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Feds raid Blackwater compound
Federal agents raided Blackwater Worldwide this week as part of an investigation into a deal that allowed a local sheriff's office to store high-powered assault rifles at the company's armory in Moyock.
Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said Thursday that investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched Blackwater's armory Tuesday as part of the investigation. She said she did not know whether the weapons in question were seized. Federal agents raided Blackwater Worldwide this week as part of an investigation into a deal that allowed a local sheriff's office to ... more -
British mercenary Simon Mann speaking in court in E Guinea
Former British soldier Simon Mann is waiting to hear the verdict in his trial in Equatorial Guinea for a 2004 coup plot, which ended on Friday.
Mr Mann, who potentially faces 30 years in prison, has admitted guilt but has tried to convince the court that he was not the most senior coup plotter.
The former SAS officer was held four years ago with 64 others in Zimbabwe. He served four years in prison there for trying to purchase weapons without a licence before being extradited.
The trial was held at a conference centre in the capital, Malabo, amid heavy security.
It was not immediately clear when the verdict would be issued.
Click on the image or go to the link for video. Former British soldier Simon Mann is waiting to hear the verdict in his trial in Equatorial Guinea for a 2004 coup plot, which ended o... more -
In Florida Legal Case, Blackwater Demands Taliban Treatment
"With no universally applicable laws to reign them in, firms like Blackwater are free to pick and choose which ones they'll follow. Sometimes, when convenient, those laws appear to include the ones passed down from the Prophet Muhammad."
Excellent quote from Bruce Falconer's blog post over at Mother Jones yesterday, trying to make sense of the nonsense that results when a semi-legal entity like Blackwater faces responsibility in the courts. "With no universally applicable laws to reign them in, firms like Blackwater are free to pick and choose which ones they'll follow. So... more -
Blackwater + San Diego + training center= trouble for all
A new counterterrorism training facility operated by military security contractor Blackwater Worldwide echoed with the grunts of Navy sailors, a day after a federal judge ordered the city to let classes begin.
The 24 trainees batted and punched each other Thursday as they learned basic strike tactics in a corner of the 61,000-square-foot converted warehouse in an industrial area near the U.S.-Mexico border.
For the next three weeks, they’ll practice shooting inside a 25-yard indoor firing range and learn to wear sidearms safely while wriggling through ship hatches and up narrow ladders installed in white metal cargo containers stacked along one wall of the building to simulate a ship. Trainers from Blackwater will quiz them on distinguishing small boats carrying cargo from those carrying bombs.
p.s. picture was seprate from the article. A new counterterrorism training facility operated by military security contractor Blackwater Worldwide echoed with the grunts of Navy ... more -
Congress Considers Ban On Mercenary Interrogators -- Bush Threatens Veto
Congress is finally moving to ban one of the Bush administration's most blatant evasions of accountability in Iraq - the outsourcing of war detainees' interrogation to mercenary private contractors.
Operating free of the restraints of military rule and ethics, some of these corporate thugs turned up in the torture scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison and walked away with impunity.
Others are now believed to be in the employ of the Central Intelligence Agency at secret prisons that remain outside the rule of law, exempted even from the weak 2006 rules on interrogating prisoners.
Civilian interrogators are part of the broader pool of hired guns that the administration has deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other spots around the world. Their actions regularly enrage Iraqis, most notably last September, when a phalanx of trigger-happy contractors assigned to protect American diplomats sprayed a crowd and killed 17 civilians.
These depredations continue to undermine the United States in the eyes of both citizens of war zones and the watching world. Their use as interrogators are a symptom of the administration's ducking accountability under international law by concocting ersatz redefinitions of civilized behavior and undermining legitimate intelligence operations.
In the current military budget debate, both houses are proposing an outright ban on the use of contractors as prisoner interrogators. They also would order the Pentagon to finally rein in its use of tens of thousands of contract guards as laissez-faire warriors in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon would have to write rules specifying which security operations are military missions that cannot be outsourced.
Abuses by mercenaries operating beyond the reach of criminal and military law have been an outgrowth of the administration's failure to adequately staff its military invasion force. The most notorious of the favored war contractors has been Blackwater Worldwide. But numerous other bidders have been awarded plums to amass "private security" stealth forces estimated to total near 50,000 fighters.
