Onward Christian Soldiers

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
with the cross of Jesus going on before.

The New York Times has been taken to task on the military and security blog of Eeben Barlow, founder of Executive Outcomes, for its potentially libelous statements characterizing  EO as a company engaged in fomenting coups throughout the world, particularly in Africa, where they contracted to help "African governments that had been abandoned by the West and were facing threats from insurgencies, terrorism and organised crime."

In a letter to the New York Times editor, he wrote:

Pretoria, South Africa

15^th May 2011

Dear Editor,

It was with interest that I read your article headlined Secret Desert Force Set Up by Blackwater’s Founder dated 14 May 2011 by your journalists Mark Mazzetti and Emily B Hager.

As the founder and chairman of the now defunct Executive Outcomes, I found it of even greater interest that they state in their article as fact that Executive Outcomes was “a South African company notorious for staging coup attempts...in Africa”.

Indeed, the only fact in their reference to Executive Outcomes is that it was a South African company. Had your journalists done even the most basic of research, they would have discovered that:

1. Executive Outcomes was intimately involved in drafting the South African government’s legislation on foreign military companies

2. Executive Outcomes had a licence from the South African government to conduct its business

3. Executive Outcomes only accepted contracts from legitimate, internationally recognised governments. This included South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Sierra Leone and Indonesia to name a few

4. The South African media apologised to me for allowing themselves to be used to perpetuate disinformation on both myself and my company.

The book Executive Outcomes: Against all Odds, was written by myself and published in 2007 by Galago Publishing, detailing the company’s origins, contracts and activities. To date, no information I gave in the book has been refuted by any party.

I personally remain opposed to coups and I also run a blog where I have written, warned against and prevented coups in Africa  (http://eebenbarlowsmilitaryandsecurityblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/warning-against-joining-planned-coup.html)

However, as your paper accepted and published a factually incorrect comment on Executive Outcomes, despite it being libellous, I reserve the right to take legal action. Meanwhile I demand that your journalists furnish me with proof of any coup attempts planned or staged by the defunct Executive Outcomes. Should your journalists argue that the failed coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea is an example of such an action, may I point out that Executive Outcomes closed its doors in January 1998. It therefore cannot, in any way, be linked to a coup attempt several years later. If any ex-Executive Outcomes men were recruited by the planners of such a coup, Executive Outcomes can still not be linked to the attempt.

I look forward to your comments.

Sincerely,

EEBEN BARLOW

 The text of the NYT article was quoted previously in this blog, the exact wording as follows:

"To bolster the force, R2 recruited a platoon of South African mercenaries, including some veterans of Executive Outcomes, a South African company notorious for staging coup attempts or suppressing rebellions against African strongmen in the 1990s. The platoon was to function as a quick-reaction force, American officials and former employees said, and began training for a practice mission: a terrorist attack on the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai, the world’s tallest building. They would secure the situation before quietly handing over control to Emirati troops."

The story actually was describing a new company --Reflex Responses Management Consultancy LLC (a/k/a R2) -- recently set up by Erik Prince to fulfill a contract with the GHQ Armed Forces of the United Arab Emirates for a battalion of non-Muslim mercenary soldiers from all parts of the world, but predominantly from South America. R2 executed the contract by Michael Roumi.

Roumi, General Manager of GNSS

The term of the contract is five years, beginning last June and running through May 2015 with an amount payable to the contractor of $529,166,754.13--more than half a billion dollars.

Another blogger has taken excerpts from the contract, along with speculation of the authors of the Times piece -- Mark Mazzetti and Emily B. Hager -- to conclude as follows:

If Reflex Responses Management Consultancy LLC or R2 can deliver on this first test battalion, it sounds like the UAE is prepared to expand on the thing. The contract goes up to May of 2015, so a lot can happen between now and then.

Now as far as what they will be used for, who knows?  The article below says that this legion could be used to take a few islands off the coast and keep them out of Iranian hands? That this force could also be a deterrent to deal with Iran, which I think that is the real reason why the US would be ok with such a set up. Here is a quote on some of the possible tasks of this force:

Corporate documents describe the battalion’s possible tasks: intelligence gathering, urban combat, the securing of nuclear and radioactive materials, humanitarian missions and special operations “to destroy enemy personnel and equipment.”
One document describes “crowd-control operations” where the crowd “is not armed with firearms but does pose a risk using improvised weapons (clubs and stones).”
The foreign military force was planned months before the so-called Arab Spring revolts that many experts believe are unlikely to spread to the U.A.E. Iran was a particular concern.

