Truthout v FBI
Jason Leopold from Truthout has been in the midst of a FOI battle with the FBI.
Truthout filed the complaint on October 6th, against the Department of Justice (DOJ) over the FBI’s failure to release documents we have sought pertaining to Occupy Wall Street (OWS).
PAID INFORMANTS
Documents revealed that the FBI have been monitoring a Bay Area Occupy group and paid particularly close attention to protesters’ plans to shut down West Coast ports in November and December 2011.
Further to this:
Aside from demanding that the FBI immediately turn over records, the complaint also asks the federal court judge presiding over the case to “issue a written finding that the circumstances surrounding the Office of Information Policy’s affirmation of FBI’s search regarding the Leopold Request raise questions whether OIP personnel acted arbitrarily or capriciously.”
FULL COMPLAINT
DHS FINAL RESPONSE
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@JasonLeopold
Related Link: FBI OWS Documents: Spying, “Domestic Terrorists” & Assassination Plots
Successive governments have misjudged the risk that arms approved for export to North Africa and the Middle East might be used for internal repression says Committee on Arms Export Controls.
Report: Scrutiny of Arms Export Controls (2011)
The Committees on Arms Export Controls in the first overseas affairs Select Committee Report since the start of the uprisings in January in North Africa and the Middle East comment that
“Both the present Government and its predecessor misjudged the risk that arms approved for export to certain authoritarian countries in North Africa and the Middle East might be used for internal repression”
The Chair of the Committees on Arms Export Controls, Sir John Stanley, says
“This is a ground-breaking report as far as Parliament and the public are concerned. For the first time, the committees have produced, in Annex 4 of our Report, country by country examples of export licence approvals since January 2009 of arms that could be used for internal repression by authoritarian regimes in North Africa and the Middle East.”
The Committees on Arms Export Controls comprises the Business, Innovation and Skills, Defence, Foreign Affairs and International Development Select Committees.
John Stanley goes on to say:
“The committees have also detailed in paragraph 134 of the Report the arms export licence revocations that the Government has made since January 2011, vigorously back-pedalling on arms exports that had previously been approved. The committees welcome these revocations of arms export licences to Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Bahrain but their number, 156 by the time the Committees concluded their Report, reflects the degree of policy misjudgement that has occurred.”
The committees end their Report recommending that the Government extends immediately its review of UK arms export licences to North Africa and the Middle East, announced by the FCO Minister, Alistair Burt, on 18 February 2011, to authoritarian regimes worldwide in respect of arms or components of arms which could be used for internal repression.
Saudi Arabia has not yet responded to a request from the US to supply weapons to rebels in Libya
Desperate to avoid US military involvement in Libya in the event of a prolonged struggle between the Gaddafi regime and its opponents, the Americans have asked Saudi Arabia if it can supply weapons to the rebels in Benghazi. The Saudi Kingdom, already facing a “day of rage” from its 10 per cent Shia Muslim community on Friday, with a ban on all demonstrations, has so far failed to respond to Washington’s highly classified request, although King Abdullah personally loathes the Libyan leader, who tried to assassinate him just over a year ago.
Washington’s request is in line with other US military co-operation with the Saudis. The royal family in Jeddah, which was deeply involved in the Contra scandal during the Reagan administration, gave immediate support to American efforts to arm guerrillas fighting the Soviet army in Afghanistan in 1980 and later – to America’s chagrin – also funded and armed the Taliban.
But the Saudis remain the only US Arab ally strategically placed and capable of furnishing weapons to the guerrillas of Libya. Their assistance would allow Washington to disclaim any military involvement in the supply chain – even though the arms would be American and paid for by the Saudis.
The Saudis have been told that opponents of Gaddafi need anti-tank rockets and mortars as a first priority to hold off attacks by Gaddafi’s armour, and ground-to-air missiles to shoot down his fighter-bombers.
Supplies could reach Benghazi within 48 hours but they would need to be delivered to air bases in Libya or to Benghazi airport. If the guerrillas can then go on to the offensive and assault Gaddafi’s strongholds in western Libya, the political pressure on America and Nato – not least from Republican members of Congress – to establish a no-fly zone would be reduced.
