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Hired Guns, Loose Cannons
Munich - Private armies have a very sinister reputation in Europe.Memories still linger of Germany's post First World War army veterans, the Stahlhelm, and Nazi Brownshirts, who battled Communist street toughs in Munich and Berlin.
Europeans remember Italy's fascist Blackshirts and, most recently, Serb neo-fascist gangs like Arkan's Tigers and the White Eagles who committed some of the worst atrocities in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Germany also remains haunted by folk memory of the hordes of blood-crazed mercenaries who turned much of this nation into a wasteland during the savage 30 Years War. The name of the great mercenary captain, Wallenstein, still resounds, and of those most feared mercenaries of all, the ferocious Swiss, who once terrorized Europe.
Wrote Machiavelli: "where there is gold and blood, there are the Swiss." The Vatican's Swiss Guard is a faint reminder of the "furia Helvetica."
Small numbers of mercenaries have been used in many modern wars, from Vietnam to Central America. The most famed modern mercenary force is France's tough Foreign Legion.
The rise of powerful mercenary armies within the United States, and their use in Iraq and Afghanistan, is an entirely new, deeply disturbing development.
Last weekend, mercenaries from the U.S. firm Blackwater gunned down 11 Iraqi civilians during an attack on a convoy they were guarding. Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, ordered Blackwater's thousands of swaggering mercenaries expelled from Iraq. But his order was quickly countermanded by U.S. occupation authorities.
There are 180,000 to 200,000 U.S.-paid mercenaries in Iraq -- or "private contractors" as Washington and the U.S. media delicately call them. They actually outnumber the 169,000 U.S. troops there. Britain pays for another 20,000. At least half are armed fighters, the rest support personnel and technicians. Without them, the U.S. and Britain could not maintain their occupation of Iraq.
These private enterprise fighters, like the Renaissance's Italian condotierri, German landsknecht, and Swiss pikemen, are lawless, answering to no authority but their employers. Democrats in the U.S. Congress are rightly demanding these trigger-happy Rambos to be at least brought under American military law.
Blackwater
The U.S. State Department now has its own little army in Iraq and Afghanistan of about 3,000 Blackwater gunmen who protect American officials and their local collaborators. Some reports say the State Department has spent $678 million alone with Blackwater since 2003.
Afghanistan's U.S.-installed leader, Hamid Karzai, is surrounded at all times by 200 American bodyguards, his own people not being trusted to protect their president. Iraq's U.S.-installed leaders are similarly guarded by U.S. mercenaries.
Nearly all Washington's contracts for mercenaries are awarded without competitive bidding to firms close to the Republican Party. Blackwater's owners are major contributors. Their 7,000-acre base in the southern U. S. is likely the world's largest non-government military operation and a menacing creation straight out of the famous film, Seven Days in May.
This unprecedented use of mercenaries has masked the depths of U.S. involvement in Iraq and clearly shows how little the occupying forces can rely on the locals, whom they supposedly "liberated." It has also allowed the U.S. to sustain an imperial war that could never have been waged with conscripted American soldiers, as Vietnam showed.
Unleashed
Vice-President Dick Cheney took Vietnam's lesson to heart by championing use of mercenaries for nasty foreign wars. But democracies should have no business unleashing armies of hired gunmen on the world.
Worse, these private armies hardwired to the Republican Party's far right are a grave and intolerable danger to the American republic. Congress should outlaw them absolutely. The great Roman Republic held that mandatory military service by all citizens was the basis of democracy, while professional armies were a grave menace.
How ironic that colonial America, which rose up in arms in response to the British crown's use of brutal German mercenaries, is resorting to the same tactics in Iraq and Afghanistan. Europe wants no more of private armies. Americans have yet to learn this painful lesson.
Eric Margolis is columnist for the Toronto Sun.
© 2007 The Toronto Star
34 Comments so far
Show AllI guess it won't be long before we see Blackwater keeping order on our streets.
