This afternoon for a few minutes I tuned into C-SPAN and saw some of the 'hearing' concerning the contractor, Blackwater USA Security Firm. A few minutes was all even I could take, the ridiculous tone and questioning of Erik Prince, the Founder and Chairman of the organization was something to make you shake your head.
Erik Prince is a veteran, a Navy SEAL. He began this company to utilize veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces as security details around the world for Americans. These are trained professionals, trained by the U.S. military during their service and then specialized training by Blackwater upon hire. After 9/11, he was called upon by this administration and hired as a contractor to provide security for the State Department. What does that mean? It means the company is charged with the responsibility of keeping safe all the diplomats, the visiting congresspeople, the Iraqi elected officials when needed. Although the company has suffered the loss of about 30 employees and the maiming and injured number more than 200, their record for keeping their charges safe is spotless. NOT ONE PERSON HAS BEEN KILLED under their watch. That is amazing, especially considering the dangers in Baghdad and Iraq itself.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA, is one nasty man. He is the chair of the Oversight and Gov't Reform Committee and bragged that when the Dems took over the Congress that he would do investigation after investigation of the administration and everything he possibly could. He is a do nothing kind of politician while grabbing headlines for his 'investigations'. He has been in DC for years and is still a back-bencher as far as legislation goes.
Waxman began the questioning by asking if Prince thought the company was overpaid in its contract and the profits made due to the need in Iraq for their services. What?
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, went into a monologue about the incident that happened last September where a Blackwater security person was drunk and shot the Iraqi guard of an Iraqi Vice President. It was a bad mistake and there were no witnesses. The man was immediately fired, as is policy for anyone drinking, and fined thousands of dollars. He was taken out of the country as soon as arrangements could be made. Maloney's tirade included such stellar statements as 'if he was doing that in this country he'd be in jail, if he was a soldier he'd be courtmarshalled', etc. Well, he's not in the military anymore, he was working for Blackwater. And he wasn't in this country, he was doing his job in Iraq. That's rather the point, isn't it?
Maloney said, "It appears Blackwater has special rules." What an idiot. They are a civilian company, not a military branch. The person she was asking about is under investigation by the Department of Justice. What was she hoping for, an execution before a trial? That's the sort of thinking we are suppose to be battling.
So, let's not honor the success of this American company, guarding American lives overseas in a war zone, racking up a 100% success rate. Let's bring in the company's founder and beat him up. Let's make a show about his financial success due to the need for his company in a war zone.
The military can't handle it all. The force is too small. After the Cold War, the military and its equipment was downsized. The downsizing continued up until 9/11. That's the facts. The solution to not relying on contractors in war is to have a military in large enough numbers to handle the work itself. And who fights hardest to keep the defense spending and military force down? That's right, the defeatists currently accusing the military of everything under the sun, as well as those who are working with them.
Maybe when Hillary is President, instead of buying votes with her $5,000 giveaway for every baby born in this country (does that include the anchor babies?) to the tune of $20 billion a year, she could use that money on our country's defense. Yeah, that'd produce that cackling laugh, wouldn't it?
I think Rep. Waxman is overcharging the American taxpayer and not acting professionally in his position. Any wonder why Congress polls at 11% with the American people?
2 comments:
It really is a bizarre phenomenon....how much Democrats seem to ache for bad news and anything that can hurt our efforts overseas.
Blackwater could have a record where 99.9% of the things they do is spotless. Yet what the media and Democrats will focus on and magnify is that .1% stain on an immaculate record.
Same goes for everything else, such as the Patriot Act. For all the scaremongering about the loss of our civil liberties, you'd think that if there was even one lawsuit filed under the provisions allowed in the Patriot Act, we'd have heard about it splashed all over media headlines. Yet we haven't.
Even if there have been a handful of abuses, that would need to be weighed against the number of successes we've had, due to the Patriot Act. Do the benefits outweigh the negatives?
More law enforcement officers have probably abused their privilege of carrying a firearm than law enforcement have abused the Patriot Act; yet, we never call for our police officers to have their sidearms confiscated, because we trust that the vast majority of the time, those firearms are used for lawful purposes.
I want to know who the 11% are and have them committed, post-haste.
They must be congressional workers, families, friends, if any and the congress people themselves.
Maybe illegal aliens too. Maybe professors at Columbia U.
Subject good people to endless grilling by liars and cowards. This is what our country has become.
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