Blackwater security firm banned from Iraq

[William33 110]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's Interior Ministry has revoked the license of Blackwater Security Consulting, an American firm whose contractors are blamed for a Sunday gunbattle in Baghdad that left eight civilians dead.

The firefight took place near Nisoor Square about noon, an Interior Ministry official said Sunday. In addition to the fatalities, 14 people were wounded, most of them civilians, the official said.

Details were sketchy, but the official said witnesses reported that one side of the gunbattle involved Westerners driving sport utility vehicles, which security contractors often use. The state television network al-Iraqiya reported that a Western security company was involved in the shootout, but it did not identify the firm.

An official with the U.S. Embassy told The Associated Press that a State Department motorcade came under small-arms fire near Nisoor Square, and one of the vehicles was disabled.

The official said no State Department officials were injured but provided no information on Iraqi casualties, the AP reported.

Blackwater is one of many security firms contracted by the U.S. government during the Iraq war. An estimated 25,000-plus employees of private security firms are working in Iraq, guarding diplomats, reconstruction workers and government officials. As many as 200 are believed to have been killed on the job, according to U.S. congressional reports.

"We have revoked Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq. As of now they are not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq," Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf said Monday. "The investigation is ongoing, and all those responsible for Sunday's killing will be referred to Iraqi justice."

In a statement carried Sunday on al-Iraqiya, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said his government would punish those responsible and bar the company involved from working in Iraq.

Iraqi authorities have issued previous complaints about shootings by private military contractors, but Iraqi courts do not have the authority to bring contractors to trial, according to a July report from the Congressional Research Service.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee estimated in February that nearly $4 billion had been spent on security contracts amid the insurgency that followed the U.S. invasion in 2003 -- costs that have forced the delay, cancellation or scaling back of some reconstruction projects.

Meanwhile, seven people were killed and 31 others were detained Monday in U.S.-led coalition raids across Iraq, the U.S. military said.

The fatalities occurred west of Yusufiya, southwest of the capital, as coalition forces targeted two buildings used by al Qaeda in Iraq militants, who organize suicide attacks.

Armed men at one building drew weapons as troops approached, and the troops "engaged" the two and killed them, the statement said.

They killed four others who were apparently acting as lookouts and another who wouldn't surrender when ordered. Nineteen people were detained, the military said.

Troops arrested other suspects in regions north of the capital -- north of Taji, near Balad, in Baiji and near the Syrian border.

In Baghdad, three people were killed and 11 others were wounded Monday when a parked car detonated near a Shiite mosque on the edge of a densely populated Shiite neighborhood, an Interior Ministry official said.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/17/...main/index.html

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Some interesting facts about Blackwater...

The company and its secretive, mega-millionaire, right-wing Christian founder, Erik Prince, position Blackwater as a patriotic extension of the US military, and its employees are required to take an oath of loyalty to the Constitution. After the killings, Blackwater released a statement saying the "heinous mistreatment of our friends exhibits the extraordinary conditions under which we voluntarily work to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people…. Our tasks are dangerous and while we feel sadness for our fallen colleagues, we also feel pride and satisfaction that we are making a difference for the people of Iraq."

The company swiftly rose to international prominence: Journalists were flooding Blackwater with calls, and military types were clamoring to sign up for work. "They're angry…they're saying, 'Let me go over,'" Blackwater spokesman Chris Bertelli told the Virginian-Pilot ten days after the killings, adding that applications to work for Blackwater had increased "considerably" in that time. "It's natural to assume that the visibility of the dangers could drive up salaries for the folks who have to stand in the path of the bullets," he said.

A day after the killings, Prince enlisted the services of the Alexander Strategy Group, a now disgraced but once powerful Republican lobbying and PR firm. By the end of 2004 Blackwater's president, Gary Jackson, was bragging to the press of "staggering" 600 percent growth. "This is a billion-dollar industry," Jackson said in October 2004. "And Blackwater has only scratched the surface of it."

But today, Blackwater is facing a potentially devastating battle -- this time not in Iraq but in court. The company has been slapped with a lawsuit that, if successful, will send shock waves through the world of private security firms, a world that has expanded significantly since Bush took office. Blackwater is being sued for the wrongful deaths of Stephen "Scott" Helvenston, Mike Teague, Jerko Zovko and Wesley Batalona by the families of the men slain in Falluja.

