Blackwater Woes Continue

It amazes me that no one foresaw how the outlaw behavior of Blackwater mercenaries in Iraq would adversely affect our overall operations.  Perhaps they did and chose, for expediency, to ignore the facts.  Now the chickens are coming home to roost and it's too late.  Heck, it was already too late when the locals surrounded a Blackwater vehicle in Fallujah, killed the three men, burned their bodies and hung them from a bridge.

Instead of comprehending the level of hatred this represented toward American mercenaries and acting positively to alter the situation the U.S. used the incident to invade and destroy Fallujah.  This isn't called "winning hearts and minds" folks.

Blackwater had to interpret this as unqualified support for their actions and renegade behavior and it became worse.  Any Iraqi in their way was shot at and treated like dirt.  That has a way of getting under people's skin, even if it is brown. Now Iraq is investigating other incidents involving the firm and other reports are surfacing that Blackwater employees smuggled arms into the MidEast.

Nothing like a company owned by a so-called Christian and with Cofer Black, former head of counter terrorism for the White House, war profiteering by being arms merchants to our enemies.  Investigators in North Carolina are looking into how American weapons found their way to Turkish Kurds.  Connect the dots:  Blackwater people in Iraq, Iraqi Kurds, Turkish Kurds.  You don't need new math to figure out that puzzle.

Meanwhile Congress is regressing on passing legislation requiring a withdrawal.  Attention is being focused on an advertisement instead of the massive policy failures causing constant death and destruction in Iraq.  Anger is being directed at MoveOn.org instead of those who lied us into war.  Frustration is wrongly  being expressed that some Americans actually exercise their right to free speech and then used to justify the continuance of further death and destruction.

I'd like to see every legislator who voted against the Iraq bill tell the next parents their son or daughter died because of an advertisement in The New York Times.  If that's their rationale for continuing this war every one of them must be voted out of office.

Comments

[Melissa]

John,

Have you heard of the new Naomi Klein book titled The Shock Doctrine? I believe it was released a few weeks ago.

I caught her on Democracy Now the other week, and interestingly she was talking about Blackwater and their free reign in Iraq before this entire scandal broke.

Just curious...

[lori langsweirdt]

well said

[John Morgan]

I'm not familiar with her Melissa. I'll have to check it out.

[Joyful Alternative]

Salon has an interview with Naomi Klein re this book.

[Melissa]

You can learn more about it at Naomi Klein's website, too:

http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine