1 post tagged “blackwater usa”
Once again, I've been trying to catch up on some of my podcasts, most notably, NPR: Most E-Mailed Stories. One of the segments was about the company, Blackwater USA. I'm not sure if I'm ignorant cause I never heard of them before, so I want to apologize if this is old news. Anyhow, I wanted to share this story, Journalist Scahill Charts the Rise of Blackwater USA because I found it interesting. Consisting to what amount to soldiers for hire, I can almost understand the need to use them to supplement the armed forces in Iraq. However, the company is under scrutiny with wrongful death lawsuit, and it's refusal to be held accountable for it's mistakes. In one sense, Blackwater insist it cannot be held under Military law or investigation, since it is made up of civilians. Then on the other side, Blackwater is resisting to releasing any information regarding to deaths of it's employees due to mistakes made or not providing them the equipment/manpower needed. They are claiming that the information cannot be released due to military classified information. This is were I believe we should re-think how we regulate the use of Blackwater. They cannot have any kind of immunity when something hits the fan. Please take the time to listen to this story. I not going to touch on the amount of money spent by the State Department. To me, it seems rather lopsided to the average amount of money that the U.S. soldier makes.
