barracks".


http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB119/index.htm

[Octafish]

18. From Rwanda in 1994 to Dallas in 1963.

Some things never change. Here's video showing one of President Kennedy's Secret Service men ordered NOT to protect the President in the motorcade through Dallas. It is from a Super-8 movie taken at Love Field on November 22, 1963.

http://www.jfklancer.com/SSoffcar.html

Back to the point: R. So, yeah. If you want to overthrow a government, you take out the old head.

http://www.jfklink.com/articles/EmoryRoberts.html

Words cannot convey how I feel for the people of Rwanda.

[seemslikeadream]

28. How fragile we are

[seemslikeadream]

8. Kissinger Watch #5 - 03

Did you mean stuff like this? bob.
Kissinger Watch #5 - 03



Explanatory note regarding legal proceedings sparked by Kissinger’s visit to London

by ICAI

The expected arrival of Henry Kissinger in London to attend a conference on 24 April 2002 sparked several legal proceedings concerning his actions during his tenure as U.S. National Security Advisor and then U.S. Secretary of State in the Nixon administration. Two judges from Spain and France requested permission to question him in connection with cases brought against Augusto Pinochet in their countries. A British activist attempted to have him arrested for crimes allegedly committed in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam some 30 years ago. All of these attempts failed to bring Kissinger before the courts, but some may have nonetheless made progress in other ways.

In particular, the attempt to have Kissinger arrested clarified procedures for initiating a case against him in England, and demonstrated how seriously at least one judge takes the matter. On Monday, 22 April 2002, Peter Tatchell, a British human rights advocate, asked an English court to issue an arrest warrant for Kissinger, who was expected to be in London the coming Wednesday. Judge Nicholas Evans of Bow Street Magistrates’ Court, who had issued the first warrant for Pinochet, rejected Tatchell’s application two days later. While this prevented an arrest, the decision, provided below, included several potentially important points:

- Proceedings under the UK’s Geneva Conventions Act 1957 for war crimes committed prior to 1 September 2001 can be instituted only "by or on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions".

"… I am satisfied that proceedings can only be instituted by or on behalf of the DPP."

- However, the Court has a right to issue an arrest warrant for such offences, even when the DPP does not intend to bring proceedings. No consent is required from anyone but the judge.

"Thus, in the context of this application, it is within the power of this court to issue a warrant for Mr. Kissinger’s arrest for an offence said to be contrary to section 1 of the 1957 Act even though proceedings for such an offence shall not be instituted except by or on behalf of the DPP."

- The Court left open the possibility of issuing an arrest warrant in the future, if presented with sufficient evidence, even when the DPP refuses to initiate proceedings. It, however, doubted the utility of doing so.

First the Judge rejected the application on the ground that the DPP’s refusal to bring proceedings rendered an arrest useless, even if legal: "…in light of the DDP’s letter…, in which the Director says ‘ I do not intend to institute proceedings for a prosecution in this case’ it would seem quite pointless my issuing a warrant even if I were so minded."

He then explained that he had to refuse the application in this particular instance because he had not been presented with sufficient evidence, yet, importantly, implied that he might have done so had the evidence been adequate: "The material provided by Mr. Tatchell makes generalised allegations and suggests possible sources of potentially admissible evidence. I have serious misgivings concerning Mr. Tatchell’s ability to actually obtain such admissible evidence. I ought not to issue any summons/warrant unless I can draft a suitably precise charge. I can not presently do this on the information provided."

- Furthermore, this Judge recognised the need of victims, witnesses and others for justice in this matter.

"I do not doubt the strength of feeling in him and many others that justice requires that Mr. Kissinger should face the allegations made against him in a court of law."

Understanding these points could facilitate the ability of advocates and victims to bring future proceedings in England under the Geneva Conventions Act 1957, be they against Kissinger or others who have allegedly committed war crimes. It could also spark further research into the consistency of the consent requirement for initiating proceedings with the rights enshrined in the European Convention of human rights, including the right to an effective remedy, among others. Finally, the supportive words of the judge may even strengthen the efforts of those affected by the crimes in question to obtain justice.



OVERVIEW - Kissinger Watch #5



1. 'WAR CRIMES' CLAIMS: Kissinger begins to stoop under the weight of legal scrutiny opinion bears down Pinochet judge leaves the way open for charge against Kissinger Court rejects application to arrest Nixon's right-hand man over covert CIA activities in the 1970's

2. Kissinger admits possible errors on Vietnam

3. Explanatory note regarding legal proceedings sparked by Kissinger’s visit to London

4. APPLICATION FOR A WARRANT FOR THE ARREST OF HENRY ALFRED KISSINGER

5. REASONS for refusing the issue of a warrant

6. Why Milosevic, but not Kissinger?

7. Kissinger testimony pleas refused

8. Chile/UK: UK shirks its obligation to cooperate in human rights investigation

9. The government of the United Kingdom DID approve its request to question Henry Kissinger

10. Statement: Regarding the Spanish court’s request to question Mr. Henry Kissinger / J. Garces & M. Murillo

11. Spanish superjudge asks USA for permission to quiz Kissinger


fair use
http://www.icai-online.org/56474,46136.htm



All this right up Bush's Terrorist John Negroponte's alley


The perfect choice I guess


Bush's Terrorist: John Negroponte Sent to Iraq


Iraqi ambassador pick grilled on hand-over




By Steven Weisman
The New York Times

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's nominee for ambassador to Iraq on Tuesday defended the limits that would be placed on Iraqi self-rule, particularly those on control over security forces, asserting that after June 30 Iraqis will have "a lot more sovereignty than they have right now."
Facing skeptical questions about the new constraints emerging in the long-planned transfer of power before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the nominee, John Negroponte, said he saw his major challenge as trying to avert conflicts if the new Iraqi government objected to U.S. military actions. "These are the kinds of questions that I think our diplomacy is going to have to deal with," said Negroponte, who is now ambassador to the United Nations.
The toughest questions came from Democrats, but all the senators said they would support Negroponte's confirmation, which the committee could approve on Thursday. Senate aides said Negroponte could be confirmed by the full Senate as early as next week.
Negroponte said that any decisions on whether to attack rebel strongholds, as the United States is threatening now in Fallujah and Najaf, would require "great political sensitivity" even though American s will nominally be in charge of such decisions.

http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Apr/04282004/nation_w/161439.asp





Bush's Terrorist: John Negroponte Sent to Iraq


Dems Ignore Negroponte's Death Squad Past, Look to Confirm Iraq Appointmen


As Negroponte, responded to Hagel, he was interrupted by an activist, Andres Conteris of Non-violence International.

Andres Conteris, is program director for Latin America and the Caribbean for the human rights group Non-violence International. He disrupted yesterday's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on John Negroponte's appointment as US ambassador to Iraq.

As ambassador to Honduras, Negroponte played a key role in coordinating US covert aid to the Contra death squads in Nicaragua and shoring up a CIA-backed death squad in Honduras. During his term as ambassador there, diplomats alleged that the embassy's annual human rights reports made Honduras sound more like Norway than Argentina. In a 1995 series, the Baltimore Sun detailed the activities of a secret CIA-trained Honduran army unit, Battalion 3-16, that used "shock and suffocation devices in interrogations. Prisoners often were kept naked and, when no longer useful, killed and buried in unmarked graves." In 1994, Honduras's National Commission for the Protection of Human Rights reported that it was officially admitted that 179 civilians were still missing.

A former official who served under Negroponte says he was ordered to remove all mention of torture and executions from the draft of his 1982 report on the human rights situation in Honduras. During Negroponte's tenure, US military aid to Honduras skyrocketed from $3.9 million to over $77 million. Much of this went to ensure the Honduran army's loyalty in the battle against popular movements throughout Central America.

http://www.pacifica.org/programs/dn/040428.html

Bush's Terrorist: John Negroponte Sent to Iraq




Negroponte's "embassy" in Baghdad will, according to press reports, constitute the largest US "embassy staff" in the world with some 3000 employees, including up to 1,000 Americans.


Yet according to a four-part series in the Baltimore Sun in 1995, in 1982 alone the Honduran press ran 318 stories of murders and kidnappings by the Honduran military.

Opponents of Negroponte are demanding that all Senators read the full report before voting on his nomination.http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/ROF111A.html
In a cruel irony, the Bush administration has appointed a bona fide "terrorist" to wage its "war on terrorism" in Iraq.


It should come as no surprise that "on the day he was appointed to Iraq, Honduras decided to bring its troops in Iraq home." (Financial Times, April 21, 2004)

http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=2&contentid=1189



Face-off: Bush's Foreign Policy Warriors


On August 27, 1997, CIA Inspector General Frederick P. Hitz released a 211-page classified report entitled "Selected Issues Relating to CIA Activities in Honduras in the 1980's." This report was partly declassified on Oct. 22, 1998, in response to demands by the Honduran human rights ombudsman. Opponents of Negroponte are demanding that all Senators read the full report before voting on his nomination.

