In other words these Blackshirts are "stormtroopers," of the fascist machine as their predicessors were in Europe.

They must be defunded and legally banned as a danger to society.

Aren't taxpayers paying more for mercenaries than regular troops, and isn't that stupid? If they start using these guys to keep order in the United States, it'll be to thank the NRA for preserving our right to bear arms and start a liberal militia movement.

Blackwater-and I know I'm repeating myself-needs to be grabbed by the scruff of the neck and bodily removed. Period.

it can't be emphasized enough: the taxpayer's money flows to erik prince, who then ladles it out to fund political candidates who are his ideological soulmates--in other words, to those who think the u.s. suffers from an excess of democracy and needs a dose of theocracy as a corrective.

Let's consider that someday these mercenaries will be back home and on our streets. These aren't the type of people that you would want as your neighbors.

bulging biceps fueled by idealogical purity,idealogical purity fueled by big money...same old bottom line...

Let's not gloss over who exactly trained these american storm troopers. They are ex seals, ex special forces troops etc. They were intially trained and their humanity deadened by the American armed services. They're fighting for Blackwater now because it pays better, but those killer instincts were first honed in boot camp.

Another point to ponder is the fact that now that the Blackwater Jeenie is out of the bottle,they will NEVER be shut down. There is just to much power and money involved. What worries me is; what will they do when(if ever)we extract ourselves from Iraq & Afganistan. A new American SS ready to round up those who do not approve of fundamentalist Christianity and never ending wars?

Jack London wrote in IRON HEEL: "Another great institution that had taken form and was working smoothly was the Mercenaries. This body of soldiers had been evolved out of the old regular army and was now a million strong, to say nothing of the colonial forces. The Mercenaries constituted a race apart. They dwelt in cities of their own which were practically self-governed, and they were granted many privileges. By them a large portion of the perplexing surplus was consumed. They were losing all touch and sympathy with the rest of the people, and, in fact, were developing their own class morality and consciousness."
Hoa binh

Job offer for fit commondreams posters:

Employment Offered: 15 Positions in Chicago $52K
Categories: Employment Offered Date Posted: 09/19/2007
Ad Number: 18370
Contact: Brian McCracken
Moyock, North Carolina 27958
USA Telephone:
E-Mail: bmccracken@blackwaterusa.com
Web Site: http://www.blackwaterusa.com

Description
We have recently been awarded a contract to help Navy SEAL candidates improve their strength, swimming, cardio and flexibility. Work begins ASAP at the Great Lakes Navy Recruit Training Center near Chicago. Pay is $25/Hr ($52,000 per year)with benefits. We are looking for recent college graduates who have rowed (or swam, wrestled or water-poloed). Your job is to teach, coach and mentor, not be a Drill Instructor.

Judge: "And so, starting this privatization binge in the 1980s with the claim to save the taxpayer money, you had the evidence in the early 1990s that the privatization ended up costing the taxpayer MORE than before and you didn't act on it. A decade later, you took the privatization further, with the very same claim, to save the taxpayer money, everyone bought it, and now in the tail end of the 2000s we have over twenty years of accumulated evidence that privatizations have cost the taxpayer roughly four times what similar services cost when performed by the military.

Furthermore, the prosecution has determined through several independent commissioned studies, that the cause of this outrageous difference in costs is very likely to do with the sense of duty to country, and honor, possessed by the military people, something totally lacking in the private sector employees, who simply wanted to buy bigger houses, trade them around, buy bigger vacation condos and more of them, and go on longer trips, etc, etc. You could have had your staff perform similar studies but you didn't. You could have pit the public and private services in direct competition to discover which were truly most efficient, but you didn't. Do you have any idea what you've done to the soul of this nation by driving the public with these financial carrots to pursue little more than the accumulation of wealth and luxury? It would be different if that pursuit were taken responsibly, with limits to protect the environment and balance to maintain some level of equity among people, and so that people may focus a little attention on the better things in life. But you have no concern at all about these things do you?

