Blackwater USA: Giving the US a Black-Eye [October 5, 2007]
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Blackwater Personnel on the Ground |
Blackwater Forces in the Sky |
US Renews Murderous Blackwater Security Firm Contract
[Update 4.7.08] Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blasted the US State Department for renewing its contract with the Blackwater security firm, saying the company has yet to answer for what he called a "massacre" last year.
The Iraqi government was not consulted on the State Department decision, he said.
[Update 10.16.07] His son's head had been blown away, his body charred beyond recognition. His wife of more than 20 years was torn apart. Haythem could only recognize his oldest boy from his tall and slim physique as well as what was left of his shoes.
As a result, Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has asked the US State Department to "pull Blackwater out of Iraq," saying the private contractors committed unprovoked and random killings in a September 16 shooting.
Private Security Convoy Murders Two Iraqi Women
[Update 10.9.07] Although one official has said the firm involved in this latest murder was a "Western private security company," Blackwater USA claims it was not linked to the incident. Yet two more innocent Iraqis were killed in Baghdad around 2:45 p.m. today.
Brig. Gen Abdul Karim Khalaf, Interior Ministry spokesman, said the two women killed were Christians. He said that at least 19 bullets hit their vehicle. A male witness said he believes the women in the car became frightened when the security detail fired warning shots.
Blackwater USA Shootings Murder, Iraq Says
[Update 10.7.07] The Iraqi prime minister's office said Sunday that the government's investigation had determined that Blackwater USA private security guards who shot Iraqi civilians three weeks ago in a Baghdad square sprayed gunfire in nearly every direction, committed "deliberate murder" and should be punished accordingly.
See also:
I Survived Blackwater
House of Representatives: Blackwater USA Report (10.1.07)
In previously undisclosed details in the government's final report, the Iraqi police documented that Blackwater guards shot in almost every direction, killing or wounding people in a near 360-degree circle around Nisour Square.
The thick file amassed for the investigation asserts that bullets reached bystanders who were as far as 200 feet away and nearly on the opposite side of the square. [11]
Blackwater USA / State Department Lied to the World
No... Could it be? Say it isn't so, Joe! On September 18th, a Blackwater USA spokesman claimed:
The US military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault in the shooting incident in Nisoor Square, in which hospital records say at least 14 people were killed and 18 were wounded.
[Update 4.7.08] Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blasted the US State Department for renewing its contract with the Blackwater security firm, saying the company has yet to answer for what he called a "massacre" last year.
The Iraqi government was not consulted on the State Department decision, he said.
"No judicial action has been taken and no compensation has been made," al-Maliki said Sunday. "Therefore, this extension requires the approval of the Iraqi government, and the government would want to resolve the outstanding issues with this company." [14]Blackwater USA Blackens Iraqi Skulls
[Update 10.16.07] His son's head had been blown away, his body charred beyond recognition. His wife of more than 20 years was torn apart. Haythem could only recognize his oldest boy from his tall and slim physique as well as what was left of his shoes.
"Only part of her neck and jaw remained." The rest of her was covered by a body bag.This is George Bush's strategy for fighting a war and rebuilding a nation. Previous presidents would have relied on the US military and other government personnel. Bush wanted to hide the real cost of his misadventure, so he turned critical security needs to "for profit" hired guns -- people who blow up the skulls of innocent civilians!
Choking back tears, Haythem said, "Killing them was not enough, blowing up their skulls, they burned them and disfigured them." [13]
As a result, Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has asked the US State Department to "pull Blackwater out of Iraq," saying the private contractors committed unprovoked and random killings in a September 16 shooting.
Private Security Convoy Murders Two Iraqi Women
[Update 10.9.07] Although one official has said the firm involved in this latest murder was a "Western private security company," Blackwater USA claims it was not linked to the incident. Yet two more innocent Iraqis were killed in Baghdad around 2:45 p.m. today.
Brig. Gen Abdul Karim Khalaf, Interior Ministry spokesman, said the two women killed were Christians. He said that at least 19 bullets hit their vehicle. A male witness said he believes the women in the car became frightened when the security detail fired warning shots.
