The Colonels Corner The Invisible Soldiers Part 6

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0:00 Okay, I don't see SR-71 or Bridget in here yet. So we're going to take a chance and get started without them. Which is always dicey. Because if they dump it, chances are we won't be able to get back in. But they've already dumped me once while I was waiting. Hold on a second. Let me get the...

0:33 stream yard going all right go live okay yesterday southern i'm going to bring you up as a co-host um bridget i guess is a little late and i need a co-host in case it dumps me out again so um chapter nine which is where we left off yesterday is called conquering chaos and basically there was an attempt in

1:17 by the quote-unquote trade association of private military contractors in September 2008 based upon the outrage of the Nazor Square massacre that had happened just a year before to kind of circle the wagons, if you will. And the conference that they had there

1:49 was to do three things. The first of which was going to be to create a Montreux document, which is named after the Pleyber meeting, which would show how existing international laws could be used to oversee private military contractors, then create an international code of conduct that would be endorsed by the very people.

2:19 that were conducting the atrocities. And the last step was a new global enforcement body to certify companies and rule on allegations of human right abuses and transgressions. So basically, what they were trying to do is to set up and create a bonding system like

2:48 state and local governments have when they bond employees that would be forfeited in events of misconduct, malfeasance, and noncompliance. So again, the bottom line to this is they were allowing the industry to police itself.

3:17 None of the existing international law at the time had really any applicability to these private military companies because it was all a new industry for the most part in its current size and in its large mission throughout the world. So, and I'm going to apologize ahead of time because there's a storm that just started here.

3:47 in Central Florida, in case the reception gets a little wonky. Okay, so basically, its notion was to repudiate the notion that private military and security contractors operated in a legal vacuum. They did both in the United States and in the world.

4:20 They go on and talk about some of the difficult questions that they dealt with. For example, the third party contractors that were being recruited from all over the world with basically no background checks. It goes on to say that the document,

4:55 Montreux's document was a 37-page document that gave the impression that there was a consensus that international law, in particular international humanitarian law and human rights law, had a bearing on the private military companies. However, it was later recognized by basically everyone that actually none of it applied.

5:25 to them. You could describe this entire effort almost as a camouflage of appearing to be doing something to self-regulate, while in fact acknowledging if you get into the discussions that were had at the meeting, they all knew that none of it would hold up in any court of law.

5:54 or anything else. Not only that, the very countries that were using this were the ones that funded the conference. So everything about it was suspect. It says that this document was the first document written to address the problem of private military security contractors.

6:29 The nations, of course, all embraced it as a first step. The second step was to what was called the Swiss initiative, the International Code of Conduct, that they would all end up signing. It goes on to say part of the problem from the start was actually trying to define the industry.

7:00 As it was pointed out, there were confusion among terms like private security, private military, mercenaries, and even trying to define this entity that had been created and extensively used for the better part of the last decade was very controversial among the people there. And you could tell by the conversation.

7:31 One of the things that they wanted to accomplish is to ensure that the word mercenary was no longer in anyone's vocabulary in dealing with private security contractors. And they tried very hard at that in all of these documents. The greatest of all challenges would be establishing step two, which would be the initiative of.

8:01 The legal part of it and how fast that they could move to get this kind of facade in place. It said speed was of grave concern because of the many human rights violations that were occurring every day. Whether it was Blackwater or any number of other firms, private military security companies continued shooting civilians, expending excess.

8:32 Excessive amounts of taxpayer dollars, failing to screen backgrounds of their armed employees, smuggling weapons, drinking, and as a side note, it also talks about the sexual exploitation of the local people. The New York Times would later observe, far from providing insurance against sudden death,

9:02 The easily identifiable, strikingly vulnerable pickup trucks and SUVs driven by security companies were magnets for insurgents, militia, disgruntled Iraqis, and everyone else in search of a target. Basically trying to defend the fact that they needed to be ruthless. Thanks, New York Times. In October 2007, a few weeks after the Nassau Square Massacre, employees of the British firm

9:35 Enris allegedly opened fire on a taxi in northern Iraq, injuring 26-year-old Iraqi man, his sister, and a young Iraqi journalist who worked for one of the major Kurdistan TV stations. In that same week, there was a tragedy in Baghdad when an employee of a private military security company based in Dubai opened fire on a car filled with four young Iraqis.

10:04 Going home from church, two of them were killed. Sitting in the back of the last armored vehicle of a four-car convoy, two shooters fired 30 to 40 bullets into the car from a distance of about 75 yards. Again, the car, just like with the others, were not closing in on them. It was a normal drive home.

10:32 Some industry advocates blame these problems on the fact that the industry was still in a quote unquote development stage. Like we're almost a decade into this. They stress that some companies like DynCorp was forming ethic committees, hiring compliance officers and improving background checks. Others from within the industry, less confident at the snail's pace of this quote unquote self-governance were.

11:03 very vocal in urging a more extensive and better oversight capability, which, of course, played right into the hands of these people that are creating this facade. So here's some of the people that were there. AGES, G4F, TRIP, TANAPI, Control Risk Group.

11:39 And DynCorp, Blackwater, Westrop, that's just some that kind of stick out to me. And also there were people like Human Rights First and Amnesty International that were supposedly there to represent the victims. And dang, that was loud.

12:19 Concern expressed about the Matrix contract and the fact that, and for those of you who haven't watched the previous shows, Matrix contract was the contractor watching the contractors. So supposedly they were supposed to be coordinating all of the private military companies in the Iraq.

12:45 provisional coalition government. Throughout the 2008 campaign, few Americans were concerned about the private military operation. And interestingly enough, Clinton and Obama during the 2008 released statements basically condemning the industry.

13:18 And then, of course, we turned around and used it extensively, which is par for the course. Let's say one thing and do another. On a radio program, Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman asked Barack Obama about private military contractors like Blackwater. Obama responded, I've actually.

13:54 I'm the one who co-sponsored the bill that called for an investigation of Blackwater. Goodman asked him, why would you support the, or would you support the Stop Outsourcing Security Act that was currently being introduced in Congress now? Obama said, here's the problem. We have 140,000 private contractors right there in Iraq.

