Blackwater…peacekeeping mercenaries

Blackwater…peacekeeping mercenaries

www.kavkazcenter.com

Blackwater, the notorious US security firm whose trigger-happy mercenaries were involved in civilian killings in Iraq and elsewhere, is expanding its lucrative business pitch into UN peacekeeping missions, hiding behind a mystique, off-shore affiliate called Greystone.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.blacklistednews.com

This is a disturbing thought. Blackwater teaming up with the UN? you know things must not be going very well in this global society of ours if these two organizations end up becoming a team. I do not like the sound of this one bit.

www.kavkazcenter.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Blackwater is nothing more than a government sanctioned, mercenary death squad. It's really comforting to know this group of miscreants will be keeping the peace on a global scale.

[edit on 3/27/08 by LLoyd45]

Here is a question for all you pro sleuths to figure out.

Who has the largest private armories and how many incredibly large ones are there?

Be prepared to be surprised.

Sure why not when I think peace I think Blackwater. Its the first thing one can think of.

its almost silly not to do it.

There just bypassing the police state and going straight to the NWO. I'm not huge on the nwo conspiracy's . But this just seems like policing the world.

It's interesting watching the pieces fall in place one by one. These private mercenaries are another cog in the wheel of the military industrial complex machine. It's just running on its own now and no one knows where the off switch is.

Illahe I await the answer.

reply to post by palehorse23


Wasn't Greystone the project Jason Bourne was working under? Very interesting.

Thanks for the article, good read as usual .

"In his most ambitious moments, [founder and owner Erik] Prince has set out a vision in which his companies would act as for-profit peacekeepers, working with the UN and other international organizations in conflict areas around the world," the US magazine Mother Jones reveals in its March/April issue.

I actually have this month's mother jones, I'll see if I can quote some of it later tonight.

The quote above is the part that stood out the most. FOR-PROFIT peacekeepers. That is an oxymoron. Defense contractors make money off war, not peace.

Unless these men (are there any women in blackwater, that'd be interesting to know?) plan on sitting around all day smoking cigarettes, their true mission will not be to keep peace, but to further stir the pot and create havoc as they've been doing for years in Iraq.

Check this part out about Greystone, its a shell company for Blackwater to use:

Prince, a former Navy SEAL, is repositioning his mercenaries as peacekeepers and relief forces.

After his South Carolina-based security firm gained world notoriety over involvement in dozens of unprovoked civilian killings, Prince, a former Navy SEAL, created a new subsidiary, Greystone Ltd., and registered it in Barbados.

Halliburton is centered in (Dubai?) and now the peacekeeping part of Blackwater is going to have their home base in the caribbean...Coincidence? I think not. Its so they can maneuver around US laws and treaties to behave how they wish.

The new affiliate registered with the UN's procurement division, allowing it to compete for international peacekeeping contracts.

The company has also been quietly seeking to win peacekeeping and security work from aid organizations and foreign governments.

Ah yes. Quietly seek new contracts because you haven't exactly been the most ethical company in the world.

Also make sure to blur the line between Blackwater and Greystone so you can actually get contracts in the first place. Nice guys .

Established 10 years ago by Prince, a right-wing son of a multi-millionaire, the security consulting firm has grown into what US investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill describes as the "world's most powerful mercenary army."

Riding machine-gun mounted utility vehicles, Blackwater's armed contractors have gained notoriety for shooting first and not bothering to ask questions later.

The world's most powerful mercenary army and little is known about them, and even less is played in the media.

A few months ago there was that huge event when Blackwater essentially held hostage US military soldiers and would not let them leave the area.

Check this out too:

An ensuing US congressional report discovered Blackwater has been involved in 195 shooting incidents since 2005, mostly unprovoked.

195 incidents...from private contractors. I may speak out against the military a lot, and I do love them to death (no pun intended), but it may truly be the mercenaries who are causing all the trouble here.

I honestly don't see the US military wanting to stay there any longer than they have to. However, as for Blackwater...They get paid a ridiculous amount of money to stay there. I don't see how they could possibly want peace. They get paid more for there not to be peace.

There was an article in the NYT about them as well:

The Private Sector's Tramping in Iraq

As the nonpareil war profiteer in Iraq, Blackwater Worldwide keeps outdoing its own mercenary record. Ranking Blackwater executives have used inside influence as administration fund-raisers to multiply their no-bid war contracts a thousandfold to more than $1 billion. Armed Blackwater guards redefined Ugly American for the Iraqi people last September in fatally shooting 17 civilians with impunity in a burst of “spray and pray” panic on the streets of Baghdad.

And now Congressional investigators report dodgy bookkeeping by which Blackwater insists its 850 operatives in Iraq are separate contractors, not employees. That little device has allowed the company to avoid paying an estimated $50 million in American payroll taxes.

Tax and labor laws may have been violated by Blackwater’s being awarded $144 million in contracts that were supposed to go to small businesses. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House government oversight committee, is calling for a multiagency investigation.

The sooner the better for taxpayers. Blackwater officials insist that they are entitled by law to classify their hirelings as non-employees. But the Internal Revenue Service has concluded otherwise, finding Blackwater’s designation of a security guard as an independent contractor to be “without merit.”

More than 163,000 nonmilitary personnel are working under Pentagon contracts in Iraq, including 6,467 armed security personnel. A full accounting of this shadow force will take a generation of historians. But it can begin in the here and now in the Blackwater ledgers.