Furthermore, you invested your private funds into one of these companies, Halliburton, and you made a fortune yourself off the US taxpayer, even while serving as US vice-president. This level of corruption is overshadowed in the United States by one thing only: The entirety of all your war crimes, crimes against humanity, assaults against the US Constitution, and further theft and corruption. I hereby sentence you to twenty years in prison for this blatant theft/corruption. Furthermore, by the special powers vested in me by the American people, I hereby order all private military services immediately disbanded, and all of your illicit gains returned to the US treasury. I hope only that I may spend the rest of my career dealing justice out to your cronies. I've certainly put in my request. Court dismissed! Now get the hell out of my sight!"

geoff29---SCARY!!!!! I wish I could laugh, but the whole thing is just too alarming to me.

People who talk on this site about their belated gratitude to the NRA, are tragically mistaken if they think they will have some protection against this private army. When you add extremely efficient deadly force with Christo-fascist ideology, we are in some deep shit! Heaven help us all. I'm looking to angels for protection---a deer rifle ( (which I've never held or shot anyway) just ain't gonna cut it.
rtdrury---great post and how true it is---let's energize that dream!!!!

Guess what superpower is not signatory to the "International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries"?

The Army has stopped training soldiers for thinking jobs like I did in the Signal Corps many years ago, and only seems to want unthinking "shooters" in uniform now. Amongst all the myriad ill omens nowadays of into what America is turning, a hireling military is probably the surest sign that we are doomed to be a theo-fascist empire ........ though thankfully, it probably won't survive very long.

We're well past the tipping point of really being able to do anything anymore that will save our Noble Experiment now, so maybe it's time to just let it go, and start over?

that was a real job offer by the way. I wouldn't make that up.

Blackwater are the new Brownshirts....

Geoff29...Wrestling? Waterpolo? They seem to have forgotten to add "love gay sex" as a criteria

They seem to have forgotten to add "love gay sex" as a criteria

but I'm looking at that ad (I won't say where it was posted because I don't think that would be appropriate) I'm trying to see that ad through the eyes of young bright eyed individuals who are trying to make ends me in a hostile economic environment. And you wonder why the best and brightest are succumbing to will of the empire? It pays well.

What is peace payin' lately? Dead busted broke.

well;

well here take a look in my wallet

yeah those're cobwebs

Wait'll all those unfilled police dept jobs get filled by these guys or contracted to Blackwater a la New Orleans

Its a shame that, in regard to Fallujah, when the the author refers to "retaliation that killed hundreds of Iraqis, leveled the city and fueled the insurgency", the author's choice of words trivializes the destruction of Fallujah.

Of course we can't get accurate numbers on anything, but when those Johns Hopkins researchers (in 2004 and 2006) reported patterns of death using the cluster survey method (interview families, ask for death certificates, estimate total deaths from that), they thought they had to exclude the data from Fallujah because it was so extreme.

That should tell us something. The average rate of excess death due to the war throughout Iraq was estimated to be a shocking value of about 10 per thousand per year. At least 1/3 of these were attributable directly to coalition violence like air strikes and checkpoint shootings. Given the size of Fallujah (300,000), that would mean 3000 excess deaths per year, at least 1000 due directly coalition violence...if Fallujah were an average town.

But recall that the deaths reported by Fallujah families were much higher than the average, so high the scientists didn't want to include them with the rest of the average.

I would like to see more analysis of this, but I think a few things are obvious. Referring to "hundreds" killed in Fallujah is a travesty. Referring to "thousands" is more defensible but its still a low-ball estimate since its the average expected given the size of Fallujah. "Tens of thousands" is more likely to be an accurate order-of-magnitude estimate.

geoff29----I knew your ad was real and only thought your remark (joke?) was suggesting some of us might find some lucrative employment there.

My future son-in-law was a rower in college but I am quite sure he would not be interested in any such enticement. However, your point is well taken that $25/hr is hard for some to resist---especially with the staggering student loan debts so many have hanging over them.

It really creeps me out thinking about the whole things. It's just so dark and sinister--like web with a huge hairy spider sitting in the center, waiting for some hapless flies. UGH!

RT DRURY: If not in a court here on earth, be assured the LORDS of karma are quite aware of the carnage brought on by these senseless war profiteers. (You made a good case!)

P.S. I don't know that the after life runs like a passion play, but for those who see Judgment Day as an actual depiction on higher levels, can you imagine with Eric Prince who boasted the USE of Christ's name while making a fortune on killing, gets to meet the Master and learn how he maligned the highest teachings for his own dark greed?

