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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 12:59 PM
Original message
What if Bush’s mercenaries turn on us? Is BLACKWATER his Praetorian Guard? MUST READ
There are well over a hundred thousand military contractors now in Iraq, and according to a 2004 edict passed by the American occupation authorities there, they are all immunized from prosecution. They are above the law and answerable only to their paymasters: the Bush administration and its crony corporations in Iraq. Erik Prince, the founder and head of Blackwater, has close ties with the radical religious right in the US and, of course, with the Bush White House. Given the Administration’s clear, in fact stated, intention to illegally occupy Iraq for many years (http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/06/04/time-for-congressional-oversight-on-permanent-bases-in-iraq), they and the other mercenaries plan to hold and extend their lawless power indefinitely.

Meanwhile, the legitimate, loyal US troops are being overextended, abused, broken, and I have to wonder if this is deliberate. They are stretched thinner and thinner while Bush’s paramilitary thugs profit and grow stronger under the cover of secrecy and official collusion. It doesn’t take much of a tinfoil hat to see the trend and consider where it is leading.

Read this article and judge for yourself – and spread the word. All too many Americans have no idea of their danger, and the corporate-owned media have no intention of informing them.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/03/1638/
Published on Sunday, June 3, 2007 by the Philadelphia Inquirer

What If Our Mercenaries Turn On Us?


by Chris Hedges

Armed units from the private security firm Blackwater USA opened fire in Baghdad streets twice in two days last week. It triggered a standoff between the security contractors and Iraqi forces, a reminder that the war in Iraq may be remembered mostly in our history books for empowering and building America’s first modern mercenary army.There are an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 armed security contractors working in Iraq, although there are no official figures and some estimates run much higher. Security contractors are not counted as part of the coalition forces. When the number of private mercenary fighters is added to other civilian military “contractors” who carry out logistical support activities such as food preparation, the number rises to about 126,000.

(snip)

The privatization of war hands an incentive to American corporations, many with tremendous political clout, to keep us mired down in Iraq. But even more disturbing is the steady rise of this modern Praetorian Guard. The Praetorian Guard in ancient Rome was a paramilitary force that defied legal constraints, made violence part of the political discourse, and eventually plunged the Roman Republic into tyranny and despotism. Despotic movements need paramilitary forces that operate outside the law, forces that sow fear among potential opponents, and are capable of physically silencing those branded by their leaders as traitors. And in the wrong hands, a Blackwater could well become that force.
(snip)

Blackwater, barely a decade old, has migrated from Iraq to set up operations in the United States and nine other countries. It trains Afghan security forces and has established a base a few miles from the Iranian border. The huge contracts from the war - including $750 million from the State Department since 2004 - have allowed Blackwater to amass a fleet of more than 20 aircraft, including helicopter gunships. Jeremy Scahill, the author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1560259795?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1560259795&adid=0VZ5P4EDX9F34V3739WQ&), points out that Blackwater has also constructed “the world’s largest private military facility - a 7,000-acre compound near the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina.” Blackwater also recently opened a facility in Illinois (”Blackwater North”) and, despite local opposition, is moving ahead with plans to build another huge training base near San Diego. The company recently announced it was creating a private intelligence branch called “Total Intelligence.”

(snip)

The word contractor helps launder the fear and threat out of a more accurate term: “paramilitary force.” We’re not supposed to have such forces in the United States, but we now do. And if we have them, we have a potential threat to democracy. On U.S. soil, Blackwater so far has shown few signs of being an out-and-out rogue retainer army, though they looked the part in New Orleans. But were this country to become even a little less stable, outfits like Blackwater might see a heyday. If the United States falls into a period of instability caused by another catastrophic terrorist attack, an economic meltdown that triggers social unrest, or a series of environmental disasters, such paramilitary forces, protected and assisted by fellow ideologues in the police and military, could ruthlessly abolish what is left of our eroding democracy. War, with the huge profits it hands to corporations, and to right-wing interests such as the Christian Right, could become a permanent condition. And the thugs with automatic weapons, black uniforms and wraparound sunglasses who appeared on the streets in New Orleans could appear on our streets.

