Long dark Georgia country roads at three in the morning accompanied by one pot of coffee to many and the incessant static of am talk radio is, by themselves enough to elicit nerves edgy enough to brake for unseen deer. But when the the topic of conversation is the truth of “Blackwater U.S.A.,” the provider of “private contractors” (aka: mercenaries) to assist in insuring the safety of officials in Iraq and the perpetrators of the killing of innocent Iraqi's as discussed by Robert Shelton, author of “License to Kill”, well then one shouldn't be surprised when a little paranoia creeps in.Especially when Robert Shelton is expressing a view long held by this writer. My only surprise was the naive self righteousness expressed by the interviewer on behalf of those of us who would not countenance the incestuous relationship our government has with these operations.
Well surprise, “everything” American is being “outsourced”. So why should it come as a shock that there are times when it is is beneficial for the government to “outsource” certain military operations and then in Sheltons words, “Throw them (the private contractors) under the bus,” when things go wrong. Are you shocked? I'm thinking probably not.
What did catch my attention though was a comment that he made during the interview regarding his “vision of the future” gained from traveling through a great many countries in turmoil. And that was his contention that much of the turmoil in these countries was “partially” a result of an increasing gap between the “haves” and the “have nots.” That we would see increasing reliance on security providers such as “Blackwater” by people who could no longer rely on “corrupt” police and “armies”. Examples he gave were people of wealth living in Mexico and certain south American Countries, AND................”New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America,” circa Hurricane Katrina.
Heres the gig. As anyone who paid any attention during Katrina witnessed, much of the New Orleans police went AWOL and some were even caught on camera doing a little store closed shopping. Well apparently certain rich folk having abandoned their homes full of goodies were afraid something of this nature could occur and hired Blackwater personnel to secure their homes after the storm. He reports that Blackwater personnel on at least one occurrence had a shoot out with police officers who showed up to loot one particular residence.
O.K. So if your rich thats cool. You can afford to protect yourself and your possessions. But check this out. Google the hell out of it. Blackwater was first into New Orleans rescuing and protecting. And who was Blackwater protecting? Well it seems Blackwater pulled down some big money contracts from “FEMA” and according to Shelton part of that money was so that Blackwater “mercenaries” could protect FEMA workers from Angry “Americans” who were getting the shaft.
Go here for a little reading on Blackwater and then here to see how difficult it is to get the government to answer any questions about the folk they are “throwing under the bus.”
Now this may be a stretch.... But think of it this way, FEMA, other bureaucracies and the Insurance companies are the “Haves”. The people (American citizens) that feared for their lives, got screwed over and will probably never get their lives back in order became the “have nots.” And the government hired “mercenaries” to keep order in an American city???
This writers contention has long been that certain corporate and governmental factions are not overly upset when we fight amongst ourselves over issues of color, ethnicity or religious persuasion. That as long as we we fight amongst each other we are not fighting the real enemy. The corporate and governmental agencies that understand that economic bondage is successful totalitarian governance.
On a dark Georgia country road in at 3:00am it's nice to have one of those “ah ha” moments of, at the very least, partial affirmation. But then it starts to rain. rc
disclaimer: I have not read Sheltons book and have no interest in whether anybody buys it or not. You can google the info and get it for free!Add to Technorati Favorites
