CIA Hires Blackwater in Afghanistan

Bruce Springsteen's Angry Patriotism

Theology for Dummies

FOCUS: The Crazy Rush to Attack Iran

Navy SEALs: Obama's Secret Army

FOCUS: How Companies Learn Your Secrets

Xe, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, won the deal over two other security contractors, Triple Canopy and DynCorp International.

A private security contractor walks in a poppy field. (photo: John Moore/Getty Images)

Open Article On Originating Site

Comments

+9 # Guest 2010-06-25 09:34

We the people get stuck with outfits that have a pull with some one in the government.Same old crap that goes on time and again. Where is the CHANGE?? What happened to Blackwater after their last charges that was filed against them? I guess they got a slap on the wrist and told GOOD JOB!Give us a break!

+1 # Guest 2010-06-25 19:40

They changed their name! What more could you ask for?

+3 # Guest 2010-06-25 12:19

Rothie is so right! Couldn't have said it more economically.

+3 # Guest 2010-06-25 12:37

Aren't there any other companies besides the esteemed Blackwater?
This is outrageous. Who selects these companies. I wrote to Hillary Clinton; I would think she would be able to intervene if she chose.

+1 # Guest 2010-06-25 19:42

She could, but she won't, because Blackwater/Xe are essentially blackmailing the CIA/US govt.

+1 # Guest 2010-06-25 12:44

Maybe we need to shut down the government like the French people. A few days of nothing happening would get someones attention.

+1 # Guest 2010-06-25 14:11

unbelievable. Government goons.

+1 # Guest 2010-06-25 15:14

Blackwater has enough money...directly or indirectly...to bribe to get this contract. I find it disgusting in view of all that happened due to Blackwater's actions over the past. It will be interesting to see what happens in Afghanistan now that they have been hired once more.

-1 # Guest 2010-06-25 15:30

to Ginny,
I lost faith in Hillary Clinton when she got behind the Iraq war. And the fact that she seems to speak up so rarely about things (or is it that the press is not reporting what she does say?) bothers me.
I heard an ?apocryphal? story today about how Bill Clinton when 1st in office, he was privately sat down by a group of men who played a film of Kennedy being shot. It was not the Zapruder film, but a film taken from a different perspective, which had not been seen previously. After they played this for him, they said, "any questions?"
I believe Obama is a good man, and at the 2004 convention, his words convinced me that he understood how wrong these wars are. He spoke passionately and gave voice to something no one else was daring to speak at the time, and I mean, NO ONE among our elected officials save but for a very few. I believed he would, or could, effect change. But he is one man, and our government is not as it should be. Nothing new under the sun.

+1 # Guest 2010-06-25 16:20

CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG...BUT...
As I understand the situation, Blackwater/Xe is the only alternative.
Shamefully, there are no alternative companies capable of doing this type work and our military simply isn't up to the tasks at hand. Further, I hear that Blackwater/Xe knows "where the bodies are buried" and has threatened to tell unless they continue to get the contracts. WHAT A NIGHTMARE.

+2 # Guest 2010-06-25 22:12

Why are we building consulates in a war zone? How many wars has this happened in? A consulate on Iwo Jima, in Korea, in Nam? Why what for? Bush built an Embassy in Iraq that's larger than the Vatican. And had to be built twice because of Haliburton's (Cheney) inferior work. Who is running this clown show? Ike, you were on the money!! The military industrial corporations are running our country.

+3 # Guest 2010-06-25 22:58

Since when isn't the US military capable, with the right amount of training, equipment, & incentive (aka money) to protect our people overseas? The issuing of Blackwater contracts is a slap in the face to our men and women in uniform, not to mention giving a private company incredible power.

+1 # Guest 2010-06-26 08:18

This is not "a slap in the face to our men and women in uniform". It is business as usual and has been for decades. Mercenaries have been used increasingly, just as covert CIA activities have been for a long time. The military/pentagon/government knows all about it. The use of Blackwater and Israeli special ops in New Orleans after the hurricane pretty much answered the question many of us have asked: just when will they be used against U.S. citizens.

+1 # Guest 2010-06-30 07:13

We are there precisely TO get/protect resources for the powerful, and part of that is taking tax-payer money from US forces directly into private hands--all under the guise of protecting America. No one complains as we slash education, health and civic budgets.

This is what an all-out assault on our own democracy looks like.

0 # Guest 2010-06-26 16:32

Won't be long before once again the Xe hits the fan.

+1 # Guest 2010-06-26 20:14

Blackwater, Custer Battles, and the other war-for-profit mercs are outside the law.......military or civil. What's more, they're all too often outside the reach of our own military commanders! This is outrageous, arguably Unconstitutiona l, deeply subversive, and leads to endless abuses, outrages, and atrocities in the field. It must end now.

+1 # Guest 2010-06-27 11:14

Obama is just Bush revisited. "We can do!" - We didn't even try!" - "We can't do!" - "Big business does!" - America, you will simply lose the war. And even if you should win a battle or kill some more people, you will still have lost it. Totally. And this is good so. Because You have become a big, overweight, ugly, and omnivorous, tyrannosaurus doomed to die out.

Refresh comments list
RSS feed for comments to this post.

THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community.

rsn

Name:	*
Username:	*
E-mail:	*
Password:	*
Confirm password:	*
Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.