The Dogs of War

[DulceDecorum]

Not even Frederick Forsyth thought of so many twists and riddles in his Dogs of War, probably the best-known novel about mercenaries.
The book was based on Forsyth's personal adventures - he was involved in an unsuccessful scheme to overthrow the head of state of Equatorial Guinea in 1972.
But even the Dogs of War cannot rival this bizarre tale of confusion.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=84&art_id=vn20040310081125342C951468&set_id=1

Ladies and Gentlemen,
visitors from the darkside,
it is with much pleasure that I present:
AFRICAN OIL POLITICS
which offers
forward-looking views on african oil politics and related energy security issues
http://africanoilpolitics.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_africanoilpolitics_archive.html

This MOST INSIGHTFUL BLOG
offers information, interviews and analysis that cannot - to my knowledge - be found elsewhere.
As you all know, the US is VERY dependent on oil and as global oil reserves diminish, the West is once again aligned in a Scramble for Africa.
The Organization of African Unity, having seen what the the first Western-led Scramble for Africa did to the people and the resources of Africa, took the pre-emptive step, in 1999,
of permanently outlawing coups d'etat on African soil.
http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2003/04/22/20030422bus07.html
Unfortunately,
this action has not deterred certain nations (whose ideas of protective pre-emptive action consist basically of violating the Peace of Westphalia) from doing their darndest to destabilize African nations - and most especially those African nations who have oil.
http://www.netnomad.com/fineman.html
The African Oil Politics blog keeps a watchful eye on these and other oil-related developments.
But I digress.

Our story today,
starts in Madrid,
where a terrible bombing occurred on March 11, 2004.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,2763,1166996,00.html

The bombings in Madrid have distracted the attention of many from the events taking place in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe investigators allege that Spanish-based rebel leader Severo Moto offered the suspects money and oil rights to overthrow the government in Equatorial Guinea. Fifteen suspected mercenaries were also arrested in that country last week.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=79&art_id=qw1079700483956B251&set_id=1

Pedro said the men were recruited by an agent representing Logo Logistics, which had connections with the now defunct Executive Outcomes (EO), a private security company owned by former South African Defence Force intelligence officer Eben Barlow.
The recruiting agent is known to be a former 32 Battalion sergeant.
EO is now operating under the name of Saracen and has close links with Logo Logistics, based in London.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=84&art_id=vn20040319045713308C788250&set_id=1

And now, over to our star reporter:

Saturday, March 13, 2004
Before I start to the review of the most juicy stories of the day, let me urge you to visit Katryn Cramer's blog. She did a wonderful job tracking the N4610 plane background and posting updates. Katryn is a SciFi writer and editor from Pleasantville (NY). I wonder what grabbed her interest. Sometimes, Africa just looks like another planet and African Oil Politics reads like a pod conspiracy.
Today's media coverage was... average. No new interesting leads emerged. However, more western (mostly Bristish) newspapers dare report the story. But there's a specific twist and bias that is absent from the African papers reviewed here yesterday. I'll start with Nicholas Christian's piece which is clearly designed to arouse pity for Simon Mann - the poor little boy who finds himself in such a baaad situation:

FEARS were growing last night for a former British soldier who faces the death sentence after he was arrested in Zimbabwe and charged with aiding a coup plot against another African country. ... Amid reports he has homes in South Africa and in Hampshire, Mann’s nationality remains unclear. The army will sign-up those Britons with dual nationality and citizens from the Commonwealth but has not confirmed Mann was a member of the forces. He is said to be Sandhurst-trained and to have served in Northern Ireland with the Scots Guards and later in the 1990 Gulf War as an intelligence officer in Riyadh. His father is said to be the late George Mann, president of the Marylebone Cricket Club and a former captain of England’s cricket team. Since leaving the army, Mann has been employed as a computer consultant and linked to a number of ‘private military’ firms, including Sandline International and Executive Outcomes.

I love how hard he tries to turn the guy into a victim. Come on Christian, you're talking about a dog of war - a tough guy trained by the SAS and who makes his living organizing coups, killing people. And don't repeat that he's LINKED to a number of PM firms. Just say that he was he was one of the founders of Executive Outcomes and everybody will understand. But thank you for bringing us up to date about his film career. I didn't know he played Colonel Wilford in Bloody Sunday. I'll watch the DVD to check how the guy looks like.
http://africanoilpolitics.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_africanoilpolitics_archive.html

And now to Kathryn Cramer's blog.

First of all, N4610 isn't just any random former US cargo plane. Rather it is a specific military plane with a specific history which is relatively easy to find out on the web. As is widely reported, the plane was registered to Dodson Aviation, Inc. of Ottawa, Kansas. Jetliners.com lists the plane as operated by the U. S. Air Force. It also gives additional information: that the plane is a specific type of Boeing cargo plane, a C-22B, and it gives an additional identification number 83-4610. Airlink has a nice factsheet with a picture of the type of plane, a Boeing 727-100 modified for air national guard support missions.
<snip>
The plane in question was on display at the Andrews AFB, Department of Defense Open House on May 15, 1999. The records of the airshow suggest that it was also assigned to the 201st Airlift Squadron, District of Columbia Air National Guard.
The State Department disingenuous claim -- endlessly repeated in news stories around the globe -- is that they have " no indication this aircraft is connected to the U.S. government."
http://www.kathryncramer.com/wblog/archives/000457.html

Oh my!
http://www.propagandacritic.com/articles/examples.osi.html
http://www.moveon.org/censure/caughtonvideo/

Cde Mohadi said Mann had revealed that the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), America*s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Spanish Secret Service aided the group.
The secret services persuaded the Equatorial Guinea service chiefs, that is the head of police and commander of the army, not to put up any resistance.
They were promised cabinet posts in Moto*s government.
The agencies were responsible for the hiring of the Boeing 727-100 from Dodson Aviation and they also provided satellite communication system to link up Moto in Spain, Mann and du Toit in South Africa and Bonds in Malabo.
United States forces are reportedly carrying out military exercises around Equatorial Guinea.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200403100875.html



Surely this is is all an unfortunate coincidence.
There is NOTHING to link N4610 acts of international terrorism
such as the attacks in New York and Washington DC
by N334AA and N644AA.
Surely the 1/14/2002 FAA cancellation dates on
these three aircraft is just happenstance, or a mere coincidence.
OK,
so Auric Goldfinger stated bluntly that
"one is happenstance, two is coincidence, but three is enemy action"
but he is NOT a reliable source of information since Ian Fleming pulled a Jack Kelley when he came up with that quote.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/2004-03-18-2004-03-18_kelleymain_x.htm?csp=24

Equatorial Guinea's state radio said Moto had paid South African Nick du Toit, 48, the leader of the advance party in Equatorial Guinea, $10-million (about R67-million).
Speaking on state television, Du Toit said the advance party would take strategic targets such as the presidency, the military barracks, police posts and the residences of government members.
South African security sources say the Zimbabwean group was heading to a covert military training camp in Cameroon that was to be the staging point for a seaborne assault.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=vn20040312035832269C211406&set_id=1

DAMN AL QAEDA.
SHUT DOWN THEIR TRAINING CAMPS.
WE DO NOT NEED TO DISCUSS INNOCENCE OR GUILT.
WE KNOW THEY ARE GUILTY.
HAND THEM OVER.
RIGHT NOW.

This is the US State Department 1996 report concerning
the Current Administration of President Teodoro Obiang, who,
"together with his associates, dominates the Government. The President's Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) controls the judiciary and the legislature, the latter through fraudulent elections. "

d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
Police routinely hold persons in incommunicado detention. The government arrested political figures and detained them for indeterminate periods. There were also credible reports that around five members of the Movement for the Autodetermination of the Island of Bioko (MAIB), an ethnically based political opposition group, were detained in prison for several weeks. At least 15 members of the opposition were arrested for political activity during the year.

In February, opposition leader Severo Moto and nine additional opposition and military figures were arrested and charged with treason.
At their trial in April (which lasted only 7 hours), one defendant was acquitted. The others were convicted and sentenced to long prison terms. Moto received a 28-year sentence. The trial was held in a military court which did not have jurisdiction over Moto, a civilian.
After extensive international criticism and an international campaign for his release, he and his fellow defendants were pardoned and released in August. Although the Government did not force Moto to leave the country, he left to reside abroad soon after his release.

There are nominal but unenforced legal procedural safeguards regarding detention, the need for search warrants, and other protections of prisoners' rights. Judicial warrants are required. Generally, however, the police arrest suspects without having obtained warrants.
Authorities also continued to hold citizens of Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon, and other countries to secure bribes.
The Government does not force citizens into exile.
http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/democracy/1995_hrp_report/95hrp_report_africa/EquatorialGuinea.html

WHAT BARBARISM.
Thank God for our freedoms.

NEW YORK, March 19 (Reuters) - The euro rose against the dollar in early New York trade on Friday on reports of a bomb threat to Washington DC schools, traders said.
http://www.forbes.com/home_europe/newswire/2004/03/19/rtr1305198.html

SO WHAT?
We are still WAY better than those heathens.

The Zimbabwe government said Simon Mann, an additional alleged plotter who had met the plane at the airport Sunday in Harare, confessed to having backing from London, Washington and Madrid.
Both British and U.S. officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, said they knew nothing about the plane or the plot. Spain, named as a co-conspirator and home of purported coup plotter Moto, threatened to file a formal complaint with Zimbabwe's government.
Questions remain
What happens next to the alleged mercenaries in Zimbabwe remains unclear. So far there appears to be little evidence that the men committed any crime beyond lying about the number of passengers on the flight, which Boshoff called "a small technical issue."
"You have to prove conspiracy, and that's not easy," he said. "What did they do wrong? That's my question."
Plenty of other questions remain as well. Could the apparent planned arms sale in Zimbabwe have been part of an entrapment plot, aimed at embarrassing Mugabe's enemies in the West? Was a flight plan filed in South Africa, indicating the plane was headed to Burundi, a smokescreen?
As South Africa's Star newspaper noted this week, "the solution . . . is easy. Frederick Forsyth just needs to write `Dogs of War II.'"
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0403120249mar12,1,1855646.story

[SharonAnn]

1. Dogs of War was filmed in Belize (British Honduras)

which is in Central America. I flew into Belize (stop-over on the way to Tegucigalpa, Honduras) in December 1979 and couldn't believe my eyes. It looked just like the movie, still! In Central America! Large parts of Belize City (the parts I saw) had no paved streets, open ditches for sewage, etc.

[ashmanonar]

35. dogs of war is an excellent book.

well, i'm a person who likes spy/merc stories. forsyth is an interesting writer, definitely. especially the way he pulls it all into the story: the setup almost more than the action.

[Bhaisahab]

38. Yes, but Forsyth loves Chimpy

In 2003, The Guardian invited some people (famous and not-so) to write their thoughts about Bush, as he was about to visit England. Here's what Forsyth wrote:

"Dear Mr President,
Today you arrive in my country for the first state visit by an American president for many decades, and I bid you welcome.
You will find yourself assailed on every hand by some pretty pretentious characters collectively known as the British left. They traditionally believe they have a monopoly on morality and that your recent actions preclude you from the club. You opposed and destroyed the world's most blood-encrusted dictator. This is quite unforgivable.
I beg you to take no notice. The British left intermittently erupts like a pustule upon the buttock of a rather good country. Seventy years ago it opposed mobilisation against Adolf Hitler and worshipped the other genocide, Josef Stalin.
Eleven years ago something dreadful happened. Maggie was ousted, Ronald retired, the Berlin wall fell and Gorby abolished communism. All the left's idols fell and its demons retired. For a decade there was nothing really to hate. But thank the Lord for his limitless mercy. Now they can applaud Saddam, Bin Laden, Kim Jong-Il... and hate a God-fearing Texan. So hallelujah and have a good time."
-- Fred Forsyth

In contrast, check out Harold Pinter's note to bush!
"Dear President Bush,
I'm sure you'll be having a nice little tea party with your fellow war criminal, Tony Blair. Please wash the cucumber sandwiches down with a glass of blood, with my compliments."
-- Harold Pinter
Playwright

[DulceDecorum]

39. Thank you

for pointing that out.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1087591,00.html

Forsyth is an interesting read,
but a mercenary is a dog that should be put down at the first opportunity.

This story beats just about any and every soap opera I have ever watched
and it is nowhere near over yet.

[MasterKey]

2. GREAT LINKS!!!

I am still reading the links through. great Stuff!

This might take me all night to read, but thanks for the good reading!!

cheers~
Masterkey-- :)

[DulceDecorum]

3. .....a gonad-eating cannibal

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea, March 17 — This malarial West African dictatorship quashed another coup attempt this month, which is like saying the corner 7-Eleven served up another Slurpee. Quashed coups (five since 1996) are a political staple here, so routine that some say the government stages and then quashes them to burnish its image of invincibility.
But the coup this month was different. Nobody could make this coup up.
The coup attempt of 2004 features a dysfunctional ruling family, a Lamborghini-driving, rap-music-producing heir apparent and a bitter political opponent in exile who insists that Equatorial Guinea is run by a gonad-eating cannibal. It is said to involve a Lebanese front company, a British financier, an opposition figure living in exile in Spain and some 80 mercenaries from South Africa, Germany, Armenia and Kazakhstan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/20/international/africa/20GUIN.html?ex=1080363600&en=7d043f3309034b60&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

THAT is just the first three paragraphs.
Wait till you see the spin!!

[DulceDecorum]

4. Show me the money

Take Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mbasogo, a member of the same dictatorial ruling family that has ruled Equatorial Guinea since its independence from Spain in 1968. The dictatorship has been in power for about as long as Saddam held sway over Iraq. But Obiang is sitting on top of huge oil revenues and he is in tight with Bush's, Cheney's, and Condoleezza Rice's Exxon Mobil, Hess, and Marathon oil buddies in Houston and Dallas. Equatorial Guinea's oil revenues, estimated at $700 billion in 2003, keep Obiang in power. His son, Teodorino, spends a lot of time in Paris and Washington, where his dad just spent $3.5 million for two mansions courtesy of mortgages from Riggs Bank, where the African kleptocracy keeps much of its ill-gotten oil revenue.

It does not matter to the Bush regime that Obiang keeps his political prisoners in dark dungeons that would have made Saddam envious, or that Obiang executes opponents he finds particularly distasteful. Nor does it matter to Bush that Equatorial Guinea's children are dying from malaria, intestinal worms, and malnutrition because the Obiang dictatorship does not provide the country with adequate sanitation or medical care. The country's state radio recently pronounced that Obiang was God and that therefore he could kill anyone without accounting to anyone. It sounds a lot like Saddam. But in Obiang's case, he has the full support of Bush because Obiang is turning over his country's oil to the United States with himself getting enough money to buy Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and diamond-studded Rolex watches. Like Saddam with his son, Qusay, Obiang has designated his son, Teodorino, as his heir apparent.
http://www.newsinsider.org/madsta/saddam_is_captured_long_live_americas_other_tyrants.html

In June, Tony Blair is to host a transparency conference in London aimed at tackling the corruption that surrounds the exploitation of natural resources in developing countries. Equatorial Guinea is the only oil-producing country to have refused to attend, notes the piece. Equatorial Guinea has become a major oil and gas producer in the past 10 years, yet the 500,000-strong population remains in poverty.

Details of the Riggs Bank account have emerged after the country's ambassador, Teodoro Biyogo Nsue, who is President Obiang's brother-in-law, unwisely mentioned that oil revenue was held at Riggs during a presentation late last year at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

An investigation by the Los Angeles Times alleged that President Obiang is the account's sole signatory and more than $300 million of the country's energy earnings has been deposited in the account by oil companies active in Equatorial Guinea, including ExxonMobil and Amerada Hess. Alejandro Evuna Owono, a Guinean aide, denied to the LA Times that the government was secretive about oil revenue. "The IMF and the World Bank know national production figures, but we can use the money as we see fit," he said.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,date:05-12-2003~menuPK:34461~pagePK:34392~piPK:34427~theSitePK:4607,00.html

Simon P. Kareri, Vice President and Senior International Banking Manager, was promoted to Senior Vice President and Senior International Banking Manager. Kareri joined Riggs in 1994 as Vice President and African Caribbean Embassy Manager.
http://www.riggsbank.com/Discover_Riggs/jan25_01.html

Malabo has been abuzz with rumours of a coup for the past few weeks and the authorities here are convinced that the US intelligence service, the CIA, was aware of the rumours. They say that this might explain why, as we exclusively reported in our last issue, the Washington-based Riggs Bank told Obiang to close his account with the bank when he visited it in late February. One of the bank’s senior vice-president and senior international banking manager, the Kenyan-born Simon Kareri, who handled the account — which had $300m — was subsequently fired. Curiously, all the African-Americans who were associated with Kareri at the bank were also dismissed. A number of people were quizzed by the FBI who wanted to know all manners of things about Equatorial Guinea and especially about the country’s First Family, which minister was related to Obiang and which companies he owns.

FBI officers had also raided Kareri’s home Washington. They asked his Senegalese wife a lot of questions on Equatorial Guinea which she could not answer. The FBI officers made it clear to her that they were not after her husband but were interested in any files on Equatorial Guinea that he may have left at home. They then took away all the computers that were in Kareri’s home. At the time Kareri was in Malabo. Curiously, when he returned to Washington after the failure of the coup attempt he contacted the FBI expressing his willingness to be interviewed by him but they declined, saying that they saw no need to interview him. No court charges have been brought against him and he is believed to be seeking legal counsel and may sue Riggs Bank.

Malabo authorities find it ‘awfully suspicious’ that for the past two weeks, the bank had refused to unfreeze Equatorial Guinea’s funds. Apparently, they had recently decided that if there were to be a coup in Malabo they would freeze Obiang and his government’s accounts. This was not done with the Haitian government account when Haitian President Jean Baptiste Aristide was ousted the first time. He was able to have access to his government’s funds with the same bank.
http://217.199.168.239/040.html

The unmasking of the coup plot may also embarrass Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who has had several meetings with Moto recently, and was said by military sources to have been aware of the plot. Aznar is due to stand down ahead of national elections in the next few weeks.

The affair will also be a test case for South Africa's anti-mercenary legislation, given that much of the planning for the coup happened there and that most of the mercenaries were former South African soldiers.

President Obiang will doubtless try to use the failed coup to his advantage. His position has seemed to weaken in recent months, with the succession battle heating up and rifts developing within the country's tiny ruling clique. The latest blow to Obiang came late last month when he visited Washington D.C. in an attempt to resolve problems with his government's account at Riggs Bank. Obiang is the sole signatory on that account, which had a balance of more than US$600 million. The account has recently been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and an official at Riggs Bank has been interrogated by US agents.
http://africa-confidential.com/latestissue.asp

Tony Worthington:
At one time, America had little interest in Africa, but increasing amounts of oil are coming from it. We are in a new version of the great game in which the powers are struggling for resources. The Americans are trying to get out of reliance on Saudi Arabia and west Africa is the middle of an oil boom. I was astonished by the figures: 7 billion of an estimated 8 billion barrels of oil discovered last year were found off the west coast of Africa. West Africa now sends almost as much oil to the United States as Saudi Arabia. With that change comes military interest as well, but I do not have time to speak about that.

Nigeria is the worst case of a country discovering oil and experiencing misery. Following the discovery of huge oilfields, per capita income fell by 23 per cent. since 1975. I watched with interest when democracy took over in Nigeria, but I have seen no further signs of transparency. When we went to Nigeria, it was hard for politicians to find out what was going on. In Angola, more than $1 billion—about a third of state income—disappears each year and cannot be accounted for.

My favourite example of the relationship between the United States, its oil companies and African states is that of Equatorial Guinea. It is a tiny country of about 500,000 people—about a third the size of Northern Ireland—but it sits on oil. In Washington, almost within sight of the White House, there is a place called Dupont circle. There one will find Riggs bank, in which, it is alleged by the Los Angeles Times and corroborated by Global Witness, there is a bank account holding between $300 million and $500 million in the name of the President of Equatorial Guinea. That amount of money can only have come from Equatorial Guinea's oil resources, because oil represents 90 per cent. of its income. The dominant oil companies are Exxon and Chevron—American companies that reveal no information about their payments to that country. If they did, we would know about the route that the money followed. The President of Equatorial Guinea is

4 Nov 2003 : Column 758

therefore accused of huge money laundering in President Bush's neighbourhood bank, but there has been no sign of any attempt to find out whether that is the origin of the money.
The magazine, New Internationalist, ranks the world's regimes from one star to five star. Five star is "excellent"; one star is "appalling". It gives Equatorial Guinea one star, saying that all power rests in the presidency and that the president has no political vision beyond self-enrichment, self-aggrandisement and ruthless repression. No one in this place would achieve that record. We used to treat Equatorial Guinea as a pariah state. It is said that around one third of its people have fled. When it had elections last year, the leaders of the three opposition parties were locked up in jail and President Obiang got 99 per cent. of the vote. That gives us a clue that something is wrong. Even the US Department of Energy reports strong evidence of Government misappropriation of the oil funds that represent 90 per cent. of the country's income.
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/cm031104/debtext/31104-29.htm

And now, equal time with Mbob Mbodelango.

Madrid.- Feb. 26, 2004 .- The F.B.I. is investigating Teodoro Nsue Biyogo, former Ambassador of Equatorial Guinea in Washington and brother-in-law of President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
http://www.guinea-ecuatorial.org/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=94

There are daily flights between Dallas in Texas and Malabo. This is possibly the highest frequency of direct airline flights between the United States and Africa. These are commuter flights that bring drilling workers from Dallas.

The oil companies pay a hefty fee to Mbassogo for drilling oil. This is paid into Mbassogo’s personal bank account in the Riggs Bank in Washington, DC owned by Mbassogo. The citizens of Equatorial Guinea have no idea how much money is deposited in that bank account.

Ultimately the wealth is shared between the Mbassogo family and his cronies and the oil companies. The rest of the citizens of Equatorial Guinea are living in abject poverty.

Why is the Mugabe regime trying to show off? They have invited reporters into the seized jet. The Home Affairs Minister has made several press statements on the matter.

In fact, the entire ZANUPF machinery has climbed onto the bandwagon on blitzing the world with information about this case. Mugabe’s foreign minister Mudenge said the mercenaries should face even the capital punishment. As it turned out, the mercenaries are to be tried for lesser crimes.

The lawyer for the mercenaries has already been allowed to go and see the so-called mercenaries. The lawyer later said the men were being well cared for. He said their only complaint is they are being given TOO MUCH FOOD.
http://actzim.com/lfamar15.html

Thank you very much for your input, Mr. Mbodelango.
I am sure we will have occasion to call on you again.

Jonathan J. Bush (Jonathan James Bush) (1931- ) is an uncle to President George Walker Bush.
May 31, 2000: Riggs Bank N.A. today announced that the Board of Directors of RIMCO, a wholly owned investment management subsidiary, has elected Jonathan J. Bush President & Chief Executive Officer and a Director, replacing Philip Tasho who resigned. In addition, Henry A. Dudley, Jr. was elected Chairman.
"Mr. Bush will continue as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of J. Bush & Co., an investment management company he founded in 1970, which Riggs acquired in 1997. Mr. Dudley, a 24-year veteran of Riggs, will continue to be responsible for all of Riggs Bank's investment management, trust and private banking business.
http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Jonathan_J._Bush

According to several of those sources and others familiar with the account, more than $300 million of the country's energy earnings has been deposited in the account by international oil companies active in Equatorial Guinea, including ExxonMobil Corp. and Amerada Hess Corp. The money is under the direct control of Obiang, the sources say.
The arrangement has raised concerns at the International Monetary Fund, where officials have refused to provide assistance to Equatorial Guinea until Obiang accounts for his country's oil money and have urged him to transfer it to its home treasury.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/natres/oil/2003/0122gui.htm

From what I have been given to understand, the Riggs Bank may very well experience considerable difficulty in coming up with $300 million CASH. It is at times like these that an uncle might call on his nephew for assistance.

[Bolo Boffin]

5. Good Lord...

From what I have been given to understand, the Riggs Bank may very well experience considerable difficulty in coming up with $300 million CASH. It is at times like these that an uncle might call on his nephew for assistance.

Does this mean that George Bush is the Nigerian email scammer?

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DulceDecorum]

7. Half-truths are best we'll get from Bush

But Bush knew that he would never have persuaded the American people and Congress to wage war on the basis of such flimsy, threadbare programs. They posed no imminent threat.

Oh, right. That's not why we went there. Now. The State of the Union gave voice to our newer and more convenient reasons.

Had we not acted, "The killing fields of Iraq, where hundreds of thousands of men, women and children vanished into the sands, would still be known only to the killers."

That sort of humanitarianism, of course, means we wouldn't ever have anything to do with the likes of President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, with which we've recently resumed diplomatic relations. He is, by any stretch, a dictator who has violated human rights. Analysts, however, say we expect to get maybe a quarter of our oil from Africa by 2015 and guess what Equatorial Guinea has a lot of?
http://www.azcentral.com/news/opinions/columns/articles/0125pimentel25.html

[DulceDecorum]

8. We have a NIGERIAN in the White House?

Who knew?

[DulceDecorum]

9. And speaking of Nigerians and the White House...

Though neglected by major media in the United States, international news sources report that French law enforcement authorities have made Vice President Dick Cheney the target of a criminal investigation for his role in a massive bribery scandal during his time as CEO of Halliburton. Le Figaro, one of France's biggest (and most conservative) newspapers, reports "an investigative judge is looking into allegations of corruption during construction of a natural gas complex in Nigeria by Halliburton and a French oil company."
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17521

Feb. 4 2004 - The Justice Department has opened up an inquiry into whether Halliburton Co. was involved in the payment of $180 million in possible kickbacks to obtain contracts to build a natural gas plant in Nigeria during a period in the late 1990’s when Vice President Dick Cheney was chairman of the company, Newsweek has learned.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0204-11.htm

Thursday February 5, 2004
The Pentagon is widening its own investigations into Halliburton. The company this week agreed to repay more than $27m for overcharging the US army for meal services provided at four camps. Last month, it reimbursed the army $6.3m after disclosing that one or two of its employees may have taken kickbacks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1141411,00.html

[Bolo Boffin]

10. Cheney's a much better suspect for the Nigerian Email Scammer

Nice work, Dulce.

[DulceDecorum]

11. Rigg-ed?

TWO incidents were reported last week which highlighted the fact that supply-side corruption is alive and well in Africa, at least in the oil business.
First, US giant Halliburton acknowledged that some of its officials had paid a $2,4m bribe to a Nigerian government official in return for tax breaks related to the company's operations in Nigeria.
Second, it was reported that ExxonMobil, Amerada Hess and other multinational oil companies were to face an investigation into how up to $500m came to be paid into the private US bank account of Equatorial Guinea's president.
http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/1,3523,1348417-6078-0,00.html

Just as it is profitable (no pun intended) to Follow the money to piece together the inner (and outer) workings of politics and government, it has always proven equally beneficial to trace the family tree.
http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Disinfopedia
"Speaking of the Watergate, Riggs National Bank, where Saudi Princess Al-Faisal had her 'Saudi money trail' bank account, has as one of its executives Jonathan Bush, an uncle of the president. The public has not learned whether Riggs - which services 95 percent of Washington's foreign embassies - will be turning over records relating to Saudi finance.
http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Jonathan_J._Bush
On February 28, 2003, investment banker William H. Donaldson became the 27th Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Donaldson replaced "embattled former SEC head, Harvey Pitt, who resigned November 6, 2002 amid a brewing conflict of interest scandal." Like President George W. Bush who nominated him, Donaldson is also a graduate of Yale (1953) and a member of Skull & Bones (1953)
Donaldson, a longtime Bush family friend, was a Yale classmate of Jonathan Bush", uncle to President George W. Bush.
http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=William_H._Donaldson

WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- Washington, D.C., police are looking for three brazen, but highly effective bank thieves who robbed two banks in the same area of nearly $250,000.
The police said the three robbers -- wearing black clothes and ski masks, and carrying handguns and a machine gun -- entered the Riggs Bank branch Friday in Northwest Washington, taking only a minute and a half to confiscate about $100,000, the Washington Post reported.
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040306-112439-9400r.htm

Let's see that was a few days before THIS:

The suspects, comprising of men from South Africa, Angola, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and one Zimbabwean, were arrested after their United States-registered Boeing 727 plane landed at the Harare International Airport after which it was impounded by security authorities.
When they appear in court soon after the issue of venue is resolved, the suspects would be charged with breaching the Immigration, Firearms and Public Order and Security Acts.
If convicted under these laws they are likely to be sentenced to 10 years in jail.
On Saturday Mr Samkange told AFP that the police had slapped an extra charge of "conspiring to commit international terrorism" on the suspected terrorists.
He said the police were charging the men with "contravening UN (United Nations) resolution 1373 (2001) and UN resolution 1456 (2003)".
http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?id=30185&pubdate=2004-03-22

[DulceDecorum]

26. The terrorists and the mercenaries

Accuracy and Balance
Accuracy and balance are paramount, and together, they are VOA's highest priority. Accuracy always comes before speed in VOA central service and language programming. VOA has a legal obligation to present a comprehensive description of events, reporting an issue in a reliable and unbiased way. Though funded by the U.S. government, VOA airs all relevant facts and opinions on important news events and issues. VOA corrects errors or omissions in its own broadcasts at the earliest opportunity.
http://www.voa.gov/index.cfm?sectionTitle=VOA%20Journalistic%20Code

Some U.S. military officials involved in counter terrorism training and operations in Africa say they are concerned that instability and scandals in Iraq will draw resources away from their efforts. The concern comes amid evidence that Africa-based terrorist cells are growing in number and becoming more lethal.
U.S. military officials at European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, say the latest evidence of the growing threat of Africa-based terrorism is the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, Spain.
The officials say they believe the attacks, which killed 191 people and injured more than 1600 others, may have been carried out by the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, a little-known group based in Morocco.
Security officials in Morocco have also said the organization has ties to Moroccan members of al-Qaida, believed to be behind the suicide bombings in Casablanca nearly a year ago.
A spokesman for the European Command, Army Lieutenant Colonel Powl Smith, said that such links show that al-Qaida-inspired, and possibly financed, terrorism has spread from east to north Africa and has taken root.
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=73CACC29-175E-45E2-82CCAD4CCDB5C425&title=Africa%2DBased%20Terrorism%20Appears%20to%20be%20Growing&catOID=C6C27CF9-97C6-11D5-8EC9009027ACC5C2&categoryname=War%20On%20Terrorism

VOA Headquarters: VOA is headquartered in Washington, D.C., at the foot of Capitol Hill on Independence Avenue, between 3rd and 4th Streets, S.W. Most programming is produced at this location and broadcast to listeners, viewers, and affiliate stations around the world. The building is equipped with 55 radio studios, five television studios, a digital stereo master control facility capable of switching 512 incoming circuits and 448 outgoing circuits, and three intake centers to record live radio and television reports from VOA correspondents worldwide. The recently deployed Dalet Digital Media System provides radio broadcasters with the capability to edit and produce radio programs from their desktop computers. The Dalet system is also used throughout the studio facilities and broadcast automation systems for radio production and on-air broadcasts.

History: VOA began in response to the need of peoples in closed and war-torn societies for a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news. The first VOA broadcast originated from New York City on February 24, 1942, just 79 days after the United States entered World War II. Speaking in German, announcer William Harlan Hale told his listeners, "Here speaks a voice from America. Every day at this time we will bring you the news of the war. The news may be good. The news may be bad. We shall tell you the truth."
http://www.voa.gov/index.cfm?sectionTitle=Fast%20Facts

And if you happen to see a three-legged man by the name of al Zarawi,
contact the nearest branch of the Rendon Group for further instructions.

