tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115637542024-03-13T10:18:16.294-04:00VehmgerichtHere will be found facts and opinions regarding matters of sociopolitical significance. Ideas and opinions expressed on external links are not necessarily shared by the Vehmgericht.Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.comBlogger215125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-56829440683152740542019-03-16T07:52:00.000-04:002019-03-16T17:37:24.171-04:00The Origins of Ashkenaz, Ashkenazic Jews, and YiddishAccording to this study of the genetic compositions of relevant populations, the Palestinians and Bedouins are the "real Jews". The self-proclaimed Jews now claiming "God-given" dominian over the land historically called Palestine do not have any demonstrable claim to that heritage.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2017.00087/full" target="_blank">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2017.00087/full</a><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="https://www.frontiersin.org/files/Articles/232735/fgene-08-00087-HTML/image_m/fgene-08-00087-g001.jpg" height="400" src="https://www.frontiersin.org/files/Articles/232735/fgene-08-00087-HTML/image_m/fgene-08-00087-g001.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="355" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 1</b>. The localization of AJs and their ancient admixture proportions compared to neighboring populations. <b>(A)</b> Geographical predictions of individuals analyzed in three separate studies employing different tools: <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2017.00087/full#B14" style="color: grey;">Elhaik (2013</a>, Figure 4) (blue), <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2017.00087/full#B8" style="color: grey;">Behar et al. (2013</a>, Figure 2B) (red), and <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2017.00087/full#B13" style="color: grey;">Das et al. (2016</a>,
Figure 4) (dark green for AJs who have four AJ grandparents and light
green for the rest) are shown. Color matching mean and standard
deviation (bars) of the longitude and latitude are shown for each
cohort. Since we were unsuccessful in obtaining the data points of <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2017.00087/full#B8" style="color: grey;">Behar et al. (2013</a>,
Figure 2B) from the corresponding author, we procured 78% of the data
points from their figure. Due to the low quality of their figure we were
unable to reliably extract the remaining data points. <b>(B)</b> Supervised ADMIXTURE results. For brevity, subpopulations were collapsed. The <i>x</i>
axis represents individuals. Each individual is represented by a
vertical stacked column of color-coded admixture proportions that
reflect genetic contributions from ancient Hunter-Gatherer, Anatolian,
Levantine, and Iranian individuals.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-89383798813077260392019-03-16T06:31:00.001-04:002019-03-16T06:31:12.505-04:00The Lobby - USA, episode 1<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3lSjXhMUVKE" width="480"></iframe>Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-3104511439856107522016-08-10T17:28:00.001-04:002016-08-10T17:28:54.708-04:00WTC 1993 was an FBI job<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_2vpcABWJiY" width="459"></iframe>Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-81779458106502650442016-08-10T17:20:00.003-04:002016-08-10T17:20:34.518-04:00Attorneygate: Bill Clinton's 1993 Purge of U.S. Attorneys<br />
<div class="n2" style="margin-bottom: 0px;">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;">
<tbody>
<tr valign="bottom">
<td width="33%"><a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/home.htm" target="_self">Free Republic</a><br />
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/*/index" target="_self">Browse</a>
· <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search" target="_self">Search</a></td>
<td align="center" width="34%"></td>
<td align="right" width="33%"><a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/news-forum/index" target="_self">News/Activism</a><br />
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/topics" target="_self">Topics</a>
· <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/post_article" target="_self">Post Article</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#comment" target="_self">Skip to comments.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts" id="top" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_self"><span style="color: black;"><b>Attorneygate: Bill Clinton's 1993 Purge of U.S. Attorneys</b></span></a><br />
<small>
<b><a href="http://blog.thevanguard.org/363/clintons-1993-purge-of-us-attorneys" target="_blank">TheVanguard.org ^</a>
</b>
| April 14, 2007
| Richard Poe
</small><br />
<small>Posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 3:42:44 PM</span></b> by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Erichardpoe/" title="Since 2002-03-01"><span style="color: black;"><b>Richard Poe</b></span></a></small><br />
History is an excellent antidote for hysteria. All the huffing and puffing over the Bush Administration's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/washington/29gonzales.html"><b>firing of eight U.S. Attorneys</b></a>
might be tempered by an awareness that Bush's predecessor, President
Bill Clinton, summarily fired all 93 U.S. Attorneys on a single day,
March 23, 1993. (1) (2)<br />
<br />
Why the Clinton Administration initiated this unprecedented
purge has never been adequately investigated. For the convenience of
future historians, we offer here a full list of the 93 U.S. Attorneys
whose resignations the Clinton administration demanded:<br />
<ol><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-small;">
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/alm"><b>U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama</b></a> (usdoj.gov) James Eldon Wilson (1987-1994), replaced by Charles R. Pitt (1994-present) (3)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/aln"><b>U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama</b></a> (usdoj.gov) <a href="http://nafusa.org/memberdirectory/memberlisting.asp?memberID=4">Jack W. Selden</a> (1992-93), replaced by Claude Harris, Jr. (1993-94)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/als"><b>U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama</b></a> (usdoj.gov) J.B. Sessions, III (1981-1993), replaced by Edward Vulevich, Jr. (1993-95)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ak">U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska</a> (usdoj.gov) Wevley William Shea (1990-1993), replaced by Joseph W. Bottini (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/az">U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona</a> (usdoj.gov) Linda A. Akers (1990-1993), replaced by Daniel G. Knauss (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/are">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas</a> (usdoj.gov) <a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/are/usa.html">Charles A. Banks</a> (1987-1993), replaced by Richard M. Pence, Jr. (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.arwd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas</a> (uscourts.gov) J. Michael Fitzhugh (1985-93), replaced by Paul K. Holmes, III (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/cac">U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California</a> (usdoj.gov)<a href="http://nafusa.org/memberdirectory/memberlisting.asp?memberID=3523">Terree A. Bowers</a> (1992-94), replaced by Nora M. Manella (1994-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California</a> (usdoj.gov) <a href="http://nafusa.org/memberdirectory/memberlisting.asp?memberID=36">George L. O'Connell</a> (1991-93), replaced by Robert M. Twiss (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can">U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California</a> (usdoj.gov) John A. Mendez (1992-93), replaced by Michael J. Yamaguchi (1993-present) (4)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/cas">U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California</a> (usdoj.gov) <a href="http://nafusa.org/memberdirectory/memberlisting.asp?memberID=25">William Braniff</a> (1988-93), replaced by James W. Brannigan, Jr. (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/co">U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado</a> (usdoj.gov) Michael J. Norton (1988-93), replaced by James R. Allison (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ct">U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut</a> (usdoj.gov) Albert S. Dabrowski (1991-93), replaced by Christopher Droney (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/de">U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware</a> (usdoj.gov) William C. Carpenter (1985-93), replaced by Richard G. Andrews (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/dc">U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia</a> (usdoj.gov) Jay B. Stephens (1988-93), replaced by J. Ramsey Johnson (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/flm">U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida</a> (usdoj.gov) Robert W. Genzman (1988-93), replaced by Douglas N. Frazier (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fln">U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida</a> (usdoj.gov) <a href="http://nafusa.org/memberdirectory/memberlisting.asp?memberID=100">Kenneth W. Sukhia</a> (1990-93), replaced by Gregory R. Miller (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls">U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida</a> (usdoj.gov) Roberto Martinez (1992-93), replaced by Kendall B. Coffey (1993-96)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gam">U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia</a> (usdoj.gov) Edgar William Ennis, Jr. (1988-93), replaced by Samuel A. Wilson, Jr. (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan">U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia</a> (usdoj.gov) Joe D. Whitley (1990-93), replaced by Gerrilyn G. Brill (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gas">U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia</a> (usdoj.gov) Jay D. Gardner (1992-94), replaced by Harry D. Dixon, Jr. (1994-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.gud.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands</a>Frederick A. Black (1991-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/hi">U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii</a> (usdoj.gov) Daniel A. Bent (1983-93), replaced by Elliott Enoki (1993-94)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/id">U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho</a> (usdoj.gov) Maurice O. Ellsworth (1985-93), replaced by Patrick J. Molloy (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ilc">U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois</a> (usdoj.gov) J. William Roberts (1986-93), replaced by Byron G. Cudmore (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln">U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois</a> (usdoj.gov) Judge Fred L. Foreman (1990-93), replaced by Michael J. Shepard (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ils">U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois</a> (usdoj.gov) Frederick J. Hess (1982-93), replaced by Clifford J. Proud (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/inn">U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana</a> (usdoj.gov) John F. Hoehner (1991-93), replaced by David A. Capp (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ins">U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana</a> (usdoj.gov) Deborah J. Daniels (1988-93), replaced by John J. Thar (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ian">U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa</a> (usdoj.gov) Charles W. Lawson (1986-93), replaced by Robert L. Teig (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ias">U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa</a> (usdoj.gov) <a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ias/former_usas/index.html">Gene W. Shepard</a> (1990-93), replaced by Don Carlos Nickerson (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ks">U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas</a> (usdoj.gov) Lee Thompson (1990-93), replaced by Jackie N. Williams (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/kye">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky</a> (usdoj.gov) Karen K. Caldwell (1991-94), replaced by Joseph L. Famularo (1994-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/kyw">U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky</a> (usdoj.gov) Joseph M. Whittle (1986-93), replaced by Michael Troop (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/lae">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana</a> (usdoj.gov) Harry A. Rosenberg (1991-93), replaced by Robert J. Boitmann (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/lam">U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana</a> (usdoj.gov) P. Raymond Lamonica (1986-94), replaced by L.J. Hymel (1994-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/law">U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana</a> (usdoj.gov) Joseph S. Cage, Jr. (1981-93), replaced by William J. Flanagan (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.med.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine</a> Richard S. Cohen (1981-1993), replaced by Jay P. McCloskey (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md">U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland</a> (usdoj.gov) Richard D. Bennett (1991-93), replaced by Gary P. Jordan (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ma">U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts</a> (usdoj.gov) Wayne A. Budd (1989-93), replaced by A. John Pappalardo (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/mie">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan</a> (usdoj.gov) Stephen J. Markman (1989-93), replaced by Ross Parker (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/miw">U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan</a> (usdoj.gov) John A. Smietanka (1981-94), replaced by Thomas J. Gezon (1994)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/mn">U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota</a> (usdoj.gov) Thomas B. Heffelfinger (1991-93), replaced by Francis K. Hermann (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.msnd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi</a> (usdoj.gov) Robert Q. Whitwell (1985-93), replaced by Alfred E. Moreton, III (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/mss">U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi</a> (usdoj.gov) George L. Phillips (1980-94), replaced by Brad Pigott (1994-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/moe">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri</a> (usdoj.gov) Stephen B. Higgins (1990-93), replaced by Edward L. Dowd, Jr. (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow">U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri</a> (usdoj.gov) Jean Paul Bradshaw (1989-93), replaced by Michael A. Jones (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/mt">U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana</a> (usdoj.gov) Doris Swords Poppler (1990-93), replaced by Sherry S. Mateucci (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ne">U.S. Attorney for the District of Nebraska</a> (usdoj.gov) Ronald D. Lahners (1981-93), replaced by Thomas J. Monaghan (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nv">U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada</a> (usdoj.gov) Monte Stewart (1992-93), replaced by Kathryn Landreth (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nh">U.S. Attorney for the District of New Hampshire</a> (usdoj.gov) Jeffrey R. Howard (1989-93), replaced by Peter E. Papps (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nj">U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey</a> (usdoj.gov) <a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nj/about/history.html#former_usas">Michael Chertoff</a> (1990-94), replaced by Faith S. Hochberg (1994-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nm">U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico</a> (usdoj.gov) Don J. Svet (1991-93), replaced by Larry Gomez (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nye">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York</a> (usdoj.gov) <a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nye/district/formerusa.html">Mary Jo White</a> (1992-93), replaced by Zachary W. Carter (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nyn">U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York</a> (usdoj.gov) Gary L. Sharpe (1992-94), replaced by Thomas J. Maroney (1994-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys">U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York</a> (usdoj.gov) Otto G. Obermaier (1989-93), replaced by Roger S. Hayes (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nyw">U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York</a> (usdoj.gov) Dennis C. Vacco (1988-93), replaced by Patrick H. NeMoyer (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nce">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina</a> (usdoj.gov) Margaret Person Currin (1988-93), replaced by James R. Dedrick (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.ncmd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina</a> (uscourts.gov) Robert H. Edmunds, Jr. (1986-93), replaced by Benjamin H. White, Jr. (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.ncwd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina</a> (uscourts.gov) Thomas J. Ashcraft (1987-93), replaced by Jerry W. Miller (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nd">U.S. Attorney for the District of North Dakota</a> (usdoj.gov) Stephen D. Easton (1990-93), replaced by John T. Schneider (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.ohnd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio</a> (uscourts.gov) Joyce J. George (1989-93), replaced by Patrick J. Foley (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.ohsd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio</a> D. Michael Crites (1986-93), replaced by Barbara L. Beran (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/oke">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma</a> (usdoj.gov) John W. Haley, Jr. (1990-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/okn">U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma</a> (usdoj.gov) Tony M. Graham (1987-93), replaced by Frederick L. Dunn, III (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.okwd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma</a> (usdoj.gov) Joe L. Heaton (1992-93), replaced by John E. Green (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/or">U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon</a> (usdoj.gov) Charles H. Turner (1982-93), replaced by Jack C. Wong (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania</a> (usdoj.gov) Michael M. Baylson (1988-93), replaced Michael J. Rotko (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.pamd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania</a> (uscourts.gov) James J. West (1985-93), replaced by Wayne P. Samuelson (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.pawd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania</a> (uscourts.gov) Thomas W. Corbett, Jr. (1989-93), replaced by Frederick W. Thieman (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.prd.uscourts.gov/usdcpr/home.aspx">U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico</a> (uscourts.gov) Daniel F. Lopez-Romo (1982-93), replaced by Charles E.. Fitzwilliam (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ri">U.S. Attorney for the District of Rhode Island</a> (usdoj.gov) Lincoln C. Almond (1981-93), replaced by Edwin J. Gale (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/sc">U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina</a> (usdoj.gov) John S. Simmons (1992-93), replaced by Margaret B. Seymour (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/sd">U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota</a> (usdoj.gov) Kevin V. Schieffer (1991-93), replaced by Ted L. McBride (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.tned.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee</a> (uscourts.gov) Jerry G. Cunningham (1991-93), replaced by David G. Dake (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.tnmd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee</a> (uscourts.gov) Ernest W. Williams (1991-94), replaced by John M. Roberts (1994-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.tnwd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee</a> (uscourts.gov) Edward G. Bryant (1991-93), replaced by Daniel A. Clancy (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.txed.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas</a> (uscourts.gov) Robert J. Wortham (1981-93), replaced by Ruth Yeager (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.txnd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas</a> (uscourts.gov) Marvin L. Collins (1985-93), replaced by Richard H. Stephens (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.txs.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas</a> (uscourts.gov) Ronald G. Woods (1990-93), replaced by Lawrence D. Finer (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.txwd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas</a> (uscourts.gov) Ronald F. Ederer (1989-93), replaced by James H. DeAtley (1993-96)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.utd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah</a> (uscourts.gov) <a href="http://nafusa.org/memberdirectory/memberlisting.asp?memberID=360">David J. Jordan</a> (1991-93), replaced by Richard D. Parry (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vt">U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont</a> (usdoj.gov) Charles A. Caruso (1991-93), replaced by Charles R. Tetzlaff (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vi">U.S. Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands</a> (usdoj.gov) Terry M. Halpern (1987-93), replaced by Hugh P. Mabe, III (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia</a> (usdoj.gov) Richard Cullen (1991-93), replaced by Kenneth E. Melson (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vaw">U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia</a> (usdoj.gov) E. Montgomery Tucker (1990-93), replaced by Morgan E. Scott, Jr. (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/wae">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington</a> (usdoj.gov) William D. Hyslop (1991-93), replaced by Carroll D. Gray (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/waw">U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington</a> (usdoj.gov) Michael D. McKay (1989-93), replaced by Susan L. Barnes (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wvnd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia</a> (uscourts.gov) William A. Kolibash (1981-93), replaced by William D. Wilmoth (1993-present)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wvsd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia</a> (uscourts.gov) Michael W. Carey (1986-93), replaced by Charles T. Miller (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/wie">U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin</a> (usdoj.gov) John E. Fryatt (1988-93), replaced by Nathan A. Fischbach (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/wiw">U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin</a> (usdoj.gov) Kevin C. Potter (1981-93), replaced by Grant C. Johnson (1993)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wyd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. Attorney for the District of Wyoming</a> (uscourts.gov) Richard A. Stacy (1981-94), replaced by David D. Freudenthal (1994-present)</li>
</span></ol>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-small;">
<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<hr />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-small;">
<br /><b>NOTES</b> <span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span>1. David Johnston and Neil A. Lewis, "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/washington/29gonzales.html"><b>Gonzales Draws Strong Criticism of Prosecutors</b></a>", <i>The New York Times</i>, 29 March 2007<br />
<br />
2. David Johnston, "<a href="http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F00612F73C540C778EDDAA0894DB494D81#"><b>Attorney General Seeks Resignations from Prosecutors</b></a>", <i>The New York Times</i>, 24 March 1993<br />
<br />
3. For a <a href="http://www.judiciary.house.gov/Media/PDFS/DOJDocsPt16-070320.pdf"><b>full listing of U.S. Attorneys</b></a>,
district by district, from 1784 to 1994, see: Richard A. Hertling,
Acting Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice: Office of
Legislative Affairs, letter to The Honorable John Conyers, Jr. and The
Honorable Linda Sanchez, 5 March 2007 (download <a href="http://www.judiciary.house.gov/Media/PDFS/DOJDocsPt16-070320.pdf"><b>pdf file</b></a>)<br />
</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-small;">4. "<a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/archives/whitehouse-papers/1993/Aug/PRESIDENT-NOMINATES-EIGHT-US-ATTORNEYS-7-29"><b>President Nominates Eight U.S. Attorneys</b></a>", Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, 29 July 1993</span><br />
<hr noshade="1" size="1" />
<span style="color: green;"><b>TOPICS:</b></span> <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/vanity-news/index"><span style="color: black;">Your Opinion/Questions</span></a><br />
<span style="color: green;"><b>KEYWORDS:</b></span> <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/attorneygate/index"><span style="color: black;">attorneygate</span></a>; <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/hillaryscandals/index"><span style="color: black;">hillaryscandals</span></a>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="comment"></a>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="1"></a>
<br />
<div class="b2">
I hope this list inspires others to take the research to the next
level. Many questions cry out for exploration. For instance, what cases
were the fired U.S. Attorneys working on? Why did so many of their
Clinton-appointed replacements serve such a short time, before being
replaced in turn? And so forth.
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=1#1" target="_self">1</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 3:42:49 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Erichardpoe/" title="Since 2002-03-01">Richard Poe</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=1" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.1;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=1" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="2"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Jim Robinson; doug from upland; Alamo-Girl; Grampa Dave; Peach; nutmeg; isom35; clyde260; ...</b></div>
<div class="b2">
<img src="https://0055a6e.netsolhost.com/images/ping.gif" /><span style="font-family: ”arial”;"><b>Please let me know if you want ON or OFF of my Hillary ping list.</b></span>
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=2#2" target="_self">2</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 3:44:37 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Erichardpoe/" title="Since 2002-03-01">Richard Poe</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=2" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.2;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=2" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="3"></a>
<small><i>Comment #3 Removed by Moderator</i></small><br />
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="4"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>devolve; Richard Poe; ntnychik; PhilDragoo; Grampa Dave</b></div>
<div class="b2">
<b>93 U.S. Attorneys whose resignations the Clinton administration demanded</b>Excellent list Richard and I have it bookmarked. Thanks for the post and ping!
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=4#4" target="_self">4</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 3:50:21 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Epotlatch/" title="Since 2001-09-15">potlatch</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=4" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.4;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=4" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="5"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Hi.<br />
Please remove me from this ping list.<br />
Thanks.<br />
:-)</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=5#5" target="_self">5</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 3:52:59 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Efanfan/" title="Since 2002-01-02">fanfan</a>
("We don't start fights my friends, but we finish them, and never leave until our work is done."PMSH)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=5" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.5;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#2" target="_self">To 2</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=5" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="6"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Good afternoon, and good work. I have an answer for this question: "For instance, what cases were the fired U.S. Attorneys working on? "<br />
And the answer is numbers 6 and 7 on your list.<br />
[Queue
Carson] Karnak: give me the envelop Ed, the question: What is
Whitewater, and why are so many people associated with it in prison or
dead?"<br />
Not to mention Castle Grande (sp) or cattle futures...<br />
5.56mm
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=6#6" target="_self">6</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 3:54:37 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Emkehoe/" title="Since 1998-10-23">M Kehoe</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=6" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.6;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#2" target="_self">To 2</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=6" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="7"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
I visited the site for the District of Connecticut. Your list
says that the Clinton appointee served to “present”. The DOJ site lists a
Bush appointee who began service in 2002.<br />
Do you know the pedigree of your list? When was it prepared? Prior to 2002?<br />
Are any of the Clinton appointees still serving?</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=7#7" target="_self">7</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 3:55:43 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Ethewatchman/" title="Since 1998-08-06">the_Watchman</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=7" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.7;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=7" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="8"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Not all 93 USAs were fired by Clinton. Some USA seats were already
being held by temporary appointments, and as your chart suggests, some
Bush-appointed USAs were ultimately allowed to serve past that day in
March 1993. In fact, as your chart shows, John Raley from the Eastern
District of Oklahoma was <a href="http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/ntquery/D?nomis:2:./temp/%7EnomisECVbSG::">reappointed</a> to his post by President Clinton.<br />
<br />
The number of Clinton-fired Bush appointees was likely <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?frow=0&n=10&srcht=a&query=70+united+states+attorneys&srchst=nyt&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=sub&hdlquery=&bylquery=&daterange=period&mon1=03&day1=01&year1=1993&mon2=04&day2=01&year2=1993">about 70</a>.<br />
<br />
Thoughts at the time were that all were fired so that the U.S.
Attorneys investigating Rostenkowski and Whitewater could be canned
without causing a major uproar.
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=8#8" target="_self">8</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 3:56:17 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Econservativeinnyc/" title="Since 2004-05-08">conservative in nyc</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=8" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.8;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=8" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="9"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Thanks for the ping and your post. Different rules apply to dims.
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=9#9" target="_self">9</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 3:57:59 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Eprocessingpleasehold/" title="Since 2004-09-12">processing please hold</a>
(Duncan Hunter '08) (ROP and Open Borders-a terrorist marriage and hell's coming with them)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=9" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.9;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=9" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="10"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
More impotant than this list, what of the other 30 or so he let
go during his administration? Why were they discharged? What were they
working on?</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=10#10" target="_self">10</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 4:00:14 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Edakotared/" title="Since 2004-12-25">DakotaRed</a>
(Democrats don't rattle sabers, they wave white flags)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=10" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.10;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=10" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="11"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>conservative in nyc</b></div>
<div class="b2">
<i>Not all 93 USAs were fired by Clinton. ... The number of Clinton-fired Bush appointees was likely about 70.</i>As
I understand it, Janet Reno demanded resignations from all 93 U.S.
Attorneys, but did not accept every resignation tendered, in obedience
to her order. Some U.S. Attorneys were left in place -- on a
probationary basis, one might say.
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=11#11" target="_self">11</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 4:06:40 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Erichardpoe/" title="Since 2002-03-01">Richard Poe</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=11" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.11;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#8" target="_self">To 8</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=11" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="12"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>processing please hold</b></div>
<div class="b2">
From the NY Times of March 26, 1992: "Any hope that the Clinton
Administration would operate a Justice Department free of political
taint -- or even the appearance of political taint -- grew dim yesterday
when the White House confirmed that it would dismiss the U.S. Attorney
investigating one of its chief Congressional allies." (Rostenkowski) And by the way, when is Congress looking into cases where partisan politics played a role in <b> <i> false </i></b> indictments, say, that of Majority Leader Tom DeLay?
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=12#12" target="_self">12</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 4:13:51 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Elibertywins/" title="Since 2003-07-10">Liberty Wins</a>
(Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of all who threaten these.)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=12" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.12;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#9" target="_self">To 9</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=12" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="13"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
bookmark</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=13#13" target="_self">13</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 4:14:29 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Egiovannanicoletta/" title="Since 2001-10-19">GiovannaNicoletta</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=13" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.13;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=13" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="14"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>DakotaRed</b></div>
<div class="b2">
As best I can tell, 35 Clinton-appointed U.S. Attorneys left office
during the Clinton years (including one Clinton re-appointee from the
Bush I administration). Of the 35: <br />
<br />
7 left to become federal judges;<br />
2 left for other jobs in the Clinton administration;<br />
1 left to become an immigration judge (N.D.CA USA Yamaguchi - under circumstances very similar to Bush N.D.CA USA Ryan);<br />
7 left to run for elective office (including 1 who ultimately ran for NYS judge);<br />
13 left to go into private practice or non-elected public service;<br />
2 retired;<br />
1 joined the office of special counsel investigating Waco; and<br />
2 left because they assaulted someone (Colleton/Coffey). <br />
<br />
6 of the Clinton Appointees <a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usab4603.pdf">resigned</a> in August-October of 1997 to retire or enter private practice. These included: <br />
<br />
1) Frederick W. Thieman (W.D.PA) (8/1/97). He had just <a href="http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/1997/07/14/daily18.html">indicted</a> some bigwig <a href="http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=PA&last=CARLOW&first=FRANK">Democrat donors</a> on 7/18/97;<br />
2) Kent B. Alexander (N.D.GA) (8/15/97). He was responsible for prosecuting the Centennial Olympic Bombing case;<br />
3) John W. Raley, Jr. (E.D.OK) (8/15/97). Raley was a George H.W. Bush
appointee who was reappointed by Clinton. He supposedly retired;<br />
4) James B. Burns (N.D.IL) (8/20/97);<br />
5) Patrick H. NeMoyer (9/26/97). He ultimately ended up running for NYS Supreme Court - in <a href="http://207.29.128.48/judge/JudgeDetail?judge_cars_id=7028293">1998</a> (which, despite the name, is our lowest state court, one step above city and town courts); and<br />
6) Gaynelle Griffin Jones (10/10/97). According to some <a href="http://bestof.houstonpress.com/1996-08-29/news/the-insider/2">reports</a>, she may have been subject to an internal DOJ probe regarding her handling of <a href="http://search.houstonpress.com/1998-02-12/news/the-insider/full">local investigations</a>. <br />
<br />
I have no proof that any of the six were forced out, but isn't it a
bit strange that they all left about the same time, which also happened
to be around the time some of their terms were going to expire?
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=14#14" target="_self">14</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 4:14:43 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Econservativeinnyc/" title="Since 2004-05-08">conservative in nyc</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=14" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.14;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#10" target="_self">To 10</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=14" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="15"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>the_Watchman</b></div>
<div class="b2">
<i>"I visited the site for the District of Connecticut. Your list
says that the Clinton appointee served to “present”. The DOJ site lists a
Bush appointee who began service in 2002.</i><i>"Do you know the pedigree of your list? When was it prepared? Prior to 2002?</i><br />
You're
right. The list is old, and does not always include recent appointees.
It is mainly of interest to see what happened during the Clinton years.<br />
The
list was provided to the House Judiciary Committee on March 5, 2007, by
one Richard A. Hertling, Acting Assistant Attorney General in the
Department of Justice's Office of Legislative Affairs.<br />
However, Hertling notes that the list was taken from an older publication titled, <i>The Bicentennial Celebration of the United States</i> (he gives no date).<br />
You can download a copy of the list, along with Hertling's correspondence, from <a href="http://www.judiciary.house.gov/Media/PDFS/DOJDocsPt16-070320.pdf"><b>this link</b></a>.
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=15#15" target="_self">15</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 4:16:39 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Erichardpoe/" title="Since 2002-03-01">Richard Poe</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=15" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.15;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#7" target="_self">To 7</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=15" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="16"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Yoemans and worthy work.. thanks..</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=16#16" target="_self">16</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 4:23:46 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Ehosepipe/" title="Since 1998-09-10">hosepipe</a>
(CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole....)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=16" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.16;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=16" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="17"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
<i>As I understand it, Janet Reno demanded resignations from all 93
U.S. Attorneys, but did not accept every resignation tendered, in
obedience to her order. Some U.S. Attorneys were left in place -- on a
probationary basis, one might say.</i><br />
<br />
Some of the U.S. Attorneys were court-appointed temporary
replacements whose resignations probably couldn't be forced. Not every
USA position was filled with a political appointee in March 1993.<br />
<br />
And of the Carter/Reagan/Bush USA appointees in office, John Raley,
James Wilson (M.D.AL), Karen Caldwell (E.D.KY), Raymond LaMonica
(M.D.LA), Michael Chertoff (D.NJ), Ernest Williams (M.D.TN), Richard
Stacy (D.WY), John Smietanka (W.D.MI), George Phillips (S.D.MS) and
Frederick Black (D. Guam) likely served past the March 1993 firing date.
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=17#17" target="_self">17</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 4:25:18 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Econservativeinnyc/" title="Since 2004-05-08">conservative in nyc</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=17" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.17;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#11" target="_self">To 11</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=17" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="18"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>conservative in nyc</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Good analysis.I suppose this may have some relevance as well:<br />
<hr />
THE WHITE HOUSE<br />
<div align="center">
Office of the Press Secretary</div>
<div align="left">
For Immediate Release</div>
<div align="right">
July 29, 1993</div>
<div align="center">
</div>
The President nominated eight individuals to be U.S. Attorneys today:<br />
Eric H. Holder, Jr., for the District of Columbia<br />
Michael Joseph Yamaguchi for the Northern District of<br />
California<br />
Randall K. Rathbun for the District of Kansas<br />
Thomas Justin Monaghan for the District of Nebraska<br />
Stephen Charles Lewis for the Northern District of Oklahoma<br />
Vicki Miles-LaGrange for the Western District of Oklahoma<br />
John W. Raley, Jr. for the Eastern District of Oklahoma<br />
Frederick W. Theiman for the Western District of<br />
Pennsylvania<br />
<a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/archives/whitehouse-papers/1993/Aug/PRESIDENT-NOMINATES-EIGHT-US-ATTORNEYS-7-29"><b>Read more</b></a> »
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=18#18" target="_self">18</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 4:29:50 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Erichardpoe/" title="Since 2002-03-01">Richard Poe</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=18" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.18;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#14" target="_self">To 14</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=18" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="19"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
It is my understanding that, after replacing all 93 US Attorneys in
March '93, Clinton then proceeded to replace 30 of those over the rest
of his tenure. It would be interesting to know the circumstances of those 30 <strike>firings</strike> replacements.
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=19#19" target="_self">19</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 4:42:05 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Ehardstarboard/" title="Since 1998-11-13">HardStarboard</a>
(The Democrats are more afraid of American Victory than Defeat!)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=19" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.19;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=19" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="20"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>HardStarboard</b></div>
<div class="b2">
bm for later</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=20#20" target="_self">20</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 5:09:11 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Ejessiehelmsjr/" title="Since 2004-09-22">JessieHelmsJr</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=20" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.20;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#19" target="_self">To 19</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=20" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="21"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
I remember exactly what I was doing the day I heard this on the
news. I thought, “Wow, that sure seems extreme.” A well-educated lawyer
friend of mine and fierce anti-liberal told me it wasn’t unusual at all
for a president to do that.</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=21#21" target="_self">21</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 5:10:20 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Etheinvisib1ehand/" title="Since 2003-11-22">the invisib1e hand</a>
(Thank you St. Jude.)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=21" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.21;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=21" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="22"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Holder was appointed Deputy Attorney General in 1997. Yamaguchi
was forced out in 1998 because his office was so poorly run (very
similar to the complaints about Ryan). For some reason, the USA office
for the Northern District of California is notoriously difficult to run.<br />
Rathburn resigned in 1996 (before his initial term was up), supposedly
to run for public office. He had a run in with the Gore-supporting
Phelps family of God Hates Fags fame.<br />
Monaghan and Lewis served until 2001.<br />
Miles-LaGrange was appointed to the federal bench in 1994.<br />
As mentioned previously, Raley and Theiman resigned in August 1997.
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=22#22" target="_self">22</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 5:18:50 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Econservativeinnyc/" title="Since 2004-05-08">conservative in nyc</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=22" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.22;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#18" target="_self">To 18</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=22" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="23"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Susan Coleman: Rumors were circulating in Arkansas of an affair
with Bill Clinton. She was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head
at 7 1/2 months pregnant. Death was an apparent suicide.<br />
Larry Guerrin: Was killed in February 1987 while investigating the INSLAW case.<br />
Kevin Ives & Don Henry: Initial cause of death was reported to be
the result of falling asleep on a railroad track in Arkansas on August
23, 1987. This ruling was reported by the State medical examiner Fahmy
Malak. Later it was determined that Kevin died from a crushed skull
prior to being placed on the tracks. Don had been stabbed in the back.
