‘Trophy’ pictures show US soldiers posing with corpses of Afghan civilians they are accused of killing for sport The face of Jeremy Morlock, a young US soldier, grins at the camera, his hand holding up the head of the dead and bloodied youth he and his colleagues have just killed in an act military prosecutors say was premeditated murder. Moments before the picture was taken in January last year, the unsuspecting victim had been waved over by a group of US soldiers who had driven to his village in Kandahar province in one of their armoured Stryker tanks. According to testimony collected by Der Spiegel magazine the boy had, as a matter of routine, lifted up his shirt to reveal that he was not hiding a suicide bomb vest. That was the moment Morlock, according to a pre-arranged plan, threw a grenade at the boy that exploded while other members of the rogue group who called themselves the “kill team” opened fire. They would later tell military investigators that the boy, a farmer’s son, had threatened them with the grenade. The pictures include a similar photograph of a different soldier posing with the same victim and a photograph of two other civilians killed by the unit. There was no sign on Monday of the anticipated public outrage. But with Afghanistan on holiday for the Persian new year celebrations, and media outlets initially unable to get hold of the images, anger may yet build. The US ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, recently confided to officials that he feared it might trigger the same kind of scandal as that at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, where images of prisoners being abused by US soldiers sparked anti-American protests. For weeks the US government has been working to pre-empt any outrage, with top officials, including the US vice president Joe Biden, in talks with Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president. Despite being a setback in the propaganda war between the western coalition and its insurgent enemies, Nato will be relieved that for the time being only a tiny sample of a total collection of roughly 4,000 images and video clips have found their way into the public domain. The publication of the photos will also mark the ultimate disgrace of the group of young US soldiers, who are currently facing military justice for killing innocent civilians for sport and mutilating their bodies by cutting off fingers and ripping out teeth to keep as trophies. Morlock has turned on his former colleagues, agreeing to testify against them in return for a reduced jail sentence. Some of the activities of the group are already public, with 12 men currently on trial in Seattle for their role in the killing of three civilians. Morlock has told investigators that Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs was the ringleader. In videotaped evidence, he has said Gibbs would pick out a possible target with a comment such as: “You guys wanna wax this guy or what?” Gibbs, if found guilty, could receive a life sentence. Hans-Ulrich Stoldt, a spokesman for Der Spiegel, said the magazine had other, more graphic photos. “We published three but not others, and we even pixilated those we did print so that the victims could not be identified,” Stoldt said. “We needed to document [the accusations] in some form, and were as restrained as possible.” Afghanistan Middle East United States Jon Boone guardian.co.uk
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enlarge One of the many depressing aspects of Obama’s horrific decision to start a third simultaneous war with a Muslim-majority nation is that it’s providing endless pangs of pleasure to Bill Kristol. After all, America’s Chickenhawk-in-Chief hasn’t been able to watch other people risk their asses invading a sovereign country since 2003 and he’s just as thrilled and excited about this latest adventure as you’d expect him to be: And so, despite his doubts and dithering, President Obama is taking us to war in another Muslim country. Good for him. No, seriously. That’s how Kristol actually starts out his column. Read it again: And so, despite his doubts and dithering, President Obama is taking us to war in another Muslim country. Good for him. It’s hard for most of us to comprehend the sort of vile vampiric scumbag who relishes the thought of having his country go to war in three different countries at the same time, but that’s pretty much how Bill Kristol rolls. I wonder what would happen if America successfully invaded the entire world — whatever would Kristol do to pleasure himself? Perhaps he’d recommend sending our entire army into the depths of the Pacific Ocean to launch a long-overdue war against the lost city of Atlantis. Those shifty Mermen have had it coming for a long time, after all. More: The president didn’t want this. He’s been so unhappy about such a possibility—so fearful of such an eventuality—that first he tied himself in knots trying to do nothing. Then he decided that, if he had to act, it would be good to boast that he was merely following the Arab League and subordinating American action to the U.N. Security Council. After all, nothing—nothing!