From the first paragraph of a front page article in today's New York Times:
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"The American security contractor Blackwater USA has been involved in a far higher rate of shootings while guarding American diplomats in Iraq than other security firms providing similar services to the State Department, according to Bush administration officials and industry officials."
Reported by John M. Broder and James Risen
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Take a good look at the photo above. These are mercenaries who are in the employ of a private, for profit security firm called "Blackwater" (an ominous name if ever there was one). They have been hired by your president to enforce his law. They have been used in lieu of the National Guard and the US Military to "keep order" not only in Iraq but in your country as well. You may recall that they were responsible for the deaths of a number of citizens on the streets of New Orleans two years ago in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; some of whom were innocent bystanders who only, inadvertently, walked into their cross hairs. They operate outside the mandates of the Constitution and the Geneva Convention. They are George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney's private gestapo. They are not - by any stretch of any one's imagination "a well regulated state militia" as prescribed in the second amendment. They are a direct threat to your liberties. They are just one more example of the madness of the far right and their pathological obsession with privatization.
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As of this writing, it is estimated that Blackwater has been paid nearly three quarters of a billion dollars from a no-bid contract to "secure" the streets of Iraq. How were they able to arrange such a sweet deal, you may well ask? Its CEO, Erik Prince, was a major contributor to the 2000 and 2004 Bush/Cheney campaigns....Ah! You can smell it, too, huh?
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Blackwater is a company that is so at odds with the historic American view of governance, it should be put out of business immediately. There is not a single piece of paper from our Founding Fathers to be found in the National Archives (whether in documents of public policy or in private correspondence) that would have tolerated - or even hinted at - the idea that a private citizen could have the means at his disposal (and I use the masculine term here - women are smarter than that) whereby he could - in the case of a "national emergency" - make war on other Americans at the behest of a murderous, unbalanced chief executive....umm....sort of like the one we've got now.
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I'm telling you, one doesn't have to be a constitutional scholar to figure this stuff out, folks. This ain't rocket science, kids; this is Civics 101.
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What you have here is but one of literally hundreds of examples of the creeping fascism that has been overtaking this once-great nation at such a snail's pace for the past quarter of a century, the overwhelming majority of the American people haven't even noticed it. From the "free speech zones" enforced by the S.S. (Secret Service) whenever the First Fool comes to town, to the illegal, warrantless wiretapping of the Bush "Justice" Department, to the persecutions of the brave men and women working in the government who have tried valiantly to put an end to and expose the Bush Mob's criminal looting of our national treasure; all of these things - and more - should have every thinking person outraged. Instead, the foolish American people, thanks largely to the distractions of the corporate media, are more concerned with the latest misadventures of Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton. The day after Ms. Spears' ill-fated appearance on the MTV music awards, that was all the main stream media could find to talk about! This at a time when thousands of men, women and little children are being massacred in Iraq every month.
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Blackwater is not the only private security firm making big time hay off of our taxpayer dollars. In an excellent piece posted this morning on AlterNet (a link to which may be found on this site), Bill Maher reported the following:
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"Donald Vance, a Navy veteran, was working for an Iraqi-owned outfit called the Shield Group Security Company. Vance said that he witnessed Shield Group selling guns, land mines, and rocket launchers to to Iraqi insurgents, American soldiers, State Department workers, and Iraqi embassy and military workers. Vance described Shield Group as "a Wal-Mart for guns." Vance reported this to the FBI, and instead of a pat on the back, he got 97 days at Camp Cropper, a military prison outside of Baghdad. In fact Saddam Hussein's old crib. Vance was placed in solitary confinement, subjected to head-banging music blaring from dawn to dusk, and interrogators screaming the same questions over and over again in his face."
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/63893/
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Isn't it a shame that we've gotten to the point in our history where we have to rely on a comedian to keep us informed? Did you ever get the feeling that you were living in the fall of the Roman Empire??? Jeepers creepers, I sure do!!!
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Katrina was only a dry run of the Blackwater Show, make no mistake about it. They and other, GOP-connected "Private Security Firms" will no doubt make themselves known on the streets of this sad and troubled country once the citizenry finally stands up and shouts - as one - "ENOUGH!", in a voice so loud, no one will be able to pretend that he or she cannot hear it. Blackwater is not an organization that is bound by any strict code of military conduct. Their behavior on the streets of Baghdad during the last four and a half years is proof of that (as if any more proof was necessary). Of this you may be absolutely certain: When the day arrives that Blackwater is, again, contracted out by the half-witted, murderous little thug in the oval office to "maintain order" in the next American city to undergo a major crisis, they will not be bound by the sham "compassionate conservatism" that so many people are still stupid enough to believe is the hallmark of this disgusting administration's agenda. These homicidal bastards are gonna shoot to kill. Count on it.
