Breaking: Blackwater to pull out of military contracting business

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Breaking: Blackwater to pull out of military contracting business (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:47:22 PM EDT

Just heard it on CNN

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:47:51 PM EDT

[#1]

And do what?

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:48:20 PM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:
And do what?

VIP security?

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:48:22 PM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
And do what?

+1

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:48:34 PM EDT

[#4]

Can ya blame em?

Sometimes, there is just no amount of money worth the bullshit.

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:49:09 PM EDT

[#5]

i wounder why

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:49:15 PM EDT

[#6]

Training only...? Yikes.

Must be getting too much heat in the press. Or, they're retiring the BW name and going with a new one...?

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:49:32 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
And do what?

Hopefully liberate Rhodesia.
(someone had to say it, might as well be me)

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:49:48 PM EDT

[#8]

MERCS!!! Paid to Kill!!!

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:49:51 PM EDT

[#9]

I retarded

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:50:24 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
Or, they're retiring the BW name and going with a new one...?

The Halliburton Killing Machine?

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:50:49 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:

Quoted:
And do what?

Hopefully liberate Rhodesia.

(someone had to say it, might as well be me)

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:51:04 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
Link to story

That's just a story about BW being asked to pull out of Iraq... not the contracting business altogether...

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:52:56 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Link to story

That's just a story about BW being asked to pull out of Iraq... not the contracting business altogether...

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:53:16 PM EDT

[#14]

Why not just Open a new Business under a new name and hire all of the old Blackwater folks on there and go back to biz as usual?

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:54:16 PM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
Link to story

...

updated 4:36 a.m. EDT, Wed October 17, 2007

Thats not the story the OP is talking about I think.

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:54:18 PM EDT

[#16]

height=8

Quoted:
Link to story

The story your link points to is dated 17 October 2007. Not exactly breaking news.

Posted: 7/21/2008 12:57:15 PM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
Why not just Open a new Business under a new name and hire all of the old Blackwater folks on there and go back to biz as usual?

That's what's going to happen even if "Blackwater" is forced out of Iraq and the DOS has to get a new contracting company. The guys wearing Blackwater shirts will go work for whatever company gets the new DOS contract wearing different shirts.

This is all politics.

EDIT -- It would be nice to have a link to the actual story mentioned in the original post. Thusfar I'm not seeing anything on CNN's website about it or on BW's site about it.

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:00:53 PM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:
Why not just Open a new Business under a new name and hire all of the old Blackwater folks on there and go back to biz as usual?

Blackthorne

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:01:59 PM EDT

[#19]

JW777 Ive been looking for the story on CNN.com and cant find anything, there was just a short blurb on the TV, saying they were getting out of the military contracting business and it was an AP story.

I have no idea as far as the accuracy of the story.

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:03:00 PM EDT

[#20]

ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ijDA5bgxiHlTvS_r-SSjskS1Tq1wD922F4OG2

All I could find

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:03:42 PM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Why not just Open a new Business under a new name and hire all of the old Blackwater folks on there and go back to biz as usual?

Blackthorne

Oh hell yes. Anjin-San is ready to kick some ass.

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:04:04 PM EDT

[#22]

link

Blackwater plans shift from security business

29 minutes ago

MOYOCK, N.C. (AP) — Contractor Blackwater Worldwide plans a shift away from the private security business that brought it unwelcome attention following a deadly shooting in Baghdad last year.

Executives told The Associated Press Monday that the negative media coverage and intense government scrutiny has made the cost of doing business too high. They say the company has unfairly come to symbolize all Iraq contractors and thus is a flash point for those opposed to the war.

Blackwater contractors are under investigation for their involvement in a shooting in Baghdad in September that left 17 Iraqis dead.

Regardless of the outcome of that case, Blackwater executives say the company will survive with a focus on international training, aviation and construction.

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:04:46 PM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:
Why not just Open a new Business under a new name and hire all of the old Blackwater folks on there and go back to biz as usual?

That's what I was getting at too. They are too good, and make far too much money, at contracting to stop that altogether.

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:05:07 PM EDT

[#24]

www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/5899547.html

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:05:44 PM EDT

[#25]

This just in: BLACKHAWK!!!!!11111 has added "Contracting" to their lineup of gear.

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:06:07 PM EDT

[#26]

How about Dark Liquid for a new name?

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:06:12 PM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
Training only...? Yikes.

Must be getting too much heat in the press. Or, they're retiring the BW name and going with a new one...?

I would bet that they will spawn a subsidary and take over the "closed" business
Just too much money to be made

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:09:58 PM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Why not just Open a new Business under a new name and hire all of the old Blackwater folks on there and go back to biz as usual?

That's what's going to happen even if "Blackwater" is forced out of Iraq and the DOS has to get a new contracting company. The guys wearing Blackwater shirts will go work for whatever company gets the new DOS contract wearing different shirts.

This is all politics.

