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.