NationStates Jolt Archive

Blackwater Selling Weapons to Insurgents?

it's like all the stuff the CIA used to do, now it's been privatized...if true.
friggin creeps




http://www.goleft.tv/
News for September 25, 2007

Blackwater Selling Weapons to Insurgents?; Brain Damage From War More Severe Than Previously Thought; US Violent Crime Rate Increases; UAW Strike; Bush Skips Out on Global Warming Chats at UN; Police Detain Delaware State University Shooting Suspect

If it's true, then it's concrete evidence that Iraq has become the New Wild West. And not in the good Clint Eastwood/John Wayne way.

You're going to get shit for your source.

Here's CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/21/blackwater.probe.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories).
Here's the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7008058.stm).
And, The New York Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/2007/09/23/2007-09-23_feds_investigate_blackwater_for_arms_smu.html)

You're going to get shit for your source.

Here's CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/21/blackwater.probe.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories).
Here's the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7008058.stm).
And, The New York Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/2007/09/23/2007-09-23_feds_investigate_blackwater_for_arms_smu.html)


It was my first time ever to that site,
thanks for these other links.

I think the solution is obvious. Find whoever has been selling guns to insurgents, and prosecute them for treason!

My opinion of Blackwater gets worse every time I hear about them. First I just thought they were mercenaries, then they became murderers, and now they're traitors. They need to be tried for murder and treason. Life in prison would be generous.

Motherfuckers.
No surprise that fucking republican-fellating company is traitorous, it seems to be the common culture by association.

I think the solution is obvious. Find whoever has been selling guns to insurgents, and prosecute them for treason!

What, you mean we have a legitimate use for Guantanamo and Abu Ghairb now?

Motherfuckers.
No surprise that fucking republican-fellating company is traitorous, it seems to be the common culture by association.

I did say Iraq was the New Wild West.

This is like a modern Spaghetti Western waiting to happen. Government goes after the traitors, who then vanish into the middle of Iraq, ending up as warlords of a small town until an AWOL Marine or Army goes after them.

What, you mean we have a legitimate use for Guantanamo and Abu Ghairb now?

Better to put them in a regular prison if true. I'm sure some patriotic fellow inmates would love to teach those bastards a lesson.

And how did this thread drop out for a couple hours?!? I know its not that big a shocker, they are mercenaries after all, their morals aren't exactly very high but STILL!

I think the solution is obvious. Find whoever has been selling guns to insurgents, and prosecute them for treason!

What, you mean we have a legitimate use for Guantanamo and Abu Ghairb now?

No...we have no need to torture such a brand of traitor.

See? (http://z.about.com/d/gocalifornia/1/0/s/I/tomb-gallows-at.jpg)

Bush is a leader with a deep need of enemies.

Great, selling guns to the people who want to shoot you - clever one. I guess it's a way of making money though.

Great, selling guns to the people who want to shoot you - clever one. I guess it's a way of making money though.You say that as if 99% of humanity weren't his enemies.

You say that as if 99% of humanity weren't his enemies.

He's got have some deluded friends :p

I think the solution is obvious. Find whoever has been selling guns to insurgents, and prosecute them for treason!

I agree entirely.

I agree entirely.

Big problem, Bremer made them immune from prosecution before handing over to the Interim government.

Big problem, Bremer made them immune from prosecution before handing over to the Interim government.

Now ask me if I care if they are or not. It does not validate the opinion that they should be tried for treason. Unless you want to try to argue otherwise and I cannot wait to see that one considering your track record.

Now ask me if I care if they are or not. It does not validate the opinion that they should be tried for treason. Unless you want to try to argue otherwise and I cannot wait to see that one considering your track record.

Well I agree that they should be tried for treason if sufficient evidence is provided. I was simply pointing out that the current US administration does not 'want' attention such as a trial would give to BW. When the Bremer state took control they wanted to live out their corporatist ideological fantasies on the Iraqi people, which meant privatizing everything, allowing 100% foreign ownership, 15% flat tax etc. BW is obviously doing this on the behest of the US administration, their leader is a far-right Christian GOP bankroller.

They should be locked up, but Andaras is right in that they won't - the US, specifically Bremer, gave them immunity during their caretaker government. On top of that, the US has kept Blackwater working when the Iraqi government told them to GTFO last week - which means blackwater was working without iraqi approval, until they miraculously U-turned at the US government's behest (I'll leave it to someone else to go off on a tangent about non-existent iraqi sovereignty though).

So something tells me the US government won't be doing anything - they all too happy to keep blackwater working, even if they're deserving of charges for murder and treason, and even if it flies in the face of Iraqi sovereignty.

But let's face it - they gave them total immunity from iraqi law in the first place. Blackwater are hardly diplomats. The US probably expected something like this to happen, knew it would cause Iraq to demand they leave, and wanted to make sure their reliance on private companies didn't become obvious when those private companies were forced to pull out.

People can accuse Blackwater of anything they want to, but for me, I have to ask; where is the motive?.

Why would an organization made up of americans, many ex-military, sell weapons that they knew would probably end up used against them and the military and government they are paid to protect and assist? Perhaps some stupid employees could have pulled this off, not knowing consequences, but to think that the corporation would condone it is quite unbelievable. I dunno, maybe I still have too much trust in people.

People can accuse Blackwater of anything they want to, but for me, I have to ask; where is the motive?.

Why would an organization made up of americans, many ex-military, sell weapons that they knew would probably end up used against them and the military and government they are paid to protect and assist?
Notice the bolded bit?
That's pretty good reason for them. People keep shooting at the guys they're paid to protect and said people keep paying BW to protect them.
Good business sense I say. Kudos to BW for their foresight and business acumen

Notice the bolded bit?
That's pretty good reason for them. People keep shooting at the guys they're paid to protect and said people keep paying BW to protect them.
Good business sense I say. Kudos to BW for their foresight and business acumen
A part of me wants to agree with you. The other part thinks that it still doesn't make sense.


Without arms deals, the Iraqi insurgents have enough weapons to arm themselves indefinitely. Unless these were some kind of specialty weapons, I don't see any demand, and with no demand, there should be no supply.

Is there actually any part of the invasion of/war in Iraq that the Bush regime has done competently?

Well, yes? Managed to invade a large country and neutralize the military with minimal losses in a few weeks. As for occupying, well uheh, no.

A part of me wants to agree with you. The other part thinks that it still doesn't make sense.
Well, I was making the comment mostly in jest.
It doesn't make a helluva lot of sense really - If BW was indeed delibrately selling weapons to the insurgents, surely they'd know that if this was found out (as it would no doubt would be), BW's name would be mud.
No-one would trust them again - and to be an efficient and useful merc force, you need to be able to build trust.
Sounds weird, I know, (being able to trust an army doing it for $) but when you think about it, it makes sense.
If you thought the merc company might just turn their guns on you cause the other side offers them more, you wouldn't hire them.
And if you found that said merc company was selling guns to the very ppl who were trying to kill you...well, again it's a no-brainer about hiring them.
BW depends on companies being able to trust them to do exactly what they'd paid to do. Lose that trust and BW's out of business.

That said, consider the clusterfuck that is Iraq, nothing coming out of there surprises me any more.

I did say Iraq was the New Wild West.

This is like a modern Spaghetti Western waiting to happen. Government goes after the traitors, who then vanish into the middle of Iraq, ending up as warlords of a small town until an AWOL Marine or Army goes after them.

Probably a plan anyway, always keep someone else in the up-and-coming ... hydra-esque.

Lose that trust and BW's out of business.


In a standard mercenary company maybe. But if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. The administration doesn't want to leave Iraq, and whichever successor that comes along probably won't be able to without being lynched in the next election. The war's going to be going on a long time.

But what happens if it ends up cooling down? If the fighting starts dying off? Blackwater would be laid off. No more need for them, no more pay. So they keep it hot, supply weapons and special armaments to keep those orders coming in.

And if they get caught, so what? Blackwater apparently has a titanium clad contract with the US government. They've got the capacity and manpower that most other mercenary companies can't provide. They'll be needed so long as the mess continues to stay hot. And in the 20 or 30 years that will finally see things cooling down, people will have forgotten the mess, and Blackwater will be able to walk out of it as a mercenary company that "did so well" it got a 30 year high paying contract.

They'll come out of this smelling like roses unless something drastically different happens.

Well, I was making the comment mostly in jest.
It doesn't make a helluva lot of sense really - If BW was indeed delibrately selling weapons to the insurgents, surely they'd know that if this was found out (as it would no doubt would be), BW's name would be mud.
No-one would trust them again - and to be an efficient and useful merc force, you need to be able to build trust.
Sounds weird, I know, (being able to trust an army doing it for $) but when you think about it, it makes sense.
If you thought the merc company might just turn their guns on you cause the other side offers them more, you wouldn't hire them.
And if you found that said merc company was selling guns to the very ppl who were trying to kill you...well, again it's a no-brainer about hiring them.
BW depends on companies being able to trust them to do exactly what they'd paid to do. Lose that trust and BW's out of business.

That said, consider the clusterfuck that is Iraq, nothing coming out of there surprises me any more.

Having shot up a bunch of civilians doesn't seem to have hurt their business much at all.

Having shot up a bunch of civilians doesn't seem to have hurt their business much at all.
Civilians aren't the ones paying them.
And I'd wager the ppl who are paying them don't give much of a rat's arse if a few civilians get killed while they're being protected.

People can accuse Blackwater of anything they want to, but for me, I have to ask; where is the motive?.

Money, Dinero, Dinheiro, Okane, Geld...