You Don't Fight A War With Mercenaries!!

There is a subject which has been sticking in the Geek's craw for years now. One of the worst--no--the worst feature of the underside of the current administration's Great Adventure in Regime Change in Iraq has been privatizing aspects of war fighting, which must remain a military function if the war is not going to be impaired.

The Geek realizes that the president and the neo-con ninnies that surround him are utterly infatuated with Big Business. Apparently, these neo-con lovers of "bidness" are so blinded by their passion as well as the nonsensical notion of fighting war on the cheap that they decided to outsource security functions to corporate entities such as the infamous Blackwater organization.

The widely reported shooting frenzy engaged in by Blackwater personnel which resulted first in a significant number of civilian casualties and then in the reputed cancelling of Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq is an event long anticipated by any thoughtful observer of the Iraq morass. Now that a headline grabbing, unnecessary but typical display of Blackwater's corporate mentality has occurred, it is time for the commanders in Iraq and the Commander Guy hisself to blow the whistle on privatization.

Blackwater was started by a one time Navy SEAL and has, at least as far as the Geek's observations of its conduct is concerned, operated in the type of mindless, wind-up-troop manner which characterises the SEALs and other Special Operation groups at their rare worst. Trigger pullers (and make no mistake about it, that is what the majority of Blackwater's operational level personnel are) do not think. They react. That is what they are trained to do. React. See a possible target; pull the trigger. See a possible threat; pull the trigger.

For a special operation unit in combat this sort of purely reactive approach is good. It works. But, in combat a special operations unit has proper command and control. There is at least one brain behind all the trigger pullers. In combat, the special operator is a controlled trigger. He is responsible to the chain of command. Responsible to the code of law and conduct which supports that chain of command.

Blackwater is not a properly constituted combat organisation, let alone a special operations group. It is not the SEALS. It is not the Special Forces. It is a dollar conscious, profit making business.

Profit, dividends to shareholders, those are its code of conduct. Duty to shareholders is Blackwater's paramount responsibility--perhaps its only one. You would have to ask the men who own and operate it--if you are silly enough to believe you would be told the truth.

In this latest incident as in so many before, it appears that Blackwater's trigger pulling crew has no brain behind it. It has no command and control. It gives every indication of being a collection of humanoid robots who at best are "following orders."

Other private security firms are doing business in Iraq. These others have so far escaped the notoriety which accrues to Blackwater. Are they doing a better job? Hiring more thoughtful personnel? Or just lucky?

It doesn't matter.

They, Blackwater and the rest of the bunch, simply do not belong in Iraq. Not now.

Their presence serves to destabilize. Their presence constitutes a physical target to the Iraqi blackhats. Their presence is a source of actual and potential friction with the Iraqi population. Their presence and actions hand a propaganda point to the opposition.

The only answer is to order the whole passel of private security companies out of Iraq. Right, bloody now!

Only after Blackwater and the rest of the profit hunting bunch is out of Iraq can the necessary investigations take place. We the People and the congresswallahs need to know just who the hell was responsible for the particularly pathetic and counterproductive decision which allowed these minions of free enterprise to hoist the jolly roger in the name of providing security for US diplomats and contractors.

Security in a war zone rests with the military forces. It can rest with police forces. It must not reside with jacked up rent-a-thugs.

The neo-cons got the US into an unnecessary war which now we cannot afford to lose. Neo-cons enlisted Blackwater and the rest. We cannot repair the first disaster. We can only weather it. But, the second blunder we can repair. We must repair it. Fast!