Showdown in Blackwater's Backyard
Why the controversial private security company wants to run congressional candidate Marshall Adame "out of Dodge."
Marshall Adame is a Democrat running for Congress in North Carolina's 3rd District, a jurisdiction along the Tar Heel state's low-lying eastern coast that is home to the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune, Air Station Cherry Point, and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, as well as Blackwater Worldwide's 7,000-acre corporate headquarters and training facility. Adame is an underdog in the congressional race, where he will likely face seven-term Republican incumbent Walter B. Jones—who brought the term "freedom fries" to Congress—in the general election. Jones has since become an opponent of the Iraq war, atoning for his vote to authorize the war by writing letters of condolence to the families of dead soldiers—a "mea culpa to my Lord," he says. But the incumbent and his Republican party are not the only obstacles Adame will have to overcome if he hopes to take over the 3rd District's congressional seat. He also faces tough opposition from Blackwater.
Despite running as a Democrat in a strongly Republican district, Adame has the sort of military past that is appreciated in these parts. "I am a retired United States Marine," he tells me. "I'm a Vietnam veteran. I spent nine months in Kuwait right after we kicked Saddam out, helping to rebuild the Kuwaiti air force. I spent four years in Egypt with Kaman Aerospace"—a military contractor—"as their logistics leader in that country." More recently, he spent three years in Iraq working on reconstruction projects, ultimately rising to a senior position with the State Department's National Coordination Team in Baghdad, where he oversaw the work of roughly ten Provincial Reconstruction Teams. Two of his sons have served in the U.S. Army in Iraq—one was seriously wounded in an IED attack and is still undergoing reconstructive surgeries; the other is currently on his second 15-month tour, stationed in Tikrit. Now back in North Carolina, Adame has even opened his home to a family of Iraqi refugees.
Yet Adame's recent public criticism of the private security industry's role in Iraq has caused him to become the target of a political attack from Blackwater. It all began in mid-January when Adame participated in a live question-and-answer forum on a North Carolina progressive blog called BlueNC. "People were writing in, and I was answering the questions," he says. "It just so happened that the first one was about Blackwater." He didn't mince words. "There is no place in the American force structure, or in American culture for mercenaries," he wrote on the blog. "They are guns for hire; No more, no less… Private Armies represent the very things we despise as a people. Servants to the highest bidder with true allegiance to no-one."
Numerous Democratic candidates, including presidential contenders Barack Obama and North Carolina's own John Edwards, have assailed Blackwater, an easy target this election cycle. But Adame claims to speak from personal experience. As a State Department official in Iraq, he was protected by Blackwater, which, he says, used excessive force on at least two occasions while he was in their care. "I saw them shoot people," he says. "I saw them crash into cars while I was their passenger…. There was absolutely no reason, no provocation whatsoever." Once, while en route to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, Adame says he heard gunfire coming from the turret gunner in his own vehicle. He looked out the window of the humvee and "saw people ducking and falling…. The vehicle in front of us rammed into a car that was trying to get out of the way, and they just spun that guy around. He was out cold in that car, maybe even dead. I don't know, but we just kept on going."
Adame's comments about the company have enraged Blackwater employees, including executive vice president Bill Mathews. In an internal corporate email, Mathews encouraged his colleagues to barrage Adame with mail ("he was too cowardly to put a phone number on the web," Mathews noted in the message). "[H]e wants this company and all of us to cease to exist," Mathews wrote in the email, which was obtained by the Raleigh News & Observer and posted to the newspaper's web site. "Do you like your jobs? Are you sick and tired of the slanderous bullshit going on in DC? If so, would you all mind joining me in reminding Mr. Adame that he is running for office in our backyard…. Let's run this goof out of Dodge...!"
Since then, Adame has been on the receiving end of "some pretty rough stuff,” he says. "I received all kinds of hate mail from Blackwater people. They use a lot of vulgarity. They tell me how Blackwater is defending America's rights, and that we're free because Blackwater is fighting for us. Give me a break! That is so erroneous and misleading. It's just totally dishonest, but those people really believe it. Blackwater is a large organization, and they have a great way of propagandizing their product."
