Syria Uprising: Mossad, Blackwater And CIA 'Led Operations In Homs'

Members of the Free Syrian Army in Qusayr, 15kms from Homs

Πηγή: Huffington Post
March 7 2013

CIA, Mossad and Blackwater agents are involved in military violence in the Homs district, an Arab news agency exclusively reports.

According to Al-Manar, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militant group and political party, a coordination office with agents from the three branches of intelligence is in operation in nearby Qatar.

Salim Harba, a Syrian expert in strategic affairs, told Al-Manar the office was established: “Under American-Gulf sponsorship. The office includes American, French, and Gulf – specifically from Qatar and Saudi Arabia – intelligence agents, as well as CIA, Mossad, and Blackwater agents and members of the Syrian Transitional Council.”

He added: “Qatar has also made deals with Israeli and American companies to arm the armed groups, and Gulf countries have been financing the agreements.”

The revelations come as the agency reported around 700 Arab and Western gunmen had surrendered in Baba Amr, leaving the region under the control of the Syrian army. Israeli, American and European-made weapons were also seized in the district.

According to Harba, the captured gunmen were variously from the Gulf, Iraq, Lebanon, Qatar, Afghanistan, Turkey and France.

The website quoted a source as saying: “Huge and critical surprises will be uncovered in the coming few days… such as the kinds of arms seized, as well as the military tactics the armed groups followed, and the sides that supervised operations.”

Harba claims the Syrian security forces have paperwork that could “harm everyone who conspired against Syria.”

He added: “The significance of the security operation in Homs is due to the high expectations that regional and international sides had from the armed gangs in Baba Amr … they wanted Homs to be turned into a new Benghazi.”

According to state news agency SANA, President Bashar Assad insists he will continue to confront "foreign-backed terrorism." Since the uprising began last March, he has blamed armed gangs and foreign terrorists for the unrest, not protesters seeking change.

Western powers however have categorically denied any military involvement in Syrian internal conflict, Russia Today reported.

The United Nations believes more than 8,000 people have been killed in Syria since the start of anti-government protests in March 2011.

Activists put the total closer to 10,000 deaths, 600 of which are believed to be children.

Blackwater in Greece: Fears of Coup as Mercenaries Drafted for Guarding Govt, Overseeing Police

Πηγή: Darker Net
Feb 25 2013

Blackwater mercenaries are currently overseeing the police in Greece as rumours of a coup abound. We understand the situation is extremely tense and that the mercenaries are there mainly to protect the Government and parliament should trouble break out either in the form of a revolution or counter-revolution. Already, a destabilisation plot involving the far-right and police has been uncovered. More below…

Over the last 12 months or more Greece has seen wave after wave of mass demonstrations, riots, battles between police and protesters, armed attacks on Government premises, attacks by fascists (i.e. Golden Dawn ) on migrants, as well as, of course, the complete collapse of the economy. The Government has been beset by scandals (e.g. secret bank accounts in Switzerland) and journalists have been arrested. Most people now exist day by day via co-operatives ; workers are taking over the factories .

As we have said, there is a revolution taking place – a messy revolution . And it’s going to get messier, for the situation in Greece has now entered a critical phase – here is a summary (with further details below):

* Strategy of tension has already commenced
* Government is under siege and is protected by mercenaries
* Military coup is now talked of openly
* Insider warns that revolution (or counter-revolution) is imminent

Strategy of tension

A few days ago we reported on a plot by the police in collusion with the far-right to instigate a massacre of police, which would then be blamed on anarchists – presumably this would then be used as an excuse to introduce martial law or a state of emergency. The plot may have been foiled (23 persons were arrested) by Blackwater working in conjunction with police officers who are loyal to the Government. Blackwater are expected to continue monitoring police operations generally, to identify those officers who may be involved in other, similar plots.

Note… The term strategy of tension came about in Italy in the 1970s and 1980s when bombings of civilian were committed by neofascist organisations such as Ordine Nuovo , Avanguardia Nazionale or Fronte Nazionale ).

Mercenaries protecting Government under siege

The Greek Government signed a contract with Academi (the new name for Blackwater) in November last year, though this was a secret agreement and you will not find details about it on the Academi website ). News of the contract leaked out end of January when the Greek ambassador to Canada, Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos, let slip about it in an interview, which was then published in a blog (see highlighted sentence in red). The contract with Academi was confirmed a few days later via the Greek military news site Defencenet.

Blackwater/Academi are infamous as the company that ran mercenary operations during the last Iraq War and were engaged in unnecessary fire fights in urban areas, taking civilian lives. They currently have a forward ops base in Afghanistan.

