Checkbook Imperialism: The Blackwater Fiasco

Please, please, I tell myself, leave Orwell out of it. Find some other, fresher way to explain why "Operation Iraqi Freedom" is dependent upon killer mercenaries. Or why the "democratically elected government" of "liberated" Iraq does not explicitly have the legal power to expel Blackwater USA from its land or hold any of the 50,000 private contractor troops that the U.S. government has brought to Iraq accountable for their deadly actions.

Were there even the faintest trace of Iraqi independence rising from the ashes of this failed American imperialist venture, Blackwater would have to fold its tents and go, if only in the interest of keeping up appearances. After all, the Iraqi Interior Ministry claimed that the Blackwater thugs guarding a U.S. State Department convoy through the streets of Baghdad fired "randomly at citizens" in a crowded square on Sunday, killing 11 people and wounding 13 others. So the Iraqi government has ordered Blackwater to leave the country after what a government spokesman called a "flagrant assault ... on Iraqi citizens."

But who told those Iraqi officials that they have the power to control anything regarding the 182,000 privately contracted personnel working for the U.S. in Iraq? Don't they know about Order 17, which former American proconsul Paul Bremer put in place to grant contractors, including his own Blackwater bodyguards, immunity from Iraqi prosecution? Nothing has changed since the supposed transfer of power from the Coalition Provisional Authority, which Bremer once headed, to the Iraqi government holed up in the Green Zone and guarded by Blackwater and other "private" soldiers.

They are "private" in the same fictional sense that our uniformed military is a "volunteer" force, since both are lured by the dollars offered by the same paymaster, the U.S. government. Contractors earn substantially more, despite $20,000 to $150,000 signing bonuses and an all-time-high average annual cost of $100,000 per person for the uniformed military. All of this was designed by the neocon hawks in the Pentagon to pursue their dreams of empire while avoiding a conscripted army, which would have millions howling in the street by now in protest.

Instead, we have checkbook imperialism. The U.S. government purchases whatever army it needs, which has led to the dependence upon private contract firms like Blackwater USA, with its $300-million-plus contract to protect U.S. State Department personnel in Iraq. That is why the latest Blackwater incident, which Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki branded a "crime," is so difficult to deal with. Iraqis are clearly demanding to rid their country of Blackwater and other contractors, and on Tuesday the Iraqi government said it would be scrutinizing the status of all private security firms working in the country.

But the White House hopes the outrage will once again blow over. As the Associated Press reported on Monday: "The U.S. clearly hoped the Iraqis would be satisfied with an investigation, a finding of responsibility and compensation to the victim's families--and not insist on expelling a company that the Americans cannot operate here without." Or, as Ambassador Ryan Crocker testified to the U.S. Senate last week: "There is simply no way at all that the State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security could ever have enough full-time personnel to staff the security function in Iraq. There is no alternative except through contracts."

Consider the irony of that last statement--that the U.S. experiment in building democracy in Iraq is dependent upon the same garrisons of foreign mercenaries that drove the founders of our own country to launch the American Revolution. As George Washington warned in his farewell address, once the American government enters into these "foreign entanglements," we lose the Republic, because public accountability is sacrificed to the necessities of war for empire.

Despite the fact that Blackwater USA gets almost all of its revenue from the U.S. government--much of it in no-bid contracts aided, no doubt, by the lavish contributions to the Republican Party made by company founder Erik Prince and his billionaire parents--its operations remain largely beyond public scrutiny. Blackwater and others in this international security racket operate as independent states of their own, subject neither to the rules of Iraq nor the ones that the U.S. government applies to its own uniformed forces. "We are not simply a 'private security company,' " Blackwater boasts on its corporate website. "We are a professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations firm. ... We have become the most responsive, cost-effective means of affecting the strategic balance in support of security and peace, and freedom and democracy everywhere."

Yeah, so who elected you guys to run the world?

Comments

[ajax2]

"Yeah, so who elected you guys to run the world?"
I don't know who elected them, but I do know that the Democratic Congress provides no bid, open ended funding to Blackwater. And they, the Democrats, will answer no questions on U.S. mercenaries.

[dadw5boys]

The Congress does not select the contractors the WHITE HOUSE DOES!

[schatsie]

Exactly, Why in the sam hill was that law passed for contractors, meaning that they are not subject to laws in Iraq or even here in the US because they are not on US soil.

And what about the military, why are we paying bucks to these contractors instead of using the military itself?

Is this what a volunteer army has brought is to and if so, where is the draft and sacrifice????

Great posting and thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[Zenobius]

Actually, this Blackwater issue reminds me not of the Hessians {who were troops serving a minor German prince who rented his army to the English king}, but of "extraterritoriality". This was the idea that a Briton could only be tried under British law by fellow Britons, even if he committed his crime in India or China, against Indians or Chinese. This idea is remembered, and not with fondness, by the Indians and Chinese. We could lose a lot of points overseas if we're not careful.

