…the hatred which the Left harbours for Blackwater, and companies like it, is further illustrated by the fact that the New York Times (albeit in coverage slightly more grounded in reality) has taken to calling Blackwater’s employees ‘gunmen’, lumping them together with the Mahdi Army and al-Qaeda insurgents. Clearly the Times is taking the line that one man’s terrorist is another man’s security contractor.
Despite trumpeting the headline ‘Iraqi Report Says Blackwater Guards Fired First’, the Times is as unclear as everyone else about what happened on Sunday. (Note how the only reports coming out of Iraq that the Times doesn’t view with suspicion are those that portray Americans in a bad light; clearly one benchmark it thinks the Iraqi government has met is the ability to divine precisely what happened in a firefight from confused and conflicting accounts).
If you read the story you’ll discover that the convoy’s escorts had every reason to believe they were being ambushed. An Iraqi soldier who witnessed the incident said a car approaching an intersection that the convoy was about to cross ignored a policeman’s order to stop, and was on the wrong side of the road. Suicide car bombs are a fact of life in Iraq; the Blackwater men had to make a split-second decision, and they fired on the car. Witnesses said the escorts then threw non-lethal ‘sound bombs’ to keep people away from the scene. This apparently drew fire from Iraqi Army soldiers and police officers, and we know the rest.
In other words, according to the Times’ own account, after – rightly or wrongly – stopping the car, the Blackwater team had apparently contained the incident until they were fired on by Iraqi forces. It could be that the Iraqis thought the Blackwater guards were insurgents. However, you would think security forces in Baghdad would recognise an American convoy by now, and it’s no secret that some elements of the Iraqi army and police have been infiltrated by militias; but in this instance we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
So the incident appears to have escalated through a series of tragic mistakes. A number of different investigations are taking place, and that might have been the end of the matter for the time being. But Prime Minister Malaki chose to loudly condemn the actions of the contractors, and threatened to throw Blackwater out of the country (this now looks unlikely to happen), possibly by way of trying to shore-up his own fragile support. And of course the media piled in.
[…]
The Times, meanwhile, has been working the Green Zone trying to get someone to say something bad about Blackwater. The best it can come up with is this:
“But among the rank and file of security contractors, Blackwater guards are regularly ridiculed as cowboys who are relentlessly and pointlessly aggressive, carry excessive weaponry and do not appear to have top-of-the-line training.”
Blackwater’s contractors are drawn from the ranks of ex-military and law-enforcement professionals; many of them are ex-special forces. They may very well be overly aggressive, but they’re hardly cowboys. As the ‘myths v reality’ section on the company’s website notes, while 30 of its contractors have been killed, no one who Blackwater has protected has ever been killed or seriously injured. You’ll find a first-hand account of the lengths Blackwater goes to in ensuring the safety of its charges here. As Hillary Clinton would say, it requires a willing suspension of disbelief to imagine that the US State Department would entrust the lives of its personnel to ‘cowboys’.
(emphasis mine)
More analysis here (including video) – “BTW, the “no-one-else-was-shooting” thing ought to be pretty simple to resolve: Either that broken down vehicle was full of bullet holes when it got back to the Green Zone or it was not. Hopefully that will be in the joint report.”
h/t
.
*
saw a poster in a police station a while back… picture of a dim outline
of a man coming towards camera… caption reads… “it’s dark and the
suspect is approaching and you only have a second to decide if he’s
armed… time’s up.”
*
Eric Margolis wrote about Blackwater over the weekend for the Sun chain. As you can expect, it was full of Eric Margolis Goodness. By which I mean utter, leftist/terrorist apologist crap.
Blackwater was hired by New Orleans mayor Ray Nagine to go door to door and help police confiscate the firearms.
They do not deserve any sympathy in general from the folks on the right. I am not talking about their actions in this incident however.
The left should have known better before unleashing on Blackwater – they many need them soon to confiscate our guns.
