Blackwater Shrub's "own army" reporting only to SoS --wait, that would be Saint Colin POWELL!1

[UTUSN]

O.K., so we're getting the begining of a Third-Reich-like fleshing out of what we suspected all along about the Shrub regime. Soon we will have a History Channel based on warehouses of books and miles of film on ShrubCo, though I'm still waiting for THE FALL of the Shrub Empire. That is, some Nuremburg type JUSTICE, so to say?!1


But the guy on Keith's show was piling all these details ---that the Blackwater guy was the son of a religious fanatic who funded Gary BAUER, that he saw himself as a Xtian crusader out to destroy Muslims and their culture, and here's the key piece, that Blackwater's outlook was "considered a plus" in the Shrub scheme of things and that Blackwater was Shrub's "private army" that was outside the military establishment and "reported only to Shrub (through) the Secretary of State..."

The Secretary of State. Uh, WHO was that back in the heyday?!1 Forget Condo the ivory keys tinkler, since things were done deals by the time she came along, and she was regarded, or DISREGARDED, as an object to make weep. So Blackwater REPORTED TO SAINT COLIN!1 Or was HE out of the loop, too?!1

This would be the Saint Colin whose entire career, starting out with covering up My Lai, has consisted of step'n'fetching for Old White Men.

By the bye, when Shrub first uttered the word "CRUSADE," I myself---a lowly individual without any special resources or connections, who is frequently called mentally or chemically impaired by internet flamers---instantly shuddered, like, "What is he (I mean, his string pullers) THINKING using that word!"

[glitch]

1. HEY! What dirty dog canceled out my rec?

Nevermind, plenty more where that came from, this story is not going to die so good luck with that.

So, Smirk finally gets top billing, not Sneer this time? Powell definitely will need his Ambien tonight, methinks. :evilgrin:

[Rhiannon12866]

2. That took me aback, too...

I just watched the repeat of KO, since I had missed the beginning, and the first time through I thought he said the Sec. of Defense, which made sense to me. But I just heard it again and he said State. Colin Powell?! As an actual veteran who served during wartime, I just can't imagine that he'd disrespect the troops in this way... :-( :shrug:

[MadMaddie]

15. If we are talking about the same Collin Powell that

white washed the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam war it's one in the same. Don't be fooled Collin Powell didn't get to his position without selling out to the Repugs.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/colin3.html
<snip>
After that cursory investigation, Powell drafted a response on Dec. 13, 1968. He admitted to no pattern of wrongdoing. Powell claimed that U.S. soldiers in Vietnam were taught to treat Vietnamese courteously and respectfully.
<snip>

[starroute]

3. Do you know for sure that Blackwater was really under the Secretary of State?

Blackwater had massive federal contracts for guarding US diplomats and embassies, but I'm not convinced the top officials in the State Department actually exerted any control over them.

See, for example:

http://speaker.house.gov/blog/?p=895

October 30th, 2007

Today Chairman Henry Waxman of the Oversight Committee wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to ask who conferred immunity on the Blackwater security guards involved in the September 16 shooting, who authorized the grant of immunity, and when did Secretary Rice and other senior State Department officials learn about the immunity.

Full text of the letter:

Dear Madam Secretary:

I am writing about reports that State Department officials conferred immunity on the Blackwater guards involved in the September 16 shooting incident at Nisoor Square in Baghdad that resulted in the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians.

Multiple news reports are asserting that the State Department compromised the investigation into the shootings and the potential for prosecutions of Blackwater personnel by offering immunity to the Blackwater guards. According to one report, agents of the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security promised Blackwater personnel “immunity from prosecution” in order to elicit statements. Another report stated that the State Department offered “limited-use immunity” without authority to do so and without consulting with the Justice Department. According to these accounts, prosecution of Blackwater personnel has become, at a minimum, “a lot more complicated and difficult.”

This rash grant of immunity was an egregious misjudgment. It raises serious questions about who conferred the immunity, who approved it at the State Department, and what their motives were. . . .

3. Who authorized the offers of immunity?

4. Who was aware of the offers of immunity at or before the time that they were delivered?

5. When did you, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Griffin, Ambassador David Satterfield, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker learn of the grant of immunity?

6. What consultation, if any, was conducted with the Justice Department prior to the offers of immunity?


http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1678033,00.html

Senior State Department officials have testified publicly about the Sept. 16 incident and never mentioned the supposed grants of immunity. By the same token, the issue appears to have gone unaddressed in multiple internal Department reports.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that if a grant of immunity was issued, it was done without consulting the Secretary of State or other senior officials in Washington. On Tuesday McCormack elaborated on the issue, telling reporters that if any immunity was offered, it would only be very limited in nature. "The Department of State cannot immunize an individual from federal criminal prosecution," he told reporters in the daily briefing. So far unaddressed, however, is when or if those senior officials found out about the supposed grant of immunity and what, if anything, they did about it.

