10.20.2007

Comments from Larry

I keep threatening to publish Larry's comments - as I think they are great. Tonight I will, and will leave it open to Larry to continue posting his ideas, if he wishes, by e mailing me them. I will publish them as "Comments from Larry", if he is willing. Tonight however, a comment over at America Weeps under the National ID post caught my eye, and made my heart leap into my throat.

Larry, please contribute more as you find out - I'd like to know all that I can about this.

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"Don't tell us Martial Law isn't on it's way:

Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans. Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor; indeed some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards on their arms. They say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force. Several mercenaries we spoke with said they had served in Iraq on the personal security details of the former head of the US occupation, L. Paul Bremer and the former US ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte.

"This is a totally new thing to have guys like us working CONUS (Continental United States)," a heavily armed Blackwater mercenary told us as we stood on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. "We're much better equipped to deal with the situation in Iraq."

Blackwater mercenaries are some of the most feared professional killers in the world and they are accustomed to operating without worry of legal consequences. Their presence on the streets of New Orleans should be a cause for serious concern for the remaining residents of the city and raises alarming questions about why the government would allow men trained to kill with impunity in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to operate here. Some of the men now patrolling the streets of New Orleans returned from Iraq as recently as 2 weeks ago.

What is most disturbing is the claim of several Blackwater mercenaries we spoke with that they are here under contract from the federal and Louisiana state governments.

Blackwater is one of the leading private "security" firms servicing the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. It has several US government contracts and has provided security for many senior US diplomats, foreign dignitaries and corporations. The company rose to international prominence after 4 of its men were killed in Fallujah and two of their charred bodies were hung from a bridge in March 2004. Those killings sparked the massive US retaliation against the civilian population of Fallujah that resulted in scores of deaths and tens of thousands of refugees.

As the threat of forced evictions now looms in New Orleans and the city confiscates even legally registered weapons from civilians, the private mercenaries of Blackwater patrol the streets openly wielding M-16s and other assault weapons. This despite Police Commissioner Eddie Compass' claim that "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons.""

3 comments:

Larry said...

Thanks Anok,

Democracy Now had this report on Blackwater troops patrolling the streets of New Orleans.

If Blackwater is pulled from Iraq, it is a safe bet that Bush has plans to keep them employed on the streets of America.

Anon-Paranoid said...

Instead on National Guardsman shooting and killing Americans like they did at Kent State it will be Blackwater doing the killing.

Their boots on the soil of America is a threat to our very Democracy.

The Constitution does not allow the Government to have its own private Military and this is just another High Crime and Misdemeanor by a Dictator whom the Peoples Representatives refuse to Impeach.

I'm afraid that we have passed the point of no return and Martial Law is just around the corner.

Our Constitution has been destroyed since last year and only a declaration of Martial Law exists to confirm it.

America truly Weeps.

God Bless.

Anok said...

Larry, thanks for the article - I have been looking into what it all means.

And I think Anon is right - if we haven't passed the point of no return just yet, we are dangerously close. I wrote a post a while ago about how easily our government could become a dictatorship - its becoming even clearer to me as we speak.