[News] Dakota Access Security Firm’s Top Adviser Led Military Intelligence Efforts for 1992 LA Rebellion

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/07/07/dakota-access-security-firms-top-adviser-led-military-intelligence-efforts-for-1992-la-riots/ 



  Dakota Access Security Firm’s Top Adviser Led Military Intelligence
  Efforts for 1992 LA Riots (sic)

by Steve Horn - Curtis Waltman 
<https://www.counterpunch.org/author/steve-horn-curtis-waltman/> - July 
7, 2017

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Retired Major General James “Spider” Marks 
<https://littlesis.org/person/130930/James_A_%22Spider%22_Marks> chairs 
the advisory board 
<http://www.tigerswan.com/meet-team/board-advisors/james-spider-marks/> 
for TigerSwan <https://theintercept.com/series/tigerswan-tactics/>, a 
private security firm hired by Energy Transfer Partners 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/19688> to help police 
protests of the Dakota Access pipeline 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/energy-transfer-partners-bakken-oil-pipeline-through-iowa> — 
an approach for which Marks has shown vocal support.

DeSmog has found that Marks also headed up intelligence efforts for the 
task force which brought over 10,000 
<http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/rio.htm> U.S. military 
troops to police the 1992 riots following the acquittal of Los Angeles 
Police Department members involved in beating Rodney King 
<http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2017/04/28/rodney-king-la-riots-25th-anniversary-viral-tape-orig-nccorig.cnn>. In 
addition, Marks, a long-time military analyst for CNN 
<http://www.cnn.com/profiles/james-spider-marks-profile>, led intelligence-gathering 
efforts for the U.S.military’s 2003 “shock and awe” campaign in Iraq, 
which was dubbed “Operation Iraqi Liberation.”

In recent months, Marks has endorsed Dakota Access and its southern leg, 
the Bayou Bridge pipeline 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/conflict-cajun-country-bayou-bridge-pipeline-louisiana-standing-rock>. 
He has shown this support by writing op-edpieces 
<http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/opinion/2017/02/08/bayou-bridge-pipeline-bringing-safety-and-security-louisiana/97571802/>published 
<http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2017/05/heres_why_pa_should_be_wary_of.html> 
in various newspapers 
<http://www.omaha.com/opinion/james-spider-marks-pipeline-smear-campaign-must-end/article_f539d3f8-b005-5729-8335-9d5dc7c81864.html> 
and on the website of apro-Dakota Access coalition 
<http://mwalliancenow.org/news/spider-marks-pipeline-smear-campaign-end/> 
runby a PR firm 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/09/15/dakota-access-pipeline-fake-twitter-accounts-dci-group> 
funded by Energy Transfer Partners.

“I spent a good portion of my adult life in Iraq, and I must tell you 
that the similarities are stark,” Marks said in November 
<http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/20/north-dakota-draws-iraq-comparison-as-pipeline-pro/> 
of the anti-Dakota Access encampment set up by the Standing Rock 
Sioux Tribe.

Marks, according to The Washington Times, traveled to Standing Rock “as 
an adviser to the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now” (MAIN), a 
pro-pipeline front group 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/09/15/dakota-access-pipeline-fake-twitter-accounts-dci-group> 
run by the Republican Party public relations firm, DCI Group.

“General Marks is still an adviser to the coalition. He is given a 
modest stipend for his time and expertise,” DCI Group’s Craig Stevens 
<https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-stevens-3522047> told DeSmog of 
Marks’ relationship with MAIN. “TigerSwan is not a member of the 
Coalition nor does the Coalition receive any funding from them.” 
Stevens manages public relations efforts for MAIN and is the crisis 
management lead for DCI.

In February, Marks traveled to Louisiana 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/02/15/what-outsider-hidden-conflicts-interest-can-learn-local-about-bayou-bridge-pipeline> to 
speak <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvNFhUm3y1s> in favor of the 
Bayou Bridge pipeline at a Louisiana Department of Natural Resources 
hearing 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/02/14/clash-over-bayou-bridge-pipeline-ratchets-after-louisiana-pipeline-explosion>.

