Back in Blackwater

Officials in Iraq have resumed travel under the protection of the U.S. private security firm Blackwater. The move may come as a shock to Iraqis, considering that this morning’s headlines reported that the Iraqi government had concluded that deaths caused by the agency a few days ago were unprovoked.

The New York Times comments that this may be a sign that the U.S. simply cannot afford to suspend travel at this time, considering that U.S. policy is now primarily focused on improving relations to tribal leaders and others in local communities - a goal that cannot be accomplished from within the Green Zone. However, it remains to be seen whether the decision to retain Blackwater’s services will do more harm than good, since the move may rudely affront the very people that U.S. officials are reaching out to.

Assuming that the Bush administration, and the State Department in particular, has not quite lost so much diplomatic tact that they would not prefer to use an alternative source of personnel security, Blackwater’s continued activity may be one of the most dramatic signs of the military’s dependence upon private security firms.