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keane
Joined: 09 Jul 2007
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 Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:09 am Post subject: Blackwater: out of control |
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Mercs-R-Us
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"It may be worse than Abu Ghraib."
That's a senior U.S. military official explaining to The Washington Post how strongly Iraqis are reacting to Blackwater's September 16th shooting of civilians in Baghdad. By contrast, here's a State Department official: "The bottom line of this is that we recognize that there's an issue here."
In the gap between those two assessments lies the acrimony between the Pentagon and the State Department over the shooting. The State Department hired Blackwater to protect its dignitaries in Iraq, and so it has to balance its relationship with the Iraqi government with its need to protect Blackwater from reprisal. But the military sees Blackwater's relaxed rules of engagement -- issued by the State Department -- as hurtful to its efforts to turn Iraqis against the Sunni insurgency and the Shiite militias. (More on this later today.)
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"They are immature shooters and have very quick trigger fingers. Their tendency is shoot first and ask questions later," said an Army lieutenant colonel serving in Iraq. Referring to the Sept. 16 shootings, the officer added, "None of us believe they were engaged, but we are all carrying their black eyes."
"Many of my peers think Blackwater is oftentimes out of control," said a senior U.S. commander serving in Iraq. "They often act like cowboys over here . . . not seeming to play by the same rules everyone else tries to play by." |
What's surprising is that many, if not most, of Blackwater's security teams are made up of former U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines, including special-operations veterans. The discipline almost always shown in a U.S. uniform appears to break down under relaxed rules of engagement, especially in a place as dangerous as Iraq. A U.S. military intelligence officer asks: "Why are we creating new vulnerabilities by relying on what are essentially mercenary forces?" (Yes, there's that M-word, which touched off a huge blogospheric controversy when Markos Moulitsas used it.) |
Got that, C/N-C's? Mercenaries. |
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igotthisguitar
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
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| Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:24 am Post subject: |
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State Dept: Corruption in Iraq is Classified
David Corn
Wed Sep 26, 12:00 PM ET
The Nation -- Corruption in the Iraqi government--it's classified information.
So says the State Department 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/3237024 (etc) |
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igotthisguitar
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
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| Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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Blackwater Guards Killed 16 In Week Of Violence 
By Leila Fadel, McClatchy Newspapers
Sat Sep 29, 3:06 PM ET
BAGHDAD � On Sept. 9 , the day before Army Gen. David Petraeus , the U.S. military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker told Congress that things were getting better, Batoul Mohammed Ali Hussein came to Baghdad on business for the day.
... cont'd ...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20070929 (etc) |
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