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Blackwater vs. U.S. Counterinsurgency Efforts
Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) read out a raft of quotes from U.S. military counterinsurgency experts -- Gen. David Petraeus and Col. Pete Mansour, to name two -- who say it's better for counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq if contractors fell within the military chain of command. Running Iraqis off the road, Mansour said, according to Tierney, comes at the "detriment of the mission" of convincing Iraqis that the U.S. is looking out for their best interests.
"We know we're part of the total force," Prince replied, but he didn't say that his efforts don't come into conflict with the mission. Instead, he said that Blackwater guards have only discharged their weapons in one percent of their 16,000 missions in Iraq. (He didn't say anything about running Iraqis off the road.) Similarly, he asked for understanding about the dangers that Blackwater guards face in Iraq, and to illustrate the point, displayed a photo of the carnage after a suicide car bombing successfully attacked a Blackwater-operated Chevy Suburban. The broader question of whether Blackwater hurts counterinsurgency efforts, as some experts contend, went unaddressed.
Comments (4)
Brian S, Phoenix AZ wrote on October 2, 2007 12:46 PM:What this article doesn’t address is the cat-and-mouse game our great friend Nuri has been playing with the Prodigy Condi ever since the convenient advent of this latest atrocity. What Nuri - who apparently can’t quite grasp that he’s dealing with perfect dullards - is trying to communicate is: “Let’s sit down and have a little chat about this concept of ‘applying pressure,’ shall we, Condie?”
petewsh61 wrote on October 2, 2007 12:59 PM:Did any of the Representatives call him on his misidrection or do they just let this kind of thing slip by?
Oh yeah, that would be impolite.
thehim wrote on October 2, 2007 1:03 PM:By the end of this thing, we may see the Chewbacca defense.
paul wrote on October 2, 2007 3:25 PM:One percent? Criminy. For people doing bodyguard work that's enormous. Remember that lots of what Blackwater is doing involves protection within the green zone. So this is the equivalent of every police officer in NYC or DC being involved in 2 or three shootings a year.