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(O)n Democracy Now! Jeremy Scahill author of “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army” debated Doug Brooks the president of International Peace Operations Association, a trade group for the private security industry of which Blackwater is a founding member. In the wake of the recent revelations that the Iraqi government wants to throw out Blackwater and take a closer look at all of the contractors in Iraq Scahill does an excellent job taking down one of these war profiteers and tears right through the rhetoric and also gets staight to the heart of just what we’re doing in Iraq.
The entire show and transcript can be seen at Can Iraq (or Anyone) Hold Blackwater Accountable for Killing Iraqi Civilians? A Debate on the Role of Private Contractors in Iraq on Democracy Now’s web site.
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Scahill is a profile in courage if ever there was one.
Scahill shredded that douchebag….typical right wing crap…”Yea, they are using the money to pay for their wives educations and their houses”……so long as you say SOMETHING, the authoritarian tools nod their heads and say “Yea, right on!”
V V
Isn’t the hiring of mercenary armies, against the Geneva Convention?
blackwater a mercenary army? yup.
other acceptable descriptions of blackwater:
-war profiteers
-merchants of death
the growing tendency to privatize war must be stopped. ‘08 candidates must be asked how they feel about these war profiteers.
and war profiteering companies, like blackwater, make war more likely. through lobbying, campaign donations, political pressure, and the good-ole revolving door btwn corporations and govt the fact that there is more money than ever to be made through war is a situation doomed to a HORRIBLE end.
it is dangerous, immoral, expensive and just plain wrong. and the CEO of blackwater, the dark prince, should know that is completely unchristian.
Interesting, mercenaries are people who don’t make house payments.
Weaseldog @ 3:
somewhere abu gonzo just smirked and read what david addington wrote for him to say….
“quaint”
An articulate, informed individual…and a shill.
also…
what does it say about saint petreaus and members of the state dept when they use blackwater mercenaries for their private guard… instead of actual military of state dept guards?
does petraeus not trust the military he serves in? or, is it some sort of contractual thing? what gives saint petraeus, why do you not trust the military to keep you alive as you send more and more of them to their death?? what gives?
Peoples Front of Judea @ 7:
…for?
International Peace Operation Association
What a fucking joke. Any group that kills people for profit, wants anything but Peace. People(other than us) who see that name, without knowing anything about it, would assume they are a Humanitarian group who is in Iraq to help. So much for TRUTH.
Samson- @ 8:
That question nags me also.
I do love Amy Goodman! The only news you can trust.
A Richard Head @ 10:
Peace
http://tinyurl.com/2ds4tz
pussy_galore @ 1:
amen too that.
now thats a Journalist.
but this, like all the other lies and scandals exposed is OLD news to us Progressives.
We have known for years what Blackwater was and is. We knew it when they started using em, and we know it today. Just like WMD’s, al-Qaeda plots, rigged elections and the list goes on and on.
Heres my question…. With a 65-70% polled supporting withdrawl from Iraq nowadays, where were all these folks in 06′?
05?
04?
03?
There hasnt been any new information, strategy, leaders etc.
The only thing that has changed is dead soldiers.
Most americans dont concern themselves with the dead civilians.
So there isnt any new info , yet support for the war went from 60?(ish) % down to 30%??
So my question is to all the folks that jumped on the anti-war bandwagon in the last 18mos……
What took so long, and do you consider youreself partially responsible for allowing 3000+ soldiers and MILLIONS of civilians to DIE.
If my brother-in-law dies in Iraq, alone, with nobody to hold his hand , to tell him they love him, is that blood on youre hands??
He was on Washington Journal at c-span this morning. I want to read his book. This whole blackwater thing is frightening as hell both here and in Iraq.
Anybody catch bush’s press conference? Yes I know, it turns one’s stomach to hear the sorry excuse for a human being speak, but some dipshit asked him his take on the MoveOn “controversy”. Of course his response was that he was “disgusted” and how it was an “attack on the troops”. But when asked about the Blackwater story his eloquence was, of course, nonexistent.
A Richard Head @ 10:
makes about as much sense as the department of defense…
(more like, the department of imperial aggression. or at least go back to the less orwellian sounding war department)
The important thing about the incident is what the so called Iraqi government will be doing about the Blackwater incident. My bet is they will do nothing since the control of the government is still in the hands of Washington.
Still, something like this can do much to unite a country where the public have little more in common then living in the same general area.
Am I missing something? I thought Brooks cleverly focussed on Chileans in Iraq and avoided talking about the Americans there because clearly the Americans there meet what he calls the criteria for mercenaries, e.g., their government is involved militarily in Iraq.
I’d like to connect with the previous post too, and mention that Blackwater has opened a major facility in Illinois this year with the purpose of training “civilian law enforcement”. Does this mean US civilian law enforcement to be deployed in Iraq, or is it intended for our own benefit? I know I’m a broken record about this facility in Illinois, but it has received no national coverage. I only learned of it through The Chicago Tribune. It’s scary.
A little OT but it is about Iraq.
George Bush said nelson mandela is dead. And that Sadam Hussein killed all the “Nelson Mandelas of Iraq” because he was a brutal dictator.
I’m sure he was shooting for an analogy there but, goddam he’s stupid. watch the vid
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m36.....=1&l=e
Jeremy Ass-slapped Blackwaters well paid liar and fool.
