- The US Department of State under the obliging leadership
of Condolezza Rice refused to provide a Congressional investigating committee
with official documents detailing extensive corruption within the Iraq
government. It also intervened on behalf of Blackwater International, telling
them NOT TO reveal anything to Congress or the courts about their duties
and operations in Iraq--which they claim is a "state secret."
As the public outcry grows against using "national security"
to cover for illegal and criminal acts, Congress and the Courts seem strangely
unwilling or impotent to rein in administration high handedness. It's no
wonder that the public's approval rating of Congress has fallen to the
lowest rate in history--29%, even lower than Bush's 33% approval rating.
-
- Peter Spiegel of the Los Angeles Times writes that, "Today
Chairman Henry Waxman of the Oversight Committee wrote to Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice about three extraordinary communications the Committee
has received from the State Department regarding corruption within the
Iraqi government, the operations of Blackwater USA, and the status of political
reconciliation in Iraq. The State Department has instructed its officials
that they cannot communicate with the Committee about corruption in the
Maliki government unless the Committee agrees to treat all information,
including 'broad statements/assessments,' as national security secrets.
-
- The cover-up of Iraqi corruption is essential in maintaining
a puppet government in power. I don't believe Congress has the guts to
do anything about it even if it knew the details. However, it is the establishment's
fear of a growing public demand to pull out of Iraq that is driving this
secrecy. The public should be rightfully incensed. After pouring over $200
billion into Iraqi reconstruction the public has a right to know why this
money has produced such minuscule results, lining the pockets of military
contractors and corrupt Iraqi leaders in the process.
-
- After Chairman Waxman complained publically about the
State Department position, Sec. of State Rice agreed to send briefers to
Waxman's committee, but only with the proviso that all government remarks
be classified. How convenient--placing a gag order on any Congressman who
is privy to the information. If the public is shut out from the details,
how is congress supposed to make its case that we should cut off funds
or pull-out of Iraq?
-
- There's a connection between Iraqi corruption and US
mercenaries. This week, Iraq's former electricity minister, was jailed
on corruption charges, and was subsequently rescued from prison by unnamed
US security contractors.
-
- The administration's granting of immunity to Blackwater
is reaching the point of obstruction of justice. Some investigators believe
that the State Department letter instructing Blackwater not to cooperate
is meant to give Blackwater a pretext to refuse cooperation with formal
inquiries. Others have noted that "The positions staked out by Blackwater
and the State Department are generating anger among lawmakers who sense
an atmosphere of lawlessness and evasion."
-
- The McClatchy Washington Bureau reports that "Rep.
Henry Waxman, D-Cal., charged Tuesday that Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice and her aides are trying to impede congressional probes into corruption
in Iraq and the activities of controversial private military contractor
Blackwater USA. He cited specific efforts by the State Department to block
the Oversight Committee's efforts to look into the Blackwater incident."
-
- Scott Horton of Harper's Magazine describes this apparent
immunity pact: "'The core of the relationship is simple, a U.S. diplomat
described the State Department's dealings with Blackwater USA. 'They protect
us, and we protect them.' In fact, incidents involving security contractors
in Iraq occur regularly----firearms are discharged every day, and a few
times a week lethal force is used in questionable circumstances."
-
- One journalist in Blackwater's home state of North Carolina
went so far as to imply the ends justify any means. Mike Baker of the AP
says, "For all its high-profile failings and its reputation for 'cowboy'
aggression, the secretive security company Blackwater USA has never failed
at its primary mission in Iraq: Protecting State Department diplomats.
Not one diplomat has died while being guarded by employees of the politically
connected company based in the swamp lands of northeastern North Carolina.
Experts say that success -- combined with the murky legal world in which
Blackwater operates and its strong ties to Republicans -- has allowed the
company to operate with impunity."
-
- "'You can argue about the methodology and say it's
negatively impacting relationships between the Iraqi government and citizens
and the U.S. But if you get right down to the terms of the contract, they're
tasked with protecting U.S. diplomatic personnel. They've done that,"
said Scott Traudt, operations manager for Cohort International, a Lebanon,
N.H.-based competitor."
-
- I don't agree. This is short-sighted thinking from another
military contractor eager to become the next Blackwater. Murderous and
aggressive methods create more hate and discontent against America, and
it's only a matter of time until retaliation becomes so strong that even
Blackwater won't be able to contain it. And, that may be why this administration
really doesn't care. They intend to foment hatred against America--part
of the globalist agenda to engender a massive retaliation against America
that will usher in the NWO within a decade.
-
- The LA Times acknowledges that "The total number
of security contractors is officially acknowledged to be 30,000, and may
be a bit more than that. And there are a dozen significant players in the
game, companies from the United States, Britain, South Africa----even Russia."
Naturally, Congress knows that eventually the public is going to demand
some accountability for contractors running wild. Scott Horton notes how
this is unlikely to happen.
-
- "I was invited to give a briefing on Capitol Hill
this morning to a group of congressmen who are studying contractor issues.
