Blackwater vs. U.S. Counterinsurgency EffortsRep. John Tierney (D-MA) read out a raft of quotes from U.S. military counterinsurgency experts — Gen. David Petraeus and Col. Pete Mansour, to name two — who say it’s better for counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq if contractors fell within the military chain of command. Running Iraqis off the road, Mansour said, according to Tierney, comes at the “detriment of the mission” of convincing Iraqis that the U.S. is looking out for their best interests.
“We know we’re part of the total force,” Prince replied, but he didn’t say that his efforts don’t come into conflict with the mission. Instead, he said that Blackwater guards have only discharged their weapons in one percent of their 16,000 missions in Iraq. (He didn’t say anything about running Iraqis off the road.) Similarly, he asked for understanding about the dangers that Blackwater guards face in Iraq, and to illustrate the point, displayed a photo of the carnage after a suicide car bombing successfully attacked a Blackwater-operated Chevy Suburban. The broader question of whether Blackwater hurts counterinsurgency efforts, as some experts contend, went unaddressed.
