Larisa Alexandrovna – So, Heir Rove apparently woke up one day this week, rang up his good friends over at the Wall Street Journal and – as if by magic – the lies building up in that rather bizarrely shaped cranium of his suddenly found their outlet. I give you the writing effort (LMFAO) of Mr. Rove and obviously, my own take on his attempts at stringing words together, inserted as needed. Let us begin:

„This week is the one-year anniversary of Democrats winning Congress. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid probably aren’t in a celebrating mood. The goodwill they enjoyed after their victory is gone. Their bright campaign promises are unfulfilled. Democratic leadership is in disarray. And Congress’s approval rating has fallen to its lowest point in history.“

I may not be a fan of Ms. Pelosi’s, but little Karl has little room to critique anyone. I mean, if we are going to talk about disarray, we could talk about the Republican House leadership in the form of Speaker Denny Hastert and in the form of House Majority Leader Tom Delay. Hastert is alleged to have received large amounts of foreign bribes in exchange for favors and possibly classified information.

Tom Delay, who prior to his organized crime syndicate running out of K Street and later his indictment on money laundering charges, was a bug killer, alcoholic, sleaze who also is alleged to have taken massive bribes from foreign agents. Oh, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was caught in an insider trading scam, ultimately not charged, but ran away from the Senate shortly thereafter. The approval level of Congress is the Republican burn mark left behind- little Karl- which proved to be the most corrupt Congress ever. How many members of the GOP majority are either indicted, in prison, or under investigation little Karl? But by all means, continue, your so-called boy genius perhaps quite unsurprisingly rather flaccid.

Morontwo „The problems the Democrats are now experiencing begin with the federal budget. Or rather, the lack of one. In 2006, Democrats criticized Congress for dragging its feet on the budget and pledged that they would do better. Instead, they did worse. The new fiscal year started Oct. 1–five weeks ago–but Democrats have yet to send the president a single annual appropriations bill. It’s been at least 20 years since Congress has gone this late in passing any appropriation bills, an indication of the mess the Pelosi-Reid Congress is now in.“

Ah, nope. Caught lying again. The problem with the federal budget is that you and your team, the cabal (if you will), took a surplus and converted it into the largest deficit ever. Let’s consider that in the 4 years of the Iraq war, the money that Congress provided to this administration just kept disappearing.

MoronverysmallTroops did not have body armor, basic supplies, sometimes even water. Yet somehow, and I am sure a man of integrity such as yourself Mr. Rove can likely tell us where billions went missing in Iraq, billions went missing on projects not done, on initiatives not completed, and on all sorts of nonsense that had nothing to do with national security or war.

It is as though a big laundry truck showed up and used the war chest as the GOP’s very own campaign piggy bank. But you would never be involved in something like money laundering, fraud, embezzlement, etc., little Rove, would you? Ah, if only we had a Department of Justice to take a closer look. Read all at At-Largely

Olivier Schmidt / Intelligence – Association for the Right to Information, France – On 21 December 1988, a MST-13 timer-switch manufactured by the Zurich-based company MEBO detonated the cassette bomb which destroyed Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people. In mid-August, Ulrich Lumpert, a Swiss engineer and former MEBO employee, walked into a Zurich police station and asked to swear an affidavit before a notary confessing that he had lied about the specific MST-13 timer, fragments of which the prosecution claimed had been found at the Lockerbie crash site.

Lumpert’s testimony was crucial to implicating Libya in the conspiracy, which is exactly what the intelligence and military establishment in Washington wanted. Gray-suited officials speaking on behalf of various branches of the Reagan administration claimed Lockerbie was „an act of revenge“ for the USAF bombing of Triploi two years earlier. And former Libyan agent Abdulbaset al-Megrahi was the „scapegoat“, sentenced to life by a Scottish court during the 2001 trial at Camp Zeist in Holland. He is currently serving his sentence at Greenock Prison, near Glasgow, in Scotland.

Mr. Lumpert’s former boss, Swiss businessman Edwin Bollier, supports the allegation. He has admitted that his company, MEBO, had sold a batch of twenty MST-13 timers to Libya in 1986. When FBI and Scot-tish detectives showed him a „fuzzy photograph“ of the timer, which they claimed was found on the hillside and used to detonate the bomb in the forward luggage hold of Flight 103 from Heathrow to JFK, he con-firmed that the fragments „looked as though they came from one of our timers“.

Ten years after the inci-dent, he travelled to Dumfries, in Scotland, after finally being given permission to actually see the pieces of the badly burned brown circuit board, which matched MEBO’s prototype. However, when the MST-13 went into production, the color of the circuit boards was changed to green, and the batch sold to the Liby-ans had green circuit boards, not brown, according to Mr. Bollier.

At the trial in Camp Zeist, the 70-year-old businessman appeared for the defense, and claims the details about the circuit-board were ignored. The pieces which he asked to see again in court „were practically carbonized [and] they had been tampered with“ since he had visited Dumfries.

The pieces had been in the possession of FBI forensic laboratories which were later thoroughly discredited. Last June, this and other information resulted in the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) ruling that there was enough „new“ evidence — not including Lumpert’s confession — to suggest there had been a miscarriage of justice. Later this month, the Scottish Court of Appeal in Edinburgh will hear al-Megrahi’s appeal against what is now regarded as a „deeply flawed“ verdict.

MEBO went bankrupt after the Lockerbie incident. Threatened with a multi-million lawsuit by Pan Am, the company rapidly lost business, including a major contract to supply the German Kriminalpolizei (CID) and the Bundesgrenzshutz (Federal Border Police) with communications equipment.

COMMENT
It may finally be shown that the Libyan connection was part of a US/UK plot to demonize Kadaffi, which „Intelligence“ has always maintained; see chapter 5, „The Trumped-Up Proof of Libyan Terrorism“, in Olivier Schmidt, „The ‚Intelligence‘ Files, 2005, Clarity Press.

