Blackwater : Right-Wing Conservative America, Whether You Like It Or Not...

I'm reading a very interesting book right now about Blackwater. Yes, that Blackwater over in Iraq, the Middle East, and on American soil as well. On American soil you ask? Yup, according to this book Blackwater is functioning on American soil as a "private Army" which is funded by the Federal Government.

Here's a link to the book :

Blackwater : The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army : Jeremy Scahill

Editorial Review from Publisher's Weekly on Amazon :

Scahill, a regular contributor to the Nation, offers a hard-left perspective on Blackwater USA, the self-described private military contractor and security firm. It owes its existence, he shows, to the post–Cold War drawdown of U.S. armed forces, its prosperity to the post-9/11 overextension of those forces and its notoriety to a growing reputation as a mercenary outfit, willing to break the constraints on military systems responsible to state authority.

Scahill describes Blackwater's expansion, from an early emphasis on administrative and training functions to what amounts to a combat role as an internal security force in Iraq. He cites company representatives who say Blackwater's capacities can readily be expanded to supplying brigade-sized forces for humanitarian purposes, peacekeeping and low-level conflict. While emphasizing the possibility of an "adventurous President" employing Blackwater's mercenaries covertly, Scahill underestimates the effect of publicity on the deniability he sees as central to such scenarios. Arguably, he also dismisses too lightly Blackwater's growing self-image as the respectable heir to a long and honorable tradition of contract soldiering.

Ultimately, Blackwater and its less familiar counterparts thrive not because of a neoconservative conspiracy against democracy, as Scahill claims, but because they provide relatively low-cost alternatives in high-budget environments and flexibility at a time when war is increasingly protean.

Blackwater is run by a man who along with his family are considered far right-wing conservative, Erik Prince. This book is very informative of the "who's who" that is funding and backing the world's largest "private army" or in other words, mercenaries.

Product Description on Amazon :

Meet Blackwater USA, the powerful private army that the U.S. government has quietly hired to operate in international war zones and on American soil. With its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and twenty-thousand troops at the ready, Blackwater is the elite Praetorian Guard for the "global war on terror"-- yet most people have never heard of it. It was the moment the war turned: On March 31, 2004, four Americans were ambushed and burned near their jeeps by an angry mob in the Sunni stronghold of Falluja. Their charred corpses were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River.

The ensuing slaughter by U.S. troops would fuel the fierce Iraqi resistance that haunts occupation forces to this day. But these men were neither American military nor civilians. They were highly trained private soldiers sent to Iraq by a secretive mercenary company based in the wilderness of North Carolina.

Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army is the unauthorized story of the epic rise of one of the most powerful and secretive forces to emerge from the U.S. military-industrial complex, hailed by the Bush administration as a revolution in military affairs, but considered by others as a dire threat to American democracy.

I'm only on the second chapter so far but this is a great book which was written without permission of Blackwater I should add. The author attempted to talk to people in Blackwater but they wouldn't budge. It outlines how Erik Prince is aligned with the Republican Party and how he has donated heavily to them throughout his life, which is not illegal but as we all know Republicans are all about giving money to companies so the companies can pay them off later or guarantee them a job as a CEO or some other position within their walls after a Republican's political life has ended.

A YouTube video I found with the author of this book :



A YouTube video I found with George W Bush responding about questions about Blackwater :



A YouTube video with an interview of Erik Prince by Wolf Blitzer :



What's interesting to Me about the book is that it talks about Erik Prince's religious views and him being a Roman Catholic. His views along with family, are intertwined with the Bush Administration heavily along with the religious right-wing in anti-homosexual/lesbian, anti-abortion, and anti-non-family structures.

While I don't necessarily agree with all of those Myself I still have the neutral belief that if it doesn't affect Me directly I really don't care. If you're forcing your views down My throat about those things is then when I have a major problem with them. I am anti-abortion because I see that as murder but that is My right to view things that way but I would never force My opinion on someone else.

