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Traffic Engineering, The Blackwater Way
As far as Blackwater's many sins go, this one's pretty minor. But it's got that special Blackwater touch.
Back in 2005, The New York Times reports, a Blackwater helicopter dropped tear gas (CS gas) on a checkpoint in Baghdad's Green Zone. "An armored vehicle on the ground also released the gas, temporarily blinding drivers, passers-by and at least 10 American soldiers operating the checkpoint.... A number of Iraqi civilians, both on foot and in cars waiting to go through the checkpoint, were also exposed. " The gas, which the American military itself "can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders," causes burning eyes, skin irritation, coughing, difficulty breathing and sometimes even vomiting.
Blackwater's explanation, by way of spokeswoman Anne Tyrell, was that "a CS gas canister was mistaken for a smoke canister and released near an intersection and checkpoint." If there was some mistake, both the helicopter and the vehicle on the ground seem to have been mistaken. Oops.
Oddly enough, Army officers told the Times that "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." Now, how blinding everyone in the area would help traffic to clear isn't immediately clear to me. Nor is it clear to Capt. Kincy Clark who was hit by the gas and wrote, "Why someone would think a substance that makes your eyes water, nose burn and face hurt would make a driver do anything other than stop is beyond me.”
Note: Blackwater hired its third lobbyist recently.
Josh
Zachary
Blackwater will soon be back here operating in the USA.
They will be used against civilians - a means of getting around the law, or custom, against the use of the military against our own citizens.
So get your gas masks on.
Phone companies are used to beak the law for the government, then given legal immunity.
Same deal here.
January 10, 2008 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
One of the first things I would like to see along with troop withdrawals in Iraq is the Pentagon instructed NOT to hire Blackwater under almost any circumstances. If for some strange reason, we must have them, they must work under the same rules as any soldier so they are accountable. That rule should also include any company we outsource construction or other odd jobs to!
I certainly don't want mercenary armies that work under the covers that have their own values that don't match ours.
I also don't want US companies lying cheat and stealing our tax dollars. Have you noticed that money seems to disappear when ever we give it in huge clumps to try to do good things? There is something wrong with this picture!
We need and deserve significantly better oversight and so do the people we are giving the money to so that the jobs get done.
January 10, 2008 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
They gassed their own people, man! THEY GASSED THEIR OWN PEOPLE!
January 10, 2008 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Road Rage, Blackwater style.
January 10, 2008 12:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are alarming persistent rumors that Blackwater may have been the acting troupe that performed the ski boat incident. I didn't think much of it until I watched and listened to the tape. That so called farsi in the transmission sounded laughable.
The other thing, if any of the warships felt even a vague threat, a warning shot would have been shot. No shot? Maybe they didn't want to injure friendlies. I expect a story to emerge, as they didn't cover their tracks real well.
January 10, 2008 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
To echo Floyd:
THEY GASSED THEIR OWN PEOPLE!!!!!!!
January 10, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Probably I'm just un-informed...but under what U.S. LAWS does Blackwater and other so-called private security firms operate?
And what laws govern or limit the scope of operations, particularly in the United States, of such 'cowboy-mentality' (more appropriately, thug-mentality) groups?
They should be dis-banded and held liable for the loss of life and pain they have inflicted in Iraq and elsewhere.
January 10, 2008 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good call - the speedboat incident may well have been faked.
Why not fake it ? These people ( our government ) have put on more puppet shows than one can count.
The kooks that want us to attack Iran are by no means going to give up their quest.
I wonder about the Americans that saw that video clip and thought our navy was in danger.
Are our citizens really such boneheads ?
January 10, 2008 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't gas me, bro!
January 10, 2008 12:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Does this mean we finally found the WMDs?
January 10, 2008 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is it tinfoil hat thinking to believe that the deployment and depletion of the state National Guards is by design, so that the Hessians, er Blackwater can fill the void?
January 10, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Brian: Wouldn't you think the implication of the boxes dropped into the water was that they contained some kind of explosives? Wouldn't common sense demand the U.S. ship fire NOT on the boats, but on the boxes to be sure they didn't get too close to the ship? The fact no such thing happened is the part that makes me think we been took again.
