We have a honest k i l l i n g administration, oyea!

No armchair quarterbacking, please. Not unless you have been over there. You can't properly critique high-risk operations from an air conditioned conference room. Reps Waxman and Schakowsky, I can only imagine the courage it takes to transport a principle through a live fire zone where their safety comes first, not the operator's. I'm sure it must be almost as exciting to read about it in congressional reports. BW USA is a professional organization with a "zero loss" record in Iraq. Every organization has bad apples. If I read the news correctly, the House and Senate are no exception. Police your own, and be relieved that no matter your opinion, rough men stand ready to do violence on your behalf.

if the private security contractors get big enough they can form a coo and take over our government like castro did the one with the hardened army could do that and we would deserve it for being so stupid to let a private war machine flourish in our country

> be relieved that no matter your opinion, rough men stand ready to do violence on your behalf.

I am. They're called "The Military"; they're subject to the UCMJ and are part of our coordinated strategy in the ME and other theatres of operation.

Blackwater employees are mercenaries, pure and simple. Sure they risk their lives - but they get far better compensation than the soldiers who are doing the same thing (or firefighters or police, who also risk their lives on my behalf), and are apparently immune to any consequences for malfeasance.

Hiring our own Hessians to operate free of military control in a war zone is an idiotic policy, particularly in a counter-insurgency campaign where obtaining and growing the support of the indigenous population is paramount.

It's time to put a stop to this misbegotten transfer of wealth to a free-wheeling company of soldiers of fortune - and the Congressional Committee should also be hearing from State Department officials; I'd like them to explain why their personnel need extra-military protection, and how the presence of this mercenary force supports our country's policy goals in Iraq.

Who needs rough men ready to do violence on our behalf ??? WANKSTA

Outsourcing is another word for corruption and loss of control.

Blackwater and their kind have been around since armies have waged wars...they are called mercenaries and their loyalties go to the highest bidder. Caution - the actors in play here all have lots of money to throw around.

I believe this is very similar to the Nazis
when they painted all Jews as evil. The USA President and VP and their associates are painting all Arabs/Muslims as evil. Same thing only a different time period and group of countries involved. We have killed innocent people in Afganistan,taken over a government in Iraq and killed many many innocent people and displaced much of the population, we are thinking about invaiding Iran, and we allow invasion by the other "superior" group of the Americans and Israelis to kill and invade Palestine and Lebanon. Why not just take over the Middle East and grab all of the oil money. Then we will all have to pay it back in retrubutions like the Germans had to pay Israel!
USA is setting a poor example for the world and our children about what we mean when we say that this is a "FREE" country.
The will of the people is being ignored. We are now sending over a private army of killers!
What a shameful day for American Freedom...BRING THE TROOPS HOME AND STOP THE USA PRESIDENT AND VP'S WAR OF GLOBAL SUBMISSION TO AMERICAN BIG BUSINESS WHERE BUSH AND HIS ASSOCIATES ARE MAKING HUGE FORTUNES OFF OF THIS WAR.

> be relieved that no matter your opinion, rough men stand ready to do violence on your behalf.

- Are you Tom Clancy?

I read a statement in an MSNBC article that said: "Private security guards said the question of whether to shoot often depends on split-second decisions that can mean life or death not only for them but also for those around them. "

Well how are they any different than our soldiers? The answer is they aren't other than the fact that they are paid much better than our men and women in uniform. They should be held to the same standard as our REAL military forces are.

hfy86s your comments are offensive to me. I get so tired of neo-cons saying in effect "Just don't ask questions or you aren't being patriotic." Speaking of armchair quarterbacking, it always galls me that so many young neo-cons supportive of the war have so many excuses about why they aren't over there fighting it.

The fact is that Waxman and Davis are doing just what they're paid to do, provide oversight and checks and balances. That is why our country is a DEMOCRATIC great nation and what sets us apart from nations with dictators.

Does anyone remember WWII, when "war profiteers" were a target of disdain and prosecution?

