Blackwater for sale

Blackwater, the private mercenary army was purchased by USTC Holdings on December 17, 2010. Let's pause for a moment and reflect upon that absurdity. Creating a privatized military then selling it to the highest bidder.

As we debate warrantless Internet surveillance we also need to discuss excessive privatization of the military because this is the dark road Stephen Harper wants to take us down. Conservatives claim that the private sector runs business more efficiently and can be a better steward of taxpayers resources then the government can.

Enron and the California prisons systems are two prime examples of how false that is but there are many more. Blackwater is another. Privatizing the military sounds like something from a B rated horror film. Yet this is our modern reality south of the 49. The problem with excessive privatization is the removal of public accountability.

We've mentioned how Haliburton made a fortune out of the invasion of Iraq. Well Blackwater was right there too. In fact after hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, within a week Blackwater was hired by the Department of Homeland Security to operate in the US gulf, billing the federal government $950.00 a day for each Blackwater soldier. In less than a year, the company had raked in more than $70 million in federal hurricane related contracts.

That's a lot of money. Not only that, what are Blackwater soldiers doing patrolling the United States after a hurricane? They're not handing out relief aid. They're using a military to prevent looting and who knows what else. This was a sad insider trading deal when the same government was turning away truck loads of aid from other agencies. Instead of embezzling that much tax dollars to a private mercenary army, they could have spent it on relief. The violations of the US Constitution that resulted from Blackwater occupation of New Orleans was astonishing. That is not what happens in a free and democratic society. Authorizing a private company to enter someone's home and use lethal force is astonishing.

Greystone Limited is one of the many shell companies operating under Blackwater's umbrella that was registered as an off shore tax exempt corporate entity in 2004. The countries which Greystone claimed to draw recruits from was the Philippines, Chile, Nepal, Columbia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras and Peru. In Iraq, Blackwater has deployed scores of Chilean mercenaries, some of whom trained and served under the brutal regime of Augusto Pinochet. (Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill Page xxiii)

A lack of public accountability isn't the only reason these mercenaries are being used. They have a lack of legal accountability too. Blackwater argues that since they are part of the US Military total force they are exempt from civil laws. Yet they also argue that since they are civilians and not part of the government's military they are also exempt from military discipline.

This dark road is where the unthinkable happens. This is where we in North America lose our liberty as safeguarded by the Constitution the snake oil salesmen quoted to create the clone army. It is a dark day for the republic indeed. Blackwater is now also called Xe Services.

The name change is timely. It comes after two former Blackwater employees filed court documents claiming that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. It also comes after allegations of arms smuggling.

The London Ballistic Report

Now let’s look specifically at the ballistic report from the London shooting that started the riot. The ballistic report said the suspect never fired at police as was previously claimed. Was that initial claim a mistake or was it a premeditated lie? It is theoretically possible that the police heard a car back fire or some other loud noise and misinterpreted that for gun fire. Yet that’s not what they claimed.

They didn’t say we heard shots fired so we returned fire. They said the suspect shot a police officer in the chest and the bullet hit his police radio which saved his life. They said at that point marksmen from CO19 opened fired and killed the suspect.

Yet the ballistic report said the bullet that hit the police radio was from a police issued firearm. It is possible the suspect had in his possession a stolen police issued firearm. There was a to serve and protect show where a kid on a bicycle in New York had in his possession a firearm issued to the California police department.
Yet that’s not what happened. The suspect did not have a police issued firearm in his possession. In fact the gun that was in his possession hadn’t been fired. The ballistic report gave the officers the benefit of the doubt and said perhaps when CO19 was shooting the suspect, one of the bullets ricocheted and hit the police officer.

As incredibly unlikely as that would be, that too is not what they said. They didn’t say CO19 fired at the suspect then the police officer was hit in the chest by a bullet. They said the police officer was hit with a bullet then they fired upon the suspect. No doubt there will be a huge disinformation campaign including a twisted corner report just like the many suspect reports given by Fanny Mallick in Mena Arkansas. Yet the fact remains the police lied and that is serious.

Another possibility is that they shot the suspect then tried to cover their tracks by claiming he shot at them first. Planting a gun in his possession then shooting a police radio and claiming the officer was wearing it would indeed be bizarre. That’s something from a low budget crime movie. Yet that clearly is the most plausible scenario.

Let’s wait and see if anyone from the independent investigation that produced the ballistic report dies of a suspicious suicide. Wouldn’t that be ironic. Let’s also wait and see how the agency twists the report in their smear campaign against the suspect. Flooding the media with a picture of the suspect holding his fingers like a gun doesn’t change the fact that he did not fire at the police and the fact that the police lied.

