Thank you Hal, for bringing back this horrific menace to American troops. Yes, their actions reflect clearly on our troops working in compliance with their actions. I took your first commentary around the internet and ran into the Consetvatives who felt any group killing the enemy in cold blood was a good thing. It helped firm up my dislike of the Bush Administration and the entire Republican Party.

Millions of our tax dollars built Blackwater and continue to support them in their bloodthirsty actions for Bush. I will never believe they acted for America as we don't condone mercenaties on the battlefield. We have during the Bush Administration and who knows what Hillary will use against her enemies.

Without American values in the White House and Congress we are nothing but a military force for evil. The federal government sold us out under Bush 41 and there is nothing to fill in the void in 2008.

We will continue to massacre Islam until they get the ultimate nuke to shut us up.

Yes there is indeed hope for 2008!

His name is Dennis Kucinich!

Thank You once again Hal! Everyone should read all they can about Blackwater from their founder to the Natzi like tactics they use daily. Surprisingly, only a small percentage of Americans actually know anything at all about them. They are in Iraq to do the job Bush/Cheney, Rumsfield and a few others want them there to do and to do anything it takes to get it done, no matter how ruthless or wrong or how many it will kill. Blackwater must be working under a directive that goes something like "You have been hired to do what we cannot do, so don't listen to your conscience, don't think you have to act morallly, and pay no attention to the Geneva war laws..they apply only to us, not to you...just get the job we are paying you for done!"

Like I said before..their leaving Iraq will be VERY interesting in how it effects the fighting in this the war Bush/Cheney started baised on lies . Bush says he wants the Iraqi government to be taken seriously..now we will see just how much he means that, since they have said they want Blackwater out of Iraq.

Blackwater badly wants to build a training camp in
California. My Governor, Arnold Booben-Grabber is trying to facilitate that. Spineless Jellyfishes, Nancette Pelosi & Barbara Boxer will roll over regarding the Un-Constitution-Nator's ambitions to do Blackwater's bidding in Sunny Kali-fornia (as Awn-Nold would say).

I used to be heavily inclinated for gun control, but now I'm moving away from that view in light of the Army of Brown Shirt Thugs that the Bush Fuhrer & Governor Schwartzenfuhrer are embracing.

I'm sure glad as Hell I'm not a Democrat anymore.

Proud not to be a Democrat!!!

Democrats = Spineless Jellyfish

Blackwater = Brownshirts

Klaus, When Hal Brown first wrote his commentary about "Blackwater" I immediately ordered the book from Amazon and read it as quickly as I could. I took my reviews and Hal's commentary all over the political internet sites. I learn a terrible truth about the Republican Party.

Killing was their end game and it mattered not if innocent people were involved. These church-going two-faced Conservatives had no qualms about killing for killing sake.

This is what the GOP has become under a Dictator. It points out the dumbing down of the Party itself as well as allowing the religious right to take control. The Constitution has been trashed and religious emotions are running our government.

Are the Democrats any better? I have no idea. Since Bush 43 entered the White House and the harm he as brought to America and the Democrats sitting on their hands, has removed all political action from my desk here.

The Republicans and Democrats will not take the time to read the book that exposed the truth about Blackwater.

"Blackwater, The Rise of the World's Most Powserful Mercenary Army" by Jeremy Scahill.

Issuing labels on politicians is not good enough to save America. We need the power of the voters to unseat the White House, the Congress and the Judicial parts of our government. Not possible as people would rather throw out labels than work for corrections. Corrections take knowledge and people will instead, watch television.

Mercenaries are acceptable to Republicans and Democrats. End of story.

Hey Sandra, Thanks, I'm going to order the Blackwater book you just mentioned.

I'm just pissed at the Democrats lameness.
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. Kucinich is my man for the California primary, but
Kucinich is not a Corporate-Krat, so he doesn't stand a chance, so it's a forgone conclusion that the Democratic Leadership Councils darling is Hillary who very likely will win the Democratic presidential candidacy. I absoulutely won't vote for Hillary under any circumstances.

