Blackwater Guards Tied to Secret Raids by the C.I.A.

[mcablue]

Source: New York Times

December 10

By JAMES RISEN and MARK MAZZETTI
WASHINGTON — Private security guards from Blackwater Worldwide participated in some of the C.I.A.’s most sensitive activities — clandestine raids with agency officers against people suspected of being insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and the transporting of detainees, according to former company employees and intelligence officials.

The raids against suspects occurred on an almost nightly basis during the height of the Iraqi insurgency from 2004 to 2006, with Blackwater personnel playing central roles in what company insiders called “snatch and grab” operations, the former employees and current and former intelligence officers said.

Several former Blackwater guards said that their involvement in the operations became so routine that the lines supposedly dividing the Central Intelligence Agency, the military and Blackwater became blurred. Instead of simply providing security for C.I.A. officers, they say, Blackwater personnel at times became partners in missions to capture or kill militants in Iraq and Afghanistan, a practice that raises questions about the use of guns for hire on the battlefield.

Separately, former Blackwater employees said they helped provide security on some C.I.A. flights transporting detainees in the years after the 2001 terror attacks in the United States.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/us/politics/11blackwater.html?_r=1&hp

[midnight]

1. Everything works like clock work.

[EFerrari]

2. Who could have ever imagined BlackWater was CIA.

[L. Coyote]

25. Dec-09-07 - "Does anyone on DU believe Blackwater is NOT a CIA or MIA front? "

Who couldn't? :rofl:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2434635#2435163

[boppers]

33. Blackwater/ Xe does contracts the CIA couldn't, wouldn't, touch.

Calling it a "front" muddies the waters.

They're not a false front, they're contractors... willing to work for whoever pays.

[Goldstein1984]

3. Some folks say they're out there still...

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone awake during the Dark Ages of Bush/Cheney.

Considering how much continuity there is between Bush/Cheney and Obama/Biden where the "War on Terror" is concerned, I wonder what we're still using mercenaries for?

[vegetat]

4. Mercenaries

[KansDem]

14. Wasn't there a past, former great empire that used mercenaries?

I don't recall off hand, but wasn't the use of mercenaries part of its downfall? :shrug:

Welcome to DU! :hi:

on edit: Perhaps the answer can be found in post no. 5.

[liberation]

23. Didn't mercenaries get involved in our revolutionary war at some point?

The Hessians and all that jazz...

It may be the poetic circle of life: we got started with mercenaries, we got ended with mercenaries...

[JDPriestly]

5. Somebody (or bodies) need to reread their Roman history.

We should only have one military body, only one military command. It is very dangerous to allow potential rivalries to develop among various military and quasi-military entities.

[democrank]

6. Unaccountable thugs.

Wonder how the United States would respond if another government tried these "snatch and grab" techniques here?

[SpiralHawk]

9. Highly paid republicon crony thugs

Doing the darkside occult work of the republicons for big bucks, while the Chickenhawk Bush Administration was stinting on supplies and armor for our honorable, underpaid sons and daughters in the uniforms of the USA/

Republicon Family Values have no place in an honorable nation...

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

21. $BUCKS$

while the Chickenhawk Bush Administration was stinting on supplies and armor for our honorable, underpaid sons and daughters in the uniforms of the USA.


You are exactly right!

What an outrage to deny Troop armor and at the same time Blackwater is paid $$$.


Meanwhile today - on Obamas watch - there is much to question about the Secret War in Pakistan with Blackwater help.

[closeupready]

20. This is illegal.

Is it not?

[boppers]

34. What would the "crime" be?

It's not illegal to hire bodyguards....

:evilgrin:

[ManiacJoe]

38. "snatch and grab" = kidnapping.

Unlawful imprisonment could be tossed in. Given the nature of the tactics used, assault with a deadly weapon could be added to the list of charges.

[No Elephants]

7. Can you imagine how much Blackwater, Halliburton and Bechtel made in the past 8 years?

[shadowknows69]

8. And we have U.S. soldiers applying for food stamps.

[SpiralHawk]

10. There you have Republicon Family Values in a nutshell

Big Bucks for occult evil doers, dog feed for those who served with honor...

