bin Laden...Harari...CIA...drugs...GW...israelism...mossad...BCCI
compiled by eric stewart | 17.01.2002 20:50
Now Mike is a real piece of work. Since his "retirement" from the Mossad he has been working "on loan" to a number of Intelligence Agencies, including the CIA and British Intelligence. He served as a special advisor to Manuel Noriega in Panama. Guns for dope and contract killings are his specialty.
Swiss Connection to bin Laden
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/agentsmiley/message/3381
he also has connections to michael harari via the african diamond and gun trades...traditionally anglo empires...harari is merely the guy that tipped off noriega that US forces were on the way and is wanted in norway for masterminding some political killings there...ya gotta wonder where he is hidin' out eh? well don't...he isn't hiding at all, he works at the israeli embassy in london...british israelism anyone?
why mention michael harari?
4,000 isrealis had day off on 9-11
instant messages to isreal warned of attack
by far the most intense censorship of conspiracy
'theories' online have involved what is deemed
anti-semitic, i.e. anti-israel [the equivalent of
saying it is unamerican to question US foreign policy]
the MEDIA was quite in place for coverage
public sentiment was beginning to turn pro-palestinian
and against israeli policy
the mossad saying 'by deception shalt thou make war'
harari is called the fixer
harari enjoys the protection of london as an employee
of the isreali embassy there even though norway wants
his ass for masterminding dozens of political killings
there
harari's connections to the bush enterprises are
thorough...he was in charge of operation watchtower -
the program of drugs to LA gangs for money for guns
for nicaragua - read more below
Prosecutors in Norway have issued an international
arrest warrant for a former Israeli intelligence
agent, suspected of involvement in the mistaken
killing of a Moroccan man nearly twenty-five years
ago.
Now Mike is a real piece of work. Since his
"retirement" from the Mossad he has been working "on
loan" to a number of Intelligence Agencies, including
the CIA and British Intelligence. He served as a
special advisor to Manuel Noriega in Panama. Guns for
dope and contract killings are his specialty.
http://www.rossie.com/harari.htm
A spokesman said the retired agent, Michael Harari,
was wanted for questioning about the shooting, in the
Norwegian town of Lillehammer in 1973.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_119000/119404.stm
where is harari now?
http://www.israel-embassy.org.uk/web/pages/polithm.htm
"Remember Col. Michael Harari, the Mossad officer who
was the brains behind the drug crimes we blamed on
Panama's former strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega?" asked
Shelton. "After we invaded Panama, we grabbed Noriega
and sent him to Miami, where he is still in prison.
But Col. Harari and his men, who were as criminally
guilty as Noriega—perhaps even more so—were quietly
flown back to Israel in an un marked U.S. Air Force
transport."
http://www.spotlight.org/07_08_00/Columbia/columbia.html
The participation of Noriega advisor (and former
Mossad agent) Michael Harari ensured that Israel got a
piece of Ollie North's action. As early as December
1983 the Israelis were using a Panamanian CIA front
company, IFMA Management Company, to funnel support to
the Contras. Harari himself would later boast of his
friendship with Donald Gregg, George Bush's national
security advisor.
http://www.aci.net/kalliste/castillo.htm
Michael Harari, a longtime top agent of Israeli
foreign intelligence, the Mossad, who was a security
adviser to Panamanian Defense Forces Gen. Manuel
Noriega. As the Mossad station chief for Central and
South America in the late 1970s and into the 1980s
until the U.S. invasion of Panama, after which he
returned to Israel, Harari coordinated the Mossad's
gun-running and drug-trafficking operations in South
America.
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/30/071.html
"An Israeli reputed to be Gen. Manuel Antonio
Noriega's closest associate may have eluded capture on
the night of the United States invasion because he was
warned to flee nearly six hours before American troops
swept into the capital, the deputy commander of
Panama's new police force said today. 7he Noriega
associate, Mike Harari, a former Israeli intelligence
officer, was last seen at 7 p.m. on Dec. 19 leaving
the home of General Noriega's wife, the commander,
Eduardo Herrera Hassan, said. The invasion began
shortly before I a.m. on Dec. 20. Mr. Harari, the
commander said, was reportedly accompanied by two
Israeli assistants who had come for him with a car.
The location of Mr. Harari, who is said to have
trained and equipped General Noriega's elite security
forces, has been a mystery."
http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0290/9002005.htm
Norway solves riddle of Mossad killing
According to the report, about nine others escaped
from Norway, including the suspected leader, Michael
Harari, a senior Mossad agent who has now retired. The
commission said Norway did little to catch the
suspects in the early 1970s.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,193475,00.html
EIR's investigation has determined that Alberto Prado
Herreros is operating in close association with Harari
to set up the covert weapons supply into Central
Africa. Herreros, a longtime weapons- and
drug-trafficker, has been part of the Harari network
since the 1970s, and is often characterized as the
Hispanic rendition of Harari; Herreros and Harari are,
in fact, cousins.
http://www.aboutsudan.com/dossiers/alberto_prado_herreros.htm
AFFIDAVIT OF EDWARD P. CUTOLO
The cargo flown from Colombia into Panama was cocaine.
Thee second individual I recognized from the three
photographs I received, was listed as Michael Harari.
I was informed that Michael Harari is listed as a
senior Mossad agent. Harari was the un identified male
Israeli national that met the aircraft which flew into
Albrook Air Station during Operation Watch Tower. He
was the one who gave Edwin Wilson two briefcases full
of U.S. currency in various denominations. The
briefcases were given to Edwin Wilson at the end of
operations in March and Feb. 1976. It is my
understanding from Pentagon contacts, that Harari's
activities in Latin America are well known, including
his drug trafficking endeavors. I was also informed
from those same contacts that the Pentagon on the
orders of several Washington VIPs have gone to great
lengths to keep the activities of Harari a secret. I
have begun preparations to meet with David Kimche or
Michael Harari while in Europe on annual NATO
exercises. I intend to verify that Harari was the
individual who gave Edwin Wilson the briefcases while
at Albrook Air Station during Operation Watch Tower.
http://www.copi.com/articles/guyatt/cutolo.html
Michael Harari, the Israeli gun-runner who helped
supply John Garang's Sudanese People's Liberation Army
in a covert operation involving Roger Winter of the
U.S. Committee on Refugees and Dan Eiffe of Norwegian
Peoples Aid, is currently wanted for arrest by the
government of Norway. The Norwegian warrant, issued
through Interpol in June 1998, stems from Harari's
coordination of assassination operations against
leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization in
revenge for the terrorist massacre of Israeli athletes
at the 1972 Munich Olympics. On July 23, 1973, one of
Harari's Mossad teams was dispatched to Norway, where
it shot and killed Moroccan waiter Ahmed Bouchikhi.
Harari had wrongly believed Bouchikhi to be PLO
intelligence chief Hassan Salameh.
http://www.aboutsudan.com/dossiers/michael_harari.htm
The Chief of Staff of the Ugandan Popular Defense
Forces (UPDF), Brig. Gen. James Kazini, a nephew of
Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni, is at the center of
charges against the Ugandan army of wholesale looting
in Uganda and southern Sudan. As EIR reported in its
last issue (see pp. 58-65), Kazini was also caught in
a covert caper to smuggle arms to the Sudanese
People's Liberation Army of John Garang, operating in
cahoots with Roger Winter of the U.S. Committee on
Refugees, Daniel Eiffe of Norwegian Peoples Aid, and
notorious gun-smugglers Michael Harari, formerly
Israeli Mossad station chief for South America, and
Alberto P. Herreros, formerly a prime contract for the
illegal George Bush-Oliver North Contra supply
operation of the 1980s.
http://www.aboutsudan.com/opposition/uganda/museveni_in_sudan.htm
~~~
Now, what's happened, is that EIR investigators have
uncovered operations which are extremely reminiscent
of the covert supply of the Contras carried out during
the Bush administration under George Bush, and
involving the same cast of characters. The same seedy
crowd, so to speak, or unsavory crowd.
