Oct 02 2007
Blackwater and their private army
I’m not sure if you’ve been following the news about Blackwater (Blackwater incident witness: ‘It was hell’), but the more I read and hear about these guys the more it smells like the rotten farts of my former roommate (name withdrawn to protect the guilty). This is seriously scary, Blackwater USA was formed in 1997, obtains 90% of its revenue from Government contracts, many of which are no-bid contracts, and has created a private army that does not fall under government oversights as our regular armed forces. According to the Blackwater USA wikipedia page, which is chock full of information nuggets by the way:
It is estimated by the Pentagon and company representatives that there are 20,000 to 30,000 armed security contractors working in Iraq, and some estimates are as much as 100,000, though no official figures exist.
I’m breaking out in a sweat just thinking about this….
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The book, “Blackwater”, is a very queasy read. Not only Iraq, but New Orleans has suffered from the mercenaries. While you’re sweating about that, learn that many of the Blackwater “troops” come from death squads of brutal dictators in various parts of the world. Finally, the fact that there’s no accountability - we should all be very afraid. When I was in the army, if I killed a civilian in a foreign country, I’d be court-martialed. If I were in Blackwater and killed a civilian in a foreign country, who could do anything to me?
Ignorance is bliss…