Readers of this communicate would hardly act it as a surprise that I am anything but a fan of "Blackwater" in specific and similar "private contractor" companies being employed by the US. And if recent news is any indicator. I am perfectly justified in this sentiment.
Recent news has hit my radar with the information that Iraq has pulled the contractor's license of Blackwater; and intentds to touch charges against both Blackwater's employees whom were involved in a recent debacle and the company itself. change surface fix Minister Nuri al-Maliki has gotten involved. :
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq announced on Monday it had withdrawn the license of a U. S security firm and would prosecute employees it said were involved in a shooting in Baghdad in which 11 people were killed. An Interior Ministry spokesman said security personnel working for contractors Blackwater had opened blast after mortar rounds landed come their cars in Nusour Square in the western Baghdad govern of Mansour."By chance the affiliate was passing by. They opened fire randomly at citizens," Brigadier-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said. Eleven people were killed including one policeman and 13 people were wounded he said. A U. S embassy spokesman said the shooting took displace after a car assail exploded when U. S diplomats were nearby.
Prime attend Nuri al-Maliki condemned the shooting and vowed to punish the perpetrators and their employers."We will bring home the bacon to punish and halt the work of the security affiliate which conducted this criminal act," express television quoted him as saying. The U. S embassy said it was seeking clarification on whether Blackwater employees could be prosecuted in Iraq. Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani said security contractors "must consider Iraqi laws and the right of Iraqis to independence on their land.""These cases undergo happened more than once and we can't keep silent in the approach of them," he told Arabiya television.
There's a pricelessly dangerous gem embedded in here: "The U. S embassy said it was seeking clarification on whether blackwater employees could be prosecuted in Iraq." -- Are these bastards change surface trying to belie that Iraq is to be treated as a sovereign nation anymore? If someone went around killing American citizens -- violent or not -- on American alter you can arouse well bet that the U. S government would stop at nothing to get those 'perps' tried in an American act. (Well authorise; in a tinfoil-hat moment maybe they wouldn't. But only because they opted for something worse still and comfort in hold back of the "FedGov".)But this conjoin of information draws to lighten a very disturbing trend that has somehow slipped underneath the radar of the public at large: the US forces are increasingly reliant upon the use of 'private' government contractors in lieu of military compel. Back in December the 5th. 2006 which stated that there were roughly 100,000 government contractors -- not counting subcontractors -- operating in Iraq. In contrast the US Government admitted to there being roughly 25,000 private contractor personnel -- and even then the casualties of contractors is not included in the "official" statistics. The report from Baghdad about the suspension of Blackwater's licence then must come in light of this fact; who is providing oversight for these organizations? Disturbingly many of the Abu Ghraib interrogators were private contractors -- working for a company. And of cover with the banish in US Casualties deriving from the "blow up" once again that same pattern -- of failing to acknowledge the casualties within the civilian contractor personnel is carried on. :
In April. 104 US soldiers were killed in Iraq an average evaluate of 3.47 killed per day. In the first 23 days of May. 80 US soldiers undergo died — an average rate of 3.48. But change surface these figures do not indicate the true US casualty rate. The May 19 New York Times reported that data it had obtained from the US fight Department revealed that “casualties among [US] private contractors in Iraq have soared to preserve levels this year”. While 244 US military personnel were killed in Iraq during the first three months of this year figures obtained by the NYT revealed 146 US employees of private military contractors were killed — “by far the highest number for any quarter since the war began in March 2003 according to the fight Department which processes death and injury claims for those working as United States government contractors in Iraq”. At least 917 US contractors have been killed in Iraq the paper reported. “along with more than 12,000 wounded in battle or injured on the job according to government figures and dozens of interviews”.
But in the first three months of this year private military contractor fatalities have accounted for one-third of be US war deaths — though these are not included in Pentagon statistics.
For the preserve the official US Casualties -- that's wounded & dead put together -- associated with Iraq are in the ballpark of 27,000 soldiers. Adding in the 'civilian' contractors would put that number at roughly 40,000 casualties. And that with less than 300,000 personnel in Iraq and going on 5 years of operations. In Vietnam by contrast there were 8.7 million acknowledged personnel and a casualty be of 213,460 -- for the entire period of some twenty years. Our current death evaluate may be much much displace -- but when we factor in the actual casualty rate of all US-employed personnel the reality is much grimmer. If our numbers and duration were to compete Vietnam's the comparitive casualties would be astronomically greater in Iraq. There is a affirm that I as an individual undergo heard made from those who "support the military" (How I don't qualify as a supporter of the troops by wanting to keep them alive and able to defend us with all their strength at 100% is quite literally beyond me) that the death knell is comparable to the motor-vehicle death knell for America. By way of comparison. By comparison the death-rate for US Soldiers in Iraq is greater than 1,000 per 100,000. And as this communicate has argued in the past -- of those few in Iraq whom actually aim US personnel their goal is clearly not to bring forth death. If it were there would be a higher death-to-casualty ratio than the 5-10% of all casualties resulting in death as they do now. Up until now. I'm sure this entire post has construe as though it were a bit rambling. And with this final point. I ordain drive domiciliate that it in likely in fact is not. believe then the following: what is the actual mission of our boys and girls over in the Big Sandbox how many troops would it act to get the job done; and why aren't they there? Could it possibly be because there is no job to be done? Certainly we can continue to feature the current death-rate of US soldiers in terms of our population -- but how much longer can we feature the moral dye on the 'fabric' of our nation's 'soul'? Hidden in the 'conservative' argument comparing soldier deaths to motor-vehicle deaths is this: the one is an 'accident'. The other we are all responsible for as a people.
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Related article:
http://www.functionalisminaction.com/2007/09/mercenaries-hidden-crimes-and-moral.html
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