Obama hires Blackwater, again

[Enrique]

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/10/01/obama_blackwater_again/

Spencer Ackerman at Wired reports:

Never mind the dead civilians. Forget about the stolen guns. Get over the murder arrests, the fraud allegations, and the accusations of guards pumping themselves up with steroids and cocaine. Through a “joint venture,” the notorious private security firm Blackwater has won a piece of a five-year State Department contract worth up to $10 billion, Danger Room has learned.

The company won the contract under one of its many alternate names, "International Development Solutions." The contract is to protect embassies around the world.


(...)

[Pab Sungenis]

1. Why are we still paying private firms

to do what we train our soldiers to do?

[boppers]

44. Posse Comitatus makes it messy.

The article doesn't bother mentioning that the contract in question is for protecting embassies on US soil.

edit: punctuation

[gateley]

2. Why? Is there no other such company available? I know Hillary said she wouldn't

use their services, and I assume Obama feels the same way, so why do they continue to utilize their services? Any idea?

[Enrique]

3. never mind

on second thought, any attempt to make a distinction with Clinton on this (or on anything else, really), is a dead end.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/10/201010117237790858.html

(...)

She used the issue to differentiate herself from her chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama, who said that if voted into office, he would not rule out the continued use of military contractors.

But reporter Spencer Ackerman, who wrote the story for Wired.com's Danger Room, says that Clinton only took that stance "in order to gain some traction" during her campaign and that "it was clear that she didn't mean what she said".

Despite working for the Obama administration, where the president himself never ruled out the use of contractors, Clinton, Ackerman said, has options.

"She could stop using any particular contractor if she wanted to," Ackerman said.

(...)

[gateley]

13. Yeah I read the article at the link you provided, but regardless of who is

in the Oval Office, why are we continuing to use them? I honestly think any Dem would use another provider if they could, which makes me wonder if there just aren't enough such companies available.

As another poster asked, I think the bigger issue is why do we keep hiring private contractors to do the job our military is trained to do?

And regarding the Hillary distraction, I laughed when I saw the Obama headline because the first post I saw on this had Hillary in the headline! Of course the pieces were from different authors, and we can tell where each of their loyalties are!

[Enrique]

15. the reason I think is the accountability

military can't get away with as much as contractors can, so they're not as useful.

By the way, didn't Iraq ban Blackwater, wasn't there a story about them packing their bags?

[gateley]

26. I DO seem to recall something about Iran banning Blackwater. Good point

about the accountability, and if most of these people are former CIA and Special Ops, we know they have no qualms about stepping out of bounds.

Yep, I think you nailed it -- the accountability.

[boppers]

45. There's a few issue there...

As far as using "other providers", the industry is so incestuous that often times when another provider is used (as actually happened in this case), that "other provider" has ties, somehow, to Blackwater/Xe.

...
"why do we keep hiring private contractors"... depends on the job. We can't legally use soldiers for policing on US soil (it goes back to post-civil-war war crimes), which is what this specific instance/contract is for.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

For other jobs, there's so much churn in the military that finding, training, and retaining staff that are capable of the job is next to impossible. Infantry is definitely doable for the average 18-35 year old soldier, but remote flight management system software? Thermonuclear engine design? Municipal water supply management?

Another problem/case is where the above two issues intersect, where legally, and skill-set wise, use of soldiers would be seen as inappropriate, or even illegal, but hiring of contractors to do the same job would not be illegal.
...

The "Obama"/"Hillary"/"State Department" thing simply gets an eye roll from me, as I'm 99% certain that the person making this decision is some faceless clerk.

[leveymg]