Rumors indicate that they might have stumbled upon a Mena drug
operation.<br />
Keith Coney: Keith had information on the Ives/Henry deaths. Died in a
motorcycle accident in July 1988 with unconfirmed reports of a high
speed car chase.<br />
Keith McKaskle: McKaskle has information on the Ives/Henry deaths. He was stabbed to death in November 1988.<br />
Gregory Collins: Greg had information on the Ives/Henry deaths. He died from a gunshot wound to the face in January 1989.<br />
Jeff Rhodes: He had information on the deaths of Ives, Henry &
McKaskle. His burned body was found in a trash dump in April 1989. He
died of a gunshot wound to the head and there was some body mutilation,
leading to the probably speculation that he was tortured prior to being
killed.<br />
James Milam: Milam had information on the Ives & Henry deaths. He
was decapitated. The state Medical examiner, Fahmy Malak, initially
ruled death due to natural causes.<br />
Richard Winters: Winters was a suspect in the deaths of Ives &
Henry. He was killed in a “robbery” in July 1989 which was subsequently
proven to be a setup.<br />
Jordan Kettleson: Kettleson had information on the Ives & Henry
deaths. He was found shot to death in the front seat of his pickup in
June 1990.<br />
Alan Standorf: An employee of the National Security Agency in
electronic intelligence. Standorf was a source of information for Danny
Casalaro who was investigating INSLAW, BCCI, etc. Standorf’s body was
found in the backseat of a car at Washington National Airport on Jan 31,
1991.<br />
Dennis Eisman: An attorney with information on INSLAW. Eisman was found shot to death on April 5, 1991.<br />
Danny Casalaro: Danny was a free-lance reporter and writer who was
investigating the “October Surprise”, INSLAW and BCCI. Danny was found
dead in a bathtub in a Sheraton Hotel room in Martinsburg, West
Virginia. Danny was staying at the hotel while keeping appointments in
the DC area pertinent to his investigation. He was found with his wrists
slashed. At least one, and possibly both of his wrists were cut 10
times. All of his research materials were missing and have never been
recovered.<br />
Victor Raiser: The National Finance Co-Chair for “Clinton for President.” He died in a airplane crash on July 30, 1992.<br />
R. Montgomery Raiser: Also involved in the Clinton presidential campaign. He died in the same plane crash as Victor.<br />
Paul Tully: Tulley was on the Democratic National Committee. He was
found dead of unknown causes in his hotel room on September 24, 1992. No
autopsy was ever allowed.<br />
Ian Spiro: Spiro had supporting documentation for grand jury
proceedings on the INSLAW case. His wife and 3 children were found
murdered on November 1, 1992 in their home. They all died of gunshot
wounds to the head. Ian’s body was found several days later in a parked
car in the Borego Desert. Cause of death? The ingestion of cyanide. FBI
report indicated that Ian had murdered his family and then committed
suicide.<br />
Paula Gober: A Clinton speech writer. She died in a car accident on December 9, 1992 with no known witnesses.<br />
Jim Wilhite: Wilhite was an associate of Mack McClarty’s former firm.
Wilhite died in a skiing accident on December 21, 1992. He also had
extensive ties to Clinton with whom he visited by telephone just hours
before his death.<br />
Steve Willis, Robert Williams, Todd McKeahan & Conway LeBleu:
Died Feburary 28, 1993 by gunfire at Waco. All four were examined by a
pathologist and died from identical wounds to the left temple. All four
had been body guards for Bill Clinton, three while campaigning for
President and when he was Governor of Arkansas.They also were the ONLY 4
BATF agents killed at Waco.<br />
Sgt. Brian Haney, Sgt. Tim Sabel, Maj. William Barkley, Capt. Scott
Reynolds: Died: May 19, 1993 - All four men died when their helicopter
crashed in the woods near Quantico, Va. - Reporters were barred from the
site, and the head of the fire department responding to the crash
described it by saying, “Security was tight,” with “lots of Marines with
guns.” A videotape made by a firefighter was seized by the Marines. All
four men had escorted Clinton on his flight to the carrier Roosevelt
shortly before their deaths.<br />
John Crawford: An attorney with information on INSLAW. He died from a heart attack in Tacoma in April of 1993.<br />
John Wilson: Found dead from an apparent hanging suicide on May 18,
1993. He was a former Washington DC council member and claimed to have
info on Whitewater.<br />
Paul Wilcher: A lawyer who was investigating drug running out of
Mena, Arkansas and who also sought to expose the “October Surprise”,
BCCI and INSLAW. He was found in his Washington DC apartment dead of
unknown causes on June 22, 1993.<br />
Vincent Foster: A White House deputy counsel and long-time personal
friend of Bill and Hillary’s. Found on July 20, 1993, dead of a gunshot
wound to the mouth — a death ruled suicide. Many different theories on
this case! Readers are encouraged to read our report in Strange Deaths.<br />
Jon Parnell Walker: An investigator for the RTC who was looking into
the linkage between the Whitewater and Madison S&L bankruptcy.
Walker “fell” from the top of the Lincoln Towers Building.<br />
Stanley Heard & Steven Dickson: They were members of the Clinton
health care advisory committee. They died in a plane crash on September
10, 1993.<br />
Jerry Luther Parks: Parks was the Chief of Security for Clinton’s
national campaign headquarters in Little Rock. Gunned down in his car on
September 26, 1993 near the intersection of Chenal Parkway and Highway
10 west of Little Rock. Parks was shot through the rear window of his
car. The assailant then pulled around to the driver’s side of Park’s car
and shot him three more times with a 9mm pistol. His family reported
that shortly before his death, they were being followed by unknown
persons, and their home had been broken into (despite a top quality
alarm system). Parks had been compiling a dossier on Clinton’s illicit
activities. The dossier was stolen.<br />
Ed Willey: A Clinton fundraiser. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot
wound on November 30, 1993. His death came the same day his wife,
Kathleen, was sexually assaulted in the White House by Bill Clinton.<br />
Gandy Baugh: Baugh was Lasater’s attorney and committed suicide on
January 8, 1994. Baugh’s partner committed suicide exactly one month
later on February 8, 1994.<br />
Herschell Friday: A member of the presidential campaign finance committee. He died in an airplane explosion on March 1, 1994.<br />
Ronald Rogers: Rogers died on March 3, 1994 just prior to releasing
sensitive information to a London newspaper. Cause of death?
Undetermined.<br />
Kathy Furguson: A 38 year old hospital worker whose ex-husband is a
co- defendant in the Paula Jones sexual harassment law suit. She had
information supporting Paula Jone’s allegations. She died of an apparent
suicide on May 11, 1994 from a gunshot wound to the head.<br />
Bill Shelton: Shelton was an Arkansas police officer and was found
dead as an apparent suicide on kathy Ferguson’s grave (Kathy was his
girl friend), on June 12, 1994. This “suicide” was the result of a
gunshot wound to the back of the head.<br />
Stanley Huggins: Huggins, 46, was a principal in a Memphis law firm
which headed a 1987 investigation into the loan practices of Madison
Guaranty S&L. Stanley died in Delaware in July 1994 — reported cause
of death was viral pneumonia.<br />
Paul Olson: A Federal witness in investigations to drug money
corruption in Chicago politics, Paul had just finished 2 days of FBI
interviews when his plane ride home crashed, killing Paul and 130 others
on Sept 8 1994. The Sept. 15, 1994 Tempe Tribune newspaper reported
that the FBI suspected that a bomb had brought down the airplane.<br />
Calvin Walraven: 24 year on Walraven was a key witness against
Jocelyn Elder’s son’s drug case. Walraven was found dead in his
apartment with a gunshot wound to the head. Tim Hover, a Little Rock
police spokesman says no foul play is suspected.<br />
Alan G. Whicher: Oversaw Clinton’s Secret Service detail. In October
1994 Whicher was transferred to the Secret Service field office in the
Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. Whatever warning was given to the BATF
agents in that building did not reach Alan Whicher, who died in the
bomb blast of April 19th 1995.<br />
Duane Garrett: Died July 26, 1995-A lawyer and a talk show host for
KGO-AM in San Fransisco, Duane was the campaign finance chairman for
Diane Fienstien’s run for the senate, and was a friend and fundraiser
for Al Gore. Garrett was under investigation for defrauding investors in
Garrett’s failed sports memorabilia venture. There was talk of a deal
to evade prosecution. On July 26th, Garrett canceled an afternoon
meeting with his lawyer because he had to meet some people at the San
Fransisco airport. Three hours later he was found floating in the bay
under the Golden Gate Bridge.<br />
Ron Brown:. The Commerce Secretary died on April 3, 1996, in an Air
Force jet carrying Brown and 34 others, including 14 business executives
on a trade mission to Croatia, crashed into a mountainside. The Air
Force, in a 22-volume report issued in June of 1996, confirmed its
initial judgment that the crash resulted from pilot errors and faulty
navigation equipment At the time of Brown’s death, Independent Counsel
Daniel Pearson was seeking to determine whether Brown had engaged in
several sham financial transactions with longtime business partner
Nolanda Hill shortly before he became secretary of commerce.<br />
Charles Meissner: died: UNK - Following Ron Brown’s death, John Huang
was placed on a Commerce Department contract that allowed him to retain
his security clearance<br />
by Charles Meissner. Shortly thereafter, Meissner died in the crash of a
small plane. He was an Assistant Secretary of Commerce for
International Economic Policy.<br />
William Colby: Retired CIA director was found dead on May 6,1996
after his wife reported him missing on April 27,1996. Apparently, Colby
decided to go on a impromptu canoeing excursion and never returned.
Colby who had just started writing for Strategic Investment newsletter,
worried many in the intelligent community. Colby’s past history of
divulging CIA secrets in the past were well known. Strategic Investor
had covered the Vince Foster suicide and had hired handwriting experts
to review Foster’s suicide note.<br />
Admiral Jeremy Boorda: Died on May 16,1996 after he went home for
lunch and decided to shoot himself in the chest (by one report, twice)
rather than be interviewed by Newsweek magazine that afternoon.
Explanations for Boorda’s suicide focused on a claim that he was
embarrassed over two “Valor” pins he was not authorized to wear.<br />
Lance Herndon: Herndon a 41 year old computer specialist and a
prominent entrepreneur who received a presidential appointment in 1995
died August 10, 1996 under suspicious circumstances. He appeared to have
died from a blow to the head. Police said no weapons were found at his
mansion, adding that Mr. Herndon had not been shot or stabbed and there
was no evidence of forced entry or theft.<br />
Neil Moody: Died -August 25, 1996 Following Vincent Foster’s murder,
Lisa Foster married James Moody, a judge in Arkansas, on Jan 1, 1996.
Near the time Susan McDougal first went to jail for contempt, Judge
Moor’s son, Neil died in a car crash. There were other reports that Neil
Moody had discovered something very unsettling among his stepmother’s
private papers and was threatening to go public with it just prior to
the beginning of the Democratic National Convention. He was alleged to
have been talking to Bob Woodward of the Washington Post about a
blockbuster story. Witnesses said they saw Neil Moody sitting in his car
arguing with another person just prior to His car suddenly speeding off
out of control and hitting a brick wall.<br />
Barbara Wise: Wise a 14-year Commerce Department employee found dead
and partially naked in her office following a long weekend. She worked
in the same section as John Huang. Officially, she is said to have died
of natural causes.<br />
Doug Adams: Died January 7, 1997- A lawyer in Arkansas who got
involved trying to help the people who were being swindled out of their
life savings. Adams was found in his vehicle with a gunshot wound to his
head in a Springfield Mo. hospital parking lot.<br />
Mary C. Mahoney: 25, murdered at the Georgetown Starbuck’s coffee bar
over the 4th of July ‘97 weekend. She was a former White House intern
who worked with John Huang. Apparently she knew Monica Lewinsky and her
sexual encounters with Bill Clinton. Although not verified, it has been
said that Lewinsky told Linda Tripp that she did not want to end up like
Mahoney.<br />
Ronald Miller: Suddenly took ill on October 3rd,1997 and steadily
worsened until his death 9 days later. (This pattern fits Ricin
poisoning.) Owing to the strangeness of the illness, doctors at the
Integris Baptist Medical Center referred the matter to the Oklahoma
State Medical Examiner’s Office. The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s
Office promptly ran tests on samples of Ron Miller’s blood, but has
refused to release the results or even to confirm that the tests were
ever completed.<br />
Had been investigated by authorities over the sale of his company,
Gage Corp. to Dynamic Energy Resources, Inc. was the man who tape
recorded Gene and Nora Lum and turned those tapes (and other records)
over to congressional oversight investigators. The Lums were sentenced
to prison for campaign finance violations, using “straw donors” to
conceal the size of their contributions to various candidates. Indeed,
Dynamic Energy Resources, Inc. had hired Ron Brown’s son Michael solely
for the purpose of funneling $60,000 through him to the Commerce
Secretary, according to Nolanda Hill’s testimony.<br />
Sandy Hume: On Sunday, February 22nd, 1998, Sandy Hume, the 28 year
old son of journalist Britt Hume, was reportedly found dead in his
Arlington, Virginia home. Aside from the statement that this was an
“apparent” suicide, there remains in place a total media blackout on
this story, possibly out of concern that the actual facts will not
withstand public scrutiny. Worked for Hill magazine, about Congress for
Congress.<br />
Jim McDougal: Bill and Hillary Clinton friend, banker, and political
ally, sent to prison for eighteen felony convictions. A key whitewater
witness, dies of a heart attack on March, 8 1998. As of this writing
allegations that he was given an injection of the diuretic lasix has not
been denied or confirmed.<br />
Died on March 8, 1998<br />
Johnny Lawhon: 29, died March 29, 1998- The Arkansas transmission
specialist who discovered a pile of Whitewater documents in the trunk of
an abandoned car on his property and turned them over to Starr, was
killed in a car wreck two weeks after the McDougal death.. Details of
the “accident” have been sketchy — even from the local Little Rock
newspaper.<br />
Charles Wilbourne Miller: 63, was found dead of a gunshot wound to
the head on November 17, 1998 in a shallow pit about 300 yards from his
ranch house near Little Rock. Police found a .410 gauge shotgun near
Miller’s body and a Ruger .357-caliber revolver submerged in water.
Investigators concluded the Ruger was the weapon used by Miller to kill
himself. Yet, two rounds in the handgun’s cylinder had been spent.<br />
He had long served as executive vice president and member of the
board of directors for a company called Alltel and was deeply involved
in his own software engineering company until the day he died. Alltel is
the successor to Jackson Stephens’ Systematics, the company that
provided the software for the White House’s “Big Brother” data base
system and that was behind the administration’s plan to develop the
secret computer “Clipper” chip to bug every phone, fax and email
transmission in America.<br />
Carlos Ghigliotti: 42, was found dead in his home just outside of
Washington D.C. on April 28, 2000. There was no sign of a break-in or
struggle at the firm of Infrared Technology where the badly decomposed
body of Ghigliotti was found. Ghigliotti had not been seen for several
weeks.<br />
Ghigliotti, a thermal imaging analyst hired by the House Government
Reform Committee to review tape of the siege, said he determined the FBI
fired shots on April 19, 1993. The FBI has explained the light bursts
on infrared footage as reflections of sun rays on shards of glass or
other debris that littered the scene.<br />
“I conclude this based on the groundview videotapes taken from
several different angles simultaneously and based on the overhead
thermal tape,” Ghigliotti told The Washington Post last October. “The
gunfire from the ground is there, without a doubt.”<br />
Ghigliotti said the tapes also confirm the Davidians fired repeatedly
at FBI agents during the assault, which ended when flames raced through
the compound. About 80 Branch Davidians perished that day, some from
the fire, others from gunshot wounds.<br />
Mark Corallo, a spokesman for the congressional committee chaired by
Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., said that police found the business card of a
committee investigator in Ghigliotti’s office. Corallo said Ghigliotti’s
work for the committee ended some time ago.<br />
Tony Moser: 41, was killed as he crossed a street in Pine Bluff, Ark
on on June 10, 2000. Killed 10 days after being named a columnist for
the Democrat-Gazette newspaper and two days after penning a stinging
indictment of political corruption in Little Rock.<br />
Police have concluded that no charges will be filed against the
unnamed driver of a 1995 Chevrolet pickup, which hit Moser as he was
walking alone in the middle of unlit Rhinehart Road about 10:10 p.m<br />
Police say they have ruled out foul play and will file no charges
against the driver because he was not intoxicated and there was no sign
of excessive speed.</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=23#23" target="_self">23</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 5:19:48 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Ealbaby/" title="Since 1998-04-20">al baby</a>
(Hi mom)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=23" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.23;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=23" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="24"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
I saw a couple of comments about this. One of them had to do with
an investigation against Bill Clinton in Arkansas, and the other was an
investigation against an FOB but I don’t recall the state being
mentioned.<br />
The article said they believed it was these two investigations which
caused Clinton to get rid of them all - SO HE COULDN’T BE ACCUSED OF
GETTING RID OF JUST THOSE 2 WHO WERE DOING INVESTIGATIONS WHICH BILL WAS
UNHAPPY WITH.<br />
Now .. we all surely know by now that the democrats operate by using
the “projection technique”. I just have to ask .. what was the FIRST
THING the democrats accused the Bush admin of doing ..?? I know the
answer: GETTING RID OF AG’s WHO WERE DOING INVESTIGATIONS AGAINST
REPUBS. This is surely the result of the dems usual “projection
technique” in action.<br />
Thereby proving once again .. the dems always accuse the repubs of
doing the dirty deeds the dems are in the process of doing, have already
done, or are thinking about doing.<br />
Funny .. the repub Duke Cunningham was already in prison .. and the
others related to that case have already begun trials in District Court
here in San Diego ( I know that because I was asked to be on a jury ).<br />
And .. even funnier, ethically-challenged Diane F. wrote several
letters to the DOJ COMPLAINING ABOUT THE AG IN SAN DIEGO - and then went
on TV and stated the exact opposite.<br />
So .. I believe Gonzales had every right to fire anybody - with the
President’s approval. Why he’s not being supported is a mystery to me.<br />
HOWEVER - I HOPE THE GOP CANDIDATES ARE TAKING NOTES - WHEN YOU GET
IN OFFICE - DITCH THE OTHER PARTY’S AG’s AND APPOINT YOUR OWN. I do
believe your voter registration is public information - so there’s no
excuse for keeping all those democrats in office when they were
appointed for one specific purpose .. to keep the Clinton’s out of
trouble.</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=24#24" target="_self">24</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 5:43:43 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Ecyberant/" title="Since 2000-10-18">CyberAnt</a>
("... first time in history the U.S. House has attempted to surrender via C-SPAN TV ...")
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=24" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.24;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=24" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="25"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
During the Clinton Adm. he also put in place as<br />
U.S. Atty. in San Diego, Allen Bersin a FOB<br />
Friend of Bill. They went to school at Yale & Oxford</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=25#25" target="_self">25</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 5:44:00 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Esocalpol/" title="Since 2003-12-04">SoCalPol</a>
(Duncan Hunter '08 Tough on WOT & Illegals)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=25" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.25;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=25" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="26"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>al baby</b></div>
<div class="b2">
“Executive Action” ?</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=26#26" target="_self">26</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 6:15:55 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Ehappygrl/" title="Since 2002-03-15">happygrl</a>
(Dunderhead for HONOR)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=26" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.26;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#23" target="_self">To 23</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=26" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="27"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>CyberAnt</b></div>
<div class="b2">
“Now .. we all surely know by now that the democrats operate by
using the “projection technique”. I just have to ask .. what was the
FIRST THING the democrats accused the Bush admin of doing ..?? I know
the answer: GETTING RID OF AG’s WHO WERE DOING INVESTIGATIONS AGAINST
REPUBS. This is surely the result of the dems usual “projection
technique” in action.”<br />
“Thereby proving once again .. the dems always accuse the repubs of
doing the dirty deeds the dems are in the process of doing, have already
done, or are thinking about doing.”<br />
I agree with you completely. Whenever you want to know what the Rats
are up to, just listen to their accusations against the conservatives.
Works every time it’s tried.</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=27#27" target="_self">27</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 7:06:17 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Eberrydingle/" title="Since 2006-09-16">BerryDingle</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=27" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.27;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#24" target="_self">To 24</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=27" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="28"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
<b>BUMP!</b>
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=28#28" target="_self">28</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 7:40:18 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Ebenlurkin/" title="Since 2002-06-01">BenLurkin</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=28" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.28;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=28" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="29"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>BerryDingle</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Yes it does!! And .. even when they are being suspected of
something .. they will spill the beans every time and tell people what
they’re really up to .. poor things .. I really think they have no clue!</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=29#29" target="_self">29</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 7:48:03 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Ecyberant/" title="Since 2000-10-18">CyberAnt</a>
("... first time in history the U.S. House has attempted to surrender via C-SPAN TV ...")
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=29" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.29;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#27" target="_self">To 27</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=29" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="30"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe; al baby</b></div>
<div class="b2">
BUMP! BUMP!</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=30#30" target="_self">30</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 8:00:36 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Epgalt/" title="Since 1999-02-12">PGalt</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=30" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.30;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=30" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="31"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>SoCalPol</b></div>
<div class="b2">
As you probably know, Bersin also resigned in 1998 (before Clinton
left office), purportedly to become Superintendent of the San Diego
public schools.
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=31#31" target="_self">31</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 8:36:58 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Econservativeinnyc/" title="Since 2004-05-08">conservative in nyc</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=31" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.31;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#25" target="_self">To 25</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=31" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="32"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>conservative in nyc</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Yes, the the Govenator appt. him head of Ca. Schools.<br />
which he left some months back.</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=32#32" target="_self">32</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 9:17:08 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Esocalpol/" title="Since 2003-12-04">SoCalPol</a>
(Duncan Hunter '08 Tough on WOT & Illegals)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=32" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.32;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#31" target="_self">To 31</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=32" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="33"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Thanks for the ping!</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=33#33" target="_self">33</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 10:22:47 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Ealamogirl/" title="Since 1998-03-14">Alamo-Girl</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=33" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.33;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#2" target="_self">To 2</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=33" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="34"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Thanks for the ping.<br />
Well, it seems most of us know the truth or read of it right here and
we often echo that all over the net, but out there in real life it’s
the lie that so often stands.. why that is I’m not sure..but I’d bet the
MSM and the Clinton/Rat Machine has something to do with that.. and an
ineffectual GOP response.</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=34#34" target="_self">34</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/14/2007, 11:45:55 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Eseabiscuit/" title="Since 2004-09-14">SeaBiscuit</a>
(God Bless America and FRiends....Hunter '08.)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=34" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.34;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#2" target="_self">To 2</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=34" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="35"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
BTTT</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=35#35" target="_self">35</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/15/2007, 6:00:05 AM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Eegc/" title="Since 2001-08-24">E.G.C.</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=35" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.35;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#2" target="_self">To 2</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=35" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="36"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Thanks for your good work and the ping.<br />
It is amazing how the MSM mediots have erased this event from their
drugged out memories and their liberal counterparts in congress.</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=36#36" target="_self">36</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/15/2007, 9:58:26 AM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Egrampadave/" title="Since 2000-08-04">Grampa Dave</a>
(GW has more Honor and Integrity in his little finger than ALL of the losers on the "hate Bush" band)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=36" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.36;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=36" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="37"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Thanks for documenting this purge.<br />
<br />
<tt>U.S. Attorney for the District of Wyoming (uscourts.gov)
Richard A. Stacy (1981-94), replaced by David D. Freudenthal
(1994-present)</tt><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<tt> <a href="http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2519/is_4_24/ai_100543180"><b>David
D. Freudenthal: Wyoming Governor, Democrat - Career Paths: How They Got
Where They Are - politics United States - Biography</b></a><br />
<br /> ... <br />
<br /> In 1994, Freudenthal was appointed by President Clinton to be
U.S. Attorney for Wyoming, a position he held until May 2001, when he
left office to campaign for governor. Republican Gov. Jim Geringer, who
had held office for eight years, was term-limited. <br />
<br /> Freudenthal appeared to be an underdog in the race, as Wyoming
has a 60 percent to 27 percent GOP registration edge. President Bush
received his strongest showing in the state in 2000, with 69 percent of
the vote. And Republicans control both chambers of the state
legislature. <br />
<br /> Democrats had a history of holding the governor's office,
however. Before Geringer was elected in 1994, Democrats held the state's
top job from 1974 to 1994. <br />
<br /> Freudenthal positioned himself as a moderate with a strong
record of civic service. He won the Democratic primary with 54 percent
of the vote, defeating lawyer Paul Hickey. Hickey had deep political
roots - his father was governor and his mother a state senator. <br />
<br /> Eli Bebout, a former state House speaker and a successful
businessman, emerged from the GOP primary Bebout called Freudenthal a
"Clinton appointee," hoping that his association with the former
president would hurt him. But Freudenthal defended his partisanship,
saying he was "brave enough" to say he was a Democrat. He also pointed
out that Wyoming's GOP senators had approved his nomination to the
federal prosecutor's job. <br />
<br /> Freudenthal campaigned as a conservative. He opposed new taxes,
supporting the death penalty and gun controls, and was helped when
Libertarian Dave Dawson, the third candidate in the race, said voters
should support Freudenthal if they didn't support him. Freudenthal, a
low-key, friendly campaigner, often said that the sparsely populated
state couldn't "afford" to elect a candidate solely because of party. <br />
<br /> Bebout struggled to find differences between the candidates,
calling Freudenthal a closet "liberal" and attacked him on issues
involving his record. <br />
<br /> A week before the election, Bebout polled six points ahead of
Freudenthal. But the underdog Democrat came from behind and won the
race. </tt></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=37#37" target="_self">37</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/15/2007, 11:05:31 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Emilhous/" title="Since 2005-02-14">Milhous</a>
(There are only two ways of telling the complete truth: anonymously and posthumously. - Thomas Sowell)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=37" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.37;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#2" target="_self">To 2</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=37" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="38"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
Awesome...Great thread! Bookmarking.</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=38#38" target="_self">38</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/15/2007, 11:10:02 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Eigottherope/" title="Since 2000-11-13">I got the rope</a>
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=38" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.38;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=38" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="39"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>Richard Poe</b></div>
<div class="b2">
RE: Please let me know if you want ON or OFF of my Hillary ping list.<br />
On.</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=39#39" target="_self">39</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">4/17/2007, 1:23:11 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Egop1900ad/" title="Since 2001-05-08">GOP_1900AD</a>
(Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Take Back The GOP!)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=39" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.39;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#2" target="_self">To 2</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=39" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="40"></a>
<div class="a2">
To: <b>AdmSmith; Berosus; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Fred Nerks; george76; ...</b></div>
<div class="b2">
<b>here's an oldie, from 2007.</b><br />
<blockquote>
<i>All the huffing and
puffing over the Bush Administration's firing of eight U.S. Attorneys
might be tempered by an awareness that Bush's predecessor, President
Bill Clinton, summarily fired all 93 U.S. Attorneys on a single day,
March 23, 1993.</i></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="a2">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts?page=40#40" target="_self">40</a>
posted on <b><span class="date">7/11/2008, 1:41:23 PM</span></b>
by <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/%7Esunkenciv/" title="Since 2004-01-03">SunkenCiv</a>
(https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_________________________Profile updated Friday, May 30, 2008)
</div>
<div class="n2">
[
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/reply?c=40" target="_self">Post Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/mail-compose?refid=1817411.40;reftype=comment" target="_self">Private Reply</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/posts#1" target="_self">To 1</a>
| <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817411/replies?c=40" target="_self">View Replies</a>]</div>
<br />
<div class="disclaimer">
<b>Disclaimer:</b>
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
</div>
<div class="n2" style="margin-bottom: 0px;">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;">
<tbody>
<tr valign="bottom">
<td width="33%"><a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/home.htm" target="_self">Free Republic</a><br />
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/*/index" target="_self">Browse</a>
· <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search" target="_self">Search</a></td>
<td align="center" width="34%"></td>
<td align="right" width="33%"><a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/news-forum/index" target="_self">News/Activism</a><br />
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/topics" target="_self">Topics</a>
· <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/post_article" target="_self">Post Article</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="border-top: 1px solid #ccc; color: #000099; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; padding-top: 2px;">
<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/" style="color: #000099; text-decoration: none;" target="_self"><b>FreeRepublic</b></a>, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
</div>
<div style="color: #777777; font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt;">
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson
</div>
Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-58378338844077964192016-02-24T17:21:00.001-05:002016-02-24T17:21:24.567-05:00Drop Weapons - How to Get Away with Murder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ioIRsLSG9gg/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ioIRsLSG9gg?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
Drop weapons - The whole point is 'don't tell anyone'.<br />Former U.S. soldiers who took part in the Iraq war recount stories of how they killed innocent people and plant weapons on them.<br /> <br />The
soldiers talk about what they say is the widespread practice of using
"drop weapons" to cover up the killing of innocent civilians in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Huffingtonpost.com<br /> <br />A "drop weapon" is a weapon
carried by a soldier for the purpose of placing on or near a slain
individual "to make killings appear legally justified".
washingtonpost.com<br /> <br />"When we arrived there, they gave us quite a
few AKs and said keep them in case something happens," the online
broadcaster, The American News Project has reported Sergio Kochergin,
who served in Iraq as a scout sniper and now is a member of Iraq
Veterans Against the War, as saying. The video was posted on the
Internet on June 3, 2011.<br /> <br />He added that the "drop weapons" were distributed between soldiers under the orders of the chain of command. <br /> <br />"When
mistakes were made we carried drop weapons. These weapons right here
were taken from the Iraqi police...and this was just an example that we
would take their weapons and carry them around with us in case we messed
up and shot the wrong person," Jon Turner, a former Marine who served
in Iraq.<br /> Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-2286853364380628302015-06-12T23:48:00.002-04:002015-06-12T23:48:11.829-04:00The World's Foremost Problem<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pWhFHW7wixs/VXunvj2ni_I/AAAAAAAAAL0/fAEPwFSjInQ/s1600/The-International-Jew.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pWhFHW7wixs/VXunvj2ni_I/AAAAAAAAAL0/fAEPwFSjInQ/s320/The-International-Jew.png" /></a>Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-7683713064444157772014-05-19T23:45:00.000-04:002014-05-19T23:45:00.805-04:00<i>The Vehmgericht observe that were a similar incident to have happened anywhere else in the world, it would have garnered extensive MSM attention. Why is it that the people of Central Africa are of no consequence to Western "Civilization"?</i>
<h1>
Dozens die as 'speeding' DRC train derails</h1>
<div class="intro">
Dozens of people have been killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) after an overloaded goods and passenger train careered off the
tracks. The incident is one of several in recent years on the neglected
network.
