I wouldn't want to be the one that brings him his baby's blood this morning.
DAMMIT!! I'm trying to drink coffee, here, fer cryin' out LOUD!!
So how long do you suppose it will take before Blackwater guards start pulling guns or shooting at federal agents to defend their turf? They've already done it to American soldiers.
that guy scares me, dead eyes.
Too funny. Best one liner I've heard for a long time.
prince is one of the most dangerous men imaginable. a private lord with his very own army, air force, and navy.
we have gone fucking medieval. i wonder if we will be able to find our way back, or if things will just keep degenerating into private fiefs and warlords.
MinstrelHB, we have Rome, and the USSR as evidence of where we are headed.
I've been saying it for years.
We are SO close to splintering the USA.
People are SO different in regions.
The whole southern prolife, whites only thing is rife and rampant in politics, religon and the daily lives of folks out here in CA, even. The prison population CONTINUES to birth more and more tattoo'd and shaved head VIOLENT bigots.
The midwest is another set of values, and getting screwed over in the farmbelt, town by town, still.
The West Coast from WA to the Mexican border is a big blue zone, but go inland and it's redder n the devil's tail.
As the NATIONAL government fails us abroad and here at home, ALL these people are gonna act out.
With water and food resources becoming issues along with jobs, housing, unemployment and increasing homelessness the general public is gonna start acting out.
State and local governments are gonna be faced with more and more pressure as the National Government flounders.
And in the LARGE vein, as soon as China and India decide to shut us down economically, we WILL splinter. Rapidly.
Ten years, max.
Unless, of couirse, the power to control this country's fate and future is removed from the National Government, the 1% Oligarchy, and big business.
I don't see that happening.
Ergo, splinter and fracture, as Rome and USSR did.
History's a BITCH of a reality to face up to when it happens to us.
Harumph.
(But I'm DELIGHTED Blackwater is getting the LOOK!)
Perhaps Blackwater is being investigated not for crimes in Iraq to their civilians, but for the smuggling and sales of billions of dollars of weapons and ammo? Wouldn't that be sweet!!
This whole raid seems small potatoes, some 34 weapons? It's just a small piece of something MUCH larger being fried in a big black iron pan. *G*
larue, can always count on you for sunshine and light...
now I am pretty damn depressed
Ok, I'm kicking this around, and the raid just don't make any sense.
So, as Al The Spook would posit:
QUI BONO?
Who would benefit from taking DOWN Blackwater?
Who is HURTING from Blackwater becoming too important?
Well:
1) The Pentagon. Blackwater is taking all soldiers, and paying them HUGE salaries.
2) The Armed Forces. The same reason, Blackwater took the soldiers.
Perhaps, there's a small faction within our government who WANTS the contracts Blackwater has?
And maybe, just maybe, our Pentagon and Armed Forces are PISSED OFF ALL TO HELL for being blamed for losing billions of dollars of weapons and ammo, pissed off about stuff that Blackwater was doing to smuggle off and sell on a black market for pure cash profit.
I just don't see our FBI or our embedded DOJ, BushCo or the Dem's, caring much about Blackwater to RAID THEM!
So, QUI BONO?
Or, what ever the latin is for WHO GOT SCREWED?!? And I DON'T mean the american people. I mean someone or thing in the 1%.
that guy scares me, dead eyes
tlsg, I have bumped into many of his type during the years I worked outside of the US. Never thought I would see mercenaries (especially in suits) within our own country. I don't think many Americans really understand how dangerous these people are, especially a multi-million (-billion?) dollar outfit like Blackwater. I expect this guy is going to accumulate more money than Bill Gates ever dreamed of. War is always in fashion.
dead eyes, my ass. if you want to see dead eyes, look at putin. or pootie-poot as the ass-hat-in-chief refers to him...
And as for the US splintering into a million pieces, don't hold yer breath. One of the side benefits (there are some?) to the way the pentagon has spread defense contracts around the country, is that there are no self-sustaining manufacturing regions in the US. They all rely on goods shipped from elsewhere. And when jobs rely on those goods being shipped, enthusiasm (if there ever was any) to split off and go off independent-like will snuff itself out.
MinstelHB, sorry, I calls 'em like I see's 'em.
History is my guide.
I mean, look at the evidence in front of us.
1% controls it all in our country, and they are STILL trying to break Social Security, and elim ANY social services programs.
Time/Warner is now running a pilot program in Texas to charge internet users by the kbyte.
When they finally privatize the intertoobs, and under FISA, no rebel causes will be able to AFFORD to post, and those who do, will be hauled in as terrorists.
Printed newspapers are soon to be a history, likely in ten years or less. NONE! All online, for a fee.
What part of any of this does anyone in here NOT get? And what part of any of this do any of you think, BlueAmerica, ActBlue, FDL, or any OTHER of the so called progressive orgs can help to save us?
It's all the same part of the well oiled machine.
And that machine is squeezin the freedom of a viewpoint narrower, and narrower, day by day.
