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Sunday Open Thread and Diary Rescue

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 01:24:06 PM EST
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I've already got a full day's worth of blog posts up. Time to let you take over, while I head outdoors.

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    Sunday Open Thread and Diary Rescue | 25 comments (25 topical)

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    Blackwater Out? (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by squeaky on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 11:11:49 AM EST
    Wonder how long this will last?
    BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi government said Monday that it was revoking the license of an American security firm accused of involvement in the deaths of eight civilians in a firefight that followed a car bomb explosion near a State Department motorcade.
    The Interior Ministry said it would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force in the Sunday shooting. It was the latest accusation against the U.S.-contracted firms that operate with little or no supervision and are widely disliked by Iraqis who resent their speeding motorcades and forceful behavior.

    HuffPo

    You need.... (5.00 / 2) (#8)
    by desertswine on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 02:22:24 PM EST
    a license to kill in Iraq?  Who would've guessed.

    Parent
    More on Blackwater (5.00 / 2) (#9)
    by Edger on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 07:53:26 PM EST
    The Guardian:
    Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said eight civilians were killed and 13 were wounded when security contractors believed to be working for Blackwater USA opened fire in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood of western Baghdad.

    "We have canceled the license of Blackwater and prevented them from working all over Iraqi territory. We will also refer those involved to Iraqi judicial authorities," Khalaf said.
    ...
    The question of whether they could face prosecution is a gray legal area. Unlike soldiers, they are not bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Under a special provision secured by American-occupying forces, they are exempt from prosecution by Iraqis for crimes committed there.

    Khalaf, however, denied that the exemption applied to private security companies.
    ...
    Blackwater has an estimated 1,000 employees in Iraq, and at least $800 million in government contracts.
    ...
    Until the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, it had few security contracts.



    Parent
    Most people think there are (5.00 / 2) (#10)
    by Edger on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 08:13:45 PM EST
    about 130,000 troops in Iraq.

    It's closer to twice that, counting private contract forces. Blackwater mercenaries make in a month what that average US soldier in Iraq makes in year. They are contracted to the State Dept. and are basically an armed wing of the Administration.

    (Video) Blackwater: The Shadow War

    Parent

    Contracted to the state dept... (5.00 / 2) (#13)
    by desertswine on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 11:46:59 AM EST
    "and are basically an armed wing of the Administration."

    Yeah, in other words, Blackshirts.

    Let's hope that they don't start hiring them for domestic purposes, if they haven't already.


    Parent

    They Were (5.00 / 2) (#15)
    by squeaky on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 01:12:14 PM EST
    At NOLA disaster.

    Parent
    Not only in NOLA (5.00 / 2) (#17)
    by Edger on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 01:51:40 PM EST
    NYC IndyMedia
    Blackwater: The New World Order's Military?
    Does NYC want unregulated mercenaries to rule in another disaster?

    Parent
    NOLA.... (5.00 / 2) (#18)
    by desertswine on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 02:47:27 PM EST
    Right, I had stupidly forgotten.

    "Erik Prince, Blackwater's founder, is a former SEAL who is deeply involved in Republican Party politics. Since 1998, he has funneled roughly $200,000 to GOP committees and candidates, including President Bush. In 2004, Blackwater retained the Alexander Strategy Group, the PR and lobbying firm that closed down earlier this year due to its embarrassing ties to Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay."

    So, as essentialy the military wing of the Republican Party, the term "Blackshirts" would be correct.

    Parent

    Or... (5.00 / 2) (#19)
    by Edger on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 03:23:37 PM EST
    the armed wing, subject to no laws, of the Bush/Cheny families?

    Parent
    It gets no better than this (1.00 / 1) (#22)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 08:26:16 PM EST
    the armed wing, subject to no laws, of the Bush/Cheny families?

    And here is their communication center...

    hehe


    Parent

    Blackwater. (5.00 / 1) (#25)
    by Edger on Wed Sep 19, 2007 at 01:33:09 AM EST
    ......this band of thugs is run by a Republican scumbag named Erik Prince, who came into his fortune when his father, a wealthy Holland, Michigan industrialist, died of heart failure. Blackwater is run by a parent company run out of McLean, Virginia named the Prince Group, whose motto is dedicated to protecting the interests of "Christians who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ".

    Take another gander at that statement and then tell me that a chill doesn't crawl up your spine when you recall that George W. Bush told Pope Benedict XVI just today that Iraqi Christians would be protected in the months and years to come of our occupation, courtesy of their wonderful new constitution. "I assured him we were working hard to make sure that people lived up to the constitution -- that modern constitution voted on by the people from different walks of life and different attitudes."

