Is the Bush Administration Using Blackwater Mercenaries in the DEA?

[Jim Finnel]

An extremely angry employee of the dispensary compared the DEA raid to being "robbed by a bunch of thugs downtown."

Are members of a disputed mercenary killer group now working with the DEA? A photo from the LA Times shows proof of one of two things; either Blackwater members are now working for the Bush White House's Drug Enforcement Agency, or this semi-illegitimate band of rogue federal cops have worse discipline than any of us ever imagined.

As a U.S. Marine, I would have faced charges for simply wearing my camouflage utility uniform into a store. There are these things called standards that the Corps and other military and police groups are obligated to follow. It is to avoid giving someone the wrong idea about who you are and your application in society. I guess Blackwater and the federal marijuana plant warriors don't care what people think.

The LA Times article suggests that the California pot dispensary raids have put the DEA's tactics in question. Far beyond the idea of these clowns wearing Blackwater shirts, the overall point is that they are operating above the law. California voters firmly stated that they want people to have access to medical marijuana.

Feds Make Mockery out of California Voters

The fact is that in addition to the state's ignored laws making medical marijuana legal, two appellate court decisions in California said federal laws don't take priority. But the DEA operates above the law and they are the ones who should be charged, tried and jailed. In fact, I see this happening in the future as we are probably very close to electing a new President who will reallocate the mission of these agents who needlessly press the pot issue, as the nation's problems with methamphetamine spirals out of control.

We have never had a federal government so out of touch with the realities of the people in this country.

In her article, the LA Times' Sandy Banks states that the flak-jacketed federal agents executing their commando-style raid at the Organica Collective, overtook a pot dispensary with such a mellow vibe that its business card features a dove and a cross.

During their "raid" DEA agents cut open a safe and confiscated boxes of records, a pair of flat screen monitors listing available varieties of weed, and the contents of an ATM. In true form, the federal cops left the place in a total mess.

A customer named Clyde Carey told Times reporter Tami Abdollah that they frightened the customers and employees by storming in "in full combat gear." He said it was "like literally an episode of '24' when they bust in on a terrorist cell."

Someone needs to tell the DEA that there are legitimate crimes taking place in this city. There are killers and robbers and rapists and child molesters and they need to be dealt with. Perhaps they get a real charge out of raiding pot dispensaries. Maybe they like picking on mellow, innocent people because they are not a threat to police. Maybe these agents should be looking at the bigger picture.

An extremely angry employee of the dispensary said the police kept him handcuffed for four hours. He compared the DEA raid to being "robbed by a bunch of thugs downtown."

The feds didn't tell the LA Times why they targeted Organica, a warehouse operation on a industrial stretch of Washington Boulevard located close to Venice Beach. Of course that would not be expected of an agency that operates like this one. One thing is certain; the day will come when these storm troopers will have to behave differently and actually enforce worthy laws rather than working off the interpretation that states in this country do not have rights. Of course that comes all the way down from George W. Bush himself, who could change the course of this madness at any time.

News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Salem-News.com
Copyright: 2008 Salem-News.com
Contact: adsales@salem-news.com
Website: Is the Bush Administration Using Blackwater Mercenaries in the DEA? - Salem-News.Com

 

[Weed420]

If they now have Blackwater on the payroll its not looking good people. These people are not federal authorities. They are a private army. They have no authority to do anything in this country. You have the right to shoot them on the spot if they are pointing a gun at you or threatening you in any manner. What a terrible country this is becoming. Sad when this country has such possibilities to be the most tolerant nation on the planet yet we continue to allow federal authorities to violate our civil rights.

 

[Boss]

They are the SS.

 

[RooRman]

Food for thought...

 

[Weed420]

Do some research on the Erik Prince family that owns Blackwater,Presidential Airlines and you find a real bunch of scumbags. *edit off topic. They have the resources, motive and manpower to do some serious damage in this country. They are lready operating completely illegal. A private military is illegal in this country.

 

[Weed420]

Bush has no concience therfor he doesn't care. It kind of goes along with the christian mind set. Its all god's will.

 

[Jim Finnel]

the topic is did the dea use blackwater to bust a dispensary. we need to keep this discussion related to the issue of marijunana and not get off into the war etc. thanks.

 

[RooRman]

Food for thought...
Last edited by 420; Yesterday at 05:57 PM.

Well apparently I guess I can't link out to Youtube. :rolleyes3

 

[Jim Finnel]

Well apparently I guess I can't link out to Youtube. :rolleyes3

First and foremost is to post your videos in the correct sub-forum. 420 TV is the sub-forum where all videos must be posted.

All videos must be embedded. You will find embed code on source page. Copy and paste to your thread.

 

[RooRman]

Thanks for the help User but the video pertains directly to this subject and I don't see the point in starting another thread just to post it in another sub-forum.

