Blackwater goes deeper than you think. I am posting this from another response; it's worth a look

[Faygo Kid]

I responded to another poster tonight who inquired about this, but you need to know just how deep the Blackwater ties go into the hard, hard, wealthy right wing of the Republican Party. Erik Prince "founded" Blackwater. He was already wealthy; don't worry about that. Anyway, here's my responsive post. Methinks there is more here than meets the eye, and that DUers can do the digging required:

Here's one of many links. Betsy DeVos was born a multi-millionaire, and she married a billionaire: Rich DeVos, son of one of the founders of Amway. They are hard, powerful right wing. Betsy said that workers in Michigan are "paid too much" (she's now a billionaire, remember) as head (yes, head) of the Michigan Republican Party. Her brother, Erik Prince, is the owner of Blackwater, and he's the one who testified in front of Congress yesterday. How "convenient" it is that he set up Blackwater. So, all these incredibly wealthy people have prospered mightily on the bloodshed of war and through their unqualified support and financial backing of George W. Bush. Are you surprised? I'm not. Here's one link. Look for others: http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=22340

[subsuelo]

1. any possible Blackwater involvement in Sept. 11th?

[Faygo Kid]

6. I'm not saying that. I am only saying that billionaires have prospered from it.

Hell, I don't know precisely what happened for 9/11, and you can't have many people in a conspiracy, anyway. But it is sure as Hell true that people like Erik Prince - wealthy and well connected - are the first to make money off that kind of tragedy. And so he did. And it is undeniably true that you better have the right connections to make that extra money, and so he has there, as well. You don't have to get into 9/11 conspiracies to find Blackwater truth.

[subsuelo]

18. well lookee here...

Guess who headed the CIA's Counterterrorist Center from 1999-2001.

Blackwater Vice Chairman, Cofer Black.

I've been Googling... interesting connections indeed...

[bobthedrummer]

55. J. Cofer Black "worked" in the CIA's Directorate of Operations for 28 years

Here's a few background threads for this thread

"Why isn't J. Cofer Black a household name?..." (started 10-3-2007)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1967405

"Some useful links to help formulate questions for Mr. Prince to respond to" (posted 9-29-2007)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1942542#1942667

seemslikeadream archived thread started 12-29-2006 that is worth gleaning
"CIA Accused of Bank Heist"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2995319

[midnight]

62. I'm bookmarking these for further reading-thanks.

[bobthedrummer]

70. Added a few more links to that parent thread today

plus here's a truthout repost of a John M. Broder and James Risen NYT article, note the Schmitz connection
"Shootings by Blackwater Exceed Other Firms"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092707N.shtml

[PATRICK]

19. Prepared for "chaos"

is the conspiracy. Open, linked and all set for action AFTER anything catastrophic happens. Why limit yourself to thinking conspiracy is just an action group involved in the grubby mechanics of making something bad happen? Not necessary if you shut eyes, block things, and wait for the inevitable. even hurricanes. The conspiracy is what to after and what the future plan is.

This future plan is for a private corporate army that can crush democracy and replace a citizen army, a loyal Pentagon, no matter how many "hated" latinos are dragooned in to be the alienated shock troups against the anglos who blame them for job loss, no matter how many revolving doors corrupt our officer corps.

[Octafish]

2. Blackwater's connection to the Bush family...

Courtesy of DUer vssmith:

Turns out Joseph Schmitz, COO & general counsel of the Prince Group, Blackwater's parent company, is married to one Lucila Garnica Gallo, Colomba Bush's sister (Jeb Bush's wife).

Talk about your nasty, naughty boys. And girls.

[lonestarnot]

13. Damn! I knew it. Some very close connection and there it is.

Thanks fish!

[babylonsister]

20. Holy crap! The ties that bind... nt

[seafan]

22. And Joseph Schmitz's sister is------>Mary Kay Letourneau. Sick, sick, sick.

I need a drink.

[NYC]

23. Are you serious?

If so, what a small world.

[seafan]

27. Erik Prince, Gary Jackson, Cofer Black, Joseph Schmitz (brother of Mary Kay Schmitz LeTourneau)

...And Joseph Schmitz's brother, John P. Schmitz, is married to Columba Bush, Jeb Bush's wife.

What an incestuous crowd.




Blackwater's top brass

The Virginian-Pilot
© July 24, 2006

JOSEPH SCHMITZ, 49, became chief operating officer and general counsel of the Prince Group in September 2005 after a stint as inspector general at the Defense Department.

Schmitz was the senior Pentagon official responsible for investigating waste, fraud and abuse. Now he faces a congressional inquiry into accusations that he quashed two criminal investigations of senior Bush administration officials. The inquiry is continuing, according to a spokeswoman for Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Schmitz was a special assistant to Attorney General Edwin Meese III in the Reagan administration. He was awarded the Defense Department Medal for Distinguished Public Service on his retirement from the Pentagon.

Schmitz’s father, John G. Schmitz, was a two-term Republican congressman from California and a prominent member of the John Birch Society, an ultra-conservative group that flowered during the Cold War. He ran for president in 1972 as the candidate of the American Independent Party after its founder, George Wallace, was paralyzed by a would-be assassin.

John Schmitz’s political career ended with the revelation that he had a mistress who bore two of his children. He then moved to Washington, where he bought a house once owned by Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Joseph Schmitz’s sister, Mary Kay LeTourneau, also became embroiled in a scandal. As a married teacher in Washington state, she went to prison after being convicted of having a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old student with whom she ultimately had two children. The two have since married.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

41. Wowie!!! My blood pressure just shot up!!!

:wow:

[Ghost in the Machine]

52. and their father was---->>

John George Schmitz (August 12, 1930 – January 10, 2001) was a conservative Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Orange County, California, prominent member of the John Birch Society, and the American Independent Party candidate for President of the United States in 1972.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Schmitz

[Jeroen]

31. Reminds me of the Maffia n/t

[bobthedrummer]

57. That alone is worth a k&r...

[JDPriestly]

3. Does Blackwater discriminate in hiring employees based on

gender, race, religion? Has anyone had any experience with discrimination by them or are they equal opportunity?

[lonestarnot]

14. Apparently nepotism is ok.

[robinlynne]

4. Another Duer just posted that Fred Fielding, Bush's lawyer, was Blackwater's lawyer

first.

[KoKo]

38. OFGS! Worse than

the Mafia...and probably one in the same...

[EST]

5. I guess everybody who claims Blackwater was founded in1997

must be wrong, then. Would this make a difference in the story?

[Faygo Kid]

9. No. It makes no difference. I can be wrong about that, and right about the core.

If I was excessively conspiratorial and wrong about 2001, I apologize. You are right. But the undeniable growth of Blackwater has come through death and powerful family and wealth connections. And wealthy and powerful people working together. And incredible expansion without public oversight.

Where am I wrong on that?

[terisan]

11. Good linking. nt

[Faygo Kid]

12. I have edited to accept Blackwater's version. It doesn't matter.

The core of this post stands. Some scary stuff here, folks. And none of it surprising.

[EST]

17. Nowhere at all.

[UpInArms]

36. The Project for the New American Century was also founded in 1997

June 3, 1997

American foreign and defense policy is adrift. Conservatives have criticized the incoherent policies of the Clinton Administration. They have also resisted isolationist impulses from within their own ranks. But conservatives have not confidently advanced a strategic vision of America's role in the world. They have not set forth guiding principles for American foreign policy. They have allowed differences over tactics to obscure potential agreement on strategic objectives. And they have not fought for a defense budget that would maintain American security and advance American interests in the new century.

We aim to change this. We aim to make the case and rally support for American global leadership.

