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TechnoratiWASHINGTON - A U.S.-based private security firm received a contract worth up to 92 million dollars from the Department of Defence amid hard questions about its involvement in two separate violent incidents in Iraq. 
"Blackwater has been a contractor in the past with the department and could certainly be in the future," said the U.S.'s top-ranking military officer, General Peter Pace, at an afternoon press conference here.
The future arrived just two hours later when the Pentagon released a new list of contracts -- Presidential Airways, the aviation unit of parent company Blackwater, was awarded the contract to fly Department of Defence passengers and cargo between locations around central Asia.
The announcement comes as a cloud of suspicion is gathering around the "professional military" firm for its actions as a State Department security contractor in Iraq in which at least eight Iraqis and possibly as many as 28 were killed, including a woman and child.
Last week, the Iraqi government announced that it had revoked Blackwater's license to operate in the country.
The initial report by the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security on the incident was put together by the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and details of the event where a car bomb exploded near a meeting attended by officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Some of the Blackwater team hired as security for the officials was involved in the shootout while apparently trying to clear an evacuation path.
In a statement issued last week, Blackwater USA spokesperson Anne Tyrrell denied any wrongdoing and said that, "Blackwater's independent contractors acted lawfully and appropriately in response to a hostile attack in Baghdad on Sunday. Blackwater regrets any loss of life but this convoy was violently attacked by armed insurgents, not civilians, and our people did their job to defend human life."
However, an official with knowledge of the investigation told the New York Times that the evacuation effort was marked by confusion and chaos -- the Blackwater employees believed they were being fired on, but this contradicted the initial Iraqi report on the incident that said there was no enemy fire. There was also apparently an incident of infighting when one guard did not heed a ceasefire call.
In a press conference Wednesday, the deputy press secretary of the State Department gave a non-denial of reports in the press that the Department of Defence has hinted to the State Department that the investigation into Blackwater should be reined in, only highlighting that the departments were working together and that the reports in the press had come from anonymous sources.
Blackwater USA, which has an estimated 1,000 employees in Iraq and 800 million dollars in U.S. government contracts, has been one of the most prominent private security firms operating in the country. Some of its notable assignments have included protecting L. Paul Bremer, the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, as well as Crocker, who is currently the leading U.S. diplomatic envoy to Iraq.
The firm came into the public eye in March 2004, when four of its employees were killed and mutilated by an Iraqi mob in Fallujah, the war-torn Iraqi city that was an insurgent stronghold at the time. The incident touched off the unsuccessful U.S. attempt to retake the city in April 2004.
Family members of the four employees slain in Fallujah have since sued Blackwater, alleging that the firm failed to provide necessary equipment and manpower that could have saved the employees' lives.
A separate report by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee faulted Blackwater's conduct in the Fallujah incident, in which Blackwater was transporting flatbed trucks when its team was ambushed.
"Blackwater embarked on this mission without sufficient preparation, resources and support for its personnel," concluded the report, saying that the firm had ignored warnings by another security company, cut the staff for the mission by putting rear gunners for both involved security vehicles on administrative duties, and went out with insufficiently armoured vehicles.
"Management in North Carolina made the decision to go with soft skin due to the cost" despite the fact that the contract paid for armoured vehicles, said a Blackwater employee quoted in the report, referring to Blackwater's headquarters in Moyock, North Carolina.
The Congressional report noted that the Blackwater men had been sent on their mission without maps and ended up at the wrong military base, where they had to spend the night because of fighting nearby.
Control Risks Group, another security force working in the area at the time, warned Blackwater about the mission after they had twice been offered the same task but "refused both times due to the obvious risk transporting slow-moving loads through such a volatile area."
On the heels of the House Committee report, Congressman David E. Price of North Carolina will introduce legislation next week to extend the reach of U.S. civil courts to include security contractors in Iraq. The proposed bill, H.R. 2740, will also establish F.B.I. investigative units in the war zone charged with investigating allegations of misconduct.
In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week, Price wrote, "The allegations related to the Sept. 16 incident have the potential to become a flashpoint in terms of Iraqi antagonism toward U.S. personnel, with wide-ranging implications for our mission and our troops. There is no question that the lack of clarity surrounding the legal options for prosecuting criminal acts has significantly undermined our efforts in Iraq."
