U.S. Colonel: Blackwater "Actually Drew Their Weapons On U.S. Soldiers."
By Logan Murphy Thursday Oct 11, 2007 7:10pm
Newsweek's Oct. 15, 2007 issue:
The colonel was furious. "Can you believe it? They actually drew their weapons on U.S. soldiers." He was describing a 2006 car accident, in which an SUV full of Blackwater operatives had crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee on a street in Baghdad's Green Zone. The colonel, who was involved in a follow-up investigation and spoke on the condition he not be named, said the Blackwater guards disarmed the U.S. Army soldiers and made them lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle the SUV. His account was confirmed by the head of another private security company. Asked to address this and other allegations in this story, Blackwater spokesperson Anne Tyrrell said, "This type of gossip has led to many soap operas in the press." Read more...
As if being trapped in the middle of a bloody civil war by their civilian leadership hasn't been humiliating enough for our troops, we find out they also have to protect themselves from high-paid thugs from Blackwater -- in the Green Zone, no less. I wonder if Crayzie Shayzie will still hold the same unbridled passion for these guys after learning of this hackery? Oh, and Mr. Romney you STILL have Blackwater's Vice Chairman on your campaign payroll -- how's that working out for you?
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SHOCKING!!! Frsiticuffs?
if that was me...I'd of shot them........you just don't know who your dealing with over there.
Oh hell no!
They draw on Uniformed US troops in a combat zone they deserve to be shot.
If I was a soldier there, I wouldn't give up my weapon to anybody. Maybe the soldiers let down their guard as they thought the Blackwater assholes were friendlies.
If this is true, then Blackwater is either really stupid or very connected as the last thing you'd want to do there as a contractor is piss off the US military.
Yeah that would be a stupid ass move guy. Blackwater is made up of former military, mostly Rangers, Special Forces, and so on, so you, as a regular joe shmoe in the army, pointing a weapon at them, that would be a nasty mistake. But Its still bull that Blackwater did that, anyone hear about Blackwater using CS gas on Iraqi civilians and U.S. Soldiers?
Yeah! We support the troops, now soldier, put your face on the ground.
Seymour Hersh:
at McGill a year back.
Well now it seems that there is an American "army" that is causing even more destruction.
And now... the other shoe on all this merc shit and what it usually leads too is dropping... Actually dropped in 06, but we're just getting the skinny on it now thanks to the other merc scandals they can't paper over... And one has ask oneself just how much of any of this shit we'd ever know if the other scandals hadn't broken thru the propaganda and be exposed. And really this situation generates the most relevant question one should have in any merc for hire situation.. just who's allegiance are these motherfuckers suppose to be given too???? Yea.. Seems like just the almighty dollar?... And how long before the first actual firefight erupts between these asses and ligitimate U.S. armed forces that generates U.S. service member deaths... OR just
maybe that shit has already happened too, and we just don't know about it yet... I just don't know how bad all this has to get before someone with some real authority to effect change, and a real brain will finally say, "Hey, really, enough is enough, stop it"! And then we get our people out of that place...JD
U.S. officials prefer Blackwater and other private security bodyguards because they regard them as more highly trained than military guards, who are often reservists from MP units.
Ironically, many- if not most- of these Blackwater goons got their initial trainin' in the US Armed Forces.
This simply confirms what the Iraqis have known, which is that Blackwater is an out of control renegade militia group who are free to shoot and kill whomever they wish, secure in the knowledge that they will not be punished for their misdeeds. It will be interesting to see if the corporate media is more willing to take the word of a U.S. colonel than that of the previous incident where numerous Iraqis were killed by members of Blackwater, which was witnessed by Iraqis. Yet the United States says that an investigation must be undertaken, apparently because the words of Iraqi witnesses are not to be believed. One should not be too surprised if a Western face has more credibility among the U.S. military than those of ordinary Iraqi civilians.
How about the mercenaries who helped break a corrupt Iraqi politician out of a Green Zone jail with his $2.5 Billion in stolen loot.
Which U.S. Contractor Broke Crooked Iraqi Out of Prison?
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004385.php
Nothing at all will happen as a result of this story.
Absolutely.
Nothing.
Why many people just shrug of stuff like this astounds me.
Cythraul @ 11:
Many Americans think that just because the news covers it someone is doing something about it.
"The Preznit will fix it"
Still doubt Blackwater is nothing more than a group or treasonous traitors, 20%ers?
"This type of gossip has led to many soap operas in the press."
Not really a denial, then.
Andy K @ 8:
all of um...Special Forces.........oh too Smack Dab....the first thing you learn in the military is..NEVER give up your weapon.....hi Andy K......I didn't see you on the HC thread....your experiment is in full swing there.
justabill @ 10:
I imagine they did a whole lot of pointing weapons at US soldiers in that incident.
justabill @ 17:
Basically they are glorified Hit Men
dan @ 14:
excellant point........this should be shoved in their faces...and asked the question..Who do you support now?
