Mercenary Air

US Contractors are not subject to US law nor Iraqi law, nor the Geneva
Convention, nor the Freedom Of Information Act.

If Blackwater is acting irresponsibly on the ground, imagine what they
can do in the air.


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/b...s-embraer.html
Brazil's Embraer may sell light training-fighter planes to U.S.
for use in Iraq

By Bradley Brooks
ASSOCIATED PRESS

2:02 p.m. June 2, 2008

SAO PAULO, Brazil – Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer is
participating in preliminary negotiations to sell the U.S.
government eight 314-B1 Super Tucano light attack and training
planes for use in Iraq, the company said Monday.

Embraer also confirmed that it sold one of the propeller-driven
planes to a subsidiary of Blackwater Worldwide, the world's
largest security contractor and the target of harsh criticism for
its conduct in Iraq. ...

The Embraer spokesman confirmed the sale of a Super Tucano to
Blackwater subsidiary EP Aviation.

Brazilian law prohibits a private company from selling arms for
use in existing conflicts, but the spokesman said the plane was
not shipped with any armaments and was intended for training
purposes in the U.S.

The plane sold to EP Aviation was bought for US$4.5 million and
delivered at the end of February. Records on the Web site of the
U.S. Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that EP Aviation
had registered a Super Tucano.

Blackwater, the largest private security company in the world, has
been under scrutiny as a U.S. federal grand jury investigates its
involvement in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians.
Blackwater also is under investigation for possible weapons
smuggling allegations – accusations the company denies.




http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/..._10055829.html
$4.5 million 314 B1 Super Tucano Fighter Plane for counter
insurgency
June 2nd, 2008 - 11:20 pm ICT by David M N James

American company Black-water which is the most prominent private
security company in the world bought one of them last week from
the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer. The 314 B1 Super Tucano is a
propeller-driven fighter plane with a market value of $4.5
million. Based on a true story, Black Water has been involved in
deaths in Iraqi since it was contracted as a private military in
Iraqi by the US government.

The 314 B1 is black and grey. It is propeller driven and is very
similar to that of the World-War 2 fighter plane. According to
Embraer, EMB 314 Super Tucano which is also named ALX or A-29 is a
turboprop aircraft designed for light attack, counter insurgency
(COIN) and pilot training missions.



http://www.defensetech.org/archives/004215.html
This morning Military.com has a story on America's most famous (or
infamous) private security contractor, Blackwater USA, purchasing
a light attack aircraft.

Report Says Blackwater Bought Fighter (AP)

A subsidiary of U.S. military security contractor Blackwater
Worldwide has purchased a fighter plane from the Brazilian
aviation company Embraer, a Brazilian newspaper reported June 1.

First of all the headline is misleading. The Tucano isn't a
"fighter" unless you're a seriously third world air force. But it
has been bandied around as a good answer for a
"counter-insurgency" aircraft. So Blackwater has clearly done some
research (and been reading DT, I have to assume) on the best plane
to fight a dirty war. It's interesting, too, that the company is
buying new. Seems to me there'd be a lot more surplus gear on the
market for them to snap up -- and keep it low profile as well.

It was not clear if it was Embraer's first sale of a
military-style aircraft to a private company. EP Aviation has 33
planes and helicopters registered with the FAA, according to the
agency's Web site, only one of which is from Embraer.
...
It does worry be a bit each time a company like Blackwater
continues this arms build up. Sources tell me they've got a
"Spectre'-like" gunship already, and they've been buzzing around
Baghdad in spec-ops-style armed Little Birds. So what happens when
a contract with the US Gov goes bad -- say Congress pulls funding
from a contract midway through the agreement. Will Blackwater use
this kind of equipment to come collect what it's owed? Seems far
fetched, I know, but Blackwater officials are downplaying the
Tucano buy to curb fears.




http://www.military.com/news/article...r.html?wh=news
The newspaper reported that Blackwater president Gary Jackson said
the plane would be used for training.

The plane sold to EP Aviation did not include the two .50-caliber
machine guns normally attached to the wings.

Blackwater, the largest private security company in the world, has
been under scrutiny as a U.S. federal grand jury investigates its
involvement in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians.
Blackwater also is under investigation for possible weapons
smuggling allegations - accusations the company denies.




http://www.product-reviews.net/2008/...fighter-plane/
The armament is as follows, 2x 12.7 mm FN Herstal M3P machine
guns, 1x 20 mm cannon pod below the fuselage, 4x 70 mm rocket
launcher pods, Conventional and intelligent bombs, 2x AIM-9
Sidewinder or MAA-1 Piranha or Python 3/4 air-to-air missiles and
External stores on 5 hardpoints. The maximum speed is 593 km/h
(320 knots, 368 mph).

