There is news today out of Utah that five Blackwater Security Guards have been charged in the firefight that left 14 Iraqis dead and others wounded in a 2007 Baghdad attack. They have been ordered to appear in Washington in January, where they will enter pleas of not guilty. As a former JAGC officer, I get the need to hold accountable those responsible for war crimes, but this is wrong. These Security Guards are all former military service members who were offered more money to fight as mercenaries in Iraq. They likely made ten times as much money to do the same work, but this time they did so without the benefit of the law of war. And who decided that we should fight the Iraq war by proxie? The same leaders who have lacked the will to put enough military service members in the field to do the job. Ranting? OK, a little – but I have been contacted by a former Blackwater Security Guard (not yet indicted) and I have empathy for their plight. They were there to provide security – a job that is ordinarily reserved for military police. The government now has left these men hanging – and charged them with crimes. I say support them. Got a different opinion (no matter how wrong)? Let’s hear it.