Thanks anyway.

 

[420]

our policy is not to link out to outside communities, youtube being one of them...
we work so hard to get and maintain our members, we feel it is unfair to lose them to the bigger communities like youtube and myspace.

we pay a lot of money to keep this site FREE and operating for you, as well as putting in thousands of hours of hard work and dedication for the last 15 years, all we ask in return is that you keep our members here...

is that so much to ask?

thanks for your support.

Thanks for the help User but the video pertains directly to this subject and I don't see the point in starting another thread just to post it in another sub-forum.

 

[gingykid]

whoa whoa talk about off subject.

so these blackwater folks are the reason id want to buy a gun if i owned a dispensary. just did a little wiki on em, not very...legal...at all. and if indeed this man was wearing a black water shirt, would i have been able to shoot him in the face without any legal action? this is scary guys....

On September 16, 2007, Blackwater guards opened fire in Nisour Square, Baghdad, killing 17 civilians in the Blackwater Baghdad shootings incident. Witnesses claimed that the attack was unprovoked and that the mercenaries, in the employ of the U.S., continued firing while the Iraqi civilians were fleeing. Two Blackwater helicopters were also spotted at the time, who witnesses say aided in the attack. However, Blackwater maintained that its guards were under attack and responded accordingly. The FBI found that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and found no evidence to support assertions by Blackwater employees that they were fired upon by Iraqi civilians.[54] Federal prosecutors have narrowed their focus to three Blackwater employees.


[edit] Legal status and oversight of Blackwater Worldwide
Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq was revoked by the Iraqi Government on September 17, 2007, resulting from a highly contentious incident that occurred the previous day during which seventeen (initially reported as eleven) Iraqis were killed.[55][56] The fatalities occurred while a Blackwater Private Security Detail (PSD) was escorting a convoy of U.S. State Department vehicles en route to a meeting in western Baghdad with United States Agency for International Development officials. The US State Department has said that "innocent life was lost."[57] An anonymous U.S. military official was quoted as saying that Blackwater's guards opened fire without provocation and used excessive force.[58] The incident has sparked at least five investigations, and the FBI says it will begin a probe.[59] Blackwater helicopters were dispatched to evacuate the Polish ambassador following an insurgent assassination attempt on October 3 2007.[60]

WTF guys? if this is who the guys that are raiding the dispensaries are working for, then why is this legal? don't they HAVE TO be wearing a DEA shirt or some sort of identification with the dea? i don't know much on the subject, but this seems EXTREMELY illegal...

 

[Jim Finnel]

my honest opinion is that this guy was probably not blackwater. its probably some local leo who thought the shirt was cool or funny or macho. who knows. if it was really blackwater we probably would not know about it. i think the story was just phrased as it was for a sensational headline. i don't doubt that the d.e.a. would use blackwater i just doubt they'd be wearing t-shirts to advertise it.

 

[Boss]

I think he was blackwater. Thanks to MPP and donations to MPP, the DEA budget was cut from 150 million to 50 million. The dea cannot aford to run these operations alone.

Blackwater however is funded through the US department of defence's "Slush fund" (they call it somthing else, I cannot remember) but it HUGELY funded, that's why they use them, and all the locals. They cannot afford to do it alone. So they get the money from the department of defence and call it "anti-terroism funding"

Sounds like a reasonable answer to me. Although quite like walking on the razors edge of the law.

 

[Biscanna]

Why do "Men" and "Women" get involved with jobs like this? I wonder about the psychology of these folks...someone that needs a job and decides that they will work for Blackwater or the DEA or Wal-Mart Eye-In-The-Sky, some job that lets them work in "security" and offers them an opportunity to show their power and exert it. Strangely these jobs come with certain 'privileges'. I very much respect the folks that keep us safe from violence but what are the common personality characteristics of these people?

These are jobs that you cannot put down at 5 o'clock. A cop is always a cop, even a traffic cop. They agree to enforce laws that they may disagree with, and they often keep their mouths shut when a coworker violates the rights of another, often reasoned as "for the greater good of our community", which is wrong regardless of whether it's true or not. What is this need to have such power and control over strangers? What is this desire that convinces people that they should be entrenched in the private lives of others, and instead of working at a nursing home they take on a job that gives them special secret privileges, with special secret gear, and special secret information, special clearance and access to special people with power? What is this need to be given permission to deceive others and then display the 'good' that they are doing for 'everyone that matters'.

Is it a coincidence that the same people, statistically speaking of course, tend to eat high-fat diets, be a bit overweight and although muscular, they lack cardiovascular strength to match their bulk? (That's anti-evolutionary by the way). I suck for generalizing but statistics hold truth.

