December 13, 2010
December 10, 2010
DynCorp
DynCorp International is a United States-based private military company (PMC) and aircraft maintenance company. DynCorp receives more than 96 percent of its $2 billion in annual revenues from the federal government.
Involvement in child sex slave traffic
According to whistleblower Ben Johnston, a former aircraft mechanic who worked for the company in Bosnia, DynCorp employees and supervisors engaged in sex with 12 to 15 year old children, and sold them to each other as slaves. Ben Johnston ended up fired, forcing him into protective custody. According to Johnston, none of the girls were from Bosnia itself, but were kidnapped by DynCorp employees from Russia, Romania and other places.On June 2, 2000, members of the 48th Military Police Detachment conducted a sting on the DynCorp hangar at Comanche Base Camp, one of two U.S. bases in Bosnia, and all DynCorp personnel were detained for questioning. CID spent several weeks working the investigation and the results appear to support Johnston's allegations. For example, according to DynCorp employee Kevin Werner's sworn statement to CID, "during my last six months I have come to know a man we call 'Debeli,' which is Bosnian for fat boy. He is the operator of a nightclub by the name of Harley's that offers prostitution. Women are sold hourly, nightly or permanently."
Johnston is not the only DynCorp employee to blow the whistle and sue the billion-dollar government contractor. Kathryn Bolkovac, a U.N. International Police Force monitor hired by the U.S. company on another U.N.-related contract, has filed a lawsuit in Great Britain against DynCorp for wrongful termination. DynCorp had a $15 million contract to hire and train police officers for duty in Bosnia at the time she reported such officers were paying for prostitutes and participating in sex-trafficking. Many of these were forced to resign under suspicion of illegal activity, but none have been prosecuted, as they also enjoy immunity from prosecution in Bosnia. Bolkovac is portrayed by Rachel Weisz in the 2010 film The Whistleblower.
DynCorp has admitted it fired five employees for similar illegal activities prior to Johnston's charges. In the summer of 2005, the United States Defense department drafted a proposal to prohibit defense contractor involvement in human trafficking for forced prostitution and labor. Several defense contractors, among others DynCorp, stalled the establishment of a final proposal that would formally prohibit defense contractor involvement in these activities.
Abuses in Iraq
The New York Times reported on February 1, 2007 that the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction found that DynCorp seemed to act almost independently of its reporting officers at the Department of State, billing the United States for millions of dollars of work that were not authorized and beginning other jobs without a go-ahead. According to the report, the findings of misconduct against DynCorp on a $188-million job to buy weapons for, and build quarters for, the Iraqi police were serious enough to warrant a fraud inquiry.In February 2007 federal auditors cited DynCorp for wasting millions on projects, including building an unapproved, Olympic-sized swimming pool at the behest of Iraqi police officials.
On October 11, 2007, a DynCorp security guard in a US State Department convoy killed a taxi driver in Baghdad. According to several witnesses, the taxi did not pose a threat to the security of the convoy.
A US government audit report of October 2007 revealed that $1.3 billion was spent on a contract with DynCorp for training Iraqi police. The auditors stated that the program was mismanaged to such an extent that they were unable to determine how the money was spent.
A January 2010 report by the SIGIR assessed that oversight of DynCorp police training contracts by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs found that INL exhibited weak oversight of the DynCorp task orders for support of the Iraqi police training program. It found that INL lacks sufficient resources and controls to adequately manage the task orders with DynCorp. As a result, more than $2.5 billion in U.S. funds were vulnerable to waste and fraud.
July 2010 Afghan incident
On July 30, 2010, four Afghan civilians were killed on a road near Kabul International Airport when their car was struck by a vehicle belonging to DynCorp. After the accident, the DynCorp employees were attacked by a crowd and their vehicle was set on fire. A second vehicle with DynCorp employees came to the site to assist, but was also attacked, and their vehicle was also set on fire.Kabul police then arrived on scene and dispersed the crowd, after which they safely removed the DynCorp teams. DynCorp said it was investigating the accident which involved employees who were working under a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Thomas Campbell lawsuit
In August 2009, Forbes reported a lawsuit brought by former DynCorp executive Thomas Campbell against current DynCorp Chairman Robert McKeon. Campbell, formerly McKeon's closest friend as well as business partner, alleges that McKeon forced him out of the DynCorp deal at the last minute in order to prevent him from getting any of the huge payout. McKeon allegedly made hundreds of millions of dollars while Campbell was left out altogether. [27]Dancing boy incident
DynCorp workers who were employed to train Afghan policemen, took drugs and paid for young "dancing boys" to entertain them in Kunduz, according to one of the US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks.The cable stated that the Afghan interior minister at the time, Hanif Atmar asked the assistant US ambassador to try and "quash" the story, published by The Washington Post in July 2009, which downplayed the incident calling it a "questionable management oversight" when it was in fact being discussed at the highest levels of the Afghan government. According to The Guardian, the incident was influential in causing the Afghans to demand that private security companies were more strictly controlled by governments. The original article in The Washington Post said that DynCorp were strengthening its ethical practices after this and other investigations by governments. According to anonymous employees, four senior managers were sacked as a result of the dancing incident and others in Afghanistan.https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Dyncorp
December 7, 2010
December 6, 2010
Arrest Warrant for "Sex Crimes" Against Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Is for "Sex Without a Condom", NOT Non-Consensual Rape Using
Arrest Warrant for "Sex Crimes" Against Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Is for "Sex Without a Condom", NOT Non-Consensual Rape Using Force
Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange for "sex crimes".
