Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20160325

With the intercept Jeremy Scahill and matthew cole on on major new expose investigating blackwater founder erik prince for possible money laundering, ties to chinese intelligence, and we will also on theo matthew cole investigation that turned over a photo of bin ladens body. All of that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Former bosnian serb leader Radovan Karadzic has been convicted of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by a United Nations tribunal. He is the highest level figure prosecuted by the tribunal for crimes committed during the 19921995 bosnian war, which left more than 100,000 dead and dead. Karadzic was convicted of genocide for the 1995 srebrenica massacre, in which 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed during a campaign to kill quote every ablebodied male in the town. He was also convicted of crimes associated with the fouryear siege of sarajevo. On thursday, tribunal judge ogon kwon read the verdict. Judge kwon can you please stand . For the reasons summarized during the hearing, the chamber, having heard all the evidence presented by the prosecution and guiltyense finds you not of count one, genocide. Guilty of the following counts countnt two, genocide, three, persecution for crimes against humanity, crime four, extermination, a crime against humanity. Crime five, murder, a crime against humanity. Amy the verdict from the International Tribunal comes 21 years after karadzic was indicted, and eight years after he was arrested on a public bus after evading authorities for more than a decade. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison, with credit for eight years of time served. Most convicted by the tribunal have served twothirds of their sentences, meaning that its possible 70yearold karadzic could walk out of prison. U. S. Secretary of state john kerry has confirmed in a News Conference in brussels today two americans were among the 31 killed during tuesdays bombing attack targeting the Brussels Airport and a crowded subway station near the headquarters of the european union. This comes as belgian authorities have detained at least six people suspected of being involved. Both belgiums interior minister and Justice Minister offered to resign, after it surfaced that authorities failed to heed a warning from turkey that one of the suicide bombing suspects was a militant that they deported. Belgiums Prime Minister declined to accept the resignations. Meanwhile, pope francis has spoken out against the role of the weapons industry in tuesdays deadly attack on brussels. The pope spoke during preeaster rituals north of rome on thursday. Pope francis muslims, hindus, catholics, evangelists, brothers of the same god that want to live in peace three days ago there was a gesture of war, destruction of the city in europe from people that do not want to live in peace. Behind that gesture were arms manufacturers, want blood, not peace. Want war. Amy in news from the president ial campaign trail, vermont senator Bernie Sanders is expected to win the alaska, hawaii and Washington State caucuses on saturday. This comes after sander won the democratic caucuses in utah and idaho by a wide margin, while his contender, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, won the primary in arizona a the arizona primary was marked by a massive fivehour wind, and a shortage of ballots at many polling stations. An increasing number of arizona voters are calling on the Justice Department to investigate allegations of Voter Suppression during tuesdays contest. Meanwhile, republican president ial candidate ted cruz has warned donald trump to cease his increasing insults of cruzs wife, heidi. Trump has been threatening to quote spill the beans about heidi. In response, ted cruz said at a News Conference wednesday that trump has a quote problem with women and that he should stay away from his wife. Senator cruz he seems to have an issue with women. Donald is not like strong women. Strong women scare donald. Me off. T easy to tick you mess with my kids, that will do it all the time. Donald, you are a sniveling coward. Leave heidi alone. Amy unnamed pentagon Officials Say u. S. Troops are playing an expanded role in the iraqi forces campaign to seize control of mosul from the selfproclaimed islamic state. Unnamed officials told the Associated Press u. S. Marines fired illumination rounds and artillery rounds as iraqi troops fought for control of villages on the outskirts of the city. This comes after pentagon officials confirmed the existence of a new marine outpost first known us outpost. It also comes as the pentagon is facing increasing questions about the u. S. Troop presence in iraq, after unnamed officials told the Washington Post that there are currently about 5,000 u. S. Soldiers in iraq a far higher number than previously reported. An israeli solider has been arrested after a video surfaced that appears to show the soldier executing a palestinian man who was lying, immobilized, on the ground. The video shows 21yearold yusri alsharif, who was reportedly a suspect in a stabbing earlier in the day, lying sprawled on his back in the street, apparently wounded, surrounded by Israeli Security forces. During the period of time captured on the video, the Israeli Soldiers and medics do not appear to offer any medical aid or attention to alsharif, in the video then appears show an israeli soldier stepping