The FBI is assisting the U.S. State Department probe into the September 16 Blackwater USA slaughter of 11 Iraqi citizens in Nisour Square.
One report that has already been completed is from the Iraqi National Police who have identified 12 eyewitnesses who label the shooting as unprovoked.
Edited: Oct 4, 2007:
Death toll, according to hospital records show 14 dead and 18 injured, a toll higher than most previous official tallies.
It will be interesting to see how the two separate findings will compare.
The hearing held today, by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, put Blackwater chairman Erik Prince on the defensive and, as expected, he vigorously rejected charges that his personnel did anything illegal.
So far the incident unfolds beginning when a U.S. State Department convoy, protected by a Blackwater security team, ordered a vehicle to stop to allow the convoy to pass through an intersection. When the vehicle did not stop, the convoy opened fire on it killing the driver, the drivers wife and their child. That seems to me an extremely high price to pay for not yielding the right of way to the convoy. It also sounds arrogant of the Blackwater security force to shoot to kill because they did not get the right of way. The Ugly American syndrome is alive and well in Iraq.
According to State Department policy, which governs private security force behavior, when an approaching vehicle fails to stop after being ordered by the convoy, the convoy is then allowed to fire one shot at the windshield as a warning shot. A question here, did Blackwater personnel actually verbally or symbolically warn the vehicle to stop or did they just fire into the vehicle instead?
No matter the answer, this ‘warning shot’ struck the driver instead of the windshield fatally wounding him. Another question, don’t these guys have better aim than this? Again, no matter the answer, this warning shot became a killing shot.
Since the driver was now dead the car continued to roll forward triggering the other Blackwater personnel to believe they were about to be attacked and so they opened fire on the vehicle.
It seems to me that three facts stand in the way of their defense of this being a righteous shooting. They were premature in opening fire, they reacted with way too much ferocity for not being fired upon and their field of fire was way too wide for attacking this one vehicle.
If they were shooting at this one ‘perceived’ threat, how is that so many other people, not in that vehicle, were killed? Many of the victims were shot in the back, because they were, obviously, trying to escape this onslaught.
How is it that, since the driver was dead, they believed they were being fired upon? If they are so jumpy that they all begin indiscriminately shooting into a crowd without a clear target at the sound of any gun fire, even their own, then they need to be taken out of combat because this is a sure sign that they have been there way too long. Or, they are just itching to kill, in which case they are much more dangerous.
There are a lot of questions raised by this incident, as expected. And these questions are painting a very clear picture of non-professionalism and a cowboy demeanor that true professionals will not allow themselves to be caught up in.
While this one incident is being investigated, there are other incidents involving Blackwater USA that are in question.
One incident alleges Blackwater guards threw frozen bottles of water at civilian cars, breaking windshields. No one was killed.
In December 2006, the State Department arranged for the company to pay $15,000 to the family of an Iraqi guard who was shot and killed by a drunken Blackwater employee.
In another shooting death, the payment was $5,000.
The State Department has counted 56 shooting incidents involving Blackwater guards in Iraq this year. All will be reviewed as part of a comprehensive inquiry ordered by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Another case involving Blackwater is the alleged smuggling and selling of weapons on the black market.
Blackwater USA is the largest of three private companies contracted by the State Department to provide security for U.S. diplomats in Iraq and has ties to the White House.
But its their ties to the CIA that are most troubling.
Is it any wonder that given Bush’s propensity for excusing his cronies behaviors that Erik Prince’s ‘problems’ will soon be over?
Given Blackwater’s CIA connections, any future investigations into possible wrongdoings should be swept away pretty quickly.
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