Two days until Iraq takes over the Green Zone

One change that the Iraqis wanted will create problems for American contractors — and perhaps indirectly for Barack Obama:

Until now, all American contractors have avoided Iraq’s jurisdiction under a rule issued by the CPA in 2004 that said contractors were “immune from Iraqi legal process.”

That arrangement has been deeply unpopular with the Iraqi public since September 2007, when guards from the Blackwater company opened fire and killed 14 Iraqis in Baghdad, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Five of the guards were indicted on manslaughter charges this month.

The SOFA explicitly ends that immunity for contractors working for the military or Defense Department. The agreement says nothing about contractors such as Blackwater that work for civilian agencies such as the State Department — and it is unclear how much their operations would be affected, if at all.

Blackwater and other contractors strenuously objected to that part of the agreement.  They do not wish to rely on Iraqi notions of justice and jurisprudence, especially in certain areas where their contractors have operated to protect American interests.  The State Department has warned the Pentagon and the White House that the Iraqis will almost certainly use that new authority quickly and that American citizens will soon find themselves under arrest in Iraq, which would force the departure of security contractors and others.

Blackwater does a significant amount of work in personal protection, and they usually hire retired or inactive service members for these tasks.  (Full disclosure: a friend of mine worked for a security company in Iraq.)  Their presence allowed the US to complete its mission with better security while deploying fewer troops by paying volunteers to serve through the private sector.  The wisdom of that policy has been under debate and will continue to generate controversy, but the fact is that their sudden departure will require a greater use of American troops to replace them.

• The Bush Administration added $6 billion in TARP funds [13] increasing the size of its initial bailout out of General Motors to $23.4 billion.
• UFO believer Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is calling for a United Nations investigation into Israel’s “[14] disproportionate” attacks on Gaza.
• Employing a tactic not seen in Iran before, [15] a suicide bomber killed four people and wounded 12 in an attack early Monday.
• When the calendar flips to 2009 on Thursday, [16] Iraq’s government will gain control over the Green Zone.
• [17] Democracy returned to Bangladesh on Monday ast the secular Awami League party had secured an overwhelming majority.

Article printed from The Foundry: http://blog.heritage.org

URL to article: http://blog.heritage.org/2008/12/30/morning-bell-will-obama-ditch-transparency-for-stimulus/

URLs in this post:

[13] increasing the size of its initial bailout out of General Motors to $23.4 billion: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/white-house-adds-6-billion-to-auto-bailout-2008-12-30.html

[14] disproportionate: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/kucinich-criticizes-israel-wants-u.n.-probe-2008-12-29.html

[15] a suicide bomber killed four people and wounded 12: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/world/middleeast/30iran.html?ref=todayspaper

[16] Iraq’s government will gain control over the Green Zone: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-12-29-iraqnews_N.htm

[17] Democracy returned to Bangladesh: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/world/asia/30bangladesh.html?ref=todayspaper

"What would you have done with them?" Gordon said. "These are enemy combatants who wish to do harm to the United States. Our government has an obligation to protect the public."

Others do not believe the Pentagon or the Bush administration when they call these men a threat.

"We simply cannot take any of the administration's claims as true," said Air Force Maj. David Frakt, a defense lawyer who represents Guantanamo detainees.

Frakt said many people who attend training camps or join jihadist movements do so sometimes to show solidarity with oppressed Muslims.

Retired Army major general John Altenburg, who once oversaw the Guantanamo cases for the Pentagon, said those reviews are "unprecedented" in war.

"In any other country, in any other place, they wouldn't be bothering to make that determination," Altenburg said. "They would just say, 'We've detained them legally and we can hold them.' "

Davis said the U.S. would be enraged if one of its soldiers were held under such conditions. But the Bush administration has said that U.S. soldiers are entitled to special treatment as prisoners of war because they follow the rules of war. They wear uniforms and answer to a command structure and a nation. Those in Guantanamo are not soldiers but terrorists who violate the rules of war by pretending to be civilians and targeting civilians, it says.

Altenburg said no matter the debate, the global war on terror will not end with the Bush administration and Obama will need to figure out what to do with captives in this war.

"We can detain people that we apprehend in that war as long as the war is still going on," he said. "That may be 10 or 20 years."

• The number of police officers killed by gunfire in 2008 dropped to its [8] lowest level in more than 50 years.
• The federal government is taking [9] initial steps that may open California’s fabled coast to oil drilling in as few as three years.
• The Navy has [10] settled the lawsuit filed by environmentalists challenging its use of sonar in exercises. The settlement does not require the Navy to adopt any new measures that would affect their sonar training.
• For the first time in more than a quarter century the World Bank says that [11] global trade will shrink next year by more than 2%.
• The number of people caught trying to sneak into the USA from Mexico is at its[12] lowest level since the mid-1970s.

Article printed from The Foundry: http://blog.heritage.org

URLs in this post:

[8] lowest level in more than 50 years: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-12-28-copdeaths_N.htm

[9] initial steps: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/28/MN4G14QMVE.DTL

[10] settled the lawsuit filed by environmentalists: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/us/29sonar.html?ref=todayspaper

[11] global trade will shrink: http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-12-28-global-import-export-trade-slump_N.htm

[12] lowest level since the mid-1970s: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-12-28-bordercrossings_N.htm

Reuters now using words like “uber-cool” to describe Obama

Will Jeb Run?

As 2008 comes to a close, almost nothing has turned out as was expected at the beginning of the year — whether we consider oil prices,...

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