BAGHDAD, Sept. 21, 2007
Blackwater USA Back On Limited Iraq Duty
Embassy Resumes "Mission-Essential" Trips Outside Green Zone With Security Contractor
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A boy peers into a damaged vehicle after an overnight raid in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007. The U.S. military said a joint raid by Iraqi special forces and U.S. troops and helicopter gunships in Sadr City led to the detention of seven Shite extremists. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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Members of a private security company pose on the rooftop of a house in Baghdad, Sept. 18, 2007. (AFP/Getty)
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A private U.S. security officer with his face covered against dust, sits in a Chinook helicopter as he accompanys Iraq's U.S. civilian administrator L. Paul Bremer on a visit to southern Iraq in this Thursday, Sept 18, 2003 file photo. The Iraqi Interior Ministry said Monday Sept. 17, 2007 that it was pulling the license of an American security firm allegedly involved in the fatal shooting of civilians during an attack on a U.S. State Department motorcade in Baghdad. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)
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A helicopter owned by Blackwater USA flies over central Baghdad, Iraq, in this Feb. 7, 2007 file photo. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)
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A private contractor gestures to their colleagues flying over in a helicopter as they secure the scene of a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq in this Tuesday, July 5, 2005 file photo. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
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U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said the decision was made after consultations with the Iraqi governments and the convoys will be allowed to leave the heavily-fortified Green Zone on a select basis.
"All movements supported by the PSDs have to be mission-essential," she said, referring to an acronym for personal security details run by Blackwater and other security contractors protecting Westerners and other dignitaries in Iraq.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday she had ordered a "full and complete review" of security practices for U.S. diplomats.
Rice said she had directed the State Department to examine "how we are providing security to our diplomats."
Rice had no comment about Friday's resumption of Blackwater-protected convoys but paid tribute to the guards from the firm, one of three that provide security for U.S. diplomats and other civilian government officials in Iraq.
"We have needed and received the protection of Blackwater for a number of years now, and they have lost their own people in protecting our people in extremely dangerous circumstances," she said.
"We take very seriously what happened," Rice said, noting she had called Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Monday to express regret.
A top aide to Maliki conceded it may prove difficult for the Iraqi government to expel Western security contractors.
The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation into Sunday's incident was ongoing, said a way out of the Blackwater crisis could be the payment of compensation to victims' families and an agreement from all sides on a new set of rules for their operations in Iraq.
An Interior Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, said Friday that a report had concluded that Blackwater guards opened fire from four positions on a square in western Baghdad after a vehicle near their convoy failed to stop.
Iraqi witnesses and officials have offered several conflicting versions of events and it was not clear how the Interior Ministry report would affect a joint U.S.-Iraqi investigation.
Today in Washington, Jeremy Scahill, author of the book "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," told the Democratic Policy Committee that these private security firms have a long history of being particularly aggressive and abusing their power in Iraq.
"While the headlines of the past week have been focused on the fatal shootings last Sunday, this was by no means an isolated incident nor is this simply about a rogue company or rogue operators. This is about a system of unaccountable and out of control private forces that have turned Iraq into a Wild West from the very beginning of the occupation - often with the stamp of legitimacy of the U.S. government."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Congress must take a look at what happened and hold these companies accountable for their actions.
"Regardless of how one might feel about the war, there should be no disagreement about this that it is long past time to confront and constrain these contracting abuses," Reid said.
Kathryn Helvenston-Wettengel, whose son Scott was killed while working for Blackwater, told the committee that the company's failed promises to provide adequate protection for its guards put her son in peril that might have been avoided.
Helvenston-Wettengel's son was killed March 31st, 2004 when their convoy was ambushed while picking up empty kitchen equipment from the 82nd Airborne Division. She said had Blackwater provided a rear gunner as it had promised, their convoy would have seen the insurgents ambushing from behind.
"The day Scottie died was his first day ever in Iraq. Scottie and the others that died with him were promised so many things - not one of those promises were kept. For example, it was undisputed that they did not have armored vehicles. They did not have heavy machine guns. They did not have a team of six. They did not have three people in each vehicle. They did not have a rear gunner that would have allowed them to see people approach from the rear."
CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that, shortly before he died, Scott Helvenston e-mailed the owner of Blackwater to complain about "extreme unprofessionalism."
"We must have laws that apply to these contractors," Kathryn Helvenston-Wettengel told the committee today. "Please, I implore you, do not allow them to continue to get away with murder."
In Other Developments:
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Add a Comment See all 110 Comments
- -Randy, sharp thoughts, as usual! These people seem to be far from professional. Just propose a random speed/high/dope/psychotic drug testing, and you''''ll see how they''''ll react!
Posted by grazinggoat at 09:44 PM : Sep 21, 2007
I think most of them are suffering from a case of waaaaaaaaay too much testosterone, combined with steroids and raw egotism. They all think they''re Rambo and they''ll kill people until they''re stopped. - Reply to this comment
- Excellent well written article here:
http://thisisby.us/index.php/content/who_told_you_these_things - Reply to this comment
- Eric Prince is from Michigan. Blackwater incorporated in North Carolina because it is convenient to the military establishment--Special Forces, Marines, Navy, Washington all within easy driving distance--the land was cheap, empty and poor.
