Robert Bateman, a US Army Infantry Officer who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006, penned a piece in the Chicago Tribune today, titled, Blackwater and me: a love story it ain't about Blackwater's out of control practices which twice came close to killing him.
This comes in the wake of Newsweek's story that Blackwater drew their guns on US soldiers, diaried here by MsLibrarian.
As we approached one semi-infamous intersection along the main route used by Blackwater between the International Zone (a.k.a. the Green Zone) and the Ministry of Interior, one of Blackwater's convoys roared through. Apparently, Blackwater's agents did not like the look of us, the main body of cars in front of them. Their response was, to say the least, contrary to the best interests of the United States effort in Iraq. Barreling through in their huge, black armored Suburbans and Expeditions, they drove other cars onto the sidewalk even as they popped off rounds from at least one weapon, though I cannot say if the shots were aimed at us or fired into the sky as a warning. I do know one thing: It enraged me ... and Blackwater is, at least nominally, on our side.
Bateman goes on to talk about how the average Iraqi views these thugs in their SUV's barreling through Baghdad and pushing cars onto sidewalks. What is more important to Iraqi's than Islam is honor, because "...Being dishonored, in word or deed, or even by implication, is enough to set the average Iraqi man to plotting his revenge".
Every time Blackwater drives an Iraqi civilian off the road, rams a car with their SUV, or wounds or kills someone, a new enemy of the United States is made. They have shown little regard for Iraqi lives and they are fueling the insurgency and hatred.
All these highly paid, privatized, over zealous, out of control, glorified security guards care about is money. They are not covered by US or Iraqi law, nor military regulations, but instead make up their own rules like was pointed out in Newsweek's October 15th article:
Responsible for guarding top U.S. officials in Iraq, Blackwater operatives are often accused of playing by their own rules. Unlike nearly everyone else who enters the Green Zone, said an American soldier who guards a gate, Blackwater gunmen refuse to stop and clear their weapons of live ammunition once inside. One military contractor, who spoke anonymously for fear of retribution in his industry, recounted the story of a Blackwater operative who answered a Marine officer's order to put his pistol on safety when entering a base post office by saying, "This is my safety," and wiggling his trigger finger in the air. "Their attitude was, 'We're f---ing security; we don't have to answer to anybody'."
This is what happens when we link corporate profit to war; you get war crimes and human rights violations.