The various investigations into security contractors working for the U.S. government in Iraq and related legislation are heralded by critics of the Bush administration's approach to the war, pointing to the failures of the so-called [Donald] Rumsfeld doctrine, which promotes a more streamlined and greatly privatised military based on an "entrepreneurial approach" and raising questions about rampant war-profiteering.
Copyright © 2007 IPS-Inter Press Service.
22 Comments so far
Show AllWe have no way to really know, but it's likely that we have private combat forces because our Chiefs of Staff communicated to Cheney/bush that their oaths of office were to protect and defend the Constituion and that they had a DUTY to decline to obey illegal orders, ie, murder any Iraqi who resisted the takeover of the oil infrastructure/corporate state by the multi-nationals. They had to leave that to State Dept and contractors. It seems to involve some very elaborate rationalizations for the Chiefs to keep their forces in the field at all, considering current conditions. Lots of lies. Lots of death.
With 6 years and all the money, we could have created an alternative energy world and freed these middle-easterners to pursue more traditional occupations. But the Oil Elite preferred the great game and delusions of Empire.
Useless delay.
Navy SEALs are considered an elite force. The connections between the SEALs and Blackwater are reportedly causing concerns for some people.
Are Blackwater personnel following basic standards of SEALs and human decency?
"Navy SEALs, Marines use positive human traits and virtues for success"
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=1977...
We need a national sick out,
3 days- Tues, Wed and Thurs...Mon and Fri are not very productive anyway. One week of not much profit for the Corporations.
This should be done 2 or 3 months ahead of the rigged elections.
This should be done with threats to do it more, and more often if the coup continues.
No bartering with politicians anymore, believe it or not WE are in control.
NATIONAL SICK OUT- the week of SEPT 11 2008, thats- 9/11/08
The fact that these organizations of mercenaries are being paid with MY tax dollars sickens and horrifies me. How can we stop this?
I can think of nothing positive whatsoever about the USA's use of people outside the DOD's control paid to perform clearly military tasks. It is yet one more item on the long, long list of slimy ways this administration is messing us up and the rest of the world.
By getting out of Iraq we might have a chance of getting rid of these organizations, but that requires an administration totally unlike the nightmarish crowd in there today.
The use of Hessians is a direct consequence of abolishing the draft. The only way i can see out of this situation is a truly universal requirement for military service. Or abolish the military entirely. Any suggestions for a third option will receive a hearty welcome.
Whether the number is 1,000 or 160,000, it's obvious that without Blackwater and other such outfits, the US Armed forces simply wouldn't be able to maintain even the Green Zone.
There are many things I find disturbing about the increased reliance on hired extra-military forces happening right now in the USA. I'll only mention the most obvious. Why should we, the taxpayers, pay a private firm to do laundry, cook, clean, etc... When our own armed forces are fully capable of doing the same? And just look at the expense of having a private firm do this work. This is a huge waste of money. Secondly, they are paid to do what our armed forces are trained to do as regards protecting diplomats, heads of state and other dignitaries. Again, look at the cost. Thirdly, these so called private firms have no allegiance to any country - they are there for the money, pure and simple. Lastly, they are beyond the reach of the law and oversight. They can kill with impunity and do.
These "private firms" should not even be mentioned in the same breath as the US Army, Marines, Air force, or Navy. They are a disgrace to the name of our nation. The true patriots (well, maybe 95% of them) joined the armed services thinking they were serving a worthy cause, only to be betrayed; the actions of companies such as Blackwater give a black eye to the name of our country. There are people on death row who are probably less of a threat to society than the majority of the mercenaries working for whoever will pay the most.
The CEO of Blackwater should be simply shot with a wrapped bullet. Since Habeas Corpus has been abolished, we may as well revert to the rules of Hammarubai: an eye for an eye. No need to waste time with a trial.
And yes, they are ready to begin extending their presence in the USA. It will soon be much worse than New Orleans.
This is why I have recently written that our only hope is with the armed forces. No other group has the power to retake our country and the Constitution.
Just as what happened in Thailand recently, the military did the right thing and got the criminal out of office and power. I live only several hours from Thailand and the people continue to go about their life like before - only now they know that one source of corruption has been halted. The unrest one hears about is along the Southern border with religious groups hoping to take advantage of the recent events in the capitol.
We all know who the first people should be sitting in front of the International Court. The next should be those who run these mercenaries and the mercenaries themselves who are involved in crimes against humanity.
I won't even begin to address the creeping religiousness into the armed forces.
