Democracy Now! interviews Jeremy Scahill about Blackwater
By Nicole Belle Wednesday Sep 19, 2007 12:10pm
Download | play 
Download | play
(O)n Democracy Now! Jeremy Scahill author of "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" debated Doug Brooks the president of International Peace Operations Association, a trade group for the private security industry of which Blackwater is a founding member. In the wake of the recent revelations that the Iraqi government wants to throw out Blackwater and take a closer look at all of the contractors in Iraq Scahill does an excellent job taking down one of these war profiteers and tears right through the rhetoric and also gets staight to the heart of just what we're doing in Iraq.
The entire show and transcript can be seen at Can Iraq (or Anyone) Hold Blackwater Accountable for Killing Iraqi Civilians? A Debate on the Role of Private Contractors in Iraq on Democracy Now's web site.
Login or Register to post comments.
Scahill is a profile in courage if ever there was one.
Scahill shredded that douchebag....typical right wing crap..."Yea, they are using the money to pay for their wives educations and their houses"......so long as you say SOMETHING, the authoritarian tools nod their heads and say "Yea, right on!"
V V
Isn't the hiring of mercenary armies, against the Geneva Convention?
blackwater a mercenary army? yup.
other acceptable descriptions of blackwater:
-war profiteers
-merchants of death
the growing tendency to privatize war must be stopped. '08 candidates must be asked how they feel about these war profiteers.
and war profiteering companies, like blackwater, make war more likely. through lobbying, campaign donations, political pressure, and the good-ole revolving door btwn corporations and govt the fact that there is more money than ever to be made through war is a situation doomed to a HORRIBLE end.
it is dangerous, immoral, expensive and just plain wrong. and the CEO of blackwater, the dark prince, should know that is completely unchristian.
Interesting, mercenaries are people who don't make house payments.
Weaseldog @ 3:
somewhere abu gonzo just smirked and read what david addington wrote for him to say....
"quaint"
An articulate, informed individual...and a shill.
also...
what does it say about saint petreaus and members of the state dept when they use blackwater mercenaries for their private guard... instead of actual military of state dept guards?
does petraeus not trust the military he serves in? or, is it some sort of contractual thing? what gives saint petraeus, why do you not trust the military to keep you alive as you send more and more of them to their death?? what gives?
Peoples Front of Judea @ 7:
...for?
International Peace Operation Association
What a fucking joke. Any group that kills people for profit, wants anything but Peace. People(other than us) who see that name, without knowing anything about it, would assume they are a Humanitarian group who is in Iraq to help. So much for TRUTH.
Samson- @ 8:
That question nags me also.
I do love Amy Goodman! The only news you can trust.
A Richard Head @ 10:
Peace
http://tinyurl.com/2ds4tz
pussy_galore @ 1:
amen too that.
now thats a Journalist.
but this, like all the other lies and scandals exposed is OLD news to us Progressives.
We have known for years what Blackwater was and is. We knew it when they started using em, and we know it today. Just like WMD's, al-Qaeda plots, rigged elections and the list goes on and on.
Heres my question.... With a 65-70% polled supporting withdrawl from Iraq nowadays, where were all these folks in 06'?
05?
04?
03?
There hasnt been any new information, strategy, leaders etc.
The only thing that has changed is dead soldiers.
Most americans dont concern themselves with the dead civilians.
So there isnt any new info , yet support for the war went from 60?(ish) % down to 30%??
So my question is to all the folks that jumped on the anti-war bandwagon in the last 18mos......
What took so long, and do you consider youreself partially responsible for allowing 3000+ soldiers and MILLIONS of civilians to DIE.
If my brother-in-law dies in Iraq, alone, with nobody to hold his hand , to tell him they love him, is that blood on youre hands??
He was on Washington Journal at c-span this morning. I want to read his book. This whole blackwater thing is frightening as hell both here and in Iraq.
Anybody catch bush's press conference? Yes I know, it turns one's stomach to hear the sorry excuse for a human being speak, but some dipshit asked him his take on the MoveOn "controversy". Of course his response was that he was "disgusted" and how it was an "attack on the troops". But when asked about the Blackwater story his eloquence was, of course, nonexistent.
A Richard Head @ 10:
makes about as much sense as the department of defense...
