Marshall Adame should be the sort of Congressional candidate Blackwater would get behind. He's a retired Marine. He's worked in Iraq for the State Department and for The Sandi Group Intl., a military contractor. Both his sons have served with the Army in Iraq.

But he spoke his mind online: "I have interacted with many mercenary groups, including Blackwater. There is no place in the American force structure, or in American culture for mercenaries. They are guns for hire; No more, no less. The primary motivation is money. In most cases it does not matter who's money. Private Security Organizations as extensive as Blackwater, for example, should not be allowed to operate in war zones as augments of the United States of America. Private Armies represent the very things we depise as a people. Servants to the highest bidder with true allegiance to no-one."

This generated nastygrams from Blackwater supporters, after Blackwater VP Bill Mathews sent out the following email:

All:

There is a man named Marshall Adame who is running for congress in our district. He just put a quote online which says he wants this company and all of us to cease to exist.

Do you like your jobs? Are you sick and tired of the slanderous bullshit going on in DC?

If so, would you all mind joining me in reminding Mr. Adame that he is running for office in our backyard. Tell all your friends and family too. We welcome their assistance in making this point very clear to Mr. Adame……

Anyone who wants to send a letter may do so at the following address…..

MARSHALL ADAME FOR CONGRESS
PMB #161
1250 WESTERN BLVD. #L2
JACKSONVILLE, NC 28546

His email is info@marshalladame4congress2008.com

He was too cowardly to put a phone number on the web. I ask that you keep your comments to Mr. Adame professional (well, mostly professional). We help him if our comments get threatening or too crass. Let’s run this goof out of Dodge….!

Bill Mathews
Executive Vice President
Blackwater Worldwide
850 Puddin Ridge Road
Moyock, NC 27958

01/18/08 at 17:28
Thanks for posting this story. I hope Mr. Mathews lives long enough to regret his obvious stupidity.

More here.

01/18/08 at 17:29
I meant here

01/18/08 at 18:58
Mr. Mathews: By calling Marshall Adame a coward for not sharing his office phone number, what does it make you for not sharing your office phone number or email address?
(I could think of a few things...none flattering to you.)

01/18/08 at 19:11
No doubt CEO Bill Mathews is scare to death that the Ron Paul Bimp will put his Government funded Blackwater Bimps out of business! Don't you just love it when a corporate fascist blows his dark side cover when a democracy seeking candiate upsets the miltary industrial complex profit!

01/18/08 at 19:33
Hey Prince Erik! Whatever you do? Don't fire Bill Mathews!
*MaxTheDog2

Bill Mathews

What a frickin' idiot.* A

No doubt Bill is now working the Grizzy Production Line at the moment puting tires on them after that little PR image stunt!

Next week! He gets a promotion and starts blowing hot air into the Blackwater Bimps....

Go Bill!

01/18/08 at 20:04
The book (which may have been covered in this blog) to read about how frightening Blackwater's abuses of power and fundamentalist Christian thuggery is: Blackwater: Rise of The Worl'd's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, by Scahill.

There is plenty of good info on the goings on at Blackwater around the world in the book, and also on the web. Check out DailyKos articles on the happenings at Blackwater around the world and which mega-corps they are protecting, which governments are funding them (not just ours).

Mr. Adame is going to see a pretty big jump in funding from groups like ActBlue and the netroots in general as this info about Blackwater threatening him gets around the web. Great for Adame - way to go idiots at Blackwater.

More info too can be found here:http://search.salon.com/salonsearch.php?search=blackwater&breadth=salon

01/18/08 at 23:09
One other note about the CEO of Blackwater, Erik Prince. He said or thinks he is the highest paid CEO in North Carolina at about a million dollars a year, not counting his various 40 or so front corportations with perks...... No doubt Blackwater is a clear and present danger to the state of North Carolina as a corporate citzen if such a thing exsists. in the constitution. I would hope that present Governor race with candiates in both parties address this issue along with the Congresspersons from this state.......

01/19/08 at 15:14
The Prince of thugs declaring faith in the Prince of Peace? One vivid instance of a malignancy come to a head in a Christian President devoted to exalting the money-changers in the temple of democracy. Seems that these 'Christians' in taking power want to rub humanity's nose in Hell.