I would agree that Margolis writes some pretty dreadful things
but describing his writing as “leftist” strikes me as odd, especially if you read who he writes for and his political philosophy as described on wikipedia.
[deleted for profanity. ED]
Why, I wonder, has “cowboy” become a derogatory term? Cowboys in fact are working men (and no doubt a few women) who tend cows, inter alia keeping them safe from ruthless predators. Where is the shame in THAT?
When you hear “cowboy” used as an insult, you’re talking to an urban bigot.
Kate – you’re hilarious.
Just out of curiousity, was it the reference to masturbating that got me censored?
Submitted without comment…
http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=1131
“When you hear “cowboy” used as an insult, you’re talking to an urban bigot.”
Really? How do you know this? And what is an urban bigot? Is it all the people who live in Toronto and Montreal, or just the ones who don’t think Mark Steyn should be king of the world.
When I refer to some one as a Cowboy, it has nothing to do with urban/rural. For example, I work in Software Development. When some one is referred to as a “cowboy” it means that they tend to work independently, some one difficult to manage, but very entrepreneurial.
Whether that is good or bad depends on context. Of course, contextualizing things is an evil left-wing communist plot to plunge Canada into Muslim darkness.
Above every combox form is a notice telling you what the rules are. They are easy rules. One of them regards profanity.
On the average day, this site receives around 14,000 visits, many of those are from work computers. I don’t need trolls filling up my comments with the “f” word to make life difficult for the readers who actually matter.
If that’s too hard to understand or respect, then leave.
another anti american diatribe from Kneel MacDonald.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromabroad/macdonald/20070911.html
what CBCpravda can never get a grip on, is that Canadas lack of military and therefore surplus money for social “projects” is because the US protects our sorry a$$.
“because the US protects our sorry a$$”
From what?
I’m going to bed and will see tomorrow if you tried to answer that.
There is a video, circulating on the ‘net, that was actually filmed by the Blackwater folks in Iraq, as they indescriminately fired on people and cars. (And of course- they aren’t accountable- to anybody, it appears).
But hey- don’t let that rain on your parade…….
Things are calming down, as reported in “Iraq won’t expel Blackwater.” From it:
“Iraq will not rush to expel U.S. firm Blackwater, under investigation over a shooting which killed 11 Iraqis, because it would leave a ‘security vacuum’ in Baghdad, a government official said on Sunday….
“Instead, the Iraqi government and U.S. officials have agreed to set up a joint inquiry into the work of private security companies like U.S.-based Blackwater, which many Iraqis see as private armies acting with impunity….”
Wasn’t The Self-Loathing Uniculturalist the Self-Loathing Multiculturalist, not too long ago? I have yet to hear, or see in print what your solution is to all the strife and blather on this blog, other than continual sniping at what is posted here. This isn’t your blog, sport/sportess, but if you have some credible ideas, we’d all like to hear you expound in a a more contructive way, other than as ROGER at the Western Standard. How about it?
Blackwater was front and center doing door to door firearms confiscations and gooning peaceful civilians in NOLA after the flood…this occured mostly in high ground communities which were not effected by flood.
They are Mercs …muscle for hire…no moral equivelnts or right or wrong here…just raw goon muscle for hire….and it can be used against you as easily as in foreign oppressions.
“They are Mercs …muscle for hire…no moral equivelnts or right or wrong here…just raw goon muscle for hire….and it can be used against you as easily as in foreign oppressions.”
[Posted by: WL Mackenzie Redux at September 24, 2007 10:01 AM]
Yep… that’s what they be.
Now, if you were ever in a situation where the SHTF in real life, what would you want at your six: a liberal with a laptop or Blackwater on the payroll?
Just askin’.
“They are Mercs …muscle for hire…”
Gee, I guess that is why Blackwater USA is a professional security, peacekeeping, and stability operations company.
As far as Blackwater being hired by Homeland Security and private companies to protect property after Katrina, all you have to do is ask where were the cops? Oh yeah, shopping at Walmart. Make no mistake, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, NOLA was basically a lawless oasis for drug gangs taking advantage of the mess to increase territory and/or get rid of rivals.