Reich, unlike Negroponte, is primarily a lobbyist and anti-Castro activist rather than a diplomat. He is director of the Washington-based Center for a Free Cuba and works for some of America's favorite industries: liquor (Bacardi), tobacco (British-American Tobacco), and weapons (Lockheed Martin). He also serves as vice-chairman of the Worldwide Responsible Apparel Program, or WRAP, an apparel industry-backed group characterized by union activists as an artifice for clothing importers to avoid serious scrutiny of their factories in developing countries.

In the 1980s, he headed a propaganda department in the State Department called the Office of Public Diplomacy. This unit, staffed with CIA and Pentagon psychological warfare specialists, reported to Oliver North. The function of the operation was to win support for administration policy in Central America. They wrote op-eds under the name of Nicaraguan rebel leaders and attacked those who differed with Reagan's policies. The Congressional investigation of the Iran-contra scandal identified numerous illegalities which led to the closure of the Office of Public Diplomacy.

Reich followed up these activities by serving as ambassador to Venezuela from 1986-89, at the height of the Iran-contra scandal. The Venezuelan government tried unsuccessfully to block his nomination.

While working for Bacardi, he successfully lobbied to slip Section 211 into the 1998 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, thus stripping Cuba of trademark protection. Ironically, he will be overseeing the Helms-Burton Act, which he helped to draft, which the administration has just decided not to carry into effect.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/ROF111A.html


NEGROPONTE - Sleeping Ambassador or Death Squad Diplomat?

The widespread use of American aerial surveillance to direct the Contra murderers to villages where only women and children were present to be killed, the routine use of torture, the encouragement of drug-smuggling into the U.S. to provide funding for the U.S.-backed forces all were revealed only after Negroponte had left his post as U.S. Ambassador to the Honduras. And who could forget the Honduran Anti-communist Liberation Army's ever popular practice of dropping victims from helicopters while they were in flight?

Make no mistake about it -- both Iraqi rebels and Al Qaeda terrorists see Negroponte's appointment as the first stage in implementing a policy of covert violence against their right to sovereignty and will effectively use it to recruit and incite radicals to commit more acts of violence against us. It's no coincidence that our Office of Homeland Security issued a heightened security alert just as Bush announced his plans for Negroponte.

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/04/con04178.html

US Martyrs Pose Questions for Negroponte
October 28, 2003
By TONI SOLO

US nuns murdered in El Salvador 4

In 1981, a couple of decades before Rachel Corrie was murdered, the bodies of four women were found in a shallow grave in a rural district not far from San Salvador, El Salvador's capital. They had been raped and shot dead by members of the Salvadoran army on the orders of senior officers. In the context of the time, the atrocity would hardly have merited reporting. But the women were United States citizens. Two were religious sisters of the New York based Maryknoll order, Ita Ford and Maureen Clarke. One was an Ursuline Sister, Dorothy Kazel, the fourth a lay missioner, Jean Donovan. By virtue of their nationality, the story did make the news, just--the back page of the New York Times, to that paper's eternal shame.

Those four women had helped defend Salvadorans from the terror unleashed against their own people by the Salvadoran government with support from the United States administrations of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. They gave their lives working alongside vulnerable people and communities in El Salvador. The murders followed the assassination in 1980 of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero. The women's deaths were manipulated by the US government and its ever-pliant news media. The full facts took years to emerge. US ambassador to the UN, Jean Kirkpatrick, falsely accused the women of having supported the Salvadoran armed opposition, the FMLN. In fact, the four women were passionate advocates of non-violence, accompanying the rural villagers they served while caught up in a violent civil war.

Ambassador Kirkpatrick's statements on the case of the four women were to be expected from an unrepentant supporter of the bloodthirsty Argentinian military dictatorship. Her successor at the UN was Vernon Walters, former deputy director of the CIA, co-organiser of the continent wide terrorist blueprint Plan Condor and promoter of Ronald Reagan's terrorist war against Nicaragua. In 1986 Vernon Walters threw in the face of the UN his government's rejection of the International Court of Justice verdict convicting the US of terrorism against Nicaragua.

Kirkpatrick's and Walters' apologetics for mass murder helped John Negroponte, then US ambassador to Honduras, cover up his support for the systematic forced disappearances used to destroy Honduran civilian opposition to the presence of Contra bases in their country. Thomas Pickering, US ambassador to El Salvador at the time, also gave misleading information on local army and paramilitary murders, probably an essential qualification for his subsequent posting in 1989 as US ambassador to the UN, taking over from Vernon Walters.

Jean Kirkpatrick, Vernon Walters, Thomas Pickering, John Negroponte and other US government representatives sent clear signals that the local military in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala were to be allowed a free hand by the United States government to murder tens of thousands of civilians and anyone who spoke out against the slaughter. Perhaps the defining climax to the sickening murder campaign came in 1989 when the Salvadoran army killed six Jesuit academics and two of their domestic staff at the University of Central America in San Salvador. These crimes were made possible because the United States government consistently tried to conceal its institutional role in funding, training and supporting the military and paramilitary perpetrators. The Iran-Contra scandal was the culmination of that sustained program of regional deceit.


http://www.counterpunch.org/solo10282003.html

[bobthedrummer]

9. You just opened a real can of worms, seemslikeadream-good one!

Got any more?

[seemslikeadream]

10. Probably but you'll have to read this first - promises to keep

And we still have promises to keep for that war


Laos - 2004 Anuual Report


The arrest of two European journalists for investigating the situation of the Hmong ethnic minority drew international attention to the lack of freedom in Laos, where the news media take their orders from the authorities. A press law announced in 2001 has still not been adopted.

The 15-year prison sentences received by reporters Thierry Falise and Vincent Reynaud drew the world's attention to the obstacles to foreign press coverage of the plight of Laos' Hmong ethnic minority. An international outcry forced the authorities in Vientiane to release the two journalists but their Laotian guides remained in prison and were allegedly mistreated.
Directly controlled by the information and culture ministry, the Laotian press gave a very one-sided account of the case of the two European journalists. The French-language weekly Le Rénovateur was the only publication to give both sides of the story, and it was immediately censored. The government news agency Khaosan Pathet Lao (KPL) is the only news organisation that is allowed to express a view on sensitive issues.
The party newspaper Paxaxon (People) bills itself as a "revolutionary publication written by the people and for the people which serves the revolution's political action." Journalists are civil servants in the employ of the information and culture ministry. The foreign ministry also has a say in media content. Criticism of the "friendly countries," especially the Vietnamese big brother and Burma, is banned.
To escape the propaganda, many Laotians are in the habit of watching Thai TV stations that can be received in border areas, including the capital. The authorities have never tried to put a stop to this. Similarly, the international radio services that broadcast in Lao, especially Radio Free Asia and Radio France Internationale, have never been jammed. On the other hand, foreign journalists who enter on a press visa are watched closely and are banned from visiting some parts of the country. The authorities control the only Internet operator and block some news websites and sites operated by dissidents based abroad.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10197


Hmong leader in Calif. may be target of violence in Minnesota

Associated Press

ST. PAUL - Authorities are looking for connections among a spate of violent incidents directed against local Hmong leaders affiliated with Gen. Vang Pao, a California resident regarded as the most influential Hmong leader in the United States.

The incidents include a firebombing at the suburban St. Paul home of the general's son, a drive-by shooting at the home of his translator, a suspicious fire at a St. Paul social service agency the general founded, and a reported hit list that includes a veteran St. Paul police officer.

Star Tribune of Minneapolis in its Sunday editions. Rumors are swirling about what's behind the violence, which the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported in its Sunday editions. Popular theories include communist agents, political divisions or the opening shots in a war of succession in the Hmong community.

"I believe there is something going on in a more general way," said Steve Young, former dean of the Hamline University law school and a close adviser to Vang, who lives outside Los Angeles. "These are not isolated incidents. Somebody is doing something."

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/politics/8574361 ...


gen. vang pao is a liar
Base: military
Re: My war too (Rose)
Re: WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW (your own people)
Re: i think... (kasey)
Re: General VANG PAO>>>??? (Alexis)
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 00:01:18 GMT
From: [email protected] (unknown yang)

vang pao is a liar who don't care about no one but himself. lets just face it, he is hmong and hmong men are are full of it. it was because of him lying to our parents in Laos that led to the death of over 108,000 hmong peoples. Two of thos people were my brothers. My dad lost his whole family and everyone else he cares for. General "coward" is not helping the hmongs in the usa neither the ones back home. he uses all the money he gets on gambling and the us lets him have 8 wives just because he was a dog to the americans who brainwashed the HMONGS to actually take part in th war just to die for the americans. A "TRUE LEADER" survives with all his people or die trying.

http://knossos.shu.edu/HyperNewsV/get/vp/military/66/4/16/1/2.html


US WI: Sen. George Asks UW For Probe On Vang Pao

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n809/a09.html
Newshawk: Drug Policy Forum of Wisconsin www.drugsense.org/dpfwi/
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Sat, 27 Apr 2002
Source: Capital Times, The (WI)
Copyright: 2002 The Capital Times
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.captimes.com /
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/73
Author: Pat Schneider


SEN. GEORGE ASKS UW FOR PROBE ON VANG PAO

State Sen. Gary George is calling on UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley to order an investigation into allegations by a UW-Madison professor that the commander of the CIA's secret army in the Vietnam War - now a leader of refugee Hmong in the United States - engaged in drug trafficking in Laos.