    What Bush didn't go on to tell the Pontiff, I'm sure, was how we'd go about doing that, which would be through a shadow mercenary military known as the Knights of Malta that had been the Praetorian Guard of Paul Bremer back when he was completely f***ing up Iraq from the Emerald City.

    The people on Prince's payroll reads like a Who's Who of Republican operatives most comfortable in the generous shadows provided by our lazy mainstream media: Like Cofer Black, for instance, former chief of CIA counterterrorism. And if anyone presents a danger to them, such as Joseph Schmitz--the former Pentagon Inspector General whose job it was to investigate outfits like Blackwater USA, they buy them off by giving them lucrative positions in the private sector.

    Erik Prince is, simply put, one of the most dangerous men in this country and ought to be given at least half the media scrutiny that we've seen just in the past two days given to his fellow heir Paris Hilton, someone who only endangered people, not slaughtered hundreds. We have a stake in exposing this madman for what he is because, through George Bush's no-bid largesse, is being enriched and empowered through your tax dollars.

    A Machiavellian Prince, June 9, 2007

    Parent
    Only $200,000 in 9 years??? (1.00 / 1) (#21)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 08:22:35 PM EST
    He better get crackin... Hsu got Hillary over 4 times that in a yeat!!

    Parent
    Not For A Second (5.00 / 2) (#16)
    by squeaky on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 01:24:00 PM EST
    From Larry Johnson:

    First problem. Blackwater does not have a license to operate in Iraq and does not need one. They have a U.S. State Department contract through Diplomatic Security. Instead of using Diplomatic Security officers or hiring new Security officers or relying on U.S. military personnel, the Bush Administration has contracted with firms like Blackwater, Triple Canopy, and others for people capable of conducting personnel security details. State Department is not about to curtail the contract with Blackwater, who is tightly wired into Washington. Plus, State Department simply does not have the bodies available to carry out the security mission.

    Second problem. The Iraqi government has zero power to enforce a decision to oust a firm like Blackwater. [..]This incident will enrage Iraqis and their subsequent realization that they are impotent to do anything about it will do little to support the fantasy that the surge is working. There are some Iraqis who genuinely want to run their own country. But we are not about to give them the keys to the car. Blackwater is staying.

    via Crooks & Liars

    Parent

    Iran attack imminent? (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by Edger on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 11:05:09 AM EST
    via truthout this morning:

    Bush Setting America Up for War With Iran
    By Philip Sherwell and Tim Shipman
    The Telegraph UK, Tuesday 17 September 2007

    Senior American intelligence and defence officials believe that President George W Bush and his inner circle are taking steps to place America on the path to war with Iran, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

    Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, amid growing fears among serving officers that diplomatic efforts to slow Iran's nuclear weapons programme are doomed to fail.

    Pentagon and CIA officers say they believe that the White House has begun a carefully calibrated programme of escalation that could lead to a military showdown with Iran.

    Now it has emerged that Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, who has been pushing for a diplomatic solution, is prepared to settle her differences with Vice-President Dick Cheney and sanction military action.
    ...
     The intelligence source said: "No one outside that tight circle knows what is going to happen." But he said that within the CIA "many if not most officials believe that diplomacy is failing" and that "top Pentagon brass believes the same."

    He said: "A strike will probably follow a gradual escalation. Over the next few weeks and months the US will build tensions and evidence around Iranian activities in Iraq."

    Previously, accusations that Mr Bush was set on war with Iran have come almost entirely from his critics.
    Cooler heads? (5.00 / 2) (#20)
    by Edger on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 04:06:04 PM EST
    AP Today: General John Abizaid (ret.) lobs an anti-propaganda bomb at Bush and warmongers.

    Abizaid: World Could Abide Nuclear Iran

    [Abizaid said he] was confident that if Iran gained nuclear arms, the United States could deter it from using them.

    "Iran is not a suicide nation," he said. "I mean, they may have some people in charge that don't appear to be rational, but I doubt that the Iranians intend to attack us with a nuclear weapon."

    The Iranians are aware, he said, that the United States has a far superior military capability.

    "I believe that we have the power to deter Iran, should it become nuclear," he said, referring to the theory that Iran would not risk a catastrophic retaliatory strike by using a nuclear weapon against the United States.

    "There are ways to live with a nuclear Iran," Abizaid said in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank. "Let's face it, we lived with a nuclear Soviet Union, we've lived with a nuclear China, and we're living with (other) nuclear powers as well."

    Video clip from CNN

    Parent
    Truth be known that is called (1.00 / 1) (#23)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 08:29:19 PM EST
    a war plan.

