How can a retired Army Officer AFFORD to start a 140,000 man private army?

Question

Do you have any idea how much money the salaries and the weapons and the transportation and the medical and the logistics and the trucks and the planes for a 140,000 man army cost?

Only governments can afford those kinds of thing.

How can a retired officer just "start" a business like that?

What is the connection between Blackwater AND PNAC both starting in the same year and notice the signers of PNAC are mostly all in office right now.

Could it be Blackwater is really owned by the signers of PNAC?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_USA
"founded in 1997"

http://www.newamericancentury.org/aboutpnac.htm
"Established in the spring of 1997"

PNAC signers "Elliott Abrams, Gary Bauer, William J. Bennett, Jeb Bush,
Dick Cheney. Eliot A. Cohen, Midge Decter, Paula Dobriansky, Steve Forbes,
Aaron Friedberg, Francis Fukuyama, Frank Gaffney, Fred C. Ikle,
Donald Kagan, Zalmay Khalilzad, I. Lewis Libby, Norman Podhoretz,
Dan Quayle, Peter W. Rodman, Stephen P. Rosen, Henry S. Rowen,
Donald Rumsfeld, Vin Weber, George Weigel, Paul Wolfowitz"

Answer 1

It is spelled out in Blackwater, a recent book written by Jeremy Scahill.

Answer 2

You did mention a few that are in office now, or have been. The rest are private citizens. While you do sound like a conspiracy advocate, I think with some real investigation you'll find that private money is behind companies like Blackwater, and that other governments have contracts with them to do work for them. America is not about to do to itself what happened with the Contras any time soon. That retired Army officer probably has contacts that he has developed over many years that have given aid to his cause. The aircraft that you speak of could very well be aircraft bought in government auctions, or from companies getting rid of aircraft they no longer need. That does happen on a regular basis or is such truth to much for you to grasp as being possible? This man and his supporters and suppliers are not as daft as you might think that they are. Not everything is sold as new at full retail price. You really need to know a lot more about what has happened, or could happen before trying to say that the government is paying for something that they are not paying for. Your ignorance is appalling.
Point, did you know that the US government routinely sells warships, aircraft, and anything else it has that it wants to get rid of, and the public can buy it? True, the warships are scrap yard bound, but that is just a tiny part of the surplus market. With the right connections, and all very legitimate, Blackwater can get just about anything it needs for less than what even the government would be paying for similar equipment.

Answer 3

As a previous poster already stated, he had money before he joined.

Also, this is the USA, we have economic mobility. I started out poor, now Im well over the US average income, and Im Military.

If a person is wise with their money, they can move up. Its one of the things thats makes this country great. So why is it a suprise that anyone could start up a business. If they made the right choices, planning and investing through their life, anyone could. And apparently you don't understand government contracts. Its easy to expand a small business if you have government contracts.

Answer 4

Why would you think Blackwater has 140,000 employess?

When they say there are 140,000 contractors in iraq, they are talking about all contractors, those building stuff, those cooking, doing laundry, etc.

Blackwater has about 1,000 employees in Iraq.

Answer 5

The article CLEARLY states he was a millionaire PRIOR to joining the armed forces.

Answer 6

Bad accounting practices like Enron....
And.... Oh! Iraq.