And this involves Michael Harari, who was the Mossad
station chief in South America and Central America
during the 80s. He appears now to have moved over to
Africa, and is now working with Roger Winter of the
U.S. Committee of Refugees, Daniel Eiffe of the
Norwegian People's Aid, which is an organization which
has now been fired by the Norwegian government in its
capacity of delivering aid to southern Sudan.
And these people are involved with Harari, and also
Alberto P. Herraras, Harari's cousin, who has a
Florida-based gun operation called Lomax
International, and these people are supplying covert
weapons to the Sudanese People's Liberation Army.
http://www.aboutsudan.com/interviews/linda_de_hoyos.htm
~~~
Michael Harari, a longtime top agent of Israeli
foreign intelligence, the Mossad, who was a security
adviser to Panamanian Defense Forces Gen. Manuel
Noriega. As the Mossad station chief for Central and
South America in the late 1970s and into the 1980s
until the U.S. invasion of Panama, after which he
returned to Israel, Harari coordinated the Mossad's
gun-running and drug-trafficking operations in South
America.
http://www.aboutsudan.com/dossiers/susan.htm
The NPA was founded by the Norwegian Confederation of
Trade Unions in 1939 and has been active in southern
Sudan since 1986. Despite its "leftist" profile, it
has been cooperating closely with "right-wing"
Christian fundamentalist groups led by Baroness
Caroline Cox's British-based Christian Solidarity
International. The NPA's relationship with the group
around Mossad agent Michael Harari could date back to
its support for the Nicaraguan Sandinistas in their
struggle against dictator Anastasio Somoza in the
1970s.
http://www.aboutsudan.com/dossiers/daniel.htm
is there a connection between michael harari and osama
bin laden [we have already demonstrated a connection
between bin laden and bush - the carlyle group - and
the connection between the US government and isreal is
well known - AND harari works at the israeli embassy
in london...sounds like an international effort]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/agentsmiley/message/484
~~~
DRUG PROFITS ALLEGEDLY FUNDED FEMA
An imprisoned former US Green Beret is suing the CIA,
George Bush and others, to draw attention to their
complicity in government-sanctioned drug-trafficking
operations and cover-ups.
Speculation about the mysterious origin and funding of
the so-called US Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) has continued for decades. Most recently, the
history of FEMA as an illegal, unconstitutional entity
has been exposed in an unprecedented lawsuit against
the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its alleged
drug-trafficking and money-laundering operations.
McCoy, after all, was concerned that people just
seemed to drop dead after they delved into the CIA
cocaine operation at Mena, Arkansas. Among the dead
were Stanley Huggins, Kevin Ives, Donald Henry, Keith
McCaskell, Greg Collins, Jeff Rhodes and Richard
Winters. Or they got "suicided" - like writer Danny
Casolaro, attorney Paul Wilcher and NSA Colonel Vince
Foster.
"...in February and March 1976, a second and third
Watchtower operation took place under the command of
Colonel Edward Cutolo, and more cocaine was brought
into Albrook Air Station, Panama. [Tyree], who was
also involved in a non-volunteer capacity as Crew
Chief on a US Army helicopter, saw CIA Officer Edwin
Wilson, CIA Officer Frank Terpil, CIA Asset/Officer
Colonel Albert V. Carone, and Israeli Colonel Michael
Harari.
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/beast1.html
~~~
On June 5, 1989, The SPOTLIGHT reported flatly, citing
intelligence sources, that the infamous Medellin
cartel of Colombia was, in reality, "an
Israeli-directed organization which nets Israel
billions of dollars every year in illegal drug
profits."
Cutolo specifically cited veteran Mos sad clandestine
services operative Mi chael Harari as a key figure in
the operation, charging that then-former CIA director
George Bush and other high-ranking U.S. government
figures had "gone to great lengths to keep the
activities of Michael Harari a secret."
http://www.spotlight.org/05_28_00/CiaMos/ciamos.html
~~~
Allegations Regarding Vince Foster, the NSA, and
Banking Transactions Spying
BCCI became a important conduit for CIA intelligence,
and also a ready target for the tenacles of the NSA.
When Norman Bailey at the National Security Council
urged NSA to "follow the money" as part of the "wars"
on terrorism and drugs, the NSA had BCCI as one
obvious banking target. The CIA was there also to
assist in the monitoring of BCCI-related money flows
of other intelligence and criminal enterprises. For
BCCI had become a giant laundry machine, and the CIA
made use of BCCI for their own covert money transfers.
~~~
One example involves Manuel Noriega, who was recruited
by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in 1959, who
went on the CIA payroll in 1967, and who became head
of Panamanian military intelligence in 1968, where he
was in a strategic position to supply both information
and drugs to the United States, and later on arms to
the contras in an operation based in Panama, Mexico,
and Mena, Arkansas. CIA money was paid to Noriega
through the Panamanian branch of BCCI. The CIA and
U.S. Army only acknowledge paying Noreiga $322,226
between 1955 and 1986 (The New York Times, January 19,
1991). Be that as it may, Noriega deposited $33
million in his account (under the name of the
Panamanian Defense Forces) at the Panamanian branch of
BCCI. The head of this branch was the son of a former
director of intelligence in Pakistan.
...the BCCI-Bush- Noriega-Mena connection to drug
smuggling was matched by an similar Israeli connection
to arms and drug dealing and money laundering.
Anything went in the holy crusade to built the bomb
and the associated missile delivery systems. Just as
the pension funds controlled by Robert Maxwell were
looted to pay for Mossad operations in Europe (Victor
Ostrovsky, The Other Side of Deception, HarperCollins,
1994, p. 203), so were American S&Ls in effect looted
(or burdened with debt) by the financial machinations
of the "Committee of Thirty" to help generate the vast
funds needed to maintain and expand Israel's defense
industry. Some of these funds found their way into
offshore accounts held by U.S. politicians and defense
personnel as bribes, kickbacks, "campaign"
contributions, and payment for stolen secrets.
That, for example, Noreiga was a Mossad, as well as
CIA, asset follows from the fact his closest confidant
and advisor was Michael Harari, formerly number three
man in the Mossad, who specialized in assassination.
Harari had fouled-up a case and had the wrong man
killed, and was transferred to Mexico where he became
station chief for Latin America. After allegedly
retiring, Harari went to Panama as a security advisor
to Noreiga, where he trained UESAT, Noriega's elite
personnal bodyguards. During the U.S. invasion of
Panama, the U.S. helped Harari escape back to Israel.
http://www.aci.net/kalliste/part10.htm
~~~
Cross corroboration between testimony by CIA
operatives Gunther Russbacher and Trenton Parker, for
instance, indicates that the Colombia drug cartels
were actually organized by the CIA.
One of the most revealing incidents in the book is a
conversation recorded by one of Stich's informants,
Gene "Chip" Tatum, a helicopter pilot for the US Army
and the CIA. Here's how Stich describes it: "During
one flight to Tegucigalpa on March 15, 1985, Tatum met
with William Barr, Michael Harari and Buddy Young,
head of Governor Bill Clinton's security detail."
(Incidentally Buddy Young is currently the Southwest
Director of FEMA, appointed by his boss Bill Clinton.)
http://www.conspiracydigest.com/bookdefrauding.html
for more on gunther russbacher, see:
http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/octopus.html
paul wilcher tried to go to janet reno with the story
of bush sr's trip to iran in 1980 designed to
negotiate delayed release of the hostages...they were
to wait until AFTER the election...gunther is the one
that flew bush sr there...paul wilcher is dead - see:
http://www.thepacc.org/Wilcher2.htm
wilcher ALSO was working on an expose of the fact that
waco was supposed to be a psyop wherein the davidians
were going to be domestic terrorists, under US
government control...israelites...seeing a pattern?
http://www.rumormillnews.com/wilcher.htm
On July 23, 1973, a member of Harari's Mossad team was
dispatched to Norway, where he shot and killed
Moroccan waiter Ahmed Bouchikhi. Harari had mistaken
Bouchikhi for PLO intelligence chief Hassan Salameh.
