After months of simmering, reports last week sounded rather certain that negotiations between the U.S. and Iraq to continue the American presence in Iraq would include the elimination of immunity for security contractors. Talk of a timetable for withdrawal- phased or complete- has been one sticking point, the Washington Post reported "Iraq's insistence that its laws should prevail stems largely from the excesses of private U.S. security contractors, whom negotiators have agreed would be subject to Iraqi law." Specifically the Nisoor Square massacre in which Blackwater agents killed 17 unarmed civilians without provocation.

The road towards some sort of justice for that massacre has been a long and torturous one (see here for a brief rundown of the attempted coverup). Despite a U.S. military investigation finding no evidence that Blackwater was fired upon, blanket immunity was immediately offered and counter-theories popped up all over the place. But after fighting through the courts for almost a year, there's encouraging progress towards justice. Over the weekend, the Washington Post reported six Blackwater agents received target letters from federal prosecutors, suggesting that indictments for at least some of them will be forthcoming.   Read More »

Cross posted at Calitics

Blackwater may be on shaky ground. Despite official protestations to the contrary, it's starting to look as though Blackwater's course might be shifting. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is starting to ask why the government is using so many private contractors, asking "Why have we come to rely on private contractors to provide combat or combat-related security training for our forces?" and going on to wonder "are we comfortable with this practice, and do we fully understand the implications in terms of quality, responsiveness and sustainability?"

These are questions that a competent government would have been asking in 2001 when Donald Rumsfeld declared that privatizing national security would be a good idea because...I don't know why...his friends would make money? It was Rumsfeld shift away from publicly-guaranteed and provided security that brought about the rise of Blackwater and a litany of other, slightly less infamous private security firms. But in light of the continuing legal proceedings probing Blackwater's Nusoor Square (17 civilians dead for no reason), Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's insistence on eliminating immunity for security contractors in any new Iraq-U.S. security negotiations, and now Gates' expressed concerns, Blackwater executives have been saying they'll shift away from private security because it's causing them too much grief. Blackwater will supposedly "survive with a focus on international training, aviation and construction."   Read More »

Cross posted at Calitics

There's a protest from 3-5pm today at Blackwater's new Otay Mesa facility, and tomorrow Jeremy Scahill will be doing a special Courage Campaign Conversation tomorrow afternoon at 4pm.

In a little noticed vote yesterday, the Merida Initiative passed easily through the House of Representatives 311-106. It provides $1.6 billion with an emphasis on training and equipment to fight drug cartels in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America, because as Rep. Brian Bilbray explained:

"Either we can go after these cartels in Ensenada, or we can fight them in Escondido," said Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Carlsbad), who voted for the plan. "I'd prefer that we move now and take care of this problem south of the border. The drug wars in Mexico and in other regions have grown horrendously violent, and their destructive ways must be quashed."

It's tough to directly take issue with any of that, but where does it lead? Potentially to some unpleasant places. In September, the Defense Department opened up five year contracts in support of counter-narcoterrorism efforts to five private companies, including Blackwater USA. "The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract could be worth up to $15 billion for the awardees." The Army Times analyzed the content of the contracts, describing:   Read More »

As I watched coverage of General Petraeus last week in front of Congress, it brought up one of my longest-held, fundamental concerns about the U.S. involvement in Iraq. There simply is no possible circumstance under which supporters of this blunder would accept that we must get out. In a frighteningly literal sense, they insist on winning (which is impossible, you can't defeat a tactic) or dying in the attempt. These supporters have become so caught up in Iraq as the defining issue of their political careers that there's no way to extricate themselves. And so unless and until we have a Congress that is sufficiently strong and motivated to force change, it will never come. Reality will simply never matter to these people. Which is just one reason that I've been so excited to read the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq and see it rack up support and endorsements throughout the country. It's a powerful step in the right direction, and I'm excited by the possibilities it offers.

Today Rick Jacobs spells it out more clearly, explaining not only how important the Responsible Plan is, but how you can get involved and help make it even stronger:

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Remember Iraq? Today was the 5th anniversary of the war, and it was marked by peace activists all over the state and country in a myriad of ways from die-ins to peace pillows to MoveOn vigils. It also provided the occasion for the introduction earlier this week of "A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq." Aside from the relative merits of any of these particular items is the return of Iraq to the conversation. Headlines have recently been dominated by Elliot Spitzer, Obama and Jeremiah Wright, and generally all manner of things that strikingly lack the substance of- you know- lots of people dying.

Early in the primary cycle, there was a lot of discussion as to whether Iraq was still a major electoral issue. The conclusion that I (among many others) came away with is that people have given up trying to make any sort of change in Iraq so they're spending less time thinking about it. Doesn't mean their position has changed, just means they've accepted it as an unchangeable state of affairs until January 2009. Nobody ever forgets, but as you learn to coexist, a certain brand of urgency is lost.

When that particular sort of complacency sets in, it gets easy to get caught up in the neverending little things that ultimately don't mean a whole lot. The trouble is, when you rise and fall with every "BREAKING" that crosses your path, the broader narratives can sometimes lose potency. Democrats are still, on a fundamental level, running against the party who thinks President Bush should keep it up in Iraq. That President Bush's incompetence provides justification for messing with the Bill of Rights. This is the stuff that goes into the history books decades from now.

Last week I had breakfast with congressional candidate Nick Leibham (CA-50), and in the midst of saying a great many things, he noted the importance of the issue, saying "You cannot talk about anything else in this campaign until you address the war." It's a point that could do with a bit more reinforcement these days. It's one of the most fundamental ways in which Democrats can nail the coffin closed on the Bush era, and quite frankly we owe it to those who have served and those who have suffered to face this thing with more frequency and depth than has recently been in vogue.

For at least one day, we looked up from the trees and took another look at the forest. I hope things like The Responsible Plan keeps the issue in front of people for a while. It's a good conversation to be revisiting.

We need to get Blackwater and all the other mercenaries out of Iraq. They outnumber our soldiers, who get blamed when these thugs massacre innocent civilians.

We also need to get them out of New Orleans where they are keeping people out of their own houses and off their own property. We don't need them in CA either!

There are two petitions you can sign online:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/its-time-to-fire-blackwater

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/codepink/tellafriend.jsp?tell_a_friend_KEY=1926

The LA Times reminds us why we need to open a mercenary training camp in San Diego (yes that is snark):

The number of U.S.-paid private contractors in Iraq now exceeds that of American combat troops, newly released figures show, raising fresh questions about the privatization of the war effort and the government's capacity to carry out military and rebuilding campaigns.

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