Friday, November 25, 2011

Carlyle Affiliate's Tear Gas in Tahir Square


Ahramonline reported:

Egyptian security forces are digging deeper into their budget with each volley of increasingly fatal US-made tear gas they launch at demonstrators.

The human cost of the violent crackdown in central Cairo is increasingly clear -- among the 39 fatalities reported to date, several are said to have died of asphyxiation caused by tear gas.
The article cites Combined Systems Inc., an American tear gas provider financed by The Carlyle Group.  Carlyle provided debt financing for Point Lookout Capital Partners' purchase of CSI in 2005. 

CSI produces its ‘riot control devices’ under its law enforcement brand name, Combined Tactical Systems (CTS)

Uncle Sam provided $1.7 million in "toxicological agents" -- "including tear gases and riot control agents" -- to Egypt in 2010.  It's not clear how much came from CSI/CTS.

Gas manufacturer CTS has been linked with the 'non-lethal' weapons used by Israeli forces that have been unleashed on Palestinian protesters, reportedly causing several deaths due to asphyxiation.

I noted Carlyle's link to CSI during the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh, where U.S. authorities implemented new crowd control and dispersant measures.




Point Lookout might pay attention to Carlyle's back door takeovers of Mrs. Fields and Brintons.  Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein does debtor repossession in addition to hostile takeovers.  30% annual returns must be made...

Update 1-30-12:  CSI's product line is being used by U.S. Homeland Security to clear Occupy camps across the U.S.   Flashbangs, smoke, tear gas and bean bags. It sounds like money to The Carlyle Group's Combined Systems Inc.

Update 6-3-15:  Carlyle, Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton intersected in Egypt according to an IBT Times investigation.

Update 6-6-20:  Streetwear retailer Supreme is under fire for its connections to The Carlyle Group, given Carlyle's history in war making and oppressing peaceful protesters.  The article stated "including ownership of Combined Tactical Systems, a company that “specializes in the manufacture of military and police equipment such as tear gas canisters, flash grenades, breaching munitions (rubber bullets), and handcuffs.”