Blackwater Newsletter

From The Editor June 19 2006

Blackwater USA is the most comprehensive professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations company in the world.

We have established a global presence and provide training and operational solutions for the 21st century in support of security and peace, and freedom and democracy everywhere.

We customize and execute solutions for our clients to help keep them at the level of readiness required to meet today's military, law enforcement, peacekeeping, and stability operations challenges. We continually prove to be faster, better, cheaper, and more efficient and effective than conventionally managed forces.

Our customers include local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and most other federal agencies, multi-national corporations, non-governmental organizations, and friendly nations from around the world.

Whether you require training, operational, or policy solutions, Blackwater can help you develop the right program for you to ensure success.
Gary Jackson
President
Blackwater

QUOTE OF THE WEEK


	He who is not very strong in memory should not meddle with lying. Michel de Montaigne

PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES, EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS

Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses

According to an Administration national security strategy document released on March 16, 2006, the United States “may face no greater challenge from a single country than Iran.” To date, the Bush Administration has pursued several avenues to attempt to contain the potential threat posed by Iran, including supporting a longterm policy of changing Iran’s regime. http://terrorism.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Documents&file=get&download=597

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CRIME Treasury’s Roles and Responsibilities Relating to Selected Provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act

Money laundering and terrorist financing can severely affect the nation’s economy and also result in loss of lives. To combat these transnational crimes, the Treasury Department (Treasury) and its component bureau, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), have key roles. Section 330 of the USA PATRIOT Act encourages the federal government to engage foreign jurisdictions in negotiations to ensure that foreign banks and financial institutions maintain adequate records to combat international financial crime.
http://terrorism.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Documents&file=get&download=595

Biting the Hand that Fed Them: Kurdish Insurgency Tests Iranian Conventional Military Power

There is much speculation in Washington these days about whether Iran will respond to a preemptive strike by the United States and/or Israel in order to damage or destroy its nuclear weapons program. The deficiencies in the human intelligence collection and analysis capability of the United States resulting in the confusion about Iran’s war fighting ability is a major factor in this current speculation. American experts are finding it hard to gauge Iran’s military strength and effectiveness. One way to measure Iran’s might with some degree of accuracy is to study how it has been fighting recently. Iran’s only real direct military action on its enemies since the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988 -- almost two decades ago -- has materialized in the form of a few surface-to-surface missile attacks on Mojahedin-e-Khalq camps in Iraq in the late 1990s and its ongoing conflict with the Kurdish terrorist organization PKK (Partiya Karkaren Kurdistan-Workers’ Party of Kurdistan) inside Iran and in Northern Iraq at present. This essay focuses on Iran's response to the Kurdish insurgency since 2000. Ali M. Koknar, a private security consultant in Washington, DC, specializing in counterterrorism and international organized crime, is an Associate of the Terrorism Research Center.
http://terrorism.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Documents&file=get&download=590

BREAKING NEWS FOR THE PROFESSIONAL

North Korea Appears Close to Missile Test

North Korea appeared close Sunday to test-firing a long-range missile capable of reaching the United States, prompting the White House to warn of an appropriate response and Japan to threaten a "fierce" protest to the United Nations.
North Korea was silent on the issue but vowed to bolster its "military deterrent" in a burst of fiery rhetoric carried by its state news agency.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060618/D8IASCDO1.html

2 U.S. Troops Were Abducted, Iraqi Says

An Iraqi farmer said Sunday that he saw seven heavily armed gunmen capture two American soldiers during an attack on a road checkpoint south of Baghdad, while U.S. troops searched for their comrades for a second day.
Another Iraqi said the Americans were offering $100,000 for information leading to the abductors, but the U.S. command denied that.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060618/D8IARF700.html

Police launch eye-in-the-sky technology above Los Angeles

Police launched the future of law enforcement into the smoggy Los Angeles sky in the form of a drone aircraft, bringing technology most commonly associated with combat zones to urban policing.
The unmanned aerial vehicle, which looks like a child's remote control toy and weighs about five pounds (2.3 kilograms), is a prototype being tested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/06/17/060617210138.lttks67y.html

Immigration Sweep Brings Fear to Community

Fewer parents are walking their children to school in this border city's Linda Vista neighborhood. The crowd of day laborers huddled in a parking lot outside McDonald's has dropped by half.
A sense of unease has spread in this community of weather-worn homes since immigration agents began walking the streets as part of a stepped-up nationwide effort targeting an estimated 590,000 immigrant fugitives. Other illegal immigrants are being rounded up along the way.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060618/D8IASBAO0.html

JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE PROFESSIONAL

Armorer position available.
We currently service the following weapons SIG SAUER, Beretta, Glock, Colt, Bushmaster, Mossberg, Remington, FN(240-249-saw), and H&K.
You must have current Qualifications in at least 4 of above listed weapons or 3 qualifications and have at least 3 years recent experience working on the same.
Mini Gun experience is a plus.
Please send your resume to bkirkland@blackwaterusa.com

