An Update: The Monetary & The Mercenary

CONTRACTORS HANG FROM BRIDGE IN FALLUJAH

One of the more compelling back stories in the Iraq war has been the use of mercenaries, including former Army Special Forces troopers and Navy SEALS, who get paid fat salaries and out-of-this-world bennies to guard prisoners, protect convoys, stand sentry and do security overflights.

The cream of this crop work for Blackwater USA, which touts itself as "The most comprehensive professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping and stability operations company in the world" with a mission "To support security, peace, freedom, and democracy everywhere."

To which can be added: And screw with the widows of its dead employees in the most draconian ways.

You see, a number of Blackwater mercenaries have joined the 3,500-plus U.S. troops in Iraq in making the ultimate sacrifice, including four who were separated from the convoy they were escorting and infamously killed by a mob in Fallujah in March 2004 and their bodies hung from the trestles of a bridge.

These men's estates, which is to say their widows, are suing Blackwater for wrongful death and fraud.

They claim that Blackwater, in an effort to increase its profit margin, failed to provide the armored vehicles, equipment, personnel, weapons, maps and necessary lead time in which the four men could have familiarized themselves with the area.

In response, Blackwater asserted that state law (in this case North Carolina, where it is headquartered) is trumped by federal law and that no court of any kind has jurisdiction to review the claims. The case bumped all the way up to the Supreme Court, which turned aside Blackwater’s jurisdictional argument.

Faced with having its red, white and blue image further tarnished, Blackwater is fighting back and is countersuing the estates for $10 million to silence the families and keep them out of court.

Blackwater is sparing no expense.

It first hired Fred F. Fielding, one of President Bush’s lawyers and a long-time Washington heavy. It then hired Joseph Schmitz, who was formerly the inspector general at the Pentagon, to be in-house counsel, and more recently put Kenneth Starr on retainer. Starr, of course, was the infamous prosecutor in the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal. Then there is Cofer Black, who was director of the CIA Counter-Terrorist Center.

There you have it: Four widows and their lawyers facing a Who’s Who of conservative legal muscle.

War is not a pretty thing, but the toxins that have percolated out from this one -- a fool's mission and enormous waste of lives and money from the outset -- have insinuated themselves into some pretty interesting rat holes, including this one.

It’s easy to feel sorry for the widows, but less hard to do so for their husbands. Where did the men think they were going? Disney World?

All that said, there is a term for Blackwater and its hired heavies: Sick fucks.

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Please click here for my original post on The Monetary & The Mercenary.