the contrarian - DRAWING CLOSER TO A POLICE STATE

To paraphrase Alexander Pope‘s famous comment from his Essay on Criticism in 1709, a little foot-in-the-door is a dangerous thing.

And this is particularly true in politics. How many times has, what later became a major situation, started out discretely, with little fanfare and even less public concern. Examples of such stealth attacks are manifold.

Take the personal income tax. It finally became a permanent feeding trough for the government in 1913, after the successful passage of the 16^th amendment overcame the legal restrictions that had stymied previous efforts. Initially, less than 1% of the population paid any tax at all, and those that did paid only 1% to 7% of their income. No one saw what was to come.

And take almost anything else that is big or onerous in government today. In nearly every case, you’ll find that it began inauspiciously, with few people realizing what was to develop down the road.

History is one long story of the public being blindsided by government programs and events, including wars, that grew light-years beyond any initial expectation.

Today, one of the most potentially dangerous “foot-in-the-doors,” arguably, is the growing presence of those little known private armies, called “contractors,” who do the bidding of their political masters with a minimum of exterior control or accountability.

They operate wherever our national interests are at stake, both at home and around the globe. The principal company in the business today, operating on behalf of the U.S. government, is Blackwater USA.

And one might well say that it is operating with impunity.  In Iraq, the company has been involved in 195 shootings, according to Congressional investigators, and in 80% of those incidents, Blackwater personnel fired first.

Yet, not one of the mercenaries has been arrested because a directive, issued by U.S. occupation authorities in 2004, granted them immunity from prosecution.

The latest incident took place a little over two weeks ago when Blackwater guards allegedly killed 11 innocent civilians in Baghdad, including four women and four children. This galvanized the Iraqi government to insist, at least initially, that the mercenaries leave the country entirely.

Blackwater personnel are also suspected of orchestrating the Baghdad jailbreak of the American who had been convicted in the disappearance of $10 billion from the Ministry of Electricity. And they are said to be involved in handling renditions, which involves the transportation of subjects to other countries for the purpose of torture.

After Katrina, they also stirred up a certain amount of controversy as a result of their assignment to maintain law and order in New Orleans.

Yesterday, in an effort to learn more about this growing phenomena, the House Oversight Committee began holding hearings on the situation. Blackwater, of course, was the focus of the proceedings.

The Blackwater story began no more than 10 years ago in the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina and, today, the company occupies 7,000 acres in that state. The founders are Erik Prince, an ex-Navy Seal, and Al Clark. The current president, Gary Jackson, is also a former Navy Seal.

Between 2001 and 2006, the company received more than $1 billion in federal contracts. Nearly 60% of that amount was given to the company in 2006 alone, suggesting that Blackwater‘s activities are growing exponentially.

Over half of the contracts have been non competitive.

Erik Prince, whose relatives have been major Republican contributors, was among those who testified yesterday. The Blackwater founder vigorously defended his private security company against charges of covering up Iraqi civilian deaths. He specifically disputed the congressional report’s findings that Blackwater is an out-of-control outfit.

However, the facts and trends reveal, at the very least, that we are seeing the rapid growth of an extreme right wing, strong-arm organization operating in the murky world of its private assignments. It might well be called a secret police force free, in some instances, from judicial oversight.

Should we be concerned that this last sentence is also the initial definition of a little right-wing outfit called the Gestapo?

So, how far to the right is Erik Prince, politically? Well lets put it this way. Not long ago he was quoted as saying: “George W. is a lily-livered liberal, all too soft on queers and commies.”

Isn’t it high time to start eliminating this “foot” and closing the door?

Dave McGill, News Correspondent……………….

Dave’s column, “The Contrarian,” generally published every Wednesday, to Gather Essentials: News will sometimes present a contrary view to various aspects of the news, or an alternate take on the conventional wisdom of the day, and will occasionally also appear on other days of the week………….

Dave has been a senior officer of a large eastern insurance company, involved in economic projections and investment strategy, president of a Midwestern mortgage banking company, and a financial consultant in Southern California, serving clients in the field of commercial real estate development…………….

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