A sobering thought:
Many local law enforcement agencies have suddenly publicized the lack of staffing available to control crime. Note this increasing deficit being used as an excuse for the increasing murder rate.
Could it be a matter of time until we begin hiring mercenary firms on a much larger scale than was used in employing Blackwater for some pretty brutal law enforcement after huricane Katrina?
Now that I think about it, it's actually a very scary thought, not just a sobering one.
We are already seeing Blackwater and other corporate thug firms "keeping order in our streets," from a corporate point of view. Not only was Blackwater used, to a very bad result, in New Orleans, but union-busting firms have become a multi-billion dollar industry in our nation.
Karen Brofenbrenner (Duqsene U--I always misspell it, in Pittsburgh, published a landmard study in '02 which pointed out that over 90% of private companies break labor laws (threatening, firing workers for organizing, etc) when an organizing drive takes place.
As well, companies, as a matter of course, call in anti-union thug firms at the point of any strike or lock out. Vance Security (owned by x-president Ford's son-in-law) is one of the most prominent (and brutal). They are manned with criminal elements and are used to openly attack, assault, and intimate strikers, their families and supporters. Whenever they are tied to a prominent and brutal crime, they are immmediately suffled out of the state (much like in Iraq).
I saw this happen at Pittston and at the AK strike in Mansfield, O. I've even see these scum used at teachers/bus drivers strikes.
We have legislation in Ohio that reguires outside firms like these thugs to register (with SS#s, etc), but that was completely ignored by the Taft (GOP) administration during the AK strike, even refusing to charge a scab/thug that openly ran another driver off the highway, then fled the scene. Their list of crimes against strkers/families was very long at Pittston.
Since the last election the new Ohio Attn Gen (Marc Dann) has been doing a good job overseeing this guys, but it is, at best, like putting a silk blanket on a den of snakes. Still, it helps some.
Also, passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would outlaw the use of these criminals. It would give workers the right to organize without any interference from the companies, and use of strike breakers would be specifically outlawed. This positive legislation passed both houses of congress, but (like all the peace legislation) was filibustered to death by the GOP in the senate.
We need to find ways to expose the corporate use of these criminal murderers, both in Iraq and here at home, and, hopefully after the next election, pass the EFCA.
Blackwater was in New Orleans during Katrina.
Or so I've read.
!! Maliki Fools The American People !!
The Bush Administration is now engaged in the De-DeBaathification of Iraq. But they forgot to tell you.
Maliki is frustrating that effort by interfering with the private security firms that enable the movement of military officers and diplomats throughout Iraq. (That's why Secretary Rice is frustrated with Maliki.)
While securing Baghdad Sunnis from the genocide being conducted by Maliki's Shiites, General Petraeus and US diplomats have been negotiating with the Sunnis in Anbar. But they forgot to tell you.
The Bush Administration forgot to tell you they have been fighting the wrong war in Iraq; the DeBaathification of Iraq, the DeSunnification of Iraq, was a mistake.
The invasion of Iraq was a mistake. But they forgot to tell you.
The Bush Administration hasn't told you they are still fighting the wrong war in Iraq; the DeMalikification of Iraq, the DeShiitefication of Iraq, is also a mistake. But they haven't told you.
The Bush Administration also hasn't told you it's the best mistake they have at the moment.
The Bush Administration knows this; the GOP knows this; the Congress knows this; the Media knows this.
Why don't the American people know this? Did they forget to tell themselves?
There are already reports out of the Delta region in Nigeria of Shell, Chevron and others hiring foreign "security firms" to protect employees.
Won't be long before they start engaging local militias, An explosive situation waiting to happen.
Parasites and vampires.
Iraq has incriminating Blackwater tape: official
Last Updated: Saturday, September 22, 2007 | 9:04 PM ET
The Associated Press
Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in a shooting last week that left 11 people dead, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday.
He said the case was referred to the Iraqi judiciary.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj.-Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said Iraqi authorities had completed an investigation into the Sept. 16 shooting in Nisoor Square in western Baghdad and concluded that Blackwater guards were responsible for the deaths.