The allegations, 30 years old, resurfaced this month, enraging the refugee community.

"We will seek the truth and follow that path wherever it leads," George said Friday at a news conference at the State Capitol packed with Hmong veterans and supporters of Gen. Vang Pao.

Professor Alfred McCoy wrote about his findings on the role of Vang Pao and the CIA in drug trafficking in southeast Asia in a 1972 book, "The Politics of Heroin."

McCoy said the U.S. government assisted Vang Pao in bringing opium, an important cash crop for the Hmong, to heroin factories to help Vang Pao seal his leadership role and ensure a supply of fighters who waged a secret war against the North Vietnamese in Laos.

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n809/a09.html


McCoy said the U.S. government assisted Vang Pao in bringing opium


Posted on Wed, Apr. 28, 2004


ST. PAUL: Crime spree on Hmong investigated

BY LENORA CHU and TODD NELSON

Pioneer Press


Authorities are trying to determine whether a connection exists between anonymous death threats leveled Monday against seven Hmong community leaders and recent crimes committed against prominent Hmong.

St. Paul Police spokesman Paul Schnell revealed Wednesday that the death threats came in an anonymous call received by a St. Paul Hmong veterans group. Local and federal law enforcement agencies are investigating the alleged hit list.

Authorities also confirmed Wednesday that an object hurled through a window sparked the arson fire that destroyed the home of Cha Vang, son of influential leader Gen. Vang Pao. Cha Vang narrowly escaped the early Sunday fire with his wife and three daughters.

A flammable substance was also found in the home, according to Maplewood Police Chief Dave Thomalla, who declined to identify the object and substance.

Two other crimes are being investigated for possible connections. On April 20, someone fired five shots into the Maplewood home of Xang Vang, Gen. Vang Pao's translator. The following day, officials discovered someone had thrown a brick into a window and started a fire at the St. Paul offices of the Lao Family Community of Minnesota.

more
http://www.realcities.com/mld/twincities/8543732.htm



Muaj ib nqe ntawm Sen. Norm Coleman cov lus hais tias "nws yog ib qho tseem ceeb heev uas U.S. State Department yuav tsum ua txhua yam coj kom tau kev thaj yeeb nyab xeeb mus rau tebchaws Lostsuas thiab pab kom tau txoj kev muaj vaj huam sib luag (humanitarian) rau haiv neeg Hmoob nrog rau daws kom tau teeb meem tsoom Hmoob tawg rog nyob rau SE Asia".

http://www.hmonglaoradio.org/default.asp?active_page_id=32

From The Wire

Rapid Fire At Home Investigated
Saint Paul Pioneer Press (April 27, 2004)

Maplewood investigators suspect an arsonist set a weekend fire at the home of a prominent Hmong community leader, who is calling the blaze a politically motivated attempt to kill him and his family.

The fire destroyed the home of Cha Vang, son of Gen. Vang Pao, one of the most widely known and influential Hmong leaders in the United States.

http://fe.pennnet.com/News/Display_News_Story.cfm?Section=WireNews&Sub ...

Cha Vang, his wife and their three daughters were asleep when the fire broke out after 1 a.m. Sunday. A noise, possibly the sound of breaking glass, prompted him to investigate and he discovered the flames toward the back of the home. He and his family escaped unharmed, but the fire left little more than the garage standing.

"If you want to terrorize a person or send a message, you slash a tire," Cha Vang said Monday. "To burn down a house with people sleeping in it is attempted murder."

Investigators said they suspect arson because the house burned so thoroughly within minutes, said Maplewood Police Chief Dave Thomalla. Investigators searched the soot and debris for evidence for a second day on Monday.

http://fe.pennnet.com/News/Display_News_Story.cfm?Section=WireNews&Sub ...

1961
Eisenhower warns the young president-elect that Laos is a major crisis, the first "domino" in Southest Asia. The CIA begins the covert build up of Hmong forces under General Vang Pao at the beginning of the year. At the same time the U.S. sends the rightist forces to Laos six AT-6 Harvard trainer aircraft armed with machine guns and equipped to fire rockets and drop bombs. The covert PEO infantrymen are replaced by 400 clandestine U.S special forces personnel known as White Star Movile Training Teams. Kennedy announces U.S support for the sovereignty of Laos in March, directly confronting the Soviet Union. Geneva conference on Laos opens in May.

http://www.seacrc.org/pages/ravenschrono.html

http://www.ohiopowmia.com/news/2190302.html


37. COLEMAN HOSTS FIRST EVER MEETING BETWEEN HMONG LEADER


COLEMAN HOSTS FIRST EVER MEETING BETWEEN HMONG LEADER GENERAL VANG PAO AND SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL
Coleman working to alleviate humanitarian crises in Laos and streamline Hmong refugee resettlement process

January 21st, 2004 - Washington, DC - Senator Norm Coleman today hosted a meeting in his Senate office between Hmong leader General Vang Pao and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Matt Daley. The group, which also included Chao Ophat Nachmpassak, a member of the Lao royal family, discussed General Vang Pao's efforts to bring peace to Laos, the refugee resettlement program for Hmong in Thailand, and the humanitarian crisis facing many Hmong living in Laos.

"I have some serious concerns about the way the Hmong people are being treated today in Southeast Asia," Coleman said. "It's critical that the U.S. State Department does all it can to bring peace to Laos and an end to the humanitarian and refugee crises facing many Hmong in Southeast Asia. This meeting is a solid first step in opening up a real, meaningful diplomatic dialogue between Hmong leaders in Southeast Asia and the U.S. State Department."

General Vang Pao presented to State Department officials his vision for a lasting peace in Laos, as he publicly articulated on November 26. State Department officials listened to Vang Pao's presentation, and discussed the changing opportunities for peaceful reconciliation in Southeast Asia.

Daley, who had just returned from an official visit to the region, described the U.S. initiative to resettle in the U.S. as many as 14,000 Hmong refugees currently living in Wat Tham Krabok, Thailand

http://coleman.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&Pr ...

Hmong Proving Potent Political Organizers in U.S.
SuabHmongRadio, News Report,
Compiled and Translated by Pha Lo, Apr 30, 2004

MILWAUKEE, Wisc. -- Milwuakee is home to approximately 20,000 Hmong, a nomadic tribe that emigrated from Laos in the Vietnam War's aftermath. Here in the United States, Hmong are discovering that their traditional, clan-based system of leadership can benefit U.S.-style grassroots politicking.

Tens of thousands of Hmong left Laos in the 1970s and 1980s after losing a war in which they were covertly recruited to serve alongside the U.S. military. Here in the United States, many were naturalized as U.S. citizens after the Lao-Veterans bill, introduced in 1996, expedited the process for those who had served or been disabled in that war.

Since gaining citizenship, Hmong have begun to exercise their voting rights. This year marked a political rite of passage for Milwaukee-are Hmong who worked on Republican State Sen. Bob Welch’s campaign for the U.S. Senate. He won the Republican primary and will compete in general elections.

Wisconsin is home to approximately 40,000 Hmong.

Victor Vaj is a Hmong radio personality in Milwaukee who spent a year working on the State Senator’s campaign. For Vaj, seeing an older generation of naturalized citizen exercise voting rights fulfills a second purpose. It encourages the U.S.-born generation to use their birthright along with their traditional Hmong upbringing to pursue politics in this country.

http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=9d4de22d1f ...

Thousands of Hmong Refugees from Laos Ready to Arrive
Jack Austin Smith, a Vietnam Veteran and a retired career soldier

Thousands of Hmong Refugees from Laos Ready to Arrive


By Elizabeth Putnam
Wausau Daily Herald
[email protected]

The clan system remains an integral part of Hmong culture, but the assimilation of the Hmong into American culture is threatening the system's survival.

The Hmong clans
Original 12 Hmong clans
Cha, Hang, Her, Kue, Khang, Lee, Moua, Song, Thao, Vang, Xiong, Yang
The 18 clans of today
Cha, Cheng, Chue, Fang, Hang, Her, Khang, Kong, Kue, Lee, Lor, Moua, Pha, Thao, Vang, Vue, Xiong, Yang
Sources: "Mong Education at the Crossroads," by Paoze Thao and the Hmong Cultural and Resource Center of Minnesota at hmongcenter.org



Within Hmong culture, there are 18 clans, and members of each share the same last name. The clan leaders and members provide each other with social, economic and legal assistance. They help organize social events such as weddings and offer support during difficult times, as when a family member is ill.

"I think that in the future, most of the younger children now might lose that knowledge of the clan, but that's why we need to teach or educate the kids," said Chang Yang, 36, president of the board of the Wausau Area Hmong Mutual Association.

