Letters to the Editor
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paulpsd7
Nothing of the sort. The dirty little secret is that there aren't 169,000 US troops there. There are 300,000. So if you take out 130,000 troops if we banish the privateers - given the level of violence today, it would only get much much much much worse. So - you have two choices; accept that heightened level of violence, or, backfill those missing 130,000 privateers with GI's. Or - you just toss the keys over your shoulder and leave tomorrow and let the Iraqis and the carbomb industry sort it out.
We probably can't backfill. Even with a draft it would take a year or more to staff up. We're clearly trapped into either watching it all burn to the ground or bugging out ASAP. Either one leaves the Iraqis behind kill each other until a new Tyrant arises.
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Democrats complicit?
Good question. If they stood up now and stopped this mess they would prove that they are not. We will see.
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mercenaries
during the american revolutionary war the british used hessian mercenaries in the fight against the colonists.many of these troops however stayed in america and settled and became farmers etc etc.however what we are seeing 200 years later is different.the bush administration and the defense dept.wanted to fight a war on the"cheap".these paid mercenaries are paid american killers on the cheap,and somehow the situation has to change.they must all come under the rule of law,and if that law is broken they must be prosecuted.then we will see less killing of civilians.
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New Orleans
Didn't I read or hear somewhere that Blackwater is (or was) in charge of policing the more affluent parts of New Orleans? I do believe they are already "home".
After Bush vetoes the new legislation providing oversight of our mercenaries, I'm sure he'll find a way to convince congress to issue their own "Order 17", to apply here, in the name of national security, of course.
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to judyinnm and re New Orleans
I forgot to include New Orleans in my earlier post "More on Blackwater."
Yes, indeed, Blackwater employees were reported to be patrolling the streets of New Orleans post-Katrina, supposedly to "discourage looting" or probably more accurately "discouraging looters," which is not exactly the same thing. Not that we cared in Baghdad in April, 2003.
This is another of Larry Beinhart's "fog facts" hiding in plain sight.
Does anyone know more about this? How many Blackwater employees for how long, invited by whom, paid for by whom?
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Still there?
I'm not sure they've left NOL
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More false choices
So if you take out 130,000 troops if we banish the privateers - given the level of violence today, it would only get much much much much worse. So - you have two choices; accept that heightened level of violence, or, backfill those missing 130,000 privateers with GI's.
This questioning assumes that our military presence (either by GIs or contractors) is doing anything to prevent the violence from getting much, much, much, much worse. It's not. It is only postponing that moment. Whether that moment actually arrives depends on the Iraqis, and has absolutely nothing to do with how many troops we keep in the country for how many decades.
Or - you just toss the keys over your shoulder and leave tomorrow and let the Iraqis and the carbomb industry sort it out.
This scenario is inevitable. Eventually, the Americans will do exactly that. That is the fate of every invasion and occupation: either start moving your citizens into the occupied country and start posting them to positions of power (see Tibet, for example), or eventually leave.
The real question is the one I posed in my last post, which you felt compelled to ignore: 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."
We're clearly trapped into either watching it all burn to the ground or bugging out ASAP. Either one leaves the Iraqis behind kill each other until a new Tyrant arises.
Yes, that was the deal your president signed us up for. Happy? Sure, BushCo assumed it would be up to them to install the new tyrant, but it doesn't look like it's going to go that way.
If there were any justice, the GOP would remain out of power for a generation for this kind of debacle.
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Alien Torts Claim Act
I'm wondering if the Iraqi civilians could use the Alien Torts Claim Act (ATCA) to sue Blackwater for civil damages in a US district court. The statute, little known by most people, allows an alien to sue for damages for a tort only in violation of the law of nations. Theoretically, a family member of a killed Iraqi could sue in district court claiming murder as a violation of international law (which, obviously, it is). This would create some liability for Blackwater employee acts, even if it's not criminal liability. Considering the murky legal status of contractors in Iraq, the ATCA seems like a plausible way to hold Blackwater and others like it accountable.
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It seems like....
it is a bad idea let let someone raise an good size millitary force not loyal to a government. I write this thinking that there are 20 centuries or so of examples as to why this is a problem.
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Hold Bush's army accountable?
Better they should be abolished. Congress should do away with outsourcing governmental responsibilities, completely. Why do we have to pay extra, in the name of trimming the government's payroll? The private contractors cost many times more than government employees.
Wouldn't it be interesting to find out how much these companies paid in taxes, over the years that they're been making a (excuse the pun)killing, off our taxes?
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More false choices
paulpsd, very good post. I sure hope you are right about us leaving Iraq someday, hopefully sooner than later. I want a Vietnam style exit, but the Bush crowd--and I'm afraid a lot of democrats, too--want the Korea model, where we will stay in Iraq more than half a century, and counting.
I'm not sure about the president's race next year, but while you may not get your generation long exile, the Republicans are set to take a beating in the congressional races. That will be a major legacy of the Bush Presidency.
Bush, Rove, Mehlman, and the neocons have destroyed the conservative republican renaissance begun by Goldwater in 1964. For all Bush's opening to conservbative christians on a few issues, in fact he is a neo-Rockefeller President and has used his power to return the party to that philosophy. Guliani is doubtless Bush's choice to succeed him.