To the Dems Who Voted to 'Defund ACORN': Where is the Defund Blackwater Act?

Democrats joined Republicans in voting to "Defund ACORN," yet have done nothing to stop Blackwater's ongoing taxpayer-funded crusade in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Republican Congressional leaders are continuing their witch-hunt against ACORN, the grassroots community group dedicated to helping poor and working class people. This campaign now unfortunately has gained bipartisan legislative support in the form of the Defund ACORN Act of 2009 which has now passed the House and Senate. As Ryan Grim at Huffington Post has pointed out, the legislation "could plausibly defund the entire military-industrial complex:"

The congressional legislation intended to defund ACORN, passed with broad bipartisan support, is written so broadly that it applies to "any organization" that has been charged with breaking federal or state election laws, lobbying disclosure laws, campaign finance laws or filing fraudulent paperwork with any federal or state agency. It also applies to any of the employees, contractors or other folks affiliated with a group charged with any of those things.

According to the Project on Oversight and Government Reform, this legislation could potentially eliminate a virtual Who's Who of war contractors, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing and KBR to other corporations such as AT&T, FedEx and Dell.

Perhaps one of the most jarring comparisons here is the fact that ACORN is now being attacked while the Obama administration continues to contract with Blackwater, the favorite mercenary company of the Bush administration, which is headed by Erik Prince, who was a major donor to Republican causes and campaigns, including those of some of the Defund ACORN bill's sponsors, among them Indiana Republican Mike Pence, one of the key figures in hunting down Van Jones. Prince, of course, was recently described by a former employee as a man who "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and whose companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."

At present Blackwater has a $217 million security contract through the State Department in Iraq which was just extended by the Obama administration indefinitely. It holds a $210 million State Department "security" contract in Afghanistan that runs through 2011 and another multi-million dollar contract with the Defense Department for "training" in Kabul. All of this is on top of Blackwater's clandestine work for the CIA, including continued work on the drone bombing campaign in Pakistan and Afghanistan. This also does not take into account Blackwater's lucrative domestic work training law enforcement and military forces inside the US at the company's compounds in North Carolina, California and Illinois, nor the private "security" work it does for entities like the International Republican Institute, nor the work it does in training "Faith Based Organizations." It also does not include the contracts doled out to Erik Prince's private CIA called Total Intelligence Solutions, which works for foreign governments and Fortune 500 corporations.

Then there is this fact: Blackwater was paid over $73 million for its federally-funded, no bid-security contracts with the Department of Homeland Security in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, billing taxpayers $950 per man per day, a spending decision the Bush administration called "the best value to the government." ACORN, meanwhile, only helped poor people who were suffering as a result of the government's total and complete failure to respond to Katrina.

Meanwhile, a recent federal audit of Blackwater, compiled by the State Department and the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, suggests the company may have to repay some $55 million to the government for allegedly failing to meet the terms of just one federal contract in Iraq, which, it is important to note, is $2 million more than the total money allotted by the federal government to ACORN over the past 15 years. (The company also cannot account for one federally funded "deep fat fryer" in Iraq, according to the audit).

Overall, Blackwater has raked in well over $1 billion since 2003 in security contracts alone -- all of which were kicked off by a fat no-bid contract to guard L. Paul Bremer. Let's also remember that Blackwater was estimated in Congressional hearings in 2007 to earn some 90% of its revenue from the federal government and Prince refused to disclose his salary, but said it was over $1 million. Blackwater has been or is being investigated by the US Congress, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the Justice Department and the IRS, among other agencies, for a range of issues from arms smuggling to manslaughter to tax evasion. One of its operatives pleaded guilty to killing an innocent, unarmed Iraqi civilian, while five others have been indicted on manslaughter and other charges over the 2007 Nisour Square massacre during which 17 Iraqi civilians were gunned down. The company is also facing a slew of civil lawsuits alleging war crimes and extrajudicial killings in Iraq.

Here is a question for those Democratic lawmakers that voted in support of the Defund ACORN Act: How do you justify making this a major league legislative priority while Blackwater continues to be armed and dangerous across the globe on the US government payroll? Where is the Defund Blackwater Act?

Read more from Jeremy Scahill on RebelReports.

 

 

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Comments

[RockyMissouri]

Jeremy Scahill is an admirable young man who brings us info we need to hear. We need to defund xe/blackwater
NOW and bring them to trial and HOLD
THEM ACCOUNTABLE!

[LePistoir]

Amen Jeremy.
Why is the "bad apples" defense acceptable for Abu Ghraib and Nisour Square, but not for a non-violent group like ACORN? Also, where does the funding that is taken from ACORN's voter registration efforts go? Military recruitment? The government should put that money right back into voter registration, because everyone in this country should be able to vote.

[ReedYoung]

Because wrong wing nutcases who watch Glenn Beck and listen to Rush Limbaugh are more vehement in opposition to trivia than Liberals are in opposition to murder and rape by private contractors.

