The State Dept.’s Murderous Guardians
How did it come to be that the ostensibly best-educated and most refined representatives of the United States in Iraq are guarded by gun-toting mercenaries who kill innocent civilians? More urgently, why did State Department employees and their bosses in Washington tolerate-and pay to conceal-the wanton murder conducted on their watch?
That’s the real scandal of the more than $832 million the U.S. State Department paid Blackwater, investigated this week by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, headed by Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). The issue is not simply that of the Blackwater forces’ horrid behavior but, more important, why the mayhem they unleashed upon innocent Iraqis was approved and covered up by the Bush administration. For example, why did a top State Department official initially suggest a payment of $250,000 of American taxpayers’ money to conceal the uncontested fact that, as the House committee report states, “a drunken Blackwater contractor killed the guard of Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd-al-Mahdi”?
The State Department enabled the Blackwater shooter to be spirited out of the country within 36 hours, and although Blackwater subsequently fired him, he has never faced any criminal charges. Nor have any of the others involved in the 195 shooting incidents Blackwater officials admitted have occurred in the past two years, incidents in which 84 percent of the time Blackwater contractors fired first. According to Blackwater’s own documents, the congressional committee reports, “in the vast majority of incidents … Blackwater shots are fired from a moving vehicle and Blackwater does not remain on the scene to determine if their shots resulted in casualties.” During one trip U.S. diplomats made to the Ministry of Oil, 18 different Iraqi civilian vehicles were smashed by the fast-moving motorcade. Those hit-and-runs were conducted in full view of the escorted State Department officials without any of them forcing a subsequent investigation.
Despite all the nonsense about a “liberated Iraq,” one of President Bush’s favorite phrases, the Iraqis still lack the authority to prosecute American mercenaries occupying their country because of a law pushed through by then-U.S. proconsul Paul Bremer, who was also guarded by Blackwater personnel. Bremer awarded the original no-bid contract to Blackwater, run by a major Republican campaign contributor, Erik Prince, who has donated $225,000 to the GOP. Prince’s sister Betsy DeVos was Michigan’s Republican Party chair and a Bush-Cheney “Pioneer” who came through with at least $100,000 for their 2004 campaign.
But this is not yet another story about payoffs to the GOP faithful who have predominated in the occupation and are totally untrained for their assigned tasks in the restructuring of a country that they know nothing about. The Blackwater guards know their job all too well, which is to guard top U.S. officials by any means necessary-including the casual extermination of innocent Iraqis.
Clearly, paid contractors are better for this task than American military personnel, since contractors operate outside of the restraints imposed on ordinary troops by law and by their own consciences. Many Blackwater contractors have been recruited from the U.S. military at much higher pay than direct service to their country afforded them. Whereas a top Army sergeant is paid $51,100 to $69,350 a year in salary, housing and other benefits, a Blackwater contractor (often a retired sergeant) receives six to nine times as much. The U.S. government pays Blackwater $1,222 per day for one Blackwater “Protective Security Specialist,” which, the congressional report notes, “amounts to $445,891 per contractor” per year. In an unusual display of disapproval aimed at Blackwater from the right side of the aisle, Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., noted Tuesday that Army Gen. David H. Petraeus’ annual salary amounts to less than half of what some high-ranking Blackwater security officials in Iraq earn.
Of course they’re worth it, along with the Iraqi deaths they cause, if your own life is on the line and that’s all that matters. This is clearly the position of the State Department employees in Iraq and their bosses in Washington who have covered up for Blackwater for years. As the House committee majority staff states: “There is no evidence in the documents that the Committee has reviewed that the State Department sought to restrain Blackwater’s actions, raised concerns about the number of shooting incidents involving Blackwater or the company’s high rate of shooting first, or detained contractors for investigation.”
No better evidence that the Iraqis are the Indians, attempting as imperfectly as they may to protect their ancestral terrain. But this time the imperial majesty of the United States, represented by American Ambassador Ryan Crocker, is established not by the U.S. cavalry but by a band of hired gunslingers.
Robert Scheer is editor of Truthdig.com and a regular columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle.
© 2007 TruthDig.com
Obviously because they don’t care how murderous their security forces are. Maybe it makes them feel “important” to claim that things are so bad in Iraq that Blackwater et al have to kill innocents (just to be on the safe side) to keep them alive for their important tasks.
Somebody needs to sit Condoleeza Rice down and have a stern talk with her.
The best-educated and most refined representatives of the United States? Where are these people? This is nespotism, a perversion of mob-family values and powerful wealth.
Suddenly, after years of death and destruction the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform springs into action giving the average American a flavor of the day to compete with the latest about Britney Spears. What other corporate interests might be annoyed with profitable gun toting killers?
The head of Blackwater admitted in a Congressional hearing that he was earning more than a million a year, while
General Petraeus gets around $200,000. It seems to me that the conservative politicians who claim to be supporters of our troops (and their mission) ought to be having an absolute fit over this disparity. But they’re not.
And it seems to me that veterans and families of our deployed soldiers ought to be having a fit too, but I haven’t really heard the roar from that group yet.
Moreoever, you’d think we would hear an outcry over the risk every soldier has of being court-martialed for an error while we learn that it might be impossible for a contractor to be tried anywhere for anything, no matter how careless, no matter how intentional or eggregious.
If ever there was proof positive that Republicans like “outsourcing” of everything to corporations, this has got to be it. The trouble is, it is clearly impossible to win hearts and minds with secret hired guns running around other countries in the name of American citizens. Effective security, maybe. But effective real diplomacy, never.
It’s a case of not being able to see the forest for the trees. Aren’t we expecting too much of a merc? When the ruling elite of a supposedly civilized nation are responsible for violating international laws and shredding their own constitution as well as causing the death of about one million Iraqis, what do you expect of their mercenaries? No much.
It’s high time the MSM started unpacking Bush’s “liberated Iraq” — i.e., meaning people “liberated” from their past, their families, their oil, and (for 1.2 million of them) their lives.
The Iraqi resistance probably increased by another couple of thousand fighters after watching those clips of Blackwater’s chief expressing his heartfelt sympathy for all the Iraqis who “accidentally” get maimed or killed when they get in the way of some American bigshot en route to another meeting at which it will be decided what else the US can “liberate” Iraqis from.
