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October 5th,
2007 - Blackwater Faulted In Military Reports From Shooting Scene News article by the Washington Post |
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Blackwater Faulted In
Military Reports From Shooting Scene By Sudarsan Raghavan, Joshua Partlow & Karen DeYoung Washington Post October 5, 2007 Baghdad, Oct. 4 - U.S.
military reports from the scene of the Sept. 16 shooting incident involving
the security firm Blackwater USA indicate that its guards opened fire without
provocation and used excessive force against Iraqi civilians, according to a
senior U.S. military official. The reports came to light as
an Interior Ministry official and five eyewitnesses described a second deadly
shooting minutes after the incident in Nisoor Square. The same Blackwater
security guards, after driving about 150 yards away from the square, fired
into a crush of cars, killing one person and injuring two, the Iraqi official
said. The U.S. military reports
appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was
at fault in the shooting incident in Nisoor Square, in which hospital records
say at least 14 people were killed and 18 were wounded. "It was obviously excessive,
it was obviously wrong," said the U.S. military official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because the incident remains the subject of several
investigations. "The civilians that were fired upon, they didn't have
any weapons to fire back at them. And none of the IP or any of the local
security forces fired back at them," he added, using a military
abbreviation for the Iraqi police. The Blackwater guards appeared to have
fired grenade launchers in addition to machine guns, the official said. The company has said its
guards acted appropriately after being attacked. Blackwater Chairman Erik
Prince, in previously unpublicized remarks prepared for delivery at a
congressional hearing Tuesday, said the Blackwater guards "came under
small-arms fire" and "returned fire at threatening targets." State Department spokesman
Sean McCormack hinted Thursday that Blackwater guards could face legal
proceedings. Announcing a decision to have FBI agents lead a State Department
inquiry into the shootings, he said it was "a hedge against the
possibility that an investigation leads to the point where there may need to
be a referral" to U.S. prosecutors. In response to the
shootings, the Pentagon is also conducting a broad review of its relationship
with the private security contractors it employs. The military has issued
about 7,000 weapons permits to private contractors, the senior U.S. military
official said, but has stopped issuing new permits until it can review who
has the weapons and how they have been used. Many U.S. military officials
are critical of Blackwater because its guards have a reputation for reckless
behavior that officials say reflects poorly on American troops in Iraq. Iraqi
citizens often do not distinguish between U.S. soldiers in Humvees and Blackwater
guards in armored vehicles. "They tend to overreact
to a lot of things. They maneuver around town very aggressively, they've got
weapons pointed at people, they cut people off, of course their speeds - I
mean a whole bunch of things they do fairly consistently. But when it comes
to shooting and firing, they tend to shoot quicker than others," the
U.S. military official said. U.S. soldiers have reviewed
statements from eyewitnesses and video footage recorded at Nisoor Square, the
official said. Members of a U.S. unit working with Iraqi police were present
in the area at the time of the shootings. U.S. soldiers also helped ferry
victims to hospitals. Blackwater, whose primary
task in Iraq is to protect U.S. diplomats, has been unwilling to share information
about the incident with the U.S. military, the official said, adding that
military officials went to Blackwater's compound in the Green Zone but were
denied access to company managers. Anne Tyrell, a Blackwater
spokeswoman, said the company was "cooperating with all
investigations" and deferred further comment until they are complete. The prepared testimony of
Blackwater Chairman Prince is the company's fullest accounting to date of the
events at Nisoor Square. Portions of the remarks dealing with the incident
were left out of his testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee after the Justice Department, on the morning of the hearing, warned
that the incident was under investigation and should not be discussed in
public session. The testimony said that
after a Blackwater team delivered a U.S. government official to a Baghdad
destination, a "very large" car bomb exploded "in close
proximity to their location." After the team "secured its principal
and requested support for its evacuation," a second Blackwater team
proceeded to an intersection "approximately one mile away from the
explosion site to secure a route of egress" for the first team. When the second team arrived
at Nisoor Square, it said, "they came under small-arms fire and notified
the first team to proceed along a different route. The vehicle team still in
the intersection continued to receive fire, and some team members returned
fire at threatening targets. Among the threats identified were men with
AK-47s firing on the convoy, as well as approaching vehicles that appeared to
be suicide car bombers." The team attempted to leave,
but "one of their vehicles was disabled by enemy fire" and
eventually had to be towed. "Some of those firing on this Blackwater
team appeared to be wearing Iraqi National Police uniforms, or portions of
such uniforms. As the withdrawal occurred, the Blackwater vehicles remained
under fire from such personnel." According to Prince's
prepared testimony, which cautioned that his "current
understanding" remained incomplete, only five members of the 20-member
team ever discharged their weapons "in response to the threat."
