Bill Moyers meticulously documents Erik Prince's exhaustive spin campaign over the last week, offering a crystal clear picture of how professional deceivers operate.

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Prince's rehearsed answer about Blackwater not being a mercenary force -- "we're Americans fighting for America"/ "a mercenary force is hired by a foreign army" -- shows just how out of touch and clueless he is. From the Iraqi perspective, Blackwater fits perfectly the definition of a mercenary force -- a for-profit killing force hired by (our) foreign army. Does he really not see that?

The entire interview with Blackwater expert Jeremy Scahill -- who wrote the definitive book on the rise of the private army -- can be streamed from the PBS site. Scahill does a tremendous job of exposing Prince and Blackwater for what they are -- a taxpayer-funded, for-profit, private killing force that operates outside the rule of law.

Uniongal at DailyKos

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(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.