Blackwater

October 7th marked sixteen years since the start of the US War in Afghanistan – America’s longest war. In an effort to justify the continued and expanded presence of US troops in the country, President Trump is seeking a plan to have US companies extract minerals from resource-rich Afghanistan.

Despite an effort to appear otherwise, the countries of South America do not represent an exception to the military - industrial complex (the relationship between governments and the arms industry that favours the latter and underlies an endless arms race). Although the military – industrial complex does not manifest as brutally in South America as in the United States, the pressure of the war industry on politics is unquestionable.

from World War 4 Report

Private security firm Blackwater violated US arms trafficking regulations when training Colombian military personnel in 2005, a State Department report indicates. The controversial firm, renamed Xe Services LLC in 2009, is to pay $42 million for violating US law, including the unauthorized military training of Colombian soldiers—evidently for private service in Iraq and Afghanistan—in April and May 2005.

A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia, USA. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company.

On the 27th of April twenty-two people were arrested at the Blackwater/Xe compound in Jo Daviess County Illinois as they carried out a nonviolent direct action against a company at the centre of some of the worst violence in Iraq. They were part of a larger group of about 75 people who marched on Blackwater to serve the company with a Notice of Foreclosure for Moral Bankruptcy.

The verdict will be slow in coming. There are several things to be optimistic, shall we say, “hopeful,” about when it comes to confronting the corruption, fraud, waste, and deceit of war profiteers – and, not surprisingly, there are many reasons to doubt that we’ll see any real change after all. I am genuinely torn as to what to expect. If Obama follows through on his positive programs, life will be much more difficult for military contractors.

An US government audit has found the private military company Blackwater has obtained dozens of contracts meant for small businesses. The Inspector General of the Small Business Administration says Blackwater was awarded $110 million in small business contracts despite uncertainty over whether it qualifies as a “small business.” >From 2005 to 2007, Blackwater was awarded thirty contracts intended for companies with revenues under $6.5 million. Blackwater’s revenues exceeded $200 million for each of those years.

Blackwater our war profiteer of the month of June has made war profiteers to be main-stream news more than ever. Mainly because Blackwater personnel killed 11 Iraqis and wounded 14 during what the company said was an attack on a U.S. diplomatic convoy travelling through the Mansour district of Baghdad. Blackwater employees have been involved in at least 195 shooting incidents since 2005.

War profiteers have been highly present in the mainstream media in recent weeks, mainly because of Blackwater and their crimes in Iraq. It is a challenge for our movement to develop effective campaigns against these private military contractors. We know that these private militaries are even more dangerous because of the lack of regulations. WRI thanks Karolina our intern for a few weeks who researched mercenaries and private military contractors and their legal regulations, which can be found on the Wiki.

The following is from their own website, so you can see how they promote themselves!

"Blackwater was founded in 1997 from a clear vision developed from an understanding of the need for innovative, flexible training and operational solutions to support security and peace, and freedom and democracy everywhere.

Our founder is a former U. S. Navy SEAL.

The conference started on Friday 29th of September at the University of St. Thomas, St Paul Minesota, with the screening of the film “Iraq for Sale” directed by Robert Greenwals with the attendance of about 150 people. The film is mostly about “Private Security Firms”, CACI, Titan, Black Water, Etc.

The USA section of Amnesty International focuses in their 2006 annual report on the role of private military contractors. PMCs are one of the most scandalous part of the spectrum of war profiteering and the U.S. government is their main contract provider “the U.S. government is outsourcing key security and military support functions, particular in Iraq and Afghanistan, to private companies whose civilian employees carry out the work.