Apart from Iraqis, that is.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/scahill
QuoteA former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."
In their testimony, both men also allege that Blackwater was smuggling weapons into Iraq. One of the men alleges that Prince turned a profit by transporting "illegal" or "unlawful" weapons into the country on Prince's private planes. They also charge that Prince and other Blackwater executives destroyed incriminating videos, emails and other documents and have intentionally deceived the US State Department and other federal agencies. The identities of the two individuals were sealed out of concerns for their safety.
These allegations, and a series of other charges, are contained in sworn affidavits, given under penalty of perjury, filed late at night on August 3 in the Eastern District of Virginia as part of a seventy-page motion by lawyers for Iraqi civilians suing Blackwater for alleged war crimes and other misconduct. Susan Burke, a private attorney working in conjunction with the Center for Constitutional Rights, is suing Blackwater in five separate civil cases filed in the Washington, DC, area. They were recently consolidated before Judge T.S. Ellis III of the Eastern District of Virginia for pretrial motions. Burke filed the August 3 motion in response to Blackwater's motion to dismiss the case. Blackwater asserts that Prince and the company are innocent of any wrongdoing and that they were professionally performing their duties on behalf of their employer, the US State Department.
The former employee, identified in the court documents as "John Doe #2," is a former member of Blackwater's management team, according to a source close to the case. Doe #2 alleges in a sworn declaration that, based on information provided to him by former colleagues, "it appears that Mr. Prince and his employees murdered, or had murdered, one or more persons who have provided information, or who were planning to provide information, to the federal authorities about the ongoing criminal conduct." John Doe #2 says he worked at Blackwater for four years; his identity is concealed in the sworn declaration because he "fear(s) violence against me in retaliation for submitting this Declaration." He also alleges, "On several occasions after my departure from Mr. Prince's employ, Mr. Prince's management has personally threatened me with death and violence."
In a separate sworn statement, the former US marine who worked for Blackwater in Iraq alleges that he has "learned from my Blackwater colleagues and former colleagues that one or more persons who have provided information, or who were planning to provide information about Erik Prince and Blackwater have been killed in suspicious circumstances." Identified as "John Doe #1," he says he "joined Blackwater and deployed to Iraq to guard State Department and other American government personnel." It is not clear if Doe #1 is still working with the company as he states he is "scheduled to deploy in the immediate future to Iraq." Like Doe #2, he states that he fears "violence" against him for "submitting this Declaration." No further details on the alleged murder(s) are provided.
"Mr. Prince feared, and continues to fear, that the federal authorities will detect and prosecute his various criminal deeds," states Doe #2. "On more than one occasion, Mr. Prince and his top managers gave orders to destroy emails and other documents. Many incriminating videotapes, documents and emails have been shredded and destroyed."
Oh my. If Prince is found guilty of any of this, does that mean Blackwater goes tits-up?
So um, if I get this straight, Blackwater was hired to do the dirty work in Iraq, and then they did, but they also got a bit religious crusaderish about it, and killed some fed(s) cause they saw coming exactly what is happening right now, which is the US Gov saying "ZOMG THESE MERCS ARE CRIMINALS" and prosecuting them?
:lol: what a clusterfuck.
Quote from: Cainad on August 06, 2009, 01:04:32 PM
Oh my. If Prince is found guilty of any of this, does that mean Blackwater goes tits-up?
I'm not sure. It would likely ruin their presence in the US, though. Would have to move their training bases to somewhere like Honduras instead.
Quote from: Triple Zero on August 06, 2009, 02:47:32 PM
So um, if I get this straight, Blackwater was hired to do the dirty work in Iraq, and then they did, but they also got a bit religious crusaderish about it, and killed some fed(s) cause they saw coming exactly what is happening right now, which is the US Gov saying "ZOMG THESE MERCS ARE CRIMINALS" and prosecuting them?
:lol: what a clusterfuck.
Pretty much, yeah. This is why Machiavelli said you can never trust mercenaries.
Well, it wasn't, but he was still right about mercs being untrustworthy fucks.
IIRC, he also advised keeping them BUSY. Te prevent stuff like this.
Is anyone the least bit surprised about this?
Its like they thought the last season of 24 was an ideal for mercenary organisations to move towards.
You KNOW the world is already in the handbasket to hades when the news reads like a bad Jason Bourne novel.
Quote from: Kai on August 06, 2009, 04:45:20 PM
Is anyone the least bit surprised about this?
yes actually. Getting caught is sloppy. And I thought most businessmen knew that they're far batter off pretending they didn't know what was going on than killing witnesses. Of course, blackwater is in the business of violence, and when all you have is a hammer...
Quote from: Kai on August 06, 2009, 04:45:20 PM
Is anyone the least bit surprised about this?
That is happened? No. That they got caught? Sort of. If they're all crusadery, it's a safe bet they're not very bright. OTOH, they are, like Requia pointed out, businessmen. And really, plausible deniability isn't just for presidents.
Quote from: Requia ☣ on August 06, 2009, 11:52:02 PM
Quote from: Kai on August 06, 2009, 04:45:20 PM
Is anyone the least bit surprised about this?
yes actually. Getting caught is sloppy. And I thought most businessmen knew that they're far batter off pretending they didn't know what was going on than killing witnesses. Of course, blackwater is in the business of violence, and when all you have is a hammer...
Just a guess, since I haven't read up on mercs too much, but I'd hazard the folks with serious skills or better people removal services to offer are working for a less well - known group.
Quote from: Requia ☣ on August 06, 2009, 11:52:02 PM
Quote from: Kai on August 06, 2009, 04:45:20 PM
Is anyone the least bit surprised about this?
yes actually. Getting caught is sloppy. And I thought most businessmen knew that they're far batter off pretending they didn't know what was going on than killing witnesses. Of course, blackwater is in the business of violence, and when all you have is a hammer...
...collect nails?
Quote from: Kai on August 07, 2009, 04:55:03 PM
Quote from: Requia ☣ on August 06, 2009, 11:52:02 PM
Quote from: Kai on August 06, 2009, 04:45:20 PM
Is anyone the least bit surprised about this?
yes actually. Getting caught is sloppy. And I thought most businessmen knew that they're far batter off pretending they didn't know what was going on than killing witnesses. Of course, blackwater is in the business of violence, and when all you have is a hammer...
...collect nails?
"...everything looks like a nail."
Quote from: Requia ☣ on August 06, 2009, 11:52:02 PM
Quote from: Kai on August 06, 2009, 04:45:20 PM
Is anyone the least bit surprised about this?
yes actually. Getting caught is sloppy. And I thought most businessmen knew that they're far batter off pretending they didn't know what was going on than killing witnesses. Of course, blackwater is in the business of violence, and when all you have is a hammer...