What's changed since then to make war profiteering a good thing?

This isn't complicated. Blackwater is about one thing and that is money. Privatizing the military has made many Generals , career officers and career politicians rich beyond imagination. Money was the goal and Iraq was the excuse to steal the billions from the hands of the American taxpayer.

Contracting mercenaries is wrong all around.

While there never was anything legitimate about the US invasion in Iraq, and the act of contracting mercenaries is further evidence of this being a privately runned war that no American should feel obliged to respect.

Contracting mercenaries is unfair to those serving in the military, and it is unfair to all American taxpayers and consumers.

If Bush wanted the war in Iraq to reflect the national purpose, why is he contracting mercenaries?

"No armchair quarterbacking, please. Not unless you have been over there."

IF THERE IS SO MUCH HARDSHIP, THEN WHY NOT PAY EVERY SOLDIER $1300 A DAY?

The reason blackwater employees are paid more is because they run an exceedingly more efficient shop than does the military. And do not take that as a slight against the military. It is not surprising that a private and tiny by comparison private business is much more flexible and cost efficient than the US military, and if any of you had watched the hearing this was addressed. For instance, Blackwater can precure a vehicle that is specifically outfitted to do a certain job and nothing more, whereas the military has only so many options many of which have entirely unnecessary capabilities thus engendering a much higher initial as well a replacement cost. Because Blackwater is much more efficient in such and many other matters it allows them to pay its employees substantially more than the military pays it soldiers. The point here is not to assign blame but to explain how Blackwater does the job for less and pays its employees more.

Oh and by the way, for all you morons out there calling Blackwater contractors thugs and merciless mercenaries while at the same time lauding our military, the vast majority of Blackwater employees are former US special ops troops, including SEALS, GREEN BERETS, RANGERS, and yes even DELTA. So even if Blackwater was not as cost efficient as it was, the mere excellence of these soldiers not to mention their PERFECT mission record would by itself warrant significantly higher pay than the average American soldier. Furthermore, if the military was assigned the job of protecting civilian traffic, let me assure they would not be sending DELTA and the SEALS to do the job.

So do a little research next time, and stop wasting my time with this incessant drivel.

We no longer have a continental armed forces the( bush war )and his cronies are at work for the almighty dollars and then some.Vote democratic in the next election for a vote of change.

Yes, vote democrat because you hate Bush... Wow, is that how far the left has sunk in this country? Lets elect another Clinton and forget about all this "terrorism" stuff. It will go away right? LOL! Oh I love liberals!

JS, right on brotha. It's amazing how many people are completely clueless and think Blackwater is just a bunch of rednecks with guns.

I dare someone to challenge these posts.

>Does anyone remember WWII, when "war profiteers"
>were a target of disdain and prosecution?

Sadly, the numbers decline every day.

>What's changed since then to make war profiteering
>a good thing?

Very, very few people approve of anything at all with regard to Iraq, let alone the Blackwater disaster.

Blackwater is acting like mercenaries from time immemorial. They are out there to make money and protect their butts. From that point of view it makes sense to shoot first. It is hard to fault a cat for being a cat. You knew when you bought it that you had a cat--and now you are surprised?!

What deserves debate is if this country should employ mercenaries. Besides the whole issue of mercenaries acting like mercenaries, history also tells us that when a country stops fighting its own wars that it has begun sliding down the slippery slope to the dust bin.

Blackwater was founded by former Navy SEALs and reportedly is staffed with former Navy SEALs.

