What if Bush’s mercenaries turn on us? Is BLACKWATER his Praetorian Guard? MUST READ

Nothing Without Hope

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Mon Jun-04-07 12:59 PM
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What if Bush’s mercenaries turn on us? Is BLACKWATER his Praetorian Guard? MUST READ

There are well over a hundred thousand military contractors now in Iraq, and according to a 2004 edict passed by the American occupation authorities there, they are all immunized from prosecution. They are above the law and answerable only to their paymasters: the Bush administration and its crony corporations in Iraq. Erik Prince, the founder and head of Blackwater, has close ties with the radical religious right in the US and, of course, with the Bush White House. Given the Administration’s clear, in fact stated, intention to illegally occupy Iraq for many years (http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/06/04/time-for-congressional-oversight-on-permanent-bases-in-iraq), they and the other mercenaries plan to hold and extend their lawless power indefinitely.

Meanwhile, the legitimate, loyal US troops are being overextended, abused, broken, and I have to wonder if this is deliberate. They are stretched thinner and thinner while Bush’s paramilitary thugs profit and grow stronger under the cover of secrecy and official collusion. It doesn’t take much of a tinfoil hat to see the trend and consider where it is leading.

Read this article and judge for yourself – and spread the word. All too many Americans have no idea of their danger, and the corporate-owned media have no intention of informing them.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/03/1638/
Published on Sunday, June 3, 2007 by the Philadelphia Inquirer

What If Our Mercenaries Turn On Us?

by Chris Hedges

Armed units from the private security firm Blackwater USA opened fire in Baghdad streets twice in two days last week. It triggered a standoff between the security contractors and Iraqi forces, a reminder that the war in Iraq may be remembered mostly in our history books for empowering and building America’s first modern mercenary army.There are an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 armed security contractors working in Iraq, although there are no official figures and some estimates run much higher. Security contractors are not counted as part of the coalition forces. When the number of private mercenary fighters is added to other civilian military “contractors” who carry out logistical support activities such as food preparation, the number rises to about 126,000.

(snip)

The privatization of war hands an incentive to American corporations, many with tremendous political clout, to keep us mired down in Iraq. But even more disturbing is the steady rise of this modern Praetorian Guard. The Praetorian Guard in ancient Rome was a paramilitary force that defied legal constraints, made violence part of the political discourse, and eventually plunged the Roman Republic into tyranny and despotism. Despotic movements need paramilitary forces that operate outside the law, forces that sow fear among potential opponents, and are capable of physically silencing those branded by their leaders as traitors. And in the wrong hands, a Blackwater could well become that force.
(snip)

Blackwater, barely a decade old, has migrated from Iraq to set up operations in the United States and nine other countries. It trains Afghan security forces and has established a base a few miles from the Iranian border. The huge contracts from the war - including $750 million from the State Department since 2004 - have allowed Blackwater to amass a fleet of more than 20 aircraft, including helicopter gunships. Jeremy Scahill, the author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1560259795?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1560259795&adid=0VZ5P4EDX9F34V3739WQ&), points out that Blackwater has also constructed “the world’s largest private military facility - a 7,000-acre compound near the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina.” Blackwater also recently opened a facility in Illinois (”Blackwater North”) and, despite local opposition, is moving ahead with plans to build another huge training base near San Diego. The company recently announced it was creating a private intelligence branch called “Total Intelligence.”

(snip)

The word contractor helps launder the fear and threat out of a more accurate term: “paramilitary force.” We’re not supposed to have such forces in the United States, but we now do. And if we have them, we have a potential threat to democracy. On U.S. soil, Blackwater so far has shown few signs of being an out-and-out rogue retainer army, though they looked the part in New Orleans. But were this country to become even a little less stable, outfits like Blackwater might see a heyday. If the United States falls into a period of instability caused by another catastrophic terrorist attack, an economic meltdown that triggers social unrest, or a series of environmental disasters, such paramilitary forces, protected and assisted by fellow ideologues in the police and military, could ruthlessly abolish what is left of our eroding democracy. War, with the huge profits it hands to corporations, and to right-wing interests such as the Christian Right, could become a permanent condition. And the thugs with automatic weapons, black uniforms and wraparound sunglasses who appeared on the streets in New Orleans could appear on our streets.

Chris Hedges (hedgesscoop@aol.com) is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and won a Pulitzer Prize as a foreign correspondent for the New York Times. He is author, mostly recently, of “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0743284437?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0743284437&adid=1N3D6ZB12NRSQ0JA22DA&).”

What if Bush’s mercenaries turn on us? Is BLACKWATER his Praetorian Guard? MUST READ

What If Our Mercenaries Turn On Us?

I suggest that we email Chris Hedges to express our support and gratitude for his effort and courage in writing this article. His email address: hedgesscoop@aol.com