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TechnoratiProsecuting private security contractors for shooting Iraqi civilians might be impossible.
Federal agents investigating the Sept. 16 killing of 17 Iraqi civilians by operatives of the Blackwater security company have concluded that 14 were victims of unjustified and unprovoked shootings. Some died in a hail of bullets as they fled. The investigators also have rejected assertions by Blackwater that its forces were defending themselves, saying there is no evidence to support that claim.
This initial glimpse into the evidence uncovered by the FBI bolsters the Iraqi government's claim (made within hours of the shootings in Baghdad's Nisoor Square) that the killings were criminal, as well as the findings of a U.S. military investigation that called all 17 of the killings unjustified. But that raises a crucial and complicated question: Who will prosecute the killers?
The answer may be no one. That certainly seemed to be the view of veteran diplomat Patrick Kennedy, who recently reviewed the State Department's use of private security. Kennedy and his team came back from Baghdad concluding that they were "unaware of any basis for holding non-Department of Defense contractors accountable under U.S. law."
Although the FBI conclusions appear damning, each of the three potential avenues for prosecuting Blackwater have fatal flaws:
U.S. civilian law: The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000 provides for prosecution in federal court of U.S. contractors for crimes committed overseas. The problem is that this law only applies to contractors working for or directly accompanying the U.S. military. Blackwater works for the State Department in Iraq as "diplomatic security," which is separate from military operations. Legislation has been introduced that would expand the act to apply to all contractors, but not retroactively. The Justice Department might argue that the Blackwater guards were indeed accompanying the military, but courts could well throw out such a case.
U.S. military law: In late 2006, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) inserted an amendment in the Defense Authorization Act that places all U.S. contractors under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the court-martial system. But this has not been tested, and the Department of Defense has shown no desire to use this option against any security contractors -- let alone ones who aren't working for the military. Facing a military prosecution, Blackwater could even get support from civil libertarians, who would see it as a creep toward applying military law to civilians.
Iraqi law: The Iraqi government wants to prosecute the Blackwater shooters in its courts, but that isn't going to happen. The day before L. Paul Bremer III ended his tenure as the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq in June 2004, he issued Order 17. It grants all contractors sweeping immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts. There is a provision that allows the U.S. to lift immunity in individual cases, but Washington would never hand over a U.S. citizen to an Iraqi court.
"These legal loopholes amount, in practice, to a license to kill with impunity," says Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is suing Blackwater for wrongful death and war crimes in federal court over the shootings. "There is no genuine deterrence to acting unlawfully."
Even if the Justice Department moves forward, the investigation was contaminated from the start. The State Department's initial report on the shooting was drafted by a Blackwater contractor on U.S. government stationery. Two weeks passed before the FBI was dispatched to investigate; for two weeks, the only people looking into this crime were from a non-law-enforcment agency, the State Department, which had potential culpability of its own.
Then there is this fact: The State Department inspector general, Howard Krongard, who previously has been accused of impeding investigations into Blackwater, has direct family ties to the company. His brother, A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, former CIA executive director, this year joined Blackwater's advisory board as a paid consultant. While at the CIA, Krongard played a role in Blackwater's first soldier-for-hire contract in Afghanistan in 2002.
Late last month, it emerged that the State Department had granted "limited use immunity" to some Blackwater operatives involved in the shootings before taking their statements. The result? Some Blackwater agents reportedly have refused to answer FBI questions, and those statements cannot be used as evidence, nor can any charges be based on them.
The immunity-for-statements deal calls the State Department's motivation into question, says military law expert Scott Horton of Human Rights First. "It seems less to be to collect the facts than to immunize Blackwater and its employees." This makes prosecution in any venue difficult, if not impossible.
The Bush administration has overseen a radical privatization of the U.S. war machine. There are now more private contractors in Iraq -- tens of thousands of them armed -- than U.S. troops. At the same time, the White House has militarized the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, staffing it with private warriors from Blackwater, DynCorp International and Triple Canopy. This force, conceived as a small-scale bodyguard operation for U.S. diplomats, now constitutes a paramilitary squad thousands strong, seemingly accountable to no one.
Although Blackwater's operatives must be held accountable, this is not just a case of rooting out "bad apples." These forces were deployed without any accountability structure or effective oversight; their mission was to keep U.S. officials alive by any means necessary. Blackwater has done that job, but we may never know how many Iraqis have died as a result. The investigation must determine which operatives killed the Iraqis on Sept. 16, but it can't stop there. It must extend to those who hired them and deployed them, armed, dangerous and apparently above the law.
Jeremy Scahill is the author of the New York Times bestseller Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. He is currently a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at the Nation Institute.
