Goodbye Gitmo

Finally, some good news to report. After beginning to waver on his commitment to close the American concentration camp in Occupied Cuba, President-elect Barack Obama said today he would call for the immediate closure of the site where war crimes were perpetrated on the orders of Vice President Dick Cheney.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama plans to order the closing of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay as early as his first week in office to show a break from the Bush administration's approach to the war on terror, according to two officials close to the transition. (More...)

Dick Cheney, himself a war criminal/profiteer, achieved a generous payback for the company he oversaw as CEO before George W. Bush tapped him to be his runningmate/babysitter. In one of the most agregious examples of scandalous quid pro quo, Cheney continued to rake in of $200,000 a year from Halliburton, even as he lied to Americans that he no longer had a financial interest in company he ran in between his most stints in government.

“Since I left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice president, I've severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interest," the Vice President said. "I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had, now, for over three years.” (RawStory: More...)

In return, Halliburton has been awarded over $21 Billion in government contracts, including including the gulag in Gitmo.

NPR flushes Blackwater

What Was Blackwater's Role in Iraq?

. All Things Considered, September 17, 2007 · Since 2003, the North Carolina-based private contractor Blackwater U.S.A. has provided security services in Iraq. But the Interior Ministry revoked the firm's license Monday following a gun battle in Baghdad that left nine civilians dead. Mark Hemingway, a staff reporter for National Review Online, tells Melissa Block more about Blackwater and how it operates.

Related NPR Stories

• Sep. 17, 2007
  Iraq Pulls Blackwater's License for Security Work

Black eye for Blackwater

Wikipedia -- Blackwater USA is a private military company and security firm. Founded in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark, it is based in North Carolina where it operates a facility which it claims is the world's largest tactical training facility in how to kill unarmed civilians. The company trains more than 40,000 people a year, from all the military services and a variety of other agencies. The company markets itself as being "The most comprehensive professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations company in the world". At least 90% of its revenue comes from government contracts, two-thirds of which are no-bid contracts.

How does a 10 year old company become the world's largest play for pay outsourcing scheme for hired guns? At the rate the mercenaries at Blackwater claim to be able to train military personnel, we should have been able to swap out every single American soldier with an Iraqi GI or private pirate. I leave it for others to connect the dots between Blackwater and Dick Cheney, the black hearted.

Time/CNN -- Blackwater landed its first truly high-profile contract: guarding Ambassador L. Paul Bremer in Iraq, at the cost of $21 million in 11 months. Since June 2004, Blackwater has been paid more than $320 million out of a $1 billion, five-year State Department budget for the Worldwide Personal Protective Service, which protects U.S. officials and some foreign officials in conflict zones.

It may be difficult now for the fledgling friendly fire firm to deliver on its Iraq contract now that the Iraqi government has withdrawn its license to operate following the most recent civilian killings involving Blackwater's best and brightest.

Blackwater license being pulled in Iraq

BAGHDAD - The [Iraqi] Interior Ministry said it would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force in the Sunday shooting [during an attack on a U.S. State Department motorcade]. It was the latest accusation against the U.S.-contracted firms that operate with little or no supervision