Blackwater Pinochet Apple Pie

[gottaB]

I wonder about Blackwater USA. The use of euphemisms such as "contractors" in corporate/national media makes me wonder. What would they call death squads sponsored by US government agencies, I wonder. Even the use of terms such as "security" hardly seem to adequately describe the way these guys train and operate, as if they were just walking a beat at the local shopping mall. It stinks, methinks. So I started googling and came up with this:

The US is hiring mercenaries in Chile to replace its soldiers on security duty in Iraq. A Pentagon contractor has begun recruiting former commandos, other soldiers and seamen, paying them up to $4,000 a month to guard oil wells against attack by insurgents. Last month Blackwater USA flew a first group of about 60 former commandos, many of who had trained under the military government of Augusto Pinochet, from Santiago to a 2,400-acre training camp in North Carolina.

From there they will be taken to Iraq, where they are expected to stay between six months and a year, the president of Blackwater USA, Gary Jackson, told the Guardian by telephone.

"We scour the ends of the earth to find professionals - the Chilean commandos are very, very professional and they fit within the Blackwater system," he said.

http://www.corpwatch.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=10228

Whoa. What does that mean, "fit within the Blackwater system"? I mean, if your talking about sales reps, that's one kind of statement, or mergers and acquisitions, but when you're talking about commandos who served under a despot and criminal abuser of human rights like Augusto Pinochet, what does that mean exactly, "fit within the Blackwater system"?

Something's rotten here, folks. What do you think?

On edit: Typo

[ixion]

1. yep, and these people are being referred to as 'civillians'

which in the context of their duties in Iraq is laughable, at best. They are mercenaries, hired murderers, nothing more.

Oh yeah, and they are paid for with your tax dollars.

[gottaB]

2. how about "paramilitary"?

That seems fair and balanced to me, and accurate to boot.

[AP]

3. I wouldn't be surprised if part of this was about rewarding some old

friends for work they did a couple years ago with taxpayer money.

I wonder who owns the corporation which is getting paid. Probably an old friend of the CIA's, if you know what I mean.

Think: money laundering and wealth transferring.

[northzax]

31. he's an ex-SEAL

according to today's NYT

[lostnfound]

4. Blackwater details covered on DemocracyNow this morning n/t

see democracynow.org

[gottaB]

5. tx, they linked to another good story by Mother Jones

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2003/05/ma_365_01.html

[gottaB]

6. kick

:kick:

[theHandpuppet]

7. The story you won't hear on the nightly news...

Remember the deaths of the missionaries in Peru?

Here's a little more about these mercenary corporations:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4197028,00.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/gordon09062003.html

America's funding of international mercenaries:
http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd0703.html
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/0/08bd40273a401cc8c1256da40048e82b?OpenDocument

DynCorp and Sex Slavery in Bosnia:
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/163052.html
http://www.guerrillanews.com/corporate_crime/doc1590.html
http://www.citizenworks.org/corp/dyncorp.php

Hired killers -- this ain't the damn boy scouts:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/apr2001/peru-a24.shtml
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0513-06.htm
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=2813&art_id=vn20040330041834172C698285&click_id=2813&set_id=1
http://www.againstbombing.org/mercenaries.htm
http://www.counterpunch.org/fisk03292004.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4815701-103681,00.html

DynCorp around the globe and its human rights violations:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0413-05.htm
http://www.narconews.com/dyncorpterrorism1.html
archive.aclu.org/library/iclr/2001/iclr2001_14.pdf
http://colhrnet.igc.org/newitems/sept01/dyncorpsuit.918.htm
http://www.cfr.org/pub5207/jonathan_d_tepperman/can_mercenaries_protect_hamid_karzai.php
http://www.radgeek.com/gt/2001/07/31/dyncorp_mercenaries.html
http://www.dyncorp-sucks.com/pmc/news.htm
http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=672
http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=6328
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20020715&s=corn
http://electroniciraq.net/news/638.shtml
http://www.laborrights.org/projects/corporate/
http://www.business-humanrights.org/Search/SearchResults?SearchableText=DynCorp
http://www.earthrights.org/dyncorp/amicus.shtml

[gottaB]

8. outragous--thanks for the links

I'm still unclear about what to call these guys. One article suggested paramilitary was incorrect because they're under contract. Another quoted an officer talking about maintaining a strict separation between military and paramilitary missions.

One is tempted to think of them as "military lite," but the stories of the cowboy swaggering and gun-toting, not to mention the criminal enterprises suggest that "hypermilitary" or "supercombatants" might be more apt. Whatever, these guys should not be called by euphemisms that obscure the fact that their essential business is the application of violence.

These guys avoid responsibility for their actions individually and as corporate enterprises, but the American people can not so easily escape who they are. They deserve to know the truth.