—could be worse than the perception that the United States was “invading” another Muslim country. Yeah, where the hell did we get this stigma about “invading” Muslim countries from? It’s not like anyone’s ever died from such “invasions” before. Why, you’d think it was as bad as trying to give people health insurance! In all seriousness, Kristol is just happy to be starting another war, since apparently the Afghanistan conflict has gotten so BOE-RING ! The one downer for him is that Obama bothered to get the UN’s permission to attack Libya rather than going all in and giving other countries the finger like Bush did. Kristol is at his absolute happiest when our country is both at war and defying the will of the international community. But he’ll happily take the war all the same. Rubbish. Our “invasions” have in fact been liberations. They have liberated many people from their lives, yes. We have shed blood and expended treasure in Kuwait in 1991, in the Balkans later in the 1990s, and in Afghanistan and Iraq—in our own national interest, of course, but also to protect Muslim peoples and help them free themselves. Libya will be America’s fifth war of Muslim liberation. It’s amazing that after five glorious wars, the Middle East isn’t yet a mecca of sunshine, lollipops, rainbows and everything that’s wonderful that I feel when we’re together. But of course, there’s always the option of starting a sixth war, which I’m sure will make everything better. [T]he Reagan tradition—indeed, the Reagan-Bush-Dole-Bush-McCain tradition—in foreign policy isn’t a burden to be borne. It’s a tradition to be proud of. It’s rare that a political party gets to stand for more than a partial interest, for more than a limited point of view. It’s rare that a political party gets to stand for the national interest, for national greatness, for the exceptional American role in the liberation of peoples around the globe. I’m amazed that Kristol can’t type this crap without God coming down from the heavens, striking Kristol down with all manner of lightning and saying, “I didst err when I made thee, vile spawn of darkness!” In case Bill hasn’t noticed, we’re facing massive cuts to public education, to social safety net programs and even to services as basic as public street lights . And yet Kristol thinks we should sacrifice all of these things on his bloody altar of permanent warfare. Thanks for aiding his agenda, Obama!
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At 62, Tom Singh retakes day-to-day control of retailer he founded in 1969 after private equity owners tire of string of profit warnings Tom Singh has resumed day-to-day management control of New Look, the retailer he founded 42 years ago, after its private equity owners lost patience with its poor performance and ousted chief executive Carl McPhail. John Gildersleeve, the group’s chairman, announced his resignation at the same time. Singh, who founded New Look with a single store in Weymouth and retains 23% of the shares, was most recently a non-executive director at the group. He has assumed the title of interim executive chairman until a replacement for McPhail is found. Singh, 62, is not thought to be interested in the top job himself. The group declined to give a reason for the sudden departure of McPhail, a retail industry veteran who worked at Selfridges, Arcadia and Burton Group before joining New Look’s board in 2001 and assuming the top job in April 2008. He is expected to receive a year’s money as part of his departure agreement with the retailer, which is jointly controlled by private equity firms Apax and Permira. New Look added that Gildersleeve had already informed the board of his decision to move and was leaving to “focus on his other business interests”. He is non-executive deputy chairman at Carphone Warehouse. Gildersleeve’s departure is understood to be, in part, because he is not doing the job he was hired to do – chair a public company – after a planned flotation was pulled at the last minute in February last year. The management restructure came as little surprise to analysts after a terrible 18 months which saw three profit warnings and a relocation of its head office from its roots in Weymouth to London. The relocation was so unpopular that a third of the 300 staff refused to move, leaving New Look without important buying, merchandise and design personnel and forcing the group to hastily recruit 100 new staff. McPhail acknowledged the impact of the move in November when he unveiled a 5% decline in first-half profits to £73.5m, as like-for-like sales tumbled by 4.5% in the six months to 25 September. He also blamed the disappointing interim results on “worsening market conditions” – echoing a statement he made in February last year, when he blamed the decision to pull the float on the “unfavourable market backdrop”. He blamed the market in February this year, saying trading conditions in the UK had “continued to be challenging” as he announced a disappointing 9.1% decline in like-for-like sales in the 15 weeks to 8 January. While analysts agreed it was a difficult market, they believed that was only part of the reason for New Look’s woes. The chain has underperformed its rivals and lost almost half its value in 2010, according to SVG Capital, the listed company that is invested in the retailer through its association with Permira. New