Today Blackwater got banned from Iraq. What is Blackwater you might ask? Good question. Short answer: A private security company hired by the U.S. to “defend” high value targets like Ambassador Crocker. The long answer, includes a company known for pulling the trigger more often than it should and is basically a private mercenary army that is not accountable to the Iraqi government, nor the United States.
Here is an in depth expose in print to bring you up to snuff. Frontline also did an excellent program on these guys, as well as KBR, Halliburton’s old detachment. The entire show is available online for viewing.
The nation also did a short clip available on YouTube. click here if video does not show
So what does it mean that Blackwater got banned? A whole lot more than Bush wants you to know. Blackwater has been used by the U.S. as a back channel black ops force. I mean, these are the guys that guarded Iraq Chief Paul Bremmer, and now Ambassador Crocker. They are very influential. Their leader Erik Prince was a Navy Seal who came from an extraordinarily rich family. Being a Seal was what made him happiest of all. So when his parents died he got to work, using the family fortune, building a security force that could afford him the ability to be a Seal again. With his families powerful connections and some smart political moves, like helping to raise funds for President Bush, he got Blackwater plugged in as a mercenary force, approved by the Pentagon. The Pentagon has become to rely on them for being just what Prince had envisioned. Now with General Petraeus discussing withdrawal, that whole stratagem is in jeopardy, as an entire army loyal to the U.S. may now be asked to leave.
In the old days there was Us and Them. Now there’s Us, 4 factions of Them and 500 security companies. It’s about profit and greed, but also a convenient third party to exploit. The Pentagon can hire these guys to do stuff they’ll get in trouble doing, like high level assassinations. It’s convenient, as well to have an agency that doesn’t adhere to the rules of engagement. They can shoot first and ask questions later, unlike Marines at Haditha.
Unfortunately for the U.S., this strategy backfired. First, four Blackwater Operatives were captured, killed, hung from a bridge and burned. The U.S. was then lured into Fallujah, a monumental failure for the U.S. that left the Sunni stronghold without law for the better part of a year, until a much larger U.S. operation was able to take it back. Second, the private operations also left behind a trail of bodies. Iraqis began to notice the bloodbaths left in the wake of Blackwater ops. Citizens clamored for change but politicians had their hands tied, Blackwater was a well protected friend of the U.S., afterall, they gaurd the top U.S. civilian command in Iraq, as well as most of the diplomatic core in the green zone! Well that changed today.
Iraqi politicians, in the wake of a diminished U.S. presence, announced they will be denying Blackwater permission to operate in Iraq. They’ve had enough of the secrecy, enough of the carnage and enough of the dirty U.S. tactics. Haven’t we had enough as well?
But whether of not Blackwater will actually get banned is anybodies guess. The U.S. is already defending their decision to use Blackwater, a defensive stance, so it seems Bush hasn’t decided yet whether to draw a line in the sand. While he normally would draw a line in the sand over a low stakes poker game, it seems that he’s in such dire straights these days with Iraq that he may have to let it slide. This is a test of wills in Iraq over who controls the force. If Bush concedes, it is a show of weakness.
Isn’t it ironic that as Iraqis step up, Bush and his cronies step up the rhetoric and snow job the desert nation, instead of standing down like they said they would? That’s what they would do if they cared about Iraqi Democracy, as a father gives way to a son who comes of age, but then again, we know what they really care about don’t we? And it sure as hell isn’t Jasim Q. Abdualah’s freedom to vote.