</div>
<div class="picBox full">
<a class="overlayLink init" href="http://www.dw.de/dozens-die-as-speeding-drc-train-derails/a-17588582#" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer;">
<img alt="Congo DRC train crash Katanga map - 23.04.2014 Karte Congo DRC train crash Katanga map" border="0" height="394" src="http://www.dw.de/image/0,,17588609_303,00.jpg" width="700" />
</a>
</div>
<div class="group">
<div class="longText">
The goods and passenger train was on its way from Kamina to Mwene-Ditu
in the south of DRC, when it derailed from a bridge in Katanga province.<br />
The train was said to have been traveling around a bend in a swampy area of country when it came off the line.<br />
"It felt as if the engine started racing," a survivor was quoted as
saying in a local report. "The engine and a wagon fell down."<br />
At least 37 people were initially reported dead, according to witnesses
and local officials. However, Dikanga Kazadi, the interior minister of
Katanga province, gave a provisional toll of 56 dead and 69 injured. He
added that the death toll was expected to rise.<br />
"Evidently the train was going too fast, the driver came to a curve and
had to break suddenly leading to the accident," said Kazadi.<br />
Witnesses said the train had been carrying hundreds of passengers, both
inside and on top of its carriages. An army unit and a 100-metric-ton
crane were reportedly deployed at the scene as rescuers tried to gain
access and lift the carriages.<br />
The DRC's rail system was initially built by Belgium and used to
transport the former colony's ivory and rubber reserves. With only scant
investment since 1960, the rail system has been undergoing a
refurbishment program paid for by the World Bank. <br />
In 2007, more than 100 died in an accident involving people travelling
on a goods train in the province of Kasai Occidental. In September 2012,
four were killed in an accident north of the DRC's second-largest city,
Lubumbashi.<br />
rc/msh (AFP, AP, dpa,Reuters)<br />
</div>
</div>
<div class="group">
<ul class="smallList">
<li><strong>Date</strong>
23.04.2014 </li>
<li>
<strong>Keywords</strong>
<a href="http://www.dw.de/search/english/drc/category/9097/" rel="nofollow">DRC</a>,
<a href="http://www.dw.de/search/english/congo/category/9097/" rel="nofollow">Congo</a>,
<a href="http://www.dw.de/search/english/kamina/category/9097/" rel="nofollow">Kamina</a>,
<a href="http://www.dw.de/search/english/mwene-ditu/category/9097/" rel="nofollow">Mwene-Ditu</a>,
<a href="http://www.dw.de/search/english/train/category/9097/" rel="nofollow">train</a>,
<a href="http://www.dw.de/search/english/derailed/category/9097/" rel="nofollow">derailed</a>
</li>
<li>
<strong>Share</strong>
<a class="icon external overlayLink init" href="http://www.dw.de/dozens-die-as-speeding-drc-train-derails/a-17588582#" rel="nofollow">Send</a>
<span dir="ltr">
<a class="icon fb" dir="ltr" href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dw.de%2Fp%2F1Bnao" rel="nofollow" target="new">Facebook</a>
</span>
<span dir="ltr">
<a class="icon twitter" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?source=webclient&text=Dozens+die+as+%27speeding%27+DRC+train+derails+http://dw.de/p/1Bnao&via=dw_english" rel="nofollow" target="new">Twitter</a>
</span>
<span dir="ltr">
<a class="icon google" dir="ltr" href="https://plus.google.com/share?hl=en&url=http://www.dw.de/dozens-die-as-speeding-drc-train-derails/a-17588582" rel="nofollow" target="new">Google+</a>
</span>
<a class="icon share" href="http://www.dw.de/dozens-die-as-speeding-drc-train-derails/a-17588582#" id="moreAnchorBig" rel="nofollow">More</a>
</li>
<li><strong>Feedback</strong>: <a class="overlayLink init" href="http://www.dw.de/dozens-die-as-speeding-drc-train-derails/a-17588582#" rel="nofollow">Send us an e-mail. Please include your name and country in your reply.</a></li>
<li>
<strong>Print</strong>
<a class="icon print" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" rel="nofollow">Print this page</a>
</li>
<li>
<strong>Permalink</strong>
http://dw.de/p/1Bnao
</li>
</ul>
</div>
Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-20028213248873950722014-05-19T23:13:00.002-04:002014-05-19T23:17:16.641-04:00Helping artists in the middle of conflict DR Congo<i>The Vehmgericht are not posting this merely to acknowledge the "she's a looker". She's also intelligent, and inspired. We wish Mapendo Sumani world renowned success, for her and her people.</i>
<br />
<h1>
<a href="http://www.dw.de/helping-artists-in-the-middle-of-conflict/a-17596261" target="_blank">Helping artists in the middle of conflict</a></h1>
<div class="intro">
Mapendo Sumuni, a young art lover, is helping artists in the eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo gain visibility and sell their works. She
dreams of selling local art to an international market one day.
</div>
<div class="picBox full">
<a class="overlayLink init" href="http://www.dw.de/helping-artists-in-the-middle-of-conflict/a-17596261#" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer;">
<img alt="Mapendo Sumuni stands in the middle of her shop, surrounded by carvings and paintings. Photo: Gaius Kowene" border="0" src="http://www.dw.de/image/0,,17595643_303,00.jpg" height="360" width="640" />
</a>
</div>
<div class="group">
<div class="longText">
Mapendo Sumuni has had a love for art since her childhood. Just a month
ago, she opened her art gallery in Goma, the capital of North Kivu
province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The shop is full of
wooden carvings, paintings, jewelry, shoes and even bags made from local
fabrics.<br />
As a teenager, Mapendo Sumuni had already organized events to help
artists gain visibility and sell their work. Now at the age of 30, even
her full-time job with an international NGO does not prevent her from
pursuing her passion for art. That passion is what drove her to
establish Kivu Nuru, which means "lights from Kivu."<br />
"There are a lot of artists who are doing what they don't like because
they don't find a way how they can live," Mapendo Sumuni says. "You can
find an artist who is a security guard and who draws so well, but he
doesn't know how he can sell it." The more an artist sells, the more
time he has to create beautiful works every day, she adds.<br />
<b>Pursuing a dream</b><br />
In the pursuit of her vision, Mapendo Sumuni meets artists from
different fields every week to assess their creative works. Some of the
artists Mapendo Sumuni is helping have formed a committee to select the
best works for their clients.<br />
But their work has always been challenging. For two decades now, the
Congolese army has been conducting operations against armed groups
responsible for serious human rights violations in the region. Fighting
in the eastern DRC has seen scores of people killed, thousands of
families displaced, children coerced into taking up arms, and thousands
of women raped.<br />
<b>Pressing on despite challenges</b><br />
<div class="picBox medium
">
<a class="overlayLink init" href="http://www.dw.de/helping-artists-in-the-middle-of-conflict/a-17596261#" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer;">
<img alt="Portrait of Mapendo Sumuni. Photo: Gaius Kowene" border="0" src="http://www.dw.de/image/0,,17595646_404,00.jpg" height="191" title="The more an artist sells, the more time he has to create beautiful works, says Mapendo Sumani" width="340" />
</a>
The more an artist sells, the more time he has to create beautiful works, says Mapendo Sumani</div>
When asked if she is not worried that instability in the region
may destroy all of her efforts, Mapendo Sumuni becomes somewhat uneasy.
"We cannot take this as a reason to not continue to live, to produce or
to create," she says. "If we are not doing it now, when are we going to
do it - in 10 years or 20 years?"<br />
Two customers, who have been browsing around for gifts, like what they
see. "It's very nice!" one of them comments. "Especially, I like these
very Congolese puppets, and I think [the shop] presents a very good
picture of what Goma is to the world."<br />
The other customer joins in and encourages the owner to keep up the good
work. "To the owner I say: keep going, keep continuing with this - and
to the world: come to Goma and experience the creative side of Goma."<br />
It is praise like this from artists, clients and friends that pushes
Mapendo to continue to strive for more. She wants to help change the
world's perception of the eastern DRC and sell to a global market.<br />
"The future I'm seeing is like we are going to produce more," she says.
She expects a lot more creativity. "People in the world will see us as a
new generation of artists who want to go further - not as rapists." So
why not bring things up to an international level, she asks.<br />
Currently, Mapendo and her art gallery, Kivu Nuru, are building a network with other artists of the Great Lakes region.</div>
</div>
<h4>
DW.DE</h4>
Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-136028105927085012014-05-19T13:39:00.002-04:002014-05-19T13:42:02.481-04:00Gertler made $67 million risk-free profit in Congo crony deal<h1>
<a href="http://www.globalwitness.org/library/glencore-pumped-president%E2%80%99s-friend-cash-it-took-over-prize-congo-mine" target="_blank">Glencore pumped president’s friend with cash as it took over prize Congo mine</a></h1>
<div class="field field-type-date field-field-published-date">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<b><span class="date-display-single">19th May 2014</span></b></div>
<div class="field-item odd">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1.0-9/10274207_10152017569316008_4552376657922338956_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1.0-9/10274207_10152017569316008_4552376657922338956_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span class="date-display-single"> </span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Glencore, the world’s largest commodities trader, enriched a friend
of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s president by tens of millions of
dollars and protected his interests as it gained control of one of
Africa’s biggest copper miners, new research by Global Witness reveals.<br />
<br />
The London-listed company, which holds its AGM tomorrow, funnelled
the cash to Dan Gertler, a controversial billionaire linked to a string
of mining scandals. It did so through complex transactions involving
secretive offshore firms registered in the British Virgin Islands. In
all, <b>Glencore advanced Gertler’s offshore companies more than
half a billion dollars and allowed him to make at least $67 million in
risk-free profit, </b>our new research shows.<br />
<br />
Global Witness’s revelations, <a href="http://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/files/library/Glencore%20and%20the%20Gatekeeper%20May%202014.pdf">detailed in its report “Glencore and the Gatekeeper”</a>, come as Gertler’s deals attract growing scrutiny.<br />
<br />
Shares in New York-based hedge fund company Och-Ziff Capital
Management Group crashed by as much as 11 per cent on 28 April after <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304788404579523772144953130">its backing of some of Gertler’s deals in Congo</a> was reported by the Wall Street Journal. US authorities have <a href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1403256/000156459014000870/ozm-10k_20131231.htm">launched a corruption investigation</a> into Och-Ziff’s investments in Africa. This investigation is looking into the Congo deals, according to <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140507-918046.html">a new class action suit </a>against the firm.<br />
<br />
Last year the UK’s Serious Fraud Office announced a criminal
investigation into the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation, including
at least one of its deals with Gertler. Despite this, both Glencore and
Gertler deny any corruption risk and insist their relationship is
problem-free<br />
<br />
“Glencore appears to have knowingly entered loss-making deals with
the president’s friend, a man who is central to all its investments in
Congo,” said Leigh Baldwin of Global Witness. “The corruption risks here
are obvious. Glencore should now face up to them and commission an
independent and detailed investigation into its Congo deals.”<br />
<br />
Glencore said in an e-mail to Global Witness that all its
transactions with Gertler’s companies have been “conducted on arm’s
length terms” and that he was not given preferential treatment over
other co-investors. “These transactions were entirely proper,” it added.<br />
<br />
Gertler’s spokesman, the UK’s Lord Mancroft, said that any suggestion
“that Glencore offered Mr Gertler preferential treatment is wholly
misconceived”. He said “there are legitimate commercial reasons for
every transaction we are involved in”.<br />
<br />
Our latest analysis examines three transactions, each designed in a
way that concealed cash flows to Gertler. In one example, Glencore sold
him shares at less than half the market rate only to buy them back a few
months later at full price.<br />
<br />
Last year, Kofi Annan’s <a href="http://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/files/library/DRC-Africa%20Progress%20Panel%20report%20-%20Congo%20pages.pdf">Africa Progress Panel estimated</a>
that just five of Gertler’s deals lost the Congolese state at least
$1.4 billion - twice Congo’s annual spending on health and education
combined. Global Witness has previously reported on <a href="http://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/files/library/Global%20Witness%20memo%20on%20Glencore%27s%20secretive%20dealings%20in%20the%20Democratic%20Republic%20of%20Congo_1.pdf">“potentially corrupt” transactions</a> involving Gertler and Glencore. Our new report heightens concerns over the Glencore-Gertler relationship.<br />
<br />
Glencore’s copper and cobalt mines are key to Congo’s future growth
but corruption is rife in the country. There are few mining assets as
coveted in the country as those held by Katanga Mining, the
Toronto-listed company at the centre of the transactions detailed in our
new report.<br />
<br />
Canadian regulators should examine the deals to ensure stock market
rules were not abused by the way in which Glencore and Gertler took over
Katanga Mining. This should include examining the loopholes that
allowed Glencore to avoid takeover regulations and favour one
shareholder above all others.<br />
<br />
Global Witness has been calling on Glencore to commission an
investigation into its Congo deals since mid-2012, meeting repeated
refusals. At tomorrow’s annual general meeting, investors should ask the
company:<br />
<ul>
<li>why it continues to work hand in glove with a businessman whose
dealings have attracted the attention of law enforcement bodies in both
the United Kingdom and United States;</li>
<li>why it was prepared to enter loss-making deals with him;</li>
<li>when it is going to commission an independent review into the corruption risk of its Congo deals.</li>
</ul>
Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-43954912970231235642014-05-18T13:47:00.001-04:002014-05-18T13:47:14.904-04:00Nigerian Community Fights Shell in UK Court over Spills<div class="contributor-full">
<div id="main-article-info">
<h1 itemprop="name headline ">
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/29/nigerian-community-shell-uk-court-oil-spills" target="_blank">Nigerian community fights Shell in UK court over oil spills</a></h1>
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/29/nigerian-community-shell-uk-court-oil-spills" target="_blank">Nigerian Community Fights Shell in UK Court over Spills</a><div class="stand-first-alone" data-component="Article:standfirst_cta" id="stand-first" itemprop="description">
High court hearing comes ahead of case due to be brought next year by Bodo community in fight for compensation</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="contributor-full">
</div>
<div class="contributor-full">
</div>
<div class="contributor-full">
AFP </div>
<br />
<span class="social-buttons-twitter-contributor trackable-component" data-component="Twitter Follow Journalist"></span>
<span class="social-buttons-twitter-brand trackable-component" data-component="Twitter Follow Brand"></span>
<br />
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/" itemprop="publisher">theguardian.com</a>,
<time datetime="2014-04-29T04:15EDT" itemprop="datePublished" pubdate="">Tuesday 29 April 2014 04.15 EDT</time>
<br />
<div class="flexible-content">
<div class="block" data-id="535f5ebfe4b09c86f129e6d2" id="mainblock">
<div class="block-elements">
<figure class="element element-image" data-media-id="gu-fc-eb3de278-4ef3-453b-8e5a-3712ee5333d2">
<img alt="A man walks on slippery spilled crude oil on the shores and in the waters of the Niger Delta swamps of Bodo." class="gu-image" height="276" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/4/29/1398765782277/edbe8808-b3c8-4d25-9bf6-ec778c678ba6-460x276.jpeg" width="460" />
<figcaption>A man walks on slippery spilled crude oil on
the shores and in the waters of the Niger Delta swamps of Bodo.
Photograph: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
<div class="flexible-content-body" data-display-hint="">
<br />Britain's high court will on Tuesday hold a pre-trial hearing
ahead of a court case due to be held next year brought by around 15,000
members of Nigeria's Bodo community against oil giant Shell.<br />
The residents are seeking compensation from the British-Dutch company over two oil spills in 2008, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/sep/13/niger-delta-oil-shell-compensation">having failed to reach a compensation deal last year</a>.<br />
London-based
law firm Leigh Day, which represented Bodo residents in the talks and
will do so in next year's court case, called Shell's initial offer
"insulting."<br />
Sources familiar with the talks said Shell proposed a settlement of 7.5 billion naira ($46 million, 35 million euros).<br />
Lawyers
for the villagers say the local environment was devastated by the two
spills, depriving thousands of subsistence farmers and fishermen of
their livelihoods.<br />
Martyn Day, senior partner at Leigh Day, said
each individual would end up with around 275,000 naira (1,300 euros,
$1,700) after subtracting a lump sum to be paid to the community.<br />
He claims most of the fishermen affected by the spills earn $5,000 to $8,400 per year.<br />
"Our clients know how much their claims are worth and will not be bought off cheaply," Day said in a statement.<br />
He called this week's court deliberations a "highly significant hearing".<br />
According
to Leigh Day, experts estimate the spills in the cluster of fishing
communities in Rivers state to be between 500,000 and 600,000 barrels.<br />
Shell admitted liability for the spills in 2011 but disputes the amount of oil spilled and the extent of the damage.<br />
Nigeria is Africa's biggest crude producer, but much of the Niger Delta oil region remains deeply impoverished.<br />
Decades of spills have caused widespread pollution in the region.<br />
Shell,
the biggest producer in Nigeria, says sabotage and oil theft are the
main causes of spills, but activists allege the firm has not done enough
to prevent such incidents and clean them when they occur.<br />
In a
statement Mutiu Sunmonu, managing director of Shell Petroleum
Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) acknowledged the company's
liability.<br />
"From the outset, we've accepted responsibility for the two operational spills in Bodo in 2008," he said.<br />
"They're deeply regrettable operational accidents, and they absolutely should not have happened.<br />
"We
want to fairly compensate those who have been genuinely affected as
quickly as possible and clean up all areas where oil has been spilled
from our facilities, including the many parts of Bodo which have been
severely impacted by oil theft, illegal refining and sabotage
activities."<br />
According to Sunmonu, this week's hearings will
address certain "technical, but highly important, legal questions
regarding the interpretation of Nigerian law", adding they believed the
case should be heard in Nigeria.<br />
</div>
</div>
Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-69694890820760345962014-05-18T11:38:00.001-04:002014-05-18T11:38:46.504-04:00CHIBOK SCHOOL GIRLS: Interview with Evangelist Owojaiye<i>Vehmgericht take no position as to whether a kidnapping actually did take place. Whether the children are still being held (as of 18 May 2014,) or who is responsible. We do urge the people of Nigeria, and of the entire world to be skeptical of the "official" narrative(s). We sense that much is spoken between the lines in this interview.</i>
<br />
<h1 class="singlePageTitle">
CHIBOK SCHOOL GIRLS: I Revealed The Names Of 180 Abducted Girls At Great Risk — Evangelist Owojaiye</h1>
INTERVIEW- Evangelist Matthew Owojaiye, penultimate week,
released a list of 180 girls among those taken away by Boko Haram from
the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State on April 14.<br />
<br />
<div id="stcpDiv">
The gospel preacher was in Lagos where he spoke to journalists on the
controversy that trailed the list of the 180 students, and how he came
about it when the Federal Government is asking the affected parents to
assist security operatives with the pictures of their missing children.<br />
<br />
In the interview, Owojaiye urged Nigerians not to politicise the
issue, because the story is true. “You can imagine if your daughter
disappeared for more than one week, no trace, and some people were even
thinking the story was made up”, he said, adding that there were more
girls in captivity but he was only able to get the names of the ones
from Chibok.<br />
<br />
<i>So the 180 are from Chibok local government area</i><br />
<br />
Yes. They knew that Chibok local government area is 90 per cent
Christians. Why didn’t they attack other girls’ schools? The people knew
that the terrorists were coming, according to what we are hearing now.<br />
<br />
<i>Which people? The leadership of the school?</i><br />
<br />
The locals;<b> it’s in the papers that they knew some people were coming</b>.
They didn’t know it was the girls they were coming for. People cannot
move in large numbers without people knowing. Are they goats? Can you
carry more than 200 human beings away without the DPO of the town
knowing? They could not send signals around?<br />
<br />
Within 24 hours, government could surround and cut them off before
the girls could be taken outside the country? We are treating the whole
abduction issue with levity as if the girls are not important. It’s a
tragedy.<br />
<br />
<i>How did you come about the names?</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.osundefender.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IN.jpg"><img alt="CHIBOK SCHOOL GIRLS: I Revealed The Names Of 180 Abducted Girls At Great Risk — Evangelist Owojaiye" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-165530" src="http://www.osundefender.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IN.jpg" height="309" width="413" /></a><br />
<br />
I’m a northerner. I attended Government College, Keffi. The late
President Umaru Yar’Adua was two years my junior in Keffi. There’s no
part of Nigeria I don’t know. So if they say my information is wrong,
that’s where there will be questions. But I will not give the source of
my information. As a former Chairman of Northern Christian Elders Forum,
NOSCEF, I have a large network over the years from where I am able to
gather information at all times.<br />
<br />
<i>When you got the names, why didn’t you take the list to relevant
government authorities? Why did you decide to make the list public? </i><br />
<br />
<b>You
don’t report such a thing to a police man because you don’t know whether
he is a member of Boko Haram.</b> If you don’t want anybody to kill your
information, you bring it out. <b>The kidnapped girls are your children.
Whether they are Muslims or Christians,</b> I’m a father, I’m an elder.<br />
<br />
<i>People are imputing religious motive to what you did. For example, in
your statement, you said the town is dominated by 90% Christians, and
they are asking, what if those girls were not Christians?</i><br />
<br />
Well, we would still have screamed. But let me tell you, we are
marginalized, we have been persecuted, we have been deliberately
undeveloped; all Christian areas in the North. So we know what we are
suffering. But when I was asking for compensation, did I say they should
give Christians alone?<br />
<br />
<i>How much compensation did you ask for?</i><br />
<br />
I asked for N50 million. There’s what we call punitive judgment. Did you
expect me to ask for N5? If you ask for N50 million, at the end, they
may say 10 or 20 million. But if you ask for N10 million, at the end,
they give you N2 million, they will now say are you not the one that
asked? Am I going to get one naira out of it?<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>People are just wondering why you asked for compensation considering the fact that the girls have not even been rescued…</i><br />
<br />
To make the parents happy that somebody is fighting on their behalf.
When a man is in trauma, you get confused, and you feel abandoned by
everybody. When people rise up at your back, you feel some sort of
relief. It’s for the parents, not for me.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Have you visited Chibok since the incident?</b></i><br />
<br />
<b>No, I will not, because they will recognise me.</b><br />
<br />
<i><b>Who?</b></i><br />
<br />
What are you talking?<br />
<br />
<i><b>Even our people can’t give information to anybody,
because they will kill you. I can’t sneak in there and spend one day
without them knowing. Do you know they kill any Muslims that talk
against them?</b></i> So when you are gathering information, you send people.<br />
<br />
You gather information from your people that cannot be known. You
don’t send a known person. You won’t get the information and you will
die. That’s double tragedy.<br />
<br />
<i>So how are the locals in Chibok feeling about this attack?</i><br />
<br />
They are happy that I shouted. They are sending me texts thanking me.
They were feeling helpless, but when they saw the whole world making
noise on their behalf, it gave them relief that they are not abandoned
after all. Even America says they are going to help the Nigerian
government. So there’s a feeling of great joy. But before, they felt
abandoned.<br />
<br />
<i>What’s the guarantee that if they rescue these girls, other girls will not be abducted?</i><br />
<br />
This is what we are saying. If you read my paper, it says we should move
them temporarily to other parts that are safer. The students that were
abducted should be taken abroad, but others in SS1 to SS2 should be
moved because they are still vulnerable. It is impossible to deploy
soldiers to all schools in the country.<br />
<br />
How many soldiers do we have? So moving them away from dangerous
areas should be the first step. Because now we are even hearing rumors
that they want to take more. By the time they start kidnapping more,
what I have said now will become clear.<br />
<br />
<i><b>People are questioning the authenticity of the entire episode. Some
people in Abuja said maybe this was even stage managed from the word
go….</b></i><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>That’s why I’m boiling. If your daughter is missing and somebody says it
was stage managed, doesn’t it cause you more pain? While you are crying
and can’t see your daughter, someone is saying stage manage!</b></span><br />
<br />
<i>Have you had cause to speak with some of the parents of the abducted girls?</i><br />
<br />
My people reported back to me, so it is not a lie. You mean you can fool
the whole world? What do we gain if we stage manage the issue? What do
we gain if it’s a lie?<br />
<br />
<i>Since the publication of the list, <b>how many people in government have reached out to you?</b></i><br />
<br />
<b>None.</b><br />
<br />
Why?<br />
<br />
Because they know it’s true. Let me tell you; if these children were
writing their SSCE, are you telling me that WAEC doesn’t have their
names and photographs? The people in the North know me very well, all
the people in government, and nobody has said it’s a lie. Those in Abuja
cannot even tell me it's a lie.<br />
<br />
<i>Even within the security circle, nobody has reached out to you to ask how you got the names?</i><br />
<br />
They don’t need to, they know me before. I carry integrity. I preach on
television every week and I’ve handled national issues, I’m an activist,
fighting for the truth. The Muslims like me in the North, they say I
preach the truth and rebuke whoever is wrong, be he Muslim or Christian.<br />
<br />
<i>Are you planning to relocate?</i><br />
<br />
Why should I relocate? The people know I’m saying the truth. I walk on
the streets, I can take motor cycle around, and I can go to the market
and trek round. I’m not afraid. The people love me.<br />
<br />
<i>Now that you have the list of some of the girls, because we don’t
even know the number of the girls that were captured, do you have any
plan to go to government to present the list or negotiate?</i><br />
<br />
No need to. I told you government already has the pictures. Didn’t WAEC
collect information from the girls? Do you mean FG doesn’t have the list
from WAEC with the pictures? If they don’t have it, then it’s a
terrible thing.<br />
<br />
<i>The President in his recent media chat urged affected parents to help them with photographs……</i><br />
<br />
Couldn’t he collect such pictures from WAEC? The truth is that the
parents are afraid. If they speak, their lives would be in danger. In
such a situation, let the government go to WAEC. The principal of the
school, wouldn’t he have the pictures of the girls? If they burnt the
school, did they burn the ones with WAEC too?<br />
<br />
<i>Are you angry that this whole situation has been politicized?</i><br />
<br />
God will judge whoever is playing politics with it. A nation that
doesn’t care for its youths, a nation that does not respect lives; if we
do that, we are in trouble. So nobody should turn it to politics.<br />
<br />
Source: Vanguad NG</div>
<small><b>Short URL</b>: http://www.osundefender.org/?p=165526</small>Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-23692293709314612832014-05-15T11:56:00.001-04:002014-05-15T11:56:37.547-04:00Crisis In The Congo: Uncovering The TruthThis video is disturbing and informative, but it also fails to mention many aspects of the problem.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vLV9szEu9Ag" width="480"></iframe>Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-84284640719411831612014-05-14T14:31:00.002-04:002014-05-14T15:08:14.993-04:00Gertler’s Bling Bang Torah Gang: Israel and the Ongoing Holocaust in Congo<h1 class="title"><a href='http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/gertlers-bling-bang-torah-gang/' target='_blank'>Gertler’s Bling Bang Torah Gang</a></h1>
<p class="subhead">Israel and the Ongoing Holocaust in Congo (Part 1)</p>
<p class="byline">by Keith Harmon Snow / February 9th, 2008</p>
<p><a href="http://sfbayview.com/2008/merchants-of-death-exposing-the-corporate-financed-holocaust-in-africa/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-enleQMYWsHw/U3O9i9hK0MI/AAAAAAAAAKU/VwdKt1pySc0/s1600/congo-bebiche-forced-into-survival-sex-by-keith-harmon-snow.jpg" />Rape is used as a systematic means of instilling terror in the people all over DRC. Bebiche, 20, fled eastern Congo and crossed the country on foot to find some refuge in western Congo. Countless women and girls in DRC have no options for existence but to pursue survival sex. – Photo: Keith Harmon Snow</a></p>
<p>Maurice Tempelsman is one of the top funders of the Democratic Party who has funded Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Templesman was the unofficial ambassador to the Congo (Zaire) for years, but a new Israeli-American tycoon has replaced him. In the world of bling bling and bling bang, some things change, some stay the same. The CIA, the MOSSAD, the big mining companies, the offshore accounts and weapons deals—all hidden by the Western media. The holocaust in Central Africa has claimed some six to ten million people in Congo since 1996, with 1500 people dying daily.<sup><a href="#footnote_0_1519" id="identifier_0_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="In January 2008 the International Rescue Committee, who is also discussed in this article, released its second survey of mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo, estimating that 5,400,000 people have died, or some 1500 people every day. Mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo: an Ongoing Crisis, International Rescue Committee, January 2008. However, IRC statistics are highly biased and politicized. See: keith harmon snow, “Over Five Million Dead in Congo?” Dissident Voice, February 4, 2008.">1</a></sup> But while the Africans are the victims of perpetual Holocaust, the persecutors hide behind history, complaining that they are the persecuted, or pretending they are the saviors. Who is responsible?</p>
<p>For Israeli-American Dan Gertler, business in blood drenched Congo is not merely business, it is a quest for the Holy Grail. Young Dan Gertler goes nowhere—does nothing—without the spiritual guidance of Brooklyn-born Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Leibovitch, a personal friend of Condoleeza Rice.<sup><a href="#footnote_1_1519" id="identifier_1_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Personal interview, Democratic Republic of Congo, August 2006.">2</a></sup> Gertler and Leibovitch are two of the principals behind a diamond mining company, Emaxon Finance Corporation, involved in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Gertler and gang won the majority rights to the diamonds from the state mining company, Société Minière de Bakwange, MIBA, found near the government-controlled town of Mbuji-Mayi, the rough diamond capital of the world.</p>
<p>Emaxon Finance Corp. has apparently out-maneuvered diamond competitors, especially the big rivals Energem and De Beers. Energem is one of the many shady mining companies connected to Anthony Teixeira, a Portuguese born businessman now residing in South Africa whose daughter married Congolese warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba. The warlord’s deadly battle in Congo in March 2007 was a bid between rival agents—Jean-Pierre Bemba and Joseph Kabila—to be the black gatekeeper for the mining cartels run by dynastic families like Templesman, Oppenheimer, Mendell, Forrest, Blattner, Hertzov, Gertler and Steinmetz, and for companies like NIKANOR, whose stock prices rose early in July 2006 in expectation of a July 30th “win” for Joseph Kabila.<sup><a href="#footnote_2_1519" id="identifier_2_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="keith harmon snow, “Warlord’s Deadly Battle, Toward Freedom, 2007.">3</a></sup> <em>Africa Confidential</em> called President Kabila’s 2003 visit to the Bush White House a “coup” for the Israeli diamond magnates Dan Gertler and Beny Steinmetz.</p>
<p>Canadian-based Energem, formerly DiamondWorks, is owned by British mercenary Tony Buckingham and its director/shareholders include Mario and Tony Teixeira, J.P. Morgan, and Gertler’s partner Israeli-American Beny Steinmetz (50%).<sup><a href="#footnote_3_1519" id="identifier_3_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Officers: Antonio Teixeira, President & CEO; Robert G. Rainey, CFO; Brett Thompson, COO, Mining; Dimitri (Jimmy) Kanakakis, Vice President, Corporate & Legal Affairs; Bernard Poznanski, Corporate Secretary; Board Members: Brian Menell, Richard Dorfman, Bruce Holmes, Robert Rainey, Antonio Teixeira.">4</a></sup> Through subsidiary Branch Energy, the Energem-DiamondWorks gang has perpetuated war in 11 African countries.<sup><a href="#footnote_4_1519" id="identifier_4_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See: “Africa/Diamonds: Rough diamonds,” Africa Confidential, 5 March 2004, Vol. 45, No. 5; and “Equatorial Guinea: All Theft is Property,” Africa Confidential, 17 Nov. 2006, Vol. 47, No. 23: p. 12.">5</a></sup> In December 2007, Energem re-launched itself on the London Stock Market with the newly laundered image of a renewable energy company. Regarding diamonds, it said only it “had decided to give up exploration rights in the Central African Republic.”<sup><a href="#footnote_5_1519" id="identifier_5_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Tim Hoare, the head of the advisers that launched it, Canaccord Adams, sits alongside rock star and champion of Africa Bob Geldof on the board of the television-production company Ten Alps. See: Ben Laurance, “Energy firm link to blood diamonds,” The Sunday Times, December 30, 2007.">6</a></sup> The Energem spokesman explained that Tony Teixeira “had a clean bill of health” etc., etc. Of course, Energem “quit” the C.A.R. because Jean-Pierre Bemba marched his troops into C.A.R., where they raped and pillaged widely.<sup><a href="#footnote_6_1519" id="identifier_6_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See: keith harmon snow, “A People’s History of Congo’s Jean-Pierre Bemba,” Toward Freedom, September 18, 2007.">7</a></sup> Energem is still operating in Congo, but Dan Gertler is the new, unofficial ambassador to the Congo for the George W. Bush gang.</p>
<p>Gertler and partners like Beny and Danny Steinmetz, Nir Livnat, Chaim Leibovitz and Yaakov Neeman run a hornet’s nest of companies involved in African hotspots, including: Dan Gertler International (DGI), Steinmetz Global Resources, International Diamond Industries, NIKANOR and Global Enterprises Corporate.</p>
<p>“Dan Gertler is ‘the new kid on the block,’” writes Yossi Melman in Israel’s Haaretz news. “Bold, sophisticated, brutal, he is an adventurer with a short fuse.” Haaratz confirmed that Dan Gertler owns a complex network of interconnected companies, often registered in offshore tax havens and involved in India, Russia, Belgium and the United States, and that Dan Gertler is looking to God for guidance.<sup><a href="#footnote_7_1519" id="identifier_7_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Yossi Melman and Asaf Carmel, “Diamond in the rough,” Haaretz, March 24, 2005.">8</a></sup></p>
<p><strong>THOU SHALT NOT STEAL</strong></p>
<p>“In the diamond industry,” Melman wrote, “Gertler is considered something of an odd bird. He maintains few ties with the other merchants and is not very sociable… Alongside his business affairs, most of his energy is channeled into matters of faith. He is a donor to religious institutions and from time to time makes a pilgrimage to the rabbi he most admires, Rabbi David Abuhatzeira, from Nahariya, in order to consult with him and receive his blessing. Gertler is surrounded mostly by religious people and laces his speech liberally with praise to God.”<sup><a href="#footnote_7_1519" id="identifier_8_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Yossi Melman and Asaf Carmel, “Diamond in the rough,” Haaretz, March 24, 2005.">8</a></sup></p>
<p>In 2003, Condoleeza Rice, then Assistant to President Bush for National Security Affairs, introduced Dan Gertler and Chaim Leibovitch to U.S. official Jendayi Frazer, a Harvard Kennedy School affiliate and former National Security Council agent focused on Africa. On December 6, 2006, Frazer, then Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, was one of seven special Bush delegates sent to the inauguration of Congo’s newly installed President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa.<sup><a href="#footnote_8_1519" id="identifier_9_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See: keith harmon snow, “Congo’s President Joseph Kabila: Dynasty or Travesty?” Toward Freedom, November 13, 2007.">9</a></sup></p>
<p style='background-color: red;'>When Dan Gertler and Chaim Leibovitch and their friends visit the luxury Gertler villa in Lumumbashi, the capital of Katanga, Congo’s large southern province, their kosher meals arrive by private plane from Kinshasa. The special executive jet that flies their kosher meals a few hundred miles over the roadless Congo costs some $US 23,000 per trip.<sup><a href="#footnote_9_1519" id="identifier_10_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Private interview, Kinshasa, August 2006.">10</a></sup></p>
<p style='background-color: red;'>The average income for Congolese citizens each year—if they survive it—is about $95. Shootings at mining facilities and diamond mines are common, land is stolen from Congolese people, strikes are crushed by security forces that companies are partnered with, and black overseers of state terror routinely arrest and torture any vocal opposition—and sometimes disappear them—in support of white bosses. The Société Minière de Bakwange—MIBA— and the diamond fields of Mbuji-Mayi in Congo have a long history of bloodshed backed by Western powers, including Israel, from the beginning.<sup><a href="#footnote_10_1519" id="identifier_11_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See: “Terror in the Diamond Fields: Excessive Force and Impunity in the DRC,” Amnesty International Canada; Democratic Republic of Congo: Government should investigate human rights violations in the Mbuji Mayi diamond fields, Amnesty International, October 22, 2002.">11</a></sup> Amnesty International points out that not a single state agent has ever been prosecuted for the extrajudicial executions of suspected “illegal” miners in Mbuji-Mayi.<sup><a href="#footnote_11_1519" id="identifier_12_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Making a Killing: The Diamond Trade in Government Controlled DRC, Amnesty International, 2002, AFR 62/017/2002 22/10/2002.">12</a></sup></p>
<p>After a century of exploitation and slavery, we find MIBA consistently withholding payment of salaries to starving Congolese laborers and middle managers for months at a time. April and May 2007 saw strikes and protests leading to the Kabila government’s arbitrary arrest, detention and torture of trade union organizers like Leon Ngoy Bululu; police have also shot protestors.<sup><a href="#footnote_12_1519" id="identifier_13_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See: “ICEM protests Congo’s Transport, Diamond Injustices,” International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Worker’s Union, May 7, 2007.">13</a></sup> So-called ‘illegal’ diamond workers—disenfranchised local Congolese people forced into “criminal” activities to survive—were summarily executed on MIBA concessions in Mbuji-Mayi. MIBA security guards have also been sniping unemployed diamond miners.<sup><a href="#footnote_13_1519" id="identifier_14_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="“Diamond miners killed in DR Congo,” BBC News, 7 August 2006.">14</a></sup></p>
<p>Meanwhile, Dan Gertler’s kosher meals depart Kinshasa, the capital of the big Congo, through the arrangements of Rabbi Chlomo Bentolila, high priest of the Chabad of Central Africa. Rabbi Chlomo Bentolila has been a Kinshasa Rabbi since 1991, and he was a spiritual force who survived the terrorism of the old dinosaur, Mobutu Sese Seko, the way most elites did: by working with him. Rabbi Bentolila is a member of the Chabad Lubavitch Global Emissary Network, headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, and his wife Miriam is the sister of Rabbi Mena’hem Hadad, a high priest in Brussels.<sup><a href="#footnote_14_1519" id="identifier_15_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See: Jewish Africa and Chabad.">15</a></sup></p>
<p>“Kosher does not mean that a Rabbi blesses the food,” Rabbi Betolila corrected me, “but rather that the food was supervised by a Rabbinical Thora [sic] authority who sees that the ingredients were in accordance with the laws of Kashrut expressed in the Bible (Leviticus and Deuteronomy).”<sup><a href="#footnote_15_1519" id="identifier_16_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Private communication, Rabbi Chlomo Bentolila, August 16, 2007.">16</a></sup></p>
<p>Dan Gertler often flies people into Congo, on his private jet, for sacred Jewish rituals. For the Bar Mitsvah of Rabbi Chlomo Bentolila’s son Binyamin Avrahim in June 2005, guests included eminent Rabbis, Hassidic singer Yoni Shlomo and special orchestra Yossef Brami, all arriving in “special flights” from Israel, New York and Brussels. The reception was held at the luxurious and exclusive Memling Hotel. Joseph Kabila sent a sizeable delegation but did not attend: his closest advisers provided a blessing on his behalf.<sup><a href="#footnote_16_1519" id="identifier_17_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="“Lag Baomer in Kinshasa,” June 2005.">17</a></sup></p>
<p>The Gertler, Steinmetz and Templesman interests are advanced in part through the support of the Committee of the Jewish Community of Kinshasa—le Comité de la Communauté Israélite—that is tightly coordinated with the power structure in Kinshasa to exert influence and assure control of Israeli-Belgian-Anglo-American interests over the geopolitical arena.</p>
<p>From June 26-30, 2007, the Communaute Israelite de Kinshasa received a visit from the Israeli Ambassador Yaakov Revah, director of the Africa Department of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Revah also flew to Lumumbashi for meetings with Dan Gertler and his agents, including Moishe (Moses) Katumbi, the Governor of Katanga, and they most likely enjoyed a lovely, $23,000 kosher meal sent from the Chabad in Kinshasa.<sup><a href="#footnote_17_1519" id="identifier_18_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="“Visite de l’Ambassadeur Revah a’ Kinshasa,” Kadima 010, June-September 2007.">18</a></sup> The Communaute Israelite de Kinshasa maintains very intimate political relations with President Joseph Kabila’s PPRD party, the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy. On March 1, 2006, in a formal ceremony, the President of the Communaute Israelite de Kinshasa, Ashlan Piha, was awarded the Congo’s Medal of Civil Merit. </p>
<p><strong>THOU SHALT NOT COVET</strong></p>
<p>Before his assassination on January 16, 2001, Laurent Desire Kabila—the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—made a deal with the Gertler gang that would play out in favor of the current President Joseph Kabila and, it seems, be a central factor in relation to both Congo’s ongoing war and the bloody warlord’s battle in Kinshasa in March 2007.<sup><a href="#footnote_18_1519" id="identifier_19_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See: keith harmon snow, “Behind the Scenes: Warlord’s Deadly Battle in Congo,” Toward Freedom, August 9, 2007.">19</a></sup></p>
<p>Back in 2000, former Congolese president Laurent Kabila offered a monopoly on Congolese diamonds, and 88% of the proceeds, to Gertler’s International Diamond Industries (IDI) in exchange for Israeli military assistance to his new government.<sup><a href="#footnote_19_1519" id="identifier_20_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Nicole Gaouette, “Inside Israel’s diamond trade: a family affair,” Christian Science Monitor, 21 February 2002.">20</a></sup> Top Congolese military officials apparently flew to Israel in 2000 to negotiate the deal. Gertler pledged military assistance to President Laurent Kabila through top Israeli officials.<sup><a href="#footnote_20_1519" id="identifier_21_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Yitzhak Danon, “Top Israelis accused of illegal diamond deals: Israel: Lawsuit claims corruption in Congo diamonds for arms deal,” Globes (Israel), 18 February 2004. See also: “Column One: What Lieberman Wants,” Jerusalem Post, October 20, 2006.">21</a></sup></p>
<p>The original Gertler-Kabila deal fell through after Laurent Kabila was assassinated for not cooperating with the Great White Fathers of industry (January 2001), but Gertler and Leibovitch and their disciples formed another company, Dan Gertler International, and advanced their Congo plan.<sup><a href="#footnote_21_1519" id="identifier_22_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Christian Dietrich, “Blood Diamonds: Effective African-Based Monopolies,” African Security Review, Vol. 10, No 3., 2001.">22</a></sup> By 2002 Gertler’s company was the leading exporter of Congolese gems, controlling a diamond mining franchise worth about $US 1 billion annually.<sup><a href="#footnote_22_1519" id="identifier_23_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Yitzhak Danon, “Top Israelis accused of illegal diamond deals: Israel: Lawsuit claims corruption in Congo diamonds for arms deal,” Globes (Israel), 18 February 2004.">23</a></sup></p>
<p>In 2003, the mighty Congolese diamond parastatal Societe Miniere De Bakwanga (MIBA)—which has been forever controlled by the Great White Fathers in Belgium, Israel and America—signed an exclusive contract with Gertler’s startup company, Emaxon Finance International. The deal involved Israeli’s Foreign Defense Assistance and Defense Export Organization (SIBAT), and high-level Israeli defense and intelligence officials. Gertler and his buddies reportedly bribed Congolese officials and Angolan generals who, on and off, have commanded Angolan Army troops protecting Kinshasa, Congo’s capital.<sup><a href="#footnote_20_1519" id="identifier_24_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Yitzhak Danon, “Top Israelis accused of illegal diamond deals: Israel: Lawsuit claims corruption in Congo diamonds for arms deal,” Globes (Israel), 18 February 2004. See also: “Column One: What Lieberman Wants,” Jerusalem Post, October 20, 2006.">21</a></sup>,<sup><a href="#footnote_23_1519" id="identifier_25_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See: keith harmon snow, “Behind the Scenes: Warlord’s Deadly Battle in Congo,” Toward Freedom, August 9, 2007. The Angolan military protected Kinshasa during the so-called “rebellion” involving Rwanda and Uganda. The Angolans do not like the Rwandans or Ugandans due to their military and commercial relations with Angolan rebels, the União Nacionalpara a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA), and because Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers invaded Angola after their failed bid to control the Congo’s strategic Inga Dam power station and Matadi port between 1998 and 2001. Angola sent troops to Congo in July and August 2006, and there were black Angolan troops amongst the European Union mercenary forces—EUFOR—sent to quell any possible rebellions during the “historic national elections.” Angola also sent troops to Congo to back Kabila during the warlord’s deadly battle of March 2007.">24</a></sup></p>
<p>Security for mining operations in Congo is provided by exclusive security companies like Overseas Security Services (OSS) one of the many DRC interests of Belgian billionaire tycoon Philippe de Moerloose. A member of the Kinshasa elite, de Moerloose supplies jets and other presidential toys to DRC President Kabila. In 2006, President Joseph Kabila’s campaign helicopter was at the centre of a legal battle involving Philippe de Moerloose.<sup><a href="#footnote_24_1519" id="identifier_26_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="“Presidential Chopper,” Africa Confidential, Vol. 47 Number 23, November 17, 2006.">25</a></sup> De Moerloose’s companies operated in Mobutu’s Zaire from at least 1991, backing state terrorism and Western corporate plunder that was rendered invisible by the Western media. De Moerloose is also an adviser to European Union (EU) Commissioner—and diamantaire—Louis Michel.</p>
<p>Dan Gertler and Philippe de Moerloose were, reportedly, the only two white men who attended the wedding of Joseph Kabila and the two clearly share interests in “security” provided by OSS at MIBA and elsewhere in Congo. The April 2003 secret agreement signed between the Gertler/Steinmetz company Emaxon Finance and the Kabila government involved MIBA and two de Moerloose companies, OSS-Congo and Demimpex, and other firms.</p>
<p>Overseas Security Services (OSS) operations are apparently grounded in the experience of top expatriate security operatives formerly involved with the biggest security firm in Mobutu’s Zaire.<sup><a href="#footnote_25_1519" id="identifier_27_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See: Overseas Security Services Congo sprl website.">26</a></sup> According to OSS public relations materials, “these persons have a not unimportant experience in the safety of this country.”<sup><a href="#footnote_25_1519" id="identifier_28_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See: Overseas Security Services Congo sprl website.">26</a></sup> Providing mine security, body-guard and protection services, OSS operates in Burundi, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Dubai, South Africa, Republic of Congo (Brazzavile) and Belgium, placing them in cahoots with all sides warring and plundering eastern Congo today.<sup><a href="#footnote_26_1519" id="identifier_29_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="OSS-Congo owner Philippe de Moerloose communicated with this author after his name appeared in a prior story mentioning OSS-Congo and offered to meet in Europe and provide the author with the “correct” information about his companies operations in Congo. Repeated communications with De Moerloose seeking clarifications and information for this story were not answered.">27</a></sup></p>
<p>Emaxon Finance International is a real gem, one of these octopuses of mining tangled up with interlocking companies and subsidiaries based in specious geographical offshore “tax havens” that work to shield from prosecution people who are responsible for money laundering, weapons and drugs operations, assassinations and other terrorism.</p>
<p>NIKANOR is registered as an Isle of Man (UK) company, an offshore tax haven that helps to conceal criminal activities and maximize profits. NIKANOR directors include Dan Kurtzer, former U.S. ambassador to Israel (2001-2005) and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research under Madeleine Albright. NIKANOR partners include Mende and Moshe Gertner [sic], Israeli property tycoons with vast holdings in London who control 22 percent of NIKANOR. Another partner is Israeli-born Nir Livnat, managing director of Johannesburg-based Ascot Diamonds, a member of the Steinmetz Group of Diamond Companies, and a principal involved in numerous U.S.-based businesses from Miami to New York.<sup><a href="#footnote_27_1519" id="identifier_30_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See e.g., SEC info on Lenorth Holdings and SDG Marketing.">28</a></sup></p>
<p><strong>THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS</strong></p>
<p>Back in 2001, when the Gertler enterprises surfaced in dirty diamond deals, public relations was handled by Lior Chorev, the “Special Strategic and Communications Consultant” to International Diamond Industries (IDI), and Chorev continued in this role to support Dan Gertler businesses.<sup><a href="#footnote_28_1519" id="identifier_31_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Lior Chorev, The First [DRC] Diamond Polishing Plant to Move into Full Production, Press Release, DGI Group of Companies, January 11, 2005.">29</a></sup> Today, Lior Chorev is partnered with the brothers Yuval and Eyal Arad as director-owners of the Israeli marketing and public relations firm, ARAD Communications.<sup><a href="#footnote_29_1519" id="identifier_32_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="ARAD Communications website.">30</a></sup></p>
<p>“We do work for Mr. Gertler on some of his business issues,” said Lior Chorev.<sup><a href="#footnote_30_1519" id="identifier_33_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Private communication, Lior Chorev, January 19, 2008.">31</a></sup> ARAD’s many clients include Dan Gertler companies, Los Angeles-based Coral Diamonds and an Israeli aeronautics weaponry manufacturer producing Unmanned Aerospace Vehicles (UAVs)—robotic weapons and intelligence platforms like those being used against the people of Congo today.<sup><a href="#footnote_31_1519" id="identifier_34_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See: keith harmon snow, “Over Five Million Dead in Congo?” Dissident Voice, February 4, 2008.">32</a></sup> As a political strategist, Lior Chorev has worked for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.<sup><a href="#footnote_32_1519" id="identifier_35_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Private email communication, Lior Chorev, January 19, 2008. See also: Gil Hoffman, “Olmert, Netanyahu Rivalry Gets Personal,” Israel.jpost.com, March 26, 2006; “Sharon allies and foes joust over new party as March 28 elections are set,” Associated Press, November 22, 2005.">33</a></sup> He has also participated in Israel-NATO defense planning conferences.<sup><a href="#footnote_33_1519" id="identifier_36_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="NATO Transformation, the Mediterranean Dialog, and NATO-Israel Relations, October 23, 2006.">34</a></sup></p>
<p>Dan Gertler is close to Israeli politicians, especially Avigdor Lieberman, head of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, and he is very close to diamantaire Beny Steinmetz, a good friend of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Gertler’s inseperable friend, Chaim Leibovitz, is also very close to Lieberman, and was “a regular fixture” in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s offices.<sup><a href="#footnote_34_1519" id="identifier_37_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Yossi Melman and Asaf Carmel, “Diamond in the Rough,” Haaretz, March 24, 2005.">35</a></sup></p>
<p>Beny Steinmetz is considered to be one of the richest billionaires in Israel. The Steinmetz Group, controlled with his brother Daniel, is one of the biggest clients of the de Beers diamond syndicate. Steinmetz is also involved in an Israeli real estate group that purchased the assets of the British Haslemere real estate company for $1.46 billion. Steinmetz’s real estate partners include the billionaire Israeli investors David and Simon Reuben, and the Saudi Arabian Olayan Group, an investment company that is deeply connected with Bechtel Corporation.<sup><a href="#footnote_35_1519" id="identifier_38_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="The Olayan Group website.">36</a></sup> The Steinmetz <a href="http://www.thechicagoschoolonline.net/">website</a> map of operations hides their involvement in war-torn Congo.<sup><a href="#footnote_36_1519" id="identifier_39_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="The Steinmetz Group.">37</a></sup></p>
<p>Seems Dan Gertler’s land grabs and exclusion in Congo have a lot in common with the current crimes against humanity being committed by Israel through its illegal partition in the Middle East. On January 3, 2008, the <em>Jerusalem Post</em> reported that Lior Chorev was an integral part of past Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s advisers, and he was recently quoted to say that even though Sharon did not get to finalize Israel’s final borders (he suffered a debilitating stroke in 2006), the route of the security fence—which he decided—would ultimately serve as the basis for the border and as Sharon’s lasting legacy.<sup><a href="#footnote_37_1519" id="identifier_40_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Gil Hoffman, “Politics; Unconscious Legacy,” Jerusalem Post, features.jpost.com, January 3, 2008.">38</a></sup></p>
<p>“He felt he needed to set the border because he didn’t trust the younger generations,” Chorev was quoted to say. “He knew the fence route by heart and the reason for every stretch of land being on one side or the other.”<sup><a href="#footnote_37_1519" id="identifier_41_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Gil Hoffman, “Politics; Unconscious Legacy,” Jerusalem Post, features.jpost.com, January 3, 2008.">38</a></sup></p>
<p>In 2003, the U.N. Panel of Experts on war in Congo revealed that Emaxon Finance International is controlled by Israeli diamond traders Chaim Leibovitz and Dan Gertler.<sup><a href="#footnote_38_1519" id="identifier_42_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="United Nations Panel of Experts Confidential Report.">39</a></sup> Emaxon lists as its address an office in Montreal, Canada, but Emaxon’s majority shareholder is listed as FTS Worldwide, a nebulous global corporation whose business address is that of a firm of lawyers, Mossack Fonseca & Company, in Panama City. FTS Worldwide is registered with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission to lawyer Andre Zolty of Geneva Switzerland. A copy of the MIBA-Emaxon contract was signed on 13 April 2003 by Israeli-Americans Yaakov Neeman and Chaim Leibovitz.<sup><a href="#footnote_39_1519" id="identifier_43_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Under the contract Emaxon granted Miba loans totaling $5-million in 2003, and a further $10-million subsequently. In exchange, Emaxon gained rights to 88% of Miba’s production at a discount, formally, of 5%.">40</a></sup></p>
<p>Yaakov Neeman is a founding partner of Herzog, Fox and Neeman, Tel Aviv, one of Israel’s top law firms, and he has held Israeli government cabinet and ministerial positions.<sup><a href="#footnote_40_1519" id="identifier_44_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Herzog, Fox and Neeman website.">41</a></sup> Neeman is on the Advisory Board of Markstone Capital Group, a very influential group of investment bankers, with Eli Hurvitz. On the board of Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries with Eli Hurvitz is Northrup-Grumman director Philip Frost.<sup><a href="#footnote_41_1519" id="identifier_45_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Tevapharm.">42</a></sup> Both Philip Frost and Maurice Templesman are top-level councilors for the American Stock Exchange. Eli Hurvitz sat on the International Advisory Counsel of Harvard University’s Belfer Center, 2002-2005, during the period when the Belfer Center and their intelligence operative Robert Rotberg formalized the “Kimberley Process” to officially whitewash blood diamonds.<sup><a href="#footnote_42_1519" id="identifier_46_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See: keith harmon snow and Rick Hines, “Blood Diamond: Doublethink and Deception About those Worthless Little Rocks of Desire,” Z Magazine, June and July, 2007.">43</a></sup> Yakov Neeman is also a governor of the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency for Israel.</p>
<p>One of the main objectives of the Kimberley Process, and the Harvard Belfer Center’s role, was to protect the South African Oppenheimer and De Beers diamond cartels and their leading buyers and agents like Maurice Templesman and Beny Steinmetz.<sup><a href="#footnote_43_1519" id="identifier_47_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="On Neeman and Hurvitz, see Markstone Capital Group; on Robert Rotberg, Maurice Templesman and the Harvard Belfer Center, see: keith harmon snow and Rick Hines, “Blood Diamond: Doublethink and Deception About those Worthless Little Rocks of Desire,” Z Magazine, June and July, 2007.">44</a></sup> Added to those diamond industry firms whitewashed by the Kimberley Process are all the Zionist diamond dealers and cartels that have risen like a phoenix out of the ashes of the Holocaust.</p>
<p>The Israeli-American enterprises of the Gertler/Steinmetz gang have proliferated and today are major shareholders or owners of diamond concessions in Congo’s Kasai province and copperbelt concessions in Katanga. The copperbelt is the big money in Congo. Copper prices recently hit an all time high due to monopoly control by corporations and new applications in transportation, aerospace and weaponry. Cobalt is used in dye and paint processes for manufacturing. More importantly, it is elemental to superalloys used for tank armor, spacecraft, turbines, ship hulls, ship hulls, blast furnaces, refineries, petroleum drilling rigs, nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Like coltan, or columbium-tantalite, cobalt is also used in cell phone batteries. The Katanga copperbelt is also rich in germanium, a rare metal used in optical fibers, infrared lenses and telecommunication satellites.<sup><a href="#footnote_44_1519" id="identifier_48_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Criminal rackets known to the United Nations security were or some time illegally shipping uranium and cobalt out of Katanga by road to Zimbabwe and Tanzania (private interview, U.N. Official, 2006).">45</a></sup></p>
<p>The entire military-industrial-prisons complex revolves around minerals like cobalt, niobium and heterogenite (cobalt oxide), yet the truth about what happens to African people in lands taken over by these mining companies is hidden by the corporate media. More and more land is being stolen, more and more atrocities committed, with less and less transparency, and less and less accountability, and fewer and fewer voices for the voiceless. And, as usual, there are always a lot of empty promises.</p>
<p><strong>THOUGH SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS</strong></p>
<p>Over the past fifty years, elite Israeli nationals have perpetrated conflict and injustice in Africa, fueled by and for minerals. Operatives associated with the Israeli military or intelligence services—the Mossad—maintain strategic criminal syndicates in competition and in partnership with other syndicates involving men like Philippe De Moerloose, Louis Michel, Viscount Etienne Davignon, John Bredenkamp and Tony Buckingham.</p>
<p>Israeli trained shock troops became Mobutu’s bodyguards, with Mossad advisers. According to a report by the American Jewish Committee: after 1980 “Mossad agents, military emissaries, and a small group of private businessmen… replaced diplomats as Israel’s main interlocutors with African leaders and political (mainly opposition) groups.” The report cites rising involvement of private defense and security interests, especially in Angola, DRC and Central Africa Republic, since 1992.<sup><a href="#footnote_45_1519" id="identifier_49_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Israel and Africa: Assessing the Past, Envisioning the Future, The Africa Institute American Jewish Committee and The Harold Hartog School Tel Aviv University, May 2006.">46</a></sup></p>
<p>Israeli operatives and “businessmen” appear everywhere there is egregious suffering and dispossession. Dan Gertler’s forays into the bloody world of diamonds involve Israeli arms dealers Yair Klein, who is reportedly wanted by the U.S. for training Medellin drug-cartel militias in Colombia, and Dov Katz.<sup><a href="#footnote_46_1519" id="identifier_50_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Ron Ben-Yishai and Molly Camprier-Kritz, “The Murder Request Went to the Wrong Address,” Yediot Aharonot weekend supplement on 19 September 1999.">47</a></sup> Klein was convicted by Israel (1991) for his involvement with groups that targeted and assassinated Colombian politicians, journalists, and police. Jailed in Sierra Leone in 1999, Klein was a field representative for Gertler in war-torn Sierra Leone and Liberia. Gertler also mingles with the Russian Military Brotherhood, a group of “retired Russian generals whom Gertler describes as good friends.”<sup><a href="#footnote_47_1519" id="identifier_51_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Nicole Gaouette, “Inside Israel’s diamond trade: a family affair,” Christian Science Monitor, 21 February 2002.">48</a></sup>,<sup><a href="#footnote_48_1519" id="identifier_52_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="For a discussion of the veracity of these facts and more on the “Russian Military Brotherhood” see: Central Africa Minerals and Arms Research Bulletin, Edition 2, International Peace Information Service, June 18, 2001.">49</a></sup></p>
<p>Retired Israeli Defense Forces Colonel Yair Klein reportedly organized arms for diamonds networks in Sierra Leone and Liberia after President Charles Taylor was deposed. In 1999, Klein was arrested in Sierra Leone on charges of smuggling arms to the rebel Revolutionary United Front.<sup><a href="#footnote_49_1519" id="identifier_53_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Jimmy Johnson, “Israelis and Hezbollah Haven’t Always Been Enemies,” Appearing in Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions USA, 6 September 2006.">50</a></sup> The U.N. also documented collaborations between Sierra Leone’ rebels and Lazare Kaplan agent Damian Gagnon; Lazare Kaplan International is one of the organized crime syndicates of Jewish American Maurice Templesman.<sup><a href="#footnote_50_1519" id="identifier_54_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Report of the Panel of Experts Appointed Pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1306 (2000), Paragraph 19, in Relation to Sierra Leone, December 2000.">51</a></sup></p>
<p>The Steinmetz Group of companies are also involved in the bloody diamond fields of Sierra Leone, along with Energem (formerly DiamondWorks), the company described above that is connected to the white mercenaries depicted in Hollywood’s <em>Blood Diamond</em> propaganda film.<sup><a href="#footnote_51_1519" id="identifier_55_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Energem website; and also: keith harmon snow and Rick Hines, “Blood Diamond: Doublethink and Deception About those Worthless Little Rocks of Desire,” Z Magazine, June and July, 2007.">52</a></sup> In December 2007, local people in Sierra Leone struggling to gain the smallest livelihood from their own resources were shot by police during peaceful protests against the Steinmetz-controlled Koidu Holdings site. It’s the same old local people’s story happening everywhere. These were people from communities driven off their own land by mining companies that promised the world, cajoled the trusting people, and gave nothing after. The Steinmetz gang called in the local paramilitary, a curfew was imposed and people were shot; the police, as usual, falsely claimed that protesters were armed.<sup><a href="#footnote_52_1519" id="identifier_56_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Mineweb.">53</a></sup></p>
<p>Like most mining mafias in Africa, the Israeli octopus—organized crime syndicates, offshore subsidiaries, interlocking directorships and affiliated mercenaries—has gripped the very heart of Congo like an octopus grips and stuns its prey. Mining regulates the pulse of Congo, and foreign mining companies with their black sell-out agents are sucking the blood out of the people and the wealth out of the land.</p>
<p><strong>THOU SHALT NOT KILL</strong></p>
<p>Beyond the intriguing Jewish rivalry for diamonds in the heart of darkness, this tale takes a chilling turn with the involvement of certain German firms and New York City lawyers. NIKANOR, another Gertler/Steinmetz company of dubious origins operating in DRC, has a subcontract with the notorious ThyssenKrupp conglomerate, a company comprised of two former Nazi weapons manufacturers linked to the New York law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell, to Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., Lehman Brothers, Chase Manhattan Bank, J.P. Morgan, DuPont and IBM, in the great Nazi-American money plot.<sup><a href="#footnote_53_1519" id="identifier_57_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Charles Higham, Trading With The Enemy: The Nazi-American Money Plot, 1933-1949, Delacorte Press, 1983.">54</a></sup></p>
<p>These companies were all behind the Jewish Holocaust. The infamous German Krupp firm is the industrial corporation that collaborated with former CIA director Allen Dulles and former U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. Clients of the Dulles brothers’ law firm Sullivan and Cromwell included Adolph Hitler.<sup><a href="#footnote_53_1519" id="identifier_58_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Charles Higham, Trading With The Enemy: The Nazi-American Money Plot, 1933-1949, Delacorte Press, 1983.">54</a></sup> Ted Terry, one of the senior counselors of the law firm Sullivan and Cromwell today, is also a director of a philanthropy called the Harold K. Hochschild (HKH) Foundation, named for the mining magnate behind AMAX, a company operating in the copperbelt in Zambia, but whose parent company, Phelps Dodge, operates in Katanga, Congo. Harold K. Hochschild was close to the CIA, and he appears to have backed the Katanga succession in the 1960’s just as Dan Gertler in recent years backed the reorganization of power in Congo by force. Sullivan and Cromwell was also the law firm for AMAX. <sup><a href="#footnote_54_1519" id="identifier_59_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Susan Mazur, “Deeper Into the Dillon-Euphronios Nexus with David N. Gibbs,” SCOOP, April 26, 2006.">55</a></sup>,<sup><a href="#footnote_55_1519" id="identifier_60_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="David Gibbs, The Political Economy of Third World Intervention: Mines, Money and U.S. Policy in the Congo Crises, University of Chicago Press, 1991.">56</a></sup></p>
<p>Brown Brothers Harriman & Company (BBH) was the primary Wall Street connection for German companies and the U.S. financial interests of Fritz Thyssen, an early financial backer of the Nazi party. BBH bought and shipped millions of dollars of gold, steel, fuel, coal, and U.S. treasury bonds to Germany. These were used to build Hitler’s war machine, and the ties proliferated even after the Nazi concentration camps began churning out skeletons. The horrors of the concentration camps at Auschwitz, Birkenau and Buckenwald became public knowledge long before they became public outrage. It is the same story for Congo.</p>
<p><strong>A PRAYER FOR THE DEAD</strong></p>
<p>There are no records or statistics of the numbers of people brutalized or killed in the diamond or cobalt mining areas, like Kolwezi, Mbuji Mayi, Tshikapa, Banalia, or Kananga in DRC, or Ndola in Zambia, and many of the victims of security abuses will never be known.</p>
<p>When Gertler and Steinmetz and their buddies came to Congo it was soon clear that they had to challenge Zimbabwean tycoons John Bredenkamp and Billy Rautenbach—two cronies of dictator Robert Mugabe involved in pillaging Congo and Zimbabwe for decades. The United Nations Panel of Experts on DRC named both men for plundering copper and cobalt from Katanga, and both deal globally in weapons. Bredenkamp is one of the fifty richest men in England and he reportedly owns a mansion several doors down from Margaret Thatcher’s residence in London.</p>
<p>On November 7, 2007 it was reported that Dan Gertler was instrumental in putting together a deal in which Katanga Mining Ltd. would buy rival NIKANOR for $2.1 billion and merge their adjacent mine projects in Congo to form the world’s largest cobalt company. Also announced was a joint venture between the Central African Mining & Exploration Company (CAMEC) and another Gertler-controlled firm called Prairie International Limited.</p>
<p>The CAMEC/Prairie joint venture will exploit DRC’s Luita copper processing facility, develop the Mukondo Mountain cobalt mine—called the world’s richest cobalt mine—and work on “other” exploration properties. Prairie is majority owned by the family of Dan Gertler. CAMEC is connected to Zimbabwean/South African/British tycoon Billy Rautenbach.<sup><a href="#footnote_56_1519" id="identifier_61_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Eric Onstad, “UPDATE 2-CAMEC shares soar after agrees Congo joint venture,” Reuters, Nov. 7, 2007.">57</a></sup> The DRC government effectively banned controversial Zimbabwean businessman Billy Rautenbach from the country by declaring him persona non grata in July 2007, but this doesn’t seem to stop him from getting what he wants. Rautenbach is also wanted in South Africa on 300 charges of fraud, corruption and theft.</p>
<p>Rautenbach is a former motor car rally driver who controls a business empire in Southern and Central Africa through a British Virgin Islands company called Ridgepoint Overseas Development Limited. In 1998, the short-lived President of Congo, Laurent Kabila, named Rautenbach the managing director of La Générale des Carrières et des Mines (Gécamines), one of Africa’s biggest cobalt mines, the Katanga properties of the Union Miniere de Haut Katanga formerly developed by the Belgian colonial government. Rautenbach today is one of the Africa’s largest exporters of heterogenite (cobalt ore) from the DRC through his Congo Cobalt Company (CoCoCo), but he also has shares in two other lucrative DRC mining firms—Boss and Mukondo—which reportedly earn over US$100 million a month.<sup><a href="#footnote_57_1519" id="identifier_62_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Brenna Chigonga, “Zimbabwe: Meet Country’s Richest People,” The Herald, July 14, 2007.">58</a></sup></p>
<p>While there has been a lot of Western media fanfare over the Kabila governments’ supposed “independent” review of mining contracts, little substantive change can be expected.<sup><a href="#footnote_58_1519" id="identifier_63_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See: Maurice Carney, “Congo’s Contract Review,” Pambazuka News, January 17, 2008.">59</a></sup> Structural factors exploit the Congolese people and lands and benefit white businessmen, arms dealers, bankers, and their embraceable black agents. Big business benefits from perception management articles well-placed in media to give the impression that the international system is just, that there are watchdogs, checks and balances.</p>
<p>However, while the DRC and the World Bank present a propaganda front about their ostensible attention to mining reform and the new mining code, NIKANOR—Mining Journal reports—“is in the advantageous position of having entered into a post mining-code contract, ‘which makes us [NIKANOR] relatively comfortable’”<sup><a href="#footnote_59_1519" id="identifier_64_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Martin Creamer, “Funded NIKANOR presses on with $1,8bn copper mine, refinery,” Mining Weekly, September 21, 2007.">60</a></sup> In other words, the mining review is a sham, it may force some changes, but it will be cosmetic at best.</p>
<p>Dan Gertler and the Steinmetz Group’s partner Jewish-American Nir Livnat is also a director of Anglovaal Mining with Rick and Brian Menell and Basil Hersov of the South African Menell and Hersov dynasties.<sup><a href="#footnote_60_1519" id="identifier_65_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Julie Walker, “Hersovs and Menells are in no hurry to yield control of Anglovaal,” Sunday Times.">61</a></sup> Hersov has been named as a beneficiary of fraud and racketeering involving British BAE Systems weapons deals with shady offshore companies.<sup><a href="#footnote_61_1519" id="identifier_66_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Evelyn Groenink, “Arms deal: Who got R1bn in pay-offs?” Mail & Guardian, January 12, 2007.">62</a></sup></p>
<p>The octopus of South African connections is a story in itself, with links to top officials from Britain to Canada, like Canadian Senator J. Trevor Eyton, and offshore mining companies involved in all the big money (diamonds, gold, petroleum, cobalt) and big corporations with interlocking directorships: Coca Cola, Nestlé, General Motors, and the Bush-connected Barrick Gold Corporation. Barrick, of course, is partnered up with the Oppenheimer/De Beers firm Anglo-American Corporation at six sites in Africa, including Congo.</p>
<p>Rick Menell is a director of Bateman Engineering—owned by Benny Steinmetz—the junior partner of the NIKANOR projects in Katanga. Britain’s Earl of Balfour is a director of both Bateman and NIKANOR. Menell is also the director of Teal Exploration and Mining, whose directors include Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique; Murray Hitzman, a Clinton administration official with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (1994-1996); Hannes Meyer, who worked with Anglo-Gold Ashanti in Congo, 1999-2006, when militias in Ituri were funded to get the gold out. Teal Exploration also has ties to Anvil Mining and Anglo-American Corporation.<sup><a href="#footnote_62_1519" id="identifier_67_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Teal Exploration & Mining website.">63</a></sup></p>
<p>Brian Menell, Nir Livnat’s associate on the board of Anglovaal, is on the board of Energem (formerly DiamondWorks) with Tony and Mario Teixeira. The Livnat connection ties Teixeira into networks that have supported both Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba in Congo’s bloody wars. Energem is also involved in the trans-Uganda-Kenya pipeline, along with Nexant, a subsidiary of the deep intelligence and defense insider Bechtel Corporation.<sup><a href="#footnote_63_1519" id="identifier_68_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Press Release: Kenya-Uganda Oil Products Pipeline, Kenya-Uganda Joint Co-coordinating Commission for Extension of Oil Pipeline, August 17, 2005; see also: Energem website.">64</a></sup></p>
<p>Brian Menell is also on the board of First Africa Oil, which operates in seven African countries, and First Africa Oil director John Bentley is a director of Osprey Oil and Gas, whose directors include Carol Bell, a director of the Rockefeller’s Chase Manhattan Bank. Bentley is also on the board of Adastra Minerals—formerly America Mineral Fields (AMF, AMFI, AMX), a company based in 1995 in Hope, Arkansas—and set up by Robert Friedland and Max and Jean-Raymond Boulle, notable “friends of Bill” Clinton. Since 1995, American Mineral Fields has been involved in Brazil, Russia, Norway, Zambia, Angola and the DRC. A criminal backer of the war in DRC, Jean-Raymond Boulle, who holds 36.4 % of the company stock, was the former General Director of De Beers in Zaire, part of the Templesman alliance of terrorism under the Mobutu regime.<sup><a href="#footnote_64_1519" id="identifier_69_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="François Misser and Olivier Vallée, “Des matières premières toujours convoitées. Les nouveaux acteurs du secteur minier Africain,” Le Monde Diplomatique, May 1998, p.24-25; also Wayne Madsen, Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa, 1993-1999, Mellon Press, 1999.">65</a></sup>,<sup><a href="#footnote_65_1519" id="identifier_70_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Diamond Fields International Management.">66</a></sup></p>
