Trigger happy gunslingers need not apply

Iraq is no place for hired gunslingers

Robert Scheer, Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

"How did it come to be that the ostensibly best-educated and most refined representatives of the United States in Iraq are guarded by gun-toting mercenaries who kill innocent civilians? More urgently, why did State Department employees and their bosses in Washington tolerate - and pay to conceal - the wanton murder conducted on their watch? That's the real scandal of the more than $832 million the U.S. State Department paid Blackwater, under investigation this week by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, headed up by U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles. The issue is not simply that of the Blackwater forces' horrid behavior but, more important, why the mayhem they unleashed upon innocent Iraqis was approved and covered up by the Bush administration. For example, why did a top State Department official initially suggest a payment of $250,000 of American taxpayers' money to conceal the uncontested fact that, as the House Committee report states, "a drunken Blackwater contractor killed the guard of Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd-al-Mahdi"?

The State Department enabled the Blackwater shooter to be spirited out of the country within 36 hours, and although Blackwater subsequently fired him, he has never faced any criminal charges. Nor have any of the others involved in the 195 shooting incidents Blackwater officials admitted have occurred in the past two years, even though 84 percent of the time Blackwater contractors fired first. According to Blackwater's own documents, the congressional committee reports, "in the vast majority of incidents ... Blackwater shots are fired from a moving vehicle and Blackwater does not remain on the scene to determine if their shots resulted in casualties." During one trip that U.S. diplomats made to the Ministry of Oil, 18 different Iraqi civilian vehicles were smashed by the fast-moving motorcade. Those hit-and-runs were conducted in full view of the escorted State Department officials without any of them forcing a subsequent investigation.

Despite all the nonsense about a "liberated Iraq," one of Bush's favorite phrases, the Iraqis still lack the authority to prosecute American mercenaries occupying their country because of a law pushed through by former U.S. pro-consul L. Paul Bremer, who was also guarded by Blackwater personnel. Bremer awarded the original no-bid contract to a company run by a major Republican campaign contributor, Erik Prince, who has donated $225,000 to the GOP. Prince's sister, Betsy DeVos, was Michigan's Republican Party chair and a Bush-Cheney "pioneer" who came through with at least $100,000 for their 2004 campaign.

But this is not yet another story about payoffs to the GOP faithful who have predominated in the Iraq occupation and are totally untrained for their assigned tasks in the restructuring of a country that they know nothing about. The Blackwater guards know their job all too well, which is to guard top U.S. officials by any means necessary - including the casual extermination of innocent Iraqis."

continued

How to aggravate an insurgency

How Blackwater Sniper Fire Felled 3 Iraqi Guards

Witnesses Call Shooting From Justice Ministry Unprovoked, But State Dept. Cleared Its Security Team After a Brief Probe

By Steve Fainaru

Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, November 8, 2007; Page A01

BAGHDAD -- Last Feb. 7, a sniper employed by Blackwater USA, the private security company, opened fire from the roof of the Iraqi Justice Ministry. The bullet tore through the head of a 23-year-old guard for the state-funded Iraqi Media Network, who was standing on a balcony across an open traffic circle. Another guard rushed to his colleague's side and was fatally shot in the neck. A third guard was found dead more than an hour later on the same balcony.

Eight people who responded to the shootings -- including media network and Justice Ministry guards and an Iraqi army commander -- and five network officials in the compound said none of the slain guards had fired on the Justice Ministry, where a U.S. diplomat was in a meeting. An Iraqi police report described the shootings as "an act of terrorism" and said Blackwater "caused the incident." The media network concluded that the guards were killed "without any provocation."

The U.S. government reached a different conclusion. Based on information from the Blackwater guards, who said they were fired upon, the State Department determined that the security team's actions "fell within approved rules governing the use of force," according to an official from the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Neither U.S. Embassy officials nor Blackwater representatives interviewed witnesses or returned to the network, less than a quarter-mile from Baghdad's Green Zone, to investigate.

The incident shows how American officials responsible for overseeing the security company conducted only a cursory investigation when Blackwater guards opened fire. The shooting occurred more than seven months before the Sept. 16 incident in which Blackwater guards killed 17 civilians at another Baghdad traffic circle.

The Feb. 7 shootings convulsed the Iraqi Media Network, one of the prominent symbols of the new Iraq, in anger and recrimination.

U.S. officials and the security company, now known as Blackwater Worldwide, offered no compensation or apology to the victims' families, according to relatives of the guards and officials of the network, whose programming reaches 22 million Iraqis.

