Blackwater details remain ‘sketchy’

May 27, 2007

Once in a while, the ambiguous legal, political, and practical implications of Blackwater’s private security forces in Iraq create problems that are, to put it mildly, awkward.

Employees of Blackwater USA, a private security firm under contract to the State Department, opened fire on the streets of Baghdad twice in two days last week, and one of the incidents provoked a standoff between the security contractors and Iraqi forces, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

A Blackwater guard shot and killed an Iraqi driver Thursday near the Interior Ministry, according to three U.S. officials and one Iraqi official who were briefed on the incident but spoke on condition of anonymity because of a pending investigation. On Wednesday, a Blackwater-protected convoy was ambushed in downtown Baghdad, triggering a furious battle in which the security contractors, U.S. and Iraqi troops and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters were firing in a congested area.

Blackwater confirmed that its employees were involved in two shootings but could neither confirm nor deny that there had been any casualties, according to a company official who declined to be identified because of the firm’s policy of not addressing incidents publicly.

As Steve Fainaru and Saad al-Izzi concede in their report, details about the incidents “remained sketchy.” Apparently, an Iraqi driver got too close to a Blackwater convoy, which prompted the private security forces to open fire. Was there a mistake? Who’s responsible? Who knows:

The Blackwater employees refused to divulge their names or details of the incident to Iraqi authorities…. Anne Tyrrell, a Blackwater spokeswoman, said the company did not discuss specific incidents.


As a result, as with most incidents involving private security firms operating in Iraq, we don’t know exactly what happened and why. We do know, however, that Blackwater employees have vague legal standing in Iraq, little oversight, and the firepower necessary to do some damage.

In this case, we also know how ugly it got.

The officials described a tense standoff that ensued between the Blackwater guards and Interior Ministry forces — both sides armed with assault rifles — until a passing U.S. military convoy intervened.

As if the dynamic of the conflict wasn’t complex enough, U.S. troops are now interceding in a gunfight between Iraqi Interior Ministry forces and employees of U.S. private security firm.

Great.

Update: Edited slightly for clarity.

Is anyone else reminded that in Afghanistan, one of the major problems we were hoping to fix was the presence of warlords who are answerable to no one but themselves? I’m hard pressed to see a significant difference here, aside from Blackwater being on our side (at least, being paid for by us).

  • It appears that the President and Vice President aren’t the only ones who consider themselves above the law.

  • “The officials described a tense standoff that ensued between the Blackwater guards and Interior Ministry forces — both sides armed with assault rifles — until a passing U.S. military convoy intervened.”

    So who’s side are we on in a standoff like this? Do we shoot Iraqis to defend soldiers of fortune that may or may not be Americans or do we defend the Iraqis from foreign forces they’d rather not have in their country?

    Blackwater’s a loose cannon, one that’s loaded and ready to fire.

  • This is not the first time there’d been questionable behaviour from Blackwater. Yet, there never seem to be many questions asked, by Congress, about their role in this conflict; somehow, they seem always to fly under the radar. One thing I’d like to know, for example, is what proportion of the recently passed Surrender Supplemental will be going not to “support our troops”, but to pay for those thugs’ “services”.

    And, petorado’s (@3) question about which side did the US patrol take is, indeed, a very important one (as is his conclusion about loose cannons)

  • I wonder how long before the Iraqi Government decides to classify Blackwater employees as “enemy combatants”?

  • It would also be interesting to know about the impact of a bunch of mercenaries has upon the morale of the troops. How do they feel about people how are probably able to leave Iraq far more easily, who are being paid substantially more than the average soldier, and who could derail delicate agreements or incite violent responses simply by acting without consultation? Aren’t they they proverbial fly-in-the-ointment with regard to diplomatic initiatives?

  • Schwarzenwassergruppe auf “Cheney Uber Alles” gesingen aus morgen und nachten—vehrsteht?

    Either the administration gets those peanut-brittle-brained, trigger-happy loons out of Iraq—or they need to label them as the military wing of a terrorist organization.

    Oh—wait—they kinda/sorta work for Bu$h/Cheney, don’t they? That would make them…………………………

  • Winning hearts and minds baybee!

    To add to jay inge’s questions at 7, I also wonder if these guys are as easy to identify as a real soldier. These idiots could easily incite people to violence and then fade away, leaving the uniformed soldiers to take the heat.

    And another question: Why the fuck should our soldiers (who have enough to do) also have to run interference for these idiots? I bet if the BWs have to get out of the shit they start a few times they’ll either get shot or learn to behave.

  • It’s a private company, so I guess that means Cheney doesn’t have stock…

    Still, WTF? This company was needed in New Orleans after Katrina?

    And then there is this (also from wikipedia):

    On March 31, 2004, Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah ambushed a convoy containing four American private military contractors from Blackwater USA who were conducting delivery for food caterers ESS.[10] The four armed contractors, Scott Helvenston, Jerko Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague, were killed with grenades and small arms fire. The bodies were then hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates.[11]
    Photos of the event were released to news agencies worldwide; a great deal of indignation and moral outrage in the United States followed. This directly preceded the announcement of an upcoming assault on Fallujah.

  • For those interested, please read the book, Blackwater by Jeremy Schahill.

    This isn’t the first time that BW had a Mexican standoff with the Iraqis (and he US military.)

    What’s really funny in a not so funny way is that Blackwater is trying to state that because they’re stating they’re immune from any lawsuits due to the fact they’re part of the Pentagon’s TOE, but don’t follow the rules that “public” soldiers have to such as the UCMJ. In other simpler words, Blackwater believes they’re above the law (of both warfare and civil.)

  • War profiteers who are just trying to keep the money flowing.

    Private security force is a polite name for these guys. That name is used to make them seem like they are just there to provide security rather than to help private corporations plunder the country, Iraq and America. They have a gang and thug mentality and mode of operation. They are not governed by any laws because if they were they would already be in jail. They’ve been known to get drunk and shoot Iraqis for sport. They act just like the terrorists groups that are killing Americans, and would kill Americans if told to do so.

    They are used to eliminate any dissent or competition through intimidation. Imagine being in the country protected by these people and suddenly they decide to abandon you because you are not cooperating, leaving you vulnerable in Iraq. You could get cooperative real quick eh.

    At least they are for the most part, our terrorists. Oil be damned.

  • Cheney got such a BIG ceo retirement package as pre-payment for the billions he is now putting in Blackwater”s hands. They knew in advance Cheney would come through for them BIG. And we pay for it…and our children…and their children…and.

  • I have been to Iraq 3 times and visited and was stationed at the “embassy compunt/annex” many times and have always been appalled by the mercenaries employed by our department of state. There are an estimated 2000 of these blackwater folks in the embassy compound alone. They are allowed to drink and cavort and so forth. They can routinely be found at the state department authorized bar the “lock and load”. Of course, while drinking they are carrying fully automatic loaded weapons. (Our military is not allowed to carry loaded weapons in the “embassy compound”)

    These guys are scary. they answer to no one, they shoot first ask later, they hate the military and feel they are superior to them (this includes the state deparment as a whole).

    Of my total time in Iraq I spent 6 months straight and an additional month here or there living in the “embassy compound” so I know of what I speak. It is just plain wrong…

    Oh, and these guys get paid in the neighborhood of 200k per year. that is the avg salary. their contracts are in execess of 500k per person per year. So, it easily costs 100 MILLION dollars just to support the mercs in the embassy compund, not counting any of the PRTs in the outlying FOBs.

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