April 04, 2004
Iraq Dispatches
From Amman, on Fallujah
Dahr Jamail, April 3, 2004
Amman, Jordan - By now I imagine everyone has been properly inundated with
the images of the scorched bodies of the 'American Civilians' (as properly
parroted by the corporate media) in Falluja. In case I missed it before
departing, I had one last chance to catch it on the countless televisions in
JFK airport, then on the front page of the NY Times on the plane.
I thought it was interesting, because what accompanied this story was a
strange little phenomenon I've seen many times in Iraq. The first bit of
news released on the attack referred to the men killed as 'contractors', and
even showed an Iraqi man handling the dog tags of one of them, and another
man was holding a Department of Defense badge from another of the U.S.
fighters the Iraqis had killed. The same report mentioned that a collection
of weapons was in one of the vehicles as well.
Of course that was the last of that footage I saw. From then on, it was
'Americans killed by Iraqis!', or 'Contractors Killed', over and over ad
nauseum.
Well, it turns out these 'Americans killed by Iraqis' just happened to be
four mercenaries working for a N.C. Security Firm called Blackwater Security
Consulting.
This subcontractor, along with countless others, is working to provide
'security' in Iraq. Check out their website: because they even provide
training for SWAT teams and former special operations personnel.
I've been in Falluja when the entire city has been under collective
punishment, which occurs nearly everytime someone attacks a U.S. patrol
there. People are enraged, and rightly so. So when one of those white, shiny
SUV's with the big black antenna drives by with guys with crew cuts in them
wearing body armor holding guns (yes, it is THAT obvious and easy to see),
what do you think might happen to them?
The other reason I bring this up is because of this: Last night I'm going
through customs at the airport in Amman, and I find myself standing in line
behind five men with crewcuts and their 'handler', a little bit older fellow
from Turkey (I saw his passport). The men were all in their late 20s, to
late 30s I'd say, and from their discussion had all been in Iraq before.
They wouldn't tell me who they were working for, but when they were lugging
huge plastic boxes with locks on them off the baggage belt, then went and
hopped into their nice, white SUV, it was pretty much a no-brainer.
Blackwater Security Consulting won a $35.7 million contract to train over
10,000 soldiers from several states in the U.S. in the art of 'force
protection,' according to Mother Jones magazine. They also hire mercenaries
from South Africa and other countries as well, and the pay in Iraq is $1,000
per day. Wonder how that makes our soldiers feel, who make barely over that
each month?
So the residents of Falluja are about to be 'pacified' because some of the
resistance fighters there killed what were most likely mercenaries who
regularly attack and detain residents of Falluja. The fog of war grows
thicker in Iraq, as the privatization contracts continue to be signed.