"What a shame, maybe she got confused or she got scared and when she got scared, they frantically started shooting at them."Another male witness tsaid the women were shot from a distance. "It was a family, two women, one was driving and the second was a passenger," he said. "They killed them and they were at a far distance from them." [12]
"Yes, they killed those two women." The women "were sitting in the front ... and there were two kids, but the two kids -- nothing happened to them. I care for my brother and friend and these ... foreigners don't care or serve us in any way."
Blackwater USA Shootings Murder, Iraq Says
[Update 10.7.07] The Iraqi prime minister's office said Sunday that the government's investigation had determined that Blackwater USA private security guards who shot Iraqi civilians three weeks ago in a Baghdad square sprayed gunfire in nearly every direction, committed "deliberate murder" and should be punished accordingly.
See also:
I Survived Blackwater
House of Representatives: Blackwater USA Report (10.1.07)
In previously undisclosed details in the government's final report, the Iraqi police documented that Blackwater guards shot in almost every direction, killing or wounding people in a near 360-degree circle around Nisour Square.
The thick file amassed for the investigation asserts that bullets reached bystanders who were as far as 200 feet away and nearly on the opposite side of the square. [11]
Blackwater USA / State Department Lied to the World
No... Could it be? Say it isn't so, Joe! On September 18th, a Blackwater USA spokesman claimed:
Blackwater regrets any loss of life, but this convoy was violently attacked by armed insurgents, not civilians, and our people did their job to defend human life. [1]Blackwater USA defends US State Department personnel, so the State Department was also quick to show support for Blackwater USA, saying on September 18th:
It's also important to remember that this convoy was attacked ... There was -- the basic fact is that there was an attack on the convoy. I understand that the convoy was attacked and that there was a response. [2]Yet we learn today that US military reports from the scene of the Sept. 16 shooting incident involving the security firm Blackwater USA indicate that its guards opened fire without provocation and used excessive force against Iraqi civilians, according to a senior U.S. military official.
The US military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault in the shooting incident in Nisoor Square, in which hospital records say at least 14 people were killed and 18 were wounded.
"It was obviously excessive, it was obviously wrong. The civilians that were fired upon, they didn't have any weapons to fire back at them. And none of the IP [Iraqi Police] or any of the local security forces fired back at them." The Blackwater guards appeared to have fired grenade launchers in addition to machine guns, the official said. [3]
Blackwater Guards "Became the Terrorists"
Much like Abu Ghraib and the Iraqi occupation in general, the Bush administration's incompetence is destroying America's credibility in the world. Put yourself in the place of these victims -- would this performance by a private security firm hired by George W. Bush be acceptable to you? It's not to us!
An Iraqi police officer who was directing traffic at Baghdad's Nusoor Square on September 16 said Blackwater guards "became the terrorists" that Sunday afternoon when they opened fire on civilians. The Iraqi government claims the incident was unprovoked. The police officer and a businessman provided vivid descriptions of the massacre where 17 people were killed and 24 wounded.
The police officer, Sarhan, said Blackwater guards "seemed nervous" as they entered the square, throwing water bottles at the Iraqi police posted there and driving in the wrong direction. The traffic police halted civilian traffic to clear the way for the Blackwater team.
Guards then fired five or six shots in an apparent attempt to scare people away, but one of the rounds struck a car and killed a young man who was sitting next to his mother, a doctor.
Sarhan said he and an undercover Iraqi police officer ran to the car but they were unable to stop it from rolling forward toward the Blackwater convoy.
"He was in school, but last year had to leave school because we were displaced. Now the Americans have killed him -- why? What did he do? What did I do? After what I witnessed, I now jump out of bed at night, I have nightmares, it's experiencing death, bullets are flying from here and there and here explosions, cars hit. Why? Why did they do this?" [4]
Blackwater Security Firm Banned From Iraq
Back in the US, the private military contractor Blackwater USA "delayed and impeded" a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee probe into the 2004 killings of four of its employees in Falluja, Iraq.
