President, IraqSlogger.com
Author and documentary filmmaker who spent three years living and traveling with security contractors and mercenaries while researching the book Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror; president of IraqSlogger.com
American Forces Drawn into Bitter Fighting in Iraq Yesterday, President Bush said Iraq was returning to " normalcy ," but today he conceded the situation is "dangerous and fragile." He called the Maliki government's efforts to confront criminal elements a " defining moment " in Iraq. The President's comments followed US air strikes in both the southern city of Basra and a Shiite militia stronghold in Baghdad, where the government has declared a curfew through Sunday. We get an update on the situation from a journalist, documentarian and aid worker in Iraq.
Private Security Contractors and Public Accountability Congressional investigators say Blackwater fired first in almost two-hundred shootouts , often failed to help injured civilians, and that many killings were covered up by state department officials. One criticism of Blackwater guards is that they interfere with the military’s counterinsurgency mission. Today’s hearing won’t be the last we hear of Blackwater and other civilian contractors.
Private Security Guards and the War in Iraq Blackwater USA —with more than a billion dollars in federal contracts—was on the carpet today on Capitol Hill. Congressional investigators claim that Blackwater guards shot first in almost 200 shootouts and killed innocent Iraqis in incidents the State Department helped cover up. Company founder Erik Prince, a former Navy Seal who has rarely been heard from in public, today told the committee that the shooting was always defensive, that 30 of its men have been killed and that that none of the VIP's under guard has ever been lost. Are they skilled professionals who free up Marines and soldiers or rogue mercenaries who interfere with America's goals in Iraq?
Iraq Wants Blackwater Security Guards Out All US diplomats are banned from leaving the Green Zone by land as Iraq's Prime Nouri al-Maliki Minister tells the State Department to fire Blackwater USA security guards. Iraq says ten civilians were killed on Sunday when Blackwater guards fired indiscriminately into a crowd. Blackwater says they shot at "armed enemies." It's the latest in a long series of incidents that have infuriated Iraqis from the streets to the corridors of power. Why is the State Department so dependent on private guards? Has it failed to exercise appropriate oversight?
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?