Diary: Reverse The Course

Why did I say a private war?

When PRESIDENT BUSH took the podium to deliver his State of the Union address last week, there were five American families receiving news that have become all too common: Their loved ones had been killed in Iraq. But in this case, the slain were neither "civilians," as the news reports proclaimed, nor were they U.S. soldiers. They were highly trained mercenaries deployed to Iraq by a secretive private military company based in North Carolina - Blackwater USA.

President George W. Bush in his recent State of the Union address, slipped in a call for a Civilian Reserve Corps, that would act like our military reserves, what it amounts to is the creation of a private army, or should I say an expansion of the existing one; Bush and his political allies are using taxpayer dollars to run this private army, behind the backs of the American people and with little congressional input, known as Blackwater.

Blackwater, the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army is the brain storm of Erik Prince, the secretive, mega-millionaire, conservative owner of Blackwater USA and a man who for years has served as the Pied Piper of a campaign to repackage mercenaries as legitimate forces. Blackwater began in 1996 with a private military training camp "to fulfill the anticipated demand for government outsourcing." Today, its contacts run from deep inside the military and intelligence agencies to the upper echelons of the White House. It has secured a status as the elite Praetorian Guard for the global war on terror, with the largest private military base in the world, a fleet of 20 aircraft and 20,000 soldiers at the ready.

One of the company's helicopters (a small surveillance helicopter, believed to be a version of the Hughes Defender) was brought down in one of Baghdad's most violent areas. The men who were killed were providing diplomatic security under Blackwater's $300-million State Department contract, which dates to 2003 and the company's initial no-bid contract to guard administrator L. Paul Bremer III in Iraq.

Already, private contractors constitute the second-largest "force" in Iraq. At last count, there were about 100,000 contractors in Iraq, of which 48,000 work as private soldiers, according to a Government Accountability Office report. These soldiers have operated with almost no oversight or effective legal constraints and are an undeclared expansion of the scope of the occupation. Many of these contractors make up to $1,000 a day, far more than active-duty soldiers. What's more, these forces are politically expedient, as contractor deaths go uncounted in the official toll. A total that is approaching 800 as you read this.

With these 800 plus the nearly 3,100 American Soldiers who have died, not to mention the almost 250 journalists, media support workers, and aid workers, and the total is approaching 4,200! And American wounded in Iraq is closer to 28,000, far more than the Bush regimes reported 22,000.

It is of vital importance that we Reverse The Course, to secure the homeland, and save lives of Americans, quit creating anti-American sentiment leading to terrorism, and to war. Stay the Course is a tried and true failure. The ends do not justify the means.

It makes me proud, that our writers and editors work as volunteers, without pay. I hope it encourages other writers to keep on writing, that it encourages more of our readers to take a stab at writing, and that it inspires you to make a donation supporting WeDemocrats.org and WE! The People the online magazine. We're working hard to make a difference. You can help. Can't afford to make a contribution-- let other people know about us, or better yet, volunteer as a Precinct Organizer, a County or State Coordinator.

Thank you for all you are doing,

Ron McBride
WeDemocrats.org
Founder & Chairman
Publisher of WE! The People online magazine
ron@wedemocrats.org