This video is produced by the Nation, currently the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the US. It is a self-accliamed leftist opinion to politics and culture. It is also a major source of the information in the Project censored section on Xe (US Training Center) and JSOC.
The fifth article in chapter one of Censored 2011 makes claims and provides evidence for the private security company, Xe's involvement in targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Queda operatives in and around Pakistan. This is especially controversial because it is believed that the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) is contracting and working closely with Xe in order to carry out missions including gathering intel for unmanned predator drone strikes in Pakistan. The United States claims that their are no active military operations in Pakistan and that their contracts with Xe are and have never been used for the purposes claimed. An altenrate soucre for this arrugment can be found in the Lexisnexis database: "Blackwater operating at CIA Pakistan base, ex-official says: Contractor said to be helping to load missiles: US denies controversial company is in country".
The writers however provide a contradiction to this statement in the words of Xe's founder, Erik Prince during an interview with Vanity Fair. He stated that Xe, then Blackwater, works with US special forces to plan missions and gather intelligence in Syria. The writers also claim that a former senior executive at Blackwater,
"...confirmed the military intelligence source's claim that the company is working in Pakistan for the CIA and JSOC. He said that Blackwater is also working for the Pakistani government on a subcontract with an Islamabad-based security firm that puts US Blackwater operatives on the ground with Pakistani forces in "counterterrorism" operations, including house raids and border interdictions, in the North-West Frontier Province and elsewhere in Pakistan," (Censored 35).
Blackwater Security guarding U.S. State Department employees at the Republican Palace in Baghdad.This use of hired military companies, a nicer title for mercenaries, makes it possible for the Pakistani government to utilize former US special forces through Blackwater without having to claim an official US military presence in the country. In an article by Filiz Zabci entitled "Private Military Companies: Shadow Soldiers of Neo-colonialism" he discusses how many of the recruits for private security companies such as Xe are discharged military personnel.
It seems that the confusion as to what the true implications of these companies in Pakistan can be summed up in a quote from Captain John Kirby, the spokesperson for the chairmen of the Joint Chief of Staff, "We do not discuss the current operations, one way or another, regardless of their nature," (Censored 35). It seems that even if the alleged US presence in Pakistan is true, it would never be confirmed by the United States Government as national security suffices as justification for secrecy.
Various stages in Blackwater's re-branding processWhen searching the online databases for scholarly sources on the subject, many seemed to be in support of the accusations of US military operations in Pakistan through the security company Xe. Another popular topic is the major rebranding from Blackwater to Xe in October of 2007. Blackwater was getting such negative publicity that its reputation was getting in the way of its ability to do business. The re-branding of the company image allows it to carry on its business worldwide with reduced resistance by the public and controversy in the media. It seems to be very evident that Blackwater is operating in and around Pakistan. Only the spread of this censored information can bring about changes to the way our Military conducts operations abroad.
