After the stunning Sept. 16 incident at Nisoor Square, it appeared Blackwater’s reputation couldn’t get much worse. For that matter, the State Department’s oversight of its private army couldn’t get much more embarrassing.
As it turns out, though, both assumptions are mistaken.
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 State Department was, of course, responsible for looking into the shootings, and holding the shooters accountable. So, what happened? Blackwater guards said they acted in self defense, and that was good enough for the administration officials on the ground.
As the WaPo reported, “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.”
When Condoleezza Rice told lawmakers recently that her State Department was responsible for overseeing the security company, this is an example of how well her agency was meeting its responsibilities.
As for Iraqis, we keep getting a better sense of why the whole “hearts and minds” problem isn’t getting any better.
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.”
Ahmed Thamir Abood, an Iraqi Army captain with jurisdiction over the area, arrived on the scene to talk to Blackwater guards. It didn’t go well.
“I told them, ‘I want to speak with the guy who is in charge of this unit,’ ” he said.
The Blackwater guards started toying with him, Abood said.
“He’s in charge,” said one, pointing at one of his colleagues.
“No, he’s in charge,” said another.
“They didn’t care what I was saying,” Abood said.
It’s quite an operation we have going over there, isn’t it?