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Blackwater License Being Revoked in Iraq

The_Real_ElRoi

The_Real_ElRoi

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By BASSEM MROUE
The Associated Press
Monday, September 17, 2007; 11:48 AM

BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi government said Monday that it was revoking the license of an American security firm accused of involvement in the deaths of eight civilians in a firefight that followed a car bomb explosion near a State Department motorcade.

The Interior Ministry said it would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force in the Sunday shooting. It was the latest accusation against the U.S.-contracted firms that operate with little or no supervision and are widely disliked by Iraqis who resent their speeding motorcades and forceful behavior.

Underscoring the seriousness of the matter, the State Department said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice planned to call Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to express regret and assure him that the U.S. has launched an investigation into the matter to ensure nothing like it happens again.

washingtonpost.com

In case you're not familiar with Blackwater:

Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army - Part I
Democracy Now! | Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army

Part II - Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
Democracy Now! | Part II - Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
 
I have always held a strong belief that we should never use mercenaries in war. The military has a strong code and chain of command, but that cannot be said for mercenaries. If an atrocity was committed, people are going to blame the military, when it was mercenaries which committed it. Although mercenaries may regard themselves as professionals, they are not equivalent to our troops, and never will be, and because of these mercenaries, we could be facing a backlash from the Iraqi people, and sporting a black eye we should not have had.

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Iraq_orders_halt_to_US_firm_s_opera_09172007.html
 
Not the first time, and its happened in Afganistan too. What I dont understand is why on earth the US goverment hires these thugs when they have so many in the military?

Also the Iraqi goverment has zero jurastiction over Blackwater, as the US and its "allies" made sure of that back under the occupation. So the Iraqi goverment can huff and puff, but they can to jack **** about it. So much for having "control" over Iraq.
 
The_Real_ElRoi said:
Not to mention the US has paid those idiots alone nearly a billion dollars. That's the publicly known amount, there's no telling how much they have received under the table. It relates back to this story:

http://www.debatepolitics.com/break...id-9b-cash-airlifted-fed-iraq-go-missing.html
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1. I would not trust DN's take on Blackwater any more than I would trust my dog with my t-bone.

2. they are PMCs not mercenaries. The fact that you call them "idiots" demonstrates your position of willful ignorance.
 
PeteEU said:
...What I dont understand is why on earth the US goverment hires these thugs...
Click to expand...

Go read/watch those interviews with author Jeremy Scahill that I posted above. The founder and CEO of the "company" has long ties to Bush and his cronies.
 
Correspondent Jeremy Scahill Testifies in Landmark House Hearing on Defense Contracting

There are over 120,000 private contractors currently deployed in Iraq and yesterday, a House panel put some of the harshest criticisms of this privatization of war into the congressional record for the first time. The House Appropriations subcommittee on defense held a hearing on Thursday about defense contracting. Testifying before the panel was journalist Jeremy Scahill and filmmaker Robert Greenwald.

Jeremy is a Democracy Now! correspondent and an investigative reporter for The Nation magazine. He is author of the book “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army.” In his opening remarks, he spoke about the lack of oversight of the tens of thousands of contractors deployed in Iraq.

Democracy Now! | Author and DN! Correspondent Jeremy Scahill Testifies in Landmark House Hearing on Defense Contracting


The worst part about Blackwater is that they don't even care about their own employees:

Pivotal Family Lawsuit Against Blackwater USA Blocked from Court -- and Moved to Panel with Company Ties

A landmark lawsuit whose outcome could have have wide-ranging implications on issues of accountability for the entire private military industry has been partially derailed. At the center of it all is the private security firm Blackwater USA. The lawsuit was brought by the families of four Blackwater employees killed in Iraq three years ago. The four men died in a convoy ambush in March 2004 in the city of Fallujah. After being shot, the men’s bodies were dragged through the streets and mutilated. Two of the corpses were strung from a bridge.

The lawsuit says Blackwater broke its contractual obligations to the four men by sending them into hostile territory unprepared -- namely, in unarmored vehicles and without automatic weapons or a rear gunner. Blackwater appealed the case unsuccessfully all the way to the Supreme Court. But this week, a federal judge ordered the lawsuit to be decided behind closed doors in arbitration.

