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TechnoratiBlackwater's Private Spies
This past September, the secretive mercenary company Blackwater USA found its name splashed across front pages throughout the world after the company's shooters gunned down seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square. But by early 2008, Blackwater had largely receded from the headlines save for the occasional blip on the media radar sparked by Congressman Henry Waxman's ongoing investigations into its activities. Its forces remained deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and business continued to pour in. In the two weeks directly following Nisour Square, Blackwater signed more than $144 million in contracts with the State Department for "protective services" in Iraq and Afghanistan alone and, over the following weeks and months, won millions more in contracts with other federal entities like the Coast Guard, the Navy and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.
Blackwater's Iraq contract was extended in April, but the company is by no means betting the house on its long-term presence there. While the firm is quietly maintaining its Iraq work, it is aggressively pursuing other business opportunities.
In September it was revealed that Blackwater had been "tapped" by the Pentagon's Counter Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office to compete for a share of a five-year, $15 billion budget "to fight terrorists with drug-trade ties." According to the Army Times, the contract "could include antidrug technologies and equipment, special vehicles and aircraft, communications, security training, pilot training, geographic information systems and in-field support." A spokesperson for another company bidding for the work said that "80 percent of the work will be overseas." As Richard Douglas, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, explained, "The fact is, we use Blackwater to do a lot of our training of counternarcotics police in Afghanistan. I have to say that Blackwater has done a very good job."
Such an arrangement could find Blackwater operating in an arena with the godfathers of the war industry, such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. It could also see Blackwater expanding into Latin America, joining other private security companies well established in the region. The massive US security company DynCorp is already deployed in Colombia, Bolivia and other countries as part of the "war on drugs." In Colombia alone, US military contractors are receiving nearly half the $630 million in annual US military aid for the country. Just south of the US border, the United States has launched Plan Mexico, a $1.5 billion counternarcotics program. This and similar plans could provide lucrative business opportunities for Blackwater and other companies. "Blackwater USA's enlistment in the drug war," observed journalist John Ross, would be "a direct challenge to its stiffest competitor, DynCorp -- up until now, the Dallas-based corporation has locked up 94 percent of all private drug war security contracts." The New York Times reported that the contract could be Blackwater's "biggest job ever."
As populist movements grow stronger in Latin America, threatening US financial interests as well as the standing of right-wing US political allies in the region, the "war on drugs" is becoming an increasingly central part of US counterinsurgency efforts. It allows for more training of foreign security forces through the private sector -- away from Congressional oversight -- and a deployment of personnel from US war corporations. With US forces stretched thin, sending private security companies to Latin America offers Washington a "small footprint" alternative to the politically and militarily problematic deployment of active-duty US troops. In a January report by the United Nations working group on mercenaries, international investigators found that "an emerging trend in Latin America but also in other regions of the world indicates situations of private security companies protecting transnational extractive corporations whose employees are often involved in suppressing the legitimate social protest of communities and human rights and environmental organizations of the areas where these corporations operate."
If there is one quality that is evident from examining Blackwater's business history, it is the company's ability to take advantage of emerging war and conflict markets. Throughout the decade of Blackwater's existence, its creator, Erik Prince, has aggressively built his empire into a structure paralleling the US national security apparatus. "Prince wants to vault Blackwater into the major leagues of U.S. military contracting, taking advantage of the movement to privatize all kinds of government security," reported the Wall Street Journal shortly after Nisour Square. "The company wants to be a one-stop shop for the U.S. government on missions to which it won't commit American forces. This is a niche with few established competitors."
In addition to providing armed forces for war and conflict zones and a wide range of military and police training services, Blackwater does a robust, multimillion-dollar business through its aviation division. It also has a growing maritime division and other national and international initiatives. Among these, Blackwater is in Japan, where its forces protect the US ballistic missile defense system, which, according to Stars and Stripes, "points high-powered radio waves westward toward mainland Asia to hunt for enemy missiles headed east toward America or its allies." Meanwhile, early this year, Defense News reported, "Blackwater is training members of the Taiwanese National Security Bureau's (NSB's) special protection service, which guards the president. The NSB is responsible for the overall security of the country and was once an instrument of terrorism during the martial law period. Today, according to its Web site, the NSB is responsible for 'national intelligence work, special protective service and unified cryptography.'" Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto reportedly tried to hire Blackwater to protect her as she campaigned for the presidency in 2007. Conflicting reports indicated that either the US State Department or the Pakistani government vetoed the plan. She was assassinated in December.
What could prove to be one of Blackwater's most profitable and enduring enterprises is one of the company's most secretive initiatives--a move into the world of privatized intelligence services. In April 2006, Prince quietly began building Total Intelligence Solutions, which boasts that it "brings CIA-style" services to the open market for Fortune 500 companies. Among its offerings are "surveillance and countersurveillance, deployed intelligence collection, and rapid safeguarding of employees or other key assets."
As the United States finds itself in the midst of the most radical privatization agenda in its history, few areas have seen as dramatic a transformation to privatized services as the world of intelligence. "This is the magnet now. Everything is being attracted to these private companies in terms of individuals and expertise and functions that were normally done by the intelligence community," says former CIA division chief and senior analyst Melvin Goodman. "My major concern is the lack of accountability, the lack of responsibility. The entire industry is essentially out of control. It's outrageous."
