Saturday, April 5, 2008
Despite investigations into fatal shootings of civilians and allegations of tax violations, Blackwater USA’s multimillion-dollar contract in Baghdad has been renewed, according to the State Department.
Blackwater is one of the largest private military contractors, receiving nearly $1.25 billion in federal business since 2000, according to a House committee estimate.
Blackwater allegedly provides security for diplomats in Baghdad, where the sprawling U.S. Embassy is headquartered. Its private guards act as bodyguards and armed drivers, escorting government officials when they go outside the fortified Green Zone.
Iraqis were outraged over a Sept. 16 shooting in which 17 Iraq civilians were killed in a Baghdad square. Blackwater said its guards were protecting diplomats under attack before they opened fire, but Iraqi investigators concluded the shooting was unprovoked.
An FBI probe began in November. Prosecutors want to know whether Blackwater contractors used excessive force or violated any laws.
Prosecutors investigating the shootings have questioned more than 30 witnesses in the U.S. and in Iraq, but they have announced no conclusions. One possibility is that individual contractors could be indicted, another is that the company could be indicted, or the FBI could conclude that there was no crime.
The company is also the target of an unrelated investigation into whether its contractors smuggled weapons into Iraq. Lawmakers have called for an investigation into whether Blackwater violated tax laws by classifying employees as independent contractors.
From the Left 
Pardon me for being naive but where is the Congress on this? The $1.25 billion mentioned in the piece didn’t print itself. Someone in the Congress had to sign-off on the charges and write the check. Is it really so difficult to just stand up to a president with a 19% approval number and say “No?” I guess it is if you happen to be Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid.
GMTA, Feminazi.
My thoughts are your thoughts. The House approves all expenses related to war and the Pentagon. This is the House of Pelosi and she is remote and removed and seemingly not the least interested in stopping the killing fields in Baghdad.
It’s disgusting.
Erik Prince, who founded Blackwater in 1996, is the son of Republican Party soldier, Edgar Prince.
Edgar Prince is one of the founders of the antigay, anti-minority, Family Research Council, one of the rightwing’s Christian groups most influential with the George W. Bush administration.
At his funeral in 1995, he was eulogized by two stalwarts of the Christian conservative movement, James Dobson and Gary Bauer. Edgar Prince’s widow, Elsa, who remarried after her husband’s death, has served on the boards of the FRC and another influential Christian-right organization, Dobson’s Focus on the Family. She currently runs the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, where, according to IRS filings, her son Erik is a vice president.
The foundation has given lavishly to some of the marquee names of the Christian right. Between July 2003 and July 2006, the foundation gave at least $670,000 to the FRC and $531,000 to Focus on the Family.
The Prince family is very powerful in GOP circles and aligned with the Bush administration. It defies logic to expect House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to oppose Blackwater or the Prince family.
So the bottomline is, until Bush is out of office, the American people and the Iraqi civilians, had better just grin and bear it?
Who is paying Blackwater? Oh yes, the American taxpayer. That’s who. I don’t recall anyone asking me if I wanted my taxes to fund a killing machine in Iraq? Pelosi? Reid? Is anyone listening?
Harry pretty much sums up the prevailing mood. Better hope enough people end up voting for Obama to make the margin theft-proof.
This is so disturbing at so many levels and once again, our elected representatives have abandoned their constituents.
One of my biggest concerns is that Blackwater is run by what I term an apocalyptic asshat… He will be ready to rush to end the world for his own sick visions and to bully all who are in his way in the meantime. On our tax dime. That scares me. That outrages me.
I was going to say we should write the Congress but then I remembered who occupies leadership roles in the Congress and I decided not to say anything that could be considered making light of such a serious issue as funding Blackwater.
I wonder if Mark Penn, Hillary’s campaign guru, who also runs the PR firm that represents and lobbies for Blackwater had a hand in helping to renew this contract.
what government?
do you think Eric will burn down the Capitol before 11/4/08 so he can keep chimpy in power
Bush needs those Blackwater troops when he implements the Security and Prosperity Partnership (North American Union) and chaos ensues and the Bush militia will take root.
Blackwater reminds me of the sort of thing you would encounter from the School of the Americas. I remember when President Carter wanted the school closed and naturally, the GOP went batshit crazy. If I’m recalling correctly, the School of the Americas is still open for business and training guerillas for export.
yes go Bush this is what we really need…
we need change man, peace and quality living damm it…why can’t we get that agian ..