The day after the Iraqi government said the mercenary firm Blackwater USA couldn't work in Iraq anymore, after the company killed as many as 20 civilians, it's having second thoughts.

From the AP:

...the Iraqi government appeared to back down from statements Monday that it had permanently revoked Blackwater's license and would order its 1,000 personnel to leave the country — depriving American diplomats of security protection essential to operating in Baghdad.

"We are not intending to stop them and revoke their license indefinitely but we do need them to respect the law and the regulation here in Iraq," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told CNN.

Blackwater didn't seem too worried. A Blackwater contractor told the conservative Washington Times: "They will hem and haw, then money will exchange hands and it will go away."

Blackwater. Always Classy.

But Blackwater is able to disregard the lives of Iraqis without consequence.

As the Washington Post's Thomas Ricks, "the heavy use of security contractors ... we are doing it because we don't have enough troops."

And as Larry Johnson (via Air America) notes:

The Iraqi government has zero power to enforce a decision to oust a firm like Blackwater. For starters, Blackwater has a bigger air force and more armored vehicles then the Iraqi Army and police put together.

This is what occupation looks like.

The "democratic" Iraqi government cannot carry out the wishes of the Iraqi people.

They are dependent upon our military to stay in power.

The Bush Administration would rather privatize the occupation -- because they know the country would never accept a draft for a war they don't believe in.

And if Bush wants mercenaries in Iraq, it doesn't matter what the Iraqis want.

As the recently killed Sgt. Omar Mora and Sgt. Yance Gray wrote:

...we see that a vast majority of Iraqis feel increasingly insecure and view us as an occupation force that has failed to produce normalcy after four years and is increasingly unlikely to do so as we continue to arm each warring side.

They view us as an occupation force because of incidents like this, when it is painfully obvious whose interests are being served, and it's not the Iraqis.