14:24 So unless we want to replace all of them with U.S. troops, we can't draw down the contractors faster than we draw down our troops. So what I want to do is draw. I want them out in the same way that we make sure we draw out our combat troops. All right. And she said, so not a total ban. He says, well, I mean, I don't want to replace those contractors with more U.S. troops.

14:53 Because we don't have them, all right? Yes, we do. But this was a speech about the economy. So why are you even asking me this question? Amy Goodman responds, the war is costing $3 trillion. It is about the economy. Obama said, that's what I know. Which I made a speech about that last week. Thank you and got up and left.

15:25 It was clear that no one really wanted to stop of this at all. Okay. Chapter 10 goes back and talks about the guy that we started out with, former Iraqi citizen that moved to the U.S., was an American, joined the army, special forces, and was shot in the foot.

15:59 and almost died by a private military contractor. It starts at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in the spring of 2009. The deputy commandant there, General Edward Carden, initiated a study into the unprecedented inclusion of private military companies within the U.S. theaters of war.

16:28 His intent was to awaken his students who were Army majors engaged in a year of graduate studies to the full reality of what was happening with private military companies. Quote, in a future where the U.S. Army participates persistent conflict with limited increases in manning, the trend indicates continued pervasiveness of private military contractors on the battlefield, which compels the U.S. Army.

16:57 to develop an understanding of them. That was the description of his project. A few weeks before the study began, the U.S. force in Afghanistan had reached an historic marker. 57% were private military contractors. From the general's point of view, the use of private military involvement intensified the need for Army future leaders to know as much as possible.

17:27 about the private contractors, especially how to synchronize with them, not resent them or resist them as the military was sometimes known to do. The growing use of private military also spurred his fears, his worst being an unintended encounter between the American detail and a private contractor. Some nations could hire an American PMC or subcontractor

17:53 of such a firm and our forces would show up in an intervention. It could take several forms, but what most concerns me is the American soldier could be in a potential conflict with employees of a private military corporation under a U.S. contract on the opposing side. The general, however, did not know that a variation of his fear

18:29 had already played out in real time. And ironically, later that spring, Kadim, the special forces guy that was shot in the foot, would be attending classes at Fort Leavenworth as part of his study in the Army Civilian University, hoping to reintegrate into the Army as a civilian intelligence agency. That such a twist of faith occurred at Fort Leavenworth was fitting.

19:02 After all, the intellectual center of the U.S. Army, where the conduct of war and dramatic shifts in military tactic and strategies such as privatization were studied and where new ideas took shape. An American journalist, Robert Kaplan, wrote Leavenworth is where military doctrine is written. For years, crucial and sometimes controversial solutions to national defense challenges had come out of Fort Leavenworth, including.

19:31 The Quiet Revolution in 2006, when a Vietnam era strategies of counterintelligence were reconstituted for Iraq, a project under the direction of General Davis Petraeus. Then the commandant at Leavenworth even looked like a college campus with its clock tower, red brick buildings situated on.

20:01 On the Missouri River, the fort was originally built to facilitate expansion in 19th century America by providing supplies and security for the early explorers daring enough to venture into America's western territories, the gateway to American West. It was where the Santa Fe Trail began. In the 21st century, it was no less significant, though a post of a different sort.

20:29 this time supplying strategies for America's survival on a conflict-ridden global frontier. In its hundreds of classrooms, extensive lessons on history of warfare were integrated with the realities of the present day and into the future. Most of what happened here about peering into the future to prepare for potential conflict and to design ways to negotiate safe ground internationally for American citizens and interests.

20:58 As the graduate school for U.S. military, its alumni included Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, Colin Powell, and Petraeus. Its international officer program had attracted military leaders from nearly every nation in the world in an effort to establish ties that sometimes prompted calls from the Pentagon to the foreign intervention or international crisis in pursuit of host and close associates of the graduates.

21:31 who had become presidents of nations and head of foreign militaries. After 9-1-1, for example, calls came in about Pakistanis Army Chief General Kayyai, who was a 1981 Levinworth grad. And if you guys recall, in some of our previous books, we've talked about the fact that during Operation Condor, they were sending...

21:58 some of the people they were grooming, they being the CIA, to Fort Leavenworth for studies. So there's a whole host of criminals that have been sent to Leavenworth to go back and basically support the CIA dictatorship. Leavenworth's military studies were often published in a series called the Combat Studies Institute Press.

22:29 In early 2005, for example, the press came out with a paper in the Global War on Terrorism series entitled Public War, Private Fight, the U.S. and Private Military Companies. It was utterly precinct, taking the point of view that an increasing reliance on private military companies, quote, has altered irrevocably the American way of war, unquote.

22:59 The author, who was a professor of military history at the college, raised questions about cost and accountability and then zeroed in on a critical issue for the traditional military. The profound difference between efficiency and effectiveness. The companies promoted their efficiencies of speed and cost as they were on call, she noted. But the military is about effectiveness, she wrote.

23:28 The best, most effective strategy for a campaign to succeed might not be the quickest. Efficiency is more applicable in economics and politics. Professor Kidwell stressed the attention must be paid to the impact that private contractors have on America. A concern that should transcend political expediency, cost efficiency.

24:00 or the fulfillment of a privatization ideal. Did private military contractors assist in the effectiveness of military policy? In her opinion, private military contractors lack the exemplary performance of American military forces in combat. Coordinated action and protection is more difficult, cost rise unpredictably, and legal ambiguity often leads to great

24:30 personal risk for both the contracted employee and the military. Thus, a number of significant risks accrue with the extensive use of contractors. This increased risk detracts from the overall military effectiveness. In 2005, Professor Kidwell was one of the few Americans asking the crucial question, does the current extensive use of private military companies

24:57 ultimately benefit American society and its citizens. If the nation loses a personal connection to the military, and as a result, fewer members of future generations know what it means to serve the nation, then what? The psychological cost of privatization and its impact on allegiance to the country must be considered. Professor Kidwell said, quote, Americans

25:26 may do well to consider the social legacy of participation in World War II because American society and its military are mutually reinforcing. Leaders must be mindful of the social as well as the financial implications of private military companies. Ultimately, military policy must benefit American society, unquote. In the conclusion to her 80-page

25:58 monograph. She wrote, quote, it has been observed that war is too important to be left to the generals. Industry analyst Peter Singer added that war is far too important to be left to private industry. Americans cannot abdicate their responsibility to govern and wage war wisely. Professor Kidwell's work was highly regarded by the participants in the spring of 2009 study.

