Sensationalism??  A few bad apples??  Sounds like a tough job for anyone, but improvements can always be made.  What about finding ways to fix the problems and moving on?  This is a difficult situation and needs to be addressed system wide.

Abu Ghrabe wasn't an 'incident'. It was a half dozen troops without supervision who got out of control and were punished.  The shooting inciden by Blackwater may or may not be the same thing but, until I see all the facts, I'm not jumping to conclusions because some media hack tells me something is so.  They have a bias and a vested interest in controversy for promoting their business. Far too much confidence is put into media reporting than is justified by the results.

I have long imagined that the tatooed, gung-ho, "all-American" types who sign up for this cowboy type of work are big NRA-supporting sociopaths, largely from the south, who - like George W. - believe they are the hottest thing since sliced bread and are out for the big paychecks, regardless of who needs to die or be beaten senseless for their amusement. It's like hunting season back home for them. What a shame.

The Iraqi puppet government is so weak it has no control over U.S. serial killers on its own soil. We complain when Iran causes casualties to our soldiers, but when our mercenary forces callously kill innocent Iraqi civilians, including infants, Americans shrug it off. Clearly Americans have determined that the life of an Iraqi is worth less than a life of a New Yorker, that's why we made them our human shields in the fight against al-Qaida.

It is my understanding that the incident that initiated the action taken by Blackwater was the detonation of a White Phosphorous (WP) IED aimed at the convoy.  Small arms fire was then directed at the convoy.  Fire was returned by Blackwater at the vicinity of the incoming fire, which came from a crowd of people.  One of the favorite tactics of the insurgency is the moving suicide car bomb driven into a convoy.  This statement being made, the family in the car that was killed -   If the ambush was initiated, small arms fire was taken and this families car drove within the "red zone" of protection of the convoy, then (and I hate to say it) the family, whose loss was tragic, needs to understand that if they had just stopped, this wouldnt have happened.  But we cant take that back now can we.  

I'm wondering how many of these people killed in the incident were killed by the WP explosion - those things are nasty nasty.  They never stop burning.  How many autopsies were performed to see if a 5.56mm or a 7.62mm was the ammo that killed the people?  Its all the difference in the world as Blackwater uses 5.56mm and "Ali Baba" uses 7.62mm.  Its another favorite tactic of the insurgents to fire at Americans, run into a house, kill the family in an effort to make it look like the Americans did it.  

But with Muslim burial routine(that Ive witnessed and not being an expert on Muslim culture), most families do not allow an autopsy and the body is buried within 24-48 hours of death.  

I'm no fan of Blackwater, I'm absolutely neutral about them.  What I cannot stand though is the vilianization of anything that is American just because someone got killed.  Do we actually know that Blackwater did these killings?  It wouldnt surprise me at all to find that half of those folks were killed by the insurgents WP explosion, some were killed by the insurgents themselves (they have horrible fire discipline called the "spray and pray they hit something")  and I will not disallow the fact that Blackwater may have accounted for a few of the deaths.  But I know how these guys at Blackwater are trained.  They practice a fire method called "double tap" where you must first identify the target as a threat, then you deliver two shots - one to the chest, one to the head.  There isnt this constant string of fire.  Constant fire is counter productive.  You run out of ammo REAL fast and you rarely hit anything youre aiming at after the third round is fired.

I need to wrap this up  I just think that without an autopsy to determine what/who killed these 11 people, that the unsubstantiated baloney about the mad dog tactics of the security contractors need to stop.  Other factors that maybe considered when talking about the contractors is:  Have they lost any of their charges (people they protect) to the insurgents? IF not,then they are effective and need to be kept in place, if they have - then lets see how and why they failed to protect and re-evaluate their contracts.  

Why do gun-toting sociopaths have to be from the south or like George W.?? And what does hunting have to do with murder?
Anyways, if you believe what you're told by the news media, the very best that can happen is that you're woefully underinformed. I long for the days when 'Independently Verifiable' meant something.

And while I lean towards liberal viewpoints on alot of things, being liberal doesn't mean spouting a lot of crap with little or no actual data to back it up, so cut it out.

In my exposure to them, the BW folks are trained professionals, held to a State Department training standard, and none of them seem to be the cowboy type. And if having a tattoo is a job descriptor, why aren't many folks in their late teens and early 20's deployed? Oh yeah, they are too busy protesting and getting another piercing.

