Could anyone with sufficient money hire Blackwater? Are they under any obligation to only support American causes?
I know now it is unlikely Blackwater is unlikely to take up arms against the United States, but is there any aparatus in place to ensure it never does?
Well, so far as I know, the ITAR (International Trafficking in Arms Regulations, IIRC) only pertains to transfer of actual items to non-US persons, be it tanks, ammunition, cryptography, etc. So far as I know, they don’t deal with services, like what Blackwater would provide.
Amid the hubbub, Blackwater CEO Erik Prince has huffily claimed Blackwater is a US company that works only for the US government. That, Prince says, means they are not “mercenaries.” I don’t know the tricky details of how they acquired military weapons and shipped them to Iraq. I am but a mere citizen, and my government is stingy with its information these days. I don’t know how to use a FOIA crowbar, so I’ll probably never know these things.
OK then, could the US Government hire Blackwater for missions on US soil? Just say, to maintaint the peace in a time of unrest?
Looking back on my post, I can see I may have applied the wrong amount of cynicism. In purely economic terms, if you had sufficient money, you could buy Blackwater.
No thank you. I’ve already got one.
They already have. Blackwater was employed during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Take your pick of cites.