Here’s an interesting side note to the presidential race. Jeremy Scahill on Blackwater’s role in the 2008 campaign, in The Nation:
Blackwater is deep in the camp of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Cofer Black is Romney’s senior adviser on counterterrorism. At the recent CNN/YouTube debate, when Romney refused to call waterboarding torture, he said, “I’m not going to specify the specific means of what is and what is not torture so that the people that we capture will know what things we’re able to do and what things we’re not able to do. And I get that advice from Cofer Black, who is a person who was responsible for counterterrorism in the CIA for some thirty-five years.” That was an exaggeration of Black’s career at the CIA (he was there twenty-eight years and head of counterterrorism for only three), but a Romney presidency could make Blackwater’s business under Bush look like a church bake sale.
In short, Blackwater is moving ahead at full steam. Individual scandals clearly aren’t enough to slow it down. The company’s critics in the Democratic-controlled Congress must confront the root of the problem: the government is in the midst of its most radical privatization in history, and companies like Blackwater are becoming ever more deeply embedded in the war apparatus. Until this system is brought down, the world’s the limit for Blackwater Worldwide–and as its rebranding campaign shows, Blackwater knows it.
Those silly debates need a ‘ fact check buzzer’ that any other can press when these liars ‘stretch’ the truth.
In fact, I think presidential press conferences should have ‘em as well.
The post coverage press sometimes has people do this but not often enough.
I think eventually it’s effect would make these mugs have some accountability.
Also it would be Quite entertaining at first especially if ya don’t tell ‘em about it.
They think that by speeding up these “debates” people will watch more?
Bull$%^&*!
And this would eventually speed ‘em up anyway cuz they ‘d have to be truthful about these claims.
So much b.s. just slips on by.
Great article Ian.
Thank you.