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Did the CIA Deploy a Blackwater Hit Team in Germany?
German prosecutors have launched a preliminary investigation into allegations that the CIA deployed a team of Blackwater operatives on a clandestine operation in Hamburg, Germany, after 9/11 ultimately aimed at assassinating a German citizen with suspected ties to Al Qaeda. The alleged assassination operation was revealed last month in a Vanity Fair profile of Blackwater's owner Erik Prince.
FILE - In a July, 21, 2008 file photo, founder and CEO of Blackwater Worldwide Erik Prince is seen at Blackwater's offices in Moyock, N.C.(AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File) According to Vanity Fair, one of the team's targets was Mamoun Darkazanli, a naturalized German citizen originally from Syria. Darkazanli has been accused by Spain of being an Al Qaeda supporter with close ties to the alleged 9/11 plotters who lived in Hamburg. The Blackwater/CIA team "supposedly went in 'dark,' meaning they did not notify their own station--much less the German government--of their presence," according to Vanity Fair. "[T]hey then followed Darkazanli for weeks and worked through the logistics of how and where they would take him down." Authorities in Washington, however, "chose not to pull the trigger."
This week, a senior lawmaker in Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union called on Washington to provide an explanation. "If this commando really existed and the U.S. government knew about it but didn't notify our government then this would be a very grave incident," said the lawmaker, Wolfgang Bosbach.
His concerns were echoed in the US by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. "This really is part of an ongoing investigation that I can't talk about, but even the fact that there is that allegation, I think, gives one a picture of the degree to which Blackwater has been completely enmeshed in these secret operations," Schahowsky said. "And, you know, at least the allegation that they are, I think is disturbing enough. And there is an investigation going on around activities like that."
Dieter Wiefelspütz, the domestic policy spokesperson for the parliamentary group of Germany's center-left Social Democrats, told Der Spiegel it is irrelevant that Darkazanli's targeted assassination was never carried out. "If it can be confirmed, then this was a murder plot," he said. The conservative Christian Democratic Union joined the Social Democrats in calling for an official inquiry.
From Der Spiegel:
Hans-Christian Ströbele, a prominent German Green Party politician, however, said he was unconvinced. "The fact is that the CIA can, for the most part, do whatever it wants here in Germany," the member of parliament said. "The secret prisoner transports after September 11 showed that--and no one dared to do anything about it." Try to imagine the opposite happening, he said. "Imagine if (Germany's federal intelligence agency) the BND were to carry out a hit job via a front company, say in New Orleans. It would be a shocking occurrence," he said...
Ströbele said he would call for the parliamentary control committee to discuss the allegations. He said one also had to ask "where the German intelligence services were." After all, he said, "they are supposed to find out whether other services are romping about here."
In an interview on German TV this week, Darkazanli said he was "speechless" at the story. Ströebele, the Green Party lawmaker, also asked for a probe about what the German government knew about the alleged CIA/Blackwater operation. "It can't be true that they knew nothing," he said.
This brewing scandal in Germany is the latest allegation to surface in what is a clear pattern of the US conducting clandestine rendition and assassination operations within the borders of allied countries. In November, an Italian judge convicted 23 US intelligence operatives in the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian imam from a Milan street as part of a CIA extraordinary rendition operation. Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, aka Abu Omar, was taken to Egypt, where he said he was tortured.
32 Comments so far
Show All'then this would be a very grave incident' said lawmaker wolfgang bosbach...................
yeah, and what's he going to do about it if it's true?????
in Britain:
David Kelley?
Robin Cooke?
Meine Freunde,
If you can't defend your borders then you don't have any, as the neo-cons would say.
The locust theory of DAFT war predicts that America's Cyclopean obsession with future terrorists will drive its allies away.
The number and strength of enemies* will increase. 'Murica will become sicker and more paranoid because of this, and down and down we will spiral into AmeriKKKa** as we follow each MIC-rabbit mis-leading us for their own personal gain***.
This is similar to how ancient Athens lost its Empire and even its own freedom.
*so that politicians can vomit out mere words that prove that they are the best 'suited' for office because they are such tough guys. Some will prove their toughness by avoiding national service that involves personal risk and by ordering you to sacrifice for your cause which is really their cause.
