| April 16, 2007 Edition |
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Blackwater USA and The Backup Training Corporation Announce Strategic Partnership Companies Aim to Promote Each Other's Products and ServicesMoyock, NC - Blackwater USA is pleased to announce its new strategic partnership with The Backup Training Corporation, which provides top-notch computer-based training courses on current topics and is recognized as the leader in computer-based training for the law enforcement industry. Blackwater will begin distributing these products through its Pro Shop.In addition, Blackwater will become the exclusive provider of practical skill development training for The Backup in the areas of firearms and tactics training, Law Enforcement training, Law Enforcement Special Operations training, K9 training, military training, security and Law Enforcement driving training and aviation training. "We are excited about our new partnership with The Backup Training Corporation," said Blackwater's Vice President for Training, Jim Sierawski. "It is a training partner that allows us to offer our customers a computer based training capability. The Backup is the world's leader in Law Enforcement computer based training and Blackwater is the world's leader in firearms and tactics training. Together we can offer customers a wide range of complete training services that is unmatched in the industry." The benefits of the computer-based training courses are numerous including: an eas-to-use and visually engaging format, cost effective and consistent delivery, trackable student interaction, and flexibility in training sessions by allowing users to train anytime, anywhere, even when not connected to a network or the Internet. "We believe that Blackwater and The Backup present a powerful combination working together," commented Richard Gallia, CEO of The Backup. "Practical skills training and digital training are highly complementary and are becoming inextricably linked. Partnering with a company like Blackwater will put The Backup right in the middle of some of the most important training work in the world. We are tremendously excited." Established in 1997, The Backup strives to provide the best training and technology-based solutions to enhance the lives and safety of those who serve in the fields of law enforcement, public service and national defense. Based in Moyock, North Carolina, Blackwater USA maintains the most comprehensive private tactical training facility in the United States. With its newest training facility now open in Mount Carroll, IL and providing mobile training units anywhere in the world, Blackwater is committed to For more information, please contact Anne Tyrrell at atyrrell@blackwaterusa.com. |
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| QUOTE OF THE WEEK |
| A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve. Oliver Wendell Holmes |
| PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES, EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS |
Iraq in the BalanceIn Washington, panic. In Baghdad, cautious optimism.For 35 years the sun did not shine here," said a man on the grounds of the great Shia shrine of al-Kadhimiyyah, on the outskirts of Baghdad. I had come to the shrine at night, in the company of the Shia politician Ahmed Chalabi.We had driven in an armed convoy, and our presence had drawn a crowd. The place was bathed with light, framed by multiple minarets--a huge rectangular structure, its beauty and dereliction side by side. The tile work was exquisite, there were deep Persian carpets everywhere, the gifts of benefactors, rulers and merchants, drawn from the world of Shi'ism. It was a cool spring night, and beguilingly tranquil. (There were the echoes of a firefight across the river, from the Sunni neighborhood of al-Adhamiyyah, but it was background noise and oddly easy to ignore.) A keeper of the shrine had been showing us the place, and he was proud of its doors made of teak from Burma--a kind of wood, he said, that resisted rain, wind and sun. It was to that description that the quiet man on the edge of this gathering had offered the thought that the sun had not risen during the long night of Baathist despotism. A traveler who moves between Baghdad and Washington is struck by the gloomy despair in Washington and the cautious sense of optimism in Baghdad. Baghdad has not been prettified; its streets remain a sore to the eye, its government still hunkered down in the Green Zone, and violence is never far. But the sense of deliverance, and the hopes invested in this new security plan, are palpable. I crisscrossed the city--always with armed protection--making my way to Sunni and Shia politicians and clerics alike. The Sunni and Shia versions of political things--of reality itself--remain at odds. But there can be discerned, through the acrimony, the emergence of a fragile consensus. Full Story Honoring WarriorsON