Bush's Shadow Army - TheNation.Com

[jackshoegazer]

Jeremy Scahill reports on the Bush Administration's growing dependence on private security forces such as Blackwater USA and efforts in Congress to rein them in. This article is adapted from his new book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (Nation Books).

On September 10, 2001, before most Americans had heard of Al Qaeda or imagined the possibility of a "war on terror," Donald Rumsfeld stepped to the podium at the Pentagon to deliver one of his first major addresses as Defense Secretary under President George W. Bush. Standing before the former corporate executives he had tapped as his top deputies overseeing the high-stakes business of military contracting--many of them from firms like Enron, General Dynamics and Aerospace Corporation--Rumsfeld issued a declaration of war.

"The topic today is an adversary that poses a threat, a serious threat, to the security of the United States of America," Rumsfeld thundered. "It disrupts the defense of the United States and places the lives of men and women in uniform at risk." He told his new staff, "You may think I'm describing one of the last decrepit dictators of the world.... [But] the adversary's closer to home," he said. "It's the Pentagon bureaucracy." Rumsfeld called for a wholesale shift in the running of the Pentagon, supplanting the old DoD bureaucracy with a new model, one based on the private sector. Announcing this major overhaul, Rumsfeld told his audience, "I have no desire to attack the Pentagon; I want to liberate it. We need to save it from itself."

The next morning, the Pentagon would be attacked, literally, as a Boeing 757--American Airlines Flight 77--smashed into its western wall.

Comments

[irishspongie.livejournal.com]

Interesting that the elite have a different definition of "the United States of America" to everyone else.....

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

They have a different definition of just about everything. I read an article not too long ago talking about how in this Administration, there doesn't need to be an adherence to facts because they all operate on the beliefs that what they say is what is true, so if they can just repeat things enough in the media, people will believe it. Mutable reality or some shite.

[kiwikat.livejournal.com]

brian is getting rid of all his old dragon/wizard posters. they're mostly still in original plastic/like new. would ethan like them or should we give them to goodwill?

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Ethan says he would like them, thanks! I suppose that means we'll have to make plans to get together to make the exchange.

[kiwikat.livejournal.com]

or we could just wish really hard and maybe they'll fly across town of their own volition.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

IT WORKED! I just got home and they're totally here!

[kiwikat.livejournal.com]

magic.