"It's really surprising that Blackwater is still out there killing people," Mohammed Jasim, the Iraqi Media Network's deputy director, said in an interview. "This company came to Iraq and was supposed to provide security. They didn't learn from their mistakes. They continued and continued. They continued killing."  continued

Iraqi govt wants Blackwater out within 6 months

US, Iraq Negotiate Blackwater Expulsion

By STEVEN R. HURST and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA – 2 hours ago

BAGHDAD (AP) — U.S. and Iraqi officials are negotiating Baghdad's demand that security company Blackwater USA be expelled from the country within six months, and American diplomats appear to be working on how to fill the security gap if the company is phased out.

The talks about Blackwater's future in Iraq flow from recommendations in an Iraqi government report on the incident Sept. 16 when, Iraqi officials determined, Blackwater guards opened fire without provocation in Baghdad's Nisoor Square and killed 17 Iraqi citizens.

The Iraqi investigators issued five recommendations to the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which has since sent them to the U.S. Embassy as demands for action.

Point No. 2 in the report says:

"The Iraqi government should demand that the United States stops using the services of Blackwater in Iraq within six months and replace it with a new, more disciplined organization that would be answerable to Iraqi laws."

Sami al-Askari, a top aide to al-Maliki, said that point in the Iraqi list of demands was nonnegotiable.

"I believe the government has been clear. There have been attacks on the lives of Iraqi citizens on the part of that company (Blackwater). It must be expelled. The government has given six months for its expulsion and it's left to the U.S. Embassy to determine with Blackwater when to terminate the contract. The American administration must find another company," he told AP.
continued

Conflicts of Interest

The investigations of reckless shootings by Blackwater should be done by independant investigators and not just by the government agency that hired Blackwater. 

 

Justice in Iraq

 

Questionable offers of immunity to Blackwater guards may hinder a U.S. inquiry into the deaths of 17 Iraqis.

October 31, 2007

Conflicts of interest are bad. Private conflicts of interest that damage the national interest are inexcusable. And the news that State Department investigators -- apparently acting without authority -- promised immunity from prosecution to Blackwater USA contractors being interviewed about their role in the killings of 17 Iraqi civilians is nothing short of scandalous.

The Blackwater case is rightly viewed in Iraq as a test of national sovereignty. Either Iraq is a sovereign state that has the right to see that murders committed on its territory are prosecuted -- no matter who the suspects work for -- or it is an occupied nation subject to "victor's justice."

Washington has promised Baghdad a full and fair investigation of the September shootings, followed by prosecution, if warranted, of the contractors who opened fire. The contractors must be presumed innocent unless proved otherwise. But the appearance of fairness and the objectivity of the U.S. investigation have been badly compromised by the rogue grant of immunity to potential suspects by an arm of the State Department, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. That bureau appears to have such a close relationship with the politically well-connected Blackwater firm that it should never have been allowed to conduct an investigation in the first place. Now FBI investigators, who were called in to take over from Diplomatic Security two weeks after the shootings, complain that promises of immunity offered to at least four Blackwater employees will make prosecutions more difficult.

continued
 

Blackwater's back already

Blackwater resumes limited work in Baghdad

Some U.S. diplomats again under guard of security firm being investigated

  View related photos

Khalid Mohammed / AP Updated: 6:59 a.m. PT Sept 21, 2007 An Iraqi traffic policeman on Thursday inspects a car destroyed four days earlier by a Blackwater security detail in al-Nisoor Square in Baghdad. Eleven Iraqis were killed in the incident. BAGHDAD - American convoys under the protection of Blackwater USA resumed on Friday, four days after the U.S. Embassy suspended all land travel by its diplomats and other civilian officials in response to the alleged killing of civilians by the security firm. A top aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had earlier conceded it may prove difficult for the Iraqi government to follow through on threats to expel Blackwater and other Western security contractors. The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation into Sunday's shooting was ongoing, said a way out of the Blackwater crisis could be the payment of compensation to victims' families and an agreement from all sides on a new set of rules for their operations in Iraq. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday she had ordered a "full and complete review" of security practices for U.S. diplomats following the incident. Rice said she had directed the State Department to examine "how we are providing security to our diplomats."

