Yet another reason to leave Iraq

The only way we can stay is if we keep paying Blackwater hundreds of millions of dollars to act as mercenaries in Iraq.  Blackwater is based in North Carolina and employers formal soldiers.  Its soldiers are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, and are immune from any prosecution.  They can kill, rape, etc. and not get in trouble.  Last year they did just that, kill a bunch of innocent people.  No charges were filed.

Why?

Courtesy of the NYT:

"State Department officials said Friday that they did not believe they had any alternative to Blackwater, which supplies about 800 guards to the department to provide security for diplomats in Baghdad. Officials say only three companies in the world meet their requirements for protective services in Iraq, and the other two do not have the capability to take on Blackwater’s role in Baghdad. After the shooting in September, the State Department did not even open talks with the other two companies, DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, to see if they could take over from Blackwater, which is based in North Carolina.

“We cannot operate without private security firms in Iraq,” said Patrick F. Kennedy, the under secretary of state for management. “If the contractors were removed, we would have to leave Iraq.”

I think that last line says it all.