I haven't followed the Blackwater stuff much - but please tell me this is a f***ing joke

[LynneSin]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_Security#Iraq_involvement

"In 2003, Blackwater landed its first truly high-profile contract: guarding civilian Administrator L. Paul Bremer in Iraq, at the cost of $21 million for 11 months"

How many children in America go to bed hungry?

How many people from the Gulf Coast still waiting to get their home and their lives back on track

How many seniors are still deciding between eating or paying for prescriptions.

This country has some fucked up priorities

[soothsayer]

1. Didn't the Wash Post say the whole Iraq debacle is costing $500k a minute?

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. $720 million a day

[Jeffersons Ghost]

8. wow! who's picking up the tab?

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. We are. Well not the haves and have mores, but the rest of us are and that includes

will include future generations. Thanks a bunch you bu$h voting morans!

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. China

:)

[Lone_Star_Dem]

10. Do you have a breakdown on that?

I've been looking for something that can give me an accurate assessment of the real cost of this war (not just what we hear in the media) now for weeks.

TIA. :hi:

[catmandu57]

12. You may want to look here

You've probably been here but just in case. They let us know what we could be getting instead of death, destruction, and hard feelings across the world.
http://www.nationalpriorities.org

[Lone_Star_Dem]

21. Thank you

That is an excellent resources.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. That's the figure AFSC is putting on their literature

and their Cost of War flags:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

20. I get it now.

That's the figures from the paper by Joseph Stiglitz.

He rightly includes the costs of lifetime care for the thousands of troops who have suffered brain injuries, etc.

I've never seen his figures broken down into a daily number before, but if there's an accurate assessment of the cost of the war with Iraq that would be the one.

Thank you very much! You've just expanded my argument against this war greatly.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. $333 million a day, $14 million an hour, $231,000 a minute and $3,850 a second.

Is what I last read last week in a Reuters article.

Here's the link... http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSSP12538220070920

I don't know if it's accurate, but it sounds about right compared to the other figures I've seen.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. And Blackwater mercenaries murder innocent Iraqis

We met our congressman for breakfast on Saturday. He said he thinks we should prosecute these mercenaries. He also said we need to stop calling them contractors, they are murdering innocent Iraqis and making our troops' jobs much much harder.

[mavoix]

4. It's all a matter of

the Haves and the Have-Mores, doncha' know? The rest of us just have to make do with whatever crumbs fall from the table.

[LSK]

5. DO NOT watch the movie "Iraq for Sale"

Unless you really want to be angry.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. No End in Sight will make you even angrier

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. here's the most current info on Blackwater:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1889443&mesg_id=1889443

[lonestarnot]

7. Yes it does. Truly fucked up priorities.

[eleny]

16. You need to read Scahill's book, Blackwater

His journalistic abilities make the book a page turner. It goes into the family background of the guy who started up the company. Very interesting all around - and hair raising.

And now, these guys are opening or planning training camps around the country. Did I mention "hair raising"?

[uppityperson]

17. Blackwater is in Iraq, IIMHO, for 2 reasons. Money is the first.

1) make money for someone.
2) give those who work for it something to do, paramilitary with even less oversight.

[MagickMuffin]

18. I've been doing some research on the Prince of Death myself and here's what I discovered

From another thread about the Prince of Death..... and below is my post to that thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1878924&mesg_id=1879604



I've been doing some research on the Prince of Death myself and here's what I discovered

From Wikipedia:

Erik Prince (born June 6, 1969 in Holland, Michigan) is the founder and owner of the military support contractor Blackwater USA. A millionaire and former US Navy SEAL, after high school he briefly attended the United States Naval Academy before attending and graduating from Hillsdale College. After college, he earned a commission in the United States Navy after joining in 1992, and served as a Navy SEAL officer on deployments to Haiti, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, including Bosnia. When his father Edgar Prince unexpectedly died in 1995, he ended his Navy service prematurely. After Erik's mother, Elsa Prince, sold the family's automobile parts company, Prince Corporation, for $1.3 billion to Johnson Controls, Inc., Erik moved to Virginia Beach and personally financed the formation of Blackwater USA at the age of 27.

Prince is the brother of Betsy DeVos, a former chairman of the Republican Party of Michigan and wife of former Alticor (Amway) president and Gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos.

Prince's first wife, Joan Nicole Prince, died of cancer in 2003, and he has since remarried and has six children. He now runs Prince Group, Blackwater's parent company, from an office in McLean, Virginia and also serves as a board member of Christian Freedom International, a nonprofit group with a mission of helping "Christians who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ".


From Newsmeat:

$230,250*............... Republican
$5,000.................... Green
$1,000.....................Reform
$20,500...................special interest
total:....................... $256,750

Notice how he gave money to the Green Party. I think the Green Party needs to do some SOUL searching here. Taking money from this POS is inexcusable, IMHO.


From Fed Spending:

*Note: FY 2007 only includes up through second and part of third quarter.

Total transactions for fiscal year 2007: 96

Total funding (within this search) for the year: $193,309,283


Total transactions for fiscal year 2006: 236

Total funding (within this search) for the year: $598,544,990


Total transactions for fiscal year 2005: 205

Total funding (within this search) for the year: $201,662,587


Total transactions for fiscal year 2004: 78

Total funding (within this search) for the year: $48,699,906


Total transactions for fiscal year 2003: 100

Total funding (within this search) for the year: $25,485,769


Total transactions for fiscal year 2002: 58

Total funding (within this search) for the year: $4,156,775


Total transactions for fiscal year 2001: 15

Total funding (within this search) for the year: $1,048,711


Total transactions for fiscal year 2000: 8

Total funding (within this search) for the year: $380,429

TOTAL AMOUNT FROM 2000-2007

$1,073,288,450

That total is over ONE BILION of TAXPAYERS MONEY

Please keep in mind this is the Money that SHOULD be going to the TROOPS, yes???

We should start asking Congress why they support mercenaries and NOT the troops....

Don't ya think???

[auburngrad82]

19. Here's a link to interesting and fun facts about Blackwater

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3544545&mesg_id=3544545



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