I seriously believe that the means and the ends are intertwined... the means our nation uses in Iraq defines what the nation(s?) of Iraq and we as a nation will become. Which will, in turn, define the means we apply for the purpose of achieving still other ends.
I so very much wish I'd been wrong.
Update [2005-9-10 21:23:20 by Stealthbadger]: I feel better... spiderleaf's diary on the same subject has 127 comments and is in the reccommended block. I should have looked there before freaking out.
I don't know about the characterization of Blackwater employees as some of the most "feared professional killers in the world..." I think, if you went to the average African, South American, or Middle Eastern nation and said (in the appropriate language) "Blackwater is coming!" you wouldn't get nearly as much reaction as if you said "
Sandline is coming!" - you'd see a much more terrified reaction to the second. And never mind what the
Front Page says...
its' been over a year, and the content in Sandline's website is still there, let alone the fact that the domain is still registered. Someone's paying the bills.
Above that, take a look at Sandline's main site. Unter Hotlinks, select Other Companies. Blackwater isn't even listed... But DynCorp is there - and it should be. Those are some experienced, scary bastards. Blackwater is, comparatively, the new kid on the block.
Which should scare you more. New Orleans is being used as a proof-of-concept for the use of deputized mercenaries for domestic urban pacification, to use the sanitized term. Just wait, that's enough to freak out about, but it gets worse. The company chosen for the job wasn't even the most experienced and capable. They could have hired Securitas, a civilian security firm you probably know as Pinkertons/Wells Fargo... But no. I'm glad they didn't pick DynCorp, because any company whose employees were buying and selling sex slaves needs to not be operating at all, let alone operating within the United States. Instead, they hired a group of guys who consider a $350 a day assignment to be not worth the money, and who are hot to get back to Iraq.
The morals, ethics, and overall fucked-up worldview of the people Bush has brought into this disaster, and the terrifying precedent he has set by taking a group of people who should never have been given power, and giving them power in BOTH Iraq and our nation, lead me to believe that the government has collectively and completely taken leave of its humanity and its senses.