Look has also suffered as Primark, a key competitor, poached its head of menswear, Steve Lawton, last summer, while Barbara Horspool, the retailer’s group design director, resigned last month to take up a post at Oasis. Ramona Tipnis, an analyst at Shore Capital, said: “New Look’s like-for-like sales are the weakest in the market. It is a tough market, but they are underperforming, suffering a little bit more and they need to go back to basics and get their product sorted out.” The UK’s second largest womenswear retailer – with about 1,000 stores worldwide and about 670 in the UK – suffered by “going too young” although it is now targeting slightly older customers again, Tipnis said. This point was acknowledged by Alastair Miller, the finance director, when he revealed disappointing Christmas results. “We probably went slightly young in the ranges,” he said. New design, merchandising and buying teams, he said, were “inexperienced in New Look’s way of constructing ranges and buying product.” Miller said New Look particularly struggled to offload its ranges of tops – some of which analysts said appeared to be targeting customers in their teens and early twenties – given that the average age of its shopper was 32. Tipnis said that New Look’s debts were too high and took issue with the large “pay-in-kind” (PIK) component, where interest rolls up and is repaid in a lump sum at the end of the term. The PIK note was taken on to pay a dividend to New Look’s backers and management and may have proved the last straw for potential investors. New Look had planned to raise £650m to cut its £1bn debt rather than to invest in the company. Would-be investors reasoned that the majority of the float proceeds had been earmarked to pay off an expensive PIK loan that benefited New Look’s existing shareholders. Nick Bubb, analyst at Arden Partners, said: “If they had gone public a year ago it would have been disastrous for shareholders. It’s not just the move, or the snow. The retailer needs to strengthen its market position and its identity in an increasingly competitive market, where Primark is bigger and better and stronger than ever. “New Look has lost its way over the years. It’s origin is in very small sea-side stores. It has increased its store sizes over the years but without having something distinctive to put there.” • Tom Singh’s decision takes him down a well-worn path as founders and chief executives seek to restore the flailing businesses they established, or transformed, by returning to the helm. The best known example is Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple. He left in 1984 after losing a power struggle with the board, only to return in 1996 and take up the chief executive reins a year later. Closer to home, Steve Morgan, who bought ailing Wellington Civil Engineers and transformed it into the builder, Redrow, left in 2000 after 26 years, only to rejoin in 2009. New Look Retail industry Private equity Tom Bawden guardian.co.uk
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Consultation paper expected to restrict EHRC’s activities to core functions and to demand tighter financial management The Equality and Human Rights Commission is expected to face a demand for “major surgery” when the Home Office publishes a consultation paper on its future. The commission, chaired by Trevor Phillips, survived October’s “bonfire of the quangos” but ministers are expected to say on Tuesday they want its activities to be restricted to its core functions and the management of its finances to be sharply improved. It is expected to be stripped of responsibilities such as promoting social cohesion. The consultation is due to last only three months, with swift action to follow. The EHRC took over from the Commission for Racial Equality, the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Disability Rights Commission in 2007 to promote and enforce equality and anti-discrimination laws in England, Scotland
Continue reading …Der Spiegel Publishes Photos of U.S. Soldiers Posing with Afghan Civilians They Killed
March 21, 2011 No CommentSoldiers have always taken gruesome war trophies. The fact is, killing people for a living (or defending yourself from people who are trying to kill you) makes people, even normal people, a lot more sick and twisted than they were before they started doing it. That’s why we shouldn’t send people off to war without a very, very good reason: because they have deep psychic wounds that often make them unsuited for life after war. I’m very angry when troops do things like this , but I’m even angrier at the people who sent them there: Commanders in Afghanistan are bracing themselves for possible riots and public fury triggered by the publication of “trophy” photographs of US soldiers posing with the dead bodies of defenceless Afghan civilians they killed. Senior officials at Nato’s International Security Assistance Force in Kabul have compared the pictures published by the German news weekly Der Spiegel to the images of US soldiers abusing prisoners in Abu Ghraib in Iraq which sparked waves of anti-US protests around the world. They fear that the pictures could be even more damaging as they show the aftermath of the deliberate murders of Afghan civilians by a rogue US