Jeremy Scahill:Blackwater and the Coalition of the Billing 1

[wolvarine35]

the coalition of the billing at least have the balls to fight when the lead starts flying unlike our cowardly "allies". as a professional soldier i'd rather have a squad of blackwater with me down range than a battalion of any european army. and its not like our country wasn't built on the backs of mercenaries in the first place.

[opiebear]

hey gunsmith why don,t you take johnson out of your mouth we can,t understand you

[opiebear]

hey gunsmith why don,t you take johnson out of your mouth we can,t understand you

[Gunsmith88000]

Scahill you are a liar and a communist traitor

[itzahazylife]

@Gunsmith88000

you're a little bitch who can't handle the truth.

[pele6922]

rollot and zz: it does not matter who sold what to whom. Iraq 2003 was a lie based on non existent WMD. Saddam was no threat and certainly not an imminent one needing immediate action. Iraq 2003 was personal. bush jr sticking up for his daddy while distracting america from the real threat in afganistan. reagan did the same thing in 1983. we forgot all about the 243 marines killed in beirut because we were liberating grenada in the same week. same play, different actors.

[williamwagener]

Jeremy puts a good perspective on old bits of information,

pulling it together to make sense of events largely "spun" into

none sense by Major TV media. Worth the time to Watch.

[akram7103]

story] in my hometown theres this guy that works 4 the british army an i swear he says 1 thing i used to find soo shoking is how wen 1 of our armys dies how they stonk out!!! and the arans about 20 30 dead layin down and they wnt stink as much!! and how patient there mums are and family!! once i asked 1 palestinian guy wheres the love 4 these dead pple and he says theres no love thers happiness to die in no action u led ur self too theyre the pple of paradise!! he kept sayin that i coldnt stand

[solysoly89]

Mr Scahill, your are a very brave man. your country should be proud of you.

[rbgsolomon]

Jeremy is the man, he is fighting for the cause taking on your lord and saviors, the various evil US corporations. Screw you red neck.

[bapyou]

@ Oheeeoh:

Asshole. Go wave the flag some more. And kill an Iraqi kid while you're at it. George Bush will be proud of you. Recall the level of esteem in which the world holds your fellow asshole Bush.

[rollotwomassey]

Pila, you opened up this discussion with calling me an "idiot" and then calling me "dumb"- but you're right. I'M clearly the hotheaded, irrational one here. You didn't address my points just issued the brilliant rejoinder of me being "dumb." You're older than me AND Canadian- two demographic boxes that, when checked off, should make these sort of ad hominem attacks less likely.

[rollotwomassey]

Sweet Jesus! They were caterers! How could we expect them to NOT be killed! Thank Gaia for this philosopher-kin/ warrior-poet's courageous truthtelling. Lest it be unclear by THIS point to the Iraqi "resistance"- if you fire at us we WILL hit back and our guns are bigger. We're there to help, if our help's not appreciated, lots of luck my friends living in the hellhole you've created for yourselves.

[pilatunes]

Rollo, you are an IDIOT. Iraq had it's problems, no doubt, but it was AMERICA that turned Iraq into a hellhole.

[rollotwomassey]

Wow, keep that witty, incisive commentary coming. You're blowing my mind. What is it about the sight of American soldier that makes a Sunni blow up a market full of Shia?

[pilatunes]

Like I said, they had their problems. However, it was under some measure of control. The invasion removed any apparatus for the control of those ethnic tensions, leading to the chaos that exists today. Had the US not engaged in the deBaathification of the government and the dismantling of the armed forces, these controls would have remained in place to control this. So, yes, the policies of the US post-invasion are directly responsible for the slaughter of Iraqis and American soldiers.

[rollotwomassey]

That "control" was an illusion and would not last forever. At some point there had to be an effort to move past the Hussein era and this was best done under intl supervision. 35 years of divide and rule combined with a 1300 year sectarian enmity meant this sort of conflict may had been unavoidable. If the US ran Iraq with the old levers of power and/or declared martial law after the fall of Saddam I guarantee THAT would be lambasted too. Its the "heads I win, tails you lose" school of critique.

[pilatunes]

It wasn't so much an illusion as it was transient, as most dictatorships are. However, the US has actively and tacitly supported many oppressive regimes, and has overthrown democratically elected governments, to suit its purposes. Consquently the US had no moral or legal right to invade any country for the purposes of regime change. And it is firmly established that Iraq had no WMDs and no connection to Al Qaeda or the 9/11 attacks either.

