48 Comments so far

1. Lobo Gris March 16th, 2007 9:10 pm

   I can not even begin to describe how dangerous this is to have a private army that is subject to neither civilian law or the military legal system.

   Lobo Gris

2. Alan8 March 16th, 2007 10:17 pm

   One word: Gestapo

3. barbarian at the gate March 17th, 2007 5:16 am

   I couldn’t help but remember some of Roman history, specifically the auctioning of lakes in captured Gallic territories. Back then war was waged for booty, both for the individuals fighting and the empire. How close are we to that when so much of the private sector has a stake in the ‘perfect war’, the war that never ends as the ‘war on terrorism’ is designed, as it creates more terrorists the longer the war is fought, and has a stateless enemy, therefore there can be no peace talks…only war, at least under the Bushitler/Cheneyreactionary/Rumsfiend model. Now that our voluteer army sees a lack of re-ups and new recruits, can large war-zone bonus payments (aka booty/loot) be far off in the offering to troops? And why shouldn’t they demand the same payment scheme as Blackwater’s private army troops receive?
   Also one may rightfully be concerned about these private contractor’s loyalty. What if in the middle of a fight the other side offers to pay more for the contractors services? It’s only business after all, nothing personal…right?

4. Lobo Gris March 17th, 2007 8:34 am

   barbarian at the gate March 17th, 2007 5:16 am

   “Now that our voluteer army sees a lack of re-ups and new recruits, can large war-zone bonus payments (aka booty/loot) be far off in the offering to troops?”

   I have heard of bonuses as high as $40,000 already.

   They keep all the figures pretty quiet I think but they still seem to be extending the tours of the ones there and doing early deployments of the ones going which makes me suspect they are still having problems.

   “Also one may rightfully be concerned about these private contractor’s loyalty. What if in the middle of a fight the other side offers to pay more for the contractors services? It’s only business after all, nothing personal…right?”

   What worries me more is if they are turned on the populace here if the population gets “restless”.

   Private armies that are unaccountable and controlled by corporations should concern everyone immensely. There have already been way too many (even one would be too many) documented abuses of power recently to not be concerned.

   Lobo Gris

5. rjhuntington March 17th, 2007 11:22 am

   The next morning, the Pentagon would be attacked, literally, as a Boeing 757–American Airlines Flight 77–smashed into its western wall.

   No it didn’t.

6. Nietzsche March 17th, 2007 12:27 pm

   How long before the NSA finds out who is writing these comments and Blackwater troops show up at our front door?

7. Peter Sirois March 17th, 2007 4:48 pm

   Screw Blackwater and their bosses. My door is only made of wood. Ho Hah that.

8. fpal March 17th, 2007 6:27 pm

   War is good for America.

   As Kucinich says, there’s real incentive to start and prolong wars to increase profitability.

   This makes America very dangerous, an outcast, for the globe.

   P.S. re-assert your freedoms even with NSA listening.

9. MollyJ March 17th, 2007 6:49 pm

   This is an excellently documented article and one of those that you never seen anything like in the local paper. And I ask, “Why not?” Why isn’t the press talking about this. Private armies are what bring about coup d’etat. While your brain cannot really even get around the idea that George Bush would refuse to yield the White House at the end of his term, he is certainly creating a private army beholden to him that facilitates just that kind of thing in less stable countries.

   While I certainly have my share of impatience with the Democrats in congress, there is a glimmer of hope here. I hope we can hang on to our democracy.

10. ezeflyer March 17th, 2007 7:45 pm

    Hear Jeremy Scahill on YouTube:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8mfGx_wuvQ&mode=related&search=

11. Lobo Gris March 18th, 2007 12:40 am

    #
    Nietzsche March 17th, 2007 12:27 pm

    “How long before the NSA finds out who is writing these comments and Blackwater troops show up at our front door?”

    All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

    And I would add “to say nothing”

    Sorry don’t remember the author.

    Lobo Gris

12. MollyJ March 18th, 2007 7:24 am

    ezeflyer, enjoyed the Youtube link and then went to DN website for the whole interview. But what is interesting are the comments at YouTube favoring Blackwater. There seems to be very little notion that when private armies emerge, especially if they emerge on the sides of our enemies, we would call them mercenaries and we would recognize how they compound the peacemaking process.

13. Chuck Cliff March 18th, 2007 9:09 am

    Jeeze, if this keeps up these bozos are gonna privatize the military.