If this can be shown along with the fact that those responsible for the bombing were closer to the Syrian regime than Triploi, Mr. Bollier will expect to be financial compensated for the international, state-sponsored conspiracy. Unlike the financial compen-sation and apologies Abdulbaset al-Megrahi can expect if his appeal is successful, an unpublicized out-of-court settlement is likely in Mr. Bollier’s case. And he’ll be satisfied with having cleared his name and that of the company he founded.

This article was first published at Intelligence – Association for the Right to Information, France

Association pour le Droit à l’Information
Association for the Right to Information
16 rue des Ecoles, 75005 Paris, France
tel/fax 33 1 40 51 85 19
email: intelligence-adi(at)wanadoo.fr

Olivier Schmidt / Intelligence – Association for the Right to Information, France – The Belgian Justice Ministry is preparing to take on the Church of Scientology (CS) in a legal struggle which could seriously damage the organization’s „presence“ in the European Union. On 4 September, state prosecutor Jean-Claud Van Espen recommended that the CS should stand trial for fraud, extortion, illegal business practices, unlawful medical practices, and breaches of the country’s privacy laws.

These accusations are the result of a ten-year investigation which concluded that the organization should be regarded as a criminal organization, using religion as a cover for criminal practices. Germany arrived at a similar conclusion several years ago.

Twelve senior members of the CS European office, on Wetstraat in Brussels, will be indicted if the trial goes ahead, a decision to be taken by a panel of senior Appeal Court judges currently considering the evidence.

COMMENT
This is the latest, and by far the most serious attempt by Belgian prosecutors to deal with the Scientologists. In 1995, the CS was included in as inquiry into sects by a parliamentary commission. Liberal Senator Luc Willems publicly accused the organization of targeting „psychologically weak“ individuals who are easily influenced, but was reminded by party colleagues that the CS was „hypersensitive“ to criticism. In 1999, at least 120 police officers raided twenty-five premises registered to the CS, including the Brussels HQ.

Legitimate religious organizations in Belgium enjoy many benefits. The state pays the salaries of priests and parsons, imans, and rabbis, and subsidizes the building and renovation of religious buildings: churches, mosques, temples, and the offices of the Church of Scientology.

If convicted on fraud charges alone, the financial implications could seriously damage the organization and will have a knock- on effect on the bank-accounts of „stars“ like John Travolta and Tom Cruise, the organization’s Hollywood representatives.

This article was first published at Intelligence – Association for the Right to Information, France

Association pour le Droit à l’Information
Association for the Right to Information
16 rue des Ecoles, 75005 Paris, France
tel/fax 33 1 40 51 85 19
email: intelligence-adi(at)wanadoo.fr

Dana Hedgpeth – First it became a brand name in security for its work in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now it’s taking on intelligence.

The Prince Group, the holding company that owns Blackwater Worldwide, has been building an operation that will sniff out intelligence about natural disasters, business-friendly governments, overseas regulations and global political developments for clients in industry and government.

Two analysts, whose names Total Intelligence Solutions would not release for security reasons, work at company headquarters in Ballston. A critic says the firm employs „rent-a-spies,“ while its chairman says, „We break no laws.“

Discussion that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain „signatures“ by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

The operation, Total Intelligence Solutions, has assembled a roster of former spooks — high-ranking figures from agencies such as the CIA and defense intelligence — that mirrors the slate of former military officials who run Blackwater. Its chairman is Cofer Black, the former head of counterterrorism at CIA known for his leading role in many of the agency’s more controversial programs, including the rendition and interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects and the detention of some of them in secret prisons overseas.

Its chief executive is Robert Richer, a former CIA associate deputy director of operations who was heavily involved in running the agency’s role in the Iraq war.

Total Intelligence Solutions is one of a growing number of companies that offer intelligence services such as risk analysis to companies and governments. Because of its roster and its ties to owner Erik Prince, the multimillionaire former Navy SEAL, the company’s thrust into this world highlights the blurring of lines between government, industry and activities formerly reserved for agents operating in the shadows.

Richer, for instance, once served as the chief of the CIA’s Near East division and is said to have ties to King Abdullah of Jordan. The CIA had spent millions helping train Jordan’s intelligence service in exchange for information. Now Jordan has hired Blackwater to train its special forces.

„Cofer can open doors,“ said Richer, who served 22 years at the CIA. „I can open doors. We can generally get in to see who we need to see. We don’t help pay bribes. We do everything within the law, but we can deal with the right minister or person.“

Total Intel, as the company is known, is bringing „the skills traditionally honed by CIA operatives directly to the board room,“ Black said. Black had a 28-year career with the CIA.

„They have the skills and background to do anything anyone wants,“ said RJ Hillhouse, who writes a national security blog called The Spy Who Billed Me. „There’s no oversight. They’re an independent company offering freelance espionage services. They’re rent-a-spies.“

Read all at Washington Post

Novosti– Der estnische Historiker Magnus Ilmjärv behauptet mit Hinweis auf deutsche Archivmaterialien, dass die estnischen Nachrichtendienste mit der Abwehr von Hitler-Deutschland und den polnischen Nachrichtendiensten lange vor Beginn des Zweiten Weltkriegs kooperiert hatten.

„Es muss mit den Behauptungen Schluss gemacht werden, dass die estnische Aufklärung nicht mit der Abwehr zusammengearbeitet hat. Der Nachrichtendienst eines kleinen Staates kann nicht effektiv arbeiten, wenn er nicht mit dem eines größeren Staates in Kontakt steht. Schon vor 1935 bis 1936 arbeitete die estnische Auslandsaufklärung mit Polen zusammen. Über Estland schickte Polen seine Agenten nach Russland“, erklärte er der Zeitung „Eesti Paevaleht“.

Er will in den Archiven der deutschen Militäraufklärung ein Dokument vom 23. Januar 1939 gefunden haben, in dem beschrieben wird, wie die Beobachtung der sowjetischen Kriegsmarine in Estland organisiert war und wo die Beobachtungspunkte stationiert waren (Narva, Petschory, Tallinn und Haapsalu, Peipussee).

