LAT: Clandestine military teams clash with CIA, allies

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-intel18dec18,0,3935943.story?coll=la-home-headlines

U.S. Special Forces teams sent overseas on secret spying missions have clashed with the CIA and carried out operations in countries that are staunch U.S. allies, prompting a new effort by the agency and the Pentagon to tighten the rules for military units engaged in espionage, according to senior U.S. intelligence and military officials.

The spy missions are part of a highly classified program that officials say has better positioned the United States to track terrorist networks and capture or kill enemy operatives in regions such as the Horn of Africa, where weak governments are unable to respond to emerging threats.

But the initiative has also led to several embarrassing incidents for the United States, including a shootout in Paraguay and the exposure of a sensitive intelligence operation in East Africa, according to current and former officials familiar with the matter. And to date, the Special Forces espionage effort has not led to the capture of a significant terrorism suspect.

Some intelligence officials have complained that Special Forces teams have sometimes launched missions without informing the CIA, duplicating or even jeopardizing existing operations. And they questioned deploying military teams in friendly nations -- including in Europe -- at a time when combat units are in short supply in war zones.

The program was approved in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, and is expected to get close scrutiny by his successor, Robert M. Gates, who takes over Monday and has been critical of the expansion of the military's intelligence operations.

[Kagemusha]

1. Oh, I so saw this coming.

Rummy's games will be remembered for a long, long time, I'm quite sure.

[LynnTheDem]

2. Imagine Canada or the UK or Germany or any other nation doing this

in America.

Our superiority complex in action.

[Peace Patriot]

3. Bookmark this one! Something really, really big going on here. Rumsfeld

resignation? I mean, the real reason.* What have his death squads been up to?

1. WHY is this being exposed?

2. WHAT are the VERY loaded and cryptic statements in this article trying to, a) prepare us for, b) cover up, c) partially cover up?

My quick summary to myself after reading this article: Ever since 9/11 (and who knows--maybe before), Rumsfeld has been running rogue death squads and black ops in friendly (article mentions Europe and Southeast Asia) as well as unfriendly countries, that have botched up the normal operations you would expect the CIA to be doing looking for terrorists. Something has gone down that is so bad that Rumsfeld has had to be forcibly removed from power by the "good guys" in our secret government. Rumsfeld was out-of-control--or is about to be nailed as the one who was out-of-control to protect Bush/Cheney. (--"good guys" about the whistleblow; Gates/Bush Cartel steps in for damage control.)

Could be something we know nothing about. But some possibilities:

a) Torture, rendition, 'disappeareds.' Use of these illegal and unethical powers to kill witnesses/whistleblowers to Rumsfeld/Bush Junta crimes. They aren't doing this horrible stuff to "keep us safe." They're doing this horrible stuff to commit other crimes, and have a secret prison system they can 'disappear' anybody into, to cover their tracks. Lots of discontent/anger/resistance in the military/intel communities over these illegal/unethical powers.

b) Treasongate/Plame outings. Rumsfeld was mastermind of plot to plant WMDS in Iraq (to justify the war--a plot hatched in Rome 2001 connected to the Niger forgeries). Illicit procurement and movement of WMDs to Iraq was foiled by someone in the Plame/Brewster-Jennings WMD counter-proliferation network. Rumsfeld outed the entire network to get them killed/disabled. Rovian political revenge against Wilson (Plame's husband) was just a cover story. One of the casualties may have been the Brits WMD expert David Kelly, assassinated because he knew too much about this. (--on British soil!) (The article makes much of ops on friendly soil.) Is Fitzgerald about to blow this one open, with his prosecution of Cheney aide Libby for perjury/obstruction? Or did he blow it open inside the "establishment" and measures are being taken (oust Rumsfeld, damage control).

c) Something not right about 9/11. Why was NORAD stood down? Where was Rumsfeld? Did rogue group under Rumsfeld do 9/11, or cooperate on it? (My wild guess at the string that might unravel the tapestry: Nick Berg (beheaded by Zarqawi in the famous video, timed to counter headlines of Abu Ghraib torture) had some connection to Zacharias Moussaoui. Powers in DC kept Colleen Rowley out of Moussaoui's computer prior to 9/11. Later, FBI questioned Berg, cuz they found Berg's email password in that computer, when they got into it, after 9/11 (according to Berg's father). Nick Berg tells FBI he met Moussaoui by accident on a bus and let him use his computer. FBI goes away. Much later, they let Berg enter war zone Iraq and wander around looking for "business" (for his small telecom co.). They (US intel/Rumsfeld rogue death squad?) pick him up there, hold him for ten days, his parents petition Rumsfeld for his release, he is then apparently dumped onto the street, where Zarqawi apparently picks him up and beheads him on video. (Is this why Zarqawi's house was bombed, recently--Zarqawi knew too much?) Did Nick Berg know something about 9/11? Was his telecom biz actually surveillance biz? Was he somebody's op? Was he sucked into 9/11 plot by his conversion to orthodox Judaism? General impression: patsy, sucked into something bad; became inconvenient, knew too much, thrown to the wolves, literally, at a convenient PR moment.) There are of course many other, more obvious suspicions about Rumsfeld and 9/11, but this one has always been a burr under my saddle. Surfaced in the news, then vanished completely.

d) Foiling of any real tracking of 9/11 terrorist money/perps. Lots of evidence of this. The firing of John O'Neill (FBI agent on Yemen/Al Q money track.) US forces under Rumsfeld blowing other countries' investigations. Also, lots of weird stuff has gone on about nuke proliferation. Big money in that. (And guess what? Our nuke/WMD counter-proliferation network was outed--disabled, killed!)

