State Dept. ‘Discounts’ Iraqi Report, Clings To Blackwater Line Of ‘Defensive Fire’
State Dept. ‘Discounts’ Iraqi Report, Clings To Blackwater Line Of ‘Defensive Fire’
On Sunday, employees of an American private security company were involved in a shoot out in central Baghdad that left at least 11 civilians dead, including a mother and her child. A spokeswoman for the firm, Blackwater USA, told reporters that the “independent contractors acted lawfully and appropriately in response to a hostile attack.”
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack supported Blackwater’s version of events, saying yesterday that “the basic fact is that there was an attack on the convoy.” This version of the events, however, was contradicted today by “a preliminary Iraqi report” obtained by the New York Times:
“There was not shooting against the convoy,” said Ali al-Dabbagh, the Iraqi government’s spokesman. “There was no fire from anyone in the square.” [...]
American Embassy officials had said Monday that the Blackwater guards had been responding to a car bomb, but Mr. Dabbagh said the bomb was so far away that it could not possibly have been a reason for the convoy to begin shooting.
Instead, he said, the convoy had initiated the shooting when a car did not heed a police officer and moved into an intersection.
“The traffic policeman was trying to open the road for them,” he 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.”
Witnesses of the incident who spoke to McClatchy on Monday support the Iraqi report. “Three people who claimed to have witnessed the shooting said that only the Blackwater guards were firing.” But in a press briefing today, State Department spokesman Tom Casey dismissed the preliminary report while sticking to the Blackwater line:
QUESTION: But you still maintain that this was a defense action in response to an attack. This is — that’s not, apparently, what the Iraqis are saying.
CASEY: You know, what I know and what Sean said yesterday is the convoy came under attack and there was defensive fire as a result of that.
There are various — there are eyewitness accounts that say a whole variety of different things as to what the sequence was and where fire came from and all that. That’s what the investigation has to figure out.
And I don’t — I don’t want to try and assert for you that things happened in a specific order of events, because I just don’t know that’s true.
QUESTION: OK. This is different from an eyewitness account. This is the Iraqi investigation. So you’re discounting their investigation…
As Spencer Ackerman of TPMmuckraker reports, the State Department has a vested interest in whether Blackwater acted offensively or defensively during the shootout, since their rules of engagement “are set by State” and are more aggressive than “other security contractors who use the Military Rules of Engagement and Rules of Force.”
Additionally, the State Department “rarely” conducts thorough investigations of such incidents in Iraq. “We get almost weekly reports of such shootings,” a State Department official told The Blotter. “But it is close to impossible to go the crime scene and interview witnesses.”
UPDATE: Here’s the video of Casey’s press briefing:
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Seldom do disparate breakings news stories converge to paint a larger picture. Even as news of atrocities by American military contractor Blackwater rocked Baghdad, Republicans in the Senate blocked the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act, ensuring that the most draconian features of the Bush administration’s detainee policies remain in place. Meanwhile, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) lamented the presence of “too many mosques in this country.” It’s no wonder a recent Pew Research Center poll revealed plummeting approval ratings for the United States within Muslim countries worldwide.
For the details, see:
September 19th, 2007 at 8:05 pm“Blackwater, Habeas Corpus and the Global Muslim Backlash.”
This is appalling and the reason why this country has become hated internationally. We are so irresponsible as a nation that we can’t admit our own mistakes. Since when have we become infallible – I guess that’s when Bush became god almighty. This is so transparently false that it’s beginning to looks like a sick line from some piece of bad fiction.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:09 pmIMPEACH Bush before he harms this country even more. In 500 days, he can tank this country totally and will if allowed to reign as a Dictator.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:10 pm“So you’re discounting their investigation…”
**************
I’m sure Blackwater has made sufficient money and they can afford to offer a discount. – What? Oh, THAT kind of discount. – Never mind.
*************
September 19th, 2007 at 8:10 pmJust registered and checking out if all is working. Won’t be on long tonight.
