Blackwater's Black Eye
Comment Blackwater's Black Eye The Blackwater scandal tells you almost everything you need to know about what's wrong with the Bush Administration: swagger, wanton violence, impunity, cronyism,...
...When four Blackwater contractors were killed and mutilated in Fallujah after the company hastily sent them into a danger zone, that, too, should have raised more red flags, especially since it led Bush to order a brutal assault on Fallujah that left hundreds dead...
...More than half of these contracts were awarded without full and open competition," Waxman said at the hearing...
...Bush and Cheney have long demanded the privatization of every possible governmental function...
...Based on everything we currently know, the Blackwater team acted appropriately while operating in a very complex war zone on September 16," his statement said...
...When Blackwater's armed contractors were guarding Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, or when they were guarding subsequent U.S...
...In their view, the state exists only to help the corporate sector, and if that sector can take over policing and war-making, so much the better...
...Warfare is no exception...
...But to hear Blackwater CEO Erik Prince tell it, the company "provides an opportunity for military and law enforcement veterans with a record of honorable service to continue their support to the United States...
...soldiers providing that security in Iraq, according to Waxman...
...This was not the first time Blackwater has been implicated in the killing of innocent Iraqis...
...Once they've discredited government, they can declare victory...
...Here is a clue...
...After all, Blackwater is just one of the more than 180 private military firms that operate in Iraq, employing 180,000 personnel—larger, combined, than the entire U.S...
...When Bremer, on his way out the door, issued Order 17 that immunized private contractors like Blackwater from prosecution in Iraq, that, in itself, ought to have been a big story...
...Or when Blackwater had its mercenaries patrolling the streets of post-Katrina New Orleans, the mainstream media just might have wanted to pay a little more attention...
...government contractors in Iraq subject to prosecution in the United States...
...One reporter who has paid attention is Jeremy Scahill...
...When his father died, Prince inherited a fortune, and he "became a major funder of extremist" Christian right groups, according to Scahill...
...For the taxpayer, this is no bargain...
...Blackwater, which began only ten years ago, has done very well by the Bush Administration...
...But if you weren't following Scahill's fine work, you might wonder where Blackwater's black eye came from...
...military official said Blackwater's actions are creating resentment among Iraqis that 'may be worse than Abu Ghraib.' If these observations are true," Waxman said, "they mean that our reliance on private military contractors is backfiring...
...One senior U.S...
...Bush, not surprisingly, threatened to veto it...
...There could be ricochets...
...ambassador in Baghdad, how can we rely on the letter carrier to deliver the mail or the Medicare bureaucrat to ensure that the elderly get their health coverage...
...Testifying that he was "extremely proud" of his company and its employees, Prince defended their conduct in Nisour Square...
...If you junk government, then the corporations can run even wilder...
...But Bush Senior wasn't conservative enough for Prince...
...Prince: "No, sir, I disagree with that...
...Blackwater is notorious in Iraq for its brazen attitude, with employees dangling themselves out of helicopters or running other vehicles—including U.S...
...Representative Danny Davis, Democrat of Illinois, asked Prince: "You do admit that Blackwater personnel have shot and killed innocent civilians, don't you...
...After that, he joined the Navy SEALs...
...ambassadors in Baghdad, you would have thought that more people in the media would have asked aloud why this vital job wasn't being carried out by our own troops...
...A Blackwater contractor allegedly killed a bodyguard of Iraq's vice president last Christmas Eve in a drunken spree, and then the company whisked him out of the country...
...By a lopsided 389 to 30 vote, the House passed a bill on October 4 to make all U.S...
...There are traffic accidents...
...His sister married the heir to the Amway fortune, and she and Erik have been major donors to the Republican Party...
...By relying so heavily on private contractors, the Bush Administration has been able to disguise the true size of the occupying force in Iraq...
...But I gave them too much credit...
...I think there has been times when guys are using defensive force to protect themselves...
...There have been lots of other incidents as well, including one where "Blackwater forces shot a civilian bystander in the head," according to an October 1 staff memo of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform...
...But then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice persuaded him to hold off until a joint investigation completed its work...
...After the shooting in Nisour Square, the Iraqi government boldly said it was kicking Blackwater out of the country...
...Privatization provides a boondoggle for their buddies...
...Because government is the only institution powerful enough to protect the people from the predations of the corporations...
...Blackwater charges the government six times what it would cost to have U.S...
...Occupation is an easier sell at 160,000 troops than at 340,000...
...But this scandal is not just about Blackwater...
...Who is Erik Prince, and where did Blackwater come from...
...Matthew Rothschild...
...For if we can't rely on the Pentagon to guard the U.S...
...A writer for The Nation magazine and a correspondent for Democracy Now!, Scahill has been all over the Blackwater story for years...
...His book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army came out months before the brutal incident in Nisour Square in Baghdad on September 16, when Blackwater mercenaries opened fire, killing anywhere between eleven and twenty-eight Iraqi civilians...
...force...
...I used to think that Bush and Cheney wanted to reduce government to policing, war-making, and doling out corporate welfare...
...The initial investigation by the State Department was carried out by a Blackwater contractor, and when the FBI was sent over, Blackwater was supposed to guard its team...
...And to the extent that Bush and Cheney can turn even warfare into a private enterprise, they believe they can discredit government even further...
...Son of a rightwing industrialist in Holland, Michigan, Prince was an intern at Gary Bauer's Family Research Council and then an intern at the White House under George H. W. Bush, Scahill notes in his book...
...That memo formed the backdrop for the October 2 hearings of that House committee, which is chaired by Henry Waxman, Democrat of California...
...Comment Blackwater's Black Eye The Blackwater scandal tells you almost everything you need to know about what's wrong with the Bush Administration: swagger, wanton violence, impunity, cronyism, and privatization gone mad...
...Finally, Congress acted...
...military ones—off the road...
...All told, in more than 160 incidents since 2005, Blackwater employees have fired the first shots, according to the staff memo, which relies on reporting from Blackwater itself...
...The only surprise is that it took so long for this scandal to break out in the mainstream media...
...So Prince gravitated to Pat Buchanan's 1992 campaign, coordinating efforts at Hillsdale College, the ultraconservative school Erik attended...
...The memo also cites another incident where "State Department officials report that Blackwater sought to cover up a shooting that killed an apparently innocent bystander...
...As Blackwater convoys storm around the country, they turn Iraqis further against the Americans...
...If and when the United States begins to pull troops out, it could even increase its reliance on mercenaries...
...Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was unusually outspoken...
...Since the Iraq War started, it has landed upwards of a billion dollars worth of contracts...
Vol. 71 • November 2007 • No. 11