forward and firing a single shot into the mans head from a close distance. Blood is then shown streaming from the mans head. None of the Israeli Security forces captured in the video appear to be startled by the soldiers actions. In response, issa amro with the hebronbased group youth against settlements said quote this is the first time weve had such a clear video of a palestinian being executed. This monstrous picture shows how brutal the occupation is. The Israeli Military said the soldier has been detained, and that it has opened an investigation. The Rockefeller Family fund has announced it is divesting from fossil fuels starting with its holdings of exxon mobil. The fund said that given the realities of climate change, quote there is no sane rationale for companies to continue to explore for new sources of hydrocarbons, end quote. The family fund also singled out exxon, criticizing the company of morally reprehensible conduct for lying to investors and the public about its knowledge of climate change. This comes as exxon was dealt another blow tuesday by the securities and exchange commission, which rejected exxons attempts to block shareholders from demanding the oil giant disclose how its business would be impacted by the twodegree target limit on Global Warming. Following the historic un climate accord in paris in which , 195 nations endorsed efforts to limit Global Warming to no more than a 2degree celsius rise above preindustrial levels, a number of exxons shareholders have advanced a proposal that would force the oil giant to tell investors how its profits will be impacted by the global target. A new New York Times investigation has revealed the National Football league and more than 100 diagnosed concussions and published data based on flawed data. The investigation also exposes deep ties between the nfl and the tobacco industry, showing the two industries shared lobbyists, lawyers, and consultant. Accused the New York Times of publishing pages of innuendo and speculation. Immigrant rights activists say authorities have begun transporting a group of bangladeshi muslim Asylum Seekers to arizona in advance of a mass deportation. Many of the men participated in a series of hunger strikes in 2015 to protest their ongoing detention by ice, the immigration customs and enforcement agency. Some of the men were detained for years. The men came to the United States seeking asylum, saying they were escaping the repressive conditions in bangladesh. Linda sarsour, the director of mpower change, said quote while many have rightfully condemned the antimuslim rhetoric spewed during ongoing president ial campaigns, our current policies are just as terrifying. This comes as in los angeles, 21 people were arrested during a protest against the detention and deportation of Central America him is fled to the United States seeking asylum amidst deadly violence in their home country. The majority of those arrested during the protest were faith leaders. In new york, Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state will fully fund cuny the City University of new york, for the next year. This comes after protests in new york city thursday in which students staged a die in to demand fully funded. My contract has been expired for seven years. City dont pass this budget, the cost comes down to its. My tuition has been going up steadily every single year. How much more can we take . The university was established for workingclass students, and it is no longer that. It is becoming privatized, and there is nothing left for us. Amy and those are some of the headlines. I am amy goodman. Juan i am one gonzalez. Expose, thew intercept, has revealed that the Justice Department is investigating blackwater founder erik prince for possible money laundering, ties to chinese intelligence, and attempts to broker military services to foreign governments. Prince is currently the chairman of Frontier Services group, an aviation and Logistics Firm specializing in shipping in africa. But documents obtained by the intercept show that prince has also set up Shell Companies to offer Paramilitary Services to at least a halfdozen african nations, including libya. Both the u. S. And the United Nations have imposed a series of restrictions on military dealings in libya. Prince is also suspected of attempting to open chinese Bank Accounts to move money for his libyan associates. A former intelligence official moneyhe intercept, laundering for libyan officials using a chinese bank that is the issue that pushed it over the edge. Amy as part of its investigation, the intercept obtained an internal slide presentation showing princes private force would operate in libya for the stated purpose of stopping the flow of refugees to europe. Libya is one of the main routes for migrants trying to enter europe from Eastern Africa and parts of the central sahel region. Prince has also long been prince has also long been interested in raising a private military force to battle Islamic Militant groups in a variety of countries. The intercept also reports on internal proposals drafted by prince and his team for a project codenamed project november aimed at confronting the theft of nigerian oil, providing vip protection for nigerian officials, and engaging in counterinsurgency activities. For more, were joined now by the reporters who broke this story the story jeremy , scahill and matthew cole. They are coauthors of the new piece for the intercept headlined erik prince in the hot seat blackwaters founder is under investigation for money laundering, ties to chinese intel, and brokering mercenary services. Jeremy scahill is the cofounder of the the intercept. His forthcoming book is called, the assassination complex inside the governments secret drone warfare program. His most recent book, dirty wars the world is a battlefield, is out in paperback, and dirty wars was nominated for an academy award. And, were also joined by matthew cole, the National Security reporter for the intercept. We welcome you both to democracy now matthew, lets begin with you. The information seat. Ik prince in the hot mr. Cole we began with what he was up to in africa. For the last year or so, we had been hearing about erik princes trips and efforts in various countries to try to sell blackwaterlike services to countries that had instability anywhere where they can get foreigners on the ground to fight islamic rebels, essentially. Eventually, we were able to review a series of documents that show what priince and prince and a small group of cohorts were trying to do. What we found was alarming in terms of a u. S. Citizen, no longer really associated with the u. S. Government, going around two countries and trying to exploit either their problems or their fears to present what they call turnkey solutions, a full spectrum of military selected countries that would buy these proposals visibly have to do nothing other than write the check, and he would be able to bring in everything from spy airplanes to paramilitary operatives on the ground, and his own, you know, personal spying force, and hunter killers, if you will. So far, what we have found is that no one has purchased his services, but it didnt stop him from trying and continuing to try to provide those things to as many countries as he could and see a business opportunity. Juan what about the company he was involved with recently because he supposedly got his interest in blackwater years ago. What is the company, and what is its connection to the chinese . Mr. Cole he is the chairman of Frontier Services group, a publicly traded company in hong kong, that does aviation and logistics, i merrily in africa. What we understand, and with the documents show is what erik prince did was use his position as the chairman of this publicly held company to gain legitimate access to meetings with african government officials. It would allow him to enter the country, come into the room, and offer infrastructure or logistics contracts, and then he would present his own ideas of what the country needed, and those were services that the company he was a chairman for, fsg, he was not was not able to provide. The company itself had no idea he was Walking Around bringing these proposals in or four armed foreigners, organized vehicles, Surveillance Aircraft things the company he was chairman for did not have licenses for and did not have equipment. That is where using see the discrepancy between what he was appeared do what he to be doing versus what he was actually providing, and that cause major concern for the country. They went about a series of things to try to separate themselves from their own chairman, and that is where we stand today. Amy jeremy, you have spent years investigating erik prince. Bookrote your first blackwater the rise of the missionary army. Explain who he is, his background, and why this matters today. Mr. Scahill erik prince comes from a wealthy family in the state of michigan. His father ran a successful business making auto parts. In fact, his dad invented the lighting system on the dropdown visors in the car where you pull the visor down and the like those found. Light goes on. That company was at the heart of holland, michigan, a conservative, dutchreform section of the state of michigan, and his dad, in many ways, was the king of holland, michigan. His mother was i did not know than just a fanatical, rightwing extremists, who now is one of the major funders of trying to stop gay people from marrying. His father was a beloved figure in michigan. He built up the successful company, and then he died at a pretty young age of a heart attack. He dropped dead in the elevator eventually,ing, and his wife, his widow, and the kids, decided they were going to sell the company. They sold it to Johnson Controls in wisconsin for 1. 3 billion, and part of that money, erik inherited. He very much had daddy issues. He wanted to impress his father and live up to his reputation and did something that not many children of the ultrawealthy do he joined the military. He did a brief stand in the navy seals, and then ultimately, in the late19 90s, started what was envisioned originally as a Law Enforcement Training Center and shooting range the black order Training Center. Among the things blackwater Training Center. On the things they did was build a mock the train Law Enforcement officials to deal with columbinelike shooting scenarios. They also, because of the bombing of the uss cole off the coast of yemen in 2000 one of the early contract blackwater got was to train sailors and other military personnel on how to defend against small vote attacks against larger vessels. Then 9 11 happened, and, in fact, erik prince was theviewed on fox news, on oreilly factor, about the 9 11 attacks, and he said before 9 11, his business was relatively small and focused on training, and he comments that his phone was ringing off the hook. Among the people that he communicated with in the