Unbeknownst to this blog, the Christian Science Monitor carried the story of Blackwater's State Department contract the same day Statecraft & Security raised the same issue. This is good news for those interested in the truth about how private security contractors behave in Iraq, and why.The CSM spells out the issue very clearly:
The issue isn't an overly aggressive contractor. It's the State Department's zero tolerance for casualties of its employees in Iraq. Such an approach makes tragedies such as the September episode more common – and it marginalizes the lives of innocent Iraqis who just might be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Placing so many diplomats and civil servants on nation-building assignments in the middle of a civil war has a high price – perhaps too high.... The US government appears to tolerate a certain number of casualties from the all-volunteer military. But civilian employees are a different story.
It's nice to finally see a large, mainstream media outlet placing blame where it's due: with the State Department, it's lawyers and its flawed contract.
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