<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<div id="container" class="container font-size5 content-width3">
<div id="reader-header" class="header" style="display: block;"
dir="ltr"> <font size="-2"><a id="reader-domain" class="domain"
href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/07/07/dakota-access-security-firms-top-adviser-led-military-intelligence-efforts-for-1992-la-riots/">https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/07/07/dakota-access-security-firms-top-adviser-led-military-intelligence-efforts-for-1992-la-riots/</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Dakota Access Security Firm’s Top Adviser
Led Military Intelligence Efforts for 1992 LA <font
color="#ff0000">Riots</font> <font color="#ff0000">(sic)</font><br>
</h1>
<p class="post_meta"> <span class="post_author_intro">by</span>
<span class="post_author" itemprop="author"><a
href="https://www.counterpunch.org/author/steve-horn-curtis-waltman/"
rel="nofollow">Steve Horn - Curtis Waltman</a></span> -
July 7, 2017<br>
</p>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="content">
<div id="moz-reader-content" class="line-height4" dir="ltr"
style="display: block;">
<div id="readability-page-1" class="page">
<div class="post_content" itemprop="articleBody">
<p>Retired Major General <a
href="https://littlesis.org/person/130930/James_A_%22Spider%22_Marks">James
“Spider” Marks</a> chairs the <a
href="http://www.tigerswan.com/meet-team/board-advisors/james-spider-marks/">advisory
board</a> for <a
href="https://theintercept.com/series/tigerswan-tactics/">TigerSwan</a>,
a private security firm hired by <a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/19688">Energy
Transfer Partners</a> to help police protests of the <a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/energy-transfer-partners-bakken-oil-pipeline-through-iowa">Dakota
Access pipeline</a> — an approach for which Marks has
shown vocal support.</p>
<p>DeSmog has found that Marks also headed up intelligence
efforts for the task force which brought <a
href="http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/rio.htm">over
10,000</a> U.S. military troops to police the 1992
riots following the acquittal of Los Angeles Police
Department members involved in<a
href="http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2017/04/28/rodney-king-la-riots-25th-anniversary-viral-tape-orig-nccorig.cnn"> beating Rodney
King</a>. In addition, Marks, a long-time <a
href="http://www.cnn.com/profiles/james-spider-marks-profile">military
analyst for CNN</a>, led intelligence-gathering
efforts for the U.S.military’s 2003 “shock and awe”
campaign in Iraq, which was dubbed “Operation
Iraqi Liberation.”</p>
<p>In recent months, Marks has endorsed Dakota Access and
its southern leg, the <a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/conflict-cajun-country-bayou-bridge-pipeline-louisiana-standing-rock">Bayou
Bridge pipeline</a>. He has shown this support by
writing op-ed<a
href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/opinion/2017/02/08/bayou-bridge-pipeline-bringing-safety-and-security-louisiana/97571802/">
pieces</a><a
href="http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2017/05/heres_why_pa_should_be_wary_of.html">
published</a> in <a
href="http://www.omaha.com/opinion/james-spider-marks-pipeline-smear-campaign-must-end/article_f539d3f8-b005-5729-8335-9d5dc7c81864.html">various
newspapers</a> and on the website of a<a
href="http://mwalliancenow.org/news/spider-marks-pipeline-smear-campaign-end/">
pro-Dakota Access coalition</a> run<a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/09/15/dakota-access-pipeline-fake-twitter-accounts-dci-group">
by a PR firm</a> funded by Energy Transfer Partners.</p>
<p>“I spent a good portion of my adult life in Iraq, and I
must tell you that the similarities are stark,” <a
href="http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/20/north-dakota-draws-iraq-comparison-as-pipeline-pro/">Marks
said in November</a> of the anti-Dakota Access
encampment set up by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.</p>
<p>Marks, according to The Washington Times, traveled to
Standing Rock “as an adviser to the Midwest Alliance for
Infrastructure Now” (MAIN), a <a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/09/15/dakota-access-pipeline-fake-twitter-accounts-dci-group">pro-pipeline
front group</a> run by the Republican Party public
relations firm, DCI Group.</p>
<p>“General Marks is still an adviser to the coalition. He
is given a modest stipend for his time and expertise,”
DCI Group’s <a
href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-stevens-3522047">Craig
Stevens</a> 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.</p>
<p>In February, <a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/02/15/what-outsider-hidden-conflicts-interest-can-learn-local-about-bayou-bridge-pipeline">Marks
traveled to Louisiana</a> to <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvNFhUm3y1s">speak</a>
in favor of the Bayou Bridge pipeline <a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/02/14/clash-over-bayou-bridge-pipeline-ratchets-after-louisiana-pipeline-explosion">at
a Louisiana Department of Natural Resources hearing</a>.</p>
<p>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 <a
href="https://theintercept.com/2017/06/28/tigerswan-faces-lawsuit-over-unlicensed-security-operations-in-north-dakota/">filing
