Iraqi life not valued, apology not offered

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.athensmessenger.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=274&ArticleID=10319

/14/2008 12:11:00 PM

Iraqi life not valued, apology not offered

ROBERT C. KOEHLER

Via commonwonders.com

"I want you to feel that Iraqi life is precious," he told them.

Well, that's not going to happen. Here, at the level of basic humanity, the occupation of Iraq - indeed, the entire Bush administration - begins to unravel. We can see this with excruciating clarity as requests for an apology waylay the smooth, legal cover-up (one in a series) of the latest spasm of panic and target practice by Blackwater thugs, which left 17 Iraqis dead in Baghdad's Nisoor Square in September.

Even the embedded media, so valiant in their attempts to cast the American presence as well-intentioned and, you know, doing the best it can (under the circumstances), couldn't help but convey, as they reported on the investigation of the Blackwater killings, the humanity of the grieving Iraqis. In so doing, the coverage hinted, unavoidably, at the truth about the occupation: that we are, to put it mildly, the bad guys, that what we're doing there is barbaric, racist, insane.

Nothing drives this truth home quite as blatantly as America's mercenary army in Iraq, which is immune from prosecution under either Iraqi or U.S. law. And the baddest of the American privateers are the Blackwater guys, about whom a rival security contractor told Fortune magazine: "They always shoot first and ask questions later. When we're out in country, we often fear Blackwater more than the Iraqis."

Back on Sept. 16, Blackwater personnel - not for the first time - convulsed the people to whom we are bringing democracy with an unprovoked shooting rampage. While providing security for a U.S. embassy mission, they opened fire in the crowded square.

[KharmaTrain]

1. Awesome Michael Ware Report The Other Day

He arranged to get into Sadr City with the "protection" of some of Sadr's people...a real gutsy thing to do. The destruction was everywhere...bullet holes in every building and shells of burned out vehicles strewn all around. One would hope there were no people in those buildings, but where could they go? It was a rare glimpse outside the wire...and chilling.

[Wapsie B]

2. There's at least one other firm competing with Blackwater over there?

I thought they had the only merc force in that country. Wonder who the rival companies are?
More to the point of the op Iraq life does not count to the instigators of this war. Too bad there's not competing billboards out there right next to those "pro life" boards showing a fetus. Only these would show that fetus developing into an Iraqi child who was killed in the war.