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Old 09-21-2007, 06:28 PM
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Default Blackwater under Federal Investigation for Smuggling weapons

The implications here are pretty shocking.

Quote:
WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors are investigating whether employees of the private security firm Blackwater USA illegally smuggled into Iraq weapons that may have been sold on the black market and ended up in the hands of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, officials said Friday.
Quote:
Officials with knowledge of the case said it is active, although at an early stage. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, which has heightened since 11 Iraqis were killed Sunday in a shooting involving Blackwater contractors protecting a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Baghdad.

The officials could not say whether the investigation would result in indictments, how many Blackwater employees are involved or if the company itself, which has won hundreds of millions of dollars in government security contracts since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, is under scrutiny.

In Saturday's editions, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that two former Blackwater employees — Kenneth Wayne Cashwell of Virginia Beach, Va., and William Ellsworth "Max" Grumiaux of Clemmons, N.C. — are cooperating with federal investigators.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070922/...ackwater_probe
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Old 09-21-2007, 07:58 PM
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Default ?

We don't have enough information yet to judge. As it states......the investigation is in it's VERY early stages. Don't start condemning the company just yet. It could be just a few employees that did this without the company's knowledge.
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Old 09-21-2007, 08:04 PM
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Default ....

Quote:
Originally Posted by JP5";p=&quot View Post
We don't have enough information yet to judge. As it states......the investigation is in it's VERY early stages. Don't start condemning the company just yet. It could be just a few employees that did this without the company's knowledge.
Yep, I totally agree. It is early. I think we'll all be curious to see where this goes for better or worse.
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Old 09-21-2007, 10:28 PM
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Default sure, blame Blackwater....

Hmm..... foxes guarding the henhouse?

So yeah, I mean, this way we can go to the UN when they ask us about all those weapons we've been sending into Iran, and say, "honest, it wasn't us, it was just a rogue element within our population"

But of course we don't consider the Kudz force a "rogue element", do we?

Nah - just 'cause they're paid by the government, authorized by the government, provisioned by the government, and under the command and control of the government - I mean, they're still rogue forces, right?
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Old 09-22-2007, 12:30 AM
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Default In a way this is funny ...

... see, it's actually sort of depressing, right? But people have been suspecting this sort of thing for so long that the depression phase was passed a long time ago. In a way this is happy news -- it's not news, but it's news that it's news.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, maybe now it will stop. For the first time.
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Old 09-23-2007, 05:08 AM
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Default ..

Are Blackwater contractors "non-uniformed combatants"?
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Old 09-23-2007, 08:00 AM
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Default This is interesting....

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070402/scahill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj1rT4bszWg&eurl=

"The topic today is an adversary that poses a threat, a serious threat, to the security of the United States of America," Rumsfeld thundered. "It disrupts the defense of the United States and places the lives of men and women in uniform at risk." He told his new staff, "You may think I'm describing one of the last decrepit dictators of the world.... [But] the adversary's closer to home," he said. "It's the Pentagon bureaucracy."

"I have no desire to attack the Pentagon; I want to liberate it. We need to save it from itself." - Donald Rumsfeld 9/10/01

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tell me, am I supposed to give this quasi-military the same respect as our troops? Please tell me, I want to know what the protocol is.
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Old 09-23-2007, 08:02 AM
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Default this is a great point!

Quote:
Originally Posted by nonsqtr";p=&quot View Post
Are Blackwater contractors "non-uniformed combatants"?
The neocons have said we can't follow the Geneva convention because it was "quaint" because the terrorists are not following the same rules. But are contractors and mercenaries hired by our government uniformed combatants?

I'm kinda sad this point hasn't been raised yet. Thanks nonsqtr .
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Old 09-23-2007, 11:53 AM
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Default .

I just want the following question answered:

Am I supposed to give this quasi-military the same respect as our troops? What is the protocol?
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Old 09-23-2007, 07:07 PM
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Default AK47s?

Hmm, investigate a security company for moving weapons and shelve 200,000 AK47s gone missing in Iraq. ANd as for those AKs, each America citizen should get one for a bonus for enduring the Iraq War.
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