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km
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: Minor character in a frame story
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 Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:11 am Post subject: Bye Bye Blackwater |
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Blackwater security firm banned from Iraq
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For adolescents; half-formed personalities roaming (in packs) in search of identity. |
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v84j3gs2uc7ns4
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:43 am |
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EmX
banned
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:46 am |
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| The mercs are usually former soldiers from what I understand. |
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v84j3gs2uc7ns4
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:00 am |
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psiga
saudade
Joined: 04 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:40 am |
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Echoes my opinion in a nutshell. Any sane person who knows even a little bit about how international wars work could see the writing on the wall pretty much immediately.
GEE, NO-BID CONTRACTS FOR PRIVATE-SECTOR, COCKY, RELIGIOUS MERCENARIES. FABULOUS IDEA.
But the whole war is a FABULOUS IDEA in the same way. So, no surprises. No accountability, no surprises, whistleblowers are punished. I wonder how much of this shit happened in the past, before the interwebs age.
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yellowlightman
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 5:59 am |
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Considering what a joke the Iraqi government is I doubt this will have much of an effect. Blackwater might no longer operate in Iraq, but there are plenty of other PMC companies that will.
Psigaif you're curious about private contractors there's a book called The Dogs of War written back in the late 1960's. It's basically a step-by-step guide for overthrowing a small African nation with a group of contractors. Suffice it to say, this kind of stuff goes back a while.
In more ways than you'd think, as well. For instance, the American air-campaign in Kosovo in the late '90s was supported by a military contracting company. Instead of calling up reservists, the US government instead paid a firm to run and manage the American airbases in the area, including (I believe) resupplying and repairing aircraft.
Not all military contracting is in the form of typical mercenaries, often companies are hired to train existing armies. Companies like Sukhoi (Russian fighter jet company) will also lease planes and pilots to countries in need of an airforce.
With "globally active" countries like the US getting stretched further and further in different conflicts, military contracting is only going to increase. |
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monaco
Joined: 11 Jun 2007
Location: metrosexual, metrovania
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| Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:32 am |
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The onus is ours.
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Axelay 2
Joined: 23 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:28 pm |
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If Blackwater actually gets booted out, that's like 25,000-something people I think I read.
I don't support the Iraq war or our gov't using Mercs, but if you want to argue they had some value, it would be to get some of the poor guys who have been stuffed there on their 4th or 5th tours of duty, out of there.
Forget about any real troop withdrawals, even if Washington was serious, if Blackwater leaves. |
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CubaLibre
the road lawyer
Joined: 02 Mar 2007
Location: Balmer
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| Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:23 pm |
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The financial dealings used to hire Blackwater are infinitely shady, but I don't have a huge problem with their existence in theory.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 6:37 am |
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| these guys should definitely be able to find new employment as college campus security guards! |
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slipstream
hates LOTR films
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:11 am |
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| EmX wrote: |
| The mercs are usually former soldiers from what I understand. |
Are you kidding me?
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Hot Stott Bot
banned
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:42 am |
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| yellowlightman wrote: |
Considering what a joke the Iraqi government is I doubt this will have much of an effect. Blackwater might no longer operate in Iraq, but there are plenty of other PMC companies that will.
Psigaif you're curious about private contractors there's a book called The Dogs of War written back in the late 1960's. It's basically a step-by-step guide for overthrowing a small African nation with a group of contractors. Suffice it to say, this kind of stuff goes back a while.
In more ways than you'd think, as well. For instance, the American air-campaign in Kosovo in the late '90s was supported by a military contracting company. Instead of calling up reservists, the US government instead paid a firm to run and manage the American airbases in the area, including (I believe) resupplying and repairing aircraft.
Not all military contracting is in the form of typical mercenaries, often companies are hired to train existing armies. Companies like Sukhoi (Russian fighter jet company) will also lease planes and pilots to countries in need of an airforce.