My spiritual understanding is that when the body is dropped and the soul/spirit is freed, it moves through energetic fields. The Tibetan Book of the Dead explains the process, and one's spiritual level is somewhat akin to an emanated color vibration; so that we basically go to the etheric destination we vibrate with.

Even so, the most dense, ignorant, angry, dark souls still get spiritual help. Guides appear, and since these guides emanate higher LIGHT, light being the essence of cognition... those who were able to hide behind ego, slogans, and belonging to groups that reinforced malevolence while touting cheery euphemisms, find these defenses stripped away. In the PRESENCE of light, their shadows fall away and they recognize their errors in their abject seriousness for the first time. It is mortifying. A version of "Truth and Reconciliation" that occurs on intangible planes. The net result (this based on a number of sources) is that the soul works along with his/her guides to script a future lifetime where they will have to meet at least SOME of those they trespassed against to make amends.

Imagine what Bush, Cheney, Rice, Prince and those that MAKE WAR for pleasure and profit, imagine all the lives they will need to serve to balance their "scores." It would be wonderful if we saw justice in the here and now, and there is every reason to hope the World Court will help in this initiative, but truly, to hang someone for sins as great as those of our mis-leaders, is like putting a bandaid on a bursting dam. It is NOT enough. Their souls will require lifetimes of redemption and the hard work of EARNING what they took from others. That is the LAW of our universe. It is being tragically usurped here in America, and to me that indicates a kick-ass wake-up call is coming. Learning about the TRUE state of our ravaged economy, the state of the nation's infrastructure, the pathological climate of anger, guilt and fear; the violence in so many places, the obesity, drug addiction, fires, droughts, etc. We are paying... but there are indicators much more is on the way. The best way to ward off the dark is by embracing the light, and we build that in ourselves by doing right action, and thinking of others. The whole US me-first, ego-based, selfish, infantile perception must undergo transformation. Nothing like privation to make people realize what blessings they took for granted. Then GRACE begins to happen.

Blackwater. Mercenaries. Paid more than our own troops. Operate with impunity outside the law. Privatization of power. Protecting the State Department? Support our troops? Bring our troops home now. Private arsenal. Talk about weapon of mass destruction. What the hell has happened to this country? Bush couldn't do this with the regular armed forces, or didn't want to. Take half the National Guard and put in your own private army. What a mess. What a shame. What are we going to do? You couldn't fight or stop these bastards. God must be shedding many tears. Jah people must rise up.

starofthesea,

fit enough to be able to tackle the very thought of something like that. I don't think any of the commondreams posters would dream of working that job for employment - even if it were the last thing on earth. Ummm.

Hi Siouxrose,

your post might just as well have been over on Cindy's article. I'm really in tune with the whole idea of balancing "their "scores."" Some human existences just seem too mired in hopeless ignorances - ie, hell - to escape from. Whether their current occupants realize their predicament or not who can say?

On the other hand, as requiring of as many subsequent existences as they may, when you're talking about the supreme being I think Bush, and the rest, and the 100 bankers or money lenders who control the way things go on the planet to an annoying degree, can essentially be read as the most complete and utter fools. Who even more so then we may do, trying to work things out in our heads, are only reading an assigned script heading toward tragic failure. And to be denied of your free will in this life has to be the worst of all possible predicaments, even if you appear to be on top. Souls who can't grasp the idea that they are observed and monitored every iota of the way.

Nevertheless we have the quandary of being afflicted with attempting to resolve the problem. Somehow. Guided or abetted by. . .well you certainly have your skills, Siouxrose. I'm sure you've got me pegged.

That doesn't mean these tyrants aren't the cause of misery, because obviously they are, but as I was suggesting the other day, "exaltation," or, maybe we should call that "enlightenment" takes very hard work, and exacts a toll, not too many while walking the earth are going to really want to surrender to that. . .

Imagine one of the requirements of understanding being that the one seeking to be enlightened is required to endure the severest of tests to her or his character and yet still realize. . .love - and with that forgiveness, acceptance, hope, charity, can't do a complete list here. Takes a lot of time. You, understand.

Cindy is taking one facet of her own journey to the public level and her bravery in the matter is certainly an example. I'm glad she's posting here. Over on the other page. . .

I needed to add this, starofthesea and Siouxrosee, but in 91 or 92 I think it was, I was sitting on a sofa chatting with Steve Ross of Time Warner, just at the point when it or he was figuring out how corporate media, aligning itself with government, was able to control global population through various publications, film, and so on.

