Reply #111: I'll post it in General Discussion tomorrow at 10 a.m. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Peace Patriot]

And maybe I'll re-post it in "Editorials" later, with a link to the discussion, for people who missed it in GD.

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Not absolutely certain, but Eric Holder pretty much had to have been involved in the extraditions of death squad witnesses from Colombia to U.S. This was arranged by Bushwhack ambassador to Colombia, William Brownfield (whom Obama/Clinton left in place until recently), and Bush Jr pal Alvaro Uribe. In some cases, they just whisked these guys, who were spilling the beans to prosecutors, out of the country, over the vociferous objections of the Colombian prosecutors, and 'buried' them in the U.S. federal prison system by completely sealing their cases (an unusual procedure) in U.S. federal court in Washington DC. The excuse for this was drug charges--they were wanted by the U.S. on mere drug charges--but the real reason for it was likely the death squad disclosures and Uribe's (and Bush's?) culpability. There have been thousands of murders of trade unionists, human rights workers, teachers, community activists, journalists, political leftists, peasant farmers and others. Colombia was a lawless state with Uribe in charge of it. The Colombian military committed many of these murders itself--about half of the trade unionist murders, according to Amnesty International; the other half were being committed by rightwing paramilitary groups closely tied to the Colombian military. All this, with $7 BILLION in U.S. taxpayer dollars being larded on the Colombian military by the Bushwhacks.

Some 70 of Uribe's closest political associates, including family members, are under investigation or already in jail on charges of spying, bribery, connections to the death squads, drug trafficking and other crimes. It was only a matter of time before Uribe got nailed by very courageous Colombian prosecutors and judges. His most vulnerable crime may be spying. He was spying on everybody--judges, prosecutors, political opponents, trade unionists, NGOs. His chief spymaster, Maria Hurtado, was about to tell what she knows and last week got whisked away to Panama where she was given weirdly fast asylum (overnight) and six other spying witnesses are reported to be headed there. Panama's got a rightwing president who arranged it. He recently met with Uribe. But who I think is really behind it is Panetta. The rightwing president of Panama is taking a big risk, spitting on Colombia's justice system like this. That's a No-No in Latin American, where sovereignty is a BIG and important issue. One wonders what Panama got in return (promise of U.S. invasion, if the trade unions shut down the Canal?). (That's one possibility, given recent big U.S. military maneuvers in non-military--actually anti-military--Costa Rica.)

So they're cleaning house of anybody who could put Uribe behind bars. Why is he so important? That is the question. For instance, why doesn't the CIA just whack him, if he's got something on Junior. Dunno. But I think his having something on Junior is part of it. What he knows might also have even wider implications--for the U.S. military and its military 'contractors," for instance. (Sec of State Clinton just "fined" Blackwater for "unauthorized" "trainings" of "foreign persons" (don't know who) IN COLOMBIA "for use in Iraq and Afghanistan.)

There is also the notorious connection of Reagan/Bush players (and the CIA) to drug trafficking. That is a hard thread of this tapestry to track. One thing is for sure, that, $7 BILLION later, the cocaine just keeps flowing out of Colombia. Another important clue might be that Venezuela and Bolivia have never had more success at major drug gang busts since they threw the U.S. "war on drugs" out of their countries. They had several reasons for throwing them out. One of them was that the DEA was spying on them and in cahoots with fascist groups. Another might be that the DEA was hampering their efforts at effective control of major crime. Neither Chavez nor Morales is a militaristic fanatic on drugs--they both chew coca leaves--but major criminal networks are quite another matter. Could they be interfering in Bush Cartel or CIA drug trafficking, by engaging in REAL law enforcement? I simply don't know. And there is not much info about it, in corpo-fascist or alternative news sources. There is info but nothing much to "connect the dots." (Could this be another reason for extraditing the death squad witnesses on "drug charges"--what these witnesses know about the drug trade also needs to be buried?)

Anyway, there certainly is enough in the press, on the other issues--if you're paying attention--to know that SOMETHING is up, as to Uribe's (and Junior's) criminal liability in Colombia.

One more thing: Brownfield/Uribe last year secretly negotiated a U.S./Colombia military agreement, among other things giving all U.S. soldiers and all U.S. military 'contractors' total diplomatic immunity in Colombia. The Colombian supreme court recently declared the agreement unconstitutional. But the existence of the agreement, and the secrecy around its negotiation and signing (by Uribe) send up red flags. Why after more than a decade in Colombia, did the U.S. military need this agreement last year? It expanded the U.S. military presence to 7 more military bases in Colombia and gave them free use of all Colombian civilian infrastructure (airports, harbors, roads), but I think that the "total diplomatic immunity" provision is the key to understanding it. A very curious thing was said by those who were touting this agreement (after it became public)--Pentagon spokespeople, for instance--that it merely ratified existing arrangements. But why did they need a presidential signature on it so late in the day? (For future use at the Hague?)

Oh, there is yet another issue that might involve the Bush Junta, the Pentagon and/or the CIA, and that is Uribe's pervasive domestic spying. Were they providing "technical assistance"? Were they helping him blatantly break the law? And, what might be even worse, was the spying done to provide targets for the death squads and the military? (This might explain the rather extraordinary business of asylum for the spying witnesses in Panama.)

A Jesuit priest in Colombia recently wrote a letter to Georgetown University, charging Uribe with complicity in death squad murders early in his career and objecting to their giving Alvaro Uribe an academic position there. Georgetown is a Jesuit University (--which, interestingly, has George Tenet as an alumnus). Uribe was also given an academic sinecure at Harvard. And the Obama administration has honored him with a prestigious appointment to an international legal commission (Gawd, can you believe it?)--the one investigating Israel's firing on aid boats. This is what I mean by coddling. This bloodstained little mafioso is being protected.