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#1 |
New Yorker
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Posts: 2,525
Local Time: 06:59 PM
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![]() our President (Commander in Chief) "sums it up" for us: |
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#2 |
ONE
love, blood, life Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Ireland
Posts: 10,122
Local Time: 06:59 PM
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Erik Prince = Prince of Darkness
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#3 | |
Blue Crack Addict
Join Date: Apr 2001
Posts: 16,656
Local Time: 10:59 AM
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Re: Who is BLACKWATER????
Quote:
It is disappointing to me that neither Democratic candidate would ban the use of private contractors in Iraq if elected. And Jeremy Scahill rocks. |
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#4 |
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: in a glass of CheerWine
Posts: 3,266
Local Time: 01:59 PM
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Not a Libertarian
Yes, we sell whole milk here and candy with pure cane sugar ![]() |
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#5 | |
Blue Crack Addict
Join Date: Apr 2001
Posts: 16,656
Local Time: 10:59 AM
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Re: Re: Who is BLACKWATER????
Quote:
http://www.ronpaulwarroom.com/?p=8295 Update from Jeremy Scahill: A day after this story went live on TheNation.com, Senator Hillary Clinton, whose staff refused for a week to answer my questions about her position on private security forces, released a statement announcing that Clinton is now co-sponsoring legislation to “ban the use of Blackwater and other private mercenary firms in Iraq,” saying, “The time to show these contractors the door is long past due.” Read her full statement here. Her timing was interesting, to say the least. Why February 28, in the middle of a tough political campaign? Why not after last September’s Nisour Square massacre, when Blackwater operatives killed seventeen Iraqi civilians? Or, better, before it? Regardless, this makes Clinton the most significant US political figure to date to issue such a call. We will be monitoring closely how much of a legislative priority this becomes for Senator Clinton. A senior foreign policy adviser to leading Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has told The Nation that if elected Obama will not “rule out” using private security companies like Blackwater Worldwide in Iraq. The adviser also said that Obama does not plan to sign on to legislation that seeks to ban the use of these forces in US war zones by January 2009, when a new President will be sworn in. Obama’s campaign says that instead he will focus on bringing accountability to these forces while increasing funding for the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the agency that employs Blackwater and other private security contractors. (Hillary Clinton’s staff did not respond to repeated requests for an interview or a statement on this issue.) Obama’s broader Iraq withdrawal plan provides for some US troops to remain in Iraq–how many his advisers won’t say. But it’s clear that Obama’s “follow-on force” will include a robust security force to protect US personnel in Iraq, US trainers (who would also require security) for Iraqi forces and military units to “strike at Al Qaeda”–all very broad swaths of the occupation. “If Barack Obama comes into office next January and our diplomatic security service is in the state it’s in and the situation on the ground in Iraq is in the state it’s in, I think we will be forced to rely on a host of security measures,” said the senior adviser. “I can’t rule out, I won’t rule out, private security contractors.” He added, “I will rule out private security contractors that are not accountable to US law.” But therein lies a problem. The US Embassy in Iraq is slated to become the largest embassy in world history. If Obama maintains that embassy and its army of diplomats and US personnel going in and out of the Green Zone, which his advisers say he will, a significant armed force will be required for protection. The force that now plays that role is composed almost exclusively of contractors from Blackwater, DynCorp and Triple Canopy. And at present, these contractors are not held accountable under US law. Obama and a host of legal experts, including in the Justice Department, acknowledge that there may be no current US law that could be used to prosecute security contractors for crimes committed in Iraq, such as the killing of seventeen Iraqi civilians last September in Baghdad’s Nisour Square. Obama’s proposed increase in funding to the diplomatic security division would ostensibly pave the way for a protective force composed entirely of US government personnel, but the process of building that force would likely take a long time. Short of dramatically reducing the US civilian and diplomatic presence in Iraq that necessitates such a security force, Obama may have no choice but to continue the contracting arrangements with firms like Blackwater if he is elected President. |
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#6 | |
Refugee
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Craggy Island
Posts: 1,504
Local Time: 12:59 PM
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right -- these guys don't have to abide by any laws either:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20...latchy/2877385 Quote:
I'm not saying they shouldn't abide by the law... but they are targets even more than our troops. |
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#7 | |
Blue Crack Addict
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: A far distance down.