DiggyG @ 6:
A big problem over in Iraq with the security companies is there are so many. They don't go around with nametags or identifying badges or make it easy to tell one company's operatives from another. They also don't have to report to anyone other than their employer what they are doing. This gives them all deniability as to who did what (not that they really need it given the cirumstances).
Having armed and organized soldiers in a combat zone who are loyal to only themselves is a really bad thing.
This kind of thing happens all the time. In 2005 I was in Iraq as a civilian contractor (truck driver). On one convoy, the goddamn private security (could have been Blackwater, Triple Canopy, or another - but they were caucasions and not Iraqi - had SUV's etc) shot at our KBR trucks. They were trying to pass our convoy and cut in between our trucks. They pointed a weapon at one of our drivers and he didn't stop so they shot into his cab. Luckily he wasn't hit or killed. We radioed up to tell our US military escorts and they stopped the private security guards. The guards just denied it, even though we saw the muzzle flashes and the the guys were about 25 feet away. The US public doesn't realize that there are really no rules over there and these private guards can literally kill with impunity. The US military is afraid to challenge them because most of the guards are not only ex-military, but some were high ranking or special forces. The ones who are really suffering are the Iraqi civilians. Can you imagine if another country allowed this crap to happen in the USA while they were occupying?
mudshark Says:
dan @ 14:
Still doubt Blackwater is nothing more than a group or treasonous traitors, 20%ers?
excellant point……..this should be shoved in their faces…and asked the question..Who do you support now?
I can see the bumper stickers on sale at your finer GOP websites now: Support our Mercs!
Smack_dab @ 20:
their loyal to Chainey
Speaking from what someone who was a sniper in the Marines for many years told me: Many of the folks who join Blackwater are guys like him who've been trained to be some of the best killers on the planet and there is little other occupational opportunities for guys who aren't too bright but can shoot a dude from a good distance away and smash their face with bare hands. It's really either be a mercenary or deprogram yourself and start over from scratch. At least, that's the reasons I've heard. Myself, I'm a pansy who'd be laughed off Blackwater's property... or just shot.
And the radial-right likes to use these terrorists on US soil... Gonna be a long spring come 2009 when the GOP gets their ass handed to them in the election...
mudshark @ 16:
Yesterday's RP thread? Yeah, I'm there...Hell, I just made 2 more comments on that beast before commentin' here.
As to the experiment- I'm about 90% sure it's the headline- and the headline only that brings 'em out. They don't seem to monitor other threads. At least they don't comment, anyhow.
I'm sure ya know that Prince was a SEAL. He's gotta be recruitin' Special Forces guys while they're still active. Not himself, of course, but ya gotta think his ops have many contacts inside. If any legislation comes outta this I think it should be related to recruitment by mercenaries from the US Armed Forces.
Lets see, so far, Blackwater:
- Got drunk and murdered the bodyguard of the Iraqi VP.
- Held US Soldiers at gunpoint for a minor traffic accident.
- Murdered unarmed Iraqi civilians, joking the entire time like it was a video game.
Consequences:
They are still in Iraq. They are still being paid almost comically massive sums by the US government. None are in jail. None will ever be in jail.
And we wonder why we are hated across the world.
dan @ 22:
They are already going that far in Congress.
Rep Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA): Blackwater CEO Is 'An American Hero Just Like Ollie North Was'
Hero, or criminal?
Dana Rohrabacher sure can pick'em.
Blackwater and all the rest of the private little armies in Iraq are a symptom. The core disease is Cheney/Bush and the neo-criminals who have hijacked out country. They chose to invade and occupy Iraq and chose to do so without the needed troop levels which made the contractors, the second largest foreign military force in Iraq, into the menace they are.
Wanna have a laugh? Go to Wikipedia and try to ad anything negative to the page about Blackwater and you get banned within 1 minute... and the person doing the banning is coming from an IP owned by, guess who, Backwater.
dan @ 25:
Of course, that assumes there will be elections in Nov, 2008.
Stupid Git @ 24:
Actually, both.
As we have seen (in video no less), they shoot you WHILE laughing at you.
Smack_dab Says:
Blackwater and all the rest of the private little armies in Iraq are a symptom. The core disease is Cheney/Bush and the neo-criminals who have hijacked out country. They chose to invade and occupy Iraq and chose to do so without the needed troop levels which made the contractors, the second largest foreign military force in Iraq, into the menace they are.
My guess is the mercs are using Iraq as a training ground for use on US soil at a later date.
dan @ 30:
If thats true, theres an entirely new story there. You should gather up the proof of this and break the story.
