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By Scott Tibbs, November 24, 2007
I had not been following the scandal involving Blackwater, a private security firm contracted by the State Department to protect diplomats in Iraq. Based on the little I had read about the case, I was skeptical of Blackwater and believed that more strict oversight was required of these forces, but had not read enough to make an informed opinion on the topic. After being challenged on the issue elsewhere, I bookmarked several articles to learn more about the story. What I found was disturbing, to say the least. Below, I have listed a large number of quotes from the coverage of the scandal in the New York Times.
It should be clear that Blackwater employees have engaged in unacceptable behavior and have likely committed crimes. Blackwater's contract should be immediately revoked and all Blackwater mercenaries should be expelled from Iraq. It would be helpful for diplomatic relations for President Bush to personally apologize for Blackwater's reckless behavior. Keeping in mind that it is critical to observe their due process rights, Blackwater mercenaries should be prosecuted for any crimes committed. If convicted, they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Any Blackwater mercenary who committed a capital crime such as murder should be executed.
All of this must be done under American law, however. I disagree with allowing Blackwater or any other mercenary force to be prosecuted by Iraqi authorities. There is too much political pressure to "get" someone for the deaths, and people who may have used force justifiably could become a victim of political persecution. I do not trust that the Iraqi justice system will safeguard the civil liberties of American citizens.
I have used the word "mercenary" or a variation of it several times in this article. Are Blackwater employees mercenaries? Several definitions of the word "mercenary" involve a soldier hired to serve a foreign power, while Blackwater employees are Americans. However, they are not part of the U.S. armed forces; they are independent contractors hired for a specific duty. While the term may not apply perfectly, I believe it is appropriate. That, however, is a minor point that is irrelevant to the overall issue of independent contractors providing security in Iraq.
As Americans, we need to take precautions not to kill innocent people and to hold ourselves to a high moral standard. This is even more important for followers of Jesus Christ, because we will give an account for how we treat innocent people during wartime. Following the rules of war and observing human rights is not just a good idea; it is a mandate from God that must be taken seriously. It is unconscionable that mercenaries have been allowed to operate with significantly less scrutiny than U.S. troops. Reforms should not be under consideration in November 2007; strict rules and standards of behavior should have been in place before the invasion even started. It is never too late to correct the mistakes of the past, though, and that should be done as soon as possible.
The deaths struck a nerve with Iraqis, who say that private security firms are often quick to shoot and are rarely held responsible for their actions. A law issued by the American authority in Iraq before the United States handed over sovereignty to Iraqis, Order No. 17, gives the companies immunity from Iraqi law.
A Blackwater employee was responsible for the shooting death of a bodyguard for one of Iraq’s vice presidents, Adel Abdul Mahdi, on Christmas Eve last year, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal in May. The Blackwater guard had been drinking heavily in the Green Zone, according to the report, and tried to enter an area where Iraqi officials live. The employee was fired, but left Iraq without being prosecuted, the report said.
“The traffic policeman was trying to open the road for them,” (Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh) said. “It was a crowded square. But one small car did not stop. It was moving very slowly. They shot against the couple and their child. They started shooting randomly.”
For Safaa Rabee, an engineer in Newcastle, England, whose 75-year-old father was shot dead while driving home from grocery shopping on Aug. 13 in Hilla in southern Iraq, the immunity was particularly galling. Mr. Rabee said his father had pulled over and waited as a convoy of sport utility vehicles zoomed past, lights and sirens flashing, a familiar routine for Iraqis, but when he pulled back out, guards in the last car of the convoy opened fire.
But among the rank and file of security contractors, Blackwater guards are regularly ridiculed as cowboys who are relentlessly and pointlessly aggressive, carry excessive weaponry and do not appear to have top-of-the-line training.
Passing Blackwater convoys sometimes intimidates even Westerners, who fear coming under attack if they make a wrong move.
The Iraqi version of events may be self-serving in some points. The ministry report states that no Iraqis fired at the Blackwater guards, even though several witnesses in recent days have said that Iraqi commandos in a watchtower did. Blackwater, in its first and only statement, said militants had ambushed its guards.