[DulceDecorum]

12. Shameless Agitator

This Week's Shameless Agitator Award goes to
KATHRYN CRAMER
for this ongoing series of posts

Military Privatization and the Mystery of N4610
More on N4610
Who Rented the Rent-a-Coup?
N4610: More Names, a Face, & Some Conservative Thoughts
A Question for Dick Cheney
Report in Barbados: N4610 Departed U.S. from Air Force Base in North Carolina
N4610 Has a Name: Clipper Pathfinder
Executive Outcomes => Northbridge Services Group?
http://www.shamelessagitator.com/award.htm
http://blog.shamelessagitator.com/

[DulceDecorum]

13. The Ides of March

NEW YORK - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will send a special envoy to Equatorial Guinea, whose leaders believe their oil-rich country was the target of a coup plot.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/latestnewsstory.cfm?storyID=3556365&thesection=news&thesubsection=world

Massive oil strikes in the late 1990s have shot the small, poor nation from obscurity to being Africa's third largest oil producer, second only to Nigeria and Angola.
US oil giants, led by ExxonMobil, have invested over $6bn in operations that pump 350,000 barrels of oil per day and made Equatorial Guinea Africa's fastest growing economy.
"The oil has been for us like the manna that the Jews ate in the desert," Obiang told CBS news last year.
But as in other oil-rich African nations, the vast revenues have only been salted into the foreign accounts of a rich elite and have served to entrench the ruling dictatorship.
Last year ExxonMobil threw a party in Washington in honour of Obiang - one year after he held presidential elections in which he won 97% of the vote. The result appeared to reflect a slight decrease in popularity over the previous poll, in which Obiang won 99.2% of the vote.
Visa requirements have been waived for US citizens, and more than 3,000 US oil workers live on premises provided by the Obiang government. There are direct flights from Houston to the capital, Malabo. Most controversially, US firms have been depositing oil royalties into a Washington account with the Riggs Bank - which only Obiang controls.
According reports, his current balance is $600m, prompting the FBI to launch an investigation.
American interest in censuring human rights abuses has waned in tandem with the flood of investment. The US re-opened its embassy on the island capital Malabo last October after an eight-year closure in protest at torture and other abuses.
Two years ago, for instance, more than 150 political opponents were arrested for another allegedly coup plot. Some were hung in positions designed to break their bones, and at least two died.
Since then, those who have not fled into exile in Spain have been detained at the notorious Black Beach prison, where opponents say they have been tortured by Obiang family members.
"If you've ever seen a person limp on both legs, you know you're in Equatorial Guinea," said former US ambassador to Equatorial Guinea, John Bennett.
The US is looking to West Africa as a safe source of oil far from the Muslim world and the price controls of Opec producing states. The region already supplies 15% of US imports, which the Bush administration hopes will rise to 25% in the coming decade.
http://www.biddho.com/portal/article4294.html

MALABO : Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema threatened to break off diplomatic relations with Spain unless Madrid extradites a key exiled opposition leader he accuses of plotting to overthrow his regime.
Obiang has charged that Madrid-based Severo Moto Nsa was behind a mysterious group of 15 alleged mercenaries recently arrested in the oil-rich west African state who were apparently intending to overthrow him to end his 25-year rule.
<snip>
One of them went on television here on Wednesday and spoke of plans to remove the president from the country before installing a government-in-exile in Madrid, headed by Moto, who had tried to mount a coup against Obiang in 1997 from Angola.
Spain, said Obiang, "must define its policy towards Equatorial Guinea. If it does not hand over Severo to be tried by an internationally recognised court that we shall organise, we will condemn Spain," he said.
"Why is there interference in the internal affairs of Equatorial Guinea?" he told the rally. "The preoccupation of our enemies is the oil wells..." He said the coup plotters "smell oil, for oil they will do anything..."
Equatorial Guinea is ranked third among African oil producers behind Nigeria and Angola.
At Saturday's demonstration, the protesters appealed to the president not to pardon the alleged mercenaries, saying they "deserved death."
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/75346/1/.html

Looks like those "natives" are planning to stick it to the Mann and his Toit.

Oh, hello sir, please come in and bring your guest along with you.
Ladies and gentlemen, here with us is Mr. Mbob Mbodelango to explain the situation as he sees fit.
With him is Ms. Nicole Fritz who asks the question:

"WOULD IT BE SO TERRIBLE IF THE DOGS OF WAR BIT?"
.....All stand accused of mercenary activity and it is not a wholly unwarranted assumption that fine, upstanding citizens they are probably not. Yet it is troubling that Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma effectively said she was not in any hurry to help those in custody.
South Africa's High Commissioner to Zimbabwe was yet to see any of them four days into their detention. Even mercenaries are entitled to due process and fair trial provisions.
But what is it about mercenary activity that triggers such repulsion?
Admittedly, mercenaries, like the SA-based Executive Outcomes, have been notorious for their ruthlessness. But if this were to be prohibited, as is done by the laws of war, is there any more reason to revile those who fight for a salary cheque than those who fight in the name of ideology?
Isn't it almost always better to send men who choose to fight into battle over those who have been conscripted into an army?
<snip>
His own regime has not been quite as brutal, but opposition parties continued to be banned for many years. Independent observers report that the country has never had a free, fair election and the US shut its embassy in 1994, effectively in protest at the intimidation then taking place.
Soon after, huge oil reserves were discovered off the coast and the Americans, certainly the petroleum companies, were back like a shot. While the country now reports an economic growth rate of about 30%, there have been attempts to rehabilitate Obiang and make him more palatable. As late as last year, however, dozens of citizens were seized for plotting against the government. The regime has refused to disclose the whereabouts of the accused.
In a situation such as this, what is it about a planned coup exactly that gives cause for complaint?
http://www.businessreport.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=225&fArticleId=373901

Thank you again for your equivocatory time Mr. Mbodelango.
Please feel free to have a few Beers with your cHarlotte.
Elsewhere.

Since Mr. Aristide's questionable flight from Haiti on February 29, for the Central African Republic at the height of civil unrest in Haiti, CARICOM has called for an investigation into his removal from his country.
Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, who has already accused the U.S. of backing a 2002 coup which briefly ousted him, has since declared that "the doors of Venezuela are open" to Mr. Aristide.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20040323/lead/lead1.html

In Haiti itself, people on the street told reporters they want their president, who had been twice elected with overwhelming popular support, to come back. But in Washington, White House spokesperson Scott McClellan said that Aristide's arrival in Jamaica was "certainly not helpful to advancing democracy and stability in Haiti."
Behind this mild statement is the threat of U.S. military might. Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairperson of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, stopped in Haiti on March 13 after a five-day swing through Latin America and held a press conference with U.S. Ambassador James Foley.
Myers warned neighboring Jamaica that it was "taking a certain risk and a certain responsibility" by having Aristide there. Foley said Aristide's presence "will destabilize a very fragile and suffering country." An unnamed but high Bush administration figure made it ominously "clear" that Jamaica had better limit Aristide's stay.
http://www.workers.org/ww/2004/haiti0325.php

This newspaper, as we expect is the case with all well-thinking and democracy-minded persons, is saddened by the turn of events in Haiti. For the second time in a dozen years last month, an experiment in democracy in that country was cruelly aborted.
But while we did not expect that the coup d'etat against Jean-Bertrand Aristide would be reversed, we had hoped that the newly-installed government of Mr Gerard Latortue would send early, and clear, signals of intent to take Haiti back on a track of democracy and reconciliation.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/html/20040322T000000-0500_57504_OBS_ANOTHER_WORD_TO_MR_LATORTUE.asp

"After receiving the CARICOM request, Nigeria undertook widespread consultations with African leaders, the leadership of the African Union, the US government and other concerned authorities," Oyo said.
"Following the concurrence received after these consultations, Nigeria has agreed to grant the request from CARICOM," she said.
"CARICOM, under the leadership of Jamaica's Prime Minister Percival Patterson, has requested Nigeria to consider giving former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti 'a staging post' for a few weeks until his movement to another country," she said.
Aristide arrived in Jamaica on Monday, March 15 from the Central African Republic, to which he had been taken on February 29 after stepping down from power to flee an armed uprising, and being escorted to safety by US agents.
Since leaving Haiti, Aristide has claimed to have been forced out by US and French pressure, and has not recognised the government of his Caribbean nation's new US-backed prime minister, Gerard Latortue.
He was expected to spend 10 weeks in Jamaica, an island country not far from from Haiti, but his presence so close to his still unstable country had raised fears that his supporters might be tempted to mount a counterattack.
Latortue froze relations with Jamaica, which has in turn refused to recognize Haiti's new government as it has not been accepted by CARICOM, whose members will meet at St Kitts and Nevis on March 25-26 to decide on the issue.
Aristide had said he hoped to move to South Africa, whose President Thabo Mbeki has been an outspoken supporter, but so far Pretoria has been cautious.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/76698/1/.html

Meanwhile, human rights groups criticized Latortue. Human Rights Watch warned Monday that fighters in the rebel-held north were illegally detaining former Aristide officials and journalists who supported him. It urged French troops to quickly fill a ``security vacuum'' in northern Haiti.
The New York-based National Coalition for Haitian Rights, meanwhile, accused Latortue of ``fanning the flames of lawlessness'' when he shared a platform with rebel leaders at a rally in his hometown of Gonaives on Saturday. And Amnesty International's Americas director Eric Olson said ``It sends a very bad signal for the prime minister.''
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3892825,00.html

AT least three Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders yesterday signalled their unwillingness to sit with Haiti's interim leader, Gerard Latortue, unless he repudiates his recent attacks on the Community and distances himself from the gunmen who helped overthrow Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
The leaders of St Vincent, St Lucia and Antigua were miffed by what they deem to be Latortue's inappropriate political and diplomatic behaviour. But, like Jamaica, they also felt that Caricom needed to first settle the issue of the recognition of Haiti's interim government before the Community could have substantial conversations with Latortue on regional issues.
<snip>
Just over a week ago, Latortue announced a freeze on Haiti's relations with Caricom and publicly rebuked the 15-member Community, to protest the posture of Caribbean leaders over the controversial departure of Aristide from Haiti.
<snip>
Antigua is due to take over the chairmanship of Caricom at the St Kitts summit, but Bird's governing Antigua Labour Party faces a general election today, which the premier believes he will win.
"Once my party is re-elected to office at Tuesday's election I have no intention of presiding at the Caricom meeting with Latortue in attendance until we settle, on a matter of principle, the issue of recognition of a government in Haiti in view of how President Aristide was ousted from office..." Bird told the Observer.
It is likely that a similar position will be adopted by Baldwin Spencer if his United Progressive Party (UPP) is able to break the ALP's 28-year hold on power.
Aristide claimed that he was all but kidnapped and hustled out of Haiti by American forces, a charge the Americans denied. The US said that it provided Aristide safe passage and transportation out of Haiti in the face of advancing rebels.
Caricom called for an international investigation of Aristide's allegation and dubbed his overthrow a "dangerous precedent" for elected leaders everywhere.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20040323T000000-0500_57575_OBS___LEADERS_SAY__NO__TO_LATORTUE.asp

And Prime Minister Patterson was himself quick to remind Gerard Latortue, the US-backed interim prime minister, that he was among Haitians who have found refuge in Jamaica, coming in 1963 after Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier came to power. He lived and worked here before going to Puerto Rico.
Hospitality and tradition aside, there is the not inconsequential matter of race. Yes, race - something that presents a great difficulty for many middle-class Jamaicans who wear the out-of-many-one-people national motto as a mask to hide behind the reality that race has always mattered in our social and political reality.
<snip>
As the first independent black republic in the world, having won its freedom by defeating the mighty armies of France and Europe, Haiti is of tremendous symbolic significance to black people all over the world.
Some black people are simultaneously inspired by its historic achievements but pained by the failures of generations of the political class to deliver the fruits of those victories for the majority of Haitians.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/html/20040320T190000-0500_57417_OBS_HAITI_PUTS_CREDIBILITY_INTO_THE_SPOTLIGHT.asp

DEPOSED Haitian leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has been granted temporary asylum in Nigeria to enable him search for a permanent abode. President Olusegun Obasanjo granted him permission for a few weeks yesterday following wide spread consultation with African leaders, the United States government and other concerned authorities.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/f523032004.html

The British Government has promised to increase her aids and assistance (known as the Official Development Assistance (ODA)) budget to Nigeria by 2005 to 70 million. 35 million was earmarked in the current financial year which ends March 31 this year as aid to Nigeria.
For the current year, which starts on April 1, Nigeria is expected to receive 43 million in development aid package from the UK.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200403220846.html

Besides the circumstances which his alleged resignation was surrendered, the fact that US troops were deployed in Haiti raised a few eyebrows as many wondered where the sudden spark in interest from the US came from, after turning back Haitian refugees and recalling all US citizens.
As with Iraq, the US is suspected to have a hidden agenda. The Bush administration has gained a nickname, the 'World Police' as they always see reason to invade other countries.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/TeenAge/html/20040322T220000-0500_57531_OBS_JAMAICA_NO_LONGER_STANDS_ALONE.asp

Mr. Aristide, who is in Jamaica with his two daughters, could not be reached for comment on Monday night. But Randall Robinson, a civil rights advocate who says he speaks with Mr. Aristide several times a day, said the ousted Haitian president had no interest in going to Nigeria. Mr. Robinson accused the United States government of pressing Jamaica to get Mr. Aristide, Haiti's first freely elected leader, out of the Caribbean.
"He doesn't want to go to Nigeria," Mr. Robinson said in a telephone interview from the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, where he lives. "The U.S. is pressing Jamaica to have him go to Nigeria, to really have him go anywhere out of the region. It wants Aristide far away. First they take him to the Central African Republic, and we went and got him. Now they are leaning on Jamaica to send him away again. It is shameful."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/23/international/africa/23NIGE.html

Do you remember what happened to Spain as a result of their involvement in America's crisis? More than 100 people died and more than a thousand were injured due to terrorist acts. Jamaica needs to be careful of their benevolence because it may cause serious repercussions, ones that we as a country are not prepared for.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/TeenAge/html/20040322T220000-0500_57533_OBS_WHY_HOST_ARISTIDE_.asp

Aristide, the troublemaker.
The new Haitian leader, who is 69 and has spent most of his adult life outside Haiti, hasn't done anything that calls for forgiveness. But Mr. Aristide has a lot to answer for. Hailed as a democratic reformer, the former slum priest betrayed Haiti's poor by becoming as corrupt as many of his predecessors. In the end, even the hired thugs who enforced his rule turned against him.
As Gen. James T. Hill, who heads the U.S. Southern Command, which has jurisdiction over Haiti, said Thursday in addressing a security conference in Miami, "It would be a lot more helpful if Mr. Aristide was a statesman ... and he could do that by keeping his mouth closed."
http://www.charleston.net/stories/032104/edi_21edit3.shtml

THE LESS the United States officials say about Haiti the better, lest they bring further embarrassment to their administration in the eyes of thinking people.
National Security Advisor Condo-leezza Rice said Jamaica's decision to host former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is 'a bad idea', and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he wished not to see Aristide back in the Western Hemisphere to avoid complicating the situation in Haiti. Other Bush administration officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, have frowned on Jamaica's decision to have Aristide here even temporarily.
Yet, it was this same Colin Powell who called the Jamaican Foreign Minister early on the morning when Aristide had been escorted out of Haiti to ask whether Jamaica would be prepared to take Aristide. The same man who on February 19 vowed that "thugs ­ or even an Opposition" could not be allowed to "simply rise up and say, 'we want you to leave'," in reference to then President Aristide; yet who a few days later said that Aristide "allowed thugs to take over", and was "governing very poorly" and undemocratically.
Here is this same Secretary of State of the most powerful nation in the world ­ a hydra-power ­ opposing a move which he himself a few days before recommended. If Aristide would not have been a threat to the fragile Haitian democracy on the morning of February 29, why is he a threat in mid-March? The Ides of March?
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20040321/focus/focus1.html

[seemslikeadream]

14. Great thread DulceDecorum - African Black Gold

Maria, a mother of three, lost her arm defending her children in Nizi, Eastern Congo. She says soldiers ate flesh from the arm after they had amputated it.



US Quest for Oil in Africa Worries Analysts, Activists

The Bush administration's search for more secure sources of oil is leading it to the doorsteps of some of the world's most troubled and repressive regimes: the petroleum-rich countries of West Africa.


The national energy plan drafted by Vice President Dick Cheney's task force spotlighted West Africa as "the fastest-growing source of oil and gas for the American market," and the administration has promised industry officials to do what it can to promote development. The first African head of state to visit President Bush in the White House was President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, the continent's leading producer. In September, Bush huddled privately in New York with leaders of 11 African nations, most of them current or prospective oil suppliers. Although the talks involved more than petroleum, participants said Bush discussed a $3.5-billion Chad-Cameroon pipeline project, whose partners include U.S.-basedExxonMobil Corp. and ChevronTexaco Corp.

A number of administration officials have traveled to the region in recent months. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell paid visits to Gabon and Angola, where he broke ground for a new U.S. Embassy. Bush plans to visit Africa later this year. The administration is paying unaccustomed attention to Sao Tome and Principe, a tiny island nation of 170,000 sitting atop an estimated 4 billion barrels of newly discovered oil reserves. President Fradique de Menezes has offered to let the U.S. build a naval base in Sao Tome, and a U.S. general went there last year to discuss security issues.

The State Department, which closed its embassy in Equatorial Guinea eight years ago because of human rights concerns and budget constraints, will open a new one there this year, in part because of oil discoveries. Meanwhile, it has authorized a firm run by retired Pentagon officials to train Equatorial Guinea's coast guard. The administration has also increased the authority of the U.S. Export-Import Bank to underwrite foreign projects, and bank officials say energy diversification is part of the reason. In October, the bank announced a $135-million loan guarantee to help finance construction of a petroleum plant in Nigeria.

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/natres/oil/2003/0114tome.htm

Cheney's Dirty Business by Wayne Madsen


(AR) WASHINGTON -- The Bush camp touts Cheney as an icon of statesmanship, but after serving as Secretary of Defense in Bush the Elder's administration and rescuing Kuwait's oil from the clutches of Sadaam Hussein, Cheney went on to become Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Halliburton, Inc., an oil drilling firm based in Houston. Halliburton owns the construction firm Brown & Root Services (BRS), a company involved in U.S. intelligence operations in Africa and elsewhere.
Considering the fact that Bush the Elder lives in Houston and was involved with both the oil business and the CIA, the Bush, Jr.-Cheney ticket must be a dream team for him, his friends in the oil industry, and the folks who work at the George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Va. (formerly known as CIA headquarters).

The GOP has a knack for reaching into the past to find candidates to lead the nation into the future. In 1996, the party anointed Bob Dole, a veteran of WWII, to preside over a nation entering the 21st Century. Now Gov. Bush has not only reached back to the Bush administration but to the gloomy post-Watergate era, to pick Cheney, who was President Gerald Ford's chief of staff.

Cheney's links to defense contractors and the intelligence community are suspect because of the roles played by Halliburton and Brown & Root in some of the world's most volatile trouble spots. In 1998, while conducting research in Rwanda for my book, "Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa 1993-1999," a member of a U.S. military team reported that the latter was "into some real bad shit" in that beleaguered nation.

http://www.monitor.net/monitor/0008a/cheneycompany.html




Africa and African Oil


U.S. Military Shows Interest in Africa
By: Ellen Knickmeyer
Associated Press Date: 02/24/2004

DAKAR, Senegal - Top U.S. generals are touching down across Africa in unusual back-to-back trips, U.S. European Command confirmed Tuesday, part of a change in military planning as U.S. interest grows in African terror links and African oil.
Trips by two top European Command generals follow last week's similarly low-profile Africa visit by the U.S. commander in Europe, Marine Gen. James L. Jones.

The generals are leaders in U.S. military proposals to shift from Cold War-era troop buildups in western Europe to smaller concentrations closer to the world's trouble spots.

Jones' trip included stops in Morocco and Cameroon and talks with leaders of the sub-Sahara's military giants, Nigeria and South Africa, European Command spokesmen in Stuttgart, Germany said.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/8028821.htm


Oil found off the coast of Gambia
By: Jeevan Vasagar
Guardian, The Date: 02/18/2004

The president of Gambia has announced the discovery of "large quantities" of oil in his tiny West African country, the latest revelation of petrochemical riches in sub-Saharan Africa. In a national broadcast Yahya Jammeh, who seized control of the former British colony in a military coup 10 years ago, said the offshore discovery by a western company would result in "a harvest of prosperity".
West Africa already supplies the US with 15% of its oil imports, and the share is expected to grow as the Bush administration seeks to reduce dependence on the Gulf.

The Gambian find follows the discovery of viable deposits of crude oil off São Tomé, in the Gulf of Guinea, where billions of barrels are believed to lie offshore.

Mr Jammeh did not name the company responsible for the study, but an Australian company, Fusion Oil and Gas, holds a licence to carry out deep-water exploration off the Gambian coast.

The Perth-based firm, which was unavailable for comment last night, describes itself as "a holding company for a group of companies whose business is oil and gas exploration in Africa".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,11319,1150369,00.html

U.S. Considers Building Port at Sao Tome to Protect Oil
By: Staff
Associated Press Date: 02/18/2004

DAKAR, Senegal - The United States is studying whether to build a deep-water port and new airport at Sao Tome, an island nation touted as a possible Navy base to protect growing Western oil interests in West Africa.

Ambassador Kenneth Moorefield and Sao Tome ministers signed the $800,000 study agreement at Sao Tome's current international airport, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency said in a statement.

Sao Tome, off oil-rich Nigeria, is one of the lead nations in an oil boom in West Africa as the United States, Asia and Europe look for alternatives to Mideast oil.

West Africa's Gulf of Guinea supplies the United States with 15 percent of its oil, a figure projected to grow to 25 percent by 2015.

The study on expanding Sao Tome's port and airport is in line with a U.S. agreement to "evaluate opportunities for technical assistance" to Sao Tome, the U.S. statement said.

http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=5769&fcategory_desc...

US opens new front in war on terror beefing up border in Sahara
By: Rory Carroll
Guardian, The Date: 01/14/2004

The US is sending troops and defence contractors to the Sahara desert of west Africa to open what it calls a new front in the war on terror. A small vanguard force arrived this week in Mauritania to pave the way for a $100m (£54m) plan to bolster the security forces and border controls of Mauritania, Mali, Chad and Niger.
The US Pan-Sahel Initiative, as it is named, will provide 60 days of training to military units, including tips on desert navigation and infantry tactics, and furnish equipment such as Toyota Land Cruisers, radios and uniforms.

The reinforcement of America's defences in a remote, poorly patrolled region came on a day when US police forces gained important powers in the homeland to conduct searches.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1122704,00.html

Repost: African Black Gold
By: Simon Robinson
Time Magazine Date: 10/28/2002


The sleepy tropical island city of Malabo had hardly changed in years. The capital of Equatorial Guinea, a tiny West African nation of fewer than 500,000 people, consisted of little more than some moldering Spanish colonial buildings, a few palm-lined plazas and the tightly packed shanty towns which encircle most African settlements. Its one claim to fame was that novelist Frederick Forsyth lived there while he wrote his military thriller The Dogs of War. But over the past three years, Malabo has been transformed. Office buildings have shot up, hotels and banks have opened, and foreigners — once a novelty in Malabo — now cram the town's fancy new restaurants. There's so much construction, joke the locals, that if you open your mouth and stick out your tongue someone is likely to build on it.
The source of this economic boom can be found buried beneath the nearby ocean floor. Over the past decade, foreign oil companies have found at least 500 million barrels of high-grade crude oil in the country's waters. Production has jumped from just 17,000 barrels per day in 1996 to more than 220,000 and could grow another 50% within three years. The oil boom has fueled fantastic economic growth — 65% last year, down to an estimated 25% this year — and pushed annual per capita GDP from $800 seven years ago to more than $2,000 today. The bonanza in Equatorial Guinea is being repeated across the region. Chad, one of the poorest countries in the world, will soon start pumping more than 200,000 barrels of oil a day through a $3.7 billion, 1,070-km pipeline — Africa's biggest-ever infrastructure project — that transverses Cameroon.

The island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, which sits on perhaps 4 billion barrels of crude, is also attracting foreign oilmen. These upstart countries join such established giants as Nigeria, which plans to increase its output from its current 1.9 million barrels per day to more than 3 million; Angola, which wants to double its almost 1 million daily output; and Gabon, which is encouraging more deepwater exploration to prop up declining production. All the action makes the waters off West Africa one of the hottest places for oil exploration in the world. On a global scale, the numbers may seem modest; total proven reserves in the Gulf of Guinea sit at 40 billion barrels, less than one-sixth of Saudi Arabia's 261 billion. But Africa is just getting started. Says Al Stanton, an Edinburgh-based oil analyst with Deutsche Bank: "The opportunities for expansion are tremendous."

http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901021028-366...

Hunt for 'new' oil
By: Timothy Burn
Washington Times Date: 09/28/2003

U.S. oil companies have been drilling off the west coast of Africa for years, but as major players like ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil continue to strike massive oil deposits in these deep waters, the Bush administration has taken notice.
The United States has been scouring the planet for new sources of oil beyond the Middle East. The September 11 terrorist attacks and the war in Iraq convinced the administration that the United States must move quickly to find new foreign oil partners.

What better place to look than an oil-rich region that lies just 4,500 miles from the East Coast, with an unobstructed sea route to U.S. ports, a region that could supply as much as a quarter of U.S. oil imports?

West Africa is rapidly emerging as a key strategic outpost for President Bush's twin policy goals of taking the war on terror far away from U.S. borders and breaking the Arab stranglehold on world oil prices.

http://washingtontimes.com/specialreport/20030928-123431-1449r.htm

Sept. 2003: U.S. donates ships to protect Nigeria oil
By: Dulue Mbachu
Associated Press Date: 09/05/2003

LAGOS, Nigeria -- The United States is donating several ships to Nigeria to help the West African nation protect its massive oil assets from gangs who steal an estimated 10 percent of oil profits daily, authorities said Friday.
The third of seven former U.S. Coast Guard ships to be delivered by year's end arrived at the port in Lagos on Thursday, a U.S. Embassy official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The first ship arrived in March.

Nigerian authorities plan to deploy the vessels in the troubled southern Niger Delta region, which produces almost all of Nigeria's oil output.

"Our national assets in the sea are worth billions of dollars and the arrival (of the ships) would help safeguard them," a Nigerian navy statement quoted Vice Adm. Samuel Afolayan as saying.

http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=2376&fcategory_desc...

Aug 2002: US naval base to protect Sao Tome oil
By: Staff
BBC Date: 08/22/2002

The tiny island nation of Sao Tome and Principe, off the West African coast, has agreed to host a US naval base to protect its oil interests. The country holds a strategic position in the oil rich Gulf of Guinea from which the US could monitor the movement of oil tankers and guard oil platforms.
"Last week I received a call from the Pentagon to tell me that the issue is being studied," President Fradique De Menezes told Portugal's RTP Internacional TV.

"This will be good for Sao Tome as it will ensure the future of the country in relation to those that are ambitious and are looking to come to the country when oil is extracted from our waters," he said.

The former Portuguese colony has a very small army on which it spends only $1m a year.

The president was responding to rumours that the US planned to build a air force and naval base after a visit in July by a US General Carlton Fulford, deputy commander-in-chief, US European Command.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2210571.stm

Americans muscle in as 'big whities' flock to new El Dorado

Rory Carroll, Africa correspondent
Tuesday June 17, 2003
The Guardian

Step inside the air-conditioned lounge of the Viking Club and Luanda's squalor could be another universe. Here the oil executives and engineers sip beer and discuss geological reports, deals and money.
Beyond the shattered skyline of Angola's capital, buried beneath the Atlantic, is a vast store of oil, and their job is to extract it. The accents are British, Australian, French and, increasingly, American.

The "big whities", as the taxi drivers call them, have been coming for years but now the flights are fuller than ever: new offshore discoveries are expected to double output to 2 million barrels per day, prompting talk of a drilling El Dorado.

Angola's government, adept at playing off rival oil companies to maximise its revenue, expects an investment boom of $50bn (£30bn) in the next decade.

A US contractor will help build an oil refinery in Lobito harbour, 250 miles south of Luanda, to process the light crude suitable for American cars. Now that Washington wants west African oil to cut US dependency on the Gulf, its envoys are beating a path to the capital.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,11319,979101,00.html

Scramble for Africa

Fear of corruption and chaos in oil rush

Charlotte Denny, economics correspondent
Tuesday June 17, 2003
The Guardian

Washington's determination to find an alternative energy source to the Middle East is leading to a new oil rush in sub-Saharan Africa which threatens to launch a fresh cycle of conflict, corruption and environmental degradation in the region, campaigners warn today.
The new scramble for Africa risks bringing more misery to the continent's impoverished citizens as western oil companies pour billions of dollars in secret payments into government coffers throughout the continent. Much of the money ends up in the hands of ruling elites or is squandered on grandiose projects and the military.

Tony Blair will today urge the oil industry to be more transparent in its dealings with Africa. Openness and accountability are essentials for stability and prosperity in the developing world, he will tell oil company executives and oil exporting countries at a meeting in Lancaster House in central London.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,11319,979053,00.html


Oil shocked

A desire to loosen Opec's stranglehold on petroleum prices lies behind Bush's interest in Africa and his plans for Iraq, writes Randeep Ramesh

Friday July 11, 2003

America's new world order appears founded on a declaration of independence. George Bush, an oil man from an oil state, wants America to wean itself off a dangerous addiction to faraway hydrocarbons.
As the president's national energy plan puts it, this is "a condition of increased dependency on foreign powers that do not always have American interests at heart".

Although admirably blunt, this statement has haunted the Bush administration since it was made in May 2001 - months before the attacks of September 11. America's war on terrorism is often viewed as a scramble for black gold.

There is a logic to this. Getting gas out of the Caspian is a lot easier if you are faced with a pliant Afghanistan. If Iraq is not run by a dictator determined to use oil as a weapon of war - as Dick Cheney said " seek domination of the entire Middle East" - then Americans could sleep easier.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,11319,996305,00.html

Oil and terrorism drive the presidential tour

Julian Borger in Washington
Monday July 7, 2003
The Guardian

President Bush's trip to Africa this week signals a recent strategic decision to increase America's military presence to bolster what Washington now sees as two important national interests on the continent - the supply of oil and the struggle against terrorism.
On the eve of departure, General James Jones, the commander of the US European command with responsibility for African operations, said the US was trying to negotiate the long-term use of a "family" of military bases across the continent.

This would include big installations for up to 5,000-strong brigades "that could be robustly used for a significant military presence," Gen Jones told the New York Times. It would also involve smaller, lightly equipped bases available in times of crisis to special forces or marines.

The bases would not only be established in north African states such as Algeria, where Islamic extremism is already a potent force, but also in sub-Saharan African nations such as Mali.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,993022,00.html

US military wants to increase its presence in Africa
By Eric Schmitt in Washington
July 7 2003

The United States military is seeking to expand its presence in Africa through new basing agreements and training exercises aimed at combating a growing terrorist threat.

Even as military planners prepare options for US troops to join an international peacekeeping force to oversee a ceasefire in Liberia, the Pentagon wants to enhance military ties with allies such as Morocco and Tunisia.

