Posts by Jeremy Scahill

Jeremy Scahill is the author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army.

Neocons, Republicans and War Criminals Rave About Obama's 'Team of Rivals'
Posted by Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet on November 30, 2008 at 9:51 AM.

As Barack Obama's opus, Team of Rivals, continues its rolling debut, the early reviews are in and the "critics" are full of praise for the cast:

"[T]he new administration is off to a good start."
-- Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell.

"[S]uperb ... the best of the Washington insiders ... this will be a valedictocracy -- rule by those who graduate first in their high school classes."
-- David Brooks, conservative New York Times columnist

"[V]irtually perfect ... "
-- Senator Joe Lieberman, former Democrat and John McCain's top surrogate in the 2008 campaign.

"[R]eassuring."
-- Karl Rove, "Bush's brain."

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Bailout Protesters Send a Strong Message from Wall Street
Posted by Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet on September 25, 2008 at 2:37 PM.

Updated: These photos were sent to us by Jeremy Scahill who attended the protests against Bush's bailout in New York City:

Click for larger version.

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Vets for Peace Demonstrate Against Fellow Veteran John McCain
Posted by Jeremy Scahill, Democracy Now! on September 3, 2008 at 12:00 AM.

Despite the serious questions surrounding the uncertain fate of this week's convention, protests are continuing. On Monday, Iraq Veterans Against the War marched on the Xcel Center in an attempt to raise awareness about what they characterize as Senator John McCain's anti-veteran voting record and his continued support for the occupation of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan.

On Sunday, there was another veteran-led protest, this one organized by Vets for Peace, a large national organization made up of veterans of every war, from Korea and Vietnam and Iraq. Vets for Peace held its national convention here in the Twin Cities over the weekend, drawing hundreds of veterans, and many of its members are staying on to participate in anti-RNC demonstrations. Among the members of Vets For Peace, there's a sizeable contingent of Vietnam War vets. So, too, is the man they are demonstrating against: the presumptive presidential nominee John McCain.

Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill filed this report from the streets of the Twin Cities.

Would Obama Ban Blackwater and Other Mercenary Companies?
Posted by Jeremy Scahill, Democracy Now! on August 29, 2008 at 9:31 AM.

Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill talks with Congressman Henry Waxman, chair of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, about whether Sen. Barack Obama would cancel the private military firm Blackwater's Iraq contract if Obama is elected president. Serious questions remain about what Obama will do with this massive private, shadow army in Iraq.

Watch part 2 of this report here.

And for more on the war profiteers, check out Iraq for Sale.

In Wake of Deadly U.S. Airstrike, Jeremy Scahill Questions Dems on Obama's Afghanistan Policy
Posted by Jeremy Scahill, Democracy Now! on August 28, 2008 at 8:00 AM.

The mood inside the Pepsi Center on night two of the Democratic National Convention was jubilant. Hillary Clinton brought people to thunderous applause as she called for a unified party to defeat John McCain.

But while the Democrats celebrated, a half a world away grief and sorrow continue to plague a village in western Afghanistan that was victim to a stunningly lethal air strike by U.S. forces last Thursday. This week, a United Nations team released the findings of its on-the-ground investigation. And what they found was horrifying.

Some ninety Afghan civilians were killed. Among the dead, as many as sixty children between the ages of three months and sixteen years. It’s believed to be the single deadliest US strike against Afghan civilians since the US first attacked the country in 2001.

Here in Denver, the horror of this story could not be further from the hallway discussions of those inside the Pepsi Center ... But Afghanistan will play a major role in the general election, where Barack Obama will make his plan to increase the US military deployment in Afghanistan by several thousand troops a centerpiece of his foreign policy vision. The Obama campaign is painting Afghanistan as the good war.

Read the rest of the transcript here.

Jeremy Scahill Confronts BlackWater Honchos
Posted by Jeremy Scahill, Huffington Post on April 8, 2008 at 1:00 PM.

