BLACKWATER PULLS WEAPONS ON US TROOPS
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Blackwater Is Soaked
An arrogant attitude only adds fuel to the criticism.
By Rod Nordland and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Oct. 15, 2007 issue - The colonel was furious. "Can you believe it?
They actually drew their weapons on U.S. soldiers." He was describing
a 2006 car accident, in which an SUV full of Blackwater operatives
had crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee on a street in Baghdad's Green
Zone. The colonel, who was involved in a follow-up investigation and
spoke on the condition he not be named, said the Blackwater guards
disarmed the U.S. Army soldiers and made them lie on the ground at
gunpoint until they could disentangle the SUV. His account was
confirmed by the head of another private security company. Asked to
address this and other allegations in this story, Blackwater
spokesperson Anne Tyrrell said, "This type of gossip has led to many
soap operas in the press."
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Whatever else Blackwater is or isn't guilty of—a topic of intense
interest in Washington—it has a well-earned reputation in Iraq for
arrogance and high-handedness. Iraqis naturally have the most serious
complaints; dozens have been killed by Blackwater operatives since
the beginning of the war. But many American civilian and military
officials in Iraq also have little sympathy for the private security
company and its highly paid employees. With an uproar growing in
Congress over Blackwater's alleged excesses, the North Carolina-based
company is finding few supporters.
Responsible for guarding top U.S. officials in Iraq, Blackwater
operatives are often accused of playing by their own rules. Unlike
nearly everyone else who enters the Green Zone, said an American
soldier who guards a gate, Blackwater gunmen refuse to stop and clear
their weapons of live ammunition once inside. One military
contractor, who spoke anonymously for fear of retribution in his
industry, recounted the story of a Blackwater operative who answered
a Marine officer's order to put his pistol on safety when entering a
base post office by saying, "This is my safety," and wiggling his
trigger finger in the air. "Their attitude was, 'We're f---ing
security; we don't have to answer to anybody'."
Congress disagrees. Until now, private security contractors working
for the State Department, as Blackwater does, have effectively not
been covered by either U.S. or Iraqi law, or military regulations. A
bill that overwhelmingly passed the House last week would close that
loophole. But the law would also require the FBI to establish a
large-
scale presence in Iraq in order to investigate accusations against
private contractors. Law-enforcement officials worry that this would
draw valuable resources away from FBI efforts to combat terrorism in
the United States. Also, whenever FBI agents venture into Iraq now
they are guarded by ... Blackwater operatives. The bureau has sent a
team to Baghdad to investigate the Sept. 16 shooting in Nasoor
Square, in which Blackwater guards are accused of killing as many as
17 Iraqi civilians. In order to avoid "even the appearance of any
conflict [of interest]," according to an FBI spokesman, the agents
will be defended by U.S. government personnel.
It is not an idle concern. Blackwater's staunchest defenders tend to
be found among those whom they guard. U.S. officials prefer
Blackwater and other private security bodyguards because they regard
them as more highly trained than military guards, who are often
reservists from MP units. A U.S. Embassy staffer, who did not have
permission to speak on the record, said, "It's a few bad eggs that
seem to be spoiling the bunch." Late last week the State Department
announced that it would increase oversight of Blackwater in
particular, installing cameras in its vehicles and having a
Diplomatic Security Service officer ride along on every convoy. But
another State Department official, also speaking anonymously, says
that DSS agents in Baghdad have not been eager to rein in the
contractors in the past: "These guys tend to close ranks. It's like
the blue wall."
Testifying before Congress last week, 38-year-old Blackwater chief
Erik Prince vigorously defended his company's "dedicated security
professionals" who "risk their lives to protect Americans in harm's
way overseas." Prince probably had no reason to be as smug as he
seemed to many observers. In deflecting questions about a drunken
Blackwater operative who allegedly shot and killed a bodyguard for
Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi in the Green Zone on Christmas
Eve last year, Prince said that the employee, later identified as
Andrew Moonen, had been fined and fired. But on Friday House
Oversight Committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman released a letter to
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recounting evidence that Moonen
was able to return to Iraq and worked there for another company.
Moonen's attorney, Stewart Riley, told NEWSWEEK his client denies
wrongdoing and is not facing criminal charges. Blackwater is no doubt
in for further fire fights.
With Larry Kaplow in Baghdad and Michael Hastings in Washington
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