Security Guards Feared Suicide Attack
Australian Firm Confirms Its Guards Involved In Shootings That Killed 2 Iraqi Women
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An Iraqi woman looks inside a blood stained car of two women, allegedly shot dead by private security guards in central Baghdad on Oct. 9, 2007. (ALI YUSSEF/AFP/Getty Images)
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A woman and a child inspect a car with blood splattered on the door after two Christian Iraqi women were shot to death in central Karradah, Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007. (AP Photo)
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Iraqi pedestrians run moments after a car bomb exploded in Baghdad's central al-Khulani square during the hours of intense car traffic on Oct. 9, 2007. (ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/Getty Images)
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Plainclothes contractors working for Blackwater USA take part in a firefight as Iraqi demonstrators loyal to Muqtada Al Sadr attempt to advance on a facility being defended by U.S. and Spanish soldiers in Najaf on April 4, 2004. (AP Photo/Gervasio Sanchez)
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Video Blackwater Closely Monitored Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice ordered that Blackwater, a private security firm in Iraq, be closely monitored by cameras and audio recordings. David Martin reports.
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In The Spotlight Under Fire A look at Blackwater USA, the State Department's top private security contractor.
Both Unity and RTI acknowledged a security contract between them but said RTI staffers were not present at the shooting in Baghdad's Karradah district.
A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said RTI was under contract by USAID but was responsible for its own security. "USAID does not direct the security arrangements of contractors," Mirembe Nantongo said.
According to the USAID Web site, RTI has about $450 million in U.S. government contracts to work on governance projects in Iraq. USAID is a semiautonomous arm of the State Department that manages U.S. aid programs.
The deaths of the two women - including one who used the white car as a taxi to raise money for her family - came a day after the Iraqi government gave U.S. officials a report demanding hefty payments and Blackwater's ouster from Iraq for a shooting last month that left at least 17 civilians dead.
The Blackwater guards implicated in the Sept. 16 shooting also were protecting American specialists working under USAID contracts on development projects in Iraq, highlighting the difficult balance facing Western agencies trying to help rebuild Iraq while keeping their own staff safe.
Tuesday's killings were certain to sharpen government demands to curb the expanding array of security firms in Iraq watching over diplomats, aid groups and others - nearly all based in the United States, Britain and other Western countries - as they are increasingly seen as symbols of the lawlessness in Iraq since the U.S.-led ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Unity also has come under scrutiny before.
In March 2006, the company issued an statement of sympathy after one of its guards was blamed for shooting a 72-year-old Iraqi-born Australian, Kays Juma, at a Baghdad checkpoint.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Juma was killed because he was in a car that failed to stop. Unity said multinational forces and Iraqi police also were present at the checkpoint at the time.
Unity provides armed guards and security training throughout Iraq. Its heavily armed teams are Special Forces veterans from Australia, the United States, New Zealand and Britain - as well as former law enforcement officers from those countries.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 109 CommentsPosted by s1ckd09
If the house you were building was on someone else''''s land, then yes it is your fault.
Posted by brianbwb at 03:15 AM : Oct 11, 2007
So are you saying the security guards did nothing wrong?
Posted by s1ckd09
If the house you were building was on someone else''s land, then yes it is your fault.
Posted by s1ckd09
They were under contract to USAID, not one of Australia''''s contracts. These thugs were hired by the cowboy''''s crew.
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Posted by firststate at 01:09 AM : Oct 11, 2007
No, the security company (Unity, which was Australian) was the ones who hired the security people. Unity was hired by RTI, and RTI was under contract with UASAIR. USAIR didn''t hire the security people. RTI didn''t hire the security people. Would you be responsible if you hired a contractor to build a house, and the contractor hired a roofer, the roofer hired his helpers, and one of those helpers killed someone? Would that be your fault?
And if you ran up on a convoy you didn''t know was around the corner? Oops, this is war, you''re dead. Too bad.