I don't know much about Ron Paul except that he voted against the Patriot Act and the Iraq war resolution. Guys like Ron Paul & Dennis Kucinich don't play with the corparate bribe lobbyists so they are ignored by their parties & mainstream press and have next to no chance to win the candidacy for president, but never the less, it is important to vote for them in the primaries.

Some of my friends ask me why do you vote for guys in the primary that have no chance, or Independents that run against the Democrats & Republicans in the presidential vote. My answer is Independents have swayed races for better or for worse, and things need to be shaken up to break up the monopoly the two party system has.

One of my pet peeves about the Democratic party is they blame Ralph Nader for Gore losing. What their really saying is: "Ralph Nader is a threat to the two party system, and we want to be the only opposition party."

And then they go on about how the country will just go to hell if Nader would only bow out; Well, the Dems got
into power and took the house, and they didn't take the house by promising voters to use non-binding legislation to get us out of Iraq.

There are virtually no moderate Republicans anymore.
I remember an interview with Dwight Eisenhower's son who said if his father was alive now, he would not recognize the Republican party as it is now with the religous right and the neo-cons.

In foreign countries an American in uniform is just that. An American in uniform. There's no distinction between an armed mercenary and an armed soldier from their perspective. That negates anything positive American miltary troops are trying to accomplish.

I have a novel suggestion.

Instead of being partisan as in Dem/GOP, which are both 'owned' by the Money Trust. Why don't we citizens start viewing it as Us against Them? Them being the politicians with their hands in the pockets of the Corporations and Bankers. The Corporations, Bankers and their corrupt, money-grubbing lawyers and politicians are the real enemy.

Hold people who commit evil responsible. Quit making excuses for them based on political partisanship.

Don't you see that partisanship is just another "Divide and Conquer" scheme? Ask Julius Ceasar, that scheme works.

Klaus, the primaries are the place to vote for our choices and of course in the election we usually vote against the candidate we dislike. Arizona (mine) and California (yours) date is February 5th and my being an Independent may be a problem for me to be able to vote for the one of my choice. I have not picked a choice at this time but it might be Ron Paul or Rudy Giuliani. For the final election I will probably write in P.J. O'Roarke again for the 3rd time.

Keith Olbermann will be interviewing J. Scahill on his teleivion show, I thought it might be this evening but it didn't happen. I emailed Hal Brown who wrote the first commentary and the one above. This story is shocking and should be exposed to everyone. I also understand that Scahill will testify for the Congress but I have no further knowledge of when.

I'm leaving on Sunday for a trip and will not be back until after Oct. 1st and will not have my computer with me. I will check in when I get home. I hope this discussion can grow and I want to know your review of the book.

Not too amazed to hear that Blackwater is back at full strength as of this morning, doing exactly what they've been paid to do all along, i.e., be a private unregulated army.

The only thing that would surprise me coming from Bush regarding Iraq is announcing that our mission was "re-accomplished" and all our troops would be home by Thanksgiving.

Even the headline news on CHB today Mercenaries sold arms on black market is no surprise, considering that it's likely that a certain number of people who sign on to work as hired guns are probably sociopaths who function without a conscience.

On Blackwater, can the Bushites be more self-defeating? Ignoring the Iraqi demand that they leave the country is a slap in the face to the Iraqis, both the leadership and the average citizens!

Adding insult to injury he seems to have found them innocent without a trial and given them a full pardon.

And what about the retribution that very well may be taken against American troops?

I did see Scahill on Olberman, he didn't have much time, but he is a good spokesman and I expect will be appearing on other shows as an expert.

Those who read this web site and follow the news in depth already know about Blackwater. However it is the general public that needs to be informed in such a way that they grasp the ramifications of using Blackwater and other mercenaries to do jobs that were handled by U.S. soldiers in previous wars.