You think Black Water is a problem in Iraq? Just wait until they come home to a theater near you. Your local law enforcement can't wait to start recruiting.
"Blackwater regrets any loss of life but this convoy was violently attacked by armed insurgents, not civilians, and our people did their job to defend human life." - Blackwater USA spokesperson Anne Tyrrell (emphasis mine)
Even Orwell would be taken aback by this statement, don't you think? My hope is that Gharib included it in the article for the sheer cajones-made-of-DU factor. That bitch has some serious balls.
(p.s. I'm terribly happy to be back and posting from abroad after far too much time spent as a lurker with a tarfu-account. Let me apologize in advance for the coming flood of comments. The Botanist is Back, Baby!)
KEM PATRICK
except there won't be any chimpanzees or gorillas to eat..........
There is no significant difference between the republicans and democrats. It's like two factions within a communist party. Different - but still communists. We effectively have a one-party system, corporate totalitarism aka "capitalism", and no democracy. Our president is an unelected official. Congressmen represent nobody. Thus no opposition to war financing.
Its interesting. I tend to read both this site and others. In particular, antiwar.com has a good news section. As I go back and forth between them, its interesting the news articles that don't make it onto Common Dreams.
This one heads the Antiwar page, like it should since its an obscenity to continue fully backing a company gunning down Iraqi civilians with no law to come down on them. But the story below this one on antiwar.com didn't make it over here.
That's the story where the congress just voted another $9 billion of our money to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There was almost no opposition. 1 No vote in the Senate (Feingold), and 14 No votes in the House (Paul and Kucinich among them). The great fearless ones running for President on the Democratic side were all hiding in a broom closet somewhere too afraid to vote on this.
Seems like a big deal to me. Its not the final vote on the nearly $200 billion Bush and the Pentagon want, but its still a ugly picture of the Democrats lining up again to vote more money for more war.
The war can end whenever Congress wants it to end. It just needs a majority in the House or 41 Senators to say No to one of these bills. The American people have figured it out and want our nation out of there. Our goal for 2008 should be a Congress that respects that decision and implements it.
And it ain't gonna happen if that Congress is still composed of just Democrats and Republicans. We need to throw every single one (expect these 15) out of Congress.
Just wait awhile, it is going to be like living in the Congo pretty soon, ___ when the depression hits.
This country is on the slippery downslope of the Chinese dynastic cycle. The best things that are ever going to happen to it have already happened.
This is like living in Germany in 1939.
Maybe that's why the author wrote Blackwater has 1,000 employees in Iraq. Maybe most are back here now, preparing to do their next job?
Of course they may have 250,000 here already, how would we know?
And in case you've forgotten:
Homeland Security Contracts for Vast New Detention Camps
http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=eed74d9d44...
Anyone care to make a guess who will get the contract to fill the camps?
Haven't you noticed that there is often manifested a certain sort of "black humor" in this shitty government?
Anyway, the Pentagon has just sent another message to the world. The madman in the White House put it best. "F#$K YOU!"
Now watch Congress quickly vote that new $190 Billion for war. I don't know which is worse, the sewer rats that have infested DC, or the lemmings that continually vote them back into office and will follow them off a cliff into the sea.
Clark Kent: Because their souls are full of shit?
The "100,000+" figure includes all contractors in Iraq from many different providers and countries doing everything from food service to laundry to vehicle maintenance and, yes, combat ops. Blackwater's total is smaller-- but not so small as 1,000 I don't think.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/22/4016/ Jeremy Scahill is the authority on the subject (at least of those willing to talk about it publicly) and his book site is here: http://www.blackwaterbook.com/
There are many secrets and mysteries surrounding Blackwater USA, for example, why would anyone want to name their company after the stuff that gets dumped out of RV toilet tanks?
New Orleans could sure use $92 million ...
There are a number of fierce jihadists in our Government that insist on this type of check writing. The amount of 92 million is rather pedestrian considering the years of voracious feeding Bush Co has had at the trough. Blackwater is a minor parasite, a profitable swindle, with the lowest common denominator of gun toting stupidty, Americans need to destroy this company by suing them out of existence and that includes taking down the pubic servants who insist on the thoughtless status quo of destructive criminal behavior.
Why do we read reports that Blackwater has over 100,000 troops in Iraq, and this article states there are only a 1,000?
Whatever, at least they are still operating there, doing their "good deeds" and have a new contract, ___ I was concerned.