OpEdNews » Blackwater in the Quagmire: Does USA's Most Powerful Private Militia Fuel Iraq's Insurgency?

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Tag(s): Blackwater; Iraq; Military; Regional; Security; Washington
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October 6, 2007 at 07:31:30

Blackwater in the Quagmire: Does USA's Most Powerful Private Militia Fuel Iraq's Insurgency?

by Anthony Barnes Page 3 of 3 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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Each moment adds to the list of U.S. casualties; of flag-draped coffins secretly whisked out of Iraq to be flown into Dover Air Force Base in the dead of night.

Each moment increases the frequency of the dreaded solemn visits from military chaplains and fellow soldiers to homes of deceased service men and women. Visitors who are accompanied not by a family member in uniform, fortunate to have made it back alive, but instead, by a carefully folded American flag, and perhaps, a bible.

For Blackwater however, these are moments that register like a taxicab's fare meter as the for-profit militia's deep pockets grow flush with over one billion American tax dollars and counting. In an example of skewed priorities, U.S. service men and women earn a mere fraction of what Blackwater pays its personnel -- as much as $180,000 yearly, all U.S. taxpayer dollars -- while Blackwater personnel experience a mere fraction of the dying (30 Blackwater casualties thus far, according to Prince).

Just the ugly side of capitalism? Or, the stark representation of the old adage that all's fair in love and war?

Whichever, the reality is that while the Iraq war will continue to deepen the pockets of Blackwater, America’s most powerful for-profit private militia, the prolonging of that war, to a considerable degree a result of Blackwater’s unconscionable, perhaps suspiciously reckless behavior, can only serve to deepen the divide that the ill-fated post-911 decision to initiate a war with Iraq has created within the American people.

As such, in the case of Blackwater, we have seen the enemy; and it is us.

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http://www.freewebs.com/non_prophet/

Anthony Barnes, of Boston, Massachusetts, is a free-lance writer

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5 comments

I'm a citizen and resident of Cascadia - a province of the FORMER USA.

*************

Other than that, what is there to say? I don't really matter... My vote doesn't even count. ***
And who really cares what I think! So I'm free to think anything.

***

The broader story: it's NOT about "me" or my ego or seeing my name in print... I'm a fleeting ephemeral whirlwind of energy patterns and I will soon be gone...

It IS about many m...

to see more of bio, click on member name
mrk *I'm a citizen and resident of Cascadia - a province of the FORMER USA.

*************

Other than that, what is there to say? I don't really matter... My vote doesn't even count. ***
And who really cares what I think! So I'm free to think anything.

***

The broader story: it's NOT about "me" or my ego or seeing my name in print... I'm a fleeting ephemeral whirlwind of energy patterns and I will soon be gone...

It IS about many m...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Definitions

Consider this from the "Sonofabitch School of Foreign Policy" angle. Legend has it that when Franklin D Roosevelt was confronted with the multiple cruelties of his ally, the Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, he replied: "Well, he may be a sonofabitch, but he's OUR sonofabitch."

Blackwater (& similar thug-for-hire groups) fit snugly into the definition of an international TERRORIST CELL.

We can easily hear George W (W stands for "Waterboard") saying: "Sure Blackwater is terrorists.... But they're OUR terrorists!"

Come to think of it, Cheney could or should be called a "terrorist mastermind" - hiding in a bunker, plotting how to barbeque more brown children in the Middle East.

The question posed as the thesis here: "Does Blackwater Fuel Iraq's Insurgency?" was a forgone conclusion in many circles roughly five or six years ago.

Congress has finally (finally!) seen fit to pretend to care about the shituation - but only AFTER they were dragged kicking and screaming to the scene of the crime and their noses were rubbed in the mess!

In the Neo Con's wet dream of a "generational war" their agenda is not to achieve a military or diplomatic solution to anything in the Middle East. Their real agenda is to create outrage and hatred among the population there for recruiting purposes - the WANT young Muslim men to "volunteer" to play the role of the enemy. And they want to create a quagmire which will require 20-30 years of "contracting," massive Pentagon budgets and tax dollars flowing freely toward weapons development and manufacture. The Neo Cons only have one trick and it is killing the poor... for profit. Blackwater is a tool toward that end.

Same as it ever was.

by mrk * (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 299 comments) on Saturday, October 6, 2007 at 11:39:32 AM

JackN is a retired phyicist living in Delaware County Pennsylvania.
JackNJackN is a retired phyicist living in Delaware County Pennsylvania.

Oh Merde!

Do you suppose that Fallujah might have been destroyed in retaliation for an angry mob revenge-attacking a random Blackwater shooting spree?

by JackN (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 28 comments) on Saturday, October 6, 2007 at 11:49:41 AM

Ginger Carter is a Christian vegan feminist. Her academic background is in law, English and history.
Ginger CarterGinger Carter is a Christian vegan feminist. Her academic background is in law, English and history.

Connecting the dots - Thank you!

Anthony,

This is a great article! Thanks for connecting the dots so well and creating a clear representation of the self-perpetuating and extraordinarily pecuniary nature of this debacle - draped by its proponents in patriotic rhetoric, "a carefully folded American flag, and perhaps, a bible."

Ginger Carter

by Ginger Carter (1 articles, 6 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 16 comments) on Saturday, October 6, 2007 at 2:43:50 PM

My name it means nothing, my age it means less. My deeds of activism are mine to enjoy and share as I feel necesary, not as some clown in a small forum's administration thinks I must..This place gets worse each and every visit.
Member banned on June 3, 2008 for repeated abuse of editors.
ardee D.My name it means nothing, my age it means less. My deeds of activism are mine to enjoy and share as I feel necesary, not as some clown in a small forum's administration thinks I must..This place gets worse each and every visit.
Member banned on June 3, 2008 for repeated abuse of editors.

Kudos indeed

An excellent and well crafted effort, Mr. Barnes. One must wonder at the fact that one Anthony Barnes can assemble the ringing indictment above while our Congresspersons, who actually are charged with the purse strings that pay these rascals, seem in ignorance of them.

by ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments) on Saturday, October 6, 2007 at 6:10:26 PM