For a bit more information about SEALs, the following articles might be of interest:

"Navy SEAL officer's report on 'remote viewing' urges 'transcendent' intelligence"

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=18354

"Navy SEALs and Marines use positive human traits and virtues for success"

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=19773

When Prince wouldn't even admit that BW had EVER been involved in an action where innocent civilians were killed, it became clear, that even if you feel mercenaries are a good thing, we certainly don't need a stonewalling dishonest person running the company that is being given so many critical contracts that must only go to a company with honest management and a respect for the law. By any standard prince is a bold faced liar. The questioner ( a congressman representing US citizens, including some in the military) didn't ask him who was at fault and didn't qualify his question in any significant way. He simply asked if any civilians were ever killed in any BW action, and the answer was 'no'. I would expect that BW would have killed some innocent civilians and that it would be justified by the circumstances; but to pretend it has NEVER happened is a fantastic lie. Prince should be prosecuted for perjury right now. When your trying to get to the bottom of a serious matter and some clown has the chutzpah to deny the existence of basic, known fact so that the questioner can't even establish a foundation for further questioning; a crime has occurred that should not be forgiven. The US public has a right to know the facts and not be stonewalled at every turn by someone acting like a 3 year old caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The fact that this guy is a veteran of our special forces and never learned that integrity depends upon honesty, blows away the myth the right is trying to build about our military. Most people in the military are honest, but there's significant number that are not honest and are not acting with integrity. The procurement system is rife with corruption and whistleblowers that have spoken up about corruption have been shackled and jailed on a regular basis. This isn't Christ and his apostles. I for one will support the military, but I will not worship or idolize anyone in the military or with BW just because they are in the military or have an association with it. Every time these "Rough Men" are criticized by anyone, the right starts crying and whining and wailing about how grave harm has been inflicted on their mental state and moral. I can handle being called a few names and most people, whether rough or not can handle it; so why are the troops continuously portrayed as a bunch of mental weakies that can't handle the tiniest bit of criticism or scrutiny while we fight the 'war that never ends whether we leave Iraq or not'. I have a different opinion than the right. I feel the moveon nameswitching (Betrayus, or whatever)was juvenile, and I feel that General P won't lose any sleep or have to be carted away by the men in white suits. He's a strong guy, he'll just laugh it off and see it for what it is. Let me know if anyone here's that being called Betrayus makes the General go crazy or fly into a deep depression. I could see him getting mad if he was called a phony and the entire right backed up the person who did so. Oh, that's right, Rush says he wasn't talking about war critics who served in Iraq. Bottom line; Rush can say anything stupid he wants on his private show, but there should be PERJURY Charges for BW's Prince right now due to the travesty he made of the oath he swore to.

Prince and his wealthy and well connected family have a direct deposit account from Bushie to the tune of over $1 Billion...Bush and his family are experts at war profiteering-they raked in Billions laundering money for the Third Reich- This is NOT a conspiracy theory, it is verifiable according to government records as well as media reports. The feds closed Prescott Bush's bank and seized their assets when this was discovered, but inexplicably the money and reputation were returned ..Sure the Bush's know a Nazi when they see one..they were in bed with one. What idiotic hypocrites we must look like to the rest of the world. Follow the money

Outsourcing is just another way to make sure the corporations who fund our politicians can rake in their profits as reward for that funding. Government agencies are subject to oversight; they can and should be subject to much more oversight than has been the norm for years. Outsourcing to corporate cronies tangles the oversight rules and regs, leaving huge gaps that greed-driven corps can drive right through.

Still wonder why so much is being outsourced?

This issue with Blackwater Inc. is nothing less than the Dept. of State hiring it's own army and providing them with unfettered license to operate in Iraq. This is a bunch of cowboys who not only think they are above the law but actually are due to State and the order preventing Iraqi Law (such as sit is) from touching them.

The recent incident in Nisoor Square is a disgrace to their company and to the people who hired and support them. Their contract should be immenidately cancelled and they shsould be ordered out of the country. If you want ot find out why so many are against us there here is a big part of it!

Congratulations Blackwater; you just became one of AlQueda's best recruiters!

I'm sure our GIs will appreciate your hard work!

THE MOST DISTURBING ISSUE ABOUT THIS ORGANIZATION OF TRAINED KILLERS IS THE FACT THAT THEY ADHERE TO LAWS (NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL). THEY CAN BE HIRED BY THE GOVERNMENT AND MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS TO DO PRACTICALLY ANYTHING ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. THEY CAN WILLING RECRUITS FROM ANY PART OF THE WORLD AND DO WHATEVER THEY ARE CONTRACTED TO DO. THEY ANSWER TO NONE BUT THEIR BOSS, ERIK PRINCE!