We understand their principal role in Greece is two-fold. One is to oversee police operations. They have been contracted to do this because the Government are aware that the police have been comprehensively infiltrated by members of the fascist Golden Dawn and so cannot trust the police to stay loyal. Their other role is to act as a neutral force to provide full protection to the Government against assault from any quarter. In effect, the Greek Government is under siege.

Coup possibility

Recently the Government secured an agreement from the army that under no circumstances would they resort to a coup (as happened in 1967, leading to the junta of 1967-1974 ). Whether this agreement will be honoured remains to be seen. As Greece is now part of the European Community a coup will be unlikely, but in the event of heightened tension martial law could be declared with curfews etc.

Warning of revolution/counter-revolution

According to Ambassador Chrysanthopoulos in his interview, “At a certain moment, quite soon, there will be an explosion of social unrest. It will be very unpleasant.” He then referred to fifteen armed incidents in the previous ten days, including the firebombing of the offices of the governing parties and the homes of pro-government journalists, the machine-gunning of the headquarters of the prime minister’s conservative New Democracy party, and a bomb explosion at a shopping mall belonging to the country’s second wealthiest citizen. Chrysanthopoulos predicts the trouble will begin when new tax bills arrive (soon)…

Blackwater still making major deals with U.S. in Afghanistan

U.S. soldiers west of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Πηγή: Salon
By NATASHA LENNARD
Dec 5 2012

Blackwater, which now goes by the name “Academi” to sound less like an army of pillaging mercenaries, is still making major no-bid deals with the U.S. military in Afghanistan. Wired’s Spencer Ackerman reported Wednesday that Blackwater will play “landlord” to U.S. Special Operations Forces in the country.

Thanks to a no-bid deal worth $22 million, U.S. Special Ops have moved to a new Blackwater-owned and operated base — Camp Integrity. “It’s highly unusual for U.S. military forces to take up official residence on a privately owned facility, ” reported Ackerman, noting, “According to Lt. Col. Tom Bryant, the spokesman for Special Operations Joint Task Force-Afghanistan, it’s only supposed to be temporary, as the command plans to move to Bagram Air Field by summer 2013. But Camp Integrity is already shaping up to be a crucial location for an Afghanistan war that’s rapidly changing.”

The use of Camp Integrity reportedly arose from the simple fact of overcrowding as the U.S. consolidated its Special Operations into one force. Academi offered a home for the force that could not be accommodated by existing military facilities. But as Ackerman noted, “Academi’s old incarnation, Blackwater, had deep ties to the secretive U.S. special operations community. Founder Erik Prince was a Navy SEAL, and the firm aided the Joint Special Operations Command with counterterrorism targeting and ‘snatch and grab‘ operations in Pakistan.”

Despite the rationale of expediency, it may come as a surprise to Blackwater (by any other name) critics that the contractor continues to make major deals with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, despite its record of murdering Afghan civilians. But as Ackerman pointed out, the notorious security firm now hosts “the heart of the enduring commando mission in the U.S.’ longest war.”

Last month Ackerman reported that Academi will also play a major role in the Pentagon’s plan to expand its global spy network to an unprecedented size. Academi is among six firms hired to train DIA spies in self-defense.

Blackwater admits to facts behind 17 federal charges

Πηγή: Politico
By JOSH GERSTEIN
August 7 2012

The government security contractor formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide has admitted to the key facts behind 17 federal criminal charges, including illegal exports and unauthorized possession of automatic weapons, as part of an effort to end a long-running investigation into the firm's conduct.

Blackwater, now known as Academi LLC, agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine on top of a $42 million settlement it reached earlier regarding civil arms export violations.

"Today’s proceedings conclude a lengthy and complex investigation into a company which has provided valuable services to the United States Government, but which, at times, and in many ways, failed to comply with important laws and regulations concerning how we as a country interact with our international allies and adversaries,” U.S. Attorney Thomas Walker said in a statement. “Compliance with these laws is critical to the proper conduct of our defense efforts and to international diplomatic relations. This prosecution is an important step to ensuring that our corporate citizens comply with these rules in every circumstance.”

Some of the charges relate to Blackwater's possession of machine guns at a training compound in North Carolina.

"ACADEMI is pleased to reach this important agreement on this legacy matter. It is yet another step in our commitment to fairly resolve past issues and become the industry leader in governance, compliance, and regulatory matters," Academi spokesman John Procter said in a statement. "The agreement, which does not involve any guilty plea or admit to any violations, reflects the significant and tangible efforts that ACADEMI’s new ownership and leadership team have made in achieving that goal. The company is fully committed to this agreement and looks forward to successfully fulfilling its obligations on this legacy matter."

More on the company's deferred prosecution agreement here from the Associated Press.

