State Dept. Accused Of Impeding Iraq Probe
Lawmaker Complains To Rice About Alleged Meddling In Iraq Corruption, Blackwater Inquiries
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A Democratic lawmaker complained to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that State Department officials have been told not to cooperate with inquiries involving Blackwater USA and Iraq's government. (AP)
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Play CBS Video Video Blackwater In Trouble What will happen to U.S. security contractors in Iraq? Nancy Cordes asks Jeremy Scahill, author of "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army."
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
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Special Report The Road Ahead Katie Couric reports from Iraq on the future of U.S. involvement there.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the State Department had informed the committee that State employees could not discuss potential corruption in the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki unless the information was treated as a national security secret.
Blackwater USA, the North Carolina-based security contractor involved in the deaths of civilians in Iraq this month, has also claimed that the State Department had banned company communication with Waxman's investigators, the lawmaker said.
"I urge you to reconsider the unusual positions you are taking," Waxman wrote to Rice. "You are wrong to interfere with the committee's inquiry."
The State Department said it was cooperating with the committee and is providing the information requested.
"Blackwater has been informed that the State Department has no objection to it providing information to the committee," said Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman. "We have offered to make available for testimony those officials in the best position to respond to the specific issues the committee has raised."
Waxman said his staff was told Monday that State Department officials with what he called "direct knowledge of corruption within the Maliki government" were barred from giving the committee "assessments which judge or characterize the quality of Iraqi governance," or Baghdad's ability to address corruption, unless the material was withheld from the public.
In the Blackwater matter, Waxman said the company claimed that the State Department insisted on reviewing and approving any documents the company gave to the committee.
According to the Los Angeles Times, a letter sent last week to a senior Blackwater executive by a State Department official ordered the company "to make no disclosure of the documents or information" about its work in Iraq without approval.
Waxman also said Rice has refused to testify before his committee about the status of political reconciliation in Iraq, potential corruption or the Blackwater incident.
Rice has ordered a review of security practices for U.S. diplomats in Iraq following the killing of 11 Iraqis this month while Blackwater guards were protecting a U.S. Embassy convoy.
Waxman has scheduled a hearing on the Blackwater incident for next Tuesday, the Times reported, but Blackwater attorneys said the State Department's letter may make it "difficult, if not impossible" for company executives to testify.
Waxman and Rice tangled earlier this year when she refused to appear in person to answer questions about the Bush administration's prewar intelligence. Rice said she already has addressed claims that Iraq had sought uranium from the African nation of Niger.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
- POSTED BY PWRSIM AT 09:37
''Ya, it would be real smart to tell the insurgents how they work. Answer all the questions,"
Of course, they need to make it plain that they will shoot anyone who gets in their way. Obviously, that has never been a secret in Iraq ~ but it was a secret to the American taxpayer. Please, are you so simple-minded as to believe that the insurgents do not know how they work. In fact, many of the mercenaries themselves will sell whatever information is needed and, indeed, have sold many of the arms that the insurgents use against our US servicemen. Blackwater does not protect the United States of America, they protect their own company and those who specifically hire them to insure that their contract is secure. While the taxpayer does not doubt that perhaps hiring a security company to do what Blackwater is doing is necessary and frees the army to fight and die at a pittance of what the mercenaries earn; it is stupid of the USA to hire them without any oversight and have no way to stem the rogue behavior of this particular company. They are a reflection of the integrity of this administration and, unfortunately, the United States of America. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by pwrslm at 09:37 AM : Sep 27, 2007
"Provide security to non-military entities working for the US Govt, and dignitaries visiting the place?"
They also provide security to the military, Gen P. and supposedly guard the oil fields among other places that is near and dear to the hearts of the administration. They are paid very well for any danger they may encounter. And, that company is paid for by the American taxpayer. - Reply to this comment
- **** TAKE AMERICA BACK ****
**** STOP THE WAR & Corporate Corruption****
He has NEVER voted:
* to raise taxes
* for an unbalanced budget
* to raise congressional pay
* for a federal restriction on gun ownership
* to increase the power of the executive branch
He HAS voted:
* against the Iraq war
* against the inappropriately named USA PATRIOT act
* against regulating the internet
* against the Military Commissions Act
He will eliminate the IRS, Wasteful Government Spending & Stop The Iraq War Immediately!
Most importantly, he voted NO on anything in Congress that is not allowed by the Constitution.
He is the only candidate not a member of the CFR!
Shouldn''t ALL members of Congress uphold the Constitution? Aren''t they SWORN to uphold it? You can bet Paul WON''T call the Constitution "just a G**D***ed piece of paper" like George Bush is reported to have.