"Last weekend, mercenaries from the U.S. firm Blackwater gunned down 11 Iraqi civilians"
I am sick and tired of this continual subterfuge by even reputable authors like Eric Margolis. There is a continual UNDER ESTIMATION of CRITICAL STATISTICS regarding the Iraq Imbroglio..
The number of Iraqi causalities mentioned in the tens of thousands instead of the OVER 1 MILLION being much closer to the TRUTH. The Cost of this Iraqi MESS measured under 1 TRILLION instead of the 2.5 TRILLION REAL ACCRUED COST. The US Troop causalities mentioned in the 30,000 bracket instead of the REAL approx 65,000
etc...etc...etc...etc...etc...etc...etc...etc...
The BAGHDAD Morgue said they COUNTED 28 DEAD....COUNTED 28 DEAD....COUNTED 28 DEAD....COUNTED 28 DEAD....
GOT IT ERIC....
My belief is this is directly indicative of the MINIMIZATION, RATIONALIZATION and DENIAL endemic in American Culture. Journalists are subconsciously co-enabling. Or they are just lazy not to seek the truth. Put differently, America is denial about the GENOCIDE being perpetrated by their own Military Agents...International War Crimes committed on their behalf whether they approve or not....
PS The rest of the Article was well written.
I've posted a similar question to other articles that have appeared here regarding Blackwater and other such companies. But it's worth asking again:
What is the difference between "Private Security Contractors" aka: mercenaries, motivated by money, unaccountable to US, Iraqi and international law, and an "Unlawful Enemy Combatant" motivated by ideology???
It's already been said time and again that many of those caught in Afghanistan and held in Guantanamo are not "terrorists" but were unwittingly turned in to settle grudges, sold to US forces, or in the wrong place at the wrong time...
I'm not naïve to think that all the men and even children in Guantanamo are angels, or that all those security contractors in Iraq or elsewhere are devils, but a hypocrisy exists here: Lift a gun and point it an American who just blew away your family and occupies your land and your labeled a terrorist or insurgent. Lift a .50 cal machine gun and blow away carloads of families and you're a well-paid contractor doing a job.
And to the comment by "weary of it all" above: Yes, Blackwater was indeed operating in New Orleans after Katrina. This was investigated and reported on by Jerome Scahill.
I hope this is helpful ..
Iraqi PM: Shootings threaten sovereignty
By JOHN DANISZEWSKI, Associated Press Writer 23 minutes ago
NEW YORK - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Sunday the shooting deaths of civilians — allegedly at the hands of Blackwater USA guards — pose "a serious challenge to the sovereignty of Iraq" and cannot be accepted.
The Sept. 16 killing of at least 11 civilians near a square in central Baghdad has highlighted the practices of foreign security contractors whose aggressive protection of Western diplomats and other dignitaries has long angered Iraqis.
U.S.-Iraqi relations have been further strained by the U.S. detention of an Iranian Thursday in northern Iraq who was accused by the military of smuggling weapons to Shiite militias for use against American troops.
Al-Maliki, in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of his appearance Monday at the U.N. General Assembly, condemned the detention and said the man had been invited to Iraq.
"The government of Iraq is an elected one and sovereign. When it gives a visa it is responsible for the visa," he said. "We consider the arrest ... of this individual who holds an Iraqi visa and a (valid) passport to be unacceptable."
Mercenary outfits are nothing new. They have been used against labor for well over a century. They were popular under Reagan. Corporations use them to run countries in Africa and elsewhere. Todays Mercenaries are tomorrow's death squads. They should be illegal but I doubt that any ruling class politicians acting as representatives of business would support banning them.
One risk of private armies like these is that they have a tendency to fight each other on behalf of their employers (a logical outcome of competition?). This happened in England, culminating in the Wars of the Roses (1453 - 1485), until it was put a stop to by Henry VII, the first (and best) Tudor king.