Here is the part of the article that talks specifically about Iran. Pretty wild, and this kind of operation is certainly offensive in nature if they do it:

Although there was no expectation that the mercenary troops would be used for a stealth attack on Iran, Emirati officials talked of using them for a possible maritime and air assault to reclaim a chain of islands, mostly uninhabited, in the Persian Gulf that are the subject of a dispute between Iran and the U.A.E., the former employees said. Iran has sent military forces to at least one of the islands, Abu Musa, and Emirati officials have long been eager to retake the islands and tap their potential oil reserves.

Finally there is the future of this project, and more importantly, what Prince envisions. This is where the Foreign Legion turns into a hybrid type force.  It would be like Secopex training and providing logistics for the FFL, and offering the training facility to other private or government forces. Here is the quote:

But by last November, the battalion was officially behind schedule. The original goal was for the 800-man force to be ready by March 31; recently, former employees said, the battalion’s size was reduced to about 580 men.

Emirati military officials had promised that if this first battalion was a success, they would pay for an entire brigade of several thousand men. The new contracts would be worth billions, and would help with Mr. Prince’s next big project: a desert training complex for foreign troops patterned after Blackwater’s compound in Moyock, N.C.

So will R2 be opening its doors for training to the world, much like how BW operated in the US?   If true, I could see something like this becoming a multi-billion dollar project for Prince and company. Just because it would be located in the middle east and cater to all the OPEC nations.  That is a pretty wealthy neighborhood to cater too, and this will be one to watch in the coming years.

 When American corporations treat government contracting as just another way to get rich, offering their services to the highest bidder without considerations of anything other than promoting business of multi-nationals, we have to ask "Have they sold their souls to the devil?" Or could it be that they truly believe they have the Christian God on their side as they wage a new Templar Crusade?

Hifter or Hafter or Haftar of Libya

The research item below is written by Kevin Carson, someone who truly understands how to follow the money in world politics and business. The bottom line, after all, is always money. Forget talk of democracy, national security, and all the code words intended to distract. Identify the business networks and finance capital behind a policy; then zoom in on the names behind the businesses. You'll find the same people hoping to profit from any given situation. Here Carson looks back on his earlier analysis of what Frank Wisner's presence in Egypt really meant.

Even though I really like the way Carson succinctly describes the planning behind the financial coup, I had to cringe with the trite use of the term "banksters." I detest that word for some reason. I think it tends to obscure people behind a mask. It's much preferable to give them names rather than caricatures.
When the addresses below are plotted on a map, they appear to be strikingly closer to the Pentagon than to Langley. The 1996 address for Keysville, Md. is the only anomaly, appearing to be near the town of Blackstone, Va., where the U.S. Army Base of Fort Pickett was dismantled in 1994. Likely, this is the town in Virginia referred to below--located about 4 hours from D.C.--where the training of Libyan anti-Qaddafy forces took place.

