Declan Ganley The Iraq Years?

T. Christain Miller's Blood Money, Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corportae Greed in Iraq
details Ganley's bid for telecom licence in Iraq.
"The storm is gathering apace, it will present itself with spectacular effect in the cities of the west soon enough,"
Declan Ganley on pulling out of Iraq

Given the topical nature of the subject with Declan Ganley's legal team presenting themselves at the High Court in Dublin today to suppress the Irish Village magazine.

In an ex parte affidavit filed at the High Court yesterday, Mr Ganley said the article has made “very serious allegations concerning my business dealings in Iraq”. Mr Ganley said the article makes out that he is “dishonest, a liar, a fraud and that I am responsible for the deaths of thousands of police officers and soldiers through corruption”. The assertions and allegations are without foundation and are a deliberate attempt at character assassination, he added
Irish Times 10 Feb 2009

The below email correspondence from Declan Ganley at a time when he was seeking to do business in Iraq gives a fascinating insight into day to day activities in Declan Ganley's world. His bid to get a mobile licence in Iraq had failed. Accusations of bribery and corruption fly, against Iraqi officials and US/American officials.
Libertas? Nein Danke? is looking for public help! Were any of the claims made in the below emails substantiated? Email: peoplekorps@gmail.com if you know more.

OFFICIAL USE ONLY WARNING: This document is the property of the Department of Defense
Inspector General, International Armament and Technology Trade Directorate and is on loan to your agency. Contents may not be disclosed to any party under investigation nor may this document be distributed outside the receiving agency without the specific authorization of the Director, International Armament and Technology Trade.
Page 140
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Preliminary Findings: Report to the Inspector General into Mobile
Telecommunications Licenses in Iraq APPENDIX N

E-mail Correspondence from Declan Ganley
Subj: FW: Iraq telecom report 22nd. March 04
Date: 3/22/2004 12:18:25 PM Eastern Standard Time

(From Declan Ganley;-e-mail address redacted)

The following is my report following my briefing from our Iraqi source Mr. A, upon his return from Baghdad yesterday, Sunday 21st. March 04. He does not wish to be named in the body of this report as he is concerned that a certain member of the CPA who he believes to be compromised might be in receipt of the information. I am prepared to provide the name verbally to the appropriate persons.
“A” had multiple sources for his information but the primary sources are two serving Ministers of the Iraq Interim Government. I am aware of their identities and again will provide them verbally but A. stressed that they not be written down at the request of the individuals who for the time being do not wish to be identified as the sources of this information. [Resumes of Iraqi’s making accusations are on file at the IATT office for security reasons.]
The Ministers reported the following: Al Jaffari (a member of the Governing Council and I think head of the ‘Dawa’ party), El Abedi (the minister for communications and member of Dawa) and Sudnick are all in receipt of payments in return for favors relating to the Iraq telecommunications process. When giving this information which they volunteered, the conversation was started on the subject of the service being offered in Baghdad by the Orascom network. They were not prompted and gave the information as part of a description of the telecom process and the role of Dawa party
members. When giving the information on the recipients of payments they stated that there was an American in the CPA called “Sadik or Sandy or something like that”, A. asked if it was “Sudnick” and they said yes that was it and how did he know of the name, he told them that he knew Sudnick was a senior guy in communications. The Ministers said that Sudnick was “coordinating” with Al Jaferi and El Abedi and that Al Jafferi had set up an office in Kuwait which is staffed by one of his former London based ‘Dawa party’ figures a Mr. Adnan Ali Al Kadhmi. This gentleman and one other receives payments which are then passed on to Al Jafferi and from him to Sudnick and El Abedi, the payments are believed to be in large denomination dollar cash bills. The other gentleman allegedly receiving and passing on payments is a Mr. Shwan Al Mullah who is a share holder in the central region license. Al Mullah picks up payments from Najib Sawiris

Page 141

in Jordan and passes them to Al Jafferi. A. reports that Al Mullah’s
partner’s brother Maqadam Al Khadi is now holding all of Nadhmi Auchi’s Iraq cellular interests in trust while the Iraqi investigation into the licences takes place. The ministers report that they have good information that the amounts paid to Al Jafferi, El Abedi and Sudnick are approximately $10 million U.S. dollars, the parties allegedly making the payments via Al Kadhmi and Al Mullah are Najib Sawiris (of Orascom) and Ala Al Khawaja (reportedly a shareholder in two of the networks and a bag man for Auchi whom he runs a fund for in Egypt). The ministers said thatthere was a particularly significant meeting in Kuwait four weeks agowhere in the presence of Al Kadhmi, At Jafferi and Al Khawaja met directly and where a significant payment was made to be split with El Abedi and Sudnick. A. pointed out that members of the CPA can avoid having their passports stamped going through Kuwait border controls. A. asked the Ministers how they had this information and they told him they had a good network, the information was sound and that they were able to assemble some of the information that led to the capture of Saddam and of TahaYasin Ramadan. A. expressed concern that this information would easily identify the Ministers. According to A. (and he suggested that this could and should be independently verified) there is much Iraqi anger at the way communications have been handled, the level of corruption and the inadequacy of the service. He reported that there is no roaming whatsoever. That each of the three systems will not allow roaming on the other, that there is no service at all in the Southern Licence area. He also reports that there is not even the most basic data service available and that the Baghdad network will not allow the sending or receiving of text messages. The sim cards issued in Iraq will not work in any country out side Iraq or in any other area within Iraq. A. states that the pricing is exorbitant with a one month validity sim card costing $68 USD without a handset, he also said that the prepaid cards appear to be programmed to deduct credit at a faster rate than even advertised, he gave the example of purchasing a $20 prepaid there is a rife market for stolen handsets which are coming in from Europe (this business is operated by a group called ‘Allied’ who are operating from London and owned by Al Mullah’s partner Amer Al Khadi). The Ministers reported that Sudnick and El Abedi are rushing to put as much as they can in place to protect their funders interests before June as they are concerned that both they and Al Jafferi will not be in place after June.
_____________________________________________________________________________
_
Follow-up e-mail from Declan Ganley April 20, 2004:

According to our information about this time (September 2002) or earlier either Leech or Davies, more likely Leech, met with Al Khawaja most likely at the Sheraton Hotel in Kuwait City where the payment to be lodged to the Arab Bank in Jordan was agreed.

Page 142

We also heard another rumour that a meeting took place between Al Khawaja and a CPA official based in Bahrain. He had travelled to the CPA in Baghdad and was in co-ordination with David Leech. Purportedly a payment of $1.5 million was made at this meeting in Bahrain. We are currently unable to get any more information on this, though we are working on it.

