James Risen, New York Times, calls our attention to the return of Blackwater, the primary private security force in Iraq.
Headed by Erik Prince, former Navy Seal and a heir to a family fortune made in the auto parts industry in Western Michigan, this company is indeed "black water."
And speaking of Western Michigan, of which I'm intimately familiar, it's neck-deep in hyper-conservatism of every sort - a strange amalgam of Dutch wealth and far-right religion ("blessed by God because we're right") - the home of Amway and friends - strong Bush country, and the last I heard, Attila the Hun!
The muck and mire of Iraq, the neo-Fascist style of the money and power behind it, the tangled world of government contracts, Blackwater's stonewalling and the helplessness of Congress stink to high heaven.
Check out Risen's article:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051008Y.shtml
For further information, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Prince
and
http://www.nndb.com/people/926/000117575/
Genuinely scary stuff!
