I'm sorry to contradict Reagan the Great, but when someone shows up to help, I prefer that it would be someone from the legitimate government rather than armed representatives from a country without borders, or laws or accountability. I don't think it will be long, for instance, before the Bushists privatize the "War on Drugs" by giving license to companies like Blackwater to do all the things we won't allow the government to do ( like start a war in Columbia or Mexico or pour water up your nose or worse) and make no mistake, Blackwater has the vehicles, the helicopters, the ships and the intelligence division to allow them to accomplish most any mission, foreign or domestic, our next rogue president might consider to be too touchy to approach in a legal fashion.
If the next rogue president should be Mitt Romney, we can be assured that Blackwater head, Cofer Black, his chief adviser on counterterrorism, will have a lot to say about military affairs and military conduct and indeed he already has had. Romney's decision not to comment on torture was made with the advice of Black. Of course I'm sure Cofer Black's private army will be happy to accept more and better no-bid contracts from whichever idiot the American people choose to make things worse.
As Jeremy Scahill writes in The Nation,
"the Government is in the midst of the most radical privatization in history, and companies like Blackwater are becoming ever more deeply embedded in the war apparatus. Until this system is brought down, the world's the limit for Blackwater Worldwide. . ."
And what are the chances that this profitable enterprise will be brought down now that they have moved beyond the borders of brutal occupation and commercial espionage into retail sales of everything from 9mm pistols to baby clothes? Is the future a kind and degree of fascism unimaginable even in the Europe of the 1930's and 40's? Why not? With the country rallying behind thugs and idiots in blue pinstripes, what chance does freedom have?
2 comments:
Two things come to mind...
I would like to know how the pay compares between say, an E4 or E5 in the army and one of the Blackwater thugs, both stationed in the war zone.
The other thing is, as horrific and dangerous as it is, I am perfectly content, indeed very glad, to watch the ultimate fascist decay of American Society from this safe distance.
I feel badly for all of you, but especially those who, like you Cap, are well informed, aware and unbridled by the conservative propoganda.
It seems to be truly an instance of 'ignorance is bliss'.
I believe the mercenaries start at about $100K per year, but I'm not positive.
I try to take comfort in thinking more in geological terms. The Earth will be rid of us all eventually.
Post a Comment