Barrick Gold blocks booklaunch: Noir Canada

[seemslikeadream]

The book launch for Noir Canada: Pillage, corruption et criminalité en Afrique, edited by Alain Denault and the Collectif Ressources d'Afrique out of Montréal, was a cancelled yesterday when the authors and publishers (Édition Écosociété) received letters from a law firm representing Barrick Gold.

The letters alledgedly refer to apparent inaccuracies in the book, more particularly around the representation of Barrick's role at Bulyanhulu, in Tanzania, where more than 50 small scale miners were buried alive in 1996.

Barrick has also sued The Guardian and The Observer over articles that they published about the Bulyanhulu massacre.

Noir Canada is about the role of Canadian companies in Africa, which operate with the "unfailing help of the Canadian government."

The list of corporate abuses is long: advantageous mining contracts in the DRC, partnerships with arms dealers and mercenaries in the Great Lakes region, miners buried alive in Tanzania, an "involuntary genocide" by poisoning in Mali, brutal expropriations in Ghana, using people from the Ivory Coast for pharmaceutical testing, devastating hydroelectric projects in Senegal, the savage privatization of the railway system in West Africa...




http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0619-12.htm

The Screwing of Cynthia McKinney



Did I mention to you that (ex-)Congresswoman McKinney is black? And not just any kind of black. She’s the uppity kind of black. What I mean by uppity is this:

After George Bush Senior left the White House, he became an advisor and lobbyist for a Canadian gold-mining company, Barrick Gold. Hey, a guy’s got to work. But there were a couple of questions about Barrick, to say the least. For example, was Barrick’s Congo gold mine funding both sides of a civil war and perpetuating that bloody conflict? Only one Congressperson demanded hearings on the matter.

You’ve guessed: Cynthia McKinney.

That was covered in the . . . well, it wasn’t covered at all in the U.S. press.

McKinney contacted me at the BBC. She asked if I’d heard of Barrick. Indeed, I had. Top human rights investigators had evidence that a mine that Barrick bought in 1999 had, in clearing their Tanzanian properties three years earlier, bulldozed mine shafts . . . burying about 50 miners alive.

I certainly knew Barrick: They’d sued the Guardian for daring to run a story I’d written about the allegations of the killings. Barrick never sued an American paper for daring to run the story, because no American paper dared.

The primary source for my story, an internationally famous lawyer named Tundu Lissu, was charged by the Tanzanian police with sedition, and arrested, for calling for an investigation. McKinney has been trying to save his life with an international campaign aimed at Barrick.

That was another of her mistakes.

The New York Times wrote about McKinney that Atlanta’s “prominent Black leaders – including Julian Bond, the chairman of the NAACP and former Mayor Maynard Jackson – who had supported Ms. McKinney in the past – distanced themselves from her this time.”



http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd02152003.html

War is Golden for the Bush Administration

Which brings us to the judicial appointment. One of the White House aides who unlawfully intervened in the BNL prosecution was a certain factotum named Jay S. ByBee. Last week, said factotum was nominated by the current warmer of the Oval Office seat, George W. Bush, to a place on the federal appeals court--a lifetime sinecure of perks and power. Well done, thou good and faithful servant!

And the commodities connection? President Pretzel's relentless hissy-fit for war on Iraq has of course goosed the price of gold enormously--and that's set Bush Family coffers a-clinking. How so? In the waning days of his failed presidency, Bush I invoked an obscure 1872 statute to give a Canadian firm, Barrick Corporation, the right to mine $10 billion in gold from U.S. public lands. (U.S. taxpayers got a whopping $10,000 fee in return.) Bush then joined Barrick as a highly-paid "international consultant," brokering deals with various dictators of his close acquaintance. Barrick reciprocated with big bucks for Junior's presidential run. And in another quid for the old pro quo, last year Junior dutifully approved Barrick's controversial acquisition of a major rival. (Barrick is also one of the biggest polluters in America, by the way.)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

1. Remember Adnan Khashoggi? He partnered with Papa Bush at Barrick. That's the

same Adnan Khashoggi, arms dealer, that Papa Bush pardoned for Iran-Contra.

[seemslikeadream]

2. postelection drama in Florida:

"Madame Butterfly" Theresa LePore wasn't always an embattled Palm Beach ballots chief. In the 1980s, she moonlighted as a flight attendant on private planes owned by Saudi weapons dealer Adnan Khashoggi, a middleman in Reagan administration arms sales to Iran.


http://www.slate.com/?id=1006609

[seemslikeadream]

3. Khashoggi was bailed out with a $4 million check from Peter Munk

http://archives.lists.indymedia.org/imc-ontario-stories/2001-November/000198.html

In 1983, the Khashoggi-led group formed the gold company whose name was soon changed to Barrick Gold Corp. Sheik Kamal Adham was reportedly one of the new company's founding co-owners. Adham, the chief of Saudi intelligence, had coordinated royalist guerrillas in Yemen, with British arms secretly provided through Khashoggi.
Beginning in 1985, Khashoggi borrowed $21 million, using his Barrick stock as collateral, for the covert transfer of arms to Iran for the Bush-North group, during an offical U.S. arms embargo against the Khomeini regime. Khashoggi who allegedly provided the loan from his Cayman Islands company, president of Khashoggi's Triad American holding company.
Khashoggi used the Monte Carlo office of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International to launder money for Iran arms sales. Barrick Gold Corp. co-founder Kamal Adham was later prosecuted for fraud in the BCCI case, and paid a $100 million fine.