In dem Dokument werden auch die Namen von estnischen Agenten aufgeführt. „Das waren jedoch nur Randfiguren, den Grundstein der Zusammenarbeit haben der Chef der estnischen Militäraufklärung, Richard Masing, und der Chef der Abwehr, Wilhelm Canaris, in den Jahren von 1935 bis 1936 gelegt“, so der Historiker.

In einem Dokument der Abwehr vom 10. Januar 1940 wird behauptet, dass Estland den Deutschen wertvolle Informationen über die sowjetischen Streitkräfte übergeben hatte. Die Zusammenarbeit mit den Esten wurde dabei hoch eingeschätzt.

Ilmjärv stellt fest, dass die Entscheidung über die Zusammenarbeit mit dem ausländischen Nachrichtendienst im engen Kreis von Politikern und Militärs gefällt worden war, doch Deutschland in den 30er Jahren für die meisten Esten der Feind Nummer eins gewesen war. Die Haltung zu Deutschland und den Deutschen hat sich nach seiner Einschätzung erst nach den sowjetischen Deportationen im Juni 1941 geändert.

Er meint, dass die Zusammenarbeit der Nachrichtendienste nicht nur deshalb nicht verleugnet werden sollte, weil die sowjetische Propaganda versuchte, die estnische Geschichte in den dunkelsten Farben darzustellen.

Er verschweigt aber auch nicht, dass „in historischen Werken aus sowjetischen Zeiten und des heutigen Russlands nicht nur Lügen, sondern auch zutreffende Standpunkte enthalten sind“.

Ilmjärv ist in Estland durch die Herausgabe historischer Monographie „Die stumme Unterwerfung“ bekannt geworden. Gestützt auf Unterlagen des NKWD berichtete er darin über die Rolle des ersten estnischen Präsidenten, Konstantin Päts, bei den tragischen Ereignissen in den Jahren 1939 bis 1940 und dessen prosowjetischer Haltung sowie guten Beziehungen mit Moskau.

Itai Dzamara – Israeli intelligence operatives have been hired by the Zanu (PF) government to implement systems that will enable the regime to snoop on phone and internet communications by opposition and civic society leaders as well as journalists.

It is unclear what has happened to the much-touted Chinese snoopers and their equipment, imported last year at huge expense by the Mugabe regime, to intercept communications.

Highly placed sources say a list of names has been given to Mossad for monitoring. The Zimbabwean broke the news recently that Israeli spies had been recruited to work with CIO in strategic areas such as airports, government offices and banks.

„They (Mossad) are working with CIO to snoop on the targeted people and have brought some equipment for that purpose,“ a government source said this week.

It is believed that Mossad operatives are erecting spying equipment across the country brought from Is-raeli and for which the regime is paying huge sums of foreign currency.

They are targeting the finance and banking sectors where Mugabe and his cronies suspects schemes are underway to cause sabotage in order to achieve regime change.

The paranoid Zanu (PF) regime recently passed a spy bill to make it „legal“ for it to spy on the communi-cations of its citizens. It has ordered internet service providers to install, at their own expense, equipment to make it possible for government snoopers to tap their clients‘ communications. But experts say gov-ernment lacks the capacity and equipment for the huge task.

„It is not going to be easy, even with the Israelis‘ expertise,“ a communications expert said on condition of anonymity.

Walter Pincus / Washington Post – CIA Director Michael V. Hayden yesterday named Michael J. Sulick to head the National Clandestine Service, bringing back to government service a veteran covert operator who left almost three years ago after a confrontation with aides to Hayden’s predecessor, former congressman Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.).

In announcing the appointment, Hayden described Sulick as „a familiar figure to many of you“ and „a sea-soned operations officer“ who „earned a reputation for superior tradecraft and sound judgment.“

In November 2004, Stephen R. Kappes, then CIA deputy director of operations, the top spy position, and Sulick, then his deputy, became involved in a controversy involving leaks to the media, which pitted them against members of Goss’s senior staff who had come with the congressman to the agency from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Sulick reportedly argued against transferring a senior officer who was accused of the leak. As events es-calated, Kappes and Sulick resigned.

Their departure was followed by a rash of resignations from other senior clandestine operatives. „Their leaving,“ a former senior CIA officer said yesterday, „led to the loss of a number of talented people which the agency is still recovering from.“

With Kappes returning as Hayden’s No. 2 in July 2006 and Sulick coming back this month, Hayden has brought back to the CIA two men who in 2004 developed a plan for the agency to get back to tradecraft basics in the wake of intelligence failures related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Fehler! Hy-perlink-Referenz ungültig.’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction.

„They just did not have time to get started on that when they were forced out of the agency,“ the senior official said. Sulick had been head of counterintelligence and previously served overseas for 10 years in positions where he was operating against the KGB. „He never should have been allowed to leave,“ one senior official said yesterday.

As head of the National Clandestine Service, Sulick will help direct and coordinate all foreign intelligence activities, whether conducted by the CIA or the Pentagon.

In announcing the appointment to the CIA staff, Hayden noted that Sulick „speaks his mind,“ in an appar-ent reference to the controversy with Goss’s staff three years ago.

Pamela Hess / AP – Tracking scientists moving from country to country to share their expertise in building biological weapons is a major challenge, a top U.S. intelligence official said Wednesday.

Unlike nuclear weapons or missiles, biological weapons can be manufactured in relatively nondescript facilities that are hard to detect. That makes tracking the people with the know-how to build the weapons themselves even more critical, said Vice Adm.

Robert Murrett, director of the National Geospatial Intelli-gence Agency. The agency analyzes imagery intelligence that comes from aircraft and satellites.

