'Blackwaterizing' Warfare: Obama is Gambling on it (L'Orient Le Jour, Lebanon)
"There are
dozens - even hundreds of 'Blackwaters,' if
you count the small firms scattered across the four corners of the planet, and
the undisputed number two is G4S, by far the biggest employer in the world
(staff of 625,000) after the unassailable Wal-Mart. ... These 'ugly' mercenaries are therefore
to be found in Middle East countries, in Afghanistan and
even in Latin America, notably alongside Colombian rebels or Peruvian drug
traffickers. ... Barack Obama, who
has committed not to send GI's to the banks of the Euphrates River, but who
hasn't breathed a word about an eventual 'civilian' presence - is
gambling on it."
Need an army to wage war in your place? Here's a contact: Constellis Holdings. If that name means
nothing to you, try Academi
(until 2011), Xe Services (created 2009), and finally
Blackwater Worldwide at the time this sinister
notoriety of the firm was founded by Erik Prince in 1997.
This name arose again last week when a federal jury in
Washington convicted four former mercenaries for the massacre that took place on
September 16, 2007 in Place Nisour at Baghdad, when
13 Iraqis were killed in cold blood (17 according to Iraqi investigators). The
reaction of the defense lawyers was: "The verdict is incorrect,
incomprehensible, and difficult to accept ..." The matter will therefore
go to appeal and the sentence decided as the judge dozes in his armchair and
journalists feverishly consult Wikipedia to refresh their fading memories.
Nicholas Slatten, the leader of
these so-called modern-day vigilantes, wanted to "kill as many Iraqis as possible
to avenge the September 11 attacks." Why Iraqis, why kill people running
away, women and children? Because "the lives of these people are
worthless; they are not even human - they are animals," he replied to a
prosecutor. To recap: in 2009, a judge issued a dismissal of the charges before
proceedings were reinstated two years later.
There are dozens - even hundreds of "Blackwaters," if you count the small firms
scattered across the four corners of the planet, and the undisputed number two
is G4S, by far the biggest employer in the world (staff of
625,000) after the unassailable Wal-Mart - which is a major retailer. There is
a slight difference. As for the global market for mercenaries, it is estimated
to be worth over $100 billion, which explains the competition for contracts.
Almost all governments, one might say, have resorted or will resort to the use
of these mercenaries for missions ranging from liberating Chinese workers
engaged in road construction in South Sudan to the rear-guard action against
the people who toppled Mohammar Qaddafi in Libya, to protecting oil
installations and ships plying pirate-infested waterways.
These "ugly" mercenaries are therefore to be found
in several Middle Eastern countries, in Afghanistan and even in Latin America, notably alongside Colombian
rebels or Peruvian drug traffickers. These "non-state entities," as
they are referred to by the Web site Global Research, operate in
regions with porous borders, and reappeared in the 1960s with the outbreak of
regional conflicts, reaching their peak when the Afghan and Iraq wars broke
out, and today, with the campaign against Daesh [ISIL] today.
Since they first appeared in 2008, UAVs
(drones) have begun to upset the central principles of conventional warfare. We
have thus moved from close combat to dehumanization: the technician seated at a
desk launches and directs the machine, then pushed a button to launch a rocket
- in total anonymity. We no longer fight; we play war games like the old
"Battleship." There
are no soldiers, not even bullets, but knobs, colored
lights, sometimes a disembodied voice command to correct occasional errors, for
example in trajectory, all remote-controlled from MacDill
Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida - the headquarters of Central Command.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Gone are the days when am officer charged in front of his
men with sword drawn to fight hand-to-hand, when wars were won and lost in the
trenches, when a grenade could kill its thrower just as easily as the enemy.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Now the U.S. army is studying the possibility of using
mercenaries to take charge of supporting Iraqi troops facing Islamic State
rebels. Barack Obama, who
has committed not to send GI's to the banks of the Euphrates River, but who
hasn't breathed a word about an eventual "civilian" presence - is gambling on it. In
military parlance, these men will be charged with the mission of planning
operations, gleaning information and reinforcing the logistical capabilities of
combat units. All of that will still cost billions of dollars taken from the
pockets of taxpayers, but he promised, swore, not a drop of American blood!
My God! Oh what a lovely war!,"
the most celebrated trench-diggers of the Great War from 1914-1918 would have
said.
