Comments on: $934,892,570 and Counting

By: domajot

domajot — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:27:10 +0000

I don’t know that anything useful will come of all the investigations, but I hope that at least some clearer rules of managing them would emerge
There is some siniping going on between The DOD and State and I hope that behind-the-scenes details about that emerge. There sould be coordination between managing DOD Blackwater and State Blackwater, I would think. Or is common sense off limits, here?

By: domajot

domajot — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:08:36 +0000

marlowe -
This:
“Waxman is like Ahab in his pursuit of Bushâ€¦and his interest in Blackwater is solely as a means of attacking Bush. State is interested in keeping its staff alive”… is way over the top!

Oversight is a dury, not a choice. It may seem extraordinary now only because it was a dury completely neglected during the Rep. reign in Congress.

The Statie’s interest in keeping staff alive is in no way impeded by explaining HOW it is keeping them alive
Much like fighting terrorism does nto need to involve torture, not every means here should get an automatic pass.

Your assigment of nefarious motives to Waxman leaves you open to questions about the motives for opposing a more transparent governemtn, BtW.

Let’s not go there, please.

By: MarloweC

MarloweC — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:51:11 +0000

Shaun makes an excellent point here:

“Those unreported/underreported deaths may be because the majority of contractors are foreign nationals who work Haliburton, Bechtel, et al for menial wages.”

Occasionally, these stories are reported…brown-skinned contractors working for almost no money…whose lives are expendable as they are not Westerners and not American.

One of the most evil aspects of the Bush policy of contracting out. One of the most succesful too. The MSM clearly doesn’t care too much when brown-skinned workers from the Philippines get their throats slit in the Iraqi desert.

By: MarloweC

MarloweC — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:46:10 +0000

This whole business reads to be a pissing contest between State, Defense and Al-Maliki.

The NYT article actually offers a reasonable explanation for the higher number of violent incidents – of all the contractors, Blackwater is operating in the most violent areas of Iraq.

Plus, as the chap over at Monkey Tennis Centre noted in breaking down the incidents, it amounts to Blackwater’s use of weapons once in every 60 missions.

This is a surprising figure, given the MSM’s depiction of Iraq as being in constant Mad Max anarchy levels. And Blackwater is operating in the most dangerous regions of the country, transporting highly valuable targets.

No real surprise that State is telling Waxman to take a leap. Waxman is like Ahab in his pursuit of Bush…and his interest in Blackwater is solely as a means of attacking Bush. State is interested in keeping its staff alive.

By: Shaun Mullen

Shaun Mullen — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:31:53 +0000

Rudi:

Those unreported/underreported deaths may be because the majority of contractors are foreign nationals who work Haliburton, Bechtel, et al for menial wages.

By: Rudi

Rudi — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:51:29 +0000

Now how does executive privigle(sp)carry over to private companies. The KIA and monies spent on private contractors is being ignored, I’ve heard that 1000 contractors have died in Iraq. But this goes under reported.

By: hanginjohnny

hanginjohnny — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:48:29 +0000

Blackwater has the capacity to turn into a private “army” though I am sure US law prohibits this- which they can of course bypass by working under the banner of “security”. I could see how this could turn badly- not saying it will, but these things never really turn over a leaf into the Peace Corps, now do they.