Blackwater has hired at least 60 Chilean commandos trained under the Pinochet regime

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1724225.0.0.php

BACK IN IRAQ: THE 'WHORES OF WAR'

America’s hired guns in Iraq have been called ‘the coalition of the billing’, but Blackwater mercenaries are accused of more than just taking the money. Investigations Editor Neil Mackay examines the links between the security firm and the US political elite

EVEN FOR Blackwater, it was an atrocity too far. If an Iraqi government report is to be believed, Blackwater, a US mercenary company which is unofficially the world's largest "for hire" private army, indiscriminately and without provocation opened fire earlier this month on civilians in a Baghdad street, killing at least 20 people.

Iraq immediately revoked the firm's licence to operate in the country and moved to expel its staff and prosecute those responsible for the shootings, but Blackwater's activities have since resumed.

This coincides with the release of a US Embassy report on the September 16 shooting, obtained by the Washington Post and described by a State Department official as a "first blush" account. It details the events, as given by Blackwater guards, and has stirred controversy in Iraq and Washington and prompted an inquiry into the role of Blackwater and other private security firms in Iraq. snip

The company, based near the Great Dismal Swamp in North Carolina, was co-founded by Erik Prince, a billionaire right-wing fundamentalist. At its HQ, Blackwater has trained more than 20,000 mercenaries to operate as freelancers in wars around the world. Prince is a big bankroller of the Republican Party - giving a total of around $275,550 - and was a young intern in the White House of George Bush Sr. Under George Bush Jr, Blackwater received lucrative no-bid contracts for work in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. His firm has pulled down contracts worth at least $320 million in Iraq alone.

Jeremy Scahill, who wrote the book Blackwater: The Rise Of The World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, says when Bush was re-elected in 2004, one company boss sent this email to staff: "Bush Wins, Four More Years!! Hooyah!!"

[robinlynne]

1. oh my god.

[PDJane]

2. An internet friend insists that

Some South African mercenaries have made their way into Blackwater too.

Seems some of her ex-pat friends have bragged about it. That's hearsay evidence, however.

It would not surprise me; they seem to be picking the cruelest and most willing to shoot first and ask questions later. The ones with no loyalty. Maybe the most racist, too. It's a bad situation.

[jeff30997]

5. Too bad that the last SS still alive...

Are too old because they would be hired on the spot by that disgusting corporation.:puke:

[and-justice-for-all]

3. Well those are some high Xtian morals in action...

:sarcasm:

[chill_wind]

10. Ain't that the truth, though it never gets mentioned in the corporate whore news...Erik Prince

article | posted September 27, 2007 (October 15, 2007 issue)
Making a Killing

Jeremy Scahill

(...)
The company's domestic political clout has been key to its success. It is owned by Erik Prince, a reclusive right-wing evangelical Christian who has served as a major bankroller of the campaigns of George W. Bush and his allies. Among the company's senior executives are former CIA official J. Cofer Black, who once oversaw the extraordinary-rendition program and led the post-9/11 hunt for Osama bin Laden (and who currently serves as GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's top counterterrorism adviser), and Joseph Schmitz, the Pentagon Inspector General under Donald Rumsfeld.

(...)

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071015/scahill

[and-justice-for-all]

17. Since we know the kind of scum Erik Prince is...

Just think how bad the people are who work with him, like say JAMES DOBSON!!! who got all of his funds for starting FOTF bullshit scam he runs from Erik Prince!!!

[provis99]

4. Well, it makes sense

If you're a degenerate mercenary outfit like Blackwater, it makes sense to hire other degenerate mercenaries.

[Selatius]

6. South African Apartheid-era commandos have been hired for years now in Iraq.

No surprise that soldiers from other dictatorships have been hired to help crush Iraq.

[jeff30997]

7. K&R

I'm speechless.

[chill_wind]

8. Jeremy Scahill-- incredibly intense, studied authority on Blackwater.

Essential reading if you care about this subject-- Bush's Shadow Army. Except for the recent news scrawls that don't begin to probe the true extent and depths of this threat, most of mainstream America is totally in the dark about this matter.

I've seen him several times on FSTV giving talks about his book. If you ever get a chance to hear him. don't miss it. He's an incredibily gifted young speaker and writer, very committed to his subject matter (and has the most intelligent, gorgeous eyes!)

ARTICLES BY Jeremy Scahill

2007

Making a Killing
Jeremy Scahill | Who will mete out justice for America's merchants of death?
October 15, 2007 issue

Blackwater: Hired Guns, Above the Law
Jeremy Scahill | Acting with impunity and immune from prosecution, a shadow army funded by US taxpayers is fueling the spiraling violence in Iraq.
October 8, 2007 (web)

Blackwater Banned
Jeremy Scahill | Nation correspondent Jeremy Scahill explains in this September 17 CNN interview the impact of the Iraqi government's decision to ban Blackwater USA from operating in the country, following an incident in which its operatives were implicated in the killings of eight Iraqis.
October 1, 2007 (web)

Outsourcing the War
Jeremy Scahill | Testimony to Congress on the impact of private military contractors in Iraq.
May 28, 2007 (web)

Pull the Plug on the Mercenary War
Jeremy Scahill | Who will stop the shadow US army in Iraq? Don't count on Congressional Democrats.
May 14, 2007 (web)


Bush's Shadow Army
Jeremy Scahill | A VideoNation report on the Bush Administration's growing dependence on private security forces such as Blackwater USA and efforts in Congress to rein them in.
April 2, 2007 (web)

Bush's Shadow Army
Jeremy Scahill | An investigation into Blackwater USA reveals a frightening picture of a politically connected private army that serves as the administration's Praetorian guard.
April 2, 2007 issue

KBR's $400 Million Iraq Question
Jeremy Scahill & Garrett Ordower | Did the Pentagon's biggest Iraq contractor violate military policy by hiring Blackwater and other private military companies?
March 26, 2007 (web)

2006

From Whitewater to Blackwater
Jeremy Scahill & Garrett Ordower | Blackwater USA has a new attorney to defend it against a wrongful death lawsuit by families of four contractors killed in Iraq: Kenneth Starr.
November 13, 2006 (web)

Blackwater Shot Down in Federal Court
Jeremy Scahill | A federal appeals court has ruled a wrongful death lawsuit can proceed against Blackwater USA: Families claim the firm cut corners in pursuit of profit in Iraq, leading to the brutal deaths of four employees in Fallujah in 2004.
September 11, 2006 (web)

Mercenary Jackpot
Jeremy Scahill | As the United States decries the private militias of Lebanon and Iraq, GOP-connected, privately owned global mercenary firms receive blank checks and little oversight.
August 28, 2006 issue

In the Black(water)
Jeremy Scahill | Hurricane victims are still homeless in New Orleans, but thanks to the federal government's $30 million contract bonanza, Blackwater USA's profits are soaring.
June 5, 2006 issue


In the Black(water)
Jeremy Scahill
May 29, 2006 (web)

Blood Is Thicker Than Blackwater
Jeremy Scahill | Lawsuits by families of soldiers-for-hire killed in Falluja have put a major war profiteer in the cross-hairs.
May 8, 2006 issue

Exile on K Street
Jeremy Scahill | Scandals abound in the smoking remains of the Alexander Strategy Group.
February 20, 2006 issue

2005


The War on Al Jazeera
Jeremy Scahill | A top-secret memo detailing George W. Bush's proposal to bomb Al Jazeera is not "outlandish," as the White House claims. The Bush Administration had been threatening, insulting and imprisoning Al Jazeera staffers and other unembedded journalists long before Bush reportedly floated the idea to Tony Blair.
December 19, 2005 issue

Did Bush Really Want to Bomb Al Jazeera?
Jeremy Scahill | Given the Administration's record of attacking Al Jazeera verbally and militarily, is it conceivable that President Bush tried to convince Tony Blair to bomb its international headquarters? Only publication of an explosive memo will prove it.
December 12, 2005 (web)

Germ Boys and Yes Men
Jeremy Scahill | Stewart Simonson is a former Amtrak corporate attorney with zero medical experience. So why is he in charge of emergency health and bioterrorism in the federal government?
November 28, 2005 issue


Blackwater Down
Jeremy Scahill | With military and law enforcement forces combing New Orleans in the wake of the storm, why did the federal government feel compelled to hire private security firms Blackwater USA and BATS to keep the peace?
October 10, 2005 issue

The Other Bomb Drops
Jeremy Scahill | Bush began the Iraq invasion before he went to Congress.
June 13, 2005 (web)

Shooting the Messenger
Jeremy Scahill
March 7, 2005 issue

2003

Inside Baghdad
Jeremy Scahill | Iraqis, exhausted by years of sanctions and oppression, just want it all to end. SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
April 7, 2003 issue


Letter From Iraq
Jeremy Scahill | Resigned to war, even government opponents say they'll fight their attackers.
March 3, 2003 issue

To read all these offerings by Scahill-- go here.:

http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/jeremy_scahill

[Canuckistanian]

9. I guess all those former SS members were too old

These guys just don't have any concept of 'blowback', do they?

[kurth]

11. They all should be sent to Fallujah for R&R

[1932]

12. Is there a private army for the good guys?

[chill_wind]

13. kicking this. n/t

[G_j]

14. of course they did....k&r :-( ...n/t

:-(

[Evoman]

15. Fucking mercenary pieces of shit.

[nightrider767]

16. It won't be the Terrorist following us home when we leave Iraq,

It will be Blackwater.

[Judi Lynn]

18. Interesting quote in messages posted after this excellent article on Blackwater.........

{Fourth message) Posted by: Karel Vereycken, Paris on 8:58am Sun 30 Sep 07
MERCENARIES WITHOUT BORDERS, the “dogs of war” of financial globalization By Karel Vereycken

“While greed may be good, war is better” Forbes.com, comment on DynCorp’s financial profits on the stock markets.
(snip)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's one I intend to remember a very long time! Not one bit surprising, is it?