Weaseldog @ 3:
What Geneva Convention? Besides, according to Mr. Doublethink Brooks of the “International Peace Organization” Blackwater isn’t mercenary, they’re safe as clown’s milk.
Folks, I believe this is an example of, and the logical end results of Rummy and Wolfowitz among others plan to fight wars on the cheap and attempts to privatize the concept of war….
I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat it here… IF something is worth going to war over (and nothing Bush has said justifies what he has done), then it needs to be fought as a nation… And on the basis of reasonable and/or humanitarian ideals or as a last choice retaliation for unprovolked attack on our sovereign territory… Not approached as a private sector business opportunity to make money or steal someone elses natural resources…
Jesus, we appear more and more like the Harkonnen home world from the novel Dune, everyday…. What was it called…Gedi Prime or something like that I think… Reading about such a place in the context of an adventure sci-fi novel can be entertaining and even exciting to the imagination… Existing in one… Ehhh, not so much………………JD
In a poll of Blackwater employees as to whether they thought the Iraq war is just and ethical, 98% said they wanted to keep their jobs.
of course the use of war profiteering mercenaries is a systemic problem. and as soon as blackwater starts loosing blood-contracts (which i have my doubts that will ever happen) another mercenary company will step in to take its place.
the late 20th/early 21st century, cocksure capitalism, swelled with hubris has headed down a path that should give even the staunchest conservative pause.
when you combine an ideological-certain belief in privatization with the use of war as policy you have a recipe for disaster. and not just for the unfortunate souls unlucky enough to get caught in the cross fire but for the chubby, lazy and apathetic americans, too.
mark my words, it will come back to bite us in the ass. big time. and like rampant capitalism shows, there will be a few that prosper, while the majority suffer.
Curtilingus @ 20:
Forgive me. I can’t watch the face that has saddened and made miserable everything in the world that has a face. We know all about that face.
Any word from the spineless ones on Capitol Hill about the behavior of these taxpayer-funded mercenaries?
Not holding my breath…
Blackwater = Republican Guard
Bush = Court Jester
naschkatze @ 19:
i might be the only one, but i see privatization of domestic law enforcement as the next push by the rightwing. a privatized police force in a community near you. more like robocop than america, really.
and, don’t kid yourself, blackwater does NOTHING for, as you say, “our own benefit”.
So, if I had enough money, I could go up to Blackwater and say “I’d like to invade Iceland. They have a lot of pretty women there.” they would actually do it for me? I mean, are there any restrictions to initiating a mercenary war, contracting mercenary services, other than money?
Paying off your house means you can’t be a mercenary.
Feeding your kids means you can’t know the earth is not flat.
It all makes perfect sense.
Support Our Mercenaries!
Kudos to Jeremy for speaking truth to power
HAHAHAHA
Did you see the dumbfounded look on brooks’ face at the end of the clip? Priceless!
brooks’ mumble-jumbo is on par with chimpy.
Really blackwater are paid assassins. They are the ones who do more than murder civilians, they also sabotage Iraqi’s infastruture.
Curtilingus @ 31:
It would take a lot of money to keep you alive for trying…
You need the money, the credit line and the connections.
Bush has a fire hose connected to the FED that spews endless quantities of money. He spews it at the contractors, who then give kick backs to Congress and the Senate.
sharkcellar @ 16:
Is greenspan an ex-chairman or was that a chimpy idiot slip again?
Mercenaries are used in order to avoid a draft . Bush will pay these guys 100 times what a grunt makes to avoid a draft because bringing back the draft will wipe out what little support he has left and collapse the corporate plan to control the middle east .
No matter your side in the debate, the video unfairly cut off the “defendant” (Doug Brook), which is not only biased by definition, but something that does not belong here. Look closely and you’ll see a sneaky grin on Amy Goodman’s face as she cuts him off. When videos posted here cut off the left side in the debate, there is an outrage of the mockery. Ask yourself if it’s really any better when you do it.
The US will pay (notwithstanding death troops) for their silence.
All elected officials should be kicked out of office if they don’t change their chimpy ways.
Those weren’t innocent Iraqi civilians, they were collateral damage, you know, like those Afghanis and Iraqis who get killed in adjoining houses when we air-power to bomb houses full of terrorists. Everyone knows that they don’t count.
iraqconcilable @ 38:
Exactly!
Plus they get the latest and the greatest of gear, weapons, vehicles and more rest than our finest. When was the last time you hear of blackwater assassins killed by road side bombs?
They probably vacation in dubai.
Jake @ 39:
Did she spout an endless stream of unverifiable assertions, that sound like inventions?
Is she really doing what BillO or Hannity do?
Jake @ 39:
Now you are making up shit.
STFU
Jake @ 39:
this is a red herring if i have ever seen one.
a herring
Anyone know what was happening in Fallujah before those four guys got killed? Did Riverbend or anyone have something to say about it? Sending the Marines to wreak havoc on a town over some dead mercenaries was pretty obscene, but if they brought it on themselves…well, I guess that’d be par for the course.
The International Peace Operations Association?
So using their naming convention I can call the rat trap in my basement a “Peace Delivery System” for rodents.
Hey blackwater… ‘peace’ be with you.
Samson- @ 45:
There’s a definite odor.