Blackwater Launches Campaign Urging Supporters To ‘Influence’ Congress With Misleading Spin
Blackwater Launches Campaign Urging Supporters To ‘Influence’ Congress With Misleading Spin
In the past two weeks, Erik Prince, the CEO of embattled private security firm Blackwater USA, has orchestrated an aggressive public relations campaign in efforts to save his company’s reputation in the face of multiple scandals. In his media blitz, Prince has given interviews to The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, CNN’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer,” CBS’ “60 Minutes” and PBS’ “Charlie Rose” amongst others.
As the next step of the PR campaign, Blackwater sent an e-mail blast today, encouraging supporters to contact “elected Congressional representatives” with “letters, e-mails and calls” with the goal of “influencing the manner in which they gather and present information.” Blackwater also provided “suggested themes” for supporters to follow:
- Cost efficiency of Blackwater — saving the US taxpayer millions of dollars so that the US Government doesn’t have to take troops from their missions or send more into harms way
- Professional population of service veterans and mature law enforcement personnel
- Sacrifice in lives lost by Blackwater saving US diplomats without one single protectee harmed
Blackwater’s claim to cost efficiency is specious at best. According to documents made available to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, “It costs the U.S. government a lot more to hire contract employees as security guards in Iraq than to use American troops.”
According to the data, “the average per-day pay to personnel Blackwater hired was $600,” which is significantly more than uniformed soldiers:
An unmarried sergeant given Iraq pay and relief from U.S. taxes makes about $83 to $85 a day, given time in service. A married sergeant with children makes about double that, $170 a day.
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Baghdad overseeing more than 160,000 U.S. troops, makes roughly $180,000 a year, or about $493 a day. That comes out to less than half the fee charged by Blackwater for its senior manager of a 34-man security team.
Read the full e-mail here.
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A big ol’ shout out to the cronies: time to circle the wagons!!
Disgusting.
October 24th, 2007 at 3:05 pmWhat do you say to this……
More corruption , more lies , more spin to cover-up
-incompetence
-war profiteering
-wars fought for political gain
-collapsing economy
Kill me.
October 24th, 2007 at 3:11 pmThere is no difference anymore between the government and the corporations.
Blackwater = U.S. State Dept
October 24th, 2007 at 3:12 pmwow
how shameful.
Blackwater is a disgrace.
October 24th, 2007 at 3:13 pmThe US Secret Service has been around for 120 plus years – and they’ve only lost one protectee – and two “harmed.”
What exactly is Blackwater’s definition of “harmed?”
October 24th, 2007 at 3:15 pmCorporations + guns – the law = death
October 24th, 2007 at 3:18 pmBlackwater deserves a fair hearing before being excoriated. I would argue that given the tough situations they have to face, their actions, even if erroneous are justifiable. The collateral damage they caused is not any more or less than what happens when a bomb goes astray.
October 24th, 2007 at 3:23 pmSince Cheney would be Preident if W was taken out, W has no need for USSS protection.
October 24th, 2007 at 3:30 pmBest War Ever, guys?
http://tshirtinsurgency.com/node/22
October 24th, 2007 at 3:33 pmComment by hits
Interesting how you think due process should apply to a rightwing corporation while habeus corpas and all other due process rights for U.S. CITIZENS have been removed by the radicals in Washington.
You make me sick.
October 24th, 2007 at 3:34 pmWith what money is Blackwater using for this ?? Tax-payer money meant for Iraq??
October 24th, 2007 at 3:35 pmBlackwater’s PR blitz left off:
- Winning hearts and minds of indigenous populations everywhere we serve.
October 24th, 2007 at 3:37 pmWith Jesus and Bush on his side, why would he need a publicist?
jack jett
October 24th, 2007 at 3:37 pmThe collateral damage they caused is not any more or less than what happens when a bomb goes astray.
Comment by hits
And when one lands on your precious son or daughter, will you still feel the same way? Wingnuts are cowards and traitors.
October 24th, 2007 at 3:38 pmWhy is Hillary so close to Blackwater?
Comment by TCDon — October 24, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
————————–
Hillary is not a progressive. She’s a corporate whore just like her husband and you Repukes.
