Antiwar.com Blog

Eli at Left Eye points out this Washington Post article which describes Blackwater commandos engaging in firefights with Iraqis alongside American soldiers.

An attack by hundreds of Iraqi militia members on the U.S. government’s headquarters in Najaf on Sunday was repulsed not by the U.S. military, but by eight commandos from a private security firm, according to sources familiar with the incident.

Before U.S. reinforcements could arrive, the firm, Blackwater Security Consulting, sent in its own helicopters amid an intense firefight to resupply its commandos with ammunition and to ferry out a wounded Marine, the sources said.

The role of Blackwater’s commandos in Sunday’s fighting in Najaf illuminates the gray zone between their formal role as bodyguards and the realities of operating in an active war zone. Thousands of armed private security contractors are operating in Iraq in a wide variety of missions and exchanging fire with Iraqis every day, according to informal after-action reports from several companies.

In Sunday’s fighting, Shiite militia forces barraged the Blackwater commandos, four MPs and a Marine gunner with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 fire for hours before U.S. Special Forces troops arrived. A sniper on a nearby roof apparently wounded three men. U.S. troops faced heavy fighting in several Iraqi cities that day.

The Blackwater commandos, most of whom are former Special Forces troops, are on contract to provide security for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Najaf.

With their ammunition nearly gone, a wounded and badly bleeding Marine on the rooftop, and no reinforcement by the U.S. military in the immediate offing, the company sent in helicopters to drop ammunition and pick up the Marine.

Be sure and click through the link and look at the picture of Blackwater “civilians” on a roof in Najaf fighting alongside Marines.

During the defense of the authority headquarters, thousands of rounds were fired and hundreds of 40mm grenades shot. Sources who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of Blackwater’s work in Iraq reported an unspecified number of casualties among Iraqis.

A spokesman for Blackwater confirmed that the company has a contract to provide security to the CPA but would not describe the incident that unfolded Sunday.

So, can we stop calling them “civilians” now?

UPDATE: Phil Carter at INTEL DUMP reacts to this WashPo article:

Analysis: Whoa… so these guys work for the U.S. government, but not for the CPA and CJTF chain of command? That’s not just odd, that’s dangerous. Even if the Blackwater guys are the best in the world, I’m a little reticent to support the idea of armed contractors running around on their own without command, control and coordination with American and allied units on the ground. It worked this time, but it seems like a fratricide formula in the future.

Moreover, there is a certain “WTF” factor here, to quote a friend of mine. What are these contractors doing that they have this much firepower, and a friggin’ helicopter of their own? And what kind of command system does CPA and CJTF have that they had zero visibility of this incident until presumably the Washington Post reported on it? Blackwater’s employees exhibited a great degree of heroism on Sunday in Najaf, and they should be commended for their initiative and personal courage. However, it may be wise to reconsider the system of command and control that lets these guys run around Iraq with this much firepower and no accountability to U.S. government agencies.

Suffice to say, actions like this clearly support my argument that the Blackwater contractors in Fallujah were not entitled to protection as non-combatants under the 4th Geneva Convention. And unfortunately, because they fight outside the U.S. command structure, don’t wear uniforms, and don’t always carry their arms openly, they’re likely not combatants under the 3rd Geneva Convention either. Thus, they fall in the gray area between the two categories. Ironically, the unlawful combatants we have detained at Gitmo fall into the same gray area. I don’t think it’s necessarily the best idea to contract out combat functions like these to private military contractors, and I think we’re assuming a great deal of risk because of the legal issues in play.

Thanks for the military POV, Phil.

After denying all day today that more American troops (the only kind they can get) were needed in Iraq to deal with the incipient civil war Bremer managed to fire up, it comes to light that the US military has resorted to the old tried and true method of increasing troop numbers….don’t let the ones who are supposed to go home go.

A decision by the Pentagon to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq is a reversal of its plan to steadily reduce the U.S. force level there.

Since the war began a year ago, senior military leaders have given frequent assurances to troops and their families that Iraq duty would be no longer than a year.

