>From: "Stormie" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Eternera Mailing List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: Eternera Mailing List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Monday, February 28, 2000 7:32 AM >Subject: What the CIA is doing in places like Kosovo and East Timor today? > > >>Eternera Mailing List - http://get.to/eternera >> >>"Very few people know much about what the CIA is doing in places like >>Kosovo and >>East Timor today, because secrecy is an operational imperative." >> >>The Washington Post >>Magazine >>[EXCERPT ONLY] >> >>AFTER-ACTION REPORT >>Spying used to mean stealing another government's secrets, but what >>can spies achieve in a country with no government? In >>Somalia with the CIA, Garrett Jones and John Spinelli >>found out >> >>By Vernon Loeb >> >>Sunday, February 27, 2000; Page W06 >> >>One night in October 1993, Garrett Jones saw his life pass before his eyes >>on the >>evening news. >> >>On his television screen, a wounded Army helicopter pilot named Michael >> Durant >>was being carried on a stretcher to a waiting airplane after 11 days' >>captivity in >>Mogadishu, the war-racked capital of Somalia. Jones, watching in his living >>room in >>Silver Spring, could feel his breathing accelerate and his heart begin to >>pound. In the >>seconds it takes to air a foreign report on television news, he began to >>feel that he, >>too, was standing on the sun-blasted tarmac. He could hear the turbines >>whining. He >>could smell the jet fuel burning in the salty ocean air. >> >>Just four days before, Jones had been on that tarmac. He was >>the CIA's chief of station, Mogadishu, an old Africa hand who had >>spent most of his spy career on the continent. But nothing had pre- >>pared him for what happened in the Somali capital. In 14 years with the >>agency, he'd >>never seen his deputy shot, or taken mortar fire night after night, or >> watched a >>firefight engulf a city, or seen his buddies in the U.S. military maimed >>and >>killed. But >>all of that, and >>more, happened in only eight weeks in Mogadishu. Somalia >>was something entirely new. >> >>It is hard to play the classic espionage game -- stealing another >>secrets -- in places that have no government. But more and more, this is >>where the >>CIA finds itself, chasing terrorists and drug kingpins, weapons merchants >> and >>warlords. George J. Tenet, the current director of central intelligence, >>says the CIA's >>operational agenda is "running hotter than ever -- hotter than anyone >>expected in >>the aftermath of the Cold War -- from Somalia to Haiti to Bosnia to Rwanda >> to >>Burundi, Iraq, Kosovo and East Timor." >> >>During the Cold War, the CIA strove for "presence" around the globe, >>dueling >>with >>its archenemy, the KGB, from Moscow to Malaysia. But now, with the KGB gone >>and the Berlin Wall dismantled and a proliferation of rogue nations and= >> regional >>wars demanding the agency's attention, the watchword is "coverage" and the >>capability required, "surge" -- putting spies and high-tech eavesdroppers >>on= >> the >>ground anywhere in the world, in a hurry. >> >>The Persian Gulf War, in 1991, was something of a turning point for the >>CIA. >>Gen. >>Norman Schwarzkopf complained that battlefield analyses from intelligence >>agencies >>were "caveated, disagreed with, footnoted and watered down" and said the >>CIA= >> and >>other intelligence agencies "should be asked to come up with a system that >>will, in >>fact, be capable of delivering a real-time product to a theater commander >>when he >>requests that." In response, senior CIA officials decided that supporting >>military >>missions would become a priority. In the summer of 1993, Somalia became a >>painful >>test case. >> >>Very few people know much about what the CIA is doing in places like Kosovo >> and >>East Timor today, because secrecy is an operational imperative. But in this >>regard, >>too, Somalia is something new: Jones and his deputy, John Spinelli, have >>chosen to >>talk in some detail about what they did there and why. Their decision was >>prompted >>both by anger at the Clinton administration and the CIA, which is now their >>former >>employer, and by pride in their commitment to their mission. Their accounts >> are >>limited by their desire not to disclose information that would identify CIA >>agents or >>divulge classified information. The agency declined to comment on their >> account, >>but key parts of it were corroborated in interviews with officials familiar >>with the >>operation. Together, Jones and Spinelli provide one of the fullest >>descriptions yet of >>a CIA operation in the post-Cold War world -- a narrative that illuminates >> the >>hazards of "mission creep," when peacekeeping operations become heavily >> armed >>exercises in "nation building," and the limitations of on-the-fly >>intelligence in a spy >>paradigm that mixes special operations and law enforcement. >> >>The Somalia they came to know was surely a nation in need of building. A >> revolt >>against the country's sitting dictator in 1991 had left the capital in >>anarchy; the >>ensuing civil war ravaged southern Somalia and triggered a famine as >>farmers >>fled >>into the bush. Then another war broke out in Mogadishu, between forces >>loyal >> to >>the two principal leaders of the revolt. Along the way, the U.S. Embassy >>and >> the >>CIA's Mogadishu station were evacuated by helicopter. The United Nations >>suspended its efforts at famine relief because of thievery and fighting. In >>late 1992, >>President George Bush sent 25,000 U.S. troops to Somalia for the express >>purpose of >>assuring the delivery of U.N. food, medicine and other supplies. >> >>As soon as Operation Restore Hope was unveiled, the CIA sent advance teams >> to >>Somalia to assess conditions on the ground before the troops arrived. The >> first >>American killed in Somalia, in fact, was a CIA operative whose vehicle hit >>a >>mine >>outside Bardera on December 23, 1992. "The U.S. military was going into >> Somalia >>knowing nothing about Somalia," William R. Piekney, then chief of the CIA's >>Africa >>division, said in a recent interview. "We were their eyes and ears on the >>ground." >> >>[...] >> >>Vernon Loeb covers the CIA for The Post. He will be fielding questions and >>comments about this article Monday at 1 p.m. at >>www.washingtonpost.com/liveonline. >> >> Copyright 2000 The Washington Post Company >> >> >>______________________________________________________________________ >>To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>______________________________________________________________________ >>Advertisement: >>Enter to win $1000 at winfreestuff.com! >>What else do you want to win? If you want cash, gourmet foods, palm >>pilots, and other great prizes don't look any further than >>winfreestuff.com! We've got what you want. Check it out at: >>http://www.listbot.com/links/winfreestuff2 >> > > >______________________________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >______________________________________________________________________ >Advertisement: >Enter to win $1000 at winfreestuff.com! >What else do you want to win? If you want cash, gourmet foods, palm >pilots, and other great prizes don't look any further than >winfreestuff.com! We've got what you want. Check it out at: >http://www.listbot.com/links/winfreestuff2 > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