Stryker tank unit that operated in the southern province of Kandahar last year. Some of the activities of the self-styled “kill team” are already public, with 12 men currently on trial in Seattle for their role in the killing of three civilians. Five of the soldiers are on trial for pre-meditated murder, after they staged killings to make it look like they were defending themselves from Taliban attacks. Other charges include the mutilation of corpses, the possession of images of human casualties and drug abuse. All of the soldiers have denied the charges. They face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted. The case has already created shock around the world, particularly with the revelations that the men cut “trophies” from the bodies of the people they killed. An investigation by Der Spiegel has unearthed approximately 4,000 photos and videos taken by the men. The magazine, which is planning to publish only three images, said that in addition to the crimes the men were on trial for there are “also entire collections of pictures of other victims that some of the defendants were keeping”. The US military has strived to keep the pictures out of the public domain fearing it could inflame feelings at a time when anti-Americanism in Afghanistan is already running high. In a statement, the army said it apologised for the distress caused by photographs “depicting actions repugnant to us as human beings and contrary to the standards and values of the United States”.
Continue reading …Alan Greenspan has returned and is trying to be the Grand Poobah of economics again. Hasn’t the world endured enough of his Randian ideology and resulting actions that led to the meltdown of the entire global financial markets? Here’s Paul Krugmans’s response : Some people have asked me for reactions to this piece by Alan Greenspan (pdf) on how Obama’s activism is preventing economic recovery. I could go through the weak reasoning, the shoddy econometrics that ignores a large literature on business investment and ignores simultaneity problems, etc., etc.. But never mind; just consider the tone. Greenspan writes in characteristic form: other people may have their models, but he’s the wise oracle who knows the deep mysteries of human behavior, who can discern patterns based on his ineffable knowledge of economic psychology and history. Sorry, but he doesn’t get to do that any more. 2011 is not 2006. Greenspan is an ex-Maestro; his reputation is pushing up the daisies, it’s gone to meet its maker, it’s joined the choir invisible. He’s no longer the Man Who Knows; he’s the man who presided over an economy careening to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression — and who saw no evil, heard no evil, refused to do anything about subprime, insisted that derivatives made the financial system more stable, denied not only that there was a national housing bubble but that such a bubble was even possible. If he wants to redeem himself through hard and serious reflection about how he got it so wrong, fine — and I’d be interested in listening. If he thinks he can still lecture us from his pedestal of wisdom, he’s wasting our time. You may remember when Rand Greenspan made a pretty shocking admission to Rep. Waxman Waxman: Then where do you think you made a mistake? Greenspan: I made a mistake in the presuming that the self-interest of organizations, specifically banks and others, was such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders… Waxman? Do you have any financial responsibility for the financial crisis? (On his ideology) Greenspan: …to exist you need an ideology. The question is whether it is accurate or not, and what I’m saying to you is, yes, I found a flaw. Zombies who need to eat our brains like Greenspan never go away. Here’s an excerpt from Matt Taibbi’s new book, Griftopia , on Greenspan. Greenspan met Rand in the early fifties after leaving Columbia, attending meetings at Rand’s apartment with a circle of like-minded jerkoffs who called themselves by the ridiculous name of the Collective and who provided Greenspan the desired forum for social ascent. These meetings of The Collective would have an enormous impact on American culture by birthing a crackpot anti-theology dedicated to legitimizing self interest — a grotesquerie called Objectivism that hit the Upper East Side cocktail party circuit hard in the fifties and sixties. It is important to to spend some time of the seriously demented history of Objectivism, because this lunatic religion that should have choked to death in its sleep decades ago would go on, thanks in large part to Greenspan to provide the entire intellectual context for the financial disasters of of the early twenty first century. He was always committed to his Randian beliefs and based US monetary policy on those ideas throughout his career — which of course in the end produced a huge failure. I agree with Paul and that the only time I want to hear from him again is : If he wants to redeem himself through hard and serious reflection about how he got it so wrong, fine — and I’d be interested in listening . Wouldn’t it be nice to see the media and their 24/7 capabilities examine Greenspan’s policies and actions and do it for him since he’ll never come clean?