ConDumism and seven-pesos attacks on the South have nothing to do with topic at hand--it is their dirt dumb message on every topic--in fact, it is the only topic of seven-pesos'' posts, month after month. With ConDumism, on the other hand, it is the manifestation of the resentment of the weak...a whipping boy for his own perceived shortcomings.
Curiously absent from the discussion of Blackwater is the nature of the kind of filth who hire them. Like the Black Hand in Sicily, it is used by the Oligarchy for their own interests...the only difference being that in America, the peasants are so stupid that they tax themselves to pay for these murderous tools.
This kind of organization poses a threat to the Republic--if the armed forces are merely rented, then the power lies with them. In the past the ruling elites have relied on corruption of government to work their will on the citizenry, now they are moving back to the old feudal model. The people who pull the strings of Blackwater are the corporatists of Wall Street, State Street and the City.
Why would anyone want you to ''blame the South'' for Blackwater? They were deployed in New Orleans against Southeners--against Americans. - Reply to this comment
- But do not worry, we will keep you entertained and feed your desire for consumerism, and they satisfy your desire to keep you content.
Posted by mh4cbs1 at 11:00 PM : Sep 21, 2007
Great post. However, I''m not sure the corporate-o-fascist state will be able to keep Americans content. Our standard of living is going down fast, and all that is propping it up now is massive borrowing with lots of threats to job security to keep everyone quiet about it. We get propaganda and fear tactics instead of standard of living these days, and I expect that to accelerate.
Which will lead to descreased productivity, which leads to more extreme threats and punishments, and so on - the fascist unvirtuous cycle. Abuse and fear is a motivator, but its effects wear off quickly, you have to up the level of fear constantly. Trust me, I know ;) - Reply to this comment
- If Maliki''s government were anything other than a pathetic puppet, the U.S. wouldn''t be able to just brush their objections out of the way in this continuing payoff of the fascist Bushit administration to some billionaire contributors. This is Bushit''s private Army of born-again murderers that he is training in Iraq for eventual U.S. domestic operations, perhaps when he engineers that state of emergency and cancels the 2008 elections.
Real governments can decide who does business in their countries. The Iraqis don''t want Blackwater. But Blackwater is operating there.
So much for another of Bushit''s lies.
The "windshield cowboy"! I love the Mexican sense of humor. They have the proper attitude of disrespect to strutting little cocky roosters. - Reply to this comment
- Blackwater may be incorporated in North Carolina, but that does not label North Carolina in the same way. This Coloradan takes a real shine to Tarheels! I want them on the same side I''''m on.
Posted by kissamaarse at 10:04 PM : Sep 21, 2007
+ report abuse
The OWNER and OPERATOR of Blackwater is a Native of N.C., a leader in the Religious Reich (KKK) and I can''t understand how you can say they are NOT part of that state? They are the very same Paid Killers and Terrorist they''ve always been, just different name! - Reply to this comment
- The capitalists worship the money principal, your right to, and quality of life is determined by how much money you have, if you can''t pay, you can''t play. This is the shape of the game forced on most of us.
But when they themselves can''t afford to pay, they use other people to kill and die so they can alter the rules, in effect killing the only god they do worship in order to get what they won''t pay for.
Bush Sr. called it "Jungle Law", and after vowing that it would not be allowed, proceeded to become its'' second biggest practitioner, exceeded only by his insane son. - Reply to this comment
- i worked in iraq for 3 yrs and was constantly shocked and amazed at the ignorance of my retired military co-workers.people need to know that a bunch of contractors in bosnia were *** and pimping minor females.that is the the biggest bunch of slimeballs i ever been around in my life.
- Reply to this comment
- And now Blackwater is under investigation for supposedly smuggling weapons into Iraq and selling them to a terrorist organization. If true--no surprises there.
Something Bush and his Pentagon failed to consider when outsourcing parts of the wars to mercenaries: Mercenaries are loyal to the highest bidder and only loyal until an even higher bidder comes along. Not country, not cause. Making paper. If the highest bidder happens to be people that want to use guns or weapons against the US--then more money for the mercenary--and for the Bush doofus show--another "OOOOOPS". - Reply to this comment
- Open letter from a CEO:
If you were Exxon Oil or any other corporation that needed a war to be waged in a foreign land, who would you rather use:
US troops, that get counted when they are killed, that people seem to care about? or
Blackwater mercenaries who are accountable to no one, and who no one counts?
Well, considering that in both cases it is the US Government that is footing the bill, and considering that as a major corporation we and our industry lobbyists call the shots in Washington DC., the Blackwater mercenaries are the wave of the future!
Imagine, now our orporate power can get the politicians to fight wars and nobody even has to know or care about it! And since corporations own the media, all we need to do is turn up the volume on the infotainment.
Welcome to the future fascist New World Order. You won''t even notice it is here. The New World Order fascism will be so refined that "Democracy" will be irrelevant. Vote if you want to, if it makes you feel better. We own the politicians on both sides of the aisle.
You can even have your little free speech, your "protests" - it is all irrelevant because our corporate media will drown you out, we will rewrite history as it needs to be re-written. But do not worry, we will keep you entertained and feed your desire for consumerism, and they satisfy your desire to keep you content. - Reply to this comment
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