<p>The Gertler/Steinmetz interests apparently curry huge favors with Congo’s number two most powerful man, Augustine Katumba Mwanke, one of Joseph Kabila’s closest allies and financiers, former Governor of Katanga (1998-2001) and director of Australia’s Anvil Mining. The UN Panel of Experts (2002) cited Mwanke for illegal arms deals and plunder of Congo: Mwanke negotiated arms purchases through Belgian banks and the DRC mining company MIBA.<sup><a href="#footnote_66_1519" id="identifier_71_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="‘Inculpations à la Belgolaise’, Le Libre Belgique, 4 June 2004.">67</a></sup> Reportedly, Mwanke personally clears $US 1,000,000 a day through his interests in Katanga mining deals.<sup><a href="#footnote_67_1519" id="identifier_72_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Private interview, Kinshasa, DRC, April 2007.">68</a></sup></p>
<p>Anvil Mining has been involved in massacres in DRC.<sup><a href="#footnote_68_1519" id="identifier_73_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Norm Dixon, “Congo Massacre: Australian mining company’s managers indicted,” Green Left Review, November 4, 2006.">69</a></sup> Anvil directors include former U.S. Ambassador Kenneth L. Brown, who served at U.S. embassies in Brussels, Kinshasa, Congo-Brazzaville and South Africa. Brown was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa (1987-1989) under George Schultz and George H.W. Bush and Director of Central African Affairs (1980-1981). The former top internal intelligence and security chief of the United Nations Observer’s Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) has been worked for Anvil mining in Katanga since 2006.<sup><a href="#footnote_69_1519" id="identifier_74_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="His name is known, but he threatened to track down and break the author’s legs if he is revealed.">70</a></sup></p>
<p><strong>THOU SHALT NOT RAPE AND PLUNDER</strong></p>
<p>Gertler/Steinmetz interests have also been jostling for copper and cobalt concessions with Kinross-Forrest Group. Gertler has bought up or invested heavily in companies just to close them down. George Forrest also made the UN hit list of Congo’s looters and Forrest and his three sons helped bankroll Joseph Kabila’s 2006 election “victory”.<sup><a href="#footnote_70_1519" id="identifier_75_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See: Barry Sergeant, “NIKANOR’s Quandry: Meet Dan the Man, King of the Congo,” MoneyWeb, 4 April 2007; “Congo Kinshasa: After the Election” Africa Confidential, Vol. 47, No. 23, 17 Nov. 2006; and United Nations Security Council Report to the Secretary General, S/2003/1027, 23 October 2003.">71</a></sup> George Forrest’s daughter is reportedly married to the son of Louis Michel. Malta and George Forrest are controlling directors in Katanga Mining Limited.</p>
<p>Born as Entreprise Générale Malta Forrest, the Belgian Forrest interests have been pillars of exploitation in Congo since at least 1922, when they launched mining operations in Katanga. Forrest’s Katanga Mining directors include: three Canadians; Congo’s Jean-Claude Masangu Mulongo, a former Governor of DRC and high official at the IMF and World Bank; and the current Governor of the Central Bank of DRC. The Forrest dynasty has munitions factories in Belgium and Kenya, and has partnered with OM-Group, in Ohio [USA], dealing in Congo’s cobalt and coltan. Forrest International also operates in Europe, Burundi—involving him on both sides of Congo’s bloody war—and the Middle East.<sup><a href="#footnote_71_1519" id="identifier_76_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="George Forrest International.">72</a></sup> Forrest interests in DRC include aviation, foods, plantations, construction, logging, copper and cobalt mining. Forrest companies are enmeshed in the coltan plunder in eastern Congo.</p>
<p>Katanga is the world’s richest mining metropolis, part of the vast copper belt that stretches across northern Zambia and southern Congo—and the home to unprecedented human misery due to state orchestrated repression and communities overrun with toxic mining, tuberculosis, cancers, immune disorders, racial discrimination and slavery. The Zambian copperbelt concessions over the border involve many of the same companies and interests mentioned above, and others.<sup><a href="#footnote_72_1519" id="identifier_77_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Personal investigation, Ndola, Zambia copperbelt mines, 2000.">73</a></sup></p>
<p>Workers and communities in and around these mines suffer all the standard treatable maladies (typhoid, malaria, tetanus, polio, malnutrition) as well. However, such stories are off the agenda for the North American, European, Japanese, Australian and Israeli media corporations providing the mainstay of English language indoctrination meant to instill racial superiority and a vast ignorance and obliviousness that leaves westerns populations shaking their heads and wringing their hands and clicking their tongues, while all the while wondering “what is to be done?” It does not cross people’s minds that their own hands are dirty, that their own consciousness has been falsified, as all the raw materials from Congo enrich the lives of people in the United States, Canada, Europe and Israel.</p>
<p>The immediate capital investment required for just one Gertler project in Katanga—the Komoto Oliveira Virgule (KOV) project—is reportedly $US 1.8 billion dollars, income to kick start billions of dollars of unused equipment mothballed in the middle Mobutu era. There are rumors that Bechtel is involved, but the KOV project involves ThyssenKrupp AG as a minor player.<sup><a href="#footnote_73_1519" id="identifier_78_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Nikanor.">74</a></sup></p>
<p>The Krupp firm is one of several German firms involved in the plunder in eastern Congo, exploitation which involves the DeutscheGesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit—GTZ—a “German technological cooperation agency” whose Supervisory Board has representatives of four Federal [German] Ministries.<sup><a href="#footnote_74_1519" id="identifier_79_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="These are: the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ); Federal Foreign Office; Federal Ministry of Finance; and Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor. Since 1998 the Supervisory Board Chairman has been State Secretary Erich Stather from the BMZ.">75</a></sup> Krupp industries use coltan and cobalt for superalloys.<sup><a href="#footnote_75_1519" id="identifier_80_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Karen Hayes and Richard Burge, Coltan Mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo: How tantalum-using industries can commit to the reconstruction of the DRC, Fauna & Flora Int’l, 2003.">76</a></sup> Dr.-Ing. Ekkehard D. Schultz, a ThyssenKrupp director, is also a director of Bayer AG, the Germany firm whose subsidiary H.C. Starck was named for its involvement in the ongoing illegal plunder of coltan and cassiterite (tin) in eastern Congo. NIKANOR director Jay Pomrenze is also a consultant for the Deutsche Bank.<sup><a href="#footnote_76_1519" id="identifier_81_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="NIKANOR website.">77</a></sup> Certain German and U.S. firms benefit from the military occupation of Rwandan-backed warlord Laurent Nkunda in North Kivu, DRC, where Nkunda controls the Lueshe niobium mine “owned” by Gesellschaft fuer Elektrometallurgie GmbH, a subsidiary of New York-based Mettalurg Group.<sup><a href="#footnote_77_1519" id="identifier_82_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Metallurg Group.">78</a></sup>,<sup><a href="#footnote_78_1519" id="identifier_83_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="See keith harmon snow, “Three Cheers for Eve Ensler? Propaganda, White Collar Crime, and Sexual Violence in Eastern Congo,” Z Magazine on-line (Z-Net), October 24, 2007.">79</a></sup></p>
<p><strong>HONOR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER</strong></p>
<p>Dan Gertler’s grandfather, Moshe Schnitzer (d. November 2007), was known in Israel as “Mr. Diamond;” in youth he joined the pre-state underground organization Etzel (Irgoun), an Israeli military cell self-defined as an “untra-nationationalist Jewish militia,” but one that committed acts of terrorism in service to the Israeli cause.<sup><a href="#footnote_7_1519" id="identifier_84_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Yossi Melman and Asaf Carmel, “Diamond in the rough,” Haaretz, March 24, 2005.">8</a></sup> Moshe Schnitzer assumed a major role in the Africa-Israeli diamond trade in the 1950’s in a partnership business called Schnitzer-Greenstein. Schnitzer later founded the Israel Diamond Exchange in Tel Aviv in 1960, which today brings Israel $14 billion annually in blood business, and is the country’s second-largest industry, but Israel’s top export. King Leopold III of Belgium decorated Schnitzer in recognition of his activities favoring the close relationship of Belgium, Israel and the DeBeers diamond cartels, and Schnitzer was also President of the Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum in Israel.<sup><a href="#footnote_79_1519" id="identifier_85_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="“Moshe Schnitzer: Un Legende s’en est Allee,” Kadima 010, June-September 2007.">80</a></sup></p>
<p>The diamond jewelry trade in the United States is more than $30 billion annually, and 99%—everything that is not synthetic or artificial diamonds—involves blood diamonds and the above organized crime syndicates. Israel buys more than 50% of the world’s rough diamonds, and the U.S. buys two-thirds of these. The diamond factories are located in Nethanya, Petach Tikvah, Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Jerusalem, and other cities around the country, but most of the offices were in Tel Aviv in the financial district on Ahad Ha’am Street.<sup><a href="#footnote_80_1519" id="identifier_86_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="“The Israel Diamond Exchange — Kiryat Moshe Schnitzer”, Diamond Key, 2002.">81</a></sup> Dan Gertler’s father, Asher Gertler, and his uncle, Shmuel Schnitzer, manage the original family business, and Shmuel is Vice-Chairman of the Belgian-based World Diamond Council—the entity that spends more money promoting the false image of “conflict-free” diamonds than it does helping any of the people dispossessed or brutalized by the diamond industry.<sup><a href="#footnote_47_1519" id="identifier_87_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" title="Nicole Gaouette, “Inside Israel’s diamond trade: a family affair,” Christian Science Monitor, 21 February 2002.">48</a></sup></p>
<p>On August 16, 2007, Rabbi Bentolila in Kinshasa received a communication asking: “What does the Torah say about men exploiting other men for vast profits while other men are starving and dying all around them? Is there some hierarchy to the Torah that suggests, for example, that black people or Africans are lesser beings, and therefore not to be a concern where profound profits are being made?”</p>
<p>There was no reply from Rabbi Bentolila, he was apparently busy readying for another Bar Mitsvah in Belgium. Unfortunately for Dan Gertler and his spiritual advisers, the Torah says that a Jew can keep a slave, but a Jew kept as a slave must be redeemed, and that—an empty, foolish justification for exploiting innocent people—is how religion falsifies spirituality. </p>
<ol class="footnotes"><li id="footnote_0_1519" class="footnote">In January 2008 the International Rescue Committee, who is also discussed in this article, released its second survey of mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo, estimating that 5,400,000 people have died, or some 1500 people every day. <a href="http://www.theirc.org/special-report/congo-forgotten-crisis.html">Mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo: an Ongoing Crisis</a>, International Rescue Committee, January 2008. However, IRC statistics are highly biased and politicized. See: keith harmon snow, “<a href="http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/over-five-million-dead-in-congo-fifteen-hundred-people-daily/">Over Five Million Dead in Congo?</a>” <em>Dissident Voice</em>, February 4, 2008. [<a href="#identifier_0_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_1_1519" class="footnote">Personal interview, Democratic Republic of Congo, August 2006. [<a href="#identifier_1_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_2_1519" class="footnote">keith harmon snow, “Warlord’s Deadly Battle, <em>Toward Freedom</em>, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_2_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_3_1519" class="footnote"><a href="http://www.energem.com">Officers</a>: Antonio Teixeira, President & CEO; Robert G. Rainey, CFO; Brett Thompson, COO, Mining; Dimitri (Jimmy) Kanakakis, Vice President, Corporate & Legal Affairs; Bernard Poznanski, Corporate Secretary; Board Members: Brian Menell, Richard Dorfman, Bruce Holmes, Robert Rainey, Antonio Teixeira. [<a href="#identifier_3_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_4_1519" class="footnote">See: “Africa/Diamonds: Rough diamonds,” <em>Africa Confidential</em>, 5 March 2004, Vol. 45, No. 5; and “Equatorial Guinea: All Theft is Property,” <em>Africa Confidential</em>, 17 Nov. 2006, Vol. 47, No. 23: p. 12. [<a href="#identifier_4_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_5_1519" class="footnote">Tim Hoare, the head of the advisers that launched it, Canaccord Adams, sits alongside rock star and champion of Africa Bob Geldof on the board of the television-production company Ten Alps. See: Ben Laurance, “Energy firm link to blood diamonds,” <em>The Sunday Times</em>, December 30, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_5_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_6_1519" class="footnote">See: keith harmon snow, “A People’s History of Congo’s Jean-Pierre Bemba,” <em>Toward Freedom</em>, September 18, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_6_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_7_1519" class="footnote">Yossi Melman and Asaf Carmel, “Diamond in the rough,” <em>Haaretz</em>, March 24, 2005. [<a href="#identifier_7_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>] [<a href="#identifier_8_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>] [<a href="#identifier_84_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_8_1519" class="footnote">See: keith harmon snow, “<a href="http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1171/1/">Congo’s President Joseph Kabila: Dynasty or Travesty?</a>” <em>Toward Freedom</em>, November 13, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_9_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_9_1519" class="footnote">Private interview, Kinshasa, August 2006. [<a href="#identifier_10_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_10_1519" class="footnote">See: “<a href="http://www.amnesty.ca/realsecurity/DRC.php">Terror in the Diamond Fields: Excessive Force and Impunity in the DRC</a>,” Amnesty International Canada; Democratic Republic of Congo: Government should investigate human rights violations in the Mbuji Mayi diamond fields, Amnesty International, October 22, 2002. [<a href="#identifier_11_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_11_1519" class="footnote">Making a Killing: The Diamond Trade in Government Controlled DRC, Amnesty International, 2002, AFR 62/017/2002 22/10/2002. [<a href="#identifier_12_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_12_1519" class="footnote">See: “<a href="http://www.icem.org/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/2243-ICEM-protests-Congo%E2%80%99s-Transport-Diamond-Injustices">ICEM protests Congo’s Transport, Diamond Injustices</a>,” International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Worker’s Union, May 7, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_13_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_13_1519" class="footnote">“<a href="http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:z9WCcOGeL8MJ:news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5254006.stm+%22MIBA%22+%22illegal+miners%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4">Diamond miners killed in DR Congo</a>,” <em>BBC News</em>, 7 August 2006. [<a href="#identifier_14_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_14_1519" class="footnote">See: <a href="http://www.jewishafrica.com/">Jewish Africa</a> and <a href="http://www.chabad.org/centers/default.htm/aid/117894/jewish/Chabad-of-Central-Africa.html">Chabad</a>. [<a href="#identifier_15_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_15_1519" class="footnote">Private communication, Rabbi Chlomo Bentolila, August 16, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_16_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_16_1519" class="footnote">“<a href="www.hassidout.org/page_derniere26.htm">Lag Baomer in Kinshasa</a>,” June 2005. [<a href="#identifier_17_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_17_1519" class="footnote">“<a href="http://74.52.200.226/~sefarad/kadima/kadima10.pdf">Visite de l’Ambassadeur Revah a’ Kinshasa</a>,” <em>Kadima 010</em>, June-September 2007. [<a href="#identifier_18_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_18_1519" class="footnote">See: keith harmon snow, “Behind the Scenes: Warlord’s Deadly Battle in Congo,” <em>Toward Freedom</em>, August 9, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_19_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_19_1519" class="footnote">Nicole Gaouette, “<a href="http://www.boycottisraeligoods.org/modules6437.php">Inside Israel’s diamond trade: a family affair</a>,” <em>Christian Science Monitor</em>, 21 February 2002. [<a href="#identifier_20_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_20_1519" class="footnote">Yitzhak Danon, “<a href="http://www.minesandcommunities.org/Action/press269.htm">Top Israelis accused of illegal diamond deals: Israel: Lawsuit claims corruption in Congo diamonds for arms deal</a>,” <em>Globes</em> (Israel), 18 February 2004. See also: “<a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193481395&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter">Column One: What Lieberman Wants</a>,” <em>Jerusalem Post</em>, October 20, 2006. [<a href="#identifier_21_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>] [<a href="#identifier_24_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_21_1519" class="footnote">Christian Dietrich, “<a href="http://www.iss.co.za/ASR/10No3/Dietrich.html">Blood Diamonds: Effective African-Based Monopolies</a>,” <em>African Security Review</em>, Vol. 10, No 3., 2001. [<a href="#identifier_22_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_22_1519" class="footnote">Yitzhak Danon, “Top Israelis accused of illegal diamond deals: Israel: Lawsuit claims corruption in Congo diamonds for arms deal,” <em>Globes</em> (Israel), 18 February 2004. [<a href="#identifier_23_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_23_1519" class="footnote">See: keith harmon snow, “Behind the Scenes: Warlord’s Deadly Battle in Congo,” <em>Toward Freedom</em>, August 9, 2007. The Angolan military protected Kinshasa during the so-called “rebellion” involving Rwanda and Uganda. The Angolans do not like the Rwandans or Ugandans due to their military and commercial relations with Angolan rebels, the União Nacionalpara a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA), and because Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers invaded Angola after their failed bid to control the Congo’s strategic Inga Dam power station and Matadi port between 1998 and 2001. Angola sent troops to Congo in July and August 2006, and there were black Angolan troops amongst the European Union mercenary forces—EUFOR—sent to quell any possible rebellions during the “historic national elections.” Angola also sent troops to Congo to back Kabila during the warlord’s deadly battle of March 2007. [<a href="#identifier_25_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_24_1519" class="footnote">“Presidential Chopper,” <em>Africa Confidential</em>, Vol. 47 Number 23, November 17, 2006. [<a href="#identifier_26_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_25_1519" class="footnote">See: <a href="http://www.oss-congo.com">Overseas Security Services Congo sprl website</a>. [<a href="#identifier_27_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>] [<a href="#identifier_28_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_26_1519" class="footnote">OSS-Congo owner Philippe de Moerloose communicated with this author after his name appeared in a prior story mentioning OSS-Congo and offered to meet in Europe and provide the author with the “correct” information about his companies operations in Congo. Repeated communications with De Moerloose seeking clarifications and information for this story were not answered. [<a href="#identifier_29_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_27_1519" class="footnote">See e.g., <a href="http://www.secinfo.com/dsvrw.z14q.htm">SEC info on Lenorth Holdings</a> and <a href="http://www.secinfo.com/$/SEC/Filings.asp?As=M&Name=incmarketingsdg">SDG Marketing</a>. [<a href="#identifier_30_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_28_1519" class="footnote">Lior Chorev, <a href="http://www.pressemeldinger.no/read.asp?RecNo=8106">The First [DRC] Diamond Polishing Plant to Move into Full Production</a>, Press Release, DGI Group of Companies, January 11, 2005. [<a href="#identifier_31_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_29_1519" class="footnote">ARAD Communications website. [<a href="#identifier_32_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_30_1519" class="footnote">Private communication, Lior Chorev, January 19, 2008. [<a href="#identifier_33_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_31_1519" class="footnote">See: keith harmon snow, “<a href="http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/over-five-million-dead-in-congo-fifteen-hundred-people-daily/">Over Five Million Dead in Congo?</a>” <em>Dissident Voice</em>, February 4, 2008. [<a href="#identifier_34_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_32_1519" class="footnote">Private email communication, Lior Chorev, January 19, 2008. See also: Gil Hoffman, “Olmert, Netanyahu Rivalry Gets Personal,” Israel.jpost.com, March 26, 2006; “<a href="http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/7095.htm">Sharon allies and foes joust over new party as March 28 elections are set</a>,” Associated Press, November 22, 2005. [<a href="#identifier_35_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_33_1519" class="footnote"><a href="http://www.nato.int/med-dial/2006/registered_participants_isr.pdf">NATO Transformation, the Mediterranean Dialog, and NATO-Israel Relations</a>, October 23, 2006. [<a href="#identifier_36_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_34_1519" class="footnote">Yossi Melman and Asaf Carmel, “Diamond in the Rough,” <em>Haaretz</em>, March 24, 2005. [<a href="#identifier_37_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_35_1519" class="footnote"><a href="http://www.olayangroup.com/directory.asp">The Olayan Group website</a>. [<a href="#identifier_38_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_36_1519" class="footnote"><a href="http://www.steinmetz-group.com/">The Steinmetz Group</a>. [<a href="#identifier_39_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_37_1519" class="footnote">Gil Hoffman, “Politics; Unconscious Legacy,” <em>Jerusalem Post</em>, features.jpost.com, January 3, 2008. [<a href="#identifier_40_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>] [<a href="#identifier_41_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_38_1519" class="footnote">United Nations Panel of Experts Confidential Report. [<a href="#identifier_42_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_39_1519" class="footnote">Under the contract Emaxon granted Miba loans totaling $5-million in 2003, and a further $10-million subsequently. In exchange, Emaxon gained rights to 88% of Miba’s production at a discount, formally, of 5%. [<a href="#identifier_43_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_40_1519" class="footnote"><a href="http://www.hfn.co.il/pages/lawyers/neemany.htm">Herzog, Fox and Neeman website</a>. [<a href="#identifier_44_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_41_1519" class="footnote"><a href="http://www.tevapharm.com/about/officers.asp">Tevapharm</a>. [<a href="#identifier_45_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_42_1519" class="footnote">See: keith harmon snow and Rick Hines, “Blood Diamond: Doublethink and Deception About those Worthless Little Rocks of Desire,” <em>Z Magazine</em>, June and July, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_46_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_43_1519" class="footnote">On Neeman and Hurvitz, see <a href="http://www.markstonecapital.com/markstone2_5.htm">Markstone Capital Group</a>; on Robert Rotberg, Maurice Templesman and the Harvard Belfer Center, see: keith harmon snow and Rick Hines, “Blood Diamond: Doublethink and Deception About those Worthless Little Rocks of Desire,” <em>Z Magazine</em>, June and July, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_47_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_44_1519" class="footnote">Criminal rackets known to the United Nations security were or some time illegally shipping uranium and cobalt out of Katanga by road to Zimbabwe and Tanzania (private interview, U.N. Official, 2006). [<a href="#identifier_48_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_45_1519" class="footnote">Israel and Africa: Assessing the Past, Envisioning the Future, The Africa Institute American Jewish Committee and The Harold Hartog School Tel Aviv University, May 2006. [<a href="#identifier_49_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_46_1519" class="footnote">Ron Ben-Yishai and Molly Camprier-Kritz, “The Murder Request Went to the Wrong Address,” <em>Yediot Aharonot</em> weekend supplement on 19 September 1999. [<a href="#identifier_50_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_47_1519" class="footnote">Nicole Gaouette, “<a href="http://www.boycottisraeligoods.org/modules6437.php">Inside Israel’s diamond trade: a family affair</a>,” <em>Christian Science Monitor</em>, 21 February 2002. [<a href="#identifier_51_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>] [<a href="#identifier_87_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_48_1519" class="footnote">For a discussion of the veracity of these facts and more on the “Russian Military Brotherhood” see: Central Africa Minerals and Arms Research Bulletin, Edition 2, International Peace Information Service, June 18, 2001. [<a href="#identifier_52_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_49_1519" class="footnote">Jimmy Johnson, “<a href="http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:pYAbqkMgTJ4J:www.icahdusa.org/2006/09/06/israelis-and-hezbollah-haven%E2%80%99t-always-been-enemies/+%22hezbollah%22+%22congo%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=15">Israelis and Hezbollah Haven’t Always Been Enemies</a>,” Appearing in Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions USA, 6 September 2006. [<a href="#identifier_53_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_50_1519" class="footnote"><a href="http://www.sierra-leone.org/panelreport-I.html">Report of the Panel of Experts Appointed Pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1306 (2000)</a>, Paragraph 19, in Relation to Sierra Leone, December 2000. [<a href="#identifier_54_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_51_1519" class="footnote"><a href="http://www.energem.com/energem_logistics_industrial.html">Energem website</a>; and also: keith harmon snow and Rick Hines, “Blood Diamond: Doublethink and Deception About those Worthless Little Rocks of Desire,” <em>Z Magazine</em>, June and July, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_55_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_52_1519" class="footnote"><a href="http://www.mineweb.net/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page37?oid=42572&sn=Detail">Mineweb</a>. [<a href="#identifier_56_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_53_1519" class="footnote">Charles Higham, <em>Trading With The Enemy: The Nazi-American Money Plot, 1933-1949</em>, Delacorte Press, 1983. [<a href="#identifier_57_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>] [<a href="#identifier_58_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_54_1519" class="footnote">Susan Mazur, “<a href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0604/S00323.htm">Deeper Into the Dillon-Euphronios Nexus with David N. Gibbs</a>,” <em>SCOOP</em>, April 26, 2006. [<a href="#identifier_59_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_55_1519" class="footnote">David Gibbs, <em>The Political Economy of Third World Intervention: Mines, Money and U.S. Policy in the Congo Crises</em>, University of Chicago Press, 1991. [<a href="#identifier_60_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_56_1519" class="footnote">Eric Onstad, “UPDATE 2-CAMEC shares soar after agrees Congo joint venture,” Reuters, Nov. 7, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_61_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_57_1519" class="footnote">Brenna Chigonga, “Zimbabwe: Meet Country’s Richest People,” <em>The Herald</em>, July 14, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_62_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_58_1519" class="footnote">See: Maurice Carney, “Congo’s Contract Review,” <em>Pambazuka News</em>, January 17, 2008. [<a href="#identifier_63_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_59_1519" class="footnote">Martin Creamer, “Funded NIKANOR presses on with $1,8bn copper mine, refinery,” <em>Mining Weekly</em>, September 21, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_64_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_60_1519" class="footnote">Julie Walker, “<a href="http://www.btimes.co.za/98/0517/comp/comp17.htm">Hersovs and Menells are in no hurry to yield control of Anglovaal</a>,” <em>Sunday Times</em>. [<a href="#identifier_65_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_61_1519" class="footnote">Evelyn Groenink, “<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=295457&area=/insight/insight__national/">Arms deal: Who got R1bn in pay-offs?</a>” <em>Mail & Guardian</em>, January 12, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_66_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_62_1519" class="footnote"><a href="http://www.tealmining.com/tp/brief.asp">Teal Exploration & Mining website</a>. [<a href="#identifier_67_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_63_1519" class="footnote">Press Release: <a href="http://www.energyandminerals.go.ug/Press%20Release_Oil%20PipeLine%20Extension.pdf">Kenya-Uganda Oil Products Pipeline, Kenya-Uganda Joint Co-coordinating Commission for Extension of Oil Pipeline</a>, August 17, 2005; see also: <a href="http://www.energem.com/energem_corporate_info.html">Energem website</a>. [<a href="#identifier_68_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_64_1519" class="footnote">François Misser and Olivier Vallée, “Des matières premières toujours convoitées. Les nouveaux acteurs du secteur minier Africain,” <em>Le Monde Diplomatique</em>, May 1998, p.24-25; also Wayne Madsen, <em>Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa, 1993-1999</em>, Mellon Press, 1999. [<a href="#identifier_69_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_65_1519" class="footnote"><a href="http://www.diamondfields.com/s/Management.asp">Diamond Fields International Management</a>. [<a href="#identifier_70_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_66_1519" class="footnote">‘Inculpations à la Belgolaise’, <em>Le Libre Belgique</em>, 4 June 2004. [<a href="#identifier_71_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_67_1519" class="footnote">Private interview, Kinshasa, DRC, April 2007. [<a href="#identifier_72_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_68_1519" class="footnote">Norm Dixon, “<a href="http://www.greenleft.org.au/2006/689/35790">Congo Massacre: Australian mining company’s managers indicted</a>,” <em>Green Left Review</em>, November 4, 2006. [<a href="#identifier_73_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_69_1519" class="footnote">His name is known, but he threatened to track down and break the author’s legs if he is revealed. [<a href="#identifier_74_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_70_1519" class="footnote">See: Barry Sergeant, “<a href="http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page1329?oid=84351&sn=Detail">NIKANOR’s Quandry: Meet Dan the Man, King of the Congo</a>,” <em>MoneyWeb</em>, 4 April 2007; “Congo Kinshasa: After the Election” <em>Africa Confidential</em>, Vol. 47, No. 23, 17 Nov. 2006; and United Nations Security Council Report to the Secretary General, S/2003/1027, 23 October 2003. [<a href="#identifier_75_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_71_1519" class="footnote"><a href="http://www.forrestgroup.com/uk/home.html">George Forrest International</a>. [<a href="#identifier_76_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_72_1519" class="footnote">Personal investigation, Ndola, Zambia copperbelt mines, 2000. [<a href="#identifier_77_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_73_1519" class="footnote"><a href="http://www.nikanor.co.uk/default.asp?page=15">Nikanor</a>. [<a href="#identifier_78_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_74_1519" class="footnote">These are: the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ); Federal Foreign Office; Federal Ministry of Finance; and Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor. Since 1998 the Supervisory Board Chairman has been State Secretary Erich Stather from the BMZ. [<a href="#identifier_79_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_75_1519" class="footnote">Karen Hayes and Richard Burge, Coltan Mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo: How tantalum-using industries can commit to the reconstruction of the DRC, Fauna & Flora Int’l, 2003. [<a href="#identifier_80_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_76_1519" class="footnote">NIKANOR website. [<a href="#identifier_81_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_77_1519" class="footnote"><a href="http://www.metallurg.com">Metallurg Group</a>. [<a href="#identifier_82_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_78_1519" class="footnote">See keith harmon snow, “Three Cheers for Eve Ensler? Propaganda, White Collar Crime, and Sexual Violence in Eastern Congo,” <em>Z Magazine</em> on-line (Z-Net), October 24, 2007. [<a href="#identifier_83_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_79_1519" class="footnote">“<a href="http://74.52.200.226/~sefarad/kadima/kadima10.pdf">Moshe Schnitzer: Un Legende s’en est Allee</a>,” <em>Kadima 010</em>, June-September 2007. [<a href="#identifier_85_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li><li id="footnote_80_1519" class="footnote">“<a href="http://www.diamond-key.com/diamonds-newsletter/">The Israel Diamond Exchange — Kiryat Moshe Schnitzer</a>”, <em>Diamond Key</em>, 2002. [<a href="#identifier_86_1519" class="footnote-link footnote-back-link">?</a>]</li></ol>
<p class="author">Keith Harmon Snow is a war correspondent, photographer and independent investigator, and a four time (2003, 2006, 2007, 2010) Project Censored award winner. He is also the 2009 Regent's Lecturer in Law & Society at the University of California Santa Barbara, recognized for over a decade of work, outside of academia, contesting official narratives on war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide while also working as a genocide investigator for the United Nations and other bodies. The first UCSB Regent's Lecturer, in 1960, was Aldous Huxley; other recipients include Margaret Mead, Peter Matthiessen and Meredith Monk. <a href="http://dissidentvoice.org/author/keithharmonsnow/">Read other articles by Keith</a>, or <a href="http://www.ConsciousBeingAlliance.com">visit Keith's website</a>.</p>
<p class="postmeta">This article was posted on Saturday, February 9th, 2008 at 5:01am and is filed under <a href="http://dissidentvoice.org/category/africa/" title="View all posts in Africa" rel="category tag">Africa</a>, <a href="http://dissidentvoice.org/category/capitalism/" title="View all posts in Capitalism" rel="category tag">Capitalism</a>, <a href="http://dissidentvoice.org/category/corporate-globalization/" title="View all posts in Corporate Globalization" rel="category tag">Corporate Globalization</a>, <a href="http://dissidentvoice.org/category/asia/middle-east/israelpalestine/" title="View all posts in Israel/Palestine" rel="category tag">Israel/Palestine</a>. </p>Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-16874562145771191152014-05-13T15:33:00.001-04:002014-05-13T15:33:48.354-04:00Conflict Minerals, Rebels and Child Soldiers in Congo<p>This documentary video exposes the link between the <a href='http://vehme.blogspot.com/2014/05/rwanda-arming-perpetrators-of-genocide.html' target=_blank'>Rwandan Genocide and the Congolese Holocaust.</a></p><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/kYqrflGpTRE" width="480"></iframe>Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-82120007573928578662014-05-13T15:03:00.001-04:002014-05-15T13:56:02.555-04:00Rwanda: Arming the perpetrators of the genocideThe Vehmgericht observe: <i>It is important to bear in mind that these genocidal war criminals were the see that spawned the genocide in Congo(Zaire). We see elsewhere the hand of <a href='http://vehme.blogspot.com/2014/05/dan-gertler-earns-billions-as-mine.html' target='_blank'>Israeli Zionism funding the Congolese military.</a> "Kabila was the commander of thousands of troops, and Gertler was trading $2 billion of diamonds annually, he said. One day, Kabila suggested that Gertler meet the president. Laurent needed money to fight his war and offered Gertler a monopoly on Congo’s diamond sales, he said. Kabila asked for $20 million in cash. Gertler agreed."</i>
<h2 class="pane-title">Document - Rwanda: Arming the perpetrators of the genocide</h2>
<h3><a href='http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR02/014/1995/en/156bbecb-eb4b-11dd-8c1f-275b8445d07d/afr020141995en.html' target='_blank'>Amnesty International June 1995 - AI Index: AFR 02/14/95</a></h3>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center">
RWANDA</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center">Arming
the perpetrators of the genocide</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">The
events which occurred in Rwanda between April and July 1994 were
crimes against humanity. The arms that were supplied to the
government at the time were used to carry out acts of genocide,
deliberate and arbitrary killings and other grave human rights
violations. There is now mounting evidence that similar types of
arms continue to reach the perpetrators of these crimes who are now
outside Rwanda in other countries.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Amnesty International is extremely concerned by persistent reports
of large supplies of weapons and ammunition reaching the
perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Rwanda, namely the
<i>Forces armées rwandaises</i> (FAR - the former Rwandese Armed
Forces) and the <i>Interahamwe</i> militia,<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote1anc" href="#sdfootnote1sym"><sup>1</sup></a>who
continue to commit human rights abuses. The supplies arrive via
Goma airport in eastern Zaire. In May 1995, these reports were
continuing. Some of the weapons and ammunition have been used by
these forces for cross-border incursions from Zaire into Rwanda
where political killings have taken place and have also been used
to intimidate Rwandese refugees to prevent them from returning.