Khashoggi's Saudi royal piggybanks also underwrote George Bush's Central American "Contras" adventures, making payments through the Swiss Bank Corp. and a Cayman Islands bank, totalling about $27 million.

When the Iran and Contra scandals blew up in 1986, U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese linked the two scandals in a Nov. 25 public revelation. The next day, Munk announced a shareholders' meeting to decide on an urgent restructuring plan. A new organization emerged, keeping the Khashoggi group in control, but easing Khashoggi out of the limelight and making Munk the sole public figurehead. Personnel were shifted into the Canada organization out of Khashoggi's Triad operations in Utah. Tariq Kadri, Khashoggi's longtime attorney, was made president of the Horsham holding company that was put over Barrick.

As the U.S. Congress took up the arms-for-drugs investigation and other trails leading to Vice President Bush, Khashoggi became too hot for the Canadian partnership and the Khashoggi group's shares were officially sold off. Khashoggi was himself arrested in 1989, in a fraud case involving the Philippines' Marcos regime. Taken from Switzerland and jailed in New York, Khashoggi was bailed out with a $4 million check from his partner, Peter Munk.

[seemslikeadream]

4. Such a lovely piece written about Peter Munk today!!!

What timing




PEThttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080412.MUNK12/TPStory/?query=Peter+MunkER

MUNK'S GOLDEN RULE

At 80, the daring impresario of bold business ventures is now turning to bold philanthropy. He believes in giving back, and Toronto, which welcomed him 60 years ago with open arms, is reaping his generosity, reports Andy Hoffman
ANDY HOFFMAN

April 12, 2008

Striding into the office fresh from Europe, the impossibly dapper octogenarian Peter Munk steals a moment to fix his intense gaze out his 37th-floor window and take it all in. He is rewarded with a sprawling vista of a city that he regards with deep gratitude and passion.

A legendary entrepreneur who has forged an indelible mark on the world stage, Mr. Munk is a commanding presence in his trademark double-breasted suit. But when his broad shoulders turn to consider the place that has been his home for six decades, he seems overcome with a sense of child-like wonder.

"To me, Toronto is much more than a place to be from or where you are born. To me, this is a dream place. It never really lost that allure.

"My heart still beats whenever I come back," he says.


The city has served as the staging ground for nearly all of the business dealings that have earned him a massive fortune over the years. Most notable is Barrick Gold Corp., the company he founded here 25 years ago and which has grown to become the world's largest gold-mining firm with a stock-market value close to $40-billion. As the price of bullion has soared to record levels, recently topping $1,000 (U.S.) an ounce, Barrick's share price and Mr. Munk's own wealth have risen to heights beyond even his own lofty ambitions.

His Barrick holdings alone include 2.75-million shares currently valued at $123-million, as well as stock options worth another $22-million.

[seemslikeadream]

5. Barrick Gold is one of the client companies of Andrew Young

http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2006/08/suffering_in_th.html

George H.W. Bush served as a paid advisor for Barrick Gold. Barrick directors include: Brian Mulroney, former PM of Canada; Edward Neys, former U.S. ambassador to Canada and chair of the private PR firm Burston-Marsteller; former U.S. Senator Howard Baker; J. Trevor Eyton, a member of the Canadian Senate; and Vernon Jordan, one of Bill Clinton?s lawyers.

Barrick Gold is one of the client companies of Andrew Young?s Goodworks International lobbying firm. Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta, is a key organizer of the U.S.-Uganda Friendship Council. Young was chosen by President Clinton to chair the Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund in October 1994. Goodworks? clients?or business partners in some cases?include Coke, Chevron-Texaco, Monsanto, and the governments of Angola and Nigeria (note weapons transfers from Nigeria cited below). Young is also a director of Cox Communications and Archers Daniels Midland?the ?supermarket to the world? and National Public Radio sponsor whose directors include Brian Mulroney (Barrick) and G. Allen Andreas, a member of the European Advisory Board of The Carlyle Group.

Barrick Gold?s mining partners have included Adastra Mining?formerly named America Mineral Fields (AMFI, AMX, other names), formerly based in Hope, Arkansas, Bill Clinton?s hometown. Adastra had close ties with Lazare Kaplan International Inc., the largest diamond brokerage firm in the U.S., whose president, Maurice Tempelsman, has been an advisor on African Affairs to the U.S. government and has been the U.S. Honorary Consul General of the Congo since 1977.

[Canuckistanian]

6. Our former Prime Minister served as the director of Barrick

The "Right Honourable" Brian Mulroney.

You know, the one who sang "Irish Eyes" with Reagan.

Oh, and he signed NAFTA.

[Octafish]

7. Poppy Bush profits from Barrick -- same company he gave $10 billion in mining concessions?

This thread should have 20 recommends by now.

KR4.