Controversial? Yes, but they were the first boots on the ground in New Orleans after Katrina hit and from relatives down there I heard they worked quite well.

So you can call them Schutzstaffel Soldiers of Fortune, but when it comes down to it, they may be the first ones with boots on the ground, while regular forces are still mobilizing. That time can make the difference between life and death for some people.

[edit on 28/3/08 by MikeboydUS]

They may have been the "first" boots on the ground (which I doubt, the National Guard was in all likelihood there first) they do not and did not act honorably.

Blackwater is known for their wheeling and dealing. That's part of being a mercenary. Their boss is whoever pays them the most, not the country.

They owe allegiance to Fuhrer Prince.

There's several threads on ATS already about their occupation of New Orleans:

Blackwater Mercenaries Deploy in New Orleans

Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans. Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor; indeed some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards on their arms. They say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force. Several mercenaries we spoke with said they had served in Iraq on the personal security details of the former head of the US occupation, L. Paul Bremer and the former US ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte.

Blackwater Security firm in NOLA now

reply to post by biggie smalls



They dont go for the highest bidder

More or less they are like an unofficial agency or Front Organization of the US government.
Their operators are pretty much all ex US Special Forces. They operate under US contracts.

Their existence as a Private Military Contractor, makes them liable, not the US government for anything stupid they're involved in.

Some of them might be dirty, but no dirtier than any US Politician or Bureaucrat.

The Louisiana National Guard was in Iraq when Katrina hit. They had to be rushed back home. So they weren't first in.







[edit on 28/3/08 by MikeboydUS]

Regardless of intent. Blackwater butts heads with grunts on the ground. There lies great resentment on this organization. Founded or not.

reply to post by jpm1602



That is true. They don't have the same structure or rules binding them like regular troops. That and they have access to Alcohol and tend to steal the Desert Princesses. The latter is probably the most irritating to young soldiers who are deployed.

Alright, my two favorite groups just teamed up...

First boots on the ground or not, Blackwater's actions were despicable. As bad as things are right now, the thing I'm the most ashamed of as an American is the fact that so many of my countrymen KNOW what blackwater is and still defends them. I don't care how high the percentage of them are ex-military, they are not anymore, they are mercenaries. And being ex-military doesn't exactly make anybody more credible either, I don't want to turn this into a hate rant on our men in uniform, but there are plenty of examples recently of how being a soldier doesn't automatically equal respectability.

I wouldn't defend them Nico. If a rich man is like a camel trying to thread thru a needle, the mercenary would be like a whale trying to thread thru a coral.
Wonder how Pat Tillman felt screaming 'I'm f'ing Pat Tillman dammit' when the 50 cals were pouring in on him. War is a bad enough place without glorified guns for hire.

Have any of you people got a look at their application for employment. I have. One of the questions on the application reads "please put a check next to which weapons you are proficient in (please check at least one)". Guess what? One of the weapons listed--of all things--is an RPG? How about that? lol

reply to post by biggie smalls

Originally posted by biggie smalls

Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans. Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor; indeed some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards on their arms. They say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force. Several mercenaries we spoke with said they had served in Iraq on the personal security details of the former head of the US occupation, L. Paul Bremer and the former US ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte.

I didn't see one objectionable sentence in the paragraph you supplied above.

Originally posted by biggie smalls

They owe allegiance to Fuhrer Prince.

Fuhrer, eh? This is how disinfo gets started, quietly. Slip a derogatory word into a thread here and there; pretty soon it will catch on.

Doesn't matter one bit if it's a blatant falsehood or not, does it?:shk:

Originally posted by jpm1602
Wonder how Pat Tillman felt screaming 'I'm f'ing Pat Tillman dammit' when the 50 cals were pouring in on him. War is a bad enough place without glorified guns for hire.

What does Blackwater have to do with Past Tillman?

Originally posted by jsobecky
reply to post by biggie smalls

 

They owe allegiance to Fuhrer Prince.
--------------------Reply posted by jsobecky -------
Fuhrer, eh? This is how disinfo gets started, quietly. Slip a derogatory word into a thread here and there; pretty soon it will catch on.

So now the word "Leader" is a derogatory comment ? Disinfo ? He OWNs the company don't he ? He LEADS it to say the least. What dictionary do you use? I think you just showed your level of (or lack of) education.

I didn't see one objectionable sentence in the paragraph you supplied above.

Check the actual article. Found here The last line of it reads.
" If Blackwater's reputation and record in Iraq are any indication of the kind of "services" the company offers, the people of New Orleans have much to fear."


Check it out its a good read with people that were there .


[edit on 28-3-2008 by oLDWoRLDDiSoRDeR]

Originally posted by oLDWoRLDDiSoRDeR
So now the word "Leader" is a derogatory comment ? Disinfo ? He OWNs the company don't he ? He LEADS it to say the least. What dictionary do you use?

We both know the implication.

Originally posted by oLDWoRLDDiSoRDeR
I think you just showed your level of (or lack of) education.

No, because I would have pointed out the misspelling of the word.

But you, and he, both showed your lack of education, and abundance of ignorance, by using the word Fuhrer.

Führer (help·info) (Fuehrer when the ü-umlaut is not used, but never Fuhrer) is a noun meaning "leader" in the German language.

en.wikipedia.org...