TRIGGER HAPPY PEOPLE MY FEEL COMFORTABLE THAT "THEY PROTECT AMERICAN INTERESTS". SINCE THERE ARE OTHER NATIONALS, I WONDER WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THERE IS AN INTERNAL REBELLION AGAINST THE COMPANY'S METHODS OF DEALING WITH FOES AND THEY SWITCH SIDES! THINK ABOUT IT!

Just a thought, but isn't it interesting that taxpayers pay the costs to train Navy Seals and other special forces, then private contractors come in, peal off the best -- who now earn vastly higher salaries then when they were in the military -- to do exactly what the military created the special forces for. So we incur the costs of training, turn over the finished product, then pay a a private company to let them do jobs that we give to them, only now it costs us what, ten times as much?

Tell me exactly how BW has added value to the mix. I see, however, how he accrued a billion dollars for himself.

Unfortunately, we've privatized a huge chunk of government in order to turn over huge chunks of the budget to a handful of private citizens.

Kudos to eagleofjade. Could not have stated it better. Seems to me that BW USA is being used as a scape goat. Perhaps the State Dept is theone needing to be investigated. For all of those out there.... These private guards are doing thier job and that is to protect the lives of the very people calling for all these investigations. They go over there on goodwill missions and then turn around and criticize? Or cast blame ? Where is the justice in that?

I want to know who in this administration and this Congress is feeding at Blackwater's trough. I want to know who is holding shares in this brazen attempt to recreate Hitler's stormtroopers. I am appalled, disgusted and revulsed at what the Rockefeller-spawned Bush lackeys have done to the reputation of my country.

Does no one in this Congress understand that we do know the definition of treason and waging wars for personal vendettas and to steal the resources of other countries are both illegal, anti-constitutional and treasonous.

I am nauseated at the ruin of my country by the greed of these little little men.

Does anyone know if Blackwater has any present or past ties with Halliburton??

Looking at the remarks .... one is taken
by the fact...that the "name callers" all
seem to be NON Military types! These are
the same people that think "guns kill people"...rather than "people with guns".
Not one of these great American heroes
could take one day on the job in Iraq!
There is not enough case available to pay
the guys that could wind up hanging from
a bridge in Falluja! God bless all these
guys..."Protect, Perserve and Defend".

The notion of private business practices vs public accountability is clearly at odds when our govt. sub contracts warriors. Blackwater makes massive profits from US taxes. They claim to save money that the government otherwise would need to spend recruiting, training, and deploying soldiers.But if most Blackwater soldiers are ex SEALS or Special Forces, our taxes have already been spent on their training. We're paying them more money to do via Blackwater contracts than if they were still in the military. Does this make economical sense?

And what about accountability to the public for a private company's practices? The disdain in which Prince treated the questions from the Senators suggested that he rejects traditional military accountability for his employees actions. In his view, firing the individuals was adequate. This may be fine for private businesses when dealing with bad employess, but no such premise is acceptable to soldiers in the military, whereas,the problems in Iraq are life & death issues. And who must deal with the blowback from even one murderous error? Those still left in Iraq. And the damage to the United States reputation as an arbitor of justice is complete.
We need to revisit the wisdom of paid soldiers (aka mercenaries) as representative of who we are as a country.

First, when both demapublicans and republicrats wanted to have a war, they had their favorite BS artists at the New York Times make up contrived BS to scare the hell out of the idiot citizens, and make the clever and devious ones respond to the greed.

Most citizens belong to both groups, despite a few minor superficial details. Now the penulum is swinging the other way in a timely fashion, so the shallow propaganda rings true.

The average soldier and his boot-licker commandor cannot do this work, and would not do this work. No matter how glamorous the media puppets make the U.S. military sound.

