Iraqis outraged over Blackwater’s slow exit from the country.
Iraqis outraged over Blackwater’s slow exit from the country.
In January, the Iraqi government announced that it would “not issue a new operating license to Blackwater Worldwide,” which is now known as Xe, and that the company would have to be out of the country “as soon as a joint Iraqi-U.S. committee finishes drawing up guidelines for private contractors.” But the AP reports today that the company is “still protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq, even though the company has no license to operate there and has been told by the State Department its contracts will not be renewed two years after a lethal firefight that stirred outrage in Baghdad.” Some victims of that firefight are angry that the company has yet to leave:
Some Iraqis wounded in the September 2007 shootout by guards for the former Backwater Worldwide security firm expressed anger and dismay Tuesday after reports that the company will continue work in Iraq longer than previously thought.
Hussein Jabber, a Baghdad lawyer hit by gunfire in the deadly melee, says he was outraged at the Iraqi government for not taking a harder stance against the company, now known as Xe.
“The Blackwater personnel are mercenaries. The Iraqi government knows that very well,” said Jabber, who still has bullet fragments in his arm and side from the Sept. 16, 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqis dead and another 20 wounded in Baghdad’s busy Nisoor Square.
The State Department has said that the company’s guards will stop protecting U.S. diplomats on the ground in Baghdad on May 7, when that specific contract is up. But the AP reports that the company’s guards “are slated to continue ground operations in parts of Iraq long into the summer, far longer than had previously been acknowledged.”
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So much for Iraqi sovereignty.
April 21st, 2009 at 9:58 amHaliburton . . . Blackwater . . . Xe –
A rose by any other name — in this case, still pricks.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:01 amSpeaking of, . . . thank you, Dick Cheney, for your far-reaching contributions in this world.
One would expect this be perhaps a HIGHER priority with the Obama administration???
April 21st, 2009 at 10:03 amWell, now, let’s see. Iraq has a democratically elected government, supposedly operating as a sovereign nation. So, how about they start arresting these Blackwater/Xe thugs and deporting them? It would just be another sign that they are getting a handle on governing themselves without the help of the U.S. Army. The army could then start defending our diplomats and civilian workers–something that they should have been doing all along.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:04 amNothing destroys the myth of Iraqi sovereignty more than the continued extra-legal presence of mercenary units such as Blackwater/XE.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:06 amSurprised? I think not…
April 21st, 2009 at 10:10 amThe sad thing is, many Americans don’t even know about Black Water(or Xe ???) You ask these so-called patriots who watch Faux News and they ask, “Black Water who?” Either that, or they just stick their fingers in their ears or bury their heads in the sand.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:10 amAfter all Blackwater is a Bush/Cheney clone. Why should they be required to abide by the law or the wishes of anyone. Bush and Cheney never did – can we really expect one of their pet companies to behave any differently?
April 21st, 2009 at 10:12 amPushing American branded global corporations is the job of the Council on Foreign Relations and the IMF.
WaPo did a piece on expanded powers of the IMF to force governments to comply with U.S. corporate demands, banks, agriculture, etc.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/19/AR2009041902242_pf.html
IMF bailouts, however, were the bane of many poor countries; they often came with demands for fiscal austerity and free-market reform as the cures for developing nations — even if that meant nations had to cut back on programs for health care and schools.
Iraq’s just the beginning of world corporatization.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:12 amIt’s frustrating to see that people think that the Army is big enough to be everywhere, and protect the diplomats like they should have been doing. The Army is having trouble keeping their own numbers up, and now having to move into Afghanistan and losing people who want to get out and work as a contractor for XE, Triple Canopy etc…. It’s just not that easy to say let the Army do it.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:16 amBoth scary and interesting that Iraq is being controlled by a corporation of mercenaries…Just a thought but isn’t that in one way or another a sampeling of what we have here…We the people expect our administration’s to follow the constitution and abide by the law’s and yet they are dismissed with word game’s..We the people expect our banking and financial industry to be fair and practice good business practices and yet they fleece the public, squander all the profits and then we the people are hijacked to feed them more in the form of bail out’s..We the people expect our country to be peaceful and caring and yet we must fight them at every turn to stop the war machine’s even when it’s proven they practice preemptive war’s on innocent population’s all over the world….
Sad to say we the people as well as people all over the world are loosing the most important issues of Peace, when will we ever learn…..P.B. & J
April 21st, 2009 at 10:19 amstateofthedivision Says:
Pushing American branded global corporations is the job of the Council on Foreign Relations and the IMF.
