Blackwater goes too far

[2/325Falcon]

LOL. JMa, why don't you go ahead and explain to the forum how the Blackwater guys should have responded to the ambush to keep their people alive. I hope it involves cookies and hugs!

[Felix_Nietzsche]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXgcQNsUKO0
My favorite Blackwater youtube clip...

[Kaj]

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LOL. JMa, why don't you go ahead and explain to the forum how the Blackwater guys should have responded to the ambush to keep their people alive. I hope it involves cookies and hugs!

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How do police in NY respond during a shootout? Do they start spraying bullets amongst bystanders? I don't think so. Maybe because Americans value other American lives a bit more than some Americans in foreign lands value foreigners.

[Orlando Salazar]

If you've never been in a war or even feared for your life, it's probably inconceivable how that feels. Many people (not soldiers) have no idea what they'd do. Also, in America, we don't expect bystanders to shoot off guns and IED's while we try to get the villians.

Blackwater is mildly corrupt, but come off your high horses.

[MidGe]

The question really is how many troops are there from the US and allies in Iraq. Don't just count the official numbers, count also those (privateers) that are paid a lot more then the troops for their exposure (and how much more and why?) and don't even get counted as US or allies casualties. I think the rue figures of death and woundeds would be too unpalatable to the US to re-elect a republican president, if the public knew.

[mjkidd]

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LOL. JMa, why don't you go ahead and explain to the forum how the Blackwater guys should have responded to the ambush to keep their people alive. I hope it involves cookies and hugs!

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How do police in NY respond during a shootout? Do they start spraying bullets amongst bystanders? I don't think so. Maybe because Americans value other American lives a bit more than some Americans in foreign lands value foreigners.

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Um, a police shootout (nearly all of which are instigated by police) is nothing like insurgents with heavy weapons ambushing a convoy.

[Orlando Salazar]

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The question really is how many troops are there from the US and allies in Iraq. Don't just count the official numbers, count also those (privateers) that are paid a lot more then the troops for their exposure (and how much more and why?) and don't even get counted as US or allies casualties. I think the rue figures of death and woundeds would be too unpalatable to the US to re-elect a republican president, if the public knew.

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800. I have trouble stomaching 1, but americans on the whole took the 3k number in stride/

[Felix_Nietzsche]

I find it fascinating that the OP assumes that Blackwater did something wrong. There are two sides of this story. The OP ignores the possibility that Blackwater's account could be the truth. The Shia govt is notoriously corrupt and the Mahdi Army weilds a lot of influence in this govt...

Is is not possible that Blackwater killed some Mahdi army militia who were attacking Blackwater? Then, is is not feasible that Mahdi army officials would petition the Shia govt to expel them? After all, how can Shia death squads kill Sunni's with impunity if groups like Blackwater kill them first...

This whole occupation has been notoriously bungled... Bush's first mistake was appointing that nitwit General Garner...

[2/325Falcon]

It doesn't really matter to the Maliki government if Blackwater was wrong or not. The CNN article makes this sound like a 100% standard ambush.

Going after Blackwater is the most politically savvy thing Maliki has done in a long time. Maliki gets to look like he's standing up to the US and kicking foreigners out of Iraq while not doing anything that would impact the actual troop levels.

Expect the press coverage to be much like Haditha. Lots of stories before the investigation with almost no coverage of the outcome.

[vulturesrow]

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LOL. JMa, why don't you go ahead and explain to the forum how the Blackwater guys should have responded to the ambush to keep their people alive. I hope it involves cookies and hugs!

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How do police in NY respond during a shootout? Do they start spraying bullets amongst bystanders? I don't think so. Maybe because Americans value other American lives a bit more than some Americans in foreign lands value foreigners.

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I can practically guarantee you that a Blackwater operative's response would not be "spraying bullets amongst bystanders". These arent a bunch of rubes off the street, they are almost all former members of the most highly trained and skilled forces in the DoD. It is much more likely that some insurgent with rudimentary training would be randomly spraying bullets around.

Also, I love the instant assumption with no real basis that the Blackwater guys mustve been the ones that killed the civilians.