early stages of the post9 11 reality was a guy that was the executive director of the Central Intelligence agency was an old friend of eriks father, and it is the chicken and egg question of who came up with the idea matthew and i have reported on this over the years what ended up happening, to make a long story short, was erik prince began providing retired special operations personnel to the u. S. Government as a, sort of, private force, that would serve a dual function for the cia and other agencies. They could deploy these guys without claiming if they got killed without having to claim the fact that u. S. Personnel were dying in war zones. It also gave incredible flexibility to the Bushcheney Administration for deniability. So, essentially, erik prince wanted to he wanted to join the cia and was unable to clear the process of it. There are different stories as to why erik prince did not actually become a cia operative, but he basically then set out to create his own small, privatized version of a special Access Program for the cia, and a number of veterans of the paramilitary operations ae like henrique paramilitary operative and others, worked on this program, and operated in a variety of trees around the world. Not a number of countries around the world, not only body withing, but also involved the hunter killer programs. Largely existed in the shadows until the killing of the four blackwater operatives in the city of falluja in march of 2004, where they were hacked to death and strung up from a bridge. Opportunity from his company been in the news to really make his presence known on capitol hill with republicans. He worked with highpowered republican lobbyists. He is a close, personal relationship with the cheney family. Basically became a hero with an National Security circles in the Republican Administration at the time and on capitol hill. That led to very large contracts, and contracts with the cia around the world. Matthew and i talked to former cia officers who were saying critical things about what erik prince is doing right now, but all of them said look, at the end of the day, they kept us safe in these investigations. Two blackwater guys were killed n a vase with the track attacked by a triple agent from jordan and blue of a number of senior cia people on afghanistan. Two blackwater guys were killed in that operation. Erik prince viewed himself as being thrown under the bus by leon panetta when he became cia director. Some of what leon panetta did was disingenuous he runs to Congress Early in his tenure at the agency and greets the Intelligence Committee on what he said was basically an inactive Assassination Program that blackwater was at the center of, and tells members of the Intelligence Committee that he had shut it down. On thed to people Intelligence Committee, and they said it seemed like panetta was trying to deal with the fact that there was torture and activity by the agency. They would say it was judicial activity because they have these memos allowing the torture, but basically, we are panetta tried to put all the garbage on erik prince and blackwater and flush it down the toilet. Then the square massacre at the into 2007. I would say the falluja incident brought blackwater to fame and protestants, and then prominence, and then it was brought to infamy when they killed civilians in a baghdad traffic stop. Some of the blackwater guys that did that ultimately were prosecuted and were sentenced to decades in prison, one of them to life in prison. To bring it to the present, erik prince continued, actually, to get contracts under the Obama Administration while the Justice Department was investigating blackwater and the other affiliated companies erik prince owned for a wide range of control violations where they were Offering Services to the government in south sudan or other nations without having obtained the proper licensing from the state department, and in some cases, blackwater has admitted to doing this the state permit would say explicitly we do not want to do that, we dont give you permission, and they would go and do it anyway. No charges were ever brought against him. Juan how does that happen was that just a question of one agency in the government not knowing what the others were doing, or was that greenlighted higher up in the station . Administration . I do not think there was political pressure put on the prosecutors in that case. It was a beast of a different nature. Matthew and i talked to one of the senior people involved in that investigation. They said we have an overwhelming abundance of evidence indicating that this company has committed systematic criminal violations of our defense restrictions in place for our own National Security, said we are not exporting these things to people that could do harm to the u. S. Or its interest , and while we are trying to bring this terminal case, the Obama Administration and secretary Hillary Clinton are giving them more contracts, so how do we go in front of a jury and say this is a criminal enterprise, but the new democratic president and his secretary of state to award them contracts. Basically they said all we could do was figure out a way to get prince to leave those companies as the hat and chief controller of them, and then just levy massive fines against them. Then they were able to reconstitute. Amy when black water was being investigated, erik prince left the country. Mr. Scahill he has always maintained a residence in