Blackwater helicopters "did assist in directing the teams to safety, but
contrary to some reports, no one in the helicopters discharged any
weapons." In the testimony he did
deliver, Prince said that "based on everything we currently know, the
Blackwater team acted appropriately while operating in a very complex war
zone." He said that there was a "rush to judgment based on
inaccurate information, and many public reports have wrongly pronounced
Blackwater's guilt for the death of varying numbers of civilians." McCormack, the State
Department spokesman, did not say under which U.S. laws Blackwater employees
could face prosecution. Contractors are immune from Iraqi law under an order
issued by the U.S. occupation government in 2004. Although Defense Department
contractors are liable under U.S. military codes, the extent to which those
working for State are within the jurisdiction of U.S. civilian courts remains
"murky," the head of the department's diplomatic security
operations said in congressional testimony Tuesday. Blackwater and other
security firms providing personal security under contract to the State
Department have been implicated in a number of previous Iraqi civilian
deaths, injuries and property damage incidents in recent years, but no one
has ever been prosecuted in the incidents. Andrew J. Moonen, 27, a
former Blackwater employee from Kalispell, Mont., was identified Thursday as
the primary suspect in the killing of an Iraqi vice president's bodyguard
last Christmas Eve inside the Green Zone. Lawyer Stewart P. Riley confirmed
that he was representing the U.S. Army veteran but declined to say whether
Moonen had been interviewed by investigators. The New York Times revealed
Moonen's identity. "I want to underscore
that he has cooperated from the very beginning and has never stopped cooperating,"
Riley said. Eyewitnesses to the events
of Sept. 16 said the Blackwater convoy, after leaving Nisoor Square, headed
north and drove into a knot of cars trying to go down a side road to avoid
the square. "They came at a high
speed," said Uday Khalid, 25, a policeman. "They just wanted to
escape. They were shooting their way out. They were yelling and
shouting." One Iraqi driver slammed on
his brakes and tried to turn around, as did other cars. But a Blackwater
guard "immediately opened fire on them," said Amar Kurdi, 30, a
policeman who tried to manage the traffic to allow the convoy to pass
through. Kurdi said that he saw only
the guards from the rearmost Blackwater vehicle shooting. But the Iraqi
Interior Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is
close to the Iraqi government's investigation of the incident, said guards
fired from all four vehicles. The Blackwater guards fired
warning shots whenever one of the police officers tried to help the injured,
the officers said. "We tried to help the people who were shot, but they
wouldn't let us," said Mahdi Daoud, 29, another policeman guarding a
civil defense compound. Moments later, the road
cleared and the convoy sped away. DeYoung reported from
Washington. Staff writers Steve Fainaru in El Cerrito, Calif., and Ann Scott
Tyson in Washington, and special correspondents Saad al-Izzi and K.I. Ibrahim
contributed to this report. External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/04/AR2007100402654.html By Richard Lardner Associated Press October 5, 2007 Washington - Public
relations giant Burson-Marsteller has vast experience steering companies
through tough times. But there's a limit to how much it can help Blackwater
USA, a new client that's been battered by negative publicity. The State Department, which
pays Blackwater hundreds of millions of dollars to protect U.S. diplomats in
Iraq, has stringent rules barring the private security contractor from
discussing with the media the details of its work, according to those
familiar with the arrangement. Under those limitations,
it's difficult to repair a corporate image, said one official close to
Blackwater. The department allows little
room for error. On Sept. 16, Blackwater guards were involved in a shooting in
Baghdad that left 13 Iraqis dead. Blackwater issued a statement to reporters
saying its personnel acted lawfully and appropriately to a "hostile
attack" from "armed enemies." That statement was not
cleared first with State officials, a move that prompted complaints from the
department because the statement pre-empted official inquiries into the
incident. The Iraqis have maintained the Blackwater guards opened fire
without provocation. More recently, Erik Prince,
Blackwater's top executive, appeared with department approval before a
congressional committee investigating the company. Although Democrats on the
committee were sharply critical of Prince, Blackwater representatives viewed
his appearance as a rare and welcome opportunity to respond to their critics. Even in a hostile hearing
room, Prince could at least respond, said the official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to reporters. Burson-Marsteller was
brought aboard by the Washington law firms representing Blackwater -
McDermott Will & Emery and Crowell & Moring. One of the executives on the
Blackwater account is Robert Tappan, a former State Department official.
