Best news from Iraq in a long time....I hope they get this demand. Read that Condi had to give them a call, hahah.

Maybe next Iraq will ask the US military to leave.

Why do the media buy into the administration's euphemisms? The English language has a word for what these people are, it's "mercenaries".

oh thank you! I rejoice at the news, it will be a great victory for all humankind if justice is brought to these individuals.

It would be a tiny bit of a victory if justice was brought to these folks, but the truth is, Blackwater is to Iraq what KBR is to the US.

...except that KBR is not actually patrolling the streets of our cities shooting innocent civilians. Not that KBR is not doing other ugly stuff...

First problem. Blackwater does not have a license to operate in Iraq and does not need one. They have a U.S. State Department contract through Diplomatic Security. Instead of using Diplomatic Security officers or hiring new Security officers or relying on U.S. military personnel, the Bush Administration has contracted with firms like Blackwater, Triple Canopy, and others for people capable of conducting personnel security details. State Department is not about to curtail the contract with Blackwater, who is tightly wired into Washington. Plus, State Department simply does not have the bodies available to carry out the security mission.

Second problem. The Iraqi government has zero power to enforce a decision to oust a firm like Blackwater. [..]This incident will enrage Iraqis and their subsequent realization that they are impotent to do anything about it will do little to support the fantasy that the surge is working. There are some Iraqis who genuinely want to run their own country. But we are not about to give them the keys to the car. Blackwater is staying.

In case you didn't know, Blackwater is owned by Erik Prince. He is an evangelical Christian who has spent lots of money on missionary work in the US and worldwide. He's the brother of Besty (Prince) DeVos, who is married to the son of Amway cofounder Rich DeVos, also a far-right evangelical and political mover in the GOP.

Think about it. Blackwater is a HUGE part of the threat to our liberal democratic tradition. Unleashing them in our society (my prediction) will begin the violent upheaval of irrational religious zealotry against intellectualism and science and progress.

For Blackwater, Iraq is merely PRACTISE. A private army of christian special ops goons.

Woe is us.

Lets just call it as it is.

They are mercenaries.

What got me though was:

"But under the rules that govern private security contractors here, the Iraqis do not have the legal authority to do so."

That is just crazy. If the people of the country want their government to run the country they should be allowed to do so.

and people wonder why civilians are joining the insurgency.