This will allow Blackwater to avoid public examination of its practices in Iraq. And the outcome of the arbitration will be confidential. The news was first reported by the Virginian-Pilot. The paper reports that one of the three arbitrators could be William Webster, who served as head of the FBI and CIA under President Reagan and has personal and business ties to several Blackwater lawyers.

Democracy Now! | Pivotal Family Lawsuit Against Blackwater USA Blocked from Court -- and Moved to Panel with Company Ties
 
EL rio


This jermey dn shill post is willful ignorance on DN's part.

PMC's supply thier own choice of loadout, including Plate carriers and level of armor.

Its in the job description.
 
Reverend_Hellh0und said:
1. I would not trust DN's take on Blackwater any more than I would trust my dog with my t-bone.

2. they are PMCs not mercenaries. The fact that you call them "idiots" demonstrates your position of willful ignorance.
Click to expand...

I would trust your opinion on any subject about as much as I would trust your dog with your t-bone. Your willful blindness to the realities of what is going in the world makes just about anything you say completely irrelevant.
 
Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill

YouTube - Blackwater: Shadow Army

Blood Is Thicker Than Blackwater
by Jeremy Scahill
April 19, 2006
The Nation

It is one of the most infamous incidents of the war in Iraq: On March 31, 2004, four private American security contractors get lost and end up driving through the center of Falluja, a hotbed of Sunni resistance to the US occupation. Shortly after entering the city, they get stuck in traffic, and their small convoy is ambushed. Several armed men approach the two vehicles and open fire from behind, repeatedly shooting the men at point-blank range. Within moments, their bodies are dragged from the vehicles and a crowd descends on them, tearing them to pieces. Eventually, their corpses are chopped and burned. The remains of two of the men are strung up on a bridge over the Euphrates River and left to dangle. The gruesome image is soon beamed across the globe.

Blood Is Thicker Than Blackwater


Blackwater Runs Red

In 1997, Erik Prince founded Blackwater USA, expanding the family's Christian conservative empire into private security and war for hire.

Erik is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and son of the late billionaire automotive parts supplier, Edgar. (In a Q&A published by the Virginian-Pilot on July 24, Erik noted some of his father's less successful ideas, including a sock drawer light and an automated ham de-boning device.)

The elder Prince was widely known for his close association with anti-choice crusader Gary Bauer. Bauer was a domestic policy advisor in the Reagan White House before succeeding Jerry Regier (a former Reagan official, as well) for the leadership role of the Family Research Council (FRC) in 1988. With Edgar's help, Bauer put the FRC on the map. (When Edgar died in 1995, the company was sold for $1.4 billion.)

Erik's sister Elizabeth, commonly referred to as Betsy, was the head of the Michigan Republican Party until early 2005. She is also the former finance chairwoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). She married Dick DeVos, the son of billionaire Amway co-founder (now under the name Alticor), Richard DeVos. Forbes ranked DeVos as the 121st richest person in the world in 2003 with an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion.

Blackwater Runs Red
 
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Reverend_Hellh0und said:
1. I would not trust DN's take on Blackwater any more than I would trust my dog with my t-bone.

2. they are PMCs not mercenaries. The fact that you call them "idiots" demonstrates your position of willful ignorance.
Click to expand...

I would say the fact that the fact that Iraq has decided to kick them out because of this and other incidents speaks for itself, no matter which organizations are reporting it. I will reiterate - No civilian organization should EVER be doing military duty. If Blackwater employees feel patriotic, though, I have no problem with them signing up for a hitch in the Army. They just might learn or relearn (if they served before) a little discipline and self control too, while they are at it. And most importantly, if they screw up like this, they will have to answer for it at a court martial.
 
danarhea said:
I would say the fact that the fact that Iraq has decided to kick them out because of this and other incidents speaks for itself, no matter which organizations are reporting it. I will reiterate - No civilian organization should EVER be doing military duty. If Blackwater employees feel patriotic, though, I have no problem with them signing up for a hitch in the Army. They just might learn or relearn (if they served before) a little discipline and self control too, while they are at it. And most importantly, if they screw up like this, they will have to answer for it at a court martial.
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Does no such thing. What it does show is Maliki's willingness to take control of his country for once, though backed on the wrong horse.