Last year R.J. Hillhouse, a blogger who investigates the clandestine world of private contractors and US intelligence, obtained documents from the office of the Directorate of National Intelligence (DNI) showing that Washington spends some $42 billion annually on private intelligence contractors, up from $17.5 billion in 2000. That means 70 percent of the US intelligence budget is going to private companies. Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that the head of DNI is Mike McConnell, the former chair of the board of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, the private intelligence industry's trade association.
Total Intelligence, which opened for business in February 2007, is a fusion of three entities bought up by Prince: the Terrorism Research Center, Technical Defense and The Black Group -- Blackwater vice chair Cofer Black's consulting agency. The company's leadership reads like a Who's Who of the CIA's "war on terror" operations after 9/11. In addition to the twenty-eight-year CIA veteran Black, who is chair of Total Intelligence, the company's executives include CEO Robert Richer, the former associate deputy director of the agency's Directorate of Operations and the second-ranking official in charge of clandestine operations. From 1999 to 2004, Richer was head of the CIA's Near East and South Asia Division, where he ran clandestine operations throughout the Middle East and South Asia. As part of his duties, he was the CIA liaison with Jordan's King Abdullah, a key US ally and Blackwater client, and briefed George W. Bush on the burgeoning Iraqi resistance in its early stages.
Total Intelligence's chief operating officer is Enrique "Ric" Prado, a twenty-four-year CIA veteran and former senior executive officer in the Directorate of Operations. He spent more than a decade working in the CIA's Counterterrorist Center and ten years with the CIA's "paramilitary" Special Operations Group. Prado and Black worked closely at the CIA. Prado also served in Latin America with Jose Rodriguez, who gained infamy late last year after it was revealed that as director of the National Clandestine Service at the CIA he was allegedly responsible for destroying videotapes of interrogations of prisoners, during which "enhanced interrogation techniques," including waterboarding, were reportedly used. Richer told the New York Times he recalled many conversations with Rodriguez, about the tapes. "He would always say, 'I'm not going to let my people get nailed for something they were ordered to do,'" Richer said of his former boss. Before the scandal, there were reports that Blackwater had been "aggressively recruiting" Rodriguez. He has since retired from the CIA.
The leadership of Total Intelligence also includes Craig Johnson, a twenty-seven-year CIA officer who specialized in Central and South America, and Caleb "Cal" Temple, who joined the company straight out of the Defense Intelligence Agency, where he served from 2004 to '06 as chief of the Office of Intelligence Operations in the Joint Intelligence Task Force -- Combating Terrorism. According to his Total Intelligence bio, Temple directed the "DIA's 24/7 analytic terrorism target development and other counterterrorism intelligence activities in support of military operations worldwide. He also oversaw 24/7 global counterterrorism indications and warning analysis for the U.S. Defense Department." The company also boasts officials drawn from the Drug Enforcement Agency and the FBI.
Total Intelligence is run out of an office on the ninth floor of a building in the Ballston area of Arlington, Virginia. Its "Global Fusion Center," complete with large-screen TVs broadcasting international news channels and computer stations staffed by analysts surfing the web, "operates around the clock every day of the year" and is modeled after the CIA's counterterrorist center, once run by Black. The firm employs at least sixty-five full-time staff -- some estimates say it's closer to 100. "Total Intel brings the...skills traditionally honed by CIA operatives directly to the board room," Black said when the company launched. "With a service like this, CEOs and their security personnel will be able to respond to threats quickly and confidently-- whether it's determining which city is safest to open a new plant in or working to keep employees out of harm's way after a terrorist attack."
Black insists, "This is a completely legal enterprise. We break no laws. We don't go anywhere near breaking laws. We don't have to." But what services Total Intelligence is providing, and to whom, is shrouded in secrecy. It is clear, though, that the company is leveraging the reputations and inside connections of its executives. "Cofer can open doors," Richer told the Washington Post in 2007. "I can open doors. We can generally get in to see who we need to see. We don't help pay bribes. We do everything within the law, but we can deal with the right minister or person." Black told the paper he and Richer spend a lot of their time traveling. "I am discreet in where I go and who I see. I spend most of my time dealing with senior people in governments, making connections." But it is clear that the existing connections from the former spooks' time at the agency have brought business to Total Intelligence.
Take the case of Jordan. For years, Richer worked closely with King Abdullah, as his CIA liaison. As journalist Ken Silverstein reported, "The CIA has lavishly subsidized Jordan's intelligence service, and has sent millions of dollars in recent years for intelligence training. After Richer retired, sources say, he helped Blackwater land a lucrative deal with the Jordanian government to provide the same sort of training offered by the CIA. Millions of dollars that the CIA 'invested' in Jordan walked out the door with Richer -- if this were a movie, it would be a cross between Jerry Maguire and Syriana. 'People [at the agency] are pissed off,' said one source. 'Abdullah still speaks with Richer regularly, and he thinks that's the same thing as talking to us. He thinks Richer is still the man.' Except in this case it's Richer, not his client, yelling 'show me the money.'"
In a 2007 interview on the cable business network CNBC, Black was brought on as an analyst to discuss "investing in Jordan." At no point in the interview was Black identified as working for the Jordanian government. Total Intelligence was described as "a corporate consulting firm that includes investment strategy," while "Ambassador Black" was introduced as "a twenty-eight-year veteran of the CIA," the "top counterterror guy" and "a key planner for the breathtakingly rapid victory of American forces that toppled the Taliban in Afghanistan." Black heaped lavish praise on Jordan and its monarchy. "You have leadership, King Abdullah, His Majesty King Abdullah, who is certainly kind towards investors, very protective," Black said. "Jordan is, in our view, a very good investment. There are some exceptional values there." He said Jordan is in a region where there are "numerous commodities that are being produced and doing well."