26:31 at the Command and General Staff College. And the students who would add their findings to Kidwell's quickly learned that since her assessment, private military companies had moved far beyond being suppliers of logistical support. Some firms have become so large that they were beginning to resemble their own military. The Leavenworth participants dubbed them as the Walmart of war.

26:58 The same company would send armed employees to guard oil rigs in hostile territory and supply unarmed risk consultants to a shipping company concerned about piracy. One spring day at a meeting on the second floor at the college library, one of the students expressed concern about the issue of citizens' awareness and democracy. Quote, have we circumvented the ability to have a national debate?

27:26 about whether to enter a conflict. When we do that, the political cost goes up. Dialogue, discourse, these are the basics of democracy. Democracies require bureaucracies to slow down decision-making so there can be a dialogue. Privatizing the military obviously averts that. It's good for politicians, but what about us Americans? And what about us, meaning the military?

28:13 Another participant added, quote, What concerns me are the paradoxes and what the general public can't see.

28:22 We are taught here to be self-critical. At Leavenworth, soldiers are self-critical. We are trying to define best paths. We are looking at reality. Ironically, we want to figure out a way for peace, but we look like just the opposite, which is what the companies are.

28:42 They are trying to deflect criticism and rebrand. We are open and accessible. They are secretive and sometimes have created their own rules of engagement. They make money off a conflict while we are running studies to find strategies to end conflict. And now we are having to learn how to work with them. Do we even have a choice? Some questioning was exactly what General Cardin wanted to hear.

29:12 Four seminars of 16 students each examined what was clearly a major shift in Americans' military history. The general himself had studied many written documents and books on the topic, ranging from histories about the mercenary trade over the past several centuries to analysis on its latest incarnation. He was impressed with the work of Peter Singer, whose book Corporate Warriors, that he had read.

29:43 He had even discussed the topic with Stinger. During the weeks of the study, he was reading books by German political scientist, Herfried Mückler, who wrote The New Wars about the transition from wars that resulted in the formation of nations to recent wars that emerged in conjunction with the failure or collapse of nations. It was through his understanding of the shift.

30:10 From symmetrical conflicts between states to asymmetrical global relationships of force, that is, from nations to non-state actors in the theater of war, that General Cardin saw the urgency of understanding and working with private military and security companies. At the time, he was a one-star general. He was one of the youngest generals in the U.S. Army.

30:37 The word at Leavenworth that spring was that he would soon receive his second star, thus becoming a major general, and would return to Iraq, where he had already held three command posts. A West Point grad, he had two master's degree, one in national security and the other in strategic studies. In the 1990s, he had served as an officer for NATO forces in Bosnia. And from 2000 to 2004, he was a special assistant to the army chief at the Pentagon.

31:06 followed by his first tour in Iraq. His career thus far had been extraordinary, but even in ways beyond his resume, he was serving in Germany on the day the wall fell. He was working in the Pentagon during the 9-11 attack. He was the deputy commanding general for 3rd Infantry Division during the surge in Iraq in 2007. Despite his accomplishments, Cardin exuded a sense of humility, very fit,

31:36 and very stereotypical military appearance. He always put the other person in the spotlight, and with an intense eye-to-eye focus, he listened to every detail. He spoke in a low tone, in a deliberate style that was predictable for someone with such complete understanding of what was going on. But he was also capable of an occasional burst of liveliness.

32:04 often revealing his deep devotion to the military and the United States. At Leavenworth, Carden stood out as one of the best examples of the college integration of the military and academia. He was a thinker and a man of action. He could lead well because he was not only a good listener, but he had an open mind and was willing to explore ideas and strategies. Within the confines of military discipline, he wanted to know the truth.

32:35 and to use whatever he learned for the benefit of the men and women that worked for him, which is why he had concern and interest in the private military sector. Although he had accepted their presence and the notion of the public-private partnership, he wanted to know more and to work through the maze of issues they presented. In one of the meetings that spring, he said that what was happening from the perspective of history

33:04 was that the nation state, with its slow ability to act militarily due to political realities, is becoming increasingly vulnerable to easy solutions that avoid the complexity of government. That is a reality, and nothing shows that more than the growth of the private military and security businesses. Gradually, systems of international security that have been in place for a long time are falling apart, and more anarchy.

33:33 will result, and more of these companies offer themselves for the solution. The advent of private military contractors, he believed, was a harbinger of the future warfare. He saw the signs of entrenchment in the forms of companies revolving door boards and marketers.

33:57 and lobbyists, meaning that they were hiring all of the previous administration's neocons. There had been an initiative within the Department of Defense in 2009 to update the DoD doctrine to incorporate the role of contractors. The strongest evidence of permanence, however, by 2009 may have been the industry's expanding portfolio of profitable firms. But what

34:25 Part of that success was good news for American security and defense, and what part was threatening? Where were the landmines? These were among the many questions he wanted studied. Among the general's deep concern was the possibility of private military contractors, if not properly trained and accountable, interfering with U.S. missions. He knew about incidents of drunken behavior among private contractors, as well as corrupt billing practices.

34:54 and wartime contractor waste. And as the participants of the study group discussed, there were instances of private military security threatening to stop work on the battlefield if not paid on time. There were stories, too, of private contractors who had judged a situation too dangerous and quit. In that year, in 2009, there had also been complaints from military leaders about

35:23 private military security protected convoys blowing through intersections or even Iraqi police checkpoints without bothering to stop. As a CNN producer noted in her 2009 book, in one sign of stunning aggressive behavior, an unidentified contractor ran a U.S. military Humvee off the road. Inside the Humvee was a very angry U.S. general.

35:53 Cardin knew most of the world did not distinguish between public and private sector security and defense in the United States military missions. This concerned him, as it did the participants in the study. And although their case study for the project was the privatization that had occurred in Bosnia in 1990, their discussion groups frequently talked about the current situation. And the new command of AFRICOM had just stood up.

36:24 Unified commands are responsible for running the Department of Defense operations in specific territories. And this one, which became operational October 1st, 2008, would mean, among other things, more business for private military security. It would be the latest example of policy partly based on the knowledge that private military companies were available.

