An Update on Blackwater

Just to note on some more information that came out today involving Blackwater, the premise of which I mistakingly left out of my previous post:

While most Americans have still perhaps not heard of or have no clear understanding of Blackwater USA, the mercenary firm did garner some macabre notoriety in 2004 during a tragic incident in Falluja.

In one of the most gruesome incidents of the war, a group of Blackwater personnel in Falluja were ambushed and overpowered by insurgents. The insurgents beheaded them, set fire to their corpses, dragged them through town behind their vehicles, and hanged their mangled, lifeless bodies from a bridge. This event, which most Americans will likely recall, is considered by some critics to be a major turning point in the war; these disturbing images drove many Americans to question or withdraw their support of the War in Iraq.

Well, it turns out that there is more to this incident than meets the eye. As I discovered during my research for my last piece, the families of these four murdered men filed a lawsuit against Blackwater in an attempt to find out all the facts of the incident. The families - who are not seeking financial restitution, just the truth - have accused Blackwater of under-equipping and under-preparing their family members for the mission. They have claimed that the men were in an unarmored vehicle, lacked the necessary weaponry, and were undermanned, since Blackwater had taken their two tail gunners off the mission. They supposedly even lacked so much as a map of the area. They were forced to ride blindly and unprepared into a lion's den.

Furthermore, according to an article from CNN.com (read it here), Blackwater "impeded" the investigation into this matter.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee reported that Blackwater interfered in their February hearings by claiming that documents the committee had requested were classified, which they were not. The Pentagon later told the committee that this was not true, but not before Blackwater tried repeatedly to have the Pentagon retroactively classify the documents in question.

This company appears to be corrupt to the core; what's more, it is playing games with the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of people. It has killed at least 20 Iraqis seemingly indiscriminately; its actions and billions of dollars in contracts have undoubtedly risked the lives of hard-working and honorable American soldiers in Iraq. And now it appears that it does not even value the lives of its own personnel - many of whom are former members of the US military - more than the almighty dollar.

Yet, despite all of these facts, they still appear to have the unwavering support of this administration. Well, Mr. President, "childrens" do learn, so why can't you learn that you can't fight a war for democracy abroad through undemocratic means and by stripping away democracy at home?