Everyone assumed it was for rape.
But it turns out it was for violating an obscure Swedish law against having sex without a condom.
As Newsweek wrote in August:
A Swedish lawyer representing two women whose allegations triggered a sexual-misconduct investigation of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has given [Newsweek column] Declassified the first on-the-record confirmation of the allegations that led to the issuance—and then rapid cancellation—of a warrant on a rape charge and to a parallel investigation into alleged “molestation." Claes Borgstrom of the Stockholm law firm Borgstrom and Bostrom, who is representing two women who said they had sexual relationships with Assange, said his clients complained to the police of Assange's reluctance to use condoms and unwillingness to be tested for sexually transmitted disease.
***
Borgstrom said that specific details about the the allegations had not yet appeared in Swedish media. But he acknowledged that the principal concern the women had about Assange’s behavior—which they reported to police in person—related to his lack of interest in using condoms and his refusal to undergo testing, at the women’s request, for sexually transmitted disease. A detailed, chronological account of the women’s alleged encounters with Assange—which in both cases began with consensual sexual contact but later included what the women claimed was nonconsensual sex, in which Assange didn’t use a condom—was published on Tuesday by The Guardian; a Declassified item included a more explicit reference than The Guardian to Assange’s declining to submit to medical tests.
Similarly, the Daily Mail reported in August:
'When they got back they had sexual relations, but there was a problem with the condom - it had split.
'She seemed to think that he had done this deliberately but he insisted that it was an accident.’
Whatever her views about the incident, she appeared relaxed and untroubled at the seminar the next day where Assange met Woman B, another pretty blonde, also in her 20s, but younger than Woman A.
***The [second] woman admitted trying to engage her hero in conversation.
Assange seemed pleased to have such an ardent admirer fawning over him and, she said, would look at her ‘now and then’. Eventually he took a closer interest.
***What he did not tell her was that the party was being hosted by the woman he had slept with two nights before and whose bed he would probably be sleeping in that night.
***‘The passion and attraction seemed to have disappeared,’ she said.
Most of what then followed has been blacked out in her statement, except for: ‘It felt boring and like an everyday thing.’
One source close to the investigation said the woman had insisted he wear a condom, but the following morning he made love to her without one.
This was the basis for the rape charge. But after the event she seemed unruffled enough to go out to buy food for his breakfast.
Today, a former attorney for Assange - James D. Catlin - has confirmed that the charges are for having sex without using a condom. He notes that:
The consent of both women to sex with Assange has been confirmed by prosecutors.
He also accuses the prosecutors of "making it up as they go along", and said that Sweden's justice system is destined to become "the laughingstock of the world" for pursuing the case against Assange.
And Assange's current London attorney - Mark Stephens - told AOL news that he doesn't even know what the charges against Assange are, but that they are not rape:
So Assange might be a cad for sleeping with 2 women within a couple of days, and he might be irresponsible for having sex without a condom and then failing to submit to HIV tests afterwards.Stephens, told AOL News today that Swedish prosecutors told him that Assange is wanted not for allegations of rape, as previously reported, but for something called "sex by surprise," which he said involves a fine of 5,000 kronor or about $715.
***
"We don't even know what 'sex by surprise' even means, and they haven't told us," Stephens said, just hours after Sweden's Supreme Court rejected Assange's bid to prevent an arrest order from being issued against him on allegations of sex crimes.
"Whatever 'sex by surprise' is, it's only a offense in Sweden -- not in the U.K. or the U.S. or even Ibiza," Stephens said. "I feel as if I'm in a surreal Swedish movie being threatened by bizarre trolls. The prosecutor has not asked to see Julian, never asked to interview him, and he hasn't been charged with anything. He's been told he's wanted for questioning, but he doesn't know the nature of the allegations against him."
The strange tale of Assange's brief flings with two Swedish women during a three-day period in mid-August -- and decisions by three different prosecutors to first dismiss rape allegations made by the women and then re-open the case -- has more twists, turns and conspiracy theories than any of [Swedish novelist] Stieg Larsson's best-sellers.
