After floating the idea of creating a giant mercenary army to fight terrorists around the world on Tuesday, Bill O’Reilly had the founder of Blackwater on his show to rubber stamp the grandiose plan.
“It’s possible and doable,” said Erik Prince, former CEO of the notorious private security firm Blackwater USA.
He went on to address some possible objections: “There’s three arguments against this, there’s reliability, accountability and cost.”
But O’Reilly quickly waved off concern over the cost of raising a 25,000 man army, saying countries like Saudi Arabia would “kick in” to fund the force.
As for accountability, O’Reilly quickly noted that four Blackwater contractors currently face charges for killing at least 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007, but that overall, a paramilitary force would be trustworthy.
“Y’know, in war, bad things happen inevitably, but there is control, there’s a central control over such a force,” O’Reilly said.
Prince, who sold the company in 2010 after stepping down as CEO in 2009, went on to compare O’Reilly’s giant mobile mercenary unit to the French nobility assisting America in the Revolutionary War.
“It’s as part of American history as apple pie,” he said, citing the involvement of the Marquis de Lafayette and Rochambeau during the Revolution.
Watch the segment below, courtesy of Media Matters:
h/t Media Matters