WaPo did a piece on expanded powers of the IMF to force governments to comply with U.S. corporate demands, banks, agriculture, etc.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:12 am
_____________
No surprise there. The Washington Consensus is far from dead:
http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager82.pdf
April 21st, 2009 at 10:20 amIngrates! We done brung ‘em free-dumb.
How dare they!
Lessee- we torture, hire mercenaries to guard our diplomats in the country we invaded under false pretenses, and killed lots of kids/ families attempting to exercise their free-dumb by driving through checkpoints, and, …………………..
April 21st, 2009 at 10:21 am“the AP reports that the company’s guards “are slated to continue ground operations in parts of Iraq long into the summer, far longer than had previously been acknowledged.”
WHO…Is doing the slating?
April 21st, 2009 at 10:21 amOh yeah, and I forgot to mention that Mr. Prince is a good Christ- stain man. From a good Christ- stain family, very well- connected. I’m sure his hands are free of it now, too– WWJD?
April 21st, 2009 at 10:22 amOh yeah, and I forgot to mention that Mr. Prince is a good Christ- stain man. From a good Christ- stain family, very well- connected. I’m sure his hands are free of it now, too– WWJD?
April 21st, 2009 at 10:23 amUmmm Udunno, the task of guarding our diplomats has traditionally been done with Marines, assigned to the embassy..Not the Army.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:23 amBackwater Worldwide
Heh.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:28 amyoudon’t know, just who is responsible for the army being stretched so thin? Do you think it was a coinsidence that Blackwater/Xe, Halliburton and KBR were ready and able to do all of the contract work that was originally done by the military? Jobs such as mail delivery, food service, laundry, protection, etc., etc. I think that your moniker says much more about you than you realize.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:31 amThank you Chiroptera Toasterhead. I ran across this:
Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost
President Barack Obama Monday asked Congress to back an expansion of an IMF emergency fund by 500 billion dollars in a move designed to expand its reach to big emerging market nations.
Obama also asked lawmakers to approve a US contribution to the fund to 100 billion dollars, as part of the plan to swell International Monetary Fund reserves agreed at this month’s Group of 20 summit in London.
The president made the request in several letters to Democratic and Republican congressional leaders on Monday, pointing out that the fund did not require an extra financial outlay from the United States.
When Washington transfers funds to the IMF under the program, known as an expansion of the New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB), it would receive interest bearing assets in return, backed up by IMF resources including gold stocks.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.e43b9036d7e888689f940591f2b4c7cd.b31&show_article=1
April 21st, 2009 at 10:31 amPack ‘em up, put ‘em in boats and send ‘em to patrol the Somalian coast, say I.
.
youdontknow Says:
It’s just not that easy to say let the Army do it.
I can’t think of a previous war where the U.S.A. had to rely on mercenaries. If the people in charge of the last administration were in any way remotely competent, then supplementing the presumably most powerful military in the world with for-hire mercenary help wouldn’t have been considered, much les considered necessary.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:47 amI’m discouraged that you liberals believe that the military has more than one MOS. Great post youdontknow.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:21 amWhy the hell am I going to pay a private first class $1300 a month to kill on bad orders when I can pay KBR $1000 for a load of laundry and a “hot” shower?
April 21st, 2009 at 11:23 amtranslate to neoconish Says:
Why the hell am I going to pay a private first class $1300 a month to kill on bad orders when I can pay KBR $1000 for a load of laundry and a “hot” shower?
A hot shower that may kill you.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:24 pma bunch of thugs roaming around the country with absolutely no accountability, either to the DOD or the Iraqi Government.
it was bound to end in tears.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:27 pmChrist, if you kick them out, don’t send them back here.
April 21st, 2009 at 1:27 pmEnlist them. Pay them the usual Army rate. The they would also have to abide by the rules. Do they want to serve or not? If they don’t, fine, they don’t get to.
We do not need the Bush/Cheney Praetorian Guard anymore.
April 21st, 2009 at 4:44 pmI’ll tell you how the Iraqis can get Blackwater out, it’s called snipers.
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 amWhat would YOU do if your country was illegally invaded, and the occupiers had paid hacks with automatic weapons, sometimes killing innocent civilians? I know what I’d do…. I’d do just what the Iraqis are doing. Roadside bombs and sniper attacks. If it were our country, and someone was attacking the occupiers, what would we call those doing the attacking? Patriots.
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:52 am