In June 1998, Oslo prosecutor Lasse Qvigstad issued an
international arrest warrant, through Interpol, for
Harari, whom he charged as an accessory to the
Bouchikhi murder. The warrant's issuance extends the
statute of limitation on the murder investigation for
another 25 years. Gun-running operations always need
the talents of a fixer, and Harari is the right man
for covertly supplying arms to the SPLA, whose fight
against the Sudan government is aiding Anglo-Israeli
geopolitical schemes for East Africa.
http://www.iviews.com/scripts/articles/stories/default.cfm?id=12149&category_id=39
still see a difference between demopublican and
republicrat?
if clinton and bush were any closer they would be
having babies!
~~~~~~~~~~
a london, saudi, israeli connection to thwart american imperialism? or to justify it?
consider the following:
Mercenaries: Messiahs of Terror
Issa A. Mansaray
Vienna, Austria
The 'Mercs' as they are known for short, prefer to be called 'military consultants,' or 'military advisors' as in the case of the South African and United Kingdom 'Executive Outcomes' (EO). Even with all the colourful names they give to themselves, they are still considered as 'hired soldiers' or 'contract soldiers' that kill for gain in countries of conflicts out of their boundaries. The misgiving about mercenaries is that they sometimes help to fuel conflicts and can easily switch sides to the highest bidder in any war zone.
Reading magazines, newspapers, and watching TV news on conflicts, the word mercenary invokes terror and death. According to the 'Soldier of Fortune magazine', the mercenary profession is the second oldest job in the world. Mercenaries are considered as foreign soldiers helping to liberate countries in conflict. However, Mercenaries do not consider themselves as bloodthirsty soldiers. Many political observers describe them as 'Soldiers of fortune,' 'Messiahs of terror' and 'dogs of war'.
Mercenaries' operations in Africa started in the 1960s, with soldiers like Gilbert Bourgeaud, known as Colonel Bob Denard, 'Mad' Mike Hoare, 'Black' Jacques Schramme. These 'professional private soldiers' are known across Africa for their involvement in almost all the major battlefronts on the continent, from Angola to Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire) to Sierra Leone or Mozambique.
Today's mercenaries want to be respected and called names like 'Contract soldiers,' 'military advisors', or 'military experts'. In 1977, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) adopted the OAU Convention for the Elimination of Mercenaries in Africa. This measure was taken in response to the increasing rate at which mercenaries were deployed to destabilise the emerging African states at the time.
TERROR
The only thing that seems to be continuous in the 20th and part of the 21st century has been war, mostly in developing countries. While the world powers tend to pay more attention to major conflicts such as in Iraq, Chechnya, Bosnia, and others places around the world, there are plenty of low-key wars in Africa - Sierra Leone, Angola, Rwanda, Casamance, DRC, Somalia etc, and military freelancing is now widespread.
For the past years, mercenaries have been involved in almost all the conflicts and wars in Africa; the continent is still undermined and locked in Guerrilla warfare. The horrific images of 'soldiers of fortune' in conflicts and the aftermath of wars, followed by the countless number of refugees, does not encourage civilians to support them. It brings cold feelings to the hearts of many people. Many argue that their love for money and mining concessions, easily make them switch sides and unaccountable to any government.
The case of EO's involvement in Angola comes to mind. EO, a spill over of the South Africa Defense Force (SADF) fought on the side of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi in Angola, because according to them, they were told then that communism was evil, but after the cold war, they realised the truth and fought on the side of the Angola army. They advised on how to recapture the diamond fields from Savimbi.
Mercenaries in Africa see themselves as messiahs of the people from colonialism, dictators and rebel factions. Their argument, according to Col. Rudolf Van Heerden, EO's Operations Commander in Sierra Leone in 1995, is that: "Africa should not depend on the United Nations to solve its security problems. Africans must solve their own problems themselves. Africa is being destabilised by rebel wars and external influences. Executive Outcomes was formed to neutralize their rebel wars and counter the influence of negative external forces."
Nevertheless, for the people in the eastern town of Kono in Sierra Leone, the point is not convincing. When one of its members, Robert Mackenzie was killed and others injured, EO countered by shooting on sight any one within their areas of operations (AO) in the diamond and rutile mining fields. Civilians where mistaken as rebels or 'rebel sympathizers'. The war became more confused. During the war in Uganda, the government hired a couple of troops and flight pilots
from South Africa to flush the rebels in the north. They left three months after not been paid, and Joseph Koni's Lord Resistance Army (LRA) kidnapped 100s of children.
THE MERCENARY BUSINESS
Today, mercenaries in Africa consider themselves businesspersons first. They make deals through well-established firms around the world. They undertake specialised services such as intelligence gathering, military training, personal protection and guarding mining fields. They are also willing to 'eliminate' enemies of states. In recent years, they operate as arms purchasing agents for third word countries. The business does not end there, they sign mining concessions for security: a task they consider more paramount in Africa where state security in many countries is fragile and political leaders can not afford the high cost in cash.
It is reported that the Executive Outcome made a profit of about $400 to $ 500 million in contracts and soldiering in war torn developing countries. It is also noted that with such huge annual turnovers, soldier of fortune clients are not only weak African regimes, but also multinational cooperation. It is anticipated that with the United Nation's failure in keeping the peace in many countries, it might consider taking 'hired guns' to the world's must dangerous places.
Mercenarism is now a growing business industry in Africa, but tarnished by media coverage and civilian doubts about their 'clouded activities' in many countries. It is also difficult to distinguish between 'private securities' and 'mercenaries,' as the Geneva Convention exclude the use of mercenaries in any counties.
An ex-mercenary describes their job as 'the Circuit'. According to him, 'the circuit is a group of people who are employed by security companies. Nevertheless, these companies are not like the Group 4 in the UK. They are mainly just offices with skeleton staff and they recruit from a pool of talent, the circuit.' The British are said to top the list, seconded by South Africa for mercenary activities in general.
With eleven conflicts in Africa, arms sale is also on the increase. The continent is now an open market replacing the Middle East and Latin America buyers. Thus, adding to the economies of mercenary arms agents. The US State Department report titled Arms and Conflicts in Africa, reveals that "such is the influx of weapons into the continent that an AK-47 costs as little as $6 in the war-torn areas of Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia."
When the rebels in Sierra Leone nearly took over the whole country in 1992, EO was approached to guard the mining fields. They left around 1994 after series of problems. After the elections in 1996, the government in Sierra Leone approached them again to protect the mining fields, train the local Kamajor militias and to conclude the war. That did not work. The British government came under heavy criticism for deals involving the transportation of arms through Sandline International to Africa.
DANGER
Military analysts explain that, the fall of the Berlin Wall seems to be a major reason for the increase of mercenary activities on the continent. The apartheid in South Africa also led to proxy-wars with its neighbouring countries. Thus, with the end of apartheid, a number of its military forces decrease, and demobilised soldiers find conducts to continue their profession. According to the New African Magazine, EO recruits and employs mercenaries from any part of the world to fight in conflicts in Africa.
About 2,500 are reported to be working for EO and Sandline International. The end of the cold war also added to the increase in mercenary figures in Africa. International Alert, the conflict resolution group in London described them as 'an assortment of former assassins, spies, saboteurs and scoundrels.'
