From CNN.com:
A firm affiliated with the former Blackwater security company has been awarded a contract to provide protection to U.S. consulates and diplomats in the Afghan cities of Herat and Mazar-e Sharif, a U.S. State Department official confirmed on Saturday.
The official said U.S. Training Center got the contract on Friday. It is part of Xe, the new name of Blackwater Worldwide.
If massacres of civilians was not enough for the military-industrial complex we get this:
The deal is a one-year contract with an option to extend up to 18 months. If the contract is fulfilled for that entire period, it would be more than $120 million
.
120 million. Money that is given to a company that had to change its name because of the death and disctruction that they caused. These insane, lawless fuckers are getting money because of the special interests that are entrenched in Washington. They had to change thier name because of the sensless destruction that they had caused in Iraq.
Luckily we have people with some sense such as Rep. Jan Schakowsky D-Ill:
Though the name Blackwater has become synonymous with the worst of contractor abuses, the bigger problem is our dangerous reliance on such companies for the business of waging war
The war for resources is run because of the greed of MNCs, and the government's willingness to supply them with evermore opportunities to exploit resources and suppress human beings as highlighted in Naomi Klein's excellent book The Shock Doctrine. I can't believe that this is being put under the radar. This company should be stripped of all of its government contracts. This will never happen however because of the cozy relationship that the government now has with private contractors. People ask why Americans are cyncics when it comes to politics. Shit like this and this is why.
Update Please check out Sydeserious's diary on the same subject here