And privatizing it all, as they go. Easier to regulate it, monitor it, and police it.
I'm not a Orwell '84 crackpot. The evidence is overwhelming.
When I hear folks talking about some DOABLE means of reversing any of this, I'll listen with wide open ears.
But they got the drop, they got the firepower, they got the laws, the WH, the Congress, and each and every phone, email, internet site and the Judiciary.
DUH?!?!?!?!
Ceabird: Yer talking like there will BE any jobs left.
China and India have the power to snuff us out economically in a matter of days. And losing us will NOT hurt them all that much given WE consumers can't BUY their stuff no more!!
Their markets will shift quickly to those countries who CAN buy their stuff . .
When, not IF, that happens, the government sponsored war machine jobs and defense contracts will be worthless to holding the country together.
Ten years.
In wrapping this one up, I'll just say MinstelHB, that if you KNOW what the worst possible outcome can be, you can plan MUCH more efficiently for it, and THEM pray for the best.
But to not consider the worst? In the face of what we are facing?
Love and light don't get 'er done, boy.
This is about win or lose, and there ARE no rules.
Jaded is good. Mean is good.
Love and light let's them roll and tramp all OVER yer ass. History sez so. Ask late 30's Germany.
You guys remember when Blackwater killed people in New Orleans don't you?
I think that it will eventually come down to Blackwater offshoring. I know a lot of people here see them as a growing constant well off into the future, but there have been signs that the owner class is uncomfortable with the burgeoning influence of these mercenaries. If Obama wins, they will become an artifact of the Bush era, with limited training contracts(if any) and that HQ overseas handling their deployments in Africa and western Asia.
We have to remember that there are people in the US military that really don't like these mercenaries operating under no rules in Iraq. They get US soldiers killed.
Look, these things are to be expected in Bush's America when your company starts openly embracing Sharia Law.
A little sarcasm, but read the link if you think I'm joking about these Constitution-hating scumbags.
larue I thionk you are falt out wrong...yes one way or another there will be a revolution in this country...the top one has craped on the rest for too long...but ten years is way too optimistic(at current rates it would eb acurate, but when we fit critical mass, thigns will happen at a VERY accelerated rate.). 2 mabey 3 years...chian is goign to hit depresion mode fast....then every thign hits a breakign point. thsi country will eb redicly diffrent very soon...the only question left is will it eb a bloodless or bloddie change.
we are on the knifes edge RIGHT NOW. every event could be the tippign point.
thsi raid is a good sign, bush is a lanme duck, perhapse the old buracrates that want ot see goveremtn suceed have been able to flex soem musscle...if blackwater can be shutdown hope for a bloodless change grows. hope for a positive chnage regardless of method also grows. the thocrats need to be nutered, hittign blackwater is a good step in that direction
larue, you're not arguing with Minstrel.
ceabaird: There never been any self-sustaining manufacturing region in the US. The first industrial concerns in the US were textile mills in Massacheusetts... and they spun southern cotton into cloth for domestic and export markets. That's why the construction of major transportation infrastructure, such as the Erie canal and later railroads was such a huge economic deal.
i was long gone from the SEALs and black ops when prince came rolling in. i can say this though, if he wore the bug and served as a SEAL, he's tough. tougher than you can even begin to comprehend, both physically and mentally.
i read scahill's book on blackwater and remembered serving with and under guys just like him. they loved it. there was some stuff that i loved, the exhilaration of combat is heady stuff, addicting in many ways. the only times i came close to replicating the combat rush was by shooting coke.
the guys like prince are dangerous because they not only find ways to do their duty, they take things many steps further. they get off on the kills. they're counters, gun notchers, ear necklace collectors. they are gamers. most folks can never get past the realization that, at its center, combat is a vile and brutal business. the guys like prince don't have that kind of vision. they live for the rush, and the power of life and death with no repercussions. they begin to crave it, to need it.
i served, often by choice, with those guys. i never much liked myself for it. i hated having to rely on their particular skill set. they aren't in it for honor, or even a sense of duty. they're in it for fun.
when i left after eight years (and i left because i was not physically up to the demands of the job, barring injury i would have been a full on lifer) i spent a long time trying to move away from what i had become. i didn't like most of what i had turned into.
prince, decided he was OK with who and what he was, and wanted to get even richer for it.
that shit's scary.
Hussain -- remember, there's a LOT more guys who've said they were spec ops than have EVER served. These last eight years have seen a lot of scum float to the top, if you know what I mean...
very interesting thread - thank you. I'm reading in the Qantas Club in Auckland airport, one week in to a 4 week holiday with the family.
Here's something to make you all feel better with this talk of "Dead Eye" Prince etc.: I just went thru security with my hiking boots and jacket ON. My backpack had to go thru twice but no worries with a split of wine, beach sand samples (I'm a geologist by training), shells, and small electronics galore.
No worries here. Kiwis are very cool.
We'll see how post-Shrub-loving-Howard Australia is next week.
Back to my Shiraz!
Only 34 weapons? Blackwater were tipped off.
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