Continued

US diplomats grounded by Blackwater ban

US diplomats grounded in Iraq row

The Green Zone is the administrative centre of Baghdad The US has suspended all road journeys by its diplomats in Iraq outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.   This follows an incident in which 11 Iraqi civilians died when security guards from the US firm Blackwater opened fire in a busy Baghdad square.   Blackwater, which says its guards acted only in self-defence, has a contract to provide security to all US state department employees in Iraq. Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki has called on the US authorities to replace the firm.   "This crime has generated a lot of hatred in the government and the people against Blackwater," Mr Maliki said, the AFP news agency reported. In light of a serious security incident involving a US embassy protective detail... the embassy has suspended official US government civilian ground movements outside the [Green Zone] US embassy in Baghdad "For their own interests, the Americans should hire a new company to protect their people so they can move freely." Mr Maliki again disputed Blackwater's account of the incident. He said he would not tolerate the "killing of our citizens in cold blood".   The prime minister said the Sunday's shooting was "the seventh of its kind" involving Blackwater.   The company has had all its operations in the country suspended by the Iraqi government.   The Iraqi interior ministry has said the men fired randomly at civilians in a crowded square in the capital in Sunday's incident, killing 10 innocent bystanders and a policeman.   On Tuesday, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, telephoned Mr Maliki to express her regret over the deaths and pledge to help carry out a "fair and transparent" investigation into the incident.

Check out Baghdad Treasure's post about Blackwater and watch the video he posted.

Erik Prince defends Blackwater shootings

Blackwater chief defends actions in Iraq

October 2, 2007

By TODD SPANGLER

FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

WASHINGTON – Blackwater USA head Erik Prince says he welcomes Congress looking into whether it pays to contract out security missions to free up military personnel for other duties, adding, “If government doesn’t want us to do this, we’ll go do something else.”

The son of a wealthy industrialist from Holland, whose sister is married to former GOP gubernatorial candidate and Amway owner Dick DeVos, Prince today defended his contracting company’s work in Iraq during a wide-ranging hearing before the House Oversight Committee.

Democrats on the committee complained that Blackwater’s employees don’t seem accountable enough for their actions. The company has come under fire for allegedly killing Iraqi citizens, but Prince said the number of incidents where shots have been fired are less than 1% of the total number of missions the company has had since the war began.

Blackwater is based in North Carolina and guards officials in Iraq, including congressmen and women when they are visiting the country.

While Prince acknowledged that there have been cases in which personnel have done wrong – he noted that one worker was fired and fined after he shot the Iraqi guarding that country’s vice president – he said the company cannot detain its employees and that cases of wrongdoing are turned over to the Justice Department for investigation.

He also said that when an incident occurs, it is the company’s job to get the official they are guarding out of harm’s way, not conduct a “terrorist crime scene investigation.”

He also said he welcomes an announced FBI investigation into the Sept. 16 killing of 11 Iraqis.

“We strive for perfection,” he said, adding, ”The fog of war and accidents ... the bad guys just have to get lucky once” in order for someone to get killed.

He said that 27 Blackwater personnel have died in Iraq but that no one the company has been guarding has ever been killed during the mission.

Prince defended his company as nonpartisan despite connections between him and his family and the Republican Party in Michigan, including his sister, Betsy DeVos, and the fact she was the chairwoman of the state party.

"I've given individual political contributions. I've done that since I was in college and I did that when I was in the military and I will probably continue doing that going forward," said Prince. "I didn't give that up when I became a military contractor."

FBI finds Blackwater shootings unjustified

FBI finds Blackwater Iraq shootings unjustified, report says

Associated Press
Wednesday November 14, 2007
Guardian Unlimited


A Blackwater helicopter flies low over Baghdad. Photograph: Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty
 

The shootings of 14 of the 17 Iraqi civilians killed by Blackwater security personnel in a September confrontation were unjustified and violated rules on the use of deadly force, according to a newspaper report.

Citing civilian and military officials briefed on the case, the New York Times reported on its website last night that the US justice department was reviewing the findings of the FBI, which was continuing to investigate the incident in Baghdad on September 16.

No evidence supported assertions by Blackwater employees that they were fired upon by Iraqi civilians, the Times reported. continued

"Ma'am, we've been trained to view anyone as a potential threat"

Blackwater crushed car with three kids, old man to avoid traffic: former US official

John Byrne Published: Saturday October 6, 2007

Janessa Gans, a visiting political science professor at Principia College who served as a US official in Iraq from 2003 to 2005, opened fire on the private security contractor Blackwater in Saturday's edition of the Los Angeles Times.

