Mercenares will be taking over the State Department....

No wonder the State Department wanted to keep on hiring Blackwater. Powerful wealthy folks want to create a structure that keeps America at war all the time in the name of greedy corporate profiteers.

It appears the recent Washington Post expose on the privatization of our national intelligence and military changes nothing behind the curtain.

This is NOT the change the people demanded. But it appears corporate will trumps the will of the people in the United Corporate States of America....

ATF Raids Blackwater and seizes illegal arms

On Tuesday the ATF raided Blackwater's armory and seized dozens of illegal automatic weapons.

Blackwater had purchased the weapons in the name of NC's Camden County Sherriff's Office.

NC Sherrif Aids Blackwater's Illegal Activity in Guns Purchase

Wow...the Camden County Sherrifs Department is helping Blackwater Break U.S. Gun Laws....

Source

BLACKWATER: THE CRUSADE

If you aren't alarmed by Blackwater, you should be. They have already been deployed within America, to wit, in New Orleans during Katrina. Hundreds of them were sent there by Erik Prince before a contract was even formally signed. By their own account, they killed American citizens in the Lower Ninth Ward, "black gang-bangers" one of them bragged to Jeremy Scahill, whose voice you will hear on this video.

But the worst of it is that there are stories and rumors that they killed a lot more Blacks than a few "gang-bangers". How many? A couple of dozen, a couple of hundred, a couple of thousand? This is what independent journalists are trying to find out.

Blackwater is growing like a cancer globally. They are the most psychotic expression yet of privatization, militarism and an alienated, machine culture enraptured with war and death. Some day they may be patrolling your neighborhood, looking for "Hajis" to gun down, maybe getting a little paranoid and blowing away a car or two full of women and children, like they did last September 16 in Baghdad's Nusoor Square. Imagine that happening to your family and you might begin to understand why there is a vast resistance movement in Iraq.

Blackwater Demonstrators Go to Trial

BLACKWATER 7 TRIAL SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 22/POTLUCK AND FESTIVAL OF HOPE JANUARY 21

Friends,

The 7 protesters arrested at Blackwater USA in
October for recreating the Nisoor Square massacre atthe company's front door will go to trial on Tuesday, January 22 at 10 am. Trial will be at the Currituck County Courthouse at 2795 Caratoke Highway, Currituck, NC 27929 (Caratoke Highway is also known as Route 168).

There will be a vigil calling for the closing of
Blackwater on Route 168 outside the courthouse complex beginning at 9 am.

The previous night, Monday, January 21st, beginning at 6:30 pm there will be a Festival of Hope with the defendants at Sacred Heart Catholic Church (520 Graydon Ave., Norfolk VA 23507). There will be a potluck dinner (bring something to share), music, poetry, and reflection. Out of town visitors are welcome to sleep overnight in the church commons.

Please forward this to anyone who may have interest.

Thank you,
Steve Baggarly

Here We Go Again...So Much for the Imaginary War on Drugs

In America, the "connected" make a fortune importing drugs into our country while the "average" American consumers of these drugs end serving large prison sentences instead of participationg in drug rehabilitation programs (if their health condition merits this.)

In the meantime, the taxpayer gets bilked for this imaginary war on drugs (especially when it comes to prison costs) and now Blackwater wants to get even more of our taxpayer dollars by becoming fighters in our imaginary drug war.

When is enough enough?

We need to put the big villains in prison or at least drive them out of business. The war on drugs needs a serious assessment by the taxpayer who is getting bilked. Many Americans end up behind bars for nonviolent crimes. Let's demand that a task force be set up to study all the options. They may even come to the conclusion that our imaginary drug wars provides a huge funding supply of money for terrorists. Maybe, just maybe, we should at least sell marijuana at ABC stores, where it won't be sold to minors, and the profits could be used to finance government programs, such as drug rehab that is needed in our country.

There's more info and video concerning the CIA drug connections (past and present) courtesy of brasschecktv.

Is anyone surprised that our corporate media is ignoring this story?

Photos of the Blackwater Protest at Moyock, NC

A hardy coalition of peace and justice activists took on Blackwater USA Saturday, Oct 20, 2007 at their world headquarters, outraged by a long history of bloody incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan and culminating in the Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad on Sept 16. I posted a news item a few days ago on Mosquito Blog which you can check out later for more information.

Meanwhile, independent photographer Joe Filipowski sent me a CD full of photos of the Blackwater Protest in Moyock last Saturday, with the request that I get them out to the public, so I have been doing that. I took some 80 plus of his best photos and loaded them on my Kodak Gallery space for everyone's perusal, but I thought I would show you a few of them here at Mosquito Blog to twik your interest. You can follow them up via the link to the rest of the photos at the bottom of this post.

To briefly summarize, there were protesters outside of the Blackwater entrance along both sides of the roadway and bleeding onto a nearby city street. There was a guerilla theater partial reenactment of the Nisour Square massacre, and there were seven arrests of activists who quietly chose to practice civil disobedience. The police were pretty cool about this and the whole event went off very successfully.

There was local and Virginia coverage of the protest, with some independent media types joining in, or protesters simply being their own media journalists and photographers. The message got out that there is very vocal resistance on both coasts now to Blackwater's martial ambitions and violence.





























You can see the rest of Joe's photos by clicking here . You don't have to sign in, just go to "view slideshow".

It is hoped that this protest will serve as an inspiration to others who are challenging the government/corporate war machine that is devastating humanity and the planet.

Protest at Blackwater's Moyock Headquarters Last Saturday

On Saturday a coalition of peace and justice activists bearded the wolf in his lair, staging a protest and guerrilla theater right outside the corporate gates at Moyock, North Carolina. Seven activists engaged in civil diobedience and were arrested. Blackwater has been put on notice from coast to coast now that Americans don't want a modern Murder, Incorporated International being enshrined in our country.











