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Thread: Matters Blackwater (Merged thread)

  1. #261
    Council Member Uboat509's Avatar
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    I read where someone on another forum referred to this as turd polish. A bit crude perhaps but accurate none the less.

    SFC W

  2. #262
    Council Member ODB's Avatar
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    Default Kinda like

    You know that little white speck on top of chicken ####, well that is chicken #### too!
    ODB

    Exchange with an Iraqi soldier during FID:

    Why did you not clear your corner?

    Because we are on a base and it is secure.

  3. #263
    Council Member Pattonmat89's Avatar
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    "Don't discuss yourself, for you are bound to lose; if you belittle yourself, you are believed; if you praise yourself, you are disbelieved." -Michel de Montaigne

    "I have this personal rule about not starting flame wars with people who ride around in battleplates." -Schlock Mercenary, May 21, 2003

  4. #264
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    Didn't "Altria" used to be PhilipMorris? I don't want to own a tobacco company, but a "consumer products" conglomerate is right up my alley.

  5. #265
    Council Member Hacksaw's Avatar
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    Default A refreshing dip into the waters of Scientology

    Ah... there is nothing to make you shiver and feel dirty like a head-long plunge into the Scientology pool... Really makes you wonder about the how much higher we could raise the collective gene pool if we could cause a massive resettlement of adherents using DC-8 like aircraft to area surrounding a volcano...
    Hacksaw
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  6. #266
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pattonmat89 View Post
    What on God's green Earth does "Xe" mean? I'm sure it's just something that I don't get. Could someone please enlighten me?
    It certainly is going to make them more able to operate under the radar. Web searches become much more difficult, and their other division changing to 'US Training" seems to follow that same notion.

    There's a reason behind the name change, I don't know what it is, but they didnt just throw a dart at the Periodic chart.

  7. #267
    Council Member wm's Avatar
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    Default Xe=Xenon . . .

    which is a noble gas.
    Remember the Xenon searchlights on tanks--They want to show that they are willing to shine a light on their internal operations because they have nothing to hide.

    Xe is also an inert gas--Thety want to show they are very stable and not prone to "react" at a moments provocation.

    I'm surprised no one else in this august group picked this stuff up--no wonder the bad guys are whipping us at the strategic communications game.
    Vir prudens non contra ventum mingit
    The greatest educational dogma is also its greatest fallacy: the belief that what must be learned can necessarily be taught. — Sydney J. Harris

  8. #268
    Moderator Steve Blair's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by wm View Post
    which is a noble gas.
    Remember the Xenon searchlights on tanks--They want to show that they are willing to shine a light on their internal operations because they have nothing to hide.

    Xe is also an inert gas--Thety want to show they are very stable and not prone to "react" at a moments provocation.

    I'm surprised no one else in this august group picked this stuff up--no wonder the bad guys are whipping us at the strategic communications game.
    So it's an oxymoron, in other words.....
    "On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
    T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War

  9. #269
    Council Member Beelzebubalicious's Avatar
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    XE = Xenon which is a noble gas.
    I think they're just blowing smoke up our collective assets.

  10. #270
    Council Member bourbon's Avatar
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  11. #271
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    Default Judge Urbina - "defendant's points ... are strong"

    Judge Urbina decided two pre-trial motions - temporarily in favor of the DoJ, which means this case is headed toward trial.

    Judge refuses to toss charges in Blackwater case
    Federal judge refuses to dismiss manslaughter charges against Blackwater guards
    NEDRA PICKLER
    AP News
    Feb 17, 2009 14:44 EST

    A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the manslaughter case against five former Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of spraying innocent Iraqis with machine-gun fire can continue.

    U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina denied two motions to dismiss the case against the five men accused in a September 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqis dead and another 20 wounded in a busy Baghdad intersection.
    ....
    Federal prosecutors argued the men were supporting the work of the Defense Department by helping to create a stable, self-governing Iraq. They said they would offer evidence at trial that their employment supported the Defense Department.

    Urbina sided with prosecutors and agreed that the issue should be heard at trial. But he noted that the "defendants' points on this issue are rather strong" and predicted it would be an issue that either he or a jury would decide later.
    It would be highly unusual (and probably error) for a trial judge to dismiss a prosecution where the government makes a proffer that its position will be supported by evidence at trial. However, when a judge tells you that the other side's case seems "rather strong", it's about time to start circling the wagons.