Some mercenaries say they do their job for money when they start; but with time, they become convinced that they are doing a job to secure freedom for others. Many never count the 'body bags' of their colleagues sent home. Allan Hetherington an Ex-Grenadier Guard says he likes his job not because of killing people. He considered killing people, as he put it: an "occupational hazard, just like being killed is an occupational hazard". A soldier of fortune that had worked all over Africa told the Punch magazine "Real mercenary work is people dying every day."
In Britain, where the mercenary business is flourishing, the government is also said to be involved in making contacts for corrupt regimes. The Punch magazine of 13 December 1997 reported as follows:
If a country approaches the UK government for training teams from the British Army and it's politically dodgy, what the Foreign Office does is give out a list of Security companies that are competent to carry out the training to whatever standard; counter-terrorist work or just general military training. They give this list of firms and say: "These companies can carry it out. It's up to you who you choose." But to get on that list you have to be cleared by the Foreign Office.
It is a hot market and there is training throughout Africa. Unlike the mercenaries groups in Britain, the Executive Outcomes in South Africa operate with less attention from the government.
In the sixties, Bob Denard created a small island for himself in Comoros, but his friend Hoare who was paid to train and motivate a small group of African soldiers failed to take control of Seychelles after years of mercenary combat in Katanga (DRC).
LIBERIA
When Charles Taylor started his rebellion on Christmas Eve in 1989, he crossed into Liberia from Ivory Coast with a group of about 100 fighters. Around 1991 the number increased to thousands of fighters. Taylor employed youths and mercenaries from neighbouring countries. Private securities from Libya and Burkina Faso were also employed to train his National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) rebels.
Taylor's war left approximately 200,000 people dead, about 65 percent of Liberia's population of 2.8 million displaced. Out of fear for his brutality, Liberians voted for Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Party (NPP) on 19 July 1997 in the presidential and congressional elections to end the seven years war in what was one of West Africa's most dangerous countries.
However, in recent months, the war started by Taylor's NPFL about a decade ago has resumed in Lofa in northern Liberia. Dissident factions had regrouped with the help of Private Military Companies (PMCs) to fight Taylor's government. In the early days of the war, it was reported that troops from the notorious group in Sierra Leone known as Internal Security Unit (ISU) were engaged in the war. The ISU joined the United Liberation Movement of Liberia (ULIMO) to fight the NPFL along the Sierra Leone - Liberia boundary. Taylor claimed that their aim was to control the country's timber and Rubber plantations.
SIERRA LEONE
The murderous campaign of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels over the past years had succeeded in making the country's government ineffective. Their terror tactics include amputations and arson. The RUF had brought the country to its knees, and all international efforts to stop them had ended in abject failure. The recent blow for the international community was the kidnapping of about 500 UN peacekeepers by the RUF.
RUF rebels humiliated the British troop sent to save the country on several occasions at the warfront. The Nigerian and Guinean troops, who are mostly interested in controlling the mining fields, also lost some of their field commanders to the RUF. With all this embarrassment, President Tejan Kabbah turned to the British government for military support. The British in turn, made the necessary contacts with Sandline International and Executive Outcomes for Kabbah's government. Yet, with a bankrupt economy, the mercenary groups were offered mining concessions to the sum of about $100 million to fight the rebels. The involvement of the British government with Sandline International in the 'Arms to Africa' episode, ended in court battles for government officials as well as the mercenary groups.
To date, with no end in sight to the terror, it has been reported that British soldiers are discretely working with pockets of Executive Outcomes and other mercenaries, hurriedly training the Kamajohs, the ethnically based pro-government militias in Sierra Leone. Other mercenary groups like Southern Cross Security are also training and guarding the titanium mining company Sierra Rutile Limited in southern Sierra Leone. The fear of many Sierra Leoneans abroad is that with British and EO mercenary well trained ethnic militias in the country, the images of Rwanda will soon come to thedoorsteps of Sierra Leone.
GUINEA
Guinea is now 'tasting the bitterness of war' according to President Charles Taylor of Liberia. Over the past years, Guinea has been the safe heaven for Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees, but this is no more. Rebels from neighbouring countries have invaded the country on many counts.
Guinean troops have been engaged in Sierra Leone and Liberia as peacekeepers, but unable to bring peace in both countries. Now, President Lansana Conté is accusing Sierra Leone and Liberia rebel mercenaries of invading his country. Reportedly, Russian, Bosnian and Burkenabe mercenaries are said to be piloting a gunship and training Guinean dissidents. The Mano River Union that was formed to avoid such wars is now in tatters and the whole region is submerging into an unspeakable arm conflicts.
Even some diplomats observing the dilemmas in Guinea have faith in employing mercenaries. Their argument after the kidnapping of the 500 peacekeepers is that, "if the United Nations cannot supply first world soldiers with combat mandate, perhaps the only viable alternative is to contract mercenaries to do the job for them."
Although it is considered as a controversial issue, the former UNAMSIL commander in Sierra Leone at one time said, "Well yes, I think in some counties perhaps a smaller, well equipped, well trained mercenary force would probably be the answer."
In other parts of Africa, commercial armies are busy not only in combating rebel forces, but actively involved in protecting and mining natural resources. Mr. Eeben Barlow the head of Executive Outcomes, whose troops are involved in Angola, talks about "cost-effectiveness" and in an interview he once said "We are selling the business of surviving." Moreover, this is the case in Angola, a country locked in war for over 30 years. EO establishes a kind of security for oil or diamond contract in 1993. EO was first hired to protect Ranger Oil and Chevron installations and to clear the area off UNITA rebels. The job was done with 100 Mercs from EO. EO impressed both Ranger and the Angolan government. Then the government asked Heritage Oil to hire more troops from EO for a sum of $40m.
In Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (former Zaire) dictator Mobutu Sese-Seko provided a budget of about $25m to pay Serbian mercenaries recruited by Christian Tavernier. Their salaries ranger from 10,000 to $25,000 for top officers, yet they fail to save him from Kabila. According to other sources, Tavernier also recruited about 40 troops mostly some former French Foreign Legionnaires. It is also reported that they knew Africa better than they knew Europe. Nevertheless, most of the ex-Romanian police, Serbian and Croat fighters had hoped to earn more dollars in Africa than fighting back home, but fled when Kabila emerged with his 'contract fighters' from the neighbouring countries.
Today DRC is plunged in a war supported by its neighbours and mercenaries from Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe and others in the region. The war is not going away, DRC is rich in resources classified as strategic minerals.
In Congo-Brazzaville, former President Pascal Lissouba was accused of hiring Russian and Croat pilots. President Denis Sassou-Nguesso complained that they were trying to attack him from neighbouring countries. While in Cabinda former American serve officers with the US army and US Marines were hired to protect the oil fields owned by Gulf Oil Company. The oil field pumps about $1.5bn worth of oil a year. The Air Scan headed by Brig-Gen (Ret) Joe Stringham, also train troops to guard the oil installations in Cabinda. The lowest pay for a mercenary in the Cabinda coast is $225 per day, but the Front for the Liberation of Cabinda (FLEC) continues to be a source of threat.
Freelance soldiering is also a big business in Cameroon. A company called Africa Security created by Patrick Turpin a former French military officer employed an estimated number of 2,500 men in 1996. It is also reported that some PMCs also recruit and operate as militias on behalf of President Biya's political party Rassemblement Democratique du Peuple Camerounis (RDPC).
