Bush Pentagon Had Contact With African Coup Plotters
A senior member of George W. Bush's Pentagon policy team met with an associate of Simon Mann, a colorful British mercenary leader, not long before Mann led a team of soldiers of fortune in an unsuccessful 2004 attempt to oust the dictator of Equatorial Guinea. Last week, Mann—who had been sentenced to 34 years in a dismal prison in the oil-rich African state after his plot to depose the country's president, Teodoro Obiang, collapsed—was suddenly pardoned, released from prison, and allowed to return to the United Kingdom. Media reports before and after Mann's release quoted claims by Mann that the governments of Spain and South Africa had backed the attempted coup and that it had the tacit support of the Bush-era Pentagon and U.S. oil companies. Documents related to the alleged coup plot have been posted here by the BBC.
This NEWSWEEK story from October 2004 confirms that Greg Wales, a self-described British security consultant and associate of Mann, met only weeks before the failed putsch with Theresa Whelan, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs—in practice the top Africa adviser to Douglas Feith, Pentagon policy chief under Donald Rumsfeld. (Feith was one of the key planners and promoters of the war to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.)
According to our 2004 story, Wales approached Whelan after she gave a speech in November 2003 to the International Peace Operations Association, a lobbying group for mercenaries. A few months later, in mid to late February 2004, Wales wrangled a meeting with Whelan during which, the Pentagon acknowledged, he had discussed that trouble might be afoot in Equatorial Guinea.
Mann's coup plot went belly up in spectacular fashion on March 7, 2004, when authorities in Zimbabwe arrested Mann and a plane full of 70 mercenaries who allegedly were on their way to Equatorial Guinea to depose Obiang. Mann was subsequently extradited to Equatorial Guinea, and some of his alleged associates, including Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Lady Margaret Thatcher, faced investigation for their alleged roles in the abortive plot.
Contacted by NEWSWEEK this week, Wales said that while he was "very pleased" that Mann had now been released by Equatorial Guinea, he was "not really interested" in talking about other aspects of the failed plot. He added that he had "no links with the USA." However, an extended e-mail exchange with the Pentagon official quoted in our 2004 story confirms the 2004 meeting between Whelan and Wales, and includes the quote published in our story.
A fresh e-mail inquiry about the Pentagon's dealings with Wales met with no immediate response.
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Mark Hosenball joined Newsweek as an investigative correspondent in November 1993, covering a range of issues for the National Affairs department. Most recently, he has written and reported numerous stories on terrorism and the Sept. 11 attacks on America. He has also covered campaign finance, the Monica Lewinsky controversy, the death of Princess Diana, Whitewater, the crashes of EgyptAir flight 990 and TWA flight 800, as well as related air safety issues.
Hosenball came to Newsweek from "Dateline NBC," where he worked as an investigative producer. He also worked extensively as a print journalist, writing for a number of British and American publications, including the London Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard, Time Out, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic. In addition, he has done commentaries for American Public Radio.
Hosenball has been honored with a number of prestigious awards. Most recently, along with a team of Newsweek correspondents, he was awarded the Overseas Press Club's most prestigious honor, the 2002 Ed Cunningham Memorial Award for best magazine reporting from abroad for Newsweek's coverage of the war on terror. His reporting and that of his colleagues earned Newsweek the prestigious National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2002 for its coverage of September 11 and its aftermath. And a story he co-authored was highlighted in a citation Newsweek received by the White House Correspondents' Association when it awarded the magazine the 2002 Edgar A. Poe Award for "excellence on a story of national or regional importance. "Newsweek's September 11 coverage started long before the attacks. An article in the magazine's February 19, 2001 issue warned with chilling accuracy: 'The threat posed by (Osama) bin Laden is growing -- and coming ever closer to home."
Hosenball was a contributor to the CANAL + TV documentary, "L'Argent de la Drogue" (Drug Money), which was awarded the "Sept D'Or," the French equivalent of an Emmy. He also contributed to NBC News' coverage of the BCCI scandal, which earned a 1991 Peabody Award.
He attended the University of Pennsylvania and Trinity College in Dublin. He lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his wife and son.
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