Continue reading …AP: Obama Playing ‘Grand Tourist’ in Rio ‘Sure to Endear Him Even More’ to Brazilian People
March 21, 2011 No Comment
In a report for the Associated Press on Sunday, Jim Kuhnhenn fawned over President Obama's tour of Rio De Janeiro during a trip to Brazil: “Obama played grand tourist….The president's sightseeing Sunday was sure to endear him even more to a diverse and multicultural country where his personal story already makes him popular.” The article described how Obama, while visiting a community center in one of Rio's poorest slums, “shed his coat and tie, rolled up his sleeves and dribbled one-on-one soccer with one surprised boy.” And noted: “The president walked out into the streets and waved to throngs of residents who cheered him from rooftops and balconies. Dozens of young children pressed up against a chainlink fence trying to get a look.” Kuhnhenn mentioned U.S. military action in Libya as if it were a distraction from Obama's real job: “The president had been on a conference call with his top advisers earlier Sunday to get briefed on the effort as juggled his touristing and economic outreach in Latin America with the unceasing demands of being commander-in-chief.” He went on to observe: “Obama's attention has been divided. He's been forced to shuttle from meetings with his host, President Dilma Rousseff, and with Brazilian and U.S. executives to briefings and secure calls with his national security team. With the conflict in North Africa sure to continue to intrude, Obama was heading from his shanty town tour to deliver a speech promoted as an address to the Brazilian people.” CBS's Sunday edition of the Evening News seemed to pick up on the tone of the AP article, as White House correspondent Chip Reid declared: “It's being called the split-screen presidency – on one side the military operation in Libya; on the other President Obama in Brazil, visiting a Rio de Janeiro shanty town known as the City Of God. And refusing to allow the turmoil in Libya to distract him from what he insists is vitally important business here.” As TimesWatch's Clay Waters reported , Monday's New York Times also praised Obama's stop in Brazil: “Brazilians who gathered at a plaza trying to catch a glimpse of him said that he had inspired millions in this country because of his African heritage.” — Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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A century after Machu Picchu’s rediscovery, ancient Mayan and Moche sites are being ransacked for tourist baubles Etched into the surviving art of the Moche, one of South America’s most ancient and mysterious civilisations, is a fearsome creature dubbed the Decapitator. Also known as Ai Apaec, the octopus-type figure holds a knife in one hand and a severed head in the other in a graphic rendition of the human sacrifices the Moche practiced in northern Peru 1,500 years ago. For archaeologists, the horror here is not in Moche iconography, which you see in pottery and mural fragments, but in the hundreds of thousands of trenches scarring the landscape: a warren of man-made pillage. Gangs of looters, known as huaqueros , are ransacking Peru’s heritage to illegally sell artefacts to collectors and tourists. “They come at night to explore the ruins and dig the holes,” said Cuba Cruz de Metro, 58, a shopkeeper in the farming village of Galindo. “They don’t know the history, they’re just looking for bodies and for tombs. They’re just looking for things to sell.” A looting epidemic in Peru and other Latin American countries, notably Guatemala, has sounded alarm bells about the region’s vanishing heritage. The issue is to come under renewed scrutiny in the run-up to July’s 100th anniversary of the rediscovery of Machu Picchu, the Inca citadel in southern Peru, by US historian Hiram Bingham. He gave many artefacts to Yale university, prompting an acrimonious row with Peru’s government which ended only this year when both sides agreed to establish a joint exhibition centre. A recent report, Saving our Vanishing Heritage, by the Global Heritage Fund in San Francisco, identified nearly 200 “at risk” sites in developing nations, with South and Central America prominent. Mirador, the cradle of Mayan civilisation in Guatemala, was being devastated, it said. “The entire Peten region has been sacked in the past 20 years and every year hundreds of archaeological sites are being destroyed by organised looting crews seeking Maya antiquities for sale on the international market.” Northern Peru, home to the Moche civilisation which flourished from AD100-800, had been reduced to a “lunar landscape” by looter trenches across hundreds of miles. “An estimated 100,000 tombs – over half the country’s known sites – have been