Mercenary corporation Blackwater Xe Services will be paying up for breaking the law over 300 times. Emphasis mine:
WASHINGTON - The company formerly known as Blackwater violated U.S. export control laws nearly 300 times, ranging from attempts to do business in Sudan while that country was under U.S. sanctions to training an Afghan border patrol official who was a native of Iran, the State Department said Monday.
The alleged violations were spelled out in documents released Monday by the State Department as part of a $42 million settlement with Blackwater that will allow the company, now known as Xe Services LLC, to continue receiving U.S. government contracts.
Yeah, these guys do business with genocidal regimes in Sudan, steal 200 weapons from the Afghan National Army, massacre civilians, and smuggle weapons to terrorists. In spite of all that they'll steal be taking your tax dollars.
With his company up for sale, his position as CEO resigned, and several criminal and civil cases pending against him, his managers and his mercenary corporation, Blackwater Xe chairman Erik Prince has decided it best to leave the country for a while:
WASHINGTON - Erik Prince, whose company, Blackwater Worldwide, is for sale and whose former top managers are facing criminal charges, has left the United States and moved to Abu Dhabi, according to court documents.
Related
Mr. Prince, a former member of the Navy Seals and an heir to a Michigan auto parts fortune, left the country after a series of civil lawsuits, criminal charges and Congressional investigations singled out Blackwater or its former executives and other personnel. His company, now called Xe Services, has collected hundreds of millions of dollars from the United States government since 2001.
Current and former colleagues said Mr. Prince hoped to focus on security work from governments in Africa and the Middle East. They also said he was bitter about the legal scrutiny and negative publicity his company had received.
Who wants to bet he took all the assets an American court could seize with him? Just like Blackwater's operations, instead of facing the fact that what he does is illegal, Prince goes to a place where that law can't touch him. What a coward.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered that all private security contractors cease operations within the country within four months. AP, via Stripes:
A presidential decree expected to be issued later Monday will detail the process through which the companies should cease operations, spokesman Waheed Omar told reporters in Kabul.
President Hamid Karzai has said repeatedly in recent months that these companies undermine government security forces, creating a parallel security structure. Contractors perform duties ranging from guarding supply convoys to personal security details for diplomats and businessmen.
So, believe it or not, Karzai is actually doing something right that he deserves praise for. Mercenary armies that provide private security services undermine nearly every aspect of the combat mission. Mercenary contractors deserve large portions of the blame for everything from the poor reputation of coalition forces, to even the funding of the insurgency. What's worse, they fall within no jurisdiction for legal accountability.
Personally, I doubt that this four month deadline will be met. However, Karzai has gotten the ball rolling for moving mercs out of that combat zone, and that's a good thing.
Two separate reports, on wartime tragedies, with questions as to why and how they were allowed to happen, aired on Sunday night 27 June 2010 on the Afghan occupation and the soldiers serving there.
Erik Prince, whose private security contractor Blackwater and its successor have survived on hundreds of millions of dollars from the U.S. Treasury, says he's tired of "a sort of proctology exam" by Congress and "will be exiting the U.S. government market completely."
[...]
"After three-and-a-half years of an assault by some of the bureaucracy, a sort of proctology exam brought on by some in Congress, it's time to hang it up, because some in Washington view politics as more important than performance in the field," he said.
Prince, you dolt, you've got it all wrong. Those in Washington have wised up to your ways and it is exactly your "performance in the field that has led to this decision. What you and your company do directly endangers the U.S. mission in the countries where you operate. You help fund the Taliban. You steal weapons meant to arm the Afghan National Army. You massacre civilians which endangers our COIN efforts. Worst of all, you do these things without any recourse for accountability.
Sorry, Erick Prince, but your "performance in the field" is exactly what has led to your "proctology exam". Good riddance.
