180,000 contractors (many of them Blackwater personnel) operate alongside 170,000 American soldiers in Iraq according to Jeremy Scahill in this interview by Bill Moyers. Eric Prince, Blackwater CEO, has been on a spin mission since the light of negative publicity was turned on his company following the deaths of Iraqi civilians in a questionable Blackwater action.
(Thanks to the commenters at One Good Move for the link above to the complete Moyers interviews with Scahill. This two part video should be mandatory viewing in American public scjools this month for everybody over the age of 12).
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Doug Alder 11.05.07 at 1:41
I meant to write about it this past weekend as well. I guess I’ll get on to it tonight. Here’s a real problem - you have the Christianization of the US armed forces where you have personnel being punished for not attending prayer services etc. You have fundy Christian groups getting their propaganda and video games officially sanctioned by the pentagon and sent as packages to each member. Then you have Eric Prince whose an extreme right wing fundy Christian, connected to the group who provided the propaganda just mentioned, with his private army of mercenaries, you have congress giving Blackwater a carte blanche with regards to their behaviour, you have the GOP polling about as low as it is possible to poll, you have a general election coming up in 12 months time, and you have National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive NSPD 51/HSPD 20 which give Bush the ability to cancel the election and declare martial law if another terrorism incident happens on US soil for example - wanna bet it doesn’t?
Frank Paynter 11.05.07 at 4:44
No bets on that one. We may need a place to crash while we’re sorting out the emigration issues… any help?
Doug Alder 11.05.07 at 10:00
You’re always welcome here Frank