Blackwater Watch II

At the North Carolina Central University Campus in Durham last week, NC Stop Torture Now and others sponsored an evening lecture by Jeremy Scahill, investigative journalist and authority on Blackwater.

Mr. Scahill spoke for nearly two hours, without consulting notes, and concluded with questions from the audience. Much of the story is undoubtedly now familiar to those of you following the posts of the past weeks but a few of the salient points he made need to be told.

He pointed out that the close ties of for-profit mercenaries contractors to the Bush regime are not only dangerous because of the lack of control that Congress is left with but have a much more insidious and important role in keeping the Republican machine in power. As more and more billions of dollars are siphoned away from the US military and into the coffers of these very right leaning companies and back through the political machine, Republicans are virtually ensuring themselves permanent power.

The long tentacles of Blackwater are far reaching across the country and the world. As evident during the Katrina fiasco, Scahill was in New Orleans where he interviewed the only uniformed individuals present in the middle of the storm’s horrific aftermath, Blackwater men. Nowhere were there FEMA, National Guard or even Red Cross to help those left behind and then left to rot. But Blackwater was not there to bring relief to people trapped on rooftops they were hired to shoot looters, people taking food from stores that had no refrigeration, food that would have spoiled within hours or days. They were there to protect wealthy homeowners and business assets and God help you if your survival instincts brushed up against those assets in the presence of these heavily armed “deputies” as they said the Governor had knighted them.

The thing Mr. Scahill would like to see happen in a Congress with subpoena power and the will to expose the very secret dealings of these companies is similar to the big tobacco company hearings of the 90’s when the CEO’s where hauled in to testify in front of cameras and finally put a face on the liars who had stolen both health and power from those taken in by the addictive power of product and advertising sold shamelessly for decades.

Jeremy Scahill has a great compassion for the victims who really just happened to be in the path of this unfettered and wildly miscarried force unleashed by greed arrogance and I dare say evil bought and paid for by American taxpayers. He also has faith in the power of grassroots mobilization of people to put some things in the light, if not right again.

I encourage you to support NC Stop Torture Now.

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