State Department's Private Army

Somebody please tell me why is our State Department using companies like Blackwater as security forces in Iraq? What does that tell our troops, that the same government who uses support of our troops as a big stick for bullying the Congress and citizenry into letting them get away with the most reckless spending and lack of coherent strategy, doesn't trust those same troops to provide adequate protection? Instead, agencies like the State Department must turn to "private security contractors" who, as we have seen, act like renegades, safe in the knowledge that no matter how depraved they act, they won't be held accountable for any of it.

Amidst all the talk of troop levels in Iraq, there is one fact that gets little or no attention: there are as many (if not more) private security forces in Iraq than there are actual soldiers. We could pull out every one of our soldiers and there would still be more than 100,000 troops there, they just don't wear the uniform or take the oath that our soldiers do. What I want to know is why are they there? What services are they actually providing, other than guarding our ambassadors and killing Iraqi civilians? Why does our State Department trust them more than they (obviously) trust our soldiers? Why was it necessary to write a blanket immunity for these mercenaries into the Iraqi constitution?

I think that we, as Americans, need to start asking these questions and demanding answers, and not be intimidated by the prospect of having our patriotism and support of our military questioned for demanding those answers.