For its part, Blackwater is unrepentant for the harsh words Adame has received from its employees. "Mr. Mathews regrets that he wrote an inappropriate email in haste," says Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell in a statement. "He does not regret for one moment his desire to defend the brave people who risk their lives every day working for Blackwater." Tyrrell says Adame "used inaccuracies to unfairly criticize the company" and notes that "one thing that should be taken away from Mr. Matthew's email is that our people are incredibly proud of and passionate about the work we do in support of the U.S. government."
Adame, who plans to hold a campaign event near Blackwater's Moyock headquarters next month, is quick to point out that he has received no threats of physical harm from Blackwater, and despite some obscene emails, has engaged in constructive conversations with some of its employees. "These people don't want to lose their jobs, and I understand that," he says. Indeed, looming larger than the issue of military contracting in his district is concern over domestic priorities like health care and jobs. Still, Adame's recent confrontation with Blackwater seems to have focused his attention on the company. "I feel very strongly about how extensively organized Blackwater has become," he explains. "And I will do everything I can as a congressman to look into that, to find out whether or not the things they're doing are even legal."
It's an open question what this particular campaign promise might do to Adame's chances.
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Blackwater IS a mercenary company. I agree 100% with Adame's characterization of this band of evil, murderous cutthroats. Blackwater operates outside the law in Iraq and tried to do the same here in the US. They need to be investigated for criminal activities by the Department of Justice. But don't hold your breath waiting for that while Chimpy is Preznit. Moo-Crazy would never investigate his Blackwater pals.
It just amazes me that people are not afraid of what Blackwater represents. Their organization is a private army hired to do the administrations work. That should instill fear in every single American Citizen.
I have to agree with the article. And, it's just a matter of time before these same mercenary's are let loose on American citizens (if they haven't already during Katrina).
Mr. Adame is to be commended. He clearly represents a threat to the scum-bag mercenaries that are nothing more than an internal threat to our democracy. That these trigger-happy nutcases think of themselves as somehow protecting Americans is ludicrous. I wish Mr. Adame success, and may he go after these cretins hammer-and-tongs.
Send this guy some cash. These MERCS need to be driven back across the Rubicon and they can drown in the sea for all I care. First, they need to be disarmed like they disarmed American citizens in leagal possession of firearms in NOLA. They are unAmerican and it is their duty to ruin our real Military as well as be the vehicle delivering stolen profits to the profiteers.
The only organization that 'should get out of Dodge' is Blackwater itself. Let them base themselves in Tel Aviv to watch over all the Likud Party bosses. They are probably partially funded by Likudniks anyway.
Blackwater must be purged from this country, and criminalized altogether. Along with companies like MPRI and Executive Outcomes. They're ALL nothing but mercenary thugs in the private sector who murder people for money. Cut and dry. The very fact that the U.S. government contracts them at all is proof posative that what they do is completely illegal, and so by contracting a private mercenary company to do so, they absolve U.S. troops of any wrong doing and obfuscates the truth of the situation because there's too many parties running amock around the world. But not only should Blackwater, MPRI, and others be purged and criminalized, but their shareholders need to be held accountable, and the very fact that these are for the most part PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANIES, then we must acknowlege that the PUBLIC is also complicit and needs to be held accountable as well, for even permitting these companies to be traded on the stock market.
Better yet... eliminate speculation marketing, stocks and what-not altogether, and you elminate half the problem, and put the investor class on a collision course with something they're absolutely terrified of...
Having to EARN money for real, instead of existing on the buying and selling of others in markets simply based on emotional stability of a few insiders.
I consider myself a real conservative, not a neocon, and I do NOT like the idea of Blackwater at all. They were the thugs taking guns away from homeowners after hurricane Katrina. I want them and those like them GONE. Mr. Adame is no coward. He is right there for any those scumbags who want a piece of him.