One side note: one of the prosecutors in the case, Robert Higdon Jr., was key figure in the feds recently concluded and ultimately unsuccessful prosecution of former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) on campaign finance charges.

Another side note: four former Blackwater security guards in Iraq are still facing prosecution in connection with the killing of 14 Iraqis in 2007. A district court judge threw out the case, but an appeals court revived it. In June, the Supreme Court refused to take the case, at least for now, leaving the four ex-Blackwater guards facing a trial.

CLARIFICATION (Tuesday, 9:08 P.M.): This post has been updated with the company's statement and to clarify that the firm did not plead guilty to any charges, although it admitted to the factual basis for them.

The Terrifying Background of the Man Who Ran a CIA Assassination Unit

Πηγή: The Atlantic
By Conor Friedersdorf
July 18 2012

A federal investigation alleged Enrique Prado's involvement in seven murders, yet he was in charge when America outsourced covert killing to a private company.

It was one of the biggest secrets of the post-9/11 era: soon after the attacks, President Bush gave the CIA permission to create a top secret assassination unit to find and kill Al Qaeda operatives. The program was kept from Congress for seven years. And when Leon Panetta told legislators about it in 2009, he revealed that the CIA had hired the private security firm Blackwater to help run it. "The move was historic," says Evan Wright, the two-time National Magazine Award-winning journalist who wrote Generation Kill. "It seems to have marked the first time the U.S. government outsourced a covert assassination service to private enterprise."

The quote is from his e-book How to Get Away With Murder in America, which goes on to note that "in the past, the CIA was subject to oversight, however tenuous, from the president and Congress," but that "President Bush's 2001 executive order severed this line by transferring to the CIA his unique authority to approve assassinations. By removing himself from the decision-making cycle, the president shielded himself -- and all elected authority -- from responsibility should a mission go wrong or be found illegal. When the CIA transferred the assassination unit to Blackwater, it continued the trend. CIA officers would no longer participate in the agency's most violent operations, or witness them. If it practiced any oversight at all, the CIA would rely on Blackwater's self-reporting about missions it conducted. Running operations through Blackwater gave the CIA the power to have people abducted, or killed, with no one in the government being exactly responsible." None of this is new information, though I imagine that many people reading this item are hearing about it for the first time.

Isn't that bizarre?

The bulk of Wright's e-book (full disclosure: I help edit the website of Byliner, publisher of the e-book) tells the story of Enrique Prado, a high-ranking CIA-officer-turned-Blackwater-employee who oversaw assassination units for both the CIA and the contractor. To whom was this awesome responsibility entrusted? According to Wright's investigation, a federal organized crime squad run out of the Miami-Dade Police Department produced an investigation allegedly tying Prado to seven murders carried out while he worked as a bodyguard for a narco crime boss. At the time, the CIA declared him unavailable for questioning; the investigation was shut down before he was arrested or tried.

There's a lot more to the story -- Wright's e-book is almost 50 pages long -- but this bit is of particular note:

The reporting on Prado's activities at Blackwater produced no evidence that the firm's employees had ever killed anyone on behalf of the CIA. But I spoke to Blackwater employees who insisted that they had. Two Blackwater contractors told me that their firm began conducting assassinations in Afghanistan as early as 2008. They claimed to have participated in such operations -- one in a support role, the other as a "trigger puller." The contractors, to whom I spoke in 2009 and 2010, were both ex-Special Forces soldiers who were not particularly bothered by assassination work, although they did question the legality of Blackwater's involvement in it.

According to the "trigger puller," he and a partner were selected for one such operation because they were Mexican Americans, whose darker skin enabled them to blend in as Afghan civilians. The first mission he described took place in 2008. He and his partner spent three weeks training outside Kabul, becoming accustomed to walking barefoot like Afghans while toting weapons underneath their jackets. Their mission centered on walking into a market and killing the occupant of a pickup truck, whose identity a CIA case worker had provided to them. They succeeded in their mission, he told me, and moved on to another. This contractor's story didn't completely fit with other accounts about Prado's unit at Blackwater. The e-mail written by Prado and later obtained by the Times seemed to indicate that the unit wouldn't use Americans to carry out actual assassinations. Moreover, two CIA sources insisted that the contractors I spoke to were lying. As one put it, "These guys are security guards who want to look like Rambo."

When I asked Ed O'Connell, a former Air Force colonel and RAND analyst with robust intelligence experience in Afghanistan, to evaluate these contractors' claims, he first told me they were almost certainly a "fantastical crock of shit." But a year later, in 2011, after a research trip in Afghanistan for his firm Alternative Strategies Institute, O'Connell had changed his assessment. He told me, "Your sources seem to have been correct. Private contractors are whacking people like crazy over in Afghanistan for the CIA."
So there you have it: A former Air Force lieutenant colonel, speaking on the record and using the present tense, said in 2011 that "private contractors are whacking people like crazy over in Afghanistan for the CIA."