In other African countries such as Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Nigeria and Casamance region in Senegal, the endless wars are contributing to the increasing numbers of refugees and poverty. The irony is that most of these counties are rich in both mineral and marine resources. Recent findings indicate that the continent is top in 'strategic resources' needed for information technology. With these, the security business will continue to boom in Africa.
http://eotw.aptlearning.com/articles/mercs.html
The CIA's Secret Drug Wars
http://www.copi.com/articles/guyatt/deep_black.html
a diagram of harari's connections to other BCCI characters...
http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nbb6.cgi?_HARARI_MICHAEL_
the isreali/nazi/masonic/eugencis link
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/agentsmiley/message/553
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/agentsmiley/message/3381 he also has connections to michael harari via the african diamond and gun trades...traditionally anglo empires...harari is merely the guy that tipped off noriega that US forces were on the way and is wanted in norway for masterminding some political killings there...ya gotta wonder where he is hidin' out eh? well don't...he isn't hiding at all, he works at the israeli embassy in london...british israelism anyone?
why mention michael harari?
4,000 isrealis had day off on 9-11
instant messages to isreal warned of attack
by far the most intense censorship of conspiracy
'theories' online have involved what is deemed
anti-semitic, i.e. anti-israel [the equivalent of
saying it is unamerican to question US foreign policy]
the MEDIA was quite in place for coverage
public sentiment was beginning to turn pro-palestinian
and against israeli policy
the mossad saying 'by deception shalt thou make war'
harari is called the fixer
harari enjoys the protection of london as an employee
of the isreali embassy there even though norway wants
his ass for masterminding dozens of political killings
there
harari's connections to the bush enterprises are
thorough...he was in charge of operation watchtower -
the program of drugs to LA gangs for money for guns
for nicaragua - read more below
Prosecutors in Norway have issued an international
arrest warrant for a former Israeli intelligence
agent, suspected of involvement in the mistaken
killing of a Moroccan man nearly twenty-five years
ago.
Now Mike is a real piece of work. Since his
"retirement" from the Mossad he has been working "on
loan" to a number of Intelligence Agencies, including
the CIA and British Intelligence. He served as a
special advisor to Manuel Noriega in Panama. Guns for
dope and contract killings are his specialty.
http://www.rossie.com/harari.htm A spokesman said the retired agent, Michael Harari,
was wanted for questioning about the shooting, in the
Norwegian town of Lillehammer in 1973.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_119000/119404.stm where is harari now?
http://www.israel-embassy.org.uk/web/pages/polithm.htm "Remember Col. Michael Harari, the Mossad officer who
was the brains behind the drug crimes we blamed on
Panama's former strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega?" asked
Shelton. "After we invaded Panama, we grabbed Noriega
and sent him to Miami, where he is still in prison.
But Col. Harari and his men, who were as criminally
guilty as Noriega—perhaps even more so—were quietly
flown back to Israel in an un marked U.S. Air Force
transport."
http://www.spotlight.org/07_08_00/Columbia/columbia.html The participation of Noriega advisor (and former
Mossad agent) Michael Harari ensured that Israel got a
piece of Ollie North's action. As early as December
1983 the Israelis were using a Panamanian CIA front
company, IFMA Management Company, to funnel support to
the Contras. Harari himself would later boast of his
friendship with Donald Gregg, George Bush's national
security advisor.
http://www.aci.net/kalliste/castillo.htm Michael Harari, a longtime top agent of Israeli
foreign intelligence, the Mossad, who was a security
adviser to Panamanian Defense Forces Gen. Manuel
Noriega. As the Mossad station chief for Central and
South America in the late 1970s and into the 1980s
until the U.S. invasion of Panama, after which he
returned to Israel, Harari coordinated the Mossad's
gun-running and drug-trafficking operations in South
America.
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/30/071.html "An Israeli reputed to be Gen. Manuel Antonio
Noriega's closest associate may have eluded capture on
the night of the United States invasion because he was
warned to flee nearly six hours before American troops
swept into the capital, the deputy commander of
Panama's new police force said today. 7he Noriega
associate, Mike Harari, a former Israeli intelligence
officer, was last seen at 7 p.m. on Dec. 19 leaving
the home of General Noriega's wife, the commander,
Eduardo Herrera Hassan, said. The invasion began
shortly before I a.m. on Dec. 20. Mr. Harari, the
commander said, was reportedly accompanied by two
Israeli assistants who had come for him with a car.
The location of Mr. Harari, who is said to have
trained and equipped General Noriega's elite security
forces, has been a mystery."
http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0290/9002005.htm Norway solves riddle of Mossad killing
According to the report, about nine others escaped
from Norway, including the suspected leader, Michael
Harari, a senior Mossad agent who has now retired. The
commission said Norway did little to catch the
suspects in the early 1970s.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,193475,00.html EIR's investigation has determined that Alberto Prado
Herreros is operating in close association with Harari
to set up the covert weapons supply into Central
Africa. Herreros, a longtime weapons- and
drug-trafficker, has been part of the Harari network
since the 1970s, and is often characterized as the
Hispanic rendition of Harari; Herreros and Harari are,
in fact, cousins.
http://www.aboutsudan.com/dossiers/alberto_prado_herreros.htm AFFIDAVIT OF EDWARD P. CUTOLO
The cargo flown from Colombia into Panama was cocaine.
Thee second individual I recognized from the three
photographs I received, was listed as Michael Harari.
I was informed that Michael Harari is listed as a
senior Mossad agent. Harari was the un identified male
Israeli national that met the aircraft which flew into
Albrook Air Station during Operation Watch Tower. He
was the one who gave Edwin Wilson two briefcases full
of U.S. currency in various denominations. The
briefcases were given to Edwin Wilson at the end of
operations in March and Feb. 1976. It is my
understanding from Pentagon contacts, that Harari's
activities in Latin America are well known, including
his drug trafficking endeavors. I was also informed
from those same contacts that the Pentagon on the
orders of several Washington VIPs have gone to great
lengths to keep the activities of Harari a secret. I
have begun preparations to meet with David Kimche or
Michael Harari while in Europe on annual NATO
exercises. I intend to verify that Harari was the
individual who gave Edwin Wilson the briefcases while
at Albrook Air Station during Operation Watch Tower.
http://www.copi.com/articles/guyatt/cutolo.html Michael Harari, the Israeli gun-runner who helped
supply John Garang's Sudanese People's Liberation Army
in a covert operation involving Roger Winter of the
U.S. Committee on Refugees and Dan Eiffe of Norwegian
Peoples Aid, is currently wanted for arrest by the
government of Norway. The Norwegian warrant, issued
through Interpol in June 1998, stems from Harari's
coordination of assassination operations against
leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization in
revenge for the terrorist massacre of Israeli athletes
at the 1972 Munich Olympics. On July 23, 1973, one of
Harari's Mossad teams was dispatched to Norway, where
it shot and killed Moroccan waiter Ahmed Bouchikhi.
Harari had wrongly believed Bouchikhi to be PLO
intelligence chief Hassan Salameh.
http://www.aboutsudan.com/dossiers/michael_harari.htm The Chief of Staff of the Ugandan Popular Defense
Forces (UPDF), Brig. Gen. James Kazini, a nephew of
Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni, is at the center of
charges against the Ugandan army of wholesale looting
in Uganda and southern Sudan. As EIR reported in its
last issue (see pp. 58-65), Kazini was also caught in
a covert caper to smuggle arms to the Sudanese
People's Liberation Army of John Garang, operating in
cahoots with Roger Winter of the U.S. Committee on
Refugees, Daniel Eiffe of Norwegian Peoples Aid, and
notorious gun-smugglers Michael Harari, formerly
Israeli Mossad station chief for South America, and
Alberto P. Herreros, formerly a prime contract for the
illegal George Bush-Oliver North Contra supply
operation of the 1980s.
http://www.aboutsudan.com/opposition/uganda/museveni_in_sudan.htm ~~~
Now, what's happened, is that EIR investigators have
uncovered operations which are extremely reminiscent
of the covert supply of the Contras carried out during
the Bush administration under George Bush, and
involving the same cast of characters. The same seedy
crowd, so to speak, or unsavory crowd.
