The news is full of accounts of the attack by so-called "independent security contractor" the Blackwater Group on a crowd of Iraqis in which 11 civilians were killed. Blackwater is a not some corporate entity, it is a mercenary militia which does the U.S.'s bidding outside the eyes of governmental scrutiny. So Blackstone's mercenaries becomes just another militia in the Iraqi conflict victimizing the Iraqi people. But what the Blackwater episode reveals is how much the Iraqi "government" is just an ineffectual placeholding puppet of the George Bush regime.
It seems that when the Iraqi government was gifted with "sovereignty" from the US occupation authorities, they were explicitly forbidden any rights over controlling these foreign mercenary forces, and mercenary businesses like Blackwater were exempted from Iraqi (and presumably American) law as well as guaranteed indemnity from persecution for any (predictable) misdeeds. So now the Iraqi government is called for the severance of contracts with Blackwater and it's being pointed out that they don't have that right!
Hah. Some independence...the puppet strings have just become clear as ever. You're just stuck with a corporate fascist mercenary militia running amok in your streets. Welcome to the new American century.
Welcome to The Cahokian... A thousand years ago Cahokia — across the Mississippi from what is now St. Louis — was one of the biggest cities in the world. Now it's an empty green spot next to the highway. I'm a middle-aged gay man living in New York City, center of the world, future footnote on somebody's future map. Welcome to the new world.
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