The Myth that the U.S. Provides Security in Iraq

Blumenthal at Salon:

Under the pretense that Iraq is being pacified, the U.S. military is partially withdrawing from hostile towns in the countryside and parts of Baghdad. By reducing the numbers of soldiers the administration can claim its policy is working going into the midterm elections. But the jobs that the military will no longer perform are being sloughed off onto State Department "provincial reconstruction teams" led by Foreign Service officers. The stated rationale is that the teams will win Iraqi hearts and minds by organizing civil functions.

The Pentagon has informed the State Department that it will not provide security for these officials and that State should hire mercenaries for protection instead.

Some time in recent months, I remember reading, though I can't remember where, that a high ranking U.S. military officer in Iraq said that the U.S. military doesn't do security for the Iraqis as the myth goes. I also recall reading that Iraq's now so unsafe the U.S. military hardly leaves their bases, and that westerners, including journalists, hardly ever leave the Green Zone. Now, Blumenthal reveals that the State Department has been advised that the U.S. military will not provide their officials any security in Iraq, and that for protection they should contract private mercanaries who will not be included in the U.S. tallies of war fatalities--as if private is not public.