There is no doubt that with a riot of this magnitude, MI6 would be employed to help quell the riot. Perhaps their contacts with the media would be used to help do damage control. We know with Operation Mass Appeal, MI6 was directly involved in sending false information to the press.

It would also appear that they made an error on 9/11 when they sent out the press release to the BBC about the collapse of the third tower in New York before it actually happened. The BBC tried to cover it’s tracks in that case and said if the BBC reported an event before it actually happened they were in no way involved in any conspiracy connected to the event. It simply means they made a mistake.

No it doesn’t. Reporting a murder before it happened isn’t just a mistake. If they reported that the third tower fell and it never fell that would have been a mistake. Reporting that the Third Tower fell before it fell, when it actually did fall represents insider information. “Someone” sent the press release out a few minutes too early. That was the mistake. They pulled that building and they knew it was going to collapse before it happened.

The Dark Agency

Agency is the freedom to choose. It’s also another name for the CIA. Often the CIA is referred to as the Company or the Agency. It does exist. It’s a secret society whose mandate is murder to get gain. The absence of public accountability is a great concern. When the police or the government make a mistake, that mistake is hidden with denial as the whistle blower is slandered, yet all in all when the truth finally comes out, the police and the government are publicly accountable. Intelligence agencies are not.

When the agency makes a mistake or breaks the law, that becomes a state secret and the use of deadly force is authorized to protect state secrets. Before Operation Northwoods became a declassified document, that was a state secret. When Kennedy warned us about secret societies, he wasn’t referring to the Freemasons. He was referring to the CIA. Allen Dulles and Operation 40.

It is shocking to hear the news that CO19 lied about Mark Duggan firing at them before they shot him dead. They simply lied about it and broke the law. Another recent headline in England was the Murdoch scandal. An overzealous tabloid was wiretapping telephones to get the inside scoop. They even hacked into a missing teenager's phone system as well as the family of a murdered schoolgirl trying to get inside information. They even wire tapped members of the Royal Family’s phone.

My first impression was how on earth is a newspaper going to have the technology and ability to tap the Royal Family’s phone without the help of MI 6. It just doesn’t make sense. Then we read that not only were government politicians involved in the scandal but so were members of the police. That’s starting to make more sense. Only the week after the whistle blower leaked out the fact that the police were involved in the scandal, the whistle blower and the only witness was found dead. That is profoundly significant.

Was killing him protecting a state secret? Was the use of deadly force authorized to protect that state secret? We’ll never know because the Agency has absolutely no public accountability. It does look highly suspicious as does the death of Dr. Kelly.

MI6 was caught red handed giving false information to the media about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. The whistle blower that leaked that information out to the public was a British weapons inspector in Iraq named David Kelly. He died of a suspicious suicide. Then the spin doctors had the audacity to blame Iraq. They claimed that Iraq’s secret service must have killed him because they were upset with him being a weapons inspector and exposing the fact that Iraq had WMD.

Except Iraq didn’t have any WMD and Dr. Kelly knew that. Dr. Kelly leaked that fact out to the media. That fact is something Iraq would have wanted the world to know. The only way Iraq’s secret service would have wanted him dead is if they were the ones still on MI6 and the CIA’s payroll from back when they put Saddam Hussein in power and were selling him chemical weapons to use on Iran.

So in England we have two suspicious suicides that are profoundly significant. Sean Hoare and Dr. Kelly. Likewise in the United States we have two other suspicious suicides that are profoundly significant: Gary Webb and Danny Casolaro. Gary Webb published documentation linking the CIA to arms and drug smuggling in Nicaragua which fueled the LA crack epidemic in the /80’s.

Catherine Austin Fitts used to be part of the Bush Administration. She worked for the US government. She knew how the attack poodles operated in their disinformation campaigns set out to discredit whistle blowers. That is why she found the Gary Webb story so plausible.

Unfortunately there is no happy ending to this story. There’s nothing we can do right now to fix the problem. Other than opening our eyes and refuse to drink the kool aid. That is the first step. The next step is to stop passing unpatriotic legislation that empowers these dark agencies to spy on ordinary citizens without a search warrant.

Charges against CO19 over Mark Duggan's murder

We've talked about how bad looting is and how self defeating lawlessness is. Now we need to talk about what kind of charges are going to be pursued against the police officers who lied about the suspect they were following and murdered.

The officers from Scotland Yard's CO19 lied as did the police on scene who filed the report. That is a colossal breach of public trust. We also need to address the Agency that was sending out press releases to the media with false information. Again.

Unfortunately, David Cameron promises to crackdown on rioters without mentioning a word about charging any of the police officers who lied and murdered the suspect that caused the riot. That is not equal protection of the law. In fact that one sided application of the law promotes lawlessness because it mocks justice.

I do think looters should be charged. However charging looters but not charging the police officers who lied and murdered a suspect is a sad example of the social injustice that exists not only in England but in the West.