This country needs real change: no more Bush or Clinton whores in the White House!
October 24th, 2007 at 3:42 pmTCDon are you suggesting that Blackwater is bad?
October 24th, 2007 at 3:43 pmPoint taken. Now do you support the use of Blackwater and the other security firms at upto 5 times the cost of US troops?
October 24th, 2007 at 3:54 pmThe PR firm run by Mark Penn (Hillary Clinton’s top strategist) and Scott Pastrick (former treasurer of the Democratic National Committee) represents Blackwater.
Comment by TCDon
These two people are free citizens. They are able to make their own choices and don’t need Clinton’s blessing to earn a living. Clinton didn’t encourage or bribe them to take Blackwaters business. It is still a free country (at least until bush is done with us).
It does take an EXTREMELY small mind to link the decisions of these free citizens to Clinton’s campaign or her closeness to any legal business entity.
October 24th, 2007 at 3:59 pmThe collateral damage they caused is not any more or less than what happens when a bomb goes astray.
Comment by hits
I would hardly equate Blackwater opening fire on innocents for no reason to that of a bomb going astray. Are you insane?
October 24th, 2007 at 4:02 pmComment by StratRat
The reason that we find this distasteful is that this is the attitude that has led us to our national rightwing nightmare – people just doing if for the money. To hell with conscience, to hell with professionalism, to hell with morals. If it pays, well count me in!
It doesn’t take much brains to see that as we learn more about Blackwater, as we have with so many other rightwing operations, we will find more and more skeletons in the closet. We will find more and more ugly, reprehensible acts in which profits come before human life.
Sure, they are free to do as they please. But it is high time that American business practices were not judged simply along fiscal lines. This is a corporation with guns. I’m sorry, but that scares the living sh1t out of me.
October 24th, 2007 at 4:06 pmFreakin war profiteers have already stolen $ 8,000 from each American.
October 24th, 2007 at 4:10 pmThis is a corporation with guns. I’m sorry, but that scares the living sh1t out of me.
Comment by lefty
And me as well. I was commenting on the association of Clinton’s advisors with blackwater equaling Clinton’s support of Blackwater. I agree with your point 100%. Companies sometimes should have to minimize the profit motive when national security or national interests are involved. I won’t hold my breath waiting for that.
Hillary Clinton does not impress me at all. I believe she will keep and use most of the powers Bush has claimed for himself. She is part and parcel of the whole DC “village”. Even Obama has disappointed me lately with his waffling on FISA and telcom immunity.
We need a third party dedicated to the unification of sane, patriotic Americans. But then again, would the dems and repubs allow competition to evolve? I don’t know.
October 24th, 2007 at 4:19 pmBlackwater deserves a fair hearing before being excoriated. I would argue that given the tough situations they have to face, their actions, even if erroneous are justifiable. The collateral damage they caused is not any more or less than what happens when a bomb goes astray.
Comment by hits — October 24, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
Blackwater already got the justice it truly deserves, when 4 of them became Shake ‘n’ Bake bridge decorations. None of their erroneous actions are justifiable, not a single one, and mass murder is not collateral damage. You have all the morals of a rabid dingo; you’re no better than an animal.
October 24th, 2007 at 4:26 pmComment by Lefty Patriot
Oh man you just dropped a bomb
October 24th, 2007 at 4:29 pmStrat – don’t count on it. The Repubs and the Dems would quickly unite to kill such a third party — because it would threaten their hold on power.
I’m fast becoming a cynic. I’d really like to believe that a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress can save us from becoming a fascist theocracy…but I’m getting to the point where I believe it’s going to be same sh*t, different day.
October 24th, 2007 at 4:31 pmComment by Leftside Annie
Simply put, we target and remove the Democrats who are standing in the way. If that doesn’t work, we need to create our own party, which includes disillusioned independents and sane conservatives. I’ll lay out exactly what kind of platform I think people can really agree upon, principles which stood for decades until the recent GOP nightmare.