virginia. He did relocate to abu dhabi in the united arab emirates, and started a number of companies. That became controversial when his plan for a private Security Force for several, roddy governments came to light. Inember, the uprisings start 2011 in the arab world, and those governments were very nervous you know, these corrupt monarchies, were very nervous that their own status and erikconfronted, prince was viewed as a guy could potentially provide them with nonmuslim private soldiers that could, you know, 10th down any rebellion in those countries. We understand that erik prince fell out of favor in abu dhabi and started looking elsewhere, and found himself in negotiations with people with deep connections to the Chinese Communist party. Juan i want to turn to comments erik prince made in 2014 about the selfproclaimed islamic state, on fox news, responding to bill oreillys proposal to fight with masked military. Not beene they have that effective there. Finding a chief, Sustainable Way to keep pressure in the areas, to keep pressure on islamist, to support friends, is the other way you are going to do it. It is as part of American History as apple pie. Juan what about that, Jeremy Scahill, a more efficient way to do things . Mr. Scahill erik prince said if you wanted package to arrive, you do not send it through the u. S. Post office, you use fedex, and he himself provides Fedex Services that are not delivering taxes, packages that are actually lethal. Ofwould be the provision essentially mercenaries that you do not have to count as you are fallen, or you do not have to own if they commit misconduct you wanted them to commit. The issue ofs also accountability because it is no longer a government operation. It is private outfits as well. Mr. Scahill soldiers are subject to the code of military justice, and until recently, these private military contractors existed in a total gray zone where it was unclear should they be prosecuted under the ucmj, or do they go under civilian courts, and that is why you saw so few prosecuted for anything. Erik prince subsequently to a super pac. He said as a private organization they could have solved the boots on the ground issue. Matthew cole, respond to that, and then this broader relationship right now. Not academi, blackwater and why China Matters . Mr. Cole the issues that mercenaries bring, what the Company Brings to the table is accountability and transparency. Were is one of the most, if not the most important thing the nationstate or a democracy engages in a broad, certainly, so it is of the utmost seriousness that the government, the people who elected the government, at some kind of understanding of who in their country who represents them abroad, and what they are doing. What blackwater, what erik prince provides on one hand, he is not wrong. They are very effective, very efficient, i should say, in providing the services they offer, but the question is without accountability, transparency, what do they get away with . When things go wrong, what is the recourse . Has shownwater historically is there is very little recourse for when things go wrong. So, it is a very, very dangerous weapon or two will, if you will, to have erik prince, or have a mercenary organization operating. What he has done now by leaving the u. S. Government and going and doing it on his own, he has separated there is even less connection between accountability and transparency because he is offering his services directly to foreign countries. When things go wrong or when they want to hide, it did not happen. Plausible deniability is a lot of what happens when governments deny his services. Obviously the United States has a complicated relationship with china, but one of the things going on, at least on the defense side, whether it is cyber war, pacific growth, and reach by the Chinese Government youhe pacific region, what have a is, kind, a stalemate, and a bit of a cold war going on, and the concern would be for erik prince to be getting in bed with and certainly, he is an appealing figure for Chinese Government. Yet a lot of expertise. Withs the ability to go small groups into countries where china may have, for instance, Natural Resource interest in africa. Certainly, there investment in infrastructure in africa has been massive as a way to insist they never economy sustain their economy and their growth, and what he is providing is the ability to protect investments in places. Certainly, that would be a concern, and we know it is a concern for the part of justice. We know it is a concern for u. S. Intelligence agencies. Again, at the heart of it is accountability and transparency. He is a u. S. Citizen he is still suspect subject to u. S. Law. At this point, the question is whether any of what he is done thus far has violated u. S. Law regulations. Amy you asked his lawyer if he was in investigating investigated . Curse on thennot air. Her response . Was they her response have not been notified by the department of justice. Amy she said it was total bs mr. Cole her exact response amy dont give it. Mr. Cole no, it was a response to a question about moneylaundering over the courses of three days of questions, her story changed. It is a little unclear we cannot give one concise answer as to whether she denied certain things. She denied certain ins, and then moved back. Things, and then moved back. Certainly, i think they recognized what we presented is quite accurate. Mr. Scahill she is a very well