With "globally active" countries like the US getting stretched further and further in different conflicts, military contracting is only going to increase. |
And then of course there are also plenty of military contractors in the form of developing weapons and technology offsite, such as a small company a couple of my friends work for! I mean, it is all the same deal from a financial perspective. |
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Ashura
Joined: 06 Dec 2006
Location: Far East of Eden
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| Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:06 pm |
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| monaco wrote: |
| The onus is ours. |
Raiden: Did you say 'anus'? |
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v84j3gs2uc7ns4
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:54 pm |
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Vikram Ray
Joined: 06 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:48 am |
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| CNN wrote: |
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi government said it will file criminal charges against employees of security firm Blackwater USA who were involved a gun battle in Baghdad in which civilians were killed, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Sunday.
art.contractors.afp.gi.jpg
Members of a private security company pose on the rooftop of a house in Baghdad earlier this month.
The official said the charges will come within a week.
It is not clear how Iraqi courts will attempt to bring the contractors to trial.
The Iraqi government has no authority over private security firms contracted by the U.S. government, according to a July report from the Congressional Research Service.
Order 17 from the Coalition Provisional Authority appears to shield security contractors from Iraqi laws.
It states, "Contractors shall be immune from Iraqi legal process with respect to acts performed by them pursuant to the terms and conditions of a Contract or any sub-contract thereto."
The Iraqi government claims the private contractors, who were guarding a U.S. diplomatic convoy, killed as many as 20 civilians.
Iraqi officials, who claim the shootings were unprovoked, dispute Blackwater's claim that the guards were responding to an attack and said on Saturday they had a videotape showing the Blackwater guards opened fire without provocation.
The incident prompted the Iraqi government to call for Blackwater's expulsion from the country and sparked anger among Iraqis. Video Watch a report on Blackwater's response to the allegations »
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said earlier this week the Blackwater employees involved in the incident were still in Iraq.
Word of Iraq's intent to file charges came as no surprise. One day after the shooting, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said his government would punish those responsible.
On Sunday, Rear Adm. Mark Fox, Communications Division chief for Multi-National Force-Iraq, and Dr. Tahseen Sheikhly, civilian spokesman for the Baghdad Security Operation, refused to comment on Iraq's plan to file charges.
But they gave some details on a joint U.S.-Iraqi commission that would examine issues of security and safety in the aftermath of the shooting.
The commission -- to be co-chaired by Iraqi Minister of Defense Abd al Qadir and Patricia A. Butenis, the charge d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy -- will receive the results of both a State Department investigation and the separate Iraqi investigation in the next few days, Fox and Sheikhly said.
Blackwater contractors are part of the estimated 25,000-plus employees of private security firms who are working in Iraq, guarding diplomats, reconstruction workers and government officials. As many as 200 security contractors have been killed in Iraq, according to U.S. congressional reports.
Blackwater resumed its normal operations of providing security to U.S. civilian authorities in Iraq on Friday after a hiatus sparked by concerns among Iraqi and U.S. government officials over last weekend's shootings.
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Sheikhly said the Iraqi government has allowed Blackwater to again operate in the streets of Iraq because, otherwise, U.S. troops would have to be pulled from the field to provide security.
Meanwhile, 19 bodies were found by Iraqi police in Baghdad over the weekend, an Interior Ministry official told CNN on Sunday. The total number of bodies reported to be found in the capital this month is 251. |
lol the Iraqis think they own their own country. |
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Hot Stott Bot
banned
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:38 am |
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| yeah lol arrakis is ours |
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sync-swim
Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Location: scissorgun
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| Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:29 am |
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SPICE MUST FLOW |
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Leau
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: Metro City
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| Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 12:22 am |
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Actually I heard today that they aren't entirelly being kicked out. They've just inked some kind of new deal involving helicopters or something. So there you go.
It's a suave move on the administration's part though. You can have troops there who will theoretically do whatever you want and kill whomever you want without any of the liability present in having your own boys there. The deaths of contractors usually don't get included in reports and their actions are not irreversibly linked to the US as a whole. I mean it's mildly heninous and all that, but still; smart.
Oh, and on an unrelated note, is or is not Blackwater the coolest name for a group of merceneries eva? Expect the stunning new fps next fall courtesy of Midway. Or EA.
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