Politics As Usual
Shining a Light on Power and Policy
Tom Shine covers congressional politics for ABC News.
RECENT POSTS
- "The Stories Are Shocking In Their Simplicity And Brutality..."
- "Pipes Have Voltage, Get Shocked In The Shower"
- She May Have to Take the Stand "For Mommy" a Second Time
- The Army Calls A Reverse And Orders Football Star Caleb Campbell To Serve
- "I Have Broken The Cycle Of Obesity..."
- "When I Joined the Navy, I Didn’t Know I Was Gay"
- You Might Not Be Able To Afford The Groceries, But Your Shopping Cart Will Be Clean
- For the Petersons 'The Price is Right'
- 8,763 DISABLED VETS DIED BEFORE THEIR CASES WERE REVIEWED
- HOLY PATRICK LEAHY, BATMAN!
MONTHLY ARCHIVES
« Previous | Main | Next »
BLACKWATER'S ACTIONS COULD HURT THE U.S. "WORSE THAN ABU GHRAIB"
October 02, 2007 8:12 AM
The 15 page staff memorandum prepared for House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman is full of horrific incidents involving Blackwater contractors. What follows comes from that memo.
It was Christmas eve, 2006 and a Blackwater contractor was attending a party, during which he consumed several alcoholic beverages and was described as drunk by witnesses. Between 10:30 and 11:30pm the Blackwater contractor carrying a GLOCK 9 mm pistol passed through a gate near the Iraqi Prime Minister's compound and was stopped by an Iraqi guard who was on duty. According to the account in the memo, the Blackwater contractor fired multiple shots, three of which struck the guard and then fled the scene. The wounded Iraqi guard was taken to the 28th Combat Army Support Hospital where he was pronounced dead while the Blackwater contractor fled to a guard post operated by another contractor, Triple Canopy. He told a story of being chased and attacked by Iraqis and said he had not been drinking. Later Blackwater would terminate him and arrange to have him flown out of the country.
U.S. officials immediately knew they had a serious problem. On Christmas day, 2006, the U.S. Embassy Charge d' Affaires said Blackwater should immediately write a letter of apology and pay a "SIZEABLE COMPENSATION" of $250,000. Later that recommendation was lowered to $100,000. But the Embassy Diplomatic Security Service called those proposals "CRAZY SUMS" and said such an action "could cause the Iraqis TO TRY AND GET KILLED SO AS TO SET UP THEIR FAMILIES FINANCIALLY. Noting that there previously had been a payout of $5,000 for "A GUY'S CAR and a WOUND TO THE LEG," the official recommended a $15,000 to $25,000 payment."
The memo also recounts a November 28th, 2005 incident involving a BLACKWATER MOTORCADE traveling to and from the Ministry of Oil for official meetings which COLLIDED with 18 DIFFERENT VEHICLES during the round trip---6 ON THE WAY TO THE MINISTRY and 12 VEHICLES ON THE RETURN TRIP. Blackwater officials determined that its own employees gave "INVALID, INACCURATE, and at BEST DISHONEST REPORTING" of the incident. Two were fired.
The Waxman briefing memo quotes a senior U.S. Military official as saying that the "The IMPACT of BLACKWATER'S actions on IRAQI ATTITUDES toward U.S. Forces is GOING TO HURT US BADLY and MAY BE WORSE THAN ABU GRAIB."
ERIK PRINCE, the owner of BLACKWATER, a company which has seen its FEDERAL CONTRACTS INCREASE from $736,906 in 2001 to $593,601,952 in 2006 to total over $1 BILLION is expected to strongly defend his company.
October 2, 2007 in Iraq | Permalink | User Comments (1)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
In the beginning, by and large, the US was given begrudging support from the Iraqis, but the travesty at Abu Ghraib lost any remaining positive feelings from the Iraqi populous. I shudder to think what the repurcussions from an Iraqi reaction that "may be worse than Abu Ghraib"
Posted by: pete sampras | Oct 10, 2007 2:40:16 PM
Post a comment