[ClareP]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. There should be a real outcry about this. Please write to your senators and reps, people!

[montn2]

Blackwater is the real threat to our democracy. It needs to be dismantled and legislation should be passed to assure duplicates do not take its place.

[nivek]

Dear Republican/ Democratic congress member __________ ( fill in the blank ) Your insistence upon using mercenaries to protect American civilians working in war torn Iraq and Afghanistan is an insult to the soldiers who so bravely fight for this nation. Are the American fighting men and women incompetent or somehow incapable of performing this task? Why do you so distrust the American armed forces? We have heard repeatedly from you that the United States has the best trained, best equipped military in the world, is that not true? It is profoundly puzzling that you hire these mercenaries, including many who are not American citizens, to protect our high ranking officers, dignitaries such as yourself and your congressional peers when in harms way. Why isn't the United States armed forces good enough for you?

[littlepeople]

Scahill one of the smartest guys around....­.keep hitting hard on these issues!

[lisakaz2]

Absolutely. The ACORN controversy is a distraction and small potatoes and actually a group that does far more good than Xe or Blackwater ever could. All those military/mercenary companies should have contracts automatically suspended if not rescinded for their illegality and malfeasance. This reminds me of the complaints about welfare queens. The GOP hates anything that helps Americans. Enough is enough with their priorities. They LOST the election. The battered wife syndrome has to STOP.

[porsche996]

Wonderful article as usual sir.

I luv it when they go off half cocked and foul up like this...is this karmic intervention?

Enacted to and by the letter this legislation could really be a godsend in thin disguise.

Eisenhower is cheering somewhere!

[Leftwingbloggin]

I'm glad i'm an independent now. I can't really tell the difference between the dems and the republicans only difference is they don't have a spine and are like human speed bumps.. Excellent article. Enjoyed the discussion on Rachel

[Scottyann]

I would like the real Obama to stand up for the voters who elected him President. The Obama we are seeing in the news is being pushed around by the big money guys. Obama promised to get us out of the wars...he promised us change...h­ow is that going...He promised National Health care, are we making any headway in that direction? I know we need to give him more time, but whose running this country...­the military generals..­.the banks...th­e pharmaceutical companies.­..the managed health care industry..­.Wall street?

How can Obama fight the shadow army Scahil is talking about, Blackwater, while his forces are fighting all of the other armys' of thieves and hypocrites who are picking our pockets, and robbing us of our rights and freedoms.

I think it's time President Obama diverted his eyes from unseen problems in Iran, and back to the problems facing him at home...and take a stand for the voters who believed his words of YES WE CAN. But what I'm seeing today is... the same ole...same ole...

[JimBozo]

The term "defunding" has a familiar ring. I first heard it in connection with the founding neo-conservatives, such as Jack Abramoff, Grover Norquist, et al. The concept was that, when they got control of the government, they would waste as much money as possible, so that if/when the Democrats got into power again, there would be no money available to support progressive policies. They called this approach: "defunding the left". Ref: "The Wrecking Crew, how conservatives govern", by Thomas Frank.

Two wars and a giant bailout of corrupt financial institutions (a going-away gift from the Bush administration, remember) pretty much did that job for the Neo-Cons, and now they're putting the nail into Acorn's coffin based upon numerous lies and a few cheap publicity stunts. Democrats have much to learn from the right's playbook, only they don't seem to catch on that they need to play in their own direction, rather than helping the other side score.

[Pearlswan]

Blackwater is yet another subversive group funded by the US Government with tax dollars extracted from the American people. Blackwater is an army hired to protect the corporate interests, not the people's interest, in America and in Iraq and beyond. Blackwater is the protector of the oil and natural gas pipelines being constructed in the region. They don't work for US so they should be fired. Let the corporations pay for their own security as they rob people of their labor and their resources. Why are the American people financing this pillaging?

[grandma58]

Can we de-fund the federal government until there is a complete investigation of all wrong doing, actual and perceived?

[cupcake65]

Yeah - we could start by having Congress investigate Congress! I mean, that's always worked before, hasn't it?

[ejhickey]

I like this idea.

[ezeflyer]

Who were the Dems that voted to defund ACORN?

[cupcake65]

Who were the Dems who voted to FUND them in the first place? That's a better question.

[JohnHKennedy]

Blackwater is the worlds largest Private Army and is controlled byt the neo-con Right Wingers. If they ever start to use it against Democrats hjere in the US we are in real trouble. Push Congress to Outlaw It.

Keep asking ALL politicians at ALL public events "Why do they support Torture?"
If they aren't actively calling for enforcement of our Federal Torture Laws They Support Torture.

SIGN THE PETITIONS
Demanding both a Commission of Inquiry
and Prosecution for All the Bush-Cheney Crimes at ANGRYVOTER­S.ORG

http://ANGRYVOTERS.ORG

Only Prosecution Stops Torture!
Only Prosecution Stops Violations of Our Constitution and Rule Of Law.