Benghazi security was OUTSOURCED to BLACKWATER.

[elehhhhna]

Edited title to reflect new info.

[CJCRANE]

1. Academi (Blackwater) was contracted to provide security to the Benghazi consulate

according to a former Romney adviser on CNN (in he last segment just finished).

[elehhhhna]

2. Hmm. A republican bastion of nasty. Surprise, surprise.

[malaise]

3. Did I see Blackwater??????

They are fugging ReTHUGs

This is crazy

[CJCRANE]

5. This is just what I heard on CNN, not confirmed.

It was a former Romney adviser who said the contract was delayed for two months because the State Dept. wanted to analyze their security requirements. I don't know how much of that is true.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

45. Halliburton is probably tucked away in there somewhere

[annabanana]

6. THIS is where I would look to find out who told the

attackers where the "safe house" was. . . And the details of Steven's visit to Benghazi...

[CJCRANE]

7. I think the guards who were there did a good job

but it appears that the full contract was delayed for some reason.

[fascisthunter]

4. I honestly think Blackwater or whatever it's called now...

...should be wiped out.

[sabrina 1]

13. I thought they fled the country with their Christian Fundy Leader Erik Prince, who is on

Christian Crusade, airc, and who is a friend of the far right and the Bushes, after all the murder and rape charges against them and that they were not receiving any more 'contracts' from the US Government? Were they there on their own, or being paid by someone else?

Erik Prince is good friends with Republicans in Congress also. Don't remember him ever being friendly towards Democrats.

[dixiegrrrrl]

39. More names than a cat has lives.

Blackwater=Ze- wtf????

[fascisthunter]

40. "a" NEO-Nazi cult

[Rosa Luxemburg]

42. Should be jailed

[fascisthunter]

44. and used as as an example globally

for any blackwater members or those connected to such a vile aberration in US history, your time comes to an end.

[gateley]

8. Weren't a couple of the security people former military?

I think I read one was a Seal.

As somebody posted, isn't this traditionally the job of the Marines?

We should have nothing to do with Blackwater (whatever it's current name is) -- I just don't get it

[elehhhhna]

9. Blackwater hires SEALS once they're out of the mil...

for many times their military pay. Then bills us TRIPLE, at minimum. Privatization. We recruit, train, etc., then fukin B'water LEASES them BACK to us. It's HORSESHIT.

[2on2u]

10. But but but Blackwater can donate to politicians of their choice thus eliminating any

cronyism between them and the govt.

In this manner tax dollars are spent in the most efficient manner possible, by paying 4 or 5 times the rate that the military can do it for, who can argue the genius of this arrangement??

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/washington/08prince.html


Blackwater Chief at Nexus of Military and Business

By JAMES RISEN
Published: October 8, 2007

Correction Appended

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 — Erik D. Prince, the crew-cut, square-jawed founder of Blackwater USA, the security contractor now at the center of a political storm in both Washington and Baghdad, is a man seemingly born to play a leading role in the private sector side of the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He is both a former member of the Navy Seals and the scion of a fabulously wealthy, deeply religious family that is enmeshed in Republican Party politics. As a result, the 38-year-old Mr. Prince stands at the nexus between American Special Operations, which has played such a critical role in the war operations, and the nation’s political and business elite, who have won enormous government contracts as war operations have increasingly been outsourced.

Republican political connections ran deep in his family long before Mr. Prince founded Blackwater in 1997. When he was a teenager, religious conservative leaders like Gary Bauer, now the president of American Values, were house guests. James C. Dobson, the founder of the evangelical organization Focus on the Family, gave the eulogy at his father’s funeral in 1995. “Dr. and Mrs. Dobson are friends with Erik Prince and his mother, Elsa Broekhuizen,” Focus on the Family said in a statement.

[gateley]

36. Why don't we put an end to that? Who is benefitting?

[elehhhhna]

47. private equity co.'s like carlyle, and veritas, who's top guy

hung himself this week

[dipsydoodle]

11. US Consulate in Benghazi was not given the standard security contract .

see : http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1342361

I posted this earlier ,not that I really understood the subject ,but see comments. I'm not sure they had cover at all.

[kestrel91316]

12. Blackwater is the defacto secret security arm of the Republican party.

I am assuming the security "failure" was deliberate until proven otherwise.

[The Wielding Truth]

15. Blackwater. 'Nuf said.

[malaise]

17. All this shite should have been cleaned up after

2008

[Rosa Luxemburg]

46. Agreed

[malaise]

37. Obama is sending marines to Libya, Egypt and Yemen

andhe's also sending FBI to Libya.
I want more info in this Blackwater mess

[Zorra]

14. The private corporate buttsucker military. This can't be good. nt

[ohheckyeah]

16. has this been confirmed? n/t

[CJCRANE]

18. This is just what I heard on CNN. Here's what it says about Academi on wikipedia:

"Academi is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department's three private security contractors."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi

[ohheckyeah]

21. Thanks for the info! n/t

[malaise]

23. Isn't that ReTHUG Prince guy from Blackwater a fundie zealot? n/t

[CJCRANE]

30. Yes, the very same.

Basically the son of a billionaire who created his own private army.

[spanone]

19. ...and the plot thickens.

[morningfog]

20. Shame on the State Dept for hiring them. Shame all the way up.

You get what you pay for?

[aquart]

24. Not really. We pay a bundle for the mercenaries.

And it pays our highly trained-on-our-dime personnel to leave our armed services and hire out.

So we lose twice.

[morningfog]

26. But, we know what we're buying.

Blackwater, er Xe, er Academi have been caused us trouble for years. You think we would have learned by now.

[aquart]

22. It was Blackwater. I wondered when I realized they were mercenaries.

I don't think it worked out well.

[CJCRANE]

25. There's no suggestion that the guards there didn't do their jobs.

It's up to the management to allocate the resources they think necessary.

[aquart]

27. Yep. But now we're sending Marines.

[HooptieWagon]

28. Good. The State Dept can cancel the Blackwater contract then.

[morningfog]

32. Mercenaries have been a liability and a source of supreme fuck ups for years.

Managmet fucked up in using mercs.

[Generic Other]

35. Renting ex-Seals is not cheap

I bet they were high priced mercenaries. They paid a high price anyway.

[MariaM83]

29. this shouldn't come as a a surprise to anybody - we've been privatizing security & support for years

and the former Blackwater has been a main player

[fascisthunter]

31. THIS IS VERY ENLIGHTENING!

sabotage

[underpants]

33. I knew that when I heard that a former SEAL was killed.

DING went the lightbulb.

[xchrom]

34. A crying shame the u. S. Has to hire mercs. Nt

[Dawson Leery]

38. With this new information, it is fair to say this "security breach" may have been deliberate.

Obama is right to send the US military and FBI to take over security operations.

[fascisthunter]

41. oh, definitely... now it's a matter of finding out who is connected

[malaise]

43. Yep

You know we haven't had the dots connected yet but DUers warned about this from way back when.

[porphyrian]

48. Surprise, surprise, surprise...! n/t

[AnnieBW]

49. Whenever you hear "Private Security Contractor" Think Blackwater

Or Xe. Or Wackyhut (Wackenhut). But probably Blackwater/Xe. The State Dept. outsourced diplomatic security to them to free up the Marines to go to Iraq and Afghanistan.