Warning from Ron Paul and Bush's possible use of "foreign mercenaries to enforce martial law"
First is a excerpt from Ron Paul,then a Blackwater USA
promotion from there web sight and then two articles
on this outfit.
I don't think Bush will need the National Guard for
martial law here with the chance of guard members not
going along with it so instead the president will hire
private mercenaries to do it instead,being there
loyalty is to the dollar and Bush will be holding the
purse string so to speak.
There is alot of reading here,I thought I would warn
you.
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Republican Congressman Ron Paul recently appeared on
nationally syndicated radio and again reiterated his
deep concern that foreign troops are mobilizing
outside and inside America to be used as assets in a
martial law takeover by the Bush administration.
"It's a horrible precedent and it's all part of the
NAFTA scheme and globalization and world government,"
Paul told the Alex Jones Show.
"Obviously they shouldn't be permitted. What I'd like
to see is that we don't have our troops in foreign
countries and if we needed a national guard that they
were back here at home, that's the bigger problem.
Then if there were foreign troops on our soil maybe
our state officials could deal with that with their
own national guard."
Paul elaborated on his fear that after the next crisis
the government, in line with their own public
statements, will use military assets to police
Americans on a regular basis.
"They're putting their back up against the wall and
saying, if need be we're going to have martial law."
"We've heard all these statements by the President, by
the administration, why they need more militarism at
the federal government to keep people in check so
nobody knows how this will turn out but I do know that
the only thing we can do about it is try to alert the
American people to what's going on so they can be
prepared."
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Blackwater Down
By Jeremy Scahill
The Nation
10 October 2005 issue
The men from Blackwater USA arrived in New Orleans
right after Katrina hit. The company known for its
private security work guarding senior US diplomats in
Iraq beat the federal government and most aid
organizations to the scene in another devastated Gulf.
About 150 heavily armed Blackwater troops dressed in
full battle gear spread out into the chaos of New
Orleans. Officially, the company boasted of its forces
"join[ing] the hurricane relief effort." But its men
on the ground told a different story.
Some patrolled the streets in SUVs with tinted
windows and the Blackwater logo splashed on the back;
others sped around the French Quarter in an unmarked
car with no license plates. They congregated on the
corner of St. James and Bourbon in front of a bar
called 711, where Blackwater was establishing a
makeshift headquarters. From the balcony above the
bar, several Blackwater guys cleared out what had
apparently been someone's apartment. They threw
mattresses, clothes, shoes and other household items
from the balcony to the street below. They draped an
American flag from the balcony's railing. More than a
dozen troops from the 82nd Airborne Division stood in
formation on the street watching the action.
Armed men shuffled in and out of the building as a
handful told stories of their past experiences in
Iraq. "I worked the security detail of both Bremer and
Negroponte," said one of the Blackwater guys,
referring to the former head of the US occupation, L.
Paul Bremer, and former US Ambassador to Iraq John
Negroponte. Another complained, while talking on his
cell phone, that he was getting only $350 a day plus
his per diem. "When they told me New Orleans, I said,
'What country is that in?'" he said. He wore his
company ID around his neck in a case with the phrase
Operation Iraqi Freedom printed on it.
In an hourlong conversation I had with four
Blackwater men, they characterized their work in New
Orleans as "securing neighborhoods" and "confronting
criminals." They all carried automatic assault weapons
and had guns strapped to their legs. Their flak
jackets were covered with pouches for extra
ammunition.
When asked what authority they were operating
under, one guy said, "We're on contract with the
Department of Homeland Security." Then, pointing to
one of his comrades, he said, "He was even deputized
by the governor of the state of Louisiana. We can make
arrests and use lethal force if we deem it necessary."
The man then held up the gold Louisiana law
enforcement badge he wore around his neck. Blackwater
spokesperson Anne Duke also said the company has a
letter from Louisiana officials authorizing its forces
to carry loaded weapons.
"This vigilantism demonstrates the utter breakdown
of the government," says Michael Ratner, president of
the Center for Constitutional Rights. "These private
security forces have behaved brutally, with impunity,
in Iraq. To have them now on the streets of New
Orleans is frightening and possibly illegal."
Blackwater is not alone. As business leaders and
government officials talk openly of changing the
demographics of what was one of the most culturally
vibrant of America's cities, mercenaries from
companies like DynCorp, Intercon, American Security
Group, Blackhawk, Wackenhut and an Israeli company
called Instinctive Shooting International (ISI) are
fanning out to guard private businesses and homes, as
well as government projects and institutions. Within
two weeks of the hurricane, the number of private
security companies registered in Louisiana jumped from
185 to 235. Some, like Blackwater, are under federal
contract. Others have been hired by the wealthy elite,
like F. Patrick Quinn III, who brought in private
security to guard his $3 million private estate and
his luxury hotels, which are under consideration for a
lucrative federal contract to house FEMA workers.