With no hint of the brutality behind the exodus, Black argued that the flood of Iraqi refugees fleeing the violence of the US occupation was good for potential investors in Jordan. "We get something like 600, 700,000 Iraqis that have moved from Iraq into Jordan that require cement, furniture, housing and the like. So it is a--it is an island of growth and potential, certainly in that immediate area. So it looks good," he said. "There are opportunities for investment. It is not all bad. Sometimes Americans need to watch a little less TV.... But there is -- there is opportunity in everything. That's why you need situation awareness, and that's one of the things that our company does. It provides the kinds of intelligence and insight to provide situational awareness so you can make the best investments."
Black and other Total Intelligence executives have turned their CIA careers, reputations, contacts and connections into business opportunities. What they once did for the US government, they now do for private interests. It is not difficult to imagine clients feeling as though they are essentially hiring the US government to serve their own interests. In 2007 Richer told the Post that now that he is in the private sector, foreign military officials and others are more willing to give him information than they were when he was with the CIA. Richer recalled a conversation with a foreign general during which he was surprised at the potentially "classified" information the general revealed. When Richer asked why the general was giving him the information, he said the general responded, "If I tell it to an embassy official I've created espionage. You're a business partner."
In May, Erik Prince gave a speech in front of his family and supporters in his home state of Michigan. Security was extremely tight, and Blackwater barred cameras and tape recorders from the event. "The idea that we are a secretive facility, and nefarious, is just ridiculous," Prince told the friendly crowd of 750 gathered at the Amway Grand Plaza. In Iraq, Blackwater has banked on the idea that it is a sort of American Express card for the occupation. But for the future, Prince has a different corporate model, as he indicated in his speech. "When you send something overseas, do you use FedEx or the postal service?" he asked.
There are serious problems with this analogy. When you send something by FedEx, you can track your package and account for its whereabouts at all times. You can have your package insured against loss or damage. That has not been the case with Blackwater. The people who foot the sizable bill for its "services" almost never know, until it is too late, what Blackwater is doing, and there are apparently no consequences for Blackwater when things go lethally wrong. "We are essentially a robust temp agency," Prince told his fans in Michigan. He's right about that one. A temp agency serving the most radical privatization agenda in history.
Jeremy Scahill, a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute, is the author of the bestselling Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, published by Nation Books. He is an award-winning investigative journalist and correspondent for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation
54 Comments so far
Show Alla nice article mr. Jeremy Scahill! but the threat is even more bizzare than stated. there are documented accounts of blackwater personnel-deployment (and firing upon civilians) during the flood crisis in new orleans. despite overtures of overseas operations, we might assume this model is being test piloted overseas for domestic deployment. new orleans was a domestic testpiloting, and that was longg ago.. all the same advantages that privatized mercinaries provide overseas, are also applicable in the usa, where the constitution typically limits deployment of nationalized armed forces against americans.
now peeps, i dont mean to be a doomsayer or anything, but if one sees the domestic utilitarian-nature of blackwater from an ELITE's perspective, then one could become very concerned. with these fuks, what crawls out of their fugly womb a baby, almost always grows into a monster of shocking porportions. this is a charade being pulled over our freedoms. BARAK, oh save meeee. i have HOPE. heh. fknscumbags..
arcing28 June 7th, 2008 9:17 pm
Thomas More June 7th, 2008 1:04 pm. If you had ever faced a draft, ever been taken in a draft or served with folks taken in a draft, you would not so readily call for it.
So you were drafted?
So will (or does) Blackwater have its own UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles? Satellites? Will (or is) it tasked to spy on or harass people considered domestic enemies of the US, or one of its corporate clients? (BTW, video of VP Cheney swearing to protect the US from all enemies, "foreign and domestic," is a bit chilling when one considers what his criteria for being "an enemy of the US" might be.) I sure hope there are legal safeguards in place to protect legitimate American dissenters from "the powers that be" and their hired guns.
Here's a link.
http://allinharmony.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=browse&id=400162&pageid=115
The story of Frances must certainly be one of the most successful scams perpetrated by the military industrial complex that operated Silicon Valley in the sixties.
Her work not only gave us the IC, she was instrumental in overcoming most if not ALL the major technological hurdles necessary to its manufacture.
Such hurdles included designing and building the very fist Epitaxial Reactor. And the false history of the Epi Reactor is filled with almost as much subterfuge, deception and disinfo.
This woman's contributions have been all but scrubbed from history (she is given a minor mention in the Smithsonian for one patent.).
It would be nice to reclaim the truth before all those who knew her are dead and those who profited from her murder finally succeed in defining the completely false (white male) version of the IC story.
A year ago, I asked someone to do a little research on her through his connections. I was told (I do not know if it is true), that her death was due in part to the fact that she was opposing the use of her technologies to make human implants.
"...look at my mother Frances Hugle, the actual inventor of the IC, evidently assassinated at 40 so that others could claim credit for her work."
I just "Tried" to Google "Francis Hugle" There is almost NO information on this woman, including and especially her premature death. Why is this?
While usually not a "conspiracy" kind of thinker, the Behavior of the Oligarchy is well known to me - Assassination is the Game for those who threaten it or possess something it covets.
I want to know more of this person - anyone got a better link than I can find?
I'd be very surprised to find a Quaker signing up to this army.
I think I have heard correctly that a major portion of the principals and participants in these private armies call themselves "Christian".
The existance and teachings of a J. the C. are either real and in full force, or they are bunk.
If Christ is real, the mercenaries and their masters may be in for a hot time. Each individual contractor person has to live with their own conscience. If their conscience is clear---fine, if not, they cannot deny it, hide from it, or silence it. They can, however, decide to do the right thing.
These armies have been formed to evade the constraints of the U.S. Constitution and International Law in the service of corporate empire. They cannot evade the Law, the Justice, or the Love of The Prince of Peace.
My money's on the Prince of Peace.
Love Conquers All.
Cheers.
Too bad this kind of information is not broadcast far and wide in the MSM. It reads like a Ludlum novel. I think even the morons who can't stand non-fiction could enjoy a documentary expose on this organization. The nefarious and incestuous relationships of CIA and guns-for-hire/spies-for-hire mobsters like Prince and Cofer Black and various and sundry governments around the world (including our own). We should be ashamed to claim to be anything but a banana republic.
Thomas More June 7th, 2008 1:04 pm. If you had ever faced a draft, ever been taken in a draft or served with folks taken in a draft, you would not so readily call for it.
I mean the MARS energy as archetype is what's running the show... it caters to the lowest common denominator of human nature, thrives on blood sport, fierce competition, and champions weapons always inventing reasons to use them, regardless of the "collateral damage" that results. This explains why as you share, these lawless warriors are given such carte blanche as if they NEED NOT answer to any authority other than their own "right" to use force.
There's a reason why this principle which IS a part of every one of us was placed into a set of concentric orbital clockworks, the mathematics of which allow for balances between the expressions of these archetypal forces. Once the concept of ONE god got too closely connected to the "angry jealous" archetype that made wars to prove fealty the tradition, the CIRCLE got lost and the counter-balancing archetypes (which are all equal under the heavens, and EACH a part of all of us) became subsumed by this over-arching violent persona.
The clearest proof of my contention is that the US Air Force, the Prez and a lot of his base all think the HOLY LAND is scheduled for a major war to prove which god is the biggest, baddest boy of all. Remember that idiot Boykin's quote on this subject? Zealots of the other 2 patriarchal religions carry their own equally malign delusions and the trifecta of all three teaching hate and intolerance instead of the ways to overcome differences in pursuit of SUSTAINABILITY for all tribes on this compromised "Eden" has brought the rest of us (part of the current) to a veritable cusp of Armageddon.
"Choose ye which master ye shall serve," is a powerful metaphor... the god of death and destruction that feeds upon the million wiped out Iraqis' blood and the despair of their loved ones, or a GOD of LOVE and justice for ALL... EACH a bona fide expression of the LIFE FORCE which is what is sacred unto CREATOR, by whatever name we term the force. NONE of us can understand this great mystery that so transcends our egos, mortality and puny intellects. And that includes the religions that purport in utter hubris to speak of God, as if GOD is just some father figure GUY made in THEIR image and likeness. This is the great seduction of ego... and it has cost the world untold lives and fortunes. Only the circle can save us from linearity and the hierarchical belief systems these feed.
GHAWAR: Your highly intelligent posting lends crednece to my conjecture that MARS (god of war) makes the rules and our nation is totally under thrall to Mars rules!
"In my opinion this situation amounts to an abandonment of civilization."
Yep.
You Know, I believe that the problems that we're experiencing all stem from the principles of "free market" thinking. We have accepted greed as a driving force and have created a reality centered on satisfying the cravings of greedy tyrants. We have given up our power to a cult of misguided egos. We have an opportunity to deal with the issues that we've been avoiding for a long time now. Staying focussed on issues through Common Dreams and other similar venues is key to the way through this mess. I'm working with the concept that power corrupts. That belief stops me from participating in many worthwhile endeavors because I'm telling myself that if our side gains power we'll just turn out like them. Maybe true but as it stands now they're going to kill us all before we have the chance to find out. Making peace seems like such a daunting concept when I'm in the face of unbridled agression. Just wanted to share that. Thank you all.
Townhall question for Obama, McCain, Nader and Barr.
"U.S. Government outsourcing of military operations to mercenary forces, such as Blackwater, presents a concrete threat to liberty in my opinion. As President, what will you do to outlaw private military companies?"
kulu,
I applaud you! Thank you for your contribution.
" "if we are so bad, how come so many want to come here and so few want to leave?"
A. Affluence.
Since the spoils of war are heaped up primarily in this country and the rape of the environment is also possible to more easily escape noticing.
But, those countries are managed by the same powers that manage this one. It is really no different than giving someone the option of being a field worker or an executive for an agro-business.
Both are onerous... but, slaving under the hot sun with little to drink and an endless and grueling monotony might be less desirable than eating what you want, drinking what you want and living where you are allowed to plant your own flowers... or have some planted for you.
No question that in an today's elite corporate society, little but suffering (including bankrupt environments) is allowed the majority on the bottom.
By thwarting opportunity, the empire can pick who it wants to serve its interests and what locations will be available to them during their term of service.