The Murderous State Dept.’s Guardians
i beg to differ…guarding high-level officials..was not blackwaters only mission or orders…part of their duties were to spy on american soldiers(passing as one of them)and report any ‘dissenters’their true mission and high-level orders were to eliminate ALL subversives in the combat theatre(anyone percieved as a threat to the ‘agenda’)their mantra is the same as bush(a mirror image)=”youre with us or youre with the enemy” do you really believe they have some magic ‘exempt’clause,that says with the ‘exception’ of homegrown dissenters and subversives in the combat zone ??blackwater is cowboys fueled by greed,just like their owner and handler our’commander-in-chief’.
Naomi Wolf in The Rise of Fascism in America
and in her book, “The End of America”, A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, which outlines ten steps that “fascist, totalitarian, and other repressive leaders [employ to] seize and maintain power, especially in what were once democracies.” The ten steps are:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create a gulag [Guantanamo, 800 FEMA jails etc]
3. Develop a thug caste [BLACKWATER]
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens’ groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law [Habeous Corpus and Geneva is too quaint]
APPARENTLY AMERICA HAS ARRIVED
ALL 10 ARE OCCURRING
All the more reason for an armed citizenry.
a large part of the problem,is that bush has employed so many private ’security’firms,it will be hard to sort out,who did what ?blackwater,caci,titan,triple canopy,etc…….this is a thriving industry,bought by bush,with our money.a business the bush family crime syndicate could easily afford,without us,except that they do not like using their own money.in reality,if there were such a thing,bush,halliburton,cheney,condi and the whole gang should not be allowed to keep one penny of profits,they made from this war.and should be forced to pay to repair iraq,out of their own deep and dirty pockets.i am really sick of nancy pelosi,giving away our hard earned money,so it can be missappropriated by the bushes and doled out freely to terrorist security firms and maybe every blue moon,they throw a penny or two on the ground to “support our troops” what a load of crap and nonsense,gullible sheeple nation….
“Somebody needs to sit Condoleeza Rice down and have a stern talk with her.”
LOL, nah, somebody needs to get her ass in a dark alley and beat her senseless, oh nevermind, she already is senseless…There’s no chance that Rice will stop with her step and fetch, Auntie Tomasina routine, her and Georgie are wayyyyyyy to cozy for that.
“All the more reason for an armed citizenry.”
Unfortunately the armed citizenry support the current administration, as long as pop idol is on everything is OK, after all you can buy all you need at Wal-Mart, who cares about a bunch of sand-n***ers die, America needs OIL!!
” How did it come to be that the ostensibly best-educated and most refined representatives of the United States in Iraq are guarded by gun-toting mercenaries who kill innocent civilians ? ”
The short answer is that Eric Prince is a wealthy Christian conservative who managed to convert campaign donations into contracts.
If you figure the dollar value of the contracts, dirty donations are one of the most profitable investments possible in the new America. Blackwater and others are now key players in the game of God, guns and war crimes to sustain corporate oil hegemony.
And it is going to be very hard to shut down the pork that is now flowing to this mutant mercenary industry of death and criminality. The current “War On Terror” may become the largest transfer of public money into private hands in history.
This is a real crossroads for American global imperialism. Our volunteer military is not big enough to enforce international corporate schemes, thus the White House and Congress are funding illegal mercenary forces to do the killing.
We are in for a strangely violent 21st century unless the military industrial, Big Oil, “private contractor”, Christian right and AIPAC lobbies can be reined in by what is left of our constitutional Republic.
People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.”
John Kenneth Galbraith
Blackwater was founded by former Navy SEALs and reportedly is staffed with former Navy SEALs.
For a bit more information about SEALs, the following articles might be of interest:
“Navy SEAL officer’s report on ‘remote viewing’ urges ‘transcendent’ intelligence”
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=18354
“Navy SEALs and Marines use positive human traits and virtues for success”
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=19773
i am so angry that my tax dollars are paying for this crime!
there is no integrity in washington. eliminate both parties and
start over. bush and cheney should be indicted for condoning this and anyone who supports them should be ashamed!
IMPEACH BUSH&CHENEY NOW!
This Second Dark Ages is so much worse than the first; in fact, the malicious pandemic of greed can only be overcome by the little known words of TRUTH, UNSELFISH LOVE, TRULY RIGHTEOUS ACTION, PEACE, TRUE HARMLESSNESS!
I believe Eric Prince is another one of those rich kids (Dad is a billionaire)who was “born again.”
The difference between him and others of his decrepitude (Quayle, Bush brothers, etc.) is that he apparently served in the military.
hemnebob: “i am so angry that my tax dollars are paying for this crime!”
Why are you still allowing the government to steal your hard-earned money? Why are any of you?
“No better evidence that the Iraqis are the Indians, attempting as imperfectly as they may to protect their ancestral terrain. But this time the imperial majesty of the United States, represented by American Ambassador Ryan Crocker, is established not by the U.S. cavalry but by a band of hired gunslingers.”
Sad yet glad that Scheer used a metaphor I’ve been using for years now. Perhaps he will finally admit that US behavior in Iraq is worse than the Gestapo or NKVD.
Still, no one is demanding to know exactly when it became okie-dokie for the beacon of Democracy, America, leader of the free world, to use taxpayer money to build private armies on American soil? Every penny Blackwater has ever earned has been taxpayer pennies. Now, every penny every REAL US soldier earns is taxpayer pennies.
Yet, one is “private” and, apparently, above all laws in all countries. And the other is being shredded for oil and death toy profits. So why the f**k are we even arguing about this incident or that incident or this next batch of lies or that one? Blackwater should not exist in America. End of discussion.
Did you know: Gen P is also guarded by Blackwater? Guess he doesn’t trust his own soldiers enough…
Guards working in Iraq for Blackwater USA have shot innocent Iraqi civilians and have sought to cover up the incidents, sometimes with the help of the State Department, a report to a Congressional committee said today.