36:50 Bush had first announced the plan for AFRICOM in February of 2007, explaining that its mandate was to guard America's vast spectrum of interest in Africa. In other words, we are going to guard and exploit Africa on behalf of the oligarchs in the United States. So let's set up a command to do that. AFRICOM represented a reconfiguration of the typical unified.

37:21 from a military mission to a security operation, which was an interesting development for anyone well-informed about the military. And let me just tell you, having been present, I retired in July of 2008, just before it stood up. There was so much, not, I wouldn't use the word resistance, but it's the only one that comes to mind. There were so many people inside the military

37:52 that kept consistently saying it was a bad idea. The Department of Defense had laid the groundwork for such a change when it issued the directive in 2005 that defined stability operations as a core U.S. military mission to be given priority as if they were combat operations. Now, the ironic part of all of this is the CIA goes in and destabilizes.

38:27 And the U.S. military just adopted stabilization operations for the destabilized operations the CIA conducts, equivalent to a combat operation. Let that sink in for just a second. The New York Times reported, this marks an evolution of defense strategy for a military that traditionally focused on fighting and winning wars. No shit, Sherlock.

38:59 And as one of the participants in the privatization study pointed out, for the private military and security industry, AFRICOM marked the beginning of a new market. Already stretched militarily, America would have to turn to private military companies to do a large portion of the work. Now, again, ironically, not, Bush, whose dad ran the CIA,

39:29 who's connected to all of the oligarchs and basically are their Praetorian guard, is now redefining what combat operations are to include stabilization for all of the destabilization that his dad oversaw in the CIA. Again, let that sink in. I hope everybody completely comprehends the significance of that.

40:03 Already, let's see, already stretched militarily, Americans would turn to the private military to do a large portion. Once the Iraq and Afghanistan economic bubble burst, the private military contractors will seek new U.S. sponsor markets and AFRICOM would be their gold mine. Sean McFate at the U.S. Institute of Peace, which we know is the CIA front, said,

40:35 Quote, senior leaders within the Department of Defense have repeatedly assured African nations that AFRICOM will have a small footprint on the continent with no new military units. Yet its mission remains ambiguous, requiring more than staff officers to accomplishment. How will it reconcile the twin mandates of a small footprint with a large mission? In a word, contractors.

41:03 utilizing private military security companies would create a market in Africa. Within weeks of the completion of the general's project, Khadim began his classes at the Army Civilian University, which was the center for what was called the Human Terrain System, a program designed to integrate

41:30 cultural sensitivity into U.S. military strategy. Cottham had discovered it in 2008, working through his network of Special Forces soldiers, who around the same time had connected him with an attorney interested in investigating his shooting. Later, Cottham would say that both discoveries, the civilian university and the legal advocate, were like seeing the sun after many days of darkness. The attorney

42:00 Akil, A-K-E-E-L, was part of a team out of Washington, D.C., Seattle, and Troy, Michigan, handling a number of lawsuits involving private military contractors that had been conducting interrogations at the Abu Ghraib prison. He was distressed to hear Qadhim's story. As he later said, quote,

42:41 Soon the legal team started the process of filing a civil suit in the U.S. District in Washington, D.C. against Aegis Defense LLC in Washington.

42:52 Aegis Defense Services Limited in London and Unidentified Aegis Employees. The suit filed in the summer of 2009 claimed that the company and its unidentified agents acted negligently and wrongfully by failing to prevent their employees, agents, and representatives from engaging in foreseeable and predictable wrongful acts. It defined negligence to include failing to take due care in hiring,

43:22 failing to train, failing to supervise, failing to discipline, and failing to investigate reports of wrongdoing. The suit could not reinstate Cutting's military career, nor could it reconstruct his shattered dream. He understood that, but at least because of it, he felt visible. And at Fort Leavenworth, he had returned to the military environment with the hopes of once again utilizing his language skills and his experience as a translator.

43:50 After several months of training, he'd be sent back to Iraq, where his assignment would include the detection of anti-American propaganda in Arab media. To do this, he would travel to cities such as Damascus, Tripoli, Abu Dhabi, and Cairo. His only concern, besides leaving his family back in America, was his health. No doctor could predict when the fatigue would worsen or when his liver might be too weak to operate.

44:19 because of the hepatitis C. Qadim was not aware of the special study of the private military companies at the Command and General Staff College that spring, nor did he and General Cardin ever meet. But soon they both would leave Leavenworth for Baghdad, moving from intellectual pursuits into the swirling vortex of military realities and new challenges. Among them for Qadim were the occasional memories of his two previous lives in Iraq.

44:49 one as a child and the other as a Special Forces soldier. His continuing struggle with fatigue would easily summon an image of the shooting, but there was another reminder he did not anticipate. He had lunch daily at a cafeteria where private military contractors, including employees of Aegis, frequently dined. Because of his civilian post within the military and Aegis' considerable presence in Iraq,

45:19 It was not surprising that Kadim and Aegis would interact in some way. This is something that he had not expected. He was not bitter. He said, quote, I tried not to judge them or to connect them with what happened to me. There is a saying in Arabic that translates to this. The son cannot be blamed for the wrongs of the father, unquote. Among Kadim's

45:45 Few memories of the shooting was the moment immediately after his fellow soldiers jumped out of the sedan and waved their American IDs at the shooters. It was one of those seconds lost in the midst of chaos that later returned. In this case, Kadim remembered when someone in the SUV shouting an apology, he believed it was the shooter. Although he always assumed that the shooter had quit his job or was fired.

46:12 and he knew that he would not be able to recognize him. There was a slight possibility that the man was there in Iraq in 2010, even in the cafeteria one day perhaps, now that we sometimes thought about the shooter as a victim too, as if they were both players in a historic epic, both part of a global transition, both collateral damage in the world's latest incarnation of the mercenary trade.

46:40 In late spring 2010, a few months after he returned to Iraq, Khadim and his team of lawyers received the first big news about their suit from a federal judge in D.C. who had dismissed the case, ruling that the court did not have jurisdiction over a London-based Aegis Defense Service, which under the 2004 contract had employed the shooter. The Virginia-based version of it

47:07 was not incorporated until the year after the shooting and was not under the AGES contract with the DOD in 2005. Legally, neither the British AGES nor the American version could be held accountable for the shooting, a fact as solidly grounded as the truth of the shooting itself. The dismissal of the suit caught the eye of Washington-based writer David Eisenberg.