SECURITY FOR THE PROFESSIONAL

U.S. Aiming to Cut Off Taliban Routes

U.S. soldiers descended on a mountain ridge Sunday, quickly setting up fortified posts and mortar positions overlooking a key Taliban transport route as the coalition pressed a major offensive that has killed dozens of suspected militants.
It was the first time in several years that soldiers from the U.S.-led military force have ventured into Baghran Valley in the northern part of Helmand province.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060618/D8IAS0S00.html

Book: U.S. Feared al-Qaida Attack in NYC

U.S. officials received intelligence that al-Qaida operatives had been 45 days away from releasing a deadly gas into the city's subways when the plan was called off by Osama bin Laden's deputy in 2003, according to a book excerpt released Sunday on Time magazine's Web site.
According to the investigative report by Ron Suskind, an informant close to al-Qaida leaders told U.S. officials that Ayman al-Zawahri had canceled the plan in January 2003, despite the likelihood that the strike would have killed as many people as the Sept. 11 attacks.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060618/D8IARMPO0.html

Sheehan Supports U.S. Deserters in Canada

A group of American military deserters publicly embraced their new lives in Canada on Saturday with the support of "peace mom" Cindy Sheehan, who said she wished the son she lost in Iraq was among them.
"I begged him not to go to Iraq," the anti-war activist said through tears at a rally in support of the former soldiers, who wore black T-shirts emblazoned with "AWOL.""And I wish he was standing up here with these people because he didn't want to go."
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060618/D8IANIO80.html

Gender-based attacks galvanized warlords' foes

Somali women gave crucial support for Islamic militias
Sometimes, the women here said, it began with a knock on the door after dark or with a kidnapping in broad daylight. And sometimes, the gunmen who ruled this city would use a long, sharp knife to slice open the tin shacks of poor families and snatch their daughters away.
The girls would return -- if they returned -- in the morning, sobbing and marked permanently as castoffs in a traditional Islamic society that demands virginity at marriage.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13395298/

FRANKS REVIEW

Service Equipment Review:

Strategies of Low Light Engagements Manual

When I look back at my 23+ year "career" in uniform - both military and law enforcement - and try to select the single most important thing I've ever learned as it applies to my survival on the streets, the item most often identified is Boyd's Cycle... OODA Loops. The human decision making cycle. I learned about Boyd's Cycle from the owners and operators of Strategos International LLC. Those same folks have finally put their principles, strategies, training drills, and more into a reference / training manual that is available for commercial sale. The 170-page color manual is structured properly to deliver knowledge objectives (requisite information) before skill objectives (based on and developed around the knowledge objectives) thereby supporting fast decision making in compressed time frames and high stress conditions.

The rest of the story: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/evals/other/sllman.htm

BONUS Service Equipment Review:

Rock River Arms Tactical CAR A4 .223 Rifle Bear in mind as you read this article that I still don't know what makes one gun "tactical" and another one not, BUT this week's review is of the Rock River Arms Tactical CAR A4 rifle in .223. In this case, I actually had two rifles to test over a pretty extensive period of time and I can honestly say that both have performed better than I expected them to. My experience with AR-style rifles - like so many writers today - started with the M16A2 rifle courtesy of Uncle Sam. The instructors in Basic Training taught me what a great rifle it was, while the Vietnam era service vets (senior NCOs) taught me how unreliable the weapon was, and how maintenance intensive it was if you wanted it to work every time you needed it. Thankfully, things have changed.

The rest of the story: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/evals/guns/rracara4.htm

CHAPLAINS CORNER

EXPERIENCE..

IS SOMETIMES SO GREAT THAT IT NEEDS TO BE PASSED ALONG.

Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice.
It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be
achieved.
-William Jennings Bryan

Recently I have been experiencing something that has never happened to me before.
I was getting a rash from my body armor and also itching badly in the areas covered
by the armor. I asked some questions of our supply person and was advised to
check out form fitting "UnderArmor" shirts to see if they would eliminate the problem.

I did that and received great relief. I have always worn cotton shirts under my armor and never had a problem until recently. I was ready to blame the problem on the new
shirts that were recently issued as duty uniforms. The "Under Armor" shirts fit nicely, feel good to the skin and do a great job of wicking moisture from the skin. I do not
know where the moisture went but it did not stay against me and make me extremely
wet and uncomfortable as was the usual case with the cotton shirts. Before I tried these new shirts I was already wet before I finished dressing. That did not happen
last night. Just in case some of you have been having such a problem I thought I would share the good news with you in case you might want to try the remedy for the wetness and discomfort under your body armor.
For the rest of the story go here:
http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2006/articles/061906chaplain.html

BUMPER STICKER


	Land of the free because of the brave

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