What makes you think businessmen don't get sloppy?
Quote from: Cainad on August 06, 2009, 01:04:32 PM
Oh my. If Prince is found guilty of any of this, does that mean Blackwater goes tits-up?
If Prince is found guilty of any of this, does that mean he'll be executed?
Cf, Lord of War
Blackwater were hired to play a part in the CIA "terrorist hunt and kill" program.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8211088.stm
QuoteThe CIA hired contractors from the US private security firm Blackwater as part of a secret programme to track and kill top al-Qaeda figures, reports say.
The New York Times quotes current and ex-government officials as saying Blackwater helped the CIA with planning, training and surveillance.
Several million dollars were spent on the programme but no militants were caught or captured, the report says.
Emphasis mine. Nothing like a several million freebie to give to a Christian extremist with a private army.
Yes, and apparently, we have about twice as many "Blackwater troops" over in Afghanistan as we do American. 70K Blackwater vs. 40K US. That's shitty. Shitty shitty shitty. And the Obama administration continues, according to Scahill (this is all accdg to Scahill, who I saw on Bill Maher's show), to use Blackwater for its own purposes, same as the damned Bush administration did.
I heard there were 250,000 total contracters in Afghanistan, but contracter doesn't necessarily mean a frontline or security-placed mercenary. I'd like more accurate figures, and a breakdown of precise duties (much of the logistics end has been privatized in war), but I doubt any will be forthcoming, since, uh, trade secrets and all that.
Scahill calls Prince a "Christian supremicist"...and it's so very scary that this guy has just about THE PREMIERE merc organization in the world, so I'm starting to be paranoid enough to put Blackwater up there with AQ as a runaway juggernaut backed by so-called legit governmental agendas.
Bullshit on the 'no more war on terra' statement by Obama's boys in the Pentagon...if Blackwater's still in play, then this b.s. agenda is STILL ON.
Quote from: Cain on August 26, 2009, 04:30:12 PM
I heard there were 250,000 total contracters in Afghanistan, but contracter doesn't necessarily mean a frontline or security-placed mercenary. I'd like more accurate figures, and a breakdown of precise duties (much of the logistics end has been privatized in war), but I doubt any will be forthcoming, since, uh, trade secrets and all that.
again, this was Scahill's figures...I don't know how legit they are, but he named the figures as they are, and you're right--security ops/troops/bodyguards on officials...they can all be Blackwater and not figure into the "official" figures.
The scary part is the supralegal aspect to the role they play, no matter where they are. But they still carry the stench of American supremicism on them. So our agenda, whatever Obama's administration seems to think it is over there, is going to be outright tainted by them and their merc duties.
Fucking paranoid shit, this is, and I got more and more pissed off sitting there listening to Chuck Todd and his excuses for why they pander to Obama and don't ask more hard-hitting questions about this--a platform Obama ran on.
In Iraq, Blackwater mercs were often suspected by locals of being CIA or Mossad. That was what insurgents called them, too.
Well, they were CIA...they were part of the death squad hired by Cheney et al. Fuckers.
Quote from: Cain on August 26, 2009, 04:40:01 PM
In Iraq, Blackwater mercs were often suspected by locals of being CIA or Mossad. That was what insurgents called them, too.
They are CIA. I mean, in any meaningful sense. Sort of like Tower Airlines. Are they CIA? No. Are they really CIA? Yes.
Scahill said they were part of CIA (and still are) in Iraq. They have diplomatic fucking immunity handed them by the Bush administration, though. Unlike the CIA. But there is a trial going on against a few of them right now.
just a point, since nobodies mentioned it in this thread....
Blackwater is now called Xe Services LLC.....
upon starting up Badassss name was good for rep. now, not so much.
Quote from: Iptuous on August 26, 2009, 05:01:35 PM
just a point, since nobodies mentioned it in this thread....
Blackwater is now called Xe Services LLC.....
upon starting up Badassss name was good for rep. now, not so much.
Check out their logo. :lulz:
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 26, 2009, 05:03:13 PM
Check out their logo. :lulz:
:?
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Xe-Logo.svg/187px-Xe-Logo.svg.png)
what am i missing?
(http://www.goodlogo.com/images/logos/xerox_logo_2421.gif) ?
Whoops, never mind.
Got my evil empires mixed up.
(http://www.flip-coin.com/davinci/templar-cross.gif)+(http://thetechies.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/predator-7.jpg)
...
Is it false memory, or did I read something about Blackwater being part of "The Family"?
Erik Prince is a multi-millionaire (possibly now billionaire) Christian fundamentalist with an authoritarian agenda and previous experience working for a Republican administration and conservative focus groups. Its unlikely the two have not crossed paths at some point.
Especially since the Family has political connections and government clout, and Prince has an army. Lets call it the "Gladio complex", a shadow government in search of a security force and a security force in search of an executive, attempting to link up.
Edit: just checked. Shartlet doesn't know, his membership rolls only go up to the late 80s, and Prince became politically active during the 90s. A shame, but still, the latent potential for such a combination is there, assuming Prince isn't chucked in a prison somewhere soon.
See what I mean for this being fodder for The Paranoia? AKA: The Horrible Troof. Makes me wanna stockpile weaponry and hie myself into the lowly dark corner where Teh Man can't get me. (har! as if such a place exists!)
Fucking Blackwater. Fuck you. Meh. We spend $$$$$$$$$ training the fucks that go into service into Blackwater, then they re-up into Blackwater, and then we pay Blackwater AGAIN for their services.
True Fucking Evil(tm), if it exists, is found THERE.
You guys should all read Government of the Shadows: Parapolitics and Criminal Sovereignty. Not only is it very reassuring, in that it shows academics taking the problems of shadow governments, organized crime and intelligence service nastiness seriously, it also provides an excellent framework for understanding models of operation.
Well, beyond the first chapter, which reads like complete gibberish.
Jenne, if you want any tips on your decent into paranoid survivalism, let me know. :)
Cain, thanks for the tip. i don't know the author so i clicked on him at amazon listing for this book. it looks like he mostly writes fiction? (or is that another eric wilson whose books pop up?)
Quote from: Cain on August 26, 2009, 05:55:05 PM
You guys should all read Government of the Shadows: Parapolitics and Criminal Sovereignty. Not only is it very reassuring, in that it shows academics taking the problems of shadow governments, organized crime and intelligence service nastiness seriously, it also provides an excellent framework for understanding models of operation.
Well, beyond the first chapter, which reads like complete gibberish.
I'll order a copy this evening.
Its pretty expensive, I can just upload it instead.
Iptuous, I'd be surprised if he was. The book was written after a three day conference by Monash Univerisity's Law Department on the issue of parapolitics, crime and political science, so I would presume he is a law professor with experience in International Relations. But you never know, Joseph Nye wrote some (horrible) thrillers in addition to his IR texts.
aaaaand....done
http://ifile.it/zx8hm50
awesome, thx
:D
Quote from: Cain on August 26, 2009, 06:17:34 PM
Its pretty expensive, I can just upload it instead.
I have many problems, but money isn't one of them. And a book is a solid object that feels like a book and smells like a book. It's a fetish of mine.
Thanks anyway, though.
Quote from: Iptuous on August 26, 2009, 05:01:35 PM
just a point, since nobodies mentioned it in this thread....
Blackwater is now called Xe Services LLC.....
upon starting up Badassss name was good for rep. now, not so much.
Oh that's lovely. Xe is Xenon. Supremacy is in their damned name.
Quote from: The Nerve-Ending Fairy on August 26, 2009, 06:32:34 PM
Quote from: Iptuous on August 26, 2009, 05:01:35 PM
just a point, since nobodies mentioned it in this thread....
Blackwater is now called Xe Services LLC.....
upon starting up Badassss name was good for rep. now, not so much.
Oh that's lovely. Xe is Xenon. Supremacy is in their damned name.
Fuck yeah.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 26, 2009, 06:30:16 PM
Quote from: Cain on August 26, 2009, 06:17:34 PM
Its pretty expensive, I can just upload it instead.
I have many problems, but money isn't one of them. And a book is a solid object that feels like a book and smells like a book. It's a fetish of mine.
Thanks anyway, though.
Thats true, I had forgotten that. And yeah, I know a lot of people prefer a book in dead-tree format. I guess I'm lucky, in that ebooks don't bother me at all.
Quote from: The Nerve-Ending Fairy on August 26, 2009, 06:32:34 PM
Oh that's lovely. Xe is Xenon. Supremacy is in their damned name.
Yes, it's pronounced 'zee', to be clear, too.
Supremacy because it's a noble gas?
also from wiki:
Ramsay [discoverer of xenon] suggested the name xenon for this gas from the Greek word ξένον [xenon], neuter singular form of ξένος [xenos], meaning 'foreign(er)', 'strange(r)', or 'guest'.[20][21]
funnay, in the context.
those moozlums are just Xe-nophobic.... how rude they are to their 'guests' :D
ETA: Cain, do you have an ebook reader?
Quote from: Cain on August 26, 2009, 06:38:05 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 26, 2009, 06:30:16 PM
Quote from: Cain on August 26, 2009, 06:17:34 PM
Its pretty expensive, I can just upload it instead.
I have many problems, but money isn't one of them. And a book is a solid object that feels like a book and smells like a book. It's a fetish of mine.
Thanks anyway, though.
Thats true, I had forgotten that. And yeah, I know a lot of people prefer a book in dead-tree format. I guess I'm lucky, in that ebooks don't bother me at all.
You probably are. I've struggled to read the electronic version of
Black Swan, but I've been tearing through a paper copy of
Fooled by Randomness with no trouble at all.
Cainad,
has dead tree dependency syndrome :sad:
Quote from: Cain on August 26, 2009, 06:38:05 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 26, 2009, 06:30:16 PM
Quote from: Cain on August 26, 2009, 06:17:34 PM
Its pretty expensive, I can just upload it instead.
I have many problems, but money isn't one of them. And a book is a solid object that feels like a book and smells like a book. It's a fetish of mine.
Thanks anyway, though.
Thats true, I had forgotten that. And yeah, I know a lot of people prefer a book in dead-tree format. I guess I'm lucky, in that ebooks don't bother me at all.
In some ways, I'm hopelessly old fashioned.
Quote from: Iptuous on August 26, 2009, 06:44:59 PMCain, do you have an ebook reader?
Not yet. I might be in the market for one, around Christmas time or so, but for now I just use my laptop.
Wackenhut? More like Whacking-Butts, amirite?
http://gawker.com/5350465/our-embassy-in-afghanistan-is-guarded-by-sexually-confused-frat-boys/gallery/
QuoteWonder what it's like to guard State Department facilities in Kabul? In photos first published by Gawker, security contractors get their kicks peeing on one another, simulating anal sex, doing "butt shots," and "eating potato chips out of ass cracks."
These photos were provided to us by the Project on Government Oversight, which has just written a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton detailing its investigation into the "Lord of the Flies environment" that has overtaken the private contractors who guard State Department employees in Kabul, Afghanistan. According to POGO, employees of ArmorGroup North America—a unit of contracting giant Wackenhut—get their jollies off by "deviant hazing [that] has created a climate of fear and coercion, with those who declined to participate often ridiculed, humiliated, demoted, or even fired."
What sort of hazing? The traditional desperately homoerotic frat boy kind, mostly involving eating and drinking things off of other men's butts. Also some nipple-biting, as you can see below. One POGO whistle blower described it thusly [PDF link]: "They have a group of sexual predators, deviants running rampant over there. No, they are not jamming guys in the ass per say [sic], but they are showing poor judgenment [sic]." Most of it appears to have been voluntary, but those who didn't really want to drink vodka shots out of the clenched butt-cheeks of their male co-workers were penalized and reported barricading themselves in their rooms. And sometimes the behavior extended to the locals:
QuoteAn Afghan national employed as a food service worker at the guard corps' base at Camp Sullivan submitted a signed statement dated August 16, 2009, attesting that a guard force supervisor and four others entered a dining facility on August 1, 2009, wearing only short underwear and brandishing bottles of alcohol. Upon leaving the facility, the guard force supervisor allegedly grabbed the Afghan national by the face and began abusing him with foul language, saying, "You are very good for fXXXing." The Afghan national reported that he "was too afraid of them I could not tell them any thing."
So anyway, these are the people who are guarding our national security in Afghanistan, being paid vast multiples of what soldiers, sailors, and marines get with your tax dollars. Are these guys asking, or telling?
I heard about that on NPR last night. Apparently, moral is so bad that they have a turnover rate of over 90%.
I put that story in another fread, but yeah, it's all over the news. And I hope it stays that way.