Leave the Cristian extremist mercenaries in Iraq. We certainly don’t want them here in the good ol’ USA. Well, jail might be a good place.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:11 pmAccording to the State Department spokesperson:
“We get almost weekly reports of such shootings,†a State Department official told The Blotter. “But it is close to impossible to go to the crime scene and interview witnesses.â€
So they don’t investigate shootings of alleged civilians by mercenaries. Yet somehow they claim to have accurate statistics on the number of civilians killed in Iraq. Maybe if you don’t investigate, there are no statistics to report and therefore you can claim that everything is getting peaceful in Iraq.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:17 pmAhhh, excellent P.R. move by the State Department in a war being fought for hearts and minds.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:20 pmI’ve gotta admit, I’m quite interested in what the future holds. On one hand, BushCo has a vital interest in supporting their corporate friends in Blackwater. Shrub also needs the mercenaries so he can claim a lower number of troops and troop deaths in Iraq. I can see a lot of pressure being put on Iraq to accept either Blackwater or a new company being formed in the same office by the name of Darkwater.
On the other hand, for rather good reasons, Iraqis have cause to hate the mercenaries. Bigoted statements by Congressmen I’m sure fuel the fires. In order to show that they aren’t a US puppet, the Iraqi governement could benefit in the Arab world by ousting Blackwater.
Could be quite an interesting dance.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:28 pmAll the apples in the barrel are rotten.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:28 pmThere you go. Call the Iraqis liars. That should help move things along.
I’d like someone at State to explain how they can possibly come to any conclusions without conducting a legitimate investigation into the incident. Not a single contractor has been called to account for any actions in Iraq – nor will they be. This is Dick’s personal army.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:28 pmThis is one reason you don’t hire mercenaries.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:37 pm“We get almost weekly reports of such shootings,†a State Department official told The Blotter. “But it is close to impossible to go the crime scene and interview witnesses.â€
It’s more like we won’t go to the crime scene and interview witnesses. If we do, we might find out that the contractor was at fault and we can’t have that, now, can we?
I wonder if the Iraqi’s are going to finally stand up for themselves and stop allowing our government to bully them. The last thing I heard was that they were going to accept a “sorry” and let it go.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:38 pmMaybe if you don’t investigate, there are no statistics to report and therefore you can claim that everything is getting peaceful in Iraq.
Bingo. It’s like they do with our dead. They are only dead if they died with their boots on the ground in Iraq. It they died from their wounds in the hospital in Germany, they aren’t really dead. Only if that were true!
September 19th, 2007 at 8:41 pmSorry, OT:
Has anyone seen this?
September 19th, 2007 at 8:41 pmDan Rather Sues CBS For 70 Million; Says He Was Made Scapegoat
Blackwater group are hired killers and doing what they were hired to do that is kill Iraqis and if ordered American soldiers. All the Iraq prison torture cases involve Blackwater as they trained our troops how to torture prisoners. This group has been killing innocent Iraqis from day one and if PM Maliki caves in to Bush he will be removed quickly. A sharp shooter was sent to kill Pat Tillman need I say more.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:49 pmThis isn’t accurate. This is a meme that has been around for years and it is simply not accurate. The deaths reported by the DoD include those who die stateside (or outside of Iraq) from injuries received in Iraq. For example:
September 19th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Some interesting background on Blackwater, it’s founder Eric Prince, and other connections via both marriage and business (i.e., Cofer Black is the Vice Chairman of the company..he used to be with the CIA and then the State Dept.) And they are certainly involved with more than Iraq.
“Presidential Airways, whose parent company Presidential Airways, Inc. and its sister company, Aviation Worldwide Services (AWS), are owned by Blackwater, and based in Melbourne, Florida. It received a $2.43 million contract from the Department of Defense to provide “aircraft supports,” in February 2006. Late last year, Washington Post reporter Dana Priest revealed a network of secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe; she received a Pulitzer Prize for her work. It turns out, according to independent media sources, AWS and Presidential were both involved in the chartered flights.”
http://www.michiganliberal.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6088
September 19th, 2007 at 8:55 pmYes you do need to say more if you are going to make outragious claims (or stop with your BS altogether). No sharpshooter was sent by anyone to kill Pat Tillman, your conspiracy theory assertion is total dung.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:57 pmAnd the US Govt, in our names, is paying these guys huge money to do work our troops would normally be doing. (the nation building thing maybe?) Why can’t we pay our troops better & get rid of Blackwater?
And why do these people keep shouting support the troops! every time someone questions what we are doing over there?
And why was Blackwater in New Orleans?
