This secretive army is said to have as many as 20,000 mercenaries trained by a company started by a Christain fundamentalist fighting and killing in Iraq. Some estimate there are as many as 70,000 mercenaries from this and other so-called "private security companies" Like most of you I knew Blackwater was a military contractor with personnel in Iraq. I knew they also sent armed personnel to police the street of New Orleans after Katrina. But I did some research after a private pilot friend sent me a series of photographs he recently took flying over their 6,000 acre North Carolina training site (see exclusive enlarged high resolution pictures here, my friend took them not knowing whether there might be dire consequenses flying so close to their facility). Once I did a little reading I was horrified at the secret army Bush has at his beck and call.
For starters, I suggest readers take a few minutes and at least view this discussion, if not read the entire article from The Nation by Jeremy Scahill, the author of a new book, "Blackwater, The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army".
In this video you'll see and hear heavily armed Blackwater mercenaries firing from a rooftop and hear one of them say "Jesus Christ. It's like a fucken turkey shoot." And then, apparently disappointed, "they're taking cover."
I haven't read the book but I did read the article he wrote for The Nation, the interview with him on TruthDig, and other online material.
For those who were concerned that some 150 lawyers trained to bring Christian fundamentalist views to the government by Liberty University has been hired by the adminsitration, think about the following.
According to Source Watch:
Blackwater was co-founded by former Navy Seal Erik Prince, a "billionaire right-wing fundamentalist Christian from a powerful Michigan Republican family. A major Republican campaign contributor, he interned in the White House of President George H.W. Bush and campaigned for Pat Buchanan in 1992. He founded the mercenary firm Blackwater USA in 1997 with Gary Jackson, another former Navy SEAL."
Prince's father, Edgar Prince, and Gary Bauer started the Family Research Council, where Prince interned. Prince's sister, Betsy DeVos, is a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party.
This is more than sobering stuff. It is downright terrifying considering we have a president who, in terms of hunger for power and lack of ethics has out-Nixoned Nixon already in just about every way imaginable.
We thought Bush's use of the Patriot Act to spy on ordinary American was an affront to our civil liberties. Some of us thought that this went far beyond the crude macho posturing of G. Gordon Liddy and the break-ins at Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office and the Democratic Party headquaters at the Watergate by "The Plumbers".
This takes the cake, many of us said, now Bush has pushed the envelop of presidential over-reaching so far beyond Nixon the country will say enough is enough.
Of course, the silence was deafening as Rovian propaganda about citizens with nothing to hide making sacrifices in privacy rights in order to fight terrorists convinced many that this was all for our own good and Daddy Bush knew best.
Well Nixon had a few loyal crooks, and probably only Liddy actually was literally armed and dangerous.
Wake up America, Bush has an unregulated secret army.
Remember the pictures of those burned American bodies hanging upside-down from the bridge over the Euphrates River. Those were two of four Blackwater mercenaries whose bodies were dragged from Mitsubishi SUVs after being killed in an ambush. ( Reference)
We already know that Bush wasn't particularly bothered by our own use of fairly benign torture and spiriting suspects to countries where torture was of the nail pulling electric shock to testicles variety until it became a public relations problem.
According to reports they are paid as private contractors (with no-bid contracts, of course) by the State Department rather than the Defense Department.
What on earth the State Department is doing hiring armed thugs to kill people might be a good question except that from all I can gather from reading the articles I've linked to it isn't at all clear who actually gives these mercenaries their orders. I rather doubt it is Condi Rice.
Congress knows about Blackwater. Senator Barak Obama among others wants to do something to make them accountable and lift the veil of secrecy from what they do.
Hopefully with this new book (it only came out April 2nd and Imus-mania has, I suspect, kept publicity for it off the airwaves) the public will wake up about this and Congress will become mobilized to stop funding them.
With out those big mercenary paychecks, how long do you think these righteous Christian warriors will stay in Iraq?
An America president using mercenaries who don't have to abide by the same rules as our own troops is a scandal of immense proportions and it is hiding in plain sight right here on their own recruiting website.
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More about Blackwater
Here's an article published since I wrote the original column:
Victims of an outsourced war Mar. 17, 2007, Time Magazine
Essay based on the film "Iraq For Sale".
PBS interview with author Jeremy Scahill.
From The Virginian-Pilot "Blackwater: America's Private Army", a detailed 6 part series from the local paper that has done an excellent job covering Blackwater.
' Media Focus on Contractors Begins in Earnest" from Iraqslogger.com
Jeremy Scahill's "Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army," website
"Another Black Day For Blackwater -- Crew of Four and Door Gunner Killed in Protracted Firefight" by Robery Young Pelton (include video of Blackwater merencaries and their "Little Bird" helicopterswhat what looks like a terrific time in Baghdad)
Website of Robert Young Pelton, author of "Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror".
Gwen Ifell PBS interview from 2/7/07: "Congress Investigates Private Military Contracts in Iraq" with Sen. Joe Biden, Gen. David Petreous, Robery Young Pelton, among others.
New L.A. Times: "A private army for California?"
New Time Magazine: "Victims of an Outsourced War"
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A poster, Joe, brought up the following which is worth expanding the original column to address.
Title: once again - invective free facts
Submitted by joe on April 14, 2007 - 09:59.
I'll repeat the facts you chose to leave out and hope you have the integrity to post them:
Blackwater has not lost anywhere near 800 men, not even close. The entire contracting industry may have lost this many, but not all contractors are security people, in fact most are not. Blackwater does not have a secret army of 150 lawyers trained to bring fundamentalist views to the Government; this is utterly ridiculous. Besides, anybody who needs that many lawyers needs better representation.
Blackwater performs security and is not hired for killing anyone any more than a police officer is hired to kill drug dealers. They are in the security business. I know because I used to work there. And yes, international law applies to us as it would to any non-military person in theater, including journalists and NGO workers.
Blackwater does not push a doctrine or faith on anyone, they're doing a job they were hired to do (and will continue to do it REGARDLESS of who is elected president, by the way). This industry is here to stay in a Democrat or Republican administration - you might as well learn to live with it.
My response
I only found one source for the 800 lives lost claim, which sounded quite high, and took it off the article well before Joe pointed this out. I think the number must have referred to the total estmate of private contractors killed. As of of October of last year Reuters gave the count as 650. (Reference). Blackwater itself has a memorial to 25 lives losts but apparently doesn't specifiy how or where.
I didn't say anything about international law applying or not applying to Blackwater mercenaries. I said military law didn't apply to them. If a member of our armed forces breaks military law, they are subject to a court martial.
International law is defined as follows:
International law consists of rules and principles which govern the relations and dealings of nations with each other. International Law, which is in most other countries referred to as Public International Law, concerns itself only with questions of rights between several nations or nations and the citizens or subjects of other nations. In contrast, Private International Law deals with controversies between private persons, natural or juridical, arising out of situations having significant relationship to more than one nation. Reference: Cornell Law School.
Nowhere did I write that Blackwater has 150 lawyers with degrees from Liberty University's Regent Law School, whose President is Rev. Pat Robertson. The government does have 150 of their graduates in various positions. One, Monica Goodling, was Attorney General Gonzales' chief assistant and said she would take the fifth if called to testify before Congress. Then she resigned.
Another well publicized controversy involving a Liberty University graduate centers on U.S. Attorney Rachel K. Paulose, 34, the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, who previously worked directly for Gonzales. Three of her department heads demoted themselves as a protest against her management style and policies. They said she frequently berated staff and quoted Bible passages to them.
As for whether Blackwater pushs a faith doctrine on anyone, I doubt they have to.
Even if they don't screen candidates to assure they meet their Christianity litmus test, a BIG IF, I think it is common sense to think that most of those who apply for jobs there know about the background and philosophy of its co-founder , Erik Prince, who I described in the original column.
He's said to avoid interviews but I located one with the Hampton VA. Pilot which is quite interesting. Here's an excerpt with my emphasis added:
Q. Can you discuss the role played by Blackwater and other contractors in the Pentagon as referenced in the latest Quadrennial Defense Review? What is its significance for Blackwater?
A. The "total force" refers to all resources available to be used in the nation's defense. Blackwater considers itself a partner to the DoD and all government agencies, and we stand ready to provide surge capacity, training, security and operational services in various areas at their request. We are honored to contribute in some small way.
American history details the contributions of private contractors in the development of our Nation. Examples include the Jamestown, Plymouth, and Massachusetts Bay colonies; all started as private investment endeavors whose security was provided by PMCs. Across the street from the White House is Lafayette Park; on its four corners stand statues of Lafayette, Von Steuben, Rochambeau, and Kosciusko. All were foreign professional military officers that came here to help build and develop the capacity of the Continental Army. The base of one of the statues bears the inscription: “He gave military training and discipline to the citizen soldiers who achieved the independence of the United States. Entire article
America has come a long way since the Revolutionary War. Our citizen soldiers no longer benefit from being trained by professional soldiers from overseas. In fact, it is our soldiers who train foreign armies.
Erik Prince's comment above suggests he is caught up in a 250 year old anachronistic military fantasy world.
As for Blackwater and lawsuits, according to this report (Reference) the families of the four mercenaries killed in the bridge incident in Falluja are or were suing for wrongfull death.
The families of three mercenaries killed in Afghanistan are also suing for wrongful death ( (Reference).
Obviously the private security industry is here to stay, but whether the mercenary industry doing things that should be done by our military and at home by the police, especially one that gets no-bid contracts through the executive branch, is here to stay remains to be seen. I for one hope not.
I hope these answers address Joe's criticism.
As I said, when I started research for this column I had no idea that Blackwater was in the center of controversy and that there would be current news about it on almost a daily basis. I just decided to build an article around the excellent high resolution aerial pictures my friend took of the N. Carolina training site (here).
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