Blackwater contractors Jerry Zovko, Scott Helvenston, Mike Teague and Wesley Batalona were ambushed, dragged from their vehicles and killed on March 31, 2004. The company stalled the committee's investigation into the incident by "erroneously claiming" documents related to the incident were classified, trying to get the Defense Department to make previously unclassified documents classified, and "asserting questionable legal privileges."
Blackwater took on the Falluja mission before its contract officially began and after being warned by its predecessor that it was too dangerous. It sent its team on the mission without properly armored vehicles and machine guns. And it cut the standard mission team by two members, thus depriving them of rear gunners." [5]
Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in an incident last week in which 11 people died, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday. The ministry is looking into six other fatal shootings involving the Moyock, N.C.-based company.
"We have revoked Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq. As of now they are not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq," Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf said Monday. "The investigation is ongoing, and all those responsible for Sunday's killing will be referred to Iraqi justice." [8]
A preliminary Iraqi report, by the Ministry of Interior, on the shooting found that Blackwater security guards were not ambushed, as the company reported, but instead fired at a car when it did not heed a policeman's call to stop, killing a couple and their infant. "The traffic policeman was trying to open the road for them. 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."
Video shows the child burned to the mother's body after the car caught fire. This is the way the USA wins hearts and minds!
The report was presented to the Iraqi cabinet and contradicts the account by Blackwater USA claiming guards were responding to gunfire by militants. The report said Blackwater helicopters had also fired. The Ministry of Defense said 20 Iraqis had been killed, a far higher number than had been reported before. [9]
Meanwhile, U.S. diplomats in Baghdad are banned from leaving the Iraqi capital's Green Zone for a second day after the U.S. government halted all civilian ground movements outside the heavily fortified section. [10]
Much like Abu Ghraib and the Iraqi occupation in general, the Bush administration's incompetence is destroying America's credibility in the world. Put yourself in the place of these victims -- would this performance by a private security firm hired by George W. Bush be acceptable to you? It's not to us!
An Iraqi police officer who was directing traffic at Baghdad's Nusoor Square on September 16 said Blackwater guards "became the terrorists" that Sunday afternoon when they opened fire on civilians. The Iraqi government claims the incident was unprovoked. The police officer and a businessman provided vivid descriptions of the massacre where 17 people were killed and 24 wounded.
The police officer, Sarhan, said Blackwater guards "seemed nervous" as they entered the square, throwing water bottles at the Iraqi police posted there and driving in the wrong direction. The traffic police halted civilian traffic to clear the way for the Blackwater team.
Guards then fired five or six shots in an apparent attempt to scare people away, but one of the rounds struck a car and killed a young man who was sitting next to his mother, a doctor.
Sarhan said he and an undercover Iraqi police officer ran to the car but they were unable to stop it from rolling forward toward the Blackwater convoy.
"I wanted to get his mother out, but could not because she was holding her son tight and did not want to let him go. They immediately opened heavy fire at us. Each of their four vehicles opened heavy fire in all directions, they shot and killed everyone in cars facing them and people standing on the street." The shooting lasted about 20 minutes, Sarhan said.More than two weeks later, Razzaq said he is left with questions and nightmares about his son's death.
"FOR SALE: Low Mileage, New Transmission, 183 US Bullet Holes, Brains in Back Seat"
"When it was over we were looking around and about 15 cars had been destroyed, the bodies of the killed were strewn on the pavements and road." No one ever fired at the Blackwater team. "They became the terrorists, not attacked by the terrorists."
"I saw parts of the woman's head flying in front of me, blow up and then her entire body was charred," he said. "What do you expect my reaction to be? Are they protecting the country? No. If I had a weapon I would have shot at them."
A 37-year-old Baghdad businessman and a father of four, whose youngest son was killed by a Blackwater bullet, said he wanted no monetary compensation but only for the guards to "admit to the truth." Mohammed Abdul Razzaq was driving into Nusoor Square with his sister, her three children and his 9-year-old son Ali at the same time the Blackwater team arrived.
