Blackwater wishes you a very mercenary Christmas

Danger Room has scanned a copy of the holiday card sent out by Blackwater Worldwide: Link to larger-rez scans. Hey, this eggnog tastes like blood.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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Ian70

It reminds me of the beautiful tale of Jesus as he walked upon the water-board.

“and the Lord came upon them and said “Do not be afraid, you are not really drowning” and they said unto him “Dude, it totally feels like I’m drowning! These people are trying to freakin’ kill me!” And the Lord said “hey I made these guys ‘fishers of men’, not ‘drowners of men’, what the heck do they think they’re doing?” and the Lord was pretty pissed about the whole damn thing.”
Leon Kensington

I know I’m going to get cruxified for this but I really kinda like Blackwater.

Yah, they’ve had some jackasses who decided to shoot up a neighborhood in Iraq, but I’m sure Microsoft has had some jackasses who decided to hack thier own system in non-ethical ways (and not just for research either).
jahknow

Man, that’s even better than the Blackwater teddy bear!
silpol

#36,37 by JCD

please don’t waste your time trying to make Blackwater whiter than they are – read Mercenary piece on Wikipedia, especially first paragraph which is quote from Geneva convention, there is no requirement of offensive, but well underscored mention of paid job and war abroad. What BlackWater people do is essentially mercenary job, and your lip service to them can’t change the fact.
Jeff

Chris said, “As for Blackwater and mercenaries in general, I refuse to judge anyone based on behavior of the whole. Not all Vietnam vets sprayed peaceful villagers with napalm, ya know..”

I liked your post; it was very well done. And the above shows me that arguements about what is right and wrong are often complex and dependent on hindsight. And then Leon said that he likes Black Water. Well, hell yes! Who doesn’t like the idea of American Capitalism at work? Hey, if it’s not us at the top of the food chain it’s going to be some other pathetic culture.
Peggy Hall

Do you suppose that card was a nice way of saying…”We know where you live.” ? I think i’d freek if I got one of those. lol
Landowner

MonkeyFez
America is not about rich people having private armies. I don’t care if they where honorable men at one point. Now they are paid killers. All the Jesus talk in the world wont change that.
CapnMarrrrk

Jesus bless The Steel Jacketed Round of Antioch.

*Pukes
JCD

“private sector unregulated Army”.

Wow, that was good for a laugh. Blackwater does not conduct offensive operations, and they are far from unregulated. Pr hyprblc BS, nthng nw hr.
ElGuapo138

Who Would Jesus Shoot?
JCD

“As for Blackwater and mercenaries in general…”
Blackwater and Mercs are not the same thing.

Mercs conduct offensive operations, Blackwater does not fit the objective definition of an army or mercenary outfit at all.
JCD

#11: You’re thinking of public corporations. Blackwater is privately held by southern right-wing religious fundamentalists. Think “War on Christmas” types.”

Wrong, and uh, wrong again. Wrong on all counts.
Jeff

Jesus wouldn’t shoot. Instead he would stand there and be shot. This is the unfortunate side of passivism. In theory it’s nice (peace and love and all that). In practice it can just make you into a corpse. Just like Jesus.
Maurice Reeves

#3 Jesus didn’t always just sit idly by. For example, he whipped the merchants out of the temple and turned their tables over telling them to never return to the church.

And personally I think that if Jesus were going to do someone in, he wouldn’t use a gun. He’d break off a piece of the cross he was nailed to and bash in their brains with it.
erissian

#3 isn’t it considered cheating when having you head blown off only means you have to postpone you plans for the next three days?
Maneki Nico

I’ll tell you what Jesus would do… He’d typeset his apostrophes correctly, that’s what. Jesus sweats the details.