An anti-Blackwater Protester Outside Blackwater's World Headquarters (Source: WNCT, Channel 9 in Greenville, NC. Check out their coverage too, with news video, by clicking here )

*******

There have been several local reports of Saturday's protest, although I don't think the national media picked it up. What else is new?

But the excellent reporter for The Virginian Pilot, Bill Sizemore, did however write a news report with five great photographs by Chris Curry of the Pilot as well. Below is an excerpt of the article. You can read the entire article by clicking here and note when you do that the photos are a series of five that you can activate.

Sizemore has also written a terrific report on Blackwater which you can access by clicking here.

Photos: Seven protesters arrested at Blackwater's headquarters
The Virginian-Pilot
© October 21, 2007
Last updated: 7:05 PM

Special Report: Inside America's Private Army

By BILL SIZEMORE, The Virginian-Pilot

MOYOCK, N.C.

Seven people were arrested Saturday at Blackwater Worldwide’s front entrance after protesters re-enacted the Sept. 16 shooting incident in Baghdad involving Blackwater contractors in which 17 Iraqis died.

It was the first protest at the 10-year-old private military company’s headquarters, a reflection of its heightened profile since the Baghdad shootings stirred Iraqi anger and created a diplomatic crisis for Blackwater’s client, the U.S. State Department.

The protesters drove a small gray station wagon, covered with simulated bullet holes and smeared with red paint, onto Blackwater’s property. One lay back in the driver’s seat and five others got out and lay on the ground, as if they had been shot.

The scene was intended to mimic that in Baghdad’s Nisour Square, where an Iraqi doctor and her son died in a fusillade of gunfire as their car approached a Blackwater diplomatic convoy......

Currituck County sheriff’s deputies, called to the scene by Blackwater guards, told the protesters they were on private property and asked them to leave. When they didn’t respond, they were handcuffed and placed in a sheriff’s van. Some went limp and had to be dragged.

A crowd of about 50 more protesters who had gathered along the adjacent public road cheered as the seven were driven away. The group carried signs with slogans such as “Bring Blackwater to Justice,” “Security Contractors are Unlawful Combatants” and “Blackwater: Shoot First, Ask No Questions.”......

The protest was organized by the Norfolk Catholic Worker and Blackwater Watch, an activist group based in Durham, N.C.

Christian Stalberg, a spokesman for Blackwater Watch, said the group’s aim is to “shut down Blackwater.”

“It’s an unmitigated disaster,” he said. “They’re irresponsible and totally unaccountable.”

DeMott, who described himself as a Vietnam War veteran, said he was willing to risk arrest because “not to raise my voice would be to tacitly condone Blackwater and its murderous activities.” ......................

Norfolk Great Event Tonight

There's a great event in Norfolk tonight for Hampton Roads Residents who aren't drinking the neo-con kool aid.

Jeremy Scahill is currently a hot commodity. You may have seen him recently on CNN, CSpan, Keith Olberman, The Daily Show, or Democracy Now.

He will be at Azar's restaurent at 5:30 pm for a reception and then his presentation on Blackwater will begine at the Naro Theatre at 7:15 p.m.

Hope to see you there!!

Buzz...Buzz...

Iraqi PM stands up to Blackwater

The Iraqi PM is standing up to Blackwater, Condi Rice, and the Bush Administration. Blackwater has stopped providing security for the state department for now. Blackwater is run by an ardent Bush supporter so our Secretary of State, Condi Rice, dropped everything to pressure Iraq to allow Blackwater to continue it's operations in Iraq. We mustn't allow a loyal Bush Republican to lose any profits simply because some Iraqi citizens were killed. (source1 source 2)

The Iraqi PM is correct--there are other security forces the U.S. government can hire if the Bush Administration insists on private security. The Bush Administraton obviously does not believe our military is qualified to continue it's time honored role of guarding our diplomatic corps.

Truth is Blackwater has abused it's privileges time and again....In the Sunday incident it was reported that 8-11 civilians were dead. The number of death is now at 20 civilians in this latest incident involving Blackwater. The Iraqi government states that this is the seventh incident involving Blackwater.

The Iraqi people want Blackwater to leave their country. Blackwater should leave Iraq.

Come to think of it....Blackwater should leave America too. They were used in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. In California activists are already starting to fight Blackwater's presence and their new airfield in that state. I surely don't want Blackwater patrolling my streets in the event of a disaster such as a hurricane.

Congressman Waxman has promised investigations on Blackwater. I hope these investigations will begin asap. Blackwater needs to be held accountable.

If you want to really know what Blackwater is and the serious implications to our democracy are presented by this mercenary army you should plan to attend the Naro Cinema's Green Film Festival on Wednesday, Sept. 26 at 7:15 p.m. Investigative journalist, Jeremy Scahill, (author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army) will lead a discussion on Blackwater. For more information go to narocinema.com

Blackwater Banned From Iraq

The Iraq Interior Ministry banned Blackwater from operating in Iraq after actions from Blackwater on Sunday resulted in the deaths of 8 civilians. 14 civilians were wounded. Iraq has also stated it plans to prosecute those involved. (story here)

Blackwater has recently brought airfields throughout the United States and has purchased planes that will be outfitted for and armed for military use. In California, Americans are already protesting a Blackwater airfield there. (source1, source 2)

Note: Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, is coming to Norfolk for the Naro Cinema's Green Screen Film Festival (Wed. Sept 26, 7:15 pm). He will be using film and photographs to illustrate his Blackwater discussion. Questions from the audience will also take place. If you are curious about Blackwater and why many Americans are alarmed by this company you should plan on attending.