Chris Hedges ([email protected]) is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and won a Pulitzer Prize as a foreign correspondent for the New York Times. He is author, mostly recently, of “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0743284437?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0743284437&adid=1N3D6ZB12NRSQ0JA22DA&).”



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quiet.american Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:03 PM
Response to Original message
1. Long ago concluded it's not a question of *if*, but *when*. n/t
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AX10 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:03 PM
Response to Original message
2. If these "mercenaries" had balls, they would join the real military!
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Lance_Boyle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:24 PM
Response to Reply #2
9. these mercenaries are mostly ex-real-military
Why stay enlisted for peanuts when you can move on to bilgewater to get your share of the spoils of war?

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northzax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 04:44 PM
Response to Reply #9
41. Indeed
You are going to be in iraq anyway, would you rather be making $100/day subject to UCMJ and capricious deployment or $500/day with no rules and a ticket home whenever you want to?
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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:05 PM
Response to Original message
3. Deleted message
Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.
 
AX10 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:40 PM
Response to Reply #3
16. True.
:puke:
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demnan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:05 PM
Response to Original message
4. They already have
I was an eyewitness to their efforts to beat people up in D.C. during the March 17 peace demonstration. The Screaming Eagles or whatever they are, hired them to stand guard around the Vietnam Memorial. They beat up two women who were there - the women showed us their wounds afterward. I called this in on C-Span the next morning and all kinds of people called to say they had been beaten up. Mostly groups of two or less and mostly women. I traveled with a group of 17, mostly men, that day, they didn't bother us, but we kept moving.
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Robson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 09:52 PM
Response to Reply #4
62. They aren't sworn peace officers or federal agents - where is the ACLU?
The Vietnam Memorial is our property, not Blackwater's or gathering of eagles or any other group. I can't see how a private group could hire a private company to guard public property and said private company have any standing.
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Robson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 09:54 PM
Response to Reply #4
63. Every dime spent on those corporate hacks could buy 10x more military and sworn officers
Blackwater and their peers needs dismantled.
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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:09 PM
Response to Original message
5. a kick for visibility n/t
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sniffa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:12 PM
Response to Original message
6. run out and buy a copy of "red dawn"
Edited on Mon Jun-04-07 01:16 PM by sniffa
you'LL be aLL set.

now, where were we in the controLLed expLosion of WTC7 discussion that they don't want us to have?
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WiseButAngrySara Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:46 PM
Response to Reply #6
21. Who is the 'they' in this sentence? I've just begun to read about
WTC7 and I've never considered myself to be a tinhatter conspiracy nut of any kind, but the evidence I've garnered so far is amazing. Ironically, I rarely watched The View, but it was Rosie's mention of WTC7 and the occasional reference to it here that got my initial interest.

But the real eye-opener for me was the weekend before last, when I wanted to listen to Phillip Glass music for some reason and couldn't find the CD. I went to YouTube and googled Koyanisquatsi (phonetically spelled; the Hopi word meaning 'Life out of Balance'), as this documentary years ago introduced me to Glass. I found several cuts of portions of the film (it is a photo-documentary without any verbal comment except for Phillip Glass music and it is breathtaking and life changing for some...I saw it about two decades ago when it was released and its' mysterious, haunting beauty has never left me) but the third sequel was what captivated me. I hadn't really known about the Pruitt Igoe Complex that was shown destroyed in the film. My ex-husband told me it was a failed housing project, but I didn't think about it much at all for all of these years. This time when I saw it I immediately thought of WTC7, and sure enough others had posted comments on the similarity of the bombings. The most amazing coincidence though, was the fact that the architect of the detonated Pruitt Igoe builings in St. Louis was the same architect who designed the WTC buildings! They knew all about the successful implosion of the older buildings. There are many other factoids of interest I've been able to recently accrue, and I'm in the midst of becoming a full believer.
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sniffa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 02:05 PM
Response to Reply #21
25. "they" is major League basebaLL
though they're just a front for the iLLuminati.
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WiseButAngrySara Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 02:44 PM
Response to Reply #25
33. Uh huh. Makes a lot of sense.
"now, where were we in the controLLed expLosion of WTC7 discussion that they= Illuminati don't want us to have?"
;-)
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Jazzgirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 07:12 PM
Response to Reply #21
49. Wise, I am from Missouri and I remember when they
blew down Pruit Igo. It was a very failed project. I knew many people that lived there too and they used to walk through it in fear and were so glad to get out. I remember seeing films of the implosion of those buildings. I'll have to look for them......
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WiseButAngrySara Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 08:51 PM
Response to Reply #49
57. I will supply you with the link shortly! I have also become very
interested in the tragedy of this human event and have read up on it. Do you know that about 1000 neighbors of Pruitt Igoe meet every year to this day? Apparently the steel core was never cleaned up! And the steel cores were missing from the 9/11 buildings nad the rest of the stell was sold to China!
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WiseButAngrySara Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 09:13 PM
Response to Reply #49
58. Hey Jazzgirl! Here are links to the YouTube and Wiki ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t29fgA5M7VA
koyaanisqatsi - Pruit Igoehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyaanisqatsi

Koyaanisqatsi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance is a 1982 film directed by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by minimalist composer Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke. The film consists primarily of slow motion and time-lapse photography of cities and natural landscapes across the United States. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and music. In the Hopi language, the word Koyaanisqatsi means 'life of moral corruption and turmoil, life out of balance', and the film implies that modern humanity is living in such a way.
The sequence "Pruitt-Igoe" contains shots of various housing projects in disrepair, and includes footage of the decay and demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe housing project. The housing project was known for its modernist design, but fell into immediate disrepair. The sequence ends with stock footage of the destruction of large buildings and a shot of a television set being blown up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pruitt-Igoe
Designed in 1951 by architect Minoru Yamasaki (who would later design the New York World Trade Center of 1972-2001), the complex was named for St. Louisans Wendell O. Pruitt, an African-American fighter pilot in World War II, and William L. Igoe, a former U.S. Congressional representative. Originally, the city planned two partitions: Pruitt for black residents, and Igoe for whites. But as segregation was ruled unconstitutional in the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, the project was opened as racially integrated. But within two years, most white residents had found the means to relocate.


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NJCher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 11:51 PM
Response to Reply #58
68.  an eerie moment
Comes in that film at about the 6:18 mark, when a bird flies in front (looks like through) the exploding highrise. It is like a foreshadowing of 9/11, with the bird resembling the airplane.

I had not heard of this film and I am so glad you introduced me to it. The term Koyaanisqatsi is so appropriate for highrises like that and for much of what American life is.

No wonder the humans who were to live in these horrid places tore them to pieces. It must have been an innate reaction to such a place.



Cher

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juno jones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-06-07 09:23 PM
Response to Reply #21
76. From Wikipedia on Pruitt Igoe:
During the Nixon administration, Pruitt-Igoe was widely publicized as a failure of government involvement in urban renewal, and the destruction of the buildings was dramatized in the media to convince the American public that 'government intervention' in social problems only leads to waste, and to justify cutbacks on social and economic equalization programs.


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no_hypocrisy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:21 PM
Response to Original message
7. Wouldn't the members of Blackwater have the same status as bounty hunters,
that is, they are still civilians attacking other civilians?

And if this is so, if you had the legal right to own and possess a firearm in order to defend yourself and/or your family in your home from which you are being threatened by a civilian contractor, and the contractor suffered from your actions of self-defense, it wouldn't be "resisting arrest" or challenging a government official, would it? Is there a grey area where these contractors are not necessarily government law enforcement but also aren't 100 percent civilian?

I honestly don't understand their status or what your rights would be in resisting their intervention in your life.
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RedCappedBandit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 07:41 PM
Response to Reply #7
52. This is something I would like to know, too.
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Robson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-05-07 08:27 PM
Response to Reply #7
74. ACLU should tackle this
This is quite important and they need a case with standing. The Vietnam Memorial abuses quoted previously should be ligitimate examples.
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blues90 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:23 PM
Response to Original message
8.  One caller to the Malloy show brough this up after putting the pieces
together , Mike also felt it was quite possible , it is certainly something to worry about .

