Crime | January 29, 2009 | 19 comments

Blackwater Expanding Its Domestic Reach

source: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=MKgtcLhnPtE&feature=channel_page

WhiteNoise
Mike Papantonio of Air America's Ring of Fire talks about how the private mercenary firm Blackwater USA is expanding its projects to include domestic services, which could be disastrous if they act as they've acted in Iraq.

“Most people know the basic facts behind the Blackwater story. They may have read a few facts about how that mercenary organization was started by a phenomenally rich multimillionaire inheritance baby named Erik Prince. For decades, Prince’s daddy wooed all of his political friends by spreading millions of dollars around to conservative think-tanks and ultra-right religious infrastructures that helped shape the now floundering neo-con revolution.

Today, the Prince family’s private army numbers about 25,000 strong. They have their own inventory of aircraft, tanks, helicopter gunships, amphibious assault crafts and ammunition stashes that rival the armies of many Third World countries.

Soldiers enlisted in the US military get paid about $70 a day to put themselves in harm’s way while Mr. Prince’s private family soldier is paid around $1,500 a day for the same risks.

The numbers of Prince family mercenaries have mushroomed in these last eight years. Each of the mercenaries know they cannot be court-martialed when they break the law. And to this day, the lawyers for the Prince family soldiers are still arguing that these mercenaries can’t be prosecuted under traditional criminal and civil US Statutes.

Dwight Eisenhower made it clear on numerous occasions that no military machine should ever be allowed to gain independent unchecked power in America. Eisenhower developed his fears of unchecked military power at a time that he could not even visualize an entity as creepy and unregulated as this Prince private army.

Private armies were rare in the US during Eisenhower’s service as a soldier. And that was at a time when America’s public military had shown that it was capable of winning two World Wars without the help of American mercenaries.

As you might expect, the congressmen and advocacy groups that are trying to shut Blackwater down are being branded as un-American, unpatriotic liberals by the Prince family loyalists. But they would need to roll Eisenhower into that list of unpatriotic objectors.

They would also need to add the names of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to their list of un-American types. Both of them also warned us about the unchecked expansion of a military of any kind, public or private.

Washington put it this way: “Overgrown military establishments under any form of government are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.”

As I write this column, Blackwater is using part of the billion plus dollars they have been paid in mostly no-bid contracts to expand what they call their domestic operations division. That part of Prince’s private army will be able to defy the 130-year old policy of posse comitatus that says that a standing military may not carry out active operations on US soil.

More than a few of those so called un-American congresspeople have voiced concerns that Blackwater has reached a level of overgrown and unchecked power that make them capable of overpowering the military of many of the world’s governments. Blackwater spokesmen tell us that their mercenaries operate under a pledge of strict loyalty and patriotism. But take time to follow the story about this mercenary group and you will wonder who or what entity actually benefits from that loyalty pledge.”
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19 comments // Blackwater Expanding Its Domestic Reach // Video

  • Matchlessman
    • 0
      Matchlessman  

    • This is very troubling indeed. If the gov't contracts it work to the private sector than they relinquish some responsiblity for the death of individuals. But, if these basterds are roaming around domestically, there are some serious issues to be taken upon by us as soverign Americans.

      Our liberty is under seige and the fact that this company inparticular has its own army makes me nervous.

      Civil war anyone?

    • 3 years ago
  • samthesixth
  • tommytripper
  • bluestranger
    • 0
      bluestranger  

    • Clownpuncher, since you have granted us a semi-intelligent response would it be too much trouble for you to give your source for Blackwater wages.

    • 3 years ago
  • clownpuncher
  • bluestranger
  • clownpuncher
    • 0
      clownpuncher  

    • First of all, Blackwater makes no where near 1500 a day. Second believe it or not it is cheaper to fill the ranks with contractors then to go through the drama of having a draft. A vast majority of contractors are retired military that have the necessary skills to do the job. .

