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No Law Applies To Private Contractors In Iraq

2008-10-22T15:30:26Z

Clinton vs Obama on Blackwater

2008-10-18T09:30:40Z

More at therealnews.com Winter Solider: Jeremy Scahill discusses why no presidential candidate plans on fully leaving Iraq Monday March 17th, 2008 Jeremy Scahill is the author of the bestselling Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. He is an award-winning investigative journalist and correspondent for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!.

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President Bush On "Private Contractors" In Iraq

2008-10-23T21:30:14Z

He actually admitted he has no clue when it comes to this issue, and needs to call Sec. Rumsfeld (ahh, what a pleasant blast from the past) to ask him what laws govern their activity in Iraq.

Just watch this. The lack of any knowledge or interest in answering the question. His goofy un-presidential behavior. It's the whole package of what was installed in 2000 and has destroyed many things Americans hold dear in the years since.

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Mercenaries on C-SPAN

2008-01-12T20:25:13Z

Congress takes on a gang of highly trained warriors and C-SPAN 3 is there to cover it.

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Blackwater vs. Counterinsurgency

2008-10-24T03:29:25Z

House Hearing on Blackwater Security Firm in Iraq, October 2, 2007

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"It appears to me, Blackwater has special rules"

2008-10-24T03:29:23Z

Rep. Carolyn Maloney questions Blackwater CEO Erik Prince today in Congress about the drunken mercenary who killed an Iraqi and was merely fired and fined a couple thousand dollars.

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War for sale--cheap! More on Blackwater et al

2008-01-12T20:21:57Z

Rosa Brooks states the obvious, but it bears repeating. Lots of repeating: The administration has sold key government functions to the highest bidder...

...components of U.S. foreign policy...for sale includ[e]... intelligence gathering, humanitarian assistance and counter-terrorism.[...] [The following corporations] make money doing the things we used to assume only the U.S. government did -- such as fight our wars, protect our diplomats, interrogate suspected terrorists and engage in nation-building.

To recap:

Blackwater USA: Military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping and stability operations. They keep promising to do everything the U.S. government can do, only better. It's North Carolina military facility is so good that the U.S. military uses it for training.
ArmorGroup: A British private security company, provides protective security services, risk management consultancy, security training and weapons reduction and mine action services.
DynCorp: A U.S. private military contractor and aircraft maintenance company. Most recently DynCorp has publicly expressed interest in patrolling the border between USA and Mexico. DynCorp International also provided much of the security for Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai's presidential guard and trains much of Afghanistan's and Iraq's fledgling police force. DynCorp was also hired to assist recovery in Louisiana and neighboring areas after Hurricane Katrina.
CACI: Information technology. Its major markets are defense, intelligence, homeland security. In 2004, the company was linked to the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse along with another government contractor, Titan Corp.
Halliburton: As you know, it provides technical products and services for oil and gas exploration and production. It has been at the forefront of several media and political controversies in relation to its work for the U.S. government, its political ties, and its corporate ethics. It is the only company mentioned by Osama bin Laden in an April 2004 tape in which he claims that "this is a war [in Iraq] that is benefiting major companies with billions of dollars." Four words: The Nation of Dick.
Kellogg Brown & Root (subsidiary of Haliburton): It is a major construction company of refineries, oil fields, pipelines, and chemical plants. See "Halliburton".

And that's just for starters. Profit motive is their aphrodesiac.

Increasingly, Blackwater looks like a miniature government. It has people, infrastructure and hardware. For instance, it is buying Brazilian-made fighter bombers -- great in combat but not really necessary if you're merely providing civilian bodyguards.

Excess is everything. "Less is more" is obsolete. "More is more" is the new Black(water).

The White House's motives are obvious. Why fight another war, with all the bother of convincing Congress, if you can quietly hire a private military company to fight it for you? [...] Why go through the tedious process of training Afghan judges if DynCorp will handle it instead -- as long as you're not too picky about the results?

Then again, this administration has never been too picky about judges.

So, what does Blackwater founder Erik Prince have to say about all this?

"We're trying to do for the national security apparatus what FedEx did for the Postal Service."

