Bloomberg brings master spy to NYPD
By Greg Butterfield
New York
On Jan. 24, with the blessing of billionaire Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly appointed
ex-CIA spy chief David Cohen to the new post of deputy
commissioner of intelligence. Cohen served in the CIA for 35
years and was director of operations from 1995 to 1997,
overseeing a broad expansion of covert operations.
Kelly told the media that Cohen's appointment signaled a
"new emphasis on investigating terrorism, international crime,
drug trafficking and money laundering, as well as sharing
information with the CIA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and other law enforcement agencies around the country and the
world." (New York Times, Jan. 25)
"We've had a good intelligence division for many years,"
Kelly said, "but they are police officers. Now, in the wake of
Sept. 11, I think we need a total professional in that
position."
The NYPD's intelligence division is what used to be called
the "red squad." In recent years the division's scope has
expanded to target immigrants, labor unions and community
organizations, as well as progressive and revolutionary groups
believed to be a threat to capitalist interests.
Cohen said the NYPD could infiltrate "terrorist cells, the
way it sometimes infiltrates drug gangs and the Mafia."
One week earlier, on Jan. 16, Kelly appointed former Marine
Brig. Gen. Frank Libutti as deputy commissioner of
counter-terrorism. Libutti had previously assisted in setting
up the Bush administration's Office of Homeland Defense. In
1992-1993, Libutti played a key role in the Pentagon invasion
of Somalia.
It's hard to imagine the appointment of two high-ranking
federal operatives to a city police department without the
direct involvement of the Pentagon and the Bush White
House.
And what of media mogul Bloomberg? He spent nearly $75
million of his fortune to win the 2001 mayoral election.
(Associated Press, Jan. 23)
Since taking office Jan. 1, the new Republican mayor has
been playing "good cop"-appointing Democrats to his cabinet and
reaching out to African American politicians, labor unions and
other groups that were shut out of City Hall for the eight
years of Rudolph Giuliani's reign.
But Bloomberg's affirmation of Cohen and Libutti speaks
volumes about his real agenda as Wall Street's man in City
Hall.
Who are Cohen and Libutti?
Will New Yorkers be able to breathe easier with Cohen and
Libutti in town? Here's a hint: Better take a deep breath.
Police Commissioner Kelly called Cohen a "total
professional." What is Cohen's area of professional expertise?
Falsification to justify repression against groups.
According to CIA-agent-turned-whistle-blower Ralph McGehee,
"David Cohen is on record by even a CIA internal investigation
of gross manipulation of intelligence to support policy."
("CIA's War On Islam Part II," Nov. 24, 1996)
Cohen's long and checkered career began with Vietnam, says
McGehee. He generated reports overestimating the likelihood of
a U.S. victory to aid those in Washington who wanted to prolong
the war.
Cohen turned up in Europe in the late 1970s and 1980s, where
he participated in Rome's and Washington's war against the
Italian left and the Cold War against the socialist bloc.
"As a senior Intelligence Directorate Officer he directed
the April 1985 assessment claiming KGB involvement in Ali
Agca's 1981 attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul II," McGehee
wrote. "The report was so biased that the CIA itself criticized
it in its July 1985 'Cowey Report.'" ("FBI vs. CIA Abroad,"
Aug. 23, 1996)
And what of Brig. Gen. Libutti? In Somalia he served as a
liaison between the Pentagon and Big Oil companies like Conoco,
which had contracts to divvy up that African country's natural
wealth before a civil war interfered with their plans. These
companies desperately wanted- and still want-to see a
compliant, pro-U.S. puppet regime installed in Mogadishu.
An article in the Jan. 18, 1993, Los Angeles Times reported:
"In its in-house magazine last month, Conoco reprinted excerpts
from a letter of commendation for [Conoco executive] Marchand
written by U.S. Marine Brig. Gen. Frank Libutti, who has been
acting as military aid to U.S. envoy Robert B. Oakley. In the
letter, Libutti praised the oil official for his role in the
initial operation to land Marines on Mogadishu's beaches in
December ..."
U.S. forces reportedly killed some 10,000 Somalis during the
occupation. The troops were driven out by a mass uprising of
women, men and children in the capital.
Killer cops strike again
Libutti and Cohen's arrival here coincides with the NYPD's
mobilization against protests at the World Economic Forum
meeting from Jan. 31-Feb. 4.
Since the WEF's meeting was announced last fall, police
officials have been on a global junket, visiting Davos, Genoa,
Seattle and other cities where cops have provoked clashes with
anti-capitalist, anti-globalization activists. Local television
broadcasts have shown police in body armor "practicing" for a
battle.
Protest organizers, including the International ANSWER
coalition, say they are planning militant, peaceful
demonstrations outside the meeting. They warn that all the hype
about violence can be to set the stage for police violence
against unarmed protesters.
The same day spymaster Cohen was installed at Police Plaza,
a Dominican worker was shot dead by cops in Washington Heights,
a predominately Latino neighborhood. Police claimed that repair
worker Juan Mendez was carrying a sawed-off shotgun and fled
when plainclothes cops approached him. But not one
person-witnesses or police-has said that Mendez threatened
anyone. The cops chased Mendez into a parking garage, and shot
him through the heart.
A week earlier-on the same day Kelly appointed Libutti-cops
shot and killed a Haitian man, Georgy Louisgene, in Brooklyn.
They said they shot the young pharmacy worker because he was
"acting erratically" and refused to drop a carving knife and
stick.
The NYPD's message seems clear: Rudolph Giuliani may not be
mayor, but there will be no let-up in the police war against
communities of color that reached new heights during his
tenure.
The big-business media made much out of Mayor Bloomberg
attending a Martin Luther King Day commemoration sponsored by
the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network-an event that
Giuliani pointedly boycotted. Many people see the new
administration's willingness to meet with community leaders as
a hopeful and necessary change. But it can't be forgotten that
Bloomberg hasn't spoken out against the NYPD war on youths of
color.
Critics charge the mayor is trying to butter up labor unions
in preparation for big budget cuts and layoffs ahead, while
bailing out his Wall Street associates. When workfare workers
rallied at City Hall Jan. 16 demanding the real city jobs
they'd been promised, Bloomberg said he couldn't guarantee
it.
On Jan.18 his administration vowed to fight a court ruling
allowing homeless people to sleep on the steps of a
church-while a new police "quality of life" initiative is
hounding the homeless on city streets and subways.
Bloomberg announced he'd march in the official St. Patrick's
Day Parade, despite its exclusion of lesbians and gays-and
despite his campaign promises to gay groups.
Poverty, unemployment and homelessness are growing day by
day in New York. It will take a united fight-back movement of
workers, poor people and students to push back the new axis of
repression running from City Hall to Police Plaza and win jobs,
housing and social justice for all New Yorkers.
Reprinted from the Feb. 7, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
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