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Blackwater in the news again
Author: BobR    Date: 10/03/2007 12:34:20

It looks like the British are pulling another 1000 troops out of Iraq. Where does that leave us? How do we fill the void. More mercenaries?

Blackwater has been the main supplier of private for-hire soldiers, fullfilling the neocon dream of privitizing everything in the government, but - like most other neocon initiatives, this one is blowing up in their faces as well.

The House Oversight Committee filed a report on Monday that showed that Blackwater guards fired first 80% of the time.

Demanding some explanation they were told:
...In sworn testimony Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL who founded Blackwater, acknowledged that his guards sometimes will fire first on Iraqis in an attempt to prevent "potential car bombs," although he insisted the contractors follow a strict protocol before resorting to lethal force. The House Oversight Committee met in the wake of a Sept. 16 shooting during which Blackwater guards are alleged to have been unprovoked when they opened fire on a crowd of Iraqis, killing between 11 and 20 civilians...


And now the latest revelation is that Blackwater's COO:
... has numerous links to the White House as well as many current and former Republicans. The connections include the firm's chief operating officer Joseph Schmitz, who was tapped by President Bush in 2002 to "oversee and police the Pentagon's military contracts as the Defense Department's Inspector General." The relevation was first reported by Ben Van Heuvelen in Salon. Serving until 2005, Schmitz went on to preside over "the largest increase of military-contracting spending in history" and joined Blackwater just a month after his departure from the Pentagon, according to Van Heuvelen...


So the president once again appointed an industry fox to oversee the henhouse, who then left the White House to go wallow in the spoils (how's THAT for mixed metaphors? ). It's time for Blackwater to go.

Anyway - Try to smile - It's hump day!
 

87 comments (Latest Comment: 10/04/2007 18:14:47 by Raine)
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