It is also seeking to gain long-term access to bases in countries such as Mali and Algeria, which US forces could use for periodic training or to strike terrorists. And it aims to build on aircraft refuelling agreements in Senegal and Uganda, two countries that President George Bush is to visit on the five-nation swing through Africa that he begins tomorrow.

There were no plans to build permanent US bases in Africa, Pentagon officials said. Instead, the US European Command, which oversees military operations in most of Africa, wants troops now in Europe to rotate more often into bare-bones camps or airfields in Africa. Marines may spend more time sailing off West Africa.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/06/1057430078697.html

[seemslikeadream]

15. "warbusiness"

Child soldiers wait in Bule for orders to move. When this photo was taken, they were the only defense forces in a 25-mile radius. Two days later they too pulled out, and Bule was attacked.



very long but very good.

http://www.zwnews.com/warbusiness.doc

one tiny snip:

In April 2001, an MPRI representative met with the Pentagon’s regional director for Central Africa to discuss the company’s hopes of winning the contract to train Equatorial Guinea’s forces. “They may need our help or moral support,” Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski wrote in a memo on the meeting, obtained by ICIJ under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. She quoted the MPRI representative as saying that Equatorial Guinea was “the Kuwait of the Gulf of Guinea” and, in a briefing paper three months later, advanced that characterization to “a possible ‘Kuwait of Africa’ with huge oil reserves” that was “US-friendly for both investment and security reasons.” Kwiatkowski also noted in her April memo that the highest-ranking U.S. official to meet with Obiang when he visited Washington early in 2001 was an assistant secretary of agriculture – that after French President Jacques Chirac had spared time to meet with him.

Despite concerns about Equatorial Guinea’s human rights record, Obiang’s currency rose dramatically after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. When he visited the United States as it marked the first anniversary of the attacks, Obiang was among 10 African leaders to meet with President George Bush for talks on the prospect of war with Iraq and peace and development on the African continent.


ended up here because of this:

If you've been reading the news the last few days you may have noticed this odd and somewhat mysterious story of a US-registered cargo plane loaded with 64 "mercernaries" and various military equipment which was impounded

Sunday night at Harare International Airport in Zimbabwe "after its owners had made a false declaration of its cargo and crew."

When asked about it on Monday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said "We have no indication this aircraft is connected to the U.S. government."

That seemed like a rather less than unequivocal response. And behind the scenes US government officials said they didn't believe the US government had any connection with this operation. But they wanted to make sure before saying anything definitive.

Now, if you look at the press accounts, what's caught people's attention is the US registry of the plane. Specifically, it's registered to a company called Dodson Aviation, which is based in Kansas.

Now, Dodson says they sold the plane to a "reputable" firm in South Africa about a week ago. "I think they were going to use it for charter flights," company director Robert Dodson told the Associated Press.

Now here's a little more detail.

Dodson Aviation of Kansas has a South African subsidiary, Dodson International Parts SA Ltd (According to their website, "Dodson International Parts SA (Pty) Ltd is the African division of United States based companies Dodson International Parts Inc. and Dodson Aviation. The company was established in 1998 and is based at Wonderboom Airport, Pretoria.") And it was from this subsidiary's hangar at an airport just north of Pretoria that the aforementioned mercenaries boarded the plane.

Now, here's where this gets a little murky.

I wanted to find out more about Dodson International Parts SA Ltd. What I found something out about was a company that sounded very similar: a South African company called Dodson Aviation Maintenance and Spare Parts.

They're also in the airplane business.

Not exactly the same name. But remember, the South African company is the subsidiary of two American companies, Dodson Aviation and Dodson International. If these aren't the same company, or closely related companies, I'd figure they often get confused for one another.

In any case, here's what I found about Dodson Aviation Maintenance and Spare Parts.

They come up in the December 2000 Report of the Panel of Experts to the United Nations on Sierra Leone, in the section of the report dealing with the arms trade.

Here's the section that caught my eye (italics added) ...

187. Fred Rindel a retired officer of the South African Defence Force and former Defence Attaché to the United States, has played a key role in the training of a Liberian anti-terrorist unit, consisting of Liberian soldiers and groups of foreigners, including citizens of Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Niger and The Gambia.
188. The panel interviewed Mr Rindel extensively. Rindel was contracted as a security consultant by President Charles Taylor in September 1998, and training started in November 1998. The contract included consultancy services and strategic advice to convert Charles Taylor's former rebel militia into a professional unit. The Anti-Terrorist Unit is used in Liberia to protect government buildings, the Executive Mansion and the international airport, and to provide VIP Security and the protection of foreign embassies. The numbers trained were approximately 1200. Because of negative media attention, Rindel cancelled his contract in Liberia in August 2000.

189. In 1998, ECOMOG identified a plane, registration number N71RD, owned by a South African company, Dodson Aviation Maintenance and Spare Parts, as having carried weapons to Robertsfield in September of that year. The plane is a Gulfstream 14-seater business jet that cannot be used for arms transport, but there are other relevant connections. Fred Rindel was the owner of Dodson. The company was closed on 31 December 1998, but during the period under investigation, the plane was leased to, and operated by, Greater Holdings (Liberia) Ltd., a company with gold and diamond concessions in Liberia. The plane was used for the transport of the Greater Holdings' staff to and from Liberia.



Mr. Rindel's name came up earlier in 2000 in testimony at the UN Security Council by then-UN Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke in a discussion of Sierra Leone (italics added) ...

In regard to arms trafficking to Sierra Leone, Mr. Chairman, we remain concerned and I would like to add a few more items to the record. The principal Africa countries involved in arms trafficking to the RUF - though they deny it - include Burkina Faso, Liberia and Libya.
In 1999, planes landed in Ouagadougou, allegedly coming from the Ukraine, with several tons of small arms and ammunition. This incident, which the Ukrainians say has stopped, is one that we believe should be brought to the attention of your committee.

In regard to trafficking, arms brokers have played a vital role in keeping the RUF supplied with weapons and other military materiel. A well-known arms and diamond dealer in Sierra Leone, Zief Morganstein, in July 1999 arranged for a Continental Aviation-based charter out of Dakar to fly a shipment of small arms from Bulgaria to Sierra Leone. Last year the RUF received 68 tons of weapons from Bulgaria, which Morganstein may have helped arrange. There have been other connections between former government officials from South Africa during its Apartheid regime who now operate as private individuals, including Fred Rindel, the South African Defense Attache in Washington, who now works as a security consultant in Liberia and trains Liberian troops and RUF insurgents. There are other charges about other businessmen who are reportedly helping the Sierra Leone government coming from various countries around the world.



Now, I've scanned the news coverage of this and I haven't seen any mention of this seeming connection. So perhaps these are two utterly unrelated companies?

As of Tuesday the situation in Zimbabwe seems to be calming down, though now there are apparently fears in Equatorial Guinea that these mercenaries were somehow intended to assist a coup in that country. (No, I can't keep up either.) "Some 15 mercenaries have been arrested here," the country's Information Minister Agustin Nse Nfumu told Reuters. "It was connected with that plane in Zimbabwe. They were the advance party of that group."

Equatorial Guinea is next door to Gabon. And Joe Wilson used to be the US Ambassador there back in the day. So maybe he can make some sense of this. I can't. But I'd be very interested to talk to the investigators who put together that UN report and see if there's any connection between Dodson International Parts SA Ltd and Dodson Aviation Maintenance and Spare Parts.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

I just can not forget that Poppy's gold mining buddies Barrick

Edited on Fri Mar-12-04 12:41 AM by seemslikeadream
are in Congo
War is Golden for the Bush Administration
And the commodities connection? President Pretzel's relentless hissy-fit for war on Iraq has of course goosed the price of gold enormously--and that's set Bush Family coffers a-clinking. How so? In the waning days of his failed presidency, Bush I invoked an obscure 1872 statute to give a Canadian firm, Barrick Corporation, the right to mine $10 billion in gold from U.S. public lands. (U.S. taxpayers got a whopping $10,000 fee in return.) Bush then joined Barrick as a highly-paid "international consultant," brokering deals with various dictators of his close acquaintance. Barrick reciprocated with big bucks for Junior's presidential run. And in another quid for the old pro quo, last year Junior dutifully approved Barrick's controversial acquisition of a major rival. (Barrick is also one of the biggest polluters in America, by the way.)

http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd02152003.html

The money behind Barrick is from Saudi arms dealer and Bush family friend Adnan Khashoggi, who was identified as conduit in the Iran-Contra conspiracy. In 1986 he was arrested and charged with fraud but failed to be convicted. In one of his last acts as president Bush pardoned Khashoggi's alleged co-conspirators, who were key members of Bush's own cabinet. As a result, no case could be made against Khashoggi – or against Bush himself.

http://www.penfield-gill.com/presentations/bush_the_elder.htm

Where was flight N4610 heading?

March 10 2004 at 08:11AM



They were 64 "heavily built men", mostly white. No, they were all black. No, only 40 of them were black.

The plane left South Africa illegally from Wonderboom airport, strayed into Zimbabwe airspace and was ordered down. No, the plane left the country legally, having filed a flight plan to Harare and then on to Burundi. No, the plane was headed for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The men on board were suspected of being mercenaries hired to overthrow Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. No, they were on their way to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea. No, they were going to the eastern DRC to carry out security duties.

These are just some of the stories surrounding the flight of N4610, a Boeing 727-100 cargo plane that has been impounded in Harare.

And 64 - though some reports say there are 67 - of those who were aboard, whether they were white, black or a mixture, and whether they were mercenaries or honest men, are in Harare cells facing intense interrogation.

On Tuesday, a company named in connection with the flight disputed all the speculation, saying the "mercenaries" were in fact security people "going to eastern DRC".

They were stopping in Zimbabwe to pick up mining equipment, "Zimbabwe being a vastly cheaper place for such".

Charles Burrow, a senior executive of Logo Logistics which had chartered the Boeing 727 freighter, said via telephone from London that most of the people on board were South African and had military experience, but were on contract to four mining companies in the DRC. He declined to name the companies.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=84&art_id=vn20040310081125342C...

Plane Did Stop At Grantley Adams - Thursday 11, March-2004

A UNITED STATES registered plane at the centre of controversy after being detained on Monday with 64 suspected mercenaries aboard by the Zimbabwean government did stop at Grantley Adams International Airport last Saturday morning.
Informed sources told the DAILY NATION yesterday that the aircraft, a Boeing 727 (100 series), with registration number N4610, landed in Barbados shortly after midnight for refuelling before leaving around 6:30 a.m.

Sources also indicated that the aircraft, which Zimbabwean officials alleged also carried military equipment, had arrived from the Hope Air Force Base in North Carolina, United States, before its stop-over in Barbados.

Further reports stated that the plane, originally a commercial PanAm Airways aircraft up until a week ago, was being operated by the American Air Force, but international Press reports stated it had been sold to a South African company.

http://www.nationnews.com/StoryView.cfm?Record=48033&Section=Local&Cur...

Corporate Mercenaries - Executive Outcomes Leads to Bush


Executive Outcomes is the most infamous mercenary company in operation today. Unlike traditional mercenary companies, it operates as the heavy partner in a web of related companies. Sandline international is such a sister company: 170 elite South African dogs of war were hired to crush the Bougainville freedom Fighters for $22m. Just another job for the likes of Sandline international? Paul Vernon investigates...

Set up in 1993 by Tony Buckingham and Simon Mannl <1>, Executive outcomes (EO) has worked in Asia, Africa and South America. Most of it's personnel are hired from South Africa.

Buckingham is the chief executive of Heritage Oil and Gas, which is now registered in the (tax-free) Bahamas. When EO was hired by the Sierra Leone government to crush people's revolt, Heritage received much of the payment in the form of mining rights. Sir David Steel MP happens to be a director of Heritage as well as a close friend of Buckingham. Recently Sierra Leone was thrown back into chaos with another military coup.

Eeben Barlow, the present CEO of Executive Outcomes, is a veteran of the Civil Co-operation Bureau, which allegedly assassinated antiapartheid activists. Barlow is the frontman for the group he told Newsweek (2) in February: "I'm a professional soldier. It's not about politics. I have a job to do. I do it." EO is thought to have a annual turnover of more that £20 million.

The South African government, with help from officials from the United Nations, has begun to draft proposals of legislation aimed to counter what officials called "the increasing frequency with which our soldiers-of-fortune are operating overseas".(7)

http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/magazine/issue4/cw4f8.html

Executive Outcomes ties lead to London and Bush
Executive Intelligence Review January 31, 1997, pp. 42-43
by Roger Moore and Linda de Hoyos

Exposes appearing on both sides of the Atlantic on the mercenary group Executive Outcomes, threaten to blow the lid off the British intelligence nexus already identified as responsible for the February 1986 murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, and for the current cataclysmic destabilization of Africa on behalf of circles associated with the Queen of England's Privy Council and Sir George Bush.
The exposes appeared in the French daily {Le Figaro} on Jan. 16, the {London Observer} on Jan. 17, and the February issue of the American magazine {Harper's.}
Executive Outcomes is the mercenary arm of a vast
network of British-South African corporations dealing in gold, diamonds, and oil, primarily, but not exclusively, in Africa, that come under the umbrella of Strategic Resources Corporation, headquartered in Pretoria, South Africa. Described universally as an ``advance guard of a corporate network that includes mining, oil, and construction companies,'' Executive Outcomes is active in 13 African countries, including Uganda. For its services, it demands a lien or franchise on the exportable raw resources, particularly mineral wealth, of the client country--in the same fashion as the British East India Company of the 18th and 19th centuries, which in turn functioned as the ``advance guard'' of the British monarchy.
Executive Outcomes was incorporated offshore, on the Isle of Man, in 1993, by Anthony Buckingham, a British businessman, and Simon Mann, a former British officer, the {Observer} reported, based on a leak to it from British intelligence. Buckingham is also chief executive of Heritage Oil and Gas, which in turn is linked to the Canadian firm Ranger Oil. Other firms operating out of the same headquarters in Chelsea Plaza 107, London, include Branch International Ltd. and Branch Mining Ltd.
Preliminary investigation by {EIR} has further determined that Executive Outcomes lies at the heart of the British monarch's raw materials cartels and secret intelligence operations, in conjunction with Bush's rogue apparat:
Through Sir David Steel, a former leader of the Liberal Party, Executive Outcomes and, presumably, its deployment, is a subsumed operation of the Queen's Privy Council. Steel is a close friend of EO's Buckingham, and is on the board of directors of EO's sister firm, Heritage Oil and Gas, according to {Le Figaro.} In 1977, Steel was inducted into the Privy Council, making him the youngest member of Britain's highest-level policy-making body.
The links between Executive Outcomes and Ranger Oil point to operational ties with the Bronfman family of Canada, whose scion, Edgar Bronfman of Toronto Broncorp, sits on the board of directors of Ranger. Recently, the Bronfman family merged its mammoth real estate firm, Trizec, with Barrick Gold, whose senior advisory board includes Sir George Bush. Barrick Gold is deeply involved in northeastern Zaire, where it has purchased 83,000 square kilometers of land. Zairean sources report that the so-called Zairean rebel Laurent Kabila is no more than a mercenary for Barrick and Anglo American Corp., sponsored by the British Crown-backed Ugandan and Rwandan militaries. Executive Outcomes, {Le Figaro} and other sources further verify, is deeply entrenched in Uganda, the key British marcher-lord state in the region.

http://www.aboutsudan.com/action/geopolitical/executive_outcomes.htm

Mercenaries aimed to topple oil-rich despot

The inside story of the ties that bind President Obiang and powerful American interests

By Paul Lashmar
14 March 2004

The tale of the 67 men of assorted nationalities now in a Zimbabwe jail accused of being mercenaries continued to unfurl yesterday like the plot of a lurid airport novel.

A bit too much like fiction, in fact, involving as it does a cast that includes the despotic leader of a little-known West African state, the Eton-educated son of an English cricket captain, fake passports, and a shadowy company registered in the Channel Islands that is linked to SAS old boys. All this, plus talk of CIA, MI6 and Spanish secret service activity, and a plane now impounded at Harare airport that contained equipment more suited to burglary than seizures of power.

SNIP...

But if who paid whom for what services has not yet been revealed, the intended target is not in doubt: President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, leader of a country whose lack of renown belies its strategic significance. And for "strategic" read oil. Not for nothing is this land known in US government circles as the "Kuwait of the Gulf of Guinea". Not without reason has President Bush welcomed President Obiang, a confirmed if not convicted corrupt despot, to the White House. He may be a despot, but as presider over an oil-rich state, he is their despot.

The sight and smell of oil is everywhere palpable in the port of Malabo. From here you can see the flames shooting into the night sky from the offshore oilrigs. Every day tens of thousands of barrels are extracted from huge crude oil reserves underneath the seabed off Equatorial Guinea.It is one of the oil-rich sub-Saharan countries that now supplies 15 per cent of American oil. Experts predict that the amount of oil the US receives from the prolific fields of Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Angola will double in the next five years. Hence the succour that American companies - and, since 9/11, the American government - have given to Obiang. Vice President Dick Cheney has said: "Along with Latin America, West Africa is expected to be one of the fastest-growing sources of oil and gas for the American market."

http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=501017&host=3&di...





Gravediggers at work in Kinshasa's largest cemetery, where there are more than 50 burials per day. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than 2 million people have died since 1996 as a result of violence, starvation, and lack of access to basic health care.

[seemslikeadream]

16. Plaza 107 and its links to Executive Outcomes

The Diamond Dogs

This commercial enterprise has given EO its nickname; 'the diamond dogs of war'. A recent United Nations report noted that once a firm like EO is able to establish security in an area 'it apparently begins to exploit the concessions it has received by setting up a number of associates and affiliates' which engage in 'legitimate' businesses. Such firms thus acquire 'a significant, if not hegemonic, presence in the economic life of the country in which it is operating'.

One of the Plaza 107 group firms is Branch Energy (BE), an English corporation which registered in the Isle of Man, a tax haven, in April 1994. EO is a major shareholder in BE, with 6o per cent of BE Angola, 40 per cent Of BE Uganda, and 40 per cent Of BE Sierra Leone. In June 1996 BE merged with Carson Gold, controlled by Canadian mining magnate Robert Friedland, to form Diamond Works Inc. This company, which has prospecting rights in Congo, Namibia, Botswana and Senegal, and is now the second largest concession holder in Angolait, was recently awarded the Alto Kwanza diamond exploration concession in Bie Province, covering an area of more than 18,ooo sq. km. In July 1996 the Sierra Leone government awarded the company a twenty-five-year lease to the Koidu diamond fields in the Kono region 'liberated' by EO. Diamond Works has contracted Lifeguard, another SRC subsidiary, at us$6o,ooo a month to protect its diamond fields in Sierra Leone.

Another line of analysis suggests that the prime mover in the employment of EO in Sierra Leone came from the South African mining house Gencor. In 1996 Gencor sold its controlling interest in the Australian company Cudgen RZ to another Australian firm, Renison Goldfields Consolidated (RGC). A subsidiary of RGC, Consolidated Rutile Ltd., in partnership with the us firm Nord Resources Group, controls half of Sierra Rutile Ltd, which with an annual production worth US$200 Million a year is the largest rutile mine in the world. The mine was the regional headquarters for Eo during their operations in West Africa and when they withdrew Sierra Rutile Ltd. took out a contract with Lifeguard.

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/sheppard.htm

America's secret armies
A swarm of private contractors bedevils the U.S. military

BY LINDA ROBINSON
Those who recall the awful sight of the corpse of Sgt. 1st Class Randy Shughart being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu in 1993 also recall the American reaction–the prompt withdrawal of troops. Yet when four retired Special Forces operators were taken hostage and one of them tortured three years later in Liberia, no one knew. Brian Boquist, a former Special Forces officer and founder of International Charter Inc. of Oregon, told U.S. News how he and his small aviation company wound up on the firing line. ICI was hired by the State Department in December 1995 to provide air and logistics support to the regional peacekeeping group of West African states known as ECOMOG. As Liberia spiraled into bloody chaos, about two dozen ICI staffers snatched weapons off dead locals and defended the U.S. Embassy until U.S. Navy SEALs and Army Special Forces arrived on April 9, 1996. ICI stayed on to airlift about 40 tons of food for some 40,000 refugees and won the State Department's Contractor of the Year award for their actions.

There's much to investigate. For starters, the Pentagon does not even know how many contractors it uses. Last spring, Army Secretary Thomas E. White revived an effort to count all contractors under his purview. A preliminary report to Congress in April guessed that the Army contracted out the equivalent of between 124,000 and 605,000 person-work-years in 2001. Nor is there a reliable count of the contractors who provide "emergency essential" services on the battlefront and elsewhere, despite the urging of the Department of Defense (DOD) inspector general a decade ago. In an internal E-mail last fall, one colonel urged that the Army logistics chief review all field systems to see what contractor support they entail. It reads: "At the very least, he could count these little beggars in some fashion before they show up on the battlefield and surprise some poor commander with horrific support, real estate and security requirements."

http://www.sandline.com/hotlinks/4contractors.htm

[AP]

17. Aside: Frederick Forsyth is one of most reprehensible individuals I've...

...ever heard talk about politics.

He's a first class pig, and his views are insane.

I can't stand him.

[DulceDecorum]

18. Wait till you encounter

Eeben Barlow, or
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=16671
Simon Mann, or
http://www.lam-online.com/news/africa/story.jsp?story=500325
Nick du Toit (whose name always put me in mind of female circumcision.)
http://www.africaonline.co.zw/mirror/stage/archive/040314/national28983.html

In comparison to these three and their associates, Hannibal appears to be merely a galloping gourmet.
http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg12192.html

[seemslikeadream]

19. I will try not to be embarrassed

The mercenaries from Zimbabwe. Were they going to grab Taylor, execute a coup or guard a gold mine for Barrick? So many projects so little time!



Mercenaries were after Taylor: report
Alleged mercenaries facing charges of trying to topple the president of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea were actually on a mission to abduct former Liberian president Charles Taylor from Nigeria, a newspaper has reported.

This Day, quoting sources close to some of the South African nationals among the 70 presumed soldiers of fortune detained in Zimbabwe, said their objective was not to topple Equatorial Guinea's long-serving President Teodoro Obiang Nguema but to deliver Taylor to a special war crimes court in Sierra Leone.

Fifteen other presumed soldiers of fortune have been detained in Equatorial Guinea on charges of trying to oust Mr Nguema. One of the men has since died of cerebral malaria.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/24/1079939716746.html

is this Nic?



and another mercenarie Hendrik Hamman

ONE of the pilots of a plane seized in Zimbabwe on Sunday with suspected mercenaries aboard is said to be a Namibian who farms near the Windhoek International Airport.


Hendrik Hamman has been identified so far as the only Namibian among the pilots, though pilots in Windhoek yesterday said they knew no person of that name among their ranks.

The Zimbabwean government said 18 Namibians were among the 64 suspected mercenaries believed to have been on their way to Equatorial Guinea to overthrow the government there.

http://www.namibian.com.na/2004/march/national/042D444CE1.html

[DulceDecorum]

20. It is getting very difficult to keep up

with the mercenaries who are registered and employed by the Coalition.

So I might just have to let a few other bloggers take up the slack.
We start with XYMPHORA, who as always, is truly a delight to read.

Saturday, April 03, 2004
......The latest version has it that the American victims were civilian 'contractors' working as private security guards for a shipment of food (they must have had to restrain themselves from claiming it was a shipment of baby formula). So let me get this straight. Falluja is so dangerous for Americans that the American military decides to ship its food through there, and hires security guards traveling in an unarmed, unarmored vehicle to protect it? This, through country that is so dangerous that when the Americans were attacked the U. S. army wouldn't go in to try to save them?
Yeah, right.

SLIGHT DIGRESSION HERE
After promising a new approach to the resentful population of Falluja, US Marines seem to be making the same mistakes as their predecessors, the US 82nd Airborne who moved out of Falluja on Wednesday. Last April the 82nd killed 18 protesters over two days of fighting. In the first six months of the occupation, it killed at least 40 civilians and police in and around the city.
The Americans have never recovered the trust of the people following those deaths, and within a few months a full-scale insurgency had erupted across the province of Al Anbar. By early autumn, the US army had virtually lost control of the area around Falluja and has not managed to regain the upper hand. American soldiers are now rarely seen outside their vehicles without helicopter and tank support.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1179692,00.html

Leaflets littered the city, which Iraqis believed the Marines left behind in an ominous message that more is more to come. "You can't escape and you can't hide ... the coalition will find you and bring you to justice," said the Arabic message printed over two steely green eyes that stared out in this nation where most Arabs have black eyes.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/8293451.htm

"We do bring this 'small wars' capability with us," Hagee added.
He pointed as well to the effort to obtain information from Iraqis in the area, relying on techniques dating back to the Vietnam war.
"Establish that relationship – 'hearts and minds' was the term used in Vietnam. I think that's still accurate ... where the people will come to you and say 'Hey, the bad guy is around the corner here and I want to show you where he is.' That is starting to happen now," he said.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20040218-1007-iraq-usa-marines.html

The Marines issued a statement Saturday, saying they were ``conducting offensive operations ... to foster a secure and stable environment for the people.''
``If they find more than one adult male in any house, they arrest one of them,'' claimed resident Khaled Jamaili, 26. ``Those Marines are destroying us. They are leaning very hard on Falluja.
House raids have been a sore point with Iraqis, and are viewed as a violation of women's privacy. Many believed that the Marines would drop the tactic and apply a ``soft touch'' to win over Iraqis, showing more cultural sensitivity than their predecessors in Fallujah.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3923513,00.html

Deaths Startle Marines, but They Remain Determined
Marines charged with bringing peace to Fallujah, Iraq, reacted with shock and determination after the bloodiest day of rebel attacks in months left five U.S. soldiers dead and saw an Iraqi mob drag the burned bodies of four civilian workers through the city.
Iraqi police brought what was left of the mutilated bodies back to the Marines' base closest to Fallujah — formerly known as Forward Operating Base Volturno and now called Camp Baharia.
http://www.mca-marines.org/Leatherneck/lneck.html
BACK TO XYMPHORA

The way the story is presented is that these poor unarmed American civilians were set upon by a bloodthirsty and completely unprovoked mob of savage beasts. What has just come out, however, is that the marines were already one week into an operation intended to 'pacify' the civilian population of Falluja by attacking them with the might of the American military (as was done in Vietnam, with remarkably similar failure). In other words, the context of the Falluja attack on the Americans was that the civilian population of Falluja was in the middle of a military assault by American forces.
http://xymphora.blogspot.com/

WIPE FALLUJAH OFF THE MAP
Saturday April 03, 2004
I know I will get panned for this but I must present my view. The mob in Fallujah dragged our dead through the streets and hanged dead bodies.The killing of American troops must stop. This cannot be allowed to go on.
I know there are some innocent people over there. Guess what? Those dead Americans were innocent people also.
What to do? Send in the Marines. Send them in to kill or capture every last person in that place and then send in the bombers and level Fallujah.
Those people have been living with violence all their lives. That is all they know. We tried to be diplomatic, and it didn't work. Wipe Fallujah off the map and ask, "Who's next?"
Al Robinson
Kenner
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1080980776249390.xml

"He that is good, will infallibly become better, and he that is bad, will as certainly become worse; for vice, virtue and time are three things that never stand still." --Charles Caleb Colon
There has been a rash of cheap shot stories about the growing boutique industry of security professionals. Just about everyone has it way wrong.
CAVEAT: I have personally trained at Blackwater’s extraordinary facility in the boondocks of North Carolina. I have very dear friends who work for Steele Foundation, and once upon a time, long ago and far away, after I graduated from the Infantry Officers Advanced Course at Fort Benning, I ‘almost’ signed a contract with Vinnell Corporation to train the Saudi army.
Just as Fox News has filled the vacuum created by mainstream malfeasance and bias, Risk management companies are meeting a growing need that has been exacerbated by terrorism and voids in security requirements.
http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/m-n/metcalf/2004/metcalf040304.htm

History repeats itself.
http://www.refuseandresist.org/war/art.php?aid=820

As does Faux.
One resident displayed what appeared to be dog tags taken from one body. Residents also said there were weapons in the targeted cars. APTN showed an American passport near a body and a U.S. Department of Defense identification card belonging to another man.
Some of the slain contractors were wearing flak jackets, resident Safa Mohammedi said.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,115703,00.html

The Marines enter Fallujah only on days when they conduct a military operation in the city. The Marines were apparently not in Fallujah on Wednesday when mobs dragged the mutilated and burned bodies of the four Americans through the streets.
Apparently fearful Iraqi police in the city stayed away from the mobs, and picked up the bodies hours later only at the request of American troops.
On Thursday, police manned roadside checkpoints and remained at their posts but were not conducting raids or operations related to the killings. Two officers told The Associated Press they were afraid, while a third said: "Why should we interfere? It's none of our business."
It was unclear why the American contractors were traveling unescorted in such a dangerous area. The four worked for Blackwater Security Consulting of Moyock, N.C., which provides training and guard services to customers around the world.
The firm is a government subcontractor providing security for the delivery of food in the Fallujah area. It is also a subsidiary of Blackwater USA, whose range of paramilitary services include providing firearms and small-groups training facilities for Navy SEALs, police department SWAT teams and former special operations personnel.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,115822,00.html

FALLUJA, Iraq, April 1 — Marine commanders defended their decision today not to send troops into Falluja to quell the macabre disturbances that followed after four American civilians were killed and their bodies dragged through the streets.
More than 4,000 marines are stationed near the restive town in the Sunni Triangle but when the violence broke out on Wednesday and the streets of Falluja exploded in mayhem, Marine commanders decided not to intervene.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/01/international/middleeast/01CND-IRAQ.html?hp

"You've got a whole host of fly-by-night and disreputable companies," said Mr. Custer. "They're terrible. They get people killed." With that in mind, industry professionals said that the most important factor in the risk-management trade was choosing and training the right people. All candidates are subjected to a rigorous vetting in order to weed out people with a history of everything from domestic violence and drug use to committing a felony. And yearly salaries - which insiders say can range anywhere from $70,000 to $250,000 - are set high enough to compensate the best in the business. Hotheads and swashbucklers need not apply.
Christopher Beese, a director of ArmorGroup, which reports 800 employees in Iraq, described typically promising candidates this way: "They don't expect to win medals; they don't expect to win glory. They expect an opportunity."
Which is why some in the business object to terms like "soldier of fortune" or "hired gun" in reference to the work that they do. "There's no romance there at all," said Alastair Morrison, chairman and C.E.O. of Kroll Security International, a new subsidiary of Kroll Inc., which counts among its clients the United States Agency for International Development - the agency behind much of the rebuilding effort in Iraq.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/04/weekinreview/04glan.html

And that is just Iraq.