[pnorman]

8. FWIW: This thread just got my recommendation!

There's a lot of brand new stuff here that I'll be furiously Googling for the rest of the dsy.

pnormn

[Octafish]

13. Amazing stuff that shows the connections between Saudi petrodollars and American corruption.

Poppy Bush went to bat for Barrick and Khashoggi. There was a big payback: Poppy got fat off the billion dollar crumbs falling off the table. Of course, to be effective, the "gains" must be bi-partisan.

http://www.lycos.com/info/barrick-gold.html

Thanks for giving a damn, pnormn. The day of Justice approaches more quickly as more people become aware of the extent of the corruption.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

21. Concerning Bi-Partisan..... First a snip from this link then a snip from a Palast article.

Barrick Goldstrike Mines is the mother lode for Barrick Gold. The company operates three producing mines (the open pit Betze-Post and the underground Meikle and Rodeo) on property totaling some 9,900 acres, located on the prolific Carlin Trend in Nevada. Goldstrike produces about 2 million ounces of gold annually and has reserves of about 15 million ounces. It's the largest gold producing operation for Canadian mining company Barrick Gold, the largest gold miner in the world. There are two processing plants located on the property which separate the gold from the recovered ore. Barrick is actively exploring other areas of the Goldstrike property for development.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/07/09_gold.html

Poppy Strikes Gold
July 9, 2003
By Greg Palast

Snip.....

Barrick, of course, had to put up cash for the initial property rights and the cost of digging out the booty (and the cost of donations, in smaller amounts, to support Nevada's Democratic senator, Harry Reid). Still, the shift in rules paid off big time: According to experts at the Mineral Policy Center of Washington, DC, Barrick saved—and the U.S. taxpayer lost—a cool billion or so. Upon taking office, Bill Clinton's new interior secretary, Bruce Babbitt, called Barrick's claim the "biggest gold heist since the days of Butch Cassidy." Nevertheless, because the company followed the fast-track process laid out for them under Bush, this corporate Goldfinger had Babbitt by the legal nuggets. Clinton had no choice but to give them the gold mine while the public got the shaft.

[seemslikeadream]

31. "biggest gold heist since the days of Butch Cassidy."

"biggest gold heist since the days of Butch Cassidy."

[bluesmail]

10. I'm still reading, reading the links, when I'm done I am Rec'd

oh hell K&R

[Octafish]

14. Ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Here's a newsmine...

http://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/gold/barrick.html

Poppy and his cronies are the ideological, spiritual and often-physical descendants of the types who raped the people of the New World for their gold... and land... and soon, water.

[barbtries]

9. more connecting the dots

i guess i've been more or less living on this board since about 2005 (i'll go check my profile because i truly can't say). i'm embarrassed to admit how long it was before i knew what BFEE meant. but it is an apt description. bush family evil empire. running the US into the ground for their own greed. thank you for posting.

edited after checking my profile! :)

[seemslikeadream]

11. advisory board includes Sir George Bush. Barrick Gold

http://www.aboutsudan.com/action/geopolitical/executive_outcomes.htm

Executive Outcomes ties lead to London and Bush

by Roger Moore and Linda de Hoyos

Exposes appearing on both sides of the Atlantic on the mercenary group Executive Outcomes, threaten to blow the lid off the British intelligence nexus already identified as responsible for the February 1986 murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, and for the current cataclysmic destabilization of Africa on behalf of circles associated with the Queen of England's Privy Council and Sir George Bush.
The exposes appeared in the French daily {Le Figaro} on Jan. 16, the {London Observer} on Jan. 17, and the February issue of the American magazine {Harper's.}
Executive Outcomes is the mercenary arm of a vast
network of British-South African corporations dealing in gold, diamonds, and oil, primarily, but not exclusively, in Africa, that come under the umbrella of Strategic Resources Corporation, headquartered in Pretoria, South Africa. Described universally as an ``advance guard of a corporate network that includes mining, oil, and construction companies,'' Executive Outcomes is active in 13 African countries, including Uganda. For its services, it demands a lien or franchise on the exportable raw resources, particularly mineral wealth, of the client country--in the same fashion as the British East India Company of the 18th and 19th centuries, which in turn functioned as the ``advance guard'' of the British monarchy.
Executive Outcomes was incorporated offshore, on the Isle of Man, in 1993, by Anthony Buckingham, a British businessman, and Simon Mann, a former British officer, the {Observer} reported, based on a leak to it from British intelligence. Buckingham is also chief executive of Heritage Oil and Gas, which in turn is linked to the Canadian firm Ranger Oil. Other firms operating out of the same headquarters in Chelsea Plaza 107, London, include Branch International Ltd. and Branch Mining Ltd.
Preliminary investigation by {EIR} has further determined that Executive Outcomes lies at the heart of the British monarch's raw materials cartels and secret intelligence operations, in conjunction with Bush's rogue apparat:
Through Sir David Steel, a former leader of the Liberal Party, Executive Outcomes and, presumably, its deployment, is a subsumed operation of the Queen's Privy Council. Steel is a close friend of EO's Buckingham, and is on the board of directors of EO's sister firm, Heritage Oil and Gas, according to {Le Figaro.} In 1977, Steel was inducted into the Privy Council, making him the youngest member of Britain's highest-level policy-making body.
The links between Executive Outcomes and Ranger Oil point to operational ties with the Bronfman family of Canada, whose scion, Edgar Bronfman of Toronto Broncorp, sits on the board of directors of Ranger. Recently, the Bronfman family merged its mammoth real estate firm, Trizec, with Barrick Gold, whose senior advisory board includes Sir George Bush. Barrick Gold is deeply involved in northeastern Zaire, where it has purchased 83,000 square kilometers of land. Zairean sources report that the so-called Zairean rebel Laurent Kabila is no more than a mercenary for Barrick and Anglo American Corp., sponsored by the British Crown-backed Ugandan and Rwandan militaries. Executive Outcomes, {Le Figaro} and other sources further verify, is deeply entrenched in Uganda, the key British marcher-lord state in the region.





http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=class&type=185&class=21&offset=5
CorpWatch has been tracking Barrick elsewhere in the world, most recently at its Pascua Lama project in Argentina.

