Black Hearts, Blackwater

So at the beginning of the week Blackwater was told they could no longer operate in Iraq by the sovereign government of Iraq. Put those last 4 words in quotes if you like, but that’s what they are supposed to be.

By Tuesday, Jill of Brilliant at Breakfast pointed out that the Iraqi government was stepping up to do the right thing — insure the safety and security of their citizens — but openly wondered “[D]oes anyone actually believe that Nouri al-Maliki will be able to keep Blackwater out of Iraq?” Even Time Magazine shared her concerns.

By Friday (yesterday) it was clear that Blackwater would continue to do whatever they pleased in Iraq. Over at the Archcrone’s site, I said “I’m beginning to think that Blackwater’s purpose in Iraq is to stir the pot of chaos and violence.”

This is the same Blackwater that caused the Battle of Falluja. That walk the streets of Iraq’s cities with huge weapons. That were apparently placed in positions of “training” Iraqi forces (or militants? your guess). The same Blackwater that cruises the crumbling infrastructure of Iraq in $70,000 vehicles able to withstand anti-tank rounds, who over earn $500 in a day, whose employees often “voice disdain for what they consider the soft, even pampered lives of most Americans….” The same Blackwater that may have improper contracts with Halliburton. The same Blackwater that may have perpetuated the so-called “road of death” to the Baghdad airport. The same Blackwater that has developed a reputation for shooting civilians, including unarmed children. How is it that they manage to get into this much trouble, when there are only 1000 of them in Iraq?

The same Blackwater that is the center of several controversies and the defendant in several lawsuits.

The same Blackwater that was sent to New Orleans after Katrina with military weapons instead of building tools or relief supplies.

As the late night infomercial says, however, “But wait! There’s more!” Federal prosecutors — who remember, serve at the President’s pleasure according to Mr. Gonzales — are investigating whether Blackwater smuggled weapons into Iraq, and then sold them to known terrorists. Some of these weapons were later seized by the government of Turkey and traced back, so now there is physical evidence; it apparently never occurred to anyone to remove the serial numbers from the illegally sold and obtained weapons.

I am going to go out on a limb and declare that — even if they are not specifically in Iraq to cause chaos, which is still my theory — the situation in Iraq will get a lot better if we will allow the Iraqi government to go ahead and throw them out of the country. The President said that when they stood up we would stand down; we need to honor that or admit that Iraq is not a sovereign nation, but an American colony. Bring Blackwater “home.”

In closing: somehow I passed over 500 posts without fanfare; illegal immigrants in the US fleeing — to Canada; realism, roommates, and the single woman, but the twist is she’s over 60; the President is scared of horses; and finally, oh look,your personal share of the National Debt is up over a half million dollars, and they even add the setup for Social Security “reform” . Mr. Bush talked about this just the other day in his press conference (cleverly scheduled to try and take attention away from hearings on Capitol Hill, but Mr. Frank cleverly outwitted him with a brief adjournment). I keep having to say this, and it is very simple: if the problem is that Social Security is not going to have enough money, the solution is either bringing in more money (raising SS taxes) or lowering what it pays out (raising retirement age, lowering benefits). Not enough money will never, ever be solved by bringing in less money.