Athenae, Terrorism

Thank God They Didn’t Register Black People to Vote

Or they’d be screwed:

“[Blackwater] provided a bid that was underbid everyone
else by about $26 million. And a panel that we had said that they can
do the job, that they have shaped up their act.So there really was not much choice but to accept that contract.“

(More in a bit on whether Blackwater, now known as Xe, has really shaped up its act.)

The CIA contract follows the news this month that the State Departmentawarded
the company an 18-month, $120 million contract to protect consulates in
Afghanistan. And even that’s not all. In December, a Blackwater
officialtold
a contracting commission appointed by Congress that the company has
training and security contracts as well as a “drug interdiction unit”
working for the Defense Department in Afghanistan.

And in a must-read story published Sunday, McClatchyreported
that the Obama Administration has opted not to pursue criminal charges
against Blackwater for possible violations of sanctions in the
company’s long campaign to sell services to the government of Southern
Sudan.

Right. Not much choice. Couldn’t do anything else, like, say, NOT GIVE THEM THE FUCKING CONTRACT. Totally inevitable.

So amazing how that works.

A.

8 thoughts on “Thank God They Didn’t Register Black People to Vote”

  4. Having worked for the govt, the rules are so clear cut that you have to give the contract to the low bid, even if you know that the folks submitting the bid are total screw-ups and have a history of making a travesty of everything they touch.
    Accounting justifies this by telling you that if they don’t fulfill the contract, we’ll just have to sue them till they fulfill the contract.

  5. If ever there was a firm that could logically be assumed to be the go to outfit for political assassinations, Blackwater is it. I often think that is the source of their power, especially now that it is apparent that even a Democratic administration is unable to challenge that power. Yes, I could be called paranoid.

  6. the govt taking the low bid is not always wise. stupid actually. i’d rather a road lasted, than be cheap.
    penny wise, pound foolish.

  7. Not to mention this was most likely a cost-plus agreement and with cost overruns it almost certainly cost double what the bid amount was. It’s all a sham.

  8. I fail to see how the State Department did anything wrong. They had a panel which said Blackwater had cleaned up their act; they had $26 million in savings; regulations say you have to take the low bid unless you can find a reason not to. Which they couldn’t.

Comments are closed.