Amy Goodman...Democracy Now...

[stillcool]

and Blackwater in New Orleans...didn't want to believe it, but she interviewed them on tape...Now doing a segment on it...Feds denying their presence but governor has deputized them. $350.00 a day...patroling the streets...

[texpatriot2004]

1. Amy Goodman is a journalist and a force to be reckoned with.

Thank you Amy Goodman for covering the crucial stories. I can always count on you.

[no_to_war_economy]

2. amy is a goddess

[snappyturtle]

3. YES!

She's a "Mighty Mouse" in my book. I found out more this morning of what I've wanted to know about what life is really like in NO than I have on any other media source on TV. Thank God for Amy!

[stillcool]

8. Do you think...

that the fact that Blackwater is patroling the streets puts more emphasis on the lack of NG due to the Iraq war? Is it me, or is it becoming more apparent that the NG in this country has been outsourced? And, considering this administrations classifying all things 'national security related' could the truth about our lack of resources be classified?

[NYC]

13. Write to your politicians.

I said if they were hired by private citizens, they should be disarmed immediately. If they were hired by Homeland Security, they should be fired immediately.

We have police and National Guard. Mercenaries should not be roaming our cities.

I think we are in big trouble. It doesn't matter if Blackwater was hired by private citizens. Does that mean that the rich private citizens will outgun our police and National Guard to get what they want?

[sattahipdeep]

14. Bremmer's "expertise".

Citizens, organizers, union activists, and others critical of
the regime are classified as "resistance" and "terrorists" and targeted.

....
SE: But how are the ends possibly met by such activities? To this
day, I just can't see how. What is happening does not
benefit 99.9 percent of Americans just a very small elite.
....
I'm no expert, but from what I have personally seen I can say that
our national security is being compromised every day, because
important investigations are being stopped, and potentially important
clues are being overlooked. It's absolutely incredible that even after
9/11, certain individuals, foreign businessmen and others, among
others, are still escaping scrutiny.

http://antiwar.com/news/?articleid=2920

Certain individuals, foreign businessmen and others, among
others, are still escaping scrutiny.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1332757

[rawtribe]

4. Here is a link

http://www.democracynow.org

and yes Amy is a Goddess!

[babylonsister]

5. Is there ever a transcript? I'd like to get a list of

the facts ticked off by the tarot reader regarding how the local, state and fed. gov'ts failed NOLA's residents. Great show!

[zann725]

6. I heard they aimed their guns at her camera people,& told them not to film

Don't we all feel safer now? $350/day...when "Minimum Wage" has just been suspended for the 'clean-up' construction workers who will be cleaning up the toxic waste, and no doubt dying in the process from contamination. Maybe the escalated pay range has to do with carrying a gun? $350/day per guard??? No doubt this is the way Repugs keep government spending low, and the government small. Call me cynical, but sounds like $1,000 hammers, or gold toilet seats to me.

[babylonsister]

7. And Blackwater employees bragged about

cruising around in Iraq in armor-coated BMWs while soldiers get nothing for protection?

[sattahipdeep]

9. Paul Bremer. (TRANSCRIPT)

Two of the guys that we talked to had served on the personal security details of
Paul Bremer.... :think:
....
And one of them was wearing a golden badge, that identified itself
as being Louisiana law enforcement, and in fact, one of the Blackwater
mercenaries told us that he had been deputized by the governor of
Louisiana, and what's interesting is that the federal government and
the Department of Homeland Security have denied that they have hired
any private security firms, saying that they have enough with government forces.
Well, these Blackwater men that we spoke to said that they are actually on
contract with the Department of Homeland Security and indeed with the governor
of Louisiana. And they said that they're sleeping in camps organized by the
Department of Homeland Security.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/12/1426242

This morning (September 1, 2005), Blackwater USA joined the ongoing relief effort in the Gulf Region
devastated by Hurricane Katrina by dispatching a SA-330J Puma helicopter to help assist in evacuating
citizens from flooded areas.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4570927&mesg_id=4570927


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4736048&mesg_id=4739434

[cthrumatrix]

10. you mean that FEMA and HomeLand would LIE about this?????

it's soo telling..this is just like Iraq...it's all about the $$$$$

[bloom]

11. "Overkill in New Orleans"

Overkill in New Orleans
By Jeremy Scahill (of Democracy Now!) and Daniela Crespo, AlterNet. Posted September 12, 2005.

"Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans. Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor; indeed some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards on their arms. They say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force. Several mercenaries we spoke with said they had served in Iraq on the personal security details of the former head of the U.S. occupation, L. Paul Bremer and the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte.

"This is a totally new thing to have guys like us working CONUS (Continental United States)," a heavily armed Blackwater mercenary told us as we stood on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. "We're much better equipped to deal with the situation in Iraq."

Blackwater mercenaries are some of the most feared professional killers in the world and they are accustomed to operating without worry of legal consequences. Their presence on the streets of New Orleans should be a cause for serious concern for the remaining residents of the city and raises alarming questions about why the government would allow men trained to kill with impunity in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to operate here. Some of the men now patrolling the streets of New Orleans returned from Iraq as recently as two weeks ago.

What is most disturbing is the claim of several Blackwater mercenaries we spoke with that they are here under contract from the federal and Louisiana state governments. Blackwater is one of the leading private security firms servicing the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. It has several U.S. government contracts and has provided security for many senior U.S. diplomats, foreign dignitaries and corporations. The company rose to international prominence after four of its men were killed in Fallujah and two of their charred bodies were hung from a bridge in March 2004. Those killings sparked the massive U.S. retaliation against the civilian population of Fallujah that resulted in scores of deaths and tens of thousands of refugees..."

http://alternet.org/katrina/25320/

[sattahipdeep]

12. Remember what the Iraqi's were saying about (Fallujah)

They said that the four were killed because they had been driving through the streets randomly
shooting civillians.