NY Times: (reg. req’d)
Suddenly, on that May day in 2005, the copter dropped CS gas, a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders. An armored vehicle on the ground also released the gas, temporarily blinding drivers, passers-by and at least 10 American soldiers operating the checkpoint.
“This was decidedly uncool and very, very dangerous,” Capt. Kincy Clark of the Army, the senior officer at the scene, wrote later that day. “It’s not a good thing to cause soldiers who are standing guard against car bombs, snipers and suicide bombers to cover their faces, choke, cough and otherwise degrade our awareness.”
Both the helicopter and the vehicle involved in the incident at the Assassins’ Gate checkpoint were not from the United States military, but were part of a convoy operated by Blackwater Worldwide, the private security contractor that is under scrutiny for its role in a series of violent episodes in Iraq, including a September shooting in downtown Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead.
None of the American soldiers exposed to the chemical, which is similar to tear gas, required medical attention, and it is not clear if any Iraqis did. Still, the previously undisclosed incident has raised significant new questions about the role of private security contractors in Iraq, and whether they operate under the same rules of engagement and international treaty obligations that the American military observes.
“You run into this issue time and again with Blackwater, where the rules that apply to the U.S. military don’t seem to apply to Blackwater,” said Scott L. Silliman, the executive director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at the Duke University School of Law.
Officers and noncommissioned officers from the Third Infantry Division who were involved in the episode said there were no signs of violence at the checkpoint. Instead, they said, the Blackwater convoy appeared to be stuck in traffic and may have been trying to use the riot-control agent as a way to clear a path.
You know, I get frustrated in rush hour traffic too, but that’s ridiculous. I have to agree with Markos:
The use of these mercenaries has been glorified by the Right for years. But at the end of the day, their actions have hampered and perhaps even sabotaged our mission while endangering our troops.
No Trackbacks To “Blackwater Used Gas on US Soldiers and Iraqis“
Holy Shit!!!
and Bullshit!!!
Why was Blackwater able to purchase this crowd control weapon? How does it fit into their contracted mission?
Ya lets outsource more government services.. Is this a surprise ?
Said I wouldn’t do it again. And won’t.
But there’s no one no where who doesn’t get the preznits finger.
Why do you hate America, W. Run out of frogs to torture?
“He gassed his own people [sic]!”
- Bush rationale for invading Iraq and deposing Saddam
Time to round up Blackwater and toss them in Halliburton camps. They are a menace to everyone.
While our troops are missing body armor, Blackwater truckers are making 6-digit incomes, and the company is assembling the largest private army in the world, funded almost entirely by YOUR taxes.
Even the notorious Machiavelli advised against employing mercenaries.
Blackwater is Chaney/Bush’s Waffen-SS.
Blackwater isn’t our military, so where did they get the CS gas in the first place? Why do they even have it? Who’s giving them their orders? And are they rehearsing over there for controlling crowds over here when the American public has finally had enough?
These guys have done time in Iraq and New Orleans and god knows where else. They have to be made illegal, and they MUST be prosecuted for their crimes.
We have to get the dems to declare this shit illegal, disband them, whatever it takes. W’s leaving behind lots of nice dictatorial powers for the next nit. Use them this way before dissolving those powers too.
SUPPORT OUR MERCENARIES!!
someone ought to make a bumper sticker.
Blackwater has become like its own country with no rules. They have a very well equipped military and have to answer to no one. Hell of a dangerous situation plus, they have done us no favors in winning hearts in Iraq. Rumsfield should rot in hell for his idea that we could win this “war” with a light military force, that basically had to be helped out by such as blackwater. He and cheney and anyone else involved in this.
I guess we should be thankful they didn’t nuke or napalm them.
I wonder how the Big Three lobbying firms Prince has working for Blackwater, will spin this?
Doesn’t matter, Congress will buy it.
They may ‘up’ the bribery fee, but they’ll buy it.
I thought our soldiers were all full of gas
From those damn C-Ration beans.
Seriously where are the indictments? Where is the prison sentences?
walter @ 12:
I like that! What color ribbon would symbolize support for mercenaries? I’m getting a magnet made up to put on the back of my H2 while I go run down some immigrants!
Does anyone else get the feeling that the decisions of this “administration” have left the world looking more and more like a Hunter S. Thompson tale?
Stupid Git @ 17:
I’m voting either Blood Red or Money Green (or a striped version with both!).
You know, the US hiring Blackwater to provide security in Iraq was about as smart as The Rolling Stones hiring the Hells Angels to provide security at the Altamont Free Concert at the Altamont Speedway back in 1969.
I think things are in such a state in Iraq that if these guys were pulled out there’s no telling what would happen. Leaving them there makes the situation look better, but the damage they’re doing is not helping either.
Not that I’m a spring chicken, but in past wars have groups such as this been used to fight on the battlefield? I’m asking because I’m not as up to date on tactics of past wars as I would like to be.
Sadly, this will be added to the “Things to be shredded” list along with the rape case, the shooting upon U.S. soldiers, the numerous video taped road rampages and so many other “non-stories” us liberal America-haters obsess over. Why don’t we support our mercenaries… I mean, troops?
Naomi Wolf sadly has it CORRECT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc
For those that haven’t seen this then I strongly suggest you do.
Balckwater/BrownShirts? What is the difference?
But who is supplying them with this stuff? And, who is giving them their orders?