[rollotwomassey]

If it was wrong to support Hussein in the past- under Cold War realpolitik which was, I believe, the only option at the time- it is the morally correct thing to remove him now as well as it is serving US natl security because he was a state sponsor of terror. He HAD connections to AQ but not 9/11 and the ONLY reason we know Iraq to be WMD-free now is because we went in there!

[zzsharka]

The U S sold W M Ds to both Iran & Iraq during their war, America admits this. At the time & now there r many other dictators just like Sadam but without oil. e.g. Robert Mcgarbie of Zimbabwe. N Korea admitted to having WMDs but Bush didn't go there. Soudiarabia still kill women i.e. stoned to death for leaving abusive partners or if they report rape but does your country do anything there ? Hell no as they already have control of the oil there. Sadam & Osama were enemies. Wake up !

[rollotwomassey]

The US did not sell WMDs to Iran- those were conventional missiles in return for hostages. They never sold WMD to Iraq, either. There are other dictators but just because we can't depose all of them doesn't mean we don't depose any of them. Mugabe doesn't control an oil choke point and is deplorable, but not a security concern. If the US attacked SA due to its human rights record, would you support that? I thought not. Its heads you win, tales we lose and your ilk arent serious, credible people.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey hahaha who in their right mind would give or sell weapons in exchange for hostages, kinda defeats the purpose lol Also with Iraq you don't know your history at all, you think it is only the Bush era ? Even Kennedy supported the Sadam regime, my ilk as you put it know your history better then you do yourself.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka Well...they asked for weapons for hostages so we offered them weapons for hostages. And PLEASE learn your history- JFK was assassinated in 1963. The Ba'ath party did not come to power until 1968 and Saddam did not come to lead the Ba'ath party and Iraq until 1979. So, how could Kennedy support a man and a party from beyond the grave?

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey Even Obama said in his speech that American C I A assasinated the previous Iranian president who was ok, before this latest psycho, the previous government was allot better but the latest Fundementalist meant having more reason to attack Iran. Look at Thailand lately i.e the government telling the army to shoot and kill its own people and America who think they are the world police just sit back and watch. It probably didn't even make news over there.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka Which previous Iranian president is that? I think you mean in 1953 the CIA supported the Shah in a counter coup against Mossadegh. Mossadegh lived the rest of his life under house arrest in Iran, he was not killed. If you're going to be this insufferable you could at least do me the courtesy of being knowledgeable. Thailand? Hey, if the US decided to pressure the Thai govt or even threaten "regime change" would you support either of those actions? I thought not.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey So are you saying your president lied when he said the C I A assainated an Iranian President in his speech to the Muslim world? As for Thailand, this was one of those cases where a country like America and the U N needed to step in. ie when Thailand skipped the process. They skipped the in between steps i.e water cannons, rubber bullees, pistals, machine guns and went straight from battons & shields to firing live rounds. This was a major crime against humaity.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka I'm saying you're either lying or misinformed about what the President said. Date of this speech? Venue? And, just to get this on record: you favor meddling in the internal affairs of the Thai state [possibly regime change] because they were nasty with some demonstrators? Newsflash: The blue helmets won't trespass on national sovereignty and every time the US does they're called every name in the book, ironically by people like you!

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey The army is there to protect its people, not to shoot at its own people ! Just like America didn't protect Georgia when Russia invaded. But it claims that Iraq & Afganistan are just causes ? p s you can't compare Mcgarbe who killed opposition supporters & white farmers, to the democratic process of South Africa.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka We had no compelling national interest to intervene on behalf of Georgia. It would've been the heroic thing to do but it wasn't worth a shooting war with Russia and Russia knew that. Iraq was unfinished business and the former govt of Afghanistan sheltered and allied with those who DIRECTLY attacked us on 9/11. You couldn't dream up a more realistic scenario for the legitimate, justified use of force by the US in the 21st Century.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey So why didn't America attack the saudies if they were the ones who did it (which they were according to the U S government) (can't see how the Pentagon would miss a massive jet coming straight for it or how a building built to withstand natural disasters could crumble the way buildings crumble when demolished

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka Oh, I LOVE this red herring! Those Saudi men were dissidents in their own society- AQ hates the House of Saud [arguably] more than the US. And PLEASE think through this counterfactual: Had the US invaded Saudi Arabia would you support it? No, of course not. Aside from us saying: "Aww, geez shucks, you're right. Kill us at will. We're terrible and we're sorry."- there is no course of action the US could take that would satisfy you.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey No you have it backwards, I am saying that the fact that the U S invaded a different country to the one who attcked it is worse and more un just ! Itsabsolutely rediculous, you are really running out of a plausable argument when you say things like if they had done it to the right country would you have supported that ? If a couple of Brits or French people etc did the same thing do you really think America would have invaded the entire country ?

