[News] Tombstone Blues

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Fri Apr 2 08:50:49 EST 2004


http://www.counterpunch.com/jacobs04012004.html
April 1, 2004


Tombstone Blues


Dying in Vain in Iraq

By RON JACOBS

The White House finally presented one of the most timeworn and meaningless 
rationales for continuing the wrongheaded war and occupation in Iraq. It is 
a rationale that so-called patriots pull out of their hat (or perhaps they 
pull it from that part of their body where the "sun don't shine") when all 
other rationales have proven to be false. It is also a rationale that any 
thoughtful parent, friend, sibling or other relation of a GI hopes they 
will never hear. On March 31, 2004, as news of the deaths of five GIs and 
four US non-military "security" personnel filtered through the wires, White 
House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told the press: "Our thoughts and 
prayers are with the families of those victims. But we will not be 
intimidated. And the best way to honor those who have lost their lives is 
to continue to show resolve."

In short, Mr. McClellan means that the killing and dying will continue. 
That resolve he's speaking of is the resolve of men and women sitting in 
their leather-cushioned chairs in boardrooms and government offices around 
the United States and behind the well-guarded walls of the Green Zone in 
Baghdad. In fact, the Empire's main point man Mr. Bremer echoed the White 
House's comment in his own statement. At a graduation ceremony for the 
Iraqi police (the next group of Iraqi targets of the resistance), Mr. 
Bremer told these men that the dead occupiers in Iraq had "not died in 
vain." The GIs who were killed were fulfilling an obligation they may have 
regretted they ever made. Dying for a cause you don't believe in is a hard 
thing to do.

As for the others, they didn't die in vain either; they died in Iraq for a 
big paycheck. These guys weren't innocent bystanders, mind you. They worked 
for Blackwater Security Consulting and were most likely looking for 
trouble. This firm is one of the many nominally private companies doing the 
US government's dirty work in Iraq and elsewhere around the world where 
Washington thinks its direct involvement might cause even more problems 
than that caused by so-called civilians. Like most other firms of this 
nature, Blackwater (and I quote from their website) "has it roots in the 
Special Operations community and continues to sustain the skills that have 
been acquired over the years as effective tools that will support both 
national and commercial objectives." In addition, it maintains offices in 
McLean, Virginia very near the CIA headquarters. In other words, the men 
that they hire are trained killers.

According to various news and government releases, there is fifteen to 
twenty thousand private security "consultants" in Iraq right now. Add to 
this anywhere from 500 to 3000 CIA agents and more than 100,000 servicemen 
and women and one has to seriously question the myth perpetrated by 
Washington that things are stable in that country. Tell that to the GIs who 
don't want to be there.

An AP report flashed out of Iraq and available for a while on the New York 
Times website as a video report, stated that one of the corpses had a US 
passport and another had a Department of Defense ID card. In addition, the 
reporter was told that the men were armed and driving through Fallujah. One 
can only conjecture exactly what or who these men were looking for. If 
prior counterintelligence activities are any indication, it is quite 
reasonable to assume that they were involved in some kind of operation 
designed to hunt out the resistance and kill them. According to a former 
Special Forces member now in Baghdad and quoted in the Washington Times on 
October 6, 2003, military contractors guarding ministries on behalf of 
coalition authorities have killed Iraqis who were trying to loot or attack 
the buildings.

"It's Iraq," he said. "You're accountable to nobody. But I guess ultimately 
you're accountable to the U.S. military for what happens."

If that's the case, then there can only be more bad news for the Iraqis, 
especially those who resent the US occupation of their country. Already, US 
troops have killed several thousand of their countrymen. There's bound to 
be more as the US pays tribute to its dead by remaining where they are not 
wanted and should never have been.



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