The White House, of course, is threatening a veto, citing its all-purpose plaint that the interrogator ban would hobble the nation's "ability to obtain intelligence needed to protect Americans from attack." In leading the House to passage of the ban, Congressman David Price, Democrat of North Carolina, laid bare the folly of using for-profit gunslingers to undertake the highly sensitive task of handling and questioning detainees.
Congress should stand up to the veto threats and go even further: approve measures to make war-zone contractors liable for criminal behavior and to assign the Federal Bureau of Investigation to on-the-scene inquiries into contractor crimes. The way out of the Iraq fiasco must include an end to the outsourced shadow armies. Congress is finally moving to ban one of the Bush administration's most blatant evasions of accountability in Iraq - the outsourcing o... more -
Blackwater's private CIA
This past September, the secretive mercenary company Blackwater USA found its name splashed across front pages throughout the world after the company's shooters gunned down seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square. But by early 2008, Blackwater had largely receded from the headlines save for the occasional blip on the media radar sparked by Congressman Henry Waxman's ongoing investigations into its activities. Its forces remained deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and business continued to pour in. In the two weeks directly following Nisour Square, Blackwater signed more than $144 million in contracts with the State Department for "protective services" in Iraq and Afghanistan alone and, over the following weeks and months, won millions more in contracts with other federal entities like the Coast Guard, the Navy and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. This past September, the secretive mercenary company Blackwater USA found its name splashed across front pages throughout the world af... more
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Blackwater: future of the mercenary industry
The private military firm Blackwater has gone from being a relatively unknown contractor working in Iraq to a household name and the subject of multiple investigations, lawsuits and congressional inquiries. In the meantime, the company continues to reap millions of dollars in profits and was recently awarded a new contract from the State Department. The private military firm Blackwater has gone from being a relatively unknown contractor working in Iraq to a household name and the s... more
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Blackwater buys fighter plane
Why are we funding this private army? Our soldiers don't have the equipment they need such as armor or hospital equipment and our government is arranging fighter plane sales for a private security company.
Call your Congress members! Why are we funding this private army? Our soldiers don't have the equipment they need such as armor or hospital equipment and our gove... more -
Haditha Massacre Investigation: Iraqis Testify in D.C.
A federal panel heard Testimony from three Iraqis today in Washington D.C.. The investigation is about the "Haditha Massacre", where Blackwater security guards illegally fired into a crowded Baghdad intersection, 17 Iraqi civilians were killed for no apparent reason.
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"An Iraqi police major told The Associated Press in Baghdad that two of his officers were flown to the United States several days ago to testify. The major, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said they were expected to remain in the United States for two weeks."
"The shooting enraged the Iraqi government, which originally sought to expel Blackwater and its 1,000 employees from the country, and strained diplomatic relations between Washington and Baghdad."
"The shooting also raised questions at home and abroad about the U.S. reliance on heavily armed private contractors in war zones"
End of Excerpt
Sources: MSNBC, Associated Press
A federal panel heard Testimony from three Iraqis today in Washington D.C.. The investigation is about the "Haditha Massacre", where B... more -
Blackwater: Privatization of military permanent?
With the concentration of military might in private hands growing, I wonder what happens to the soldiers and equipment if the Democrats are elected? Personally, the best thing I can come up with is to enlist all of them. They're trained soldiers and we apparently need them in the ARMY. What do you think?
How dangerous is it to have private military operating in US (or any) territory?
What is the "right" or conservative point of view? And the liberal POV? Shouldn't they be close?
STORY from DemocracyNow.org
Southern California Residents Gear Up for New Fight to Stop Secretive Expansion by Military Firm Blackwater
Just two months after local opposition thwarted its effort to build a massive outdoor training facility near San Diego, the private military company Blackwater USA is being accused of secretly trying to build a new one just blocks from the US-Mexico border. Blackwater received approval for the 61,000 square-foot indoor facility in Otay Mesa, California, by filing for permits using the names of two subsidiaries.
Follow link for extended coverage and interviews...Full text, audio and video of Amy Goodman's on DemocracyNow with interview with Raymond Lutz, l(Local resident who has fought Blackwater’s expansion into the San Diego region), and Rep. Bob Filner, Democratic Congress member representing California’s 51st congressional district. With the concentration of military might in private hands growing, I wonder what happens to the soldiers and equipment if the Democrat... more -
'My Friend, the mercenary from Hell'
Be careful when you start going out on a limb for mercenaries who start wars for "fun" and get paid in "pots of diamonds." You're liable to get your heart handed to you.
