Government Assassination - the Austin connection

[Guest040616]

I must admit that it upset me when I first read Nightcrawler's asinine "idiot" remark. Not being familiar with his posts, I decided to read some of his other remarks. It was at that point that everything quickly fell into place!

Apparently the older I get the more mellow I have become!

[theaustinescorts]

Make no mistake about this. The "humanitarian" issue is a pretext to do everything that can be done under law to get rid of Kadaffi.

The British have several hundred SAS operators there now trying to give direction to the rebels. They were in Sierra Leone in the 1990s at various points [covertly of course] and were able to give direction to the Nigerians who were fighting off the Sierra Leonean Rebels and their own Army, so I've seen first hand how they do things. In Sierra Leone they did a magnificent job but I don't know if they have as much to work with in the present situ.

The truth is that although the Europeans have been pretending to accept Kadaffi for all these years everyone in Europe hates his guts and is trying to get rid of him.

Obama's been standing in their way, and only came around because of the insistance on participating from Susan Rice and Samantha Powers [I heard they both threatened to resign if he didn't act].

Obama and everyone else will lie about the motives. The real motive is to try to get rid of Kadaffi without appearing to be aggressive.

[DRorchia]

Originally Posted by theaustinescorts

Make no mistake about this. The "humanitarian" issue is a pretext to do everything that can be done under law to get rid of Kadaffi.

The British have several hundred SAS operators there now trying to give direction to the rebels. They were in Sierra Leone in the 1990s at various points [covertly of course] and were able to give direction to the Nigerians who were fighting off the Sierra Leonean Rebels and their own Army, so I've seen first hand how they do things. In Sierra Leone they did a magnificent job but I don't know if they have as much to work with in the present situ.

The truth is that although the Europeans have been pretending to accept Kadaffi for all these years everyone in Europe hates his guts and is trying to get rid of him.

Obama's been standing in their way, and only came around because of the insistance on participating from Susan Rice and Samantha Powers [I heard they both threatened to resign if he didn't act].

Obama and everyone else will lie about the motives. The real motive is to try to get rid of Kadaffi without appearing to be aggressive.

Agreed! I would add that I'm sure Obama hopes that by doing the Europeans this favor, he'll be able to keep them longer in Afghanistan. I'm sure there's many more motivations as well but certainly you're correct in them wanting to get rid of Qaddafi.
You forgot to mention Executive Outcomes who played a HUGE role in defeating the rebels inside Sierra Leone.

[theaustinescorts]

The first foreign fighters working for the government in Sierra Leone were a group of Gurkhas led by Robert McKenzie. They arrived in January of 1995 and I never saw any of them. They made some progress that month and in Febuary. They were brought in by a Captain in the Sierra Leone Army [NPRC government] named "ABT," who was probably the only half-good guy they had.

"ABT" and McKenzie were both killed in March when they were set up for an ambush by some of ABT's rivals. I remember that McKenzie's body was never found, and his widow had a hard time collecting his life insurance.

When Executive Outcomes came in it was later that year as I recall. They had a 727 they kept at the airport on Lungi. I met Cobus Claussens and several others whose real names I can't even remember. They often used false names like "Lion" or "Luki," both of whom were working in Baghdad in 2003, then went to jail in Zimbabwe in the E. Guinea coup attempt. Mark Thatcher in Dallas was involved in that mess. There were only about a dozen from the 34th Brigade? Regiment? I can't remember. There is one of those guys from the 34th living here in Austin presently. He was on the "list" of wanted guys the SA government banned since 1994.

EO rehabed the Mi-24 that the former Defense Minister, Sam Kambo, paid over $8 million dollars for in a scam just before he landed here in Austin and became an undergrad at UT in 1994. He lived here until the "Blood Diamond" movie came out, and then ICE deported him as a war criminal even though he won all his appeals [he worked for the LCRA while here]. The helicopter was a worn out bucket of rust, but it was refurbished and flown by another S. African, Neil Ellis. He stayed there long after the rest of them left, and was never paid what he was owed by the SL government. He was basically a volunteer.

