We have the Dharma Initiative coming to the island in the seventies. On the surface, it's about progressive science, helping humanity and so forth. But there's a dark underside that's militaristic, well armed and has an agenda of it's own. T

We have the freighter, arriving in 2004. There's the science team, rescue isn't thier primary function, but they do render the kill-gas inert. They're not killers or harming anyone. There's also a team of mercenaries, with it's own agenda, well armed, and very much into harming people.

Now, we know Widmore sent the freighter. And while there may have been a small aspect to it that was good (and by good I mean the absence of bad), i.e. the science team, ultimately it was a military operation. An extraction mission.

The DI, meanwhile, with Karen and Gerald DeGroot, may have had good intentions, but the joint operation they go in with Hanso has a darkside. I think Widmore's ultimate intention with the freighter, is similar to those who over saw the Dharma Initiative and it's recurring military theme.

I think there's something to be said of Widmore's motivations by the parallel between the freighter and the dharma initiative. I'm shading him a darker gray.