# Blackwater used 'child prostitutes in Iraq' **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 21, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145 "2009-08-21T00:17:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/41 "2009-08-21T20:52:18Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > It’s not prostitution, its vaginal entrepreneurship! Is “vaginal” a given? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/42 "2009-08-21T21:15:34Z")
God, what a straight line! Not around Baylor, but a six pack is pretty good odds around Southern Methodist… ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/43 "2009-08-21T21:34:02Z")
You all seem pretty bombed out. Overrun by the corporations and stupified about what is done in your name. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/44 "2009-08-21T21:38:54Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Is “vaginal” a given? There’s [gay male prostitution](http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1242759274437&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout), too. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/45 "2009-08-21T22:04:28Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#): > > There’s [gay male prostitution](http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1242759274437&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout), too. I like this quote from that link: “Homosexuality is totally prohibited in Islam as well as in all divine religions.” As opposed to those secular religions? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/46 "2009-08-21T22:50:57Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > There’s no particular reason to think that Blackwater soldiers… They’re not soldiers. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/47 "2009-08-21T23:51:37Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > You all seem pretty bombed out. > > Overrun by the corporations and stupified about what is done in your name. Some truth to what you wrote as concerns me. But I wouldn’t call it “stupified” as much as simply running out of outrage – or rather the energy to bring it forth. It’s been a loooong eight years. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/48 "2009-08-22T00:25:09Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I like this quote from that link: > > “Homosexuality is totally prohibited in Islam as well as in all divine religions.” > > As opposed to those secular religions? As opposed to Buddhism, I guess. And… Uh… ARE there any others that’d fit in that way? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/49 "2009-08-22T00:51:51Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > You all seem pretty bombed out. > > Overrun by the corporations and stupified about what is done in your name. I simply don’t expect anything better from anything involving America anymore. > [@Leaper](#): > > As opposed to Buddhism, I guess. > > And… Uh… > > ARE there any others that’d fit in that way? Confucianism, if it qualifies as a religion. Communism has also been called a religion even if it doesn’t call itself one. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/50 "2009-08-22T00:59:10Z")
Not to mention atheism, and secular humanism. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/51 "2009-08-22T02:09:23Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Not to mention atheism, and secular humanism. Secular humanism arguably, but not atheism. I don’t think something that is simply disbelief in a single thing qualifies as a religion. A religion is a belief _ **system** _, not one belief. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/52 "2009-08-22T05:19:57Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > They’re not soldiers. Officially they’re not mercenaries either. But alright, how about, “for-hire macho, fighting types”? Little lengthy… ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/53 "2009-08-22T06:10:52Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Officially they’re not mercenaries either. But alright, how about, “for-hire macho, fighting types”? Little lengthy… Knowing the government’s fondness for classifying things, may I suggest Joint Operations, Hired, Non-military. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/54 "2009-08-22T06:28:03Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Taking advantage of impoverished women should get enough outcry… I’d prefer that these women would have a choice in what they do, but if the only way they can get money to live is by offering their bodies to someone who will pay for it, then that person paying is doing far more for her than all the people crying that she is being taken advantage of and not doing a damn bit to help her otherwise. IMHO, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/55 "2009-08-22T07:14:45Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > I’d prefer that these women would have a choice in what they do, but if the only way they can get money to live is by offering their bodies to someone who will pay for it, then that person paying is doing far more for her than all the people crying that she is being taken advantage of and not doing a damn bit to help her otherwise. IMHO, of course. Possibly true. Often when a large military force comes in to an area, local thugs or mafia types roust up women and truck them in. Whether the women were in desperate situations before is a bit questionable. I will agree though that in places where there is no alternative work available for women, that prostitution is a lesser evil. But this can be easily solved by allowing women into the workplace. You’ll notice that a significant percentage (reports vary) of prostitutes in the US started as minors simply because children aren’t allowed to work legally. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/56 "2009-08-22T08:22:39Z")
It was UN peacekeeping troops in Bosnia & Kosovo that pioneered the whole modern sex-slave trade of East-European girls. Many of them children. And UN troops in general have been engaging in buying children for sex pretty much everywhere they set shop. So it is not too much of a surprise if private contractors do something of the same on occasion. If on a smaller scale. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/57 "2009-08-22T08:30:14Z")
> [@RedFury](#): > > Some truth to what you wrote as concerns me. But I wouldn’t call it “stupified” as much as simply running out of outrage – or rather the energy to bring it forth. > > It’s been a loooong eight years. Who’d have thought, huh. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Knowing the government’s fondness for classifying things, may I suggest Joint Operations, Hired, Non-military. In the Gitmo sense, they’re combatants. In the USA sense, they avoid the need for an electorally suicidal middle class Draft, so perhaps ‘draft dodgers’ would work if it wasn’t already taken. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/58 "2009-08-22T12:08:16Z")
I notice the NYT is reporting further privatisation of USA foreign policy: [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/us/21intel.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/us/21intel.html)? > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON — From a secret division at its North Carolina headquarters, the company formerly known as Blackwater has assumed a role in Washington’s most important counterterrorism program: the use of remotely piloted drones to kill Al Qaeda’s leaders, according to government officials and current and former employees. > > The division’s operations are carried out at hidden bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the company’s contractors assemble and load Hellfire missiles and 500-pound laser-guided bombs on remotely piloted Predator aircraft, work previously performed by employees of the CIA They also provide security at the covert bases, the officials said. > > The role of the company in the Predator program highlights the degree to which the C.I.A. now depends on outside contractors to perform some of the agency’s most important assignments. And it illustrates the resilience of Blackwater, now known as Xe (pronounced Zee) Services, though most people in and outside the company still refer to it as Blackwater. It has grown through government work, even as it attracted criticism and allegations of brutality in Iraq. > > A spokesman for the C.I.A. declined to comment for this article. So Blackwater is contracted to kill suspects in Pakistan on behalf of the US government using military technology, in real time from North Carolina. Well, that’s just great Mr Obama. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/59 "2009-08-22T12:54:53Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Why are you giving aid and comfort to the enemy? Because a honest heart avoids a restless nights sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145/60 "2009-08-25T07:04:08Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > It was UN peacekeeping troops in Bosnia & Kosovo that pioneered the whole modern sex-slave trade of East-European girls. Many of them children. And UN troops in general have been engaging in buying children for sex pretty much everywhere they set shop. They pioneered this? Seems like I remember reading about it from ancient Roman armies, and Alexander the Great’s Greek armies before that, and Egyptian Pharaoh’s armies before that, several thousand years ago. I think it has probably been going on as long as armies have been invading and occupying territories. You couls say they pioneered the “modern” version, but I don’t see any significant way this is different from the ancient versions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackwater-used-child-prostitutes-in-iraq/507145.md?page=4)