Politicians are just weasals in sheeps clothing, still crapping on your rug, and sleeping through the robbery of your property. I will let them know if we need them for anything other than nothing.

For now Blackwater is doing a great job, and will continue to do a great job. The clowns in Washington are doing a lousey job, and have nothing to say about real men. Period. Congress had their chance to weigh in on the war, and they ran and hid under the "no draft" policy along with their cowardly constituents. Let them stay behind the couch. I wouldn't even let them in the house, but we take better care of our pets here in the U.S. than our citizens.

I AM A BIT CONCERNED ABOUT THE BLACKWATER STANDING ARMY. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THEY ARE FINALLY WITHDRAWN FROM IRAQ BACK TO THE U.S. I SURE HOPE THEIR WEAPONS WILL BE CONFISCATED. THIS 100,000+ FORCE OF HIGHLY TRAINED "MERCS" IS ORWELLIAN.
CONSIDER THE REAL POSSIBILITY OF THE DEMOCRATS GAINING CONTROL OF THE WHITE HOUSE AND BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS, THIS RIGHT WING PARAMILITARY FORCE MAY WELL TAKE OVER THE COUNTRY, OR SUPPORT A RIGHT WING COUP. THEY ARE TOO PROUD TO HAVE ANOTHER CLINTON, ESPECIALLY HILLARY RUNNING THE SHOW.

FAR FETCHED? WITH THE MILITARY OVERSEAS, NATIONAL GUARD RANKS DEPLETED DICK CHENEY AND HIS NEOCON FRIENDS WILL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH BECAUSE THEY HAD BEEN PREPARING FOR THIS MOMENT FOR EIGHT YEARS.

I AM A BIT CONCERNED ABOUT THE BLACKWATER STANDING ARMY. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THEY ARE FINALLY WITHDRAWN FROM IRAQ BACK TO THE U.S. I SURE HOPE THEIR WEAPONS WILL BE CONFISCATED. THIS 100,000+ FORCE OF HIGHLY TRAINED "MERCS" IS ORWELLIAN.
CONSIDER THE REAL POSSIBILITY OF THE DEMOCRATS GAINING CONTROL OF THE WHITE HOUSE AND BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS, THIS RIGHT WING PARAMILITARY FORCE MAY WELL TAKE OVER THE COUNTRY, OR SUPPORT A RIGHT WING COUP. THEY ARE TOO PROUD TO HAVE ANOTHER CLINTON, ESPECIALLY HILLARY RUNNING THE SHOW.

FAR FETCHED? WITH THE MILITARY OVERSEAS, NATIONAL GUARD RANKS DEPLETED DICK CHENEY AND HIS NEOCON FRIENDS WILL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH BECAUSE THEY HAD BEEN PREPARING FOR THIS MOMENT FOR EIGHT YEARS.

Bush's private army. His very own SS.
Hitler's distrust of the Wehrmacht (Armed Forces), prompted him to replace the members of the Army who had traditionally stood guard at the Chancellor's office, with his personal SS bodyguard soon after he took office on Jan. 30, 1933. This is history worth reading about. History repeats itself.

Mark my words, something will happen before, on, or around the next election... Bush will not leave office. Martial law will be declared... KBRs detention centers will be filled... something is going to prevent a smooth transfer of power.

Eight years in the planning.

Maybe it won't be dramatic. But it'll happen. And we'll all be caught with our pants down. (figuratively)

I fear that as long as Americans still have their big screen t.v.s, cable, and fast food, no one will care. After all, what could be so bad?

This country needs a change in direction. I don't know the answer, but we are in trouble and our constitution has been compromised.

The men and women of the USMC has conducted numerous protection details for diplomats, attaches and foreign service personnel for the State Department in the past.

There is NO reason why the UCMJ annot continue on this mission.

With the way contractors have been operating it seems that State has preferred deploying contractors because they have no ROE or one that is discretionary and subject to change at any time. Contractors are free of penalty or punishment from Iraqi Law, and the UCMJ. And by Erik Prince's testimony an operator can bring in 90K in 6 months. Lets get these waste of tax payer dollars out of there.

