Cindy McCain Bankrolled Conference That Called for Ban on Mercenaries

By GottaLaff

The always excellent Jeremy Scahill dug up a tidbit on J-Sid and Cindy Lou:

A little-publicized US Naval Academy conference named after Senator John McCain and bankrolled by his wealthy wife, Cindy, issued a call earlier this year for the US government to ban the use of armed private security contractors like Blackwater in US war zones, stating bluntly, “contractors should not be deployed as security guards, sentries, or even prison guards within combat areas.”

But wait! There's more!

According to the Fall 2009 newsletter, “Taking Stock,” published by the US Naval Academy’s Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership—the host of the McCain Conference—among the speakers at the 2009 event was none other than Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater. Prince’s company is the most infamous of those engaged in the type of armed activity explicitly condemned by the conference’s leadership.

My Xe primer, "Blackwater for Dummeez", is here. That post will tell you a little bit about who these people [sic] are.

Despite the fact that the McCain conference, which publicly advocated against the use of armed contractors in combat areas bears Sen. McCain’s name and was bankrolled by his wife, when it has come to making this a major issue on Capitol Hill, the Arizona Senator has been largely silent. [...]

The McCain campaign hired people with deep ties to the mercenary industry to work on his presidential bid. [...]

Moreover, the International Republican Institute, which has deep ties to McCain, hired Blackwater as its private security force in Iraq, paying Blackwater an average of more than $17 million a year since 2005 for security services, according to records.

Go here for the rest. Leave it to Scahill to fill us in when nobody else can... or will.