The full report here

I have redacted Daniel Sudnick's claims about Jack Shaw I have received more up to date info on the case and wil be publishing in a new post. The case is ongoing!


See also Iraq: Cellular Project Leads to U.S. Inquiry A Pentagon official acted to award a contract to a group that included his friends. by T. Christian Miller, Los Angeles Times, April 29th, 2004

Ganley's Bid for Baghdad Action by Colm Kenna Irish Times 5 July 2008
Blood Money Ganley references.

1.	on Page 55:
	"... licenses to operate in Iraq. Qualcomm joined a consortium called Liberty Mobile led by a mysterious Irish entrepreneur named Declan Ganley. A multimillionaire, Ganley alternately drove a Rolls-Royce and a Mercedes, ..."
2.	on Page 57:
	"... S.-Arab Cham- ber of Commerce. In April or early May, DeMarino introduced Shaw and Declan Ganley. DeMarino and Ganley convinced Shaw that Qualcomm's technology was best suited for Iraq's business needs - though Shaw later ..."
3.	on Page 61:
	"... " To effect his plan, Shaw arranged for Reiser to call Ganley and discuss the cellular phone proposal. Over four months, the two negotiated an al- liance, Reiser even visiting Ganley in ..."
4.	on Page 63:
	"... received thirty-five formal proposals to establish cellular service. Sudnick personally reviewed the se- lection of the winners. All the while, Ganley's group continued complain- ing about bias against American technology. ..."
5.	on Page 65:
	"... ordering Sudnick to make sure that NANA got the contract, installed the American technology, and allowed Declan Ganley's Guardian Net to build out the system. "The continuing contracting minuet has obscured what must be part of the NANA/Guardian ..."
6.	on Page 66:
	"... Carroll called Reiser, who told her that Ganley had suggested the change. Carroll then called Ganley, reaching him on his cell phone at Stansted airport in London. ..."
7.	on Page 69:
	"... trolled the entire network in Iraq through a shadowy business alliance. Shaw based his report on anonymous e-mails, information from Ganley and DeMarino, and rumors on the "Arab street. ..."
8.	from Back Matter:
	"... 298 NOTES Chris Frabott, August 2005 Declan Ganley, April 2004 Richard Garfield, June 2005 Michel Gautier, August 2004 Lt. Col. S. Jamie Gayton, August 2005 Thamour Ghadban, August ..."
9.	from Back Matter:
	"... Not('s 303 20. E-mail from Declan Ganley to Jack Shaw, April 28, 2004. Author copy. Ganley reacted angrily to a question over whether Shaw had any financial ..."
10.	from Index:
	"... 326 INDEX G Gailani, Kamil Mubdir, 188 Ganley, Declan, 55, 57, 61, 63, 65, 66, 69 garbage removal, 215, 216, 219, 221 Garfield, Richard, 48, 51 Garner, Jay, ..."

Declan Ganley and Iraq from the vaults

If you have not bought T. Christian Miller's Blood Money you should. It features some information on Declan Ganley in Iraq. It does however give a great deal of info on Jack Shaw who was Ganley and Don Di Marino's pal in Iraq. More on Ganley and Irag from earlier posts.



Here is a contemporary article by Milller originally from the LA Times Published on Wednesday, July 7, 2004