01/20/08 at 09:49
If you are concerned about Blackwater USA specifically, and private armies/mercenaries generally, with respect to their human rights violations, absence of accountability and their profiteering at the expense of, and lobbying for, war and conflict, then please join us at Blackwater Watch. Visit http://blackwaterwatch.net

01/21/08 at 00:01
I am amazed that Bill Mathews can call himself an American. Being a former military officer it strikes me as Ironic that Bill will gather Blackwater supporters to hate Marshall Adame, for exercising the right he spent all his adult life defending. And more importantly, Bill missed the point. Not about wanting you as a person to cease to exist, just what you do, Bill. Listen, I'm a former SOAR guy, and have worked with most of the organizations Bill Matews' company employs. I found them to be, for the most part fine upstanding patriots. People who believe in the USA. And, based on my experience with these organizations, I feel that they exercise sound, prudent judgment as trained professionals under the control of the US Government. What I don't agree with is building an organization from these fine patriots and doing what Bill is doing in Iraq and other areas around the world. In all fairness there is not many places that will employ personnel with the skills these folks have, so the pickens are slim, and the lure of extreme salaries can turn the heads of some people. I place the blame for what happened here in Iraq on Bill Mathews and the leadership of Blackwater. The command and control climate within Blackwater allowed for situation to occur, and that is why paid merc's should not be allowed to conduct operations with a US Military controlled battlespace. May I offer this suggestion? Bill, shut up and sit down. You are wrong! You're wrong in way you handled this with Marshall and you're wrong in the way you handle your company business. Train the Iraqis to guard their Diplomats, let our military guard ours, and stay out of it. Marshall Adame is the best thing that has happened to NC 03 lately. NC 03 voters in the past have had little to choose from. Walter Jones has won simply because NC 03 has not had a serious (D) challenger. I say this to the NC 03 voters, you can do better.....you can make a difference, IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE!

01/30/08 at 00:43

Another Stupid Blackwater trick from their lobbyist or a to be out of work used car salesperson........






This threat shall not stand by Anglico

* Blackwater USA
* Carolinas Independent Automobile Dealers Association
* Jim Edwards

Our friend and patriot Marshall Adame received the following letter today from Jim Edwards, the chief staff officer of the Carolinas Independent Automobile Dealers Association. Like his ally at the mercenary company itself, Mr. Edwards apparently has more time on his hands than he has sense.

Mr. Adame:

I am NOT a contractor for Blackwater, I do not deploy to places where others fear to tread and yet I'm very familiar with Blackwater, their personnel, and more importantly their high-level, ethical business practices.

I am the CEO of this country's largest trade association of its genre' and am pleased to call Blackwater a member.

I am also a political activist, control this association's fiscal policies and make recommendations to members vis-a-vis voting for candidates.

I would strongly encourage you to re-visit your thoughts and feelings about Blackwater.

Regards,

James L. (Jim) Edwards, CAE, ARM, AU
Chief Staff Officer
Carolinas Independent Automobile Dealers Association
PO Box 1088
Harrisburg, NC 28075
704-455-2117

I'll write more on this over the next few days, but in the meantime I have a few suggestions for Mr. Jim Edwards. I would strongly encourage him to re-visit his thoughts and feelings about Marshall Adame. I would strongly encourage him to apologize to Marshall Adame for the intimidating letter he wrote. I would strongly encourage him to hire PR counsel to manage the damage that will come from his threatening to use the resources of his organization against a political adversary.

I wonder if the members of Mr. Edwards' organization all agree that he should be using his office to make political threats? I wonder if those members will be happy to see the names of their companies plastered all over the blogosphere? I wonder if Mr. Edwards would like to end up on the front page of newspapers all across North Carolina at a time when his members' businesses are in the toilet? Do the Independent Automobile Dealers in North Carolina side with our men and women in the armed forces . . . or do they side with mercenary armies?

Remarkably, Edwards himself was a former Army captain and Vietnam veteran. Like the mercenaries he's defending, the appears to have lost his way.

Organizations that do business with Blackwater are war-profiteers in every sense of the word. The only difference is that some get paid a fortune for their collaboration, while others, like the Carolinas Independent Automobile Dealers Association, get nothing but membership dues.