Instead of dealing with the issue he is exploiting the riot to rationalize Internet surveillance and the removal of civil liberties which local rights groups are concerned about.

Oh but don't look now but even the police are upset about David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May for saying they had ordered the crackdown on the rioters and his accusations that police were too timid to take action against the thugs and looters. Let's not deploy Blackwater mercenaries in England.

These were supposed to be poor inner city kids on welfare. They can't afford blackberry plans. Yet he wants to exploit the opportunity to create a warrant less surveillance state of all blackberries. Getting a search warrant to spy on a suspected criminal is not a difficult task. It's only a difficult task if you want to spy on them for their political beliefs. This is so wrong.

It was the elite squad that caused the problem by murdering a suspect then lying about the fact that he had fired upon them. Now the evil emperor wants to remove civil liberties and deploy the clone army. Are we all really that blind?

It's not about impoverished young people. It's about getting caught murdering a suspect and getting caught lying about it, then doing nothing about it. That is what this is about. We can talk about the social conditions until the cows come home. That will not right this wrong. Charging Co19 with murder and breach of trust will.

RCMP convicted of beating his ex wife

Here's an RCMP officer that was convicted of beating his wife and careless use of a firearm. This guy is not stable. He should not have a firearm license let alone be a police officer. He was convicted of hitting her in the head and face and putting the gun to his head saying look at what you've done to me. This guy needs help. He is unstable. The last thing Kelowna needs is another Geoff Mantler.

Harper's Internet Surveillance Legislation

Here it is. Canada's own Unpatriotic Act where the government creates a law that gives them the right to warrantless surveillance of the Internet. No big surprise but very concerning to say the least. If Michael Giest is concerned, so am I.

It doesn't take much effort to get a search warrant for a suspected drug dealer. Removing the need to get a search warrant to do surveillance on the public is not a step towards democracy. It is a huge concern.

Remember Harper has a history of lying and firing whistle blowers. They kicked out a student from one of his speaking engagements because she posted a picture of herself on facebook with one of the other candidates. Not only is that bizarre, it's creepy. How did they know she posted a picture of herself with one of the other candidates on facebook? Who cares if she did. These intrusive laws sounds like the Iron Curtain. Macleans refers to it as Harper's promise: a warrantless online surveillance state.

Let's pause for a minute and ask ourselves who it is that we are empowering to spy on us. The Scotland Yard just got caught lying about a murder they committed. They claimed a suspect they were following fired upon them so they shot him dead. Yet the ballistic report proved they lied. So if they lied about that, what else would they lie about?

Remember the Murdoch wiretapping scandal? The week after the whistlebower leaked out the fact that police were involved with the illegal wiretapping he was found dead.

Nanaimo Assault

Two Nanaimo men face charges after a man suffered life-threatening injuries during a violent home invasion. Nanaimo RCMP say two men, with a baton and pit bull, assaulted a 30-year-old man inside a Giggleswick Place home. The victim, who police say knows the suspects, let them into his home.

Once inside, police say the men attacked the victim, beating him with a metal object and repeated punches and kicks. For as long as 30 minutes the beating continued, said police, which included throwing the victim down a set of stairs and dragging him back up.

RCMP say the incident may have been prompted by allegations a woman may have lost or had an expensive ring stolen at a party at the victim's home on Friday. The suspects were reportedly there to retrieve the ring, which has yet to be found. The men left after taking some money.

Police were eventually called, with the victim telling officers he had received death threat if he spoke to police. Lloyd Thomas, 28, and James Else, 25, face charges of aggravated assault, uttering threats and robbery. One source claims that Lloyd Thomas is affiliated with the Nanaimo Hells Angels.

Kamploops Kidnapping and Assault

Police have two suspects in custody and have issued arrest warrants for three more with regards to a vicious assault and robbery in Kamloops where a man was kidnapped, beaten, stabbed, robbed and run over with a car.

Warrants were issued Tuesday for David Joseph Byford, Brett Kiichi Haynes and Jeff Maxwell Oldford. Gregory Jordan Brotzel and Adam James Colligan were arrested early in the investigation and remain in custody.

All five are charged with aggravated assault, robbery, kidnapping, assault with a weapon (knife and/or bat), assault with a weapon (motor vehicle) and uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm. Police say the victim and his alleged attackers are involved in the drug trade and the attack was targeted.

We received a tip earlier where one source claimed Jeff Oldford became the new leader of the Independent Soldiers in Kamloops which police claim is a puppet gang for the Hells Angels.

Looting and Lawlessness

One blog reader pointed out how civilized Japan was after the earthquake and reactor leak and how uncivilized the rest of us are in the West as shown in the Vancouver hockey riot, in New Orleans after the hurricane and in London now. Obviously there are more good people out there than bad and that criminals get empowered by a mob. Yet it is clear that Japan has shown to be much more civilized than the rest of us in the West.

