Blackwater Security, Bush's Private Waffen SS

http://counterpunch.com/roberts10162007.html

October 16, 2007

Blackwater Security, Bush's Private Waffen SS
The Iraqi Genocide
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Why has not the Turkish parliament given tit for tat and passed a resolution condemning the Iraqi Genocide?

As a result of Bush's invasion of Iraq, more than one million Iraqis have died, and several millions are displaced persons. The Iraqi death toll and the millions of uprooted Iraqis match the Armenian deaths and deportations. If one is a genocide, so is the other.

It is true that most of the Iraqi deaths have resulted from Iraqis killing one another. But it was Bush's destruction of the secular Iraqi state that unleashed the sectarian strife.

Moreover, American troops in Iraq have killed more civilians than insurgents. The US military in Iraq has fallen for every bit of disinformation fed to it by Al Qaeda personnel posing as "informants" and by Sunnis setting up Shi'ites and Shi'ites setting up Sunnis. As a result, American bombs and missiles have blown up weddings, funerals, kids playing soccer, and people shopping in bazaars and sleeping in their homes.

Not to be outdone, Bush's private Waffen SS known as Blackwater Security has taken to gunning Iraqi civilians down in the streets. How do Blackwater and Custer Battles killers escape the "unlawful combatant" designation?

One can only marvel at the insouciance of the US Congress to the current Iraqi Genocide while condemning Turkey for one that happened 90 years ago.

It's not "unlawful combatant". It's "unlawful enemy combatant." Never mind that it's US-crafted garbage with no legitimate pedigree in international law but, how can Blackwater be declared an unlawful enemy combatant if it's under contract for the State Department? Who is it an enemy of? Not the US, which is the only power which designates people as unlawful enemy combatants to begin with.

I think rather little of the "private Waffen SS" line but whatever.

Why does a so-called Dem attack ANYONE who is busy blistering Bush and his gangsters?

Quick answer: they made the dreaded NAZI REFERENCE.

You people are soooooo transparently out to smother this meme.

arendt

Maybe a lot of other people are that shallow, but I'm not. I replied because I have dealt with people raising hell over this "why aren't they treated as unlawful combatants!?" question over the last two days, and I am sick and tired of it, because the L.A. Times (which floated the idea to begin with) seems completely and brutally ignorant of the Geneva Conventions. (For one thing, the L.A. Times seems to think there's only one Geneva Convention...)

Are you familiar with the concept of two wrongs don't make a right? Unlawful combatant isn't a designation under international law. It's a designation the US created. And the US makes a point of calling the people it detains, unlawful ENEMY combatants... for good reason. You've never seen the US detain unlawful FRIENDLY combatants, have you? I haven't.

The original writer asked why they aren't treated "as unlawful combatants" and... I'm sorry to disappoint you but, there actually is an answer to that (intended to be rhetorical) question, as I have given it.

I've cut down my DU involvement a lot lately because I'm tired of people pushing the idea that I need to compromise my respect for international law and human rights in order to support Democrats.

They are not accountable to anyone but Dick Cheney.

This is the most ridiculous excuse I have seen yet for defending Blackwater.

But its totally consistent with sophistry: the rules are more important than the reality of the situation.

If the Government of Iraq says they want these people out, and a good percentage of the U.S. military
(it seems), but they are only accountable to G.W. Bush, Inc., then how in holy hell are they "lawful
combatants" deserving of the protection of international law?

The whole point is that Blackwater is BEYOND THE LAW.

arendt

Enough of this unlawful combatant BS, it's just perpetuating the same logic behind Guantanamo abuses and Abu Ghraib. Two wrongs do not make a right. They are civilians, and they should be treated as such.

And that is all. I am so sick of this issue, I'll just hold my damned tongue next time.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/18/140201

JEREMY SCAHILL: I mean, the reality here is that every time Iraq has made any kind of noise about prosecuting contractors, the contractors are whisked out. It becomes a major discussion between Washington and Baghdad diplomats. And the fact of the matter is, this is solid proof. There is no sovereignty in Iraq of the government at all. The US gutted out the Iraqi legal system, made it virtually impossible for Iraqis to hold accountable murderers and thugs inside of the country who are foreign operatives. And so, when the Bush administration talks about how great everything is going in Baghdad, we have to remember that when US mercenaries shoot Iraqis, the Iraqis are basically powerless to stop them.

The guilty soldiers should be disarmed and held by Iraq as P.O.W's. Its that simple.

Civilians? What are you smoking?

arendt

army and Blackwater.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles3/Jayne_Hitler-Bush.htm

31 Similarities Between Hitler and President Bush
by Edward Jayne
www.dissidentvoice.org
August 29, 2004
(revised from an earlier version posted March 29, 2003)






When President Bush decided to invade Iraq, his spokesmen began comparing Saddam Hussein to Adolph Hitler, the most monstrous figure in modern history. Everybody was therefore shocked when a high German bureaucrat turned the tables by comparing Bush himself with Hitler. As to be expected, she (the bureaucrat) was forced to resign because of her extreme disrespect for an American president. However, the resemblance sticks--there are too many similarities to be ignored, some of which may be listed here.

Like Hitler, President Bush was not elected by a majority, but was forced to engage in political maneuvering in order to gain office.


Like Hitler, Bush began to curtail civil liberties in response to a well-publicized disaster, in Hitler’s case the Reichstag fire, in Bush’s case the 9-11 catastrophe.


Like Hitler, Bush went on to pursue a reckless foreign policy without the mandate of the electorate and despite the opposition of most foreign nations.


Like Hitler, Bush has increased his popularity with conservative voters by mounting an aggressive public relations campaign against foreign enemies. Just as Hitler cited international communism to justify Germany’s military buildup, Bush has used Al Qaeda and the so-called Axis of Evil to justify our current military buildup. Paradoxically none of the nations in this axis--Iraq, Iran and North Korea--have had anything to do with each other.


Like Hitler, Bush has promoted militarism in the midst of economic recession (or depression as it was called during the thirties). First he used war preparations to help subsidize defense industries (Halliburton, Bechtel, Carlyle Group, etc.) and presumably the rest of the economy on a trickle-down basis. Now he turns to the very same corporations to rebuild Iraq, again without competitive bidding and at extravagant profit levels.


Like Hitler, Bush displays great populist enthusiasm in his patriotic speeches, but primarily serves wealthy investors who subsidize his election campaigns and share with him their comfortable lifestyle. As he himself jokes, he treats these individuals at the pinnacle of our economy as his true political “base.”


Like Hitler, Bush envisages our nation’s unique historic destiny almost as a religious cause sanctioned by God. Just as Hitler did for Germany, he takes pride in his “providential” role in spreading his version of Americanism throughout the entire world.


Like Hitler, Bush promotes a future world order that guarantees his own nation’s hegemonic supremacy rather than cooperative harmony under the authority of the United Nations (or League of Nations).


Like Hitler, Bush quickly makes and breaks diplomatic ties, and he offers generous promises that he soon abandons, as in the cases of Mexico, Russia, Afghanistan, and even New York City. The same goes for U.S. domestic programs. Once Bush was elected, many leaders of these programs learned to dread his making any kind of an appearance to praise their success, since this was almost inevitably followed by severe cuts in their budgets.


Like Hitler, Bush scraps international treaties, most notably the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the Convention on the Prohibition of Land Mines, the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Kyoto Global Warming Accord, and the International Criminal Court.

Unlike returning soldiers, these turds aren't liable under the UCMJ. Thus, they can get away with murder. And nothing is there to stop them from murdering again. Especially George W Bush. And you know what these Waffen SS feel about Liberals and Democrats, those they consider "socialist." They are untermenschen and fit only for disposal. So, the crazy monkey and the sneering sociopath are sort of a culmination. Ja.





You need to get out more, too.