The origin of the clan system is a mystery, according to local Hmong residents and the book "Mong Education at the Crossroads," by Paoze Thao, a professor at California State University in Monterey Bay. Thao uses an alternate spelling of Hmong in his work.

Hmong folklore tells the story of a brother and sister who married and had a child who resembled a seed. They cut it up into 12 pieces and scattered them. The pieces made people, each representing a clan. The 12 clans eventually branched out into 18 clans.

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/wdhlocal/291782635188000.shtml

Thousands of Hmong Refugees from Laos Ready to Arrive in California
Tamara Keith
Fresno, California
08 Apr 2004, 19:28 UTC

Listen to Tamara Keith's report (RealAudio)
Keith report - Download 676k (RealAudio)

In just a few months as many as 3000 new Hmong refugees could arrive in California's Central Valley. For years they've been living in a makeshift camp at a broken-down Buddhist temple in Thailand. The Hmong people aided the United States during the Vietnam War and were forced to flee their home country of Laos as the war ended. Thousands have come to the U.S since the early 1980s, but nearly 15,000 remain on the temple grounds in Thailand. In December the State Department bowed to pressure from Hmong Americans and the Thai government and agreed to let this group of refugees immigrate. Tamara Keith reports on what Fresno community leaders are doing to prepare for the arrival.
Hmong refugee Pai Yang came to this country when she was 10 years old. Now she's the Refugee Resettlement Director for Catholic Charities in Fresno, helping families fill out the forms needed to bring their relatives over from Thailand. For Ms. Yang and others, the upcoming influx of new refugees came as a surprise. She said, "For our community this is like a very great time, a joyful time. To be able to have this opportunity to resettle in this country, to have the opportunity for education, health, etc."

On this morning, Ms. Yang is meeting with Pai-Yang Thao and her husband, who are hoping to sponsor 22 family members now living on the temple grounds in Thailand. The young couple visited the camp in December. They found it surrounded by armed guards, and the people there living with no electricity or running water.

"When we got there we felt very sad that they were living in a bad place and being caged up like animals," she said. "They can't go outside to find food and they're always waiting for us over here to send them money."

Ms. Thao can't wait for her parents, siblings, nieces and nephews to arrive in Fresno. She said that for her the reunion is like a dream come true. But, if past experience is any indication, her family will likely have a hard time adjusting to life here in the valley. Pai Yang says that when she arrived with her mother and sister in the 1980s, they struggled with the language and the culture. In Laos, her mother was a successful businesswoman, but here in California she had to pick tomatoes to make a living. Ms. Yang believes that many Hmong refugees had similar difficulties.

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=0D604918-8C63-43F1-A1BBC15 ...

400 protest opening trade with Laos
Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription), MN - Apr 14, 2004
... older Hmong military veterans in camouflage fatigues and younger Hmong college students ... for the US government to pressure the communist leaders to address human ...

http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/199810/15_radila_reform /

Duluth's Hmong Families Find Reform Pressure
By Amy Radil
October 15, 1998 RealAudio 2.0 14.4
Part of the MPR Welfare to Work Series

DULUTH'S SMALL HMONG COMMUNITY has been steadily growing over the past ten years. Late last year there were about 175 Hmong households in Duluth on the welfare rolls. But then Minnesota moved in to welfare reform and as they themselves admit, St. Louis County and the City of Duluth Job Training forgot the city's immigrants.

Bea Larson: There was a lot of initial panic and fear and initial orientation sessions had to be redone.
Bea Larson, is an instructor at the Adult Learning Center who teaches English as a second language classes. She soon learned the county had not only sent out letters informing Hmong recipents of the changes in English alone... it was also conducting required orientation sessions exclusively in English.

Larson: Initially people were asked to sign jobs plans that they didn't understand. A number of different folks with limited English had to be re-oriented in ways that they'd understand what they were agreeing to do.
Larson contacted Gwen Updegraaf, a legal aid attorney, who met with a group of Hmong welfare recipients who told her of further problems. The Minnesota Family Investment Program, or MFIP, legislation calls for participants to receive an individualized assessment with a job counselor, who helps them formulate a plan consisting of education, training or active job seeking. Updegraaf says instead, these people had pre-printed job forms instructing them to perform 30 hours of job search each week.

Updegraaf: There was no individualized assessment done with these people, no one sat down with them and determined how much English they spoke. Several people who had problems with their plans complained of disabilities.
Amidst the confusion, Hmong families began leaving Duluth for the Twin Cities. Reasons varied. Some wanted to join relatives, some wanted access to support services in their own language, and many found ready employment and higher wages. When Updegraaf contacted St. Louis County officials with her concerns, they agreed to allow Hmong immigrants to start over in the orientation process, this time with an interpreter, Bobbee Vang. Vang was hired with a grant from the McKnight Foundation to provide special support for Southeast Asians seeking jobs in Duluth.


My interest in Hmong started here in GD

lojasmo (219 posts) Sun May-02-04 01:24 AM
Original message
Police everywhere in duluth WTF


There was a police officer in the lobby of my hotel on canal point, and an oficer in the lobby of Grandma's restaraunt/bar.

In the cold war, reportedly, duluth was number seven on the list of probable nuclear targets.

Any ideas?

Jackpine Radical (1000+ posts) Sun May-02-04 04:34 PM
Response to Reply #25

27. OK--but why Duluth?


It's 150 miles north of the Twin Cities.

social workers and educators say it's been a struggle


FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The twin cities are home to the largest Hmong population in North America, about 60,000 people. They began arriving from Laos and Thai refugee camps in the late '70s, initially placed here by local church-based refugee relief groups. And while this community has plenty to celebrate, social workers and educators say it's been a struggle. Of all the Southeast Asian refugees who fled for the U.S., none was more reluctant or less prepared than the Hmong. Hmong music, artwork, and ceremonies depict an agrarian people who fled once, a century before, from China to almost total isolation in the hills of Laos. Until the mid-20th century, the Hmong did not have a written language or a currency.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/vietnam/hmong_5-4.html


2001 Hmong Population and Education in
the United States and the World
August 24, 2001
Researched and Collected by Dr. Vang Pobzeb

From 1975 to 1991, more than 500,000 people in Laos fled and became international political refugees in the world because of the legacy of the Vietnam War in Southeast Asia.


The Communist Lao and Vietnamese governments have been exterminating Hmong people in Laos since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 and are still doing so today, because of Hmong people cooperated with the U.S. government during the Vietnam War. In 2001, witnesses in Laos have reported that many thousands of Communist Vietnamese soldiers are cooperating with the Communist Lao government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR) to conduct an ethnic cleansing war, genocide and human rights violations against Hmong people in Laos. Therefore, we appeal to and call upon Hmong American intellectuals, educators and the general public to unify our leadership strategies and efforts in order to save the lives of Hmong people in Laos. We call upon all Hmong people to unify and work together to save the lives of Hmong people. Power politics in the world and global actors are remaining silent on the genocide against Hmong people in Laos because they are concerned with economics and commercial goods for themselves. They do not really care about human rights violations and genocide in Laos and in other parts of the world.

There are about 300,000 Hmong American people in the United States in 2001.


In 2001, there are approximately 80,000 Hmong American people in Minnesota; and 80,000 Hmong Americans in Wisconsin.


About 40,000 Hmong Americans moved from California to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and other states between 1996 and 2001.


About 70,000 Hmong Americans still live in California in 2001.


Many Hmong Americans moved from California to Minnesota and Wisconsin and other states because of the problems of welfare reforms and unemployment problems

http://www.laohumrights.org/2001data.html

Jack Austin Smith, a Vietnam Veteran and a retired career soldier


Writing to an American who was confused about the Hmong people, Jack Austin Smith, a Vietnam Veteran and a retired career soldier, wrote the following in 1996 (quoted from his e-mail to me, with permission):

The war in Vietnam was fought on several fronts and I served in two them. The main American battle ground was in the Southern end of South Vietnam. In order for the North Vietnamese forces to fight us there, it was necessary for their supplies and troops to go through Laos and Cambodia on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and Laos was controlled by a Pro-Communist Government at that time. Therefore America was not allowed to have any forces on the ground, although we were allowed to bomb and attack North Vietnamese troops with our aerial forces. About 99% of the combat forces on the ground were Hmong irregulars who were persuaded by Americans to forget about being neutral, and to fight the N. Vietnamese regulars (not relatively poorly trained Viet Cong guerrilla forces). We supplied air cover, but every combat trooper knows aircraft can't take and hold ground. We depended on the Hmongs to do this. Without modern arms, without medical help.
After the fall of Saigon we pulled out of Southeast Asia and left the Hmongs to continue the fight without air support. When we left, the Hmong had to fight both the Laotians and the N. Vietnamese. They could not fight tanks, heavy artillery and aircraft with rifles. A great many Hmongs were slaughtered in their villages. Many were slaughtered at airfields where they waited for evacuation planes that never came. A few were able to fight every foot of the way across Laos and cross the Mekong River into refugee camps in Thailand where they were further mistreated by rather corrupt UN and Thai officials. Out of a estimated 3,000,000 prewar Hmong population less than 200,000 made it to safety. One other ill informed or stupid writer said "they were all gone" meaning, I guess, that the combat Hmongs were all dead, they are wrong. Most of the survivors are in Australia, France and here among us.

Now I don't know about those heroes who have never heard a shot fired in anger, but I am embarrassed that my country so mislead these people. The Hmongs gave up literally everything for us: their country, their homes, their peaceful way of life, most of their families, everything that we would cherish. We promised them our continued support and then we bugged out.

You mentioned having relatives who fought in Vietnam and I hope they all survived. However their chances would have been much less if the Hmongs hadn't intercepted over 50% of the N. Vietnamese troops and supplies. If you truly loved your relatives, you should be grateful for the Hmongs' sacrifices.
http://www.jefflindsay.com/hmong.shtml

[seemslikeadream]

30. Attacks on Hmong leaders a puzzle

Last update: May 1, 2004 at 10:17 PM
Attacks on Hmong leaders a puzzle
Herón Márquez Estrada And Chao Xiong, Star Tribune
May 2, 2004HMONG

The theories for the attacks range from payback for the assassination in Thailand in October 2002 of Pa Kao Her, a Hmong resistance leader, to clan rivalries and an internal squabble in Vang's organization, according to community leaders.

Community leaders say Her, decades ago, aligned himself with other clans to form political opposition to the general. Her's killer has never been discovered. But in some circles and on the Internet, people speculate about whether the general or his supporters might have been involved.

As a result, Young does not discount the assassination payback theory, even though he says the general was not involved. "In my mind that is a possibility," Young said.

He added that the violence, particularly the arson attack on the general's son and the drive-by shooting, also could be part of a clan feud aimed at the Vangs and not at the general in particular.

"We are hearing the same things you are," Thomalla said. "There is so much chatter going on. We are looking at a lot of different things."

Critical speech

Some community leaders believe the trigger of the current unrest might have been a speech the general gave on Nov. 26 at the Prom Center in Oakdale.

more
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1557/4753340.html

[Octafish]

42. So, you started to learn about these great people on DU?

How cool. Like most, I heard about these people of the mountains through the war in southeast Asia. They are incredibly good people. People who keep their word.

Going back to "Promises to Keep." Did you know that's the name of Bush's fave artwork? It depicts some kind of pony express dude on horseback, high-tailin' it through some high mountain pass. How completely inappropriate.

[seemslikeadream]

11. Rumsfeld headed pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle & Co.

One of these directives from Reagan, National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 99, signed on July 12, 1983, is available only in a highly redacted version . It reviews U.S. regional interests in the Middle East and South Asia, and U.S. objectives, including peace between Israel and the Arabs, resolution of other regional conflicts, and economic and military improvements, "to strengthen regional stability." It deals with threats to the U.S., strategic planning, cooperation with other countries, including the Arab states, and plans for action. An interdepartmental review of the implications of shifting policy in favor of Iraq was conducted following promulgation of the directive.

By the summer of 1983 Iran had been reporting Iraqi use of using chemical weapons for some time. The Geneva protocol requires that the international community respond to chemical warfare, but a diplomatically isolated Iran received only a muted response to its complaints . It intensified its accusations in October 1983, however, and in November asked for a United Nations Security Council investigation.

The U.S., which followed developments in the Iran-Iraq war with extraordinary intensity, had intelligence confirming Iran's accusations, and describing Iraq's "almost daily" use of chemical weapons, concurrent with its policy review and decision to support Iraq in the war . The intelligence indicated that Iraq used chemical weapons against Iranian forces, and, according to a November 1983 memo, against "Kurdish insurgents" as well .

What was the Reagan administration's response? A State Department account indicates that the administration had decided to limit its "efforts against the Iraqi CW program to close monitoring because of our strict neutrality in the Gulf war, the sensitivity of sources, and the low probability of achieving desired results." But the department noted in late November 1983 that "with the essential assistance of foreign firms, Iraq ha become able to deploy and use CW and probably has built up large reserves of CW for further use. Given its desperation to end the war, Iraq may again use lethal or incapacitating CW, particularly if Iran threatens to break through Iraqi lines in a large-scale attack" . The State Department argued that the U.S. needed to respond in some way to maintain the credibility of its official opposition to chemical warfare, and recommended that the National Security Council discuss the issue.

Following further high-level policy review, Ronald Reagan issued National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 114, dated November 26, 1983, concerned specifically with U.S. policy toward the Iran-Iraq war. The directive reflects the administration's priorities: it calls for heightened regional military cooperation to defend oil facilities, and measures to improve U.S. military capabilities in the Persian Gulf, and directs the secretaries of state and defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to take appropriate measures to respond to tensions in the area. It states, "Because of the real and psychological impact of a curtailment in the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf on the international economic system, we must assure our readiness to deal promptly with actions aimed at disrupting that traffic." It does not mention chemical weapons .

Soon thereafter, Donald Rumsfeld (who had served in various positions in the Nixon and Ford administrations, including as President Ford's defense secretary, and at this time headed the multinational pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle & Co.) was dispatched to the Middle East as a presidential envoy. His December 1983 tour of regional capitals included Baghdad, where he was to establish "direct contact between an envoy of President Reagan and President Saddam Hussein," while emphasizing "his close relationship" with the president . Rumsfeld met with Saddam, and the two discussed regional issues of mutual interest, shared enmity toward Iran and Syria, and the U.S.'s efforts to find alternative routes to transport Iraq's oil; its facilities in the Persian Gulf had been shut down by Iran, and Iran's ally, Syria, had cut off a pipeline that transported Iraqi oil through its territory. Rumsfeld made no reference to chemical weapons, according to detailed notes on the meeting .

more
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/

[seemslikeadream]

13. OH! I'M HORRIFIED - U.S. COMMITTEES WAR CRIMES IN IRAQ

Is this news?

People are shocked.

Isn't it awful, isn't it awful.

Wring my hands.




BRAZIL MARKS 40th ANNIVERSARY OF MILITARY COUP

DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS SHED LIGHT ON U.S. ROLE

Audio tape: President Johnson urged taking "every step that we can" to support overthrow of Joao Goulart

U.S. Ambassador Requested Pre-positioned Armaments to aid Golpistas; Acknowledged covert operations backing street demonstrations, civic forces and resistance groups

Edited by Peter Kornbluh
[email protected] / 202 994-7116


Washington D.C., 31 March 2004 - "I think we ought to take every step that we can, be prepared to do everything that we need to do," President Johnson instructed his aides regarding preparations for a coup in Brazil on March 31, 1964. On the 40th anniversary of the military putsch, the National Security Archive today posted recently declassified documents on U.S. policy deliberations and operations leading up to the overthrow of the Goulart government on April 1, 1964. The documents reveal new details on U.S. readiness to back the coup forces.

The Archive's posting includes a declassified audio tape of Lyndon Johnson being briefed by phone at his Texas ranch, as the Brazilian military mobilized against Goulart. "I'd put everybody that had any imagination or ingenuity… McCone… McNamara" on making sure the coup went forward, Johnson is heard to instruct undersecretary of State George Ball. "We just can't take this one," the tape records LBJ's opinion. "I'd get right on top of it and stick my neck out a little."

Among the documents are Top Secret cables sent by U.S. Ambassador Lincoln Gordon who forcefully pressed Washington for direct involvement in supporting coup plotters led by Army Chief of Staff General Humberto Castello Branco. "If our influence is to be brought to bear to help avert a major disaster here-which might make Brazil the China of the 1960s-this is where both I and all my senior advisors believe our support should be placed," Gordon wrote to high State Department, White House and CIA officials on March 27, 1964.

To assure the success of the coup, Gordon recommended "that measures be taken soonest to prepare for a clandestine delivery of arms of non-US origin, to be made available to Castello Branco supporters in Sao Paulo." In a subsequent cable, declassified just last month, Gordon suggested that these weapons be "pre-positioned prior any outbreak of violence," to be used by paramilitary units and "friendly military against hostile military if necessary." To conceal the U.S. role, Gordon recommended the arms be delivered via "unmarked submarine to be off-loaded at night in isolated shore spots in state of Sao Paulo south of Santos."


more
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB118/index.htm

[seemslikeadream]

15. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. OLIVER L. NORTH

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. OLIVER L. NORTH, Defendant


63. On April 26, U.S. Ambassador Negroponte notified McFarlane that President Suazo had called Negroponte immediately after Suazo's telephone conversation with President Reagan to say that Suazo was satisfied with the U.S. government commitment to continue support for the Resistance. President Suazo told Ambassador Negroponte that he (Suazo) had assured President Reagan of his full support and had promised that he (Suazo) would check into the interdicted munitions shipment, which he did immediately after the conversation with President Reagan by calling a senior Honduran military official. Suazo told Negroponte that Honduras supported the Resistance fully, and Suazo asked that Negroponte convey his strongest assurances to President Reagan that Honduras would not let down the Resistance. Ambassador Negroponte recommended under the circumstances that the Honduran delegation be received in Washington by Vice President Bush in President Reagan's absence.