So, they do a fine job do they!! Well then why do they object to being subject to Iraqi law? No answer boys? I thought not.
-----CLINTON SLEEZE FATIGUE WILL INVIGORATE GOP, DISPIRIT DEMOCRATS AND SINK DEMOCRATIC TICKET-----
-----EDWARDS/OBAMA TO WIN-----
It is possible that Senator Clinton is the best candidate. However, even though many may like the policies that Senator Clinton proposes, they should also consider her record, just as Senator Clinton insists.
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The last Clinton Administration, when faced with the fact that protection rackets where assaulting, torturing and murdering people with poison and radiation, chose to avoid its responsibilities to incarcerate the criminals and to protect the citizenry.
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Instead, they made a deal with the criminal gang stalker protection rackets to leave them alone and to consequently abandon the citizenry.
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Do we want a President who sells out the citizenry for votes?
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Do we want a President who sends a "crime does pay" message to society?
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Would you vote for a President who signed nonaggression deals with the KKKlan or the Nazi party? Gangs that torture with poison and radiation are much like the KKKlan and Nazi Party.
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We do not need a sellout President. We need a principled leader President.
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If you are one of the few who do not know what the above refers to, do a web search for “gang stalking” to see the tip of the dirtberg. Please do it before you decide to reply to my post. Here let me make it easy for you: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22gang+stalking%22.
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Good for him.
I wish I lived in his area so I could vote for him.
We DON'T WANT A MERCENARY company in our country! PERIOD!!!
Black water are the dregs of the scum of the earth- rapists, criminals and torturing blackhearted sadist's who undermine American military tradition to say nothing of the Laws of the United States.
Remember the Blackwater motto
"Use Blackwater for that tingly fresh just tazed-rapped and shot in the face feeling!"
I hope that an American with old values will displace the cowardly liar and traitor that sent American kids to die for a lie and has no remorse just plenty of money.
The real question should be this: Do you see Blackwater as part of the growing trend to privatize another aspect of our military which was previously handled by those serving?
If so, why is privatizing better for America in ensuring American security?
Does it not cost more to have a private army?
Do they fall under the same legal requirments that those serving fall under?
Personally I beleive this is another way that the Republicans pander to the military community by offering previuosly serving members an ability to collect a check because they have very few skills sets which give them the ability to retain the same wage as when they were serving. This makes the Republicans look good but what they don't see is that they are taking jobs away from those currently serving by the mere fact that previous military jobs are now carried out by contractors, who for the most part cost more. Privitization in its current form seems to be giving the military and America a bad name, KBR overcharged and lost millions of dollars, Halliburton did the same, and Blackwater is accused of killing innocent civilians which undermines the militaries ability to capture hearts and minds. The military industrial complex is here and it is up to good citizens like Mr.Adame and many more to stop this madness and lawlessness!
Gotta go, Stay solid!
If these people were so patriotic, then they could take a pay cut and do the same work for US military pay grades.
Private armies are dangerous in every way imaginable.
I'm conservative -- and I agree with Adame. Mercenaries and especially blackwater have no place in the American foreign policy or the military. The use of mercenaries only weakens our own military and our position abroad. This should not nor should it ever be a conservative/liberal issue. It is simply wrong.
Mercenary organizations, I would think would be illegal under newer laws, but we were setup by the powerful to accept this. Tey glorified the bounty hunters, playing cops, breaking and entering, bullying and just plain being legalized criminals. We the people sat back and let our constitution sit there without updating. We did not require our representatives to represent us. We did not require our laws to be updated or taken off the books when no longer needed. We totally failed our constitution and ourselves. Mercenary armies are surrounding our country, getting ready to control the masses. the government uses them at places like power generating plants,I guess they can't trust us civilians to protect our own property. thanks for this blog and I hope Adame doesn't end up a victim of a plane crash or other convenient accident. Wake Up America, its latter than you think!
if blackwater is trying to blackball any candidate, that candidate is the one people should vote for...
