Blackwater: How many reality checks do we need?
It seems to me that Americans are retreating further and further into a fantasy world. Perhaps it’s the Bush administration’s disdain for reality-based thinking or a reaction to an increasingly complicated world, but it’s starting to get a little crazy.
The Blackwater hullabaloo (brouhaha?) is a perfect example of our ability to obscure everything with euphemism, to look the other way, and then to act shocked when the painfully obvious becomes impossible to continue to ignore.
Blackwater personnel are not “private contractors.” They are mercenaries. And while they will undoubtedly go on about their protection role, they, in the proud tradition of mercenaries throughout history, are arrogant, difficult to control, and violent. This tends to be a common trait in people who kill other people for money.
Now, I’m not being critical—most wars are about money and there is no question that these guys are good at what they do. The reason that they’ve been able to operate with so little oversight for so long is likely because they haven’t lost a single American diplomat on their watch. Think about it: If you’re a congressman visiting Iraq, who would you want protecting you—a well equipped, well paid, former SEAL or a nineteen year old reservist still waiting for his flak jacket to be delivered? And what would you be willing to overlook for that level of protection?
What bothers me isn’t so much Blackwater’s behavior, it’s the sudden stunned outrage I’m seeing in the media. It’s as though someone at NBC finally got around to looking up “mercenary” in the dictionary.
War is a nasty business. It’s expensive, brutal, and complicated. Of course, you can whitewash it, but eventually it comes to roost. Those dead servicemen you don’t see on TV make their absence felt at home. The war tax you’re not paying creates a budget deficit that drags on the economy. And the mistakes this administration continues to spin create a quagmire it could take decades to get out of.
Oh, and mercenaries aren’t the sweet guys we told ourselves they were.
October 27th, 2007 at 7:28 am
We don’t need any more reality checks. We need a way to force Congress to represent our wishes to end the holocaust in the middle east.
We need a leader who will take us into a fight against the Jewish/corporate media and bankrupt it and destroy it utterly.
We need to get money out of politics and to be able to have a real choice of candidates. We need to expose people like Rahm Emanuel who chooses democratic party candidates. He should be investigated as an agent for Israel and hanged.
We should get rid of the liberals out of the northeast who are the old moneybags who have destroyed the democratic party. Somebody should care enough to get rid of the neocons who are flip sides of the liberals before they destroy the republican party. I don’t agree with its philosophy but at least I could respect it before Newt Gringrigh and then the neocons came along.
Liberals say whatever they think we want to hear. Then they sabotage us. They told Al Gore he would get no party money or support and then foist John Kerry off on us. Whether a liberal or neocon got into the White House our Zionism and Globalization efforts in the middle east would be the same.
October 31st, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Unlike Barbara, I don’t have all the answers. However, I do know that we currently have in office the worst president in U.S. History, and I’ll even throw in Herbert Hoover. We may not be able to save our country from this empty suit and his very rich cronies. Blackwater, of course, has multiple ties to the Bush family so that explains a great deal. We will see if their immunity stands. I believe the republican party destroyed itself, and one cause was embracing the religious right and cramming their beliefs down everyone’s throat.
In addition, our so-called journalists have failed miserably in their jobs by getting in bed with the president. Stephen Colbert said it all in his talk at the White House Press Corps Dinner last year. He was courageous in that speech and I still have it. Helen Thomas at least is back in the front row.
This past weekend there were finally anti-war protesters here in Orlando as well as in other cities. I wish I could light a fire under the apathetic college kids, because we need them to yell and holler. They don’t seem to realize it is their future which is being destroyed.
p.s. I love you, Kyle!!
October 31st, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Is this the voice of firsthand experience talking about so-called mercenaries?
As a former combat vet with that kind of “experience and training” you allude to, I can’t help but chuckle when I read the misinformed opinions of people for whom the closest they have ever been–or will be–to the Middle East is their daily dose of CNN. Or better yet, the old “I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who was over there. . .”
Problem is, in today’s world, there isn’t a lot of difference between the style of fiction you and other accomplished writers produce versus what the networks and bloggers produce. In your novels, all crimes are solved or resolved, and in today’s journalism, “there’s always a solution.” Life just ain’t that easy, let alone where armed conflicts are concerned.
I enjoy your writing when it is speculative fiction. I especially enjoy the Mark Beamon sagas, coming from a DoJ enforcement background myself after the military. Fade was especially interesting and fun to read.
I also respect your views and politics however diametrically opposite to my own that they may be. That right to differ–vocally–is one of the things I fought for both abroad (military) and at home (fed law enforcement). Hell, I even understand where many of the opinions you and your fans originate from–our own thoroughly corrupt and doomed Congress is the creator of such thoughts and feelings. . . no matter which side of the aisle you look at.