Do you believe the U.S. government in any way helped in the cover up of Blackwater reckless behavior? —–> http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=622
Cowards, all of them. The dark, evil deeds of bush’s mercenaries are proof that the bigger the guns, the more deep the fear.
Imagine, the most powerful military (public AND private) terrified and firing randomly into innocents because a PRECIEVED threat.
Trigger happy, ‘roided up goons, representing you and me, lighting up Iraq and spraying bullets without remorse, or conscience is indicative of a fearful nation, selfishly hoarding its booty before God washes it away.
Boy, the karma that is coming -
You know, the only way to get through to these jerkoffs is to make an example out of them. I know it is wishful thinking, but Prince needs to be tried, found guilty, and hanged in the public square so that all his “war game” Bible-thumping minions get the hint. As far as I am concerned those fuckers ought to hang too!!
“the karma that is coming” - and it will be a extremely NASTY…
I reckon the Chinese and Russians are watching quietly as America immolates itself…
When the Chinese president handed a copy of “THE ART OF WAR” a Chinese military treatise and MASTERPIECE written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu….
Bu$h customarily sniggered….having no idea the joke was on HIM……
[and by association every tax paying American]
claudius: I’m for skipping the trial… Whoever gets to him first.
Never used to think like this, and am ashamed to sound like this, but these people have overstepped so many moral and ethical barriers that I believe there is nothing that they would fear to contemplate or attempt. They apparently equate their selfish wealth and comfort with “civilization.”
It is civilization. Civilization is the very beginning of concept of “concentration of wealth”. Of course they are civilized. As are we all.
Derrick Jensen states:
“Premise Four: Civilization is based on a clearly defined and widely accepted yet often unarticulated hierarchy. Violence done by those higher on the hierarchy to those lower is nearly always invisible, that is, unnoticed. When it is noticed, it is fully rationalized. Violence done by those lower on the hierarchy to those higher is unthinkable, and when it does occur is regarded with shock, horror, and the fetishization of the victims.
Premise Five: The property of those higher on the hierarchy is more valuable than the lives of those below. It is acceptable for those above to increase the amount of property they control—in everyday language, to make money—by destroying or taking the lives of those below. This is called production. If those below damage the property of those above, those above may kill or otherwise destroy the lives of those below. This is called justice.”
http://www.endgamethebook.org/Excerpts/1-Premises.htm
I submit that most of us have been conditioned to feel shame in our thoughts of…really what amounts to self-defense, but is only described as violence. We must defend ourselves and the natural world.
Always remember,
“Never have your finger on the trigger until the sites of the gun are on the target.”
Remember this also:
Don’t pull the trigger.
Peace is what we need.
The Gods and Goddesses of Peace are MAD and they will avenge. Rest assured — they will prevail by force of will.
Peace,
Ken Hausle
Vince Lawrence–I noted on Juan Cole’s blog that I’ve seen the rise of sentiments like yours as frustration with the political process to right the wrongs continues to head in the wrong direction. Assasination is to politics as war is to diplomacy. Many have wondered why some German didn’t assassinate Hitler prior to his 1939 invasion of Poland; The high level of criminality was clear for those looking to see and was even spelled out beforehand in Mein Kampf. The same was true prior to the escalation of the Iraqi Holocaust in 2003 and was spelled out beforehand by the PNAC docs, with some little difference being the whole project is no more than the actual implementation of the Carter Doctrine (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Doctrine ), whereas WW2 was really an extension of WW1 and its German war aims.
Intersting parallel, yes. So far, BushCo have waged war on four countries–Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran–has attempted regime change in Venezuela, Ukraine, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Palestine, and several others with mixed outcomes, has clandestinely facilitated the election of politicos it views as friends, the most notable of which are Mexico, Canada, Germany, and France, and has prevented regime change from occuring in the UK. But how is this so different from previous US administrations? Only in enormity. After Iran/Contra, did the press or congress ever oppose any similar operations?
punkassbeeotch–Thanks for posting the Jensen Premises.
“The Gods and Goddesses of Peace are MAD and they will avenge. Rest assured — they will prevail by force of will.”
Where is the evidence that this quote is factual, based on any truth whatsoever, or has ever worked?
Please, we are facing real earthly problems. This other worldy faith based hope on some miracle is not praxis.
We need to Do something different. Not business as usual - peaceful protest isn’t working.
I agree that peace is what we need. But magical etherial thinking,hoping,and praying isn’t bringing it about. We don’t have all the time in the world to be patient and wait for peoples’ spiritual maturity to come to fruition. The world is dying. Today. Right now.
Please. We need to stop identifying with the abuser by making excuses as to why we allow them to continue.
I can relate to hoping the gods will take care of it. Or somebody else will…..? And in the big picture (milloions of years) they will. But I have to live here today. The Earth is being raped today. Animals are going extinct today. Iraqui civilians are being killed today. I am interested in a solution today…… not in some sci-fi future.
Pretending that we are morally superior by clinging to dogmatic pacifism is actually moral bankrupsy. If you watched someone being raped, would you still cling to “peace is what we need.”? Or would you act in whatever manner is necessary? Please. It’s a lofty ideal, but we’re just not there yet. We need to act, not hope.
It helps to read CommonDreams’s Progressive Newswire, http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/1003-15.htm to find other items of interest. Canada just upped its war on dissent.
The war in Iraq is a crime, not only in its entirety, but also in detail. For the sake of mankind I hope that all the criminals in this war will be prosecuted and punished.
Punkassbeeotch - before the 2nd Iraq war commenced, I remember being asked the rhetorical question: what if you had a rapist in your neighborhood - what would you do? The implication was that the rapist unilaterally deserved to be “taken out” just like Sadaam supposedly deserved to be taken out. But there was no substance to the question because Iraq was never “our neighborhood” in the first place, and now once again the lesson is being learned about the ramifications of war.
All i am saying is be careful about ever advocating pulling the trigger even if you have the “target in sight” because we have been rationalizing offensive behavior for a long time and more often than not it just leads to escalation. I am not suggesting “turning the other cheek”, but I am saying rather than pulling triggers why don’t we all sit at the table and talk like adults who are capable of respecting each other.
Furthermore, you might not believe the furious indignation I have with the current situation. It doesn’t matter, but for all you know, I am more angry than you. What if I had you in my sights????? Regardless, tell me when pulling triggers has been a solution. That is what the blackwater folks do, and if it comes down to that, just shoot me first because I don’t want to be around. Honestly.
Peace,
Ken Hausle
This story reminds me of former Yugoslavia prior the civil war when criminals such as Milosevic, Karadzic and Mladic suddenly popped up in the higher echelons of society–a rather grim prospect for the US.
“no martyr is among you,now,that you can call your own.so go your way accordingly and know youre not alone”(dylan) sorry,this is the eleventh hour and evil has permission…it is up to us,the only protest i have ever seen get results,is when millions(not just paltrey thousands)take to the streets-together…at least we would already have our boots on,no matter which way it came down…(beware,the opportunity for them to try out their electromagnetic weaponry)i guess now you can all jump on me and say that i am not being a ‘positive’ thinker.maybe youre right,i should just sit here on my ass and wait for god to rescue us.reminds me of the joke about the man stuck on his roof with the water rising..he refuses a boat and a helicopter preferring to hold fast to his faith in god…he soon drowns and seeing god,asks god why he did not save him and god replies”who the heck do you think sent you the boat and the helicopter ??!!”
Vince Lawrence,
I totally understand your frustration. There only is so much of this bullshit that one can stand before it becomes so tragically comical that one feels like he/she is going insane. I too have marched in protests and written my politicians. I do not want to disengage myself from politics, because then I am not doing my civic duty. But, the feeling now is my entire government has abandoned me, the press is in the government’s pocket, so what is one to do? I too apologize for my vulgarity, but like all of you I am pissed!! King George and his cronies (including the Congress and Supreme Court) have conspired to bankrupt this country, kill and maim hundreds of thousands of people, and the insanity continues. I know the solution is suffering… people in this country will have to suffer so badly, that they will have to make a decision between watching American Idol and putting food on the table. And then they will wonder what happened? I am a law abiding citizen. However, it becomes remarkably difficult when those who make the laws are above them. Fuck this government! Fuck King George and his minions! And fuck Blackwater and all the other illegal “war games obsessed” mercenary armies! What would give me the most happiness in the world would be to throw the switch on the electric chair or toss these shitheads in a gas chamber after these morons have been convicted and found guilty in a court of law! (I know I am dreaming, but it at least gives me a little solace).
Claudius–You’re going to need a lot of condoms!
Phobos October 3rd, 2007 9:03 pm
“…former Yugoslavian war criminals such as Milosevic, Karadzic and Mladic suddenly popped up in the higher echelons of society–a rather grim prospect for the US.”
REMEMBER: After WW2 Hitler’s well trained Nazis killers and war criminal like Gestapo and SS turned up everywhere ALL OVER THE WORLD….
Bu$hCo have sowed some bad shit…America and perhaps the World will reap a very GRIM HARVEST..indeed…
Blackwater is only responsible for a very small part of the Iraqi Holocaust, but it’s easier to concentrate on a few spectacular shooting sprees than to confront the enormity of the abomination that the United States has committed against the Iraqi people.
karlof1,
I already own stock in Trojan condoms… just kidding!
mr. freeze,yes,we know that and that is most certainly true..but we grasp at straws,hoping one might take wing and snowball.the surge is ‘working’only cause everyone is dead or gone.the criminals at our helm are a runaway frieght train,no mortal seems to be able or even willing to stop.hopefully they find something in the blackwater story, a hard seed that takes root and cant be ignored and just maybe the brakes might start to kick in on that train……mr.freeze
never mind..i just remembered that at one time,i thought it couldnt get any worse than abu garib,but then,it did.for one fleeting moment,i thought abu garib would snap some sense into capitol hill and a whole lotta stupid americans and the brakes would be pedal to metal….but no,it actually got worse.the thing that smacks at ya directly about blackwater,is on orders and for a price..they will blow anyone away..anywhere and not feel one twitch of remorse,if they deem you an enemy to the new world order or to their commanders.this has domestic and international implications,so infects around the world.
Ken Hausle-
I was not drawing a metaphor. Our planet is being destroyed. Now. We are in a defensive, not offensive position.
To suggest that the rapist scenario has no substance here, due to some conversation you had about a different subject seems weird. I’m sure the argument you presented 7 years ago in that conversation was sound. This is not that conversation. To think that because the comparison didn’t work then, that somehow it won’t ever work is short sighted, and quite frankly, I have no idea why you brought it up. Blackwater are in our neiborhood. Munitions plant ceo’s are in our neighborhoods. Politicians are in our neighborhoods. Warprofiteers are right here in the good ol’ US of Fuckin’AYE. Surveillance is in our neighborhood.
I am not advocating pre-emptive violence. It’s already too late for that. We are being assaulted on all sides. It’s time to defend ourselves as if our very lives depended on it. They do.
To presume the rapist wants to sit down and talk is at the very least naive. This again sounds like classic identifying with the abuser- they’re so misunderstood you know…and deserve forgiveness. Maybe so, but will this come at the expense of innocent life? And when do you suppose we do the talking? Before or after the violation? They are anything but rational. Look into Erik Prince’s eyes….see that dead disconnected look? Cheney? Bush? Hilary? Pelosi? McCain? There is no reasoning to be had with these people. If there is, they need to be the ones to demonstrate rational behavior. I do not need to be the one to wait and give them a chance. They are killers. We are given instinct for a reason, and just because civilization does it’s damndest to disconnect us from them doesn’t mean they still cannot be heard. Trust your instincs for survival. Are we not under attack?
“We” have not been rationalizing offensive behavior. They have. I have always subscribed to pacifism until the last year. I have never been in agreement of their wars. While I admit the abhorent complicity that comes with stupid shit like paying taxes,consuming goods, having a job, I have never rationalized offense. I do however find myself rationalising defense. Why is that? Do we not have the right to defend that which we love?
If you had me in your sites? It would be another one of the basics: “Be sure of your target…..”
You said:
“tell me when pulling triggers has been a solution.”