with bushs power grab and his open door to attack Iran without going through congress . It seems cheney is the one beating the war drum for Iran but it's difficult to believe bush and condi really are pursuing peace talks with Iran , somehow I feel this is just another game or criminal plan . Plus they are trying to take down Irans financial structure with covert operations .
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Ganja Ninja Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:27 PM
Response to Original message
10. I would consider them traitors and have no problem doing the ...
what I consider is appropriate to deal with them.
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WiseButAngrySara Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:27 PM
Response to Original message
11. Tryanny always needs its bodyguards. I have worried about this
potential since Katrina. I believe it to be a real threat, and I imagine there are many who know or suspect of their takeover plans in the event of a real or imaginary disaster, and this possibly silences some in DC. (Maybe I'm being too tinfoilish here...)
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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:32 PM
Response to Original message
12. The only difference between the Decider's mercenaries and, say, the Friekorps
is that of $$$.
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Javaman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:34 PM
Response to Original message
13. What do you mean by "if"? it's a matter of when.
When the real draw down of the troops in Iraq finally happens, what do you honestly think is going to become of these mercs? You think they are just going to take their pay checks and go home? hardly.

Since now that our intelligence services are being farmed out to private corps, it's only a very small leap of faith to see the same thing happening to our national guard.

Once this screwed up war is finally done, there will be a exodus from the military the likes of which hasn't been seen since the Viet Nam war.

And that vacuum will have to be filled. And I will give you one guess as to who that will be...

The rise of America's Praetorian guard aka Blackwater.

We are far from done folks, there is still so much more that the neo-cons (no matter how out of favor they are) have yet to dismantle.

Katrina proved that we can no longer depend on the gov't to help the nation.

this war has totally screwed over our national defense.

corporations now run everything.

The have mores get even more and the poor get even less.

I think now mr. codpiece* could strut across the carrier and say mission accomplished. Brick by brick, that fucking asshole* has taken down this nation.
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butterfly77 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 02:28 PM
Response to Reply #13
31. I recommend your post...
This is how I see it.
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AntiFascist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 03:59 PM
Response to Reply #13
35. A blackhawk helicopter was recently used....
in a search and rescue mission to find an elderly woman with alzheimers who had disappeared in a very conservative part of California. I guess they can be helpful when they want to.
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Ilsa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 09:56 PM
Response to Reply #13
64. "corporations now run everything" Why should "islamo-fascists"
be concerned about exporting that to the US when we have our own fascism?

Backin 1992 or 1993 I heard OxyRush define fascism, and after reading said Webster's definition, declared he liked it and that is what we needed.

The control of the US by corporations has me very nervous. And it always reminds me of the movie "Aliens" where The Company runs everything.
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glitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:36 PM
Response to Original message
14. They did: Katrina. K & R nt
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helderheid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:38 PM
Response to Original message
15. and we have the halliburton built concentration camps to go along with it,.
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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:44 PM
Response to Reply #15
19. Exactly. While you were posting this, I was writing the same thing and
posting it in Reply #18. It all dovetails; it isn't subtle, no matter that the media have buried it.
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helderheid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 02:12 PM
Response to Reply #19
27. Your point in #18 is absolutely chilling.
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Bucky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:42 PM
Response to Original message
17. Worst case scenarios for Bush keep on turning out to be a bust.
It helps to understand the man's psychology. He's a bully. He doesn't pick on the strong. When he's criticized, he doesn't attack, he whines about how unfair it is that people only tune into the one or two deadly suicide bombings per day and utterly ignore all the good news of the millions of Iraqs who were not blown up by terrorists on that same day (even if they were living in squalor, dying of dysintery, or hiding in their homes from all the bombings and free lance death squads).

If we display strength, Bush won't unleash his dogs on us. Like any smart vampire, he avoids the sunlight.
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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:43 PM
Response to Original message
18. This dovetails with Bush's "Dictator Edict" - he will declare an emergency
Edited on Mon Jun-04-07 01:46 PM by Nothing Without Hope
and then he can use his private (though publicly funded) paramilitary forces to enforce his declared dictatorship. He's stated his intentions very clearly:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=1008763

All those Halliburton-built US detention centers have plenty of space for people who dissent too strongly. Some links re the detention centers:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2062553
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x226361
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=479401&mesg_id=479401
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x485749
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x499461
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1861765&mesg_id=1861765
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/national/04halliburton.html?ei=5088&en=01728da2eba059e4&ex=1296709200&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2356872
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2960254
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3047171
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3064687
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x663398
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Matariki Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:46 PM
Response to Original message
20. In combination of him weakening the US army - I've been worrying about this for a while
:tinfoilhat: ???