"I have to agree with the article. And, it's just a matter of time before these same mercenary's are let loose on American citizens (if they haven't already during Katrina)."
They absolutely did kill people in New Orleans. My next door neigbhor worked for Blackwater in New Orleans, and he personally told me he sprayed a woman there with machine gun fire...killed her on the spot! He said it was total war zone there at the time. Blackwater against the locals.
I hope the next president has the balls and the courage to put this slimy mercenary factory out of business.
if anyone knows any blackwater people they should be outed and have their names and addresses posted on the net
.. and whatever happens, happenes.
Thanks so much for standing up to those thugs, M. Adame!! I attended a press conference held in Portland, OR for Michael Chertoff last fall and actually had the opportunity to ask him and the local pols a question.
I asked under what circumstances in a terrorism scenario would DHS or local politicians be likely to call on private security companies, like Blackwater, and I asked him to reference the Katrina situation.
He skirted the question, saying that private citizens have a right to hire private security, but it visibly irritated him.
There is a write-up in the local indymedia, if of interest.
Thanks to B. Falconer, too!!
It seems to me that there's a disquieting whiff of the cult about Blackwater. And I think there's more than enough evidence that many of their employees are little more than murderous thugs.
I almost wish I lived in No. Carolina so I could vote for Mr. Adame. We have so few politicians and candidates who will actually tell what they personally have seen and know about and are not suject to threats or payoffs. Its easier to go along, take the money and keep their mouths shut. My congratulations and wishes for your success Mr. Adame.
Go Adame! Josh Quasimodo asked: Do mercenaries fall under the same legal requirments that those serving fall under? I'd ask more specifically, do they deserve protection under the Geneva Convention? Consider a Baghdad family that has been victimized by Blackwater's jittery fingers, a family that has lost a loved one. In their efforts to obtain justice, they might capture a Blackwater employee. Things might get out of hand and subsequently they might torture him. If so, would they be inviting formal international condemnation? After all, the Geneva Convention prohibits torture of captured enemy combatants. Or are Blackwater employees the US equivalent of the unlucky battlefield pedestrians who ended up in Guantanamo? In that case then, by Bush's own logic, anything goes.
This should really be a call to arms for all citizens (regardless of party affiliation). The brazen manner in which Blackwater conducts itself has gotten out of control. The fact that the executive vice president has the audacity to send out a memo implicitly (or not so implicitly) urging Blackwater's employees to send Adame "mostly professional" messages and run him out of town is alarming. Adame is a patriot who has served this country for the majority of his life and his family has continued serving it (and, from what I have read, paying a high price). Everyone should lend this candidate some support.
His website: www.marshalladame4congress2008.com
It seems to me that since most Blackwater employees are former military personnel they have no need to fear losing their jobs or supporting democracy. All they need to do is get called back into the service of their country and rejoin the military of the United States Government. Why is that Blackwater personnel are not called back in when IRR, Reserve, and National Guard members are being called back and being redeployed without end?
Marshall Adame is to be commended for his Patriotism and his heroics in calling it like he sees it. I think Americans should be very afraid of a mercenary army in its midst.
Didn't someone once write something to the effect of...
"...He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation."
Why should we now, 2 centuries on, put up with home-grown Hessians?
Why would anyone vote to destroy America by voting for another RepubliCON president? I don't care who either party nominates, I will be voting for the Democrat. RepubliCONs have had their chance and they have ruined America. I will NEVER vote for any republiCON again, not even for dog catcher.
NOTE TO BILL MATTHEWS:
Go Cheney yourself, asswipe. Marshall Adame is right about you goddamned [deleted]s.
Wake up and smell the gathering fascism... The Blackwater agenda is no different than that of the bootjack thugs that helped Adolf Hitler rise to power in 1933. Historically, any of the current excuses that attempt to justify the need for supporting Blackwater's existence, are no different than the same reasons heard in support of Hitler's motives when he said "Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it." and "How fortunate for leaders that men do not think."
Who is this forgetful little upstart? he is a Vietnam vet and he says that "mercenaries" have no place in the american military? Has he forgotten the Tiger Force of the Vietnam War who went around killing for the fun of it? yet he is hysterical about the use of these monsters in Iraq, hmmm, me doth thinketh that the fop protesteth way too much and a bit soft in the head.
Why do people not see how this very same type of mercenary army could very easily be used on our own streets when our own loyal military realizes what's going on and refuses to march our roadways against his fellow citizen?
Hitler had a private army that replaced the German army. They were loyal to HIM, not the nation.
If Blackwater cared about America and was operating in the interests of the people who live in the states of the Union it would care about the reputation of our nation - it doesn't. They are just a whore who cares very little for their John that pays for it all and instead praise like God their pimps, the CORPORATE U.S. government who arranges the payment.
After reading this story I went to Marshall Adame's website and made a contribution to his campaign. Afterward I called Blackwater in NC and told them what I had just done, and further told them them that Blackwater's joyride is over.
If the moderator will permit it, anyone else wishing to contribute to Marshall's campaign can click on this link: http://www.marshalladame4congress2008.com/
Then get in Blackwater's face and tell them you just made a donation to Adame's campaign. Blackwater's phone no.: (252) 435-2488
he is right, Blackwater is what America is fighting against, private armies killing without cause. They should all be forced to walk through Bagdads worse neighborhood, unarmed, with a sign on their backs saying "we work for Blackwater", and then get what they have given out the past 6 years. They are nothing more than money hungry killers that have been given permission from Bush & Co. to do as they please.
When someone mentioned cult, it just brought a funny thought to my mind. No one seems to mention Erik Prince(Mr. Blackwater) being the brother of Betsy DeVos (nee Prince). Betsy's hubby, Dick DeVos many may recognize as one of the major heirs to the Amway throne. This is one of the reasons that Erik Prince moved so quickly into the administration of the first Bush, and how his business became so important to the second Bush. Food for thought.
lets see, american citizens with guns....tens of millions...
blackwater with guns...maybe 10000....
bring em on....
If even half of what Adame says about Blackwater's behavior in Iraq is true (and I suspect it is) then Blackwater is an absolute disgrace to America. Real Americans never kill innocent civilians for the fun of it - never! People who do that sort of thing are evil, disgusting beasts who should not be allowed to return to this country. What is "Blackwater" anyway? It sounds like very filthy water - maybe something that belongs in the toilet and then on to the sewer.
Only under this current administration could an operation like Blackwater exist (I hope). It's insane that they go around murdering Iraqi civilians, and face no accountability from Iraq or the U.S....Yes, the American people should be scared, and angry. Especially upset should be our true Military Officers, who would face court martial for such. We know Adame is telling the truth! How many people need to speak up and say they've seen Blackwater employees casually, randomly murdering people in Iraq? These are brutes, people on a lower-level of evolution, in my opinion--definitely psychotic, and to let them march around with automatic assault rifles and kill innocent citizens is insane. Who can say when they might be turned against us? I wonder if this topic will be brought up in the Presidential election, and what the candidates will have to say about it.
this is the biggest BS I have ever read. You are trying to rail road a company, for whatever reason that is unknown to me, that has nothing but helped fight the war on terrorism. To make Iraq or Afghanistan look like a sleeping, peaceful beauty, is utterly ridiculous. There are terrorists , hello, who bury nail bombs into the ground , waiting for our soldiers and other civillians to run over them and getting blown up. Blackwater is a high risk security company. Who protects state department personell , members of Congress when they are visiing Iraq and Afghanistan, and yes even the media and press , who cowardly doesn't mention when they get pulled out of tight spots by Blackwater, just like recently in Afghanistan. Blackwater men are highly motivated to keep all personel in their care secure and safe. That you can't treat a terrorist with kid gloves is obvious. That there are some bad apples in a bunch is as true in the Army, Navy and Airforce as with Blackwater. People who accuse Blackwater of operating outside the law, and calling these brave men scum bags, have never even laid eyes on one Blackwater employee in person. Why don't you let us show you pictures and proof when Blackwater men go to an orphanage in Afghanistan , delivering shoes for children they collected at home. I could name other activities Blackwater men do for peace, but I stop there. To unjustly accuse these brave men, who have a history of honorable service, as police officers, air marshalls, Seals, Swat team members, and other highly regarded positions. Shame on you America. If Blackwater men were not needed, they wouldn't be there.
