Dickheads
Jeremy Scahill, The Nation writer turned Blackwater book writer/expert, linked to a post of mine the other day. My post recapped an NYT blog write-up that said Blackwater, a North Carolina-based “security contractor,” was moving out of the mercenary biz, according to a spokesman. Blackwater’s comments came a day after Sec Def Gates wondered, “Why have we come to rely on private contractors to provide combat or combat-related security training for our forces?”
Sachill, in a piece headlined “Media Goofs Again,” says the story is a bunch of hype:
It seems that executives from Blackwater Worldwide, the Bush administration’s favorite hired guns in Iraq and Afghanistan, are threatening to pack up their M4 assault rifles, CS gas and Little Bird helicopters and go back to the great dismal swamp of North Carolina whence they came. Or at least that’s how it is being portrayed in the media.
Among the headlines of the past 24 hours: “Blackwater plans exit from guard work”, “Blackwater getting out of security business”, “Blackwater sounds retreat from private security business”, and “Blackwater to leave security business”. One blogger slapped this headline on his post: “Blackwater, worst organization since SS, to end mercenary work.” [The last one was my headline.]
Frankly, this is a whole lot of hype.
But I don’t think the Blackwater spokesman saying of security work, “If I could get it down to 2% or 1% [of total business], I would go there,” is a non-story. In fact, combined with Gates’ statement, this is great news.
I hate Blackwater and the entire concept of combat outsourcing almost as much as I hate Nazism. The fact is, US tax money is spent on Dogs of War who are not operating under rule of law—aka we support state sanctioned murder. We’ll be regretting allowing this to happen as long as we’re a nation.
Now, even the head of the Pentagon is angry about it. That’s damn good news to me.
Of course, Blackwater has over the years become a multi-billion dollar defense contracting beast. Their CEO is from an old guard Michigan GOP familia. They’ve made enough cash and high-level State and Pentagon contacts to keep their business going.
Sachill writes, “Anyone who thinks Blackwater is in serious trouble is dead wrong.” I didn’t see anyone writing that. Unfortunately, as best outlined by PW Singer in Corporate Warriors (Cornell 2003), the privatization of war is here to stay.
But the fewer assholes with guns running around the better. And both Gates and Blackwater seem to be moving towards a mercenary downsizing. Sachill says this is in response to Obama’s 16-month withdrawal plan being celebrated by the world this week:
The company may be bracing for a possible shift in policy should Obama win in November. Blackwater could be contemplating resignation before termination. On the other hand, Obama has sent mixed messages on the future of war contractors under his Iraq policy. While he has been very critical of the war industry in general — and Blackwater specifically — he has also indicated he will not rule out using private armed contractors at least for a time in Iraq.
In a perfect world, US troops may be able to disengage from Iraq on large scale in the near future. I still don’t believe that’s possible. Iraq’s security gains over the past year are tenuous. If elected, Obama will likely have to keep a force of 80,000 or so in Iraq through his first term. How would he deal with providing diplomatic security for Green Zoners is unknown—will he keep the mercenaries or take MPs off the battlefield? Still, if Gates is trying to move away from privatized force protection now, the better the chances for a policy shift. And that’s not hype. It’s good news.
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS
