Letters to the Editor
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Order 17 - an aptly named author
So Order 17 was written by one Lawrence Peter. Some relative perhaps of Laurence J Peter, of "Peter principle" fame? That's the one about employees tending to be promoted in an organization till they reach their level of incompetence. I don't know if the author of Order 17 is a stupid man, and I suspect he knew exactly what he was doing when he wrote it. But clearly not a man competent to exercise his authority competently.
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Well then it's clear that in their absence
Either the whole thing would collapse in a violent orgy of untold proportions, or, we'd have to backfill them with a 130,000 more GI's. Which would you prefer?
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SS-Verfügungstruppe and Blackwater
The anonymous correspondent who compares Blackwater mercenaries to the Waffen SS seems close to the mark. However the analogy between the Waffen SS and Blackwater breaks down because the Waffen SS was under the overall command of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, the protection squads, the SS-Verfügungstruppe were directly commanded by Reinhard Heydrich and after he was assassinated by Ernst Kaltenbunner. All three field officers were at the centre of the Nazi establishment. Thus in fact the Nazi’s had more direct control of the Waffen SS activities that the US military appears to have with Blackwater, which is a private, run for profit, army carrying out similar lawless activities to the SS-Verfügungstruppe, but ultimately not responsible to any State.
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Support the Troops
Don't fund the mercs.
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Of course, its mercenary
Mr. Blumenthal said it all when he mentioned Bremer.
Issuing order 17 is typical of his management of Iraq.
After all, his main aim was to wrest control of Iraq's oil from the Iraquis and put it in the hands of "the coalition of the willing" who invaded Iraq. He was busy granting companies contracts to do anything else.
Bremer dissolbved the Iraqui army, now considered a major mistake. The ethnic cleasning of the sunnis began under Bremer, too, which we have assisted in since day one of the occupation. And just as important, Bremer set up the parliamentary form of government which is so unworkable and does the least to protect minorties. A two house system,with one house based on provinces instead of population, was the original plan but Czar Bremer made sure it wasn't implemented.
Bremer and the neocons who gave us Iraq should dis in jail.
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More about Blackwater
Blumenthal writes that "In 2004, four Blackwater men brazenly drove through the insecure city of Fallujah...."
Here's the account from Jeremy Scahill's book "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," in Chapter 6 'The Ambush' pp 91-104. The Marines entered Fallujah on March 24, 2004 and two days later there was a street battle in which 15 Iraqis, including an ABC News cameraman and a 2 year old child, were killed along with one Marine dead and 7 wounded. This was the "insecure" situation in Fallujah when the Blackwater trucks arrived on March 31.
Four Blackwater guys (in violation of Blackwater's own standards which required 3 men/vehicle), one on his first day of work, were sent out from Baghdad in 2 lightly armored SUV's ("bullet magnets" Scahill says they are referred to). "Their assignment was to escort some trucks to pick up kitchen equipment near Fallujah and then drop it off at a military base." (p 98)
So the "brazenness" in this case was Blackwater's and not that of the 4 employees. Their families have tried, unsuccessfully I think, to sue Blackwater for having indifferently put these men into harm's way without sufficient protection. So this event was not caused by trigger happy contractors but corporate irresponsibility and incompetence.
Blumenthal also failed to mention that among Blackwater's many sins is overbilling/doublebilling for some of their work. Corruption. I don't believe Erik Prince was asked about that the other day.
Oh yes. Keith Olbermann reported last night that the FBI guys that were to go to Iraq to investigate the Blackwater shoot-em-up on Sept. 16 were to have had Blackwater as their security detail! I believe the FBI was appalled and I don't think the investigators have gone to Baghdad yet.
Blackwater is a world unto itself with no accountability.
How has the country let this happen?
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the army we have
We are fighting a war with Rumsfeld's army-we-have. The army that is obligated to follow the rules of war and the Geneva Conventions isn't big enough to win anything, since it doesn't include cooks, MPs, etc. So we puff it up with all those mercenaries. We wind up with a bigger fighting force than we might have had but it costs much more, lines the pockets of private contractors, can't be controlled, and, in the name of the citizens of the United States, engenders the hatred of the occupied country and the rest of the world.
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Red, White and …the real phoney soldier
JRBehrman's remarks hit the nail squarely.
As for Blackwater's leader: The contemptuous Mr. Prince represents the absolute "phoney soldier," the David Duke of the 21st century.
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Accepting Consequences
Either the whole thing would collapse in a violent orgy of untold proportions, or, we'd have to backfill them with a 130,000 more GI's. Which would you prefer?
Brave, Brave Sir Anonymouse, you have presented a logical fallacy known as a false choice.
The fact is, "a violent orgy of untold proportions" is exactly what your president signed us up for when he invaded in 2003. Seemingly "new" strategies like "the surge(tm)", or filling the country up with extralegal mercenary armies, are all focused on one single objective: push the natural consequences of our ill-conceived invasion down the road, so it can one day be argued that this was somehow not the fault of the Republicans. Every single statement made by Patraeus or BushCo regarding Iraq are serving that single purpose. That's it. The Iraq war has no greater objective at this point.
Now, whether or not that consequence is fulfilled entirely depends on the Iraqis, and has absolutely nothing to do with what the Americans do. Sure, we can bring in more mercenaries, and send death squads around to "keep the peace." But, like pumping up the US economy with debt from China, such a Bush tactic is only deferring the inevitable: in this case, that eventually, US forces will leave Iraq to the Iraqis, to make of it what they will.
The question for now is, just how much do you want to abandon the US character of benevolence and its moral authority in pursuit of futile objectives? The Republican answer: "what benevolence and moral authority? Those won't make me rich!" The answer from the rest of the world: "Get the troops out. Now."