Here's a Wikipedia link to Blackwater Worldwide, formely Blackwater USA :

Blackwater Worldwide

Feel free to read up on the company that is now one of the largest private armies in the world that is assisting the U.S. Federal Government in the War on Terror.

I posted this in "Military and Government Projects" because it is a military and government project, plain and simple.

Disagree with Me on that?

Read the book.



[edit on 3-5-2008 by SpartanKingLeonidas]

Starred and Flagged Friend..

People BETTER be paying attention to this company, because when the sh** hits the fan, they will likely be at the head of the class in cracking down on domestic dissent, and they don't have to play by the rules of law, just like our ruthless gov does not. Only these guys are mercs and killers.

I saw where they were recently denied a training camp in so-cal---Thank heavens for that.

These guys are bad news, big time.

I love the part where the phrase ... "can readily be expanded to supplying brigade-sized forces for humanitarian purposes, peacekeeping and low-level conflict." comes up!

When your business is training to kill, or kill those your against, the word 'humanitarian' should not be in your vocabulary.

By the way, the fact that this is an 'unauthorized' book doesn't make it any less an exercise in butt-kissing the new right-wing boy toys.

I have to say I love it when I'm pleasantly surprised with a U2U when I come back online and find I've gotten yet another "APPLAUSE" to one of My posts. I'm only posting on what I feel and or understand about the politics of the nation and our slowly but surely eroding freedoms within the nation. I'm not trying to do it to get recognition so to speak for the post but to open people's eyes to see what is really happening out there.

From what I've read and kept up to date with in the newspapers, televised media, and online media along with My understanding of how the military, Law Enforcement, and Government works the U.S.Constitution is all but dead at this point because every law that is made to protect us from becoming less of a democracy is slow or sometimes quickly been subverted and or diverted in order to find the "loophole" to let the Government take more and more power from the people.

It's strange, I thought it started with "We The People..." but then again I could be wrong. I doubt it though. Thanks for the "APPLAUSE" from ATS and the poster's comments on this. Please feel free to post on here, whether you agree or disagree with it. I'm sure there are many differing viewpoints out there.

Notice in the CNN interview how this guy doesn't seem the least bit worried about an impending FBI investigation?
Now I wonder why that might be?
Is it that he's so deep in bed with the Admin that he feels he has "protection" from any kind of prosecution? Could we say de facto immunity, like the rest of the rest of the gang up there?
Its ominous indeed that they are gearing up for increased involvement on home soil. How convenient that would be for an administration bent on controlling dissent, or just as well, controlling the population in the event of some fortuitous disaster.

This is of course a private military organization that is not answerable to the American public like the rest of the military and Government. This is because the rules have been changed on us and I am certain it was done somewhere within the regular laws with a "bait and switch" tactic as a "necessary" thing to be set-up in order to "secure democracy" because the politicians said so.

These are highly trained killers that answer to no one other than the Government, plain and simple. Do you get that? Answerable only to the Government. The Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine's are answerable to the American people if enough of them throw a hissy fit or threaten to oust a politician over some policy they promoted and or drafted.

This is a whole new military organization speaking metaphorically here in that it is only owned and answerable to the money that pays it's paychecks, whoever that may be. The Government controls it but we the citizens are footing the bill for it, somewhere.

[edit on 3-5-2008 by SpartanKingLeonidas]

Ever wonder why the hit TV show Jericho got taken off the air?

Because it was too close to to the truth.


'Terrorist attacks' were made in September on American soil, and in the end it turned out that government insiders organized those attacks. Oh, and what's more, they ended up using a MERCENARY ARMY THAT UNDERTOOK IN ATROCITIES IN IRAQ as their military, who were known as Ravenwood.

The government had used the false flag attacks to re-unify the country under a new type of patriotic control. They used it as an excuse to take out IRAN and NORTH KOREA.

Sound familiar? I'm 99% sure that is why the show was axed.

Guys come on, the government is just doing this for your safety. Your safety is all that matters to the government. It is a swap-meet. You bring your freedom, your civil rights, your human rights, and your copy of the constitution, and in turn you get safety. I am surprised they didnt call Blackwater the new Sons of Liberty since the government is big on oxymorons.