Now, those assurances have met the reality of Iraq, where military leaders are planning for the possibility that anti-U.S. violence will spread. U.S. troops are stretched thin around the world, and the Pentagon has few options to increase the force in Iraq if necessary.

On Monday, a senior official with U.S. Central Command said that the return home of about 24,000 U.S. troops who were scheduled to leave in the next few weeks would be delayed as their replacements arrive. Central Command’s responsibility includes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

With the 24,000 remaining and others who have arrived as intended replacements, there are 134,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

Morale should really skyrocket now.

The senior official spoke to reporters at the Pentagon by phone from Central Command in Tampa. He gave the briefing on the condition that he not be identified.

Another brave American hero.

More from Raed:

So, Bush and Bremer said that all the clashes and attacks are being planed by terrorists, and that’s why the American army is killing and arresting “bad Iraqis” in those “bad cities”… those were just minority, but the CPA is going to give freedom and democracy for the majority of Iraqis.

Ok… here is the majority! AsSadr is the majority, he is THE leader of the majority…AsSadr is the symbol of millions in the south who were waiting for Americans come, where is the problem?
Why did Bremer decide to close AsSadr’s newspaper now? And arrest his assistant?
Because the newspaper said that Bremer is acting like a new Saddam?????????
I say that too :*) arrest me.
I think that Bremer acts like a small Saddam sometimes; today he decided to forbidden demonstrations! One year in jail is what you get if you demonstrate without having an approval, to have the approval u must submit a form at least 24 hours before the demonstration with information about why, when, who, how many, bla bla blah..
:*)

The clashes that didn’t happen last year between the CPA and the “majority” just started, in a bad timing too for Bush and his adminstration.

I think Bremer should write a book under the title “how to create lose/lose situations”, he closed the newspaper, arrested the assistant, shoot people in demonstrations, attacked Shia neighborhoods and cities, and now… the outlaw thing.

The picture of the day, is for some policemen joining a pro-Sadr demonstrations at Basra, where people occupied the governorate building, maybe that would be a message to the CPA that feelings of belonging to the social and cultural structure in the south are much stronger than the $60 salary.

Believe me, Bremer and Bush are totally lost; most of the time they don’t know what they want to do, and when they do, they don’t know how to do it.

Believe me, they are playing with fire.
Posted by: Raed Jarrar / 12:27 AM

Thanks to all the Iraqi bloggers who are giving us updates and analysis. They are in position to see it all and identify the real situation.

Go to the link to read the rest – this is an excerpt of a long post well worth reading.

Iraqi blogger zayed is normally fairly pro-American, pro-Occupation. Here’s his report from Baghdad today on Healing Iraq:

A coup d’etat is taking place in Iraq a the moment. Al-Shu’la, Al-Hurria, Thawra (Sadr city), and Kadhimiya (all Shi’ite neighbourhoods in Baghdad) have been declared liberated from occupation. Looting has already started at some places downtown, a friend of mine just returned from Sadun street and he says Al-Mahdi militiamen are breaking stores and clinics open and also at Tahrir square just across the river from the Green Zone. News from other cities in the south indicate that Sadr followers (tens of thousands of them) have taken over IP stations and governorate buildings in Kufa, Nassiriya, Ammara, Kut, and Basrah. Al-Jazeera says that policemen in these cities have sided with the Shia insurgents, which doesn’t come as a surprise to me since a large portion of the police forces in these areas were recruited from Shi’ite militias and we have talked about that ages ago. And it looks like this move has been planned a long time ago.

No one knows what is happening in the capital right now. Power has been cut off in my neighbourhood since the afternoon, and I can only hear helicopters, massive explosions, and continuous shooting nearby. The streets are empty, someone told us half an hour ago that Al-Mahdi are trying to take over our neighbourhood and are being met by resistance from Sunni hardliners. Doors are locked, and AK-47’s are being loaded and put close by in case they are needed. The phone keeps ringing frantically. Baghdadis are horrified and everyone seems to have made up their mind to stay home tomorrow until the situation is clear.

Where is Shitstani? And why is he keeping silent about this?