I see a day, not too far in the future, when I will be trying to cross the border into Canada or Mexico to get out of what’s left of the US. And Blackwater patrols will turn me back at the border while a Berlin Wall-looking structure is being built the length of the borders to keep disaffected citizens in. Or maybe Canada will hire Blackwater to keep tens of thousands of us from crossing over once things get really bad.
Oh, wait, no. I’m just joshing. Things could never get that bad. Right?
Is the money that goes to pay blackwater in the military supplementary bill? If it is, no wonder bush stomps his foot and demands it. Imagine what they could do if they didn’t get paid.
And the Democrats go “yawn”….
Corporate America and its instrument the Republican Party have their own private army. It’s as simple as that. Guess who pays the bills?
Anyone who doesn’t believe these guys are the Boy King’s private army and they
take their orders directly from him and that they actually serve a good purpose
in Iraq is seriously lying to themselves in a way the Bush Admin. could only dream
of!
Preacher Boob @ 14:
Give them time…they’re just waiting for the perfect opportunity in Iran.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/.....amp;page=1
Tom Toren @ 25:
I have those same nightmare - especially since I’m a liberal/yankee/atheist. I think the only thing I have going for me is I’m a straight, white male so at least I won’t be the first group they herd into the camps. I used to think militias out in Montana where I grew up were bad, these religious fanatic lead, Capitalist Killers for hire scare the crap out of me.
Dana @ 29:
I believe this has more to do with cheney. I think cheney is so paranoid that he feels they need a private army for anything our soldiers can’t or won’t do. I would put nothing past that man, nothing.
What’s really sad is that anyone who’s been on a military base/post recently will notice more and more private security and mercenaries doing work that used to be done by soldiers (e.g. manning gates, security, etc). These private security firms have become a way of masking the effects this war has had on our military.
These guys are so badly needed that they’re able to arm wrestle their way into getting a blank check BECAUSE WE”RE SO DESPERATE FOR THEIR SERVICES! And when you have an evil facist fark-tard like their CEO, Mr. Prince, in charge, well.. they’ll stop JUST short of asking for all the Iraqi women and children as personal slaves for their services. All this so a Republican president/congress didn’t have to do the politically nasty duty of instituting a draft.
We better fight them there so we don’t have to fight them here. (Blackwater, that is).
Why would the military and our soldiers tolerate this from private corporation mercenaries? The military takes orders from our “Commander in Chief”, but if Blackwater is also taking orders from Bush which would endanger our soldiers, wouldn’t that put the military in the position of getting furious and going up against the president?
Is Blackwater and the US Military working together or at cross purposes? Or just parallel to each other? Yet, they may be taking orders from the same person? How much sense does that make?
Blackwater and its sister organizations are not only getting rich but are recieving valuable training in Iraq. So when the shit hits the fan and the country and Middle East crumble, Bush and the rest of the “elite” will have their private military already trained and equipped.
TimV @ 33:
Mr. Prince may own the company and be in charge, but even he has to be taking orders from someone to be there running those kinds of operations.. He is not his own “Commander in Chief”.
I agree with what the Captain stated in the article. I’ve been exposed to this sort of gas before during my time in the Marines. Each year we had to qualify with it in a gas chamber. I can understand why that Captain is pissed. You got a bunch of mercenaries popping CS off and they probably didn’t even tell the Army that they were going to do it either. You can imagine what would have happened if a sniper or suicide bomber used that as cover to move closer or to ambush those troops that were exposed. While the troops were putting on their gas masks and trying to overcome the CS effects a sniper could have been taking aim or a suicide bomber could have detonated his explosives. If Blackwater keeps this up, they might just find that they have another enemy to fight. The U.S. military.
That is just fucking horrible.Unconscionable.
nwmuse @ 37:
Don’t you see though. That’s the beauty of the design. The orders are simply to have Blackwater get to the end, but he means are left up to them (hence them being immune from any laws out there). It’s a “results” oriented system.
The two great attractions that mercenaries have for the right-wingers: well-connected corporate criminals can get obscenely rich at taxpayer expense; and the men themselves are expendable.
Point two I can agree with. I would shed no tear for these hired killers.
What troops survive the terrorists and insurgents attacks in Bush’s oil war gets gased by Blackwater.
Support the troops Republican style!
Seems the blackwater boys hate the Iraqis and our soldiers. They are a danger to both. Plus we are paying them more than we pay our soldiers. This is so wrong in so many ways.
Support the troops: gas them! /sarcasm
Bush says we are fighting a group of terrorists who will kill Innocent women and children for an ideology.
So we hire a group that will do the same thing except not for an ideology, but a fat paycheck.
Just to give a sense of what this is like as I described in my other comment (38) here is a clip of an Army basic training gas chamber video on youtube. It shows the effects that CS has on people. With troops effected by the CS in this way you can see why that Captain was pissed. I recall when I was first exposed to CS I had a foot long string of snot hanging from my nose, my eyes were tearing up bad and my skin was burning.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=k3R.....re=related
pissed off patricia @ 45:
Bush and his henchmen are OK with that, as long as the mercenaries are killing Iraqi women and children.
What a bunch of crap. CS is tear gas, mild, non deadly, and American BAsic Trainees are exposed to it for training purposes. My mother used to carry a canister of it on her keychain before pepper spray became popular.
Try again Nicole…..
Jay @ 48:
Thats true. But then again, your mother probably wasn’t standing guard in a war zone either. That CS that Blackwater set off could have given any enemy forces watching the cover or distraction they needed to get by or to kill those military personnel.