Blackwater guard screamed 'stop shooting'

Why should any sane individual believe stories made-up by unnamed sources out of Washington Post or NYTimes?

NYTimes is the same paper that revealed the tactics used by the government to track terrorists.

The whole thing is bogus!
 
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Why should anyone believe your half arsed blogs?
Made up by someone tapping away at a keyboard in their parents basement.
 
Why should anyone believe your half arsed blogs?
Made up by someone tapping away at a keyboard in their parents basement.

True... No body should. I never forced any body to. You read, You decide. And we have blogs that can be trusted 100%. And remember some of those blogs are beating mainstream media in a grand scale. Shows how unpopular & distrusted MSM have become.

Blogs like LGF, Michael Yon, Michael Totten........... are way more credible than many many newspapers.
 
True... No body should. I never forced any body to. You read, You decide. And we have blogs that can be trusted 100%. And remember some of those blogs are beating mainstream media in a grand scale. Shows how unpopular & distrusted MSM have become.

Blogs like LGF, Michael Yon, Michael Totten........... are way more credible than many many newspapers.

Only in your mind most normal people regard political blogs as a lunatic fringe who cant make it in the mainstream world because they are so wrapped up in conspiracies.
 
Only in your mind most normal people regard political blogs as a lunatic fringe who cant make it in the mainstream world because they are so wrapped up in conspiracies.

HuH?

If mainstream world is consisted of people who buy almost everything Reuters and Washington Post write, then so be it. I am proud not to be part of it. Indeed, many people are fed up with mainstream media and thats why they resort to weblogs now. Welcome to the 21st century.

Remember CBS controversy over President Bush's military service record?
 
HuH?

If mainstream world is consisted of people who buy almost everything Reuters and Washington Post write, then so be it. I am proud not to be part of it. Indeed, many people are fed up with mainstream media and thats why they resort to weblogs now. Welcome to the 21st century.

Remember CBS controversy over President Bush's military service record?

Last I heard there is a Lawsuit in the works over that, and hopefully the Lawsuit will get to the bottom of the Military Service Record of the sitting President.
I've also been told that President Bush cannot find the records needed to prove he pulled all his time in the Air National Guard.

Tell me do you link back to Posts you make on this Board as an Official Source of Fact on Blogs or other Sites?

I've been told that is the MO of the Blogger..... link to other likeminded Websites for a Source.
 
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That would be the century where any crackpot with an internet connection can call themselves a journalist?

Yes and No! You seem to believe in old school type of journalism. I don't trust NYTimes to bring me news. Just like I dont trust the eatery in my neighborhood and therefore I'd rather go to another one. Same thing.

prime examples:

Canadian columnist, Mark Steyn, never attended a college or university but his recent book is a best seller and he appears as a commentator on tv.

i.e I am not a professional journalist, but my reporting from Iran on my blog is used extensively by credible people.

LGF blog is written from California, yet its works on Islamic world and Islamic Terrorism are being used by Fox News every night. Michael Totten is a simple liberal blogger, yet his works from Iraq are being used every day through out the country. Robert Spencer is a blogger. google his name to find out more for yourself...... go figure!
 
Yes and No! You seem to believe in old school type of journalism. I don't trust NYTimes to bring me news. Just like I dont trust the eatery in my neighborhood and therefore I'd rather go to another one. Same thing.

prime examples:

Canadian columnist, Mark Steyn, never attended a college or university but his recent book is a best seller and he appears as a commentator on tv.

i.e I am not a professional journalist, but my reporting from Iran on my blog is used extensively by credible people.

LGF blog is written from California, yet its works on Islamic world and Islamic Terrorism are being used by Fox News every night. Michael Totten is a simple liberal blogger, yet his works from Iraq are being used every day through out the country. Robert Spencer is a blogger. google his name to find out more for yourself...... go figure!

Would Jeff Gannon fall in the "New School" 21th Century Category of "Reporter"?
Are Blogs covered Constitutionally by Freedom of the Press or Freedom of Speech?

So, anyone with a Website can get a Press Pass and claim to be a Journalist in the 21st Century?
 
Does any body remember when I posted a really true story on how the Vietnam war memorial wall was vandalized, every one here screamed that we shouldn't pre-judge any thing. Fair enough... Now why some people don't hold themselves to the same standard and stop calling these contractors/armed people/ criminals when we don't really know what has happened?

That is hypocrisy to act like this. Isn't that?
 
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Do you remember when I posted a really true story on how the Vietnam war memorial wall was vandalized, every one here screamed that we shouldn't pre-judge any thing. Fair enough... Now why some people don't hold themselves to the same standard and stop calling these contractors/armed people/ criminals when we don't really know what has happened?

That is hypocrisy to act like this. Isn't that?

The FBI Report is out that there was indeed a Crime?
I cannot wait to see the Footage from the CCTV Cameras, is it on Youtube yet?
The Lab analysis of the Chemical Substance came back as what?
 
Phoenix...
For instances like Darfur, yes, mercenaries like Blackwater (They are mercenaries, I don't give two squirts a piss what euphemism you like to label them with) could fight for the wrong side and you'd be in heaps of trouble.
First off, right now they are on our side because we demand their services and we are paying for them.
In the after years, they will be loyal to their next loyal customer. Let's say a strong man in Country X uses Blackwater on a regular basis so that a bigger chunk of Blackwater's earnings comes from them and not the US... a situation arises and the world community wants to stop the leader of Country X's illegal activities in a neighboring country. Blackwater and the likes may get involved on the other side.
Or let's say the strong man in Country X (who is a brutal dictator by the way) wants to topple a government in Country R, who else can he better turn to for assasination and other unconventional operations than the likes of Blackwater?
And as long as the money is right, they will find a way to be there. Often if it is too controversial they will create a small company to conduct a single operation before closing it down when the mission is complete, therefore making those involved a bunch of individuals no one knows instead of Blackwater itself.
 
I liked what he said in response to a senator who asked him about being mercenaries: We're Americans, protecting Americans.

So, he didn't answer the question?

What he actually meant was that they are a "paid private army" (mercenaries) protecting Americans.

I don't have any great beef with what they are doing, but when they have to resort to lies to answer question it shows the standard of people that we are dealing with.

That was a really dumb as dogsh1t way to evade the truth.
 
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So, he didn't answer the question?

He was asked if they consider themselves mercenaries and he said No, He doesnt. And I agree with him. He is not a foreigner in service of another foreign country. He's serving his own country... More power to these brave people!

It's hard for westerners to understand how middle-easterners behave.... Thats why I am skeptical of all these reports coming out of Iraq about these contractor shooting civilians on purpose. It's easy for some people in the middle-east to lie or falsify stories. It's a social habit!
 
So, he didn't answer the question?

What he actually meant was that they are a "paid private army" (mercenaries) protecting Americans.

I don't have any great beef with what they are doing, but when they have to resort to lies to answer question it shows the standard of people that we are dealing with.

That was a really dumb as dogsh1t way to evade the truth.

Yes well it seems they went to great lengths to avoid the truth.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/washington/02blackwater.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