Pentagon Deputy's Probes in Iraq Weren't Authorized, Officials Say

by T. Christian Miller

WASHINGTON — A senior Defense Department official conducted unauthorized investigations of Iraq reconstruction efforts and used their results to push for lucrative contracts for friends and their business clients, according to current and former Pentagon officials and documents. John A. "Jack" Shaw, deputy undersecretary for international technology security, represented himself as an agent of the Pentagon's inspector general in conducting the investigations, sources said. In one case, Shaw disguised himself as an employee of Halliburton Co. and gained access to a port in southern Iraq after he was denied entry by the U.S. military, the sources said. In that investigation, Shaw found problems with operations at the port of Umm al Qasr, Pentagon sources said. In another, he criticized a competition sponsored by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority to award cellphone licenses in Iraq. In both cases, Shaw urged government officials to fix the alleged problems by directing multimillion-dollar contracts to companies linked to his friends, without competitive bidding, according to the Pentagon sources and documents. In the case of the port, the clients of a lobbyist friend won a no-bid contract for dredging. Shaw's actions are the latest to raise concerns that senior Republican officials working in Washington and Iraq have used the rebuilding effort in Iraq to reward associates and political allies. One of Shaw's close friends, the former top U.S. transportation official in Iraq, is under investigation for his role in promoting an Iraqi national airline with a company linked to the Saddam Hussein regime. The inspector general's office — which investigates waste, fraud and abuse at the Pentagon — has turned over its inquiry into Shaw's actions to the FBI to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, the sources said. The FBI also is looking into allegations, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, that Shaw tried to steer a contract to create an emergency phone network for Iraq's security forces to a company whose board of directors included a friend and one of Shaw's employees. Shaw, who held top positions in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, declined to comment for this article. In previous interviews, he has denied any financial links to the companies involved or receiving any promises of future employment or other benefit. Shaw justified his investigations under a special agreement with the Pentagon inspector general, Joseph E. Schmitz. The August agreement created a temporary office headed by Shaw called the International Armament and Technology Trade Directorate. Its mission was to cooperate with the inspector general on issues related to the transfer of sensitive U.S. technologies or arms to foreign countries. Shaw frequently cited the agreement in his dealings with reporters and the military, telling them it allowed him to "wear an IG hat" to conduct investigations. In a recent letter to the inspector general, he said the agreement gave him "broad investigatory authority." That contention is the subject of dispute, however. The agreement states that Shaw "may recommend" that the inspector general initiate audits, evaluations, investigations and inquiries, but it does not appear to give him investigative powers. "Jack Shaw was never authorized to do any kind of investigation or auditing on his own," said one source close to Schmitz. "The agreement was not for that. He's trying to cram more authority into that agreement than it gives him." Schmitz canceled the agreement two weeks after Shaw was first accused of tampering with the emergency phone network contract. Schmitz declined to comment, but in his letter canceling the arrangement, he praised Shaw for "outstanding leadership." Shaw used the agreement to win permission to visit Iraq last fall. In an Oct. 28 letter to Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, Shaw said he wanted to "investigate those who threatened the national security of the United States through the transfer of advanced technologies to Iraq." Specifically, Shaw said he planned to identify countries that had smuggled contraband weapons into Iraq and catalog existing conventional weapons stockpiles. Although he did not mention it in the letter, Shaw also was interested in investigating operations at the port of Umm al Qasr. Last summer, Shaw was visited by Richard E. Powers, a longtime friend and lobbyist. Powers was representing SSA Marine, a Seattle-based port operations company that had won a controversial limited-bid contract in the early days of the war to manage the troubled port. He also was representing a small business owned by Alaskan natives called Nana Pacific. Under federal regulations, small companies owned by Alaskan Native Americans can bypass the normal process and receive unlimited, no-bid contracts. Powers suggested there were serious problems with dredging at the port that could be quickly remedied by having a no-bid contract awarded to Nana, which then could subcontract to SSA Marine, sources said. Powers did not respond to requests for comment. Public lobbying records show that Nana and SSA Marine paid Powers $80,000 last year for his work. In December, Shaw flew to Kuwait to inspect the port. The military refused to allow him into the facility, however, because of the danger involved, Pentagon sources said. Shaw and several staffers then went to the port dressed like employees of KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary that has a contract to supply the military with food and other items. In a KBR hat, Shaw and his staff spent less than an hour at the port, taking pictures and talking with soldiers, current and former Pentagon sources said. The group documented well-known problems there, including the presence of unexploded mines. A Defense official in Shaw's office acknowledged that they had entered the port despite the military's concerns. He described the disguise as an attempt to conceal Shaw's status, for safety reasons. He said the military's negative reaction to the proposed visit convinced him that there was serious trouble at the port. "This Army two-star said, 'We won't let you in the country.' I said, there's something there," said the Defense official, who did not want to be identified. "Everybody had declared victory at the port…. We looked at the port and there were still tremendous problems." When coalition officials learned that Shaw was at the port, they made a frantic effort to locate him, but didn't reach him until after his return to Kuwait. "I get this call from [the U.S. military command in Iraq] that said: 'We have an undersecretary of Defense roaming the countryside. We need to locate and secure him,' " recalled a former CPA official. "He's in the country illegally, but we can't arrest him, so we let him finish the tour." Shaw spent about a week in Iraq, meeting with top U.S. and Iraqi officials. He told several officials that the trip to Umm al Qasr had convinced him that work at the port had to be accelerated. He then suggested that the work could be expedited by awarding the contract to Nana, several former CPA officials said. "The only time I heard Nana's name was when [Shaw and his team] were in Baghdad," said a former CPA official involved in the ports. "The notion was that this might well be a vehicle where you could in fact get things moving quickly that needed to be done, such as dredging and so forth." Soon after Shaw's visit, the CPA granted Nana a construction and communications contract worth up to $70 million. Nana then subcontracted $3.5 million in work to SSA Marine, which recently completed the dredging. Nana also is linked to Shaw's other investigation. Late last year, Shaw began looking into the award of cellphone licenses in Iraq after receiving complaints from a longtime friend, Don DeMarino, who had worked under Shaw at the Commerce Department. DeMarino was a director of a consortium called Liberty Mobile, one of the losing bidders in the contest that awarded the cellphone licenses, potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to three other firms. Relying on information from DeMarino and Liberty Mobile's president, Declan Ganley, Shaw cast doubt on the validity of the awards by leaking to several media outlets information that he said showed corruption in the process, said current and former Pentagon sources. He also provided the evidence he had gathered to the inspector general. In December, the inspector general's office released a report saying that no basis had been found for Shaw's accusations. The office referred part of the complaint to the British government for further investigation of two British CPA officials involved in the licensing process, according to a copy of the report obtained by The Times. British authorities exonerated the men. Later, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz wrote to the British ambassador clearing them. "The British ambassador in the U.S. has received notification that no British citizens are under investigation by the U.S." in the contract matter, a British Embassy spokesman said. Soon after Liberty Mobile lost the bidding war last fall, Shaw began pushing Nana to win a no-bid contract to build a communications system for the Iraqi police, fire and security forces, according to officials with the now-dissolved CPA and documents obtained by The Times. He then tried to change the language of the contract to allow the creation of a cellphone network, according to interviews and documents. Nana planned to subcontract the construction of the communications system to a company called Guardian Net. Guardian Net's board of directors was nearly identical to that of Liberty Mobile. It included DeMarino, Ganley and Julian Walker, who works for Shaw as a researcher, according to the documents. Ganley and DeMarino have acknowledged participating in the attempt to win a cellphone license. Walker could not be reached for comment. When CPA officials reported their concerns about the Guardian Net plan to Pentagon investigators, Shaw stepped up his investigation of the role of the CPA officials in the licensing process, Pentagon sources said. Even after the Pentagon canceled the agreement that Shaw had used to justify his probe, he unilaterally continued the investigation, Pentagon sources said. On May 11, Shaw delivered his report, which concluded that there was "serious, credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing by U.S. government employees pertaining to taking official acts in exchange for bribes." He acknowledged that the report "directly conflicts" with the December report by the inspector general, which he dismissed as "worthless." Shaw's report, which The Times has reviewed, claims evidence of a conspiracy to take over Iraq's cellphone service led by Nadhmi Auchi, a British businessman who has been accused of links to Hussein and who was convicted last year in a French court in an unrelated kickback scheme. Auchi maintains his innocence and is appealing. Auchi, according to the report, paid bribes through a series of surrogates to win the three cellphone licenses and gain control of Iraq's cellular system. A spokesman for Auchi denied Shaw's claims. He acknowledged that Auchi has an indirect, minor stake in Orascom, one of the cellphone operators. He denied any ownership interest in the other phone companies. Shaw's report relies mainly on newspaper articles, rumors and secondhand conversations reported by the losing bidders or anonymous sources and "the Arab street," which Shaw calls "a reasonable sounding board for accepted truth." In the conclusion to his report, Shaw recommends that all the cellphone licenses be canceled and that the contract be awarded to one of the original bidders — as long as the bidder uses a technology known as CDMA, which Shaw describes as superior to other cellular technologies. Shaw sent his report to the inspector general's office, which turned it over for further investigation to the FBI. An FBI official confirmed that the agency had received the report and had just begun looking into the allegations of bribery. "While some of the evidence in this report is fragmentary, the dots are connected in convincing and important ways," Shaw said in the report. "Below the deadly serious efforts to restore security and legitimacy to Iraq lies a muted gold rush mentality."

Declan Ganley's Rivada Pacific contracts from US Defence Dept and Homeland Security

Libertas's early days were funded by Rivada Networks who employed key staff to work on setting up the Libertas brand . Ganley later denied this but he was contradicted by Naosie Nunn founder of Libertas. see
Libertas Limited from way back machine
Rivada networks key personel

Libertas executive director is Rivada employee

Plus Irish Election Blog
The faux party of transparency, Libertas's leader's contracts from George W Bush and the US military war machine since 2004 should be known to all the people who think Declan Ganley loves Democracy and not warmongering.

