Blackwater Security. I need info...

[devilgrrl]

Who's funding them? What are they doing in Iraq and Afghanistan? Controversies, etc... I need links.

Thanks in advance. :-)

[devilgrrl]

1. Found a good one...

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackwater_USA

[billyoc]

2. I consider Jeremy Scahill the ultimate authority on this subject.

http://www.alternet.org/authors/5434/

[eleny]

3. Read "Blackwater" by Jeremy Scahill

I'm almost finished with it and it's an informative page turner.

As for who is funding them - they have gov't contracts. So, we do when it's for the U.S. The book covers the history of the company and is a fascinating albeit scary read.

http://www.amazon.com/Blackwater-Rise-Worlds-Powerful-Mercenary/dp/1560259795

[bobthedrummer]

4. From Grand Rapids Independent Media

"The Far Right in West Michigan: Erik Prince"
http://www.mediamouse.org/resources/right.php?personId=8

[welshTerrier2]

5. check out this link

i did a query on the DemocracyNow website for "Scahill". There are hours worth of interviews (audio, video, transcripts) he did for the show. Most focused on Blackwater.

here's the link: http://www.democracynow.org/search.pl?query=scahill

[fed-up]

6. here are some google news stories and Sunday's ap story

I can't believe this story made the bottom of the front fold in our local rag on Sunday via AP

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3470191
Iraq Contractors Accused in Shootings"


and this was in our local alternative paper a few months ago when Jeremy came to Chico
http://chicobeat.com/?q=bush_s_shadow_army
Bush’s Shadow Army
by Tom Gascoyne - 05/11/2007

and some google searches

"contractors in iraq"
http://news.google.com/news?client=safari&rls=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&tab=wn&scoring=n&q=%22contractors+in+iraq%22&btnG=Search+News

Escalation By The Numbers
Electronic Iraq - 14 hours ago
Estimated number of US-(taxpayer)-paid private contractors in Iraq: More than 180000, again undoubtedly an all-time high. That figure includes approximately ...

Breaking News: Recapture No-Bid Contractor Charges!
OpEdNews, PA - 18 hours ago
... to me to my satisfaction, I question the Uniqueness of those so specified in employ of the government as contractors in Iraq, in that area at least. ...

Iraq War Veteran, Matt Howard, Speaks At St Mary’s Catholic Church ...
The Westender, Australia - 20 hours ago
(He later said that there are as many contractors in Iraq as US troops, and that contractors are "acting like cowboys", shooting people in broad daylight in ...

Anti-Mafia police uncover arms-to-Iraq plot
Guardian Unlimited, UK - Aug 12, 2007
The Pentagon estimates that there are 20000 private security contractors in Iraq. Colonel Douglas Gorgoni, senior finance officer for the Corps of Engineers ...

Comments on this Story
Arizona Daily Star, AZ - Aug 12, 2007
There are now nearly as many private contractors in Iraq as there are US soldiers — and a large percentage of them are private security guards equipped with ...

US payments to security contractors in Iraq soar
Houston Chronicle, United States - Aug 11, 2007
BAGHDAD, IRAQ — The US military has paid $548 million over the past three years to two British security firms that protect the US Army Corps of Engineers on ...

US Papers Sun: Dems In No Hurry to Leave Iraq
IraqSlogger - Aug 11, 2007
The Post gets in a good one, however, with another article on private security contractors in Iraq, and fills out its op-eds and editorial pages with things ...

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales visits Iraq
Times of India, India - Aug 11, 2007
In the DOJ statement, Gonzales praised the work of 200-plus DOJ employees and contractors in Iraq helping rebuild the country's law enforcement and legal ...

Iraq Contractors Accused In Shootings
Guardian Unlimited, UK - Aug 11, 2007
From AP By DEBORAH HASTINGS AP National Writer There are now nearly as many private contractors in Iraq as there are US soldiers - and a large percentage of ...

Iraq Contractors Accused in Shootings
ABC News - Aug 11, 2007
(AP Photo/FILE) The Associated Press By DEBORAH HASTINGS AP National Writer There are now nearly as many private contractors in Iraq as there are US ...






"blackwater security"

http://news.google.com/news?client=safari&rls=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&tab=wn&q=%22blackwater+security%22&scoring=n

Contract Protests Don't Often Succeed
Forbes, NY - 11 hours ago
But by late summer, the Army had decided to award the new, two-year contract to Blackwater Security Consulting, a unit of the Moyock, NC-based Blackwater ...