EDIT -- It would be nice to have a link to the actual story mentioned in the original post. Thusfar I'm not seeing anything on CNN's website about it or on BW's site about it.

Or just spin that portion of the business off for a profit and a new name.

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:10:04 PM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Or, they're retiring the BW name and going with a new one...?

The Halliburton Killing Machine?

Thats Kellog,Brown and Root now

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:12:28 PM EDT

[#30]

CNN Article
MOYOCK, N.C. (AP) -- Contractor Blackwater Worldwide plans a move away from the private security business that brought it unwelcome attention following a deadly shooting in Baghdad last year.

Executives told The Associated Press Monday that the negative media coverage and intense government scrutiny has made the cost of doing business too high. They claim the company has unfairly come to symbolize all Iraq contractors and thus is a flash point for those opposed to the war.

Blackwater contractors are under investigation for their involvement in a shooting in Baghdad in September that left 17 Iraqis dead.

Regardless of the outcome of that case, Blackwater executives say the company will survive with a focus on international training, aviation and construction.

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:13:21 PM EDT

[#31]

Seems hard to believe they'd pass up that golden egg laying goose.

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:16:35 PM EDT

[#32]

Mobilized
Executive
Reconnaissance
Corporation

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:16:48 PM EDT

[#33]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Why not just Open a new Business under a new name and hire all of the old Blackwater folks on there and go back to biz as usual?

Blackthorne

They already make the hightest quality of AR rifles, now this

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:18:12 PM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:
How about Dark Liquid for a new name?

Murky Fluid?

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:20:01 PM EDT

[#35]

They should follow in Jericho's foot steps.

RavenWood.

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:21:39 PM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:

Quoted:
How about Dark Liquid for a new name?

Murky Fluid?

Muck

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:21:47 PM EDT

[#37]

Treadstone

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:24:34 PM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Why not just Open a new Business under a new name and hire all of the old Blackwater folks on there and go back to biz as usual?

Blackthorne

www.anime-gate.pl/animegate/filmy/shogun/klatki/blackthorne.jpg

Oh hell yes. Anjin-San is ready to kick some ass.

Thats a great movie, and one hell of a novel.

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:26:25 PM EDT

[#39]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Or, they're retiring the BW name and going with a new one...?

The Halliburton Killing Machine?

Republican Guard?

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:26:32 PM EDT

[#40]

Wal-Mart security training?

I keed, I keed...
That sucks. I wish they would get left the fuck alone and be allowed to do their job.

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:29:18 PM EDT

[#41]

Quoted:
CNN Article
MOYOCK, N.C. (AP) -- Contractor Blackwater Worldwide plans a move away from the private security business that brought it unwelcome attention following a deadly shooting in Baghdad last year.

Executives told The Associated Press Monday that the negative media coverage and intense government scrutiny has made the cost of doing business too high. They claim the company has unfairly come to symbolize all Iraq contractors and thus is a flash point for those opposed to the war.

Blackwater contractors are under investigation for their involvement in a shooting in Baghdad in September that left 17 Iraqis dead.

Regardless of the outcome of that case, Blackwater executives say the company will survive with a focus on international training, aviation and construction.

I would think that depending on how broad and inclusive the parameters of "training" are, their business wouldn't be likely to suffer very much. The demand for the specialized talents they bring to the table certainly won't diminish anytime soon, so I'd think it's all in how those talents are applied that will make the diiference in how their role changes.

Posted: 7/21/2008 1:31:57 PM EDT

[#42]

Well, after losing the contractor "immunity" in Iraq last month, I predicted that the contractors would start to pull out.

Posted: 7/21/2008 2:09:13 PM EDT

[#43]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Why not just Open a new Business under a new name and hire all of the old Blackwater folks on there and go back to biz as usual?

That's what I was getting at too. They are too good, and make far too much money, at contracting to stop that altogether.

Call them "Ravenwood"

Posted: 7/21/2008 2:13:55 PM EDT

[#44]

Quoted:
Well, after losing the contractor "immunity" in Iraq last month, I predicted that the contractors would start to pull out.

I was told , I was crazy for thinking that.

Posted: 7/21/2008 2:15:23 PM EDT

[#45]

Quoted:
Well, after losing the contractor "immunity" in Iraq last month, I predicted that the contractors would start to pull out.

Yes, they'll either require a significant amount of money beyond what they're being paid or they'll all pull out if they are smart.

That kind of exposure is just too great for the PMCs.

This is a case where the liberal politicians should have been careful what they wished for, because now they'll have it...no Blackwater to protect their pampered rear-ends when they do their little visits to Iraq. Blackwater has never lost a VIP under their charge.

With DOS agents now having to pick-up the slack or military police who haven't been doing protection to the extent of Blackwater there will be a very steep learning curve that could result in loss of life. I feel sorry for the poor DOS diplomat who now will not have Blackwater keeping them alive.