Scahill: Obama may be afraid of Blackwater

By David Edwards and Daniel Tencer
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 -- 3:30 pm

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blackwatermassacreiraq Scahill: Obama may be afraid of Blackwater Despite news reports that the security contractor formerly known as Blackwater has seen its contracts dry up and its influence wane, the company continues to do brisk business in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and the Obama administration may be too afraid of the firm to do anything about it, says investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill.

"You know who's guarding Hillary Clinton in Afghanistan right now? Blackwater," Scahill told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Tuesday night. "You know who guards members of Congress? Blackwater. They have half a billion dollars in contracts in Afghanistan right now. CIA, State Department, Defense Department. Why is President Obama keeping these guys on the payroll? There has never been a company in recent history that made the case that corporations are corrupt, evil organizations [better] than Blackwater."

Scahill was on The Rachel Maddow Show discussing the New York Times' revelation that senior Blackwater executives allegedly arranged for bribes of up to $1 million for Iraqi politicians in a bid to retain its contracts and silence criticism of the company in the wake of the Nissour Square massacre in 2007, in which 17 Iraqi civilians died after Blackwater guards opened fire.

Though the Times report stated that it's unknown if the approved bribes ever reached their targets -- Iraqi politicians -- Scahill drew a connection between the alleged bribes and the fact that, after the Nissour Sqaure massacre, the Iraqi government first decided to bar Blackwater from operating in the country, and then reversed its position.

"You had the Iraqi government saying Blackwater was banned from that country, then suddenly doing an about face, and Blackwater remains in Iraq to this day," Scahill said.

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That sentiment was echoed by Spencer Ackerman at the Washington Independent, who also suggested a link between the alleged bribes and Blackwater's continued presence in Iraq. "Now we have some inkling of why the Iraqis allowed the firm to stay," Ackerman blogged.

Scahill suggested that the security firm's deep and continued involvement in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars means the company could potentially embarrass any administration with the things it can reveal.

"Another way of looking at this is Blackwater knows where a lot of bodies are buried," Scahill told Maddow. "These are guys who worked on the CIA assassination program, the drone bombing campaign, and regarding all of the senior officals, they know a heck of a lot about what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, and those are not guys that you want on the other side of the fence if you're running Washington."

Scahill dismissed as "nonsense" the idea that Blackwater continues to have contracts because its services can't be carried out by regular military forces.

This video is from MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, broadcast Nov. 10, 2009.

Download video via RawReplay.com

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Story comments are below...

fred

Scahill is going to wind up face down in a ditch with a few slugs in the back of his head, or, equivalently, a footnote to a light-aircraft accident.

schmice

It will no doubt be ruled a suicide.

roooth

Yeah, one of those suicides where the victim is found with his hands and feet bound and a bullet to the back of the head. You know, run of the mill.

lexlex

Oops, there goes our Democracy! This is why you don't privatize the army. Blackwater is the 'hit man' for hire agency and they should be phased out, with the authority vested back into the U.S. military.

thx1138a

Righteo. The democratic experiment is over. Has been for a while now.

And you're right. Privatized army bad. In fact the founding fathers even objected to having "standing" armies. After each war, disband them. They knew that standing armies (and the MIC they would wrought) were an even greater danger to democracy than sneak attack. Just look at Pearl Harbor. We got totally clobbered and still had the wherewithall to recover and kick some serious ass.

Blackwater's just the money making angle of a private army / shadow government that's been around since the OSS, which became the CIA. And was originated, ironically, to prevent another Pearl Harbor. Bad idea. Let the Pearl Harbor's happen. Even 9/11 only did 100 billion dollars worth of damage. No problem. Better to live without standing armies and the MIC -- which has done more harm to this country and the world as a whole than anything (even religion : )
.

peterlawrence

Hitler came to power because he had 500,000 brownshirts while the German army only had 100,000 troops. I'd be scared of blackwater too cuz they got more men than we do in the army. It's time to reduce blackwater to rubble.

bmn2

I suspect that the number of Blackwater soldiers isn't even approach the number of persons in our armed forces, though they are threatening more because their is virtually no accounting for their actions.

edwards_com

And Remember: Backwater grew from a Michigan CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICAL
CHRISTIAN group.

shablon

There is no doubt in people's mind that both Obama and his family are under threat of assassination, by the ZioNazi assassins or Blackwater. Do not forget what happened to Paul Wellstone. same will happen to anyone who dares to oppose Zionists. As you can see none of the promises Obama had made during the campaign, have been fulfilled, for a very good reason.

thx1138a

.
Precisely.

Barack Obama has small children. He loves his wife. He is infinitely more well-adjusted than most CEOs, MICs, and Politicos. Hell, he doesn't even really care if he wins a second term. He's made it -- top of the world, Ma. He's rich, famous, successful, set for life, and more than anything else -- he would like to stick around and share all that in love and happiness for years to come with his family and friends.

There will be no meaningful reform during his adminstration(s).

