Assassination squad

The CIA hired Blackwater to assist in the assassination of terrorists.  Not one was located or killed.  The fact that the CIA hired outsiders, the New York Times reports, has raised (even more) questions about accountability.  It seems that the covert hire of a firm like Blackwater was part of an effort to to give CIA the ability to carry out the assassinations and hide the information from Congress.

Officials said the C.I.A. did not have a formal contract with Blackwater for this program but instead had individual agreements with top company officials, including the founder, Erik D. Prince, a politically connected former member of the Navy Seals and the heir to a family fortune.

Although nothing was accomplished by the secret program, Blackwater (now "Xe") was paid millions.  Erik Prince is a big supporter of the Republican party.  Thus taxpayers' dollars are illegally used to plan murder and in this way are laundered -- winding up in the pockets of an increasingly aggressive and unscrupulous Republican party. Colorful.