http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1feTAeju31g&NR=1
Here is an essay in The Nation (july 22, 2009) by Scahill on efforts of Blackwater to get a gag order motion in a Iraqi civilian lawsuitx:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090803/scahill
``Blackwater (which recently renamed itself "Xe") is attempting to use other means to silence its victims. On July 20, the company's high-powered lawyers from Mayer Brown, which boasts that it represents eighty-nine of the Fortune 100 companies and thirty-five of the fifty largest US banks, filed a motion in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to impose a gag order on Iraqi civilians suing the company. The motion also seeks to silence the lawyers representing the families of Iraqis allegedly killed or injured by Blackwater in a series of violent incidents spanning several years. Four cases in the Washington, DC, area were recently consolidated before Judge T.S. Ellis III of the Eastern District of Virginia for pretrial motions. After preliminary issues are resolved, each case is slated to be tried individually...''
Below is another speech at conference in Chicago int 2007:
http://vodpod.com/watch/109334-jeremy-scahill-blackwater-shadow-army-in-iraq
I would really urge people to listen to all four parts to the above. Obama now owns all of what Scahill details out. And since the Obama administration's top general in Afghanistan is McCrystal, what Scahill is talking about is how the escalation will be handled.
There is something of a surprize here, with Eric Prince the CEO of Blackwater. He comes from a very rich Christian Fundamentalist family and is also a Fundamentalist Christian. It was Eric Prince's father to gave the seed money to Gary Baur to start the Family Research Council. Gary Baur was also one of the signers on The New American Century.
You have to think through the series of junctions. Rightwing Christians, making huge sums of money, intimately connected to the Executive Branch and Congress, who assassinate, kidnap, torture, on a large scale, with zero accountability to law, prosecution, or public disclosure.
According to Scahill Blackwater (XE, et al) has a new potential market, private corporations and there security needs. The division is called Total Intelligence Solutions. Now consider who might just need protection and intelligence these days. Well that would be most of the financial sector, as well as all the overseas and south of the border US corporate owned sweat-shop systems.
Here is some good news:
Al-Haj said: "I spoke to my lawyer, who advises me to do this in Europe. The courts do not have the power to bring [US officials] by force, but at least they can't visit European countries. If they do, [the authorities] would catch them and send them to court."
The Guantánamo Justice Centre, which will be led by British ex-detainee Moazzam Begg, will open a British-based branch this month in addition to its Geneva headquarters.
Al-Haj, who is back at work for the Arabic satellite channel in Qatar, is in frequent contact with Guantánamo detainees, both past and present.
"Torture is continuing in Guantánamo," al-Haj said. "Obama needs to close Guantánamo immediately
http://rebelreports.com/post/144193934/al-jazeera-journalist-imprisoned-tortured-at-gitmo-to