The level of interest was very high and most of the questions focused on
just one contractor, namely Blackwater. [Blackwater's case isn't being
helped by employees like Ben Thomas, age 30, of Los Angeles. He's the moderator
of a PMC (private military contractor) chat site called 'Get off the X'
who recent said in a video that fighting in Iraq is like a 'f....g turkey
shoot']
-
- "In the October Harpers issue, Daphne Eviatar takes
us on a tour of Blackwater and some of the issues surrounding it. She uses
a fascinating vehicle--one of Blackwater's employment contracts. And the
Blackwater contract-drafters are high practitioners of this art. In what
I have seen of Blackwater's contracts-- both with its employees and its
dealings with the U.S. Government, Blackwater consistently extracts a very
good deal for itself [including a provision that the US government is responsible
to give it legal protection]. An astonishingly good deal for itself. Indeed,
sometimes a deal that's simply too good to be believed... Some of the questions
are pretty pointed. 'Are these contracts really done at arm's length?'
-
- "And that's fueling a lot of questions from lawmakers
on Capitol Hill about the first modern private army to be raised on American
soil [Hardly! Blackwater is only one of many including DynCorp, MPRI, Triple
Canopy, Vinnell Corp., Aegis Defense Services, Executive Outcomes, Titan
Corp, and CACI Systems to name a few]. Professional military leaders are
getting increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled and unaccountable
PMCs. Horton quotes one senior U.S. military official saying, "'This
is a nightmare... We had guys who saw the aftermath, and it was very bad.
This is going to hurt us badly.' In last week's incident, Blackwater guards
shot into a crush of cars, killing at least 11 Iraqis and wounding 12.
Blackwater officials insist their guards were ambushed, but witnesses have
described the shooting as unprovoked. Iraq's Interior Ministry has concluded
that Blackwater was at fault.
-
- "An account published over the weekend by London's
Independent which drew on interviews with Iraqi eye-witnesses, sharply
contradicts Blackwater's claims and the characterizations put out by the
State Department. The Iraqi Interior Ministry has also claimed that it
has a video which will conclusively demonstrate that the shootings by Blackwater
personnel were unprovoked. [There was no evidence of gunfire prior to Blackwater
men shooting]
-
- "These descriptions reminded me of accounts I heard
in Baghdad last spring. A number of officers described the security contractors
as a group, and Blackwater in particular, as 'cowboys,' and 'trigger-happy
jackasses.'" That's not a difficult conclusion to reach when loud
mouthed Blackwater guards previously mentioned are bragging that Iraq is
like a "Turkey Shoot."
-
- McClatchy News gives us several chilling examples of
Blackwater's wanton shootings. One occurred this month just as Gen. Patreaus
was touting US successes in Baghdad: "A clerk in the Iraqi customs
office in Diyala province, she was in the capital to drop off and pick
up paperwork at the central office near busy al Khilani Square, not far
from the fortified Green Zone, where top U.S. and Iraqi officials live
and work. U.S. officials often pass through the square in heavily guarded
convoys on their way to other parts of Baghdad.
-
- "As Hussein walked out of the customs building,
an embassy convoy of sport-utility vehicles drove through the intersection.
Blackwater security guards, charged with protecting the diplomats, yelled
at construction workers at an unfinished building to move back. Instead,
the workers threw rocks. The guards, witnesses said, responded with gunfire,
spraying the intersection with bullets.
-
- "Hussein, who was on the opposite side of the street
from the construction site, fell to the ground, shot in the leg. As she
struggled to her feet and took a step, eyewitnesses said, a Blackwater
security guard trained his weapon on her and shot her multiple times. She
died on the spot, and the customs documents she'd held in her arms fluttered
down the street." This is just plain criminal.
-
- Earlier this year Blackwater used a sniper to kill Iraqi
guards at the Iraqi government's Media Network-hardly enemies of the US:
"three guards, members of Iraq's Facilities Protection Service, were
at their post at the back of the complex. A towering blast wall was a short
distance in front of them to protect the compound from Haifa Street, which
is notorious for car bombings and drive-by shootings. According to Sadr
and Interior Ministry officials, the three were picked off one by one by
Blackwater snipers stationed on the roof of the 10-story Justice Ministry
about 220 yards away on the opposite side of the street."
-
- Here's why US claims to conduct "impartial investigations"
are hollow: "The State Department has moved to resolve the matter
by proposing creation of a bilateral commission of inquiry [whose real
intent is to cover-up and excuse the crimes]. A similar approach was used
to look into the fatal attack on a car carrying Italian journalist Giuliana
Sgrena which left Sgrena wounded and killed Nicola Calipari, a senior member
of SISMI, the Italian Secret Service. The commission approach broke down
when the American members pushed a set of conclusions of 'facts' which
the Italians denounced as rank falsehood. An Italian magistrate who had
looked at the investigation told me this summer that he had 'lost all confidence'
in the interest of the American participants to establish the facts. 'They
were interested in covering up what happened, not getting to the truth.'"
-
- It is telling that Blackwater has already resumed operations
in Iraq, so the Iraqi ban means nothing. Contracts awarded to Blackwater
thus far total $1,059,633,363--one Billion dollars for criminal conduct
with no end or justice in sight!
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- World Affairs Brief
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- Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.
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- Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution
permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen's World Affairs Brief http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com
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