78. In mid-January 1986, LtCol North prepared talking points for a meeting between Admiral Poindexter, Vice President Bush, and Honduran President Azcona. North recommended that Admiral Poindexter and Vice President Bush tell President Azcona of the need for Honduras to work with the U.S. government on increasing regional involvement with and support for the Resistance. Poindexter and Bush were also to raise the subject of better U.S. government support for the states bordering Nicaragua.


97. In late August 1986, North reported to Admiral Poindexter that a representative of Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega had asked North to meet with him. Noriega's representative proposed that, in exchange for a promise from the USG to help clean up Noriega's image and a commitment to lift the USG ban on military sales to the Panamanian defense forces, Noriega would assassinate the Sandinista leadership for the U.S. government. North had told Noriega's representative that U.S. law forbade such actions. The representative responded that Noriega had numerous assets in place in Nicaragua and could accomplish many essential things, just as Noriega had helped the USG the previous year in blowing up a Sandinista arsenal.

102. In mid-September 1986, LtCol North advised Admiral Poindexter that former U.S. Ambassador Negroponte, General Gorman of SouthCom, senior CIA official Duane Clarridge, and LtCol North had worked out arrangements for support of the Resistance with General Bueso-Rosa, a former Honduran military officer who had recently been convicted of offenses in the U.S. LtCol North suggested that efforts be made on Bueso-Rosa behalf to deter him from disclosing details of the covert activities.

103. In late September 1986, LtCol North advised Admiral Poindexter that Costa Rican Interior Minister Garron had disclosed the existence of the Santa Elena airstrip. North stated that President Arias of Costa Rica had breached his understanding with the U.S. government. Assistant Secretary of State Abrams and Secretary of State Shultz wanted to cancel Arias' scheduled visit with President Reagan and replace his appointment by scheduling a meeting with President Cerezo of Guatemala. Admiral Poindexter agreed.

104. A U.S. official met with President Cerezo of Guatemala in September 1986. Cerezo told the U.S. official that he intended to pursue U.S. government goals in Central America, including specific support for the armed Resistance, but that he would seek additional military aid from the U.S. in return.

105. President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Shultz, Weinberger, and Poindexter were informed of the U.S. official's meeting with President Cerezo. It was reported to these officials that, in return for Guatemalan support for the Resistance, Cerezo would ask Secretary of State Shultz to triple military assistance to Guatemala, to double economic assistancs to Guatemala, and to undertake other forms of support for Guatemala.

106. In late September 1986, LtCol North reported to Admiral Poindexter on his London meeting with Noriega. Noriega would try to take immediate actions against the Sandinistas and offered a list of priorities including an oil refinery, an airport, and the Puerto Sandino off-load facility.

http://www.webcom.com/pinknoiz/covert/stip.html



Anti-War Demonstrators in the Streets of Washington

Anti-war demonstrators crowd the streets of Washington, DC. The man in the foreground has a gas mask.

I was there that day. I wish I had one of those masks. I did have an alert friend that grabbed my hand and started running when he saw the can fired. It stung but at least we got a step ahead of the crowd.

[Octafish]

22. The crook Ollie North sicced FBI on Sen. John Kerry.

... because Kerry actually had the temerity to investigate the Iran-Contra drug running trail that greased right through Ollie's White House subterranean bunker and straight into "Vice-president" George Bush's office.

OLLIE NORTH AND DRUGS

By Dennis Bernstein and Howard Levine
From The Texas Observer

EXCERPT...

If Iran-Contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh had wanted to know the extent of former Colonel Oliver North's involvement in the smuggling of drugs from Central America to the United States, Walsh might have made at least one phone call to Celerino 'Cele' Castillo in San Antonio.

Between 1985 to 1991, Castillo was the Drug Enforcement Administration's main agent in El Salvador, where, he says, he uncovered "and reported" a huge drug and gun smuggling operation that was run out of the Ilopango military airport by the 'North Network' and the CIA.

North, now the Republican nominee for the U. S. Senate in Virginia, prevailed at the nominating convention last weekend by positioning himself far to the right of his rival, former Reagan budget director James Miller III, promising that if elected he will work to "clean up the mess" in Washington, and cultivating the support of the same fundamentalist Christian Republicans who
responded to the direct-mail campaign to finance the North defense committee.

But Castillo, the first government official with first-hand knowledge of North's drug dealing to speak publicly about it, says North belongs in prison, not in the U.S. Senate. "We saw several packages of narcotics, we saw several boxes of U.S. currency, going from Ilopango to Panama," Castillo said.

CONTINUED...

http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies/ben/news/cia/961120.castillo.html

Portraying North as a dung beatle rolling along on the turd that's the BFEE is pretty apt.



"Who you calling Sisyphus, ya Wimp!?"

[seemslikeadream]

36. The Oliver North File:

His Diaries, E-Mail, and Memos on
the Kerry Report, Contras and Drugs

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 113

February 26, 2004
Washington D.C., 26 February 2004 - Diaries, e-mail, and memos of Iran-contra figure Oliver North, posted today on the Web by the National Security Archive, directly contradict his criticisms yesterday of Sen. John Kerry's 1988 Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee report on the ways that covert support for the Nicaraguan contras in the 1980s undermined the U.S. war on drugs.

Mr. North claimed to talk show hosts Hannity & Colmes that the Kerry report was "wrong," that Sen. Kerry "makes this stuff up and then he can't justify it," and that "The fact is nobody in the government of the United States, going all the way back to the earliest days of this under Jimmy Carter, ever had anything to do with running drugs to support the Nicaraguan resistance. Nobody in the government of the United States. I will stand on that to my grave."

The Kerry subcommittee did not report that U.S. government officials ran drugs, but rather, that Mr. North, then on the National Security Council staff at the White House, and other senior officials created a privatized contra network that attracted drug traffickers looking for cover for their operations, then turned a blind eye to repeated reports of drug smuggling related to the contras, and actively worked with known drug smugglers such as Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to assist the contras. The report cited former Drug Enforcement Administration head John Lawn testifying that Mr. North himself had prematurely leaked a DEA undercover operation, jeopardizing agents' lives, for political advantage in an upcoming Congressional vote on aid to the contras (p.121).

Among the documents posted today are:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB113/index.htm

[Octafish]

40. This sums up Ollie North, Murder Inc.

A Short History of Saddam-Bush-Noriega Business

(continued)

by CONSPIRACY PLANET

EXCERPT...

"Then in 1989 when the so-called Iraq Gate scandal began to break open, there were Congressional hearings about Bushonian mischief making with Saddam Hussein. But who remembers that now? Many senior Reagan-Bush people were inculpated in a scheme to illegally transfer non-conventional American weapons systems to Saddam."

"When Senator Christopher Dodd's committee attempted to subpoena Saddam Hussein, that subpoena was the only subpoena issued by the Iraq Gate investigating committee that was blocked by the Bush Regime. He was told to keep himself scarce and Saddam kept himself scarce when the Democratically controlled committee was investigating Bushonian involvement in the illicit transfer on non-conventional weapons systems to Iraq. That was when Saddam suddenly went on this holiday someplace in the Caspian Sea."

Al Martin's reference to "Saddam, Watch Out for That Soap" comes from the fact that Enemies of Bush have often died very "conveniently" at very "convenient" times.

"It should also be remembered how CIA doper George Morales supposedly slipped on a bar of soap in prison and was killed when his head hit the floor," Martin reminds his readers. "That was one day before he was due to be released -- when he was going to Washington to testify before the Kerry Committee hearing."

"So Saddam -- remember what happened to the other right wing dictators."

CONTINUED - - SOURCE (Al Martin, warning for the blue-blooded DUers):

http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=2&contentid=1019&page=2

More on the subject, courtesy of NSA and DUer extraordinaire seemslikeadream:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm

[seemslikeadream]

45. Octafish look what I found huntin for PMCs

[Octafish]

46. They look like good people, slad!

Wouldn't say the same, necessarily, of their bosses. And what innnnnnnteresting occupations.

Wow! Reminds me of this time I googled "Faded Giant" and got into some NORAD archive.
"Yes. There were flying saucers in the news those days. Mighty strange days, indeed..."

[seemslikeadream]

47. Sweethearts they are

The Americans on the other hand - especially those looking after Bremer himself - were the polar opposite - loud, brash and arrogant. They wore a de facto 'uniform' which although it was of their own choosing, looked to have been formed by common consent from a depot of Banana Republic. They parade around wearing Oakley sunglasses, wearing flak jackets and vests laden with ephemera - radios, grenades, spare cartridges and magazines - curly wires trailing to their ears whilst they cradle automatic weapons aggressively in front of them. Beige cargo pants, held up by a gunbelt bearing a personal sidearm seemed to be the order of the day and their attitude made them no friends, especially amongst the soldiers and journalists who their work often brought them into contact with.



