Blackwater... A Religious Crusade?

[skurry]

Check out this link to a clip from Keith Olberman's Countdown. It recounts all the things that Blackwater is accused of and at the end Keith calls it a Christian crusade. It seems like Blackwater was hired to be the equivalent of Jihad for GW Bush. It always amazes me that you can be a devout Christian and get caught with underage prostitutes, murder innocent civilians, steal money, but you are still better than others because you can hide behind your religion as faux morality.

http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/?p=3858

*Sigh*

[Big Mac]

Baby Jesus isn't in love with your tone, sir.

[jbeukema]

Does any of this really surprise anyone? :|

[-43-]

I think the idea that a company that employs tens of thousands having several nutcase perverts isn't all that astounding, and Keith isn't my idea of a reliable unbiased source. My $0.02

[Grizzly]

You do realize olbermann is a douchenozzle right?

He's the left wing orielly turned up to 11.

And Blackwater was hired to do all the things that the military doesn't have the time nor man power to do.It's just the people Blackwater hires aren't exactly the most stable people in the world, so things tend to die.

Edit:schize, beaten to it.

[iNow]

Attacking personally the person who shared the story does nothing to negate the validity and authenticity of the story itself.  Try again, guys.

[-43-]

I really doubt you take O'Reilly seriously (does anyone?) and Olberman is exactly the same, just left of center.  And my post wasn't based around the idea that Olberman is stupid (which he is) it's the idea that for any organization of Blackwater's size and scope will have crazy people who can work the system. The government, corperations, large "nonprofit" groups, all these have cases every year of some sick fuck using organization funds to endorse thier own "appetites".

[iNow]

it's the idea that for any organization of Blackwater's size and scope will have crazy people who can work the system. The government, corperations, large "nonprofit" groups, all these have cases every year of some sick fuck using organization funds to endorse thier own "appetites".

That's not the point.  Nobody is talking about "crazy people in the the system."  The issue is specific to the company owner, Erik Prince, and what he encouraged among those under his employ as a direct result of his religious belief... It was not about just some schmoe at the bottom of the food chain.


http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/scahill

A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."

<...>

    Briefed on the substance of these allegations by The Nation, Congressman Dennis Kucinich replied, "If these allegations are true, Blackwater has been a criminal enterprise defrauding taxpayers and murdering innocent civilians." Kucinich is on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and has been investigating Prince and Blackwater since 2004.

    "Blackwater is a law unto itself, both internationally and domestically. The question is why they operated with impunity. In addition to Blackwater, we should be questioning their patrons in the previous administration who funded and employed this organization. Blackwater wouldn't exist without federal patronage; these allegations should be thoroughly investigated," Kucinich said.

[-43-]

Calling Blackwater religious is paranoid and irrational, the CEO is a Christian, like the CEOs of the majority of the country's corporations. And the board of directors/stockholders holds the money, the motivation of any corporation is to make money, there is no money to be made by senseless violence (and don't tell me Iraq was about oil, 3% of our oil originates in Iraq). If the CEO of any corporation starts to become that bloodthirsty the Board gives him the shaft. One shouldn't be suprised that BW has had acts of sadistic or senseless violence reported (reported =/= validated btw). Every occupying force of any nation in any conflict has had similar incedents reported. Bottom line, there is little money in religious zeal.

[iNow]

Calling Blackwater religious is paranoid and irrational...

"Lalalala, I can't hear you" is not a valid argument, and does nothing to rebut the information I've presented in the post above.  Two men who worked directly with the man have presented their evidence in court.  If you have a counter argument to that evidence, or evidence of your own which suggests otherwise, then present it.  You can call me paranoid, irrational, and all manner of things, but attacking my character and attacking me personally does nothing to deflate the validity of the information I've shared.

Now, since you've made a new claim about senseless violence, I will share actual data about that one, too:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/ ... lackwater/

When we evaluate the facts, the use of private military contractors appears to have harmed, rather than helped, the counterinsurgency efforts of the U.S. mission in Iraq, going against our best doctrine and undermining critical efforts of our troops. Even worse, the government can no longer carry out one of its most basic core missions: to fight and win the nation's wars. Instead, the massive outsourcing of military operations has created a dependency on private firms like Blackwater that has given rise to dangerous vulnerabilities.

On Tuesday, among those testifying on Capitol Hill will be Erik Prince, the chairman and owner of Blackwater, as well as a series of State Department officials who were supposed to have overseen the firm's activities. We can expect that Prince will wrap himself in the flag, discussing all the vital missions that Blackwater conducts in Iraq, while downplaying the recent killings. State Department officials are likely to say that they had no other option but to use the firm, given their lack of Diplomatic Security forces -- conveniently ignoring that the department has chosen to hollow out its Diplomatic Security corps and instead hand over the task to a consortium of private firms led by Blackwater under a multibillion-dollar contract.

I remind you, just because you close your eyes and plug your ears does not make the information I am presenting you somehow wrong or nonexistent.  Enjoy.

[Ninteen45]

iNow, I should read your posts more often.