The maids and servants moved quietly about in the background delivering glasses of water and so forth. In a moment of complete privacy Mr. Ross leaned across the sofa to me and asked, "didn't I think it was right that Bush went into Iraq?" I was at a loss. This was like sulfur. This was me, you see, and this should in reality not have been me sitting there at all. Perhaps it really ought to have been some other person. Case of completely mistaken identity. Happens all the time to me.

Anyway, the looney tune with Elmer Fudd in Hiawatha was quietly playing on the living room theater screen. But the thing was Ross was dieing of cancer. Tragically, one might say, right at the very height of his earthly powers.

I did eventually attend the ceremony for his departure. Just to make sure, as Dylan would sing. I am sorry for being so flippant. I'll suffer for it I know.

But the other thing was, I hope you get the picture, but nothing was really what it seemed to be in the realm of the manufacturer of global illusion. What I saw, from my cheap seat, was misery. The real thing. It just didn't know it and neither would an AOL audience. Such is life.

true, but they are breathing uranium dust with every round they fire. will they kiss their babies? will they look into their eyes and see themselves?

This is becoming a science fiction nightmare faster and faster. thank you jesus...

Mad King George and his Black Prince.

Where is our Shakespeare to dramatize the decline of the empire?

i guess ur he, pundit... RE: "mercenaries"....ties between intelligence/military and private companies are old hat - in intelligence, partly because that allows deniability, right? one example are the many cia "front companies", some even profitable and "privately" owned. likewise, we all know the ties between military contractors and the military, partly because it allows competitive-edge, or so the rationale goes... but how about something in-between? a sort of cia front company thats also part "defense contractor", much like military hardware contractors, but with overseas operative capibilities. this "group" would provide for Administration's use of discretionary special forces swat teams that operate outside the law, and outside normal intelligence oversite regulations, thus allowing full deniability and no accountability? yup, that. the current administration seems to enjoy "piloting" new technique/strategy-models, like torture for example, to test the widespread application-potential. blackwater iraq/neworleans is exactly that - a test-run of an "ideal situation" for certain strategic political operations, tied into the intelligence/military network, but free from it. simply put: same ol fkn sick shit... i do have one point however, the "test piloting" of blackwater-types of "operational units" is doomed to failure based upon inherant flaws in the model, right? just like exotic tortue methods remain unlikely to gain long term operational-popularity. then we do have the hope the b;ackwater type projects fail broadly BEFORE they pull this country down any lower.

"Elite Blackwater soldiers have conducted secretive "black jobs" for the CIA or other spy agencies."

I would like proof of this as it is potentially the most disturbing and destructive work they're allowed to perform.

That a private corporation is privy to state secrets that not even the country's own citizens are entitled is creeping fascism.

Can the CIA now claim full deniability when missions go awry, would not Blackwater take the heat, claim immunity from prosecution and citing national security, covering for their CIA masters?

'Onward, Christian-soldiers'...

"Blackwater (and other) US-merc's well-know, and are so-informed, that they operate 'Above Any Law' (that, in-fact, is a large-part of why they come to act in these-fashions — as is [and will-be] every-bit as 'true' for the current/future US Executive-branch — initially, in regards to Foreign/Security-Policies, and later…?
[I guess "the sky is the-limit"?]

Accept all-this, then please — be prepared to accept-all-that-follows…"

""Elite Blackwater soldiers have conducted secretive "black jobs" for the CIA or other spy agencies."
I would like proof of this as it is potentially the most disturbing and destructive work they're allowed to perform."

I can almost-guarantee you that covertly-obtained/'managed' CIA-Funds (such as from illicit/controlled/re-directed-profits from the Drug-trade) has itself financed the 'private' investments behind Blackwater-and-similar.
As for any compunction on the part of the CIA, or other 'defense-entities', to exploit them for 'American-Interests'...please! You are discussing the same-folks who near-openly funneled vast-support through Pakistan's ISA to the 'freedom-fighters of the Mujahideen' -- anyone willing to 'use' BinLaden&Pals will indeed use-'anyone'...

I agree with Jaded Prole. We should make it a point to refer to these thugs as "Blackshirts" whenever we discuss them.

