[Peace-discuss] Buh-bye Blackwater

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Blackwater Mercs Likely to Stay in Iraq, Despite Gov't Ban
	By Noah Shachtman
	January 29, 2009

Iraq's government says it won't give Blackwater a license to operate in the
country. So does that mean the firm's cadre of tattooed gunslingers will be gone
from Iraq, forever? Not exactly.

Sure, Blackwater as a corporate entity probably won't be roaming the streets of
Baghdad or Mosul for much longer. But the individual mercenaries who've been
working for years in Iraq, serving as a Praetorian Guard for the State
Department's diplomats — those guys likely will be able to stay.

The State Department has a contract for "worldwide personal protective services"
with three firms: Blackwater, DynCorp, and Triple Canopy. If Blackwater is no
longer allowed to operate in Iraq, a lawyer steeped in the field tells Danger
Room, there's no legal reason why the other two firms can't scoop up
Blackwater's employees. "State simply issues a new task order to DynCorp or
Triple Canopy, who turn around and hire some or all of Blackwater's employees,"
he says.

Which could prove to be more than a little problematic. More than any other
private military firm in Iraq, Blackwater had a reputation for recklessness and
violence. Think about the drunken Blackwater contractor, who killed a bodyguard
of Iraq's vice president on Christmas Eve, 2007. Or the car full of people a
Blackwater detail ran off the road, in September 2006. Or the Nisour Square
shooting that left 17 dead, in September 2007. "If you think Blackwater culture
is to blame, this [loophole] kind of confounds that," the lawyer observes.

But why would the State Department want to do such a thing? Well, Blackwater
likes to boast that it hasn't had a single person under its protection killed in
Iraq. And it's not like there are tons of people with the experience, security
clearance and willingness to work in a war zone that are needed to serve on the
diplomat-protective detail. "Blackwater is the State Department's Frankenstein
of diplomatic security," Licensed to Kill author Robert Young Pelton tells
Danger Room. And you know how hard it is to get rid of that monster.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/01/blackwater-bann.html

Barbara kessel wrote:
> This is a good step, but it does not affect Blackwater in Illinois, now 
> re-dubbed Blackwater Midwest. They are here to "protect us" in Illinois from
> terrorism and disasters through their training of local law enforcement.
> Barbara
> 
> On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 4:31 PM, Wendy Edwards <wayward710 at gmail.com 
> <mailto:wayward710 at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> The Obama administration is not renewing Blackwater's contract.
> 
> http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/30/us.blackwater.contract/index.html
> 
> Wendy