Obama Administration Shuts Down Investigations Into Bush-era Torture

World Socialist Web Site

As part of its cover-up of Bush administration war crimes, the Obama administration announced June 30 that it would shut down 99 investigations into deaths of prisoners in US custody during the so-called “war on terror,” leaving only two investigations with the potential to develop into criminal prosecutions.

The announcement underscores the fact that the anti-democratic policies developed during the presidency of George W. Bush continue unchallenged under President Barack Obama, who is doing everything in his power to keep the lid on the crimes of his predecessor.

Following the events of September 11, 2001, the Bush administration quickly and quietly erected a network of secret prisons and “black sites,” where opponents of US imperialism in the Middle East—as well as, in many cases, their friends, relatives and acquaintances—were jailed, tortured and murdered.

The Obama administration has continued and expanded the anti-democratic methods of the Bush administration, including the use of presidential assassination orders, indefinite detention without trial or charges, blocking court cases that threaten to reveal torture, domestic spying, prosecution of whistle-blowers, “rendition” of alleged terrorists to countries that practice torture, open violations of US and international law, including the War Powers Act in the case of Libya and the Geneva Conventions more generally, and the maintenance of illegal torture camps such as the infamous facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The administration’s 101 investigations into torture deaths were a token measure to begin with. The investigations were initiated in 2009 and were designed to placate popular disgust with torture and other crimes carried out under Bush.

The 101 cases by no means include every death in US custody, and rather conveniently, no case in which the torture victim survived was selected for investigation. The investigations proceeded on the explicit basis that the infamous Bush Justice Department torture memos would not be challenged. Neither would the Bush-era policy of “enhanced interrogation” (a euphemism for torture). The only question that was to be pursued in the investigations was whether the Central Intelligence Agency operatives in the 101 selected death cases had violated Bush administration guidelines. Saddled with such limitations from the outset, the investigations could barely scratch the surface of government-sanctioned war crimes.

Echoing Obama’s mantra of “looking forward, not backward,” Attorney General Holder announced June 30 that 99 of the 101 cases did not warrant further investigation. [...]

Hackers publish "private" Tony Blair info

boingboing

Team Poison, one of hacking outfit LulzSec's rivals, has published what it claims is private information about former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other British government officials.
 

In this Zine: - Tony Blair Office Members Information - Tony Blair Address & Phone Book (Includes family, friends, MPs & lords) - Katie Kay Curriculum vitae (Tony Blairs special adviser)

Posted to pastebin, the release contains the names, address and other contact info of numerous people and a detailed resumé said to be Kay's. It also states that the information was obtained in December 2010 and that Team Poison still has access to the webmail server that yielded it.

In an earlier tweet, the group (styled TeaMp0isonN_) earlier promised that Blair "and his cockroaches are getting owned tonight. - War IS Terror."


Blair, with U.S. President George W. Bush, agitated for the war in Iraq and is accused of manufacturing and exaggerating evidence of the Iraqi regime's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction to support their cause. Depending on the source, up to 600,000 civilians died during the war and the subsequent U.S. occupation.
 

Dyncorp and Friends: Securing Private Politics Part IV

  
It is in the appalling aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, that we can see how U.S. corporations and vested interests of the Bush administrations truly excelled in profiting from the death and destruction of innocents. Indeed, there is substantial evidence to suggest this destruction and opportunism was purposely orchestrated to both maximize profits for the Bush’s hold on power and to use New Orleans as a test model for further police state powers. 

 

In 2005, after the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress legislation allowed the government to seize private land and to pass it to hungry developers looking for easy money, it proved to be suspiciously opportune for the few. Rather like the financial transactions resulting in massive selling of airline industry stock options a few weeks before the September 11 attacks.²¹ The magnitude of this disaster stems not merely from the tragic loss of life, but the realization that much of the deaths may have been intentionally created.  
 

Why, after many hours when the hurricane had left New Orleans did these so called “breeches” and flooding in the poorest parts of the city take place? Not to mention the fact that the pumping system had an unprecedented but highly convenient breakdown to complement such an operation. These details are ahead of the many eye-witness and extremely disturbing actions of the Department Homeland Security and FEMA who actively prevented aid, assistance, food, emergency supplies and response units from saving lives. This is no sensationalist proclamation but factual data that can even be found from many mainstream sources.²² One particular report from Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, La. who had added to the rising indication the across American media:

‘…the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history … Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now … Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn’t need them. This was a week ago. FEMA – we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my Parish. The Coast Guard said, ‘Come get the fuel right away.’ When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. ‘FEMA says don’t give you the fuel.’ Yesterday – yesterday – FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, ‘No one is getting near these lines.’” ²³

Sadly, it was bureaucracy and incompetence that were used to funnel blame away from the real instigators of the operation. The scapegoat sacking of the former chief of the CIA George Tenet for so called “intelligence failures” which were in reality, intentional failures, the resignation of FEMA chief Michael Brown followed a similar script. He blamed Homeland Security rather than FEMA for the “listless response” to Hurricane Katrina.24  Both these pantomimes were staged with various parties aware or oblivious to the tried and tested formula. From the wealth of eye witness reports the tragedy as a whole overwhelmingly suggests that the official line was to prohibit any coherent response to the crisis.

The results of this government sanctioned criminal behaviour led to an official death toll of 1,300 ²⁵ in Louisiana and Mississippi, with estimates of over 6,644 still missing, 1,000 of which are children.²⁶ It represented a social disaster visited primarily upon African-Americans who were effectively left for dead. Those families that survived and if their homes had not been claimed “unsafe” by the government, had to leave their communities only to be broken up and scattered across the U.S. still unsure if some members of their families are alive or dead.

So, what possible motives could the U.S. government have had in harming its citizens in such an obvious and calculated way? Perhaps the same reason they had in suggesting 12 Arabs hijacked some jet airliners with box-cutters and were able to just slip through the most technologically advanced systems of air defence in the world. Naturally, we can all be relied on to not worry about such little wrinkles in the “official” theories. Perhaps a more realistic appraisal of the motives were the following:

1. To acclimate the American people to the presence of armed troops on American soil, which will soon be a familiar sight not just in southern Louisiana, but throughout the country. Even as you read this, the White House and Congress are hard at work drafting legislation and executive orders that will normalize the use of combat personnel to deal with any contrived situation.

2. To allow the city of New Orleans to be rebuilt and refashioned into what our fearless leaders no doubt see as a city of the future – a city that is much richer, and much whiter, than the city that stood before.

3. To solidify control over the Gulf Coast oil and gas industry, since a key goal of the perpetrators of the ‘Peak Oil’ charade, as I’ve noted before, is to achieve total control over all the world’s major oil and gas taps. ²⁷

‘Peak oil’ being a major weapon of disinformation designed to give factions within the military industrial complex further leverage for unilateral demarcation and consumption of resources.  
 

It will come as no surprise by now to learn that U.S., U.K. and Israeli security companies including Dyncorp, Intercon, American Security Group, Blackhawk, Wackenhut, Instinctive Shooting International (ISI) and Uncle Tom mercenary and all, descended on the remains of New Orleans to make a further killing much as it did in Iraq. For reconstruction and humanitarian relief one does wonder why the presence of these specialist companies were anywhere near the city, not for the milk of human kindness – of that we can be sure. 
 

The outsourcing since 9/11 has doubled as part of a global trend toward the creation of multinational organizations which act as protectors and police for the world’s rich executives and affluent communities. Meanwhile, another sideline offers training programs, troops and intelligence for right-wing armies across the world. The reason these companies are so effective and so damaging is that they enforce the status quo and help to sustain conflict by the neo-con principle of endless regime changes and the transplantation of power for those that can pay for it. In other words, those with links to the Pathocracy. In the post 9/11 century of total propaganda they are the de facto arm of U.S. foreign policy.

21 “Huge surges in purchases of put options on stocks of the two airlines used in the attack -- United Airlines and American Airlines; Surges in purchases of put options on stocks of reinsurance companies expected to pay out billions to cover losses from the attack -- Munich Re and the AXA Group; Surges in purchases of put options on stocks of financial services companies hurt by the attack -- Merrill Lynch & Co., and Morgan Stanley and Bank of America; Huge surge in purchases of call options of stock of a weapons manufacturer expected to gain from the attack – Raytheon; Huge surges in purchases of 5-Year US Treasury Notes.” - Insider Trading: ‘Pre-9/11 Put Options on Companies Hurt by Attack Indicates Foreknowledge.’ 911 research.net.

22 ‘Daley ‘Shocked’ at Federal Snub of Offers to Help,’ Chicago Tribune, September 2, 2005 / ‘Homeland Security Won’t Let Red Cross Deliver Food,’ by Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 3, 2005 / ‘Airboaters Stalled by FEMA,’by Nancy Imperiale Sun Sentinel, September 2, 2005.

23 ‘Storm and Crisis: The Fallout,’ by Scott Shane New York Times, September 5, 2005

24 ‘Brown blames Homeland for Katrina response’ Ex-FEMA chief says he's a scapegoat: ‘I feel somewhat abandoned’ AP, Feb. 10, 2006.