Biological weapons use viruses, bacteria or toxins rather than explosives to target people, animals or agri-culture. They can be loaded onto a traditional warhead or dispersed by less sophisticated methods, like the letters containing deadly anthrax spores mailed to Congress and media outlets in 2001.
Because they are easier to hide than nuclear weapons or missiles, biological weapons are best tracked by monitoring those with expertise to make them – a formidable challenge in itself, Murrett said.

„The kind of challenge we have for proliferation which I think is tougher is, for example, the transfer of individual scientists from country A to country B,“ he said at a breakfast with defense reporters.

Tracking individuals trying to spread biological weapons know-how is beyond the capabilities of his agency alone, Murrett said. It requires multiple intelligence agencies to combine their intercepts, data bases and analyses. „That’s probably working as well today as maybe it ever has,“ he said.

The NGA’s classified annual budget has increased significantly in the past five years, in large part to sup-port the demands of war commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

Murrett said he has sent additional people to Iraq to help with U.S. efforts to target insurgents at the neighborhood level and more recently to Afghanistan to focus on the Pakistan border, where al-Qaida has re-established itself.

World Content News – Noch herrscht offiziell eisiges Schweigen über die Untersuchungen der in Yukatan abgestürzten Gulfstream, die im September mit tonnenschwerer Kokain-Fracht unterwegs war. World.Content.News erbrachte als erster den Nachweis, dass die Maschine N987SA in der Vergangenheit mindestens dreimal auf Guantanamo landete. Nun hat sich in den USA auch der Radiosender „Chicago Public Radio“ des brisanten Themas angenommen und dazu mehrere kritische Journalisten aus den USA und Mexiko interviewt.

Original-Quelle

Alternativ: Radio-Bericht als MP3-Stream

Multimedia:
–Photos of the Narcoavión
–Video of N987SA Crash Site from Mexican TV
–Flightaware.com Flight Records

Extended Interviews [MP3]:
–Por Esto Publisher, Mario Menendez Rodriguez
–Author and investigative journalist, Daniel Hopsicker

Before President Bush proposed giving the Mexican government more than a billion dollars in aid to fight the war on drugs last week…We noticed a strange phenomenon.

Either it’s a series of coincidences,
Or it’s evidence of serious corruption…

They have a word for it in Spanish:

MARIO MENENDEZ RODRIGUEZ “Narcoavion, that’s how we say it”

Drug Planes.

And if you try to figure what happened to one of these planes, you’ll discover just how little you’re allowed to know

SECRETARY: “I’m not allowed to answer any questions regarding the aircraft”

…about the world of private jets and drugs.
So let’s start out with what we are allowed to know.
On a late Sunday Night last month, an American Gulfstream two private jet, crash-landed into the jungles of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

It managed to avoid catching fire, skidding across the jungle floor, and splitting into three pieces. Mexican TV showed images of the plane and its cargo… dozens of “military style” duffel bags containing several metric tons of cocaine. [1]

The reason this made the news is the history of the plane, tail number N987SA…Starting in 2003, the plane made several trips from Washington and Connecticut to Guantanamo Bay. This led to questions of its use by military or intelligence agencies. Since… how many people really fly from Connecticut to Guantanamo?

JAY ROOT: I mean, if you’re flyin to Guantanamo, its government business,

That was Jay Root, he reported on the plane for McClatchy Newspapers with his partner Kevin Hall.

KEVIN HALL: The CIA’s confirmed it was used, it was not confirmed now, it was confirmed in earlier reports through the tail numbers

The plane shows up on the list of CIA planes compiled for the EU human rights investigation into the “extraordinary rendition” program. Still, just being used in the program doesn’t mean it was ever used to transfer prisoners. Only 2% of the its flights had prisoners on board… the rest were logistical support.

ROOT: You know in some cases, soldiers literally, or you know,  CIA interrogators missed starbucks coffee so they would fly in some Starbucks coffee.

But even if the CIA was just using it for coffee runs…it was still a CIA jet. But the big question is:  Was it still a CIA jet at the time it crashed full of drugs?

OFFICIAL: I can neither confirm nor deny

Tracing who the last owner was raises more questions than it answers. First: FAA records show the company that had the plane during its Guantanamo flights sold it on August 30[2]

The new owner? „Donna Blue Aircraft“[3] a corporation recently registered in South Florida to two Brazilians

HALL: one of these mailboxes-are-us type of business

Donnablueaircraft dot com was registered just ten days before they bought the plane[4] So is this just a Front Company?  Investigative journalist Daniel Hopsicker visited Donna Blue’s listed address… He found an empty office suite, a blank sign, and six unmarked police cruisers parked in front.[5]

HOPSICKER: It’s a phony front company

Exactly who these Brazilians are is a whole ‘nuther story

HOPSICKER: Non-US citizens are not allowed to own N-Numbered Planes…and…neither one of these guys appears to be a US Citizen

HALL: he didn’t check either box as to whether he was a US citizen

After just two weeks, the plane was sold again in another mysterious transaction. The only evidence for this is an anomalous bill of sale with the name of the new owner: “Clyde O’Connor” He’s a well-known guy around Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport.

HALL:  I had the sense they seemed to have known more about him than they were letting on, he seems to be a veteran around that area, who’s got a bit of a checkered past.

O’Connor’s been involved in at least two plane crashes and he was cited for Criminal Air Safety Violations in 2001,

NORMAN: He’d gone through bankruptcies, a divorce, he’s a chronic traffic offender

Florida reporter [and Blogger @ the Broward Palm Beach New Times] Bob Norman tried to track down O’Connor.

NORMAN: He’s a slippery guy, … and where the money’s coming from, I think that’s a big question

Kevin Hall was wondering about O’Connor’s money too.

HALL: …seems to own a $450,000 house, so he seems to be doin pretty well even though his businesses are going bad

He has two corporations registered in his name, but they’re run out of Post Office Boxes and their phones are disconnected. Bob went looking for O’Connor at Ft. Lauderdale executive airport.  He just missed him.

