Blackwater / Xe / IDS / Academi - R2

[Loopster]

Aparte del jardín memorial donde hay una roca con el nombre grabado de cada contratista de Blackwater caido en servicio... ¿cuantos sabíais que hay una medalla para aquellos hombres heridos en combate o que demostraron un valor excepcional ante el enemigo?

Blackwater Defense of Liberty Medal

[troglodita]

Esa es nuestra diferencia con ellos.
Dios mío que máquinas son,una medalla a los heridos.
Aquí aún estamos redefiniendo si nos la dan por misión de combate o paz,si es que te la dan...
Así da gusto hacer tu trabajo.
salu2

[blackjack]

¿La medalla es reconocida oficialmente por el gobierno o solo es de usointerno de la empresa?
De cualquier manera me parece un detalle honorable

[kilo009]

Loopster, El Tirador Solitario y Usted (ya no lo tutearé ) os habéis adelantado al todopoderoso Jane's:

Raytheon and Blackwater collaborate on JLTV bid

Raytheon has paired with US security company Blackwater to compete for the US military's Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) programme, which is intended to yield a modular family of light trucks incorporating the latest advances in vehicle survivability, engine design, communications and electronics. The JLTV will eventually replace the widely fielded Humvee and the company that creates the winning design stands to win major production orders

[yoyimbo]

Bueno, aquí va una foto, tiene unos años, pero estoy seguro de que habrà quièn sepa dónde se tomó....
Le dejo a èl que lo cuente que se le da mejor la pluma que a mi....

Un saludo

[Loopster]

4 de abril de 2004, Camp Golf, Najaf. Aproximadamente 11:45 de la mañana.

El Capitán Matthew Eddy (Army) y el Cabo Loonie Young (Marines) en la zona este del tejado del edificio que albergaba a la CPA y dependencias españolas, tras ser sacados de la línea de fuego por Pyro, Doc y Hollywood, bajo la cobertura de un par de SAWs, una MG3 y una M60 que agotaron sus cajas de munición en los siguientes tres minutos. La sangre en el suelo es tanto de Eddy, con un tiro que le cruzaba de lado a lado del pecho, como de Young, con un disparo sobre el omóplato izquierdo.

[Loopster]

Unas cuantas imágenes de uno de los cursos para personal de seguridad en Moyock no hace mucho:

[Loopster]

Im-presionante, editorial del San Diego Union-Tribune:

A lesson for politicians

Judge's decision on Blackwater is a win for rule of law

June 8, 2008

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff has performed a public service with a ruling that should put a damper on the political posturing and petty pandering over Blackwater Worldwide before it winds up costing San Diego taxpayers millions of dollars in a legal judgment.

As a candidate for city attorney, City Councilman Scott Peters started the hullabaloo. Considering his distant third-place finish in the race last week, voters were not too impressed with his huffing and puffing over Blackwater's plans to open an anti-terrorism training center for Navy personnel on Otay Mesa, just blocks from the border. Peters ostentatiously declared he would block the project, which was moving forward under a Navy contract, even though the city already had issued a permit for it.

Next to join the grandstanding was City Attorney Mike Aguirre, who just happened to be campaigning for re-election. He penned a legal opinion that essentially said the permit issued to Blackwater by the city was invalid and that the City Council was required to vote on the project because it included an indoor firing range. Unsurprisingly, Aguirre's legal beagles were themselves shot down by Judge Huff. Chalk up yet another courtroom loss for Aguirre.

The last to join the “bash Blackwater” parade was Mayor Jerry Sanders, who also was in the middle of a re-election campaign and didn't want to be put on the defensive by another Aguirre political crusade. So, Sanders put his better judgment aside and issued a stop-work order on the Blackwater project in spite of the valid permit issued earlier by his subordinates.

At times like this, thank heavens for the rule of law and the role of the courts in enforcing it in the face of countervailing political opinion. After Blackwater made a strong case that its rights to due process were being violated arbitrarily by pandering politicians, Judge Huff issued a temporary restraining order requiring Peters, Aguirre and Sanders to get out of the way and allow the project to proceed.

