Blackwater Guards Tied to Secret Raids by the C.I.A. – NYT — How long till they are ‘assisting’ the CIA on domestic operations?
Private security guards from Blackwater Worldwide participated in some of the C.I.A.’s most sensitive activities — clandestine raids with agency officers against people suspected of being insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and the transporting of detainees, according to former company employees and intelligence officials.
The raids against suspects occurred on an almost nightly basis during the height of the Iraqi insurgency from 2004 to 2006, with Blackwater personnel playing central roles in what company insiders called “snatch and grab” operations, the former employees and current and former intelligence officers said.
Several former Blackwater guards said that their involvement in the operations became so routine that the lines supposedly dividing the Central Intelligence Agency, the military and Blackwater became blurred. Instead of simply providing security for C.I.A. officers, they say, Blackwater personnel at times became partners in missions to capture or kill militants in Iraq and Afghanistan, a practice that raises questions about the use of guns for hire on the battlefield.
[…]
The secret missions illuminate a far deeper relationship between the spy agency and the private security company than government officials had acknowledged. Blackwater’s partnership with the C.I.A. has been enormously profitable for the North Carolina-based company, and became even closer after several top agency officials joined Blackwater.“It became a very brotherly relationship,” said one former top C.I.A. officer. “There was a feeling that Blackwater eventually became an extension of the agency.”
This was a surprise?
This is what I expected. Using proxies offers a level of deniablity and they don’t count as causalities or hostages.
This is a tactic to avoid Pentagon involvement in CIA counter insurgency operations. The Army was never forgiven, or trusted after taking the CIA’s infantry battalion in the early 60’s and renaming it the Green Berets, in an effort to stop what was a remarkably effective counter insurgency operation in Vietnam and Cambodia. A small CIA run battalion, effectively stopped all Vietcong infiltration, containing the war as a series of border skirmishes and failed infiltration missions from the north. It seems, they were too good, for people in Washington.
I work for the CIA.
I launder money for them twice a month when I get my paycheck.
This is totally against the law, National and international.
I am thinking too, this is news? Like these type of operations has never been in place before.
Honestly? This is awesome. The CIA has executive immunity. Blackwater has no such thing. They start domestic operations? Law suits galore, my friends. Law suits galore.
The Warden –
A constantly jerking knee is a sign of serious neurological problems.
Frank,
As long as my knee is continuing to kick you in the groin, I’m ok with it.
Keep this in mind, that the Freedom of Information Act doesn’t apply to private corporations.
Private corporations doing covert operations for the U.S. Government has been going on for quite a while.
#11 I take it you went to the Carl Marx school of Capitalism?
#4 I think your law school needs some new teachers.
#7 I don’t recall Black Water being used inside the United States? Do you have a link suggesting otherwise?
12,
IF the corps dont live by the true meaning of capitalism, then they MUST be controlled.
MOST new corps dont remember the OLD ways.
the only thing they KNOW NOW, is learning how to SAVE/HIDE/CUT money to the point that 90% of a SALE price in the USA is PROFIT..
WALMART is the best company to do ANYTHING commercial. they SHOW’d EVERYONE how they did it. and the OTHER corps got pissed.
I live in Moyock, NC which is the home of Blackwater, so a most of these guys that get bad-mouthed constantly are my neighbors. And while they are some really tough SOBs, they are also a group of really great guys, contrary to how they are painted in the press.
However, not too long ago, the company did a lot of house cleaning and a lot of people were let go. That means there are a lot of disgruntled ex-employees right now, and a lot of what they are saying isn’t truthful. Blackwater is not a bunch of saints or anything, but they are far from the evil organization that they are portrayed as. They are, for the most part, the guys who used to be in the regular military and who were extremely good at their jobs. But, to make more money, they changed over to Blackwater. Now, they train the police and military on how to do their jobs properly.
So, when an “ex-employee” from Blackwater starts to bad mouth the company, it really needs to be taken with a grain of salt.