Dems Blame Blackwater For Fallujah Carnage

House Oversight Committee Staff Says Contractor Sent Security Guards Woefully Unprepared

(CBS/AP)  Blackwater USA triggered a major battle in the Iraq war by sending an unprepared team of security guards into an insurgent stronghold, a move that led to their horrific deaths and a violent response by U.S. forces, according to a congressional investigation released Thursday.

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.

nukeem123 wrote:

"
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.

Blackwater are nothing more then well paid thugs and murderers led by a fake born again Christian piece of excrement.

Killing women and children seems to be their favorite past time.

speakinup wrote:

"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.

[speakinup]

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.

[gunownerdan]

"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

[prinzowhales]

lars008--What''s the gossip around the old Republican Glory Hole? Are the War Pigs really so ''demoralized''? Cheney has dumped his dollars, Halliburton has moved to Dubai and the VP is going to follow suit--if he''s not arrested, tried and...inopportuned. The War Pig financial leaders are busy talking down the dollar while they disinvest in America even as they drain the Treasury and load the nation up with more debt. Will you be accompanying your masters to Dubai?

[nukeem123]

Posted by lastdance2

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.

[afmca]

Blackwater is only partially to blame. The US State Department and the unholy direction they have been given by the neo-cons in the Bush / Cheney administration is the true cause. The entire "we are above the law because we are christian soldiers fighting the infidel muslims" is what anables this response. This goes back to not having enough troops from the very beginning so the need for hired guns was neccessary.

[lastdance2]

CBS Law Offices
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

[sparkle1983]

my question is: why don''t we spend the money we spend on independent contract to equip our own military to protect diplomats? paying mercenaries doesn''t seem to make sense to me. we have a strong and capable military that deserves to have the best equipment available. blackwater employees have nothing but the best, while our own military people lack many necessities. ridiculous.