January 10, 2008 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Blackwater may have staged the skiboat incident? Um, does anyone else recall how the Germans staged the invasion of Poland in 1939? They dressed up some Polish prisoners in German Army uniforms, shot them, and left them on the German side of the border. Then they claimed that Poland had invaded THEM. Our current regime is rapidly approaching this level of plausibility and warmongering in its eagerness to launch a war with Iran.
January 10, 2008 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
> Note: Blackwater hired its third lobbyist recently.
I guess Mark Penn wasn't cutting it for Blackwater either.
January 10, 2008 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
There you go. I suppose privatization of every possible service isn't a good thing after all.
January 10, 2008 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
We've already had one Reichstag fire with 9/11. Get ready for a second one. Does anyone really think the Repukes will not stoop to that? Too many of them face long jail terms if they lose power. They are a desperate gang without a shred of conscience. They will take the entire ship down before they surrender.
January 10, 2008 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
See Dee: maybe this one? www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/05/20030522-15.html
Also, what color were the helicopters?
January 10, 2008 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Billy Pilgrim wrote on January 10, 2008 1:38 PM:
Too many of them face long jail terms if they lose power.
I'm pretty sure Treason is punishable by death, last I checked. That's definitely not a Club Med prison sentence.
January 10, 2008 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why would they have been dropping a smoke canister. Smoke is use to screen the approach or withdrawl of a force. Possibly to screen a fixed position under attack. It sounds more like the kind of horsing around in which immature and undisciplined troops participate. Contractors simply do not provide the tight, disciplined personnel as does the military.
January 10, 2008 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
pwapvt: The URL you provided drew a "The file you attempted to access is not available...etc." response from my effort to read your referenced item at the White House web-site.
Maybe you could just summarize??
What heliocopters?
January 10, 2008 2:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I worry a lot about potential future impact of Blackwater domestically: my nightmare is a well resourced army of Timothy McVeys suprising us from Blackwater's enormous and growing HQ near DC.
January 10, 2008 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
My bet is they did it on purpose as a smoke screen so they could move something through the area without being inspected -a weapon, "Iranian" IEDs, prisoners, corpses -what other crazy stuff would Blackwater want to get rid of, distribute, and/or aquire without our people knowing?
January 10, 2008 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
uhhhh. . . are the right-wing-nuts still hailing Eric Prince as the 2nd coming of Oliver North? WHAT does Blackwater (or Halliburton) have to do to no longer be "patriotic" enough to be considered heroes?
January 10, 2008 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
The big question is, will a U.S. based Blackwater militia fire on their parents if ordered to do so. If they're wacked out on juice as they reportedly are in Iraq, chances are good that they will.
Everyone. Time for a reread of George Orwell's Animal Farm.
January 10, 2008 3:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
...a Blackwater helicopter dropped tear gas (CS gas) on a checkpoint in Baghdad's Green Zone...
Man, that sounds like a scene right out of Catch-21..
January 10, 2008 3:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hahah, I was one off on that Catch...
January 10, 2008 3:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seedee, it worked for me in firefox.
The first line: "Executive Order Protecting the Development Fund for Iraq and Certain Other Property in Which Iraq Has An Interest"
Executive order get out jail free card for anyone working in the oil bidness in Iraq. I guess the way these folks interpret law it could apply.
You know the black helicopters that are going to take over the US of A!
January 10, 2008 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
OK, PwapVt..Thanks. More rule by 'Executive' decree...I figured that was the case.
As for the 'black' heliocopters...they're painted Red with "KXOR TV-8 News", or "WXYC TV-3 NewsFirst"; or maybe they're blue with some other TV logo..but by and large, in whatever color or guise, they have assisted Bushco in his dis-assembly of American Democracy over the past seven years
C. Davie
January 10, 2008 9:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Guess Blackwater can go to work for Hillary's ATF or DOD.
January 10, 2008 11:11 PM | Reply | Permalink