The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing tomorrow on Blackwater’s activities in Iraq, and by all indications, lawmakers will have plenty to talk about.
Guards working in Iraq for Blackwater USA have shot innocent Iraqi civilians and have sought to cover up the incidents, sometimes with the help of the State Department, a report prepared for a Congressional committee said today.
The report, based largely on internal Blackwater e-mail messages and State Department documents, depicts the security contractor as being staffed with reckless, shoot-first guards who were not always sober and did not always stop to see who or what was hit by their bullets.
In one incident, the State Department and Blackwater agreed to pay $15,000 to the family of a man killed by “a drunken Blackwater contractor,” the report said. As a State Department official wrote, “We would like to help them resolve this so we can continue with our protective mission.”
And when it comes to alleged Blackwater malfeasance, that’s really just scratching the surface.
Also note, Republicans want Waxman to postpone the hearing, and despite the scandals, Blackwater keeps getting lucrative contracts.
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It is a Condoleezza cover-up.
-GSD
Still waiting for someone to post the names, addresses, and phone numbers of the Blackwater employees and the owners and business officers. Waiting.
Totally out of control. Why are we paying for a private army that costs us 3-5 times what we pay our military.
The shit has hit the fan. Only question now is, will anyone do anything about it?
when did State give up the “hearts and minds” campaign,why did they go Rambo? Bringing democracy one dead Iraqi at a time.
Talk about the tail wagging the dog… Wouldn’t it even be in the Republican best interest to control that evangelical mad-dog that runs Blackwater? I mean really, he sure hasn’t helped them politically on the balance. (Financially, sure).
Is it just arrogance that they think that screwing up our chances in Iraq doesn’t matter? Or can they really not control some of their own no-bid-contract paid-for goons? If they’re going to be corrupt they could at least be competent corrupt politicians.
Since Cofer Black is part of Blackwater, my guess is, this will just be investigated until the next scandel erupts.
A local right wing radio show defended Blackwater insisting they are ‘protecting freedom’, any anyone who opposes their actions ‘hates freedom.
For the love of Jeff, please someone, how exactly do right wingers DEFINE the woird ‘freedom’?
Blackwater’s reality doesnt seem very Christian Mr Prince.
Senate approves $150B in war funding AP - 1 hour, 20 minutes ago
can you say…. state sponsored terrorism…
GO GET EM WAXMAN!
eddienic @ 5:
It’s not just the poor Iraqis, ask any soldier that has had run-ins with these assholes. They get up into the faces of military guys and they know damn good and well that guys in uniform can’t do shit because they’re are subjet to the UCMJ. Blackwater is not. They are complete dickwads. And many of the lower level guys couldn’t pass the background checks here in the states to get rent-a-cop jobs, but over there who gives a shit. They’re a danger to everybody.
Choam Nomsky @ 8:
“Freedom is whatever Daddy tells us to do.”
GSD @ 1:
Condi has no conscience. No soul. No real intellect. She is empty. And capable of being manipulated.
Anyone still doubt this administration supports terrorists? Blackwater certainly qualifies as a terrorist group by any nations standards. We need laws passed NOW to put this group out of business to bar it’s murderers from coming back into the USA when they will no doubt commit more terrorist acts in the name of the GOP when they lose the election next fall.
VietVet8666 @ 15:
Yep. She used to be a Dem. Apparently thought she would be on faster track to the top with Repubs so she switched parties without missing a beat.
Stop using Blackwater? But then how will Halliburton and all the other crooks steal so much money?
Blackwater is not the problem, Blackwater is a symptom of the bigger problem; our government is controlled by immoral criminals. If Blackwater is kicked out of Iraq, all the bad crap will go on with Blackwater being replaced by some other company. While Blackwater isn’t something I support as I don’t want there to be private armies, they are going to end up being the scapegoat just like the guards at Abu Ghraib.
No one could have predicted that the Bush administration and its corporate donors would cover anything up.
wtf another hearing , wtf another hearing wtf another hearing wtfs it matter
Bitch bitch bitch. Don’t you people realize that there is baseball going on right now? Hello–America’s pastime?
SD up on the Rox, 5 to 4. A real pitchers’ duel.
Well at least Blackwater is providing jobs for all of those young reckless men coming out of prison.
Winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqis one bullet, or in the case of Blackwater, multiple bullets at a time.
So what else is new? THis administration is the worst and most corrupt in history.
It was also the military contractors in Abu Ghraib that pushed for torture. What is prohibited in the constitution, the Bush Administration hires mercenaries to perform. We should revoke their citizenship.
When the US hires murderers for hire we all suffer.
im ready to join up !the republican army can start the war in the south we can get them from the north choose yer side!
The day will come when people look back to this time in total disbelief. They will wonder how a free country could give up it’s rights to a madman in the hopes of attaining a sense of security. . .
tyree @ 20:
At the moment, the smirking chimp has a pardoning pen, and we have a compromised justice department. If we prosecute anyone, he is just going to pardon them…so we sit on our hands and wait for another 14 months to get justice.
V V
Vitam Vas @ 28:
my justice for thems called colt 45 1911
they also shoot serving US soldiers.
Praise Jaysus! A-MEN, brothers! Larry Craig is NOT gay, and Blackwater serves god’s(tm) will!
Godless SOB @ 31:
gods will?
God this makes me so angry. We invaded a country for no legitimate reason and just destroy it. And just to add to the misery we allow blackwater types to stomp their way around, bullying as they went. There was such a lack of respect. Will the blackwater people be held accountable? You know, the world is still looking for the war criminals of Bosnia. What makes these guys any different? The fact that they are American? It’s criminal.
