Blackwater Ousted from Iraq

[Schnugg]

This could take a while to really happen...if it actually did happen. They're all over the place.

"Blackwater is one of many security firms contracted by the U.S. government during the Iraq war. An estimated 25,000-plus employees of private security firms are working in Iraq, guarding diplomats, reconstruction workers and government officials. As many as 200 are believed to have been killed on the job, according to U.S. congressional reports."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/17/iraq.main/index.html

I wonder if they could come in under another name?

 

[Boats]

They dont need to come in under another name. DOS contract means they are operating under the DOS, not their own operating license. This is political and the media as usual loves to report on the "mercenaries and their secret armies." We will probably never get the whole story and certainly wont from the media.

 

[Brett1]

There was an excellent article about the founder in Vanity Fair a few months ago.

 

[xmid]

Erik Prince was a millionare's kid that did his time and served as a SEAL. I've never heard a bad thing about his service. The biggest complaint is that he heavily supports the republican party... BFD. If anything I can see companies like Blackwater staying after we leave to train/maintain peace/guard personel, as it offers us the ability to distance ourselves from the war while seeing that our interest are upheld. Once AD military leaves Iraq is the public really going to care to much about contractors still in the area? Did they care in Sierra Leon?

 

[BourneID]

This sounds a little more recent http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingworldnews/ci_6926571

 

[Brett1]

It takes big balls to work for those guys in that region. I wonder what the requirements are........

 

[skim]

http://www.blackwaterusa.com/employment/contract_position_it.asp

 

[Ralph]

If you click contract jobs its under mobile or personal security. Pay isn't to bad.

 

[BigIron]

Blackwater has their own "navy" now....
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=132742&ran=139475&tref=po

 

[A4sForever]

Blackwater is doing a necessary job that our government won't ....

BTW ... talked with a former SEAL friend yesterday who is "connected" with top BW management --- he teased me with a job "if I get some Cobra time" ... sooooooooooo .... perhaps some of you might look into it. He wasn't kidding about the "Cobra time" ...

In any case, I prefer my air conditioning fan blades on the front of the wings, not on the roof ....

 

[BigIron]

....In any case, I prefer my air conditioning fan blades on the front of the wings, not on the roof ....

You'd love it.

 

[MasterBates]

That's probably one of the few true ATTACK missions left.

 

[WVUBetaHornet]

This could take a while to really happen...if it actually did happen. They're all over the place.

Iraqi authorities want the U.S. government to...

 

[Dingobat]

Did they care in Sierra Leon?

I thought the United Nations did... Didn't they dismantle that private mercenary army Executive Outcomes, Inc.? I read somewhere that they were doing almost too good of a job at fighting rebels at the behest of a legitimate government that the UN thought that the idea of a modern, competent and lethal corporate army was very scary and ultimately, too threatening. (I'm not quite sure it was Sierra Leone, I read it three years ago)

 

[A4sForever]

Just for the record ... Erik Prince is a GOOD guy, a former member of the teams; he left the Navy to take over the family business -- he's clean-cut, all-American, a conservative, and a professing Christian.

Now .... I wonder why Henry Waxman and CO. doesn't like him .... ???

At the start ... Blackwater ONLY hired guys who were former members of the teams or Marine Recon or Army SF's .... guys who were "known quantities" and had a history .... then the bureaucrats at State decided that they wanted more than the military would/could provide .... so the hiring standards @ Blackwater went down ... like everything else does when you lower the bar ... and there have been some "problems" as a result.

OUT.