The name "Hifter" appears to be of Austrian origin. However, other sources call him "Khalifa Belqasim Haftar."

~~~~~~~~~~~

from Ancestry.com

Name:	Khalifa A Hifter
Birth Date:	1 Sept. 1948
Address:		1020 Moorefield Hill Pl SW, Vienna, VA, 22180-6248 [5505 Seminary Rd Apt 1605, Falls Church, VA, 22041-2951 (1993)]  [5505 Seminary Rd Apt 2511, Falls Church, VA, 22041-3546]  [6101 Edsall Rd Apt 1211, Alexandria, VA, 22304-6007 (1996)]  [9451 Lee Hwy Apt 903, Fairfax, VA, 22031-1821]  [RR 3 POB 138, Keysville, VA, 23947 (1996)]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Those Libyan “Freedom Fighters”: The Fix is On

By Kevin Carson

Hifter or Hafter or Haftar of Libya

May 10, 2011 "C4SS" --  In a column three months ago (“Egypt: Let the Looting Begin,” Feb. 4),  I suggested that was really going on in Egypt was somewhat different from the official narrative. In quite a few of the “people power” revolutions in recent years — no matter how sincere the people on the streets — it turned out that there were attempts to orchestrate things by people behind the scenes, for whom “people power” was the very last thing on the agenda. In that column I reported that Frank Wisner — a veteran spook, described by Vijay Prashad at Counterpunch as a “bagman of empire,” was Obama’s man on the ground.

Wisner, a former Director at AIG and Enron with longstanding family ties to the OSS and CIA, had previously been involved in drafting the Bush administration’s postwar blueprint for Iraq. That agenda involved so-called “privatizations” of state industry that amounted to insider deals with global corporate interests for pennies on the dollar, “strong intellectual property protections” largely written by Monsanto and the RIAA, and draconian crackdowns on genuine freedom fighters in the labor movement and the Iraqi Freedom Congress. Paul Bremer, with the help of his Heritage Foundation boys in the Green Zone, basically oversaw the looting of everything that wasn’t nailed down.

In that light, some recent news from Libya is especially interesting. First, Alexander Cockburn (“What’s Really Going On in Libya?” Counterpunch, April 15)  reports that a high priority for the NATO operation in Libya was to see to the central banking arrangements of the revolutionary government in Benghazi. On March 19 they authorized the Central Bank of Benghazi to handle monetary policy for the country. Qaddafi, it seems, had announced his intention to repudiate the dollar and the euro and encourage the use of the gold dinar as a common currency by all of Africa. He’d gained tentative buy-in, over the previous year, from a number of Arab and African regimes. The government-owned Libyan national bank in Tripoli, which is independent of the global banking industry, has been a thorn in the flesh of global financial elites for some time.

Things that make you go “Hmmmm …”

Meanwhile, Russ Baker at Alternet announces (“The CIA’s Man in Libya?” April 26)  that the latest head of rebel forces in Libya, Gen. Khalifa Hifter, is a CIA asset. Hifter has lived in the Greater Washington area of Virginia (cough cough Langley cough) for almost twenty years, enjoying an unusually comfortable lifestyle considerably disproportionate to his visible means of support. Hifter has headed the military wing (Libyan National Army) of an opposition movement in exile (NSFL) for most of that time. The CIA sponsored a training operation for the Libyan National Army at a base in Chad during the reign of Bush I, with a view to a possible future overthrow of Qaddafi. In 1996, Hifter headed a failed overthrow attempt, after which he returned to the United States.
 
So the head of the opposition movement is on the CIA payroll, and the first order of business of the insurgent regime is to create a central bank that takes orders from international finance capital.  Doesn’t look real good for “freedom” in Libya, does it? Looks pretty damn good for the banksters, though.

If the attempt to overthrow of Qaddafi had anything to do with genuine freedom, it’s a safe bet the U.S. government would have had nothing to do with it.  Put not your faith in princes.

###############

Excerpt from Patrick Martin

"A CIA commander for the Libyan rebels"

...A 2001 book, Manipulations africaines, published by Le Monde diplomatique, traces the CIA connection even further back, to 1987, reporting that Hifter, then a colonel in Gaddafi’s army, was captured fighting in Chad in a Libyan-backed rebellion against the US-backed government of Hissène Habré. He defected to the Libyan National Salvation Front (LNSF), the principal anti-Gaddafi group, which had the backing of the American CIA. He organized his own militia, which operated in Chad until Habré was overthrown by a French-supported rival, Idriss Déby, in 1990.