**A land glowing and devoid of people, but safe from alien invasion.
*** I am of course referring to Alcibiades only. Any similarity with current or former politicians would be, well, historically validated.
So the article says the CIA tried to contract a hit on a guy with "suspected" ties to Al Qaeda. It does not say the guy had "proven" ties to Al Qaeda or "proven" links to planning 9-11. The CIA has ties to Al Qaeda, it was funding them and Bin Ladin at times.
The whole assassination business is illegal and likely counter productive. It casts the US in a bad light and shows that the US has contempt for the national sovereignty of the target nation.
Illegal methods seemed an acceptable idea when Israel was grabbing and or killing escaped Nazis hiding in Peru or somewhere, but now it is standard US practice. The same would not be acceptable if other countries were doing it here. At least there should be a trial in absentia where the guy is convicted and sentenced.
This process of CIA/Blackwater assassination is too much like a Khomeni fatwa against Salmon Rushdie.
Since Blackwater now exists it is not going to be so easy to get rid of it.
If the US doesn't buy its services they will hire out to other nations...and with their unique access to the USA there will be quite a number of people who we've pissed off who would love to hire them.
Mercenaries work for whoever pays them.
Yes, Instead of working for the evil ones they will get hired by the extreme evil ones.
It's that deja vu thing.... again.
Blackwater doesn't exist - Xe Services LLC does.
the day may come that the rest of the world becomes allies
and stops this fascist monster in its tracks. how long can they
continue to take this nazi monster bullying who ever it
wants before enough is enough?its showing itself like
afghanistan last week. what ever happens amerikka reaps
like it sowed! there is such thing as peace in this
country until the armament manufacturers are seized by
the government and the war monsters in the dod are
kicked out leaving only sane and rational people.
Really, is anyone surprised with this headline? The same people closed congress with an anthrax scare and started dismantling all and every liberty and freedom that remained above water in this country. They sent Blackwater to New Orleans to kill our own people, and we did nothing. The fact that we know what they are doing does not matter to those in charge. They have been caught at every criminal event that has happened, and they don't care. They think that they are above the law. Until I see evidence to the contrary, I can only agree with their perception of the situation. My question is "How long are we to let them destroy our country?".
You are so damn right!
I would amend your question to Can We STop them from destroying our country?
They seem to be of the opinion that they are unstoppable by the citizens. They are quite aware that the majority of the country would prefer to be safe rather than free. There are a multitude of groups protesting this or that, and in a productive way I might add. But there seems to be reluctance to verbalize the fact that our government is criminal. I don't believe the courts will be any use to us in this matter, The nation news is complicit in the crime, and the courts have been appointed by the criminals. There are two ways to approach this. One the peaceful way to wait for them to see the errors of their ways, willing to make restitution to the people who have been harmed. And be willing to be tried by an independent created court. In the meantime we all sit back and enjoy the carnage that we are creating around the world. The other approach is to terrible to mention. An armed revolt by the people. I can not sanction this approach as it is beyond by believes. But I will always keep it on the list of potential actions.
searsponcho,
I used to fly for a living, and witnessed a number of popular uprisings around the world. Usually, they never work unless you have both the church and the military on the side of the people.
Well, we don't even have the people, so forget about it. Until you get half of my Americans willing to at least boycott and throw tea in the harbor, you have nothing. This is Union-Old-School 101. Concentrate your efforts on education of those trapped inside the Fortune-500-Matrix that think the world is a fairy tale for their amusement and entertainment only.
Copy CD articles and leave them laying everywhere you go. Cheap. Effective. Imho, studying the life of Ben Franklin and Abraham Lincoln, we've got at least five to ten years before anything boils over.
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
It's sad that most people in the world are unaware of how evil the U.S. actually is.
As it continues to spread its greedy, imperial tentacles across the world, it continues to claim it's simply spreading democracy, human rights and freedom. A close examination of Iraq shows just how fictitious this claim is. What it spreads is chaos and destruction.
Blackwater is yet another vile creation of corporate America. What more proof do you need?
www.dangerouscreation.com
What is really sad is the number of Americans who are not aware!
"CIA Deploy a Blackwater Hit Team in Germany". Really smart move...
Blowback from US hubris keeps coming. Even the staunchest allies are alienated.