"When the Iraqi government last month demanded the expulsion of Blackwater USA, the private security firm, I had one reaction: It's about time," she begins in an editorial.

Gans says she witnessed firsthand "over-the-top zeal" of the behemoth US mercenary force.

"We would careen around corners, jump road dividers, reach speeds in excess of 100 mph and often cross over to the wrong side of the street, oncoming traffic be damned," she writes. "I began to wonder whether my meetings, intended to further U.S. policy goals and improve the lives of Iraqis, were doing more harm than good. With our drivers honking at, cutting off, pelting with water bottles (a favorite tactic) and menacing with weapons anyone in their way, how many enemies were we creating?"

Gans describes a particularly "infuriating" incident where the lead Chevy Suburban in her convoy allegedly crashed into a sedan ferrying an older man, a young woman and three children.

"As we approached at typical breakneck speed, the Blackwater driver honked furiously and motioned to the side, as if they should pull over," she pens. "The kids in the back seat looked back in horror, mouths agape at the sight of the heavily armored Suburbans driven by large, armed men in dark sunglasses. The poor Iraqi driver frantically searched for a means of escape, but there was none. So the lead Blackwater vehicle smashed heedlessly into the car, pushing it into the barrier. We zoomed by too quickly to notice if anyone was hurt."

"Where do you all expect them to go?" she allegedly cried. "It was an old guy and a family, for goodness' sake. Was it necessary for them to destroy their poor old car?"

"Ma'am, we've been trained to view anyone as a potential threat," she says the driver, who she did not identify, replied. "You don't know who they might use as decoys or what the risks are. Terrorists could be disguised as anyone."

"Well, if they weren't terrorists before, they certainly are now!" she says she replied.

According to Gans, the Pentagon's rules of engagement and the private security contractor's seeming indifference created a stark contrast for local Iraqis, who saw the US military as a more responsible force. "Blackwater seemed to have no such rules, paid no compensation and, per long-standing Coalition Provisional Authority fiat, had immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law."

"As we do the work of bridge building and improving our host citizens' lives, if the people providing our transportation and security are antagonizing, angering and even killing the people we are putatively trying to help, our entire mission is undermined," she concluded.

Founder and president of The Euphrates Institute, Gans also keeps a blog, "Letters from the Sandbox."

New rules for careless cowboys

New rules for all cowboys.

U.S. Issues New Rules for Iraq Security Firms

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN and JOHN M. BRODER

Published: October 5, 2007

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered new security procedures today for American diplomatic convoys in Iraq amid continuing repercussions over the shooting of Iraqi civilians by employees of the Blackwater USA security company.

She ordered that special agents from the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security now ride with Blackwater security details; the bureau more closely review incidents like the recent shooting, and the convoys communicate with American military units operating in the same area.

Ms. Rice acted a day after the House of Representatives voted to bring all United States government contractors in the Iraq war zone under the jurisdiction of American criminal law.

The State Department did not say if its initial assessment of Blackwater operations had found fault with the security company or with State Department personnel working closely with Blackwater in Iraq. Rather, the actions announced today are intended "to improve operational accountability and control," Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman said.

The Bureau of Diplomatic Security will begin to record radio transmissions from security convoys instead of just monitoring them, Mr. McCormack said. It will also mount video cameras in security vehicles and "begin archiving electronic tracking of movement data," he said.

Mr. McCormack said the steps were ordered because Secretary Rice "wants to make sure there is a management feedback loop." Despite his careful language, the steps announced today were an unmistakable signal that high State Department officials were disturbed by recent incidents involving Blackwater that left Iraqis dead under murky circumstances.

With Blackwater and other private contractors in Iraq facing tighter scrutiny, the House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would bring all United States government contractors in the Iraq war zone under the jurisdiction of American criminal law. The measure would require the F.B.I. to investigate any allegations of wrongdoing.
continued

Blackwater guards face prosecution in US

Good news.

From The Times

August 19, 2008

Blackwater guards face prosecution over killing of 17 Iraqi civilians

( Ali Yussef/AFP/Getty Images)

A burnt car on the site where Blackwater guards opened fire

James Bone in New York

Six Blackwater Worldwide security guards have been notified that they could face prosecution in America for shooting dead 17 civilians in Baghdad's Nisoor Square in an infamous incident that provoked fury in Iraq.

The Blackwater employees have reportedly been sent "target letters" by US prosecutors telling them that they could face charges for opening fire at the crowded intersection on September 16 last year.

The move was welcomed by human rights activists, who have long complained about US private security in Iraq.