NORMAN: I don’t know why he was there but it was the talk of the airport

So Bob reported he had been seen around the Ft Lauderdale airport days after the crash.  The same day his story came out, O’Connor left the country in a hurry.[6] He flew to Canada and was arrested right away for lying about the guns in his bag.[7] Then, he paid several thousand dollars to get his plane back and then flew it to the Azores. He still doesn’t appear to be under investigation for any wrongdoing, despite being the cocaine plane’s owner of record. This really gets Bob Norman’s goat…

NORMAN: This is a trail that needs to be investigated, Clyde O’Connor needs to be investigated

And according to the bill of sale…He was the lawful owner of the plane.

SLACK: Even though the paperwork may not be on record and filed, presumptive ownership transfers on the date of sale

There’s another big question about Clyde…

ROOT: Who actually piloted the plane out of the US was it Mr. O’Connor, who wasn’t certified?…

So did he fly it illegally or did someone else fly it?
And also: who gave O’Connor the money to buy the plane?
According to the Brazilian owner, O’Connor was buying the plane on behalf of someone else… Then who’s he buying it for?
There was another name on the bill of Sale:   Greg Smith, the only person involved in the deal not to have left the country. So Dan Hopsicker tried to get his side of the story,

HOPSICKER: The pilots aren’t talking to the press so I asked someone who I know does business with the two pilots to call and Greg Smith blurted out ‘it was Don’s money’…

That’s Don Whittington, a convicted drug smuggler, tax evader and champion race car driver[8]

Several of his planes were named in investigations of the CIA rendition program[9] but we’ll get back to him later. So What do we know so far…Weve got a crashed drug plane in Mexico…It’s got a history of government use…It changes hands twice in a couple weeks before crashing…

And the people involved in the deal, Clyde O’Connor, Greg Smith, the Brazilian Lawyer Joao Luis Malago…don’t appear to have the means to throw down two million dollars of their own cash to buy a jet…

But let’s head down to Mexico to find out what happened once the plane left Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport, a week before its crash?

Steve Robertson, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration…

ROBERTSON: I can confirm that a plane crashed, and a large amount of cocaine, over three tons of cocaine was on the plane,

He said US Federal Agents are “assisting” with the investigation but that’s all he could say. Through email, NTSB told me they cant give “any additional information about the nature of that technical assistance”[10] So what’s the Mexican government’s story?[11]

They say the plane arrived in Cancun the same day it left Florida…But they’ve refused to show airport records to skeptical journalists…

ROOT: and I’ve tried with the Mexican Aviation authorities and they’re locked down they won’t give me anything

Newspapers wrote that Mexican military aircraft intercepted the plane.[12]

MENENDEZ: THAT’S BULL—T…I think that’s how you say it in English

Mario Menéndez Rodríguez is the editor and publisher of !Por Esto!

His reward for reporting on high-level corruption? He gets grenades thrown in his offices[13]

MENENDEZ: They tried to kill me they tried to kidnap me several times, I cannot go anywhere

So Why’d the plane crash? Apparently they hadn’t bribed the right people. Menendez says the Air Traffic Controllers who were expecting the plane had gone home for the night, and the new shift denied permission to land. Who was on board? Officially, nobody was found at the crash site…but, Menendez says soldiers blocked off the area from everybody—even DEA agents—while they “secured the area.”

MENENDEZ: They didn’t allow the police, they didn’t allow the civil authorities, they didn’t allow the newspapermen to enter               

So he sent an undercover reporter to the crash site

MENEDEZ: we got close to the airplane and saw when they were taking part of the cocaine

He says there was actually more drugs than the government admitted…

MENENDEZ: They took HALF of it

Later, Mexico’s attorney general, the PGR, announced the arrest of several people in the case…They admit two of them were never on the plane.  Allegedly, they tried to bribe some soldiers…

LORES: Those poor two guys didn’t do anything

Rafael Lores, a reporter for Por Esto also checked into the alleged pilot,

LORES: Nobody knows him, I called the pilot’s association in Mexico City, they have a record of every single pilot and they don’t know him

Despite repeated requests, the PGR has not clarified these discrepancies. 
The plane crash occurred in the midst of an increasingly violent and expensive drug war in Mexico.  From Mexico, Jay Root told me the violence was as bad as ever…

ROOT: daily basically executions, people get their heads chopped off and stuck on the gate outside city hall…

And the US wants to spend more money there. The Bush administration has asked Congress for almost one-and-a-half-billion dollars in counter-narcotics aid.[14]

ROOT: I would like to see where the money’s all goin to get spent and whether there’s going to be any record keeping of it.

We’re not allowed to see that yet. South Florida has long been central to the drug war…and the terror war. Especially Ft Lauderdale Executive Airport says local reporter Bob Norman…

NORMAN: It has a reputation as a place where smuggling has occured

South Florida, where the 9/11 pilots practiced on private planes, [15] Has plenty of room for shady operators… Remember Don Whittington from earlier in the story? Alleged financier of the drug-plane and owner of several other rendition planes? He runs the largest operation at Ft Lauderdale executive: “World Jet International”?

HOPSICKER: When Wally Hilliard, the owner of the flight school Mohammed Atta went to bought a lear jet that was busted with 43 pounds of heroin—

Tail number N-351 WB…

HOPSICKER: He got his Lear Jet from Don Whittington too…

I asked aviation attorney Michael Slack, “what’s stopping someone from buying a private plane and then filling it up with drugs or explosives or guns?”

SLACK: Nothing. You know, you have various places where something like that could be detected, but as long as the people doing it know how to make it look normal…then its not gonna get detected

A good way to detect that sort of thing would be to check out the flight records.. An FAA representative told me: the rules were changed after 9/11. Record-keeping has been privatized to Lockheed Martin, So now, flight records are private.  And then theres the loopholes in outdated FAA rules and filing systems. Dan Hopsicker told me how you do it if you want to use a private plane for something shady…

HOPSICKER: you and I sign papers transferring the plane to me

But instead of sending them to the FAA

HOPSICKER: you hold them

And if everything goes according to plan, as it normally does

HOPSICKER: you tear up the documents, if however, I get busted in Mexico with the plane

Then you send it in to FAA and there’s a 30 day window after the sale to receive the paperwork… Then you’ve jumped the legal hurdles and muddied the waters for anyone trying to figure out what went down. And that’s exactly what the evidence suggests these guys did..