(more like, the department of imperial aggression. or at least go back to the less orwellian sounding war department)
The important thing about the incident is what the so called Iraqi government will be doing about the Blackwater incident. My bet is they will do nothing since the control of the government is still in the hands of Washington.
Still, something like this can do much to unite a country where the public have little more in common then living in the same general area.
Am I missing something? I thought Brooks cleverly focussed on Chileans in Iraq and avoided talking about the Americans there because clearly the Americans there meet what he calls the criteria for mercenaries, e.g., their government is involved militarily in Iraq.
I'd like to connect with the previous post too, and mention that Blackwater has opened a major facility in Illinois this year with the purpose of training "civilian law enforcement". Does this mean US civilian law enforcement to be deployed in Iraq, or is it intended for our own benefit? I know I'm a broken record about this facility in Illinois, but it has received no national coverage. I only learned of it through The Chicago Tribune. It's scary.
A little OT but it is about Iraq.
George Bush said nelson mandela is dead. And that Sadam Hussein killed all the "Nelson Mandelas of Iraq" because he was a brutal dictator.
I'm sure he was shooting for an analogy there but, goddam he's stupid. watch the vid
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m36462&hd=&size=1&l=e
Jeremy Ass-slapped Blackwaters well paid liar and fool.
Weaseldog @ 3:
What Geneva Convention? Besides, according to Mr. Doublethink Brooks of the "International Peace Organization" Blackwater isn't mercenary, they're safe as clown's milk.
Folks, I believe this is an example of, and the logical end results of Rummy and Wolfowitz among others plan to fight wars on the cheap and attempts to privatize the concept of war....
I've said it before and I'll repeat it here... IF something is worth going to war over (and nothing Bush has said justifies what he has done), then it needs to be fought as a nation... And on the basis of reasonable and/or humanitarian ideals or as a last choice retaliation for unprovolked attack on our sovereign territory... Not approached as a private sector business opportunity to make money or steal someone elses natural resources...
Jesus, we appear more and more like the Harkonnen home world from the novel Dune, everyday.... What was it called...Gedi Prime or something like that I think... Reading about such a place in the context of an adventure sci-fi novel can be entertaining and even exciting to the imagination... Existing in one... Ehhh, not so much..................JD
In a poll of Blackwater employees as to whether they thought the Iraq war is just and ethical, 98% said they wanted to keep their jobs.
of course the use of war profiteering mercenaries is a systemic problem. and as soon as blackwater starts loosing blood-contracts (which i have my doubts that will ever happen) another mercenary company will step in to take its place.
the late 20th/early 21st century, cocksure capitalism, swelled with hubris has headed down a path that should give even the staunchest conservative pause.
when you combine an ideological-certain belief in privatization with the use of war as policy you have a recipe for disaster. and not just for the unfortunate souls unlucky enough to get caught in the cross fire but for the chubby, lazy and apathetic americans, too.
mark my words, it will come back to bite us in the ass. big time. and like rampant capitalism shows, there will be a few that prosper, while the majority suffer.
Curtilingus @ 20:
Forgive me. I can't watch the face that has saddened and made miserable everything in the world that has a face. We know all about that face.
Any word from the spineless ones on Capitol Hill about the behavior of these taxpayer-funded mercenaries?
Not holding my breath...
Blackwater = Republican Guard
Bush = Court Jester
naschkatze @ 19:
i might be the only one, but i see privatization of domestic law enforcement as the next push by the rightwing. a privatized police force in a community near you. more like robocop than america, really.
and, don't kid yourself, blackwater does NOTHING for, as you say, "our own benefit".
So, if I had enough money, I could go up to Blackwater and say "I'd like to invade Iceland. They have a lot of pretty women there." they would actually do it for me? I mean, are there any restrictions to initiating a mercenary war, contracting mercenary services, other than money?
Paying off your house means you can't be a mercenary.
Feeding your kids means you can't know the earth is not flat.
It all makes perfect sense.
Support Our Mercenaries!
Kudos to Jeremy for speaking truth to power
HAHAHAHA
Did you see the dumbfounded look on brooks' face at the end of the clip? Priceless!
brooks' mumble-jumbo is on par with chimpy.
