Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

EDITORIAL: Blackwater renewal an insult to Iraqis
Staff Editorial
The Daily Campus (U. Connecticut)
04/11/2008

(U-WIRE) STORRS, Conn. — Since 2003, Blackwater Worldwide has been in charge of security for America's diplomatic envoys in Iraq. During that time, America has paid more than $800 million to Blackwater, despite charges it brutalized and massacred Iraqi civilians. Now, in 2008, the United States has renewed its contract with this mercenary outfit, despite the FBI probe into allegations of substance abuse and excessive force by its members.

During the Gulf War, American military personnel outnumbered mercenary personnel by a total of 60-to-1. This time around, however, American personnel only outnumber their mercenary counterparts by a ratio of three-to-one. There is no need to rely on mercenaries so heavily, especially since Blackwater convoys now have to be supervised by military personnel just to be sure they do not create another international incident.

This new protocol comes in the wake of an incident in September 2007, when Blackwater mercenaries opened fire in a crowded square in Baghdad. Immediately after the firing stopped, eight Iraqi civilians and one Iraqi policeman lay dead. Eight more Iraqis later died from their wounds. Witnesses said that the convoy never came under attack and Blackwater began shooting arbitrarily without cause. The incident is currently under investigation by the FBI because the United States did not think Iraq's "sovereign" government was up to the task. In fact, America was so worried about the fallout from the incident that the State Department offered the Blackwater guards involved in the 2007 altercation immunity from prosecution, if they only agreed to give sworn statements about what happened that day. This immunity directly contradicts the supposed sovereignty of Iraq that American troops have fought so hard for. Rather than supporting the Iraqi government's decision to prosecute the mercenaries to the fullest extent of Iraqi law, the U.S. State Department opted to have the men spirited back to America as quickly as possible.

While the refusal to pull Blackwater out of Iraq was shameful, the offering of immunity was nothing but a slap in the face to the Iraqi citizenry. But, the American government couldn't rest there. It is truly an insult to renew this contract and thus ensure that Blackwater will remain a force in Iraq for the foreseeable future.

Blackwater has stained the reputation of America and bled her coffers dry for far too long. More importantly, however, the mercenaries are a stumbling block to building a more autonomous and more stable Iraq. Their excessive violence and quick trigger fingers alone ought to be reason enough for the United States to order them to pack up and head home.

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