I took a quick phone call last night and hung up just so watch Countdown. I must have missed him. I did see his interview on BookNotes on CSPAN where he told of running into the Blackwater troops in New York where they were hired by Homeland Security to to take crime off the streets. Not by the New York Authorities by by the Governor of Louisiana. This is an army out of control.

This might be the straw to take Bush/Cheney down. His followers will always justify his actions which is taking down the GOP. It removes the balance that I personally want in D.C. But first we have to remove the corruption in the current Administration and hope Hillary uses her brains and does not follow Bush's law breaking tricks. If she does, the Conservatives have no ground to stand on going after her.

The Blackwater investigation on arms smuggling is a top story at Yahoo. I'm leaving early in the morning and won't be back until the first of October so keep going on this and I will check in when I get home. I will be able to read into RR from my daugher's computer to see how things are going there. I don't mind being banned but I need to read in to know what is going on. This is still the best discussion group on the internet. Maybe Doug will change his mind in October.

Kent,

Your point needs to be heard loud and clear by the American public.

In all other wars virtually all of the jobs being done by contractors and being paid for at a huge premium by our tax dollars were done by soldiers who were drafted.

If we counted all the contractors doing these military jobs (remember in other wars everyone from a potato peeler to a latrine digger was a soldier), added them to actual U.S. troop numbers, the total would be more like the 400,000 you refer to.

The only way we could have these numbers would be with a draft.

So the Bush administration manages to have it both ways. They feed their fat-cat corporate sponsors with obscene, poorly monitored, non-bid federal contracts, and they avoid the gigantic backlash instituting a draft would cause.

Sandy,

As for Blackwater in New Orleans, this is what Jeremy Scahill has to say in The Nation about them there..

His article begins:

The men from Blackwater USA arrived in New Orleans right after Katrina hit. The company known for its private security work guarding senior US diplomats in Iraq beat the federal government and most aid organizations to the scene in another devastated Gulf. About 150 heavily armed Blackwater troops dressed in full battle gear spread out into the chaos of New Orleans. Officially, the company boasted of its forces "join[ing] the hurricane relief effort." But its men on the ground told a different story. >> CONTINUED.

Hal, the Republicans are all for it. There is no oversight in the Congress and many are simply asleep watching for funding for themselves.

I cannot understand why a third party is not growing among Americans who are tired of this over inflated White House and Congress. Where's common sense? How can we get this message that our nation is broken? We are still running around in circles gathering more labels and less action to fix anything.

I mentioned the possibility of a radio broadcast among our readers and ranters as many people I know spend many hours driving to and from everywhere and often turn to idiots like Rush on the radio. Can you imagine a radio show running for a couple of hours a day with Doug presenting our points of view and callers adding their own? It could be streamed from here!

Nailing down how many Blackwater personnel are in Iraq is next to impossible. Estimates vary widely from 20,000 to 120,000. My guess (I'd bet real money it's close) is just over 90,000. There are 4 other security contractors in Iraq. Their total should be around 30,000. That's a pretty good sized private army. Especially, one that's immune from accountability for any wrongful acts.

Note that, since there are a reported 190,000 total contractors in Iraq, that means there are more security personnel than those supposedly rebuilding the infastructure or filling some "official" government create a false reality paper pushing job by better than 3 to 1. They must have a small army around Ambassador Crock whatever.

To my knowledge no one has ever been given anything like this before. Even the soldier is subject to military law in war time. I have to wonder at the Iraqi reasoning that created such a thing. Or did Bushco just slip it by the Iraq government? It certainly speaks to the dangerous instability of the country to need that many protectors for so few. However, they provide no protection for Iraqi officials. Perhaps that explains why so many of them have been "bumped off."