This post was brought to you by *sarcasm*

reply to post by Aaron_Justin


You know, the scariest thing about your post is that there are people here that say that SERIOUSLY. They truly believe that, or at least "they try to get others to believe it". lol

And I agree foofFstar---This rabbit hole goes so deep that very few could fathom such things were even possible. A show like jericho softens the blow and actually opens up people to thinking outside of the box of tricks that has been "taught" to them by TPTB. These people fear that the most-an awakened and aware populace.

reply to post by Aaron_Justin



Dude! That was one scary post!

Don't do that to me..., I'll never got to sleep now!

DD;

You're right! It's an incredible shocker to see a /sarcasm post that you buy into from the first line then releases you back into sanity... so abruptly.

I was laughing all through reading some of the humorous posts. It is understandable that in the book about Blackwater that it almost is made to sound like this is the new "Knights Templar" as in the days of the Middle Ages, or more aptly named, "Dark Ages" where Government and Church had total rule of the people and where learning was against the law. Wait a minute,...is this the "New Dark Ages?"

According to this book, I'll provide a link to it again in a minute, some of the founders of Blackwater even boast of their membership in the "Sovereign Military Order of Malta", a Christian militia formed in the 11th century, before the first Crusades. If you follow that link their emblem sure reminds Me of the Knights Templar.

For those who didn't see the link for the book I mention here, here it is again :

Blackwater : The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army : Jeremy Scahill

[edit on 3-5-2008 by SpartanKingLeonidas]

I've read the book, and completed independant research afterwards to see if what the author had written was a load of old baloney.

The resulting information I recovered mostly backed up what was in the book.

Soon after completing the book (and the research), came news of the offer of 'humanitarian' aid to the Dafur region. At about the same time, threads started appearing on ATS regarding the building up of aircraft for by companies associated with Blackwater.

The book is thorough, and can roughly be divided into two parts - the first defining the purpose and documents the rise of Blackwater as an entity, whilst the second half digs deeper into the people associated with it and the budgets that are seconded its way.

In my opinion, Blackwater (and the three other main mercenary companies) are the way of the future. But in a bad way.

This is made worse by the fundamentalist nature of the company.

If it were Islamic, they would have been shut down, or the country that hosts them would have had extreme pressure put on them to stop.

Worth a read, if only for the Cindy Sheehan story, the revelations of the strong christian element running through it, and the comparative youth of the man at the top running it.

Starred and flagged. Wish I had more to say, but I'm getting a bit bobble-headed here so I'll have to come back tomorrow and dig in. Cheers.

SKL, thank you for the invite...

The real danger I see here, is not a lack of "answer-ability" as the military does "not" answer to the people. It is a lack of accountability and control issues.

The military is designed to function within certain boundaries and through the "Chiefs of Staff" are held accountable to the elected officials, in essence controlled by them.

Organizations such as Blackwater, if controlled by groups with individual agendas, (No reason to think it would not be) would have no accountability and could effectively run amok. With very few exceptions, local, county and state law enforcement would have no way of dealing with such a para-military organization in battle conditions.

Scary stuff...

I have also wondered about Jericho. Such a popular show to have ended the way it did and so soon...

Semper

It's the accountability question that holds true here.

A soldier cannot be tried for deaths resulting from actions of war (a gross generalisation, but bear with me), the position Blackwater could take, and has taken, is that they were acting on order from the military/government, therefore, they cannot be tried.

This creates a neutral buffer zone that is hard to create a legal case against when Blackwater is taken to court over an employees death.

Therefore, Blackwater - in the eyes of the government - has the permission to act alone with (and without) the backing of the leaders of the USA.

Complicated yes, but incredibly handy when you're trying to avoid war crime charges.

Something else I am always sure to point out to people, those four "contractors" that were killed, burned and hung in Iraq were mercenaries.

Four contractors working for the US army have been killed and their bodies mutilated in the Iraqi city of Falluja.

