Daily Show: A Brief History of Blackwater
By SilentPatriot Wednesday Oct 03, 2007 10:45am
Jon Stewart presents a brief historical film on the roots of America's favorite private mercenary force.
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Guns don't kill people, people that have guns and eat taffy kill people. Makes sense to me.
Here's another Stunner: BLACKWATER AUTHORED REPORT ON ‘WHITEWATER’
Wow!
Iraq, training ground for the eventual crackdown on a American citizens by well-paid, lawless mercenaries on behalf of their corporate sponsors.
Is it true that blackwater was about out of money and ready to shut down in early 2003? I heard that on tv, but no other info was given.
I find it a rather dark claim when they say no big shot has ever been harmed while they were guarding them. That's easy to explain, when they are guarding someone it appears they just shoot anyone they deem to be a possible threat. Hell, we could all be safer if we just shot anyone we thought might in any way be about to harm us.
Blackwater represents everything wrong with America all rolled into a neat little package but with a really cool logo.
I saw this last night. It is great. Seriously, I would still like to know what Blackwater was doing in New Orleans and who brought them in to do what. Was that a point where Blackwater was set upon our own people?
Blackwater goes after people who "slander" them, with a vengeance. If they lose, they appeal. They got the money.
Every time I see the Blackwater tough guys with high-powered weapons, I can't help but wonder if these war profiteers were at home yesterday, blowing off the heads of cyber-enemies with their little computer games.
Randi Rhodes got sued by them for labeling them mercenaries. As if there were any question.
pissed off patricia @ 5:
POP. Michael has had a couple of run ins (almost literally) with these douches. He tools around the base on an ATV scouting for parts and repairing systems, these assholes drive huge SUVs. They blow through stop signs, cut off oncoming traffic and run folks off the road all in the name of client protection. And this is on base! They also treat uniformed personel like crap. They get to drink. While it's a dry deployment for the military (no booze). And they dress like dirtbags. Ah nevermind. I hate these guys.
Check out the Blackwater site (can't put in the link from work). You'll love the gift section with a Teddy Bear wearing a Blackwater t-shirt. The perfect Xmas gift for any child.
patthemonkey @ 10:
Yeah, if your child happens to be Charles Whitman
What's really sad that MSNBC actually was able to find some reich-wing loon to defend blackwater. Reich-wingers have no shame.
Isn't Eric Prince supposed to be some sort of a big christian? Doesn't their holy book say something about not killing?
Dr. Matt @ 12:
Dr. Matt @ 12:
Not surprising. Mike Malloy really nailed it on his show last night when he said all Republicans are anti-life.
Leave it to TDS to again do the MSM's job...
Can you imagine a world without TDS? (brrr...)
Strawberry, what you describe is exactly as I pictured it. Hot shots, with guns and no rules. How can there be anything good there?
According to the guy who has just published the book about blackwater, homeland security hired them for the Katrina area after the storm went through. I am going to look for his book this weekend.
John @ 13:
Their holy book? You mean "Mein Kampf"?
Lollimom @ 8:
did randi win the suit?
Bud @ 16:
It was called Germany 1939.
BaScOmBe @ 19:
Yes. But they appealed. It's costing millions.
Tough guys: Blackwater. Real tough.
John @ 13:
eric's brand of christianity is a bit like the jihadist muslim and involves lots of killing and stuff. there is no concern for the age, gender or innocence of the infidel in any case, so the people of Iraq don't really get to choose the manner of death. Insurgents and Blackwater choose when other will die. Blackwater has the advantage of higher salary.
If they outlawed guns only outlaws would have guns.
Why do they hate America's military?
Lollimom @ 21:
As randi puts it: she wiped them out in the 'discovery phase'. Facts ARE facts!
Lollimom @ 8:
By definition they are mercenaries:
n. pl. mer·ce·nar·ies
1. One who serves or works merely for monetary gain; a hireling.
2. A professional soldier hired for service in a foreign army.
I have been thinking this for some time now and feel a little better about my theory after seeing you thinking the same way.