Barrick's plans to "relocate" three glaciers - 816,000 cubic meters of ice - by means of bulldozers and controlled blasting, is seen by mine-opponents as symbolic of the company's utter insensitivity to the environment. As headwaters for a water basin in an arid region receiving very little rainfall, many opponents are gravely concerned for the ice. They say the mechanical action involved in moving the glaciers will irreversibly melt much of it, jeopardizing a delicate ecological balance further downstream.





Edward Neys, former U.S. Ambassador to Canada is chairman of Burson-Marsteller. He is also a director of Barrick Gold Mining. George Bush Sr. just before leaving office gave Barrick $10 billion in gold mining rights on US public land for $10,000. Then he got a job with Barrick as an international consultant.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x528992

[DrDebug]

18. Executive Outcomes? As in the failed coup in Equatorial Guinea in 2004?

Edit:

As in Mark Thatcher, son of Maggie?

[seemslikeadream]

19. I was just about to post that!!

:hug:

[DrDebug]

20. Very cool that you put Bush and Thatcher in the same frame

and Khashoggi in the middle. It's like a tripple whammy...

Let's re-run the inside story (because it sounds like it came straight from The Piscine):

France Checkmated NATO
The Oil Dispute in Equatorial Guinea
France Checkmated NATO
ARTHUR LEPIC

The spectacular arrest of Mark Thatcher (British Iron Lady’s son) in South Africa and the confessions of his accomplices in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea clarified completely the fail coup against this country. The operation was not organized by adventurers or mercenaries (Executive Outcomes) paid by international financiers, but by NATO. The U.S. had mobilized the British and Spanish services to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang and take control of the country to build the largest gas-liquefying station of the world. By doing this, the U.S. would have taken the French oil company Total out of the market thus favoring Spanish Repsol. But France knew about the operation and made it fail. (...)

Airline Triple A Aviation was linked to Thatcher’s activities for it seemed that Sir Thatcher used it to transfer some $275 000 of the operation funds. It seemed that the airline signed on January 2004 an agreement on aviation services with Logo Logistics, Simon Mann’s company. The bank records proved that $100,000 were transferred to Logo’s account on March 2,2004; only two days before the fail coup. Although South Africa rejected the Iron Lady’s son extradition to Equatorial Guinea, investigators could question him in South African territory. Sir Thatcher was prepared to leave South Africa, where he has lived since 1996, to avoid a tax investigation. His residency was already on sale for 4.5 million dollars and his family’s airline tickets for the U.S. were booked when he was arrested by the Scorpions. (...)

NATO at the Service of the Oil Coalition

But this was not the end of the story. Beyond Mark Thatcher’s personality, who’s been the focus of attention, the true actors began to appear NATO and France waged a strategic battle that reminded people of the Iraqi situation, another country among those not very common anymore which offered solid perspectives regarding energy investment recovery (...) For instance, it’s been known that American oil company Marathon Oil was to invest 1,000 million dollars in a liquified gas terminal project in Equatorial Guinea. However, certain experts, who noticed that this was the largest project on the liquified gas field in the world, estimated that in real life the contract was a 3 000 million dollar deal.

(...) At the moment in which the plan entered its final stage and mercenaries were ready to act, two Spanish warships suddenly set sail from a NATO base in Rota, with 500 elite soldiers on board. It seemed that only they knew what their destiny was and Spain had not sent any warship to Equatorial Guinea since the independence of this African country in 1968. The direction of the two ships was controlled by the Commander in Chief of the Command of the American forces in Europe and NATO Supreme commander, General James L. Jones.

(...) On the other hand, French intelligence services had the chance of intervening by informing South African and/or Zimbabwe’s authorities at the right time thus allowing them to capture the mercenaries on their way to Malabo and, at the same time, protect the interests of the French oil company Total. Currently, it is a pleasure for Zapatero’s government to assist the South African justice. Thirty years ago, by following a Frederick Forsyth-styled plan, a few skillful and unscrupulous mercenaries could have guaranteed a nice retirement for themselves. Today, for a few more barrels it is NATO, on behalf of the very same oil coalition that invaded Iraq, the one that launched itself on an adventure pushed by the international financial institutions.

http://www.voltairenet.org/article30088.html

[seemslikeadream]

23. Cocaine planes make a "Bogotá Connection"

Cocaine planes make a "Bogotá Connection"
By Bill Conroy,
Posted on Fri Apr 11th, 2008



Federal Aviation Administration records obtained recently by Narco News offer some razor sharp evidence that a fat line of connections in the ongoing cocaine plane mystery leads right back to the nose of the U.S. government.