The group were shot and burnt in their cars, before a cheering crowd dismembered the corpses and hung two of them from a bridge.

The US State Department has confirmed all four contractors were US civilians.

I never knew this and before I "woke up"(around 2005, I used to be a neo-con, though I THOUGHT I was a conservative ) I always assumed they were guys doing things like installing air conditioners and electricity.

That is how the news portrayed them... Remember, they don't need to lie. They just omit and utilize newspeak. They are not mercenaries or private military, they are contractors.

Turns out they were probably killing innocents.

I hate to say it, but they probably deserved what they got. (

Originally posted by CaptInsanoX
Something else I am always sure to point out to people, those four "contractors" that were killed, burned and hung in Iraq were mercenaries.

Four contractors working for the US army have been killed and their bodies mutilated in the Iraqi city of Falluja.

The group were shot and burnt in their cars, before a cheering crowd dismembered the corpses and hung two of them from a bridge.

The US State Department has confirmed all four contractors were US civilians.

I never knew this and before I "woke up"(around 2005, I used to be a neo-con, though I THOUGHT I was a conservative

) I always assumed they were guys doing things like installing air conditioners and electricity.

That is how the news portrayed them... Remember, they don't need to lie. They just omit and utilize newspeak. They are not mercenaries or private military, they are contractors.

Turns out they were probably killing innocents.

I hate to say it, but they probably deserved what they got.

(

For your information, those four individuals were Blackwater contractors. It's spelled out in the book plus I know a mercenary who I used to work with (not in that context of work, sorry) who was always talking about that specific incident.

The reason the Blackwater contractors were treated that way is because the Iraqi's consider them worse than the military because they show no mercy and there were other specific crimes against the people that were done (that's hearsay, I know, but it's "the word on the street" in Iraq).

I know I've also heard the Iraqi's consider the Marine's more serious about warfare than the Army, because if they see the Marine's coming they will leave an encounter while if it's the Army they will stick around because they consider them punks.

[edit on 4-5-2008 by SpartanKingLeonidas]

Originally posted by SpartanKingLeonidas
For your information, those four individuals were Blackwater contractors. It's spelled out in the book plus I know a mercenary who I used to work with (not in that context of work, sorry) who was always talking about that specific incident.

Yes, I know they were. I have read the book. Although, I found out before that. Once my eyes were opened it seemed only too obvious that they were. I mean, it's one of those things that is a blatant DUH.

Another interesting tidbit is that there are as many of them in Iraq as there are soldiers AND the same thugs have responded to things like Hurricane Katrina. Just getting some home turf experience for all out martial law.

Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans. Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor; indeed some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards on their arms. They say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force. Several mercenaries we spoke with said they had served in Iraq on the personal security details of the former head of the US occupation, L. Paul Bremer and the former US ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte.

Truthout


These guys are hardcore. If I see any of their vehicles approaching my property I will shoot on sight. Period. I will not be treated like a poor Iraqi family.

reply to post by CaptInsanoX



Hey, I didn't mean for that to sound you were uninformed on those four contractors. I re-read it after you posted a response and it sounded like I was to Me. I appreciate the comments, stars, and flags from everyone and do not want to sound like a know-it-all.

Here's a different link to a thread I did on the CIA Rendition program :

G.I.Jane vs Rendition...Hollywood vs Reality...Training vs Torture...WATERBOARDING

Here's a great book outlining and talking about the entire procedure of "Extra-Ordinary Rendition" that I have read :

Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program : Stephen Grey

The book details everything from locations of take-off to landing and everything inbetween, including where they get the hired help. The author is a world-renowned writer for a lot of well known newspapers.

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas


No offense taken. The important thing is the fact that they are being trained to be used against us Americans, by allowing them to kill innocents in foreign countries. Bush has made torture OK. Has created laws to instate martial law, prison camps and seize control of EVERYTHING. THe democrats sit by and watch him, because they ARE IN ON THE JOKE!

I used to be proud of this country, then I realized empires are not a good thing.

So THAT'S what Star Wars was talking about!