Really blackwater are paid assassins. They are the ones who do more than murder civilians, they also sabotage Iraqi's infastruture.
Curtilingus @ 31:
It would take a lot of money to keep you alive for trying...
You need the money, the credit line and the connections.
Bush has a fire hose connected to the FED that spews endless quantities of money. He spews it at the contractors, who then give kick backs to Congress and the Senate.
sharkcellar @ 16:
Is greenspan an ex-chairman or was that a chimpy idiot slip again?
Mercenaries are used in order to avoid a draft . Bush will pay these guys 100 times what a grunt makes to avoid a draft because bringing back the draft will wipe out what little support he has left and collapse the corporate plan to control the middle east .
No matter your side in the debate, the video unfairly cut off the "defendant" (Doug Brook), which is not only biased by definition, but something that does not belong here. Look closely and you'll see a sneaky grin on Amy Goodman's face as she cuts him off. When videos posted here cut off the left side in the debate, there is an outrage of the mockery. Ask yourself if it's really any better when you do it.
The US will pay (notwithstanding death troops) for their silence.
All elected officials should be kicked out of office if they don't change their chimpy ways.
Those weren't innocent Iraqi civilians, they were collateral damage, you know, like those Afghanis and Iraqis who get killed in adjoining houses when we air-power to bomb houses full of terrorists. Everyone knows that they don't count.
iraqconcilable @ 38:
Exactly!
Plus they get the latest and the greatest of gear, weapons, vehicles and more rest than our finest. When was the last time you hear of blackwater assassins killed by road side bombs?
They probably vacation in dubai.
Jake @ 39:
Did she spout an endless stream of unverifiable assertions, that sound like inventions?
Is she really doing what BillO or Hannity do?
Jake @ 39:
Now you are making up shit.
STFU
Jake @ 39:
this is a red herring if i have ever seen one.
a herring
Anyone know what was happening in Fallujah before those four guys got killed? Did Riverbend or anyone have something to say about it? Sending the Marines to wreak havoc on a town over some dead mercenaries was pretty obscene, but if they brought it on themselves...well, I guess that'd be par for the course.
The International Peace Operations Association?
So using their naming convention I can call the rat trap in my basement a "Peace Delivery System" for rodents.
Hey blackwater... 'peace' be with you.
Samson- @ 45:
There's a definite odor.
Not a mercenary army? Doug Brooks' argument ranks right up there with "it depends on what your definition of is is"!
I download 'Democracy Now' for my IPOD everyday. I think this is the best program out there. Downloads are a little slow lately!!!
I recommend Scahill's book on Blackwater; very interesting how this war profit center started and their connection to the Republican Party and fundies...
Thanks Amy
This guy is brave and sexy !
I don't know who 'The International' is that gave Doug Brooks his definition, but here's the Merriam Webster definition. I'll go on a limb and say that Doug invented his definition on the spot.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Mercenary
mercenary
2 entries found for mercenary.
To select an entry, click on it.
Main Entry: 1mer·ce·nary
Pronunciation: 'm&r-s&-"ner-E, -ne-rE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -nar·ies
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin mercenarius, irregular from merced-, merces wages -- more at MERCY
: one that serves merely for wages; especially : a soldier hired into foreign service
That they are murdering civilians on behalf of government officials makes those government officials complicit and guilty of those same murders.
The rules for use of force seem to be that you can kill anybody you want for fun and sport. That's thuggery. My tax money is paying for this criminal private army of the neocons. Bullshit! Protecting US personnel and assets is a job that should belong exclusively to govenment servants on a US salary - Soldiers, US Marshalls and Secret Service. I object to having my tax dollars "privatized" to give these murderers a living. If they want to play soldier or armed tuff, let congress pass law inducting them into the armed service of their choice. At least there is some accountability under the UCMJ.
Maliki is the head of state of a sovereign nation. He can order these murderers out and if they don't go order them arrested. If it were me, I'd give them 48-72 hours to get the hell out and then authorize any Iraqi citizen to summarily execute them on sight after the exit deadline.
I recommend going to the source site to listen to the rest of this. There ARE apparently laws on our books to prosecute contractors in war zones or whatever........but the BUSH co-opted justice department won't prosecute them......however, once we take power again a non compromised justice department as I understand it should be able to prosecute as appropriate.
488 days remain.
Two other points. I think there is recourse in CIVIL court for this as well.....I'd rather see these fucks fry but.....
Also, the Iraquis should see Spielberg's "Munich". Enough said.
V V
Our Military will court marshall soldiers for killing civilians, and yet the employees of a private, for profit corporation earn 10x what our soldiers earn, will not even recieve a slap on the wrist? WTF
Mercenaries or not.....they are still mercenaries.
for all of you who are sitting on your hands with your brains in them, had better open your eyes. we are very close to losing all our constitutional rights under bush/cheney. blackwater is being backed by our govt and bush has ok'd order 17 which gives them unconditional immunity to anything they do. if/when bush declares martial law in this country before the next elections of 2008, blackwater will be in YOUR TOWN telling your local authorities what to do.
hitler/bush is in the whitehouse and the ss and gastoppo are coming.
AMY GOODMAN: So you're saying that the security firms, like Blackwater, are more experienced than US soldiers or better than US soldiers?
DOUG BROOKS: Absolutely. In general, that's accurate. And, you know, they can go for long periods, for two years or three years, whereas the military has to rotate their people in and out. And they train particularly for this kind of job. It's different from the military. The military is trained to attack into ambushes, whereas the security companies are trained to get their people out of the ambushes alive [inaudible].
Sickening! Protect the war-mongering elite when they are there but don't give the foot soldiers the stuff they need to stay alive. Wouldn't want to dig into the profits made by all of these devils of war.
They are looking for land in San Diego county to build a Blackwater base. The people here are trying to fight it but with Duncan Hunter in the area who knows what will happen. Blackwater will have to have a hold in the USA so they will have enough people to round-up the "lefty-hippies" to put in the detention centers being prepared for them (us).
What a world!
iraq does not need permission from the united states to oust blackwater. it's their country and we have illegally invaded them. i am so embarrassed that bush/cheney and all the gop think they can tell other nations what to do.
BUSH GET THE FUCK OUT OF IRAQ YOU BASTARD
Hmm, Mr. Brook's definition of a mercenary sure seems to describe the Chileans working for Blackwater. But I keep forgetting, the U.S. is always the good guy no matter what it does.
MargeAggedon @ 48:
You're entitled to your opinion.
Doug's 6 point definition based on international law rather than hearsay carried a lot more weight for me, and he was making a credible defense before Amy not too naively cut to break. All I'm saying is a fair reporter would have posted the complete interview, and I expected better here.
Personally, I think the left should focus more on fostering leadership that would provide the relief almost everyone seeks, rather than blind uniformity that kicks friends to the curb when they provide constructive criticism (gentle to moderate, at that).
you can download whole episodes of democracy now! here: http://ewheel.democracynow.org/
(yes, its legal)
Good 1984 name International Peace Operations great double speak.
It should be Operations for International Liberty that would add the irony
Are you with me?
Oh yeah that's wonderful too:
If they drive on the same street as we do, we get to get RUF with those Haji Bastards. Rules for the Use of Force
Why the fuck couldn't they use Marines? Bullshit--they could.
And I agree with Jake. They don't fit the strictly narrow, legal, definition of Mercenary
You are so right!
But who gives a fuck? They are killers in a war for money. If they swear an oath to protect and defend the constitution of the US they are not mercenaries. They swore an oath to get their tax free money and get the fuck out when their contract is up with the company.
Why are you defending them?
A Richard Head @ 10:
Didn't you get the memo, A Richard? War is Peace!
Have many of you here checked out Naomi Klein's article in this month's Harper's? It's a sobering (read: "scary") account of the rise of what she calls "disaster capitalism", and Blackwater is a featured player.
Suffice to say that what's happening in Iraq in terms of the outsourcing of governmental functions to corporations (including security/military operations as well as ordinary local government) is coming to the USA (indeed already has a toehold here), unless we act NOW.
Wow, Amy Goodman looks good these days. Even with grey hair.
dadams @ 57:
If Blackwater, aka the Bush SS, is allowed to establish itself in California, it will then spread all over the country. Watch out for the jackboots!