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The only way We, The People can be spared the threat that a semi-fascist organization like Blackwater poses to our democracy, is by challenging its very existence in the courts. Unfortunately, that challenge may have to wait until there is a Democrat in the White House who is able appoint one - or more - justices of a reasonable, moderate judicial temperament. To even expect some of the reactionary fools currently sitting on the Supreme Court (Scalia and Uncle Thomas come readily to mind) to act in accordance with the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution is wishful thinking, to be sure. Enlightenment on that court is desperately in order.
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I am a pacifist by nature. I have never advocated violence nor do I do so now. Non-violent, passive resistance, when applied lovingly and with great thought and care, can move mountains. Mahatma Gandhi proved that in his day, as did - more recently - Martin Luther King. Non violence is, indeed, in perfect compliance with the words of Jesus Christ in His Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the peace makers." It is the only path that, I believe, a true Christian can possibly take. And yet, having said that, here is something else that also needs to be said:
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When Blackwater finally brings its twisted little act to your city, you have the right, the constitutionally guaranteed right - if not a God given one - to shoot back.
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Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
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suggested reading:
THE FREAKING CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES - HELLO???
.
What you have here is but one of literally hundreds of examples of the creeping fascism that has been overtaking this once-great nation at such a snail's pace for the past quarter of a century, the overwhelming majority of the American people haven't even noticed it. From the "free speech zones" enforced by the S.S. (Secret Service) whenever the First Fool comes to town, to the illegal, warrantless wiretapping of the Bush "Justice" Department, to the persecutions of the brave men and women working in the government who have tried valiantly to put an end to and expose the Bush Mob's criminal looting of our national treasure; all of these things - and more - should have every thinking person outraged. Instead, the foolish American people, thanks largely to the distractions of the corporate media, are more concerned with the latest misadventures of Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton. The day after Ms. Spears' ill-fated appearance on the MTV music awards, that was all the main stream media could find to talk about! This at a time when thousands of men, women and little children are being massacred in Iraq every month.
.
Blackwater is not the only private security firm making big time hay off of our taxpayer dollars. In an excellent piece posted this morning on AlterNet (a link to which may be found on this site), Bill Maher reported the following:
.
"Donald Vance, a Navy veteran, was working for an Iraqi-owned outfit called the Shield Group Security Company. Vance said that he witnessed Shield Group selling guns, land mines, and rocket launchers to to Iraqi insurgents, American soldiers, State Department workers, and Iraqi embassy and military workers. Vance described Shield Group as "a Wal-Mart for guns." Vance reported this to the FBI, and instead of a pat on the back, he got 97 days at Camp Cropper, a military prison outside of Baghdad. In fact Saddam Hussein's old crib. Vance was placed in solitary confinement, subjected to head-banging music blaring from dawn to dusk, and interrogators screaming the same questions over and over again in his face."
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/63893/
.
Isn't it a shame that we've gotten to the point in our history where we have to rely on a comedian to keep us informed? Did you ever get the feeling that you were living in the fall of the Roman Empire??? Jeepers creepers, I sure do!!!
.
Katrina was only a dry run of the Blackwater Show, make no mistake about it. They and other, GOP-connected "Private Security Firms" will no doubt make themselves known on the streets of this sad and troubled country once the citizenry finally stands up and shouts - as one - "ENOUGH!", in a voice so loud, no one will be able to pretend that he or she cannot hear it. Blackwater is not an organization that is bound by any strict code of military conduct. Their behavior on the streets of Baghdad during the last four and a half years is proof of that (as if any more proof was necessary). Of this you may be absolutely certain: When the day arrives that Blackwater is, again, contracted out by the half-witted, murderous little thug in the oval office to "maintain order" in the next American city to undergo a major crisis, they will not be bound by the sham "compassionate conservatism" that so many people are still stupid enough to believe is the hallmark of this disgusting administration's agenda. These homicidal bastards are gonna shoot to kill. Count on it.
.
The only way We, The People can be spared the threat that a semi-fascist organization like Blackwater poses to our democracy, is by challenging its very existence in the courts. Unfortunately, that challenge may have to wait until there is a Democrat in the White House who is able appoint one - or more - justices of a reasonable, moderate judicial temperament. To even expect some of the reactionary fools currently sitting on the Supreme Court (Scalia and Uncle Thomas come readily to mind) to act in accordance with the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution is wishful thinking, to be sure. Enlightenment on that court is desperately in order.
.
I am a pacifist by nature. I have never advocated violence nor do I do so now. Non-violent, passive resistance, when applied lovingly and with great thought and care, can move mountains. Mahatma Gandhi proved that in his day, as did - more recently - Martin Luther King. Non violence is, indeed, in perfect compliance with the words of Jesus Christ in His Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the peace makers." It is the only path that, I believe, a true Christian can possibly take. And yet, having said that, here is something else that also needs to be said:
.
When Blackwater finally brings its twisted little act to your city, you have the right, the constitutionally guaranteed right - if not a God given one - to shoot back.
.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
.
suggested reading:
THE FREAKING CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES - HELLO???
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