US military planners have already made it clear that a zone of this kind would necessitate US air attacks on Libya’s functioning, if seriously depleted, anti-aircraft missile bases, thus bringing Washington directly into the war on the side of Gaddafi’s opponents.
For several days now, US Awacs surveillance aircraft have been flying around Libya, making constant contact with Malta air traffic control and requesting details of Libyan flight patterns, including journeys made in the past 48 hours by Gaddafi’s private jet which flew to Jordan and back to Libya just before the weekend.
Officially, Nato will only describe the presence of American Awacs planes as part of its post-9/11 Operation Active Endeavour, which has broad reach to undertake aerial counter-terrorism measures in the Middle East region.
The data from the Awacs is streamed to all Nato countries under the mission’s existing mandate. Now that Gaddafi has been reinstated as a super-terrorist in the West’s lexicon, however, the Nato mission can easily be used to search for targets of opportunity in Libya if active military operations are undertaken.
Al Jazeera English television channel last night broadcast recordings made by American aircraft to Maltese air traffic control, requesting information about Libyan flights, especially that of Gaddafi’s jet.
An American Awacs aircraft, tail number LX-N90442 could be heard contacting the Malta control tower on Saturday for information about a Libyan Dassault-Falcon 900 jet 5A-DCN on its way from Amman to Mitiga, Gaddafi’s own VIP airport.
Nato Awacs 07 is heard to say: “Do you have information on an aircraft with the Squawk 2017 position about 85 miles east of our [sic]?”
Malta air traffic control replies: “Seven, that sounds to be Falcon 900- at flight level 340, with a destination Mitiga, according to flight plan.”
But Saudi Arabia is already facing dangers from a co-ordinated day of protest by its own Shia Muslim citizens who, emboldened by the Shia uprising in the neighbouring island of Bahrain, have called for street protests against the ruling family of al-Saud on Friday.
After pouring troops and security police into the province of Qatif last week, the Saudis announced a nationwide ban on all public demonstrations.
Shia organisers claim that up to 20,000 protesters plan to demonstrate with women in the front rows to prevent the Saudi army from opening fire.
If the Saudi government accedes to America’s request to send guns and missiles to Libyan rebels, however, it would be almost impossible for President Barack Obama to condemn the kingdom for any violence against the Shias of the north-east provinces.
Thus has the Arab awakening, the demand for democracy in North Africa, the Shia revolt and the rising against Gaddafi become entangled in the space of just a few hours with US military priorities in the region.
Could March 20th be Saudi Arabia’s “Day of Rage”?
Anonymous Saudis have endorsed the date on Facebook in a kingdom where the popular social networking site has millions of subscribers and most Saudis own one if not more cell phones.
King Abdullah has responded to the building public discontent with a $37 billion package of subsidies, unemployment benefits, pay raises and housing promises, including the creation of 1,200 jobs and a 15% pay raise for all government employees.
Criticism was swift with critics calling the king’s gesture bribery and a bet against revolution. “People don’t revolt because they are hungry,” Saudi expat Ahmad al-Omran noted on his Saudi Jeans blog, “Money won’t solve our issues. We need true political and social reform.”
Leading intellectuals also warned the $37 billion in advance of protests did not substitute for meaningful political reform. In a released statement February 24, Saudi scholars, academics and a poet called on the royal family to learn from the unrest sweeping the region saying Arabs are looking for freedom, dignity and democracy.
Nearly half of all Saudis are under the age of 18 with 40% of 20- to 24-year-olds out of work. Add to this reality the fact that Saudi Arabia youth are highly connected and communicating through social media to the rest of the world and particularly to Arab youth.
So far only a few hundred supporters openly follow the K.S.A.Revolution Facebook page despite the long-standing undercurrent of unrest and anger towards the regime.
Will Saudi Arabia escape the freedom contagion despite its similar underlying demographics that resulted in revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt? Analysts remain divided on whether or not it can avoid the type of uprisings seen elsewhere.
