More Blackwater Dirty Tricks

Well that was big of em, Joe. That's your point? That they flew the guy to the hospital?

ColoradoGuy said:

My baby brother is a SEAL, in and out of various Middle Eastern hotspots multiple times; he and his colleagues have total contempt for these mercenaries. From what he's told me, incidents like these represent only the tiny iceberg tip.

Click to expand...

I can only imagine. Ugh, just ugh...

This is what happens when you hire mercenaries- it's not like it's new thing. hit the history books.

U.S. officials said Blackwater USA, a Moyock, N.C.-based security firm, flew the ambassador to the Green Zone for treatment.

The company is under investigation for the role its personnel played in a Sept. 16 shootout that left 11 Iraqis dead in Baghdad. The incident prompted the Iraqi Interior Ministry to order the company out of the country, but Blackwater guards were back on duty less than a week later.


That's from your article, Joe. That's the only mention of Blackwater guards that I see, so what is the point? That they're back in Iraq? Well, we've already acknowledged and confirmed vis a vis the Senate vote that Iraq is not a sovereign country; it belongs to us. So the Interior Minister of Iraq doesn't have an ounce of authority.

Or - as I initially suspected - perhaps you're commenting on them flying the Polish ambassador to the Green Zone? Yahoo. Does that make up for killing eleven Iraqis?

Depends on who you ask, I suppose.

Joe270 said:

They saved the Polish Ambassador's life.

But I know that doesn't count for anything in your books.

I'm sure it doesn't count for much in theirs, either. They just did their jobs.

Click to expand...

It would count more if they asked questions before shooting when it comes to the Iraqis.

Joe270 said:

They saved the Polish Ambassador's life.

But I know that doesn't count for anything in your books.

I'm sure it doesn't count for much in theirs, either. They just did their jobs.

Click to expand...

Joe, I posted this on another thread. There's an article. They're being investigated by the FBI.

Look, I don't know why we have mercenaries at all. I really don't. And I don't why we have private armies aka mercenaries hired by the State Department. All I know is that we shouldn't have private armies for hire BEING HIRED by government entities or US corporations. I mean, who the hell are these people to shoot at anybody?

Can somebody tell me how this happened? Who are these people to go into any country under any banner and shoot people??

I'm not a big fan of mercenaries. Especially after seeing Rambo.

Bird of Prey said:

Can somebody tell me how this happened? Who are these people to go into any country under any banner and shoot people??

Click to expand...

Rumsfeld. That's what happened.

To Joe: That should be the Army's job, not some hired guns. That's how it was in the past, and that's how it should be. I honestly do not get why you, a former military man yourself, would not see a problem with privatizing our military forces.

Bird of Prey said:

Who are these people to go into any country under any banner and shoot people??

Click to expand...

Military types. Former soldiers and marines who developed a taste for action that you can't get as a civilian. The opportunity to earn a living for what you're trained to do isn't an anomaly in society, or historical societies.

I hate to say (not really) that the simplistic view you have of professional soldiers who hire out to other countries is amusing, if not naive, at best.

The mercenary isn't something new to human evolution.

I would suggest studying up on military history, mercenaries, and soldiers for hire before going into a tangent of unacquainted knowledge of this occupation.

Which reminds me, Joe, ask 'em fine folks if they ever heard of a Hun before. Or the French, American, war. Or how we hired Crow warriors to hunt down our friends the Sioux.

American history is just filled with using mercenaries, as is the history of many civilizations.

Nothing new here.

Joe270 said:

Nothing new, but nobody likes a merc.

Just like nobody likes a snitch. Hell, they get the bad guys locked up, but everyone hates them.

Click to expand...

Ha! But you can sure find enough fat ugly women who write and marry death row inmates.

Joe270 said:

To protect important people like the Polish Ambassador. I figure he'll be hiring Blackwater to replace the bodyguards he lost.

Click to expand...

Well, let him. Those guards should have been U.S. Marines. Now, quick, let us all know again how us liberals despise U.S. military personnel.

caw

InfinityGoddess said:

It would count more if they asked questions before shooting when it comes to the Iraqis.

Click to expand...

You don't ask questions to someone who is shooting at you.

Andrew said:

You don't ask questions to someone who is shooting at you.

Click to expand...

The report on Blackwater released earlier this week, based on information Blackwater supplied, has the conclusion that in 80% of the several hundred incidents in which Blackwater personnel fired weapons, the Blackwater people fired first.

caw

Joe270 said:

To protect important people like the Polish Ambassador. I figure he'll be hiring Blackwater to replace the bodyguards he lost.

Click to expand...

We have a military that is sufficient to protect AMERICAN personnel. As a taxpayer, I do not want these people acting as a bogus military unit.

Now if other countries want to hire them and have them represent them as some kind of paramilitary force, fine. But I have no interest in having these people fighting their own war against unarmed civilians or anybody for that matter. They don't represent the United States and if they kill somebody, they should be charged with murder and serve life.

Frankly, the company should be disbanded.

Joe270 said:

There's that ignorance showing again, IG.

Click to expand...

Hardly. It was done in the past. It's the job of any country's military to do guard duty to protect diplomats in a war zone. Not mercenaries.

Andrew said:

You don't ask questions to someone who is shooting at you.

Click to expand...

Kind of hard to shoot when you don't have a weapon to shoot with, like oh, say...innocent Iraqi civilians?

Joe270 said:

Nasty Blackwater people.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/1088215/bomb_wounds_polish_ambassador_to_iraq/index.html

Click to expand...

Joe270 said:

They saved the Polish Ambassador's life.

But I know that doesn't count for anything in your books.

I'm sure it doesn't count for much in theirs, either. They just did their jobs.

Click to expand...

Joe270 said:

It's a political dodge. Our soldiers don't bodyguard other country's VIPs. If one of them gets killed in our care, it would be a political nightmare.

That's where professional bodyguards come in. Everyone loves to hate them, but they are a necessary evil.

Rant and rave about hired guns as much as you please, but this is one fact of life that all your bitching cannot change. They will still be used long after you and I are gone to our respective afterlives.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry Joe, but I am not following you. Your first post calls Blackwater Nasty but your later posts seem to me to be defending Blackwater. Please explain, because I am missing something.

sassandgroove said:

I'm sorry Joe, but I am not following you. Your first post calls Blackwater Nasty but your later posts seem to me to be defending Blackwater. Please explain, because I am missing something.

Click to expand...

Not to put words in Joe's mouth, but he's sarcastically exaggerating the tough talk about the actions of Blackwater in contrast to their proven effectiveness at defending the lives of high-value targets.