Woop, JSOC is, apparently, relying on Blackwater in Pakistan:
QuoteOne of the concerns raised by the military intelligence source is that some Blackwater personnel are being given rolling security clearances above their approved clearances. Using Alternative Compartmentalized Control Measures (ACCMs), he said, the Blackwater personnel are granted clearance to a Special Access Program, the bureaucratic term used to describe highly classified "black" operations. "With an ACCM, the security manager can grant access to you to be exposed to and operate within compartmentalized programs far above 'secret'–even though you have no business doing so," said the source. It allows Blackwater personnel that "do not have the requisite security clearance or do not hold a security clearance whatsoever to participate in classified operations by virtue of trust," he added. "Think of it as an ultra-exclusive level above top secret. That's exactly what it is: a circle of love." Blackwater, therefore, has access to "all source" reports that are culled in part from JSOC units in the field. "That's how a lot of things over the years have been conducted with contractors," said the source. "We have contractors that regularly see things that top policy-makers don't unless they ask."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091207/scahill for more of this huge piece.
Teh prince from blackwater clan ish murderor of mooslims? NAO
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dUrynl9-tm4/SSiVDLN1roI/AAAAAAAACIY/eMIe6OfI60s/S660/prince_855_18232272_0_0_7001631_300.jpg)
(http://playconsola.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/wow.jpg)
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2010/01/blackwater-201001?printable=true
Prince was on the CIA payroll all along.
QuoteFor the past six years, he appears to have led an astonishing double life. Publicly, he has served as Blackwater's C.E.O. and chairman. Privately, and secretly, he has been doing the C.I.A.'s bidding, helping to craft, fund, and execute operations ranging from inserting personnel into "denied areas"—places U.S. intelligence has trouble penetrating—to assembling hit teams targeting al-Qaeda members and their allies. Prince, according to sources with knowledge of his activities, has been working as a C.I.A. asset: in a word, as a spy. While his company was busy gleaning more than $1.5 billion in government contracts between 2001 and 2009—by acting, among other things, as an overseas Praetorian guard for C.I.A. and State Department officials—Prince became a Mr. Fix-It in the war on terror. His access to paramilitary forces, weapons, and aircraft, and his indefatigable ambition—the very attributes that have galvanized his critics—also made him extremely valuable, some say, to U.S. intelligence. (Full disclosure: In the 1990s, before becoming a journalist for CBS and then NBC News, I was a C.I.A. attorney. My contract was not renewed, under contentious circumstances.)
[...]
By focusing so intently on Blackwater, Congress and the press overlooked the elephant in the room. Prince wasn't merely a contractor; he was, insiders say, a full-blown asset. Three sources with direct knowledge of the relationship say that the C.I.A.'s National Resources Division recruited Prince in 2004 to join a secret network of American citizens with special skills or unusual access to targets of interest. As assets go, Prince would have been quite a catch. He had more cash, transport, matériel, and personnel at his disposal than almost anyone Langley would have run in its 62-year history.
The C.I.A. won't comment further on such assertions, but Prince himself is slightly more forthcoming. "I was looking at creating a small, focused capability," he says, "just like Donovan did years ago"—the reference being to William "Wild Bill" Donovan, who, in World War II, served as the head of the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor of the modern C.I.A. (Prince's youngest son, Charles Donovan—the one who fell into the pool—is named after Wild Bill.) Two sources familiar with the arrangement say that Prince's handlers obtained provisional operational approval from senior management to recruit Prince and later generated a "201 file," which would have put him on the agency's books as a vetted asset. It's not at all clear who was running whom, since Prince says that, unlike many other assets, he did much of his work on spec, claiming to have used personal funds to road-test the viability of certain operations. "I grew up around the auto industry," Prince explains. "Customers would say to my dad, 'We have this need.' He would then use his own money to create prototypes to fulfill those needs. He took the 'If you build it, they will come' approach."
According to two sources familiar with his work, Prince was developing unconventional means of penetrating "hard target" countries—where the C.I.A. has great difficulty working either because there are no stations from which to operate or because local intelligence services have the wherewithal to frustrate the agency's designs. "I made no money whatsoever off this work," Prince contends. He is unwilling to specify the exact nature of his forays. "I'm painted as this war profiteer by Congress. Meanwhile I'm paying for all sorts of intelligence activities to support American national security, out of my own pocket." (His pocket is deep: according to The Wall Street Journal, Blackwater had revenues of more than $600 million in 2008.)
[...]
Five days a week, Blackwater's aviation arm—with its unabashedly 60s-spook name, Presidential Airways—flies low-altitude sorties to some of the most remote outposts in Afghanistan. Since 2006, Prince's company has been conscripted to offer this "turnkey" service for U.S. troops, flying thousands of delivery runs. Blackwater also provides security for U.S. ambassador Karl Eikenberry and his staff, and trains narcotics and Afghan special police units.
Once back on terra firma, Prince, a BlackBerry on one hip and a 9-mm. on the other, does a sweep around one of Blackwater's bases in northeast Afghanistan, pointing out buildings recently hit by mortar fire. As a drone circles overhead, its camera presumably trained on the surroundings, Prince climbs a guard tower and peers down at a spot where two of his contractors were nearly killed last July by an improvised explosive device. "Not counting civilian checkpoints," he says, "this is the closest base to the [Pakistani] border." His voice takes on a melodramatic solemnity. "Who else has built a fob along the main infiltration route for the Taliban and the last known location for Osama bin Laden?" It doesn't quite have the ring of Lawrence of Arabia's "To Aqaba!," but you get the picture.
[...]
As the agency's confidence in Blackwater grew, so did the company's responsibilities, expanding from static protection to mobile security—shadowing agency personnel, ever wary of suicide bombers, ambushes, and roadside devices, as they moved about the country. By 2005, Blackwater, accustomed to guarding C.I.A. personnel, was starting to look a little bit like the C.I.A. itself. Enrique "Ric" Prado joined Blackwater after serving as chief of operations for the agency's Counterterrorism Center (CTC). A short time later, Prado's boss, J. Cofer Black, the head of the CTC, moved over to Blackwater, too. He was followed, in turn, by his superior, Rob Richer, second-in-command of the C.I.A.'s clandestine service. Of the three, Cofer Black had the outsize reputation. As Bob Woodward recounted in his book Bush at War, on September 13, 2001, Black had promised President Bush that when the C.I.A. was through with al-Qaeda "they will have flies walking across their eyeballs." According to Woodward, "Black became known in Bush's inner circle as the 'flies-on-the-eyeballs guy.'" Richer and Black soon helped start a new company, Total Intelligence Solutions (which collects data to help businesses assess risks overseas), but in 2008 both men left Blackwater, as did company president Gary Jackson this year.