    I know it sounds loony, but when since 2000 has looniness been a drawback for any of their schemes?

    Heck, look how well the privatization of prisons has worked out!

    The private sector is flexible you see. They were able to take up the slack when all those immigrant workers were rounded up not so long ago — why, they could fingerprint babies without batting an eye.

    Who the stockholders will be, I have no idea. But maybe they will have a profit-sharing plan for the employees — this is always a good worker incentive!

14. ezeflyer March 18th, 2007 10:11 am

    MollyJ:

    Anyone can post videos on YouTube. And Blackwater shills too. Money is the root of all evil.

15. jake123 March 19th, 2007 3:05 am

    I’d like to recommend Machiavelli’s Reflections for his point of view on the effects of hiring mercenaries on republics. Basically, the use of mercenary armies is incredibly destructive of republics, in his view, and his arguments for why this is so ring as true today as they did five hundred plus years ago when he made them.

    People of the US should also be very concerned that despite the fact that there are no restrictions on their behaviour like there are in the military (Geneva, UCMJ) doesn’t mean that the acts of the mercenary army won’t be laid at the foot of the American people by their victims… and rightfully too, I might add, considering that the American taxpayer is paying them for what they do.

    Who among you will be ready to accept responsibility for the crimes comitted in your name by the private armies hired by your government and corporations?

16. iammyself March 19th, 2007 1:33 pm

    You know, the term “fascism” is incomplete. The full terms is “corporate fascism”, for that’s the root of the fascist state.

    That the corporate state is in control (and has been for many years) is not in doubt. What’s happening now is merely the next step. Of course, it really is superflous in a way to have “private” armies. Our military is already under the control of civilians and those civilians are already (and have been for many years) under the control of the large banks and multinationals.

    Follow the money.

    “I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested.”

    Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC

17. MollyJ March 19th, 2007 1:34 pm

    jake123 says
    “Who among you will be ready to accept responsibility for the crimes comitted in your name by the private armies hired by your government and corporations?”

    Oh I am sure we will get that responsibility if nothing more through the “opportunity” for endless war. I have a 15 year old son…

18. jake123 March 19th, 2007 4:08 pm

    That precisely underlines why I think that the American people need to start telling their representatives why they should impeach now. It’s the only way out of the trap your elites have laid for you and your descendants. While you’ll be on the hook for the money no matter what happens, that will be much better than being on the hook as a people for war crimes: it is much more difficult for democracies to disavow responsibility for war crimes on the part of the people than it is for authoritarian countries.

    I’m one of your northern neighbours. The US should have listened to us when we declined to take part in the Iraq adventure; while we work with the US often in military matters, when we don’t it’s usually for very good reasons… the last time we bowed out was in Vietnam. Believe me when I tell you that many up here hope very much that the American people (it’s not difficult for us to differentiate between the American state and its citizenry; in general Canadians like Americans but don’t think much of America) will come to their senses and throw your leaders out. It is the only when that happens that the US will be able to begin to restore its good name in the world.

    I often think that most Americans don’t really understand the extent to which the last six years have destroyed the reputation of the United States of America around the world. While many Americans haven’t really understood the atrocious acts that have been carried out in their name (torture, detention without due process, disappearing people, etc) most of the rest of the world does know, and certainly the Rest of the West does, and is appalled.

    Personally, stop doing anti-war protests and start impeachment protests; if you manage to get a few million out in major US cities agitating for impeachment it will make very clear to the world where the people stand, and will do a great deal to rehabilitate the character of the American people, if not of the American state.

19. prog-rocks March 19th, 2007 10:40 pm

    No mercenary army ever goes back to barracks. It is something dangerous and no the american people are not able to wrap their heads around it. We don’t have mercenaries, those only exist in movies. Like the A-Team.

    The danger is there is no real loyalty. the mercenary grunt may love america, but what about his boss? as we see in the article the grunts never know who is their master, they just go where they are told to go and do what they are told to do. So to day they work for Kuwaiti corporation, tomarrow some Saudi outfit, and so on. If a merc refuses and order he’s probably fired right there, alone and deep in enemy territory with no support, a probable death sentence. If an american soldier refuses an order he has the court martial system to take care of him. Who do you think is more likely to question an order, or ask for clarification?

    As we have seen from the way Iranian intelligence has masterfully manipulated the administraition with Chilabi I would not put it past them to have gone beyond simply passing surplus military goods to Iraqi insurgents but to covertly bribing these mercenaries. They may not even know they are dealing with Iranian intelligence.