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
38 Comments so far
Show Allhazmat:
"the entire u.s. nuclear weapons program is under the dept. of energy, not "defense," in an effort to conceal the true costs."
Sheds new light on BushCo's insistence that Iran's "nucular" power can only be for military purposes, doesn't it? They started with the "man-in-the-mirror" and haven't got past him.
Make up the rules and disreguard the ones you don't like or that get in your way? Do you find anything wrong with this ???
IMPEACH AND PROSECUTE NOW ACCORDING TO THE US CONSTITUTION
Which is another bunch of rules and regulations which have been disreguarded by all branches of our so called government.....top to bottom, and this includes you and me folks.....da da da dats all
As Scahill points out, Krongard is the IG (Inspector General) of the State Department, and in his book he has a long section on Joseph Schmitz, IG of the DoD. These are the top overseers of those two vast government departments. Both men are the most cynical supporters of corporate interests - both men block any attempts at real oversight that are initiated by real investigators within thier departments - they should be held criminally responsible for their obvious fraud and wilfull perversion of the public trust.
MeAlsoToo,
The privatization that Klein is referring to involves the use of US government funds to pay private entities to perform functions traditionally performed by government. Blackwater is paid with US government funds; there is no dispute regarding that.
"As Naomi Klein argues in "The Shock Doctrine," the private armies, and their immunity from the laws, are the natural end result of the privatization mania of Bush and his neoliberal/neoconservative contemporaries and predecessors."
There is simply 'no-way' the huge investments in Blackwater&similar took place as 'private-investment' -- at least, not without promises/contracts in-advance from "powers that be"...
"I can almost-guarantee you that covertly-obtained/'managed' CIA-Funds (such as from illicit/controlled/re-directed-profits from the Drug-trade) has itself financed the 'private' investments behind Blackwater-and-similar.
As for any compunction on the part of the CIA, or other 'defense-entities', to exploit them for 'American-Interests'…please! You are discussing the same-folks who near-openly funneled vast-support through Pakistan's ISA to the 'freedom-fighters of the Mujahideen' — anyone willing to fund-then-'use' BinLaden&Pals will indeed use-'anyone'…"
As Naomi Klein argues in "The Shock Doctrine," the private armies, and their immunity from the laws, are the natural end result of the privatization mania of Bush and his neoliberal/neoconservative contemporaries and predecessors.
Bush and Cheney believe in the religion of Friedmanism, as their god was Milton Friedman. They ignore all the evidence that Friedmanism is inconsistent with the general welfare, particularly because it enhances, at least temporarily, the welfare of the well-connected elites, the group to which they belong. Bush does not have the ability, let alone the desire, to understand that economics is merely a social science full of speculation and self-serving hypotheses, and that there are theoretically an infinite number of economic and political systems and economic-political system combinations. Only a complete fool or madman would believe there existed a demonstrably optimal one, one of such clear superiority that it justified the invasion of a nation by a foreign power, and the murder of hundreds of thousands of people and impoverishment of millions, in order for a foreign agent to install it.
And, similarly, only a complete fool or madman could sit idly by while bloodthirsty Blackwater guards murder innocents in broad daylight with impunity, undermining the entire grand robbery. And Bush does.
Blackwater (and other) US-merc's well-know, and are so-informed, that they operate 'Above Any Law' (that, in-fact, is a large-part of why they come to act in these-fashions -- as is [and will-be] every-bit as 'true' for the current/future US Executive-branch -- initially, in regards to Foreign/Security-Policies, and later...?
[I guess "the sky is the-limit"?]
Accept all-this, then please -- be prepared to accept-all-that-follows...
File but don't pay your Fed tax. The IRS will added it up and add additional fees and fines and will try to take it from your pay check if you work for salary or wage but unlike the Dems in congress ...refuse to pay for the criminal policies of Bush.
Byrne "Unfortunately, the activist fervor of the sixties is dead. The reason…no draft."
Agreed - 1,000% Except for the too-few, U.S. citizens have not the ability to take action until it impacts them hugely AND directly. Most can't see the connection between Blackwater and the 1/4 step we still have at the end of the plank before the drop into complete facism. Most don't even see it as THEIR money that's being spent for Blackwater - it's their children's money, and they'll be dead.
A draft would help, most certainly. I e-mailed it to my representative a couple of times right after the invasion. Predictible no response.
