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CIA Contractor Now Flying Spy Drone Over Haiti
A controversial CIA contractor has found new work in Haiti, flying drones on disaster recovery duty.
When last we heard from Evergreen International Aviation, the Oregon-based firm was offering to post sentries at local voting centers during the 2008 election, "detaining troublemakers" and making sure voters "do not get out of control."
Now, company vice president Sam White tells Aviation Week that the firm is flying at least one ScanEagle surveillance drone over Haiti. "The company has a fleet of 747s and a fleet of large and small choppers, and has begun ferrying in supplies to Port au Prince," the magazine's Paul McLeary notes. "White wouldn't say who the company is moving cargo for, saying only that ‘we're working with different agencies, and we have one plane coming in tomorrow full of humanitarian supplies.'"
Over the years, Evergreen has had all sorts of interesting clients over its five-plus decades in operation. Back in the late '80s, the company "acknowledged one agreement under which his companies provide occasional jobs and cover to foreign nationals the CIA wants taken out of other countries or brought into the United States." In 2006, Evergreen's parent company flew Bill O'Reilly into Kuwait in 2006, according toSourceWatch. Last April, the company won a $158 million contract to supply the Air Force with helicopters in Afghanistan.
Haiti wouldn't be Evergreen's first disaster-response mission, however. In September, the State of California chartered Evergreen's 747 supertanker, to help put out forest fires there.
UPDATE: Brian Whiteside, executive vice president of Evergreen Unmanned Systems, denied that his company is flying drones for the earthquake recovery operation. "We have no UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] in Haiti - nothing currently in Haiti, and nothing in the region,"he tells Danger Room. Whiteside acknowledged that "we do have teams over there that are trying to help." But Whiteside isn't sure what, exactly, they've been able to accomplish. "We don't have very good comms with them." And when I asked him which government agency or charity Evergreen was trying to support, he ducked the question, and referred me to his spokesperson.
UPDATE 2: McLeary went back and posted the quotes he got from Evergreen's Sam White. "We also have some UAVs here that we're bringing in to, uh, probably work with the press to help out downloading live video links and aerial shots of the devastation," he said. "We also have 747 cargo airplanes, and so we're working with different agencies there and uh, we have a plane landing here tomorrow to bring in a lot of humanitarian supplies. So we'll be here for quite some time."
So which Evergreen exec is telling the truth?
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12 Comments so far
Show AllSpy planes "uber alle".
"...uh, we have a plane landing here tomorrow to bring in a lot of humanitarian supplies. So we'll be here for quite some time."
Meanwhile, Doctors without Borders has had at least five planeloads of medical supplies turned back from landing at Haiti. However, we are landing thousands of troops, "to assess the situation and maintain order." (Nothing new in Haiti)
By the time the assessment is made, the streets are patrolled by military and mercenaries with automatic weapons to keep people from "looting" water and food for their families, the people will be too weak and sick to protest yet another takeover.
By the time Doctors without Borders and other humanitarian aid is allowed into Haiti, the people that needed urgent treatment will mostly be dead.
But, on the bright side, I'm sure the MIC will have figured out a way to profit by this misery. They always do.
For those of you unfamiliar with just who (of more accurately--what), Evergreen International is, please read the article linked-to here: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf/2010/01/evergreen_helicopters_lost_in.html
This story, in the largest newspaper in Oregon, was published just today. Thursday, 1-21-10. It gives a person a pretty good insight on the nature of Evergreen Airways.
Keep in mind that Evergreen was just a "smallish" helicopter services outfit, before they suddenly became a player in the International Airlines arena. Evergreen got into fixed-wing aircraft when the CIA-owned "Air America" gained a little too much notoriety during the early years of our occupation of Viet Nam. It seems a Federally-owned entity, isn't supposed to be involved in conspicuous "dirty deeds" like those carried out by Air America. The CIA's remedy was not to shut Air America down--oh no. Instead, they sold the whole package to good entrepeneurial American companies willing to carry-on the dirty stuff, for the CIA. Evergreen International and Southern Air Transport stepped right up and have been carrying out these "missions" since that day. Needless to say, handsome profits continue to flow into their offshore accounts. Think of them as being a long-established peer of Blackwater Security Services.