23 April 2004 at 09:28


CLOSE PROTECTION? THE SHADOWY WORLD OF PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANIES


They travel in armoured SUVs, ostentatiously carrying powerful weapons - assault rifles, sidearms, grenades - and they shoot and arrest people just as the soldiers do but minus the uniform and legal status. They're paid around $1,000 a day, considerably more than the regular soldiers or police officers which they used to be, work six weeks on and three off with paid flights home at the end of each tour. The advantage for the US is that their deaths and injuries don't show up on the figures for troop casualties. They are the bodyguards.

Jo Wilding said it best in her piece on the incident when four 'contractors' were killed, sparking off the siege of Falluja by US Marines.

"We arrived back just after the incident in Falluja where the contractors were shot, burnt, mutilated and dragged through the streets. The scenes themselves, on satellite TV in a friend's house, were shocking, all the more so because the dead men were described as civilians.

But what if they were soldiers, armed men who signed up for war and were paid to fight it? They were shot dead in an ambush - what was done to their bodies afterwards was distressing no matter what, but if they were soldiers, they were killed in action. The truth of course is that they were somewhere in between, mercenaries from US firm Blackwater Security, given a contract by USAID to protect contractors".



And it's not just the US government engaging the services of these private armies, operating on the very edges of legality in the shadowy world of close protection. Britain's own Foreign and Commonwealth Office employs civilian close protection officers from UK firm Control Risks Group amongst others to look after its staff and secondees deployed to Iraq. Global Risk International, another British private military contractor has had as many as 1,200 of its personnel in Iraq making it effectively the sixth-largest contributor to the Coaliton Forces. Most of its uniformed troops are either Nepalese Gurkhas or demobilised Fijian soldiers.

I must admit, I hadn't given the concpet of being provided with my own close protection team a great deal of thought prior to my arrival in Baghdad, other than pondering on the motivations of someone who felt their life, should it come to it, was worth less than mine. After all, as a last resort, a bodyguard's role is to protect his principal's life with his own. And in the strange reality that is life within the Green Zone, I soon got used to the men who, looking like extras straight from central casting, arrived at my accommodation each morning to escort me through Baghdad to wherever my assignments took me. It was only later, upon my return that I paused to consider the deeper implications - both legal and moral - of governments using hired guns.

With soldiers still having to battle insurgents and defend themselves, the job of protecting everyone else in Iraq - from journalists like myself, engineers and those involevd in the country's reconstruction to government contractors to the US' head of the CPA, L. Paul Bremer - is largely being done by private security companies. It's believed that as many as 30,000 former soldiers, special forces personel, police officers - and anyone else with the right skills - are working for private security firms in Iraq. With Blackwater charging its clients between $1,500 and $2,000 per day for each close protection officer - and even I attracted a team of four, plus two two armoured SUVs for each excursion - it's clearly a lucrative business.


psst Octafish http://prisonplanet.tv/articles/april2004/042504bushseizure.htm

[bobthedrummer]

5. The democratic ideal "No one is above the law" is scoffed at by

traitors in National Security that need swift justice when we elect President Kerry.

The neo-cons purged a lot of key people that are loyal to our Constitution when the administration of George W. Bush aka The War President was installed, that's this American's strongly held opinion.

NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.

[Octafish]

21. Joe Wilson took names.

His wife's buddies at CIA have the negatives.

[seemslikeadream]

14. It will be alright, no doubt, we have named the quilty.

Scapegoat

This picture of Lieutenant William Laws Calley has a caption that reads, "Scapegoat: a person, group, or thing that bears the blame for the mistakes or crimes of others." In 1971 Calley was found guilty of the premeditated murder of at least twenty-two Vietnamese civilians in connection with the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. His conviction was later overturned.



"Was Your Family all Together for Thanksgiving?"

This drawing by Tom Francis Darcy originally appeared in the November 28, 1969 edition of Newsday. This depiction of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam accompanied an editorial criticizing American military action.

http://www.picturehistory.com/find/p/13047/mcms.html

[Octafish]

20. Gee. Wonder what's the connection between Vietnam and Iraq?

The Spoils of War

By Michelle Mairesse

Weeks before the Bush administration let slip the dogs of war in Iraq, grubbing for the spoils of war had already begun in Washington.

The evidence appeared in a leaked 99-page document from the US Agency for International Development. Usually, USAID posts contracts on the Internet for open bidding, but this plan, “The Vision of Post Conflict Iraq,” went secretly to only five American companies. In early March, the agency invited these favorites to submit bids for the largest reconstruction effort since the end of World War II:

* Bechtel Group, Inc.
* Fluor Corporation
* Halliburton Company
* Louis Berger Group Inc.
* Parsons Corporation

USAID offered $900 million in government agency contracts for reconstruction of Iraqi roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, power grids, water systems and civic services in “Post Conflict Iraq.”

SNIP...

The London Times (3/6/03) complained that the USAID document and others like it indicated that "America has been planning a war regardless of international opinion," and that only American companies would be the beneficiaries. Quite right. Bush administration chickenhawks have planned to attack Iraq since 1997. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the other chickenhawks don't give a fig for international opinion concerning the methods they use to promote their agendas.

CONTINUED...

http://www.hermes-press.com/spoils.htm



BTW: Great work, seemslikeadream! Outstanding! Much better than an undergraduate degree from an Ivy League school.

[seemslikeadream]

27. Octafish where have you been?

bobthedrummer can not be asked to keep pushing me in the right direction all alone!


If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the color of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay

Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime's argument
That nothing comes from violence
and nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are
How fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are
How fragile we are





BTW: Thanks

[Octafish]

38. Been busy collecting the Top 10 worst album covers of all time...

Here's a sample from an, um, interesting person named "The Pork Tornado" and the link to his archive.
WARNING: Please don't drink or hold anything hot while examining...



That's me, in the sweater, on the right, when I was younger.

http://porktornado.diaryland.com/albumcover.html

[seemslikeadream]

41. I remember that album

Your life changed direction after that

[Octafish]

43. LOL Bandar Bush! Ever since my radical, uh mean, radial, keratotomy...

Lasik surgery, I've been a new man! It's the "in" thing thing.




Who is Bandar Bush?

A Documented Summary of the Case Against Bush's War on Terror

This page and its linked pages include abundant documentation of George W. Bush's involvements with the Saudis, the Saudis' implication with terrorism, special privileges given the Saudis by Bush and others, Bush's weaknesses regarding counter-terrorism both before and after 9/11, and the irrelevance of the Iraq War to the war on terror.

EXCERPT...

Bandar Promises to Keep Oil Prices Down

If you read this story carefully, you can see that Bandar has been keeping Bush on a string. He did not come to the rescue immediately when OPEC decided to cut production, but waited a bit. Presumably he got his quid pro quo in the meantime, and we can expect that oil prices will go down in time for the election. No problem here -- move along, folks.

"Woodward, discussing his new book, Plan of Attack, on the Bush Administration's preparations for the Iraq war, told CBS television that Prince Bandar pledged the Saudis would try to fine-tune oil prices to prime the US economy for the election - a move they understood would favour Mr Bush's re-election.

Questioned about his claim at a time when oil prices are nearing a 13-year high, Woodward, a senior editor at The Washington Post, said: 'They're high. And they could go down very quickly. That's the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the summer or as we get closer to the election they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly.'"

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/19/1082357116200.html

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4867352

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3930038,00.html

CONTINUED SOURCE:

http://www.johnjemerson.com/zizka.binladen.htm

[Beam Me Up]

16. JUSTICE. Can there be real Justice in this country?

Or has the DoJ become so compromised that "justice" is merely a facade used either against those who are enemies of the criminal establishment or those so inconsequential as to be of no importance to them?

We are in the mess we are in today because we did not bring to trial those who were responsible for the assassination of JFK, and then the cover up of that assasination.

9/11 is equally an event of State meant to drive foreign policy--whether merely allowed to happen or caused to happen by covert operatives. If we do not find and bring to justice the real perpetrators of that event, another event, far more devastating and deadly will inevitably occur.

[Octafish]

39. Keep that thought, DU Friend beam_me_up!

Keep that thought alive and we ALL will work to make that idea into a reality. It's how we got to the moon. It's what we're here for.

... And to help those who are somewhat challenged by the printed page:



Courtesy of the Bartcop Collection

[sweetheart]

17. better build a BIG prison...

The war crimes of the past 50 years run rife through the entire
government and military. The criminals will never indict themselves
rather, it is a system of organized crime, and maybe kerry will be
a better godfather... but rather taking down this mafia will take
more than some good wishes... or a DoJ.

Methinks the whole nation will have to bankrupt and achieve a second
constitution before justice can emerge.

[Octafish]

19. There's plenty o' hope. First, Kerry's a good man.

Second, he knows a lot of good people.



John Kerry, left, sails with President John F. Kennedy
aboard the 62-foot Coast Guard yawl Manitou
in Narragansett Bay on Aug. 26, 1962.