Off and on, Black and Richer's onetime partner Ric Prado, first with the C.I.A., then as a Blackwater employee, worked quietly with Prince as his vice president of "special programs" to provide the agency with what every intelligence service wants: plausible deniability. Shortly after 9/11, President Bush had issued a "lethal finding," giving the C.I.A. the go-ahead to kill or capture al-Qaeda members. (Under an executive order issued by President Gerald Ford, it had been illegal since 1976 for U.S. intelligence operatives to conduct assassinations.) As a seasoned case officer, Prado helped implement the order by putting together a small team of "blue-badgers," as government agents are known. Their job was threefold: find, fix, and finish. Find the designated target, fix the person's routine, and, if necessary, finish him off. When the time came to train the hit squad, the agency, insiders say, turned to Prince. Wary of attracting undue attention, the team practiced not at the company's North Carolina compound but at Prince's own domain, an hour outside Washington, D.C. The property looks like an outpost of the landed gentry, with pastures and horses, but also features less traditional accents, such as an indoor firing range. Once again, Prince has Wild Bill on his mind, observing that "the O.S.S. trained during World War II on a country estate."
Among the team's targets, according to a source familiar with the program, was Mamoun Darkazanli, an al-Qaeda financier living in Hamburg who had been on the agency's radar for years because of his ties to three of the 9/11 hijackers and to operatives convicted of the 1998 bombings of U.S. Embassies in East Africa. The C.I.A. team supposedly went in "dark," meaning they did not notify their own station—much less the German government—of their presence; they then followed Darkazanli for weeks and worked through the logistics of how and where they would take him down. Another target, the source says, was A. Q. Khan, the rogue Pakistani scientist who shared nuclear know-how with Iran, Libya, and North Korea. The C.I.A. team supposedly tracked him in Dubai. In both cases, the source insists, the authorities in Washington chose not to pull the trigger. Khan's inclusion on the target list, however, would suggest that the assassination effort was broader than has previously been acknowledged. (Says agency spokesman Gimigliano, "[The] C.I.A. hasn't discussed—despite some mischaracterizations that have appeared in the public domain—the substance of this effort or earlier ones.")
The source familiar with the Darkazanli and Khan missions bristles at public comments that current and former C.I.A. officials have made: "They say the program didn't move forward because [they] didn't have the right skill set or because of inadequate cover. That's untrue. [The operation continued] for a very long time in some places without ever being discovered. This program died because of a lack of political will."
[...]
America and Erik Prince, it seems, have been slow to extract themselves from the assassination business. Beyond the killer drones flown with Blackwater's help along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border (President Obama has reportedly authorized more than three dozen such hits), Prince claims he and a team of foreign nationals helped find and fix a target in October 2008, then left the finishing to others. "In Syria," he says, "we did the signals intelligence to geo-locate the bad guys in a very denied area." Subsequently, a U.S. Special Forces team launched a helicopter-borne assault to hunt down al-Qaeda middleman Abu Ghadiyah. Ghadiyah, whose real name is Badran Turki Hishan Al-Mazidih, was said to have been killed along with six others—though doubts have emerged about whether Ghadiyah was even there that day, as detailed in a recent Vanity Fair Web story by Reese Ehrlich and Peter Coyote.
And up until two months ago—when Prince says the Obama administration pulled the plug—he was still deeply engaged in the dark arts. According to insiders, he was running intelligence-gathering operations from a secret location in the United States, remotely coordinating the movements of spies working undercover in one of the so-called Axis of Evil countries. Their mission: non-disclosable.
Interesting....almost sounds more like Blackwater was using the CIA as an asset than the other way around.
...wonder if we should be laying bets that the Obama administration will re-up the "dark arts" on the sly and behind closed doors where no one will see. /paranoid cynicism
Quote from: Jenne on December 06, 2009, 08:10:37 PM
...wonder if we should be laying bets that the Obama administration will re-up the "dark arts" on the sly and behind closed doors where no one will see. /paranoid cynicism
No, we should be betting on when. That way it's more interesting.
Quote from: Father Kurt Christ on December 06, 2009, 08:18:15 PM
Quote from: Jenne on December 06, 2009, 08:10:37 PM
...wonder if we should be laying bets that the Obama administration will re-up the "dark arts" on the sly and behind closed doors where no one will see. /paranoid cynicism
No, we should be betting on when. That way it's more interesting.
that would imply that there has been a discontinuity to begin with...
:|
Quote from: Iptuous on December 06, 2009, 08:49:33 PM
Quote from: Father Kurt Christ on December 06, 2009, 08:18:15 PM
Quote from: Jenne on December 06, 2009, 08:10:37 PM
...wonder if we should be laying bets that the Obama administration will re-up the "dark arts" on the sly and behind closed doors where no one will see. /paranoid cynicism
No, we should be betting on when. That way it's more interesting.
that would imply that there has been a discontinuity to begin with...
:|
You calling the article's author a liar? :lol: The last paragraph said Obama ko'd the activities Prince'd been engaged in.
Scahill thinks Prince might be "greymailing" the government with the above article:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091221/scahill2
QuoteThe in-depth Vanity Fair profile of the infamous owner of Blackwater, Erik Prince, is remarkable on many levels–not least among them that Prince appeared to give the story's author, former CIA lawyer Adam Ciralsky, unprecedented access to information about sensitive, classified and lethal operations not only of Prince's forces, but Prince himself. In the article, Prince is revealed not just as owner of a company that covertly provided contractors to the CIA for drone bombings and targeted assassinations, but as an actual CIA asset himself.
While the story appears to be simply a profile of Prince, it might actually be the world's most famous mercenary's insurance policy against future criminal prosecution. The term of art for what Prince appears to be doing in the VF interview is graymail: a legal tactic that has been used for years by intelligence operatives or assets who are facing prosecution or fear they soon will be. In short, these operatives or assets threaten to reveal details of sensitive or classified operations in order to ward off indictments or criminal charges, based on the belief that the government would not want these details revealed. "The only reason Prince would do this [interview] is that he feels he is in very serious jeopardy of criminal charges," says Scott Horton, a prominent national security and military law expert. "He absolutely would not do these things otherwise."
There is no doubt Prince is in the legal cross-hairs: There are reportedly two separate Grand Juries investigating Blackwater on a range of serious charges, ranging from gun smuggling to extralegal killings; multiple civil lawsuits alleging war crimes and extrajudicial killings; and Congress is investigating the assassination program in which Prince and his company were central players. "Obviously, Prince does know a lot and the government has to realize that once they start prosecuting him," says Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor and the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "In some ways, graymail is what any good defense lawyer would do. This is something that's in your arsenal."
