Thread: Blackwater out of Iraq ?

Originally Posted by JAD_333

You told me to keep up with ya.) Thxs

Keep UP with me? Man, I'm watching your Keds disappearing around the corner in a cloud of dust. I couldn't have written that, and I know exactly what the facts were, just as you stated them.

Magnificent.

Originally Posted by JAD_333

I think he said I think...that implies uncertainty...creeping uncertainty is what you're worried about...

Good thing for Andy Jackson you weren't around when he was president. His spelling was atrocious. )

You should have been a lawyer.

Back to SCHIP:

This from a Freeper, exposing the absolutely disgusting use of a 12-year old to try to make their case, and to tug at all of our heartstrings. How low, to sink to exploiting a child to tell your lies for political purposes.

Does anybody else need for me to explain why I loathe Democrats?

Free Republic
The "Not So Poor" 12 Year Old Who Rebutted Bush on SCHIP Veto

Posted on 10/06/2007 10:42:57 PM PDT by icwhatudo


Graeme Frost, who gave the democrat rebuttal to George Bush’s reasons for vetoing the SCHIP Bill, is a middle school student at the exclusive$20,000 per year Park School in Baltimore, MD.

Graeme was in a severe car accident three years ago, and received care paid for by the government program known as SCHIP-(State Children's Health Insurance Program)


"I was in a coma for a week and couldn't eat or stand up or even talk. My sister was even worse," Graeme wrote. "My parents work really hard and always make sure my sister and I have everything we need, but we can't afford private health insurance."

His sister Gemma, also severely injured in the accident, attended the same school prior to the accident meaning the family was able to come up with nearly $40,000 per year for tuition for these 2 grade schoolers. Confirmation both attended Park found here using edit-"find on this page"-Gemma. It will take you to an article in the schools newspaper about a fundraiser for Gemma class of 16, and Graeme class of 13.


Here are photos of the school's 44,000 square foot Wyman Arts Center: two galleries, an outdoor ampitheater, Meyerhoff Theater, Macks-Fidler Black Box Theater, practice rooms, rehearsal space, and ceramics, 3-D sculpture, woodworking, jewelry, painting, photography, digital graphics studios, recording studio, and keyboard lab.


In a Baltimore Sun article the family claims to be raising their four children on combined income of about $45,000 a year. "Bonnie Frost works for a medical publishing firm; her husband, Halsey, is a woodworker. They are raising their four children on combined income of about $45,000 a year. Neither gets health insurance through work."


What the article does not mention is that Halsey Frost has owned his own company "Frostworks",since this marriage announcement in the NY Times in 1992 so he chooses to not give himself insurance. He also employed his wife as "bookkeeper and operations management" prior to her recent 2007 hire at the "medical publishing firm". As her employer, he apparently denied her health insurance as well.


His company, Frostworks, is located at 3701 E BALTIMORE ST. A building that was purchased for $160,000 in 1999. The buildings owner is listed as DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIAL DESIGN CENTER, LLC whose mailing address is listed as 104 S Collington Ave which is the Frost's home. The commercial property he owns is also listed as the business address for another company called Reillys Designs which leads to the question of whether rental income is included in the above mentioned salary total


The current market value of their improved 3,040 SF home at 104 S Collington Ave is unknown but 113 S COLLINGTON AVE, also an end unit, sold for $485,000 this past March and it was only 2,060 SF. A photo taken in the family's kitchen shows what appears to be a recent remodeling job with granite counter tops and glass front cabinets


One has to wonder that if time and money can be found to remodel a home, send kids to exclusive private schools, purchase commercial property and run your own business... maybe money can be found for other things...maybe Dad should drop his woodworking hobby and get a real job that offers health insurance rather than making people like me (also with 4 kids in a 600sf smaller house and tuition $16,000 less per kid and no commercial property ownership) pay for it in my taxes.

And more from Steyn.

Back to the topic

Iraq urges Blackwater prosecution

Blackwater guards in Iraq (file)

Blackwater provides security to US diplomatic staff in Baghdad
Iraq's government has called for guards from the US security firm Blackwater to be prosecuted for the shooting of 17 civilians in Baghdad last month.

More at:

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq urges Blackwater prosecution

Nothing will happen is what I think.

But then I could be wrong!

Originally Posted by Julie

You should have been a lawyer.

You've already proved I shouldn't have been? )

Originally Posted by Ray

Back to the topic


Nothing will happen is what I think.

But then I could be wrong!

I don't know about that, Ray. There may not be a CONVICTION, but I bet there will be a TRIAL. The US can't stop the Iraqis from going ahead with a prosecution if they want one, and I think they're in a mood to assert their sovereignty over this (and which self-respecting country wouldn't?).

Bluesman,

The US does not allow prosecution of its citizens by foreign nations is what I understand.

Therefore, while there will surely be a trial, I wonder if it will be under Iraqi laws.

That is what I meant.

Originally Posted by Ray

Bluesman,

The US does not allow prosecution of its citizens by foreign nations is what I understand.

Therefore, while there will surely be a trial, I wonder if it will be under Iraqi laws.

That is what I meant.

DEFINITELY not true; if a US citizen is accused of a crime while abroad, he can expect only so much help from the US, and getting him out of it totally is NOT ON. He'll stand trial, and he may even be delivered to the foreigners for trial. I almost was, myself, when I was accused of Negligence Resulting in Injury (absolutely NO MERIT to the charge; it was eventually dropped), while I was stationed on Okinawa.

Iraq, I believe, WILL try these guys, and it will be under Iraqi law. If they don't show up for it, The US Government may actually extradite them back to Iraq, but I don't know how that would go. If they go on to a more-or-less normal trial, they will NOT be protected under a Status-of-Forces Agreement, and they'll be in a much worse position, leagally-speaking, than if they were uniformed servicemembers.

BUT...the trial will most certainly revolve around two things: the situation the Blackwater guys found themselves in, and the mission they were operating under when this went down. Both are extraordinary circumstances, and the expectation of reasonable people will be that they bear on what happened. It's not like they were ordinary citizens, doing ordinary things, in an ordinary setting, then they shot up the town. They were doing dangerous things in a dangerous place, and they had the job of protecting themselves AND the persons they were escorting, ALL of which were in extraordinary danger, just by virtue of being who they were.

BOTTOM LINE: I expect there to be a trial, because, after all, when something this bad happens, SOMEbody needs to go all the way to see if the personas that were there did anything to contribute to it. But it won't be an ordinary muder trial, because of the unique situtation. Whether the Blackwater guys are to blame or not, I hope justice is done. If they did the wrong thing, I hope they're punished as severely as Iraqi law allows. If they were defending themselves and their charge, and this is another instance of the terrorists using civilians for protection and/or maximum propaganda value, I hope that comes out, too.

I allude to the CIA men in Italy who whisked off a horrid Imam to Egypt.

Originally Posted by JAD_333

You've already proved I shouldn't have been? )

Well, you're good at finding the loop holes, but still need to brush up on your law for they are ever changing.