Either the Democratic Party changes or we leave them behind. They no longer have a choice and we shouldn’t worry about elections or even what media psychopaths like O’Reilly have to say about it. This movement needs cohesion, a plan and a name.
http://www.leftopia.blogspot.com
October 24th, 2007 at 4:33 pmWe know the Republicans will accept anything the corporations will throw at them, but why would the Democrats accept the spin? Do they have aides that read blogs, letters, emails, op-eds, etc. to advise the “overworked” Congressmen? I think, perhaps, the fault may lie on an inadequate staff working for Reps and Senators not getting the correct information to their bosses. Or, maybe their bosses are just getting paid off very well.
October 24th, 2007 at 4:41 pmComment by tomazulob
Personally, I believe that this is one of the main reasons for the domestic wiretapping, to get the goods on political enemies, as well as enforce party discipline. With all the crazy sh1t the GOP has in the closet, it’s a piece o’ cake to keep them in line. It’s not as though the government is shy about blackmailing people. They tried to blackmail MLK into committing suicide.
October 24th, 2007 at 4:48 pmGood post lefty. You should leave/splinter the Dems and form your own party. Or just try the American Socialist or Green party.
Comment by TCDon — October 24, 2007 @ 4:50 pm
any of which could make mincemeat of any of the cross-dressing, lazy, thieving religious whackjobs the GOP has left that are stupid enough to run. Are you ready for a Hillary with unitary executive powers? Where will you go? North Korea? Saudi Arabia?
October 24th, 2007 at 4:59 pmYeah, just like YOUR Christian third party, Donnieboy…?
OK.
October 24th, 2007 at 4:59 pm“Support Our Mercenaries!”
October 24th, 2007 at 4:59 pmThe PR firm run by Mark Penn (Hillary Clinton’s top strategist) and Scott Pastrick (former treasurer of the Democratic National Committee) represents Blackwater.
Comment by TCDon
These two people are free citizens. They are able to make their own choices and don’t need Clinton’s blessing to earn a living. Clinton didn’t encourage or bribe them to take Blackwaters business. It is still a free country (at least until bush is done with us).
It does take an EXTREMELY small mind to link the decisions of these free citizens to Clinton’s campaign or her closeness to any legal business entity.
Comment by StratRat — October 24, 2007 @ 3:59 pm
And if this PR firm represented a Republican candidate, the same troll would be all about free enterprise and free association.
October 24th, 2007 at 5:00 pmHey, TCDon – check *this* out:
Christian college embraces Romney bid
By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign has been embraced in a most unlikely place: at Bob Jones University, the influential Christian college that teaches that his Mormon church is a cult.
“It’s hard to see, but I think that they just realized that he’s the best of a bad lot. I hate to say it that way,” said Dave Woodard, a longtime GOP activist and political science professor at Clemson University.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
Yeah, you Republicans have a whole lot going for you!!!
October 24th, 2007 at 5:01 pmIs THIS what they made their new logo for? It still looks like a sinister symbol you might see at the bottom of a ransom note in a horror movie.
October 24th, 2007 at 5:24 pmStatrat: “Hillary Clinton does not impress me at all. I believe she will keep and use most of the powers Bush has claimed for himself.”
Actually, according to an interview with her in the Guardian, she is the only candidate of either party to say expressly that she will “give back” some of the new powers this administration has taken for itself. She says in this recent interview that she will immediately call for a re-evaluation of all Bush administration changes in the law and in executive power. There’s a link to this article at Buzzflash, if you don’t believe me.
October 24th, 2007 at 5:27 pmLet me clear something up: Clinton doesn’t claim to be the only candidate to make this pledge. I’m saying I haven’t heard any other candidate pledge that, including Saint Kucinich.
October 24th, 2007 at 5:29 pmWhy is Hillary so close to Blackwater?
Comment by TCDon — October 24, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
I thought you guys wanted Hillary to win the nomination so you could pull out all the shit about her for the general election. Get with the programs Donkeykong. Of course lot’s of us would be much happier if Hillary didn’t get the nomination.
October 24th, 2007 at 5:37 pm#7 Comment by hits — October 24, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
Blackwater deserves a fair hearing before being excoriated.
Talk to the Iraqis about a fair hearing. Their investigation was thorough, with rooftop witnesses and no evidence of any shell casings on the ground other than those from Blackwater guns.