"It's incredibly important that these incidents are not beyond the law. It certainly would be a step in the right direction if the US would go ahead and bring charges," said Jennifer Daskal, of Human Rights Watch, who has interviewed the traffic policeman on duty in Nisoor Square at the time of the shooting. "This is definitely the most high-profile case of contractor abuse in Iraq, but it's certainly not the only one."

Continued

Blackwater faces arms smuggling probe

Feds probe Blackwater links to arms smuggling
Reports: Weapons linked to employees may have gone to terrorist groups

BAGHDAD - Federal prosecutors are investigating whether employees of the private security firm Blackwater USA illegally smuggled into Iraq weapons that may have been sold on the black market and ended up in the hands of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, officials said Friday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Raleigh, N.C., is handling the investigation with help from Pentagon and State Department auditors, who have concluded there is enough evidence to file charges, the officials told The Associated Press. Blackwater is based in Moyock, N.C.

The U.S. attorney for the eastern district of North Carolina, George Holding, and a spokeswoman for Blackwater did not return calls seeking comment Friday. Pentagon and State Department spokesmen declined to comment.

Continued

Blackwater exit not feasible

Iraqi official: Blackwater exit not feasible

Baghdad would have to pull troops out of the field to fill the void left by the private security company, the spokesman says.

By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 24, 2007

BAGHDAD -- -- An Iraqi official conceded Sunday that expelling a private U.S. firm accused in the deaths of at least 11 Iraqi civilians would leave a "security vacuum" and said the two countries would look at ways to better regulate companies that protect Western personnel and facilities in Iraq.

A joint U.S.-Iraqi commission was expected to hold its first meeting within days, the American Embassy said.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki demanded Wednesday that the embassy find a replacement for Blackwater USA and that the North Carolina-based company's activities in Iraq be frozen after Blackwater guards were involved in the lethal shooting Sept. 16 in Baghdad. U.S. officials asked him to wait for the results of a joint investigation.

A spokesman for Iraqi security efforts in the capital acknowledged Sunday that Blackwater was one of the main companies protecting foreign embassies and said it was not feasible to expel the firm, which has about 1,000 employees in Iraq.

"If we drive out this company immediately, there will be a security vacuum that would force us to pull troops out of the field to protect these institutes," Tahseen Sheikhly said. "That would cause a big imbalance in the security situation."

continued

Blackwater shot first 80% of time

Blackwater faces Iraq deaths probe

The spotlight has fallen on Blackwater's Iraq operations after the deaths of 11 civilians [AFP] US security contractor Blackwater was involved in nearly 200 shooting incidents in Iraq over the past two years and opened fire first in most of them, a US congressional report has said.   Blackwater is under investigation after some of its troops shot dead 11 Iraqis on September 16. The private contractor in Iraq hired by the US state department has been the first to fire in more than 80 per cent of shooting incidents in which it has been involved according to a memorandum released on Monday, Henry Waxman, a Democrat, said. The report said the company had been involved in 195 shooting incidents since 2005. continued

Most families agree to Blackwater settlement offer

"Hassan Salman, who was wounded in the 2007 shootings, told CNN that 16 of the 17 families of the dead agreed to $100,000 lawsuit settlements from Xe, as Blackwater now calls itself. Those wounded were offered between $20,000 and $50,000 apiece, Salman said."

$100,000 seems to me a low figure for a family who lost a loved one because some guards got spooked. Keep in mind that Blackwater's revenue from its contracts in Iraq has exceeded $1 billion, and it turns out they have secret contracts with the CIA that are no doubt high-profit as well.

A 2009 US government audit found that Blackwater had violated terms of the contract and that "Pursuant to the contract, which has cost the government over $1 billion, such violations should have resulted in nearly $55 million in penalties to Blackwater."

Gates better than Rumsfeld

Rumsfeld would have denied any wrong was done.

Gates takes swipe at security contractors in Iraq

Thu Oct 18, 2007 5:03pm EDT

 

By Sue Pleming and Andrew Gray

WASHINGTON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday criticized security contractors in Iraq as Baghdad piled more pressure on the State Department to pull the Blackwater firm out of Iraq after deadly shootings last month.

Gates said the work of security contractors was sometimes at odds with the overall U.S. mission in Iraq and their activities must be better coordinated with U.S.-led forces.

"There have been instances where, to put it mildly, the Iraqis have been offended and not treated properly," Gates told reporters at the Pentagon. "Those kinds of activities work at cross purposes to our larger mission in Iraq."