Don’t they fly black helicopters?
September 19th, 2007 at 9:05 pmWe can thank our “good friend” Donald Rumsfeld and his Dali-esque vision of a “leaner, meaner fighting machine” for all the farming out of routine jobs once done by the military (for purposes of unit cohesion, if nothing else) to overpaid unaccountable mercenaries for hire. And people still want to blame the Democrats for drawing down our military forces when the only adversary strong enough to defeat us caved in, but they say a peep about Rumsfeld’s dismantling of our Armed Forces.
September 19th, 2007 at 9:30 pmwayne s., your comment reminds me, again, of something i’ve wondered…
September 19th, 2007 at 9:50 pmi remember when i first started reading these blogs, many of the “trolls” would spout off remarks about clinton making all the cuts to the military and just in general, blaming clinton for the military troubles…
i do remember base closings in his days… i know it was peacetime…
but, really, what is the history of all of that?
were these contractors a part of the plan then?
anyone?
…
. . . and the White House is still trying to convince the world that things are improving in Iraq? War, death, and increased chaos will be Bush’s Iraqi legacy. I wonder if the Iraqi flag will fly above Bush’s Presidential Library?
September 19th, 2007 at 9:57 pmState Dept. ‘Discounts’ Iraqi Report, Clings To Blackwater Line Of ‘Defensive Fire’
September 19th, 2007 at 10:04 pmWell if we paid attention to the Iraq report and sent Blackwater packing as the Iraqi people want… how on God’s earth can the genocide continue? We will never get the oil and Iraq as a 51st state.
Impeachcheneythenbush,
Is it any wonder that Dana Priest was trashed by the White House, the Republicans and Fox TV for revealing those secret prisons? Some wanted her arrested.
As Wayne says: The only way we could have kept to Rumsfeld’s requisite for a lean army was to use mercenaries.
The worst of it is that these guys answer to no one.
Katy, if memory serves me, the military was reduced in the Clinton era because there was not a “threat” in the post-Desert Storm, post collapse of Russia. The Republicans were pushing hard for reductions.
September 19th, 2007 at 10:14 pmSomeone will correct me if my memory is faulty.
Hi katy, it’s me, Raven
(I had to invert my name to get registed here,
the good people at TP had to have their fun)
Clinton made an effort to pursue a path of peace, and de-militarization, which followed the end of the Cold War.
(To give credit, so did the first George Bush… isn’t it fun now that we have it down to the ‘First’ and the ‘Last’ Bush?)
Anyhoo, the beginings of Americas de-militarization was thwarted by Dick Cheney and the Entourage.
(By corrupting/cheating elections)
Petroleum, Guns and Greed function as well oiled
September 19th, 2007 at 10:19 pm(pardon the pun) machine.
Blackwater, Halliburton, the defense industry, the oil companies, gun manufacturers…..
oh goodness, it’s such a long history….
katy,
After the Soviet Union “collapsed”, it was generally felt that we wouldn’t need all these military bases and personnel, so they started reducing the number of active duty military and had a commission set up to “neutrally” close bases. (It’s a big thing when the local economy of an otherwise small base suffers a base closing. And since so many bases were built “away” from other places, there’s little left of some towns when the base closes.) So, naturally, with our number one enemy “defeated” and the Cold War cmeing to a close, it was felt that we deserved to reep our “Peace Dividend” and draw down our standing armies (which, constiotutionally, are only supposed to be for two-year periods; so if any of you rich libertarians with time on your hands wants to try to tackle that one, I’d be interested in the result.)
From his days inthe Ford administration, Rumsfeld dreamt of a lean, mean fighting machine. One where much of the routine work was contracted out. Great for the corporate world, but an army unit works together better when their own people are taking care of them, not civilians being paid enormous sums more than the guy the military would have had, if not for Rumsfeld.
September 19th, 2007 at 10:21 pmLike issuing a federal bond when ever Congress over spends the American tax base, using mercenaries is a way to get armed forces without a national referendum on our willingness to voluntarily spill our own blood or draft.
Nothing short of Blackwater going rogue, executing a coup de ta, and launching Saddam’s hidden weapons of mass destruction will get them removed from the Middle Eastern picture.
