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| Black Water Debacle In Iraq | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 25 2007, 01:52 AM (439 Views) | |
| abuturab82 | Sep 25 2007, 01:52 AM Post #1 |
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Associated Press At a Glance: Blackwater USA By The Associated Press 09.24.07, 4:48 PM ET NAME - Blackwater USA FOUNDER - Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL, launched the company in 1997. LOCATION - Headquartered at a 7,000-acre campus in Moyock, a tiny town in the swamplands of northeastern North Carolina about 30 minutes south of Norfolk, Va. The company also has an 80-acre campus in Mount Carroll, Ill., known as "Blackwater North." BUSINESSES - Blackwater offers a wide variety of training in military and law enforcement. It also makes military support equipment, including its own mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle, and provides K-9 units. The company has aviation and maritime divisions as well. SECURITY CONTRACTING - Blackwater has roughly 1,000 security contractors in Iraq and a database of more than 6,000 independent contractors supporting more than 50 security operations around the world. Its guards, many of whom make about $500 to $600 per day to protect State Department personnel in Iraq, often have lengthy backgrounds in law enforcement and the military, including Special Forces. Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/09/24/ap4150555.html |
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| abuturab82 | Sep 25 2007, 01:54 AM Post #2 |
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Shootings by US guards 'threaten sovereignty of Iraq' IRAQI prime minister Nouri al-Maliki said yesterday the deaths of Iraqi civilians - allegedly shot by guards working for the Blackwater USA security firm - posed "a serious challenge to the sovereignty of Iraq". The killings of at least 11 civilians in Baghdad on 16 September have highlighted the practices of foreign security contractors whose aggressive protection of western diplomats has long angered Iraqis. US-Iraqi relations have been further strained by the US detention in northern Iraq of an Iranian who was accused by the US military of smuggling weapons to Shiite militias. Mr Maliki said the man had been invited to Iraq. "The government of Iraq is an elected one and sovereign. When it gives a visa it is responsible for the visa. We consider the arrest of this individual... unacceptable." • Blackwater USA has denied any involvement in illegal weapons smuggling through Iraq to Kurdish insurgents in Turkey. http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1524432007 |
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| abuturab82 | Sep 25 2007, 01:56 AM Post #3 |
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Editorial: Thugs on the Loose 25 September 2007 THE Bush administration condemns the existence of militias in Iraq. At the same time, however, it countenances the existence of its very own militias masquerading as civilian contractors. The private armies of commercial firms such as Blackwater are by some estimates so large that they actually outnumber the 130,000 US soldiers in the country. The slaying last week of 11 Iraqi civilians by Blackwater guards who claimed the US diplomatic convoy they were escorting had come under attack has thrown into sharp relief the existence and deplorable role of these mercenaries. Paid as much in a month as a US soldier earns in a whole year, the hired guns have become a law unto themselves — literally. Thanks to a ruling by the US occupation’s first supremo, Paul Bremer, these private armies are not subject to Iraqi law. Washington claims they are doing important security work that would otherwise tie up American and Iraqi military units busy in their fight against Al-Qaeda and Baathist and Shiite insurgents. But the untrammeled power of these people, the arrogance with which they barge their way through Iraqi streets and open fire at the slightest suspicion (or sometimes it seems without even that) has rightly incensed ordinary citizens and finally, in the wake of last week’s slaughter, of the Maliki government. The immediate reaction of the Iraqi authorities was to revoke Blackwater’s license and order all its operatives to quit the country. Three days later this action was reversed, clearly under orders from the Bush administration. Blackwater’s private army can resume operations guarding US diplomats and officials while a joint US-Iraqi inquiry was conducted into precisely what happened to the 11 Iraqis who were killed a week ago Sunday. A government official even claimed that if the original order that Blackwater leave were enforced, it would leave a security vacuum. There is indeed already a vacuum created by the presence of these mercenary armies — it is a moral vacuum. For all its many faults, the US military is nominally accountable under the law. The Abu Ghraib investigation may have picked up only the small fry, but at least there was an inquiry. Coalition troops in Iraq are subject to the rules of war. US generals in Iraq have no control whatsoever over the mercenary armies. Indeed US officers working with Iraqi troops have complained of the way in which the mercenaries treat them. Trucks are forced off the road. Iraqi soldiers are threatened and intimidated. In the four years of occupation, there have been dozens of incidents in which US mercenaries have allegedly been involved in murder and maiming. Yet not a single prosecution has been brought against any of these people in the US — the only place where, thanks to Bremer, they could possibly be tried. Is this really what Bush means when he talks of bringing freedom, democracy and the rule of law to Iraq? Is this not just another case of one law for Americans and another for everybody else? http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&...d=25&m=9&y=2007 |
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| mustahsin | Sep 29 2007, 08:10 AM Post #4 |
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It is no use trying to convince the American government, soldiers and mercenaries of the wrongness of their military actions. They are adamant in the way that they are heading. The only solution to the problem of American belligerence and initimidation is to build strong armies as Muslims ourselves. But I heard something like that the Americans produce more weapons than the total of other world countries combined. Well probably not exactly that, but something very worrying. Moreover, the bigger Muslim countries are all governed by westernized elites who are very likely to collaborate with the westerners and not pious Muslims in case of an open conflict between the two sides. In short, Muslims cannot produce the weapons necessary to defend themselves but their enemies in kafir (western or eastern) countries as well as the westernized munafiq elites in their own countries are building their armed power even more every day. Madad ya Allah! What is the way out? How are we going to defend ourselves and prevent God's militant enemies from crushing God's believing servants and then assimilating them into their system of kufr? |
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| Muda313 | Oct 5 2007, 10:10 PM Post #5 |
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salam, every time i read/hear about the insanities that occur during war, it reminds of that video obedience... it's scary what ppl will do under the least bit of pressure from authority or fear, so to think about ppl being under severe circunstances ie. war... of course the worst will occur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment ma salaam |
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| Muda313 | Oct 5 2007, 10:33 PM Post #6 |
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Prince serves as Vice President of the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation which gives money to organizations of the Christian right. Salon reports that "between July 2003 and July 2006, the foundation gave at least $670,000 to the Family Research Council and $531,000 to Focus on the Family"[10] headed by James Dobson. He also serves as a board member of Christian Freedom International, a non-profit group with a mission of helping "Christians who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ." Since 1998, Prince has personally donated over $200,000 to Republican causes. Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has characterized Prince as one of George W. Bush's "political cronies."[14] Prince has denied using family clout to obtain contracts for Blackwater.[15] why erik prince is not seen as a questionable character when his ties to christian fundamentalists are very evident, and so is his military background. isn't it the same threat as a muslim ex navy seal donating to an islamic organiation and then hiring mercenaries to guard people in... say gaza? if you've ever listened to focus on the family, they are also very focsed on creating fear and distrust of (especially american)muslims (and other "misguided" religions of which muslims are the worst). |
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| abuturab82 | Oct 6 2007, 01:22 AM Post #7 |
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wow, thats some fascinating information. i didn't know that prince was a fundamentalist. |
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