The Blackwater and War Business

Following the murder by the US mercenary army Blackwater of 12 Iraqis, the US Administration at present has been acting as if it is sensitive to human rights. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, nowhere among the 30 Articles is mentioned about any country’s right to keep a mercenary private army to take part in war activities against civilians. Although it is hundred percent clear-cut, no human rights institutions in the world have formally questioned the rationale of the mercenary army. It is neither right in principle nor in practice because a civilian democracy does not require such death squads. It is against the very norms of democracy and human rights. Democracy and human rights preachers have to pay a special attention to this fact.

National armed security of any nation is the sole responsibility of the concerned state security apparatus itself while people from all walks of life are socially and morally responsible for their national security. Distributing gun licenses like chocolates to millions of ordinary people in the name of their personal security on the one hand shows the concerned nation is speedily heading towards a de-humanized rule and it, on the other, most ironically and embarrassingly reflects the greatest level of civilian insecurity in the country. If this is any issue in the United States, US think tanks and citizens could take it seriously as their agenda. Gun culture, so deep-rooted in a country like the USA, does not send a good signal to developing nations as well. Civilian culture is what needs to be nurtured. But media conglomerates are becoming more conducive to war industry while neglecting or overshadowing civilian insecurity, starvation and myriad of other humanitarian issues. The Blackwater scandal is just a minor manifestation of this gun culture. It is not going to go away as we wish. Serious psychological, political, and socio-cultural struggles in gun-dominated nations are vital to combat such a gun culture that ill-defines democracy as a man-eat-man enterprise.

Blackwater is a reflection of human exploitation. By employing poor people mainly from African and Latin American countries, this company is maximizing its profit at the cost of poor men’s lives. The shooting crime committed by the Blackwater guards developed by the US Administration in the shape of ‘cowboys’ exposes the nature of America’s international character. Any mercenary army used by the Pentagon is the human shield to protect the regular army. It is an effort not to let the US Army’s morale down.

Not respecting the UN Charter means industrializing war and selling more weapons along with the strategy of cultivating more conflicts and civil wars in many parts of the world. It has now become essential for the peoples of the developing nations to be watchful that they do not become the clients of modern weapons for use in their home battles strategically created by arms producers and smugglers. More conflicts and civil wars are required for promoting war business. If we really want war business to be replaced by some other good business for the sake of humanity, it is necessary to begin wide-ranging global discourse against it.

The more we can reduce war business, the more peace we can have!

Lecturer, Mass Communication and Journalism

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