e) Paraguay. Where there are rampant rumors of a Bush Cartel purchase of 100,000 acres. Where US taxpayers have paid for a state-of-the-art military air base. This article mentions a shootout at a bar. Why would they mention this? It seems very odd. Rumsfeld rogue death squad gets into a fracas with an armed bandit at a bar(? --that's what the article states), causing diplomatic difficulties. Meanwhile, Bush Junta is arming Colombian military with $600 million this year alone. Target?: the new Andean leftist democracies (Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador--and, next election cycle, Peru)--all rich in oil, gas and minerals, which the leftist governments think should benefit the people who live there. (Note: South America is a very changed place, South American countries banding together to form EU-type group with common currency. Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay--all now with leftist governments, doing various things to displease the Bush Junta/US global corporate predators; cooperating with each other; into social justice; anti-World Bank/IMF, etc.)

f) Chalabi/Ghorbanifar/Iran. Something to do with the current struggle between Saudi Arabia (Sunni) and Iran (Shia) over Iraq's oil. Rumsfeld's war has empowered Iran. The Saudi's summoned Cheney and threatened him with Saudi full entry into Iraq Shia/Sunni war. Spec: Were Rumsfeld's death squad activities the means used to oust him, to blackmail him out? Is that why these disclosures are being made (--and/or to signal other countries that rogue activities are being stopped)? Other thoughts: Rumsfeld was using shadowy characters like Ghorbanifar (notorious Iran-Contra arms dealer, and enemy of the CIA), and Chalabi (another big liar and shadowy operator--double agent for Iran), to cook intelligence on Iraq, and possibly also to cook intel on Iran. Clearly, Rumsfeld was itching to invade Iran, and, (spec) after the CIA foiled that plot (planting nukes in Iraq traceable to Iran), maybe was using the chaos in Iraq to form a Shia army paid by US to invade Iran. A US-paid Shia army straddling Iraq/Iran would be a great threat to the Saudis (Sunnis). Rumsfeld broke the back of Sunni power in Iraq, deliberately (disbanded the army, purged all professionals, encouraged looting and chaos). Why? And are the Saudis now dictating Bush Junta actions? Also, what of all these US military contractor "death squads" running around, outside of the law, in Iraq? What are they doing, at whose orders? And what of the more "official" Pentagon death squads and torturers? Assassinating witnesses/whistleblowers, re: Rumsfeld crimes and plots? Murky waters--but the Rumsfeld ouster combined with this article's really very startling revelations (behind all the polite language) are provocative. WHAT is going on in our government, behind the scenes?

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The article uses polite language to describe what are, essentially, death squads, under Rumsfeld's direct control, subverting CIA and other countries' intelligence operations (descriptions of it in the article: "egregious mistakes have been made," "really quite costly" ("can cost peoples' lives", and compromise "sensitive programs"), "freewheeling," "coordination problems were frequent").

The article: "Rumsfeld, who lacked confidence in the CIA, directed a major expansion of the military's involvement in intelligence gathering to make the Pentagon less dependent on the agency."// (snip) //"The troops typically work in civilian clothes and function much like CIA case officers, cultivating sources in other governments or Islamic organizations. One objective, officials said, is to generate information that could be used to plan clandestine operations such as capturing or killing terrorism suspects."

What I mean by "polite": Rumsfeld didn't just "lack confidence" in the CIA. He was AT WAR with the CIA for at least one known purpose: to COOK intelligence on Iraq. The Bush Junta (likely with Rumsfeld as mastermind) outed and destroyed an entire CIA WMD covert counter-proliferation network, twenty years in the making! My read: the honest professionals in the CIA see their job as preventing war, not manufacturing it. Rumsfeld manufactures war, death, torture, mayhem, where none is necessary--for the purpose of war profiteering, and in the service of global corporate predators! This is a general Bush Junta M.O.--but (spec) Rumsfeld was mastermind for the dirtiest deeds, and therefore vulnerable as scapegoat, and/or to being ousted for OTHER reasons, with his dirty deeds used as the leverage to get him out.

Given Baker's involvement, one suspects that the Saudis are calling the shots. But it could be activity that has REALLY pissed off other countries--some candidates being the UK, Italy, Spain, rendition flight/secret prison countries of EU and central Europe, South American countries, South Korea. It's interesting that Italy, Spain and South Korea all now have leftist governments (along with the many in So. America). In Italy, US covert activities are a big deal, currently. Italy trying to extradite US covert operatives for kidnapping an Egyptian cleric in Italy, and botching an Italian terrorist investigation. In UK, a member of Parliament has asked for re-opening of the investigation into David Kelly's death (lots of suspicions in the UK that he was suicided). Spain: that strange thing about Brian Mayfield's fingerprint (bogus evidence) and the Spain train bombing. Ireland/EU: lots of agitation about black flights, secret prisons.

Were these Rumsfeld death squads in "civilian clothes," terrorizing everybody--blackmailing, threatening, trying to spot whistleblowers in the country or in our embassy, threatening ambassadors, embassy personnel, normal CIA personnel, as well as the country's leaders and intel groups? Rumsfeld not after "terrorists" at all, just the opposite--trying to prevent others from nabbing terrorists, and/or use terrorist activity for the Bush Junta's own ends.

Well, anyway, as I said, this article is provocative. And the general question about it: why now? What do these disclosures accomplish? (Right now, I'm favoring the notifying other countries that "it" is over explanation. 'Calm down, we're calling off the death squads.')(?)


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*(You don't think he resigned because the American people oppose his heinous war, do you? Since when did the Bush Junta give a crap what we thought?)

[earlybelle]

4. I think this is HUGE. Would be if American press covered it thoroughly

as they should. We are closer to losing our own democracy than most people want to believe. If true, this borders on treason for those involved. They are certainly subverting America's position in the world.

[rodeodance]

5. we will never hear this on the news---