According to this book, “the Haftar force, created and financed by the CIA in Chad, vanished into thin air with the help of the CIA shortly after the government was overthrown by Idriss Déby.” The book also cites a Congressional Research Service report of December 19, 1996 that the US government was providing financial and military aid to the LNSF and that a number of LNSF members were relocated to the United States.

This information is available to anyone who conducts even a cursory Internet search, but it has not been reported by the corporate-controlled media in the United States, except in the dispatch from McClatchy, which avoids any reference to the CIA. None of the television networks, busily lauding the “freedom fighters” of eastern Libya, has bothered to report that these forces are now commanded by a longtime collaborator of US intelligence services.

Nor have the liberal and “left” enthusiasts of the US-European intervention in Libya taken note. They are too busy hailing the Obama administration for its multilateral and “consultative” approach to war, supposedly so different from the unilateral and “cowboy” approach of the Bush administration in Iraq. That the result is the same—death and destruction raining down on the population, the trampling of the sovereignty and independence of a former colonial country—means nothing to these apologists for imperialism.

The role of Hifter, aptly described 15 years ago as the leader of a “contra-style group,” demonstrates the real class forces at work in the Libyan tragedy. Whatever genuine popular opposition was expressed in the initial revolt against the corrupt Gaddafi dictatorship, the rebellion has been hijacked by imperialism.

The US and European intervention in Libya is aimed not at bringing “democracy” and “freedom,” but at installing in power stooges of the CIA who will rule just as brutally as Gaddafi, while allowing the imperialist powers to loot the country’s oil resources and use Libya as a base of operations against the popular revolts sweeping the Middle East and North Africa.

############

A New Successful Covert Operation  

Mar 26, 1996 by rmcgehee

Reuters news reports yesterday state that unrest in the Jabal Akhdar mountains of Eastern Libya is caused by armed rebels who may have joined escaped prisoners in an uprising against the government.


This is an operation to overthrow Gaddafi led by Col. Khalifa Haftar, of a contra-style group based in the United States called the Libyan National Army. The army is the military wing of the Salvation Front for the Liberation of Libya.


It is obvious that the CIA is behind this group and indicates a new "awakening" for the CIA now that it has been cleared and re-energized by all the various official exonerations; and led by the new Director Deutch who pushes for more covert operations. With "Mr. Intervention," Richard Haass of the Council on Foreign Relations advising the government on intervening via mililtary and covert operations toward China and probably also Libya and the rest of the world, we can expect a number of additional "successful" CIA covert operations similar to that of Vietnam, Central America and Afghanistan.


Ralph McGehee CIABASE - Information from CIABASE files reveals:


Academia

Libya, 92 Most guerrillas of cia-backed national salvation front from Libyan students living in u.s. and europe.

Washington post 4/18/92 a15


Assassinations

Libya, 84 In may 84 15 gunmen attacked the residence of Col. Qadhafi. A Sudan-based group called the national libya salvation front claimed responsibility for the attack. Nair, k. (1986).
Devil and his dart 98

Libya, 84 The cia backed, trained and continues to support the exile group that tried to assassinate Qaddafi in 84. The plot failed and qaddafi executed a number of the group. The cia-backed group is called the national Front for the salvation of libya (nfsl) and is led by gen youssef Magarieff. The Saudis have provided $7 million to the nfsl. Cia agents advised nfsl leaders and trained their recruits in western europe, sudan and morocco. Jack anderson washington post 6/12/85


Libya, saudi arabia, 84 Despite an executive order forbidding assassinations, the cia trained and supported the national front for the salvation of libya before, during and after its attempt to assassinate Qaddafi on 5/8/84. The anti-qaddafi group was slaughtered in a day-long Battle less than a mile from the barracks where qaddafi was. Group's Leader, youssef magarieff, went ahead with op to show his cia and saudi Arabian backers what they got for support. Jack anderson washington post 11/8/85


Covert Action
China, 96. The Washington Post reported 3/24/96 that the Secretary of Defense William J. Perry and other top Pentagon officials discussed policy toward China with independent expert Richard Haass. (The author
of the book, Intervention). Page 31.