If you want a candidate you can TRUST due to a proven track record, visit www.ronpaul2008.com and get busy spreading the word. The Mainstream Media is Blacking Out The Truth Spoke By Ron Paul!
Join The ReVoLuTiOn In Your City Stand Up America:
http://ronpaul.meetup.com/cities/
Also checkout http://www.youtube.com search for: RON PAUL - Reply to this comment
- DEMONIC-RATS LEAD The Chorus of Useful Idiots
Leftist Support of Islamist Terror
Most shocking is the outright sympathy of many leftist-liberals for Islamic fascism. They said little about the murder of 500 Russian civilians, many of them children, but screamed week after week because some Arab savage at Abu Ghraib prison wore a bag on his head. They cared nothing about the beheadings committed by the Islamo-savages or the execution of 12 Nepalese. David Horowitz gives an excellent discussion of who this "Left" really is. He calls them neo-communist, I call them Leftist-Liberals. I''m a classical Liberal myself and I feel it''s time to remove this irrational element that has been allowed to poison our good name.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm
The Chorus of Useful Idiots
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/thornton.htm
Supporters of Muslim Terrorism on the un-Religious Left
http://www.sullivan-county.com/id2/index1.htm
Exposing Leftists'' Radical Islam Connection
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/left_islam.htm
Definitions, Lies, and Losing Your Head
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/def_lies.htm
Shocking (Liberal) Silence
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/leftist_silence.htm
See no evil: Why the Left is blind to suffering
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/no_evil.htm
When is violent speech still free speech?
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/speech.htm - Reply to this comment
- When you hire someone to do a job, you have a right to expect that you will be told about every incident involving that job, even the unpleasant. We, the American taxpayer, hired these people (although many of us still don''''t know it)and we should not be refused any information we need to make an educated opinion as to the ramifications .
Posted by pastdue1
So what do these guys do? Provide security to non-military entities working for the US Govt, and dignitaries visiting the place?
Ya, it would be real smart to tell the insurgents how they work. Answer all the questions, then we can open the doors to our facilities over there and let those boys in so they can drive truck bombs up to our front door.
Wake up people, its getting so that simple mindedness is more like a contageous disease than a genetic flaw. - Reply to this comment
- "The State Department%u2019s incident reports have not been made public, and Blackwater refused to provide its own data on cases in which its personnel used their weapons while guarding American diplomats. "
When you hire someone to do a job, you have a right to expect that you will be told about every incident involving that job, even the unpleasant. We, the American taxpayer, hired these people (although many of us still don''t know it)and we should not be refused any information we need to make an educated opinion as to the ramifications . - Reply to this comment
- VOTE FOR JEFFERSON,,, VOTE AGAINST FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAM,,, VOTE GOP,,,
dnc are like john adams and want to give the jihadist their lunch money hoping they will leave us alone,,,
gop are like thomas jefferson and want to spend their lunch money on weapons and go kick the jihadists in their arses,,,
What Thomas Jefferson learned from the Muslim book of jihad,,,
Thomas Jefferson knew about fascist nazi islam,,, he killed plenty of them,,,
In 1786 Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli''s envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman or (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). They asked him by what right he extorted money and took slaves. Jefferson reported to Secretary of State John Jay, and to the Congress:
The ambassador answered us that [the right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet (Mohammed), that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to heaven.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War
http://www.usvetdsp.com/jan07/jeff_quran.htm
muslim justifies slavery and piracy%u2026
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?6bdec278-6a71-4436-bc4d-29d1c54b0ad7 - Reply to this comment
- War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made or kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. John Stuart Mill
It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it. Robert E. Lee
A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war. Simone Weil
If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. Thomas Paine
Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. Winston Churchill
One ought never to turn one''s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Winston Churchill
The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal warmonger. Theodore Roosevelt - Reply to this comment
- We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. Ben Franklin
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin
We make war that we may live in peace. Aristotle
It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war. John F. Kennedy
There''s a graveyard in northern France where all the dead boys from D-Day are buried. The white crosses reach from one horizon to the other. I remember looking it over and thinking it was a forest of graves. But the rows were like this, dizzying, diagonal, perfectly straight, so after all it wasn''t a forest but an orchard of graves. Nothing to do with nature, unless you count human nature. Barbara Kingsolver
They have not wanted Peace at all; they have wanted to be spared war -- as though the absence of war was the same as peace. Dorothy Thompson
There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy. George Washington
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain. John Adams - Reply to this comment
- Franklin D. Roosevelt''s Infamy Speech
December 8, 1941/September 12, 2001
The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.
As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.
Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounded determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God. - Reply to this comment
- Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! March 23, 1775 Patrick Henry
USA''s PLEDGE 2 THE WORLD GIVEN BY JFK!!
