[Peace-discuss] Blackwater and its meaning

[Morton K. Brussel]

Surprising, and hopeful? to see this by columnist Georgie Ann Geyer ,  
not exactly a flaming liberal.

Georgie Anne Geyer, Universal Press Syndicate
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi- 
oped0921geyersep21,0,1922767,print.story

September 21, 2007

WASHINGTON
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tile=1;ord=46433250?>

An hour or two's drive south of Norfolk, Va., you pass through a North
Carolina swamp where once, it is said, black bears abounded. That is why
Blackwater USA, the large American private security contractor now  
mired in
controversy, the result of a shootout in Baghdad that reportedly  
killed 20
people, has as its symbol the distinctive five-clawed foot of the bear.

Just beyond the swamp lies Blackwater headquarters, which could be  
easily
mistaken for an American military camp. The big main building, new this
spring, has the bear's-foot symbol atop its entranceway. Across the  
camp you
can see small planes landing, men dressed as Al Qaeda insurgents  
attacking
Americans in exact replicas of Iraqi villages, and Blackwater men  
protecting
disguised American "diplomats." All getting ready for the real thing in
Iraq!

It's not really surprising that, despite all of this exceedingly  
authentic
training, a few of Blackwater's private soldiers -- part of the
approximately 50,000 private soldiers (some would call them  
"mercenaries")
in Iraq -- have gotten into trouble. Because many of them are former  
Special
Forces, Navy Seals, retired police and other security men, they are  
widely
considered the most aggressive of the private contractors, known for at
least half a dozen incidents in which Blackwater guards allegedly shot
civilians.

So when last Sunday, Blackwater guards ostensibly protecting an American
diplomatic caravan (they protect people like the American ambassador,  
for
instance) came up against a car bomb exploding near the motorcade,  
all hell
broke loose. Blackwater appears to have deemed it an ambush, as its men
clambered out of the cars and began shooting. But Iraqi soldiers manning
local checkpoints said they got out of their sport-utility vehicles and
wildly started shooting randomly at people.

Thus started a show of wills between the Iraqi government and the  
American
government as to who controls Blackwater and the other private security
groups. After Sunday, the Iraqi Interior Ministry announced that the
operating license of Blackwater was canceled -- but was there really a
license?

The company has had a one-year operating license from the Interior  
Ministry
since 2005, but this is now outdated, although a new application has  
been
made. The 100 or so mostly American security firms operating in Iraq
actually are under contract with the State Department. (Such  
contracts since
2003 total $678 million; contracts with the Pentagon total $48.5  
million.)

There is constant discussion and debate as to what kinds of controls  
these
private security men, who have taken over so much of the working and the
fighting in Iraq, have over them. The Geneva Conventions? Hardly. Do  
they
even come under State Department or Pentagon authority at all? Are they
supposed to be under Iraqi control? Under the original rules after the
occupation, private security contractors were authorized by the  
Coalition
Provisional Authority to work in Iraq but had to register their  
weapons. The
situation remains legally ambiguous.

These are the immediate questions being raised by day-to-day  
conflicts in
Iraq. However, events such as Sunday's firefight, in addition to other
random killings committed by these private contractors, raise  
questions far
more profound for America.

Are we, in essence, preparing America for a time when even more of  
our major
fighting and security work will be carried through by men and women  
who do
not operate under the rules and regulations of our armed forces? Are  
we at
the point where all sorts of activities will be "contracted out" to  
people
who do not serve under the laws, discipline and traditions of our
professionals? (Only last week, it was announced that American  
intelligence
work might be contracted out to non-professionals.)

For the six years since Sept. 11, the country seems not to have come
together on anything, whether it be the Iraq war, Katrina or  
congressional
decision-making. The word that has been rolling around in my mind is
"disconnect." I haven't been able to quite put my finger on what I was
seeing and feeling, but it has felt as though America has become
disconnected. Somehow the government doesn't function as it once did;
citizens no longer receive what is their due.

These private security companies are a major example of how the country
doesn't connect. Our regular armed forces aren't enough to do the  
job, they
tell us, so we have to use private enterprise on all kinds of new  
levels.

This kind of thinking poses serious issues. A nation such as ours, built
upon laws and justice, an organized state responsive to its  
citizenry, will
soon begin to fade away if its central core is corrupted. This is
particularly important in regards to its armed forces. We are not only
endangering ourselves in Iraq with such actions; we are endangering our
future.

Oh yes, there is one other factor. Our leaders say that they need these
outside contractors because we do not have enough professionals. Well, I
have a truly original idea. Instead of hiring "outside" in order to  
do more
across the world, why not pare down our imperial ambitions to match our
capacity -- and invade fewer countries, by the way?

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Georgie Anne Geyer is a syndicated columnist based in Washington