Time to get Blackwater out of Afghanistan
Khadija Ibrahimi
January 19, 2010
In Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States heavily uses contractors or modern
day mercenaries to provide various military and security services. The one group
that has gotten a lot of attention lately is Blackwater, or Xe Services as they
like to be called now. This organization, if continued to operate in
Afghanistan, could seriously destroy the progress being made in the war against
the Taliban.
For starters, the Iraqi government holds Blackwater operatives responsible
for the killings of many civilians, including the 2007 Nisour Square massacre
where 17 Iraqi civilians were killed in front of many witnesses. Iraqi officials
have publicly declared that Blackwater's actions were a form of terrorism
against Iraqi civilians and that the organization has a policy of shooting first
and asking questions later. Charges were brought up against the Blackwater
employees involved in the Nisour Square massacre, but unfortunately, because of
a technicality, the case was dismissed. Many in the Muslim world and some even
in the West feel these people got away with murder. US lawmakers admit that the
legal jurisdiction over civilian contractors is murky, and so it makes it very
difficult to prosecute and hold them accountable if they commit crimes - even as
serious as outright murder.
Blackwater's killing of innocent civilians is not limited to just Iraq. For
example, early this month, two Blackwater employees were charged with opening
fire and murdering two innocent Afghans. Due to the difficulty in prosecuting
contractors, they will most likely get away with it. The most anyone can expect
is that the families of those that were killed will probably get some sort of
monetary compensation. I doubt any real justice will be served. Interestingly
enough, two of the people killed in the CIA attack this month were actually
working for Blackwater, and not the CIA. One has to wonder what this
organization is doing in Afghanistan, and one has to wonder what they are doing
to the people in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, one has to even wonder, what kinds
of other horrible crimes, they will get away with.
Blackwater was founded by Erick Prince, a man with close personal ties to
right-wing groups in the United States, and a man who many view as an extremist
Christian. In August 2009, two former employees of Prince provided sworn
statements in a US court that Prince, "views himself as a Christian crusader
tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe". Any man
that views himself in this manner really belongs either in jail or in a mental
institute, not running a major organization doing work for the government of the
United States. One piece of propaganda that Al Qaeda and the Taliban constantly
use in Afghanistan to get the people's support is that the Americans are in
Afghanistan as part of some sort of crusade to destroy Islam. How can anyone
counter that argument if one of the major organizations operating in Afghanistan
on behalf of the United States military has been involved in the murder of
innocent civilians, and was founded and headed by a man whose own former
employees have testified that he views himself as a "Christian crusader"?
There is an effort by some US lawmakers to ban the use of private contractors
by the United States military, but that has very little support amongst other US
politicians. Lobbying or giving money to politicians to get them to change or
pass laws favorable to your business is very common practice in the United
States. Organizations like Blackwater have very close ties to many Conservative
Republicans and even some Democratic lawmakers. It's a win-win relationship. The
politician gets money for his election campaign, and in return for their
"investment", these contractors make lots of money out of various government
contracts which are thrown their way. The best way to deal with this situation
is to continue to spread the word and further expose what Blackwater is doing
not just in Afghanistan, but in Iraq as well. The American people need to know
what this organization is doing with their money, and how the image of Americans
are badly affected by the actions of this organization.
One the main reasons the Russians lost in Afghanistan was because their
actions caused the people of Afghanistan to turn against them in large numbers.
Right now, the majority of Afghans support what the Americans are doing in
Afghanistan and fully understand that the Taliban must be defeated. However, if
these contractors continue to commit crimes against innocent people, and get
away with it, this will cause the people of Afghanistan to turn against the
Americans because obviously these people are acting on behalf of the United
States military. If we lose the support of the Afghan people, we will lose this
war and the Taliban will win. It's time to get Blackwater out of Afghanistan.
Khadija Ibrahimi is a graduate student studying political science. She
can be reached at
khadija_ibrahimi@yahoo.com
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