The latest incident involving one of these relatively new mercenary companies occurred in Haiti. There the Steele Foundation, a private security firm based in California, was protecting the palace when Jean-Bertrand Aristide was summarily rushed to the airport at Port-au-Prince and onto a mysterious plane that took off with no listed destination—raising the inevitable question of their involvement with American intelligence. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Aristide feared that the Steele people would abandon their jobs and leave him to be killed by the rebels. Subsequent press reports noted that an extra detail of Steele people requested by Aristide for added protection were blocked by American officials from leaving California for Haiti.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0401-14.htm

The hands of a young Haitian man remain bound with wire behind his back in a morgue in Port-au-Prince Sunday. Residents say five young men were taken away by Haitian police Saturday night and their bound and hooded bodies found dead this morning with gunshot wounds to the head.
http://www.sfbayview.com/032404/usreplaces032404.shtml

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — French troops have begun moving into rebel-controlled parts of northern Haiti while U.S. Special Forces expand their presence in the center and south, the head of the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command said yesterday.
The deployment of international forces outside the capital represents a significant shift in the campaign to quash weeks of widespread political violence that led to the Feb. 29 departure of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Armed pro- and anti-Aristide gangs still control most of the countryside, with a U.S.-led multinational peacekeeping force that began arriving the same day so far deployed only in the capital city of Port-au-Prince.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001883040_wdig19.html

Hans Jaap Melissen also saw elite US troops already in place outside the presidential palace, and that foreign mercenaries – presumably from Haiti's neighbour the Dominican Republic – were also in the city. Also seen driving around the streets of Port-au-Prince were armed civilians, probably linked to the rebel groups which toppled President Aristide.
http://www.rnw.nl/hotspots/html/hai040301.html

President Aristide left Haiti under the guns of a U.S. Naval task force and thousands of U.S. Marines, with Marine helicopters hovering over the presidential palace and U.S.-armed mercenaries surrounding the capital. Haiti's capital is now under U.S. military occupation.
With conflicting reports coming out of Haiti, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the President was kidnapped. The corporate-owned U.S. news media have been dishonest in the reporting of events, claiming the revolt against President Aristide was a spontaneous uprising, in the midst of which hundreds of heavily armed, well-trained commandos just happened to materialize.
<snip>
....The leader of the resistance to the 1915 invasion, Charlemagne Peralte, was murdered by U.S. troops, tied to a door almost fully naked and put on display. U.S. Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler later confessed, "I made Haiti a safe place for the First National City Bank boys to collect revenues in."
http://www.iacenter.org/haiti-022904.htm
http://www.medalofhonor.com/SecondHaitianCampaign1919-1920.htm

Remember those N4610 mercenaries who said that they were on their way to the Democratic Republic of Congo?
Well they might just have been telling the truth.

29 March 2004
KINSHASA : Military bases near the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Kinshasa came under attack and heavy gunfire rang out across the city, but the authorities refused to confirm reports of an attempted coup.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/77557/1/.html

"Rocket-propelled grenades were fired from the direction of the Palais de la Nation (Presidential Palace) in the direction of the president's house and fire returned," said the UK Ambassador in Kinshasa Jim Atkinson, who also said the incident was an apparent coup attempt.
The government said armed groups simultaneously attacked two army posts, a naval base, and Ndolo military airport and shells also fell on densely populated parts of the town, and a private television station came under attack.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200403290485.html

And now LOOK at what is happening in Nigeria.

Friday, April 02, 2004
Military Coup avoided in Nigeria
The former head of security for the late dictator, Sani Abacha, Hamza al-Mustapha, is said to be involved in a failed coup attempt in Nigeria.
http://africanoilpolitics.blogspot.com/

April 2, 2004
A United States Defense official, Colonel Victor Nelson has refuted the notion that Nigeria may be on the verge of breaking up along ethnic and religious lines.
Responding to a commentary in the Washington Times tagged "Al Qaeda into Africa" where the writer stated "Nigeria is now on the verge of becoming a failed state. It is breaking apart along ethnic and religious fault lines," Nelson said "I do not believe Nigeria is on the verge of becoming a failed state."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200404020221.html

It is late and we have not even begun to grasp the enormity of the situation.

Was Dead "Civilian Contractor" Michael Teague
(of Blackwater, Fallujah)
the former Aryan Nations security chief?
http://www.kathryncramer.com/wblog/archives/000487.html

Please let me wake up and find that I have been sleeping on the couch and the TV was showing an episode of Jerry Springer.
Please do not let this all be real.
I promise not to make any more mean jokes about Bobby Ewing and his very long dream.

There are very many places where the "Private Military Companies" are turning up.
It appears that George has made cowboys out of us all by transforming our planet into a gruesome replica of the Wild West.

I urge you to check in with
http://xymphora.blogspot.com/
http://www.kathryncramer.com/wblog/
http://africanoilpolitics.blogspot.com/
And as Jerry Springer says:
take care of yourselves, and each other.

[seemslikeadream]

21. Just a collection of mercenary logos

http://www.bundesgrenzschutz.de/Orga/PWest/gsg9/index.php

[DulceDecorum]

22. Weep not beloved country

April 19, 2004
Julian Rademeyer
Johannesburg
A security contractor killed in Iraq last week was once one of South Africa's most secret covert agents, his identity guarded so closely that even the Truth and Reconciliation Commission did not discover the extent of his involvement in apartheid's silent wars.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200404190944.html

Johannesburg - The family of the South African who was shot dead in Iraq last week are upset by reports that Gray Branfield, 55, was decapitated and then hanged by his feet.
Branfield, 55, from Helderkruin, Roodepoort, was doing security work in Kut, 185 km south east of Baghdad. He was shot and killed on Tuesday when fighting between the coalition forces and Iraqi rebels flared up again.
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1511018,00.html

Many of the mercenaries fighting in Iraq learned their trade while propping up vicious dictatorships, serving in the Chilean army under General Pinochet or protecting the apartheid regime in South Africa. Mercenaries are allowed to carry small arms and are now demanding the right to carry larger weapons. There is no figure for the number of Iraqis they have killed.
Campaigning journalist Paul Foot, writing in Private Eye, has exposed some of the thugs hired by one company, Erinys: "In January two South Africans working for Erinys suffered a bomb attack. Deon Gouws was a former member of Valkplaas, a notorious 'hit squad' implicated in many murders. South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission granted him amnesty after he admitted involvement in more than 40 petrol bombings of political activists' homes. Francois Strydom was a former member of Koevoet, a South African counter-insurgency unit in Namibia with a reputation for murder and torture."
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/1898/sw189806.htm

The serial-killers came
but to drink their own bitter medecine
from the hands of Dr. Iraq.

[seemslikeadream]

23. Ya beat me to it

Iraq Victim Was Top-Secret Apartheid Killer


Julian Rademeyer
Johannesburg

A security contractor killed in Iraq last week was once one of South Africa's most secret covert agents, his identity guarded so closely that even the Truth and Reconciliation Commission did not discover the extent of his involvement in apartheid's silent wars.

Gray Branfield, 55, admitted to being part of a death squad which gunned down Joe Gqabi, the ANC's chief representative and Umkhonto weSizwe operational head in Zimbabwe on July 31 1981. Gqabi was shot 19 times when three assassins ambushed him as he reversed down the driveway of his Harare home.


Author Peter Stiff this week confirmed information that Branfield was an operative identified in his books, The Silent War, Warfare By Other Means and Cry Zimbabwe as "Major Brian". He said Branfield, a former detective inspector in the Rhodesian police force specialising in covert operations against guerrilla organisations, came to South Africa after Zanu-PF came to power in 1980.

In South Africa he joined the SA Defence Force's secret Project Barnacle, a precursor to the notorious Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) death squad.

Given the rank of major, Branfield was put in charge of operations in the urban centres of Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia.

Said Stiff: "In Rhodesia even his enemies respected him. They called him Mhlatini, 'the one of the bush'. His colleagues nicknamed him 'Hound Dog' because of his innate ability to sniff things out."

Stiff recalled that Branfield led a daring operation in 1981 to rescue a South African Special Forces agent, Patrick Gericke, who had been detained in Harare and was under interrogation by the CID.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200404190944.html


Another SA citizen becomes a victim of Iraqi conflict
April 14, 2004

By Graeme Hosken

A third South African has been killed in Iraq.

Roodepoort resident Hendrik "Vis" Visagie (29), a former member of the Pretoria Task Force, died on Monday after being critically injured during an ambush last week.

Visagie, along with a number of other South Africans, had been in Iraq since January working on a contract with Erinys Iraq, a British-based security company.

Visagie is the second South African working for Erinys Iraq to be killed in Iraq since January.

Erinys Iraq provides security services to the occupation authority and to multinational corporations involved in reconstruction projects in Iraq.

At the end of January, former policeman Francois Strydom was blown up by a suicide bomber while guarding an Iraqi minister in Baghdad.

Visagie had been escorting a convoy of Iraqi diplomats and ministers from Amman, Jordan, to Baghdad when they were ambushed.


He was driving the lead escort vehicle when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle, critically injuring him.

He is believed to have been killed in the same fighting in which another South African, Gray Branfield, was killed.

Branfield was shot dead during a skirmish between Shi'ite radicals and Ukrainian forces in Al-Kut, 185km south-east of Baghdad.

The chief of staff for Erinys Iraq, Michael Hutchings, confirmed that Visagie had died from wounds sustained during the attack.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said arrangements were being made to have the bodies of Branfield and Visagie flown back to South Africa.

http://www.star.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129&fArticleId=402789

The Guardian has obtained details of a firefight in the town of Kut, 100 miles south-east of Baghdad, between Iraqi insurgents and five security personnel of the Hart Group, a Bermuda-registered security consultancy run by former SAS and Scots Guards officer Richard Bethell, the son of Lord Westbury.

Gray Branfield, a South African, was killed during the battle after coalition forces from Ukraine failed to respond to repeated pleas for assistance from the small group of besieged guards.

Under an agreement with the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) private security guards are only allowed to carry small personal protection weapons. But a source at Hart Group told the Guardian this week that discussions were under way with the authorities governing Iraq to allow bodyguards to increase their firepower.

"All of the security companies assumed that if you got into a tight corner they would come and help you out," the source said. "I cannot really answer for other security companies, but there is a feeling among many that we should be asking some questions and if we are not going to be supported then we need to be able to carry heavier weaponry."

There are an estimated 15,000 private bodyguards operating inside Iraq, of which about 6,000 are armed, making them the second biggest contributor to coalition forces after the Pentagon. The number is set to increase even further after the proposed handover of sovereignty to an Iraqi administration on June 30.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1193871,00.html

In Memoriam

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This memoriam listing is yet to be completed and represents those former regular members of the force who have passed on this year and in the previoustwo years. The listings are in date sequence. Please advise the Webmaster of any additions to these listings or of any corrections you think appropriate. There is a form you may complete, if you wish to update of include more information - see below, "Building a Database"

2004 BSA Police Memorial Roll

15-Jan-2004 Marriott(Became Davies), Sheila Wynn (Wp042)(
22-Jan-2004 Shawyer, John Richard(Dick) (4721)
23-Jan-2004 Newton, Donovan Anderson(Don) (3180)
06-Feb-2004 Taunton, Stephen Russell("Steve") (8261)
10-Feb-2004 Morgan, John Edwin (4743)
07-Apr-2004 Branfield, Gordon Gray (7695/8843)

http://www.bsap.org/In_Memoriam.htm

Don't Cry for Me, Fallujah
Hesiod has tracked down the unsavory C.V. of South African national Gray Branfield, a "civilian security contractor" killed (and reportedly decapitated) in Iraq last week.

It's reassuring to know that the forces of liberation have placed their security in such, shall we say, "reliable" hands.


Link posted by Simbaud @ 3:51 PM

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:sr5Cdq0haA8J:simbaud.blogspot.com/+%22Gray+Branfield%22&hl=en


Back to the top.

______________________



BACKSTORY: It turns out that one of the "security contractors" killed last week in Iraq had a very interesting history as a covert operative/commando for South Africa in the 1980's.

It included being part of a death squad targetting members of the ANC.

And his death is one of those justifying that we put Fallujah under siege?!?

How many Marines died to revenge this guy?


Hesiod // 4/20/2004 10:03:15 AM
Kvetch (0) | Trackback (1)
http://counterspin.blogspot.com/2004_04_18_counterspin_archive.html#108246979520657701

François Strydom, a former apartheid-era policeman who worked as a security officer for Erinys Iraq, was blown up by a suicide bomber while on a four-month contract guarding oil lines in Iraq. - Sapa and Staff Reporter

http://capeargus.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=397564

Branfields lose family member in Iraq conflict
The brother-in-law of Toti’s Bobbi
Bear activist, Jackie Branfield, was
killed in bloody fighting in Iraq last
weekend.
55-year-old Gray Branfield, the
brother of Jackie’s husband, Alan,
was doing security work in Kut,
185km south east of Baghdad, when
he was caught up in fierce fighting
between local resistance movements
and the coalition forces in the warravaged
country.
He worked for a security firm
protecting power lines.
Reports have been conflicting and
sketchy but indications are that Gray
shared a house with four other people
who all escaped when Shi'ite Muslims
attacked the house and killed
him.
He lived in Helderkruin, Roodepoort,
and is survived by his wife
and children.
Gray had joined the former Rhodesian
security forces after school and
later joined the South African security
forces.
According to Eureka van der
Mescht, the family were due back in
the country by the weekend for the
funeral. She said Alan had also been
in Iraq, on unrelated business at the
time of Gray’s death.
Jackie, who has been in the UK
campaigning on the Bobbi Bear
front, was returning for the funeral.

http://www.totinews.co.za/news/18april20042.htm


IRAQ VICTIM WAS TO-SECRET APARTHEID KILLER
A security contractor killed in Iraq last week was once one of South Africa’s most secret covert agents, his identity guarded so closely that even the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission did not discover the extent of his involvement in apartheid’s silent wars.

Gray Branfield, 55, admitted to being part of a death squad which gunned down Joe Gqabi, the ANC’s chief representative and Umkhonto weSizwe operational head in Zimbabwe on July 31 1981.

Author Peter Stiff this week confirmed information that Branfield was an operative identified in his books, The Silent War, Warfare By Other Means and Cry Zimbabwe as “Major Brian”. He said Branfield, a former detective inspector in the Rhodesian police force specializing in covert operations against guerrilla organizations, came to South Africa after Zanu-PF came to power in 1980.


http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:8jbGkFk0RPMJ:www.edgefinance.co.za/newsinternational.htm+%22Gray+Branfield%22&hl=en

[seemslikeadream]

24. Photos of some mercs

And being effectively inside of a war zone, there is a blurred line between close protection work and combat operations - battling it out alongside, or in support of, regular soldiers as happened in Al Najaf whilst I was in Baghdad. Within hours of that incident, rumour were rife that the defence of the CPA compound in the town had been handled not by regular troops, but by a team of eight CP officers from Blackwater Security. The Washington Post was on to the story pretty quickly.

There exists an uneasy relationship between the various subcultures of close protection officer in Iraq, and I witnessed a diverse range of nationalities and abilities working for different agencies. Senior officials representing the British Governemnt in Iraq such as Sir Jeremy Greenstock or Christopher Segar are protected by the professionals - members of the army's Royal Military Police close protection squads. The rest of the British contingent in Iraq are looked after by amed civillians under contract to private security companies. The British contingent from CRG were for the most part, extremely professional, courteous and low profile. Most were drawn from the various branches of the UK military, with a number of ex- Royal Military Police close protection officers amongst their number. I met at least two who were serving police officers with firearms experience and who had resigned from the police specifically to take up positions in Iraq. They were under no illusions about the longevity of the role, taking the money and flirting with the danger for as long as it was worthwhile.



The legal position, as if it's of any import, is unclear. Not being regular soldiers, they don't qualify for the protection of the military parts of the Geneva Conventions. Not being unarmed civilians, they are not covered by the Fourth Convention relating to non-combatants, either. Nor could they be classified accurately as spies or intelligence agents. Perhaps the new category invented by the US for its prisoners of war from Afghanistan might be appropriate: Unlawful Combatants?

In almost every case, CP officers are ex-soldiers, trained at taxpayers' expense in the skills which governments are finding so valuable and which are being charged back to them at two to ten times the former rate. It's massively more expensive for governments to use private military companies than the conventional forces they have available, but then the political cost tends to be so much lower - private contractors killed in Iraq tend to attract far less media and public attention than conventional soldiers on active duty so the political cost is lower to policy makers and governments fighting a losing battle with an increasing percentage of voters who oppose the conflict.

Against that background, private military companies' involvement in future conflicts looks assured.



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.



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.

[seemslikeadream]

25. Riggs and Equatorial Guinea

British businessman accused of leading role in failed coup


Exclusive Investigation: Mercenaries held over Equatorial Guinea plot identify west London consultant as mastermind
By Paul Lashmar and Adrian Gatton
16 May 2004


A management consultant from west London has been accused of being one of the masterminds behind a plot to overthrow the government of the oil-rich African state of Equatorial Guinea.

The failed coup - strikingly reminiscent of Frederick Forsyth's mercenary tale The Dogs of War - came to light in March with the dramatic arrests of 67 soldiers of fortune at Harare airport in Zimbabwe. Now a witness statement seen by The Independent on Sunday names Greg Wales, 53, an accountant and management consultant, as a key organiser behind the plot.

He vehemently denies any involvement. But the government of Equatorial Guinea has confirmed to the IoS that it now wishes to interview Mr Wales, who has homes in Chiswick and Wiltshire and a history of business in Africa.

A statement on behalf of the state and President of Equatorial Guinea said yesterday: "The appropriate authorities are anxious to interview Mr Wales in view of his apparent involvement in the attempted coup d'état." British lawyers acting for the government have asked Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch to investigate Mr Wales's role. "We believe attempting a coup against an elected government by the use of force is an act of international terrorism and should be investigated as such," one lawyer said

more
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=521746


Mr du Toit claims that Mr Wales arranged much of the finance for the coup.


Mr Wales denies involvement in the coup. While he says he knows most of the key figures said to be involved in the failed plot, he stressed: "I was not involved in a coup. I do not even believe that there was a coup plot. This is all a deal between Mugabe and Obiang. If the government of Equatorial Guinea is saying I was involved then it is a joke."

But Mr du Toit identifies Mr Wales as a key organiser, in a statement seen by the IoS. It was signed in the presence of a British lawyer working for the government. In the statement he says: "The first person who I spoke to about the coup was Greg. I had not met him before. I do not know how he got my telephone number but this was probably through Simon Mann. I do not know his family name."

The IoS has confirmed that Mr du Toit had Greg Wales's personal mobile number in his notebook. Mr Wales is an old Africa hand and has been involved with Mr Mann over many years; Mr du Toit claims that Mr Wales arranged much of the finance for the coup.

At the time, Mr du Toit was based in Equatorial Guinea starting up businesses, including a deep-sea fishing project and an airfreight operation in partnership with ministers. In his statement he says: "He called me and asked me to meet him on 4 January 2004 in Sandton, South Africa. He said he had a business proposition for me ... I decided to see what he proposed."

more
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=521746

The weapons supplied to Nick Du Toit's customers


The alleged mercenaries, arrested in March, are to be extradited to Equatorial Guinea to stand trial for plotting the overthrow of the government there. The Harare authorities announced the extradition last week, not long after receiving legal documents from lawyers representing the arrested men outlining their defence to various minor charges laid against them in Zimbabwe.

A court case would have revealed that the parastatal Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) has been working for the past few years with a number of white South Africans in joint ventures to ship arms around the continent.

'There was no way he would have got involved in a coup'
The South African arms brokers, operating with offshore companies, registered in places like the Bahamas, were able to guarantee delivery of weapons "within 24 hours of payment being received, to anywhere in Africa," according to a source in Pretoria.

Once payment had been received, an aircraft would be dispatched from South Africa to Harare. It would load the weapons from military facilities at Harare airport and would then fly on to its final African destination, said the source
The weapons supplied to Nick Du Toit's customers could have come from three sources: The Zimbabwe National Army armouries; from weaponry captured by Zimbabwean troops in their involvement in the DRC or could be have been bought new.

more
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=84&art_id=vn20040508105453653C...

Equatorial Guinea also involved in the Riggs bank scandal


but laundering money for the government (Obiang) and likely paying out the bribes from the oil companies.

LA Times story (somewhere odd) has good details: http://www.ocnus.net/cgi-bin/exec/view.cgi?archive=43&num=11319&printe...

That's the Jonathan Bush linked company that there were other stories about today and recently--funneling money from Saudi's to the West Coast 9/11 terrorist cell.

I don't yet get if or how the coup money would be related. Greg Wales doesn't google very well, for one. But naturally we have a Bush linked company doing something hokey with oil rich EG, so there's got to be more to it. From some reading today, I think the International arm of Riggs is based in Miami--maybe throw in some Jeb, Cubans, drugs or other crazy Florida stuff that always makes up a nice BFEE crime conspiracy. I'm catching a strong wiff of BCCI.

Mugabe to barter mercenaries for fuel


Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has struck a deal with Equatorial Guinea to extradite the 70 suspected mercenaries held in Harare to the oil-rich country in exchange for fuel worth US1.2-billion.

Official sources say Mugabe has agreed with Equatorial Guinea's President Teodora Obiang Nguema Mbasogo to hand over the mercenaries, accused of plotting a coup in the West African nation, on condition that he received a two-year supply of fuel.


The deal was first discussed at a meeting between Mugabe and Obiang in Pretoria on April 27.


Mugabe and Obiang were in South Africa to attend President Thabo Mbeki's inauguration.


"Initially, Mugabe did not want to send the suspects to Equatorial Guinea because he wanted to use them to gain cheap publicity and later to bargain for fuel," a source said. "Obiang had to send at least three teams to Zimbabwe to negotiate the extradition but Mugabe refused. It was only after Obiang accepted the fuel deal that he agreed."

more
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2004/05/16/news/africa/africa04.asp


Zim strikes detainees-for-fuel deal

author/source:Zimbabwe Independent
published:Fri 14-May-2004
posted on this site:Sat 15-May-2004


Deal entails US$50 million worth of fuel monthly for two years

Gift Phiri/Dumisani Muleya

In an unusual diplomatic arrangement, Zimbabwe has entered a US$1,2 billion deal to extradite the 70 suspected mercenaries currently held in Harare to Equatorial Guinea in exchange for fuel. Intelligence sources say President Robert Mugabe discussed the deal with his Equatorial Guinea counterpart, Teodora Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, at their initial meeting in Pretoria with South African president Thabo Mbeki on April 27. Mugabe and Obiang were in South Africa to attend Mbeki's inauguration. The three leaders are said to have met over the mercenaries' saga after Zimbabwe had earlier refused to send the suspects for trial in the oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. Sources said the meeting agreed in principle that Zimbabwe would extradite the suspected mercenaries on agreed terms and conditions. Mugabe and Obiang finalised the mercenaries-for-fuel arrangement at a meeting in Bulawayo the following day. The two leaders met at State House in the second city on April 28. After the meeting Obiang told journalists that they had been discussing the issue of the suspects' extradition. High-level sources said Mugabe agreed to extradite the suspected soldiers of fortune on condition Equatorial Guinea - the third largest oil producer after Nigeria and Angola in sub-Saharan Africa -would supply Zimbabwe with fuel.


more
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=9292



Business
Bank and African Oil State Ties Probed
By Ken Silverstein, LA Times 9/4/04
Apr 11, 2004, 07:50



A federal grand jury and a Senate subcommittee are investigating the relationship between a prominent Washington bank and a tiny, oil-rich West African state.

Investigators are scrutinizing hundreds of millions of dollars in accounts held at Riggs Bank by the government of Equatorial Guinea and its ruler, Brig. Gen. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Sources familiar with the probes said investigators were trying to determine whether any deposits into Obiang's personal accounts were the fruits of corruption and whether funds from a state account were diverted to the president or his family members.

The Times first reported on Riggs' relationship with Equatorial Guinea last year, which prompted the bank to conduct an internal investigation. Riggs subsequently dismissed Simon Kareri, a senior executive overseeing the Equatorial Guinea accounts.

In February, Riggs ordered Equatorial Guinea's government to withdraw all of its assets from the bank. U.S. government and banking sources said Equatorial Guinea has had difficulty finding another U.S. bank to take its money, and most, if not all, of its deposits are still held at Riggs.

"Riggs' security procedures detected questionable activities on the part of Simon Kareri," said Mark Hendrix, a bank spokesman. "Riggs turned the matter over to U.S. criminal authorities. Riggs is cooperating with authorities and, in light of the investigations, views it as inappropriate to comment further on these matters."


Interesting but not surprising that whatever congressional inquiry is flying under the radar. The $25 million is nothing but a slap (Riggs has $6.4 billion in assets), as someone here pointed out. But the fact that Allbritton stepped down, and they are shutting down Miami and some of the other money laundering capabilities, suggests the shit has hit the fan.

Here's the guy who runs the London Riggs: Steve Pfeiffer (who googles better).

Bio: http://www.fulbright.com/site_map/FindAttorney/371.htm

I'd guess his operation would the point for paying out the British mercs. He's some sort of Africa specialist, former assistant to Sec of the Navy (and assistant CINC Europe and NATO muckty-muck) sometime around Regan. (Yale Law too).

Here's the Riggs 2002 annual report:
http://www.riggsbank.com/Discover_Riggs/annualreport2002.pdf

Lots of names worth checking out--I'm going to see what comes up with Juan Luis Toro, who ran the Miami international operation. I'll bet there's some connection to Haiti, Columbia/Venezuela and/or something more with 9/11.

Cool that we get a Walker involved and they have offices in the Watergate. "It's all the same fucking day, man" (--Janis J).

Random thoughts


Panama Noreiga - BCCI money - US grabs him

Haiti bAristide - Riggs money? maybe - US grabs him

Equatorial Guinea President, Teodore Obiang - Riggs money - US tries to grab him?

What other coups have we done and are they related to bank money?


I'm all over the map there, Snazzy if you want me to head down some road let me know. I'll go wherever you think.

How much was BCCI? Was it 500 million?

6.5 billion Riggs. Is that right or am I way off. I've got stuff to get done, be back later. PM me if you want. Thanks for everything you've brought.

Saudi-ization of African oil


Same plan, different country. Take oil rich nation, find dictator who can be educated on siphoning off oil profits for his own personal wealth (to the further impoverishment of his people) and in exchange for preferential treatment of us companies.

Were they about to double-cross Obiang? His money was initially frozen in DC--it has now left. Was he just exiting to his Maryland mansion? Dunno, but this Riggs bank connection sure seems to be the follow-the-money thread to pull on Bushco for several different plots. Enough material here for a book.

For one, I'd like to ask someone who knows WTF, say an economist (can we get Krugman?), how an "Edge Act" bank functions, and what's up in Miami with international banking in general. How does that tie in with the export/import bank in DC and Riggs? The Edge Act is something about a bank that can only lend to foreign banks--that Jonathan Bush and Riggs in general could control such an entity while also engaging in other business like investments and domestic lending apparently violates the "Edge Act" (and a bunch of other regulations) and is partly why Riggs is dumping that portion of the business. I wonder whether there have been changes under Jeb that had led to Miami expanding the definitions of what's allowable into money laundering for oil and terror. The answer is: of course he did, just need to find that.

A complicated thread to pull--18 browser windows open so far! Like I found this great Newsweek Isikoff piece from April that I missed:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4661093


Among the payments that have drawn scrutiny, documents show, were $19,200 in checks between December 2000 and January 2003 from the Saudi Embassy to an Islamic cleric, Gulshair Muhammad al-Shukrijumah. The Florida-based imam has been on the FBI's radar screen for some time: he once testified on behalf of convicted terrorist Clement Hampton-El.

Hampton-El was convicted in trying to blow up the WTC the first time in '93. al-Shukrijumah is apparently still missing, also served as the blink sheik's interpreter and may have had a serious role in 9/11. So, it's not just the princess sending money to the West Coast cell.

(Another browser window has the odd factoid that the former head of Riggs international lending (Paul Cushman III) died with Ron Brown in '96. Wild. Kareri succeeded him.)

Plenty to run down here, although a tangent (or the opposite side of the coin) to the original news story in this post. Haven't come across anything that links Riggs to funding of the coup. Maybe it's more like switch dictators and get to keep the Riggs money.

Pinochet


Revealed: Pinochet drug smuggling link
Special report: Pinochet on trial

Hugh O'Shaughnessy
Sunday December 10, 2000
The Observer

The Chilean army and secret police have spent almost two decades secretly flooding Europe and the US with massive shipments of cocaine. The trafficking began during the 17-year dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet and continues to this day, a year-long investigation for The Observer has established.

Twelve tons of the drug, with a street value of several billion pounds, left Chile in 1986 and 1987 alone. The drugs, destined for Europe, have often been flown to Spanish territory by aircraft carrying Chilean-made arms to Iraq and Iran. Distribution to Britain and other European countries has been controlled by secret police stationed in Chilean embassies in Stockholm and Madrid.

...

Pinochet, who is now fighting arrest on kidnapping and murder charges in Santiago, has not clarified how he and his wife, Lucia, bhad $1,169,308 (around £730,000) in their account in the Riggs Bank in Washington on 1 March 1997. As commander-in-chief of the Chilean army, his annual salary in March 1997 was $16,000 (£10,000).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Pinochet_on_trial/Story/0,2763,409367,00.htm...

Pinochet's account was also mentioned in the recent WSJ article on Riggs.

Interesting that the possible new mercs, according to today's African newspaper story, are Chilean.


Bush, the Saudi billionaire and the Islamists: the story a British firm is


MUST SEE: stories on Riggs National Bank -- note links to 2 of 19 hijackers in San Diego through wire transfer from Saudi Arabia. Jonathon Bush, George W. Bush's uncle, is a top official within the bank and the Motley suit brought by the 9/11 families has issued a subpoena of the bank's records. -KFH


Articles / Current News about 9-11
Date: Apr 02, 2004 - 04:25 PM
Publication of book cancelled as libel laws blamed for stifling free speech
David Leigh -- Wednesday March 31, 2004 -- The Guardian

A book investigating links between rich Saudis and US politicians has been suppressed by the giant publishing firm Random House because, it says, of growing "libel tourism" by wealthy foreigners, and exorbitant legal "success fees".

Libel lawyers are stifling free speech, the deputy chairman of Random House, Simon Master, said yesterday.

The UK publication of House of Bush, House of Saud, by the American writer Craig Unger, has been cancelled because Secker and Warburg, a Random House subsidiary, says it can no longer afford such risks.

The book focuses in part on the activities of a Jeddah-based Saudi billionaire, Khalid bin Mahfouz, who has been engaged in a war of words in the US, where there have been public accusations by officials linking him and others to funding received by Osama bin Laden.

more
http://www.911citizenswatch.org/print.php?sid=176


Hijacked bank

Questions also remain regarding the web of money transfers from Princess Haifa, Prince Bandar and the daughter of late King Faisal, some of which reached Nawaf Alhazmi and fellow terrorist Khalid Almihdar.Princess Haifa's bank account--the source of the funds which ultimately supported the alleged hijackers--was with Riggs Bank where Jonathan J. Bush, the brother of former President George H. W. Bush and uncle of President George W. Bush, is CEO, President and Director of Riggs' investment management subsidiary.

snip

After Al Bayoumi fled the U.S. to England in July, 2001--two months before the attacks, Princess Haifa's Riggs Bank checks were then sent to Osama Basnan, who with his wife Majeda Dweikat, were both later to be found in the U.S. illegally as a result of poor or suspicious State Department visa supervision.

Former FBI linguist Sibel Edmonds said she found evidence of espionage in both the State Department and the FBI in pre-9/11 translations of intelligence intercepts--which also warned about planes used as weapons well before the attacks.A federal law enforcement source said Basnan was a known "al-Qaeda sympathizer" who "celebrated the heroes of September 11" at a party after the attacks and openly talked about "what a wonderful, glorious day it had been," according to Newsweek.

Al Bayoumi and Basnan both befriended Alhazmi and fellow Saudi hijacker Khalid Almihdar after they arrived in San Diego, according to the sources; and the Riggs checks from Prince Bandar's wife helped the terroists pay rent and living expences in the months just prior to the attacks, according to reports. Newsweek said Al Bayoumi helped them obtain social security cards and helped them arrange for flying lessons in Florida--indicating dramatic evidence of the state of congressional internal security oversight.

