Green Zone Government Gives US 6 Months to Dump Blackwater

The Green Zone Government in Baghdad is still annoyed by the killing of 17 Iraq-Namese by employees of Blackwater USA. The al-Maliki government has just issued a report that demands the US sever all ties to the company within 6 months and that it hand over Blackwater employees who were involved in the Nisoor Square shooting. This may get ugly very quickly, but this is what happens when one outsources the wrong functions. After all, a mercenary will gladly cash a check to kill for an employer, but not to die for one.

In addition to the above demands, the Iraq-Namese want $8 million per family of those who died in Nisoor Square. The report wants such high compensation “because Blackwater uses employees who disrespect the rights of Iraqi citizens even though they are guests in this country.” [AP translation]. The report bases this statement on the grounds that Blackwater employees have killed 21 and wounded 27 since the US occupation started.

What is most interesting is the claim that Blackwater’s gunmen are not immune from Iraq-Namese prosecution. American pro-consul L. Paul Bremer in June 2004 decreed that private guards were immune from Iraq-Namese law. The report claims that Blackwater’s license to operate in Iraq-Nam expired in 2006, meaning the immunity didn’t apply. The shooters could be tried, the report claims, under a 1969 criminal code.

Naturally, Bush administration officials will pressure their counterparts in Baghdad to calm down, but the real issue isn’t going to go away. Private armies operating in the name of the US in occupied Iraq-Nam is lousy policy. Accountability, or the lack thereof, has been the chief issue in Iraq-Nam since 2003. No one from the president on down seems to bear any responsibility. Private warriors only blur the obligations and duties further.

The US is not a signatory to the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries. Blackwater and the other 27 private security firms, though, need to be regulated somehow. Or better still, they shouldn’t be government contractors. Let the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security protect the American Ambassador along with the US Marines. After all, that is their job, and the taxpayer is already paying their salary.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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