So the relationship between BlackWater USA and the CIA became murderously incestuous? You don’t say…
Blackwater Guards Tied To Covert Raids By CIA
I think one of the slickest moves that kicked off the war in Iraq was the mainstream media usage of the term ‘contractor’ instead of ‘mercenary’ when they were referencing actions taken by paid gunmen. Just like former senators filled the boardrooms of Halliburton and Kellogg Brown Root companies like Xe(BlackWater USA) and Aegis are staffed by former ground generals and other para-military personnel who know how to work the middle of the US bureaucracy.
Thinking back on those old reports about the Pentagon paying several hundred dollars for a hammer it all makes sense to me now. Fully auto hammers are not cheap.
FIYA!!
I have had to explain this to a few people over the years who got shook about the ‘atrocities’ committed against ‘American contractors.’ Yeah, I don’t want me, you, any DP fam getting our heads chopped off but we ain’t getting PAID to take such a risk either– getting paid A LOT more than regular military too.
If anyone’s interested, I’m returning Andrew Tully’s groundbreaking “Inside the CIA” from 1962 to the Brooklyn Public Library this afternoon and I recommend it highly. Tully was a serious dude, totally pro journalist, and some might say he cuts the agency too much slack even then– wait ’til ya’ll read about Iran in the 1950s– but let’s at least assume that CIA is necessary (even if J. Edgar Hoover, among others, didn’t think so, tho’ his reasons were competitive, not idealistic), and take it from there.
http://www.amazon.com/CIA-Inside-Story-Fawcett-Crest/dp/B0012GHR0M
Sidenote 1: This after the book’s time period but I absolutely do NOT believe the CIA ‘invented’ crack etc nor did they, obviously, invent heroin. Nor did they care about domestic anything enough to ‘flood the ghetto,’ etc. Ya’ll know the stories and some perhaps give credence to them; I think they’re on the silly end of the conspiracy spectrum (but in an underworld where conspiracy/secrecy does exist, I know too how things get exaggerated).
HOWEVER, it’s very well documented that from the ’50s onwards the CIA– and its ‘assets,’ which nearly always operate with purposeful deniability– have been in the international dope game, including crack sales in L.A. (as discovered by journalist Gary Webb– kids, look him up on Amazon) but it was strictly for the $$$ (and covert thrills) but they’re just one player among many.
That our government and it’s not-real-employees (like “contractors”) are doing that and the U.S. prison system looks as it does well… Yeah, somebody has a little bit if splainin’ to do and it ain’t gonna be fucking Jay-Z or Obama… is it?
Sidenote 2: MLK, “Why I Am Opposed To The War In Vietnam” speech, for ya’ll who still believe Obama is something less than almost totally full of shit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U
Even those who don’t believe non-violence is the answer (and I can appreciate that hard view; when the Taliban attack Brooklyn I hope we take ’em out quick!) gotta admit the VAST difference between real talk and what we heard yesterday re: the Nobel “Peace” Prize.
People manipulate words all the time to make thigs sound good or bad.
A contractor seems nicer than a Merc.
Just like a boy lover seems nicer than a peddofile.(They should do themselves a favor and brand themselves as “pedosexuals”)
(They should do themselves a favor and brand themselves as “pedosexuals”)
haha yeah i can’t wait till i see some guy yelling that on t.v. i am just like everyone else i am not sick. i should have the same rights as homosexuals and heterosexuals. pedosexuals will not be treated like second class citizens.
this post reminds me of that movie with nick cage lord of war. if you have not seen it i suggest you do. i know some things about the government and there shady side. my uncle was in vietnam and he told me alot of shit they were told to do later they made it look like they were going awol. when they were really following orders. remember soldiers are faceless and when the people with all the money and power start talking. your mission of good might turn into something else and guess who is the last one to know.
Lord of War, underrated film.
As per the war in Iraq, that shit is only the beginnins. Wait til the stories about hired guns and recruits from Uganda and other Afrikan nations. Whole lotta splainin to do… or none at all.
For the yutes looking up Gary Webb, peep City of Quartz by Mike Davis