Blackwater wants to go from security to an Army For Hire

Blackwater USA: Turning The All-Volunteer Army Into An ‘Army For Hire’

This week at a conference in Jordan, Blackwater USA vice chairman Cofer
(Hope this isn't a duplicate, just got home!)


This week at a conference in Jordan, Blackwater USA Vice Chairman Cofer Black announced that the private security company is ready to shift from a security role to a more “overt combat role,” essentially becoming an army for hire.

The Bush administration has shown itself more than willing to call in Blackwater in place of U.S. troops.

In Aug. 2003, the Bush administration awarded Blackwater a $21.3 million contract to guard then Amb. Paul Bremer. The average senior special operations officer makes $50,000 a year from the U.S. government. Employees in private security firms in Iraq often make more than $1,000 a day from government contracts. This arrangement is “depleting the ranks of the special forces,” luring them into lucrative private jobs.

Some military analysts initially welcomed the administration’s private security arrangement with Blackwater because it allowed “regular military troops to concentrate on fighting.” But Blackwater’s new proposal would shift some of the fighting to the private sector, further diminishing the role of the all-volunteer army.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/03/30/blackwater-army/

and would be an unbelievable disaster.....

Blackwater must be stopped in their tracks....

I think it was placed in the Constitution from the get-go. Any history/legal buffs out there?

And his corporate cohorts? Haliburton will soon have the third largest army in the world.

counter to US interests?

Perhaps the most important part of Mr. Black's anouncement was this:

"A leading U.S. security firm has offered to provide forces for ANY counter-insurgency mission around the world.

J. Cofer Black, vice chairman of Blackwater USA told the Special Operations Forces Exhibition (Sofex-2006), that his company could supply private soldiers TO ANY COUNTRY. Black, a former U.S. State Department counter-terrorism coordinator, said Blackwater has been marketing the concept of private armies for low-intensity conflicts."
(My emphasis in caps)

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2453824.0319444444.html

that everyone, left and right, isn't screaming from the rooftops. They were there in New Orleans, pushing would-be volunteers around. They answer to no one and are nothing but thugs for hire.

This is where our stormtroopers will come from.

(See Phil Ochs, from All the "News that's Fit to Sing". . . Knock On The Door)

"So, it says here on your resume that you worked in the Philippines and killed some villagers there with suspected ties to Al Qaida..."

"Yes, I'm cool like that."

that doesn't have to answer to anyone except whoever signs the checks?

This ties my guts into knots.

pay them.

will they use prisoners from their private jails?
gr.

Truly disgusting.

Dark Armies, Secret Bases, and Rummy

by Conn Hallinan

November 24, 2005


It would be easy to make fun of President Bush's recent fiasco at the 4th Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina. His grand plan for a free trade zone reaching from the Artic Circle to Tierra del Fuego was soundly rejected by nations fed up with the economic and social chaos wrought by neoliberalism. At a press conference, South American journalists asked him rude questions about Karl Rove. And the President ended the whole debacle by uttering what may be the most trenchant observation the man has ever made on Latin America: “Wow! Brazil is big!”

But there is nothing amusing about an enormous U.S. base less than 120 miles from the Bolivian border, or the explosive growth of U.S.-financed mercenary armies that are doing everything from training the military in Paraguay and Ecuador to calling in air attacks against guerillas in Colombia. Indeed, it is feeling a little like the run up to the ‘60s and ‘70s, when Washington-sponsored military dictatorships dominated most of the continent, and dark armies ruled the night.

U.S. Special Forces began arriving this past summer at Paraguay's Mariscal Estigarribia air base, a sprawling complex built in 1982 during the reign of dictator Alfredo Stroessner. Argentinean journalists who got a peek at the place say the airfield can handle B-52 bombers and Galaxy C-5 cargo planes. It also has a huge radar system, vast hangers, and can house up to 16,000 troops. The air base is larger than the international airport at the capital city, Asuncion .

Some 500 special forces arrived July 1 for a three-month counterterrorism training exercise, code named Operation Commando Force 6.

<more>

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=HAL20051124&articleId=1322

Could they have one group hired out to fight against an army that also has some Blackwater hires? Do they go with the highest bidder? There should be something illegal here....

Milo Minderbinder used US Planes to bomb his own airbase for the Germans who paid for the services.
Milo said it was OK, and the Americans benefited because "everyone had a share".

"Privatized" military forces are waaaaay over the top for any Democracy.
In a Democracy, those who kill in our names answer to the public.

“Privatizing” war is not only the logical extension of the Bush administration's mania for contracting everything out to the private sector; it also shields the White House's activities from the U.S. Congress. The use of private armies allows these thugs to fly under the radar to avoid accountability.

Back then, the mercenaries were non-Romans ... who eventually turned on their employers.

These days I suppose they could draw from non-Americans ... but also Americans who had served in the actual US military, but were unable to find service or manufacturing jobs once they got home (after everything was outsourced to China and India). This last category would be cost-effective, since the US taxpayer would have already paid for their training ... though one disadvantage would be that they might be unwilling to fire on fellow Americans, if they were used in a "civil disorder" situation.