And how did that turn out? I think we all know:

Since FedEx rendered the post office irrelevant for all but the most trivial forms of mail, this means you can kiss our national security apparatus goodbye.

Heckuva job, Bushies.

Real News or Bourne Ultimatum?

2008-09-27T01:10:45Z

Another edition of everyone's favorite quiz game: Real News or The Bourne Ultimatum! This week we focus on the shadowy mercenary army Blackwater USA.

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P.W. Singer: Blackwater Ban "Inevitable"

2008-09-27T01:11:09Z

P.W. Singer, a Brookings Institution Senior Fellow and author of Corporate Warriors says the ban on Blackwater by the Iraqi government "was inevitable." He writes in a richly detailed post in Wired's military blog Danger Room that even before the recent incident in which numerous civilians were killed and more wounded, several things were painfully clear about Blackwater:

Jeremy Scahill talks to CNN about Blackwater

2008-10-20T03:30:32Z

Jeremy Scahill, author of "Blackwater: The Rise of World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" talks to CNN International after Blackwater was banned by the Iraqi government for opening fire in Baghdad, killing at least nine civilians and wounding 18.

We're in the midst right now of a discussion about a surge, and about troop withdrawls, and we hear conflicting messages, but there's been a surge on for 4 years of the private sector in Iraq.."

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Jeremy Scahill discusses the Mercenary Revolution

2008-10-01T00:16:40Z

Jeremy Scahill, author of "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" and writer for The Nation, has written a richly detailed new article on the massively wealthy and powerful corporations behind the 200,000 private contractors in Iraq. From almost no congressional oversight, to casualties that go unaccounted for, Scahill continues to reveal the Mercenary Revolution that so many are unaware of. Read the full article.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Accountability, Transparency, and Web Video

2008-10-05T19:09:08Z

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln traveled to a battlefield cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and urged his countrymen to dedicate themselves to the preservation of “government of the people, by the people and for the people.” It is to this same cause that Democrats have dedicated ourselves.

Throughout the history of our nation, there has been an ongoing struggle to put the people’s interest ahead of the special interests. But for the last six years, under Republican control, Congress failed to conduct its proper oversight role, resulting in fiascos such as the mismanagement of our Iraq policy, widespread corruption by contractors such as Halliburton, and the failed response to Hurricane Katrina. The culture of corruption under Republican control was an affront to the idea of a representative democracy, and its consequences were devastating: a complex and costly Medicare prescription drug bill written by the pharmaceutical industry, an energy policy written by the oil industry, and record deficits to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy few.

Inside Iraq - Security Contractors - 08 June 07 - Part 2

2008-10-14T21:29:47Z

Does the presence of private armies in Iraq increase violence and hostility?

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Inside Iraq - Security Contractors - 08 June 07 - Part 1

2008-10-14T21:29:51Z

Does the presence of private armies in Iraq increase violence and hostility?

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Headzup: Cheney's Independence Day Speech

2008-11-11T16:37:08Z

Vice President Cheney honors those he cares about the most. Read more about private contractors here-- www.latimes.com Download daily Catch and Release Comedy™ political cartoons to your mobile phone or iPod at www.headzup.tv

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Insight into private contractors legal council

2008-09-27T01:08:24Z

A recent article on David Hammond, a lawyer for numerous private contractors in Iraq such as Blackwater USA, Triple Canopy Inc., DynCorp International Inc. and Erinys Llc, sheds some light on contractors growing legal problems and Hammond's stragedies for dealing with them. It also illuminates the hypocrisy by which contractors claim they are transparent and want to be held accountable, yet instruct their legal council to insulate their accountability and resolve problems in secrecy.

New Congress to put Blackwater on the hot seat

2008-11-11T17:29:18Z

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, led by Rep. Henry Waxman, will be holding four days of hearings beginning today on waste, fraud and abuse by private contractors. Tomorrow will focus specifically on Blackwater USA. Founder and chairman Erik Prince has been invited as a witness, but it is still unclear if he intends on attending. Also invited to testify are family members of the four Blackwater contractors killed in Fallujah, Iraq in March 2004.

Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia noted that in nearly four years of war no civilian contractor has yet been prosecuted for abuse or misconduct in Iraq. Read all the details.