25 ‘Death toll from Katrina likely higher than 1,300’ - Number of bodies found offers only partial indicator of deaths, experts say, MSNBC, February 10, 2006.

26 6,644 are still missing after Katrina; toll may rise’By Kevin Johnson, USA Today, November 2005.

27 “Katrina, Eugenics and 'Peak Oil,'” Part II, By David McGowan, Newsletter #74 October 23, 2005.

Dyncorp and Friends: Securing Private Politics Part III

In an article by Journalist Uri Dowbenko he includes an explication of the financial mechanics behind Dyncorp’s free reign in the “War on Drugs” propaganda ploy. Catherine Austin Fitts, former FHA Commissioner in the Bush Sr. Administration and former CEO of Hamilton Securities outlines how they do it where she refers to the creation of Stock Value or Capital Gains as “Pop” in Wall Street jargon:

If DynCorp has a $60 million per year contract supporting knowledge management for asset seizures in the United States," she says. "The current proxy shows that they value their stock, which they buy and sell internally, at approximately 30 times earnings. So, if a contract has a 5-10% profit, then per $100 million of contracts, DynCorp makes about $5-$10 million, which translates into $150 million to $300 million of stock value. That means that for a $200 million contract, with average earnings of 5-10% ($10 million to $20 million), DynCorp is generating $300 million to $600 million of stock value.

Pug Winokur of Capricorn Holdings appears to have about 5% ownership, which means that his partnerships' stock value increase $15-$30 million from the War in Colombia. If the DynCorp team kills 100 people, as an example, then that means they make $1.5 - $3 million per death. That way the Pop per Dead Colombian can be estimated, or, how much capital gains can be made from killing one Colombian. Since DynCorp was also in the Gulf and in Kosovo, we should be able to calculate the relative value of killing people in various cultures and nationalities. Pug Winokur’s partnership, under these assumptions, makes $75,000 to $250,000 of Pop per Dead Colombian. ¹⁶

Of course, Bush’s anti-terror bill injected more financial aid to President Alvare Uribe’s hard right-wing government and managed to destroy much of the progress on human rights of the last few decades. It also smoothed the way for a doubling of the number of US troops and US contractors allowed in Colombia such as Dyncorp and Textron (the military helicopter firm) which is to proceed from 2005 to 2009. The displacement of an already acutely oppressed people has reached 3 million and is worsening as a direct result of U.S. policy and the outsourcing of its global agenda. 
 

What we are witnessing in Colombia and Ecuador is also what we are witnessing in Iraq: an exported pathology of politics without conscience and with an agenda of complete control under the geo-political mandate of “Union” - Pan American style. Yet Dyncorp and Computer Sciences are not the only U.S. flagship corporations famous for exporting the real American values abroad. Private armies are proving to be a rapidly growing business.

The U.N. General Assembly adopted the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries in 1989 where around nineteen states ratified the Convention and nine states have signed but have yet to ratify the Convention as of 2004. At least three of the countries are officially known to have flouted the Convention.¹ This followed in 1992 with a further amendment to the convention which was similarly ignored.¹⁷ It was also declared that “the use of mercenaries is a threat to international peace and security” and that all were “Deeply concerned about the menace that the activities of mercenaries represent for all States, particularly African and other developing States” as well as “Profoundly alarmed at the continued international criminal activities of mercenaries in collusion with drug traffickers…”  
 

All well and good but this made little difference to the business of war. The extent of this indignation and concern was shown in the 1997 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on mercenaries regarding the growth market in mercenary activity:

‘In what appears to be a new international trend, legally registered companies are providing security, advisory and military training to the armed forces and police of legitimate Governments. There have been complaints that some of these companies recruit mercenaries and go beyond advisory and instruction work to become involved in military combat and taking over political, economic and financial matters in the country served.’ ¹⁸

While Dyncorp’s associations with the UN already reek of hypocrisy, these naïve protestations are further laid bare when we realize that Lifeguard Security, a company linked to Executive Outcomes, a U.K. mercenary company, was responsible for guarding U.N. offices and residences in Sierra Leone’s capital of Freetown in 2004. The refusal of the U.K. a major manufacturer of weapons and source of mercenaries to sign the Convention was given an embarrassing exercise in exposition with the Equatorial Guinea Mercenaries Coup affair. Sir Mark Thatcher and Simon Mann’s foray in arms deals were highlighted in spectacular fashion, revealing the business that rarely gets a mention yet is so instrumental in the destinies of government coups everywhere.  
 

