Blackwater Practices "Redwashing"

by John Stauber — February 3, 2008 - 10:47am
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Jeremy Scahill, author of the bestselling book Blackwater, notes that "Blackwater Worldwide, the Bush administration's favorite mercenary company, is no stranger to blood -- its operatives have caused a lot of it to be spilled in Iraq. ... This week, the company received an award from the American Red Cross ... for Blackwater's recent blood drive, where company employees reportedly gave 264 units of blood. 'That means that well over 600 lives have been saved in this region,' said Georgia Donaldson of the Mid Atlantic region Red Cross. The group presented Blackwater's owner, Erik Prince with a plaque honoring the company. ... This isn't the first time Blackwater and the Red Cross teamed up. After Hurricane Katrina, where Blackwater raked in over $70 million in federal 'security' contracts, the company held a Red Cross fundraiser and pulled in $138,000 -- about $100,000 short of Blackwater's estimated daily take at the height of its Katrina operations. The keynote speaker at that event? L. Paul Bremer, the original head of the US occupation."

Main Source: 
Alternet, February 2, 2008

Comments

Blood programs & Blackwater

Submitted by pjefferies on February 4, 2008 - 6:34am.

If they were really serious about helping out someone with their blood donations instead of just collecting "PR quid Pro" they could have donated to one of the military blood programs in Georgia. Then at least, it would go to help the servicemen and women they are profiting from. You can find out about the program at www.militaryblood.dod.mil

Thanks, that program is worth knowing about.

Submitted by Mutternich on February 4, 2008 - 8:24am.

The URL is one of those that only work if you don't include "www."

If this is the start of a trend,

Submitted by Mutternich on February 3, 2008 - 1:11pm.

then there ought to be an official, legally binding wallet card that would say, "If the only available blood is from [_fill in the blank_], let me die and take my organs."

But seriously -- get out there and donate. Keep Blackshirter's relative contribution as small as possible.