Blackwater Comparison

CNN: Blackwater staff face charges for role in firefight that killed Iraqi civilians. I want to say, briefly, that I have no idea what happened, but there is no way that the Blackwater employees can get a fair trial in Iraq. Nor in America for that matter--though for the opposite reason. Aside from the formal issues which became clear after this incident which demonstrated beyond a doubt that Blackwater is beyond the law (Iraq said "Blackwater is no longer welcome", America and Blackwater both sort of shrugged and kept going, Iraq backed down, nobody expects these "charges" to actually result in any sort of trial or even arrest), there is a more passive form of extra-legality for Blackwater -- operating between societies and jurisdictional boundaries, it has nobody to whom it can be held accountable for excesses. America won't do it because we'd be too embarrassed, and even if America let Iraq do it, it strikes me more than obvious that the men would be used as a sop to disaffected Iraqis who hate the occupation and all of its symbols. Either way, justice will not be done.

Meanwhile, DailyKos on the (separate) Blackwater scandal regarding arms smuggling. In short, they note that in most other contexts, the "investigation" would involve a long stint in Guantanamo, mixed with some extraordinary rendition to some lovely bloodthirsty nation. Of course, sometimes we do torture our own guys, but the point remains solid. And the point indicates that, yes, we can respond to folks supporting terrorism through the metrics of criminal law. We don't need to hold people indefinitely in camps, we don't need to torture them or send them off to be tortured by our more unsavory proxies, we don't need to do everything in our power to prevent even a whiff of judicial review. We can do it the right way.