I am a 24 year Navy retired vet who served for OIF in Kuwait twice and saw the way Halibuton/KBR were milking the Treasury. It doesn't surprise me that America Inc. wouldn't build their own military to "corral the rabble" if we get too noisy....
Dr. Matt @ 25:
I remember getting a lot of flack when those Blackwater guys ended getting dragged from their suv, burned, and hanged. My reaction was a shrug of the shoulders and and the comment "mercenaries die". People just couldn't understand why I wasn't so worked up about the "horrible" deaths of these "Americans". These Blackwater guys serve no country, only their own bank accounts - that makes them mercenaries. When they are caught, they're usually killed - a fact I doubt "Soldier of Fortune" makes clear to it's knucklehead readers
Actually, I dont think Prince is in it for the money. He's looking to be the posse for that shining city on a hill. His agenda is the worst of christofascism.
Oh well.... I could have got behind and supported 'Bleeckwater'... IF they just stayed with the taffy part of the biz... The murderin for hire part?? Ehh, not so much............But what do I know.. I'm just a long hair music playin hippy refugee from the 60's/70's.........JD
You can well picture the kind of guys who take jobs at Blackwater -- that small percentage of vets who enjoy killing for the sake of killing, who are attracted to the smell of blood and cannot adjust to a normal civilian existence back home. What could be better than a license to kill people who don't look like you with basically no oversight?
These are dangerous fucking people.
Blackwater is attempting to put a "training camp" in the small backcountry town (pop 900) of Potrero, CA. We're fighting with all our might. And, in fact we are recalling our community planning board because they voted yes to Blackwater West without advising the community. See more at:
An encampment is scheduled this weekend in protest.
They are Rescumlican to the bone. Blackwaters COO s wife is sister of wife of Jeb Bush.
An American patriot and chatter i know came across some unidentified men dressed solely in black with semi automatic weapons at Quebec/US border a couple of years back. They wore no insignia or patches and refused to tell her who the hell they were. Its all becoming clearer now. To think they want to get an air arm (fighters) going now too. Chimpy Mc Fuckup will probably toss them a few surplus F 22s so they can strafe protests more anonymously. Good news is that apparently more Americans are waking up everyday to the reality of the scum that has highjacked their country.Im beginning to think all those firearms lying around the US in private hands are gonna become very useful in the not too distant future.The worst is yet to come. I doubt the Neo Scum are gonna let a little thing like an election get in their way now. Herr Bushler has been setting the table for this for years. I dunno, maybe im just paranoid.
John @ 13:
It's Erik, with a K, for "killer."
Can you believe that little bastard is only 37 years old? It's amazing how far a ton of money and no conscience will get you in bush-cheney world.
[...] On the Daily Show, go to Crooks & Liars right now and watch it. [...]
Nothing funny bout Blackwater. They are the face of America to the world, kinda fascist.
What kind of name for a company is "BlackWater" any ways!?!??!
It's cartoonishly evil sounding
Let me change the focus a little.
My brother is ex Marine Corps Recon, who is a security specialist, having worked with Federal, State, and county agencies as well as some of the largest corporations in America. The other night I took him, my younger brother, and his wife to dinner. He is the kind that talks of Bush as his Commander In Chief. He is so for the war that he is unbearable. When he started to really flap his gums I suggested that he sign on with Blackwater and make some real money. His response was interesting.
According to him Blackwater is a security equivalent to Wal-Mart and the contractors are little more then mall cops with automatic weapons. What he said made real sense. Blackwater is the window dressing of security in Iraq. The real deal consists of people and companies we never have heard of and never will. They are not sent in the thousands but rather in small squads of completely autonomous units and what they do will not be revealed before Congress or anyone, and in some cases, even the president won’t know about them, in order to maintain plausible deniability.
These people are not just in Afghanistan and Iraq, but wherever there is need to protect political and commercial interests with disposable personal. Their pay exceeds by far the pay Blackwater people get, and when they die, even their families are not going to say anything. It all sounded very Tom Clancy-like, but I believe what he says is true, since I have no way to dispute it and because I know my brother.
