BBC News: Thatcher charged

[emad]

Snip
Mark Thatcher, the son of the former UK prime minister, has arrived in court following his arrest over an alleged coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. He was arrested at his home in Cape Town and taken to a magistrates court.

Sir Mark, who has previously denied any involvement, has been charged in connection with the attempted coup.

A spokesman for South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority said he had been arrested on suspicion of providing funding and logistical assistance.

Speaking outside the court, Mr Thatcher's lawyer, Peter Hodes, said he had been arrested on suspicion of providing financing for a helicopter linked to the coup plot.
More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3596948.stm

Edit: see also:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x775274
and
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x775274

[hatrack]

1. Gosh, that'll look good on your resume, Sir Mark!!!

Whoops! :evilgrin:

[emad]

3. Just wanna see that next headline: BUSH CHARGED!

and Cheney, Rummy, Colon Bowell, etc and I'll be happy again....

[Endangered Specie]

2. Thats the perfect guy to run against Obama in Illinois!

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. In many ways, Mark Thatcher is the Dubya of Britain

Privileged upbringing, never much good at anything, wasted taxpayers' money in their twenties (bunked off National Guard duty v. getting lost in the desert), made too much money through dubious deals with Arabs set up due to their powerful parents ...

Thank god no-one thought Mark Thatcher would make a good politician.

[Endangered Specie]

4. I never trusted anything that came out of Margarat Thatchers lips...

and I mean BOTH sets ;)

[donsu]

21. LOL

nt

[seemslikeadream]

6. 'Thatcher was in his pyjamas when we arrived'

"Certain elements also indicate that Mark Thatcher and a former Thatcher cabinet minister, who I cannot name, handled the financial planning of the coup," he said.


http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=qw1093420621892B265

[emad]

8. Jeffrey Archer 3-1; John Major 5-2; Jonathan Aitken 7-2;

Can't remember if Archer actually held cabinet position, but he WAS a Tory party chairman and served most of his 18 month prison sentence for perverting the course of justice/perjury at HMP Belmarsh inter alia...

[joeybee12]

7. Well, Evil Spawns Evil, so what do you expect? I only hope this small

country still has the death penalty!

[bobthedrummer]

9. The rest of this story is illuminating too

A murderous dictator, his rapper son and a $700m-a-year oil boom
(from the Independent's archives)
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=501665

[seemslikeadream]

10. There's just sooo much

isn't there bobthedrummer, look at this!

THE FLIGHT OF N4610

8/14/04--the botched march 7th coup attempt in equatorial guinea brings attention to the role played by big oil not just for the riggs bank probe but who bankrolled the mercenaries--

more
http://www.geocities.com/desertrecon/holmes.html

[emad]

12. More from he Times:

"After news of Sir Mark's arrest today, Mr du Toit was recalled to give evidence and confirmed that he met Sir Mark in July 2003 to discuss the sale of some military helicopters. He said that he was introduced to him by Mr Mann.

But Mr du Toit denied that Sir Mark had been involved in any plot against Equatorial Guinea and said he had just wanted to buy two Mi-8 helicopters for a mining operation in Sudan. "This was a normal business deal," he said." ***************
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1232027_2,00.html

*************Sudan: mining operation or doshing up the Jangaweed maybe ????

Edit:
South African media reports say Mr Mann tried to smuggle letters out of his Harare cell appealing for help from a man called "Scratcher" - believed to be Mr Mann's nickname for Sir Mark.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1232027_3,00.html

[bobthedrummer]

14. Follow the mercenaries $$$

Here are a couple of links to The Center for Public Integrity that have been valuable for financial accounting.

Post-War Contractors Ranked by Total Contract Value in Iraq and Afghanistan
http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/resources.aspx?act=total

Campaign Contributions of Post-War Contractors
http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/resources.aspx?act=contrib

Then extend the $$$ focus further.

9-11 Profiteering: A Framework for Building the "Cui Bono?"
Unanswered Questions
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/FIT403A.html

Consider the historical record of the Bush dynasty, profiting and trading with the enemies of the United States of America-using the Holocaust to increase Bush family wealth.
:nuke:

[Union Thug]

11. Imperialist pigs give birth to imperialist pigs, I suppose.

Let's face it, Thatcher was/is a jack booted, right wing thug. It should come as no surprise that her son would carry on her traditions.

Piss on him and piss on his mother as well...

[seemslikeadream]

13. Don't hold back WillW

tell us how you really feel

:hi:

[bobthedrummer]

15. But these same mercenaries guarded UK officials in Iraq!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1232624,00.html

[hatrack]

16. He thought he'd be the next Cecil Rhodes . . .

Instead, he ended up somewhere between Geedubya and Basil Fawlty.

[seemslikeadream]

17. I love Basil!

[AP]

18. I've been trying to keep track of Blair gov's reaction to these arrests.

Everyone here knows I like the current labour government, so I'm probably willing to read a little too much into their actions.

However, at the time of the first arrests, I vaguely remember reading an official quoted who basically said the gov't has no interest in bargaining on these people's behalf.

I'd also be surprised if Sir Mark could have been arrested without some level of assistance (or stepping aside) by the government.

Anybody have an impression of the government's response?

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. I don't think there'd have been much action either way

he's lived in South Africa for several years, and the USA before that. You'd be hard pushed to find anyone who isn't a Thatcher fanatic to have a good word to say about him. Labour would not have any desire to protect him from prosecution - indeed, they just said on the radio that the Labour party called in 1994 for his involvement in Saudi Arabian contracts to be investigated. I think the arrest could have gone ahead without any British involvement; and I'd be very surprised if anyone in Britain thought it worth trying to interfere on his behalf.

The official line is he's just another British citizen, for whom they would make sure he had legal representation (but he's bound to have had that already): http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=qw1093431061523B265

(British High Commission spokesperson) Sheppard said Thatcher would not be afforded any special treatment by the United Kingdom.

"We have been advised of his arrest and will offer normal consular assistance that we would offer to any British citizen arrested abroad," Sheppard said. This was routine in such cases.

Privately, I expect Labour is quietly pleased (as will be the Lib Dems, UKIP, and any other opponent of the Tories) - a bit more sleaze associated with the name of Thatcher isn't going to hurt their election prospects.

[notadmblnd]

19. Good, Thatcher has been involved in the Il-legal arms trade since the 80's

Former illegal arms dealer and Israeli operative Ari-Ben Menashe says in his book "Profits of War" pg 279

"The cutoff by Israel against South Africa and Chile had finally come, after three years of asking, the pleading with the two countries to stop their deadly trade, carried out on behalf of the CIA. In the United States, the powerful American Israeli Public Affairs Committee had been lobbing in congress. As for Britain, Prime Minister Thatcher had been sent a letter by Prime Minister Shamir-- a very friendly letter not mentioning her son, but pointing out to her that British nationals were involved in exporting high-tech material to the Iraqi government with the authorization of the US Government. In fact, Israeli intelligence knew that Mark Thatcher, who was already an established arms dealer in Chile, had begun to do business with South Africa in 1983. And he was the one who had introduced Gerald Bull to the South Africans."



Dr. Gerald Bull was like a figure in a spy novel, designing arms for some of the world's harshest regimes. With no shortage of possible enemies, he died at the hands of an unknown assassin. But the Canadian-born artillery expert was also a brilliant scientist with a dream: to launch a satellite with a giant gun.
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-74-626/people/gerald_bull/

[Moderator]

22. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=775009