As Blackwater is tossed out of Iraq.
Iraq's Interior Ministry has revoked the license of Blackwater Security Consulting, an American firm whose contractors are blamed for a Sunday gunbattle in Baghdad that left eight civilians dead.
The firefight took place near Nisoor Square about noon, an Interior Ministry official said Sunday. In addition to the fatalities, 14 people were wounded, most of them civilians, the official said.
Details were sketchy, but the official said witnesses reported that one side of the gunbattle involved Westerners driving sport utility vehicles, which security contractors often use. The state television network al-Iraqiya reported that a Western security company was involved in the shootout, but it did not identify the firm.
Black GMC sport utility vehicles? With a spare tire strapped on top of each one? Full of guys with absurd beards? (Hint - running convoy security in Iraq does not require you to blend in with the locals. This is even more absurd if you're cultivating a look that would blend you in with Afghan locals. Wrong country, nimrod.)
An official with the U.S. Embassy told The Associated Press that a State Department motorcade came under small-arms fire near Nisoor Square, and one of the vehicles was disabled.
My very limited experience with these guys leads me to not be surprised by this. They seemed to be the sort who came under small arms fire all the time. Then again, it's Iraq, and if you're in the habit of considering yourself "under fire" every time you hear a shot somewhere in the middle distance, that happens.
"We have revoked Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq. As of now they are not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq," Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf said Monday. "The investigation is ongoing, and all those responsible for Sunday's killing will be referred to Iraqi justice."
It's questionable what, exactly, the Iraqi government can really do about this, but it's pleasing to see them take a stand on something useful.
Listen, I'm sure there are some very sharp guys running around with Blackwater. And I have already issued the disclaimer that my experience with them is limited - they ran security for State and other such things at the second place we worked in Iraq.
However, it doesn't take a whole lot of yahoos to cause serious trouble in a country we're trying to get up and on its feet. The U.S. military operates under monster, ponderous ROE for just that reason. And they do quite well in that difficult situation.
The contractors we employ need to do the same. The job is drive State Department people around, guys. Not live out Soldier of Fortune fantasies.
If you can't tell the difference, get your ass back to the States, or go guard a gate somewhere in Qatar, and leave those shoot-don't-shoot decisions to the kids making $22,597 a year (corporal over 3). They seem to do a better job.
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