Funny, my boyfriend, who's not very political or even news savvy, told me about a dream he had last night that the army and police force were completely gone & depleted and that the government was trying to cover up the fact so people wouldn't panic and/or loot.
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butterfly77 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 02:32 PM
Response to Reply #20
32. This is why they have always played down the crime statistics
they now can't hide it because, the people who live in this country can see what is really going on..
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Rosa Luxemburg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:50 PM
Response to Original message
22. I guess the constitution provided the 'bear arms'
The American public vs King George and his Blackwater
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enfield collector Donating Member (821 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 02:19 PM
Response to Reply #22
29. someone needs to tell boxer, feinstien, schumer, clinton , dodds et al
that little fact. they're doing their best to disarm us.
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nykym Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:53 PM
Response to Original message
23. OK but lets remember that there are
302,003,181 of us (total National projected population for 2007) so even if a quater of that, a mere 77,500,795 (Yes that is 77 million +) take a stand against a paltry 100,000 armed to the teeth killing machines. Do you honestly think they would prvail or would they join us. I still would rather be on the side of freedom rather than oppresion. Lets take it to the streets.
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ieoeja Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 01:55 PM
Response to Original message
24. Marines will kick Blackwater's ass again. n/t
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ringtailtooter Donating Member (76 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 02:09 PM
Response to Original message
26. Just read full article on Common Dreams and the comments, WOW.
The comments, though quite lengthy, are worth wading through. Some are very insightful and add to the story and others are most scary. One near the bottom of list has started "connecting the dots" of various corporations' involvements and financial flow to Blackwater, which could be the tip of the iceberg.
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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 02:12 PM
Response to Reply #26
28. Good advice. And welcome to DU!!!
Your wonderful username gave me a smile, which I also appreciate.
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helderheid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 04:36 PM
Response to Reply #26
40. welcome to DU!
:hi:
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malaise Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 08:33 PM
Response to Reply #26
56. It's all very scary n/t
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BlooInBloo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 02:23 PM
Response to Original message
30. Well, that'll be a lot of dead black, gay, jewish, and hispanic people.
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Golden Raisin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 03:05 PM
Response to Original message
34. Just curious. Have any of the Democratic
contenders spoken out publicly or gone on record about/against Blackwater and/or the Halliburton domestic internment camps? Clinton, Obama, Biden, Dodd, anyone? What about Congresspeople other than Murtha? What about the legitimate military, i.e. the Joint Chiefs of Staff? Any comments from them? If I were a Republican (old school) I'd be just as concerned. This is an American issue/nightmare, not a partisan issue. We know the mainstream media will keep this all as quiet as possible. We'll all know more about the misadventures of Paris Hilton in jail than Blackwater mercenaries.
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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 04:12 PM
Response to Original message
36. a kick for visibility n/t
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Cleita Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 04:16 PM
Response to Original message
37. I'm somewhat worried about this. If our military brass in the Pentagon
ever decided that they don't want to follow the orders of an illigitimately, installed by the Supreme Court commander-in-chief, would the Bushistas unleash their mercenary army on ours?
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RL3AO Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 04:17 PM
Response to Original message
38. As long as the U.S. Gov't are signing the checks, I think it will be ok.
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aikoaiko Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 04:19 PM
Response to Original message
39. Then the 2nd Amendment as an individual right will become even more important than ever.
Edited on Mon Jun-04-07 04:53 PM by aikoaiko

I think rule of law will kick in before Revolutionary War II, but one can't be too sure.
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guitar man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 04:45 PM
Response to Original message
42. chilling
The only advice I have is, arm yourselves, and don't skimp on the ammo. ;)
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in_cog_ni_to Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 05:00 PM
Response to Original message
43. There's a reason they exist and I'm sure the reason is NOT for what we've been told.
Have Blackwater mercenaries taken an oath to uphold the CONSTITUTION? I didn't think so.:(

We all know what the psycho thinks about that "G-d Damn piece of paper."