But he has not been accused of rape under any traditional meaning of that term.
Of course, this wouldn't be so surreal if the Department of Justice hadn't launched a criminal probe of Wiklileaks, Assange didn't face potential espionage charges, representative Peter King wasn't asking that Wikileaks be designated a foreign terrorist organization like Al Qaeda, and some people hadn't called for Assange's assassination (and see this, this and this).
Indeed, Reuters provides some bizarre details courtesy of Assange's current lawyer:
Tuesday, international police agency Interpol said it had issued a "red notice" which allows arrest warrants issued by national police authorities to be circulated to other countries to facilitate arrests and help possible extradition. "There is no arrest warrant against him. There was an Interpol red notice, which is not a warrant, alerting authorities to monitor his movements," Stephens told Reuters. *** "We are in this position where we have never been told what the allegations are against him, we do know that he hasn't been charged, we do know that he has only been asked for as a witness," he said. "We know that ... the offence is one of 'sex by surprise', which is not an offence known in England. He has not been given the evidence against him." "We are in a very, very surreal situation at the moment it's like a Swedish fairytale."
December 5, 2010
December 4, 2010
Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus (The Unhived Mind Ii)
Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus (The Unhived Mind Ii)
St Lazare Foundation – of Prince Charles-Philippe d’Orléans
Duc d’Anjou
Saint Lazare Investment will be the largest owner of aquatic property and will thus face the prerogatives of future international ecological policies from the point of view of an influential investor in the Carbon Finance marketplace.
Water will soon become an instrument of power and influence.
The Saint Lazare Foundation aims to become an essential global player specializing in water. Its strength and distinctiveness derive from the three pillars on which it stands:
■ A think tank
■ An investment source
■ A centre of operations
Affiliations:
United Nations
- World Water Forum
- World Water Council
- UNESCO
European Union
NGOs
- International Office for Water
- Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council
Vatican
The World Society
The World Society was created to finance the Saint Lazare Foundation.
The World Society is a global network, which offers unique advantages to its members. It comprises those men and women around the world who are part of the economic, financial, social or cultural elite. The World Society is one of the world’s most exclusive societies. Joining the World Society is a unique opportunity, a privilege. The future is water. The members of the World Society are among ‘the happy few’ who will become key players in the future of our planet.
The World Society: What separates the elite from the elites
The object of the World Society is……the financing of the Saint Lazare Foundation and all of its activities. The World Society is a global network which offers unique advantages to its members.
It comprises those men and women around the world who are part of the economic, financial, social or cultural elite.
The World Society is one of the world’s most exclusive societies.
Joining the World Society is a unique opportunity, a privilege: fees and selection criteria are set accordingly. The future belongs to those who invest in it. The future is water.
The members of the World Society are among ‘the happy few’ who will become key players in the future of our planet.
November 28, 2010
November 25, 2010
November 24, 2010
November 23, 2010
Which airports have body-scanning technology? - CNN.com
Airports that currently have imaging technology, according to the website:
• Albuquerque International Sunport Airport
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
• Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport
• Boston Logan International Airport
• Houston's George Bush Interncontinental Airport
• Boise Airport
• Bradley International Airport
• Brownsville-South Padre Island Airport
• Buffalo Niagara International Airport
• Charlotte Douglas International Airport
• Chicago's O'Hare International Airport
• Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
• Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
• Corpus Christi International Airport
• Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
• Denver International Airport
• Detroit Metro Airport
• Dulles International Airport
• El Paso International Airport
• Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
• Fort Wayne International Airport
• Fresno Yosemite International Airport
• Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport
• Grand Rapids, Michigan's Gerald R. Ford International Airport
• Harrisburg International Airport
• Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Texas
• Honolulu International Airport
• Indianapolis International Airport
• Jacksonville International Airport
• John F. Kennedy International Airport
• Kansas City International Airport
• LaGuardia Airport
• Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
• Laredo International Airport
• Lihue Airport
• Los Angeles International Airport
• San Juan Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport
• McAllen-Miller International Airport
• Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport
• Memphis International Airport
• Miami International Airport
• Milwaukee's General Mitchell Airport
• Mineta San José International Airport
• Minneapolis/St.Paul International Airport
• Nashville International Airport
• Newark Liberty International Airport
• Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
• Oakland International Airport
• Omaha Eppley Field Airport
• Orlando International Airport
• Palm Beach International Airport
• Philadelphia International Airport
• Phoenix International Airport
• Pittsburgh International Airport
• Port Columbus International Airport
• Raleigh-Durham International Airport
• Richmond International Airport
• Greater Rochester International Airport
• Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
• Salt Lake City International Airport
• San Antonio International Airport
• San Diego International Airport
• San Francisco International Airport
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
• Spokane International Airport
• T.F. Green Airport
• Tampa International Airport
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