4. BW is run by the guys who let 9/11 happen, UBL escape from Afghanistan, and CIA torture,

See,

bout 3,150 results (0.31 seconds)
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1.
leveymg's Journal - Blackwater Director Let 9/11 Hijackers into US ...
Aug 21, 2009 ... leveymg's Journal. Blackwater Director Let 9/11 Hijackers into US, then Killed, Tortured the Remaining Witnesses ...
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/438 - Cached
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BlogBox's Journal - So Much Sensational Snark, So Little Column Space‎
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3.
Daily Kos: Erik Prince: American Bin Laden - CIA Asset, Money & Gunmen
by leveymg. Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 08:21:35 AM PDT ... The top people at Blackwater were CIA managers who ran a number of double-agents within ...
http://www.dailykos.com/.../-Erik-Prince:-American-Bin-LadenCIA-Asset,-MoneyGunmen - Cached
4.
Daily Kos: Blackwater "Perimeter Guard" Failed to Search Bomber of CIA
Jan 5, 2010 ... by leveymg on Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 10:08:23 AM PDT .... But I don't really think that any of the Blackwater people would go so far as to kill ...
http://www.dailykos.com/.../-Blackwater-Perimeter-Guard-Failed-to-Search-Bomber-of-CIA - Cached
Show more results from www.dailykos.com
5.
Hiding al-Nashiri's Torture | Emptywheel
Aug 21, 2009 ... leveymg's Journal. Blackwater Director Let 9/11 Hijackers into US, then Killed, Tortured the Remaining Witnesses ...
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/21/hiding-al-nashiris-torture/ - Cached


7.
Blackwater Director Let 9/11 Hijackers into US, then Killed ...
Edited on Fri Aug-21-09 03:33 PM by leveymg. We learn today from NYT reporters James Risen and Mark Mazzetti that Blackwater (Xe) started receiving CIA ...
http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?... - Cached
8.
Democratic Underground - NYT: "Confederate States May Have ...
Blackwater/ Xe is just a corporate front organization for the CIA. ... NYT: "Confederate States May Have Employed Forced Labor,", leveymg ...
http://www.democraticunderground.org/.../duboard.php?az...id... - Cached
9.
The Faces of Torturers: Cofer Black and Jose Rodriguez | The Seminal
Aug 26, 2009 ... Here is an excerpt from a piece by leveymg re:waterboarding of Abu ... And now they work for Xe/Blackwater. I, for one, am not going to let ...
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7556 - Cached - Similar

[flyarm]

28. yes indeed they are ..thank you for posting the reminder to people here! eom

[femrap]

5. Damn it. nt

[ProSense]

6. Obama did not hire Blackwater.

These reports are becoming ridiculous.

<...>

But the State Department confirmed that U.S. Training Center, which it described as "part of International Development Solutions (IDS)," won the contract "in a joint venture with Kaseman,” a McLean, Va., security services firm, whose board is stocked with top former State Department and CIA officials.

Kaseman’s board of directors includes Henry A. Crumpton, a former coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department, and Kara L. Bue, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for regional stability who had previously served as special assistant to Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage during the George W. Bush administration.

Other board members include former NSA and CIA director Michael V. Hayden; Donald M. Kerr, a longtime former CIA official who also served as principal deputy to the director of national intelligence; and former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), who sat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

link

Obama is not in charge of State Department procurement.

From the OP article:

<...>

It's worth repeating that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in her presidential campaign, promised to ban Blackwater from Iraq, going so far as to say:

For five years their behavior and lack of supervision and accountability have often eroded our credibility, endangered U.S. and Iraqi lives and undermined our mission.

Obama never made a similar promise.

This new State contract is hardly the first time Blackwater will be working for the Obama Administration. According to various reports, the company has been awarded an $100 million contract for the CIA in Afghanistan, another State contract to protect consulates in Afghanistan, and a Defense Department contract to do training and even "drug interdiction" work in Afghanistan.

<...>

[Kdillard]

8. I don't know why you try but thank you.

[Enrique]

9. and if he did...

then it's a good thing.

[leveymg]

12. Fine - Obama Administration hired Blackwater again . . . does that make it OK?

:eyes:

[ProSense]

16. No

State Department hired Blackwater

Is this OK: Obama fires Sherrod.

The federal government is a huge organization.

Claiming that procurement at the State Department was done by Obama is completely ridiculous.

Also, there is obviously no ban on the remnants of Blackwater.

Eric Prince and Gary Jackson are gone. The company no longer exists.

What are they going to do ban every organization that employs anyone who once was connected to the company?

[leveymg]

20. The company or "the Company?"

Blackwater/Xe could have been debarred as a federal contractor on 1,000 grounds, but the government never initiated the process. The WH could have requested the State Dept to do that, but apparently not. Why is that?

Go ahead and Google "Cofer Black". That's why.

[ProSense]

25. Semantics

In August Xe, which is up for sale, negotiated a $42 million fine with the federal government related to illegal weapons exports to Afghanistan, as well as to other accusations.

In addition, former Blackwater executives have been targeted in a half dozen civil suits and prosecutions, including one against five former Blackwater guards in connection with the death of 17 Iraqis during a Baghdad shootout in September 2007. Two company-affiliated guards are also being prosecuted on murder charges stemming from a 2009 shooting in Afghanistan.

