... an affront to us all.
Jeremy Scahill delivers yet another report of American-paid mercenary crime...
Two former Blackwater operatives were arrested by US federal agents on murder charges, stemming from their alleged involvement in the shooting deaths of two Afghan civilians in Kabul in May. They have been identified as Justin Cannon, 27, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Christopher Drotleff, 29, of Virginia Beach, Va. They have been charged with “crimes including second-degree murder, attempted murder and firearms offenses while working as contractors for the U.S. Department of Defense in Afghanistan,” according to the Justice Department. The 13-count indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia on Jan. 6 and unsealed today.Mercenarie
RebelReports - Two Blackwater Guards Arrested by FBI on Murder Charges
s were suppressed after Europe's devastating Thirty Years War... for good reason. Mercenaries are not bound to states or their citizens; they are only bound to their next paycheck, and when that paycheck stops or the wars end, then what? Britain's use of mercenaries in North America during the 1770s was a significant part of why the colonists formed their own army and fought to free themselves. And the return of these unlawful combatants to our modern scene is yet another indication that the world of states that monopolize the use of lethal force within their established borders is in decline (perhaps terminal decline).But who will control them? I once thought the plot lines underlying such popular series as "24" (Starkwood) and "Jericho" (Jennings & Rall) was far-out Hollywood writing that was impossible in my country today. But with the tentacles of private corporations spread across the entire national security establishment, one has to wonder exactly who these companies, and their mercenaries, are loyal too?
Once again, wisdom can be found in the actions of our republic's founders. Or, in the case of the wingnuts, from one of their historic stars, Machiavelli:
...if one holds his state on the basis of mercenary arms, he will never be firm or secure; because they are disunited, ambitious, without discipline, unfaithful; gallant among friends, vile among enemies; no fear of God, no faith with men; and one defers ruin insofar as one defers the attack; and in peace you are despoiled by them, in war by the enemy.
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4 comments:
Powerful reporting, sir.
Soul shaking.
Thank you, friend.
S
We have become the Mercenaries of the world.
Globocop is on the loose.
Endless wars without borders is the only salvation that the Masters of War know.
RZ -- no doubt much of the rest of the world sees it that way. But by "we" do you mean the USA itself (as in the Empire)? There's truth to that.
Smedley Butler felt that the course of our country was subverted to the interests of corporations rather than to the course of conquest for conquests (or empire's) sake. To the extent that multinational corporations (owing no allegiance to our Nation) direct our national actions, we are indeed all mercenaries. To the extent that our all volunteer, professional military forces serve those actions, then I suppose they are mercenaries too.
But for me, the real mercenaries are those employed by these corporations themselves beyond the control of national governments. They are the danger to others and even ourselves. And if we were thinking correctly in this country (vice addled by reality TV circuses and consumer credit bread), we would suppress the mercenaries among us to protect the very way of life we say we want.
SP
Ya, by we i mean the West in general. With the U.S.A. leading the way. NATO is a military arm of that 'we'. I am a great fan of Butler's. The International Corps, and Banksters are the engines for this insanity. It is their interests that we shed our blood sweat and tears for. Then there are the academics "think tanks" policy makers. "We" as a people have not been in charge of our destiny for decades. It is Britain U.S.A. and Israel that are driving this insanity. We are protectors of EXXON BP SHELL BECHTEL ETC. The shadows like Kissinger, ZBIG, JAMES BAKER, to name a few are all inter-connected to the international cartel of A NEW WORLD ORDER.
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