Blackwater Involved in 195 killing incidents in Iraq
Blackwater faces Iraq deaths probe
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.
'First to fire'
"In 32 of those incidents, Blackwater were returning fire after an attack while on 163 occasions Blackwater personnel were the first to fire," said Waxman, the chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is investigating the company.
The revelation comes a day before Blackwater faces questions over the September shooting.
Details of the shootings, from Blackwater's own reports, indicate involvement in an average of 1.4 shooting incidents per week since 2005.
Of the total cases, there were 16 Iraqi casualties and 162 incidences of property damage, Waxman said.
FBI investigation
The oversight committee will on Tuesday also question senior state department officials to assess whether the growing use of military contractors is undermining US efforts in Iraq.
State department rules say Blackwater's actions should be defensive rather than offensive.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is sending a team to Iraq to investigate the role of Blackwater in the September 16 shoot-out in Baghdad, an FBI spokesman said Monday.
Richard Kolko, an FBI agent, said the state department requested the FBI to examine evidence in the incident.
"The results of the investigation will be reviewed for possible criminal liability and referred to the appropriate legal authority," Kolko said.
Contractor criticised
Blackwater, which has received over $1bn from the US government since 2001, declined to comment on Waxman's statement.
"We look forward to setting the record straight on this and other issues" when Erik Prince, Blackwater's chief, testifies before the committee, Anne Tyrrell, a spokesperson for Blackwater, said.
Waxman criticised the US state department's handling of several incidents involving Blackwater.
He accused the department of trying to get the contractor to pay off victims' families rather than investigate.
"It appears that the state department's primary response was to ask Blackwater to make monetary payments to put the 'matter behind us' rather than to insist upon accountability or to investigate Blackwater personnel for potential criminal liability," said the memorandum.
Payments made
A security guard for Adel Abdul-Mahdi, Iraq's vice-president, was killed by an allegedly drunken Blackwater contractor in December 2006.
The contract worker was then flown out of the country and faced no charges for the killing.
E-mail correspondence from the US embassy in Baghdad to Washington described Iraq concerns over the incident.
"Iraqis would not understand how a foreigner could kill an Iraqi and return a free man to his own country," it said.
The state department's charge d'affaires recommended Blackwater make a "sizeable payment" and an "apology".
Waxman said the state department's diplomatic security said such a move was too much and Blackwater later agreed on a $15,000 payment.
Tom Casey, a state department spokesman, declined to comment on Waxman's specific examples but said the department was "scrupulous" in its oversight of all contractors.
"These are tough jobs and these people often perform heroically in very difficult circumstances," Casey said.
"But at the same time they have to be held accountable for their actions."
$15,000.
Humanity has been reduced to being measured by their filthy, blood drenched, monopoly dollars, which they exchange at will to manipulate its value.
It's outrageous.
What is $15,000 "worth" after all?
Even if it could "buy" "a lot" of their worthless trinkets - it can never buy justice and it can never buy the victim's life back.
Therefore, whatever the "price tag," it will always be inadequate.
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"Money" has no value - people do.
For those of you with children, would you let someone shoot your child in exchange for $15,000?
Of course, $15,000 ultimately comes from the bankers, who create it out of thin air.
And as always, it is loan we must all pay back with interest, whether we have children or not, and whether we take any personal loans or not. If we cannot pay in money, we will pay in other ways, while our monetary debt will continue to compound.
Forever.
and thus anyone who attacks you is a legitimate target...those families who lost their relatives have full right to execute mercenaries involved in deliberate shout outs on civilian population...this is the only way to revoke their legal immunity as it is obvious this corrupted puppet regime will not hold them accountable for what they are doing...Iraq is set for another revolution much bloodier than this one and those mercenaries will run for their life together with their Iraqi traitors that employ them.
"Let there be Light!"