Blackwater dumps tarnished brand name

[ryanm]

WTF does KBR know about security? I seriously hope they are just hiring the former BW employees and changing shirts. KBR can't even keep us alive in the shower, I have serious doubts as to how things would work outside the wire.

Not all of KBR is incompetent, but I've seen enough of what they can do wrong to seriously question how this is going to work out. If they do security like they do everything else-- they'll hire a good ol' boy to run a "crew" and bring some TCN's with M4s--people will die and it will be a hell of alot worse than Nisoor square.

[SeriousStudent]

Hmm, actually I though the AP article's tone wasn't bad. Why do you think it was?

Been talking about this with my BW buddies here. One of them complained about KBR getting their new contract, yet BW gets dumped by State. My response is that KBR is not universally hated by the majority of Iraqis and doesn't have a reputation for brassing locals.

Unlike KBR, they have given the tax payers a great deal, and I have never heard any reports of BW book keeping or contract irregularities. But their reputation here caught up with them in the end and a politically based decision was made.

Just the little jewels scattered through the story. It seems as if the writer has an axe to grind.

"the ugly reputation it earned the company "

"a caustic moniker for private security"

"the tarnished brand "

And of course, what the writer picked as the closing quote:

"Blackwater's notorious reputation will outlast its name,"

Maybe I am just overly sensitive. I just know that if I turned in something like that to my high-school journalism teacher *cough* 30 years ago *cough* I would have received a low grade and an order to re-write it. I would have also been asked if I was writing an editorial, or an straight-news story.

I think that many, many "news" stories you see today frequently erode that line. Just my opinion.

Thanks, and stay safe.

[Outlander Systems]

Xe? That's pretty lame.

I'd expected to see something like __________ Defense.

It's all semantics. Throw the word defense in there, and the perception is automatically skewed.



I think a name change is almost an admission of wrongdoing. I think it was a bad move to do it, but WTF do I know? I'm just a redneck, civilian suck-head.

[Iraq Ninja]

WTF does KBR know about security? I seriously hope they are just hiring the former BW employees and changing shirts. KBR can't even keep us alive in the shower, I have serious doubts as to how things would work outside the wire.

Not all of KBR is incompetent, but I've seen enough of what they can do wrong to seriously question how this is going to work out. If they do security like they do everything else-- they'll hire a good ol' boy to run a "crew" and bring some TCN's with M4s--people will die and it will be a hell of alot worse than Nisoor square.

Ryan,

I didn't mean to imply that KBR got a security contract. They got a renewal of their standard life support contract. KBR is not in the security business per se.

Just like with soldiers, contractor's loyalty is with their team members first, not the company they work for. I doubt any of us care what the name of our company is, as long as the check gets in the bank and we are working for the coalition.

I can't think of any security company that hasn't brassed civilians in these past five years. Some were is response to legitimate threats and followed the proper escalation of force protocols.

Nisoor square became such a big deal because not only did a lot of people end up dead, but because it happened in 2007 when the perception among the Iraqis was that things had changed.

[ryanm]

Man, I'm glad to hear that! I can't even imagine going to meet up with a PSD detail and having it staffed with KBR personnel. That would scare the holy crap out of me. Not that they couldn't pull it off with the right people--but I doubt those people would work for KBR. Being on the high end of IT work here in Iraq, I would find it difficult to work for a body shop operation and I'm sure that goes the same for BW professionals.

All of my experience with BW has been overwhelmingly positive. I hope XE is able to retain some of the work or sub to whomever is awarded the contract.

[ryanm]

"Just like with soldiers, contractor's loyalty is with their team members first, not the company they work for. I doubt any of us care what the name of our company is, as long as the check gets in the bank and we are working for the coalition. "


--I'm on my 3rd company doing the same job in the same chair in the span of a little over 2 years...

[VA_Dinger]

Just the little jewels scattered through the story. It seems as if the writer has an axe to grind.

"the ugly reputation it earned the company "

"a caustic moniker for private security"

"the tarnished brand "

And of course, what the writer picked as the closing quote:

"Blackwater's notorious reputation will outlast its name,"

Maybe I am just overly sensitive. I just know that if I turned in something like that to my high-school journalism teacher *cough* 30 years ago *cough* I would have received a low grade and an order to re-write it. I would have also been asked if I was writing an editorial, or an straight-news story.

I think that many, many "news" stories you see today frequently erode that line. Just my opinion.

Thanks, and stay safe.

I would have to agree that the author seemed to have an axe to grind. Not surprising considering the liberal media attacks BW whenever they get the chance. Unfortunately for BW they became the face for the Iraq war which drives the liberal media crazy.