License to Kill

People kill a lot in this post-9/11 world. Al-Qaeda and jihadists kill and are killed. Americans and their allies kill and are killed. Afghans and Iraqis, with deaths in the tens of thousands in recent years, are the first to suffer from these confrontations. People kill with a lonely kamikaze or an army of 100,000 men. People kill in broad daylight and people kill in the shadows.

Al-Qaeda has declared that its mission is to kill “Jews and crusaders,” to free the planet of “infidels.” A license to kill was delivered to all “good Muslims” wishing to partake in the battle.

In response to jihadists, some countries have gone to war. The United States, attacked on their own soil in 2001, took the lead in the fight against jihadists. At first, with unanimous international support against Al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban. And then, more controversially in Iraq and today in Afghanistan.

We are discovering that, in this war, Washington delivered a license to kill to men who are neither soldiers, nor policemen, nor in any way agents in the service of the state. The CIA has allowed, by contract, the mercenary organization Blackwater USA to kill jihadists. One of the questions asked is simple: Who is allowed to kill in the name of America?

Blackwater is a private military firm, created by an ex-commando from the Navy Seals, Erik Prince. The man belongs to the movement of Republican hawks and conservative Christians and asserts the idea of an American and Christian “crusade” against Islam. A billionaire, thanks to the “war against terror,” Mr. Prince has elevated himself without any official function to the superior levels of power in Washington, signing secret contracts for “black operations” known only to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the heads of the intelligence services. Mr. Prince and the “soldiers” of Blackwater have become one of the armed branches of America’s war, paid privates who share the ideology of their commanders.

As to whether or not this secret program has been stopped, the position of the Obama administration towards Blackwater and other military companies is not yet clear. Contracts were signed in 2009 regarding protection of diplomats and American military leaders.

Other Western democracies and U.S. allies are silent. Just as they were silent about the outsourcing of torture, they are silent about the outsourcing of assassinations.

Many values have been flouted and many reference points have been lost since September 11th. The use of mercenaries is, indeed, a phenomenon as old as war history. There is, however, a need to one day reaffirm who in a war is allowed to kill the enemy. Can the mythical license to kill, generally reserved for secret agents and soldiers on a mission, be granted to hitmen for a handful of dollars?