Perhaps the most prominent case of graymail was by Oliver North when he and his lawyers used it to force dismissal of the most serious charges against him stemming from his involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair. In another case, known as Khazak-gate, a US businessman, James Giffen, allegedly paid $78 million in bribes to former Khazakh Prime Minister Nurlan Balgimbayev in an attempt to win contracts for western oil companies to develop the Tengiz oil fields in the 1990s. In 1993, he was charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the largest overseas bribery case in history. After Giffen was indicted, he claimed that if he did what he was accused of, he did it in the service of US intelligence agencies. The case has been in limbo ever since.
"This is as old as the hills as a tactic and it has a long track record of being very effective against the government," says Horton. "It's basically a threat to the government that if you prosecute me, I'll disclose all sorts of national security-sensitive information. The bottom line here is it's like an act of extortion or a threat: you do X and this is what I'm going to do." Horton said that the Vanity Fair article was Prince "essentially putting out the warning to the Department of Justice: 'You prosecute me and all this stuff will be out on the record.'"
According to Ciralsky's article, Prince was a "full-blown asset" of "the C.I.A.'s National Resources Division [which] recruited Prince in 2004 to join a secret network of American citizens with special skills or unusual access to targets of interest:
"Two sources familiar with the arrangement say that Prince's handlers obtained provisional operational approval from senior management to recruit Prince and later generated a "201 file," which would have put him on the agency's books as a vetted asset. It's not at all clear who was running whom, since Prince says that, unlike many other assets, he did much of his work on spec, claiming to have used personal funds to road-test the viability of certain operations...
Prince was developing unconventional means of penetrating "hard target" countries–where the C.I.A. has great difficulty working either because there are no stations from which to operate or because local intelligence services have the wherewithal to frustrate the agency's designs. "I made no money whatsoever off this work," Prince contends. He is unwilling to specify the exact nature of his forays. "I'm painted as this war profiteer by Congress. Meanwhile I'm paying for all sorts of intelligence activities to support American national security, out of my own pocket."
"I think that [Prince] will use all of his information and his knowledge of these secret dealings in basically what is an extortion play: 'You come after me, and I'll spill the beans on everything,'" says Horton. "That's the essence of graymail and the Department of Justice will usually get its feathers all ruffled up and they'll say, 'You can't deal with the government like this. This is unfair and improper.' But in the end, it usually works."
In the Vanity Fair article, Prince alleges that he was outed–by whom he does not say, but the implication is that CIA Director Leon Panetta named him in a closed door hearing of the Intelligence Committee last June, and then the name was leaked by one of the attendees of that hearing. Sloan, the former federal prosecutor, said that if what Prince says in the Vanity Fair article about his role in secret CIA programs is true, he has a case that laws were broken in revealing his identity. "I'm not his fan, but he's not wrong. For somebody to leak his identity as a CIA asset clearly merits a criminal investigation," Sloan said. "Whether they should have ever hired Erik Prince or made him into an asset is a separate question. Assuming he really was a CIA asset, basically a spy, an undercover operative, and somebody decided to leak that, that's not acceptable and that is a violation of the same law that leaking Valerie [Plame]'s identity was. If you can't leak one person, you can't leak any person, not just the people you like versus the people you don't like."
While much of the focus in the Vanity Fair story was on Prince's work with the CIA, the story also confirmed that Blackwater has an ongoing relationship with the US Special Forces, helping plan missions and providing air support. As The Nation reported, Blackwater has for years been working on a classified contract with the Joint Special Operations Command in a drone bombing campaign in Pakistan, as well as planning snatch-and-grab missions and targeted assassinations. Part of what may be happening behind closed doors is that the CIA is, to an extent, cutting Blackwater and Prince off. But, as sources have told The Nation, the company remains a central player in US Special Forces operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Prince's choice of Adam Ciralsky to tell his story is an interesting one as well. Ciralsky was a CIA lawyer who in 1997 was suspended under suspicion he was having unauthorized contacts with possible Israeli intelligence agents. Ciralsky vehemently denied the allegations, saying he was the victim of a "witch-hunt" at the Agency. In any case, there is no question that Prince would view Ciralsky through the lens of his own struggle against the CIA. "When I saw the article, the first thing that just leapt off the page was his name. I thought, 'My god, why would he go to Adam?'" said Horton. "And then I read the article and I thought, of course he'd go to Adam. There is this legal theme being developed in the article and Adam, as a lawyer who had dealt with the CIA, fully understands that. I mean I think he fully understood he was going to do a piece that would help Prince develop his legal defense and that's what this is. The amazing thing to me is that Vanity Fair printed it. Do the editors of Vanity Fair not understand what's going on here?"
I saw that through Johnny Brainwash's Dysnomia blog. Pretty good chance that's what Prince is doing, IMO.
Yeah, wouldn't surprise me. Especially since Xe is tight with JSOC on the Afpak front nowadays, they could cause a heapload of trouble.
Also this might be of use http://blackwaterwatch.net/
Two more Blackwater stories
1) Blackwater hit-team? In MY Germany? Its more likely than you think.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100125/scahill4
QuoteGerman prosecutors have launched a preliminary investigation into allegations that the CIA deployed a team of Blackwater operatives on a clandestine operation in Hamburg, Germany, after 9/11 ultimately aimed at assassinating a German citizen with suspected ties to Al Qaeda. The alleged assassination operation was revealed last month in a Vanity Fair profile of Blackwater's owner Erik Prince.
The magazine reported that after 9/11, the CIA used one of Prince's homes in Virginia as a covert training facility for hit teams that would hunt Al Qaeda suspects globally. Their job was find, fix and finish: "Find the designated target, fix the person's routine, and, if necessary, finish him off," as the magazine put it.
According to Vanity Fair, one of the team's targets was Mamoun Darkazanli, a naturalized German citizen originally from Syria. Darkazanli has been accused by Spain of being an Al Qaeda supporter with close ties to the alleged 9/11 plotters who lived in Hamburg. The Blackwater/CIA team "supposedly went in 'dark,' meaning they did not notify their own station--much less the German government--of their presence," according to Vanity Fair. "They then followed Darkazanli for weeks and worked through the logistics of how and where they would take him down." Authorities in Washington, however, "chose not to pull the trigger."
This week, a senior lawmaker in Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union called on Washington to provide an explanation. "If this commando really existed and the US government knew about it but didn't notify our government then this would be a very grave incident," said the lawmaker, Wolfgang Bosbach.
2) Did the DoJ screw up the Blackwater trial on purpose?
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/4/judge_dismisses_all_charges_against_blackwater
Quote[The] decision to dismiss these charges had nothing to do with lack of evidence or weak evidence against the Blackwater employees. To the contrary, there was copious evidence. There was plenty of evidence prosecutors could have used that they evidently weren't prepared to, including eyewitnesses there. The decision to dismiss was taken as a punishment measure against Justice Department prosecutors based on the judge's conclusion that they engaged in grossly unethical and improper behavior in putting the case together.
