Begin forwarded message:
From: "Mario Profaca" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: November 4, 2008 3:13:31 AM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [SPY NEWS] Mercenary Firm Offers to 'Detain Troublemakers' on
Election Day
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/11/spooky-defense.html
Mercenary Firm Offers to 'Detain Troublemakers' on Election Day
(Updated)
By Nathan Hodge November 03, 2008 | 11:39:00 AM
CIA-linked private military contractor Evergreen Defense & Security
Services offered to post sentries at Oregon election offices on
Tuesday, "detaining troublemakers" and making sure voters "do not get
out of control."
In an e-mail to local election supervisors, obtained by the
McMinnville, Oregon News Register, Evergreen president Tom Wiggins
said he "recognized the potential conflict" that could occur on
November 4th. "Never has there been a more heated battle in the race
for president."
The company, he said, 'proposes to post sentries at each voting center
on November 4th to assure that disputes amongst citizens do not get
out of control. All guards will be unarmed, but capable of stopping
any violence that may occur and detaining troublemakers until law
enforcement arrives.'
Evergreen's website describes its security arm as having "nearly five
decades of experience working with the U.S. Armed Forces, the
Department of Defense, the Department of Interior, the United Nations,
NASA, and the U.S. Air Mobility Command. Many of our contracts include
highly sensitive work-scope, and take place in locations ranging from
the deserts of the Middle East to the jungles of South America to the
highest peaks of Mt. McKinley in Alaska."
According to the News Register, Evergreen "exudes the gung-ho
patriotism that is associated with the company founder, a political
conservative who enjoys close ties with the federal government and
military."
No kidding. Back in the late '80s, the company "acknowledged one
agreement under which his companies provide occasional jobs and cover
to foreign nationals the CIA wants taken out of other countries or
brought into the United States." More recently, Evergreen's parent
company flew Bill O'Reilly into Kuwait in 2006, according to
SourceWatch.
But rest easy: The Oregonian reports that the company struck out with
its sales pitch.
UPDATE: As several commenters have pointed out, Evergreen's offer is
particularly weird, since the state does its voting by mail. Voters
get ballots sent to them, and can then return them to county election
offices by 8pm on Tuesday. Perhaps that's where Evergreen was looking
to keep the peace.