Boycott ! ! The corporations react to loss of greed/feed. A broad boycott waters-down our efforts, so focus on a razor sharp edge that bleeds one energy/military-industrial-complex corp and overwhelms its ability to feed & breed. Thickets of pickets will become killer T-cells that prevent the parasite from feeding & cause the virus to ooze its life forces. With an excessive number of viruses feeding on the body-politic, where best can we assault this cancer on Democracy ? We, the involved - who do not subscribe to the corporate-authorized view of Reality - must focus upon the cheney viruses that require immediate action ! I, as a veteran & member of Veterans For Peace, seek a NON-violent means of terminating this cancer on congress, too. BOYCOTT ! walmart's boycott continues, so what other corp offers its arrogant, soft belly to the Peace Movement's boycott of a single corporation ? chevron ? exxon ? So, in a democratic effort, this dialog thru Common Dreams & other sites must point out the target virus for boycott. Recommendations ?
The motto of the US populace:
"Somnabulists are us"
"The day before L. Paul Bremer III ended his tenure as the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq in June 2004, he issued Order 17. It grants all contractors sweeping immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts."
And the Iraqis continue to abide by this "order" why, exactly? Corruption running rampant, oil smuggling gone wild, murders, hit squads, etc - but they dare not defy "Order 17"?
If the Iraq government ignored said order and started doing their job via arresting murders regardless of nationality, what would we do? Sue them for not obeying Order 17, which wasn't their choice to begin with?
It's getting mindbendingly silly...
I agree with AddYourVoice. Unfortunately, the activist fervor of the sixties is dead. The reason...no draft. You reinstate the draft and you'll see how many people will take it to the streets and shut down the American war machine. NIMBY is a disease. Families are more interested in driving (in SUVs) their kids to football games, etc. The draft will wake'em up!
Our President is a war criminal!
Our Vice President is a war criminal!
Some members of Blackwater are war criminals!
And yet still we do NOTHING! Why aren't millions of us marching in the streets and interferring with their precious business?
I say hit them where they'll understand: stop using their businesses. If it's not a critical need, don't SHOP!
Vote ALL of these criminals out of office. If you don't vote in this election, you should not call yourself an American!
How far in the future are UN sanctions against America?
At least they can put Erik Prince in prison, because he lied to congress. But will they?
limric is correct, these private Republican military groups are a new Waffen SS. Loyal to the Neocons and the Empire. Will they be used against Americans? I believe they were involved in the post Katrina operations in New Orleans.
The entire mercenary army issue is a real horror show - and it's unconscionable that our tax dollars go to pay their salaries far in excess of what real soldiers are paid. The war itself is bad enough, but it has also brought so many other atrocities into the picture, it's hard to believe that we can recover from it.
Our economy is in the toilet due to the 1.6 trillion dollar price tag on our middle east ventures. We have hundreds of homeless veterans on the street and others in hospitals. Many vets with post traumatic stress disorder are being discharged without medical benefits because the army doctors are diagnosing them with personality defects (as a recent article in the Nation has reported).
The rest of the world sees the US as a bigger terrorist threat than virtually any other organization, and our country is so divided in its philosophy concerning patriotism and morality, it seems almost impossible to find common ground.
We have a president who is both a laughing stock and a poster child for the worst of American imperialism. The congress that was supposed to put a stop to the Bush regime's excesses still cowers in fear, trying to appear strong on defense and coming off as complete wimps in the face of opposition from the White House.
Blackwater is a symptom of something that has gone rotten in the American experiment. If the cancer is removed, the rest of the symptoms should also be eradicated. But as is well known, once cancer metastasizes thoughout the body, a cure is hard if not impossible to find, and the body suffers a great deal in the process.
Jeremy Scahill forgot something: international law. The Blackwater thugs and the unprincely Eric Prince should stand trial at the Hague for war crimes, specifically those regarding the 4th Geneva Conventions.
Scahill is right that this is not a problem of a few apples gone bad. The Bush administration in general should be put on trial for the illegal Iraq war, which is basically one giant war crime containing an infinite amount of war crimes.
Gnossos:
"ALL of the killing that has taken place since 2003 (and before if you consider that the US military was making bombing raids in Iraq long before war was declared) should be considered illegal."
I would take that statement a step back to 9/11/01:
http://investigate911.se/911_Truth_vs_Mainstream_Media.html
People don't worry about these killers not being prosecuted, they will. Paul Bremer's order #17 and all the other orders he issued are not legally binding. They are War Crimes. No country can invade another, then create laws, enslave it's people, (people from other countries also), set up permanent bases, steal their resources and get away with it. Time will catch up to them, unfortunately for us, it's not soon enough.
So, I hope when Blackwater tries to establish a training center in southern California, they are presented as the murderers and war whores they really are.
What I do not understand, is why don't the Iraqis remove Order 17 from their constitution? That would not help prosecute the Nisoor Sq killers, but it would be a big step forward in preventing future atrocities by contractors.
I wonder if Pat Tillmans death had a blackwater trigger man?