As the 20th century draws to a close, the United States stands as the world's preeminent power. Having led the West to victory in the Cold War, America faces an opportunity and a challenge: Does the United States have the vision to build upon the achievements of past decades? Does the United States have the resolve to shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests?

We are in danger of squandering the opportunity and failing the challenge. We are living off the capital -- both the military investments and the foreign policy achievements -- built up by past administrations. Cuts in foreign affairs and defense spending, inattention to the tools of statecraft, and inconstant leadership are making it increasingly difficult to sustain American influence around the world. And the promise of short-term commercial benefits threatens to override strategic considerations. As a consequence, we are jeopardizing the nation's ability to meet present threats and to deal with potentially greater challenges that lie ahead.

<snipping to signatories>

Elliott Abrams    Gary Bauer    William J. Bennett    Jeb Bush

Dick Cheney    Eliot A. Cohen    Midge Decter    Paula Dobriansky    Steve Forbes

Aaron Friedberg    Francis Fukuyama    Frank Gaffney    Fred C. Ikle

Donald Kagan    Zalmay Khalilzad    I. Lewis Libby    Norman Podhoretz

Dan Quayle    Peter W. Rodman    Stephen P. Rosen    Henry S. Rowen

Donald Rumsfeld    Vin Weber    George Weigel    Paul Wolfowitz

[graywarrior]

7. AMWAY. Why am I not surprised.

[lonestarnot]

8. Not one fucking teensy weensy bit surprised, not one.

[TomInTib]

10. My girlfriend's son just resigned from Blackwater.

He is Crypto, not shooter.

He has gone independent in order to stay out of the Blackwater mess.

And he has gone to Thailand to lay low for awhile.

[lonestarnot]

16. Does he have any goods he wants to share?

Apparently not if he went to Thailand to "lay low for a while."

[TomInTib]

26. And he is studying some kind of martial art with some monks.

Really interesting guy.

His mother is a Laplander, born in Norway north of the Circle, into a nomadic reindeer-herding family.

Torild grew up in a skin hut with eight siblings and her parents.

Unreal and without fear.

And her son is just like her.

[babylonsister]

21. Things that make you go 'hmmmm'. nt

[Virginia Dare]

34. Damn, that DOES sound like the mafia...n/t

[originalpckelly]

15. Of course, you didn't know that these are our Sturmabteilung?

:shrug:

We live in a dictatorship, only one that's lead by people smart enough to know they can do whatever they want if they patronize us with the freedom bullshit.

I realized that when our President first admitted to 30 odd felonies on national television, and no one seemed to point that out too much.

Then when he said we had to use "alternative methods" of interrogation or we'd all die, and I realized that torture is a capital offense, that's when I figured he's either not leaving, or he's leaving his machinery around for another "elected" President.

[The Backlash Cometh]

24. Why are we empowering these wealthy mafia families with tax payer money?

[undergroundpanther]

25. "we" are not empowering them with money per se

We empower them by looking the other way when they TAKE our money,
We empower them when we TOLERATE them,and give them power,even as they exploit us and lie and abuse power.

We empower them when we THINK as Conservatives would prefer we think,and blame each other our ourselves first instead of looking at WHO has power and directing our frustration outrage and anger at the pigs on the take..

We empower them with learned helplessness.

We empower them when we let the few rich get so rich by fleecing the many they can BUY our government in back room deals.

We empower them by letting them become too rich,unaccountable and unreachable as they have become.There is such a thing as a few HAVING TOO MUCH to themselves.

Psychopaths in high places with money to burn can easily cover up what they are to anyone "outside" their chosen bought or sympathetic 'buddies' .

Money is a great tool for pigs such as prince to bribe all the 'my future career is all that matters ' bound up fantasy ridden hysterical members of the corporate owned un-free media that still claims to be free, to misdirect us to fight each other rather than look at the rich piggy psychopath people and to blame the cause(people with too much money, pronoia, and too much ambition who want to dominate the world) for the hell they caused that touches most of us personally one way or another in this world.

