Obama’s “Rosie O’Donnell Moment”
Here’s an interesting story in light of my recent viewing of “Iraq For Sale” about–among other baaaad companies, Blackwater. At the end of the article, “Blackwater protected Barack Obama in Afghanistan,” Toby Harnden writes:
In his Washington Whispers column, the well-connected Paul Bedard reports that Obama was overheard saying that ‘Blackwater is getting a bad rap’. A fairly startling alleged observation given his previous utterances about the company - though perhaps unsurprising given he was in a war zone and his life was in the hands of Blackwater guards.A tight-lipped Anne Tyrrell, spokeswoman for Blackwater, said she could neither confirm nor deny that the company had been involved in the visits by the senators to Afghanistan or Iraq. My request to Bill Burton, Obama’s national spokesman, for comment on the Bedard story - including whether the alleged quote or its sentiment was genuine - went unanswered.
But a source familiar with Obama’s security arrangements told me that Blackwater, along with the Secret Service, did pull security for the three senators in Afghanistan, though not Iraq.
Deceiver describes this as Obama’s ‘Rosie O’Donnell moment’ That’s maybe a tad harsh but it will be interesting to see whether Obama’s public position on Blackwater changes as a result of his up-close time with their personnel in Afghanistan.
(emphasis added).
Also at home.
Blackwater isn’t the problem, it’s the lack of structure, oversight, rules of engagement that are the problem with gov’t contractors. The Bush Administration has used contractors to torture and commit war crimes. It’s a case of them doing what they were hired to do by a criminal government leadership.
Interesting argument, Wm. (And it’s amazing that you culticly and submissively found a way to make Obama sound “right”!!!)
But from what I understand, the Geneva Conventions expressly exclude “somebody told me to” as an excuse for war crimes.
They usually prosecute leaders who order the crimes first, not so much the contractors.
Actually, Blackwater is part of the problem — a lot of the record attrition we’re seeing in our military now is career military guys bolting to private contractors like Blackwater for more money. Our armed forces are so depleted in manpower because of attrition that it will take a generation to fix. But that problem runs a lot deeper than Blackwater, I’m afraid.
Me? I think they may be getting a bad rap.
William:
I freed your original comment from the spam filter, and deleted all the others. Please note, however, that by posting the same comment over and over again, you just make yourself look more and more like spam to the filter. So if a comment gets eaten, send an e-mail or something, but don’t keep trying to post it, lest you be spam-eaten more frequently.
Blackwater became an ‘easy’ target after the left’s ‘General Betrayus’ ad blew up in their faces. But, they have a great protection record. No wonder Baracky felt obliged to show some respect.
Not so bad. Probably worth the billions and billions and billions in taxes William is singlehandedly paying to keep them (and Halliburton) in bidness.