[saigon68]

32. Been there --- Done That

[lxlxlxl]

18. we should know much more about these companies than we do.

everyone knows the name cheney, but who knows the #2 and #3 at Halliburton? who knows the head of bechtel? there is a list of iraq war profiteers than earned massive wealth over the past eight years, and their names should be just as prevalent as dumb old cheney

[No Elephants]

27. Our children and grandchildren will probably know their names. They will be Presidents, like Bushes

And ambassadors and the like. Prescott to George H to George W.

Who says we have no hereditary titles? For example, why was Schlessinger a diplomat able to get rich off Iraq?

We've been sheeple, folks. Not Democrats. Not Republicans, either. Americans in general.

[L. Coyote]

26. Prince, Erik: 10/4/2000 - $68,000 - RNC/Repub National State Elections Cmte

Can you imagine the Pay-to-Play shackdowns by the Bush Junta?

==============
Blackwater USA Connections - Campaign Contributions for the Culture of Corruption.

Edited on Wed Oct-03-07 08:53 AM by L. Coyote
The list of donations is very long, a real Who's Who in the Culture of Corruption.
Here is a sampling, plus quotes from a study follow.

PRINCE, ERIK MR - MCLEAN,VA 22102
Donations:
7/27/2007 - $20,000 - National Republican Congressional Cmte
8/5/2005 - $25,000 - National Republican Congressional Cmte
7/14/2004 - $25,000 - Republican National Cmte
$500 - National Conservative Campaign Fund
$5,000 - Green Party of Luzerne County
10/15/2003 - $2,000 - Bush, George W
11/16/2004 - $1,000 - DeLay, Tom
09/26/2005 - $2,100 - DeLay, Tom

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search_hp.asp?txtName...

PRINCE, ERIK - CODY,WY 82414 - THE PRINCE GROUP
10/30/2000 - $20,000 - Republican National Cmte
10/4/2000 - $68,000 - RNC/Repub National State Elections Cmte
1/30/2001 - $3,950 - RNC/Repub National State Elections Cmte
11/1/1994 - $1,000 - North, Oliver

[No Elephants]

28. I'd be very surprised if Dummya's administration were the first or the last.

[Solly Mack]

11. k/r

[bemildred]

12. Dang, you could just knock me over with a feather.

Does anyone remember Iran-Contra? Charlie Wilson's War? Has anything changed but the names of the perps?

[annm4peace]

13. Show me the money and who authorized it. They need to be prosecuted

picture by Steve Bidwell on flickr

[KansDem]

15. I join you in your sentiment, however...

If war criminals like Bush and Cheney can escape prosecution, as well as John Yoo, mastermind of the "torture is okay" policy, as well as all the other Bushistas who participated, can escape prosecution, I wouldn't hold my breath about this development...

[No Elephants]

29. America jumped the shark.

Criminals have always committed crimes and probably always will. A society that refuses to prosecute criminals however is also criminal.

Why are WE allowing this?

[Piewhacket]

16. Blackwater took the torture contracts too,betcha. Blackwater using CIA. money.

That motherfucker Cheney hired goons to do the torture
via Blackwater using black money from the CIA.
Ya think?

[No Elephants]

30. The CIA has no money. You and I paid Blackwater, just as we paid the CIA, Cheney and Dummya.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

37. They have tons of money.

Much of which didn't come directly from the taxpayer.

[LiberalFighter]

17. What did the CIA do for security before Blackwater?

[No Elephants]

31. Good question.

[boppers]

35. DynCorp, Triple Canopy, Kroll, Securitas, CACI, Titan...

50 different mercenary/protection companies in Iraq alone. Blackwater's been getting the press, but they're hardly new faces in a brand new industry, public/private partnerships of this type have been going on for at least the last 50-60 years (depending on how you look at it).

Some reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DynCorp_International
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securitas_AB

And for an overview:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_military_company

[OnyxCollie]

19. K&R. nt

[placton]

22. Is Obama using them the same way? You Betcha! n/t

[liberation]

24. Mr. Nobel Peace Winner Pres. Obama to you sir!

LOL

[boppers]

36. Just like Clinton, Carter... heck, this goes back to pre-US days.

Private military contracting isn't new, and has been employed for as long as the US has existed.