So, it was only the American soldiers who were affected by this gas? Iraqis are immune to it or something?
Or maybe Iraqis just don't matter in Iraq.
Posted by Shirin at January 10, 2008 06:43 PMOutstanding article Turkana.
As long as Blackwater was allowed to operate in relative obscurity Prince kept a low profile for years. All the while he continued to build a more powerful private Army. He will go to extreme measures to protect his interests.
It would be an interesting question to come up at a debate, "What's your stance on Blackwater?" and "How will you curb their growing power and influence in the State Dept.?" or "Who will stop Blackwater?"
Throw in his connection to the christian right (father helped found the Family Reseach Council and Focus on the Family with Dobson) and Prince is the most dangerous man in America! Religion, government power, guns, money and a lobby?
All paved by the huge contracts bu$h gave him in Iraq because of the donations to his pResidency!
Shirin, Turkana mentions it in his article:
Because as long as they are immunized against being held accountable for such minor transgressions as the mass murder of Iraqi civilians or the gassing of Iraqi civilians and American troops, they can legitimately claim that they have acted within the legal definition of what is appropriate.
Posted by Seven of Six at January 10, 2008 07:00 PMThank you, thank you, for posting about this! Have any of the candidates on both sides been asked about Blackwater? Isn't it about time we got a specific answer on how they'd deal with the extra-legal status of the contractors in Iraq? Seems to me it should be a priority. More than anything else, these guys scare the crap outta me.
Posted by iamcoyote at January 10, 2008 08:00 PMWhat I want to know is why anyone hired by our Government cannot be held accountable? If Blackwater or any contractor will not be held to some measure of law, then by God those in our Government should be. We are not living in the days of the 'old West.'
Posted by Judith at January 10, 2008 08:38 PMWhich presidential candidates have been the recipients of Womble Carlyle's or the Princes dollars this cycle? I couldn't find them at opensecrets.org
Posted by mkolb at January 10, 2008 10:22 PMAs to their attitude about Blackwater, they have ALL, with the exception of Paul, indicated they are "grateful" for the forceful, MANLY action of the Butch Administration in keeping us safe from terr'rists. Their only beef? They want to go FARTHER, be even MANLIER.
Since the Dept of Fatherland Security has ALREADY contracted Blackwater for Katrina "relief" and have promised to do so much more in the future, we have a good idea of what the Republic candidates want to be OUR future. Now that posse Comitatus is dead and the National Guard is destroyed, I mean, we NEED these guys to keep us safe!
Scahill wrote that "about 150 heavily armed Blackwater troops dressed in full battle gear" arrived in the Crescent City right after Katrina hit and spread out into the city's chaos. Others came later. Their cover was to provide hurricane relief, but that was a ruse as local residents still around in the wrong places soon discovered. They patrolled like Gestapo in SUVs with tinted windows and their logo on the back. Others used unmarked cars with no license plates, and relief wasn't their mandate. They came to secure neighborhoods from their legal residents and treat those wanting to return like criminals. They wore flak jackets, carried automatic weapons and had extra guns strapped to their legs. They weren't for show.
Tom Dispatch has an interesting read on the entire 59 $BILLION "Homeland Security" industry.
Meanwhile, some universities have developed intimate relationships with private-security outfits like the notorious Blackwater. Last May, for example, the University of Illinois and its police training institute cut a deal with the firm to share their facilities and training programs with Blackwater operatives. Local journalists later revealed that the director of the campus program at the time was on the Blackwater payroll. In the age of hired education, such collaboration is apparently par for the course.
Of course, they have a Compound in North Carolina and have so far, been blocked in their attempts to build one on the "Left Coast". It seems clear they want to be well situated to go wherever they are needed inside the USA on short notice.
It just occurred to me as I write this. I haven't looked at the ultimately repellant, "End Times" first person shooter game wherein the good Christian Soldiers get to slaughter gays, Jews, Arabs and atheists in realistically drawn US city streets. Has anyone seen this game? And, are there "good guys" who look suspiciously like Blackwater mercenaries involved in the fun?
Don't forget to be afraid. BE Very AFRAID!
Posted by DeminNewJ at January 11, 2008 07:08 AMDemNJ, it seems to me you've really "Found your voice!" in past few days. And though I'm sarcastically referring to Hillary's stupid, wince-inducing, predictibly banal utterance----your's is great!
I love how the whole goal of every Bushco "lawyer" apparently is to conclude that every dubious thing Cheney wants to do always falls outside of the current "rules", and is hence "legal".
Thus, the al qaeda and taliban detainees were found to "fall outside" the Geneva Conventions (which were intended to cover ALL types of military detainees), and Blackwater Christianist militia boys nicely fall outside of EVERY body of "law" (ha-ha) that "exists" in Iraq. How "convenient"!
Sure is great to have lawyers like that---the client is ALWAYS right!
Posted by euzoius at January 11, 2008 07:33 AMThanks, euzoius. I've always been pleased by the dulcet tones of your voice, as well.
Speaking of voices, Steve is still too much among the missing. I still miss Billmon, too, a blogger I "grew up" with. I hope he's happy in the offline world.
Posted by DeminNewJ at January 11, 2008 08:16 AMBushCo's Merka: Corruption 101. Accountability? We don't need no steenkeen accountability.
This reminds me of the comment on AT & T: We can't hold them accountable, they'll go bankrupt!
Posted by Sharon at January 11, 2008 11:29 AM