Amnesty International is concerned that such abuses could
escalate.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">This
report describes the recent secret transfer of weapons and
ammunition from several countries, including Albania and Bulgaria
to the exiled Rwandese armed forces in eastern Zaire by traders in
the United Kingdom using aircraft registered in Ghana, Nigeria,
Ukraine and Russia.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote2anc" href="#sdfootnote2sym"><sup>2</sup></a>In Zaire and other
countries, commanders of these exiled forces who were responsible
for crimes against humanity and acts of genocide last year have
purchased or negotiated transit facilities for these military
supplies. They have been able to evade the February 1995 United
Nations (UN) Security Council call for suspected perpetrators of
genocide to be arrested and tried in cooperation with the
International Tribunal on Rwanda. The exiled army and militia have
been given bases to regroup and receive military training. This
training involves not only Hutu exiles from Rwanda but Hutu exiles
from Burundi as well. The exiled Rwandese armed forces have used
imported weapons and ammunition to commit further human rights
abuses, particularly political killings.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Amnesty International takes no position in principle on whether or
in what circumstances it would be legitimate to resort to violence
as a means to political ends. In the context of the situation of
the Rwandese armed groups now in Zaire, Amnesty International is
opposed to military transfers to forces which continue to be under
the command of those who were responsible for the genocide in
Rwanda. Amnesty International believes that these transfers are
likely to result in further human rights abuses.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Furthermore, Amnesty International does not take a position in
principle on punitive measures such as sanctions, embargoes or
boycotts. However, the organization does oppose military, security
or police transfers to governments and armed opposition groups
which can reasonably be assumed to contribute to human rights
abuses such as deliberate and arbitrary killings, "disappearances",
torture or ill-treatment. Such transfers may include equipment,
personnel, or training, as well as proven financial or logistical
support for such transfers. Governments should prohibit such
transfers from taking place unless it can be reasonably
demonstrated that such transfers will not contribute to such human
rights abuses.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Although the majority of the mass murders which began in Rwanda on
6 April 1994 were carried out using local farming implements such
as machetes and hoes, the killings were largely initiated or
supervised by members of the security forces who had more
sophisticated light weaponry. In most cases when the killers met
resistance, they first used grenades and then firearms, including
automatic rifles. After the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) took
power on 19 July 1994, most of the former FAR and the mainly Hutu
militia fled into Zaire taking with them weapons made in Belgium,
China, France, South Korea and South Africa. At first the Zairian
army in the Goma area confiscated many of these weapons, but later
the Rwandese forces who fled to eastern Zaire were allowed to
retain most of their weapons. Since then, some of the weapons
confiscated by the Zairian army are reported to have been sold back
to the exiled FAR commanders.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">Since
December 1994 many of the 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers of the former
FAR and the <i>Interahamwe</i> militia who were responsible for
crimes against humanity in 1994 have been regrouping in Zaire where
they are re-arming and undergoing military training under the
leadership of their former senior commanders. They are commanded
by, amongst others, the former head of the FAR and the Presidential
Guard who was in charge during the mass killings in 1994 and the
colonel responsible for arming the <i>Interahamwe</i> since their
creation in 1992.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">The
information in this report comes from various sources including
first hand accounts as well as unpublished and published
information which has been made available to and confirmed by
Amnesty International. The aim of this report is to urge
governments, particularly those named in this report, to
investigate the transfer emanating from, or in transit through,
their countries to Central Africa of weapons and ammunition which
are being used to carry out human rights abuses and which could
easily fuel further acts of mass killing.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Arms supplies via Goma airport</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Despite denials by Zairian government officials, there are numerous
reports that the commanders of the exiled Rwandese armed forces
have been involved in the procurement of large supplies of weapons
and ammunition from abroad via Goma airport. The Zairian
authorities and the international community have failed to take
effective action against this supply of arms, despite a UN arms
embargo which remains in force.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Allegations that between ten and twelve plane-loads of arms were
delivered from Bulgaria to Goma in Russian Ilyushin cargo aircraft
"over the past three months" were first made on 10 April 1995 by
Robin Cook, the United Kingdom (UK) Shadow Minister on Foreign
Affairs, who visited Goma on 24 March 1995. He claimed that a "UN
source" had confirmed this and he called for the arms deliveries to
be stopped in accordance with the UN arms embargo on Rwanda which
was established on 17 May 1994.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote3anc" href="#sdfootnote3sym"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Following this allegation, the Zairian Minister of Defence, Admiral
Mavua Mudina, and several top military leaders visited Goma as a
"commission of inquiry". On 15 April 1995, Admiral Mudina released
a statement denying reports of arms supplies to Goma and also
denying that groups of Hutu militia from Rwanda and Burundi were
training on Zairian soil.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
However, Amnesty International has confirmed that night flights
into Goma by large cargo aircraft continued into mid-May 1995,
usually on Tuesdays at around 11.00pm despite the fact that the
airport does not officially have night landing facilities and that
normal cargo flights occur only during the day. These secret night
landings are alleged to be large cargo planes carrying arms and
ammunition deliveries. Goma airport is the only airport in eastern
Zaire capable of receiving large cargo aircraft and is strictly
guarded by the Zairian security police, the <i>Service national
d'intelligence et de protection (</i>SNIP), National Intelligence
and Protection Service.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<span style='background-color:red;'>Witnesses at Goma airport saw three cargo planes with
English-speaking pilot crews who had flown in weapons on 4 April
1995, reportedly via Gabon.</span> Zairian soldiers at the airport claimed
that the large quantity of weapons were delivered for use by the
1,500 troops of the <i>Contingent zaïrois pour la sécurité dans les
camps</i> (CZSC), the Zairian Contingent for Security in the Camps,
who are responsible for policing the refugee camps run by the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). However,
this claim is disputed by witnesses who state that the CZSC were
given their personal weapons from the local Zairian garrison stocks
and did not need three large cargo plane-loads of weapons. The CZSC
is monitored by 27 international staff of the Civilian Security
Liaison Group. Apparently, the latter's mandate does not cover the
airport. Another sighting was reportedly made in Goma during April
1995 of a Liberian-registered cargo aircraft.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">A UK
television program due to be broadcast on 13 June 1995 describes a
series of arms flights to Goma for the exiled Hutu armed
forces<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote4anc" href="#sdfootnote4sym"><sup>4</sup></a>. During 1994, these flights were
made by Boeing 707 aircraft registered in Ghana and Nigeria but
between November 1994 and May 1995 the aircraft used were a
Ukranian-registered Antonov 124 as well as Ilyushin 76 cargo
aircraft registered in both the Ukraine and Russia. They have
delivered arms from Plovdiv and Burgas in Bulgaria to Goma for the
exiled Hutu armed forces, usually landing on Tuesday nights around
11.00pm. Fuel stops have been made in Cairo, Egypt, and in one
instance in Jedda, Saudi Arabia. One such delivery was reportedly
received in the presence of the former Prime Minister of Rwanda,
Jean Kambanda, and a former leader of the <i>Interahamwe</i>,
Jean-Baptiste Gatete, who are now in exile.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">Arms
caches are said to have been established along the Zaire/Rwanda
border between 5 and 7 km inside Zaire. One such cache in the
<i>Parc National des Volcans</i> near the border with north west
Rwanda was seen to contain, among other things, French M60 medium
machine guns, AK47 assault rifles, fragmentation grenades in boxes
with US markings and South African 7.62 ammunition. The US grenades
are said to have been obtained by exchanging or buying weapons from
the Angolan armed opposition group, the <i>Uniâo Nacional para a
Independência Total de Angola</i> (UNITA), the National Union for
the Total Independence of Angola, which has operated from Zaire and
which is also subject to a UN arms embargo.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Reports of secret arms flights to the exiled former FAR and
<i>Interahamwe</i> via Goma airport date back to July 1994. In
November 1994, four pilots employed by a UK company admitted
publicly to having flown four large charter plane-loads of small
arms, mainly hand grenades, rifles and ammunition of Chinese and
Russian origin, from Israel and Albania to Goma during April
1994<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote5anc" href="#sdfootnote5sym"><sup>5</sup></a>. The supplies are said to have
included Israeli-made weaponry such as Uzi sub-machine guns, as
well as weapons such as grenades captured by the Israeli army from
the Egyptian army in 1973 and Chinese ammunition obtained through
Tirana. One pilot told Amnesty International that he was "tricked"
into flying 36.5 tonnes of arms and ammunition into Goma airport at
night, thinking it was a delivery to the Zairian government, but
said it was in fact for the exiled Rwandese army. <span style='background-color:red;'>A UK company
organised the flights, one from Tel Aviv and other flights from
Tirana, the Albanian capital, where Israeli and Albanian officials
are alleged to have supplied the arms and ammunition.</span> A
Nigerian-registered-and-owned aircraft was reported to have been
used, as well as a Ghanaian-registered Boeing 707 based in the
United Kingdom.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">Since
the imposition of the UN arms embargo in May 1994, governments of
the major arms suppliers to the previous government of Rwanda,
notably the governments of France and South Africa, have stated
that they no longer authorize arms sales to Rwanda..The French
authorities were reported in February 1995 to be investigating a
French-registered company which allegedly sold Kalashnikov rifles
illegally to Rwanda using a Kenya-based cargo company. However,
allegations of French and South African military collaboration with
the exiled Hutu armed forces have continued.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote6anc" href="#sdfootnote6sym"><sup>6</sup></a></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Amnesty International has received reports that local Zairian
soldiers have sold arms to the former FAR commanders which they had
confiscated in July 1994 from retreating FAR soldiers. In April
1995, Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, the former Rwandese Ministry of
Defence official widely alleged to have organized the supply of
weapons and coordinated activities of the <i>Interahamwe</i>
leading up to and during the genocide, was reported to be
second-in-command of the exiled forces and based in the Chimanga
camp near the Zaire border with south west Rwanda. In March 1995,
Colonel Bagosora and a Zairian commander at Katindo were questioned
by the Zairian gendarmerie about arms trafficking. The Zairian
commander was accused of selling arms confiscated from the FAR last
July. A local businessman said that the deals were becoming
increasingly open and that sales had included 1,500 grenades and at
least 30 rifles. Another witness claims that at least six
multiple-barrel light artillery batteries were confiscated from the
FAR last July by the Zairian garrison in Goma, but there were only
two remaining by May 1995, the rest having been sold back to the
former FAR.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<b>Political</b> <b>killings and death threats against
refugees</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">Since
February 1995, former <i>Interahamwe</i> militiamen and FAR
soldiers have been using their accumulated stocks of weapons and
ammunition to mount cross-border raids which have included
deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians. They have also used
their military strength to create a climate of intimidation
including death threats in many of the refugee camps to persuade
Rwandese refugees not to return to their homes in Rwanda and to
force young men to join the militia and the regrouped FAR.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">During
April 1995, up to 30 armed groups of Hutu were situated along
eastern Zaire's border with Rwanda. Militia crossed the border into
Rwanda at night on an almost daily basis, as has been observed at
the Kamanyola and Kibumba camps. Cross-border raids have also
increased in the south west of Rwanda and the north west of
Burundi. One aim of these incursions has been to target political
opponents, although the raids are also linked to cattle rustling
and attacks on infrastructure and military targets. The Head of the
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights office in Rwanda stated
publicly on 14 April 1995 that:</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
"Dozens of people have been killed in these attacks from across the
border since the end of January...It was reported yesterday that
there was another incursion that resulted in casualties...The
motivations for the attacks vary...[and include] killing as a
punishment of people who have returned to Rwanda without permission
of the refugee camp authorities...[and] killing of people who
appear to be cooperating with the Rwandese government, for example,
those who have handed over their weapons or have given information
about who took part in the genocide..."</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">Dr
Anatole Bucyendore, a Hutu regional medical officer and head of the
AIDS prevention program in Rwanda, was shot dead and his
two-year-old child was repeatedly stabbed to death in Gisenyi,
Rwanda on 25 February 1995. His wife and other child were severely
wounded in the attack. Dr Bucyendore had fled to Goma from Rwanda
in 1994. While in Goma he was threatened on various occasions that
if he returned to Rwanda he and his family would be killed by the
<i>Interahamwe</i>. Nevertheless, Dr Bucyendore decided to return
to Gisenyi to work at the hospital there. Before his assassination,
he had again received death threats, reportedly also from unnamed
persons in Goma.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">The UN
Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) reported on 6 March 1995
that four insurgents captured in Kigali believed to be members of
the <i>Interahamwe</i> and former army had sackloads of landmines
and grenades which the insurgents said were to be used to attack
civilian targets in Kigali, including the central market place, as
part of a concerted destabilisation campaign. They said they came
from Mugunga camp near Goma. Agents of the former government used
landmines and other explosives extensively to terrorise the
civilian population during 1993 and early 1994, particularly in
Kigali. On 1 April 1995 the mayor (<i>Bourgmestere</i>) of Gishoma
was assassinated by insurgents surrounding his house with a
landmine trap using an Italian-designed TS-50 anti-personnel mine
(which are manufactured in Italy as well as Egypt and Singapore).
UNAMIR soldiers said that the trap could only have been placed by
persons with specialist knowledge.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians during cross border
raids have been coupled with increased intimidation in the refugee
camps in eastern Zaire. On 31 March 1995, a refugee who returned to
Rwanda from Kibumba camp in eastern Zaire told UNHCR officials in
Gisenyi that <i>Interahamwe</i> militia were issuing death threats
as part of a pattern of intimidation to young men who were
reluctant to join the militia or who wanted to return to Rwanda.
The CZSC contingent of Zairian troops is said to enjoy some
cooperation from camp leaders but is frustrated in its attempts to
obtain the cooperation of refugees when investigating such
incidents.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">There
are various reasons given by UNHCR officials for why few Rwandese
refugees have been willing to return to their homes in Rwanda. One
of them is intimidation by militia and supporters of the former
government. Another is the persistent rumours of reprisal attacks
by the RPA. Furthermore, there are genuine reports of arbitrary
detentions and killings by the RPA in Rwanda. According to an
international commission of inquiry, both RPA soldiers and armed
Hutu militia were responsible on 22 April 1995 for the deliberate
and arbitrary killing of internally displaced persons at the Kibeho
camp in south west Rwanda.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">It is
not only Rwandese exiles who have received arms and military
training in eastern Zaire. Hutu refugees from Burundi are reported
to have undergone military training with their exiled Rwandese
counterparts in camps near Uvira in eastern Zaire where about
50,000 Hutu refugees fled from Burundi. They have also received
weapons which match the supplies reported to have arrived at Goma -
Chinese AKM assault rifles and landmines, Russian RPG rockets - as
well as weapons previously supplied to Burundi or Rwanda - German
G3 rifles and Belgian FAL guns. Russian rockets said to have been
captured from insurgents from eastern Zaire had Arabic characters
written on them and were called "a present from Cairo" by a Burundi
military officer.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Danger of the present situation</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">The
proliferation of arms in the region, and particularly the supplies
to those who organized mass killings in Rwanda during 1994, is
recognized by governments and inter-governmental organizations, as
well as non-governmental organizations working in the region, as
contributing significantly to human rights abuses and a general
destabilisation of the region. The UN Security Council, the
Organization of African Unity and the European Parliament have all
expressed grave concern about continued arms flows to the region
and proposed ways of halting the flow.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">In
addition to the 17 May 1994 UN arms embargo on Rwanda, on 29 March
1995 the UN Security Council called on all states "in particular
neighbouring states, to refrain from supplying or allowing the
transit of arms and to deny sanctuary and any other assistance to
those extremist elements which seek to destabilise the situation in
Burundi." An arms embargo was also placed on Zaire by the European
Union in 1993. In a report on 20 April 1995, the Organization of
African Unity urged all countries to stem the illegal flow of arms
to the region. On 18 May 1995 the governments of Zaire and Burundi
expressed their joint concern about "the deterioration in security
on their common border stemming from the proliferation of weapons
in the sub-region." Amnesty International takes no position on arms
embargoes as such; it is concerned that some governments have
continued to allow arms to reach known human rights violators who
are likely to use them to commit further abuses.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">In
February 1994, before the start of the genocide in Rwanda, Amnesty
International had already expressed concern that arms had been
transferred from the former Rwandese government authorities and the
FAR to Hutu militia who deliberately killed over 2,000 unarmed
civilians, most of them Tutsi. By May 1994, Amnesty International
reported that the FAR was helping to coordinate the killings, and
that commanders of the FAR had supplied military weapons to both
the <i>Interahamwe</i> and <i>Impuzamugambi</i> militia for this
purpose, while the government and military authorities were
involved at the highest level in orchestrating and directing the
murder campaign. The Presidential Guard was reported to have been
in charge of military training of the <i>Interahamwe</i> and
<i>Impuzamugambi</i>.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">Now,
one year after the mass killings which claimed over half a million
lives in Rwanda, the supply of arms and ammunition through Goma in
eastern Zaire to those who have been responsible for crimes against
humanity requires urgent action by the international community.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Bringing the perpetrators to justice</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Leaders of the former FAR, the Presidential Guard and the
<i>Interahamwe</i> militia include many of those who planned and
organized the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. If arms supplies continue
to reach the forces under their command, there is a danger that
they may continue to commit large scale human rights abuses. Many
of those now in exile in Zaire and other countries are not only
allowed by governments to evade justice, but are also reported to
be helping the re-arming and re-training of the same forces in
exile<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote7anc" href="#sdfootnote7sym"><sup>7</sup></a>. One way of ensuring that this
does not continue is for the perpetrators of the genocide to be
brought to justice.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Amnesty International has repeatedly called on governments to
provide legal, financial and human resources to help the
International Tribunal for Rwanda, set up by the UN Security
Council on 8 November 1994 to try people responsible for genocide,
crimes against humanity and violations of humanitarian law
committed in Rwanda between 1 January and 31 December 1994.
According to UN Security Council Resolution 978 of 27 February
1995, all states should arrest and bring to justice in accordance
with international standards "persons found within their territory
against whom there is sufficient evidence that they were
responsible" for crimes against humanity in Rwanda and, in doing
so, states should cooperate with the International Tribunal.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Despite this international obligation, many of the former Rwandese
government leaders live in Zaire and Kenya and move freely to the
refugee and military camps and to other African countries such as
Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon, as well as to countries in
Europe. One report claimed that "While Zaire and Tanzania are the
centres of military activity, ... many on the UN's list of 400
people accused of genocide are able to meet, raise funds and travel
between Kenya and the camps [in Zaire and Tanzania] without
hindrance."<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote8anc" href="#sdfootnote8sym"><sup>8</sup></a>These officials are reported to
include some of the Hutu extremist leaders whose group is known as
<i>Akazu</i> and who are said to finance the exiled militia, as
well as founders of <i>Radio-television des Mille Collines</i>, a
radio station which regularly broadcast messages to incite Hutu
militia to commit acts of genocide. A former Rwandese diplomat who
is suspected of playing a key role in securing South African arms
for the FAR and <i>Interahamwe</i> militia, is reported to reside
in South Africa.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">While
some of the top exiled commanders of the FAR have returned to
Rwanda, most are reported to have left their hotel accommodation
and gone to live at military bases in Zaire. Many are said to
reside at the Lac Vert "chiefs of staff" camp south west of Mugungu
in eastern Zaire under the leadership of Major General Augustin
Bizimungu, head of the former FAR and the Presidential Guard during
the 1994 genocide. These commanders have been free to travel and to
obtain and distribute military supplies at bases without
interference from host governments. They have organized military
training of the former members of the FAR at military bases near
Mugunga south of Goma and Panzi near Bukavu where the bulk of the
defeated army was housed until late November and December 1994, as
well as a base near Chimanga, another base between the volcanic
hills near the <i>Parc National des Volcans</i> on the border with
north-west Rwanda, and in camps on the Island of Idjwi in Lake
Kivu. The border areas with Rwanda near these camps are sites of
cross-border insurgency during which human rights abuses have been
carried out. According to ex-FAR soldiers who have deserted, in
late 1994 several hundred ex-FAR troops and commanders were also
moved to another secret camp in the Central African Republic for
special training.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote9anc" href="#sdfootnote9sym"><sup>9</sup></a></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Commanders have also been allowed to organize the supply of weapons
to members of the former <i>Interahamwe</i>, many of whom reside in
the refugee camps in eastern Zaire. These refugee camps run from
Katale, Kahinda and Kibumba in the north Kivu region to Kamanyola,
Kanganiro, Luvungi, Lubarika and Luberizi near Uvira in the south
Kivu region closer to the border with Burundi. Hutu militia living
in these camps are reported to have declined in number as they are
recruited into the ex-FAR, but those who remain try to create a
climate of fear in the refugee camps. Up to one third of the Hutu
refugees in camps near Bukavu and Uvira are originally from Burundi
and fled to Rwanda after the massacres in Burundi during November
1993.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">On 31
May 1995, an international warrant for the arrest of a former
leader of the <i>Interahamwe</i>, Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, was
issued from Belgium. Colonel Bagosora was reported in November 1994
to have said that he wished to "wage a war that will be long and
full of dead people until the minority Tutsi are
finished".<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote10anc" href="#sdfootnote10sym"><sup>10</sup></a>In March 1995 he said that a
destabilisation insurgency campaign and a small scale incursion
into Rwanda was being planned for mid-July (19 July 1995 will be
the first anniversary of the RPF victory) after which recognition
of the need for negotiations around the August 1993 Arusha Peace
Accords between the former and present government of Rwanda will be
advanced by a "major European power".</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">Many
of the former FAR commanders recognize that the Rwandese government
will not countenance their free return to Rwanda and so have
curtailed public threats of human rights violations and expressed
support for international negotiations which they hope would
include a blanket amnesty for previous crimes against humanity.
Major General Bizimungu nevertheless stated publicly in March 1995
that "The [former] Rwandese army has not lost the war" and one of
his senior commanders stated on 4 March that the ex-FAR would "kill
all Tutsi who prevent us from returning". Militia commanders in
eastern Zaire from Rwanda and Burundi stated that "our struggle is
one and the same".<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote11anc" href="#sdfootnote11sym"><sup>11</sup></a>On 4 April 1995, Major
General Bizimungu, and 13 other senior ex-FAR commanders released a
signed Declaration of Support for the <i>Rassemblement pour le
retour et la démocratie au Rwanda</i> (RDR), Rally for Return and
Democracy in Rwanda. The RDR claims to be a new political entity
excluding the old "government in exile". It is seeking a negotiated
return of all exiled Rwandese and is said to favour a blanket
amnesty for all crimes committed in the ethnic conflict.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Recommendations</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Amnesty International takes no position on punitive measures such
as sanctions, embargoes or boycotts, but is opposed as a matter of
principle to military, security or police transfers to governments
and armed opposition groups that can reasonably be assumed to
contribute to human rights abuses such as deliberate and arbitrary
killings, "disappearances", torture or ill-treatment. Such
transfers may include equipment, personnel, or training, as well as
proven financial or logistical support for such transfers.
