American Samizdat

Wednesday, March 31, 2004. *
No one wins here.
"The steadily deteriorating security situation in the Falluja area, west of Baghdad, has become so dangerous that no American soldiers or Iraqi security staff responded to the attack against the contractors. [Just read: "The four Americans killed in Fallujah were civilians who worked for a private company named Blackwater Security Consulting based in Moyock, North Carolina."]

There are a number of police stations in Falluja and a base of more than 4,000 marines nearby. But even while the two vehicles burned, sending plumes of inky smoke over the closed shops of the city, there were no ambulances, no fire engines and no security.

Instead, Falluja's streets were thick with men and boys and chaos."

There's nothing to celebrate, no one to blame or counterattack. This is simply a terrible manifestation -- a collision -- of exploitation and resentment, fear and distress. None of these people needed to put into this situation. This is a complete degradation of humanity, and I want people to see that this is a crisis to which we are all bound.



from Major Barbara's Arms and The Man:

"More than 15,000 contractors work in Iraq -- about one for every 10 U.S. soldiers, {the Brookings Institution's Peter} Singer estimated. "More than $20 billion, one-third of the U.S. Army's operating budget in Iraq and Afghanistan, goes toward contractors, he said.

""They are playing a whole range of mission-critical roles," Singer said. "That's in spite of our doctrine which says you don't turn over mission-critical roles to private contractors."

"The Pentagon does not track the exact number of contractors or their casualties. Singer estimates at least 30 have been killed in Iraq, and about 180 have been wounded. That total does not include missionaries or contractors handling reconstruction projects.

""They are very clearly going after civilian contractors, and today is absolutely tragic," said Singer. "It's chilling."
posted by mr damon at 10:29 AM
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