Can Iraq Get Blackwater to Go?

Can Iraq Get Blackwater to Go?

By Nancy Scola
Air America Radio
September 17, 2007

We mentioned this morning that the Iraqi government has revoked the operating license of Blackwater USA, a contractor/security firm/private army working in Iraq. But to say that we have any real idea what that means, or indeed what Blackwater has been doing in Iraq since the war began, would be suggesting certainty where absolutely none exists. Congressman Henry Waxman has been looking into Blackwater and related security firms for years, has called it "an indecipherable world of contractors and subcontractors." That's congressionalese for a giant, murky mess. Even the instance that has gotten Blackwater in trouble with the Iraqi government is confusing, but is said to involved the deaths of 8 Iraqis and the wounding of more than a dozen more.

The U.S. government is unhappy with the move because Blackwater provides security for all American diplomats and State Department employees. (They are the guys with guns surrounding Paul Bremer in photos from his time as Coalition Provisional Authority chief.) Also, Blackwater has deep connections within the Bush Administration; Vice Chairman Cofer Black was the chief counterterrorism official on 9/11. Former CIA intelligence officer Larry Johnson has this to say:

Depending on whether the Blackwater security firm stays in Iraq will inform us whether Prime Minister Maliki has any power or is just a U.S. puppet. My money is on the puppet.

One problem with their eviction?

The Iraqi government has zero power to enforce a decision to oust a firm like Blackwater. For starters, Blackwater has a bigger air force and more armored vehicles then the Iraqi Army and police put together.
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Filmmaker Robert Greenwald has a short video here highlighting what is known about Blackwater, including the many millions in no-bid government contracts they've received since the start of the war.

Inside America's private army with extended bonus scenes from Robert Greenwald's documentary "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers"
A Film By: Robert Greenwald & Brave New Films
Visit iraqforsale.org

-Full film is on Google video-
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6621486727392146155