Also, Anonymous @ #18: +1
Elysianartist

Erik Prince and his ilk have got some sad, sad days ahead for them in 08…..and they don’t even know it.
JenniferFolly

I never could understand (judeo-christian-muslim-bahai) soldiers who claimed to be devout. The only 10 things that that GOD ever prohibited seem pretty clear. What don’t these people get about “Thou shall not kill”?
chris

Along with SILPOL @43′s comments, I’d like to point out that they are an LLC and thus privately held:
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/top-100/2007/privately_held.html

And that they, along with the other “security” companies are often aggressors with little to no accountability:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/19/AR2007111901942.html

The actions described above (and in numerous other places if you google) clearly describe aggressor behavior btw. There’s no way they’re not mercenaries.

Regarding Erik Prince and family being the founders of blackwater, here’s a direct quote from their site:

http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2007/archive/101507btw.htm

Finally, the right-wing fundamentalist part. Here’s a letter written by Gary Bauer eulogizing the father of Erik Prince:

http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/frc/frc-msn.9504.txt

His son is also mentioned very warmly in the letter.
cbarreto

#3 Argument is the mother of the idea of “vital space” and “AnschluÃŸ”.

But just think about it: the tax money they’re spending on Blackwater is the money they wont have to spend to boost public education, public health and all other services common people use in daily basis.

Also thing about it: the money they’re spending is financed by Saudi Arab citizens and companies (who hold about 1/3 of external credits of US government). So, in the long term, the “fight against terrorism” is the retirement insurance warrant for the sheiks…
Dan

Man… The hypocrisy of that card is sickening. I wonder if they enclosed gift certificates to Balco labs in the cards?
MonkeyFez

Wow the outpouring of love for the private soldier is really heartwarming. Just remember folks you don’t have a draft (and haven’t had one) because the US hires out it’s dirtiest work. You don’t have to love ‘em but let’s not snark at the professional soldier shall we? After all you might be talking to one.
ElGuapo138

Jesus wouldn’t shoot.
======
That’s my point. Whoever designed Blackwater’s greeting card is a fool for invoking the name of Jesus, a peace lover.
noamjamski

Unlike 99% of private corporations they don’t even adopt the hyper PC “happy holidays.” Not only are they talking Christmas, they are invoking the Jesus himself!

What would the lord Jesus Christ, among whom there is no equals, private sector unregulated army do?
Jeff

Monkeyfez says, “Just remember folks you don’t have a draft (and haven’t had one) because the US hires out it’s dirtiest work”

I guess there is something to be said about sub-contracting dirty deeds. I was in the USMC and often wondered if we were really better off without the draft. But then, I really liked some of the ideas in Starship Troopers. Most of the young men and women that I’ve employed over the last 15 years seem more than glad to let others do the dirty work. But then, I’ve also helped a few get in so they –could– do the dirty work–because they like the idea of killing people and playing with the toys. Heck, I liked playing with the toys too.
JenniferFolly

Crash (#42): Your point is well taken. But it seems you put your finger on the heart of a great problem: Yahweh enjoins the faithful against killing, but exhorts the faithful to smite the “unbelievers”. The inference is that the “unbelierver” is not “human”, and killing such is not tatamount to murder. And, there lies the root of much evil in the world.
hcovitz

#11 points out “Unlike 99% of private corporations they don’t even adopt the hyper PC “happy holidays.” Not only are they talking Christmas, they are invoking the Jesus himself!”

No “War on Christmas” evident in this card!
Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

Anonymous #18, Maneki Nico, Kostia, you’re typographers after my own heart.

Jennifer: start here. There’s lots more where that came from, and the other faiths you mentioned have their own bodies of commentary on the subject.

Monkeyfez, you don’t sound like the real thing to me. The genuine tough guys don’t brag about it. Meanwhile, the internet’s full of guys blowing hot air about military credentials they don’t have.

Also, you might want to tone down that “professional soldier” business. Every real professional soldier I know despises mercenaries. As one of them put it, “Mercenaries are the guys you hire to do stuff the regular military refuses to do.” Since he’d just been talking about the Geneva Convention and the treatment of prisoners and noncombatants, it was clear he didn’t mean mercenaries get hired to do jobs that are braver and more heroic.

