Tethered Swimming

“We got a little rule back home, if it’s brown drink it down, if it’s black send it back.” - Homer Simpson

Amongst people who worry about things like water usage and all the problems and shortages we’re likely to experience with it in the very near future, the term “blackwater” refers to a very specific kind of waste water - that which comes from toilets.  By way of contrast, “graywater” is water from sinks, showers, dishwashers, washing machines, etc that can be used for other purposes like watering lawns or irrigation.  Graywater can be useful as it is, whereas blackwater cannot be used for anything until it is chemically purified.  It has been fouled beyond usefulness.

I cannot be one-hundred percent sure of this, but I think the first time I read about the poorly named mercenary outfit Blackwater USA was in 2003 when they were guarding Paul Bremer as he traipsed around the newly agovernmental Iraq.  The first time I read about private contractors taking over military functions was probably back in the nineties.  Those were mostly non-combat jobs and looking back I can remember multiple articles using the “soldiers don’t peel potatoes anymore” metaphor.  Now, of course, Blackwater USA and its founder, one Erik Prince, have become famous.

The specific misdeeds that have made them so quickly infamous probably piss them off.  Killing Iraqis is clearly not something they take all that seriously, to be held accountable for it has to be galling.  (To be fair it’s not like the military shows a whole lot of restraint in that category either.)  Recent Congressional and media histrionics aside, there is nothing shocking or surprising about any of this.  The Blackwater book came out way back in February and even then very little of the information contained within was in any way shape or form surprising to anyone who follows the war with a skeptical eye.

Which brings up an excellent question: What outrageous facet of the war, already well known to those of us with an internet connection and a sense of curiosity, will be the next big media story on Iraq?  Here are some possibilities.

The naked vulnerability of the Green Zone - The sacred island of safety at the bend in the river has thick walls and its own utilities.  Nevertheless it isn’t exactly safe.  Last I checked, mortar rounds are still falling daily and even with all the walls and guards everyone is on edge because there is no real security.  It’s only a matter of time before a headline making security breach takes place.  This one comes up from time to time in articles that contain sentences like, “all personnel have now been ordered to wear flak jackets at all times outdoors”, but it hasn’t really sunk in yet.

The nonfunctional state of the Iraqi Parliament - This one definitely hasn’t sunk in and the proof was in all the protest this summer when Parliament went on recess as the, ahem, surge was continuing.  Plenty of intelligent looking people were asking questions along the lines of, “Why are we trying to establish security if their Parliament is going to be out of town for two months?”  Asking that question implies that when they are in session something meaningful can get done.  Nevermind that even when technically in session they have a hard time reaching a quorum and that al-Maliki currently does not have a voting majority behind him.

The cozy relations of the Iraqi government with Iran - This is a particular favorite of mine.  We bang the war drums and demonize the Iranians, but they are the closest natural allies of all those anti-Saddam Shiites we put into power.  The Iranians hated Saddam Hussein and by removing him we did their dirty work for them.  Now they have warm relations with the Iraqi government and we act concerned.  In all the anti-Ahmadinejad hoopla last week I sure didn’t see a lot of pictures of him and our guy al-Maliki embracing.

The degenerating situation between Kurdistan and Turkey - This is potentially the most serious one on this list as it could involved starting even more armed combat than is already taking place.  The Turks have been some of our staunchest allies for decades; the Kurds are our best friends in Iraq.  They really don’t like each other and it’s been getting worse lately as de-facto Kurdish independence has stirred up trouble in southeastern Turkey.  The Turks have all but openly said that they would consider an independent Kurdistan casus belli, meanwhile Kurdistan inches towards independence as the chaos continues to their south.

The British are going, going, gone - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made small headlines yesterday by announcing further troops reductions before the end of the year.  In reality British involvement in Iraq has been reduced to little more than guarding the airport they will someday use to fly home.  Brown needs to be elected in his own right if he wants to be an effective leader and the Iraq War is even less popular in Britain than it is here.  His actions may serve as a preview for what our own withdrawal will look like under the next Administration.  Whoever is President next will want as little to do with the Iraq fiasco he will inherit from Bush the Younger as Brown wants with the one he inherited from Tony Blair.

Iraqis in custody - No one really knows how many Iraqis are being held in American and Iraqi prisons at the moment.  Usually the number is placed in the tens of thousands but if the real number were six digits that wouldn’t surprise me.  All those guys we grab in raids have to go somewhere, right?  Well, most of them are still there.  Like any mass roundup of people, this one probably mostly grabbed guys who are otherwise quite harmless and sooner or later we’re going to have to deal with them.  Neither our military nor the Iraqi government can hold them indefinitely.

The de-facto ethnic cleansing in Baghdad and elsewhere - Calls for partitioning Iraq have been around since the dawn of the war, but what only gets brief mention is that the country has been partitioning itself through all of this violence.  Mixed Shiite/Sunni neighborhoods have sorted themselves out one way or the other with assistance from armed men of various loyalties.  Sectarian violence and sectarian killings have gotten a little press attention as a result of being incorporated into the, ahem, benchmarks we set for ourselves, but there has been very little public comment of the results of this kind of prolonged violence.

This is by no means an exhaustive list; I present it merely as a primer.  The number of stories that get ignored in any war is huge and it can be helpful to remember that no matter how bad the media coverage, the reality is probably worse.  “Blackwater USA,” it certainly sounds cool, but if you look a little closer you’ll see that it’s just another word for shit.