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May 7th,
2009 - Iraq: Firm Once Known as Blackwater Exits Baghdad News article from the Associated Press |
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Iraq: Firm Once Known as
Blackwater Exits Baghdad By Kim Gamel Associated Press May 7, 2009 Baghdad - The American
security firm once known as Blackwater ended its operations in the diplomatic
hub of Baghdad on Thursday, bringing to a close a bitter chapter in
U.S.-Iraqi relations that began with a deadly shooting by its contractors. Iraqis welcomed the
departure from the capital of the company, which has protected American
diplomats in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003. The company, which has
changed its name to Xe, will continue to have guards in some southern areas
and to run its aviation service and through September. The end of the firm's
Baghdad operations comes nearly two years after the Iraqi government first
demanded it leave after the September 2007 shooting on a busy square in
central Baghdad that left as many as 17 Iraqi civilians dead. It was small consolation for
Iraqis. "As far as I'm
concerned this decision should have been taken years ago. Any security firm
in Iraq should have used Iraqi personnel so that they could help them know
Iraqi culture," Baghdad resident Jabar Farhan said. U.S. Embassy spokeswoman
Susan Ziadeh said Xe's contract for Baghdad ended Thursday and a new security
provider, Herndon, Virginia-based Triple Canopy, was taking over. Blackwater guards will
remain protecting American diplomats in the predominantly Shiite cities of
Hillah, Najaf and Karbala, all south of Baghdad, until Aug. 4, according to
the State Department. And Presidential Airways -
which operates some two dozen helicopters - will continue to fly until Sept.
3, it said. Ziadeh would not comment on
the company's other task orders, saying only that they "will come to an
end once they expire, which will be soon." Moyock, North Carolina-based
Xe had continued operations in Iraq despite a decision by the Iraqi
government to deny it a license in January, raising questions over the
strength of Iraq's sovereignty as it remains heavily dependent on the U.S.
for security. Iraq's Interior Minister
Jawad al-Bolani said the government recognized that the U.S. administration
needed some transition time in shutting down the company's operations. "There were certain
outstanding technical issues involving the use of Iraqi airspace that
required a limited extension," he said. The Iraqi government also
has said it had no objections to the possibility of former Blackwater guards
who were not involved in the shootings remaining in Iraq as employees of
other companies. "We're dealing with companies, not individuals,"
al-Bolani said. Iraqis have long complained
about the heavy-handed behavior of security contractors for Blackwater and
other companies. That anger peaked after the 2007 shootings in Nisoor Square. Five Blackwater guards have
pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and weapons charges in the shooting, which
prosecutors say was an unprovoked attack on civilians. A sixth Blackwater
guard struck a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to killing one Iraqi
and wounding another. The shooting strained
relations between Baghdad and Washington and became an issue in negotiations
over a U.S.-Iraqi security pact that took effect on Jan. 1 as the Iraqis
demanded the lifting of the blanket immunity that contractors had. But the American Embassy,
which is located in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, and U.S.
government employees elsewhere in Iraq have relied heavily on Blackwater for
protection in extremely dangerous conditions, with threats ranging from suicide
attackers to kidnappings. Triple Canopy is one of
three private companies, along with Xe and Virginia-based Dyncorp, that have
handled security for U.S. diplomats in Iraq. But Xe is the largest, having
won more than $1 billion in government contracts since the March 2003 start
of the Iraq war. Blackwater first got
attention in 2004 when a mob of insurgents ambushed a company security detail
in the city of Fallujah, killing four guards and burning their bodies,
stringing some of their remains from a bridge. Xe spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell
defended the company's performance in Iraq. "We are honored to have
provided this service for five years and are proud of our success. No one
under our protection has been killed or even seriously injured," she
said. After the Nisoor Square
deaths, Iraqi officials ruled that Blackwater would be barred from operating
in the country. Despite the ban, the State Department renewed Blackwater's
contract seven months later, in April 2008. After Iraqi authorities
denied the company an operating license in January, the Obama administration
said it would not renew the company's existing task orders. However, the State
Department signed a $22.2 million deal in February to keep the company
working in Iraq through most of the summer. Associated Press Writers
Mike Baker in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad
contributed to this report. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD981IKV00 US security firm Blackwater
ends Iraq operation From Agence France Presse May 7, 2009 Baghdad - US security firm
Blackwater ended its operations in Iraq on Thursday, closing a controversial
era for the company whose guards shot dead 17 civilians in Baghdad in 2007. "The task order for
security protection operations held by Blackwater comes to an end today in
Baghdad," American embassy spokeswoman Susan Ziadeh said, adding that
Triple Canopy will replace it. The US State Department on
March 31 awarded Virginia-based Triple Canopy a contract reportedly worth
nearly a billion dollars to take over protection of US government personnel
in Iraq. Linked agreements such as
that for Presidential Airways, part of Blackwater that operates helicopter
escorts throughout the country for secure air travel, will expire soon,
Ziadeh added. The State Department refused
to renew annual contracts for Blackwater which renamed itself Xe after the
Iraq government banned it in January over the killings in Baghdad's Nisur
Square on September 16, 2007. An Iraqi investigation found
that 17 civilians died and 20 were wounded when Blackwater guards opened fire
with automatic weapons while escorting an American diplomatic convoy through
the square. US prosecutors say 14
civilians were killed in the incident. Five former Blackwater guards pleaded
not guilty at a federal court in Washington in January to manslaughter
charges. The shooting focused a
spotlight on the shadowy and highly lucrative operations of private security
operations. Blackwater personnel were reported to earn as much as 1,000
dollars a day each in Iraq. A report in the New York
Times on April 3, valued Triple Canopy's new contract at 977 million dollars.
The paper also said that many of the company's guards were likely to be
former Blackwater employees. But Interior Ministry
spokesman major General Abdul Karim Khalaf told AFP Blackwater guards would
be denied work in Iraq. "There is no way that
former Blackwater guards will be allowed to return to Iraq with a different
company," he told AFP. Triple Canopy was not
available for comment on Thursday. Foreign security teams in
Iraq have long operated in a legal grey area, but under a military accord
signed with Washington last November, Baghdad won a concession to lift the
immunity to prosecution previously extended to US security contractors. Anne Tyrrell, a spokeswoman
for Xe, defended her company's work. "When the US Government
initially asked for our help to assist with an immediate need to protect
Americans in Iraq, we answered that call and performed well," she said
in comments emailed to AFP. "We are honored to have
provided this service for five years and are proud of our success - no one
under our protection has been killed or even seriously injured." "We always knew that,
at some point, that work would come to a close." Blackwater first came under
scrutiny on March 31, 2004, when four of its employees were killed by an
angry mob in Fallujah, then a Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold. The crowd mutilated their
bodies and strung them from a bridge, shocking images that were broadcast
worldwide and led to a month-long assault on Fallujah that left 36 US
soldiers, 200 insurgents and 600 civilians dead. Blackwater, headquartered in
North Carolina, has been protecting US government personnel in Iraq since the
2003 invasion and has had around 1,000 staff in the violence-wracked country,
making it among the largest security firms operating there. In the wake of the scandal
over civilian deaths in Iraq, its founder Erik Prince announced in March that
he was stepping down as chief executive, but would stay on as chairman. Copyright © 2009 AFP. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i2kHjIk1xMGaRwslbri2tjdsV7IQ |