18 September 2007

Fire Fight



The word started to spread yesterday afternoon. There was a firefight after a car bombing in Baghdad's primarily Sunni Mansour neighborhood. The target may have been a State Department convoy under the protection of a private security firm. In the confusion that followed there was collateral damage; to wit, eight dead Iraqis.

An Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman said the eight were civilians and thirteen more people were wounded. The Americans doing the shooting were said to be working for Blackwater USA, who called in Little Bird helicopter gun ships and returned fire on what they perceived as insurgents.

None of the protected personnel were injured. The Blackwater personnel are very aggressive when provoked. There are jokes about that in the Green Zone, or at least about the wannebees who try to look like they are on the Detail.

The Interior Ministry said that they had cancelled the Blackwater license to operate in Iraq, and that those involved would be referred to the Iraqi judicial system.

That is an interesting development, since the private security forces are authorized under a law imposed by the Provisional Authority, which is to say that they are outside the law, lawfully.

It is far too early to comment on the specifics of the case, since it will take an investigation to figure out what happened. Early reports indicate that a man and woman may have been in the vehicle which exploded; insurgents may have been part of a coordinated attack, and it being in a minority neighborhood, could have been set up by Shia militants to provoke the Sunnis, or al Qaida in Iraq Sunnis attempting to provide the Americans into killing somebody, or anybody.

Al Qaida's campaign to slaughter civilians has not had the effect they had intended, and in fact has driven the Sunni local in al Anbar province into an uneasy coalition with the Americans. The Surge has improved security in some areas of Baghdad, and excesses by “Radical Cleric” Muktada al Sadr has caused him to try to reign in his militia.

It is a perfect time to try to stir things up, and the aggressive posture of the Blackwater guys is a perfect way to do it. Security has actually improved in many areas to the point that gunfire is unusual. One would assume, at least at the distance of an ocean or two, that means the rule of law is coming back.

It is not, of course, or not in the way the Administration is hoping. Still, policy imperatives mean we have to pretend that it is. The eventual withdrawal of American combat forces depends on that point, and the turn-over of security missions to Iraqi forces.

I met the Blackwater Chief Executive, Erik Prince, in San Diego in January of 2006. He was a Navy SEAL until a family crisis caused him to resign his commission. He was 27 when he established the Blackwater enterprise.

I had an animated discussion about some technology I wanted to sell him after a panel discussion in which he participated. Erik is a very intense individual. My sources tell me his company is the gold standard for security in Iraq- its services are retained for the Ambassadors who have served there, and all of whom (thus far) have lived.

Ambassador Kalilzad personally went to the makeshift morgue to pay his respects to the ones who died saving his life.

Prince is from Holland, Michigan, originally, thought the Company is incorporated in North Carolina, near the source of a lot of Sepcial Operations folks at Fort Bragg. His politics are thoroughly right wing, which is completely his right, and include an association with the Michigan Republican Party and the Amway Corporation.

The family politics are fueled by the same source that enabled Erik to establish Blackwater- the sale of the Family Auto Parts business to Johnson Controls for over a billion dollars.

Blackwater is a convenient lightning rod for a lot of things, since they are ruthless in carrying out there mission. The murder of four of them in Falluja three years ago is one of the pivot points for the struggle in al Anbar Province. You can imagine the company took it personally when their body parts were slung from a bridge.

There have certainly been civilian deaths associated with Blackwater protective operations, but I am not aware of how they are expected to sort things out in a firefight they did not start.

Without them, and the much more numerous community of other American and foreign private security contractors, there would not be anyone willing to work in Iraq.

I would be surprised if there was not collateral damage. But on the whole, the highly paid mercenaries are no more bloodthirsty than you or I are- they are out for the buck, not the blood. There are better bargains in less prestigious companies, but who would you trust with your life?

Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf, the Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman, was quoted as saying that Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq was pulled. He said "all those responsible for Sunday's killing will be referred to Iraqi justice."

I have my doubts about that, but in the longer view the fact that Iraqis are attempting to reign in the foreigners means that they are taking charge of their own destiny, which is what we claimed we want. We have to pretend to agree.

So long as "unidentified gunmen" provoke firefights, though, what are you supposed to do? Call an Iraqi policeman?

Copyright 2007 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com

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