Blackwater Founder Wants to Fight Ebola, ISIS, and for the GOP to ‘Get Off Their Ass’

THE DAILY BEAST ^ | 9/19/2014 | Asawin Suebsaeng

[McGruff]

Erik Prince says his old private army could have dealt with the Islamic State militants on their own—and that Republicans need to start fighting ‘like we pay them to.’

Erik Prince has a message for ISIS: You’re lucky Blackwater is gone.

On Friday night, the controversial founder of the private military company had plenty to say about what the organization he once ran could be doing in the fight against the so-called Islamic State—and also why Republicans need to stop being such losers.

“It’s a shame the [Obama] administration crushed my old business, because as a private organization, we could’ve solved the boots-on-the-ground issue, we could have had contracts from people that want to go there as contractors; you don’t have the argument of U.S. active duty going back in there,” Prince said in an on-stage discussion featuring retired four-star Gen. James Conway. “[They could have] gone in there and done it, and be done, and not have a long, protracted political mess that I predict will ensue.”

Prince was speaking at a dinner event for donors to the Maverick PAC, a conservative group with ties to the Bush dynasty, at the Capital Hilton just blocks from the White House.

His private military company (since rebranded as Academi) courted more than its fair share of trouble during the Bush years, in large part due to Blackwater guards gunning down 17 civilians in Baghdad. The Obama administration severed most ties with Blackwater, and Prince sold the company and uprooted to Abu Dhabi, where he continued doing sketchy work with security forces. Feeling betrayed by the Obama administration, he has since said that his days working for the U.S. government are over.

But on the subject of the federal government that he no longer wishes to work with, Prince has a rough message for the Republican Party: Get off your asses, guys. (Prince is a libertarian, staunchly Catholic conservative.)

“I want you to tell your congressman that we pay them to fight,” Prince told the crowd. “They are hired to fight for our values, for what you sent them there to do… I am sick and tired of Republicans getting rolled—having a lousy, weak leadership that gets rolled every time by the Democratic Party. We’re like… Charlie Brown trying to kick the football every time and they keep taking it away… I encourage the Republican Party to get off their ass and fight like we pay them to.”

This was the big applause line of the evening, but another one of Prince’s crowd-pleasers came when the conversation turned to Iran. He, of course, had nothing but unkind words for the regime in Tehran, but praised the young, liberal population of the Islamic Republic.

“Most Iranians… are just like you guys,” he said. “They want to be able to drink a beer when they want, travel where they want, have their wife or girlfriend drive a car or wear a short shirt and wear high heels. I’m all in favor of it.”

Roughly 70 percent of the country’s population is under the age of 30 and has no memory of the Islamic Revolution of 1979, so the Prince characterization is… sort of on the money.

But what—beside perhaps killing ISIS members—could The Artist Formerly Known As Blackwater do for the world today? Prince has said that one thing that inspired him to create Blackwater was his disgust at the international community’s failure to stop the Rwandan genocide.

“Who can watch the movie Hotel Rwanda and not wish it had a different outcome?” he told Charlie Rose in 2007. “Who didn’t wish that the UN would have sent troops or yanked those Belgian commandos back there, to secure that hotel and to provide some safe havens? I mean, you let almost a million people in a country about the size of Maryland get killed by farm tools over four months.”

So I asked him what he sees in terms of the humanitarian potential for something like Blackwater in the world today. He pointed to the NOAAS McArthur (S 330), an American survey ship once bought by Blackwater for the stated purpose of humanitarian missions.

“Now, that’s the sort of thing that could help fight Ebola,” Prince tells me.

[McGruff]

I like what I'm hearing but I fear Democrats and Republican would unite to do whatever they could to sabotage his efforts.

[yldstrk]

He is right the Republicans are pathetic. The Democrats are evil.

[Stingray51]

What happened to the trial of the four Blackwater guards? The last report I saw was a few weeks ago that the trial had wrapped up and it was going to the jury. But then nothing, news stories dried up. Anybody know what happened?

[taildragger]

He is right the Republicans are pathetic

And the want us to be a ra-ra and be happy with a go-team-go attitude, and volunteer and send money as we approach Nov-4th when the care more about K-Street than what is right? That Tuesday will be about as much fun as a root canal.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3205622/posts?page=36#36

[cloudmountain]

Mercenaries have been a part of human history for a long time.

We have the soldiers, weapons and money but we won't do SQUAT. So, let's HIRE some mercenaries to do in ISIS/ISIL. All on the "qt" of course.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Well somebody’s gotta say it. Blackwater is out of business because they were a bunch of rogues. They were in NO during Katrina and they would be happy to kick your door in and take your guns if Uncle Sam was willing to pay them for it. I don’t miss em.

[cripplecreek]

Erik Prince is no conservative. He’s brother in law of uber “moderate” Dick DeVos.

[Lorianne]

He wants the money.

I’m sorry, this is not our fight and we should not be there. We certainly should not go just because a private contractor says we should. He might be right, he might be wrong ... but he has a vested interest.

If he wants to go on his own he should go.

[cripplecreek]

There are plenty of other very effective military contractors in Africa who use African troops and have longstanding relationships there.

[null and void]

Eeeee-bolllll-aaaaaa ping!

Bring Out Your Dead

We’re gonna need

a bigger cart!

A bigger boat:

Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.

The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.

So far the false positive rate is 100%.

At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.

*sigh* Such is life, and death...

[null and void]

Maybe Joshua Milton Blahyi, AKA General Butt Naked, can come out of retirement?

[taildragger]

CC thanks, didn’t know that. Isn’t the connections on both sides “interesting:.....

[snoringbear]

“He wants the money.”

Duhh... Obviously Blackwater was and Prince always has been and still is a mercenary. No secret there. But, here’s what will happen if the US government should reincarnate Blackwater or a facsimile of; there would be an exodus of talent from current US military elite units to fill the private contractor slots as these guys typically make between $100k ~ $200k per year. So the cycle would be for the US military to train, then for private contractors to deploy. Outcome? Probably not good.

[Little Ray]

Eric Prince for President.

[Smokin' Joe]

Ping…

A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread

[elpadre]

I would hate to be equated to my brother-in-law!!!

[DesertRhino]

I’ve got a crazy idea. The US government pays fine wages to the doctors, lawyers, engineers and program directors it employs. Government university football coaches can make millions. If someone makes the cut to be at the pinnacle of our military, why are they not paid a market wage?
Only soldiers get the flag waved in their faces and are told to do it all for burger flipping wages.
Either pay them or explain to all other government workers why they are making the wages of a military man.

[LurkingSince'98]

I always thought freepers had brains until I read your post.

Since when does who your brother-in-law determine your political bent or the way you think.

Good grief man do you think like your B.I.L???

what an asinine thing to say.

[cripplecreek]

I’m not the one chucking my panties up on stage little lady.

The guy is a bottom feeder and always has been.

[Vaduz]

Democrats and Republican have turned the country into a banana republic and made millions doing it why should the stop now?.