Whether the “Government” of Iraq has any authority in its own country will be tested by the ability to make their banning of Blackwater stick. Most governments might be expected to object to having scores of thousands of foreign mercenaries roaming around their land, threatening the populace and occasionally massacring them.
Over 80% of the money spent by the US on “reconstruction” in Iraq has gone under the heading of “security”, mostly to companies like Blackwater and Aegis, their UK counterpart. The US is now trying to put on pressure by suspending all aid projects until Blackwater is reinstated. As their efforts this last four years have undeniably left Iraqis much worse off than before, they should be told where to get off.
If anyone doesn’t understand how these mercenary companies operate, they should view the infamous “Aegis Trophy Video”, originally put up on Aegis website by their employees as a macabre souvenir. In fact everyone should watch this – and remember this is not a movie, those are real human beings murdered for fun.
http://www.flurl.com/uploaded/Bareknucklepoliticscom_EXCLUSIVE_10122.html
The comment by the ex mercenary under the video is also worth taking in.
I feel terribly sorry for the soldiers who have ended up in this futile war. But for mercenaries I have no time at all. They kill people for money. If they are killed themselves, my sympathy is still there, but strained. One story which went peculiarly quiet was the five mercenaries, four British, from “Garda World” who were kidnapped at end May along with the consultant they were protecting. The kidnap involved over a hundred properly accredited Iraqi security personnel with the right uniforms, documents and weapons. What happened to the mercenaries, and to their client? Why did the whole story get a miniscule percentage of the publicity given routinely to Brit hostages?
The Garda World mercenaries had a peculiar relationship with the MI6 informant and neo-con alcoholic, the Rev Canon Andrew White, quite the strangest creature to come out of the generally admirable Church of England for many years. He left Baghdad shortly after this kidnap. Any connection?