Blackwater et al

[frogcycle]

I just saw Iraq for Sale last night. Has anyone else made the observation of the eerie similarity of the name of the Blackwater company and its seeming ability to get off scott freee with making hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit profit, at the cost of people's lives, while the government spent millions trying to find something to pin on the Clinton's over Whitewater?

[bluerum]

1. Why no - that coincidence had completely slipped by me.

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:
:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:
:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[Ian David]

2. I always think of that song by The Doobie Brothers.

Or that it's a reference to the effluent produced by an enema.

[msongs]

3. thank the republicans, with democrats complicit in the whole affair

We showed that flick at the UU church last weekend. Makes one sick to see how corrupt our government and corporations are.

don't doubt for a second that some democrats are complicit in this.
the whores in congress look the other and/or go along with it - war profiteers spreads their filthy blood $$ all over the place.

The dems ought to cancel all the contracts with blackwell, CACI, KBR and Halliburton and make these outfits bid on them over, if they were ever bid on at all. and then hire Iraqis to do this stuff for THEMSELVES because the Americans who got rid of Saddam for them are LEAVING ASAP!

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[RamboLiberal]

4. I think it was named after the water's topographical features

in area they built their HQ. That being said I don't like the idea of this company of private mercenaries, especially considering the background of the founder, Erik Prince. I don't like the idea of a Fundie Repuke Private Christian Army and I don't like that they train many of the units in SEALS and other special ops of U.S. Government. Nor do I like that they provide security for many of our government officials. If you work for the U.S. Government then you should be protected by security forces of the U.S. Government.

In 1997, Erik Prince founded Blackwater USA, expanding the family's Christian conservative empire into private security and war for hire.

Erik is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and son of the late billionaire automotive parts supplier, Edgar. (In a Q&A published by the Virginian-Pilot on July 24, Erik noted some of his father's less successful ideas, including a sock drawer light and an automated ham de-boning device.)

The elder Prince was widely known for his close association with anti-choice crusader Gary Bauer. Bauer was a domestic policy advisor in the Reagan White House before succeeding Jerry Regier (a former Reagan official, as well) for the leadership role of the Family Research Council (FRC) in 1988. With Edgar's help, Bauer put the FRC on the map. (When Edgar died in 1995, the company was sold for $1.4 billion.)

Erik's sister Elizabeth, commonly referred to as Betsy, was the head of the Michigan Republican Party until early 2005. She is also the former finance chairwoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). She married Dick DeVos, the son of billionaire Amway co-founder (now under the name Alticor), Richard DeVos. Forbes ranked DeVos as the 121st richest person in the world in 2003 with an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion.

Under DeVos' tutelage, Amway has donated roughly $7.5 million to Republican candidates since 1990. The contribution-tracking website, NewsMeat, lists personal campaign donations from DeVos; since February 1979, he has donated over $650,000 to Republicans, over $2 million to "special interests" and one lone contribution to a Democrat, Joe Torsella, in 2003.

<snip>

According to The News & Observer, Prince was among the first interns at the Family Research Council and interned for President George H.W. Bush for six months. (It is reasonable to suggest that, through his father's Reagan-era connections, he was able to get the position.) He campaign for Patrick Buchanan's Republican primary challenge to Bush in 1992, possibly because he "saw a lot of things I didn't agree with -- homosexual groups being invited in, the budget agreement, the Clean Air Act, those kind of bills. I think the administration has been indifferent to a lot of conservative concerns," he told the Grand Rapids Press in early 1992.


http://iraqforsale.org/diaries/2006/08/blackwater_runs_red.php

Due to personal reasons, his military career was cut short, bowing out in 1996. At the age of twenty-seven, he founded Blackwater USA.

Wonder what those personal reasons were?