Unless of course someone, maybe a presidential candidate, tells the American people this is the most important nation policy in our life times and it is worth dying for or sending your children to die for and we agree and go die there and send our children to die there. Until then the mercenaries will make up the monthly armed forces recruiting shortages and the Iraqi people will be killed in a lawless manner with no recourse.
Do you consider and ex-American G.I. serving as a hired mercenary a patriot or a scoundrel? I’ve talked to some military guys and its a problem on the minds of the mid and upper level NCO’s, how do you keep your talent when there is a private firm willing to pay them 3 times as much to do the same or less.
The mercenaries if Blackwater, Dyncorp, and Triple Canopy are no American heroes, they are opportunists taught by our capitalist leaders to damn the country for the sake of lining your own pockets.
This is all in our hands to fix.
September 19th, 2007 at 10:24 pmsite sux
Comment by r — September 19, 2007 @ 9:38 pm
I love it. The troll doesn’t get his attention and goes into a tizzie. Please report this user as an abuser. These kinds of comments are what make the message boards unreadable.
September 19th, 2007 at 10:24 pmYes you do need to say more if you are going to make outragious claims (or stop with your BS altogether). No sharpshooter was sent by anyone to kill Pat Tillman, your conspiracy theory assertion is total dung.
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Comment by wiseass.org — September 19, 2007 @ 8:57 pm
Are you sure? If so, why?
September 19th, 2007 at 10:48 pmOn 9/16, the Sunday morning talking heads were exclaiming about the “report” from Gen. BetrayUs. He did such a good job, they said, at kicking the can down the street, “to buy Bush some time.” Much laughter and glee at this clever comment. I could tell Iraq, Bush, BetrayUs is all one big game to these guys and gals on the tv screen.
Cokie Roberts was asked if anything could go wrong and change the rosy scenario that BetrayUs offered to the Congress. “Only a TET Offensive,” she shrugged. But no chance of that the other columnists agreed, ver smugly. Ha ha. “The Iraqis aren’t well enough organized to pull off a surprise military attack,” they all agreed.
But that same day, Sept. 16th, Blackwater operatives in Baghdad opened an attack against Iraqi civilians — during the holy month of Ramadan. The Iraqis are pissed at Blackwater and their hired thugs. This latest massacre of civilians could easily endanger our troops stuck in Bush’s Iraq.
Stay tuned to see what happens. But remember that “TET” was a surprise attack by guerrilla insurgents. The “TET” in Iraq will be equally surprising and it change the US mission there. None too soon.
September 19th, 2007 at 10:52 pmLet us not forget that in December of 2006, the Republican monkeys in Congress got the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 repealed, opening up the possibility of soldiers firing on American citizens when ordered to do so. Do you think American forces would actually do that? Most certainly not, but what do you think a paramilitary group like Blackwater would do in that situation when paid very well. We are looking at the face of evil in Iraq that is supported by these Republicans. I fear that the cold-hearted and psychotic behavior of these mercenaries are going to be called upon to “serve” as our American “protectors” at home. Also, don’t forget Presidential Order 51.
September 19th, 2007 at 11:15 pmHere’s a link to an anti-Blackwater petition site, to keep them out of So. Cal.
http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/petition/Blackwater
TP’s Cali posters should check it out.
September 19th, 2007 at 11:48 pmHow can Blackwater employees operate lawfully, as stated by their spokesperson? They operate completely outside of any legal framework! What they do is neither lawful, nor unlawful. There is no mechanism to punish their wrongdoing.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:00 amInvade on false pretenses. Then say its’ ’cause you’re bringing them dumb-o’cracy. Free-dumb.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:20 amMake the laws so that there’s 100% foreign ownership of all business- that’ll win their hearts and minds. Grover-Norquist- certified flat tax system, a bourse- only allow certain genetically engineered crops to be grown (supplied by the U.S., of course-)
Fire the ARMY, and be surprised when they form an insurgency-
“just pretend its’ all OK”.
Act surprised when the Iraqis align themselves with Iran- who understandably wants protection from “dumb-o’cracy”, too-
How stupid can NeoCONS be?
And just how STUPID can ‘Merkins be?
A spokeswoman for the firm, Blackwater USA, told reporters that the “independent contractors acted lawfully and appropriately in response to a hostile attack.â€
How can anyone claim that thses guys/gals are acting “lawfully” when they have arranged to have no legal liability for thier actions? C’mon who is kidding who here. Who do they answer to anyway?
