WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2007
Dems Blame Blackwater For Fallujah Carnage
House Oversight Committee Staff Says Contractor Sent Security Guards Woefully Unprepared
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Play CBS Video Video Report: Blackwater Negligent A House committee has found that Blackwater was negligent in sending four contractors on a dangerous mission into Fallujah where they were killed and dismembered in 2004. David Martin reports.
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A U.S. Humvee is on fire after a U.S. convoy was attacked by Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq, on March 25, 2004. (AP)
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The private security company, one of the largest working in Iraq and under scrutiny for how it operates, also is faulted for initially insisting its guards were properly prepared and equipped and for impeding the inquiry by the Democratic staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Peter Singer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, has been warning about the dangers of relying on private contractors since early in the war, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.
“They didn't have enough personnel. They didn't have proper weaponry. They didn't have proper vehicles. They didn't have enough armored vehicles. They didn't even have proper road directions,” Singer said.
The results of the staff inquiry come less than a week before Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL and Blackwater's founder, is scheduled to testify before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., a longtime critic of Blackwater.
The March 2004 incident involving Blackwater was widely viewed as a turning point in the Iraq war after images of the mutilated bodies of the four guards were seen around the world. Four days after the Blackwater guards were killed, a major military offensive, known as the Battle of Fallujah, began.
The combat lasted almost a month in Fallujah, which is 40 miles west of Baghdad. At least 36 U.S. military personnel were killed along with 200 insurgents and an estimated 600 civilians, according to the congressional investigation.
Blackwater called the committee's account of the mission "one sided," reports Martin.
In a statement, Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said the committee has documents that show the Blackwater team was "betrayed" and steered into "a well-planned ambush."
The report does not acknowledge "that the terrorists determined what happened that fateful day in 2004," Tyrrell said. "The terrorists were intent on killing Americans and desecrating their bodies."
But one of the company’s own employees described its Baghdad operations as "flat out ... sloppy," reports Martin.
Blackwater’s director of operations in Baghdad sent an e-mail to his headquarters, saying: "I need new vehicles. I need new (communications gear), I need ammo. I need (weapons). … ground truth is appalling."
Yet the next day, Blackwater set out to escort a convoy through Fallujah - a mission another private security firm had turned down as too dangerous.
Donna Zovko, whose son, Jerko "Jerry" Zovko, died in the Fallujah incident, said she hopes the staff report will lead to more oversight and more discussions about the use of contractors.
"Congress can't change anything for my son. He is gone and nothing can bring him back," Zovko said. "But let's see what they can do for the others out there because someone needs to care for these contractors. Blackwater cares about nothing but the mighty dollar."
The families of the four killed contractors filed suit against the company in January 2005, saying that Blackwater's cost-cutting measures led to the deaths. That lawsuit is still pending as a federal judge tries to determine whether it should be heard in arbitration or in open court.
Blackwater has argued in court that it is immune to such a lawsuit because the company operates as an extension of the military and cannot be responsible for deaths in a war zone.
The results of the probe cast Blackwater in more negative light. On Sept. 16, 11 Iraqis were killed in a shoot-out involving Blackwater guards protecting a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Baghdad.
The State Department, one of Blackwater's largest customers, has opened an investigation into the incident. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told Congress Wednesday that the incident in Baghdad was tragic, but called private security companies such as Blackwater essential to operations in Iraq.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Correction...specific to the middle east-Blackwater agents (who by the way 90+% or more are retired military special ops personnel) KILL P.O.S muslim TERRORISTS who want to kill you and your family and take away your liberal hallucinations about the world we live in."
Are you telling me that 3 and 4 year old kids are terrorists?
You might get your kicks rejoicing over the dead bodies of 3 and 4 year old kids murdered by Blackwater thugs and murderers, but most people with a bit of moral decency don''t.
I bet you''re another one of those fake christian pieces of cr@p.
Good luck to you - Satan has a place reserved for you in hell.
Killing women and children seems to be their favorite past time.
"Prinzowhales - Get ready for more frustration dude. The Black and Tan are coming to take you away. And with the Dems putting Hillary up as top dog, you''''ll pardon the pun, there ain''''t a chance in Ireland that the Republicans will lose."
