Jay Garner (Iraq) involved in illegal business practices

posted by ewing2001 on Thursday May 08, @02:17PM

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0319/mondo2.php
May 7 - 13, 2003

Defense Contract Hubbub

"...A spokesman for defense contractor DESE Research Incorporated takes exception to the Voice's depiction of its activities regarding Jay Garner, the U.S. majordomo in Iraq. The Voice reported in its April 23-29 issue that DESE claimed it lost a contract bidding war to L-3 Communications after Garner, former president of SY Coleman, which was swallowed up by L-3, pressured government officials.

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Howell Riggs, an attorney for DESE, explains: "We are investigating whether or not Jay Garner was involved in illegal business practices related to the denial of an award to DESE research. DESE was not a direct competitor with SY Coleman's predecessor, SY Technology, for [the] contract. We expect to complete the investigation shortly. And a decision will then be made as to whether or not to pursue further legal action."

The Voice had tried to reach Riggs before the original story ran, but our calls were not returned..."

Fortune.com

September 2002

"...Sales of L-3's bomb-detection machines after Sept. 11 helped to swell the company's war chest..."

StopJayGarner.com/DumpJayGarner.com

"...A friend of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Garner was named president of SY Technology (now called SY Coleman) in 1997 - despite having almost no experience in business. Biff Baker, a former lieutenant colonel at Army Space Command, accused SY Coleman of having received $100 million in contracts solely because of Garner's Pentagon connections. SY sued Baker for defamation and the lawsuit was settled out of court in January, 2003.

Garner is closely tied with failed weapons programs - and may have lied to Congress.

Garner was Reagan's top man on Star Wars and, after the 1991 Gulf War, told Congress that the Patriot missile defense system a success - even though it knocked down just one out of 88 Scud missiles the Iraqis launched at Israel and Saudi Arabia, according to the General Accounting Office. According to acclaimed MIT professor and missile expert Theodore A. Postol, "He was arrogant and very discourteous. He was part of a group of senior officers who were lying about Patriot's performance." (Quoted in Washington Post, April 11).

http://www.l-3com.com/about_l3/history/

"...Lanza and LaPenta, in conjunction with Lehman Brothers and Lockheed Martin decided to form a mezzanine company - L-3 Communications - that would be the supplier of choice for prime contractors. In establishing the company, several advanced electronics businesses were purchased that were part of the Lockheed Martin, Loral Corporation merger that occurred in 1996. Also purchased from Lockheed Martin was a division located in Camden, NJ that had been part of GE... ...(In) March 2002, ... L-3 added its largest acquisition to date - Aircraft Integration Systems (AIS), a division of Raytheon that is a leader in the global Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) market..."

Source: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/inmarsat-01b.html

On December 19th, 2002, L-3 Communications announced that it acquired Ship Analytics, Inc.

Ship Analytics produces CRISIS management software, providing command and control for homeland security applications. The company also designs, manufactures and operates real-time simulation systems for critical shipboard operations.

Source:http://www.globalsecurity.bz/news/detail.asp?id=114

Global Hawk

L-3 is also among the principal suppliers for Global Hawk. They include Raytheon Systems (sensors), Allison (turbofan engine), Boeing North American (carbon fibre wing) and L3 Communications (communications system).

Their latest improvement involved L-3's Tactical Common Datalink (TCDL), an advanced datalink system, which "will incorporate an EMS beam-switching network and is scheduled to be installed and flight tested on a Predator UAV in late summer of 2003." http://www.spacedaily.com/news/uav-03d.html

On July 25th, 2000, L-3 presented their TCAS 2000 system, an Aviation Communications and Surveillance Systems business unit, which was basically produced "to determine the collision potential with nearby aircraft, provides visual and aural advisories to alert pilots, and recommends the least disruptive vertical maneuver to achieve safe separation"

Source: http://www.aerotechnews.com/starc/2000/072500/L3_Tacas.html

In November 2001, L-3 Communications was involved in a helicopter crash, due to Al-Jazeera it was "shut down". As the TV Station claimed, they showed pieces "an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft". One piece of wreckage, apparently from another crash site, had a clear label including the words "L3 COMMUNICATIONS” and "Salt Lake City, UT.”

Source: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/11/5/190507.shtml

Ironically, L-3 produces also baggage screen scanners, which had not be implemented at all four airports, who got involved in the attacks on Sep11th.

L-3 also owns MPRI, a private military contractor for the Pentagon and Homeland Security.

MPRI was founded in 1988 by former Army Chief of Staff Carl Vuono and seven other retired generals, which has trained militaries throughout the world under contract to the Pentagon.

Vuono once oversaw the U.S. invasion of Panama and Gulf War 1. Among the other founders are Harry E. “Ed” Soyster, who was the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA); and Crosbie Saint, who was the former commander of U.S. Army Europe.

MPRI was one of Pentagon's favourites to train a new afghan army.

On October 13th, 2002 the NY Times reported that MPRI boasts of having "more generals per square foot than in the Pentagon."

MPRI has trained military forces in dozens of countries, including Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Colombia.

They also worked for the CIA and trained the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) in Albania, a resistance group with documented ties to Bin Laden, describing themselves as a "civil defense force".

According to information from Interpol, one of Bin Laden’s military commander was appointed for head of the elite terrorist units of the KLA, during the Kosovo conflict in 1999.

Interestingly, their leader, Hashim Thaci claimed, in fact the KLA started as a harmless grassroot organisation, who later got support by the United States, after they took nine Serb soldiers as hostages in one region.

In May 2003, Thaci was in a secret meeting with Colin Powell.

Currently, Thaci is head of Kosova's second-largest political party, the Democratic Party of Kosova (PDK).

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