Vice President Joe Biden has announced that American authorities will appeal against a court ruling dismissing manslaughter charges against five security guards from the Blackwater company accused of killing Iraqi civilians.
The charges stemmed from an incident in Baghdad in 2007 when the guards opened fire in a crowded square, killing 17 Iraqis.
The case was quashed because the judge ruled that testimony had been wrongly used by the prosecution.
After talks with President Talabani, Mr Biden said the Obama administration regretted the decision by a federal judge at the end of December to throw out the case against Blackwater.
Speaking in Baghdad, Mr Biden said his government was not prepared to see Blackwater go unpunished.
I hope Joe Biden is not just talking out of his ass. I was very frustrated to see the judge throw that Blackwater case out.
I heard rumors that Erik Prince was using threats of blackmail, concerning his associations with the CIA, to pressure the government to let him off. When he DID get off I assumed those rumors were probably correct.
But if Biden is right, that means the little shit may finally have to face justice for at least SOME of his criminal activities in Iraq.
Erik Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe." And he sent his mercenaries to Iraq and Afghanistan to do just that:
Mr. Prince operated his companies in a manner that encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life. For example, Mr. Prince's executives would openly speak about going over to Iraq to "lay Hajiis out on cardboard." Going to Iraq to shoot and kill Iraqis was viewed as a sport or game. Mr. Prince's employees openly and consistently used racist and derogatory terms for Iraqis and other Arabs, such as "ragheads" or "hajiis."
I am going to be paying attention and I certainly hope that the Vice President is correct about this. Now that "W" is out of office we need desperately to earn our reputation back. And putting this hateful murdering piece of shit behind bars would be a very good start.
(I apologize if my language seemed a little raw, but I really dislike this son of a bitch.)
Prince is a prick. How's that for raw?
ReplyDeleteDon't restrain yourself--frankly, this douche bag is pretty evil. Killing that many people with no or little remorse and then not facing consequences is beyond criminal.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought that many of the cases prepared by federal prosecutors during the GWB administration were not done by the most competent individuals. Perhaps this was the result of the politicization of the DOJ during that administration. The case against ex-Senator Stevens was thrown out of court due to the incompetency of the federal attorneys. I was in full agreement with President Talibana when he announced after the ruling that all Blackwater (Xe) employees would be expelled from Iraq. Erik Prince had long tentacles that reached far into the GWB administration. Prince announced recently that he wants to become a teacher. If my daughter were still in school, I'd make darn sure she wasn't a student in his class.
ReplyDeleteJoe Biden might be chatty sometimes, but I think on this one,he's speaking with the OK of his boss. I like how much Obama has involved Biden so far.
ReplyDeleteBloodwater and the prince of death.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more, Gryphen. There's just not enough "raw" language to describe this disgusting lowlife.
ReplyDeleteI wrote to one of my Senators last summer and he replied that the US was no longer in contract with Blackwater/Xe in Iraq. He neglected to mention that they do have contracts for Afganistan. And I'm hearing rumors, (I repeat RUMORS)that Blackwater may be illegally fighting in Uzbekistan.
These criminals need to answer for their crimes. No excuses!
VICE - President Biden. Please!!!
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember Monica Goodling, who served as sr. counsel to Atty Gen Alberto Gonzales and WH liaison at the Dept of Justice? Despite her being a pretty good intellectual match for S'arah, she graduated cum laude from Messiah College and received J.D. and M.A. degrees from Regent University. During the U.S. Attorneys' firing scandal when her vacuous intellect was on display and her ethics were shown to be in harmony w/ Gonzalez', someone dug up the info that 150+ more like her had been insinuated into Justice by the Bushies - and Monica herself had helped select them. It could be a very long time before our Justice Dept regains its former level of competence. I hope for the sake of you Alaskans that S'arah wasn't as successful at appointing prayer warriors into your gov't as Bush was at the Fed level.
ReplyDeleteAs if Eric Prince wasn't evil enough, he is really just the scary but more public tip of the iceburg. Those with interest should start by googling on Prince's parents - they belong to a little know group of very wealthy Americans called the Council for National Policy whose sole aim is to further the extreme religious right agenda.
ReplyDelete"This is a guy who comes from one of the power-house families of the radical religious right. His father was a major bank roller, and gave the seed money to Gary Bauer to start The Family Research Council, James Dobson, Focus on the Family..."
"The closest connection I know is through the Council for National Policy. Erik Prince's parents were deeply involved with the CNP and he himself has supported it financial, though it isn't know if he's a member or not. Several of the politicians involved with the Family are involved with the CNP as well.
The CNP has tended to be viewed as a general umbrella group for the extreme right, including both religious and non-religious conservatives. But I'm getting the impression that either it has a particularly strong dominionist element or the dominionists have become more dominant (no pun intended) within it as that sort of 80's-style umbrella group goes out of fashion."
well you gotta figure that anyone who runs a mercenary group is pretty sick (perhaps evil) and has no problems with violence as a means to an end. not exactly someone I'd be proud to call a neighbor.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that this current administration would not let a ruling like this slide. you can bet that if grandma & grandpa were in there they would have been fine with the ruling. hell, they probably would have thrown a victory party for the guy. ick.