    • 3 years ago
  • bluestranger
    • 0
      bluestranger  

    • A trust fund baby with a private army. How the heck can this go unregulated? Once again, if our military needs to fill the ranks we should have a draft. The reason that we are in Iraq is that we have no draft. As long as trust fund babies can avoid service and buy private armies we will continue to put ourselves in these situations.

    • 3 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • If you insist ;)

      "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." – Plato

    • 3 years ago
  • unimatrix0
  • clownpuncher
  • remanns
  • clownpuncher
  • bluestranger
    • 0
      bluestranger  
    • clownpuncher:

      Here you go clownpuncher. It's not from Plato but you will have to deal with it. "Juveniles who name themselves clownpuncher and add nothing to adult conversations should rename themselves, just clown". Or troll, take your your pick.

    • 3 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • Sounds like someone is slipping on the psychological banana peel of projection & should consider clown punching what he sees in the mirror ;)

      Meanwile back in reality...

      A 2008 retrospective of abuse

      Justice, of a Sort, for Blackwater
      December 8, 2008
      Federal charges are filed against Blackwater guards accused of killing and maiming Iraqi civilians. But the company continues to operate in Iraq and its executives escape scrutiny. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081222/scahill
      Blackwater Busted?
      November 14, 2008
      Six Guards may be charged in Iraq massacre, but critics fear the company's 'reckless behavior' will continue. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081201/scahill
      Blackwater's Not Going Anywhere
      July 30, 2008
      Anyone who thinks Blackwater is in serious trouble is dead wrong. Business has never been better for Blackwater and its future looks bright. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080804/scahill
      Blackwater's Private Spies
      June 5, 2008
      The notorious mercenary firm is now a one-stop shop for security outsourcing, offering CIA-like services to Fortune 500 companies. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080623/scahill
      Why War, Inc. Works
      May 16, 2008
      John Cusack's War, Inc. takes on a seldom-discussed aspect of the occupation: the corporate dominance of the US war machine. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080602/scahill
      Contract Justice
      April 6, 2008
      An Iraqi translator is prosecuted and Blackwater has its contract renewed for another year, armed and dangerous in Baghdad. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080421/scahill
      Blackwater Seeps Into the Campaign
      March 18, 2008
      Clinton and Obama each have nuanced plans to ban private security firms from Iraq. The difference is how they're spinning them. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/scahill
      Blackwater, the Campaign Issue
      March 18, 2008
      In this interview with RealNews, Nation Correspondent Jeremy Scahill explains how Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama differ on the use of private security contractors in Iraq. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/scahill_video
      Obama's Mercenary Position
      February 27, 2008
      He calls private security forces "unaccountable" but may use them in Iraq. Meanwhile, Clinton wants to ban them. UPDATED http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080317/scahill
      Dahr Jamail: Beyond the Green Zone
      February 8, 2008
      An independent journalist talks about what's really happening in Iraq, and why neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama have a plan for ending the catastrophe. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080225/scahill

      "A society whose citizens refuse to see and investigate the facts, who refuse to believe that their government and their media will routinely lie to them and fabricate a reality contrary to verifiable facts, is a society that chooses and deserves the Police State Dictatorship it's going to get." - Ian Williams Goddard

      "Whenever a people entrust the defence of their country to a regular, standing army, composed of mercenaries, the power of that country will remain under the direction of the most wealthy citizens." - A Framer - Anonymous 'framer' of the US Constitution - January 29, 1791

    • 3 years ago
  • clownpuncher
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • BLACKWATER : THE CRUSADE

      Republicans leave office armed and dangerous.

      As long as people believe that our so-called leaders are well-intentioned, they can, and do, get away with murder. Literally.

      "A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side" - Aristotle

    • 3 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • BLACKWATER : THE SHADOW WAR

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

      Jeremy Scahill, a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute, is the author of the bestselling Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, published by Nation Books. He is an award-winning investigative journalist and correspondent for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!.

    • 3 years ago
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