known republican commentator and lawyer, and she and her husband are both people that have represented interests for pretty far elements of the gop. She is also one of the people you see going after Hillary Clinton for benghazi. When we first spoke to her she was indignant on what we were saying we had evidence on but over the course of several days, it went from he has no idea what toe talking about, but account in thean bank of china, and we said was it for Frontier Services group, and he said she cannot reach her client. With meetings with chinese intelligence he has no idea what youre talking about. The next time, he did meet with them, but it was about that aback services. It is an evolving thing. It felt a little bit to us for like a try run to an alibi for the things we are reporting on. Amy we have to break. When we come back, we want to ask about Joseph Schmitz, the man now counts as will be his policy advisor the man donald trump says will be his policy advisor. Mr. Scahill matthew cole Jeremy Scahill matthew cole our guests for the hour. Stay with us. [music break] prince of darkness. I amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Our guests for the hour are Jeremy Scahill and matthew cole. Princeew expose is erik t quote in the hot seat erik prince in the hot seat. I hope you get into the piece on one of the navy seals involved in the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Juan i want to go back for a second to princes connections and work in libya because libya is essentially a veiled state. That failed state. There are competing groups competing to be the actual government, not to mention insurgent groups. Who is he working with in b libya . Mr. Cole it is a little murky. What we know about his interest in libya is that it again early on, i believe in 2011 with the fall of gaddafi. By 2013, he was in libya, had come together with a proposal with a few partners to offer complete blackwater service for counterinsurgency. He wanted to bring stability into the east, and went out the islamic islamista who were gaining strength. Initially, he had difficult time finding the right partners. It was clear he did not trust some of the actions he was dealing with. He was not familiar with libya. Hes certainly not an expert, and had a difficult time cant figure out who was who. And couldnttime, figure out who was who. He brokered a meeting with who is now the head of armed forces in libya, but was a dual u. S. Citizen lived in the u. S. , worked with the cia for many years. Time, heid was over changed his proposal, and the reason why was because in his offering of a group of european, white mercenaries nonmuslim mercenaries he did not get a lot of takers. Was that ifadvised you want to sell this program, what you need to do is give them something that was politically palatable. When you need to do is offer a solution to the problems they currently have that they cannot seem to control which was migration the problem of migrants coming up through wellestablished, you know, lanes, if you will, routes to try to get into europe. Few provide them with a border solution, that is something that not only will they accept, but thecould probably get by european union, because the european union, of course, is the one that receives the migrants on the other end. Come 2015, where you have the refugee crisis as far as europe is concerned and is evident from the conflicts in the middle east, they have all these migrants washing up on their shores, and many of them get there from leaving libya, regardless of whether they were from libya. Now he is getting more traction because he was not offering mercenary is, but a Border Control system, and, in fact, this is part of where our story began. He were being told is that he is offering a border service, border patrol, but content is to build a mercenary force, and this is just the fig leaf that allows them to do it, if he can sell this. There was a second complication. Wasan government, which essentially a divided government in a stalemate, Something Like a civil war, and it is a failed state, they are financially frozen. They have a lot of money sitting in their central bank from all 180e oil wealth 150 billion, but no one will allow them to read it because no one is sure who is in power and if the money being spent is legitimate. Erik had this problem, which is he had the libyans interested, but they could not pay for anything, and partnering with a you with eu was partially a way to get it funded and getting them to free up the money. As arik prince was acting banker a night in charmaine shining armor a knight in shining armor for officials that were sitting there with no money. What we saw, we could see, and what our sources were saying, was what this was was an opportunity unlike the other proposals he was offering the ability to be a banker for libyan officials, and that is what started to get him into some real trouble. Amy mr. Scahill , Jeremy Scahill, i wanted to ask about donald trump. He originally said on the about his foreignpolicy advisers im sticking with myself, number one, because i have a very good brain, but then with the Washington Post, he talked about his foreignpolicy advisers and named Joseph Schmitz as one of them. Talk about Joseph Schmitz was. Mr. Scahill Joseph Schmitz was the pentagon Inspector General under donald rumsfeld, and did not inspect much of anything. He was a cheerleader for most of the excessive policies of rumsfeld and the