Last week's announcement that Blackwater/Xe Services has been put up for sale makes a little more sense now. Merc watchdog Jeremy Scahill is hearing that the mercenary corporation's founder and chairman Erick Prince is looking to go on the lam:
Sources close to Blackwater and its secretive owner Erik Prince claim that the embattled head of the world's most infamous mercenary firm is planning to move to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Middle Eastern nation, a major hub for the US war industry, has no extradition treaty with the United States. In April, five of Prince's top deputies were hit with a fifteen-count indictment by a federal grand jury on conspiracy, weapons and obstruction of justice charges. Among those indicted were Prince's longtime number-two man, former Blackwater president Gary Jackson, former vice presidents William Matthews and Ana Bundy and Prince's former legal counsel Andrew Howell
This could get interesting. Any bets on whether Prince already has an offshore bank account to live off during his years in exile?
Has the constant, and justified, barrage of criticism of the mercenary corporation Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater, forced the company to rethink it's future? It appears as such. After changing it's name in an effort to escape the corporation's reputation as hired guns who often act outside of their mandate of providing personal security, owner and Chairman Erick Prince relinquished day-to-day control and has now put the business up for sale:
The Moyock, N.C.-based company now called Xe Services announced its decision in a brief statement that gave few details.
"Xe's new management team has made significant changes and improvements to the company over the last 15 months, which have enabled the company to better serve the U.S. government and other customers, and will deliver additional value to a purchaser," the statement said.
Xe has also opened merchandise shops, curiously under the tainted Blackwater name, in an apparent attempt to raise capital for a company which must be struggling with the loss of the bulk of it's contracts over the last several years.
The only question is, if Blackwater does find a purchaser, will the new ownership transition the company into something respectable, or continue to operate in the same unethical manner for which the mercenary corporation has become known.
Personally, I hope Blackwater and all like corporations cease to exist entirely. They are paid exponentially more than American troops to do a troop's job. They have no accountability and their pay scale hinders military retention. Let's pay service members better, and let them do their own work.
General William Caldwell, my old commander and now the head officer for training of the Afghan National Police, clearly understands the importance of routing out corruption within the ANA:
"If we don't get the police fixed, we'll never change the dynamics in the country," Caldwell said.
Outstanding. But what's the plan for ending the corruption (which, in all fairness was most likely not Caldwell's decision)? Blackwater:
Fine as far as it goes. But now consider that the security company poised to win a potential billion dollar contract for this allegedly crucial task is Blackwater, a company last seen in Afghanistan performing such squeaky-clean tasks as stealing hundreds of weapons intended for the Afghan police and signing for them using the name of a 'South Park' character. That's after Blackwater got its contract through contract fraud by creating a shell company to obscure its corporate involvement, according to former top Blackwater contracting officials. Why would Blackwater need to obscure its corporate involvement in the first place? Because it's best known for shooting fleeing civilians in Iraq.
Brilliant. Let's hire arguably the most notoriously corrupt private security contractor mercenary corporation in the history of American defense to train the ANA, an organization that is plagued by corruption that we are trying to end. Oh, and don't forget General Caldwell's opinion that the success of the country depends on routing out that corruption.
This is Eric Cartman. Those who already know Eric are well aware that he attends elementary school in the fourth grade in a small town in Colorado. What you don't know, however, is that Eric also is an employee of a worldwide mercenary corporation. That's right, Eric Cartman, apparently, works for Blackwater:
Employees of the CIA-connected private security corporation Blackwater diverted hundreds of weapons, including more than 500 AK-47 assault rifles, from a U.S. weapons bunker in Afghanistan intended to equip Afghan policemen, according to an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee. On at least one occasion, an individual claiming to work for the company evidently signed for a weapons shipment using the name of a "South Park" cartoon character. And Blackwater has yet to return hundreds of the guns to the military.[...] A Blackwater lawyer told [Senate Armed Services] committee staff that no one by those names has ever been employed by the company. Eric Cartman is the name of an obnoxious character from Comedy Central's popular "South Park" cartoon.
Personally, I can't believe that Blackwater attorney. The real Eric Cartman must be involved in black ops that prevent disclosure of his existence. There's no way that Blackwater could have been allowed to steal 500 weapons under the name of a well known cartoon character, weapons that were designated for Afghan National Security Forces to defend their own country while American Soldiers were dying every day to help them.
Of course, though, we are talking about Blackwater.
