Tag: assassinations

Intersectional Torturers

Social media was ablaze yesterday over a CIA recruiting video which you should definitely watch if you haven’t seen it already, because it has to be seen to be believed.

The video features a Latina CIA officer proudly describing her ascent to her position in one of the most depraved institutions that has ever existed using a jaw-dropping fountain of social justice buzzwords and appeals to Latin American culture while wearing a t-shirt featuring a girl power symbol and the caption “Mija, you are worth it.”

“I am a woman of color, I am a mom, I am a cisgender millennial who’s been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder,” she says. “I am intersectional, but my existence is not a box-checking exercise. I am a walking declaration. A woman whose inflection does not rise at the end of her sentences suggesting that a question has been asked.”

“I did not sneak into the CIA,” says the officer over inspirational-sounding music, adding, “At 36, I refuse to internalize misguided patriarchal ideas of what a woman can or should be.”

“Know your worth, command your space. Mija, you are worth it,” the video concludes.

“People in other parts of the world who make even modest efforts to ‘command their space’ often end up murdered by the CIA or its proxies,” someone commented under the video.

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As Drone Whistleblower Daniel Hale Pleads Guilty, Advocates Warn of “Profound Threat” to Free Press

Press freedom, peace, and human rights advocates are rallying behind Daniel Hale, the former intelligence analyst who blew the whistle on the U.S. government’s drone assassination program, and who pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to violating the Espionage Act.

The Washington Post reports Hale, who was set to go on trial next week, pleaded guilty to a single count of violating the 1917 law that has been used to target whistleblowers including Julian Assange, John Kiriakou, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Jeffrey Sterling, Reality Winner, and others.

Hale was charged in 2019 during the Trump administration after he leaked classified information on the U.S. government’s targeted assassination program to a reporter, who according to court documents, matches the description of The Intercept founding editor Jeremy Scahill. He is the first person to face sentencing for an Espionage Act offense during the administration of President Joe Biden.

As vice president under President Barack Obama, Biden contributed to the creation of whistleblower protections in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, while simultaneously serving in an administration that, while promising “a new era of open government,” relentlessly targeted individuals who revealed U.S. war crimes and other classified information.

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NYPD Cop’s Deathbed Confession Implicates FBI and NYPD in the Assassination of Malcom X

Last month marked the 56th anniversary of the assassination of Malcom X. Since that fateful day back in 1965, controversy has swarmed the case with conspiracy theories abounding. The official story happens to be one of the most flawed versions.

According to the official story, Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little in 1925, was assassinated by rival Black Muslims on February 21, 1965 while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights.

Three members of the Nation of Islam (NOI) — Talmadge Hayer or Thomas Hagan (a.k.a Mujahid Abdul Halim), Norman Butler (a.k.a Muhammad Abdul Aziz) and Thomas Johnson (a.k.a Khalil Islam) — were convicted of his murder in 1966 — despite glaring inconsistencies in the case.

Officials at the time of his murder claimed Malcolm’s assassination was the result of an ongoing dispute between him and the NOI. Though Malcolm had left the group in 1964 on bad terms, Butler (Aziz) and Johnson (Islam) have consistently professed their innocence, and scholars who have studied the case have raised doubts about the killing’s circumstances.

What’s more, there was no evidence linking Butler or Johnson to the crime. Butler even had an alibi for the time of the murder: He was at home resting after injuring his leg. This was backed up by a doctor who had treated him and who took the stand during the trial. Nonetheless, all three men were found guilty in 1966 and sentenced to life in prison. Case closed.

Following the release of a Netflix documentary series last year, that delved into these doubts, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance announced that his office was going to review the case. Little has come from this investigation and it looked like more lip service from officials.

Then, last week, a letter was released, reportedly written by Ray Wood who was an undercover police officer at the time. Wood’s attorney and family claim Wood wrote the letter on his deathbed confessing the NYPD and the FBI conspired to kill Malcolm X.

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On the 56th Anniversary of His Murder, Watch Malcolm X Prophesize Today’s Police State

“They think they are living in a police state, and they become hostile toward the policemen. They think that the policeman is there to be against them rather than to protect them. And these thoughts, these frustrations, these apparitions, automatically are sufficient to make these Negroes begin to form means and ways to protect themselves in case the police themselves get too far out of line.” -Malcolm X – assassinated on Feb. 21, 1965, in New York City.

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Erik Prince Busted In Illegal Libya Gun-Running Scheme That Included “Assassination For Hire”

Erik Prince is the wealthy scandal-plagued mercenary who seems never go away from the headlines. The founder of the notorious Blackwater private security company has since been involved in shady schemes and arms dealing everywhere from China to UAE to Syria to Venezuela. He currently heads the Hong Kong-listed Frontier Services Group, providing ‘security services’ across the globe.

And now it’s been revealed that he’s deeply involved in the still-raging war in Libya. No less than the United Nations is alleging he’s overseeing a major arms dealing program in support of eastern Libya warlord Khalifa Haftar who has for years waged war to take over Tripoli. The findings are detailed in a confidential UN report.

“The confidential report to the Security Council, obtained by The New York Times and The Washington Post, and partly seen by Al Jazeera, said on Friday that Prince deployed a force of foreign mercenaries and weapons to renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, who has fought to overthrow the UN-recognized Libyan government, in 2019,” according to the latest reporting.

While Prince has typically avoided legal consequences for the past scandals he’s been at center of, the UN findings could bring potential international travel restrictions or even sanctions by the world body. This scenario is likely given there is currently a strict UN arms embargo on the country (something however that’s repeatedly violated by governments like France and the UAE and others).

“The $80m operation included plans to form a hit squad to track and kill Libyan commanders opposed to Haftar – including some who were also European Union citizens,” The New York Times found in reviewing the UN report.

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