Considering we should not be "there" in the 1st place, no they aren't needed. Considering they are mostly ex-military and used to "obeying" orders, ie., doing exactly as told without questioning, and now working in an environment with NO accountability to anyone except their corporate master, no we do not need them "there". Considering they are costing the taxpayer a horrendous amount of money performing the same function(s) our military has done in the past at a fraction of the cost, no we do not need them "there".
Now who do you suppose you would find in their list of investors? Sure there would be common people, but you can bet there will be a massive amount of people with ties to the government and DOD.
I hope Adame is elected, for we need him but not Blackwater and its attitudes.
Private armies cannot function indefinitely, because they end up as a threat to whomever originally hired them. Two examples; the Knights Templar, very big during the crusades, very crispy when the crusades were over and the French king feared their power. Also, Hitler's private SA, a bunch of thugs, many of them pedophiles, were massacred by the Nazis during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934 because they were not just a threat to the Nazi image, but their leader, Ernst Roehm, was not a team player. I do not mean to say that Blackwater cannot stand alone and unchallenged for long; on the contrary, they need to be put out of our misery quickly before they develop the kind of semi-autonomy and esprit de corps that made the aforementioned so dangerous and their eventual destruction so bloody.
Ms Roess makes at least one valid point - in an organization as large as Blackwater there have to be a few people with intelligence and dignity. We need to support them when they choose to come forward. Those who claim that Blackwater and similar mercenaries are doing the average American a favor by fighting the war on terror need to go lie down. Like Ms Roess, they have downed the warmongers' highball in one gulp. It's a cocktail of unjustified fear, prejudice and arrogance and it's poured from a fancy bottle whose label says "Jesus and George Bush - 8 Years Old. Drink this and you'll feel better!" And thanks to wrant (great blog id!)for the tip on the Amway connection. Do the Blackwater board all have pink caddies parked behind their stables? Whoops! Wrong snowball scheme. Sorry Mary Kay.
Do you like your Country? Are you sick and tired of the slanderous bull[deleted] going on in DC? If so, would you all mind joining me in reminding Blackwater that their office in our backyard…. Let's run these goofs out of Dodge.
Translated into Spanish, "Blackwater" becomes "aguas negras", or the stuff that flows into the sewer when you flush the toilet. "Honorable Men", as Ms. Roess claims, is an oxymoron. Honorable vets would not dishonor their military service by becoming guns for hire, which is their bottom line. Personally, I would not so sully my honorable discharge.
yeah... number 3.
Fascist America, in 10 easy steps
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy.
2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place.
3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens.
4. Set up an internal surveillance system.
5. Harass citizens' groups.
6.Engage in arbitrary detention and release.
7. Target key individuals.
8. Control the press.
9. Declare all dissent to be treason.
10. Suspend the rule of law.
If the US Government paid our soldiers what they pay Blackwater, we would problably have more people enlisting in the armed forces.
Why should we pay Blackwater people our hard earned money when we have our own U.S. armed forces that could do the same thing.
I do hope that Blackwater keeps up their assault. Drag the matter into the public eye. We want the world to see them for what they really are . . . a bunch of mercenaries taking jobs away from our soldiers . . . and weakening our armed forces.
If Blackwater employees want to fight, they should enlist . . . period.
Blackwater only reinforces the point through their actions. Adame is right, there is no room for mercenaries in the USA Ideal. They can't argue that, so they go on the attack.
Way to go, Matthews. Force America to embrace your 'Suck'...