The sad thing to me is that this is being reported in Newsweek magazine and still, people won't give a flying rat's ass. It's not like Newsweek is a godless-liberal-leftwing-child molesting-puppy kicking rag and can be easily dismissed. Yet, this will have no play in the public consciousness. Just crank up the media machine to spit out the latest happenings of Britney and her spawn or Paris and her sperm...
Cythraul @ 34:
Damned straight! Gather evidence and pass it along. I'm sure Amato would love to get a story like this. So would TPM, or Balloon Juice.
You found a great case of what would be called motherfuckery at The Onion AV Club!
Support the troops, put a magnetic yellow ribbon on the tailgate of your Chevy............
mudshark @ 23:
Even if they are loyal to their employer, that can change in an instant. Contractors can quit or not follow orders whenever they feel like it. Such is the nature of mercenaries.
Cythraul @ 27:
It probably wasn't minor as both the US military and the contractors drive at really high speed wherever they go to avoid ambushes. Many head injuries are happening in Iraq from traffic accidents.
nothing like supporting the troops...by recruiting the pro ones....... to leave...
I say let these terrorist stay in Iraq, I sure as hell don't want these traitors walking on US soil.
I wanna meet the guy who thought this up. Let's start a war and outsource it. Quite a salesman.
I want to meet him so I can punch him in the head.
"Gossip?"
I hope the Senate will move to IMMEDIATELY denounce Blackwater for criticizing a colonel on active duty in a time of war.
Disgusting.
While I have no doubts that it has happened, I wonder if it were to become public knowledge, that a Blackwater terrorists killed a US solider who the 20%ers would side with. My money is that they would dig up dirt on the soldier and turn the terrorist into a hero.
dan @ 40:
Or, "Let 'em fight us over there so they're not fightin' us over here."
JasonS @ 42:
Screw that; i hope the Senate moves to immediately classify Blackwater as a terrorist group and plac warrents out for it's members arrests.
JasonS @ 42:
Right on!
Certainly worse than MoveOn's criticism of Petraeus, because who represents the soldiers more than an anonymous soldier?
mudshark @ 39:
It's a horrible thought, but it makes me question those who actually are servin' due to a sense of patriotism rather than mere job trainin' in the "wet" arts.
If we know about all these incidents, how much more has happened that we don't know about? Hopefully the U.N. committee that was set up on Blackwater can help shed some light on this. I personally would enjoy seeing war crimes charges brought against this group, and a little trickle up of charges to the ones who hired these people. I'm sure there's more to learn.
Andy K @ 47:
money Andy K...it's the repug way.....
So, if this is true, wouldn't that make the Blackwater people involved "enemy combatants" and Blackwater, by extension, a "known terrorist group"? Except of course that they are white christian males and that's essentially a get-out-of-terrorist-classification-free card.
And, I'm sorry to say, the lower-case C in christian isn't a typo.
Forget about Congress, they're useless....unless you're into stern letters or stale tea analogies.
At this point , the UN is the only hope in stopping these christian extremists.
mudshark @ 2:
This will show up on every wingnut blog. Bill'o may even pick it up.
"Extreme Left wants to shoot our troops"
Blackwater is the new Pinkertons. It won't be long before they're marching down the street of your hometown to put down any resistance to the corporate elite agenda. Just wait until the economic divide in our nation becomes socially unsustainable.
Imagine this future scenario:
Local protesters gather to protest the high fees charged by the private company that owns the highway that leads from town to their low wage jobs (they are planning to privatize a major highway in Indiana right now). Blackwater thugs are called in to quell the disturbance. Wounded protesters are then turned away at the private hospital. Meanwhile, a resident's house burns to the ground as the privatized fire department stands and watches, refusing to help because he failed to pay his dues (this actually happened). The corporate owned media nightly news broadcasts nothing but the latest Brittney Spears scandal and an exclusive update on the investigation into Princess Diana's tragic death.
Welcome to the Libertarian/Republican/Neo-con dystopia!
Hope this story gets some play. The wingnuts won't know where to stand. Can't blame the troops; can't criticize the noble mercenaries.
Only one option left: Blame the media. (Or in Rush's case, blame the phony colonel.)
Anyway, should be fun to watch them squirm.
sure hope the pentagons seeing that blackwater boys got enough whores to go around!
Bush's war is a disaster any way you cut it.
It sickens me to think of where we would be as a nation right now if the Emmy/Oscar/Nobel Peace Prize winner was president building upon Clinton's legacy of peace and prosperity.
Instead we got the illiterate, incompetent, reich wing supreme court installed chimp running us into the ground.
I think I'm going to puke again...
Greg @ 52:
that's what the troops should of done...tell me?....what you of done if that would of been you?
if this really happened then that colonel is a coward for giving up his weapon and not his name! with cowards like him expect more of the same for the paid to kill thugs.
