Where’s the Outrage?

Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill, from The Nation, has written a tremendous book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army.  Jeremy’s book is packed with information about something that most of us know little or nothing about.  I found the book terribly disturbing.  It is well written and shocking.  A private Army that is as well trained, if not better, trained than our Army.  A private Army that answers to some private company.  Let your imagination wander.

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A portion of Jeremy Scahill’s testimony before Congress last week:

I would like to thank this committee for the opportunity to be here today and for taking on this very serious issue. Over the past six days, we have all been following very closely the developments out of Baghdad in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of as many as 20 Iraqis by operatives working for the private military company Blackwater USA. The Iraqi government is alleging that among the dead are a small child and her parents and the prime minister has labeled Blackwater’s conduct as “criminal” and spoke of “the killing of our citizens in cold blood.” While details remain murky and subject to conflicting versions of what exactly happened, this situation cuts much deeper than this horrifying incident. The stakes are very high for the Bush administration because the company involved, Blackwater USA, is not just any company. It is the premiere firm protecting senior State Department officials in Iraq, including Ambassador Ryan Crocker. This company has been active in Iraq since the early days of the occupation when it was awarded an initial $27 million no-bid contract to guard Ambassador Paul Bremer. During its time in Iraq, Blackwater has regularly engaged in firefights and other deadly incidents. About 30 of its operatives have been killed in Iraq and these deaths are not included in the official American death toll.  (more…)

 

 Who is Blackwater? [4:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Afghanistan, Iraq, Military by ecthompson
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More and more information is coming out of Baghdad and it don’t look good for Blackwater. Yes, they have been allowed to operate in the country again but it looks as though there is video. As I stated a couple of days ago, we needed video to determine what happened. Without video it is a he said, he said kind of affair. Almost everything is videotaped these days. You almost can’t go to the bathroom (or have sex with your boyfriend for that matter) without someone videotaping you.

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From MSNBC.com:

Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in an incident last week in which 11 people died, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday. He said the case had been referred to the Iraqi judiciary.

Iraq’s president, meanwhile, demanded that the Americans release an Iranian arrested this week on suspicion of smuggling weapons to Shiite militias. The demand adds new strains to U.S.-Iraqi relations only days before a meeting between President Bush and Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. (more…)

 

 Blackwater probe [2:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Iraq, Military by ecthompson
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Tom Wicker’s account of Dwight Eisenhower’s Presidency tops this weekend’s reading list. I would detail what I’ve read so far, but I’m almost done and I’m going to make it a blog post at some later point.

Wicker was a long time political reporter at the New York Times.

The Wicker book is simply titled Dwight D. Eisenhower. It is part of the American President’s series that had been edited by Arthur Schlesinger.

Schlesinger is now dead.  Schlesinger wrote The Age Of Jackson.

Also, on the list is It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over by Baseball Prospectus. This is an account of great baseball pennant races.

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I’m reading this because those guys at Baseball Prospectus are a bit libertarian in their outlook and I should not be using valuable reading time on baseball.

But I suppose everybody has their vices.

I’ll also be looking at my book about the world’s oceans called Ocean: The World’s Last Wilderness Revealed by the American Museum of Natural History.

It’s a great big book filled with both pictures and comprehensive explanations. I can’t suggest it strongly enough for people interested in this topic.

Tags: Books, Environment, Military, Sports by Texas Liberal
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