pentagon in the post9 11 world, and when schmitz left the dod, he became an executive at blackwater. Radicalchmitz is a christian supremacist. He is a member of the sovereign order of the knights of multi, and has a neocrusader worldview. I am choosing those worlds cap words carefully. He is definitely a radical christian supremacist, and he was an enthusiastic fan of erik prince and blackwater, and egos enjoins that company. This is a guy that, who when i was researching him for the blackwater book, he wrote a series of letters to the editor of conservative newspapers the Washington Times and others, in the 1990s he was a fanatical proponent of abortion, and one of the letters, i want to quote this correctly because he threatened to sue me once, and he couldnt because everything was true. He said the plight of aborted life is as real to me as rape is to most women. As his Donald Trumps top foreign advisor right now. Joseph schmitz is, in many ways, in washington, a total clown and a joke because of his insane worldview that has no bearing in the modern world, yet he continues to get government contract. Contract. He was getting paid by the Inspector General in afghanistan under the Obama Administration. I would not even put him in the category of neoconservative. Neocrusaderthe crowd that Joseph Schmitz is a part of. Juan i wanted to turn to another article you had written recently on the surveillance gadgets that have been developed by our government that people are not aware of. Mr. Scahill right, the great technology. Stingrays have in ingrained technology. The great technology. Stingrays have been around since the 1990s. When cell phones began emerging and it was realized that would be widely used, the fbi and other domestic lawenforcement agencies started to become concerned about how they would be able to monitor peoples communications, and in the beginning it was fairly for them to do this because they were using radio waves. There was a famous case where a retired couple in florida that were amateur radio operators were able to pick up phone calls of than House Speaker newt gingrich, and that is how this came to light in the u. S. Congress, that there was a vulnerability in cell phones, but for the fbi and other agencies, the vulnerability was a good thing. Now we are looking at this issue of the iphone and unlocking it in san bernardino, that is the very kind, modern iteration of the challenges the u. S. Law enforcement was facing with trying to access these communications. Forwhat was created military purposes and this is often what happens is that we see with the militarization of law in the u. S. The surveillance platforms created by and for the nsa, the cia other intelligence agencies the u. S. Attorney, to target the communications of terrorists or adversaries, drug syndicates, smugglers, others started to become a common part of police in this country, both on a local and state level, and also the fbi on the federal level, using these devices to target people in routine criminal investigations. There are a stingray is sort of like a kleenex. Kleenex is a brand. Facial tissue is the actual thing. Stingray has become a term that is used to describe any of these devices that can essentially bring down the security of mobile devices and access data. The aclu has filed many, many requestaand foia around the country,s and the number of agencies around the u. S. Using these devices is extraordinary. There is almost no major lawn were smith entity that is not using some form of a sting by. It is an Invasive Technology that is not very discerning. Badng you can get the guys communication, but you are going to get a whole lot of other peoples data as well, and that is the Civil Liberties argument with this. Usersis a race, you know, of cell phones and computer technology, and Law Enforcement, and intelligence agencies, to try to break down that privacy, and in some ways, you know, the battle that is happening between the white house, and the dei, and apple, is a little bit of theater of the absurd. When you talk to people that are really seriously in the business of monitoring the communications of terror cells and others, the nsa is way ahead of everyone in this. The idea that apple, somehow, is providing terrorists with something they cannot crack into is just false, and the backdoor thing serious people that work in hacking on behalf of the u. S. Government, they laugh at the idea. They can hack peoples phones they can hack the encryption of any of these platforms. In a lot of ways, they are using terrorism as a way to try to ensure that when necessary they can immediately access data on anyone device in this country or around the world. To break. E going when we come back, i want to ask matthew cole about the navy seal turned over the photo of bin ladens body who is under investigation and then the issue of drone strikes. , cofounder of intercept, and matthew cole, National Security writer were open intercept security writer for intercept are our guests for the hour. [music break] Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated 36 years ago, march 24, murdered by members of a u. S. Backed death squad while delivering mass in el salvador. Our guests for the hour r two journalists with the intercept, Jeremy Scahill, formally with democracy now, and matthew cole, formerly with the nbc investigative unit. , want to ask you, matthew cole about your piece navy seal , turns over picture of bin ladens