A possibly deadly incident involving Quinn's hired
guns underscores the dangers of private forces
policing American streets. On his second night in New
Orleans, Quinn's security chief, Michael Montgomery,
who said he worked for an Alabama company called
Bodyguard and Tactical Security (BATS), was with a
heavily armed security detail en route to pick up one
of Quinn's associates and escort him through the
chaotic city. Montgomery told me they came under fire
from "black gangbangers" on an overpass near the poor
Ninth Ward neighborhood. "At the time, I was on the
phone with my business partner," he recalls. "I
dropped the phone and returned fire."
Montgomery says he and his men were armed with
AR-15s and Glocks and that they unleashed a barrage of
bullets in the general direction of the alleged
shooters on the overpass. "After that, all I heard was
moaning and screaming, and the shooting stopped. That
was it. Enough said."
Then, Montgomery says, "the Army showed up,
yelling at us and thinking we were the enemy. We
explained to them that we were security. I told them
what had happened and they didn't even care. They just
left." Five minutes later, Montgomery says, Louisiana
state troopers arrived on the scene, inquired about
the incident and then asked him for directions on "how
they could get out of the city." Montgomery says that
no one ever asked him for any details of the incident
and no report was ever made. "One thing about
security," Montgomery says, "is that we all coordinate
with each other-one family." That co-ordination
doesn't include the offices of the Secretaries of
State in Louisiana and Alabama, which have no record
of a BATS company.
A few miles away from the French Quarter, another
wealthy New Orleans businessman, James Reiss, who
serves in Mayor Ray Nagin's administration as chairman
of the city's Regional Transit Authority, brought in
some heavy guns to guard the elite gated community of
Audubon Place: Israeli mercenaries dressed in black
and armed with M-16s. Two Israelis patrolling the
gates outside Audubon told me they had served as
professional soldiers in the Israeli military, and one
boasted of having participated in the invasion of
Lebanon. "We have been fighting the Palestinians all
day, every day, our whole lives," one of them tells
me. "Here in New Orleans, we are not guarding from
terrorists." Then, tapping on his machine gun, he
says, "Most Americans, when they see these things,
that's enough to scare them."
The men work for ISI, which describes its
employees as "veterans of the Israeli special task
forces from the following Israeli government bodies:
Israel Defense Force (IDF), Israel National Police
Counter Terrorism units, Instructors of Israel
National Police Counter Terrorism units, General
Security Service (GSS or 'Shin Beit'), Other
restricted intelligence agencies." The company was
formed in 1993. Its website profile says: "Our
up-to-date services meet the challenging needs for
Homeland Security preparedness and overseas combat
procedures and readiness. ISI is currently an approved
vendor by the US Government to supply Homeland
Security services."
Unlike ISI or BATS, Blackwater is operating under
a federal contract to provide 164 armed guards for
FEMA reconstruction projects in Louisiana. That
contract was announced just days after Homeland
Security Department spokesperson Russ Knocke told the
Washington Post he knew of no federal plans to hire
Blackwater or other private security firms. "We
believe we've got the right mix of personnel in law
enforcement for the federal government to meet the
demands of public safety," he said. Before the
contract was announced, the Blackwater men told me,
they were already on contract with DHS and that they
were sleeping in camps organized by the federal
agency.
One might ask, given the enormous presence in New
Orleans of National Guard, US Army, US Border Patrol,
local police from around the country and practically
every other government agency with badges, why private
security companies are needed, particularly to guard
federal projects. "It strikes me...that that may not
be the best use of money," said Illinois Senator
Barack Obama.
Blackwater's success in procuring federal
contracts could well be explained by major-league
contributions and family connections to the GOP.
According to election records, Blackwater's CEO and
co-founder, billionaire Erik Prince, has given tens of
thousands to Republicans, including more than $80,000
to the Republican National Committee the month before
Bush's victory in 2000. This past June, he gave $2,100
to Senator Rick Santorum's re-election campaign. He
has also given to House majority leader Tom DeLay and
a slew of other Republican candidates, including
Bush/Cheney in 2004. As a young man, Prince interned
with President George H.W. Bush, though he complained
at the time that he "saw a lot of things I didn't
agree with-homosexual groups being invited in, the
budget agreement, the Clean Air Act, those kind of
bills. I think the Administration has been indifferent
to a lot of conservative concerns."
Prince, a staunch right-wing Christian, comes from
a powerful Michigan Republican family, and his father,
Edgar, was a close friend of former Republican
presidential candidate and antichoice leader Gary
Bauer. In 1988 the elder Prince helped Bauer start the
Family Research Council. Erik Prince's sister, Betsy,
once chaired the Michigan Republican Party and is
married to Dick DeVos, whose father, billionaire
Richard DeVos, is co-founder of the major Republican
benefactor Amway. Dick DeVos is also a big-time
contributor to the Republican Party and will likely be
the GOP candidate for Michigan governor in 2006.
Another Blackwater founder, president Gary Jackson, is
also a major contributor to Republican campaigns.
After the killing of four Blackwater mercenaries
in Falluja in March 2004, Erik Prince hired the
Alexander Strategy Group, a PR firm with close ties to
GOPers like DeLay. By mid-November the company was
reporting 600 percent growth. In February 2005 the
company hired Ambassador Cofer Black, former
coordinator for counterterrorism at the State
Department and former director of the CIA's
Counterterrorism Center, as vice chairman. Just as the
hurricane was hitting, Blackwater's parent company,
the Prince Group, named Joseph Schmitz, who had just
resigned as the Pentagon's Inspector General, as the
group's chief operating officer and general counsel.
