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December 16th,
2008 - Blackwater Indictment Details Chaos at Busy Baghdad Circle News article from McClatchy
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Blackwater
Indictment Details Chaos at Busy Baghdad Circle From McClatchy Newspapers December 16, 2008 Washington - State
Department officials worked closely with the private security contractor
Blackwater USA to play down incidents in which company operatives killed
innocent Iraqis, according to Blackwater and State Department documents
obtained by a congressional committee. When a drunken Blackwater
contractor killed a bodyguard of Iraq's vice president last Christmas Eve,
the State Department helped spirit the contractor out of the country within
36 hours, according to the report, released Monday by Democrats on the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Officials in Baghdad and
Washington then dickered with Blackwater on the compensation for the family
of the guard, Raheem Khalif. An unnamed official in the State Department's
Diplomatic Security service complained that the $250,000 payment proposed by
the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was too much, because it might lead Iraqis to
"try to get killed so as to set up their family financially,"
according to a State Department e-mail obtained by the committee. When a Blackwater contract
employee killed an Iraqi in Hillah in June 2005, the State Department asked
the firm to pay $5,000 in compensation. "(W)e are all better off getting
this case - and any similar cases - behind us quickly," a department official
wrote. The disclosures appear to
contradict past claims by State Department officials that they aggressively
investigated wrongdoing by Blackwater. The company has received $835 million
in contracts to guard U.S. civilians in Iraq. Blackwater has come under
heightened scrutiny since a shooting Sept. 16 in Baghdad that left 11 Iraqis
dead. On Monday, the FBI said it has begun a criminal investigation. "At the request of the
Department of State, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is sending a team to
Iraq to assist in the ongoing investigation into the September 16, 2007,
shooting incident allegedly involving Blackwater employees," FBI Special
Agent Richard Kolko said in a statement. The memorandum released
Monday by the House committee's Democratic staff describes other questionable
incidents. On Sept. 24, 2006, a
Blackwater detail driving on the wrong side of the road caused a red Opal
driven by an Iraqi to skid into a Blackwater vehicle, hit a telephone pole
and burst into flames. Blackwater personnel collected people and equipment
from their disabled vehicle and left without aiding those in the Iraqi
vehicle, described as being "in a ball of flames," according to a
company report. On Nov. 28, 2005, a
Blackwater motorcade making a round-trip journey to Iraq's Oil Ministry
collided with 18 different vehicles, according to another company document.
Team members' written accounts of the incident were found by the company to
be "invalid, inaccurate and, at best, dishonest reporting." No employee of a private
military contractor has been criminally charged for actions in Iraq. Blackwater spokeswoman Anne
Tyrrell didn't return phone calls and e-mails seeking comment. She told the
Associated Press: "We look forward to setting the record straight on this
and other issues" at a hearing Tuesday of the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee. Three senior State Department officials are also
to testify. State Department spokesman
Tom Casey said, "We are scrupulous in terms of oversight and scrutiny,
not only of Blackwater but of all our contractors." The committee staff working
for Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., also reported, based on company documents,
that Blackwater has fired 122 employees for misconduct under the State
Department contracts. Of those, 28 were let go for
weapons-related incidents, 25 for drug and alcohol violations and 16 for
"inappropriate/lewd conduct." "The only sanction that
has been applied to Blackwater contractors for misconduct is termination of
their individual contracts with Blackwater," the staff memorandum says. It quotes David Satterfield,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's senior Iraq adviser, as saying that
Blackwater has 861 personnel working in Iraq. Two other companies, DynCorp
and Triple Canopy, also conduct protective security details in the country. Citing Blackwater's security
incident reports, the memorandum says Blackwater employees used their
firearms 195 times from Jan. 1, 2005, through Sept. 12, 2007. Blackwater
fired first in 84 percent of those incidents. Blackwater documents
acknowledge 16 Iraqi casualties in that time frame. But that number appears
low. The House committee says
that in many cases, Blackwater employees fire from moving vehicles and don't
"remain at the scene to determine if their shots resulted in
casualties." In the case of the Christmas
Eve killing of a guard to Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mehdi - which
enraged the Iraqi government - the Blackwater contractor fled to a guard post
operated by Triple Canopy and was later apprehended by police in Baghdad's
Green Zone. According to investigative
reports the committee cites, he claimed to have fired in self-defense, but
Blackwater fired him on Christmas Day for violating its policy against
possessing a firearm while intoxicated. With the knowledge of State
Department officials, he was put on a plane out of Baghdad on the morning of
Dec. 26. External link: http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/571127.html Think of our staff as soldiers who re-enlist. By Erik D. Prince Wall Street Journal December 16, 2008 Since United States military
operations in Iraq began in 2003, I have visited Iraq at least 15 times. But
unlike politicians who visit, the question for me has never been why the U.S.