  12. #272
    Council Member Hacksaw's Avatar
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    Default I prefer Scientology interpretation

    A revamping of corporate image by renaming itself seems more in tune with Scientology
    Hacksaw
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  13. #273
    Small Wars Journal SWJED's Avatar
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    Default Blackwater Accused of Murder in 'Crusade to Eliminate Muslims'

    Blackwater Accused of Murder in 'Crusade to Eliminate Muslims' - Tim Reid, The Times

    A series of allegations including murder, weapons smuggling and the deliberate slaughter of civilians have been levelled against the founder of Blackwater, the security company being investigated for shooting deaths in Iraq.

    The accusations, including a claim that the company founder Erik Prince either murdered or had killed former employees co-operating with federal investigators, are contained in sworn affidavits lodged at a Virginia court on Monday night.

    The company was the most prominent of an army of private security companies employed by the Pentagon and State Department to protect military convoys and guard US diplomats in Iraq.

    The accusations against Mr Prince are being made by two former employees, including a former Marine, who have sworn them anonymously as John Doe No 1 and John Doe No 2, because they said they feared for their lives if their identities were revealed...

  14. #274
    Council Member IntelTrooper's Avatar
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    My gut reaction is, "Didn't Mommy and Daddy show you enough attention when you were a child?"

    Having people murdered? Come on...
    "The status quo is not sustainable. All of DoD needs to be placed in a large bag and thoroughly shaken. Bureaucracy and micromanagement kill."
    -- Ken White


    "With a plan this complex, nothing can go wrong." -- Schmedlap

    "We are unlikely to usefully replicate the insights those unencumbered by a military staff college education might actually have." -- William F. Owen

  15. #275
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    Default Standard caution ....

    Go slow and wait. The DoJ's "neither confirm nor deny" should be taken literally. An indictment would be another story - and a big one.

  16. #276
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    Will religion become the new sexual harassment?

    Sure looks like things are heading that way.

  17. #277
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    Default go slow, indeed

    Reaction 1: Um...yeah? Surprised? Maybe you should be paying more attention. Then, calming myself a little, and trying to be more objective...
    Reaction 2: Well, it seems like the murder of whistleblowers would have come out before now...could they really be that evil? Then,
    back to reaction 1.
    Maimonides: "Consider this, those of you who are engaged in investigation, if you choose to seek truth. Cast aside passion, accepted thought, and the inclination toward what you used to esteem, and you shall not be lead into error."

  18. #278
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    - another book in the making either way -

  19. #279
    Council Member Uboat509's Avatar
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    So, according to this article Blackwater has committed virtually every possible heinous crime known to include, apparently child prostitution (no regicide yet but give it time). Additionally, apparently Prince has been running the organization like a weird "crusader" mafia like army, wherein informants and random Muslims are routinely murdered. All of this has been going on essentially under the DOS's nose for years but we just now found out about it. Riiiiight.

    This thing reads like movie written by Michael Moore and directed by Oliver Stone. They tried so hard to pack so much evil in there that it is almost laughable. I don't doubt that there has been wrong doing by Blackwater in Iraq and elsewhere, but I am not prepared to give Blackwater or Erik Prince enough credit for competence to have engaged in this kind of high level conspiracy. Most of the guys I know who have worked for the various PMCs tell me the same thing. Competent operators avoid Blackwater like the plague. Prince got greedy and took on more contracts than he had competent operators to fill. In order to meet his obligations he started hiring almost anyone. The competent guys don't want to deploy with these guys so they start to find other employment so Blackwater has to hire more of the lower quality operators and so on. I would be inclined to believe that whatever wrongdoing has been committed by Blackwater members has more to do with the policy of hiring guys who probably shouldn't be allowed access to sharp objects much less guns than it has to do with a "crusader" conspiracy.

    SFC W
    Last edited by Uboat509; 08-07-2009 at 12:35 AM. Reason: Spelling

  20. #280
    Small Wars Journal SWJED's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by goesh View Post
    - another book in the making either way -

    You’re kidding - more like a "reality show" on an island or a remote track of NC countryside - this time the word survivor will take a whole new meaning.

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