Iraqi Government Boots Blackwater: Another 'Mission Accomplished'

Blackwater Security is back in the news: and the killings in Baghdad's Nisoor Square aren't forgotten.

People who may think that Code Pink has a centrist philosophy, feel that wars would end if America was nice, and opine about the "Right Wing Christian Dynasty," aren't likely to let Blackwater go. What Blackwater security's employees did was a wonderful propaganda tool for them: a concrete example of what they seem to fear more than the Taliban.

Blackwater Guards on Trial

The American judicial system hasn't forgotten, either. Guards involved in the 2007 Nisoor Square killings were charged earlier this month. "...Each of the former guards has been charged with 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a violent crime...." (CNN)

Manslaughter. That's "homicide without malice aforethought." (WordNet) I think I see the point. Apparently there isn't enough evidence to show that the nitwits planned to kill somebody. It's not emotionally satisfying, but it is still a serious charge.

I'm not as certain now, as I was in 2007, that the case should be tried by an Iraqi court. It still seems like a good idea: Iraq is a sovereign country, the offense was committed in Iraq, against Iraqi citizens. But, the India-Pakistan-Mumbai situation has given me more to think about, when it comes to international criminal cases, and I'm not even close to making up my mind.

I'm just glad that I'm not responsible for deciding where the case gets tried.

Strange Justice

A problem I have, when thinking about American courts, is that I started being aware of how the American judicial system works in the sixties. What I learned - from sources which often had a favorable view of American courts and their efforts to change society - about the weird decisions and views on social engineering from the bench appalled me. At best, I have reservations about the ability of an American court to stay glued to the space-time continuum.

Iraq to America: Find Another Security Firm

Blackwater Worldwide seems to be definitely out of Iraq now. American diplomats will have to find another company to provide protection.

Iraq's Major Geneneral Abdul-Karim Khalaf spoke for the Interior Ministry: " 'We sent our decision to the U.S. Embassy last Friday,' Khalaf told The Associated Press in a phone interview. 'They have to find a new security company.' " (AP)

Sounds reasonable. Reputation is important, and Blackwater's reputation in Iraq isn't good at all. Even if Blackwater as a company was blameless in Nasoor Square killings (stay calm, keep reading), the Iraqi government would want Blackwater out: just as a matter of public relations. As it is, I can't help but think that something went horribly wrong in Blackwater hiring or management practices - maybe both.

And, Iraq isn't blacklisting all Blackwater employees. If someone worked for Blackwater and wasn't involved in what happened in Nasoor Square, they can apply for a job at another security company.

It's "Mission Accomplished" - and Will be for Generations

Iraq's a sovereign nation. It's government is negotiating with the American government, sorting out how the two countries will be handling diplomatic security - and whatever else needs to be dealt with .

There's still a lot of work to be done, catching up on three decades of neglect under Hussein's mis-management: and repairing what happens when a homicidal dictator won't give up, and religious crazies try purifying a country with swords and truck bombs. I think Iraq will be willing to let America help.

America's got a pretty good track record, that way: one reason that Anti-American demonstrators in Japan and Germany, for example, have the resources to express their opinion is what America did after WWII, to help the countries get back on their feet.

"Mission Accomplished?" Never

What some might see as the Iraqi government throwing its weight around is, I think, evidence that America - and the coalition - can claim "mission accomplished" for one phase of the War on Terror's Iraqi front. A brutal dictator is gone, and Iraq is going about the messy business of establishing what I hope and believe will be a prosperous, free, country.

There's much more to do, and I'll be surprised if America isn't involved in matters of trade, security, and diplomacy with Iraq for for generations. The way I see it, that's part of the 'mission' too: making it possible for Iraq and other countries to prosper.

Iraq won't be a "western democracy." Iraq isn't, except maybe from the Chinese point of view, a "western" country. But, I think that Iraq will be a country whose government and economy favors good sense, rather than terrorism.

Good enough for me.

Related posts:

• "Blackwater, U.S. State Department, FBI, and Iraq: Be Glad You're Not in Charge"
  (October 30, 2007)
• "More Stupid Shooting in Iraq"
  (October 19, 2007)
• "Fixing the Blackwater Mess: A Sign of American Strength"
  (October 6, 2007)
• "Blackwater Employees and Dead Iraqis: Let Foreigners Try Americans?!"
  (October 4, 2007)
• "Blackwater USA: Not the Ideal Goodwill Ambassadors"
  (September 18, 2007)
• "Bad News from Iraq, with a Small Silver Lining"
  (September 17, 2007)

News and views:

• "Iraq won't allow Blackwater to operate in country"
  The Associated Press (January 29, 2009)
• "Blackwater: Murder for Hire"
  "Right Wing Christian Dynasty creates its own private army"
  videos on brasschecktv.com (undated)
• "Blackwater defendants plead not guilty"
  CNN (January 6, 2009)
• "Iraq killing headed for court"
  The Seattle Times (January 6, 2009)
• "Blackwater guards face arraignment in Iraqi deaths"
  Los Angeles Times (January 6, 2009 )
• "Blackwater plans shift from security business"
  "Company says Iraq shootings made it poster child for those against war"
  The Associated Press, via MSNBC (July. 21, 2008)

Blackwater, U.S. State Department, FBI, and Iraq: Be Glad You're Not in Charge

Blackwater is back in the news. Or, rather, the American State Department and Blackwater are.