"International Peace Operation Association"
As Eddie Murphy said in the movie "Delirious": "Ha Ha, very funny, motherfucker!"
Spud @ 65:
It's well known that Blackwater has the contract to secure the highest level US employees in Iraq, and Blackwater consists of about 1,000 of approximately 125,000 total US contractors (security, food, services, and transportation). Blackwater is overwhelmingly unaccountable - I said as much years ago when the policy was first crafted that puts them in the gap between Iraq national and US military jurisdiction. That policy was a mistake, but it was actually more shocking when it was crafted than now because it came on he heals of Japan's renewing the Okinawa naval base contract when there had been decades of misconduct during peacetime by US troops and the US had for the first time granted Japan jurisdiction in such cases. So, to create a policy with zero accountability for contractors in Iraq during wartime seemed as bad as many of other tragic decisions, like disbanding the Iraq army, or dismissing Gen. Shinseki's minimum troop assessment.
I'm glad people are seeing gravity of the problem, but the problem isn't one contractor that represents less than one percent of all US contractors in Iraq. Solutions for the lack of accountability for US contractors are no less diverse than for the war, but in light of the smaller faster US military that is based on contracting out 80% of troop support previously handled within the military, the US State Dept needs to hold *all* US contractors to account *all* the time when abroad. This problem is not going to go away, and it's not about one contractor several years into a raging war.
Yeah!
More links to Democracy Now!
Jeremy Scahill is a powerful, young journalist. I used to be very worried about where the next Chomsky's and Zinn's were coming from.
Blackwater ain't going anywhere. They're in Iraq to stay. Just the fact that the Iraqi government does not have the power to expel them is solid proof that Iraq is still under occupation.
Jake @ 39:
I think we've heard the jist of Doug's argument. He's a liar. I don't need 5 or 15 more minutes of listening to him to make up my mind about the fact that he's ........A LIAR.
Why Do We Need Blackwater
Why do we have Blackwater employees doing the same thing our troops are trained to do for less money. Blackwater employees make up to 600 dollars a day while our troops make much less and have a greater fatality rate.
Bush is over in Iraq acting like the "Godfather" of a major crime syndicate, complete with "I love you Godfather" loyalty while he makes millionaires out of his followers. I hear he requires them to kiss his ring hand before he awards them our nation's treasure. Because our troops can guard our delicates for less money, Blackwater's lush contracts looks like a form of embezzlement. This is madness and must stop.
Joseph
Congress needs to cut all money for Blackwater out of the budget immediatley!
also, hear this, i heard a good portion of it on the way to work yesterday
http://www.wpr.org/webcasting/audioarchives_display.cfm?Code=dun
Thursday
9/20/2007
9:00 AM
Kathleen Dunn - 09/20D
The Iraqi Government has charged the American security firm Blackwater with civilian deaths in an incident last weekend. After nine, Kathleen Dunn and her guest examine the role of private contractors in Iraq.
Guest: Jeremy Scahill, journalist and Puffin Writing Fellow, Nation Institute. Author, “Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army.”
McDuff @ 74:
I was speaking for those who visit C&L (not forums) for the condensed news format and to C&L content providers. If the clip had been an interview for Jeremy's new book with no argument, I'd have no issue. My complaint arose solely because an argument was presented and when the left side started losing, the host cut. In the future, I will more specifically direct my remarks.
To C&L forums, many on the left are already concerned that many of the war powers Bush created and expanded will be misused *in different ways* by the next Democratic administration, leading to crippling long term losses for Democratic elections and leadership. There is recent talk of an opportunity for the left to build new leadership where it has been long absent (before Reagan, for the record Clinton pushed through a lot of GOP stuff), and I don't want to see that opportunity squandered the way Bush spent political capital after 9/11 - unchecked - continuing to this day. If you want the same ineffective Democratic Congress with a Democratic president, then we have a difference of opinion.
I'm sidelined now, but thanks for the debate! Peace, C&L.
Yes, Blackwater is a Merc outfit. Only difference is it is OK because they are Bush's Merc's.
Yet there is NO Doubt that the day will arise, if it hasn't already that Blackwater will be hired by a foriegn country in direct opposition to America.
And when Blackwater kills the hearts and minds in Iraq they are doing just that.......................
Login or Register to post comments.