
Blackwater Founder Wants to Provide “Turn Key” Mercenary AF for Afghanistan - QAPereo
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/13193/blackwater-founder-thinks-his-private-air-force-can-help-afghanistan
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spraak
Wow, I'm shocked that I didn't even realize the US was still 'at war' in
Afghanistan. Now I'm looking at the Wikipedia page and reading that "[t]he War
in Afghanistan is the longest war in United States history" [1].

How embarrassing :( I wonder how many Americans are un/aware of this.

1\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_\(2001%E2%80%93present\))

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3131s
A lot probably. The US population seems to be totally unaware of what their
military is really doing.

The whole thing is obfuscated in a web of foreign governments, three-letter
agencies, contractors and tech giants, endless acronyms and euphemisms (e.g.
'disposition matrix', 'extraordinary rendition', 'enhanced interrogation
techniques', 'collateral damage'), and as others in this thread have said, a
lot of it is about creating distance from culpability. Barack Obama was a
remarkably adept and slick PR guy, possessing the perfect confluence of
personal attributes to make Americans not care about whatever their government
was doing. But now Trump is letting the cat out of the bag! It's a dangerous
course of events but maybe has more opportunity for creating lasting change if
people unite against him.

Can I suggest this news network?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_News](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_News)

They have a Youtube channel with all their videos up. The name pre-dates the
"real" vs. "fake news" thing. It's a rare example of American journalists
speaking candidly about the US war & arms industry. They have other content
too, along the lines of Democracy Now but with less focus on social justice
issues, but I know that the CEO / editor Paul Jay believes that US war
profiteering is presently the main existential threat to humankind:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAEF0iToJ5Y&t=747s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAEF0iToJ5Y&t=747s)

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chickenbane
For those who don't read the article, AF in this context is Air Force and not
As Fuck

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spraak
I wonder how frequently people on HN go straight to the comments? (I did think
AF was 'as fuck')

~~~
YouKnowBetter
I always do. Only after reading a) some good discussion, b) seeing no comments
at all I will potentially visit the original site.

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cmurf
It just shows we have learned nothing from Iran-Contra.

The decision of the International Court of Justice in June 1986 condemning the
United States for the “unlawful use of force” and illegal economic warfare was
dismissed as an irrelevant pronouncement by a “hostile forum” (New York
Times).
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua_v._United_States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua_v._United_States)

War profiteering is a rent-seeking activity. It's public fraud. And its
adherents are aristocratic. They believe they're better than others, murder is
completely ethical and available for a price, which is its only inhibitor.
Thing is, when this class get out of control, their fellow little primates,
who happen to be the vast majority, can go ape shit and build things like
guillotines. Yes, there were so many victims that needed execution the streets
ran with blood for days. They'd obviously let them accumulate unchecked for
far too long. Oh well.

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trestletech
Amazingly, UberForWar.com is still available.

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dhbanes
Not anymore

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Consultant32452
Good. Maybe if more people start to see the military as just another business
they will start to change the way we think about how we use our military. It
will be less, "Brave soldiers putting their life on the line for us" and more
"People whose job sometimes requires they kill people for the highest bidder."

~~~
Teever
I wish that people didn't take these knee-jerk, edgy, contrarian responses.

There are significant implications to what you suggest beyond just the mere
possibility of the potential benefit you claim.

I think it is a very disconcerting notion that we would allow a private entity
to possess the equipment and infrastructure to wage war.

How do we ensure they don't go rogue?

~~~
Consultant32452
>I think it is a very disconcerting notion that we would allow a private
entity to possess the equipment and infrastructure to wage war

Why? Do you feel you have any real say in what our public entity does with its
equipment and infrastructure to wage war? Those capabilities are already in
the hands of the highest bidder.

>How do we ensure they don't go rogue?

The public entity is already rogue.

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wbl
Do you really think the US armed forces go to war without the President's
authorization to do so?

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knieveltech
How is the requirement to obtain the President's authorization a refutation of
the premise? Are we pretending that the last four wars this country fought
(not to mention the countless police actions and funded regime change) had any
point beyond making a handful of wealthy people even wealthier? Are we
pretending that the American people at large benefited in any way from any of
these actions?

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jimjimjim
the whole point of mercenaries is meant to be distance and deniability.

if something 'goes wrong' who gets the blame?

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beedogs
Well, apparently nobody gets the blame. Or, more accurately, the court system
overturns the convictions of mercenaries who slaughter dozens of civilians:

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/murder-
co...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/murder-conviction-
in-blackwater-case-thrown-out-other-sentences-
overturned/2017/08/04/a14f275c-792e-11e7-9eac-d56bd5568db8_story.html)

~~~
chii
it should be the paying entities that takes the responsibility. The mercs
themselves don't (and arguably shouldn't) take any liability when they are
ordered to kill anyone.

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theEXTORTCIST
this is an interesting application... was linked in the article safestrike.it

