Thursday, August 26, 2021

Mercenary Boss Erik Prince Profiting in Afghanistan.

Screenshot. Source Newsweek


“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." Rahm Emanuel

 

Richard Mellor

Afscme Local 444, retired

Erik Prince is a mercenary, mercenaries are basically hired killers. Prince is more than just an individual hiring himself out as a killer for whichever side will pay the most though. He has his own murder for hire business. He is the brother of Betsy DeVos, who was Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education. She is married to Dick DeVos of Amway fame. The whole rotten bunch of them are members of the billionaire club, a fortunate clan indeed.

 

Erik ran the mercenary outfit Blackwater that the US used in Iraq. As the Wall Street Journal points out: “Blackwater guards were convicted of killing civilians in 2014 while providing security for Americans during the Iraq war…..”  See New York Times October 2014. Donald Trump pardoned these killers.

 

The US government used a lot of these killers in Iraq, some 150,000 of them. They are not subject to the same protocols as regular troops the working class men and women who, for the most part, find the best opportunity for a decent life by joining the military----unless there’s a war on. That’s one of the reasons unemployment is a good thing for capital, a pool of fresh recruits as well as a source of pressure for those in employment that might be thinking about organizing to fight for better wages and conditions.

 

Some of us will remember the siege of Fallujah after four US mercenaries, sometimes referred to as “contractors” in the mass media, were killed and mutilated by residents of that city. The mighty US war machine inflicted severe punishment on the residents of Fallujah for their brutal retaliation. Many years on, children are still being born with deformities due to the chemicals and white phosphorous the US used in Fallujah. I commented on this event at the time as a US officer said on entering Fallujah that they “encountered a nasty bunch”. But there is no force on earth as nasty as US imperialism and the punishment it inflicts on those that resist its foreign interventions. It is as merciless when it comes to its own citizens.

 

Now prince says he is charging $6,500 a person form anyone his outfit can get safely into Kabul airport and on a plane. According to the reports Prince says it would cost extra to get people who have been trapped in their homes.  

 

Jen Psaki the White House press secretary, “denounced” Prince when she was asked a question about it. The Wall Street Journal:  “I don’t think any human being who has a heart and soul would support efforts to profit off people’s agony and pain if they’re trying to depart a country and fearing for their lives,”

 

Some of the world’s most notorious killers have been given safe haven in the US, the Shah of Iran was one of them. Quite a few have resided in the White House. Even Trevor Noah of the Daily show blamed Biden, Trump, Obama and the now cuddly killer, George W Bush for the catastrophe in Afghanistan though he stops short of blaming them directly for the deaths of thousands of people including 2500 Americans. Michelle Obama has referred to George W Bush as her “friend” and “partner in crime.” Do you think she actually likes him? Of course not. These folks know what class solidarity is and they practice it fully.

 

US prisons are full of people who have not inflicted anything like the violence and devastation on society that the examples in this commentary have. Erik Prince, like most of them, walks free and has lots of money.

 

Justice in class society is injustice for the working class.

 

More on Erik Prince: https://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com/2014/01/blackwater-and-erik-prince-merchants-of.html

 

Fallujah: https://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com/2014/01/fallujah-us-marines-further-allegations.html

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