corrente

Let's put two and two together. First, this story from WaPo:

The role of Blackwater's commandos in Sunday's fighting in Najaf illuminates the gray zone between their formal role as bodyguards and the realities of operating in an active war zone. Thousands of armed private security contractors are operating in Iraq in a wide variety of missions and exchanging fire with Iraqis every day, according to informal after-action reports from several companies.

The Blackwater commandos, most of whom are former Special Forces troops, are on contract to provide security for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Najaf.

The Defense Department often does not have a clear handle on the daily actions of security contractors because the contractors work directly for the coalition authority, which coordinates and communicates on a limited basis through the normal military chain of command.

(via WaPo)

OK, then.

There's one chain of command for the military—hat would be the one that operates Constitutionally, is accountable to Congress, does press conferences, and has personnel who took an oath to serve their country.

Then there's a second chain of command for the CPA—that's the one that operates in a "gray area," is accountable to noone but the CPA, doesn't do press conferences, and has personnel who signed a contract to perform certain services.

So now we know the CPA is running the mercenaries. And what is the CPA? Why, a branch of the Republican National Commitee (the RNC), of course:

Republican figures also permeate the wider CPA staff, including top advisers to U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer and the Iraqi ministries.

The U.S. team stands in deep contrast to the British team that works alongside it, almost all of whom are civil or foreign service employees, not political appointees. Many of the British in Iraq display regional knowledge or language skills that most of the Americans lack.
(via Detroit Free Press)

The CPA politicized? By the Bush administration? Why, you could have knocked me over with a feather! But then, of course, the only language these guys need to know is American English and whatever it is that Bush speaks, and the only regional knowledge they need to have is of voting patterns in the swing states.

Anyhow, the UK has noticed this and they're not pleased:

British officials say that ... the Coalition Provisional Authority under Mr. Bremer has become too "politicized," meaning that events are orchestrated and information controlled with the American political agenda uppermost in mind.
(via The Times)

OK, so we've now got Republican operatives, accountable to no one, running a private army in Iraq, and "orchestrating events." Hmm.... Like Fallujah?

Can it get worse?

Of course. This is the Bush administration, remember? No matter how bad it is, it can always get worse. The RNC is also running paramilitaries domestically (back here). All part of privatization ("A Republic of Mercenaries," back) don't you know.

This is a thousand times worse than Iran-Contra. Ollie North wanted off-the-shelf capabilities for covert action outside Constitutional restraints. Here we have a off-the-shelf overt private armies, again outside Constitutional restraints, and the SCLM doesn't even cover it as a story.