At the time a Gulfstream II jet, packed with nearly four tons of cocaine, crashed in Mexico’s Yucatan on Sept. 24 of last year, the owners of that jet were Clyde O’Connor and Greg Smith — both pilots who hail from Florida.

Both men have since vanished like vapor in the wake of that ill-fated Gulfstream II’s misadventure, but the paper trail has now caught up to them.

The Gulfsteam II jet (with the tail number N987SA) has been linked to past use in the CIA’s terrorist rendition program, according to media reports and an investigation by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

And now, via FAA and other documents obtained by Narco News, both Smith and O’Connor have been connected to yet another jet that has been used by U.S. government agencies (including the DEA, FBI and CIA) to advance covert operations targeting Latin America.

That jet is a Hawker business-class cruiser with the tail number N230TS. FAA records show that between Feb. 9, 2001, and June 16, 2005, Clyde O’Connor bought and sold this Hawker jet a total of five times through a series of three companies in which he is listed as an officer or “member.” In other words, O’Connor was essentially moving the Hawker jet back and forth between companies he controlled, according to the FAA records.

Those companies are the following:

[DrDebug]

25. The two year anniversary of N900SA

Two years later, the FAA still can't tell the owner of the first downed plane. The owner of N987SA has been discovered though. It is the same group who also owns Hotel Gansevoort in New York City ( http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1927518 )

N900SA is much more relevant to the OP since it features ADNAN KHASHOGGI and GEORGE W. BUSH

Summary of http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x93668 :

April 11, 2006:
DC-9 aircraft with the former tail number N900SA (sn 45775) was involved in drug smuggling and was caught with 5.5 tons of cocaine onboard after landing in Mexico on April 11, 2006. On April 13, 2006, the aircraft was deregistered and sold an unknown customer in Venezuela.

Let's recap why Skyway is important:

The two DC9’s (Cocaine One and the sister plane) were purchased several years ago by a still-unexplained partnership between Frederic Geffon’s Royal Sons LLC and SkyWay Aircraft. Both companies appear to have many connections to the BFEE, CIA, Saudis and Kuwaitis.

The plane's registered owner, Royal Sons LLC, a Florida air charter company, was at one time housed in a hanger at the Venice Florida Airport owned by infamous flight school Huffman Aviation. (http://www.madcowprod.com/04182006.html) This means that this cocaine is connected to September 11.

SkyWay was responsible for painting two DC9's to look like they belong to the US Dept of Homeland Security. (http://www.madcowprod.com/05022006.html). The FAA was unable to provide any information about the ownership. (http://madcowprod.com)

Royal Sons are the major players, however they are also the least visible, since it might be connected to dudes like Prince Nayif bin Fawwaz al-Shaalan al-Saud. (http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/2006_04080426.php)

Skyway turns out to be some scammers and even though they cannot be called petty, they do not appear to be that important except for all those Saudis and Kuwaitis and the previous company used to have ties with Adnan Khashoggi (http://www.madcowprod.com/05252006.html) who previously worked Oliver North to sell arms to Iran via Iran Contra Inc. (http://www.pinknoiz.com/covert/brewton.html)

James Bath's Skyway

On July 2, 1980, James R. Bath, George W. Bush's drinking and business buddy, was named company president of Cotopax Investments, registered in the Cayman Islands. On July 24, 1980, the name was changed to Skyway Aircraft Leasing Ltd. The company board then resigned en masse, leaving Bath as a sole director. On April 26, 1985, two of the three previous owners, Cayhaven Corporate Services and Bird, formed I.C., Inc. which Oliver North used to supply money to the Contras (http://www.pinknoiz.com/covert/brewton.html).

In 1987 Skyway Aircraft Leasing Ltd changed names and owners at the same time when Oliver North's Iran Contra Inc. was getting exposed by a Washington Post report on March 7, 1987 (http://www.pinknoiz.com/covert/brewton.html). So the kingpin (http://www.powderburns.org/indictment.html) behind Oliver North made sure that they weren't involved in Skyway anymore.

On May 16, 1999 Skyways International with Prince Nayif bin Fawwaz al-Shaalan al-Saud aboard gets busted with 2 tons in Paris (http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/001709.php). It is not clear whether there is a direct connection to that Skyway and the one currently discussed, however they appear to be very similar.

The plane and the owners

Originally manufactured in 1966 for Trans-World Airlines as N1061T, the aircraft has had a long career flying for various individuals and companies, including Tracinda Investment (N241TC), Kenny Rogers (N9KR), Southmark Corporation (N89SM), the Seattle Seahawks (N40SH), Aircraft 45775, Inc, and HW Aviation. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N900SA) (http://google.com/search?q=cache:BxSkFbqh56gJ:bird5.bird.ch/bharms/mcdonnel/dc9_t_1.htm)

The plane was registered to Royal Sons Motor Yacht Sales, Inc. (http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/nnumsql.asp?NNumbertxt=120NE) On April 13, 2006, the aircraft was deregistered and sold to an unknown customer in Venezuela. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N900SA)

One of the main owners was HW Aviation of Dunedin, Florida who leased the plane to people like Seattle Seahawks and Kenny Rogers. HW Aviation went into bankruptcy on February 2004. (http://bankrupt.com/TCR_Public/040206.mbx) Aero Flight, a German charter airline that went out of business in November 2005, also owned the plane. (http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200604121721)

It is unclear whether there is a connection between HW Aviation and Executive Charter Inc., a Clearwater Florida based executive jet charter service, who was in the same kind of business and also closely related to Skyway.