EVERGREEN, CIA, RENDITION
You're totally on it, dude.
For anybody interested in following this "company" check out their connection with rendition flights. Some folks in the UK who tracked tail numbers had Evergreen planes in their sights.
Also, a story in the Oregonian many years ago reported that Evergreen flew the first "humanitarian" flight into Afghanistan after we bombed he hell out of them. Front page.
Their headquarters is very close the Hillsboro airport in Oregon, an airport heavily used by corporate jets and the like. The Civil Air Patrol, a weird little offshoot "search and rescue" outfit of the Air Force, also operates out of there...hint hint.
They used to hold their board meetings at the Mallory Hotel in Portland. The place is on 14th and Yamhill, nestled between a couple of Masonic buildings. No shit. Sounds looney, right? Local rumor has it that Evergreen's bossman is a former Special Ops person and is rather scary. Many of the hotel's former employees had military experience. At one time there was a fmr. special forces soldier, a Foreign Legion dude, a Burmese rebel who got all his college kid recruits killed back in their fight against the junta, a Russian with a non-Russian accent, Navy officers, etc. Those were just in janitorial and housekeeping. That, and a lot of uniformed military folk used to stay there as well.
Now, consider: Oregon has no major military bases. But what Oregon does have is a massive CIA presence, in the form of Evergreen Aviation.
Food for thought: if you were the US military, would you give 1 of 2 of your most bitchin' spy planes ever to some backwater museum, as they operate at the Evergreen Aviation museum in McMinnville? And even funnier and loonier: McMinnville says a UFO once landed on their streets...apparently to get some Hammerhead beer from the local McMenamins.
Kidding aside, Evergreen HQ is th NW Coast's Langley, folks.
Feel free to drive by and freak out, Portlanders. Take the 26 to 185th...and a right on Creepy Lane.
Happy hunting.
This is a continuum of the 'Shock Doctrine' so well written by Naomi Klein. A book well worth the read.
Evergreenbacks
Hey folks, let's take a deep breath and consider the possibility that a drone may be an efficient way, and perhaps the only way given the impassibility of roads, to gather information in a disaster zone -- like where people in need of immediate medical and other help are located. This could hardily fit the category of spying.
How does one identify "people in need of immediate medical and other help are located" from 100 feet up in the air?
The entire capital is one big disaster zone. Do you really think a fly over is going to provide any valuable information?
And the roads are not impassable. If reporters and doctors are able to get to the injured and sick then the average person can too.
It seems the only (non)purpose these drones serve is for the company to claim their employees were on the ground assisting in the recovery operations when they bill Washington for services rendered. Do you really think the government and its bureaucrats have the time to go and check on every contractor out there to see in detail exactly what he or she provided in terms of services and manpower?
Blackwater was billing the Pentagon 2 for 1 during Katrina. The company counted each contractor as two.
Then there are the urban myth type stories that are sadly true, ranging from a $190,000 toilet seat to the ~$80,000 metal bolt.
Who could possibly be surprised. And, nothing will be done to change it.
I believe the Quake to be a deliberate act, same as Katrina, to eliminate as many as possible, so I suppose the Drones just want to see how they can strike the ones who survive. Sorry,- but since the Bush neo con regime, and now Obama under the same ex CIA Gates, anything goes.
Anything goes you say??My thoughts exactly. Reminiscent of the China quake b4 the Olympics.HAARP,Directed Energy Weapons, Nikolai Tesla are great starting points..Use your fav search engine.
~Some people live their whole lives without ever waking up~
So which Evergreen exec is telling the truth?
Why do you assume that either one of them is?