looted,” the report said. The sight breaks the heart of archaeologists and historians piecing together the story of a society which built canals and monumental pyramid-type structures, called huacas , and made intricate ceramics and jewellery. The Moche, who pre-dated the Incas by 1,000 years, also painted murals and friezes depicting warfare, ritual beheading, blood drinking and deities such as the Decapitator, who has bulging eyes and sharp teeth. Analysis of human remains confirmed that throat-cutting was all too real but, in the absence of written records, archaeology must shed light on what happened. In villages such as Galindo that is becoming all but impossible. Crude tunnels and caves make Moche ruins resemble rabbit warrens. Deep gashes cut into walls expose the brickwork below. Millennia-old adobe bricks are torn from the ground and scattered as though in a builder’s yard. Most huaqueros are farmers supplementing meagre incomes. Montes de Oca, one of three police officers tasked with environmental protection in a region of a million people, said he was overwhelmed. “I’ve been doing this for 28 years. There are three of us and one truck. It’s insufficient but we do everything possible.” Ten miles away Huaca del Sol, one of the largest pyramids in pre-Columbus America, is an eroded, plundered shell. Here the culprits were not impoverished farmers but Spanish colonial authorities who authorised companies to mine for treasure, said Ricardo Gamarra, director of a 20-year-old conservation project. “They diverted the river to wash away two-thirds of the huaca and reveal its insides,” he said. “They mined through the walls and caused it to collapse in various places. It’s impossible to guess how much was taken because we don’t know how much was there.” Donations from businesses and foundations have helped Gamarra’s team protect what is left, drawing 120,000 visitors each year, but of 250 other sites in the region just five have been protected. “In the mountains it’s the same. It is full with archaeological sites, almost all of them have been destroyed,” said Gamarra. There has been good news from Chotuna, also in northern Peru, where archaeologists found frescoes in a 1,100-year-old temple of the Lambayeque civilisation, which flourished around the same time as the Incas. Jeff Morgan, executive director of the Global Heritage Fund, urged Peru to funnel tourists away from Machu Picchu, overrun by two million visitors a year, to lesser known sites which could then earn revenue to protect their heritage. The government should resist the temptation to pocket the money. “One of the biggest problems is the disconnect between local communities and management of the sites. We think locals should get at least 30% of revenues.” Only then, said Morgan, would cultural treasures fom the Moche and other civilisations be saved. Peru Guatemala Archaeology Rory Carroll guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Defence minister vows to stand by president after 12 senior military commanders defect from regime A military showdown is looming in Yemen after the defence minister announced that the army would defend the president against any “coup against democracy”. The statement came just hours after 12 military commanders, including a senior general, defected from the regime and promised to protect anti-government protesters in the capital. “The armed forces will stay faithful to the oath they gave before God, the nation and political leadership under the brother president, Ali Abdullah Saleh,” said the defence minister, Mohammed Nasser Ahmed. “We will not allow under any circumstances an attempt at a coup against democracy and constitutional legitimacy, or violation of the security of the nation and citizens.” Prior to the statement, Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, suffered a significant blow when General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a longtime confidant of the president and head of the Yemeni army in the north-west, announced he would support “the peaceful revolution” by sending soldiers under his command to protect the thousands of people gathered in the capital demanding that Saleh step down. “According to what I’m feeling, and according to the feelings of my partner commanders and soldiers … I announce our support and our peaceful backing to the youth revolution,” Ali Mohsen said via a video statement released before noon. Minutes after Ali Mohsen’s defection, tanks belonging to the republican guards, an elite force led by the president’s son Ahmed Ali, rolled into the streets of Sana’a, setting the stage for a standoff between defectors and loyalists. Republican guard tanks took up strategic locations across the city, at Saleh’s residence, the ministry