Yoop: …Now, if you were ever in a situation where the SHTF in real life, what would you want at your six: a liberal with a laptop or Blackwater on the payroll?…
NEITHER. My family, my guns and my knives are three things I would want by my side.
TC: …all you have to do is ask where were the cops?..
Right besides BW, or actually behind their backs, confiscating guns. Confiscating guns going door to door is a bit different from protecting private property as you claimed, eh?
The one fault of the internet is how I can’t express how I’m rolling my eyes at Aaron’s comment. Explaining it takes a lot of the force out of it.
As for Margolis, he can explain himself as an Eisenhower Republican all he wants. He continues to write article after article slamming Israel, praising the terrorists in the Middle East, and slamming the U.S. at every opportunity. If those aren’t leftist talking points, I don’t know what is.
“Right besides BW, or actually behind their backs, confiscating guns. Confiscating guns going door to door is a bit different from protecting private property as you claimed, eh?”
[Posted by: Aaron at September 24, 2007 12:26 PM}
Why were the cops “behind their backs”? Why weren’t the cops out front, doing the job Nagin assigned them?
Blackwater was only doing the job Nagin HIRED them to do. If Nagin hadn’t hired them they would not have been confiscating guns. Don’t look at Blackwater. Look at Nagin. An incompetent, liberal, black mayor who could not get his employees (the cops) to do the job he assigned them.
It was Nagin who wanted NOLA disarmed, not Blackwater.
YG: You can roll any part of your body all you want, it does not change the fact that BW was instrumental in universal warrantless confiscation of peoples firearms during Katrina. If you have facts to state, please go ahead.
Yoop: Nuremberg.
Okay Aaron, I’ll bite. Just who had their weapons confiscated? Who ordered them to be taken? hint: Ask the mayor of “Chocolate City”.
you probably believed Geraldo when he talked about bodies stacked like cordwood in the convention center. the truth was very much different.
BTW, being this close (NE Texas)to both Katrina and Rita you tend to hear more from the people who were there rather than talking heads or Sean Penn.
“Yoop: Nuremberg.”
[Posted by: Aaron at September 24, 2007 1:13 PM]
Nuremberg ====> Nazis
Goodwin’s Law invoked. You lose.
Texas Canuck understands. You, obviously, do not.
Yoop: Nope, you don’t understand. I was not referring to Nazi, Nuremberg != Nazi. I was referring to universal Nuremberg defense of following orders.
TC: My source of information are the people, whose doors were kicked in by cops, augmented by BW and whose guns were confiscated. Some of them were beaten in the process w/o any provocation or even hints of resistance.
And I have no idea who is Sean Penn, by the way. Pardon my ignorance.
margolis is a total and complete a** hole. he hates everything moral and honest.
“My source of information are the people, whose doors were kicked in by cops, augmented by BW and whose guns were confiscated. Some of them were beaten in the process w/o any provocation or even hints of resistance.”
[Posted by: Aaron at September 24, 2007 2:03 PM]
Would this be people who were the actual residents, and whom you personally talked to about the situation. If not, could you please provide your unimpeachable sources that prove these claims.
(Please make sure you do not provide the same sources who all so *witnessed* the stacked bodies, and the rampart rapes and all the murders going on in the Dome. This would also apply to those sources that also reported the extreme toxicity of the flood waters leading to immediate death, etc.)
BTW, Aaron, would you like to guess as to how many different private security companies were operating in NOLA within three months after Katrina? And more importantly… why?
TIA
If you don’t know something, it does not mean that thing does not exist. We in NRA are in the know of what Blackwater did, do your homework and I must tell you that finding facts is easy. Join NRA for starters and you’ll quickly learn what Nagin, his police and Blackwater did to 2nd amendment. I am not here to educate the ignorant – I am here to point them in the right direction only.
So what?
