U.S. Contractors Pay Price of Drug War in Colombia

[Say_What]

Followup on the mercenaries that were shot last February. Older BBC article follows. US government announced a week ago that it is offering 5 million USD for information leading to their whereabouts/rescue.

<clips>

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Many Americans have heard of Jessica Lynch, the U.S. Army war hero briefly captured by Iraqi forces in March.

But how many have ever heard of Thomas Howes? How about Marc Gonsalves and Keith Stansell? The three Americans have been held in the Colombian jungle for eight months by Marxist rebels on the U.S. "terrorist" list.

The relative lack of public awareness is no surprise -- the men were not active members of the U.S. armed forces. They were hired hands, paid to quietly wage the war on drugs for a private company on the Defense Department payroll.

Contractors, many flying spy planes and crop dusters, play an increasingly important part in the U.S.-backed onslaught against the world's largest cocaine industry.


<http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=ourWorldNews&storyID=3732180&pageNumber=0>

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<clips>

Colombians seek 'CIA men'

Military officials in Colombia say fierce fighting is taking place with left-wing rebels who are holding three US Government employees hostage.

A Colombian army officer said that, according to intelligence reports, soldiers were closing in on the guerrilla group holding the men.

US President George Bush is sending 150 extra troops to Colombia to help the search operation.

Colombia's largest left-wing rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), said on Saturday it had the Americans, accusing them of being CIA agents.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2792867.stm

[el_gato]

1. they have no business being down there

and are nothing more than mercenaries

you play with fire you get burned

don't expect me to feel sorry for them

[MrPrax]

2. Ditto...

That's they're job...too bad if the people they are trying to kill for profit turn the tables...

Tough

[Judi Lynn]

3. To think, if we refrain from paying taxes to fund these mercenaries

who kill Colombian citizens without the dignity of legal "authority," we will go to the slammer.

Wicked business, isn't it?

Don't forget the time Paul Wellstone was in Colombia and was "accidently" sprayed by one of these crop dusters. He also arrived in a town just after they had removed a bomb from the side of the road where he would have been driving.

Wonder if our taxes paid for these events, as well.

[Say_What]

5. War Tax Resistance

Every so often on Free Speech TV they run the documentary, “An Act of Conscience,” about Randy Kehler and Betsy Corner and the IRS seizure of their home for not paying taxes to support the war. They live in Western Massachusetts and there's a bunch of folks there who haven't paid taxes for quite a number of years--bearing in mind there are consequences. Here's a bit about them at the War Tax Resistance site.

<clips>

Also in 1989, the IRS seized and auctioned the Colrain, MA, home of war tax resisters Randy Kehler and Betsy Corner; shortly thereafter, the home of resisters Bob Bady and Pat Morse, neighbors of Kehler-Corner, was also seized and auctioned. Within hours, a support committee was formed. Significant articles appeared in newspapers across the country. After their eviction in 1991, the house was occupied by a rotating collection of affinity groups until 1992, when the new owners forced their way in. A continuous vigil outside lasted until the fall of 1993. Throughout this entire period, considerable publicity, actions, and support were generated bringing a lot of attention to war tax resistance, U.S. military spending, and the misplaced priorities of the government. Four years later “An Act of Conscience,” a 90-minute film about the struggle, was finished.

Meanwhile, from 1990 to 1993 the Alternative Revenue Service (ARS) was developed by the WRL and co-sponsored by NWTRCC and the Conscience and Military Tax Campaign. It grew out of a desire, shared by many war tax resisters, to have a nationally organized campaign that would reach out to new communities in a creative way, suggesting that even a token level of tax resistance is a valuable protest. During the 1990-1991 tax season, 70,000 EZ Peace forms – a parody of the IRS’s 1040EZ form – were circulated. About 500 forms were returned and over $105,00015 in resisted taxes were redirected to alternative funds and other groups. By 1993, a decline in interest, made that the last season for the ARS.

Numerous well-publicized cases of IRS abuse led to Congressional hearings in 1997 and 1998, and resulted in the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act. Among the changes, were some reductions in interest and penalties, some restrictions on levies and seizures, reorganizing the IRS away from a geographical structure to one that concentrates on types of taxpayers (individuals, small businesses and the self-employed, corporations, and tax-exempt groups), and a number of more cosmetic (as far as war tax resisters are concerned) changes. The IRS also cut back on the number of collection agents, liens, levies, and seizures of property


http://www.warresisters.org/history_wtr.htm

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On edit: "Believing war to be a crime against humanity, the War Resisters League, founded in 1923, advocates Gandhian nonviolence as the method for creating a democratic society free of war, racism, sexism, and human exploitation."

http://www.warresisters.org/

[reprobate]

4. One sure sign of the end of the Roman Empire was....

.....their use of mercenaries to fight their wars. When the citizens don't have a reason to fight for the country and soldiers for hire are used instead, the gov't tends to fight those wars that the leaders think profitable, not the wars that are necessary for the defence of the country.

Sound familiar?