The blowback we garner from US misconduct around the globe is enough to run huge wind-turbines across the land. - Maybe that's Obama's sustainable energy plan?
That was very good.
In an era where the 1975 version of "Rollerball" is more prescient than ever, it appears as if Blackwater is to be the future corporate regime's intelligence arm.
Germany is not an "ally" of the US, but a country which is controlled by Washington since 1945/1989. Of course the CIA can assassinate who they want in Germany, but the Americans used to warn their German puppets beforehand. Now the puppets are playing offended because Washington didn't bother to tell them about this.
Yawn.
Ha! This is great! Prince feels like he was "thrown under the bus" by "someone" and now is looking for revenge. Perfect! It's sooooooooo good to see the neo-cons getting along so well. This is why they will never succeed in the long run. I can't wait to see what else he releases. Go Princy GO!
They could have just used a predator drone
LOL, the Germans are complaining that the CIA is a "foreign" agent. Sometimes they get homesick and like to go back. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5197039390510898056&ei=pUlJS7jWLIOGqQP0js3NDg&q=nazi+cia#
Is a murder/assassination plot only bad if it carried out by CIA/Blackwater in "civilized" countries? What about investigating all the assassinations we carry out via drones, commandoes, and CIA operatives in the Middle East? What about the Israeli assassinations of elected Palestinians? Don't those count, too?
The Germans are finally coming to their senses. They've been faithfully following the Godfather's orders for 60 years. They continued admiring us after we murdered 3 million southeast asians during the Vietnam war. Now, a generation of Germans that had nothing to do with the holocaust is refusing to self-flagellate over it and have money extorted by the holocaust industry - they even named a street in Berlin after the terrorist Ben-Gurion!
They are sick of putting soldiers in harm's way in Afghanistan in order to put a nice face on a fossil fuel war. They are singing songs in their own language again. Good for them. And thank god for German beer. The USA couldn't brew itself a good glass of beer in a million years.
A small reminder to those in power:
The US is stronger militarily than any other nation. But it is not stronger than any possible combination of other nations. We seem to be bent on alienating all of them, one at a time.
What happens if they form a large alliance?
Just imagine a twelve year long economic embargo by Middle Eastern countries!
I wonder when various friendly countries people will just start murdering americans abroad?
Probably when they catch one stupid enough to put an American flag on his luggage instead of a Canadian flag! (Unless the arrogance gives them away first!)
Finally, Scahill shows he's retained a sense of humor through his long record of reporting on the ugliness that is the USA:
"This brewing scandal in Germany..."
Jeremy, you inform, scare, and slay me.
-------------------------------------------------------
If you don't ask yourself why, you know nothing.
Ho-Hum--------Yawn. Just another day at the office for the Evil Empire. Murder, torture, assassination, kidnaping, drone bombings of children. What's all the excitement about? These atrocities are as American as Apple Pie, (or something). Get used to it.
"Did the CIA Deploy a Blackwater Hit Team in Germany?"
Was the Pope a Nazi?
Almighty God, Creator of the universe, please send the Rapture soon.
Take immediately Erik Prince, Mr. Bush and Ms. Condoleeza Rice, Mr. Dick Cheney, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, Mr. Powell, Mr. Karl Rove, Mr. Paul Wolfowitz, I Lewis Libby, Ari Fleischer, John Ashcroft, Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad, Douglas Feith, James Woolsey, Bill Pryor, James E. Mitchell, along with Beck/Palin/Hannity/Limbaugh/Lou Dobbs/Bill O'Reilly and anyone else of their ilk out of our world.
We others who still need time in this life to expiate our sins ask that you allow us to remain behind to muddle along without these "holy ones." But, please, Lord, send the Rapture as soon as You can stand to have these people with you in the Other World.
The rest of us will take what's left and distribute it to each as has need.
Believe me, while none of these events might make it to the evening television news here in the US, they will certainly be featured on "Abendschau" programs all over Germany, and while many, many more Germans read newspapers than people here in the US, they will also be exposed to the investigations in print. And, yes, the Germans are also redeveloping a sense of independence and national pride as someone suggested below, and they won't take very kindly to such clandestine and impertinent Yankee "horse shit and guns smoke" in their country. With this, their almost universal satisfaction with Obama's victory and presidency will wear a little bit thinner.