NPR interviewed several people concerning the 20,000 private security contractors currently operating in Iraq, including Martin Smith, Frontline correspondent and producer of Private Warriors, which aired this week on PBS. It can now be viewed online.
Doug Brooks, president of International Peace Operations Association, was another guest on the show. He reminded listeners that security work has been outsourced for years, but as this article notes, the size and variety of contracts is new. As of October 22nd, 2003, “as much as one third of the monthly $3.9 billion cost of keeping U.S. troops in Iraq is going to independent contractors.”
Rumsfeld claims detractors of the war in Iraq are wrong, that “we” are winning. If “we” are winning, why did Don tell the Armed Services Committee that if Iraq delays adoption of its constitution it would be “‘an enormous disservice’ while ‘coalition people are being killed. Iraqis are being killed.’ Rumsfeld did not specify the potential repercussions of a delay, but said, ‘To the extent there were, for whatever reason, a delay in moving forward with drafting a constitution or a referendum on the constitution or holding the elections, it would retard the entire process’.” He also made a surprise visit to Iraq on Tuesday to deliver the same message.
The process?
Naji Abid Ali, who was clearing broken glass from in front of his clothing store, said he believed the attacks were calculated to intensify tensions between Iraq’s newly ascendant Shiite majority and the Sunnis, who dominated under Saddam Hussein.
“They are after Karrada because most of the people here are Shiite; they did the same thing in Shuala last night,” he said. “But they will never be able to push us into a sectarian war. We are cleverer than that. We will rebuild everything they destroyed here but will never kill other Iraqis.”
Already, repair work was underway at Albu Shujaa Mosque, where a car bomb had damaged the main gate and nearby houses and cars but caused no casualties. Workers climbed power poles to string a new electrical cable, and passers-by stopped to help clean up debris.
Nearby, a scruffy young man in dirty pants and an unbuttoned shirt stood staring at vegetables scattered on the ground by one of the explosions. Bending over and picking up an onion spattered with blood, he began to cry.
“Every one of you in Karrada calls me Crazy Ali,” he said to no one in particular. “But I would never do such a thing. I am better than you sane people. At least I do not hurt you.”
If “we’re winning”, why rush complicated negotiations? And how is it Donald Rumsfeld’s business to dictate timelines for liberated Iraq’s governance? Is the people free or isn’t they?
Is Rummy so delusional he believes Iraqis will embrace the facade of democracy the way Americans do? Is he doing damage controll in light of articles like Am I Next? by Ann Scott Tyson, published on the front page of my local, that for once, the braindead cheerleaders I work with couldn’t dismiss with a callous talking point?
Why did a 19-year-old shoot himself in the head if “we’re winning”? What’s the talking point for that?