On November 17, 2004 N900SA got dumped into SkyWay Communications Holding by DuPont Investment Fund 57289, Inc., a non-existing company registered in Costa Rica. (http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:ChMgWfgmXJ0J:www.our-street.com/swyc/wheelscominoff.htm+ct=clnk&cd=1)

It is unclear how it got to Royal Sons and it is equally unclear why United Flite (http://www.unitedflite.com/showspecs.php?ad=9), located at the same address, is selling the aircraft. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N900SA) It is also unclear why the DC-9 was photographed with the Skyway logo on March 29, 2004 and April 21, 2004. (http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?cnsearch=45775/71)

Michael Carter, an airplane spotter, made a very interesting remark when he spotted the plane at Santa Ana, California on March 29, 2004: "N900SA (cn 45775/71) Del 12/20/1966 to Trans World Airlines as N1061T, made a very rare appearence at SNA operating for the (Transportation Security Administration (TSA).'" (http://ccfcorp.dos.state.fl.us/corpweb/inquiry/cormenu.html)

The sister plane did get transfered from Skyway to Royal Sons on January 13, 2005 (http://www.madcowprod.com/ROYALSONS.htm)

So what happened to Skyway

On May 2004 Lantax Ltd. entered into an agreement with the Titan Corporation who did a lot of work for Department of Homeland Security (http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Titan_Corporation) and were behind the Abu Ghraib scandal (http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=10828), however that contract was canceled on December 15, 2004 since neither Lantex nor Skyway has provided any services under the contract (http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:ChMgWfgmXJ0J:www.our-street.com/swyc/wheelscominoff.htm+ct=clnk&cd=1).

On November 15, 2004, Lantax Ltd. filed a press release: "Lantax Prepared To Fund SkyWay Communications Holding Corp. With $24 Million." (http://www.bbwexchange.com/publications/newswires/page546-1455984.asp)

And Skyway would have become really big, because on November 17, 2004 the following press release was filed: "The duPont Investment Fund 57289, Inc. Satisfies $7 Million Funding Agreement with SkyWay Communications Holding Corp." (http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/nov/1095220.htm)

Here is where the DC-9 fits in.
The terms of the original duPont Investment Fund agreement have been revised to provide for an asset transfer of a 1966 McDonald Douglas DC9 aircraft serial #45775 and associated FAA Part 125 certificate number Q3GB807J. The aircraft is to be provided to Skyway in exchange for 28,000,000 shares of common stock valued at $5,880,000 (http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:ChMgWfgmXJ0J:www.our-street.com/swyc/wheelscominoff.htm+ct=clnk&cd=1).

And the DC-9 turns out to be N900SA whose sister plane is owned by Royal Sons Motor Yacht Sales, Inc. (http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/nnumsql.asp?NNumbertxt=120NE)

On December 15,2004 Titan bails out and the next day on December 16, 2004, Skyway signed a Loan Agreement with Lantex which provides up to $24 million. (http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:ChMgWfgmXJ0J:www.our-street.com/swyc/wheelscominoff.htm+ct=clnk&cd=1)

And then it turned out that duPont Investment Fund didn't exist, so the whole Skyway - Lantax - duPont Investment - Titan deal was over and Lantex looted Skyway in revenge.

[seemslikeadream]

30. James R Bath connects Bush, bin Laden, Petrodollars, BCCI & BFEE

James R Bath connects Bush, bin Laden, Petrodollars, BCCI & BFEE.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1928339
James (Jim) R. Bath's campaign donations
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1930028
The FBI investigated James Bath & Bush!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1905988
James R Bath, SuperTurd of the BFEE
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2053861
Call to Octafish: We need massive linkage on BCCI and IranContra.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2118878
Michael Moore: Re: James Bath....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2344047
How many here know who Adnan Khashoggi is?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2316608 .
Know your BFEE: James R Bath - Bush - bin Laden Link
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3571293
James R Bath Links Bush and BFEE to House of Bin Laden (PROOF)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3234845

Know your BFEE: Killer Businessmen who Put Power & Profit Before Country.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4401300

[DrDebug]

34. And is the same cabal of global scavengers behind most scandals

Bush, Cheney, Blair, Thatcher, Khashoggi, bin Laden, Kissinger, Berlusconi, and many more cronies. Everywhere they go they spread death, destruction, drugs, scams and terror. They are scavengers who feast on the destruction which they cause themselves.

Al-Qaeda, Department of Homeland Security, CIA, Titan, Barrick Gold, Halliburton, Silician mafia, Russian mafia, etc. are merely the brand names which they use to hide behind.

Intelligence is also gathered by certain semi-legitimate organizations - to be used for their activities. It really does not boil down to countries anymore.... When you have activities involving a lot of money, you have people from different nations involved.... It can be categorized under organized crime, but in a very large scale....

There are certain points..., where you have your drug related activities combined with money laundering and information laundering, converging with your terrorist activities.