I think you''re forgetting that you''re not the only one paying those taxes. I do too. The difference is I don''t mind paying and helping someone else out.
pfffffffft...there went another toad, akkk, it wasn''t a prince!
Posted by s1ckd09
They were under contract to USAID, not one of Australia''s contracts. These thugs were hired by the cowboy''s crew.
, Oh great wise one, just who the attacks coming from ???? The Sunni War Lords Bush has armed & funded that every one seemed to know except Bush that would continue to attack our troops, the Sheiites militias Bush put in power by invading & the Turk''s Bush funded for access to Iraq
Posted by robertkjjj at 12:44 AM : Oct 11, 2007,,,
Agreed. Not only that, anyone in these Security Forces situation under these circumstances after numerous escalated warnings would have shot the car up too trying to stop it! Its easy sitting behind a safe keyboard saying otherwise!
,,, How is New Yorker''''s booing relevent 2 nights ago ???? Guiliani is the GOP''''s top pick,, If he can''''t convince New Yorker''''s he''''s any good on fighting terrorists or leadership, Rudy doesn''''t stand a snowball''''s chance in hell
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Posted by j-whitman at 12:48 AM : Oct 11, 2007
Well, there you have it. All we have to do is put all the candidates in Yankee stadium and let them decide who is President. They are, after all, completely rational and a perfect representation (except for the lack of class) of the whole of America... you''re brilliant!
If you think Armenian genocide is cool, wait until you get a load of what Turkey has planned for northern Iraq. Of course, after the carnage, Bush will wring his hands in a show of crocodile tears, then make a deal with the Turkish occupiers to share the oil profits, 85%/15% in favor of the US.
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Posted by j-whitman at 12:45 AM : Oct 11, 2007
No, I don''t. Your point?
,,, How is New Yorker''s booing relevent 2 nights ago ???? Guiliani is the GOP''s top pick,, If he can''t convince New Yorker''s he''s any good on fighting terrorists or leadership, Rudy doesn''t stand a snowball''s chance in hell
+ report abuse
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you should replace the "you think they might" to "they are always"..attacks are constant in iraq..it is well documented..
Do you think these attacks are coming from soldiers wearing uniforms and dogtags?? do you think they come in tanks or humvees?? you best stop licking that texas toad and realize the nature of the situation.
trust me, thanks to those liberal democrats..I am already paying up the arse trying to fund thier social programs.
And by the way, those were Yankee fans... what do they know these days, other than early defeat and humiliation? :)
,,, How did Rudy do the other night at the Yankee Stadium ??? ---- New Yorker''''s remember him well,, They booed him not once, but twice, once during the 7th inning streatch during the singing of "Goc Bless America"
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Posted by j-whitman at 12:33 AM : Oct 11, 2007
And this is relevent...how???
FACTS? Did you say FACTS?
Based on the link you cited, BUSH CLAIMS he never said that despite two witnesses who claim otherwise.
Based on Bush''''s proven track record of pathological lying, I''''ll believe the two witnesses. They''''re more credible.
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Posted by tuckerndfw at 12:04 AM : Oct 11, 2007
Doesn''t it suck when your own source disputes what you say? And Mahmoud Abbas never claimed it was what Buch said...
"Soon after, the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz carried a Palestinian transcript of the meeting, containing a version of Mr Bush''s remarks. But the Palestinian delegation was reluctant publicly to acknowledge its authenticity."
Nabil Shaath: "President Bush said that God guided him in what he should do, and this guidance led him to go to Afghanistan to rid it of terrorism after 9/11 and led him to Iraq to fight tyranny," he said.
"We understood that he was illustrating [in his comments] his strong faith and his belief that this is what God wanted."
,,, How did Rudy do the other night at the Yankee Stadium ??? ---- New Yorker''s remember him well,, They booed him not once, but twice, once during the 7th inning streatch during the singing of "Goc Bless America"
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