Hiding the plane truth: Sex? Lies? Videotape?

Gordon Robinson, Contributor

So, what's the big deal about this United States spy plane that helped with the May 2010 military operation in Tivoli Gardens?

Why are the media making such a fuss? Isn't Jamaica entitled to ask a friendly neighbour for help to ferret out a cross-dressing drug don? If the friendly neighbour agrees and helps, so what?

Where to start to answer these questions? First and foremost, when persons lie, it's a fairly good bet that the truth isn't good news. When a lie is maintained over a considerable period of time in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary, it becomes long odds-on that the truth will set no one free. When one's lies are easily contradicted by videotape, yet one keeps on lying, usually there's sex involved:

"(Yo', man) Yo'

(Open up, man) What do you want, man?

(My girl just caught me) You let her catch you?

(I don't know how I let this happen) With who?

(The girl next door, you know) Man

(I don't know what to do) Say it wasn't you

(All right)

Honey came in and she caught me red- handed

Creeping with the girl next door

Picture this, we were both butt naked,

banging on the bathroom floor

How could I forget that I had

Given her an extra key

All this time she was standing there

She never took her eyes off me."

Despite all Jamaica seeing this plane on live video shot by TVJ at the time of the incursion; despite it being obvious that this was not any type of plane owned by any local security forces; despite questions being asked in May 2010, the prime minister and minister of defence stoutly denied any involvement or assistance by the US. He wasn't alone.

On May 25, a motley crew assembled at a press conference all shouted, "It wasn't me!"

Daryl Vaz, then propaganda minister:

"From a government standpoint, I can indicate clearly that there was no outside assistance in this operation. That is for sure."

Colonel Rocky Meade, now brigadier (trained to be more cautious with his mouth than Daryl): "I have no information that there were any drones here."

In the face of a sneak preview of an article to be published in The New Yorker, written by Mattathias Schwartz, based on official US Department of State documentation, in which he asserts that both the State Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have officially acknowledged that the aircraft assisted the Jamaican Government during the Tivoli operation, Dwight 'I Can't Recall' Nelson seemed momentarily to recover his memory. On December 7, with an ill-concealed smirk on his face, he said:

"The United States government did not at any time participate in the operations in Tivoli Gardens ... . In fact, the (former) prime minister made a statement in Parliament to that effect and I continue to maintain the Government's position that the United States did not participate in the operations in Tivoli Gardens."

insulting the nation

Not satisfied that he had sufficiently misled the Jamaican people (whose intelligence he clearly holds in utter contempt), he went on:

"I have checked the records in the Ministry of National Security and there was no request for a Lockheed P-3 Orion US surveillance aircraft to fly over Jamaica, within Jamaican airspace. I don't know if this aircraft, perhaps, was flying above Jamaican airspace, but certainly, there was no request from the Government of Jamaica through the Ministry of National Security, nor (Ministry) of Foreign Affairs (and Foreign Trade), nor the Jamaica Defence Force for such an aircraft to fly over Jamaica, so my record shows that we granted no permission for such an aircraft."

But, if the plane was there without permission, surely the Jamaican Government would have raised concerns with the US government? In some countries, the plane would have been shot down. Dwight (new nickname 'Al'; short for Alzheimer's) plodded on relentlessly:

"The JDF record shows that there was no involvement or assistance from any such aircraft providing imagery or any other form of assistance to the law-enforcement agencies during the Tivoli Gardens operations."

Apparently, Al was taking his cue from Orville 'Shaggy' Burrell:

"Mek she know seh that she really nah've nuh right fi vex

Ah neva yu' she see a mek the gigolo flex

Ah smaddy else wah fava yu' inna di com plex

Seein' is believin', so yu' better change your specks

Yu' know she a go bring a whole heap o' things up from di past

Ah di likkle evidence yu' better know fi' mask

Quick pon di' ansa; know how fi talk

But if she back a gun, yu' betta run fast

But she caught me on the counter (It wasn't me)

Saw me bangin' on the sofa (It wasn't me)

I even had her in the shower (It wasn't me)

She even caught me on camera (It wasn't me)."

memory lapse

One day after his cantankerous denials, it turned out that Al's memory wasn't so good after all. Young Andrew took over, and, in a performance of linguistic gymnastics of Comaneciesque proportions, he tried to set the record straight while saving as much of his colleague's face as was humanly possible. So, what really happened? According to Young Andrew:

"The United States government initially made an offer to provide surveillance and technical equipment; we accepted and followed the normal protocol of exchanging diplomatic notes to provide the government-to-government cover for such assistance. [How come Al's records check failed to divulge this exchange of notes?] The technical term used is general imagery assistance and communications. Having established the protocol through a diplomatic note, that would have been followed by specifics between the JDF [Jamaica Defence Force] and the relevant agency in the United States."

Twenty-four hours earlier, Dwight Turned White, in an obvious attempt to obfuscate using semantics, said:

"There was no request from the Government of Jamaica through the Ministry of National Security, nor (Ministry) of Foreign Affairs (and Foreign Trade), nor the Jamaica Defence Force for such an aircraft to fly over Jamaica ... ."

He went on to further mislead the nation on a matter of national security by speaking in a way that could only deliver the impression that no request came from the US. Why else would he go to the trouble of setting out the procedure required for such a request to be made?

"That foreign government or agency has to request permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which will relay the request to the Ministry of National Security and, provided that the law-enforcement agencies have no objections, then the Ministry of National Security will grant permission for that aircraft to fly over Jamaica."

So, it was not a "request" but, according to Young Andrew, it was an "offer". Based on yet another semantic maze (remember "the Government has not engaged the services of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips"), Jamaica has been lied to, misled, insulted and treated with contempt, odium and scorn. The thinly disguised sneer on Dwight Nelson's face as he created the semantic maze spoke volumes.

But, why? Why go to such lengths to hide the obvious? If it's not sex, what is it? I'll tell you what. One thing the US DEA and State Department are when they operate in foreign countries is thorough. I guarantee you that, somewhere in the bowels of those American agencies, there's a fulsome, high-definition, detailed video of the entire operation. Lest we forget, while we slurp up Christmas sorrel and gulp down Christmas turkey, more than 70 Jamaicans were slaughtered in that "operation". Less than 10 guns were found in Tivoli Gardens.
The contents of that video would be a suicide bomb for this Government. Even if Jamaican police were to be inclined to investigate, who would be the independent eyewitnesses? You can rest assured that persons in our Government have seen that video. And the question still remains as to whether there were any US boots on the ground. Denials by both the Jamaican and the US government convince nobody. So there is definitely video evidence. There may also be eyewitness accounts available.

This video has to be kept under wraps or else the time bomb will go off and we will all know exactly what happened in Tivoli in May. Schwartz maintains that documentation from his Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Homeland Security confirmed "all scenes were continuously recorded". Among the many stories recounted by Schwartz was that the Jamaican soldiers went inside Tivoli houses, killing people - most of whom, locals insist, were unconnected to Coke. Some of the killings occurred in the open air.

An American citizen, 25-year-old Andre Smith, was among the dead. According to Smith's great-aunt, Smith was ordered up her stairs by soldiers, although he was hiding to avoid the battle; his body was carried out in a sheet, suggesting an execution.

So, our media can stop the incestuous, congratulatory pats on the back for ferreting out the 'truth' about the US spy plane. The story is not that the plane was here. We know that already. The media must not stop until that "continuous" video is released and used as evidence to investigate and prosecute those who may have butchered their fellow Jamaicans using the arrest warrant for Coke as a cover.

Seventy-three died. We must NEVER forget.

Peace and love.

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.