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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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December 17th,
2008 - IG Report Says Blackwater May Lose License in Iraq |
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IG Report Says
Blackwater May Lose License in Iraq By Matthew Lee Associated Press December 17, 2008 Washington - An internal
State Department report says Blackwater Worldwide may lose its license to
work in Iraq and recommends that the agency prepare alternative means to
protect its diplomats there. The 42-page draft report by
the State Department's Inspector General says the department faces
"numerous challenges" in dealing with the security situation in
Iraq, including the prospect that Blackwater may be barred from the country.
The department would have turn to other security arrangements to replace
Blackwater, officials said. The State Department had no
immediate comment on the report itself, but deputy spokesman Robert Wood said
that after the probe is done, officials would look at "whether the
continued use of Blackwater in Iraq is consistent with the U.S. government's
goals and objectives." It is not clear how the
State Department would replace Blackwater. It relies heavily on private
contractors to protect its diplomats in Iraq, as its own security service
does not have the manpower or equipment to do so. The report suggests that
one way to fill the void would be for the State Department's Diplomatic
Security Service to beef up its presence in Iraq. "The department faces
the real possibility that one of its primary Worldwide Personal Protective
Services contractors in Iraq - Blackwater (Worldwide) - will not receive a
license to continue operating in Iraq," says the recently completely
report. The report is labeled
"sensitive but unclassified." An official familiar with
the report said initially that it would recommend that department not renew
Blackwater's contract when it expires next year. But that specific language
is not included in the document, a copy of which was obtained by The
Associated Press. The official said later that
such a recommendation would not be made until after an investigation of last
September's incident in Baghdad's Nisoor Square in which Blackwater guards
killed 17 Iraqis is complete. Five guards have been indicted on manslaughter
and other charges stemming from that incident. The company was not
implicated. A decision on how U.S.
diplomats in Iraq are to be protected will be left to the Obama
administration, which will be in place when Blackwater's contract comes up
for renewal in the spring. Terminating the North
Carolina-based company's Iraq contract will be difficult for incoming
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton because no other private security
contractor has its range of resources, particularly its fleet of helicopters
and planes. Current Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice ordered a review of the department's use of private security
firms after the Nisoor Square incident. The Inspector General's report is an
analysis of how recommendations in that review have been implemented and
includes several key findings, including that the department plan for the
possibility that it may no longer be able to rely on private contractors like
Blackwater. Blackwater spokeswoman Anne
Tyrell declined to comment, saying the company has not yet seen the report.
The company has said in the past, though, that it plans to largely get out of
the security contracting business to concentrate on training and other
projects. Blackwater has won more than
$1 billion in government contracts under the Bush administration, a large
portion of which has been for work in Iraq, where among its duties is
protecting diplomats based at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. State Department officials
have praised Blackwater's work in Iraq, noting that no personnel under the
company's protection has been killed. However, after Nisoor Square incident,
the firm came under heavy criticism for the actions of its employees, which
were immune from Iraqi law under legal protections dating from the U.S.-led
occupation of the country. Immediately after that
incident, the State Department stepped up its supervision of Blackwater
employees in Iraq, including posting a Diplomatic Security agent in every
convoy the company escorts and installing video cameras in its vehicles. And, the immunity enjoyed by
Blackwater employees and other private security guards who protect civilians
in Iraq will soon come to an end under a new U.S.-Iraqi security pact that
will take effect on Jan. 1. U.S. investigators have
linked Blackwater guards to 70 shooting incidents involving civilians before
Nisoor Square and only two since then. Associated Press writer Matt
Apuzzo contributed to this report. Copyright © 2008 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g4OiK8Bkks3epqQ-eXeiSGX6cu7gD954N6100 |