The CIA, MIC, and Corporatist Oligarghs have informed him in no uncertain terms that he will not survive any meaningful threat to their power. For more information see JFK, RFK, and MLK.
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miggy

The notion that a newly-elected president is taken to a back room and "talked to" by state security and/or shadow government operatives is attractive. In fact, it's part of popular culture:
_________________________________________
I walked into El Presidente’s office two days after he was elected and congratulated him… I said “Mr. President, in here I got a couple hundred million dollars for you and your family, if you play the game – you know, be kind to my friends who run the oil companies, treat your Uncle Sam good.” Then I stepped closer, reached my right hand into the other pocket, bent down next to his face, and whispered, “In here I got a gun and a bullet with your name on it – in case you decide to keep your campaign promises.” I stepped back, sat down, and recited a little list for him, of presidents who were assassinated or overthrown because they defied their Uncle Sam: from Diem to Torrijos – you know the routine. He got the message. – John Perkins, quoting an anonymous source in his new book, “The Secret History of the American Empire – Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption”.
_________________________________________
No matter what promises you make on the campaign trail, blah blah blah, when you win (the U.S. Presidency), you go into this smoky room with the 12 industrialist, capitalist scumfucks that got you in there, and this little screen comes down...and its a shot of the JFK assassination from an angle you've never seen before, which looks suspiciously like the grassy knoll, and then the screen comes up and the lights go on, and they ask the new president "any questions?" – Comedian Bill Hicks
_________________________________________
But when this scenario is raised about Obama, as it often is in Internet comments, it's like dropping one shoe.

What's the implication? If Obama has truly been coerced into doing the bidding of his Sinister Masters, where does that leave us? Are we supposed to pity Obama for being in such a dire predicament?

IF this were true, do we excuse Obama for playing along, like a victim who's threatened with reprisals if he or she tells the cops what's going on?

Or is this scenario invoked to make the case that it isn't that we're devolving into an irrevocable imperial police state, it's that we've BEEN living in one for decades? That's the only conclusion I can logically extrapolate from this: the public goes through the formality of electing a president, but the president is null and void because he's trapped in a bind. So there's no way out for him (her) OR the rest of us. Game Over.

I feel as if I'm missing something here; what's the other shoe?

thx1138a

.
I feel as if I'm missing something here; what's the other shoe?

THERE IS NONE.

What's the implication? If Obama has truly been coerced into doing the bidding of his Sinister Masters, where does that leave us?

FUCKED.

Are we supposed to pity Obama for being in such a dire predicament?

YES.

IF this were true, do we excuse Obama for playing along, like a victim who's threatened with reprisals if he or she tells the cops what's going on?

YES.

Or is this scenario invoked to make the case that it isn't that we're devolving into an irrevocable imperial police state, it's that we've BEEN living in one for decades?

YES.

That's the only conclusion I can logically extrapolate from this: the public goes through the formality of electing a president, but the president is null and void because he's trapped in a bind. So there's no way out for him (her) OR the rest of us. Game Over.

GIVE THAT MAN A CIGAR.
.
"The illusion of freedom [in America] will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater." --Frank Zappa

edwards_com

Your logic & conclusions are very disheartening. Not because you are incorrect for I have suspected the same for quite some time. I don't care for the feeling of helplessness I once had. Now I just pray & take care of my family & try to enjoy life whenever possible.

thx1138a

.
Yep, that's the way to go. Render unto Caesar and find your own peace within. Modern weaponry makes revolution impossible without a coordinated general strike; and the populace is too dumbed down for that now. We'll just have to let this modern evil empire collapse over the next 100 years via its own systemic cancer.
.

fhallall

Any Frank Z reference welcome here. I just found "Dumb All Over" and it is on my playlist with several other MOI tunes.
It CAN happen here.

bobofat

to the mountains!

Elim

The other shoe is us. Lots of us. Lots of us who have guns. If that other shoe ever drops, the blood of the elites will be running in the gutters. Then we'll see what their police can do for them, when even the police turn their guns against these satanic criminals and traitors.

musings2

I don't think a run on the Winter Palace is in the cards just yet. People are not desperate enough.

But what I do see is a massive refusal to believe in the leadership or the opposition either. Nobody buys for instance, that Hasan was al-Qaeda no matter how hard it was sold by the so-called and misnamed "liberal mainstream media" (e.g. CNN). By the same token, everyone can see that reforms hoped for with the Democratic majority in Congress and Obama as President just aren't happening either. They freeze usurious interest rates on credit cards in order to save the banks from collapse, not to help those in debt, paying out money for nothing productive, while the infrastructure rots. No, this is a static situation, not moving anywhere. As such it is more dangerous than people realize. But no longer are people reliable to believe everything presented to them. This is an age of skepticism.

edwards_com

I don't know if the media is Liberal for I refuse to watch any of it.. Yet, the snap decision & so called absolute conclusion that Hasan was a member communicating regularly and so forth with al-Queda smell of False Flag to me.

malikk

obama is a fucking lier thats why he has nt fullfilled his promises and you no what i dont care what happens to him
i wouldnt loose a night sleep if something happens fuck him
you lay down with dogs you get fleas



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Scahill: Obama may be afraid of Blackwater

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