Neither Marks nor TigerSwan responded to requests for comment for this 
story. TigerSwan has recently come under fire by the North 
Dakota Private Investigative and Security Board for operating in the 
state without a permit, with the Board filing a legal complaint 
<https://theintercept.com/2017/06/28/tigerswan-faces-lawsuit-over-unlicensed-security-operations-in-north-dakota/> 
about the matter. Energy Transfer Partners says TigerSwan is no longer 
working 
<http://www.westfargopioneer.com/news/4293380-security-firm-no-longer-working-dakota-access-developer-nd> 
on its behalf in North Dakota.

*Pentagon Pundits*

Among his numerous public appearances, writings, and television pit 
stops, Marks has failed to disclose his advisory board position for 
TigerSwan. Failure to disclose affiliations, though, is not unusual 
for Marks.

As a military pundit for CNN, both The New York Times 
<https://littlesis.org/lists/458-military-analysts-in-barstow-pulitzer-piece/members> 
and the watchdog group Public Accountability Initiative 
<http://public-accountability.org/2013/10/conflicts-of-interest-in-the-syria-debate/> (PAI) 
have documented that Marks has often appeared on cable TV while not 
disclosing his ties to military weapons companies. The 2008 New York 
Times Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation — “Behind TV Analysts, 
Pentagon’s Hidden Hand 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/us/20generals.html>” — covered Marks 
and explained that he and over 75 others were paid by the George W. Bush 
administration to give seemingly independent, pro-Iraq War analyses on 
cable TV outlets beginning in early 2002.

The catch: The public was never informed that thesepro-war pundits 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pentagon_military_analyst_program> 
were on the Pentagon’s payroll and often on the payroll of military 
weapons companies as well.

“To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, 
presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as 
‘military analysts’ whose long service has equipped them to give 
authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of 
the post-Sept. 11 world,” wrote The Times. “Hidden behind that 
appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus 
that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news 
coverage of the administration’s wartime performance.”

The thousands of documents obtained for The New York Times investigation 
were organized and published online 
<http://www.prwatch.org/pentagonpundits> in a searchable format by the 
Center for Media and Democracy. Those memoranda, emails, and other 
materials offer an insightful window into the cozy relationships among 
the upper echelons of the U.S. media, the U.S. military, and the 
U.S.government. General Marks fits neatly in the intersection of these 
three entities.

In an email 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/CNN%20Booking%20Marks.pdf> to Major 
General Donald Shepperd, Joy DiBenedetto, then Vice President of Network 
Booking and Research at CNN Worldwide, thanked Shepperd for putting her 
in contact with General Marks. She wrote, “you can always contact me for 
any CNN reason, and if I’m not the right person, I can certainly get you 
to the right person.”

In 2006 Marks traveled on a pro-Iraq War trip during his capacity as a 
Pentagon pundit. That trip was convened by the U.S.Department of 
Defense, and the Pentagon tried to have Marks ask CNN 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Marks%20CNN%20Travel.pdf> 
to foot his bill for travel expenses. Along with other retired military 
men-turned-analysts, Marks was part of a roundtable 
<https://www.scribd.com/document/4594162/TaraJonesE-mails200-699-part1#from_embed> 
meeting with General David Petraeus in 2007, and participated in 
conference call 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Pentagon%20Pundits%20Conference%20Call.pdf>discussions 
with Defense Department officials. Marks had his media appearances 
reviewed 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Pundits%20Research%20and%20Analysis.pdf> 
by the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

In PAI’s 2013 report, “Conflicts of interest in the Syria debate,” the 
watchdog group named 22 people serving as commentators on the issue of 
whether or not the U.S. should attack Syria for using chemical weapons 
on its own citizens. That report, paralleling The New York Times’ 
findings on the Iraq War, found numerous cases of undocumented conflicts 
of interest. The group of men, which once again included Marks, landed 
mainstream media pundit gigs on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX and wrote op-eds for 
Bloomberg and The Washington Post.

PAI noted in its report that out of 111 total appearances by the pundits 
in October 2013 alone, only 13 had mentioned their relationships to the 
defense industry. Marks appears on the list identified as the former 
Commander of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center. The list ties him into 
the defense sector by noting his position at Willowdale Services, a 
boutique consulting firm for the energy and national security industries.

