Lost amid the Goldman Sachs indictments on last Friday was the news that officials of the firm formerly known as Blackwater were indicted on weapons charges. Former president of the company, Gary Jackson and the former general counsel, Andrew Howell, along with three others were charged with possessing and trading in illegal weapons.
Blackwater, whose founder Eric Prince has been implicated in murder according to work by Jeremy Scahill of The Nation in August 2009, has changed its name to Xe in an effort to hide from their past. Allegations of arms smuggling and lawless behavior have long dogged Blackwater.
More shocking than these allegations is that the U.S. government continues to do business with these thugs. Hiring mercenaries to fight wars is contrary to good sense and the values of the country. Blackwater, Xe and whatever other names they use to hide their behaviors must be held accountable for their actions. Banning them from any further work in the name of the U.S. must occur immediately.
Showing posts with label Blackwater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blackwater. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Less Equals More
In a recent email exchange the person I was conversing with began to express a fear of government takeover of health care. Spouting the same disinformation be promulgated by the insurance industry he continually made the point that he didn't want the government making health care decisions. He seemed befuddled at my suggestion that he must not mind corporations running his life.
In health care, and for that matter, all matters where people state that they want the government to stay out of things, they are advocating that corporations be given free rein instead. The government is really the only check on large US and even larger transnational corporations. Corporations, guided only by an allegiance to profits and the bottom line, are at best neutral while at their worst malevolent entities intent on increasing revenues at any cost. Government can run as a non-profit and have employment as a purpose. Corporations view workers only as resources to be used and used up.
There is a dynamic tension that must necessarily exist between government and corporations. Unless governments can control the necessarily amoral actions of corporations the masses of people will be exploited as a matter of course. Corporations gaining control and directing the government is nothing but fascist corporatism. This is the direction the health insurance cartel of United Healthcare, Cigna, Aetna, Wellpoint and Blue Cross are attempting to take us.
Do not think this stops at health care. Corporatism is a growing threat to our society and planet as large transnationals manipulate the governments of the world in the interests of profits. Just as surely as the United Fruit Company overthrew governments in Latin America, those in the corporate world continue to exert their influence.
After being bailed out by the government of "We the People," Wall Street awarded itself bonuses with our dollars. Somehow it seems, Hank Paulson and Tim Geitner looked out for their cronies rather than the people. Blackwater, now re-branded Xe, and Halliburton continue to work as contractors for the government despite being waist deep in corruption and malfeasance.
The rallying cry for the gangster bankers - the banksters- and the health insurance industry is that regulation is bad. The free market will take care of everything they assure us. Less regulation equals more money - for them.
Less does equal more. Less government means more corporate control. In a government of "We the People," we probably get what we deserve. In a corporate world, we are all just fodder for the cannons aimed by the invisible hand of the market.
In health care, and for that matter, all matters where people state that they want the government to stay out of things, they are advocating that corporations be given free rein instead. The government is really the only check on large US and even larger transnational corporations. Corporations, guided only by an allegiance to profits and the bottom line, are at best neutral while at their worst malevolent entities intent on increasing revenues at any cost. Government can run as a non-profit and have employment as a purpose. Corporations view workers only as resources to be used and used up.
There is a dynamic tension that must necessarily exist between government and corporations. Unless governments can control the necessarily amoral actions of corporations the masses of people will be exploited as a matter of course. Corporations gaining control and directing the government is nothing but fascist corporatism. This is the direction the health insurance cartel of United Healthcare, Cigna, Aetna, Wellpoint and Blue Cross are attempting to take us.
Do not think this stops at health care. Corporatism is a growing threat to our society and planet as large transnationals manipulate the governments of the world in the interests of profits. Just as surely as the United Fruit Company overthrew governments in Latin America, those in the corporate world continue to exert their influence.
