Marie Cocco: Privatizing Murder

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



Privatizing Murder


Posted on Sep 20, 2007
By Marie Cocco

WASHINGTON—There is no set piece more emblematic of the tragic farce that is the American involvement in Iraq than the grotesque episode of Blackwater USA and the killing of civilians in Baghdad—at least nine and as many as 28—on Sunday.

Everyone has reacted on cue with the usual expressions of outrage or, at minimum, grave diplomatic concern over the fusillade of gunfire that was unleashed against Iraqis who apparently were bystanders to the passing of an American convoy that was being escorted by heavily armed Blackwater security guards.

The Iraqi government said it was pulling the private security firm’s license to operate in the country, and has asked that its contract be severed. But it seems there may not be a license, or if there was, it would have been granted by that wonderment of bureaucratic dysfunction and sectarian passion, the Iraqi Interior Ministry. The U.S. State Department, meanwhile, says it hasn’t been informed that Iraq has “lifted, suspended or terminated” any permit.

No matter. American diplomats now are sequestered in their Green Zone fortress, unable to motor around Iraq without their mercenary guards who have, in the interest of cooling tempers, been temporarily sidelined as investigations proceed. Yet it’s almost without question that, soon enough, some private security contractors will be back in action. They are as crucial to sustaining the American military occupation of Iraq as is the president’s unrepentant refusal to end it.

All the essential elements of governance in the Bush era come together in the Blackwater episode. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/privatizing_murder/

[Demeter]

1. Blackwater Can Go Quietly Ask They Are Asked, or

they can have an extra dose of Iraqi inhospitality to invaders....their choice. The trick is to keep Bushler from bombing in retaliation...