Those aren't the issues at hand. If the insurgent groups branded themselves "Al Queda USA" or "Madi Army USA" or even "Rogue Shia Death Squad USA" then it would be an issue because they would then somehow represent this nation...you know, like Blackwater USA.

I just posted about that assertion in the comments thread on the ties to Bush article. Aren't these guys essentially on the side of whoever happens to be paying them? And couldn't someone else be paying them at any given point in time?

And now Westmoreland (R-GA) is saying that all of the Democrats are simply opposed to companies who make profit. From that, I infer that he sees this as the only reason Waxman is holding the hearings -- to punish Blackwater for making a profit. He sees no responsibility, as far as I can tell, to those of us who are paying HIS salary to ensure that our tax dollars are being spent appropriately and/or wisely.

Well, for those to whom profit is the only measure of worth and value in the world, I suppose that makes sense. How can someone with that worldview possibly appreciate the idea of bringing motives other than profit to the party?

Blackwater is nothing but a private mercenary army.

State Sponsored Terror is only OK when the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, or any of our "friends" in the "War on Terror" are the states conducting the operations.

They are "Freedom Fighter Patriots".

That is the exact problem. Blackwater is the private army of the rightwing authoritarian power elite, and they will have no compunction over turning it against the America public if they feel it necessary.

When you have too many honest cops for a police state, when there are too many conscienscious generals for martial law, when you've managed to alienate even the CIA, your best bet is a privately-run force owned by your allies and directly beholden to you. Indeed, it's the preferred course to take when you're a privitisation-crazed capitalist in the first place.

Any bets that they'll be providing "security" at the poll booths come next election?

If a mercenary is a person (soldier) who fights for money rather than out of a moral or legal obligation to his/her country, then Blackwater "contractors" are mercenaries.

I have the awful feeling that the Repugs are going to come out on top after these hearings -- the American people are likely going to come to the conclusion that the "modern" mercenary is a necessary evil, so we should all STFU about it and let them do their job. But, these same American people should be very, very concerned about where the mercenaries' loyalty lies.

Most of these guys have previous military experience -- and it seems to me that their primary interest lies in running profitable enterprises, not in securing safety and democracy. I wouldn't be surprised if the outcome from these hearings will be Repug bills legalizing mercenary companies as bona fide "armies" and seeking regulations to make them a potential (and potent!) tool of foreign policy.

P.S. Put him in a uniform, and Erik Prince reminds me of Ollie North on the witness stand. Yikes!

...one question I'd love to ask him would be this:

"Mr. President, in light of your prescient warning about the military/industrial complex in your 1961 farewell speech to the nation, what is your opinion of the increasing reliance of our country on paid mercenaries, who operate outside the normal legal framework and are evidently accountable to no one?"

Blackwater and other current manifestations of the existing military/industrial complex would likely provoke Ike to speak very plainly and eloquently to the heavy damage being done to our country and what we've always aspired to represent.

But would we listen? Are the American people listening to these Blackwater hearings? I'm afraid the answer is NO, which speaks volumes about the heavy damage we've already suffered.

...the thought that this country would collapse never entered my mind.

About ten years ago I told a friend that we were born at the right time. We'll die before the country falls.

A few years ago I was worried that I'd live to see the end..

Now I have a sick feeling we're experiencing it.

not mention Blackwater as part of the "Coalition of the Willing"?

Is getting ready to rise from the grave to feast upon the brains of republican lawmakers who have so foolishly forsaken his mantra. He'll join zombie Lincoln, Zombie Franklin, and Zombie Jefferson, who all have their own bones to pick with the Republican Tyrannical Minority.

And that's the Dollar "team." (Or that of any other convenient currency.)

They have no loyalty to country or principle. Care to prove me wrong, mercs? You know where the recruiting office is.

They'll be glad to have you back, trust me. Until then, though, you're an EX-soldier.

Actually, Blackwater is refered to as "The Coalition of the Billing."

If Blackwater is "our team," when will I start seeing non-profits sending care packages to Blackwater? Where are our "Support Our Mercs" bumber stickers?

Yeah! I think GREEN would be a good ribbon color, don't you?

The Democrats don't complain about al-Qaeda's engagement strategy? Really? Then why did the Democrats side with the Administration to invade Afghanistan? Why do Democratic leaders talk about the viciousness of al-Qaeda and its allies, and their despicable attacks on civilians? Of course Democrats hate the enemy's "engagement strategy"!

The real question, though, is: why cannot Republican leaders see the distinction between the United States of America, A DEMOCRACY, and a terrorist group that seeks a totalitarian, theocratic system? I cannot understand it; do they really suggest that America should forfeit all of its moral superiority, all of the qualities that make us better people, and sink to the same level as the enemy? If so, why? We won World War II without throwing millions of German civilians and POW into slave labour or death camps, without executing prisoners caught on the front, etc. Are these terrorists really so much more formidable than one of the most deadly fighting forces in the history of warfare? I'd like to think that, for all its faults, this country still believes in morality, embraces the principles of just war, and compares itself to other democracies, rather than to vicious madmen.