EO not only killed RUF but also Sierra Leonean Army units which were rouge. In SL there was the RUF, the rouge Sierra Leonean Army, and some other regional militias including the "Komojos," which were the Mendi tribe thugs in the east where most of the fighting and diamonds were.
The government in Freetown basically had no army of their own for much of the conflict.

EO was fleshed out with non-white soldiers to a strength of several hundred.
They were effective because at that time the RUF was very poorly led, fed, trained, etc. They were a total joke except to the helpless civilians who they raped, tortured and killed for their own entertainment.

EO left in 1997 under pressure from President Kabbah, who was under pressure from the UN.

After EO left Charlse Taylor in Liberia next door hired trainers and armorers from Israel [Yier Klein fresh from Columbia], Ukraine and S. Africa. They armed and trained the RUF and rouge SL Army units TO THE HILT.

That new, improved rebel force was very different than what EO encountered. When they advanced in the Fall of 1998 they pushed aside the Nigerian peace keepers and everyone else in their path, and attacked Freetown on a terrible night on January 8, 1999. I and a bunch of other stupid foreigners who hadn't had the sense to leave were pinned up in the Mammy Yoko hotel on a Peninsula with the Nigerians. I just didn't believe that the rebels would ever come into Freetown! In eight years they had never done it, and doing so would draw heat from the world [which it did]. They did it anyway and so I was very mistaken on that issue.

That's when the SAS jumped in and led the Nigerians in Freetown into an awe-inspiring counter-attack and re-took the city. The pushed them out of the city also, and the pissed off Rebels hacked off the hands of civilians everywhere in which they were attacked and forced to retreat.

All this finally came to an end on July 14, 2000.

On that day at about 9am some Brit helicopters from HMS ocean took off and headed into the interior - not a long trip. They attacked five rebel bases from the copters, and killed everything that moved. In that singular attack the RUF was totally decimated and the whole war was over by noon.

The July 14 attack was performed under the cover of a UN rescue mission by Jordanians and Indians to release 200 UN peacekeepers the RUF were holding, and no one has ever reported or acknowledged the SAS role on that day.

The SAS in SL was there in such strength, and were obvious to all of us there, but their role is very obscured in the public record.

btw....

Charles Taylor, who started the SL war after taking over Liberia, started all this after he was broken out of jail in Massachusetts, where he was held for BANK ROBBERY.

After he escaped the US he landed IN LIBYA and was trained and supplied by Kadaffi.

To this day the people of Sierra Leone blame Kadaffi for having sparked the whole damn thing.

ps... The first time I saw rebel "fighters" [thugs] they were all wearing matching Tupac Shakur T-shirts. They liked his AK-47 tattoo on his chest, and thought he was someone like themselves [prolly would have been had he the chance].

[DRorchia]

Interesting. I was aware of most of this from reading the book: Executive Outcomes; Against all Odds" by Eeben Barlow who founded the company.
You added a few things not covered in the book. I was aware of "Operation Barras" involving the British SAS, SBS and members 1st Battalion of their Parachute Regiment though I didn't know about the July 14th operation you mention.
There's been a few decent documentaries shown on Discovery channel about this. Of course it's never the same as having been there yourself. Interesting times to say the least.
I had been following the exploits of Col. McKenzie since reading about him as a teenager in SOF magazine. The mag would often run stories of his exploits in Rhodesia and he was part of the staff of the magazine as well.
From all accounts he was a "soldier's soldier", a consummate professional. Served in Vietnam, Rhodesia (Squadron C 22 SAS), and the South African Defense Force.
The major you refer to that he was with was named Major Tarawali. McKenzie died the way he lived....always leading from the front.

[theaustinescorts]

I didn't know Barlow had written a book. I'm sure it's interesting, however whenever I read a memoir by anyone in intelligence or the like I usually take it as what they would like the public to believe, rather than what may have actually happened.