Spokespersons for the FBI and Blackwater had no comment on the matter.

Waxman is a canny fellow, and there seems to be an implication in his questions that something was going on that was not under Secretary Rice's control.

Note also this listing of top Blackwater executives:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackwater

* Erik Prince, Chairman of the Board
* Joseph E. Schmitz (former Inspector General, Office of the Secretary of Defense, under Donald Rumsfeld)
* J. Cofer Black, Vice Chairman of the Board (former Coordinator in the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, U.S. Department of State, under Secretary of State Colin Powell)


http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=J._Cofer_Black

"On behalf of the Secretary of State, Ambassador Black represents the Department on the Counterterrorism Security Group. His office plays a leading role on the Department of State's counterterrorism task forces organized to coordinate responses to international terrorist incidents. Ambassador Black's responsibilities include coordinating U.S. Government efforts to improve counterterrorism cooperation with foreign governments, including the policy and planning of the Department's Antiterrorism Training Assistance Program.

"Ambassador Black has had a distinguished 28-year career in the Directorate of Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency. Prior to joining the State Department Ambassador Black was the Director of the CIA Counterterrorist Center. In this capacity he served as the CIA Director's Special Assistant for Counterterrorism as well as the National Intelligence Officer for Counterterrorism.

"During his CIA career, Ambassador Black served six foreign tours in field management positions. In 1995, Ambassador Black was named the Task Force Chief in the Near East and South Asia Division. From June 1998 through June 1999 he served as the Deputy Chief of the Latin America Division.

There are wheels within wheels here and it would be wisest not to jump to premature conclusions about who was really running the show.

[UTUSN]

5. I know for sure that I am parroting what was said on t.v.

Believe me, I am not in any sense portraying myself here as an original investigative reporter, except for the things I "report" as having heard or seen somewhere, usually on t.v. and in links---APART from my own opinions and interpretations, which are as original to me as everybody else's are to them, despite flamers who claim we all spout "talking points". But thanks for adding more links and sources.

[H2O Man]

10. I have heard

that they reported directly to the Secretary of Defense, not the Secretary of State.

[young_at_heart]

4. Using the word "crusade" was exactly what he meant to do

He defined 'crusade' as war:

"My administration has a job to do and we're going to do it. We will rid the world of the evil-doers".

(from a Paris newspaper after Bush's comments)
President Bush's reference to a "crusade" against terrorism, which passed almost unnoticed by Americans, rang alarm bells in Europe. It raised fears that the terrorist attacks could spark a 'clash of civilizations' between Christians and Muslims, sowing fresh winds of hatred and mistrust.

[grasswire]

6. who was the guy piling on the details?

Without any further info, I must assume this is disinfo or agitprop. I can't imagine Powell allowing such an extra-constitutional action.

I don't believe it.

[Justitia]

7. Jeremy Scahill, an authority on Blackwater - he might have misspoke?

As I'm sure you know, Scahill is truly an authority on Blackwater.

He was speaking very fast, getting out lots of info in a short amt of time. It is possible he meant to say "Sec of Defense" (all the background pics were of Rumsfeld), but accidentally said "Sec of State" - he mentioned no names.

From watching it myself, I simply assumed he misspoke as he was going thru the info very rapidly.
I could be wrong, but that was my take on it.

[starroute]

8. Blackwater had much closer ties to State than to Defense

It's been a couple of years since I was looking at the numbers for Blackwater at fedspending.org, so the figures I have go only up to 2006. But at that time, Blackwater had $426 million in federal contracts, with $343 million being support and security services for the Department of State and another $69 million being the same for Immigration and Customs. Only $13 million or so went to the Department of Defense, and that was all for training.

So Scahill definitely did not misspeak in saying that the Blackwater connection ran through the Department of State -- the only question is just who in the department was in on everything that was going on.

What's also astonishing, by the way, the rapidity of the growth in federal payments to Blackwater, which went from just $205,000 in 2000 to $3 million in 2002. Then with the Iraq War it leaped to $21 million in 2003 -- but it was still at about that same level in 2005. And then there was this incredible twenty-fold growth in 2006.

That was when the humongous US Embassy in Baghdad was being built -- but it sounds like there was only $21 million budgeted for security for the construction crews. (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-04-19-us-embassy_x.htm) I'm pretty sure that money went to Blackwater, but it's still only a small fraction of the total of $343 million.

[DCKit]

9. War Crimes AND Profiteering.

It was going to come out eventually, but I never thought so soon.

[malaise]

11. Great OP

K & R

[madokie]

12. I love it

saint colon had me :rofl:
+1

Oh, good OP

[DailyGrind51]

13. Didn't that reporting relationship begin under Condi Rice?

[nomaco-10]

14. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU....

Maybe, just maybe some here will finally get it about colin powell. All he ever was, and still is, is a carefully crafted version of the kinder, gentler version of american fascism.

I could never figure out why so many dems found him so likeable and compelling, all the while his documented history showed just the opposite.