US Theocons Fight Battle in Iraq
Proudly serving Islam and al Quds
By IOL Staff
CAIRO - Many has been written about the privatization of the Iraq
war, but in his new bestseller book Jeremy Scahill sheds much needed
light on the ideological roots of the largest US private mercenary
firm and its links to the theocons and the Christian militia Sovereign
Military Order of Malta.
The book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary
Army, exposes the infiltrating influence of the North Carolina-based
largest private mercenary firm.
Scahill writes that the company, envisioning itself as the FedEx of
defense and security operations, currently has over $500 million in US
government contracts, not including secret "black budget" contracts
for US intelligence agencies.
It has a $300-million contract with the State Department, dating back
to 2003 when it secured a no-bid contract to guard then Iraq
Administrator Paul Bremer.
Blackwater has deployed thousands of highly trained private soldiers
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In early 2004, four of them were ambushed, burned and their bodies
left dangling for hours from a bridge in Fallujah, western Baghdad,
triggering massive reprisal onslaughts against the town.
Established in 1996, Blackwater has turned into the largest private
military base in the world with a fleet of 20 aircraft and 20,000
soldiers on the stand-by.
According to a Government Accountability Office report private
contractors constitute the second-largest "force" in Iraq with no less
than 48,000 private soldiers who operate with no legal constraints and
whose deaths are not listed in the Pentagon death tally.
Theocons
Scahill writes that Blackwater's founder and chairman, the secretive,
neo-crusader mega-millionaire Erik Prince, is a major bankroller of
President George Bush.
Since 1998, he has contributed $200,000 to Republican candidates.
Prince, writes Scahill, shows how "politically powerful Christian
fundamentalists and Neocons are pressing forward with their battle for
what they call 'freedom' and 'democracy.'"
He has connections with conservative Catholic groups and funds
rightwing organizations through his Freiheit Foundation.
Prince has also associated the mission of Blackwater with the theocon
movement, a conservative ideology based on the belief that religion
should play a major role in forming public policy.
"Everybody carries guns, just like the Prophet Jeremiah rebuilding the
temple in Israel - a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other," he
once said.
According to the Wikipedia encyclopedia, the theocon term refers to
members of the Christian right, particularly those whose ideology is a
synthesis of elements of American conservatism, Conservative
Christianity and social conservatism, expressed through political
means.
"The theocons, too, argue that America is rooted in an idea, but they
believe that idea is Christianity," Jacob Heilbrunn wrote in 1996 in
an article entitled Neocon v. Theocon.
In 2006, Damon Linker published a book entitled "The Theocons: Secular
America Under Siege".
Crusades Ideology
Senior Blackwater executives such as Joseph Schmitz do not only
subscribe to the theocon ideology but are also members of the
Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a Christian militia that had a
mission of defending territories the Crusaders captured from Muslims.
Before joining Blackwater as Chief Operating Officer and General
Counsel in 2005, Schmitz oversaw all war contracts in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
He was the former Pentagon Inspector General during the first years of
the Iraq war.
Schmitz, says Scahill, "comes from one of the most bizarre, scandal-
plagued, right-wing political families in US history."
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta began as a Christian charity in
Al-Quds in 1080 to provide care for poor and sick pilgrims to the Holy
Land.
After the conquest of the holy city in 1095 during the First Crusade
it became a Catholic Military Order.
After the Muslims restored Al-Quds, the Order operated from Rhodes and
later from Malta where it administered a vassal state under the
Spanish viceroy of Sicily.
The Order's fighters, known as the Knights Hospitaller, helped the
Crusaders in raids on Muslim countries near the coasts of Italy,
including Tunisia, Libya and Morocco.
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is now a state located in Rome
and is recognized by 50 countries worldwide.
It is accused of conducting massive missionary work in troubled
regions in Muslim countries like Sudan's Darfur under the guise of aid
and charity.
Its locals or members must take a solemn oath reading: "I will provide
myself with arms and ammunition that I may be in readiness when the
word is passed, or I am commanded to defend the church either as an
individual or with the militia of the Pope."