[rumguy]

9. I want to know who owns Blackwater

I bet there are links between the Halliburtion, the Bushites, and god knows who else - CNN?

[theHandpuppet]

11. Oh yes indeedy!

They're all in it together, like hand in glove.

The CEO of DynCorp is a man named Paul Lombardi. Here's a profile of DynCorp, their dirty dealings around the globe and their bedpartners like Halliburton and the Carlyle Group:

http://www.dyncorp-sucks.com/pmc/dyncorp.htm

[theHandpuppet]

12. Also this...

... with more updated information. Again, worth bookmarking.

http://www.dyncorp-sucks.com/pmc/default.htm

[gottaB]

13. Gary Jackson is the CEO, not finding much

A lot of their business is with SWAT teams, local police depts.

But check out this Italian site--a very different image for the company.

http://www.tacprod.com/corsi.htm

[theHandpuppet]

15. Um...

Did you check out the two links I provided above?

[gottaB]

16. not seeing Blackwater USA documented there

but some of my page requests are returning 404s--so maybe I'm missing it.

The stuff on Dyncorp, csc, is very interesting, though.

[theHandpuppet]

17. Okay...

I must be confused, then, because I thought Blackwater was another name for DynCorp. I'll see what I can find out.

[theHandpuppet]

18. Here you go...

Just a few links for now. Gotta run...

http://www.indyweek.com/durham/2003-07-23/cover.html
http://www.icij.org/bow/report.aspx?aid=148
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/3/prweb109686.htm
http://www.house.gov/schakowsky/article_05_05_03soldiers.html
http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Private_Military_Corporations&printable=yes

[rumguy]

20. good work - interesting links

I'm going through them

[theHandpuppet]

30. The Daschle connection... !

BTW, did you notice this mention from the first link...

The firms also maintain platoons of Washington lobbyists to help keep government contracts headed their way. In 2001, according to the most recent federal disclosure forms, 10 private military companies spent more than $32 million on lobbying. DynCorp retained two lobbying firms that year to successfully block a bill that would have forced federal agencies to justify private contracts on cost-saving grounds. MPRI's parent company, L-3 Communications, had more than a dozen lobbyists working on its behalf, including Linda Daschle, wife of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. Last year L-3 won $1.7 billion in Defense Department contracts.

[gold_bug]

10. -kick-

[gottaB]

14. Photos of Blackwater CPU in Action

http://media.militaryphotos.net/photos/close_protection/2003_05_14T185344Z_01_BAG22D_RTRIDSP_2_IRAQ

Can't totally vouch for that yet. Googled "Close Protection" after following a thread on civpol about a CPU contract--sheesh, these guys love their acronyms.

Civilians?

[rumguy]

21. the first six our blackwater

[gottaB]

19. Christian Science Monitor running a good story

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0402/p03s01-usmi.html

Their use of language seems more objective than what I was hearing this morning, and they don't avoid the central issues.



On Edit: Adding BBC Link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3591701.stm

"A team of heavily-armed, highly-trained Americans"-- They have photos too. That's one heavily qualified "civilian."

And the Village Voice--

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0414/mondo6.php

They put "civilians" in quotes, and make this observation:

The private security firms working in Iraq see big salaries as well as plenty of potential danger. Often, they have been seen in military garb but without the insignias that would formally designate them as U.S. military. This situation raises the question of whether or not they can be treated as soldiers under the Geneva conventions—whether they are provided those protections—or whether as irregulars they will get dealt with as spies.

This story has legs. Three of the four killed were former Navy Seals, the forth was former Delta. We need some truth telling here.

[Insider]

22. training, special ops, commandos

somebody help me here. i keep seeing these terms: how on earth did they die like sitting ducks in a known opposition stronghold like fallujah. i'm sure they didn't role through town windows down, cd pumping. how did this happen?

[Gin]

24. I heard on the news...they couldn't go down the usual road because the

Marines barricaded it...so they took the other more dangerous road and someone threw hand grenades in the vehicle and shot it up...then set it on fire.

Also heard Blackwater had 20,000 in Iraq...but the president of the company was on local TV here saying its 300. Don't know what the truth is...all the swat teams in the surrounding cities train on their proerty. (Hampton Roads..VA)

[Insider]

25. interesting input

i just need to get off my a$$ and read, do some research, read some news reports.

guys who make a living protecting others don't usually roll through town so very vulnerable. in fact, handpuppet's info says they do risk assessments for their clients! and not for themselves? could be a 'bad day' as someone said, but it is extremely unlikely ALL these professionals were taken down in such a way.

[gottaB]

26. "People were saying they were CIA."

What do you make of this?