And since BW seems to be the biggest PSD there, other PSDs may do things for which BW is blamed, since Blackwater has become the genreric term for any Western-appearing PSD team in Iraq.

I am supprised at this. that until now they did not relize that Black water is doing a lot bad things in Iraq. I happened to watch a video on You tube about Black water agent spray shooting indiscrimntley at Iraq's car as they are driving in the street. People were being killed and injured and to add insult to injury they were laughig about the whole thing.

Let us examine the difference in pay for these "contractors" ?  Do non-officers earn anything near it ?  Do most officers earn anything near it ? The "cowboys" in this conversation is the Bush Administration.  When you do not even bother building a coalition of nations to invade Iraq, see what happens ? Now we have State and Defense "duking" it out to accept blame ?

In its zeal to privatize our military - the Pentagon has expended its use of contracted mercenaries like Blackwater. It is the Pentagon who gived these hired killers free-acces to the streets of an occupied land with little or no oversight. This is a concious decision meant to allow them to deflect responsibility for the deaths of thousands of innocent people. Blackwater is a for-profit killing machine meant to instill fear and chaos and diversion in Iraq while the Iraqis' oil resources are being shipped out the backdoor. I am ashamed of our country to allow this atrocity to continue.

Why are there so many blackwater troops in Iraq? There are more of their troops than our military. If they are their only to protect our embassy employees, why so many? What does it do to our military's morale to have them paid so much more? Why are blackwater troops training on US soil all over our country? Are they preparing for round up of US citizens under pretense of bird flu? I'd like Congress to find out the answers to these troubling questions.

Blackwater = WAR PROFITEERING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kyle, you seem to know a lot about Blackwater...Employee?...Former Employee?

The facts here are that our own US Military officials are denouncing Blackwater in a way that has never been seen before.  They are not denouncing ALL Defense Contractors, just Blackwater.

As a company, they have been paid nearly a BILLION DOLLARS since 2004.  They have amnesty in any action they take due to the sweet little deal that their buddies in the White House arranged for them back in 2003.  

If their intentions are legitimate, and they are truly trying to help the "war" effort, then they should be more than willing to operate with the same rules of engagement as our own brave US Military Forces!  If a US Serviceman were in this same position, he would be ridiculed publicly and tried in a military courtroom.

This debacle is showing it's teeth right now.  Greed cannot see the color red.  Blood will continue to spill as long as we allow these mercenary companies to earn BILLIONS of dollars as we secure our "Interests" in the region.

And in response to Fee;

Abu Ghraib was not "half dozen troops without supervision".  It was a half dozen troops with supervision from the highest of levels, the Secretary of Defense.  Have you not seen the memo signed by the devil himself, The Doninator, Donald Rumsfeld?  Those half dozen troops were encouraged to do what they did, and ended up becoming the monster that lives within their boss!

Everything, all of this, the whole deal, is all about the almighty (well, maybe not almighty anymore, Thanks Dubya) Do$$ar!

Blackwater has carte blanche to do as it pleases in Iraq with zero accountability to either the U.S. or Iraq governments. And the pay is great. Nice work if you can get it.

" Abu Ghrabe wasn't an 'incident'. It was a half dozen troops without supervision who got out of control and were punished. "


   I'm sorry, but you are completely incorrect.   Extensive photographic, video, documentary, and eye-witness accounts clearly indicate that the soldiers at abu Ghraib were under supervision and were acting under orders, carrying out exactly the same sort of actions that soldiers acting on orders performed in other parts of the world.  I know it's hard for some people to accept that our country deliberately did this, but the sooner people wrap their brain around the facts, the sooner we can fix the problem.


"the unsubstantiated baloney about the mad dog tactics of the security contractors need to stop."


  Blackwater's negative impact in Iraq is very well substantiated, including video.  One of the few things that everyone in Iraq agrees on, from US military to Iraqi civilians to Iraqi insurgents, is that these guys are a part of the problem. While they are not the biggest problem we have in that country, they are definitely a problem and a negative for us.  The sad thing is that our military has been so hobbled by privatization and out-sourcing that it is impossible to remove these unaccountable mercenaries from the situation.  

