RAGINGLY PSYCHOTIC NATION: Blackwater USA brings out the best in us
It would seem purely coincidence that the same week the mercenary group, Blackwater USA, would be in the news for pumping fire into civilians in Baghdad, it would appear on Futureweapons peddling automatic shotguns, armored cars and the application of massive firepower. -- from this blog a couple weeks ago
From the New York Times by way of the International Herald Tribune today:
"A deadly cascade of events began when a single bullet apparently fired by a Blackwater guard killed an Iraqi man whose weight probably remained on the accelerator and propelled the car forward as the passenger, the man's mother, clutched him and screamed ... The car continued to roll toward the convoy, which responded with an intense barrage of gunfire in several directions, striking Iraqis who were desperately trying to flee."
Skipping further ahead:
"Then Blackwater guards opened fire with a barrage of bullets, according to the police and numerous witnesses. Ahmed's father later counted 40 bullet holes in the car. Ahmed's mother, Mohassin Kadhim, appears to have been shot to death as she cradled her son in her arms. Moments later the car caught fire after the Blackwater guards fired a type of grenade into the vehicle."
From DD blog's description of Blackwater's p.r. segment on Futureweapons, the diseased entertainment TV show which is currently the crown jewel of the Military channel:
On display was the the Grizzly, a fifteen ton armored car invented and made by Blackwater USA, and automatic shotguns that fire as fast as machine guns. The automatic shotguns were claimed, by a Blackwater employee, to be the most powerful of their kind, capable of shooting small grenades ... One would view the part where the hopped-up host uses a Blackwater machine gun to riddle a civilian automobile with a dummy behind the wheel as magnificently and malevolently mentally ill.
Blackwater USA is known worldwide as an entity besmirching the reputation of the country. Whether one believes it is wholly deserved is beside the point. Vexingly, in the recent hearing it was revealed that Blackwater USA fires employees which embarrass the company. Besmirching Blackwater's reputation is verboten -- if it has some say in the matter. However, the United States government cannot and won't fire Blackwater USA for embarrassing the rest of us.
There'll be no voluntary or compelled seppuku in store for Blackwater USA.
The fact of the matter is that the company is viewed as a private army -- a corporate guard of ex-military men who shoot civilians indiscriminately as a regular part of their job guarding American politicians and State Department employees in Iraq. This is part of the humanitarian operation our nation is conducting in Iraq.
When someone is shot dead by a raging drunk on the streets of the United States, their name is immediately on TV and in the newspapers. When a raging drunk from Blackwater USA shoots the guard of an Iraqi official, the perp is referred to only as an anonymous "individual" in Congress and by the media. No one can be allowed to know who he is. It might prejudice justice should -- theoretically -- it be pursued.
Like everything about the Iraq war, it's repellent and as ridiculous as the various reasons for the war. It's another in a huge list of shames and stains upon the country, blots we'll have to endure.
The fault is not just with the current administration.
Congress held no investigations into whether it was wise and proper to use private armies in Iraq until this week. Private armies were and are politically convenient. Actually getting more Americans into uniform to handle all the security functions in the occupation of a failed state was and is way too politically inconvenient.
Years of war went by and no one in oversight positions within the Beltway could be bothered to look into outsourced security except a couple journalists and academics who wrote books and who were, until the last couple of weeks, banished to the fringes.
Even portions of the media have previously gone along with the idea that Blackwater USA is nothing more than a security company trying to do right for the American people. Heck, Blackwater USA provided great edutainment on cable TV's Futureweapons!
"[Cofer Black of Blackwater USA] astonished special operations forces representatives gathered here from around the world with a proposal to use his company as an army for hire for the world's secondary battles," reported Army Times in April of last year.
" 'It's an intriguing, good idea from a practical standpoint because we're low-cost and fast ... The issue is, who's going to let us play on their team?'"
"Blackwater spends a lot of time thinking, 'How can we contribute to the common good?'" the man said.
To read these words was to experience great hilarity at the preposterousness of such a presumption. It was supposedly right and good, like everything wise and caring Americans invent to further security in foreign countries, all of them much smaller and weaker than us, places where no one can stand up and say "Get the Hell out!" and enforce it.
DD cynically predicts get used to more business as usual.
Benighted Connecticut politician Chris Shays was in awe of what Blackwater does, we were informed through the hearing.
On the evening news hour with Jim Lehrer, the politicians, as usual -- banged heads and split down the middle.
If you were a Democrat, Blackwater USA was in need of some serious brushbacks. If you were a Republican, the Democrats were using Blackwater as political theatre. The company was just doing its job and no one should rush to judgment.
Besides, getting Blackwater USA and other mercenaries out of Iraq would be harder than getting Lindsay Lohan off booze.
Google, as part of its News tab, has started published by-lined commentaries from "experts." These commentaries are positioned to show with cluster's of news stories to which they apply.
Today, DD noticed Google had placed a commentary on the Blackwater hearings, written by Doug Brooks, President, of the International Peace Operations Association.
Brooks is a lobbyist for Blackwater USA, another Blackwater subsidiary -- Total Information Solutions, and a host of other mercenary security contractors working in Iraq. DD thinks most readers can perceive Blackwater USA's action in protecting a State Department convoy in Nisour Square does not really fit the definition of an International Peace Operation unless, perhaps, you always use the Orwellian definition, "War is Peace."
However, nowhere in the Google-published commentary was Brooks' affiliation and history revealed.
Instead, it was tossed out to the layman as the work of an expert instead of a professional p.r. man hawking Blackwater USA's position.
"Much of the information [on Blackwater] that the Members of Congress based their questions on was hopelessly biased, and collapsed in the face of the testimony," wrote Brooks.
"Contractors play a critical role - not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, but in Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Somalia and many other places where international peace and stability operations are underway. Indeed, peacekeeping could not happen without them," he continued.
"We often point out that U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are the best supported and supplied military operations in history," Brooks goes on.
Yes, that's so obvious, Mr. Lobbyist for Blackwater. Even better than World War II!
It would seem purely coincidence that the same week the mercenary group, Blackwater USA, would be in the news for pumping fire into civilians in Baghdad, it would appear on Futureweapons peddling automatic shotguns, armored cars and the application of massive firepower. -- from this blog a couple weeks ago
From the New York Times by way of the International Herald Tribune today:
"A deadly cascade of events began when a single bullet apparently fired by a Blackwater guard killed an Iraqi man whose weight probably remained on the accelerator and propelled the car forward as the passenger, the man's mother, clutched him and screamed ... The car continued to roll toward the convoy, which responded with an intense barrage of gunfire in several directions, striking Iraqis who were desperately trying to flee."
Skipping further ahead:
"Then Blackwater guards opened fire with a barrage of bullets, according to the police and numerous witnesses. Ahmed's father later counted 40 bullet holes in the car. Ahmed's mother, Mohassin Kadhim, appears to have been shot to death as she cradled her son in her arms. Moments later the car caught fire after the Blackwater guards fired a type of grenade into the vehicle."
From DD blog's description of Blackwater's p.r. segment on Futureweapons, the diseased entertainment TV show which is currently the crown jewel of the Military channel:
On display was the the Grizzly, a fifteen ton armored car invented and made by Blackwater USA, and automatic shotguns that fire as fast as machine guns. The automatic shotguns were claimed, by a Blackwater employee, to be the most powerful of their kind, capable of shooting small grenades ... One would view the part where the hopped-up host uses a Blackwater machine gun to riddle a civilian automobile with a dummy behind the wheel as magnificently and malevolently mentally ill.
Blackwater USA is known worldwide as an entity besmirching the reputation of the country. Whether one believes it is wholly deserved is beside the point. Vexingly, in the recent hearing it was revealed that Blackwater USA fires employees which embarrass the company. Besmirching Blackwater's reputation is verboten -- if it has some say in the matter. However, the United States government cannot and won't fire Blackwater USA for embarrassing the rest of us.
There'll be no voluntary or compelled seppuku in store for Blackwater USA.
The fact of the matter is that the company is viewed as a private army -- a corporate guard of ex-military men who shoot civilians indiscriminately as a regular part of their job guarding American politicians and State Department employees in Iraq. This is part of the humanitarian operation our nation is conducting in Iraq.
When someone is shot dead by a raging drunk on the streets of the United States, their name is immediately on TV and in the newspapers. When a raging drunk from Blackwater USA shoots the guard of an Iraqi official, the perp is referred to only as an anonymous "individual" in Congress and by the media. No one can be allowed to know who he is. It might prejudice justice should -- theoretically -- it be pursued.
Like everything about the Iraq war, it's repellent and as ridiculous as the various reasons for the war. It's another in a huge list of shames and stains upon the country, blots we'll have to endure.
The fault is not just with the current administration.
Congress held no investigations into whether it was wise and proper to use private armies in Iraq until this week. Private armies were and are politically convenient. Actually getting more Americans into uniform to handle all the security functions in the occupation of a failed state was and is way too politically inconvenient.
Years of war went by and no one in oversight positions within the Beltway could be bothered to look into outsourced security except a couple journalists and academics who wrote books and who were, until the last couple of weeks, banished to the fringes.
Even portions of the media have previously gone along with the idea that Blackwater USA is nothing more than a security company trying to do right for the American people. Heck, Blackwater USA provided great edutainment on cable TV's Futureweapons!
"[Cofer Black of Blackwater USA] astonished special operations forces representatives gathered here from around the world with a proposal to use his company as an army for hire for the world's secondary battles," reported Army Times in April of last year.
" 'It's an intriguing, good idea from a practical standpoint because we're low-cost and fast ... The issue is, who's going to let us play on their team?'"
"Blackwater spends a lot of time thinking, 'How can we contribute to the common good?'" the man said.
To read these words was to experience great hilarity at the preposterousness of such a presumption. It was supposedly right and good, like everything wise and caring Americans invent to further security in foreign countries, all of them much smaller and weaker than us, places where no one can stand up and say "Get the Hell out!" and enforce it.
DD cynically predicts get used to more business as usual.
Benighted Connecticut politician Chris Shays was in awe of what Blackwater does, we were informed through the hearing.
On the evening news hour with Jim Lehrer, the politicians, as usual -- banged heads and split down the middle.
If you were a Democrat, Blackwater USA was in need of some serious brushbacks. If you were a Republican, the Democrats were using Blackwater as political theatre. The company was just doing its job and no one should rush to judgment.
Besides, getting Blackwater USA and other mercenaries out of Iraq would be harder than getting Lindsay Lohan off booze.
Google, as part of its News tab, has started published by-lined commentaries from "experts." These commentaries are positioned to show with cluster's of news stories to which they apply.
Today, DD noticed Google had placed a commentary on the Blackwater hearings, written by Doug Brooks, President, of the International Peace Operations Association.
Brooks is a lobbyist for Blackwater USA, another Blackwater subsidiary -- Total Information Solutions, and a host of other mercenary security contractors working in Iraq. DD thinks most readers can perceive Blackwater USA's action in protecting a State Department convoy in Nisour Square does not really fit the definition of an International Peace Operation unless, perhaps, you always use the Orwellian definition, "War is Peace."
However, nowhere in the Google-published commentary was Brooks' affiliation and history revealed.
Instead, it was tossed out to the layman as the work of an expert instead of a professional p.r. man hawking Blackwater USA's position.
"Much of the information [on Blackwater] that the Members of Congress based their questions on was hopelessly biased, and collapsed in the face of the testimony," wrote Brooks.
"Contractors play a critical role - not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, but in Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Somalia and many other places where international peace and stability operations are underway. Indeed, peacekeeping could not happen without them," he continued.
"We often point out that U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are the best supported and supplied military operations in history," Brooks goes on.
Yes, that's so obvious, Mr. Lobbyist for Blackwater. Even better than World War II!
posted by George Smith at 9:41 AM
1 Comments:
Sorry I didn't comment sooner! Contractors are essential to peace operations these days, and anyone doing research on this topic should feel free to contact me at DBrooks@IPOAonline.org.
Best,
doug brooks
President, IPOA
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