47:32 in part because none of the facts in the shooting incident were in dispute, and partly because nothing had ever appeared in the media about the case at all. In his column for the Huffington Post, Eisenberg juxtaposed the bad news for Kadim with the good news for Aegis, the double good news, that is. During the same week, the D.C. judge dismissed Kadim's civil action against Aegis that

48:01 firm won a prestigious security contract for the Olympic Delivery Authority for the 2012 Olympics in London. Eisenberg wrote, one wonders if the Olympic Delivery Authority was aware that it was Aegis security contractors who shot and permanently disabled a U.S. security sergeant, Kadim Al-Khanemi.

48:30 as he returned to Baghdad International Airport after an intelligence mission in June 2005. The shooting, Eisenberg stressed, occurred at a place where there were no ongoing hostilities nor credible threats of imminent hostilities. And he ended his column with a skeptic's wit and a word of advice to the Olympic Committee. Quote, you might want to ensure that Aegis...

48:57 unit you sign a contract with is officially incorporated and deemed to legally exist, unquote. Because basically, that's what the judge had cited. So, that concludes today. Crazy stuff, isn't it? Bridget? Oh, can you not hear me? I'm not sure Bridget's there. She is. We can hear her. Can you hear me, Bridget?

49:40 Okay. I can hear you, but apparently you can't hear me. So let me hop out and I'll be right back. I don't hear you. I'm going to remove her and I will bring her back up. Southern, did you have anything? Well, yeah. No. I was very curious about this and did a bit of a deep dive. I'll bring Bridget back up. Okay. Can you hear me? Okay. I always said that there was.

50:15 There was no daylight between Bush. There you go. Try it again, Bridget. How are you doing? Can you hear me now? Still can't hear you. No, dude. Colonel, can you hear me? All right. I don't think the colonel can hear me either. I don't know what's going on. The spaces are all clicking really bad. Anybody have anything that they want to chat about today?

50:48 Basically, I just think there's no daylight between Bush and Obama when it came to. Oh, she's telling me it's me. Yeah, it is. That I can't hear you. I guess you guys can hear me. All right. Let me fix that. Okay. But I can hear you, so. Yep. Southern, rather. Okay. All right. I can hear you. Okay. Anyway. Okay, I'm back. Okay. Can you hear me now?

51:21 I can. Awesome. I've always believed, and I kind of used Grok to go into the book a little bit just to see if I was somewhat on the page. I always believed there was no daylight between Obama and Bush on how they managed these military contractors like Blackwater.

51:44 pulled out the press that he was bringing our soldiers home, but he was hiring more contractors. Correct. And which were doing things that the soldiers would not be doing, which was very concerning. And again, their agendas and everything that goes along with that. But if you really look at Obama and Bush, there is no daylight. If anything, Obama went even further.

52:11 With what he did. And people think that Obama is this good person. He is not. He did a lot of devilish things behind the scenes and getting laws passed and doing all of this. But we need to really look at Bush and Obama. Bush always said, I'm never going to come out and say anything negative about our current presidents or any of that. Obama and Bush came after Trump.

52:39 When he was taking down USAID. They also tried to take down Truth Social. And I have a good friend who's a stockbroker. He reached out to me with a snapshot because they thought that they would just collapse Truth Social because the last thing they wanted for Trump to have a Twitter on steroids that he owned.

53:06 That was their big fear because they had gotten him off Twitter and other social media. So when they thought with the court cases this would tank his stock, Bush and others got together and went after it. And a friend of mine who's a stockbroker took a snapshot of it because it didn't fail. The stock didn't fail. So the next day, the entire transaction was off the books.

53:35 They were able to claw back that stock, I mean, to go after Truth Social, which I found really alarming. That takes an incredible amount of power at that top level to get that done. So Obama has got a lot of skeletons in the closet, and the Bush family went through a financial problem for a while. They needed oil. They needed money.

54:03 I'm just finding out all this stuff about the Bush family that it's startling. It's startling what they've done and their lack of care about human life. And Obama is not clean hands on anything. Did you see my recent post of the Bush family's investment in the Brazil cattle industry? Yes, I did. Yeah. So they've got their fingers in a lot of pies.

54:33 Yeah, and there is, well, I would argue there's no difference between any of the previous presidents. We use the term, I did a lot yesterday, the kabuki dance. That's all this is. Whether you're watching the congressional hearings, it's a kabuki dance. Nothing ever gets done. It doesn't matter which party is in power.

55:03 the same policies are all the same. And so the difference, of course, is President Trump. And that's why all of them collectively circled the wagons. And I would just push back a little on the true social stock, only to the point where it has been manipulated and shorted.

55:27 almost out of existence. They have devalued that stock, which of course hurt a lot of people that supported Trump that made investments early on. Because as a matter of fact, it's funny that you even mentioned that because my husband was just looking, he does a little bit of day trading stuff and the stock that he purchased, it's down 80% overall from the time he purchased it until today.

55:56 They have messed with that social stock the entire time. Well, and the thing that's really sad, because I would never invest in it because it's being positioned against something bigger than us. It's not a fair market trade. I would be terrified to buy their stock just because there's so much BS going on the backside. But then again, with what Trump is doing right now,

56:27 With trade and everything else, we're going to have kind of cleaner trading moving forward if he can keep that ball moving forward. So that's exciting because now it becomes something that Americans can participate in and not be so manipulated. But the reality is Obama came off as this guy who.

56:53 distaste about war. And he is unbelievable. The more I learn about him, the more I do believe he was positioned, groomed to move through. 100%. He's a product of the CIA. Yes, he is. 100%. And obviously grew up with it. And then the Bush family, through that marriage, when she got married again, just brought them all together.

57:21 Well, just brought them all together. Bridget, did you have something you wanted to say? Nope. Yeah. Okay. There's no point in arguing with stupid. That's my first thing. And my second thing is, oh, they're just, they're in bed with each other. And they're, I mean, it's, you know, and it's funny to look at how many of these, I think SR pointed it out yesterday.

57:57 About how many of these have gone through name changes. They're still in existence. Yep. As soon as they get caught doing anything bad, normally first thing they do is, like you pointed out, move the bad guy or the one that got caught, I should say, to another of the organizations. They're all just part of the same family. And until they get their name changed. And then they probably bring them back if patterns hold.

58:28 in a position actually of where they appoint them to a better position. Or they just move them to a different country. Right, right. And it's just, you know, patterns, patterns. I am so thankful. I know we say it all the time, but I'm so thankful at this moment in time to have my Gladio prescription well fixed because...

58:57 And it's infectious. You know, you talk about it to other people and the next thing you know, they're the ones going, look, that freaking CIA. It's like, you know what? Yes, it is. Glad you know. I agree. And I don't know if anybody else has gotten a chance to listen to the colonel's broadcast with Redacted, but it was really awesome. Yeah, I watched it. Yeah, Bridget, I watched it last night. It was.

59:26 Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And I love him and his wife. I think they're awesome. And, you know, I think he lives in Portugal now. No, they're in Denver. Denver. Okay. I think he was living at some point in Portugal. Am I wrong on that? I got the impression that they were not in the United States at one point. Yeah. Yeah.

59:48 During COVID, I believe, or right after COVID. I just remember Portugal just because people were talking about what a great place to live. And a lot of people speak English for cost of living, but live in an old city. But the thing that's coming back to is the oligarchs. Colonel, as we know, as each generation of those children happen, and then they have children, they have children, they have children.

1:00:19 A lot of times they're either losing wealth or they're just not the brightest bulbs unless they have ironclad trust and stuff that manage the integrity of that financial wealth. How do you see that progressing in the future? Well, at some point, trusts have to be dealt with because the especially the ones that facilitate all of this, the foundations.

1:00:49 I don't agree that they're not smart. They're smart in an evil way. And that has played out in just about every person that we look at in the CIA where their children, you know, the Roosevelt family where you had Kermit and his cousin in Iran. It seems to be a generational thing.

1:01:18 thing. You have echelons, as Warhamster and I have articulated, of the original elite members of the international syndicate, and I don't put the Bush family necessarily in that. I put them at the lower echelon of the Praetorian Guard that has been positioned to defend

1:01:48 the upper echelons of the syndicate. They're the ones that go out and perform the duties of president, which is in, I mean, I think we've clearly established that's a figurehead position for all of them. The putting them in the CIA directorships, the Bissells, and all of them, Frank Wisner, all of those.

1:02:17 the Dulles brothers, those were all his uncle serving as the Secretary of State. Those guards are there to protect the next echelon up. And they have done, and I mean, if you just want to be objective about it, they've done a fabulous job at what their mission is. Most people just don't know what their mission is.

1:02:47 they have been able to enrich themselves as they stood guard over the upper echelon's massive riches. So if the Rockefellers can have these Praetorian Guard in these positions that go into South America and overthrow governments so they can go in and

1:03:15 monopolize the land and the resources that are found in the land, what part of that would you change, not from our perspective, but from their perspective? They groom the next echelon, they send them to the same boarding schools, the same universities that spit them out, and it has...

1:03:39 You know, for over 100 years, some families, a lot, you know, several hundred years have been able to continue those operations. And we saw in JFK a person that tried to stop it. He gets assassinated. RFK gets assassinated. And then you have Trump. And other than those disruptors.

1:04:08 to their system, which is why I find it so interesting that, again, with your Gladio glasses on, you can see the bi-political reaching across the aisle that never happens in the encirclement of Trump, where they, despite all of the fake differences over the decades,

1:04:38 They all coalesce against an enemy among them. And from our perspective, our purse has been open the entire time just throwing money at them, not realizing the extent to which they have stolen our collective wealth.

1:05:01 Never done anything in the best interest of America as a country. They've destroyed it. They've destroyed our reputation around the world. As I have pointed out multiple times, all of the countries, they don't hate Americans per se. They really don't like the fact that we have. And I do think in talking with many people in other countries, they don't understand how we can be so stupid. They don't understand how we can be so ignorant.

1:05:31 When they know everything, and we supposedly have press and access to information, and when they find out that things as blatantly obvious and as well publicized in the 90s as the stay behind unit, Gladio thing, and all of the exposure that happened in Europe, and yet no one in America knows anything about it, they're dumbfounded. They're like literally dumbfounded. How could you not know?

1:06:00 Everybody knows about it. And the same is true when they experience a coup. They know it's the United States. They know that it's NATO. They know that it's the UK that is behind them. They don't understand how we don't know this. So anyway. The point I was trying to make is I find a lot of times from super wealthy families, sometimes the kids aren't.

1:06:35 motivated to be like their parents because they have everything handed to them. And we find that they don't try to do more. They just live off the money and travel, and they don't really have a strong work ethic. And we see that, and that's got to have an impact long term.

1:06:58 But as long as you've got the John Kerry's, the Bush's and all them holding that line politically, then their kids can be screwballs because they're going to be protected. Yeah, I don't disagree with that. Yeah, it makes you want to shut down Harvard and Yale and a few other places and start eliminating this because buying.

1:07:25 The Ivy Leagues then are spawning the future problems. And there's more of us. There's more of us. And that's the part we forget. But we feel like we're not at the table where these decisions are being made. We can vote, but then we turn around and see our people in Congress get caught up in the corruption or blackmailed or, ooh, I want a better lifestyle.

1:07:52 They forget why they were there. Well, we're voting on corrupt voting machines thanks to them as well. 100%. Yeah. So they don't want their power structure messed with. That's for sure. But doesn't AI do that? It's going to be hard to lie to AI the way they're going to be able to organize credible data. I am not impressed with AI at all. I have three.

1:08:25 of the different AIs that are touted as being the best. And I can ask the same question to all three of them. And I get three completely different answers. As a matter of fact, I showed a screenshot. I've broken Gab AI and I broke Grok AI. If I go on the Grok app, all I get is scrambled up garbly gook anytime I want to talk about the CIA.

1:08:56 which, of course, is every time I want to go on it. So I have literally broken two of the three. And I just I think it's hilarious. So I'm I'm not at all. Yeah, it makes great pictures. And thank you, Snow, again for making. Oh, my God, that guy cracks me up. But I'm not impressed with any of them. I it's certainly not going to replace me.