The reason why Britain denied aid to the SL government in 1990 when the rebels attacked from Liberia is because the SL government was so murderous and criminal that the British just couldn't offer them a hand.

Because of that the poor people of that country had to suffer the most cruel situation for over eight long years before the UN finally stepped in after the attack on Freetown made headlines. The UN peacekeepers were about 14,000 from Nigeria, Jordan, Bangladesh, and strangely Pakistan and India working together. The command was an Indian General who wore a black wig because he had alopecia, and occupied the room next to mine in the Cape Sierra Hotel in 2000. His lads never failed to share their breakfast yogurt with us. They were good guys. Shortly after the July 14 attack he wrote a letter of resignation to Kofe Annon [we all thought Annon was a crook] complaining that the Nigerians had been trading diamonds with the rebels all along, and were continuing to do so.*

Of the many lessons I learned there was that the "political correctness" spawned here in the US can have a disasterous effect on conflicts in such places as that. The only Americans the media could find with any knowledge of the place were Anthropologists. These clowns would completely misinterpret every single thing that was going on, and gave politicians here a dead-wrong picture. The Anthropologists saw only what they wanted to - which was that the rebels must be fighting for the same reasons rebels fight in other places in the world - ideology, sacrifice, idealsim against corruption, etc....WRONG. When I would point out to them that the rebels and their Sierra Leonean Army rivals [they were two gangs both doing the same thing] were both only motivated by GREED, SADISM, MONEY, SEX...the Anthropologists replied that if such were true that it would be a racist conclusion and therefore it cannot be possible. Once I told one of these "scholars" that fighting had become "a way of life" to the Kamojors. This "scholar" told me no such thing could be true because to even say that would be racist.

It didn't help either that Charles Taylor had actually succeeded in bribing with cold hard cash a member of the Africa Subcommittee in the US House of Representative. I can't remember his name, but he was from Philadelphia I think, and he would block anything that would have helped.

btw if you want to see the real face of the Freetown attack there was a guy with a camera there. This film, "Cry Freetown" is what mobilized public opinion in the UK, and that's what explains the July 14 attack IMHO.

*The UN did a good job, but their rules prevented them from defending themselves, and the rebels kept kidnapping and killing them. They would stop them on the roads and steal their equipment and clothes and leave them naked! That's why the July 14 SAS attack was necessary. One attack and it was all over...done.

As for Sam Kambo and his little family who lived off Oak Knoll from 1995-2008, he was thrown out of other places and ended up back in Freetown, where I think he still is. He emptied his Swiss accounts to pay bribes to his successors to keep himself out of jail. In 2000 I reported his crimes to his employer here at the time. The employer's attorney called me and told me my "allegations against Mr. Kambo are perposterous." A few years later he was in jail in San Antonio awaiting deportation for them.

[DRorchia]

Originally Posted by theaustinescorts

I didn't know Barlow had written a book. I'm sure it's interesting, however whenever I read a memoir by anyone in intelligence or the like I usually take it as what they would like the public to believe, rather than what may have actually happened.

That's true I think about most autobiographies or first hand accounts. He certainly spares no criticism of the US and the UN and their many failures in Sierra Leone. I'm not entirely convinced though that he didn't receive some diamond concessions himself though he claims otherwise.

Of the many lessons I learned there was that the "political correctness" spawned here in the US can have a disasterous effect on conflicts in such places as that. The only Americans the media could find with any knowledge of the place were Anthropologists. These clowns would completely misinterpret every single thing that was going on, and gave politicians here a dead-wrong picture. The Anthropologists saw only what they wanted to - which was that the rebels must be fighting for the same reasons rebels fight in other places in the world - ideology, sacrifice, idealsim against corruption, etc....WRONG. When I would point out to them that the rebels and their Sierra Leonean Army rivals [they were two gangs both doing the same thing] were both only motivated by GREED, SADISM, MONEY, SEX...the Anthropologists replied that if such were true that it would be a racist conclusion and therefore it cannot be possible. Once I told one of these "scholars" that fighting had become "a way of life" to the Kamojors. This "scholar" told me no such thing could be true because to even say that would be racist.