SEPTEMBER 13, 2006, Navy Secretary Donald Winter presented the Navy Cross, the nation's second-highest military award for valor, to the widows of two Navy SEALs killed in Afghanistan. Petty Officers Danny Dietz of Littleton, Colorado, and Matthew Axelson of Cupertino, California, had been part of a four-man team inserted behind enemy lines on June 27, 2005, east of Asadabad. Their position was discovered, and the team fought valiantly against "the numerically superior and positionally advantaged enemy force," according to the citation that accompanied the awards. Dietz and Axelson were wounded but fought on, providing cover for one SEAL to escape. Dietz's citation concluded , "By his undaunted courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and absolute devotion to his teammates, Petty Officer Dietz will long be remembered . . . ."His family and his community sought to ensure that he would be. They raised funds to commission a memorial statue, and in January, the Littleton City Council approved its placement in a park near the school Dietz had attended. Sculptor Robert Henderson is now putting the final touches on the sculpture (a clay model can be seen here, and its unveiling is scheduled for a ceremony on July 4. Not so fast! Last week, a group of Littleton parents circulated a flier opposing the statue. They objected to its design--it is modeled after a photo of the young serviceman in full field gear, crouching, automatic rifle in hand (though at rest). And they objected to its location--within a few blocks of several schools. The parents explained, "While our hearts go out to the family of this brave young man, we have serious concerns regarding the graphic and violent detail the statue portrays. As a community, we cannot allow the many young children in this area to be exposed to a larger than life-size grenade launching machine gun. . . . In light of our community's experience with the Columbine tragedy, and the clear message of non-violence that we teach in Littleton schools, what is our city thinking?" Full Story Iraq: Is Anyone Planning for U.S. Pull Out?The battle lines may be clearer in Washington than in Iraq. A Democratic-controlled Congress wants to set a timetable for U.S. combat troops to get out of a fight the American public no longer supports. When he meets with congressional leaders this week, President George W. Bush will vow again to veto any such bill. And like the president, Republican Sen. John McCain - decorated veteran, presidential hopeful and stubborn supporter of the U.S. troop surge in Baghdad -warns of apocalyptic consequences if there's a pullout."This is an historic choice, with ramifications for Americans not even born yet," McCain recently told students at Virginia Military Institute who were about to graduate from gray cadet uniforms to desert camouflage. A premature U.S. withdrawal would create "a Wild West for terrorists" who believe "we Americans are their ultimate target." For the Iraqis, warned McCain, a U.S. pullout would lead to "genocide" in which "we would be complicit." He could well be right. In the Middle East, aid workers, regional leaders, Iraqi officials and ordinary civilians agree that if the Americans leave quickly, Iraq's disastrous condition could be made much worse. They warn of a massive flood of refugees heading for the borders, of massacres as Sunnis and Shiites cross paths, of a proxy war funded by Iran and Saudi Arabia within Iraq itself. "The consequences of [this] not working out are catastrophic," says an aid worker overseeing part of the U.N. relief effort in Iraq, who doesn't want to make any comment on the record that might sound political. Full Story |
| BREAKING NEWS FOR THE PROFESSIONAL |
U.S. military buildup urged to counter ChinaThe United States should build up military forces in Asia to counter China's military expansion, according to a report on U.S.-China relations by a blue-ribbon panel. "The United States should sustain and selectively enhance its force posture in East Asia, ensuring it has capabilities commensurate with the region's growing importance to the U.S. economy and other vital national interests," the report by a task force of the Council on Foreign Relations stated. The task force, whose report was made public yesterday, was led by retired Pacific Command chief Adm. Dennis Blair and former U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills. "We believe that the United States should maintain the air, maritime and space superiority that we have in the Western Pacific that's been the basis of a lot of Western Pacific/East Asian development ever since the end of the Second World War. And we need to maintain that position," Adm. Blair said. The report stated that upgrades to the U.S. military base on the Pacific island of Guam should continue and that the U.S. military should "invest broadly" in next-generation technologies that are appropriate for the