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Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) went to Niger, got caught in the middle of a military coup, and had to be rescued and flown out of the country by Xe Services, a military contractor, formerly known as Blackwater.
Alan Grayson
Daniel Schulman, writing for Mother Jones Online on Alternet reports:
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) who made his substantial fortune by suing military contractors and later lambasted them as a lawmaker, was indeed evacuated from Niger by personnel working for Xe Services (the private security empire formally known as Blackwater), his spokesman confirms.Grayson was spending your money and mine, while he reportedly was traveld Niger as part of a science and technology congressional delegation:
He heard gunshots in a building next door on the day military leaders stormed the nation's presidential palace and suspended its constitution.More from Daniel Schulman:
He was taken to the U.S. embassy and put under guard -- it's not clear by whom -- and then flown to Brukina Faso, according to CNN.
...a Blackwater executive testifying before Congress today said, in an apparent reference to Grayson: "Xe Services, through its subsidiary Presidential Airways, provides aviation support and medevac services to Defense Department personnel in Africa. Just last week, our personnel evacuated a congressman from Niger during civil unrest."Grayson, a razor-tongued trash talking attack dog sued an American security firm operating in Iraq, Custer Battles LLC ,for "false claims," and won the case. His fees for the case exceeded $4 million. At the time this case was settled in 2006, the Wall Street Journal described Grayson this way:
A fierce critic of the war in Iraq, Mr. Grayson drives an aging Cadillac emblazoned with anti-administration bumper stickers such as "Bush Lied, People Died." ...Here's some insight into Alan Grayson from his constitutents. The important part of the video below starts about 1 minute 40 seconds in.
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