Here's a good essay on the subject:
Making Sense out of Nonsense
http://allinharmony.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=browse&id=400059&pageid=155
Private armies or security forces like Blackwater are always the harbinger of totalitarian movements. Just take a look at South and Central America where U.S. trained (School of the Americas)military and "police" forces have been trained in suppression of dissent and social democratic movements. Blackwater has already demonstrated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina what are all about. The marshal law that the Bush Administration always dreams of will be enforced in large part by these private armies.
arcing28 June 6th, 2008 3:19 pm
If you had ever faced a draft, ever been taken in a draft or served with folks taken in a draft, you would not so readily call for it.
I note various people call for outlawing war, dissolution of the military, "there is no such thing as a illegal hunman being",sharing everything equally with others and I wonder exactly who it is that you feel are goning top enforce these laws? Who woukld divide the spoils so to speak?
The notion that the whole world hates the United States is a bit overblown, we may not be the flavor of the month, cretainly hated in some countries, but most don't hate us.
There's a popular question I've never heard a real answer to, "if we are so bad, how come so many want to come here and so few want to leave?"
ezeflyer June 6th, 2008 12:59 pm
"Abolish private armies. Bring back the draft."
Abolish ALL armies/militaries!
itsaNaziWorldOrder June 6th, 2008 1:41 pm
"… and then we esteem organizations such as the NSA, CIA and NASA which run on a 'need to know' principle and have as their main focus, deceit of the general populace."
Remember we just "celebrated" Memorial Day.
itsaNaziWorldOrder June 6th, 2008 2:31 pm
The military itself is a travesty of the human spirit and the natural world which defines it. ALL militaries rest upon fundamental deceptions and All deception in society can basically be traced to a military (imperial structure) root.
If one thinks about it the sole purpose of the military is to KILL other human beings. If it can't or doesn't kill them, then it will destroy their property or livelihoods.
Siouxrose June 6th, 2008 10:51 pm
"As if Christ, the teacher of PEACE could EVER be connected with an army that goes about murdering for obscene profits."
I don't think Christ would ever connect himself with ANY army. (and this is said by a proud atheist!)
Ghawar June 7th, 2008 11:11 am
"When the government finally goes bankrupt...
When an entity is $9 TRILLION dollars in debt, I'd say it's bankrupt! (morally and literally)
Blackwater, DynCorp, the entire US "intelligence" apparatus, the entire US military, police in and for every agency; every police/intelligence/military agency in every city/county/state... This is totalitarianism. Yet still the US likes to promote in other countries the idea of the "American Dream". How many of those immigrants are very disillusioned after they have come here, been here for awhile and become "intimate" with the "bureaucracy" (really the apparatus of state control of every individual not among the elite and, thus, a potential threat)? Does anyone really wonder anymore why much of the world hates the US?
"These guys are very dangerous. What happens when these guys are all set up and the US Gov't can't pay them?" luckylefty June 6th, 2008 1:42 pm
This is my concern too. When the government finally goes bankrupt and the U.S. dollar is worthless, these mercenaries will serve the highest bidders. These could be states, corporations, drug cartels and other criminal organizations, or individuals.
No matter who in the world is pulling the strings, these armed thugs are the only people immune to economic collapse and political upheaval. They are the only people whose lives and freedoms are not threatened by pogroms and criminalization of various classes and categories of people, and they are the only people who enjoy economic and physical security in a world of growing instability and violence. They are the people who rate violence and force as the highest virtues while at the same time they lack the skills and capabilities of the artisans, engineers, teachers, nurses and physicians, researchers, farmers and all the peaceful and thoughtful people who make civilization possible.
Out of their crazy fears, Americans have elevated the most brutal and unthinking segments of humanity to positions of unaccountability and given them authority over all others. In my opinion this situation amounts to an abandonment of civilization.
We have a draft, but it looks like: poverty draft (no jobs or health insurance without enlistment for most kids in my neighborhood) + prison draft (why did our government have all those young men locked up on drug possession charges, after flooding their neighborhoods with drugs? In order to offer them the "get out of jail" card of enlistment) + immigration draft (become a U.S. citizen by fighting in its imperial wars first). And even if we had the old fashion kind of draft back, does anyone believe that children of the elite wouldn't have loopholes in order to continue pursuing other priorities?
The Army National Guard recruiter showed up at my high school's graduation ceremony to present an award and made a 5 minute stump speech for the war on terror. Do we really believe that the purpose of the public school system in America is education? If you wake up and smell the gunpowder, you may decide to walk into your public schools and remove the military presence -- carry it outside and deposit it off campus, in the gutter where it belongs. Then teach young people how to be self-employed and, while you're at it, found something that generates some jobs. A community radio station would be a good start. We must create change that generates change.
"Blackwater and their ilk are being institutionalized as an international SS."
I think this is the point. It is profoundly true and really needs to get understood. Every legal adjustment (and every organizational and technological facilitation and support) is in place for the most efficient form of totalitarianism imaginable... and it gets worse everyday.
Obama is not on the side of the people but the corporate elite who have orchestrated our containment within this highly-integrated multi-dimensional and centrally-controlled corporate/military world order.
False-flag terrorism? Secret renditions? Group-stalking? Strange illnesses? Psychotronic weapons torture? That's just the US.
It's much uglier elsewhere.
"The Swiss have mandatory military service and have had no wars in over 150 years."
Switzerland is hardly a country. It is managed by very powerful international interests... not exclusively or even predominantly Swiss.
And yes, the Swiss are nationalistic. But, that is not the same as being a citizen of a sovereign nation... though it is often confused (by design) in the minds of each country's citizens, including the Swiss.
The Swiss have not been in a war for only one reason; the international corporate elite prefer (or preferred) it that way!
