Sunday, August 23, 2009

Be Careful Who You Change Your Money With

Ever searched for a term in google and stumbled upon a site other than you one you expected and had always used?

Unsuspecting searchers run this risk with the popular XE.com online currency converter, described as "the world's most popular currency site" when they google the term "xe". That's because of the recently formed company known as "XE" which provides a rather different service from currency conversion for tourists and businesses.

The other xe company, based in North Carolina, describes its services as International Training, Mobility and Logistics, Innovative Technologies and Professional Resources.

Further light is shed on what these terms include when digging into the sight a little and discovering references to antenna systems, high-tech surveillance equipment, weapons and armor, armored vehicles and a list of current vacancies with the company which include Firearms and Tactics Instructor, Aviation Project Director and Navy Instructor (part-time).

XE is, of course, none other than the old Blackwater security firm, banned by the government of Iraq earlier this year after its involvement in the killings of 11 civilians in Baghdad's Nisur Square on September 16, 2007. Renamed XE this year, a move which had nothing at all to do with its similarity to one of the Internet's most visited sites, the company continues to provide over 900 contractors to the US State Department for various operations.

The XE company is one of the most prominent examples of the growing trend towards the outsourcing and commercialization of war.

And if that weren't bad enough, they don't do currency conversions.









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