IF Congress ever had the gumption to impeach Cheney (not holding my breath) there's no doubt he'd hole up in some undisclosed location with several platoons of Blackwater goons between him and the law.
moondancer @ 28:
Erikkk Prick is the legalized version of state militias. It used to be the FBI would raid their compounds and confiscate their weapons, now Blackwater trains the FBI and local police.
Blackwater mouth-breather in chief Erik Prince is a terrorist. He should be arrested
As I recall their taffy, at least, was pretty good.
gene214 @ 27:
There was shock and outrage because they were not called mercenaries in the news stories. They were labeled as "American civilian contractors." And what could be worse than "innocent" American civilians being killed? Just another case of the "liberal media" spinning stories to hurt Geroge Bush and the holy war on terror, I mean the war in Iraq. (conflate, conflate, conflate) (Heavy sarcasm on the last sentence.)
patthemonkey @ 10:
an excellent addition to my "Chuck Norris, A Life of Accomplishment" sweatshirt.
Funny but not historical accurate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_USA
In a nutshell, yes, that's what they do. --->Your money, too.
Horrifying. Ladies and gentlemen ... the United States of America.
People say a president can't become the dictator of the United States, simply because he could never get the army to go along with him.
What happens when he simply buys his own?
How's that song go? "All just little bits of history repeating..."?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownshirts
Hit, submit too fast...
Plainly put- these guys like to kill. The would do this for free if we let them, nevermind that we are paying them six times more than our real soldiers. And if you think they would take even a split second or hesitate murdering you, instead of an Iraqi, you are wrong. They only care about putting a bullet in someone.
Btw, a nice 'fuck you' to Rush, these are the phoney soldiers, he know's it, that's why he made the comment when he did, to keep us and the media distracted.
We went to war because countries 'harbor terrorists', of course at the same time we are 'hiring terrorist'.
Christ on a fucking dinosaur!
God help us; and bless you C&L, and anyone else doing their part, for keeping these fucking pigs from getting away with this shit.
How ironic is it that the return of the third reich might be stopped by a series of tubes 'for porn'?
Strawberry @ 6:
Cool logo, yes; fascists work hard making their symbols alluring.
Okay, sorry for seemingly spaming here (3 of last 4 post), but am I being knee-jerk here? I know I violated Godwin's law by comparing them to Brownshirts, but is it not valid? Will they be stopped in time by a Democratic congress? All I know is this combined with all the other steps this administration has taken down the path towards dictatorship scares the shit out of me. I don't know if I should be or not, but I do know that I've never wanted to be more wrong about something as I hope to be about all this.
Cant wait for the day when the US Marines do the right thing and arrest blackwater mercenaries and put them on military tribunals, their final resting place in Gitmo. As blackwater isn't under any US jurisdiction they have no right to habeas corpus.
Strawberry @ 6:
I have to strongly disagree with that statement .. their logo is in no way cool.
The relationship between Blackwater and the US military: how does it compare to the relationship between the Waffen SS and the German army of WWII?
... just wondering
You gotta love capitalism. How else could you get paid six figures just to kill people.
[...] Crooks and Liars » Daily Show: A Brief History of Blackwater Geniale e un filino agghiacciante, il finto spot per la conpagnia mercenaria americana Blackwater (tags: USA Mercenari War) [...]
What are the last 2 tracks played at the end? I especially liked the 2nd one.
[...] read more | digg story [...]
No, the Nazi references are not appropriate. Mussolini and the fascists are much more appropriate.
patthemonkey, fascinating stuff. Makes sense to me. I guess the movie 'True Lies' is more realistic than I thought it was.
Corporate run militias that will eventually replace our national military....are bad.
I bet you people shed tears every time Bush farts
Bush is either so incompetent a 10-year old could do better, or he's a selfish living pig, with his own glorious agenda, and just doesn't give a shit.
Funny but not historical accurate.