"They gestured stop, so we all stopped," Razzaq said. "It's a secure area so we thought it will be the usual, we would stop for a bit as convoys pass. Shortly after that they opened heavy fire randomly at the cars with no exception."
"My son was sitting behind me," he said. "He was shot in the head and his brains were all over the back of the car." The others ducked and were spared, he said. He later counted 36 bullet holes in his car, six in his sister's headrest.
"Anyone who got out of his car would be killed," he said. "Anyone who would move was killed. Anyone sitting in a car was killed."
"I saw a guy in a small car who got out to flee, they shot him and he hit the ground," Razzaq said. "They fired at him again and again with his blood flowing in the street, but they continued to shoot him."
"It was hell, like a scene from a movie," he said.
"He was in school, but last year had to leave school because we were displaced. Now the Americans have killed him -- why? What did he do? What did I do? After what I witnessed, I now jump out of bed at night, I have nightmares, it's experiencing death, bullets are flying from here and there and here explosions, cars hit. Why? Why did they do this?" [4]
Blackwater Security Firm Banned From Iraq
Back in the US, the private military contractor Blackwater USA "delayed and impeded" a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee probe into the 2004 killings of four of its employees in Falluja, Iraq.
Blackwater contractors Jerry Zovko, Scott Helvenston, Mike Teague and Wesley Batalona were ambushed, dragged from their vehicles and killed on March 31, 2004. The company stalled the committee's investigation into the incident by "erroneously claiming" documents related to the incident were classified, trying to get the Defense Department to make previously unclassified documents classified, and "asserting questionable legal privileges."
Blackwater took on the Falluja mission before its contract officially began and after being warned by its predecessor that it was too dangerous. It sent its team on the mission without properly armored vehicles and machine guns. And it cut the standard mission team by two members, thus depriving them of rear gunners." [5]
Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in an incident last week in which 11 people died, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday. The ministry is looking into six other fatal shootings involving the Moyock, N.C.-based company.
"I saw women and children jump out of their cars and start to crawl on the road to escape being shot, but still the firing kept coming and many of them were killed. I saw a boy of about 10 leaping in fear from a minibus; he was shot in the head. His mother was crying out for him, she jumped out after him, and she was killed. People were afraid." [6]
This is the testimony of Hassan Jabar Salman, a lawyer "shot four times in the back, his car riddled with eight more bullets" as he attempted to escape a fusillade from Blackwater hired guns guarding a US convoy in the middle of Baghdad on September 16. [7]
Iraq's Interior Ministry revoked the license of Blackwater USA, an American security firm whose contractors are blamed for a Sunday gunbattle in Baghdad that left at least eight civilians dead and 14 civilians wounded. [As of 9.23.07, Blackwater agents have continued services due to the "security vacuum" created by their absence. There simply aren't enough troops to provide security.]
This is the testimony of Hassan Jabar Salman, a lawyer "shot four times in the back, his car riddled with eight more bullets" as he attempted to escape a fusillade from Blackwater hired guns guarding a US convoy in the middle of Baghdad on September 16. [7]
"We have revoked Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq. As of now they are not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq," Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf said Monday. "The investigation is ongoing, and all those responsible for Sunday's killing will be referred to Iraqi justice." [8]
A preliminary Iraqi report, by the Ministry of Interior, on the shooting found that Blackwater security guards were not ambushed, as the company reported, but instead fired at a car when it did not heed a policeman's call to stop, killing a couple and their infant. "The traffic policeman was trying to open the road for them. 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."
Video shows the child burned to the mother's body after the car caught fire. This is the way the USA wins hearts and minds!