- Sibel Edmonds

[DrDebug]

26. Another reprint. Framework for "CIA cocaine"

by loisbatt

I want to offer you a framework -- while a lot of this "started a long time ago," an excellent year to select for institutionalized dealings is 1973. This is when the Saudis had us over the barrel, with huge debt and high oil prices, and Team B was formed under the Nixon administration (includes Kissinger, Brzezenski, Carlucci, and the usual suspects) followed by creation of JECOR (Joint Economic Commission) about which both John Perkins ("Confessions of an Economic Hitman") and Gerald Posner ("Secrets of the Kingdom") comment.

JECOR. This Commission oversaw the distribution of interest from the billions upon billions in U.S. Treasury notes purchased by the Saudis. Since the Saudis could not accept interest (Faisal was king at the time), the money was kept in the U.S. and given without bids to various corporations for the development of infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.

The biggest contractors, who received awards without bids, were Bechtel, Brown & Root, Kellogg, Haliburton (under Cheney, Haliburton acquired Brown & Root and Kellogg), Allied Waste Management, Vinnell, Fluor, and even Kaiser Permanente for a health care system. After JECOR, it was George H.W. Bush as DCIA, without the knowledge and consent of President Ford, who in 1976 created "The Safari Club" (former intelligence agents of U.S., France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran, until the Shah was overthrown in 1979 and beheaded Nasser Moghadam, head of SAVAK). This was a scheme to envelope and involve the wealth of the Saudis in action plans of Team B, rogue operations.

In 1976, Joe Bonanno decided to go into cocaine "big time" and nurtured along the Cali to rival the Medellin, though operations of the rogue "Company" led by Ted Shackley were underway earlier. But having Joe on board is what it took for the guns/drugs end of our present woes. Organized crime began to include the Saudis in much of what they did. Also, 1973 is when James A. Baker III's family bank, Texas Commerce Bancshares needed to be bailed out, so Khaled Abdullah, a brother-in-law of Fahd, provided the capital.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x93668#99524

[DrDebug]

27. Serpentine link between N900SA and N987SA

The business card of the President of Skyway Aircraft:



Please note that he updated the telephone numbers to match his other company:



(Isn't that called impersonating a U.S. official? I guess it is irrelevant when you are untouchable.)

The same address is also the address for Atlantic Alcohol

Howard Altman (the only reporter who posted on DU: see mega thread above) of the Tampa Tribune reported recently that Malago is a business partner in a “green” company called Atlantic Alcohol with an individual named Larry Peters, who owns Skyway Aircraft Inc. in St. Petersburg, Fla. Skyway also happens to have sold two planes to Venezuelan buyers in recent years that have since been identified as aircraft that were subsequently used in drug-trafficking operations.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/feb/05/fbi-uncovers-drug-money--aircraft-laundering-schem/

The registration of N987SA was changed to Donna Blue, a non existing company, after the plane was caught with cocaine. The new owner was Joao Malago of Brazil and guess what: Joao Malago also represents Atlantic Alcohol in Brazil...

Narconews even discovered that the other Skyways plane who crashed with cocaine and a false license also links up with the same group.

http://www.narconews.com/Issue50/article3011.html

Hopsicker found some more Republicans and Iran-Contra veterans linked to the planes. Nevertheless the official story is that they don't have a clue to what happened to those planes...

[DrDebug]

29. The final dots: From Bush & Adnan via Skyways & Oryx to Al Qaeda

According to Bill White, James Bath's former business partner the original Skyways was setup by George H.W. Bush as a quasi-private aircraft firm that would basically engage in CIA-sponsored activities funded by the Saudi Royal Family. He explained that the Saudis had basically entered into a quid pro quo relationship with Bush and that Bush when he was CIA Director worked with the head of Saudi Intelligence. James Bath was recommended by George Jr. (1)

Who is the real magician?

In 1974 in Sharjah, United American Emirate, (2) Sheik Kamal Adham, director of Saudi intelligence, and Adnan Khashoggi started Oryx Investments. (3)

The company’s seed investors were Saudis with Agency ties, including Shiek Kamal Adham, Adnan Khashoggi, and Prince Nawaf bin Abdul Aziz (a major investor in Barrick, codenamed “Tumbleweed” by his CIA contacts). (4)

Together with Wallace Hilliard they bought Huffman Aviation in 1999 and hired convicted and wanted criminal (5) Rudi Dekkers to run it. (6)

Khalid bin Mahfouz, Khashoggi's banker, who was once the director of BCCI, set up a charity organization called the Muwaffaq Foundation in 1992. (7) He funded this charity with $30 million. In October 2001, the US Treasury Department labeled Muwaffaq Foundation a front for Al-Qaeda. (8)

In June of 2005 Swiss investigators decided to pursue an investigation into Yassin al-Kadi, who was a Saudi billionaire that not only helped found Muwaffaq, but also was an initial major investor in Ptech. (9) This was also right around the same time the Swiss dropped their investigation into al-Taqwa due to a lack of evidence since the Bahamas wasn't so keen on turning that info over. (10) It is unclear whether this was related to al-Taqwa's lawyer being the son of the Bahama's current Governor General. (11)

Sources:
1. http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/conspiracytheories/white.pdf
2. Kenneth G. Crowe, America for Sale
3. Not to be confused by Oryx Investments, South Africa which is an entirely different company.
4. Jay Taylor, Jay Taylor: J. Taylor's Gold and Technology Stocks (Volume 22 No. 15), January 3 2004
5. http://www.spitfirelist.com/f477.html
6. http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/10/298507.htm
7. http://www.forbes.com/global/2002/0318/047_print.html
8. http://www.gerardgroup.com/newsletter/nl2007-10-26a.php
9. http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/012005_ptech_pt1.shtml
10. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8321338/site/newsweek/
11. http://www.boomantribune.com/comments/2006/11/27/211248/47/1

[lovuian]

28. Bush is everywhere there is death

his tracks are everywhere

[seemslikeadream]

32. BUSH'S PLAN FOR PEACE IS THE PEACE OF THE COMMON GRAVE

EVERY DEATH CREATES NEW ENEMIES

MORE TERRORISTS

MORE DANGER

MORE DEATH

AND REMEMBER...