Please. There are too many to list. I couldn’t possibly name them all, nor do I know of them all. Essentially tho’ it doesn’t have to be guns. Native Americans fought back with less and sometimes, were quite successful. Can you say Custer? Or what about African American rebellions? There were armed escapes to the north. Not many in comparison with those who didn’t resist, or were shot down. How about Viet Nam? Or the Warsaw ghetto? Hell, even some germans protected jewish refugees with force. For the jewish survivors it’s a pretty big deal. For those who gained their freedom, I’m sure it was immense.The fact is is that we’ve been taught not to resist. Again, identify with the abuser. But for those few who have stood up and won their humanity, their freedom, their lives, it was a pretty big deal.
You said:
“….if it comes down to that, just shoot me first because I don’t want to be around. Honestly.”
Whoa. Ummm…..
Erik Prince said that the high cost was partially justified by the cost of his men’s training. It seems to me that since most of his employees are former special ops soldiers, we paid for all their training.
Interesting replies to a simple post. Because I sit down here in between chores and family routine to pull up CD to read, contemplate, and sometimes comment I wasn’t here when the reply posts were made, but would have liked to turn that one into a chat.
Yes karlof1 I am completely frustrated with the political process. Nothing seems to have made any difference and I feel like I’m on a roller coaster. After the majority of Americans spoke in November ‘06 my hope was rekindled and I volunteered my services to the board of elections. Of course we immediately got an escalation and not a change of course, and a completely befuddled and innefective slim majority. Whatever hope was rekindled has now been squashed.
Got a call from the BOE to work for two weeks starting Tuesday to help in the testing and repair of the machines. Should be interesting and I’m definately going to keep my eyes wide open, and I’ll keep y’all posted. It is very ironic though because I’m fairly certain, unless something drastic happens I won’t be casting a vote this time. Don’t anybody tell me about the lesser of two evils - it gets harder and harder every day trying to keep that one down. Just two different strains of the same disease. Whatever positive change may happen will be in spite of politics and government and not because of it; not the first time I’ve posted that conclusion.
But I’m not sure that locking the angel of my better nature in the basement and letting my rage flow over me will result in a better future. Much will be lost that will not be retrievable, replacable, or repairable. You can say “good riddance” to a lot of it and I’d agree, but a lot of what we cherish and hold closest to us will also be lost and the reservoir of human experience that informs us that we are not much better than a wild pack of dogs will once again be topped off to the limit.
I’ve come to the conclusion that many visitors to this site are older, retired possibly, and some would proudly say “elderly.” Not all of course, but many. I am not. Not a spring chicken and not over the hill, just invisibly middle-aged. I’ve spent many long hours considering what could be done, how those things could be done, and calculating my life expectancy should I begin those things. I think about my children and say no. Then I think about my children again and say yes.
punkassbeeotch: I’m not familiar with Derrick Jensen but just off the top his comments don’t feel right. Turning every aspect of humanity into a socialist lecture smells of someone with an axe to grind. I’m not anti-socialist and I watch with great interest and hope the developments in SA and the rise of spontaneous socialism untainted by the corrupting influence of a totalitarian industrial sugar daddy (USSR.)
Hey claudius–Don’t those Trojans have something hidden inside?-)
Vince–Thanks for your response. Your dilemma is shared by the majority here, although the personal details differ. Some have exxpressed fear of becoming a War Tax Resister because they fear the IRS more than their moral complicity with the Iraqi Holocaust. And since the federal government has long had the policy of saddling the future generations with the cost/task of paying off the loans made to pay for the ongoing War for Empire, once you become a War Tax Resister you can never stop. I view this as extreme moral depravity by making future innocents complicit with contemporary war crimes–Your children will pay for BushCo’s crimes!! Perhaps you can see why Jensen calls the current culture and its members insane.
Jensen is no socialist; I would call him a Radical Deep Ecologist. I reviewed his Premises and had several objections. His first misconception is that human culture IS fundamentally premised on killing organisms for food to maintain life; it didn’t make some choice to be that way; it’s natural; so, he’d have a hard time dealing with Social Darwinists.
One thing I think we all need is deprograming from the “American Mythos” we all got indoctrinated into at school and the movies/TV. Tom Englehardt’s “End of Victory Culture” does an excellent job of this. Once one understands why one feels the way one does about certain aspects of the dominant culture, then one becomes capable of stepping away from it and seeing it for what it is. This is portrayed in the movie “The Matrix.” The task once you’ve stepped out is to get others to see what you’ve seen. People that have done so to some degree are called “Cultural Creatives” by a pair of socioanthropologists who’ve researched this “sub-culture.” Many of us here fit into that group definition. And this website gets viewed by several million people, a fraction of whom read the comments, upon which an even smaller fraction write. Once you learn how the myth grabbed and held you, it becomes possible to see how the myth is manipulated to serve the interests of power. Educate and Disseminate is a vital part of non-violent resistence as is becoming an overseer of what remains of citizen power.
punkassbeeotch October 4th, 2007 1:10 am
“Before or after the violation? They are anything but rational. Look into Erik Prince’s eyes….see that dead disconnected look? Cheney? Bush? Hilary? Pelosi? McCain? There is no reasoning to be had with these people….”
It would appear a criminal psychologist would have trouble diagnosing this smattering of war criminals and their enablers…Then again after arrest, trial and conviction the judge ordering a psychiatric lock up unit while heavily sedated would be more appropriate….
If we quit whining and there was a concerted movement not to pay the portion of our income tax that funds these attrocities perhaps things would change. If 30% of American taxpayers didn’t pay 60% of their taxes the IRS would have a hard time enforcing and the government would have to sell even more paper to China.
punkassbeeotch - I agree with what you say about defending that which we love, i just don’t think the way to do it is with a gun, which is the specific term you used in your 10/3 6:21 pm message. Can’t we be a bit more creative than that…because we are not going to defeat “them” with violence.
whitewatersally - please hold onto to your sentiment in your 10/4 12:48 am posting because i want to think the same thing….i think it has merit.
Peace,
Ken Hausle
If I am not mistaken, blackwater thugs have been issued a license to kill by the state department- just like james bond.
When the neo-nazi right in the US has achieved power, that’s the moment that Eric Prince’s and Blackwater’s usefulness will be over.