And specifically what they did is they took statements that were taken by the Department of State against a grant of immunity; that is, the government investigators told the guards, "Give us your statement, be candid, be complete, and we promise you we won't use your statement for any criminal charges against you." But the Justice Department prosecutors took those statements and in fact used them. They used them before the grand jury. They used them to build their entire case. And they did this notwithstanding warnings from senior lawyers in the Justice Department that this was improper and could lead to dismissal of the case. It almost looks like the Justice Department prosecutors here wanted to sabotage their own case. It was so outrageous.
AMY GOODMAN: Do you think that's possible?
SCOTT HORTON: I think it is possible. Specifically in this case, there were briefings that occurred on Capitol Hill early on in which senior officials of the Justice Department told congressional investigators, staffers and congressmen that essentially they didn't want to bring the case. In fact, one of the congressmen who was present at these briefings told me they were behaving like defense lawyers putting together a case to defend the Blackwater employees, not to prosecute them. And I think we see the evidence of that copiously in Judge Urbina's opinion.
So are they called Blackwater or Xe now? I thought they changed their name?
They did change their name to Xe, but everyone still calls them Blackwater.
Update on Prince: He's moving to the UAE
http://www.thenation.com/blog/blackwaters-erik-prince-moving-united-arab-emirates
QuoteSources close to Blackwater and its secretive owner Erik Prince claim that the embattled head of the world's most infamous mercenary firm is planning to move to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Middle Eastern nation, a major hub for the US war industry, has no extradition treaty with the United States. In April, five of Prince's top deputies were hit with a fifteen-count indictment by a federal grand jury on conspiracy, weapons and obstruction of justice charges. Among those indicted were Prince's longtime number-two man, former Blackwater president Gary Jackson, former vice presidents William Matthews and Ana Bundy and Prince's former legal counsel Andrew Howell.
The Blackwater/Erik Prince saga took yet another dramatic turn last week, when Prince abruptly announced that he was putting his company up for sale.
While Prince has not personally been charged with any crimes, federal investigators and several Congressional committees clearly have his company and inner circle in their sights. The Nation learned of Prince's alleged plans to move to the UAE from three separate sources. One Blackwater source told The Nation that Prince intends to sell his company quickly, saying the "sale is going to be a fast move within a couple of months."
Well, it's not like UAE is the international center for dirty money and organized crime, or that the various cities there are reliant on mercenaries as personal protection for the oil sheikhs.
Oh, wait, it is.
He should fit right in.
http://www.thenation.com/article/154739/blackwaters-black-ops
QuoteOver the past several years, entities closely linked to the private security firm Blackwater have provided intelligence, training and security services to US and foreign governments as well as several multinational corporations, including Monsanto, Chevron, the Walt Disney Company, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and banking giants Deutsche Bank and Barclays, according to documents obtained by The Nation. Blackwater's work for corporations and government agencies was contracted using two companies owned by Blackwater's owner and founder, Erik Prince: Total Intelligence Solutions and the Terrorism Research Center (TRC). Prince is listed as the chairman of both companies in internal company documents, which show how the web of companies functions as a highly coordinated operation. Officials from Total Intelligence, TRC and Blackwater (which now calls itself Xe Services) did not respond to numerous requests for comment for this article.
One of the most incendiary details in the documents is that Blackwater, through Total Intelligence, sought to become the "intel arm" of Monsanto, offering to provide operatives to infiltrate activist groups organizing against the multinational biotech firm.
Governmental recipients of intelligence services and counterterrorism training from Prince's companies include the Kingdom of Jordan, the Canadian military and the Netherlands police, as well as several US military bases, including Fort Bragg, home of the elite Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), and Fort Huachuca, where military interrogators are trained, according to the documents. In addition, Blackwater worked through the companies for the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the US European Command.
On September 3 the New York Times reported that Blackwater had "created a web of more than 30 shell companies or subsidiaries in part to obtain millions of dollars in American government contracts after the security company came under intense criticism for reckless conduct in Iraq." The documents obtained by The Nation reveal previously unreported details of several such companies and open a rare window into the sensitive intelligence and security operations Blackwater performs for a range of powerful corporations and government agencies. The new evidence also sheds light on the key roles of several former top CIA officials who went on to work for Blackwater.
The coordinator of Blackwater's covert CIA business, former CIA paramilitary officer Enrique "Ric" Prado, set up a global network of foreign operatives, offering their "deniability" as a "big plus" for potential Blackwater customers, according to company documents. The CIA has long used proxy forces to carry out extralegal actions or to shield US government involvement in unsavory operations from scrutiny. In some cases, these "deniable" foreign forces don't even know who they are working for. Prado and Prince built up a network of such foreigners while Blackwater was at the center of the CIA's assassination program, beginning in 2004. They trained special missions units at one of Prince's properties in Virginia with the intent of hunting terrorism suspects globally, often working with foreign operatives. A former senior CIA official said the benefit of using Blackwater's foreign operatives in CIA operations was that "you wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it."
A former senior CIA official said the benefit of using Blackwater's foreign operatives in CIA operations was that "you wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it."
That one sentence. Gah!
Quote from: Charley Brown on September 18, 2010, 09:48:10 PM
A former senior CIA official said the benefit of using Blackwater's foreign operatives in CIA operations was that "you wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it."
That one sentence. Gah!
i know they started out recruiting ex am mil people, but I doubt they limit themselves to just am mil anymore.
probably pulling ex mil from all sorts of nations now to fill their roster.
I know even as early as 2005 they were recruiting Chilean Marines and ex-Romanian Special Forces guys, according to Jeremy Scahill's book on them. Could pay them less and their training was roughly on a level with American special forces guys.
Why not Taiwanese special forces?
Cheaper, but nevermind.
Quote from: Charley Brown on September 18, 2010, 09:48:10 PM
A former senior CIA official said the benefit of using Blackwater's foreign operatives in CIA operations was that "you wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it."
That one sentence. Gah!
please don't interpret this as a defense of blackwater, but strictly in terms of that one sentence, I don't see what's wrong with that.
Quote from: Exit City Hustle on September 18, 2010, 10:59:30 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on September 18, 2010, 09:48:10 PM
A former senior CIA official said the benefit of using Blackwater's foreign operatives in CIA operations was that "you wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it."
That one sentence. Gah!
please don't interpret this as a defense of blackwater, but strictly in terms of that one sentence, I don't see what's wrong with that.
It implies that something badwrong/illegal is being done and seperation is required.