:scared:
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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 05:49 PM
Response to Original message
44. another kick for visibility n/t
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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 05:51 PM
Response to Original message
45. No what ifs about it. WHEN. These Praetorian Hessians will mow us down without a thought
That's what this private army is being called into being for...nothing less.
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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 06:34 PM
Response to Original message
46. kick n/t
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natrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 06:44 PM
Response to Original message
47. notice crime stats spiking-fed sends in anti crime teams
writing is on the wall---food prices will at some point be out of reach for some, followed by crime, followed by blackwater in our cities and this will be openly cheered by you know who
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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 06:59 PM
Response to Original message
48. Another post on this important article here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1038913
title: Important Phil Inquirer and Common Dreams article: What if Our Mercernaries...

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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 07:28 PM
Response to Original message
50. This article appeared first in the Philly Inquirer and the author is a Pulitzer Prize winner
The appearance of this editorial in a public venue like the Inquirer, and written by a respected author like Chris Hedges, makes it harder to ignore....I hope.

Link to original Philly Inquirer publication of the article on June 3:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20070603_What_if_our_mercenaries_turn_on_us_.html

I suggest that we email Chris Hedges to express our support and gratitude for his effort and courage in writing this article. His email address: [email protected]

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Lisa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 07:32 PM
Response to Original message
51. some rather scary parallels with the Hundred Years War, when the mercenaries took over
When the war staggered to a close, there were armies of mercenaries who decided they deserved whatever they could grab by force. They basically held Europe to ransom -- entire cities were obliged to hire these armed bands "for protection" (or risk being looted and destroyed). In retrospect, what Hedges says in the last paragraph -- "If the United States falls into a period of instability caused by another catastrophic terrorist attack, an economic meltdown that triggers social unrest, or a series of environmental disasters, such paramilitary forces, protected and assisted by fellow ideologues in the police and military, could ruthlessly abolish what is left of our eroding democracy" -- isn't that farfetched, since there are historical precedents.
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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 08:25 PM
Response to Original message
53. ***More about the top brass of Blackwater from an article from last summer:
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=108028&ran=144012

This is from a July 2006 article in the Virginian-Pilot. Read the whole thing. These men are monsters, very highly connected monsters who will stop at nothing to push the neocon agenda. For example, here are the first four paragraphs of the section on one of them:


JOSEPH SCHMITZ, 49, became chief operating officer and general counsel of the Prince Group in September 2005 after a stint as inspector general at the Defense Department.

Schmitz was the senior Pentagon official responsible for investigating waste, fraud and abuse. Now he faces a congressional inquiry into accusations that he quashed two criminal investigations of senior Bush administration officials. The inquiry is continuing, according to a spokeswoman for Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Schmitz was a special assistant to Attorney General Edwin Meese III in the Reagan administration. He was awarded the Defense Department Medal for Distinguished Public Service on his retirement from the Pentagon.

Schmitz’s father, John G. Schmitz, was a two-term Republican congressman from California and a prominent member of the John Birch Society, an ultra-conservative group that flowered during the Cold War. He ran for president in 1972 as the candidate of the American Independent Party after its founder, George Wallace, was paralyzed by a would-be assassin.

(snip)


Be sure to check the bottom of the web page - there are links to other 2006 articles on Blackwater. Note that like the article that is the subject of the current thread, these earlier pieces were published in a public newspaper, not some "conspiracy nut" blog. (Some sarcasm intended here - too often the "conspiracy nuts" have been closer to the truth than the corporate press.)
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walldude Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 08:31 PM
Response to Original message
54. Uh... they're mercenaries, all we would need to do is pay them more..
They fight for money, whoever is paying the most, they have no partisan attachments or ideology...
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earth mom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 08:31 PM
Response to Original message
55. No tinfoilhat needed...look no further than Katrina.
:scared:
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flyarm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 09:34 PM
Response to Original message
59. thanks for the i mportant article..a couple years ago i read a study done
i think it was by our military that our military tested would not turn on Americans in our streets...i can't remember who did the report but it was frightening..because i believe it was done by the generals or a colonel or gao..or someone within our government ..and at that point it was pointed our to accomplish a true martial law a mercenary military force would be nessesary..that was the basic jist of the article and study i read..i wish i still had the article..but new computer and the computer guy put my files somewhere on this dang computer..where i can't find them..with my ( cough) incredible computer genius..( not)...

i believe it was a colonel who wrote the report...but memory is slipping on that...

yes these are frightening times..and it will take someone with incredible skills who can not be bought to stop the madness!!