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka Iraq was a state sponsor of terror- giving training, weapons and materiel to Islamist groups. Was Hussein devout? No- but he did his best impression [writing a Quran in his own blood was my favorite] to forge an alliance of convenience with others in the ME who hate the US. Brits and French people don't attack us routinely, nor do they live in societies that justify such religious-based violence against Westerners.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey @rollotwomassey The invasion just created more terrorists, was more terrorism around the world since Bush than ever before. Also America did not say Sadam was building a nuklear program, it said it had weapons of mass destruction/chemical weapons (because it sold them to Iraq) and Iraq denied this, this is very different to testing nuclear weapons/puting them on show & admitting to having nuclear weapons.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka That tired old calculus has been disproved. If you kill enough of them they will fold. You have to create an environment where people think they have more to gain by joining the Americans and the new Iraqi govt than by opposing them. Most people's "morality" extends no further than who they think is going to win and who is going to lose. Some men cannot be coopted and they will either have to be jailed or, in extremis, killed. Iraq has been an excellent example of that.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka And...I'm not sure where you got this: NEVER did I equate Mugabe with the ANC movement in Apartheid-era South Africa. Mugabe is a thug and the ANC, though they did engage in terrorist activities sometimes, largely confined themselves to guerrilla tactics against got installations.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey North Korea are no threat to America or the world, they jump up & down because they want to keep their communism & have U S spy planes hovering over their country all the time & tens of thousands of U S troops have been based in South Korea for decades. If you act psychotic & have nukes nobody messes with you.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka They're a threat to Japan and South Korea. These are two allies who, in the calculus of the Cold War, did NOT go nuclear because the DPRK- as a surrogate to the Soviet Union and China- did not go nuclear. If they ignite a nuclear arms race in the far east because our allies are convinced we won't provide deterrence it will be a bad thing for all involved.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey he is not a madman, he is good at pretending to be a madman & nobody is gonna take the chance when it comes to nukes. (p s another country America ignored while blowing up Iraq & Afganistan) If he was a madman he wouldn't be so calculating in the use of his language e.g. when he said he would declare Japan shooting down the miscle as an act of war after Japan said they would shoot down any debre which flew over Japan from the missile.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka So...Kim Jong Il having a problem with Japan shooting down a nuclear ICBM aimed at them would be an unjust provocation by Japan against North Korea? Wow....just, wow.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey Japan did not say they would shoot down the missle itself and not only that but there was no debre flying over Japan at all afterwards. Also if he was a madman the U S spy planes would be shot down when they pass through North Korean skys. Want a country who wants your government to be like theres to leave you alone ? JUst act crazy and show you have nukes, Iran did it after America ignored North Korea.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka He can't shoot down our spy planes because well...they're freakin' SPY planes and he can't track them! And pursuing a nuclear weapons program did not save Hussein from invasion.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey The other point is that the only reason for invading Iraq was oil as America ignored the millino people killed in the Rewanda genocide, the slaughter in the congo, liberia, Zimbabwe & several other nations

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka Right, right but if the US HAD intervened in Rwanda or Darfur I'm absolutely certain your line of thinking would be something along the lines of: "The US just wants mineral rights for their multinational corporations! They're slaughtering Hutus wholesale! They're favoring the Tutsis just like the Belgian colonialists! Leave Rwanda to the Rwandans- stop your neo-colonialist, racist imperial project in Central Africa!!!!" And don't try and tell me otherwise.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey The military are trained to hate anybody from the Middle East Muslms, ie "shoot the towel heads", they are not thee to liberate the people, they are trained to believe that the "towel heads" are the enemy. I know because my mate is a soldier and will be sent to Afganistan & has been brain washed. They shoot middle eastern faces at the firing range. Wake up buddy.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka You know it's funny- when you're in a warzone and the people that are trying to kill you everyday are Muslims predominantly from the Middle East you develop a somewhat hostile attitude towards the. Funny how that happens...and I notice you can't even respond to my Rwanda argument.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey No I just didn't see your rewanda comment until now as I was falling asleep. No you are missing the point, people judge others on their record and if America helped the other countries such as Rewanda before going to Iraq then America would have had some credibility going into Iraq.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey But when they failed to do anything about at least 10 other countries worse off than Iraq was but chose the country with the most oil then who in their right mind (unless brainwashed and or misinformed) would believe it was justified.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka We can't intervene everywhere it's needed and we shouldn't try. You can be disappointed but deferential and respectful when we don't intervene and over the moon when we decide it's in our interests [or even not in our interests- see Bosnia and Kosovo] to intervene. But you REALLY have to get past this "You're a hypocrite, daddy! I hate you!" school of foreign policy critique.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey Sep 11 was a couple of saudis not the Saudi Army and airforce occupying America so Americans joining the military would be pointless. No those 2 groups you mentioned are not making enemies, as Arabs wouldn't be getting killed by them if it wasn't for America occupying their land. This only started when America started blowing their country up & occupying it. Even the Pope is ashamed of the crusades, learn your history as that wasn't a defencsive move & neither was hitlers.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey So you are creating more terrorists and making your country and the world less safe. Get the hell out of their countries and you wont have a problem as their governments need money & technology & America has what they need in terms of trade, it's all politics for the governments.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey It almost makes me laugh how in Soudiarabia who according to America attacked the U S hence Sep 11 but even now if you are caught kissing someone in public you get about several lashes & if a woman leaves her man she is stoned to death but America didn't go there they went to Iraq instead & says they have improved it lol that's why so many are leaving if they can hmm

