Cernig on Blackwater's Super Tucano purchase:
The real story, then, isn't that Blackwater will have its own armed air force, although matters might still end that way. The real story is that Blackwater has been handed a wink and a nod to position itself as the only capable contractor for training the pilots of the Iraqi Air Force's only planned armed squadron to date. In the first instance, Blackwater pilots will probably be the Iraqi Air Force's armed component. The mercenary firm can train its instructors in advance on their own Super Tucano and then train Iraqi pilots on the ones the US is buying for Iraq - a perfect set up for a no-bid, cost-plus contract to a Bush administration favorite.
Such a contract will also help lock Iraq into a de facto long-term basing and operating agreement with the US, no matter what is concluded in negotiations over status of forces agreements which are currently opposed by a wide spectrum of Iraqi political leaders. There are other contracts designed to lock-in the Iraqis to a long term US presence too.
Mmm... clever.
--Robert Farley