[The Backlash Cometh]

54. Well said.

But, the sacrifice to expose them, is going to be at great personal cost, because we almost have to do it by ourselves. There's just not enough of Patrick Fitzgerald to go around.

[chill_wind]

28. Here's some perspective on the massive scope of "the money clout" involved:

from TPM--

"Amway is privately owned by the DeVos and van Andel families. And to give some sense of the scale of their political giving, according to a 2005 Center for Public Integrity study, Dick & Betsy DeVos were the fifth largest political givers in the country during the 2004 election cycle. Richard DeVos Sr. & his wife were ranked third. And Jay Van Andel was ranked second."



http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054744.php

(bold emphasis mine).

Perhaps nobody has documented and exposed all of this and MUCH more on the nightmare of a problem we have with Blackwater than Jeremy Scahill. He's been writing and warning about them for several years. You can read all his many Blackwater articles for The Nation here:

http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/jeremy_scahill

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

44. Hmmm. "Democracy" for sale. Well, more like the U.S.A. for sale.

No wonder.

No wonder this country is so fucked up.

[starroute]

65. Don't forget the Council for National Policy

Richard DeVos, Jr. has been a CNP executive committee member, as his father was before him.

I haven't thought about the CNP much lately -- I figured that with founding members like the elder DeVos having left the scene, it probably wasn't the power center it used to be during the Clinton years.

But Dick Cheney's flying out to hold super-secret meetings with CNP bigwigs this past week makes me wonder if they might be rising, Cthulhu-like, from out of the abyss and preparing to become a kind of right-wing government in exile again once Bush is sent packing back to Crawford. If they are, the DeVos/Prince connection could be significant.

Ah, here's something tying Eric Prince's parents to CNP:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/10/02/blackwater_bush/

Both Edgar and Elsa have been affiliated with the Council for National Policy, the secretive Christian conservative organization whose meetings have been attended by Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Bremer, and whose membership is rumored to include Jerry Falwell, Ralph Reed and Dobson. The Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation gave the CNP $80,000 between July 2003 and July 2006.

[chill_wind]

67. Great information. Very interesting updates on the CNP.

I haven't thought about them for a while either. Another shadow, stealth org of power the MSM has never shown any curiosity in or any interest in exposing, even when they were at their height of influence.

Cheney could very well be whipping up the newest war fever--rallying support from the Foot Soldiers for new money and front groups for his Iran agenda.

[SaveAmerica]

29. Bush family and their connections are starting to look like the Olympic rings

[starroute]

30. Another clue -- look into a guy named Paul Behrends

Behrends is a longtime friend of Eric Prince and has been the chief lobbyist for Blackwater for many years.

He was a national security aide from 1990-97 to Dana Rohrabacher -- a Congressman who also had close ties to Jack Abramoff, extending back into the 80's.

He was a senior VP with Rhoads Weber Shandwick from 1997-2004 and was lobbying for Blackwater at that time.

From 2004-06, he was a partner in Alexander Strategy Group -- the firm founded by Tom DeLay's former chief of staff, the now disgraced Ed Buckham, that figures heavily in the Jack Abramoff scandal. ASG represented Blackwater when it was trying to repair its reputation after that Fallujah business. ASG and Behrends were also involved in Blackwater's New Orleans operations.

When Blackwater launched the International Peace Operations Association in late 2005, ASG was its lobbyist -- with the account being handled by Ed Buckham, Karl Gallant, and Tony Rudy, all of them with deep ties to DeLay's and Abramoff's money-laundering operations. (Brent Wilkes was another ASG client.)

(Most of this information, by the way, comes from http://thehill.com/news/041404/blackwater.aspx and http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060220/scahill)

When ASG collapsed under the weight of the Abramoff scandal, Behrends moved over to Crowell & Moring/C&M Capitolink, and Blackwater immediately engaged their services instead.