    We also probably have one for invading England, if need be.

    But I do hope the article is right. The longer we delay the more costly it will be.

    Parent

    I'm sure that (none / 0) (#24)
    by Edger on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 09:13:56 PM EST
    about 26%, at most, of the country feels the same way.

    They can't help it either....

    Parent

    CNN's Jack Cafferty (5.00 / 0) (#14)
    by Edger on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 12:16:37 PM EST
    VIDEO: An Apology For Media Complicity Selling The Iraq Invasion - Better Late Than Never?
    I will go to my grave as Jack Cafferty, Private Citizen, believing that these people committed war crimes.
    Michigan swamps Notre Dame, (none / 0) (#1)
    by oculus on Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 02:17:51 PM EST
    leading Notre Dame radio broadcaster to remark Michigan is playing like the #3 team it was ranked in the pre-season AP poll.  A little too late though.

    How to stop border deaths (none / 0) (#2)
    by LonewackoDotCom on Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 06:09:49 PM EST
    Randinho and I both read the same NYT article, however unlike him I actually realize that the New York Times is partly culpable in those border deaths. A strong statement I wouldn't make if I couldn't back it up: they and everyone else who excuses or encourages illegal immigration turns the U.S. into an "attractive nuisance", with predictable results.

    There are only two ways to stop the border deaths: either throw the borders open completely to everyone who wants, or strictly enforce our laws. The New York Times and others favor a policy between those two, and that won't work.

    We don't have an illegal immigrant problem (5.00 / 0) (#4)
    by TomStewart on Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 06:53:10 PM EST
    We have an illegal employer problem. Go after the employers ignoring American workers and hiring illegals. Restore the prosecutions and fines that the Bush administration have stopped enforcing, go after the people supplying that 'attractive nuisance' and I guarantee you the 'illegal alien' problem will dry up.

    New York Times is to blame. Pull the other one, it's got bells on.

    Parent

    Works for me (1.00 / 0) (#5)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 07:42:41 PM EST
    Please provide evidence that Bush has stopped fines..not that I wouldn't believe it, I just don't trust you...

    Second, I'm all for closing down the employers, but fairness demands that before you put them in jail, you provide a method for them to determine if the applicant is a US citizen, or has a valid visa.

    That means two things.

    1. A national ID that is hard to forge and some serious punishment for anyone who does.

    2. A very fast Social Security number match. BTW - An appeals court - I think it was the 9th (surprise!!!!)- just ruled that illegal..

    Finally, close the border. Shut it down. Why? Because the other two actions won't stop the influx. Besides. If I'm wrong, it will be super easy to do.

    Parent
    What? (5.00 / 0) (#6)
    by TomStewart on Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 08:28:19 PM EST
    You don't trust me me Jim? I'm wounded.

    First you don't trust me, then you want me to be your Google?

    Okay:

    First, Bush on employers. Here's our buddy, Lou Dobbs:

    The Bush administration in its firstfour years was responsible for 318 fines against employers who hired illegal workers, an average of fewer than 80 each year. That's down from 5,587 fines against illegal employers during the eight years of the Clinton administration, according to the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, an average of 698 each year. And the problem is getting worse; in 2004 only three employers received fines for illegal hiring.

    Work site arrests have fallen even more drastically under this president. From 1995 to 1998, there were between 10,000 and 18,000 work site arrests of illegal aliens each year. But during the Bush administration, work site arrests fell to just 159 in 2004.

    Here's the linky:

    Louie!

    How would an employer know if the employee is legal? They could give this a try:

    SSN

    Two minutes on the mighty Google found those, I'm sure some farmer or meat packing plant manager could find it.

    National ID? Your much more trusting of the government, and the incompetence of forgers, than I am.

    Shut down the borders? You won't have to if you take away the incentive sending people across the boders in the first place.

    And last, stop propping up the kind of governments (hello Mexico) that keeps their population in such blind, grinding poverty that the people feel they need to leave the country just to feed their families. It's shameful, and we're a part of it. And that is a shame as well.

    Parent

    You know, you may not be such a (1.00 / 1) (#11)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 09:41:18 PM EST
    bad guy...

    Mexico... agreed.

    SSN - Problem is an appeals court has ruled that an employer can't use a "no-match" as a reason for dismissal.

    National ID? You already have one... a SSN. All we need is to make it very difficult to steal.

    Oh.. the linkee thingee?? Custom has it that the claimer (that's you)provides the proof...

    Parent

    Yeah. But it's great news... (1.00 / 0) (#3)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 06:27:26 PM EST


    Parent
    Sunday Open Thread and Diary Rescue | 25 comments (25 topical)

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