Says Wright:

While Blackwater's covert unit began as a Bush administration story, President Obama now owns it. In 2010, his administration intervened on behalf of the Blackwater executives indicted for weapons trafficking, filing motions to suppress evidence on the grounds that it could compromise national security. The administration then awarded Blackwater (which is now called Academi) a $250 million contract to perform unspecified services for the CIA. At the same time, Obama has publicly taken responsibility for some lethal operations -- the Navy SEALs' sniper attack on Somali pirates, the raid on bin Laden. His aides have also said that he reviews target lists for drone strikes. The president's actions give him the appearance of a man who wants the best of both worlds. He appears as a tough, resolute leader when he announces his role in killings that will likely be popular -- a pirate, a terrorist. But the apparatus for less accountable killings grinds on.
Needless to say, this ought to spark an investigation, but more than that, it should cause Americans to step back and reflect on how vulnerable we've made ourselves to bad actors in the post-9/11 era. We're giving C.I.A. agents and even private security contractors the sort of power no individual should wield. And apparently our screening apparatus turns out to be lacking.

Ex-Blackwater executives finger CIA in weapons trial

King Abdullah II of Jordan

Πηγή: Hamptonroads
By Bill Sizemore

June 2 2012

Five ex-Blackwater executives, facing federal firearms charges in connection with a gift of weaponry to a Middle Eastern monarch, have come up with a new explanation for how it occurred:

It was a CIA operation.

In court papers filed last month in Raleigh, the defendants say the gift of five guns to King Abdullah II of Jordan during a royal visit to Blackwater's Moyock, N.C., headquarters in March 2005 was requested, directed and authorized by the Central Intelligence Agency.

Attorneys for the five have filed declarations from two retired CIA officials, including a former Jordan station chief, who say they are familiar with the circumstances of the king's visit and would be willing to testify about it.

The CIA did not respond to a request for comment.

It's a new wrinkle in a case that dates to April 2010, when the five security company executives were indicted on a variety of felony firearms charges. One key section of the indictment involved King Abdullah's 2005 visit to Moyock, during which the monarch was presented a Bushmaster M4 rifle, a Remington shotgun and three Glock handguns.

The gift guns were a marketing device, part of an effort by Blackwater to land security and training contracts in Jordan, the indictment alleges.

When the executives subsequently realized they were unable to account for the disposition of the weapons, prosecutors allege, they falsified reports to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to give the appearance that they had purchased the guns for their own personal use.

Contrary to prosecutors' claims, the former executives now say the king's visit to Moyock "was not a Blackwater marketing effort, but was instead a CIA-organized and CIA-sanctioned diplomatic event attended by dozens of U.S. Government officials with the aim not of increasing Blackwater's potential profits, but instead of furthering relations between the two countries."

The royal visit arose out of a personal relationship between the king and Blackwater founder Erik Prince and was organized with the assistance of other government agencies including the State Department and the Secret Service, they say.

Prince sold the company, now known as Academi, in December 2010.

Under CIA policy, it was the agency's responsibility to properly document the disposition of the weapons, the former executives assert in court papers. The CIA failed to do so, they say, resulting in "an easily corrected regulatory paperwork error in Blackwater's firearms disposition logs."

Accompanying the court papers are declarations from two retired CIA officers, Charles Seidel and John Maguire, who say they have information about the king's visit and could testify about it if the CIA gives them permission. The two men's statements, secured in April, capped an ongoing investigation of the visit, defense attorneys say.

Seidel, who was CIA station chief in Amman, the Jordanian capital, at the time, says he accompanied the king on the visit to Moyock. Maguire says he has information about the gift guns and "how the U.S. government's authorization for the transfer of those weapons took place."

The former Blackwater executives are asking the judge in the firearms case to order the CIA to produce all relevant documents about the visit. The case has not yet been set for trial.

Abdullah II assumed the Jordanian throne on the death of his father, King Hussein, in 1999. According to his official online biography, he is a 41st-generation direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammad. He is a former commander of Jordan's Special Forces.

Along with cars, motorcycles and free-fall parachuting, he is said to have a passion for ancient weapons and maintains a world-class collection of military artifacts.

Blackwater/Academi has banked more than $2 billion from security and training contracts with various federal agencies, including the CIA, since 2002. Several former CIA officials later went to work for the company.

The indicted former executives are Gary Jackson, president; William Mathews, executive vice president; Andrew Howell, general counsel; Ana Bundy, vice president of logistics and procurement; and Ronald Slezak, who was responsible for firearms documentation.