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey & you know what ? womens rights are worse than ever in Iraq now e.g. rape is ok if the woman isn't wearing a veil, so what the hell have America achieved there besides mass carnage ? and yes i agree that the Apartheit is another past event that America ignored but still tries to justify their 2 current wars.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka That's not exactly true- women are represented at every level of government in Iraq. In some areas, yes, more, ahem, "traditional" attitudes on the comportment of the female of the species have prevailed. Freedom is a messy thing- there's nothing to be done about it aside from, to the best of our ability as an outside party, prohibit these modes of thought from being enshrined in the law. Make it unofficial bigtoty, not official discrimination.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey Bush senior encouraged the Iraqis to rise up against him and when they did America didn't help and the Iraqis were slaughted by Sadams men, why do you think Iraqs didn't trust Americas' intensions the with George W Bush ?

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka Well, they're there now- better late than never. Bush I's scenario would have been optimum- Hussein would've been removed after being severely weakened by the US military but there was a more genuine, grassroots revolution in Iraq- not a foreign power collapsing the regime and then a messy counterinsurgency/nation building exercise with an "occupying" power.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey hmm funny how more terroist attacks at least before before the latest bush have been white suppremists, neo nazis, I R A etc rather than Muslims but your media prefers to focus on Muslims. The Jews copped it in W W 2 & now its Hitler all over again for the Muslims. p s ever heard of the crusaders lol

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka Please name me significant terrorist attacks by "white suppremists, neo nazis, I R A"? The IRA has been largely dormant and for the other 2 groups- nothing comes to mind. I'm not sure what this sentence means: "The Jews copped it in W W 2 & now its Hitler all over again for the Muslims. ." And I've heard of the Crusades and they were a defensive action to take back Jerusalem and the Holy Lands after Arab Muslims TOOK those lands by force.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey That's true, America won't help where it's really needed, only looks after its own interests & make other countries allot worse off as a result. You are right about the media not focusing on the white suppremists etc as they enjoy targetting Muslims now as they just run with whatever story is sexy at the time, like the Jews in the 30s, so of course it's not as easy to name the perpetrators individually.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey & despite what America has done they will actually be friendly to you, not judge you based on your religion or nationality, Iraq & Afganistan is obviously another matter since you are blowing them up & they have no drinking water or electicity in the majority of their country, thats liberation for you mate ! Do you think it matters what type of government you have when you don't have drinking water or electricity lol.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey Think about it, every person you blow up in those countries has a whole family and friends which will be a very easy for Alkaida and the Taliban to recruit because of the anger & hatred after their friend or family member was blown up by an American plane.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka Not really- did every friend or family member of the 9/11 victims join the US military? No. And you're forgetting the fact that the Taliban and AQ are killing more Arabs and Muslims than the US ever dreamed. They're creating more enemies than we are and we, not them, are offering a way past their own self-imposed pathologies. Victory is inevitable- time, force and pressure applied, grinding them down- even with the status quo victory is a mathematical certainty.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka What have they achieved? Are you kidding? Merely winning a counter-insurgency in that region is a dagger through AQ's heart. And APARTHEID ended BECAUSE of the US! Do you think it is any coincidence that apartheid ended in 1994? 3 years after the Soviets filed for Chapter Elevensky- their anti-communist services weren't needed anymore and Botha was one of a long line of undesirables to be shown the door [see Pinochet, Noriega]. It's a lot easier to support America- just give in to it.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey LOL the Apartheit ended because of Nelson Mandela ! The U S could have stopped it years before that.

