The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    Generalissimo Clinton, Department of State

    By we are stardust on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 12:39pm |

    Wired.com is reporting that the ubiquitous (if opaque) Blackwater/Xe Corporation has just been awarded a large piece of a ‘joint-venture’ five-year contract by the State Department worth (up to) $10 billion.  In their current iteration, Prince’s company is operating under a shell company called International Development Solutions.  It’s unclear what will be the duties and responsibilities of each company that won contracts, but at least guarding embassies in Iraq and Kabul, and training security forces in Iraq are included.

    A State Department paper explains the advisability of bundling contracts, rather than using stand-alone contracts, and some of the needs for the mercenaries, including USAID projects and protections.  (Congress has balked a bit at the costs so far, but will no doubt pony up in the future.)

    There are those of who have waxed cynical over Prince changing names of his companies and subsidiaries so often, obviously in an attempt to distance himself and his mercenaries from too much bad press.  Charges of drunkenness, cocaine use, murder (Nissor Square in Bagdad), drug-dealing, major contract fraud, prostitution, etc.  caused Congress to hold a few hearings; and you know what they say:  Look out when Congress gets on the case!  In related news, Iraq has permanently expelled Blackwater/Xe from the country.

    As far as I know, the only charges the company itself has faced were violations of sanctions and illegal weapons sales and shipments.  While they were facing charges, they were ineligible to bid for the next round protection and security force training in Afghanistan.

    The Department of State recently cut a deal with Xe; they were fined $42 million, and are/were allowed to bid again.  Yes; it was a close call.  It was necessary to extend the bidding process deadlines to accommodate Prince, but State, DOD, and Erik reached across the aisle, and reached a compromise.  And that’s how we do it in the USA!

    You may remember that Campaign Clinton vowed never to do business with Blackwater.  Now I may be just a stickler for accuracy, but I assume she must also have meant not doing business with any of the re-named Prince companies or shell companies or umbrella groups.  Now the cynic in me thinks that the bundling of the State Department security/training contracts could be exactly to obscure the parties involved in the contracts, though the paper speaks to accountability and fines for misbehavior, too; and seems to outlaw alcohol use by the troops.  Hash and opium?  Dunno. 

     From Wired.com:

    Eight private security firms have won State’s giant Worldwide Protective Services contract, the big Foggy Bottom partnership to keep embassies and their inhabitants safe. Two of those firms are longtime State contract holders DynCorp and Triple Canopy. The others are newcomers to the big security contract: EOD Technology, SOC, Aegis Defense Services, Global Strategies Group, Torres International Services and International Development Solutions LLC.

    In other related news, Hamid Karzai issued orders that private troops be expelled over a four-month period, though he grants exceptions to the guarding of embassies and NGOs so far.

    Reports say that as US troops have left Iraq, they’ve been replaced by contract forces at about at 1:1 ratio.  It may be that the DOD or DOS have tweaked the SOFA agreement a bit, or made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.  As there has been no government formed since the elections, it’s not entirely clear with whom they’d do business, but they seem to be managing.  And we have heard diplomats confess they enjoy being protected by the cowboy mercenaries who’ve had such great training. 

    All Hail Hillary, Protector of Citizens in the GWOT!

    (with all due respect to Clinton suppporters, of course...)

    Comments

    I thought that generalissimo guy was dead!


    by Richard Day on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 1:40pm

    Only in your dreams, DD...


    by we are stardust on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 2:33pm

    hahahahaahah

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESyTVnxxrPc

     

     


    by Richard Day on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 5:29pm

    LOL, Chevy and Garret!!


    by we are stardust on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 5:56pm

    Might as well add IDS now to the list of corporations that will be identified, eventually, as the major campaign contributors in 2012. But the SoS's participation in these new contract awards does raise an interesting question: will the IDS name appear in the contributor column for Obama? Or is it possible that, instead, it will appear on the one for a primary candidate Clinton?


    by wws on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 1:54pm

    I would guess in the name of another hidden shell corporation; but remember this?  Brooks fronted for a lot of groups, including, if memory serves, some of the ones listed above.  Do you really think Hill will primary Barack?

    http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/w/e/wendy_davis/2010/03/doug-brooks-head-of-the-intl-p.php


    by we are stardust on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 2:38pm

    Anyone who thought the military/industrial/think tank/political complex would have been handled more actively by Hillary than Obama, would be wrong. Read Andrew Bacevich's book 'Washington Rules' for how this all works in DC. President's come and go, the empire and its fraud, waste, abuse and political exploitation makes a lot of people rich while helping demagogues get elected, and may never end until the country goes broke.

    Unfortunately, as a radical virulently anti-American Mullah currently residing in Iran for his own safety, gains power and influence in running Iraq, (everyone here know we invaded Iraq, and Iran is the bigger more dangerous country with the nuclear reactors and the death wish for America-yes?) the State Department is also planning to waste nearly a billion dollars on an embassy in Pakistan. This while Pakistan sinks into the Indus River, and games the GWOT system by both making billions in aid letting the US use its soil for transport and bases, and at the same time funding and and giving safe haven to the terrorist Haqquani Taliban who keep the war going in Afghanistan.


    by NCD on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 2:14pm

    Yeppers, NCD; I am in the process of writing a diary about Perpetual War; Bacevich and his books figure into it, though I have a couple criticisms.  Also I have major criticisms of Woodward and his tales about Obama being boxed in...but more on that another time. 