Just ask Robert Young Pelton. In the latest Men's Journal, Pelton chronicles his epic journey to help free his friend and gun-for-hire, Nick du Toit, from an African prison, after he had been convicted of trying to overthrow a bloodthirsty dictator.
The story, "My Friend, the Mercenary From Hell," isn't online, yet. But here's an excerpt, to get your ass out of your chair and over to a newsstand.
The best way to spring someone from jail, I knew, was to figure out how release would benefit the jailer. That usually meant offering a bribe or a swap, or making an appeal for clemency. A jailbreak was a dangerous last resort, but Nick being who he was, his friends kept in touch and were standing by if he needed to be rescued. I said I would try the diplomatic route first. Why me? One of Nick’s South African army mates went to EG [Equatorial Guinea] just for a visit and the security police, incredulous at his audacity, sent him directly to jail. Be careful when you start going out on a limb for mercenaries who start wars for "fun" and get paid in "pots of diamonds." You're liab... more -
Blackwater contract renewed despite Pentagon labeling killing of 17 civilians "a c...
I hadn't realized that the pentagon labeled the civilian killings a criminal event.
We are pretty stuck over in Iraq. We have built a huge reliance on civilian contractors to compensate for our breaking army and to sharply reduce numbers of armed people on "our" side would most likely cause the country to implode. What do you do? Furthermore, the right-wing has made a pretty good situation for themselves as we have now built these "super-bases" in Iraq costing billions of dollars. Now that they are built, it is highly unlikely that any president will abandon them due to their massive investment and strategic location. Crafty little buggers those warmongers are. I hadn't realized that the pentagon labeled the civilian killings a criminal event. ... more -
Blackwater contract renewed
The privatization of the United States Military continued with the renewal of Blackwater's contract. In September Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi women and children. "Under a provision instituted in the early days of the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, security contractors have immunity from Iraqi law". Witnesses said Blackwater guards started shooting unprovoked. The FBI is investigating.
Critics are also concerned because Blackwater guards earn significantly more money than US troops. Leaving some to wonder why we are willing to pay private citizens more than the men and women who volunteered their lives to protect this country?
Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell declined to comment. The privatization of the United States Military continued with the renewal of Blackwater's contract. In September Blackwater guards k... more -
Mercenary army needed to save Africa
Millions throughout Africa are facing war, mass rape, famine and disease. Yet there is no armed force able to deploy immediately to save them. If the U.N. can't protect them, maybe a private army can.
As the experience of Blackwater and other private security forces in Iraq demonstrates, relying on contract armed forces presents a number of difficult challenges, including oversight and accountability. But current peacekeeping efforts are not immune from such problems.
Whatever the problems posed by private, U.N.-backed armed forces, none would be worse than standing by while hundreds of thousands of Africans die.
Millions throughout Africa are facing war, mass rape, famine and disease. Yet there is no armed force able to deploy immediately to sa... more -
'05 Use of Gas by Blackwater Leaves Questions
Blackwater says it was permitted to carry CS gas under its contract at the time with the State Department. According to a State Department official, the contract did not specifically authorize Blackwater personnel to carry or use CS, but it did not prohibit it.
"It is not allowed as a method or means of warfare," said Michael Schmitt, professor of international law at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. "There are very, very strict restrictions on the use of CS gas in a war zone." Blackwater says it was permitted to carry CS gas under its contract at the time with the State Department. According to a State Depart... more -
Blackwater wishes you a happy mercenary Holiday
Santa's coat is red, and I think I know why...
"A Christmas wish that Christ's great love,
His grace and goodness too,
May fill your heart and bless you now
and all the whole year through
May the Lord Jesus truly bless you during this wonderful season
as you rejoice with family and friends"
-Blackwater Worldwide"
Merry Blackwater Christmas everyone.
Santa's coat is red, and I think I know why... "A Christmas wish that Christ's great love, His grace and goodness too, ... more -
The French Empire lives on, kinda.
His life smacks of some kind of cliche beach novel, a European mercenary fighting in a far away land for money and fame, but it's real. His life smacks of some kind of cliche beach novel, a European mercenary fighting in a far away land for money and fame, but it's real... more
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Namibia shuts down mercenary firm, deports 2 US citizens
I say bravo! Here is a country that puts it's money where its mouth is, and sticks to its principles - something that seems to be becoming all too rare today. Too many world leaders give in to greed and accept huge financial incentives to get aboard the Bush train. ... more -
More Bleak News For Blackwater
Holding U.S. troops at gunpoint is not the best PR move...
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