Comments on: Iraq Orders Blackwater USA Contractors Out

Move Sparks Surge In State Department Diplomacy; U.S. Restricts Land Travel Outside Green Zone

[zykracosmos]

This says it all: "...and not insist on expelling a company that the Americans cannot operate here without." As Alan Greenspan revealed recently, "everybody knows this war is about oil." Your tax dollars are paying a mercenary force to protect Halliburton and Exxon''s interests in Iraq, while tired marines and national guard volunteers are getting killed in a Russian roulette of car bombs and snipers. Blackwater mercenaries get paid top dollar and get any equipment they want, because they protect the bigshots. Our volunteer soldiers, who were trained to be an attack force, are commanded to drive around as peacekeeping targets, something they were never trained to do, for very little pay and with NO WAY OUT! What a nightmare. Can you imagine signing up for the national guard in Iowa, thinking you could make some extra pay on weekends and occasionally help mop up after a Midwest tornado, and now be sitting in Iraq on your 3rd tour of duty in an undeclared war with no end in sight, with your wife suffering to make ends meet at home while taking care of your babies? Are you pissed off yet? Hold everyone you know that votes Republican accountable and get in their face.

[gunownerdan]

Private mercenary armies like Blackwater may one day be used to disarm the American people if guns are banned because surely no soldier for the US military would disobey the oath they each took to protect and defend the Constitution.

[omega39-2009]

Oh well, Bush will find them plenty of work in the states..


In an hourlong conversation I had with four Blackwater men, they characterized their work in New Orleans as "securing neighborhoods" and "confronting criminals." They all carried automatic assault weapons and had guns strapped to their legs. Their flak jackets were covered with pouches for extra ammunition.

When asked what authority they were operating under, one guy said, "We''re on contract with the Department of Homeland Security." Then, pointing to one of his comrades, he said, "He was even deputized by the governor of the state of Louisiana. We can make arrests and use lethal force if we deem it necessary." The man then held up the gold Louisiana law enforcement badge he wore around his neck. Blackwater spokesperson Anne Duke also said the company has a letter from Louisiana officials authorizing its forces to carry loaded weapons.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051010/scahill

[grazinggoat]

CBS News: ''American officials refused to explain the legal authority under which Blackwater operates in Iraq or say whether the company was complying with the order. It also was unclear whether the contractors involved in the shooting were still in Iraq.

Despite threats of prosecution, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Alhurra television that contractors cannot be prosecuted by Iraqi courts because "some of them have immunity." ''

- It''s obvious that Iraqis have apologists too. Ali al-Dabbagh looks to be one extreme type of an azz-kisser. Is he declaring this because he''s under pressure or is it because he''s an accomplice? What the difference between those bandits who involved into the deliberate civilians'' shooting and the previous Saddam Hussein''s ''death squads'' who did the same thing and for which we''ve punished him by death penalty?

And you expect Iraqis to love us with all those blunders? Way to go Walking-Liar, Way to go Condom Rice for these beautiful foreign policies.

[barbaraf4]

Blackwater is an arm of Haliburton. Need I say more?

[ioweign]

How can anyone ever vote republican again? If I live another 50 years I swear they will never get my vote again.

Posted by zolefart at 09:16 AM : Sep 18, 2007

My neighbors have made similiar remarks to me.
I stopped voting Republican after Watergate.

[grumpas]

This whole war reeks to the heavens! And it hasn''t improved any over the years! It''s built on greed, corruption and arrogance! What ever possessed the Bush administration to start hiring private mercenaries in the first place? These people are costing the taxpayer a fortune. I resent my taxes being wasted to pay a bunch of thugs out to make an easy buck at someone else''s expense! That''s about all Blackwater is. A bunch of unruly thugs who just got caught. They need to be tried in an Iraqi court too!

[loublain]

These mercs i.e. Blackwater were the best and the toughest guys our services had. They just got tired of low pay and the bizarre workings of the UCMJ and the rules of engagement. If you are being a political pawn anyway at least be able to shoot back.
Labeling these guys street thugs ignores the fact that THEY protect the most sensitive sites and personnel not our undertrained overstreched ctive duty and guard. That''s why we use them. (little secret) they even protect certain Iraqi pols who want it.

[ioweign]

The name of this company fits it "services".

[aaabee-2009]

This is frightening.

Where, under the bylaws of the democracy we are spreading in Iraq, does it tell how much disrespect "contractors" are allowed to use on the citizens of the country they are helping occupy?

What are these "contractors" doing, practicing over there so they can come home and do it for real in the US? Are these "contractors" going to forget their power when Iraq is neatly democratized at last and these jerks return to our shores?

It is too bad there is no backbone to Iraq. Ordering Blackwater out of their country is exactly the right thing to do. But they won''t stick to it, they''ll back down and listen to the soothing lies, just like we do here at home.

Does anyone really believe we are over there to liberate citizens when they are treated like this?
The culmination of this part of Bush''s War will not be US gas tanks filled with Iraqi refined oil, it will be US gas tanks filled with Iraqi blood.

[Hybdiesel]

How can anyone ever vote republican again? If I live another 50 years I swear they will never get my vote again.

[citizenusa-2009]

A case of the tail wagging the dog. After WE SPILLED THE BLOOD OF OUR TROOPS SO THEY COULD HAVE "FREEDOM" they are now calling the shots. Seems to me that if they feel confident to "order people out", they can handle the rest of this war on their own. How bout it?

[toldyouso21]

What kind of government hires mercenaries to visibly manage ANY part of an occupation? Even the word mercenary has a dirty connotation and reputation. It means someone who kills for money and since money is a mercenaries God--they are notorious for changing sides and killing with impunity--if the price is right. No self respecting government would ever hire mercenaries--but regimes like Idi Amin''s, Stalin, Papa Doc et al., sure would.

Mercenaries says more than enough about the legitimacy of our occupation and our motives. From General BetrayUs to dignitaries, our low paid soldiers arenot good enough to protect them--they want the corporate hired guns--that can do anything to anyone...for a price.

[crater7]

RICE, REGRET LOSS OF LIFE, PROMISED TO SHARE RESULTS OF INVESTIGATION;

JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE FAILED WORLDS GREATEST MILITARY BLUNDER, BY THIS ADMINISTRATION.

RICE, IS PART OF THE CORRUPT DUBYA ADMINISTRATION, THAT GAVE THESE RAMBO, SUPER-TROOPERS, THE LICENSE
TO KILL. SHOOT FIRST DON''T ASK QUESTONS.

STAY THE COURSE........

[antoniof123]

It is really getting out of control. If the Republican Senators don''t put this administration on a very short leash in fact maybe remove from office both the President and Vice President the Republican may never again see a Republican President or majority again. In fact they may go the way of the wigs. This group is representing you that is why I left you morons.

[gkc99]

""We see the security firms ... doing whatever they want in the streets. They (the security firms'' personnel) beat citizens and scorn them," Baghdad resident Halim Mashkoor told AP Television News. "I ask one question: If such a thing happened in America or Britain, would the American president or American citizens accept it?"


The American citizens would have to accept it because the American president ordered it when he declared himself president for life and formally suspended the Constitution under the secret emergency law passed by an a$$-kissing Repugniscum Congress. Once you pass a law giving unlimited power to a tyrant, you never get it back.

[drummer94]

"Private contractors" That always cracks me up. Can you say mercenaries? Kinda like "search and destroy" went to "sweep and clear". And Maliki is looking to gain "political capital". Now where have we heard that before?

[eggy1620]

This is the perfect opportunity for the Bush administration to make a definitive statement about the US presence in Iraq. Either the Iraqi government is truly sovereign and can legally expel that company and the US government will honor that decision; or the Iraqi government is a sham and Iraq is for all practical purposes, an out of control colony of the US.

[glossypan]

Another indication that not only our decision to occupy Iraq, but our methodology for occupying Iraq is absurd. Contract details are secret but the American taxpayer provides a Blackwater security guard with better housing, better food and a salary four times as large as an enlistees. It must be assumed that Blackwater and the other private contractors, notably AEGIS, a British company widely known for its predilection for target practice at Iraqi homes and vehicles {their employees posted videos on the net) , are feeding at the same "take all you want" trough as Halliburton.