I don't see how those in power can be stopped with this private army at their disposal. Joseph Schmitz is the chief operating officer (COO) and general counsel for the parent corporation, the Prince Group. He is also Jeb Bush's brother-in-law, their wives being sisters. This is a family operation all the way harkening back to the fact the George H. W. Bush was deeply involved with CIA operations and once director of the CIA.
Blackwater and their ilk are being institutionalized as an international SS. Wherever they are they are beyond the rule of law, just as places themselves (prison ships, and in the case of Guantanamo--outside the laws of either Cuba or the US) are civil liberty- free zones. The presence of Blackwater, Dyncorps, etc., and yes, I'll add in the NED, is a gross violation of the sovereignty of any nation, including our own.
I don't think we need a draft. Just get the hell out of other countries and stop militarizing the world. The spying, lying, and killing in the service of greed represent our species as the lowest form of life on Earth, when we are capable of being the highest. Wake up indeed!!
I agree with Obama that we must change the mindset that got us into war. I just don't think he means as much change as I wish he would. Only a coalition of movements that affirm the sanctity of all life on the planet can bring this about.
We pay Blackwater with taxpayer dollars. We are funding every project they take on and they are paying theirs workers (whom are from all over the world) many times more than the American troops doing the same job. If it ever comes to marshall law in this country we will be policed by Black Water and other companies like them ( that we pay for.) This kind of involvement of Privatized contractor mercenaries is more frightening than any virtual 'terrorist" organization.
How 'bout them names. If Indigenous Americans used traits as a basis for providing someone with a name, what shall we make of the trio: Richer, Black & Prince.
Next they'll be gaining control of our stool samples so they can really run up profiles for the U.S. government on every iota of data of every living citizen.
Reminds me of a bunch of boys with big bad weapons free to make it all up (rules, etc) as they go. Ultimately they are FREE to kill. Note how the Blackwater personnel in Iraq seem to answer to no sovereign nation's authority, and then the company just claims a lack of accountability if anything goes wrong... you know like willful killing of citizens, rape of female sign-ups, etc.
And one other thing to consider, if it's all about the money, this mercenary army growing in its financial capacity to buy sophisticated military equipment and train troops (not necessarily American or at American salaries, either), who's to say they won't turn on America if say the Saudis offer a better price? Which master will the alleged born-again Christian Prince serve? Mammon, or Jesus? As if Christ, the teacher of PEACE could EVER be connected with an army that goes about murdering for obscene profits. It is absolutely DIABOLICAL.
The Swiss have mandatory military service and have had no wars in over 150 years.
"What will we loose when the revolution comes?"
The story of Victor Jara is NOT unique. The best and the brightest of every country (including this one) rot away in prison, victims of entrapment schemes, or worse. This is a closed society and run by some very narrowly focused corporate/military interests.
Look at the Black leaders of the sixties and seventies, look at my mother Frances Hugle, the actual inventor of the IC, evidently assassinated at 40 so that others could claim credit for her work.
The best are gone. Let's save what's left.
"What will we loose when the revolution comes?"
Don't worry, the fascist machine has already chopped off the head of every identifiable genius and person of integrity (COINTELPRO style operations have even entered grammar schools; check out group-stalking operations.)
We're what's left... and considering we are much superior to those who rule (ethically at least), nothing of value will be lost.
But, that which is worth saving, the natural world... (or some remaining fragments) might be reclaimed/preserved for present and future generations.
Bronowski in "Ascent of Man" stated that war represents organized theft. The other idea that seems relevant is the story from the French Revolution. It seems that the king of France had privatized tax collection, so that when the people started chopping heads one of those to go was Antoine Lavoisier and thus the genius of French chemistry was lost. What will we loose when the revolution comes?
"What the hell? Good old U.S.A. fascism at it's best. Bin Laden knocks down a couple of buildings in New York and America goes Fascist?"
Bin Laden obviously DID NOT knock anything down in New York. Even in Afghanistan he used CIA and MI6 funding, equipment, materials, recruiting and advisors/know how.
The right conclusion (if you did not already know) is that America was, is and will be fascist unless people minimally take off these completely absurd blinders.
Isn't anybody ashamed? What if you KNEW that others could see your motivation behind the pretense to ignorance? Then would you be ashamed?
This IS a fascist country! Want something different? Or do you secretly think that while others suffer, you at least will be last in line?
The obvious remedy would be to "OULAW" any and all Wars of Aggression (the Drug war included, since it can never be won at face value, and it most likely will increase with equal efforts to abolish the "Drug Trade")
Blackwater could "contract with the Fed Government for Defense Related Projects" the next time the USA is attacked on it's own soil ---the last time was 1812---not Pearl Harbor---Hawaii was an illegal territory then---not a state---.
Protecting US interests, or "spreading freedom" are not legal reasons to go to war---neither is it the reason to make war on those would would rather be under the influence of one substance or another----or to make war on those who wish to supply them with those substances. Tax those revenues from "substance sales", save the money used to "promote freedom and democracy" spend it on the badly needed expenditures here in the USA------and try to learn from the mistakes of history---i.e. Prohibition was a Dismal Failure-----Korea, VietNam, and all the others were dismal failures---except for those who provided supplies and material etc----
But those people would be out of business without the present approach------
This suggestion may meet with many objections---but the remedies so far have been absolute failures--------so why not try something different?