In his reign, he also made the manufacture of gunpowder and arms a state monopoly. Until the national arsenal moved to Enfield in 1853, the only arms manufactory allowed in England was the Tower.
Blackwater has ALREADY been deployed on American streets - remember New Orleans? Not only were they locked, loaded and equipped with ZERO law enforcement experience and/or training, they were "contracted" by moron Chertoff and deputized - friggin deputized - by the Gov of LA.
Why isn't the "debate" about what laws cover Blackwater in New Orleans? Forget Iraq - what happens when Blackwater mercs open fire on a group of protesters? Are they immune from US law, too? What does "contracted" by the DHS mean, exactly? What are the terms of the contract? Does said contract have an immunity clause like their Iraq contract? Can Governors deputize anyone they want to - could they deputize the KKK, or David Duke? Can I gather a gang - er, group - of armed men and women and apply for a "contract" and then be deputized by the Gov?
What if the Crips and the Bloods formed Cripbloodwater? Could they then "win" a "private security contract" to protect "US interests" in South Los Angeles? Can Arnold deputize them?
Does it take a Canadian newspaper to publish such a poignant article? Blackwater has a future in law enforcement just like Wackenhut and Corrections Corporation of America in corrections. Unless, of course, the people revolt against the corporatization of everything.
I'm so glad I left the USA when Bush was s"elected" the second time. The writing was on the wall for me back then. At first, I thought that I should stay and join with other groups trying to fight this grave threat to the Nation. But in the end, I decided to go.
My first problem was where does one go these days where being a US citizen is not a good thing.
I am fluent in Spanish and would use that as a means of finding work but South America isn't too thrilled with us gringos. Then I looked at South East Asia and noticed that Vietnam had the second fastest growing economy. I didn't want to go to China. So I chose Vietnam and I was working within three weeks and have been with the same international group dedicated to education since.
I couldn't have made a better choice. No more 60 hour work weeks just to stay off the streets. Affordable health care($400/yr), and a friendly and kind people who treat me well. Good, locally grown food. And as for the government, I don't even notice it. I live no different than in the USA. The only thing which has changed is the standard of living. But who needs hot showers in such a climate?
I truly fear for those of the USA. The only ones who I see prepared to defend themselves are the armed criminal gangs. The law abiding citizens are the ones who have the most to fear. It will be the intellectuals first that are silenced, and this has already begun, and the population in general will become still more ignorant and pliable to be used by the government. Next it will be the artists. And then the gays, Mexicans and other immigrants that work there asses off for the wealthy.
I find George Orwell more precient as the months go by. He undestood politics and Totalitarianism. He lived during those times when what is happening today was happennig in Europe, and he depicted human nature so well through the animals in his, what he called a "Fairy Tale" - Animal Farm.
Yes, it will be the criminals and other crazy groups throughout the US that will have the best fighting chance in the coming world. Our entire government is against us, with a few exceptions. Wellstone, who could have become a true threat to the plans of groups like the Project for a New American Century, was dispatced with very easily.I really hope I am wrong and just thinking crazy thoughts, but everyday I am reminded of the reality of what is happening.
Iran will be attacked and retaliate. The whole region will be fighting us and each other. Martial law will be declared and the next election delayed. Private armies will begin to control an increasening restless populace.
I fear the only thing that can save the nation will be a military coup.
A few days ago, there was an article here at Common Dreams that read many police departments in the United States were on a one year waiting list for ammuniton, but the military, including Blackwater could get all they needed. On another thread yesterday, someone wrote that Winchester and Remington were no longer supplying ammo for the civilian markets. If so, I wonder why?
Mercenaries, Money, Oil. Certainly its not a social welfare operation for the Iraqi people. One suspects it was planned thoroughly by the Energy Task Force, those clever greedy oily friends of Cheney. Sunni, Shia, ex-Baath, it doesn't really matter. All are "impediments" to the take-over of the country, treated like dogs, for ethnic cleansing. Its only a matter of time until an alliance with one group or other breaks down. All are expendable. There's no more thought to their future, than that of the thought given to the future of US Indians. Herd them up, shoot them down. Like animals. Thats the true history and belief system of the US. Animal Farm indeed. The Iraqi government is just window dressing for the rest of the world. The blood spatters inside while the curtains are drawn.
Emily Anne
Blackwater has already been deployed on our streets.
See New Orleans, post Katrina. I think even Brian Williams had a runin with them.
One of the mainstream media camera crews did.
Hybridoma suggests a solution is a military coup.This blog is well thought-out and presented with the exception of the conclusion.The military in charge is like jumping out of the pan into the fire.There are no shortages of General Lemays and a great shortage of critical thought in any military.
Face it if you pay taxes to the US, you support state sponsored terrorism
When killing innocent Iraq's is no longer profitable, trust me, they will come home as heros and be reqruted in to your local law enforcement. Its only a matter of time before Black Water comes to a "new theater" near you!!!
The Iraqi public wants the U.S. and its mercenaries out of their country. The American public wants its soldiers and mercenaries out of Iraq. But none of it matters. Why? Because neither country is a democracy. The U.S. is a corporate fascist state and Iraq is our little plaything. Like a cat that plays with a mouse why its little organs explode and eyes pop out. Thats our freedom in a nutshell. We are country of fucked up idiots that sit by every day and let it happen. Luckily for the world, by my calculations, in another twenty years the average fat assed American will be dropping dead of clogged arteries before they're old enough to reproduce and with our government making sure we don't have health care the problem should solve itself.
Historical lessons, current events, and rational interpretation of intellegence had normally precluded egotism & theocracy for major decisions in our republic. Unfortunately, this is not the case now.
The current administration is manipulated by ego, the energy cartel,& the radical religious right wing to extents never before experienced in our history. The ill conceived invasion of Iraq, the plans to provide arms to some Middle East Countries, current suggestion to invade Iran, & the dreadful war on our environment are only some examples.
Their current use of private mercenaries only adds to their list of dangerous violations against our republic.
Unless Americans begin reacting to logic rather than rhetoric, and take back our country from this illegally placed administration now, the rights that we have enjoyed for two centuries may evaporate--and Americans we can blame themselves for this
Blackwater WAS in NOLA. They were the ones in the converted SUV's with the .50 cal BHMGs on top 'guarding' Bush and Brownie as they 'toured' the wreckage.
Not the US National Guard. Not the Secret Service. Blackwater mercenaries.
Bill Gibson, noted Canadian futurist and speculative fiction author predicted the rise of these corporate armies. And he was right.
You have your Fascists. You have your hate-mongering propaganda organs. You have your expanding armament dealers. Now you have your Blackshirts / Shutz-staffel.
Short-term Reich, anyone? Any takers?
Well said Turtle
Talk, talk, talk. While I love this website, I have mixed feelings about all this "feedback" from the readers. While many are well-thought-out and insigtful, even inspirational, others are downright depressing. The situation is grave enough, my friends, but my ever-present question is, "what are YOU doing about it?"
Letter-writing and phone calls to our "leaders" seems to be a total waste of time and energy. WHO has the authority and courage to change the status quo? Seems we don't really know.
One thing I DO know, is that quite likely, someday WE, you and I may be manning the barricades against these mercenaries our "leaders" have acquired and empowered for their own private use. Millions of us are either ex-military or combat/shooting trained. We, together, could be quite a formidable force to reckon with if these mercenary traitors decide to become our new "might for right".
While that may seem a horrifying thought to those of you who think guns and gun owners are somehow "evil", probably any one of us trained and prepared would be willing to draw down on and pull the trigger on someone threatening your sweet little non-violent ass. Sorry to be so crude, but sometimes you have to get blunt to get people to face reality.
While it appears otherwise, I am actually a very peace-loving person who hopes I never have to use my considerable military and martial arts training for anything except empowering others. In a perfect world, these thing would even be abhorrent to contemplate, but we do not. And it is getting worse by quantum leaps.
Learn to become as self-sufficient as possible; keep abreast of world events (NOT through American propaganda machines); learn to take care of yourself and your loved ones when you have no power, transportation, running water or supply sources; form mutual support groups with friends, family and neighbors; buy a firearm (and plenty of ammo, if you can get it)and learn how to use it competently; DO NOT live in FEAR.
Powerful people have ALWAYS controlled others through fear-tactics--DON'T LET THEM DO THAT TO YOU!!!
Whether you're 18 or 80, you have many resources available through the internet, books, seminars, etc. Turn off the mindless pablum they present us as "entertainment" and discover your true capabilities, they are much more formidable than you can imagine.
I have been teaching martial arts, meditation, self-sufficiency and self defense for over 40 years and have seen countless folks light up when they discover their innate capabilities they were never aware of. DO IT! The sense of self confidence is wonderful and impacts every single aspect of your life.
(Sorry for the lengthy rant)
teachur: Buying a firearm is living in fear. The fearless don't need guns. You've taught meditation? And you view the world through the lens of fear? You speak of self confidence, self sufficiency, self defense - good grief, belief in a separate self is the ultimate delusion. Your fe is palpable. Toss your guns and live fully.
hey turtle .. i couldnt have said it better !
"While that may seem a horrifying thought to those of you who think guns and gun owners are somehow "evil", probably any one of us trained and prepared would be willing to draw down on and pull the trigger on someone threatening your sweet little non-violent ass. Sorry to be so crude, but sometimes you have to get blunt to get people to face reality"
Ward Churchill's "Pacifism As Pathology" written two decades ago and republished by AK Press describes the way in which the tactic of non-violence (useful but limited) was replaced by a strategy or ideology of non-violence -- which is non-revolutionary and incapable of inducing change in a regime.
I'm weary of the invocation of Gandhi, credited with driving the Brits out of India when England's economic & social exhaustion following WWII was the REAL, not fantasized, cause.
It was the need to drain black youth out of the cities of the U.S., and out of the increasingly-radical civil rights movement, that compelled Texan Lyndon Baines Johnson to sign the civil rights bill into law, not the work of non-violent demonstration.
Pacifism, as applied to the prospect of revolutionary change, is the fantasy of the politically self-neutralized. The only way to revolutionary change is revolution.
This article might answer your question on the scarcity of ammunition, Kem.
Apparently, it takes 250,000 bullets to kill one Iraqi insurgent.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article314944.ece
CIA Connection to Blackwater.......
For decades, U.S. agencies have gone "Off-Book" to avoid Congressional Oversight...
The CIA and NSC have been infiltrating private companies by submitting many of their operatives (Read: "Confessions of An Economic Hit Man")into those companies as employees.
The CIA, I believe, sent Cofer Black, Director of Counter-terrorism, into Blackwater as its Vice President. Yes there are other companies like Dyn Corp and they are tied to the Republican Party.
And yes, these companies have hired "Death Squad" Members or Militia Members from South America with promises of free citizenship in the United States after their service is over.
The problem is that almost every Senator is a Capitalist Conservative and they are more concerned with their oil stocks than Democracy.......Just look what they did because Move-On. org. called one of our biggest liars General Betray-Us.......They have betrayed the American People and violated the Constitution of the United States.....
without exception this is one of the best strings I've read in a long while...SPOT ON
I live in San Diego, Calif.
After reading an article that CommonDreams had wrote
I went into complete shock.
Blackwater is coming to San Diego.
Word has it that the Gov let them sneek in under the radar.
They have bought land 45 miles east of San Diego called Potrero.
This is land that wild nature roams on.
Here is what they are going to build,
Firing ranges, helicopter pad, a mock "combat town" a tract for high-speed driving classes, classrooms to learn how to be terrorists,I said that, an armory, a bunkhouse and administrative buildings, all this in a very quiet area.
I have heard nothing more, but I did read that the outlook is not good for us.
The Bushie groupies are on their way.
What now.
Judith