Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

US & Int'l Papers

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Old Blackwater

Monday September 24, 2007

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On the Road in
Green Lake, Wisconsin
GOP Leadership Conference

Old black water, keep on rollin';
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shinin' on me
Doobie Brothers, 1974

Blackwater USA is in the news because of a shootout about a week ago in Baghdad which resulted in the death of about a dozen civilians.

According to its webpage, Blackwater is:

not simply a "private security company." We are a professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations firm who provides turnkey solutions.

In Iraq, and elsewhere, the security of US officials and staff has been outsourced to a number of different private firms. Blackwater USA, headquartered in North Carolina, is among the largest and well-known of them.

When I was in Iraq, Blackwater had the responsibility of keeping the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, alive. At the time, the Baghdad Buzz held that the US Secret Service had determined that Bremer was the most targeted human on the planet.

Also, while I was in Iraq there was an obscene attack on a different group of Blackwater operators who had been escorting a food convoy through Fallujah. On March 31, 2004 the convoy was attacked and, according to the Charlotte News-Observer, "four men [were] killed, their bodies burned and dragged through the streets. A chanting mob hung two mutilated corpses from a bridge.

Fallujah, for the next six months was one of the most dangerous places in Iraq which, in turn, was one of the most dangerous places in the world.

There was no outcry from the Iraqi government over the brutality of the murders of men who were escorting food. The only comment came from Muslim religious leaders who offhandedly explained that it was anti-Qur'anic to mutilate a dead body, but passed no judgment on how the bodies had gotten dead in the first place.

Let me note, here, that I have no financial interest in anything Blackwater. Other than working around the guys who were guarding Bremer, I don't know that I've ever met anyone from the company.

Last week Blackwater operators, while guarding a convoy which they felt had come under attack, opened fire which may have resulted in the civilian deaths.

Blackwater maintains its personnel acted properly, and it now seems that Iraqi police, security and/or military forces were involved in the shooting so who did what to whom is a little uncertain.

The Iraqi government which typically leaps into intense head-in-the-desert-sand mode when it comes to Iranian shock troops lighting off car bombs in marketplaces, got up on its trembling hind legs and said it was canceling Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq.

Except that

(1) Blackwater doesn't appear to have a license (or need one) so there is nothing to cancel and,
(2) yesterday the Iraqi government grimly admitted that forcing Blackwater to leave would create a "security imbalance" meaning either actual Iraqis would have to take over a portion of the work being done by Blackwater ("pulling some troops that work in the field so that we can protect these institutes,") or the US Embassy would simply have to hire another firm - probably employing the same operators - to do the job.

If innocent people were killed then that is a tragedy, but these guys aren't providing personal security to Britney Spears and Puff Daddy, moving crowds aside so they can enter LA nightclubs unimpeded.

Blackwater, and other security companies, are providing security to US officials and employees throughout the region, so the policies of the US government - under Republican and Democratic Administrations - can be pursued.

Before you jump to conclusions that these are trigger-happy Special Forces wannabees, keep in mind most of them did their national service in the US, Britain, New Zealand, Australia, or elsewhere as trained, qualified Special Forces, Navy Seal, Air Force Special Ops, or other elite force members. So they are special forces already-have-beens.

All I know is, when I was in Iraq I was happy the guys from Blackwater (and other security firms) were around. As far as I'm concerned, they have earned the benefit of the doubt.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to the Blackwater webpage; the NY Times description of the Fallujah outrage; the lyrics to the Doobie Brothers' song; and a link to the Fallujah chapter of the Iraq Travelogues. Also a Mullfoto and a Catchy Caption of the Day.

Also, if you haven't yet, you should check out the Mullblog!. There is interesting stuff there and, you can respond for the whole world to see.

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