Behrends has some other interesting connections besides those with Blackwater. He also has taken an interest in Afghanistan -- perhaps stemming from his days with Rohrabacher, who was a major supporter of the mujeheddin when they were fighting to oust the Soviets. In 1998, Behrends was lobbying for the Saudi-owned Delta Oil in their attempts as part of the consortium with Unocal to arrange a pipeline deal with the Taliban. (http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~mvcarmac/women2.html) And in 2004, while he was working for ASG, he was part of a team sent to observe the Afghan elections -- not the sort of job you'd normally expect a lobbyist to handle. (http://fpc.state.gov/fpc/37133.htm)

So altogether, Behrends has a rather strange and spook-y resume that adds an additional dimension to the Blackwater picture.

[sbyte]

32. Great info,,, You guys are the greatest.

[seemslikeadream]

42. Thanks starroute

you always post stuff I never read anywhere else

[UpInArms]

33. kicking this up

:kick:

[Virginia Dare]

35. This is a dirty filthy crew, ruthless to the core...

and this was posted the other day about them donating to the Green Party in an attempt to sandbag the Democrats..do you have any doubt they'll be pulling these tricks in 2008?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=1963460

[KoKo]

37. That's very interesting about how the DeVo's are into Public Education Big Business....

Something most of us probably didn't know. Thanks for posting this! :thumbsup:

[cyberpj]

39. We need a FLOW CHART to expose all the connections. Wish I knew how. Anyone? Anyone? nt

[Lone_Wolf]

45. Google "Social Network Analysis"

There is network analysis software available for free on the net.

[cyberpj]

49. I've been reading and surfing for the last hour. This is some powerful stuff. Do you think

anyone on D.C. is using such tools? - Besides security agencies I mean. I'd love to see organizations like Common Cause or MoveOn or others get into tools like these to expose the good ol boy networks that have taken over our White House. Unfortunately our (purposefully) dumbed down society would learn more from the graphs and diagrams than reading an article plus it's a really fast way to show the big picture. Of course, then the question bcomes would anyone care enough to do anything about it? It seems both sides of D.C. are heavily involved and no one wants exposure of the truth.

Anyway, thanks for this interesting info. I'm putting it on my to-do list as something to learn and play with.

[Lone_Wolf]

66. It is a very powerful tool... Glad you enjoyed it.

I'm not sure how widespread they are among the general public, but I think it is doubtful MoveOn or Common Cause use them. As you point out, it would be to their benefit if they did use them.

[L. Coyote]

48. Follow the Money = millions and millions from one extended family

Just a small teaser of a big picture:

Millions donated, and this guy makes a hundred million:

PRINCE, ERIK MR - MCLEAN,VA 22102
Donations:
7/27/2007 - $20,000 - National Republican Congressional Cmte
8/5/2005 - $25,000 - National Republican Congressional Cmte
7/14/2004 - $25,000 - Republican National Cmte

Follow the money trail here: http://www.opensecrets.org/

[autorank]

40. Anything on these guys doing intimidation work in the U.S.A.? n/t

[L. Coyote]

47. I was stabbed nine times in Central America while writing about the Contras

just before Iran-Contra broke. I was harassed daily back in the USA, but how do you prove who does it?

One has to view Creepy Freeper Family as an ongoing conspiracy with roots in the Nixonian Vice-Presidency. They had a heyday during the Secret Government era under Reagan, selling missles to Iranian terrorists to fund illegal wars. Like slaver William Walker, these freebooters were trying to take over Nicaragua. Now, it seems, they were successful in taking over a much larger country!

[Lone_Wolf]

43. Princes story doesn't sound believable to me...

Billionaire heir who became a Navy SEAL? Something really stinks here.