Once again the media jumps to conclusions and begins a campaign of hesteria.  Now MSNBC is printing that Blackwater did shoot 12 civilians.  The words alleged or reported are not even used.  The media has its biased views and the will only report the facts that support their views.  What is their suggestion to deal with suicide car bombers?  I haven't heard of one.  Why don't they report that the terrorist will attack from within a group of civilians- an established fact.  My god, if water bottles are excessive, what do they want used, nerf footballs.  The state dept. PSD details are the most monitored details in the whole country.  Give me and those brave contractors (mostly former soldiers and still very patriotic) a break and establish the facts before making wild accusations.  TZerrible reporting has hurt our war efforts more than Abu Gharib!... and thanks Kyle for your reasonable comments.

I have seen pictures of Blackwater in Iraq and they act like colonial overlords who must control the'Natives'.It was this way in the days of the British Empire.

We have Blackwater because the US govt. is too fearful to reinstate the draft. They think they can hire a civillian army but all they get are the mercenary crazies that are attracted to that work.

We cannot win real wars with technology.
We must have a very large army. We are loosing in Iraq because there aren't nearly enough soldiers! Had we a million men in Iraq in the first few months after the fall of Bagdad, it would be long over now.
All we are doing is showing crazies like Amadinijad that we are too soft from the good life to fight for long or in real numbers.
The answers are ones no politician wants. We need to re-institute the draft. We need to make military service a universal requirement for all able young men and women. We need to have political parties that are more concerned with the needs of the nation than with how to sieze power. Clearly our whole Iraq experience is a glass held up to show us how far the US has strayed from that magnificent generation that fought and WON WWII.

Black water has a black eye because someone let the cat out of the bag that they are not accountable to any form of control. (except their own.) They are reportedly operating without consequence to bad behavior and they are capable of damaging families in the U.S. by getting their sons killed.  The media reports lack of training and lack of armor as well as lack of discipline.  Hmm, any Black water bubbas want to step up to the plate and talk intelligently or do we just get the public relations dump about "our condolences to the families and the incident is under investigation blah blah blah?

... What I cannot stand though is the vilianization of anything that is American...

Any half-wit can see that The Main Stream Media in AMERICA has graduated from "The Fourth Estate" to "The Fifth Column".

Kyle of San Anotnio [sic] starts off with "It is my understanding..." and then repeats verbatim the lies Blackwater killers told to cover up their war crimes. Get this through your thick skull: Blackwater is lying, just like your Texas (born in connecticut) buddy President has been lying ever since he started this illegal war. Blackwater killers should be turned over to the Iraqis and hung from the same scaffold they hung Saddam from.

To go along with Kyle, a lot of the Blackwater guys are former SOF guys.  They are highly trained by the army, and highly disciplined in their fire. However, not all have the same training and discipline, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of the guys did hit some civilians.

RE:  Dave and Davies
Thanks!  You really give us gun-toting, tobbacco-chewing Southern Rednecks a reason to stay that way.

Bush is a moron and now there is MORE OIL to get so here we go again, he is like a little kid that has to have everything he wants and nobody ever put a stop to his childness.  Even my grandaughter knows better and she is only 2.

I urge everyone to read "Blackwater USA" by Jeremy Scahill.  It's a very thoroughly researched account of how Blackwater has operated over the past several years in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the US.  This is not some isolated incident, but part of a continuing, very disturbing pattern.  Kyle, with all due respect, you don't have a grasp on the facts of what happened when Blackwater killed the eleven a few days ago.  You sound like a PR person for Blackwater.
anyway, read more folks, lots, lots, more...

You MUST always hire locally.   Get the local leaders to kick in their own followers for US security.   You'll need to have a secrecy screen in front of them, so they don't leak logistical details, but it also brings the local militias into the process of creating the new order, rather than giving them targets to attack without a guilty conscience.  Hire Muslim locals -- PERIOD

Typical.

The guy from the Bronx above gives new meanng to the word bigot.

I think this Davies Burton guy is just another New York Schmuck that buys into everything he sees or listens to on TV.  Get the facts straight before you start hammering people.  By the way, TX is not apart of the South nor is George Bush.  

This is clearly mismanagement of government assets in my opinion. I agree with military commanders that PSD units disrupt the battlefield scenario more than anything else. The State Dept. DOES move around that country like they're the "untouchables" and Military authority is clearly ignored, making some situations and operations difficult to conduct. Communication is the key here people, the State Dept. and the military forces operating in any area need to have a clear understanding of the bounds of authority. I agree that the aftermath of any confrontation is left to the military to clean up but this will continue until the Iraqi police get up and running on a consistant basis. Blackwater and all of the other firms need to realize this, and be more cognizant of their actions.