The men and women of the USMC has conducted numerous protection details for diplomats, attaches and foreign service personnel for the State Department in the past.

There is NO reason why the USMC cannot continue on this mission.

With the way contractors have been operating it seems that State has preferred deploying contractors because they have no ROE or one that is discretionary and subject to change at any time. Contractors are free of penalty or punishment from Iraqi Law, and the UCMJ. And by Erik Prince's testimony an operator can bring in 90K in 6 months. Lets get these waste of tax payer dollars out of there.

As an American who has never supported this corrupt government or its illegal war, my only question is who "Blackwater" is guarding and escorting around with such callousness towards the very people we were told we were "liberating"? You can bet your sweet tax dollars that its "Big Oil Cronies" needing to go check out their investments, and we're flipping the bill financially and with loss of lives to both are once great military and innocent Iraqi's. Aint greed grand!!!!

Outsourcing is just another way to make sure the corporations who fund our politicians can rake in their profits as reward for that funding. Government agencies are subject to oversight; they can and should be subject to much more oversight than has been the norm for years. Outsourcing to corporate cronies tangles the oversight rules and regs, leaving huge gaps that greed-driven corps can drive right through.

Still wonder why so much is being outsourced?

Posted by: LALA | October 4, 2007 12:01 AM

The answer to why so much is being outsourced is Congress and the Executive Office. Check the records. Outsourcing of Government Jobs began as a "cost saving" measure over a decade ago and has been increased and encouraged for years. This is one reason for contractors on the battlefield - the equivalent Government positions were eliminated and contracted out by either a Presidential decree or Congressional legislation or both.

Government is leaner and cheaper but most of the jobs eliminated have been passed on to non-Government companies via service contracts. As far as I can tell no one is actually tracking the total costs of this out-sourcing nor has a cost/benefit analysis been done. Contracting military support mission to Contractors has always been questioned both from the point of whether it actually was cost effective and what affect having civilian personnel on the battlefield would have on military effectiveness. The cost benefits have never really be reviewed - Government costs go down while service contracting costs go up as the Government jobs are replaced with service contracts. Cost more, cost less? Requirements fulfilled better, same, worse? I don't think we know. Apparently only now are the powers that be noticing that their direction has replaced military and Government personnel on the battlefield with civilian companies working under Government service contracts. So much replacement that without the civilians the Military can no longer operate.

Mike. Been there, done that.

Striver writes: "Blackwater employees are mercenaries, pure and simple"

Mercenaries known as "Mercs" in the trade are "people who sell their skills to fight for a country in a foreign army."

Blackwater is a company who operates in the free market, providing security service to whomever employes them. The difference between them and a normal security company is Blackwater takes on high risk jobs. This is accomplished, not through use of low skilled, minimum wage security guards, but by highly skilled, former military professionals who have ended their military service and are now working in the private sector. Their pay is what the market dictates.

Blackwater performs tasks the military doesn't have the resources or the skills to do. Most of it is VIP protection and they are very good at it. Of the three companies recently mentioned doing this kind of work in Iraq, the others are not in the same league as Blackwater. The State and Defense Departments know this and it remains to be seen if they will roll over like a big dog or stand behind Blackwater as they should do.

When we train special forces to do "impossible" missions I think we still owe them a way to earn a living after retirement. I can understand that putting their skills to work in private industry for security purposes is legitimate... tho it does make me nervous.
However, Prince seemed way too young to be retired, and it really scares me that the Bush whitehouse has a private army out there with enough soldiers in it to engineer a coup de tat (sp?). I wish he had been questioned on where his loyalties would lie if he were given orders to keep Bush in power.

They killed a twelve-year boy - the son of Aras Asi, Almas District, Kirkuk near Kirkuk General Stores about two months ago only because he peered at BW convey through the car window. Who is a terrorist and who is a ---fascism?