“Don’t quote the laws to us. We carry swords” Pompey
The issue of the murderous rampage by Blackwater mercenaries in
"It was obviously excessive, it was obviously wrong," said the
The chorus of professional military officers who criticize Blackwater grows louder by the day. Their criticism is founded on Blackwater’s well-earned reputation for reckless, shoot-first attitude and they claim it reflects poorly on all Americans. Iraqis don’t distinguish between the Blackwater thugs in armored vehicles and American G.I.’s in hummers. "They [Blackwater] tend to overreact to a lot of things. They maneuver around town very aggressively, they've got weapons pointed at people, they cut people off, of course their speeds -- I mean a whole bunch of things they do fairly consistently. But when it comes to shooting and firing, they tend to shoot quicker than others," the
Army investigators have interviewed eyewitnesses at the scene and reviewed video footage of
A hundred and fifty yards on, the Blackwater convoy opened fire on another group of civilians and killed two more Iraqi civilians.
For their part, Blackwater has resisted all attempts by military investigators to sort out the incident. When military officials went to the Blackwater compound in the Green Zone but were denied access to company managers.
The obstruction by Blackwater is not stifling investigations. Indeed, it seems to be driving various actions to rein them in.
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass a bill that would bring all “contractors” operating in the war zone under
Price has been tirelessly diligent on the issue of accountability for mercenaries for at least three years, and actually offered the bill that passed yesterday back in January. The murderous rampage last month finally gave the rest of the House the “courage” to take a stand.
Now, if the Senate strikes a similar pose, maybe the Deserter in Chief will be forced to watch helplessly as the murderous thugs of in his Praetorian Guard are brought to heel.
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