HE IS JUST GETTING STARTED...

BUSH'S PLAN FOR PEACE

IS THE PEACE OF THE COMMON GRAVE


http://www.bushflash.com/pax.html





Let America be America Again

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

Langston Hughes

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

12. I just found this interesting article at Palast's site in regard to Amnesty International and the

Barrick libel suit.

http://www.gregpalast.com/amnesty-loses-face/

Amnesty loses face

Following a landmark libel case ruling, an investigative journalist has warned other reporters not to put their faith in human rights organisation Amnesty International as a reliable source of stories.

The warning was made by investigative journalist Greg Palast, following a libel case concerning an article originally published in UK Sunday broadsheet The Observer, in which certain allegations were made against the multinational mining company Barrick.

In part, Mr Palast based his allegations on an Amnesty International annual report which he considered to be a reliable source. As Amnesty originally made some of the allegations in question, Mr Palast expected the organisation to play a major role in the subsequent libel case. He was disappointed.

"There is no question that the great disappointment in this whole story is Amnesty International," Mr Palast told dotJournalism. "If people died in Tanzania they should be standing up shouting and screaming. If people didn't die, then they should be shouting about that too." After weighing up the available evidence, Mr Palast decided he would be safest citing the Amnesty research. "To be sued for citing an Amnesty International report is quite extraordinary,' he said. But more surprising, he said, was Amnesty's refusal to confirm or deny the allegations when the libel case was heard.

"Amnesty wants journalists to report their material. I would say to any journalist that they would be completely, utterly and absolutely insane to ever cite Amnesty again."

In response to these criticisms, Kamal Samari of Amnesty International told dotJournalism: "Mr Palast is entitled to his point of view. But Amnesty International has co-operated fully with the Observer's lawyers. Amnesty as you know is not a named party in these libel proceedings. It vigorously supports the right of journalists to express themselves freely, in a informed and impartial manner. It regrets any use of libel law to restrict the internationally recognised right of freedom of expression. And it still believes the Tanzanian government should carry out an impartial enquiry into the tragic events that happened there."

Amnesty added that it still has serious concerns about human rights abuses in Tanzania, specifically relating to killings by the security forces, torture and mistreatment in custody, arbitrary detention of opposition political activists and the continued imprisonment of at least two prisoners of conscience and the restriction of freedom of assembly, expression and association.

In response, Mr Palast told dotJournalism: "I've spent thousands of pounds of my own money in legal fees to prevent a statement in court that no one died in Tanzania. Not one word, not one document was provided by Amnesty."

Mr Palast has also been angered by Amnesty's lack of response to a letter from Barrick to human rights lawyer Tundu Lissu, which appears to imply that Amnesty had actually investigated the alleged killings and found no case to answer. The letter was made public by Mr Lissu and has been forwarded to Amnesty. In it, Barrick states: "The national and local governments have investigated, KMCL has investigated, and Amnesty International has investigated, and the conclusions have been the same - no one was killed in the course of the peaceful removal of artisanal miners by the government of Tanzania from the Bulyanhulu site in 1996."

After a reference to the Observer libel case, the letter urges Mr Lissu not to "repeat or republish in any way false allegations concerning the removal of artisanal miners" from the site.

Mr Palast said: "Amnesty has allowed Barrick to use its name without public objection. There have been several personal appeals by Bianca Jagger and others to Amnesty, begging Amnesty to make a public statement. Amnesty has remained silent."

[e-mail]

[seemslikeadream]

15. Thanks so much OmmmSweetOmmm

:hug:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

16. My pleasure seemslikeadream, and when I have time will scour for

more. There are so many lessons that have to be taught to those who don't Know and it sometimes gets so overwhelming.

Thank you for being who you are and what you do!

:hug:

[seemslikeadream]

17. look at this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x199949

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

22. It is outrageous and I saw your Dorgan video yesterday. That's why

I say it becomes overwhelming. One more heinous thing after another. It's as if we're sifting through a garbage dump and then the dump truck arrives, pouring more noxious debris over us.

For those who haven't seen Sen. Dorgan giving this floor speech... here goes (thanks to seemslikeadream)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x117722

[Greyhound]

24. This is what we're up against. These corporations, and the governments they own,

will stop at literally nothing to get what they want. They are the embodiment of the Terminator, they can not be reasoned with, there is no negotiating with them, and they will never stop, ever, until they are destroyed.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

33. Through good investigative journalism, we might uncover 20% of these "deals".

One wonders how many other gross misuses of power and privilege have borne no witness.

This just makes my blood boil. :mad:

[pleah]

35. Kicked, recommended and bookmarked.