Going after Blackwater

Dallas Morning News: Private security contractors have been a constant irritant in U.S.-Iraqi relations for years. Taking advantage of Iraq’s lawless environment, they have been known to open fire with minimal provocation and seemingly little concern for the lives of innocent civilians.

It shouldn’t have taken a chaotic shooting spree by members of a Blackwater Worldwide security convoy in 2007 to bring contractors in Iraq under control. But the Justice Department’s decision to prosecute six Blackwater employees marks an important step toward repairing years of damage inflicted by a few Rambo-style private gunslingers.

Decorated veterans

One of the six has already pleaded guilty, while the other five — all decorated U.S. military veterans — could face decades in prison if convicted. Their convoy was pushing through a congested Baghdad traffic circle on Sept. 14, 2007, when Blackwater gunmen responded to a far-away explosion by opening fire on surrounding cars, killing 14 people and wounding at least 20 others.

“We take no pleasure in charging individuals whose job it was to protect the men and women of our country,” U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor told reporters in Washington yesterday. “But ... we are duty-bound to hold them accountable, as no one is above the law, even when our country is engaged in war.”