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Secret Desert Force Set Up by Blackwater’s Founder

Demon of Light

Demon of Light

Bohemian Revolutionary
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Late one night last November, a plane carrying dozens of Colombian men touched down in this glittering seaside capital. Whisked through customs by an Emirati intelligence officer, the group boarded an unmarked bus and drove roughly 20 miles to a windswept military complex in the desert sand.

The Colombians had entered the United Arab Emirates posing as construction workers. In fact, they were soldiers for a secret American-led mercenary army being built by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater Worldwide, with $529 million from the oil-soaked sheikdom.

Mr. Prince, who resettled here last year after his security business faced mounting legal problems in the United States, was hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi to put together an 800-member battalion of foreign troops for the U.A.E., according to former employees on the project, American officials and corporate documents obtained by The New York Times.
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Source: The New York Times

Given Blackwater's involvement with the CIA assassination program and the fact they are tasked with special operations outside the country as well as inside it makes me wonder if this is being used as a sort of continuation of the program.
 
Prince views himself as a holy warrior. I'm surprised he'd work for the UAE. But Blackwater never went away, it became Xe
 
xpiher said:
Prince views himself as a holy warrior. I'm surprised he'd work for the UAE. But Blackwater never went away, it became Xe
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Did you ever notice how from a distance their logo kinda looked like turds hovering over a toilet bowl?

And then think about what blackwater means in plumbing terms.

No wonder they changed their name!
 
blackwater was named after the swamps where their training facilities are located in the U.S.


XE contractors have to take oaths like the military, to defend the Constitution with their lives. I'm generally in favor of us synergizing with private forces to take the fight to the enemy - but I do wonder that these guys might not get used for 'domestic' purposes.
 
cpwill said:
blackwater was named after the swamps where their training facilities are located in the U.S.


XE contractors have to take oaths like the military, to defend the Constitution with their lives. I'm generally in favor of us synergizing with private forces to take the fight to the enemy - but I do wonder that these guys might not get used for 'domestic' purposes.
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The company is ran by a Christian Zealot.
 
yeah, I'm fine with that. I'm a Christian Zealot.
 
cpwill said:
yeah, I'm fine with that. I'm a Christian Zealot.
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You are fine with a person that has a private military and thinks that the war with against terrorist is god ordained?
 
Gadaffi's paying good money for mercenaries these days, and business is business.
 
xpiher said:
You are fine with a person that has a private military and thinks that the war with against terrorist is god ordained?
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yup. one day I hope to be one of those people.
 
xpiher said:
I hope you never get into public office.
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:D Oh, I figure I might be bothered to do that after I'm done setting up my non-profit PMC.

...My passion is more for providing security. In the disaster areas of the world where governments are de facto nonexistant (think much of Africa), the problem with aid is that you can't get it in because it will just get stolen by men with guns. What is needed is a non-profit, "clean" PMC that can contract out with International Red Cross, USAID, the UN, private charities etc. Someone good with guns needs to face the anarchy-seeking thieves with guns, and it seems that the governments of the world are unwilling to do so. We need to take the security lessons we've learned in counterinsurgency, and put them to work...
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cpwill said:
:D Oh, I figure I might be bothered to do that after I'm done setting up my non-profit PMC.
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Your idea of a Non-profit PMC isn't really a PMC, its more of security for NGOs. Tying reilion to it though is where it gets murky, espcially if you believe that the church needs to perform another Crusade, like Prince believes. I'll be PMing you soon though. I have similar ideas for both non-profits.
 
I intend to name it "Judes' Force", actually, or something along those lines - after the Patron Saint of Lost Causes. When you are enslaved in a dark land and surrounded by evil - we'll come get you. If you live in a refugee camp with no hope that is attacked daily by those who would wipe out your people, we will protect you. If you sit infuriated and in mourning, watching aid rot on the port as warlords control the path inland, we will take you in.
 
Manc Skipper said:
Gadaffi's paying good money for mercenaries these days, and business is business.
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Please tell. How much is good money?

Btw - What IS a mercenary?
 
well, as someone who is considering contracting in the future, for a deployment, i would want at a bare minimum 125K a year. Even that would be insultingly low.
 
actually the Catholic Church endorses Just War Theory. :) And I"m not Catholic, I was raised Methodist.
 
cpwill said:
well, as someone who is considering contracting in the future, for a deployment, i would want at a bare minimum 125K a year. Even that would be insultingly low.
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Good luck with that. Companies like Xe contract with ex-Contras for 100s of dollars, not 100s of 1000s.
 
:shrug: companies that contract with people like me deal in the 6 figures. I actually had a buddy do a tour with Blackwater. I think he got aroun 180k?
 
cpwill said:
well, as someone who is considering contracting in the future, for a deployment, i would want at a bare minimum 125K a year. Even that would be insultingly low.
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If you feel that as long as you are making enough to feed the family, you're good to go.

Just remember....6 month "breaks" are a little hard on everybody.
 
THAT is certainly true, and the biggest single argument against doing it. I might happily take 40K off that number and work stateside.
 
cpwill said:
THAT is certainly true, and the biggest single argument against doing it. I might happily take 40K off that number and work stateside.
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Yeah, its hard on family members

I kinda threw a q at Manc about mercs, but I got no reply. Actually the initial question is rather interesting

For all of you out there

A contractor is an individual being paid to carry out defensive security Ops for a local work force. Use of force is applicable in only certain situations against specific threats.

A merc is an individual being paid to conduct offensive Ops against any target the employer chooses.
 
Anyone who has ever written a single book on warfare knows that it's unwise - or for lack of a better word foolish - to hire arms. The US should do away with such a destructive activity.
 
Hatuey said:
Anyone who has ever written a single book on warfare knows that it's unwise - or for lack of a better word foolish - to hire arms. The US should do away with such a destructive activity.
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Destructive activity? lol

Make up your mind.....

Are you hiring me to kill people or are you hiring me to keep people from getting killed?
 
that's why we should get rid of mall cops?
 
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