Will Bush administration cave in to Iraqi corruption?

The whole world is watching how the Bush Administration will respond to the crooked Iraqi Interior Ministry's demand that the State Department fire the security company that has so effectively protected American diplomats, personnel and VIPs.

If the US government pulls Blackwater USA's contract to provide security in Iraq, it will be sending the following messages:

1. Extortion pays: If American security companies want to keep working for the US government in Iraq, they must pay bribes in the form of spurious "license fees" to the corrupt Iraqi Interior Ministry. (Blackwater, we are told, refused to pay such bribes.)

2. Terrorism pays: The US will reward terrorists - like Spain did after the Madrid bombings - by caving into demands that it change its policies in Iraq. If terrorists can goad Washington into removing its effective forces from the field, the terrorists win.

3. Political warfare pays: Foreign crooks and terrorists need only turn up the political heat on Washington to remove effective elements of the war effort from the fight.

4. The truth is worthless: Whether or not the Blackwater guards acted properly - initial US government reports say they did - means nothing. Cutting some kind of deal to appease inept Iraqi leaders is more important than establishing the facts.

5. Saving American lives doesn't pay: The administration will appear to be saying that US security companies might be better off financially if they protect their clients less aggressively and lose a few State Department officials once in a while.

6. When the chips are down, President Bush won't stand behind the Americans who risk all to protect his diplomats from terrorists in Iraq.

Stay the course, Mr. President. Ride this one out. Tell Prime Minister Maliki that his own Interior Ministry is a bigger threat to the Iraqi people than any American company could ever be. (Download iraq_interior_ministry_report.pdf .) The sooner he builds an honest, effective and service-minded army and security force, the sooner we Americans can leave. Until then, Blackwater and the others stay.

Comments

[Brian S, Phoenix AZ]

Blackwater is on its way out. The State Dept. has already made it clear it's not going to renew BW's contract, which expires in May, and BW has indicated it will go quietly. (Incidentally, State, not BW, will end up paying an indemnity to the survivors of the Baghdad shoot-em-up -- substantial, but much less than the amount demanded.)

Of course, the real significance is that what Nuri & Co. can say about Blackwater today, they can say about the US military tomorrow. The Shiite politicians we put in power are just politely reminding our ever-forgetful Administration who HAS the power. (No more foolish prattle about "benchmarks" or "reforms" will be heard from Dubya or Condi.)

[Brian S, Phoenix AZ]

The blogger's point no. 3:
"Political warfare pays: Foreign crooks and terrorists need only turn up the political heat on Washington to remove effective elements of the war effort from the fight."

Well, Duh. Bush & Rumsfeld both said, over 4 years ago, that if the Iraqi government asked us to leave, we'd leave. After that, we made the Shiite politicians who returned from exile in Iran into the Iraqi government, and ever since they've been trying to decide whether/when to tell us to leave.

Whether they're crooks and terrorists or great statesmen, a little political action by these great men will definitely remove all our "effective elements." We've already promised that. It's just that, 'till lately, we've been very useful as their surrogates in subjugating the Sunni Iraqis.

And anyway, didn't anyone ever explain to you that war is just politics by other means? All warfare is political.