September 20th, 2007 at 12:23 amPrivate security forces should never have been authorized in the first place. If Iraq wants to “secure” their people they should hire Iraqi’s to do it. If our people need to be “Secured” then the U.S. Military should do it. Having our tax dollars go and pay some Merc security guard 5 times what an average soldier makes is BS.
Not to mention they have no accountability.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:23 amOK, I just saw Verbalkint saying sort of the same thing (#34?). Just agreeing anyway.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:25 amthank you, wayne, raven (i knew it was you) and marie…
much as i thought it was…
so, the republican congress under clinton was part of that downsizing?
and it just got worse after 01? … and instead of pumping up the forces and the society and commerce for actual war, bushco went for privatizing and war profiteering… have i got it?
now i have to sleep on that… ugh…
September 20th, 2007 at 1:11 amg’nite all…
.
Fellow patriots, take heart.
I just returned from the September 15th impeachment/anti-war march in DC and we were 100,000 strong. The DC police arrested 190 loyal patriots, abusing many of them, including dislocating the shoulder of a 60+ year old female patriot. And yet amazingly, she was with us on September 18th, her arm in a sling, when we went through both the Senate and House of Representatives visiting those who should be representing us and letting them know that the American people had awoken and we were not going away.
Of course it is clear that neither the Republican or Democratic parties are going to restore our Constitution or the rule of law it embraces, so for one of the very few times in American history an independent political convention is being organized. That’s right, we are no longer going to simply have Republican and Democratic conventions, we are also going to have an American one.
And the American’s are going to win.
One of the bravest patriots I have ever had the privilege to meet and work with, the founder of Grassroots America Tina Richards, is organizing the new convention and if you’re tired of simply complaining then support the new non-affiliated convention and the organizations implementing it, and relegate the Republican and Democratic parties to the dust-bin of history, where they belong.
You can visit Grassroots America at grassrootsamerica4us.org.
ST
Accusation was conviction, and justice an abominable crime.
SearingTruth
The greatest persuader is the ever encroaching power of truth.
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave – http://www.searingtruth.com
September 20th, 2007 at 5:15 amTodays (9/20/07) WaPo reports that BLACKWATER IS UNIQUELY EXEMPT FROM ALL REGULATION OF MILITARY CONTRACTORS because it reports to the State Dept under its contract, not the military.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/19/AR2007091902503.html?hpid=topnews
In other words, the company is exempt from the effort to impose some oversight on these organizations that the US has tried to put together. Small wonder that the State Dept is sticking to Blackwater’s account of
the incident.
This aspect of the story is central to the WaPo story, but not reported in today’s NYT.
Now, the State Dept has historically been the weak sister in Iraq, ever since Rumsfeld muscled Powell’s trained staff out of the Iraq Planning Group prior to the invasion. A steady muttering campaign has arisen in the MSM about the State Dept’s failure to provide personnel for new reconstruction projects (part of the Petraeus scheme), as if to suggest that the next looming policy failure is the State Dept’s fault.
Who arranged this unusual contract that exempts BW from oversight? Why has it remained in effect even as problems with military contractors have mounted? Why was Bremer initially given security by BW, not the military (reportedly he objected to this, and was required by WH to accept BW, tho I don’t have a source) The answer is unlikely to be found w/in the State Dept itself, I believe.
September 20th, 2007 at 6:37 amI have been asking everywhere and will ask here as well. WHO were the “diplomats” tooling around Iraq, putting Iraqi’s in danger, and WHAT was their diplomatic mission?
September 20th, 2007 at 6:49 amAdditionally, the State Department “rarely†conducts thorough investigations of such incidents in Iraq. “We get almost weekly reports of such shootings,†a State Department official told The Blotter. “But it is close to impossible to go the crime scene and interview witnesses.â€
Whine whine whine. Hire more local iraqis, send more soldiers, draft them if it’s necessary. Don’t say “waaah it’s too hard” when it’s your job to conduct such investigations, just go and do it.
If you don’t, then you have lost your right to dispute whatever comes out from local Iraqi investigations. Put up or shut up.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:28 amWinning hearts and minds every day.
September 20th, 2007 at 2:13 pm