ROOT:…they claim, hey we sold it, here’s the bill of sale, and the FAA says no we’ve never gotten that, and its sort of a he-said she said.

 Unless there’s a random “ramp check” there’s never anyone to check if the pilot is licensed, let alone to inspect what’s in those hundreds of black duffel bags you’re carrying.

SLACK: That’s one reason people fly private aviation, is you don’t have to put up with the hassles,,,

HALL: you know, if you’re going to the airport like I did yesterday, you’ve got to take your boots off, your belt off

But if you’ve got the money for an airworthy plane…

HALL:  its all yours no questions ask, you want to fly it into a building, go, have at it.

So how much are we allowed to know about this plane?
For several years after 9/11, it was used by government agencies for something…Then…its quickly flipped… between some guys who were owners in name only. You’ve got this strange bill of sale:

SLACK: A its not proper, B its not legal, whether they get away with it is another matter

You’ve got these disappearing Pilots

LORES: This guy doesn’t exist

MENENDEZ: The CIA, when they fly the plane, they don’t give it to someone they don’t know

A month after the crash, There’s still a whole bunch of unanswered questions:
Who piloted the plane out of the country?
Is anyone being held accountable in the US?
Why hasn’t this story been covered in the US?

MENENDEZ: the only reason I can print this is because the newspaper belongs to me and only me…

Why aren’t US authorities talking about it?
What do they know about Clyde O’Connor, these Brazilians, and whoever was on the plane?

ROOT: Do they know and they’re not saying or do they not know, I mean, either one is fairly…damning.

Maybe the documented cases of protected drug smuggling in Laos, Afghanistan, Nicaragua and El Salvador wasn’t just an isolated incident.
Maybe this isn’t either, but instead, more of the kind of corruption that’s long been alleged, rarely admitted and sometimes proven.

---

[1] USA Today, 9-27-07
[2] McClatchy Washington Bureau
[3] Donna Blue Aircraft Corporate Records
[4] donnablueaircraft.com WHOIS network data
[5] Mad Cow Morning News
[6] Broward Palm Beach New Times, 10-11-07
[7] Chronicle Herald [Canada]
[8] New York Times 3-16-86
[9] List of CIA Flights, World Content Today & CIA Flights 2006, World Content Today
[10]  NTSB Email to Jonah Meadows: „We are aware of this incident and we did provide technical assistance to the Mexican government, however we cannot provide any additional information about the nature of that technical assistance.“
[11] Cronica [ESP]
[12] Proceso[ESP]
[13] NarcoNews
[15] Testimony at Joint Congressional 9/11 Committee

World.Content.News:

FAA-Flight records N987SA (2001- Sept. 2007)
List of civilian planes flown to Guantanamo (Tail-numbers, 2003-2006)

Guantanamo-Flieger stürzt mit 4 Tonnen Kokain an Bord in den Dschungel Yukatans
N987SA: Neue Spuren im Dschungel von Drogen und CIA
Guantanamo Bay – auch Ausflugsziel für Schmuggler ?

World Content News – Neue Recherchen des investigativen Journalisten Daniel Hopsicker über die Drahtzieher des Kokainschmuggels im Zusammenhang mit der Gulfstream N987SA, die im September mit 3,7 Tonnen Kokain in Yukatan abstürzte, führen nicht nur zu alten Bekannten in diesem Business, plötzlich stellt sich die bisher eigentlich abwegige Frage: Ist die Festung Guantanamo auch ein sicherer Hort für den Drogenumschlag?

Wir erinnern uns: Der Kokain-Transporter N987SA war unter seinem früheren Besitzer S/A Holdings auch drei mal auf den für Zivilflugzeugen normalerweise gesperrten Flughafen von Guantanamo Bay (ICAO-Code: MUGM) gelandet. Gefangene waren wohl nicht an Bord, die Maschine startete jeweils von den USA aus zum Gefängnisstützpunkt (von Washington-Dulles bzw. Oxford, CT).

Abgestürzte N987SA: Mal Kokain, mal Guantanamo

Hopsicker will nun herausbekommen haben, woher die zwei Millionen Dollar stammen, mit denen die letzten Besitzer über die Blitzverkäufe (30.08.07, 14.09.07) das Flugzeug via Barzahlung (!) erworben haben. Eine nicht näher benannte Quelle aus dem Umfeld der Flugsicherungsbehörde soll ihm bestätigt haben, dass nach den Aussagen von Greg Smith (neben Clyde O’Connor einer der beiden Unternehmer der in Zahlungsschwierigkeiten geratenen Firma Execstar Aviation) ein gewisser Don Whittington aus Fort Lauderdale der Geldgeber gewesen war. Der nebenbei auch noch noch die Erlaubnis für Landungen auf Guantanamo besass.

Dieser Don Whittington ist nicht nur ein rechtskräftig verurteilter Drogenschmuggler und Geldwäscher, er war auch Geschäftspartner des Multimillionärs Wally Hilliard, an dessen Flugschule Huffman Aviation der mutmaßliche Attentäter des 11. September, Mohamed Atta, das Fliegen lernte. Hilliard selbst wiederum wurde im Juli 2000 beim Schmuggel von 43 Pfund Heroin in Orlando erwischt, verurteilt wurde er deswegen aber nicht. Coole Zustände.

