We might be back in Iraq in 2012

Buried a few grafs down in the story about Iraq withdrawal was this piece of information, in the NYT story:

(N)egotiations will continue, and some of those troops might find themselves redeployed to Iraq in 2012 or beyond, an American official said on Friday. But the official, who spoke anonymously because the deliberations are meant to be confidential, said the talks will now center on arrangements that would begin next year, after all United States troops leave. 

Of course, this will all be based on Obama re-election politics, whether it's better to appear the Peace Prize Prez or the Tough on Terra Prez.

Also left unmentioned, with the former Blackwater and other mercenaries there, guarding embassy personnel, etc., is if they will be treated as a "tripwire" or not.

Mercenaries oversee mercenaries in A-stan

Yes, our government, claiming it’s too busy, has hired a British company of “contractors,” Aegis, to oversee the likes of Blackwater. Talk about foxes guarding henhouses.

Blackwater founder a murderer?

That’s what affidavits filed in federal court claim – that Blackwater founder Erik Prince either murdered or facilitated the murder of federal witnesses.

Amongst many other things. Read Jeremy Scahill’s story.

Blackwater in Afghanistan?

I’m sorry, Xe, or Wii, or whatever. Anyway, the Army has let a contract for mercenaries to guard its A-stan bases. Wundebar.

Somali piracy bad enough for Blackwater

Boy if this isn’t close the “the devil you know,” for shipping companies to be looking at hiring Blackwater as marine private security, I don’t know what is.

More proof piracy is that bad? Some Europeans are shiping from south and southwest Asia by way of Cape Horn. in an attempt to avoid the area entirely.

Meanwhile, Russia wants to invade Somalia, even knowing full well that our own attempt at “limited war” there didn’t work too well.

And, especially in the case of oil supertankers, or Very Large Crude Carriers, as they’re more technically known, hijacking them is almost ridiculously easy.

They have huge blind spots and small crews, and if the captain things about resisting, a grenade launcher reminds him that he’s sitting on 300,000 tons of oil.

Read the full story for more on the challenges there.

Blackwater book author in Dallas June 24

Jeremy Scahill’s book “Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful
Mercenary Army” introduces the secretive private army hired by the U.S.
government in the “global war on terror.” Scahill comes to Dallas on
Tuesday, June 24 at 7 p.m. to discuss his findings at Half Price Books, 5803
E. Northwest Hwy.

Hypocrisy alert – First US case against Iraq contractor

Despite all the rapes allegedly being committed by KBR employees in Iraq, despite it becoming ever-more clear of the criminality of Blackwater’s porn-like shootings of Iraqi civilians, the U.S. has CHOSEN — there’s no other word for it — to arrest an Iraq, Alaa Mohammad Ali, as the first civilian contractor in Iraq to be charged under Iraqi military law.

This is stupid on so many counts.

Beyond the hypocrisy mentioned above, to practice the colonialism of arresting an Iraqi while Basra is aflame and our boy in Baghdad, Nouri al-Maliki, is hanging by his fingernails, illustrates once again the cluelessness of a large part of our footprint in Iraq.

And, tying the two together, to announce this indictment in the same week that the State Department extended Blackwater’s contract by another year goes beyond mere cluelessness and hypocrisy to the level of clusterfuck squared.

Did State knowingly grant Blackwater non-grantable immunity?

The State Department’s grant of limited immunity to Blackwater mercenaries may have screwed up an FBI investigation because State didn’t have authority to grant any such immunity.

Wunderbar.

Right now, I’ll give you 50-50 odds that somewhere in the bowels of State, somebody knew about this whole thing in advance. And specifically ordered the immunity grant to screw up the system.

Blackwater not the only bad guys in Iraq

In his latest column, Ted Rall reminds us of U.S. troops who have done the same or worse.

While the percentage of bad apples may not be that high in the Army or Marines, it’s certainly more than minuscule.

Does the Iraq parliament believe it’s sovereign or not?

Even if it refuses to pass a draft oil law, why don’t Maliki or parliamentary leaders talk about getting it to overrule the 2004 contractor sovereignty regulation imposed from above by the U.S., and then put some Blackwater folks on trial?
That’s why I have never favored the “I support the troops” me-too-ism of some antiwar people. Even if immediately qualified with a statement such as “I support getting them home,” it still seems a no-win proposition. It’s arguing on war supporters’ turf.