Jeanne @ 33:
they will be tough on mop up opperations
swarmofkillermonkeys @ 6:
You’re missing the point - don’t use your moral imperatives to analyze their actions. The Bush Administration put Blackwater in Iraq, (and in New Orleans after Katrina), and they are not looking at this the same way you are. Seriously. They are just fine with what Blackwater’s doing.
Think about it: why would Bush have signed an Executive Order which granted immunity from legal prosecuton to all American corporations and their employees at the start of his little Iraqi business venture? Why? (http://www.motherjones.com/bush_war_timeline/archives/2003/05/may_22_2003_1.html),
American corporations in Iraq have carte blanche to commit murder because George W. Bush wanted it that way and signed an order to make it that way.
They haven’t screwed up in Iraq at all. When your political philosophy is “When there’s blood in the streets, there’s money to be made”, then endless war is just what you want.
Bush and his buddies will continue to suck every last drop of blood out of Iraq until he is forcibly stopped.
And I got news for you: as far as Bush is concerned, we’re all Iraqis, just here to enrich him & his buddies.
Dana @ 4:
No, but eventually the public will blame Democrats for this.
We’re going to spend years getting out from under the mess Bush has created.
One should ask, if Blackwater were to be deployed again in the US, would citizens have the right of shoot first and ask questions later concerning them as they would probably do the same to us.
swarmofkillermonkeys @ 6:
Exactly …. dead on.
Yep, we lowly citizens are being EnWronged by Bush/Cheney. “Trust us” they say, as we keep thinking the government has our best interests at heart, and they bankrupt the entire country financially militarily and morally.
dothehop @ 37:
i vote yes
Most people ignore what is happening because they spend day after day trying to make a living. Who has time to think when your working ten hours days and spending two in traffic? The Bush administration is counting on the people’s apathy. I wonder how many really have a clue what Blackwater is. Many still think Iraq was involved with 9/11. It’s just easier that way.
bush/cheney and this administration = criminals and enemy combattants of the USA
Blackwater just got a new $92b contract from Uncle Sam. The nuts are running the asylum. They do what they and nobody has the balls to stop this madness.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/M.....2Ak04.html
they do what they want…
screwing up our chances in Iraq ??
Not sure what chances people are talking about here. It’s all Business and Money.
Sad and unfortunate that many has taken this so seriously and given up their lives.
Just search for Movie “Iraq for Sale” (runs 1 hr and 6 min) and watch it, if you have not so far.
It is pure business.
If you look who are makes up of CEO/Presidents/Board of this companies and their contacts with Pentagon and Administration, you will understand how public tax money is transferred to some elite group on the name of spreading “Democracy” and “Freedom” around the world.
In the movie one guy, Truck Driver for KBR says (of private contracts) truly “It is a legal way of stealing public money”
One guy says -working for CACI - as interrogator at Abu Ghareb prison made 140K in 8 months.
There are ~180,000 private contractors in addition to 160,000 American Troop in Iraq at present.
Just so we’re all clear on this, we taxpayers just paid $15,000 to buy off the family of a man killed by “a drunken Blackwater contractor”.
Proud to be an American… :(
Jeanne @ 41:
You got that right. Gore has even talked about it; first in relation to the environment, but then, in relation to everything that has happened since 2000. If Americans ever really acknowledge what has been done in their name, they will have a moral imperative to act upon that knowledge.
You see it all the time in abused families. Dad’s doin’ the nasty to one of the kids, and nobody notices it. He gets caught red-handed and everybody swears that they never had a clue. Germans who lived downwind of the concentration camps swore they never smelled a thing, but the troops that liberated the camps said that the stench of death was in the air for miles before they got there.
Atrocities always have witnesses, getting them to admit what they witnessed is a whole other thing. One thing I know: we’ve got a lot of kids coming home veterans of a bad war, who have seen some bad things, who have done some bad things. At some point this country is going to have to deal with acknowledging what we stood by and allowed in our name.
All because we didn’t want to admit, or deal with, what we let into the White House.
another national disgrace
screwing up our chances in Iraq
Not sure what chances people are talking about here. It’s all Business and Money.
Sad and unfortunate that many has taken this so seriously and given up their lives.
Just search for Movie “Iraq for Sale” (runs 1 hr and 6 min) and watch it, if you have not so far.
It is pure business.
If you look who makes up of CEO/Presidents/Board of this companies and their contacts with Pentagon and Administration, you will understand how public tax money is transferred to some elite group on the name of spreading “Democracy” and “Freedom” around the world.
In the movie one guy, Truck Driver for KBR says (of private contracts) truly “It is a legal way of stealing public money”
One guy says -working for CACI - as interrogator at Abu Ghareb prison made 140K in 8 months.
There are ~180,000 private contractors in addition to 160,000 American Troop in Iraq at present.
32 tyree Says:
God™ is a wholly owned subsidiary of GOPUSA.
Senate approves $150B in war funding
By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer Mon Oct 1, 6:51 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Thwarted in efforts to bring troops home from Iraq, Senate Democrats on Monday helped pass a defense policy bill authorizing another $150 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The 92-3 vote comes as the House planned to approve separate legislation Tuesday that requires President Bush to give Congress a plan for eventual troop withdrawals.
Ron @ 3:
I wonder how much the French pay their Foreign Legion?
And our tax dollars just keep on working!
US Pays Steep Price for Private Security in Iraq
By Walter Pincus
The Washington Post
Monday 01 October 2007
It costs the U.S. government a lot more to hire contract employees as security guards in Iraq than to use American troops.
It comes down to the simple business equation of every transaction requiring a profit.
The contract that Blackwater Security Consulting signed in March 2004 with Regency Hotel and Hospital of Kuwait for a 34-person security team offers a view into the private-security business world. The contract was made public last week by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee majority staff as part of its report on Blackwater’s actions related to an