They are paid up to $1,000 per day. They drive around Iraq in armored SUVs terrorizing civilians without any accountability. They benignly refer to themselves as “contractors” when, in fact, they are armed thugs, employed to protect the movements of US diplomats and officials outside the fortified Green Zone.
Last Sunday, employees of Blackwater — just one of the 140 US-approved security companies in Iraq — shot dead 11 Iraqi civilians during an unprovoked incident and for once the Iraqi government was moved to speak out in no uncertain terms and call for the guards to be prosecuted by the Iraq courts.
The Iraqi state minister for national security affairs said, “the shots fired on the Iraqis were unjustifiable. It was harsh and horrible”, a conclusion he no doubt arrived at after watching a video of the incident.
An Iraqi Interior Ministry official told the Washington Post that contractors “consider Iraqis like animals”.
“If you are killing an innocent civilian who is riding in his car, isn’t that terrorism?” he asked. This week the Iraqi prime minister plans to take up the issue with President George Bush in New York.
In fact, there have been many such “horrible” incidents that have largely gone unreported. In April 2004, a video on the web showed Blackwater mercenaries unleashing massive firepower on to Iraqi protestors in Najaf while yelling insults too offensive to be published here.
In November 2005, the Telegraph published an article about “a trophy video” on the Internet showing mercenaries in Baghdad randomly shooting at civilian vehicles with automatic rifles to the accompaniment of jolly folksy music. A British company Aegis Defense Services was implicated.
The Observer published an article in 2005 titled “Fury at Shoot for Fun Memo” that describes how Blackwater’s president sent en electronic newsletter to personnel suggesting terrorists “need to get creamed” and shooting some people could be “fun”.
Certainly psychopaths who need not fear prison or a death sentence might get a certain adrenaline rush from the murder of innocents.
Thus far, a decree passed by America’s former viceroy in Iraq L. Paul Bremer III has given the mercenaries impunity from prosecution. The Iraqi government, however, is rightfully keen to bin this disgusting license to kill.
If you recall it was the death of four Blackwater employees that triggered the US military rampage in Fallujah, which flattened the city and led to most of its residents being displaced.
The message here is clear. If Western mercenaries are killed, revenge is on the cards but when mercenaries murder Iraqis the killers are home free.
“We need Blackwater’s services to protect our employees in Iraq”, says the US State Department, which is rather like Las Vegas casinos saying they need the mafia to ensure high rolling punters pay their markers. If State Department officials require protection then that should be a job for the military.
A country which purports to be spreading freedom and democracy and likes to be considered as the world’s policeman should not be hand in glove with thugs, said to have been involved with the atrocities at Abu Ghraib and the illegal rendition of detainees for the purpose of outsourcing torture.
It’s also believed that Blackwater personnel were hired by the Department of Homeland Security to patrol New Orleans post-Katrina. They said they had been given the authority to use lethal force. They also have a long-term contract to intervene in future national emergencies.
For several days following the recent incident involving Blackwater its operations were put on hold forcing US diplomats and officials to remain behind the walls of the Green Zone. Faced with angry words from Iraqi politicians, Bush made conciliatory noises and expressed sympathy for the victims’ families.
But word has it that Blackwater, which has profited to the tune of $ 500 million from its activities in Iraq — thanks to the White House’s generous no-bid contracts — is once more back in business. This probably implies the Iraqi government has caved in following heavy pressure from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Her loyalty is surely misplaced when Blackwater employees are currently being investigated for illegally smuggling automatic weapons into Iraq and profiting from their sale to unknown recipients — yet another example of US double standard when it hurls similar charges against Iran.
Just who are these people involved in so many shady dealings and violent incidents?
According to Ron Liddle, writing in the Times, they “comprise macho retired US grunts, former Pinochet guardsmen, pensioned-off members of the Israeli Defense Forces” and “white South African” former soldiers”. Which country would allow such a disreputable army to operate within its borders with impunity? It’s not surprising an Iraqi government official has said its presence threatens the country’s sovereignty.
At a time when the US is leaning on the Iraqi government to dismantle illegal militias, isn’t it about time Washington showed an example and disbanded its own?
There is no place in Iraq for the likes of Blackwater or its ilk and Iraq’s government that is sworn to protect its own people shouldn’t waiver on that point. If Americans need protection in Iraq then give the job to Iraqis.
If you’re interested to know about Blackwater’s activities worldwide read Jeremy Scahill’s best-seller “Blackwater: the rise of the world’s most powerful mercenary army”. It’s an eye-opening read that pulls no punches.
