United Liberty

The wars the United States has been engaged in since 2001 have had with them a strong flirtation with darkness. It seems that strong repercussions are brewing for a few of those engaging in darkness:

WASHINGTON - Five Blackwater Worldwide security guards have been indicted and a sixth was negotiating a plea with prosecutors for a 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqis dead and became an anti-American rallying cry for insurgents, people close to the case said Friday.

Prosecutors obtained the indictment late Thursday and had it put under seal until it is made public, perhaps as early as Monday. All who discussed the case did so on condition of anonymity because the matters remain sealed.

Six guards have been under investigation since a convoy of heavily armed Blackwater contractors opened fire in a crowded Baghdad intersection on Sept. 16, 2007. Witnesses say the shooting was unprovoked but Blackwater, hired by the State Department to guard U.S. diplomats, says its guards were ambushed by insurgents while responding to a car bombing.

The exact charges in the indictment were unclear, but the Justice Department has been considering manslaughter and assault charges against the guards for weeks. Prosecutors have also been considering bringing charges under a law, passed as part of a 1988 drug bill, that carries a mandatory 30-year prison sentence for using a machine gun in a crime of violence.

Young children were among the victims, and the shooting strained relations between the U.S. and Iraq. After the shooting, Blackwater became the subject of congressional hearings in Washington and insurgent propaganda videos in Iraq.

The engagement of arms-for-hire seems like something straight out of the film series Star Wars, with real live Boba Fetts motivated by nothing but money and a possible fondness for violence. That’s not the sort of thing I want foreigners associating with America.

We shouldn’t be engaging private entities to fight wars for us. If citizens don’t find a war important enough to volunteer for it of their own volition, it’s likely not worth fighting.