And this involves Michael Harari, who was the Mossad
station chief in South America and Central America
during the 80s. He appears now to have moved over to
Africa, and is now working with Roger Winter of the
U.S. Committee of Refugees, Daniel Eiffe of the
Norwegian People's Aid, which is an organization which
has now been fired by the Norwegian government in its
capacity of delivering aid to southern Sudan.
And these people are involved with Harari, and also
Alberto P. Herraras, Harari's cousin, who has a
Florida-based gun operation called Lomax
International, and these people are supplying covert
weapons to the Sudanese People's Liberation Army.
http://www.aboutsudan.com/interviews/linda_de_hoyos.htm ~~~
Michael Harari, a longtime top agent of Israeli
foreign intelligence, the Mossad, who was a security
adviser to Panamanian Defense Forces Gen. Manuel
Noriega. As the Mossad station chief for Central and
South America in the late 1970s and into the 1980s
until the U.S. invasion of Panama, after which he
returned to Israel, Harari coordinated the Mossad's
gun-running and drug-trafficking operations in South
America.
http://www.aboutsudan.com/dossiers/susan.htm The NPA was founded by the Norwegian Confederation of
Trade Unions in 1939 and has been active in southern
Sudan since 1986. Despite its "leftist" profile, it
has been cooperating closely with "right-wing"
Christian fundamentalist groups led by Baroness
Caroline Cox's British-based Christian Solidarity
International. The NPA's relationship with the group
around Mossad agent Michael Harari could date back to
its support for the Nicaraguan Sandinistas in their
struggle against dictator Anastasio Somoza in the
1970s.
http://www.aboutsudan.com/dossiers/daniel.htm is there a connection between michael harari and osama
bin laden [we have already demonstrated a connection
between bin laden and bush - the carlyle group - and
the connection between the US government and isreal is
well known - AND harari works at the israeli embassy
in london...sounds like an international effort]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/agentsmiley/message/484 ~~~
DRUG PROFITS ALLEGEDLY FUNDED FEMA
An imprisoned former US Green Beret is suing the CIA,
George Bush and others, to draw attention to their
complicity in government-sanctioned drug-trafficking
operations and cover-ups.
Speculation about the mysterious origin and funding of
the so-called US Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) has continued for decades. Most recently, the
history of FEMA as an illegal, unconstitutional entity
has been exposed in an unprecedented lawsuit against
the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its alleged
drug-trafficking and money-laundering operations.
McCoy, after all, was concerned that people just
seemed to drop dead after they delved into the CIA
cocaine operation at Mena, Arkansas. Among the dead
were Stanley Huggins, Kevin Ives, Donald Henry, Keith
McCaskell, Greg Collins, Jeff Rhodes and Richard
Winters. Or they got "suicided" - like writer Danny
Casolaro, attorney Paul Wilcher and NSA Colonel Vince
Foster.
"...in February and March 1976, a second and third
Watchtower operation took place under the command of
Colonel Edward Cutolo, and more cocaine was brought
into Albrook Air Station, Panama. [Tyree], who was
also involved in a non-volunteer capacity as Crew
Chief on a US Army helicopter, saw CIA Officer Edwin
Wilson, CIA Officer Frank Terpil, CIA Asset/Officer
Colonel Albert V. Carone, and Israeli Colonel Michael
Harari.
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/beast1.html ~~~
On June 5, 1989, The SPOTLIGHT reported flatly, citing
intelligence sources, that the infamous Medellin
cartel of Colombia was, in reality, "an
Israeli-directed organization which nets Israel
billions of dollars every year in illegal drug
profits."
Cutolo specifically cited veteran Mos sad clandestine
services operative Mi chael Harari as a key figure in
the operation, charging that then-former CIA director
George Bush and other high-ranking U.S. government
figures had "gone to great lengths to keep the
activities of Michael Harari a secret."
http://www.spotlight.org/05_28_00/CiaMos/ciamos.html ~~~
Allegations Regarding Vince Foster, the NSA, and
Banking Transactions Spying
BCCI became a important conduit for CIA intelligence,
and also a ready target for the tenacles of the NSA.
When Norman Bailey at the National Security Council
urged NSA to "follow the money" as part of the "wars"
on terrorism and drugs, the NSA had BCCI as one
obvious banking target. The CIA was there also to
assist in the monitoring of BCCI-related money flows
of other intelligence and criminal enterprises. For
BCCI had become a giant laundry machine, and the CIA
made use of BCCI for their own covert money transfers.
~~~
One example involves Manuel Noriega, who was recruited
by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in 1959, who
went on the CIA payroll in 1967, and who became head
of Panamanian military intelligence in 1968, where he
was in a strategic position to supply both information
and drugs to the United States, and later on arms to
the contras in an operation based in Panama, Mexico,
and Mena, Arkansas. CIA money was paid to Noriega
through the Panamanian branch of BCCI. The CIA and
U.S. Army only acknowledge paying Noreiga $322,226
between 1955 and 1986 (The New York Times, January 19,
1991). Be that as it may, Noriega deposited $33
million in his account (under the name of the
Panamanian Defense Forces) at the Panamanian branch of
BCCI. The head of this branch was the son of a former
director of intelligence in Pakistan.
...the BCCI-Bush- Noriega-Mena connection to drug
smuggling was matched by an similar Israeli connection
to arms and drug dealing and money laundering.
Anything went in the holy crusade to built the bomb
and the associated missile delivery systems. Just as
the pension funds controlled by Robert Maxwell were
looted to pay for Mossad operations in Europe (Victor
Ostrovsky, The Other Side of Deception, HarperCollins,
1994, p. 203), so were American S&Ls in effect looted
(or burdened with debt) by the financial machinations
of the "Committee of Thirty" to help generate the vast
funds needed to maintain and expand Israel's defense
industry. Some of these funds found their way into
offshore accounts held by U.S. politicians and defense
personnel as bribes, kickbacks, "campaign"
contributions, and payment for stolen secrets.
That, for example, Noreiga was a Mossad, as well as
CIA, asset follows from the fact his closest confidant
and advisor was Michael Harari, formerly number three
man in the Mossad, who specialized in assassination.
Harari had fouled-up a case and had the wrong man
killed, and was transferred to Mexico where he became
station chief for Latin America. After allegedly
retiring, Harari went to Panama as a security advisor
to Noreiga, where he trained UESAT, Noriega's elite
personnal bodyguards. During the U.S. invasion of
Panama, the U.S. helped Harari escape back to Israel.
http://www.aci.net/kalliste/part10.htm ~~~
Cross corroboration between testimony by CIA
operatives Gunther Russbacher and Trenton Parker, for
instance, indicates that the Colombia drug cartels
were actually organized by the CIA.
One of the most revealing incidents in the book is a
conversation recorded by one of Stich's informants,
Gene "Chip" Tatum, a helicopter pilot for the US Army
and the CIA. Here's how Stich describes it: "During
one flight to Tegucigalpa on March 15, 1985, Tatum met
with William Barr, Michael Harari and Buddy Young,
head of Governor Bill Clinton's security detail."
(Incidentally Buddy Young is currently the Southwest
Director of FEMA, appointed by his boss Bill Clinton.)
http://www.conspiracydigest.com/bookdefrauding.html for more on gunther russbacher, see:
http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/octopus.html paul wilcher tried to go to janet reno with the story
of bush sr's trip to iran in 1980 designed to
negotiate delayed release of the hostages...they were
to wait until AFTER the election...gunther is the one
that flew bush sr there...paul wilcher is dead - see:
http://www.thepacc.org/Wilcher2.htm wilcher ALSO was working on an expose of the fact that
waco was supposed to be a psyop wherein the davidians
were going to be domestic terrorists, under US
government control...israelites...seeing a pattern?
http://www.rumormillnews.com/wilcher.htm On July 23, 1973, a member of Harari's Mossad team was
dispatched to Norway, where he shot and killed
Moroccan waiter Ahmed Bouchikhi. Harari had mistaken
Bouchikhi for PLO intelligence chief Hassan Salameh.