Everyone knows that there are more contractors in Iraq than US soldiers right? US Soldiers are at about 160,000 and the contractors are at 180,000. US military has Rules of Engagement and strict oversight. Contractors have neither. When a US soldier commits a crime or makes a mistake, they get the full weight of the government coming down on their heads. Contractors get a plane ticket home and a call from Ken Star to the Iraq prime minister convincing him it wasn't so bad. Lindsey England and several others were charged and convicted of wrong doing in Iraq, not a single contractor has been charged or convicted of ANYTHING.

So tell me, why would the contractors be saints when there are no rules, no accountability AND they know that WE need THEM in order to have even the slightest chance of success in that country? But why in the world would the Iraqi's trust a word that comes out of our diplomat's mouths when a troop of Blackwater mercenaries are standing there waiting for someone to make a wrong move?  Why should they trust us when we are encouraging this sort of "Free Market Forces" to run rampant in THEIR country at THEIR expense?

War should never be privatized. Face it. If it were up to Blackwater then the war would never end because they are making a killing (pun intended). What incentive do any of them have to help the situation instead of make it worse? We might as well just shoot ourselves in the foot right now.

This war, for them, is about making money. The more sectarian violence there is, the more job security Blackwater has. I'm all for capitalism when it comes to consumer products and such, but this is a perfect example of how capitalism can be the perfect poison in these kinds of circumstances.  

At least put some kind of rules on these guys and actually convict the individuals who break them. I'm sure they'll complain to Bush himself, but I say too d*mn bad.        

"Ali Baba" ?  It is the ignorant mentality like this that has put us in the situations we now face in our world.

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfled, Wolfowitz....abu ghraib now blackwater and we call them "evil"?
We will never forget our 9-11 dead. However we would expect them to forget hundreds of thousands dead, injured, displaced, humiliated and get in line to act like "good slaves" while we steal their resources?
I am afraid we will be paying for the indescretions of our not so angelic leaders for years to come. Yet many among us still ask why "they" hate us. They don't....they hate our foreign policies...dhuu.
Desperate people have fewer options but we have many: we can vote our evil out.

Too many of the Blackwater security contractors are former military who did not have the disciplne to be career soldiers so their wild west outlaw cowboy ways and love of money turned them into mercenaries for the corrupt warmonger Bush Administration, says this 30 year US Army veteran former Paratrooper/Green Beret.

I see a lot of complaining by those who who should know better. If you drive to close to a convoy, you get shot. Sign on the rear vehicle warns you. Some people choose to ignore that warning, and you complain about a bottle to the windshield? When you interview the competing security firms, I'm sure you're going to get an "Unbiased" opinion. Loony-left comments calling the Blackwater Employees names cracks me up. I would love to see Blackwater employed here in the states, starting in NYC, D.C, LA. It would be wonderful watching them take out the garbage.Imagine the suprised faces of gangs, drug dealers, and the rest of the baggy pants crowd. I would gladly pay more taxes to see that.  

NOTHING that happens as result of this rogue administration(Bush)being in charge over there surprises me. After all, when you put loyalty before competence in your hiring practices this is the toxic stew (Iraq) you end up with. What you're seeing is all-out meltdown in Iraq right now as a result of incompetence and lack of leadership, and the inter-administration infighting that results. 'As you sow, so do you reap'
And we could have had Gore!!!( and should have but for the illegal actions of the Right-wing U.S. Supreme Court)

Should send Singapore Pastors there to spread love to them.

30 year professional soldier or 30 year looser lifer ?
You are sad...

It's "precedes". Their reputation "precedes" them--it goes before them.

A reputation that "proceeded" would go forward FROM their actions, not out ahead of them.

Your posts could benefit from a solid homophone check BEFORE you make them. The dictionary is our friend!

