Iraq’s so-called ‘contractors’

Unmentioned in the media was the retaliatory nature of this incident. Four days earlier in Fallujah, seven Iraqi civilians including an Iraqi ABC cameraman were killed by US Marines in an unprovoked attack.

The city’s militancy also stems from several collective punishments inflicted by American forces over the past year. American Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt is promising more brutal repression, uttering to reporters, "we will pacify Fallujah."

The occupation of Iraq has been quite bloody for Western "contractors", "workers" and "civilians".

Using these terms, media reports have been able to portray the Iraqi resistance as simply a force dedicated to killing unarmed Westerners trying to rebuild the country.

In reality, the vast majority of the Western "contractors" and "civilians" who are being killed are hired soldiers — in other words, mercenaries. Last fall, the number of Western mercenaries operating in Iraq reached ten thousand, surpassing the size of the British contingent. The number is now around 15,000, making it the second largest occupying force in Iraq.

The Canadian killed in Mosul was a fully armed private security guard protecting an oil facility. The four dead Americans in Fallujah were well-armed mercenaries working for a private American company specializing in military operations.

Jerry Zovko was a former member of the 82nd Airborne Division. Michael Teague was a 12-year army veteran who had fought in the American invasions of Afghanistan, Panama and Grenada. Scott Helvenston had been a Navy SEAL for 12 years.

Their employer, Blackwater, is just one of a number of shady companies protecting imperial interests in Iraq.

Blackwater boasts a tripling in business over the past three years, numerous government contractors to train thousands of military personnel, and the "most comprehensive private tactical training facility" in the United States, according the company’s website.

Its staff is almost entirely comprised of ex-US Navy commandos. Absent from the company’s website is its history of hiring ex-soldiers from murderous governments.

Blackwater recently hired sixty elite Chilean soldiers who served in Pinochet’s army.

Many South Africans who served in the apartheid government are also working for the company. At present, there are an estimated 2,000 South African mercenaries serving in Iraq. The company’s motto is "In support of Freedom and Democracy Everywhere!"

Over ten thousand Iraqis have died in the conflict, and thousands more wounded. A complete neglect of Iraqi casualties by the invading forces has led dedicated anti-war activists to take up the cause, relying on mainstream media reports to establish an accurate account of the immense suffering in Iraq.

While ignoring the Iraqi loss of life, the American government’s official coalition death toll in Iraq is now over seven hundred, while the number of wounded approaches four thousand.

By only measuring the number of government soldiers killed and wounded in combat, the coalition and the mainstream media is deliberately misrepresenting the level of Iraqi resistance.

In addition to the seven hundred coalition dead, between four and six hundred American-trained Iraqi policemen have died since May 1, 2003.

An unknown number of mercenaries have been killed — mostly likely a few hundred.

By downplaying the actual loss of life, Bush’s cabal hopes to retain support for the war, thus keeping the actual loss of life growing.

As the resistance intensifies, further attempts will be made to portray the deaths of mercenaries as the deaths of innocent-sounding "contractors", thus distorting reality and lending to intensified racism and jingoism just in time for Bush’s election campaign.

In response, we must continue to build the international anti-war movement and argue the link between imperialism and capitalism — something grotesquely demonstrated by the massive use of mercenaries against the Iraqi people.