Blackwater Gate: Military Privatization Threatens Democracy

Blackwater Gate represents a growing threat to our republic.

The lawsuits developing around Erik Prince and Blackwater could turn into a huge story – much bigger than the lawsuits themselves which involve murder, gun smuggling and a crusade against Islam. If covered effectively by the press, this story could result in real policy change. However, if the press drops the ball again and Pres. Obama takes the path of least resistance, the consequences could be catastrophic.

You see the scariest part of this story isn’t that Prince is waging his own personal crusade against Islam and using Iraq and Afghanistan as his own personal battlefield against Muslims. The most frightening aspect of this story is scarier than the thought that this really isn’t Prince’s “personal” crusade, but rather a widespread conspiracy involving fringe elements of the Catholic church (e.g. The Knights of Malta) and high-ranking members of our own government (e.g former Pres. Bush) to wipe Islam off the planet.

No, what’s so frightening about Blackwater Gate is that this scandal is an indicator that the privatization of our military could be the greatest threat to our democracy today.

It’s possible I’m overstating the threat to our republic, but before you make up your mind that hiring private companies to fight our wars is a great idea, think about the ideology and the people who support privatization.

Outsourcing our military started back when Dick Cheney was the secretary of defense during the 80s. Of course, defense contractors have for years built planes, tanks, guns and bullets, but under Cheney’s direction, they started performing combat duties that used to be done by soldiers.

It’s not difficult to see why Cheney would support the privatization of the military, he undeniably seeks the privatization of every task the government does. Cheney’s rhetorical argument for supporting private businesses over public entities is that the government is incapable of doing anything right – just look at how they bungled 9/11, Katrina, the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and Wall Street. Of course, to buy this argument you have to forget that Cheney was the vice president overseeing all of these debacles.

My cynical side tells me that Cheney couldn’t care less about the efficiency of government compared to corporate america; what Cheney wants to do is move as much money from the public sector to the private sector. Cheney’s not stupid, he knows that money is power and money in the hands of private companies that share his ideology is better than in the hands of a government that probably won’t be as rigidly neo-conservative as he would like. And putting that cash into the bank accounts of a private fighting force is even better.

The war in Iraq is a perfect example Cheney in action. If you think the war is about oil or Saddam Hussein, you’re not paying attention to the details, and you’re not following the money. The war in Iraq will go down in history as the greatest pillaging of the US treasury ever. We’re talking about trillions of dollars, and it’s not going into the wallets of privates and corporals on the front line. For Cheney, “support the troops” really is just a slogan.

In 2007, The Hill reported:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that one of the issues he’s most concerned about is the way that private contractors in Iraq lure away active-duty members of the military with promises of much higher salaries — often to do more or less the same stuff they’re doing in uniform.

It’s not just about money though. Think about how powerful it would be to have a well-trained fighting force that can gather intelligence and perform combat missions around the globe. To get the US military to wage war requires too much diplomacy and too many members of Congress for Cheney, but a private company like Blackwater, that’s almost too easy.

What’s also cool about hiring mercenaries is that the law governing them is sketchy at best. In Iraq, according to Prince’s motion to dismiss the case against him in the US District Court in Virginia, private contractors have “total immunity.” So it looks like mercenaries don’t have to worry about that annoying Uniform Code of Military Justice, the Geneva Convention or any of those stupid international laws prohibiting torture and violating human rights. Just outsource it.

Well that’s Cheney’s excuse – what’s Obama’s? Why does Obama continue to support the privatization of the military? Why does his administration continue to award Blackwater contracts in Iraq?

Maybe Obama agrees with Cheney, that it’s better to have wars sponsored by corporations that profit from perpetual fighting. These corporations are not held accountable to the people, politicians or anyone. What they chose to do in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the globe is done in our name and at our expense. But to what end?

I know, Obama’s job is difficult and reversing course on privatizing the military is not going to be easy, but so what. He was elected by a landslide campaigning on a message of “change.”

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Jeremy Scahill’s book “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army”
Corporate Warriors: The Privatized Military and Iraq
Uniform Code of Military Justice
Blackwater Wiki