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It's Time To Defund Torture
Congressional candidate Darcy Burner has a post up at Open Left today talking about Blackwater:
Burner provides a list of House and Senate sponsors for a bill which would defund the security contractors and requests that we begin calling our reps and asking them to join. (And guys, if the Blackwater style contractors are defunded, so is the war. They can't run it without them.)It's high time we picked a fight over this.
Blackwater's contract was just renewed by the State Department. The supplemental appropriation that's about to be brought up before the House includes ongoing funding for Blackwater's activities in Iraq. If we're going to fight this, we need to fight it now.
It is not just that too many of Blackwater's employees in Iraq conduct themselves in ways that are counterproductive and deeply immoral. It is not just that there is no accountability for the company or its employees either in Iraq or here. And it is not just that the Iraqis have clearly and unambiguously called for Blackwater to leave.
Blackwater is a threat to the core underpinnings of our democracy. Who is this private army loyal to? Because they aren't ours. They don't wear our flags on their clothing -- they wear the symbol of Blackwater.
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