Blackwater Goes to Court- and so it begins...

I see this lawsuit as the first of a long string of prosecutions relating to what has been happening in Iraq. I think that over the next 10 years we are going to see more of this information coming to the surface. There will be movies, and expose's- documentaries, dramas, and demigods. This is really the dirtiest, nastiest, most fool-hearty things that America has done since Vietnam. Couple of things I found particuarly interesting, one is that they want to be tried on Utah to get a better jury, the second is the comments that this is a politically motivated trial.

From the NYTimes:

"Based in Moyock, N.C., Blackwater is the largest security contractor in Iraq and provides heavily armed guards for diplomats. Since last year's shooting, the company has been aflash point in the debate over how heavily the U.S. relies on contractors in war zones
The company itself was not charged in the case." (Link)

One thing I also think people should keep in mind is that in many ways these guys were taken advantage of by our government. Most of these mercaneries were sent to Iraq in the military. They get all fucked up in the head and then come back to the US. They can't deal with "normal" life anymore, so they get hooked up with these outfits for crazy money (~$15,000/week), but have about a 4 month life expectancy. And what did they do while there? They protected our own military as a sort of undocumented shield (b/c their deaths didn't get put into the troop death tolls which made things seem less bad). What happens? A fuse blows in their brains one day in Nisoor and go on a killing spree. Is that a valid excuse? No of course not, these men must answer for their own actions, and killing innocent people with their hands up is no way for anyone to behave in any situation. Reguardless, why isn't the Bush administration going on trial instead of these six men? Why isn't Blackwater Inc. going on trail for what they have help facilitate? Why are we still allowing lackies to take the fall for the big kitty cats eating their baluga and crackers?