Columnist Eugene Robinson contends that the indictments of five private security guards for allegedly killing 17 unsuspecting Iraqi civilians in 2007 are “a whitewash that absolves the government and corporate officials who should bear ultimate responsibility.” Case documents released Monday claim that the Blackwater Worldwide employees used automatic rifles and grenade launchers to fire on cars, houses, a traffic officer and a girls’ school, the New York Times reported. Robinson wrote: “As with the torture and humiliation of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison, our government is deflecting all scrutiny from the corporate higher-ups who employed the guards – to say nothing of the policymakers whose decisions made the shootings possible, if not inevitable.”
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27 Comments
They can’t help the fact they were hired gunslingers, so why hold them accountable when they did what they were hired to do?
It’s the My Lai Massacre revisited.
The grunts will get the punishment (albeit, entirely deserved), and the higher-ups will skate.
Even if you’re a mercenary, you don’t just kill 19 civilians without thinking such activity is company policy.
This gets complicated because the Blackwater guys obviously broke a lot of the rules of engagement as specified in military law, but these particular Blackwater “contractors” were working for the State Department, not the Pentagon.
This is part of the insidious residue of Shrub/Cheney/Rumsfeld abuse of the Constitution and the rule of law.
It’s the old “Kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out” approach to American military policy.
And you can safely bet the farm the ones who created the conditions which led to this massacre will get off scot free.
It’s a start. If these mercenaries want any sort of leniency let them turn on their superiors. Treat them like any other hired guns.
“Blackwater Worldwide employees used automatic rifles and grenade launchers to fire on cars, houses, a traffic officer and a girls’ school,”
Yeah, win their hearts and minds. Mission accomplished.
BlueJay sings…
My country tis of thee
Unless they were stoned out of their minds, there had to be a culture of ‘anything goes’ by their superiors. Just ‘Get the package delivered, mentality’ (package being diplomats, etc.)
That’s weird, lack of regulation on their behavior and plenty of guns and this sort of thing happens?
So far a whole lot of nothing.
Thought I might learn something on this thread.
Heckler pretends like he’s capable of learning anything . . .
GUNG-HO !
Many studies and many examples in real life have shown beyond a doubt that when you hand out automatic weapons and carte-blancs together, disaster is the inevitable result. Yet that is exactly what the State Department and Blackwater did. They may plead ignorance but the knowlege is there for anyone with eyes.
This incident amounted to either willful random murder or unforgivably gross negligence that resulted in the deaths of seventeen innocent human beings and another international disaster stemming from a war of opportunity and conceit that accomplished less than nothing in terms of our national security.
Our nation’s only path to redemption is to take the investigation of this and all the other war crimes all the way to the top and prosecute everyone involved to the full extent of the law. We are after all a nation supposedly of laws, not men!
Extradite them.
Well, the grunts will get it again, of course.
When they charge Eric, then we’re talking.
We don’t need any private armies anyway. That’s a European thing.
Dennis
Its a two way street, more than once when talking about the treatment of detainees it is pointed out that they do not wear a uniform. The other side of that is that everyone is the enemy in such wars, I do not excuse their actions but understand them. I can blame the higher ups in the sense that it was their duty to see that such conditions do not exist. Failing that the outcome is every breathing being it the next to attack and be a threat. So you have to stop them from breathing.
We’re teaching and encouraging these sons of cunt bitches. Pretty soon they’ll be here (after they’ve had their fill of getting paid $30,000 a month) and become friendly, neighborhood police officers.
It sounds to me like the Blackwater trial is going to be more of a legal joust than a trial. It sounds like there will be a couple years of figuring out what legal tactics and strategies will pass muster before the trial judge gets down to the brass tacks of evidence. And when that does happen, it doesn’t sound like there is a whole lot of irrefutable forensic evidence to work with. Except for the Blackwater guard who is cutting a deal, they haven’t got a whole lot on these guys. It may be that what comes out of this is some concepts of what Congress needs to do in order to have more control of our contracted security and how to make them more accountable. It will be interesting to see if this matter fades from the limelight before it is resolved, especially when Obama pulls us out of Iraq.