Clearly, you are an idiot.
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 17, 1961
Give it up you liberal crybaby. Yet another example of liberal moron who knows he been beaten. So what does he do? WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Cry foul! ...and then bend and twist the truth to support his sympathy call.
Explain this Death Threat :
Hillary Clinton recently went to a fortuneteller who intoned, "Prepare to become widow. Your husband will soon suffer a violent death!"
Posted by nukeem123 at 09:36 AM : Sep 28, 2007
Also the support, endorsement and encouragement from the statement of
lars 008
hahahaha
stupid silly little fascist nazi terrorislamist,,, lol
hahahaha
Posted by lars008 at 10:07 AM : Sep 28, 2007
Posted by lastdance2
Correction...specific to the middle east-Blackwater agents (who by the way 90+% or more are retired military special ops personnel) KILL P.O.S muslim TERRORISTS who want to kill you and your family and take away your liberal hallucinations about the world we live in.
and these fascist nazi terrorislamic muslim collaborators,,,
Posted by lars008
yes
LMAO
It''s so like a propagandist liberal to only cut and paste the piece of the joke that he wants...then try to turn and bend and twist it to look like a death threat. Classic liberalism you idiot!
hahahaha
stupid silly little fascist nazi terrorislamist,,, lol
hahahaha
CBS News
Explain this Death Threat :
Finally, Hillary Clinton recently went to a fortuneteller who intoned, "Prepare to become widow. Your husband will soon suffer a violent death!"
Posted by nukeem123 at 09:36 AM : Sep 28, 2007
http://www.appealforcourage.org/
Posted by lars008 at 05:34 PM : May 19, 2007
If they had looked into the doings of this mercenary Walmart, they might have been able to find exactly why proper procedures weren''''t followed and they were sent in their SUVs, without armour, without the kind of high-powered weaponry that would have been proper procedure and without the requisite number of team members for such a dangerous and appallingly stupid assignment...It was almost as if someone wanted to create an incident. The Congress could have stood up for the families of these men--but they didn''''t stand up for anyone--just OIl and Israel....Oil and Israel...Oil and Israel...
It has long been the Zionist goal to break Iraq asunder and the Washington Regime is ever the butt-licking log of the Zionists who front for Anglo-American capital, not for Jews and Judaism.
http://www.thecatsdream.com/blog/2007/09/old-zionist-dream-partition-of-iraq.htm
The US Military fights under Orders and - Rules of Engagement
Mercenaries Kill people for - Money
Blackwater is - Not - Part of the US Military
Blackwater is - An Independent Contactor
Blackwater is - Not - in Iraq - Fighting a war for anyone
Blackwater is - In Iraq - Only - For their own - Finacial Benefit
A string of incidents involving private security contractors that have engendered
resentment among Iraqis. Each time they went out they offended locals,
Forcing them to the side of the road. Being overpowering and intimidating
Other times running vehicles off the road. Making enemies each time they went out,"
Retired US Marine Colonel Thomas X Hammes told Public Broadcasting Service in 2005.
Source - ABC.com - 09-28-27
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A Blackwater security guard screamed at colleagues
to "stop shooting" in an incident that left 11 Iraqi civilians dead, enraged the
government and sparked reviews of security firms in Iraq, U.S. media said on Friday.
The Washington Post and The New York Times quoted unnamed U.S. officials
saying : They had been told at least one employee of the private American security
firm pointed a gun at a fellow guard to try and curb the shooting in Baghdad
Statements from Iraqi police and witnesses - Who said Blackwater guards
were the - Only - ones firing
Lastdance
don%u201Dt you just hate these stupid silly little fascist nazi terrorislamic muslims pretending to be liberal Americana,,, and begging for the usa to leave iraq,,, lol,,, they must be really getting their arses kicked,,, hahahahahaha,,,
and these fascist nazi terrorislamic muslim collaborators,,,
So, where''s the blame on the 10000+ hooligan hajis who shot them, blew up and burned their cars, ripped their bodies apart and then hung them in the streets? Don''t you think maybe the hajis had a hand in the outcome of this event? Doesn''t surprise me, liberals want to post false propaganda about the war to influence the american public wrongly. They know it''s the only way they can get in the white house.
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