Iraq had nothing to do with Alkaida, Sadam and Osama were enemies but you have fallen victim to the proppganda.

There are allot more people getting killed in Iraq than there was under Sada,and you know what ?

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey Whatch a news program besides fox to gain a more balamced view as that is just Hollywood.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka Ahhh- a FOX News reference- the last refuge out the outwitted, outclassed and generally outdone lefty internet scoundrel!

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey I'll give you an example, I bet you don't realize that even an American visiting Iran is treated with respect, because the people there know governments/media fill the people with bullshit hence their current government.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka And there are MILLIONS of Persian expats living well in this country! What of it?

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey Those Persians have to change their names now as they won't get a job in America otherwise.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka You're putting the cart before the horse- the US has spy planes and troops over there BECAUSE they act crazy, have a bizarre cult of personality, a totalitarian slave state and a nuclear program whilst being unable to provide for the caloric needs of their citizens. And, they ARE acting psychotic and already HAVE nukes...so you defeat your own argument if you say that we're "messing with them."

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey They just want money to shut up & Japan (huge trading partners these days) is in Americas ear because they obviously copped nukes in ww2 & get very nervous when N Korea tests them in their waters.

[rollotwomassey]

@zzsharka Wouldn't YOU be nervous if a madman who believes himself to be a god and a reincarnation of his dead father was testing nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems a few hundred miles from your shores?!?!

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey You are missing the point when you mention the government is not spending enough on its people, yes this is not good but it happens in almost every African country & many other nations.

[zzsharka]

@rollotwomassey but whether or not the American government created it is another debate) The middle East is no threat to America or the rest of the world, it's the other way around, surely you can see that by now ? p s Where is Obama during Israels raid ? !

[WitchesBrew4U]

@zzsharka mmmhmmmm....and look whats going on with North Korea now!  And YOU posted this comment what....6 months ago?

[rollotwomassey]

There was never a peace treaty with Iraq there was a ceasefire, the terms of which they broke. Bilateral treaties supersede the vagaries of a purely hypothetical international legal system. In the same vein the US attacking the DPRK would be a "legal" thing to do even if it were inadvisable. Why are people of your political stripe hung up on the legal question? I swear if you were being knifed to death on the street the only thing you'd say is: "You know, this is ILLEGAL, what you're doing!"

[pilatunes]

Rollo, now you are just being dumb.  I briefly thought you were guying to try and have a rational discussion.

[ishmaiden]

The Cole happened in 2000, not 1999.

[kpgps]

This guy is an idiot!

[nab276]

why doesn't cnn or msnbc or abc ever report this stuff?!!.....i think our media is state run!!

[lordmeowmeow]

if they ran this type of material, people would either bury their heads deeper in the sand, or impeach bush and put the whole administration on trial. god forbid justice prevailing in this country.

[windowlicker1980]

Why would we ever here the real truth on TV! Because all the rich greedy assholes would look really Bad! As a country, we need to read more books,and stop watching so much TV!

[Dizzyboobiesska8park]

@nab276 it did report it......and the funeral

[FightTheElite]

@nab276

Neh, your media and state is CFR run.

[killgore302]

Blackwater deserved it and the rest of the company should be killed and hanged on every overpass in Iraq for the illegal killing they do every day!

[AiresQX4]

The mercenery forces become dangerous because they will end up working on American streets. Actually they already are!! Which is so bad because they don't have the same set of rules and regulations as the police force or Army.. Leagalized criminals!!

[ZionistWorldOrder]

Rent-A-Cops Gone Wild!

[What160]

Jeremy Scahill did a good job on investigating Blackwater.

[highway234]

the corporate shills in the media hardly ever let mr. scahill on t.v. and when they do they make sure to have him opposite a character assassin like billo who will be sure to interrupt him at every opportunity, because his message is genuinely dangerous to a craven status quo.

[TonyFuckingDanza]

Jeremy Scahill isn't an American investigative journalist, but he plays one on TV.

[blatantanomaly]

is there supposed to be some certificate that "real" investigative journalists carry?

how much of a lowlife are you to paste this into every video mentioning a certain name?

[maurieer]

TonyFuckingDanza,

Jeremy Scahill happens to be a one of the best

correspondents in the business.

You have to be a moron to make those comments.

Get a life moron!