Despite lots of palaver to the contrary, the opponents never had a case on land-use grounds. Their opposition was really rooted in Blackwater's unpopularity as a controversial military contractor in Iraq. Blackwater's political opponents are entitled to voice their opinions, but they are not allowed under the law to deny a valid land-use permit to Blackwater simply because of their political objections. Thank you, Judge Huff, for setting the politicians straight.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib ... iddle.html

[Loopster]

Reabasteciendo una FOB en Afganistán con cargas en paracaídas a muy baja altitud, ¿30 metros quizás?

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a07_1210412131&p=1

[Loopster]

Ojo a este pedazo de carta Benny Avni dirigida a Alain LeRoi, quien dicen será nombrado jefe de las operaciones de pacificación por el Secretario General de la ONU en los próximos días:

Dear Alain Le Roi,

Secretary-General Ban, Le Figaro reports, is about to appoint you as the new head of peacekeeping, the United Nations's largest and most cherished department. If so, congratulations. If not, please pass on this piece of unsolicited advice to whomever gets the job.

Success in your new post depends largely on Darfur. Putting a stop to the horrors there is the most ambitious task the U.N. member states have ever assigned to your department. For help, you'd be wise to contact two people who come from two extreme ends of America's finest traditions. You probably remember Mia Farrow from the movies. Erik Prince's excellent corporation, Blackwater USA, is often vilified in your circles, so you've probably heard of him, as well.

I spoke to both of them recently. She's very dot-org. He's all dot-com. She's a bleeding heart, an effective and fierce fighter against injustice. He's a successful businessman, whose business is peacemaking. I'm no matchmaker, but if opposites really do attract, this, for the suffering people of Darfur, would be a match made in heaven.

Mr. Prince has previously expressed interest in sending his dedicated professionals to Darfur. Mr. Le Roi, even if you don't add a single soldier under your command to the 9,000 mostly African troops now deployed there, Blackwater can organize them into a force to be reckoned with.

You'll also need highly trained people on the ground. Mr. Prince's men are some of the best in the business. Your predecessor has traveled the world nonstop, begging donors for a few helicopters, which are necessary in the vast deserts of Darfur; Blackwater has helicopters. Blackwater, in short, can cut your costs and the loss of life.

That is, of course, if you can get the relevant parties to employ Mr. Prince. It's a huge challenge, and members of your department are partially to blame.

Darfur "is a gnarly problem, and I don't know why the U.N. is not more active on it," Ms. Farrow said.

But she does know. She constantly chides China for blocking related U.N. Security Council resolutions. She meets endlessly with the relevant American officials, lobbying them to do more at Turtle Bay and beyond.

Asked about Mr. Ban's diplomatic performance on Darfur, she said, "What performance?"

U.N. peacekeeping negotiators, along with their African Union partners, made a strategic mistake in their talks with President Bashir of Sudan, a senior Western diplomat said recently: Instead of demanding that negotiations cease once an agreement to deploy peacekeepers was signed, Turtle Bay gave Mr. Bashir veto power over each stage of the deployment.

And so Mr. Bashir recently announced that he would evict the employees of a Lockheed Martin subsidiary that received a U.N. contract to build the infrastructure necessary for new peacekeeping camps in Darfur. The no-bid contract may have been suspect, but that's not for Mr. Bashir to decide.

People at Turtle Bay "need to go spine shopping," Ms. Farrow said. "Did Hitler get to choose" which troops the Allies sent?

As you can see, Mr. Le Roi, your previous jobs as a French diplomat in Macedonia and Kosovo were a cakewalk compared to this. Western powers turn to the United Nations to keep the peace when they feel bad about wars in places where they have no compelling national interest. Third World countries send peacekeepers to the United Nations for extra cash. Naturally, they keep the best young recruits for their national army and send you the ones they think won't amount to much. So you'll have to fight constant allegations that your troops are guilty of child rape and other unspeakable horrors.

In other words, this "international community" you're always hearing about rarely manages to solve problems together. You'll need allies like Ms. Farrow to remind them that again and again they resort to promising "never again" — until they are shocked at yet another massacre. But then you'll always be short of funds and there will always be too few good men under your command. You'll need Mr. Prince to help you there.

Go to them, secretly or in public, just for advice or to sign contracts, together or separately. Nongovernment types like Ms. Farrow, and organizations like Mr. Prince's — whose contracts are heavily regulated by the American government — have an interest in Darfur. They are your best bet there, and thus everywhere.

Aunque mucho me temo que a partir de finales de julio va a ser bastante difícil que veamos algo así, los que estén al día sabrán a que me refiero