The Iraqi government has ordered about 250 individuals with ties to the mercenary corporation Blackwater the private security contractor Xe out of the country. I found this interesting, being that the order applies not to current Blackwater employees, all of whom the company and the Iraqi government say have already been expelled from the country, but to former employees:
"We decide whether foreign security companies stay or not," Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told The Associated Press on Thursday, saying the decision was final and could not be appealed.
Al-Bolani announced late Wednesday that about 250 private security guards linked to Blackwater must leave the country or face possible arrest on visa violations. The order applies to security contractors who worked for Blackwater in Iraq at the time of the 2007 shooting.
The guards now work for other security firms in Iraq. Al-Bolani said all "concerned parties" were notified of the order four days ago and now have until Sunday to leave the country.
Part me wonders if all of these individuals deserve expulsion. I know in Afghanistan, I took a few flights on Blackwater planes with pilots who always seemed nice enough. But then the better part of me remembers that A) The sovereign Iraqi Government can deport whoever it wants; and b) when you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.
A pair of former Blackwater contractors charged with murdering two people in Afghanistan had checkered pasts with the military before getting hired to work overseas, according to service records disclosed in recent U.S. court hearings.
The troubled backgrounds of the two men - including instances of violence, drug use and disregard for authority - are a first sign that Xe, the company formerly known as Blackwater, was staffing its war-zone work force with contractors who might not be suited for the job....>>>>>
Jeremy Scahill, who has done the best reporting in existence on Blackwater and other combat contracting scams, has the story:
Two former Blackwater operatives were arrested by US federal agents on murder charges, stemming from their alleged involvement in the shooting deaths of two Afghan civilians in Kabul in May. They have been identified as Justin Cannon, 27, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Christopher Drotleff, 29, of Virginia Beach, Va. They have been charged with "crimes including second-degree murder, attempted murder and firearms offenses while working as contractors for the U.S. Department of Defense in Afghanistan," according to the Justice Department. The 13-count indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia on Jan. 6 and unsealed today.
It alleges that on May 5, 2009, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Cannon and Drotleff shot and killed two Afghanistan nationals and wounded a third.
[...]
In May, reports emerged that four Blackwater/Xe operatives working for Paravant LLC were alleged to have fired on a civilian car they say they saw as a threat, killing at least one Afghan civilian. According to The Wall Street Journal's August Cole, "At least some of the men, who were former military personnel, had been allegedly drinking alcohol that evening, according to a person familiar with the incident. Off-duty contractors aren't supposed to carry weapons or drink alcohol."
I can't really add anything to Jeremy's excellent reporting, so you should go read his entire article for analysis and further details on the scam that is Army contracting.
Since Americans first started getting that uneasy feeling about a private American corporation being payed to tote weapons in a combat zone, Blackwater Xe assured us that they were not a mercenary army. They called themselves a private security contracting firm, essentially body guards for civilian officials in a hostile fire area.
If there is any doubt that they were lying, today it should be dispelled:
WASHINGTON - Private security guards from Blackwater Worldwide participated in some of the C.I.A.'s most sensitive activities - clandestine raids with agency officers against people suspected of being insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and the transporting of detainees, according to former company employees and intelligence officials.
The raids against suspects occurred on an almost nightly basis during the height of the Iraqi insurgency from 2004 to 2006, with Blackwater personnel playing central roles in what company insiders called "snatch and grab" operations, the former employees and current and former intelligence officers said.
Several former Blackwater guards said that their involvement in the operations became so routine that the lines supposedly dividing the Central Intelligence Agency, the military and Blackwater became blurred.
Instead of simply providing security for C.I.A. officers, they say, Blackwater personnel at times became partners in missions to capture or kill militants in Iraq and Afghanistan, a practice that raises questions about the use of guns for hire on the battlefield.
We now know that at least between 2004 and 2006, sensitive intelligence and kinetic operations were outsourced to a mercenary army which is subject to no legal accountability whatsoever. We need to see congressional hearings on this, and heads need to roll.
Blackwater Xe is not a private security contracting firm. Call them what they are: mercenaries.
For the time being, however, Prince contends that his plans are far more modest. "I'm going to teach high school," he says, straight-faced. "History and economics. I may even coach wrestling. Hey, Indiana Jones taught school, too."
I don't know which is more disturbing about this quote: Erik Prince having grandeur delusions that conflict with reality to the point that he sees himself as a fictional action hero, or that someone with a world view as twisted as his might be charged with shaping the minds of children.
Especially when not overseen nor carried out by Military/Intelligence Personal but outside the Military and it's Chain of Command as well as UCMJ and International/National Laws by Private Government Contractors!
Dec. 3: Rachel Maddow is joined by Jeremy Scahill whose cover story in The Nation magazine is about U.S. contractors working in Afghanistan, and Blackwater founder Erik Prince's roots in the CIA.
Susan Rice, UN Ambassador, not related to Condi but sounding a little like her with "disrupt, dismantle, defeat" statements refused to discuss the CIA on Rachel.
In other news the Obama WH has stopped the release of CIA Cold War papers that go back over 25 years. [Iran-Contra? George HW Bush? Robert Gates?]
http://www.boston.com/news/nat...
A little about Gates and his 26 years in the CIA that came out when he was replacing Rummy.
For my own purposes, I'm unofficially declaring this "Contracting Day" at VetVoice. This is for no other reason than I have several contracting stories I want to write about. Stay tuned throughout the day.
I've come across a few articles today about contractor levels in Iraq and particularly Afghanistan, which seem to be misleading. I don't think this is malicious, but rather the product of writers not fully understanding the roles contractors play in a combat zone. However, even when the story is viewed through the correct lens, I don't like it.
Civilian contractors working for the Pentagon in Afghanistan not only outnumber the uniformed troops, according to a report by a Congressional research group, but also form the highest ratio of contractors to military personnel recorded in any war in the history of the United States.
Skip to next paragraph
On a superficial level, the shift means that most of those representing the United States in the war will be wearing the scruffy cargo pants, polo shirts, baseball caps and other casual accouterments favored by overseas contractors rather than the fatigues and flight suits of the military.
More fundamentally, the contractors who are a majority of the force in what has become the most important American enterprise abroad are subject to lines of authority that are less clear-cut than they are for their military colleagues.
What is clear, the report says, is that when contractors for the Pentagon or other agencies are not properly managed - as when civilian interrogators committed abuses at Abu Ghraib in Iraq or members of the security firm Blackwater shot and killed 17 Iraqi citizens in Baghdad - the American effort can be severely undermined.
What isn't said here, but what I think is implied, is that these are almost all private security contractors (i.e. Blackwater Xe) which isn't the case. The overwhelming majority of contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq are there to conduct support operations, such as running post offices, performing maintenance and cooking and serving food. The article does devote one sentence to the support work before beginning again to discuss Blackwater. However, the fact that not all the contractors are mercenaries doesn't exactly make it okay.
All of us who have spent time in theater understand the pay gap between contractors, who make well into the six-figure range, and uniformed troops. Contractors are being over-payed to do things like cook meals, maintain communications equipment, fix vehicles, operate logistics warehouses and a host of other tasks when those jobs could be just as easily be done by Soldiers who are trained to do the same job, like an Army (or whichever other branch) cook, mechanic, communications specialist, or supply specialist. We could even give our troops significant raises or increased hostile fire compensation and still have them doing their job for a lower cost.
Not only that, but I'd be willing to bet the quality would be much better. A radio maintainer or vehicle mechanic in uniform knows that his buddy's lives depend on his work. He is more likely to put in the extra effort and late hours to get equipment running and running reliably than a contractor who has no incentive to go above and beyond his or her contract.
Then, there is a third problem I have with private support contractors, and it mirrors the main problem with mercenary contractors. Unless they are contracted by the Department of Defense, they are not subject to the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows prosecution of civilians who are attached to military forces. While we don't have to worry about cooks and vehicle maintenance contractors abusing interrogation subjects, we do have to consider crimes that could be committed against their peers. What if a contracted cook in the U.S. embassy in Baghdad sexually assaults a foreign service officer? Unless I am mistaken, there would be no jurisdiction under which to prosecute the offender.
