January 2010
15 posts
UPDATE on Blackwater, Robert Gates and Pakistan →
Read the full story at The Nation
Defense Secretary Robert Gates Confirms Blackwater...
By Jeremy Scahill
In an interview with the Pakistani TV station Express TV, Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed that the private security firms Blackwater and DynCorp are operating inside Pakistan. “They’re operating as individual companies here in Pakistan,” Gates said, according to a DoD transcript of the interview. “There are rules concerning the contracting...
WatchMERCY-NARY: My appearance January 21 on The Rachel Maddow Show, discussing how US mercenary companies are looking to cash in on the earthquake in Haiti.
Blackwater Wants to Surge its Armed Force in...
A newly released State Department audit of Blackwater praises the firm’s work as the US government weighs expanding Blackwater’s operations in Afghanistan.
By Jeremy Scahill
A just-released US State Department Inspector General’s report [PDF] on Blackwater’s work in Afghanistan reveals that Blackwater is proposing increasing its private armed forces in Afghanistan,...
US Security Company Offers to Perform "High Threat...
Here we go: New Orleans 2.0
By Jeremy Scahill
We saw this type of Iraq-style disaster profiteering in New Orleans and you can expect to see a lot more of this in Haiti over the coming days, weeks and months. Private security companies are seeing big dollar signs in Haiti thanks in no small part to the media hype about “looters.” After Katrina, the number of private security companies...
Follow Democracy Now!'s on-the-ground Reports from...
For those of you on Twitter, you can follow Amy Goodman and Sharif Abdel Kouddous of Democracy Now! as they cover the disaster in Haiti via the following links:
http://twitter.com/sharifkouddous
and
http://twitter.com/democracy_now
US "Security" Companies Offer "Services" in Haiti
By Jeremy Scahill
The Orwellian-named mercenary trade group, the International Peace Operations Association, didn’t waste much time in offering the “services” of its member companies to swoop down on Haiti for some old fashioned humanitarian assistance disaster profiteering. Within hours of the massive earthquake in Haiti, the IPOA created a special web page for prospective...
Schakowsky Prepares Legislation to Ban Blackwater
Schakowsky says Blackwater has “severely damaged the credibility and security of our military and harmed our relationship with other governments”
By Jeremy Scahill
As multiple scandals involving Blackwater continue to emerge almost daily, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is preparing to introduce legislation aimed at ending...
UPDATED: Blackwater and The Hurt Locker →
By Jeremy Scahill
One of the stars of the widely acclaimed Iraq war film The Hurt Locker has claimed that the filmmakers hired the mercenary firm Blackwater while shooting the film in the Middle East, including in Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan.
“We had these Blackwater guys that were working with us in the Middle East and they taught us like tactical manuervers and stuff—how...
WatchVideo of my January 7 interview on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, discussing Blackwater, the CIA and the December 30 Khost bombing in Afghanistan.
Two Blackwater Guards Arrested by FBI on Murder...
They are charged with killing two Afghan civilians in May 2009
By Jeremy Scahill
Two former Blackwater operatives were arrested by US federal agents on murder charges, stemming from their alleged involvement in the shooting deaths of two Afghan civilians in Kabul in May. They have been identified as Justin Cannon, 27, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Christopher Drotleff, 29, of Virginia Beach,...
Blackwater Settles Massacre Lawsuit by Paying...
Blackwater says it is “pleased” with the outcome.
By Jeremy Scahill
Two sources with inside knowledge of Blackwater’s settlement with Iraqi victims of a string of shootings, including the Nisour Square massacre, have confirmed to me that Blackwater is paying $100,000 for each of the Iraqis killed by its forces and between $20-30,000 to each Iraqi wounded. One source said it was...
Germany Launches Probe Into Blackwater/CIA...
“Imagine if [German Intelligence] were to carry out a hit job via a front company, say in New Orleans,” says a German lawmaker. “It would be a shocking occurrence”
By Jeremy Scahill
German prosecutors have launched a preliminary investigation into allegations that a Blackwater-led CIA team conducted a clandestine operation in Hamburg, Germany after 9/11 ultimately...
Blackwater and the Khost Bombing: Is the CIA... →
By Jeremy Scahill
A leading member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has told The Nation that she will launch an investigation into why two Blackwater contractors were among the dead in the December 30 suicide bombing at the CIA station at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan. “The Intelligence Committees and the public were led to believe that the...
Sen. McCain Calls on Justice Dept. to Appeal...
By Jeremy Scahill
During a visit to Iraq, Republican Senator John McCain called on the US Justice Department to appeal the dismissal of all charges against the five Blackwater operatives accused of being the shooters at the Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad in 2007.
“We hope and believe that the ruling will be appealed,” McCain said while seated next to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al...