In June 1998, Oslo prosecutor Lasse Qvigstad issued an
international arrest warrant, through Interpol, for
Harari, whom he charged as an accessory to the
Bouchikhi murder. The warrant's issuance extends the
statute of limitation on the murder investigation for
another 25 years. Gun-running operations always need
the talents of a fixer, and Harari is the right man
for covertly supplying arms to the SPLA, whose fight
against the Sudan government is aiding Anglo-Israeli
geopolitical schemes for East Africa.
http://www.iviews.com/scripts/articles/stories/default.cfm?id=12149&category_id=39 still see a difference between demopublican and
republicrat?
if clinton and bush were any closer they would be
having babies!
~~~~~~~~~~
a london, saudi, israeli connection to thwart american imperialism? or to justify it?
consider the following:
Mercenaries: Messiahs of Terror
Issa A. Mansaray
Vienna, Austria
The 'Mercs' as they are known for short, prefer to be called 'military consultants,' or 'military advisors' as in the case of the South African and United Kingdom 'Executive Outcomes' (EO). Even with all the colourful names they give to themselves, they are still considered as 'hired soldiers' or 'contract soldiers' that kill for gain in countries of conflicts out of their boundaries. The misgiving about mercenaries is that they sometimes help to fuel conflicts and can easily switch sides to the highest bidder in any war zone.
Reading magazines, newspapers, and watching TV news on conflicts, the word mercenary invokes terror and death. According to the 'Soldier of Fortune magazine', the mercenary profession is the second oldest job in the world. Mercenaries are considered as foreign soldiers helping to liberate countries in conflict. However, Mercenaries do not consider themselves as bloodthirsty soldiers. Many political observers describe them as 'Soldiers of fortune,' 'Messiahs of terror' and 'dogs of war'.
Mercenaries' operations in Africa started in the 1960s, with soldiers like Gilbert Bourgeaud, known as Colonel Bob Denard, 'Mad' Mike Hoare, 'Black' Jacques Schramme. These 'professional private soldiers' are known across Africa for their involvement in almost all the major battlefronts on the continent, from Angola to Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire) to Sierra Leone or Mozambique.
Today's mercenaries want to be respected and called names like 'Contract soldiers,' 'military advisors', or 'military experts'. In 1977, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) adopted the OAU Convention for the Elimination of Mercenaries in Africa. This measure was taken in response to the increasing rate at which mercenaries were deployed to destabilise the emerging African states at the time.
TERROR
The only thing that seems to be continuous in the 20th and part of the 21st century has been war, mostly in developing countries. While the world powers tend to pay more attention to major conflicts such as in Iraq, Chechnya, Bosnia, and others places around the world, there are plenty of low-key wars in Africa - Sierra Leone, Angola, Rwanda, Casamance, DRC, Somalia etc, and military freelancing is now widespread.
For the past years, mercenaries have been involved in almost all the conflicts and wars in Africa; the continent is still undermined and locked in Guerrilla warfare. The horrific images of 'soldiers of fortune' in conflicts and the aftermath of wars, followed by the countless number of refugees, does not encourage civilians to support them. It brings cold feelings to the hearts of many people. Many argue that their love for money and mining concessions, easily make them switch sides and unaccountable to any government.
The case of EO's involvement in Angola comes to mind. EO, a spill over of the South Africa Defense Force (SADF) fought on the side of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi in Angola, because according to them, they were told then that communism was evil, but after the cold war, they realised the truth and fought on the side of the Angola army. They advised on how to recapture the diamond fields from Savimbi.
Mercenaries in Africa see themselves as messiahs of the people from colonialism, dictators and rebel factions. Their argument, according to Col. Rudolf Van Heerden, EO's Operations Commander in Sierra Leone in 1995, is that: "Africa should not depend on the United Nations to solve its security problems. Africans must solve their own problems themselves. Africa is being destabilised by rebel wars and external influences. Executive Outcomes was formed to neutralize their rebel wars and counter the influence of negative external forces."
Nevertheless, for the people in the eastern town of Kono in Sierra Leone, the point is not convincing. When one of its members, Robert Mackenzie was killed and others injured, EO countered by shooting on sight any one within their areas of operations (AO) in the diamond and rutile mining fields. Civilians where mistaken as rebels or 'rebel sympathizers'. The war became more confused. During the war in Uganda, the government hired a couple of troops and flight pilots
from South Africa to flush the rebels in the north. They left three months after not been paid, and Joseph Koni's Lord Resistance Army (LRA) kidnapped 100s of children.
THE MERCENARY BUSINESS
Today, mercenaries in Africa consider themselves businesspersons first. They make deals through well-established firms around the world. They undertake specialised services such as intelligence gathering, military training, personal protection and guarding mining fields. They are also willing to 'eliminate' enemies of states. In recent years, they operate as arms purchasing agents for third word countries. The business does not end there, they sign mining concessions for security: a task they consider more paramount in Africa where state security in many countries is fragile and political leaders can not afford the high cost in cash.
It is reported that the Executive Outcome made a profit of about $400 to $ 500 million in contracts and soldiering in war torn developing countries. It is also noted that with such huge annual turnovers, soldier of fortune clients are not only weak African regimes, but also multinational cooperation. It is anticipated that with the United Nation's failure in keeping the peace in many countries, it might consider taking 'hired guns' to the world's must dangerous places.
Mercenarism is now a growing business industry in Africa, but tarnished by media coverage and civilian doubts about their 'clouded activities' in many countries. It is also difficult to distinguish between 'private securities' and 'mercenaries,' as the Geneva Convention exclude the use of mercenaries in any counties.
An ex-mercenary describes their job as 'the Circuit'. According to him, 'the circuit is a group of people who are employed by security companies. Nevertheless, these companies are not like the Group 4 in the UK. They are mainly just offices with skeleton staff and they recruit from a pool of talent, the circuit.' The British are said to top the list, seconded by South Africa for mercenary activities in general.
With eleven conflicts in Africa, arms sale is also on the increase. The continent is now an open market replacing the Middle East and Latin America buyers. Thus, adding to the economies of mercenary arms agents. The US State Department report titled Arms and Conflicts in Africa, reveals that "such is the influx of weapons into the continent that an AK-47 costs as little as $6 in the war-torn areas of Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia."
When the rebels in Sierra Leone nearly took over the whole country in 1992, EO was approached to guard the mining fields. They left around 1994 after series of problems. After the elections in 1996, the government in Sierra Leone approached them again to protect the mining fields, train the local Kamajor militias and to conclude the war. That did not work. The British government came under heavy criticism for deals involving the transportation of arms through Sandline International to Africa.
DANGER
Military analysts explain that, the fall of the Berlin Wall seems to be a major reason for the increase of mercenary activities on the continent. The apartheid in South Africa also led to proxy-wars with its neighbouring countries. Thus, with the end of apartheid, a number of its military forces decrease, and demobilised soldiers find conducts to continue their profession. According to the New African Magazine, EO recruits and employs mercenaries from any part of the world to fight in conflicts in Africa.
About 2,500 are reported to be working for EO and Sandline International. The end of the cold war also added to the increase in mercenary figures in Africa. International Alert, the conflict resolution group in London described them as 'an assortment of former assassins, spies, saboteurs and scoundrels.'
Some mercenaries say they do their job for money when they start; but with time, they become convinced that they are doing a job to secure freedom for others. Many never count the 'body bags' of their colleagues sent home. Allan Hetherington an Ex-Grenadier Guard says he likes his job not because of killing people. He considered killing people, as he put it: an "occupational hazard, just like being killed is an occupational hazard". A soldier of fortune that had worked all over Africa told the Punch magazine "Real mercenary work is people dying every day."