War war WAR war War WAR war war war WAR war WAR WAR war war war war WAR WAR War WAR war War WAR WAR War WAR War WAR War.
"Open your door to Freemarketron or you will force us to use force."
"And for charity, we'll bring you Democraphony as an added bonus."
"The Draft:
Levels the playing field by including all Social levels in Military Operations."
Levels the playing field by including all members of society even more completely in a cult of violence.
Leave the kids alone (all the kids, poor and rich alike). Why should anyone have to be taught to kill before they are even given a chance to live?
Outlaw war and the secret agencies that foment it. Any adults here? Or are there just overgrown children fearful that their pet justification for inequity and violence might be ripped away?
Ever think about the costs to others of your stupidity? This is not Marine City! This is the earth and it has another set of laws for humanity. Try studying those... and develop a little maturity along the way!
________
History is lies. War-making is the pastime of the elite. And you really need to understand this. There are NO adversaries! There are simply three classes:
1) The elite
2) Those who serve them for the sake of privilege
3) The disenfranchised upon whom these two prey.
ALL WARS (the days of violent conquest ended sometime ago) are an attempt to both solidify these relationships and also disguise them, including WWII.
Osama BTW, (and as has been stated elsehwere many times) was a CIA agent, hired by them, funded by them etc. All of your recent demons, Khomeini, Saddam, etc. can be traced to war-making activites by geo-political chess players such as Brezinski, Marshall, etc.
Wake up.
"You have met a lot different set of Humans than I have."
I grew up in this culture too...
… have broken neck, nose and such to prove it... but, even as a child, I knew violence, competition and meanness were unnatural.
When I was an adult, I finally realized the long sought root of the 'nature estrangement program' that transforms humans (naturally connected and compassionate) into sadistic dominators and killers.
Violence-enabled humans are THE product (fully intended) of this meat-eating (naturally disassociated) elitist and temple-based culture.
At the Amway Plaza...I guess that says it all...
If there is ever (God forbid) an assassination attempt against Obama, I think we can guess where it will come from.
Guidance counselor to drop-out: "Forget your diploma, Sluggo. Take steroids, get some wrap-around shades, and become a mercenary. Make some real money."
The Draft:
Levels the playing field by including all Social levels in Military Operations.
Dis-allows answers like, "Well, they volunteered, didn't they"?. This coming from the Commander and Chief when accused of abuse and disreagard.
God and the soldier, all men adore
In time of danger and not before.
When the danger is passed and all things righted,
God is forgotten, and the soldiers slighted.
(unknown)
What the hell? Good old U.S.A. fascism at it's best. Bin Laden knocks down a couple of buildings in New York and America goes Fascist? Keeerrriiiiisssttt!
"Humans have absolutely NO NATURAL predisposition for war and violence"
You have met a lot different set of Humans than I have. I'd say also the defense of ones home and family are quite natural.
"I hate the idea of a draft, but I'd enforce it tomorrow rather than continue this immoral, corrupt policy."
The military itself is a travesty of the human spirit and the natural world which defines it. ALL militaries rest upon fundamental deceptions and All deception in society can basically be traced to a military (imperial structure) root.
We certainly do NOT need a draft. We need clarity for the first time in a long time about the actual state of ecological affairs (including human nature) and what this indicates (even dictates) about human sociological potentials and possibilities.
"By deception you will make war."
Deception is the basis of all wars.
The way to end war is to learn the truth.
http://allinharmony.org
Humans have absolutely NO NATURAL predisposition for war and violence. ALL social violence is and must be induced by a violence-enabling inculcation process.
Who do think will enforce NPSD51?
Not any citizen army - only paid mercenary policeman.
Time to go!
"WASHINGTON - A top adviser to Senator John McCain says Mr. McCain believes that President Bush's program of wiretapping without warrants was lawful..."
Some day my Prince will . listen in?
Abolish private armies. Bring back peace!
Operation Northwoods is not "off the table". It worked perfectly in 2001 (so many gullible people) and it will work perfectly again. Blackwater exists "just in case it doesn't".
"Prince has a different corporate model, as he indicated in his speech. "When you send something overseas, do you use FedEx or the postal service?" he asked."
Thanks to Maggie Thatcher and the B movie cowboy for that! Blackwater is America's Poll Tax with a twist. The Machiavellian Prince. And Obama is equivocating on private contracting in "The War on Terror"?
SHOUTING..DEAL WITH IT..
2 THINGS CAN BE DONE TO STOP THIS BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE..READ: ELECTION TAMPERING FOR CORPORATE SPONSERS, ASSASSINATIONS FOR SAME, ETC..ETC..
1.) SIMPLY STOP PAYING FOR IT..YUP, YOUR TAX DOLLARS ARE PAYING THOSE BILLIONS FOR THIS PRIVATE SS AND BROWN SHIRT CONTINGENT..SO..STOP PAYING..YOU CAN RATIONALIZE AWAY THIS LAST POWER ALL YOU WANT...BUT THE POWER OF THE PURSE IS ALL WE HAVE LEFT..SO..GENERAL TAX STRIKE..AND ONE DEMAND IS THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CEASE TO EMPLOY, FUND, OR IN ANY WAY..UTILIZE "PRIVATE" MILITARY OR PARA-MILITARY FORCES OR GROUPES FOR ANYTHING..ANYTHING AT ALL..