Sometimes it's only the bald guy in a windbreaker at the ball game working security, but he still wants to make sure that you know who he is and what he can do if you don't meet his approval. He weilds that walkie talkie with overt physical movements, walks with his arms out to the side a bit and for some reason, cannot speak to you in a normal tone, he must speak to you in an authoritative and monotonous way, with no emotion - this is how he demonstrates professionalism. If you respond in a socially acceptable manner that he does not like, he can detain you, or kick you out of the game, or even assault you and get away with it. In the end, it makes him feel good for 'dealing with the situation'. In his mind, he made things right. What is the common psychiatric thread here? Even though you obeyed written laws AND you followed socially accepted rules, he ultimately decides what is good and bad based on inflexible personal tolerance. If you challenge that personal tolerance, then there will be repercussions...but only because he has been empowered by 'authority' to do so. Isn't it rather odd that to call someone a name, say 'swine', is perfectly legal and socially accepted, but if you happen to say "swine" to a specially-empowered person, they can somehow come up with valid exuses to detain, arrest, violate or harass you?

To see the picture of the guy in the Blackwater shirt, his hip street look and Fred Durst flavor-saver ...what happened in this guy's life to make him want to kill arabs and legal cannabis users? Does he brag to his buddies that he's doing contract work for the DEA? Does his lady think he's extra sexy for it? Or does he secretly feel like a tool for signing up to kill foreigners overseas and getting assigned a non-violent removal of plant material from an overt store-front. Jesus, I just don't see the personal reward for these people, other than a small-to-moderate paycheck. Is he being payed the same as the guys in Iraq?

The reward seems to come in the form of neurotransmitters, which ironically, some are considered illegal by the Drug Analogs Act. When you're hyped up on adrenaline (epinephrine) and dopamine, you're on speed, and it's proven addictive. In fact, addictive drugs cause these neurotransmitters to be released. - Ask any psychiatrist about bullies and a bullie's childhood..and their career choices. Why else is a person absolutely driven into a job that constantly stimulates those drug-receptors, causes them above average stress, puts their life, health, marriage and family at constant risk but for mediocre pay? Pilots make more. Common answers might include 'doing good in society' and 'helping people'. But still, I wonder. if LEO says that his or her career choice is strongly motivated by 'helping people' then, how does that same person respond when assisting in a dispensary bust? Are they helping then...as patients with medical disabilities stand a few feet away and try to reason? Do they justify that taking away a sick person's plant-medicine is justified because it is illegal and that they are required to uphold laws they disagree with? How is that noble?

...With hundreds of dispensaries around, that requires many agents to investigate and bust them...and those busts get publicized on the news and even on YouTube by innocent bystanders. That sometimes exposes the DEA agents that are working hard on busting people involved with actual harmful drugs like heroin and meth. So it seems that contracting these dispensary busts, which they know will be non-violent, to Blackwater, the DEA is able to keep their secret faces secret instead of seeing them on YouTube and blowing their cover for when they need to make a difference.

I very much respect what LEOs must face and I'm grateful that there are folks that can help me out when I call them. But there is a huge difference between someone calling on LEO for protection and LEO being told what to do by superiors in suits with neat hair.

Like others said, maybe this Blackwater guy in the photo really is DEA. Maybe DEA is sick of the bad PR that comes with these busts. Maybe their busts look good on paper to DEA managment and politicians, but the regional DEA agents really do suport our cause, but must also 'do their jobs'. CA state and local gov. is generally savvy with the movement today. Maybe the Blackwater imagery is yet another try for them to shift the focus away from themselves. Each time DEA screws up by not following their own rules, like not having warrants signed, it is yet another documented case of self-admitted idiocy. By contracting the work to BW they help restore the privacy of the local DEA agents, plus it let's the DEA pass the buck when there is a screw up, even if the screw up was a direct order from the DEA - after all they can't be held responsible for private contractors going a bit overboard, right? It's easy to blame the janitor for poor performance.



In the end, I should acknowledge that it's very likely me that is an idiot and nobody else. I only want to understand.

 

[Jim Finnel]

^
damn Biscanna you can write. this has got to be one of the best posts ever. i really look forward to reading more of your posts.

i've really wondered about these same things for a very long time. i still haven't come up with an answer. not breast fed?

 

[WaVancouver]

*snaps fingers* lmfao i loved the post biscanna

and USER, nah...I wasn't breastfed and Im okay

 

[Jim Finnel]

yeah i know, i just wanted to talk about breasts

 

[WaVancouver]

lmfao...boobs are boobs to me

 

[Jim Finnel]

i appologize for going off topic. i need to stick to the rules if i'm gonna enforce them. so no further talk of breasts unless they are somehow related to marijuana, dispensaries, the dea or blackwater. ok i guess technically they are dispensaries.