Wally’s Schmuggel- Learjet N351WB (Seriennr. 35-355, akt: N721EC, Foto) hatte ihm acht Monate zuvor wiederum Whittington via World Jet Inc verkauft. Die ursprüngliche Herkunft dieses Jets ist unklar, in der unvollständigen Historie der Besitzer taucht erstmals eine Gulfstream Aviation Enterprises Inc (Firmeninhaber: DALE L. Whittington) auf.

Wie es das Schicksal so will: Die Whittingtons verfügten in den 80er Jahren zudem über einen privaten Learjet 23 mit der Seriennummer 23-009, von dem sie sich trennen mussten (einige Quellen sprechen davon, er wurde ihnen geklaut). Hopsicker weist nach, dass dieses Flugzeug in die Hände des 1986 ermordeten Drogenschmugglerkönigs Barry Seal geriet.

1963: Porter Goss & Barry Seal (3. von links, The CIA, the Mob & America’s Secret History

Seal wiederum verkaufte den Jet offiziell kurz vor seinem gewaltsamen Tod unter der Registriernummer N13SN (akt: N23BY, Foto) an den nach Hopsickers Meinung bisherigen eigentlichen Besitzer: die Firma Intercontinental Holding Company, die von der CIA in den 60er Jahren auf Grand Cayman aufgebaut wurde. Deren Gründer war der bereits 1976 verstorbene Paul Helliwell, nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Chef der OSS (Vorläuferorganisation der CIA) in Europa und Haupt-Finanzier der Schweinebucht-Invasion auf Kuba.

Aber damit nicht genug – aus den Aufzeichnungen der FAA geht hervor: Nicht nur der aufgeflogene Kokaintransporter N987SA – auch zwei Firmen von Whittington, World Jet Inc. und World Jet of Delaware haben mit diversen Flugzeugen zwischen 2004 und 2006 gleich mehrmals Guantanamo Bay angesteuert. Und der Schmuggler Wally Hilliard mit der N35NK (ein weiterer Learjet, registriert auf Plane I Leasing Co., stand u.a. in Europa mit dem Folgebesitzer Aircraft Guaranty und dem dänischen Operator Nordic Aviation unter CIA-Verdacht) durfte auch mal landen. So viele Kokain-Cookies auf einem kleinen gut bewachten Teller – ist das noch Zufall?

30.05.2003	N987SA	S/A Hold.	Oxford, CT	Guantanamo
12.04.2004	N987SA	S/A Hold.	Washington	Guantanamo
29.04.2004	N35NK	Plane I	Ft. Lauderd. Ex	Guantanamo
20.01.2005	N987SA	S/A Hold.	Washington	Guantanamo
28.02.2005	N229WJ	WJoD	Ft. Lauderd. Ex	Guantanamo
04.03.2005	N229WJ	WJoD	Ft. Lauderd. Ex	Guantanamo
05.09.2005	N252WJ	World Jet	Ft. Lauderd. Ex	Guantanamo
03.04.2006	N200LJ	WJoD	Ft. Lauderd. Ex	Guantanamo
21.07.2006	N200LJ	WJoD	Ft. Lauderd. Ex	Guantanamo

Die N500ND (World Jet Of Delaware Inc) landete ebenfalls auf Guantanamo, hier sind leider momentan keine Flugdaten verfügbar. Die sieht nämlich nach einem Unfall auf der Karibikinsel Dominica derzeit so aus:

11.08.2007: Whittingtons N500ND rutscht auf Dominica über die Landebahn hinaus

Die US-Abflugsorte bezüglich Guantanamo lassen jedoch nicht den Schluss zu, dass mit den Flugzeugen Gefangene transportiert wurden. Aber was war es dann? Logistische Transporte für das Verteidigungsministerium? Wohl nicht – es lassen sich keine derartigen Verträge finden, die nach US-Recht veröffentlicht werden müssen. CIA-Hilfsdienste? Möglich. Aber inzwischen scheinen auch Zusammenhänge mit Drogentransporten denkbar. Es gibt nämlich noch mehr Guantanamo-Lander, die in diesem Dunstkreis unterwegs waren.

Guantanamo-Landungen N507EB (JRW Aviation):

31.01.2003	N507EB	Fort Lauderdale, FL	Guantanamo
03.08.2003	N507EB	Fort Lauderdale, FL	Guantanamo
06.04.2004	N507EB	Sanford, FL	Guantanamo
01.10.2004	N507EB	Fort Lauderdale, FL	Guantanamo
01.03.2005	N507EB	Fort Lauderdale, FL	Guantanamo
23.07.2005	N507EB	Fort Lauderdale, FL	Guantanamo

JRW Aviation. N507EB (Beech B300), damaliger Besitzer: James R. Wikert. Dieser taucht auch in der Flugzeughistorie der beiden DC-9 auf, die im April 2006 in den 5,5 t schweren Kokainfund auf dem mexikanischen Flughafen Ciudad del Carmen verwickelt waren:

N900SA – JRW war Operator unter HW Aviation, unmittelbar bevor sie zu SkyWay/Royal Sons wechselte (Quelle: hier, Firmenzusammenhänge: hier)

N911SY – Wikert war Eigentümer von 1987-89 (registriert auf N120NE danach ging das Flugzeug unmittelbar für kurze Zeit an die Stiftung ALG Aeroleasing SA in der Schweiz, bis 1999 eine Geldwaschanlage des „Frachtunternehmers“ und Waffenschmugglers Farhad Azima, der im Juli 1986 mit einer Boeing 707 (N345FA) im Auftrag der CIA 23 t Missiles in den Iran geliefert haben soll (Quelle). Und wenn wir schon mal beim Lüften sind – Hopsicker weiß noch:

Based at the Clearwater-St. Petersburg International Airport, both “Cocaine One,” and its twin, a second DC9 (N120NE) were being used by an operation which includes the former head of the CIA proprietary airline used to ferry TOW missiles to the Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime in Iran, as part of the Iran Contra Scandal. (Artikel)

Ist damit zumindest ein Teil der Flugzeuge identifiziert, die Khomeni im Krieg gegen den Irak wiederholt mit Raketen versorgten? Es ergibt sich eine relativ hohe Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass die Berichte zutreffend sein könnten.