Just like Ernst Roehm and the SA!
Ken,
“I remember being asked the rhetorical question: what if you had a rapist in your neighborhood - what would you do? ”
It’s telling, isn’t it, that women never use this rhetorical device in demanding belligerent action. It’s purely meant to address the most atavistic part of the male psyche: the rape scenario is only invoked to assert to assure the would-be protector of his rights to dominate a supposedly-helpless subject. The country assumes the place of the passive, weak woman who has no capacity to control or prevent attack & relies absolutely on the aggressive act of the “male” — the authoritarian ruler — who receives the absolute right to dictate terms to the protected subject. “My job is tuh perteck the murrkan people.”
Just expanding a bit on your repudiation of the “rape” trope.
Every day it’s some new outrage this administration has committed. But the American people do not seem to care much. I really don’t understand what has happened to us as a nation? It seems like all the high morals left when George Bush came into office. Suddenly we are overlooking mercenary armies running amok in Iraq and no one has a bad word to say about it. We are overlooking torture, rendition, invasion and a thousand other immoral acts George Bush has committed in our names. Where is all the moral indignation at the abuses of power this man has committed? We should be marching in the streets demanding he resign from office. If our politician’s won’t do we should be doing it! The mess he has made out of this country, Iraq and Afghanistan is unparalleled. The billions he has raped the American taxpayer of is disgusting while we do without here at home. It’s going to take us decades to recover from the disaster his Presidency has been these 7 long years. That doesn’t even begin to count what it’s going to cost us to clean up Iraq after the fighting stops if it ever does? But, still there are only a few of us who really care. We are powerless to do anything about it because there is still that 30% out there who believe every last lie that comes out of der Fuhrers mouth. They keep the mess going with their ignorance. Because they can’t open their eyes and face reality. Or they don’t care enough about this country to see where all of this is going!
peacemaker..apparently..the moral outrage is contained in cyberspace… the number 666 is the numerical system that runs all computers and the internet highway.6 rows of numbers..each row(any direction adds up to 111,add rows together=666..want to delete?999)everything the bushmaster does is so totally insane,the sane cannot even wrap their brains around it..i see many thinking caring people,shake their heads in disbelief..their world has become surreal..!
The Germans at least tried to get rid of the pos hitler. Between 1939 and 1945 there were at least seventeen assassination attempts planned by groups of people. They tried!
Remember the president of the United States of America is a War Criminal.
With any luck he will stand trial in the Hague one day.
Here is to that day, three cheers!
I am afraid we are witnessing the unraveling of everything American’s used to feel proud of and secretly wished the “rest of the world” would aspire to be. I don’t know when this unraveling actually started but it, unfortunately, has happened during my lifetime. It probably started somewhere between one of the TV programs I would watch until exhaustion from the day’s work finally overcame me and I plodded of to bed to await another mind-numbing day of work. But it has really picked up steam lately…
I also am at the older-side of middle age. I have raised my children and retired from my main line of work and am now spending more and more time contemplating what has happened during the frenzy of my early adult years. I have never purposely done anything exceptionally “wrong” during my life. I have tried very hard to never personally hurt anyone and, I hope, never purposely proposed that my government hurt anybody in my name. But, apparently I have failed in this effort because our government HAS and IS hurting many innocent people in my name and I am simply appalled that it has happened on my watch after all. I am hurting inside for what has become of our country’s “bright shining image” to other nations and peoples that my parents used to feel so proud of. I think that they entrusted me to “look out for the country and continue their good works” and that I let them down.
However, my greatest fear and worry is that so much damage has been done that, even if the rest of us in this country begin to feel this way and finally act appropriately, it will take generations to make the necessary repairs. It will likely be up to our children (and perhaps their children) to eventually fix what we have so seriously screwed up. If this is the case, it is another bad situation because I am not sure we have even equipped them with the tools needed to recognize and correct our terrible mistakes.
I know deep in my heart that I must do SOMETHING, but I am bewildered by what to do. I keep hoping for the proper leaders to pop up and start saying the right things. Then I can rally around them and assist them in accomplishing what is needed. However, even when they DO appear to show up, somehow they don’t make it to the point that I can even cast a vote for them. Someone else is there instead - someone who had big money contributors financing them and amassed enough money to buy the ballot. I keep hoping that the religious in this country will finally say “enough” - this sort of behavior is against everything in their “Good Book”. But this isn’t happening either. Instead I see everybody rallying to their checkbooks, credit cards, and stock portfolios. I see them crowding into their religious buildings and denouncing people of other faiths, lifestyles, political parties, and sexual orientations instead of addressing the REAL sins being committed. I see everybody watching and listening to their favorite “for profit” TV news channels, radio talk shows, and political ‘discussion’ programs where they typically get nothing but one-sided diatribes for one position and against all others - regardless of any merit that differing opinions may possess or any thought of the beauty and elegance of thoughtful discussion, quiet reflection, and agreed compromise.
So, I just sit here and worry and fume and wait and…
Women are not the only one who get raped.
God this dogmatic defense of pacifism….
The whole I’d rather kill myself than defend myself thing is really absurd.
I ain’t advocating protect the american people. I’m saying arm yourself. Protect your friggin’ self! Jesus. If you don’t think we’re in danger you’re either extremely privileged (no guarantee in itself), or completely blind.
The has been no repudiation of the rape “trope”. There has been scripted responses to age old baggage that has nothing to do with how it was used. Okay, just for shits and giggles, to humor you, change the word rape, to murder (one of the main words used in the article? hello? WTF do you think we’re talking about here?)or assault. Now that it’s apparently not a “boy vs. girl-how-dare-you-be-presumtuous” argument, would you kill youself rather than physically restrain someone from beating the shit out of say, yer best friend? My point wasn’t rape. My point was dogmatic pacifism. It is not the moral high ground in the case of standing back and waiting for the Blackwater goons to grow up and discuss it rationally.
Please. Leave yer baggage at the door.