While juicing up the firm's political connections,
Prince has been advocating greater use of private
security in international operations, arguing at a
symposium at the National Defense Industrial
Association earlier this year that firms like his are
more efficient than the military. In May Blackwater's
Jackson testified before Congress in an effort to gain
lucrative Homeland Security contracts to train 2,000
new Border Patrol agents, saying Blackwater
understands "the value to the government of one-stop
shopping." With President Bush using the Katrina
disaster to try to repeal Posse Comitatus (the ban on
using US troops in domestic law enforcement) and
Blackwater and other security firms clearly initiating
a push to install their paramilitaries on US soil, the
war is coming home in yet another ominous way. As one
Blackwater mercenary said, "This is a trend. You're
going to see a lot more guys like us in these
situations."
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Mercenaries 'R' Us
By Bill Berkowitz, AlterNet. Posted March 24, 2004.
There are currently thousands of mercenaries serving
in Iraq. Their high salaries and shorter terms of
employment will inevitably make a serious dent on the
military's budget -- and soldiers' morale.
With the casualty toll ticking ever upward and troops
stretched thin on the ground, the Bush administration
is looking to mercenaries to help control Iraq. These
soldiers-for-hire are veterans of some of the most
repressive military forces in the world, including
that of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet
and South Africa's apartheid regime.
In February, Blackwater USA, a North Carolina-based
Pentagon contractor, began hiring former combat
personnel in Chile, offering them up to $4,000 a month
to guard oil wells in Iraq. The company flew the first
batch of 60 former commandos to a training camp in
North Carolina. These recruits will eventually wind up
in Iraq where they will spend six months to a year.
"We scour the ends of the earth to find professionals
-- the Chilean commandos are very, very professional
and they fit within the Blackwater system," Gary
Jackson, the president of Blackwater USA, told the
Guardian.
While Blackwater USA is not nearly as well known as
Halliburton or Bechtel -- two mega-corporations making
a killing off the reconstruction of Iraq -- it
nevertheless is doing quite well financially thanks to
the White House's war on terror. The company
specializes in firearm, tactics and security training
and in October 2003, according to Mother Jones
magazine, the company won a $35.7 million contract to
train more than 10,000 sailors from Virginia, Texas,
and California each year in 'force protection.'
Business has been booming for Blackwater, which now
owns, as its press release boasts, "the largest
privately-owned firearms training facility in the
nation." Jackson told the Guardian, "We have grown 300
percent over each of the past three years and we are
small compared to the big ones. We have a very small
niche market, we work towards putting out the cream of
the crop, the best."
The practice of using mercenaries to fight wars is
hardly new, but it is becoming increasingly popular in
recent years. During the first Gulf War, one out of
every 50 soldiers on the battlefield was a mercenary.
The number had climbed up to one in ten during the
Bosnian conflict. Currently there are thousands of
Bosnian, Filipino and American soldiers under contract
with private companies serving in Iraq. Their duties
range from airport security to protecting Paul Bremer,
the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
Apart from Chile, the other popular source for
military recruits is South Africa. The United Nations
recently reported that South Africa "is already among
the top three suppliers of personnel for private
military companies, along with the UK and the US."
There are more than 1,500 South Africans in Iraq
today, most of whom are former members of the South
African Defense Force and South African Police.
According to the Cape Times, among the South African
companies under contract with the Pentagon are
Meteoric Tactical Solutions, which "is providing
protection and is also training new Iraqi police and
security units," and Erinys, a joint South
African-British company, which "has received a
multimillion-dollar contract to protect Iraq's oil
industry," the Cape Times reported.
The recruitment of its citizens, however, isn't making
either the Chilean or the South African governments
happy. The Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance
Act prohibits South African citizens from direct
participation as a combatant in armed conflict for
private gain. Michelle Bachelet, Chile's defense
minister, has ordered an investigation into whether
such recruitment is legal under Chilean laws. Bachelet
also was troubled by stories that soldiers on active
duty are leaving the company to sign up as
mercenaries.
It is also only a matter of time before U.S. soldiers
grow unhappy with the presence of mercenaries in their
midst. The high salaries and shorter terms of
employment offered to mercenaries will inevitably make
a serious dent on the military's budget. As
Blackwater's Jackson acknowledged in the Guardian, "If
they are going to outsource tasks that were once held
by active-duty military and are now using private
contractors, those guys [on active duty] are looking
and asking, 'Where is the money?'"
Raenette Taljaard, a member of the South African
Parliament, describes the ubiquitous reach of this
"booming cottage industry" of private security
companies:
"In addition to becoming an integral part of the
machinery of war, they are emerging as cogs in the
infrastructure of peace. US-allied military officials
and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan are quickly
becoming familiar with the 'brand services' provided
by companies."
In the era of globalization, war has become just
another industry to be outsourced.
Doug Haddix
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