I believe Kyle is right.  I spent nearly 18 months  in Baghdad as a DOD contractor and can tell you first-hand that the majority of the PSDs in Blackwater, DynCorp, and Triple Canopy are absolute professionals while they are on the job.  Remember - Their PRIMARY job is to protect the VIP or Principal, as they call them.  However, no matter how good they are, in their line of work there will always be factors that come into play which the PSDs have no control over: location/type of attack, innocent civilians in the ambush, and identification of all enemy combatants are a few I can think of.  If PSDs had a crystal ball that could answer these questions for them prior to their departure the PSDs could plan accordingly and no lives would be lost.  Of course, we don't live in a fantasy world where this is possible so they do the best they can with the intel, skills, weapons, and equipment they have.  Understand this- Battle Space in Iraq and especially in Baghdad, is tenuous at best.  It is an ever-fluid, ever-changing environment affected by many elements which, unfortunately, have a negative impact on any mission the Coalition Forces or the PSDs conduct.  The phrase "You can't understand unless you've been there" is especially true in Iraq so please, hold your judgment of this incident until all the facts are in.

CHRIS HARRIS:
   YOU WANT TO TAKE LESS THAT A DOZEN FOOLS LED BY ONE IDIOT AND FROM THAT YOU WANT TO USE TO WORDS "OUR COUNTRY" AS IF THE ENTIRE ARMY IS OUT THERE PULLING THIS SORT OF THING ALL OVER IRAQ: ARE YOU FOR REAL?
AS FOR BLACK WATER WOULD YOU LIKE TO HANG THEM NOW OR WAIT FOR THE JURY?OR WE CAN USE THE MURTHA SYSTEM OF JUSTICE. ACCUSE SOLDIERS OF MURDER IN COLD BLOOD AND WHEN FOUND INNOCENT PRETEND THAT YOU SAID  NOTHING. WILL YOU ADMIT YOU WERE WRONG SHOULD THESE PEOPLE BE FOUND INNOCENT OR WILL YOU TAKE YOUR LEAD FROM MURTHA AND PRETEND YOU WERE NOT EVEN IN THE ROOM WHEN THOSE WORDS WERE SPOKEN.  WHAT DO YOU SAY WE WAIT FOR THE INVESTIGATION TO BE COMPLETED BEFORE THE EXECUTION IS CARRIED OUT.

I Wonder if this Security Firm (blackwater)had anythinng to do with the security(or lack of)the mass resource of weapons and explosives that were stolen while the usa forces were guarding it. This group apppears to be the mafia.Its dealings in weapons and use of deadly force against unarmed civilians, should be the responsibility of the President and Vice President who run this war based on there decisions. If the military itself is perturbed, why are they there?I believe that our president is engaged in criminal activity by allowing such attrocoties to continue. Have we no face to save?Are these the roadside bombers creating an illusion so that we may continue this war of the N.W.O? Terrorism in my book is the excessive force used to kill or maim in war. These banditos are criminals. Birds of a feather.... I really find it hard to believe that the us military was robbed of all these things, all these roadside and suicide bombs have gone off, and no one has made the connection. We are all blided by the selective coverage that the media portrays. This is Blackwaters secret, I would bet! And Sept 16 was not the only incident that this Murder For Hire firm has been involved in. These people are killers and mental forged robots that are Godless and should all be prosecuted. End this War (illusion) , or we all will pay a heavy price (the war on terror will never end), Peace will never be achieved.And the water isn't black, the oil is!

Well aren't we, the bloggers, all over the place as usual with our "facts". If Blackwater has made a billion dollars since 2004 and they have more people over there than we do(130K) then just do the math. Only a few bucks per person! Gimme a break, use your head for something beside a hat-rack.They(Blackwater) don't have more people over there than troops,because the often quoted numbers include ALL contractors.Support and otherwise,Iraqi and non-Iraqi.
Before people get on here and spew their ideas(or better yet "feelings") that pass for "facts" they should do a little more checking. Those that read their posts without any other knowledge take those posts as "truth".People complain no matter what is done,if we withdrew all contractors and replaced them with troops you'd heard the complaining about that. If we pulled out all together, more complaining,if we don't more complaining.Nothing but a bunch of whiners sitting behind their desks pecking away.Hiding behind the internet.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I have always thought that it was the U.S. Marines who have guarded U.S. embassy personnel, which I thought included the State Department.  The fact that the U.S. State Department seems to have it's own private army, that does not answer to the U.S. Military, sounds alot like the arrangement in Russia where the Interior Ministry has its own troops independent of the Russian military.  Makes me wonder where our country is headed.  I don't like what I see happening.  We seem to becoming more like our adversaries, even while our leaders continue to decry other nations' shortcomings.

"TX is not apart of the South nor is George Bush."