I would argue that given the tough situations they have to face, their actions, even if erroneous are justifiable.
BwaaaaaHaaaaaHaaaaa
I would argue that a private army that has blanket protection from a Paul Bremmer edict and no one to answer to for its actions, should not be there at all.
The collateral damage they caused is not any more or less than what happens when a bomb goes astray.
Human lives as “collateral damage?” Are you excusing all the bombing as OK, and a stray bomb as, well “just part of the price the Iraqis have to pay?” Is that what you think?
You must be either really stoooopid, or totally dead inside to make this kind of insane statement.
Of course right wing trolls with their heads up their soft warm place might be a much better explanation for your post. Go back to LGFootfungus and trade your hate messages over there.
October 24th, 2007 at 6:27 pm#15 Comment by TCDon — October 24, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
Why is Hillary so close to Blackwater?
Your Hillary bashing is out of place here you dumb troll. Progressives are not for Hillary and your stupid attempt to inflame falls on deaf ears here. Like I told Hits above:
October 24th, 2007 at 6:34 pmGo back to LGFootfungus and learn how to be an effective troll. Your attempt is laughable.
heard something VERY interesting on randi’s show earlier…
she was talking with rep. bob filner, CA 51… he stated that the first of the fires started in the rural area near petrero… that is was determined to be arson… that petrero is where blackwater is “planning to build a new military training center”…
hmmm…
info on that facility:
October 24th, 2007 at 6:36 pmhttp://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/19/1349211
…
Hitler himself clearly presecribes the possibility of destroying the constitution legally in his famous “oath of Legality” at the Leipzig Reichwehr trial in 1930, when he declared with impunity before the court:
“The Constitution prescribes only the arena of the struggle; it does not specify the goal. We shall enter the legitimate organizations and in this way make our party the decisive factor. Once we possess the constitutional rights to do so, we shall, of course, cast the state in the mold that we consider to be the right one.
Goebbels was even better:
“We are entering the Reichstag to supply ourselves ourselves, in the arsenal of democracy, with democracy’s own weapons. We bbecome Reichstag deputies in order to paralyse the spirit of Weimar with its own aid. IF democracy is so stupid as to pay our transportation and daily expenses for these ‘SERVICES’ of ours, that is its own fault…We come as enemies! As the wolf breaks into the sheepfold, so come we..”
I say Congress exercises it right under the power to tax and spend for a military to bring a resolution to the floor on whether we the people even want a standing army. If we the people have this much power then why does Blackwater, a private army, believe it has any standing at all?
October 24th, 2007 at 6:50 pmBlackwater costs us more than money. We need no mercenaries representing our country. These are gung-ho lunatics looking to perform their macho deeds to “get it off”.
October 24th, 2007 at 7:31 pm“Getting it off” can be done at a republican gathering with more satisfaction.
From the pages of Newt Gingrich playbook; always use mercenary not contractor. Phrases like out of control, dangerous, murderers, hateful undisciplined, menacing are useful. Dont laugh or roll your eyes, this is the secret of gooper success for the last couple of decades.
October 24th, 2007 at 10:36 pmI think relaying the feeling of embarrassment from having murderous mercenaries destroying all chance of success in Iraq is a story that needs to be told over and over.
The core of the Blackwater claim that their services are cheaper is based on the fact that their employees are independant contractors who receive a 1099 instead of a W-2. Blackwater doesn’t pay for their healthcare or pensions and counts that as a net savings when you project their costs out over several decades when their “employees” injured and/or retire. They also don’t pay payroll taxes.
vyan
October 25th, 2007 at 2:35 amErik Prince and his brownshirts. Poor Erik says he is not a mercenary because he only fights for America, supposedly. Why doesn’t any congressman or journalist ask him how many former South African “security” force personnel, Chilean “security” personnel, Serb war criminals, etc. he employs?
How many murderers and torturers are on the Blackwater payroll? I mean, even before they joined Erik Prince. What reason do we have to believe that Erik Prince is not a war criminal himself?
October 25th, 2007 at 9:02 amI think the people will need to form our own militias to balance the power of “private” corporate armies. Is this how the Founders envisioned America?
I don’t think so.
October 27th, 2007 at 8:46 am