Pakistan, Opinions and Disbelief; Is Blackwater Here Now?

Blackwater: global mercenary network By Ghulam Asghar Khan Published: September 6, 2009

As I was perusing the internet looking to enhance my Sunday understanding of human rights on a global level I came across a most interesting article in a newspaper published in Pakistan.The Nation :"The Nation has a special position in Pakistan's media, as the most respected publication in English, with firm and constructive views, and excellent news coverage. With five editions published daily from three stations, it is the market leader in the Punjab and Islamabad areas, and has established a strong presence in Karachi since its inception there in 2000. It is the newspaper of choice for not only those who make decisions, formulate policy or are opinion leaders but also for those youngsters who will call the shots in the future.

The Nation is part of the Nawa-e-Waqt Group, and thus belongs to the oldest newspaper tradition in the country, which started when Hamid Nizami founded Nawa-e-Waqt the day the Pakistan Resolution was passed in 1940."

OK. so we know a little bit about the paper. The article was located in the opinion section and much to my amazement this long after the start of the Iraqi war it is very much fresh in the minds of the Pakistani people; especially the hired mercenaries.You likely heard of them, they were called "Black water". They are civilian "mercenaries" hired to do many things. Not "nice" things . Pretty much a license to kill. According to this opinion piece and I am not sure how well informed their sources are but they describe Black-water as: "Blackwater was founded in 1997 by Erik Prince and Clark in the American state of North Carolina in 1997. It, perhaps, is the world's largest network that trains 40,000 mercenaries a year, mostly from the US or foreign military and police personnel. It was assigned military assignments by the Bush Administration in Iraq, when the name Black water became synonymous with torture and murder of Iraqi citizens. Its training consists of military offensive and defensive operations under the tag of a private security agency. It has nine business units spread over the world. Its Aviation Worldwide Services (AWS) provide services to the CIA, and its aircraft's have also been used in CIA's "extraordinary rendition" escapades.
Blackwater first came to notice in 2003, when it received a dollar nine million 'no bid' contract from the US administration for guarding L Paul Bremer, nicknamed Jerry Bremer, as Washington's head of the 'Coalition Provisional Authority' in Baghdad. Within few months, Blackwater drew much notoriety over the trigger-happy killer instinct of its guards who indulged in wanton killing of unarmed civilians without any respect for human rights/international law. The public anger was exhibited on March 31, 2004, when four Blackwater mercenaries were ambushed and killed and their charred bodies were hanged over the Euphrates Bridge."
Not very nice to be a mercenary is it? You do not have to respect human rights in other words is that correct? Like I said this is an Opinion piece and I can not verify the legitamacy or the accuracy of its contents I am only posting and commenting on a published article from another country right?

Anyways, to get to the point to make the title of my post make some sense, the article concludes like this "Since mercenaries can work in civvies, they are useful to the Pentagon when it seeks to build military presence in a country without attracting undue attention. Instead of sending battalions of active military force, the Pentagon deploys civilian contractors from Blackwater (Xe) and other firms to set up an operation that would serve dual purpose: protecting the West's new profitable oil and gas exploitation in a region historically dominated by Russia, China and Iran, and possibly laying the groundwork for an important forward operating base for an attack on Iran. And to accomplish that mission the new base is readily available in Afghanistan and Pakistan where Blackwater with its new name Xe Services is extending its sphere of influence. Though the American and Pakistani authorities have denied the presence of Xe (former Blackwater) in Pakistan, there has been a growing concern in Peshawar and other parts of the country against the reported presence and activities of Pentagon's hired killers.
The writer is a former inspector general of police."

Apparently, the writer, is convinced,or paranoid, one or the other, that we have mercenaries deployed ready to invade Iran? By way of Pakistan? Now this is interesting. I hope that I am not to off topic with human rights, but being a mercenary does mean a lack of respect for human rights because your job is to protect whomever hired you regardless no matter what. So if that means you have to disregard human life than that's what likely could be the result. Its a shame that's how this world happens to work nowadays and in the not so far past isn't it? Lets defineitley keep our eyes and ears open to new developments to see if this man is anywhere near correct with his opinion piece in this article. Lets hope he is really wrong!

william