The State Department encouraged Blackwater guards involved in Baghdad's Nisoor Square shootings, by offering them immunity from criminal prosecution.

Right now, it sounds like the convoy with Blackwater guards was going the wrong way around a traffic circle. The guards thought they were under attack, and started shooting. They killed 17 Iraqis, but left enough witnesses to implicate them.

The FBI is investigating the shootings, but since the State Department promised the Blackwater guards immunity, that testimony isn't available to the FBI.

The guards aren't entirely off the hook. The FBI can try to turn up evidence - now that the crime scene has been in use for over a month - and can try to get testimony on by re-interviewing people.

Meanwhile, back at the American State Department, "it's not clear why the Diplomatic Security investigators agreed to give immunity to the bodyguards, or who authorized doing so." (FOXNews.com)

There may have been good reason for offering immunity to the Blackwater guards, but it looks to me like someone in the State Department managed to make America look bad: this time, by apparently shielding killers.

Posts about the Blackwater shootings at Nisoor Square, Baghdad

• "More Stupid Shooting in Iraq"
  (October 19, 2007)
• "Fixing the Blackwater Mess: A Sign of American Strength"
  (October 6, 2007)
• "Blackwater Employees and Dead Iraqis: Let Foreigners Try Americans?!"
  (October 4, 2007)
• "Blackwater USA: Not the Ideal Goodwill Ambassadors"
  (September 18, 2007)
• "Bad News from Iraq, with a Small Silver Lining"
  (September 17, 2007)

The U.S. State Department

• "Arrogance, Stupidity, Iraq, and the State Department"
  (October 27, 2007)

More Stupid Shooting in Iraq

This time it isn't Blackwater. And the victims weren't Muslims.

Two Christian women, Marou Awanis and Geneva Jalal, were killed by employees of Unity Resources Group (URG). URG is owned by Australian partners, but has headquarters in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

One of the dead women used the white Oldsmobile sedan they were in as a sort of taxi to support her children.

The URGs apparently were under the impression that their convoy was under attack by two women in a white Olds. Lobbing a smoke bomb at the car didn't make the driver slow down fast enough, it seems, so two URG guards opened fire. That left 19 spent 5.56 mm shell casings on the street, a severely messed-up Oldsmobile, two dead women, and two wounded people in the back seat of the Olds. Somehow, the URGs didn't even wing the remaining passenger.

Maybe the mask one of them was reported to be wearing interfered with the guard's aim.

Someone really should brief those guards on a few basic points. Like, a driver can't be expected to stop a car after being killed.

"These are innocent people killed by people who have no heart or consciousness. The Iraqi people have no value to them," is what one man, part of a group of relatives with a Christian priest at the local police station, said.

I see this as a good sign. Apparently there's enough cohesion and sense of national identity for Christian women to be seen as Iraqis, and for a member of the deceased family to see the attack as an attack on Iraqis in general.

Previous post on this topic: "Blackwater USA: Not the Ideal Goodwill Ambassadors"

Fixing the Blackwater Mess: A Sign of American Strength

Iraqis are as good at passing along rumors as people anywhere else in the world. One sort of rumor there involves foreign mercenaries.

In this case, quite a few of the 'foreign mercenaries' are Americans: and many of those are employed by Blackwater, a firm that provides security guards and related services in Baghdad.

One type of rumor about 'foreign mercenaries' in Iraq had guards killing innocent Iraqis. Details, like where, when, and how many, varied, but the basic story was the same: 'Foreign mercenaries killed my neighbor.'

I pay attention to rumors, but I don't accept them as fact.

Then, last month, Blackwater employees killed a lot of Iraqis. In Baghdad. With surviving witnesses. I've written about this before:

• "Blackwater Employees and Dead Iraqis: Let Foreigners Try Americans?!"
  (October 4, 2007)
• "Blackwater USA: Not the Ideal Goodwill Ambassadors"
  (September 18, 2007)

I don't have an opinion about whether the Americans who shot up a street-full of Iraqis are guilty of murder, or were defending themselves. I do think that an Iraqi court should sort out the mess.

I also think the U.S. State Department is being smart, dealing with security needs in Iraq, the reasonable desire of Iraqis to not get killed without reason, and a security company that's gotten the reputation of being trigger-happy mercenaries. And, maybe earned that reputation.

Condoleezza Rice has issued new orders for Blackwater:

• Video cameras get mounted on Blackwater vehicles.
• At least one federal agent rides with security contractors escorting diplomatic convoys.
• Convoys Will maintain direct contact with tactical U.S. military teams in their vicinity.