body, faces investigation of business ties. Mr. Cole yeah, so, a story we did a few months ago about bissonette, who wrote the book no easy day. It was a story about his business ties and investigation that the department of justice had opened up into what originally was about his book and whether or not there were leaks, and in the course of the investigation the first thing they discovered were they came to learn was that he had an unauthorized picture of bin ladens corpse, and for your viewers, if you remember, after the bin laden raid, the government made a big deal saying they retrieve the images from the raid and destroyed them, or put the ones that needed to be properly stored away. They were highly classified. They were a threat to National Security should they be shown or exposed. The idea that a member of the and a half, three and a half, four and a half years after the raid was still in possession of a photo of a deceased Osama Bin Laden was disturbing for the government, and in the course of their investigation they made a proper to mr. Bissonnette, which was they would not prosecute him for having a classified image illegally on h computer, in exchange for information about while heess dealings was a member of the navy seals. Amy i want to turn to a clip of matthew bissonnette, from an appearance on 60 minutes downplaying the writing of quote no easy day. Im assonnette seniorlisted guy that did 13 straight clements, nothing else. Deployments. Nothing else. Hascole mr. Bissonnette downplayed his significance, all the while collecting checks for books he is written about his experiences as a navy seal. Juan there was also the issue dealingsas involved while he was a navy seal with the people supplying the navy. Story is what the getting at, and i think there will be more in the future is there were some real problems at seal teamsix, and one of the things the bissonnette investigation starts to scratch at is they had a defensive rules for Seal Team Six as they did for other parts of the military. They were celebrities, pro athletes of the military, certainly the navy, and they got away with a lot of things no one else gets away with. Here, someone was being accused, essentially, of being an active and having a separate business that had contracts with a company that provided material ,nd equipment to Seal Team Six so you have a natural western of a car is of interest of a conflf interest. Continues a continuous investigation into him. Juan we just have a few minutes. I wanted to ask about your fascinating story late last year on missionaries in north korea. Mr. Cole last year was published a story about a Pentagon Program that ended at the end of 2012 about an espionage effort that the pentagon started in 20042005, go out of funding an n colorado run by evangelical christians who were doing humanitarian work around the world. What it was was the pentagon funded this group in an effort to get the head of the group so they can get him into north korea, move material, collect investigation intelligence. For about eight years, the pentagon funded an organization by the way, the organization did 90 , 95 of the work was legitimate. Nearly everyone in the Country Company your position, had no idea they were acting as a front for the pentagon. It is important to never that because they were missionaries doing very important work around the world ended in very good work it was sad to interview people that had worked there who were completely distraught about upon discovering that they were, in fact, been paid by the pentagon, secretly. It goes to show the danger of u. S. Intelligence agencies, the pentagon, trying to get in, under the cover of human at terry and auspices humanitarian auspices. Humanitarianthe founder. Kay hiramine. Lets go to a clip of her. crying out kay hiramine the lord began speaking to us, it said start a humanitarian organization, and that is how humanitarian International Services group started. Founder, kaythe hiramine. Mr. Cole kay hiramine is one of the Great Snake Oil Salesman of alltime. He had no history in the military world, and i believe for a good reason, it seemed for religious devotion, wanted to go that he quickly became acquainted with people at the pentagon, and there was a general,red retired jerry boykin, a threestar general under rumsfeld, who ran their intelligence unit, created this program to fund kay hiramine, so he could go abroad. Amy we have 20 seconds. Mr. Cole as a spy for the pentagon. A remarkable story. Amy finally, the significance of these missionaries, as you call them, spies . Important tois never most of the people working on the program were unwitting. The issue is the minute you use humanitarians, missionaries as your cover, you put them in danger. Amy you put all missionaries in danger. Mr. Cole endorses the people doing the work had no idea. Amy i want to thank you both for being with us. Fascinating hour. Well continue this after the broadcast. Jeremy ski hill, matthew cole, thank you for joining us. Ciao. I am Nick Stellino. Today we will make Something Special grilled steak with coffee rub served with roasted asparagus and potatoes, following up with fried green tomatoes. Please join me in the kitchen. [lively jazz music] spicy, just right. Male announcer cooking with Nick Stellino is made possible by domino foods, makers of c h sugar, pure cane sugar, and makers of domino sugar. Well always be your sugar. 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