Every second’s worth of contributions helps meet peaceful human needs worldwide

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/8/5/in_explosive_allegations_ex_employees_link

In sworn statements, two ex-employees claim Blackwater’s owner, Erik Prince, murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. One also charged Prince “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe.”

Jeremy Scahill, award-winning investigative journalist and author of the bestseller Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. His writing and reporting is available at RebelReports.com. His latest article is online at TheNation.com.

http://www.thenation.com/

http://rebelreports.com/

JEREMY SCAHILL: Right. I mean, I watched your interview with Henry Waxman, and I give him credit for the work that he did on this. I mean, he was on Blackwater’s case from 2003 until his role at the Oversight Committee ended and he moved on to Energy and Commerce. And Waxman and Jan Schakowsky and others, Dennis Kucinich, fought hard to try to have these kinds of forces banned for use by the US government abroad.

They wanted all these jobs to be done by the US military. They lost in that battle. Ironically, Hillary Clinton, as a senator, was the single most important US political figure to call for a ban of Blackwater and actually co-signed legislation with Bernie Sanders, Jan Schakowsky and a handful of others to try to end the use of these kinds of mercenary forces. Now Hillary Clinton is guarded by these very forces as Secretary of State and has not moved to end their use. In fact,

Obama,
in Afghanistan, is expanding the use of these forces by 29 percent in the second quarter of this year, and it continues to grow. The Washington Post just had—did a big story about how the number of private forces is swelling, as the US troop levels grow in Afghanistan. In Iraq, they continue to play a very, very significant role. And I think that it’s important to note,

Blackwater continues to do business with the federal government under Barack Obama. That should be a scandal on Capitol Hill, particularly in light of these allegations that have come forth. There needs to be congressional investigations once again.

|More

Share|

Obama
Admin Expands Law Enforcement Program 287(g), Criticized for Targeting Immigrants and Increasing Racial Profiling

Several prominent U.S. media figures signed on to the alarming and controversial proposal.  Isn’t it nice that we might have a TV network telling us “who we are?”

---

http://www.oneminuteforpeace.org/

http://peaceminute.blogspot.com/

http://tools.afsc.org/reflections/

http://www.afsc.org/

Every second’s worth of contributions helps meet peaceful human needs worldwide. Learn how