Having NGOs conduct killing on behalf of the government is a tried-and-true method of counterinsurgence (South American paramilitary death squads for example). The plausible deniability introduced by working through a proxy allows the government to conduct more politically risky operations (including false flag attacks if public support is waning). Criticizing the government becomes riskier. And, if not held in check, the paramilitary elements will inevitably use their power for their own objectives.
That's quite a headline. But the article is mostly about delegations of authority (and that not in any real detail), a story of US contractors conducting assassinations, and one (1) corroborating opinion -- that corroboration in no detail, and almost certainly second-hand.<p>There's a paragraph about the "terrifying background", in absolutely no detail whatsoever.<p>This sort of thing has become a subgenre of its own, one where the documentation almost always falls well short of the promise.<p>People should think about what the cries of "Wolf!" are doing to our ability to spot truly documented and disturbing problems.
The book on Blackwater written by the journalist Jeremy Scahill has a lot of interesting background on Prado. Also, "American Desperado" (<i>great book</i>, also by Evan Wright) talks about some of Prado's interesting involvement in drug importation into Florida in the 1980s.<p>Sounds like an interesting guy, but probably not someone you want to meet in a dark alley.<p><i>Edit:</i><p>The Scahill book is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blackwater-Powerful-Mercenary-Revised-Updated/dp/156858394X" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Blackwater-Powerful-Mercenary-Revised-...</a><p>The Wright book is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/American-Desperado-Life---Soldier-Government/dp/0307450422/" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/American-Desperado-Life---Soldier-Gove...</a><p>I've read both and highly recommend them.
"The administration then awarded Blackwater (which is now called Academi) a $250 million contract to perform unspecified services for the CIA."<p>Your tax dollars at work.
"Your sources seem to have been correct. Private contractors are whacking people like crazy over in Afghanistan for the CIA."<p>If you want to have a debate, lets talk about ending the various wars the USA is fighting in various forms around the world. Not whether a particular covert surgical tactic is being carried out by the correct kind of soldier.
Jesus Christ, think about it! a Blackwater employee killed your six year old son, but he turned out to be a wrong person. You have all the evidence in the world for justice to be served, and yet you get this: "oh, sorry, but this company and their employees have unofficially issued government license to kill. Neither your local sherrif office, nor police, nor your congressmen, people in congress, DOJ or Supreme Court alone can do shit about it".<p>And this happens on the soil of the United States of America!
Well, to be fair, every government uses or at least has plans for these kind of tactics. KGB/FSB, Mossad, MI6, DGSE, otehr variations of a DSS agency - you've got to be very naive to believe they don't conduct covert operations and planned assassinations themselves or through third parties. It's only shocking when it comes to light (or maybe <i>because</i> it comes to light, when it shouldn't?)...
Just another reason that withdrawing "official" military from Iraq is a farce of the same level as declaring victory.<p>We don't officially torture prisoners (anymore), but unaccountable private contractors can run wild, hidden from all that pesky human rights oversight.
I like to think of the current structures that define and drive of our 'civilization' as a legacy design that is very difficult to replace, sort of like PC and Von Neumann-ish architecture, or a giant Perl codebase.<p>I think that in this technological era, secret government (or private) killings, war, domination of resources by force, etc., is completely inexcusable. I think that the structures are unfortunately supported by primitive Social Darwinist belief systems.<p>I am actually optimistic that when violence and violence suppression really becomes an information technology (i.e., a non-wealthy person can run a program/device that fabricates and launches his own swarm of protective robots) that will lead to a more equal distribution of resources and generally less violence and coercion. May sound far-fetched, and maybe it is.. but things are so fucked up, I have to hope for some science-fictiony sounding solutions.
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So there you have it: A former Air Force lieutenant colonel, speaking on the record and using the present tense, said in 2011 that "private contractors are whacking people like crazy over in Afghanistan for the CIA."
[/quote]<p>A journalist looking for any reference that would support his article. I'm not saying the US Gov. isn't contracting private security firms to carry some of their dirty work. But saying "Huh a former lt-col from the Air Force confirmed <whatever>" isn't worth anything. In fact, all it does, in my opinion, is uncover and expose how naive is the reporter.<p>A former Air Force lieutenant-colonel... is it supposed to mean anything? It's a claim to Authority, with a weak authority to bring forward.
It's almost ridiculous how some people get so indignant about CIA; I can almost feel their spittle as they shout at their computer screens. At the same time, people get equally outraged when terrorists kill people and then want to blame CIA for their failings.<p>It's a bad world. I am not sympathetic to the plight of those who associate with terrorists (even if they themselves haven't committed a terrorist act) and find themselves it Gitmo or dead. Are mistakes made? Of course, CIA has a long history of public f'ups, however their degree of success is noteworthy, though often unheralded. Bin Laden was found because of CIA, the Iranian and North K nuke programs have been slowed and countless people AREN'T dead because of CIA. The Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Bloc was hastened due to CIA and Reagan forcing the issue by spending the Soviets into insolvency because of the arms race. Kennedy, Johnson and Clinton were avid weilders of covert action -- it's not a political party issue.<p>On the British side, MI6 is right there with CIA. The old Deuxiéme Bureau as well as German Intelligence is highly active in the black operations side of geopolitical affairs. This isn't peculiar to America, though in America, we have a (mostly) free press and a scandal-hungry populace that tends to sensationalize missteps or failures.<p>Let's not through the baby out with the bathwater. I'm far more worried about getting blown up on the PATH train than ending up in CIA (or their proxy's) crosshairs.
I read Wright's book, How To Get Away With Murder. It's a quick read. It's not very focused and doesn't answer many questions. Ironically, there's very little focus on Ric Prado, who's the most interesting of the bunch.
also from the article:<p><i>"At the time, the CIA declared him unavailable for questioning; the investigation was shut down before he was arrested or tried.</i>"<p>If this is not rotten corruption and MOB in its pures form, then what is?