Witnesses said the victims were in two burgundy sport utility vehicles driving through the center of Fallujah's commercial district at about 9:30 a.m. While stopped at an intersection, they were attacked by a gang of insurgents wearing head scarves covering their faces. After being struck by rocket-propelled grenades, the vehicles caught fire or were set ablaze by the mob, witnesses said.

"One person fell out of the car and was attacked by the crowd," said a local car dealer who watched the attack from his lot. "People were saying they were CIA."

http://www.thesunlink.com/redesign/2004-04-01/nationworld/438060.shtml

[Insider]

29. i better watch the video

not much hope in protecting against a grenade launcher, except with armored vehicle. but again, they protected convoys (of food). how did they not protect their own convoy?

second, if they were first beset by a mob, the mob better MOVE before grenade is launched. just like in the movies, they would all go up in flames. sequence of events could be clearer.

off to read more, and watch video.

[rumguy]

27. Was Blackwater involved in any way with the Miami FTAA protests

Didn't they bring in special SWAT-types to deal with the protests. Possibly that is why things went to shit there, and lots of people ended up hurt...

[theHandpuppet]

23. A Friendly Kick...

... for those looking for information on Blackwater.

[Zynx]

28. Something's clearly amiss here.

We should not be using anybody ever associated with the Pinochet regime.

[gottaB]

32. As somebody who values apple pie, truth, justice and dignity

I must agree with you. We need to set things right.

[oneighty]

33. Pinochet regime?

Seems like they be pretty darn old for to be illegal combatants in Iraq.

180

[gottaB]

34. That's what the Guardian reported

Is there any evidence that their reporting was in error?

[theHandpuppet]

35. Supporting evidence...

Below are just a few sources for this information -- there are too many for me to list here, but this is a start.

http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2004/03/1687956.php

Mercenaries Hired to Keep Order in Iraq
by Lisa Ashkenaz Croke Tuesday March 30, 2004 at 09:21 AM

Gary Johnson, president of USA Blackwater, told the Guardian UK's Jonathon Franklin that former commandos training in North Carolina will be sent to Iraq for a year and a half. Their job will be to guard oil wells from saboteurs. "We scour the ends of the earth to find professionals - the Chilean commandos are very, very professional and they fit within the Blackwater system," said Johnson. The Guardian story notes that several of the 60 recruits served during Augusto Pinochet's brutal military government. USA Blackwater isn't the only security firm hiring ex-military of disturbing origin. Last month, The Forward's Marc Perelman reported that contractor Erinys International utilized "former henchman of South Africa's apartheid regime" to guard oil facilities and train new Iraqi police. "François Strydom, who was killed in the January 28 bombing of a hotel in Baghdad, was a former member of the Koevoet, a notoriously brutal counterinsurgency arm of the South African military that operated in Namibia during the neighboring state’s fight for independence in the 1980s. His colleague Deon Gouws, who was injured in the attack, is a former officer of the Vlakplaas, a secret police unit in South Africa," wrote Perelman.

More...

http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=132&fArticleId=387284

Security firms and mercenaries coining it in Iraq
March 30, 2004
By Robert Fisk and Severin Carrell

Baghdad/London - An army of thousands of mercenaries has appeared in Iraq's major cities, many of them former British and American soldiers.

<snipping>
Many of the armed Britons are former SAS soldiers, while heavily armed South Africans are also working for the occupation.

"My people know how to use weapons and they're all SAS," said the British leader of one security team in southern Baghdad. "But there are people running around with guns now who are just cowboys.

"We always conceal our weapons, but these guys think they're in a Hollywood film."

There are serious doubts even within the occupying power about the US's choice to send Chilean mercenaries, many trained during General Augusto Pinochet's vicious dictatorship, to guard Baghdad airport.

Many South Africans are in Iraq illegally - they are breaking new laws, passed by the government in Pretoria, to control South Africa's booming export of mercenaries.

More...

US hires mercenaries for Iraq role
By Jonathan Franklin
Santiago
March 6, 2004

The US is hiring mercenaries in Chile to replace its soldiers on security duty in Iraq.

A Pentagon contractor has begun recruiting former commandos, other soldiers and seamen, paying them up to $US4000 ($A5300) a month to guard oil wells against attack by insurgents.

Last month Blackwater USA flew a first group of about 60 former commandos, many of whom had trained under the military government of Augusto Pinochet, from Santiago to a 970-hectare training camp in North Carolina. From there they would be taken to Iraq, where they were expected to stay between six months and a year, the president of Blackwater USA, Gary Jackson, said. "We scour the ends of the earth to find professionals - the Chilean commandos are very, very professional and they fit within the Blackwater system."

Chile was the only Latin American country where Mr Jackson's firm had hired commandos for Iraq.
More....