I can understand why Cheney et. al. would want to have a 100,000 or so armed to the teeth killers loose in the country free to do as they pleased. But who in the Iraq government would approve such a thing and why? It was a resolution, meaning that many Iraqi officials had to approve it or vote to make it law. How could they not know what they were creating? The whole thing just makes no sense to me. Something like this doesn't come about for no reason.

Who do the BW work for when Bush's term ends?

Unemployed mercenaries seek jobs...

what a good question Adam. Under the Demoractic president, I assume many if not most will be pink slipped.

I can't see these action junkies accepting boring comparatively low paid jobs in Homeland Security, most of which thankfully don't require carrying AK47s or M16s on a daily basis, and being able to blow away people who annoy you without remorse and with impunity.

Can you imagine them with their eyes glazing over making little old ladies take off their shoes for airport screening?

Few are FBI material, as their agents generally need a college degree and a job skills beyond shooting holes in human targets.

The CIA needs people with smarts too, but may look at some for the black ops units, but mostly they seem to be into high tech warfare these days with predator drones.

I can't imagine local police departments risking hiring former merecenaries especially when there are so many returning troops who will be looking for jobs in law enforcement.

The only jobs they are really qualified for may be working for al Qaeda, Columbian drug lords, and other criminal enterprises. Who knows, a few hard core bigots may find a home in white supremacist organizations, be revered, and rise quickly to leadership positions.

I predict at least one of them will run for the House of Representatives in a red state and may even win.

Klaus: I cannot understand your thinking about the primaries and the general elections. You say you will not support Clinton and then state that you are supporting her by taking away support from the only person that has a chance of preventing her from becoming the Democrat candidate for president by voting for a person that will, at best, receive only 4-8% of the primary votes.

You and many others are going to cast your votes in the primaries in a way that will fragment the opposition to Clinton, thereby insuring that she will win. Clinton can wind up winning a state's convention ballots with only 30some percent of the primary votes because Obama will receive about 23%, Edwards 14% and each of the others 2-8%.

In the first place, I find it ludicrous that a candidate is selected by a system that clearly establishes that they are not the choice of the majority but preferred by only 30-40% of the voters. However, this is the system we have to deal with. The point of this particular campaign is to "defeat" the undesirable candidate - Clinton. This can only be accomplished by all those that are opposed to her casting their votes for one other person, in this case, Obama who already has the second most locked in support.

The primary selection is not about "feel good" or wishful voting. It is about winning or losing. Those who cast their primary votes for the also rans will lose and cause all the others to lose. If we had a situation where the difference between the frontrunners was insignificant it would make little difference who won but this time it is paramount to the very survival of this nation and its people that we prevent a continuation of the Bush/Clinton dynasty rule of government. Every qualified individual that has spoken out has presented the facts that unless we drastically alter our present course, the United States will cease to be the America we all think it is, was, and should be. It will simply become another "empire" that destroyed itself for the same reason all others have failed.

Not organizing to support the only candidate that can prevent more of the same is what will deprive America its chance to survive. None of us can possibly know if Obama is the right man for the job of turning this nation around and starting it on the path to recovery. He says he is and is making a fairly decent case for that. But we do know, for certain, that if we do not support him sufficiently to prevent Clinton becoming the next corporate front man we will only continue down the road to failure. One more term of 4-8 years is all it will take.

No one is more in favor of a third and even a forth party than I am. But we don't have one and attempting to make a 2% statement that will only be ignored at the present time is useless and counter productive to the present crisis. The reality is that all those who cast their primarry votes for the also rans will be the ones responsible for what happens now just as those who cast their general election votes for Ralph Nader instead of Gore are responsible for our being in the present condition. Please consider the "effect" of your voting and disregard your personal preferences. The name of the game is "defeat Hillary Clinton."

Comments on topic please.

Those who have posted about election politics, all of whom are regular and respected CHB posters, as valid and interesting as their points are, take this response thread off the topic of Blackwater.

So I ask each of you to restrain your political muse when inclined to go off topic.