The James Gang Provides "Security" For Northfield Minnesota

By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer 25 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - An Iraqi official conceded Sunday that Blackwater USA's exit would create a "security vacuum" in Baghdad and said the U.S. and Iraq were instead working on revamping regulations governing private security companies after a deadly shooting of civilians.


It is interesting to consider the definition of security implied in this statement. When getting rid of a heavily armed, private militia which operates under no known laws or regulations and is responsible for the "deadly shooting of civilians" is considered a "security vacuum", there is definitely something strange going on. Do they expect us to believe that convoys of SUVs hurtling through city streets at ninety to one-hundred miles an hour and firing on anyone or anything that gets close enough with automatic weapons represents a security benefit?

Or is it that absent Blackwater the US military would have to assume it's traditional responsibility of protecting embassy and state department officials, leaving them stretched even thinner and leaving even more holes in the already inadequate Baghdad security plan? A few days ago, Tucker Carlson said the problem with the war is that its a big government response to a foreign policy problem. What the Blackwater problem underscores is that the Bush administration tried to do this war on the cheap and that private companies were contracted to do much of the work. Even if it were possible, we never, and to this day still do not, have enough military on the ground
to secure Iraq. This is a war which has been prosecuted under the ideology of small government and privatization.

The bizzare idea that Blackwater is a positive influence on Baghdad security is a direct result of the philosophy that profit is a good motive for making war.