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Xe, the Templar Crusade by Michael Carmichael

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by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
January 10, 2010

Blackwater is a corporation that provides mercenary soldiers and supporting security personnel to the US government.

Erik Prince, the founder and owner of the now infamous US corporation, Blackwater, hails from Holland, Michigan where his family was both powerful and prominent in two institutions – (1) the Republican Party and (2) the evangelical Christian Church.  After scandals hit his large and lucrative firm, Prince ordered a curious rebranding that changed its name to Xe.

(more…)

Mercenaries and assassins: The real face of Obama’s “good war” By Bill Van Auken

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By Bill Van Auken
http://www.wsws.org
12 December 2009

Reports that mercenaries employed by the notorious Blackwater-Xe military contracting firm participated in CIA assassinations in Iraq and Afghanistan have further exposed the real character of so-called “good war” that is being escalated by the Obama administration.

Citing former employees of the firm and US intelligence agents, the New York Times reported Friday that Blackwater gunmen, ostensibly contracted as security guards, “participated in some of the CIA’s most sensitive activities—clandestine raids with agency officers against people suspected of being insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and the transporting of detainees.”

These “snatch and grab” operations—many of them involving killings of individuals suspected of participating in the resistance to US occupation—“occurred on an almost nightly basis during the height of the Iraqi insurgency from 2004 to 2006, with Blackwater employees playing central roles,” the Times reports.

[...]

via Mercenaries and assassins: The real face of Obama’s “good war”

see

Blackwater, ‘CIA’s partner in secret operations’

Rachel Maddow: Obama Expands US Secret War In Pakistan!

Afghanistan on Dandelion Salad

Blackwater, ‘CIA’s partner in secret operations’

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presstv
11 Dec 2009

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has recruited private security guards from Blackwater for clandestine operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a report says.

The New York Times cited statements by former company employees and intelligence officials as evidence that Blackwater guards participated almost nightly in “snatch and grab” raids on suspected militants during the height of the Iraqi insurgency from 2004 to 2006.

[...]

via Blackwater, ‘CIA’s partner in secret operations’

see

Rachel Maddow: Obama Expands US Secret War In Pakistan!

Rachel Maddow: Obama Expands US Secret War In Pakistan!

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MoxNewsDotCom
December 04, 2009

more about “Obama Expands US Secret War In Pakistan!“, posted with vodpod

***

C.I.A. to Expand Use of Drones in Pakistan

(more…)

Rachel Maddow: Erik Prince of Blackwater a CIA Spy + Tycoon, Contractor, Soldier, Spy by Adam Ciralsky

Dandelion Salad

replaced video Dec. 5, 2012

on Dec 8, 2009 (more…)

Why U.S. occupation cannot transform Afghanistan or Iraq By Sara Flounders

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By Sara Flounders
http://www.workers.org
Nov 15, 2009

Just how powerful is the U.S. military today?

Why is the largest military machine on the planet unable to defeat the resistance in Afghanistan, in a war that has lasted longer than World War II or Vietnam?

Afghanistan ranks among the poorest and most underdeveloped countries in the world today. It has one of the shortest life expectancy rates, highest infant mortality rates and lowest rates of literacy.

The total U.S. military budget has more than doubled from the beginning of this war in 2001 to the $680 billion budget signed by President Barack Obama Oct. 28. The U.S. military budget today is larger than the military budgets of the rest of the world combined. The U.S. arsenal has the most advanced high-tech weapons.

(more…)

Blackwater Bribed Iraqi Government Officials!

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MoxNewsDotCom
November 10, 2009

http://MOXNews.com/
November 10, 2009 MSNBC Rachel Maddow Show

more about “BLACKWATER BRIBED IRAQI GOVERNMENT OF…“, posted with vodpod

***

Blackwater Said to Approve $1 Million in Iraqi Bribes After Shootings

By MARK MAZZETTI and JAMES RISEN
NYTimes.com
November 10, 2009

WASHINGTON — Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials.

[...]

via Blackwater Said to Approve $1 Million in Iraqi Bribes After Shootings – NYTimes.com.

h/t: CLG

see

Iraq on Dandelion Salad

from the archives:

Countdown: Jeremy Scahill on Blackwater assassination contractors: Lord Of The Christian Supremacist Flies

US Still Paying Blackwater Millions By Jeremy Scahill

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By Jeremy Scahill
http://www.thenation.com
August 7, 2009

Just days before two former Blackwater employees alleged in sworn statements filed in federal court that the company’s owner, Erik Prince, “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe,” the Obama administration extended a contract with Blackwater for more than $20 million for “security services” in Iraq, according to federal contract data obtained by The Nation. The State Department contract is scheduled to run through September 3. In May, the State Department announced it was not renewing Blackwater’s Iraq contract, and the Iraqi government has refused to issue the company an operating license.

[...]

via US Still Paying Blackwater Millions

h/t: Raw Story » Scahill: Blackwater still getting millions in federal contracts

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

Countdown: Erik Prince and “Bloodwater”

Obama Continues To Pay Blackwater (Christian Crusaders) Millions To Be In Iraq

Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder by Jeremy Scahill

Countdown: Erik Prince and “Bloodwater”

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MoxNewsDotCom
August 06, 2009

Child Prostitution, Illegal Weapons & Murder! Yep! Sounds Like “Christian” Crusaders To Me!

http://earth2obama.org/ COMING SOON!!! http://MOXNews.com/
August 06, 2009 MSNBC Keith Olbermann

more about “Child Prostitution, Illegal Weapons &…“, posted with vodpod

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Obama Continues To Pay Blackwater (Christian Crusaders) Millions To Be In Iraq

Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder by Jeremy Scahill

Blackwater

Obama Continues To Pay Blackwater (Christian Crusaders) Millions To Be In Iraq

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MoxNewsDotCom
August 05, 2009

http://earth2obama.org/ COMING SOON!!! http://MOXNews.com/
August 05, 2009 MSNBC Keith Olbermann

more about “Obama Continues To Pay Blackwater (Ch…“, posted with vodpod

***

In Explosive Allegations, Ex-Employees Link Blackwater Founder to Murder, Threats

Democracy Now!
Aug 5, 2009

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.” We speak with investigative journalist and bestselling author Jeremy Scahill, who broke the story for The Nation magazine. [includes rush transcript]

Real Video Stream

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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.

video & transcript: In Explosive Allegations, Ex-Employees Link Blackwater Founder to Murder, Threats

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Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder by Jeremy Scahill

Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder by Jeremy Scahill

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Updated: added Democracy Now! interview

AntiwarRadio
August 02, 2009

http://antiwar.com/
http://antiwar.com/radio/

Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the Worlds Most Powerful Mercenary Army, discusses the dwindling ranks of antiwar Democrats in Congress, the cruise missile liberals that support war in Darfur without questioning the aims of U.S. imperialism, the mercenary surge accompanying the troop surge in Afghanistan, the history of bipartisan executive assassination programs and the birther conspiracy theories that completely miss the point.

more about “Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murd…“, posted with vodpod

Pts 2-4 (more…)