Pentagon Tries to Explain Secret Group

[rodeodance]

love the titel to this one.

Diane Fiensteign wrote Rummy a letter.
Many think he is bypassing Congressional oversite.



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=5&u=/ap/20050125/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/pentagon_spy_teams

Pentagon Tries to Explain Secret Group

Tue Jan 25, 2:17 AM ET


By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon (news - web sites) says the political uproar over the disclosure of a secret military intelligence group is overblown and based on misinformation about the group's makeup and mission.

Stephen A. Cambone, the Pentagon's top intelligence official, rushed to Capitol Hill on Monday after some members of Congress reacted strongly to a Washington Post report that revealed the existence of the group, which is managed by the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., and other Democrats called for hearings, but Republicans balked.

"According to The Washington Post, the Department of Defense (news - web sites) is changing the guidelines with respect to oversight and notification of Congress by military intelligence. Is this true or false?" Feinstein wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Feinstein and others appeared puzzled by the disclosure that the Pentagon had created a new battlefield intelligence group — "strategic support teams," in Pentagon parlance — to perform clandestine missions that had been largely the province of the CIA ......

[Pam-Moby]

1. No I think we need to find out what this is about.

misinformation? We know who gives the misinformation, now don't we!

[cthrumatrix]

2. this is why MSM is pushing "gay marriage" again.....

[arwalden]

15. Who is MSM? What Does This Mean?

And why is MSM supporting gay marriage?

[Desertrose]

16. MSM= Main Stream Media

MSM they don't "support" anything...they just report the news...always fair & balanced don't ya know?

<kidding of course>

[FlemingsGhost]

3. This was the "known unknown" Rummy was babbling about.

Remember, Rummy openly admitted they were going to lie and spread misinformation for the sake of national security.

He's just doing his job, folks.

(I'm joking, of course, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if that kind of newspeak was all it took to quiet any queries regarding this matter.)

[sickem]

5. not the first lie

Just two days ago Scot McClellan was denying the existence of any special intelligence unit within the Pentagon. This is typical. The White House lies through their teeth until the news gathers enough momentum that they can't deny it anymore then they switch to explanations.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050124/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/pentagon_spy_teams

I swear there is a bad case of collective amnesia in America these days. Why aren't people thinking it's a little fishy the way they keep changing their stories?

A secret intelligence unit within the Pentagon? Now that we have the official word that this exists perhaps Congress should start looking at the Office of Special Plans. This was another "secret" department within the White House which only existed for a little while in the run up to the invasion of Iraq. It has since been disbanded without a trace. The purpose of this office was to circumvent the normal CIA vetting process of raw intel data. This is how they got it so wrong on their WMD claims. When Bush tries to blame the CIA for the fact that he launched an ILLEGAL WAR he knows what he is doing. The truth is the faulty intel that the White House used was out of the CIA's hands. Dick Cheney simply spoon fed his little butt-buddy Bush only the tidbits of info that would justify an attack and conveniently disreguarded anything to the contrary.

Knowing how wrong they got that one can you imagine how they can screw up with their own secret intelligence agency that lacks ANY pretense of oversight at all. This is dangerous!

[annabanana]

6. just doing his job, folks...........

Sadly, this statement might be taken as a reasonable explanation by a good sector of the population.

It seems we are imploding.... collapsing like the old Sands.

[complain jane]

4. "...humint augmentation teams..."

is that the department that Photoshops up "evidence"? Or mercenaries with free license to rape and degrade prisoners later declared innocent for the sake of gathering "intelligence"?

This isn't a democracy anymore, I don't know why we continue to act surprised each time we're presented with fresh evidence.

[NYC Liberal]

7. Everytime something damning comes out

about this administration, it's always "blown out of proportion." You can tell that it's actually right on the mark when they throw that one out.

[lebkuchen]

8. The 9-11 commission wants to consolidate information from the bureaus

while Rummy is out creating his own secret ones.

Washington, we have a problem.

[emad]

9. Cambone - the Pentagon's link man to the Afghani mercenaries

Edward Caravalho and Jonathan Idema who got jailed last year for freelance hostage taking and attempting to raise bounties in Kabul....

[seemslikeadream]

12. OMG emad

and his "girlfriend" was just arrested again


http://www.courttv.com/archive/national/1999/1021/cages_ctv.html

The wife of a former Green Beret convicted of running a private jail and torturing prisoners in Afghanistan was arrested Friday on charges that she violated conditions of her parole in Texas.
http://newsobserver.com/news/story/1999165p-8385207c.html
You gotta love the AP, the very first sentence and they get two facts wrong - 1) Idema is not a "former Green Beret" and 2) Viktoria is not his wife.

