Now work for a company called XE(pronounced "zee:") Black water corporate thought they needed a new public face after being banned from iraq for massacaring civilians. http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2009/02/the-outfit-form.html The Outfit Formerly Known as Blackwater Some of your employees are facing manslaughter charges. Your biggest customers just yanked your contracts. How do you repair your image and your reputation? Simple: change your name and cover your tracks. The Outfit Formerly Known as Blackwater, the huge military contracting and consulting firm, made its bones and its less-than-salubrious name in Iraq. And now it wants to unmake its notoriety. It is changing its name to Xe. Pronounced Z. Or maybe "zed," depending on what part of the world you're in. In a memo to employees, Blackwater/Xe president Gary Jackson says the switch "reflects the change in company focus away from the business of providing private security." To providing what now, exactly? Frosted cupcakes? Xe is on the periodic charts at atomic number 54; it stands for xenon, a "noble gas" like fellow elements krypton and neon. The Outfit Formerly Known as Blackwater now joins the ranks of the rebranded, along with Altria, a bland, content-free name used to make people forget that its real name and mission was Philip Morris, cigarette maker. Whatever they choose to call it, for an awful lot of people, here and in Iraq, Blackwater's name will always be mud. Photo: April 4, 2004 file photo of Blackwater USA employees involved in a firefight in Najaf. Credit: AP Photo/Gervasio Sanchez <!-- AUTHOR CODE --> Posted by Patt Morrison on February 13, 2009 in Business , Iraq , Patt Morrison , Propaganda , War | Permalink
Sorry if this is a bit off topic but how in hell do they get their weapons overseas? Do these companies ask for an approval from ATF to work and then bring them back or?
While Blackwater does not ship them, the limited number of automatic weapons that are in Blackwater’s custody in Iraq were all exported by the U.S. government or by the manufacturer under U.S. government license. They are all fully accounted for, regularly inventoried, and required to be turned in to the U.S. government at the end of the associated contracts. Blackwater has never hidden anything inside a bag of dog food - not a gun, not a radio, nor anything else. A recent news story cited “former employees” who claim that Blackwater hid weapons “in large sacks of dog food.” This sensational claim is false. The company has, however, packed shipping pallets with valuable and pilferable items, including weapons, interior to bags of dog food or other low-theft items. This common practice is done to prevent corrupt foreign customs agents and shipping workers from stealing the valuables. U.S. export statutes require licensing of controlled materials but do not dictate their placement within packaging. Link: http://frontierindia.net/blackwater-clarifies-on-media-stories-regarding-weapon-shipments "Blackwater has never shipped an automatic weapon to Iraq. A recent report that Blackwater has "shipped hundreds of automatic weapons to Iraq without the necessary permits" and "some of the weapons are believed to have ended up on the country's black market" is false. Blackwater has never shipped so much as one automatic weapon to Iraq."
