Letters to the Editor
-
Translation
People died. We don't care very much. We're not going to do anything about it. We'll talk to some lawyers so we can make sure our ass is covered. It's too important to make sure these contractors get a boatload of taxpayer funds to go out and play weekend warrior with the Iraqi people.
-
Good Thing This Conference Was Held
to inform the public about what is going on.
-
Sounds like McCormick was
trained by Fredo Gonzales. He doesn't know much about a job he was hired to preform and own a memory that lacks the lucidity to remember what it is he was hired to know. The problem isn't necessarily with lemmings like McCormick. It lies with the lack of oversight that was spoon-fed to Bush by the GOP for the better part of seven years. Anyone doing a "skim" of investigantion into these shadowy "contractors" knows they are the "second army" in Iraq that are better paid then our "normal troops" for the same risks. They, like the "normal troops", are not held accountable for the deaths they cause. Only the contractors, don't even have to go through the formalities of being charged with murder as the "normal troop"s are.
That their contracts are paid-for like the "normal troops" by you and me, we, apparently, have no right to know who they are, what they do, or when they'll begin their own "post surge" downsize. Nauseating eh?
Oh, and apparently, the Iraqis are just as sick of them as they are of us.I wonder how many of them were protecting Hunt Oil when his people were there cracking that oil deal with the Kurds?
-
A Real Reporter Asking Tough Questions!
How did he get into the State Department's press briefing room?
Did he disguise himself as Jeff Gannon, or perhaps as one of the Fox News shills? Or was it a female reporter?
I hope that we see a lot more of this kind of questioning at State, at the White House, and at the Pentagon--even if these kinds of non-responses are all that will result. Perhaps the non-responses will incite more insiders to slip some reality discreetly into the hands of serious investigative journalists.
At least a few reporters are starting to make an effort to behave like actual journalists. Now let's see whether their editors and corporate executives slap them down.
-
Contractor Statistics-redux
Well, apparently we won't get this information and the families of these people care less about their loved ones. Maybe they will not be treated for their injuries, since they do not exist in the reality of this administration. Could save us billions of dollars if we don't treat them or bury them.
Peace,
st john
-
my belated realization today was that our extraordinary failure to make ANY progress in Iraq ...
is occurring NOT with 160,000 "troops" .. but with closer 260,000 or 280,000 when you include all of the independent contractor security personnel.... which makes this failure even more impressive, no? particularly when you consider the large swath of southern Iraq under British control and the segments we have largely ignored ...
Of course cowboy moves like Blackwater's were part of what gave birth to "the insurgency" way back when ....
Yes, this "all volunteer army" supplemented with privatized security forces and ancillary "support" contacts is working out really well for us taxpayers -- thank god, my child doesn't need to worry about a draft as long as KBR and Blackwater are willing to do our dirty work at 3 times the cost (or more).
-
Yeah, right
McCormack sez: "I'm sure, however, that in every instance we would be able to ensure that our people are protected and able to do their jobs." Really. Without the independent contractors? Without Blackwater? I'd love to know how.
-
Another failure of privitization
This is what happens when you put a gun in the invisible hand.
-
Shooting spree
That would be a better definition of the action mentioned. Blackguards would be a better description of the company involved.
-
Private security with taxpayer dollars?
Wasn't Sec of Defense Gates visiting Iraq when the Blackwater helicopter was shot down? A more pertinent question might be, do administration officials have private security at all times, do Democrats visiting Iraq have private security, and do some (Republicans) have more private security than others (Democrats), and do they have this extra security when they are no longer in Iraq, which allows them to travel around the world freely, and is this private security paid for with taxpayer dollars, and why?
-
Blackwater: stupid questions
What's stopping a beligerant nation from hiring Blackwater to provide "security" for them that would not be in our best interest? So we have an independant army for all prictical purposes on our soil available for hire. Are there any restrictions on what Blackwater can do and who they can do business with? If we pull our "troops" out of Iraq will the war (and drain on our tax dollars) continue being fought exclusively by an independant mercenary army? What if a company that is in effect an army for hire with its own tanks, helocopters, advanced weapons and soldiers decides a change of our policy is not in THEIR best interest? Do we have a situation where a corporate army for hire is now, in a way, the President's paid Preatorian Guard? How much, if any, financial stakes do prominent politicians (include Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc.) have in Blackwater?
My stupid question is: What does, and what should, the American people know about the very shaddowy Blackwater?
-
Black Eye
The mercenaries of Blackwater, et al, may in fact provide a valuable service for US diplomats, but the cost of that service is even higher than what's already been hinted at in these posts.
To the Iraqis, Blackwater is the US, and the US is Blackwater. What this group and others like it are doing is beyond the C&C of the US military, but you can be damned sure that US soldiers and marines are paying the price in the form of commensurate increases in RPGs, IEDs, etc. You're judged by the company you keep, after all.
Finally, what the apparent need for these groups says about the picture in Iraq in general is that we really don't have enough military resources to be effective at providing security -- even to our own diplomatic corps (and never did) -- and that we certainly can't trust the Iraqi security forces to keep our diplomats safe.