Texas is not a part of the South? Somebody needs to look at a map (and study the Civic War if that doesn't convince you). Ditto for George Bush - ex-governor of Texas.

It is My understanding that IED exploded a km away from the convoy. In any case, the damage is done. I want to know why the State dsepartment needs mercs? Since when does this country need hired guns? Does this says something about our military, or our leaders? If I was a grunt over there, I would be pissed! Those mercs are getting 100k and the regulars are getting what? 20-30k? Do die for what? That idiot GWB? He screwed the pooch. Got us in and can't get us out. His father knew what a mess it would be. Hell, even brainey Chaney new. Now they just have to drag it on until a new prez is elected so they can dump it and run. They know it's is a loser, like themselves. What I want to know is, they say it takes sacrafice and hard work. Just what are Bush, Chaney and all the rich polaticians sacraficing? I say we need a law that says: if any person in government votes to start a war, they must enlist any person in THIER family, that is of draft age, in the to military and they must serve a combat roll in the engagement. Think we'd be in Iraq right now? It's a no win situation. Either you stay indefinately, and more of our soldiers get killed or, you pull back and guess what, there is a civil war and radicals take over! Just look at the record. Iran? Korea? Get rid of Oil and you get rid of the middle east! We're loosing one way or another. The Arabs are so rich with oil money,they just bought the NASDAQ and Bush 41's Carlisle group.
If our government lets that happen, will we be praying to Alah! They don't have to win any wars. They will just buy everything!

Alot of people are going on about the amount of contractors in Iraq compared to the amount of troops. Did anyone stop to think that they are not all PSD's? We had contractors doing everything from cooking the food to cleaning latrines. STOP LISTENING TO THE NEWS. They are biased and words like "fact" ,"truth", and " Whole story" are just fun things to throw into their story, that carry no meaning what so ever to them. Now I'm not saying BW is right or wrong. I wasn't there at the time of the incident and it is my bet that neither was anyone else here on this blog.

  The outrage in the Blackwater situation should not be directed toward the company, but at the completely illegal and anti-constitutional trial, verdict, and public execution perpetrated by the media and other agenda biased entities befdore an investigation even takes place!
 I recall that there once was a human rights protocal for investigation of so-called war crimes even in the occupying military, called the Uniform Code of Miltary Justice.  These are investigations that must be based on hard evidence and proof.  
   As a former combat vet and civilian LEO, I can attest to the fact the immutable principle of any such investigation, espeically in the intense covoluted environment of a war zone, is that nothing is ever as it initially appears or seems.
 Dont conveniently forget that these are U.S. government subsidized companies doing extremely difficult work in quasi-military functions. And they are American citizens duly afforded all rights therein.  These contractors are spuriously accused of doing something wrong, in the performance of their job requirements, while actually on the job.
NOT at some local bar after hours or in the commission of an intentional criminal act outside their respective jurisdictions...
  Remeber also, that these security people are mainly former American military or police officers with a much higher degree of professionalism, currently, especially after their additdional company training, than most, if not all, other participating factions in all of Iraq.
Failure to acknowledge the above,  as the media and other detractors have done, amounts to the real crime here. And these media and affliliated slanderers with no evidence to back up their claims should all at least be personally sued by Blackwater, et al.  And I would be more than happy to represent these unlawfully
liabled contractors.

It is sad to see that very little has been remembered or learned from history. The Romans had a problem with hired merceneries, and eventually it led to the destruction of society as a whole. When a regular soldier can't even get his armor, proper weaponry and medical care because the raw resources(i.e. money) go to a privatly funded elite force, no wonder the morale is dipping more and more. What can we say of justice and freedom for the Iraqi's when we apathetic citizens let our representitives and executive department officials pull a Goodfellas-esque bust-out of the government's money and infrastructure. It's insulting to troops, its insulting to the memories of all those who have fought and died, and all so that Republican connected construction/commodities/security firms can beef up their profit margins. Republicans rattle the saber at anyone not 'supporting the troops', while they divert money and logistics away from the armed forces so that private firms can receive no-bid contracts for indefinite amounts of time. Ladies and gentlemen, SOMETHING ABOUT THIS JUST ISN'T RIGHT, and while we should all be insulted, we are distracted, apathetic, or just plain lazy to do anything about it.

What blows me away is that the there are Diplomats
in the guarded cars.

What kind of Diplomat can not see this is wrong?

peter

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