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@RYP__

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Fifteen years ago today a shocking event seared the world's collective consciousness. A company called "Blackwater" wanted to impress a potential client and they cut corners to guard a convoy with kitchen supplies. They got lost. Four men died horribly. nytimes.com/2004/03/31/int…

I spent a month with the man who missed his plane and should have been on that fatal run. He suffered from survivor's guilt even more when he found the maps Blackwater refused to give to the murdered men. He was deeply influenced by my Dangerous Places book and joined the Marines

Blackwater was critical to CIA and State movements. They grew well past the "Tier 1" concept and by 2006 were according to an employee a “flat-out sloppy fucking operation” Then Nissour happened. This is Blackwater Bridge under ISIS control in Fallujah. Princes's army died hard.

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Peter Maass

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184) Everything that was doomed, tragic, wrong about the U.S. invasion of Iraq became apparent in the days before the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Firdos Square. On April 6, 2003, the Marines who would tear down the statue arrived at the Diyala Canal outside Baghdad.

185) More than two weeks ago, I tweeted a photo that I took of an Iraqi corpse on a bridge, and said I would tell its story. The story begins today.

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Peter Maass

@maassp

1) I'm not sure how to make people remember or care that 15 years ago the United States invaded Iraq, setting off a war that continues to this day, with several hundred thousand Iraqis dead, millions turned into refugees. I covered the invasion for the New York Times Magazine.

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3) The photographer I worked with, Laurent vander Stockt, drove his own SUV. After several failed attempts to get into Iraq, one time turned back at gunpoint by U.S. soldiers, we finally got through, via what we guessed was a minefield (I followed Lauren tracks). Here's Laurent.

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Demola Olarewaju

@DemolaRewaju

Today actually makes it over two decades since the sad killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa by the Nigerian State under Abacha alongside 8 others: Felix Nuate, Baronem Kobel, Saturday Dobee, Daniel Gbooko, Nordu Eawu, Baribor Bera, Paul Levura and John Kpuinee.

I think it’s worth a Thread.

This thread captures history from various perspectives all blended together to reveal a fuller picture.

It shows that Saro-Wiwa was also human like any of us but he was exceptionally courageous and dogged in spite of his human flaws.

Saro-Wiwa was a diminutive man who invariably always smoked a pipe and was considered quite brilliant.

He wrote a popular play which was adapted for TV when we were younger “Basi and Company”.

He was from Ogoni - an oil-producing area in Rivers State which has several villages.

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