1:09:26 Because I know more than any of the AIs that I've gotten on. Now, can I use that to check quick references? Yes. But the assimilation of data, it really, really is suspect. I can be looking at...

1:09:52 a declassified State Department memo that has been in three different books. So the authenticity of it, it's out on the CIA.gov, you know, disclosure area. So I know it's real and not one of them finds it until I attach a link and they go, look at that, there it is. It's crazy. Tim, go ahead. Tim, Tim.

1:10:34 Hi. His hand's up, but... Hey, I went blank for that. There he is. Sorry about that. That's okay. Hey, Colonel Towner, do you remember when you stayed in Richmond Hill, you were adjacent to I-95? Yep. Okay. Do you remember how far it was from where you got on 95 to the Ageechee River? I don't remember exactly, no. Okay, I'll tell you. I got a point. It's about three miles. Okay.

1:11:05 Richmond Hill, Georgia is experiencing massive growth. Land is at a premium. I'm in commercial building development, and it's just nuts. Okay. Yesterday's conversation was talking about the mercenaries and the private armies that work under the employment of the U.S. government. There's a swath of land that borders 95 that you went to Savannah. Yep. Go down 17.

1:11:34 I'm sorry, go down 144 to Savannah, go back towards Savannah on 17. We're talking about 18 to 20 square miles of land bordered by I-95, US-17, 144, and then the Ageechee River. This land was owned by Georgia Pacific, the paper company, and they don't sell nothing unless the money's stupid.

1:12:04 Right. Like they sell land around new interstate exchange and stuff like that. And a group that the only description I can find out about is, well, they do stuff like Blackwater. Bought that whole parcel of land. And I'm talking several hundred millions of dollars worth of property. And it was kind of a secret. Nobody knows exactly who got it. But the best description I can get is.

1:12:37 It wasn't Blackwater, but it's a group that does the same thing that Blackwater does. Now, the other big point is. Do you know what the name of the group is? No, I'm trying to find out. It's real stupid, stinky secret. Okay. They don't talk about it. The other point is that piece of property is direct.

1:13:05 a mile from the back gate of Fort Stewart, the largest U.S. military residence east of the Mississippi. So we got private military contractors buying large swaths of A number one real estate right next to U.S. military bases. So it's a whole other level of oligarchs. That's all I was going to tell you about.

1:13:33 You mentioned about the money these guys are making. I don't think we can fathom the money. I don't think we can. Yeah, I agree with you because it's in the trillions. Anyway, that's all I got. It's good to hear from you. Okay, thank you. Bye. And by the way, I'm looking forward what we leave in the middle of next week.

1:13:57 um, which our last leg will be down around you. I'm looking forward to, um, uh, being in that area about a little over a month from now. That's fantastic. I hope we all give me a call. Contact me. I'm building a pretty good project just down the road from where you were. So I'm in, I'm in, I'm in Richmond Hill work until cool. Yeah. So, um, awesome. Perfect. I look forward to seeing. Okay.

1:14:28 uh stellar did you have anything um no um i i because like i would not i don't invest in the stock market because i think that the whole thing is manipulated you know um how they play that game and stuff they've perfected it and um

1:14:49 I just appreciate having my Gladio glasses on because to me, anything that doesn't seem normal, I mean, it's really bad when the abnormal has become normal. And so with that being said, you know, I'm thankful because I think everything is Operation Gladio and the international syndicate running every.

1:15:13 Thing that they can possibly think of because I don't think that anything is real anymore. I think everything is just BS from them. I don't think everything is gladio, but I do think it's much more pervasive than most people know. Oh, and by the way, I did reach out. Thank you guys. All of you who contacted the lady that Tucker had on.

1:15:42 Margaret Roberts. She did reach out to me in the DMs and we will connect. She's a little overwhelmed based on appearing there. And so I'm really looking forward to having a conversation with her and kind of sharing some of the information that we gathered up. So just to put into context.

1:16:11 What she knows, I think when she realizes there's a much bigger apparatus that was in play, all of the pieces that she has collected, I think it will reinforce. Obviously, I don't have more information specifically than she has on the details of what happened. She seems very well versed in those. But again, I think.

1:16:40 The failure is to be able to connect the dots to the much bigger operation that has gone on that most Americans are unaware of. So thank you all for reaching out to her and generating that response. I appreciate it. OK, if we don't have anything else, I'm going to go ahead and close this session. And like I said, I think.

1:17:08 By Friday, we will definitely be done with the book. So thank you very much for tuning in. And I'm looking forward to getting this book done so we can start on another one. Thanks, everybody, for being here. Appreciate it. Thanks, Colonel. Thanks. Y'all have a great day.

Entities here

United States17 Kadhim Al-Khanemi14 Iran14 Barack Obama11 U.S. Army10 Leavenworth10 Aegis Defense Services9 Edward Cardon8 George H.W. Bush8 CIA7 Blackwater7 Catherine Kidwell6 AFRICOM6 Donald Trump6 Department of Defense5 Operation Gladio5 Bush family5 Washington, D.C.4 David Eisenberg4 Richmond Hill, Georgia3 Montreux Document3 Margaret Roberts3 U.S. Army Command and General Staff College3 London3 Amy Goodman3 True Social3 Akil2 DynCorp2 International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers2 Baghdad2 Congo2 Nisour Square massacre2 Kadhim Desmal Majid Al-Qananani2 David Petraeus2 September 11 attacks2 Peter Singer2 Bosnia2 NATO2 Ed Cardin2 Operation Condor1

Claims made here

Nisour Square massacre carried_out_attack Blackwater host_asserted ▶ 1:17

“by the quote-unquote trade association of private military contractors in September 2008 based upon the outrage of the Nazor Square massacre that had happened just a year before to kind of circle the …”

Montreux Document funded Blackwater host_asserted ▶ 5:54

“or anything else. Not only that, the very countries that were using this were the ones that funded the conference. So everything about it was suspect. It says that this document was the first document…”

Enris carried_out_attack Iran host_asserted ▶ 9:02

“The easily identifiable, strikingly vulnerable pickup trucks and SUVs driven by security companies were magnets for insurgents, militia, disgruntled Iraqis, and everyone else in search of a target. Ba…”

Barack Obama member_of U.S. Army host_asserted ▶ 13:54

“I'm the one who co-sponsored the bill that called for an investigation of Blackwater. Goodman asked him, why would you support the, or would you support the Stop Outsourcing Security Act that was curr…”