:dem:

All since the year 2000. Anyone know of a decent place to live in the world besides here?

and invulnerability to the normal channels of accountability that are found in the military. They think they can turn Iraq into Guatamala or Honduras. They want to create a terror state where Death Squads hunt down and kill in ways unacceptable to the american public.

Mercenaries should be shot on sight by all sides. That's my opinion.

congressional oversight, not that a republican led congress wants it anyway!

Reminds me of Baldwin Felts type security.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin-Felts

There are always people who will do ANYTHING for money!

New name, same shit. At least they are being honest about it now.

Let's just call them "The Bushwhacker Army" and be done with it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x802028


is just scary.

Wife Betsy DeVos' brother.

Betsy is the former head of the GOP in Michigan.

Richard (Dick) DeVos is currently running for governor of Michigan. His campaign manager is the current CEO of Domino's.

The ONLY candidate for any office in Michigan running TV and radio ads at this time is Dick DeVos. Obviously, money is no problem.

These bastards are really slimy.

to the dock in the Hague for war crimes.

The Rent-a-Soldier business is what "allows" for a volunteer army.. The grunt jobs were peeled away from the military and contracted out to KBR,Halliburton,Bechtel.. The gung-ho types go into the military , get trained on our dime, and then move to these "soldier-of-fortune" style outfits for big bucks and

Our treasury "contracts" with these outfits because they can do things the US military cannot. There is a bult-in plausible deniability..

The people who join the US military are either "fodder" or "trainee" for private contractor jobs down the line..

It's kind of like "college with bullets" for the military corporatocracy job down the line..(if you survive)

that allows for "private security contractors" to acquire new full-auto machine guns (which have been restricted since 1986 to government agencies only), it is really nerve-wracking :scared:

109th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. R. 5005
To make technical changes to Federal firearms laws and for other purposes.

. . .

SEC. 3. POSSESSION AND TRANSFER OF MACHINEGUNS FOR INDUSTRY TESTING AND SECURITY CONTRACTING.

(a) Machineguns for Federal Contractors- Section 922(a)(4) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking `except' and all that follows and inserting `except--

`(A) as specifically authorized by the Attorney General consistent with public safety and necessity; or

`(B) to comply with a contract between any person and the United States which requires that person to provide national security services for the United States or any training related to such services;'.

(b) Sale or Delivery of Machineguns to Federal Contractors- Section 922(b) of such title is amended by adding at the end the following: `Paragraphs (2) and (4) of this subsection shall not apply to a sale or delivery to comply with a contract between any person and the United States which requires that person to provide national security services for the United States or any training related to the services.'.

(c) Post-86 Machineguns for Testing, Research and Development, Training, and Security- Section 922(o) of such title is amended--

(1) in paragraph (2)--

(A) by striking `or' at the end of subparagraph (A); and

(B) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as subparagraph (E) and inserting after subparagraph (A) the following:

`(B) a transfer to, or possession by, a person to comply with a contract between that person and the United States which requires the person to provide national security services for the United States or any training related to the services;

`(C) a transfer to, or possession by, a licensed manufacturer or licensed importer solely for testing, research, design, or development of ammunition or a firearm;

`(D) a possession by a licensed manufacturer or licensed importer for the purposes of training persons to whom a machinegun, manufactured or imported by the licensee, may be transferred as described in subparagraph (A) or (B); or'; and

(2) by adding at the end the following:

`(3) A person shall not transfer a machinegun to another person in the circumstances described in paragraph (2)(B) of this subsection, unless the Attorney General has notified the person that the Attorney General has determined, based on the fingerprints of such other person and on information in the national instant criminal background check system established under section 103 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, that such other person is not prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm under Federal or State law.'.

(d) Importation of Machineguns- Section 925(d) of such title is amended--

(1) in paragraph (3), by striking `or' at the end;

(2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period and inserting `; or'; and

(3) by inserting after paragraph (4) the following:

`(5) is imported or brought in for a purpose described in subparagraph (B), (C), or (D) of section 922(o)(2).'.

(e) Importation Under the National Firearms Act- Section 5844 of the National Firearms Act (26 U.S.C. 5844) is amended--

(1) in paragraph (3), by inserting `or' after the semicolon; and

(2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:

`(4) a machinegun being imported or brought in to comply with a contract between any person and the United States which requires the person to provide national security services for the United States or any training related to the services; or

`(5) a machinegun being imported or brought in by a registered importer or registered manufacturer for the purposes of training persons who acquire machineguns pursuant to paragraph (1) that were manufactured or imported by the registrant.'.

(f) National Security Services Defined- Section 921(a) of such title is amended by adding at the end the following:

`(36) The term `national security services' means any protective, defensive, or security service provided pursuant to a contract or subcontract with a department or agency of the United States.'.

(g) Effective Date- The amendments made by this section shall take effect after the 180-day period that begins with the date of the enactment of this Act.

there into construction projects called raven http://www.blackwaterusa.com/
and this from the Nation http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051010/scahill

This is exactly what we can expect during any big demonstrations in the future, as well as in all natural disasters or "terrorist incidents"..

Death squads.. answerable to no one.