Pacific, such as advanced naval and air forces.Full Story The Surge: First FruitsBy the day, the debate at home about Iraq becomes increasingly disconnected from the realities of the war on the ground. The Democrats in Congress are so consumed with negotiating among their factions the most clever linguistic device to legislatively ensure the failure of the administration's current military strategy -- while not appearing to do so -- that they speak almost not at all about the first visible results of that strategy. And preliminary results are visible. The landscape is shifting in the two fronts of the current troop surge: Anbar province and Baghdad. The news from Anbar is the most promising. Only last fall, the Marines' leading intelligence officer there concluded that the United States had essentially lost the fight to al-Qaeda. Yet just this week, the Marine commandant, Gen. James Conway, returned from a four-day visit to the province and reported that we "have turned the corner."Full Story The Move From HellIn the past four years, the Pentagon has sent 9 million tons of gear to Iraq. Getting it all back will take time.Most everyone agrees that a precipitous American withdrawal from Iraq would be disastrous. Fewer people realize it may be impossible. In the past four years, the U.S. military has shipped to the region more than 9 million tons of equipment - from tanks and bulldozers to toilets and silverware. If you were to load all that gear on tractor-trailers and line them up end to end, the convoy would extend from San Francisco to Miami. "It's mind-boggling, the size of all this," says Maj. Gen. Charles W. Fletcher Jr., who is director of operations at the U.S. Transportation Command and was in charge of logistics at the start of the war. Fletcher knows something about pullouts. After the 1991 war in Iraq, he commanded a battalion in Saudi Arabia that "cleared out the theater" of all remaining U.S. matériel. "We let all the soldiers fly home minus myself and a couple of thousand others," he says. "It took us about eight months to get all the equipment back."Full Story Army equipment disasterDuring the Cold War the Army stockpiled thousands of weapons and vehicles in warehouses or aboard huge cargo ships in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. These trucks, humvees, tanks, artillery and armored personnel carriers constituted our national reserve of weaponry. Soldiers depend on this equipment should we go to war against an enemy outside Iraq and Afghanistan. Except for one brigade set in Korea, it's all gone. We emptied the last set in March. In total, nearly half of the Army's fighting equipment is wearing away in Iraq and Afghanistan or waiting forlornly for repair or disposal. Unclassified sources put the total number of broken or destroyed wheels, tracks and rotors at about 6,000. Most Army brigades are "not combat ready" in part because of equipment shortages. Brigades consist of people and equipment, so the significance of "not combat ready" loses a great deal in translation.Full Story Why Old Britain's Time is UpThere's stiff competition - the handling of mad cow disease, the royal family's years of dysfunction - but it is hard to think of anything in modern times that has held Britain up to such, and such richly deserved, international contempt as the case of the 15 captured mariners in the Shatt al Arab. There was the original sin; messing about in lightly armed little boats in a waterway contested by Iran - a bit like poking a mad dog in the eye without being prepared to clobber it with a big stick if it bites. There has been the miserable, cringe-making behavior of the sailors and marines when in captivity. (As Max Hastings, distinguished military historian and journalist, said in the Daily Mail: Yes, the 15 had a very unpleasant and frightening ordeal, but if they were not ready for such a risk they should have worked at Tesco rather than in the armed forces.) And there has been the extraordinary, pantomimical flip-flop by Britain's Defence Secretary, Des Browne, on whether the sailors and marines could sell their stories (yes they could; oops, no they couldn't) to a media that has itself bounced from treating the 15 as plucky heroes one minute, the next sniveling weeds, and the next money-grubbing yobs. Government, armed forces, media - all have seemed to epitomize a society that knows the price of everything but the value of nothing. How did Britain get like this? How did a society whose professed virtues were once those of duty, honor and discretion become a place of in-it-for-myself, let-it-all-hang-out emoting? Step forward those two women whose influence, combined - though one suspects they loathed each other - shaped a nation: Margaret Thatcher and Princess Diana.Full Story |
| JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE PROFESSIONAL |
