Colombia to buy 9 Black Hawk helicopters -sources

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia to buy 9 Black Hawk helicopters -sources

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - The Colombian government plans to purchase nine Black Hawk helicopters from U.S.-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp, an arm of United Technologies (UTX.N), sources at the Colombian embassy in Washington told Reuters on Monday.

The officials said Colombia aimed to hand over an acceptance letter to Sikorsky in the coming months confirming its intentions. The helicopters would be paid for through a new wealth tax recently approved by the Colombian Congress, they said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1220533520100412?rpc=401&type=hotStocksNews&feedType=RSS&feedName=hotStocksNews&rpc=401

[rabs]

1. Gates was down in Bogota today

where he had a meeting to discuss the region's arms race with lame-duck Uribe.

Guess the Pentagon selling nine Blackhawks to Colombian is not part of the "race," just a little stroll. Wonder which government will buy the 'copters, because uribe is out in August and what is the price to be paid for them. Reuters blurb leaves out minor details like that.

Btw, Amb. Blly Brownfield yesterday announced that the U.S. government was suspending all aid to the DAS. You will recall that the U.S. Embassy's legal attache was wiretapped talking to a Colombian Supreme Court judge.

Meantime, DASgate is creeping closer and closer to alvarito. Today he resiterated that he had had nothing to do with the "chuzadas" (wire taps). So Mr. 82 left two former directors and three other former high-ranking DAS officials dangling in the wind, even though the DAS responds directly to him and no one else.

Suspect Brownfield gave Gates a DASgate briefing. :-)

[Judi Lynn]

2. Those Blackhawk thingies are ferociously expensive. They may have to take it out of

the vast allowance the U.S. government gives them as a token of the U.S. taxpayers' unearned esteem. Sure, we can expect Reuters to look out for us, not wanting to make us worry too much about the expense. They are so thoughtful that way.

Glad you reminded us that Brownfield WAS one of the lucky targets who got wiretapped by Uribe's D.A.S. It is hilarious he found out. Now he knows how trustworthy Uribe is, and how he respects his US connections. What a shame Brownfield is there. It seems like a job a true maggot would enjoy, someone like John Negroponte, or William Brownfield: doing intensive work with a deadly regime.

So Uribe had nothing to do with the chuzadas, just as he wasn't remotely connected to any of the times his previous D.A.S. chief had hit lists of activists, union leaders, etc. and gave them to the paramilitaries so they could go right out and destroy them.

Poor Uribe, being surrounded by so many ruthless people. Rabs, it's just terrible, isn't it?

Sure wish Gates could retire and move in with Rumsfeld. He's not someone who inspires confidence. He works from a different principle, and it has nothing to do with peace.

[Judi Lynn]

3. US suspends aid to tainted Colombian spy agency

Latest Update: Wednesday14/4/2010 April, 2010, 11:39 PM Doha Time
US suspends aid to tainted Colombian spy agency

The US government has suspended aid to Colombia’s DAS intelligence agency, whose agents are accused of illegally wiretapping President Alvaro Uribe’s opponents, journalists and magistrates. The scandal is the latest to blemish the Colombian government under Uribe, a Washington ally who must step down this year after two terms and remains popular for his tough line against leftist rebels. His former defense minister, Juan Manuel Santos, is the favorite to succeed him in a May vote. The US ambassador to Colombia, William Brownfield, said cooperation aid to the Administrative Security Department, or DAS, would be transferred to the national police and the attorney general’s office’s CIT investigative unit.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=355207&version=1&template_id=43&parent_id=19