Die Boeing 707 war von 1978 bis 2005 durchgängig in den Händen Azimas, die N120NE von 1989-1995 (nach Wikert). Beide Maschinen weisen in ihrer Flugzeughistorie (allerdings 3 Jahre nach den Teheran-Flügen) die Schweizer ALG Aeroleasing SA aus (was den Autoren wohl kaum bekannt gewesen sein dürfte), deren Anzahl an operierenden Flugzeugen ist wiederum überschaubar. Neben der Boeing 707 und der DC-9 (vorübergehend umregistriert auf HB-IFA) waren offenbar nur noch drei weitere Flieger im Einsatz: eine weitere DC-9 (HB-IEF), ein Learjet 36 (HB-VFD) sowie eine Falcon 900B (HB-IAC).

Dass die Schweiz eine zentrale Rolle in der Iran-Contra-Affäre spielte, belegt auch der Untersuchungsbericht von Lawrence E. Walsh, ehemaliger Richter und stellvertretender Justizminister unter Dwight D. Eisenhower über die Vorgänge um den in der Schweiz ansässigen Finanzier Willard I. Zucker:

„Upon leaving the Air Force, Secord went into business with Hakim, co-founding in 1983 Stanford Technology Trading Group International (STTGI). Using a complex web of secret Swiss bank accounts and shell corporations managed by Willard Zucker at Compagnie de Services Fiduciaires (CSF) in Geneva, they built a lucrative Enterprise from covert-operations business assigned to them by Lt. Col. Oliver L. North. …
… More than $47.6 million flowed from the Iran and contra operations into the Swiss Enterprise accounts. The receiving accounts were: Energy Resources International, S.A. ($11.3 million); Lake Resources Inc. ($31.5 million); and Hyde Park Square Corporation ($4.8 million).“ (Quelle)

Übrigens: Seit Februar 2007 hat die DC-9 wieder ihre alte Nummer N120NE aufgelegt. Eigentümer: Aircraft Guaranty, Operator: unbekannt, FAA-Flightrecords: gesperrt.

Aircraft Guaranty und Nordic Aviation: Dass die CIA andererseits bei einer ihrer Entführungen u.a. sogar mit dem ukrainischen Schmuggler Victor Bout – Spitzname: „Händler des Todes“ – zusammengearbeitet hat, zeigt eindrucksvoll der Bericht: Tracking the plane to nowhere über die Entführung von Khalid Mehmood Rashid. Er wurde im November 2005 mit einer Gulfstream II, Registriernummer A6-PHY verschleppt. Unmittelbar zuvor war er von den südafrikanischen Behörden an Vertreter der pakistanischen Regierung übergeben worden.

N512SD	OAI Air LLC	rgd 10.06.99
	Provident Bank	rgd 14.09.04
	Aircraft Guaranty	rgd 15.01.05, plit by Nordic Aviation Capital ApS, Denmark
A6-PHY	Phoenix Aviation	25.04.2005
N666SA	Aircraft Guaranty	rgd 28.12.06, plit by SG Air Leasing Ltd, Singapore

„The command of the CIA’s aviation operations was concealed in the UAE under the name of “Phoenix Aviation” with Bout nominee Alexy Yanshuk, a known mafia boss in command. The stories say that the US government was paying Yanshuk expenses in excess of one million dollar per month to set-up the operation.“
(Quelle: Bout, Bush and the CIA-terrorist )

Phoenix Aviation wurde inzwischen aufgelöst und heißt nun AVE.com. Aircraft Guaranty ist hauptsächlich ein Trust, bei dem Nicht-US-Bürger eine N-Registrierung ihres Flugzeugs erhalten können, dies wird aber auch von der CIA genutzt. Nordic Aviation hat ihren Sitz in Billund, Dänemark und wiederum eine US-Zweigstelle in St. Petersburg-Clearwater, wo auch die N120NE zuletzt im Juli dieses Jahres gesehen worden sein soll.

Zum Schluss dieses Roundabout sei noch bemerkt: Damit ist nicht bewiesen, dass es auf Guantanamo zuweilen auch schneit, vielmehr zeigt sich die Quicklebendigkeit und Vielseitigkeit dieses Netzwerkes aus Mafia und Geheimdiensten, was wiederum die Vermutung nahelegt, dass die CIA auch in Europa nicht nur in Sachen Anti-Terror-Kampf und Spionageabwehr unterwegs ist.

In Kürze auf diesem Blog:

Weitere mutmaßliche Drogenflüge der N987SA in Mexiko
Clyde O’Connor bewaffnet auf der Flucht vor CIA und Behörden
Die Chernoy-Kislin-Mafia: IOC-, BAWAG- und Mobiltel-Skandale.

Quellen:
Pilot of Crashed Drug Flight: „Don’s $2 Million Bought the Plane“
(madcowprod.com, 17.10.2007)
The coke jet mystery: The latest developments
(cannonfire.blogspot.com, 18.10.2007)
The Crimes of Mena (oraclesyndicate.twoday.net, 18.10.2006)
Das Old Boys Netzwerk (oraclesyndicate.twoday.net, 26.04.2006)
Die Old Boys Dirigenten von Genf
(oraclesyndicate.twoday.net, 27.04.2006)
Uwe Barschel zwischen Ehrenwort, Waffenhändlern und der Stasi
(Berliner Morgenpost, 30.09.2007)
Viktor Bout, Afrikas “Merchant of Death”
(oraclesyndicate.twoday.net, 03.07.2007)

N987SA-Chronik:
Guantanamo-Flieger stürzt mit 4 Tonnen Kokain an Bord in den Dschungel Yukatans (25.09.07)
N987SA: Neue Spuren im Dschungel von Drogen und CIA (11.10.2007)
Gelandet: Guantanamo-Flieger sind identifiziert (02.02.2006)