Drug Trafficking & State Terrorism Archives
Resources
Current News
Voting Fraud
Search the News
Daypop
Google News
Newstrove
Voting in Jacksonville, FL, 2004
National Voting Resources
Sudan News
Drug Trafficking & State Terrorism
Archive: 2005
December, 2005Attempt to use the Confederate Memorial Museum in Washington, DC to hold a honorary reception for "Freedom Fighter Groups" tied to the International Freedom Foundation led by Jack Abramoff and funded by South Africa's apartheid government. 12/19/2005 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to December 19, 2005: "According to those familiar with the Conservative Network, it was the template for the future "K Street Project," an attempt to purge the Federal government, including Federal regulatory agencies, as well as lobbying firms, law firms, and media of liberals and replace them with right-wing functionaries. This has resulted in the infiltration of the Federal government by individuals associated with white supremacist and neo-Nazi organizations. The Conservative Network was headed by retired Rear Admiral James Carey, who, at the same time he was a member of the Federal Maritime Commission, was asked by the Reagan White House Office of Presidential Personnel to "establish a professional forum for the Senate Confirmed Presidential Appointees to regularly meet, socialize, network and communicate with one another." Carey became Vice Chairman of the FMC in 1985 and was appointed by George H. W. Bush as chairman in 1989. Carey's appointment was handled by J. Michael Farrell, the Deputy Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel for Boards and Commissions. One of Farrell's other nominations was that of Kenneth Tomlinson as chairman of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, which Farrell also chaired under George H. W. Bush. Tomlinson recently resigned as the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting after it was discovered he hired outside right-wing consultants to develop a black list of suspected "liberals," including Bill Moyers, Diane Rehm, and Tavis Smiley."
Links between GOP right-wing and Viktor Bout's African client, President Yahya Jammeh 12/16/2005 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to December 16, 2005: "More details emerge of links between GOP right-wing and Viktor Bout's African client, President Yahya Jammeh. Richard Hines, a close ally of GOP right wingers and the owner of RTH Consulting, signed contracts with the military dictatorship of Gambia, a client of Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout to obtain for the Gambian dictatorship "meetings with the President's National Security Advisor, Deputy Secretary of State, and new CIA Director." The contract, dated November 23, 2004, refers to Condoleezza Rice, Richard Armitage, and Porter Goss. The contract also states that RTH will "recast the image of the . . . President of . . . Gambia [Yahya Jammeh] in a favorable light that reflects the party's, the President's, and the government's actual, proud history with the early focus on the Washington, DC media and minds of the conservative Republican leadership in the U.S. Congress." In addition, RTH commits to "gain the support of the conservative Republican leadership in the United States Congress for the government of The Gambia and President Jammeh, and thereby weaken opposition in Washington, DC." It is also noteworthy that The Gambia has reportedly been involved in selling off-shore oil blocks to Houston-based oil companies linked to Bush and Cheney business interests. There are also interesting connections between World Air Leasing of Hondo, Texas and Gambia. World Air has leased several repainted U.S. commercial aircraft to Gambia. More recently, RTH signed a contract with the Akwa-Ibon State of Nigeria, an oil-rich state in the southern Niger River delta. RTH is to "arrange meetings with White House staff" and other government agencies."
THE PHONY WAR - An Interview with DEA Veteran Celerino Castillo 12/12/2005 The New Federalist: published 10/94. Classic.
Victor Bout Follow Up 12/11/2005 War and Piece: published 5/24/04, so this Blout US link has been known for some time.
Additional ties between southern Christian fundamentalists, Texas oil interests, and Russian-Israeli mobsters and weapons smugglers uncovered 12/11/2005 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to December 11, 2005. "According to informed Washington insiders, there is increasing evidence of financial links between key "Christian Right" GOP notables and an international ring of Russian-Ukrainian-Israeli mobsters tied to notorious Russian weapons smuggler Viktor Vasilevich (aka Anatoliyevich) Bout. Bout, whose U.S. assets were frozen by the Treasury Department, continues to provide various contractor services in Iraq and is considered by Condoleezza Rice to be out-of-bounds for U.S. law enforcement authorities. When she was National Security Adviser, Rice pre-empted an attempt by Sharjah, United Arab Emirates authorities to arrest Bout. To U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, Rice was very clear when it comes to Bout: "Look, but don't touch" was her direct order to the CIA and FBI. It appears that Bout has gone from arms smuggler for Al Qaeda and the Taliban to arms runner for the Bush administration. Bout's British Gulf International Airline, registered in Sao Tome and Principe and Kyrgyzstan and based in Sharjah, is a regular visitor to Baghdad International and airports in the north of Iraq. Bout also made a financial windfall from contracts let to his airline companies by the former Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority led by L. Paul "Jerry" Bremer. Bout also benefited from contracts let to his Dubai-based Falcon Express Cargo by Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton… There is also now interest in the activities of Richard T. Hines, the head of the powerful Republican lobbying firm RTH Consulting, Inc. Hines, a South Carolina native and a protege of the late GOP dirty trickmeister Lee Atwater, was one of the architects of the dirty tricks campaign by Bush against John McCain in the 2000 South Carolina primary. A confederate of Abramoff in the 1980s Reagan administration's covert support network for the Nicaraguan contras, Angolan UNITA guerrillas, and Afghan mujaheddin, Hines is active in various Confederacy resurgence organizations, many of which have clear racist agendas. However, that has not prevented Hines from becoming the lobbyist for Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh, a military officer who overthrew Gambia's democratically-elected President Sir Dawda K. Jawara in a 1994 military coup supported by the United States Navy… The connections between Hines and Gambia are important since the small narrow West African country is also a major base of operations for notorious Russian international arms smuggler Viktor Bout. The Gambia is the headquarters for one of many of Bout's front companies -- companies that are used to smuggle everything from weapons to diamonds and mercenaries to international relief supplies… Some law enforcement officials in the United States and Europe believe that the covert flights being operated by CIA contractors and Bout's companies in support of secret prisoner movement are also involved in smuggling drugs." [Eventually this will be archived on a separate page.]
Viktor Bout: the story splits! 12/11/2005 Yorkshire Ranter: published 5/23/04
Additional ties between southern Christian fundamentalists, Texas oil interests, and Russian-Israeli mobsters and weapons smugglers uncovered 12/11/2005 Wayne Madsen Report: "According to informed Washington insiders, there is increasing evidence of financial links between key "Christian Right" GOP notables and an international ring of Russian-Ukrainian-Israeli mobsters tied to notorious Russian weapons smuggler Viktor Vasilevich (aka Anatoliyevich) Bout. Bout, whose U.S. assets were frozen by the Treasury Department, continues to provide various contractor services in Iraq and is considered by Condoleezza Rice to be out-of-bounds for U.S. law enforcement authorities. When she was National Security Adviser, Rice pre-empted an attempt by Sharjah, United Arab Emirates authorities to arrest Bout. To U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, Rice was very clear when it comes to Bout: "Look, but don't touch" was her direct order to the CIA and FBI. It appears that Bout has gone from arms smuggler for Al Qaeda and the Taliban to arms runner for the Bush administration. Bout's British Gulf International Airline, registered in Sao Tome and Principe and Kyrgyzstan and based in Sharjah, is a regular visitor to Baghdad International and airports in the north of Iraq. Bout also made a financial windfall from contracts let to his airline companies by the former Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority led by L. Paul "Jerry" Bremer. Bout also benefited from contracts let to his Dubai-based Falcon Express Cargo by Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton… Federal prosecutors are already examining links between indicted GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Italian Mafia hit men who have been charged with murdering Florida businessman Gus Boulis, former Christian Coalition director and Georgia Republican Lt. Governor candidate Ralph Reed, and indicted Texas GOP Representative Tom DeLay. Abramoff associate Adam Kidan has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in their investigation of Abramoff, especially deals involving the shake down of various Indian tribes in shady casino deals." [Coca-Contra, again]
Victor Bout's File 12/11/2005 Ruud Leeuw: numerous links - "Victor Bout is a former KGB major and arms merchant, the most notorious in the Post Cold War era and he plays a critical role in areas where the weapons trade has been embargoed by the United Nations."
Plea Deal Near With 2nd Abramoff Associate 12/9/2005 Washington Post: "Adam Kidan, a longtime confidant of Abramoff's, has agreed to testify against Abramoff in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., next month when he is to face trial on fraud and conspiracy charges in connection with their purchase of a fleet of Florida casino boats. A Kidan plea would tie Abramoff's legal troubles in Florida more closely to the Washington investigation into his lobbying practices, pressuring Abramoff to reach a deal of his own that could implicate members of Congress and other government officials, lawyers involved in the case said."
Mohammed Atta and Prince Nayif: the Saudi drugs dealers who helped finance the 911 attack - Released confidential documents point to financing of 911 attacks tied to Bush family drug network 12/7/2005 Wayne Madsen
FBI mishandled Florida terror investigation: NYT 12/5/2005 Reuters
The Politics of Three – Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Israel 12/4/2005 Paul W. Rasche: Site details Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence's (ISI) involvement in drug trafficking, as well as the complicity of Saudi and Israeli organizations. Appears to be dated to late 2001 or 2002.
Was Affair Linked To Investigation Of Global Trafficking Controlled By Israelis? 12/4/2005 Daily Star: "Israel has a long history of involvement with the Colombian and other cartels in Latin America. Former Israeli Army and intelligence officers supplied the drug barons with weapons and trained their private armies, including special assassination squads, throughout the 1980s. One of the more notorious of these Israelis, a lieutenant colonel in the army reserve named Yair Klein, was convicted by an Israeli court in 1991 for illegally exporting arms to the Colombian cartels. He was fined $40,000. In 1998, Klein, a balding ex-paratrooper, was indicted in Bogotá on charges of training Colombian paramilitaries in terrorist tactics in the 1987-89. He was allegedly one of four Israelis hired by Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, one of the Medellin cartel's most violent bosses, who was later assassinated. Klein turned up in war-torn Sierra Leone running guns to rebels. He was arrested there in January 1999 and freed 16 months later. His current whereabouts are unknown, but Israeli arms dealers are still working with Colombian paramilitaries. On May 7, Nicaraguan and Panamanian authorities launched an investigation into how 3,000 AK-47 assault rifles and 5 million rounds of ammunition shipped from Nicaragua by two Israeli-owned arms companies to Colombia on Nov. 10, 2001, and wound up in the hands of the United Defense Forces of Colombia, a group the US government has branded as terrorist. "
Justice Dept. says FBI mishandled terror case 12/4/2005 International Herald Tribune: Article fails to mention it was drug money being laundered.
FBI mishandled Florida terror investigation: NYT 12/3/2005 Reuters: "The case dates to 2002, the Times said, when the FBI's Tampa office opened a terror investigation into whether laundered money, possibly connected to a drug outfit, might be used to finance terrorists overseas. The FBI was considering initiating an undercover operation and asked an agent with expertise in the area to take part." [Was this squelched because it affected a Company asset?]
Report Finds Cover-Up in an F.B.I. Terror Case 12/3/2005 NYT: Mike German resigned from the FBI when his investigation of right wing links to Al Qaeda was shut down - "Mr. German's case dates to 2002, when the F.B.I. division in Tampa opened a terror investigation into a lead that laundered proceeds, possibly connected to a drug outfit, might be used to finance terrorists overseas. The F.B.I. was considering initiating an undercover operation to follow the lead, and Mr. German, who had extensive experience infiltrating militias, skinheads and other groups, was asked to take part. But in the coming months, Mr. German would alert F.B.I. officials that the Orlando agent handling the case had "so seriously mishandled" the investigation that a prime opportunity to expose a terrorist financing plot had been wasted. He said agents had not adequately pursued leads, had failed to document important meetings with informants, and had tolerated violations of rules and federal law on the handling of wiretaps." [Now, what right wing terror groups in Florida are solidly connected to narcotics?]
Indictment ties Posada ally to Broward arms stash 12/3/2005 Miami Herald: "A task force of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms and FBI agents recovered nine firearms from the cooler transported from Alvarez's 280-unit Lauderhill apartment complex and from a gun safe in the storage facility. Among the seized firepower: one Maddi Company AK-47 machine gun; one M-14 machine gun; one RPB Industries M-11A-1 machine gun; two Colt AR-15 semiautomatic rifles; two Essential Arms Co. J-15 machines guns; one Heckler and Koch grenade launcher; and one silencer. ''In an attempt to evade detection by law enforcement, [Alvarez] would remove machine guns with obliterated serial numbers, a silencer without a serial number, and a [grenade launcher] from the storage facility . . . in order to transfer [the] items to Osvaldo Mitat,'' according to the indictment. During last month's bond hearing, Kainen told the federal magistrate: ``I would suggest, your honor, there is no evidence that these [weapons] were going to be used in the United States."
The Money Trail 12/2/2005 Charcha: "In the following articles, the reader can see the evolution of the money trail of global terrorism."
Miamigate? 12/1/2005 Progresso Weekly: "If you pull Álvarez's string, you can follow it all the way to the White House. We might then assume that this is not a "strategy" of the government but of its opponents, as happened in the other "gates." Evidently, the Bush administration is facing an opposition that's sitting on the heart of the system, and the reason for this is the failure of the war in Iraq. ...There is nothing more compromising for the credibility of the "war on terrorism" than the connection between the administration and the Miami terrorists, and that's something the administration's foes know well. Until recently, the government had managed to sweep the Posada affair under a rug, but its inefficiency and disrespect for public opinion have been so blatant that it seems the federal prosecutors were left to their own devices, to sink or swim. Only that can explain the lack of criticism that met Posada's illegal entry to the United States, his "clandestine" presence in Miami, the manipulation of a hearing where the prosecutor accepted the defense's arguments without a peep, and where the judge was a government employee. These things can happen with a strong government that enjoys the complicity of powerful groups but not with a lame-duck president like George W. Bush, so I smell a trap in the impunity. I have no idea who ordered the detention of Santiago Álvarez, but I tend to think it was not the government. Maybe they found out too late, or couldn't prevent the arrest without digging themselves into a deeper hole. They might even be able to control the damage. But if they cannot, Bush's "gate" will be memorable. Cuban Americans in Miami are his best stronghold; the day he does not rule them in Miami is the day he does not rule anywhere else."
Alleged underworld boss loses appeal against extradition 12/1/2005 Haaretz, Israel: "The Supreme Court yesterday unanimously rejected an appeal by suspected underworld figure Ze'ev Rosenstein against his extradition to the United States. Rosenstein is wanted in the U.S. for his alleged role in major drug-trafficking deals involving Ecstasy… "Israel - like the world's other nations - is forced to confront a new criminal reality in which crime has become more organized, more international and more widespread than ever before," the justices wrote. "The most obvious are international drug crimes in which, to our great regret, Israeli criminals are taking a central role. This reality requires the joint efforts of nations and tight international cooperation, of which extradition is a key tool.""
November, 2005
Venezuela clinches Spain defence deal 11/29/2005 FT: "José
Bono, Spanish defence minister, defended Spain’s right to sell the military
hardware to Venezuela and insisted that the equipment was of a defensive
nature. Washington could still block the inclusion of some US-made components
in the equipment. Mr Bono said neither the boats nor transport aircraft were
armed and that the patrol aircraft were only equipped for self-defence. He
also suggested the US had no right to pass judgment. Mr Chávez has said the
vessels and aircraft will be used to combat the drug trade in Venezuela,
which borders Colombia, the world’s top cocaine producer."How our governments use terrorism to control us 11/28/2005 On Line Journal
The police who arrested the Five participated in the conspiracy to assassinate Venezuelan Attorney General Anderson 11/28/2005 Granma: "IN its November 10 late edition, the Miami daily El Nuevo Herald revealed that according to "a Venezuelan government witness in the investigation into the murder of Attorney General Danilo Anderson," Héctor Pesquera, former FBI chief in Miami, who directed, organized and effected the arrest of the five Cubans transformed into spies in a grand media show, was also involved in the assassination of the Venezuelan official. ...Pesquera is the same "SAC" (Special Agent in Charge) of the Miami FBI who, for months, supposedly did not suspect the presence, just a few kilometers from his office, of 14 of the 19 Al Qaeda terrorists involved in the September 11 attack. Meanwhile he was pursuing, arresting and setting up the political trial and conviction of five Cuban antiterrorist agents who had infiltrated Miami extremist groups. Puerto Rican and assimilated into the U.S. power structure, this former counterintelligence officer was FBI chief in Puerto Rico, where he arranged the release of Miami terrorists involved in the case of La Esperanza yacht captured by the Coast Guard en route to the Isle of Margarita, Venezuela, in an attempt on the life of the Cuban president. Personally linked to Miami terrorist bosses such as José Basulto and Horacio García, Pesquera knows every detail of the conspiracies against Cuba and Venezuela that have been developed in the Floridian city while he headed the federal police there."
Witness recounts plot to kill tycoon 11/27/2005 Orlando Sentinel: "The conversation, relayed by Nicholson to Fort Lauderdale police detectives three days after Boulis' slaying, discussed the escalating business dispute between Boulis and the men who bought his SunCruz Casino business. Moscatiello told Ferrari he had to "take care of this situation desperately," according to court documents."
Kosovo Liberation Army helps establish "Protectorate" in Haiti 11/27/2005 Global Research: published 11/04, still topical.
The Big Fix 2004 - Part II 11/26/2005 Mad Cow: "Sequoia Pacific has a more colorfully-criminal corporate history, we learned, than that of any organization this side of the Gambino Family. In fact, the Gambino Family and Sequoia Pacific have had more than a nodding acquaintance, according to newspapers in New York reporting on the intrigue surrounding the awarding of a multi-million dollar contract for election machines in New York City during the mid-90’s, where Sequoia’s representative in the bidding gained notoriety for attempting to grease the skids al little at a marathon luncheon hosted by Salvatore Reale, a Gambino underboss who later pled guilty to racketeering…"
Lawmakers Under Scrutiny in Probe of Lobbyist 11/26/2005 Washington Post: "The events in 2000 that interest investigators are connected to the purchase by Abramoff and Kidan of SunCruz Casinos, owner of a fleet of Florida gambling boats. Ney twice placed comments in the Congressional Record about SunCruz, first criticizing its former owner when Abramoff and Kidan were in difficult purchase negotiations and then, in October, praising Kidan's new management. Abramoff and Kidan are facing trial in January on charges of defrauding lenders in their purchase of the casino boats."
The Big Fix 2004 - Part I 11/26/2005 Mad Cow: published 11/15/04 - "An investigation into the surprisingly-sordid history of America’s “election services industry” has revealed that executives and owners of the two largest companies, E S & S and Sequoia Pacific, have been convicted of bribery and suborning public officials in more than a dozen states. And while a felony conviction may be enough to prevent you from voting in Florida, convicted felons can take heart in the fact that the “blemish” on their record in no way disqualifies them from owning companies counting the votes."
Feds probing SunCruz links to GOP 11/26/2005 Miami Herald: "When U.S. Rep. Bob Ney assailed the owner of SunCruz Casinos in 2000, it seemed puzzling that an Ohio lawmaker would go out of his way to attack a South Florida businessman who was trying to sell his floating gaming empire. It turns out, according to federal investigators, Ney publicly called SunCruz founder Konstantinos ''Gus'' Boulis a ''bad apple'' in exchange for the company's new owners contributing $10,000 -- in his name -- to a national campaign fund to help elect Republicans to Congress. The latest disclosure is another South Florida link in a long-running Washington scandal that revolves around the influence-peddling of powerful lobbyists who collected tens of millions of dollars from their clients and also led investors to buy Dania Beach-based SunCruz Casinos. Law enforcement sources say that just weeks after the controversial sale to Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his business partner Adam Kidan in September 2000, the two men took $10,000 from their gambling business and donated the money to the National Republican Congressional Committee on Ney's behalf. Ney, who has not been charged but has received a federal subpoena from the Justice Department, is being investigated in two public corruption probes -- one in Washington and the other by the U.S. attorney's office in South Florida... ...On Monday, Scanlon, Abramoff's lobbying partner, pleaded guilty in Washington to conspiring to bribe government officials, including Ney. In his plea agreement, Scanlon agreed to help federal authorities in Washington and Miami. He admitted to helping Abramoff and Kidan buy SunCruz by persuading Ney to insert comments into the Congressional Record that were ''calculated to pressure the then-owner to sell on terms favorable'' to the buyers."
Witness claims he heard hit plan in Boulis murder Details emerge in case against trio charged with '01 Boulis murder 11/26/2005 Sun Sentinel: "The conversation, relayed by Nicholson to Fort Lauderdale police detectives three days after Boulis' murder, discussed the escalating business dispute between Boulis and the men who bought his SunCruz Casino business. Moscatiello told Ferrari he had to "take care of this situation desperately," said court documents. Nicholson said he also heard Moscatiello say, "If they go to court they're going to lose everything and they can't afford to lose everything."" [The men who bought the business include Kidan and his partner, Republican lobbyist Abramoff]
MAFIA HAS EYES ON CUBA, REPORT SAYS 11/26/2005 Nuevo herald: published 5/99 - "GQ names St. Martin, in the Dutch Antilles, as a key organized-crime staging area for Cuba, and Rosario Spadaro, an Italian businessman with two hotels and two casinos there, as a financier with Mafia ties who is likely to be a key figure in future organized-crime ventures in Cuba." [Spadaro is partners with Kidan, himselff a partner of Abramoff in SunCruz.]
Operation 40 11/26/2005 Spartacus: "Over the next few years Operation 40 worked closely with several anti-Castro Cuban organizations including Alpha 66. CIA officials and freelance agents such as William Harvey, Porter Goss, Gerry Hemming, E. Howard Hunt and David Morales, Bernard L. Barker, Frank Sturgis, Tosh Plumlee, and William C. Bishop also joined the project. Cuban figures used by the Operation 40 included Antonio Veciana, Luis Posada, Orlando Bosch, Roland Masferrer, Eladio del Valle, Guillermo Novo, Carlos Bringuier, Eugenio Martinez, Antonio Cuesta, Hermino Diaz Garcia, Barry Seal, Felix Ismael Rodriguez, Juan Manuel Salvat, Ricardo Morales Navarrete, Isidro Borjas, Virgilio Paz, Jose Dionisio Suarez, Felipe Rivero, Gaspar Jimenez Escobedo, Nazario Sargent, Pedro Luis Diaz Lanz, Rafael Quintero, Jose Basulto, and Paulino Sierra."
The Big Fix 2000 11/26/2005 Mad Cow: "Who own America’s elections? Did Mobsters decide the fate of the election in Florida, in a contest that had nothing to do with counting hanging chad? While the nation’s eyes were riveted on punch cards being held up to the light, charges a new documentary, Mob-controlled companies that count America’s vote were slipping through the back door and stealing the election. Top executives of the election companies responsible for the Florida Vote Snafu have been convicted of multiple election-rigging felonies, the show charges, and “look more like extras on the TV series The Sopranos than people we’ve entrusted with the sacred American right to vote,” snorts producer Daniel Hopsicker. “The big question, of course, is, ‘what happened in Florida? We found the answer in New Jersey.” "
Abramoff probe broader than thought: paper 11/25/2005 Reuters: "Prosecutors in the department's public integrity and fraud divisions are looking into Abramoff's dealings with four Republicans -- former House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio, Rep. John Doolittle of California and Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana, the paper said, citing several people close to the investigation. Abramoff is under investigation over his lobbying efforts for Indian tribes with casinos. He has also pleaded not guilty to federal charges in Florida that he defrauded lenders in a casino cruise line deal. The prosecutors are also investigating at least 17 current and former congressional aides, about half of whom later took lobbying jobs with Abramoff, as well as an official from the Interior Department and another from the government's procurement office, the Journal said."
Unraveling the pretense of the Guatemalan “Narco-State” 11/22/2005 NarcoNews: "About 30 suspects who were once part of an elite unit of the Guatemalan special forces were training drug traffickers in paramilitary tactics just over the border from McAllen. The unit, called the Kaibiles after the Mayan prince Kaibil Balam, is one of the most fearsome military forces in Latin America, blamed for many of the massacres that occurred in Guatemala during its 36-year civil war. By September, Mexican authorities announced that they had arrested seven Guatemalan Kaibiles, including four “deserters” who were still listed by the Guatemalan Army as being on active duty. Mexican authorities say the Kaibiles were meant to augment Las Zetas, a drug gang of soldiers-turned-hitmen drawn from Mexico’s own special forces. It’s logical that the Zetas would turn to their Guatemalan counterparts. In addition to being a neighbor, “Guatemala is the preferred transit point in Central America for onward shipment of cocaine to the United States,” the State Department has consistently reported to Congress since 1999. In early November, anti-drug authorities at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala told the Associated Press that 75 percent of the cocaine that reaches American soil passes through the Central American nation."
Drugs and the Guatemalan Military 11/18/2005 National Security Archives
Israeli Mossad establishing Trinidad & Tobago base against Venezuela 11/14/2005 Vheadlines
More false flag ops in France, Belgium & Germany, with Caribbean next target? 11/11/2005 On Line Journal: "There is also evidence that the FBI arrived in Trinidad after the July blast to cover up for the Israelis. Local police complained that the FBI presence was not required and Prime Minister Patrick Manning said he was unaware that anyone had requested help from the FBI at the time. In cases where local police and federal agents detained Israeli agents snooping around sensitive industrial and military facilities in the United States, the FBI quickly had them transferred to their control whereupon they were hurriedly deported from the United States. In some cases, deported Israelis have returned to the United States."
Nuevo giro en asesinato de fiscal venezolano 11/10/2005 Nuevo Herald: "Un testigo del gobierno de Venezuela en la investigación de la muerte del fiscal Danilo Anderson, aseguró que un director del FBI de apellido Pesquera y un funcionario de la CIA a quien sólo identificó como Morrison, participaron en una reunión en Panamá en la que se planeó el asesinato del funcionario… Vásquez, quien se identificó como médico colombiano militante de las Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), dijo que Pesquera y Morrison estuvieron presentes entre el 4 y el 6 de septiembre del 2003 en una reunión que se realizó en Darién, una provincia panameña limítrofe con Colombia. A la misma reunión asistieron además, según Vásquez, la periodista Patricia Poleo como representante del Movimiento Libertad; Salvador Romaní, hijo del líder anticastrista del mismo nombre que actualmente reside en Miami; los ex policías Rolando Guevara, Otoniel Guevara y Pedro Lander; el actor Orlando Urdaneta, el capitán Luis García como representante de la organización anticastrista Comando F4, e Israel Pincheski como representante de los banqueros. ''Allí se discutió el plan apoyado por el FBI y la CIA'', continuó Vásquez, ``y algunos presidentes de medios de comunicación para sacar a Chávez del gobierno. En esa misma reunión se dice que el objetivo final era matar al presidente Chávez, al fiscal general y a un connotado líder opositor de apellido Mendoza''."
Israeli national arrested in Trinidad threatens to go on a hunger strike 11/9/2005 Caribbean Net News
Son of Miami Chief Timoney arrested on drug charges in New York 11/3/2005 Florida Ledger: "The 25-year-old son of Miami police Chief John Timoney was arrested for trying to buy 400 pounds of marijuana from an undercover federal agent, the Drug Enforcement Administration said Wednesday. A court complaint said Sean Timoney of Philadelphia gave the agent a gym bag filled with approximately $450,000 in cash."
October, 2005
The Global Drug Meta-Group: Drugs, Managed Violence, and the Russian 9/11 10/29/2005 Peter
Dale Scott: 48 pagesTop Ten Things You Never Knew about Jack Abramoff 10/27/2005 Mad Cow
Al Qaeda and the U.S. Establishment 10/15/2005 Peter Dale Scott: "A survey of U.S. history since World War Two suggests that the United States power state has consistently used the resources of drug-trafficking terrorists, and more recently those of al Qaeda, to further its own ends, particularly with respect to oil, at the expense of the public order and well-being of the American public state.[75] For at least two decades, from Brzezinski’s backing of Hekmatyar in 1979 to Bush’s backing of the Afghan Northern Alliance in 2001, the United States has continued to draw on the resources of drug-trafficking Islamic jihadists who are or were associated at some point with Al Qaeda."
Susan Bell: a shameful secret history 10/10/2005 Independent, UK: "In 1996, the award-winning journalist Gary Webb uncovered CIA links to Los Angeles drug dealers. It was an amazing scoop - but one that would ruin his career and drive him to suicide. His widow, Susan Bell, looks back on a shameful secret history… His series of articles - which prompted the distinguished reporter and former Newsweek Washington correspondent Robert Parry to describe Webb as "an American hero" - incited fury among the African-American community, many of whom took his investigation as proof that the White House saw crack as a way of bringing genocide to the ghetto. Webb's reports prompted three official investigations, including one by the CIA itself which - astonishingly for an organisation rarely praised for its transparency - confirmed the substance of his findings (published at length in Webb's 1998 book, also entitled Dark Alliance). "Because of Gary Webb's work," said Senator John Kerry, "the CIA launched an investigation that found dozens of connections to drug runners. That wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been willing to stand up and risk it all." "
New Mob Link in Abramoff Scandal - Kidan Owned Island Casino with Sicialian Mafia Figure 10/10/2005 Mad Cow Productions: "One of the principals in the scandal, Adam Kidan, an Abramoff partner and a former Republican “fund-raiser,” was the co-owner and general counsel of a Caribbean island hotel-casino with Rosario Spadaro, called "a member of the Sicilian Mafia" in an Associated Press story reporting his recent arrest in Italy in a major investigation into international arms trafficking… GQ names St. Martin, in the Dutch Antilles, as a key organized-crime staging area for Cuba, and Rosario Spadaro, an Italian businessman with two hotels and two casinos there, as a financier with Mafia ties who is likely to be a key figure in future organized-crime ventures in Cuba."
Uruguay: Israeli drugs barron wanted by US courts escapes from jail 10/5/2005 The Insider: "An major international drug dealer from Israel, who is believed to be one of the largest single suppliers of illegal drugs to the US black market, was broken out of jail by men who apparently identified themselves as American or Israeli intelligence officers. Israeli mercenaries are known to operate a commercial jail breaking operation, and these gangs are so effective and international in their capabilities that the Israeli secret service, Mossad, may be involved."
narcotraffic to Europe 10/4/2005 CTRL.org: "In addition to buying the hallucinogenic herbs woodrose and DMT from "retired" CIA western hemisphere director of operations Col. Caldwell "JC" King's ANDCO, we CIA brats encountered pound-denominated quantities of Afghanistan black hashish which had a layer of white crystals in the center. It was so strong that one puff would put a person on an LSD trip, or frozen mushrooms as discovered in a plastic bag in a freezer in a loft on Canal St, NYC, to sleep the opium dream sleep(previous century, decades ago). It was imported to the US inside of rugs woven by little Afghan girls with tiny fingers. They make the best "Persian" style rugs in the world."
Clearing the Baffles for 911 10/2/2005 Wayne Madsen Report: extensive discussion of Israeli art students who targeted DEA and other law enforcement as well as Saudi and Russian-Israeli drug trafficking.
September, 2005
Cruisegate: Curtains for the GOP MOB 9/30/2005 Mad
Cow: "We learned of Barry Seal’s peripheral involvement in the
story while perusing the records of the three men indicted so far. Amazingly,
Seal, a long-time CIA pilot who government prosecutors said was at one time
the biggest drug smuggler in American history, was indirectly responsible for
the 1983 federal prosecution for heroin smuggling of "Big Tony,"
one of the three men so far indicted in Boulis’ death. While the details
are admittedly tangential to the Boulis assassination, they are useful in
illustrating the “secret history” of the rise to power of “connected”
individuals friendly to the current Bush Administration."Assassination in Puerto Rico - The FBI Murders a Legend 9/26/2005 Counterpunch: "Filiberto, she says, knew that the FBI was there to kill him and did not talk at any time about surrendering himself. After all, that is what happened in Cerro Maravilla, where the local police -acting allegedly in cohort with the FBI- executed two unarmed independentistas, well after they had surrendered to the authorities. The Attorney General for Puerto Rico has already corroborated Elma's story. The FBI fired more than a hundred rounds of bullets. Filiberto was able to respond only ten times. There was no attempt to arrest him; they came to kill him with premeditation… From 1990 to 2005, Filiberto was running loose in Puerto Rico, outsmarting the FBI on an Island that is smaller than the State of Connecticut and where everybody, through means of gossip, can easily find out what the other islanders are doing, even in their bed. So, the FBI knew for sure that Filiberto was being protected by the community at large. The FBI had a motive for their assassination. Filiberto Ojeda will be buried the afternoon of September 27, 2005, as a hero in his hometown of Naguabo, Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican Bar Association has announced that it will conduct a full investigation -together with the Government of Puerto Rico- to determine if the FBI murdered Ojeda."
U.S. Decertifies Venezuela on Drug Control 9/16/2005 Narcosphere: "It would seem, then, that the White House and State Department are using the drug war pretext to begin what could evolve into a Cuba-style economic blockade of Venezuela. At the very least, they are employing a tool that in the past has been quite effective for the political isolation of other countries, and, in the case of Panama in 1989, was part of the run-up to U.S. military invasion."
OPEN LETTER TO FORMER OFFICER OF CIA FRITZ W.ERMARTH 9/15/2005 CTRL.org: "I write the book about KGB-roots of our Kremlin regime and publish it by parts at Internet (some parts were translated into english at site chechenpress.co.uk). Last three parts (19-21) are concerning of the company Far West Ltd (registred in Switzerland) – this firm is ruling by Vladimir Filin, former officer of GRU. At the site of this company (http://www.pravda.info/region/3601.html and so on) recently were published very interesting articles about their busyness in Afganistan: they export from this country carpets with aid of American Air Force! “Carpets” are carring in American aircrafts from military base in Bagram to American base in Kirghizia…"
SOON TO BE LAUNCHED IN PARIS • A book revealing the FBI’s terrorist Miami connection 9/7/2005 Granma: ""The hopes of the agents and police officers were quickly extinguished. Pesquera, they said, began to fraternize with key members of the exile leadership, such as Alberto Hernández (formerly of the CANF); Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; Domingo Otero (another former CANF hardliner) and Roberto Martín Pérez (...) Pesquera, according to an agent in his office, quickly made a brusque turn toward the right, and all investigations related to terrorism were abandoned.""
August, 2005
Two Sentenced for Cocaine Smuggling 8/30/2005 AP: "A
Colombian man and the ex-girlfriend of a Saudi prince each were sentenced to
more than 20 years in prison Monday for drug conspiracy after prosecutors
said they used the prince's Boeing 727 to transport two tons of cocaine from
Venezuela to Paris. Doris Mangeri Salazar, a Coral Gables real estate agent,
was sentenced to 24 years and four months in state prison by U.S. District
Court Judge Jose E. Martinez. Ivan Lopez Vanegas was sentenced to 23 years
and four months, the U.S. Attorney's office said. In May they were convicted
of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and were ordered
to pay $25,000 in fines. Salazar was convicted for acting as a broker in a
transaction between Colombian drug traffickers and Nayef bin Sultan bin
Fawwaz al-Shaalan, a Swiss banker who married into the Saudi royal family.
Salazar had been the prince's girlfriend at the University of Miami… Al-Shaalan
and a Spaniard, Jose Maria Clemente, also were charged in the case. Spain has
refused a U.S. extradition request for Clemente and Saudi Arabia -- which has
no extradition treaty with the United States -- has been unwilling to produce
al-Shaalan."Robertson called for the assassination of Venezuela's president 8/22/2005 Media Matters: "He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he's going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent. You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger and the United ... This is in our sphere of influence, so we can't let this happen. We have the Monroe Doctrine, we have other doctrines that we have announced. And without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."
Venezuela Says DEA Stole Equipment 8/18/2005 Venezuela Analysis: "The director of Venezuela’s drug control agency, the National Commission Against Illicit Drug Use (Conacuid), Luis Correa, said that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) removed equipment from the building it shared with Conacuid. Correa said the equipment involved 13 devices for tapping cell phone systems, which the DEA had donated to Conacuid several years ago."
Specter meets Venezuelan leaders, discusses U.S. anti-drug agency 8/18/2005 AP
Able Danger Intel Exposed - "Protected" Heroin Trafficking 8/17/2005 Mad Cow Morning News
9/11 in Historical Perspective: Flawed Assumptions - Deep Politics: Drugs, Oil, Covert Operations and Terrorism: A briefing for Congressional staff, July 22, 2005 8/13/2005 Peter Dale Scott: published 7/22/05, has such gems as "In the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan, Arab Afghans clearly assisted this effort of U.S. oil companies to penetrate the region. In 1991-92, Richard Secord, Heinie Aderholt, and Ed Dearborn, three veterans of U.S. operations in Laos and Iran-Contra, turned up in Baku under the cover of an oil company, MEGA Oil.[15] MEGA never did find oil, but did contribute materially to the removal of Azerbaijan from the sphere of post-Soviet Russian influence. As MEGA operatives in Azerbaijan, Secord, Aderholt, Dearborn, and their men engaged in military training, passed “brown bags filled with cash” to members of the government, and above all set up an airline on the model of Air America which soon was picking up hundreds of Mujahideen mercenaries in Afghanistan.[16] (Secord and Aderholt claim to have left Baku before the Mujahideen arrived.) Meanwhile, Mujahideen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in Afghanistan, who at the time was still allied with bin Laden, was “observed recruiting Afghan mercenaries [i.e. Arab Afghans] to fight in Azerbaijan against Armenia and its Russian allies.”[17] At this time, heroin flooded from Afghanistan through Baku into Chechnya, Russia, and even North America.[18] It is difficult to believe that MEGA’s airline (so much like Air America) did not become involved.[19] The triple pattern of drugs, oil, and al Qaeda was seen again in Kosovo in 1998, where the Al-Qaeda-backed Islamist jihadis of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) received overt American assistance from the U.S. Government.[20] Though unmentioned in mainstream books on the war, both the al Qaeda and drug backgrounds of the KLA are recognized by experts and to my knowledge never contested by them.[21] "
Chavez revokes US agent immunity 8/12/2005 BBC: "Caracas has withdrawn the diplomatic immunity of US anti-drugs officials working in Venezuela. It follows a move by the US State Department to revoke the visas of six Venezuelan officials in Washington. Both countries are locked in a row after President Hugo Chavez accused the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of spying on his government."
Venezuela says Americans could be denied visas 8/12/2005 AP: "Rangel said DEA agents in Venezuela also worked with "unacceptable autonomy" while "detaining and interrogating Venezuelans" without notifying Venezuelan authorities. The vice president said DEA agents maintained "strange ties" with drug traffickers in Venezuela, which often serves as a corridor for Colombian cocaine destined for the United States and Europe."
Chavez Accuses U.S. Drug Agents of Spying 8/8/2005 LA Times
U.S. mulls sanctions on Venezuela over drug move 8/8/2005 Reuters
July, 2005
Bin Laden Cocaine Plot Fell Through 7/26/2005 NY
Post: "In April of this year, Afghan tribal leader Hajji Bashir
Noorzai (search), who was one of the most wanted drug dealers in the world
and previously had been identified as bin Laden's major heroin supplier, was
busted in New York City on federal criminal charges.""THIRD POSITION" AND "AL QAEDA." Additional ties between "Al Qaeda" and right-wing "Third Position" cells investigated in Europe. 7/24/2005 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to July 24, 2005 - "With the London Transport bombings, the Madrid train bombings, known links between far right leaders and Islamist radicals in Britain and Italy, and the uncovering of a neo-Fascist private intelligence ring in Italy tied to Islamist extremists and a mysterious U.S. covert operations unit run from the National Security Council and Pentagon, there is renewed interest by European law enforcement in similar Al Qaeda-rightist links in Germany and Switzerland. Ever since the 1980s, there were confirmed intelligence reports of neo-Nazi European groups training in terrorist camps in North Africa. When veteran FBI agent Mike German began looking more deeply into links between right wing terrorist groups in the United States and Islamist radicals, his entire penetration operation was shut down on orders of Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller. German resigned from the Bureau in protest."
Exploitation Akin to Modern-Day Slavery is Alive and Well in Florida 7/19/2005 Black America Web: "Police who raided the camp found 148 rocks of crack cocaine, 20 cases of beer and dozens of cases of cigarettes. Former workers, such as Will Anderson, told the Florida Times-Union that the drugs were basically used as payola to workers, most of whom were transported to the camp from homeless shelters and other flophouses from throughout the state to harvest cabbages in the middle of nowhere. Most were black men. Black men who couldn’t shake drug habits. Black men whose prior convictions made it tough for them to start over with a square job. Black men who were desperate. Yet, what those men found at the camp wasn’t a way to amass cash, but another prison."
Where is Luis Posada? 7/19/2005 NarcoNews: "Bush senior was also Vice President of the United States when Posada “escaped” from a Venezuelan prison while being tried for the Cubana bombing. Posada resurfaced soon after his 1985 escape from Venezuela, as Ramon Medina, a chief player in the Iran-Contra affair,a grotesquerie hatched by the CIA and the Reagan-Bush Administration that helped fund itself by facilitating drug sales in the United States. In 1986, Bush family friend and lapdog, Elliot Abrams, lied stone-faced to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence about U.S. involvement in the "contra" affair, making sure to protect Bush senior: "Mr. Stokes asked whether denial of U.S. involvement included the Vice President. Mr. Abram’s said Mr. Gregg of the Vice President’s staff had introduced Mr. [Felix] Rodriguez to Salvadoran Air Force officials in 1984 to serve as an adviser on air/ground operations. Mr. Rodriguez’ actions since that time were on his own." Abrams has resurfaced as a chief adviser in the Bush junior administration. And Bush senior, as President, released Posada’s comrade-in-arms, Orlando Bosch, from federal detention in 1990. Now with the weight of all this history on him, and no doubt tremendous familial pressure, Bush junior must decide what to do with a 77-year-old terrorist who is really the living embodiment of a failed United States policy of decades past. The federal government transported Posada to El Paso, Texas, where he is to have a bond hearing on July 25. We are unable to go into any further detail, but credible information has it that Posada is no longer in El Paso. Additionally, two separate calls to the detention facility supposedly holding Posada yielded differing information concerning his upcoming bond hearing. During a call this morning, employees said that the bond hearing set for the 25th will be accomplished electronically, with neither Posada nor his attorney to be present. Later in the day, however, a second call to the detention center yielded the information that Posada was “most definitely” at that facility and that he would be present for the bond hearing next Monday. Bill Conroy, well known to regular readers of Narco News and the Narcosphere, said that he checked with sources on the inside and could not confirm that Posada had been moved. But one of his sources said that “it would not be a big surprise if Posada were moved. They could move him on a whim, claiming he was under threat or for some national security pretense. [The government] want[s] to control [Posada] as much as [it] can without killing him.” "
Vice-President Responds to Otto Reich, Denies Venezuela is “Cubanizing” 7/13/2005 Venezuela Analysis: "Holding up statistics that showed that in the first semester of 2005 Venezuelan authorities seized double of the amount of drugs that were confiscated during the corresponding time period in 2004, Rangel toyed with, and then dismissed, the idea that the US ambassador to Venezuela did not have access to this information. “This [lack of information] is not the custom among these ambassadors,” he affirmed, adding that “generally U.S. ambassadors have good information in the countries in which they are present.” The Venezuelan Vice President went on to add that these statistics “reveal that there is efficient work on the part of Venezuelan authorities and that, in second place, I must say that due to agreements with the U.S. there are twelve offices of the DEA operating in the national territory, the majority in Caracas.” Rangel then alleged that Brownfield’s statements prove that he is taking an active role in the U.S. orchestrated “campaign” intended to “strike Venezuela in the fight against drug trafficking.” "
June, 2005
The Secret World of Jack Abramoff 6/21/2005 Mad
Cow: "One of the most amazing thing about this most amazing scandal—hundreds
of millions in slush funds beats Oval Office blowjobs by a mile—is that
some of the same names in the Abramoff scandal also surface in connection
with Mohamed Atta’s."Adam Kidan 6/21/2005 Source Watch
FBI Whistleblower: White Supremacists Are Major Domestic Terrorist Threat 6/13/2005 Democracy Now: interview with Mike German - "Well, I think the problem is if you blind yourself to the conspiracy, then the chances of them being successful in their next act of lone extremist terrorism is more likely. So, you know, again I’m not saying that we could necessarily take these leaders into court and convict them, because the whole purpose of their methodology is to separate themselves from the actual criminal activity, but what I’m saying is if we don't pay attention to those leaders, you're going to insure that the next group is successful, just as if we were only investigating the mafia one murder at a time and not looking at the underlying organization. And frankly, you know, these groups, like the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nations, have rich criminal histories just as deep as the Italian mafia does, yet, you know, we tend to give them a political status that I don't think is necessarily deserved."
May, 2005
Massacres, corruption accompany Plan Colombia 5/19/2005 Worker's
World: "The “rogue American soldiers” refers to three incidents
reported recently in the media. Shortly after midnight on May 3, an anonymous
caller alerted police in Cundinamarca, the municipality where the capital
Bogotá is located, to a “big” event in the region—the delivery of a
shipment. When the police arrived, they found 29 metal boxes with 32,900
rounds of ammunition and three men—one Colombian plus a colonel and a
sergeant from the Special Forces of the U.S. Army. The last two were shooting
instructors at the nearby National Army Training Center of Tolemaida. The
booty was reportedly going to be sold to right-wing paramilitaries. This
incident comes after two others: one on March 29, when five U.S. soldiers who
were part of the “anti-drug” operations in the south of Colombia were
arrested for carrying 16 kilograms of cocaine in a U.S. military plane, and a
recent case of a U.S. soldier being investigated for the hit-and-run death of
two Colombian soldiers last year. These episodes are not unique nor isolated
incidents. In fact, as part of Plan Colombia the Colombian government had to,
at Washington’s request, sign a treaty that grants immunity to the 800 U.S.
military personnel and 600 U.S. contractors operating in that country. What
is unique is that these incidents became news in the Colombian media, which
reflects the opinion of part of the oligarchy. It is still early to ascertain
their real meaning."Cuban leader denounces U.S. hunt for convicted cop killer 5/10/2005 Newsday: "Castro suggested that the action was meant to divert attention from Cuba's demand that U.S. officials arrest Luis Posada Carriles, who is wanted in Venezuela on charges of involvement in blowing up a civilian Cuban jetliner in 1976, killing 73 people."
U.S. promotes double standard in how it deals with 'terrorist' cases 5/9/2005 USA Today: "What bothers me is that while these men, whose suspected crimes fit the State Department's definition of terrorism, haven't set off Justice Department alarm bells, Shakur is being treated like a disciple of Osama bin Laden. If she killed Foerster (her attorney argues the evidence suggests otherwise), Shakur should be returned to New Jersey to spend her life in prison. By not proclaiming that it will arrest Posada on sight and deport him, the Bush administration caters to those in the Cuban exile community who view him as a freedom fighter — and undermines its leadership of the fight against terrorism."
Commentary: NJ Troopers Have Selective Amnesia About How They Victimized People Like Assata Shakur 5/3/2005 Black America Web: "I’m dubious because the New Jersey State Police had then –– and still have –– a reputation for being notoriously racist. In many cases, stopping someone for a busted tail light tends to be more of an excuse to target someone, namely black people, for harassment rather than to advise them to get the light fixed. And while neither I nor any of the white people who convicted Shakur were there when Foerster was shot, it’s rather interesting that up until that time, she only had a record of organizing free breakfast programs and other community empowerment programs, and not a record of provoking violence. I’m dubious because, as much as people like Fuentes are calling for justice for Foerster, some of their own are still doing the same injustices to black people as they did in Shakur’s day. In 1998, troopers on that same New Jersey turnpike upon which Shakur was stopped shot and wounded three unarmed black and Latino men whom they suspected were carrying drugs. They weren’t. The next year, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office issued a report that found that racial profiling by the troopers was rampant. And as recent as 2003, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that internal affairs officers for the New Jersey State Police looking into racial and sexual harassment allegations found a T-shirt with the letters LOD. The initials, which stand for “Lords of Discipline,” represent a secret society that many black and women officers say is sexist and white supremacist. I’m also dubious because Shakur was convicted by an all-white jury –– a jury that was, at that time, probably was more consumed with administering punishment to black people than in administering justice to them. Some bounty hunter in Florida said he plans to try and capture Shakur. I hope he fails. I hope he fails not only because I believe that Shakur was wrongly convicted, but because I believe it is the height of hypocrisy for the Bush administration to put her on the same terrorist watch list as Osama bin Laden. It is also hypocritical because right here in the United States, we are harboring a number of fugitives and murderers from other countries. And it’s sheer political lunacy to compare Shakur to bin Laden; she hasn’t killed 3,000 people, nor does she have the capability of carrying out terrorist attacks against the United States."
April, 2005
When authorities screen your children for mental illness ... 4/26/2005 Mother
Jones: "Aliah Gleason is a big, lively girl with a round face, a
quick wit, and a sharp tongue. She's 13 and in eighth grade at Dessau Middle
School in Pflugerville, Texas, an Austin suburb, but could pass for several
years older. She is the second of four daughters of Calvin and Anaka Gleason,
an African American couple who run a struggling business taking people on
casino bus trips… Six weeks later, in January 2004, a child-protection
worker went to Aliah's school, interviewed her, then summoned Calvin Gleason
to the school and told him to take Aliah to Austin State Hospital, a state
mental facility. He refused, and after a heated conversation, she placed
Aliah in emergency custody and had a police officer drive her to the
hospital. The Gleasons would not be allowed to see or even speak to their
daughter for the next five months, and Aliah would spend a total of nine
months in a state psychiatric hospital and residential treatment facilities.
While in the hospital, she was placed in restraints more than 26 times and
medicated -- against her will and without her parents' consent -- with at
least 12 different psychiatric drugs, many of them simultaneously."Drugs war landmark in Afghanistan 4/25/2005 BBC: "Shortly after, a report prepared for the US Congress by its research services identified him and another alleged Afghan drugs lord, Juma Khan, as linkmen between the men's own drugs interests and extremist organisations still operating in Afghanistan. They include the Taleban, al-Qaeda and the Hisb-e-Islami party of the renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The same report said Bashir Noorzai was a confidant of Taleban leader Mullah Omar. There are reports he introduced Mullah Omar to Osama Bin Laden, and it is said he became a major financier for the Taleban."
U.S. Prison Population Soars in 2003, '04 4/25/2005 AP: "He said many of those incarcerated are not serious or violent offenders, but are low-level drug offenders. Young said the prison population could be lowered by introducing drug treatment programs that offer effective ways of changing behavior and by providing appropriate assistance for the mentally ill. According to the Justice Policy Institute, which advocates a more lenient system of punishment, the United States has a higher rate of incarceration than any other country, followed by Britain, China, France, Japan and Nigeria. There were 726 inmates for every 100,000 U.S. residents by June 30, 2004, compared with 716 a year earlier, according to the report by the Justice Department agency. In 2004, one in every 138 U.S. residents was in prison or jail; the previous year it was one in every 140. In 2004, 61 percent of prison and jail inmates were of racial or ethnic minorities, the government said. An estimated 12.6 percent of all black men in their late 20s were in jails or prisons, as were 3.6 percent of Hispanic men and 1.7 percent of white men in that age group, the report said."
March, 2005
John Bolton: Ally of CIA-linked Drugrunners 3/30/2005 David
Corn February, 2005
Disarmament, Extradition and Amnesty - The Future of Colombia's Paramilitary Death Squads 2/18/2005 Counterpunch: "Born
and raised in the slums of Medellín, Diego Fernando Murillo became known in
the crime world as a ruthless killer. In 1992, he narrowly escaped Colombian
authorities when his boss, Pablo Escobar, went into hiding. The resulting
manhunt eventually killed Mr. Escobar but launched Diego Murillo's career in
the Colombian drug world. After switching alliances between various drug
cartels, he has arrived at the top of the pyramid power structure of
Colombia's right wing paramilitary forces, known as the Autodefensas Unidas
de Colombia (AUC)." [Kinda like the career of his ally President Uribe,
who is reported by the DIA to have been a close personal friend of Pablo
Escobar.]January, 2005
Abramoff’s ex-partner will testify against him 1/24/2005 AP: "A
former partner of Jack Abramoff has agreed to cooperate in the fraud case
against the Washington lobbyist over his 2000 purchase of the SunCruz Casinos
gambling fleet. Documents filed in federal courts in Miami and Washington say
the agreement was part of a plea deal that Michael Scanlon, a former aide to
Rep. Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, reached with prosecutors in a separate
case. If Scanlon provides “substantial assistance,” prosecutors will seek
a lighter sentence, according to the agreement. The plea deal was filed
Monday, when Scanlon pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe public officials.
He was ordered to pay restitution totaling more than $19 million to Indian
tribes that he admitted had been defrauded while he and Abramoff represented
them. Scanlon’s attorney, Stephen Braga, confirmed in an e-mail Wednesday
that his client was cooperating in the SunCruz case. Abramoff and New York
businessman Adam Kidan are scheduled to go to trial in January on wire fraud,
mail fraud and conspiracy charges in their $147.5 million purchase of SunCruz.
Federal prosecutors allege that they defrauded lenders by faking a $23
million wire transfer to make it appear that they put their own money into
the purchase. Both have pleaded not guilty and remain free on bail."Jury Suggests Probation for Ex-Drug Agent 1/15/2005 AP: "Coleman arrested 46 people, most of them black, in the small, mostly white farming community of Tulia. He worked alone and used no audio or video surveillance, and no drugs were ever found, but 38 defendants were convicted or reached plea deals. Gov. Rick Perry pardoned 35 of the defendants in 2003, after an investigation into the drug cases was launched amid charges they were racially motivated. Freddie Brookins Jr., one of the people sent to prison on Coleman's word, told jurors that he was bitter about being convicted of something he didn't do. "I missed seeing my kids grow up," said Brookins, 27, who was pardoned by the governor."
Dangers of questioning government actions 1/6/2005 Chicago Tribune: "I have a confession to make: I still think Gary Webb had it mostly right. I think he got the treatment that always comes to those who dare question aloud the bona fides of the establishment: First he got misrepresented--his suggestion that the CIA tolerated the contras' cocaine trading became an allegation that the agency itself was involved in the drug trade. Then he was ridiculed as a conspiracy-monger--joked one commentator, Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post, "Oliver Stone, check your voice mail." In the end, Webb was rendered untouchable. I know that I risk being marked down as something of a nut for saying I think Webb was fundamentally right. As my friend and former Commentary page columnist Salim Muwakkil said in one of his pieces on this issue: "To connect the CIA with crack--a drug with race-specific overtones--is considered a mere variation of the old theme of black genocide and is thus deemed irrational in mainstream discourse.""