Chad, 91 Former chad chief of staff, and his patriotic salvation movement (Mps) preferred by france and libya. And u.s. Forced to remove its 700-man Libyan national liberation army (nla). Saudi arabia had set up bank account In libreville, gabon under control of dr. Yusuf al-margariaf. Since 81 Had been secretary-general of national front for salvation of libya (nfsl).


In 81 a nie said funding for qaddafi's opponents came from saudi arabia, Egypt, morocco and iraq. Some believe nfsl created by cia in early 80s. Morocco provided nfsl trg in 81-82. In 84 front based in sudan. Later in Egypt. In 89 when egypt and libya became friends nfsl moved to ndjamena, Where it spliced with nla. Israel lent trainers. Nls's 700 contras Recruited from among 2,000 libyan prisoners taken by chad in border Skirmishes between 83-87. Col Abdoulgassim khalifa hafter made nla Commander. Group turned over to 30 u.s. Military advisers for training in Commando and terrorist ops. Nla also intended for use against sudan and Other countries. Sudanese people's liberation army (spla) shut down. Office Described as u.s. Chadian op.

In 89 op centered in villa of head of chad's Secret service, the dds, and staffed by u.s.Personnel. U.s. Finally Admitted nla a u.s. Op in 3/91. Israel used cameroons intel orgs and sent Instructors run nla trg centers. U.s.
Apparently had major supply base at Yoko in central cameroon. Further details treverton, g. (1987). Covert Action summer 91 47-51

Chad, libya, israel, 90-91
Fall of pres habre in chad in dec 90 ended a Major u.s.-israeli covert war against libya. Cia-created libyan
national Liberation army (lnla) assembled from prisoners taken by chad between 83-87. Group had just laid mines in s. Libya.

"Africa confidential" 1/6/89 Reported u.s. And israel est series of bases in chad, cameroon, gabon and Central african republic where group aka contras trained. Originally group Called national front for salvation of libya (nfsl). Op funded in part by Saudi arabia. After change gvt in chad cia reportedly flew out 1st group of 100 libyan contras.


Iric reported on 12/7/90 2 burly u.s. Diplomats kept Them from interviewing 200 pows being loaded onto u.s. Plane. Icrc tried Gain access to libyan pows for years. U.s. Air force flew contras to Nigeria where possibly at libya's request for repatriation.

Israeli foreign Affairs 1/91 1-5 Egypt, libya, 81-87

Before sadat's assassination, secretary state haig Referred to Qaddafi as a cancer that has to be cut out.

On 6/18/81 President had signed secret intel finding directing cia to provide Non-lethal support and training to anti-qaddafi exiles. In october, former Libyan diplomat mohammed mugharief founded national front for salvation of Libya, underwritten largely by cia with help of saudi arabia.


Based in Sudan, front established a propaganda radio station. Martin, d. & walcott, J. (1988). Best laid plans 79 Libya. A reporter from arab newspaper al-hayat allowed to visit national Front for salvation of libya - an arab opposition group in u.s. Territory. Leader of national liberation army is Col. Khalifa Hafter who said front has 400 fighters in u.s. Located in (virginia?) 4 hours from d.c. Libyan Group said they waiting right moment to return to libya. The 400 men are in 25 states and are given regular military training.

From al-hayat newspaper 12/18/91. Top secret autumn-winter 92 28-9 Libya, 73-88 U.s./cia waging a secret war against qaddafi for 15 years.

Through surrogates, agents, national proxies, armies developed from crumbling remnants of libyan opposition movements, and in 86, actual military intervention.

In early 80s cia established links with national Front for the salvation of libya. Cia strengthened nfsl, headed by Aly Abuzaakouk.

In 81 cia and pentagon plan code-named "op early call," designed to provoke Qaddafi into attacking sudan by faking a pro-libyan takeover of Sudan gvt. Plan discovered by Qaddafi.


In may 84 cia supported a coup that crushed bloodily with more than 75 plotters killed. Libyan task force group Chief, vince cannistraro, and nsc officer donald fortier, made plan that included arming libyan
dissident groups in egypt and algeria. Dcia, Robert Gates, suggested u.s. support an egyptian invasion of libya - op called Flower/rose stopped by sos shultz. Perry, m. (1992).


Eclipse: the last days of the cia 165 Libya, 81-83 On june 18, 81 president signed intel finding directing cia to provide non-lethal support to anti-Quaddfi exiles.


In oct a former Libyan diplomat, mohammed mugharief, founded national front for salvation of libya - underwritten by cia with help from saudi arabia. Based in sudan It established a radio station and began
looking for prominent exiles. Blp 79. On 12/10/91 president signed national security decision directive 16 - That established task force to implement new libya policy. Martin, d. & Walcott, j. (1988).


