Blackwater Mercenaries

An excerpt of “Blackwater, the Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army”, written by Jeremy Scahill:

“When Paul Bremer skulked out of Iraq on June 28, 2004, he left behind a violent, chaotic mess that the White House called ‘a free and sovereign’ Iraq.

“Just how unstable the country was when Bremer departed was evident in the fact he actually had to stage an exit in one plane for the press and then fly out of Baghdad in another ‘to get me out of here … preferably in one piece.’

“In reality, this ‘sovereignty’, which President Bush described as ‘the Iraqi people having their country back,’ was a way to set the stage for U.S. officials to blame the puppet government in Baghdad for the worsening American-made disaster.

“When Bremer’s secret flight fled Baghdad, anti-U.S. attacks were increasing by the day as more mercenaries poured into the country.”

The above sentence begs the question, “Who are these mercenaries?”

And do they only operate in the war zone of Iraq? (There were an estimated 20,000 mercenaries operating when Bremer pulled out, but now the figures have apparently grown to over 120,000, in addition to the regular American troops.)

Right after Hurricane Katrina, mercenaries from American companies like DynCorp, Intercon, American Security Group, Blackhawk, Wackenhut, plus an Israeli company called Instinctive Shooting International (ISI) were fanning out in New Orleans 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.

Read more: Blackwater establishing training camp in rural San Diego