Sunday, July 15, 2007

Privatizing military dictatorship

I hear the military occupation of former Iraq is now a majority-held enterprise of Blackwater and other privately owned, commercial security providers, and that these providers--offering premium wages, thanks to lucrative U.S. federal contracts and the confidence of forward-looking investors--recruit and employ large numbers of former Iraqis. Is it any wonder a proficient new Iraqi army doesn't seem to be coming together? In the chaotic hell-zone that once hosted the economy of Iraq, smart former Iraqis with advanced training in soldiering and other things useful to regional governance will work for Blackwater, not for the hypothetical new democratic state of the Baghdad Green Zone. We're witnessing a buy-out of the control of former Iraq. The purchasers are private entrepreneurs, who appear free to pursue any practices they choose while not disclosing anything to anybody.

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