Countries:
Nigeria, U.S.A.
Topics:
War & Conflict, International Relations

Black Looks blogs about the connection between US Marines and the Niger Delta, “It took a 5 minute scan of their website to figure out that they were an American military and intelligence outfit undertaking contracts for the US government - check out the “leadership” - all ex US military of some sort.”

3 comments

  • Black River Eagle

    Actually, this post may setup the GVO project for a libel lawsuit and places the GVO project at risk for the entire community (contributors and readers).Did you, as the editor who chose to publish this little tidbit of “news”, bother to check the article at Black Looks for accuracy? No, you didn’t.

    There is no evidence that I could find in the reference to the company Delex Systems Inc. that states that its executives or its employees are U.S. Marines or ex-Marines. Here is the link to their website so that you can check it yourself:
    http://www.delex.com/

    If you are smart you will take this post at Global Voices Online down immediately because at this very moment it appears at the new Reuters Africa news and blogs aggregator, a joint Reuters/GVO service that is read perhaps by 10’s of thousands of people daily.
    http://africa.reuters.com/nbc/NG/

    Jeez!

    # 2007-03-1 at 10:05 am
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  • Rachel Rawlins

    Hi Black River Eagle

    Thanks for your concern about GV.

    I’ve checked both the post above, the linked post at Black Looks and the company URL you provide.

    I think the post is not libelous for the following reasons:

    1. Black Looks does not say executives and employees of Delex Systems Inc are US Marines or ex-Marines. The post says “ex US military of some sort” which indeed appears to be the case as clearly stated in the biographies of the executives as displayed on the website.

    2. The link between the US Marines, Delex Systems Inc and the Niger Delta is through research commissioned by the Marines from Delex about the Delta.

    However if anyone has any further information on this matter please leave a comment or send an e-mail and we will look into it immediately.

    Rachel Rawlins
    co-managing editor

    # 2007-03-1 at 12:37 pm
    Reply to this
  • Black River Eagle

    O.K. Rachel,

    Perhaps I was “over-reacting”…again. Ethan has already contacted me and cleared this up. What was alarming is that the GVO feed to Africa.Reuters.com had a headline that read “U.S. Marines in the Niger Delta” or something to that effect. Such a headline is misleading and can result in some very unpleasant consequences for people in the Niger Delta and back in the States if it hits the notorious Nigerian rumour mill. Fix that GVO headline feed and everybody should be happy.

    My apologies. I’m sorry for “blowing up”!

    # 2007-03-2 at 7:34 am
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