[L. Coyote]

46. This is "The Enterprise" crowd, hailing from Reagan's WH. Hell, their yacht is the Enterprise too!

The "Amway Family" writes out checks to the Republican Party to the tune of A MILLION DOLLARS a pop!
The ‘Enterprise’ is the yacht owned by Richard M. DeVos, the Amway founder.
The operatives go back to Iran-Contra, Reagan, and worked with Ollie North, who they donated to.
And, the list of which politicians they support reads like a Culture of Corruption tour guide.

========
This post just skims the surface. I was busy fishing, so I only posted some teaser info:
L. Coyote Oct-03-07 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1966261

Blackwater USA Connections - Campaign Contributions for the Culture of Corruption.

The list of donations is very long, a real Who's Who in the Culture of Corruption.
Here is a sampling, plus quotes from a study follow.

PRINCE, ERIK MR - MCLEAN,VA 22102
Donations:
7/27/2007 - $20,000 - National Republican Congressional Cmte
8/5/2005 - $25,000 - National Republican Congressional Cmte
7/14/2004 - $25,000 - Republican National Cmte
$500 - National Conservative Campaign Fund
$5,000 - Green Party of Luzerne County
10/15/2003 - $2,000 - Bush, George W
11/16/2004 - $1,000 - DeLay, Tom
09/26/2005 - $2,100 - DeLay, Tom

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search_hp.asp?txtName=Prince%2C+Erik&NumOfThou=0&txt2008=Y&submit=Go%21

PRINCE, ERIK - CODY,WY 82414 - THE PRINCE GROUP
10/30/2000 - $20,000 - Republican National Cmte
10/4/2000 - $68,000 - RNC/Repub National State Elections Cmte
1/30/2001 - $3,950 - RNC/Repub National State Elections Cmte
11/1/1994 - $1,000 - North, Oliver

===========================================================
The Internet makes searching political connections too easy.
Noone can hide their connections and affiliations like before.

Erik Prince's sister, Betsy DeVos, married Amway scion RICHARD DEVOS JR.
DEVOS RICHARD M
$500 - Feeney, Tom
$1000 - Harris, Katherine
$2000 - Miller, Candice S

Betsy DeVos, daughter-in-law of the Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, won special
status in 2000 as a so-called "Pioneer" after raising $100,000 for the Bush/Cheney campaign.
DEVOS, BETSY
$1,000 - New Century Project
$30,000 - Restoring the American Dream
$1,000 - Texas Republican Congressional Cmte

DEVOS, DANIEL - ADA,MI 49301 - AMWAY
5/23/1994 - $1,000 - North, Oliver
$7,000 - Bush, George W
11/14/2003 - $25,000 - Republican National Cmte
$8000 - Murtha, John P

================================================
Amway Industry = "Restoring the American Dream," a political action committee
that supports candidates opposed to the "fundamental coarsening of our culture" ...
http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/~dst/MerchantsOfDeception/files/theamwayindustry.doc.pdf

In April 1997, the co-founder of Amway Corp. gave $1 million to the Republican Party, one
of the largest single donations on record from an individual. Federal Election Commission
records show that Richard DeVos, said to be worth $3.2 billion, and his wife, Helen, wrote
two $500,000 checks on April 2, 1997 from their personal accounts. DeVos is the former
finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.

.........

In 2000, Amway was the second largest contributor of “soft money” to the Republican
National Party with contributions totaling $1,138,500. Amway was second in donations
only to Reynolds Tobacco.

........

Describing the events at the 2000 Republican Convention in Philadelphia where George
W. Bush was nominated, the New York Times wrote, “For the party’s top underwriters,
there will be an array of gold-plated events in Philadelphia, including cocktails with Gen.
Colin L. Powell and an evening cruise on the Delaware River aboard the ‘Enterprise,’ the
yacht owned by Richard M. DeVos, the Amway founder, who is a Bush supporter.”

.........

For large speaking fees, former Presidents George Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford
and former Vice Presidents Bob Dole and Dan Quayle have spoken at Amway-related
functions, as have former Republican heavyweights Newt Gingrich, Oliver North, and the
current SE Regional Chairman for Bush-Cheney '04, Ralph Reed, among others.