A different AP story has a little more information:

wife, who was booked in the Cumberland County Detention Center under the name Vickie Robertson, served two stints in a Texas prison - the last ending in 1997 - for forgery and credit card theft. Robertson - who also has used the names Viktoria Running Wolf and Vickie Boyette in interviews - is accused of violating conditions of her parole by leaving Texas without permission.
http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050108/APN/501080511&cachetime=5


Threads on Idema
all working links here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=9558&mesg_id=18255&page=
Green Beret J. K. Idema
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=9558&mesg_id=14241&page=
DEBKAfile reporting a truck bomb at US Embassy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Rivals Gang Up on Karzai, Seek a Champion
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
'Petroleum lures dogs of war to Africa'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
US vigilante says saved Bagram from bomb attack
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Man accused of running private Afghan jail had U.S. letter
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
UN rights expert berates US on Afghan detentions
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Man arrested by FBI : "I was close to capturing bin Laden"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Round two for Kabul's trial of year
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Americans on trial in Afghanistan get FBI files
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
U.S. urged to protect Idema's rights
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Tables turn on US conman waging his own weird war on terror
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Idema role: rogue or U.S. agent?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
9-11 attacks spurred Idema to action
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Crusader confronts a world of trouble
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Wild-card charged in Afghan imprisonments has murky history with media, go
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Family seeking info on Fortuna man arrested in Afghanistan
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Rumsfeld knew all about me, says American 'jailer' held in Kabul
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Outsourcing War Crimes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
The Case of Keith Idema
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Dispatch From Afghanistan
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Americans accused of torturing Afghans in private jail go on trial
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Pride, prison shadow Idema
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
'Freelance' US fighter identified
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Americans Arrested in Kabul Abused Prisoners in Private Jail, Officials Say
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...


:hi:

[emad]

14. Thanks for the links. This is the second trail of mercenaries

leading back to the Pentagon: the Thatcher gang (Equatorial Guinea coup plot)and previously the Idema bunch (Afghani bounty hunting).

I wonder if there will be any trail linking the Pentagon and/or Rummy to Jim Channon's First Earth Battalion (see "Crazy Rulers of the World" at: http://ejmas.com/jnc/jncart_channon_0200.htm ) and the Republican "mercenaries" he recruited to act as Shrub's pioneers - first to get him elected into the Gov's office in Texas and then to the WH????????????????

Any news of Dov Zakheim and the trust FBI counter-terrorism chief Dave "Shady Dave" Szadi?

[seemslikeadream]

17. just a few interesting things on Venezuela

Chavez Affirms That Crisis Was "Instigated by Washington"

The president denied that Venezuela is a negative force in the hemisphere and once again called the American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, an illiterate. Chavez stated that Washington is responsible for the crisis between Colombia and Venezuela and insisted that president Alvaro Uribe rectify his mistake. From outside the Miraflores Palace , President Chavez presided over the protest in support of national sovreignty. He stated that the kidnapping of the guerilla leader Rodrigo Granda was not planned in Bogota but was part of "the imperialist strategy in Washington to stop the integration of South America".

Chavez gave a fiery speech against American imperialism, President Bush and made several severe criticisms of the Uribe government, saying that if Colombia did not make any conciliatory gestures he would be forced to freeze all bilateral ties and reduce commerce between the two nations to an absolute minimum. Chavez spoke for an hour and a half before an enthusiastic crowd which reveled in his use of satire and running jokes about the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The President (Chavez) stated that more demonstrations would take place but that they would never be able to ruin "the beautiful and peaceful democratic revolution that freed Venezuela". The protestors covered three blocks of Urdaneta Avenue from the Miraflores palace to the corner of Carmelitas. "The United States will try to damage us again. They hurt us enough in 2002 but I am warning Bush, if he continues to try to mess with us I guarantee he's got another thing coming", he said.

Chavez then added , "Mr. Bush, I wager you one dollar that between you and me, I will last longer than you". Chavez spoke in English to try and get Bush to accept his wager of a dollar to see who will be in power longer, he or Bush. "I've got two years left in my term and now he (Bush) has the advantage because he was elected for four more years. I've got just two years left and then I'll be a candidate for the elections of December 2006. I hereby wager a dollar to see who will last longer, he in the White House or Chavez in Miraflores. We shall see", he said.

President Chavez threatened to freeze relations between Colombia and Venezuela if President Uribe Velez does not make a conciliatory gesture to rectify "his error" and promises to refrain from actions such as the kidnapping of Granda. "We are not asking the Colombian government to beg or to humiliate itself but in some way it has to recognize that it made an error and secondly that it should promise not to do this kind of thing again. If this does not occur, it will be incumbent upon us to closely examine our ties with the Colombian government. If there is not a gesture that recognizes Venezuela's position, we will have to freeze our ties and distance ourselves".

