Blackwater's Gunrunners

[Emit]

Blackwater's Gunrunners

Unauthorized weapons stockpiles, reckless shootings, steroid-injecting personnel—tales from the security firm's latest Afghanistan outrage.

— By Daniel Schulman

Tue Feb. 23, 2010

Blackwater improperly obtained hundreds of weapons intended for use by Afghanistan's already underequipped police force—and then falsely claimed to a Senate committee that the firearms had been returned when many remained unaccounted for.

~snip~

The committee, chaired by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), first began investigating Paravant last summer, following an episode on May 5 when off-duty Paravant trainers opened fire on an oncoming car, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding a third. Similar to fallout after Blackwater operators gunned down civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square, the episode outraged Afghans and, according to the Justice Department, "caused diplomatic difficulties" for State Department officials in Afghanistan.

In January, two of the contractors, Justin Cannon and Christopher Drotleff, were indicted on second-degree murder and firearms violations. (They maintain that they fired in self-defense.) Blackwater moved quickly to fire the pair, saying they had violated the company's policy prohibiting the consumption of alcohol. But Daniel Callahan, who initially represented the contractors, contends that the men were scapegoated. He claims Blackwater concocted the drinking charge as a pretext to fire them. What Blackwater wanted to cover up, he says, was that Cannon, Drotleff, and their Paravant colleagues were issued weapons they were unauthorized to carry. (A spokeswoman for Xe, as Blackwater is now known, did not respond to a request for comment.)

The information obtained by the committee, which combed through thousands of documents and conducted dozens of interviews, confirms widespread use of unauthorized weapons by Blackwater and Paravant personnel. And, say committee staffers, the shooting episode involving Cannon and Drotleff was not the first to involve Paravant contractors.

~snip~

http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/02/blackwater-paravant-unauthorized-weapons-afghanistan-levin

[jwirr]

1. Outside contractors in the military are the worst thing that has ever

happened to the military. I do not see why our legislature do not recognize this.

[Hubert Flottz]

2. why our legislature do not recognize this.

Kickbacks I'd guess!

[mod mom]

4. or maybe afraid of them. Have to wonder about their ties to intelligence.

[wellst0nev0ter]

5. They Aren't Registering Black Voters (eom)

[Blue_Tires]

7. I HATE "contractors"

that's another example of losing the 'framing' of the subject...Blackwater and their affiliated colleagues are MERCENARIES--WAR CRIMINALS--MOBSTERS--PROFITEERS...I never know why people are afraid to use these terms...

"Contractors" makes people instantly think of someone selling shoelaces for Army boots, or filing papers...


And to answer your question, the reason why our legislature does not recognize this is because Blackwater is heavily insulated politically -- a lot of retired top-level Pentagon brass sits on their board of directors, and Blackwater has been used for so many dirty, unofficial jobs, no one in congress wants that laundry aired

[FreakinDJ]

3. This Blackwater thing just keeps getting worse

[votingupstart]

6. i will be interested to see where this goes..or if it quietly disappears..n/t

[ck4829]

8. K&R