Blackwater Doesn’t Sink the Sunken Ship

Posted on October 16, 2007 in Journalists & Pundits Occupation of Iraq Scoundrels

I’m stealing Kathryn Cramer’s usual thunder here by posting about the Blackwater Scandal:

The Blackwater scandal has gotten plenty of media coverage, and it deserves a lot more. Taxpayer subsidies for private mercenaries are antithetical to democracy, and Blackwater’s actions in Iraq have often been murderous. But the scandal is unfolding in a U.S. media context that routinely turns criticisms of the war into demands for a better war.

Many politicians are aiding this alchemy. Rhetoric from a House committee early this month audibly yearned for a better war at a highly publicized hearing that featured [[Erik Prince]], the odious CEO of [[Blackwater USA]].

A congressman from New Hampshire, [[Paul Hodes]], insisted on the importance of knowing “whether failures to hold Blackwater personnel accountable for misconduct undermine our efforts in Iraq.” Another Democrat on the panel, [[Carolyn Maloney]] of New York, told Blackwater’s top exec that “your actions may be undermining our mission in Iraq and really hurting the relationship and trust between the Iraqi people and the American military.”

But the problem with Blackwater’s activities is not that they “undermine” the U.S. military’s “efforts” and “mission” in Iraq. The efforts and the mission shouldn’t exist.

As Ronald Reagan put it, there they go again. We elect them in 2006 by a landslide because we’re sick and tired of a war that even the bellicose [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]] found doomed to failure. They turn around and become the biggest fans of the war. I saw this happen when the war broke out. I had arguments about it. People decided that although they believed that the war was a crock that they had to make a public display of supporting it so that they would not be accused of not being patriots. Out came the flags and the assurances that they would be behind the unelected Bush Adminstration. And now, when the war has not only been shown to be a crock but an utter disaster, some Democrats and most journalists continue to find the silver lining in the sooty cloud.

[[Norman Solomon]] says it best:

Terrible as Blackwater has been and continues to be, that profiteering corporation should not be made a lightning rod for opposition to the war. New legislation that demands accountability from private security forces can’t make a war that’s wrong any more right. Finding better poster boys who can be touted as humanitarians rather than mercenaries won’t change the basic roles of gun-toting Americans in a country that they have no right to occupy.

The mantra to govern the next Democratic campaign should be: It’s the war, Stupid.