The Vinnell Corp., a Fairfax, Va., company part of the Northrop-Grumman merger in 2000, employs ex-military and CIA personnel as well as having close connections with concurrent U.S. administrations. It has had a contractual relationship to train the Saudi Arabian National Guard since 1975. This led to Bush condemning an attack in Riyadh in May 2003 that killed at least 30 people blamed, of course, on Al-Qaeda. True to the infantile propaganda that is circulating so effectively via the U.S. media every violent event and grouping becomes part of Osama’s tentacles representing a highly organized network. Where sufficient terrorism activity is absent, then why not create it?  
 

This is very often the role of security companies such as Vinnell that act as foreign policy enforcers. They are there to prop up the regime and to keep dissidents at bay, hence they become targets. This is not dissimilar to the “insurgents” in Iraq who attack those intent on planting bombs and creating the seeds of a civil war. Under cover of chaos it is far easier to go about your business of exploiting the countries resources and laying plans for future geo-political monopolies. The terror wars are fuelling the security business growth and in turn, it is ensuring that terrorism remains a global menace much to the delight of arms dealers everywhere. Such is the Anglo-American tradition.

Companies such as Vance International specialize in American corporate executives travelling overseas, wealthy foreigners visiting the United States and the extravagance of Hollywood stars. It is renowned for using mostly ex-military men for “asset protection.” Then there is Global Options which provides high-end security, intelligence and investigative services, billing itself as a “private CIA, FBI, State Department and Justice Department wrapped up into one.” Not forgetting its emphasis on “defending corporate America” which should fill us all with confidence.¹⁹

Control Risk, Sandline International, Executive Outcomes and MPRI specialize in providing training mercenaries for armies worldwide. Or more plainly, they are hired by governments to fight for them. Security corporations all provide services of “risk mitigation” and “executive or asset protection” for governments, intelligence agencies and the Elite to ply their trade above and beyond the law, though many corporations would feign incredulity at such heinous accusations.

Ethics are not going to be top of the list in any of these businesses that would clearly kill the local nursery teacher if it helped the fortunes of the beloved U.S. What is more, the nature of the US Army and Navy means that they are chock full of psychopaths, jackals and Skirtoids ¹which are then used as the pool from which Private security firms draw their personnel. Former FBI agents, intelligence directors, Delta-Force, Air-Force, SWAT, Army Intelligence operatives, Secret Service agents, CIA veterans, Navel Seals and ex-Marines – you name it, the demand is there for such men (and in some cases women). Security services and mercenaries for hire act as funnels stuck into the back ends of the US military and secret service arms to save money, resources and to actualise foreign policy moves beyond the - albeit pitiful - radar of the media and public. Remember of course, there is no such thing as a former FBI or CIA agent or any government intelligence operative. 

As controversy about rendition and torture continues to bubble, private security firms are merging with propaganda and the free-market to produce a boom in private finance deals both in Europe as well as the U.S. Private-sector firms are even sponsoring academics and researchers and helping to formulate government penal and criminal justice policy, no doubt tailored towards an increasing reliance on profit over public interest.  

Stephen Nathan, editor of Prison Privatisation Report International said, regarding Demark-based security firm Group 4 Falck/Wackenhut and its services: “The increasing influence of the private sector in the criminal justice system means shareholders' interests come first. Who shapes criminal justice policy? Is it professionals, politicians and the public? Or is it Group 4 shareholders?”Though the tired suggestion that it is simply market forces and intense competition that has led to the prison services adopting more aggressively commercial approaches, this does not address the issue of rising crime rates of young offenders, yet it makes a substantial profit for those ready to provide the means to sweep problems out of sight and out of mind.  

Profits from the private are notoriously lax in sharing dividends with the public sector - private security is no different. The health service and the dismantling of the welfare state in the U.K. signals the rise of Blair’s corporatism and the terminal erosion for civic and social influence.

  

Notes

16 Catherine Austin Fitts quoted in ‘Dirty Tricks, Inc.:The DynCorp-Government Connection’ 2002, by Uri Dowbenko. 

International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, Resolution 44/34,72nd plenary meeting 4 December 1989. United Nations General Assembly, www.un.org/

17 United Nations Resolution A/RES/47/84, 89th plenary meeting, 16 December 1992. Use of mercenaries as a means to violate human rights and to impede the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination. http://www.un.org/

18 The Debate on Private Military companies 1997 report by the UN Special Rapporteur.

19 www.globaloptions.com

20 ‘Crime pays handsomely for Britain's private jails’ Running a prison is lucrative business - as long as offenders keep rol ling in. by Nick Mathiason, The Observer, March 11, 2001.