Bush & Blackwater
"They Protect People's Lives" -- One Month After Baghdad Killings, Bush Defends Blackwater USA
One month after the Baghdad mass shooting that killed 17 Iraqi civilians, President Bush has defended Blackwater USA, saying they provide "a valuable service" and "protect people's lives."
Ref. https://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/18/1418252
Blackwater men 'given immunity'
US officials investigating Iraqi deaths offered Blackwater guards at the centre of the case immunity, say reports.
Ref. https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/m...ast/7068600.stm
TV BROADCAST EXCLUSIVE: Iraqi Witnesses, Victims Describe Blackwater Shooting in Harrowing Detail
Democracy Now! broadcasts, for the first time on television, graphic new details about Blackwater's Sept. 16th shooting in Nisoor Square in Baghdad. We hear from three Iraqis who were caught up in the attack: a traffic policeman who witnessed the shootings up close and tried to help the victims, a computer technician on his way to buy a gift who was shot in the arm, and a doctor whose wife and son were shot and burned to death in the attack.
Ref. https://www.democracynow.org/2007/12/19/bro...exclusive_iraqi
Southern California Residents Gear Up for New Fight to Stop Secretive Expansion by Military Firm Blackwater
Just two months after local opposition thwarted its effort to build a massive outdoor training facility near San Diego, the private military company Blackwater USA is being accused of secretly trying to build a new one just blocks from the US-Mexico border. Blackwater received approval for the 61,000 square-foot indoor facility in Otay Mesa, California, by filing for permits using the names of two subsidiaries.
Ref. https://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/2/south..._residents_gear
Blackwater: From the Nisour Square Massacre to the Future of the Mercenary Industry
The private military firm Blackwater has gone from being a relatively unknown contractor working in Iraq to a household name and the subject of multiple investigations, lawsuits and congressional inquiries. In the meantime, the company continues to reap millions of dollars in profits and was recently awarded a new contract from the State Department. Last year, Democracy Now! correspondent and Nation Fellow, Jeremy Scahill, published his book Blackwater: The Rise of the World¹s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. The book quickly landed on the New York Times bestseller list and helped frame the debate that was to come. With the book's paperback release in a thoroughly revised and updated edition, Jeremy Scahill joins us for the hour.
Ref. https://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/2/black...remy_scahill_on
The Blackwater book by Scahill is excellent - - - and scary.
The Blackwater owner is very smart, very conniving, very well connected in Washington, hires the right lobbyists and ex-generals, and has big plans for private armies throughout the world. They already are doing behind the scenes things no one knows about (I.e., we the taxpayers for whom the gov't is supposed to work) that affect international relationships and economics. The CIA look like boy scouts by comparison.
Be VERY afraid.