This sounds like good news for Blackwater, in the long run: video cameras and at least one federal agent to confirm their actions after an attack; at least one federal agent and communications links to the U.S. military while an attack is happening.

Blackwater will be the only security company to have these benefits. Later, Dyncorp and Triple Canopy will be included. These companies work in north and south Iraq.

The U.S. State Department is reviewing all 56 shooting incidents involving Blackwater guards as part of a comprehensive investigation ordered by Rice.

I grieve with those who lost loved ones in the latest Baghdad shootout. That doesn't mean that I believe America should withdraw from the world and hope for the best.

America, Americans, and America's government make mistakes. Sometimes big ones. But, when we do, we don't walk away: We fix them. I see that as a strength.

Blackwater Employees and Dead Iraqis: Let Foreigners Try Americans?!

Many Iraqis died a few weeks ago when employees of Blackwater security shot up a street that had people on it. In downtown Baghdad. With dozens of witnesses.

Iraqis are upset about this: understandably, since there have been other incidents.

People running the Iraqi government's probe into the incident have made a report. They say that the Blackwater security employees should face trial in Iraqi courts, and that Blackwater should compensate victims. Or, I presume, their surviving kin.

After Aruba revived Marx Brothers-style comedy in their investigation of Natalee Holloway's disappearance, and the way Portuguese authorities are making a hash of Madeleine McCann's disappearance (I've lost track of who they're accusing, and why), this is going to sound odd.

I think the trial of the Blackwater security guards should take place in Iraq, with an Iraqi court.

I also think that the Blackwater employees better get good lawyers, and that a relatively impartial set of observers be on hand to verify fair play: or lack of it.

First, taking the Blackwater employees back to America for trial sounds like a good idea, until you look at what could happen.

Having a court find them not guilty due to improper toilet training, pre-traumatic shock, or some other of the weird excuses defense lawyers and judges seem to love, will not go over well in Iraq, or anywhere else.

Or, imagine the reaction if a court found them guilty of aggravated assault, or whatever, sentenced them to five years, and reduced the sentence to 90 days. This sort of thing has happened in American courts. Those courtroom videos of victims' families going berserk after a defendant got off with a light sentence will look like a Sunday ice cream social, compared with how Iraqis are likely to express their displeasure.

Second, these killings, justified or not, were of Iraqis in Iraqi territory: in Baghdad, in fact.

How would Americans be likely to react, if a foreign security service shot of a street-full of Americans in Washington D.C.?

For all its faults, the people running the Iraqi government seem to have no more chauvinists and charlatans than the American government.

I say that Iraq is a sovereign country. Let them do their job.

Blackwater USA: Not the Ideal Goodwill Ambassadors

It's not clear yet, what actually happened when Blackwater USA killed civilians recently. It sounds like the death toll is going up: a lot more than the 11 originally reported. The New York Times says that 20 civilians were killed.

Unlike many killings blamed on foreign contractors in Iraq, this one was "in downtown Baghdad with dozens of witnesses." Maybe that's just as well. I there's been abuse, this can't be ignored.

Living thousands of miles away, I'm willing to let the Iraqi government's investigation play itself out.

Quite a few Iraqis aren't so patient. Feelings are running so high that The United States has restricted American diplomats and civilian officials to the relative security of the Green Zone in Baghdad.

Muqtada al-Sadr, the "Sadr City" cleric, is demanding that the Iraqi government ban foreign security contractors: all 48,000 of them. With so many Iraqis as enraged as they are, he might get his way.

Al-Sadr said, "This aggression would not have happened had it not been for the presence of the occupiers who brought these companies, most of whose members are criminals and ex-convicts in American and Western prisons," in a statement.

Colorful fellow.

Something al-Sadr has going for him is that many Iraqis see the security contractors as mercenaries. They're about as popular as the Hessian mercenaries were in the English colonies in America, during the Revolutionary War.

Calling this a mess is an understatement.

My hope is that Iraqi authorities can sort this out quickly, get some sort of legal resolution that will satisfy most Iraqis, and get on with the business of putting a government together.

There's more about this at "Bad News from Iraq, with a Small Silver Lining." That silver lining looks really small now.

Not tarnished, though. The Iraqi government, fractured as it is, seems to be acting responsibly.

Bad News from Iraq, with a Small Silver Lining

I can't blame the Iraqi Interior Ministry for pulling the license of Blackwater USA (North Carolina) security contractors. During an attack on an official convoy, Blackwater employees weren't careful enough about who they shot at.

Quite a few of the eight dead and 13 wounded seem to have been civilians.

The Ministry also said that it that any foreign contractors who were found to have used excessive force would be prosecuted. They're still investigating the incident.

The good news in all this is that so far, the Iraqi officials are acting like responsible agents of a law-abiding government. I hope that this appearance proves to be a reality.

And, for the sake of the Blackwater employees, I hope they had good reason for their actions.