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to testify in the Drummond Coal death squad case--as if he were the ex-king of Colombia. Though the U.S. State Department balked at that egomaniacal request, they haven't balked at much else. They sent a letter to the judge making clear that forcing Uribe to testify might harm national security. (I'm sure it would--if the lawyers for the Drummond Coal victims could get the truth out of him.) The U.S. furthermore went to extraordinary lengths to get death squad and spying witnesses against Uribe out of Colombia--and out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors--and surely vetted and approved, if not arranged for, Uribe to teach...gulp!...law at Georgetown and Harvard! Then they appointed him to a prestigious international legal commission (the one investigating Israel's firing on a peace boat).
What his behavior points to is that he is a "made man" in the mafia sense--"made" by the CIA--untouchable--in the same category (or perhaps a few rungs below) that of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. Above investigation. Above prosecution. Immune. And, knowing that he is immune--that a very powerful organization, indeed, is obliged to protect him--he struts around like a little tin god, demanding this and demanding that.
I do think, though, that he's lower rung Bush Cartel and somewhat vulnerable. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld & brethren don't have to do this dance. They don't have to ask for "sovereign immunity" or demand the files of their political opponents or get help removing witnesses against them from the country. They don't have to bother with this lower level stuff. They exist and prosper totally outside of the law.
Uribe, on the other hand, really has a problem in Colombia, where the prosecutors and courts--while they might not be able to address Bush Junta complicity in Uribe's many crimes--have always shown amazing courage and tenacity in the face of this major crime boss, Alvaro Uribe, running the country. They had some 70 of his closest political cronies under investigation or already prosecuted and in jail--for ties to the death squads, drug trafficking, bribery, illegal domestic spying and other crimes--even before Leon Panetta intervened and yanked Uribe. And they did this even while Uribe was illegally spying on them--and thus able to anticipate their actions--and worse. They, too, were the victims of death threats from Uribe's thugs. It took major spine to go after Uribe while the Bush Junta was still in power. And now their main problem is the "deal" that Panetta made with Uribe, providing continued CIA protection as long as he keeps his mouth shut.
This whining about being oppressed by the FARC--when he had been given $7 BILLION in U.S. military aid to utterly smash them and all his political opponents as well, and any little grass roots level trade unionist or other dissident who dared to raise his or her head in Colombia--is not only darkly funny, but also it points to his lower rung status--his possible vulnerability, at least in Colombia. This is a man, of course, who stated publicly that everyone who opposes him is a "terrorist" and was using every agency of government to oppress, terrorize and kill his enemies, whether armed or unarmed--and very likely to consolidate the trillion+ dollar cocaine trade and direct its huge profits to U.S. banksters and others. It's interesting to watch him squirm if for no other reason than the vicarious experience of a war criminal having to worry about his crimes--something that we will never experience here, as to the war crimes of our leaders. And, also, it may be short-lived--if ES&S/Diebold decides to install Bush Junta II in 2012. Uribe may be counting on it. He may know something we don't. Didn't he just meet with Bush Sr and Jr? Yup, I recall seeing a photo of it. I figured that that confab was about the cocaine revenue stream, but it could also have been about the prospects for Uribe re-installation as 'president' of Colombia.
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