    In the revolutionary war the British relyed on German mercenaries, their occupation didn’t succeed either.

20. MollyJ March 20th, 2007 8:09 am

    Jake 123, I come from KS, the middle of the country and a proudly self-avowed red state. Casting a vote for Gore and Kerry was something I did but it was very much like spitting in the wind. Our Senator Pat Roberts was an incredible Presidential enabler during the president’s first term and used his position as Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee to delay a report on whether the intel was cooked that got us in to the war. The report was _never_ finally submitted. With the electoral change of 2006, Roberts resigned his position and chair (which as repub he would have lost anyhow) on that committee and went to another committee. He’s slinking away from something though the inert press will never ask exactly what.

    I have written my congressional delegation. It’s largely an exercise in this environment. My other Senator is Sam Brownback, hoping to run for President as the darling of the Christian right. The only one that has shown the slightest back bone is Rep. Jerry Moran but he is by and large a loyal republican.

    All this just so you understand what I have to work with when I press my congressional delegation to vote for impeachment.

    That said, it was with Richard Nixom precisely when loyal republicans started to see the sense and the necessity of impeachment that Nixon resigned.

    Therefore I essentially agree with you about impeachment but it is a very steep uphill push and would take maybe more years than Bush has left in office to come to fruition (a bright spot is the president’s declining length of days).

    Deadhead press (except for Commondreams.org and their ilk), good old boys club congress. I think the people have to come together effectively or with future elections we will see more of the same.

21. Vern March 20th, 2007 12:20 pm

    If only there was a way to kick this to the top of the page over and over. It should be pinned to the top to keep it in full and steady view. That is how important this issue of hired guns is. Call them what they are- mercenaries: Killers for hire for major $$$$$$ that operate above the law without any oversight or accountability, hidden from view and not even included in any body counts. The deregulation of the military and the privitizing of war for profit is the military-industrial complex running the show, telling us we have to pour more money into their ever-widening black hole, while waving the “support the troops” banner.

    Privitizing the profits–socializing the means.

22. Rebel Farmer March 20th, 2007 12:23 pm

    It’s becoming increasing clear that nothing will get done at the Federal level. There is a lot of action happening at the State level though. Two sites that can be helpful for taking effective action are progressivestates.org and workingforchange.org. Common Cause is working on electoral reform and has a lot of useful links to take action.

    If you are having problems being heard by your U.S. “representatives”, you may find that your State reps are willing to listen. The Constitution was written so that States could force impeachment proceedings if the U.S. Congress refused to do so. PLEASE work in your own States to get impeachment proceedings going. It’s the only way that it will happen before Bush’s term expires.

    Thanks

23. Vern March 20th, 2007 12:30 pm

    Another thought:
    Since these mercenaries-(terrorists?) aren’t wearing the official uniform, wouldn’t they fall under the blanket of the illegal combatants loophole the Bush junta uses to exempt those held in secret prison from Geneva protections?

24. Lobo Gris March 21st, 2007 3:55 am

    jake123 March 19th, 2007 4:08 pm

    “I’m one of your northern neighbours. The US should have listened to us when we declined to take part in the Iraq adventure”

    They should have listened to us too, the ones that tried to tell them how incredibly stupid it was to start this war. But they weren’t listening to anyone but themselves and were quite ready to destroy anyone that opposed them. They outed Valerie Plame, and fired Genral Shinseki just to name two of the casualties of their utter disregard for the truth and common sense.

    “Believe me when I tell you that many up here hope very much that the American people (it’s not difficult for us to differentiate between the American state and its citizenry; in general Canadians like Americans but don’t think much of America) will come to their senses and throw your leaders out. It is the only when that happens that the US will be able to begin to restore its good name in the world.”

    Believe me that the level of anger and frustration after the 2006 elections and the subsequent failure of our newly elected leaders to take any real action is at an unbelievable level. I literally could not believe my ears when after all the high level violations of the law, our constitution, the violation of the oath of office, and the violation of international treaties, our new Speaker of the House’s first words, before even being seated was, “Impeachment is off the table”

    “I often think that most Americans don’t really understand the extent to which the last six years have destroyed the reputation of the United States of America around the world. While many Americans haven’t really understood the atrocious acts that have been carried out in their name (torture, detention without due process, disappearing people, etc) most of the rest of the world does know, and certainly the Rest of the West does, and is appalled.”