The world will be a safer place
when the last mercenary
is strangled with the intestines
of the last missionary
more like the stuff associated with latin American para-militaries or like the horrors of Pol[pot regime in Cambodia!
what a pity that US would have to own up such nazi-like image?
while the contractors are thriving, the average US citizen has to foot the fat bills with consequential economic as well as social cost; moreso the world may be seeing a deja vu of Stalist tactics in the Soviet Union.
The Bush-ites are masters of the old "bait n' switch".
They've got fast hands and they're quite good at misdirection. Remember, they don't have to convince anyone other than Congress that what they're doing is right. And right now, as far as I can see, they've got them all in their back pocket. Blackwater is no more a threat than FEMA. Both are just there to keep your eyes focused and angered so you won't notice the rest of
them who are raping you.
One thing you might want to look into: Take a good long look at how many 'Democrats' in Congress are traditionally Right-leaning in their politics. Even at the most cursory of glances you will see that many of them are quite literally 'Democrats' in name only. What
better way to tarnish the Democrats name than to ensure that the most malleable of them are the face of the opposition? What better way to promote hopelessness than to show those who stand for you as spineless and weak in the face of Tyranny? This is what they're doing and no one seems to notice or care.
You want to know why Bush and his cronies are getting away with this? Because they know they can. No one will dare to stand up against them in any real sense - there's too much at stake. If you've got a Wife, a kid, a mortgage and a job well, you've got too much to lose if your country is thrown into chaos.
It's funny how many people will stand up and sling words around but when the chips are down no one takes it seriously. Bush and his friends are aware of this and are thankful that people are so willing to throw their hands up in the air and say 'what can I do?!"
You think you know Fascism? You only know Fascism because you've been able to see it unfold in other countries, you've been on the outside looking in. But now you're the victim, you don't get to have perspective, certainly not while the action is unfolding in real time. The tendrils are wrapped around your throat even as I type this and yet no one is fighting to breathe.
Here's a bit of advice, trust me, it'll make your life easier: Don't question things, keep your head down and live out the rest of your life knowing that your children will be born into a world that is much darker than you could ever imagine. You've seen Dystopias in your films and laughed at how impossible such a thing could be. The time for laughing is over.
All that you know will be taken from you and, once the next generation is born they will know nothing other than the oppressive forces that are 'Freedom and Democracy'.
This is what you've allowed to happen and, unfortunately, it's now too late to do anything about it.
Four fate's already been decided for you - and if you think a stupid little election is going to change anything, well, I pity you.
Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Blackwater does not work for the Pentagon. They are contractors for the US State Department.
State has it's own security arm, the Diplomatic Security Service. DSS protects US diplomats overseas. Most diplomats don't get Secret Service protection, that's for a very few. DSS works out of embassies and they're the grunts of the State Department. FSOs look down on them too, but they keep everybody alive. DSS protects a lot of foreign dignitaries too. For example, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia (their last ambassador) had a dedicated DSS detail.
So it is within DSS' purview to protect Congressmen and our own dignitaries in Iraq. DSS is pretty good, but there's no way they have the resources, especially personnel, to do that job. It is a war zone over there and that calls for serious soldiering by experienced people. Blackwater grew into the company that won this contract because they hire the most highly trained ex-soldiers the US military has produced. Seals, Delta, Marine recon and embassy guards all who served their time and left the employ of the US government. These people have highly specialized training from our own special forces, already have security clearances, and get hired for high salaries to go back into a war zone.
Blackwater makes a lot of money, yes. What's a realistic alternative to contracting this out? Have DSS add another couple thousand ex-special forces guys and grow that department to a size that will likely be grossly unnecessary in a few years? Have the Armed forces pull special forces guys out of Afghanistan and Iraq's outback to protect convoys?
The accountability mess isn't Blackwater's fault. State created the accountability void and should be held accountable for the actions of it's contractors.
Blackwater along with government and corporate financing are ever slowly turning the U.S. into a fascist nation. Their goal; to make you give up your trust and allegiance to your family and rely on the state... the ultimate nanny state.
Think for yourself and question authority.
Again, TDS does the MSM's job. Go fucking figure!
I presume these are the guys that the Whitehouse will be calling, come the day when all those Halliburton-built detention camps need filling up with US citizens.
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