A former senior executive at Blackwater confirmed the military intelligence source's claim that the company is working in Pakistan for the CIA and JSOC, the premier counterterrorism and covert operations force within the military. He said that Blackwater is also working for the Pakistani government on a subcontract with an Islamabad-based security firm that puts US Blackwater operatives on the ground with Pakistani forces in counter-terrorism operations, including house raids and border interdictions, in the North-West Frontier Province and elsewhere in Pakistan. This arrangement, the former executive said, allows the Pakistani government to utilize former US Special Operations forces who now work for Blackwater while denying an official US military presence in the country. He also confirmed that Blackwater has a facility in Karachi and has personnel deployed elsewhere in Pakistan. The former executive spoke on condition of anonymity.
~snip~
"It wouldn't surprise me because we've outsourced nearly everything," said Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff from 2002 to 2005, when told of Blackwater's role in Pakistan. Wilkerson said that during his time in the Bush administration, he saw the beginnings of Blackwater's involvement with the sensitive operations of the military and CIA. "Part of this, of course, is an attempt to get around the constraints the Congress has placed on DoD. If you don't have sufficient soldiers to do it, you hire civilians to do it. I mean, it's that simple. It would not surprise me."
TheNation.com
Bold added by diarist
Apparently,
Blackwater is STILL in business in Afghanistan and Iraq. Jeremy Scahill has said on The Rachel Maddow Show (TRMS) that Xe/Blackwater is still guarding Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she travels, as well as members of Congress and other officials who visit sensitive areas around the world.
My taxes pay Blackwater mercenaries to fight illegal wars in countries the US Army might have to invade so Eric Prince, Blackwater CEO and raving psychopath, can make more money, but an immigrant who wants to buy private insurance in America isn't allowed to. Fantastic. Way to go, freedom.
If you want a reason to end Corporate Personhood, Prosecute Bush/Cheney for war crimes, audit Blackwater/Xe AND make the argument that Capitalism at it's worse is pure evil, Blackwater is it. This story helps expose why the Military Industrial Complex and it's paid for Politicians are howling for more troops, more spending, more intervention. It's about the MONEY!
The military intelligence source also confirmed that Blackwater continues to work for the CIA on its drone bombing program in Pakistan, as previously reported in the New York Times, but added that Blackwater is working on JSOC's drone bombings as well. "It's Blackwater running the program for both CIA and JSOC," said the source. When civilians are killed, "people go, 'Oh, it's the CIA doing crazy shit again unchecked.' Well, at least 50 percent of the time, that's JSOC [hitting] somebody they've identified through HUMINT [human intelligence] or they've culled the intelligence themselves or it's been shared with them and they take that person out and that's how it works."
TheNation.com
Bold added by diarist
Let that stick in your head and rattle around for a bit.
"It's Blackwater running the program for both CIA and JSOC,"
'Oh, it's the CIA doing crazy shit again unchecked.'
In fairness, these two quotes are coming from a source that can only be verified through Scahill, but just on their face I can tell you this. This is NOT what I voted for. I doubt anybody voted to subsidize more secret wars and private mercenary armies.
Mind, as well, that Drone Missiles constitute summary execution, which is itself a war crime.
There is much more in the article, and I strongly suggest that everyone sits down to read the whole thing. Stunning puts it lightly.
So why have we not put the previous Bush/Cheney Administration under prosecution for Torture and other War Crimes, and not just the soldiers, but the lawyers and higher ups that will surely take us to Cheney and Bush themselves, if not for the fact that THIS Administration, under President Barack Obama, wishes to use the same techniques, tactics and contractors moving forward. Whether the intent is President Obama's or other forces in his Administration remains to be debated, but it seems more and more clear that there IS NO RULE OF LAW. There are the rules for everybody else and a separate set for the American Executive Branch, the American Legislative Branch, the American business elite and the American military.
A sad day for Democracy, if one is able to exist without a rule of law. I hope and pray for my nation that Obama uses his presidency to set there wrongs to right. Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst is much more somber than just the campaign slogan Hope.
But the fact remains, Blackwater is out there, killing for profit, paid by the American taxpayer through Government spending. The first Republican to open his mouth about Government spending and waste should have to eat these words, and the computer built with outsourced labor that I typed it on.
Crossposted at Daily Kos and Daily Kos |
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