    There are many of us that do know, the same ones that knew this war was wrong from the begining. It looks like many others are starting to wake up. Whether there will be enough, soon enough, remains to be seen.

    Lobo Gris

25. MollyJ March 21st, 2007 8:37 am

    Lobo Gris, I think that Jake 123 is correct when he says that we do not appeciate how Ameica’s reputation has suffered under Bush. While I think people who go to alternative news sites understand it and appreciate it, I am constantly asking myself, “What would I know if I relied on my local news paper and common news sources for information?” The relative insulation on so many issues is remarkable.

    I was at one of the other discussions and the posters were actively celebrating Patrick Leahy’s dismissive answer to Bush’s offer to let his staff be interviewed off the record and not under oath. But in my local news paper this was characterized as ineffectual Democratic politicizing of an issue.

    While I recognize that Commondreams.org targets a progressive audience, as long as that chasm between how the issues are rolled out in the MSM continues, it will be hard to get the average voter upset about these issues. And as so many have written, the MSM has a short interest span and has readily let so many issues die.

    I think the inert corporate press bears considerable responsibility for our state of affairs. And it is very hard to get that discussion “out there”.

26. MollyJ March 22nd, 2007 7:54 am

    I would encourage anyone who thought this was an interesting article to go to the http://www.democracynow.org web site and watch the interview of Scahill from the March 20 and 21st show. The whole show can be downloaded as a podcast also. Especially on the March 21st show he enlarges on how Blackwater is expanding into the business of private security in America.

27. boffo April 26th, 2007 2:00 am

    It is worth mentioning in this context, the John Warner Defense Authorization Act, which was rushed into law ahead of the midterms. Erik Prince, the founder and Chairman of Blackwater has close ties to Warner and is known to have attended a meeting in April 2004 with the John Warner, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The meeting was organized by lobbyists Alexander Strategy Group (a company subsequently liquidated following the felony conviction of lobbyist Jack Abramoff and after the investigation and charges brought against disgraced Texas Republican and House Majority Leader Tom Delay, whose aides were the founders of the lobby group. )

    The Warner Act included the following two provisions:

    Section 1221 of the Act dramatically increased the Defense Department’s effective operating budget by excluding oil purchases and oil borrowing from DOD liability limits: this allows the DOD to borrow vast amounts of money without the usual requirement of congressional oversight, through borrowing or purchasing oil from friendly governments such as Saudi Arabia or Iraq and deferring payment and through the subsequent open market sales of such oil. This significantly affects both Constituional and Congressionally mandated oversight imposed by the US defense budget and through the liability limits of Section 2347 of Title 10 of US Code - “Limitation on amounts that may be obligated or accrued by the United States.”
    In addition Section 931 of Subtitle D of the act extends the DOD right to engage in commercial activities “as security (cover) for intelligence collection activities” and as provided for by Section 431 of Title 10 - http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode10/usc_sec_10_00000431—-000-.html
    Combining these two sections with the Blackwater story suggests that there is more to Blackwater than meets the eye. It is perhaps no coincidence that (1) One of Blackwater’s main client’s is Halliburton and its recently spun off subsidiary KBR. (2) The spinoff is clearly intended to distance Halliburton’s highly profitable oil interests from its security activities. (3) That Halliburton is in the process of migrating from the US to the UAE to distance itself further from judicial and financial oversight.

    The full text of the Act as signed into law can be seen here:
    http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&docid=f:h5122enr.txt.pdf

    Section 2347 of Title 10 can be seen here: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode10/usc_sec_10_00002347—-000-.html

    Section 431 of Title 10 can be seen here: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode10/usc_sec_10_00000431—-000-.html

    But none of this is new: Air America The Story of the CIA’s Secret Airline by
    Christopher Robbins and The Politics of Heroin by Professor Alfred McCoy,
    show how the CIA created and funded the world’s largest airline during the
    Vietnam War and how they used it to conduct a massive and secret war in
    Cambodia and Laos. Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & ‘Project
    Truth’ by Robert Parry provides an account of similar events surrounding the
    Iran Contra affair.

    Similarly the Church Committee investigation revealed long ago how covert military and intelligence operations are deeply embedded in the corporate world that Eisenhower warned of in his famed parting speech on the Military Industrial Complex.(See the Church Committee exposure of Operation Mockingbird
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird
    and http://www.prisonplanet.com/analysis_louise_01_03_03_mockingbird.html in
    relation to this.)

    Impeach them all.

    Best wishes
    M

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