In Britain, where the mercenary business is flourishing, the government is also said to be involved in making contacts for corrupt regimes. The Punch magazine of 13 December 1997 reported as follows:
If a country approaches the UK government for training teams from the British Army and it's politically dodgy, what the Foreign Office does is give out a list of Security companies that are competent to carry out the training to whatever standard; counter-terrorist work or just general military training. They give this list of firms and say: "These companies can carry it out. It's up to you who you choose." But to get on that list you have to be cleared by the Foreign Office.
It is a hot market and there is training throughout Africa. Unlike the mercenaries groups in Britain, the Executive Outcomes in South Africa operate with less attention from the government.
In the sixties, Bob Denard created a small island for himself in Comoros, but his friend Hoare who was paid to train and motivate a small group of African soldiers failed to take control of Seychelles after years of mercenary combat in Katanga (DRC).
LIBERIA
When Charles Taylor started his rebellion on Christmas Eve in 1989, he crossed into Liberia from Ivory Coast with a group of about 100 fighters. Around 1991 the number increased to thousands of fighters. Taylor employed youths and mercenaries from neighbouring countries. Private securities from Libya and Burkina Faso were also employed to train his National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) rebels.
Taylor's war left approximately 200,000 people dead, about 65 percent of Liberia's population of 2.8 million displaced. Out of fear for his brutality, Liberians voted for Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Party (NPP) on 19 July 1997 in the presidential and congressional elections to end the seven years war in what was one of West Africa's most dangerous countries.
However, in recent months, the war started by Taylor's NPFL about a decade ago has resumed in Lofa in northern Liberia. Dissident factions had regrouped with the help of Private Military Companies (PMCs) to fight Taylor's government. In the early days of the war, it was reported that troops from the notorious group in Sierra Leone known as Internal Security Unit (ISU) were engaged in the war. The ISU joined the United Liberation Movement of Liberia (ULIMO) to fight the NPFL along the Sierra Leone - Liberia boundary. Taylor claimed that their aim was to control the country's timber and Rubber plantations.
SIERRA LEONE
The murderous campaign of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels over the past years had succeeded in making the country's government ineffective. Their terror tactics include amputations and arson. The RUF had brought the country to its knees, and all international efforts to stop them had ended in abject failure. The recent blow for the international community was the kidnapping of about 500 UN peacekeepers by the RUF.
RUF rebels humiliated the British troop sent to save the country on several occasions at the warfront. The Nigerian and Guinean troops, who are mostly interested in controlling the mining fields, also lost some of their field commanders to the RUF. With all this embarrassment, President Tejan Kabbah turned to the British government for military support. The British in turn, made the necessary contacts with Sandline International and Executive Outcomes for Kabbah's government. Yet, with a bankrupt economy, the mercenary groups were offered mining concessions to the sum of about $100 million to fight the rebels. The involvement of the British government with Sandline International in the 'Arms to Africa' episode, ended in court battles for government officials as well as the mercenary groups.
To date, with no end in sight to the terror, it has been reported that British soldiers are discretely working with pockets of Executive Outcomes and other mercenaries, hurriedly training the Kamajohs, the ethnically based pro-government militias in Sierra Leone. Other mercenary groups like Southern Cross Security are also training and guarding the titanium mining company Sierra Rutile Limited in southern Sierra Leone. The fear of many Sierra Leoneans abroad is that with British and EO mercenary well trained ethnic militias in the country, the images of Rwanda will soon come to thedoorsteps of Sierra Leone.
GUINEA
Guinea is now 'tasting the bitterness of war' according to President Charles Taylor of Liberia. Over the past years, Guinea has been the safe heaven for Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees, but this is no more. Rebels from neighbouring countries have invaded the country on many counts.
Guinean troops have been engaged in Sierra Leone and Liberia as peacekeepers, but unable to bring peace in both countries. Now, President Lansana Conté is accusing Sierra Leone and Liberia rebel mercenaries of invading his country. Reportedly, Russian, Bosnian and Burkenabe mercenaries are said to be piloting a gunship and training Guinean dissidents. The Mano River Union that was formed to avoid such wars is now in tatters and the whole region is submerging into an unspeakable arm conflicts.
Even some diplomats observing the dilemmas in Guinea have faith in employing mercenaries. Their argument after the kidnapping of the 500 peacekeepers is that, "if the United Nations cannot supply first world soldiers with combat mandate, perhaps the only viable alternative is to contract mercenaries to do the job for them."
Although it is considered as a controversial issue, the former UNAMSIL commander in Sierra Leone at one time said, "Well yes, I think in some counties perhaps a smaller, well equipped, well trained mercenary force would probably be the answer."
In other parts of Africa, commercial armies are busy not only in combating rebel forces, but actively involved in protecting and mining natural resources. Mr. Eeben Barlow the head of Executive Outcomes, whose troops are involved in Angola, talks about "cost-effectiveness" and in an interview he once said "We are selling the business of surviving." Moreover, this is the case in Angola, a country locked in war for over 30 years. EO establishes a kind of security for oil or diamond contract in 1993. EO was first hired to protect Ranger Oil and Chevron installations and to clear the area off UNITA rebels. The job was done with 100 Mercs from EO. EO impressed both Ranger and the Angolan government. Then the government asked Heritage Oil to hire more troops from EO for a sum of $40m.
In Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (former Zaire) dictator Mobutu Sese-Seko provided a budget of about $25m to pay Serbian mercenaries recruited by Christian Tavernier. Their salaries ranger from 10,000 to $25,000 for top officers, yet they fail to save him from Kabila. According to other sources, Tavernier also recruited about 40 troops mostly some former French Foreign Legionnaires. It is also reported that they knew Africa better than they knew Europe. Nevertheless, most of the ex-Romanian police, Serbian and Croat fighters had hoped to earn more dollars in Africa than fighting back home, but fled when Kabila emerged with his 'contract fighters' from the neighbouring countries.
Today DRC is plunged in a war supported by its neighbours and mercenaries from Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe and others in the region. The war is not going away, DRC is rich in resources classified as strategic minerals.
In Congo-Brazzaville, former President Pascal Lissouba was accused of hiring Russian and Croat pilots. President Denis Sassou-Nguesso complained that they were trying to attack him from neighbouring countries. While in Cabinda former American serve officers with the US army and US Marines were hired to protect the oil fields owned by Gulf Oil Company. The oil field pumps about $1.5bn worth of oil a year. The Air Scan headed by Brig-Gen (Ret) Joe Stringham, also train troops to guard the oil installations in Cabinda. The lowest pay for a mercenary in the Cabinda coast is $225 per day, but the Front for the Liberation of Cabinda (FLEC) continues to be a source of threat.
Freelance soldiering is also a big business in Cameroon. A company called Africa Security created by Patrick Turpin a former French military officer employed an estimated number of 2,500 men in 1996. It is also reported that some PMCs also recruit and operate as militias on behalf of President Biya's political party Rassemblement Democratique du Peuple Camerounis (RDPC).
In other African countries such as Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Nigeria and Casamance region in Senegal, the endless wars are contributing to the increasing numbers of refugees and poverty. The irony is that most of these counties are rich in both mineral and marine resources. Recent findings indicate that the continent is top in 'strategic resources' needed for information technology. With these, the security business will continue to boom in Africa.
http://eotw.aptlearning.com/articles/mercs.html The CIA's Secret Drug Wars
http://www.copi.com/articles/guyatt/deep_black.html a diagram of harari's connections to other BCCI characters...
http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nbb6.cgi?_HARARI_MICHAEL_ the isreali/nazi/masonic/eugencis link
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/agentsmiley/message/553
compiled by eric stewart
