The Privatization of Impunity
October 1, 2007
In September of 2007, The Chiquita Banana Company was fined $25 million in federal court for paying $1.2 million dollars to Colombian paramilitary organizations including FARC and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) for “protection” from 1997 to 2004. While some Colombians feel that the Chiquita Banana Company “got off light” (Goodman), the fine was possibly completely avoidable through better decision-making about who to hire for security. Chiquita had decided to outsource their security to organizations that were declared to be terrorist groups by the U.S. government, and were responsible for massacres (Goodman). If only the Chiquita Banana Company had contracted some of the private security firms used by the United States government to help control such hostile territories as Baghdad and New Orleans, they might be safe in the knowledge that they will never have to show any accountability whatsoever when their hired guns are used to slaughter civilians.
The most well-known of these private security contractors is the trigger-happy ultra-violent Blackwater USA firm. In a September 16 “shooting incident”, 11 Iraqis were killed by Blackwater USA contractors. In fact, Blackwater USA has been shown to be involved in a higher rate of shootings than any other firm employed by the U.S. State Department for certain security purposes (NYT 9/27). Since 2005, Blackwater USA employees have been involved in almost 200 shootings, in the majority of which Blackwater USA employees shot victims from moving vehicles without stopping to assist the wounded or even to count the dead. (NYT 9/27). In another case that is beginning to get some increased coverage in the media, a former guard from Blackwater USA shot an Iraqi vice president’s bodyguard to death at a Christmas party last year (NYT 10/6). The main difference between Colombian death squads and Blackwater USA’s private security forces seems to be that Blackwater’s people are better paid, and face no legal reprisal.
Officials in the Iraq government recognize these acts as murder, but have yet to start legal proceedings against the murderers (NYT 10/8). The United States government sees them as negative externalities to a business decision over which they have little authority or accountability. Families of victims have been quieted with $15,000 payments from Blackwater USA, but the State Department and the FBI have yet to determine if a crime has even been committed. Civilian contractors for the State Department may not be subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and are claiming immunity under Iraq’s 2004 Transitional Administrative Law (NYT). No legal authority seems willing to deal with the issue of Blackwater USA’s habits of violence. It is easier to pay off the families of victims than it would be to develop a rational policy for having private security forces that are accountable to a government authority.
The 1989 General Assembly condemnation of the use of mercenaries, ratified by only twenty-seven states, also has little authority (Robertson pg 233). Of course, the State Department never calls the employees of Blackwater USA “mercenaries”. Blackwater USA “private security forces” should hope that they continue to not be considered mercenaries. Even under the Geneva Conventions, mercenaries are not given the same international legal protections in times of war as other soldiers. Under Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions, Article 7 exempts mercenaries from the protection of humanitarian law (Robertson pg 235). Blackwater USA is operating outside of United States civil and military law, outside of Iraqi law, and outside of the protections of the Geneva Conventions.
The idea that private security forces operating for profit can, with absolute impunity, kill civilians is ridiculous. That the United States government would continue to claim no controlling authority over a group of uniformed and armed people acting as State Department contractors and paid for by U.S. taxpayers is the height of irresponsibility. The State Department needs to reconsider its use of private security firms in war zones, particularly when those private security forces are quickly gaining reputations similar to those of groups labeled as “Terrorist Organizations” when they operate in Colombia in the employ of banana companies. Blackwater USA has been operating in the manner of a death squad, whose members fear no punishment other than being fired for committing murder.
Sources
- Report Says Firm Sought to Cover Up Iraq Shootings. Sep 2, 2007 By JOHN M. BRODER – New York Times
- Chiquita fined 25 million dollars for payment to paramilitaries. Sep 17, 2007 – AFP newswire.
- Banana giant got off light, Colombian official says. Sep 19, 2007 By JOSHUA GOODMAN – Seattle Times.
- Blackwater Tops Firms in Iraq in Shooting Rate. Sep 27, 2007 By JOHN M. BRODER and JAMES RISEN – New York Times
- STATE DEPT. PLANS TIGHTER CONTROL OF SECURITY FIRM. Oct 6, 2007 By JOHN M. BRODER and ERIC SCHMITT – New York Times
Tags: Government
