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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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September 24th,
2007 - ‘Cowboy’ Aggression Works for Blackwater News article by the Associated
Press |
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‘Cowboy’ Aggression Works
for Blackwater By Mike Baker Associated Press September 24, 2007 For all its high-profile
failings and its reputation for "cowboy" aggression, the secretive
security company Blackwater USA has never failed at its primary mission in
Iraq: Protecting State Department diplomats. Not one diplomat has died
while being guarded by employees of the politically connected company based
in the swamplands of northeastern North Carolina. Experts say that success -
combined with the murky legal world in which Blackwater operates and its
strong ties to Republicans - has allowed the company to operate with
impunity. "You can argue about
the methodology and say it's negatively impacting relationships between the
Iraqi government and citizens and the U.S. But if you get right down to the
terms of the contract, they're tasked with protecting U.S. diplomatic personnel.
They've done that," said Scott Traudt, operations manager for Cohort
International, a Lebanon, N.H.-based competitor. For years, North Carolina
Democratic Rep. David Price has urged colleagues to regulate the private
security industry and increase congressional oversight of companies such as
Blackwater. But as the GOP controlled Congress, he said, his efforts went
nowhere. "I was getting
silence," Price said. "My impression is that many Republicans see
any attempt to tighten up the contracting practice as an implicit criticism
of the Bush administration." Blackwater's ties to the GOP
run deep. Company founder and former Navy Seal Erik Prince has given more
than $200,000 to Republican causes, a pattern of donation followed by other
top Blackwater executives. The company's vice chairman is Cofer Black, a
former CIA counterterrorism official who is serving as a senior adviser to
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Members of Blackwater's
legal team have included former Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr and
current White House Counsel Fred Fielding. The company tapped a GOP-connected
public relations firm after the grisly 2004 deaths of four Blackwater
employees who were ambushed by insurgents in Fallujah. Their remains were
strung from a bridge. "I'm disappointed it
became a matter of politics," said Peter W. Singer, a senior fellow in
foreign policy at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. "At the
end of the day, it's really about fundamental choices that the nation needs
to make: What aspects of your national security do you keep within the
control of your government?" It's a question that Navy
Adm. William Fallon, the senior U.S. military commander for the Middle East,
planned to address in weekend meetings with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and
Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. Fallon said security
contractors shouldn't be seen as a "surrogate army" of the State
Department or any other agency whose workers they protect. "My instinct is that
it's easier and better if they were in uniform and were working for me,"
Fallon told The Associated Press in Kabul, Afghanistan. "There's a rule
set out there, and these guys should adhere to it as far as action, training
and accountability." But it is largely accepted
that the Pentagon doesn't have enough troops to fight both the war in Iraq
and perform all the tasks contracted out to firms such as Blackwater,
including protecting diplomats and other civilians in one of the world's most
dangerous places. The latest controversy
swirling around Blackwater is the Sept. 16 shooting of 11 Iraqis by
contractors protecting a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Baghdad, an incident that
prompted the Iraqi Interior Ministry to order the company out of the country. But less than a week later,
Blackwater was back on duty, and an Iraqi official admitted that without the
company's contractors there would be a "security imbalance in securing
Baghdad" that would force troops off the battlefield to take their
place. Blackwater, the biggest of
the State Department's three private security contractors, has remained
largely silent about the slayings since issuing a short statement the next
day defending its actions. Contractors, U.S. troops and
many other foreign officials have immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law,
thanks to a directive issued by U.S. occupation authorities in 2004.
Blackwater's contractors are also not subject to U.S. military law. For example, a Blackwater
employee accused of shooting the bodyguard of Iraq's Shiite vice president,
Adel Abdul-Mahdi, during an off-duty incident in December was flown home and
fired. Blackwater has said it is cooperating with a Justice Department
investigation, but no charges have been filed. The company has also
succeeded so far at keeping a civil case tied to the Fallujah deaths away
from a jury. The Blackwater contractors were mutilated and strung from a
bridge in an incident that's widely viewed as a turning point in the war. In addition, Blackwater has
denied any involvement in illegal weapons smuggling, responding to news
reports that federal prosecutors in North Carolina are investigating whether
the company shipped unlicensed automatic weapons and military goods to Iraq. Associated Press writer
Brian Murphy in Kabul, Afghanistan, and National Writer Allen G. Breed in
Raleigh contributed to this report. External link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070924/ap_on_re_us/blackwater_probe Iraq awaits Blackwater probe
before taking action By Agence France Presse September 24, 2007 Iraq said on Monday it will
await the outcome of an investigation into the killing of 10 people during a
shootout involving US security firm Blackwater before taking any action
against the company. "The government will
take the required legal measure against Blackwater after the investigation is
complete," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement
released by his office in Baghdad. "The future of
Blackwater is linked to the joint US and Iraqi investigation. But we will put
the lives and dignity of Iraqis above all considerations," said Dabbagh,
who is in New York with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for meetings with US
officials. On September 16, Blackwater
guards who were escorting US embassy officials opened fire in the western
Baghdad neighbourhood of Yarmukh in a shootout which left nine civilians and
a policeman dead. Blackwater, the biggest
private security firm operating in Iraq, said its guards fired in response to
a car bomb, but a senior police officer said the shooting was unprovoked. After the incident Maliki
called for the company to be replaced and the interior ministry said its
licence would be suspended, but the US embassy said Blackwater was now back
operating on the streets of Iraq. The embassy said it had
received no official request from the Iraqi government seeking Blackwater's
ouster. "The embassy has
received no official information on this point," spokeswoman Mirembe
Nantongo told AFP. She said the Iraqis had
presented documents about the shooting, but refused to comment further on the
substance of investigation or staff movements. In the aftermath of the
incident, the embassy banned all movement of its officials across Iraq
fearing attacks on their convoys. A few days later, however, they resumed
limited movements. "For security reasons,
we are no longer commenting publicly on the status of our movements. Our
close consultations with the Iraqi authorities continue," Nantongo said. External link: http://tinyurl.com/ywsl2a |