No truer statement has been made. Unfortunately, political correctness is destroying our country, both with our domestic and our foreign policies. It has simply become impossible to be honest in our country without being labeled with some tag.

It didn't help either that Charles Taylor had actually succeeded in bribing with cold hard cash a member of the Africa Subcommittee in the US House of Representative. I can't remember his name, but he was from Philadelphia I think, and he would block anything that would have helped.

Which brings us back to what I had mentioned in other posts. Corruption can and does still fan the flames of war among other human deficiencies....whether our country is personally involved in the conflict or certain individuals within our government and corporations.

btw if you want to see the real face of the Freetown attack there was a guy with a camera there. This film, "Cry Freetown" is what mobilized public opinion in the UK, and that's what explains the July 14 attack IMHO.

*The UN did a good job, but their rules prevented them from defending themselves, and the rebels kept kidnapping and killing them. They would stop them on the roads and steal their equipment and clothes and leave them naked! That's why the July 14 SAS attack was necessary. One attack and it was all over...done.

I have to be honest, rarely have I seen the UN do a good job in situations that actually required armed intervention and use of force. Certainly many of the African contributors to the UN are sometimes just as bad as the factions they're sent in to protect the population from. There have been hundreds of cases of these men raping the local women, stealing from the population they're supposed to protect and outright cowardice under fire.
People demonize people like Col. Mike Hoare and the mercenaries that operated in Africa in the 60's and beyond. However Hoare held his men to a fairly high standard of conduct when it came to the local population. In one of the few cases where one of his men were accused of rape, Hoare inquired what the man liked to do when he wasn't fighting. When the Brit replied that he loved to play soccer, Hoare had the man shot in his foot as punishment for the rape. He had no subsequent problems with this issue out of his men. Executive Outcomes is another example where the populace can benefit from intervention from trained private professionals. Not to say there aren't other problems associated with their use but since the 60's these private professionals certainly proved more effective, more consistently than the UN.

As for Sam Kambo and his little family who lived off Oak Knoll from 1995-2008, he was thrown out of other places and ended up back in Freetown, where I think he still is. He emptied his Swiss accounts to pay bribes to his successors to keep himself out of jail. In 2000 I reported his crimes to his employer here at the time. The employer's attorney called me and told me my "allegations against Mr. Kambo are perposterous." A few years later he was in jail in San Antonio awaiting deportation for them.

Looks like he got what he had coming.

[theaustinescorts]

Sam Kambo would never have been able to live undisturbed in Austin if it were not for those here who was able to bribe.

There was a DPS attorney who was on his payroll who would get on the phone to other police agencies and make false accusations against anyone here who would speak out against Kambo. More than one person in Austin who spoke against him had Federal agents knocking on their door to answer for false accusations put forward by this DPS lawyer.

There was also a commentator for the Statesman who was paid well to write articles defending him, and putting forward his case that he should be allowed to stay here regardless of what he did in Africa because he had not yet killed anyone here [at least that we knew about].

In addition he bribed scores of employers, people he met at UT, etc.

All the while he was maintaining that had no Swiss accounts, had never even seen a single diamond from Sierra Leone, and was penniless.

In terms of EO dealing in diamonds....

All I can say is that everyone who would have known told me they did, but I didn't witness it myself. If they were not paid with stones then I don't know what cash the NPRC would have used to pay them because they had no money. One reason they couldn't control their own soldiers is because they paid them nothing. The NPRC members made some personal money dealing in stones themselves, but what cash they had was stolen by Kambo when he fled in 1994. One of the other NPRC members, Tommy Nyuma, lived in Houston in a ghetto and was working for $7. an hour as a security guard until he was fired from his last job for excessive tardiness. Only Kambo and his friends like Charlie Bao made off with millions.