After being bailed out by the government of "We the People," Wall Street awarded itself bonuses with our dollars. Somehow it seems, Hank Paulson and Tim Geitner looked out for their cronies rather than the people. Blackwater, now re-branded Xe, and Halliburton continue to work as contractors for the government despite being waist deep in corruption and malfeasance.
The rallying cry for the gangster bankers - the banksters- and the health insurance industry is that regulation is bad. The free market will take care of everything they assure us. Less regulation equals more money - for them.
Less does equal more. Less government means more corporate control. In a government of "We the People," we probably get what we deserve. In a corporate world, we are all just fodder for the cannons aimed by the invisible hand of the market.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Our Private Army
Unknown to many Americans is the fact that the United States maintains both the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan largely on the backs of "private contractors." These individuals, civilians working for private firms which have contracted with the government, have increasingly replaced soldiers in many positions vital for a military effort.
Some of these individuals, such as those employed by Halliburton and its subsidiary KBR, work primarily in support positions, feeding troops, building quarters, etc. Others, such as Blackwater, now re-branded as Xe, and Wackenhut, serve functions related to security.
Wackenhut, the largest private correctional corporation in the U.S., was recently awarded a $180 million contract to guard the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan. This is the same company whose employees have been recently been seen dancing naked, engaging in simulated (and not so simulated) homoerotic acts, guzzling alcohol and generally behaving in a manner that would have gotten soldiers a court martial. Now they are guarding the embassy. Didn't Marines used to do that?
Blackwater, as previously noted on this blog and elsewhere, is the subject of an investigation that alleges murder, gun smuggling, and witness intimidation among the many charges. Their specialty in Iraq has been security. Again, didn't the Marines used to do that?
It is just this use of private firms to do work that is clearly the domain of the military that is troubling. According to the Washington Post, the number of private contractors in Iraq topped 100,000 in 2006. The L.A. Times reported the number had risen to 140,000 by July 4, 2007 and on August 18, 2008, Peter Grier in the Christian Science Monitor noted that the number of civilians employed in Iraq was 190,000. NBC News reported that at least 68,000 are currently in Afghanistan, compared to 52, 000 actual soldiers.
The civilians who work for these private corporations are often paid many times what soldiers in the U.S. military receive for doing the same work. Financial reasons alone makes one wonder why we would ever use such an approach. Combine these problems with the numerous episodes of armed engagement with the civilian populace of Iraq and there becomes a greater moral morass concerning the use of private contractors. These civilians are not held to the same standards of conduct and in some cases it seems unclear how and if the law applies to them.
In the Geneva Conventions, civilians working for private firms are the very definition of "unlawful combatant," not that imposed by the Bush (mis)Administration on individuals clearly fighting a war.
There has long been another name for individuals privately hired to fight in another country - mercenaries. Let us begin to call the private contractors what they are, the mercenary force that allows these wars to continue.
Some of these individuals, such as those employed by Halliburton and its subsidiary KBR, work primarily in support positions, feeding troops, building quarters, etc. Others, such as Blackwater, now re-branded as Xe, and Wackenhut, serve functions related to security.
Wackenhut, the largest private correctional corporation in the U.S., was recently awarded a $180 million contract to guard the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan. This is the same company whose employees have been recently been seen dancing naked, engaging in simulated (and not so simulated) homoerotic acts, guzzling alcohol and generally behaving in a manner that would have gotten soldiers a court martial. Now they are guarding the embassy. Didn't Marines used to do that?
Blackwater, as previously noted on this blog and elsewhere, is the subject of an investigation that alleges murder, gun smuggling, and witness intimidation among the many charges. Their specialty in Iraq has been security. Again, didn't the Marines used to do that?
It is just this use of private firms to do work that is clearly the domain of the military that is troubling. According to the Washington Post, the number of private contractors in Iraq topped 100,000 in 2006. The L.A. Times reported the number had risen to 140,000 by July 4, 2007 and on August 18, 2008, Peter Grier in the Christian Science Monitor noted that the number of civilians employed in Iraq was 190,000. NBC News reported that at least 68,000 are currently in Afghanistan, compared to 52, 000 actual soldiers.
The civilians who work for these private corporations are often paid many times what soldiers in the U.S. military receive for doing the same work. Financial reasons alone makes one wonder why we would ever use such an approach. Combine these problems with the numerous episodes of armed engagement with the civilian populace of Iraq and there becomes a greater moral morass concerning the use of private contractors. These civilians are not held to the same standards of conduct and in some cases it seems unclear how and if the law applies to them.
In the Geneva Conventions, civilians working for private firms are the very definition of "unlawful combatant," not that imposed by the Bush (mis)Administration on individuals clearly fighting a war.
There has long been another name for individuals privately hired to fight in another country - mercenaries. Let us begin to call the private contractors what they are, the mercenary force that allows these wars to continue.
Friday, August 21, 2009
A Nation of Laws
Recent reports have revealed that the CIA under the Bush (mis)Administration subcontracted assassination squads from Blackwater and manipulated Homeland Security alert levels for political purposes. This last revelation comes from none other than former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge.
I really hate to keep bringing up the Bush-Cheney reign of error and terror - but will there be no end to the trail of crimes revealed? Follow the link on this site to "Hugh's List" for just a sampling of the treachery of the Bush (mis)Administration.
It is all well and good to wish to put matters behind us. However, when a litany of abuses and crimes have already been revealed and continue to be revealed, accountability must occur. At the very least, prosecutions for torture and war crimes must occur for the United States to be taken seriously again as a nation of laws. When one small group of people can lie us into a war, hire private assassination squads, manipulate the public into a frenzy of fear in order to gain politically, run clandestine prisons to specifically circumvent U.S. and international law, can rationalize torture and then claim that there should not even be investigations, there is no longer justice for all. There is a privileged elite that has become above prosecution.
There biggest crime I likely have left out: mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren when Bush with his henchman Hank Paulson turned the Treasury over to greedy banks. Did this really need to happen in retrospect? See this move for what it was - Bush rewarded his base, the have mores, at the end of his presidency. In so doing, he robbed your children and mine.
To act as if there is nothing to investigate or prosecute in the past administration is absurd. To allow the Bush (mis)Administration to go unchallenged is to turn your back on this country as a nation of laws.
I really hate to keep bringing up the Bush-Cheney reign of error and terror - but will there be no end to the trail of crimes revealed? Follow the link on this site to "Hugh's List" for just a sampling of the treachery of the Bush (mis)Administration.
It is all well and good to wish to put matters behind us. However, when a litany of abuses and crimes have already been revealed and continue to be revealed, accountability must occur. At the very least, prosecutions for torture and war crimes must occur for the United States to be taken seriously again as a nation of laws. When one small group of people can lie us into a war, hire private assassination squads, manipulate the public into a frenzy of fear in order to gain politically, run clandestine prisons to specifically circumvent U.S. and international law, can rationalize torture and then claim that there should not even be investigations, there is no longer justice for all. There is a privileged elite that has become above prosecution.
There biggest crime I likely have left out: mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren when Bush with his henchman Hank Paulson turned the Treasury over to greedy banks. Did this really need to happen in retrospect? See this move for what it was - Bush rewarded his base, the have mores, at the end of his presidency. In so doing, he robbed your children and mine.
To act as if there is nothing to investigate or prosecute in the past administration is absurd. To allow the Bush (mis)Administration to go unchallenged is to turn your back on this country as a nation of laws.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Drowning In Blackwater
Blackwater Security, (now re-branded as Xe Services) the private army of mercenaries that served in a legal netherworld in Iraq, neither accountable to military nor Iraqi law, has now drawn attention for its questionable legal activities on American soil. In a report by Jeremy Scahill in The Nation, Blackwater is revealed as a criminal organization that operated and continues to operate beyond the law.
Allegations made in Federal Court in North Carolina, now implicate Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, in crimes including murder, weapons smuggling, and destruction of evidence. The witnesses who have reportedly given testimony against Prince and other Blackwater/Xe employees, are so endangered by their actions that they are identified only as "John Doe #1" and "John Doe #2". John Doe #2 is described as a former Blackwater executive and John Doe #1 is an ex-Marine. If mercenaries and Marines are afraid for their life, that should provide some clue as to the perceived dangerousness of those they are accusing.
According to Scahill, Erik Prince selected individuals for duty in Iraq who shared his beliefs that Muslims should be killed. Blackwater, from the top down, seemed to see itself as on a new Crusade. The full story by Scahill involves stories of Iraqi being hunted and murdered by Blackwater employees. The full scope of this story can be viewed online at http://www.thenation.com/scahill.
What has happened in this country that a group such as Blackwater was ever allowed to exist? Is America an ideal that needs defending by mercenaries? If yes, is the answer to that, then we are already lost.
Allegations made in Federal Court in North Carolina, now implicate Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, in crimes including murder, weapons smuggling, and destruction of evidence. The witnesses who have reportedly given testimony against Prince and other Blackwater/Xe employees, are so endangered by their actions that they are identified only as "John Doe #1" and "John Doe #2". John Doe #2 is described as a former Blackwater executive and John Doe #1 is an ex-Marine. If mercenaries and Marines are afraid for their life, that should provide some clue as to the perceived dangerousness of those they are accusing.
According to Scahill, Erik Prince selected individuals for duty in Iraq who shared his beliefs that Muslims should be killed. Blackwater, from the top down, seemed to see itself as on a new Crusade. The full story by Scahill involves stories of Iraqi being hunted and murdered by Blackwater employees. The full scope of this story can be viewed online at http://www.thenation.com/scahill.
What has happened in this country that a group such as Blackwater was ever allowed to exist? Is America an ideal that needs defending by mercenaries? If yes, is the answer to that, then we are already lost.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Ike Was Right
Forty eight years ago today, on January 17th, as his presidency concluded, Dwight Eisenhower sounded an alarm to the world. Ike stated: "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwanted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." As a former general, once the highest ranking soldier in history, Eisenhower knew precisely what he was talking about.
His warning has been largely disregarded and those who speak of the influence of the "military industrial complex" are viewed as cranks. Yet, over the past five decades a pantheon of transnational corporations has created a weapons industry that has consumed the wealth of the world. The Soviets went bankrupt trying to keep up, and now we are bogged down in two costly declared wars and several undeclared excursions. Throughout the world, countries point weapons at each other and compete for military superiority.
Corporations such as Halliburton, it's subsidiary Kellogg, Browning & Root, Raytheon, Blackwater (not so much industrial, but certainly military or mercenary), etc. have enriched themselves in the war game. Playing both sides of the fence, many transnationals win either way. The outcome of the wars are immaterial. It is the fact that there is a war that is important.
The abuses of this system and its drain on the resources of this and other nations is incalculable. However, the next time you hear any discussions of the deficit, the national debt or the economy, check out how much we spend on "defense." A military budget greater than the rest of the world - COMBINED - suggests that Ike's fear has become a nightmarish reality.
The Bush years have laid bare any pretense that the military industrial complex is a fictional monster that existed only in Eisenhower's mind. The beast that it has become has mauled us and continues to threaten to devour us.
Isn't it time to defend ourselves against this threat? Does anyone believe these forces are weaker now than they were in Eisenhower's time? Could not his words, "the disastrous rise of misplaced power, ..." serve as the motto of our age?
The full text of Eisenhower's speech may be seen at coursesa.matrix.msu.edu or you may watch the speech itself on YouTube.
It seems noteworthy that today is also the 115th anniversary that Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate the throne of the sovereign nation of Hawaii.