I have to admit that until now I have never longed for the days of Saddam, but now I’m not so sure. If we need a person like Saddam to keep those rabid dogs at bay then be it. Put Saddam back in power and after he fills a couple hundred more mass graves with those criminals they can start wailing and crying again for liberation. What a laugh we will have then. Then they can shove their filthy Hawza and marji’iya up somewhere else. I am so dissapointed in Iraqis and I hate myself for thinking this way. We are not worth your trouble, take back your billions of dollars and give us Saddam again. We truly ‘deserve’ leaders like Saddam.

Perry de Havilland has a solution to the Iraqi quagmire!

What seems to be developing into an open revolt in Iraq by Shi’a Islamists could be a Godsend to the coalition and secular elements of Iraqi society in the long run… in openly taking up arms against the coalition and its Iraqi supporters, radical leader Muqtadar al-Sadr has changed the equation: what could have been a long term intractable political problem has been turned onto a military problem with a fairly obvious and direct solution.

I can’t wait to hear what it is.

Here’s a discussion of Muqtada al Sadr from Raed Jarrar who posts on his Iraqi blog Raed in the Middle.

Muqtada, is younger than me. He is around 25 years old, spent all of his life in Iraq studying in religious schools, I think he is very introverted, defensive and acting like a rebel. Yet, he is very smart and pragmatic. He started working immediately after the war stopped, inherited the popularity of his father and used it as a starting point. He knows that his age and religious degree doesn’t allow him to represent himself as a leader for Iraq, that’s why he started and maintained strong relations with the Iranian very well respected religious personality: Al-Haeri.

Considering Al-Haeri as his religious reference gave him the chance to go ahead with his Anti-American, Anti-Saddam perspective with a strong religious cover.

AsSadr opened offices and mosques in the cities of the south and in Saddam city (Athawra) in Baghdad, which he managed to change its name to AsSadr city. AsSdr city is a huge gridiron city inside Baghdad that one million Shia people live in, it is the area of the poor, vulnerable and uneducated people, and it is the weapons market of Baghdad, you can get a grenade for $5 or a machine gun for $50.

He created a parallel Iraqi government, as an alternative option beside the CPA, he selected ministers too.

And, maybe the most important thing he could arrange, he controlled a very important part of the religious establishment of Shia Iraqis … (Al-Hawza).

Everyone was underestimating him; Bremer, political leaders, media, most of my friends, my parents. But I didn’t… at all.

From my frequent visits to the south, I could really feel and see the actual strength and authorities AsSadr have, and the real possibility that he will be a key person in the next stage of the Iraqi history.

White revolutions were happening in the southern cities, without anyone noticing that. A strong Shia-Shia competition, which reached to fighting some times, happened between AsSdr and Al-Hakim (assassinated last year in the huge explosion at Najaf). Cities like Amara, Kut, Diwanyya and Simawa were completely controlled by AsSadr party, and Nasryya had dramatic demonstrations that changed the Al-Hakim people in the governorate and replaced them with AsSadr representatives.

One of my dear friends at Najaf told me once that the “Najafians” call Al-Hakim party: the rational stream, and they call AsSadr party: the chaotic one. For sure Al-Hakim had decades of experience and political work, and a strong backup and support from the Iranian government, but AsSadr was just starting.

Then, AsSadr established his own militia: Al-Mahdi Army, with blessings from AyatoAllah Al-Haeri… tens of thousands of Iraqis joined the new army under the eyes of everyone.

The thing that I want to make obvious here is the well designed political and military steps of AsSadr, that I’m sure no one even heard about.
Do you know why you didn’t hear much about him earlier?
Because AsSade wasn’t noisy enough to drag the attention of Bremer and the international media, the undesigned explosions of Falluja did.

When the CPA decides to close the AsSadr newspaper and arrest his assistant, they should expect to have real clashes… I mean REAL ones.

Can’t everyone see how much is the American administration lost? Can’t you feel the lack of vision? Can’t you see the bloody results of the slow and stupid policy that has no orientation?

This is an excerpt; read the rest here.