Simply put, having more contractors than uniformed troops on the ground in a combat zone is unacceptable. We need to ween ourselves off the use of contract labor in combat all together.
This is getting redundant. For all the national security scandals of the Bush Administration, and we all know they are numerous, it's seeming lately that there will ultimately be a Blackwater connection unearthed in all of them if we only wait long enough. Such is the case with the undisclosed CIA assassinations program. You'll recall this story from July:
The CIA ran a secret program for nearly eight years that aspired to kill top al-Qaeda leaders with specially trained assassins, but the agency declined to tell Congress because the initiative never came close to bringing Osama bin Laden and his deputies into U.S. cross hairs, U.S. intelligence and congressional officials said yesterday.
The plan to deploy teams of assassins to kill senior terrorists was legally authorized by the administration of George W. Bush, but it never became fully operational, according to sources briefed on the matter. The sources confirmed that then-Vice President Richard B. Cheney had urged the CIA to delay notifying Congress about the diplomatically sensitive plan -- a bid for secrecy that congressional Democrats now say thwarted proper oversight.
True to form, the Blackwater connection has been unearthed:
A secret CIA program to kill top al-Qaeda leaders with assassination teams was outsourced in 2004 to Blackwater USA, the private security contractor whose operations in Iraq prompted intense scrutiny, according to two former intelligence officials familiar with the events.
The North Carolina-based company was given operational responsibility for targeting terrorist commanders and was awarded millions of dollars for training and weaponry, but the program was canceled before any missions were conducted, the two officials said.
I'm going to borrow significantly from Spencer's analysis here, but here goes: Say you wanted to conduct a secret assassination program, wanted to use the CIA to do it, and wanted to keep the program's existence secret from Congress and thereby congressional oversight. Easy enough, right? Well, suppose you wanted to make sure that even if the program were brought to light, you wouldn't have any problems with that pesky Executive Order 12333 banning assassinations. Maybe you'd want to use a contractor with an undescernable legal status, not being subject to local national law, and also claiming to not be subject to MEJA. You'd then be operating an executive assassinations program with no oversight and no criminal jurisdiction for those involved; essentially, mercenaries with no consequences to however they chose to carry out their contracted mission. Scary thought.
The latest horror show from the Blackwater saga illustrates how absolutely dangerous white supremacy is when empowered with federal dollars and the power to kill.
Instead of being run out of all civilized society, Erik Prince's huge donations to the GOP earned him massive federal contracts and the backing of the US government as his employees raped children under the banner of an American flag.
White power politics is not a matter of free speech when used by the state as a tool of war. It is a war crime. Erik Prince is a war criminal..............Rest Here
VoteVets.org released the following statement today regarding the organization's call for action in the allegations against Blackwater/Xe and the company's founder Erik Prince:
VETERANS CALL FOR NEW LEGAL SYSTEM TO GOVERN
CONTRACTORS IN LIGHT OF EXPLOSIVE CHARGES
AGAINST BLACKWATER
Veterans also call for immediate hearings to investigate the charges
WASHINGTON, DC - On behalf of its 105,000 veterans and civilian supporters, VoteVets.org today wrote to the Chairs and Ranking Members of key committees in Congress, calling for a new legal structure to be set up that would govern contractors, and for immediate hearings into the charges. The full letter is below.
In the latest issue of The Nation, two sworn statements were uncovered that charged the Erik Prince, founder of Xe (formerly Blackwater), with involvement of murder plots against those who cooperated with Federal investigators, illegal arms smuggling into Iraq, and that the company "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."
Speaking for VoteVets.org, Iraq War Veteran and the group's chairman Jon Soltz wrote, "Whether it is in Iraq, Afghanistan, or elsewhere, people in foreign lands do not see troops or contractors. They see Americans armed with guns. The issues we have faced with contractors in Iraq reflect poorly on all Americans, including our troops who have performed honorably and admirably. The conduct of many contractors therefore not only increases negative feelings about our troops, but undermines our ability to win the hearts and minds of those we need the most. It is of utmost importance that we fully investigate the charges in the sworn statements, and set up a system of legal accountability for all those contractors acting on our behalf."
