WITH TAXPAYER’S BUCKS?
FOCUS | “For Blackwater It’s Business as Usual”
James Risen reports for The New York Times: “Last fall, Blackwater Worldwide was in deep peril. Guards for the security company were involved in a shooting in September that left at least 17 Iraqis dead at a Baghdad intersection. Outrage over the killings prompted the Iraqi government to demand Blackwater’s ouster from the country, and led to a criminal investigation by the FBI, a series of internal investigations by the State Department and the Pentagon, and high-profile Congressional hearings. But after an intense public and private lobbying campaign, Blackwater appears to be back to business as usual.”
The State Department has just renewed its contract to
provide security for American diplomats in Iraq for at least another year. Threats by the Iraqi government to strip Western contractors of their immunity from Iraqi law have gone nowhere. No charges have been brought in the United States against any Blackwater guard in the September shooting, either, and the F.B.I. agents in Baghdad charged with investigating whether Blackwater guards have committed any crimes under United States law are sometimes protected as they travel through Baghdad by Blackwater guards.
The chief reason for the company’s survival? State Department officials said Friday that they did not believe they had any alternative to Blackwater, which supplies about 800 guards to the department to provide security for diplomats in Baghdad. Officials say only three companies in the world meet their requirements for protective services in Iraq, and the other two do not have the capability to take on Blackwater’s role in Baghdad. After the shooting in September, the State Department did not even open talks with the other two companies, DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, to see if they could take over from Blackwater, which is based in North Carolina.
Could you come up with a more sinister name than Blackwater for a private army of mercenaries who are above all international laws? I swear sometimes the Bush administration comes so close to cartoon villiany it makes brain hurt.
Comment by Danger Bear — May 11, 2008 @ 4:02 pm
When I first heard of Blackwater Guards, back in the Katrina aftermath I thought it was some kind of a joke.
The sad thing Bear, is the fact that it isn’t a cartoon. Sometimes I find myself thinking, “If only I could just wake up! Or push the back button.” Too bad there isn’t a GoBack program for life.
Comment by kerry — May 12, 2008 @ 3:44 pm