Tappan is a managing director of BKSH & Associates Worldwide, a
Burson-Marsteller subsidiary. At State, Tappan was deputy
assistant secretary for public affairs. While at State, he spent six months
in Baghdad as director of strategic communications for the Coalition
Provisional Authority, the temporary governing body that disbanded in June
2004. On Thursday, Paul Cordasco,
a spokesman for Burson-Marsteller, said the company does not discuss its
clients. In a statement sent by e-mail Friday, Cordasco said BKSH helped
Prince prepare for the congressional hearing. "With the hearing over,
BKSH's temporary engagement has ended," Cordasco said. According to the Center for
Media and Democracy, Burson-Marsteller clients have included cigarette maker
Philip Morris, nuclear power plant owner Entergy and Allergan, the
pharmaceutical company that makes Botox. Blackwater did not return a
telephone call and an e-mail seeking comment. The State Department is one
of Blackwater's largest federal customers. Blackwater and two other private
security companies protect U.S. diplomats and facilities in Iraq. Richard Griffin, head of the
State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, said Tuesday that
Blackwater earns about $473 million annually through the umbrella contract. Formed in 1997 by Prince, a
former Navy SEAL, Blackwater's business has grown since 2001 as the
government's demand for its security services has increased. According to the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Blackwater has received federal
contracts worth more than a $1 billion, with the bulk of its earnings coming
from the State Department. On Tuesday, Prince, 38,
spent several hours at the witness table as Democrats on the oversight
committee accused his company of being above the law and his guards of being
indifferent to Iraqi casualties. The fees Blackwater charges
are excessive, they said, and Prince and his associates have become wealthy
because of the war. Prince, younger than most
members of the committee, calmly fielded the committee's questions, saying
Blackwater personnel have acted appropriately in a chaotic environment. He
received strong support from several Republicans, who said the criticism is
motivated mainly by Prince's connections to Republican causes. Len Biegel, a crisis
management consultant who advised Johnson & Johnson 25 years ago during
the Tylenol product-tampering case, said the Blackwater situation has escalated
beyond a public relations emergency. "It's really
threatening the reputation of the company," Biegel said. "That puts
it into the crisis category." If Blackwater is to survive
the crisis, Biegel said, it needs to show that it's making the changes
necessary to prevent a repeat of situations that have cast it in such a
negative light. "It's not simply what
is said by Blackwater, but what actions beyond the initial steps are they
taking," Biegel said. At the hearing, Prince said
he supported legislation authored by Rep. David Price, D-N.C., that would
ensure the U.S. government has the legal authority to prosecute crimes
committed by contractors working in war zones. On Thursday, the House
overwhelming approved Price's bill. Beau Phillips, a partner
with the public relations firm Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter and Associates,
said Blackwater needs to continue stressing that most of its employees are
former military personnel. "They need to help
people understand that as you attack Blackwater, you're really attacking
soldiers in a sense," Phillips said. "I think that's a message that
would be helpful." That may be a hard sell,
however, given the unpopularity of the war in Iraq. What was acceptable for
defense contractors three years ago "will raise investigators' blood
pressure today," said Richard Levick, a crisis communications expert and
president of Levick Strategic Communications. "Figuratively wrapping
your company in the American flag works when the war is supported by the
majority," Levick wrote in a blog posted last month on his company's Web
site. "But when the tide turns, old messages no longer have the same
effect." Associated Press writer
Matthew Lee contributed to this report. External link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5io26XfEe4F4LJr8KxWsRUyjO_SbwD8S34P3O0 |