Iraq Contractors Accused In Shootings
Guardian Unlimited, UK - Aug 11, 2007
... contractor controversies in Iraq, including the May 30 shooting death of an Iraqi deemed to be driving too close to a Blackwater security detail. ...

Blackwater in a Grey World
The Indypendent, NY - Aug 10, 2007
By Jeremy Skahill By Jeremy Skahill While Blackwater and other firms reject the label “mercenary” firms, Blackwater executives have even turned the grey ...

Pentagon seeks stronger armored vehicles
Washington Date Line, DC - Aug 9, 2007
... NC, and Blackwater Security Consulting of Moyock, NC Each firm can submit two versions -- one capable of carrying six soldiers and another carrying 10. ...

Pentagon Eyes More Than a Dozen New Potential Vendors for MRAP II
InsideDefense (subscription), DC - Aug 1, 2007
Other prospective MRAP builders identified by the Marine Corps include Blackwater Security Consulting, Moyock, NC; AMTANK Armor, Cleveland, OH; ...

2 British Firms Are Finalists for US Job in Iraq
Washington Post, United States - Jul 27, 2007
... but two other firms confirmed that they, too, are out of the running -- Control Risks of Britain and Blackwater Security Consulting of North Carolina. ...

Senate Republicans Win Fight to Continue Losing Iraq War
Unconfirmed Sources (satire) - Jul 18, 2007
said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice In other news shares of Blackwater Security International rose sharply on news of the war continuing indefinitely.

US forces kill Iraqi civilians every day
World Socialist Web Site, MI - Jul 16, 2007
In May, employees of Blackwater Security shot and killed an Iraqi who drove “too close” to their vehicle. According to an Iraqi official cited by the ...

[kevinmc]

7. Blackwater Report

There is video also on the link ..

http://www.knbc.com/news/13858496/detail.html?rss=la&psp=news

Blackwater Report
The Following Is A Transcript Of A Report Broadcast Aug. 9 On KNBC

Newscast (from documentary "Iraq For Sale"): Breaking news. The four Americans were ambushed and killed in Falluja.

PAUL MOYER: They're unforgettable...horrific images from Iraq in March 2004...the bodies of four American civilians burned and strung up by an Iraqi mob. Few of us knew at the time that the victims were employees of a company called Blackwater, one of the fastest-growing private security outfits in the world

RICK JACOBS: They are former seals and former highly trained army personnel. They have helicopters. They have tanks. They report to no one.

MOYER: Rick Jacobs first learned about Blackwater while making this documentary about the 180,000 private contractors, including Blackwater's own, who work in the war zone outnumbering even American troops.

JACOBS: We told the story of Blackwater as probably the most egregious of the private contractors that have really privatized the war in Iraq.

MOYER: Now Rick is worried about another aspect of Blackwater's agenda – its plans to create a massive training base in a desert east of San Diego.

JACOBS: Blackwater arguably is on its way to becoming auxiliary policemen in this state.

MOYER: Jacobs, an LA-based political activist, has organized a grass-roots crusade to keep Blackwater out of California -- and he's attracted some powerful allies, like Congressman Bob Filner of San Diego.

BOB FILNER: The same group that is training for foreign mercenary groups can be used in domestic situations whether it's a riot or some other a disaster. That worries me that we don't have any way of knowing what they're doing really.

MOYER: Why does Blackwater inspire such intense emotion? Speaking broadly, it's just a private company doing business here and abroad.

BRIAN BONFIGLIO, Blackwater West: We're not a mercenary army.

Blackwater as a whole, as a company, does not engage in offensive operations. Never have, never will. And we've never worked for any other state than the United States of America. So mercenary doesn't apply.

MOYER: And he says the company is accountable – to the law and whoever contracts its services. Not everyone is reassured.

JEREMY SCAHILL, Author Of Book Blackwater: Out of the rubble of 9-11 it has risen to become one of the most powerful private actors operating in the so-called war on terror.

Blackwater operates the largest private military base in the world in North Carolina. It has operatives deployed in nine countries around the world. They boast of having 20,000 troops at the ready that could be deployed at a moment's notice. ..... more at link ...

[Blue_Tires]

8. i don't have a link, but

our local paper, the Virginian-Pilot ran an informative series about the mercenary firm last year...you might try to search those archives

[soothsayer]

9. Bush's lawyer was previously the lead counsel for bilgewater.

[ArkySue]

10. I ran across this on the 'nets

They are branching out into "intelligence."
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=119833&ran=88794