Iraq - Good News?

Can it be true? If so, it's great news - for the Iraqi people, for the poor, beleagured American troops who have to clean up the mess Blackwater leaves behind, for the image of the U.S. - it's gotta be true. I hope.

What, you ask. Well, Raw Story reports this morning that the Iraqi government has suspended Blackwater's license to work in Iraq and is determined to boot them out of the country.

Now, I believe Blackwater has some heavy-duty connections in the current misadministration, so it's not at all clear that they will actually be kicked out of Iraq. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad certainly is playing some kind of game, with their strange comments. See the above link for further details.

Blackwater is nothing but a bunch of scurrilous rogues. They employ lunatic mercenaries who are shooting at, injuring, and killing Iraqis for money - unlike our military personnel, who volunteered for duty, and many of whom go above and beyond the call of duty to try to help the Iraqi population because they have a sense of guilt and shame. The rank and file are not to blame for most of the nasty incidents that occur, although there are psychopaths among them (like the murderers and rapists who attacked Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi).

But for Blackwater operatives, I have nothing but scorn and contempt. They increase the difficulties of the troops' mission. One of their victims speaks, here:

Lawyer Hassan Jabar Salman was hit by five bullets while trying to flee the scene in his car on Sunday, he told AFP in Baghdad's Al-Yarmukh Hospital where he was being treated.

Salman said he heard an explosion near Al-Nissur Square and saw the convoy two cars ahead of him.

"The foreigners in the convoy started shouting and signalling us to go back. I turned around and must have driven 100 feet (30 metres) when they started shooting.

"There were eight of them in four utility vehicles and all shooting with heavy machine guns," he said as he lay wrapped in bloodied bandages on the hospital bed.

"My car was hit with 12 bullets, of which four hit me in the back and one in the arm."

Salman said he continued to drive fast and approached an Iraqi army checkpoint which also opened fire on him for fear that he was a suicide bomber.

"I hit a nearby truck full of gas cylinders and that is when the soldiers came to me. They smashed the window of my car and realised I was already bleeding. They took me to the hospital," he said.

Salman said he had seen a woman and a traffic policeman killed and dozens of people hitting the ground to avoid the barrage of bullets.

Note that the Blackwater bullies didn't even bother about the wounded man. It was the U.S. military personnel at the scene who took him to get medical attention.

Jeezus, what a fucking mess we're making, of our own country, their country, and all these innocent humans trapped between.

Stumble It!