Blackwater Victims and Americans Need Justice

The five Blackwater security guards accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad are expected to hand themselves over to federal authorities by today.

Charges to be brought against them are expected to be for manslaughter.

The five men's identities had been kept secret for more than a year, but were also released yesterday, Dec 7, 2008. They are: Evan Liberty and Donald Ball, both 26-year-old former marines, Dustin Heard, a 27-year-old ex-marine, Nick Slatten, 25, an ex-army sergeant, and Paul Slough, a 29-year-old army veteran.

A sixth guard, who has not been named, has reached a plea bargain deal with prosecutors to avoid a mandatory 30-year prison sentence.

According to Blackwater officials, the guards were returning fire after their convoy was shot at in Baghdad's al-Nisoor Square. However, FBI investigators found in late 2007 that most of the 17 deaths had been unjustified. An Iraqi government spokesman has said that they believed that the attack were tantamount to deliberate murder.

I sincerely hope that the families of these innocent people, gunned down by an arrogant Blackwater private security force, will get justice.

The American people need to know that our military will not condone the actions of a few ‘hired guns’. Actions by this administration have severely damaged the hard fought-for respect that our fathers and brothers in the military died to earn. This nation cannot be associated with ‘soldiers of fortune’ if we are to retain that respect.

The hiring of private security forces is a step towards fascism and in this case was put in place for the financial benefit of current and ex-government and military officials. Bush, Cheney and all Department of Defense officials should be held accountable for the atmosphere created by this misguided and irresponsible decision.

The U.S. made a major mistake in hiring what amounts to a private militia to take over what has been traditionally a military role, and the practice should be abandoned.

Allowing these individuals to go unpunished will be a major blow against U.S. foreign relations and the American people for years to come.

Blackwater, Ted Stevens and the selling off of America

Juneau is hardly the top American target for terrorists, so what’s Blackwater doing in Alaska’s capital? Uniformed guards from the private security contractor have been reported guarding a radar station for tests of the National Missile Defense system now officially deployed in Alaska.

The system, thus far, has not proven itself capable of shooting down any missile even when the target missiles’ exact take-off time and trajectory are known. The system is designed to shield the U.S. against incoming Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM’s). this is the same controversial system that Russia is up in arms about being contracted to be installed in Poland.

Blackwater International, a private militia, better known for their mercenary firepower, recruits elite soldiers trained by the U.S. military and rents them back to the U.S. at a premium. They provide corporate security and training for law-enforcement officers. They hire mercenaries and trainers out to foreign governments and to corporations. While the US Marines used to guard our embassies around the world, Blackwater guards are now manning many of those posts. Recently, Blackwater has recruited highly placed ex-government officials, such as former CIA Director of Counterterrorism Cofer Black, to head up a private intelligence agency. Blackwater, like others of its ilk, is penetrating every aspect of our military and intelligence services.

Our federal government is pouring billions of dollars into the pockets of defense contractors at an alarming rate. This wildly expensive high-tech version of France’s Maginot Line that can be so easily and cheaply defeated by decoys, or overwhelmed by a real-time mass attack, will never be a practical defense. Security functions that used to be performed by U.S. armed forces are now being paid for at a much higher premium. In Iraq, services that used to be provided by military departments such as food services, housing, clothing, security, etc are now being provided by contractors at far higher cost to taxpayers.

All of this amounts to a colossal rip off of American tax dollars and it is creating a very dangerous threat to America’s independence and security.

The Blackwater guards in Alaska are hired by Chenega, an Alaska Native corporation associated with the Alaskan coastal village of Chenega Bay, population 86. Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, architect of the “Bridge to Nowhere” and recently convicted of a seven-felony string of corruption charges, is one of the principal proponents of the anti-missile system and was also instrumental in writing laws which help secure government contracts for Alaska Native Corporations. Senator Stevens didn’t invent these affirmative-action type laws that many people have grumbled about since the Sixties but he has helped refine and corporatize them: Chenega gets contracts through the Small Business Administration, rakes off a percentage, then lets giant Blackwater provide the actual services. Since 2000 Chenega has received over $1.1 billion in sole-source or non-compete bids from the Army, Air Force and Department of Homeland Security. Now that is what I call ‘using the system to your advantage’. It is what politicians who want to survive learn very quickly. It is one of the downsides of Capitalism.

And the Bush administration has tweaked our government by turning over functions that have traditionally fallen under purview of the military and intelligence services to private industry leaving the taxpayer to pay higher prices for those services.

Once these services are no longer a government function, they can be sold to the highest bidder. If these company CEO’s are bought by a foreign country or private bidder, then we have the situation where the U.S. can no longer defend itself. History has taught us that loyalty goes to where the next paycheck comes from. Under these conditions, does national allegiance mean anything?