The report was presented to the Iraqi cabinet and contradicts the account by Blackwater USA claiming guards were responding to gunfire by militants. The report said Blackwater helicopters had also fired. The Ministry of Defense said 20 Iraqis had been killed, a far higher number than had been reported before. [9]
Meanwhile, U.S. diplomats in Baghdad are banned from leaving the Iraqi capital's Green Zone for a second day after the U.S. government halted all civilian ground movements outside the heavily fortified section. [10]
-----
[1] "U.S. rushes to smooth Iraq's anger over Blackwater," Tuesday, September 18, 2007, www.latimes.com
[2] "Daily Press Briefing: Sean McCormack, Spokesman," Tuesday, September 18, 2007,
[3] "Blackwater Faulted In Military Reports From Shooting Scene'," Friday, October 5, 2007, www.washingtonpost.com
[4] "Blackwater incident witness: 'It was hell'," Tuesday, October 2, 2007, www.cnn.com
[5] "Report: Blackwater 'impeded' probe into contractor deaths," Thursday, September 27, 2007, www.cnn.com
[6] "Iraq: Blackwater Fired Unprovoked," Saturday, September 22, 2007, www.guardian.co.uk
[7] "How Iraq Won Its 'Freedom'," Monday, September 24, 2007, www.asiatimes.com
[8] "Blackwater security firm banned from Iraq," Monday, September 17, 2007, www.cnn.com
[9] "Iraqi Report Says Blackwater Guards Fired First," Wednesday, September 19, 2007, www.nytimes.com
[10] "Iraqi Leader Rrges US to Cancel Blackwater Contract," Wednesday, September 19, 2007, www.cnn.com
[11] "Blackwater Shootings 'Murder,' Iraq Says," Monday, October 8, 2007, www.nytimes.com
[12] "Private Security Convoy Kills Two Iraqi Women, Sources Say," Tuesday, October 9, 2007, www.cnn.com
[13] "Dad: Blackwater Blew Up Son's and Wife's 'Skulls'," Tuesday, October 16, 2007, www.cnn.com
[14] "Iraqi Leader Wants Answers for Blackwater Massacre," Monday, April 7, 2008, www.cnn.com
Copyright © InfoImagination 2007
[1] "U.S. rushes to smooth Iraq's anger over Blackwater," Tuesday, September 18, 2007, www.latimes.com
[2] "Daily Press Briefing: Sean McCormack, Spokesman," Tuesday, September 18, 2007,
[3] "Blackwater Faulted In Military Reports From Shooting Scene'," Friday, October 5, 2007, www.washingtonpost.com
[4] "Blackwater incident witness: 'It was hell'," Tuesday, October 2, 2007, www.cnn.com
[5] "Report: Blackwater 'impeded' probe into contractor deaths," Thursday, September 27, 2007, www.cnn.com
[6] "Iraq: Blackwater Fired Unprovoked," Saturday, September 22, 2007, www.guardian.co.uk
[7] "How Iraq Won Its 'Freedom'," Monday, September 24, 2007, www.asiatimes.com
[8] "Blackwater security firm banned from Iraq," Monday, September 17, 2007, www.cnn.com
[9] "Iraqi Report Says Blackwater Guards Fired First," Wednesday, September 19, 2007, www.nytimes.com
[10] "Iraqi Leader Rrges US to Cancel Blackwater Contract," Wednesday, September 19, 2007, www.cnn.com
[11] "Blackwater Shootings 'Murder,' Iraq Says," Monday, October 8, 2007, www.nytimes.com
[12] "Private Security Convoy Kills Two Iraqi Women, Sources Say," Tuesday, October 9, 2007, www.cnn.com
[13] "Dad: Blackwater Blew Up Son's and Wife's 'Skulls'," Tuesday, October 16, 2007, www.cnn.com
[14] "Iraqi Leader Wants Answers for Blackwater Massacre," Monday, April 7, 2008, www.cnn.com
Copyright © InfoImagination 2007
RECENT IRAQI OPINION POLL
ABC News/BBC/NHK Poll
Iraq: Where Things Stand
Iraqis' Own Surge Assessment
Monday, September 10, 2007
[download PDF Original]
Iraqis say:
--Attacks on US Acceptable
--Invasion Was Wrong
--US Should Leave Now
[click image to enlarge]
Support for US Forces
--All Iraqis: 79% Oppose
--Kurds: 70% Support
--Shi'ites: 84% Oppose
--Sunnis: Get the Fuck Out!
[click image to enlarge]