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Posted on 04/02/2004 8:04:30 AM PST by presidio9
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The four "civilians" killed, burned, and dragged through the streets of Fallujah, Iraq, on Wednesday morning weren’t really civilians. Or were they? They were employees of Blackwater Security Consulting, a rural North Carolina subsidiary of Blackwater USA, one of several dozen firms taking over the duties of the regular American military in Iraq, protecting buildings and grounds as well as officials.
In fact, Blackwater itself is in charge of protecting L. Paul "Jerry" Bremer, the U.S. official who now runs Iraq as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority. In the coming weeks, hundreds of American civilian workers who really are civilians will be entering Iraq to work on private contracts let by the Bush government. Their security will be provided by guards (like the Blackwater men killed yesterday) from a variety of security firms, often consisting of former U.S. military special ops people.
The use of private military forces raises tricky questions for the U.S. government. The most important one is why is the Bush administration is recruiting civilians to work there when our government can't possibly guarantee the security of the area. Another question: Why aren't these jobs in combat zones being carried out by American military forces, instead of mercenaries?
Building up a surrogate military force, along the lines of the French Foreign Legion or the Gurkhas, has been the ambition of conservatives for many years. The thinking is that future wars will be characterized by "low-intensity," or guerrilla, warfare. If the fighting is done by a force of irregular surrogates, people won't question their casualties as they would those of regular military personnel. The contras in Nicaragua were an example of what a surrogate fighting force might look like, and special ops types from South Africa’s former apartheid regime have long been involved in fighting in southern Africa.
The latest incident involving one of these relatively new mercenary companies occurred in Haiti. There the Steele Foundation, a private security firm based in California, was protecting the palace when Jean-Bertrand Aristide was summarily rushed to the airport at Port-au-Prince and onto a mysterious plane that took off with no listed destination—raising the inevitable question of their involvement with American intelligence. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Aristide feared that the Steele people would abandon their jobs and leave him to be killed by the rebels. Subsequent press reports noted that an extra detail of Steele people requested by Aristide for added protection were blocked by American officials from leaving California for Haiti.
In Iraq, Blackwater provides security not only for Bremer but also for food shipments in the turbulent Fallujah area.
The private security firms working in Iraq see big salaries as well as plenty of potential danger. Often, they have been seen in military garb but without the insignias that would formally designate them as U.S. military. This situation raises the question of whether or not they can be treated as soldiers under the Geneva conventions—whether they are provided those protections—or whether as irregulars they will get dealt with as spies.
Providing mercenaries is a popular and growing business in part because their use in places like Iraq presumably would release regular military personnel for other work—or allow them to go back to the U.S.
Blackwater USA’s other subsidiaries are Blackwater Training Center, Blackwater Target Systems, Blackwater Canine, and Blackwater Air. The company proclaims: "We have established a global presence and provide training and tactical solutions for the 21st century," adding, "Our clients include federal law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defense, Department of State, and Department of Transportation, local and state entities from around the country, multinational corporations and friendly nations from all over the globe."
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BTW, Jeaneane Garofalo was talking about the "mercenaries" last night on Air America. She has it on good information that they are hired by Halliburton, there are are tens of thousands of them, and when the US Armed Forces pull out they will be taking over the country.
Scott's paycheck came from the same U.S. government that writes the paychecks for soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. To call him a "mercenary" for working as a security guard, protecting food deliveries into dangerous areas of Iraq, is disgusting. I spit in the face of anyone who calls this honorable warrior working directly for Uncle Sam a "mercenary."
I see, sort of like what's happening with Fallujah right now.
This is a pointless low-density noodlebrained article.
I have no problem with the use of private security forces who work within the administration set up to administer Iraq after the war. I join you in you disgust at any left winger who attempts to make political hay out of this disgusting murder. I pray our forces realize FINALLY that a conquored country must be conquored before they can be civilized. I await the response from our guys.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Scott's family, and the families of the others who have fallen.
This is not the 60s/70s, however. Modern mercs are usually employees of legal, law-abiding companies who provide services to customers. There are, in fact, several that will provide anything from training instructors to pilots to a country with the funding to contract them. The days of shadowy, Dogs Of War (which I rewatched last night) and The Wild Geese type characters is long gone.
I guess what the difference is , apart from legality, is that in prior decades mercs had much more of a cutthroat contingent of criminals as well as former soldiers. The modern companies do not hire posers, psychos, or liars. They hire professionals who are bound not only by the laws of their host country but by company policy, which is upfront and aboveboard.
One example...an "old", classic merc would, presented with the opportunity, not hesitate to pick himself up some booty (like art or jewels) if it were available. The new, modern "merc" would be violating company policy, not to mention law, and would be subject to dismissal and prosecution.
Of course, in my book, BOTH kinds will pop up, as the old guys were fun characters.
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