of defence and at the central bank. Meanwhile, tanks of Ali Mohsen’s 1st armoured division took up positions elsewhere in the city. Ali Mohsen’s pledge opened the floodgates to a stream of defections from the regime. Scores of ambassadors, regional governors, editors of government newspapers, prominent businessmen and senior members of the ruling party are among those who have either quit or announced their allegiance to protesters in the past few hours. Within hours, seven Yemeni ambassadors – to Japan, Syria, the Czech Republic, Jordan, China, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait – announced they were standing down, too. “The regime is crumbling. There is very little support left for the president now,” said Mohammed al-Naqeeb, head of the ruling party in Aden, now resigned. At first, protesters gathered at Sana’a University were unsure what to make of the general’s pledge, with many fearing an increased military presence might mean further attacks. But confusion soon gave way to jubilation as hundreds of soldiers from the 1st armoured division arrived on foot, greeted by protesters, who kissed them and hoisted them on to their shoulders. The soldiers were soon mingling with protesters as small entourages of Ali Mohsen’s men picked their way through the tent-filled streets, cheered on by young men waving placards carrying pictures of the general. Soon a line of policemen, soldiers, and businessmen had formed, each waiting their turn to step up on to a huge stage and announce their resignations to a roaring crowd of thousands. “We’ve bought you a birthday present, Ali – it’s a plane ticket to Saudi,” shouted Haeman Saeed, a leading Yemeni businessman after announcing his resignation from the ruling party. “The army are with you,” roared Abdallah al-Qahdi, a senior military general from Aden who was fired from his position last week for refusing to put down a peaceful demonstration. Qahdi said many regime insiders had been waiting for someone like Ali Mohsen to lead the way, and he expected most of the army to have defected by nightfall. But for the time being, the outcome remained unclear. Analysts said there may soon be a violent standoff within the military between those who have defected and the significant portions of the army still under the president’s control. Yemeni political analyst Abdul Irayani said: “Unfortunately, the president and his sons still have control over powerful sections of the military, including the republican guard and the air force. “We are all praying that Saleh leaves quickly and quietly to prevent the situation deteriorating rapidly.” Others suggest the resignations may have been negotiated behind the scenes. “I believe this is a step towards a transitional military government in Yemen,” said Abdullah al-Faqih, a professor at Sana’a University. The army split followed Saleh’s decision to sack his entire government after tens of thousands of mourners flooded the streets of the Yemeni capital on Sunday in a mass funeral for the 52 protesters killed on Friday in a sniper attack by loyalists. The president asked the cabinet to serve as a caretaker government until he forms a new administration. Piling further pressure on Saleh, the country’s most powerful tribal confederation also called on him to step down. Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, the leader of Hashed, which includes Saleh’s tribe, issued a statement on Sunday asking the president to respond to the people’s demands and leave peacefully; several religious leaders co-signed it. Ali Mohsen is between 50 and 60 years old, and is generally perceived to be the second most powerful man in Yemen. Most reports indicate he is the cousin of Saleh’s two half-brothers, although there is much confusion on this matter, with some claims that he is himself a half-brother to Saleh. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar’s name is mentioned in hushed tones among most Yemenis, and he rarely appears in public. Those who know him say he is charming and gregarious. But as commander of the north-east region and the 1st armoured division, Ali Mohsen acted as Saleh’s iron fist. The area he controls includes the governorates of Sa’ada, Hodeidah, Hajja, Amran, and Mahwit, and he is more powerful than any governor. Ali Mohsen was instrumental in the north’s victory in the 1994 civil war and in crushing the recent Sa’ada uprising. It is estimated that he controls more than half of all military resources and assets. Yemen Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The hammer comes down at last on those far-right ‘Liberty Dollars’ promoters
