...and must be held to account under law for the incident that occurred in Nasoor Square a few weeks ago. All accounts are that the Iraqi uproar is growing, and a senior U.S. military official said that it could be worse than the effect the Abu Ghraib prison scandal had on our mission. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/25/AR2007092502675.html?hpid=topnews)
U.S. military reports were already (last week) reporting that the attacks were without provocation and with excessive force. They "were obviously excessive, it was obviously wrong." (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/04/AR2007100402654.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2007100402755)
Now, the Iraqi government has completed its investigation, has upped the number of civilians killed in the incident to 17 (from 10), and is suggesting that the Blackwater employees have to be held to legal account for what they are calling "intentional murder". (http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j4L1VeJBtnJF5C_M43uS-2xd0peg)
The US and Iraqis are working together to try to address the wider issue of parameters for private security contractors. Their commission also met today.
***
If the uproar over the Blackwater incident is as serious and growing as reports seem to indicate, and that it could exceed the fallout from Abu Ghraib, we are in an even more precarious position than we were in last month. No matter how the surge is working or not working.
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Comments: 20
Contracting defense responsibilities is another ill-considered, ill-planned venture of the idiot, Rumsfeld.
Translation: Easily affordable fine and no charges. Like always. Someone MAY lose their job over this . . . but with that kind of pay . . . (yawn) . . . ok.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
But, even if we don't know all, we still need to consider the very real fallout from people's perceptions (right or wrong) of the incident. That is why I included the comparison to Abu Ghraib, which also had a very real impact on how this long-running Iraq war has unfolded.
Thanks for all of the comments.
Nothing will ever happen to those Blackwater men. The only witnesses are Iraqi and who is going to believe them? They are not only going to get away with murdering 17 people they will stay in country to kill more.
That's what mercenaries do, kill people just like any paid assissan.
People make statements based on preliminary findings in these types of situations. Though I am a HUGE believer in "innocent until proven guilty", premature exclamations are going to be inevitable. And, unfortunate when they turn out to be wrong.
But, again, PERCEPTION often trumps reality. In lots of instances, including when the perception that Saddam must be hiding something trumped the reality that was becoming apparent by the inspections (a process that we shut off instead of forcible inspections that could have proven or dispelled our perceptions).
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Doyle, not sure I'd call ty a "right wingnut", but your basic point is sound.
MacBeth is a horse of a different color - proven false. Haditha and Blackwater are real to some extent (may be worse, may be better than what we've heard).
http://bestoftoday.gather.com/
There is no doubt that Marines killed a number of civilians there, that some were killed in close range and others by clean rifle shots to the upper body, that there were problems with how/when the incident was reported, that there were chain of command issues, etc.
I sincerely hope that the Marines involved did not violate their rules of engagement. But, to say that the charges were proven false is just incorrect.