Blackwater’s Last Stand?

Dear Mr. President,

I just read that the Pentagon’s November notices to Congress lists Defense Department oversight of the following weapons sales to Middle East countries:

·         $300 million for spare parts (Abrams Tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and Humvees) to Saudi Arabia

·         $6.7 billion for new aircraft to Qatar

·         $9.9 billion in Patriot missiles to Qatar

·         $96 million for hundreds of Javelin guided missiles to Oman

·         $1.1+ billion in Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles to the United Arab Emirates.

Earlier in the year, the Pentagon listed the following sales:

·         $63 million for Huey II helicopters to Lebanon

·         $4.2 billion in Patriot missiles to Kuwait

·         $3 billion for Apache attack helicopters to Qatar

·         $1+ billion in upgrades for Abrams tanks to Morocco

·         $428 million for radar equipment and tactical vehicles to Iraq.

That’s $28 billion worth of weaponry just to Middle East countries. Happy Days are here again for the merchants of death, especially the top 5 defense contractors—Lockheed, Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrup Grumman and Raytheon—where the average CEO compensation is $21.5 million. The other merchants of death, the fossil fuel companies waging war against the planet, hence all of us at once, are also doing well: the CEO of Exxon Mobil, $35 million; Chevron, $25 million; and Peabody Coal, $10.2 million. Meanwhile, the average pay for the rest of America is $45,000 and heading south. It strikes me, Mr. President, that the combination of the merchants of death and the Banksters of Wall Street who finance it all and share in the spoils are a giant vacuum sucking up all our money. It also strikes me that you’re not doing squat about it, that you foster it by seeing al Qaeda franchises pop up everywhere like McDonald’s and Starbucks, the latest in Mali where we’ll be sending more drones and CIA assassins. And there’s other threats like Syria where the USS Eisenhower is standing by offshore with 8,000 men and 8 fighter-bomber squadrons ready to secure chemical weapons so the bad guys don’t get their hands on them… the list goes on. But by sabotaging the UN climate talks and treaties, we’ll soon bring it all to an end as the temperatures and waters rise and the planet becomes uninhabitable and you’ll huddle with your rich pals on the mountaintop in your walled fortresses with your private water and food supplies and hired mercenaries—Blackwater’s last stand?—holding off the less-fortunate. Welcome to Obama’s legacyworld, a dystopian nightmare.