The group made two recommendations - immediate hearings into the charges, and hearings to determine the best way to set up a new legal structure that would govern contractors, hold them accountable, and allow for prosecutions.
Currently, the law is murky, at best. The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000 (MEJA was enacted to close some of the loopholes. However, MEJA as originally written only applied to "those persons employed by or accompanying the Armed Forces." Later amendment to the law defines "Armed Forces" to include "an employee of a contractor (or subcontractor at any tier) of . . . any other Federal agency, or any provisional authority, to the extent such employment relates to supporting the mission of the Department of Defense overseas."
As contractors like Xe are contracted through the U.S. Department of State, and officially work in support of that department, they have argued they do not fall under MEJA.
"As a result, Xe and other contractors essentially operate in a war zone with no accountability, and any employees brought up on charges for wrongdoing in a war zone can and have tried to exploit this lack of defined jurisdiction over them when brought to court," wrote Soltz. "It is essential that these loopholes be closed, retroactively, so that Xe, Prince, and his employees cannot escape proper prosecution in the United States now or in the future. We believe the best way to do this is to create a legal structure similar to MEJA, but applied specifically to all those contracted to work for the United States in any capacity, for any agency or department."
VoteVets.org is the leading progressive, pro-military organization of veterans, dedicated to the destruction of terror networks around the world, with force when necessary. It primarily focuses on education and advocacy on issues of importance to the troops and veterans, and holding politicians accountable for their actions on these issues.
Erik Prince, founder and owner of the mercenary company Xe (formerly known as Blackwater) has been implicated in some pretty deplorable conduct, from murder to thinking himself a Templar. Color me surprised:
A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."
The entire article is explosive, and the facts are still developing. One thing to remember as this story unfolds, Blackwater Xe has been contracted in Iraq to work for the State Department, not the Department of Defense. This means that the company and its employees are not subject to the 2000 Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act and thus fall under no criminal jurisdiction. Read that sentence again and think about how that sits with you.
Meanwhile, as we wait for this to develop, take a look at the report on Blackwater and Erik Prince from last night's Countdown:
Causing the Deaths and Maiming's of our Soldiers in the Blowback, easing the recruitment of more insurgent fighters and support for same, and in the long term will cause the blowback of criminal terrorism anywhere, and done on our dime! We share the guilt of their actions even if these statements aren't true!
Most of these mercs are ex-soldiers, yet for their good paydays they fought on an ideology completely uncaring of their brothers and sisters still serving!
Remember the meme at the beginning of the War Drum Beating and the easy certain Corporate "No Bid Contracts" in support of the Wars and Occupations: "They're the only ones in the World who can do the organizing and work needed in support of our Military and the Coalition of Willing!"
Never mind they were connected by the hips to those beating the drums, never mind they were only paper pushers tens of thousands of miles away and sub-contracting out all the work, never mind the many issues of lost billions, shoddy work, bonuses, waste and corruption that almost instantly started coming to light and even with that they were given more, not even handshakes, just here ya go Pallets with Shrink wrapped Blocks of Cash, Millions and Billions, freshly printed and minted!!
Four U.S. contractors for the company formerly known as Blackwater were not authorized to carry weapons when they were involved in a deadly shooting in Afghanistan this month, the U.S. military said Tuesday.
Lots of finger pointing in this article on who should get the blame here, but still no answers on just how these guys got a weapon to carry.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The troubled Blackwater era ends in Iraq on Thursday as another firm takes over the once-dominant company's security services contract in Baghdad.
Other than the fact that I know they're a prominent, private security company founded by some former SF guys, I know next to nothing about Triple Canopy. But do you know why I like Triple Canopy? Precisely because I don't know a whole lot about them. Because they stay out of the fracking news like quiet professionals, that's why. And because the typical Triple Canopy employee doesn't remind me of the Dallas cop who pulled over NFL running back Ryan Moats and his family--unlike these guys:
I'm really glad to see Erik Prince and his gang no longer under the employ of the U.S. State Department in Iraq. Good riddance.
