BlackWater Not Down

By Cernig

We all knew it was a dead certainty that the Bush administration would piss all over the myth of Iraqi sovereignty yet again, this time in connection to Bush's pal's private army, but it's still depressing to have it confirmed.

Maliki says the U.S. embassy should stop using Blackwater and said he would not allow Iraqis to be killed "in cold blood." The Iraqi Interior Ministry has described the incident where Blackwater guards on a U.S. State Dept. convoy opened fire and killed civilians as a massive over-reaction to a vehicle which didn't stop - at no time did the convoy come under fire. The Interior Ministry plans to put legislation in front of the Iraqi parliament:

Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul-Kareem Khalaf said the ministry had drafted legislation giving it wider powers over the contractors and calling for "severe punishment for those who fail to adhere to the ... guidelines."

...Khalaf said the new draft law, which he expected parliament to pass soon, gives the ministry powers to prosecute the companies and to refuse or revoke contracts.

U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said he hoped Iraqi authorities would coordinate with the United States before passing new legislation on security contractors.

"They are free to pass whatever legislation they deem appropriate. It's their county," Casey told reporters in Washington. "What I think we would hope, though, is that before anybody move forward on their own that what we could do is have a discussion about some of these issues ... that it be done in that kind of coordinated manner."

You would think the Bushies would want to play "hearts and minds" for all it is worth right now - but no.

Yesterday, Bush refused to criticize the Blackwater guards or the firm which has funnelled so much money to his campaigns. Today, the US says it is going to keep using Blackwater on convoys rather than finding other companies at least until all investigations have been resolved.

The current administration couldn't find a decent counter-insurgency doctrine with both hands, a map, a flashlight and an entire tribe of native guides. It's almost as if they don't want an end to violence in Iraq...