    Love your Pakistan additions; so much more is going on in Afghanistan in terms of additions and building than is talked about openly; no way, once you know, is it possible to imagine a timeline for withdrawl sooner than...well, shucks; I almost named a decade!  Ignorant, Pollyanna fool!

     


    by we are stardust on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 2:46pm

    Does the Bush Base, the GOP, John McCain or Sarah Palin know that their Glorious War President removed Saddam, in order to give power to Mullah Moqtada al Sadr? Do they care? I wonder if this is what the guy ruling in Kabul finally looks like when we leave in....10-15 years, 25,000 dead and wounded troops, and a trillion dollars later?


    by NCD on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 4:28pm

    I always hate that al Sadr looks so much like my son-in-law...  ;o)

    And no, they don't care, wouldn't believe it, this President likely doesn't believe it; it requires jettisoning concretized beliefs and paying attention to present events, though obviously there are many ways to interpret them.  And the MICC sees them certain ways, through a strange and distorted lens. 

    I have been reading a lot about the recent increase in drone kills in Pakistan, and the claims about how many Al Qaeda operatives and planner we've killed, attempting to interrupt the global attacks they'd been planning.  I wish I could believe the reports any more, but they've simply stretched credulity too far by now.


    by we are stardust on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 5:28pm

    From the State Department doc:

    This authority provided the Department the opportunity to create the WPS contract, an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, to satisfy static guard, personal protective, and emergency response service requirements, which are currently met separately by the WPPS II, BESF, and KESF contracts. Awarding one umbrella IDIQ contract, as opposed to multiple contractual vehicles, will allow the Department to consolidate the terms, conditions, standards, and contracting procedures for these highly visible requirements and provide many benefits, including:

    • Enhance contract oversight through the application of uniform standards and requirements for all PSC services in contingency environments;
    • Allow for more efficient program management as compared to multiple stand-alone contracts;
    • Lessen the duplication of PSC administrative and support functions by consolidating personal protective and static guard requirements into a single task order at certain locations;
    • Reduce acquisition timelines; and 
    • Provide the Department timely options in the event a company fails to perform.

    The new WPS contract will also contain a revised standards of conduct clause that incorporates recent lessons learned, a comprehensive set of reporting requirements for incidents of misconduct, and a section regarding trafficking in persons.

    All a bit strange. Basically the consolidated contract saves paper - avoids having to make multiple copies of the same conditions for separate contractors. And contractors are no longer allowed to traffic in people, which is a great bonus!!

    More seriously, there is a bit about Provide the Department timely options in the event a company fails to perform, which, if true, is a positive development. But 7'000 of these undertrained loose cannons to protect diplomats? Sounds crazy.

    Thanks for this Stardust.


    by Obey on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 4:36pm

    I guess I saw the umbrella as more of a way to blurr the lines among the companies...

    But yes, stating up front that Blackwater, et.al. are now outlawed by contract from keeping  hookers in their compounds could be a step forward.  Christ.

    The 7,000 number is just for Iraq, and they will help train security forces, and assumedly shoot at other Bad Guys.  The bases in Afghanistan will require additional mercs, as will the new bases in Pakistan NCD spoke of above.

     

    Welcome, Obey.


    by we are stardust on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 5:14pm

    I think you people are too nice about this sortof shit. It takes us all back to the hopeful days of Obama vs Clinton, and we all remember how we liked one over the other, and so... we cut them slack. Both of them. Cause they're joined at the hip now.

    But what I really think on this issue is... f*ck Hilary Clinton. She's a war-monging piece of shit. And f*ck goddamn Barack Obama too. I support Dems, and yeah yeah yeah i know about the need for compromise and all that. But Blackwater? You got no excuse folks. No accountability. No sense of what's at risk when a nation let's monsters like this loose.

    So f*ck you both, you and your lying, killing, thieving, corporate whore sack of shit friends.

    Yeah. That's more like it.


    by quinn esq on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 6:28pm

    Joined at the hip, huh?

    Always thought she had a nice fanny pack so to speak.

    Obama is a Muslim attempting to provide MECCA for all of us.

    SO THERE!!!


    by Richard Day on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 6:57pm

    Gotta say you're zeroing right in on it, Quinn.  ;o)

    (Glad ya got that off your chest; musta been giving you some high blood pressure there...me, too.)

     


    by we are stardust on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 7:11pm

    BTW, those "you" are intended to be addressing HRC and BHO. Oh well...... 

     


    by quinn esq on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 10:02pm

    You may have forgotten that I posted the blog, Monsieur; and had I thought you meant ME in your rant, I woulda had some fine words for ya!  ;o)

    I was glad you uncorked; the low-key nature of this place has hemmed ya in, brother!  You haven't been able to reach your full stride lately! 

    (Have a baseball memory for ya sometime; not tonight, I''m beat.)  Sleep well in your new digs .


    by we are stardust on Sun, 10/03/2010 - 12:05am

    K. NOW this place is starting to feel more like home. Is that a good thing?


    by stillidealistic on Sun, 10/03/2010 - 1:59am

    Well, now, almostdelicious-nearingnirvana:  That depends on how you feel about HOME.

    ;oP


    by we are stardust on Sun, 10/03/2010 - 7:05am