What do you think contractors do?


1. Escort convoys of civillian delivery trucks. this is a civillian job.

2. Protection of VIP's. While the USMC has a unit that does this, from what I hear they are over extended. Blackwater and such are thier to take up the slack and are cheaper than training .mil to do these non combt jobs.
 
Reverend_Hellh0und said:
Does no such thing. What it does show is Maliki's willingness to take control of his country for once, though backed on the wrong horse.


What do you think contractors do?


1. Escort convoys of civillian delivery trucks. this is a civillian job.

2. Protection of VIP's. While the USMC has a unit that does this, from what I hear they are over extended. Blackwater and such are thier to take up the slack and are cheaper than training .mil to do these non combt jobs.
Click to expand...

You just validated my point. Also, whose fault is it that the Marines are overextended?
 
Reverend_Hellh0und said:
Does no such thing. What it does show is Maliki's willingness to take control of his country for once, though backed on the wrong horse.


What do you think contractors do?


1. Escort convoys of civillian delivery trucks. this is a civillian job.

2. Protection of VIP's. While the USMC has a unit that does this, from what I hear they are over extended. Blackwater and such are thier to take up the slack and are cheaper than training .mil to do these non combt jobs.
Click to expand...


And they get paid ten times what the avaerage soldier does to do so. Capitalism at its best, huh?
 
danarhea said:
You just validated my point. Also, whose fault is it that the Marines are overextended?
Click to expand...




There is only a few in the Marine Corps protection unit and training them to do this job takes away from the needed combat roles furthermore the cost to employ PMC's to do this task is much less than it costs the .mil to train, equip, feed, house, med insurance, transport, logistics, deployment pay, etc Marines to do this job.
 
The_Real_ElRoi said:
And they get paid ten times what the avaerage soldier does to do so. Capitalism at its best, huh?
Click to expand...

See above post.


I am a consultant. I charge 10 times what the inhouse guy gets. Why? Because I can do it faster and without the overhead that the .mil requires.
 
Reverend_Hellh0und said:
There is only a few in the Marine Corps protection unit and training them to do this job takes away from the needed combat roles furthermore the cost to employ PMC's to do this task is much less than it costs the .mil to train, equip, feed, house, med insurance, transport, logistics, deployment pay, etc Marines to do this job.
Click to expand...

Wrong, wrong and wrong. You sir are talking out of your rectum.
 
The_Real_ElRoi said:
Go read/watch those interviews with author Jeremy Scahill that I posted above. The founder and CEO of the "company" has long ties to Bush and his cronies.
Click to expand...

Well, you had better start investigating Kucinich's ties NOW before he gets the nomination.

The point is that ALL powerful men and Hillary are going to have long ties with people in the business world. You can't help it and you don't want to if you want to do what's best for your district or your nation. The types of negotiation Obama would conduct with every one of our enemies :lol: is more appropriately seen in a politician having cordial and productive relationships with captains of industry.

You make it sound dirty.
 
danarhea said:
You just validated my point. Also, whose fault is it that the Marines are overextended?
Click to expand...

Stupid Iraqis who should stop fighting each other over stupid ****.
 
The_Real_ElRoi said:
You mean leach sucking off of the tax payer tit, don't you?
Click to expand...


Nope, that would be the left wing and the entitlements. I contract, I have rates others are willing to pay. This is America Jack.


and its "leech" btw. ;)





The_Real_ElRoi said:
Wrong, wrong and wrong. You sir are talking out of your rectum.
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That is very insightful, thoughtful, and full of debatable points. You sir are a glittering jewel of collosal ignorance.


Care to prove me wrong with some evidence and some links? :lol:
 
Reverend_Hellh0und said:
Nope, that would be the left wing and the entitlements. I contract, I have rates others are willing to pay. This is America Jack.


and its "leech" btw. ;)










That is very insightful, thoughtful, and full of debatable points. You sir are a glittering jewel of collosal ignorance.


Care to prove me wrong with some evidence and some links? :lol:
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. He could have been referring to Jim Leach, former Republican congressman from Iowa, in which case, he would be complimenting you. :mrgreen:
 
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