Last week, I spoke at a conference organized by NYU's Center on Law and Security called "Privatizing Defense: Blackwater, Contractors, and American Security." Also present at the conference were Blackwater Worldwide vice president Martin Strong and a lawyer for Blackwater, David Hammond. At the conference, I confronted Strong on Blackwater's killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square on September 16, 2007. The day after our exchange, the Bush Administration extended Blackwater's Iraq "security" contract for another year:

Democracy Now! videotaped the session and covered Blackwater's contract extension -- the video is in the window to your right.

JEREMY SCAHILL, AUTHOR, BLACKWATER: My name is Jeremy Scahill. I find it very telling that nowhere on this panel do we hear a voice talking about the Iraqi victims of these companies. I find it very interesting--the way that Mr. Strong and Mr. [Doug] Brooks [president of the pro-industry International Peace Operations Association] talk about this, we could be at a banking convention.

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Clinton vs. Obama: Who's Better on Blackwater? [VIDEO]
Posted by Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet on March 18, 2008 at 12:04 PM.

During her major policy address Monday, Hillary Clinton came out publicly in favor of banning Blackwater and other armed private security contractors from operating in Iraq. "When I am president I will ask the Joint Chiefs for their help in reducing reliance on armed private military contractors with the goal of ultimately implementing a ban on such contractors," she declared. In her speech, she slammed Barack Obama on this issue, saying, "Senator Obama and I have a substantive disagreement here. He won't rule out continuing to use armed private military contractors in Iraq to do jobs that historically have been done by the U.S. military or government personnel."

Clinton was referring to comments the Obama campaign made in a February 2008 article I wrote for The Nation called "Obama's Mercenary Position." A senior foreign policy advisor to Obama told the magazine, "I can't rule out, I won't rule out, private security contractors" in Iraq if Obama becomes president and said that Obama does not intend to sign onto legislation introduced by Illinois Democrat Jan Schakowsky and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. The day after the article came out, after refusing to provide a comment to The Nation on the issue for over a week, Clinton's staff released a statement, saying Clinton would endorse the Stop Outsourcing Security Act to "ban the use of Blackwater and other private mercenary firms in Iraq," with Clinton declaring, "The time to show these contractors the door is long past due."

On Monday, Obama struck back at Clinton. "Now, let me be clear: I actually introduced legislation in the Senate before Senator Clinton even mentioned this that said we had to crack down on private contractors like Blackwater because I don't believe that they should be able to run amok and put our own troops in danger, get paid three or four times or ten times what our soldiers are getting paid. I am the one who has been opposed to those operators. Senator Clinton is a late comer to that. But you know this is what happens during political season and I understand it."

The video to your right is an interview I did with The Real News about what the candidates' positions are on Blackwater and the use of private forces in post-Bush Iraq.

Blackwater and Blood: Spilling it in Iraq, Donating it at Home
Posted by Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet on February 2, 2008 at 9:33 AM.

If there's one thing that can be said about Blackwater Worldwide, the Bush administration's favorite mercenary company, it is no stranger to blood -- its operatives have caused a lot of it to be spilled in Iraq. Last September, Blackwater forces gunned down 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square and wounded more than 20 others. It was reportedly one of 10 such deadly incidents involving the company in Iraq since June 2005. After all the carnage and death, Blackwater is now giving back. Not in Iraq, but right here at home.

This week, the company received an award from the American Red Cross -- not for its skill at making Iraqis bleed, but for Blackwater's recent blood drive, where company employees reportedly gave 264 units of blood. "That means that well over 600 lives have been saved in this region," said Georgia Donaldson of the Mid Atlantic region Red Cross.

The group presented Blackwater's owner, Erik Prince with a plaque, honoring the company. "I'm proud of the folks we have here. We have a great team, they constantly go above and beyond the call of duty, they give back and they're giving to their local community here," said Prince. But here's the money quote: Blackwater "saw a need for the community to receive more blood, so we made it available and our folks answered the call." Sort of like what they do in Iraq for Bush. Oh, and this blood must be mighty special. As Prince told Congress last year, his men "bleed red, white and blue."

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