If the accounts of Iraqi gunfire from the tower are accurate, a central question is when the Iraqis in the tower began to shoot. As the Americans investigate and build their case, it will probably hinge on timing and on the interpretation of the various sources of gunfire. An American Embassy spokeswoman, Mirembe Nantongo, hinted at that in a conference call on Thursday.
Although (state minister for national security affairs Shirwan al-Waili) did not spell out what the investigative committee would recommend to the criminal court, a preliminary report of findings by the Interior Ministry, the National Security Ministry and the Defense Ministry stated that “the murder of citizens in cold blood in the Nisour area by Blackwater is considered a terrorist action against civilians just like any other terrorist operation.”
Contractors have immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law because of a directive issued by American occupation authorities in 2004. Nor are Blackwater’s contractors subject to United States military law.
Blackwater, based in North Carolina, has gained a reputation among Iraqis and even among American military personnel serving in Iraq as a company that flaunts an aggressive, quick-draw image that leads its security personnel to take excessively violent actions to protect the people they are paid to guard. After the latest shooting, the Iraqi government demanded that the company be banned from operating in the country.
“You can find any number of people, particularly in uniform, who will tell you that they do see Blackwater as a company that promotes a much more aggressive response to things than other main contractors do,” a senior American official said.
Today, Blackwater operates in the most violent parts of Iraq and guards the most prominent American diplomats, which some American government officials say explains why it is involved in more shootings than its competitors.
The company’s close ties to the Bush administration have raised questions about the political clout of Mr. Prince, Blackwater’s founder and owner. He is the scion of a wealthy Michigan family that is active in Republican politics. He and the family have given more than $325,000 in political donations over the past 10 years, the vast majority to Republican candidates and party committees, according to federal campaign finance reports.
Employees of Blackwater USA have engaged in nearly 200 shootings in Iraq since 2005, in a vast majority of cases firing their weapons from moving vehicles without stopping to count the dead or assist the wounded, according to a new report from Congress.
The report by the Democratic majority staff of a House committee adds weight to complaints from Iraqi officials, American military officers and Blackwater’s competitors that company guards have taken an aggressive, trigger-happy approach to their work and have repeatedly acted with reckless disregard for Iraqi life.
The report also says Blackwater gunmen engaged in offensive operations alongside uniformed American military personnel in violation of their State Department contract, which states that Blackwater guards are to use their weapons only for defensive purposes.
It notes that Blackwater’s contract authorizes its employees to use lethal force only to prevent “imminent and grave danger” to themselves or to the people they are paid to protect. “In practice, however,” the report says, “the vast majority of Blackwater weapons discharges are pre-emptive, with Blackwater forces firing first at a vehicle or suspicious individual prior to receiving any fire.”
Many of the American soldiers were similarly appalled. While Blackwater has said its guards were attacked by automatic gunfire, the soldiers did not find any casings from the sort of guns typically used by insurgents or by Iraqi security forces, according to an American military official briefed on the findings of the unit that arrived at the scene about 20 minutes after the Blackwater convoy left. That analysis of forensic evidence at the scene was first reported Friday by The Washington Post.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter, added that soldiers had found clear evidence that the Blackwater guards were not been threatened and also opened fire on civilians who had tried to flee. “The cartridges and casings we found were all associated with coalition forces and contractors,” the official said. “The only brass we found where somebody fired weapons were ones from contractors.”
Mr. Waso said that what he saw was not only disturbing, but also in some cases incomprehensible. He said that the guards kept firing long after it was clear that there was no resistance. People were shot while trying to flee, he said. One man ran from a Volkswagen and the guards shot him in the head from behind, Mr. Waso said.
Finally there was a pause of a few seconds in the shooting as the Blackwater convoy prepared to leave, he said. Then, Mr. Waso said with a look of disbelief on his face, at least one Blackwater guard began firing again, this time at a red bus full of people on the western rim of the square.
David Johnston and John M. Broder reported on Wednesday that federal investigators found no evidence to support claims by Blackwater officials that Iraqi civilians had fired on the guards. Investigators concluded that 3 of the 17 deaths may have been justified because the guards might have perceived an imminent threat. The other 14 amounted to sheer recklessness, they said. |
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