Basnan was convicted of visa fraud and deported to Saudi Arabia on November 17, 2002. His wife Majida Ibrahim--who had also laundered checks from Riggs Bank--was deported the same day to her native Jordan for visa violations. (Washington Post, 9-24, 2002) Reasons were not given why the White House allowed the high profile suspects to leave the country on charges much less important than being implicated as an accessory to mass murder.

more
http://www.tomflocco.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=53

Exclusive: New Questions About Saudi Money—and Bandar

Eric Draper / The White House


The White House is monitoring a joint FBI-Treasury Department probe into wire transfers overseas by Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, pictured with the president in August 2002
By Michael Isikoff
Investigative Correspondent
NewsweekApril 12 issue - A federal investigation into the bank accounts of the Saudi Embassy in Washington has identified more than $27 million in "suspicious" transactions—including hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to Muslim charities, and to clerics and Saudi students who are being scrutinized for possible links to terrorist activity, according to government documents obtained by NEWSWEEK. The probe also has uncovered large wire transfers overseas by the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan. The transactions recently prompted the Saudi Embassy's longtime bank, the Riggs Bank of Washington, D.C., to drop the Saudis as a client after embassy officials were "unable to provide an explanation that was satisfying," says a source familiar with the discussions.



A Saudi spokesman strongly denied that any embassy funds were used to support terrorism and said Bandar chose to pull the embassy's accounts out of Riggs. The Saudis point out that an earlier FBI probe into embassy funds that were moved to alleged associates of the 9/11 hijackers has not led to any charges. The current probe, by the FBI and Treasury Department, is one of the most sensitive financial inquiries now being conducted by the government and is being closely monitored by the White House. The federal commission investigating 9/11 was also recently briefed on developments, sources say. U.S. officials stress that they have identified no evidence of any knowing Saudi aid to terrorist groups. But they express frustration at their inability to penetrate a number of large and seemingly irregular transactions. "There's a lot of money moving in a lot of directions—maybe not all that carefully," said one senior law-enforcement official. "Everyone wants to get to the bottom of it."
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4661093 /


but only found this
Teodorin Nguema Obiang, son, wanted to live in a building where the arms superdealer Adnan Khashoggi once lived -

so far!

Western business has followed on the heels of the Texan oil men with gusto.
Only 15 years ago Malabo had just one hotel with no electricity, food or
running water. Two cars in the street was a traffic jam, and the phone
directory had just two pages, listing subscribers by their first name. The
airport terminal was a tin-roofed shack that received just one international
flight. Today, however, the French have built a mobile phone network, sports
utility vehicles whizz through the streets, and several international
carriers service the smart new airport terminal. Prostitutes clamour around
the gates of several new hotels. The US re-opened its embassy in October
last year, following an eight-year closure in protest at torture and other
human rights abuses. At around the same time the Dutch carrier KLM renamed
one of its planes after Mr Obiang, to mark the opening of the new airport
terminal. "It was like calling a plane Pol Pot," said one analyst. A
campaign against US involvement in Equatorial Guinea is building. The
influential US news programme 60 Minutes criticised the pact between Mr
Obiang and the oil companies last autumn. The latest State Department human
rights report, released last month, cataolgued an array of police torture,
arbitrary arrest and detention and the failure of the courts to administer
justice. In Washington, the FBI has started investigating a $700m bank
account at the Riggs Bank, of which Mr Obiang is apparently the main
signatory. One bank employee has already lost his job over the scandal.

But the greatest threat to Mr Obiang's dictatorial dominance comes from his
own family. The president has been sick, reportedly from prostate cancer,
and tensions have arisen among the ruling clan over his succession plans.
Some are worried over apparent plans to hand power to his son Teodorin - a
government minister, rap music entrepreneur and international playboy. The
30-something Teodorin parties in Rio de Janeiro, does business in Hollywood
and lives at five-star hotels in Paris, where he drives in Bentley and
Lamborghini cars. Some years ago he invested several hundred thousand
dollars to start his own rap label, TNO Entertainment, standing for Teodorin
Nguema Obiang. It apparently failed to release any records, but according to
Hollywood gossip he has had a relationship with the American rap star Eve.
Teodorin is also fond of female company from other countries - according to
one associate, he once turned up for a meeting in Paris accompanied by
several Russian women. He is a keen property investor, owning a $6m mansion
in Bel Air. But when he tried to buy a multi-million dollar apartment in New
York - in a building where the arms superdealer Adnan Khashoggi once lived -
the board of management rejected his application.

http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/mar18_2004.html



At Riggs, problems passed on with legacy
Joe L. Allbritton won control of Riggs Bank in 1981 and used it as a launching pad into Washington`s top business and political circles. He assiduously cultivated "The Riggs" cachet as the bank for foreign governments and diplomats and steadfastly refused to sell the institution even as most of his competitors sold out, The Washington Post reported. Riggs has cultivated the diplomatic community and one quarter of its $4 billion in deposits come from that source. "My pride in Riggs has been paramount in my activities," he said in an interview when he retired in February 2001. "And you know, if you have just enough money, you`ll do more for pride than you`ll do for money…. My object was to put Riggs in a position where it could be the survivor. It is that." But when he bequeathed Riggs to his son Robert after retiring, he also passed on Riggs`s long-simmering problems complying with banking secrecy laws. Most controversial has been the use of hundreds of millions of dollars in funds controlled by the Saudi embassy in Washington, as well as suspicious transactions involving officials of Equatorial Guinea.

http://www.diplomatictraffic.com/embassy_briefs.asp?ID=Americas


This has probably been posted before but lets read it again


The action followed the $25 million civil fine against the midsize Washington bank, which has a near-exclusive franchise on business with the capital’s diplomatic community. The fine, which had been expected, is the largest ever imposed on a financial institution for such violations, experts said.


The FBI and regulators have investigated, for possible connections to terrorism financing, large cash transactions in Riggs accounts controlled by Saudi diplomats.

The Senate Finance Committee chairman, Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa, recently asked the panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks to examine Saudi transactions at Riggs and FleetBoston Financial Corp.

“Riggs Bank deserves every penny of this huge fine,” Grassley said Thursday. “Banks have a patriotic duty, not to mention legal requirement, to report suspicious activity. When banks look the other way, they put our national security at risk.”

Grassley said members of the bank’s board of directors should be held to account.

The Treasury regulators had earlier accused Riggs of failing to comply with a law requiring banks to notify the government of suspicious transactions. The bank also had been classified by the comptroller’s office as a “troubled institution” for not complying fully with a July 2003 consent order under which it agreed to strengthen its anti-money laundering controls.

more
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4973033 /

FleetBoston Financial?????



http://www.archives.gov/research_room/independent_counsel_records/wate...

Foundation of the Friends of Equatorial Guinea and the United States

Kareri could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Jonathan Shapiro, did not return phone calls. Shapiro, a high-profile attorney based in Virginia, previously represented convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad.
Sources also confirmed that Riggs held accounts for Teodoro Biyogo Nsue, Equatorial Guinea's ambassador to the U.S. and Obiang's brother-in-law, and for Obiang's son, Teodorin Nguema Obiang.

The latter is a government minister but spends little time in the country. Housing and business records show that the son owns a $6-million home in Los Angeles as well as a music company in L.A. called TNO.

Armengol Ondo Nguema, Obiang's brother and the country's feared security chieftain, also held a personal account at Riggs. In correspondence obtained by The Times, Kareri referred to Nguema -- who is accused in U.S. State Department reports of employing torture -- as a "valued customer."
Kareri is close to Obiang and his family. Records show that he is also a board member of the U.S.-based Foundation of the Friends of Equatorial Guinea and the United States, whose aim is to promote stronger ties between the two countries. Other board members of the group include Equatorial Guinea's representative to the International Monetary Fund and the country's minister of justice.

Sources told The Times that Riggs' demand that Equatorial Guinea withdraw its funds reportedly occurred after a tense meeting in Washington among bank officials, Obiang, the FBI and several government representatives. An FBI official said the agency could not comment on an ongoing investigation.


http://www.ocnus.net/cgi-bin/exec/view.cgi?archive=43&num=11319&printe...


"warbusiness"

Child soldiers wait in Bule for orders to move. When this photo was taken, they were the only defense forces in a 25-mile radius. Two days later they too pulled out, and Bule was attacked.


http://www.zwnews.com/warbusiness.doc

one tiny snip:

In April 2001, an MPRI representative met with the Pentagon’s regional director for Central Africa to discuss the company’s hopes of winning the contract to train Equatorial Guinea’s forces. “They may need our help or moral support,” Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski wrote in a memo on the meeting, obtained by ICIJ under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. She quoted the MPRI representative as saying that Equatorial Guinea was “the Kuwait of the Gulf of Guinea” and, in a briefing paper three months later, advanced that characterization to “a possible ‘Kuwait of Africa’ with huge oil reserves” that was “US-friendly for both investment and security reasons.” Kwiatkowski also noted in her April memo that the highest-ranking U.S. official to meet with Obiang when he visited Washington early in 2001 was an assistant secretary of agriculture – that after French President Jacques Chirac had spared time to meet with him.

Despite concerns about Equatorial Guinea’s human rights record, Obiang’s currency rose dramatically after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. When he visited the United States as it marked the first anniversary of the attacks, Obiang was among 10 African leaders to meet with President George Bush for talks on the prospect of war with Iraq and peace and development on the African continent.


ended up here because of this:

If you've been reading the news the last few days you may have noticed this odd and somewhat mysterious story of a US-registered cargo plane loaded with 64 "mercernaries" and various military equipment which was impounded

Sunday night at Harare International Airport in Zimbabwe "after its owners had made a false declaration of its cargo and crew."

When asked about it on Monday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said "We have no indication this aircraft is connected to the U.S. government."

That seemed like a rather less than unequivocal response. And behind the scenes US government officials said they didn't believe the US government had any connection with this operation. But they wanted to make sure before saying anything definitive.

Now, if you look at the press accounts, what's caught people's attention is the US registry of the plane. Specifically, it's registered to a company called Dodson Aviation, which is based in Kansas.

Now, Dodson says they sold the plane to a "reputable" firm in South Africa about a week ago. "I think they were going to use it for charter flights," company director Robert Dodson told the Associated Press.

Now here's a little more detail.

Dodson Aviation of Kansas has a South African subsidiary, Dodson International Parts SA Ltd (According to their website, "Dodson International Parts SA (Pty) Ltd is the African division of United States based companies Dodson International Parts Inc. and Dodson Aviation. The company was established in 1998 and is based at Wonderboom Airport, Pretoria.") And it was from this subsidiary's hangar at an airport just north of Pretoria that the aforementioned mercenaries boarded the plane.

Now, here's where this gets a little murky.

I wanted to find out more about Dodson International Parts SA Ltd. What I found something out about was a company that sounded very similar: a South African company called Dodson Aviation Maintenance and Spare Parts.

They're also in the airplane business.

Not exactly the same name. But remember, the South African company is the subsidiary of two American companies, Dodson Aviation and Dodson International. If these aren't the same company, or closely related companies, I'd figure they often get confused for one another.

In any case, here's what I found about Dodson Aviation Maintenance and Spare Parts.

They come up in the December 2000 Report of the Panel of Experts to the United Nations on Sierra Leone, in the section of the report dealing with the arms trade.

Here's the section that caught my eye (italics added) ...

187. Fred Rindel a retired officer of the South African Defence Force and former Defence Attaché to the United States, has played a key role in the training of a Liberian anti-terrorist unit, consisting of Liberian soldiers and groups of foreigners, including citizens of Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Niger and The Gambia.
188. The panel interviewed Mr Rindel extensively. Rindel was contracted as a security consultant by President Charles Taylor in September 1998, and training started in November 1998. The contract included consultancy services and strategic advice to convert Charles Taylor's former rebel militia into a professional unit. The Anti-Terrorist Unit is used in Liberia to protect government buildings, the Executive Mansion and the international airport, and to provide VIP Security and the protection of foreign embassies. The numbers trained were approximately 1200. Because of negative media attention, Rindel cancelled his contract in Liberia in August 2000.

189. In 1998, ECOMOG identified a plane, registration number N71RD, owned by a South African company, Dodson Aviation Maintenance and Spare Parts, as having carried weapons to Robertsfield in September of that year. The plane is a Gulfstream 14-seater business jet that cannot be used for arms transport, but there are other relevant connections. Fred Rindel was the owner of Dodson. The company was closed on 31 December 1998, but during the period under investigation, the plane was leased to, and operated by, Greater Holdings (Liberia) Ltd., a company with gold and diamond concessions in Liberia. The plane was used for the transport of the Greater Holdings' staff to and from Liberia.



Mr. Rindel's name came up earlier in 2000 in testimony at the UN Security Council by then-UN Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke in a discussion of Sierra Leone (italics added) ...

In regard to arms trafficking to Sierra Leone, Mr. Chairman, we remain concerned and I would like to add a few more items to the record. The principal Africa countries involved in arms trafficking to the RUF - though they deny it - include Burkina Faso, Liberia and Libya.
In 1999, planes landed in Ouagadougou, allegedly coming from the Ukraine, with several tons of small arms and ammunition. This incident, which the Ukrainians say has stopped, is one that we believe should be brought to the attention of your committee.

In regard to trafficking, arms brokers have played a vital role in keeping the RUF supplied with weapons and other military materiel. A well-known arms and diamond dealer in Sierra Leone, Zief Morganstein, in July 1999 arranged for a Continental Aviation-based charter out of Dakar to fly a shipment of small arms from Bulgaria to Sierra Leone. Last year the RUF received 68 tons of weapons from Bulgaria, which Morganstein may have helped arrange. There have been other connections between former government officials from South Africa during its Apartheid regime who now operate as private individuals, including Fred Rindel, the South African Defense Attache in Washington, who now works as a security consultant in Liberia and trains Liberian troops and RUF insurgents. There are other charges about other businessmen who are reportedly helping the Sierra Leone government coming from various countries around the world.



Now, I've scanned the news coverage of this and I haven't seen any mention of this seeming connection. So perhaps these are two utterly unrelated companies?

As of Tuesday the situation in Zimbabwe seems to be calming down, though now there are apparently fears in Equatorial Guinea that these mercenaries were somehow intended to assist a coup in that country. (No, I can't keep up either.) "Some 15 mercenaries have been arrested here," the country's Information Minister Agustin Nse Nfumu told Reuters. "It was connected with that plane in Zimbabwe. They were the advance party of that group."

Equatorial Guinea is next door to Gabon. And Joe Wilson used to be the US Ambassador there back in the day. So maybe he can make some sense of this. I can't. But I'd be very interested to talk to the investigators who put together that UN report and see if there's any connection between Dodson International Parts SA Ltd and Dodson Aviation Maintenance and Spare Parts.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com /

I just can not forget that Poppy's gold mining buddies Barrick



War is Golden for the Bush Administration
And the commodities connection? President Pretzel's relentless hissy-fit for war on Iraq has of course goosed the price of gold enormously--and that's set Bush Family coffers a-clinking. How so? In the waning days of his failed presidency, Bush I invoked an obscure 1872 statute to give a Canadian firm, Barrick Corporation, the right to mine $10 billion in gold from U.S. public lands. (U.S. taxpayers got a whopping $10,000 fee in return.) Bush then joined Barrick as a highly-paid "international consultant," brokering deals with various dictators of his close acquaintance. Barrick reciprocated with big bucks for Junior's presidential run. And in another quid for the old pro quo, last year Junior dutifully approved Barrick's controversial acquisition of a major rival. (Barrick is also one of the biggest polluters in America, by the way.)

http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd02152003.html

The money behind Barrick is from Saudi arms dealer and Bush family friend Adnan Khashoggi, who was identified as conduit in the Iran-Contra conspiracy. In 1986 he was arrested and charged with fraud but failed to be convicted. In one of his last acts as president Bush pardoned Khashoggi's alleged co-conspirators, who were key members of Bush's own cabinet. As a result, no case could be made against Khashoggi – or against Bush himself.

http://www.penfield-gill.com/presentations/bush_the_elder.htm

Where was flight N4610 heading?

March 10 2004 at 08:11AM



They were 64 "heavily built men", mostly white. No, they were all black. No, only 40 of them were black.

The plane left South Africa illegally from Wonderboom airport, strayed into Zimbabwe airspace and was ordered down. No, the plane left the country legally, having filed a flight plan to Harare and then on to Burundi. No, the plane was headed for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The men on board were suspected of being mercenaries hired to overthrow Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. No, they were on their way to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea. No, they were going to the eastern DRC to carry out security duties.

These are just some of the stories surrounding the flight of N4610, a Boeing 727-100 cargo plane that has been impounded in Harare.

And 64 - though some reports say there are 67 - of those who were aboard, whether they were white, black or a mixture, and whether they were mercenaries or honest men, are in Harare cells facing intense interrogation.

On Tuesday, a company named in connection with the flight disputed all the speculation, saying the "mercenaries" were in fact security people "going to eastern DRC".

They were stopping in Zimbabwe to pick up mining equipment, "Zimbabwe being a vastly cheaper place for such".

Charles Burrow, a senior executive of Logo Logistics which had chartered the Boeing 727 freighter, said via telephone from London that most of the people on board were South African and had military experience, but were on contract to four mining companies in the DRC. He declined to name the companies.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=84&art_id=vn20040310081125342C ...

Plane Did Stop At Grantley Adams - Thursday 11, March-2004

A UNITED STATES registered plane at the centre of controversy after being detained on Monday with 64 suspected mercenaries aboard by the Zimbabwean government did stop at Grantley Adams International Airport last Saturday morning.
Informed sources told the DAILY NATION yesterday that the aircraft, a Boeing 727 (100 series), with registration number N4610, landed in Barbados shortly after midnight for refuelling before leaving around 6:30 a.m.

Sources also indicated that the aircraft, which Zimbabwean officials alleged also carried military equipment, had arrived from the Hope Air Force Base in North Carolina, United States, before its stop-over in Barbados.

Further reports stated that the plane, originally a commercial PanAm Airways aircraft up until a week ago, was being operated by the American Air Force, but international Press reports stated it had been sold to a South African company.

http://www.nationnews.com/StoryView.cfm?Record=48033&Section=Local&Cur ..


_____________________________________________________________

Corporate Mercenaries - Executive Outcomes Leads to Bush


Executive Outcomes is the most infamous mercenary company in operation today. Unlike traditional mercenary companies, it operates as the heavy partner in a web of related companies. Sandline international is such a sister company: 170 elite South African dogs of war were hired to crush the Bougainville freedom Fighters for $22m. Just another job for the likes of Sandline international? Paul Vernon investigates...

Set up in 1993 by Tony Buckingham and Simon Mannl <1>, Executive outcomes (EO) has worked in Asia, Africa and South America. Most of it's personnel are hired from South Africa.

Buckingham is the chief executive of Heritage Oil and Gas, which is now registered in the (tax-free) Bahamas. When EO was hired by the Sierra Leone government to crush people's revolt, Heritage received much of the payment in the form of mining rights. Sir David Steel MP happens to be a director of Heritage as well as a close friend of Buckingham. Recently Sierra Leone was thrown back into chaos with another military coup.

Eeben Barlow, the present CEO of Executive Outcomes, is a veteran of the Civil Co-operation Bureau, which allegedly assassinated antiapartheid activists. Barlow is the frontman for the group he told Newsweek (2) in February: "I'm a professional soldier. It's not about politics. I have a job to do. I do it." EO is thought to have a annual turnover of more that £20 million.

The South African government, with help from officials from the United Nations, has begun to draft proposals of legislation aimed to counter what officials called "the increasing frequency with which our soldiers-of-fortune are operating overseas".(7)

http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/magazine/issue4/cw4f8.html

Executive Outcomes ties lead to London and Bush
Executive Intelligence Review January 31, 1997, pp. 42-43
by Roger Moore and Linda de Hoyos

Exposes appearing on both sides of the Atlantic on the mercenary group Executive Outcomes, threaten to blow the lid off the British intelligence nexus already identified as responsible for the February 1986 murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, and for the current cataclysmic destabilization of Africa on behalf of circles associated with the Queen of England's Privy Council and Sir George Bush.
The exposes appeared in the French daily {Le Figaro} on Jan. 16, the {London Observer} on Jan. 17, and the February issue of the American magazine {Harper's.}
Executive Outcomes is the mercenary arm of a vast
network of British-South African corporations dealing in gold, diamonds, and oil, primarily, but not exclusively, in Africa, that come under the umbrella of Strategic Resources Corporation, headquartered in Pretoria, South Africa. Described universally as an ``advance guard of a corporate network that includes mining, oil, and construction companies,'' Executive Outcomes is active in 13 African countries, including Uganda. For its services, it demands a lien or franchise on the exportable raw resources, particularly mineral wealth, of the client country--in the same fashion as the British East India Company of the 18th and 19th centuries, which in turn functioned as the ``advance guard'' of the British monarchy.
Executive Outcomes was incorporated offshore, on the Isle of Man, in 1993, by Anthony Buckingham, a British businessman, and Simon Mann, a former British officer, the {Observer} reported, based on a leak to it from British intelligence. Buckingham is also chief executive of Heritage Oil and Gas, which in turn is linked to the Canadian firm Ranger Oil. Other firms operating out of the same headquarters in Chelsea Plaza 107, London, include Branch International Ltd. and Branch Mining Ltd.
Preliminary investigation by {EIR} has further determined that Executive Outcomes lies at the heart of the British monarch's raw materials cartels and secret intelligence operations, in conjunction with Bush's rogue apparat:
Through Sir David Steel, a former leader of the Liberal Party, Executive Outcomes and, presumably, its deployment, is a subsumed operation of the Queen's Privy Council. Steel is a close friend of EO's Buckingham, and is on the board of directors of EO's sister firm, Heritage Oil and Gas, according to {Le Figaro.} In 1977, Steel was inducted into the Privy Council, making him the youngest member of Britain's highest-level policy-making body.
The links between Executive Outcomes and Ranger Oil point to operational ties with the Bronfman family of Canada, whose scion, Edgar Bronfman of Toronto Broncorp, sits on the board of directors of Ranger. Recently, the Bronfman family merged its mammoth real estate firm, Trizec, with Barrick Gold, whose senior advisory board includes Sir George Bush. Barrick Gold is deeply involved in northeastern Zaire, where it has purchased 83,000 square kilometers of land. Zairean sources report that the so-called Zairean rebel Laurent Kabila is no more than a mercenary for Barrick and Anglo American Corp., sponsored by the British Crown-backed Ugandan and Rwandan militaries. Executive Outcomes, {Le Figaro} and other sources further verify, is deeply entrenched in Uganda, the key British marcher-lord state in the region.

http://www.aboutsudan.com/action/geopolitical/executive_outcomes.htm

Mercenaries aimed to topple oil-rich despot

The inside story of the ties that bind President Obiang and powerful American interests

By Paul Lashmar
14 March 2004

The tale of the 67 men of assorted nationalities now in a Zimbabwe jail accused of being mercenaries continued to unfurl yesterday like the plot of a lurid airport novel.

A bit too much like fiction, in fact, involving as it does a cast that includes the despotic leader of a little-known West African state, the Eton-educated son of an English cricket captain, fake passports, and a shadowy company registered in the Channel Islands that is linked to SAS old boys. All this, plus talk of CIA, MI6 and Spanish secret service activity, and a plane now impounded at Harare airport that contained equipment more suited to burglary than seizures of power.

SNIP...

But if who paid whom for what services has not yet been revealed, the intended target is not in doubt: President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, leader of a country whose lack of renown belies its strategic significance. And for "strategic" read oil. Not for nothing is this land known in US government circles as the "Kuwait of the Gulf of Guinea". Not without reason has President Bush welcomed President Obiang, a confirmed if not convicted corrupt despot, to the White House. He may be a despot, but as presider over an oil-rich state, he is their despot.

The sight and smell of oil is everywhere palpable in the port of Malabo. From here you can see the flames shooting into the night sky from the offshore oilrigs. Every day tens of thousands of barrels are extracted from huge crude oil reserves underneath the seabed off Equatorial Guinea.It is one of the oil-rich sub-Saharan countries that now supplies 15 per cent of American oil. Experts predict that the amount of oil the US receives from the prolific fields of Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Angola will double in the next five years. Hence the succour that American companies - and, since 9/11, the American government - have given to Obiang. Vice President Dick Cheney has said: "Along with Latin America, West Africa is expected to be one of the fastest-growing sources of oil and gas for the American market."

http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=501017&host=3&di ...

Jonathan J. Bush uncle to President George Walker Bush


Jonathan J. Bush (Jonathan James Bush) (1931- ) is an uncle to President George Walker Bush.

A Wall Street financier, Jonathan Bush pulled together two dozen investors to raise $3 million to help launch Arbusto. Among the investors was Dorothy Bush, George W.’s grandmother. At the same time, Jonathan Bush was lining up investors for Arbusto, he also was raising money for George H.W. Bush’s presidential explorations. Many of the funders were the same. <1>

Bush is a Trustee of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation<2>


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Speaking of the Watergate, Riggs National Bank, where Saudi Princess Al-Faisal had her 'Saudi money trail' bank account, has as one of its executives Jonathan Bush, an uncle of the president. The public has not learned whether Riggs - which services 95 percent of Washington's foreign embassies - will be turning over records relating to Saudi finance.
"Meanwhile, Bush has nominated William H. Donaldson to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. Donaldson, a longtime Bush family friend, was a Yale classmate of Jonathan Bush."

Source.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 31, 2000: Riggs Bank N.A. today announced that the Board of Directors of RIMCO, a wholly owned investment management subsidiary, has elected Jonathan J. Bush President & Chief Executive Officer and a Director, replacing Philip Tasho who resigned. In addition, Henry A. Dudley, Jr. was elected Chairman.
"Mr. Bush will continue as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of J. Bush & Co., an investment management company he founded in 1970, which Riggs acquired in 1997. Mr. Dudley, a 24-year veteran of Riggs, will continue to be responsible for all of Riggs Bank's investment management, trust and private banking business.

"Located in the nation's capital, Riggs Bank has 53 branches in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, as well as banking offices in Miami, London and Berlin."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 26, 1991: "State Fines Bush's Brother in Stock Case" by Frank Phillips, Globe Staff.
"Massachusetts securities regulators have fined the stockbrokerage firm owned by President Bush's brother Jonathan $30,000 and barred it from trading with the general public for one year because the company and Bush violated state registration laws.

"As part of a consent order worked out with Secretary of State Michael J. Connolly's securities division, the New York firm of J. Bush & Co., whose only principal is Jonathan J. Bush, also agreed that it would offer to reimburse its clients in Massachusetts for stocks it had sold them since January 1988. . . .

"Connolly's securities chief, Neal Sullivan, said yesterday that Bush's problems began in February when Bush informed his agency that he had never registered as a broker-dealer in Massachusetts. But Sullivan said Bush compounded his legal problem by taking a cavalier attitude toward the violation of the Uniform Securities Act when he continued to carry out transactions even as state regulators were negotiating a consent decree with him.

"'That created great concern for us. We were dismayed,' Sullivan said. 'Anyone who has been notified that he is violating state law and continues to do so certainly exemplifies a cavalier attitude toward the registration laws.'" . . .


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Federal bank regulators are preparing to impose fines on Riggs Bank as soon as this week for not reporting millions of dollars in suspicious transactions at its embassy banking division and have notified bank officers and directors that they may be sanctioned individually, according to people familiar with the investigation. "
"Investigators are looking at the Saudi accounts for evidence of money laundering, which is the use of complex transactions to hide the origin or destination of funds related to illegal activities such as drug smuggling or terrorist acts. The Saudis ended their ties to the bank last month."

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2514119

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Jonathan_J._Bush

The checks from Princess Haifa were drawn on Riggs Bank in Washington D.C. One of the chief officers of Riggs Bank is Jonathan Bush, an uncle of President George W. Bush.

According to Margie Burns in her article titled Bush-connected firm provided security at World Trade Center, "Given that Jonathan Bush, the president's uncle, is a Riggs executive, it is difficult to understand any obstacle for US authorities pursuing the recently reported "Saudi money trail." The princess's charitable activities were processed through Riggs, but attention focused on the Saudis seems not to extend to the US bank they used."

http://www.opednews.com/duncan_bush_should_cry_uncle_and_releas.htm

"Riggs Bank’s failure to alert investigators to a large number of unusual cash transactions by the Saudi Embassy and other foreign bank customers has led to a wide-ranging investigation by Treasury Department regulators....

"'Anytime, you have suspicious money movements, and it’s not reported as needed, it hurts our overall efforts,' a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said ..."


http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4687305 /

The president and CEO of Riggs Bank is Jonathan Bush, whose father was Prescott Bush, money-launderer to the Nazi party, and whose nephew is the court-appointed CEO of the United States of America.

So where has the money gone?


Oil Boom Enriches African Ruler.


That has been declared a "state secret" by Equatorial Guinea's ruler, Brig. Gen. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. But the Guinean ambassador to the U.S. and other sources close to Obiang say the country's oil funds are held in an account at Riggs Bank in Washington.

Multiple sources, including another Guinean government official, have since told the Los Angeles Times about the Riggs account. Several sources familiar with the account said it was controlled exclusively by Obiang and its balance has ranged from $300 million to $500 million during the last two years. An ExxonMobil spokeswoman declined to comment on payments it makes to Equatorial Guinea, citing a confidentiality agreement with the country. Amerada Hess and Riggs did not return phone calls.

The bank has provided mortgages on one of Obiang's two luxury homes in Maryland and on an official residence for Nsue in Virginia. A Riggs banker assisted Obiang's brother -- accused in State Department reports of ordering the torture of political prisoners -- in the purchase of a home in Virginia. The banker vouched for Obiang's brother as a "valued customer" in correspondence with the seller's agent.

Concerns about Equatorial Guinea are rooted in a history of petroleum-fueled corruption in its neighboring nations. Angola ranks 161st out of 173 countries on the United Nations' Human Development Index, which ranks nations according to their citizens' quality of life, and its president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, is believed to have accumulated a vast personal fortune. The London-based group Global Witness, which investigates the oil business in Africa, estimates that at least $1.4 billion of Angola's energy revenue disappeared last year.

The situation in Nigeria is equally grim. In April, the family of former strongman Gen. Sani Abacha agreed to return $1 billion that he stole between 1993 and 1998. That was only about one-quarter of the money that the current Nigerian government accuses Abacha of embezzling during his reign. African countries provide the United States with about 15% of its oil, nearly as much as Saudi Arabia. That figure could grow to 25% by 2015, according to a study by a U.S. intelligence panel. Urged on by the oil industry, the administration hopes to use African oil to reduce the United States' dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

more
http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/econ/oil1.html

..According to two articles in the Progressive Populist written by Margie Burns, from 1993 to 2000, Bush served on the board of Securacom (since renamed Stratesec). The chairman of the board of Stratesec is Wirt D. Walker III, a cousin of Marvin and George W. Bush. Securacom had contracts to provide security for Dulles International Airport (the airport from which American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon, originated) and the World Trade Center in New York.

Securacom's backers include a number of Kuwaitis through a company called KuwAm Corp (Kuwaiti-American Corp.). Stratesec also has Saudi investors.

Walker also serves as a managing director of KuwAm, which maintains offices within the Watergate complex along with Riggs Bank, on whose board Bush's uncle, Jonathan Bush, sits. Saudi Princess Haifa al Faisal, the wife of Saudi Ambassador to the US Prince Bandar, used a Riggs account to funnel money to Omar al Bayoumi and Osama Basnan, two Saudi students in California associated with two of the 911 hijackers.

http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/10-16-03/discussion.cgi.16.html



Oo-oo that smell,
can't you smell that smell?
Oo-oo that smell,
the smell of death's around you.

Angel of darkness is upon you,
stuck a needle in your arm.
So take another toke, have a blow for your nose.
One more drink, fool, will drown you.




PRESIDENT BUSH'S UNCLE IS A CHIEF EXECUTIVE AT RIGGS BANK
According to the nonprofit Texans for Public Justice, Jonathan Bush is the President and CEO of Riggs Investment Management - a major arm of Riggs Bank. He is also the uncle of President George W. Bush. The President "credits the investors sent his way by this banker uncle as a key to his 'success' in the Texas oil industry in the early '80s." According to Public Citizen, the uncle Jonathan was a Bush Pioneer, having raised more than $100,000 for his nephew in 2000.

more
http://www.davidsirota.com /

Riggs fails to detect, report suspicious cash transactions


The Federal Reserve ordered Riggs International Banking Corp. to hire an outside consultant to conduct a thorough review of the bank's transactions.

BY CHRISTINA HOAG

[e-mail]


BANKING

Riggs Bank has been fined $25 million by the Treasury Department for failing to detect and report tens of millions of dollars in suspicious transactions by foreign governments, particularly Saudi Arabia and Equatorial Guinea.

On Friday, the Federal Reserve ordered Riggs' Miami operation, Riggs International Banking Corp., to hire an outside consultant to conduct a thorough review of the bank's transactions and money-laundering controls.

The McLean, Va.-based bank said last month that it planned to shutter the 24-year-old Miami subsidiary, located at 800 Brickell Ave., ``to significantly reduce its risk exposure.''

Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also ordered the bank on Thursday to adopt new anti-money-laundering controls including implementing internal audits and ensuring competent management.

In a statement, the bank said: ``Riggs is 100 percent committed to fulfilling all of our regulatory responsibilities and to doing our part to protect the financial system, and we will hasten our efforts toward these goals.''

The Treasury agency found that Riggs had violated the Bank Secrecy Act on numerous occasions


more
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/8670766.htm


"Pioneers" and "Rangers" raised almost $300 M for Chimperror.


Tha's a lot of knockin' around money. What do you suppose they expect in return? Will they survive Chimpageddon?

Pioneers Fill Campaign War Chest, Then Capitalize

By Thomas B. Edsall, Sarah Cohen and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, May 16, 2004; Page A01

First of two articles

GREENSBORO, Ga. -- Joined by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and a host of celebrities, hundreds of wealthy Republicans gathered at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge here in the first weekend in April, not for a fundraiser but for a celebration of fundraisers. It was billed as an "appreciation weekend," and there was much to appreciate.

As Bush "Pioneers" who had raised at least $100,000 each for the president's reelection campaign, or "Rangers" who had raised $200,000 each, the men and women who shot skeet with Cheney, played golf with pros Ben Crenshaw and Fuzzy Zoeller and laughed at the jokes of comedian Dennis Miller are the heart of the most successful political money operation in the nation's history. Since 1998, Bush has raised a record $296.3 million in campaign funds, giving him an overwhelming advantage in running against Vice President Al Gore and now Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). At least a third of the total -- many sources believe more than half -- was raised by 631 people.

BIG SNIP...

"This is the most impressive, organized, focused and disciplined fundraising operation I have ever been involved in," declared Dirk Van Dongen, president of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, who has been raising money for GOP candidates since 1980. "They have done just about everything right."

For achieving their fundraising goals, Pioneers receive a relatively modest token, the right to buy a set of silver cuff links with an engraved Lone Star of Texas (Rangers can buy a more expensive belt buckle set). Their real reward is entree to the White House and the upper levels of the administration.

CONTINUED...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29142-2004May15.html


Jonathan Bush's campaign cash...in detail 1993-2004


From Connecticut:
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=CT&last=Bush&first=J ...

From New York:
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=NY&last=Bush&first=J ...

CNN: Bank fined $25 million in terrorism probe


<SNIP>
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators fined Riggs Bank a record $25 million on Thursday for allegedly violating anti-money laundering laws in its handling of tens of millions in cash transactions in Saudi-controlled accounts under investigation for possible links to terrorism financing.

The civil fine against the midsize Washington bank with a near-exclusive franchise on business with the capital's diplomatic community is the largest ever imposed on a financial institution for such violations, experts said. It had been expected.
</SNIP>

Wouldn't it be interesting to see if any of the Saudis secretly flown out of the US on 9/12-9/13 were on the list?

If I had the money, I would place a large bet on it. I imagine I would be quite rich as well...

JM

[seemslikeadream]

29. Threads on Equatorial Guinea

Thatcher: Spain 'secretly backed coup by sending warships'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=780346
Thatcher case twist as list of alleged coup backers vanishes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=779708
Mark Thatcher: The money trail
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=780222
Financiers conspired to overthrow oil-flush African government
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=771532
Scorpions say have more info on Equatorial Guinea coup
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=781763
Exiled leader in Spain denies any link to coup attempt
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=780228
Bank with close ties to Bush administration engulfed in scandal
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=775366
NEW details of Thatcher coup plot: London Evening Standard
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=777970
Margaret Thatcher's Son Released on Coup Plot Charges (Update2)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=775803
Mark Thatcher held over coup plot
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=775009

BBC News: Thatcher charged
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=775499
'Petroleum lures dogs of war to Africa'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=775315
Terrorist Stocks?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=775943
Du Toit admits meeting Thatcher
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=775274
SEC probes Marathon Oil payments in Equitorial Guinea (and HQ burns down)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=728495
WaPo: Allbritton Loses Riggs Bank (front page, day 3)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=691609

[seemslikeadream]

33. Threads on Equatorial Guinea part 2

E Guinea 'coup plot' verdict due + update/result
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1023049
I feel like a corpse in a river, says Mark Thatcher as he faces court...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1020857
Thatcher to face coup questions
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1018687
Phone links Thatcher to alleged plot
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1008002
There was no coup plot, says Du Toit
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=997545
Thatcher to ask Britain to help halt extradition
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1005084
Thatcher charged over coup plot
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1001670
Thatcher to be tried in absentia
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=994305
Britain knew in advance of Equatorial Guinea coup plot: report
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=987556
Tories Demand Answers on 'Coup Plot'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=991361
Mandelson faces questioning over 'link' to coup plot
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=975777
Legal Woes Cut Into Bottom Line at Riggs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=974861
Mugabe flies to Equatorial Guinea (coup plot latest)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=964525
Despots, Deposits & Directors - Riggs Bank
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=924033
SABC asks to broadcast Thatcher court case
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=926588
Spain calls on EU to warn Equatorial Guinea - Riggs Bank
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=916444
Raids 'break up' £20m theft gang
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=906579
Thatcher coup plot: Mandelson, CIA & State Department named
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=900168
Archer 'link to coup plot'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=899574
Britain accused of failing to investigate Africa coup
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=901850
Pentagon link to Guinea coup plot
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=867591

[seemslikeadream]

27. Green Beret J. K. Idema

Green Beret J. K. Idema -- Just who the hell is this guy


At the heart of their investigation is a former American special forces soldier, Jona than Keith "Jack" Idema, who is alleged to have run the private jail and was being questioned on Thursday night.
http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=118432


FBI Agent Philip Hanssen Was Involved in the Idema Case.
FBI Agent, and Soviet Spy Philip Hanssen was involved in the Idema case. The American Green Beret claimed the CIA and FBI were compromised by the KGB. In 1993, the former Special Forces NCO, Idema, refused to give up the names of his agents in the Soviet Union, claiming the FBI and CIA were compromised, and his agents would be killed. Idema specifically named the Soviet Spies' FBI positions.

Green Beret J. K. Idema
in El Salvador 1984

Idema had pinpointed Soviet agents in the FBI and CIA in early 1994 conversations with former CNN Vice-president Ted Kavanau. Subsequently Aldrich Ames was arrested, and two years later, Earl Edwin Pitts. Idema has steadfastly insisted that there were other Soviet agents in the FBI, and specifically named them as formerly assigned to the New York Counter-intelligence Office - Team I-8. Now Philip Hanssen has been arrested. Yet the FBI and Clinton administration consistently prevented Idema from testifying in front of Congress- WHY? what were they hiding?

Hanssen had access to Idema's case information, and worked in New York Counter-intelligence. During the height of the Idema incident, Hanssen worked out of the Washington Field Office 1994), which directly dealt with Idema's information, he then went to the NSD in December 1994 (where he had continued access to Idema's case and his information.

PBN News is working to FOIA the documents linking Hanssen to Idema and the FBI's botched investigation of the nuclear smuggling incidents. Other news agencies are encouraged to pursue FOIA requests for documents linking Hanssen to the 1993-1996 Russian nuclear smuggling investigations
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:36_oZcH_I3cJ:www.nev ...

Any Lesser Man - A Keith Idema documentary about Soviet nuclear smuggling, KGB Double agents in the FBI and CIA, and how one US Army Green Beret went to prison for trying to expose it.
http://newswire.fathermag.com/dir/Society/Issues/War,_W ...


January 1, 2001 Update!
After dozens of radio interviews about the documentary in progress, Idema & Scurka temporarily put interviews on hold in order to devote their time to working with famed author Robin Moore on the Idema book, tentatively titled "NEVER GIVE UP".

Last fall Idema broke the story on the April 1993 secret meeting Janet Reno had, during which US Army Delta Force personnel warned Reno about taking action at Waco, saying they feared an ill-prepared FBI assault would take innocent lives. Read World Net Daily's Mail Archives. These incredible revelations, along with secret documents, proved that Reno and Freeh lied to the American people during their congressional testimony. Idema also spoke out about the real story behind Yosef Bodansky's White House press release claiming Osama bin Laden has suitcase nuclear weapons, to use against America for terrorist attacks. See Smuggling and Black Markets.

Additionally, Idema and Scurka were engaged in a special project for the last year resulted in uncovering massive amounts of exculpatory evidence in a national murder case. That project also delayed completion of Scurka's documentary until late 2001. Idema and Scurka, along with a special team of Green Berets, were successful in uncovering additional former Soviet/communist spies in the American government, and the resulting story on a Green Beret Colonel, wrongfully accused of murder, can be seen at www.pbnews.tv

Last year Barry Farber, a national talk radio host, dedicated a special two hour program to the Idema story.

In a rare in-studio interview, authors Robin Moore and Jim Morris, who were in New York to pitch their own new books, joined Farber to talk about the Idema story. Also on the show were Ted Kavanau, the man who started CNN’s news bureau, and there to talk about the movie, was Producer Gary Scurka.
Update 12/2001
America's War on Terror, again, has put Scurka's documentary on hold. Scurka was wounded by al-Qaida and Taliban forces in Northern Afghanistan in November 2001, and Idema is currently engaged in supporting America's War on Terror in an undisclosed role.
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:36_oZcH_I3cJ:www.nev ...


Keith Idema says it was by making collect pay telephone calls to the Barry Farber talk radio show that he was able to tell the world he had uncovered evidence that Russians had smuggled nuclear material and weapons out of their country.

Idema also used the Barry Farber show to say he was being imprisoned on phony wire fraud charges because he refused to give the FBI and CIA the names of the secret sources who had fingered the Russians for him. Idema says he refused to divulge his sources because he was told spies had penetrated both the FBI and CIA and so feared for his contacts' lives. Today's WorldNetDaily Waco exclusive is just the latest example of the intersection of talk radio and the Internet -- of New Media in action, the theme of WorldNetDaily's first-ever conference to be held Sept. 17-19 in Los Angeles.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?...


'Freelance' US fighter identified

Idema may have been acting beyond the control of US troops
Three foreigners arrested in Kabul this week were on a freelance counter-terrorism mission, the Afghan government says.
They include at least one US national, Jonathan K Idema, a purported former US special services soldier who says he helped fight the Taleban in 2001.

The men were detained for illegally holding Afghans in a private prison.

The Interior Minister, Ali Ahmad Jalali, said their activities had no legal standing.

US officials say Mr Idema had tried to pass himself off as an American government or military official.
more
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3876601.stm


'Keith Idema'

Stupid Victims or a Dire Threat?
Barry Farber
Thursday, Feb. 28, 2002

Through the Lithuanian KGB, now free to be anti-Russian as well as anti-Soviet, Idema learned that virtual Niagaras of Soviet weapons-grade nuclear material were being sold out of Russia into the hands of the international terrorist underground.

Idema returned to America and was the star of a Pentagon briefing in 1992. Afterward, two gentlemen came up to him, congratulated him on his intelligence coup, introduced themselves as representatives of the FBI and CIA, and said they were ready to take a list of his sources from him to continue his excellent work.

"Nothing doing," said Sgt. Idema. "I had to promise my Lithuanian sources I would reveal nothing to the FBI or the CIA. They say you're full of moles and full of holes and I should disclose my information only to the Defense Department or a representative of the president of the United States."

The two agents were displeased. They had Idema indicted and convicted on charges of something called wire fraud, giving false business references, or something like that.

Idema still says he's innocent, but the interesting thing is that, even if guilty, the sentence should have been six months. They kept shuffling Keith from one federal prison to another for over six years, giving the impression he was going to stay in until he played ball with the FBI and the CIA.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/2/27/2357 ...


July 08, 2004 -- 04:10 PM EDT // link // print)
Weird, weird, weird ... Late reports out of Afghanistan say that an American named Jonathan Idema was arrested with others for conducting a "self-appointed counterterrorism mission

that included abusing eight inmates in a private jail by hanging them by their feet."

Jonathan Idema is apparently the same guy as 'Keith Idema' who was a short-term commando celeb in Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002 appearing on various TV networks. He also turns up in various jails or suing Steven Spielberg et al. for stealing ideas for a movie script he and others allegedly wrote.

The US military has gone to great lengths to disassociate itself from Idema since he was apparently putting himself forward as some sort of US special forces operator or contractor. A statement from the US military said "the public should be aware that Idema does not represent the American government and we do not employ him."

Indeed, "security sources" tell the BBC that the "US military circulated warning notices about Mr Idema some time ago, describing him as armed and dangerous and accusing him
more
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com


Heart Of Darkness

"When I looked at these tapes, I said, ‘ My God, this is the same kind of stuff that we did in 1980.'"
Keith Idema, a former member of the U.S. special forces

60 Minutes II obtained these tapes from Keith Idema, a former member of the U.S. special forces. He is a Green Beret. He says he went to Afghanistan as a civilian military adviser to the Northern Alliance and was with them as they pushed towards Kabul.

“When they came across the Shomali Plain to this compound,” Idema says, “they found a lot of documents. They had gotten the tapes right away but they were scared to bring the tapes forward. And they were scared to tell anybody they had them.”

Although Northern Alliance soldiers had described the trining tapes to him, Idema says he was surprised when he finally took a look.

“When I looked at these tapes, I said, ‘My God, this is the same kind of stuff that we did in 1980,” he says referring to the United States’ elite military units. “So are their skills as good as ours? As good as the U.S. special operations community? The answer is no. Clearly, man for man, we’d wipe them out. But they’re not coming against us; they’re coming against regular civilians and that’s clear in their training. They don’t use military tactics. Their training is not as sophisticated as ours, but it’s not designed to be.”

more
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/16/60II/main3245 ...

Spielberg Spies on White House?
Has America's most beloved filmmaker committed espionage against the United States? Green Berets Keith Idema and Jim Morris, along with Investigative Producer Gary Scurka and his wife Kathy Wolff, a network news anchor, have filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Spielberg and a half dozen others, including a former White House Official. The Complaint alleges that Spielberg and others, engaged in a conspiratorial enterprise for the purpose of stealing Idema’s story to produce The Peacemaker film using materials Plaintiffs had submitted to Amblin, Spielberg’s production company.

Spielberg is charged with receiving classified nuclear smuggling information and documents illegally removed from the White House by former NSC staffer Jessica Stern. Several defendants are accused of criminal violations of Federal laws. Fantastic as it sounds, there appears to be proof that DreamWorks derived the information for George Clooney's THE PEACEMAKER by accessing NSC Nuclear Smuggling Group information and materials.
more
http://www.pbnnews.tv/stealberg.htm


'Blast from the past' - ICS (Idema Combat Systems) Vest

Shown here more for 'historical purposes', this is an ICS vest that Keith Idema (U.S. Army SF, ret.) made at Bragg in the early-mid 80's (according to J.S, who kindly included this vest along with the Paraclete RACK above). When I hear the name 'Idema', I somehow associate it with controversy (unjustly imprisoned) or paintball. If I remember correctly, Idema also made paintball vests for a time. Although the design and construction is dated by today's standards, it has interesting features that weren't seen on vests at that time. The front of the vest consists of two large velrco patches for modular pouches. The main body of the vest is made of large-weave mesh fabric, which is quite soft. On the right shoulder is a suede pad to provide a non-slip surface for a rifle butt. Below that is what looks like a shotshell/utility pouch. The left chest has a pouch which will hold two handgun mags, with a small compass/FFD pouch above that on the left shoulder. On the left hip is a radio pouch with a wire retaining tab on the left shoulder above the compass pouch. There's a utility pouch on the right hip as well. Inside the vest are two velcro-closed map pockets. The vest is not adjustable for height, but is adjusted for girth by four elastic tabs that interface with horizontal velcro strips on the lower back. The upper back of the vest has a expanding backpack with velcro closure.
The modular panels come in a few different configurations: triple M4 mag panel, 5 MP5 mag panel, shotshell panel (holds 24 shells), and a utility panel with two large pockets for which I'm unclear of the use. The mag pouches all have elastic retention and velcro lids. All in all, it was a pretty innovative vest for its time. I'd have been thrilled to have one in the early 80's, as I remember how excited I was to get my first vest - an Eagle TAC vest sometime in the late 80's.



http://www.militarymorons.com/equipment/equipment.2.htm ...

Al-Qaida tapes detail killing skills
Teams shown learning how to shoot, kidnap
Boston Globe
Last Updated: Jan. 14, 2002

Unlike other al-Qaida training videos that have been found, which show members receiving basic military training like running through obstacle courses, these tapes focus on the group's plans on using hostage-taking tactics and assassination as part of their activities.

The tapes were recently discovered in the possession of Northern Alliance forces by J. Keith Idema, a former U.S. Army Special Forces non-commissioned officer and counterterrorism specialist who now advises the Afghan military. Idema, who is called Jack in Afghanistan, said he decided to make the tapes public to underscore the threat al-Qaida still poses. "These videos put a face on al-Qaida," he said recently. "I think every American should see these tapes."

The Globe, along with other select news organizations, including CBS and the BBC, was allowed to see the tapes. The tapes are expected to be aired by CBS on Wednesday.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/attack/jan02/12503.asp

By: oda324
Date/Time: 5/26/2004 5:07:05 PM
Message:
Anyone who has questions regarding Keith Idema and his active
army service in the 1970's may email me at oda324<-at->yahoo.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
By: Lloyd V Evans, ll
Date/Time: 5/25/2004 5:05:30 PM
Message:
I just sent this to Post Cmdr Fred:
Hi Fred, I feel that I've been down this road before, but is membership open to the members of this associaiton that have received, from the MND/ROC on Taiwan, the Honor Medal for 823 Bombardment (1958) and/ot the US-ROC Mutual Defense Comemortive Badge (1955-1979)? Most meet VFW (AFEM) acceptance and many not (as they have no AFEM)but all have one or both of the aforementioned honoraria.

If so, is theiran application you can email me; what are dues and how does one get them to you?
Get back to me (A review of www.taiwanvets.com ) will evidence who we are. We number 5,000 to date.
LLOYD Evans (25MAY04)
823 Badge of Honor Assoc.USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------
By: Mel Painter
Date/Time: 5/24/2004 6:39:16 AM
Message:
There is always JD & Coke for any member that passes through Basra, Iraq. Just call me at cell 780-100-7907 or 202-216-6295 x206 (Washington DC phone that rings in Basra, Iraq.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
By: Mac Thompson
Date/Time: 5/22/2004 8:54:21 PMMessage:
The SKY BBS is up and running again, now that the A-hole who sort of hijacked it has been banned. Take a look at: http://www.gilhooleyssaloon.com / and click on SKY BBS
Mac
---------------------------------------------------------------------
By: Jim Luke
Date/Time: 5/19/2004 9:50:13 AM
Message:
If you’ll Google this guy you’ll find all manner of info on him from congressional hearings to designing LBE. Lotsa stuff on the Fringe Right “news sites”.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
By: Sam Stapleton
Date/Time: 5/18/2004 4:18:17 AM
Message:
To: Jim McClain
Sorry for the intrusion on your list. I'm a humanitarian ops working in Afghanistan and am also trying to find out who this Keith Idema is, but so far not succeeding. I came across your post online. Journalists are asking me who this is - saying he is in Afghanistan (or was) trying to find him. Some folks I know at Bagram told me to stay away from the guy. I don't know. . . .
---------------------------------------------------------------------
By: Jim McClain
Date/Time: 5/9/2004 1:44:02 PM
Message:
As posted before, my/our intent is not to create any animosity or conflict, but to discover where the supposed 'stories' are coming from and to protect our families reputations. If anyone can offer any insight, it'd be appreciated. PS Went to SunNFun, didn't see any Ravens around the O-1 park, but a few were for sale. We've got 4 O-2s and an L-19 where I am. Give a call if you're in town. Banzai Sends
---------------------------------------------------------------------By: Jim McClain
Date/Time: 5/6/2004 5:16:16 PM
Message:
Anyone in-country or at home know of a Keith Idema, supposed counter-terr expert, trainer, and SF grad? He is targeting vets and humanitarian orgs who seem to be questioning his bonafides. He has a support group that gives him intel on real world ops as well as news contacts for photo ops. I, and several other Desert One vets, were identified as being 'wannabes' on one of his friends internet sites with the result that we have received hate mail/calls/email. Our only desire is to ask this person where he gets his facts. We were told he was on the "MC130 that blew up due to a CIA time bomb, and not the helo impact", but we did not see him on our plane as we were there nor do we remember the 'bomb' being on the cargo manifest. Our inquiries so far have resulted in an attorney threatening to sue us for questioning his authenticity. Any ideas or info would be appreciated as we are just poor church mice retired Air Commandos on disability. Thanks. Jim "Banzai" McClain..we go home
By: oda324
Date/Time: 5/26/2004 5:07:05 PM
Message:
nyone who has questions regarding Keith Idema and his active
army service in the 1970's may email me at oda324<-at->yahoo.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------
By: Lloyd V Evans, ll
Date/Time: 5/25/2004 5:05:30 PM
Message:
I just sent this to Post Cmdr Fred:
Hi Fred, I feel that I've been down this road before, but is membership open to the members of this associaiton that have received, from the MND/ROC on Taiwan, the Honor Medal for 823 Bombardment (1958) and/ot the US-ROC Mutual Defense Comemortive Badge (1955-1979)? Most meet VFW (AFEM) acceptance and many not (as they have no AFEM)but all have one or both of the aforementioned honoraria.

If so, is theiran application you can email me; what are dues and how does one get them to you?
Get back to me (A review of www.taiwanvets.com ) will evidence who we are. We number 5,000 to date.
LLOYD Evans (25MAY04)
823 Badge of Honor Assoc.USA
---------------------------------------------------------------------By: Mel Painter
Date/Time: 5/24/2004 6:39:16 AM
Message:
There is always JD & Coke for any member that passes through Basra, Iraq. Just call me at cell 780-100-7907 or 202-216-6295 x206 (Washington DC phone that rings in Basra, Iraq.
------------------------------------------------------------------
By: Mac Thompson
Date/Time: 5/22/2004 8:54:21 PM
Message:
The SKY BBS is up and running again, now that the A-hole who sort of hijacked it has been banned. Take a look at: http://www.gilhooleyssaloon.com / and click on SKY BBS
Mac
---------------------------------------------------------------------
By: Jim Luke
Date/Time: 5/19/2004 9:50:13 AM
Message:
If you’ll Google this guy you’ll find all manner of info on him from congressional hearings to designing LBE. Lotsa stuff on the Fringe Right “news sites”.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
By: Sam Stapleton
Date/Time: 5/18/2004 4:18:17 AM
Message:
To: Jim McClain
Sorry for the intrusion on your list. I'm a humanitarian ops working in Afghanistan and am also trying to find out who this Keith Idema is, but so far not succeeding. I came across your post online. Journalists are asking me who this is - saying he is in Afghanistan (or was) trying to find him. Some folks I know at Bagram told me to stay away from the guy. I don't know. . . .
---------------------------------------------------------------------
By: Jim McClain
Date/Time: 5/9/2004 1:44:02 PM
Message:
As posted before, my/our intent is not to create any animosity or conflict, but to discover where the supposed 'stories' are coming from and to protect our families reputations. If anyone can offer any insight, it'd be appreciated. PS Went to SunNFun, didn't see any Ravens around the O-1 park, but a few were for sale. We've got 4 O-2s and an L-19 where I am. Give a call if you're in town. Banzai Sends
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By: Jim McClain
Date/Time: 5/6/2004 5:16:16 PM
Message:
Anyone in-country or at home know of a Keith Idema, supposed counter-terr expert, trainer, and SF grad? He is targeting vets and humanitarian orgs who seem to be questioning his bonafides. He has a support group that gives him intel on real world ops as well as news contacts for photo ops. I, and several other Desert One vets, were identified as being 'wannabes' on one of his friends internet sites with the result that we have received hate mail/calls/email. Our only desire is to ask this person where he gets his facts. We were told he was on the "MC130 that blew up due to a CIA time bomb, and not the helo impact", but we did not see him on our plane as we were there nor do we remember the 'bomb' being on the cargo manifest. Our inquiries so far have resulted in an attorney threatening to sue us for questioning his authenticity. Any ideas or info would be appreciated as we are just poor church mice retired Air Commandos on disability. Thanks. Jim "Banzai" McClain..we go home
more
http://www.chinapost1.org/guestbook.asp


J. Keith Idema, an American civilian adviser to the Afghan United Front,

Security experts in Kabul believe Osama bin Laden's group may have been thinking of a second attack on the former president, this time during a golf tournament.

"The documents clearly list how presidential protective details are structured, what they do and what vulnerabilities to look for," said J. Keith Idema, an American civilian adviser to the Afghan United Front, also known as the Northern Alliance, one of the members of the Afghan Interim Administration. Idema has analyzed captured al Qaida records, including graphic terrorist training video tapes recently aired on CBS' "60 Minutes" television program.

"Al Qaida studied the strong points and weak points of Secret Service protection, concluding that streets and open areas are the best locations for a presidential assassination," added the former member of the U.S. Army's elite special forces. An al Qaida assassination manual includes a study of U.S. presidential protection.

"Bodyguards always watch the crowd around the principal, instead of watching him," said one passage that concluded a relaxed, open setting would be the ideal environment for an attack. Another part of the text analyzes the sequence of vehicles in presidential motorcades, noting the heavily armed reaction teams go behind the presidential limousine.
more
http://www.upi.com/print.cfm?StoryID=04022002-082828-84 ...

A highly decorated spokesman for both the U.S. Ranger Association and the 75th Ranger Association, flatly stated that General Shinseki's action is an insult, as well as a collective and official slap in the face, to everyone who ever volunteered for an Airborne, Ranger, or Special Forces unit and completed the arduous training. A former Ranger writing to the editors of USA Today stated that General Shinseki's dictum "steps on the graves of every Ranger who gave his life for his country." Keith Idema, in a letter to the editor of the Fayetteville Observer, astutely observed that, to carry his theory to its logical conclusion, General Shinseki should "issue every single soldier a Congressional Medal of Honor," complete with an appropriate ceremony, then, when each was "instantaneously transformed into an All-American ... hero," we could reduce the Army to 10,000 super-warriors, thereby "saving a ton of money."
http://www.rangerblackberet.com/sof.php3

A reviewer, someone who was there, December 29, 2003,
Good true tales but disappointing tangents
Moore writes a readable and often engaging true yarn of America’s best soldiers. The book usually reads like eyewitness accounts based on his on-the-ground research. Moore is supremely qualified for this and delivers an excellent story especially regarding key battles in Afghanistan like Tora Bora. However, this tale is best read with a fair degree of objectiveness. He strays into rightwing political dogma based on few facts (the Clinton administration hardly left the military hallow and the CIA’s clandestine service was in fact on a recruiting drive in the late 1990s). He unfairly berates all non-Special Forces soldiers (although not without a point). Finally, his work is greatly weakened when he includes stories that are not relevant to the story of the Green Berets he’s trying to give justice to. One case in point are the tales of Jack, who is in fact Keith Idema, and not several people as he suggests.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry ...

Team House Guestbook 2004

All should know. That Keith Edema was NEVER a SGM, or a member of Delta. Selection, which was alive and well at Dawson for those folks, would have chewed his punk a-- up and spit it out because this is a test of performance and not conning anyone, and he would have been found wanting, this pitiful Bite.
Jake
USA - Saturday, May 08, 2004 at 23:06:35 (EDT)

Mr. W. Hunter. The folks at Socnet.com (http://www.socnetcentral.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threa ... ) have it wrong. idema was not a rigger, though he did go into that business later after his enlistment. idema, did go into the gear/kit producing business. This led to him to be able to go on and obtain his felony ('s). idema did go to the 10th when it was still at Ft. Devens, I think as a 12B (now 18C), because he couldn't handle the 05B, (18E) training regimen. I think that he was soon put off of Team and relegated to a Support role there, and got on out when able.
Jake
USA - Saturday, May 08, 2004 at 20:17:57 (EDT)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you mean to tell me that Edema is a real person? And all this time I had thought that he was a figment of his own imagination. BTW: The next time he says he was a Sergeant Major, you are authorized to call him a bald-faced liar.
Wannabee Hunter
Down East, NC USA - Saturday, May 08, 2004 at 19:11:19 (EDT)
---------------------------------------------------------------------...to continue...Edema would have been "peered out" in my opinion. He is a convicted felon, Search www.google.com . Keith Idema, felon. His rap is that the USGov. planted these charges. Reality is that he was convicted of defrauding east coast business associates. I wouldn't let this guy near my dog, much less feed her...much less do business with him in any way. This sorry individual was and does remain a blight on the SF Community in my opinion. Regards, Jake
Jake
USA - Saturday, May 08, 2004 at 19:07:09 (EDT)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As relates to subject Idema...I knew him when going through training group. He was an a--hole, a Buddy and Team F--ker. It's as simple as that. If I remember correctly, was kicked out of TG, but re-instated because his dad was a NY power broker who had some pull with their local Congresscritters. Too bad this guy went through TG before there was Selection because he would have surely been
Jake
USA - Saturday, May 08, 2004 at 18:47:00 (EDT)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To address the person(s)asking about J. Keith Idema, SF. To date, there is much online about his past SF exploits as well as his present SF enterprises. He is reported to have gone to Afghanistan in 2001 with a humanitarian org, then reappeared as a combatant leading freedom fighters. He has supposedly sued CNN for nonpayment of a video from there as well as Spielberg for an adaptation of the Peacemaker movie which was supposed to be based on his exploits. He is supposed to be on the ground in Iraq now working for an agency interrogating prisoners. Independently, he has several news agencies as well as LEOs trying to question him but has a legal defense that does not allow access to him. If one does try to confront him or print anything (such as this posting)even mildly about him, they will find themselves receiving legal threats, hate email, hate phone calls. I, for one, along with several other SF, Ranger, and Air Commandos, have been accused indirectly by members of Idema support groups of being wannabes or worse. I am USAF Ret, member of Air Force Assoc, Air Commando Assoc, Special Ops Assoc, DAV, Kiwanis, and presently sqdn command for a Civil Air Patrol Sq. I am mentioned in No Room For Error by Carney/Schemmer, The Guts To Try and Air Commando by Phil Chinnery. I assist disabled veterans at no expense with claims as well as documenting their experiences in photostories. I am known at SOCOM and AFSOC units to this date and my son carries on as a third generation Air Commando. I was the loadmaster on the aircraft that was destroyed at Desert One Iran on 24 April 1980, which his supporters say I was not as he was there on the same plane, as well as in country months before and also training Delta supposedly elsewhere. Truth or not, doesn't matter to me. What does matter is that before accusing someone, get the facts first. There are several fine retirees/vets who have been hurt by Idema's supporters. In any event, I do not feel I have to be defensive, outraged, or foaming at the mouth. I would hope that anyone caught in a similar situation keep their perspective, sense of humor, and mostly not feel sorry for people who feel they have to prove themselves at the expense of others. As in most situations...those who have been there are the Quiet Professionals.
jim mcclain <[e-mail] >
cape coral, fl USA - Saturday, May 08, 2004 at 09:45:40 (EDT)
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:hwVa6O0yhmwJ:teamhou ...


JudiLyn
This story linked in seemslikeadream's collection was never aired before

I'm SURE I've never heard it, but first of all, it's from UPI, so I guess it matters what the date was when Rev. Moon bought UPI, doesn't it? It used to be reputable.

Al Qaida may have tried to kill Clinton
By Martin Arostegui
Published 10/18/2002 6:34 PM


The following story is a re-release of an article that United Press International originally published by on Feb. 6, 2002.


KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Al Qaida may have tried to kill former President Clinton, apparently while he was in office, and perhaps planned further attempts on world leaders, United Press International has learned.

Specific references to Clinton were found among handwritten notes and sketches of U.S. Secret Service protective methods recovered from the Shomali compound near Kabul where al Qaida members received specialized training in assassination and hostage taking.

"We have attempted to kill Clinton, but failed," documents in Arabic released exclusively to United Press International Monday state. Although the text indicates the attack was planned around some high-level conference or international summit, it does not mention an exact date. Analysts in Kabul believe the attempt was planned about two years ago.

Nor does the text reveal whether the plan was abandoned or had failed in some other way.

Security experts in Kabul believe Osama bin Laden's group may have been thinking of a second attack on the former president, this time during a golf tournament.

"The documents clearly list how presidential protective details are structured, what they do and what vulnerabilities to look for," said J. Keith Idema, an American civilian adviser to the Afghan United Front, also known as the Northern Alliance, one of the members of the Afghan Interim Administration. Idema has analyzed captured al Qaida records, including graphic terrorist training video tapes recently aired on CBS' "60 Minutes" television program.
(snip)
http://www.upi.com/print.cfm?StoryID=04022002-082828-84...

Idema sounds unhinged, actually. But WHO KNEW this plotting was going on about Clinton by anyone other than our own right wing? Hmmmmmmmm.

Makes you wonder why he didn't decide he was going to try to take over the world, just like little Dubya in mock revenge, doesn't it?


The man who thinks he's George Clooney. A story of today's Kabul

Duncan Campbell and Kitty Logan in Kabul
Friday July 9, 2004
The Guardian

In the meantime, he had become something of a media security pundit, popping up on television programmes to comment on security matters.

During the war in Afghanistan in 2001, Mr Idema and a number of other former US military members linked up with the Northern Alliance rebel group, who were fighting the Taliban. He offered his services to the media and appeared on American television news programmes after having supposedly found al-Qaida training camp footage in Kabul.

When Fox News showed the footage, Mr Idema launched another civil action, seeking $2m damages for supposedly showing the footage without his permission.

He also threatened to punch Geraldo Rivera, the controversial Fox News commentator, who, Mr Idema claimed, had messed up the operations of the Northern Alliance by irresponsible reporting.

Mr Idema, who has a reputation in Kabul for volatility, is also the source of much internet gossip on sites used by ex-members of the US special forces, not all of whom would describe themselves as admirers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1257...


Defense Department Operational Update Briefing

United States Department of Defense.
News Transcript

Thursday, July 8, 2004 3:12 p.m. EDT

Q Larry, Afghanistan, the three Americans who were arrested. One of them is named Idema. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that right. But he's supposed to be former Army Special Forces. Do you have any information about his background?

MR. DIRITA: Not much. I do understand that there appears to be some former military -- he has a military background, but I don't know to what extent, how long he was in the service. I don't have those details. It's -- there have been a handful of people scooped up, and he's one of them. But beyond that, I don't think we have much detail.

(To General Rodriguez) Do you have anything?

GEN. RODRIGUEZ: No, we do not.
Q He's not presently in the military?GEN. RODRIGUEZ: No, he's not presently in the military.

Q How recent, do you know -- (inaudible) --

GEN. RODRIGUEZ: No, I don't know how recent, no.

Q -- or what type of service he had?

MR. DIRITA: We don't have a lot of detail, just other than it appears it has been confirmed that he had some military service.

GEN. RODRIGUEZ: Yes.

Ex-local man, 2 others allegedly imprisoned Afghans
By Nik Bonopartis
Poughkeepsie Journal

A former Poughkeepsie man is being held by Afghan authorities for allegedly operating as a mercenary, ''arresting'' eight Afghans and imprisoning them in a Kabul home where he allegedly had them hanging by their feet.
Jonathan Keith Idema, 48, is being held along with two other American men by Afghan security officials after they were arrested and detained Monday in the Kabul home where they allegedly kept their prisoners, said Brenda Greenberg, a State Department spokeswoman.

Idema, the former owner of a Hyde Park ammunition and gun shop who claims he is a former Green Beret, has been in Afghanistan for about three months, fighting terrorism and serving as an adviser to Afghan forces through ''extensive contacts with the (Afghan President Hamid) Karzai government,'' said his lawyer, John Tiffany of Bloomfield, N.J.

''He's been tracking terrorists,'' said Tiffany, who said he was retained by Idema after ''wanted'' signs with his name and photo began appearing in the Afghan capital.

Military and national records officials could not confirm Idema's purported former military service. The State Department said Idema does not currently serve with the military
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/today/localnews/stor...

Bogus commandos held
Afghans say 4 posed as Special Forces unit


KABUL Four men claiming to be Americans and posing as Special Forces commandos were arrested by Afghan security agents in a raid on a house here, NATO and Afghan officials said. At least eight men being held prisoner in the house and four interpreters were also detained, the officials said.

A spokesman for the NATO force, Commander Chris Henderson, said that he was aware of the case, and that at least one American was among four foreigners arrested Monday. He said that the men were not connected to U.S. forces and that he had "no idea" who they were.

The U.S. Embassy said it was investigating the matter. "We have reports that there are three Americans, but we don't have confirmation," an embassy official said. The men did not have documents to prove their identity, he added.

One of the men detained, identified as Jonathan Idema, was known to the military and had apparently been under surveillance. He was the subject of a media advisory by the U.S. military press center several days ago, which warned that he was an impostor pretending to be a member of the U.S. military.

The mine hit a pickup truck on a road in Khogyani district of Nangarhar province, 100 kilometers, or 60 miles, east of Kabul, said Faizan ul-Haq, a provincial government spokesman.

A UN spokesman said the driver was seriously hurt and had been flown to Kabul for treatment. Afghans say 4 posed as Special Forces unit
more
http://www.iht.com/articles/528562.html

At the heart of their investigation is a former American special forces soldier, Jona than Keith "Jack" Idema, who is alleged to have run the private jail and was being questioned on Thursday night.

Idema, who is said to be always heavily armed, is far from the only ex-military man to be making a living in Kabul, which has an atmosphere redolent of The Third Man, Graham Greene's thriller about postwar Vienna.

Many of the private security guards attached to embassies and commercial companies have military histories, either real or imagined. Typically, they can be seen in dark glasses and camouflage gear, sub-machine guns slung over their shoulders as they ride through the city. They are often to be seen at the Mustafa hotel, one of the few bars that sell alcohol to ex-pats, who gather for the hotel's popular roof-top barbecues.

Idema, it emerged on Thursday, has a colourful past. A volatile former Green Beret with a criminal record in the US, he describes himself as a security adviser. He also claims that he is the person on whom George Clooney's part in the Hollywood film The Peacemaker was based.

While there has been no official explanation of what sort of operation he was running, there are large rewards on offer for the capture of al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan, which has led to a boom in the private security business.

The biggest reward of all -- $25-million -- remains on offer for information leading to the capture of Osama bin Laden.
http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=118432

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040524fa_fact

The people assigned to the program worked by the book, the former intelligence official told me. They created code words, and recruited, after careful screening, highly trained commandos and operatives from America’s élite forces—Navy seals, the Army’s Delta Force, and the C.I.A.’s paramilitary experts. They also asked some basic questions: “Do the people working the problem have to use aliases? Yes. Do we need dead drops for the mail? Yes. No traceability and no budget. And some special-access programs are never fully briefed to Congress.”

In theory, the operation enabled the Bush Administration to respond immediately to time-sensitive intelligence: commandos crossed borders without visas and could interrogate terrorism suspects deemed too important for transfer to the military’s facilities at Guantánamo, Cuba. They carried out instant interrogations—using force if necessary—at secret C.I.A. detention centers scattered around the world. The intelligence would be relayed to the sap command center in the Pentagon in real time, and sifted for those pieces of information critical to the “white,” or overt, world.


Ex-local man, 2 others allegedly imprisoned Afghans

Idema and his colleagues rented the house near Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel, and told neighbors that they were operating an export company that traded Afghan rugs, the Afghan official said.

The Americans were mainly detaining men with long beards on the outskirts of Kabul who they suspected -- based on their appearance -- to be members of al Qaeda, the interior ministry official said.

The official said the story would "definitely have a negative impact on the image of Americans" among Afghans
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/07/09/afghan.... /

Idema, the former owner of a Hyde Park ammunition and gun shop who claims he is a former Green Beret, has been in Afghanistan for about three months, fighting terrorism and serving as an adviser to Afghan forces through ''extensive contacts with the (Afghan President Hamid) Karzai government,'' said his lawyer, John Tiffany of Bloomfield, N.J.

''He's been tracking terrorists,'' said Tiffany, who said he was retained by Idema after ''wanted'' signs with his name and photo began appearing in the Afghan capital.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/today/localnews/stor...


Ex-soldiers blur Afghan security
By Andrew North
BBC correspondent in Kabul


It's becoming harder to spot genuine troops like this American

...........

Often they are private contractors.

Phil Halton of Anso, an organisation that provides security advice to aid agencies, admits there may be a "perception" problem now.

He points out that it is well known that the US government uses many private contractors.

For instance, a private US security firm is guarding President Hamid Karzai.

Contractors have also been used by the CIA to interrogate detainees in Afghanistan.

That makes it harder for the US authorities to convince people that they are not involved with people like Jonathan Idema.


The Kabul house where Idema and two other Americans were held

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3881317.stm


Bogus Agents Said to Be Antiterrorist Vigilantes

By DAVID ROHDE
Published: July 9, 2004

KABUL, Afghanistan, July 8 - Four men arrested for falsely posing as American government officials and illegally detaining Afghans were conducting their own self-styled antiterrorism campaign, Afghan and American officials said Thursday.

The four men, three of them Americans, illegally held eight Afghans for 12 days in the basement of a house where they had set up a fake export company, the officials said.


"Three foreigners made up their own group and pretended they were against those who conduct terrorist operations," Ali Ahmed Jalali, Afghanistan's interior minister, said Thursday at a news conference. "They were actually outlaws."

Three of the Afghans who were detained were brothers who had past ties to the political party of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a pro-Taliban commander, but officials said none of them were involved in terrorism and were, in fact, now employees of Afghanistan's new government. One works for the Afghan Supreme Court and another for the Ministry of Education, officials said.

more
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/international/asia/09...


more here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...


Afghans arrest fake US contractors

Eight Afghans were released from the illegal group's hideout.

Thursday 08 July 2004, 12:52 Makka Time, 9:52 GMT

Three men claiming to be US nationals have been arrested in Kabul for allegedly waging their own private war in Afghanistan.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/DBD17E60-C85F-44...


Fake Mercenaries?


thebigidea

Coppery green, isn't it.

Edited on Fri Jul-09-04 12:18 AM by thebigidea
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040524fa_fact

The people assigned to the program worked by the book, the former intelligence official told me. They created code words, and recruited, after careful screening, highly trained commandos and operatives from America’s élite forces—Navy seals, the Army’s Delta Force, and the C.I.A.’s paramilitary experts. They also asked some basic questions: “Do the people working the problem have to use aliases? Yes. Do we need dead drops for the mail? Yes. No traceability and no budget. And some special-access programs are never fully briefed to Congress.”

In theory, the operation enabled the Bush Administration to respond immediately to time-sensitive intelligence: commandos crossed borders without visas and could interrogate terrorism suspects deemed too important for transfer to the military’s facilities at Guantánamo, Cuba. They carried out instant interrogations—using force if necessary—at secret C.I.A. detention centers scattered around the world. The intelligence would be relayed to the sap command center in the Pentagon in real time, and sifted for those pieces of information critical to the “white,” or overt, world.


could this be his partner?
Vice Adm. Brent Bennett maybe not the same guy?

In 1978, Welch was at a point where he wasn't sure whether or not to stay Navy, when he reported to the commander of naval air forces for the U.S. Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk, Va. With a year to go, "I was riding the fence." He worked with now retired Vice Adm. Brent Bennett when he was selected as a flag writer.

He credits his decision to stay Navy to Adm. "Gus"Kinnear, with whom he also worked. "If not for his confidence in my abilities, I would have gotten out. It was a milestone for me."
http://www.dcmilitary.com/navy/trident/7_20/local_news/...

KABUL: An explosion at an illegal bomb factory in the Afghan capital wounded at least six people, a spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeeping force said on Sunday. The blast in Kabul’s Afshah neighbourhood on Saturday hurt three children, two women and a man, Commander Chris Henderson told reporters. He said police had arrested three men. “It is believed that the explosion occurred as the three men were assembling bombs.” Police said they were holding the father of the family, who had brought the bomb-making material from neighbouring Pakistan. “It is actually fortunate that the people assembling these explosive devices met with misadventure as their intended actions could easily have killed many innocent people,” Henderson said. The incident underscored the continuing risk of violence in Kabul despite patrols by more than 6,000 foreign peacekeepers two and a half years after US-led forces overthrew the Taliban. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for some attacks, but officials also suspect its al Qaeda allies and forces of an allied renegade warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. reuters
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_5-7...

[seemslikeadream]

28. Kabul bounty hunters search for bin Laden

12.07.2004

Afghan soldiers guard the Kabul home of Americans under arrest on suspicion of interrogating locals. Picture / Reuter
It was a discovery startling, and disturbing, even by the standards of Afghanistan's anarchic violence.
Prisoners hanging upside down in a private prison, tortured by heavily armed soldiers of fortune seeking the millions of dollars in bounty offered by the Americans.
The arrest of Jack Idema and two companions after a shootout in Kabul gave a glimpse of a savage and largely unreported war taking place in the shadow of the Iraq conflict, and the assortment - mercenaries and misfits, fortune-seekers and fantasists - who have come to take part.
Idema, now in the custody of the notorious Afghan security chief, Baba Jan, in many ways epitomises these latter-day men who would be king in this part of the "Wild East".
His is a colourful background across three continents: author, adventurer and convict.
more
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3577...

Pride, prison shadow Idema

By Greg Barnes
Staff writer
snip
Idema was about to go to prison when at least three high-ranking military officials fought to have him released until his sentencing.
''Keith is an honest, hard-working American vet of the highest order who deserves the trust of those who are appointed to enforce constitutional rights and laws of the American public,'' Army Master Sgt. Peter L. Conners wrote to U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle on May 18, 1994. ''I would like to add to the list of those asking for his presentencing release on appeal.''
That list included Timothy G. Connolly, then the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense.
''While others may find occasion to call his character into question, my experience with him over the last 10 years leads me to a different conclusion,'' Connolly wrote to Boyle. ''Keith Idema may be one of the last individuals for whom the phrase 'I give you my word' still has meaning. To Keith, honor is everything.''
more
http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story.php?Template=news&S...
from
JudiLyn

This story linked in seemslikeadream's collection was never aired before
I'm SURE I've never heard it, but first of all, it's from UPI, so I guess it matters what the date was when Rev. Moon bought UPI, doesn't it? It used to be reputable.

Al Qaida may have tried to kill Clinton
By Martin Arostegui
Published 10/18/2002 6:34 PM


The following story is a re-release of an article that United Press International originally published by on Feb. 6, 2002.


KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Al Qaida may have tried to kill former President Clinton, apparently while he was in office, and perhaps planned further attempts on world leaders, United Press International has learned.

Specific references to Clinton were found among handwritten notes and sketches of U.S. Secret Service protective methods recovered from the Shomali compound near Kabul where al Qaida members received specialized training in assassination and hostage taking.

"We have attempted to kill Clinton, but failed," documents in Arabic released exclusively to United Press International Monday state. Although the text indicates the attack was planned around some high-level conference or international summit, it does not mention an exact date. Analysts in Kabul believe the attempt was planned about two years ago.

Nor does the text reveal whether the plan was abandoned or had failed in some other way.

Security experts in Kabul believe Osama bin Laden's group may have been thinking of a second attack on the former president, this time during a golf tournament.

"The documents clearly list how presidential protective details are structured, what they do and what vulnerabilities to look for," said J. Keith Idema, an American civilian adviser to the Afghan United Front, also known as the Northern Alliance, one of the members of the Afghan Interim Administration. Idema has analyzed captured al Qaida records, including graphic terrorist training video tapes recently aired on CBS' "60 Minutes" television program.
(snip)
http://www.upi.com/print.cfm?StoryID=04022002-082828-84 ...

Idema sounds unhinged, actually. But WHO KNEW this plotting was going on about Clinton by anyone other than our own right wing? Hmmmmmmmm.

Makes you wonder why he didn't decide he was going to try to take over the world, just like little Dubya in mock revenge, doesn't it?

Thanks JudiLyn

Bad company: 'Jack' Idema and the bounty hunters of Kabul
US payouts for Taliban and al-Qa'ida captures are attracting strange and dangerous adventurers to the 'Wild East'
By Kim Sengupta and Paul Lashmar and Nick Meo in Kabul
11 July 2004
The arrest of Jack Idema and two companions after a shootout in Kabul gave a glimpse of a savage and largely unreported war taking place in the shadow of the Iraq conflict, and the assortment - mercenaries and misfits, fortune-seekers and fantasists - who have come to take part. Idema, now in custody of the notorious Afghan security chief, Baba Jan, in many ways epitomises these latter-day men who would be king in this part of the "Wild East". His is a colourful background across three continents: author, adventurer and convict.
Some of us first met "Jack" in 2001, when the Taliban had retreated from Kabul, victorious Northern Alliance fighters were parading in the streets, and US and British forces were pouring into Bagram airbase. A dapper man in a black T-shirt and combat trousers, a Glock pistol strapped in his shoulder holster, Idema gave a graphic account of his supposed experiences as a former US army Green Beret who had trained with the SAS and, as an adviser to the Tajik and Uzbek militias, had helped plan the operation to take the Afghan capital.
Some operating in this murky world do indeed have official connections. David Passaro, a former Green Beret who arrived on a CIA security contract, is currently under arrest, accused of beating a 28-year-old Afghan detainee to death. US federal prosecutors have filed a protective order seeking to restrict the use of classified material at his trial.
The war on terror is lavishly funded when it comes to bounties. The US State Department is offering $340m in bounties for information leading the capture or killing of 30 top suspects worldwide. The reward for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qa'ida commander believed to be a leading player in the Iraqi insurgency, was recently doubled to $25m, the same as Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden. So far, $56m has been paid out internationally. Small wonder, then, that all kinds of adventurers are now buzzing round this honeypot.

more
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?stor...


Ex-soldiers blur Afghan security


By Andrew North
BBC correspondent in Kabul

It's becoming harder to spot genuine troops like this American
...........
Often they are private contractors.
Phil Halton of Anso, an organisation that provides security advice to aid agencies, admits there may be a "perception" problem now.
He points out that it is well known that the US government uses many private contractors.
For instance, a private US security firm is guarding President Hamid Karzai.
Contractors have also been used by the CIA to interrogate detainees in Afghanistan.
That makes it harder for the US authorities to convince people that they are not involved with people like Jonathan Idema.

The Kabul house where Idema and two other Americans were held
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3881317.stm
�@
0007
Private Prisons for America
The Community Web Log on Media, Government, and Politics in Midland, Texas
Home of George & Laura Bush, General Tommy Franks....AND Wahoo McDaniel
AN EMPTY PRISON? GASP! WE CAN'T HAVE THAT!
If there was ever any doubt that the prison system has become big business, that fact should be readily apparent now.
"For several months, more than 500 of the beds in the detention center have remained empty. That's because the federal government's Bureau of Prisons (BOP) hasn't given them the inmates they need. This has leading to a financial catastrophe for the county."
Yet more evidence that government is too big and bloated. It now has a vested interest in keeping inmate population numbers high. And how might they accomplish that, you ask?
By making everything a felony, that's how.
In recent years, the number of misdemeanor crimes that have been reclassified as felonies is frightening. On top of that, a good portion of them carry mandatory minimum sentences, especially repeat possession offenses. Even some traffic offenses have been given felony status in Texas, including evading and -- get this -- drag racing.
Meanwhile, almost every small town in America either has its own prison or is vying for one to help boost its local economy. In the words of S.O.D., "They're trying to build a prison -- for you and me to live in."more.....if you can take it!
http://www.jessicaswell.com/MT/archives/000938.html


Lisa
The dark side of glorifying rule-breakers
Last summer, Robert Kaplan did a piece which urged the US to emphasize special-ops efforts which would have a lot of autonomy and even work in clandestine ways. He's compared this to the techniques used by the British and Roman empires (the type of person that Kipling's "Stalky" evolves into) -- and uses the American character in "A Bell for Adano" as his ideal -- a tough military-trained guy who doesn't always follow military procedures. At the time, I felt this was highly optimistic, and that this kind of situation could encourage people who were basically being mercenaries to set themselves up as warlords and kingpins. And even if they had good intentions at first, they could easily end up like Kurtz in "Heart of Darkness".
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/07/kaplan.htm

[seemslikeadream]

30. Threads on Idema

DEBKAfile reporting a truck bomb at US Embassy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=785378
Rivals Gang Up on Karzai, Seek a Champion
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=783719
'Petroleum lures dogs of war to Africa'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=775315
US vigilante says saved Bagram from bomb attack
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=770521
Man accused of running private Afghan jail had U.S. letter
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=769011
UN rights expert berates US on Afghan detentions
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=768135
Man arrested by FBI : "I was close to capturing bin Laden"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=767678
Round two for Kabul's trial of year
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=753506
Americans on trial in Afghanistan get FBI files
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=755211
U.S. urged to protect Idema's rights
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=752727
Tables turn on US conman waging his own weird war on terror
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=745167
Idema role: rogue or U.S. agent?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=737677
9-11 attacks spurred Idema to action
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=737670
Crusader confronts a world of trouble
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=735851
Wild-card charged in Afghan imprisonments has murky history with media, go
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=732951
Family seeking info on Fortuna man arrested in Afghanistan
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=726667
Rumsfeld knew all about me, says American 'jailer' held in Kabul
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=701568
Outsourcing War Crimes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=707269
The Case of Keith Idema
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=703839
Dispatch From Afghanistan
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=704670
Americans accused of torturing Afghans in private jail go on trial
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=699570
Pride, prison shadow Idema
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=677019
'Freelance' US fighter identified
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=673846
Americans Arrested in Kabul Abused Prisoners in Private Jail, Officials Say
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=673337

[DulceDecorum]

31. Enter: Douglas Feith.

Theresa Whelan
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs
Remarks to IPOA Dinner
19 November 2003
Washington, D.C.

What Doug asked me to speak on tonight was our experiences from a DoD perspective in using contractors in Africa in supporting US government objectives.
<snip>
In Africa, as I mentioned, we’re using contractors in a variety of ways, in both logistics and training support.
First, I’m going to focus on the logistics support. Let me start with a couple of examples. Contractors provided support in Somalia in 1992 despite a challenging lack of infrastructure. It was one of the early places that Brown and Root really sunk its teeth into the logistics support business for the US military.
Since the 1990’s, contractors have been used extensively in peace support operations in Africa to provide logistical support to African soldiers. Since those early days of supporting ECOMOG, the Economic Community of West African States monitoring group in Liberia, an operation which launched the idea of sub-regional peacekeeping in Africa, contractors have deployed to support U.S. Government operations in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, and again, this past summer in Liberia.
The use of contractors, in Africa, is an example of necessity driving policy. The 1990’s saw not only an up-tick in crises in Africa in the Post-Cold War environment, but also an up-tick in crises around the world. This led to our pressing for more regional based PKO operations in order to cover the wide range of crises that had to be addressed. However, those regional forces had some inherent operational weaknesses ---they couldn’t do it entirely on their own --- they needed to get Western support.
We wanted to support those operations, however, we also realized that our forces were tied down elsewhere around the globe and they might not be available for the long-term deployments we were envisioning in some places in Africa, as well as in other areas of the world.
http://www.defenselink.mil/policy/isa/africa/IPOA.htm

Oct. 4 issue - The International Peace Operations Association has a lot more clout at the Pentagon than the name might suggest. Calling itself an "association of military-service provider companies," it's the closest thing in Washington to a lobbying group for soldiers of fortune. At the outfit's annual dinner last November, the guest speaker was Theresa Whelan, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for African affairs, from the policy directorate headed by Douglas Feith, the controversial under secretary of Defense. Whelan's topic: the U.S. government's increasing use of private military contractors, especially in Africa.
That evening and its aftermath are raising awkward new questions about a botched coup attempt this year in sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil producer. It's hard to blame anyone for wanting to see the last of Gen. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. He seized power in Equatorial Guinea 25 years ago by overthrowing his own uncle, the nation's first president, and today his regime ranks as one of the most corrupt and brutal in the world. Obiang has survived numerous efforts to dislodge him over the years, but the latest try, allegedly involving 90 mercenaries and a $14 million bankroll, was one for the books.
Obiang blames it all on the governments of Spain, Britain and the United States, along with several internationally known figures. Lord Jeffrey Archer, the British politician and novelist, has denied newspaper allegations that he put up $133,000 to back the alleged scheme. Sir Mark Thatcher, son of the former British prime minister, was arrested by South African police in August on suspicion of kicking in $275,000. Now trying to quash a subpoena for his formal questioning, he also denies any role. But his friend Simon Mann, an Eton alum-nus, brewery-fortune heir and former member of Britain's elite Special Air Service, is now doing a seven-year sentence in Zimbabwe on weapons charges allegedly rising from the failed attempt. (Mann's family and friends insist he's innocent.) Officials in Equatorial Guinea claim the accused plotters were motivated by something beyond mere humanitarianism: a piece of the country's oil concessions, which are likely to earn $1 billion or more this year.
The Pentagon insists it had no advance knowledge of any plot against Obiang. Nevertheless, the audience at Whelan's speech included a British security consultant named Gregory Wales—now one of six defendants in a lawsuit filed by Obiang's attorneys in London against the alleged plotters. Wales gave Whelan his card after the speech, and later called to request a face-to-face chat.
<snip>
Wales says he knew of no coup plans. But on March 7, Zimbabwe arrested a planeload of 70 mercenaries allegedly en route to Equatorial Guinea. The detainees included Wales's friend and sometime business partner Simon Mann. More arrests soon followed in Equatorial Guinea. Wales says his friend must have been headed somewhere else, since months of coup rumors had made Obiang's country too dangerous to mess with. Despots like the general may be doomed to extinction in any case; this February, the 53 members of the African Union agreed they will no longer recognize new regimes installed by coup. That may be bad news for Africa's hired soldiers. But the people of Equatorial Guinea can only wish it had come a quarter century sooner.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6100308/site/newsweek/

And speaking of those hired soldiers:

The case has caught the public's attention in both South Africa and Britain because of the involvement of some upper-crust Britons, including the alleged coup leader, Simon Mann, the heir to a brewery fortune, and his longtime friend and neighbor, Mark Thatcher, the son Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister. Mann was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role; Thatcher is still under investigation as an alleged financier of the plot.
<snip>
But there were no jobs, at least none suitable for former soldiers with little other job experience. The cash from the severance payments soon ran out. Most of the men started drifting away from Pomfret to take security jobs in far-off cities, returning home for only a few weeks a year.
"We're trapped here," said Lucas Kandjima, 51, a friend of Eduardo Tchimuishi's and a former 32 Battalion soldier who was home in Pomfret for a visit. "Now it's harder. The men have to go away farther and stay away longer. . . . Everybody's spread out and looking for work, and nobody has money."
Some became mercenaries. Mann, the former British Special Forces officer who allegedly organized the Equatorial Guinea coup, reportedly employed 32 Battalion veterans for an earlier venture called Executive Outcomes. The mercenary group fought in Angola, Sierra Leone and other African countries with unstable governments and valuable resources such as gold and oil.
Former members of 32 Battalion were also implicated in an attempted coup last year in Sao Tome and Principe, a tiny country off the west coast of Africa.
"The moment you're looking for ex-soldiers, Pomfret is one of the places you go," said Piet Nortje, a former 32 Battalion sergeant major who has written a history of the unit. "They're much better trained, more experienced."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48639-2004Sep24.html

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DulceDecorum]

34. A Private Fiefdom

The red dirt of the jungle meets a paved road on the outskirts of Ebebiyin, where a national celebration is about to begin. Women are singing and swaying in an African rhythm that is hard to resist, even though their lyrics are not of a can’t-stop-dancing variety: “We await you, Mr. President,” they sing in Fang, the main language in Equatorial Guinea. “We are happy to see you; you are the people’s president.” In the distance, a cloud of Martian dust heralds the arrival of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

The president is accompanied by 40 vehicles and enough firepower to start a small war. In the lead are army-green trucks, with soldiers clad in black ninja outfits. Because the president doesn’t entirely trust his military, the jeeps in front of his Lexus SUV bear his Moroccan security guards, many of them perched on the running boards, clutching Heckler & Koch assault rifles as they scan the horizon.

The motorcade halts at the edge of the town and its chickens-in-the-road squalor. Obiang strolls up the street, shaking hands with people who line the uneven sidewalks, many clad in T-shirts and dresses bearing his image. His bearing is regal. If he has any anxiety because of a recent coup attempt, which involved a gang of couldn’t-shoot-straight mercenaries from South Africa and Britain (allegedly financed by the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher), he does not betray it. And if his mind is troubled by a recent U.S. Senate investigation detailing how he siphoned millions from his country’s treasury with the help of Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C., and how he and members of his inner circle extracted large and unorthodox payments from American oil companies, that, too, does not show.

Obiang has traveled to Equatorial Guinea’s mainland from his palace on the island capital of Malabo to celebrate the 36th anniversary of independence from Spain. The three-day gala is replete with references to the 1979 overthrow of Francisco Macias Nguema, the nation’s first dictator. Macias, who once tortured and killed political opponents in a soccer stadium, drowning out their screams by playing “Those Were the Days” on the loudspeakers, was ousted and executed in a coup led by a senior military aide who was also his nephew -- Teodoro Obiang.

For “El Libertador,” as Obiang allows himself to be called, the highlight of the October celebration is a parade down Ebebiyin’s finest stretch of asphalt. About a hundred goose-stepping soldiers lead the way, and through bouts of equatorial heat and showers, delegations from seemingly every town and organization in the nation march by with banners saluting the president and ruling party.

The heat, the soldiers, the jungle, the out-of-tune band -- I was starting to feel I had fallen into a tin-pot time warp. Then I noticed the American flags. These were carried by a delegation from Mobil Equatorial Guinea, Inc., a subsidiary of ExxonMobil. They also carried white Exxon flags and placards bearing ExxonMobil’s name. Behind them came delegations with signs announcing Halliburton, ChevronTexaco, Marathon Oil.

In the past few years, Equatorial Guinea, population 500,000, has become the third-largest oil exporter in sub-Saharan Africa, after Nigeria and Angola. Per capita, it is one of the richest countries on the continent; rated by how much money ends up in the pockets of people not related to the president, it remains one of the poorest. Oil is the reason the desperate-looking cafés and shops in Ebebiyin use ExxonMobil signs as decorations. It is why, although his regime once sent death threats to the U.S. ambassador, Obiang now meets with senior administration officials and even with President Bush. And it’s why no one spoke out as Obiang treated his nation’s treasury as his own private bank account.

Equatorial Guinea sometimes seems a parody of an oil kleptocracy -- a Blazing Saddles of the world of petroleum. Yet it has emerged as an all-too-real example of how a dictator, awash in petrodollars, enriches himself and his family while starving his people. His conduct has been aided by American companies: As detailed in Senate and Treasury Department documents, Riggs Bank helped Obiang shuttle millions into offshore accounts. Oil companies, meanwhile, made payments to his regime that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is now scrutinizing under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/01/12_400.html

January 24, 2005
LONDON: The failed coup attempt involving Sir Mark Thatcher was to have made Equatorial Guinea a private colony run for the benefit of the British plotters, leaked documents reveal.
The papers, passed to The Sunday Times by South African intelligence sources, reveal the plotters had created a trading company to control the oil-rich West African state.
The Bight of Benin Company, named after the bay on the state's coastline, was to have grabbed control of the country's economy, oil reserves, army and police.
The company would have controlled the country as a private fiefdom, modelled on the British East India Company, which ran vast swathes of India before it formally became part of the British empire.
After executing the coup, the company planned to make Severo Moto, the exiled opposition leader, its frontman, bound by contract to cede power to the company.
The plotters then planned to use the state's intelligence services to gather "damaging information" on Mr Moto and his family in case he stepped out of line.
<snip>
The documents reveal how the company was to have "sole right to have physical or other access" to Mr Moto once he became president. It would be the only company that could "make agreements or contracts" with the new regime. And, crucially, it would take over the state oil company.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12029862%255E2703,00.html

Mark Thatcher bankrolled coup
12/01/2005
London - Sir Mark Thatcher is to plead guilty to bankrolling an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea, say reports.
Sky News says he is expected to be given a five year suspended sentence and a £300 000 fine by a court in South Africa.
It is understood Sir Mark will then be allowed to leave the country, where he has effectively been under house arrest in Cape Town.
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1646501,00.html

Monday January 3, 2005
Sir Mark admits paying money to Mr Steyl, but insists it was for Mr Steyl's air ambulance service, not for the coup. But while evidence appears to be stacking up against Sir Mark, his one glimmer of hope might come from Mann.
At one time press reports suggested that Mann might be willing to give evidence against Sir Mark in return for his transfer from Chikurubi maximum security prison in Zimbabwe to the slightly more salubrious surroundings of a South African jail.
However, last month his lawyers presented an affidavit sent from jail to a court in Guernsey, where Mann is fighting to conceal the transactions on his offshore bank accounts. In it, Mann claims he was tortured into confessing, and says that a statement in which he admitted his involvement in the coup was "invented" by a lawyer for the government of Equatorial Guinea. "I was arrested on the 7th March 2004 and taken to the police station where I was brutally and severely tortured and assaulted for several days until the police came to my cell told me that they knew everything and handed me a piece of paper," the affadavit says. "They dictated to me what I should write and at every instance that I objected I was subjected to further torture and assaults. The police then typed the hand written statement that was brought to my cell and which I was forced to sign."
Mann also claims officials threatened to fly him to Equatorial Guinea, where he could face the death sentence, unless he agreed to co-operate.
The affadavit continues: "It is a matter of great regret to me that some of my friends and acquaintances such as Sir Mark Thatcher, Ely Calil and Tony Buckingham have been accused ... of conspiring with me," he wrote. "I maintain there was no plot or understanding or conspiracy in which I was involved."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/equatorialguinea/story/0,15013,1382321,00.html

Monday January 3, 2005
Mann, who was jailed for seven years in Zimbabwe in November on charges connected to the coup attempt, attempted to exonerate Sir Mark from any involvement in the botched plot in an affidavit drawn up by his lawyers and seen by the Guardian.
But Mr Steyl, a South African pilot convicted last month of violating South Africa's foreign military assistance act, has agreed to testify against Sir Mark in South Africa in return for escaping a hefty jail term.
Mr Steyl has confirmed to the South African authorities that he was recruited to provide air support by Mann, the old Etonian who was arrested at Harare airport along with 70 mercenaries allegedly bound for Equatorial Guinea.
He has told the authorities that he was introduced to Sir Mark by Greg Wales, the London-based businessman who has been accused of a central role in the plot, at Lanseria airport, north-west of Johannesburg, in December 2003.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/equatorialguinea/story/0,15013,1382459,00.html

13 January 2005
Thatcher was arrested at his suburban Cape Town home on August 25 and charged with breaking the country's anti-mercenary laws.
He also faces charges in Equatorial Guinea, which claims that he and other, mainly British, financiers commissioned the bid to overthrow the 25-year regime of President Teodoro Obiang.
Plotters were said to have worked with the tiny country's opposition figures, scores of African mercenaries and six Armenian pilots in the takeover attempt foiled in March.
They had intended to install an opposition politician as the figurehead leader of Africa's third largest oil producer, prosecutors said.
Thatcher and his lawyers did not address a large crowd of journalists gathered outside the Cape Town courthouse as they arrived this morning for the brief appearance.
A poster reading "Save me mummy" hung from a window across the street.
The coup plot, led by an Old Etonian, led to questions in the House of Commons.
The saga began in March when Eton and Sandhurst-educated ex-SAS captain Simon Mann was held in Zimbabwe along with a group of mercenaries over the plot.
Five months after the Zimbabwe arrests Sir Mark was arrested at his Cape Town home and charged in South Africa with violating its anti-mercenary law - a charge he had always denied until now.
Late last year it turned out that the UK Government had known about the plot five weeks before the mercenaries were arrested for planning it.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=600353
http://www.guardian.co.uk/equatorialguinea/story/0,15013,1389422,00.html

Profile: Sir Mark Thatcher
January 12, 2005
Mark Thatcher and his twin sister, Carol, were born on August 15, 1953, the only children of the future prime minister, who was then working as a lawyer before entering politics.
Educated at Harrow, Mark Thatcher is viewed as less diligent and, perhaps, less intelligent than his twin, who has carved out a career as a journalist and author.
In February 1987, Sir Mark married Diane Burgdorf, a Texan heiress with whom he has had two children, and relocated to the United States for some years, becoming involved in a series of business ventures with mixed success.
In late 1995 after reportedly losing million of pounds in business deals, he and his wife decided to make a new life in South Africa, buying a plush, six-bedroom house in the exclusive Cape Town suburb of Constantia.
Even there, trouble was however not far behind. Within a few months of his arrival, his mother - now out of office for six years - flew into the country amid reports that Sir Mark, who inherited his late father's hereditary baronetcy in 2003, was having trouble renewing his South African visa.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1437507,00.html

Thursday, January 13, 2005
Once dubbed "The Boy Mark" in the British media, Thatcher failed his accountancy exams three times but was worshipped by his mother who welcomed his presence on her trips overseas.
He left Britain in the mid-1980s for the United States to escape media attention.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/01/13/thatcher.profile.reut/

Sunday January 16, 2005
Sir Mark Thatcher, the disgraced son of former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher, should be stripped of his hereditary title, according to an influential cross-party group of MPs.
Tony Wright, Labour chairman of the Commons Public Administration Committee, which has investigated the honours system, said: 'If we give honours for honours, we should remove them for dishonours.' Thatcher's title was passed to him when his father, Sir Denis, died in June 2003.
<snip>
Former Prime Minister John Major awarded Denis Thatcher his baronetcy. He told Wright's committee last May he had been reluctant to award the title but had been lobbied by 'influential figures' in the Conservative Party.
Thatcher still faces the possibility of prosecution by the regime of President Obiang in Equatorial Guinea, which wants to extradite him. Lawyers are pursuing civil prosecution against London-based businessmen for providing backing to the coup and are considering whether to add Thatcher to the action.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/equatorialguinea/story/0,15013,1391684,00.html

16/01/2005
Perhaps the rest of us expect too much of him. Mark has long occupied the role of quasi-official national twit-cum-bogeyman. For most of the last 25 years, establishing the provenance of his fortune has been a Holy Grail for investigative journalists. Allusions to arms trading, political palm-greasing, financial wheeler-dealing and webs of offshore bank accounts have filled hundreds of newspaper pages, and an entire book, Thatcher's Gold, by Paul Halloran and Mark Hollingsworth, without anyone nailing him for much more than an immoderate use of his family connections.
In Constantia, Cape Town's ritziest neighbourhood, with his wife Diane and their two children, Mark appeared to be removed from the potential for causing further embarrassment. But last year the police came hammering on his front door, and in what he still quaintly calls, "the old country", the big question was asked again: what does Mark Thatcher actually do?
He might answer that he does what a Thatcher is supposed to do; to strive to get ahead, to achieve self-sufficiency, and to create success where none existed. It has been a long haul though. Mark was born on August 15, 1953, the year his mother – hungering for a safe Conservative seat after two election losses – qualified as a barrister.
Baroness Thatcher, who regrets little, is said to wish that she had devoted more time to her children. Perhaps she should have done, for both have had difficulties in their lives, and the twins are not close. Mark went to Harrow where he suffered badly from acne, earning himself the nickname "Scratcher", and left with three O-levels.
He worked as a jewellery salesman, briefly as a male model, as a trainee accountant at Touche Ross, where he failed his professional exams three times, and made a doomed attempt at marketing electronically-tracked shopping trolleys. Effectively unemployed at the age of 25, he stumbled Mr Toad-like upon a new enthusiasm – motor cars – and quickly refashioned himself as a racing driver.
<snip>
Soon afterwards the first questions about his business activities began to surface. The Financial Times, commenting on reports that young Thatcher had been enriching himself through his Downing Street connections, described him as "a kind of Harrovian Arthur Daley with a famous mum". Subsequently, when Mark asked Bernard Ingham, his mother's press secretary, what he should do, the blunt Yorkshireman replied: "Leave the country." And so he did. Never, properly, to return.
<snip>
Mark's business ventures in America have been no less controversial than those in Britain, and an investigation of his affairs by the Internal Revenue Service in the 1990s led to his departure for South Africa.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/01/16/do1610.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/01/16/ixworld.html

"Sir Mark may have many shortcomings - priggishness, arrogance and a quite shameless determination to capitalise on the family name prominent among them. But to amass a reputed £60m fortune without breaking sweat, much less running any identifiable corporate enterprise, requires a sharpness and cunning for which his detractors rarely give him credit."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/equatorialguinea/story/0,15013,1291819,00.html
Ahh.
A Dim Son,
BUT
A Fortunate Son.

Mark Thatcher is 'home with mommy'
January 18 2005
London - Mark Thatcher, who pleaded guilty in South Africa to charges linking him to a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea, was on Monday at his mother Margaret Thatcher's home in London, a report said.
Thatcher, 51, arrived in the English capital by the Eurostar train on Sunday and went to the home of the former British prime minister, the domestic Press Association (PA) newswire said.
The agency did not name its source, but it maintains close links with the Thatcher family and usually carries statements released by Baroness Thatcher.
Mark Thatcher was due to get his American visa renewed before flying on to the United States to rejoin his family, PA officials said - four days after being fined R3-million and given a four-year suspended sentence in connection with the alleged plot.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=24&art_id=qw1106022962425B216

The OFFICIAL STORY
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3597450.stm

Joseph Sala, who now runs the lobbying firm the ANN Group, says in tonight's programme: "The arrangement that we struck with Wales and the friends of Moto in February was that we would be paid $40,000 to put together a four-day programme for Moto in Washington, access to the Congress, think-tanks, media". He tells the programme, Thatcher and the Coup that Failed, that "the assumption in Washington would be that Calil wanted access to Equatorial Guinea's oil and that he, Calil, was prepared to do whatever was necessary to bring Moto to power on the assumption that Moto would return the favour.
"It's callous, it's crude, but it's the way of the world."
Mr Sala says it was only when he visited state department officials on Mr Moto's behalf that he discovered the true financial backer was Eli Calil. He says the plotters were not honest with him, and concealed their intention to use mercenaries to overthrow the regime. Lord Bell, the public relations man who has been acting as spokesman for Sir Mark, told the Guardian he had no comment on the allegations about Sir Mark's phone calls. Mr Calil and Mr Wales are both still at liberty and deny involvement in the coup attempt.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1397008,00.html

Sunday November 28, 2004
Britain was given a full outline of an illegal coup plot in a vital oil-rich African state, including the dates, details of arms shipments and key players, several months before the putsch was launched, according to confidential documents obtained by The Observer.
But, despite Britain's clear obligations under international law, Jack Straw, who was personally told of the plans at the end of January, failed to warn the government of Equatorial Guinea.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/equatorialguinea/story/0,15013,1361342,00.html

MORE,
MUCH MUCH MORE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/equatorialguinea/archive/0,15013,1291351,00.html

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DulceDecorum]

37. Enter, Bank Leumi.

Mon., January 31, 2005 Shvat 21, 5765
Bank Leumi's arm in Britain is to buy Riggs Bank & Trust (Channel Islands), registered in Jersey, for $25 million. Riggs Bank & Trust provides mainly private banking and trust services.
<snip>
The deal was approved by both the Bank of Israel and the authorities on Jersey. Bank Leumi (UK) will be acquiring Riggs' $120 million in customer deposits and investments, a credit portfolio of $165 million, and trust sums amounting to $430 million, most of which are in the Channel Islands.
Baruch Lederman, the chief executive of Leumi (UK), says the bank means to merge Riggs Bank & Trust with its own Bank Leumi Jersey operation, in St Helier. Leumi was the first Israeli bank to open a branch on Jersey, back in 1993. Buying Riggs is considered part of Leumi's international expansion strategy. Leumi (UK) has shareholders' equity of more than 100 million pounds sterling, and distributed dividends of 11 million pounds to its Leumi parent company.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/533859.html

WHO is Bank Leumi?
Well it has been in the news lately.

Bank Leumi won't pay Holocaust victims' heirs
Sun., January 23, 2005 Shvat 13, 5765
Bank Leumi, which holds most of the accounts of Jews who perished in the Holocaust, does not intend to pay the money it owes the survivors and victims' heirs at this stage. The bank made this clear despite the publication of the parliamentary inquiry commission on this matter last week.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/530496.html

But don't let that minor detail worry you.
At bank Leumi,
depositors are ALWAYS welcome.

You see,
this little disturbance all started with the Knights Templar.
Yes indeedy, the GERMAN Knights Templar....

30 Jan 05
Where will Israel get NIS 100 million to pay the heirs of Holocaust survivors? Yehuda Bar-Lev CPA has discovered a small fortune that could almost completely cover the state’s obligations. He says that Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) has the treasure, but the bank says its does not have the money.
<snip>
With the outbreak of WWII, the British Mandatory Government in Palestine confiscated the Sharona neighborhood in Tel Aviv today’s south Ministry of Defense headquarters (kirya) compound. The residents of the neighborhood were German Templars. These were not ordinary enemy nationals; at a minimum, they were suspected, with good reason, of collaborating with the Nazi regime.

After WWII, the neighborhood remained in the hands of the British Mandate Custodian of Enemy Property. The Jewish authorities were very interested in the property, which was located in a very strategic area. The British, however, did not want to sell it to the Jewish Agency, out of fear of deviating from their neutral status in the Arab-Jewish conflict. The solution found was for the Tel Aviv municipality to purchase the neighborhood. The deal was signed in April 1948, a few weeks before the end of the British mandate.

The Tel Aviv municipality transferred the money to the Mandatory Government’s account at the Anglo-Palestine Bank (which later became Bank Leumi) in Jerusalem. After the state of Israel was declared, however, someone at Bank Leumi said, “Why should we pay the British? They’re not here anymore, so they’ll get along without a payment from us.” The British government thought otherwise, and repeatedly demanded its money from the Anglo-Palestine Bank. After losing patience, the British government filed suit for 1.79 million Israeli pounds (lira) against Bank Leumi in the Jerusalem District Court. At the time, one Israeli pound was worth £1.
<snip>
The claims were never resolved. The Israeli and British governments soon began high-speed negotiations over the financial aspects of the end of the British Mandate, and in 1950, reached an agreement that included the withdrawal of the British claim against Bank Leumi. At the same time, the state withdrew its claim against the bank.
What happened to the money? Opinions differ. In his report, Barlev wrote, “We do not know if the bank transferred the sum to the state, or to the Custodian General. Owing to time limitations and our priorities, we were unable to continue investigating the matter.” Informally, however, Bar-Lev’s office says that Bank Leumi kept the money, which is equal to NIS 75 million in current value. In that case, all the state has to do is demand that Bank Leumi hand it over.
Bank Leumi insists, “The matter is not connected with the property of Holocaust victims. It concerns accounts between the governments of the UK and Israel, to which the bank is not a party. A document was furnished to the committee proving that the Bank does not have the money.”
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/DocView.asp?did=879162&fid=980

Wed., January 19, 2005 Shvat 9, 5765
Bank Leumi was to have transferred the money to the British in April 1948, but a mistake in the telegram from London led to a delay. The money has remained with the bank until now. The sum in question is pounds by today's standards.
A Bank Leumi spokesman said he did not know what happened to the money, but that the delay was caused by a disagreement between Israel and the United Kingdom and that the bank was not a party. The bank also claimed that the money was not related to the parliamentary inquiry and expressed surprise that the panel even examined the subject.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/528969.html

Wed., January 19, 2005 Shvat 9, 5765
The Banks' Association and Bank Leumi said that it was proved that the banks in Israel do not hold assets today of Holocaust survivors. They said that their financial liability derives only from the interest and linkage differences on funds that the banks had transferred to the Custodian General.
However, head auditor Yehuda Barlev said Bank Leumi holds to this day 180 accounts that probably belonged to Holocaust victims. The bank denies this.
Committee members also lambasted the banks for their conduct during and after the investigation.
"We had bitter arguments with the banks, which caused very many delays in the committee's work," Avital said.
MK Ehud Ratzabi said "the banks' lawyers came to the Knesset and hurled accusations at the MKs, as though they were on trial for rape."
(http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/528960.html)
The committee estimated the total funds in the 9,000 accounts at NIS 947 million. However, due to heavy pressure on the banks' part, the committee used another way to calculate the value of the funds for which no heirs will be found, which minimizes the sums by 80 to 90 percent.
The reason that the state must return most of the funds is that most of the money was transferred to the British Mandate authorities during the Second World War. Following the establishment of the State of Israel, the funds were transferred to the Custodian General.
The committee found that Bank Leumi has been holding a large sum of money belonging to Holocaust victims since 1949, which belongs to the state. The sum was initially IL 1,793,000, which is worth some half a billion shekels today.
The report shows that the committee succeeded in locating only a small part of the survivors' money. Only some 3,500 of the 9,000 accounts had any money at all, mainly due to the banks' negligence and faulty documentation, in violation of their own rules and regulations.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/528965.html

According to auditor Yehuda Barlev, however, the money is indirectly related to the investigation into Holocaust victims' accounts.
In 1950, the state signed an agreement with the British government, whereby London transferred Holocaust victims' money from accounts in Britain. However, Israel did not receive all of this money, since the British government deducted the sum held by Bank Leumi (or the Anglo-Palestinian Bank, as it was known at the time) for the sale of the Tel Aviv complex.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/528969.html

This could get interesting, in view of privatization.
Bank Leumi Le Israel,
http://english.leumi.co.il/Home/0,2777,1454,00.html
which is the parent of the UK branch
that is purchasing Riggs Bank & Trust,
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/533859.html
is itself, up for sale.

Israel determined to sell off two top banks by 2005
Published: 03 March, 2004
Israel’s finance minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prioritising the sale of the banks in which the government has controlling interests. He is intent on selling off Israel’s largest banks, Leumi and Discount, within the coming year and a half.
The privatisation and sale of any Israeli bank has never been easy. All attempts in the past decade to sell these two banks have failed for various reasons.
Mr Netanyahu has delegated the task of selling the banks to the State Accountant General, Yaron Zelekha, who is also in charge of the government agency for selling state banks.
Mr Zelekha is one of the highest officials in the Ministry of Finance. Several weeks ago he and Mr Netanyahu travelled to the US to meet potential buyers for Discount Bank. However, they did not find any buyers for Leumi Bank.
http://www.thebanker.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/1325/Israel_determined_to_sell_off_two_top_banks_by_2005.html

Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Matthew Bronfman, a member of Canada's billionaire Bronfman family, said he hopes to buy Israel Discount Bank Ltd., the country's third-biggest lender, within 24 hours, after wrapping up talks with the government.
<snip>
``The government really needs to recognize that they're not going to get the price they wanted and just sell,'' Micha Goldberg, an analyst at Excellence Nessuah Securities Ltd. in Tel Aviv. ``This bank is not such a treasure and there's only one bidder so let's get it over with.''
Matthew Bronfman is the son of Edgar Bronfman, the former chief executive of Seagram Co. and current president of the World Jewish Congress. He is part of a group that owns 77 percent of Blue Square-Israel Ltd., Israel's No. 2 supermarket chain.
<snip>
Israel has been trying to find a buyer for Discount ever since 1997 when it sold control of Bank Hapoalim Ltd., the No. 1 bank, to a group headed by the late shipping magnate Ted Arison.
Leumi Sale
The government plans to sell control this year of Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd., the second largest lender, by distributing vouchers that will enable all Israeli citizens to buy shares at a discount of about 75 percent.
It abandoned hopes that a large international bank would acquire Leumi after Merrill Lynch & Co., which was hired to conduct a search, failed to find a qualified buyer.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000082&sid=aP37VpgrXYHU&refer=canada

January 10, 2005
A meeting of the World Jewish Congress meant to highlight anti-Semitism in Europe was thrown into turmoil Monday by allegations of mismanagement at the organization's New York headquarters.
The start of the two-day plenary assembly, which drew some 500 delegates from around the world, was dominated by heated discussions over how the WJC and President Edgar M. Bronfman handles donated money.
The New York State Attorney General's office started an informal investigation late last year after outgoing WJC Vice President Isi Leibler claimed that some $1.5 million given to the WJC was secretly syphoned to a Swiss bank account.
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Diplomacy/4780.htm

Monday, January 31, 2005 / 21 Shevat 5765
So who won in this struggle that has called unwanted attention to an organization known for its efforts to combat anti-Semitism and secure hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution for Holocaust survivors?
For now, the WJC leadership can point to a clear victory. Its top officials have been confirmed, its chief critic is out of office, and its pledge to improve its governance assures delegates that whatever sloppy bookkeeping may have been the order of the past is sure to change. The Brussels assembly voted to create a permanent finance committee (whose U.S. representative is Matthew Bronfman, Edgar’s son) and set up an annual audit. And delegates were given documents totaling more than 1,000 pages said to catalogue the conflict and prove the allegations to be false and malicious.
But the blizzard of documentation may prove more confusing than clarifying, and questions about the WJC’s past practices may not go away so fast. The leadership resisted calls by Leibler and several leaders of the Swiss Jewish community to conduct a full, independent audit that would go back several years and then be made public. The group’s officials say they have already conducted several audits, at considerable expense, which have turned up no irregularities. Still, enough suspicions have been raised — particularly about the transfer last year of $1.2 million to a Swiss bank account — that the Attorney General’s office in New York has opened a preliminary inquiry into the matter.
Herbits and, via video, attorney Robert Abrams, assured the Brussels delegates that the WJC was cooperating with the Attorney General’s office and looked forward to an examination that would clear up any impression of misdeeds. “There was sometimes insufficient attention given to administrative management and control,” said Abrams, a former Attorney General recently hired by the WJC to expedite this matter. The general impression left, though, was that these issues could be resolved and perhaps obviate a full-scale inquiry.
But several Swiss Jewish officials are adamant about pursuing their call for a probe into past WJC activities. Two former WJC employees, Daniel Lack, who served as legal adviser, and Maya Ben Haim, who directed the Geneva office, were not permitted to speak at the Brussels conference. They have called for a serious look into the $1.2 million account — asking who activated it and why didn’t they know about it — but WJC officials say their complaints are based on bitterness over having been let go. (Virtually everyone involved who has raised questions about the WJC’s finances over the last six months has either been dismissed, given generous compensation, marginalized, or all three.)
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=10379

Tue., January 25, 2005 Shvat 15, 5765
In any event, it is abundantly clear that the echo of the affair through the Jewish and Western media was generated not only by the allegations - after all, Leibler raised mainly questions, not explicit charges of criminal violations - but by the status of the WJC in general, and of Bronfman and Singer personally.
In 1986, the two men were behind the disclosure of the Nazi past of former UN secretary-general Kurt Waldheim, spearheading the international struggle against him. In the mid 1990s, Edgar Bronfman and Israel Singer headed the campaign for restitution of Jewish assets dating to the Holocaust. They waged the drawn-out campaign against the Swiss banks and were responsible for threatening sanctions against these banks in the U.S.
It is easy to understand, then, why suspicions of financial irregularities in the World Jewish Congress found such a warm reception among those who were never too pleased about the aggressive campaign pursued by the organization, and in particular the suspected irregularities in a WJC account in a Swiss bank.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/526581.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1311628/posts

Does that fact that the buyer has only passed the preliminary Bank of Israel examination, not a full examination, constitute a risk?
”No. We believe that the preliminary process presages final approval with a high degree of certainty.”

When will ownership pass to the Bronfman consortium?
”About May or June, I think.”

Then you’ll be free to handle the privatization of Bank Leumi. Perhaps now, after you have succeeded in selling a controlling interest Discount Bank, you should abandon the idea of distributing Bank Leumi shares to the public for free, and look for a consortium to buy the controlling interest in the bank.
”No. Bank Leumi is in the middle of a common process being led by Ministry of Finance Accountant General Dr. Yaron Zalika, and there are no plans to change it.”
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/DocView.asp?did=877739&fid=980

Wed., January 12, 2005 Shvat 2, 5765
Immediately after the privatization of Israel Discount Bank, the government plans to accelerate the sale of Bank Leumi.
And in a move that won't be lost on political commentators, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday presented his plan for the Leumi deal, which would involve the distribution of shares to the general public.
The state is slated to hand out almost 32 percent of the country's second-largest bank, which is worth NIS 5.5 billion on the exchange. The Finance Ministry hopes the plan will be set to go by the end of the year.
Accountant General Yaron Zelekha estimated that the plan constitutes a NIS 4 billion perk for citizens, or an average of NIS 1,000 for everyone over 18.
Nonetheless, senior government figures have sharply criticized the treasury's plan. They say it is unclear whether the plan constitutes a perk due to its high NIS 100 million cost. They are also concerned that the experimental move could leave room for fraud and deception.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/526023.html

Sun., January 23, 2005 Shvat 13, 5765
This is one of those things once considered "unthinkable," until Israeli chutzpah probably changed the boundaries of this term. The banks had better realize the course they are facing: If they do not pay at once and without trying to be smart alecks, they will pay after becoming the target - together with the entire Jewish nation - of endless contempt and derision. The world media will condemn the hypocrisy of the Jews, who are demanding compensation from the whole world but refusing the pay themselves. The banks might also be threatened with constraints on their activity abroad, as the Swiss banks were in the United States.
The state must be the first to set an example and see to it that the custodian, who is responsible for most of the funds, should start paying the accounts for which he is responsible immediately, even before an exhaustive legislative procedure takes place.
Moreover, it is unthinkable to oblige the heirs to prove that the account owner has died, as if death certificates were handed out in Auschwitz. This was the Jewish organizations' central demand of the Swiss banks, and it must apply to the custodian and Israeli banks as well. To prove eligibility, the list of Holocaust victims in Yad Vashem should suffice, and even that should not be necessary (for the list does not include all the victims). The fact that a person held an account that has never been cashed should be enough so that his heirs receive the money, even if he did not perish in the Holocaust but survived, and did not receive his money.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/530509.html
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=241042

The committee's report brings up even worse cases of the custodian's usurpation of heirs. For example, one man deposited 10,000 Israeli pounds in two banks - worth NIS 3.5 million today, according to the auditors - but the custodian agreed to give the man's two sons NIS 97.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/528972.html

Tue., January 11, 2005 Shvat 1, 5765
The Tel Aviv fraud squad is to renew an investigation of Bank Leumi and its chief legal advisor, Nahum Biterman, for allegedly failing to cancel a lien on a car, a year after required by law. Plaintiff Yair Olmert filed a complaint a year ago saying that Leumi had failed to cancel the lien after he had completed four-and-a-half years of car payments to Leumi. The police dropped the complaint six months ago when it requested clarification from Leumi. However, its banks supervision division concluded a few days ago that the bank had "operated in contradiction of the law's provisions." (Amir Helmer)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/525486.html

25 Jan 05
The public's complaints against the banks cover a wide range of issues, including the canceling of liens, accounts of minors, deposits, loans, bank charges, and the canceling of insurance policies by mortgage banks. Almost of the refunds paid last year - NIS 50 million - were paid by Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) for improperly charging customers for its Leumiphone service.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=877547&fid=942

I wonder how Obiang is going to make out with this lot.
As far as I can see,
he, (or the National Treasury of Equatorial Guinea)
have not yet received the money that the SEC ordered Riggs Bank to surrender.

Annual Report
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002
While we are not wholly dependent on any individual loan, deposit or wealth management customer, we do have a large depository relationship with the U.S. Government and its agencies. A withdrawal of these funds by this depositor would impact the Company’s short-term liquidity position. In addition, the simultaneous withdrawal of funds by a combination of large depositors, which include sovereign governments and individuals based in the Middle East and Africa, or the simultaneous repayments of loans by a combination of such large borrowers, would negatively impact our operating results (see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis-Financial Position and Liquidity-Cross-Border Outstandings”).
http://secfilings.nasdaq.com/edgar_conv_html%2F2003%2F03%2F10%2F0000950133-03-000729.html

[seemslikeadream]

40. Nick Berg

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=547956
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=547830
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=549188
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=547236
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=551805
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=551660
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=551186
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=551848
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=549641

on edit more
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=553391
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=552638
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?
az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=552389
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=554749
CBS: Bizarre New Link in Berg Murder (Berg and Moussaoui)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=553244
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=554130
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=553780
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=553287
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=555360
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=555119
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=547443
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=556131
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=552643
Beheaded man named on Free Republic's "Enemies List"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=551264
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=557156
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=559647
EXECUTION: FOUR ARRESTED
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=563009
BERG MET WITH SHADY IRAQI (Berg's business partner was a Chalabi wannabe)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=560487
Berg beheading: No way, say more medical experts
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
CNN Breaking: 4 arrested in the Berg Murder (2 released)...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[DrDebug]

41. Kicking really hard

[seemslikeadream]

42. Fear of Fragging? Mercenaries Guard US Generals in Iraq.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2012828