See over 40 US DEFENCE DEPT. CONTRACTS THAT DECLAN'S GANLEY COMPANY RIVADA PACIFIC HAVE RECEIVED SINCE 2004.

Fed Contracts awarded without competition to DECLAN GANLEY's RIVADA PACIFIC

Links Nana Pacific Ganley's Partner firm
Rivada Networks the warmonger Declan Ganley's flagship a Ganley International company.

See also Ganley in Iraq

Nana Pacific US Defence contract trends

Note that the Obama government does not favour Ganley's allies. There is in fact an anti Obama smear which is being perpetuated by people supporting Ganley's Iraq pal Jack Shaw. Indeed Shaw appeared on ABC prior to the election to smear Obama

Trend

2000	$0
2001	$0
2002	$0
2003	$0
2004	$343,000
2005	$10,010,979
2006	$16,199,933
2007	$8,722,759
2008 1Q *	$1,964,127

Is the reason ganley is trying to move into Europe the fact that the US are not so hot on his cosy relationship with republican war mongers who tried to stop Barack Obama from being elected?

The above from Libertas the Pan European Political party Blog http://libertaseu.blogspot.com/

The below is about later convicted of corruption Alaskan Sen.Ted Steven's and Ganley's later partners Nana Pacific using the Iraq War to gain financially. Jack Shaw later connected Declan ganley with Nana when he failed to get in on the war action with a mobile phone bid that has been the subject of much copntroversy,

Contracts Take Alaska to Iraq

By T. Christian Miller
March 07, 2004

LA Times

Snow-covered Alaska is a long way from the deserts of Iraq, but that doesn't worry Janet Reiser, the president of an Anchorage-based company planning to help rebuild the war-torn country.

Because of the efforts of Sen. Ted Stevens, Alaska Native-owned businesses like Reiser's are allowed to receive government contracts of unlimited size without going through the normal bidding process. Pentagon officials are turning to them to speed up the rebuilding of Iraq.

"If you exchange snow for sand, work in Iraq is similar to the work we've done in Alaska," said Reiser, whose Nana Pacific engineering company is in the final stages of negotiating a multimillion-dollar contract that will be awarded without competitive bidding. "We know how to do logistics in remote areas."

Over the years, Stevens, the Alaska Republican who is the powerful chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has made sure that Nana Pacific and other small businesses owned by Alaska Native corporations and Native Americans enjoy special benefits in government contracting.

Their unique ability to land government contracts of any size, free of the bidding process -- which no other minority- or women-owned small businesses enjoy -- was a largely unknown part of contracting law until last fall, when Congress passed an $18.6-billion aid package earmarked for Iraqi reconstruction that contained restrictions calling for full and open competition.

Stevens, however, made sure the final bill contained language to protect Alaska Native corporations' ability to win no-bid contracts under federal law, according to Republican and Democratic budget analysts familiar with the process.

At the same time, Alaska Native officials and their lobbyists frequented industry conferences, the Defense Department and Capitol Hill in an effort to drum up Iraq business.

Some Pentagon officials responded by pushing the Alaska Native corporations as a way to quickly get work accomplished without going through the bidding process, which can take months.

Although only a handful of Alaskan and small tribal businesses have sought contracts to date, Pentagon officials said they hoped the number would increase.

Ganley appoints Bush's top general in launch of War on Terror to Rivada Networks

(L-R)Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, President George W. Bush , and US Ambassador to Iraq Paul Bremer,

"The outcome and consequences of defeat [in Iraq] are greater than World War II."-- Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Declan Ganley has appointed George Bush former top military man former Chief of Staff Richard Myers to a position at his military contarcter Rivada Networks. The move comes as Ganley steps down from Rivada.
Meyers is a gung ho war monger. In 2005 he stated that reports by human rights group Amnesty International were irresponsible after Irene Khan, said in the organistaions's annual report: ''The detention facility at Guantanamo Bay has become the gulag of our times, entrenching the practice of arbitrary and indefinite detention in violation of international law."

Bush cried, ''Absurd." Cheney said, ''I was offended." Myers said, ''absolutely irresponsible."

Even after he left his post, Myers defended Rumsfeld's conduct of the ill-conceived and ill pursued war Iraq. His war resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Iraq.

Cynthia McKinney confronts Richard Myers on 9/11 issues: 2.3 trillion dollars missing at the Pentagon, the Dyncorp Sex Rings and 9/11 Wargames!

12-12-08:Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other senior U.S. officials share much of the blame for detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

This appointment will be of interest to any readers of |Blood Money by T. Chrisauin miller which outlines some of Ganley's Iraqi activities.

While Ganley claimed he was not a neo con in repeated interviews the appointment of this architect of the war on terror to his company adds more weight to his being a far right neo con war monger.
The danger that a character like Ganley poses to our freedoms and democracy may now become clear. His neo con ambitions and attempt to buy civil power is unprecedented in history.

The Daily Show mocks Richard Myers , Rumsfeld and |Bush over their war in Iraq "The Sunshine Boys" June 2005

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Headlines - The Sunshine Boys

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

The Daily Show June 2, 2005
Headlines - The Sunshine Boys

It's not that the Bush Administration lives in a world that doesn't really exist; they just don't know what the word progress means.
Tags: Headlines , war , Iraq , Guantanamo Bay , George W. Bush , Bush administration , Dick Cheney , Donald Rumsfeld , Larry King , Amnesty International , Richard Myers

Meet Richard Myers
RICHARD B. MYERS, Ret. U.S. Air Force General, served as Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2001 to 2005. He was the principal military adviser to President George W. Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and the National Security Council. Gen. Myers previously served as Vice Chairman, which included acting as Chairman of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, Vice Chairman of the Defense Acquisition Board, and member of the National Security Council Deputies Committee and the Nuclear Weapons Council. He also serves on the boards of Aon Corp., Deere & Company, and Northrop Grumman. Gen. Myers is the Foundation Professor of Military History at Kansas State University and holds the Colin Powell Chair for Leadership, Ethics and Character at the National Defense University. He is a member of the Central Intelligence Agency's External Advisory Board, the Defense Policy Board and the Department of State's Transformation Diplomacy Advisory Board. Gen. Myers has been a UTC director since September 2006.

Ganley appoints a former US Chief of Staff and a former British Chief of Defence to replace him at his military supply firm Rivada

US Chief of Staff Richard Myers, Declan Ganely's appointee to Rivada Networks with his fellow leaders of the War on Terror Dick Cheney and George W. Bush at Arlington cemetry where many of the American troops who died in their war are buried.