Gryphen, you scared me to death when your headline read "President Biden". That is one typo we can do without, please. I love Joe Biden to pieces, but he is NOT my President
ReplyDeleteErik Prince, along with his parents, were very well highlighted in Republican Gomorrah.
ReplyDeleteGryph, The gum mint DID file briefs in support of the torture methods advocated by John Yoo . . . . not a whole lot of difference, making me question Biden's statements for now. Since Blackwater is a federal contractor, it would also be interesting to know whether the gum mint, behind the scenes, is paying any of their legal bills.Meanwhile, Blackwater, now known as Xe, continues to do our dirty work in Afghanistan and elsewhere. I am not sure this game is over yet.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gryphen and everyone for the information! Never worry about using raw language for scum such as this.
ReplyDeleteJust came from Avatar, Prince reminds me of that creepy ex-Marine heading up the attack forces for the corporation. Man, it felt good to be rooting for his demise and ruin. Unfortunately, many good souls have to go down with characters such as him and Prince.
People must be getting really tired to shit like Prince et al, because I went to seniors late matinee and people were sobbing when the good guys were being hit and actually cheering for the corporate guys to go down. Pretty good signal that there's a lot of anger welling up in people in real life that the movie just touched.
I hope we as a people can clean most of the crap out of corporations and government and send a message that we won't tolerate murderers, thieves, and people who sell their fellow citizens and the environment down the toilet.
Glad to see every commenter here expressing outrage at Blackwater. Just remember to save some outrage for all the others who have twisted our society.
Amway! Amway! Amway!
ReplyDeleteI tried to read Republican Gomorrah, but honestly, it scared the $#%& out of me and I had to put it down.
As mentioned in above comments....Bush holdovers might really need to be scrutinized and work reviewed in DOJ. There are times I wonder on the rulings for say Don Siegelman. And now Blackwater gets a free pass. I wonder if there is not a review board or supervisor asleep at the switch(s).
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want Holder's job....he's got a tremendous credibility mess to clean up. Plus until the Senatre confirms some of the appointees Holder must be doing double duty.
Gryphen, you do understand how Kohl, the prosecutor in the Blackwater case, screwed it up, I assume? By trying to use testimony from "confessions" those guys had given to State and had been given partial immunity for, and against solid advice not to--he knew exactly what the result would be, and he should be disbarred for prosecutorial misconduct and throwing the case. Kohl is a fundie who's on the board of New Orleans Baptist Seminary and has been around DC for a long time, one of the leftovers from the Bush regime. He also was involved in the Stevens debacle, among other cases, and who knows how many others.
ReplyDeleteI just hope Holder is cleaning out Justice of all those leftover Bush fundies as fast as he can.
Grandma68
I learned about this guy from Leah's blog. This guy believes "he is called in the Great Commission to take up where the proselytizers fail. In other words, if you don’t convert and “accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour”, learn “speaking in tongues” as a second language and claim rebirth – well – Prince and Pals will be happy to remove you from the landscape…pretty much that simple."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theopalinism.com/blog/2009/08/05/xe-formerly-known-as-blackhawk/
Thanks, Gryphen.
And don't get me started on Amway and his connection to it...
ReplyDeleteAlaska is not without its own connections to this misguided person. What one gives out one gets back in the same measure. It's a law of God's justice which application begins in His own house. In the case of God's justice one typically wants one's own justice tempered largely with mercy. To the extent that one has shown mercy evidently to that extent, exactly, is mercy one may receive except for the kind "giving" of imputed "righteousness" (compare the oppostional accusatory giving or imputation of imagined bad motives to the essentially innocents). I suppose that is an opposite of the accusation (which is what the sleepless enemy Satan does day in; day out; constantly agitating for more "prosecutions" and accusations of imputed, putrid "crimes"). Here in Alaska we seem to devalue mercy over all and there is evidence we are going for the jot and tittle of imagined justice for imagined "crimes", especially agitation for lifetime imprisonments of ethnic Alaskans who then become such removed ethnic populations who cannot even have adequate legal defense, cleased from Alaskan earth right before our dull eyes. How familial. While huge misapplications of justice occurs wholecloth toward natives so that Repubs (or wannabe's moderates) can be re-elected by the voting mercilous who believe in error that their ignorant cronies can enjoy wealth from the filling of privatised gulags they must Pay up - $$$. Enjoy your "taxes" which are your retribution you bring upon your own wallets.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, I believe in mercy. Jesus Christ will complete his conquest; his anger flares up easily now even more so than anyone's; post Jesus' resurrection from the grave; and he is no longer the vaunted infant in a manger about whom much is sung. He will have mercy on those upon whom he will have mercy and distribute "salvation" upon whom he will. My research indicated that prior to Jesus' own torture and death it was said that he ate and drank with drunks. I have no doubt that Jesus can and will athletically set matters straight regarding this atrocity and all the others.
Thank you Gryphen for your expressed outrage (one of the few bona fide expressions of outrage) against these bloodcurdling events and their actual really horrible actors.
The privacy we really do not have is privacy from observance by God, Jesus, and the angels. We cannot revet them away, as in placing stones between them and us. Nothing separates us from God's love. More praise to Jehovah and His justice system.