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TO FILL OUT AN APPLICATION AND SUBMIT YOUR RESUME CLICK HERE Questions regarding Security Consulting or Training at Blackwater (252) 435-2488 or email dcarter@blackwaterusa.com. |
| SECURITY FOR THE PROFESSIONAL |
The Algeria Bombings: Target Europe?A vicious alliance feeds the ambitions of the group claiming responsibility for the series of massive bombs that rocked the Algerian capital today, killing at least 23 people and wounding about 160. Formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, the radical Islamist organization changed its name in mid-2006 to Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) when it became allied with Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the organization once led by America's former nemesis in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Upon Zarqawi's death in June 2006, these two geographical arms of al-Qaeda were given the regional assignment of fighting the "infidel" by Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, who proclaimed their allegiance to al-Qaeda's global jihad. The Mesopotamian group was supposed to tackle the Americans in Iraq while AQIM was told to interact with groups battling the secular regimes in Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco as well as France and Western Europe. Despite that pedigree, AQIM had limited its activity to relatively small strikes on Algerian police and military outposts. At the same time, France claims to have thwarted AQIM plots on its soil.Full Story New strategy in Taliban's offensiveLike any modern fighting force, the Taliban have learned the benefits of emotional warfare. As the Taliban's spring offensive gets under way, kidnappings have become their new weapon of choice, targeting a growing chink in NATO's armor: Across Europe, the United States, and Canada, public opinion for the war in Afghanistan is sliding. That disenchantment is proving as devastating as any bomb. Last month, after the Taliban kidnapped Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, the Italian government nearly collapsed when opposition parties raised a storm of protest. Out of fear that Italy's parliament might decide to withdraw its 1,950 troops - what could have been a hefty blow to NATO's mission - President Hamid Karzai traded five Taliban prisoners for Mr. Mastrogiacomo's release, a stunning and highly criticized victory for the extremists. And when Mr. Karzai refused to negotiate for Adjmal Naqshbandi, Mastrogiacomo's Afghan translator, the Taliban won again. Mr. Naqshbandi was beheaded on Sunday, prompting expressions of outrage and betrayal for the apparent double standard and further driving a wedge between Karzai and the Afghan public.Full Story From hiding, Sadr rallies against the US"Yes to Moqtada, yes to Iraq, yes to liberation," chanted tens of thousands of demonstrators as they poured into the revered Shiite cities of Kufa and Najaf Monday calling for US troops to leave Iraq. The event - on the fourth anniversary of Baghdad's fall - was a clear message from Moqtada al-Sadr that the radical Shiite cleric remains a force to be reckoned with despite the fact he has been in hiding for months. His movement is under growing military pressure from US forces, including battles with Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in the city of Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad, that have killed at least 11 Iraqis since Friday. "It proves that he's the only man capable of amassing such a huge demonstration and shows the weakness of the government and its allies," says Wamidh Nadhmi, a political science professor at the University of Baghdad. "He's also trying to prove to all that he's the moving spirit among Shiites and that he has not changed his mind about the presence of US forces."Full Story U.S. Navy shows off terror-fighting dolphinsKoa, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, will do anything for a fresh fish -- including alerting her U.S. Navy handlers to potential terrorists. Koa is one of about 100 marine mammals housed at Naval Base Point Loma, located on a scenic peninsula jutting into San Diego Harbor. Officials at the base briefly opened their doors to the media Thursday for the first time since the start of the war in Iraq. (Watch a dolphin go through basic training Video) The demonstration came a few weeks after the Navy announced plans to ship up to 30 dolphins and sea lions to patrol the waters of Washington state's Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, home to nuclear submarines, ships and laboratories. Even in today's high-tech world of underwater robotics and unmanned vehicles, the Navy says animals like Koa are its best line of defense against attacks from the sea. "Biologically, they are better than anything we have ever made," said Mike Rothe, head of science for the Navy's marine mammal program. About 75 dolphins and 25 sea lions are in the program. Both species can find mines and