The Sunday Times reports that Declan Ganley has stepped down from his military contracting Rivada networks and appointed several senior ex-military heavy-hitters to take up the slack.
The move may confirm his intention to run in the Euroean elections. However there is a stiong possibility that the scrutiny the firm and its activities have come under since Ganley launched his political activities may also be a factor in Ganley's steeping down.
According to the The Sunday Times, Ganley appointmented of John Kelly, a former president of Bell Aerospace and a current Rivada director, to succeed him and appointed four new members to the company’s board. Baron Guthrie, the former British Chief of Defence Staff, and General Richard Myers , a former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff during the invasions of Afgahistan and Iraq were appointed as were Michael Jackson, a former deputy secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, and George Forseman, a former under-secretary were also appointed. The Times states:

The appointments of personnel with military links may intensify claims by Ganley’s opponents that America’s military-industrial complex are linked to his opposition to the Lisbon treaty

The fact that Ganley has appointed two men who held the most senior positions in the military in both Britain and the United States of America ceratinly raises this bloggers eyebrows. It would seem that Ganley made some friends in high places while he scrambled for military contacts in post Invasion Iraq. His Tigris Staffing company was opertating from Baghdad within months of the 2003 invasion. Ganley's motives and funding are unkown. His connections with the military and the US Dept of Homeland Security are well documented.

It is clear that Libertas have a slush fund from which they recently offered a Swedish political party 1 mil euro to change their name to Libertas. This purchase of policial parties in an effort to brand Libertas is a cynical and sinister development from which our democracies will have to defend itself against.

There must be an urgent investigation of Libertas's finaces on a country by country and central basis. laws regarding funding in all EU astates must be utilised to probe this menace to basic freedoms that Ganley ironically named Libertas.

Richard Meyrs was one of George W. Bush's key men in his invasion of Iraq. In 2005 the Boston Post reported

The last throes of truth in Iraq

By Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist | June 1, 2005

Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers was asked on ABC's ''Good Morning America" about the deaths. ''Myers said, 'Well, first of all, the number of incidents is actually down 25 percent since the highs of last November, during the election period. So, overall, numbers of incidents are down. Lethality, as you mentioned, is up. . . . I think what's causing it is a realization that Iraq is marching inevitably toward democracy."

Do not even think of bringing up Amnesty International. The human rights group published its annual report last week, a report in which the organization's secretary general, Irene Khan, said, ''The detention facility at Guantanamo Bay has become the gulag of our times, entrenching the practice of arbitrary and indefinite detention in violation of international law."

To that, Bush cried, ''Absurd." Cheney said, ''I was offended." Myers said, ''absolutely irresponsible."

All that is missing is a banner behind them saying, ''Misinformation Accomplished."

Bush, Cheney, and Myers are saying all these things as their invasion of Iraq is closing in on a dubious milestone. The number of soldiers who died in the invasion and occupation, 858, is about to be passed by the number killed after the United States handed over sovereignty to hand-picked Iraqi leaders. The latter number just crossed the 800 mark. Read full article Here

Ganley leaves job for Libertas
Declan Ganley is leaving his role as chief executive of Rivada Networks to campaign for the European elections
by
Richard Oakley
Declan Ganley, the head of Libertas, has said he is quitting his role as chief executive of Rivada Networks, his communications technology company, to concentrate on campaigning in the European elections.
Ganley, who has yet to declare if he will be a candidate in the North West constituency, is to remain as chairman of the firm, which has secured US military contracts worth up to $240m (€190m).
Ganley has appointed John Kelly, a former president of Bell Aerospace and a current Rivada director, to succeed him and appointed four new members to the company’s board, including Lord Guthrie, the former British chief of defence staff, and General Richard Myers, a former chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff.
The other new directors are Michael Jackson, a former deputy secretary of the US department of homeland security, and George Forseman, a former under-secretary.
The appointments of personnel with military links may intensify claims by Ganley’s opponents that America’s military-industrial complex are linked to his opposition to the Lisbon treaty. Ganley has been accused of receiving funding from the US military establishment, which he has denied.
The Libertas leader is trying to recruit candidates across the EU in an attempt to make the June elections a “proxy referendum” on the Lisbon treaty. He claims to be happy with the progress Libertas is making, despite controversies over its application for funding and recognition as a political party.
Some of the MEPs on a Libertas document submitted to the European parliament denied they had signed it.
Libertas claimed political pressure had been applied to force the signatories to withdraw their support, which in turn was denied.
Libertas may also have been the target of the Irish government when it announced changes in the donations system designed to clamp down on campaign groups.
Sunday Times

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Has Declan Ganley threatened to sue you?

Has Declan Ganley or Libertas threatened to sue you? The Phoenix article published below details the threats of Libretas's David Cochrane's Politics.ie bulletin board to sue a poster who published details of Ganley's Iraq adventures.




Photo: David Cochrane of Libertas and Politics.ie


Do you have other examples of Ganley using litigation as a threat?
If so email peoplekorps@gmail.com
Earlier post on this

Here are some examples published before and some additions to my last post.

LABOUR EUROPEAN affairs spokesman Joe Costello confirmed yesterday that Libertas leader Declan Ganley has threatened to sue him.

Speaking at his party's conference, Mr Costello claimed that Mr Ganley had told "porkies" during the European Affairs Committee's hearings on the Lisbon Treaty. "He sent me a solicitor's letter during the week," Mr Costello added.

Mr Ganley has threatened to sue Mr Costello for substantial damages, following Mr Costello's charge that the Libertas founder has "a subversive foreign agenda".

The declaration was made by the Dublin Central TD in a statement on October 3rd, but it has only now led to a legal challenge by Mr Ganley.

Then, Mr Costello said: "Until Mr Ganley comes clean on his business links, details his Lisbon Treaty expenditure and the source of his donations, clarifies the conditions and origins of the €200,000 personal loan, explains why his business and political employees overlap, there remains the appalling vista that the most sacred power in Irish democracy, namely the citizens' right to change their Constitution can be usurped by a single wealthy businessman with a foreign subversive agenda.

"Thus Mr Ganley's close business connections with the US military, the absence of business activities in Ireland, his sudden arrival on the Irish political scene, his expenditure of vast sums of money to defeat the Lisbon Treaty, his refusal to reveal the source of his spending and the fact that many of the principals in his US Rivada Networks business company are the same as the principals in his Irish political Libertas organisation - all raise questions that need to be answered," he said.

