Trump, Blackwater, and private war [View all]

[backtoblue]

Excerpt:

....Fifteen years later, crucial elements of this more recent history are on repeat. A new US president is proving useful to ISIS and others thanks to his particularly close relationship to Israel, exemplified by the symbolic move of the US's embassy to Jerusalem. More broadly, the US is being further worn down by an endless cycle of war.

In this context, Trump wants to depict the planned withdrawal of 2,000 US troops from Syria as, in effect, a declaration of victory over ISIS. It's true that the movement has largely (if not wholly) gone underground after losing much (if not all) of its territory. But there is unlikely to be a single western security analyst who thinks ISIS has been defeated. An estimated 10,000-20,000 paramilitaries remain active in Iraq and Syria, while related movements are well placed across north Africa and the Sahel. From this vantage point, the US military evacuation can be seen as a humiliating American flight.

This view finds reinforcement in Afghanistan, where Trump’s order to withdraw 7,000 troops ignores the US defense department's assessment that the Taliban – having made steady gains in rural areas – will welcome such a decision.

Two elements are worth adding to this emerging picture. The first is that ISIS has but a small, if entrenched, presence in Afghanistan, and it is the more nationalist Taliban who stand to gain from a US military drawdown. That said, to the wider "anti-American world" such fine details may matter less than the broad image of a United States in retreat.

Snip

In this respect, a fascinating indicator is the notorious Blackwater company's re-emergence as a major player in the privatisation of US war. The new edition of Recoil magazine ("the ultimate firearms destination for the gun lifestyle&quot carries a full-page advertisement featuring the words “WE ARE COMING” on a black background – with nothing else but the Blackwater logo. The war's privatisation may prove to have been a subsidiary factor in James Mattis's resignation, now becoming effective from 1 January rather than the initial 28 February date.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/paul-rogers/trump-blackwater-and-privatised-war