*BAGHDAD, Oct. 10 — The two women killed Tuesday by in a barrage of gunfire from private security guards in central Baghdad were buried here today, and relatives insisted that the guards be brought to justice…
Ms. Awanees was driving the white Oldsmobile that was riddled by automatic gunfire in the Karada neighborhood of Baghdad Tuesday afternoon. Her front-seat passenger, Jeniva Jalal, 30, was also killed; a woman and a boy in the back seat survived, according to witnesses and local police officials.* NYT
The driver, whose husband was killed two years ago, had three children.
My question is: How long do you think the Iraqis will tolerate this?
What would be the reaction, do you think, if it happened in your city?
Well, I’d tolerate it for zero. If another country were to invade my country and then bring in a bunch of gun-crazed Wyatt Earp “security firms” and “contractors” who routinely shot innocent people - one U.S. Army officer called their typical approach “recce by fire” - I’d hate them and want them dead.
It amazes me people don’t understand why a lot of Iraqis are pissed off. How long would Americans put up with this? For about a microsecond, I’d wager.
Well we invaded in March of 2003 and there was a full blown guerilla campaign being waged by the Spring of 2004. So a couple of months of wait and see and another several months to get organized, I suppose.
I just don’t understand why the news media has been suddenly interested in Black Water. That shoot up in the intersection was far from their first offense and they’ve been in Iraq since the start. Remember a couple months in when the contractors were burned and their charred corpses roped up on a bridge? Those guys were Black Water.
Well, the letters to the editor would be interesting. Actually, we can look to the reactions of residents who live near our military bases abroad to see the reaction to a specific event like this outside the rest of the chaos that is Iraq. I know the most about South Korea and Japan. The people in both regions (although mostly Okinawa and not Japan since it is isolated from the home islands) have markedly increased anti-Americanism. South Korea might be the most anti-American democracy in the world, although not wholly due to the bases.
Reactions include large peaceful protests to assaults on American service members. These have been fueled by both the presence of the bases and the occurrence of various crimes by the U.S. soldiers, the most explosive in recent years being the rape of a schoolgirl in Japan. But of course others are committed, such as killing, robbery and the like. Combine that with agreements which make our service members pretty much immune to local laws and it seems obvious that it would create a backlash among the local population.
The mere passing of time hasn’t made any american presence in Iraq acceptable. From the blackest of waters to the most highly decorated regular GI. Each one is in a position no different to a rapist or burglar. They have no right to be there. Every decent person views the american presence as as common criminals; something to be repelled and resisted.
As others have noted, this kind of behavior might be news to Americans, but it is an old story to Iraqis. These private gunmen have been shooting civilians since 2003 and it is only now getting press in the US.
They have no choice, as long as we are there. We are the only people who can stop it, and we care nothing for Iraqi life.
There’d be some whining, but nothing would be done, and most people would blame the victims. Americans are sheep.
The recent order from part of the Iraqi “government” ( IIRC, since retracted, not surprisingly ) ordering Blackwater to leave no doubt brought it to more people’s attention. Until then, the Republican sycophants were able to keep the media largely silent on Blackwater, or get them to use euphemisms like “contractors”. Saying the Iraqis killed some “contractors” sounds rather different that saying they killed some mercenaries; makes it easier to call them barbaric.