CIA breaking ties with BLACKWATER: You betcha!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Controversial Blackwater CIA Contract Ending

AIRAMERICA
Adam Goldman
Feds Under Fire For Partnering With Shady Contractors
WASHINGTON (AP) — CIA Director Leon Panetta has canceled a contract with the former Blackwater security firm that allowed the company's operatives to load missiles on Predator drones in Pakistan.

Panetta canceled the contract earlier this year and the work is being shifted to government personnel, a person familiar with the contract said Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the classified program.

Blackwater is now known as Xe Services. A spokesman was not immediately available for comment on the contract cancellation. The New York Times first reported the contract's existence in August.
http://airamerica.com/news/12-12-2009/blackwater-predator-missile-load-contract-ending/

Blackwater Linked to Covert CIA Raids

Washington Post:
Sources say Contractors Fought Alongside Federal Agents in Afghan, Iraq Operations

Highly trained personnel employed with the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide sometimes operated side by side with CIA field officers in Iraq and Afghanistan as the agency undertook missions to kill or capture members of insurgent groups in those countries, according to a former government official and a source familiar with the operations.

The actions taken by the private personnel went beyond the protective role specified in a classified Blackwater contract with the CIA and included active participation in raids overseen by CIA or special forces personnel, these sources said. They emphasized that roles and responsibilities often are blurred or altered in a battlefield setting, and that Blackwater personnel were drawn into the operations on an ad-hoc basis because they were present and had the necessary skills.

Still, the involvement of Blackwater's officers in raids is likely to raise new questions about the degree to which deadly actions in Iraq and Afghanistan were outsourced to contract personnel who operated without direct contractual authority or without the kind of oversight and accountability applied to CIA and military personnel.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/11/politics/washingtonpost/main5965345.shtml

Call it Xe Services or Blackwater Worldwide but to me a rose by any other name is still essentially a CIA front company.

[Mithreal]

1. "a contract"

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. did you know...

Over 60% of CIA field activity is performed by independent contractors.

[Mithreal]

3. Did not know that.

The Privatization of War: Scahill reports 121,000 contractors in Afghanistantan

http://pulsemedia.org/2009/12/22/the-privatization-of-war-scahill-reports-121000-contractors-in-afghanistantan/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pulsemedia+%28P+U+L+S+E%29

[Jeffersons Ghost]

4. here's why...

Independent contractors can operate "without the kind of oversight and accountability applied to CIA and military personnel."

[G_j]

5. +1000

[Aristus]

6. Let's hope this is just the beginning of a privatization rollback.

The number of mercenaries performing tasks that rightfully should be entrusted to military personnel is staggering.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

10. I wish they'd hurry up and bring all our troops home...

and turn the whole Mid-Eastern fiasco over to groups like Blackwater. Inevitably, that's what will occur in Iraq and Afghanistan after our troops are withdrawn.

[madokie]

7. I guess thats what it was

nothing else fits the mold. I believe the bush/cheney criminals when way too far and ultimately will have to face the music. My hope is my 61 year old ass lives long enough to see it happen.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

9. did you read my OP on this?

"Obama orders Justice Dept. to drop warrantless (NSA) wiretapping lawsuits"

Essentially, he pardoned not only the big telecoms but also GWB Jr for that whole sordid affair.

I thought it was funny as hell when that retired CIA analyst proved Rumsfeld a liar in front of all those cameras just before he resigned. Likely, it was done in retaliation for the Bush regime outing Valerie Plume.

[madokie]

13. I'll make it a point to do just that

I'm at a loss as to what is going on concerning the Obama administration and the last one. I am convinced the wiretaps were set up for using blackmail as a tool to get passed the shit they did and now it seems that our President may be being blackmailed by these bushco war criminals.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

14. I've often entertained the idea that our...

"President may be being blackmailed"

[KoKo]

8. "Smoke & Mirrors"...."Smoke & Mirrors"....some serious shit flinging there.

Yeah...we believe what they say. I did "Duck and Cover" in Grade School...and now we end up with this latest POS!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

11. New contract goes to Xe.

Watch.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

12. shhhh....

that's going to be a MUCH quieter contract. Blackwater is too well known, with far too much negative publicity.