Larry Dighera wrote:
US Contractors are not subject to US law nor Iraqi law, nor the Geneva
Convention, nor the Freedom Of Information Act.

If Blackwater is acting irresponsibly on the ground, imagine what they
can do in the air.


Let's see an unarmed turbine powered 2 seater. Do you think it might
just be for the President of BW to have some fun in?

Gig 601Xl Builder wrote:
Larry Dighera wrote:
US Contractors are not subject to US law nor Iraqi law, nor the Geneva
Convention, nor the Freedom Of Information Act.
If Blackwater is acting irresponsibly on the ground, imagine what they
can do in the air.

Let's see an unarmed turbine powered 2 seater. Do you think it might
just be for the President of BW to have some fun in?

And one other thing... Your first sentence is not correct.

http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/18C212.txt

On Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:23:22 -0500, Gig 601Xl Builder
wrote in
:

Larry Dighera wrote:
US Contractors are not subject to US law nor Iraqi law, nor the Geneva
Convention, nor the Freedom Of Information Act.

If Blackwater is acting irresponsibly on the ground, imagine what they
can do in the air.


Let's see an unarmed turbine powered 2 seater. Do you think it might
just be for the President of BW to have some fun in?

Eric Prince http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Prince may actually be
qualified, as he earned his airmans certificate while still attending
high school. But I see him as more of the L-39 Albatros type.

I believe it might be to train Blackwater pilots to operate the eight
314-B1 Super Tucanos the US government is currently negotiating to
purchase as mentioned in the first link of my original article in this
message thread.

On Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:26:35 -0500, Gig 601Xl Builder
wrote in
:

Gig 601Xl Builder wrote:
Larry Dighera wrote:
US Contractors are not subject to US law nor Iraqi law, nor the Geneva
Convention, nor the Freedom Of Information Act.
If Blackwater is acting irresponsibly on the ground, imagine what they
can do in the air.

Let's see an unarmed turbine powered 2 seater. Do you think it might
just be for the President of BW to have some fun in?

And one other thing... Your first sentence is not correct.

http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/18C212.txt

-STATUTE-
(a) Whoever engages in conduct outside the United States
hat would constitute an offense punishable by imprisonment
for more than 1 year if the conduct had been engaged in
within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of
the United States -
(1) while employed by or accompanying the Armed Forces
outside the United States; or
(2) while a member of the Armed Forces subject to chapter
47 of title 10 (the Uniform Code of Military Justice),
shall be punished as provided for that offense.



It is my understanding that Blackwater was working for the State
Department, and was not affiliated with the US DOD or US military at
all.



http://www.salon.com/news/feature/20...ter/index.html
What happens to private contractors who kill Iraqis?

Maybe nothing Blackwater USA employees are accused of killing
several civilians, but there might not be anyone with the
authority to prosecute them.

By Alex Koppelman and Mark Benjamin

... "The question for the U.S. is whether it will hand over its
citizens or contractors to an Iraqi court, particularly an Iraqi
court that's going to try and make a political point out of this,"
Singer says. If the United States is not willing to do so because
of concerns that the trial will be politically motivated, he adds,
there's a new question at hand. "If we really say that openly,
doesn't that defeat everything we heard in the Kabuki play last
week with [General David] Petraeus and [U.S. Ambassador Ryan]
Crocker, that everything was going great? What happens if we say,
'No, we don't think you can deal with this fairly in your justice
system?'"

That leaves international and U.S. law. But international law is
probably out. Even before the Bush administration, the United
States had established a precedent of rejecting the jurisdiction
of international courts. The United States is not, for example, a
member of the International Criminal Court in the Hague. (In 2005,
the government of Iraq announced its decision to join the court;
it reversed that decision two weeks later.)

U.S. law, meanwhile, is hopelessly murky. More so than in any of
America's previous conflicts, contractors are an integral part of
the U.S. effort in Iraq, providing logistical support and
performing essential functions that were once the province of the
official military. There are currently at least 180,000 in Iraq,
more than the total number of U.S. troops. But the introduction of
private contractors into Iraq was not accompanied by a definitive
legal construct specifying potential consequences for alleged
criminal acts. Various members of Congress are now attempting to
clarify the laws that might apply to contractors. In the meantime,
experts who spoke with Salon say there's little clarity on what
law applies to contractors like the ones involved in Sunday's
incident, and the Bush administration has shown little desire to
take action against contractor malfeasance.

In June of this year, the Congressional Research Service -- a
nonpartisan research arm of Congress -- issued a report on private
security contractors in Iraq that included a discussion of their
legal status. The report's authors gave a bleak picture of
prospects for prosecution under U.S. law, referring at one point
to "the U.S. government's practical inability to discipline errant
contract employees." ...