Original Content at
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October 6, 2007
Blackwater in the Quagmire: Does USA's Most Powerful Private Militia Fuel Iraq's Insurgency?
By Anthony Barnes
The accounts, chronicled in a congressional Oversight Committee memo, are nothing short of disturbing.... to anyone acquainted with the outré, turgidly cocksure, over-the-top personality type of the former Navy Seals, Special Ops-types, and other gung-ho para-militarists embodying the ranks of private militias wherever found, none of the extremes come as a surprise.
In his early October appearance before the congressional Oversight and Government Reform Committee, (Blackwter CEO and Founder Erik)Prince, once an intern for George H.W. Bush, asserted that Blackwater's contributions have had a positive impact on the war effort....Defense Secretary Robert Gates' September testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee seemed to imply that he sees it a bit differently. Gates' testimony included expressions of concern over the practice by Blackwater and other for-profit militias of offering high salaries to entice soldier into leaving the military. Gates said he'd like to see legal barriers imposed against the practice.
But beyond that issue, it would seem that through its ongoing lethally-reckless behavior, Blackwater continues to pollute any pool of goodwill that ensue U.S. military efforts to win Iraqi hearts and minds, all but ensuring the improbability that the need for U.S. soldiers in Iraq can be abridged anytime soon. Additionally, among private for-profit militias like Blackwater, for which continued social and political instability clearly translates into a stable profit flow, having the added bonus of immunity from criminal liability is yet another corporate perk...It seems clear that as long as for-profit private militias like Blackwater are permitted to operate with such indiscriminate and deadly impunity with immunity from local prosecution, it seems assured that the continued presence of U.S. soldiers will remain vital to offset the wave after wave of new "enemy" spawned by blowback from Blackwater's lurid standard operating procedures, an operating procedure that, again, tends to produce a very profitable bottom line for Blackwater.
That notion has been amplified by critics including P.W. Singer, of the Brookings Institution, who takes a dim view of affiliations between Blackwater-type private security contractors and the U.S. military. In an article posted on Salon.com. last month, Singer, noted that after close to a decade of studying such arrangements, the available data indicates: "...the use of private military contractors appears to have harmed, rather than helped counterinsurgency efforts of the U.S. mission in Iraq, going against our best doctrine and undermining critical efforts of our troops." In other words, Blackwater and other for-profit private militias basically help sustain the insurgency...
Thus, to extrapolate to some degree, one could assume that for-profit private militia's like Blackwater, whose revenues are generated largely through American tax dollars, have a vested interest in undermining any goodwill efforts of American forces in Iraq. Since it generates the bulk of its revenues through providing its services in dangerous or heavily militarized environments, by fomenting and maintaining -- whether knowingly or unknowingly -- a violent, anarchistic environment by way of its behavior in Iraq, Blackwater contributes to conditions which justify the need for its presence there. Indeed Rep. Waxman pointed out that, "For every taxpayer dollar spent on federal programs, over 40 cents now goes to private contractors."
Yet another disturbing report which raises questions about the role America's most powerful private militia plays in maintaining regional instability, is the charge, stemming from a federal investigation announced in September, that Blackwater has been engaging in arms smuggling. The charges allege that Prince's spirited crew of "loyal Americans" have been illegally smuggling into Iraq, weaponry to be funneled to the Kurdistan Workers Party, considered a terrorist group...
Knowing this, it becomes exceedingly difficult to escape the dreadful conclusion that for U.S. forces, Blackwater has a sort of al Qaeda effect. Each moment our nation's most powerful for-profit, private militia spends in Iraq, extends further the period during which rank and file U.S. soldiers will remain in harm's way.
For Blackwater however, these are moments that register like a taxicab's fare meter as the for-profit militia's deep pockets grow flush with over one billion American tax dollars and counting. In an example of skewed priorities, U.S. service men and women earn a mere fraction of what Blackwater pays its personnel -- as much as $180,000 yearly, all U.S. taxpayer dollars -- while Blackwater personnel experience a mere fraction of the dying (30 Blackwater casualties thus far, according to Prince).
Blackwater's Federal Contracts
YEAR AMOUNT PAID
2001 $736,906
2002 $3,415,884
2003 $25,395,556
2004 $48,496,903
2005 $352,871,817
2006 $593,601,952
SOURCE: U.S.COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
Authors Website:
http://www.freewebs.com/non_prophet/Authors Bio: Anthony Barnes, of Boston, Massachusetts, is a free-lance writer
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