His warning has been largely disregarded and those who speak of the influence of the "military industrial complex" are viewed as cranks. Yet, over the past five decades a pantheon of transnational corporations has created a weapons industry that has consumed the wealth of the world. The Soviets went bankrupt trying to keep up, and now we are bogged down in two costly declared wars and several undeclared excursions. Throughout the world, countries point weapons at each other and compete for military superiority.
Corporations such as Halliburton, it's subsidiary Kellogg, Browning & Root, Raytheon, Blackwater (not so much industrial, but certainly military or mercenary), etc. have enriched themselves in the war game. Playing both sides of the fence, many transnationals win either way. The outcome of the wars are immaterial. It is the fact that there is a war that is important.
The abuses of this system and its drain on the resources of this and other nations is incalculable. However, the next time you hear any discussions of the deficit, the national debt or the economy, check out how much we spend on "defense." A military budget greater than the rest of the world - COMBINED - suggests that Ike's fear has become a nightmarish reality.
The Bush years have laid bare any pretense that the military industrial complex is a fictional monster that existed only in Eisenhower's mind. The beast that it has become has mauled us and continues to threaten to devour us.
Isn't it time to defend ourselves against this threat? Does anyone believe these forces are weaker now than they were in Eisenhower's time? Could not his words, "the disastrous rise of misplaced power, ..." serve as the motto of our age?
The full text of Eisenhower's speech may be seen at coursesa.matrix.msu.edu or you may watch the speech itself on YouTube.
It seems noteworthy that today is also the 115th anniversary that Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate the throne of the sovereign nation of Hawaii.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
RePUGniCAN'Ts
If the Republican Party were half as competent at policy as they are at politics the country would not be in the position that it currently finds itself. After attempting to privatize the federal government (we saw how that worked in the aftermath of Katrina and in the outsourcing of the Iraq War to Halliburton and Blackwater), aiding and abetting the destruction of the Constitution, and dumping money on every crooked banker they could find, the GOP (Gas,Oil & Petroleum) now is demanding a voice in the development of the stimulus package.
Never mind that it was their no-regulation, tax breaks for billionaires, no-bid contract philosophy that must bear the lion's share of blame for the current economic woes. Republicans have shown us by their very actions that their approach to the economy is a failure. Now they demand a say so in how the correction should proceed. This is a little like letting a group of criminals dictate prison policy.
Having had their policies utterly rejected by the American public and their party crushed in the last election, their approach has become one of falling back on formerly successful tactics of threatening to derail all legislation unless they get their way. Remember that this is the same party that threatened it would "go nuclear" in the Senate in order to get around those pesky rules that they will now make their bread and butter.
Already Mitch McConnell and John Boehner are out engaging in political maneuvering surrounding the stimulus in such a way that it will be delayed and/or derailed. Watch as they put their political interests ahead of the nation. Was the bailout just an effort to bleed the Treasury at the time of greatest need? A final rip-off for their cronies before losing power.
The RePUGniCAN'Ts, a party whose time has come - to end.
Never mind that it was their no-regulation, tax breaks for billionaires, no-bid contract philosophy that must bear the lion's share of blame for the current economic woes. Republicans have shown us by their very actions that their approach to the economy is a failure. Now they demand a say so in how the correction should proceed. This is a little like letting a group of criminals dictate prison policy.
Having had their policies utterly rejected by the American public and their party crushed in the last election, their approach has become one of falling back on formerly successful tactics of threatening to derail all legislation unless they get their way. Remember that this is the same party that threatened it would "go nuclear" in the Senate in order to get around those pesky rules that they will now make their bread and butter.
Already Mitch McConnell and John Boehner are out engaging in political maneuvering surrounding the stimulus in such a way that it will be delayed and/or derailed. Watch as they put their political interests ahead of the nation. Was the bailout just an effort to bleed the Treasury at the time of greatest need? A final rip-off for their cronies before losing power.
The RePUGniCAN'Ts, a party whose time has come - to end.
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