<p>Islam may be prone to violent interpretation, but Christianity is just as bad if not worse. Historically, Christians have committed more atrocities against themselves and against others than any religion in human history. And in the modern day, despite the many apologist claims that it has reformed (something they say that the backwards Islam faith is inherently unable to do), you've got right-wing Christian nutjobs like Erik Prince establishing holy mercenary armies to wreak havoc on infidels. He's just like Osama bin Laden, only a lot richer and cleaner. </p>
<p>America is founded on Christian principles? I sure hope not. I rather like my interfaith neighbours.</p>
<p>Blackwater behaves no differently from other mercenary organizations in Iraq. They all kill when they need to (along with the US army). Blackwater is simply getting the brunt of the exposure because it has the biggest contract and the most dangerous assignments (due to it's more advanced capabilities). Unless you are claiming other mercenary organizations are non-religious terrorists (hell, even call them Christian terrorists if you want) your claim on Blackwater has no merit.</p>
<p>Erik Prince is the founder and was until very recently the chairman and CEO of Blackwater. He is a strong Republican with close ties to "pro-family" and strict fundamentalist Christian organizations. It sets the tone for the rest of the company, which unlike Bush and the U.S. military, does not have the annoying Enlightenment idea of separation of church and state to interfere in its business.</p>
<p>That being said, you can still be a mercenary and not be a terrorist (although the two seem to go hand in hand). But Blackwater thugs are notorious in Iraq for being belligerent and picking on unarmed civilians to show what bad-asses they are. In comparison, they make the U.S. military look like benevolent philosophers.</p>
<p>So you've got a corporation that is founded and was headed by an obvious crony of the Christian Right, doing the bidding of a president who sees himself as a modern day Richard the Lionheart. While I may be guilty of a bit of sensationalism, it's much less so than, say, claiming that the war in Iraq is for democracy.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Erik Prince is the founder and was until very recently the chairman and CEO of Blackwater. He is a strong Republican with close ties to "pro-family" and strict fundamentalist Christian organizations. It sets the tone for the rest of the company, which unlike Bush and the U.S. military, does not have the annoying Enlightenment idea of separation of church and state to interfere in its business.
[/quote]
So, like, Erik Prince has told people to kill muslims and act terroristy and stuff? I reckon the heads of virtually every U.S. based mercenary organization are Republican and Christian. That's just a byproduct of having ex-Navy seals (or other special forces) running the show.</p>
<p>
[quote]
That being said, you can still be a mercenary and not be a terrorist (although the two seem to go hand in hand). But Blackwater thugs are notorious in Iraq for being belligerent and picking on unarmed civilians to show what bad-asses they are.
[/quote]
Yes. I understand. But is that any different from other Mercenary organizations? I doubt it highly.</p>
<p>
[quote]
So you've got a corporation that is founded and was headed by an obvious crony of the Christian Right, doing the bidding of a president who sees himself as a modern day Richard the Lionheart. While I may be guilty of a bit of sensationalism, it's much less so than, say, claiming that the war in Iraq is for democracy.
[/quote]
Their behavior is standard, it's not an outlier.</p>
<p>I think I speak for both Muslims and Christians when I say:</p>
<p>Blackwater and Al-Qaeda do not represent their religion as a whole.
It's people who have forgotten what their religion has taught them and believe that certain acts may be forgiven if it's considered "holy" enough.</p>
<p>So like...if you're a devil's advocate...does that make me like... God's advocate? Lol I was just wondering because no one says "I'm just being God's advocate here."</p>
<p>It's not a connection I've heard anywhere else. I am not going to claim that I know a lot on the topic, but your comparison between the views of Blackwater's founder and crusaders is a bit of a stretch.</p>
<p>********. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? And even if these guys did act improperly, they are in no way representative of Blackwater as a whole. Blackwater is important in Iraq; those guys are among the most highly trained in the world and do some of the most dangerous missions so that our troops don't have to.</p>
<p>as said by cuse. they are highly trained ex-military soldiers(majority) either who had special forces training or are skilled in certain areas. they need blackwater there.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? And even if these guys did act improperly, they are in no way representative of Blackwater as a whole. Blackwater is important in Iraq; those guys are among the most highly trained in the world and do some of the most dangerous missions so that our troops don't have to.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>In short, nobody (not the international community, not the American populace) wants to fight Bush's war, so the administration has to pay mercenaries to do it.</p>
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[quote]
In short, nobody (not the international community, not the American populace) wants to fight Bush's war, so the administration has to pay mercenaries to do it.</p>
<p>Time to pull out.
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</p>
<p>Well you aren't completely mistaken, but you are pretty damn close. Take this from someone who is the son of a career Army officer, and who has lived on military bases his whole life-</p>
<p>Do our troops want to be in Iraq? For most, the answer is no (although I have met some who have been happy to deploy there). Most miss their families and don't particularly enjoy getting shot at every day. No one does. If you asked the troops storming Normandy beach on D-Day if they wanted to be there, most would have said no. In short, most people don't enjoy war, but they recognize it as a necessary evil. Our troops aren't fighting in Iraq for fun, they are fighting because if they don't Iraq (and likely the whole Middle East) will fall apart, creating violence in the region that will make the past four years seem like a cakewalk. </p>
<p>Also, for your other point-</p>
<p>Blackwater has an important role in Iraq, but they can't do everything. Still, having 20,000 people who signed up solely to go to Iraq sells a lot better in Washington then escalating US troops levels by another 20,000. Nevertheless, we don't need Blackwater to succeed, they are just a nice thing to have. It looks like they will be leaving Iraq anyways when their contract runs out in May.</p>
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I wouldn't go around claiming that without first applying Tukey's 1.5 Rule.
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Feel free to apply statistical methods yourself. I'll sit back here in the corner and continue to use qualitative statements which are in no danger of being debunked. :)</p>
<p>Well, you can't exactly quantify data about behavior, but to be an outlier, something needs to be quantitative. Perhaps we could have experts determine numerical values for the behavior of a simple random sample of the Blackwater troops?</p>