More than 428 private contractors have been killed to date in Iraq, and US taxpayers are footing almost the entire compensation bill to their families. "This is a precedent-setting case," says Marc Miles, an attorney for the families. "Just like with tobacco litigation or gun litigation, once they lose that first case, they'd be fearful there would be other lawsuits to follow."

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13521

[almaty 19]

private security firms..were an accident waiting to happen

[William33 110]

Oh great, the USG is now supporting their billion dollar Cowboys, I mean contractors...

Condee is losing my respect.

Iraq battle deaths were self-defense, security firm says

Story Highlights

NEW: Blackwater says its employees acted in self-defense

Iraq blames the U.S. security firm for Sunday gunfight that killed eight civilians

Condoleezza Rice calls Iraqi prime minister to discuss gunbattle

Incident began when Western-style convoy came under fire in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi officials Monday condemned the weekend killings of eight civilians by American security contractors during a Baghdad street battle and said they would shut down Blackwater, the company involved.

Blackwater said its employees acted in self-defense. The U.S. State Department said it plans to investigate what it calls a "terrible incident."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to express regret for the weekend killings, both governments said.

In addition to the fatalities, 14 people were wounded, most of them civilians, an Iraqi official said.

Sunday's firefight took place near Nusoor Square, an area that straddles the predominantly Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Mansour and Yarmouk.

The ministry said the incident began around midday, when a convoy of sport utility vehicles came under fire from unidentified gunmen in the square. The men in the SUVs, described by witnesses as Westerners, returned fire, the ministry said.

Blackwater's employees were protecting a U.S. official when they were hit by "a large explosive device, then repeated small-arms fire -- and to the point where it disabled one of the vehicles, and the vehicle had to be towed out of the firefight," said Marty Strong, vice president of Blackwater USA.

A senior industry source said Blackwater guards had escorted a State Department group to a meeting with U.S. Agency for International Development officials in Mansour before the shootings.

A car bomb went off about 80 feet (25 meters) from the meeting site and the contractors started evacuating the State Department officials, he said. A State Department report on the attack said the convoy came under fire from an estimated eight to 10 people, some in Iraqi police uniforms.

The guards called for backup, at one point finding their escape route blocked by an Iraqi quick-reaction force that pointed heavy machine guns at one vehicle in the convoy. A U.S. Army force, backed by air cover, arrived about half an hour later to escort the convoy back to the Green Zone, the report states.

A team from another security company passed through the area shortly after the street battle.

"Our people saw a couple of cars destroyed," Carter Andress, CEO of American-Iraqi Solutions Groups, told CNN on Monday. "Dead bodies, wounded people being evacuated. The U.S. military had moved in and secured the area. It was not a good scene."

An Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf, said, "We have revoked Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq. As of now they are not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq. The investigation is ongoing, and all those responsible for Sunday's killing will be referred to Iraqi justice." Watch why the Interior Ministry revoked Blackwater's license »

Company and State Department officials said they had not been notified of any order to that effect.

Rice and al-Maliki agreed to conduct "a fair and transparent investigation into this incident" and punish those responsible, the prime minister's office said.

The Diplomatic Security Service has launched an official investigation, a review that will be supported by the Multi-National Forces-Iraq, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"The secretary wants to make sure we do everything we possibly can to avoid innocent loss of life," he said.

McCormack said that while the United States tries to avoid innocent casualties, "we are fighting people who don't play by any rules" and have no problem killing innocent civilians.

The weekend's incident raised concerns in the U.S. Congress about the use of private security guards. Rep. Henry Waxman, whose House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held hearings on contractor operations in February, said he will hold new hearings into the issue in light of Sunday's shootings.

"The controversy over Blackwater is an unfortunate demonstration of the perils of excessive reliance on private security contractors," said Waxman, D-California.

Blackwater, founded in 1997 and based in Moyock, North Carolina, is one of many security firms contracted by the U.S. government during the Iraq war. An estimated 25,000 employees of private security firms are working in Iraq, guarding diplomats, reconstruction workers and government officials. As many as 200 are believed to have been killed on the job, according to U.S. congressional reports.

Some Blackwater personnel died in a grisly attack in Iraq more than three years ago that sparked shock and outrage in the United States.