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Blackwater should be pulled out of Iraq and held accountable for its conduct in a Sept. 16 shooting incident that killed 17 people and has enraged Iraqis.

"We would like .... Blackwater to leave Iraq, this is at the end their position, this is the State Department position," Dabbagh told reporters at the White House .

"There is an anger, a great anger among the Iraqis against Blackwater. They should be kept accountable, this is what the Iraqi government needs. It is a crime what they did in Baghdad, we have declared it," he added.

But State Department spokesman Tom Casey said no final decision had been taken on Blackwater and the department was awaiting the outcome of several investigations, including a top-level review of security contractors.

"The position of the State Department is that we have an ongoing investigation and a senior level team looking at it. We have not made a decision. They have not yet made their recommendations to the Secretary," he said, referring to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
continued

Cover Up

Report Says Firm Sought to Cover Up Iraq Shootings

'...The committee report places a significant share of the blame for Blackwater's record in Iraq on the State Department, which has paid Blackwater more than $832 million for security services in Iraq and elsewhere, under a diplomatic security contract it shares with two other companies, DynCorp International and Triple Canopy.

Blackwater has reported more shootings than the other two companies combined, but it also currently has twice as many employees in Iraq as the other two companies combined.

In the case of the Christmas Eve killing, the report says that an official of the United States Embassy in Iraq suggested paying the slain bodyguard's family $250,000, but a lower-ranking official said that such a high payment "could cause incidents with people trying to get killed by our guys to financially guarantee their family's future." Blackwater ultimately paid the dead man's family $15,000.

In another fatal shooting cited by the committee, an unidentified State Department official in Baghdad urged Blackwater to pay the victim's family $5,000. The official wrote, "I hope we can put this unfortunate matter behind us quickly." '

Not all shootings are reported by security firms

Guards in Iraq cite frequent shootings

Companies don't report all the incidents, U.S. officials say

NBC video

Private security contractor Blackwater under fire Oct. 2: In Congress, the leader of the private security firm answered questions about an Iraq shooting incident. Jim Miklaszewski reports.

By Steve Fainaru

Updated: 5:02 a.m. PT Oct 3, 2007

WASHINGTON - Most of the more than 100 private security companies in Iraq open fire far more frequently than has been publicly acknowledged and rarely report such incidents to U.S. or Iraqi authorities, according to U.S. officials and current and former private security company employees.

Violence caused by private security guards in Iraq has come under scrutiny since a Sept. 16 shooting in Baghdad involving employees of Blackwater USA. The company's chairman, Erik Prince, told a congressional committee Tuesday that Blackwater guards opened fire on 195 occasions during more than 16,000 missions in Iraq since 2005.

However, two former Blackwater security guards said they believed employees fired more often than the company has disclosed. One, a former Blackwater guard who spent nearly three years in Iraq, said his 20-man team averaged "four or five" shootings a week, or several times the rate of 1.4 incidents a week reported by the company. The underreporting of shooting incidents was routine in Iraq, according to this former guard.

continued

Iraq to review all security firms

Iraq to investigate security firms

Blackwater provides security to US diplomats and "assets" in Iraq [AFP]

Iraq is to review the status of all private security companies working in the country, after a deadly shooting on Sunday involving guards from the US firm Blackwater.

 

The government announced the investigation on Tuesday, after the interior ministry decided to "halt the licence" of Blackwater, which provides security to US diplomats in Iraq.

Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman, announced the decision "to review the operations of foreign and local security companies in Iraq".

 

He said: "This came after the flagrant assault conducted by members of the American security company Blackwater against Iraqi citizens."

In a related development, the US embassy in Baghdad suspended all diplomatic convoys outside the heavily fortified Green Zone and the rest of Iraq.

Blackwater to be kicked out of Iraq

Good news: State Department Cancels Iraq Contract With Blackwater

Thanks Molly for the heads up. I've posted a lot about Blackwater and I wondered why it took so long for the US government to act. I wonder if they would have done anything if the media (especially Keith Olbermann) had not put so much pressure on them. Still I suppose we should thank the State Department for doing something, even if it is a bit late.

Now I wonder if they will do something about Aegis, the British security firm whose employees did this in 2004:



Interesting that nobody complained nearly as much about Aegis as they did about Blackwater.

Update (2/2/09): I had to find a different source for the video, because YouTube has removed it due to a copyright claim by Aegis.