[aznurse]

THANK YOU!!!I was wondering when someone would mention the news about Blackwater. When MSM has more info about it than Huffington its time to worry! Not many people are paying attention to what is going on. Im so sick and tired to people who "support the troops" but dont watch the news or read the paper because its too depressing or they dont like the news they hear. I think its important to be diligent and keep watching and voicing our opinions to our reps,posts, newspapers. I truly believe people hear about Blackwater and the way they operate, they will be concerned.
and also do something about it. Remember when they were going to sell our ports to a foreign
country,people in this country called and had it changed. I don't know, Im tired and worried.
I hope things get better

[Joeseo]

Blackwater USA is the culmination of Conservative principles. Secret, cowardly, using the lives of our troops to subsidize their agenda. The same is true for the United States Military allowing our troops to serve and die for the profit of Mr. Prince.

This is a national disgrace and an attempt to overthrow our Constitution.

[arrogantsob]

The sad part is that we are not paying for these mercenaries with our tax dollars. It will be charged to future generations to pay for this war. So our government is robbing our grandchildren and their grandchildren while violating the principles that made our country great.

[fact finder]

True oh so true.

[peterg76]

Another point about private mercenaries: they're motivated by money, and that means they can be controlled by whoever has enough money. If they were motivated by patriotism, they would be in the regular army, but patriotic soldiers can get 'distracted' over things like unlawful orders.

[rabun666]

BUSH USES THE AMERICAN TROOPS IN IRAQ AS HOSTAGES TO CURTAIL Democrats from opposing him. Also Bush has publicly declared that his, Bush's, reprisals against the Democrats will be directed at the American TROOPS IN IRAQ WHICH HE HOLDS HOSTAGE.HIS VETO OF AN IRAQ APPROPRIATIONS BILL which included improved body armor and better armored vehicles proves that Bush is holding the troops hostage and directs his reprisals against these troops.This emanates from an article from the Rockridge Institute. IT MUST BE TRUMPETED THAT BUSH IS HOLDING THE AMERICAN TROOPS IN IRAQ AS HOSTAGES WHICH IS A TERRORIST ACT as is the blackmail Bush uses to continue his failed policies and disregard for those troops he holds hostage.

[BBackSoon]

I hadn't thought of the Foreign Mercenaries angle before. Yes we did have a problem with that on our own shores a couple of hundred years ago. And I for one can understand why Iraqis have problems with them now.

I think we all have to consider that our Government, the one that is in control of our country at this moment, is the bad guy.

And it is our duty to speak up on these subjects and not let it blow over or shortly we will have Brown Shirt, Jack Booted Blackwater Gestapo troops in all our backyards. Some will say that is not possible but I feel this is what they are trying to accomplish.

Remember once they have the population scared shitless it only takes a few thugs per thousand to keep their form of order. They will have neighbors reporting the subversive activities of their neighbors.

I know, I am just paranoid but that doesn’t mean they won’t come for me.

[azphil]

Remember that in the aftermath of Katrina Blackwater operatives were deployed in New Orleans. We should all be worried that when they are forced out of Iraq they will be looking for further "business opportunities" and where better than in the "Homeland". Doesn't that word start to have a chilling connotation when we put private armies into the picture.

The concern should be that today's mercs could turn into tomorrow's militia right here in the "Homeland"

[GoodwithWood]

Even scarier is that The owner of BW and his parents are fundamentalist freak shows. The parents are the ones who are building the all christian gated city in Florida. Black water is a christian army salivating over the Rapture.

GWW

[villastrangiato]

AMERICA UBER ALLES!!!

Can't wait for Bush's memoirs to come out -

MEIN KAMPF (the sequel)

[JesustheLiberal]

Where is the outrage that a "private republican army" financed by US taxpayers are not accoutable to any laws here or abroad. This whole deal would seem to fly in the face of any true republican but is right at home with a neo-con republican. As disappointed as I am with my Democratic Party I feel sorry for true republicans who have to explain why "their" tax dollars are supporting a private army with no restrictions.

[vietveter]

And please do not forget the part that Bu$hes blackshirts played in NewOrleans,
God help us.

[azphil]

Blackwater mercs are the new Hessians or put another way they are just another militia that pursues the political agenda of their pay masters, in this case the White House

The inability of the elected Iraqi government to hold these "foreign" insurgents to account indicates yet again the "Potemkin" nature of their existence. They are a useful fiction to delude the beltway mafia that we are defending something over there other than our Big Oil masters. We, the people, have seen through the charade, but our political class refuses to do so!

[Podewumun]

Sigh. Our 'Merry-Go-Round' government.