There's been so much happening lately that it's been hard to know where to focus, and I missed all this; maybe you did too.  Pardon the cut and paste; I'm not feeling well, probably from reading all that's discussed in all these links, and from listening to an interview Jeremy Scahill did May 3 on Democracy Now!

Jeremy Scahill reported at The Nation on a speech Prince gave recently at the Tulip Time Festival (WTH?) in Holland Michigan.  Since no reporters were allowed into the event, an acquaintance of Scahill's agreed to record it covertly.

A couple of us at the Café have blogged about the increased use of private contractors, including contract military forces.  The trend of future war and occupations is arguably heading rapidly toward private small armies, outsourced intelligence gathering (another revolving door between government and private industry), and drone attacks.

An excerpt from Scahill's piece at Rebelreports site:

In the speech, Prince proposed that the US government deploy armed private contractors to fight "terrorists" in Nigeria, Yemen, Somalia and Saudi Arabia, specifically to target Iranian influence. He expressed disdain for the Geneva Convention and described Blackwater's secretive operations at four Forward Operating Bases he controls in Afghanistan. He called those fighting the US in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan "barbarians" who "crawled out of the sewer." Prince also revealed details of a July 2009 operation he claims Blackwater forces coordinated in Afghanistan to take down a narcotrafficking facility, saying that Blackwater "call[ed] in multiple air strikes," blowing up the facility. Prince boasted that his forces had carried out the "largest hashish bust in counter-narcotics history." He characterized the work of some NATO countries' forces in Afghanistan as ineffectual, suggesting that some coalition nations "should just pack it in and go home." Prince spoke of Blackwater working in Pakistan, which appears to contradict the official, public Blackwater and US government line that Blackwater is not in Pakistan.

Several times during the speech, Prince appeared to demean Afghans his company is training in Afghanistan, saying Blackwater had to teach them "Intro to Toilet Use" and to do jumping jacks. At the same time, he bragged that US generals told him the Afghans Blackwater trains "are the most effective fighting force in Afghanistan." Prince also revealed that he is writing a book, scheduled to be released this fall.

Far from Congressional oversight and hearings leading to a diminution of Blackwater's and other contractors' power, it is increasing.  Blackwater is still in the running for the multi-billion dollar contract to train Afghan security forces and police, even though their past performance was deemed abysmal.  If it seems worth it, I'll dig up the info from a blog I did on contractors and Congressional Findings a few months ago ago; though it might just be overkill...You all know what and who Eric Prince is: King of Mercenaries, US.

In a related topic:

In his piece called Tracking Drones and Private Spies he provides these links, including one to New America Foundation and their interactive map on drone attacks.  (Sorry; can't grab the map; here's the link):  

 http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=111611283754323549630.00047e8cdfc55d220dee7&ll=33.100745,70.444336&spn=4.41699,7.03125&t=p&z=7&source=embed