Marshall Adame Meets Mother Jones

Mother Jones this week features a story following-up coverage here and at the Dome earlier this month. When Blackwater's EVP for Stupidity tried to intimidate Marshall Adame, it looks like he bit off more than he can chew. Of course, the EVP has its own private bulldog working to stomp out dissent and drive up profits, so it's shaping up to be an epic battle.

Adame's comments about the company have enraged Blackwater employees, including executive vice president Bill Mathews. In an internal corporate email, Mathews encouraged his colleagues to barrage Adame with mail ("he was too cowardly to put a phone number on the web," Mathews noted in the message). "[H]e wants this company and all of us to cease to exist," Mathews wrote in the email, which was obtained by the Raleigh News & Observer and posted to the newspaper's web site. "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…. Let's run this goof out of Dodge...!"

Since then, Adame has been on the receiving end of "some pretty rough stuff,” he says. "I received all kinds of hate mail from Blackwater people. They use a lot of vulgarity. They tell me how Blackwater is defending America's rights, and that we're free because Blackwater is fighting for us. Give me a break! That is so erroneous and misleading. It's just totally dishonest, but those people really believe it. Blackwater is a large organization, and they have a great way of propagandizing their product."

For its part, Blackwater is unrepentant for the harsh words Adame has received from its employees. "Mr. Mathews regrets that he wrote an inappropriate email in haste," says Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell in a statement. "He does not regret for one moment his desire to defend the brave people who risk their lives every day working for Blackwater." Tyrrell says Adame "used inaccuracies to unfairly criticize the company" and notes that "one thing that should be taken away from Mr. Matthew's email is that our people are incredibly proud of and passionate about the work we do in support of the U.S. government."

Mr. Mathews and Anne Tyrrell represent one of the lowest life forms on our planet: sentient human beings who choose without shame to defend the role of war-profiteers and mercenaries. They are joined in their ugly mission by North Carolina law firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge Rice.