In the documents obtained by The New York Times, a picture emerges of 
Marks’ advocacy for military intervention in Syria long before 2013. 
When asked by CNN in February 2007 
<http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0702/27/acd.02.html> to speak about 
the failed bombing attempt on Vice President Cheney, he told the network 
to “bear in mind you have Syria, which is to the west of Iraq, which is 
a safe haven for the introduction of new ideas and an opportunity for 
insurgents to go across that border, and refit, regroup, and reintroduce 
themselves into the fight.”

And just hours later on another CNN show, Marks made similar remarks 
about Pakistan, telling CNN’s Brian Todd that “what is significant is 
the proximity of Bagram Air Base to Pakistan, which is as the crow flies 
only 70 miles, as you can see right here from Bagram to Pakistan. The 
region right here is Waziristan. This is the root of the challenge.”

Marks also serves as a source for the private security firm Stratfor 
(Strategic Forecasting Inc.), according to a roster 
<https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:top8EmxY3WMJ:https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/attach/11/11851_INSIGHT%2520LIST%2520-%2520Reva.xls+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us> 
leaked to and published by Wikileaks. Stratfor’s past client list has 
included the American Petroleum Institute 
<http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/american_petroleum_institute_kept_tabs_on_enviros/%27>.

*1992 LA Riots*

Marks also headed up the Joint Task Force Los Angeles, assigned with 
cracking down on the violent 1992 riots which erupted in the aftermath 
of the Rodney King verdict. The task force operated under the authority 
of an executive order issued by then-President George H.W. Bush.

“What we saw last night and the night before in Los Angeles is not about 
civil rights,” then-President Bush said in a May 1992 address 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD_3NOIEk-0> aired on national 
television <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD_3NOIEk-0>. “It’s not 
about the great cause of equality that all Americans must uphold. It’s 
not a message of protest. It’s been the brutality of a mob, pure and 
simple. And let me assure you: I will use whatever force is necessary to 
restore order. What is going on in LA must and will stop.”

Law enforcement’s crackdown of the Los Angeles riots in 1992 came 
under criticism for its heavy-handed and militarized approach. Fast 
forward to 2016, when the crackdown by out-of-state cops 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/10/27/emergency-assistance-law-dakota-access-pipeline-out-state-cops> on 
protests at Standing Rock, often done with military gear lobbied for 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/04/27/dakota-access-sheriffs-lobbying-military-gear> 
by the National Sheriffs’ Association, likewise received similiarly 
sharp scrutiny for its militarized nature 
<https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/06/28/law-enforcement-still-used-as-a-colonial-tool-in-indian-country?ref=hp-4-121#.a9Y2vUjGt>. 
Tigerswan provides funding 
<https://www.sheriffs.org/partners/corporate-partners> to the National 
Sheriffs’ Association, which has, in turn, endorsed 
<http://bayoubridge.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Bayou-Bridge-fact-shee-2.2.17.pdf> 
the Bayou Bridge pipeline, which will bring Dakota Access oil to the 
Gulf of Mexico.

In 1996 Col. William Mendel 
<https://ssi.armywarcollege.edu/pubs/people.cfm?authorID=503>, then a 
senior analyst with the Foreign Military Studies Office at Fort 
Leavenworth, Kansas, wrote that Los Angeles in 1992 
<http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/rio.htm#10a> should be seen 
from a U.S. military perspective as an example of “urban warfare.”

“Many misunderstood the LA Riot of 1992 as predominantly a race riot. As 
witnessed by the California National Guard Field Commander, the riots 
were seen as a case study in urban warfare,” wrote Mendel. “The Guard’s 
counter-riot operations tell of the increasingly dangerous nature of 
military and police operations in the urban environment.”

In the end, Mendel concluded that law enforcement and U.S. military 
effots during the Los Angeles riots created what he estimated was more 
harm than good.

“Little good came out of the events of the LA riots of 1992. Nearly 
everyone looked bad, except for the individual soldiers, firemen and 
policemen who performed selflessly throughout the difficult week of 
rioting,” Mendel posited. “The social and economic scars remain in 
central Los Angeles where Bloods and Crips gangs continue drug trafficking.”

/*Steve Horn* and *Curtis Waltman* write for DeSmogBlog 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/>, where this piece first appeared./

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
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