October 2, 2007
Report Says Firm Sought to Cover Up Iraq Shootings

By JOHN M. BRODER
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 — Employees of Blackwater USA have engaged in nearly 200 shootings in Iraq since 2005, in a vast majority of cases firing their weapons from moving vehicles without stopping to count the dead or assist the wounded, according to a new report from Congress.
In at least two cases, Blackwater paid victims’ family members who complained, and sought to cover up other episodes, the Congressional report said. It said State Department officials approved the payments in the hope of keeping the shootings quiet. In one case last year, the department helped Blackwater spirit an employee out of Iraq less than 36 hours after the employee, while drunk, killed a bodyguard for one of Iraq’s two vice presidents on Christmas Eve.
The report by the Democratic majority staff of a House committee adds weight to complaints from Iraqi officials, American military officers and Blackwater’s competitors that company guards have taken an aggressive, trigger-happy approach to their work and have repeatedly acted with reckless disregard for Iraqi life.
But the report is also harshly critical of the State Department for exercising virtually no restraint or supervision of the private security company’s 861 employees in Iraq. “There is no evidence in the documents that the committee has reviewed that the State Department sought to restrain Blackwater’s actions, raised concerns about the number of shooting episodes involving Blackwater or the company’s high rate of shooting first, or detained Blackwater contractors for investigation,” the report states.
On Sept. 16, Blackwater employees were involved in a shooting in a Baghdad square that left at least eight Iraqis dead, an episode that remains clouded. The shooting set off outrage among Iraqi officials, who branded them “cold-blooded murder” and demanded that the company be removed from the country.
The State Department is conducting three separate investigations of the shooting, and on Monday the F.B.I. said it was sending a team to Baghdad to compile evidence for possible criminal prosecution.
Neither the State Department nor Blackwater would comment on Monday about the 15-page report, but both said their representatives would address it on Tuesday in testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, whose Democratic staff produced the document. Based on 437 internal Blackwater incident reports as well as internal State Department correspondence, the report said Blackwater’s use of force was “frequent and extensive, resulting in significant casualties and property damage.”
Among those scheduled to testify Tuesday are Erik Prince, a press-shy former Navy Seal who founded Blackwater a decade ago, and several top State Department officials.
The committee report places a significant share of the blame for Blackwater’s record in Iraq on the State Department, which has paid Blackwater more than $832 million for security services in Iraq and elsewhere, under a diplomatic security contract it shares with two other companies, DynCorp International and Triple Canopy.
Blackwater has reported more shootings than the other two companies combined, but it also currently has twice as many employees in Iraq as the other two companies combined.
In the case of the Christmas Eve killing, the report says that an official of the United States Embassy in Iraq suggested paying the slain bodyguard’s family $250,000, but a lower-ranking official said that such a high payment “could cause incidents with people trying to get killed by our guys to financially guarantee their family’s future.” Blackwater ultimately paid the dead man’s family $15,000.
In another fatal shooting cited by the committee, an unidentified State Department official in Baghdad urged Blackwater to pay the victim’s family $5,000. The official wrote, “I hope we can put this unfortunate matter behind us quickly.”
The committee report also cited three other shootings in which Blackwater officials filed misleading reports or otherwise tried to cover up the shootings.
Since mid-2006, Blackwater has been responsible for guarding American diplomats in and around Baghdad, while DynCorp has been responsible for the northern part of the country and Triple Canopy for the south.
State Department officials said last week that Blackwater had run more than 1,800 escort convoys for American diplomats and other senior civilians this year and its employees had discharged their weapons 57 times. Blackwater was involved in 195 instances of gunfire from 2005 until early September, a rate of 1.4 shootings a week, the report says. In 163 of those cases, Blackwater gunmen fired first.
The report also says Blackwater gunmen engaged in offensive operations alongside uniformed American military personnel in violation of their State Department contract, which states that Blackwater guards are to use their weapons only for defensive purposes.
It notes that Blackwater’s contract authorizes its employees to use lethal force only to prevent “imminent and grave danger” to themselves or to the people they are paid to protect. “In practice, however,” the report says, “the vast majority of Blackwater weapons discharges are pre-emptive, with Blackwater forces firing first at a vehicle or suspicious individual prior to receiving any fire.”
The report cites two instances in which Blackwater gunmen engaged in tactical military operations. One was a firefight in Najaf in 2004 during which Blackwater employees set up a machine gun alongside American and Spanish forces. Later that year, a Blackwater helicopter helped an American military squad secure a mosque from which sniper fire had been detected.
Blackwater has dismissed 122 of its employees over the past three years for misuse of weapons, drug or alcohol abuse, lewd conduct or violent behavior, according to the report. It has also terminated workers for insubordination, failure to report incidents or lying about them, and publicly embarrassing the company. One employee was dismissed for showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Senate on Monday gave final approval, 92 to 3, to a defense policy bill that included the establishment of an independent commission to investigate private contractors operating in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill, which must be reconciled with a House version, faces a veto threat because it includes an expansion of federal hate-crimes laws.
James Risen, David Stout and David M. Herszenhorn contributed reporting.
 
Phoenix, and I guess permanent residence fighting in the regular military ranks are mercenaries then because they are technically foreigners?
And mercenary does not mean they are foreign. It is perfectly possible to be a local mercenary.
 
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