The Vancouver hockey riot was the epitome of spoilt brat stupidity. There was no reason. A bunch of brats just wanted to trash things. The rest of Vancouver was outraged. They came out to help clean up and were vigilant in reporting facebook friends who bragged about rioting. Yet the front page of today's Vancouver province pointed out the cold hard truth. London has already charged 100 rioters. Vancouver has yet to charge any. That is an embarrassment.

My point is lawlessness is self defeating and very short sighted. Kids in a mob can temporarily feel empowered when they are allowed to use violence to vandalize, loot or start fights but the laws they break are the same laws that were protecting them. If they can loot a store, then anyone can take from them what they took from the store. If they can burn someones car or home, then someone else can burn their car or home. If there is no law or police, anyone can assault them for no reason. Lawlessness doesn't just leave everyone blind, it leaves everyone impoverished.

Looting after an earthquake or hurricane is equally absurd. Where are ya gonna plug in that big screen TV buddy? Your house has just been destroyed. I had previously mentioned during the Vancouver riot having spoken with a man who lived in Chicago during the Chicago riots. He said they lived in the suburbs and all had guns. He said they all got together, pulled out their guns and said if you bring that riot to our neighbourhood, we will shoot you dead. Right or wrong it prevented the riot from spreading.

Likewise, Londoners are ready to fight back. Here in Surrey some kids were vandalizing cars. A gang member came out and saw the kids vandalizing his car. He pulled out his gun and shot him dead. Right or wrong it sent a clear message. No doubt if a Vancouver riot was to spread to Surrey, we would fight back to protect our homes and our property as well as the Businesses who contribute to our community.

Trashing all the small businesses isn't sticking it to the man. It's killing your community by destroying small business there and making it so that only the huge corporations that make massive profits and pay crappy wages will be able to survive. It is shooting yourself and your own community in the foot.

Having said that, it is important not to be distracted by the looting and the lawlessness, so we don't forget the stunning injustice which sparked the riot.

London Calling

London is calling and the message is clear but the violence needs to stop or the message will be lost. After three days the London riots have subsided but have spread like a wild fire to neighbouring cities. The vandalism and violence swept through Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham and several other cities.

My first response is hold the door. Vandalism and looting are senseless. You have no idea how important this case is. Don't blow it for everyone. They say where there is no justice there will be no peace. I say there can be no justice without the truth.

We can talk about the social conditions in England all we want but let us remember what sparked the riot. Mark Duggan was shot dead while being followed and arrested by police. The police claimed they shot him after he fired upon them. They claimed he shot an officer in the chest and the bullet hit the officer's radio. They then said after the officer was shot "marksmen" opened fire and shot him dead.

The family said that didn't make sense. They said it was out of character. They held a protest at the Tottenham police station. Many others showed up and it turned into a riot.

Well the ballistic report is in. The ballistic report claimed that the gun found in Mark Duggan's possession had not been fired and that the bullet that hit the police officer's radio was from a police issue firearm. Mark Duggan did not shoot at police. They lied. Not only did they lie, they were caught lying. This is profoundly significant.

We need to take a deep breath, appeal for calm, stop vandalizing and looting and start organizing and marching. Where is Martin Luther King when you need him. It's like Russel Crow in the movie Gladiator. When we see the rioters vandalizing and looting we can hear the words "Marcus Aurelius had a dream for Rome and this is not it." Indeed Martin Luther King had a dream for England and this is not it.

Martin Luther King offered a different way to right wrongs and confront injustice. He walked the high road and made a profound impact on the globe. The IPCC report is profound. I am absolutely shocked they reported the truth. There is no way the police officer's radio could have been hit from a ricochet from the two shots fired at the suspect. They said the suspect fired at them. They lied. It is clear that they shot the radio to make it look like the suspect had shot at them when he hadn't. They were trying to cover their tracks.

This profoundly significant fact needs to be addressed. All of the officers involved need to be suspended without pay and not only face disciplinary action for lying but face criminal charges for falsifying evidence and breach of the public trust. You're not willing to do that you say? Well don't look now but your country is on fire. Where there is no justice there will be no peace. You can't create justice out of a lie. If you want to fight lawlessness you have to come clean and charge the officers who lied with murder and breach of public trust.

There's a lot more I have to say on the subject but that will suffice for now. The violence needs to stop. Vandalizing and looting is pointless. You're trashing your own neighbourhood. That will not right this wrong. It will only make it worse. You need to organize, march and speak out. As the violence is brought under control, the grievance needs to be addressed. All the officers involved who lied about what happened need to be suspended, charged and tried. No justice, no peace. Know justice, know peace. Mark my word.