Ex-President Uribe denies ordering Colombia's intelligence agency to spy on judges, foes

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Ex-President Uribe denies ordering Colombia's intelligence agency to spy on judges, foes
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: August 18, 2011 - 11:36 pm
Last Updated: August 18, 2011 - 11:36 pm

BOGOTA, Colombia — Former President Alvaro Uribe has denied before a Colombian congressional committee that he ordered the country's domestic intelligence agency to spy on judges, journalists and political foes.

Uribe said during a 3½-hour appearance that any accusations against him are based on false testimony and ill will.

More than 20 agents of the DAS intelligence agency have been imprisoned for alleged roles in the spying. Two have pleaded guilty in exchange for reduced sentences.

Among those jailed is Uribe's former chief of staff, who also denies any wrongdoing.

Read more: http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/906a2c4924be4a0aabbfe0d07d5cb50e/LT--Colombia-Uribe/

[Peace Patriot]

1. Was anybody there to hear him?

This would be funny if there weren't so many dead bodies of trade unionists, who had been spied upon by DAS, rotting in graves in Colombia. But FOUR members of this committee resigned from the committee, two of them admitting that death threats were the reason, with death threats probable in the other two resignations.

Article says it's a 15 member panel. That leaves 11. Any more resignations? And, of the 11 survivors, what promises have they made to avoid death?

Also: Standard warning. This is an ASSOCIATED PUKES article. Beware of the black holes. Black holes are objects that suck in all the light and no light can get out. This is very dizzying and makes you...

:puke:

[Octafish]

2. Prolly never heard of CONDOR, either.

ECHELON. CONDOR. What's the diff between fiends?

[rabs]

3. Washington Post begs to differ

U.S. aid implicated in abuses of power in Colombia


By Karen DeYoung and Claudia J. Duque, Published: August 20

The Obama administration often cites Colombia’s thriving democracy as proof that U.S. assistance, know-how and commitment can turn around a potentially failed state under terrorist siege.

The country’s U.S.-funded counterinsurgency campaign against a Marxist rebel group — and the civilian and military coordination behind it — are viewed as so successful that it has become a model for strategy in Afghanistan.

But new revelations in long-running political scandals under former president Alvaro Uribe, a close U.S. ally throughout his eight-year tenure, have implicated American aid, and possibly U.S. officials, in egregious abuses of power and illegal actions by the Colombian government under the guise of fighting terrorism and drug smuggling.

American cash, equipment and training, supplied to elite units of the Colombian intelligence service over the past decade to help smash cocaine-trafficking rings, were used to carry out spying operations and smear campaigns against Supreme Court justices, Uribe’s political opponents and civil society groups, according to law enforcement documents obtained by The Washington Post and interviews with prosecutors and former Colombian intelligence officials.

More

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/us-aid-implicated-in-abuses-of-power-in-colombia/2011/06/21/gIQABrZpSJ_story.html