mercenaries | intelNews.org

Hundreds of European mercenaries ‘fighting for Gaddafi’

April 28, 2011 by intelNews 1 Comment

Libya

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Hundreds of European mercenaries, including large numbers of European Union citizens, have voluntarily enrolled in the armed forces of the Libyan government, and are fighting under the command of Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi. According to criminologist Michel Koutouzis, the Greek CEO of a French-registered consulting firm with connections to Libya, up to 500 European soldiers-of-fortune have been hired by the Libyan government to provide “special services”, particularly in heavy weaponry and attack helicopters. Koutouzis says that most of the European mercenaries, who sell their services for thousands of dollars a day, come from Eastern Europe, especially Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and Serbia, but there are also French, British and Greek nationals currently in Libya. He also claims that Gaddafi is supported by serving military personnel from Russia, Syria and Algeria. It is believed that the Gaddafi camp is also employing thousands of non-specialist mercenaries from various African nations, including Somalia, Mali, Niger, Chad, and the Central African Republic. Unconfirmed reports have surfaced in the American press that the Gaddafi forces are employing female snipers from Colombia. Read more of this post

Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with 2011 Libyan civil war, Africa, Algeria, Belarus, Chad, Colombia, covert action, European Union, France, Greece, Libya, Mali, mercenaries, Michel Koutouzis, Muammar al-Gaddafi, News, Niger, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Somalia, Syria, UK, Ukraine

Recording of candid speech by Blackwater CEO leaked

May 6, 2010 by intelNews 2 Comments

Erik Prince

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
A recording of a relatively recent candid speech given by Erik Prince, the media-shy owner of Xe Services (formerly known as Blackwater), has been obtained by The Nation magazine. The extensive recording was made on January 14, during a private talk given by Prince at the University of Michigan before a sympathetic invitation-only audience consisting of military veterans, ROTC commanders and cadets, as well as business entrepreneurs. In his talk, Prince, who last December admitted having worked as a CIA asset, advocated for the employment of private contractors by the US Pentagon to combat insurgents and “Iranian influence” in countries such as Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia. Writing for The Nation, Jeremy Scahill focuses on Princes views, as he conveyed them in his talk. Read more of this post

Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with Afghanistan, Blackwater, CIA, covert operations, Erik Prince, intelligence outsourcing, Iran, Iraq, Jeremy Scahill, mercenaries, News, Nigeria, Pakistan, ROTC, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, United States, University of Michigan, Xe, Yemen

News you may have missed #0222

December 15, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

UN investigates claims Iran using Taiwan as nuclear conduit. United Nations officials are investigating intelligence claims that Iran has established a smuggling network using front companies in Taiwan to acquire equipment that it could use to make nuclear weapons.
Blackwater tied to secret CIA raids, say employees. “There was a feeling that Blackwater eventually became an extension of the agency”, said one former top CIA officer. IntelNews regulars will remember that we described last summer’s revelations of Blackwater’s participation in US special operations as “just the tip of the iceberg”.

Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with Blackwater, CIA, intelligence outsourcing, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, mercenaries, News, news you may have missed, nuclear proliferation, Taiwan, United Nations, United States, weapons smuggling, Xe

Blackwater aids US covert assassination, kidnapping ops

November 27, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Jeremy Scahill

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Private mercenary firm Blackwater (recently renamed Xe) is part of a covert US program in Pakistan that includes planned assassinations and kidnappings of Taliban and al-Qaeda suspects. Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill published earlier this week in The Nation magazine an in-depth study of the controversial firm’s role in the outsourced operation, which was first revealed by The New York Times and The Washington Post last August (see previous intelNews commentary). The close operational association between US Special Forces, the CIA, and the private mercenary firm is well known, largely thanks to Scahill’s prior work. Read more of this post

Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with abductions, assassinations, Blackwater, CIA, intelligence outsourcing, Jeremy Scahill, mercenaries, News, Pakistan, United States, US Special Forces, War on Terrorism

News you may have missed #0165

November 4, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

UK demands Russians deliver spy assassin. David Miliband, Britain’s foreign secretary pressed Russia during a visit to Moscow on Monday to turn over Andrey Lugovoi, the main suspect in the 2006 killing in London of Russian former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. But, as before, Russia rejected the demand on legal grounds.
Analysis: Confusion in US intelligence secrecy policy. The decision last week by the Director of National Intelligence to declassify the FY2009 budget for the National Intelligence Program is inconsistent with other ODNI classification actions and highlights the confusion over the proper scope of national security secrecy that prevails in the US intelligence community today.
Equatorial Guinea pardons Western coup plotters. Four whites jailed for leading an alleged 2004 coup attempt in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea have been unexpectedly pardoned. They include Simon Mann, a British former Special Forces officer, and Nick du Toit, a South African mercenary. The Guinean government cited…”Jesus Christ” in making the decision to pardon the coup plotters.

Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with Alexander Litvinenko, Analysis, Andrey Lugovoy, assassinations, coup plots, David Miliband, declassification, DNI, Equatorial Guinea, intelligence budget, KGB, London, mercenaries, News, news you may have missed, Nick du Toit, Russia, Simon Mann, South Africa, UK

News you may have missed #0088

August 31, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US state governors receiving suspicious laptops. Why are state governors’ offices in West Virginia, Vermont, Wyoming and Washington, receiving laptops which they have not ordered? Could there be a connection with malicious emails received recently by several US local officials?
Blackwater training foreign mercenaries in the Philippines. US military contractor Blackwater is now training mercenaries for covert operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. The Philippine government is denying it. What does Leon Panetta, who visited the country not long ago, know about this?
Swiss government agency is able to wiretap Skype. What about NSA? A Swiss software developer who released what he claims is the source code of a program for tapping into encrypted Skype communications, had previously sold it to the Swiss Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (UVEK) “to use in remote surveillance activities”. Does this mean that the NSA has been wasting its money?

Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with Blackwater, communications interception, computer hacking, Energy and Communications, Leon Panetta, mercenaries, News, news you may have missed, NSA, Philippines, Skype, Swiss Department of the Environment, Switzerland, Transport, United States, VOIP

International mercenary cell uncovered in Bolivia

April 20, 2009 by intelNews 5 Comments

Eduardo Flores

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Last month, the Bolivian government expelled a senior “diplomat” from the US embassy in La Paz, whom it accused of covertly supporting efforts to depose the country’s leftist president, Evo Morales. This past week, Bolivian authorities announced they had foiled operations by a major international anti-government mercenary group operating out of the city of Santa Cruz, a hotbed of anti-government activity in the country’s wealthy eastern provinces. Three of the unit’s members, a Bolivian of Croatian descent, an Irishman and a Romanian, were killed by Bolivian security forces; two others, a Hungarian and another Bolivian of Croatian descent, were captured and are now in custody. What were the plans of the covert unit, and who is behind it? Read article →