Governments should prohibit such transfers from taking place unless
it can be reasonably demonstrated that such transfers will not
contribute to such human rights abuses.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
Amnesty International does not take a position in principle on
whether or in what circumstances it would be legitimate to resort
to violence as a means to political ends. In the context of the
situation of the exiled Rwandese now in Zaire, Amnesty
International is opposed to military transfers to forces which
continue to be under the command of those who were responsible for
the genocide in Rwanda. Amnesty International believes that such
transfers are likely to result in further human rights abuses.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
1. Amnesty International calls on all states named in this report
to:</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<b>a.</b>carry out thorough investigations into reports that the
former armed forces and militia of Rwanda now in Zaire, many of
whom led or participated in crimes against humanity during 1994,
have obtained - and may still be obtaining - weapons or ammunition
emanating from or in transit through their countries;</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<b>b.</b> act immediately to prevent the transfer of any weapons,
ammunition or military training to the former armed forces and
militia of Rwanda which are likely to contribute to further human
rights abuses such as deliberate and arbitrary killings.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
2. Amnesty International calls on the government of Zaire to:</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<b>a.</b> allow the independent international monitoring of all
cargo landing in Goma or any other airport in Zaire which may
contain weapons or ammunition that are likely to be used by the
former FAR or the Rwandese militia to carry out human rights
abuses.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
3. Amnesty International calls on all individual governments and
inter-governmental organizations, including the United Nations and
the Organization of African Unity, to take immediate practical
steps to:</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<b>a.</b> ensure that suspected perpetrators of crimes against
humanity are brought to justice in accordance with UN Security
Council Resolution 978 of 27 February 1995; adopt legislation to
enable authorities to cooperate with the International Tribunal on
Rwanda; provide resources, as well as any relevant information on
human rights violations, to the International Tribunal, and
practical support to help rebuild the judiciary in Rwanda to ensure
fair trials which exclude the death penalty;</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<b>b.</b> ensure that any military transfers to the armed forces of
Rwanda and Burundi are not used to commit human rights violations
such as deliberate and arbitrary killings and are not distributed
to militia likely to commit such violations;</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<b>c</b>.provide better support for adequate civil policing in both
Rwanda and Burundi which conforms to international standards,
including standards of impartiality to help protect the human
rights of all sectors of the population, whether Hutu or Tutsi.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
<br></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify">
**************************</p>
<div id="sdfootnote1">
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0.71cm; margin-right: 0.71cm; text-align: left">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" name="sdfootnote1sym" href="#sdfootnote1anc">1</a>In 1992, the ruling party of the former
president of Rwanda, <i>the Mouvement républicain national pour la
démocratie et le développement</i> (MRND), National Republican
Movement for Democracy and Development, created a private Hutu
militia known as the <i>Interahamwe</i> ("Those who attack
together") which initiated a pattern of deliberate and arbitrary
killings of Tutsi civilians and moderate Hutu spokepersons. Another
allied private militia known as the <i>Impazumagambi</i> ("Those
who have the same goal") was created by the MRND's coalition
partner, the <i>Coalition pour la défense de la république</i>
(CDR), Coalition for the Defence of the Republic. These militia and
their commanders, backed by their counterparts in the FAR and
Presidential Guard, planned and perpetrated the mass killings in
Rwanda which began on 6 April 1994 in which over half a million
people were killed in the space of three months.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote2">
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0.71cm; margin-right: 0.71cm; text-align: left">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" name="sdfootnote2sym" href="#sdfootnote2anc">2</a>This report does not address the many
critical human rights issues facing Rwanda at present which are
detailed in other reports by Amnesty International in 1994 and
1995.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote3">
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0.71cm; margin-right: 0.71cm; text-align: left">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" name="sdfootnote3sym" href="#sdfootnote3anc">3</a>UN Security Council Resolution 918 of 17 May
1994 established a Committee to gather information to help enforce
the arms embargo. UN officials have said that in effect the embargo
applies to all Rwandese nationals.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote4">
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0.71cm; margin-right: 0.71cm; text-align: left">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" name="sdfootnote4sym" href="#sdfootnote4anc">4</a>The Cook Report, Carlton Television, United
Kingdom.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote5">
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0.71cm; margin-right: 0.71cm; text-align: left">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" name="sdfootnote5sym" href="#sdfootnote5anc">5</a>The Big Story, Twenty-Twenty Television,
United Kingdom, 17 November 1994</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote6">
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0.71cm; margin-right: 0.71cm; text-align: left">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" name="sdfootnote6sym" href="#sdfootnote6anc">6</a> Human Rights Watch Arms Project,
"Rwanda/Zaire: rearming with Impunity", Washington, May 1995.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote7">
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0.71cm; margin-right: 0.71cm; text-align: left">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" name="sdfootnote7sym" href="#sdfootnote7anc">7</a>For example, in April 1995, a meeting was
filmed by a CNN television team in a Nairobi motel between an
alleged arms trafficker from overseas and persons claiming to be
the exiled Minister of Foreign Affairs of Rwanda, the exiled
Minister of Finance of Rwanda, and a Lieutenant Colonel of the
ex-FAR. The Rwandese threatened the camera crew and refused to
answer questions about the meeting.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote8">
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0.71cm; margin-right: 0.71cm; text-align: left">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" name="sdfootnote8sym" href="#sdfootnote8anc">8</a>The Guardian (UK), 19 April 1995</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote9">
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0.71cm; margin-right: 0.71cm; text-align: left">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" name="sdfootnote9sym" href="#sdfootnote9anc">9</a>Interviewed for the Cook Report, <i>op
cit</i></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote10">
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0.71cm; margin-right: 0.71cm; text-align: left">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" name="sdfootnote10sym" href="#sdfootnote10anc">10</a>Human Rights Watch, <i>op cit</i></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote11">
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0.71cm; margin-right: 0.71cm; text-align: left">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" name="sdfootnote11sym" href="#sdfootnote11anc">11</a>BBC Newsnight, 15 March 1995</p>
</div>
<div type="FOOTER">
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left">
Amnesty International June 1995AI Index: AFR 02/14/95</p>
</div>Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-23364372021906052092014-05-12T22:03:00.001-04:002014-05-12T22:03:51.407-04:00Behind the Scenes: Warlords’ Deadly Battle in Congo
<p align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="4"><a href='http://www.africafederation.net/Behind_Scenes.htm'>Behind the Scenes: Warlords’
Deadly Battle in Congo</a></font></p>
<p align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><strong>By Keith Harmon Snow*<br>
Toward Freedom <br>
August 9, 2007 </strong></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">The "four-day war" that rocked Kinshasa,
the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo from March 22-26, 2007
was called a "cleaning" by insiders. Everyone knew it was going
to happen, the United Nations Observers Mission in Congo (MONUC) did nothing
to stop it and the death count was significantly under-reported. The realities
behind the scenes remain cloaked by the international media and world institutions,
and the big losers, yet again, are the Congolese people. This is the inside
story. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">The Democratic Republic of Congo is today both
the richest and poorest country in the world. First robbed of its rubber and
ivory (1890-1908) by Belgium’s King Leopold—whose enterprise of
slavery claimed ten million Congolese lives but was masked by a humanitarian
"anti-slavery" propaganda campaign—the plunder of the Congo
was advanced by Belgian colonial interests from 1908 to "independence"
on June 30, 1960. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Following a coup d’etat orchestrated
in part by Israeli American Maurice Tempelsman and his corporate allies, the
country emerged from the first Congo crises (1960-1967) with U.S.-backed Colonel
Joseph Mobutu installed as President.(1) Mobutu and his corporate partners
plundered Congo from 1965 to 1996, and many of the same "untouchables"
of the Mobutu era—Maurice Tempelsman, Etienne Davignon, George Forrest,
the Blattners—are plundering Congo today.(2) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">The Pentagon backed the overthrow of Mobutu
in 1996-1997. This invasion was led by Rwanda and Uganda, backed by the U.S.,
Canada, U.K., Belgium and Israel. Washington’s support of the overthrow
had to do with corporate interests in the region. International businesses
wanted to reorganize the power structure in the region to better exploit the
Congo's riches and displace deeply entrenched competitors. By July 1996, Mobutu
was negotiating with George H.W. Bush over Barrick Gold interests in Zaire's
Kilo Moto goldfields and for Adolph Lundin interests in copper/cobalt in Katanga.
The invasion of Zaire swung into action after Paul Kagame visited the Pentagon
in August 1996.(3) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Congolese "rebel" warlords like Jean-Pierre
Bemba, Azarias Ruberwa, Arthur Zahidi Ngoma, and Mbusa Nyamwisi fought against
the seat of power in Kinshasa held by Laurent Kabila (1998-2001) and then
Joseph Kabila, his purported son. Multinational corporations, criminal networks
and regional governments backed "rebel" and "government"
forces—often both—and all sides committed massive atrocities.
Billions of dollars in plantation commodities, minerals and timber exited
Congo during the war were shipped to Western markets. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">As the Congo "peace process" unfolded,
Jean-Pierre Bemba became one of four warlords rewarded with a vice-presidency
in DRC’s transitional government (2003-2006); sworn in on July 17, 2003,
he held the Finance and Economic portfolio. Bemba was one of five significant
challengers to the transitional president, Joseph Kabila, in the 2006 elections,
which fielded 33 presidential candidates. Bemba believes himself Congo’s
savior and rightful leader, and he provoked hostilities, riots and parliamentary
chaos throughout the transition, elections and post-elections periods. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Behind the machinations of power in Congo lie
hundreds of billions of dollars to be made in exploiting Congo’s riches
in the next decade alone. From 1996-2007, despite multiple peace accords,
some six to ten million people died in Congo’s wars. </font></p>
<p align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><strong>THE BIG MAN’S
WAR</strong></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">On March 22, 2007 war broke out in Kinshasa,
the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). For the next four
days Congolese government troops—Forces Armees Democratic Republic of
Congo (FARDC)—backing newly elected President Joseph Kabila fought with
"rebel" soldiers fighting for former opposition leader and failed
Presidential candidate Jean Pierre Bemba. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Eyewitnesses describe how the war erupted outside
the residence of Jean-Pierre Bemba, but soldiers fought it out straight down
the Boulevard 30 Juin—named for Congo’s "independence"
day—from one end of the city to another, to the central train station,
and down the tracks to the Ndolo airport, where a major battle occurred. There
was also a battle in Maluku, 80 kilometers from the city center. The war raged
from March 22 to 24 and simmered from March 25 to 27; sections of Kinshasa
remained no-go insecurity zones into April. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Troops with the United Nations Observers Mission
in Congo (MONUC) spent the day of March 22 evacuating MONUC civilians and
other foreigners to safe sites, but refused to evacuate Congolese nationals,
even the family members of Westerners. There are no reports of MONUC troops
taking action to protect Congolese lives. Banks were robbed, the embassies
of Spain, Greece, Nigeria and Zimbabwe were allegedly attacked, and bullets
sprayed houses, shops and businesses. Civilians were shot all over the place.
The Bemba faction armed children and sent them out to loot and pillage, a
tactic used by Bemba’s Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) throughout
the rebellion (1998-2003), and by Rwandan and Ugandan invaders from the start
(1996). </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">The Congolese people describe these events
as the "Kinshasa War." While some 1000 people are reportedly dying
every day in eastern Congo, currently, due to war-related factors, the people
of Kinshasa had come to believe the war in Congo was mostly over. They were
wrong. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">"We have been abandoned," said Georges,
a Congolese man who survived the fighting.(4) Georges is afraid to give his
name, seeing that people are being silenced. "They [foreigners] do not
want to help Congolese people. Officials are saying 600 people killed, but
this is not the truth. Bemba put kidogo on the streets—children—and
he put guns in their hands.(5) Kabila’s soldiers killed them and they
killed too many people who were not soldiers." </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Testimonies herein were taken in Kinshasa in
late March and April 2007. All sources are unnamed either to protect them
from military and intelligence networks sowing terror in Kinshasa today, or
to respect their career security with the U.N. or humanitarian sector, or
to protect this author from threatened retaliation. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">"There’s been deaths everywhere,"
said a surviving businessman working with DRC officials, on April 5. "Many
neighborhoods are finding that relatives have disappeared or died. At least
six trucks went by filled with bodies… and there was a MONUC truck assisting
with logistics. Small children were killed and their parents don’t even
know where they went. Hundreds and hundreds of innocent people who had nothing
to do with it are dead. They say 550 people killed? It’s more than 2000.
Everything has been blamed on Bemba but they forget that Kabila’s soldiers
surrounded Bemba’s house. Both Kabila and Bemba are killers." </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">"President Kabila has not made any speeches
of mourning for all the Congolese people who have died," said another
eyewitness on April 5. "It’s nothing to them. Kabila and Prime
Minster Gizenga have said nothing. They’re back to business as if nothing
happened. And MONUC did nothing, they ran away, they are not peacekeepers.
Families all over Kinshasa are realizing today that their sons or mothers
or fathers or brothers are not coming home, ever. People are feeling very
frightened, because no one can tell what they saw, no can say about the killing,
or they will be killed too." </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">"It’s safe to say that casualties
exceed 100," said MONUC spokesman Kemal Saiki on April 4. "We knew
the situation was tense. We knew that there was a build-up of arms in the
city. But to say that this was predicted… The issue is not the exact
body count, but rather that violence was used by all sides. And the Congolese
don’t need enticement from outside forces to take up arms and commit
violence. And who would that benefit anyways?"(6) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Reports out of Kinshasa in July 2007 indicate
that killings, assassinations, tortures and detention without charge under
inhuman conditions are ongoing as Kabila consolidates power in Congo. Early
July saw two young sex workers murdered in Kinshasa and 12 people (seven street
kids under 18) locked for weeks in "Building B2" by police for unspecified
purposes. Like the March events and the greater plunder of Congo—human
rights atrocities are ignored, downplayed or whitewashed by the international
press. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">"Not impressed by your conspiracy theory
that the international media are hiding anything related to March events in
Kinshasa," says one faithful MONUC official. "I know all the major
international journos [journalists] here, and I can vouch for their bravery
and enormous efforts they made to tell the world what was going on during
this time. They risked their lives to take trips around town whilst the fighting
was going on and defied (very real) fear related to falling of mortars on
their apartments to file incessantly during those days. They also trudged
around morgues and hospitals for days after trying to piece together a realistic
death toll. But in the end, if the public isn't interested in yet another
story of ‘stupid Africans slaughtering one another,’ then those
stories will not make the headlines. Journos write for an audience, and if
there is no audience, then their voice will not be heard."(7) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Reportage about Congo amounts to a massive
deception, pitifully irrelevant, but for its efficacy in inculcating racist
beliefs and manipulative mythologies, and it is not because Westerners ‘are
tired of yet another story about stupid Africans slaughtering each other’
or because ‘there is no audience’ who cares enough to listen.
‘Journos" in Africa write for the perks of international travel,
adventure, the prestige of appearing in print or broadcast, for career advancement,
and for a paycheck. The ‘bravery’ and ‘sacrifice’
are self-perpetuating fictions of privilege and whiteness, and reportage is
sanitized by the ‘journos’ internal censors and by their editors—gatekeepers
of information—of media corporations that profit from predatory capitalism,
its misery industries, and the permanent exploitation of people of color.
</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Civil servants working in Kinshasa believe
that the death toll easily exceeded 2000 people, and quite likely many more
than that. There are many eyewitnesses, but they can see the iron hand of
repression at work around them in Kinshasa today, and they are terrified.
</font></p>
<p align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><strong>THE PAGE IS TURNED</strong></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">It was expected that Joseph Kabila would win
the presidential elections in the first round given election constraints imposed
by the Kabila government and the massive funding from powerful foreign interests
behind Kabila. The July 30, 2006 presidential vote reportedly recorded some
16.9 million votes, with Kabila winning 45 percent and Bemba 20 percent. What
was not foreseen is that other presidential candidates would hold enough power
to throw their votes to Bemba and shift the outcome in Bemba’s favor.
The elections were severely manipulated in favor of money and power. Many
people were paid off, many positions effectively purchased. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">On August 20, 2006 elections results were announced
in DRC and the troops loyal to Bemba fought for several days with Kabila’s
forces. DRC's war-battered people denounced the fighting between the candidates
and their supporters, saying they wanted an end to armed struggle, but the
public was powerless in the face of the warlords. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Bemba won Kinshasa. When he didn’t win
in other parts of the country he accused Kabila and his cronies of electoral
fraud. The accusations were true, but Bemba was also involved in dirty electioneering.
Other candidates seen as hopeful possibilities—like Oscar Kashala, a
Congolese doctor with bright ideas and fresh energy who hailed from Harvard
University—were blocked or sidelined. Kashala was arrested, along with
32 foreigners, and charged with a coup plot in May 2006, and the Kashala campaign
was crippled, and that was the end of that.(8) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">"There’s no leadership in this country.
It’s not Bemba, and it’s not Kabila," Oscar Kashala said
privately, ten days after the July 2006 elections. "I was prevented from
campaigning. We came to this country with a logistical and strategic plan
to run a campaign. On May 15 we were ready, we had our airplanes all lined
up, but they arrested everyone. All our phones were being tapped. They even
went to the U.S. to offer our financial backers options to get involved in
the mining. Kabila’s pressure worked: some supporters were worried.
Then they started the mercenary stories in the press. They wanted to hurt
me, and they did. But we are the only group who has not cheated in these elections.
We are the only group who has no guns. We have not lied to the people."(9)
</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Other candidates hailed from the Mobutu regime,
men like Vincent de Paul Lunda Bululu, a Brussels educated former Special
Adviser to President Mobutu and Bemba supporter, and Christophe Mbozo N'Kodia
Puanga, a Minister of Energy and Mines under Mobutu. Both were tied throughout
the war with the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), backed and controlled
by Rwanda. Candidate Pierre Pay-Pay was Minister of Economy and Trade under
Mobutu and then Governor of the Central Bank—Bank du Zaire—from
1985-1991, a period of profound graft and corruption backed by western enterprises,
amidst a climate of terror against the people of Congo.(10) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">The involvement of Mobutu’s cronies in
privatizing natural resources and enslaving the labor pool, to profit foreign
capital involved then as now, was hidden by the Western press. International
reporters who covered Zaire in the 1980’s and 1990’s perpetuated
the invisibility of the Mobutu enterprise and its western capitalist partners.(11)
</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">The Kabila government required a $50,000 fee
from presidential candidates in the 2006 elections. The "international
community" spent more than $500 million dollars on the elections, setting
up 50,000 polling stations—and arming security forces with state-of-the-art
Robocop equipment—all across the country. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">A run-off ensued in late October 2006 after
Kabila failed to get the required 50 percent of votes. Kabila had the support
of Nzanga Mobutu, son of the late dictator, but former Mobutuists sided with
both candidates based on the political alliances behind the scenes and the
vast profits at stake. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">In mid-November 2006 Bemba’s forces again
rampaged in Kinshasa. The actual death toll from the first two Kinshasa rampages
of Bemba’s troops will never be known. This remains true of the reign
of state terror under Mobutu: the international criminal rackets plundering
Congo never shine the spotlight on the atrocities of friendly, collaborating,
dictators—a.k.a. their partners in business. The so-called "independent"
Election Commission announced in the third week of November that Kabila won
58 percent of the votes, and Bemba 42 percent. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Jean-Pierre Bemba offered the international
criminal business community the perfect guise. Bemba served as a staunch opponent
to Joseph Kabila—the perfect "face" of opposition—as
long as he would cooperate and accept "defeat" as dictated by the
rigged elections. With Bemba behind the Kabila machine, the powerful mining
cartels and money houses—Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan Chase, Rothschilds,
IMF, World Bank, EXIM Bank—and their pliable governments in Europe,
Australia, Japan and North America, could easily uphold the fiction of democracy
in Congo. Bemba as warlord—atrocities and all—would be forgotten
and, as they say in Congo, "the page is turned." </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Bemba did not cooperate. The stakes were too
high, the promise of profit and power, the influence behind him, and the indignity
of seeing Congo run by a foreigner when Bemba himself is "one hundred
percent Congolese," all drove the arrogant Bemba to miscalculate his
position. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">On November 13, 2006, Joseph Kabila decreed
that the holdout forces of Jean-Pierre Bemba and Azerias Ruberwa—another
tycoon and warlord—must immediately integrate their soldiers into the
FARDC command. Kabila allowed for fifteen policemen as personal guards. Bemba
and Ruberwa refused. On March 5, 2007, the FARDC's chief of staff General
Kisempia Sungilanga issued an ultimatum to integrate their militia into the
national army or face unspecified action. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">In early March 2007, Jean-Pierre Bemba returned
from Portugal on his private Boeing 727. What happened next went unreported.
Arriving at N’djili airport, Bemba’s heavily armed bodyguards
tried to enter the Presidential Lounge, controlled by Kabila’s elite
Presidential Guard, for the President only. Bemba arrived with some 20 jeeps
of soldiers with rockets and machine guns and demanded access to the VIP compound.
The Presidential Guard refused, and a war nearly erupted on the tarmac. Six-hundred
white foreigners on two jumbo jets fresh from Europe were unloading some 20
meters away from the tense military standoff. Kabila ordered the Presidential
Guard to stand down and Bemba’s gang entered the compound and had a
party. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">The airport incident humiliated Kabila and
his elite Presidential Guard, promising a future showdown. Then on March 15
Bemba insulted Kabila in public interviews on his private radio and TV stations,
accusing Kabila of "dictatorship" and "corruption" and
"other foolishnesses." Insiders close to Kabila knew on March 16
that Kinshasa was doomed to a "small but brutal war between Bemba and
Kabila." This journalist was informed on March 15th. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">MONUC intelligence was also informed of the
imminent war. "For me, trouble was imminent," says one MONUC civilian.
"Every day I saw it and felt it coming. A memo from MONUC security was
sent to us reminding us to respect the curfew two days before [March 20].
Meanwhile, I was very well informed, some Congolese friends called me."
</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Deputy Special Representative to the Secretary
General, Ross Mountain, from Australia, is coordinator of MONUC security and
all U.N. systems in Congo. United States diplomat William Lacey Swing, Special
Representative to the Secretary General (SRSG), runs the MONUC show. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">In October 2006, as the second round of elections
concluded, some MONUC civilians were advised by MONUC security to transfer
to more secure lodgings. The situation was tense and volatile, and MONUC took
precautions to insure the safety of personnel. In March 2007, security plans
were apparently absent even as it became clear that Kinshasa was spiraling
out of control. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">According to MONUC insiders, internal security
memos and alerts warned that Kinshasa was going to explode. These memos reportedly
began circulating as early as March 15th, after Bemba ignored the ultimatum
to disarm. Days prior to March 22 apparently saw numerous "confidential"
memos going from Security to chief directors of MONUC’s Divisions and
Sections. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">"At 9:00 AM on March 22nd people knew
that things were going to happen," says another MONUC source. This source
alleges that President Joseph Kabila communicated by phone with MONUC chief
William Swing to request withdrawal of the MONUC soldiers and U.N. Armored
Personnel Carriers from outside of Bemba’s residence in Kinshasa. "Around
March 15th, Kabila called Swing and told him to move the Uruguayan troops
stationed outside Bemba’s residence." </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">The passive MONUC response—attempts to
relocate civilians at the last minute, but no efforts to stop or mitigate
the killing—seemed to clear the way for the imminent war. The apparent
failure by MONUC security to take proper precautions to protect MONUC civilians—never
mind the general public—suggests some internal conflict or ambiguity
about security protocol. Why? </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Officially, MONUC was supporting the Kabila
government. However, allegations have surfaced that high-level officials inside
MONUC were paid off by Jean-Pierre Bemba. According to MONUC sources, there
were numerous recipients, it has gone on for a long time and is still going
on, and decisions were made—actions taken, or not taken—that benefited
the Bemba machine. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">"I know people were receiving money from
Bemba," says one MONUC insider. "These are high-level MONUC people,
people who are making important decisions. And it is big money. BIG money."(12)
The source confirmed that payoffs have been regular and that numerous people
are aware of the payoffs. (The names of key witnesses have been provided.)
</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Pay-offs from Jean Pierre Bemba to pivotal
MONUC officials would explain MONUC’s apparent paralyses during the
Kinshasa crises. This raises questions about MONUC officials receiving pay-offs
from Joseph Kabila or others. There is evidence that kickbacks and payoffs
of MONUC insiders have and are occurring in Kisangani, and bribery and corruption
of the MONUC mission is likely occurring in other cities. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Just days after the March 22-26 war, SRSG William
Swing held a "town-meeting" for all MONUC personnel in Kinshasa.
Attending staff expressed frustrations about the mission and about the MONUC
‘position’ during the March events. There were reportedly many
questions about security: people knew that MONUC security expected violence
and that MONUC was not prepared, or not interested in being prepared. Some
complained that MONUC did nothing to prevent the war. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">"It was a cleaning," confirmed another
deeply connected insider who for years has worked with top-level ‘players’
in mining, military and politics in Central Africa. "It is evident that
MONUC knew what would happen. They knew that Bemba’s forces were in
Kinshasa. They knew about the weapons buildup. Previously the EUFOR [European
Union Forces] were here—these are professional killers, Special Forces,
they are trained to kill, they are not MONUC—but the elections were
over and the EUFOR were already gone. Nobody wants to be a witness to the
killings. If we say, ‘I saw FARDC troops killing all these Bemba men
and all these civilians’—I will not be safe." </font></p>
<p align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><strong>GUNS, ROCKETS, TANKS
FOR DEMOCRACY </strong></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Early reports in the international media counted
150 people dead and described the warfare in general terms, absent all revealing
details or background. A few days after heavy fighting the German Embassy
broke ranks and declared, "up to 600 people killed." The German
ambassador told reporters "The military forces that faced Mr. Bemba's
militias were too heavy." The German Embassy remains silent about their
direct involvement in illegal mining and bloodshed in the eastern Congo however.
</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">War broke out on March 22 but the New York
Times went completely silent about events in Congo. Then on March 28, they
ran a sizeable front-page feature, "After Congo Vote, Neglect and Scandal
Still Reign," focused on "a recent 1200-mile trip across the country"
by NYT reporter Jeffrey Gettlemen. "The unruly capital" in Kinshasa,
Gettlemen commented in passing, "looks as if a war has been fought in
its streets. There has been some violence there, like the periodic clashes
between the presidential guard and a militia loyal to Jean-Pierre Bemba, a
tycoon, former warlord and unsuccessful candidate for president." The
on-going Kinshasa war was relegated to "periodic clashes." As usual
there was nothing about political alliances, dirty diamond deals, mercenary
ties or the machinations behind the scenes. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Most remarkable were Gettlemen’s misrepresentations
of violence in Kinshasa. "But it is not tanks and bombs that have turned
the streets into bone-jarring rubble and many elegant buildings into teetering
shells," he wrote. "It is neglect and corruption, which persist
despite the election." </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Reuters reported (March 23) that "heavy
gun and mortar fire shook the Congolese capital at first light on Friday in
a second day of fighting between government troops and forces of a former
rebel leader."(12) This was not reflected in the Gettlemen piece. On
March 24, 2007, the Associated Press published a photo of FARDC troops in
a tank in front of Bemba’s residence in Kinshasa—refuting the
Gentlemen dismissal of heavy weapons. Gettlemen’s long feature in the
New York Times filled about 45 column inches, on several pages, with numerous
photos of poor people in the bush, and it deflected attention from the conflict
in Kinshasa. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Weapons deliveries rolled into Kinshasa from
Matadi port between August and October 2006 and the four-day war involved
mortars, bombs, tanks and RPG-7 rockets. Some twenty T-55 battle tanks, armored
vehicles, and tons of ammunition arrived in Matadi in July 2006, shipped from
Europe. There were twenty newly arrived T-72 tanks at Matadi. On August 24-25,
FARDC moved seven truckloads of ammunition to Kinshasa. Nine T-55 battle tanks
were delivered during the night of September 12. The FARDC logistics base
in Kinshasa stored at least twelve T-55 tanks and 20 infantry combat vehicles.(13)
The Kabila government and FARDC command did not cooperate with MONUC in verifications
or inspections and weapons deliveries to FARDC violated U. N. Security Council
resolutions.(14) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">In mid-March, Bemba’s fighting force
in Kinshasa was estimated at 600-1000 soldiers, not counting kidogo—child
soldiers tasked with looting shops and businesses—and they were decisively
outnumbered. Some two thousand tons of weapons were captured at Bemba’s
compounds in the northern cities of Gbadolite and Gemena, along with a big
ammunition depot near Bemba’s house in Kinshasa. Bemba abused and neglected
his troops, creating a force of desperate and angry men authorized to rape
and plunder. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Both sides were heavily armed but the proliferation
of arms, weaponry and landmines has rarely been explored by the international
media, and the Gettlemen feature continued the tradition of misrepresenting
reality. The media generally spotlights cannibalism and tribalism in Congo,
and T-55 battle tanks, helicopter gunships or C-130 transport planes brokered
through international criminal arms syndicates don’t fit the tribal
mold. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2"><br>
THE MONUC PARALYSIS The fighting began March 22 outside Jean-Pierre Bemba’s
compound. Sources loyal to Kabila claim that Bemba’s soldiers attacked
a jeep carrying government troops. Bemba’s troops allegedly fired an
RPG-7 rocket, completely destroyed the jeep, and killed seven FARDC troops
and officers. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">According to several sources, Bemba’s
forces captured two MONUC armored personnel carriers after "frightened"
Uruguayan soldiers stationed outside the Bemba residence abandoned the combat
vehicles. It may be that MONUC troops were ordered to abandon their position,
if fighting occurred, due to Kabila’s request to Swing. But Bemba troops
didn’t get far because troop carriers were low on fuel. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">According to Kabila supporters, Kabila reportedly
sent some 2000 forces of his elite Republican Guard to encircle, attack and
"clean up" positions held by Bemba’s troops. One Congolese
human rights worker was outside Bemba’s residence at 9:47 AM on March
22 when some Bemba’s soldiers who knew him told him "Guns have
no friends: leave now." The eyewitness went to the Boulevard 24 Novembre
where he saw FARDC troops carrying fully armed RPG-7 rocket launchers. He
claims Bemba’s troops at the time had AK-47’s but no RPG-7’s,
which contradicts Western press reports indicating that Bemba’s troops
attacked first, and with RPG-7’s. When he saw Bemba’s troops doing
a "war dance" he knew that there was going to be fighting. On the
Avenue de la Justice he saw more Bemba troops "obviously preparing to
fight." He heard the shooting begin about 11:00 AM. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">At 11:30 AM, MONUC security advised all personnel
at MONUC Headquarters to stay inside and all other MONUC personnel to stay
where they were. For the rest of Thursday March 22, MONUC rounded up and evacuated
civilians to safer locations; personnel whose lodgings were in high-risk areas
were moved during the night. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Some MONUC civilians who took security seriously
and moved to hotels in October 2006 incurred exorbitant unrecovered expenses
in addition to rents paid for private, long-term lodgings. Thus, in the middle
of the night on March 22, some MONUC staff refused to comply with last minute
and haphazard evacuations, knowing that both personal security and personal
finances might suffer in the deal. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">On Friday, March 23, it was total war in Kinshasa.
Eyewitnesses report that Kabila’s crack Presidential Guard was killing
innocent civilians who were on the streets because they wanted to eliminate
all Bemba supporters. After March 24 some of Bemba’s soldiers, fearing
capture or death, gave up their clothes and weapons to civilians to protect
themselves. Civilians grabbed these out of pride for the Bemba cause, but
it transformed them into sitting ducks, as the Bemba soldiers expected, and
these armed civilians were reportedly massacred. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Many of Bemba’s soldiers had rejected
the internationally brokered demobilization ordered by the government and
supported by "humanitarian" organizations, fearing—with good
reason—they would be selectively killed. According to one Kinshasa witness,
on March 24 and 25 many of Bemba’s surviving civilian supporters were
arrested: more than 30 women were rounded up and jailed because they were
"the women of Bemba’s soldiers." As of July 27 some 168 Bemba
soldiers were being held by MONUC troops at Kingabua (Kinshasa), along with
97 women and 57 children. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Shooting continued throughout the nights of
March 22 through 26. Eyewitnesses report trucks and soldiers hauling off dead
bodies—soldiers and civilians—and dumping them in mass graves
at the Mikonga Cemetery near the N’djili airport. People living near
Mikonga Cemetery saw trucks go by loaded with bodies and return empty. Eyewitness
also saw bodies being dumped in the Congo River. At least 121 of Bemba’s
soldiers fled the lost war by crossing the Congo River to Congo-Brazzaville,
but many of Bemba’s troops were reportedly shot trying to escape by
boat and their bodies thrown in the river.(15) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Many innocent civilians were killed and people
in Kinshasa know their names. Dead bodies were moved and dumped elsewhere
so that bodies would be seen, identified and counted. One wealthy moneychanger
was killed in the Gombe section of Kinshasa and the body was dumped in front
of MONUC. The man was loved and respected and there was a huge street celebration
in his honor in early April. The dead bodies of others, like 39 year-old Charlotte
Yaribu, another moneychanger shot going to a store, were identified but soldiers
quickly took and dumped them in mass graves. Hundreds of people simply disappeared.
</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">The battle in the city center was reported
somewhat, but the big FARDC battle with a sizeable Bemba contingent in Maluku,
some 80 kilometers from Kinshasa, was not. MONUC and the media ignored it:
officially, it never happened. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">"There were armored vehicles, cannon,
machine guns—the fighting in Maluku was very bad," reported one
Congolese human rights researcher who was unable to get there due to insecurity.
He claimed that fighting was ongoing as late as April 5. "No one has
talked about this at all. It was not in the center of town. Bemba was constructing
a house there. Many, many people were killed there. No one has reported on
it." </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">There were also uncountable cases of arbitrary
arrest, and these were ongoing until at least April 5. People described random
detentions on the street followed by quick searches for money. "It was
the same under Mobutu," said one traumatized victim who was robbed of
the little money he had. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">On March 27 Reuters repeated European Union
ambassadors’ claims of "more than 200 people killed" in clashes
that "continued for two days," and it cited the German Ambassador
offering "clear indications from hospitals and morgues" of 200 to
600 deaths. On March 30 Reuters reported that Bemba would fly to Portugal
as a "tourist" seeking medical treatment, the accusation of treason
against Bemba by the DRC government, and that Bemba was hiding in the South
African embassy in Kinshasa.(16) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">But by April 1 news sources were universally
downplaying the scale and nature of atrocities, and none addressed the international
scandal behind the conflict. Agence France Press reported "at least 163
people killed."(17) Voice of America offered a total whitewash with no
accountings of dead.(18) The South African Press Agency reported that Bemba
"sought refuge in the South African embassy 17 days ago," meaning
prior to March 15, turning "old news" into older news.(19) Kenya’s
The Nation, a western intelligence monitored state newspaper, reported (April
6) some 250 to 500 killed and 500 injured.(20) On April 13, Africa Confidential,
the British intelligence newsletter, vetted U.N. reports of "several
hundred" dead. Notably, AC confirmed that Angolan troops were in Kinshasa
during the March war.(21) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">THE SAVIMBI SOLUTION </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Among the dead bodies that turned up in the
morgue after the "short but brutal war" in March 2007 were battle-hardened
soldiers who once fought alongside Jonas Savimbi. Hundreds of bodies filled
the morgue but many were not claimed, indicating that the dead were outsiders
whose families would not be coming. Some 20 troops who surrendered were also
reported to be former UNITA. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">South African special forces were in Kinshasa
at the time, and South Africa negotiated with DRC for Bemba’s safe departure
from Congo; Bemba’s ties to South Africa run deep and silent. To understand
why MONUC and the "international community" did not take action
to prevent the March war in Kinshasa—even after the history of belligerence
and atrocities by both Bemba and Kabila’s forces—we can find some
clues in the example of Jonas Savimbi in Angola. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Savimbi was the leader of the União
Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA), a Reagan–era
rebel front that fought against "communist" Angola with U.S., U.K.
and Israeli backing. By the late 1990’s UNITA was out of favor: new
oil and diamond deals, increasing U.S. investments in Angola, mercenary friends
of Bill Clinton, all played a role.(22) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">After Savimbi refused the vice-presidency in
President Dos Santos’ government in Angola the order went out to assassinate
him. Israeli Special Forces, with Pentagon support, flew to Angola to track
and kill Savimbi. They reportedly pinpointed Savimbi’s position with
satellite technology, and he was reportedly assassinated soon after the Clinton
Administration and its partners gave the orders.(23) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">"They got tired of Savimbi, and they find
him and kill him," said one Kabila insider. "When the international
powers want Savimbi killed—it’s easy. This is what finally happened
with Bemba. They were tired of him interfering in their plans. Mining in this
country is an international scandal, and Bemba was disturbing the new democracy
and getting in the way of exploitation and profits." </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">"I would never believe that Kabila would
take such action if he did not have the green light from important people
outside," said one insider close to Kabila and the secrets of the Kabila
Government. "It is clear that this was a "cleaning" of Bemba’s
men by Kabila’s forces and that some powerful people from the U.S. and
U.K., Israel, Belgium and Australia—Kabila’s supporters—wanted
it to happen." One government parliamentarian close to Bemba agreed.