Amway co-founder Rich DeVos dined with a friend this summer, and sat across the table
from George W. Bush. “I’ve been a friend to the says. “I give the max," DeVos said proudly.
"People talk about buying access, but all I can
tell you is that politicians know the people who support them”

.........

[cyberpj]

50. K/R. Amazing info in the depths of this thread. But does anyone in D.C. care enough? nt

[yardwork]

51. Of far greater important than whining about Hillary - please take a look.

[budibudinski]

53. Will Someone PLease Reveal this to Henry Waxman...

Maybe he can use some assistance in putting a cronysm case together..every little but adds up.

Duers doing our civil duty.

Many ways to serve your country..I guess.

[earth mom]

56. The plan and the dots are connected here....

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5420753830426590918&q=RUSSO&total=5530&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4

[AdvancedProgress]

58. In all of this research...

Has anyone seen any kind of information on their work in New Orleans? They say humanitarian help and securing gov't facilities, I have a feeling it was more sinister than that. I wonder if there's a record of the number of times weapons were fired in that operation?

[Disturbed]

59. Now the post about Rohrabacher makes sense.

He is in the thick of this Fascist Group. The call themselves Republicans but they are in fact RWing Facists.

[yardwork]

60. There were a lot of shots fired in the aftermath of Katrina.

At the time, the "news" media reported this as crime being committed by hoodlums in New Orleans. Later, some of the incidents were shown to be caused by police. I suspect that Blackwater may have been involved in a number of incidents that were blamed on the residents.

[chill_wind]

64. Blackwater, plus 6 or 7 other mercenery outfits in NOLA. Here's an account from Scahill

from that time. He was there.

September 21, 2005 (October 10, 2005 issue)
Blackwater Down

Jeremy Scahill

(much snipped)

"This vigilantism demonstrates the utter breakdown of the government," says Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. "These private security forces have behaved brutally, with impunity, in Iraq. To have them now on the streets of New Orleans is frightening and possibly illegal."

Blackwater is not alone. As business leaders and government officials talk openly of changing the demographics of what was one of the most culturally vibrant of America's cities, mercenaries from companies like DynCorp, Intercon, American Security Group, Blackhawk, Wackenhut and an Israeli company called Instinctive Shooting International (ISI) are fanning out to guard private businesses and homes, as well as government projects and institutions. Within two weeks of the hurricane, the number of private security companies registered in Louisiana jumped from 185 to 235. Some, like Blackwater, are under federal contract. Others have been hired by the wealthy elite, like F. Patrick Quinn III, who brought in private security to guard his $3 million private estate and his luxury hotels, which are under consideration for a lucrative federal contract to house FEMA workers.

A possibly deadly incident involving Quinn's hired guns underscores the dangers of private forces policing American streets. On his second night in New Orleans, Quinn's security chief, Michael Montgomery, who said he worked for an Alabama company called Bodyguard and Tactical Security (BATS), was with a heavily armed security detail en route to pick up one of Quinn's associates and escort him through the chaotic city. Montgomery told me they came under fire from "black gangbangers" on an overpass near the poor Ninth Ward neighborhood. "At the time, I was on the phone with my business partner," he recalls. "I dropped the phone and returned fire."

Montgomery says he and his men were armed with AR-15s and Glocks and that they unleashed a barrage of bullets in the general direction of the alleged shooters on the overpass. "After that, all I heard was moaning and screaming, and the shooting stopped. That was it. Enough said."


(much much more..)

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051010/scahill

[SPKrazy]

61. meh, this isn't surprising at all really

war profiteering is old sport

the newness of it is the real time news we get about it I suppose.

Blackwater scares me because they might be trotted out in a national emergency situation to "fill in" for gaps to preserve "order"

that scares me

[Disturbed]

63. La Costa Nostra is small time compared to the Busholini Mob.

Fitz should bring the RICO case against the Busholini Crime Family.