In the meantime, two former Blackwater employees have filed a suit alleging that the firm's founder, Erik Prince, and his companies defrauded the departments of State and Homeland Security. Xe has denied wrongdoing.

“The Department of State has supported the Department of Justice’s investigation and prosecution every step of the way,” a spokeswoman there told SpyTalk Friday on condition of anonymity. “We fully respect the independence and integrity of the U.S. judicial system and support holding legally accountable any contractor personnel who have committed crimes.”

link

Let's give that a headline: Obama Investigating Blackwater.

[vaberella]

36. Prosense can you post this in it's own thread to counter this nonsense.

Jesus.

[ClarkUSA]

37. self-delete

[JamesA1102]

41. Well said ProSense nt

[Name removed]

49. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Uncola]

7. And yet...

... they wonder why we are pissed off?

:argh:

[glitch]

34. Oh they know why we're pissed off -- they just don't want to hear about it.

That might "make them do it".

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

10. Blackwater should be banned from any federal government contract period. nt

[ensho]

11. I'm so pissed that he sticks with Blackwater - tell us WHY Obama

tell us why you hire criminals! I beg you.

[leveymg]

14. Blackwater/Xe is a sort of comfortable retirement home for CIA paramilitary.

If you carried out a Black Op -- even one of the really horrendously failed, illegal ones -- and kept your mouth shut, they'll give you a cushy job with a really big salary. It's a way of ensuring that everyone stays on the reservation and doesn't rat out the others.

Quite smart, when you think about it.

Just look at the ops, above, the guys who run the place were involved with.

[ensho]

17. what you say sounds reasonable to me - the pentagon stands on

on Obama's neck 24/7

they have way too much power

[vaberella]

32. Maybe you should read post no.# 6. n/t

[rug]

18. No, he hired XE. There are not 50,000 combat troops in Iraq.

The war in Iraq is over. It is NATO fighting in Afghanistan. High fructose corn syrup is now corn sugar.

[treestar]

19. If they hired some other company to do the same thing

Would it make a big difference?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

21. Why reward a company that has defrauded the federal government? Not to

mention the fact that this company has made the armed forces' mission even more difficult time and time again. It sounds to me like there are no consequences regardless of their unethical and criminal behavior. So the answer to your question is yes. Send a signal to these corporations that if you fuck with the federal gov/tax payers. You don't get a goddamn thing from us. It's that simple.

[treestar]

22. Then it would be OK if they hired another company?

It would make a real difference for which the administration would get some credit?

Of course not. there would still be the complaints that we are still doing whatever we are hiring them for, no matter what company was doing it.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

23. I'm talking about actual facts not imaginary scenarios. I don't know what you're talking about. Also

these companies charge exorbitant amounts of money for jobs the troops ca do. Why not pay our soldiers more?

[treestar]

24. that's another issue

and if another company were hired, or even if the soldiers did it, we'd still hear complaints about our even being there, so that's the real point. What's the point of whinging about the details?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

27. OK so let's stick to the issue. I don't believe in rewarding criminal behavior. Period. Again

that's the issue. How many times can a company screw over the taxpayers before they are held accountable? That's the issue not some imaginary "Oh if they hired such and such then you'd say this and that."

[flyarm]

29. a resounding YES! eom

[alcibiades_mystery]

30. DVT

Useless.

[vaberella]

31. Excuse me mods. Do we not care about posters posting false or misleading information?!

Because by doing so they do what the MSM has been doing for decades?!

[scheming daemons]

33. Apparently not. Lying about Democrats is permissable.

But don't DARE call out the liars.


That's frowned upon.

[vaberella]

35. It seems that way. I'd rather have clear information than this kind of crap. n/t

[ClarkUSA]

38. Totally false OP. Blackwater no longer exists; Obama didn't "hire" them. Hillary's State Dep't. did.

Your attempt to trot out a bogeyman via the defunct Blackwater is pathetic.

Why aren't you blaming Hillary and calling her a hypocrite for going back on her campaign promise by allowing her State Department to "hire Blackwater"??

[Name removed]

39. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bvar22]

40. Stop picking on The President.

This re-hiring of Blackwater Mercenaries was all Hillary's fault!!!
President Obama has NOTHING to do with it!!!

