Home > BLACKWATER: A SECURITY COMPANY OR FOREIGN MELSHIA?

BLACKWATER: A SECURITY COMPANY OR FOREIGN MELSHIA?

by Open-Publishing - Wednesday 19 September 2007
5 comments

Edito Wars and conflicts International USA

By Ahmad Ali

The shooting on Sunday by Blackwater contractors and killing of more than 11 Iraqi civilians drew a fierce reaction by the Iraqi people. The incident occurred when a motorcade guarded by Blackwater was traveling through Nisoor Square on the way back to the Green Zone when the car bomb exploded, followed by volleys of small-arms fire that disabled one of the vehicles. Blackwater guards then shot at nearby civilians in act of revenge and killed more than 11 civilians.

Blackwater is one of three major private security firms employed by the State Department to protect its personnel in Iraq. Reports say there are more than 48,000 of the private security contractors in Iraq. Others estimate the number to around 150,000. Since these firms do not obey Iraqi laws, then their number of employee will remain unknown to the Iraqi government.

Order No. 17, a law issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq/ when Mr. Bremer was ruling Iraq/ gave the companies immunity from Iraqi prosecution. It had given them the "license to kill". That order is certainly in contradiction with the sovereignty of the Iraqi government.
Such contractors, often elite soldiers recently retired from military special operations units, are little more than mercenaries, awarded lucrative packages to fight on demand in lawless areas.

And, according to human rights campaigners, their uncertain legal status in Iraq - straddling international law, US regulations and Iraqi legislation - enables them to act with virtual impunity. Therefore, Iraqis consider these contractors as mercenary forces that run roughshod over people in their own country.

In the past four years of invasion, there have been so many killings of innocent Iraqis, whose bad luck had just brought them near convoys of these companies. The media has shown many photos and videos of those guards using their machineguns on civilian cars. They usually use their guns as "car horns", as one foreign reporter said. They shoot at every suspected civilian they came across in their way, when they think he is a threat. Their behavior has been aggravated by the immunity given to them from prosecution by the Iraqi laws.

Such immunity is not explicitly given even to USA troops in Iraq. Blackwater and other foreign contractors accused of killing Iraqi citizens have gone without facing charges or prosecution in the past. Thus they have grown more aggressive in the past four years. Blackwater has always claimed that its employees acted in self-defense and that those killed were armed combatants. Thus they deny the killing of civilians.

It is time now for those who claim that they are bringing democracy to the Middle East to get these firms accounted for their acts. It is time now for the UN to act according to its liability and prosecute these firms

– http://novus.liber.us/2007/09/19/bl...

Forum posts

  • Here is one witness, who was injured by the firing of blackwater gangs. Lawyer Hassan Jabir was stuck in traffic when he heard Blackwater USA security contractors shout "Go, Go, Go." Moments later bullets pierced his back, he said Thursday from his hospital bed. Jabir was among about a dozen people wounded Sunday during the shooting in west Baghdad’s Mansour neighborhood. Iraqi police say at least 11 people were killed.

    "No one fired at them," Jabir said of the Blackwater guards. "No one attacked them but they randomly fired at people. So many people died in the street."

    As Jabir posed for photographers in Yarmouk Hospital, an Interior Ministry official came by to register his name as a victim in connection with the investigation.

    Jabir’s account is among several versions which the investigators hope to reconcile. Blackwater insists that its employees came under fire from armed insurgents and shot back to protect State Department employees.

    Jabir, whose left arm and chest were bandaged, said he was driving toward the Ministry of Justice when he found the road clogged with traffic. He saw several armored vehicles with armed guards on the roofs parked ahead of the traffic jam. Three black SUVs were behind them.

    "After 20 minutes, the Americans told us to turn back," he said. "They shouted ’Go’ ’Go’ ’Go.’... When we started turning back, the Americans began shooting heavily at us. The traffic policeman was the first person killed."

    The shooting set off a panic, Jabir said, with men, women and children diving from their vehicles, trying desperately to crawl to safety.

    "But many of them were killed," he said. "I saw a 10-year-old boy jump in fear from one of the minibuses. He was shot in his head. His mother jumped after him and was also killed."

    Suddenly, Jabir felt two bullets strike his back — one pierced his left lung and the other lodged in his intestines.

    "I kept on driving my car because if I left it, I would die," he said. "Then I was hit with two other bullets, one in my right hand and the second in my right shoulder just under the neck. ... I was rescued by Iraqi special forces" who rushed to the area.

    "I swear to God that they were not exposed to any fire," Jabir said of the Blackwater guards. "They are criminals and thirst for blood."

    Some Iraqis didn’t seem to care which version was correct. For them, the real problem is that their country is occupied by foreigners — whether soldiers or civilians.

    "Our problem is rooted in the occupation, regardless of whether it’s by security firms or foreign troops," a Baghdad resident, who have his name only as Abu Ahmed, told Associated Press Television News. "This is one of the grave consequences of the occupation."

    NOW WILL THOSE OF THE USA ADMINSTRATIN THAT ARE INVESTIGATING, WILL THEY ASK THIS INJURED LAWER ABOUT THE INCIDENT ?. I DOUT THAT. THE CRIME WILL WASHED WITH THE DEMOCRATIC WATER Mr Bush IS SPREADING IN THE REGION.

    ———

  • Hassan Jaber, 37, recovers from gunshot wounds in a hospital in Baghdad, Iraq on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007. Jaber, a lawyer, says he was in his car in the Mansour neighborhood when guards in a U.S. State Department convoy opened fire, shooting him four times. The State Department and the company in question, Blackwater USA, have said the incident began when a diplomatic convoy came under attack in Baghdad; Iraqi witnesses and officials have said the security guards opened fire first without provocation. The United States and Iraq will form a joint commission to look into allegations that private guards protecting American diplomats killed Iraqi civilians and to review the U.S. Embassy’s security practices, the State Department said.

  • The latest addition of a probe of whether Blackwater smuggled weapons into Iraq begs the question: “Is there anything else that will surface”? The answer simply is YES and “Oh My God, is everyone going to be surprised!”

    Marty Didier
    Northbrook, IL

  • This company and others of the like, have committed many bad things in Iraq. They came along with the USA troops. They also worked as contractors to supply the troops with what they need at the prices agreed upon. They have done so many killing to the Iraqis.
    It is ironic that the world remained silent to what they have done, untill the later incident of killing 11 civillians and wounding 12 others at Baghdad center, and till the Turkish government declared their smuggling of arms. Who will declare such thing if they have done it in IRAQ ?.

  • Recently, a senior Iraqi official in Baghdad said Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows employees of Blackwater USA opening fire against civilians without provocation on Sept. 16.

    At the same time, Iraq’s Interior Ministry said it had expanded its investigation of the shooting to include six other incidents involving Blackwater guards over the past seven months .
    Sothat there are 7 incidents of shootings at Iraqi civillian in only 7 months. This explains how these gaurds are doing.