Helpless Rage
Michael Hirsh wrote in “Newsweek”: “Imagine a universe where a man can gun down women and children anytime he pleases, knowing he will never be brought to justice. A place where morality is null and void, and arbitrary killing is the rule.”
Such a place exists today and it’s called Iraq. The man who made it possible is George W. Bush. Iraq is where Blackwater USA guards can kill Iraqis and never be prosecuted for it. The Bush regime could have prevented this situation, but it didn’t bother, in it’s rush to occupy an oil rich country. The Pentagon knew that our all volunteer military couldn’t be used to guard State Dept. civilians. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld convened a task force to consider new laws that might be needed to govern the privatization of war, but nothing was done.
Two days before Coalition Provisional Authority administrator, Paul Bremer left Iraq, he signed a blanket order immunizing all Americans, because he wanted to make sure our civilian contractors were protected from Iraqi law.
The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000 permits charges to be brought in U.S. courts for crimes abroad, but it applies only to Defense Department contractors. Blackwater and other security firms work for the State Department, despite the fact that Blackwater and the other security firms, employ up to 30,000 operatives. Apparently, Iraqis have no recourse, if they are abused or killed by them. Many Blackwater operatives are brave and honorable, but some have long been known to be cowboys, who act as if they are free to commit homicide as they please.
The unspoken rule of Bush’s counterinsurgency efforts over the past four years has been that almost all Iraqi males, are guilty until proven innocent. Arrests, beatings and killings at the hands of security firms and sometimes our military units are arbitrary, often based on the flimsiest intelligence and an Iraqi has no recourse whatever to justice. Imagine the sense of helpless rage that emerges from this sort of treatment.
Morality begins when people take responsibility for their actions. But no one in the Bush regime has taken responsibility for one disaster after another in Iraq. Nor does anyone seem to care.
Such a place exists today and it’s called Iraq. The man who made it possible is George W. Bush. Iraq is where Blackwater USA guards can kill Iraqis and never be prosecuted for it. The Bush regime could have prevented this situation, but it didn’t bother, in it’s rush to occupy an oil rich country. The Pentagon knew that our all volunteer military couldn’t be used to guard State Dept. civilians. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld convened a task force to consider new laws that might be needed to govern the privatization of war, but nothing was done.
Two days before Coalition Provisional Authority administrator, Paul Bremer left Iraq, he signed a blanket order immunizing all Americans, because he wanted to make sure our civilian contractors were protected from Iraqi law.
The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000 permits charges to be brought in U.S. courts for crimes abroad, but it applies only to Defense Department contractors. Blackwater and other security firms work for the State Department, despite the fact that Blackwater and the other security firms, employ up to 30,000 operatives. Apparently, Iraqis have no recourse, if they are abused or killed by them. Many Blackwater operatives are brave and honorable, but some have long been known to be cowboys, who act as if they are free to commit homicide as they please.
The unspoken rule of Bush’s counterinsurgency efforts over the past four years has been that almost all Iraqi males, are guilty until proven innocent. Arrests, beatings and killings at the hands of security firms and sometimes our military units are arbitrary, often based on the flimsiest intelligence and an Iraqi has no recourse whatever to justice. Imagine the sense of helpless rage that emerges from this sort of treatment.
Morality begins when people take responsibility for their actions. But no one in the Bush regime has taken responsibility for one disaster after another in Iraq. Nor does anyone seem to care.
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