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty." - John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961
One ought never to turn one''s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Winston Churchill
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." Albert Einstein - Reply to this comment
- LOOK WHO IS TARGETING CIVILIANS!!!
Qaeda warns of attacks ''worse than 9/11''
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070530102648.wuwa6k96&show_article=1
Hizbullah Deputy Sec-Gen Sheikh Naim Qassem: We Have Jurisprudent Permission to Carry Out ''Martyrdom'' Operations, Fire Missiles on Israeli Civilians From Ayatollah Khomeini
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD154907
Switching Sides: Inside The Enemy Camp
But then in 2000, well before his arrest, something happened which would make Abas question everything he believed in: a fatwa, a religious edict, was issued by Osama bin Laden.
"It should be understood that killing Americans and Jews anywhere found are the highest act of worship and the highest form of good deeds in the eyes of Allah," Simon quotes bin Laden.
Abas and his fellow commanders were ordered to read the fatwa to their men and make sure they carried it out. The others obeyed, but Abas refused. It was his moment of truth. He firmly believed that jihad was to be fought only on the battlefield in defense of Islam; he had always been taught that the killing of civilians had nothing to do with holy war and that it was forbidden.
The fatwa justified killing non-Muslim civilians everywhere.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/04/60minutes/main2761108.shtml?source=RSSattr=60Minutes_2761108
American Al Qaeda Member Threatens Attack
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/29/terror/main2865282.shtml - Reply to this comment
- it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid,,,
non muslims of the world unite,,, fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside,,,
I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist
By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair''s bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.
More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465570&in_page_id=1770
Bless the Beasts and Children
Fascist nazi terrorslam kills every man woman and child in the village again%u2026 typical mo for terrorslam%u2026
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm
Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan
the truth about fascist nazi terrorislam...
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/ - Reply to this comment
- I wonder when the GOP will wake up 2 or 3 days before the election I think it may already be too late the storm has and keeps gaining strength and they say it won''t hit us. Keep thinking that way GOP Senators and your next job will be looking for one. I for one have had enough and so have many others in fact we don''t care who wins the elections as long as we remove you GOP''er. So don''t say you weren''t warned.
- Reply to this comment
- Them DIMocrats sure do love scandal.
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Posted by Hwy71So at 07:20 AM : Sep 27, 2007
+ report abuse
Yeah isn''t it great to FINALLY have a Congress that will do it''s job? Maybe you should look into a night course in spelling though and for God''s sake take off the Swastika... it makes you look stupid! ROFLMAO Sieg Heil Bush - Reply to this comment
- The unmitigated arrogance of the administration continues unabated.
It insists on holding the entire planet accountable but refuses to be held accountable itself.
Disgusting. - Reply to this comment
- You might lose your job but I think that would be a step up.
Posted by kansas1946,
Nah, "Aunt Condi" (as opposed to "Uncle Tom") cannot conceive of the idea of disobeying her "massa". Even though "Uncle Colin" got disgusted enough to pull out of the lies and fake agitprop, he still has not seen fit to speak against his "massa".
"...State employees could not discuss potential corruption in the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki unless the information was treated as a national security secret."
How does it harm our security to know how our money is being corrupted? It is in fact the opposite, hiding the corruption is a threat to our national security, and those positing that it remain hidden from us are all traitors to the US. - Reply to this comment
- RE : Hwy71So
Like scandals do you ??
Volunteer you child as a - Page
Lastdance - Reply to this comment
- Them DIMocrats sure do love scandal.
- Reply to this comment
- RE : kansas1946 - Information is to be treated as a - National Security Secret.
This is really old - old news - anything that is Detrimental to
The Republican Nazi Party - Is considered a National Security Risk
First put into operation by the : Reagan-Bush Administration
Implemented by - Bush (sr)
The Federal Drug Smuggling Operations - (Manuel Noriega) and (Afghanistan)
The Federal Drug Money-Laundering Operations - (Northern Idaho)
The massive Social Security Disability fraud Operations - (Originated from Wisconsin)
The Child. S*e*x. Slave Operations - (Washington-California-the Dakotas)
The Intimidation and Blackmail Operations
The Arms and Weapons Smuggling Operations
It''s been going on for decades - first instituted by
Sen. Prescott Bush several other Politicians and Influential Friends
It has Always been a - Bush Family affair
Contact - The Senate Judicial Investigation Committee ask them to release
to the public all investigations against - The Department of Justice and the FBI
Preferably the - Child. S*e*x. Slave Oerations - Conducted by the FBI
Lastdance - Reply to this comment