[grasswire]

68. and there's a link from the DeVos family to Charles Colson...

....Nixon's hatchetman. The family donates heavily to his non-profit organization and sits on his board.

[diva77]

69. Somehow it intersects with ES&S and other voting machine companies as well

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm

Diebold, Electronic Voting and the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy
by Bob Fitrakis

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

<snip>

Incestuous relationships

Increasingly, investigative writers seeking an explanation have looked to Diebold’s history for clues. The electronic voting industry is dominated by only a few corporations – Diebold, Election Systems & Software (ES&S) and Sequoia. Diebold and ES&S combined count an estimated 80% of U.S. black box electronic votes.

In the early 1980s, brothers Bob and Todd Urosevich founded ES&S’s originator, Data Mark. The brothers Urosevich obtained financing from the far-Right Ahmanson family in 1984, which purchased a 68% ownership stake, according to the Omaha World Herald. After brothers William and Robert Ahmanson infused Data Mark with new capital, the name was changed to American Information Systems (AIS). California newspapers have long documented the Ahmanson family’s ties to right-wing evangelical Christian and Republican circles.

In 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported, “. . . primarily funded by evangelical Christians – particularly the wealthy Ahmanson family of Irvine – the institute’s $1-million annual program has produced 25 books, a stream of conferences and more than 100 fellowships for doctoral and postdoctoral research.” The chief philanthropists of the Discovery Institute, that pushes creationist science and education in California, are Howard and Roberta Ahmanson.

According to Group Watch, in the 1980s Howard F. Ahmanson, Jr. was a member of the highly secretive far-Right Council for National Policy, an organization that included Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, Major General John K. Singlaub and other Iran-Contra scandal notables, as well as former Klan members like Richard Shoff. Ahmanson, heir to a savings and loan fortune, is little reported on in the mainstream U.S. press. But, English papers like The Independent are a bit more forthcoming on Ahmanson’s politics.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm

“On the right, figures such as Richard Mellon Scaife and Howard Ahmanson have given hundreds of millions of dollars over several decades to political projects both high (setting up the Heritage Foundation think-tank, the driving engine of the Reagan presidency) and low (bankrolling investigations into President Clinton’s sexual indiscretions and the suicide of the White House insider Vincent Foster),” wrote The Independent last November.

The Sunday Mail described an individual as, “. . . a fundamentalist Christian more in the mould of U.S. multi-millionaire Howard Ahmanson, Jr., who uses his fortune to promote so-called traditional family values . . . by waving fortunes under their noses, Ahmanson has the ability to cajole candidates into backing his right-wing Christian agenda.

Ahmanson is also a chief contributor to the Chalcedon Institute that supports the Christian reconstruction movement. The movement’s philosophy advocates, among other things, “mandating the death penalty for homosexuals and drunkards.”

The Ahmanson family sold their shares in American Information Systems to the McCarthy Group and the World Herald Company, Inc. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel disclosed in public documents that he was the Chairman of American Information Systems and claimed between a $1 to 5 million investment in the McCarthy Group. In 1997, American Information Systems purchased Business Records Corp. (BRC), formerly Texas-based election company Cronus Industries, to become ES&S. One of the BRC owners was Carolyn Hunt of the right-wing Hunt oil family, which supplied much of the original money for the Council on National Policy.

In 1996, Hagel became the first elected Republican Nebraska senator in 24 years when he did surprisingly well in an election where the votes were verified by the company he served as chairman and maintained a financial investment. In both the 1996 and 2002 elections, Hagel’s ES&S counted an estimated 80% of his winning votes. Due to the contracting out of services, confidentiality agreements between the State of Nebraska and the company kept this matter out of the public eye. Hagel’s first election victory was described as a “stunning upset” by one Nebraska newspaper.

<snip>

[bobthedrummer]

71. .

IMPEACH CHENEY FIRST