March 21, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media A federal jury in North Carolina finally is bringing the hammer down on the NORFED “Liberty Dollars” scam artists for trying to undermine U.S. currency: The leader of a group that marketed a fake currency called Liberty Dollars in the Asheville area and elsewhere has been found guilty by a federal jury of conspiracy against the government in a case of “domestic terrorism.” Bernard von NotHaus was convicted Friday at the conclusion of an eight-day trial in U.S. District Court in Statesville. The jury deliberated less than two hours, according to the Department of Justice. Charges remain pending against William Kevin Innes, an Asheville man who authorities said recruited merchants in Western North Carolina willing to accept the “barter” currency, according to court records. Innes was indicted along with von NotHaus in 2009. “Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism,” U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins said. “While these forms of anti-government activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country.” The case was investigated by the FBI, Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Secret Service with help from the U.S. Mint. “We are determined to meet these threats through infiltration, disruption and dismantling of organizations which seek to challenge the legitimacy of our democratic form of government,” Tompkins said. Von NotHaus, 67, faces up to 25 years in prison during sentencing, which hasn’t been scheduled. Back when the feds first raided von NotHaus’ operations in 2007, CNBC’s Lawrence Kudlow invited him on for an interview that was remarkably congenial, if notably ill-informed: KUDLOW: I don’t understand why people aren’t free to choose. If they want to circulate your coins or your paper, they should be free to do that. I do think it is against the law, but I think in a perfect world they should be free to choose. Von NotHaus’ outfit called itself NORFED — the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve Act & Internal Revenue Code. Among the coins it minted just before it was busted were Ron Paul dollars. On CNBC, Von NotHaus went on to claim that the NORFED currency was perfectly legal. Just for the record, minting coins to be used as currency in fact is illegal, under 18 USC 486 : Whoever, except as authorized by law, makes or utters or passes, or attempts to utter or pass, any coins of gold or silver or other metal, or alloys of metals, intended for use as current money, whether in the resemblance of coins of the United States or of foreign countries, or of original design, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. NORFED and its defenders liked to claim that there was nothing illegal about minting your own coins if you choose — though of course others this is true only if you don’t make them look like legal tender. It’s also somewhat irrelevant if you’re selling them as part of a pyramid scheme, and using the business for illegal money laundering — which is what NORFED was doing. As the original affidavit explained: The marketing system NORFED operates to sell the currency is a multi-level marketing scheme. The scheme gives NORFED, RCOs, and Associates a profit for selling the ALDs into circulation. When the ALD reached the point of being unprofitable, NORFED conducted a “move up” of the currency. In 1998, the ALD currency was minted using a $10.00 base, meaning that a $10.000 ALD coin, eDollar, or warehouse receipt was backed by one troy ounce of silver. In November of 2005, the thirty (30) day moving average of the spot price of silver reached the “move up point” set by the NORFED. NORFED recalled all of the $10.00 base coins and warehouse receipts and “re-minted” the currency as a $20.00 base currency. This change made what the day prior had been a $10.00 denomination ALD coin, warehouse receipt, or eDollar backed by one troy ounce of silver, a re-minted re-issued $20 denomination coin. This instantly doubled the value of the currency. The “move up” left the silver and gold holdings at the same level as they were at the $10.00 base. Thus the value of the entire currency was doubled without changing the holdings at all. The other effect of the “move up” was a tremendous increase in profits for NORFED, RCOs and Associates. The U.S. attorney’s description of NORFED’s activities as “domestic terrorism” has raised some eyebrows — Ben Smith at Politico calls it a “novel expansion” of the word’s definition, while the usual suspects of the wingnutosphere have been squawking. But there’s nothing particularly novel about it at all: “terrorism” has long been used to include crimes where the intent and motive involved attacking and undermining the government of the United States. And that’s abundantly self-evident in this case.
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