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Waxman to Hold Blackwater Hearings
Right off the heels of Iraq's intended expulsion of private-security giant Blackwater, House Oversight Committee chairman Henry Waxman vows -- what else? -- to investigate:
“The controversy over Blackwater is an unfortunate demonstration of the perils of excessive reliance on private security contractors. The Oversight Committee will be holding hearings to understand what has happened and the extent of the damage to U.S. security interests.”
For more on Blackwater, see the Brookings Institution's P.W. Singer, one of the foremost scholars of the private-military revolution, blogging over at TPMm pal Noah Shachtman's Danger Room.
Of all the private security personnel in Iraq -- Singer pegs it at 160,000, way above my earlier estimate today of 20,000-30,000 -- Blackwater may be the most buck-wild, in the eyes of the Iraqis:
Singer writes:
More importantly, there is perhaps greater tension between Blackwater and the Iraqi government than others. This is not just because armed Blackwater guards are the contractors that most often senior Iraqi government officials would run into in their daily dealings with their U.S. counterparts, but because a more recent incident. On Christmas Eve 2006, a Blackwater employee allegedly got drunk while inside the Green Zone in Baghdad and got in an argument with a guard of the Iraqi Vice President. He then shot the Iraqi dead. The employee was quickly flown out of the country and, 9 months later, has not been charged with any crime. Imagine the same thing happening in the US, an Iraqi embassy guard, drunk at a a Christmas party, shooting a Secret Service agent guarding Vice President Cheney, and you can see some potential for underlying tension there.
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Comments (20)
Son of Defarge wrote on September 17, 2007 6:19 PM:A rare specimen indeed: a Democrat packin' brass when he walks into a room.
OneCrankyDem wrote on September 17, 2007 7:07 PM:Blackwater will bare feel it if booted out of Iran since they and few others have been awarded 15 Billion in contracts to fight in Afghanistan and other places. For more follow this link . http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/12/184840/890
James V McCormick McCormick wrote on September 17, 2007 7:33 PM:BLACKWATER IS JUST A CONTINUATION OF THE BUSH
James V McCormick McCormick wrote on September 17, 2007 7:33 PM:DISREGARD FOR ANY CONSTITUIONAL RULE OF LAW--CORPORATIONS HAVE RANGED AND FORAGED
AT WILL IN THE EMIRATES AND VARIOUS "COLONIES"
OF OIL FOR YEARS, AND FINALLY GOT CAUGHT IN
IRAQ WITH PRIVATE TROOPS KILLING AT WILL.
THEY,BLACKWATER AND CO.,OUGHT TO BE DRIVEN OUT OF THE COUNTRY AND FINED, AND THEN THE TREMULOUS GOVERNMENT OF IRAQ MIGHT WIRE AN ANSWER:WE JUST STEPPED UP TO]
THE PLATE FOR LAW AND ORDER, NOW WHAT?
J.MC CORMICK OF K.C.
BLACKWATER IS JUST A CONTINUATION OF THE BUSH
frogmarchbush wrote on September 17, 2007 9:02 PM:DISREGARD FOR ANY CONSTITUIONAL RULE OF LAW--CORPORATIONS HAVE RANGED AND FORAGED
AT WILL IN THE EMIRATES AND VARIOUS "COLONIES"
OF OIL FOR YEARS, AND FINALLY GOT CAUGHT IN
IRAQ WITH PRIVATE TROOPS KILLING AT WILL.
THEY,BLACKWATER AND CO.,OUGHT TO BE DRIVEN OUT OF THE COUNTRY AND FINED, AND THEN THE TREMULOUS GOVERNMENT OF IRAQ MIGHT WIRE AN ANSWER:WE JUST STEPPED UP TO]
THE PLATE FOR LAW AND ORDER, NOW WHAT?
J.MC CORMICK OF K.C.
Waxman is our only hope. Go get 'em.
P J Evans wrote on September 17, 2007 9:50 PM:Hearings are fine. Action after the hearings would be even better.
With that said ... go, Henry! Get 'em!
GeorgeBush43 wrote on September 17, 2007 10:27 PM:Oh blackwater, keep on rollin'
Mississippi moon won't you keep on shining on me.
Gonna make everything, gonna make everything alright.
Heh, heh! I always loved the Doobie Brothers!
Charlie wrote on September 18, 2007 1:22 AM:After so many horrific incidents in Iraq, why is the Iraqi government the first to challenge Blackwater's license to work in the war zone?
I can't believe that the State Department continues to support Blackwater (Rice, et al). No wonder America is considered a rougue nation these days.
JEP wrote on September 18, 2007 9:31 AM:ANyone notice the NYTimes lead on this story this morning?
Here's their teaser line..."The Iraqi government’s authority to bar Blackwater USA, a security company that was involved in the deaths of eight Iraqis, appeared to be in question."
I skimmed the story, but my first reaction is "So Iraq does not have the authority to expell American privateers?"
I can see Bush's boxers getting all bound up over them demanding our troops withdraw, but as for the contractors, since when do they trump sovereignity?
Just like the Hunt Oil fiasco set back years of difficult oil negotiatons, Bush ppretecdting his corporate pals' bullies and spies from the sovereign rule of Iraq will just pour gasoline on this fire.
JEP wrote on September 18, 2007 9:44 AM:No matter how they want to spin it, and how many signed agreements are drying on the shelf, is Blackwater wins this one, it is just more proof that Bush is still The King of Babylon.
JEP wrote on September 18, 2007 9:44 AM:No matter how they want to spin it, and how many signed agreements are drying on the shelf, is Blackwater wins this one, it is just more proof that Bush is still The King of Babylon.
Slippery Slope wrote on September 18, 2007 11:16 AM:It's all good, "as long as I'm the dick-tador"
Slippery Slope wrote on September 18, 2007 11:37 AM:Oh damn, forgot the Jon Stewart prop:
Hands out front, fingers spread, and with each "he he", shoulders switch upward...
Now let’s try this again.
"As long as I'm THE dick-tador." ((he he)) ((he he))
john wrote on September 18, 2007 12:06 PM:I'm here, you don't know what they're dealing with most of the time.
Stop whinin' and complaining it is what it is. Come on over and make it better it you don't like how its goin...Yeah I thought so.
Sorry to break up your hate fest.
anonymouse wrote on September 18, 2007 12:26 PM:I believe Blackwater (and the rest of the contractors) were exempted from our laws when this fiasco 1st began. I think these hearings will have a lot more to do with feather rustling than with any real action.
Remember folks... this war was a JOINT effort of the Republicans AND our blessed Democrats... who were so concerned that they didn't even bother reading the contracts before signing off and going off to their parties and fundraisers...
jimijazz wrote on September 18, 2007 1:01 PM:For more on Blackwater, people need to read the bio on Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater
jimijazz wrote on September 18, 2007 1:02 PM:For more on Blackwater, people need to read the bio on Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater
barrelhse wrote on September 19, 2007 8:33 AM:John- fuck you. We know exactly what's going on over there- an illegal war for profit. Take your hat off your ass and put it on your head, jerk-off.
My VP is a dick wrote on September 19, 2007 8:40 AM:Why can't Congress defund the mercenaries?
John wrote on October 3, 2007 4:02 AM:barrelhse, you are a big man, (probably a woman), to sit and talk like that to someone down range. You're the actual pussy here, sucking on rights that other military personnel have fought for while you contribute nothing. Losers like you need to live in a shithole like Iraq to understand what you really have. The people fighting in Iraq didn't start it, so how about laying off. Dickhead...