[bobthedrummer]

23. Senator Biden is calling for Rumsfeld and other neo-cons to resign.

They are war criminals and traitors imo.

[Octafish]

25. Nightline*: "Iraq is an unmitigated disaster."

* From memory. Ted was on fire and the reports spelled out what everyone in power is afraid to admit: Iraq was a foreign policy disaster the likes of which the world has not seen since World War 2.

[Minstrel Boy]

24. The Cheney/Bush junta is where the past 50+ years have led America.

It's not an abberation; it's an apotheosis. It's what happens when high crimes go unpunished and officially unacknowledged.

I've said it before: the US needs a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. If the republic is to be recovered, then the criminal institutions of the National Security State need to be, finally, smashed into a thousand pieces and scattered to the wind, as JFK said he intended to do to the CIA. If not now, it'll never happen.

[bobthedrummer]

26. Yep. Now is the time.

[Beam Me Up]

29. I totally agree--people act as if moral integrity is a luxury--

when it is in fact an absolute necessity. We can not live for long or with any quality of life worth living without wholeness of being--body, mind, heart, spirit.

There are criminal fascist elements within our own society and have been since before WW II. Some of them have blue-blood names like Melon, DuPont, Morgan and Bush--and lets not forget Rockefeller. The United States could have and should have been a shinning light to the developing nations, leading the way toward a more just and humane world. Instead we have victimized and oppressed indigenous people's around the world, including right here at home--all for profiting the rich--while lying about it to ourselves under the secrecy of the "national security state."

This whole hive of vermon has to be flushed out into the open and dealt with so this nation can regain its soul.

[DoYouEverWonder]

37. The world will be a much better place

when these so called Intelligence Services are exposed to the light of day and subsequently disbanded.

Let the sun shine, let the sun shine in.

[Octafish]

48. It'd rip the Establishment to shreds.

And that ain't going to happen. They don't need PMCs. They own the police (state).

Still, it's a noble and worthy goal, Minstrel Boy. And our struggles are not in vain -- with a Truth and Reconciliation Committee or not.

And as noted on this great thread of bobthedrummer, they're going to have to build some new prisons to handle the inflow. The BFEE, once the Truth is known, will go down.


THE BUSH NAZI CONNECTION

by Richard N. Draheim, Jr.

Why has Presidential candidate George W. Bush been able to raise uncounted tens of millions of dollars? It can't be because of his positions on the issues; he has scrupulously avoided taking many. It can't be because of his knowledge of world events; he thinks being asked such questions is a trick." (He will embarrassingly lie, saying that he knows the answer to a question, and half a sentence later admit that he doesn't.)

No, George "I'm No Longer Drunk" Bush's support is because the Bush family fortune is old, and it's big, and comes from a century old alliance with the most powerful interests on Wall Street and in industry. Worse, part of Dub-a-Ya's money comes from grandfather Prescott Bush's financial alliance with the Nazis.

On October 20, 1942, the US Alien Property Custodian, under the "Trading With the Enemy Act," seized the shares of the Union Banking Corporation (UBC), of which Prescott Bush was a director and shareholder. The largest shareholder was E. Roland Harriman. (Bush was also the managing partner of Brown Brothers Harriman, a leading Wall Street investment firm.)

The UBC was established to send American capital to Germany to finance the reorganization of its industry under the Nazis. Their leading German partner was the notorious Nazi industrialist Fritz Thyssen, who wrote a book admitting much of this called "I Paid Hitler."

CONTINUED...

http://www.lpdallas.org/features/draheim/dr991216.htm

[bobthedrummer]

31. I can only hope that President Kerry's administration cleans house

starting right here at home, but then I realize how entrenched the criminal corruption is-this is going to take quite awhile--but it starts with empowering law enforcement that have had cases and investigations shut down by "national security" criminals.

NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.

[Karenina]

32. Kick!

:kick:

[bobthedrummer]

33. Double kick.

:dem::dem:

[seemslikeadream]

34. ouch! 14 Million New Secrets Last Year:

Here's One of Them

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 90

Update - May 3, 2004


The U.S. government classified more than 14 million new national security secrets last year, up from 11 million in the previous year and 8 million the year before, according to the new annual report to President Bush from the oversight office for the national security secrecy system. Dated 31 March 2004 and made publicly available last week, the report provides the Information Security Oversight Office's best estimate of the rising tide of secrecy, and also warns that "Allowing information that will not cause damage to national security to remain in the classification system, or to enter the system in the first instance, places all classified information at needless increased risk."

The National Security Archive today posted on the Web one of the 14 million new secrets, a Biographical Sketch produced in 1975 by the Defense Intelligence Agency on the Chilean then-dictator, General Augusto Pinochet. The DIA blacked out large sections of the Sketch on ostensible national security grounds, including General Pinochet's liquor choices - "scotch and pisco sours" - when DIA released the document under the Freedom of Information Act last year.

Also posted today is the Pinochet Sketch as released in full, with no deletions, by President Clinton's 1999 declassification of U.S. documents related to human rights abuses in Chile. The document appears uncensored on pages 181-183 in the Archive book, The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability, by Peter Kornbluh, which was published this past September by The New Press, New York, and was selected by the Los Angeles Times as a "Best Nonfiction Book of 2003."

"Pinochet's pisco sours are certainly not the only dubious secret among the 14 million new ones," commented Archive director Thomas Blanton. "The real question is whether the secrecy veil really makes us safer, or does it hide our country's vulnerabilities and policy problems when what we need to do is fix them?"

The Pinochet Sketch is also the subject of today's "In the Loop" column by Al Kamen of The Washington Post, under the headline "Millions of Secrets."


http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB90/index2.htm

[bobthedrummer]

35. Despite it's charter, the CIA has illegally run many domestic operations

some of them, like Operation CHAOS involved murder in the US.

[Minstrel Boy]

44. "What goes on, in the name of intelligence services, are true crimes."

So says former German Cabinet Minister Andreas von Buelow.


Q: You mean, the events of Sept. 11--

Von Buelow: --fit perfectly in the concept of the armaments industry, the intelligence agencies, the whole military-industrial-academic complex. This is in fact conspicuous. The huge raw materials reserves of the former Soviet Union are now at their disposal, also the pipeline routes and--

Q: Erich Follach described that at length in Spiegel: "It's a matter of military bases, drugs, oil and gas reserves."

Von Buelow: I can state: the planning of the attacks was technically and organizationally a master achievement. To hijack four huge airplanes within a few minutes and within one hour, to drive them into their targets, with complicated flight maneuvers! This is unthinkable, without years-long support from secret apparatuses of the state and industry.

...

Q: You wrote a book on the dealings of the CIA and Co. In the meantime, you have become an expert regarding the strange things related to intelligence services' work.

Von Buelow: "Strange things" is the wrong term. What has gone on, and goes on, in the name of intelligence services, are true crimes.

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/VonBuelow.html

[seemslikeadream]

49. military bases, drugs

Sounds like Haiti to me.


Operation Jaded Task


From 2/23/2003:


US Troopers Secretly Land in Dominican Republic
http://english.pravda.ru/world/2003/02/20/43514.html
The military training operation nicknamed Jaded Task took by surprise Dominican Foreign Ministry.

The US Army started today a training operation in the Caribbean country as part of routine maneuvers of the Southern Command. The landing had been kept so secretly that Dominican Foreign Ministry Hugo Tolentino was reported... by the TV.

As per the first reports, the US troops are training Dominican soldiers on anti-terrorism operations in the north of the island. When the national media started announcing the landing, country's Foreign Minister was having a lunch. Tolentino said that, as chief of the Dominican diplomacy, he should have been formally advised, as personally requested to the Dominican Army and the US Embassy to Santo Domingo.

(snip)

However, the most interesting thing, here, is that the Communist Party of the Dominican Republic did know about the operations. This correspondent had access to two formal communications issued by the US Embassy including details of these activities, during the Communist summit held in Buenos Aires in January. There, the US ambassador to Santo Domingo reported about 10.000 soldiers coming to the Dominican Republic to take part of the training.

Moreover, the communists and other leftist forces in the country made know such documents to the local media in November. According to the denounce, US soldiers can freely enter and leave the country without any kind of permission. Also, they can do it through owned means of conveyance.

(more at link)

http://www.blackcommentator.com/80/80_cover_haiti.html

and read this from the Boston Globe at http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/03/01/bush_administrat ...

Bill Fletcher Jr., head of the TransAfrica Forum, a policy group focusing on African and Caribbean issues, was particularly critical of Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's role in pursuing the Bush administration's policy on Haiti. Fletcher said black officials should not have expected Powell to urge the administration to move more forcefully in Haiti simply because he is black.

"We have to stop believing," Fletcher said. "We have to stop thinking that Colin Powell wants to do the right thing. If the brother wanted to do the right thing, he would have resigned."

Randall Robinson, former head of TransAfrica, was even more critical of Powell, calling him "the most powerful and damaging black to rise to influence in the world in my lifetime."