got into Iraq. Instead, as the CEO of Blackwater, the urgent question was how
the company I head could perform the duties asked of us by the U.S. State
Department. Last week the Department of
Justice announced charges against six Blackwater security guards for a
shooting incident in Baghdad in September 2007. But before the histories are
written, it is crucial to understand the often mischaracterized role of
security contractors in this unique war. In Iraq, State Department
civilians and U.S. soldiers have been operating in the same location in an
active war zone. While the troops have been facing insurgents, the State
Department civilians have been working to rebuild institutions and
infrastructure. Blackwater's role in this war evolved from this unprecedented
dynamic. The government saw a need for highly experienced, highly trained
Americans to protect our civilians abroad, and so it selected Blackwater. Every individual who has
worked for Blackwater in Iraq has previously served in the U.S. military or
as a police officer. Many were highly decorated. And from the beginning,
these individuals have been bound by detailed contracts that ensure intensive
government direction and control. The U.S. government sets
comprehensive standards for the selection and training of security guards.
Blackwater's competitively awarded contract contains dozens of pages
detailing requirements for each position and specifying hour-by-hour training
for each individual. This is all before they set foot in Iraq. I have seen firsthand how
the security environment has vacillated considerably since 2003, when I would
ride around Baghdad in thin-skinned vehicles rather than the military armored
personnel carriers that soon became necessary amid the growing threat of
roadside attacks. While still extraordinarily dangerous, the situation in
Iraq has improved significantly since the time of the September 2007 shooting
incident in Nisour Square. According to a Department of
Defense report to Congress, from mid-June to mid-July 2007 - the time frame
that preceded the September 2007 shooting incident - Baghdad experienced an
average of 43 attacks per day, more than double the attacks in any other province.
During the week before the Nisour Square incident, one of Blackwater's
helicopters was shot down, a separate team came under fire from armed
insurgents, and a third team survived a roadside bomb. Even amidst such an
aggressive and ubiquitous enemy, Blackwater's incident reports during that
time period show that personnel discharged their weapons less than one half
of one percent of the time. Then and now, Blackwater
personnel encounter myriad potential or actual hostile acts on a daily basis.
Enemies attack with rocket- propelled grenades, sniper fire and car bombs.
Responding to these attacks often requires split-second decisions, and so
Blackwater's contracts include detailed rules for the use of force. Our teams
operate under a government-prescribed process that involves a series of
visual and audible signals to distinguish between approaching civilian
motorists and insurgents attempting to get close enough to a convoy to ignite
a car bomb. The U.S. government
currently has criminal jurisdiction over Blackwater and any other contractor
accused of wrongdoing. In announcing indictments this week, Jeffrey A.
Taylor, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia said, "It
bears emphasis that today's indictment is very narrow in its allegations. Six
individual Blackwater guards have been charged with unjustified shootings on
September 16, 2007, not the entire Blackwater organization in Baghdad. There
were 19 Blackwater guards on the Raven 23 team that day at Nisour Square.
Most acted professionally, responsibly, and honorably. Indeed this indictment
should not be read as an accusation against any of those brave men and women
who risk their lives as Blackwater security contractors." One of these brave people is
Derrick Wright. In April 2007, a rocket tore through the Baghdad living
quarters where Blackwater personnel were sleeping. Fortunately, no one was
killed. But many were seriously injured, including Mr. Wright, a West Point
graduate, Army Ranger and father of three. He suffered grave injuries when a
portion of his skull was shattered in the attack. Stabilized in the Green
Zone, Mr. Wright was airlifted to a hospital in Europe where his prognosis
was bleak. When Mr. Wright's wife arrived, she found her husband coming out
of brain surgery and described him as a man who "had one foot in this
world and one out." He has since shown remarkable progress after
extensive physical therapy, a cranioplasty to repair damage to his skull, and
many other procedures. Derrick Wright and the other
team members injured that day were not in Iraq to fight the war. Just like
every Blackwater professional who makes the trip to Iraq, they were putting
their lives at risk each day to protect U.S. Department of State officials
and other civilians working in the country. Yet somehow that role and the
part they play in this war have been grossly misunderstood. While some of our critics
seize upon inaccurate labels, I doubt they have ever known one of our
contractors personally or been protected by them. Our teams are not cooking
meals or moving supplies. They are taking bullets. They are military veterans
who have chosen to serve their country once again. Very few people know
someone who would voluntarily go into a war zone to protect a person he has
never met. I know 1,000 of them, and I am proud that they are part of our
team. Mr. Prince, a former Navy
SEAL, is founder and CEO of Blackwater Worldwide. External link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122939188592109341.html |