With their prospects for fleecing the U.S government in Iraq beyond 2009 drying up, Blackwater Worldwide is diversifying like mad. First it was flying spy machines, today it’s angling to train soldiers in Darfur and providing sellswords for international shipping companies trying to avoid pirates on the high seas. With a federal murder indictment over the slaying of 17 unarmed Iraqis looming and a reputation for using excessive force, gouging Uncle Sam, and flouting the law, one would think Blackwater would have a credibility problem.
Not when you have the best political connections and lobbyists money can buy — don’t forget John McCain’s own chief strategist Charlie Black was once hired to coach CEO Erik Prince before he testified before congress — plus free advertising with military news outlets and gushing conservative media. Yes, Prince and his little start-up-that-could are well on their way to riding the Global War on Terror gravy train for all it’s worth.
WRW 
Peter 
rawshark 
I love my friend who is a contractor for Blackwater. He is an honorable and decent family man. He also has a dark sense of humor about his job in Iraq. (We joke about him being a merc’ in King Bush’s imperial army.) Blackwater and its ilk are not creating the gravy train (though their owners/shareholders may be trying to extend its life). I also have close friends in the green building industry and in the pseudo-governmental humanitarian industry who are excited about how their careers will take off under Obama’s reign. This is why I’m a conservative: I don’t believe the proper role of government is creating winners and losers in society– even if the winners are people I care about.