In a letter sent on Monday, Mr Ganley's Dublin-based solicitors, O'Rourke Reid said the allegation was "an unlawful, unjustified and gross slur on our client's good name and character". Similar, or nearly-similar charges were made by others during and after the campaign without a legal letter issuing from Mr Ganley.

Mr Costello's accusation, the solicitors went on, had "exposed our client to contempt and ridicule and has caused our client considerable personal upset, distress and significant injury to his reputation and good name".

Demanding a public apology within seven days, O'Rourke Reid said Mr Ganley requires that Mr Costello also make a substantial donation to a charity of Mr Ganley's choosing.

If such an apology is not tendered, the solicitors said that they had instructions to take "the necessary proceedings" and seek "substantial damages" in court.

Mr Costello's statement was issued in the wake of a report in The Irish Times which showed that Mr Ganley had loaned €200,000 to Libertas for its campaign.

© 2008 The Irish Times

Western People

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

http://www.westernpeople.ie/news/story/?trs=eycwmhojcw

Ganley begins defamation action against Jim Higgins

Libertas founder Declan Ganley is taking legal action against Ballyhaunis based MEP Jim Higgins over alleged defamatory comments he made in an interview.

Lawyers for Mr Ganley will begin proceeding with the defamation action this week. This has brought to a head a row which has been brewing between the two men in recent weeks.

Just over a week ago, Mr Ganley sent a letter to Mr Higgins taking issue with comments the Fine Gael MEP made on local radio, which claimed that the Libertas chief “likes war and likes military action”.

The lengthy legal letter sent by Mr Ganley’s legal team stated that Mr Higgins’ comments constituted an “unlawful, unjustified and gross slur on our client’s good name and character”. Speaking to the Western People, a spokesperson for Mr Ganley said:

“Yes, we sent the letter and it is part of a series of letters being sent out, not only to politicians, but to people who have made inaccurate and libellous comments about Mr Ganley.”

The letter asked that the MEP withdraw the “grossly defamatory” comments in a medium or media agreed by Mr Ganley and to pay a “substantial donation to a charity of his choosing”. “We gave Mr Higgins seven days to apologise and we have not heard from him. So, yes, we are pursuing with the defamation action at this stage.

“We were expecting an apology, it was the least he could do. He said that Mr Ganley profits from war and death and that he openly profits from the murdering of other people. This is taking it too far.”

The legal action centres around an interview given by Mr Higgins, broadcast last September, which included comments that “He (Mr Ganley) supplies particular pieces of equipment to the United States military and the more war there is, the more money there is, the more dollars that will pour into Mr Ganley’s private bank account”.

Ganley warns he will sue RTE

Irish Indo Friday December 05 2008

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ganley-warns-he-will-sue-rte-1564577.html

LIBERTAS chief Declan Ganley yesterday claimed the contents of an RTE programme broadcast last week were "actionable".

In a statement yesterday, Mr Ganley said that following a detailed review of RTE's 'Prime Time' programme last Thursday, his legal team had advised that the programme is "actionable".

"A detailed file is being prepared for what is expected to be a significant and extensive legal action against RTE/Prime Time," Mr Ganley said.

Last night, a spokeswoman for RTE said it had not yet received any communication from Libertas or Mr Ganley.

"We can't make any comment but we fully stand over the programme," the spokeswoman said.

Lawyers acting on behalf of Mr Ganley have recently sent legal letters to Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins and Labour TD Joe Costello about comments they claim are "unlawful, unjustified and a gross slur on our client's good name and character".

The letters advised both politicians that they should offer a public apology within seven days and also make a substantial donation to a charity of Mr Ganley's choosing.

At the time, Mr Higgins told the Irish Independent that he was determined to defend himself.

Given that Libertas is now registered as a political party, the MEP said that the organisation should recognise that "much of what happens in the political sphere invariably involves political charges and counter charges".

"If Mr Ganley pursues this matter any further, I am determined to steadfastly defend myself," he said.

- Aine Kerr Political Correspondent

Independent.ie

'Businessman wrecked my Dail campaign'

By Michael Brennan
Monday February 04 2008

A GREEN Party general election candidate has accused millionaire businessman Declan Ganley of deliberately undermining his campaign.

Former Galway Lord Mayor Niall O Brolchain said that Mr Ganley, the founder of the Libertas anti-Lisbon treaty group, threatened him with legal action during the campaign over his use of mayoral notepaper to file an objection to the Galway outer city bypass.

"It's a very underhand tactic to use at that point in time. We should be fighting it out over the issues not over silly technicalities."

He said that Mr Ganley had sent a solicitors' representative to his house in Galway in a "black SUV with tinted windows" to serve him with the High Court summons.

"I was out canvassing at the time and it was very intimidating for my family. They didn't know what it was about," said Mr O Brolchain.

He added he had never met nor heard of Mr Ganley before.

But he claims the legal threat had distracted him from his unsuccessful campaign for a seat in Galway West.

He was forced to hire a legal team. However, the High Court action was dropped shortly before polling day.

"The problem was if I'd ignored it, I would have been in awful trouble because you can't ignore a High Court summons.

"If that's the way Irish politics is going to go, it could get very awkward for people, because anybody can do that."

DECLAN GANLEY’S IRAQI SHENANIGANS
The Phoenix April 18,2008

David Cochrane, Declan Ganley’s campaign director for Libertas, has been crying foul over what he describes as harassment of him by Fianna Fail’s solicitors over allegedly libellous comments about Bertie Ahern on his politics.ie website. But Cochrane has threatened heavy handed tactics himself and was swift to erase all trace of questions about Ganley’s activities in Iraq on the same website.

Early this year, one of politics.ie’s users made reference to Blood Money, Wasted Billions, Lost Lives and Corporate Greed in Iraq, a book on the reconstruction of Iraq by the American Coalition Provisional Authority, which outlined the wheeling and dealing during the bidding for contracts by such companies as Halliburton, of which vice president Dick Cheney used to be ceo. The book also outlined in detail how Ganley’s Liberty Mobile had unsuccessfully tried to get a slice of the reconstruction pie in 2004.

Ganley has extensive connections to the neo-con Republican administration in the US. As Goldhawk pointed out (see The Phoenix, 25/01/08), one of Ganley’s advisors in his Rivada Networks is a former Assistant Secretary of Commerce John Kneuer, while Ganley counts Admiral Timothy J Keating, head of the US Pacific Command, as one of his pals. However, Ganley’s most important trans-Atlantic relationship is with long-time business partner Don DeMarino, with whom
he had bid for a mobile phone licence here in Ireland back in 1998.

