Howard Lowry, who worked in Iraq from 2003-2009, also claims that he personally attended Blackwater parties where company personnel had large amounts of cocaine and blocks of hashish and would run around naked.
US Businessman: Blackwater Paid Me to Buy Steroids and Weapons on Black Market for Its Shooters
Vatican Defends Bank After Seizure of $30 Million
As an inquiry into its murky finances looked poised to widen, the Vatican swiftly went on the defensive on Thursday, saying that the seizure of $30 million from a Vatican bank account and the judicial investigation of the bank’s two top officials were the result of a “misunderstanding.”
On Tuesday, Italian officials announced an inquiry into the Vatican bank’s top officials for having failed to explain adequately the origins of $30 million transferred from one of its accounts in a Rome bank. Magistrates opened the investigation based on an alert from the Bank of Italy, the nation’s central bank.
FDA to limit access to diabetes drug Avandia
The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that it will sharply limit access to the anti- diabetes drug Avandia because of concerns about an increased cardiovascular risk associated with the drug.
Patients who are now taking the drug will have to sign an informed consent statement acknowledging that they understand all the risks before they will be allowed to continue refilling prescriptions.
UN's Gaza flotilla probe finds Israeli soldiers committed 'willful killing'
In a 56-page report (pdf), the UNHCR's three-member panel wrote that Israeli commandos had committed war crimes during their May 31 raid of the Turkish aid ship the MV Mavi Marmara that left nine Turkish, pro-Palestinian activists dead.
Although Israel contends that its soldiers acted in self-defense, the council found that their response was “disproportionate” and that soldiers exercised an “unacceptable level of brutality.”
‘Boeing 767-200ER For Sale !’ is this AA 11 that ‘crashed’ in 9-11? SAME Serial Number: 22332
The seller has a virtual office on k street in washington.
These used to be called “fronts” or better yet “fake offices”. a small store front visable to the public and a hollow shell behind. a mail drop, large corperations like to use in the caribbean to avoid taxes and any other scrutiny.
New healthcare law will expand hospice option
About this time last year, voters and politicians were consumed by the rumor — fanned by healthcare overhaul opponents — that the legislation would establish "death panels" of government bureaucrats who could "pull the plug on Grandma" if she needed costly care.
The outcry led legislators to scrap a provision of the House bill that would have paid for voluntary consultations between physicians and Medicare beneficiaries about end-of-life care: living wills, hospice benefits and the like.
Blackwater's Black Ops
Over the past several years, entities closely linked to the private security firm Blackwater have provided intelligence, training and security services to US and foreign governments as well as several multinational corporations, including Monsanto, Chevron, the Walt Disney Company, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and banking giants Deutsche Bank and Barclays, according to documents obtained by The Nation.
Blackwater's work for corporations and government agencies was contracted using two companies owned by Blackwater's owner and founder, Erik Prince: Total Intelligence Solutions and the Terrorism Research Center (TRC). Prince is listed as the chairman of both companies in internal company documents, which show how the web of companies functions as a highly coordinated operation. Officials from Total Intelligence, TRC and Blackwater (which now calls itself Xe Services) did not respond to numerous requests for comment for this article.
UN experts: Israel flotilla raid broke int'l law
A report by three U.N.-appointed human rights experts Wednesday said that Israeli forces violated international law when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla killing nine activists earlier this year.
The U.N. Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission concluded that Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian territory was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate.
3,000 Man CIA Afghan Army Conducts Operations In Pakistan
The CIA created, controls and pays for a clandestine 3,000-man paramilitary army of local Afghans, known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams. Woodward describes these teams as elite, well-trained units that conduct highly sensitive covert operations into Pakistan as part of a stepped-up campaign against al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban havens there.
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