Monday, September 17, 2007

Watching Blackwater

You've all heard that Blackwater's security services are being kicked out of Iraq, right?

The Iraqi government Monday ordered Blackwater USA, the security firm that protects U.S. diplomats, to stop work and leave the country after the fatal shooting of eight Iraqi civilians following a car bomb attack against a State Department convoy.

The order by the Interior Ministry, if carried out, would deal a severe blow to U.S. government operations in Iraq by stripping diplomats, engineers, reconstruction officials and others of their security protection.

The presence of so many visible, aggressive Western security contractors has angered many Iraqis, who consider them a mercenary force that runs roughshod over people in their own country.

Sunday's shooting was the latest in a series of incidents in which Blackwater and other foreign contractors have been accused of shooting to death an unknown number of Iraqi citizens. None has faced charges or prosecution.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki late Monday and the two agreed to conduct a "fair and transparent investigation" and hold any wrongdoers accountable, said Yassin Majid, an adviser to the prime minister. Rice was expected to visit the Mideast on Tuesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070917/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&printer=1;_ylt=Aj30OhVUa.rf5zCeaVwYcREUewgF


Not so fast. Larry Johnson (who's work I greatly respect) thinks otherwise:

First problem. Blackwater does not have a license to operate in Iraq and does not need one. They have a U.S. State Department contract through Diplomatic Security. Instead of using Diplomatic Security officers or hiring new Security officers or relying on U.S. military personnel, the Bush Administration has contracted with firms like Blackwater, Triple Canopy, and others for people capable of conducting personnel security details. State Department is not about to curtail the contract with Blackwater, who is tightly wired into Washington. Plus, State Department simply does not have the bodies available to carry out the security mission.

Second problem. The Iraqi government has zero power to enforce a decision to oust a firm like Blackwater. For starters, Blackwater has a bigger air force and more armored vehicles then the Iraqi Army and police put together. As Spencer Ackerman reported, Blackwater’s little bird helicopter (an aircraft normally used by U.S. special operations forces) that was firing mini guns at Iraqi targets on the ground this past weekend.

I can only imagine how Americans would react if there were Russian, Chinese, Mexican, or French security firms running around the United States and getting into firefights in tough neighborhoods, such as South Central Los Angeles. We would just shrug our shoulders and say nothing. Right?

Yeah, that’s what I thought. This incident will enrage Iraqis and their subsequent realization that they are impotent to do anything about it will do little to support the fantasy that the surge is working. There are some Iraqis who genuinely want to run their own country. But we are not about to give them the keys to the car. Blackwater is staying.

http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2007/09/17/the-iraq-blackwater-test/

We'll see how this plays out, but I'll bet that corporate profits will trump Iraqi sovereignty. They'll probably have a name change, just to provide some political cover.

5 comments:

Fran said...

I am harboring some fear- which I do not like to harbor, of them heading east to that rather large country... also begins with I.

ellroon said...

Thanks for catching the Larry Johnson link. Hijacking it with credit!

Anonymous said...

Blackwater is not even accountable to us, the ones paying for them.

Hello, US citizens, can you not see that it's time to reign in a lawless government (ie impeach)?

Mary Ellen said...

It's pretty sad when we have to pay for Blackwell out of our taxes and they are accountable to no one.

Have you seen the video that AmericaBlog put out showing some Blackwell militia shooting randomly at citizens as they drove by and laughing about it? They put it up a long time ago and I think they were the ones who broke the story about Blackwell and their activities in Iraq. They just put the video up again yesterday, I think. You should check it out if you haven't seen it.

pygalgia said...

I have seen it (even though I'm not big on video). We've also had previous posts (by Ghandisxmas and myself) about the uber-christianist owner of Blackwater, and their shady roles in domestic security.