Thursday, April 23, 2009

Blackwater Worldwide: Another Corporate Victim of Propaganda

I make no bones of my support for the former Blackwater Worldwide or that of the sixty of so private consulting service companies involved in the Middle East over the course of the last six years. The services and expertise that these firms provide is something that our military establishment was incapable of providing in the post-911 environment. Afterall, the military even with its Special Forces elements are not functional in the area of personal security.

In fact, much of the training and expertise that would have been garnered in the military as lessons learned from the problematic issue of Somolia if put in short order into training for the urban conflict were cut during the massive budget reductions to the military under President Bill Clinton. The fact remains the United States was ill-prepared to combat the urban environment with the tradtional force at its disposal following the intial victory in Iraq.

The answer that the military had at its means, as well as that of the installed Iraqi government was private firms that could offer the command and support in order to secure leaders. These services were vital to the implementation of a new government structure as well as the security of our very own government officials on the ground outside the Green Zone, especially if they had to travel the six or so kilometers to the Ministry of Finance or from one Camp to another within the Capital city. Logisticly, the military simply did not have enough expertise nor enough military police on the ground in order to perform such functions and in fact had the military not admitted such there certainly could have been a greater possibility for higher casualties of military forces performing such rolls. If you remember the Army convoy that was ambushed while transporting supplies and was simply unacapable to respond in force to such an attack.

And yet, these private security firms have been under constant attack by those who have been against the Iraq War from the beginning. No one has been more critical and in frankly biased with very selective liberities taken with the facts than Jeremy Scahill. He has been all over MSNBC in particualar peedling his anti- private security agenda and especially targeted Blackwater only after the incident where seventeen civilians were slain by contractors employed by Blackwater because it was politically hot enough to attract attention to his anti-war cohorts on the left and in the liberal media. This barrage of negative attacks, never highlighted the success of Blackwater, Hart or Armour Security on the ground in Iraq has been no stop since the publication of his book. At no time was Scahill ever set up against an individual on Countdown and other shows with the other side of story. The propaganda, much like the attacks on companies like Hlaiburton as "profiteers" has been never ending since 2004 in the same light the left has attack Dominion Resources here in Virginia and now AIG. They do not single out those who may have been guilty of misconduct or inappropriate actions, but tarnish an entire corporate entity for the actions of individuals.

An example of the portrayal following the incident in Iraq resulting of the deaths of civilians from Blackwater helicopters and ground contractors escorting dignitaries or officials by MSNBC and Scahill purposely withheld the context and backdrop of the incident nor the conditions on the ground in the weeks prior nor the failed ambush attempts along the route in the days leading up to the incident. Scahill neglects to speak to the hightened conditions within all security forces after the March 31, 2004 killing of 4 Blackwater contractors escorting cargo in Fallujah that of course was not reported by the liberal media which had a ripple effect throughout the entire private security world. These four contractors were ambushed by grenade attack when caught in traffic and identified, killed and then dragged through the streets and hung upside down by their legs left dangling from the bridge over the Euphrates. Of course this got massive play on Middle Eastern television, but you would have intially had to go to the internet to get the breaking news of the story and not mainstream media in the US. The reason being the last thing that the left wanted at the time was support being generated by the deaths of Amercians (civilians) over in Iraq. What makes it worse is they do not have the journalistic integrity to speak to the event when addressing the actions of contractors on the ground when responding to the situation later. You also have to underatand that the compound housing the Balckwater contractors as well as others had also come under direct attack in Iraq by insurgents and the contractors were informed by the military (US) that no help could be sent to them and they were on their own in the defense of the compound. Ask yourself what would be going through your mind if in such a situation.

Instead, forgetting the thousands of successful missions, convoys protected, airlift services in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as close security for officials on the ground the company Blackwater has been tarnished by the portrayal by left wing extremists as being "rampantly violent", "murderers", "hired mercenaries" and simply "corrupt". They even portray Blackwater as a firm that was formed under the Bush administration to "profit from the escalation in Iraq", when in fact the company Blackwater USA was formed in 1996 during the Clinton years to provide security training to police, sherriff and private security contractors. It was not until 2002 that Blackwater Security Consulting was formed to focus on the post-911 requirements as a division of Blackwater. Instead the portrayal the the enitire company was formed to profit from the War and because of the founders support in contribution to Bush that Blackwater was simply another Haliburton in Iraq simply to profit from an unjust War.

They fail to even make any admission as to any credibility given by those that were protected by their services, nor have they ever attempted to investigate the other side of the story worldwide. The liberal mainstream also determined without any investigation that Blackwater's role in Hurricane Katrina in protecting New Orleans from looting after hundreds of police abandoned their posts of duty. They focused on armed contractors in the streets providing protection and civil service duties as a negative rather than address the fact that they filled a void left behind by those police that abandoned their responsibility to protect and defend.

The weight of the proganda has weighed heavy on Blackwater as it would any private firm as the liberal media has shaped a view of Blackwater that is based solely in political agenda than fact. The power of such propaganda however has resulted in Blackwater to withdraw from the role it was peforming in Iraq and concentrate on other areas of training like it had pre-911. It has even gone as far as to change its name, now known as XE (Zee) in an effort to rebuild its image.

I have found each and every Blackwater operative I have had the pleasure to meet to be of the highest moral and patriotic character and have always found them to be very respectful and focused-based on their mission.

It is shameful what were are experiencing with the determined demise of Corporations based in the United States by the very same people who contend that they will create jobs in this country. I wonder what company will be set in the crosshairs of the liberal media next once the Blackwater's and the AIG's are in the rearview mirror.

5 comments:

The Bulletproof Monk said...

Excellent post!!
I've worked for the predecessor of Blackwater. And you're right. These men are of the most upstanding character.
But that every doubter could walk a mile in their shoes --and know the stress and danger of the job firsthand...methinks they would be converted in a single 4 hour shift.

Thanks for shining light on this.

Anonymous said...

Finally someone gets it and has the balls to say it. As a law enforcement officer Blackwater provides essential training in urban and close quarter protocals that are leaps and bounds above any other. Nobody wants to talk about how it was the government that approached private security firms and not the other way around when they call them profiteers and the like. You are dead on that our military in 2001 had no capability to deal with protection services and these firms were absolutely needed to perform such function.

All one must do is watch some of the you tube videos by simply searcghing Blackwater to see the day in the life experiences of contractors. Sure they are paid about $600 a day, but pay well deserved in my book.

Stanley said...

That guy is a jackass.

He used the word "invade" because Blackwater wanted to set up operations in Illinois for a site for training. "Invade" was the word used on MSNBC, just like there take on Iraq. These people are really f**ked in the brains.

How many jobs could Blackwater have brought to Illinois? Given Illinois now is one of the worst states to reside due to taxes maybe Blackwater should take there shop to Indiana where they appreciate private business.

Jonathan said...

Its funny how the pundits in the media quickly change the subject when posed the question regarding the failure in Somolia under Clinton.

With such a failure did we hold the entire Army Rangers ranks accountable for the failure or the politicians who failed to give them what they needed on the ground.

This was the lesson Bush used when providing a macro approach and providing any and all means, both federal and private like Blackwater to making sure that all bases were covered. The lesson; Rangers do not perform the role that they were asked in Somolia anymore than Marines and Rangers should be providing security for dignitaries or Iraqi government officials. Afterall, in our country is that not the role of the Secret Service and not the military?

Blackwater and others have performed a vital role in Iraq and have suffered many casualties in doing so as well. But since the left felt inclined to disapprove of the War they made Blackwater a target to exploit for their own agenda.

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