Mystery Merc Group Is Blackwater’s 34th Front Company

[n2doc]

By Spencer Ackerman October 4, 2010 | 12:01 am | Categories: Mercs

This tasteful, quaint red-brick house on a tree-lined street in northwest Washington doesn’t appear to be the headquarters for a private security company that stands to make millions in a war zone. But the online trail for a mysterious firm, partially owned by Blackwater, leads here. And that company not only just won part of security contract with the State Department worth up to $10 billion last week. It’s also the latest in a series of cutouts used by the notorious mercenary firm to hide its work from public scrutiny. The business that’s listed at this house? Blackwater’s 34th front company, if you’re counting.

Maybe I wouldn’t have driven over to the wealthy Tenleytown neighborhood in D.C. had International Development Solutions LLC answered its listed number, but it was out of service on Friday. Had my calls been returned by the two security companies that make up the “joint venture,” Virginia-based Kaseman and Blackwater arm U.S. Training Center, I would perhaps have gotten some clarity on whether this was definitely the right “International Development Solutions.” But not only did no one return my calls, but the joint venture’s generic name is as Google-resistant as they come, so when I found a business listing for International Development Systems in Washington D.C., I drove on out.

Two rings of a doorbell and ten minutes of waiting didn’t yield a response from anyone who might have been inside what was clearly someone’s three-story residence. No one was around to explain how a company supposedly located here ended up with a chunk of a five-year State Department contract. Blackwater has pulled this sort of thing before, setting up dozens of front groups to get government cash while concealing its tainted brand. More of a mystery is why the State Department let the company get away with it. Again



Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/10/blackwaters-34th-front-company-wins-big-diplo-jackpot/

[SpiralHawk]

1. Stinkin to high heaven

War for profit a crappy idea, about as demented as for-profit prisons.

[jotsy]

2. But not a new one!

Profit is at the root of many a military excursion! How else do you think the USA got to be the world's leading manufacturer of weapons by such a wide margin?

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3_EXqJ8f-0>

For profit prisons are one thing; a pretty damn disgusting thing, IMO. Try looking into how much revenue stream is generated for local governments through restitution fees paid by those determined to be on the wrong side of the law, but not necessary to incarcerate. I've yet to find a city employee who admits to even knowing who counts those dollars in my own little neck of the woods.