Throughout his speech, Chavez admitted that there was a diplomatic crisis between the two countries and said that the language used in the press releases from was undiplomatic. Chavez expressed dismay that Uribe did not "take a moment to pause" before reacting. Chavez stated that he himself spent a month to craft an appropriate response to the kidnapping of Granda. "I waited to make a declaration until the situation became intolerable, which is when they whitewashed what happened concerning how Granda was handed over to them". He stated that he became convinced that the situation was a provocation from the United States government. "I am aware that this provocation came from Washington. It is a new imperalistic attack. I did not want this provocation to damage such important relations that we have been working on with such patient carefulness down to the smallest details. Never has any president been so bold as to create a binational project in the Gulf of Venezuela, for example". He stated that he recognized that he "bolted down the hatches" along the frontier once the impasse began to keep the situation from further deteriorating. He stated that the Venezuelan government has not had and does not have any agreement or connection with the guerilla or paramilitary organizations .

Chavez stated that there were "timid signals" and calls from the Colombian government to find a solution to the crisis and that he has spoken with diplomats in the region, including an advisor of president Lula da Silva and the Peruvian Foreign Minister. After saying that the White House "will find itself isolated" because it was the only country to support what Chavez called "the violation of sacred sovreignty", he began to direct jabs at the new American Secretary of State, whom he called "Poor Little Rice" and said she was an illiterate. "Tell me how the 'No Child Left Behind' works and I'll send it to Poor Little Rice, who continues to demonstrate she is completely illiterate. It seems that she dreams about me. I can invite here to meet with me to see what I do here. She said she is sad and depressed about Chavez. Oh my! I hope she forgets about me. What bad luck that woman has. I won't make this sacrifice for my country, that should be done by Cristobal Jimenez, Nicolas Maduro or Juan Barreto because they are single guys," he said.

http://www.el-universal.com/2005/01/24/pol_art_24102A.shtml

Q: Why are you in Caracas?

Granda: I am on my way to Europe. I got here yesterday and today I am traveling to Central America and from there I'll continue my journey.

Q: Are you traveling on a Colombian pasport?

Granda: No. I am sure that the Americans are trying to figure out what passport I am using though.

Q: What are you going to do in Europe?

Granda: To follow through on some promises my organization made and to speak with some friends because, as you know, the European Union has labeled us terrorists. They believe that we cannot travel in their countries.

Q: They think so, but can you do it?

Granda: Sure of course. But with caution and prudence. The borders are very wide. The world has not shrunk that much and we can still get around.

Q: After September 11, and at the end of the peace process, there was an international movement to isolate the FARC. Your office in Mexico was closed.

Granda: Yes. Bush pushed this policy on weak, timid governments that cannot distinguish between terrorism and the just struggle of our people. The FARC is a political-military organization that fights to take power for the people and to enact profound revolutionary transformation.

Q: But they say you use terrorism as part of your struggle.

Granda: No, never. One of the things that distinguishes the FARC is that we consider that terrorism isolates the masses in an attempt to cause panic. All of the things we do are connected to the people.

Q: The world wonders about the case where the woman exploded a bomb she had around her neck.

Granda: That was done by Colombian military intelligence. Pastrana, the Church and the political parties blamed that on the FARC but later admitted that we had nothing to do with it. They wanted to prevent an international meeting in Caguan about replacing illegal crops that was to be attended by the European Union, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and even the Vatican. The meeting was to discuss viable solutions and to tell the truth about what is evident, that Plan Colombia is not about fighting. It is, in its essence, a plan to fight against insurgents.

Q: The FARC doesn't use car bombs, commit murders, kidnap people or commit crimes of a terrorist nature?

Granda: It's possible that some individuals have set off a car bomb but that is not the political orientation of the FARC. We have used sabotage before as a method of our political and military struggle. These are valid acts of sabotage against the economic infrastructure of the government and Colombian oligarchy and international interests involved in a dirty war. This is permitted.

Q: What do you consider an act of sabotage?

Granda: For example, to disrupt the import or export of raw materials to or from overseas.

Q: This is not terrorism?

Granda: No, because this is a war, and you cannot win it if you do not disrupt the economic strength of the enemy. This is done all over the globe.

Q: This is the same reason that the Colombian government uses to attack guerillas, to stop their narcotrafficking.