Four Americans working as private security personnel for Blackwater, all of whom were military veterans, were ambushed, killed and mutilated in March 2004 in Falluja, west of Baghdad.

People close to the company estimate it has lost about 30 employees during the war.

Iraqi authorities have issued previous complaints about shootings by private military contractors, the Congressional Research Service reported in July.

"Most recently, a news article discussing an incident in which a Blackwater guard shot dead an Iraqi driver in May 2007 quoted an Iraqi official's statement that the Iraqi Interior Ministry had received four previous complaints of shootings involving Blackwater employees," the congressional service report said.

The Congressional Research Service report cited other concerns, such as "the apparent lack of a practical means to hold contractors accountable under U.S. law for abuses and other transgressions and the possibility that they could be prosecuted by foreign courts."

The reported added, "Iraqi courts do not have jurisdiction to prosecute contractors without the permission of the relevant member country of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq."

Contractors fall under Justice Department and FBI jurisdiction for alleged crimes, said a Pentagon official, who confirmed the accuracy of the congressional report.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/17/...main/index.html

[Jasman0717 9]

private security firms..were an accident waiting to happen

Ain't that the truth

[GaryC 7]

I don't get it. I read both stories and it looks like the private contractors were ambushed. From what I see all they did was protect themselves. Why the huge outcry? Should they have just stood there and get mowed down?

[Dan J 277]

I don't get it. I read both stories and it looks like the private contractors were ambushed. From what I see all they did was protect themselves. Why the huge outcry? Should they have just stood there and get mowed down?

Even if your getting shot at, you are still not suppose to shoot indiscriminately. Only at the people shooting at you. They took it too far killing several civilians in the process.

[mRx 16]

I don't get it. I read both stories and it looks like the private contractors were ambushed. From what I see all they did was protect themselves. Why the huge outcry? Should they have just stood there and get mowed down?

Even if your getting shot at, you are still not suppose to shoot indiscriminately. Only at the people shooting at you. They took it too far killing several civilians in the process.

Sunday afternoon...crowded shopping square... The attackers created a "soft shield" between themselves and the Blackwater contractors. Al-Malaki's response to the incident, blindly banning Blackwater from operating in Iraq without a full investigation, has won that battle for the insurgents.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I don't get it. I read both stories and it looks like the private contractors were ambushed. From what I see all they did was protect themselves. Why the huge outcry? Should they have just stood there and get mowed down?

No - but there is a big picture here. What rules are these guys bound by as far as rules of engagement go? Who are they accountable to? Who vets their hiring procedures?

As I see it - this could a watershed moment for these guys.

Robin Horsfall, a former SAS trooper who has worked as a security guard in the Middle East, said money was the sole reason these jobs were taken up.

"I know of serving soldiers who are returning, signing off and then taking the opportunity to go back to Iraq to provide security services out there," he said.

"If you think of the what a man earns in the UK, maybe £500 a week, we're talking about £500 a day. You could pay off your mortgage if you do that for a year."

He said companies preferred private contractors to local guards, "as they are likely to be affiliated with local groups, you can't rely on them not to set up an ambush".

However, he said, the job could be even more dangerous than serving in the armed forces.

"It's much more high-risk than being a soldier, you don't have the air support and the backup that the armed forces have. You're on your own.

"Soldiers are finding that they are working alongside people who are nightclub security guards with very limited experience...

"It can be very dangerous."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6700765.stm

[Caladan 19]

In another time, we would have called these guys Hessians and argued forcefully in a declaration of independence that the use of such mercenaries was unconscionable because they weren't accountable to anyone.

Apparently this isn't the first incident... we're talking several years of Iraqi civilians being accidentally or indiscriminately killed. So Iraq pulled their license.

[Dan J 277]

In another time, we would have called these guys Hessians and argued forcefully in a declaration of independence that the use of such mercenaries was unconscionable because they weren't accountable to anyone.

Apparently this isn't the first incident... we're talking several years of Iraqi civilians being accidentally or indiscriminately killed. So Iraq pulled their license.

They don't like the term mercenary, but thats pretty much what they are.

They work outside of the military justice system. And they are not accountable under Iraqi or US law. So they can do stupid stuff, give the US forces a bad name, and we cant do anything about it, but end their contract.