Best laid plans 81 Libya, 81-92 The national salvation front has no fixed hqs. Its leader, Ibrahim sahad, operates out of his home in virginia. Front forced to move From morocco to sudan and then out of
arab world altogether and close down its radio station in sudan and then egypt. Front once had hundreds of troops recruited from libyan soldiers captured in chad. About 350 brought to us by cia after chad gvt expelled them. Now they scattered in 25 states.


In 84 front launched an unsuccessful rocket and machine-gun attack against Military barracks of bab aziziyya - usually used as a residence by Qadhafi. Most guerrillas libyan students living in u.s. and europe.
In dec 91 "al Hayat" from front sources wrote "libyan contra camp in america," and said 400 rebels are preparing to fight - they training in the u.s.

Washington Post 4/18/92 a15 Document Iran, france, 85 The front for the salvation of iran (fsi), backed by the Cia, printed and distributed a million copies of a fake iranian postal stamp showing the faces of Amini and the young Shah. Taheri, Amir.

(1988). Nest of spies 150 Domestic op Libya.


A reporter from arab newspaper al-hayat allowed to visit national Front for salvation of libya - an arab opposition group in u.s.

Territory. Leader of the national liberation army is col. Khalifa Hafter who said Front has 400 fighters in u.s. Located in (virginia?) 4 hours from d.c. Libyan group said they waiting right moment to return to libya.

The 400 men Are in 25 states and are given regular military training. From al-hayat Newspaper 12/18/91.

Top secret autumn-winter 92 28-9
Front org Libya. National front for the salvation of libya. An anti- Qadaffi exile Group supported by cia. Carl, l. (1990). The international dictionary of Intelligence 252 Libya, 84


In may 84 15 gunmen attacked the residence of col. Qadhafi. A Sudan- based group called the national libya salvation front claimed responsibility for the attack. Nair, k. (1986).


Devil and his dart 98 Liaison Chad, 91 Former chad chief of staff, and his patriotic salvation movement (Mps) preferred by france and libya. and u.s. Forced to remove its 700-man Libyan national liberation army
(nla). Saudi arabia had set up bank account in libreville, gabon under control of Dr. Yusuf al-Margariaf. Since 81 Had been secretary-general of national front for salvation of libya (nfsl). In 81 a nie said funding for qaddafi's opponents came from saudi arabia, Egypt, morocco and iraq. Some believe nfsl created by cia in early 80s. Morocco provided nfsl trg in 81-82. In 84 front based in sudan.


Later in Egypt. In 89 when egypt and libya became friends nfsl moved to N'Djamena, where it spliced with nla. Israel lent trainers. Nls's 700 contras recruited from among 2,000 libyan prisoners taken by chad in border skirmishes between 83-87. Col. Abdoulgassim Khalifa Hafter made nla Commander. Group turned over to 30 u.s. Military advisers for training in Commando and terrorist ops. Nla also intended for use against sudan and Other countries. Sudanese people's liberation army (spla) shut down. Office Described as u.s. Chadian op.


In 89 op centered in villa of head of chad's Secret service, the dds, and staffed by u.s. Personnel. U.s. Finally Admitted nla a u.s. Op in 3/91. Israel used cameroons intel orgs and sent Instructors run nla trg centers. U.s. Apparently had major supply base at Yoko in central cameroon. Further details covert action information Bulletin (now covert action quarterly) summer 91 47-51


Overthrow

Libya, israel, 87-89 Israel and u.s. Training "contra force of  libyans" In number of west and central african countries. They called "national Front for salvation of libya," and located in chad. Contras from about 2000 Libyan prisoners war, leader khalifa haftar. Cia controls weapons. Saudi Arabia contributed to libyan contras. Israeli foreign affairs 2/89 1,6


Propaganda

Egypt, libya, 81-87 Before sadat's assassination, secretary state haig rReferred to qaddafi as a cancer that has to be cut out. On 6/18/81

President had signed secret intel finding directing cia to provide Non- lethal support and training to anti-qaddafi exiles. In october, former Libyan diplomat mohammed mugharief founded national front for
salvation of Libya, underwritten largely by cia with help of saudi arabia. Based in Sudan, front established a propaganda radio station.

Martin, d. & walcott, J. (1988). Best laid plans 79


Publication

Libya, 81-83 On june 18, 81 president signed intel finding directing cia To provide non-lethal support to anti-quaddfi exiles. In oct a former Libyan diplomat, mohammed mugharief, founded national front for
salvation Of libya - underwritten by cia with help from saudi arabia. Based in sudan It established a radio station and began looking for prominent exiles. Martin, d. & walcott, j. (1988). Best laid plans 79