Ganley, in a consortium with US phone company Qualcomm, had made two attempts in 2003 to get a contract to build a cellular phone network in Iraq. Neither was successful, with the contracts going to European companies instead. While Ganley was licking his wounds over the failures, a row broke out over the two types of cellular phone systems; one of the systems, GSM, predominantly used in Europe and the other, CDMA, mainly used in the USA. That the European system was chosen greatly hacked off American companies, who saw their country’s hard work in ‘liberating’ Iraq not being rewarded with the spoils of war. One of those who was most annoyed was John A Shaw, deputy undersecretary in the Department of Defence, who just happened to be a lifelong pal of Ganley’s friend, DeMarino.

Shaw had a novel wheeze to help get American companies in on the mobile phone action in Iraq. The contract for Baghdad’s first responder network (that is, the communication system between the police, fire and ambulance services in the city) was up for grabs. Shaw suggested using a piece of positive discrimination legislation written up in the 80s (designed to promote the business interests of Alaskan Eskimos) which allowed companies with Eskimos on their board to bid for no-competition contracts. Crucially, those companies could then sub-contract the work out to whomever they liked.

According to Blood Money, in late 2003, Shaw introduced Ganley to the directors of NANA Pacific, an Alaskan company, with whom he formed a consortium including a new business entity, Guardian Net (which consisted of a couple of old business pals of Ganley’s, including DeMarino).

So far, so good for Ganley, and all perfectly legal. Unfortunately, the NANA/Guardian consortium pushed their luck too far and in their bid for the first responder contract in early 2004 they suggested in discussions with officials in the coalition authority that the network would form a footprint for a commercial network based on the American cellular system. This would, of course, give US companies a chance to avail of the billions of dollars on offer to mobile phone companies in a future, peaceful Iraq. The coalition authority, though, needed a first responder network, not another mobile phone system and in March 2004 they threw out NANA’s bid and started the whole process again. And there ended Ganley’s interest in Iraq’s mobile phone network.

Unfortunately, it was not the end of Ganley’s new pal John Shaw’s interest, and he lambasted the officials who had rejected the bid, suggested massive corruption in the bidding process, and generally made a nuisance of himself. This led to the resignation of two senior officials and delayed even further the process of setting up the first responder network. In October 2004, the wacky Shaw publicly claimed that the infamous WMDs in Iraq had been spirited out of the country by Russian special-forces, a claim that so embarrassed senior White House Officials that they sacked him.

Los Angeles Times journalist T Christian Miller wrote extensively about the entire debacle, which didn’t please Ganley (who had spoken on-the-record to Miller in 2004), and the angry millionaire threatened the hack with legal action, though he never actually filed any writs. Ganley is clearly still sore about the whole affair, though, and when a contributor to Cochrane’s website posted a link to the book, Cochrane deleted the post, cancelled the contributor’s account, and sent an email to his personal email account threatening him and his company (from whose computer the contributor had accessed politics.ie) with legal action.
Related Link: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Money-Wasted-Billions-Corpo...66278

Irish Minister Dick Roche on Bruce Arnold’s sycophantic defence of Declan Ganley

In the current issue of the Village magazine Irish government Minister for European Affiars, Dick Roche, has been given a right of reply to attacks on him in the last issue by Declan Ganley's hagiographer and pet hack Bruce Arnold.
Ganley brought an action against the Village but dropped it and as it satnds the record shows that he has been accused of being a liar, has attempted to defnd his name and has withdrawn his action when faced with the potential of a vigorous defence.
This leaves Ganley the most reputationally compromised politician in Irish public life
You can read the original article and Arnolds article as well as Declan ganley Liar? by editor Michael Smith here

Bruce Arnold’s sycophantic defence of Declan Ganley by Dick Roche Minister for European Affiars


Bruce Arnold’s sycophantic defence of Declan Ganley is fascinating at several levels. Devotion to a ‘hero’ can be touching – Arnold’s paen to his hero is merely cringe making.
The most interesting aspect of Arnold’s efforts is his claim that he has “checked the allegations” against Ganley. I doubt very much that Arnold has done so. If he has there a couple of areas on which he could enlighten those who have been attempting to probe the mysteries surrounding Mr Ganley, the Libertas organisation, its operations and true motives.
One of the most important functions of the free press in Ireland is to provide a forum where journalists – ideally ones with a far greater degree of integrity than has been evidenced by Arnold – can objectively examine the claims made by those who would wish to shape this country’s destiny.
Scrutiny may fall on anyone who puts him or herself forward as a leader, representative or activist – elected or otherwise – and Declan Ganley, for all his millions, should be treated no differently than others who seek public office.
The central argument presented by Arnold in his article for Village last month appears to be built on logic of a very questionable variety: Declan Ganley shouldn’t have to answer any questions because other public figures have not – in Arnold’s opinion – been sufficiently questioned in the past.
Arnold’s of unspecified “allegations” against Ganley is laughable, given that he has been employed to write a book illuminating Ganley’s “political vision.”
The notion that this established relationship with Ganley might have diminished his journalistic impartiality does not appear to have been entertained by Arnold.
Indeed as Arnold has in his words “checked the allegations” against Ganley here are a few issues from the acres of material from Mr Ganley’s self promoted biography on which Bruce might enlighten us all.
First there are Ganley’s claims to have been foreign economic policy advisor to the Latvian Government. This is an important starting point in Ganley’d ‘biog’ so the question arise - has Arnold really checked the facts?
Ganley claims that in 1991 he was Foreign Economic Affairs Advisor to the then Latvian Government. This appointment is supposed to have opened doors for the then young Mr Ganley. It is an important point in Ganley’s ‘biography’. The problem is that the then Latvian PM denies the claim. Colm Keena writing in the Irish Times has pointed out that “people in Latvia who had made inquiries about Ganley at the time were unable to find anyone who'd heard of him. Sources in the Irish embassy in Warsaw, which was accredited to Latvia, told The Irish Times in 1999 it had become aware of the reports about Ganley's activities in Latvia, and had made discreet inquiries. But no trace could be found by the embassy of Ganley's business dealings in Latvia, or of his acting as an advisor to the government ( See Irish Times Saturday, May 31, 2008 “On the mysterious trail of 'Mr No'”), Has Arnold any evidence to contradict this?

