Toxic Mercenaries

Dec 5, 2005 by Loki

“This vigilantism demonstrates the utter breakdown of the government,” says Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. “These private security forces have behaved brutally, with impunity, in Iraq. To have them now on the streets of New Orleans is frightening and possibly illegal.”

These are the guys stationed at the Jewish community center on St Charles guarding the FEMA workers. I know this is a disaster area, but I have watched one of these mercs spend 45 minutes (by my watch) standing over an elderly man and his wife with his hand on his gun trying to intimidate them. The young man could not have been more than thirty at the oldest, and sported a “macho,” demeanor and a mistaken idea that standing six inches from someone and assuming a threatening posture is the way to treat a disaster victim (or ANY US citizen for that matter). Read up on these guys, they should not be deployed stateside. Period.

Democracy Now: BLackwater Mercenaries in NOLA

Blackwater’s Katrina Press Release

Washington Post Article on Blackwater and other Mercenary groups being deployed in NOLA

The Nation: Blackwater Down (this is the article quoted at the top of this post)