PRIVATE MILITARY AND SECURITY CONTRACTORS AND JAMES BOND

PRIVATE MILITARY AND SECURITY CONTRACTORS AND JAMES BOND

(FRAZER CHRONICLE)

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

I read with interest an article by Sam Hananel in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporting on judicial action against four former Blackwater security guards who allegedly shot to death 14 Iraqi civilians and wounded 17 others. I use the term alleged because in a war zone does anybody ever really know what happens.

 

Although these guys were convicted (one will get life, while the three others will serve 30 year sentences) they may never be incarcerated except during the time that they await their appeals. Possibly Blackwater, the Iraqi war, and the recent judicial action speared some poor down and out American citizen from their seeming blood-lust for shooting innocent people to death.

 

Of course the reaction after the decision was read to the four former security guards was typical…..”utter betrayal by the same government that was served honorably”. “I cannot say in all honesty that we did anything wrong.”

 

Not one ounce of remorse for the tragedy that killing 14 innocent men, women and children, and wounding another 17 people. I won’t even ask the question of “what price do these four men feel would be fair for killing 14 innocent people”, there answer would be meaningless to all of those involved that remain citizens in Iraq.

 

Of course the defense argued, and argued, and argued for mercy, saying that “decades long sentences would be unconstitutionally harsh for men who operated in a stressful war-torn environment and who have proud military careers”. Defense attorneys also argued that the guards were “using weapons that had been issued by the U.S. State Department for their protection”.

 

THREE THINGS WERE MISSING IN THE LEGAL PROCEDINGS

Actually there was more than three things missing during the legal-beagle proceedings, but I’ll list just three, an almost total disregard for the loss of so much human life, and the total lack of remorse by…..anybody. And nobody talked of the war between the United States, her allies, and Iraq being preemptive…..the war was completely unnecessary.

 

People here in the United States (not that many people) talk about the injustice of the war with Iraq, there used to be talk about bringing those responsible for the war to some sort of justice. Nobody seems to have gotten the reason why nobody has been taken to task over the insanity. The answer is easy…..there is no justice.

 

How can anybody be brought to justice when hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, and another million or so have had their lives irreversibly changed by the actions of a handful of people.

 

So now we are down to four men who killed 14 people and wounded 17 others with weapons that were issued by the U.S. State Department for their protection. These men didn’t only kill these people, they used weapons that were manufactured in the United States through a government contract, paid for by U.S. taxpayers, and offered up to these guys for their protection.

 

The ammunition (bullets) that ripped through those innocent men, women and children came through a government contract that was paid for by United States taxpayers…..in other words every taxpayer in the U.S. is complicit in the dastardly deed.

 

And here’s the kicker…..the United States taxpayer paid these guy’s salaries, and probably much of the equipment that they used right down to their skivvies. Now ain’t that a hot kettle of fish, like me, I’ll bet you didn’t figure that you were actually complicit in war-time murder.

 

Remorse…..it’s a funny word, but it fits in this case “to a t” this incident, (the 14 dead and the 17 wounded) can be used as an illustration that depicts how horrible war is, and why it should be avoided at all costs.

 

I can guarantee you that the four men who killed and wounded the Iraqi’s feel absolutely nothing, no remorse and no shame. If anything their only regret is getting caught, being brought to trial, convicted and sentenced. Obviously these men, their superiors, and most military personal figured that the incident was little more than collateral damage, a cost of a war…..and acceptable.

 

And the loss of human life, while regrettable, is necessary…..right…..well hell no, human life is precious, something to be treasured, and protected at all cost. And please don’t waste my time with the “but they are oppressed, under the evil dictatorship of Saddam Hussein”, or the really tired excuse…..”the United States and her allies have given the Iraqi people a chance for freedom, and a chance to operate their country as they see fit”.

 

That sentiment is hubris and frankly, to me, distasteful, but it’s basically how our Federal Government authority figures operate, and exactly how our foreign policy is conducted. The Pentagon is happy, and the military industrial complex is overjoyed.

 

IT’S HOW WE ROLL

There is a massive deception campaign in the United States, and in its global propaganda, which seeks to portray the U.S. as a poor set-upon nation that would like world peace but has to keep military stations around the world to “police” the entire world’s “troubled hot spots”. Of course nothing could be further from the truth; the fact of the matter is that the United States is the world’s biggest war-monger that the world has ever seen.

 

Lets us take a quick peek at exactly how a peace loving society has to spend on defense, “keeping in mind that the fiscal year of the United States is October 1 to September 30”. The request for fiscal year 2016 for defense alone will be $585.2 billion dollars, $25.9 billion more than FY 2015, or 4% more. And here’s the kicker, the estimated cost of report or study for the Department of Defense alone will cost the taxpayers an addition $12,000.

 

Sadly the $585.2 billion figure doesn’t even come close to what the taxpayers of the United States will be paying for our brand of peace. There’s something called military activity of other government departments, such as nuclear weapons program, much of which is handled by the Department of Energy, or the Veterans Program which pays for the care and benefits of former military personnel which in all totals $166 billion. There is also more than $400 billion that is paid in interest on loans from prior wars and military expenditures.

 

Since the 1960’s the United States has been playing slight of hand to hide the actual scale of its military spending from the American taxpayer. There’re several different ways that the U.S. government has accomplished this shell game. Adding to the federal budget the amount of money spent of Social Security, the nation’s retirement program, and Medicare, the health insurance for the aged, and disabled. And as everybody worth a hoot knows, both of these programs are funded by separate payroll tax paid by employees and employers, and the resulting funds are actually dedicated to the citizens who receive or will receive benefits from those programs.

 

Because of the gerrymandering system of accounting that is practiced by the federal government, it’s next to impossible to guesstimate how much is spent on America’s drive for world peace, but a starting figure would be in excess of $1.5 trillion dollars.

 

That figure…..$1.5 trillion is more than the budget of many second world countries who are struggling to get somewhere near where the United States occupies sits in the world of this century.

 

Lets us count the ways that the United States government conducts its peace-making, war-making approach to the world at large. I said earlier that the U.S. taxpayers are complicit with regards to how the U.S. operates around the world. Our authority figures are mirror images of what many, many citizens say, think and do.

 

When American soldiers shoot innocent women in the head, or shoot a toddler in the middle of the back, everybody shares in squeezing the trigger. We are the ones who allow our government leaders to appropriate tax dollars to do these dastardly deeds. We are the ones who elect these people to power, and then don’t rein them in when they revert to form. It’s how we roll.

 

SHAKEN BUT NOT STIRRED

James Bond couldn’t have said, or done it better, there’s no draft in the United States, little honest news coverage, very little images of exactly what is going on in these far off places, and a general lack of interest. Remember former President George W. Bush and his famous comment, “continue on with your normal lives, and don’t let the terrorists spread their fear”.  

 

I’m sure that James Bond would have likened the way that the United States endeavors to achieve peace throughout the world as a kind of job security effort. You do not spread peace by doing so through threats, genocide, and bully-boy tactics.

 

Somewhere, somehow many U.S. authority figures forgot the real meaning of spreading peace…..which is relatively easy to achieve. Two words come to mind for me…..understanding and acceptance. Believe it or not, everybody in the world is not the same as United States citizens. No one country in the world…..ever…..has had all of the answers.

 

Until the general public of the U.S. understands this fact, there will continue to be war, death, and human degradation on a grand scale.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!