This is an outrage. The way I see this, is the ultimate humiliation for soldiers who have honor and dignity who signed up to defend their country. Frankly I would expect a US army backlash that sees their own Apaches should be able to turn blackwater's own helicopters like moths to a flame, and US soldiers then wipe out the mercenaries using their legendary firepower.
Bring Bloodwater to justice!
The result of Rummy's "leaner military!"
They're all in the green zone and they collide with security forces and then they give up their weapons?
Does not compute. Whatever the real story is, we're not getting it, as usual.
Blackwater is getting nailed for a reason and it's not what we're being led to believe.
Oh yeah, and which other private security company was that whose head confirmed this report? Inquiring minds smell a rat.
organmeat @ 58:
Slow down....From the o.p.:
The colonel, who was involved in a follow-up investigation...
[emphasis mine]
Snowball @ 53:
the movie is called running man
We are on the verge of the 5th Generation in global warfare. Private armies like Blackwater will do battle against the US Army, China, Russia or Euro States across the planet in the very near future.
The dawn of state v. corporate warfare.
mudshark @ 57:
Deleted. Off topic, Grammar Dave. "Grammarian usually has little to contribute to a discussion and possesses few effective weapons. To compensate, he will point out minor errors in spelling and grammar..." http://redwing.hutman.net/%7Emreed/warriorshtm/grammarian.htm
Don't be rude-Sitemonitor]
I've said it before, but these guys are our paramilitary squads. They may as well be called Cheney's Tigers. And, true to form, we saw this in the Balkans as well, Serbian regulars getting tangled in fights with goons for hire. A nasty business, made into American policy by the ignorant ghoul heading up the OVP and his bungling sidekick, the former SecDef. We will long be paying for their villainy.
If you are a US soldier in a war zone and someone aims a weapon at you and demands your own, wouldn't you have the right , in fact duty, to kill them?
DaveInRhodeIsland @ 67:
thanks for the correction....and thanks for being so civil.......asshole.
no one will do a thing
So the colonel wasn't there and I'm pretty sure whomever the head of the other private security force who confirmed the scenario wasn't there either and once again I'm having a real problem believing any of this.
For whatever reasons, Blackwater has fallen out of favor. Maybe they just want to get the hell out their contract and out of Iraq.
One thing's for sure. When the agreement was signed, they were immune from prosecution from either side. So the smart thing for them to do is bail and make it look like they're being driven out.
I'll leave the rest of the story to you to figure out.
tell me DaveinRhodeIsland..what would you HAVE done?
DaveInRhodeIsland @ 67:
Wow, "Dave". Maybe you should of switched to decaf there at your local Rhode Island Starbucks.
DaveInRhodeIsland @ 67:
OK now that your done attacking me...why don't you grace us with your opinion.....
Cythraul @ 34:
Which page? Be interesting to see what WikiScanner shows...
Johnny2Bad @ 74:
cut him some slack...he missed his daily midol...HEY Dave......you'll feel better in a few days....but do keep up on the Midol....OK
And we're shocked by this...why?
Cheney's army.
Johnny2Bad @ 74:
Should HAVE..Johnny.....should have...LOL
mudshark @ 75:
I would have put it, "Why dontchya act graciously and share yer opinion." But, hey, that's me....
;)
Stupid Git @ 24:
When I think about what might happen during another emergency and I realize that the National Guard is busy in Iraq, leaving a vacuum that can only be filled by the likes of Blackwater, I really am concerned.
I'll be right back.......15 minutes..as in MINUTES.
From DIPNOTE regarding Blackwater: State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack writes:
One final thought. Let's not loose sight of a bedrock American idea that one is innocent until proven guilty. It applies in court and we might extend the idea when we talk about the September 16th investigation. I don't want anybody to escape punishment if they violated the rules or broke the law. I also don't want to see lives ruined and reputations tarnished just because we couldn't wait for an investigation to be completed. Both the victims and those being investigated deserve a careful examination of September 16th's event, so you won't hear me passing judgment until all the facts are in. Posted on Thu Oct 04, 2007
He also notes that: Other parts of the government (read the Department of Justice) have responsibility to take over investigations if they believe a criminal act may have been committed.
One hand washes the other...
Andy K @ 80:
my backs out.......the meds.....or.....maybe it's just me.....ehhh!
"Myself, I’m a pansy who’d be laughed off Blackwater’s property… or just shot."
Interesting point!
What happens when Blackwater or Dyncorp shoot US citizens on our own soil?
dan @ 43:
*puts on tinfoil hat*
What if that solders name was Pat Tillman? Did we ever learn which friendlies were firing in his direction? I can remember.
Just sayin...