See also:
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18193
http://www.rense.com/general50/gaurd.htm

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/01/1621223

[gottaB]

36. More News and Info-- Please Share

Specifically dealing with Blackwater

1. Private U.S. Guards Take Big Risks for Right Price.
   
2. Mercenaries flock to fill vacuum.
   
3. Slain Contractors Were in Iraq Working Security Detail. Repeatedly uses the word "commandos" to refer to Blackwater employees.
   
4. Hired guards see big pay, bigger risks. Calls them "guards" or "security workers."
   
5. Hired guards see big pay, bigger risks. Incorporates NYTimes coverage.
   
6. Iraq Occupation "Privatised."
   
7. Brutal killing of Americans in Iraq raises questions over security firms.
   
8. Need an Army? Just Pick Up the Phone.
   
9. As insurgent attacks increase, so do contractors' costs.
   

Hired Guns in Iraq

1. Mercenary Boom in Iraq Creates Tension at Home and Abroad.
   
2. Iraq: Security Pushes Up Contract Costs.
   
3. Iraq: Global Security Firms Fill In As Private Armies.
   
4. SCHAKOWSKY WARNS BUSH ADMINISTRATION AGAINST EXPANDING THE NUMBER OF U.S. MILITARY AND PRIVATE MILITARY CONTRACTORS IN COLOMBIA
   

The last one is a press release from Ms. Schakowsky which contains the statement that was quoted in the Times article. Her concerns are pretty much mine, and you can easily see how that criticism applies to the use of hired guns in Iraq. It's fundamentally bad government. I'm arguing that we need transparency and accountability, not for some abstract moral reason, but because we are putting people's lives at risk and need to behave responsibly. We have an immediate interest in making peace in Iraq. The policy of tribal, agonistic vengence that BushCo is pursuing is not likely to secure the peace.

[rumguy]

37. kick

[gottaB]

38. more data, googled and from DUers in other threads

1. The Press and Fallujah: Barbaric Relativism. Brief editorial criticizes media biases in the description of combat and combatants.
   
2. Security Companies Find Thriving Business in Iraq, other Dangerous War Zone.
   
3. Armed security business booms: 4 Fallujah victims privatized soldiers.
   
4. Security firms see bonanza in Iraq
   
5. BUSINESS ON THE BATTLEFIELD: THE ROLE OF PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANIES. Critical of private military companies. Blackwater not mentioned.
   
6. The Baghdad boom. Glimpse at Private Military Companies in Iraq.
   
7. Occupiers Spend Millions on Private Army of Security Men.
   
8. 1-shot killer. This one is a must read for those who question whether these guns for hire actively kill people, and whether there are indeed issues of international law to be considered.
   
9. DynCorp Disgrace. About Dyncorp. Raises human rights issues, the problem of US credibility, and provides a critical assessment of how these companies in fact do damage US military missions.
   
10. US NC: Soldiers of Good Fortune. A critical view of Blackwater.
    
11. Hired Guns. About Iraq. You must read this. Charming vignettes like "Last summer, a British contractor was run off the road by bandits on a highway south of Baghdad. The contractor, a former SAS man, got out of his car and pretended to surrender. When the bandits approached, he shot both of them. One didn't die immediately, so he clubbed him to death."
    
12. Progressive Review Undernews. They're covering the story from several sources, interesting definitions of "mercenary" on the front page. Cited by Newsmax!
    

[gottaB]

39. For those whose tend to deny facts about men with guns

1. We are unsure of what to call these people who work for Blackwater and similar companies. They are neither soldiers nor civilians, or perhaps they are both. Whatever language is used to describe them, it should, if it is to be accurate, convey the fact they are heavily armed, they take up arms in exchange for comparatively generous pay, that they employ violence to meet their objectives, that their overall objectives are defined by contracts with the US DOD.

2. There are credible reports of contracted warriors killing people in situations that cannot be fairly described as "self-defense." See e.g. Tucker Carlson's piece.

http://www.keepmedia.com/ShowItemDetails.do?item_id=366991

Additionally, there are cases of contracted warriors using weaponry that would possibly be illegal under international law:

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2426405.php

The whole picture seems to be one of the US contracting private firms to carry out military tasks. This entails the use of paramilitary teams who are given wide lattitude to define terms of engagement for themselves, and are permitted to carry out extrajudicial killings with impunity, to loot, and to use excessive force, including weapons that would be contraband if used by uniformed soldiers.

Some people call such conduct brave, even heroic. Others call it criminal.

3. The privatization of military functions is, unless you belong to the select few profiteeers, cronies, and soldiers of fortune who benefit financially, exceedingly unwise. A better policy would be to task the Department of Defense with carrying out all military activities, to maintain congressional oversight, and to adequately supply our armed forces. This would better ensure that our military actions were directed towards meeting our national interests, that the safety and wellbeing of our armed service personel were truly prioritized.