swimmers in murky waters. Working in unison, the dolphins are trained to drop a flashing light by the target, while sea lions can attach a tether to it.Full Story To the rest of the world, we're cheapskatesSEX! MONEY! FAME! POWER! Ha ha: Tricked you. You probably thought I was going to tell you who really fathered Anna Nicole Smith's baby, or share a new tidbit about the Duke lacrosse scandal, or maybe just pretend to be Joel Stein for a day. Nope. Actually, I want to talk about the federal international affairs budget. (We columnists are a sneaky lot.) Let me tell you why you should care about the international affairs budget, a budget so unloved and obscure that you will search The Times archives in vain for a single reference to it - other than this one. OK. What exactly is the international affairs budget? I'm glad you asked. The international affairs budget funds all U.S. foreign affairs spending. It funds the State Department, for instance, and the Peace Corps and exchange programs that allow U.S. students to study overseas. It funds U.S. contributions to peacekeeping efforts in Darfur, and it funds all our foreign assistance to developing countries: food aid, disaster relief, agricultural assistance, military training, democracy assistance, polio vaccinations, AIDS prevention and everything else you can think of.Full Story |
| TACTICAL TRAINING & INTELLIGENCE RESOURCES FOR THE PROFESSIONAL |
Training Schedule Now Available for Blackwater North
Mount Carroll, IL – Blackwater USA’s newest facility, Blackwater North, is announcing its 2007 training schedule and enrollment instructions through its website. Students are now able to access the website and review a full training schedule and enrollment forms.
The website is available through www.blackwaterusanorth.com.
Blackwater North is a full service training center providing safe and realistic training environments on eighty acres consisting of seven flat ranges, a known distance range, an unknown distance range, a combat town range, a climbing/rappelling/shooting tower, a dismounted course, and a confidence course. Staffed by fully vetted and screened instructors with military and/or law enforcement expertise, Blackwater allows for the most comprehensive training for government, military, law enforcement, peace support operations, and qualified civilian customers.
Blackwater USA stands in support of security, peace, freedom, and democracy everywhere.
For more information, please visit www.blackwaterusanorth.com or call (815) 244-2900. Humanitarian Conduct & Enhanced Operations: Specialized Training for Field Managers and Independent Contractors.The goal of this 2-Day certificate training program is to serve as a mechanism by which the IPOA Code of Conduct and other standards can be "operationalized" by contractors active in conflict and post-conflict environments around the world. Through interactive sessions and simulations, participants will be trained in essential areas such as international humanitarian law, NGO/IO interaction, cultural, gender & religious sensitivities and learn how to operationalize field guidelines, increase productivity levels and improve interaction with other actors in the field. For more information, please contact Derek Wright at dwright@ipoaonline.org or visit http://www.american.edu/sis/peacebuilding/security/traininginfo.htm.5.11 Tactical Series presents the 5.11 Tactical Pant 30th Anniversary Sweepstakes. Enter once a week to become eligible to win $511 of your choice of 5.11 Tactical gear and a chance at a six-day vacation in California. The all-expense paid trip includes visits to the Napa Valley Wine Country, Monterey, Yosemite National Park, and the 5.11 Tactical World Headquarters. One entry per person, per week. Previous weekly winners are eligible for the California Vacation but are eliminated from subsequent weekly drawings. Weekly winners will release their likeness to 5.11, Inc. for promotional materials. Sweeps Registration page: http://www.511tactical.com/index.asp?pageID=30yrsweeps | |
| FRANKS REVIEW |
Tactical Equipment EvaluationPack Your BagsAcross the past eight years I've had the blessing (or the curse depending on how you look at it) to travel to various parts of the country either for my agency or for my own business. I've also traveled, as we all do, on family vacations. I've been through my share of "quality" luggage. Additionally, I transport weapons to and from the range on a fairly regular basis and I've found some gun bags I like, and some others that I just don't consider worth much. In this week's review I'm going to cover some of the various bags I've come to know and enjoy manufactured by BlackHawk. Specifically the three bags I'm going to look at are their Police Equipment Bag, their Advanced tactical Briefcase (relatively new product) and their Rifle Case.Full Story Can Be Viewed At: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/evals/other/packyourbags.htm