By now, you've probably heard about the former Blackwater guards indicted for allegedly massacring 14 Iraqi civilians in 2007. Regardless of who's at fault, it was a terribly unfortunate incident when it happened. So with these five accused former military guys, I'll hold off on judging the situation. If they're innocent, I hope they're exonerated. If they're found guilty, I hope they spend a long time in jail. I wasn't there and I haven't talked to anyone who was, so I'm just not going to comment on it.
That said, I've just come from a website which, according to the blog Blackfive, has been constructed by the men's "defense team." It's called Raven23.com, and it's designed to provide positive publicity for the accused former guards. It's also one of the most disingenuous, inappropriate things I've seen in a good while.
See all the references to Blackwater Worldwide? Me neither. All I see are the five seals of America's Armed Forces and an image of the Marine Corps War Memorial. Instead of this:
We see this:
Delving further into the site, we find the page with the bios and photos of the five indicted Blackwater guards. These are the photos on the page:
See all those signature Blackwater goatees, baseball caps, and side arms? Me neither. I'm only seeing the photos of three marines and two soldiers. So instead of this:
We see this:
Now, I have a problem here. And last night, I talked to half a dozen other Army and Marine Corps Iraq veterans who feel the same way as I do. Here's the problem: No one from the Army or Marine Corps has been accused of massacring 14 Iraqi civilians in this case. That would be employees or former employees of Blackwater Worldwide--but not the military. And there needs to be a distinction made.
What we have here is a move to elicit sympathy for the accused guards by painting them as patriotic soldiers and marines who were only doing their duties in Iraq. We see their initial entry photos, deliberately intended to make them seem younger than they are, even though they're now much older. Even the father of one of the accused said he "can't believe prosecutors are going after such decorated military veterans." In fact, every aspect of the portrayal makes it look as though soldiers and marines are going on trial here. But they're not. Rather, these indictments were handed down to five highly-paid contractors who were working for Blackwater Worldwide on behalf of the U.S. State Department. But they were in no way associated with the U.S. military.
And that's the part that really bugs me. Because here's the deal as I see it: You don't get to go over to Iraq for Blackwater, kill 14 civilians--justifiably or not--and then come back and play it off as if you were just doing your duty as a soldier or marine. Because you weren't. You were there for the money.
And being there for the money is okay. But when these guys made the conscious decision to leave the military for the higher pay offered by Blackwater, they forfeited the right to use the military as a defense for their conduct in Iraq. That's the deal. They were once on the "team," but they each--for whatever reason--left to become contractors instead. And that makes them no longer qualified to claim or to use the symbols of the United States military in defense of actions undertaken in a combat zone.
These guys chose to fight in Iraq for a private company that offered them more money and looser grooming standards. They left the more disciplined world of the Army or the Corps. And that's what they wanted. That's fine. They just need to accept responsibility for the decision.
And they can start by leaving the military and its symbols out of this. If working for Blackwater is such an honorable endeavor, then they should have no problem providing images of themselves operating in Iraq in the service of the State Department. Instead of the Marine Corps War Memorial, we should see an image of the Blackwater bear paw.
The problem here is that if these guys are found guilty, because of the way their defense has rolled them out to the public, it's going to reflect on the military. And that's not acceptable. Because the military had nothing to do with this massacre.
And Blackwater will have organized their structure so that each Cowboy will be an individual contractor thus absolving Prince and his bloodsuckers of any responsibility for the actions of those they send.
The DoD, the USA has admitted defeat.
There is NO remaining reason to stay in Afghanistan.
Like Alien vs. Predator or Donald Trump vs. Rosie, this is something that should really be on pay-per-view:
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- A radical Islamic group in Somalia said Friday it will fight the pirates holding a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil.
What's better than Godzilla vs. Mothra? Obviously, a Taliban-like band of extremists battling it out on the high seas with a bunch of pirates.
The BBC has more, reporting that the Islamists have arrived on the scene and are ready to get it on. Now, if Blackwater could just hurry up and get the contract they want to fight the pirates--making this a three-way slugfest between religious extremists, pirates, and mercenaries--then the only missing piece would be the A-Team. Or Vince McMahon. He could turn this into a production the whole world could enjoy.