Nahhhh, couldn't be - blackwater is a PATRIOTIC group, loyal to, ummmm, oh, that's right, a paycheck....
Its the fascist dream. Killers, loyal not to a country or cause, but to a paycheck.
Christofascist cursaders. Pull our volunteer army out, and leave these thugs to defend for themselves, and the oil executives who want to patrol Iraq, looking for oil to steal.
HAZMAT IS RIGHT...( hazmat and annabell,w.s.sally said to tell you both'hello'she has missed you all,since she was censored and kicked off the cd forum)
what about the fact that blackwater was paid with the u.s.a. citizens taxpayers money ??what about all that money that was supposed to be for our legitimate armed forces,and was misdirected and misappropriated and paid to blackwater ??doesnt that change anything ??they were paid with money belonging to the people of the u.s.a. and the people did not know the money was for scum-merceneraries....the people believed the money was for 'support of OUR troops' !!!!if there is truly no avenue to prosecute blackwater(and i dont believe that)there still must be a way to have them labled a "TERRORIST"organization and place them on the terrorist list,where they belong.also,there are credible allegations that blackwater was behind several 'friendly fire'and other 'accidental'deaths,involving our own legitimate soldiers...for this they COULD BE PROSECUTED !!!!
From Jack London's IRON HEEL: "Another great institution that had taken form and was working smoothly was the Mercenaries. This body of soldiers had been evolved out of the old regular army and was now a million strong, to say nothing of the colonial forces. The Mercenaries constituted a race apart. They dwelt in cities of their own which were practically self-governed, and they were granted many privileges. By them a large portion of the perplexing surplus was consumed. They were losing all touch and sympathy with the rest of the people, and, in fact, were developing their own class morality and consciousness."
Hoa binh
re kent shaw 1:22 pm
not to let shrub off the hook, but this has been going on for decades. the entire u.s. nuclear weapons program is under the dept. of energy, not "defense," in an effort to conceal the true costs.
On top of it all, Blackwater has been funded through the State Department. It is not clear to me whether the actual funds come out of the Pentagon budget or the State budget, but if it is the latter then we can add the cost onto the already bloated Iraq war costs. I suspect actual funds come from State because this is the sort of deception always conducted by the Bush/Cheney Junta.
kissinger acolyte bremer's order 17, by preventing the maliki government from pursuing justice for its citizens, seems to call into question shrub's assertions that iraq is now a sovereign democratic nation.
to the iraqi resistance, i say kill the mercenaries over there so we don't have to kill them here.
Another point to ponder is the fact that now that the Blackwater Jeenie is out of the lamp,they will NEVER be shut down. There is just to much money involved. What worries me is; what will they do when(if ever)we extract ourselves from Iraq & Afganistan. A new American SS ready to round up those who do not approve?
Just once I would like to read something positive that the Bush Company has done for the good of the American people, as well as people the world over. This big private army at Bush's finger tips is probably the scariest thing he has done, far scarier than the all of those nasty terrorists that are coming here to 'get' us.. As the personnel of Blackwater is from around the world you wouldn't be able to count on them to uphold your rights. You may hope that those boys would have sentimental ties to friends and family, but I sure wouldn't want to place any bets on it,
State Department decision-makers, including Rice, may be held criminally liable under our laws for Blackwater's homicidal rampages.
So that leaves the victim's families only one option, which is Vendetta.
The perps, who will all become known, will get, and will deserve, their miserable ends.
I sure would not want to a share a surname with any of those stupid fucks.
This unjusitfiable use of force is one in a long line. Consider that this entire war was never justified. All of the evidence the administration presented was out of date or completely constructed for the purpose of getting us into a country we've wanted to put reins on since Bush the first. ALL of the killing that has taken place since 2003 (and before if you consider that the US military was making bombing raids in Iraq long before war was declared) should be considered illegal.
"The Bush administration has overseen a radical privatization of the U.S. war machine."
War for profit! Dubya, I love ya!
~Daddy Warbucks
"You believe, as I do, that every human life has value, that the strong have a duty to protect the weak, and that the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence apply to everyone, not just to those considered healthy or wanted or convenient." -- George W Bush
Taking the president at his word, one must conclude that Iraqis don`t fall within his defintion of human life. Perhaps they`d stand a better chance if they were deer or moose. At least their killers would then require a hunting permit and be subject to prosecution for not following game preservation rules.
Law and war, a hazy mix. My Lai wasn't exceptional, until it was pushed into public debate. In other words, Blackwater has operated exclusively within the law, lately meeting some withering protest. Can't deny Machiavelli's prophetic writing, as it's well known that mechanized savagery always embraces it's guiding principles.