[Dark_crow]

Blackwater recently opened a new facility in Illinois and is launching plans for another site near San Diego, though facing opposition there. It is also manufacturing its own armored vehicle and a surveillance blimp.

Do you think it possible they will ever be used against the American population?

[excon]

Do you think it possible they will ever be used against the American population?

Hello DC:

Let me see. We got an extremely well armed and funded private army, made up of ex Special Forces, run by a loyal Bushie who's a born again Christian, a member of the religious right and he makes sure the people he hires are too...

Do I think he could use them against us?? Uhhhh, YEAH!

excon

[Dark_crow]

Hello DC:

Lemme see. We got an extremely well armed and funded private army, made up of ex Special Forces, run by a loyal Bushie who's a born again Christian, a member of the religious right and he makes sure the people he hires are too....

Do I think he could use them against us???? Uhhhh, YEAH!!

excon

Oh, you're talking about that major Republican campaign contributor, Erik Prince, who has donated $225,000 to the GOP. Prince’s sister Betsy DeVos was Michigan’s Republican Party chair and a Bush-Cheney “Pioneer” who came through with at least $100,000 for their 2004 campaign.

[tomder55]

If they did they would be squashed like cockroaches.

I found it very interesting that Rep Waxman is investigating them but is refusing to get into the specifics of any allegations against the company. Let's see . The record shows that they have been involved in one way or another in 195 shooting incidents in over 2 years in a dangerous combat zone.That is 1 1/2 incidents a week in a country where the average runs between 500 to 1,000 a violent incidents per week. They have had to fire 122 personnel for improper conduct, including misuse of weapons and alcohol and drug violations. Read that again please ….they fired employees who misused their weapons .

The sad irony is that if Waxman ever visited Iraq he would beg to be surrounded by Blackwater guards. For the record……everybody is protected, safe, and nobody has been lost or killed under their care .

What we have here is another fishing expedition trying to uncover the next Haditha now that the charges in that case have been refuted . Here's the little secret that their critics fail to bring up.Blackwater is subject to DOJ "Regulations on the use of deadly force." and pre-approved ROE in Iraq.

In the United States they would be Brinks truck drivers ,or body guards to the Hollywierdos who demand protection while bemoaning the right of people to own guns, not rebels.

[Dark_crow]

One you missed Tom: why did a top State Department official initially suggest a payment of $250,000 of American taxpayers' money to conceal the uncontested fact that, as the House committee report states, “A drunken Blackwater contractor killed the guard of Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd-al-Mahdi”?
The State Department enabled the Blackwater shooter to be spirited out of the country within 36 hours, and although Blackwater subsequently fired him, he has never faced any criminal charges. Nor have any of the others involved in the 195 shooting incidents Blackwater officials admitted have occurred in the past two years.
Don't get me wrong, I don't expect that bad decisions are not going to be made; on the contrary, I expect them. But in this sort of a situation when I'm told every event was perfectly executed it makes me suspicious. Now I don't know all the details of every event but I believe they should be made known to government oversights committees. Or do you believe Blackwater should be entirely left to their own supervision and without committee oversight?

[tomder55]

By all means investigate away . Like I said ;it is Waxman that doesn't intend to get into details which furthers my suspicion that this is just a fishing expedition.

The only thing I have heard that has validity is the complaint by al -Maliki that they are not under Iraqi law by decree from Viceroy Bremer. But that is a situation that I'm sure Blackwater could negotiate with them easily . Like ;ok ,if you intend to subject us to other terms we can always pack up the tents and go home. Worry about protecting your asses in the Green Zone by yourselves.

Blackwater and firms like them are reminiscent of the Condottieri who protected the city-states in Italy . Perhaps if we did not gut our military in the 1990s we would not have a requirement for so many private contractors . Then again a valid argument can be made that privatizing some aspects of the military is cost effective.

[Dark_crow]

By all means investigate away . Like I said ;it is Waxman that doesn't intend to get into details which furthers my suspicion that this is just a fishing expedition.

The only thing I have heard that has validity is the complaint by al -Maliki that they are not under Iraqi law by decree from Viceroy Bremer. But that is a situation that I'm sure Blackwater could negotiate with them easily . Like ;ok ,if you intend to subject us to other terms we can always pack up the tents and go home. Worry about protecting your asses in the Green Zone by yourselves.

Blackwater and firms like them are reminiscent of the Condottieri who protected the city-states in Italy . Perhaps if we did not gut our military in the 1990s we would not have a requirement for so many private contractors . Then again a valid argument can be made that privatizing some aspects of the military is cost effective.

So you appear to believe that we are too short on troops to replace Blackwater? Somehow I don’t believe that, but if that is true we are indeed in big trouble.:)

[excon]

So you appear to believe that we are too short on troops to replace Blackwater? Somehow I don’t believe that, but if that is true we are indeed in big trouble.:)

Hello again, DC:

Oh, it's true, all right. Blackwater and other contractors do a lot more than just offer security. They cook, clean, build and do general maintenance work. It would take a military about two times the size of the one we've got to get the same work done.

Remember all those old movies showing buck privates peeling potatoes? They don't do that anymore.

excon

[Choux]

I'm not following the Blackwater war crimes; war is horrific, not to be romanticized like the radical right does. War is butchery.

So, just to crack wise...

NOT IN ILLINOIS!!

[inthebox]

I like the Doobie Brothers.