Well you lost me when,the New York Times reported. Robinson wrote: “As with the torture and humiliation of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison,.
Just another dumb ass NY Times hack spreading more lies about the biggest to do about nothing in history. Abu Graib was never torture. Maybe a little humiliation, but what the heck, this is a war.
You wonder why we right thinking Americans hate the main stream media so much. Well this is the reason.
“Abu Graib was never torture. Maybe a little humiliation, but what the heck, this is a war.”
What the heck?
If that is the face YOU want to project, you go ahead on. I want better than that for this country. And I sure as hell would never encourage my kid to fight to protect such as you.
“Blackwater Worldwide employees used automatic rifles and grenade launchers to fire on cars, houses, a traffic officer and a girls’ school,”
“Abu Graib was never torture. Maybe a little humiliation, but what the heck, this is a war.”
THANKFULLY, the adults are now in charge.
There is nothing American nor Christian about that kind of behavior, and anyone who supports that murder is a murderer by proxy. There needs to be a thorough investigation of Blackwater as well as the administration that allowed Abu Gharib to happen and Gitmo, as well as shipping off prisoners to undisclosed locations.
Republicans who support this are equal to Nazis, and attrocities should be held accountable in world court. Do the time in another counry’s prison.
Since these guys targeted civilians wouldn’t they be terrorists?
Chris,
“Abu Graib was never torture. Maybe a little humiliation, but what the heck, this is a war.”
Again, when you graduate from 2nd grade get back to us.
Targetting civilians, having no identifiable uniforms other than the weaponry, lack of clear rules of engagement, tons of possibly corrupted money involved. Send them to Gitmo! And these are what the US Marines are protecting out there in Iraq? (Remember Fallujah!)
This is part of the insidious residue of Shrub/Cheney/Rumsfeld abuse of the Constitution and the rule of law.
And it looks like they’re going to do everything they can, to taint the next administration with that “residue.”:
Trying to Tie Obama’s Hands on Gitmo
By Adam Zagorin / Washington Monday, Dec. 08, 2008
Motions and hearings are currently under way in at least half a dozen cases, and this week Gitmo authorities will host an emotional, made-for-TV moment: the first-ever visit to the trials by families of the victims of Sept. 11. Meanwhile, Hartmann’s office confirms that more terrorism trials will be announced sometime before Obama’s inauguration. (”Rollback on Torture? Not So Easy for Obama.”)
After years during which prisoners were held without trial, the question is whether this surge in prosecutions and publicity is a case of due process finally starting to work — or a hurried effort designed to tie Obama’s hands as he tries to shut the facility. Once they are under way, Obama could find it politically and legally difficult to stop the controversial proceedings or shift them out of Guantánamo. “All this activity, and an expanding list of trials that cannot possibly conclude before the next President takes office, is irresponsible,” says Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and member of both the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees. Saying he has conferred with but does not speak for Obama’s transition team, Schiff adds, “Attempts to limit the next President’s options at Guantánamo are not likely to succeed.”
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1865087,00.html
“Jed
Posted December 10, 2008 at 1:42 am | Permalink
Chris,
“Abu Graib was never torture. Maybe a little humiliation, but what the heck, this is a war.”
Again, when you graduate from 2nd grade get back to us.”
—————————————-
Jed- Are you sure he’ll even get into the second grade? I’m not so sure!
Phantom
Posted December 9, 2008 at 1:23 pm | Permalink
Unless they were stoned out of their minds,
Provigil…the drug freely given to soldiers in both Afghanistan and Iraq to induce “wakefullness”.
It also causes feelings of extreme anger/rage.
And the boys and girls hooked on these drugs are coming back to the good ol’ USA (maybe to climb a few few university towers?)
“And the boys and girls hooked on these drugs are coming back to the good ol’ USA (maybe to climb a few few university towers?)”
Or park rental trucks full of ammonium nitrate outside a daycare.
gster,
“Jed- Are you sure he’ll even get into the second grade? I’m not so sure!”
Well, Chris seems to have some basic literacy skills since he posts here at length, but he doesn’t yet have enough mental development to allow him to distinguish fact from fantasy. I’d say he was in 2nd grade, but will probably be held back until he gains the ability to make that distinction.