Posts: 28,601
Local Time: 09:59 AM
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#8 |
Blue Crack Addict
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: In the dog house
Posts: 19,563
Local Time: 01:59 PM
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My uncle worked for Blackwater in New Orleans after Katrina. He is related to the Prince's through my aunt, so all of this his VERY close to home for all of us. I don't know much about them other than the people working for them in Iraq must be slightly insane. It's the most dangerous job I can think of, but their employees are extreme risk takers and live/die for this job.
I won't condone or condemn them. They have made HUGE mistakes but in some circumstances they are a necessary evil. I did not understand most of what they did until it was explained to me. I won't get into it here b/c I don't think it's appropriate. |
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#9 | |
ONE
love, blood, life Join Date: May 2002
Location: Tempe, Az USA
Posts: 12,856
Local Time: 10:59 AM
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![]() dbs |
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#10 | |
Blue Crack Addict
Join Date: Apr 2001
Posts: 16,656
Local Time: 10:59 AM
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Quote:
![]() Sorry if anything said here hits too close to home. It's certainly not personal, but it's too important to keep getting swept under the rug, and isn't talked about enough. I'm sure many good people sign up for Blackwater and other similar companies without knowing what they're signing up for. I make no judgments about your uncle at all. The thing is, the contractors in Iraq make on average about $500,000 dollars a year, have the best equipment (armored vehicles, for example), and answer to no one, while our US soldiers average about $50-70,000 a year and are trying to work within guidelines constantly violated by the contractors, and to the Iraqis, they're all the same. So the behavior of the contractors puts our troops at greater risk and undermines everything they're trying to do. How would it feel to be a US soldier and see contractors with better equipment, answering to no US law, and making as much as 9 times what you're making? And there are so many bigger questions. Like why is Prince building massive training camps around the country, what are these contractors going to do when the war is over (if it ever is) and they come home? Blackwater has a fleet of aircraft and 20,000 trained men to call up on a moment's notice, and they are not just patriotic Americans as Prince would have us believe. He has recruited, trained and deployed men from third world countries (Chile, Columbia, Poland, Bulgaria to name a few). The Chilean government is actually against the war in Iraq and refused to join the coalition but Blackwater recruited Chilean men anyway. Over 900 contractors have been killed in Iraq, and over 12,000 have been injured but these numbers are not included in the total numbers of war casualties. I mean, the list of problems and questions is endless. And George Bush doesn't even know anything about Blackwater even though Prince has close ties with his Christian right buddies and is making a frigging fortune off this war? Right. |
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#11 |
Rock n' Roll Doggie
ALL ACCESS Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Berlin
Posts: 6,739
Local Time: 07:59 PM
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PMCs is a modern form of mercenaries. And I think it's extremely dangerous that they are employed by western Governments.
They are already lobbying for a war in Iran. I don't know if it was Blackwater, or one of the other companies, but I've read once a press release where they stated how important it is to attack Iran. I think Poland and Bulgaria might be a little pissed that you are calling them third world countries, joyfulgirl. ![]() |
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#12 | |
Blue Crack Addict
Join Date: Apr 2001
Posts: 16,656
Local Time: 10:59 AM
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#13 | |
Blue Crack Addict
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: In the dog house
Posts: 19,563
Local Time: 01:59 PM
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Quote:
My uncle did a contract job in New Orleans for a short period of time b/c he had retired from his previous job (law enforcement) and it was good money. He said it was pretty boring actually, but he's told plenty of stories about the guys in Iraq.... I could ask more specific questions, but I just don't like getting involved in something I don't really understand....you know? I am powerless against it, I'd rather not be a part of it. |
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