(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
Crossposted at Daily Kos
Can anybody explain why Bush/Cheney Accountability is NOT happening?
Jeremy Scahill blows the lid off “Blackwater’s Secret War in Pakistan” in an article just published in The Nation. This story brings together an amazing array of bad actors: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Stanley McChrystal and Blackwater. It should come as no surprise, then, that the outcome of this team working together is a jaw-dropping tale of war crimes that continue to be carried out.
The entire story should be read . . . .
Bold text added by the diarist
Quotes from Scahill’s article, commentary and more below the fold, but I SERIOUSLY urge you to read Scahill’s article in it’s entirety first.
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.”
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.”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.
Also crossposted at The Progressive Electorate.com
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good old nostalgic days of the Roman Empire, with permanent wars, outsourcing jobs and great sporting events like the Lions and Panthers Extravaganza in the Coliseum.
I remember those days like it was yesterday. People need to toughen up, cause back then the average person was lucky to see a doctor once in their life, and that was just looking at one walking over to the bathhouse. And I must confess, that when you’ve seen one Senate, you’ve seen them all.
They always had trouble with that, but now? It’s working out really well for them.
And nobody’s stopping them.
Wasn’t it Scahill a while back who speculated that Obama might actually be afraid of Blackwater? And why shouldn’t he be?
It really ticks me off that Scahill is doing all the heavy lifting on this. Where the hell is the rest of the media? (I know, that’s sort of a facetious question, but still ……)
heres the link.
when we have a military (Blackwater) beholden to no one but the Elites who profit off War.
They answer NO chain of command.
Hey, if you haven’t found employment yet, let me know and I’ll plug it on Friday’s show.
Sure would love if you crossposted more, my dear one….
I`m almost done reading Blackwater ‘The Rise of the World`s Most Powerful Mercenary Army’, & your diary segues right into the new chapter of a renamed killing machine that the taxpayers are unknowingly oiling.
There is no way that nobody knows what is going on, despite all the denials.
Somebody is signing the checks.
MoT, it isn’t just Republicans. It was Democrats that voted for the war, refused to defund the war, and are planning to escalate Afghanistan. Obama is still contracting with the same people Bush did to do his dirty work. Other than that, I agree 110%.