« previous | MUCK HOME | next »
Blackwater: Still in Business in Iraq
Why is this man smiling? From the AP:
The State Department says it will renew Blackwater USA's license to protect diplomats in Baghdad for one year, but a final decision about whether the private security company will keep the job is pending.A top State Department official said that because the FBI is still investigating last year's fatal shooting of Baghdad civilians, there is no reason not to renew the contract when it comes due in May. Blackwater has a five-year deal to provide personal protection for diplomats, which is reauthorized each year.
Iraqis were outraged over a Sept. 16 shooting in which 17 civilians were killed in a Baghdad square. Blackwater said its guards were protecting diplomats under attack before they opened fire, but Iraqi investigators concluded the shooting was unprovoked.
Since the "top State Department official" seems so blithe about the FBI investigation, it's worth recalling that Justice Department faces probably insurmountable obstacles in bringing a prosecution based on the Nisour Square shootings. That's despite the fact that the FBI determined that the guards had indeed opened fire without provocation.
Update: More from Reuters:
"I have requested and received approval to have task order six -- which Blackwater has to provide personal protective services in Baghdad -- renewed ... for one year," the head of diplomatic security, Gregory Starr, told reporters....Asked whether the Blackwater Baghdad deal could be scrapped if the FBI investigation found wrongdoing, Starr said: "We can terminate contracts at the convenience of the government if we have to."
"I am not going to prejudge what the FBI is going to find in their investigation. I think really, it is complex. I think that the U.S. government needs protective services," he said.
"Essentially I think they do a very good job. The September 16th incident was a tragedy. It has to be investigated carefully," he added.
Josh
Zachary
Or gee... couldn't the gov't SUSPEND their contract until the investigation is resolved?
April 4, 2008 7:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cue the White House press babe: "As you know, we never comment on an ongoing investigation."
April 5, 2008 9:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
You could include in this story the fact that Mark Penn represents Blackwater....
April 4, 2008 10:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
You could include in this story the fact that Mark Penn represents Blackwater....
April 4, 2008 10:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe those 17 deaths were caucus-deaths, so they didn't count.
April 5, 2008 2:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Warmongers, war criminals, profiteers, murderers, sons and daughters of Satan, awarding contracts to psychopaths. If they didn`t receive another contract, that would be admitting Blackwater fucked up. And the beat goes on and on.....and on.
April 5, 2008 3:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Should the government be allowed to suspend Blackwater's contract while they're being investigated? Probably. But legally, they can't.
The Federal government can't refuse to do business with any given contractor, no matter how bad they smell, until and unless they're proven to have violated the law. Presumption of innocence.
A contractor can be debarred for past poor performance, but there's a lengthy process required to establish that basis. Due process.
Don't get me wrong - I think Blackwater is scum, and we shouldn't be doing business with them. But they can't be booted out because of bad press.
April 5, 2008 7:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Blackwater International, the armed wing of the GOP.
April 5, 2008 9:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama opposed impeachment.
April 5, 2008 10:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good point. We should.... support Kucinich?
April 5, 2008 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
What made Blackwater the choice ab initio? Prince is an ex SEAL so he might know what he's doing in protective roles but he's apparently just watching the govt drive dump trucks of taxpayers money up his driveway.
Doesn't the military have a role in protection - Delta, Rangers? Or how about the Secret Service? So instead they tried to do it on the "cheap". This whole private-sector army system is dangerous. Why does it remind me so strongly of OCP's police force in RoboCop?
The reason Prince is smiling is that his company will net almost $1bn from another year of contracting. That kind of loot buys a lot of expensive and proportionately exciting diversions.
April 5, 2008 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Movement conservatism in general, and the GOP in particular, is all about overturning federal agencies' regulatory mandate for oversight of private industry and privatizing the functions of civil government. Just as there are resources to extract from public lands and consumer industries to take advantage of public services, the military is increasingly dependent upon private security and service contractors.
April 5, 2008 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Blackwater, these are the thugs that actually believe in shooting first and then asking questions later. Anyway their victims, by Blackwaters rational are just a bunch of Iraqees. Furthermore if they do get caught being overzealous they know things will be taken care of by their employer, the U.S. government. On the other hand our Fighting Men in uniform must follow a strict code of engagement and get one quarter of the wages.
April 5, 2008 8:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ever contemplated the photos by folks who were there (including intel ops) of what actually happened in Nisour Square? I don't have a link but look around in Google, unless they've been scrubbed out, they're out there.
Do so.
The driver of the family who was trying to make in through Nisour Square before the Blackwater hyped-up-on-god-knows-what-convoy guards deemed them somehow a threat
This driver's body melted into the seat from the ensuing vehicle fire, his skeletal hands still holding the steering wheel. His wife & baby melted into the seat, the mother still clutching the child, or what was left.
Let's give these worthy fellows another contract renewal.
Or a trip to the lowest Circle of Hell per Dante.
April 5, 2008 3:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's funny how you all sit back in the States passing judgement on others based upon what you read in the news without caring what is true or not as long as it meets your political leanings. These "thugs" you speak of are your neighbors and fellow countrymen putting their life on the line to protect "your" foreign service officers, democratic and republican representatives and all the other pony show fools that want to parade through a Iraq. The job thy do frees up our soldiers to hunt down and kill the people that wish to destroy our nation. What isn't funny (but respected) is that Blackwater was assigned and paid to do a job and they do it very well. You should be so honored as to have them watch your back!
April 6, 2008 9:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, OldSarg is right. Am I the only one who remembers 9/12/01, when brave Blackwater mercs were the only things standing between the good hard-workin' [white] folk in the Heartland and outright conquest by the evil [brown] Muslim Shadow Caliphate?
(Kidding. I'm considerably less than thrilled to have war criminals like Blackwater fighting for Amer'ca. They're our version of the Waffen-SS.)
April 7, 2008 3:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Eric Prince: Scumbag.
Old Sarg, get your finger out of your nose and pay attention: Prince and company are swallowing whole resources that could have been going to support US volunteer troops all along. As it stands, only a fraction of what they (Blackwater et al) are pulling down from State gets to the mercenaries in the streets themselves. The ones who "have our back."
And even then they're getting three to four times what the US pays its own troops.
I'll tell you what: try offering $150K/year to grunt recruits and see if that doesn't have a salubrious effect on your volunteer army.
I don't who you think you represent. Old Sarg, but Old Private here is telling you to stuff it.
April 6, 2008 11:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps The Honorable Condaleeza Rice, Secretary of State should be impeached for allowing the continued payment of United States tax dollars paying for a known criminal organization.
IMPEACHMENT... it'd not just for Presidents anymore.
April 7, 2008 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink