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Key Stories |
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12/17/07 - 12/31/07
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Iraq's Kurd villagers see no hope after air strikes
--Reuters (To summarize: The U.S. arms militants in Kurdish Iraq. Kurdish rebels use the U.S. arms to attack Turkey. Turkey then uses its own stockpiles of U.S. arms against the U.S.-backed rebels in Iraq, destroying entire villages. Consider it another mission accomplished! --DB)
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12/12/07 - 12/16/07
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A CIA Drug Op in Sleepy St. Pete
--Mad Cow Morning News (As more details emerge regarding these two CIA-linked cocaine planes, the true nature of the "drug war" is beginning to unravel. Comparing Hopsicker's above research with Bill Conroy's latest work certainly paints an interesting picture. It is clear that controlling the drug trade is considered far more important to U.S. 'interests' than eliminating it. --DB)
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Turkey bombs Kurdish rebels in north Iraq
--Reuters (Funny how things work out. Weapons we sell to Turkey are being used to target the Kurdish rebels we have secretly armed in Iraq. Who benefits from that? --DB)
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Russian general: Pentagon seeking confrontation
--The Associated Press ("'We plan and, depending on the situation, will take appropriate and asymmetric measures aimed at preventing the deterioration of our defense capability,' Baluyevsky was quoted as saying by Interfax. There was no explanation of what he meant by asymmetric.")
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12/8/07 - 12/11/07
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Probe of Pa. Slots Owner Can Resume
--The Associated Press ( "Even before he opened the $412 million Mount Airy Casino Resort, DeNaples was a wealthy man who gave generously to political campaigns. DeNaples runs his own bank and has more than 100 businesses, including interests in waste hauling and auto parts. State campaign finance records from 2004 and 2005 list DeNaples as having given, individually and through partnerships, a total of more than $500,000 to candidates and political action committees in Pennsylvania.")
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Jurors hear conversations of 2 in charity fraud case
--Worcester Telegram & Gazette (More interesting details are slipping out. As previously mentioned, this charity has links to past U.S.-sponsored covert operations and to the shadowy Boston-area software firm once known as Ptech. Now we learn of contacts with a suspicious group of Boston cab drivers with links to the FBI. As the article notes, one of the defendants in the trial, Samir Al-Monla, according to the testimony of a former co-worker, "used to hug Bassam Kanj when he visited the Care office in Boston and expressed his admiration for Mr. Kanj and the tales of the jihad in which he participated." Bassam Kanj worked at the Boston Cab Company during the 1990s along with several other veterans of the anti-Soviet Afghan jihad. One of those cabbies, Raed Hijazi, known to his comrades in the jihad camps as " Abu Ahmed the American," was an FBI ' informant' regarding heroin coming into Boston via Afghanistan. For those unfamiliar with how the FBI runs informants, lets just say Boston is a good place to start your research. At some levels, the FBI and CIA play together. While working as an FBI informant, Hijazi, an admitted member of al-Qaeda, "raised $13,000 and sent it to the Middle East to help fund other terrorists". He also stockpiled explosives for the foiled Millennium bombing plot. That's not all. Another cab driver, Nabil al-Marabh, said that in 1992 he traveled to Pakistan at the behest of a roommate who " both worked for the FBI and fought in Afghanistan". While in jail, he boasted of his " special" relationship with the FBI. In 2004, both republicans and democrats were perplexed when the Bush Administration deported al-Marabh even though "several prosecutors and FBI agents had collected evidence for a possible criminal case." In all likelihood the White House was trying to avoid a trial just like this one. For those willing to dig, there is much more to be found. --DB)
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Keeping Kosovo From Becoming a New Breeding Ground for Terrorism
--Counterterrorism Blog (Good information, but the author is living in a secluded universe. As close readers of this site may notice, the same terror groups he lists, most notably the Saudi-sponsored NGOs, have direct links to U.S. intelligence and NATO, which are, of course, largely responsible for the 'al-Qaeda' presence in the Balkans. --DB)
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Iraq calmer, but more divided
--The Los Angeles Times (Every move the military makes seems to further divide the country, almost as if it was by design. --DB)
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12/4/07 - 12/7/07
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Jurors told charity funds "freedom fighters"
--The Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Despite the judge's attempts to silence all discussion of terrorism and U.S.-support for al-Qaeda-linked elements, tiny bits of the truth are slipping out. As previously discussed, this charity raised money for U.S. -backed operations in the Balkans. Of particular interest is the fact that president Suheil Laher and treasurer Muhamed Mubayyid worked for a U.S. defense firm and alleged CIA front known as Ptech. Another update on this murky case is available here. --DB)
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Nigeria oil peace deal 'a stunt'
--BBC ( "In a caustic e-mail, the spokesman for one of the main militant factions described the peace ceremony as a "stage-managed play which would make a bad B-grade movie." He said those groups involved were simply being paid to take part and he accused the government of using a "rent a militant" tactic to impress the international community. ... The idea is a truce could pave the way for oil companies to restart operations which had been shut by militant attacks...")
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11/30/07 - 12/3/07
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Oregon Complaint Targets Government Wiretaps
--KOIN News 6 (As previously noted on these pages, there is more to this case than meets the eye. These wiretaps were more than likely kept secret because they crossed paths with fundraisers of U.S. and Saudi intelligence operations. --DB)
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11/26/07 - 11/29/07
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Informant who risked his life to fight extremists ‘betrayed by MI5’
--The Times (Reda Hassaine was promised British citizenship for informing on al-Qaeda, but it turns out he was spying on Abu Hamza, who fought in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and later on "urged his listeners to travel to Albania and Kosovo to support the Islamic cause," all operations coincidently sponsored by Western intelligence. This may explain why Reda "says his handler, whom he knew only as Steve, told him that Hamza and other militants had the right to a roof over their heads in Britain, even if they had carried out murders in other countries." Realizing something was up, Reda blew the whistle. Now he wonders why the Brits won't grant him citizenship. "I see guys walking the streets of London who I know were involved in fraud and criminality at Finsbury Park and they have their British passports," he protests! --DB)
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Kurdish Ministers Woo U.S. Oil Firms
--The Washington Post (Here is an interesting excerpt: "...two State Department officials insisted that the Bush administration's policy was that U.S. companies should not sign separate deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government... According to one person at the meeting, the officials warned that some of the blocs being offered by the Kurdish government lay outside its territory and might extend into Turkey or Iran." When, as the article tell us, Kurdish officials are mingling with "such luminaries" as Richard Perle, Scooter Libby, Tony Snow, and others, are we really supposed to believe these contracts are being signed without a wink and a nod from Washington? --DB)
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11/21/07 - 11/25/07
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Al-Qaeda kingpin: I trained 9/11 hijackers
--The Sunday Times (Another friend of ours. As the article reports, "When the Bosnian war opened a new front for jihadists in the early 1990s, Sakka left his job and headed for the conflict. He stayed in Turkey initially and established the 'mujaheddin service office', which provided medical support for Bosnia and later the two Chechen wars." In other words, he was fighting for us! Moreover, in 2005 Spiegel Online reported that his statements "provoked speculation that Sakra (Sakka) was in contact with several secret-service agencies for years. Turkish media reported that the CIA had contacted him twice in 2000, and tried to tempt him with money, apparently very large sums." As researcher Paul Thompson recently discovered, former CIA Director George Tenet apparently refers to Sakkra in his book as “a source we were jointly running with a Middle Eastern country"! Once again, there is nothing to see here folks. Just move along. --DB)
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Covertly copied documents introduced at trial of Muslims
--The Worcester Telegram & Gazette (As previously mentioned on these pages, this case intersects with past CIA operations involving covert U.S. support for al-Qaeda-linked militants. As this particular article tells us, the prosecution has introduced an e-mail "apparently from a London-based Muslim publishing company instructing how to deliver money to true Muslim mujahideen in Kosovo". The jihad in Kosovo was, and, at least to some extent, still is, endorsed by Washington. It should therefore come as no surprise that the defense "maintains the charity was engaged in work nearly identical to what other charities and even the government does". The charity, Care International, was the successor of the Al-Kifah Refugee Center, which was used to funnel CIA funds to Bosnia. The e-mail was found during a covert search of a storage unit belonging to Muhamed Mubayyid, who, in additon to working for Care, was employed by a U.S. defense contractor and alleged CIA front known as Ptech. --DB)
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Serbia warns it will never accept "illegal and rogue" Kosovo
--The Associated Press (The writing is certainly on the wall for another flare up in the Balkans. As Kosovo prepares to declare independence, Richard Holbrooke, who will likely be a cabinet member in the Clinton II Administration, has penned an op-ed for The Washington Post calling for a build up of NATO forces in the region. On Wednesday, he warned "of a possible outbreak of violence in the Balkans" and said "Russia would be to blame for such an outcome." Holbrooke also commented on last weekend's elections in Kosovo, from which Hashim Thaci, a former KLA member, emerged victorious. "I have known Hashim Thaci for about ten years now," Holbrooke said. "He has a fine career behind him." --DB)
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Iraq nullifies Kurdish oil deals
--Agence France Presse (The Iraqi government may never gain enough influence to override anything. As the Kurdish regional government has bluntly stated on their website, "The KRG considers that the minister is exceeding his authority in making these statements. ... His statements will not affect our contracts with foreign companies." --DB)
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11/17/07 - 11/20/07
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U.S. hopes to arm Pakistani tribes against Al Qaeda
--The New York Times (These are, of course, the same tribes accused of being affiliated with al-Qaeda. Once again, the utter hypocricy of the "war on terror" is out in the open for everyone to see. We are told the Frontier Corps is now considered "the most suitable force" to fight the insurgency, but as this article rightly notes, U.S. and NATO soldiers "have often blamed the Frontier Corps for aiding and abetting Taliban insurgents mounting cross-border attacks." Despite this fact, the group, normally controlled by the Pakistani military, " is now being expanded and trained by American advisers." --DB)
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11/13/07 - 11/16/07
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Both Government and Islamic Charity Claim Victory in Eavesdropping Case
--The Washington Post (The government's surveillance target, the al-Haramain Foundation, has been used as an asset for covert CIA operations in the Balkans and elsewhere, which explains all the secrecy. One of the organization's leaders was Yasin al-Qadi, the prominent Saudi who served U.S. interests in, among other places, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo, Boston, New Jersey, and Washington DC. "In light of extensive government disclosures . . . the government is hard-pressed to sustain its claim that the very subject matter of the litigation is a state secret," the court recently wrote. --DB)
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Islamic charity leaders to be tried
--The Boston Globe (Another interesting case. As the article notes, one of the individuals to be tried is Care International's treasurer Muhamed Mubayyid, who also happened to be a manager at the U.S. defense firm and alleged CIA front known as Ptech, which, in turn, was owned by the above-mentioned Yasin al-Qadi. Ptech also employed Care's President, Suheil Laher. The three men being tried, as the article notes, also ran Care's predecessor organization, the Boston branch of the Al-Kifah Refugee Center. Note the 1993 WTC bombing plot came out of the center's offices in New York, which were being used to funnel CIA funds to Bosnia. Also notice how the defendants are facing tax violations and other superficial charges instead of a large terrorism financing case. In fact, as the article notes, the judge "has barred prosecutors from referring to Osama bin Laden, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, or Al Qaeda." Nothing to see here, folks. --DB)
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State Department Inspector General Linked to Blackwater
--Truth Out (Howard Krongard, the State Department inspector general, is facing criticism because his brother, former CIA Director Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard, is now sitting on Blackwater's Board of Directors. The former head spook also managed accounts at Banker's Trust-AB Brown, notoriously known for money laundering and 9/11 insider trades on United Airlines. --DB)
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CIA admits to recording interrogations of top al Qaida captives
--McClatchy Newspapers (One of the suspects named here is Ibn Sheikh al Libi, who told the CIA everything they wanted to hear about Saddam's nonexistent WMDs and links to al-Qaeda before the war. Now we learn the CIA may have the false confession on tape. "So far," says John Radsan, "there has been great mystery about what was actually done to the high-value detainees. ... A videotape is worth a thousand words." --DB)
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11/9/07 - 11/12/07
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Suspect in Pearl Murder Was Held, Covertly Questioned Before Death
--The Wall Street Journal (No surprise here. Individuals with 'unique' information are often tortured into insanity, rendering them unable to ever reveal their secrets. Imagine if it was ever revealed that 9/11 was financed through covert CIA and Pakistani networks? As this particular article notes, "the U.S. Treasury Department named Memon a financier of the Al-Akhtar Trust...called a supporter of al Qaeda's terrorist activities, particularly in Pakistan and Afghanistan." The Al-Akhtar Trust, formally the Al-Rashid Trust, was established by Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, "to mop up funds from Western and Saudi intelligence agencies" during the anti-Soviet Afghan jihad of the 1980s. The organization, blocked from investigation during the 1990s, was reportedly used to relay funds to Mohammed Atta, the lead 9/11 hijacker, prior to the September 2001 attacks. The money was forwarded to Atta by Omar Sheikh, the man sentenced to death for murdering reporter Daniel Pearl. Omar Sheikh was a reported intelligence asset and operative for the ISI, the CIA, and Britain's MI6. He apparently made several transfers to Atta. --DB)
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USA-Mexico Anti-Drug Plan Includes ‘Private Contractors’
--MexiData.info (This writer knows her stuff. "With private contractors as part of the deal," she writes, "the $1.4 billion dollar aid package could begin to look like a Trojan horse strategy. Under the guise of a generous gift to Mexico, whoever controls the private contractors could be cleverly inserting their shady operatives into key anti-drug enforcement positions. The gringo drug dealers operating in Mexico used to be corrupt elements of the CIA and the DEA, but now maybe the mercenaries are the new kids in town." --DB)
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Iraq: Kurds Push Ahead With Oil Contracts
--Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty (The partitioning of the country continues. The chances of the current Iraqi gov't establishing enough power to override these contracts are slim to none. --DB)
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U.S., Britain talking to insurgents
--The Telegraph (As the war shifts from being mostly overt to mostly covert, the U.S. and Britain are busy recruiting our bad guys for the next phase. --DB)
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11/5/07 - 11/8/07
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Mounties aid Swiss terror investigation
--The National Post (Here we learn the Swiss are assisting Canada with an ongoing investigation of Yasin al-Qadi, the once owner of a U.S. defense contractor, a friend of Dick Cheney, and a "chief money launderer" of Osama bin Laden. --DB)
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Iraqi Kurds sign seven new oil contracts
--Agence France Presse (These deals, quietly endorsed by Washington, are aimed at creating a de facto oil policy in northern Iraq, unbound by any future laws passed by the Iraqi government, even if they are favorable to U.S. interests. --DB)
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Experts say climate change threatens national security
--Reuters (According to the article, "Climate change could end globalization by 2040 as nations look inward to conserve scarce resources and conflicts flare when refugees flee rising seas and drought, national security experts warned on Monday." By 2040!? What do these "experts" think is happening right now? --DB)
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11/1/07 - 11/4/07
10/28/07 - 10/31/07
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BET tells real story of drug kingpin Frank Lucas
--The NY Daily News ("Among his smuggling techniques was packing dope into the coffins of dead soldiers, and his network of accomplices stretched from CIA and local officials to Harlem cops. One moment he particularly savors, he says, was smuggling drugs on a flight that carried Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.")
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Turkey Getting U.S. Intelligence on PKK
--The Associated Press (Turkey seems to have made a successful play against the US, but that doesn't mean cross-border PKK attacks in Iran are going to stop any time soon. --DB)
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10/24/07 - 10/27/07
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Outcry against poisoning Afghanistan poppies
--McClatchy Newspapers (The opium eradication 'debate' continues to come and go while production continues to skyrocket. Once again the White House is putting 'pressure' on the Afghan gov't as part of an apparent public relations campaign, but there is an overall understanding that increased poppy production is unstoppable and perhaps even desirable if it is controlled by U.S. allies, hence the opposition from military and CIA officials. --DB)
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10/20/07 - 10/23/07
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Mistrial Declared in Muslim Charity Case
--The Associated Press (There is much more to this story than meets the eye. Prior to its collapse, the Holy Land Foundation crossed paths with some very powerful parties in the U.S., including the CIA. For more than a decade the gov't was reluctant to go after the group. Once they finally did, the prosecution withheld vital information. For those familiar with the Vulger Betrayal investigation, this bizarre mistrial should come as no surprise. --DB)
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10/16/07 - 10/19/07
10/13/07 - 10/15/07
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US, Iraq Negotiate Blackwater Expulsion
--The Associated Press (Even if this goes through, "the company's men and other assets in Iraq would likely be taken over by one of the many security companies currently working in Iraq. They said DynCorp ... appeared poised to take over the Blackwater role." DynCorp is, of course, just as bad as Blackwater, if not worse. --DB)
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UK backs plan to split Taliban from within
--The Guardian (Here we learn the British government "has thrown its backing behind an ambitious Afghan strategy to split the Taliban by securing the defection of senior members of the militant group and large numbers of their followers." In other words, the Taliban are good guys if they work for us. Does anybody even remember why we (officially) went into Afghanistan? The article notes: "Such a shift has put Britain and the Karzai government at odds with hawks in Washington, who are wary of Whitehall's enthusiasm for talks with what they see as a monolithic terrorist group. But a British official said: 'Some Americans are coming around to our way of seeing this.'" I do not know who they are talking to in Washington, but this has been U.S. policy, albeit on a smaller scale, for quite some time. Perhaps there is some concern over competition among the warlords. --DB)
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Private US military contractors move into Helmand
--The Independent (This requires some clarification: "DynCorp, one of the main American security companies, has already sown resentment in Helmand with its participation in the campaign to eradicate the opium poppy crop." As we all know, Afghan opium production has been skyrocketing year after year under the occupation. The only crops eradicated are the ones under 'enemy' control. Larger fields are protected while smaller outfits are taken out, which is the true root of the resentment. --DB)
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10/11/07 - 10/12/07
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FBI seizes waste management records from Mount Vernon City Hall
--Journal News (We have to wait until the end of this article to be told one of the firms involved was headed by Albert Tranquillo III, "indicted along with 31 other reputed leaders, members, and associates of the Genovese crime family in a wide-ranging racketeering case in early 2006... In court papers, federal prosecutors said Tranquillo is the nephew of Pasquale "Patsy" Parrello, a reputed Genovese capo from Bronxville." The AP wasn't willing to go there. --DB)
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10/7/07 - 10/10/07
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U.N. Agency Contradicts U.S. on Burmese Drug Trafficking
--The New York Sun (The recent flare-up and 'public awareness' campaign regarding the situation in Myanmar appears to be not just about energy, but narcotics as well. There are plenty of injustices taking place around the world, but for some strange reason the places of economic and strategic value are the ones singled out by our leaders. It is therefore no surprise to learn from this article that, contrary to our government's claims, "local warlords who are fighting the [Myanmar] government control the [drug] trade in the Shan and Wa regions, where the opium is grown." Covert operations and alliances with such groups would be nothing new for the US. --DB)
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10/4/07 - 10/6/07
10/1/07 - 10/3/07
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