Vince Lawrence:
Yer right. I have a few axes to grind. You don’t? Does having an axe to grind somehow negate someones point of view? Automatically? I must have missed that meeting. You happy with how it’s going? My main axe to gring isn’t with “humanity”. It’s with those who claim “humanity” started with civilization. This dishonors the legacy of people who kninda knew how to live with, the natural world a bit better than us eh? I have a problem with civilization because it places man at the top of an heirarchy.
Ken Hausle:
Something more creative? Tell me what it is. Wjhat are we goin to defeat “them” with? If it makes sense to me, I’ll be right on board. But, we don’t really have to be creative seeing that “humanity had been doing it quite alright for hundreds of thousands of years before “we” got here.
Unfortunately most of the “creative”solutions I see, exclude the natural world and only attempt to keep man in some fictitious place of importance above all non-human life. They almost read like abad science fiction novel So, more technology. Better technology will save us. Either that or it’s the very original well thought out forms of peaceful protest that we see working so well.
The reason I bring up heirarchy that extends into the natural world is because in “humanity” (read civilized man), we operate under heirarchy as well. Fortunately for me, I’m at the top of the current food chain, being white, male, and hetero sexual. Phew! That’s a relief…. As is Erik Prince, Cheney, Bush, …..you get the idea.
It seems like pacifists have only one axe to grind. It’s the anti- violence axe. So, you know, pacifists physically restrain prostesters who break the windows of, not mom & pop storefronts, but, (gasp) big corporation storefronts. Again& again & again identifying with the abuser. Are people not understanding this concept? Basically it reads like an automaton playbook, made up by the ones at the top of the heirarchy - violence bad, peace good. Who is that benefitting? Large sea life? Large predators? Salmon? Iraquis? Us? The peace at all costs mantra is very much like people plugging there ears and humming with eyes closed, “la la la la I must not think bad thoughts la la la…”
These Blackwater folks are willing to die doing what they are doing. That is the world we live in. And they’ve even gotten some practicing right here in the states. Hence my obvious fear. Hence my anger. Hence my possible irrationality. And I’m willing to discuss that. I have never met a pacifist who was ever willing to discuss their possible irrationality in their core beliefs. Never.
If you aren’t willing to defend that which you love - friends, family, the natural world, the earth - at leats please don’t lecture me on how I am to do it. Or if you must, climb down off that hilltop and let’s talk eye to eye.
As Derrick “with an axe to grind” Jensen says:
No longer do I see nonviolence as the only acceptable means to counter the world’s many woes. I’m just sayin’….let’s look at all of our options, and choose what is most effective. There is too much at stake to adhere to dogma.
Thank You,
-Glen
God, I almost made it thru an entire post witout saying it but I just couldn’t help myself……. “Anthropocentrism!” He shouted with apparent glee. “Yay man! Yay man! Three cheers for man!”
You don’t see animals debating about how superior their pacifism or violence is. Or wondering what the right way to live in the world is. Do we have something to learn from them?
breaking windows is not an option and is not effective…that is a method created by cia…..infiltrate peaceniks,and start trashing..haul ass and then the peaceniks all get trashed.it will take millions out in the streets to make any impact,knowing them they might see an event like that,as sport,or a windfall for trying out their latest toys on a mass of volunteers…the insanity has reached levels i never thought possible and i put nothing past them,anymore.this new tax,pelosi wants to put on us,to pay for bushes war…when billions of our dollars are already unaccounted for and billions of our money has gone to fund mercenaries…how could anyone of concious ever agree to pay that ???the nabobs pay nada……voltaire said,to get away with murder,one had to kill in numbers so large…as to be unbelievable and unmanagable….well,maybe he said”one death=a tradgedy..millions dead=no problem.it seems we have two options..1.pretend evil does not exist and carry on with our daily lives…or 2.take to the streets by the millions and at least make a large statement……
whitewatersally-
You Said:
“breaking windows is not an option and is not effective…that is a method created by cia…..infiltrate peaceniks,and start trashing.”
How does it supposedly being created by the CIA make it not an option (as tho’ we need the CIA to show how us how to break glass?)? I’m sure that some “infiltrators” were present. But I also know that many anarchists had specific targets ( I’m referring to the Seattle WTO protests of course).
If people who previously thought that Mcdonalds and Nike were okay places, then saw, the Black Bloq breaking windows, I believe it is effective. If someones awareness is awakened by breaking windows and they become active, this is effective. If corporations have to replace windows or lose business because it is suddenly not a cool place to eat, or buy clothes, no matter how small the effect, it is effective. If shareholders of said companies feel like their product is viewed unfavorably because of this, it seems effective. If you’re looking for that one momentus solution that will be an event, don’t hold yer breath. We have work to do. Bit by bit. Little by little. How many people stopped supporting those businesses as a result of those broken windows? One? Twenty? What number qualifies as effective? Who does it benefit to have an ideology of anti- property distruction? All the protesters will not break shit as a rule? Who benefits? I disagree that it is ineffective. Unless of course we are waiting for a one time save the world method which seems like what you are saying here:
You said:
“take to the streets by the millions and at least make a large statement……”
Somehow the only effective means seems to be in the millions to you. I disagree.
Besides, the millions of protesters in this anti-war movement have made a large statement to whom? How’s it working? Or, are you saying that millions of broken windows will somehow occur and then maybe it’ll be woth it? What are you saying? Are you waiting for millions to act before you do? I don’t get it.
Take to the streets and do what exactly? What am I missing?
Thank you,
-Glen
I just heard on the radio that Blackwater was also used to protect the FBI in Iraq, which now makes it kind of odd that the FBI is supposed to investigate Blackwater. Sounds like some kind of conflict of interests.
The same people who seem to constantly recite the mantra of “support our troops” don’t seem to trust those troops when it comes to guarding their own lives. There are some weird parallels of black-shirt SS and black-water guards loyal to the leader and not the state. The Homeland/Fatherland new-speak is also a bit unnerving.