I would urge you and others, though, to think a little harder about these “mercenaries” you apparently disdain. Spend some quality time at Little Creek or Coronado and you’ll understand where these people are coming from.
When you’re amongst a flock of sheep and the wolves are prowling, you’d rather be standing near a fearless sheepdog rather than a group of unprepared and defenseless sheep. And the wolves continue to circle America and Americans on a daily basis, thus the need for sheepdogs.
Regards.
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:22 pm
I’m not as sheltered as you may think. I have been to the Middle East and my father’s involvement in the FBI as well as his directorship of Interpol America has put me in contact with a lot of interesting people. In fact, one of our closest family friends when I was growing up was John Ripley, who I think you’d agree is a fairly well-respected special forces operative.
Beyond that, I’m not sure I understand your point. How can you say I disdain the Blackwater people from reading my post? I specifically said that I did not intend to be critical of them and that there is no question that they are good at what they do. My beef, like yours, is with the press.
I’ll admit to saying that mercenaries have historically been arrogant, violent, and hard to control, but I think even they would admit to that. If they were a bunch of meek, pacifistic suck-ups, they wouldn’t be worth hiring.
km
November 2nd, 2007 at 6:20 pm
Every army in history has made use of mercenaries, especially the successfull ones. Not to use these guys and their expertise would be a bad move as they are obviously good at their jobs. It’s a horses for courses thing.
Where would the English have been without Welsh bowmen?
The Romans used mercenaries from all over the known world.
There are just some jobs that ordinary soldiers aren’t equipped to do and if mercenaries are the route that dignitaries want to go down to ensure their heads stay stuck on, then we shouldn’t really question them.
As you say, who would any of us pick for that job?
My money would go to the mercs every time.
November 9th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
On the subject of mercenaries I have to say that they serve their purpose. They can kill whomever they want and not be prosecuted I think that must be very handy for our military leaders in Iraq and Afghanistan. These guys will probably be connected to some of the torture accusations eventually. As Jeff said most of my info is from second hand sources they saw things and they have told me. I do agree with Kyle on the subject of the media playing both sides of the court on this topic, when a documentary on Blackwater and its competitors aired it was made quite clear what these groups do in Iraq and Afghanistan yet recently the medias view seems to be utter disbelief . I also have to agree with Paulette that we have the worst President in office bar none. I don’t share any of Barbara’s views, quite frankly she scares me and seems a little too Hitlery.
November 9th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
I just have one short question and I hope it’s not too far off topic. Is it just me or has it become a little too common to see the words “anonymous source” in a story in the papers? What ever happened to “loose lips sink ships” or for that matter releasing secrets to the media could be an act of treason during war time. I think that this shows just how involved the media has become in the political process in our country. stories being so called leaked to the media are all about spin.This is I think a black eye for our country. one of our strongest freedoms has always been speech and the press being able to write it as they see it and I believe now they write it as they are told.
November 12th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Troy:
WIth so many ways to communicate these days, it seems increasingly inevitable that everyone’s dirty laundry will come out eventually.
An interesting book on the subject of the inaccuracy of war reporting is The First Casualty (Knightly.) The point it seems to make is: don’t even bother watching the coverage of the Iraq war. Instead, buy the history book in 2030.
Kyle
December 28th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Hey Gang,
We already employ mercenaries… as long as you don’t draft (slavery with benefits), you have a volunteer army. That volunteer army is a big group of mercenaries… they are just poorly paid relative to the “private contractors”. I agree with Norm… Mercenaries are a part of warfare and always have been… very few of us would do that job without pay unless we were forced to at the point of a sword. So, they are here to stay. The question should not be should we have them (which is not even what Kyle brought up). The question is “how do we over-see them?”.
No doubt that we need to do that. But the reality of war was really made clear in Apocalypse Now. Kurtz (and Conrad) recognized that to defeat your enemy you have to do worse things than he is willing to do. You may not have to vaporize cities of civilians (though it is proven to work), but you do have to be willing to kill a higher percentage of his “group” than he will of yours. That’s just how it has always worked. So, do we want to do it with private contractors or do we want to do it with kids that couldn’t get a better job so they went with the military? Then, how do we over-site it? I might add, your gonna need the kids anyway when you go to occupy the country. We have known since the Romans (who learned it in Palestine and Gaul) that you do need to put a soldier on every corner… something we failed to do by trying to get Iraq for cheap. Lets do that with the less expensive 19 year old an not the SEAL.
Kyle’s point seemed to me to be more about the media and their “Shock!” that Blackwater has done what it has done. Well, this is also typical. The media is seemingly not there to inform us on foreign policy. Their best reporters are digging up who got Brittney’s sister pregnant and new medical studies that show smoking and high fat diets are bad for you.
Sam
January 16th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
AMEN! How many times do we have to be told that this administration has lied to us before the American public pays attention?