The Moyock, N.C., company has a ship in Hampton Roads ready to begin patrolling the Gulf of Aden to protect merchant vessels against pirates.
The company has spoken to about 10 shipping firms but as yet has no takers, said Bill Mathews, Blackwater Worldwide executive vice president.
"There's definitely a need and a desire," Mathews said during a tour of the 183-foot vessel, named McArthur, on Friday. It's moored at a commercial pier at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base.
For anti-piracy operations, the 14-sailor crew would be supplemented with Blackwater security guards, four rigid-hull inflatable boats and helicopters, Mathews said. Security teams could follow a merchant vessel by air and land.
Mathews said the crew and guards are qualified to provide maritime security, noting that the security teams would consist of former Navy SEALs. The force is highly trained in handling vehicle boardings and anti-terrorism missions.
The ship could be overseas within 40 days, pending approval from the State Department and roughly a month long transit across the Atlantic.
Someone let me know when they make a movie about this.
Well, well, Blackwater, after ripping off the United States people with their extremely high priced Mercenary Forces, and getting U.S. troops killed from the blowback of their actions are now dropping their security details, apparently because it's bad for their business bottom line!!
I was reading an article today about a UN report concerning a drop in the level of violence in Iraq. What caught my eye, specifically, though and a topic I wish to talk about concerns the alleged killing of 17 Iraqi civilians by Blackwater Security Forces and how they should be dealt with.
I have to be clear about my own feelings. After 20 years in the service, I can say that I harbor no good will towards mercenaries; which, basically, is what Blackwater is.
I just wanted to make sure this story got on here. According to a NY Times story, Blackwater used CS gas to clear a convoy in 2005.
Suddenly, on that May day in 2005, the copter dropped CS gas, a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders. An armored vehicle on the ground also released the gas, temporarily blinding drivers, passers-by and at least 10 American soldiers operating the checkpoint.
Politics in America has always been a "them" and "Us" sort of event. We have so many different outlooks and avenues of expression and thought. Political philosophy, social engagement, citizen responsibility to government, as opposed to government obligation to its citizens; Political correctness and how it effects our societal morays and values is today, as always, wonderfully debated and the list goes on; yet somehow those differences have helped to make us the great people we are, which has in turn forged the social Democratic miracle America still is today. Some things have changed, and terribly so.
"The welcome mat for memoirs by veterans of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom might never wear out so long as they write with the savvy of Brandon Friedman . . . Friedman's take is vivid, frank, precise and dramatic."--Military Times
"Add Brandon Friedman's The War I Always Wanted to the ranks of outstanding non-fiction produced by officers from elite combat units in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Always truthful, often excruciatingly so, The War I Always Wanted rises at numerous points to the level of literature."--Steven Pressfield, author of Gates of Fire
"A Time To Lead confirms the rewarding benefits of military service at a time when such service is experiencing considerable strain. It also includes a comprehensive description of America's current national imperatives, which deserve serious consideration."--General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., former Secretary of State
"This is a primer on leadership forged in battle and by decades of experience. . .This isn't just a book; it's a manual for leading people and living a good life."--Barry McCaffrey, General, USA (ret.)
"Whip smart, sassy, with a mouth as foul as a sailor's, 28-year-old Sergeant Kayla Williams. . .tells what it's like to be a female soldier in Iraq."--Booklist
". . .echoes military memoirists from Julius Caesar to Ernie Pyle."--Publishers Weekly
". . .a shocking, on-the-ground view of one military woman's experience in Iraq."--Bookmarks Magazine
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This is Eric Cartman. Those who already know Eric are well aware that he attends elementary school in the fourth grade in a small town in Colorado. What you don't know, however, is that Eric also is an employee of a worldwide mercenary corporation. That's right, Eric Cartman, apparently, 
This is getting redundant. For all the national security scandals of the Bush Administration, and we all know they are numerous, it's seeming lately that there will ultimately be a Blackwater connection unearthed in all of them if we only wait long enough. Such is the case with the undisclosed CIA assassinations program. You'll recall 