a legal complaint</a> about the matter. Energy
Transfer Partners says TigerSwan is <a
href="http://www.westfargopioneer.com/news/4293380-security-firm-no-longer-working-dakota-access-developer-nd">no
longer working</a> on its behalf in North Dakota.</p>
<p><strong>Pentagon Pundits</strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>As a military pundit for CNN, both <a
href="https://littlesis.org/lists/458-military-analysts-in-barstow-pulitzer-piece/members">The
New York Times</a> and the watchdog group <a
href="http://public-accountability.org/2013/10/conflicts-of-interest-in-the-syria-debate/">Public
Accountability Initiative</a> (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
— “<a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/us/20generals.html">Behind
TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand</a>” — 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.</p>
<p>The catch: The public was never informed that these<a
href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pentagon_military_analyst_program">
pro-war pundits</a> were on the Pentagon’s payroll
and often on the payroll of military weapons companies
as well.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>The thousands of documents obtained for The New York
Times investigation were <a
href="http://www.prwatch.org/pentagonpundits">organized
and published online</a> 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.</p>
<p>In an <a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/CNN%20Booking%20Marks.pdf">email</a> 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.”</p>
<p>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 <a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Marks%20CNN%20Travel.pdf">have
Marks ask CNN</a> to foot his bill for travel
expenses. Along with other retired military
men-turned-analysts, Marks was part of a <a
href="https://www.scribd.com/document/4594162/TaraJonesE-mails200-699-part1#from_embed">roundtable</a>
meeting with General David Petraeus in 2007, and
participated in <a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Pentagon%20Pundits%20Conference%20Call.pdf">conference
call </a>discussions with Defense Department
officials. Marks had his media appearances <a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Pundits%20Research%20and%20Analysis.pdf">reviewed</a>
by the Office of the Secretary of Defense.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>In the documents obtained by The New York Times, a
picture emerges of Marks’ advocacy for military
intervention in Syria long before 2013. When <a
href="http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0702/27/acd.02.html">asked
by CNN in February 2007</a> 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.”</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>Marks also serves as a source for the private security
firm Stratfor (Strategic Forecasting Inc.), <a
href="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">according
to a roster</a> leaked to and published by
Wikileaks. Stratfor’s past client list has <a
href="http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/american_petroleum_institute_kept_tabs_on_enviros/%27">included
the American Petroleum Institute</a>.</p>
<p><strong>1992 LA Riots</strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“What we saw last night and the night before in Los
Angeles is not about civil rights,” then-President Bush
said in a <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD_3NOIEk-0">May
1992 address</a> aired <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD_3NOIEk-0">on
national television</a>. “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.”</p>
<p>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 <a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/10/27/emergency-assistance-law-dakota-access-pipeline-out-state-cops">crackdown
by out-of-state cops</a> on protests at Standing Rock,
often done with <a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/04/27/dakota-access-sheriffs-lobbying-military-gear">military
gear lobbied for</a> by the National Sheriffs’
Association, likewise received similiarly sharp scrutiny
for <a
href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/06/28/law-enforcement-still-used-as-a-colonial-tool-in-indian-country?ref=hp-4-121#.a9Y2vUjGt">its
militarized nature</a>. Tigerswan <a
href="https://www.sheriffs.org/partners/corporate-partners">provides
funding</a> to the National Sheriffs’ Association,
which has, in turn, <a
href="http://bayoubridge.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Bayou-Bridge-fact-shee-2.2.17.pdf">endorsed</a>
the Bayou Bridge pipeline, which will bring Dakota
Access oil to the Gulf of Mexico.</p>
<p>In 1996 Col. <a
href="https://ssi.armywarcollege.edu/pubs/people.cfm?authorID=503">William
Mendel</a>, then a senior analyst with the Foreign
Military Studies Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, <a
href="http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/rio.htm#10a">wrote that
Los Angeles in 1992</a> should be seen from a U.S.
military perspective as an example of “urban warfare.”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
</div>
<p class="author_description"> <em><strong>Steve Horn</strong>
and <strong>Curtis Waltman</strong> write for <a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/">DeSmogBlog</a>,
where this piece first appeared.</em> </p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>