Blackwater employees on the job in Iraq:

Are they mercenaries or highly-paid patriots?

Frankfurter Rundschau, Germany

Blackwater and Bush:

A 'Deliberate Set-up' ...

"At worst the shooters with their itchy trigger fingers will have to look for new jobs. Legally they exist in a black hole which the Bush Administration didn't create as randomly as it now claims."

By Dietmar Ostermann

Translated By Ulf Behncke

November 15, 2007

Germany - Frankfurter Rundschau - Original Article (German)

Accusations that employees of U.S. security firm Blackwater killed 17 Iraqi civilians "Rambo-style" in September seem to have been confirmed. The Pentagon, the Iraqi government and now even the FBI have come to the same conclusion WATCH .

But what are the consequences? At worst the shooters with their itchy trigger fingers will have to look for new jobs. Legally they exist in a black hole which the Bush Administration didn't create as randomly as it now claims. Legal loopholes and grey areas in the law also exist for terrorist prisoners and CIA torturers.

The set-up is deliberate. For most foreign security companies operating in Iraq, neither Iraqi nor international law applies, since the occupying power would have it this way. That is a many-faceted scandal. But even Washington has come to realize that trigger-happy private mercenaries exempt from any responsibility harms its own cause. But even if the U.S. Congress closes these loopholes, they are just symptomatic of a larger issue.

Iraqi sovereignty remains a long way off.

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