Private War: Erik Prince Has His Eye On Afghanistan's Rare Metals

[MelissaB]

Source: Buzz Feed News

Controversial private security tycoon Erik Prince has famously pitched an audacious plan to the Trump administration: Hire him to privatize the war in Afghanistan using squads of "security contractors." Now, for the first time, Buzzfeed News is publishing that pitch, a presentation that lays out how Prince wanted to take over the war from the US military — and how he envisioned mining some of the most war-torn provinces in Afghanistan to help fund security operations and obtain strategic mineral resources for the US.

... snip

Prince briefed top Trump administration officials directly, talked up his plan publicly on the DC circuit, and published op-eds about it. He patterned the strategy he's pitching on the historical model of the old British East India Company, which had its own army and colonized much of Britain's empire in India. "An East India Company approach," he wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "would use cheaper private solutions to fill the gaps that plague the Afghan security forces, including reliable logistics and aviation support."

But the details have never been made public. Here is the never-before-published slide presentation for his pitch, which a source familiar with the matter said was prepared for the Trump administration.

One surprising element is the commercial promise Prince envisions: that the US will get access to Afghanistan’s rich deposits of minerals such as lithium, used in batteries; uranium; magnesite; and "rare earth elements," critical metals used in high technology from defense to electronics. One slide estimates the value of mineral deposits in Helmand province alone at $1 trillion.

Read more: https://www.buzzfeed.com/aramroston/private-war-erik-prince-has-his-eye-on-afghanistans-rare?utm_term=.gjaYGJvXj#.rnz85kvzn

[montanacowboy]

1. What is lower than the DeVos Family?

the Trump Family

Such scum should walk the earth - I spit on them

[Hortensis]

15. Yes. "Audacious?" Evil is the word.

[ret5hd]

2. Yeah Eric...go do what many full-fledged governments have failed to do.

What are ya gonna do, convert them all to Scientology?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. "BuzzFeed News is publishing the slide presentation by Erik Prince to privatize the Afghan war...."

Retweeted by David Fahrenthold: https://twitter.com/Fahrenthold

BuzzFeed News is publishing the slide presentation by Erik Prince to privatize the Afghan war and mine Afghanistan's valuable minerals. He pitched the proposal to the Trump administration. Prince told BuzzFeed News, "You're a fucking hack."

https://www.buzzfeed.com/aramroston/private-war-erik-prince-has-his-eye-on-afghanistans-rare?utm_term=.ia4R9GgOm5#.rlYqnzpNlL … @AramRoston

Link to tweet

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. Brother Eric can privatize the military while Betsy privatizes education. Good deal for them. nt

[Ilsa]

5. Trump loudly said, "Take their oil."

Is there any doubt he'll go after $1 trillion in rare minerals?

[Dalton Mac]

6. I liked Erik better in his Original Role

Dispensing apples to Adam and Eve.

[snooper2]

7. What a crappy presentation

Page two- Don't capitalize every other word, and they are bullet points, you don't use periods

Page three- If you have mission statements, put the detailing sub-bullets under each statement as was done with #2, consistency
---Also, you have the first presence of acronym ANSF, this needs to be spelled out with the acronym in parentheses after. From there forward you can use the acronym as the reader knows what it means


Page four- Even worse, Now you have primary bullet points as their own bulleted items in bold with supporting text rambling after a colon


I could go on but more important things LOL

[groundloop]

8. These people make me so sick .... I feel like I need to take a break from reality for a few days

What with losing a great Senator to what appears to be a smear campaign, 45* undoing every last accomplishment of President Obama's that he possibly can, and now these criminals laying plans to plunder another nation in the name of national security I just really can't take it any more. I'm ready for a break from politics for a little while.

I'll be back when I cast my vote for Doug Jones on Tuesday.

[Initech]

10. I wish we could give these assholes their own country to ruin.

And leave the US out of it. They are a small minority that thinks they are god's gift to the earth and the sooner they go away, the better we will be.

[FiveGoodMen]

17. Don't forget that they have at least 60 million supporters in the US

[potone]

11. I'm with you.

It has all been too much the last few days.

[riversedge]

9. Prince envisions: that the US will get access to Afghanistans rich deposits of minerals such as lit

umm.. I hope the Afgans run him out of the country.


Prince envisions: that the US will get access to Afghanistan’s rich deposits of minerals such as lithium,

[smirkymonkey]

14. Am I missing something? How is it that we can just go into a country and TAKE their natural

resources for ourselves? Won't the Afghans have a little problem with that?

[mopinko]

12. the market has been flooded w semi-precious stones from afghanistan.

my son is a rock hound. he has purchased many, many rare rocks on ebay. all kinds of unusual stuff is coming out of that region these days. whether they are coming from ordinary folks who are picking them up after explosions, or whether something more nefarious is afoot, i dont know.
he thinks soldiers are bringing home duffle bags full of rocks.

[Blue_Tires]

13. He also "pulled a Gingrich" in common parlance:

Link to tweet

[smirkymonkey]

16. I just read about that today. What a dirtball! "She BECAME PREGNANT".

Ugh! Another Christian "Family Values" man.