[ClarkUSA]

42. FACT: President Obama is not in charge of State Department procurement.

FACT: SoS Hillary is in charge of the State Department. Given her campaign promise, she certainly was in a position to put the kibosh on this procurement, given the State Department is under her Clintonian control: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=464012&mesg_id=464024

The question is: why didn't she?

Of course, we are talking about Hillary "Lobbysists Are People, Too" Clinton. That may explain it.

[bvar22]

43. I agree!!!!

There is no possible way President Obama could know what is going on in the State Department!
Its completely separate...like another country or something!
Anyone who thinks Obama should have control and accountability over the State Department is clearly a Right Wing Troll who only want the Republicans to WIN!!!
:toast:

[ClarkUSA]

46. Yes, it's obvious that SoS Hillary is either a hypocrite or she has no clue "what is going on".

Either way, it doesn't reflect well on Hillary's management of the State Department, which is her political fiefdom, after all.

I mean, the State Department is under her control and what it does is her responsibility. It's not "completely separate...like another country or something!"

"Anyone who" doesn't believe that Secretary of State Clinton has "control and accountability over the State Department is clearly a Right Wing Troll who only want the Republicans to WIN!!!"

You said it. :)

[Metric System]

47. Who's the Boss?

[girl_interrupted]

48. The President is the "Boss" & oversees the State Department

The power of the Executive Branch is vested in the President of the United States, and he appoints the Secretary of State, who serves at his pleasure & is there to implement his foreign policy. His not hers. Her job is to use her diplomatic skills to further the Presidents agenda to the best of her abilities. It is the Presidents job to oversee the State Department, as well as other Departments. Neither Obama or Hillary are "clueless".


September 2, 2009 :

The State Department announced last January that it would not be renewing Blackwater’s contract for security services in Iraq when it was set to expire in May, however the Obama administration decided to extend it through Sept. 3, according to The Nation Jeremy Scahill.
ABC reported the new contract extension is for an unspecified amount of time and could end “within weeks or months.”

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/02/report-state-dept-extends-blackwater-contract-in-iraq/


Blackwater USA aka Blackwater Worldwide aka Xe Services LLC is one and the same and owns many different subsidiaries under many different names.

Published: August 17, 2010:
"In 2009, with scrutiny of Blackwater’s activities intensifying, Mr. Prince changed the company’s name and overhauled the management. He sold the company’s aviation arm early this year, and finally placed the whole company, including its huge headquarters and training complex in Moyock, N.C., up for sale in June. " http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/09/blackwater_founder_erik_prince.html

So far, no takers. In 2009, Prince announced that he would relinquish involvement in the company's day-to-day business and in December of that year that he plans to give up some of his ownership rights with Xe and is considering becoming a teacher. "Some". Erik Prince has since moved to Dubai, according to that NY Times article. Which would make it difficult for the US to extradite Prince if he were to face US criminal charges for his and his firm's past dealings with the US government. The UAE and US do not have an extradition treaty.



"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in her presidential campaign, promised to ban Blackwater from Iraq" http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/10/01/obama_blackwater_again . True, and she has kept her promise. "Xe provided security services in Iraq to the United States federal government, particularly the Central Intelligence Agency on a contractual basis. They no longer have a license to operate in Iraq: the new Iraqi government made multiple attempts to expel them from their country,<12> and denied their application for an operating license in January 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_Worldwide


"Obama never made a similar promise" True, and he has kept his word. So their contract has been renewed. "This new State contract is hardly the first time Blackwater will be working for the Obama Administration. According to various reports, the company has been awarded an $100 million contract for the CIA in Afghanistan, another State contract to protect consulates in Afghanistan, and a Defense Department contract to do training and even "drug interdiction" work in Afghanistan." http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/10/01/obama_blackwater_again

And so it goes.

One more interesting fact..Erik Prince will be writing his "memoirs" and has promised to "name" names. "Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Will Implicate the Democrats in His Memoir" http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/09/blackwater_founder_erik_prince.html " A source close to the company has already told the Washington Post that the memoir will cover the fact that Democratic officials in both the Clinton and Obama administrations approved of Prince's most sensitive and controversial operations done on behalf of the CIA and other government agencies." No mention of the Bush administration, of course.



Politics makes for some very strange bedfellows.

[ProSense]

50. Do you mean

Hillary is complicit?

State Dept. tried to hide Blackwater’s piece of $10 billion contract: report

Tell Hillary Clinton: Stand up to Blackwater

She runs the State Department. The President does not get involved with awarding contracts at the procurement level.