My favorite quote was the DOD (DSS) argument not to compensate blackwater victims too high or Iraqis would “try to get killed so as to set up their family financially.” This shows that there are always new levels of disrespect you can show a murder victim and his family if you put your mind to it. When the DOD suggested between $15-20K compensation blackwater low balled the victim’s family $15K. I guess they don’t want this sort of thing to cut into profits. Anucha Sanders was awarded $11.6 million in punitive damages for sexual discrimination. Get drunk and shoot someone and pay $15K. What a country.
glen,point well taken and executed…i do believe every small act matters.if breaking windows works=so be it,go for it…whatever works.i dont believe one giant act,could save the world…but so far..all the little ones have scratched their surfaces,for sure…but it isnt toppling their mission of evil.need to tackle a thing at a time and the world needs to get a stranglehold on blackwater,and not turn loose…the most ironic development is:the government and people of iraq have taken on this issue and they are ramping up the wattage over it…they have become our allies,in this matter and we need to milk it and utilize the power of two countries,at war..agreeing to go after a single cause !!
Don’t anyone ever forget that Blackwater is setting itself up as the Christian Reich’s armed forces
Dear whitewatersally-
Amen.
You said:
“…i do believe every small act matters.if breaking windows works=so be it,go for it…whatever works.”
I also share this sentiment with symbolic action, peaceful protest etc. Whatever works. Go for it!
We need it all.
Thank you,
-Glen
This has been a lively dialectic and we are thinking together. Would it be too woosie, to say that everyone here is correct about the side of the elephant they describe. How to get the elephant moving for our benefit is the issue….Right now it’s got a nasty attitude and needs some retraining.
Why mercenaries? Is it because our military isn’t good enough? Or is this the new….Black Water/ Black Shirts! In case our people wake up?! And just say NO .
Cowards and Treason is what we are dealing with.
Has anyone read anything about the “Golden Jubilee” It’s in the bible. A release from all debt on demand during this designated year. Maybe it’s time to change the date? Who’s authorization do we need to do such a thing……? God’s? The IRS? Our fear filled leaders? Maybe not.
Possibly it’s time to understand what God gives no one has the right to charge for….or make interest on….I think it was called USURY. Time belongs to God. We pay for this …..with joy not money.
As to the high on the food chain. It’s bacteria that has man beat! They own those too and will use them on us.
We are in no better a situation than the people of Iraq. Would it be far fetched for this bunch of slime to remove numbers of us in a preemptive move to stabilize the country? Bush is nothing but a dirt dumb pawn, he is disposable to those who have their hand up his a…..
War is not shooting back necessarily. Sometimes it’s turning your back on things. Render unto Cesar what is his hummmmm. If we don’t pay for their food bill do they starve? If we don’t pander in gambling (stock market) will they have less of our money to play games of chance with our lives? If we abolish our dependence on their systems of education, military, insurance, licensing, medical industry’s and food industries….If we slowly carefully and within our individual ability’s remove access to our symbolic blood supply, by becoming more self sufficient? By returning to a cash and carry world. It would slow us down, and maybe we would have time to look at things more closely. To enjoy the moment instead of waiting for tomorrows lies.
We are good, we were made as part of this living earth and in spite of what we have been told by the media there are more good people than bad or we would all be extinct by now.
The Money God with it’s sacraments, credit, debt, interest. These are the things that bind us to the sacrificial alter.
I’m not going to wait for some, off on vacation God to show up like the calvary and save me from my own dirty work. Nor am I going to overlook the natural evolution in affect. The weak become infected with parasites the healthy do not. We as a nation have coliced from worms.
We can kill the worms and more worms will replace them. That is the law of nature. We can attempt to live with the infestation. I don’t see that as a good choice. We can allow it to destroy the body and hope theirs a heaven bus on it’s way….or we can grow strong as self assured individuals. Providing for our own needs and turning our backs on the spoilers of the world.
Dangerous yes! Hard, very much so! The beast will not take to starvation agreeably.
The fun is that we all can do this anyway we choose! No leader, is not anarchy.
NO LEADER IS…. NO TARGET!
Use your free will and right to life to imagine how you can join the siege and starve them….Remember mercenaries have no master but money. Get a copy of the ART OF WAR……
On a lighter note. I prefer the Guillotine for TREASON.
And public execution as long as the people preserve a sense of dignity and grace. So much more romantic with their faces up to watch the blade descend. It is fitting that they should have the pleasure to watch their own decapitation. After all they missed all the murders they authorized sitting in their air conditioned gourmet lives.
We must take responsibility for our neglect and the apathy that has led to these times. Not to weaken us with guilt but to recognize, that these we condemn are weakest in our fold. They succumbed to the temptations of greed and the sins they perpetrate.
With any luck only a few heads will need to hit the basket for the rest to become illuminated! Or crawl off into their holes. We are in the business of eliminating, that which destroys the world not marketing a new reality show. Do something decisive, do something humbly, think about everything you buy as a bullet or a vote. For those who pray, do not ask, or beg, vision the happiness of whatever is within you be contagious. Hide your religion it is private and taints the good you do with desire and expectations.
“Proper action at the appropriate time is freedom”.
For the good of all Cat
The BlackWater Logo reminds me of the SS Gestapo insignia, a private elite group of nazi storm troopers answering to no one but the fuehrer, organized and led by the chicken killer himself Heinrich Himmler.
I expect to hear a knock at my door in the near future as the BlackWater thugs round up bloggers posting on Common Dreams. My favorite liberals.
Robert Scheer hit it right between the eyes. With all the hoo hah on the BW cowboys, he is the only one to bring up the lack of comment or questioning of the “packages” that were being transported. Why don’t we hear of BW’s actions from them? They were there, before,during, and after each of 195+ incidences. They saw it all, but we have heard nothing. Has anyone even asked these first-hand witnesses? They are the ones with the full story, and I’ll bet the State Dept. has them muzzled.
Blackwater gives the US of A another BLACK EYE
BlackWater was originally designated as security for the FBI unit coming to investigate them, (but some bright boy caught it and brought attention to it). That’s pretty blatant.
The US uses Blackwater mercenaries because, even with the lowered standards and the benefits now offered, not nearly enough volunteers can be recruited to carry out the Army’s responsibilities in Iraq. There is no draft because a draft would turn tens of millions of Bush-supporting ‘Patriots’ into Bush opponents once they and their families were required to register. The obvious solution? Put people in our national government who will work to end this neo-con dream of global empire.