Private contractors don’t answer to anyone but who pays them. There is NO ideology involved in their decision making process.
Regardless of what controversial situations they have been in there is NO reason for them to anything differently.
The point of this article is that the results of the BW action in the Iraq incident has been political hyperbole from all quarters. Especially the unmitigated BS from the likes of the toad Margolis…………
Kate, honestly, so the primary source of your emphasized text is from their web site…. Are you trying to re-enforce their spin?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/22/AR2007092201424.html?nav=hcmodule
“… the powerlessness of Iraqi officials to control the tens of thousands of security contractors who operate under U.S.-drafted Iraqi regulations that shield them from Iraqi laws.”
“Before that episode, U.S. officials were made aware in high-level meetings and formal memorandums of Blackwater’s alleged transgressions. They included six violent incidents this year allegedly involving the North Carolina firm that left a total of 10 Iraqis dead, the officials said. ”
[I know, alleged]
“… ministry officials became increasingly frustrated by their inability to persuade U.S. officials to regulate Blackwater as allegations against the company mounted. ”
They used call these types of people mercenaries… But I guess now that an occupying power had special legislation enacted it makes it OK. Fundamentally it’s an other way to get boots on the ground without having to call them soldiers and have them to political oversight.
They are loose cannons and they are not being held accountable for answering allegations against them. It is necessary that they avoid even the appearance of impropriety given their highly protected status.
“I am not here to educate the ignorant – I am here to point them in the right direction only.”
[Posted by: Aaron at September 24, 2007 4:11 PM]
Ah-h-h-h-h…now I finally understand. We who disagree with your sources are “ignorant”. Directionless, also.
We ignorant, directionless knuckle-draggers are sitting at your feet, awaiting the enlightenment.
“We in NRA are in the know… ”
“Join NRA for starters and you’ll quickly learn…”
Well, Aaron… I was an IRA member for a period that is probably longer than you have been alive. My membership number was fairly low, because it was a gift when I was much younger. I gave it up about 10 years ago in protest. All the NRA ever did for me was to mail and call, mail and call, and mail and call, asking for more money. In that later period they went off the deep end and used some scare tactics that were not unimpeachable. They lost my support and my membership.
The NRA has an agenda. I do not disagree with most of their agenda. But they are not an unimpeachable source, exactly because of that cast-in-stone agenda.
EOD
Good to know that you are not supporting lobbying for 2nd amendment!
The US government as well as other governments have needs that require plausible deniability.
There are missions that have to be undertaken and yet require complete anonymity in respect to the origin of the orders.
Sometimes companies are set up that are loosely in contact with a “retired” general or admiral “who is no longer working professionally with the US government.”
Every year enormously trained and experienced special-ops people are discharged after they have been trained at expense to US taxpayers. These men are ideal candidates for working on companies that are private and not part of government service and yet have the capacity to carry out orders that ultimately originate in the intelligence community.
I have some familiarity in particular with one company that is made up exclusively of discharged Navy Seals.
They act as an indirect arm of US intelligence and work in high coordination with them.
“… doors were kicked in by cops, augmented by BW …” Hey Aaron, look up the definition of augment and explain again how it was Blackwater’s fault.
I know, I know. I said EOD. But… this is just such a convoluted thing being offered up here.
At 4:11 PM Aaron posted this:
“If you don’t know something, it does not mean that thing does not exist.”
But then at 6:56 PM Aaron posted this:
“Good to know that you are not supporting lobbying for 2nd amendment!”
In this case Aaron doesn’t know something (i.e. whether I support lobbying for second amendment rights, or not), yet he is sure I do not (i.e. even though not knowing does not mean it does not exists).
I am pretty sure he was paraphasing this:
‘Absence of evidence is NOT evidence of absence.’
Yet he used it like so:
‘Absence of evidence IS evidence of absence.’
Would somebody PLEASE explain the First Rule of Holes to this poor soul.
Trying to figure out how the liberal mind is wired makes me dizzy, and gives me a headache.