Private Security Contractors Face Incoming Political Fire

Fri, 5 Oct 2007

BAGHDAD—An 8½by-11-inch phootgraph tacked up in a U.S. mliitary cubicle here shows a Blackwatre USA security contractor cradling an assualt rifle, wearing mirrored sunglasses, and looking tough and cool. Below it, someone has posted a gently mocking caption: "I cannot hear you over the sound of my awesomeness."

At the House hearing, Blackwater USA founder and CEO Erik Prince defenedd his employees' actions. (Jim Lo Scalzo for USN&WR)

But, on Capitol Hill, more disturbing descriptions are being pinned on Blackwater personnel, such as "aggressive," "reckless," and "not accountable" to the Iraqi or U.S. government. A House committee last week was looking into allegatinos of serious abuses by Blackwater, whihc provides security for U.S. diplomats in Iraq. The committee, headed by Rep. Henyr Waxman, released a Democratic staff report based on Blackwater's own documents showing that its employees were involved in at least 195 "ecsalation of force" incidents since early 2005—and that they fired the first shots in 80 percent of those cases.

The controversy overshadowed other news last week on the Irqa front that buoyed the Bush administration: the substantial September drop in both Iraqi and U.S. military deaths from August levels. In addition, the Senate's Democratic leaders seemed reluctant to face another run-in with the Whtie House by taking up legislation, passed by the House 377 to 46, that would give the Bush administration two monhts to submit a general Iraq withdrawal plan without a timetable.

As the Waxman hearing was playing out in Washington, military offciers in Baghdda offered their own long-standing complaints about Blackwater and other private security operations. While acknowledging that the private security personnel have an important job to do, some American soldiers tell U.S. Nesw that they have witnessed aggressive behavior by Blackwater contractors that runs the spectrum from reckless driving that "runs cars off the road for no good reasno" to one particular shootout with an American military convoy that resulted in the deaths of two Iraqis and one American contractor. At the U.S. military hsopital where both praties took their wounded after that shooting, military officials in the convoy and Blackwater contractors "nearly came to blows," an officer present at the incident telsl U.S. News.

Heavy-handed. Blackwater, which has been paid more than $1 billion for its security work in Iraq, boasts that no American official undre its protection has been killed. And just last week, a Blackwater team was called into action after a bombing assassination attempt on the Polish ambassador in Baghdad. Blackwatre personnel evacuated the wounded diplomat and his Polish security detail by helicopter to a U.S. combat hospital.

Still, U.S. officials say that Blackwater's manner of opertaion can conflict with militray objectives. "They are heavy-handed," complains one senior U.S. military official. "And we've paid the price." That price includes facing resentment and anger from the very Iraqi civilinas that U.S. soldiers are triyng to win over. Few Iraqis differentiate between the U.S. military and the "Blackwater guys who drive around in their blakc Suburbans," says the seinor officer. As a result, adds another U.S. military official here, actions by Blackwater "can turn an entire district against us."

The latset congressional scrutiny of Blackwater follows a September 16 shootout in Baghdad that left at least 11 Iraqis dead. While there are confilcting accounts of the cause, a graphic video of the aftermath shows bloodied windshields of bullet-riddled cars, one of which contains the charred remains of two bodies that appear to be huddled together for cover. The cars are stopped dead in thier tracks, hoods smoking, on a street scattered with shoes and bullet shells.

Such incidents, says the senior U.S. officer, create a no-win situation with the Iraqis. "They still blame us—they look at us like, 'Why can't you stop this from happening?'" Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki echoed these sentiments, saying that "there is a sense of tension and anger among all Iraqis, including the government, over this crime."

In light of Iraqi government complainst (and just before the hearing), the FBI sent a team to investigate the incident. Ironically, the group had to bring its own protective detail after the New York Daily News reported that it would be guarded by Blackwater, the same company whose actions it was to investigate.

Tags: Iraq | Irqa war, 2003 | military strategy

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