JCD: Poseur! (When I check out your posting history, your IP address pulls up your anonymous comments right along with the rest.)
mappo

#11: You’re thinking of public corporations. Blackwater is privately held by southern right-wing religious fundamentalists. Think “War on Christmas” types.
osiris7

Jesus would only shoot in self-defense. Even the Dalai Lama travels with armed guards when he is in large outdoor crowds. Blackwater just shoots anyone who gets in their way, armed or not.
kostia

Why is it so hard to type a proper apostrophe? If the font you’re using doesn’t have one, you don’t paste in a foot mark (a completely different character) in 48-point Times!

Blackwater is above the rules, of course, though.
Jeff

Mappo, I think you’ll find that Blackwater is privately held by western Michigan, right-wing, Christian reform semi-fudamentalists. The Prince family along with several other very wealthy, Republican, Christain families have donated huge amounts of money to local arts and education programs. They aren’t all bad.
Agent 86

“Jesus wouldn’t shoot”

Christians – can’t even remember their own Lord’s words!

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a manâ€™s enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:34-39 NASB)

and

“But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one.” (Luke 22:36 NASB)

So, WWJD? Apparently, bring peace for those who follow him, and cut down the rest (and let God sort them out? o.0)

PS:I am a Christian who respects anyone who remains peaceful, but for one reason or another I can’t seem to stand the majority of other Christians.

PPS:It does not translate to “Thou shall not kill” it translates to “Thou shall not murder.” It is acceptable to take a life, but only in self defense. When an enemy points a weapon at you, perfectly Christian to blow him up. Maybe not so acceptable to go out looking for people to point weapons at you.
jw

Hiring mercenaries has historically been done when a country’s leaders can’t convince it’s own people to fight for it. What often happens is that these groups become so powerful that they threaten the sovereignty of the country which hired them. For an example of the worst kind of outcome see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenary_War
Anonymous

Man, that apostrophe in the first line is intense. It’s practically stigmata.
JenniferFolly

Theresa: The idea of a “just” war does have a long history, and derives (at its best) from the tension between being a pacifist and a victim. However, the idea of a “just war” is an idea of people, most notably politicians and clerics. Nietzsche had much to say about this, although maybe not directly. Despite its history, the Papacy has backed away (somewhat) from the idea of the “just” war. Accoring to King James, the God of the Old Testament was unequivacable in his (?) instruction to Moses: DO NOT KILL. Jesus, in his turn, was the ultimate pacifist (turn the other cheek). Mohammed (need I say), praise be his name, attempts to reconcile pacifism with the inherent greed in the world (you don’t need to turn the other cheek). Myself, I lean towards Teddy Roosevelt: “Walk softly and carry a big stick”. Nonetheless, the self evident hypocrisy of the aggressor warrior jew, christian, or muslim sickens me.

#17: I don’t speak greek, so I’ll take your word on the transliteration. But frankly, the difference between murder and kill seems to be one of intent (and certainly semantics). If you intend to end a life you murder, if its an “accident” you kill. So I guess I can buy that: Thou shall not act with an intent that may end a life. Certainly, some, should I say, “pacifist” martial arts are centered on this concept: do not let your enemy touch you, but do not “touch” your enemy.

JCD: Merecenaries are soldiers for hire and fulfill diverse roles. Can you say “Swiss Guard”?

Generally speaking, though it may be my ignorance, I’ve never heard of Jesus killing anyone, intentionally or otherwise. I did hear that he brought a few back from the grave, though.
Anonymous

Props for using NASB refs, Agent 86.
Xeni Jardin

@osiris7, I have seen those guards IRL. When I was in Northern India last year, I spent some time around other Tibetan Buddhist religious figures, including one who’d fled China recently enough that personal security concerns seemed to remain high. The man traveled in a heavily armed convoy, with lots of personal guards carrying large guns.
Crash

#41 (Jenniferfolly): I do not mean to deride the laudable morality of pacifism, but the Torah is hardly unequivocal in its attitude towards violence. Notwithstanding the injunction given Moses against killing, His people are given explicit instructions to massacre entire populations many times (Deuteronomy 7, 20; Joshua 6, 8, 10; etc.) and punished for leaving some of the conquered alive (Judges 2). The Bible is not a wholly pacifistic law, and presenting it as such makes it the victim of cherrypicking.
chris

Folks, if you read the new testament, it’s clear that Jesus was primarily incarnated as a human to serve as a sacrificial offering – a la Judaism as it was practiced at the time.

