Toxic Water

Why is no one discussing the firm of Blackwater Securities? More to the point, why is no one fuming in a freaked-out furious frenzy over these creepy corporate mercenaries?

For those not in the know, Blackwater USA is a private security contractor for the United States government. As it states on the company website, "Blackwater USA is the most comprehensive professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations company in the world." This suspicious description alone should provide sufficient basis for concern.

But then the site goes on to say, "We have established a global presence and provide training and operational solutions for the 21st century in support of security and peace, and freedom and democracy everywhere."

Now that description, so rife with fascist overtones, provides more than just mere basis for concern; in short, it should scare the holy terror out of any principled human being. Unfortunately, your average person would prefer not to rouse his or her conscience from its stupefied slumber, and so a human being with actual scruples has become a quaintly oxymoronic concept.

Fascist entities are fond of using specious rationales to augment their diabolic agendas. Words such as, "security," "peace," "freedom," and "democracy" have benignly pleasant connotations, and therefore are employed by Blackwater to placate people into thinking the company has altruistic aims. Of course, nothing could be more estranged from the truth.

Blackwater's use of such terms is duplicitous Orwellian propaganda, of course; for the comfortable concepts of peace and freedom, when couched in the same context as military and law enforcement, suddenly become laden with a meaning quite the evil opposite of their original innocuous definitions. Suddenly the shimmering ideal of peace connotes a certain bellicosity; suddenly the alluring ideas of freedom and democracy connote draconian oppression.

Furthermore, the phrase "operational solutions" is eerily euphemistic; what operational solutions really means, of course, is "imperialistic ass-kicking." In other words, the true purpose of Blackwater is to bolster the dangerous military dominance of the Middle East. But of course, Blackwater would shy away from such soul-searching sincerity.

Currently, Blackwater has personnel deployed in Iraq, and the company has been embroiled in lawsuits as a result. Most notably, the company is involved in a lawsuit on behalf of the families of Blackwater employees killed in Falluja, who contend that Blackwater failed to properly equip the murdered employees.

Also keep in mind that a typical Blackwater contract soldier reportedly makes six figures per year. That is heaps more than the salary of a typical government-employed soldier, so one can imagine what the cognizance of such disparities does to the morale of the troops. The idea that any killer should receive a paycheck is disturbing enough, but a corporate killer with a bloated bank account is downright gruesome.

What is frightening about the existence of a company like Blackwater should be readily apparent. But to spell it out for those with dimmed consciences who need their ethical lightbulbs changed, a private for-profit entity providing military defense for the public constitutes a flagrant ethical conflict. In particular, since Blackwater personnel are not required to adhere to the Code of Military Justice, they are not accountable to the public if they commit a crime. Of course, the very existence of Blackwater should be a crime, but that is another matter.

The point is, the American Army is exempt from profit, and so while it does sometimes indulge in deplorable imperialistic actitivies, at least it is accountable to the taxpayer for its deeds, however wrong or right. It has a certain interest in maintaining integrity, or at least the illusion of integrity, while Blackwater's main concern is, like other corporations, the proverbial bottom line.

Naturally, it is in the best interest of both Blackwater and the military that the firm is not subject to the Code of Military Justice. Not only does this exclusion allow Blackwater to escape congressional and public scrutiny, as mentioned, but Blackwater soldiers help thicken anemic military ranks.

In case there are still those benighted souls afflicted with Denial Disease who need to be browbeaten with the facts so they can truly grasp the severity of the situation, think of it this way: Blackwater is essentially a paramilitary outfit. Paramilitaries, as commonly understood, are a group of civilians organized militarily, in order to either assist or replace government army troops.

And paramilitary outfits are predominant in fascist dictatorships. That's because paramilitaries are not intricately woven into the fabric of democracies. Paramilitaries are as inherently alien to democracies as fair rule is to totalitarian regimes.

The cherry on top of all of this is that during Katrina, Blackwater deployed personnel to New Orleans, and essentially established martial law there. So not only were many New Orleanians callously left to drown, but the storm survivors were not properly assisted, and were subjected to iron-fist rule by corporate mercenaries.

So how long before there are ten Blackwaters? Twenty? How long before such profitable paramilitaries are as ubiqutous as The Gap?

Corporate dominance, as many of us know, is tantamount to anarchy. Corporate entities evade public accountability - hence their existence as private firms. Government entities, on the other hand, do not evade such scrutiny. This is beacuse we elect governments, not corporations, so governments (ostensibly, anyway ) exist to represent us and our welfare. Corporations, however, exist to make their shareholders wealthy, and couldn't give a rodent's derriere about the welfare of humanity.

Make no mistake: This "security firm" is toxic business. America would be vastly improved it simply ceased drinking from Blackwater's poisonous well.

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Alison Ross is a passionate but peeved advocate for the poor and homeless. She deplores American fascism but adores American liberalism. She has had her sociopolitical rants showcased in Democracy Means You, Exquisite Corpse, Democratic Underground, Muse Apprentice Guild, When Falls the Coliseum, and Creative Loafing. She also venerates verse, and has had her poetry published in Cerebral Catalyst, A Little Poetry, Muse Apprentice Guild, Mad Swirl, and Nova Express, and forthcoming in Underground Window. When not writing, she enjoys reading, drinking wine, snoring, and bonding with her feline friend, Quetzal.