Blackwater's Bright Future

[lame54]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-scahill16-2008jun16,0,5769512.story
Blackwater's bright future
No matter who wins the White House, the security firm is shooting for lucrative work.
By Jeremy Scahill
June 16, 2008
From California to Iraq, business has never been better for the controversial private security firm Blackwater Worldwide. Company President Gary Jackson recently boasted that Blackwater has "had two successive quarters of unprecedented growth." Owner Erik Prince recently spun his company as the "FedEx" of the U.S. national security apparatus, describing Blackwater as a "robust temp agency."

Such rhetoric may seem brazen, given Blackwater's deadly record in Iraq and troubled reputation at home, but here is the cold, hard fact: Blackwater knows its future is bright no matter who next takes up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

[EFerrari]

1. Black Water is a good barometer of how f#cked we are.

if it is allowed to continue to operate in its present form under an Obama administration and with a working majority in Congress.

[Auggie]

2. Poised for growth in the public AND private sector.

[bridgit]

3. "robust temp agency"? That's cute, more like the Pinkerton Burns of & for oligarchs

[twiceshy]

4. I really know very little about Blackwater, but........

I agree that if they remain employed when Obama gets the big job, then you have to ask if they provide some services unavailable elsewhere. I guess what I am saying is there are not a lot of companies stepping forward to put their employees' asses on the line in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[bridgit]

5. No, there's primarily only one: Blackwater. Nor do I view that as serendipity either...

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/10/02/blackwater_bush I think the neocon agenda was so thought out in advance that they knew; Rumsfeld knew; even from the midst of his "known knowns" gibberish he knew that to conduct a military campaign equal to that of Hitler's blitzkrieg (a military operation that still gives war mongers a hard on) accept into Baghdad this time, American soldiers could not be seen with Exxon/Mobil & Halliburton corporate logos and patches on their arms. They'd still have to wear the stars & stripes. Blackwater doesn't have to do that. They can just lock & load in the course making 10's of thousands of $'s more than the young men & women that get their legs, arms, heads, and faces blown off or shot from the sky. Sure...

Blackwater gets tagged, the wives of mercenaries cry tears too, it's a dangerous world. And America was dragged into a foreign excursion on a mouth full of lies so that Blackwater would be able to protect the corporate interest and profit margins of republican no-bid crony war profiteers.

I would love nothing more than to make it otherwise with the snap my fingers. When Obama gets 'the big job', there'll be calls for certain & specific meetings from both sides of the desk. Blackwater, their investors, and the people they perform functions for; are already on record as not caring two figs for due process.

Maybe we can start right there. Start saying, "No!" to Blackwater

[EFerrari]

6. There are other companies that can provide the same services

but they're not all Republican fundy companies in Bush's back pocket.

I recall an Australian company that testified before Congress years ago about how they were routinely sabotaged by Black Water in Iraq. It was one of those hearings about no bid contracts.