People routinely bought doves, goats, etc in the temple yard and brought them to the priests in the temple to be sacrificed to God for atonement or thanksgiving.

In fact, the animal sellers set up in the temple courtyard (by permission of the priesthood) would only accept “temple money”. Of course, the exchange rate for regular money was hideous. I’d guess the animal sellers gouged the people as well.

So you have all these people trying their best to live observant lives and getting gouged mercilessly on the very grounds of the temple. That’s what got Jesus pissed off enough to chase them out with a whip.

Anyway, the NT letters to the Hebrews and Galatians take great pains to portray Jesus, as the perfect human – thus the once for all sacrifice for our sins.

In other words, Jesus let them kill him because it was his job to die at that point. It was NOT because he was a pacifist.

On the other hand, it was clear that the early Christians were – at least when it came to government entities. Paul, the author of the above NT letters was a major example in this.

On the gripping hand, you have this same Jesus forecasting an eternity of torment to those that didn’t play ball. It’s the first time in the history of Judaism/Christianity that a clear concept of Hell is presented.

Speaking as an ex-Catholic, ex-fundamentalist, got no answers type, it’s all just damned confusing. On that note, I would strongly caution those who go for quoting the “go buy a sword” comments Jesus made to review ALL of his comments.

Many of them were highly metaphorical imagery. They were meant to shock his listeners out of their complacency and get them to THINK about things instead of blindly following current tradition. In fact, most of his criticism of his core followers was that they took him way too literally and needed to think for themselves.

As for Blackwater and mercenaries in general, I refuse to judge anyone based on behavior of the whole. Not all Vietnam vets sprayed peaceful villagers with napalm, ya know?

I will say that it’s painfully clear that the government and all the “security companies” hired by the government are there precisely to separate accountability from behavior. Not exactly a model of Christian ethics. So, yes, I definitely agree with the irony shown there.
Landowner

MonkeyFez

I hate them because they go against everything this country used to stand for. I hate them because they give real solders a bad name by killing with no oversight. And if you are one of them, I hate you.
js7a

I feel sorry for so-called Christians who tie themselves in knots to repress the simple meaning of “Thou shalt not kill.”
Jeff

Agent 86 said, “…Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

It can be a problem when trying to figure out what Jesus would do. He may have said one thing, but the lore is that he did another. And that –other– thing was to die rather than fight or run. And our enemies would love us to do just that. What’s a good Christian to do?
Christovir

Pacifism is not spelled “passivism.” This may sound like a trivial correction, but the words pacific and passive have very different meanings. Pacific means to be tranquil, and/or to seek peace. Passive means to be unresponsive and uninvolved. People like Martin Luther King, Jr and Ghandi were very pacific, and the opposite of passive. Seeking peace can be a very active and involving pursuit!
phlavor

They should change their name to Muslim Hunters R Us.
Anonymous

To #9 (monkeyfez): We haven’t had a draft since the 70′s and the rise of the mercenary armies didn’t occur until the last few years. They are a) costing us a ton of money and b) doing a job most of us really would rather they not be doing. So no, no outpouring of love from me.
MonkeyFez

Landowner said: “And if you are one of them, I hate you.”

Get it line sister. I did like the “real soldier” part. good stuff there.

Open a history book. The US has ALWAYS used private soldiers.

Merry ChrismaHaunaKwanzica everybody!
Jeffrey S

That eggnog comment was rich.
Cowicide

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to… war

ROCK TFO