Recreational Equipment ReviewHenry AR-7 .22lr "Survival" RifleA long time ago in a galaxy not so far away, I was an 18-year-old wanna be Rambo. I knew plenty of other guys my age that would have pretty much fit the same jesting description. Here I am, some number of years later though, and some of the knowledge and equipment I picked up back then still serves me well today. One item that I'm no longer in possession of, but that I recently had the opportunity to revisit, is my AR-7 "Survival" rifle. At the grand old age of 18 I had purchased mine, justifying the purchase to myself as "necessary so that I had protection and hunting capability if I got lost hiking or camping." Of course, it was illegal for me to carry the thing anyway - especially collapsed and concealed. Revisiting with a modern sample of the rifle I found that I missed mine and may have to seek purchasing a new one.Full Story Can Be Viewed At: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/recevals/campback/ar7rifle.htm
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| CHAPLAINS CORNER |
AS PROMISEDI took you to the Throne of Grace this day. We had a marvelous visit there and I came back to write to you.Last night I received one of the most surprising messages that I ever received. I received a message from the grandparents of one of the two teen girls killed in the fatal crash I wrote about in the April 2 issue of CHAPLAIN CORNER. They are in California. Someone who knew them there read CHAPLAIN CORNER in BLACKWATER TACTICAL WEEKLY and forwarded it to the grandparents. Their message was one of appreciation for my services to their daughter and grandchildren following the fatal crash. It was also a commitment to fight this kind of tragedy happening to others. When you write for publication you just never know who will be reading the material... and often receive pleasant surprises when they decide to write about the message that they read. THANK YOU to all who have responded to messages that I have written over the years. It will very soon be five years of weekly messages... Sometimes it seems like I have been writing forever... Sometimes it seems like I just started. Many of you have responded to me over the years and I treasure the relationships that we have established. It may sound strange but my Peace Keeping career seems the same way... Some days it is like I just began... Some days it is like I have been doing it forever with no comprehension of time... But it has brought me many friends and some Compadres. For that one facet of both the writing and the career I am most thankful. Sometimes there are few life course adjustments. At other times there are frequent and drastic life course adjustments. There are some things that happen in our lives that we can never prepare for ahead of time. There are some things that even if you knew they were coming you could not avoid it... There would be very little that you could change. There would be very little that you could do in advance to prepare for it even if you knew it was coming at a certain hour on a certain day. Full Story Can Be Viewed At: http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2007/article/041607chaplain.htm
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| BUMPER STICKER |
In my house, normal is just a setting on the dryer |
| CONTACT INFORMATION |
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The Blackwater Tactical Weekly is a free weekly e-publication. The BTW provides readers valuable information from diverse sources regarding tactical and strategic security issues. Editor-in-Chief – Gary Jackson (btw@blackwaterusa.com) Questions regarding Security Consulting or Training
at Blackwater (252) 435-2488 Editorial Calendar: The weekly theme may change at the discretion of
the Editor based on current events. To view an archived BTW, Click Here |
| LEGAL NOTICE |
| Blackwater USA (the "Company"), provides this Newsletter as a source of diverse information to its readers. The Company does not warrant or endorse the products or services advertised in or reviewed in the Newsletter. The views and statements of the reviewers and commentators presented in the Newsletter are entirely their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Company or its affiliates. The Company does not monitor or warrant the accuracy or reliability of the material provided in this Newsletter or presented at any of the third-party websites to which links are provided in this Newsletter. WARNING: Use of certain of the products and services discussed or reviewed in this Newsletter can lead to personal injury or death. It is critical to follow manufacturers' instructions in using such products or services. The Company will not accept any liability for damages, injuries, or death resulting from the use or misuse of any such products or services. |
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