(Pres Gore i am calling you to action!!)

thank you for this important article!! i will pass it on!!

fly
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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-05-07 02:57 PM
Response to Reply #59
71. Hello Fly - yes, that sounds all too true, that a mercenary force
was necessary to accomplish the kind of martial law these monsters want. I hope that if you find that report you will post on it.

Good to "see" you, Fly!
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 09:36 PM
Response to Original message
60. They want to build a base in CA to "respond" to earthquakes.
:scared:

K&R
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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 10:50 PM
Response to Reply #60
66. Chilling indeed. Sounds like they're ready to step in when * declares
that he's the dictator because of an "emergency." (see Reply #18, above: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1040790&mesg_id=1041083) Why aren't more people speaking about about this outrage? In part, of course, it's because they have been lulled into a very false sense of security about what is happening to their country right under their noses.

Good to see you, sfexpat2000!
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 11:23 PM
Response to Reply #66
67. Great to read you, Hope.
:)
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autorank Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 09:39 PM
Response to Original message
61. Thank you K*R You answered a question.
The % of the 100 thousand who are in combat troops are the mystery here.

This is the big question, what happens after the war?

Thank you for this!!!

:hi:

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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 10:47 PM
Response to Reply #61
65. Yes, the fact that there are no numbers available for armed paramilitary
contractors is troubling all by itself. As the first paragraph cited above says, "There are an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 armed security contractors working in Iraq, although there are no official figures and some estimates run much higher."

How many of them ARE there, really? Not only overseas but in the US? No one is saying, and I find that very troubling indeed.
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Selatius Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-04-07 11:59 PM
Response to Original message
69. They used Blackwater mercs all over the Gulf Coast after Katrina.
They marched through the streets with their guns and body armor like they were police, but they owed no allegiance to local government or state government. They owed allegiance to the federal government.
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liberal N proud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-05-07 06:41 AM
Response to Original message
70. This is the nightmare we have all known bu$h regime is capable of
All they need now is to put together a reason to have martial law. The US Military will not even be able to stop him if they continue to deplete it.
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Time for change Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-05-07 03:14 PM
Response to Original message
72. This is a very scary example of rampant fascism in our country
We must break the stranglehold that private corporation have over our country, by virtue of their disproportionate influence over our laws, which is in return due to their disproportionate wealth.

We have private corporations running our prisons and consequently lobbying our Congress for lifetime prison sentences for victimless crimes.

The example given in this OP is perhaps the worst manifestation of fascism in our country. What could be worse than having a wealthy private corporation or corporations lobbying Congress for more wars, to increase their profits? And who's to say that our current war in Iraq wasn't substantially influenced by Blackwater (In addition to Halliburton and others)?

Our country and our world is going to hell in a handbasket if this isn't stopped.
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Vidar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-05-07 03:28 PM
Response to Original message
73. Unfortunately no. The Praetorian Guard would have slit his throat
& installed someone better years ago.
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Tellurian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-06-07 09:32 AM
Response to Original message
75. Bringing our own troops home is the only solution...
Edited on Wed Jun-06-07 09:33 AM by Tellurian
and more than likely the reason Bush is keeping this senseless war going. The Nat'l Guard's primary mission is to protect the homeland from invasion. The one failsafe mechanism, unfettered and undeterred by any wars are state's militias. If you care to see where todays militia exist, rent the movie "Betrayed" (1988) w/Tom Berringer and Debra Winger. (They have been making ready for this time for over 20 yrs.) This movie was banned throughout the South. You may need to request it if you are unable to find it at your local vid establishment. The movie is available on dvd @netflix..
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