When 9/11 first occurred, many people were devastated. Speculations ran around in the early days, but the American government assured us that it was masterminded by Osama bin Laden who had hired and trained Saudi nationals to complete the task. Eventually, it was claimed that Saddam Hussein was also involved and that we needed to invade Iraq, leaving us fighting two fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A few years later, after we’ve captured Hussein, we’re told bin Laden isn’t all that important and that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the evil mastermind behind 9/11. He was, apparently, part of al-Qaida, so there was still a need to capture bin Laden, but Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the person who is responsible for the entire mess we have gotten ourselves into. He has now confessed to numerous plots ranging from the Daniel Pearl murder to the Richard Reid shoe bombings.
When Blackwater’s name became too well known, particularly in a negative way, they changed their name to Xe. Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater quickly distanced himself from anything negative and promptly moved to the Middle East. The name change from Xe to Academi is the company’s effort to further distance themselves from Blackwater’s past and Erik Prince after he sold all interest in Xe a year ago.
The Arlington-based company announced it will no longer be known as Xe Services and is now called Academi. The name is inspired by Plato’s Academy in ancient Greece and is designed to connote elite, highly disciplined warriors who are thinkers as well as fighters.
Wright, who came to Academi from government contractor KBR, also said he has promised customers that he’ll be taking a lower profile and that they won’t be seeing negative newspaper headlines about Academi. One of his first hires after becoming CEO in June was a newly created position of compliance officer, whose job is to ensure the company’s work is done ethically and legally.
Wright said the company can maintain that level of protection even as it sheds the gung-ho culture of its past. The company continues to provide security or training in more than half a dozen countries around the world, most notably in Afghanistan. And it wants to get back into Iraq, where Wright said the business opportunities are promising. “I have every confidence we’ll be operating in Iraq again,” Wright said, arguing that the Iraqi and the U.S. governments will recognize his company’s culture change.
Since the US military is officially pulling out of Iraq and the US is relying on contractors for security, it is likely Academi will find its way back into the country.
When the company was known as Blackwater, Iraqi citizens feared them because they operated without impunity. They could do and say whatever they wanted until people started to speak out
Make no mistake, Academi are a company of assassins hired by corporations to do their bidding. They are sociopaths hiding behind a pseudo-legal company. They are not a legitimate company. They are mercenaries. They can change their name a hundred times, but their basic mission will remain the same; hired killers.
There have been constant questions about Pat Tillman‘s death since it happened. Many have been saying that it wasn’t friendly fire and that he was murdered. New documents raise even more suspicions about Tillman’s death.
In his last words moments before he was killed, Tillman snapped at a panicky comrade under fire to shut up and stop “sniveling.”
Army attorneys sent each other congratulatory e-mails for keeping criminal investigators at bay as the Army conducted an internal friendly-fire investigation that resulted in administrative, or non-criminal, punishments.
The three-star general who kept the truth about Tillman’s death from his family and the public told investigators some 70 times that he had a bad memory and couldn’t recall details of his actions.
No evidence at all of enemy fire was found at the scene — no one was hit by enemy fire, nor was any government equipment struck.
If anyone believes that Pat Tillman was shot three times in the forehead by three different people with all the wounds close together while he was moving around is an idiot. The fact that the government has continued to push this story says there is an ongoing coverup to what really happened.
In case you’d like to learn more about Pat Tillman and his unfortunate and untimely death, you can read Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer and Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman by his mother, Mary Tillman. You can also watch the movie, The Tillman Story and read government documents about the incident. It’s available on Netflix. Inform yourself and make your own decision about what happened.
The XM25 is the latest and greatest weapon the US military is using in Afghanistan.
A soldier aims a new XM25 weapon system at Aberdeen Test Center in Maryland. The XM25 is an airburst grenade launcher equipped with a laser rangefinder and programmable grenade that can be set to detonate at a precise distance, for example, directly above an enemy hidden behind a wall. After years of development, the XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System has now been deployed to US units on the battlefields of Afghanistan, where the Army expects it to be a “game-changer” in its counterinsurgency operations. Photo taken on July 30, 2009. (AFP/Getty Images) #
We must remember, however, that this is the result of war.
A child receives medical attention during a Medevac mission in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province November 13, 2010. The child was injured in an explosion. (REUTERS/Peter Andrews) #
If you’re a typical American, you probably read the big American newspapers and maybe a local paper or two. Most Americans don’t read newspapers from overseas, which means that they have missed a huge story about the disgusting treatment of people at the hands of American citizens. Two stories have recently come to light about just how inhumane the American soldiers have been. It is the story of rape and random killings.
We saw the photos of Abu Ghraib that the government wanted us to see, but there were worse photos to be seen. These were deemed so terrible that our fragile little “America is the best nation ever” eyes could not see. At least that is how the government thinks. If we had seen, heard, read about the rape and torture, particularly women, in Abu Ghraib, the nation would have turned against the government and demanded all troops return home immediately. Instead, we’ve been kept in the dark about what really happens there.