During the period when Ganley claims he was operating from Riga, an Irish citizen, Michael Bourke was working for the IMF in Riga. Mr. Bourke recalls meeting Ganley in the city. His meeting with Ganley was discussed in some detail on the Prime Time programme.
He told RTE, “the meeting is one I shall never forget - ----- He said that he was involved in international trade and that he would be setting up his own bank ----- “Ganley International Bank”.
He said he would be getting a licence from the Minister for Finance”. When asked whether the bank ever materialised, Bourke answered, “it did not” and went onto point out that he had contacted the Latvian Ministry for Finance shortly after speaking with Ganley and asked whether they had any information on a bank being opened by an Irish citizen or on application for a licence by Ganley International Bank. The response he received was negative. There was no evidence or information on any such venture. What is Arnold’s view on this ?
Ganley's claims regarding his activities in Russia in the dying period of the Soviet system have been described by experts of that era as not capable of holding water. Jan Urban the Czech journalist/ writer has described Ganley's claims as BS
To recap the claims: Ganley claims, that in his late teens / early 20s :-
- he hit on the idea of insuring the launch of western payloads
into space on Russian rockets.
- he was been invited by the Russians to lead a trade delegation to Moscow.
- to have, during the course of the trade delegations visit, “bagged”
a valuable contract with the Russian authorities for insuring western payloads launched on Russian spacecraft, only to have been foiled when he was forced by the US authorities to drop the idea.
- To have masterminded a major trade fair on Russian metals and alloys
in London.
- To have established a successful business exporting aluminium from Russia to the west at the height of Russia’s “aluminium wars”.
- To have established and owned Russia’s biggest timber business.
Ganley’s claims are all the more remarkable given that they are the “achievements” of a young man with little or no capital, with no knowledge of the Russian language and with no particular personal expertise in any of the areas concerned. In addition the ‘achievements’ were made against a backdrop of turmoil in Russia as it moved from the Soviet system.
It would be fascinating to read Arnold’s take on all of this. Journalists who have investigated Ganley’s claims to have been a major business player in Russia in this period have all run into brick walls – Mr Arnold would be doing his hero a major favour if he produces any evidence to dispel the suspicions that surround the truthfulness of the accounts of Ganley’s adventures in Russia.
Then there are the questions about Ganley’s activities in Iraq. These were probed by RTE. The account of his activities in Iraq given by Ganley clash with the known facts.
Ganley told RTE he walked away “from the controversy surrounding the controversial telecommunications contract in which his consortium was involved in Iraq.
The available material including the remarkable account of Ganley company activities in T Christian Miller’s book “Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq raise some very fundamental issues which Ganley has to date avoided answering.
In his book Miller suggests that "one case in particular demonstrated how political favours, money and corporate avarice strangled in the reconstruction process and from the start.” Miller is referring to the programme to reconstruct Iraq's telecommunications system and a series of events surrounding Declan Ganley's involvement in that troubled country.
Ganley has sought to suppress any probing of his activities by threatening legal action to prevent questions that should be answered being raised. If Ganley has nothing to hide why the threats? Mr Arnold tells us in Village that he has the answers one looks forward to reading them.
And then there is the issue of Ganley’s Rivada operations. The obvious question that arises is why does the US Dept of Defence dole out contracts to Ganley’s company without the inconvenience of competitive tendering?
The US based Rivada Networks LLC and its various associated companies seem to be Ganley’s main current business operation.
Rivada through its tie up with an Alaskan Native Corporation, Nana Pacific, is in a position to win valuable US government contracts –through the US Defence Department and associated agencies on a ‘sole – bid’ basis.
Companies fortunate to win contracts under these arrangements do not have to subject themselves to the inconvenience of competitive tendering.
This results in Rivada’s case to the company depending in effect on a single client, normally not the happiest corporate position to be in, but as the sole client is the US a less worrying position than might normally be the case – provided the company manages to keep on the ‘right side’ of its ‘patrons’ in the various military & defence agencies.
Rivada’s tie up with Nana goes back to the abortive attempt by a Ganley consortium to win a very valuable contract for the installation of a police telephone network in Iraq during the post war reconstruction, an attempt which led to a major scandal, an FBI investigation - events described in graphic detail by T Christian Miller.
It would be fascinating to have Arnold’s take on this.
It would be equally fascinating to have Arnold’s take on the number of off shore tax havens that appear in Ganley company activities, to have his views of on the $120 million in vouchers handed over by unfortunate Albanian citizens to Ganley’s Anglo Adriatic Investment trust – a matter probed in RTE’s excellent documentary about some of Ganley’s business operations.
Given Arnold’s evident admiration of Ganley & Libertas he might also address the mounting evidence that Libertas has been rather less than successful in bringing together credible candidates for the upcoming EU Parliament elections. Few of the Libertas candidates have any well defined record of public service: some can most charitably be described as full-blown Europhobic.
One further question the Arnold might turn his mind to is why does Ganley always try to shut down opponents with threats of legal action - is he afraid of the truth or is he just a bully?
Ganley likes to talk about openness, democracy & transparency – he is reluctant to practice any of these virtues – as was demonstrated in Libertas reluctance to answer questions as to its funding in last year’s referendum.
While Libertas likes to preach about democracy its founder is not always accept a central feature – the right to hold an opinion that differs from himself. Declan frequently threatens litigation. In this he is travelling the same path as James Goldsmith another rich Europhobe who used the threat of Court action to silence opponents.
In November 2008, Ganley's solicitors issued threats of legal action to Irish politicians, including Joe Costello of the Labour Party. This follows comments by Costello regarding Libertas funding.
According to the Irish Times "Mr Ganley has threatened to sue Mr Costello for substantial damages, following Mr Costello's charge that the Libertas founder has "a subversive foreign agenda".

Ganley also threatened to sue Jim Higgins, the Fine Gael MEP. Higgins responded vigorously & Ganley appears to have backed off.
Ganley has issued several threats to take on journalists including the RTE team that produced the Prime Time special. ( A complaint to BCC on the programme was rejected out of hand )
Action has even been threatened against people posting messages on Politics.ie, a website controlled by a Libertas employee.
Most recently we have had the action against Village Magazine – an action that seems to have faded when faced with a determined and robust defence.
As in so many other areas it would be fascinating to have Mr Arnold’s journalistic take on this.


The June issue of the Village is out now. It also contains two other features on Declan ganley http://villagemagazine.wordpress.com/2009/05/23/party-over-new-party-needed/

One by Mark Murray on Libertas and Ganley's far right pan European connections and one by Michael Smith on Ganley's flawed pedigree

George Galloway speaks Declan Ganley does not

Whereas Declan Ganley's partner Gary Hunter refused to help the Mahon Tribunal from 2005 George Galloway was happy to talk to the US Senate committee on Iraq Oil to food program. Declan Ganl;ey's Togris Staffing that operated in Iraq in 2004 was never investigated. His other activities in post saddam Iraq are dealt with in the book Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq see inside on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Money-Wasted-Billions-Corporate/dp/0316166278