2.) OUT THEM! THAT'S RIGHT..OUT THEM..LET EVERY ONE KNOW..THAT GUY DOWN THE BLOCK? FASCIST! THAT GUY YOU WORK WITH? BROWN SHIRTED THUG-RUNT...STOP SUPPORTING THE BUSINESS OF THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS..DEMAND THAT THE MIRRORED VISOR BE TAKEN OUT OF YOUR CAR..YEAH THAT'S RIGHT..THE PRINCE FORTUNE IS MADE FROM THAT INVENTION...HOW DUHH IS THAT?ETC..YOU CAN FIGURE THIS ONE OUT..
FINALLY..UNLESS YOU WANT YOUR KIDS..OR YOURSELF..TO BE SINGING THE HORST VESSEL SONG AT GUNPOINT WHILE THEY HANG YOU AND RAPE YOUR WIFE AND DAUGHTER...THEN DO SOMEHTING REAL..STOP PAYING..AND LET EVERYONE KNOW WHAT THESE PEOPLE ARE AND WHERE THEY ARE..AND DO NOT SUPPORT THE BUSINESS OF THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS ETC..SHAME THESE ASSHOLES INTO GETTING OVER THEIR TINY PENIS PROBLEMS AND DEAL WITH IT..( A GIANT BELT BUCKLE IS JUST A TOMBSTONE FOR A DEAD DICK..AS MY MOM USED TO SAY..)
LIVE FREE OR DIE..
SEE YOU IN THE TRENCHES..MAYBE.,.
A private army is anethama to the Constitution and a disgrace that could only have come with people like Cheney in charge.
This bunch of cowardly "deferment babies" Cheney, Rumsfield, Bush, etc. are exactly the type of people that would think this is a good idea.
I hate the idea of a draft, but I'd enforce it tomorrow rather than continue this immoral, corrupt policy.
Anti-military types know I disagree absolutely with them and feel they are absolutely wrong. But this is not our military. This is theft from the public purse.
And who is it that they answer to? Sure they do.
Blackwater and any like them are disgusting and deserve nothing but our contempt.
One of the first things Obama ought to do as prez is take our money out of their bank account.All of it!!!Tony
Abolish private armies. Bring back the draft.
"In September it was revealed that Blackwater had been "tapped" by the Pentagon's Counter Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office to compete for a share of a five-year, $15 billion budget "to fight terrorists with drug-trade ties." According to the Army Times, the contract "could include antidrug technologies and equipment, special vehicles and aircraft, communications, security training, pilot training, geographic information systems and in-field support." A spokesperson for another company bidding for the work said that "80 percent of the work will be overseas." As Richard Douglas, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, explained, "The fact is, we use Blackwater to do a lot of our training of counternarcotics police in Afghanistan. I have to say that Blackwater has done a very good job.""
This is such blatant deception. The ENTIRE drug operation is an MI6, CIA operation. It is NOT about stopping the trade, but insuring its success and providing cover for its operations.
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=4540
These guys are very dangerous. What happens when these guys are all set up and the US Gov't can't pay them? Will they just take over a State like Louisiana in lieu of payment then rape it to death? And then the next "State". They will have the resources to do it. WE PROVIDED THEM.
Rampant and world-wide brutality and thievery …
… with NO possibility of accountability... what could be better for the oligarchy that rules the world?
Most other animals are not allowed a natural life, are tortured and butchered by 'private' companies… So why should humanity be any different?
There are laws against protesting the operations of private companies that torture animals. And if you do, you could be labeled a terrorist and then be tortured too...
Now we have Blackwater stepping in to do the same to humans... and those who protest? Are terrorists?
Look at the hell these madmen have created! Look at all the lies they tell to convince us they should be allowed to foment wars, distribute drugs, own everything and everyone… Think we need to address this?
The CIA was and is a criminal organization spun from NAZI interests and talents. Some of its first programs included secret terrorist campaigns throughout Europe (GLADIO) and human experimentation in the US (MK-Ultra).
Secrecy for these NAZI operations has meant horror for so many, and a public blithely unaware of the terror targets of the CIA endure. Do democracies really need secret NAZI organizations to run clandestine terrorism campaigns to facilitate police state controls and embroil us in wars without end? (A. No, but fake democracies apparently do.)
Look at Nature. It is run on the principle of reality. If a bird is forced to live inside an artificial reality… it will never know where to fly, when to fly and how to find food. This is the perfect analogy for US and other societies. You (and me) do not know anything. Our entire culture is a lie, created by deception scripts written by 'gifted' deceivers… and then we esteem organizations such as the NSA, CIA and NASA which run on a 'need to know' principle and have as their main focus, deceit of the general populace.
What this means is that there is no 'right to know' in society. (We don't even own the right to the truth in this modern psycho-drama scripted by megalomaniacs)
According to secret service 'culture', public basically must be told lies on ALL accounts… because they do not have the security clearances required… to be entrusted with any truth… (and they aren't members of the 'select' and elite managers)
Follow this up with a bunch of arrogant dupes who believe they are scientists (in the modern 'need to know' world of science)… and we have the particular form of modern social delusion… that means this bird (me), and that bird (you) and all the human birds… aren't flying except into another wall of ignorance and illusion…
Prescription:
Knock the f---in crap out of every organization that promotes deception! WE NEED TO KNOW! And, then we need to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY and put a stop to the activities of these madmen.
Once they (secret services and their agents) own the drug trade (and the black market arms trade), which they do, their operations will not require tax support. But, removing all tax support is still important and cannot happen through representatives who are themselves in terror of these clandestine operators.