NYTIMES TRYING TO TURN BLACKWATER INTO THE NEW ABU GRAIHB
- IT'S THEIR M..O.: THEY TRIED AND FAILED TO DESTROY THE AUGUSTA NATIONALS - BY RELENTLESSLY RUNNING FRONT-PAGE STORY AFTER FRONT-PAGE STORY DAY-AFTER-DAY.
- THEY SUCCEEDED IN ABU GRAIHB. THEY SUCCEEDED IN TURNING A LIMITED NUMBER OF SICK ACTS BY A FEW SICKO SOLDIERS INTO A MAJOR PROPAGANDA WEAPON FOR THE ENEMY AND THE DEMS. (SAME THING!)
- NOW THEY'RE TRYING AGAIN - THIS TIME, THE DRIVE-BY TARGET IS BLACKWATER - BUT THE LARGER TARGET IS OUR COUNTER-ATTACK AGAINST TERROR. IT'S OBVIOUSLY ANOTHER BIT OF RELENTLESS ANTI-WAR PROPAGANDA - WHICH ONLY AIDS THE ENEMY.
The presence of 20,000 plus mercenaries in Iraq is being spun by a lot of media as proof of the failure of USA policy - when in fact if just shows that it would have helped if some of the coalition of the unwilling had stepped up to the plate and took on some of the load...
ReplyDeleteBlackwater has hurt our efforts in Iraq.
ReplyDeleteTwo years ago, Major General Joseph Taluto noted that the heavy-handed behavior of American troops may turn "good, honest" Iraqis against us and Peter W. Singer from Brookings concludes that the mercenaries we employ, who operate under fewer restrictions than our troops, have done just that.
You can find his report here and below are the highlights:
Allows policymakers to dodge key decisions that carry political costs, thus leading to operational choices that might not reflect public interest.
Enables a "bigger is better" approach to operations that runs contrary to the best lessons of U.S. military strategy.
Inflames popular opinion against, rather than for, the American mission through operational practices that ignore the fundamental lessons of counterinsurgency.
Participated in a series of abuses that have undermined efforts at winning "hearts and minds" of the Iraqi people.
Weakened American efforts in the "war of ideas" both inside Iraq and beyond.
Reveals a double standard towards Iraqi civilian institutions that undermines efforts to build up these very same institutions, another key lesson of counterinsurgency.
Forced policymakers to jettison strategies designed to win the counterinsurgency on multiple occasions, before they even had a chance to succeed.
Blackwater isn't in Iraq in order to enable anything for the Coalition military. It is there because there are a lot of US government groups and NGOs in Iraq that don't want to be protected by military. They want their own security guards. That is what Blackwater does. If US State Department and the UN would accept Coalition military protection there wouldn't be so much need for Blackwater.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, it's the State Department's problem. Go yodel at them, Stevo.
Blackwater is much worse then Abu Graihb. As a soldier, Abu Graihb never bothered me as much as it did the media, and who knows, maybe it should have bothered me more. But this does bother me...these blackwater idiots are undoing a lot of what we did over there. They may be mostly ex-military, but the company they work for is there 100% for profits, and profits the best way: no-bid contracts with little oversight and no legal repercussions. Who loses? Iraq, the US, the soldiers who have to deal with the enraged Iraqis, the list goes on....plus it endagers the entire mission. Many are defending Blackwater just because they don't want anything bad to happen in Iraq...they need Iraq to look like it is going great.
ReplyDeleteThe great and visicious scourges of the twentieth century western democracies were born amongst the political right. From the backward and reactionary right came Nazi and Italian Fascism; true perversions of history obsessed with undefeatable foriegn and domestic enemies, they practiced in a refusal to grasp reality as it was, opting for fantasy and hate. In post 9-11 America, it is not the left that is scum, but the radical right, specifically those who pass factless nonsense as the truth and traffic in fear. I find your blog to be such.
ReplyDelete