Thursday, January 29, 2009

Iraq bars Blackwater

EssEffChron

Iraq said Thursday it will bar Blackwater Worldwide from providing security protection for U.S. diplomats because its contractors used excessive force, sanctioning a company whose image was irrevocably tarnished by the 2007 killings of 17 Iraqi civilians.

The move will deprive American diplomats of their main protection force in Iraq.

Gee, what do American diplomats need protection from? Isn't Iraq all pacified and democratized and our new BFF thanks to Bush's surge? Isn't life there just peachy now like a walk in the park?

Besides the killing, murdering, of the civilians in Nisoor Square which was the final-straw catalyst for banning that bunch of mercenary bastards, which is only now made possible for the Iraqis to do because Bush is gone, I would remind you that Blackwater bungling was also the cause of The First Battle Of Fallujah, as recounted in the excellent book No True Glory.

Blackwater has also been used to 'keep order' inside the United States, such as in NOLA after Katrina, and has tried to start a training base down near San Diego. The locals put the kibosh on that, to their everlasting credit. Blackwater has also been contracted to train the U.S. and Canadian military. I remember when the U.S. military was perfectly capable of training itself, thank you very much. What little I know about being a Marine, I learned from other Marines who had an interest other than money.

Also see Hooyah!.

In case of civil insurrection here at home, I would very much like Blackwater to get the contract to try to quell it. I doubt if I'd ever shoot at a U.S. soldier, but I have no such compunctions about mercenaries. See 'sight alignment and trigger squeeze...learned from other Marines...all enemies foreign and domestic'.

The only place Blackwater and others of its ilk should be allowed to operate is on the other side of the River Styx.

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