There's been a lot of debate surrounding some comments Kos made regarding the four Americans who were ambushed and killed in Falluja yesterday. The NYTimes has done a
piece on the reaction of those who live in the recently deceased's home town.
The war in Iraq came to roost in tiny Moyock, N.C., today when television footage of four dead Americans, their bodies burned and two of them dangling from a bridge over the Euphrates River, filled television screens there.
The four were employees of Blackwater Security Consulting, an international security company here that is one of the area's largest employers.
Blackwell employees are generally former law enforcement or military personnel. The company provides security services and guard training around the world.
Robert Becker, who lives down the road from the Blackwater USA complex, said he had no idea the company was training personnel to serve in Iraq. "It is a shock," he said. "I didn't realize they had sent anyone from back there overseas."
Even though Mr. Becker does not know anyone from the Blackwater staff, the realization that the contractors who died had passed by his home on the way to training made him pause.
"Even knowing that they were this close to being in my own backyard, it is an awful thing," he said.
Certainly these Blackwell employees knew what kind of a company they worked for, and they must have known what kinds of situations they might be getting involved in.
However, I think labeling the four deceased as 'mercenaries' is wrong. They were hired hands working for an international business. We can't say exactly why they were in Iraq, but it seems likely that they did not rush over to Iraq to profit on Bush's mess. It is more probable that after war broke out the Blackwell employees were placed in a difficult situation and made a decision that many would have.