Blackwater Kills Civilians; Iraq Revokes License
Houston Chronicle: "Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in an incident last week in which 11 people died, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday." Romney silent.
Update1: 20 September
Originally posted 17 September
Philly Daily News Attytood reports that the CIA and State Department have shut down in Baghdad in the wake of the Blackwater controversy.
When President Eisenhower warned of the military-industrial complex, I doubt he imagined civilian contractors acting like de facto troops. But that's what's happening in Iraq, and the consequences (inevitable?) have came home to roost.
On Sunday, a State Department convoy was attacked in Baghdad; the Blackwater contractors providing security reportedly killed at least eight civilians. According to a witness, the gunfire "lasted for 20 minutes between gunmen and the convoy people who were foreigners and dressed in civilian clothes."
Now the Iraqi government has revoked Blackwater's license and has opened a criminal investigation.
The Iraq War is a poster child for privatization of military operations, a process that began in the early 1990s with the first war in Iraq (Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm). More than a decade later, the Pentagon (and, by extension, the White House) has no idea how many contractors are operating on behalf of the US.
Last December, the GAO reported that the Army alone had "almost 60,000 contractor employees currently support ongoing military operations in Southwest Asia. By way of contrast, an estimated 9,200 contractor personnel supported military operations in the 1991 Gulf War."
A May estimate was 126,000 private contractors, one-fifth of them US citizens. Others estimate 200,000 -- a number equal to or exceeding US troops. And "some in Congress estimate that up to 40 cents of every tax dollar spent on the war goes to corporate war contractors."
Whatever the actual number -- it's a mind-boggling change.
In 1991, there were 500,000 US troops and 160,000 coalition troops in Iraq. And less than 10,000 contractors. Troop to civilian ratio: approximately 66:1. Today - roughly 1:1.
The GAO said that the Pentagon doesn't know how many contractors are "providing essential services" and doesn't provide adequate contract oversight. Perhaps more troubling, there is "no DOD-wide effort in place to resolve these long-standing problems."
It's our money (that we don't have, we're borrowing it so it's really our grandchildren's money) the Pentagon is spending. Call your congressman and demand accountability.
Comments
And the Kathy Gill hate mongering site rolls on. Don’t you mean allegedly killed civilians? I’m sure it’s just an oversight? NOT!
Any chance a big lefty like Ms Gill gets a chance to make another dishonest remark about Americans she takes it.
c
There seems to be no argument that it was Blackwater employees wielding the guns — they were, after all, the “troops” providing security for the state dept convoy.
And no one is arguing that civilians were killed.
However, the article should include “reportedly” (since it was based on news reports). I’ve made that change.
albeit grudgingly, huh?
The world blamed Bush, and the government that he lead, until he was reelected. When he was reelected, the people of America stated that they accepted his policies and wanted hos leadership to continue. Therefore, any response to the Bush policies is the responsibility of the American people who voted for him, and these who did not vote for an alternative. 911 and what some would say is the likely future for America; a dirty bomb or another catastrophic attack, are what the American people can expect, and what they; what you, may deserve. Fanatical Christians are no better than fanatical muslims and fanaticals wusilims were largely created and entered the fray as a response as to being attacked.
So know that as you attacked, the rest of the world will look on, and see you as a great bully, being tackled and brought to its knees, by technologically inferior, but morally superior children, attacking a schoolyard bully who needs to learn a lesson.
Know that I am white. That I am of the same ancestry as most of the original white Americans, but that I am a New Zea lander, not an American. And that I do not look forward to your downfall, as I do not seek anyones destruction, but I believe that is what the future holds- for Americans both abroad and domestic, and only when it is domestic will the required change occur (required in my opinion and what I believe is the opinion of the most non-Amerocans)
Thank you for your comments, Mark. As this article reports, some of the “bullying” in Iraq is being done not by military troops but by civilians.
I agree with your assessment about how the world views Bush and America re the 2004 election.