Has Blackwater USA become the New and Improved SS???

gue_barium wrote:

Blackwater, in concert with whichever corporation they have contracted out to.

edit: And I have to disagree with you that the general population of Iraqi's don't know the difference between the mercenaries and the government armies.

AMY GOODMAN: Jeremy, can you explain Erik Prince's ties to the Republican Party?

JEREMY SCAHILL: Well, it’s interesting, because the Republicans on the committee, not just during this hearing, but also in the February hearing when Blackwater’s lawyer testified, tried to sort of say that this was a smear campaign against Blackwater, because some of the company's executives are close to the Republican Party. And they’ve attempted to say that Blackwater is a nonpartisan operation. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, comes from a powerhouse conservative Republican family in Michigan. His father was a major bankroller, not only of the Republican Revolution of 1994, but also a major funder of several of the key groups that make up the core of the radical religious right. His dad gave the seed money to Gary Bauer to start the Family Research Council. Erik Prince was an early intern in the first team of interns that Gary Bauer took on. Gary Bauer, also a signer of the Project for a New American Century, the neoconservative agenda adopted by the White House. Also, they were very close to James Dobson and his Focus on the Family prayer warrior network.

Erik Prince himself has given several hundred thousand dollars to Republican campaign causes, including nearly $200,000 to the Republican National Committee. He also has continued his family tradition of bankrolling radical rightwing religious groups. Erik Prince also has a long history of being involved with the Republican Party. He was an early intern at George H.W. Bush’s White House. And that’s just talking about Erik Prince.

You can go down the line of other Blackwater executives that are not only connected to the Republican Party and the conservative establishment in this country, but also to the current Bush administration, people like J. Cofer Black, the former head of Counterterrorism at the CIA; Joseph Schmitz, the former Inspector General at the Pentagon. The original lawyer for the company dealing with that Fallujah lawsuit we talked about was none other than Fred Fielding, who’s now Bush’s White House counsel. More recently, their lawyer has been Ken Starr.

In fact, Erik Prince has actually given money to Green Party candidates in an attempt to defeat Democratic candidates in elections against Republicans. So, very clearly, Erik Prince is an ideological foot soldier, not only for the administration, but for the Republican Party in general.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, let's go to this issue of Erik Prince’s ties to the Republican Party, which came up only once in Tuesday’s hearing during questioning by California Republican Darrell Issa.

REP. DARRELL ISSA: Let's just go to one area that I think hasn’t been discussed, and others might not discuss it. Is your sister's name Betsy DeVos?

ERIK PRINCE: DeVos.

REP. DARRELL ISSA: Yes. Is that your sister?

ERIK PRINCE: Yes, it is.

REP. DARRELL ISSA: And is she -- was she a former Michigan Republican Party chairwoman?

ERIK PRINCE: Yes, she was.

REP. DARRELL ISSA: And was she a Pioneer for Bush?

ERIK PRINCE: I don’t know. Could be.

REP. DARRELL ISSA: Was she a large contributor to President Bush?

ERIK PRINCE: They probably were.

REP. DARRELL ISSA: And raised a lot of money for President Bush?

ERIK PRINCE: Could easily be.

REP. DARRELL ISSA: Went to the Republican conventions in 2000 and 2004?

ERIK PRINCE: I would imagine they did, yes.

REP. DARRELL ISSA: Isn’t it true that your family, at least that part of the family, are very well-known Republicans?

ERIK PRINCE: Yes.

REP. DARRELL ISSA: Wouldn’t it be fair to say that your company is easily identified as a Republican-leaning company and, in fact, the Amway Company somewhat so because of family members there? You don’t have to speculate overly, but isn't that generally something you understand?

ERIK PRINCE: Blackwater is not a partisan company. We haven’t done any -- you know, we execute the mission given us, whether it’s training Navy sailors or protecting State Department personnel. Yes, I have given individual political contributions. I’ve done that since college, and I did it when I was an active-duty member of the Armed Services, and I’ll probably continue doing that forward. I don’t give that -- I didn’t give up that right when I became a defense contractor.

REP. DARRELL ISSA: Right. OK, Mr. Chairman --

REP. HENRY WAXMAN: Gentleman’s time is expired.

REP. DARRELL ISSA: Just to finish the thought, like we did on the other side of the aisle, I think you're exactly right, that in fact, well, being identified as partisan Republican, in fact, your company appears to have done what all companies do, which is, in fact, operate to do the job they're doing in a nonpartisan way. And I would hope that this committee and the public takes note that labeling some company as Republican-oriented because of family members is inappropriate, and I would hope that we not do it again. And I yield back.