</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">MONUC allowed surrendering Bemba troops to
take refuge at MONUC camps. MONUC also transferred Bemba from the South African
Embassy to the N’djili airport under heavy guard in a convoy of fifteen
U.N. Armed Personnel Carriers under cover of night. On April 13, 2007 Bemba
flew out of Kinshasa on his private Boeing 727 with his wife and five children.
His plane arrived at the airport of Portugal's southern tourist city of Faro
and police escorted him to a luxury villa in the southern Algarve resort of
Quinta do Lago. People interpret MONUC’s assistance in evacuating Bemba
as evidence of MONUC’s support for Bemba. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Tensions between Kabila and MONUC have flared
since the March events. Kabila and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame recently
took high moral stances after allegations that MONUC troops traded gun for
gold, but bloodshed and plunder in Central Africa has their names all over
it. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">According to MONUC spokesman Kemal Saiki, weapons
captured from the Bemba camp were turned over to the Congolese government
forces. Saiki also confirmed that many of Bemba’s soldiers surrendered
to MONUC for their own protection. "We are assisting them to get legal
protection and assistance," Saiki said. "There were too many arms
that were held by Bemba."(24) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">"Bemba will not be arrested," said
one Bemba supporter and parliamentarian who worked for Bemba’s MLC rebellion
during the war. "There are soldiers behind Bemba—Nkunda and Ruberwa.
Did Kabila have authorization to move soldiers for this small war? No. When
the leadership drops the opposition then you have dictatorship." Asked
about Bemba’s exile in Portugal, he said: "As Jean-Pierre Bemba
is the opposition he must come back. It’s not finished yet. Now is not
the time to use guns. It’s time for reason and spirit."(25) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">To gain perspective on the MONUC position,
we can compare the MONUC reaction to the March violence in Kinshasa with other
recent violence in Congo. On the night of May 26, 2007, some ten to twelve
"militiamen" allegedly massacred 18 villagers in South Kivu. Only
two days later MONUC issued a communiqué that used very strong language
of condemnation. "The U.N. Peacekeeping Mission in the DRC, MONUC, strongly
and unequivocally condemns this horrible massacre of innocent civilians."
MONUC "calls on the Congolese authorities to use all necessary means
so that those responsible for these heinous crimes are pursued, and brought
to justice."(26) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">European Union officials expressed "indignation"
on March 27—but this must be tempered by their involvement in plunder
and profit behind the scenes. MONUC did not at any time, it appears, issue
any communiqué like the one issued about massacres in South Kivu. MONUC’s
actions and inactions during the conflict, including logistical support—trucks
allegedly dumping bodies in mass graves—raises important questions.
MONUC’s role in the death of civilians in Matadi earlier in 2007 raises
similar questions. MONUC spokesman Kemal Saiki said that MONUC troops "shot
over the heads" of a mob, when in fact others establish that MONUC troops
shot into the crowd. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">"MONUC is not honest, they don’t
care about people," said one disillusioned MONUC civilian employee in
Kinshasa. "They are talking about human rights and they are the first
organization to violate the rights of the Congolese people." </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Events of March 22-27 in DRC demand that an
independent International Commission of Inquiry be established to investigate
the charges of high-level bribery, corruption and possible extortion within
the United Nations Observers Mission for the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Alleged violations of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions
demand an investigation of all parties, MONUC included, their actions and
inactions during recent events in Congo. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">About the Author: Visit Keith Harmon Snow’s
website.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Notes:</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">1. See Dr. David Gibbs, The Political Economy
of Third World Intervention: Mines, Money and U.S. Policy in the Congo Crises,
University of Chicago Press, 1991. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">2. See: keith harmon snow and Rick Hines, "Blood
Diamond: Doublethink and Deception Over Those Worthless Little Rocks of Desire,"
Z Magazine, June 1 and July 1, 2007. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">3. See: keith harmon snow and David Barouski:
"Behind the Numbers: Untold Suffering in Congo," Z MAgazine July
2006.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">4. All names are fictitious, though the sources
are real people: anyone identified in this story would be subject to persecution.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">5. Kidogo are children armed and sent into
battle, in advance of the battle-hardened troops, to draw fire and take the
brunt of immediate killing.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">6. Private communication, MONUC spokesperson
Kemal Saiki, Kinshasa, DRC, April 4, 2007.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">7. Private communication, MONUC official, May
8, 2007.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">8. Oscar Kashala and his security team were
arrested in Kinshasa and charged with being mercenaries in an alleged coup
plot. See: "Congo Holding Three Americans in Alleged Coup Plot,"
May 25 2006, .</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">9. Private interview with Oscar Kashala, keith
harmon snow, Kinshasa, DRC, August 10, 2007.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">10. See Zaire: Repression as Policy, Lawyers
Committee for Human Rights, 1990. In 1990 Mobutu’s crack Israeli-trained
troops of the Special Presidential Division (DSP) attacked the campus at the
University of Lumumbashi, and thousands of students were killed, with countless
more tortured and brutalized. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency station
in Lumumbashi supported the atrocities and cover-up. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">11. These include John Darnton, Steven Greenhouse,
Keith Richburg, Paul Lewis, Lynne Duke, James Ruppert, Kenneth Noble, Raymond
Bonner, Joshua Hammer, James C. McKinley Jr. and Howard W. French. See: keith
harmon snow, "Zaire Cracks, and the Media Fights Mobutu’s War,"
; also: Keith B. Richburg, Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa, Basic
Books, 1997.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">12. The source alleges that pay-offs have occurred
regularly.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">13. "Mortars shake Congo capital, Govt.
seeks Bemba arrest," Reuters, 23 Mar 2007</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">14. Twenty-second report of the Secretary-General
on the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, S2006/759, 21 September 2006.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">15. According to a U.N. Security Council report
of September 21, 2006, "Pursuant to Security Council resolution 1596
(2005) of 18 April, MONUC inspected a shipment of military equipment and related
materials, including tanks, armored personnel vehicles and ammunition, at
the Matadi port on 29 July. The Government had neither informed the Security
Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) prior to
the arrival of the cargo, nor invited the Mission to verify the type and quantity
of military material, in violation of the resolution."</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">16. "CONGO-DRC: Refugees from Kinshasa
to be repatriated," IRIN, 7 May 2007.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">17. "Portugal accepts Bemba but not for
exile," Reuters, 30 March 2007.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">18. "DRC's Bemba set for Portugal,"
Agence France Presse, 1 April 2007.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">19. Kari Barber, "DRC Opposition Leader
Awaits Approval for Medical Evacuation," Voice of America, Dakar April
1, 2007.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">20. "Kabila 'okays' Bemba's visit to Portugal,"
Sapa/Ap, 1 April 2007.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">21. Juacali Kambale, Congo DRC: Kabila Wins
Round Three, but Bemba Not Finished Yet," The Nation, Nairobi, 6 April
2007.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">22. "The Bashing of Bemba," Africa
Confidential, Vol. 48, No. 8, 13 April 2007.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">23. Wayne Madsen, Genocide and Covert Operations
in Africa, 1993-1999, Edwin Mellen Press, 1999: p. 64.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">24. Ibid.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">25. Private interview, Kemal Saiki, MONUC Headquarters,
Kinshasa, 4 April 2007.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" size="2">26. Private interview, Kinshasa, April 6, 2007.<br>
</font><font size="2"> </font> </p>
Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-72643317717281917922014-05-12T20:58:00.001-04:002014-05-12T21:11:09.672-04:00Dan Gertler earns billions as mine deals fail to enrich Congo<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/dan-gertler-earns-billions-as-mine-deals-fail-to-enrich-congo/2012/12/27/c37d0100-4e31-11e2-8b49-64675006147f_story.html">Dan Gertler earns billions as mine deals fail to enrich Congo</a>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/12/25/Business/Images/13923701_H1074199.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/12/25/Business/Images/13923701_H1074199.JPG" /></a>
<i>By Franz Wild, Michael J. Kavanagh and Jonathan Ferziger, Published: December 29, 2012</i>
<br />
<br />
Dan Gertler’s bearded face lights up as he looks out the helicopter window. Below, an installation rises from a clearing in the central African forest, where it transforms ore mined from the ochre earth into sheets of copper.
<br />
<br />
“Look at it, look at it,” the <span style="background-color: red;">Israeli billionaire, 38,</span> shouts through the headset. “This is what life is all about,” Gertler says as the chopper lands in the scorching afternoon heat of the Democratic Republic of Congo. “Everyone comes with dreams and illusions and promises. Everyone wants quick deals. They don’t want to invest. We are real.”
<br />
<br />
Gertler hops out into the dust of Mutanda, a mine controlled by his partner, Glencore International, that holds cobalt and some of the highest-grade copper in the world. He climbs into a Toyota Land Cruiser to tour the mine, tapping messages into one of three BlackBerrys, whose batteries, like those of most smartphones and laptops, often depend on cobalt to keep their charge.
<br />
<br />
Gertler has stakes in companies that control 9.6 percent of world cobalt production. <span style="background-color: red;">That’s just the beginning of his influence in Congo, the largest country of sub-Saharan Africa, with the world’s richest deposits of cobalt and major reserves of copper, diamonds, gold, tin and coltan, an ore containing the metal tantalum that is used in consumer electronics.</span> His Gibraltar-registered Fleurette Properties <span style="background-color: red;">owns stakes in various Congolese mines through at least 60 holding companies in offshore tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands.
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: red;">Gertler, whose grandfather co-founded Israel’s diamond exchange in 1947</span>, arrived in Congo in <span style="background-color: red;">1997</span> seeking rough diamonds. The 23-year-old trader struck a <span style="background-color: red;">friendship with Joseph Kabila, who then headed the Congolese army and today is the nation’s president.</span> Since those early days, Gertler has invested in iron ore, gold, cobalt and copper as well as agriculture, oil and banking. In the process, <span style="background-color: red;">he’s built a net worth of at least $2.5 billion</span>, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oBxmi8hitdk/U3FuOYLmjBI/AAAAAAAAAKA/yaHwug64eiM/s1600/Blood-Diamonds2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oBxmi8hitdk/U3FuOYLmjBI/AAAAAAAAAKA/yaHwug64eiM/s1600/Blood-Diamonds2.jpg" height="320" width="177" /></a></div>
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Roster of critics
</b><br />
<br />
He’s also acquired a roster of critics. Many of the government’s deals with Gertler deprive Congo’s 68 million people of badly needed funds, according to the London-based anticorruption group Global Witness and lawmakers from Congo and Britain, the country’s second-biggest aid donor after the United States.
<br />
<br />
“Dan Gertler is essentially looting Congo at the expense of its people,” said Jean Pierre Muteba, the head of a group of nongovernmental organizations that monitor the mining sector in Katanga province, with most of Congo’s copper. “<span style="background-color: red;">He has political connections, so state companies sell him mines for low prices and he sells them on for huge profits.</span> That’s how he’s become a billionaire.”
<br />
<br />
In the eight months preceding the November 2011 elections, in which Kabila won a second five-year term, companies affiliated with Gertler bought shares in five mining ventures from three state-owned firms, according to minutes of board meetings, company filings and documents published later. The state companies didn’t announce the sales.
<br />
<br />
In some cases, prices paid were below valuations of the projects made by analysts at Deutsche Bank, Numis Securities and Oriel Securities. Gertler said he did not buy companies at below-market rates or engage in kickbacks.
<br />
<br />
“The lies are screaming to the heavens,” he said in his native Hebrew during three days Bloomberg reporters spent with him in Congo and Israel. <span style="color: red;">He returns home to Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox suburb of Tel Aviv, each week to spend the Sabbath with his wife, Anat, and nine children.
</span><br />
<br />
Congo has a history of making deals out of the public view. The International Monetary Fund has halted a $532 million loan program with the country. It said the government didn’t adhere to its demand to publish the full details of a 2011 mining deal between a state-owned miner and a company that reportedly is affiliated with Gertler. Congo will lose out on three loan disbursements worth about $225 million, according to Oscar Melhado, the IMF’s resident representative in Congo.
<br />
<br />
As the country’s mineral wealth is developed, <span style="background-color: red;">the lot of Congo’s people isn’t improving.</span> Congo remains the world’s most destitute nation, according to the U.N. Development Programme. Most of the country lives without electricity or running water, and one in five children dies before his or her fifth birthday.
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: red;">Kabila’s reelection was marred by irregularities, according to observers.</span> Kabila’s opponent, Etienne Tshisekedi, contested the 49 to32 percent vote, charging it was fraudulent. The Congolese Supreme Court ruled it valid.
<br />
<br />
Global Witness has called on Glencore and FTSE 100 Index-listed Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC), two companies involved in the pre-election deals with Gertler, to publish details of the transactions and dispel the anti-corruption group’s suspicions that Congolese officials received kickbacks for selling assets to Gertler.
<br />
<br />
“Offering, paying, authorizing, soliciting or accepting bribes is unacceptable to Glencore,” spokesman Charles Watenphul said. The ENRC declined to comment.
<br />
<br />
Gertler said disclosing the deals to the public is the Congolese government’s responsibility. “We’re a private company. Why should we announce?” he said.
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: red;">“I should get a Nobel Prize,” added Gertler,</span> who paced and waved his arms as his demeanor swung between anger and charm. “They need people like us, who come and put billions in the ground. Without this, the resources are worth nothing.”
<br />
<br />
<b>‘Braved the hurricane’</b>
<br />
<br />
The government insists it’s following the rules of the IMF agreement, which calls for it to disclose deals for its natural resources. <span style="background-color: red;">And Kabila, 41, defends Gertler as a man who staked his fortune on Congo at a time when the country was wracked by war and desperate for cash.
</span><br />
<br />
[Vehmegricht: how utterly convenient for Gertler!]<br />
<br />
“The truth is, during our very difficult times, there were investors who came and left and others who braved the hurricane,” he said of Gertler at his riverside palace in December 2011. “He’s one of those.”
<br />
<br />
The bond between the two men is so strong that <span style="background-color: red;">Kabila at times uses Gertler as a special diplomatic envoy,</span> including in 2002, when the Israeli businessman met with then-U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to ask for help ending Congo’s war with its neighbors.
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: red;">Diamonds have been a backdrop to Gertler’s life since his childhood in affluent northern Tel Aviv</span>, where he had a secular upbringing. His mother ran a pop-music radio station, and his father was a goalkeeper for Maccabi Tel Aviv, a top-division pro soccer team, before becoming a diamond dealer.
<br />
<br />
As a youth, Gertler got up at 5 a.m. to learn how to polish gems before heading to school. He joined <span style="background-color: red;">his grandfather, Romanian emigre Moshe Schnitzer</span>, at business meetings to watch him negotiate diamond deals. <span style="background-color: red;">When Schnitzer died in 2007, Benjamin Netanyahu, now Israel’s prime minister, gave a eulogy.
</span><br />
<br />
Gertler recalled a business lesson his grandfather imparted: “He told me: ‘Dan, you meet your bankers and you ask for credit only when you don’t need it. Just to secure it. Because when you need it, it is too late.’ ”
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: red;">Gertler said he started buying rough diamonds at age 22, so he could work with larger volumes. Gertler flew between war-torn nations such as Liberia and Angola and the major diamond centers in the United States, India and Israel, buying and selling gems, he said.
</span><br />
<br />
“From the beginning, he went his own way,” says his uncle, Shmuel Schnitzer, 63, former president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses.“The guy has guts.”
<br />
<br />
Gertler broke with his family’s secular tradition when he and Anat decided to adopt an ultra-Orthodox lifestyle. They’ve banned television and computers from their five-story, terraced house. <span style="background-color: red;">In Congo, he supports the Chabad-Lubavitch center, which provides religious and educational services to Jews throughout Africa.
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Gertler’s love affair with Congo began in</span> <span style="background-color: red;">1997</span>, when the country was one of the world’s top five producers of diamonds. That May, insurgents led by Laurent Kabila, the father of the current president, overthrew the corrupt regime of Mobutu Sese Seko, a U.S. ally who had ruled for 32 years. After taking Kinshasa on May 17, Laurent Kabila declared himself president and renamed the country Democratic Republic of Congo.
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BYT5oVvS4Vo/U2-w1BMmwYI/AAAAAAAAAI8/q8Ml_fg3wrI/s1600/1341099021-international-congolese-day-rally-in-london_1307936.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BYT5oVvS4Vo/U2-w1BMmwYI/AAAAAAAAAI8/q8Ml_fg3wrI/s1600/1341099021-international-congolese-day-rally-in-london_1307936.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a><br />
A few days later, Shlomo Bentolila, chief rabbi of Kinshasa’s Chabad-Lubavitch center, arranged for the young diamond merchant to meet Kabila’s son Joseph, the new army chief, at the InterContinental hotel, Gertler said.
<br />
<br />
The two clicked, he recalled. Both carried a heavy responsibility: Kabila was the commander of thousands of troops, and Gertler was trading $2 billion of diamonds annually, he said. <span style="background-color: red;">One day, Kabila suggested that Gertler meet the president. Laurent needed money to fight his war and offered Gertler a monopoly on Congo’s diamond sales, he said. Kabila asked for $20 million in cash. Gertler agreed.
</span><br />
<br />
He was back in Israel celebrating the deal when the Congolese president called. He needed the money immediately. Using a mix of bank credit, inheritance, cash reserves and liquidated stocks, Gertler said he scraped together the payment and sent it to the Swiss account of Congo’s central bank. Gertler had bet his fortune on a president at war.
<br />
<br />
The risks became evident in January 2001, when a bodyguard shot Laurent Kabila dead and his son took power.
<br />
<br />
<b>Role as envoy
</b><br />
<br />
The young president needed friends: When he took over, vast swaths of the country were under the control of rebel factions backed by Uganda and Rwanda.
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: red;">Kabila asked Gertler to help woo U.S. support to bolster his position as leader</span> and start peace talks with his neighbors.
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: red;">In April 2002, Gertler said, he secretly shuttled between Washington, Kinshasa and Kigali, Rwanda, relaying letters between Kabila and Rice</span>. Jendayi Frazer, a former special assistant to President George W. Bush, said Gertler’s intervention was instrumental to talks that resulted in a peace accord. “He was serious and credible,” Frazer said.
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: red;">By the time the peace deal was signed</span> between the government and rebel factions in 2002,<span style="background-color: red;"> millions had died in Congo.
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: red;">Gertler won back a near monopoly of Congo’s diamond trade.</span> One of his companies, Emaxon Finance International, paid $15 million in cash and loans to the country’s state-owned diamond miner, known as MIBA, for a four- year contract to sell 88 percent of its production. Congo was desperate for investment, Frazer said. “It’s not like he crowded out a lot of other investors,” she said. “There weren’t many.”
<br />
<br />
Kabila, who had formed a government in which former rebel chiefs were cabinet ministers as part of the peace deal, tried to kick-start Congo’s economy. <span style="background-color: red;">The ministers signed deals to exploit the country’s natural resources with foreign companies, many of them at prices that undervalued the assets,</span> the World Bank said.
<br />
<br />
In 2006, Kabila’s People’s Party for Reconstruction and Development, with a platform of rebuilding the country’s infrastructure, was elected in Congo’s first free elections in four decades. The backroom deals continued, said Peter Rosenblum, a professor of law at Columbia University who headed the Carter Center’s mission to observe the mining review. “What happened in 2008 and 2009 really proved that the Gertlers of the world would win by doing business the way they’d been doing it all along,” Rosenblum said. Today, Transparency International ranks only a dozen countries below Congo in its Corruption Perceptions Index.
<br />
<br />
As Kabila cemented his hold on power, Gertler expanded beyond diamonds into mining of other minerals and metals.
<br />
<br />
<b>Charm and aggression</b>
<br />
<br />
Six mining executives who have done business with Gertler say he mixes charm and aggressiveness to make deals. During negotiations, which are often in French — a language Gertler only partially understands — he will hunch over his BlackBerry, seemingly oblivious to the debate, said Pieter Deboutte, the Belgian who runs Gertler’s business in Congo. Then, suddenly, he’ll catch everyone off guard by interjecting, “Stop, wait a bit!” and launch into a list of orders in English to his staff.
<br />
<br />
Gertler’s dealings can be wildly profitable. <span style="background-color: red;">In one case, he earned a 500 percent return in six months without risking a single penny as the middleman in a deal for SMKK, which owns a copper and cobalt deposit in the heart of Katanga’s richest mining zone.
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: red;">Gertler said it’s not his fault if the government didn’t get a good price for its SMKK holding. </span>“That is what we know how to do better than anyone else: We know how to maximize value for our projects,” he said. “If the government would like to hire my services to maximize value for their stake, they should approach me. No problem.”
<br />
<br />
Copper is what attracts most miners to Congo, with one of the world’s biggest reserves, Gertler said. The metal traded at $7,991 a ton in London on Dec. 5, more than double its price on Jan. 5, 2009.
<br />
<br />
In June 2010 and March 2011, state-owned miner Sodimico sold more than 30 mining licenses, including those for two copper projects, to Gertler-linked companies for a total of $60 million. The two projects were estimated to be worth $1.6 billion, though their valuations included ore-processing plants and the licenses.
<br />
<br />
Laurent chief executive Lambert Tshisola Kangoa, said the mines ministry demanded Sodimico give $10 million to the country’s general election fund.
<br />
<br />
“It was not an economic decision by Sodimico,” he said of the sale. Gertler’s joint venture relinquished the rights to the biggest of the mines, Frontier, according to the mines ministry. In July 2012, Congo sold the ENRC the license for Frontier, which in 2009 had been the country’s biggest taxpayer, for $101.5 million.
<br />
<br />
“When you see similar things with slightly different variations happening again and again, you have to stop and think, <span style="background-color: red;">‘Obviously something is going wrong,’</span> ” said Daniel Balint-Kurti, chief researcher at Congo for Global Witness.
<br />
<br />
At the Mutanda project, too, Gertler paid far less for his 20 percent than his partner, Glencore International, paid for similar assets. Glencore’s outside consulting firm valued the entire mine at about $3 billion. Based on net present value calculations using figures from Glencore’s May 2011 prospectus, Gertler’s stake, including royalties and other payments, was worth $849 million at the time.
<br />
<br />
One of Gertler’s British Virgin Islands-based companies bought the stake from Gecamines for $120 million in March 2011, according to a copy of the contract. About a year later, in May 2012, Glencore paid $340 million, plus $140 million in assumed debt, for 20 percent of the mine, increasing its holding to 60 percent. Gertler says Glencore’s 20 percent purchase was worth more than his because it gave them control of the company.
<br />
<br />
Gertler said he will stick by Congo. “I took a decision that I wanted to be a long-term player in Congo,” he said. “At the end of the day, yes, I’m looking to create a lot of wealth.”
<br />
<br />
Gertler dismissed critics who say he’s amassed a fortune at the expense of the world’s poorest people. <span style="background-color: red;">“Our deals and performance speak for themselves,”</span> he said. “And whoever doesn’t feel comfortable investing with us will not.”
<br />
<br />
— Bloomberg Markets<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BYT5oVvS4Vo/U2-w1BMmwYI/AAAAAAAAAI8/q8Ml_fg3wrI/s1600/1341099021-international-congolese-day-rally-in-london_1307936.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-76182007704312790402014-05-11T14:02:00.001-04:002014-05-11T14:11:57.972-04:00Eulogy for Michael C Ruppert, A giant among men. (playlist)<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL-dyu6K3iYmuZEZyiZy9JMNqbcK8OZ5kW" width="425"></iframe>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Eorthe Mathir</b> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
[Written some time before 1990]<br />
<i><br />Spinning cosmic dew-drop<br />Molten sphere of magic star-dust<br />Gracefully revolving 'round<br />A brilliant ball of fire<br /><br />Fragile eggshell surface<br />Shrouded in the fabric<br />Of life's mystic tapestry<br />Infinite in facets<br />The deepest mystery<br /><br />Four billion years behind us<br />In this instant<br />We now find us<br />Waking for the first time<br />In all our history<br /><br />On time's line we seek to find out<br />In mind's eye we only find doubt<br />Is this to be or not to be<br />forever...<br /><br />A wasteland sphere of desert<br />Forgotten in its orbit<br />'Round a tiny point of light<br />In the infinite abyss<br /><br />Nothing can change<br />The way I feel<br />No, this is a nightmare<br />That just can't be real<br /><br />The inmates are running<br />This madhouse of fools<br />Whimsical tyrants<br />Who play by no rules<br /><br />Decadent habits<br />That tear at the threads<br />When the weave is unraveled<br />The morals are dead<br /><br />Only wanton destruction<br />Rules life such as this<br />In the pain and the hunger<br />Lives true hopelessness<br /><br />This feeling is growing<br />Oh, so deep inside<br />An ill wind is blowing<br />There's nowhere to hide<br /><br />Am I just another fool<br />Fighting for his time to rule<br />A madman with a master-plan<br />To turn this garden in to sand<br /><br />Can you say what I should do<br />I want to walk the path that's True<br />To build a dream for me and you<br /><br />It seems I've walked so far alone<br />Out here in the danger zone<br />I fear my heart may turn to stone<br /><br />Finite yet unbounded<br />Seems a problem close at hand<br />Soon to many faces<br />And far to little land<br /><br />Must just one of us survive<br />Provided all the others die<br />Or can we not somehow reside</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>All in Peace here side-by-side </i></div>
<br />
Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-802755131915657502014-05-11T13:45:00.001-04:002014-05-11T13:45:38.218-04:00Roger Waters's Epic Speech Against the Israeli Occupation in Palestine<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Gej7TMjwja4" width="480"></iframe>Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-14738432501390414332014-05-11T13:15:00.001-04:002014-05-11T15:27:39.007-04:0009/11/2001: Nightline segment on 2.5 million Congolese killed in the prior 3 years This is a record of ABC 7 programming as the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Imagine if those false flag terrorist attacks had not occurred that day. Millions of lives might have been saved in the Congo. And why is it that we are still turning a blind eye to this horrible, ongoing tragedy?
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/YcvJKrqp07k?start=1155" width="459"></iframe>
<br />
<blockquote>
"If a football hero accused of murder is news for months; if every Capitol Hill scandal merits weeks of coverage, how much attention do two and a half million dead merit? It's a story we should have brought you long ago. This week on Nightline, we'd like to make up for that by finally telling you about the beauty and the tragedy of Congo. Three years, two and a half million dead. We thought you should know."</blockquote>
But the segment never aired. It was preempted by a made-for-television, false-flag terrorist attack perpetrated by the very people who cry <span style="background-color: red;">"NEVER AGAIN!</span>"<br />
<br />
<hr/>
<h4><span style="background-color: red;">30 June 2012</span></h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BYT5oVvS4Vo/U2-w1BMmwYI/AAAAAAAAAI4/e1Nv3YhXi_0/s1600/1341099021-international-congolese-day-rally-in-london_1307936.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BYT5oVvS4Vo/U2-w1BMmwYI/AAAAAAAAAI4/e1Nv3YhXi_0/s1600/1341099021-international-congolese-day-rally-in-london_1307936.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.demotix.com/photo/1307933/international-congolese-day-rally-london" target="_blank"> International Congolese Day rally in London</a><br />
<h4>
</h4>
<hr />
<blockquote>
http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=7929811&ct=11724853#.U2_FLbGZiTJ
</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TD-P2jebboE/U2_MNoFJW2I/AAAAAAAAAJo/k2rcSAWpnBE/s1600/barack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TD-P2jebboE/U2_MNoFJW2I/AAAAAAAAAJo/k2rcSAWpnBE/s1600/barack.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<blockquote>
<a href="http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=7929811&ct=11724853#.U2_FLbGZiTJ" target="_blank">Wiesenthal Center Commends President Obama's Commitment to Israel and "Never Again" Initiatives</a><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: red;"><b>April 24, 2012</b></span><br />
<br />
The Simon Wiesenthal Center applauded President Obama's strong commitment to Israel and his condemnation of Iran in his speech at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Wiesenthal Center also praised the President’s new initiiatives against mass atrocities and genocide. Mark Weitzman, the SWC's Director of Government Relations, who participated in the day's events said, "President Obama's commitment to making his promise of "Never Again" to the survivors of the Shoah a reality was clearly demonstrated today.<br />
<br />
By beginning the day at the Holocaust Museum, where he reiterated that the US will stand with Israel, and where he strongly condemned Iran's evil regime, and then by announcing new and practical steps to combat genocide and mass atrocities on a global scale, <span style="color: red;"><b>he has made the rhetoric of "Never Again" a reality for all people.</b></span> The President's assertion that atrocity prevention is now a "core goal" of American foreign policy is one that we applaud, and we offer our total cooperation to this effort."<br />
<br />
Weitzman added, "One of the atrocities and genocides the Atrocity Prevention Board should take immediate action on is the threats faced by Israel from nations and groups that call for its total destruction.”<br />
<br />
Finally, in reacting to the remark by a senior Administration official at the afternoon White House conference who said that from now on US diplomats "would be the eyes, ears and conscience of the US Government abroad," Weitzman said, "We hope that this new official US activism, which stands in stark contrast to the inaction of the US Government during the Holocaust, will not only effect US efforts, but will spur other countries to join in an international campaign against mass atrocities and genocide, wherever and whenever it looms."<br />
<br />
For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter page or mobile device.<br />
<br />
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe, and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).
</blockquote>
Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-22514466359390017962014-05-10T13:59:00.001-04:002014-05-10T14:24:17.285-04:00Eisenhower's Rhine-Meadows Death Camps - Documentary<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hbp61fOVFaE" width="459"></iframe>
<blockquote>
Published on Aug 21, 2013
The untold story of Eisenhower's Rhine Meadows Death Camps - A Deliberate Policy of Extermination of the Surrendered German forces by the Allies in post war Germany (Rheinwiesenlager). Full documentary, plus additional background information, and a memorial for the victims. A German language film, translated to English, re-edited, narrated, and published by Justice for Germans: http://justice4germans.com
Part 1 The 'Rheinwiesenlager' German language documentary translated into English, with additional information and interviews (50 minutes)
Part 2 Deanna Spingola reads a chapter from her book dealing with the subject of these camps and provides additional background information regarding the perpetrators and their policies (30 minutes)
Part 3 A Memorial March for the victims of these camps held in Remagen, Germany in 2011, also translated / narrated in English (10 minutes)
NOTE: The theme song (in the opening segment) is called "Recurrence" by J. Belenger and included with his permission.
Website: http://justice4germans.com/
</blockquote>Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-36114485072249441602014-05-08T14:50:00.001-04:002014-05-08T14:50:02.160-04:0060 Minutes - Joy in the Congo<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/BSwcdsthZn8" width="480"></iframe>Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-29391579370539030912012-07-03T17:16:00.001-04:002012-07-03T17:16:15.898-04:00Funeral Fund for Tom McNary<p>A close friend of ours, Tom McNary recently passed away. Tom was a homeless US Veteran of limited financial means. Many of his friends are in similar situations. We feel it is important to lay Tom to rest with respect and dignity. Tom was well known, and well liked among the homeless and disabled Veterans in the DC area. It will mean a lot to all of us to know that Tom was not simply disposed of in the most expedient and inexpensive manner possible.</p>
<p>Giving Tom a proper send off will take money. Some assistance will come from the tax payers of Washington DC, and some will come from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The remainder must come from donations. If you would like to assist in this cause, please donate using the following button:</p>
<object width="250" height="250"><param name="movie" value="http://widget.chipin.com/widget/id/7f0944fd48625f12"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="event_title" value="the%20funeral%20of%20a%20homless%2C%20disabled%20US%20Veteran"></param><embed src="http://widget.chipin.com/widget/id/7f0944fd48625f12" flashVars="event_title=Tom%27s%20Funeral%20Fund" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always" wmode="transparent" width="250" height="250"></embed></object>
<p>The collected funds will go to <a href='http://hortonsfuneralhome.com/' target="_blank">R.N. Horton's Funeral Home</a>, 600 Kennedy Street NW, Washington DC, and to other expenses, such as clothes to dress him in. Any money left over will be donated to one or more of the charitable organizations which support disabled Veterans.</p>Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-27707638250477016072012-04-29T00:20:00.003-04:002012-04-29T00:20:47.093-04:00<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/e9TSUh10jsU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11563754.post-54514168305801606792012-03-12T23:14:00.002-04:002012-03-12T23:14:48.675-04:00Kony 2012 Video is Misleading<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7DO73Ese25Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Oberststuhlherrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279357885830268016noreply@blogger.com0