Blackwater is the new SS. They will treat us here at home the same as they have treated the Iraqis if they are told to by the Republican criminals who run the country. Already having patrolled New Orleans, it won't be long before privatizing the containment of anti-war demonstrations will be commonplace.

SAMSKI: Good points.

GEOFF: I'm sure you know the premise of "6 degrees of separation." Allow me to link that with a statement I read some time back on CD where some major businessman or political powerbroker (with considerable clout) just dropped his negative agenda, and part of the reson was his conscience was tweaked by seeing the same guy--pro-peace--standing on the same corner in protest, day after day.

It's like this in nature: the tiny drop that keeps cascading off the rock eventually makes a hole in the rock beneath it.

When I think of the awesome task left to the planet's spiritual teachers, caretakers and visionaries, I am reminded of a fascinating lesson shown to me. I was biking in Ojai, California, and we're talking small mountains. I had this inclination to see if I could bike from town to Lake Casitas, and the bike would acquire enough momentum on the down part of hills to go half-way up the next one. It was so EASY that I kept going, heading through the mountain range towards Santa Barbara. I was elated to see myself pedaling past the fire station half-way up a large mountain with a gorgeous view of the lake below. Here's what I realized: If I looked UP at the mountain, this awesome contest to my breath, strength and stamina, I would become overwhelmed, gasping for breath. If instead I looked at my feet, and JUST KEPT PEDALING I would ascend without much seeming effort.

I believe this illustration applies to our lives now, the tasks we face, and potentially what has all the appearances of suggesting yet greater tests to our values, stamina and sanity in months ahead. Peace & power! Sioux

These right-wing goons will probably target anyone who disagrees with the government once they return here. What else are the thugs trained for but to kill and help the oppressors retain power over the masses. Years from now will we be another Burma?

Here Siouxrose,

this should tie a few thoughts together. for you continued biking prowess, and if starofthesea ever returns to this grove, for her future son-in-law. Also in response to the ad for any athletes who might be tempted to train blackwater agents.

Rowing is an attempt at mastery. Every workout confronts us with our doubts. We try something we think we cannot do. With discipline, we may demonstrate that in fact we can do it. Uncertainty can be a fuel; the greater the doubt, the greater the will required to overcome it. Furthermore, when an experiment in defeating doubt succeeds, it shakes the very foundations of doubting. If we go beyond what we once thought was our perimeter, then all limits are open to question. We row toward and ever-expanding horizon.

Craig Lambert - Mind Over Water Lessons on Life From the Art of Rowing

Said the worm to the stone, I'll bore a hole through you yet.

plus I got to experiment with blockquotes and italics!

Spot-on article---though I don't think Cheney's lie about the reason to privatize military operations ("efficiency") should stand unqualified. Undoubtedly the Neocon purpose was to make military operations less and less ACCOUNTABLE to democratic processes (you know, all that tedious debate and caution)....which is exactly the kind of move they've made in every other aspect of public power, and the results are what we have on every side. Oh, what a joke of a Dimocrap debate last night. Kucinich was right on---though he should have NAILED all the others by simply asking WHEN, if not now, they'd consider impeachment called for. PS, Wolf Blitzer should be laid to rest, seeing that he passed away for all intellectual and human purposes a long time ago, which is why he's in charge of CNN half the day with "the best political team on television." It is NOT POSSIBLE in a country full of intelligent people for the central news day's anchor to be such a complete boob and mediocrity....

GOEFF29 AND SIOUXROSE--------May you both be awash in blessings, since you are already blazing in the Light. I can see it as I sit here typing. AMAZING! What could I possibly add to your incredible posts??? Nothing except to affirm and amplify with my intention, each and every word.

GOEFF---will share that beautiful quote with my son-in law. and it certainly helps me in my own daily challenge to remain confident. I have some inkling of the magnitude of the task ahead, and have to keep being reminded that I will never be expected to do it alone. With "Light-bearer- warrior-defenders" like you and siouxrose, the climb seems less onerous.

SIOUXROSE---is it possible that we have had all the same teachers, in this dimension, as well as in the higher spheres? You articulate my accumulated wisdom so exquisitely, that I am often close to tears. Reading your contributions is akin to a long awaited homecoming. Non etheless I realize that the reunion is just the prelude to something much bigger and more challenging. Thank you both for being born (again) in this lifetime. You knew exactly what you were taking on, but that doesn't make it any easier. Well maybe just alittle easier.