Rights concerns in Colombia over leaked recording
Press TV – February 18, 2014
Human rights concerns have risen again in Colombia after an online recording of a military chief revealed his solidarity with a colonel jailed for alleged extrajudicial killings.
In the recording, published by leading news magazine Semana on Sunday, Colombia armed forces chief General Leonardo Barrero is heard telling colonel Robinson Gonzalez del Rio that prosecutors’ investigations into the extrajudicial killings is a “bunch of crap.”
The army chief also suggests that Gonzalez, who is facing criminal charges over the killing of two men in 2007, mount a counterattack to discredit prosecutors.
According to local reports, deputy joint chief General Javier Rey, resigned on Monday following the revelation by Semana’s weekend report. Barrero is also reported to have expressed regret over his remarks in the audio recording.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said the serious allegations made in the Semana report need to be investigated. The government, however, said it was taking no immediate action against Barrero as he was not directly accused of corruption.
An earlier scandal on extrajudicial killings by Colombia military dubbed the “false positives scandal” broke in 2008.
According to media reports, hundreds of innocent civilians were slain and presented as guerrillas killed in battle by the country’s army in an effort to inflate body counts and receive promotions or other benefits.
Earlier this month, Semana reported that a military spy ring had eavesdropped for 15 months on emails and text messages of government negotiators involved in peace talks with leftist rebels.
Israeli-trained Colombian soldiers to protect UAE
Press TV – July 8, 2012
The United Arab Emirates has reportedly recruited soldiers form the Colombian army’s special forces units to protect the sheikdom in case of heightened tension in the Persian Gulf or domestic unrest.
According to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, the oil-rich Arab country offers Colombian soldiers between USD 2,800 and USD 18,000 per year while officers are said to earn USD 550 a month in Colombia.
According to reports, more than 800 Colombian troops and officers have already been brought to the UAE and a total of 3,000 others are planned to be hired.
It is said that the UAE is employing the forces due to concerns in the Arab country regarding a conflict with neighboring Iran which may begin by an attack on Iran’s nuclear energy facilities or as a result of the growing tension over the UAE’s ownership claims on the three Iranian Persian Gulf islands.
On the other hand, the UAE rulers are worried about the public protests and the impact of the Arab Spring in their own territory. Colombian soldiers can then display their power and capability on the streets.
The choice of these soldiers is not surprising at all. Colombian troops have gained international recognition for fighting against underground groups and drug gangs.
According to some reports, the troops have acquired this capability and skill through training they have received from Israeli, US and British experts.
This is why Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said in 2009 that Colombia is the “Israel of Latin America” as he was pointing to extensive military ties among Colombia, the US and Israel.
In recent years, the Colombian media have spread numerous reports about Israel’s interference in training the country’s forces in fighting the militia.
Colombia’s FARC rebel group said in 2007 that Israeli commando officers are training the country’s army in the Colombian jungles.
The Colombian Defense Minister Jose Manuel Santos announced that a group of former Israeli intelligence officers advised the Colombian military’s Chief of Staff.
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- U.S.’s Post-Afghanistan Counterinsurgency War: Colombia (alethonews.wordpress.com)
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A New Era Of Mass Armies Approaches
BY IAN WELSH | SEPTEMBER 29, 2023
The army, or a part of it at the war college, has perked up and noticed some of the lessons of the Ukraine war, and that it’s a war that the US military could not fight. They’ve missed a lot of things, or felt they couldn’t/shouldn’t write about them, but they’ve figured some stuff out and written about them in a new report, “A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force” by Lieutenant Colonel Katie Crombe, and Professor John A. Nagle.
The entire thing is worth reading, but I’m going to pull out three of the main points. The first is that a volunteer US military can’t fight a real war.
The Russia-Ukraine War is exposing significant vulnerabilities in the Army’s strategic personnel depth and ability to withstand and replace casualties.11 Army theater medical planners may anticipate a sustained rate of roughly 3,600 casualties per day, ranging from those killed in action to those wounded in action or suffering disease or other non-battle injuries. With a 25 percent predicted replacement rate, the personnel system will require 800 new personnel each day. For context, the United States sustained about 50,000 casualties in two decades of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. In large-scale combat operations, the United States could experience that same number of casualties in two weeks. (emphasis mine)
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