Quote from: Charley Brown on September 18, 2010, 11:04:27 PM
Quote from: Exit City Hustle on September 18, 2010, 10:59:30 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on September 18, 2010, 09:48:10 PM
A former senior CIA official said the benefit of using Blackwater's foreign operatives in CIA operations was that "you wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it."
That one sentence. Gah!
please don't interpret this as a defense of blackwater, but strictly in terms of that one sentence, I don't see what's wrong with that.
It implies that something badwrong/illegal is being done and seperation is required.
*cough* IDF *cough cough*
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on September 18, 2010, 11:35:03 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on September 18, 2010, 11:04:27 PM
Quote from: Exit City Hustle on September 18, 2010, 10:59:30 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on September 18, 2010, 09:48:10 PM
A former senior CIA official said the benefit of using Blackwater's foreign operatives in CIA operations was that "you wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it."
That one sentence. Gah!
please don't interpret this as a defense of blackwater, but strictly in terms of that one sentence, I don't see what's wrong with that.
It implies that something badwrong/illegal is being done and seperation is required.
*cough* IDF *cough cough*
Of course. Teh jooz.
Quote from: The Reverend Asshat on September 18, 2010, 11:04:27 PM
Quote from: Exit City Hustle on September 18, 2010, 10:59:30 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on September 18, 2010, 09:48:10 PM
A former senior CIA official said the benefit of using Blackwater's foreign operatives in CIA operations was that "you wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it."
That one sentence. Gah!
please don't interpret this as a defense of blackwater, but strictly in terms of that one sentence, I don't see what's wrong with that.
It implies that something badwrong/illegal is being done and seperation is required.
still don't see what's wrong with that. In my admittedly "realpolitik" view of how the world works, that's often necessary.
Quote from: Exit City Hustle on September 20, 2010, 12:38:41 AM
Quote from: The Reverend Asshat on September 18, 2010, 11:04:27 PM
Quote from: Exit City Hustle on September 18, 2010, 10:59:30 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on September 18, 2010, 09:48:10 PM
A former senior CIA official said the benefit of using Blackwater's foreign operatives in CIA operations was that "you wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it."
That one sentence. Gah!
please don't interpret this as a defense of blackwater, but strictly in terms of that one sentence, I don't see what's wrong with that.
It implies that something badwrong/illegal is being done and seperation is required.
still don't see what's wrong with that. In my admittedly "realpolitik" view of how the world works, that's often necessary.
Agreed. Its not like its a new line of thought, governments have operated this way for thousands of years.
It would be more worrying if Blackwater wasn't an admitted covert arm of the CIA, with Erik Prince a paid agent of influence. In such a position, it'd be very easy for the tail to end up wagging the dog, especially when pitted against the "geniuses" at Langley.
As things are, the CIA has used cut-out companies like Prince's since the 50s, and especially since the late 70s, when Jimmy Carter, in an unusual act of clarity and self-preservation for a modern president, axed a large number of the CIA operations and covert operations divisions, before they could axe him. Those ex-agents went on to found shipping companies, work on the boards of major banks and went into private intelligence and security firms. And of course, their friends who survived the purges would then go to them for "advice".
It's well worth asking how many ex-intelligence agents and high ranking Pentagon officials/former military men are on the boards of those companies which keep on hiring Blackwater. Banks, as previously mentioned, tend to have a high number of these sort of people on their payroll, and it is entirely possible that there is a private sector-mercenary-intelligence sector alliance, funding intelligence operations from it's own pockets.
QuoteIt's well worth asking how many ex-intelligence agents and high ranking Pentagon officials/former military men are on the boards of those companies which keep on hiring Blackwater.
THAT is the most interesting thing I've heard all day.
I think it's hilarious that according to that article, Disney has been hiring mercenaries :lulz:
Another one of those weird wonders of the 21st century ...
Not that odd considering they have cruise ships
http://www.thenation.com/blog/154977/us-businessman-blackwater-paid-me-buy-steroids-and-weapons-black-market-its-shooters
QuoteA Texas businessman who has worked extensively in Iraq claims that Blackwater paid him to purchase steroids and other drugs for its operatives in Baghdad, as well as more than 100 AK47s and massive amounts of ammunition on Baghdad's black market. Howard Lowry, who worked in Iraq from 2003-2009, also claims that he personally attended Blackwater parties where company personnel had large amounts of cocaine and blocks of hashish and would run around naked. At some of these parties, Lowry alleges, Blackwater operatives would randomly fire automatic weapons from their balconies into buildings full of Iraqi civilians. Lowry described the events as a "frat party gone wild" where "drug use was rampant." Lowry says he was told by Blackwater personnel that some of the men using the steroids he purchased were on the security detail of L. Paul Bremer, the original head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). Lowry also claims that Blackwater's owner Erik Prince tried to enlist his help to win contracts for Blackwater with the Iraqi government using an off-shore security company, Greystone, which Prince owns. The purpose, Lowry says, was to conceal Greystone's relationship to Blackwater.
I've known about the Greystone/Blackwater connection since...2007? since I considered using their address to continue to fake out HIMEOBS' profile as an international mercenary organization, but I decided, after learning of said relationship, I was quite happy with all my limbs attached to my body. So I don't know when that story originally got out.
I say you made a good call not using them.
Figures that the places I'm least likely to ever go have all the best parties.
Quote from: Sigmatic on September 25, 2010, 06:56:36 AM
Figures that the places I'm least likely to ever go have all the best parties.
You don't want to go.
I'd probably show up for a party like that, but I wouldn't want to work for them.
I dunno, it would take a certain kind of degenerate (or I'll allow impossibly desperate merc) to continue to work for Blackwater once you knew what they're all about and how many dirty fingers their pies are in. ...but maybe that's just me.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/10/blackwaters-34th-front-company-wins-big-diplo-jackpot/
QuoteIf International Development Solutions, a mysterious firm partially owned by Blackwater, has its own independent office, it's hard to find. A business records search co-locates one of the jackpot winners of a State Department contract worth up to $10 million with Kaseman LLC, the well-connected private security security firm that partnered with Blackwater arm U.S. Training Center to win the contract.
That would suggest International Development Solutions — a company few industry experts have heard of, sporting a generic, Google-resistant name — is yet another front group the company set up to win government contracts while concealing its tainted brand. More of a mystery is why the State Department let the company get away with it. Again.
Blackwater - Helping Nations Achieve Dystopia since 1997
The Umbrella Corporation. The real one.
In a move that will surprise no-one, Xe (previously Blackwater) is now to be known as Academi.
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/12/12/headlines/blackwater_private_security_company_changes_name_for_second_time_in_under_three_years
Shit, and I though Hollywood was getting bad with the pointless remake-quals.