Edward Cardon headed U.S. Army Command and General Staff College documented ▶ 15:59

“and almost died by a private military contractor. It starts at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in the spring of 2009. The deputy commandant there, General Edward Carden…”

Kadhim Desmal Majid Al-Qananani member_of U.S. Army host_asserted ▶ 18:29

“had already played out in real time. And ironically, later that spring, Kadim, the special forces guy that was shot in the foot, would be attending classes at Fort Leavenworth as part of his study in …”

David Petraeus headed U.S. Army Command and General Staff College host_asserted ▶ 19:31

“The Quiet Revolution in 2006, when a Vietnam era strategies of counterintelligence were reconstituted for Iraq, a project under the direction of General Davis Petraeus. Then the commandant at Leavenwo…”

Dwight D. Eisenhower member_of U.S. Army Command and General Staff College documented ▶ 20:58

“As the graduate school for U.S. military, its alumni included Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, Colin Powell, and Petraeus. Its international officer program had attracted military leaders from…”

Douglas MacArthur member_of U.S. Army Command and General Staff College documented ▶ 20:58

Colin Powell member_of U.S. Army Command and General Staff College documented ▶ 20:58

Pervez Kayani member_of U.S. Army Command and General Staff College host_asserted ▶ 21:31

“who had become presidents of nations and head of foreign militaries. After 9-1-1, for example, calls came in about Pakistanis Army Chief General Kayyai, who was a 1981 Levinworth grad. And if you guys…”

Catherine Kidwell founded Public War, Private Fight: The U.S. and Private Military Companies documented ▶ 22:29

“In early 2005, for example, the press came out with a paper in the Global War on Terrorism series entitled Public War, Private Fight, the U.S. and Private Military Companies. It was utterly precinct, …”

Catherine Kidwell member_of U.S. Army Command and General Staff College documented ▶ 22:59

“The author, who was a professor of military history at the college, raised questions about cost and accountability and then zeroed in on a critical issue for the traditional military. The profound dif…”

Edward Cardon member_of NATO documented ▶ 30:37

“The word at Leavenworth that spring was that he would soon receive his second star, thus becoming a major general, and would return to Iraq, where he had already held three command posts. A West Point…”

Edward Cardon member_of 19th Infantry Division documented ▶ 31:06

“followed by his first tour in Iraq. His career thus far had been extraordinary, but even in ways beyond his resume, he was serving in Germany on the day the wall fell. He was working in the Pentagon d…”

George H.W. Bush appointed AFRICOM documented ▶ 36:50

“Bush had first announced the plan for AFRICOM in February of 2007, explaining that its mandate was to guard America's vast spectrum of interest in Africa. In other words, we are going to guard and exp…”

AFRICOM funded Aegis Defense Services host_asserted ▶ 38:59

“And as one of the participants in the privatization study pointed out, for the private military and security industry, AFRICOM marked the beginning of a new market. Already stretched militarily, Ameri…”

George H.W. Bush member_of Bush family host_asserted ▶ 39:29

“who's connected to all of the oligarchs and basically are their Praetorian guard, is now redefining what combat operations are to include stabilization for all of the destabilization that his dad over…”

United States Institute of Peace front_for CIA host_asserted ▶ 40:03

“Already, let's see, already stretched militarily, Americans would turn to the private military to do a large portion. Once the Iraq and Afghanistan economic bubble burst, the private military contract…”

Sean McFate member_of United States Institute of Peace host_asserted ▶ 40:03

Kadhim Al-Khanemi member_of Army Civilian University documented ▶ 41:03

“utilizing private military security companies would create a market in Africa. Within weeks of the completion of the general's project, Khadim began his classes at the Army Civilian University, which …”

Akil funded Kadhim Al-Khanemi documented ▶ 42:41

“Soon the legal team started the process of filing a civil suit in the U.S. District in Washington, D.C. against Aegis Defense LLC in Washington.…”

Department of Defense funded Aegis Defense Services documented ▶ 47:07

“was not incorporated until the year after the shooting and was not under the AGES contract with the DOD in 2005. Legally, neither the British AGES nor the American version could be held accountable fo…”

Aegis Defense Services carried_out_attack Kadhim Al-Khanemi documented ▶ 48:01

“firm won a prestigious security contract for the Olympic Delivery Authority for the 2012 Olympics in London. Eisenberg wrote, one wonders if the Olympic Delivery Authority was aware that it was Aegis …”

Olympic Delivery Authority funded Aegis Defense Services documented ▶ 48:01

Barack Obama member_of CIA host_asserted ▶ 56:53

“distaste about war. And he is unbelievable. The more I learn about him, the more I do believe he was positioned, groomed to move through. 100%. He's a product of the CIA. Yes, he is. 100%. And obvious…”

CIA carried_out_attack Iran host_asserted ▶ 1:00:49

“I don't agree that they're not smart. They're smart in an evil way. And that has played out in just about every person that we look at in the CIA where their children, you know, the Roosevelt family w…”

Frank Wisner member_of CIA host_asserted ▶ 1:01:48

“the upper echelons of the syndicate. They're the ones that go out and perform the duties of president, which is in, I mean, I think we've clearly established that's a figurehead position for all of th…”

Dulles family member_of CIA host_asserted ▶ 1:02:17

“the Dulles brothers, those were all his uncle serving as the Secretary of State. Those guards are there to protect the next echelon up. And they have done, and I mean, if you just want to be objective…”

NATO carried_out_attack France host_asserted ▶ 1:06:00

“Everybody knows about it. And the same is true when they experience a coup. They know it's the United States. They know that it's NATO. They know that it's the UK that is behind them. They don't under…”

Blackwater front_for U.S. State Department caller_asserted ▶ 1:11:05

“Richmond Hill, Georgia is experiencing massive growth. Land is at a premium. I'm in commercial building development, and it's just nuts. Okay. Yesterday's conversation was talking about the mercenarie…”

Margaret Roberts spied_on Operation Gladio host_asserted ▶ 1:16:11

“What she knows, I think when she realizes there's a much bigger apparatus that was in play, all of the pieces that she has collected, I think it will reinforce. Obviously, I don't have more informatio…”