Considering most of their contracts are no bid, there is no competition in the bidding process, so they can charge just about whatever they want. Not really seeing the advantage of using mercenaries.

[Ban Hammer 14,291]

In another time, we would have called these guys Hessians and argued forcefully in a declaration of independence that the use of such mercenaries was unconscionable because they weren't accountable to anyone.

Apparently this isn't the first incident... we're talking several years of Iraqi civilians being accidentally or indiscriminately killed. So Iraq pulled their license.

They don't like the term mercenary, but thats pretty much what they are.

They work outside of the military justice system.

And they are not accountable under Iraqi or US law. So they can do stupid stuff, give the US forces a bad name, and we cant do anything about it, but end their contract.

Considering most of their contracts are no bid, there is no competition in the bidding process, so they can charge just about whatever they want. Not really seeing the advantage of using mercenaries.

first bolded part.......um, they ain't in the military so what's the problem? the military justice system is for those in the military....

second bolded part. did you miss this in the op? "Contractors fall under Justice Department and FBI jurisdiction for alleged crimes, said a Pentagon official, who confirmed the accuracy of the congressional report." i really fail to see what you are complaining about as them falling under justice department/fbi jurisdiction pretty much blows your arguement outta the water.

[Dan J 277]

In another time, we would have called these guys Hessians and argued forcefully in a declaration of independence that the use of such mercenaries was unconscionable because they weren't accountable to anyone.

Apparently this isn't the first incident... we're talking several years of Iraqi civilians being accidentally or indiscriminately killed. So Iraq pulled their license.

They don't like the term mercenary, but thats pretty much what they are.

They work outside of the military justice system.

And they are not accountable under Iraqi or US law. So they can do stupid stuff, give the US forces a bad name, and we cant do anything about it, but end their contract.

Considering most of their contracts are no bid, there is no competition in the bidding process, so they can charge just about whatever they want. Not really seeing the advantage of using mercenaries.

first bolded part.......um, they ain't in the military so what's the problem? the military justice system is for those in the military....

second bolded part. did you miss this in the op? "Contractors fall under Justice Department and FBI jurisdiction for alleged crimes, said a Pentagon official, who confirmed the accuracy of the congressional report." i really fail to see what you are complaining about as them falling under justice department/fbi jurisdiction pretty much blows your arguement outta the water.

Actually your right, but they were immune to any persecution up until this year. A bill passed this year, made them percecutable under the military code of justice.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

In another time, we would have called these guys Hessians and argued forcefully in a declaration of independence that the use of such mercenaries was unconscionable because they weren't accountable to anyone.

Apparently this isn't the first incident... we're talking several years of Iraqi civilians being accidentally or indiscriminately killed. So Iraq pulled their license.

They don't like the term mercenary, but thats pretty much what they are.

They work outside of the military justice system.

And they are not accountable under Iraqi or US law. So they can do stupid stuff, give the US forces a bad name, and we cant do anything about it, but end their contract.

Considering most of their contracts are no bid, there is no competition in the bidding process, so they can charge just about whatever they want. Not really seeing the advantage of using mercenaries.

first bolded part.......um, they ain't in the military so what's the problem? the military justice system is for those in the military....

second bolded part. did you miss this in the op? "Contractors fall under Justice Department and FBI jurisdiction for alleged crimes, said a Pentagon official, who confirmed the accuracy of the congressional report." i really fail to see what you are complaining about as them falling under justice department/fbi jurisdiction pretty much blows your arguement outta the water.

Actually your right, but they were immune to any persecution up until this year. A bill passed this year, made them percecutable under the military code of justice.

That following the infamous press conference question that GWB 'couldn't' answer.

Today I see that the Iraqi govt is reviewing all contract security firms. Good for them.

Edited September 18, 2007 by Number 6

[Cécy 44]

I'm too lazy to read all the posts and all. But I have to say that I'm happy they got their contract stopped. I listened to a NPR report a few months ago and I remember hearing that the big problem was that the people working for blackwater were accountable to no one. I'm sorry but if they are employed by the government and doing the equivalent of military jobs, then they should be accountable to the government.

I find it extremely dangerous when you have mercenary like people who don't have to answer to their acts in anyway. It's about time it stops.

What kind of an example is it for the Iraqi people if a US company kills some of their citizens (no matter the reason) without being accountable for it?