PressCoverage

let's see how the "war is going smoothly" crowd spins this one...

perhaps it was "planted"... perhaps there's some context purposely being left out by the "liberal media" ... perhaps it's war, and "these things happen"... or perhaps the Washington Post made it up... or wait, the official is a gay communist... yeah, that's it...

Senior U.S. Military Official Faults Blackwater In The Shooting Of 11 Iraqi Civilians

A senior U.S. military official tells the Washington Post that the Sept. 16 firing incident at Nissor Square involving Blackwater USA was unprovoked and that the 11 civilian victims were unarmed:

“It was obviously excessive, it was obviously wrong,” said the U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident remains the subject of several investigations. “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.”

Military reports also “appear to corroborate the Iraqi government’s contention that Blackwater was at fault.”

Fogbuster

Of course excessive force is wrong. So is unwarranted force. War is hell.



//

Real World

I'll wait to pass judgement until more info is known. If they acted wrongly, then they should be held accountable, if they didn't, then they won't be. I've read similar descriptions of Blackwater personal from soldier blogs about them having itchy trigger fingers, and not following military ROE. Some of that is to expected since they are security team who's purpose is to protect the saftey of their principle. That aside, they still have to respect the law. If they didn't, they should be reprimanded. As we've learned in the past though, passing judgement via anonymous sources doesn't always end up as originally reported. These guys might be guilty, but I'll wait for more info before I decide.

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

PressCoverage

more info:

New Evidence That Blackwater Guards Took No Fire

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/13/wo...hp&oref=slogin
BAGHDAD, Oct. 12 — Fresh accounts of the Blackwater shooting last month, given by three rooftop witnesses and by American soldiers who arrived shortly after the gunfire ended, cast new doubt Friday on statements by Blackwater guards that they were responding to armed insurgents when Iraqi investigators say 17 Iraqis were killed at a Baghdad intersection.

The three witnesses, Kurds on a rooftop overlooking the scene, said they had observed no gunfire that could have provoked the shooting by Blackwater guards. American soldiers who arrived minutes later found shell casings from guns used normally by American contractors, as well as by the American military.

The Kurdish witnesses are important because they had the advantage of an unobstructed view and because, collectively, they observed the shooting at Nisour Square from start to finish, free from the terror and confusion that might have clouded accounts of witnesses at street level. Moreover, because they are pro-American, their accounts have a credibility not always extended to Iraqi Arabs, who have been more hostile to the American presence.

DarrylS

There is an article this AM about negotiations for Blackwater to leave Iraq, however because of the dependence on "Security Contractors" there is no one to fill the void. This is the problem of privatization in the public sector, no rules, no safeguards, their role is the exclusive venue of the military, if you bring in a new firm the same stuff will happen again.

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

PressCoverage

by and large, the right is still reserving judgement....

fleabassist1

I'm not worried, the USA always comes through:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30776




In all seriousness though, BW private releases tell a much different story - I guess that is to be expected. My faith in what these guys did is fading - but let me say that this is not a normal thing for BW troops to do. Hopefully they will be found innocent and the world can move on to the next big anti war story.

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GO PATRIOTS!!!!

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sdaniels7114

Regardless of how this situation works out, BW's legal status needs to be made clear. I suppose that nobody expected to not be able to trust Iraq with adjudicating this type of situation 4 years into this war; but if we still can't trust Iraq to get it right, then BW and all the others need to be held to US law at the very least. I don't see the military justice system as being acceptable here.

Holy Diver

.....Cronies!

PressCoverage

the modern Pretorian Guard, sinking deeper and deeper in the mud...

Blackwater confiscated Iraqi planes.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has revealed that “Blackwater USA tried to take at least two Iraqi military aircraft out of Iraq two years ago and refused to give the planes back when Iraqi officials sought to reclaim them.” Waxman today wrote to Blackwater CEO Erik Prince and requested that he “provide all documents related to the attempted shipment and to explain where the aircraft are now.”