Granda: They know we are not financed by narcotrafficking. They say we force the laboratories and others to pay protection money. This is not true. If anyone has declared war against the drug traffickers and lost men fighting against them, it is the FARC. We fought against the Medellin cartel, against Rodriguez "The Mexican" Gacha, the Cali cartel and the narcotraffickers Fidel and Carlos Castano. This symbiosis is actually taking place on the other side. The military works with the narcotraffickers to eliminate their common enemy, the guerilla. That is why they have those paramilitary groups who operate with tacit support of the army.

Q: Now that Alvaro Uribe has been elected will there be "total war" in Colombia?

Granda: Before Uribe declared "total war", his Defense Minister Gaviria said that the FARC would be destroyed within 18 months. Later Samper declared what he called "full-scale" war. Uribe ran on a platform of "total war". We do not know how much more "total" the war can be because he has brought the entire Colombian military and its American advisors against us.

Q: But now he will get reinforcements called for in Plan Colombia.

Granda: That plan has been in force for two years. And they already have the helicopters, the planes, the electronic intelligence...

Q: Do they expect the fighting to intensify?

Granda: The war could escalate and assuredly it would extend throughout the entire country.

The men we sent to negotiate, in Caguan and in the other four cities, did not fight and kept a low profile. Now with the accumulated political and military power of the FARC the confrontation could take place throughout the entire country.

Q: The Venezuelan government has been accused of having connections to the FARC. What is your relation with Chavez?

Granda: That's all been exaggerated by Colombia and Venezuela. Chavez is a man who works for peace. You Venezuelans have in your constitution that Venezuela is a country at peace.

Chavez knows perfectly well that the efforts to maintain order in Colombia have repercussions in Venezuela. He has gone to great lengths to offer to let Venezuela serve as a mediator.

He has been misunderstood and smeared by the bourgeoise crowd in Bogota and the opposition in Venezuela. They ascribe certain things as favoring the FARC, which is hardly accurate. There are some coincidences along the Bolivarian movement, because we in the FARC are also part of the Bolovarian movement.

Q: It's hard to believe that with this political coincidence that there are no connections.

Granda: There is a political admiration but this does not mean that he gives weapons, money or gasoline to the Colombian guerilla. These are two completely separate things. I can have ideological sympathies with someone without that meaning I would lend them economic or military aid. We are greatly supportive of what Chavez has been able to do in the Bolivarian Republic.

Q: Proof has been offered that there is a relation, including of a military nature, between the Venezuelan army and the FARC to free a kidnapping victim.

Granda: You're speaking of something by some Venezuelan low lifes who got a hold of some film which only slows the handing over of a Venezuelan who was in the custody of the FARC. was a humanitarian issue and nothing else. They came to get him, the citizen was handed over and that was it. Nothing else happened but people say this is some kind of proof that there are ties between Chavez and the FARC.

Q: At least one Venezuelan plane was intercepted in Colombia with a shipment of weapons. Was this cargo being sent to you?

Granda: We know nothing about whether they were being sent to the FARC. But not just Venezuelan airplanes bring in supplies. Sometimes they come from Peru or Ecuador, the arms traffickers come to Colombia to try to make a sale.

Colombia is a country at war. If a person arrives with a plane full of weapons, nobody asks where they came from or how they were acquired. All that's asked is whether they are for sale.

Q: The Americans want to apprehend the leaders of the FARC and bring them to trial in the United States.

Granda: Yes, it is an obsession for them.

Q: Will they be able to do it?

Granda: Colombia is a small country and they could enter it to look for us because they will never find us. It's difficult for them because we don't stand still like a sheep and wait to be seized. We are wise to the ways in which they operate.

Q: What do you think of Bin Laden?

Granda: We respect everyone in the world. We cannot strongly condemn Bin Laden because everything we know about him comes from the imperial media. We do not have nor have we ever had any contact whatsoever with him or his organization.

Q: Do you consider what happened in New York as an act of terrorism?

Granda: We respect what they did because they attacked military objectives, although it's seldom spoken about. I have never understood how attacking the Pentagon, the fortress for the largest military on Earth, could be called an act of terrorism. That is a legitimate military target.

But in the twin towers innocent people died. And this is very sad. We have mourned those who died but at the same time those towers were the economic symbol of the empire.

http://www.quintodia.com/archivos/427/edicion/index.php?dir=secciones&pag=especial_2


QUESTION: Do you have any comment about allegations that the U.S. Government helped the Colombian Government plot the capture of a Colombian guerilla in Venezuela?

MR. ERELI: No, I don't. No.
Then later:

QUESTION: Okay, just following up on that, Adam, because you have President Chavez of Venezuela specifically pointed to the Americans as being responsible for this kidnapping of, I think, Rodrigo Granada, a FARC leader.

MR. ERELI: Yeah.

QUESTION: So you have that specific -- can we get a specific reaction to that?

MR. ERELI: On Rodrigo Granda, there are media reports that the recently-detained senior official of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia was residing and operating freely in Venezuela prior to his arrest in Colombia. As you know, the FARC has been designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States. We have also seen press reports that the Government of Colombia has given the Venezuelan Government specific information about the presence in Venezuela of ten major Colombian terrorists and we'd expect the Venezuelan Government to carefully examine this information and to take all required and effective law enforcement actions against the terrorists.

QUESTION: So, in terms of what President Chavez is saying, the United States has, in a way, been behind the action against him? I mean --

MR. ERELI: Well, I mean, to the extent that we encourage the Government of Venezuela to act on information that there are terrorists resident on their territory and using their territory for terrorist activity, I guess you could say we're involved. But -- and, you know, to the extent that we help provide information and share information, yes. But that's what we're doing.

QUESTION: So given the Bush Administration always criticize Chavez, and given the U.S. Ambassador in Colombia said that he believes 100 percent Uribe, so that United States is going to take a neutral role or is favor Colombia?

MR. ERELI: I'm sorry. I don't understand the question. Can you rephrase it?

QUESTION: Okay. The U.S. Ambassador in Colombia said he believe 100 percent President Uribe about the Granda case. Okay? And the Bush Administration has always criticized Chavez. My question is: The United States going to be neutral or is favor Colombia?

MR. ERELI: Well, it's not a -- I'd have to object to your questions on a -- your question on a number of bases. One, I haven't seen the Ambassador's remarks. I don't know that he said he's 100 percent behind Uribe. I'm not going to speak to what the Ambassador said.

Two, to say we're always against Venezuela is, again, I think the kind of generalization that is – that is -- doesn't characterize the complexity and subtlety of our policy.

Third, as a general matter, it is important to us, it is important to the United States, that we be able to have effective, cooperative counterterrorist relationships with countries in the hemisphere and throughout the world. We are all engaged in a concerted war against those who use violence against innocents to advance their ideology or their political agenda. That's true about the FARC and it's true about others.

So it's important to us in dealing with foreign governments that when there is information that such individuals or such organizations have access to territory or resources that a government can intervene to stop, that those governments act in such a way. It's true with Colombia. It's true with Venezuela. Now, if you -- that's as a general proposition and that's how I would characterize our position with regard to the specific -- with regard to those two countries and it's characteristic of our position with other countries.

Now, with regard to the specific case, as I said in response to your question -- in response to a question from an earlier -- an earlier question from another colleague, it's -- we have seen press reports that the Government of Colombia has given to the Government of Venezuela information about ten other FARC members residing in Venezuela, and that it would -- it is our view that the Venezuelan Government should, as any government in such a position should, take this information seriously, examine it, and take the required and effective law enforcement action in response to it.

QUESTION: But you're making no judgment about whether they have, right?

MR. ERELI: I don't have information at this point to make a judgment on whether they have.

QUESTION: Well, have -- (a) have you helped the Colombian Government with this information that they provided to the Venezuelans? And (b) do you think that Venezuela is simply not acting on information that these people are operating in the country, or do you think that they're directly providing aid to these rebels?

MR. ERELI: I couldn't say. I don't know that we've made that kind of determination. I think that certainly we're looking carefully at what the Venezuelan Government does or does not do in response to the information provided, and their actions in that regard will, I think, inform subsequent judgments and subsequent assessments.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2005/41167.htm

[emad]

18. Bet he wins that dollar!

and a great pic...

[emad]

10. WaPo:Officials deny Pentagon, CIA split

Officials deny Pentagon, CIA split

By Josh White and Barton Gellman

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Defense Department officials acknowledged yesterday that the Pentagon has created clandestine teams to gain better human intelligence for military commanders but emphasized that the program was developed with the cooperation of the Central Intelligence Agency, not to bypass it.

The Strategic Support Branch, housed within the Defense Intelligence Agency, was created to give high-level military officers more control over "actual intelligence" that they can use while making operational military plans, according to two defense officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

They said the program was a joint effort between officials at the Pentagon and CIA and that it has been operating in its current form since October under funding authorized for this fiscal year.

The existence of the Pentagon's new espionage arm was first disclosed publicly in a Washington Post article on Sunday, which said the program grew out of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld 's desire to end his dependence on the CIA for intelligence gathering.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002159740_intel25.html

[blue agave]

11. Strategic Support teams = S.S. teams ? any coincidence n/t

[sarcasmo]

13. SS, this is just to scary. Sounds to close to the Hitler regime.